Ham

and if you are reading, dear "chef".. I won't say that I don't forgive you for such an atrocity.. but I'm still trying to spit it all out..

Just a wow.. yep.. a diet of balogna, peanut butter. and once the "chef" brought home tripe.

Umm, yes.. And I remember those chairs.. they were old, decrepid.. some falling apart. rusty.. solid METAL. A real "pleasure" for "gawds' people" to sit in, I'm sure, three hours at a shot.. they were the funeral home's LEFTOVERS.. that for some reason, they didn't throw away.. Now what if we couldn't work up a dozen or chairs from the funeral home? Not many more options, other than RENT.. I wonder WHO would have paid.. this organization was so CHEAPSKATE.. I have a few slurs that would describe them, I won't use them here.. but soooooo CHEAP. "The laborerer is worthy of his hire".. not if they have anything to do with it.. they are like capitalism at it's worst.. the absolute cheapest, underhanded, unethical method to get the lowest cost is the ONLY ethic..

I went to the Santa House here with my sweetie's grandkids.. no, I didn't harass them with political or social correctness or anything.. but here we have a couple of kids.. loving parents, a community of support.. not only them, but dozens of families of attentive, loving parents, young children.. and I couldn't get the images out of my mind of kids on the other side of the world.. where parents literally sold them into slavery because they couldn't support them any longer.. what kind of a world are we really building..

later, in the eighties and early nineties we took coffee matters into our own hands.. I took my first plaf class in west virginia in 1974. it was pretty austere.. I was signed up for this thing for almost a year.. paid and all.. the "leadership".. suggested that I and another signee somehow find another five people so that we could run the class.. no kidding.. when I finally got to where a class could run.. it was forty stinking miles away from where I lived.. we commuted.. four nights a week.. to Beckley, WV.. not exactly a "paradise" of sorts.. they ran an audio class, on open reel audio tape. Rich*rd C*nningam was the class coordinator.. and the coffee.. was horrid.. I forgot that part.. the extra chairs from the funeral homes.. yeah, we did that.. they were painted on the bottom with the funeral home's name.. I wonder if any of the students ever looked.. or what they thought.. sheesh.. how cheap can one get.. how many borrowed chairs do seven to ten new students need?

The next exercise in cheapness- branch meetings. I'm certain not all, but the vast majority. Well.. it's time to invite the public, put on the dog.. show people what the ministry has to offer.. at a "bargain" of course. A location would be nice. Well, a free location. If not free.. a community building at a trailer park might suffice for a meeting for forty or so people.. besides, it's CHEAP- if someone in the branch lives in the park. They can get it for maybe twenty or twenty five bucks a night.. same routine, unpaid cigarette butt picker uppers, window cleaners, vacuumers, and chair stringers. A floral display might be appropriate.. show the richness, the pageantry of the event.. the kind of flowers we are talking about.. maybe would cost around $100.00 or so.. let's do it on the CHEAP. Why BUY, when one can make a few phone calls, and work over funeral homes which have no further need for them? They are "kinda' new.. I was "volunteered" to make some of these calls.. the last one.. "ummmm, are you JOKING?" never, never, again..

now you know.. they didn't use 100 % old grounds. about fifty to seventy percent. Sprinkle a few fresh grounds, and a pinch of salt on top.. The instructor didn't see a single dime.. nor the refreshment makers.. nor those who came early to clean the sidewalks and parking lot.. meticulously clean the room.. string chairs.. I think the coffee came out of some kind of branch fund. If I remember correctly, it did NOT come from headquarters.. even the tapes.. I don't think they shipped them ups.. people picked them up from the limb. When vhs was rather archaic, I remember the limb had a machine.. old half inch, commercial tapes and machines.. but after that, you were on your own.. the local area supplied the machines, the televisions, the av equipment.. even at a hundred dollars "donation".. let's say seven new students.. that's just $700.00. If one wanted to run a class in a professional manner.. the money would be gone even before it started.. The only way to make money off of a CHEAP BIBLE class.. turn it into an exercise of cheapness.. with donated labor, stretched coffee, used styrofoam cups.. the quality of the "materials" I got with my first class- paperbacks with glue for bindings.. and a fifteen page binder.. cost? Probably no more than ten bucks.. pretty good "profit" for a "non profit" organization.. they were worse than wallymart cheapness.. at least the poor employess get a (rather small) paycheck..

