The Conservative Cave
The Bar => Introductions & Subsequent Welcomes => Topic started by: mickBelker on October 29, 2012, 10:37:56 AM
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OK, taking the deep plunge. :gulp:
I go by my adopted nickname from a former TV role, Mick Belker, so "Mick" is fine. I don't find much time for socializing. I live, and pretty much have lived, in relatively affluent areas (New York Metro) with a significant liberal/progressive population. So let's just say that my interactions with neighbors and local acquaintances have been pleasant, even cordial, but not close.
My wife is to the far-left which can make discussions at home a tad difficult. Suffice it to say that we don't talk much politics 'cause, when we do, it gets "sticky." :hammer: Still, we've sorta figured it out and, to date, have been able to suppress the urge to strangle one another. But, like I said, it's difficult. I love her so and there's much that I would like to discuss with her (she is VERY intelligent) but it's clear that my views on politics are just incompatible with hers and we will NEVER agree. :sigh:
I am an autodidact so my family's Democrat Party indoctrination was peeled away, layer by layer, over many years. My father was a brilliant man, the smartest man I've ever known. Requiescat in pace. An inventor, engineer, teacher, businessman, and disillusioned former small-c communist, my father spent the first half of his life coming to his conservatism, I guess the same as me. Like so many of his generation, he was swept up in his youth by the promise of socialism… before he grew old and wise enough, and had witnessed sufficient death and destruction around the world to be convinced that Leftism was a mortal enemy hiding behind populist rhetoric.
He introduced me to National Review when I was 13 years old and my own journey began. But it took me until 1981 - and it shames me to this day – after I voted for President Carter to realize my mistake, one I’ve endeavored never to make again.
I would say that I am more a classic liberal, a libertarian by modern definition, than a conservative but with more than sufficient bona fides to be quite comfortable here at CC. I hope that’s enough to go on. I’d be glad to answer any pertinent questions.
That’s about it. I’ve begun to post here only in the last week or so and find the discussions to be informative, sometimes sardonic, often witty, even ROFL funny, and generally welcoming. I hope that I can contribute something of worth. Thank you all for having me.
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Best,
Mick :smile:
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Sufffice it to say, welcome.
We can't help who we marry. :popcorn:
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Welcome, Mick.
I can relate -- Mrs. E is full-on liberal, approaching moonbat (but not there). I hope to provide that gentle guidance to keep her from slipping into full-on retard moonbat.
The curious thing is, she's smarter than I am. Why the full-on liberal then? I don't get it....
Anyway, lotsa good peeps here and some of them actually make sense once in awhile. Not too sure about this particular post, but hey....
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We're glad you are here. :-)
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Welcome! Hi5 for reminding me of one of my most favorite TV shows ever!
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Welcome! Hi5 for reminding me of one of my most favorite TV shows ever!
I had to look the name up. Never watched that show. Don't know why.
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Sufffice it to say, welcome.
We can't help who we marry. :popcorn:
Thanks for your greeting. I appreciate it.
I'll try NOT to be too entertaining while I'm here. :cheersmate:
ETA: love the family pics. I must begin to figure out how to do that on my settings as well. :)
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Thanks for your greeting. I appreciate it.
I'll try NOT to be too entertaining while I'm here. :cheersmate:
OK, you can stay. But stay out of my light and don't step on my lines. :p
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OK, you can stay. But stay out of my light and don't step on my lines. :p
LOL. I will and won't, respectively. <snort>
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Welcome, Mick.
I can relate -- Mrs. E is full-on liberal, approaching moonbat (but not there). I hope to provide that gentle guidance to keep her from slipping into full-on retard moonbat.
The curious thing is, she's smarter than I am. Why the full-on liberal then? I don't get it....
Anyway, lotsa good peeps here and some of them actually make sense once in awhile. Not too sure about this particular post, but hey....
Thanks, Eupher. Sounds like we might have commiserations to relate. Your circumstances sound a lot like mine and, perhaps, many others as well. I believe that Mrs. M is, likewise, smarter (though not wiser) than me. Every 4 years is a time of dread, another personal quadrennial nightmare to live through.
