Leon, you can lock or delete this-- I was writing it when you locked the other one--

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Posted By: Peter Thomas

Well I am not a very frequent poster and don't think I have ever posted about politics. Just so everyone knows, I am politically and socially disposed pretty far to the left, but really never discuss these things with anyone but my wife, who is currently left of me. The reason that I don't post on politics is that I regard politics and, for that matter religion, as underlyingly dogmatic and personal and as such I don't feel comfortable discussing or trying to influence others in these subjects. In the summer of 1988 I took my wife with me on a business trip to Denver so we could spend some time in Denver and then the Rockies. Denver has a wonderful western art museum and on Friday afternoon we walked to the museum from our hotel and as we arrived Michael Dukakis also arrived with escorts and he said to me "Peter what are you doing here?" and I replied that we had come to see the museum and do some non technical climbing. I then asked him "Mike what are you doing here?" and he said laughing - well "I'm running for President". Linda asked me how I knew him and he replied, "we used to ride the Green Line to Park Station on pretty much the same schedule." I had not seen him in 8 years and was surprised he remembered me by name although we did talk frequently for about 10 minutes on that ride. This was sometime before his tank ride. In the interest of full political disclosure, Barney Frank used to live across the street from me in Boston, when he was the Mayor's assistant and was very helpful in some housing rehabilitation that I was working on in the South End. Barney and about six neighbors would frequently have a beer on Dan and Mary Finn's front steps on Friday summer evenings.