I Really Love You Guys But......

......man we gotta get some new blood.

I've been hanging around some other forums lately, looking at prospective recruits (it makes me feel so dirty ).

What the hell can we do to increase membership?

I tried pimping out our group on facebook (as has Avigal). I've also make us searchable via Google. If you have any ideas on how to attract new members, I all ears! I'd love it if you could get some new members from other groups!

Bryant wrote:I tried pimping out our group on facebook (as has Avigal). I've also make us searchable via Google. If you have any ideas on how to attract new members, I all ears! I'd love it if you could get some new members from other groups!

Man I'm actively dredging through a few forums. I think I've got at least one. She's cool. I won't tell you about her, but she will bring a totally unique outlook on politics and life in general.

Basically, I'm just hanging around, posting a bit, looking for people who can talk without flaming (yeah, I know I've been known to go off the deep end every now and then), and then sending them a PM invite.

I wish we could locate some of those Brits like Ollie. Man that dude made things interesting.

Hey all. Marconius found me on another forum when we were posting on another forum. A little about myself. I'm a thirty year old, openly lesbian pastor that serves two churches in Iowa. I married my partner in 2009 a year after Iowa legalised same-sex marriage. I also serve on the board of an interfaith organization bringing together people of many faiths and athiests. We come together to address the issues of rural poverty and hunger. I hold a doctorate in Near Eastern Studies with an emphasis on Biblical languages and Hebrew Bible.

I'm socially and fiscally progressive (although I don't think views are that easy to classify). I believe that it is possible to have discourse where people can disagree strenously and yet not resort to insults or demonization. I vote a straight democratic ticket. I like individual Republicans. However, I can't vote for anyone in that party until they stop using sexuality as a way to pander to the religious right. Anyone has any questions feel free to ask. What mostly offends are people that throw tired quotes and lines around without using their own critical thinking skills.

TheHappyHeretic wrote:Hey all. Marconius found me on another forum when we were posting on another forum. A little about myself. I'm a thirty year old, openly lesbian pastor that serves two churches in Iowa. I married my partner in 2009 a year after Iowa legalised same-sex marriage. I also serve on the board of an interfaith organization bringing together people of many faiths and athiests. We come together to address the issues of rural poverty and hunger. I hold a doctorate in Near Eastern Studies with an emphasis on Biblical languages and Hebrew Bible.

I'm socially and fiscally progressive (although I don't think views are that easy to classify). I believe that it is possible to have discourse where people can disagree strenously and yet not resort to insults or demonization. I vote a straight democratic ticket. I like individual Republicans. However, I can't vote for anyone in that party until they stop using sexuality as a way to pander to the religious right. Anyone has any questions feel free to ask. What mostly offends are people that throw tired quotes and lines around without using their own critical thinking skills.

Hello! After reading your bio I understand what Marc meant when he said you'll be able to provide unique insights. Welcome aboard!

Since we're doing introductions, I'm Bryant and I study geology and volcanology at California State University, Fresno. My current work involves looking at the geochemical evolution of volcanic rocks in the Basin-and-Range Province (ie the deserty area of California, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah) and studying chemical variation within individual rhyolite lava flows (talk about looking at things in two very different scales!). While that might sound boring, I assure you its cool. I am 23 years old, am socially liberal and economically moderate, and consider myself an agnostic (although once I considered myself Christian). While I am the admin for this board, my philosophy is that my job is simply to keep spammers at bay. If you're not spamming, I won't moderate your posts. Glad to have you on board, I look forward to some stimulating discussions!

Tried inviting a few ppl in but none of them have bitten yet.....

TheHappyHeretic wrote:Hey all. Marconius found me on another forum when we were posting on another forum. A little about myself. I'm a thirty year old, openly lesbian pastor that serves two churches in Iowa. I married my partner in 2009 a year after Iowa legalised same-sex marriage. I also serve on the board of an interfaith organization bringing together people of many faiths and athiests. We come together to address the issues of rural poverty and hunger. I hold a doctorate in Near Eastern Studies with an emphasis on Biblical languages and Hebrew Bible.

I'm socially and fiscally progressive (although I don't think views are that easy to classify). I believe that it is possible to have discourse where people can disagree strenously and yet not resort to insults or demonization. I vote a straight democratic ticket. I like individual Republicans. However, I can't vote for anyone in that party until they stop using sexuality as a way to pander to the religious right. Anyone has any questions feel free to ask. What mostly offends are people that throw tired quotes and lines around without using their own critical thinking skills.

Thanks for showing up

Following Bryant's lead:

I'm Marconious, or just Marc. I live in Southern Louisiana (yeah, I'm Cajun), just north of Lafayette. I spend most of my time on California's central coast (which BTW Bryant, my wife and I may be moving out there for a couple of years) which is where I work. I am an LSU alum (mech eng), but work as a consultant/inspector in the oil industry. I basically ensure that construction and repair projects are done to code and regulation (gotta be that third party impartial ya know). Unlike Bryant, I will admit that my job is boring. About all I do is teleconference and babysit the repair and testing organizations.

I am married and we have one son. Hard to believe it, but he's gonna be 21 this May.

I am progressive socially to a point. Once that social issues begins to cross into the economic arena, then my fiscal conservatism comes out. Basically, a true Conservative or Libertarian or whackjob or whatever the faddy name is for us now-a-days.

Marconius wrote:my wife and I may be moving out there for a couple of years

Oh poor you, having to live in SLO country for a couple of years. Must be rough! (For those of you who aren't in the know, Pismo, a city in San Luis Obispo County, is where Fresnans go on vacation).

Marconius wrote:I am progressive socially to a point. Once that social issues begins to cross into the economic arena, then my fiscal conservatism comes out. Basically, a true Conservative or Libertarian or whackjob or whatever the faddy name is for us now-a-days.

You folks make more sense than the religious right (all do Dennis et co).

Bryant wrote:

Marconius wrote:my wife and I may be moving out there for a couple of years

Oh poor you, having to live in SLO country for a couple of years. Must be rough! (For those of you who aren't in the know, Pismo, a city in San Luis Obispo County, is where Fresnans go on vacation).

Well it will prolly be in Orcutt, but that is close enough. Anyway, it isn't set in stone yet. It all depends on whether we have to lay a new pipeline. We still can't get approval to repair that one section that happens to be where there are some red legged salamanders. Right now the answer is still "quit using that pipeline".

Intro time eh, ok....

OK, I'm Miles (not my real name but it'll do for now). I'm 33, and I live in Cork in the south of Ireland. So, I'm European, which in some quarters means I'm automatically a flaming socialist liberal commie red :-P Politically I'd be considered socially progressive and somewhat economically conservative (yeah I can hear the snickering from some ppl here already) - and by "somewhat" I mean I believe that state over-regulation is a bad thing but so also is under-regulation, that the free market has some of the answers but is too predatory to be allowed to go totally unchecked. In general I believe in the politics of reality not ideology, as in you tailor your political/economic solutions to match what is happening in real life not what you think/wish were happening according to your ideological slant.

Oh, and I'm going to be married a year at the end of this month ;-)

Hey Happy Anniversary!!!!

Whats the difference between being socially progressive...and socially liberal?

Miles1 wrote:

Oh, and I'm going to be married a year at the end of this month ;-)

What day? Ash and I are getting hitched on the 31st.

Congrats!!!

Bryant wrote:
What day? Ash and I are getting hitched on the 31st.

We got married on the 25th.