The Pankian Metaphor 3024

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This is semantic quibbling, but -- what you say about these folks *IS* negative. It may be factual, and I do try to read with a perspective of "it may be true, however much I don't want to believe it", but it's negative, and the impression that you've singled out one group for criticism works against your credibility here. IMO, of course.

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As described, yes, this is using problems for political gain rather than trying to solve them. In my opinion there is way too much of this being done by both major parties. I don't want to debate whether one party is further from reality than the other; I'm not sufficiently well-informed to do that.

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Wow. I don't get that implication at all from what I wrote -- permission from an authority?! The "someone very persuasive" below could be anyone, including a Usenet persona ....

Well, maybe you're saying that people who give up ("don't have a lot of confidence in that being practical") are implicitly hoping that some authority figure will rescue them. I guess sometimes that fits, though I claim that sometimes pessimism means a belief that *no one* can do anything .... Not a useful

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-- B. L. Mbuttingill ObDisclaimer: I don't speak for my employers; they return the favor.