Who made HIM the judge? (I could quote a scripture here, but you all know it...)
Love you,
ESTEE
Posts by ESTEE
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49Elder "predicts" how many jws are going to live
by XPeterX inparents went to a jw gathering to read the wt for this week.a jw said that only 5 people out of 125 in my congo will survive armageddon and then that elder said: "no,not 5 people,maybe 20".
damn i don't have words for him.
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tribute to a very humble man >RAY
by mouthy inhttp://youtu.be/0axx-av7zrc?a you will have to copy and paste this into a google search............sorry i can't do it some other way.oops i see where betsy already posted it sorry folks!!!!!
old age
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ESTEE
Hi Mouthy,
I'm happy to join you on your thread to mourn Ray's passing.
Like I have stated before, Ray's book might have saved my life. "Crisis of Conscience" helped me to gain a new perspective on "Jehovah's Organization" ... sheesh... like they teach it is THE ONLY organization on earth that God would use. Get a grip!
But, nevertheless, that is what I used to believe.
I was one of those people born and raised into the cult. It's all I ever knew.
Fastest-growing religion...well I can see that trend changing, with all the knowledge that we are privy to these days. Look at all the light shining into the dark places these days!
Took me years of therapy to grow out of those JW "conditionings." I believe the healing process will be much faster in the future.
I believe that Ray Franz' books are valuable tools in the healing process. I thank him for his sacrifice of love and integrity to all those who left the organization --- and to those who yet will leave!
Love
ESTEE
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JWs as Foster Parents? Sheesh
by ESTEE inwhile scouring the new york times for a feature about jws latest conquest (watchtower=most-widely-read-magazine-in-the-world-prank) (which i didn't find, btw) i stumbled onto an article about a jw family who have adopted some teenager relatives recently.
it would be interesting to follow up on how they "adjust" to their new strange surroundings and imposed beliefs.
as i understand, in the the adoptive family, the woman is a cousin to the drug-addicted mother of the girls.
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ESTEE
Hi everyone,
While scouring the New York Times for a feature about JWs latest conquest (Watchtower=most-widely-read-magazine-in-the-world-prank) (which I didn't find, btw) I stumbled onto an article about a JW family who have adopted some teenager relatives recently. It would be interesting to follow up on how they "adjust" to their new strange surroundings and imposed beliefs. As I understand, in the the adoptive family, the woman is a cousin to the drug-addicted mother of the girls. So the girls would be neices, I take?
Anyway, it might be of interest. There are no comments allowed on the link, understandably... it could open a can of worms...
Reforms Help States Cut Foster-Care Populations
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: June 6, 2010
Filed at 1:27 a.m. ET
NEW YORK (AP) -- No single youngster can be the poster child for America's foster care system, with its mix of happy endings and heartache. Yet Tatiana Fowler's smile, as she embraces the woman who adopted her, gives a hint at the groundswell of change that is altering that mix for the better.
Tatiana, 16, and her 15-year-old sister Brittany were adopted earlier this year by a cousin of their mother after four years in foster care. They became part of a dramatic trend in New York City, which has reduced its foster care population from nearly 28,000 in 2002 to under 16,000 this spring.
Thanks to sizable reductions in several other states, it's a coast-to-coast phenomenon -- the latest federal data, from 2008, recorded 463,000 children in foster care nationally, down more than 11 percent from 523,000 in 2002.
Each jurisdiction is different, but by reducing stays in foster care, speeding up adoptions and -- perhaps most crucially -- expanding preventive support for troubled families so more children avoid being removed in the first place, the numbers are coming down.
Many states still are experiencing stable or rising foster care populations. And child-welfare advocates worry that budget cuts may undermine some of the promising new policies.
Overall, however, there's encouragement that New York City and a few other places -- notably California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey and Ohio -- have been able to sharply reduce the number of children in foster care.
''We're going to continue to see practices get better,'' said Anita Light, director of the National Association of Public Child Welfare Administrators. ''In many cases, a child can remain at home and be safe with the proper amount of support.''
When removal is deemed necessary, and parental rights are terminated, agencies have been working harder to arrange timely adoptions.
