Keith & Larry,

In no way did I intend to imply Keith was lieing. I believe Keith is both too smart and too honest for that. I asked was his quote accurate. You should both be familiar with how misleading selective quotation can be through the numerous posts of BD. The misrepresentation need not even be intentional. Everyone is going to quote the section of an article that they feel is most important to their view of it even if they are being completely honest. That does not mean others would feel the same if given access to the entire article.

Keith,

My question as to whether or not you are being accurate is indeed at least mildly inflammatory. I don't know how I could raise the issue of context without that being the case.

My doubt about your objectivity with regard to Zubrin is caused by your recent PP comments. When you claim two diametrically opposed viewpoints are both completely and utterly you are being uncharictaristically illogical. When you claim you agree with Nealon's comments on Zubrin which stated that Zubrin was actually correct to a large extent in one post, but state Zubrin is completely and utterly wrong in another, you are uncharacteristically contradicting yourself. The only way I can personally square this behavior with my otherwise high opinion of you is to assume Zubrin is on your bad side and that you tend to see the worst in him.

Larry,

I doubt you have forgotten how Keith laid into you over some of your comments on Bosnia. Did you consider his characterization and interpretation of your comments then fair? I did not, but also did not consider some of your responses accurate characterizations and interpretations of Keith's comments. In the heat of an argument we all often tend to attribute unfairly negative interpretations to or opponants comments.

I made what was probably a poor attempt at mediation to cool things down between you. I have made similar ineffectual attempts on more than one occasion between Zubrin and Keith when Keith has gone into Zubrin attack mode. It is my opinion that Keith has inflated both the magnitude and importance of many of Zubrin's public errors. On the other hand to be fair, he has softpedalled some internal Mars Society problems.

Regards,
Mark