My father was a naval communications officer who served on the Admiral's flagship in the Pacific fleet during WWII, and was a historian and teacher in civilian life. We discussed the history of the cold war in general terms, and he told me that in his opinion the justification for it was shaky and open to historical doubt. In his younger years he was deeply afraid of the possibility of the loss of civil liberties in the United States as a result of the growth of a power center composed of the "defense" department and the industries that fed it- or is it the other way around?

In later years his views became more conventional for an ex-naval officer, but by that time it was too late--he had already infected me with the habit of independent thought.

Thanks, dad.

Capitalism searches out the darkest corners of human potential, and mainlines them.