That was the case for Tatiana and Brittany Fowler -- whose mother, a repeat drug abuser, proved incapable of keeping the family together.
The sisters initially were placed in foster care with another relative, but conflicts arose. Last year, Karen Simmons, a cousin of the mother, said she and her auto-mechanic husband, Dwayne, would be willing to adopt the girls, adding to a household already abuzz with the Simmons' three teenagers.
The Simmonses -- devout Jehovah's Witnesses who'd known Tatiana and Brittany since they were little -- live in a modest, three-bedroom apartment in the Bronx, on a monthly income of roughly $2,000, including food stamps.
Tatiana is finishing 10th grade at West Bronx Academy for the Future and aspires to be a child-welfare advocate after college so she can help the next generation of foster children. Her foster care experience helped hone a high degree of self-reliance, but she's elated to be adopted.
''I was fortunate somebody stepped up to the plate,'' she said. ''To be a successful person, you need strong support. Now if I have an issue, a problem, I have someone to talk to.''
John Mattingly, commissioner of New York City's Administration for Children's Services, noted that the city's foster care population has been declining gradually since a peak of nearly 50,000 in the early 1990s following the crack cocaine epidemic.
One stubborn problem, in New York City and some other places, is a slow-moving family court system that sometimes prolongs children's stays in foster care. Mattingly is working with judges to impose a timetable that would cut some nine-month delays to 90 days or less.
But even if the court issues are resolved, proposed budget cuts that could cost New York City 3,000 slots in its preventive-services program are a concern. Mattingly hopes the consequences won't include a new surge of foster care entries.
''All of these models that we've seen as successful are in danger -- there's a great risk of going back to the old days,'' said Jane Golden of the Children's Aid Society, which arranged Tatiana's adoption.
To many experts, Florida's turnaround has been the most remarkable. Its foster care population soared after the high-profile 1998 beating death of a 6-year-old girl by her father, and stayed high through 2006.
Since then, Florida has implemented a wave of policy changes that have reduced its foster care population from about 29,300 in 2006 to 18,700 this year.
The key for Florida, alone among the 50 states, was obtaining a statewide waiver from federal funding rules. This allows federal foster care money to be used for a variety of child welfare initiatives rather than being limited to out-of-home care -- enabling the state to support troubled families with economic aid, parenting classes and substance abuse treatment so a child doesn't need to be removed.
George Sheldon, who heads Florida's Department of Children and Families, said a group of youths who'd spent years in foster care had urged him to pursue the changes.
''Almost to a child, they said, 'I would have rather stayed at home and dealt with issues than go into foster care and get passed from home to home and school to school,'' Sheldon said. ''Even if it's a quality foster home, they feel they don't belong there.''
Florida also sped up the average time for foster children to be reunified with their families. And in the remaining cases where parental rights are terminated, Florida has intensified efforts to get the children adopted or placed permanently with other relatives.
Though adoptions from foster care in the state reached all-time highs -- more than 7,400 in 2008-09 -- Sheldon hopes Floridians can do more.
''After the earthquake in Haiti, everybody wanted to adopt a Haitian child,'' he said. ''We're trying to take that passion to help and say there are children in this country, in Florida, who are in need of adoption.''
One leader on the front lines is Jim Adams, CEO of Family Support Services of North Florida. The private nonprofit helped cut the number of children in foster care in Jacksonville by 62 percent between 2006 and the end of 2009 -- while spending far less money and achieving better outcomes.
''The way the system had been built, you had to isolate the child from the family,'' said Adams, a 33-year veteran of the field. ''Now we try to have family engagement -- working with the moms and dads and relatives.
''A lot of kids got put into foster care not because of physical abuse, but because of poverty -- no food on the table, utilities cut off,'' he said. ''With the waiver, we've been able to redirect the dollars that went to warehousing kids into funding families and the long-term challenges they've got.''
Among the youths aided by Family Support Services is Lauren Lindgren, 18, who's now working for the agency as she prepares for college next fall. She was in foster care from age 2 to 7, when she was adopted, then returned to foster care at 14 after her adoptive parents divorced.
She hopes agencies working with foster children look ''to see what's best for the kids, not what's best for everyone else.''
