OBG, I felt no disrespect from you what so ever. I hope that you weren't bothered by the tongue in cheek parts of my posts. I think that we should all be able to discuss these things as adults and that our increasing inability to do so is one of the main things that is "broken" about our system. I value your insights. You are obviously an intelligent and successful individual.
For the record, none of this thread rises to the level of "offensive" for me, but I will say that being called a Marxist (I think that is what he was trying to spell) simply for expressing an opinion to the left of John McCain is a good example of the kind of negative discourse that damages our civic unity.