No More Opinions

Bandit,<br><br>I think that you ought to write your opinions, they are valid. <br><br>But I will tell you that the only reason that I entered the thread regarding the Alpental Gondola was because of all the posters, your posts were the only ones that seemed to make personal comments either regarding a class of people "radical left", which I do not have a problem with, or seemed to make personal "hits" on other posters, which is what motivated me, especially since no other poster actually objected to the project for political or environmental reasons.<br><br>It would appear from your posts that to you, anyone who would even consider exercising their right to comment on the use of their public land is a radical leftist. I would argue that even involved citizens who should be considered centrist or even right of center might consider this a democratic and civic duty and should not be labeled, which can be insulting.<br><br>Just curious, do you publicly label yourself a radical rightist? Or do you see yourself as centrist mainstream?<br><br>I think that the goal of public comment is that the whole spectrum participates and the extremes get winnowed out as such.<br><br>I hope you don't think that voting is a bad idea and that this country would be better off if the groups you disagree with get disenfranchised. My bet is that you don't, but I do know people on both sides of the fence that wish the opposition would go away. It is natural for those on one team to wish the competition to lay down or go away, but the very best competitors relish winning a battle well fought. It gives them even more credibility in the end.<br><br>Alan

No comment.

Knowing what we know about this administrations environmental attitudes, I would say that being a rightist and a skier is akin to being a hunter and a deer. Unless of course you are in the top 2% of the income bracket, then your extensive tax cuts more than make up for the destruction of our natural world.

Democrats and Republicans alike are adept at making decisions without letting the facts get in the way, a new study shows.

Ok... here is my brain fart...<br><br>Opinions are useful when trying to achieve consensus decision making. We can let "the leader" make all decisions or we can share our opinions and work out a consensus decision.<br><br>I think it would be ok to give opinions if one were willing to listen and respect the opinions of others. We lose it when it becomes a contest.<br><br>Women seem to be naturally better at this then the guys. Hmmm...<br><br>EOBF.

Jim, Thank you for posting that article. That was very interesting.