First a bit on me.

Neither of my parents spoke English as a first language (Gaelic & German), nor were they born in the US. Growing up Mid-West, East, South and Mid-Atlantic, and working in various professions and 'jobs' from Janitor to Machinist, and in the US and Middle East, I have seen a bit of the world and experienced a few sorts of people and cultures. Dinner guests in my childhood through teen years included the likes of Dorothy Parker, Helen & Scott Nearing, Hannah Arendt, Felix Morrow, Oscar and Edith Tarcov, Richmond Lattimore, J. Glenn Gray, Peter Drucker and more. Those are the highlights, but I could drop a bunch more names if needed. I get my words from my father, and my humor from my mother. My politics are quite far left of center, but no where near as far as my parents - who were both gun-owning believers in personal responsibility, and felt the world owed them nothing, quite the opposite.. I had an aunt in the Irish Post Office, my father was seconded to the OSS during WWII spending most of the war on both sides of the line in Europe. I am married, two step-kids (but I got them very young), four grand-kids, two cats, two dogs. I also consider myself an elitist of the first water - I dislike spending time and effort around ignorance - which I believe can be fixed and is a deliberate choice, never an accident past the age of consent. I also deeply believe the Islamic mandate: Never refuse food, water or shelter together with the Social Contract (best summed up by Karl Marx), although I subscribe to no religion in the belief that religion per-se is largely responsible for much, very nearly all, that is evil in this world - along with any -ism that requires absolute adherence. I am a few months from (technically) retirement age, although I very much enjoy what I am doing and intend to stay at it as long as that enjoyment remains. Due to my wife's and my efforts over the last many years, retirement will be comfortable.

It takes a lot to get me to light off on someone. But, anything worth doing is worth doing well - and I try. Some seem to learn and get over it. Some seem to escalate the exchanges beyond banter. I feel like the opposite of the Taxi Driver in the Rutabaga Stories - I can be a much nicer person 'at home' if I vent my spleen in venues such as this one. But, for the record, it ain't nohow personal - nor is any one in the focus worth any actual time, effort or real emotion. I reserve that for friends, family and some very few actual enemies, all now dead (not from my efforts, sadly). Usenet requires the hide of a rhinoceros, a dry sense of humor, and considerable tolerance if it is to be enjoyed. Considerable, not complete.

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA