Why yes, it is the Flame board, Bowser. Fancy that. You flamed Tom, I flamed you. No need to go getting all defensive about it, just flame back.

I suspect from your tone that once again you refuse to allow a moderator the privilege of participating like anybody else. You're cramping my style, Bowze. I'm entitled to my opinions without either being obligated to act upon them using moderator powers, nor being forbidden to express them because I have those powers. I don't have to self-censor for fear that you'll overreact and complain that a moderator's picking on you.

So do me the courtesy of just flaming back, and knock off the whining and the thinly-veiled threat to leave because I dared criticize you.

What am I criticizing? I've defended you in the past, pointing to the purity of your heart and the depth of your passions. But now you're getting tedious about it, and squandering your capital in repetitious snarkiness. Don't take my word for it, just notice how few people reply to your posts.

You've gotten sloppy, Bowser. You're just throwing out a lot of random posts without, it seems, giving them much thought, just throwing things out there and moving on to the next. Sometimes it seems you aren't interested in any replies, that the spewing is the reward. Your opinions are devalued by their promiscuity. You're becoming a BBS slut.

And geez, try to keep some perspective. There are plenty of things to criticize about Tom's opinions and positions and adamantine stubbornness, but you don't want to get into a fact-flinging contest with him. He does his own research a lot of the time, and while his spin is sometimes breathtaking, he's careful to build it on a solid foundation. He plays to win, Bowser, and you just came across as clueless with that line about his stuff coming from Limbaugh.

If you read between the lines, you'll see I'm giving you advice. Here's more: Your heart is reactive (not reactionary); you do better when you play off of somebody else's opinion than when you lead with your opinion. It's all in the timing: Instead of building to a crescendo over several posts, climaxing in a burst of righteous outrage, your style is more like, how shall I say it? premature ejaculation. It's unsatisfying for your rhetorical partners, Bowser. Try for quality instead of quantity; fewer threads, but longer threads. Wield your outrage sparingly for better dramatic effect.

You're behind the times, Bowser. If you'd stop complaining for a minute, you'd notice that the tide of battle has turned. Neocon is now the dirty word it was meant to be, and their policies and crackpot ambitions are being discredited. Once-moderate Republicans are beginning to return from the Dark Side to the light of the Center. But you risk pissing it all away by persisting in painting with a too-wide brush, berating reasonable people for the unreasonable beliefs of the extremists. You'll create unnecessary resistance to reconciliation. You're going to keep the feud alive when it would be best for the country to tone down the partisan rancor and figure out how to get along and change things for the better.

It's not necessary to vanquish all Republicans everywhere. It only takes a percentage point or two to cause a complete shift in power in Washington, and dude, we're already there. Relax and let events take their natural course.

Stop and smell the roses of victory, Bowser. We're winning, and you can lighten up on the pressure now. Learn to be gracious in victory.