[MikeDubreuil]

I was very leery to post in this thread but finally have decided to. I try not to say things If I don't have anything nice to say but I think I have some important things to say about that thread.

1.) I was slightly upset that the original poster simply asked everyone to sign a petition without offering a reason. If you feel strongly enough to ask us to sign a petition you support, you should try to persuade us into it. I'm fairly unfamiliar with the ACLU and the petition page offered little information as to what the petition was for other than the meaningless "I'm a democrat and Bush is bad" ideology.

2.) David Kelly is a Chief Delphi moderator and initiated the replies with a very negative ACLU and pro-Christian post that ended with the following "The ACLU makes baby Jesus cry." I understand he is from the so-called "Bible Belt" of the United States, but not everyone on this forum shares his zealous sentiment for the Christian religion. I do realize that the term "makes baby Jesus cry" is often used as a humorous joke, but it is generally considered inappropriate.
When Tristan Lall explained why the ACLU wasn't as bad as David made it out to be in his first post, even correcting him on the improper use of the word fascism, he closed the thread.
Whether it may be the case or not, from the casual observer it looks like David Kelly initiated a heated discussion, when it became clear he was wrong he closed the thread.

I personally, did not see a reason for closing the thread. Everyone besides the first replier, David Kelly, responded with a carefully thought out and un-inflammatory post.

I think that political and religious conversations should be allowed. I think that as a group we collectively represent the technical elite of the world. There's some really bright people here and I want to hear about their views on other topics in addition to robotics.

Be it as it may but the Chief Delphi team hosts the forum for the whole FIRST community. And for that we share an immense gratitude to them. Given the circumstances, I think Chief Delphi should allow the "hot topic" discussion because there isn't another forum out there with this type of community.

However, it takes class and tact to reply in a responsible manner in a political or religious thread. You have to act with Gracious Professionalism. We all embrace this concept at competition, why not on the forum?