Dave Zweifel Commemorates Jeff Simpson

Last Friday, Dave Zweifel, Editor Emeritus at The Cap Times, dedicated a whole column to the memory of Jeff Simpson.

Zweifel starts by reminiscing how he first met Jeff, who had won a silent auction for the chance to sit in on an editorial board meeting with a prominent state or local politician.  (Jeff picked Russ Feingold.)

Zweifel then wrote a segue that would have made the buttons on Jeff's shirt pop off in pride.

As I said when I spoke at Jeff's funeral, Jeff was very happy and very proud of writing at this here blog and having his voice heard around the state.  Keep that in mind at this bit from Zweifel's column:

Jeff did join in the Feingold interview, and when he left, I thought that might be the last I heard of him. How wrong. He soon appeared as a regular blogger, espousing his strong beliefs in local, state and national politics, taking on those politicians he felt weren't representing the people they served, but instead the moneyed interests who contributed to their campaigns.

His blog drew many readers and was most recently found on Cognitive Dissidence, a popular statewide site which is frequently linked on our daily online opinion round-up, the State Debate.

Meanwhile, he got himself elected to the Monona Grove School Board, and became an outspoken advocate for public education and the need to support public school teachers.

Zweifel finishes his column by reproducing Jeff's last blog post, stating that "It says loads about Jeff's life and the kind of person he was."

I couldn't agree more.

Jeff's Last Post

Before he died, Jeff Simpson with the help of his wife, wrote one last blogpost.  But instead of posting it anywhere, they gave it to their pastor to read at his celebration of life last week.  When the pastor read it aloud to us, I knew I had to ask for it, not only because of what Jeff said, but also because it was pure Jeff.  With the help and full permission of his wife, I present to you Jeff's last post, edited only to fit the format:

In my nine plus years of battling cancer, I learned a few lessons that I feel the need to share. The first is, as the late Coach Jim Valvano famously said, “Don’t Give Up….Don’t Ever Give Up.” In my time fighting this dreaded disease, there were some very dark times and yet with so much to fight for, I never considered giving up.

The Second lesson is Build Your Army. No one accomplishes anything alone in this world. You have to build your army and be willing to accept help. MY army was incredible, it consisted of my amazing family, my incredible medical team at UW Hospital, the Cottage Grove and Monona Grove community, My Gilda’s club support group, my Messiah Lutheran family and of course Jesus. With that strong of an army, who can stand against me?

Third is Be Active in your community. It is important that we all do our best to make our world a better place and the best way to do that is right out your front door. Run for local office, attend local meetings, volunteer locally, shop locally when you can. Help your neighbor with tasks if you are able. The best way to change the world is acts of service and kindness with your neighbors, let the goodness trickle up.

Fourth and final – Be Nice. As the Bible states “and the Greatest is Love" We have become so polarized as a nation and state and there is too much anger and hatred in the world. I know in my time, I was in the middle of many of these battles, but I truly tried to engage civilly and with all people. We need to stop treating each other as enemies and instead look upon them as the human being that they are and find common ground.

Also a couple more requests – Lets cure Cancer, we have brilliant minds in this world, this disease is horrible and we need to stop it.. Let’s get money out of politics also, so the good of the people will be the main policy driver not the profits of the corporation. Support your Public Schools. They are staffed with people who really care about all kids, so support them the way they support the community. Finally, live your life with passion and every day will have blue skies!

A Celebration Of The Life Of Jeff Simpson

As most people know, my friend and blog partner, Jeff Simpson, passed away last weekend.

On the behalf of his family, and with their full permission, I am reproducing Jeff's obituary here:

Obituary for Jeffrey William Simpson

COTTAGE GROVE - Jeffrey William Simpson, age 53, of Cottage Grove, beloved husband, father, brother, son, caring friend to all, passed away peacefully at home on Saturday, Aug. 3, 2019, after a long and courageous battle with cancer. As he wished, in his final days and hours, he was surrounded by his loving family and close friends. Jeff was born on June 19, 1966, in Beloit, Wis, son of Richard and Sandra (Fornecker) Simpson. In June 1969, his mother married his step-father, John Ryan, when they moved onto John’s family farm in Newark, Wis. Some of his favorite childhood memories were of days at the Rock County 4-H Fair, where he would show his precious pigs and cows, like Esmeralda. Jeff graduated from Parkview High School in Orfordville in 1984. He continued his studies at Beloit College, and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and a certification in Secondary Education. While attending Beloit College, Jeff played baseball and was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity, maintaining life-long bonds with his fraternity brothers.

