11/16 8:15pm   HRB, about your post of 11/14 @ 5:07 PM: I suppose there are some who will give you credit for trying to say something, but, as has been the case with so many others on Norfoknet who share your apparent views, your arguments have been too far off point to make much sense at all. What you lack in substance, to support whatever your argument is supposed to be, you seem to be trying to bolster, with your caustic emotional assault toward me. In your post, apparently for good measure, you've attempted to further augment the nastiness of your message by deliberately interpolating your own derogatory or exaggerated terms into the statements that I've made. For example, you get carried away with your interpretation of the word "Avarice", by using the most extreme definition you could create. I'm very comfortable with my English language and do take care to neither misuse, nor mince my words. However, upon reading your post a few minutes ago, for strict verification, I checked four independent references on my bookshelves for alternate definitions. I could only find one conventional universal definition (with synonyms) for the word "Avarice" as it would ordinarily be used. Here it is: Avarice: n. Immoderate desire for wealth; cupidity 1) A desire to acquire more than one needs or deserves: greed, acquisitiveness, avarice, avidity, covetousness, cupidity, insatiability, rapacity. 2) Lust for money or possessions: greed, avarice, avariciousness, avidity, avidness, cupidity, greediness, rapaciousness, rapacity. You then go way off on a tangent with your emotionally charged declaration, "We clearly need to get a grip on this slough of corruption that has us in its vile grip. I suggest that we begin with a war on 'avarice'". It sounds like sarcasm, to me, HRB. Where did you get that from; did I say that? You also say, "Looks like the old slippery slope to me". What slippery slope is it that you envision; would you please explain, if you can? What advantage did you feel that entering the subject of a stipend for the School Committee members would serve you in your diatribe against me? Early in your post, you declared that you were shocked, HRB. Well, ma'am, try to have your maximum strength ibuprofen at hand, because, probably, you're about to be shocked, again. If you check with the right people, you're going to find that I did, indeed, have conversation with some of the leading advocates on the subject of the Town being required to provide a stipend to School Committee members. I listened to their complete reasoning, on the matter, and was in full agreement with them. At one point in your message, you stated, "Here, I've been in Town for over 21 years and missed what MT describes as . . ." First of all, you should know that I've lived in Norfolk for a considerably longer time than you. On the surface, I wouldn't ordinarily consider that difference as something to weigh into evaluating one's astuteness, power of observation or deductive reasoning, but perhaps, especially in this instance, there are other considerations. If you are really oblivious to any of the maladies which I've noted, the most likely reason is that either you don't have the capacity to see the forest for the trees... or you are one of the trees. - MT Norfolknet.com your community, on-line