James Thomas Rook Jr.

TTH, thanks for the nice representation ... I will use this picture to shave by .... Interestingly enough, last night I ordered the complete series of "The Adventures of Superman" TV shows from the 1950s, from Netflix. It is SOOOO campy now, but Susan and I grew up watching him battle for "Justice, Truth, and the American Way !". ..... it's an acquired habit.

TTH: You are certainly entitled to your particular world view. The physical world, and the entire physical Universe "knows" what facts really are, and getting it wrong is in bad times a Universal capital crime, and it is administered without pity, or deference to a faulty world view. We have the luxury of living in the best time, and the best place, that has ever existed since the Garden of Eden ... and that alone cuts us all some slack.

DefenderOTT: In response to your "confused" emoticon above, on AllenSmith's and my post. Having one's "head shrunk", is an American euphemism for psychiatric sessions. A Shrink is a euphemism for a Doctor of Psychiatry. For a male, swimming in cold water causes the scrotum to shrink in size dramatically, and testicles to rise up unto the body to keep the sperm warm, and is optically referred to as "shrinkage", colloquially. ...don't get 'em mixed up. Â

Allen: You may be laughing, but you have absolutely no reading COMPREHENSION skills that I can observe.. To assist you ... think of my post of the above two lines as separate subjects ... and THEN think of how inebriated a person can get by stretching out a half gallon of Peach Schnapps over a period of two years. It is obvious that you have NO sense of humor, so you may want to talk to a Shrink about that laughter ... and if you need a vomit bag when viewing cartoons ... we are talking about some REAL shrinkage here ! ..... not to be confused with swimming in ice-cold water ..... .

I much prefer genetically manipulated plants and animals. A am one myself, as are my children. I particularly like the tomatoes they added mouse genes to, to keep the tomatoes fresher, longer.

cooked and POPPED! I don't overcook or undercook popcorn.

Just curious, how would you, as JTR, report this on jw.org? I mean give an example of what you would actually say (no puns or jokes, seriously) I would first develop a "Style Book" such as any major news reporting organization has to guide reporters how to write articles. In the 7th Grade I learned that news should be reported as "Who, what, when, where, and how much ... and sometimes Why?" And it has to be first of all TRUE, then objective, and updated as developments happen. The News organizations today have almost universally devolved from that standard. Our organization pretends that non self-aggrandizing JW legal news does not exist.

TTH: From outward appearances ... which is the only thing we at the "bottom" have to go on ... the GB does not control the Society anyway .... the Lawyers, Accountants and Investment counselors do. Justice must be tempered with mercy for blind pawns ... John 9:41. In fact ... the whole 9th Chapter of John addresses this problem, in its entirety.

Popcorn. Never any burnt popcorn ... never any unpopped popcorn kernels. so good .... no butter or salt is necessary.

Tonite, I just finished off my half gallon of Peach Schnapps which I have been nursing for almost two years. When I read your posts, it helps to be properly anesthetized.

Legally, this is quite understandable, and is true .....but there is a "rest of the story", and it has in the case of the WTB&TS already been sporadically adjudicated to reflect the uniqueness of the way we do things, and the rational goes something like this: A pastor has a duty to hold in confidence any information obtained during a counseling session. A pastor who violates this trust might be on the losing end of a suit for an invasion of privacy or defamation - but if he tells ONE OTHER PERSON, that confidentiality is not then protected by law ... as the clergyman HIMSELF violated it. Like the old Italian saying ... "Two can keep a secret ... if one of them is dead !" In the case of the Society, there are THREE judges that run a Judicial Committee, and then a synopsis is made including names, dates, and offenses (real or imagined) and the specific details and investigations, and results are discussed with the Society's legal department by telephone. In letters back and forth to the Branch Offices, with explanations, clarifications, and policy directives in that particular case. THEN forms are filled out with the pertinent details ... the accused and/or convicted "sinner", (which may include blatant criminal activity), and that is sent to the Branch office. If appeals committees are formed that is ANOTHER three people on a different Judicial Committee, and of course the Circuit Overseer who sometimes has to bring in others from other congregations. Including mail routers at Bethel, secretaries, and other legal staff, there might be 20 people that have intimate details of whatever was confessed ... or not confessed, but adjudicated with prejudice. So you can see that as long as only ONE "clergyman", and only ONE person is the "penitent" ... yes that conversation and possible confession is protected by law, pretty much everywhere in the English speaking world, but for the reasons stated, those laws, however stated and formulated ... DO NOT APPLY TO JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES. Not one in a thousand lay people understand this (a WAG), and perhaps not one in a hundred lawyers, and perhaps not one in ten Judges. It is arcane information that is not in the experience of most, about JW "Groupthink". This does not include Elders wives who through "pillow talk" want to know EVERYTHING that goes on ... and do find out, or a herd or gaggle of Elders themselves gossiping around steaks on a grill, and lots of beer. You might as well post a transcript in the Kingdom Hall Newsletter, if we had one. ...except no recordings, stenographers, or observers, or representation is/are permitted, so that would be impossible, as in any Star Chamber proceedings.

