NickolasJames8

No Nick. They are no where near the middle. Typically political systems fall into a spectrum from left to right. Far Left Communism<===Marxism<===Democratic Socialism (USSR)-------------(Cuba)---------(the Netherlands) the Middle Coalition/Parliamentarian democracy<==>Representative Republic (UK, most of Europe)-------------------------(US) Far Right Oligarchy===>military Hunta====>"Strong-man" rule====>Nazism (business-------(Thailand,Indonesia)---Iraq under Saddam------Nazi Germany interests) In the Middle, countries with democratically elected governments move to the left and right based on election results as the expressed will of the people. They are constrained from going too far in either direction by Constitutional mandates. There is another system of government that doesn't fit in this model: Theocracy. There hasn't been a successful theocracy in recent history but fundamentalists factions of major religions have tried (ie. Holy Roman Empire, Iran under "the Ayatollah). bin Laden and Hezbollah are for the creation of a world-wide Islamic state based on Islamic law. This would be a holy terror to non-Muslims (infidels) who would have no rights and would be subject to execution under Sharia. They are more properly termed Islamists. Bush's characterization of bin Laden, et al as Islamo-fascists is completely erroneous. Theocracies are outside the traditional right vs left spectrum but are very repressive and authoritarian. Punishments are extremely severe, corruption is rampant and anything that contradicts accepted doctrine is fiercely suppressed. Islamists are the kind of religious EXTREMISTS that we had hoped that the world had grown out of. They are fanatically devoted to several causes- among which are the destruction of Israel and the US, motherhood, democracy and apple pie. We have our own extremists like Fred Phelps or Robertson. We're just don't usually elect them to any office with more responsibly than dog catcher. All rhetoric aside, Bush is an Episcopal which is one of the mellower Christian denominations. Although Christian Fundamentalists support and are represented in his administration, Bush constantly irritates them by taking socially moderate positions. There is another type of government that I characterize as the strong-man government. Saddam was a strong-leader because he enforced order by taking dissidents out and shooting them. A strong-man's politics can be either left or right. The strong-man rules by a cult of personality. They are characterized by being a very charismatic leaders that maintain power by appealing to popular opinion (populism). Chavez in Venezuela falls into this model as does Kim Il-Jong. These guys are quite dangerous to their own people and their neighbors as their power is completely unchecked. JS I would think that anyone who wants to kill people who don't believe the same things they do are facists, like Hitler was. Remember the holocaust?

Here's the problem, Aaron....we're really fighting an enemy that wants to kill us.....remember 9-11? They came here and attacked us first, and now we're fighting them in their land. If we weren't doing it there, we'd have to do it here.

There are so many mistakes in what you wrote I hardly know where to start. First of all, we arent a democratic republic...we're a constitutional republic. Second, we weren't founded on principals, we were founded on liberty. The people rule this nation, not one person or a few guys in a room in the Whitehouse. The people elected George Bush twice, and it infuriates the democrats that not only did he stomp Gore and Kerry, but he also has both houses of Congress. Most likely, he'll keep them in November too. You say that we were once the greatest nation on earth, but I think you need to look around...we're still the greatest nation on earth......I wouldn't move to another country for all the money in the world, and even if the terrorists were fighting us right here on our own soil, I'd want to stay here and fight. I'm not saying you wouldn't either, but I bet most of your sissy democrat friends wouldn't be willing to do that

Hi Kitty Here (I mean EU) some people think that the solution should come from the UNO. Unfortunately they are too weak to lead a world strategy and they miss the support of the States. "Si vis pacem, par bellum" To get peace, you must be ready to fight, but fight alone is wrong. Its not a question to be better but to be stronger, and US isnt it no more! Old Bob Excellent points, Bob. My use of the word "better" was in the moral sense. I think many Americans have this belief that we are superior to everyone else, just from our status as being Americans, without having to actually give it thought and back it up with behavior and actions. The result, as you say, is that the US is losing strength as well as its authority to make demands on the world community. I don't think it's hopeless yet. Depending on who we get as the next president, the US could re-establish its credibility on the world stage. (We'll leave the loss of economic power for another discussion so as to stay on the topic of Nick's blog entry ... although I guess it all does work together.) Retaining one's ability to act ethically and morally in the face of one's fear takes courage and discipline. I believe that is a big part of what our greatest religious and spiritual leaders have tried to teach us through the ages. We are morally superiour to all nations anyway...we give our money to everyone, and they bad mouth us in return. Tax dollars that come from Americans are given away to poor countries that ought to be finding a way to exist on thier own, and yet, somehow we're this awful nation with no morals? Give me a break.

