These are my personal opinions after 4 days of cooling off. Bill Gruber, who lost Sophie, chose to bear his grief quietly. Bob Church lost Simon and most of us shared tears with him. I'm sure both gentlemen suffered equally. And, as they are gentlemen, they will go on determined to make life better for fuzzbutts. I heard Zip - Zero - Notta complaint from either. Only humble thanks to those who showed sympathy and positive offerings such as Daffynitions and Q-N-A. True GENTLEMEN, both. I'm blessed to share the earth with them. On the same day there was a post from "Edward Lipinski (The Champion of Truth from Ferret Joy Land)". His words. I have some observations regarding his posts, but first some history. "Santa" Claus has been the definition of a kind giving person. "Adolph" Hitler invented and defined "Nazi". In 1936 he had Ferdinand Porsche develop the "Peoples-Car" (Volkswagen ins deutsch). He believed in selective breeding of animals (especially the human "master race"). He believed in government regulation of all business activity. And he believed that the best way to silence people he didn't agree with was to slanderously blame them for all the ills of society and try to exterminate them. On 6/27, "Georgia - the left coast one..." wrote: <Eddy "the lip" Lipinskinsnapper a Nazi? No way! Eddy is Santa Claus in a summer weight beard trim! No pillow needed either. Twinkling eyes, pink cheeks, and after too much Fat Weasel, a pink snozz too!> ??? Really ??? I'm not judging. I'm making observations. Lets analyze comments made on the day that Bob was mourning the loss of Simon who was born at Marshall Farms. <...can we simplify this by concluding that purchasers of Marshall Farms ferrets are essentially traitors to the ferret...> Santa or Adolph ? <"One can only wonder if THOFER-ni had been instead a puny Marshall Farms fur bag instead of a Hob Horribilus, would he have survived? I have my doubts."> Santa or Adolph ? Apparently he doesn't believe in neutering : <"...Marshall Farms and their production of millions of butchered ferrets..."> <"...American Ferret Association, in their understandable, but notoriously flawed philosophy of required neutering and spaying, are essentially coconspirators..."> Santa or Adolph ? He wants the general public to purchase the ferrets represented by Laurie Long's post: <"Can I please come & get these ferrets (3) they are OUT OF CONTROL. They have bitten everyone in the store & are biting customers. ...2 whole boys, 1 whole girl - maybe 3 1/2 - 4 months old. Clay litter embedded in their feet - stuck in their fur & tails. They are babies who have not been soicalized."> Santa or Adolph ? <"So you see, it's been a good day here in Frettchevergnuegenland, Jawohl!"> Step up to the mike and tell the world how wonderful you are. Santa or Adolph ? Is it too much "Fat Weasel" that allows a person to find joy in verbally abusing MF ferrets, their purchasers, and the AFA all in the short span of 48 hours? I'm not judging Mr. Lipinski. I'm asking him to assess his approach and determine if it is winning him support or alienating those he wishes to impress. Even his supporters find him "hard to defend". I'll ass-u-me that Mr. Lipinski is a nice person and truly wants to do the right thing for ferrets. Why else would he be a breeder? His vendetta against Marshall Farms couldn't be his wanting to eliminate the price competition a large scale breeder creates. Adolph wasn't a bad fellow either. Why else would he have invented the Volkswagen? Or murdered 6,000,000 "inferior"s? It had to be done to better the "master race". He was another who believed the ends justify the means. As for me, I betting on the Santas of this list. Santa Killian, Santa Sukie, Santa Goodhart, Santa Pam, Santa Holowicki and many others. I especially point to Santa Church freely giving information, jokes, and love for ferrets (yes, even Marshall Farms "butchered fur-bags") and Santa Gruber who freely gives hours of his life to keep this list on track and has the patience to read some of the drivel our wonderful freedom of speech creates. Thank you BIG for your quiet, but so important efforts to help the defenseless ferrets regardless of their pedigree. Pedigrees were much more important to Adolph than they have ever been to Santa. And once again I publicly proclaim that I love my Marshall Farm ferrets. And they love me back. They have each been gifts from God bearing blessings. I don't believe God creates bad stuff. Even when His tools are Marshall Farms, Path Valley, etc. I apologize to any person I have unintentionally offended and for taking so much valuable space for this long post. To anyone I intentionally offended, you're no "ball-less sissy", Adolph was hardheaded enough to not need a metal helmet, so you can certainly handle it. You found at least one guy who does: <"even give a damn">. Frankly I'm tired of holier than thou self appointed dictators telling us peasants we should be ashamed of loving a specific kind of God's creatures. I subscribe to this list to share knowledge about and the joys/pains of living with wonderful characters called ferrets. I tire quickly of politcally-correct anti-business self-serving do-gooders who have nothing better to contribute than hate. It just doesn't play here in Peoria. Sissy Santa would publicly apologize to the kids whose feelings he hurt. (I am over 50, don't get my feelings hurt, and don't need apologies from anyone.) Der Fuhrer Adolph would consider how he could attack in a deadlier fashion. (I live in Pekin, suburb of Peoria, in Illinois, heart of the USA and spreche kleine Deutsch. From the left coast, look to the east and aim your weapons for [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask] and we'll play private word war if you want. BUT LET'S KEEP THIS FORUM CIVIL and focused on positive ways to encourage large breeders to benefit ferrets health.) [Moderator's note: A few weeks ago I asked for volunteers who could help decide which questionable posts to allow. With ferrets being sick and all, I haven't revisited the replies, but it's definitely due. Certainly, I agree with John's bottom line: it's a good thing to keep this forum civil and positive. But I also think that people get their messages across in strange ways. Some people will identify with Ed Lipinski, some with John Gordon. Maybe most people, myself included, will shake thier heads, knowing these messages are from dedicated and ferret-loving individuals, and trying to learn from alternative viewpoints, we will at least scan the post. I'm too busy shaking my head over this exchange to figure it all out. Under most circumstances I'd reject the post, but Ed has stated he doesn't mind the controversy. I do ask that it be taken private though, once we start taking about personalities of people rather than that of ferrets. BIG] [Posted in FML issue 2380]