RumRunner

I second the motion! All in favor say aye.

[quote name='Ham' date='Oct 8 2008, 12:31 PM' post='438865' I think the vicster looked at the price tag, and figured for "gawd's people" it just wasn't worth it.. that there were "better uses" for the money.. Oh uhh...you mean motorcycles, motor coaches, planes, copious quantities of Drambuie, lavish meals, trinkets for his sexual victims?!?!?! That piece of rat excrement didn't give a rat's behind about "gawd's people."

That's odd - my gmail account is rarely contaminated with spam in the inbox - gets caught pretty routinely and shoved under the spam folder. Try selecting all of the spam and click on "report as spam" and see if those delivery agents are sidelined in the future. I would definitely report it to google since they have strong wording in their license agreement about preventing spam.

Think about it for a second... it already had become that

Hey man - Vic was trying to be a rock star in his own right - smirking heavily now.... Deep Purple did Smoke on the Water - Vic did Snow on the Gas Pumps - sorry bad humor but I couldn't resist that one.

Happy birthday Cynic - stay cynical - it's more fun

What Hap said Angela - difference is that he is a nice guy and I am a grumpy wacko - especially when it comes to the (wrong) way international and its constant denial of crimes and atrocities committed

I find it hard to believe, with the possible exception of EARLY ON, Wierwille was looking for real truth. Like all truly professional criminals he believed in what he was doing - but that is not truth - it is belief in one's goal. I am not talking about a meth-head robbing a convenience store or even a bank robber - I am talking about someone who makes their living at crime. The ones that when interviewed in prison staunchly believe that they did nothing wrong and that it is a mistake they are in jail. Wierwille had a fine machine running...he could make you cry, make you laugh - he could freaking work a crowd as he wished. He was rolling in cash predicated on the belief that you leave all the world behind and fall into lockstep with TWI (meaning VPW). He tolerated no disagreement on anything other than perhaps the flavor of salad dressing you preferred - although god help you if you didn't like bratwurst. As mentioned above he had visitors who corroborated his teaching and reviled those who disagreed even in the slightest. He was searching all right - searching AND BELIEVING in anything that would further his empire...and...like all professional criminals he worked HARD at it. I have no doubt he spent hours with his bible - working on his plans to masterfully egg crowds on to fanaticism in some of its most deviant forms. Cro-magnon the Okie couldn't work a crowd so he pretty much wrecked that fine money making machine - but the ingrained damage had already been done to so many people that even now with Aqua Man gone - TWI still runs on the inertia of the corruption of its genesis.

You remember the old TV commercial? Friends don't let friends do drugs... The parallel applies - even if we limit it to abuse of "legitimate" prescription drugs. I believe that the various people who have suggested that StephanieFaye be understanding is very good advice. However Stephanie should also know of the completely destructive nature of The Way international. The women who were abused sexually and emotionally by the top leadership of TWI; the financial corruption; the illegal block voting in national elections, the corruption of the Bible for personal gain and control over people, the abuse of the believer at the edge of the tree (the leaf StephanieFaye) for cheap or free labor; the constant yelling, the BLATANT racism - THE COMPLETELY CORRUPT NATURE OF TWI should be exposed for what it is. It is a corrupt and VERY criminal organization... as ALMOST ALL of its ex-followers will be quick to point out - and indeed HAVE pointed out not only here at GreasespotCafe but at many other ex-way sites.

Good advise and good analogy Waysider - I was just trying to put some similar thoughts into words - thanks for doing it for me - or for StephanieFaye anyway...

Dude that reminds me of the Woodstock line, "Hey we just got word that there's some bad acid going around, brown acid so be careful and take it with however many grains of salt you want." (Of course I was thinking you ought to take it with with a sugar cube instead of salt grains but hey that was just me back then.....) Anyway dude - you are reminding me of some bad acid trips when you refer to Rosalie as the Fox...maybe if you referred to her as the Shar Pei...

Her twig MIGHT tell her to have an abortion - that would be based on how the twig coordinator was "wired" - but I would not suggest that that is always the case. It has been done in the past (I've been out 22 yrs now so my experience is out of date). They certainly would condone an abortion if that was her choice and if they thought it would further the ends of TWI.

Precisely. If god had taught VPW the word like it hadn't been taught since the first century then it follows that he had the tightest grip on the truth. Word over the world was his program to make sure that everyone joined TWI and ended up under his, and his henchmen's, tight grip of control.

Happy birthday Tonto! "What a long strange trip it's been..."

Smirk - even when they did serve beer to the corps is was Coors or Bud. I bet they never heard of an IPA.