So are you saying that we should have just let Iraq invade Kuwait and hold our citizens hostage (he also had American hostages if you do you research, you'll know that ) without acting?? That sounds like something the UN might want to do, or the democratic party would probably want to act like it wasnt happeneing, but it isn't the right thing to do.

How are you going to make sure that only the people who do their work are captured and killed? How do you propose to make sure that everyone with similar-sounding last names, or everyone in a particular village, or everyone that someone else, in the process of being tortured, said might possibly be involved is not rounded up, tortured, and killed in horrible ways, regardless of whether or not they actually are involved? If they're captured on the battlefield trying to kill our troops or with bombs strapped to their chests trying to blow up innocent people, most likely, they're the ones we're looking for

I think he was speaking Dutch

Haha...I need to go to Europe and write songs....where dont have to rhyme But I think it's sweet, too

Do the President of Iran or the leader of Hamas or Osama bin Laden fall in the middle? Those are our enemies, and the people who want to do their work have to be captured and killed until they're stopped.

Last night I got an IM from someone I know who is pretty much against all republicans no matter what the issue is. Usually, I am too, but I think they're right when it comes to defending the US from terrorism. Well anyway, she IM's me about some lunatic named Kieth Olberman, who has some show no one watches on MSNBC. He goes off on the president whenever he has a chance, but intellegent people pay him no mind because he's a loser. Anyway, I hate Bush for his politics. I hate that he wants to give old people prescription drugs and that he says he wants to ban gay marriage even though he's never actually tried. I also hate him because he called the US a democracy, and it isn't. The US is a republic, and only morons and people who don't understand our system of government don't know that. So anyway, Bush pretty much sucks, but he's right when it comes to the war on terror. People who say we shouldnt be in Iraq are fooling themselves. We're in a war against terror, and Saddam Hussein was financing terrorism by paying Palestinian suicide bombers' familes 25000 dollars for them to go into Isreal and blow themselves up. I just wish Bush would have said that was the reason we went. Instead, he said we were going for the WMD's, which Saddam had, but was able to smuggle to Syria before we invaded. Bush is also right that we have a responsibility to get information from terrorists we capture, no matter what we have to do to them. If it comes down to the life of my dad, my stepmom , my boyfriend and the rest of my family or a terrorist not being tortured, you're damn ass right I'm going to pick my family. People who think it's more important to be nice and sensitive to terrorists who want to murder us all for not believing in their sick idea's is a moron, and I'm not sorry to say it. So anyway, my friend is a little mad at me right now because I told her how I felt, and she thinks I'm wrong. I think she's wrong, and I wonder how she could feel that way when she has a husband and kids of her own that the terrorists would love to kill. I guess it just goes to show that when you're dealing with a weak party like the democrats, nothing should shock me.

It's never too late Much Love Devin

Wow, great pics, and I thnk I know a way for you to use them both....write two stories

Well, 9/11 came and went and there were all kinds of shows on TV about that day, and even one about the events leading up to it. I guess to me 9/11 represents something to be proud of. On that day when almost 3000 people lost their lives in the worst attack on our soil, we came together as a nation and for a little while, we weren't democrats and republicans. We were Americans. All of that seems to be gone now. In it's place, we have a country so divided that you can't talk about what happened on 9/11 without hearing somebody talk about politics. Mainly, it's coming from the democrats who want people to forget about that day. It's also coming from republicans who hope to take advantage of the democrat's weakness on national defense. Personally, I think it's all tacky. The most dsgusting thing I think I've heard all week is how people in New York need to move on and stop being "wusses." That people die everyday and that 9/11 was just another day when people died. Someone actually did post that on a forum, and I can give you the link to that forum if you don't believe me. I mean, it's one thing to want people to forget about 9/11 because that's the only way your party can win. But it's another to call the families of the 9/11 victims names because you're so upset with them for not letting that day be forgotten. Well, I'm never going to forget 9/11. I'll never forget the long line of cars in front of my school and panicking because I wasn't sure who was going to come pick me up, or if my dad was okay, or if we were going to be attacked some more. I'll also never forget seeing the headlines on the front page the next day. Pictures of people jumping from the WTC to escape the flames, and the hole in the pentagon. Or the courage of the people who fought back against the hijackers on flight 93. I'm proud of my country, I'm proud of my president, and I'm proud of our military. I'm glad we're in Iraq, and if we're still there in 2009, I'm going to do everything I can to go and serve the country I love. I'm proud that we took out a sponser of terrorism like Saddam Hussien. I'm proud that we made it possible for Iraqi's and Afghani's to vote for the first time in history. I'm proud that we're allies with Isreal, and I'm proud that on 9/11, we lowered the flag in our front yard to half staff to honor the memory of everyone who lost their lives on a day that no one should ever forget.

