Posts by Sam Beli

9

A Life or Death Decision!

by Gizmo in

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real audio video below of a jw's death due to refusal of blood.. .

http://video.wtnh.com/news/2002/feb/clips/02252002-death.ram

A Life or Death Decision!

by Gizmo in

.

real audio video below of a jw's death due to refusal of blood.. .

http://video.wtnh.com/news/2002/feb/clips/02252002-death.ram

A Life or Death Decision!

by Gizmo in

.

real audio video below of a jw's death due to refusal of blood.. .

http://video.wtnh.com/news/2002/feb/clips/02252002-death.ram

A Life or Death Decision!

by Gizmo in

.

real audio video below of a jw's death due to refusal of blood.. .

http://video.wtnh.com/news/2002/feb/clips/02252002-death.ram

Sam Beli

Thank you, Gizmo, for posting this excellent story about the murderous blood policy of JWs.

10

why wedding anniversaries and not birthdays?

by BLISSISIGNORANCE in

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has anyone else ever wondered.

ta, bliss

Sam Beli

Greetings Ta,

You are correct, of course. This and other "inconsistencies" have been discussed before here, but it is always good to review these matters for new ones.

For one thing the WT book publishing corporation is all about control and being "different." At first glance, reading about John the Baptist being beheaded at a birthday party might concern the casual reader. However, as you have rightly pointed out, taking a hard-line approach to all birthdays is problematic at best.

Even when I was a JW elder this issue troubled me. I discussed it with others and I found few "honest" JWs who did not see at least some problem with the WT position on birthdays. The WTS is proud to be different and many JWs buy into the idea of being "different than the world." The more isolated the JWs are the easier it is to control them.

Warm regards, and welcome to the board.

Sam

10

Link Between Obesity, Premature Death

by Sam Beli in

as a kid growing up in the jw world it always bothered me that the wts placed so little emphasis on obesity when it sought to place so much control on other aspects of the life of the rank-in-file.

personally, i have no use for smoking, but i always thought that being overweight was at least as "bad" as smoking for ones health and i never understood why they ignored (and left in place fat elders) obesity while dfing smokers.

it seemed hypocritical to me; still does.

Sam Beli

Thank you everyone for your observations.

Pete said: "

Not to defend any position of the JWs but this is not a legitimate beef. Smoking is a voluntary behavior and in at least SOME cases obesity results from pychological and/or physical abnormalities. It is like saying really tall people should be df'd. And no I'm not overweight. I do remember a funny comment made some years ago in the WT made in an effort to define gluttony. It remarked that "if your days activities revolve around your meals then you may have an idolotrous view of food". Guess thats everyone.

Sorry Pete, but I must disagree. In almost all cases obesity is a voluntary behavior every bit as much as smoking is. Eat more than a person burns and that person will gain weight. Simple as that. Below is what the Surgeon General says.

The Surgeon General's Call To Action To Prevent and Decrease Overweight and Obesit

Overweight and Obesity: At a Glance

THE FACTS ABOUT OVERWEIGHT AND OBESITY

61% of adults in the United States were overweight or obese (BMI > 25)* in 1999.
13% of children aged 6 to 11 years and 14% of adolescents aged 12 to 19 years were overweight* in 1999. This prevalence has nearly tripled for adolescents in the past 2 decades.
The increases in overweight and obesity cut across all ages, racial and ethnic groups, and both genders.
300,000 deaths each year in the United States are associated with obesity.
Overweight and obesity are associated with heart disease, certain types of cancer, type 2 diabetes, stroke, arthritis, breathing problems, and psychological disorders, such as depression.
The economic cost of obesity in the United States was about $117 billion in 2000.

