Den, thanks for your understanding. Matthew is a special needs person, and can only write using a special keyboard - hence the bad spelling. He is very caring and concerned about others in his position, so leans to the left in his opinions, and he has a sense of outrage at the injustice of his handicap that you probably recognise, if not share. Thanks for taking the time to respond.

I appreciate your site BTW - I love the puns - though as a European we don't have the same view of Iraq.

Best Regards

Matthews Dad

Well, after all the head-spinning techno blab, we get to the crux of the post: maters. Mine are great this year, too, and the birds know it! Nothing beats vine ripe tomatoes sprinkled with fresh basil from the garden.

The whole point of being in the back row is to sleep without interruption, isn't it?

I don't think Matt has heard of the Grammer and Spelling Tools in MS Word. They make up for bad spellin.

Dayvon:

It's good to hear from you, but I will have to take issue with three things you presume as givens.

"He is very caring and concerned about others in his position, so leans to the left in his opinions"

This presumes that anyone who is caring and concerned leans left. Anybody who isn't leaning left doesn't care or have concern. Quite untrue. There is a difference between giving a man a fish, and teaching him to fish, and expecting him to fish, rather than waiting to be given one.

"Matthew is a special needs person, and can only write using a special keyboard - hence the bad spelling."

I believe you, and do not mean to diminish Matthew's contributions. But the spelling might be harder for him, and I doubt anyone will begrudge him that. After all, all of us make typoes and mistakes. I have no problem making additional allowances for Matthew - in fact, I don't mind it at all, as this sort of back and forth debate is in my experience, incredibly valuable. However, his handicap makes it harder for him to do well, not impossible. Which gets back to the first point, to a degree. Whether or not you believe that the equality has to be of opportunity, or of result. The left often wants the results to be "equal" ("Equal" often meaning quite unequal, but that's another story, see also Title IV, Racial Set-Asides, etc). I see it as the opportunity needs to be equal, and make of it what you will.

Thirdly, "as a European we don't have the same view of Iraq." I'm not sure what you mean by that, but certainly, there's not a monolithic "European" view. Alternatively, I could ask what about overthrowing a brutal dictator who had no truck with any "leftist" tendancies inside his own regime, or that would impair his agenda you disagree with.

The internet, in my experience, can either strip away ignorance or add to it. I've seen both. Since I disagree with those three assertations you've assumed, I argue them, to clarify issues. Certainly each is debateable in its own right to a degree. I personally hope that Matthew continues to participate, and can grow in analysis and knowledge - it's certainly made a world of difference to me.

Tina - When I was an instructor, no one slept in my class. You would be surprised at how accurate I was with erasers and markers. But seriously, when I saw someone dozing I either asked him/her questions or, I knew it was time for a break. I gave a break every 50 minutes, earlier if the subject matter was boring and when I lectured, it was seldom boring. Lots of questions. Lots of class participation. Lots of fun. Learning should be fun. And with me, it was.

Addison - I suppose, deep down, there is something to be said for moderate conservative politics - dependence on the state can go too far, and a little self-dependence is necessary, if just to evade tyranny. I still hold, however, that the leftist policies such as the welfare state and the British NHS are necessary: a purely conservative/far-right government has no truck with such thinks, and would bedoom millions of poor people to ill health, and us cripples to having to rely on our families rather than the government benefit system. This, to me, would be unfair.

However, not even the ultra-right thatcher government did away with such things, so perhaps I am being too quick to judge you conservatives in this area. I agree that the leftist’s quest for equality can go too far, as a previously disadvantaged minority can, through this, be given too much of an advantage. The fact that asylum seekers in the UK are, apparently, given priority for housing over people who have waited longr but belong to an ethnic majority is the prime example. Surely their applications should be given equal importance.

I would like to stress that there is a world of difference between lenninism-stalinism and Marxism. The Bolsheviks abandoned Marxism in about 1921 when Lenin introduced the NEP, and re-established the link between work and earnings. What happened thereafter in Russia was sickening: Stalin’s repressions claimed about 10 million souls; the famine in the Ukraine, which “uncle Joe” largely caused, claimed 6 million. If this was caused by socialism, then I’d want no part of it, but I’m not satisfied it was. Rather, it is caused by Stalin, an insane despot who I doubt even believed in Marxism, but wanted only power.

Dear Mr Addison (the other one)- I'm not an expert at this. so writing briefly without leaving the opportunity for mis interpretation is difficult. I agree with you that being on the right doesn't mean you don't care. Matthew's education and friends - in general - have led him to see left side politics and governments as more supportive of people in his position than right side. It is clearly debatable, but he sees it as a logical conclusion that left is more caring than right.
Though giving people like Matthew a fishing rod is not a way of helping him, he will always need the fish, I take your point, and I have tried to give him the tools to understand the world around him, to have a chance of doing something positive and of value. That includes internet access over a fairly sophisticated computer system, which allows him to see Denny's views - I gave him the idea to look at the site, since Denny is a person with physical problems, but is clearly doing very well, and has a different world view. Which prompted Matthew's rant at Denny, and hence this discussion. I was pleased and pleasantly surprised that Denny answered. Denny held Matthew up for a little ridicule (which I have no problem with) and he commented on Matt's spelling. It's not an issue for us, but I wanted to explain that the special keyboard and Matt's problems make it difficult for him to hit the right keys, and he is too impatient to correct it. This has been a great learning experience for Matt, that he needs to express himself coherently and clearly, and that other people have equally strong views from a different aspect. I hope he learns also that debate should be to the point and never personal. Equally that he should never go into someone else's space (Denny's site for example) and be rude and impolite, since you are likely to be treated roughly - Denny already taught him that lesson.
My comment on Iraq was a perhaps misplaced small joke, but was based on comments on Denny's site that Europeans are all communists and anti Iraq war. I will not waste Denny's bandwidth exploring that discussion, I have no argument with your point. Suffice to say that I have many friends in the US, I was watching CNN on 9/11 as the second plane hit, and I went to NY with the whole family on the first anniversary to pay our respects. Matthew was treated excellently by everyone, he loves the buses.

Thank you Mr Addison and Denny for this opportunity to clarify my earlier comment.

Dayvon Goodsell