Wouldn't it be comical if this thread degraded into a heated political/opinion debate?
Speaking as a John Q. Member, I am also opposed to political/religious/personal preference discussions. Like it has been stated above, there are plenty of other places on the WWW to get your fix. Keep this an automotive tech. site (and the wierd crap that Alex posts )...
Speaking as a Moderator, some of these discussions are actually very interesting, and many of the opinions are very thought provoking, but when the thread goes south, it becomes a shame to remove it. Parsing out the bad comments are sometimes difficult because the arguments backing them up are sometimes intergral to the thread, but are stated in anger, heat of the moment etc......easier to just keep the site about cars......