TrueTomHarley

Sure, I'll talk cars for a while. I really will, for who doesn't like cars? Moreover, few know more about American Motors than me. James Bond jumps a river in his AMC Hornet X, all the while spiraling a complete 360 degrees around. An Astro Spiral Jump! None of those pampered pricey “pretty boy” cars came close to such a stunt. Could a Tesla do it? Don't make me laugh. It was plain ol bread n butter American Motors what done the deed. Â

I see you also posted about AMC and some movie deals. AMC means something very different to me. Some of whatever mental agility I have stems from having to defend our family's choice of vehicles. AMC built some of the most hideous looking cars on earth. And also some of the coolest. We favored the hideous.

Not to mention Amazon, which was roundly condemned for showing little profitability, plowing proceeds back into the business for the longest time for the sake of long-term growth. Many an activist investor would have thwarted this. (these two posts might sound like I am being antagonistic. I am not. Just trying to contribute to the thread. I appreciate all you do here to bring up new topics.)

"Just you wait, Henry Higgins, just you wait!"... OH HO HO! Henry Higgins, down you'll go, Henry Higgins!!!" Just you wait!"

"Wake up, dogs, wake up! At such an hour you are sleeping and taking your rest? @James Thomas Rook Jr.Is ridiculing God's organization again. You may have to do more than rearrange his furniture this time." Â ... Â TopCat O'Malighan

'Performing better' is the key phrase. It is performing better by whose standards? Long-term growth, short term raiding the piggy bank, or gouging? Martin Shkreli's company purchased purchased some pharmaceuticals (including Rochester's Bauch & Lomb) and raised the price of epipen six-fold. That helped it perform better.

We better catch some shuteye, Otis. JTR is at it again. Something tells me we're going to get a call from TopCat O'Malighan tomorrowÂ

Next time it may not be just your furniture, @James Thomas Rook Jr.

I just got a call that @James Thomas Rook Jr.has been insulting God's organization again. He may have to learn the hard way.

TTH bashing??? Yikes! Could it be? Do I not have feelings?

Show it to the householders. See it if sweeps them off their feet. Ah, well. It is what it is. I think I got something or other years ago at the Pioneer School besides just the group photo, though I could be mistaken. I never it up on my office wall, though.

I, who am from the area, have never heard this term. However, it IS true that the concluding speaker at a Syracuse District Convention several years back observed how everyone present had imitated Acts 28:12. Putting into port at Syracuse, we remained there for three days;

How's that for someone's 'reasoning process?' You know, I feel a little mean when I imply - make that 'say' - that Caleb and Sophia are more mature than you. I'm not a mean guy by nature, and I hesitate to do it. There have been times when I have been very conciliatory and respectful of you - you know I have. If you have some crap in your background, I have even sought to 'feel your pain,' just like Bill Clinton. It does no good. Your immediate response is some tirade as hateful as ever toward theocratic organization. So it must be, I guess. "Fire when you see the whites of his eyes and fire when you don't!"

What about sometimes just going to the door to meet and converse with people - and forget all about the kingdom? Is there ever a place for this? It was the conversation this morning in our car group. Not as a regular thing. As part of a learning curve. Not all of the friends have 'people skills' yet they've volunteered for a work in which it is vital - or at least it makes the job go more smoothly. Just visit to meet neighbors. If they ask why you've come, tell them you're a Witness but you aren't there to talk about that unless they want - 'My people skills aren't what they could be and I want to improve them' you could say. I suspect it will get no worse results than some of those we already get. Some will want no part of it, likely most, some will be suspicious, but if you are successful in developing people skills, you will instantly detect that and change tacks. Or just thank them for their time and move on. Thoughts? Don't use it as a back door - a sneaky way to get in a witness. Say, if asked, 'some time I could tell you about the paradise earth, but I don't want to do that just now. I just want to meet people,' and talk about what's right before you - their garden, bumper stickers, family - whatever strikes your eye. "Whatever you may say will not be used against you." I don't know that I would say THAT, but if you're just out to improve people skills, you can do anything you want, since the object is to connect with people - not to 'give a witness.' My guess is that a certain percentage will, though this is not your object, begin to ask you how you came to choose the work you are doing? They will be disarmed. And you will not take advantage by arming. That will be for some entirely different time with someone else. For those who feel they are 'on duty' and MUST give a witness, they could slip in a tract or a card, especially when asked. "Here's a tract, but I don't want to talk about it just now." You get the idea. Has anyone ever done this?

