-- And from the peanut gallery -- Whatever may or may not be construed as politics is clearly irrelevant in this case. The point at which simply talking about a government service, or talking about economics of that service, and politics comes when the debate becomes whether or not the government should provide a particular service, or whether or not the government is right to regulate particular parts of the economy. Since my opinion adds nothing to the conversation (RE: how moral is the postal service, how good is it for the government to regulate price gouging) I won't say my opinion (and besides, others have already expressed it so it would be redundant at this point). I think the only relevant thing I can bring to the table is that this is (in my opinion) clearly political, and I think you really have to look past a good deal of the conversation not to find the politics in here. In the US, there are two theories, one that says the government can and should provide certain services, the other that says the government cannot and should not provide certain services. The debate is clearly partisan between left and right, and even if you are not in the US, the debate is essentially the same everywhere. I trust that all those involved know that what they were posting was political, and they are also able to predict the obvious consequence of such an action. I think that people on this list already get up in arms enough about issues having nothing (or little) to do with politics without interjecting core (and largely subjective) conversations onto the list. I feel that if this is what the list is to become, it will become boring for most people that actually follow the list. With that said, I think that the admins have the ultimate right to decide what is and is not allowable. Aleksei On 29 November 2010 09:12, Olin Lathrop wrote: > RussellMc wrote: >> It may be useful if list members OTHER THAN Vitaliy and Bob (and >> russell ? :-) ) say publicly what they think "no politics" may or does >> mean. Having a corporate view may help. > > I can see it both ways and don't intend to cast a vote, and will continue= to > participate occasionally if it appears to be within rules. =A0That last p= art > is tricky. =A0Sometimes things get stomped on, other times they seem to b= e let > go. =A0I thought Bob made it clear this thread was supposed to stop, so I > refrained from posting for a while after that, but then others chimed in > anyway and now you're bringing it up. =A0Seriously guys, it's a bit confu= sing > at this end. > > However, whatever is decided should apply to all. =A0It should certainly = not > apply more to Vitaliy and less to admins. =A0Political or economic viewpo= ints > aren't list administration issues. =A0It is therefore very wrong and coun= ter > productive in the long term for admins to grant themselves a special pulp= it > for such issues. =A0Breaking into a thread and saying it's outside the li= st > realm and needs to be stopped is a admin issue, but then you can't use th= at > as a excuse to put espouse your own point of view. =A0You can't have it b= oth > ways, at least not if you want to be taken seriously. > >> It would be nice for protagonists to change the tag to something >> apposite (but polite :-) ) so that people can decide if it's liable to >> be worth reading. > > But I note you didn't. > > > ******************************************************************** > Embed Inc, Littleton Massachusetts, http://www.embedinc.com/products > (978) 742-9014. =A0Gold level PIC consultants since 2000. > -- > http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive > View/change your membership options at > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist > --=20 http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .