Posts by roybatty

70

France's WW-II Ceremony Acompanied by Protests vs. USA

by Gerard in

i was wondering what the french had to say on d-day celebrations in their own country.

they will have a week of celebrations, but:

en tant que representant des etats-unis, c'est george bush qui recueillera l'hommage aux "combattants de la liberte" de la seconde guerre mondiale.

roybatty

Most simply accepted the occupation, a great many actively collaborated with the Germans. La Resistance was largely a postwar myth. Why the french are credited as victors and were given a postwar occupation zone in germany is beyond me.

This is totally a personal observation but when I speak with individuals from Holland who lived through the German occupation, I get more of a sense that they tried harder to resist then the French. For example, didn't civil servants in France help the German army, while in Holland they didn't?

BTW, (and I'm asking this sincerely) was there a Vichy type government in each country Germany conquered? It seems to me that the Germans didn't have too much trouble finding French individuals willing to help them. Was this true is Belgium, Holland and other nations?

70

France's WW-II Ceremony Acompanied by Protests vs. USA

by Gerard in

i was wondering what the french had to say on d-day celebrations in their own country.

they will have a week of celebrations, but:

en tant que representant des etats-unis, c'est george bush qui recueillera l'hommage aux "combattants de la liberte" de la seconde guerre mondiale.

roybatty

interestingly hitler pointed out in his victory speech that the polish soldiers faught bravely. the polish cavallery attack the tanks because they thought it was paper tanks used to create a diversion. no one is attacking a tank with a bayonet.

Ok, you HAVE to give me a source that states Polish calvery charged German tanks because they thought they were made from paper.

70

France's WW-II Ceremony Acompanied by Protests vs. USA

by Gerard in

i was wondering what the french had to say on d-day celebrations in their own country.

they will have a week of celebrations, but:

en tant que representant des etats-unis, c'est george bush qui recueillera l'hommage aux "combattants de la liberte" de la seconde guerre mondiale.

roybatty

My grandfather faught in the south pacific, 20 years later my father faught in south-east Asia. One was a Dutch Army officier, the other in the Dutch Navy. They both agreed that Brits were the toughest soldiers they'd ever met. I guess there's an English Rambo story out there just waiting to be made.

I think it's wrong to get into comparing 'who werr best'. The US troops won more battles than they lost which is what counted in the end. They were not as battle-hardened as some of the british troops who had already been at war for many years, faught under-fire etc...

My ex-wife's grandfather was a medic in the American army during WWII. He downplays what he did and doesn't talk much about what he saw. I can't imagine any braver then those guys storming Omaha beach righ into a hail of bullets. What amazes me is that the majority of these men were "citizen soldiers", career soldiers.

70

France's WW-II Ceremony Acompanied by Protests vs. USA

by Gerard in

i was wondering what the french had to say on d-day celebrations in their own country.

they will have a week of celebrations, but:

en tant que representant des etats-unis, c'est george bush qui recueillera l'hommage aux "combattants de la liberte" de la seconde guerre mondiale.

roybatty

Well, Libya happened because we stopped bombing them and playing "cowboys" (Reagan) and started TALKING.

Hmmmm....I wonder why Libya didn't change their weapons program the 8 years Clinton was in office? Seemed like he was good at talking. BTW, did they find any WMD in Libya?

70

France's WW-II Ceremony Acompanied by Protests vs. USA

by Gerard in

i was wondering what the french had to say on d-day celebrations in their own country.

they will have a week of celebrations, but:

en tant que representant des etats-unis, c'est george bush qui recueillera l'hommage aux "combattants de la liberte" de la seconde guerre mondiale.

roybatty

The US faught with the allies against Hitler. It did not do it to come and rescue us or to save us. In fact, the US did not enter the war until Germany attacked IT. One could claim that the UK stood alone defending the US from Nazi Germany and you should be bloody thankful. But we don't. We have more sense and more respect.

Amen, Simon, here's to our bro's in arms across the pond

My grandfather faught in the south pacific, 20 years later my father faught in south-east Asia. One was a Dutch Army officier, the other in the Dutch Navy. They both agreed that Brits were the toughest soldiers they'd ever met. I guess there's an English Rambo story out there just waiting to be made.

46

Yiou Got Two Minutes Left Of Your Life, What Would You Do?

by Yizuman in

jw
friends

saw an interesting thread, made me think....

"what would you do if you found out you were going to die in 2 minutes?

yiz

roybatty

Call my insurance agent and up the value on my life insurance policy.

26

My friend's i need your help more then ever.

by kls in

i asked my husband for a divorce yesterday.

after he threw a plate full of food and a cup of coffee it went pretty well, especially after he left, but came back four hrs.

i have pretty hard questions i need your help with ,the first is what do i say when he keeps telling me that he leaves me alone a jws?

roybatty

Third is, what do i say when he askes what is the difference if i was a different religion?

It's really up to the two people involved. Also, there is a HUGE difference between an ex-Jw and JW being married and a JW and "unbeliever" being married.