''In foster care, it used to be you couldn't even spend the night at your friend's house -- they had to get a background check,'' Lindgren said. ''They changed that, so now you can. They're trying to make it seem like we're just kids, rather than foster kids.''
In raw numbers, the biggest drop has occurred in California -- where the foster care population fell from 90,692 in 2002 to under 65,000 last year, and the average stay in foster care was sharply reduced. Los Angeles County, where a Florida-style funding waiver is in effect, accounts for much of the decrease.
Karen Gunderson, chief of the Child and Youth Permanency Branch at California's Department of Social Services, said the changes reflect a push to get more foster children adopted or placed in the guardianship of relatives.
More recently, there's been an emphasis on so-called ''wraparound'' services -- which develop individualized plans to help families deal with behaviorally troubled children so they don't have to be removed from home.
Georgia, another success story, had about 14,500 children in foster care in 2004, the result of a surge in investigations of suspected abuse. Now the figure is under 8,000.
B.J. Walker, commissioner of Georgia's Department of Human Services, said the key change was a more thorough, flexible approach at the front end, finding ways to support high-risk families without removing the children.
''We had to get our workers to believe this was safe,'' Walker said. ''If you come into the system now, you're truly a child who's experienced abuse and neglect.''
Her department, which had been taken to court by a New York-based advocacy group in 2002, says the recurrence of child maltreatment has dropped well below the national average and its average caseload per caseworker has decreased markedly.
Not all states joined the trend -- those with rising foster care numbers in 2002-08 include Arizona, Texas, Indiana and Nevada. Steve Meissner, a spokesman for Arizona's Department of Economic Security, noted that his state's population grew during that period, with the influx including many potentially vulnerable children.
''The sad fact is that though there has been real improvement in some states, in much of the country things are as bad as ever,'' said Richard Wexler of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform, which seeks to reduce the number of children unnecessarily placed in foster care.
''To the extent that there has been a real improvement,'' Wexler added, ''it begs the question: What took so long?''
A fundamental problem, in the view of many child-welfare advocates, is the federal funding system -- which in effect is a disincentive for states to reduce their foster care populations.
According to the Pew Charitable Trusts, 90 percent of federal child-welfare funds are reserved for supporting children in foster care, with only 10 percent available for front-end prevention and reunification services that can help keep families together.
The child welfare administrators' association, under Anita Light's direction, is proposing to change the law so all states would have more flexibility in how they spend child-welfare funds. Light believes there's bipartisan support for the change, and hopes for congressional approval sometime this year.
Even among those heartened by the drop in foster care populations, there's concern about one negative trend -- the number of foster youths aging out of the system without a permanent family has risen from 19,000 in 1999 to a record high of nearly 30,000 in 2008.
Without the safety net of a family, these young adults often face immense challenges in securing decent jobs and housing.
Tatiana Fowler was relatively lucky in getting adopted at 16 -- most foster children that old age out of the system without a permanent family.
Among them is Derrick Riggins, now 25, who had five different foster care placements growing up in Orlando, Fla. He now has a master's degree and is eying law school, aspiring to be a children's rights advocate.
Riggins was among the young people sought out by Florida officials to provide firsthand input on child-welfare reforms -- and he stressed the importance of keeping more children of out foster care to begin with.
''The first couple of nights you stayed away from your own family is the toughest time,'' he said. ''These are complete strangers you have to stay with. You ask, 'How did I get here? How long do I have to be here?' Questions you don't get answers to.''
Downloaded on June 6, 2010 from http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/06/06/us/AP-US-Fixing-Foster-Care.html?_r=1&sq=Jehovah&st=nyt&scp=1&pagewanted=all
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The Story of Randall Watters part II - Trouble at Bethel
by Dogpatch inmy story part 2: trouble at bethel.
[if gte mso 9]><!
[endif]by my third year at bethel i was really enjoying it and determined to make bethel a life career.
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ESTEE
Hi Dogpatch,
Powerfully moving story. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Have you thought about putting this in a book? I think it is a good read and easily publishable material.
