James Thomas Rook Jr.

. TIRED OF BEING MANIPULATED BY FAKE NEWS? VERY SIMPLE SOLUTION ... GET EDUCATED ABOUT WHAT IS REALLY GOING ON AROUND YOU! Royal Commission Case Study 54: What to expect - by an anonymous reporter who DOES homework ! With Case Study 54 only a few days away, THIS FRIDAY (AUSTRALIAN TIME) MARCH 10, 2017 (You do the math for local time...) a lot of discussion has been circulating as to exactly what we can expect when Watchtower appears once again before the Australian Royal Commission. I’ve decided to chip in a few observations here to help set expectations and to contribute to the discussions as best I’m able. So without further ado, let’s quickly run through what we know: What exactly will be discussed? According to the Commission website, the scope of the study is as follows 1. The current policies and procedures of Jehovah’s Witnesses and Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Australia Ltd in relation to child protection and child-safe standards, including responding to allegations of child sexual abuse. 2. Factors that may have contributed to the occurrence of child sexual abuse at Jehovah’s Witnesses and Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Australia Ltd institutions. 3. Factors that may have affected the institutional response of Jehovah’s Witnesses and Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Australia Ltd to child sexual abuse. 4. The responses of Jehovah’s Witnesses and Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Australia Ltd to relevant case study report(s) and other Royal Commission reports. 5. Any related matters. The purpose of this public hearing is not to inquire into individual sets of facts or particular events as has occurred in previous Royal Commission case studies. Why does the Case Study 54 hearing appear to be only one day long? This may appear at first glance to be a surprise. How can a single day of testimony possibly be enough to cover the vast and complex issue of Watchtower’s child abuse scandal? Well, remember that Case Study 54 isn’t a fact finding mission. That was Case Study 29. The Commission spent days digging and interviewing, and ultimately issued a detailed report on every aspect of Watchtower’s failure. As far as the Commission is concerned, the facts are in. There is no further debate. Case Study 54 is tasked purely with a quick review of those facts and then with publicly asking Watchtower what is has done to address the damning failures identified in Case Study 29. Remember what Justice McClellan said to Watchtower’s legal team? That they were going to come back to Watchtower and publicly ask them what had been done to address the issues? That’s what this is. So what has Watchtower done in the 21 months since Case Study 29? As far as I am aware, the only potential effort from Watchtower to address any of the concerns raised in the Royal Commission has been to no longer require an abuse survivor to confront their attacker. However, it was not clear from testimony if this practice had actually been halted before the Commission sat. Watchtower seemed to insist in testimony that it was, but their documentation did not reflect this. Thus one cannot say with certainty that even this potential change has come as a result of the Commission report. So Watchtower is going to stand before the Commission, after 21 months, and basically say they’ve done nothing at all? I have no idea. I mean, that would be the honest thing to do, but remember how slippery and devious Watchtower was in Case Study 29, with senior Watchtower officials like Rodney Spinks, Terrence O’Brain and Governing Body Member Geoffrey Jackson attempted to mislead and outright lie to the Commission on multiple occasions. As far as I can see, Watchtower has three options Admit they’ve done nothing and that they don’t intend to for religious reasons, and turn the whole thing into an issue of religious freedom. Try to stall and muddy the waters by saying they’ve not had enough time, that they have no authority to make the changes required without Brooklyn agreement, knowing full well that Brooklyn is beyond the reach of the Commission. The idea here would be to stall until the day is over, then slink away and wait, knowing no further testimony is required. Dive full into another round of misleading doublespeak and outright lies to try and pull the wool over the Commission’s eyes. Which one will they pick? Again I have no idea. Judging from Watchtower’s jaw-dropping legal incompetence in Case Study 29 and in the recent Fessler case, it’s very hard to predict their strategy. It seems to have no rhyme or reason, but keep in mind three things. The men in charge of Watchtower are firstly very deluded. They genuinely think they are defending God’s organization against Satanic and apostate attack, and feel that compromise will be a victory for Satan. The men in charge of Watchtower are very out of touch with real life, spending all their days in a world where you don’t question Watchtower or those who run it, and now they’ve risen to the top. Their word is law. Odds are that no-one has told Anthony Morris III that his ideas are stupid for a very long time. They have no idea how to handle the kind of environment the Royal Commission brings to the table. Geoffrey Jackson’s excruciating performance, where the Commission made mincemeat of his arguments, was proof of that. The men in charge of Watchtower are caught between being honest with a Commission that has all of their dirty little secrets on the one hand, and playing to the growing audience of JW’s who they know WILL find out about March 10th one way or the other. They have to both be as compliant as possible to the Commission whilst also appearing to be steadfast and unmovable to the Witnesses who will end up seeing the testimony on YouTube. So delusion, seclusion, and public relations are all going to crash into once horrible mess as they did in Case Study 29 and as a result I have no idea what Watchtower will do on Friday. We hope to preserve the live steam video for future reference as the Commission does not archive or make this video available once the live stream is over. However, technical gremlins are always a factor so if you have the ability to record the live stream, it would be a great idea to do so as well. The more people do this, the less chance of this footage being lost forever. Lastly we will of course be following up with articles on the day, giving you a more detailed analysis of what has transpired. Get your popcorn (and your coffee if you’re staying up late) and lets all observe the car crash together! And one last thing: if it is safe for you to do so, please tell as many Jehovah’s Witnesses as you can about the events on March 10th. Their children are at risk and they don’t even know it. They may choose not to look up the Case Study, but simply being aware that it exists is the first step in raising awareness that the Governing Body is not being honest with them about the international scandal of child abuse inside the Watchtower organization. (edited for political correctness and other stuff ...) JTR