But I'm glad to be here just the same.Thanks again for your warm welcome. Appreciate it.
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Best,
Mick
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Welcome!
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Welcome! Hi5 for reminding me of one of my most favorite TV shows ever!
Thanks. :) It's nice to be here. And, yeah, it was fun while it lasted. ;)
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Welcome!
Thanks... and may I say, that just love the WWF image. LOL funny. :II:
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Howdy and welcome. Hope you get to stay awhile. Were you IN HSB's or just adopted the nick?
I go by my adopted nickname from a former TV role, Mick Belker,
That statement kind of confused me ...
Thanks!
KC
On Edit; ^5 for the intro post. Good job.
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Howdy and welcome. Hope you get to stay awhile. Were you IN HSB's or just adopted the nick?
That statement kind of confused me ...
Thanks!
KC
On Edit; ^5 for the intro post. Good job.
Thanks again. As for the past, it was a part that was played and I should leave it at that.
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Thanks again. As for the past, it was a part that was played and I should leave it at that.
Not a problem. Welcome again.
KC
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Thanks... and may I say, that just love the WWF image. LOL funny. :II:
She stole it from me LOL and welcome
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She stole it from me LOL and welcome
Hysterically funny; sardonically delicious. My compliments.
And thank you. :)
And, forgive me for not remembering better but, we've corresponded before. Yes?
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Hysterically funny; sardonically delicious. My compliments.
And thank you. :)
And, forgive me for not remembering better but, we've corresponded before. Yes?
Not that I am aware of
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Ah ok. Sorry. My mistake.
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Ah ok. Sorry. My mistake.
No worries :cheersmate:
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Hmmm, not too many people are familiar with the term, "autodidact". I, too, am that way.
Welcome to our forum!!
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Hmmm, not too many people are familiar with the term, "autodidact". I, too, am that way.
Welcome to our forum!!
Thor,
I am delighted. Thank you. As for our, eh, mutual condition, I'm not sure whether I should congratulate you or offer my sympathies.
OTOH, it seems to me likely, if I had stayed in school, gone to college and all, that I would probably be suffering from the same leftist indoctrinal claptrap as most of my peers.
Whodathunkit??!! :wink:
Thanks again to you and all for your kind hospitality.
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Thor,
I am delighted. Thank you. As for our, eh, mutual condition, I'm not sure whether I should congratulate you or offer my sympathies.
OTOH, it seems to me likely, if I had stayed in school, gone to college and all, that I would probably be suffering from the same leftist indoctrinal claptrap as most of my peers.
Whodathunkit??!! :wink:
Thanks again to you and all for your kind hospitality.
I think that too many people place credence in that "sheepskin" instead of abilities. I taught myself how to rebuild a car engine and performed that task successfully on the first attempt. My forte is electronics, in which I know as much, if not more than most BSEEs. (I matched wits with a BSEE friend of mine a few years ago.)
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LOL. That's an interesting coincidence since my background is in electronics engineering.
My father was many things, an engineer not the least, and I first taught myself basic electronics and magnetism from his old radio days books. And it just went from there.
I ended up working for a computer company designing LC filters, dispersionless lag lines and DC-DC converters.
It was very difficult in the early years. Most of my colleagues were all graduate engineers and I always found myself at a disadvantage. I had no clever anecdotes about this professor or that course which I had not taken, no reminiscences of camaraderie with scholastic peers. I attended none of the parties, never a class reunion, and missed associations with my peers who had all moved on to college.
I was successful and I'm glad of it but it was very lonely at times and there are many alternate paths that I might have chosen but, well, here I am. LOL
Your trajectory sounds interesting as well. I once helped my buddy rebuild his '64 GTO. He was running a standard 389 V8 and it must've taken us a week to take it apart and put it all back together again, everything strewn all over his backyard. Of course he was the "expert" and I was just his flunkie help but it was a challenge and, well, pretty cool when we got it back up and running again.
Sorry. Just rambling on here but it's very interesting to find someone with a similar background as my own. I look forward to sharing stories. 😉
Thanks again for your warm welcome and hospitality.