My ex and I were both raised as diehard JWs. When I decided to step down as an elder, leave the Watchtower and start investingating other religions, she thought (and treated me) like Judas. What bothered me was she was doing what the WT instructed her to do. It wasn't a "personality trait" she could adjust. She view me as an "evil apostate", someone who God hated and would soon destroy. How could you live with someone like that?

We both had valid points. She married a JW and that's the life she wanted. I no longer believed in the JW religion and thought little of those who in that religion. Looking back, we were both pretty stubborn. We each did "childish" things. She snitched on me (told the elders I had joined the Y, had "apostate" lit. etc,), she told the kids not to pray with me. I, of course, told the kids how wrong the JW's are and how wacking their beliefs were. It's kind of odd, other then religion, we didn't have any differences. So I have to say, religious differences is usually not a big problem in today's marriages unless it's a religion like JW, Judiasm, Mormon, etc. Anyway, she saw a lawyer and filed for divorce. That was almost 4 years ago. Wow.

Ironicly, she's really, REALLY lightened up as a JW. Attends the meetings but isn't as zealous in the door to door work. I also, have lightened up. I don't see a need to teach the kids "anti-JW" stuff. Instead we attend church and I'll leave it up to them to choose. We'll never get back together....waaaaaaay beyond point but for the last 3 years we've gotten along just fine. It does get easier with time.

I do believe my ex and I made the right decision. She couldn't live in a house where Christmas is celibrated, where "worldly" people come to visit and religion is a minor topic. On the other hand, I couldn't live in a house with WT magazines all over the place, elder visits and having the speaker over for lunch (gag!). But before you throw your marriage away, really, REALLY take a close look at everything. Think about the long term impact on both your lives and the lives of any children involved. Our two kids were a very important issue. That's why she bought a house two streets away. While it's "weird" for the two of us to live so close together, it is good for the kids.

31

WWI vs WWII

by Euphemism in

jw
friends

and now, for a topic that has absolutely nothing to do with jehovah's witnesses!

(or with contemporary politics.).

i was listening to regie hamm's album american dreams tonight (which i highly recommend), and i was struck by a line from the song old man.

roybatty

The US was providing weapons and aid to Britain almost from the beginning of the war. There certainly were some pro-German voices in the United States, but unlike in WWI, there was never a serious chance of the US actually supporting Germany in WWII.

True. Never would the US have sent troops to fight against the Brits but had Japan not attacked Pearl Harbor, it appears that the US wouldn't have entered WWII and there might even have been a withdrawl of arm shipments to Britain. Prior to Pearl Harbor, another war in Europe didn't appeal to most Americans.

31

WWI vs WWII

by Euphemism in

jw
friends

and now, for a topic that has absolutely nothing to do with jehovah's witnesses!

(or with contemporary politics.).

i was listening to regie hamm's album american dreams tonight (which i highly recommend), and i was struck by a line from the song old man.

roybatty

Farkel' s comment that the U.S. was following a pacifist track prior to WWII is truly ludicrous; the United States has never been a pacifist nation. Rather, prior to WWII, the U.S. was an *isolationist* nation, content with invading only Mexico - a much weaker nation that U.S. regarded as an easy target. Most historians agree that many lives would have been spared if the U.S. had entered the fray of WW II earlier. One reason the U.S. hesitated was due to the enormous amount of pro-German (and even pro-Nazi) sentiment in the U.S. at that time. Many Americans' ancestors were from Germany. Many Americans are of German heritage.

True. I'm not sure about the pro-Nazi but for a while there, the U.S. could have sided with Germany. Had it not been for Pearl Harbor, the US would have stayed out of the war and Europe wouldnow be much, MUCH differnt.

On the other hand, don't sell short the "greatest generation" the US has ever produced.

39

Where is the MONEY REALLY GOING? -- Special Assembly Days, etc

by EyeDrEvil in

i have always wondered why it cost so much to "rent" the space used for local special assembly days and circuit assemblies.... in our case, the society built a large assembly hall, on donated farm land (= free), in the middle of some corn fields 20 miles outside of columbus, ohio... the property has a couple of apartments where some of the travelling overseers live, who help with the upkeep of the building.

cleaning the building was taken care of because of our "privilege" to go out the day before the assembly to get it in good shape (free housekeeping and maintenance work).. so, the society owns the building.

it was built on free land.

roybatty

All of this is the way it was when I stepped down in 1995 here in the U.S. Your mileage may vary.

That's kind of the way I remember things. One thing that I recall, on Saturdays after the program, there was usually an elders meeting with the CO. There usually was a comittee of elders who took care of the assembly hall. We'd discuss things that needed to be done (i.e. new fencing, replace AC, etc.). We'd also discuss the "surplus" from the previous circuit asembly and propose sending the monies to Crooklyn. Someone would make a motion, second the motion, motion passed. It was then presented to the circuit on Sunday. This didn't happen all the time but more times then not.

I also recall that as a circuit we kept about $100,000.00 to $200,000.00 in the bank for emergencies. The CO would always ask why we needed so much. The reason given was if the AC or something else expensive went out, we could replace it ASAP without having to ask the congregations for money. Just about every CO "requested" that we reduce this amount by, surprise, surprise, sending something extra to Crooklyn.