Jeff married his best friend and the love of his life, Deb Farrar, on Sept. 25, 1999. He readily shared with everyone that he could not believe how fortunate he was to have found Deb, and that such a beautiful and amazing woman agreed to become his wife. Jeff and Deb were blessed with two caring children, Luka (16) and Kennedy (13).

Following college, Jeff worked in sales, with 15 years of his career being spent with New Balance, the athletic shoe company, where he became forever friends with many of his co-workers, as they got together regularly for their annual sales meetings. Jeff aspired for his life to have purpose and meaning, and to leave this world a better place, so in 2012, he decided to serve his community by joining the Monona Grove School Board.

Jeff loved being a father and was always very involved. When Luka and Kennedy were young, he coached their soccer and basketball teams. During their school years, he attended all of Luka’s plays and Kennedy’s dance recitals, showing so much pride while watching them come alive on stage! Throughout his life, Jeff identified with and fought tenaciously for the underdog. His passionate interests included politics, specifically related to education, equity, and labor rights. Jeff was an active political blogger, most recently for Cognitive Dissidence. Through his blogging, and his time on the Monona Grove School board, Jeff was known to be a fighter for truth, for what was right, for educators, and for EVERY student, all based on his foundational belief in the innate goodness of our youth. He was a true champion of humanitarian values, activist for justice, and a strong voice for positive political change. Since his cancer diagnosis in 2010, Jeff has publicly shared his fight against the disease on both Facebook and CaringBridge, always with great honesty and humility, as well as humor.

Kind, witty, courageous, optimistic, strong, and smart, Jeff was most known, and admired, for his deep and loyal relationships and connections with friends, family, and his larger community. His love for his family, big heart, and willingness to help others was absolute and served as the foundation of his identity. Jeff took great joy in traveling with his family, staying at many Bed and Breakfasts with Deb, and being an avid sports fan for the Brewers, Bears, and Badgers, always with Luka by his side. He also loved country music, such as Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson, but would thoroughly enjoy a KISS or ACDC concert as well.

Jeff is survived by his wife, Deb Farrar-Simpson; children, Luka Simpson, Kennedy Simpson, and Zach (Janna) Schultzhaus; God Child, Jacquita Wilder; two sisters, Shannon (Rick Brockwell) Ryan and Johna (Dan Moore) Ryan; brother, Larry (Martha) Ryan; parents-in-law, Daniel and Kathleen Farrar; sister-in-law, Kristine (James) Mazzuca and her step-children Brandon and Brooklyn; and Rosie, the devoted family dog. Jeff is also survived by several aunts and uncles, and an abundance of friends. He was preceded in death by his father, Richard S. Simpson; step-father, John C. Ryan; and on July 31, 2019, by his mother, Sandra M. Ryan.

Jeff’s family would like to thank his healthcare team at the University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center and the compassionate and supportive friends they found through Gilda’s Club and Camp Kesem. They also want to express their gratitude to the multitude of friends who have provided much-needed support throughout Jeff’s cancer journey. Their many acts of kindness and care have been a true blessing.

A celebration of Jeff’s life will be held at MESSIAH LUTHERAN CHURCH, 5202 Cottage Grove Road, Madison, at 2:00 p.m. on Friday, August 23, 2019, with Rev. Jeff Vanden Heuvel presiding. A reception will immediately follow at the church with an opportunity to visit with the family. If you are not able to attend Jeff’s service, yet want to participate, please access the live feed option thru Messiah Lutheran Church’s website http://messiahchurch.com/.


In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Gilda’s Club of Madison and Camp Kesem UW-Madison.

Jeff will remain in our hearts forever, until we meet again!

Online condolences may be made at www.gundersonfh.com.

Gunderson East
Funeral & Cremation Care
5203 Monona Drive
(608) 221-5420

A celebration of Jeff's life will be held on Friday, August 23, at 2 pm.  The celebration will be held at Messiah Lutheran Church, which is at 5202 Cottage Grove Road, Madison, WI. 

