It would appear that  our learned colleague, after removing the lid, was
somewhat overwhelmed at the number of worms in the container.  :-)  :-)

Now he proposes an enchilada dinner for atonement (an excellent start), but
EGAD, no mention of the  inclusion of margaritas/cervezas with these
enchiladas?  Shouldn't this grotesque oversight also start a flurry of
E-MAIL (hint, hint)!  :-)

Ray Shahan

        -----Original Message-----
        From:   Wirt Atmar [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
        Sent:   Monday, March 05, 2001 10:34 PM
        To:     [log in to unmask]
        Subject:        Off-topic: Off-topic postings

        I am writing this note publicly as a private apology to about 60 of
the
        members on this list. It seems that what tends to happen nowadays
when I
        write an off-topic posting, I tend to get an awful lot of private
replies. To
        be absolutely honest, I'm both honored and tickled about that, but
I've also
        become overwhelmed.

        For example, the recent "Church & State" thread caused me to get
about 50
        private emails. I tried to answer as many of the comments as I
could,
        starting with the shortest ones first :-). But answering them in
that fashion
        left me with about 20 longish emails that were extremely well
written and
        well thought-out, even though they represented virtually every
viewpoint that
        you could imagine. Each one of those emails, about half of them from
European
        correspondents (and whose viewpoints I really enjoyed), deserves an
equally
        well thought-out response.

        It is clear that the subject of the separation of Church and State,
and its
        historical consequences, especially in Europe, stirs some real
interest with
        the group, even though most of that interest didn't appear publicly
on the
        list, and that there is more than enough interest and enough good
thought in
        this topic for a semester-long seminar if this were a college
environment.

        I have thought about (and researched) each one of the emails and
have formed
        what I believe to be credible responses to each one to them.
Unfortunately, I
        see no hope of ever being able to ever catch up with the stack of
unanswered
        email. Email is not a particularly time-efficient way to discuss
this sort of
        material. In fact, it's just the opposite. It is a very
low-bandwidth way to
        communicate basic ideas. This is the kind of thing that should be
discussed
        over enchiladas, for perhaps several days on end.

        As a consequence, let me say, simply because I can no longer live
with the
        guilt of having me sit on 60 unanswered emails that do truly deserve
answers
        -- on a wide variety of subjects, from everything to the
indispensibility (or
        not) of individuals to how California got into its current mess --
I'm going
        to have to drop them all, and respond to none of them. It seems to
be the
        only fair thing to do. Rather than answer any of these emails
individually,
        let me say that I would be tickled to buy any or all you an
enchilada dinner
        when you come to Las Cruces. I really enjoy talking about this
material too.

        Don't take this posting to indicate that I don't appreciate
receiving these
        responses. As I said, I am very impressed by the quality of thought
in this
        group. It's just that every once and a while, things get so out of
balance
        that I find it impossible to answer all of them. At the moment, I
estimate
        that I have nearly 200 hours worth of email to answer, and thus it's
become
        essentially impossible for me to catch up.

        However, that doesn't mean that we couldn't clear out the backlog in
a week
        or two's worth of enchilada dinners.

        Wirt Atmar