johniam

I have the same mixed feelings. I took Foundational PFAL in 1977 and back then there were so many people ( big support system) that any concern was dealt with quickly plus most of us on the field didn't know about the inner circle. My people needs were met by others on the field; good loving people I had no reason not to trust. VPW had no direct effect on that at all. I, too, received a lot of healing.

quote: Opponents blame a minority of conservative voices for imposing their views on the majority of parents across the county — and the nation. "The thing that concerns us is there is a situation where there is widespread support across the country for accurate, age-appropriate health education," said Eliza Byard (search), deputy director for the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN). "It seems that a small number of dissenters in Montgomery County had access to the levers of power to disrupt the process that was initiated by a citizens' advisory committee," Byard said, arguing that the "small number" succeeded in overturning the majority's desires. "It does seem … some very basic underpinnings of our American pluralism is at stake." Umm, this "widespread support" was also supposed to have elected Kerry, but didn't. The homo agenda is the true minority trying to impose its views on the rest of us.

I'm thinking maybe not. The service oriented jobs probably shrunk down some, but the industrial jobs are probably business as usual.

Yeah, like I said, LCM didn't put his class together with any outreach in mind; he wanted to separate the people who would believe ANYTHING he said. Then he kept whittling it down further and further...no debt, no "homos" (anybody he thought was weird in any way) and so on and now the only people still there are solvent yes men and women. How fitting that he got marked and avoided himself.

So there's no way a homo can be cold and indifferent? It's GOT to be 2 James' fault? My wife worked with a few homos at a restaurant who she says were like that. They'd be all happy and gay when the boss was around but even viscious even to each other when the boss wasn't around. I swear some of you have lauded more praise on homos on this thread than you probably do to your own spouses.

While back there was a thread on TWI the movie. Reading the posts on this thread made me imagine Sam Kinnison as LCM.

Ljn: I can't remember the name of our twig, but it was really stupid whatever it was. The cordo of it was David Langworthy who later was in the 15th corps. He was OK. Me and one of the guys went to Pizza Hut on middle Saturday and had a pitcher of beer. I remember that our twig lined up in close proximity with a girls twig called the 24 carat rubies. Was that your twig Rascal? Another girls twig held up a sign that said "Foxes have holes" Luke 8:58 or something like that. Over all it was a fun 2 weeks, but in retrospect it was poignant since it was VPs last one. All moot now though.

Rob and Denise were in Grand Rapids until '94 when they got assigned to central southern Illinois, can't remember the exact city. But that was awhile ago. Probably not too far away from me.

VP knew he couldn't sell water in the desert to 60s youth with a holier than thou attitude. PFAL has a lot of self depreciating humor in it. (Glad I don't get paid for my stories, etc.) LCM was apparently so full of himself he couldn't see it. Also, VP had vision; during my AC (Emporia, '84) VP showed old pilot films of PFAL from '63 or so. Each take of session 1 segment 1 had him saying, "Welcome to this internationally famous class on power for abundant living!" Even VP was laughing while it played, but at least he saw the thing going somewhere. LCM only put WAP together to keep the dwindling flock he still had intact enough to keep him living abundantly. I read POP again recently. If I read that right, there was a meeting in late '87 with CG and the THEN trustees in which LCM admitted that he only wanted to run the ministry so that the trustees could guarantee they'd continue to have the lifestyles they were used to. Sure seems to have played out that way.

Make no left turn unstoned.

I disagree with the guy's premise. He keeps saying that people are always saying what they really mean. I don't agree. Yes, a lot can be revealed by the exact words people say, but same for the 'nonverbs' as he calls them. Plus, how effective can he be overall if he assumes everybody is lying and focusses only on that? I had a potentially messy situation 12 yrs ago when using a Uhaul I hit a parked car damaging only the trim and no damage to the Uhaul vehicle. I told the car's owner about it and gave him my info but it happened on Saturday so I couldn't get in touch with Uhaul until Monday after work (2pm). The car's owner (that I hit) had already called Uhaul and they thought it was a hit and run and I had to see a magistrate downtown who scheduled a trial, all for a 'trim bender'. I ended up talking to a police officer with a not as plush office/desk as the magistrate. He listened to me and his facial expression seemed like he was looking for lies in much the same way as described in the article, but the officer overruled the magistrate. He took me right to the magistrate's office and nixed the trial just like that. I WAS telling the truth, but the nonverbs had to have registered somewhere with this officer, IMO. For the guy in the article to just assume everybody's lying based on words alone seems like it would do more harm than good.

I always cracked up at that Monty Python movie 'The Life of Brian' I mean, here they're supposed to be from Israel or Romans and they all talk like Brits. I especially liked the scene where John Cleese as a Roman soldier scolds Brian for his improper grammar and makes him write 'Romans go home' all over the place. I suspect Brit celebrities know full well how charming the accent is perceived by Americans. David Niven, Davy Jones, even Mick and Keith and David Bowie have scored points with American audiences with their accents. Curiously, the video called 'The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus' circa 1968 features several speaking parts for Mick and Keith and it sounds like they were deliberately not using British accents. That show was originally on BBC only so no Americans had access to it until the late 90s. Like I say, curious.