Rest In Strength, Jeff Simpson

It is with a broken heart and heavy sorrow that I must report the passing of Jeff Simpson, who passed away Friday night after a long and courageous battle with a rare form of cancer. 

As the gentle reader already knows, Jeff was a proficient writer her at Cog Dis and a very good friend of mine.  Jeff had many attributes and qualities that I and many others appreciated.  Even though I disagreed with him on the rare occasion, I could not help but to admire his passion and sincerity in everything.

He has a fierce determination and unsinkable spirit.  Whether it was beating up internet trolls, calling out politicians who did wrong or fighting the cancer, Jeff never faltered.  A few weeks ago, when I saw that he was declining rapidly, I reached out to him to see how he was doing and if they needed anything.  Jeff replied that the cancer had won a round or two but that he was going to get better and kick its ass again.

But there was so much more to Jeff than just his passion for politics, which actually played a relatively small part of his life. 

His greatest strength of all was his love for his family.  He adored and loved his wife, Deb, to no end and was constantly expressing his appreciation and love for her.  And he lived for his children, Luca and Kennedy.  One would just need to glance through his Facebook page to the pride and love for them that overflowed from him.  After he was diagnosed with the recurrence of the cancer, he put all his time into them. He attended most, if not all, of their athletic events, plays and recitals.  He and his family went on many vacations so that he could give them the greatest gift of all, the memories and knowledge that he loved them more than words could ever describe.

Besides his family, Jeff leaves behind many friends, some of whom he had known since high school.  The fact that he had so many friends is testament to the kind of man Jeff was.

Jeff, my brother, not only will I miss you and never forget you, but hundreds of others will as well.  Godspeed and may you rest in peace and strength, my friend.

Another Update On Jeff Simpson

As the readers of Cog Dis know, our friend and colleague, Jeff Simpson, had major surgery last week Friday to remove a cancerous tumor.  The surgery, thankfully, was successful an Jeff made amazing strides the first few days after the procedure.

Unfortunately, during the week, Jeff experienced some setbacks in his recovery.  The good news is that his doctors and nurses are well trained professionals and have Jeff moving forward (as in getting better, not Scott Walker's definition of forward) again.

If you are friends with Jeff, you have probably noticed him becoming more active on Facebook.  He has told me that he is eager to get back in the game and take on Walker and his nefarious allies.  So are we.

Jeff wants me to thank everyone who has wished him well, either online or in person.  He also thanks those that have made very generous donations to help support him and his family through these stressful times.

If you wish to donate, you can still do so here or using the PayPal button on the top right corner of this blog.

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

The gentle reader is aware that the education profiteer group School Choice Wisconsin sent out a massive amount of open record requests to school districts across the state to troll for information on the children that attend school in those districts.  Fortunately, due to public outrage, the profiteers modified their requests, at least in Green Bay.

Over the weekend, Molly Beck, of the Wisconsin State Journal, wrote about the "creep factor" of the these requests.  Overall, it's a pretty decent article.  However, there is one part that needs to be corrected.

Beck wrote this:

The matter was brought to light in February after liberal advocacy group One Wisconsin Now disclosed that the Green Bay School District received a request from the voucher advocates.

“I think this points to a larger concern that public education advocates have about the unaccountable privatization movement and that is they see children as commodities and our children’s education is a product to generate profit from,” said OWN executive director Scot Ross.

Because some school districts either allow a student’s information to be included in all directory data requests or none, Ross said “it doesn’t seem fair a kid can’t be in a yearbook just because they don’t want to get calls at their house from some private entity.”

Now, I love me some One Wisconsin Now and have relied on their research and reporting a lot.  I have the highest esteem for Scot Ross. I consider myself to be fortunate to call him my friend.  Trust me, the state would be in even more dire straits if it weren't for these good people.

But Ms. Beck is incorrect in stating that OWN, as wonderful as they are, broke the story.

That was actually my friend and colleague, Jeff Simpson, who wrote about the creep factor first, first at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Purple Wisconsin blog page and then at this here blog.

Now, Jeff and I have been doing this long enough to know what it feels like to have someone else use one of our stories without being given credit for it.  But I have to call this one out, especially since Jeff was the one that had to deal with all the faux outrage to the point at losing his privileges at Purple Wisconsin.

