Dave, First let me apologize for not taking the time to express myself more
clearly on my last post. I didn't mean to
insinuate that your opinion was wrong when you expressed it about
everyone taking themselves to seriously. That
last statment I made about everyone having an opinion no matter how
wrong they are, was meant to me a sarcastic
funny directed at everyone. That was my whole intent when I threw it
in there at the end, but I see how you could have
easily taken it personally, since I addressed you at the beginning of
the post. Once again, I apologize and encourage
you not to hold back your opinion like you said you would. This is an
open forum and everyone has equal access, right.

The quote by Patrick Henry that I used in the post was not meant to be
compared with what has been discussed on
this Blog, but rather to contrast the shallow conversation that takes place
most of the time in our society today with
the more weighty matters that surround us constantly, such as the ones
that our founding fathers were discussing.
I thought it was a good way to make a point and I just didn't take the time
to explain my example. Like you said,
some of the post can get rather lengthy, thanks Pete, and I was trying to
make a point and keep it short at the same
time. Next time I'll give more consideration to choosing my words and
leaving no room for misinterpretation. Enough said.

Actually, I don't want this forum to be a full time world events discussion
anymore than you. It does take a long time
to read some of these post, but I also like to here perspective on some of
the events going on in our world, from other
men that I respect and getting some of that out of the way here might save
us from having to go over it in person when
we meet in July. I imagine we will probably spend most of our time reminicing

about the 'good ole days' and trying to
fill in the blanks of the last twenty years. I would rather leave the politics alone
at that time, and I know for sure Denise
doesn't want me talking politics at a social gathering.

Andy, as far as wanting to hear what we do for a living, you're going to have to
give us a few days to think up some
ways to embellish our 'ordinary civilian life' stories so we don't put you to sleep.
Of course, Dave probably wouldn't
have too much trouble coming up with some good guy-bad guy stories to tell
concerning his days on the LAPD.