Well, it wasn't cheapness for EVERYBODY. Some lived in some pretty secluded luxury, in a nice log home in the woods.. all expense trips paid to warm places in the world.. but from the day I got involved.. I observed cheapness that put frugality to shame.. In the first class I took in 1974.. they actually re-used styrofoam coffee cups.. some with lipstick and teeth marks.. and the coffee.. was good the first session. Nice fresh cups.. next session.. it was VERY weak, and had a hint of the taste of salt in it.. the metal chairs looked like they were manufactured in the early fifties.. and it was conducted in a dark, borrowed office.. which for obviously no money changed hands for its use.. the books themselves- cheap. paper back, glued binding, not stitched.. they didn't last two years.. from there it pretty much stayed the same. Cheap. Everything done on less than a shoe-string.. EVERYTHING (almost) was cheap. The tired looking songbooks.. printed, collated, stapled.. no bars in it.. guess they figured we didn't know how to read music or care.. but so second rate. Why couldn't they just publish an honest to god songbook? Like a REAL book? Couldn't afford it? I'm sure people would buy.. maybe they investigated what it would cost to buy real permission to use other people's music.. then there's the stamp issue on another thread..

Nothing but the "best" for "gawd's people".. :biglaugh: I remember the boasting in some kind of historical handout.. how that right after they constructed the mighty "research center" they ran out of room.. not enough room for the thronging masses.. How many thronging masses can you fit in a stinking little NATIONAL HOME? I grew up in one. We had a party with about seventeen or so in it once..

Even the original *historical* BRC was CHEAP.. the lowest price of construction.. required the absolute LEAST amount of "labor" though it was DONATED.. probably the most expensive part of it was pouring the foundation.. un-friggin-believable.. It was a stinking NATIONAL HOME. Prefabricated.. shipped in larger sections.. CHEAP. BARELY a step up from trailer accommodations.. a NATIONAL HOME.. good frigging grief.. came as a KIT.. no intellect required. No measuring.. no cutting..one didn't need even common sense.. simple enough to build, that the likes of uncle howey could do it.. National homes were popular because of the returning soldiers from WWII.. they were SUPPOSED to be a CHEAP, QUICK solution to the housing shortage.. and they weren't intended to last over twenty years.. so.. the most "holy" place on the whole stinking property.. is a NATIONAL HOME..

almost EVERYTHING was "cheap".. the songbooks. Anybody else seemed to have the resources to actually produce a real book.. da way? Noooo. Cut and slash costs.. publish a little stapled, not bound "handout" that they actually CHARGED for.. don't pay anything for publications rights.. I don't think "fair use" exactly applies to wholesale copying, with small changes.. but that didn't stop them from trying. Then having a training program so CHEAP.. that one was indentured to WORK. Yeah.. the "work program".. how many actually got PAID for mucking the pond.. manning the switchboard.. making bless patrol rounds.. so cheap they wouldn't charter a stinking BUS to take participants to lead, etc.. it wasn't about "character building".. I hitchhiked in the early seventies, and I was STILL a doper.. and if you could not survive in the environment of cheapness, and come back in one piece, and ON TIME.. and with the sole twenty bucks you were graciously "blessed" with, for emergencies, you were "screwed".. the only reason one had the cash? There are areas of the country that if one cannot produce evidence of having SOME money.. they will prosecute one for vagrancy. Probably happened once.. and they found it CHEAPER to simply send people with a twenty dollar bill.. I REALLY think it was a ministry of "cheapness".. "what did da word cost YOU?" "not a whole heck of a lot.."

