The real world....not one in which the UN controls U.S. policy or our allies have veto power. You know, the kind Kerry wants.

I am a proud Bush Supporter. I am not Brainwashed. I know the difference between truth and propaganda. Get a clue!! Not everything you see in the movies is right. Why don't you watch unbiased news. Try fox or even msnbc. Liberal Media is not the truth!!! Bravo to Bush May you Win!!!!!!!!! 4 more years!

(((((((((Kathy))))))))))))) My heart goes out to you. I cannot imagine what it is like to be so close to "the action" like that and live with that over my head every single day. I do believe you are right about the targets being big name cities and not some small town in nowheresville (however, just think what that would do for the nation's psyche if that did happen - God forbid - remember the first moments of fear when the Oklahoma City bombing first occurred - before we knew it was done by an American citizen?) In my own opinion though, I do not believe it will make one whit of difference who is in power. When these terrorists want to attack - they will attack us no matter what. Bush probably will increase the risk because the terrorists really hate his guts (Osama bin Ladin certainly does - and his father - but even he stated it does not matter whether Bush or Kerry are in office, we we continue our policies as is - he will attack) My vote is for Kerry - I have my reasons why Bush will never, ever get my support. God help us if he gets (s)elected again.

I guess it's only fair that I post my own answers now. This is an email I sent to my dad after he forwarded me an editorial about why President Bush needs to stay in office. "I agree that this election has the potential to determine the fate of the nation. The view that the article takes is that the only way for America to be great is by beating other nations into submission and jamming Democracy down their throats. The view I take is that we are a nation that is scorned, sneered at, and in some cases hated throughout the international community. Whether or not we consider ourselves great is pretty irrelevant when we have no international support save for Great Britain. This election could herald the change that could launch America back into the realm of being a responsible world power, not a big fat bully. It's time to stop turning our backs on agencies we helped create (the UN), and start embracing international cooperation. We just can't do it alone. Turning President Bush out of the White House is not signaling that we won't accept leaders who have to make difficult decisions. It's yelling loud and clear that we voters, as the true owners of America, are sick of being lied to. We will no longer accept veiled reasoning and half-truths from the lips of men who harbor decades old vendettas. We will no longer accept knee-jerk reactions and cavalier proclamations as foreign policy. Turning President Bush out of the White House signals that we're ready to return to a period of diplomacy where, if we need to go to war, we go, but we do so with the support of our allies--idealogically and financially. Terrorist organizations are not afraid of President Bush. Did his war bring Saddam Hussein to justice? Yes. Did it also spur the creation and metastasis of terrorist organizations throughout SIXTY Middle Eastern nations? Yes. The absolute truth of the matter is that Iraq was no more dangerous to us when we invaded than was Turkey, Jordan, or Syria. It was our disruption, our pot-stirring that created the structural and social unrest needed to let terrorist groups regain a foothold. Did we get rid of Hussein? Yes. Did we create hundreds of mini-dictators in his place? Yes. The ousting of President Bush does not indicate that our administration is toppling. It indicates that Americans are ready to forge a new path and make actual change, rather than holding onto something that "kinda sorta wasn't too awful I guess". Americans historically have made difficult decisions, and this is no different. We man-handled Iraq into a regime change, and now it's time for voters to look upon our own society and undertake that process at home. Bush supporters proclaim their fearlessness, but how brave is it to cling to a system--a person--that doesn't work, and that made things worse not only abroad, but sweepingly so across the nation? It IS time to be brave, and cut the cord to the familiar, the usual, and the stagnant. This article looks solely at forein policy, and I wonder if that's because it's clear, even to the author, that the state of the American economy, job market, and education system is in shambles thanks to four years of half-hearted attempts to fix things. Numerous presidents presided over tragedies and recessions. This president is the first in 70 years to have a net loss of jobs. FDR was in the White House during Pearl Harbor, a similarly devastating attack, yet he still ended his fiscal year with jobs CREATED, and no major impact on the deficit. This president couldn't manage that and has sunk the United States into a multi-TRILLIAN dollar deficit after inheriting a multi-BILLION dollar surplus from the Clinton administration. This president also signed the No Child Left Behind Act, which has lofty goals but lacks the funding to do anything more than shut down schools that desperately need aid. The Act is designed to increase funding to the best performing schools (and thus decrease funding to the worst). The problem with this is that the schools with the worst performance are the ones who need help the most. Chicago Orr, a school where the football players share not only helmets and uniforms, but also books and school supploes--under NCLB, this school deserves less funding because it doesn't do well on standardized tests. Stevenson, on the other hand, where softball players can afford not only their own bats and gloves, but their own personalized catching gear--under NCLB this school deserves an INCREASE in funding because its predominantly white student body has a stellar record on standardized tests. Beyond secondary education, colleges and universities across the nation have had tuition spikes that are historically unheard of. Missouri in particular has averaged a 50-60 percent increase in tuition, when Pre-Bush, the average was in the 20-30 percent range. Where is the money for education? I wonder if it has anything to do with the trillion dollar defense budget that Bush has wrangled together. In one of the debates, President Bush was asked what he would say to a worker whose job has been outsourced. The President replied, "Now he can go to college." Besides the condescending, elitist nature of that comment, I wonder how this laid-off manual laborer can afford the tuition that's breaking the banks of employed couples across the nation. This election is absolutely crucial to the future of America. We can either continue to bully the international community (creating worse problems than when we started), as well as ignore the state of domestic affairs, or we can elect change. We can be courageous and take a stand against the lies, the broken promises, and the stalled progress that we've come to expect from the Bush administration. It's now time for MY generation to stand up and accept the political responsibility that we've long abdicated. Change is in the air, can you feel it?" Two issues I didn't mention in the email are women's issues (not just reproductive rights, but equality in the workplace) and human rights issues (gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender discrimination). Both of these topics are serious voting issues for me, and Bush doesn't really give a **** about either one.