Rocky

You're full of baloney, Bumpy. Socks did not (nor did DWBH) set up any strawman argument. Description of Straw Man The Straw Man fallacy is committed when a person simply ignores a person's actual position and substitutes a distorted, exaggerated or misrepresented version of that position. This sort of "reasoning" has the following pattern: Person A has position X. Person B presents position Y (which is a distorted version of X). Person B attacks position Y. Therefore X is false/incorrect/flawed. This sort of "reasoning" is fallacious because attacking a distorted version of a position simply does not constitute an attack on the position itself. One might as well expect an attack on a poor drawing of a person to hurt the person. ------- By citing actual court findings based on evidence presented, there is NO distortion of "Person A"'s (TWIs) position. Further, Socks's premise (in the statement: "The right to believe is absolute. The right to act is subject to reasonable regulation designed to protect a compelling state interest.") is a reasonable representation of the distinction the court made between the right of TWI to believe what they (it) want to believe and the right of the court to issue findings that the conduct of TWI is rightfully subject to sanction/penalty when said conduct violates law.

It's almost eerie how well Vaknin describes the narcissist and the organization this person establishes around himself... I know I recognize it. And frankly, upon reflection, I can easily see two things in particular. First, his description makes it easy to recognize why it would take a person YEARS to recover from the spiritual abuse endured while in TWI. Second, it makes it easy (for me) to see how and why so many marriages (in particular, my own) could not endure...

In general legal (conceptual) terms, you are correct. 1) Defendants who lose (or settle) civil lawsuits are not subject to jail. They are subject to sanctions (monetary damages, for example) and to demands for changes in conduct/procedures. 2) Criminal charges would have had to have been filed, tried and the defendants found guilty. None of those conditions took place.

Imagine my surprise when the Dbacks actually beat the BoSox tonight at Fenway!

When Owings pitched in Minnesota last week, he didn't bat.

Details, details!

Well, the snakes haven't been very interesting lately... but if you'll be in the ball park, I'll be sure to record...

He's not my type! And the heat WOULD be getting to me if I spent much time outside... it's REALLY HOT! Probably about 115 now.

again... that's what YOU were doing, apparently, with this sort of comment... three times as many fingers pointing at yourself as you have pointing at anyone else... regardless of whether you were saying anyone should "be allowed" to say things in particular to which you disagree.

yada yada yada... I guess I will always irritate YOU! hahahahahaha.................. btw, I was JUST speaking MY opinion... which, apparently, some self-appointed complainer (and I do NOT refer to excathedra or oakspear) seems to be saying I should not be allowed to DO! So THERE, Mr. Bill!

Except for the ones you call names and correct and chastise... and in case you have chosen to not be aware of it, I'm NOT your ONLY target for chastisement. You appear to be pointing three times as many fingers at yourself as you are at me. :) And, as Dmiller likes to say... HAVE A NICE DAY! Keep telling yourself and eventually, you'll believe it. To convince others, it might be easier to change the tone of your posts to something that would communicate said happiness, rather than the chronic sour puss your posts usually convey. :)

I see you continue to share your optimized social skills with everyone here... ...along with your chronic "happiness." Thanks for that, btw.

Well, George, I guess if you get there first, hoist your personal flag, and prepare to defend it against all comers, you can do that....

Alice Kramden?

Of course a friend would care how she feels and what she's doing. When I posed the question earlier in this thread, I was thinking that it seemed most awkward to be speculating about someone's opinions (in the manner about which this thread was started) in such a detacted way. I intended/hoped that people would reflect on their own to realize it was not necessarily so appropriate for people to speculate HERE, IN WRITING about what a person (her in particular) thought/believed/felt about the dark side of TWI. Perhaps I just wasn't very clear in communicating that point. Ah, but Claudette Royal does NOT continue to post HER opinions here day after day. :unsure:

No thank you.

The music he has playing at his web site is VERY good!

RR, What are you hoping that viewers of the video will obtain from that experience?

not any more...

Yes, thank God for shade! And I hope the Indians win!

and the snakes are going to beantown next week...

That's also my understanding... and besides the fact that we shouldn't care what she thinks about stuff... I wonder why people think we should speculate as to what she thinks... and I realize that's not what all of the posters here think.

Indeed, TREATMENT can be provided to anyone with known depression. When I first read the expression "depression can be corrected with medication" I cringed. Depression CAN be treated with medication. It can also be TREATED with counseling and with making some changes to personal situations. BUT, TREATMENT can be successful, but cannot guarantee success. Therefore, I believe the expression about "being corrected" is dangerously misleading. And I agree with waysider's post above.

But Dooj is YOUNGER than Paul McCartney!

It's not what my experience was (I was 19 when I first met someone from twi)... but I DO know there are people here that have shared that growing up in twi thing with you. P-Mosh, for one... but I'm sure there are more.