As an astronomy student I was trained to be wary of it. The position and circumstances of the observer unavoidably bias his observations and skew his data.

What you call a "leftist tilt" I saw as a long overdue swing of the pendulum back to the center after the right-wing pathology of the 50s. The pendulum swung back the other way during the Reagan/Bush years and is only now slowly swinging back yet again. The Clinton years were just a brief glimpse of sunshine during a long dreary afternoon of Neoconservative acid rain.

I see myself as a slightly off-center moderate, and I perceive you as a right wing extremist. You no doubt see our positions mirror-reversed. That you and I have different opinions of where the other lies on the spectrum is to be expected; what I find baffling is why that concept should be so difficult for you to grasp after I have explained it to you so many times.

Tom, if you really think I'm an extreme leftist I pity you if you ever encounter a real one. Especially if he is in a position of political or economic power over you. You're going to wish you had allies like me.