Off topic..... topics

[NNICKB]

Gordon, I think this was a good call.

I remember reading a story on "road rage," and that the relative anonymity of a person in an automobile can lead them to do things and act in ways they would not if they were face-to-face with another person.

I believe this is also true of the written word. I have been told by people who met me after reading something I wrote that they were surprised that, in person, I was a nice guy. That's not to say that I apologize for my opinions, or that being "liked" is the most important thing in the world. But, well, you know, there's a time and place for everything, and this is first and foremost a forum on Dodge trucks.

I will say that I am truly amazed at the energy and chemistry in this forum. We come from all walks of life and lifestyles, and have much more in common than our trucks. We appreciate the values that go into the design, manufacture, modification, and maintenance of these vehicles, and it is only natural that we seek these same values in other areas of our lives. Many of us our frustrated and alarmed that the erosion of these same values in our society, so it is only natural that we would want to interject some of that into the forum. It's a fine line sometimes. Guess that's why we have moderators. But we need to respect and appreciate these guys, not try and create more work for them.

I will behave from now on. I promise.

[Longhunter7]

Contributions

JimmieD

I sure am relieved that you realized that leaving the forum would leave a large void.

I have always enjoyed your posts, they have always been eloquent and informative.

Stick around and keep contributing!

[Jake]

Welcome back Jim,

Much saddness has been averted by your return, I hold you and your many insights in high regard and I am very glad to see you are back!

[Clint Dixon]

Well alright then! ;^)

I received several e-mails from forum members. All were of the opinion that I may have read too much into the events of the last couple of weeks. Some even suggested I may have erred, but of course we all know that's impossible, right?

The authors of those messages have known Gordon much longer and more personally in one way or another than I have, and without revealing more than they should have they've shown me the difficulty of the situation from his perspective.

Based on that various information and contributions by other members it seems I should rethink my last statement and decision. Having done that the conclusion is to edit my first message [suggested by another] and not leave the forum.

Don't know what to say now regarding various posts I might make in the future. It's too complicated to edit our beliefs into oblivion with every post because we do post stuff up in a hurry sometimes. Seems like some spiritual belief stuff is necessarily going to bleed through because it's a part of who we are. That will keep the moderators busy figuring out if it's blatantly offensive stuff or not.

In the past few years there have been 3 or 4 times I thought I was receiving direct insults in other's forum posts. I'm a fighter, have been all my life, and it's always been block & punch, NOW! My response was immediate and usually full on. I do remember the names of 3 of the people but the 4th escapes me so none of those would know if they're one I remember or the one I forgot. Please, don't remind me :~ )

From that I want to say that there's no grudges or hard feelings against anybody at all, haven't got the time for that bs. This last go-round in the threads is no different, and for my part nothing is any different from 6 months ago. Actually I can't remember taking actual offense from anything that was posted there recently so it's a non-issue to begin with. Whomever you are there's no animosity here.

I'm sure we can ALL pick up where we left off. Regardless of belief, except for those beliefs that teach hatred & death [we ALL need to actively fight against that insanity!], forgiveness is a major tenet of an acceptable personal code of conduct. Also it's easier than puzzling out all that 'he said' - 'she said' stuff.

So that's it from here, I'll give it a shot and see what happens. Thanks to all those who wrote!

JimmieD

.

Now that we have the camp fire lit, how about one of your great stories from your mountain top view. I'll bet you see a lot of interesting things up there. I'm a flatlander, so I can't imagine what it is like to live where you do. Once July arrives, I can hardly see past the corn outside my windows.

Junior

[Kevin Mienke]

Welcome back Jim.

[JimmieD]

I received several e-mails from forum members. All were of the opinion that I may have read too much into the events of the last couple of weeks. Some even suggested I may have erred, but of course we all know that's impossible, right?

The authors of those messages have known Gordon much longer and more personally in one way or another than I have, and without revealing more than they should have they've shown me the difficulty of the situation from his perspective.

Based on that various information and contributions by other members it seems I should rethink my last statement and decision. Having done that the conclusion is to edit my first message [suggested by another] and not leave the forum.

Don't know what to say now regarding various posts I might make in the future. It's too complicated to edit our beliefs into oblivion with every post because we do post stuff up in a hurry sometimes. Seems like some spiritual belief stuff is necessarily going to bleed through because it's a part of who we are. That will keep the moderators busy figuring out if it's blatantly offensive stuff or not.

