onacruse

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Posts by onacruse

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  12

  Opinion: Federal Sales Tax

  by larc in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  why not replace the income tax with a federal sales tax?

  i see several advantages to this.

  it would eliminate the expense of the internal revenue service.

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  onacruse

  As a 40 yr resident of Oregon, one of the few states that have never had a sales tax (initiatives have been voted down every time), I can say only this:

  Oregon has experienced one of the very best continuous 8 yrs of economic prosperity from 1982-90, mainly due to a significant hi-tech industry expansion in the Portland area. During that time, user fees, property development fees, excise taxes, utility customer charges, public purpose charges, contractor's licensing fees, motor vehicle's registration and titling fees, library levy's, public parks fees, county fees, vector control fees, community college levys, public school levys, metropolitan transportation fees, etc etc etc have cumulatively all gone up faster than the Cost of Living, so that Oregon now has essentially one of the highest per capita governmental costs of any state.

  Nevertheless, Oregon is now facing a $1B budget shortfall, and there have already been 4 special State Congressional sessions to balance that budget. Just yesterday, Governor Kitzhaber announced his veto of the latest legislative budget, threatening yet another special session and the prospect of a November ballot measure asking for increased income taxes and/or a sales tax (virtually certain to be defeated).

  The "Reagan years" of monetary redistribution did result in some reduction of the Federal income tax rate, but the consequential state burden increased more than the off-setting Federal allocation.

  Bottom line: it doesn't matter where the money comes from. Democratic government will always spend more than it receives, and Republican government will always spend more than it saves.

  So much for the rantings of a disillusioned and skeptical Oregonian taxpayer!

  Craig

  PS: I'm sure you expect YouKnow to respond to this thread, eh?
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  28

  Suicide

  by Latte in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  sister disfellowshipped between ages of 17-24yrs old.

  i lost track of her between this time as she was in another congregation.

  i eventually moved permanently to her cong.

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  onacruse

  My sincerest empathy with all of you that have lost someone to suicide. After I was df'd in 1979, and subsequently divorced in 1980, I laid there one night alone on my bed with 38 special in my mouth, loaded and cocked. To this day, I don't know why I didn't pull the trigger.

  No explanations from me to you, just empathy and tears.

  Craig
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  6

  Memo to the Resurrected

  by simplesally in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  memo.

  from: new heavens.

  to: earthly chieftain class.

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  onacruse

  Oh so true, Sally, except that U have jumped the gun, here. The resurrection of probably will not begin until several centuries after Armageddon (haven't you read the 1950 WT's??). lol

  Therefore, some revisions may be appropriate:

  FROM: Ted Jarazc
  TO: Peons
  DATE: Year 500, after Armageddon
  RE: Worthless Earthly Class

  Scumrot:

  Please form a judicial committee to enforce the following items with those newly resurrected. This information has been compiled based on my cursory review of your conduct.We need to get absolute control here, underlings:

  1. When you were resurrected into your new body, you were stupid and clothes weren't part of the package. Well, now that you're slaves once again, please put on the clothes assigned to you. You are excited to be alive again as God intended, but I don't care about that. Just do as you are told.

  2. Now that you're here, you're anxious to build yourself a new home, and that's regretable. You are here to do what I say. Does everyone understand that? Houses will be built only if and when I give my approval.

  3. With regards to food, I decree that you newly resurrected ones get over the idea of eating meat not provided by me, as the archleader of the faithless and dissembled slave. This is particularly important in view of all the probationary JWs walking around now. NO, you cannot have a meaningful conversation. Some (who disagree with me) don't mean to target those of you from the south, but NO independent thinking either. And your brothers of color - forget about equality. You Orientals will have to leave the philosophy bullshit alone too. Look, everyone is going through adjustments to be here, it's not just you. After a while, you will get used to eating the crap I feed you, really.

  4. Many of you are anxious to get in touch with long lost loved ones, but you're going to have to be patient. There is no Internet anymore, so those of you who were alive in the last days of the old system, you're just going to have to acknowledge that I told you the truth about the dangers of the Internet. If any of you even try to develop an Internet, I will have you destroyed. I don't have any plans for anything resembling the internet until at least after Satan is removed from his abyss and destroyed, so you're looking at at least 1,000 years. Now you can appreciate how everyone else lived in ignorance before the 1990s.

