against WHOEVER offers a target.

Jon & Anne Weidler wrote:

> It seems to me that contributing to this list carries with it the
> danger of unseemly argument.  Veteran Pound readers and list
> contributors have for the most part done their jobs well, and have been
> quite helpful and informative, but some have also been quick to flex
> rhetorical muscles against whomever offers a target.  I personally am
> sick of the Tim Romano / Francis Gavin "irony" debate, and am not
> interested in reading such ad hominem polemics, at least, not when they
> were not written by EP himself.
>
> There's no need on the other hand for me or anyone else to make some
> sort of "let's stay on task" plea.  Personally, I don't mind the
> silence this list is prone to (though I'm hesitant to call such silence
> "satori".)  I much prefer infrequent but interesting list-traffic over
> the rhetorical bladder-spilling that often here takes the place of
> honest discussion.  In short, please stop misunderestimating satori on
> my bandwidth.  Write nothing when nothing presents itself, and stop
> mistaking peoples' posts for threats, offenses or prompts to nastiness.
>
> Here's a funny poem made entirely of direct presidential quotations, to
> prove I'm not just a sourpuss.  (I should admit at the outset that I
> did not compile this poem; if anyone knows its "author" (editor?),
> please let me know.)
>
> "Make the Pie Higher", by George W. Bush
>
> "I think we all agree, the past is over.
> This is still a dangerous world.
> It's a world of madmen and uncertainty
> and potential mental losses.
>
> Rarely is the question asked
> Is our children learning?
> Will the highways of the Internet become more few?
> How many hands have I shaked?
>
> They misunderestimate me.
> I am a pitbull on the pantleg of opportunity.
> I know that the human being and the fish can coexist.
> families is where our nation finds hope, where
> our wings take dream.
>
> Put food on your family!
> Knock down the tollbooth!
> Vulcanize Society!
> Make the pie higher! Make the pie higher!"
>
> Take care-
> Jon W.
> On Tuesday, January 21, 2003, at 07:26  AM, Tim Romano wrote:
>
> > The irony is that you yourself have not contributed to any discussion
> > about
> > Pound on this list in months, and when have contributed, the
> > "contribution"
> > has invariably been in the form of scintillating sarcasm. Say something
> > measured and intelligent about Pound.  Try a sentence or two without
> > the
> > sarcasm.  Go on. You might tell us something about Pound's Homage to
> > Sextus
> > Propertius.
> > Tim Romano
> >
> >
> >
> > At 08:52 PM 1/20/03 -0800, Francis Gavin wrote:
> >> on 1/20/03 9:40 AM, Tim Romano at [log in to unmask] wrote:
> >>
> >> > You call what you do "irony"?
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> My point exactly. I said you'd lost your sense of irony, had you
> >> indeed ever
> >> had the good fortune to possess one initially. The original purpose
> >> of my
> >> missive about cadaverous lists being to generate response, which it
> >> did. The
> >> person who responded in agreement, was lauding that need for greater
> >> vigor
> >> in these promiscuous parts. Get it Tim? There is the desire for more
> >> people
> >> to speak their mind.
> >>
> >> Senses of irony notwithstanding my appeal apparently somehow
> >> penetrated into
> >> the shallow murky depths of your backwash of a virgin swamp
> >> intelligence
> >> causing this whole reptilian exchange to take place. Pluses, one
> >> supposes
> >> outweighing the minuses if for no other reason than that of slapping
> >> around
> >> the village martinet.
> >>
> >> GAVIN
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> >
> >> > At 01:33 AM 1/20/03 -0800, Francis Gavin wrote:
> >> >> Romano:
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >> A bucket of wet cement might make an excellent adhesive in some
> >> instances.
> >> >> Even that of the daunting reattachment of your sense of irony.
> >> Cheers?
> >> >>
> >> >> GAVIN
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >> PS Reset the system clock.
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >> on 1/19/03 8:11 PM, Tim Romano at [log in to unmask] wrote:
> >> >>
> >> >>> You can stick your head in a bucket of wet cement and get the
> >> same effect
> >> >>> if it's silence you're after.
> >> >>>
> >> >>>
> >> >>> At 05:00 PM 1/19/03 -0500, Thomas Fortenberry wrote:
> >> >>>> In a message dated 1/19/2003 12:01:16 AM Eastern Standard Time,
> >> >>>> [log in to unmask] writes:
> >> >>>>
> >> >>>>
> >> >>>>> After that disturbing exchange between old hands and the
> >> periodic
> >> >> spate of
> >> >>>>> muddleheaded interlopers, it is good to see that this list has
> >> gotten
> >> >> back
> >> >>>>> to its customary state of cadaverous repose. We have reached
> >> satori
> >> once
> >> >>>>> again.
> >> >>>>>
> >> >>>>>
> >> >>>>> GAVIN
> >> >>>>
> >> >>>> This is the best message posted to the list in, oh, about a
> >> month and
> >> >> a half.
> >> >>>>
> >> >>>> Cheers,
> >> >>>>
> >> >>>> Thomas
> >