I was a mgr at Burger King 15-20 yrs ago and yes seniors (55 plus) got free coffee. I assumed it was like that for all major fast food chains. McDonalds DOES have good coffee.

RBB: Welcome to GSC. Relax. This IS confession. So how long you been lurking here? Did you do Rome City's carpet in preparation for it's opening? Anyway, welcome again; hope you enjoy your stay.

What? A male cat humps another cat and this is "proof" of homosexuality? I have a dog that used to hump my youngest child's leg until we made him stop. What would that be? It's bestiality if a human wants to have sex with an animal, so if an animal wants to have sex with a human...? Doggylingus? As a teenager I used to hump the air machine at the bowling alley to the delight of some of my friends. That would be...ductrophelia? Coming in shorts and quarts, kids.

quote: Exactly how do you know that people are not born homosexual? I think the burden of proof is on you. If they were born that way, shouldn't they be able to reproduce that way? Everything else in nature that is called 'sexual' reproduces, why not them?

To me the word 'fundamentalist has a negative connotation: sure, in pro sports you occasionally hear a commentator say that such and such player is good at the fundamentals of the game, but in context of religion the word 'fundamentalist' means narrow minded, legalistic, there's only one right way to do anything and I know what it is and anyone who doesn't do it that way is either going to hell or just plain screwed up. Well, with that in mind, there are fundamentalist Christians and there are fundamentalist homos, too. Last Oct. 19 I saw REM in concert, whose lead singer, Michael Stipe, is openly gay. He likes to talk (share) with the crowd. They'd play 4 or 5 songs in a row and then he'd talk for a couple of minutes or so before doing any more songs; crowd was mostly OK with it. Most of what he talked about was that he went to HS in the STL area, saw Blondie in the late 70s at the same venue and swears Debra Harry smiled at him...stuff like that, but at one point he waxed political. He reminded everybody that the election was coming up in 2 weeks and said basically to get out and vote because that's who we are as Americans. He didn't say vote for Kerry or you're screwed up; didn't say anything at all about gay rights, just to make the effort to vote. I would be really surprised to find out he voted for Bush. But at least he allowed for me to make a different choice than he. Not all gay people are like that.

I now look forward to being able to get a 'senior discount' (free coffee) at McDonalds when I turn 55; THEN my life will be complete.

Interesting. The most recent bills were from 1929. We all know what happened THAT year. I guess the mattress wasn't good enough for some people.

There's a deodorant commercial on nowadays where these 2 college age girls are sitting at a table talking and 2 guys are in the next room going ape over a sports program and part of the 'going ape' has one guy run in the room where the girls are and give one girl a spontaneous hug. The picture freezes on the girl getting the hug wearing an ecstatic grin and then the narrator says that smell is the sense most tied to memory. For me my memory is triggered by the smell of marijuana. I used it from '70-'78. Don't smell it much anymore, but last summer I saw the Dead at an outside venue. This place doesn't even allow cigarette smoking in the seats we were in. I even saw Ozzy Osbourne 2 yrs ago there and one time smelled it ten feet away from me for a couple minutes. The ushers there are pretty good at staying on top of that stuff, but were no match for a Dead crowd. The last hour of the show I could smell it constantly. Next day I had a headache.

quote: She says, if God is love, then why would he make some people homosexual, and then totally lock them out of any kind of Christian spirituality? The dilemma with these gay threads is that neither side can prove their position. Gays believe they are born that way and thus not perverted; Christians believe the opposite, so every time there's a thread the same basic arguments will ensue with no possibility of agreement. Ex10, you need to make up your mind. ARE homos born that way, or are they NOT? How's your daughter going to get any answers if you don't have any?

Out there: Tell him what you did on opening night of the GR Griffin's hockey season few years back. LCM in his AOS glory would have looked funny trying to duplicate that feat.

I turned 50 last year and it's really true; you just start dying one limb at a time. Aw man, I'm just messin' with you.

This isn't proof, but John Shroyer says his dad played against VP in HS

Hey 'Topoftheworld'? Sounds like GSC is 'Close to you' ha ha get it? Wait. Maybe you're too young to remember the Carpenters; pop group that did kinda sappy songs in the 70s. Two of their songs were 'Top of the world' and 'Close to you'. Bad joke. Seriously, I agree that it does something for you to compare notes about a shared experience. I've been posting on GSC and its predecessor Waydale for 5 yrs and sometimes I do feel like Cowgirl said (staying back rather than going forward) but I never stay away for long; there's so much to talk about. I learn a lot from people who post here.