In the past few years there have been 3 or 4 times I thought I was receiving direct insults in other's forum posts. I'm a fighter, have been all my life, and it's always been block & punch, NOW! My response was immediate and usually full on. I do remember the names of 3 of the people but the 4th escapes me so none of those would know if they're one I remember or the one I forgot. Please, don't remind me :~ )

From that I want to say that there's no grudges or hard feelings against anybody at all, haven't got the time for that bs. This last go-round in the threads is no different, and for my part nothing is any different from 6 months ago. Actually I can't remember taking actual offense from anything that was posted there recently so it's a non-issue to begin with. Whomever you are there's no animosity here.

I'm sure we can ALL pick up where we left off. Regardless of belief, except for those beliefs that teach hatred & death [we ALL need to actively fight against that insanity!], forgiveness is a major tenet of an acceptable personal code of conduct. Also it's easier than puzzling out all that 'he said' - 'she said' stuff.

So that's it from here, I'll give it a shot and see what happens. Thanks to all those who wrote!

JimmieD

.

[74w300uteline]

Jimmy D

Please reconsider

[Jonas Smith]

How about this...

On this forum, abide by the rules of the person who owns it and allows you to post (That would be Gordon) and his moderators, or If you really feel that you need to talk to someone about whatever it is that got sand in your speedo, start your own forum somewhere out in cyberspace.

You guys seem to forget that we are permitted to post on this forum, we are not entitled to post on this forum.

It's like my neighbor who always likes to come into my shop when I'm working with the door open, and look at all my Power Wagons and IHC projects, then tells me how much better his Chevy's are. It's just in poor taste gentlemen.
The last time I saw him stop at the end of the driveway and start walking up, I just pulled the roll up door down and locked it, and didn't answer when he knocked on the man door.
Sorry, I'm not going to sit there and smile and kiss his butackas, just to be neighborly, when he is obviously being a horses pututti to me, in my shop.

[712edf]

I think the purpose of this thread isn't for us to stop standing up for our beliefs, just that we(all sides) are to take our "battles" to another "battleground". At least that's how I took it. I had plenty of opportunities to share my viewpoints before "maelstrom" came into being & I'll have plenty more now that its gone. Just not here, and that's ok by me. As far as whatever words that I may have contributed that were removed go, if they weren't rememberable in the first place then not much was lost.....I actually had time to put brake pads on my work truck today as opposed to being online.

[QuantumJo]

My original post was about stem cell research being funded by government. By page 2 it took a very different direction. At about that time I started another post in hopes that the original post about government would stay that way, but some how it continued down a path that I did not intend.

I get it. No more posts about religion. This board will not hear another peep from me on that subject as per the rules of this board. At some point someone wanted to have a place to talk about religion and politics otherwise there would not have been a maelstrom in the first place. It is within that framework I posted. It was not my intention to upset or aggravate anyone. On the contrary, it was my intention to express my views on the subjects.

I’m not a judge, I don’t judge people on what they post nor do I have “feelings” for or against anyone on this board based on their point of view. We are just a bunch of guys that have lost their fair share of skin on Mopar iron.

The point of my post was to just put that topic behind us and to move on to shop talk, not to stifle, belittle or exploit the views of another.

.

[Charles Talbert]

Well, this isn't really front page material in my view

Well you managed to make it 12 words before...




I implore you, lets just give it a rest and get back to shop talk :)

.

I just can't help but wonder a single thought. That is you implore the author of a pevious post to STOP. Do you just despise the person or is it really what he stood for that is responsible for your feelings toward him?

How many e-mails or post here such as yours expressing such aggression for another's views have you received? After all if memory serves me correctly, the name QuantumJo was shown as the soul author who started the first of the threads that are being referred to here, in fact I believe you were the author of at least one other thread in question as well.

I'll have to say it is a poor man who endeavors to open a can of worms simply hoping to see an explosion come out of it, then making statements like this in a effort to further exploit the views of another. In my view this was likely the very intent of the whole thing when it started. Did you really accomplish your genuine desire here?

[Kevin Mienke]

JimmieD is an old and trusted friend to many and we will have to work this out amongst old friends.

Jimmie, as a moderator, I will not delete your post as I don't view it as being religious. I am saddened to hear of your decision. Really truly saddened. I am glad you posted your e-mail. I will be in contact.