Different people have different skills .... if you try to be everything, to everybody, you will fail, AND the mice that want to nibble away at your life will nibble away ALL of it, and there will be nothing left for YOU. Additionally, they will complain and moan because they cannot get 120%, AND you have to do ALL their thinking for them. Thinking is very hard work .... when done correctly ... which is why most people want to go to heaven, walk on golden streets an d play harps. The Bible says, and common sense confirms, that a MAJOR part of our Ministry is to get people to really, Really REALLY think, and to OVERTURN STRONGLY ENTRENCHED THINGS., that are wrong, and therefore destructive, and therefore EVIL in nature. It's a tough job ....... I try to get people to REALLY think about whether what they believe is based on reality ...or fantasy. I very much try NOT to draw their conclusions for them, based on the assumption that a healthy, rational mind, when faced with patent absurdity, will recognize this. You can have a healthy, wholesome meal in a bowl that once contained sewage and rot ... if it is cleaned out and disinfected. Just like in programming computers, properly programming people for TRUTH, means that it has to exist inside a prepared environment, or what you get is NOT Truth, but drivel I have seen this IRC "Ministry", since 1997 go from ALL Jehovah's Witnesses being considered deluded fools, to a respect for the Brotherhood, and an Understanding of our place in the Kingdom Arrangement for the Earth as a natural, logical, reasonable, rational explanation of how this Universe works., in about 60 or so people that have been involved in year long and more discussions. My talent is NOT" Bible Study" from prepared literature ... My talent is shocking people to really THINK. ...or just shocking them ... and they don't LIKE it.

. . AND COMPLETE VIDEOS!!! ... that you can DOWNLOAD!! . .

