I certainly hope this terrible incident changes some laws. Basically I think a lot of these eldery people who still drive are in denial that they are 'old' and think they still have the same energy, reflexes, and alertness that they did when they were younger, not to mention that the it's probably all to easy for them to keep a drivers license. If it was one of my loved ones who died there I would probably be suing the State of California.
El Cid
JoinedPosts by El Cid
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16
Oh my God!! 8 people killed in Santa Monica farmers market
by Dogpatch inoccasionally i go with friends to visit the santa monica farmer's market, and it is a good area to hang out in the summer in the evening.
some 80 year old man just plowed through the crowd in a car for 2.5 blocks and ran over 8 people, injuring about 30+ others.
a two-year old baby was killed.
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famous jehovahs witnesses
by Rush inthis is my first post.. when i was still a witness myself, there were some perennial stories regarding 'famous' jehovahs witnesses or ex's.
does anyone know any truth or have any proof about the following: hank marvin, cliff richard and more importantly, the man who hit the gong in the 'rank' movies?.
if you have anyone of note you want to tell me about, i'd most appreciate it too.. cheers, rush.
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El Cid
Theresa Graves - but I believe she died not too long ago in a fire.
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Did You Put Off Saving For Retirement?
by Shakita ini didn't think that i would ever retire in this system of things.
i felt that long before retirement age the new system would be here and i would have no money worries.
as the years rolled by and i didn't have any thing saved for retirement, i became more and more anxious.
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El Cid
I didn't start saving for my retirement until I was in my 30's, but fortunately I still have some time on my side and have been making up for the lost years. But I didn't think of doing this until I saw what happened to my parents (both fanatical Witnesses). They, like so many others, thought they would never reach retirement age 'in this sytem' and that the 'New Order' would be here by 1985, or 1991, or 'in the next 5 years', or whatever, etc. So my father never put any money into any 401K plan, they borrowed money on all the equity they had in their home (to buy new cars, vacations, who knows what else), and cashed out their life insurance policy. Well, the years went by and no 'Armageddon', so my father had to keep working way past retirement age until basically he was too old and nobody would hire him (he was 72 by then). So he was forced to retire - no 401K, no pension plan, no savings. All he had was Social Security which wasn't enough to pay their mortgage and other loans they took out (my mother who was in ill health was working as a house cleaner but her income didn't help much). So their home was foreclosed on (which of course ruined their A1 credit) and they moved into an apartment that they could barely afford (my mother kept working). Not long after that my father died of cancer and left my mother with no money or life insurance benefit, so now my mother only receives a percentage of my father's SS benefits (about $890/month) and she still has to work. A very sad story indeed, and yes, I do feel that WT teachings are partly to blame, but so were my parents - they should have had more sense to save for their future regardless of what anybody (or any WT article) told them.
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What's your best day of the week?
by JH inwe always say the week end are the nicest days of the week, cause most of us are off.
but other than that, what is your nicest day of the week and for what reason?
i always liked mondays and wednesdays and fridays because there were no meetings on these days.. how about for partying, drinking and having fun, which night did you rather?
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El Cid
Any day I'm not working!
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Test Your Movie Knowledge Here
by ThiChi in.
a test of your movie knowledge:.
from what movie did the line "klaatu barada nikto" come from, and who was it addressed to?
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El Cid
I have too many SciFi favorites, but Blade Runner and Aliens (sequel to Alien) are definately up there!
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meetings
by GirlOnFence inhow many of you, go to the occasional meeting?
i no longer believe any of the things i was raised to believe... but for some reason i still go to the occasional meeting and i even went to the special assembly last weekend (even though i got there after lunch).
i guess it will take a while to completely break away but i was wondering if anyone else is in this situation.
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El Cid
I had given up being a JW and stopped attending meetings close to 3 years ago, but since my wife is still a Witness I still attend the memorial with her (just to be supportive, nothing more than that).
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Does anyone remember the WT or Awake which condemned the movie ET?
by berylblue ini distinctly remember a paragraph stating that persons needed to turn to christ, not et, or something like that.
it was hilarious.
i thought at the time, "this is pathetic, acting as though a fictional character poses a threat to jesus".
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El Cid
This is also off-topic, but as long as we are talking about John Lennon...I swear that years ago I once saw photo of Lennon reading a copy of either the WT or Awake magazine. Has anyone else ever seen this?
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JW singles? Check this out
by jwbot ini found a jw singles group on msn groups!
hilarious!
http://groups.msn.com/jehovahswitnesssingles/home.htm
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El Cid
There's another one called www.jwmatch.com - almost looks like a commercial dating Web site!
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Wacko Talks
by gitasatsangha inshare one of the odder/funnier talks you've heard (where the manuscript went out the window, along with any degree of decorum, preferably).
one time a brother had a 15 minute part and he spoke very calmly and relaxed.
he smiled all the time, but the part seemed aimless.
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El Cid
I remember years back (1985?) the CO came to our hall (think his name was Mckinney - old, crusty, and grumpy). Anyway, he gave a talk about marrige and flat out said that you should not be getting married if you do not plan to have children. At one point he fanatically threw up his arms and stated "If you're a married couple and you're not having children, then why did you get married for in the first place? For Sex?". I couldn't believe what I was hearing! Not long afterwards I talked to an elder in the hall about that talk saying that I felt the CO was completely in the wrong, nor was there any scriptural basis for his statements. Of course the elder didn't see it my way and basically said "Well, that's what the CO is here for, to 'step on a few toes' when needed". I was thoroughly disgusted, and apparently so were others.
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(Post has been corrected!) Suppose you don't WANT a JW funeral?!?
by razorMind ini have been to a couple of funerals recently (both of relatives who've never been jw's; however married to jw spouses) and have been appalled, absolutely appalled at how the wishes of the deceased have been ignored and horned in on by jw drivel/dogma.. .
the most recent funeral was for a relative who didn't even believe in god (was never a jw), but the jw spiel droned on for so long that the deceased's own "worldly" siblings were glancing at their watches in disbelief.
one of the siblings had a speech at the funeral ceremony, and was very touching and heartfelt in talking about the deceased's life, but then a jw relative had a speaking part too, and lost everyone from that point on.
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El Cid
My personal experience with JW funerals is like this: My father passed away 6 years ago (was an elder in his hall). I, at the time of his death, was considering leaving the organization (I've been out now for about 4 years). Anyway, when he died we made arrangements for his services at the hall with one of the local elders giving his 'memorial' talk. I was reluctant and wanted a 'normal' service at a funeral home, but I was out-numbered at the time (my wife was and still is a Witness and so is my mother). Anyway, about the talk the elder gave - he spent about 3 minutes talking about my father (mostly just factual stuff like his date of birth/death, surviving children, etc.) and the rest of his talk was basically just a plug for the Watchtower Soceity! I was so upset! I loved my Dad dearly and wanted his services to be touching to all who attended - instead I came out of there feeling like I had just been to one those 'special' talks where at the end they try to get non-JWs to start a free bible study (execpt this part lasted 30+ minutes). I remember weeks later (when helping my mother put much of my father's things in storage) I went through his pile of WS materials for elders found a document from that gave basic instructions on how to give a 'memorial' talk for a deceased one (something my father did from time to time when he was alive). I browsed through the document and I remember it saying something to the effect that very little time should be spent on talking about the deceased and that the main focus of the talk is to speak of the 'resurrection' (i.e. Watchtower plug) and that no eulogizing is to be done by anyone. So my advice? If you want to have nice services for you loved ones when they go do it at a convential funeral home or chapel!