GrouchoMarxJr

Virtually, every program that twi ran had a "catch 22" clause in it...they excelled in avoiding the blame for anything...it was ALWAYS your fault! When their kockamamie classes and decisions turned out to be bogus, it was YOUR fault! Talk about controlling people by fear and guilt!!!...no self condemnation? They wallowed in it. ...but of course, it helps when you are the self appointed spokesman for God to the rest of the world...

It was always about the money... The criteria for entering the corps was getting your sponsership together (of course, you had to have completed the necessary indoctrination classes)....Oftentimes, people who had no business entering a leadership training program were encouraged to do so because it made the local leadership look good if they had big recruitment numbers. This was also true of getting people to take the class and to go out wow... Promotions within twi were based heavily on the number of recruits that a leader could muster...this included ordination. Those who were ordained were the ones who they thought could generate the most money into the cult bank account. Interesting enough, once twi had your non-refundable money and you were in residence...THEN the screening process kicked in to a higher level. Many folks were screened out AFTER they paid their money.

Maybe when these guys swallowed the koolaid, something snapped in their brains. They got so far away from "home", they didn't have enough bread crumbs to find their way back again. As Lewis Black might say..."I think these guys are delusional".

They all work for me!...You're more than welcome to attend...no nametags, no elitism...I mean, this is the home state of Bluzeman!!!...need I say more?...

The more I think about it, the better the idea sounds... ...I think it would be a great time. I might even play "Beautiful Ohio" early in the morning while people are sleeping it off... ...actually, there's no chance of that. I hate that song with a passion. Is there a list or something with the greasespotters who live in Ohio?...of course, we would open it up to anyone who wanted to come...how should this work?...bring a dish of food and your favorite mind altering drugs?...

I suppose the reasons that churches are tax free institutions has something to do with their original purpose of providing spiritual food for their congregation and involving themselves with charitable works...it was never supposed to be a money making business...don't get me wrong, I don't think that Christian organizations need to take a vow of poverty...I'm all in favor of a prosperous church...where they have enough money to expand their church programs and construct a new building...but there's a difference between a prosperous church and a church that is involved with multiple mass marketing schemes. It should be noted that most local churches operate "properly"...the trouble comes from the mega churches that have television contracts and celebrity "preachers"...these institutions are a hybrid. They have all the same mechanisms as money making corporations do...large overheads and massive profits...they are in the business of making money...tapes, books, classes, conventions, seminars, retreats, water slides...you name it. I think that the tax free pass for "churches" should be revisited by our law makers...there should be a line of demarcation drawn between churches, based on their "financial activities"...especially those churches with political agendas.

Compared to Texas in August...I'll take Ohio. I can remember days so hot in Houston that my sneakers melted as I walked on blacktop... However, I realize that Tom Strange is no longer in his 20,s...I suppose special accomodations could be made for the elderly.

Someone in search of comic relief...and you do a good job of providing it...

DWBH...You are WAY polite...I can see why they don't respond to me...but I don't understand why they don't respond to you... C'mon John or Jeff, speak up! We won't bite...too hard.

In the weeks to follow (or maybe months)...there will be further details on the Ohio corn roast...obviously, corn season is in August...so August it is. I will probably get more detaled in the spring as to who is coming, what to bring, how to get here...you know, the usual organizational stuff...alcoholic beverages WILL be allowed...I might even make some of my homemade Sangria wine!

Hee hee..It's posts like this that keep me coming back to this forum. It's like driving by a horrible accident and you can't help but look at it as you drive by. Perhaps more than anything else, the wierwille apologists who still, after the scam has been revealed, unrefutably, in great detail...STILL defend the cornfield cult leader...perhaps more than anything else, this is a testament to the effectiveness of wierwille's ability to con. "run by humans who ain't perfect"...LOL ... ain't perfect? Talk about minimalization and denial!!!...The guy was drugging young girls and raping them!... I often wonder about the wierwille apologists who hang out here...I'm thinking that maybe they have a subconscious masochistic tendency?

I don't know about you, but I have a problem with people who decide that their "Christian calling" is to form a corporation that rakes in millions of dollars and provides them with a lavish lifestyle...all in the name of God...but that's just me. ...a pox on all of them.

I'm sure there will be a wide variety of food...Maybe I'll grill some of my world famous "Groucho's grilled chicken"...maybe throw some sausage on the grill with it...and of course the side dishes!...and don't forget the fresh Ohio River Valley tomatoes!...Plenty of cold beer, a pit fire going on outside with good music playing... ...sounds like fun to me.

