Ham

Or even to have a job, that there is at least an INKLING of a hope that one day, many years from now, you may actually be able to RETIRE. The way I see it, there were only three jobs in the whole joint that could be enjoyed in an "emeritus" fashion. Now there are five.

Or even to have a REAL job, that: You wouldn't get raked over hot coals, for calling in sick because you had the stinking flu and 104 deg temperature. Even more than once a year. That you would work your forty hours, go home, enjoy your family with NO OTHER OBLIGATIONS. No other after hour responsablilities to "da boss". A job that, in between handling mountains of paperwork, you are not required to clean the parking lot, which has been assaulted with large oil leaks from the typical follower's cars. A job that, you are not "reamed a couple of new ones" for merely disagreeing with the boss. To have a job, that there is actually a small hope of self-improvement, or advancement. That you could make an income, sufficient to rent or buy a place, so you can go home and relax or sleep, somewhere other than WHERE YOU WORK. Personally, I really like the work that I do, but enough is enough.. Honestly- when I am tempted to think life is unkind, unfair, to complain about my job, I stop and think. It could be a LOT worse. I could have been on staff at HQ.

My impression is that he wanted all the benefits of being da driver of da coach without any of the responsabilities.

That's not too bad. Sometimes, I forget what I come into a room to look for. I often have to go back out and in several times in the hopes of jarring my memory of what it was I was supposed to remember. I wonder what the neighbors think..

Or it could be the icons got mixed up with all of those darn herbal viagra emails out there in cyber-space.. They probably decided to violate their weekly schedule, and take a detour without travelling by two's through hotmail or something. Internet debils got em, real good..

Maybe Paw is putting fertilizer on them..

Yep. Or wouldn't it be nice- to be able to make a stop, an UNSCHEDULED stop, ANYWHERE. Honestly. The devil is not lurking behind McDonald's, whispering and gesturing to you to deviate from your scheduled flight path, into the ravening bowels of destruction. Believe me. I've been there hundreds of times, without a schedule, and GASP! BY MYSELF. Haven't got jumped by devils, at least to this day. Maybe Ronald McDonald is hanging out behind there waiting for some poor sap, but I've never seen devils. How childish, to treat grown adults like that.. And very very sad.

Or to be able to spend more than ten hours a week with your favorite hobby. Naw, just dreaming I guess..

Wouldn't it be nice: Just to ENJOY LIFE. No guilt about it. Really. Just to be able to do something for the community, and not have the haunting thought that you are contributing to a "second rate cause". Maybe just to have the pleasure of taking a few college science classes and learning how the universe REALLY works, or at least the best that is known for now..

Even from a pessimistic "what if" attitude: what if: You lose your job. Well, if you are on track with today's work skills, that should be no problem. Unless you've been "busy" kissing TWI's backsides on some "cushy" staff job for years- then you are in for some real trouble.. What if the economy goes completely to pot. So what? If the economy went completely "south", either way, if you rent, or if you are buying, you're still gonna be in a heap of crap. Is that what they are really making people afraid of? The possibility of NOT being able to meet their obligations? I think it boils down to TWI's "greatest enemy"- fear.

Well, now that you ask.. "Forced sex" Deuteronomy 22: 28 If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found; 29 Then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife; because he hath humbled her, he may not put her away all his days. Where does the woman have any say in this, AT ALL? Can't imagine what it would be like to be married to the jerk that "laid hold on her".. "abandonment of one's children.." Deuteronomy 21: 18 ¶ If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: 19 Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; 20 And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard. 21 And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear. I would call that abandonment, to the extreme. "justification of the destroying of ones brother" Deuteromy 6: 6 ¶ If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers; 7 Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; 8 Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him: 9 But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. Not that I necessarily approve of worshipping other gods, but there it is.. Forced abortion, justification of covering up felonies, forced divorces- I think the other themes were contrived out of the bible by evil men. But back to the subject at hand. Myself, I would offer no opinion or criticism about anything Harry Potter. I never read the books, I never saw the movies. I could not give an honest assessment, nor would I by default agree with one that had any particular religious axe to grind. No fascination with Harry for me.

Honestly, I pity the poor devils.. I like that term. Its so, un-Wayish. Staffers just gotta suffer for the lord, I guess..

