James Thomas Rook Jr.

Three years ago I remarried at age 67, and it has been WONDERFUL! Susan has a Masters Degree in Mathematics Education, and I LIKE having a gal I can ...*koff* ... count on !

Well, they are ALWAYS open to suggestions .... but, it's risky!

I find this logic flawed in it's entirety. It is like saying that since prostitutes all wear shoes, that EVERYONE that wears shoes are prostitutes. EXAMPLE: The U.S. Electoral College was SPECIFICALLY designed to insure that the majority of the people voting would NOT decide the Presidency, as the sovereign power of the English Crown devolved to the united STATES ... not the people .. who are NOT sovereigns. If the majority was to rule... no States other than New York, California, Ohio and Florida would count ... and everybody else would BE IRRELEVANT. Robert Reich is a liberal agenda driven theorist that is eloquent, but divorced from reality .... and wrong.

OK ... what is "between the lines"? -----> <------ Jehovah's Witness Protection Program .mp3

I think the best comment was "That is why you should NOT major in Liberal Arts". There is INFINITE variety among people. Dave Thomas founded "WENDY'S" hamburgers restaurant ... and he never graduated from HIGH SCHOOL. Several years before he died, he got an equivalent G.E.D. I knew a registered Architect with a Masters Degree, who could not keep a job doing ANYTHING. INFINITE VARIETY ! BUT ... it's better to have a gun and not need it ... than need a gun, and not have it.

That's pretty much how I dress every day ... except for meetings, when I dress up like a Penguin, ( see profile photo) except I have old Levis, and a dark blue long sleeve blue shirt, and muddy sports shoes (what is the generic name for those things .... we USED to call them "tennis shoes" ...). As much as the Society disparages military thinking ... it seems we are headed towards military uniforms ... WITH JW.ORG INSIGNIA. The Governing Body is constantly experimenting with new ideas for proper dress!

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Interesting ... I like the idea that when there are NEW things, someone runs it up a flagpole to SEE WHO SALUTES IT! ( in this case ... almost EVERYBODY! )

Of all the suffering that is common to the human race .... I hope the worst I have to suffer is hair loss.

I have secured a photo of The Librarian taking a break from the cart witnessing work ... and I agree, TTH.

TTH: I also recycle old jokes and material. I tell the old jokes to newer generations ( about 40 years ), and they think I am SO CLEVER .. but all I am doing is recycling. I do not disabuse them of their opinions ... I need all the help I can get. " "The Ransom of Red Chief" is a 1910 short story by O. Henry first published in The Saturday Evening Post. It follows two men who kidnap and attempt to ransom a wealthy Alabaman's son; eventually, the men are driven crazy by the boy's spoiled and hyperactive behavior, and end up having to pay the boy's father to take him back. The story and its main idea have become a part of popular culture, with many children's television programs using a version of the story as one of their episodes. The tale is a light-hearted example of the ultimate in "poetic justice" and fortuitous intervention for the public good: the crooks had intended to use the ransom money to fund an even larger and much more elaborate scam that would likely have caused widespread monetary damage to the local populace, and so having their plans "foiled in their infancy" by Red Chief's shrewd father saves countless other honest folks from financial ruin. It has also been often used as a classic example of two ultimate comic ironies—a supposed "hostage" actually liking his abductors and enjoying being captured, and his captors getting their just deserts by having the tables turned on them, and being compelled to pay to be rid of him." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ransom_of_Red_Chief

TTH: IN PRINCIPLE ... how would YOU like it if you saved up your money, and worked hard for years to afford a down payment on a car, and financed the rest of the balance through the Rochester, NY Canandaigua National Bank and Trust Co, on Monroe Avenue, and just as you had it about half paid off, you got a letter from the Bank saying your LOAN HAD BEEN FORGIVEN ? Pretty neat, eh! BUT .. they mention that you have NO CHOICE in the matter ... and that you are expected to make EQUIVALENT PAYMENTS for the rest of YOUR LIFE. AND ... you have NO RIGHT to sell your property anymore ... because it is now THEIR property, and they can sell it anytime they want without compensating you in any way. AND KEEP ALL THE MONEY I am very fond of certain Congregations that were very kind to me .... and before I married Susan, I had often thought of leaving my estate to them ... but under the current arrangement that is COMPLETELY out of the question ... as it is NOW subject to confiscation. I try to be a man if IDEAS, and not people, and this to me is THEFT. Even worse ... it is ALSO involuntary perpetual enslavement similar to the IRS. I suspect Susan will live about 28 years after I am dead, and I will ask her to bequeath whatever stuff is left over after she dies to the National Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, which paid the bills for my first wife, until she died. There are INFINITE reasons ... all personal to each individual ... why this usurpation and theft might be objectionable .... and all which can be easily disregarded if we are just sheep to be sheared. Perhaps I should be thankful that we are not being killed and eaten, figuratively speaking. Of course, that only happens to OTHER Brothers, so it does not affect us. (That was biting satire ... for those in Rio Linda...)

