C'punks, I've just had a flash of insight into the purpose that Village Idiots I-III, and Jim Bell serve. (Tim May is a special care which I'll treat separately, below.) The are all coal mine canaries. When they succumb, the rest of us know it's time to get out of the mine (lower our profile) for a while. Of course, real mine canaries have no choice. Given a choice, I think they'd opt to stay top-side. OUR canarypunks, no matter what the miners say, loudly proclaim that the miners are full of shit about all this hypothetical hypoxia and poison gas as they march right into the adit. Those who were on the list at the time will remember how Jim Bell pooh-poohed every warning that I and others gave him. He knew the law better, he was smarter than the FBI, he had "a solution," the Constitution was on his side, etc. EVERYTHING I said came true, NOTHING he said did. Live and learn (or don't). Think of it as evolution in action. As I said, Tim May is a special case. Unlike Jim Bell (damn lot of "Jims," if you ask me) and the Three Stooges, Tim's ideas and opinions actually bring value (other than just canary value) to the list. Nevertheless, in the final analysis, Tim is also a canarypunk. For what it's worth, I think the chances of Tim's life ending in a hail of federales' bullets is less than 50%, but still significant. I'll miss his contributions if and when he commits blue suicide. So what does all this mean? Well, since a word to the wise is sufficient, I think I'll stop working so hard to get the Three Stooges to act in their own best interest. I'll make whatever warnings I think are appropriate so that the folks with a clue will have whatever benefit they wish to derive from it. If the Three Stooges choose to ignore good advice from me and others, well, so be it. I'm glad to have their voluntary contribution to the rest of us in their roles of canarypunks. S a n d y