the Weekly Okie
May 5, 2009 Cinco de Mayo
Vol 1, Issue 10
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from Randy's Desk
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The Role of Body Language in Conversing with a Cult Member
FEAR is the admission that you are afraid
of something perceived as threatening. Dissect a conversation and you will see
who is in control, and who is really threatened, and WHY.
Defusing such fear is your best tactic if you desire to (a) make peace with
your opposer or (b) simply make a point. Whether it be the next-door neighbor
who is angry that you cut down part of her bushes, or the father of a boy that
just got his nose bloodied by your own son, diplomacy is always a better way.
The peacemaker
approach will invite less trouble for you, and,
if you are clever enough, may lead to making a
new friend.
In my experience, enemies-turned friends are the best kind. Some momentary
yet powerful memetic trick has made them more trusting in you than your other
"friendly" neighbors. We call it having a change
of heart. But it's actually simpler than that.
All it might take is a good deed, and a smile. Making it happen is a combination
of thoughtful words, AND, more importantly, the right posture and body
signals. MORE |
Dad's 85th Birthday in Arkansas last month
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Thanks to Melody Blankenship, I got a plane ticket to visit my whole family, who moved out to Arkansas about 6 years ago to get away from the traffic and noise of California, and to live out the rest of their days. They all live just south of the Ozarks in a town of 500 people. Though we were all born in Oklahoma, dad used to go fishing at Bull Shoals nearby as a kid, and my brother-in-law Fred and my sister Sue had lived there years before. Though my mom and dad have their health problems, their minds are good and we had many fun times in 5 days. I spent time with my nephew Kenny and niece Tami and a couple of the kids as well. As in years before, I took a couple of videos of my dad talking about the "good ol' days." I will update this page soon, but listen to him talk about it from a couple of years ago. |
Things Dad Taught Me
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The real key to my own success is the people whom I have been kind to, and they have more than paid me back in return.
I learned many of these lessons from watching my dad, who had over 30 years of experience in the car business. What was the secret of his success? He was kind to people, and treated them right. They ALWAYS brought their friends back to buy a car from Ken. He was honest, funny and was up front about what they were getting.
For me, that was a mixed blessing. Dad outsold all the other salesmen by a mile everywhere he went, and was soon desired as a sales manager by most Ford dealers in the Southern California area, and even in Las Vegas! So for me, my mom and my sister, that meant moving once a year for about 10 years, as he was offered a better job by different Ford dealership owners. I had to go to a new school every year in grade school, and had to make friends all over again.
I had no interest in selling cars, but I became a used car mechanic and eventually a tune-up mechanic, before getting swooped up by the Jehovah's Witnesses in 1972. The last place I worked was Valley Park Ford in Canoga Park. Ken told me the story this year that, unbeknownst to him, I had got a job at the Ford dealership as a mechanic without telling him! Two days later he walked in the back to check on a car, and I was working there. He thought that was the funniest thing in the world.
I didn't want people to think I got the job because of him, and I didn't want him to influence me getting the job. Got to be your own man, I say.
Not long after that I arranged to work part-time there, and pioneered in the Canoga Park congregation for a year and a half, before "special pioneering" on my own in San Luis Obispo for 6 months, and then off to Bethel in 1974.
I guess I was pretty friendly, too, as I got 6 people from door-to-door work baptized in the six months I was there.The rest is in my history.
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| Watchtower Antiquarian Blowout |
Once upon a time Free Minds gained funds from the sale of older Watchtower-printed publications, but the mar  ket dried up about two years ago. Plus, our old shopping cart is expiring on the 14th of May, and it is not worth spending $300 to renew a site that once made $15,000 a year for Freeminds, but now coughs up about $300 a year. Not a good match. I am clearing out all my older Watchtower-produced books and
volumes, with a few exceptions, and will be having a special 30% off
sale on everything at these two URLs below only, and I am no longer using
this Americart shopping cart as of May 14th. So browse what is left,
and if you want to get some things, everything at these two URLs will
be 30% off of the total. It will not show in the cart that you get 30%
off, but I will manually adjust the amount when I charge your credit
card manually. (Our new shopping cart is more sophisticated.) http://www.freeminds.org/sales/booksale.htm
and
http://www.freeminds.org/sales/wt&g.htm So get yourself some real bargains on some false prophecies, phony dates and historic publications you may never see again! You got a few days now, so take a look. Get a real printed book from last century with all the damning quotes you can think of. Nothing like the real thing to shock the dubs! |
| Advertising on Free Minds! |
Many of our readers are up and coming authors who have published books about Jehovah's Witnesses (or related subjects) and would like to try out paid advertisements on the internet. Free Minds offers affordable rates for many various size ads that can be placed on the front page, specific pages, or most pages on the site. In most cases there is a small set-up fee if you don't already have an ad, and then some fairly low monthly rates, considering the high amount of traffic we receive, with thousands of page loads every day. Additionally, you may wish to advertise a special seminar, an event, a meet-up group, church or whatever. Many size options are available. email Randy for more information. |
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NEW BOOK!
Wilbur Lingle has a great new book published by CLC (Christian Literature
Crusade) entitled,  What the Watchtower Doesn't Want You to Know - A Glimpse Behind the Walls of the Kingdom Halls.
Give our new shopping cart a try. It is Paypal-based but you can use any major credit card as well. GO HERE.
Designed for (1) people who are studying with the Witnesses and want to know what they are getting in to (2) For Jehovah's Witnesses who need a better way of life with God and spirituality, and (3) for those who have lost loved ones or friends to the Watchtower and want to understand what goes on inside the kingdom halls. Designed to be given to Witnesses. 230 pages, paperback.
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| FREE OFFER! |
Try out our new Free Minds Store! Make an item purchase over $25 and you will receive a free copy of the CD-rom with it's accompanying spiral-bound book, Tetragrammaton Downloadable Research Library (list $25) by Lynn Lundquist. Just mention the offer in the final checkout phase of the Paypal shopping cart where it says, Add special instructions to the seller. This offer will not be automatically added, so don't forget to let me know you want to use the "coupon." This offer is only good for those on the Weekly Okie email list. Each issue of the Weekly Okie will have a new coupon worth $$$! Email me if you have a question about this or wish to add it to your new order.
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Offer Expires: May 20, 2009
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