[QuantumJo]

Well you managed to make it 12 words before...

religious X14
belief X17
non- belief X3
religion
anti-Judeo-Christian
non-Judeo-Christian
non-religious
Judeo-Christian

I implore you, lets just give it a rest and get back to shop talk :)

.

[JimmieD]

I just posted another message below but also want to edit this post to remove unkind remarks, or at least most of them? It's a tough one to edit but this editing was suggested to me by others, blame them:

I'd like this to stand, but hopefully not seen as direct insult:

This thread presents a conundrum: no comment is allowed on the thread subject matter if it hints in any way at religious belief, but it is a thread about politics & religious belief. The opening post stifles comment regarding the subject matter of the thread. The only allowable posts following are to agree, or else one is a troublemaker?

I don't agree, and desire to express that disageement. That in itself is not a posting of any particular religious or political belief so it seems it should be allowable, hard to tell though.

America got along for 200 years until a small minority of people who have no belief joined with those who have anti-Judeo-Christian belief. Since that marriage there have been continuous challenges throughout the fabric of American society to benefit the non-belief and non-Judeo-Christian belief, while directly discriminating against the large majority [over 99%] that have a religious belief or especially Judeo-Christian [over 90%] religious belief.

Prior to this the Great Society functioned quite well and adults soberly discussed these things openly in every venue. Just like those who prefer Power Wagons to Chevrolet 4X4's, there were groups with like thoughts & preferences who disagreed with each other, often in spirited exchange. There were no Disagreement Police standing as overlords to forbid discussion of personally held viewpoints because that open discussion was, that's WAS, guaranteed as a Constitutional Right under the 1st Amendment. 'Slander' & 'Libel' covered the law of overstepping acceptable limits of expression.

Where there have been problems they have been related to emotional maturity and personal social skills. Emotionally immature persons act out & respond childishly in one way or another because they are mentally unable to contain their immature emotions in an adult manner. This then prevents proper communication behavior in another who attempts to respond to them in an adult manner. The emotionally immature then seek for another method to win an argument when intellectually or emotionally challenged. People on any side of religious or political discussion might be the offender.

The forbiddance of all political or religious discussion is a grave problem in America. We are currently under sophisticated attack by several highly organized groups who hold a fundamental doctrine that hinges on total exclusion of religion from society as one of their precepts.

We currently have a media that is predominantly hugely favorable to expression of only a liberal veiwpoint, which viewpoint is held by only a minority of Americans. It has had great effect around the world, seen in Communist Russia, Communist China, Communist Cuba, Communist Venezuela, and the many other countries oppressed under Communist & Socialist dictatorships or governing bodies, where forbiddance of religious or political expression is the rule in all media or exchange!

In our society, if restructured to forbid open discussion of these things, the door is wide open to our own overthrow because resistance is impossible. The outlawing of free religious & political discussion is a powerful tool to enable the enemy to take over without the public even knowing it. If the pro-liberal news and information media stifles all expression of warning, and it is also outlawed publicly, how would any know that the enemy is not only at the door, but sleeping in their bed or holding elected office?

We do certainly value our own opinions and internet postings else we would not bother speaking them. We contribute for other's judgement & review, and doubtless either the majority view or most informed view is normally preferred. The entire nature of communication is that personal viewpoints are compared. Every single individual holds incredibly unique viewpoints and every single conversation results from personal belief & knowledge & experience.

In the final analysis, to those who will review & appraise with a truly open mind, the only guaranteed non-confrontational expression is in a society firmly held in the grip of a dictatorship of one or many who rule over what may be expressed, and when and how. I cannot abide a domineering dictatorship over my life & freedom of expression.

New material:

Seems to me that regardless of religious belief any here who consider themselves Americans must unite together to prevent the overthrow of freedom of expression and freedom of religious expression and practice in America. The reason for this suggestion is because basic American values are under attack and these two issues are a key to their successful overthrow of the Great Republic. In effect it's not the particular belief that's in danger, but expression of all beliefs.

I say that wherever possible and regardless of your belief you fight for our common right to hold and express those beliefs & freedoms. It's the only hope for survival of the America we have known before.

Changed my mind on this:
In view of these considerations I sadly, as truly saddened, make the decision to leave this forum, my former internet home. Best wishes to all on your journey through life.

Any wishing to contact me can do so through: jimmied@optech-center.net

JimmieD

.

[BobbyMike]

Goodbye....