If a person has to go through all that crap, he should get some acknowledgement for it.

An Update On Jeff Simpson

As the gentle reader is aware, our colleague Jeff Simpson had a very long and complicated surgery on Friday to remove a rare type of cancer.

I am overjoyed to report that the surgery was successful.  The doctors believed that they have removed the entire tumor and did not have to remove any organs.

Even better, Jeff's recovery is proceeding rapidly.  He is already up and moving around.  Today, he made it down to the waiting room to watch and cheer for the Badgers basketball team.  He has said that soon he will be ready for visitors.

On behalf of Jeff and his family, I would like to thank his friends and readers who have shown an outpouring of affection, well wishes and generous donations.  If you wish to donate, you can still do so here or using the PayPal button on the top right corner of this blog.

I know I'm looking forward to the day that Jeff is back to terrorizing the right wing evil doers.

Light A Candle For Jeff Simpson

As many of Jeff Simpson's friends and friends of this blog know, Jeff is a cancer survivor.  In 2010, he had a major operation to remove a large tumor.  The cancer was Chondrosarcoma - "an uncommon type of cancer that begins in cartilage around bones."

Sadly, four and a half years later, Jeff has experienced a recurrence.

The good news is that due to Jeff's taking good care of himself and having regular scans, they caught it much earlier this time.  Even then, the tumor is two inches long.

Due to the fact that this particular type of cancer is resistant to chemotherapy and radiation, surgery is necessary.  Jeff will have an operation on Friday to remove the tumor.  While the tumor is much smaller than last time, it is in a difficult location.  Jeff's doctor has compared it to reaching for something in the back of a drawer.  It's difficult but very doable.

While Jeff is experiencing some anxiety, which is utterly understandable and perfectly normal, he is maintaining a very positive attitude and is confident that he will overcome this as he has every other obstacle.

During a time like this, one would expect that people could put aside their differences and out of basic human decency, at least say nothing, if not wish Jeff well.

Unfortunately, in Fitzwalkerstan, that is too much to expect.  On an old post by Jeff, regarding the Knotzies, one of them left a message last week to show how devoid of decency these trolls are by leaving the following comment (which, for obvious reasons, was never published):

Hope that you die of cancer Jeff Simpson 

Nice, huh?

Anyway, we know that the majority of our readers are much nicer and way classier than these fools.

Saying that, please join us at Cog Dis and remember Jeff and his family this Friday in your thoughts and prayers.  Jeff and his family also invite us to join them in lighting a candle at 9 pm tonight in a show of solidarity and well-wishing.

If you wish to donate some money to Jeff and his family, you can do so here or using the PayPal button at the top right corner of the blog site.

Even if you cannot donate, Jeff and his family would appreciate any help that you can offer, whether it's a prayer, a kind word, the lighting of a candle or a decent cup of coffee.

Right Wing Faux Outrage - The Jeff Simpson Edition

On Sunday, my colleague, Jeff Simpson, wrote a post at his site on Purple Wisconsin, a collection of bloggers and paid right wing propagandists hosted by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.  Simpson's post, which he replicated here, was about how Jim Bender, the face of the education profiteering group, School Choice Wisconsin, had sent out open record requests asking for personal information on all the kids in over 30 different school districts.

In his post, Simpson expressed his concern about not only what Bender's intentions were, but also the precedent he was setting.  Simpson feared that sex predators, stalkers and angry ex-spouses could follow this routine and expose the children to harm.

Simpson was hardly the only person to express these concerns.

However, Simpson's post at Purple Wisconsin was enough to send Bender on a bender.  Bender went whining and crying to Ernst-Ulrich Franzen, a member of the paper's editorial board, complaining that Simpson compared him to a pedophile.  Even though Simpson went to great pains to do just the opposite, Franzen jumped on the chance to stifle the truth and took down the blog site.

On Monday, squawk show host and adulterer Charlie Sykes went on a rampage against Simpson.  With the sound of his spittle hitting the microphone, Sykes said that Simpson lived in a "fever swamp" and called him "demented," "sick," and "a liar."

Sykes went on to say how MJS was wrong for ever giving Simpson their format to use and that he should be banned from the site.  The real kicker was when Sykes mewled that if a conservative had done this, they would be banned from writing there ever again.