Perhaps they want to sell their Kingdom Hall to build a different one ... for any NUMBER of reasons. It USED to not be centrally controlled and done against their wishes.

DANGER WILL ROBINSON! ( ... waves arms erratically ... )

"Are you KIDDING, Michelle? WE are not going to ride in cars that small ... we just want everybody ELSE to ride in cars that small .... "

Oh, I think the Russians are heartier people as a whole than we are here in the West, where political correctness is the new term for what we USED to call cowardice. ESPECIALLY the Sisters !

Then, of course ..... there is the OTHER side of the door ... Â

I always give advice that will work .... I don't often mention the consequences.

I would like to EXPERIMENT with $10 MILLION DOLLARS, just to SEE if I would be happier. I strongly suspect that with $10 MILLION DOLLARS, I would not have to worry about my medical costs, or the cost of dog food for my seven dogs. .... or listening to engine sounds, and every time I hear scraping metal or a "clunk", wondering if I am going to be stranded with no way to get home. There is no shame in being poor ... but I would NOT be inclined to brag about it. ... and the people that want free money from me ... THAT would never happen! I know how to say NO, and be rude about it, if necessary. I WOULD find jobs for them to do to EARN some money. I am retired now, and there is ONE thing that every person or company I have EVER worked for had in common.. THEY WERE NOT POOR.

Try this: Make some WANTED posters offering a $1000 reward for a copy of your book ... this will make people WANT your book. Staple the posters to telephone poles around Rochester .. ... the town, not Jack Benny's housekeeper.

Even if what is being taught is WRONG?

I would like the white seats in MY favorite vehicle, which I am not able to afford .... the MARAUDER made in South Africa. If I could afford THAT, I would be completely unconcerned about fuel economy.

Old data ... you have not been keeping up.

Customs and sensibilities vary from time to time ... culture to culture .. and by location. Today (our weekend meeting is on Saturday ..) we learned in paragraph 17 that a Brother "remembered" that the Book of Daniel was written in Aramaic... who knew? Let me tell you about Ahab the Arab The sheik of the burning sand He had emeralds and rubies just drippin' off 'a him And a ring on every finger of his hand He wore a big ol' turban wrapped around his head And a scimitar by his side And, every evenin', about midnight He'd jump on his camel named Clyde, and ride Silently through the night to the sultan's tent where he Would secretly meet up with Fatima of the Seven Veils, Swingingest grade "A" number one US choice dancer in The sultan's whole harem, 'cause, heh, him and her had A thing goin', you know, and they'd been carryin' on For some time now behind the sultan's back and you Could hear him talk to his camel as he rode out across the Dunes, his voice would cut through the still night desert Air and he'd say (imitate Arabic speech and finish with "Sold! American) Which is Arabic for, "Stop, Clyde!" and Clyde'd say, (imitate camel sound), Which is camel for, "What the heck did he say anyway?" Well, he brought that camel to a screechin' halt (verbal screeching sound) In the rear of Fatima's tent Jumped off Clyde, snuck around the corner And into the tent he went. There he saw Fatima layin' on a zebra skin rug with... "Rings on her fingers and Bells on her toes and a bone in her nose ho, ho." There she was, friends, lyin' there in all her radiant Beauty, eating on a raisin, grape, apricot, pomegranate, Bowl of chittlin's, two bananas, three Hershey bars, Sipping on a RC co-cola listenin' to her transistor, Watchin' the Grand Ole Opry on the tube, readin' a Mad Magazine while she sung, "Does your chewing gum lose It's flavor?" Yeah, Ahab walked up to her and he say, (imitate Arabic speech), which is Arabic for "Let's twist Again like we did last summer, baby.!!" Ha, ha, ha!! You know what I mean! Whew! She looked up at him from off the rug, Give him one of the sly looks, She said (suggestive giggles, then outright laughter) "Crazy, crazy, crazy baby!" Yeah, and that's the story 'bout Ahab the Arab The sheik of the burnin' sand Ahab the Arab, the swingin' sheik of the burnin' sand (Songwriter: Ray Stevens)

Such things are corrosive to the soul.