Posts from — May 2004

Dissertation Conjuration; or, What it is

An information overload
Implodes my logic into scrambled code
Proliferation underlined
But not an argument within to find

The twinned abyss eyeballs me back
The one side swarms, the other lacks
Nothing to grasp, no teeth to bite
So what it is today I just can’t fight

I’ll try another metaphor
I’m surfing over the mutation’s roar
But with no sky nor even dawn
- The structures that we all depend upon -
The sand sinks in and liquid flows
The co-infection site within me grows
Exchanging agents of more change
So what it is I’m getting rearranged

The lines of truth and fiction blur
As though their bleedthroughs weren’t already sure
To lure me into scenting nodes
That map the network of the mother lode

I try again, it’s all for naught
I don’t know what it is that I ain’t got
The spiderwebs turn in my head
And try to tell me I’m already dead

All vectors’ pathways laced with chance
And fate, the strange attractor’s hidden dance
I conjure synchronicity
Beam through your secret ledge-ability

-(Copyright VirusHead, contact for permissions) 

Yup. When I think about JWs, they arrive. Two JW women stopped by today. We had a nice talk on my back deck.

The leader was one I’ve been talking with for some time, so I wasn’t too shocked to see them. She is in "circuit work," so I supposed I should feel honored in some way that she spends time with me.

She tried to fling out Psalms and such, but we ended up talking mostly about politics. It’s really kind of funny, because I think she enjoys my company too. And although she calls herself "politically neutral" (as they all do), she also compared some of the things that were happening to Nazi Germany. A Holocaust survivor was making the rounds and had spoken recently in her congregation. I imagine it’s a little confusing – since they are torn between apocalypic thinking and wanting to defend first amendment rights and other American values that make their work easier.

I took a few Watchtowers and Awakes off her hands, and everybody was happy.

This will be my last visit from her, since she is being reassigned – I’ll actually miss her. She is a fine woman. Goodbye, my friend.

Watchtower News

As a former Jehovah’s Witness, I check this site from time to time to see how JWs are hitting the media. The biggest story lately seems to be the multiple Denmark stories of abuse, which include a woman having a baby by her own father, and various other atrocities of abuse happening with the collusion of local elders. In Denmark, they are starting to be called "Satan’s Witnesses."

The activist group Silent Lambs has translated a number of the news articles.

I have some advice for recovering JWs, recommended books, and other resources on my site, for those who are interested. You can also join my exJWs ring. And if you need some emotional distance, there is always my collection of JW humor.

I get a dozen or so messages about JWs weekly – I try to keep a position that is focussed on healing, but when I look at the news I have to acknowledge – this is one destructive group. By percentages, JWs are awfully high in the abuse, pedophilia, and "just freaking out and killing people" categories.

Of my generation of JWs, I know of only one who has remained both functional and involved in the group – and he has to shovel deep into the caves of denial to do it. He has a strong faith that I admire, but I grieve at its misdirection. His God is not a loving god. I am so grateful to be out of there, and to have left under my own steam at a young age.

I do miss participation in a religious community, but I fear I have become too skeptical to ever really feel a sense of belonging in one. My view now is that religion is a challenging life-long path, not something that is settled at any given time. And I know now about the darker side of the soul and of any group, and I’m also watching that darker side – a destructiveness parading as goodness – take over this country. Sadly, some of its participants actually believe that they are religious, that they have the moral high ground.

Some days, it tempts me to despair.

Bush is still backing William Haynes for a lifetime position on the powerful 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. You don’t like activist judges? Check out the history of Bush’s nominations.

Here’s a good one.

Haynes, in his job as General Counsel to the Department of Defense, dismissed and "scolded" human rights groups raising allegations of prisoner abuse in February 2003. He was supposed to ensure military compliance with all laws (including the Geneva Conventions, federal law, and the laws of war), but instead

Helped develop the Defense Department’s military tribunal plan, which has been condemned by human rights organizations and our nation’s closest allies.

Signed off on the legality of withholding Geneva Conventions protections from hundreds of persons detained at Guantanamo, defined as prisoners of war.

Supports the indefinite detention of U.S. citizens by the Executive Branch without legal counsel or meaningful judicial review.

Helped make it harder for the officers with the military’s own Judge Advocate General Corps to observe interrogations. Haynes’ actions were so alarming that some JAG officers warned of “a disaster waiting to happen” and sought outside intervention.

Misled a U.S. Senator who had specifically asked about policies for detention and treatment of prisoners. (William J. Haynes, General Counsel, Department of Defense, Letter to U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy, June 25, 2003.)

And incidentally, Haynes has almost no in-court trial experience, and no direct appellate experience at all.

You can sign a petition here, and this is how I got the informationm and lifted all these links. You just don’t hear about these things on the news anymore.

See Kennedy’s statement