The thought occurred to me that some might be interested in EXPERIMENTING with a new line of Witnessing, not to replace anything that we might be doing now, but to "widen out" to niche' audiences. There is a communications network that exists available to you ... text only, back from the 1990s when the Internet was first formed, and it is still going strong today ,,,, although it is supplanted or even overtaken by the likes of Facebook or Twitter, or whatever else has evolved. Conversations I have had in 1997 STILL show up on the Internet, and over the years have seen the Truth handled aright change MANY opinions about TRUE Christianity ..... but it requires flexibility, and humor to try and plant some seeds of Truth on the baked hard-scrabble clay that Christendom has cooked up over the centuries .... It's called the "Internet Relay Chat" network, or IRC., and when sick, I could spend 60 to 70 hours a month in HIGHLY EFFECTIVE Witnessing ... everybody is home, audiences of perhaps 50 people at a time, and no wasted time, or even gas money. Without further adieu, I will post a little sample I did when I had about ten minutes to spare ... if there is any Interest, I will give you more details ..... Please realize there can be six to 20 people "talking" at the same time, so following is an acquired skill .... My Screen Name is "Greylenseman" --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - * Now talking in #christiandebate * Topic is 'Deu31:6 Be strong and of good courage, do not fear or be in dread of them: for it is the LORD your God who goes with you; he will not fail you or forsake you."' * Set by VirtualPreacher!~noyb@172.56.30.255 on Thu Feb 02 19:58:51 2017 #christiandebate url is www.acrity.org * BibleBot sets mode: +v Greylenseman <+Greylenseman> yawn <+dani_> ello Greylenseman <+Greylenseman> iya dani <+Greylenseman> why up so early? <+mugzZzZz> Heads are rollinghttp://www.cnn.com/2017/02/17/politics/tillerson-state-department-shakeup/ at the State Department - The news sent shock waves through the agency and has left career officials on edge - * mugzZzZz is now known as mugz <+mugz> more draining of the swamp <+mugz> er <+mugz> Heads are rolling at the State Department http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/17/politics/tillerson-state-department-shakeup/ * +mugz sips more coffee <+Greylenseman> drill baby, drill! <+mugz> "careful with that ax Eugine" <+Greylenseman> I have NEVER had a desire to go to Heaven. <+dani_> do you have a mental connection with God ? <+dani_> does god read your mind Greylenseman ? <+dani_> Moshe`, does God read your mind? <+thehorror> I'd hate to go to heaven and not see my friends and family <+Greylenseman> I hope so ... but God's ORIGINAL plan was a physical Universe filled with the children of DNA ... that has NOT changed. <@Ross> those who dont goto heaven dont go by their choice <@Ross> oroville dam residents havce to evacuate again <+Greylenseman> SURPRISE! <+Greylenseman> thehorror: or meet some reelatives that were miscarriages, and abortions ... <+Greylenseman> eeeeew <+Greylenseman> who, IF they grew up, would never meet puppies. <+Greylenseman> OH YEAH, little white cloud shapes .... <+Greylenseman> ...like foggy tribbles ... * welloktheniguess (~wellokthe@220-253-144-178.dyn.iinet.net.au) has joined #christiandebate * BibleBot sets mode: +v welloktheniguess * +K83K (~MADE-IN83@vlan-132-19-116.comnet.bg) Quit (Read error: Operation timed out) <+Greylenseman> nothing like living in an evironment with aborted fetuses that never grow up, playing with foggy tribbles. <+Greylenseman> ... and then there is the omnipresent HARP music..... <+Greylenseman> could be worse .... could be accordians! <+Greylenseman> . <+dani_> that's crazy Greylenseman <+Greylenseman> yeas it IS ... that is the whole point. <+dani_> but the alternative isnt much less crazy * +welloktheniguess (~wellokthe@220-253-144-178.dyn.iinet.net.au) Quit (Quit: welloktheniguess) * K83K (~MADE-IN83@vlan-132-19-116.comnet.bg) has joined #ChristianDebate * BibleBot sets mode: +v K83K <+Greylenseman> there are inly two alternatives..... just plain ordinary death ... whic we all know is the case ...irregardless of our claimed theology, or being SO HOLY that God KNOWS he can give you immortality without ever later having to kill you for treason. Hell is a fantasy designed to separate you from your wallet. <+Greylenseman> In all human history, Revelation says only 144,000 are invited to live as immortals in Heaven .. men and women fully tested , and rightous beyond MY ability to understand. <+Greylenseman> I would be looking for "loopholes". <+Greylenseman> well, gotta go ... gotta get a nap. * Disconnected . I just reviewed the last post, not technically accurate, as I forgot to mention the Paradise Earth as an option, but I did allude to it in the beginning ... I was tired.

