"Let me first of all make one thing very clear before attempting to answer your charges. If you are looking for a brawl on Gambia-l, you are engaging the wrong person."

No, I am not looking for a brawl on the L. If I were, you are right it would not be with you old buddy.

Buharry writes again:

"I refuse to engage you or anyone in a fruitless exchange that would be characterised by name-calling or other forms of histrionics. The tone and nature of your post do not augur well for a constructive exchange of ideas".

When folk post on the L, they must do so with a few things in mind. Forget the constructive engagement crap for a moment. That got us in a lot of crime and mayhem and is only a precursor to an apology when the crimes need not be committed in the first place. The L is a medium where characters exhibit opinion through the color of commentary and other inflexions, whether they are responding to others' posts or offering their opinions on an issue. It is not a forum for debate even though some have regarded it as such. Buharry, you say a lot for someone who does not engage in histrionics or for someone who does not have the time or energy to engage in fruitless debate. I do not need to debate here. I am glad you have made yourself clearer and if you were able to glean so much about cloud-cuchoo land from my 15 or so sentences, good enough. Let me make it short and sweet this time. For your information, I do not understand what you meant by name-calling. I understand you to be Buharry and "get a grip" does not call you anything else nor make you anyoneelse other than the good Buharry I know. I do have high regard for moral police though. You must know that by now. I think you felt offended because I am not neutral when it comes to a clear distinction between right and wrong and you must not take my responses as charges or personal engagements. Like you, my calendar is filled and that is why other than for this one, I do not embark on lengthy and provocative prose and not expect rebuke or association either way it comes. There are quite a few people who subscribe to the L and just as you believe, not everyone sees things the way you and I do. Not everyone is clairvoyant, yes not even myself. Therefore, we must be careful when we offer opinion on issues that involve the lives of others. A neutral or positionless thought or inclination is anathema for the L. For instance, you assured us that you are not a lawyer but Yus' question (rhetorical or not) had a legal premise. Therefore, I must be prepared to offer something beyond the obvious. The training required to inform on the issue of impoundment of your property,(a passport), that you issued another person, because of other rights of his or hers is different from impounding your book from someone you deem was abusing its use. That is where neutrality or position-less-ness ends. There are lawyers on this forum. There are bullies also. They all consume or revel in our neutral position-less-ness. Doing nothing or saying nothing or remaining neutral is not benign in the face of such polarity.

I respect your desire not to say anything further on this issue even as O.J had yielded to his right of movement being rescinded as "proscribed" by the Jirector of emancipation". I must also caution you not to offer your prior associations with O.J or his family as evidence of your concern or indifference. It is not necessary nor is it valuable in this instance. Opinions, when crafted, must be able to stand alone without being clouded by ancillary anecdotes. You do not have to be related to O.J. or Dumo to offer an opinion on the impoundment of a passport. Not that the relation is not significant in other cases. Let's relax and fight the good fight. I certainly do not want you to give up the fight because I irritate you. You might say with friends like me, who needs enemies? Friendship to me is valuable. too valuable to be position-less in matters of fact and fallacy. My friend Abdul Raouf once intimated to me "show me a murderer and I'll show you a neutral S.O.B".

Again Buharry, don't take the tone and nature of this post to be directed at you personally. If I had this tone in a phone or personal conversation with you, you will be justified in reading abrasiveness into it. Until then, I'm gonna tickle you pink.