Ham

I can almost hear one of the tactical meetings, trying to save any appearance of decency for the "organization" "Waaail, what are we a gonna doo ta save face round hyar?" "In all honesty and respect, you may wish not to speak, publically. And for God's sake, quit trying to smile".

Belle, Good question! I wonder how they can smile, at all. No retirement to speak of, no real friends, and very likely no family left that they have not royally pi**ed off. Doesn't even look like a smile, at least to me. Looks like they just swallowed a canary or something.. I think ole Rose caught on, and just gave up trying, to smile that is.. If you call this a smile, you've gotta be joking. Looks more like she just coughed up a furball.

Bob, you really oughta know better than starting a thread about the "little" old "lady" when I'm around, heh heh.

Well.. I probably introduced about fifty folks to da class. I can only think of five or six that really stuck with the "ministry". All that I followed up on are no longer in the cesspool, thank God..

Not that its so important, but I think I left out: Wearing a Mercedez hood element around her neck, and sporting two dozen or so body piercings.. Gruesome, heh heh.

The Impressive Clergyman- "wuv, twue wuv,"

Quite sad. Well, I guess that answers that question..

Well.. not too big of a stretch of the imagination for me. But I think it'd be more like, definitely not muscle, but hairy and tattooed, four-hundred and fifty pounds of mean and ugly lurching out of a rusty twenty year old Lincoln Continental, hell-bent on getting her "cut". THAT wouldn't take too much of a stretch of the imagination either.. in my opinion, heh heh.

This is part of the reaon I began thinking about this again. Acts 20: 29 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. 31 Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears. I just wonder how Timothy fit into all of this. I wouldn't say that we were exactly wallowing in truth before the death of Doc Vic, but look at the infighting, factions and strife that occured not much after. All this power jockying over the reigns of a little second rate cult.. I can only imagine what happened in the first century. Just kind of intriguing, besides a few words, you don't hear much more about Timothy. But with the fighting within and without, it could not have been very pleasant.

So, don't spoil it for the rest of us with the details, but- those who went, was it worth the wait?

Well, you can say one thing.. whether it was creatures of the cyberspace night, a team of psychiatrists, lawyers, the several hundred innies still in the hole called an organization- they probably got what they were looking for, heh heh.

No.. but that would be another good explanation for the spike.. a team of lawyers and such mining for something to work them over with.

I think that's fairly average. Of course, when my kids graduated, they were hoping for gold bullion or something :)--> I usually send twenty or so.

Or.. maybe something "big" happened in Vey World.. This is probably the only place you can find the details.

I plan on waiting for the crowds to thin out just a LITTLE bit.

I dunno- old Rose doesn't look like the country club type. She'd ruin the decor, heh heh. I think her role would more closely match one of the "boss" types in the big house. At least she looks the part. Four hundred and fifty pounds of mean and ugly. Shudder..

Well, you may have a point there.. I will accept the kind offer of a mint. I have been told that if you are offered a mint, its probably because you really NEED one, heh heh.

Well.. only twelve guests this morning. What happened? I did take a bath this morning..

Could be somebody's psychology class at a larger university.. some of us would make a very interesting study, heh heh. Ah, down to fifty six now..

Ah, me public..

Wow. A hundred and nine guests now. To you all, I say "Velcome. My name is Count Dracula. Ah, I can hear da cheeldrin of the night..." Just kidding. I offer sincere greetings.

Congratulations Cood Chef. That's gotta be tough.. For him to follow through and do what he said, I'd say he's a hundred times the man old Loy thought himself to be.

Very very good point. When their god is so stinking small that he needs a plethora of rules, regulations and advisors to get anything accomplished- add to that, "results are not guaranteed"- EVENTUALLY, people wake up. At least most. Funny that they call people "disgruntled" at that point..

Perhaps, but many including myself did not have a clue about the guinea pig morals of the founder, his successor, and more yes men than you could shake a stick at.. The austerity, bad manners, and attempt to control every facet of MY life certainly hastened my exit, especially when I started considering how little I was really getting from my "investment". True, knowledge about the moral depravity would have certainly hastened my departure. "According to Iannaccone, the devout person pays the high social price because it buys a better religious product. The rules discourage free riders, the people who undermine group efforts by taking more than they give back. (http://www.slate.com) " This is a very good point. We were taught that you get what you pay for, and many of us paid, dearly. Up to a point, when the light finally started going off, I thought it was worth it. "We are the best that you can find in the biblical world"- hogwash. But keep saying it enough times, and some people will believe it.. Unfortunately, what I got out of being closely involved with the Vey was not anywhere near the price I personally paid. Their "failure" was to continue raising the price. Pretty soon we were paying gold bullion for the priviledge to sit at the BOT's feet and catch a few crumbs.

I dunno, maybe it could actually work. Maybe a different plot, use a different country as a backdrop, rewrite the story line, enlist several more award-winning actors willing to take a chance, and it might actually do something at the box office this time, heh heh.