R C Macaulay
Tue, 06 May 2008 04:57:04 -0700
Howdy Thomas,Shooting cardsharps is a waste of bullets.Ya hafta think like Bear Stearns (B-S) and not like a crooked ole west Sheriff or Jesse James in todays world. In one slick move B-S took the house for more bucks than Las Vegas ever earned total. Yet, among the masters of the game, B-S is penny ante poker. It is not the recognizible marked card in the game that should be of concern, it's the guys down at the bank in the back room. Shucks!, ev'rybuddy knows who the moonshiner is in a small town.. it's sorta comfortable knowledge.
Comfortable knowledge keeps people at ease, even when you know something sneaky's going on. Tom ain't hurtin' nobudy, just trying to make a livin'. In the Dime Box saloon we pay due respect even to the madam as a necessary part of doing business. If we put up with Chaney and Rumsfeld... why, we can put up with anything. Makes the saloon "colorful" for the tourists.
Richard Thomas wrote,
If you got caught cheating in a game of cards in the old west, you could expect to be shot.
He has been given the opportunity to produce or repent, he has chosen to ignore. IMHO, this reflects badly on every legitimate researcher in the field. Why he did this is known only to him, but I assume that he is trying to sell books or memberships. So the question is, should we be self policing, or just let Tom do what he wants to do?