Jim

I honestly don't think the issue is whether or not a fetus is a living being. Many times the courts have found people guilty of murder for killing a fetus. The issue is whether or not a mother has an overriding right to legally terminate the fetus..

You missed the part where 90 weight gear grease pours into your crotch after you accidently pull out the pilot shaft. Yup. Years ago I got the lawnmower out to cut the grass. With the first pull of the starter rope, it broke and whizzed back inside the engine. Oh well, I got my tools, let the terrier out and started to fix it. I got the cover off of the engine and unfastened the starter rope reel and went inside to get another tool. When I got back, I couldn't find the neat pile of screws and nuts that held the cover on. The dog had grabbed them in his mouth and scattered them all over the yard...

Socks, in a blinding flash of inspiration, wrote.. Any chance I can get an "America Awakes Again, This Time not in Ohio" CD with that?

Radar eloquently stated: Will the twists and turns never end? What was the time frame for this? I remember Jerry coming back from summer school at TWI and being made branch leader. I also remember being told in no uncertain terms that Jerry had done stuff in the past that was "the old man" and that it wasn't to be discussed. I tried to PT you, radar, but I got a "no such user" error. Could you try to PT me and I'll reply to that?

I confirm what JK said about "None Dare Call it Conspiracy". There was also another book called "None Dare Call it Treason", and VPW advocated reading a right-wing tabloid called "The Spotlight". Anyway, on to my experiences. I was witnessed to on Jan 1, 1973. I was living in Alameda and the lady that witnessed to me took me to her twig in Berkeley where btw, I met our own Kit Sober. After a couple of twigs in Berkeley, I started to go to them in Alameda. I was loaned the book "The Way, Living in Love" and it made a big impact on me. About 80% of the TWI believers were still in high school. Me being 21 and an Army vet with a car, a decent job and money was definitely the exception. Alameda was considered hot, with 3-4 twigs and its own branch. I can't remember any promiscuous sex or drug use during this time. Most of the kids were underage and drugs and alcohol were actively discouraged. Lots of hugging, kissing and blue balls :D Twig meetings started out once a week, with occasional "witnessing" nights. These were usually more of an opportunity to eat and play together than to witness. Once a month there would be an area meeting at the YWCA in Oakland. Del Duncan and J*rry C*rr*di would lead the meeting. Del Duncan had a remarkable ability to logically present a teaching in a very charismatic way. I can't recall *any* teacher, TWI or otherwise that affected me as strongly as he did. There was great fellowship after the meetings. I was pretty shy in those days and I really enjoyed meeting people I could be comfortable with. Something I still miss today. The Jim Dopp affair was still fresh in many people's memories. It was also a "locked box", so I only heard vague references to it until I had been in for a couple of years. Probably for the same reason the Marin County believers were considered "intense" compared to us in the East Bay. The "Way of California" office was established in San Leandro. It put out a monthly newsletter called "The Grapevine". I spent a couple evenings collating and stapling issues together. By '75 things had started to change. We got a new branch leader who started sucking the love and life out of things. Manditory witnessing, more meetings, more formality. It would still be awhile before things got bad, but in retrospect the handwriting was on the wall. I've probably left out a bunch of stuff, but hey, it was 30 years ago...

Thanks HCW, great post.

If I join, do I have to do The Cleanse?

Anyone doing a turducken? I'm not that brave, but my sales guy told me they are great.

What it is not.... Spiritual Perfection

I never got too far away from my true self. I just felt guilty because I didn't. And then I left TWI and felt guilty for years because I left. It wasn't until I met up with some other ex-twi folks that had told me about John Schoenheit's adultrey paper and the Passing of the Patriarch document that I started to realize that maybe I didn't turn my back on God when I walked away from TWI. Since then, it's been pretty easy to put things back together so that I can enjoy life, be a good person and help a few people along the way. The most painful issue about my involvement with TWI was their constant demands for commitment under the guise of "serving God". Mind you, I have no problem with commitment and I understand the need for it in some circumstances. What I could not do was commit my life to "serving God" under the direction of TWI leadership. Stepping away from TWI let me be comfortable with the fact that I was never "called" to serve God. I don't doubt that others are, but I'm not, and never was. There are things I'm quite good at, but leading a twig, teaching the Bible and witnessing are *not* them. And you know what? I'm fine with that. Margaret Mead said "One way to get insight is to have a religious conversion and then get over it". That's pretty much how I look back on my TWI experience.

I thought it was the cool green nametag....

There was a collateral reading on the subject that was recalled. That might have been the title. I read it at HQ around 1973. It was much more, shall we say, legalistic, than later views. I can't speak for it's Biblical accuracy.

