Jerry Pournelle, whom Goofballupagus quotes above at 06 Sep 13 - 03:23 AM was a drinking buddy of mine back in the late Fifties, early Sixties. This was before he went to California, started writing (initially spy novels, such as Red Heroin), then science fiction such as A Space Ship for the King. He then joined forces with Larry Niven and the two of them cranked out several best-selling SF novels, such as The Mote in God's Eye and Footfall.

I was the Godfather of his and Roberta's firstborn son.

I liked Jerry, he was a good friend. But—in addition to being a West Point graduate and having a couple of degrees from the University of Washington (physics and related fields), Jerry was a superpatriot and an arch-Conservative. We soon learned not to discuss politics with each other.

But that didn't stop him from making a lot of really far out assertions. The only point upon which he disagreed with Ayn Rand was that she's and atheist and he was a strong, traditional Episcopalian. But their political philosophies were essentially the same.

Goofy claims not to be Conservative. Yet I find it interesting that he quotes a political opinion of Jerry's, zinging in on this anti-Liberal remark.

Tells you a lot about Goofy!

Don Firth