Sykes' tirade does show that he is a damn slow learner, since he's already been sued for libel before.  (Ironically, the only reason that Sykes is still on the air is because of the unions he loves to bash on a daily basis.)

Sykes also shows what a bloody hypocrite he is, since he has willingly and freely admitted that he makes crap up on a regular basis.

Unfortunately, Franzen and his boss, David Haynes, pandered to the faux outrage from the right wing nuts and have taken Simpson's blog down entirely.

This only goes to show that they are as big hypocrites as Sykes is.

I would remind the gentle reader of the time that Christian Schneider ran with the fabricated story of how Kyle Woods, a gay Republican operative, was supposedly beaten up by the partner of US Representative Mark Pocan.  When it was revealed that Schneider was not telling the truth, the paper did not ban him as Sykes asserted would happen, but promoted him to being one of their paid columnists.

It should also be noted that Sykes himself continues to have Schneider, as well as Brian Sikma, who also lied about the Woods story, as regular guests on his radio and TV shows as well as contributors to his website, Right Wisconsin (funded by Wisconsin Club for Growth).

Heh, a liar hosting liars, yet we're supposed to be upset about a guy who actually tells the truth.

In summary, we have further confirmation that Sykes is a bloviating, pompous ass who is a liar and a hypocrite.  It is little wonder he needs to have the financial support of his corporate masters to still have even the illusion of relevance.

We also have further confirmation that the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and all of Journal Broadcasting is nothing more than a right wing propaganda machine that isn't as interested in telling the truth as they are with squashing dissent.  It is not surprising that their circulation numbers have dropped so low that they needed to sell out to out of state interests before they went belly up.

If you somehow still subscribe to this tabloid and haven't cancelled your subscription yet, you should seriously ask yourself why you haven't done so already.

On a closing note to Jeff, congratulations on kicking the hornets nest.  This kind of uproar shows that you hit close to home.  But you haven't truly made the big time until you get nominated to Sykes' Deep Tunnel Award.

The Cheese Stands Alone!

Jeff Simpson has already alerted you to just how batshit crazy the Teapublicans are getting to be with their talks of secession, but this cartoon from Stuart Carlson is just too good to pass up:

Dennis Smith Flees, Problems Remain

As Jeff Simpson reported on Thursday - and the only one to do so from what I can see - all sorts of horrible details of Dennis Smith's adulterous love affair came out in the trial of his mistress' husband.

That same day, Smith tendered his resignation as Scott Walker's Secretary of the Department of Health Services, and the rest of the media caught up to news of the trial.

True to their nature, instead of scorning the disreputable Smith, the Republicans arranged for him to land in a cushy job in a Washington, D.C. law firm where he can spend his time devising new ways to screw over the poor and deny them health care.

Walker immediately named the heavy -smoking Deputy Secretary Kitty Rhoades to be his successor as head of the Health Department.  There's no advantage for the taxpayer or the needy in this announcement.  The former Republican legislator is just as conservative as the rest of them and is likely to keep waging the war on the poor and elderly that Smith was originally hired for.

One might hope that at least with Smith's departure, at least some of the corruption would be gone.  After all, when he wasn't busy canoodling with another man's wife, he was busy meeting with such important health care-related groups and people like the MacIver Institute, Keith Gilkes, Mike Huebsch, the Wisconsin Restaurant Association, Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce and the Heritage Foundation.

One might hope that the corruption would be gone, but one would be sorely disappointed.  Because still in the office of Director of Medicaid is Brett Davis, Walker's first choice for Lieutenant Governor, and another one of the players that was involved with Walkergate, the caucus scandal-type of illegal politicking that Walker had his county staff doing in their runs for higher office.

To this date, Walker hasn't had even an investigation into Davis' role in Walkergate, but less held him accountable.  But that's not surprising since that would raise more questions that Walker doesn't really want raised nor answered.

Team Obama Reads Cog Dis!

While I was away, Meg and Jeff did a grand job keeping the gentle reader informed of the sickening disdain Republicans hold for women.

Meg made a passionate plea for women to stand up for themselves by preventing Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan from having the chance to implement their misogynistic agenda.

Jeff followed up showing that Ryan and other Republicans, in their own words, have the same demented attitude that Richard Mourdock has regarding children resulting of rape is "a gift from God."