There's a good legal reason for a two drink limit when out in public. What you drink in private is not part of my post nor do I generally care. Most states have adopted a BAC of 0.08 for DWI. According the the chart I get every time I get something from the CA DMV that is about two beers for a 150 lb person. DUI is even more arbitrary in CA. You can have one beer but if the patrolman believes your driving is impaired you can still get a DUI.

Out of context. I was only referring to Eye's comment about "complacency fueled by familiarity" in the general context of gun handling and/or other dangerous equipment. The whole gun thing went way beyond clergy. TWI taught gun ownership in an almost vigilante way. While it is my experience that clergy were never taught explicitly to carry weapons of any sort - many of us can refer back to the lovely one week "gun safety" class in the corps and the foolish Henny Penny MAL pack fiasco. A one week course - with a borrowed gun does NOT make you safe OR familiar enough to handle, let alone own, a gun. I only know of a very few clergy who had guns at the clergy meeting and all but two of them were on staff at HQ. The other two were pretty deviant already and would have been packing whether it was a clergy meeting or an ROA.

Slight disagreement here. Familiarity is not the fuel for complacency. One SHOULD be familiar with any dangerous object, be it it gun, a vehicle or your kitchen blender. That, coupled with concern, makes you safer. Now if familiarity is COUPLED with complacency you have a problem - but familiarity is not the fuel itself - one's own complacency is the real fuel. The real fuel is usually bravado and/or contempt which can be masked as familiarity. We've all seen the drunk at the bar. His buddies ask if he needs a ride home and he waves his hand around and says he's just fine... "I can drive my home from here with my eyes shut." It is not his familiarity that makes him dangerous. It is the bravado.

Seems to me that if TWI had remained largely populated (big membership) it would only be a matter of time until the wrong person had a gun and indeed for "righteous" purposes committed a shooting or other potentially fatal act. How many other extreme religious cults have seen this? Plenty. LDS, Jimmy Jones, a couple of muslim sects embrace it heavily - NOT ALL MUSLIMS NOR MUSLIM SECTS PLEASE NOTE, three religious cults in Russia in the last two years, etc etc etc. I think it was just a matter of time except that their numbers dwindled so far down that they need to be more careful to maintain a "nice" relationship with the current Waybrains to keep that cash coming in.

Apparently have not reached any place close to where I live.

LU's b'day? Darn - he was one of my roomies back in the corps daze. Happy Birthday Lifted Up.

Pretty insightful for someone who has never really been "in." Thanks for posting that link

I don't know if I agree with that. The heavy duty name calling on pols&tacks is limited to about 4 or 5 people and is often directed at their respected opposition parties as much as each other. It seems those folks have almost an understanding about political charging at each other. Heck I find their name calling far less offensive than the name calling currently going on in our real life presidential campaign. For a lot of us it is interesting to see the "research" that they provide as well as their strength of opinion. Actually, I have a sneaking suspicion that if you put those on pols&tacks in the same room with a six pack they'd be good pals while still disagreeing on each others politics. I am fairly neutral when I post there but have certainly expressed my opinion and have never been called names or otherwise had rule violations. Politics is something that everyone in the world gets charged about. I've watched it every four years - mild mannered accountants turn into raging - name calling - marching fanatics - real life. Lets let that forum run on its own unless we get someone who starts badmouthing en masse. Have a mod keep an eye in case it gets out of hand but come on - it's politics - that particular forum is a pretty good mirror of real life politics. Take it as entertainment if you are "on the outside" watching those few folks go at each other. It's fun after a while. "A" makes a post and you just KNOW how "B" will respond...

The Marriot runs luaus on the popular tourist islands (Maui, Hawaii and Oahu). Not touristy at all except for the souvenir shop. All done by islanders - just that Marriot owns the deal. We enjoyed ours a lot. Lots of pre-eat activities for both adults and children. Check for ones that provide bus service to and from your place (or some place walking distance from where you are staying)...that way if you imbibe a little too much of the island drinks (which can catch you off guard) you aren't driving 20 miles... I'll go look and see if there are any I recognize

If you have children there is a pretty nifty submarine tour. They've built artificial reefs with old WWII planes and ships to attract fish since The Islands have virtually no continental shelf. Took my kids there 5 or 6 years ago and they loved the sub dive. Also a luau is a requirement. Worth the money for the food and show - make your reservations through a travel agent ahead of time - they usually book a month or two in advance - and unless you fancy becoming Mormon do NOT take a luau run by "The Polynesian Cultural Center." It's a Mormon gig to recruit - plus NO BEER - how can you possibly chow down on roast pig and other Hawaiian food without beer? If you have an extra day (assuming you are flying through Honolulu then a shuttle to the big island) then stop in at a restaurant/ bar named "The Shorebird" on Waikiki beach on Oahu. Also a tour of the USS Arizona memorial is worth it Enjoy, Aloha and Mahalo