[Xantar]

Well, Strangler, all I can say is you need to chill out and stop taking things so seriously (not to mention personally). You say my post back then wasn't political discourse? I've got a news flash for you: about 95% of what's going on in these threads isn't political discourse. You and various others might as well not even bother replying to each other for all the good it does. Personally, I think it's sort of a minor miracle of a thread makes it through one page without somebody blowing up in a fit of righteous anger and somebody else publicly questioning the other's personal integrity.

This place is a playground. Every once in a while, something constructive and productive happens, but I never expect it from here and certainly not from you. To me, you're a very good intellectual sparring partner whom I otherwise will never interact with in any other way (although I guess at one point we were geographically pretty close). I could launch into a long complaint about all the times where I think you've used long discredited information and where you've had the last word because by the time I looked again, everybody had moved on and it was no longer worth my while to reply. I can assure you that any time I've stopped posting, I've always had more to say and I've always found some points you've made to be disingenuous. I've never stopped because I feel I've said my piece and there's nothing more to be said.

But you know what? Life is too short and the world is bigger than this. I'm not saying this to try to prove that I'm a better person or anything. I'm just explaining what my view of this forum is. We're just a couple of guys wasting time on a message board that doesn't exist beyond our computer screens. You can call me a coward or dishonest or arrogant or any number of other things you want. It won't make any difference to me, and I'm not going to waste any emotional energy getting worked up over it. Whatever reaction you decide to have is ok with me. Really.

And with that, I'm not going to reply to anything more you say to me or about me in this thread.