TerryWalstrom
JoinedPosts by TerryWalstrom
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35
What Would Happen if the Watchtower Loses Their TAX EXEMPT STATUS?
by John Aquila inwould it really affect them?
how would it affect volunteers at any construction project since that work would now be taxable.
any materials they buy would be taxable.
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35
What Would Happen if the Watchtower Loses Their TAX EXEMPT STATUS?
by John Aquila inwould it really affect them?
how would it affect volunteers at any construction project since that work would now be taxable.
any materials they buy would be taxable.
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TerryWalstrom
The Internal Revenue Service is the sole determiner of which 'religious' organization rises (or lowers) to their arbitrary, capricious and whimsical standards.
Let me answer your query directly. If the IRS refuses to disallow SCIENTOLOGY as a tax exempt religion, they sure aren't going to touch the Watchtower.
Of course, there were a whole battleground of lawsuits against the IRS by Scientology behind this which I won't go into here and now--but, the individual agents who work there know what power can be wielded by a crazy group of cultists. They're still licking their wounds.
The Watchtower and its multiple corporations would have their little white belly turned upward and exposed to ravenous predators should they lose exempt status. But--look at all those insane Pentecostal TV preachers who were investigated awhile back; none of them lost exemption. It's all smoke and mirrors.
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109
The Confederate Flag
by Simon inthe latest controversy over the confederate flag just sums up to me the state of dysfunction that exists in american society.. in summary: a white supremacist nutter shoots 9 black people dead in a church.
he's clearly inspired by the messages of others which the confederate flag is often a symbol of.. it seems like a no-brainer to remove it.
not only isn't it removed, it isn't even lowered at all as a mark of respect.. and of course now there are the people who want to defend their right to have it.
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TerryWalstrom
Have you ever seen a young person with pink hair?
Same thing. No, really.
If you pay absolutely no attention, they lose energy.
The power to provoke controversy is bestowed by those who are offended.
Taking the bait of a Master Baiter is impossible for some persons to resist :)
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109
The Confederate Flag
by Simon inthe latest controversy over the confederate flag just sums up to me the state of dysfunction that exists in american society.. in summary: a white supremacist nutter shoots 9 black people dead in a church.
he's clearly inspired by the messages of others which the confederate flag is often a symbol of.. it seems like a no-brainer to remove it.
not only isn't it removed, it isn't even lowered at all as a mark of respect.. and of course now there are the people who want to defend their right to have it.
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TerryWalstrom
I'm old enough to have absorbed quite a bit of pre-1960's white culture in the South while simultaneously having been reared by my grandparents and great-grandmother.
In order to help you comprehend the Southern mindset, I have to begin with the premise that much of America was settled by very determined, hard-headed, no-nonsense, under-educated people with a Do-or-Die attitude. So many people, such as my great-grandmother faced death and privations in everyday life. My Great-grandmother told me of her family's move from Tennessee to Texas in a covered wagon, in her words: "Chased by bloodthirsty savages whooping war cries" along the way.
To present day folks, this is not a politically correct phraseology!
Native Americans are seen today as simply as stone age aborigines dispossessed by white people. To my Great-grandmother, they were terrifying murderers hellbent on her destruction.
Now, what does all that have to do with the Confederate Flag, you may well ask?
The deeply ingrained attitude of black and white, life or death, right or wrong stemmed primarily from US or THEM. It was a no-brainer.This is reflected in our old friend, George Bush's famous words: "If you're not with us, you're against us."
Survival was the only real truth. There were no social or political niceties in the South.
People sized you up at a glance and formed a rock hard opinion at the get-go.
Remember that . . . it will help us later.
Confederate States consisted of a mixed bag of diverse people who hated Northern politicians. Southerners were a pre-technology people and they looked upon their slaves as human farming equipment--no more and no less. The fact that they looked human could have quickly made it impossible for decent, god-fearing Christians to treat them so inhumanly--IF it weren't for the fact Southern preachers disabused them of that notion.
Not only were blacks the beneficiaries of a curse placed on Noah's son Canaan, but God actually approved of slavery. So--what's to lament?
Northern industrialist city-slickers were trying to horn in and force genteel Southern folks to--in effect--get rid of their farming equipment! HOW DARE THEY!
Beginning to get the picture?
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When I was a child, I saw red-neck men everywhere and I deeply feared them. They had their sleeves rolled high, they cussed, they treated their wife like shit and were damned well not going tolerate anybody telling them what to do. They worshipped Jesus Christ, loved their shotgun (which rode just behind their head on a rack in the ever-present pickup truck--and would be quick to condemn Yankees as worse than rats spreading the plague.