Then, Team Obama came out with this ad:



Yup, Cog Dis, shaping the world of tomorrow today. That's us alrighty.

Mandatory Corporate Welfare

In the previous post, my colleague, Jeff Simpson, pointed out to yet another incident of a house being allowed to burn to the ground because the home owners didn't pay the $75 fire fighter fee. There was a similar incident in the same county just two years ago. Apparently, these teahadists are slow learners.

While Jeff shows righteous outrage at the fact that the moronic, selfish teahadists would let an entire community burn for a measly $75 bucks, I think he misses the more sinister, more troubling and more outrageous part of the story.  From his story, he cites this passage:

Bell told KFVS-TV she didn't pay the fee because she didn't have insurance, which she told the station is a requirement in order to subscribe to the firefighting service. "I'm not mad at the city, I understand," said Bell.

The station reported Bell told them most of her neighbors in the trailer park did not have insurance because they are not eligible.
Bell says she's more concerned about how she's going to put her life back together now that she and her boyfriend, Brian Gilbert have lost everything.

Did you catch that?

In order to receive public safety services, they have to buy insurance first.

In other words, to receive a service that most people receive just by paying their taxes, the residents of Obion County have to first give their money to an insurance company, and then if they have enough left, they can buy the public service.

This isn't about saving money. It's about forcing people to give their money to a private sector business before receiving something they should automatically be getting as a citizen and as a taxpayer. It's mandated corporate welfare.

I thought this was the sort of thing that the teahadists were against. Or is that only when an African-American president does that sort of thing?

How much do you want to bet that the politicians that came up with and passed this law got a little something something from the insurance industry?

And to show the absurdity of this kind of law, here is a video which I had posted three years ago, which really shows you how low the teahadists' learning curve really is:



What part of public safety don't the teahadists understand?

The other kicker is that these same people who will whine and gripe that they have to pay taxes so the firefighters can put out a fire in someone else's home are the same people that will call and bawl out their alderman if their street isn't plowed as soon as the last snowflake falls.

Another thought that occurs to me is what if there were fires at two different locations at the same time? Would the two homeowners have to get into a bidding war to see who would get the services they've already paid for twice, once to the insurance company and once to the fire department? Would the loser's insurance company refuse to cover their claim because they didn't take the steps to insure fire protection, such as outbidding the other homeowner?

See how absurd their stance is on all of this?

Robin Vos: No Fan of Thomas Jefferson or Dale Carnegie

State Representative Robin "Bud" Vos has shown that he is a petty, little man.

Apparently heartbroken that Randy Randy "Bed" Hopper was recalled this past summer, Vos has gone beyond the pale by declaring that the ability of the people to exercise their rights by choosing their leaders and rejecting them when they abuse their power to is a "cancer."

To further his image of  a reprobate, he wants to provide "chemotherapy" to the state by removing more rights from the people.  He feels that recalls should only happen when a politician is convicted of a misdemeanor, charged with a felony or having been ruled of ethical violations by the Government Accountability Board.

The man is an idiot twice over.

First of all, as Bruce Murphy points out, the history of recalls show that this past summer was a diversion of the general rule.  Before the summer of the recalls, it had only been tried four times before.  Out of those four, only two were successful.  Murphy also goes on to make some excellent points, citing George Petak and Tom Ament, as how hypocritical the Republican stance about whether recalls should be about "policy decisions."

Apparently he doesn't like the famous quote attributed to Thomas Jefferson:

"When governments fear the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny."

In Vos' world, he feels that if people get to uppity, the proper reaction is to act like a craven bully.

The other way Vos proves himself to be a vile creature is just the comparison to cancer.

Jeff Simpson points out that millions of people, including himself, are affected by cancer each year.  My family too has been hit by that scourge. It claimed my mother at the too young age of 55, just weeks before my marriage.  My wife is a survivor of two bouts of cancer.

I too take it personally when Vos compares the rights of a free people to something that has hurt my family so badly.  I also take offense at the fact that he feels protecting the adulterer Randy Hopper and the corrupt Dan Kapanke is more important than the lives of my loved ones.

But to show that I not a petty man like he is I am willing to sit down and talk about this with him.  We could have our own little beer summit.  I'll even further the cause of peace by bringing Vos a book of which he is in obvious and immediate need.