You're right Leland - in the "old days" (pre approx Iraq rather than the last election, I reckon) the political threads were way tamer. Possibly/probably a good thing.
Mind you, they weren't all tame, remember this?:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread.php?threadid=32556&highlight=i+hate+democrats
Hehe, I made the Bill Clinton login, but I've forgotten the password.