INTREPID TRAVELER said; " """""Nooooooooo. My momma said never to let a RCC priest or a Jehovah's Witness man touch me ever ! I mean look what is happening in Australia at the Royal Commission into Sexual Abuse within the Jehovah's Witness movement - 1006 perpetrators ....and not one of them was reported to the authorities ! ..................so put me down ! """" http://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/getattachment/c2d1f1f5-a1f2-4241-82fb-978d072734bd/Report-of-Case-Study-No-29 https://www.revealnews.org/blog/jehovahs-witnesses-settle-lawsuit-alleging-coverup-of-child-sex-abuse/ https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/feb/16/australian-catholic-church-has-paid-276m-to-abuse-victims-so-far-inquiry-shows i WATCHED the Entire Australian Royal Commission Inquiry 29, which went on for more that than week, and even if you know NOTHING else except the TRUTH, which many of the elders being interrogated under oath showed so pitifully clearly, those HARD FACTS exposed for all the world to see how much SHAME the GB, the Branch Offices and the Elders have brought on Jehovah's Name and slanders HIS name by us behaving in such a manner, perverting JUSTICE for over 5,000 victims of over 1,006 perpertrators ALL HIDDEN IN SECRET ENVELOPES IN THE KINGDOM HALL FILES, and in BLUE secret envelopes copies sent to the Branch Offices, and in NOT ONE of these cases was this CRIMINAL activity reported to police to protect the small Brothers and Sisters... THE SOLUTION was to threaten the victims and their families with disfellowshipping, and in many cases that WAS DONE, to keep everybody's mouths shut, for over 50 years. I talk to MANY people a week about the Truth of God, and half of them DO keep up with global news, and they ask me ... "How can you POSSIBLY still be a champion of Jehovah's Witnesses, when they are involved with all this evil (not just in Australia, but in the UK and the United States ...) ?". There is NO way to defend it, and I would not ... so to make a VERRRRRyyyyy long story very short .... I just say "All clergy, once it reaches a certain organizational size ALWAYS evolves into making many buildings, and may distractions, and if Justice interferes with the cash flow ... Justice is the FIRST thing that is abandoned." There has NEVER in the History of Civilization been ANY exceptions to this rule. None exist today. This March the Australian Royal Commission on Child Abuse #29 will have a week long follow up, Case #54, or #57, if memory serves. THE WHOLE WORLD KNOWS ALL ABOUT THIS, as Intrepid Traveler's links show. YOU HAVE A CHOICE .... Remain ignorant, and by extension deliberately choose to be a fool .... or find out what is REALLY going on around you. When you deliberately choose NOT TO KNOW .... just like in Nazi Germany ... the appropriate label is .... EVIL. The REAL question is why are 90% of ALL JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES ignorant of ALL of this. The answer is: They GB thinks we are all wallets and small children, and their complicity in all of this would be exposed, and the financial empire .... AND THEIR JOBS .... would be forfeit. .

. I understand if a necktie is big enough, or you are dehydrated enough you can use it as a sunscreen or makeshift tent ... and a silk tie is an animal protein that can be boiled down, and like how the American Indians and Pioneers used to make glue out of boiled down animal sinew, tendons and such for feathering arrows ...... one glass-full should be good for several weeks. You can actually SEE the tears in the refugee's eyes when he has walked thousands of miles to escape death, watching his friends die of exposure, dehydration, and disease along the way, crossing borders by night, cold, dirty, starving and wet .. and he is given a NICE TIE! I am no better ... when I had JW refugees in my home, I went to the grocery store before they got up and bought 16 large cans of Oatmeal, along with the milk and eggs, etc., and hoped I could fill them up with Oatmeal. The cashier asked me if I was feeding refugees, and I was embarrassed to have to answer I was. Now THAT's INSIGHT! I occasionally think of the Brother who saw a Mexican Family on the side of the road near El Paso, Texas, obviously starving, as they were eating the sparse vegetation such as they could find ... and invited the entire family to his home for dinner! He had a VERY NICE Estate on about 20 acres. They all climbed into his Van, and when they got to his house, he opened the chain-link gate, and he, speaking limited Spanish, pointed them to his beautifully lush green lawn, which needed mowing. . . .

How wonderful! ..notice that the dog has his OWN monitor? Proof that the Brother is blind, and not the dog!

. Yeah... I feel great pain for the ones we have chased away, which I estimate to be in the millions ... when we cruelly destroy their entire families in order to discipline them, because they cannot see what is so plainly taught. .

