Allen - I don't think anyone here means you any harm, hates the truth or mocks good deeds. I know a number of the bloggers and if you spent any time with them, you might find a friend or two, which is why some of us encourage you to dialogue. Allen, none of us are perfect and we know it...it seems we have all learned tolerance with each other, with others and it is a good thing. "For all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God" Romans 3:23.

Now, I know you read the comments or you wouldn't post one like you did here. According to AJ article, you have a masters degree in theology. With a Masters, you would know scripture quite well, whether it be from the Bible, the Qur'an, the Talmud, the Tao, etc. All of them tells us to love one another, not accuse others falsley and wish them misery. Silence is actually a good thing. It is part of our purification here on Earth. It is the only time we hear God...

...I will pray for you and I hope you pray for all of us. Peace to you Allen...

Allen - Sorry, that was me, Observer, not Birch.

Here's a simple message for self absorbed, amateur leftist authors with overly inflated views of their own self importance. Pot...kettle...black.

Allen: Who are you talking to/about? Just "haters" in general, or the other people who blog and comment here on the AJ site? Would you at least post a comment to answer this one *simple* question.

I have noticed that the CNN online news page often selects and picks up Mr. Cassidys blogs for their coverage on local Auburn news. I think some of your comments condemming Mr. Cassidy are petty.

I was sitting, drinking a cup of coffee and pondering this post today as I walked around Auburn helping the homeless, and I had to wonder to myself "Why?"

Come on Yosemite, be nice. This might end up on CNN.

Bluebird: what is the link for that anyway?

Allen, we have invited you to dialog. Your silence is defeating to our purpose. I suggest most of us are not mockers of good deeds. Rather, I would suggest most of us go about our business without the judgment or condemnation you feel. We do our own good deeds without the need to boast.

Meister Eckhart, Dominican medieval philosopher, theologian and Christian mystic, revealed that "there is nothing that so resembles God as silence."

Gail just enter CNN Headline News and the page will come up. Then look in the lower left hand corner and you will see a section for local news.

I noticed they posted his blogs on three seperate occasions. Hey, I think Y.S. should blog his heart out. The comments on his blogs and others are a great insight into the nature of the people who live here.

I still think it was illustrative when the day after the Journal gave our local coffee swilling, sidewalk tromping, bum buddying, philosopher a big write-up, they chose to pay tribute to a woman who had spent 24 years helping handicapped and retarded children.

The contrast was stunning. She thought that what she was doing was not significant, just something she felt called to do. Perhaps at night she listened to the silence, and heard God commanding her to do it?

PS: Allen: I love the truth (although sometimes I present it in the least gentle ways) and I mock only your self-importance. If you were to donate 24 years of your life to helping those who truly need it, I would be showering you with praise.

He has lulled himself into a false sense of competence.

Dear Birch: To be expected from YS. Very out of character for you. Do you know this guy and have something against him personally?

Yosemite - I have to admit, but in a gentler way, I agree with you. Only those deeds we do in private, in secret, without "blowing trumpets" before our goods deeds, will be recognized as anything. The admiration of our peers will be our only reward. Those around us, might be impressed, but God isn't.

Bluebird - For those who don't understand what Birch said, Yosemite might seem in error, but he is correct. Saints are extremely humble, I would suppose it is because they truly have the experience, the presence of the immensity of God. They also see themselves much more clearly than most of us and realize their own weakness and dependence on God. Saints shy away from admiration and accolades, no matter how much they are deserved...

Bluebird: Stick around and watch this guy. He does not participate in the blogs at all. He merely write two sentence complaints and never responds to anyone... ever. He's wasting space that could be used by someone constructive. Ever since he had that article written about him (I have absolutely no idea why him) he comes on here and wastes everyones time. Blogging here requires participation.... he does not participate.... therefore he's not welcome here. That's my opinion.

Please Birch, we put up with alot worse than Cassidy. YS and those of his ilk are the reason I have taken a break from this site. They have the right to speak out and alot of what was said fried me. So I stopped coming here for awhile. Same with Cassidy, he has the right to post, if it really bothers you that much, just don't read it or respond.

Salamander: I usually don't. I disagree about "putting up with people" though. I find it more offensive to not participate than any wacky partisan blogging. Both irritate me.... but I find Allen more of a bother. That's just my opinion.

