[pshrynk]

We have had a few Seriously Thoughtful discussions of issues of the day that did not devolve into name calling and invective. They are, sadly, rare. The reason we as moderators clamp down on political discussions is that they can become very rapidly a mess. Even moderators, myself included, have been know to punch the tar baby. So, if you would like to start a thread on a particular topic and label it Seriously Thoughtful and take some of the responsibility to keep requesting that it stay on topic, please feel free to do so. But there is little tolerance for playground level interaction on the part of the moderation team. In fact, if you would like to have our help in keeping the thread between the sign posts, click the report button and ask for one or two of us to subscribe to the thread and keep an eye on it.