Happy Birthday The Zot!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CONNER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, so the first week of school is over and shockingly enough, I haven't got any major catastophic events to write about. The work seems pretty simple (so far) and it's kinda nice not to be at the bottom of the food chain anymore. Last year wasn't so bad, as far as being a freshman went, but it's nice to be able to say I'm a sophomore. I had a good talk with my dad yesterday on the way home from the doctors office. I had an appointment at 11 and had to leave school at 9:30, and on the way back, we talked about his attitude towards me and mine toward him. He told me that he knows how mad I am at him for not letting me get out and do stuff like he used to, but that he wants me to know that it's because he's not taking a chance with my heart. A couple of weeks ago, I got cleared from the cardiologist to do whatever I wanted as long as it wasn't too strenuous(sp), but then last thursday, I woke up in the middle of the night and my heart was racing fast and I couldn't breathe. My dad freaked out and rushed me to the emergency room and it turned out to be nothing. But because of the fact that I have a little hole in my heart, they ran a grip of tests to be sure before they sent me home. Well since then my dads been on the war path. He wont let me drink Red Bull, he wont let me go out and do anything(including a party I was supposed to go to last night) and he wont leave me alone. He wakes me up at ungodly hours of the night to make sure I'm sleeping okay and he's basically been driving me crazy. At the same time, while he's busy bugging the crap out of me about my heart, he's stressing me out about school. He wants to make sure I have all of my hw done and that I'm not staying up too late. He said that if he see's me doing my hw in the morning even one time this year he's going to break my computer So needless to say, we haven't had a civilized conversation in a while. That's why it was kinda nice to actually hear him say what's on his mind without also hearing, "If I catch you doing this, I'm taking your permit away," or "If you don't stay inside, I'll ground you from your computer." Basically, it feels like he's threatening to punish me if my heart doesn't get better. I know he's not really doing that, but that's how it feels. Of course, having said that, he also caught me trying to sneak out last night to the party I was supposed to meet my bf at, and I got stuck here at home. He didn't ground me or take away my computer though. He just made me stay home, which was his plan from the get go. Then I had to call my bf and tell him why he's dating a total loser who can't go out and do anything. Then, being the sweetheart that he is, my bf ditches the party and walks all the way here to see me so I'm not just stuck here by myself. So then this morningI get up and I check my email, and I couldn't believe it. I had one of the sweetest emails from someone who asked me if he could use one of my poems to take to his bf's grave with flowers and balloons. I can't believe my writing has that kind of effect on someone, and it really makes me stop to think about how lucky I am that some of the people who read my stuff found me. I know a lot of people write to thank me, but I think I should be thanking them. Boxerdude, Xiao_Chun and Afriendlyface are awesome for having links to my stuff in their sigi's, too. I really owe them a lot for the support they've given me, and I promise to make it worth it. You're all awesome, and I couldn't ask for better friends on GA than you guys So anyway, I worked a little on Chapter 32 of What's the difference, but then I went back to bed and had a crazy dream, then I woke up and here I am Ok, back to writing now Kisses Nick

Happy Birthday Trebs

I've already been through all of the crap you're trying, and the best thing to do to ayoid all of this is to try what I suggested in my first post...that's how I worked the banner in my sigi....I just linked to the image and wrapped the url around it. It's much easier than messing around with code.

You're best bet is to link to the image from a web page. If you want people to be able to click on the image and go to another site, just wrap the url around it as a link. In other words, [image] [/image] BTW, ditch the code.

Say hello to Luke for me, will you???

Thanks guys.....seeing this post cheered me up for my first day of school

I need an artist too

I know it's really messed up, but maybe he didn't have to suffer and he died doing what he loved the most. God Bless him and his family

Happy Birthday!!!!!!!

The following is a list of people who, one way or another, helped me get to a thousand posts here at Gay Authors. If I wasn't fighting with you in the soapbox about Hurricane Katrina, I was saying something irritating on an author forum somewhere to make your blood boil or make you say, "I agree" Or maybe you said, WTF??? A lot of the people listed here are dont post here anymore, but maybe they still come by to read the forums and the blogs, and if they do, thanks. I couldn't have done it without you :2hands: Shout Outs in no particular order Mark Arbour Snow Dog Rockntj Afriendlyface Cjames Boxerdude Kel Domluka "guest" Kurt Camy rekop1 Rhawes Drew Empathy Talonrider Jamessavick Rknapp All LRITE's All SRITE's All LGAITE's If I forgot you, please forgive me. I did this all by memory