I don't usually comment on his stuff but I wanted to clear my name after Observer accidentally wrote as me.

Oh.... and Allen: Your silence is not helping your case. Your point is not being made.

Bb...I actually think Allen"s points are always made....he may be subtle but his points... seem to always stir the pot just a little.. now don't they...

No, Obewan.... they are not made. Silence atop of whining for two sentences isn't making a point.

Oh, I get it. This is just an experiment for Allen. He figures he can put all his complaining on here, we read it and get worked up and he just stays SILENT. But he is assuming that all of us who post on here are mainly people who sit around doing nothing, never helping anyone or doing anything valuable (as defined by him I guess) so he will just gripe on here and then stay silent when we ask him what HE is doing about all his complaints. Maybe he is doing a lot, who knows...but how will we ever know?

Allen, try posting just once where you are not playing a mind game. Tell us something about life, yourself, whatever, we will respond and you can respond back. You might like it and you will also get to know us (we are all locals here and mostly we don't bite...except maybe Birch, ha...just kidding). Then join us for coffee sometime (Y_S keeps pointing out that you like coffee) and you can tell us in person more about the things you would like to see changed (or not changed) and we might actually see you as a real person, not just some distant complainer.

I have a dream...

Gail: I wont bite..... hard.

;)

Is this an exclusive group of people, a clique, that can speak out and comment here as long as the content or style fits a preconceived notion by the group? Has an unspoken standard been set by "the regulars" here? My own reticence to commenting in forums on this site is this kind of behavior where the usual bloggers nitpick and carp at other people's approach or their substance of message. It creates the apparency of this public forum to not be so inclusive for others to join in. Maybe it leads to some trepidation by someone new.

Just a thought from a longtime reader and relatively new poster. Sure, I don't understand what Allen is saying either or who he's saying it to. Not a clue. But there have been blogs by pollywog, Yosemite_Sam and Skeptic, oh and lonewolf too, and others that seemed pointless too. Maybe this comment I'm making right now isn't understood. Who cares? Nothing to see here, let's move on. And just let people have their say.

Salamander, what rock did you crawl out from under?

;)

I should have added that there is a lot of good discussion seen here and great back and forth on topics, sometimes nasty perhaps, sometimes with good camaraderie that is evident. I wasn't trying to make a negative indictment of the group or forum overall. Just that at times, such as here, the cliquish-style carping kinda shines through a bit and my opinion is that you have to watch out for that so it doesn't become too pervasive. This forum can grow and attract new blood and continue to become more interesting if it lends toward inclusion and not exclusion, no matter the topic or personal or political persuasion. Disagreement and hard-fought discussion is good, but not to the detriment of excluding others no matter how ludicrous or misunderstood their voice may be. I didn't know I had so much of an opinion about this, but there ya go, it just came spilling out of my keyboard.

BB..in the performance testing...I think Allen is winning so far....and his point appears to have struck several chords......still patient though:)

raul_pellegrini: I, for one, am glad to hear from you. I know when you first start posting on here it seems rather cliquish because by now many of us have been bantering back and forth for over a year. I felt that way last year when I first started posting. I got beat up pretty badly, mostly because I took everything people said personally (like people know you on here? huh? but I do also use my real name...so...). But I continued to post because even though we all tend to get crazy at times I found that it is quite addicting and also a good way to sort through one's thought processes (or lack thereof). And I also esp. like that much of what is debated here is local and local people are involved. I have since met many of the people who post here and have made many personal friends...and, I suppose, enemies. But that is all part of the experience.

Obewan: Yes, Allen is surely winning. Brownie points to him. Go Allen, keep stirring it up.

hey Raul! welcome. I am a fellow lurker. meaning that i mostly read and comment occasionally and almost never post an original blog. the thing is, if you are going to post a blog, you can expect people to challenge you and make all kinds of contrary comments. they are not haters, just other people who want to see how you arrived at your position and see if you can back it up. since i tend to take everything personally, i don't post controversial blogs, when there is something i actually know about and am ready to engage, i will post a comment. that's the amounty of risk i am willing to take. so there are perhaps unspoken rules about posting that regular readers and bloggers go by. if Allen wants to yank our collective chain, he should also engage and not just call those who challenge him "haters". thanks for chiming in. we like new voices. (and i mean that in the most non-exclusionary way possible.)

