A short while back I wrote an article basically submitting to Tom Carter, yielding the floor to our new and outspoken member.  I vowed to ignore his baited commentary and focus only on productive discourse.  I promised too much.  I tried, but when everything I've written since then is followed by the obligatory defamatory comment from Carter -- questioning my intelligence, my sincerity, my patriotism -- I eventually can't resist the urge to answer back.  Then the whole "children bickering" cycle starts anew.  It's also difficult to witness so much unnecessary abuse aimed at those around me, and restrain myself from speaking up.  What kind of place would this be if we all ignored this, "so long as the attack wasn't directed at me"?  The answer is obvious to me now.

Well, I don't have the time for this.  I came here to learn from others, and to do a little teaching myself.  I want to have a dialogue, not a s***ting match.  Frankly I'm disappointed with everyone here that has watched this happen and did not speak up.  When someone can get away with attacking your religion, your ethnicity, your gender, your color, and all the other things you can't control that make you you, then they'll keep on doing it for the pure sport.  That's the monster you now have in your midst.  If you had all told him that that was wrong, he would have discarded the abusive tactic or he would have left.  Now you know why Leonard Clark no longer posts here.  Agree with Leonard or not, there was no need for Carter to accuse Leonard of having a wetback wife, or being a poor nigger.  This may only be an online forum, but this is our home to write our stories and express our views.  What happens here is important to me.  Unacceptable is unacceptable.

So I'm gone.  Let Tom (or his literary progeny Reaper) tell you I'm a coward.  He's yours.  Perhaps he'll be on good behavior for a while to show you that it was MiC who was the disrupting force here, but I'm pretty sure that holiday will be short lived.  A bully will always be a bully, especially the ones who can attack from behind a keyboard without any personal accountability.  The real Tom Carter will soon be back.  He's yours to deal with as you see fit.

It's not easy for me to walk away.  I've come to appreciate nearly everyone here a great deal.  Even when I get into it with my ideological opponents (and occasionally my allies), I still have a great deal of respect for anybody that puts their beliefs to the test, and is willing to defend them in an intelligent and respectful manner.  I never confuse someone with a difference of opinion from me as my enemy.  They often are my closest friends.  So with that, goodbye friends.