As I stated before on this thread ... but it has been confirmed by REAL numbers (.02% thesis of JW Insider ...) MY MAIN concern is the institutionalized tyranny of silence where Brothers and Sisters are disfellowshipped, and THREATENED with disfellowshipping, to keep the child abuse covered up. The family is ALREADY traumatized ... then the victim is threatened and/or disfellowshipped, and this travesty is compounded by the victims family being held hostage in "Coventry" ... and if this combined trauma overwhelms them ... they have been thrown away ... forever. THIS is why we have a 77% loss rate of those who leave. I have PERSONALLY seen much too much of THIS modus operandi .... year after year after year after year ... and been threatened myself about 13 times in the past 55 years. It USED to shock me, and hurt my feelings and discourage me like carrying heavy, heavy bags of rocks ... but I got used to it as a survival mechanism. You may have noticed that I am not exactly "Brother Watchtower". The JW "spiritual paradise" operates under the same style as the old Soviet Union's "Worker's Paradise", where the main newspaper PRAVDA ... which when translated means "TRUTH", was nothing but a self-aggrandizing puff piece for the Communist Party. Think I am hyperbolic? Go to the JW.ORG Web Site, and under "Legal", see how much of all the legal things we have discussed here show up as honest reporting. Last time I checked, it was ZERO. The Brotherhood is DELIBERATELY being kept in the dark, as an institutionalized policy, pretending the "Elephant In The Room" is not really here.

It's IRONY! You either get it ... or you don't.

I love irony ! otherwise that would be an upvote. Hey! that quote is an "Elephant" AllenSmith could chew on !

Allen: You know, they say that The English (and that would include Australians) and the Americans are separated by a common language. such a ALU-minum in American English, and Alu-MIN-ium, in the King's English. Or GRAY in American, and GREY, in Englandish. From your link: "Just because you see the word “subpoena” over the word “summons” DOESN’T give it the SAME weight in POWER, in, legal context." Of course not! But ignore either one at your peril of wallet and/or freedom. That is where the "rubber meets the road. If hypothetically I pointed my gun at YOU and wiggled it and nodded to my left, chances are you would want to move to my left. That would be to YOUR right. In THAT case, it would be REAL important! One of the amazing things about your posts Allen, is what you pick out and isolate that's important to you mind, leaving the herd of Elephants in the room ignored.

The thing about reading your posts, Allen .... is in the morning .... I will be sober .... and you will still have your posts! ( Apologies to Winston Churchill ...)

I LOVE IT when somebody else does the heavy lifting ... like taking a Grand Piano up a three floor spiral staircase ... and gets it RIGHT! I did that with a refrigerator when I was a young man ... but worrying statistics and data until they yield TRUTH ... is HARDER. That's a LOT of work JW Insider, and I wish I could write you an appropriate check that would not bounce.

subpoena or subpena noun 1. the usual writ for the summoning of witnesses or the submission of evidence, as records or documents, before a court or other deliberative body. verb (used with object), subpoenaed, subpoenaing. 2. to serve with a subpoena.  Allen:  Do you think that secret documents held in sealed envelopes at Kingdom Halls and at National Bethel Branch Offices under lock and key, that no Elder not involved was ever supposed to see ... was given to the ARC because they nicely asked for them, without a subpoena?  A "subpoena" is the document they give to the one summoned UNDER PENALTY OF PUNISHMENT, to appear.  That is what the word means ... sub (under), and pena or poena (punishment). If Bro. Jackson did not appear, as ordered ... ( He tried to beg off from appearing, saying he was only in Australia to visit his sick Father...) or the documents were not produced, as ordered by national sovereign entities of competent jurisdiction ... it would have resulted in contempt of court charges, and FINE and/or IMPRISONMENT.  Would not THAT have made headline news? "Jehovah's Witness Governing Body Member imprisoned for ignoring Subpoena ...... Film at 11."  When a Network News Crew Film Truck with the big telescoping antenna with satellite dish on top pulls up in the Bethel parking lot ... you know you are going to have a bad day!  Latin sounds soOOoooo profound, doesn't it.  Here's one for you, that only translates roughly from Latin to English, and no other language.  In Latin: "Sempre Ubi Sub Ubi  In English: "Always wear under wear".  Here is another one .... "Accipite pill autem rufus, Allen, Accipite pill autem rufus."     This billboard was put up close to an Assembly Hall in July, 2015, at Belton, Texas. THE BROTHERHOOD IN GENERAL IS NEVER TOLD WHAT IS REALLY GOING ON ... yet under your "scenario" this information is freely given to Australian Courts? What are we? Chopped Liver? Â

That brings up an interesting question ... not considering the legality ... is it immoral to steal a drug dealer's money? I personally would have no problems with it. .... I mean ... uh ... other than staying alive after .

If you are going to watch for the Space Station to fall ... make sure you wear a construction "hard-hat". Recommend that your enemies do the same, with a magnet attached.

This is WONDERFUL news ! I have a Motorola 9500 Iridium Satellite Phone on the Iridium System. If while sleeping, I should teleport to 2 miles high over the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and have my phone with me .... it's comforting to know I can phone home. And incoming calls are FREE!

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It's a LOT cheaper just to eat a bar of soap!

California is totally and completely infested and saturated with all kinds of nutcases. ..at every level of the social stratum. This is the new "normal". Realize you are talking about a State that gives sanctuary to criminal trespassers who illegally violate National Borders. ...and welfare... ... and driver's licenses. It used to be that California was four years ahead of the rest of the States. Not any more. The State has been completely ruined by "progressive" liberal Snowflake National Socialists who think they are Democrats. I am beginning think the San Andreas Fault was put where it was in anticipation of this.

A dog is the only thing on Earth that will love you more than it loves itself ... but there is infinite variety ... even at both ends of the human spectrum ... and at the canine spectrum.