To: axial who wrote (118454 ) 3/3/2009 3:01:14 PM From: buckbldr 3 Recommendations Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 206191 ...."While there is no intention to dispute opinions (and the right to them) there is an objection to rhetorical tricks used in a supposedly "rational" debate.".... EDIT.....Definitely an OT post responding rationally to an OT message addressed to me. I apologize for having difficulty in discovering the intended point of this post....especially since it is composed by someone who apparently is convinced of his expertise in rhetoric. Since I have been cognizant of his presence on this board for only a few weeks at most, I'm not aware of his true political bias....however from the "smell" of the above fully contexted sentence, I assume he leans to an opposite political persuasion from mine. I'm proud to claim to be one who supports the limited governance as established and defined by our Constitution, which I believe did not include the establishment of a Socialistic form of governance. Since I assume that probably 90% of those who read my referenced "taken out of context" phrase are acutely aware of its true meaning and intent, I'll forego attempting to define it any further since it alone would be classified as off topic to the board. My suggestion to the author of this OT post is to be a little more careful of his objections to other's usage of "rhetorical tricks", when his accusatory post is so full of them, to wit: Quoting out of context phrases, usage of "authoritative judges", "pejorative labels", "voters have no right", and the careless use of unfounded denigrating comparative phraseology, as in ..."- have you appointed yourself and the Commander as authoritative judges on all forms of human governance? Or are you like ordinary mortals, merely possessing an opinion?"... Clearly the entire paragraph, from which he quoted out of context, did not intimate such a comparison. Since I assume from the author's post that this person favors moving towards a more socialistic governance, I am wondering why they consider such a descriptive term to be "pejorative". Seems they would be pleased to be labeled with such a term...I don't mind being considered, or labeled as one who is conservative, capitalistic, free enterpriser, patriotic, loyal citizen to Constitutional governance. I confess I would take offence at being labeled radical.(gg) And finally, I fail to see the connection and point of the last portion of the post, so won't waste more time responding to it. BTW, I have been somewhat impressed with some of your other posts....glad to see your OT contributions to the board. Buck Edit: the last sentence should reference OT as ON TOPIC, ...sorry.