ESTEE
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ATTENTION ALL LURKING, CURIOUS JW'S, JW TROLLS, AND FORMER JW'S DETERMINED TO SAVE JW'S FROM THEMSELVES
by AllTimeJeff inthank you all.. it seems that we former jw's have excellent reasons to be be upset.
between being lied to about how russell and rutherford started this fruity little cult, having to deal with the coverups of pedophiles and other criminals, the mysoginistic treatment of women, being lied to about 1914 and the related date of 607 bce, the ridiculous and ever changing blood doctrine, being lied to about gb involvement in the un, the changed it once and now back again understanding of what a "generation" is, being lied to about when the end of this system was supposed to come, being lied to about 1975, being told not to go to college and instead explore the underrated world of window washing with the outstanding income potential it produces...... *panting* i am sorry, i am out of breath...... my point is this, (and i speak from experience): former jw's are pretty raw.
and thus, easily exploitable on internet boards by trolls.. trolls see this.
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ESTEE
Be warned, there are also people claiming to be lawyers, for example, who say they are involved in a class-action suit against the JWs. Do not give these people your personal information.
I figure the JWs have a database and they are trying to figure out who we are. I was PM'd once or twice since becoming a member of this forum.
Love youz
ESTEE
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My personal thoughts on Ray Franz
by Terry inthe death of ray franz hit me harder than i would have thought.. i had to reflect for awhile....alone......and quietly.. .
after all, fine people die every day and some of them are indispensable, yet, we go on....don't we?.
but, ray franz was something that can only be described in the phrase sui generis (one of a kind).. my task was to ask myself what it was that made ray so singular, potent and admirable without a trace of scandal or ill will attached to his memory.. .
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ESTEE
Hi Terry,
Thanks for your powerful words, full of meaning to me.
Ray Franz book, "Crisis of Conscience" probably saved my life. He sure helped me to move on with my life.
Love,
ESTEE
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Ray Franz Tribute Video
by besty inv asked me to post his latest video - a tribute to ray franz made with the help of many people who took the time to record a brief message about what ray meant to them, and to those people v has asked me to pass his special thanks.. .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0axx-av7zrcif you are on facebook maybe post this on your profile..
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ESTEE
Hi Besty,
Thank you for posting this tribute to Ray Franz.
Early after my df'ing I had the opportunity to read his book, "Crisis of Conscience" and it is what I needed to move on with my life. It shattered my delusion that the Jehovah's Witnesses were God's true organization on earth. I began seeing the organization as man-made, which now I know, it truthfully is.
Thank you, Ray. I bless your courage!
Love,
ESTEE
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Watchtower most widely read magazine??? Gawd
by ESTEE ini have not posted in a very long time, but here is a link i thought might be of interest.
it made our local paper, likely sent by the jws for some more free publicity.. http://communities.canada.com/vancouversun/blogs/thesearch/archive/2010/05/27/what-is-the-most-widely-read-magazine-in-world.aspx?commentposted=true#commentmessage.
i posted a reply under their comments.
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ESTEE
OUTLAW wrote:
Estee...nice to see you on the board again.
It is nice to be back. I’m on holidays right now, so I have lots of time on my hands. We decided to stick around home this summer. We have a lot of gardening, not to mention dance lessons on the go. We are learning Argentine Tango now. That has got to be the sexiest dance alive!
Ziddina wrote:
Wow, ESTEE... Thanks for the compliment!!! (If the smileys were available right now, I'd add a blush...) …Hah! There they are!! Zid
Heheheh!!! I am so grateful for this forum. I think about years ago when my mom got df’d…she lived in a small town and she had no one. But thanks to the internet, etc., the patriarcial dubs can't keep us alienated or isolated any longer. I am blessed to know an entire forum of the most beautiful souls. I can come here anytime I want to find love and support. Thanks for your comments, Ziddina… Hugs to you!
mentallyfree31 wrote:
I regularly threw away stacks of magazines every few months.
Good work, I’ll bet throwing them out made you the person you are…mentallyfree! Me too. No matter how good a dub I used to be, there were times when I had to thin out the ever-growing pile.
BANE wrote:
Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Hmmm…I might not be the smartest cookie in the box, but I think there is a fly buzzing around here somewhere. Maybe it will find the light.
transhuman68 wrote:
BANE, do you have a sense of humor at all? Even the National Geographic Society pokes fun at themselves for the way their magazines pile up in people's homes. Why can't we laugh at the WTS and their worthless litter-trash? Sheesh !
