While I understand and sympathize to a degree with what you're saying, but I must point out that we are under an obligation -- strategically, if for no other reason -- to extend every courtesy to the bitter end.
One of the things that's really helpful to me in making and defending these banning decisions is a _clean paper trail_. When a good person has an outburst like yours -- no matter how warranted by the circumstance -- I can rest assured that it will be quoted back to me as evidence of my inconsistency because I didn't ban or reprimand you, when I did ban or reprimand someone else.
Sure, cause and effect and "who started it" matters. But those things also get lost to history, to a maze of counter-allegations.
It's better when we are all courteous and kind, even in the face of extreme provocation.
Everyone who was named as an "example" of rude behavior by "Joe Canuck" should examine their own actions. Are we consistent, if we insist on good behavior from others, but don't insist upon it for ourselves? We almost all fail in this regard from time to time -- such is the human condition, I guess -- but we should strive for the best within us.
--Jimbo