Jayber lies! She actually can get quite controversial at times. She was really feeling her oats a couple weeks ago and I didn't even think it was her. Maybe it was something she "knew about." ha

So how is Old Joe Clark coming along? Ready to come jam with us? We will be playing for Railroad Days in downtown Colfax Sept. 26th around noon. Bring your mandolin and we will give you a big solo. Another blogger here who shall remain nameless is going to sing with us so you won't be alone.

smile. : ) i haven't practiced as much lately. community chorus practice started up, as did my class at the local college. i have been spending time planning how to best indoctrinate the students with my left wing touchy feely propoganda. haha.

Oh, and thanks for asking, Gail. I will put Sept. 26 on my calender. Not to perform - but to listen, enjoy and applaud.

Gail: Allen will tire.... just you watch.

Jayber: Don't be nice to new people... we're supposed to attack and harass them to see if they're worthy. If you're nice to him now he wont be ready when he eventually gets ganged up on. Here... I'll start...

Raul: No one was talking to you. If you want to start crying like a little girl I'm sure we can find a skirt your size and a Zima to put in your hand. You are a terrible, worthless, sorry excuse for a human being. You're type really makes me sick! Go and boil your bottoms! Son of a silly person! I'll blow my nose at you, so called Raul Pelligrini! You empty headed animal foot trough water! I'll fart in your general direction!Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberry! TTHPPBPBB!! - (Welcome to the blogs) ;)

BB - aren't you quoting Monty Python? If so, I call plagiarsm. Unless of course you properly cite your source. Son of a silly person, indeed. you make me laugh,

No, it's not plagiarism.... I assumed that all the cool people would get it. Well done, Jayber.... you've passed the test. :)

jayber - Good catch! Monty Python?? Who woulda known?

Gosh, Birch, you are such a hater. But he does derserver a good breaking in.

Gail,

BB has been breaking in for some time now~`!@#$%^&

I respect what raul_pellegrini has said here. Not everyone is comfortable joining an established group. However, he, and any other lurkers, are more than welcome to jump in and join the fray whenever they like.

The familiarity that some of us have with each other is not exclusive. Each of us is a social nutcases, otherwise we wouldn't be here in the first place.

All you need to do to join this club is forsake all others, figure out how to eat and type at the same time, deny yourself much needed rest, give up on your regular reading, push your spouse to the outer limits of his/her patience, and start laying out your thoughts for all to see. Nothing to it! ;-)

Maybe if the AJ could find a way to fit more blogs per page, people would be less inclined to have a problem with this. It gets tiresome to click page after page to get to a blog that was on the first page only a day or so before. There has to be an easier way to get to older blogs than clicking "next page" over and over until you get to it. Same with the letters. Same with the news. I usually just click on Birch's name to get to his, otherwise it takes forever, but meanwhile other blogs get passed by.

Raul, watch out, farm animals are about to be launched at you, I suggest you rapidly click those coconuts and retreat.

I don't want to get to the point where someone who WANTS to post is driven away. No offense to one of my favorite puppies on the site, but one blogger you can tell has sometimes knocked a few beers back before posting, sometimes it doesn't even make sense, but he doesn't get attacked. It would be nice if Allen expanded on his statements, but he doesn't, and so what, it's not in the bylaws. Some really nice people on here have been uncharacteristically mean spirited. That indicates a wolf pack mentality, or clique to use raul's word, that really isn't a good direction for this forum to go. I also think something else is driving this criticism. Is it because Allen is not seeking acceptance? Can you be a regular without directly responding to the other regulars? Yes, you can.

Allen, no need to be passive/aggressive, just post.

jayber - I have often thought you should post more often, but I understand your reasons, it does get a little brutal in here sometimes. Just know, your posts and comments exemplify the phrase "quality over quantity".

kittyv - how swee you are! i am purring.

Kitty: :)

Ahh... Monty Python references.... does it get any better?

I went to the Crest Theater a few years ago because they were playing The Holy Grail and I'd never seen it in a theater. I took my girlfriends sister with me and told her all about how cool of a movie it is... she'd never seen it. So we're standing in line outside, halfway down the block, when I noticed all the nerds surrounding me. I had no idea. I always thought Monty Python was cool... now I know it's a good way for me to pick out the other nerds besides myself.

