This discussion reminds me of a lot of what I've been reading about the Republican party and its need to reinvent itself after the drubbing it received in this last election.
With its appeal to Christian fundamentalists, its high level anti-evolutionists (three of the Republican presidential candidates expressed their lack of belief in evolution; and Sarah Palin of course!), and the right wing screaming heads on tv and talk radio - the Republican Party has painted itself as the party of ignorance, fear mongering, racial baiting and anti-science and anti-education.
It won't survive if it remains so, and many members of the party realize that.
As several posters here have already noted, many of the creationists and anti-evolutionists fail to take the time to actually understand the science that they are attacking - and therefore come up again and again with the same. lame arguments. Those arguments have been soundly defeated, and it makes the people who use them seem ignorant.
I wonder how long it will take for science and rationality to win the day here in America? It seems it already has in Europe and much of Asia, but here in the US we seem to still have such huge segment of the population who are ignorant of science and critical thinking skills.
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Seeker4
JoinedPosts by Seeker4
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98
Another fossil link found
by Caedes inhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7736786.stm.
the earliest turtles known to live in water have been discovered on a scottish island.. the 164 million-year-old reptile fossils were found on a beach in southern skye, off the uk's west coast.
the new species forms a missing link between ancient terrestrial turtles and their modern, aquatic descendants.
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Seeker4
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Seeker4
Yeah. It's weird. I've been shunned most obviously by a couple of the weakest Witnesses in my old congregation, people that I had really helped in the past. Right now my daughter and son in law are not returning calls, e-mails, etc. That hurts. S4
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98
Another fossil link found
by Caedes inhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7736786.stm.
the earliest turtles known to live in water have been discovered on a scottish island.. the 164 million-year-old reptile fossils were found on a beach in southern skye, off the uk's west coast.
the new species forms a missing link between ancient terrestrial turtles and their modern, aquatic descendants.
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Seeker4
Because evolution is a constant process, we're all essentially "links."
Also something creationists can't wrap their minds around.
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Should Marijuana Possession Be Decriminalized If Under An Ounce?
by minimus inin massachusetts, possession of pot, if under an ounce will only get you a fine, under a new law.. some say this will send the wrong message about illegal drug use.
(personally, i don't imbibe but i know many that do).
so, do you think allowing this law to pass will bring about more illegal drug use?.
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Seeker4
Wow, BTS and I are in total agreement.
Decriminalize pot. Period. It will save us billions just in the law enforcement and prison costs, and will likely not make much of a difference in how many people use it.
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Obama Wins
by drew sagan inthey threw the kitchen sink at this guy and he still came through victorious.
i'm most curious at where the republican party goes from here.
it will be interesting.
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Seeker4
The socialism for the wealthy Republican Party needs to get the hell out of town.
Sarah Palin is the old Republican Party that was mortally wounded yesterday. She needs to disappear from the political scene and stick to shooting moose.
McCain, the old John McCain that spoke so eloquently last night, needs to lead a new Republican Party that will work shoulder to shoulder with the new administration to solve our nation's problems in the best way possible for everyone - not just for the superrich.
I think the naysayers will find that Barak Obama is much more a centrist and consensus finder than the half-truths of this campaign were screaming about.
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DA on Sunday, Announced on Tuesday
by passwordprotected inas you may be aware, my wife and i dad ourselves on sunday afternoon.
it was announced to our old congregation last night (tuesday).
it will apparently be announced to their sister congregation tomorrow (thursday).. .
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Seeker4
If you DAed, why would they wait on the announcement?
DAing is your decision. It doesn't have to be OKed by the Branch!
If you were DFed, they'd give you a week to appeal the judicial committee's decision before they announced it. But of course an appeal doesn't apply in any way to your own decision to DA yourself, so your decision to DA would be announced at the next Service Meeting, which I assume was Tuesday.
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When is the Annual Report out???????
by The Scotsman inhello everyone.. its been a while since i posted here - i do pop in now and then to catch up on the latest scandal / news.. i was wondering if the latest annual report is out yet and if not, when is it out?
must be soon surely!!!.
i am hoping to see a global demise of the wtbts - this is perhaps unlikely.
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Seeker4
The Service Year runs from September to August, so we are almost two full months in tot the new, 2009 service year.
I think it's correct that the 2008 figures ought to be in the Feb. WT. Used to come out in January, as I remember, but they've moved it. Also should be in the 2009 Yearbook.
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Just remembered: Oct. 26, 1963, I was baptized. I was 11!!
by Seeker4 inwow.
it was 45 years ago yesterday that i was baptized a jw.
back when you weren't baptized to an organization.. i was 11. went to a circuit assembly in massachusetts with another jw family (circuit ma #3 at the time), and honest to god, we stayed at the pioneer motel!.
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Seeker4
Thanks for the responses, and thanks for the reminder of how close that was JFK's assassination. I'd forgotten that.
I remember the Kennedy assassination well. That week I was with my step-dad and a bunch of guys at a deer hunting camp in central Vermont. I'd never put the two dates closely together before like that.
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Greater Boston Meetup? Anyone up for one?
by coffee_black inthought i'd throw this out there... anyone interested?
i'm thinking maybe mid november?.
coffee .
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Seeker4
MId-November may not work, but I'd love to see all you folks again, and meet DocBob. we've e-mailed and talked on the phone, but you were a major factor in my leaving the JWS.
CB - howdy!
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Just remembered: Oct. 26, 1963, I was baptized. I was 11!!
by Seeker4 inwow.
it was 45 years ago yesterday that i was baptized a jw.
back when you weren't baptized to an organization.. i was 11. went to a circuit assembly in massachusetts with another jw family (circuit ma #3 at the time), and honest to god, we stayed at the pioneer motel!.
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Seeker4
Wow. It was 45 years ago yesterday that I was baptized a JW. Back when you weren't baptized to an organization.
I was 11. Went to a circuit assembly in Massachusetts with another JW family (Circuit MA #3 at the time), and honest to god, we stayed at The Pioneer Motel!
Baptized in a makeshift pool built in a half constructed, unheated Kingdom Hall - at the end of October. As you can imagine, it was COLD!
The family I went with, the parents are dead. They'd been like my own mom and dad at times. The youngest son, probably 8 then, is now an elder in his mid-50s in my old congregation. He came to my house a few years ago, with the CO, to try to get me to DF myself.
When he sees me, he still says hi. I remember his dad giving him a spanking because he was crying one night when we were supposed to be asleep in a VW bus while camping at a Circuit Assembly in the early 60s. We were so small, we could sleep crosswise in a VW bus!!
I was the best man at his wedding, and he was in mine a few years earlier. When his dad died, and then when his mom was dying, they were living in Florida. Even though I was no longer attending meetings, his mom called me and we talked both times. She'd been like a mom to me, and as hard assed as I was, I cried in both conversations. I remember her feeding me great German food when I was 19 and living on $5 a week for food, and his dad teaching me about graphic design and a love of books, passions he'd had before he became a Witness, and they were simply the children of German immigrants trying to escape the ravages of WW II while making a new life in New York City.
People wonder sometimes why someone can't just leave the Witnesses and never look back. For a lot of us, it's just not that simple. There is so much of our history wrapped up in that experience.
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