... I don't know Pete or Michael and have nothing but the highest respect for Chuck Tomarchio, who is a friend, so I hope I can say this in a way which is not disrespectful.

Until Greg adopts Chuck's suggestion (which, it seems to me, is unlikely), political and other controversies are going to remain part of the community experience here.

I labelled the post which started this thread with the designation "NCR". The subject line was intentionally crafted to convey the impression that the post would be political in nature. I did both to alert those whose sensibilities would be offended by the content. (On the other hand, I also wrote the message primarily as a "chain yanker" -- at which I guess I succeeded .)

As of the time I started this message, my original post had 220+ views and the thread had 31 follow up posts (not including your three, that of Jim Belligan in a similar vein or my response to him). The follow up posts had nearly 1500 views.

It therefore appears to me that your objections to such posts here probably represent a minority viewpoint (though I will concede the possibility that there may be a significant readership which simply doesn't post objections). At the very least, those who read and post these messages represent a significant portion of the readership community.

I will also concede Chuck's point that some of the contentious threads may not be good for the hobby (though I suspect that is more true of the hobby related fights regarding which he originally posted his views than of the discussions of national political issues). This board, the group of readers/posters who use it and the nature of the discussions here are reflective of the chip community as a whole, as well as the national community. The extent to which this a good thing or a bad thing is something each of us has to decide for himself.

Those who do not want to read political posts can simply skip over them. I suspect that all of us (except maybe Gene) skip some of the posts, depending on the subject lines. It is neither difficult nor time-consuming to do so.

While I understand that some may not want to read political messages here, politics IS an integral part of the American fabric and presidential elections are arguably the most important events on the political landscape. In an election year, and particularly given the extreme political divide in the country at this time, I see no reason why we as a group shouldn't join in the dialog. I WOULD prefer to see us do so in a civil manner, without name-calling, personal insults and pejorative comments -- and to the extent I have failed to live up to that standard, I apologize to anyone who was offended.

----- jim o\-S