Where did this attitude come from?
Easy--from their Daddy and his daddy before him.
When the South lost the Civil War for real--it did NOT PENETRATE the cognitive dissonance of these stubborn jackasses!
"THE SOUTH SHALL RISE AGAIN!"
This still holds in much of the state of Texas, for sure.
What other war in history is RE-FOUGHT every year in perpetuity by grown men dressed up in uniforms on a 'sacred battleground' like Little Round Top and Gettysburg?
Why?
They just won't face reality: the old ways of Southern charm and comfort are gone with the wind.
Southern men had privilege. They were each the king of his own castle. Each man's world was ideal (for him.) Little boys grew up next to their Redneck Dad watching him and listening to him pontificate on "Right and Wrong." It was a deepset bond.
Fortunately, I did not grow up with a Dad in my household. So, I escaped this plague of 'culture'. But, I'm here to explain it to you today.
In the very same way Jehovah's Witnesses cannot open their mind to any idea which does not make them the ONLY TRUE religion--Southerners in the U.S. cannot abide giving up their Confederate Flag symbol of hard-headed, never-say-die insanity.
How bad is this attitude today? In Fort Worth where I live, only men over the age of 65 secretly express these views. These are the Fox News constituency. They dare not say any of this aloud--only privately.
Texas, Georgia, North and South Carolina and other southern states--depending on the heritage of Father/Son--are the seedbed for Confederate obstinancy.
When men my age die off--so too will this mindset.
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6
James Horner dies
by Xanthippe ini'm shocked to hear that composer james horner has been killed in a plane crash aged 61. so many film scores, titanic, avatar, braveheart, field of dreams, aliens, cocoon, patriot games, bicentennial man, star trek iii: the search for spock, sneakers, batteries not included, the name of the rose and many, many more.
a genius who will be sadly missed.
he gave us so much beautiful music..
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TerryWalstrom
THIS IS A WONDERFUL GLIMPSE into the frustration, pressure and impossibility of pleasing James Cameron.
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6
James Horner dies
by Xanthippe ini'm shocked to hear that composer james horner has been killed in a plane crash aged 61. so many film scores, titanic, avatar, braveheart, field of dreams, aliens, cocoon, patriot games, bicentennial man, star trek iii: the search for spock, sneakers, batteries not included, the name of the rose and many, many more.
a genius who will be sadly missed.
he gave us so much beautiful music..
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6
James Horner dies
by Xanthippe ini'm shocked to hear that composer james horner has been killed in a plane crash aged 61. so many film scores, titanic, avatar, braveheart, field of dreams, aliens, cocoon, patriot games, bicentennial man, star trek iii: the search for spock, sneakers, batteries not included, the name of the rose and many, many more.
a genius who will be sadly missed.
he gave us so much beautiful music..
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TerryWalstrom
James Horner came along and broke into film scoring by delivering A-list music for bargain basement prices.
Roger Corman, the stingy, independent B-movie mogul, hired Horner to score Humanoids from the Deep and Battle Beyond the Stars for a laughably tiny budget. What Horner delivered made everybody in Hollywood sit up and take notice!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mSgqMOKJho&list=PLH9C08qrQ7S4Vc1KhlqijNh137diNhJ42__________________________________
In a mere 2 year's time, Horner was given the opportunity to score big budget films such as STAR TREK II THE WRATH OF KHAN, KRULL, and BRAINSTORM, COCOON. He became a celebrated A-list composer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_xN0LOLG3I
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Teaming up with the legendary film Director James Cameron (a notorious slave-driver and perfectionist) James Horner produced a mammoth score to a ground-breaking Sci-Fi flick; ALIENS. Horner swore he'd never work with James Cameron again because it had almost killed him:)
A few years passed and Cameron came around to call, resulting in the international, runaway hit film
TITANIC which sold 27 million soundtrack albums and netted Horner 2 Academy Awards.
Again with Cameron, AVATAR joined the list of films ranked as the biggest box-office hits of all time.
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What James Horner could be counted on to deliver was emotionally moving, melodic film scores which could change gears and knock the audience over backwards. Wildly diverse subjects and styles soon followed.
WILLOW, FIELD OF DREAMS, HONEY--I SHRUNK THE KIDS, GLORY, THE ROCKETEER, PATRIOT GAMES, LEGENDS OF THE FALL, A BEAUTIFUL MIND
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For Mel Gibson's directorial debut, James Horner composed BRAVEHEART. Once again, the musical core of the emotion fully embodied a robust and unashamedly romantic film brilliantly illustrated by the orchestra.