I'm going to go out on a limb here... I suggest you talk to your doc and see if he/she could write you and your hubby a prescription for a low dose of valium during your recovery time. It will take the edge off for both of you and it will give you the patience to stay in bed and off your feet during the healing.

I will never, ever complain about earthquakes again... Maybe not quite exactly what you're looking for... http://www.satirewire.com/news/jan02/australia.shtml

Peachtree Complete Accounting Release 9.0 We started out with Quickbooks, but only used it for a year or two. We do manufacturing so we need to be able to do bills of materials and we need to be able to run on a network with more than one person using the accounting system at any given time. Knock on wood, we've done great with peach. It's been about 7 years now and we've never had any significant problems. Keep in mind that we have about 500,000 individual parts in inventory with over 1,000 part numbers and 3-4 users. So, if you're going to grow your company and you need to do bills of material, or job costing you probably ought to start with peach. The support from peachtree kinda sucks, but there's lots of free tech support forums that are helpful. Otherwise, Quickbooks is fine. Now I'm going to save you a bunch of time and money. First of all, find a good tax accountant. He/she will do your taxes every year. Get the tax accountant to set up your accounting package so that the different account codes in the package match up with the way he will enter the data into his tax program. This will make end-of-year way easy for you. I'd be happy to clarify anything that I've said.

I keep hearing about Gunnison and TJ, who I guess is T*m J*nk*ns*n. Lots of bad feelings, but no stories. What was up with him?

Word over the World was when everyone either drove or fixed a WOWmobile. Truly "paradise on earth" for car mechanics....

CNN is saying a surge of 12" to 20". That's right, inches. Doesn't look to be a big problem

All I can add is that there are people who *appear* to have suffered much less and never get over it. OTOH, others have suffered terribly and live, at least outwardly, happy and productive lives. I wish you wisdom and at least some manner of success dealing with this horrible situation. I don't have any reading recommendations for helping the victim. If you're interested in understanding the perpetrator, I recommend "People of the Lie" by M. Scott Peck.

Isn't it great to be able to listen to that weird stuff without being debbil posessed. I never thought of Stravinsky being heavy metal, but you sure nailed it. Listen to Bach's concertos for unaccompanied cello and see if you don't hear some decent jazz roots there.

I have friends that got excellent deals on cars through craigslist. Personally, I've been disappointed with the tools section. Seems everyone selling is a broke contractor trying to get same as new prices for all their used junk. I prefer ebay for that sort of stuff.

Umm, I'll guess that it couldn't have helped...

I gave away a nice 19' computer monitor to a needy student yesterday through freecycle. I'm almost finished switching over from tube monitors to LCD screens at work and it was a win-win situation. I mostly give away things. The few times someone was giving way something I could use, somebody else snapped it up first, so it's not much use to me in that regard.

Well then, If you guys are so smart, If sound doesn't travel in a vacuum, why are vacuums so noisy? Why does a shipment go on a car and cargo go on a ship? Why do you park in a driveway and drive on a parkway?

SACRAMENTO — Police arrested two members of an organization called Breasts Not Bombs after they removed their tops during a protest on the steps of the state Capitol on Monday afternoon. The women, who were protesting Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's ballot measures for today's special election, took off their shirts despite warnings from the California Highway Patrol last week that doing so would lead to their arrests — and possibly their inclusion on the state's list of sex offenders. A federal judge Friday refused to grant a request from Breasts Not Bombs to block the police from arresting topless protesters. Officials at the Sacramento County district attorney's office said they have not decided whether to prosecute the protesters, and if they do, whether to seek to have them listed as sex offenders. "We have done these demonstrations from San Francisco to Mendocino to the gates of the White House and never been restrained in this way," said Breasts Not Bombs member Sherry Glaser of Albion, Calif., near Mendocino, addressing about 100 onlookers. Soon after, Glaser, 45, removed her top and was promptly arrested. Renee Love, 40, also of Albion, was arrested after she removed her top. Both were charged with indecent exposure, disorderly conduct and going beyond the scope of their permit to demonstrate on state property. "The permit specifically said that nudity would not be allowed," said Tom Marshall, a CHP spokesman. "We're clearly following the law as it was written. They took us to court Friday seeking a restraining order to stop us from arresting them and the judge came down on our side." Angered that Glaser and Love could be listed on the sex offender registry if convicted of lewd acts, state Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles) joined the protesters before their arrests to announce that she would introduce legislation to decriminalize the baring of breasts in public. "While it is legal for men to go shirtless in public in California," she said, "women risk being classified as sex offenders for baring the same body parts."