When I asked a Vietnamese publisher I knew well about demons in his home village, he answered matter-of-factly that they could be easily found outside the populated areas and they made a lot of trouble. I'm willing to guess that he is not nuts, because such reports are a dime a dozen in less developed places. Why do they not manifest themselves in the more educated areas? A perfectly reasonable explanation to me is that they deliberately lie low so that the educated people can continue to think themselves superior and look down upon the 'ignorant' and declare their 'education' is the be-all and the end-all. Is it that way? Dunno. But I see nothing absurd with it. The Devil wants to mislead. Why should he care how he does it? Why should he be expected to use the same tools everywhere? Brother Smurf is giving the public talk tomorrow. I'm going to run these points by him and see what he thinks.

Well - I think that's a pretty harsh assessment. Look, what you appear to want me to weigh in on is a family feud. You claim to be one of the anointed and you are mad that the GB anointed are not the anointed ones I should be listening to - they are the anointed from the wrong side of the tracks. I am not of the anointed. Therefore, if we stick with the model I think we both agree with, someone is going to be delivering spiritual food for me. If I have to choose, they win hands down, lady, not you.

YEAH! Moreover, except for one jab, the reply I made before that provoked a rebuke from you that I should 'grow up' was well-reasoned and respectful. So it must be the jab that made you mad, which was an observation of how our lovable cartoon characters, Caleb and Sophia, despite their tender years, still come off as more mature than you. Do I back down from that assessment?

Actually, I think that is the answer. I did start it as a joke, you are right. But I also recognized that, at its root, it was the answer. Jesus didn't do it. Judas stole from the money box. A simple account system would have caught him. Yet Jesus never did it. Expanding, we have 1 Corinthians 6:2 do you not know that the holy ones will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you not competent to try very trivial matters? Do you not know that we will judge angels? Then why not matters of this life? If the holy ones back then were to be entrusted with our spiritual lives, were they incapable of handling 'unrighteous riches?' Accounting methods are rather strict now in the congregations. Two brothers count all donations from the contribution box. Two sign off. It is all under the supervision of the Secretary. It is similar at the circuit level. Are we to imagine it disappears above the circuit level? What disappears is anyone feeling they have an obligation to report such things to you. In your case, I can easily understand it. If you twist undeniably good deeds to make them seem vile, exaggerate any missteps, and ignore any mitigating factors, and without exception impute bad motives, what would you do when you found they upgraded from Pepsident toothpaste to Crest? Should they report? I guess you could make a case for it. But I think the greater case is for not doing it, in view of 1 Corinthians 6. It's not the exact same thing, but in principle it is. What is public accounting? It is a requirement imposed by government upon public corporations. Does it work? It can be circumvented. A relative of mine works for a publicly traded company which recently bought another publicly traded company. His company is a very well known name, and the purchased company is well known to industry groups. It turns out that the purchased company managed to conceal billions of dollars of fraud, despite public accounting, and the buyer is now in danger of going under. (and the relative worries about his job) In Rochester, Wegmans is the premiere company putting the city on the map. It replaces Kodak in that role. Arguably one might say Paychex instead of Wegmans, but I'll hang with Wegmans. People love Wegmans. It is Whole Foods where, if you plan, you can avoid spending your whole paycheck. (if you don't - watch out! - but with minimal fuss, you can) It has been called the best run grocer in the country and perhaps the world. There are 70-80 stores in the eastern U.S. Whoever does the ratings - is it Forbes? - consistently ranks it among the top ten best places to work in the entire country. It is a private corporation and never reports to the public. Does that mean it keeps no accounts? No. It just doesn't feel the obligation to report to the rank and file. The demand to render public accounting, to me, seems but a manifestation of another form of human self-rule - in particular, democracy. It is faith that the people should scrutinize every nickel spent and that is the only way to keep those running the show honest. As the examples above show, it is not necessarily a valid premise. It is easily circumvented. I was joking when I said we could smell fraud when Anthony Morris upgrades to a bigger dorm room, but once again, there is truth to it. Let there be some evidence of chicanery before you assume your democratic method is the be-all and end-all. If they released financial reports they would have to add layers and layers of Bethel experts to defend themselves against countless people like you that simply want to take them down and use any possible pretext to do it. It would be rather like the Mueller investigation, which is the continuation of an effort that has lasted almost a year now to dig up evidence of wrongdoing with regard to the President and Russia. So far they have found none, but the mandate is unlimited and is not confined to Russia, (this is my understanding, but I could be wrong) Since the POTUS is human, they will certainly find something in time, and will attempt to use it to take him down - which is the sole object in the first place. Should Bethel do the same for its enemies? They just want to take it down. The line that invariably gets the largest applause at the Regional Convention is: "Would you like to convey your greetings to Bethel?" It is obvious why that is. People look around them and see evidence everywhere that whatever donations they have made are being spent wisely. The many examples referred to in the previous post prove that to them. They don't feel the need to monitor Bethel for crooks and they are confident that, should crooks appear, the overall upright character of the organization will handle it.