ON COMPETENT ADVICE: it is up to EVERY INDIVIDUAL Brother and Sister to review in their own mind how COMPETENT this advice was .... because it has not changed ... Taking sound, reality based advice will, barring chance and unforeseen circumstances, make your life better, happier, EASIER, and more fulfilling. Most of the REAL PROBLEMS I have had in my life have been caused by being poor, and constantly STRUGGLING to keep gainfully employed. Gainfully employed in THIS day and age is not the same as in the time of John the Baptist, where you could dress in rags, live in a hole in the ground, and eat locusts (YUM!), and die of exhaustion, deprivation, starvation ( No, I'm FASTING! ...uh... yeah... uh... that's it .. uh "fasting!") .and disease, and a LONG life for the average genetically disposed person was around age 34 and you were full of infection of every sort, and your teeth had rotted out of you head. You walked everywhere, and died on the side of the road from exposure. It is up to EVERY INDIVIDUAL Brother and Sister to review in their own mind how COMPETENT this advice was .... because it has not changed. The RESULTS of taking INCOMPETENT ADVICE are completely indistinguishable from being chained to deliberate, premeditated evil. The Three Elders who came and counseled Job for three days did not just sit in the dirt and stare at him for 72 hours ... they were yapping their heads off ... but after three days ... nothing they said was worth recording. .

. This advice came out in the May 9, 1989 Awake ... and it is up to EVERY INDIVIDUAL Brother and Sister to review in their own mind how COMPETENT this advice was .... because it has not changed ... Taking sound, reality based advice will, barring chance and unforeseen circumstances, make your life better, happier, EASIER, and more fulfilling. Most of the REAL PROBLEMS I have had in my life have been caused by being poor, and constantly STRUGGLING to keep gainfully employed. Gainfully employed in THIS day and age is not the same as in the time of John the Baptist, where you could dress in rags, live in a hole in the ground, and eat locusts (YUM!), and die of exhaustion, deprivation, starvation ( No, I'm FASTING! ...uh... yeah... uh... that's it .. uh "fasting!") .and disease, and a LONG life for the average genetically disposed person was around age 34 and you were full of infection of every sort, and your teeth had rotted out of you head. You walked everywhere, and died on the side of the road from exposure. It is up to EVERY INDIVIDUAL Brother and Sister to review in their own mind how COMPETENT this advice was .... because it has not changed .

Yeah ... I typically run alternate scenarios in my mind 24/7/365 .... , and I realized you were being satirical about ten minutes after I logged off, but I had a bad night and was exhausted, and knowing you are not a Snowflake, I was too tired to edit as I should have .... besides, I kinda liked the "two straws" visualization ....

DJSQUEEZE: You have real talent there! Your comment: " LOL ? ? ? You couldn't be further from the truth, pun intended. IF you're offended, I apologize. but note: I made no definitive statement(s). " .... may be grammatically technically true but it projects your OPINION that you have already judged Eoin to be an apostate, which is why you were issuing the warning, albeit the warning having NO BASIS IN ACTUAL FACT. Such things are how witch-hunts begin ... casting suspicions without a CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER. .... and then trying to weasel-word out of your self made trap .... sigh......

It's a good thing we are acceptable to Jehovah with or without an outageous sense of humor ... Johnny Carson made $16,000 a MINUTE telling jokes, half of which completely bombed ... and he had 16 writers ... that's where he learned to grin at the camera and do a soft-shoe tap dance ....

Of COURSE it's a fake ! It's a SATIRE of our writing style ..... similar to the famous Watchtower Article on "Should True Christians own Cats?" in the ole' "Questions from Readers (hahahahaha... but that's another story..) Biting REALLY GOOD Satire has to have some element of truth that is contrary to whatever it is satirizing ... and this article is 100% true in CONTENT ... which is so effective that TPT would have to watch all the Brothers walking in pairs of drinking straws, as their butts would have been bitten completely off. .. a REAL disaster! . .