Lancaster, Ohio here...an hour southeast of Columbus... I'm tired of hearing about the "Texas BBQ"...maybe we should have an "Ohio corn roast" next summer...I have the perfect place! :) Log cabin out in the country with plenty of land...

I think that the most torturous for me was when we had to go door to door...it was always a nightmare for me because it made me feel like a JW...at least when we went to the mall, I could slip away and get lost in some store. Amway promises you some kind of commission...twi milked us for thousands and thousands of hours of free labor...both in recruiting and in physical labor...never got a dime. ...and to boot, we had to give a good chunk of our paying jobs (if we had one)

I think that this incident is a good example of how mean spirited and manipulative Wierwiile was.

Amen to that...

I was just wondering what you kind folks thought about the "craftsmanship" of twi's marketing techniques back in "the day"... I recall "public ex's" when we would slap on cheap paper nametags on all the new folks...that way, we could call them by their first name when we pounded them with the green card..."your pen or mine"...I actually used that line once and the guy mindlessly took my pen and signed the card! Let's face it folks, twi used us as free labor to promote and recruit for their pyramid scheme...they made millions! Share with us, your favorite "one liners", cons, and other bull sh *t stories that you used to coerice people into this cult. Let's walk down memory lane and relive those torturous years when an insideous cult used us to bring other unsuspecting souls into their insideous little group of sexual abusers, drunks and money whores... C'mon y'all...what's your favorite story?

Actually, it was a little weird...a complete stranger would call you by your name!...One glance at the name tag and ...poof, it was just like magic, that sucker knew your name. I would be standing there, minding my own business, and a complete stranger would walk by and say "Bless you Groucho"...it would rattle me! I didn't know him from Adam...it seems that if you want to call me by my name, then introduce yourself to me. You don't deserve to know my name if you don't know me!...stick your nametags in your arse... ...oops, excuse me folks, I got a little excited there for a minute. :)

I find Brady to be a curiosity...he seems to have that intangible quality of doing whatever is necessary to win...as a Buffalo Bills fan, I have to acknowledge the obvious and admire him.

I like this subject...the name tags were a very important part of our twi experience... I had one of those weird shaped wow nametags back in 1976...I thought it was pretty cool until I saw a corps nametag and how people "ooohed and ahhhed" when they saw it. I was looked upon with disdain by them...I could see it in their eyes. I knew I had to get one of those corps nametags so that I could be really cool too. ...but then I discovered that once I got my corps name tag...the number on it was too high (10th)...the lower the number, the more spiritual you were...dang it!...there were hundreds and hundreds with lower number way corps name tags than mine!...My only solace was to wander away from other corps and mingle with the folks who were in awe of my corps name tag...the non-corps!...Of course! (those who are not allowed on the new waycorps website)... The pecking order was determined by the nametags!...it seems that with some people, it still is.

A few years ago my dad passed away...he was 95 and had a full life. I had the distinct privilege of caring for him (with the wonderful help of my niece, who's a nurse) for the last 6 months of his life. He had dementia for those 6 months...all my life, my dad had been a pillar of strength...a wonderful provider, a great sense of humor, very intelligent...he was the one we all looked to for advice...and now, I found myself caring for a man who was but a shadow of who he once was...it was hard...but I learned something that was very powerful... It was the cycle of life. He had taken care of me when I was a boy...and now it was my turn. An opprotunity to do for him what he had done for me...and when he finally passed, something inside of me changed forever...I suppose you could call it a rite of passage. No matter what disabilities inflict the aged, they are still themselves...it's them. We are not our intellects...we are more that...and we have the capacity, with God's help, to rise up to these challanges with unconditional love and the hope for a deeper understanding.

After spending 17 years of my life in Houston, Texas...I fully understand the "ways" of the Texans...the BBQ is second to none and the fresh seafood from the gulf makes my mouth water as I type...of course, you can have the traffic grid lock, the fire ants and the hot Texas sun... I'm sure you're all having a great time...drink a cold one (or two), for me...Happy days!

Reading the bible is fine...but I always thought the goal was to do the word and not just study it...thus, we become living epistles. Don't confuse reading the owner's manual with driving the car...remember, the 1st century Christians didn't have the new testament to read...they simply trusted God and walked by the spirit...it wasn't an academic "thing".

In spite of all the wear and tear, I'm just as fine as frog hair...can't stop grinning most of the time.