Posts by slimboyfat

30

Oi Cofty

by Landy in

new series of timc started monday.. one of the episodes is on evolution - should be good knowing cox's antipathy towards religion.. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b088f2vv.

sorry you colonials - it's on the bbc so you won't be able to get it.

serves yourself right for voting for trump!

Well I support SNP as a means to an end. When Scotland is independent it will vote for its own government. Presumably initially some kind of centre-left coalition, in line with majority politiical opinion in Scotland. I don't think SNP will last long in independent Scotland. Not everyone's view, but parties would realign to new situation.

It is the UK government that spent oil revenue without saving any. It is the UK government that took us into illegal and expensive wars, costing many lives as well as billions of pounds. It is the UK government that presided over a bank system at the centre of the global crash. It is the UK government that is dismantling the welfare system and bunggled its way out of the EU.

It would challenging for any new Scotland to equal that level of failure. Scotland's current financial poisition is a result of being part of the UK and subject to these and other failed policies. What would Scotland look like if we had 1) set up an oil fund like Norway 2) avoided illegal wars and paying for weapons of mass destruction 3) control over our own regulation and spending priorities? We can't change the mistakes of the past, but we can learn from them. If you are correct that Scotland's financial position is parlous, then it seems beyond weird to use this as an argument for staying in the current arrangement that got into that position in the first place. If we want to improve the situation the answer is to grow up and take responsibility for governing ourselves.

30

Oi Cofty

by Landy in

new series of timc started monday.. one of the episodes is on evolution - should be good knowing cox's antipathy towards religion.. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b088f2vv.

sorry you colonials - it's on the bbc so you won't be able to get it.

serves yourself right for voting for trump!

slimboyfat

The truth is we don't know exactly how another future would have turned out, if Scotland had chosen independence in 2014. Some say bankrupt, some say socialist utopia. One of the campaign issues is a bit clearer now however. Unionists said we needed to vote No to save EU membership. We know how that turned out.

What I can't understand from unionists is two things. First of all why impugn the motives of those you disagree with? Why can't supporters of independence simply be what they appear to be: those who happen think the best people to make choices about the government of Scotland are the people who live in Scotland? Why all this nonsense about ambition, braveheart and anti-English nonsense? The campaign was about the NHS, the EU, pro-immigration, proper use of oil and renewable resources, choosing own government, getting rid of Trident and so on.

Second thing is the utter conviction unionists seem to have that Scotland governing itself could be nothing other than an unmitigated disaster. What is it about Scotland or the people who live in Scotland that makes you so convinced they could not successfully govern themsleves? Denmark, Switzerland, Norway, Ireland, Luxembourg - all very successful small countries. But Scotland we are told would be a disaster. Why of all nations are we uniquely incapable?

30

Oi Cofty

by Landy in

new series of timc started monday.. one of the episodes is on evolution - should be good knowing cox's antipathy towards religion.. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b088f2vv.

sorry you colonials - it's on the bbc so you won't be able to get it.

serves yourself right for voting for trump!

slimboyfat

I have no idea how you think your post is an answer to what I said, or how an anti-war movement can be described as jingoistic. Bizarre. The referendum campaign was about avoiding another Iraq war, removing Trident weapons of mass destruction, saving the NHS, staying in the EU, pro-immigration, Scotland getting the governments it votes for. Where are you getting Braveheart or anti-English arguments? Must be from unionist side.

bohm the bias of the BBC is not about Englishness. It is supportive of the UK state and against self-government of the home nations, pro-monarchy, neo-liberal economic order, and British military intervention, most notoriously leading up to the Iraq war in 2003.