Birch: just so you know that you are not the only nerd on the list (beside Jayber): without me saying anything about this whole exchange on here about Monty Python, I hear my kids downstairs performing the scene from the Holy Grail about the African Swallow. I have no idea why, but they will just break into random Monty Python.

One of their favorites is: "All I said was 'That piece of Halibut is good enough for Jehovah'"...."Ahh, he said it again! You are only making it worse!" "Worse, how can I make it any worse?!?"... "No one stones anyone until I blow this whistle, even if he DOES say Jehovah! ARGHH!!!!!"

And my husband and I decided to go on our first date because we both wanted to watch a Monty Python movie. Yes, it is very sick indeed.

That is so funny, Gail. For some reason, my personal favorite is the Lumberjack song. What a rich gift you have given your children... well maybe not.

hey - spamalot is palaying in San Jose = we should get a group thing going and go see it together!!! wouldn't that be sooo fun. charter a bus, have a bit of bubbly... any organizers out there?

Jayber - That would be fun, even if we had to take our own cars.

http://ev6.evenue.net/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/SEGetEventList?groupCode=SPAM&linkID=amtsj&shopperContext=&caller=&appCode=

Sat Sept 19 2:00pm. There are still tickets. anybody in? i would need to negotiate with my sweetiepie, but think it could be done.

Allen remember hate may be jealously in disguise. I experienced career ending devestating consequances for trying to have integrity and do the right thing. For a period of time I felt cynical and sorry for myself as well. There are vindcitive people in this world. That is just the reality of it. It is their problem not yours.

jaybar...be careful ...to much purring can get any kitty in lots of trouble ;)

Jayber - How much are the tickets?

Allen - I don't know what Bluebird is talking about but if you have experienced what it looks like and you want to talk about it, I too have been through hell in my career due to a vindictive person. I could write a book. What really shocks you is to find out how few will come to your defense or your aid.

If you ever want to talk about it, email me at rwgirl2003@yahoo.com. It really helps to talk to someone who has gone through it and through some of the healing. It can come as a huge shock when it happens to you and the damage can be overwhelming.

The Argument Clinic & The Spanish Inquisition are by far my favorites.

"An argument is a connected series of statements intended to establish a proposition."

"Yes, but it isn't just saying 'no it isn't'."

"It is."

"No it isn't!"

Dear Observer

Speaking of books and healing here I my two favorites. I have them both on CD and listen to them at least once a week. The Greatest Thing The World by Henry Drummond and And As A Man Thinketh by James Allen.

Thanks for the kind welcome and accepting of my words. Especially you BirchBricker to whom, after I put on my knight's armor, I say "Ni!"

I was kinda reacting to something that kittyv related to, that sometimes I'd seen some mean spirited words where somebody actually wished and encouraged others to leave the forum and stop posting here. BirchBricker wanted Miutant (sp?) to go and was glad he did, but then later apologized for that attitude which was pretty cool. born_here wished wrigter (sp?) would leave, and then Patrick50 personally attacked wrigter and honestly wanted him(/her) to stop posting here. maybe he wasn't nice to Patrick50, but it was discouraging for this potential newbie to see this kind of harsh reaction. And then some reactions to Allen here seemed to want him to go away. But I get it I think that that's not the general concensus of the group.

Thanks again.

I always have a thought afterwards that I meant to include. Sorry. I meant to acknowledge the perceivable actions of I think bcapp and gregcalac who have come in at times to moderate and discourage that kind of harshness and keep things civil. Even with disagreement and great differences there can still be open discussion without nastiness. It was these kinds of posts that finally encouraged me to jump in.

Observer - the tickets run from $20 in the rafters to $88 in the orchestra. Actually, I love the idea of going, but the truth is I don't really want to spend 6+ hours in the car coming and going. It was a bit of a manic mood that spawned the idea. But if we had a bus....

Right on, Raul.

Bluebird - Thanks for the book suggestions

Raul - Welcome aboard. The (brave) Knights of the Blog Table, whom many of them speak good "Pythonism" (and which I do not), most surely will welcome your presence. Yes, while we can be a rowdy group, do wear enormous hearts beneath our armor. I do hope you will join us for the next counsel and in the meantime...be not afraid :-)

You guys are too funny.