Brian, I couldn't agree more. That's why I haven't been posting for the last couple of years.

I have a lot of friends who appear not to feel the same way, and I must say that I think a number of them are politically misguided. I do not, though, believe this is the place to engage them in debates. They are still my friends.

What bothers me even more is the tone of most of the political posts here. Demonizing, name-calling, gross exaggerations, and bitterly partisan views rather than intelligent and open-minded discussions. I have no patience for that kind of thing. No one has the right to determine that someone who disagrees with them is "unpatriotic," yet that seems to happen more often than not.

Someone posted about their dislike of "censorship." I think that's totally beside the point. While I despise GOVERNMENT censorship, which is clearly prohibited by the First Amendment to the Constitution, limiting the topic of posts on a privately-operated bulletin board that exists for a clearly-articulated purpose is absolutely not the same thing.

I would prefer to keep discussions on TheChipBoard to chips, chipping, casino history and the like.

Michael