Like I said, I think there is a fly buzzing around the forum today. Did you see it? Maybe it flew to the light.
StoneWall, jookbeard, wannabefree, Titus, MidwichCuckoo, Mary, and ThinkAboutIt…Can you feel the love? Thanks for your comments. Those of you who have been on the forum for awhile...do you remember when someone new came on the forum---and how much they thought they knew? I keep in mind that the jw patriarchy sets their members up to function poorly with outsiders. Now we are the outsiders and we can see how a Jehovah's Witness --- how WE --- used to appear. Makes me shudder to think how I used to act on the job, or with a group of outsiders. Gawd. I am so very grateful to have found the strength and support to leave that cult. If JWs are peering in the forum, it is obvious to me that something is not right in their world. BANE needs some time, I guess. In the meantime, he needs an avenue to vent his anger and frustration. I remind myself...if all was right in dub-land, he would not be here. Something is attracting him, besides the need to count time, I mean.
steve2 wrote:
Hey people, you're way too mean-minded about the Watchtower. Even as we waste time posting our personal comments on the internet, the clean waters of the Watchtower are being poured over literally millions and millions of appreciative, thirsty souls worldwide. In my street alone so many householders line up at their front doors eagerly awaiting the latest issue of the Watchtower delivered by the sweetly smiling JWs. Let's open our hearts and generously praise both the magazine and the JWs for the stunningly good work they carry out, year after year, ensuring this magazine is received by as many people as possible.
Mr Estee answered the doorbell this morning. A couple of dubs presented him with the invitation to a convention. Mr Estee promptly deposited it in the recycling bin. Steve, I read your bio. I agree with your philosophy. The more we think we have the truth, the more we close our mind to other knowledge. I agree. Thanks for sharing that beautiful jewel of a statement.
WTWizard wrote:
The Washtowel rags are not the most read in the world. You might get someone that is bored and too lazy to do anything about it to read them, but most of the rags that get placed end up either in the garbage or the shredder.
In our home it is the recycler. But it counts as a placement and we get put in their records as interested. Mr Estee, in his kind way, takes all literature offered.
designs wrote:
What happened to Lady's Home Journal and Horse and Hound................they never count the great one's.
Or what about Dance World…?
Thanks for your caring comments, everyone.
Love and hugs to all,
ESTEE
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Watchtower most widely read magazine??? Gawd
by ESTEE ini have not posted in a very long time, but here is a link i thought might be of interest.
it made our local paper, likely sent by the jws for some more free publicity.. http://communities.canada.com/vancouversun/blogs/thesearch/archive/2010/05/27/what-is-the-most-widely-read-magazine-in-world.aspx?commentposted=true#commentmessage.
i posted a reply under their comments.
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ESTEE
Hey everyone!
Wow, nice to see the thread is still going!
OUTLAW wrote:
The Watchtower is the one magazine that is rarely distributed,very few people read..And.. The only magazine you will find mutiple copies of.. Stacked up in Jehovah`s Witness homes around the World..
Hi OUTLAW! Glad to see you still around. I always love your sense of humour. You make me belly-laugh.
Heaven wrote:
The Watchtower.... the most widely burned magazine in my Father's woodstove.
Your comment made me laugh out loud! So true --- so true... Your father sounds like a smart man. That paper does burn great!
Mad Sweeney wrote:
Even the Dubs themselves don't read the freaking things! I just quit the Borg a few months ago.
When I was a Dub, I was one who DID read those freaking things---brainwashed through and through. And I brainwashed my kids. Ugh!Congratulations that you were able to quit the borg.
PSacramento wrote:
It is not the most read, though it may be the mst "junk mailed". ...How can we know this? ...Easy, just ask anyone about the Watchtower or the Awake magazine, see what response you get.