Back in "the day" perhaps we shoulda made the stamp the issue..it was only one small compromise after another. I can already hear the "shoulda could woulda" reply.. but I don't think it fits.. because they won't even get another twenty nine cents out of me, ever again.. or another organization like them. we ate hot dogs and tripe.. and they shook us down for another 29 cents, and a three cent envelope.. and that's just the tip of the iceberg.. the whole organization reeked of cheapness.. I remember an incident.. a WORK CREW.. the guy running it.. he bought them lunch.. about a dozen fifty nine cent burgers from mcdonalds.. and a few fries.. they raked him over the coals.. how DARE he WASTE "god's" money on a ten dollar lunch for a crew of VOLUNTEERS when they could have made twenty-nine cent peanut butter sandwiches.. and they made it sound convincing.. how it's a CRIME to "waste" "god's" money on something so FRIVOLOUS.. the "cheapness" goes on and on.. I remember assignments to go work over local funeral homes for leftover flowers, for meetings.. at the same time, unbknownst to me, those in charge were rolling in bags of cash, living lives of luxury and every whim fulfilled.. it's the same attitude that I see in the big three CEO's.. cut, slash costs, everywhere but "home".. One of the last corps here I knew.. they were FUMING.. absolutey ENRAGED about some kind of new local ordinance.. that would prohibit large meetings in non-commercially zoned neighborhoods.. they had already run numerous meetings.. the house was on a corner.. and the only parking was in a CHUCH about a block and a half away.. yes, they got complaints. Something about way bumper stickers on loads of cars.. honestly, I view the complaints as legitimate. You wouldn't open a shop next door, and expect your neighbor to pay for the water, electricity, gas? What ENRAGED them? Ah.. now we might have to SPEND a little MONEY, to do it "right".. rent a room at holiday inn maybe.. The cheapness in the nineties. and early 2000's.. extended to staffers having to pull their kids from karate, dumping pets God only knows where, no cable tv.. then the no debt issue.. they "encouraged" people to sell their life's dream, of course *we* don't have to say you owe at least ten percent of the proceeds of the sale to da dumb *ministry*, and go rent, and live in cheapness somewhere.. I think it's a ministry of cheapness.. "cheap" classes, "cheap" meetings..

It was pathetic.. I mean, we gave them hundreds and thousands of dollars.. slick vic and company were rich beyond their wildest dreams.. and they STILL hit us up for spare change. like bullies at school trying to shake the last fifty cents out of a kid's pocket.. I'm suprised we didn't have to print up our own blue forms.. we had to hustle every venue one could imagine, to give twi free room and board for branch meetings, classes, etc.. they couldn't offer the consideration of a POSTAGE STAMP.. and figure it in as administrative costs.. they are to "christianity" what walmart is to retail business.. miserable, cheap bastards.. call it whining if you want. I call it indicting..

I dunno.. I think it's a little bit about what one knows as well. Not as in education or talent. More like: the "bullet" knows where a whole heap of figurative dead bodies lie.. and it would not suprise me, if not a few literal dead bodies.. and he probably has the names, addresses and phone numbers of husbands of every lady loy laid his filthy hands on.. probably knows where the possible skimmed resources are hid, knows where all the "safe houses" are.. and likely could give details about current staffers who perhaps at one time shared loy's preclvities. Housekeeper honcho Holly probably has enough documentation about the current pres's alleged proclivities.. Little miss secretary probably could clue people in on the intellectual dishonesty, who actually did loy's and other's "research" .. maybe it's not all of the bigwig staffers.. but I think this is the case for the majority. they did put b*rn*ta out to pasture.. from what I observe, she exhibited good ethics, loving character.. they probably knew it would go against her grain to REALLY stir up any muck.. out she went..

