I am saddened about the degree of hate in the posts above. I am new to this forum -- I followed links here from slate.com. I am a liberal -- by which I mean what John Locke meant by "liberal". I believe that all men were endowed by their creator with equal rights. But I also think that on at least ninety percent of all issues, liberal and conservative Americans agree. For example: I am a patriotic American, I am a Christian, I believe in courtesy and kindness, I believe in honesty, I try to follow Christ's teaching and love my fellow man. If I am right about this -- if we agree on most things and disagree on relatively few -- where is all the hate coming from?