Jackie Chan COULD be a Witness... he is clean shaven! With my usual lack of humor I present the Draft Copy of the December 2016 issue of the Watchtower which showed a Brother shaving on the cover ... it was changed before being distributed, because the Brothers responsible for the VERY GOOD and accurate article ... disappeared mysteriously. After you save the file to your hard drive, from the TOOL BAR, be sure to set your ADOBE PDF reader under VIEW to "Reading Mode" and under ZOOM, "Fit Page" to read it. Dec 2016 Watchtower draft article .pdf

Yeah, as Abraham Lincoln once warned ... "Never believe anything you read on the Internet!" Could be worse ... could be a picture of Jesus holding out two fingers with a Gillette Razor between them. With my usual lack of humor I present the Draft Copy of the December 2016 issue of the Watchtower which showed a Brother shaving on the cover ... it was changed before being distributed, because the Brothers responsible for the VERY GOOD and accurate article ... disappeared mysteriously. After you save the file to your hard drive, from the TOOL BAR, be sure to set your ADOBE PDF reader under VIEW to "Reading Mode" and under ZOOM, "Fit Page" to read it. Dec 2016 Watchtower draft article .pdf

The purpose of the Conference was to get all the clergy together to put pressure on the rogue clergyman in the picture to shave off his beard. How can you look like a clergy with a beard? . This continuous, never-ending global controversy has been going on since the 1960's, that I am aware of personally, and even before, when Judge Rutherford PERSONALLY forbade beards among Jehovah's witnesses, with the possible exception of post-menopausel Sisters .... and the Society has never definitively stated ANYTHING. With my usual lack of humor I present the Draft Copy of the December 2016 issue of the Watchtower which showed a Brother shaving on the cover ... it was changed before being distributed, because the Brothers responsible for the VERY GOOD and accurate article ... disappeared mysteriously. After you save the file to your hard drive, from the TOOL BAR, be sure to set your ADOBE PDF reader under VIEW to "Reading Mode" and under ZOOM, "Fit Page" to read it. Dec 2016 Watchtower draft article .pdf

. This continuous, never-ending global controversy has been going on since the 1960's, that I am aware of personally, and even before, when Judge Rutherford PERSONALLY forbade beards among Jehovah's witnesses, with the possible exception of post-menopausel Sisters .... and the Society has never definitively stated ANYTHING. With my usual lack of humor I present the Draft Copy of the December 2016 issue of the Watchtower which showed a Brother shaving on the cover ... it was changed before being distributed, because the Brothers responsible for the VERY GOOD and accurate article ... disappeared mysteriously. After you save the file to your hard drive, from the TOOL BAR, be sure to set your ADOBE PDF reader under VIEW to "Reading Mode" and under ZOOM, "Fit Page" to read it. Dec 2016 Watchtower draft article .pdf

. This continuous, never-ending global controversy has been going on since the 1960's, that I am aware of personally, and even before, when Judge Rutherford PERSONALLY forbade beards among Jehovah's witnesses, with the possible exception of post-menopausel Sisters .... and the Society has never definitively stated ANYTHING. With my usual lack of humor I present the Draft Copy of the December 2016 issue of the Watchtower which showed a Brother shaving on the cover ... it was changed before being distributed, because the Brothers responsible for the VERY GOOD and accurate article ... disappeared mysteriously. After you save the file to your hard drive, from the TOOL BAR, be sure to set your ADOBE PDF reader under VIEW to "Reading Mode" and under ZOOM, "Fit Page" to read it. Dec 2016 Watchtower draft article .pdf .

. With my usual lack of humor I present the Draft Copy of the December 2016 issue of the Watchtower which showed a Brother shaving on the cover ... it was changed before being distributed, because the Brothers responsible for the VERY GOOD and accurate article ... disappeared mysteriously. Dec 2016 Watchtower draft article .pdf .