That's why I think they put these characters in charge in some places.. some people have to develop some REAL intellectual and/or moral incompetence to blindly follow orders.. and they WILL comply.. even if the mandates goes morally and common sense wise against what brain that's left.. they do know enough (and likely are reminded on a regular basis) to realize there is really no other place to go. Wife, kids to feed and support.. "leader in a second-rate cult for over twenty years" wouldn't look so good on a resume. I know some who would have to go back to cleaning windows after not having worked an honest days labor for over twenty years.. at fifty some years old, doesn't sound like a lot of fun.. good luck, you might find the competition a little more fierce these days..

looks more like a rough schematic diagram of a multi-level marketing scheme.. if I remember correctly.. the "in cooperation with" indicated that there was a two-way flow of "resources" between twigs and the root.. through the respective structure of course. so.. what did the branch actually contribute, other than a few bible teachings and barking orders? and rather heavy hands on training to help one SELL the product? most twig coordinator meetings I remember.. about 75 percent of the time was spent on who's doing what.. who's been "witnessed" to.. who's following up.. brief anecdotes of individual's successful sells.. refining witnessing techniques.. and if one was not getting "results".. why not? Continual failure to produce for a planned class was pretty bad news.. much like an amway or shaklee meeting in the early seventies. If one could not sell enough soap, "they" really didn't have much use for you..

I dunno.. I left this place for about a year, and for what I thought good reason.. sad thing is.. a dear friend here passed away and I never had the chance to say goodbye.. I think we "hit it off" on an innocent, yet twisted manner.. God bless you brother. I hope I can carry on some of his comic "good cheer".. :)

some of us didn't even have cars.. I didn't have one until about four years later either.. couldn't afford it.. some promise of material "abundance".. not complaining.. those are just the facts of the case..

I view it as one last shakedown of "believers".. for a stinking envelope, and a friggin twenty-nine cent stamp.. after giving one's shirt, they nickeled and dimed us, to DEATH.. oh, they did send out the anniversary envelopes for one to contribute over and above for ministry "holidays".. send money in one of them? You would DEFINITELY be noticed if the customary amount didn't go in the horn that week. But no stamp on it or prepayed.

I do the same that I can.. I'm not looking to get rich.. no thanks.. it would just be something else some poor soul would covet.. some of it is about *me*.. about one tenth of one percent.. I think.. if someone doesn't want to cover my back, they don't want to cover theirs..

maybe in their own *little* minds.. practical error was homosexuality. How one can go from rampant sex (it'd be too legalistic to try to regulate it) to adultery (only if the ends justify the means.. serve the MOGSTER for christ's sake.. or at least be quiet about it..) to another sexual act.. which is "my gawd.. debils from hell.." I mean.. isn't the line rather arbitrarily drawn?

so.. was sex before marriage practical error? the answer I perceived.. "well.. it'd be legalistic.. we can't say.." how about adultery? "well.. It'd be legalistic.. we can't exactly say.." they finally drew the line at beastiality the last I heard.. long after I left.

Yeah.. he said it. But it is so vague.. did they EVER define what they would consider practical error? or was it left so vague, that one could simply fill in the blanks? "well.. it's not *doing* da word.." such as? Generalities may be necessary .. but eventually people need a few specifics and concrete examples if one has any hope of connecting with them in a real genuine manner.. All I ever saw was a set of vague generalities..

I dunno.. the local radio club.. has about ten thousand in assets.. no, we don't "throw it away".. there's a certain amount that we really NEED to keep on hand in case we need to replace the repeater we support.. but I don't think we are greedy by any stretch of the imagination. There have been a few multi-thousand dollar projects that really deserve support.. so what do we do.. tell them "go to hell"? No.. it passed club VOTE. we do more good with the few thousand we've been "blessed" with.. than twi has any claims of doing with MILLIONS in a lifetime..

the way I'm starting to think.. 55 million.. is SMALL POTATOS compared to any real legitimate busniess or organization.. they are so SMALL.. but still it's like.. *they* have been given the brief "opportunity" (gag, excuse me..) to actually do what's right with it.. maybe even do something "big".. they think it is so BIG.. but it is so small.. in reality, it is NOTHING.. just numbers on a register somewhere.. the value of which is subject to the whims of whoever is a heck of a lot bigger than they.. does this make sense, or am I just rambling?