You're joking!! if anyone but you said this to me, I would take it to heart. I might not do it, but I would take it to heart. But YOU telling someone to grow up???

FACTS!! EVIDENCE! THAT’S WHAT I WANT TO SEE!! FACTS! DOES ANYBODY IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD KNOW WHAT FACTS ARE EXCEPT ME? (WHERE HAVE I HEARD THIS RANT BEFORE?) EVIDENCE OF WRONGDOING – THAT’S WHAT I NEED TO SEE!!! WHEN ANTHONY MORRIS UPGRADES TO A BIGGER DORM ROOM, THEN I WILL KNOW THE LIARS ARE ASCONDING WITH THE DOUGH!!! Okay, that was tongue in cheek. The following is not. Not only is your demand brilliant and justified beyond belief – if the 12 dopes had followed it back in the day all history would be different and we’d be in paradise now! Judas was stealing from the box. Why didn’t Jesus demand an account? The twelve were taking in the funds of the lowly and there was never an account!!! ...NOT ONCE …EVER! YOU HEARD ME – EVER!!!! IT’S OUTRAGEOUS!!!

I've never thought of the verse that way. I like that take.

They may no longer do anti-types at Bethel, having had too many blow up in their face, but that doesn't mean I don't do them. Ralph Kramden, the hefty loud-mouthed bus driver of the 'Honeymooners' TV show, is the antitypical Nebuchadnezzar. Each show he began by blustering. Each show he was totally humiliated. Each show he was contrite at the end. And each new show he totally forgot the lessons learned from the one before. So it is with Nebuchadnezzar. And what is it with Nebuchadnezzar and the magic-practicing priests? He picks a fight with them right out the gate in chapter 2 of Daniel: "Then the king said to them: “I have had a dream, and I am agitated because I want to know what I dreamed.” The Chaldeans replied to the king in the Aramaic language: “O king, may you live on forever. Relate the dream to your servants, and we will tell the interpretation.” The king answered the Chaldeans: “This is my final word: If you do not make the dream known to me, along with its interpretation, you will be dismembered, and your houses will be turned into public latrines." Why? What did they do? They are yanked out of bed to learn they must tell the king what his dream IS in addition to what it means? Now they will have to sit each in his house, without any arms or legs, and watch people come in to pee on their couch and poop on their carpet. There's bad blood between the king and them, somehow. How it came about is not described, but it hardly seems fair he should pick on them. Or does it? If the king made such demands, it is likely because he is fed up with their claims that they can do things like that. They are always playing him for a sucker with their air of religious mystery, and he has had it up to here. That's my guess, anyway. We're used to quoting Daniel 1:20 to show how, after a short trial period in which the Hebrew captives did little more than eat vegetables, the king found them "ten times better than all his magic practicing priests." We're used to saying it is because of God's blessing that Daniel was elevated so high. Probably so, but I'll bet it is more a reflection of how worthless he found the priests. It was a pretty low bar they set, and Daniel leapt it without fuss.

Hey lady, what is it with you and those Mormons?

I'm sorry, @Witness, I just can't do it. Count it as my weakness if you must. I just can't suffer you clobbering me with scriptures that do nothing but continue your harangues. The Governing Body can hardly be accused of subtlety, but even they do not punctuate every sentence with myriad scriptures. They instead recommend daily Bible reading, then they assume the familiarity that comes therefrom and do not have to quote a Bible verse every time they tie their shoe. We have a verse heading your list that we won't get done before the end comes, which you appear to take to mean we should therefore do nothing. Then there are some verses to advance your constant complaint that the bad annointed ones have wrestled the teaching spotlight away from you and the other good annointed ones. I just can't suffer through it. Sorry.

The "accounting" is the Kingdom Halls and Assembly Halls sprouting up like mushrooms in areas that can ill-afford them. The "accounting" is the disaster relief that gets the job done while many outsiders are bumping into one another like Keystone Cops. The "accounting" is the annual convention held some 200 times around the globe, supplemented by every means of video technology, and other televised venues. The "accounting" is the Bible translation and distribution so that the poor family head in the Congo can have a Bible even for free, rather than be stuck with a 200 year old turkey of a translation that he cannot afford because nobody of the religious world dreams it possible to circumvent the commercial world's distribution system. The "accounting" is the lovable childlike cartoon characters Caleb and Sophia who nonetheless come off as more mature than you. What scares me is that you can see all this and still scream that someone is picking your pocket.