  5. While I'm speaking of R-rated movies, for those of you who lived in the 1900s, television is also out for now. Do you know how ugly the New World would look with antennas sticking up all over the place? Have you ever seen a satellite dish in any of the Society's New World illustrations? I promised to get you here, and you made it - that's a regrettable but necessary evil. But you're not going to be able to catch up on all the episodes of Friends and ER that you missed after you died, and definitely no Dateline or Panorama reruns.

  6-10. (Pending further revision, I've only been working on this letter for 500 years, I've got a spirit lube job scheduled now). Prov 4:18 "The light only gets dimmer with time."

  Now, I expect everyone will cooperate with these points and keep my job simple.

  Edited by - onacruse on 9 August 2002 2:24:39

  Edited by - onacruse on 9 August 2002 2:35:9
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  77

  I MAY HAVE HIT BOTTOM

  by BONEZZ in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i thought i'd hit it several times before...as i have been thru the divorce over the past couple of years...lost all my so-called friends...lost my belief in what i thought was the "truth"....and now my own loving daughter, being the good little dub she is has told me she doesn't want me to walk her down the aisle at her wedding.

  she told me today at lunch.

  i almost threw up.

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  onacruse

  Bonnezz: What can I say except that I have tears in my as I write this? I will never see my children married, or my parents buried.

  My heart goes out to you!!

  Craig
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  29

  To all of my family.... and yes I mean you all

  by LyinEyes in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i just wanted to tell all of you how very much you mean to me.

  i want to especially thank my husband wild turkey, for finding this place and showing me the light.

  he was so encouraging to me when i first came into this room.

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  onacruse

  Back at ya, dede. You, turkey, valis, cowboy, animal, ben there, bikerchic, scootergirl, eyegirl, joy2befree, joannadandy, jim_tx, xenawarrior, spaznik, spidermonkey, ugg, xena, scully, rosalyn, robdar, uglyduckling, songmistress, jelly, wasasister, sirona, prisca, yourschelbie, reborn2002, even a little bit of farkel for good measure, and all you other friends:

  Hats off to you all!!!! Don't know where I'd be without ya.

  Craig
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  29

  OK, I was a wuss today.....

  by Mimilly in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have seen my share of horrors in my life; my own; others when i worked on the ambulance and in the funeral home.

  i've come home covered in someone else's blood and dealt with death on numerous times.

  i have been to the dentist five times in the past month.

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  onacruse

  Well, at least the hard part is over, eh? I've had enough dental work done to buy my dentists a vacation home in the Bermudas.

  I think going to the dentist engenders more than the usual fear because it is one of the very few "invasive" procedures that we undergo while still conscious. Surgeries, people just figure, knock me out doc, and wake me up when it's over.

  There IS something unsettling about hearing/feeling/smelling that drill grind its way into the nerve endings, the crack and twist of that tooth being pulled out, the painful stretch of ligaments and tendons in the contorted face, the.......

  Feeling better now, wuss?

  Craig (of the now has dentures class)
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  11

  I have now reverted talking to myself.

  by rekless in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  .

  i am now posting and answering myself as well as explaining my reasoning to the invisable..

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  onacruse

  My 2 cents: The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or of the one.

  What I have read of your posts, you offer a breadth and depth that people like me need to see here. It's folks like you that are helping me get a perspective.

  Craig
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  48

  Even Worse Day

  by Sirona in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  thanks for your support on my thread "bad day".. it seems things don't want to get better.

  sorry for moaning, but i thought i'd update you all too.... firstly i saw the dental specialist today (remember, infected wisdom tooth?).

  he said (after thorough examination, xray etc).

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  onacruse

  SOOOO sorry for your plight. Sure hope that everything works out. You are a fighter, hang in there.

  Craig
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  2

  Betty Bowers is a better Christian than you!

  by bikerchic in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ha!

  so i'm cleaning out my favorites and come across this webpage:.

  http://www.bettybowers.com/index.html.

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  onacruse

  TOO FUNNY!!! What do you think about inviting Betty to join JWD? lol Craig (of the "shaking finger at fluffy Biker class")
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  3

  Many Thanks!

  by truthseeker1 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i just wanted to thank those on this board for their support.

  thank you for all the personal stories that helped me feel that i wasn't alone.

  thanks for all the satire about the wt to keep my spirits up.

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  onacruse

  It's a group effort, isn't it? In the short month I've been on this board, I have already changed in so many ways for the better, and that too because of the support and comraderie I get from the friends here, very much including relatively new folks like you.

  I'm glad for you for you, and I'm glad for you for me.

  Craig