And on. . . and on. . .
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My personal favorite among Horner's excellent film scores is THE ROCKETEER. In my opinion, it combines everything an exciting adventure should contain musically.
The orchestrations, arrangements, dynamics and performance of this music is brilliant in every way.
It begins with the wonderful theme expressed by piano and blossoms and develops from there by adding more and more instruments. About the 2:00 minute mark, Horner cranks it up and adds shimmering excitement with horns and violins. Soon, the entire ensemble begins exchanging melodic fragments and tossing them back and forth as each instrument group gets to have its say. The snare drums set the rhythm and the entire ensemble takes flight. The volume drops and a build up to the restatement of the countermelody in the French Horns is punctuated by rapid violin and xylophone scales until the safe landing.
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Most film music today avoids a strong melodic theme, instead relying on percussion and meandering chords.
I find it unimaginative and the sameness of one score compared with another is almost laughable--like a rubber stamp marked: action music.
I was deeply saddened by this 61-year-old composer's sudden death while flying his single-engine propeller airplane.
He had another two decades worth of genius to give all of us, as John Williams continues to provide. It is a tragic loss and I for one physically feel the loss.
I just wanted to chime in and publicly thank him for his work and bid him a fond farewell.
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13
Two creation stories in the bible, why have I never noticed this??
by purrpurr ini'm reading a very interesting book right now "your god is too small" by the atheist republic.
it makes the point that there are two creation accounts in the bible!.
in one humans are created after the animals in the second humans are created before the animals.
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TerryWalstrom
When the Jews were taken captive to Babylon, the population was split apart physically. The ones carried off were the 'important' and influential families into captivity. Those left behind continued as best they could.
Now here is where a very interesting phenomenon occurred. The Jews carried off to Babylon ended up living among the Babylonians and starting their life anew. They likely clung as best they could to their traditional ways, customs, traditions, stories and worldview as long as possible. But, new generations were born under Babylonian culture, folklore, social institutions, literature, and general understanding of the Universe.
For all practical purposes, over a period of 70 years, lots of children were born into and absorbed by Babylonian culture much as Latino babies become Americanized when born into American culture.
Now notice!
When the Jews were released to go back and rebuild, they met up with the old Jews left behind and their children. A CLASH of cultures was inevitable!
The Bible stories were told DIFFERENTLY by the former captives because they had taken on Babylonian 'flavor'. So, who was going to be regarded as having the CORRECT story?
NOTE: In order to offend as few people as possible, the Old Testament included BOTH VERSIONS of several key stories into the text. There are two versions of creation, two versions of Noah's saga, etc.
These actually are two completely DIFFERENT tellings of legends and hand-me-down tales.
In one version, Noah took 7 of the clean animals, and 2 of the unclean.
So, the answer to your question is simple: the compiler of tales was trying to keep the peace. -
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Two creation stories in the bible, why have I never noticed this??
by purrpurr ini'm reading a very interesting book right now "your god is too small" by the atheist republic.
it makes the point that there are two creation accounts in the bible!.
in one humans are created after the animals in the second humans are created before the animals.
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TerryWalstrom
https://culturalstudies101.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/friedman_who-wrote-the-bible.pdf
This is a fine book with specific, scholarly information which will answer your question precisely.
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RULES FOR (APOSTATE) RADICALS---ARE YOU LISTENING, WATCHTOWER?
by TerryWalstrom in.......................are you listening, watchtower?this is a time for revolution and not revelation!you claim revelation, but we claim revolution.
it shall be a quiet, methodical, and--above all--effective revolution against your revelation.. 1. know the difference between being realistic rather than being rhetorical.. _______________________.
to be effective, you must give full respect to your audience's values or else you shut down their ability to hear and listen.
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TerryWalstrom
The biggest obstacle to an effective insurgency is JW's have no say in their system. So, you can't very well create a voting block to change policy. You can only pick them off one by one. And even those who are vulnerable to 'waking up' are usually showing signs of 'spiritual sickness' which makes them targets for intimidation by Elders.
The disaffected group meeting at Bethel (in the Ray Franz era) triggered an Inquisition and purge. Even after all subsequent fallout, the only consequence was a ratcheting down. The Org became paranoid and oppressive.
But, it's good to have a checklist of strategies if you encounter a JW (as I did) who has been beaten down to the point they can smell that something is wrong and have become curios to what is behind the curtain.