Yes indeed. I don't know exactly how it works, but I'm quite sure this article was written and presented by the JWs to the New York Times (for free publicity), then it trickled into the other newspapers. Someone at the Times is a JW... *eye roll* I think that there needs to be an article written called, "What is your favorite magazine?" Do you think the Watchtower rag would get on anyone's --- I mean anyone's --- list???
ziddina wrote:Thanks for posting that, ESTEE......I popped in and made a few comments; hope mine aren't pulled... That "Lighter" character - what an IDIOT!!! Claiming that the level of salt in the oceans is slightly LOWERED by EVAPORATION!!!! Urrrrgh... Nearly made my head explode... Zid ...Watchtower magazine - most widely spread, least likely read... Most widely sread, not often read...
Hi Zid, I read your comments about the article. They were not pulled. I figure your comments are vitally informative. Most people have no idea that the JWs white-washed religion is no more than a cult. Lighter probably read it in the scientific journal called the Awake about salt leaving the ocean by evaporation. I'm glad that dumb article is posted for all to see their ignorance of this most simple scientific fact. Too funny! And your comment, "And you might try READING some of those scientific books that you've turned your nose up at - instead of those "often spread but rarely read" Watchtowers..." absolutely the best! Thanks for taking the time.Mad Sweeney wrote:
I don't know Brent Lane but I like him.
He had a great response! "As to your point about oceans and mineralization, it's absolutely false - as any real oceanographer will tell you. Better luck with the other disciplines." I wonder if he is one of us...?
Perhaps the jws will quit submitting those stupid "publicity stunts" when they see there are people out there "not buying" their speil. It also brings out the zealots who are quick to defend with their ignorant comments. Can you imagine the hours of time they are racking up for writing that drivel?
I'll check in again.
Got to run.
Love youz!
ESTEE
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Watchtower most widely read magazine??? Gawd
by ESTEE ini have not posted in a very long time, but here is a link i thought might be of interest.
it made our local paper, likely sent by the jws for some more free publicity.. http://communities.canada.com/vancouversun/blogs/thesearch/archive/2010/05/27/what-is-the-most-widely-read-magazine-in-world.aspx?commentposted=true#commentmessage.
i posted a reply under their comments.
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ESTEE
Hi all,
Thanks for your responses. I just felt like I had to vent. Thanks for "hearing" me!
rnicole76 wrote:
you know these jws hiding under the disguise as a worldly person who is defending the religion.
hehehe!!! Transparent to us, but never to them. By the way, welcome to the forum. I see you are a newbie!!!
Elsewhere wrote:
It may be the magazine with the most COPIES PRINTED, but it most certainly is not the most READ magazine.
The article is titled in a way to make it appear that the Watchtower is the most widely read. What a joke. Do the jws really think that people take these magazines to READ them? I figure householders take the magazines so the jws will go away. Unfortunately, householders then set in motion a pattern of being called on again and again, with the jws believing there is interest behind those doors. I think it would be useful if everyone who thought the jws at the door were a general nuisance (much like a fly buzzing in the room) ...if householders "just say no" it would leave a much clearer message of non-interest.
WuzLovesDubs wrote:
Just because there are 10 million copies made a month or whatever, doesnt mean the GREAT MAJORITY of them arent sitting in piles in closets and garages and in the bottoms of bookbags and at laundrymats TOTALLY unread. I know that I personally RARELY read any articles from ANY of those publications except those that we were "studying" and even those I read cursorily.
I love your comment. I know from my past experience that the majority of mags sat in a pile. I stretched my placements by leaving copies in mailboxes, etc. Not likely they were ever actually read. I certainly did not find interest at the doors...thank goodness. No karmic debt, except for sadly, my kids...
Ummm, I wonder if the circulation numbers include the "Member Copies"...? Cuz, how many members do the jws have now, anyway? I don't keep track of that useless information anymore...
lepermessiah wrote:
it should say most widely DISTRIBUTED magazine, also the most THROWN AWAY without being touched magazine, etc. It also brings back bad Saturday morning memories. ... At least the author did speak with some ex- and non-JWs. ...I place 95% of mine in bus stops, pay phones, laundrymats, and not-at-homes. I know that is the norm, so I wonder what percentage of those supposed 40 Million are actually read.
If only the whole world could see the jws the way we see them. As it stands, the publicity spin the dubs put on themselves to "sanitize themselves for public consumption" makes me gag.
Thanks again for "being there" for meeee!
Love youz!
ESTEE