Years ago, in another life, I worked on deep sea seismic survey
vessels. In that capacity I ran up and down both coastlines of north,
central, and south america, from the Faukland Islands in the south
Atlantic to the northern stretches of the Bering Sea offshore Alaska.

One summer day in 1979, at about midnight, I was in a bar in Homer,
Alaska. The bar was brim full but quiet, and subdued. I was standing
at the bar next to a fellow Texan, named "Tiny". "Tiny" stood nearly
eye to eye with a grizzly bear.

I remarked to "Tiny" about how tranquil and subdued the bar was. I
mentioned that "in Texas it would be loud and boisterous".

Tiny answered: "It's different in Alaska. I don't know about you but
you can be sure that everybody else in here is packing a gun and a
knife and will not hesitate to draw either if threatened. So we're
polite because nobody wants to be the cause of any bloodshed".

That conversation occurred before the dawn of the desktop PC computer
age, never mind the dawn of the internet.

I monitor and post to this group because I have a passion for metal
working. And there are people here, whose knowledge, and generosity
in sharing that knowledge, I admire and appreciate, immensely.

I politely suggest that many of the others here should be ashamed of
yourselves. The level of acrimony and nastiness, is truly toxic. I
am as indifferent to your political views as I am to whether you drive
a Ford, Chevy, or a Toyota.

But I will say this: "Conservatism" is the cloth from which America
is cut. And I would prefer the company of the most egregiously
ignorant American hillbilly, than that of a Moslem extremist. By
comparison, the most "conservative" and ignorant hillbilly is an
enlightened, tolerant, illuminati.

I recently read an article about a Russian cognoscenti who has
predicted the disintegration of the USA by the year 2010. As I suffer
through the daily diatribe of hateful screed posted to this and to the
welding group in the never ending tit-for-tat insults between
"liberals" and "conservatives" this prediction seems less and less far
fetched.

Meanwhile, the jihadists are plotting to lop off our heads on their
way to world domination by the sword.

Makes me wish there were more "Tinies" in the world.

Respectfully,
Vernon