HEALTH DISPARITIES

Based on national survey data collected between 1988 and 1994:

The prevalence of overweight and obesity increases until about age 60, after which it begins to decline.
In women, overweight and obesity are higher among members of racial and ethnic minority populations than in non-Hispanic white women.
In men, Mexican Americans have a higher prevalence of overweight and obesity than non-Hispanic whites or non-Hispanic blacks. The prevalence of overweight and obesity in non-Hispanic white men is greater than in non-Hispanic black men.
69% of non-Hispanic black women are overweight or obese compared to 58% of non-Hispanic black men.
62% of non-Hispanic white men are overweight or obese compared to 47% of non-Hispanic white women. However, when looking at obesity alone
(BMI > 30)*, slightly more non-Hispanic white women are obese compared to non-Hispanic white men (23%; 21%).
For all racial and ethnic groups combined, women of lower socioeconomic status (income < 130 percent of poverty threshold) are approximately 50% more likely to be obese than those of higher socioeconomic status.
Mexican American boys tend to have a higher prevalence of overweight than non-Hispanic black or non-Hispanic white boys.
Non-Hispanic black girls tend to have a higher prevalence of overweight than Mexican American or non-Hispanic white girls.
Non-Hispanic white adolescents from lower income families experience a greater prevalence of overweight than those from higher income families.

CAUSES OF OVERWEIGHT AND OBESITY

Overweight and obesity result from an imbalance involving excessive calorie consumption and/or inadequate physical activity.
For each individual, body weight is the result of a combination of genetic, metabolic, behavioral, environmental, cultural, and socioeconomic influences.
Behavioral and environmental factors are large contributors to overweight and obesity and provide the greatest opportunity for actions and interventions designed for prevention and treatment.

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND INACTIVITY

It is recommended that Americans accumulate at least 30 minutes (adults) or 60 minutes (children) of moderate physical activity most days of the week. More may be needed to prevent weight gain, to lose weight, or to maintain weight loss.
Less than 1/3 of adults engage in the recommended amounts of physical activity.
Many people live sedentary lives; in fact, 40% of adults in the United States do not participate in any leisure time physical activity.
43% of adolescents watch more than 2 hours of television each day.
Physical activity is important in preventing and treating overweight and obesity and is extremely helpful in maintaining weight loss, especially when combined with healthy eating.

*Please see fact sheet "Measuring Overweight and Obesity" for a definition of Body Mass Index (BMI).

53

Staying Awake Or Keeping In A Frenzy?

by AlanF in

we ex-jws know very well how much the watchtower society put us under pressure to believe that "armageddon is just around the corner".

they've been doing it in one form or another ever since charles taze russell began publishing his nonsense.

in 1877 he advocated that true christians should believe that christ would "take them home" in 1878. when that didn't happen he moved the event up to 1881. after that he focused on 1914.. the society is still doing pretty much the same thing, building up expectations and then revising them, decade after decade.

Sam Beli

Thank you, Alan, for your concise narrative.

Warm regards,

Sam

Edited by - Sam Beli on 7 January 2003 11:15:28

10

Link Between Obesity, Premature Death

by Sam Beli in

as a kid growing up in the jw world it always bothered me that the wts placed so little emphasis on obesity when it sought to place so much control on other aspects of the life of the rank-in-file.

personally, i have no use for smoking, but i always thought that being overweight was at least as "bad" as smoking for ones health and i never understood why they ignored (and left in place fat elders) obesity while dfing smokers.

it seemed hypocritical to me; still does.

Sam Beli

As a kid growing up in the JW world it always bothered me that the WTS placed so little emphasis on obesity when it sought to place so much control on other aspects of the life of the rank-in-file. Personally, I have no use for smoking, but I always thought that being overweight was at least as "bad" as smoking for ones health and I never understood why they ignored (and left in place fat elders) obesity while Dfing smokers. It seemed hypocritical to me; still does. Below is evidence that I had a point.

"Study Charts Link Between Obesity, Premature Death

Mon Jan 6, 5:55 PM ET

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Being overweight doesn't only increase the threat of chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension, it can actually rob years from your life, according to a new study released on Monday.

Dutch researchers, examining the medical records of 3,457 U.S. adults who were middle-aged in 1950 found that obesity may shorten life expectancy by a magnitude similar to smoking among people who became obese by the age of 40.

Women who were obese at 40 lost 7.1 years of life, while obese men lost 5.8 years, compared with normal-weight people.

A person is obese when he or she weighs over 20 percent more than maximum healthy body weight.

Study results were worst for obese people who smoked, with obese male smokers losing 13.7 years of life and obese female smokers 13.3 years, compared with normal-weight nonsmokers.

But even nonsmokers who were simply overweight, and not obese, by the age of 40, lived lives that were shorter -- by 3.3 years for women and by 3.1 years for men.

"The smoking epidemic in the western world is waning. However, a new fear should be the increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity in young adults, which heralds another potentially preventable public health disaster," the study's authors warned.

The study, which appeared in the American College of Physicians' Annals of Internal Medicine, surfaces at a time when an increasing number of Americans face weight problems.

Recent studies have shown that up to 64 percent of U.S. adults were overweight and 31 percent obese in 2000, up from 56 percent overweight and 23 percent obese a decade earlier.

The latest study, conducted by researchers from Rotterdam's Erasmus Medical Center and the University of Groningen, was based on the Framingham Heart Study, which provides health information on residents of Framingham, Massachusetts, dating back to 1948.

The research was financed by grants from the Netherlands Heart Foundation and the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research."

2

Blood Factors for Hemophilia Don't Spread Virus

by Sam Beli in

blood factors for hemophilia don't spread virus-cdc.

thu jan 2, 5:15 pm et add health - reuters to my yahoo!

new york (reuters health) - virally inactivated blood products used to treat patients with bleeding problems are unlikely to spread hepatitis, according to a new report from the centers for disease control and prevention (news - web sites) (cdc).

Sam Beli

Hey guys, do you think you will see any reference to this matter in "Awake!" ?

2

Blood Factors for Hemophilia Don't Spread Virus

by Sam Beli in

blood factors for hemophilia don't spread virus-cdc.

thu jan 2, 5:15 pm et add health - reuters to my yahoo!

new york (reuters health) - virally inactivated blood products used to treat patients with bleeding problems are unlikely to spread hepatitis, according to a new report from the centers for disease control and prevention (news - web sites) (cdc).

Sam Beli

Blood Factors for Hemophilia Don't Spread Virus-CDC

Thu Jan 2, 5:15 PM ET Add Health - Reuters to My Yahoo!

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Virally inactivated blood products used to treat patients with bleeding problems are unlikely to spread hepatitis, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (news - web sites) (CDC).

Since 1998, the CDC and roughly 140 federally funded hemophilia treatment centers have monitored the safety of blood products through the Universal Data Collection surveillance project, the CDC's Dr. Anna Kirtava and colleagues note in January 3rd issue of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

The blood of people with hemophilia does not clot properly, putting them at risk of uncontrolled bleeding. Hemophilia patients are treated with concentrates containing factors that help blood clot, which can contain blood donated by many different people. While there were outbreaks of hepatitis and HIV (news - web sites) among people with hemophilia who received such products in the 1970s to early 1990s, manufacturers now use procedures to inactivate any viral material present in blood factor products.

In investigations conducted between May 1998 and June 2002, 1,149 patients with bleeding disorders seroconverted to hepatitis-positive status. This means that their blood went from being free of antibodies to the hepatitis virus to containing these antibodies, but does not necessarily signify infection with the virus. For example, vaccination for hepatitis causes seroconversion.

Importantly, the researchers say, "none of these cases was attributable to blood products received during this time period."

Most seroconversions of hepatitis A virus (HAV) and hepatitis B virus (HBV) could be attributed to vaccination, 99% and 90%, respectively, they report. The remaining seroconversions most likely represented infections from other sources, or "fluctuations in antibody levels" that can occur in people with HIV.

SOURCE: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 2003;51:1152-1154.