Former BBC journalist Paul Mason compared BBC bias against Scottish independence to its bias supporting the Blair government into Iraq war:

“Not since Iraq have I seen BBC News working at propaganda strength like this. So glad I’m out of there,”

30

Oi Cofty

by Landy in

new series of timc started monday.. one of the episodes is on evolution - should be good knowing cox's antipathy towards religion.. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b088f2vv.

sorry you colonials - it's on the bbc so you won't be able to get it.

serves yourself right for voting for trump!

slimboyfat

Of all the things to accuse SNP - jingoistic? Really? Either you know nothing about Scottish politics or you don't know what the word jingoistic means. The SNP vocally opposed unnecessary wars that the UK government has engaged. They support unilateral disarmament, support the UN, and have only very reluctantly accepted a policy of remaining in the NATO alliance as long as Scotland doesn't need to harbour weapons of mass destruction. In fact it's the SNP's opposition to the Iraq war and nuclear weapons that attracted many people to the cause, me included. One of the most popular independence slogans during the referendum "Bairns Not Bombs" was plastered all over cars and houses. A rather curious marching call for so-called warmongers.

As for the other slurs they are also the oppsotive of the truth. The Yes campaign was outward looking, pro-immigration, pro-EU, positive about Scotland's place in a British family of nations. The anti-English slur is a canard so old a patently untrue that even Scottish opposition parties have given up insulting the intelligence of the Scottish people by invoking it.

About the Billy Connolly quote: I think it perfectly exemplifies the small mindedness of a few who still exhibit the Scottish cringe, or the idea that there's something abnormal or dangerous about the notion that a country should govern itself if that country happens to be called Scotland. Plus it's well worth remembering that Billy Connolly was not just opposing Scottish independence in that quote. He made that comment during the referendum for devolution in 1997 and was strongly opposed to Scotland having any parliament of any kind. Which is a position so unpopular and extreme now in Scotland that not even Scottish Tories advocate reversing devolution.

The BBC was extremely biased against the independence movement during the campaign. I saw this myself especially during the last days of the campaign when the Yes movement created a carnival atmosphere in Scotland that was barely reported. Also barely reported was the violence of the unionists in George Square the day after.

https://youtu.be/TSOu8f549iM

https://youtu.be/Ajd4R-9BEIw

16

Goal: To digitize all WT statistical data

by ILoveTTATT2 in

jw
friends

i have the goal of digitizing all wt statistical data, as much as possible, as far back as possible.user 88jm.

i recently did 1980 and i had a friend help me with 1979 and 1978.. do we have any volunteers to help me with previous years??.

it's a lot of work, but if you know excel you can make some macros that will speed up the work..

slimboyfat

Sounds like a good idea. I wish I knew how to do it.

Alaska and Hawaii in or out US, South Sudan, Rhodesia, Zambia, mixing changing names all over the place. Complicated stuff. Good luck.

What are you going to do with all the data?

7

1914 in the revised NWT ?

by Bonnie_Clyde in

just awhile ago i saw someone mentioned that 1914 made it's way into the revised nwt.

if this is true, will someone tell me where?.

slimboyfat

Yeah page 1459 "letter from the governing body".

7

1914 in the revised NWT ?

by Bonnie_Clyde in

just awhile ago i saw someone mentioned that 1914 made it's way into the revised nwt.

if this is true, will someone tell me where?.

slimboyfat

They also included "governing body" in a heading in Acts. (If I remember correctly)

7

1914 in the revised NWT ?

by Bonnie_Clyde in

just awhile ago i saw someone mentioned that 1914 made it's way into the revised nwt.

if this is true, will someone tell me where?.

slimboyfat

It's in appendix B1 part of the chart "message of the Bible".

29

Is it OK for JW employees to sell lottery tickets?

by Iamallcool in

jw
friends

i do remember reading an article that it is not ok for jw to sell cigarettes at gas stations, etc... i was wondering what about lottery tickets?

they do sell lottery tickets at few restaurants around my home.

if jw works there and rats me out to the elders, i would not give a damn about it but i still prefer not to hear from the elders about it..

slimboyfat

I'm good.

16

JW as a secret society - a weak link in the Information Age.

by slimboyfat in

in the late 1990s there was magazine article that asked the question, are jws a secret society?

obviously they said no, because they claim to be transparent to outsiders and new members.

but they really are not transparent at all.

slimboyfat

That's true, biographical information about JW leaders is very selective. You'd think marriages and children would be included as a basic minimum not airbrushed.