. I have the advantage ... I am 70 years old and, to the best of my knowledge ... cannot be insulted (If it's True, it's true ..if it's not I really don't care . It the reality based TRUTH reputations can be forever destroyed in SECONDS!). it's a waste of my painfully few hours left on this Earth to educate the deliberately clueless . Civil debate among men of good character can ONLY result in GOOD things. Civil debate among men of bad character is always malignant, even if spoken in soft tomes, and typed with velvet gloves, and supported by many scriptural buzz words. Please know that you cannot hurt my feelings, insult me, or make me angry ... To paraphrase David Banner, "The Incredible Hulk", "People in a 60 foot radius would not like me if I was angry.!" We are both rational adults ... gimme yer best shots ... The TRUTH WILL WIN OUT in the Arena of Ideas ... though the sands figuratively run with rivers of blood, and there be mountains of stinking bodies in the hot mid-day sun for all to see. REAL TRUTH is worth the sacrifice, be it instant death, or enduring a lifetime of isolation and never ending hardship. You also have a VERY distinct advantage ... you can follow my 6,400 or so Archive postings back for five years, and get my opinions on every imaginable subject, simply by typing my full name into Google. Please feel free to challenge me on any subject, anytime. I may ignore it. James Thomas Rook, Jr. On IRC I also go by the nickname "Greylenseman" . . .

The Ford didn't budge at all, so the rope was his radius.

It is well known . The Archive goes back 5 years and more, and a LOT can be learned from it's histories, and stories by people that were there.

From Wikipedia: Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon that occurs within a group of people in which the desire for harmony or conformity in the group results in an irrational or dysfunctional decision-making outcome. Group members try to minimize conflict and reach a consensus decision without critical evaluation of alternative viewpoints by actively suppressing dissenting viewpoints, and by isolating themselves from outside influences. Groupthink requires individuals to avoid raising controversial issues or alternative solutions, and there is loss of individual creativity, uniqueness and independent thinking. The dysfunctional group dynamics of the "ingroup" produces an "illusion of invulnerability" (an inflated certainty that the right decision has been made). Thus the "ingroup" significantly overrates its own abilities in decision-making and significantly underrates the abilities of its opponents (the "outgroup"). Furthermore, groupthink can produce dehumanizing actions against the "outgroup". Antecedent factors such as group cohesiveness, faulty group structure, and situational context (e.g., community panic) play into the likelihood of whether or not groupthink will impact the decision-making process. Groupthink is a construct of social psychology but has an extensive reach and influences literature in the fields of communication studies, political science, management, and organizational theory,[1] as well as important aspects of deviant religious cult behaviour.[2][3] Groupthink is sometimes stated to occur (more broadly) within natural groups within the community, for example to explain the lifelong different mindsets of conservatives versus liberals,[4] or the solitary nature of introverts.[5] However, this conformity of viewpoints within a group does not mainly involve deliberate group decision-making, and might be better explained by the collective confirmation bias of the individual members of the group. Most of the initial research on groupthink was conducted by Irving Janis, a research psychologist from Yale University.[6] Janis published an influential book in 1972, which was revised in 1982.[7][8] Janis used the Bay of Pigs disaster (the failed invasion of Castro's Cuba in 1961) and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 as his two prime case studies. Later studies have evaluated and reformulated his groupthink model.[9][10] I just checked, the blue links worked when I tried them ....

. I also had ( and still have) a stamp collection that my cousin stole from, so I sympathize with you. Visualize three brothers with two cars ... a pale green 1957 Chevy, with an automatic transmission, which we will call the "TOW" car, and another car, possibly mine, (I forget ..this was the mid 60's) with a dead battery) which we shall call the "FORD". I think this happened about 1966. It was My best friends, Tom Orrick, and Bob Pollard on Quioccasin Road in Henrico County, Virginia, and the three decided we would PULL the FORD with a big, long rope we had by tying the two bumpers together to get (my?) car up to 35 MPH, pop the clutch, and that would start the towed car.. I looked at it and decided that the lurch would bend one or both bumpers, so Tom suggested somebody get in the trunk of the Chevy, sit turned around backwards and wrap the rope around their body, have some slack, and as the TOW car increased speed, play out the slack for the bumper not to be damaged. It sounded good UNTIL he suggested I do it. I balked, he volunteered so Bob is driving the Chevy, Tom is in the trunk facing backwards, and I am driving the Ford. There is about 30 feet of loose rope on the ground, one end wrapped around Tom, and the other end tied to the Ford's bumper. Bob gets to about 15 MPH, the rope gets tight and I have a perfect view of Tom popping out of the trunk like a champagne cork from a shaken bottle, launched almost straight up, and he crashes to the ground, wrapped in rope. ...and this dear Bros. and Sisters ...is why women live longer than men.. .