Mud slinging party? Naw. More like "food fight!" This is a Cafe, after all.

Wouldn't it be nice.. To enroll your child in a karate, or dance class, or music lessons.. To be able to disagree with your employer, about ANYTHING. To be able to study the Bible, on your own. To be able to spend what little money you have, as YOU see fit. To be able to spend Thanksgiving, with your own family. Just to be able to take your family, put them in YOUR car, and take them out for a nice, unscheduled ride in the country on a nice, Sunday afternoon..

Cripe, these aren't even HALF of the freedoms outside of the Gulag called The Way International. Not even half.

To live in a REAL house. Not the paper thin walls of founders hall, or in a defunct trailer.. To go on a honest to goodness, real, old fashioned VACATION. Even for just a whole week. No strings, no obligations, maybe even just BY YOURSELF. No reporting to superiors where you're going, who's going with you, who you are going to talk to, what you are going to talk about, just telling them when you are leaving, and when you are coming back. To have no extra demands on your time and talents, past a normal forty hour work week. To be able to have kids, without a committee deciding when and if you can. To have a few stinking pets. Maybe just a dog, or a cat.. To be able to spend a decent amount of time with relatives, who are not involved in da Vey, without close scrutiny from your superiors. To be able to just go to the bathroom without signing out on some dreaded form. To have sex with your spouse, when and if you and he/she sees fit. To have cable or satellite TV. To have just a FEW guarantees in life.

Nice how the "pick and choose" what they want. What about "the laborer is worthy of his hire" and "thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn"? They have violated the mandate of love, even in the law, for so many years, I would say enough is enough. Let the "unbelievers" court system have em. What can they do? Fire every stinking staffer and start over? Have Li**er run every one of them out on a rail? I think not. It would be a public relations nightmare and black eye worse than anything else they have endured in the past. Staffers have more power over them than they could possibly imagine. Perhaps they just don't know it..

A lot of the children's activities were kind of nice. The train, the ride on the (1929?) red fire engine, even a petting zoo one time I remember. All kinds of stuff beyond the children's fellowship. I remember when they blocked off a parking lot and filled it with water, even older folks enjoyed it to get out of the heat. I kind of thought it was neat, that the ministry was actually growing up in a sense, and trying to do something to bless families- i.e., those with younger kids. Sure didn't last long.. With current conditions, I bet there are not very many young kids there, for anything. Kind of sad in a way.

Nah, can't be. Satori does not have fleas..

A visit from an OSHA representative would be interesting, likewise. From what I understand, all they need is ONE phone call from a distraught "member" or "non-menber" for that matter. Since TWI is an employer, they MUST comply and allow said inspection. The employee does not even have to leave a name on the answering machine. Unless there has been significant changes in that place during the last 7 years, there is a readily apparent lack of any kind of handicap entrances and the such. Could be a pretty big mess.

But you have to admit, they are slowly extracting themselves from the web of deceit. Why, just last year they finally figured out that sleeping with various pets and farm animals was not all it was cracked up to be. I could almost hear all of the wailing from followers, forced to abandon a one time honored practice.. Well, they ought to get used to it. Takes a LOT of sacrifice to be a disciple of da vey..

Plus, the "workers" have a vote to bring in the union. And it is supposed to be confidential. Wouldn't that drive Rosie and gang nuts? They would have no way of knowing who voted in which manner..

Interesting. Seems that the major objection to one attempt was that the professors were too involved in a managerial position. You could hardly say that for staffers in TWI. Seems there are only five real managerial positions in that whole outfit. But it would be fun to watch. All the staffers would have to do would be to go to UAW or something, I would imagine. No lawyer fees, no nonsense.. and I bet the union would LOVE to work the SOB management over, just for the fun of it. Can you imagine their response? "Well, they are our slaves, biblically speaking. We have the right to do with them as we see fit..." Things would get straightened out, one way or another.

Maybe the staffers could clean it up another way.. The Vey's second greatest fear, UNION. The Vey would have to do some REAL creative legal wrangling to try to "fix" that.. can't just fire them for asking for union representation. At least legally..

Nope. I think we were instructed (coerced to believe) that something like that would just not be the loving thing to do, to say the least. Seems they hated the government. Any kind of governmental involvement- that it was downright evil or something. The poor staffers probably could really put the screws to them, if they had a mind to.