My babbling mind did it again, woke me up this time for some reason it was working on Pride. Without any suggestion from me it has arrived at this: there are two types of pride. one is the arrogant kind, the one that thinks it is better than anyone else. The second one is the humble pride. The pride in what one has accomplished through one's labour. The child who has learned to tie his shoe laces. The man who built his own storage shed. The pride in over coming a disability, a handicap of some kind. The pride I have in what I can do with my voice in voice acting. I know its limitations and have learned to make the best of my voice that I can.

Hokay mind now can I go back to sleep?

Hi Nakia;

States' Rights is a odd topic for most people. The United States is just that in how it is organized in the US Constitution, each state is an independent country of it's own, that has been added the the Union, and has given some control, or Sovereignty, to the Federal Government. The 10th Amendment is the thing that says each state has control over everything that is not expressly put in as the responsibility of the Federal Government. The 10th Amendment is very often ignored by the US Congress and the President.
The UK is sort-of organized in a similar way. To a lesser extent so is the European Union. Switzerland is a confederate kind of union, and the Swiss "States" are more independent then the States in the US.

I do tend to agree with you on not always Loving the US, but most of the time I do.

Got to go...

Mr. K

Nakia/Mr K. :Being from the UK and having read up on various bits and pieces of info over the years, as well as visiting the USA twice my understanding of States Rights etc is essentially this. Please excuse me if I don't get this entirely right.


From what I understand individual states are therefore responsible for their own internal policy etc but must continually abide by the constitutional laws of the United States of America. Any state that breaks that covenant is guilty of usurpation.

In a nutshell and to cut a long story short its like this. Essentially the Tenth Ammendment states that "powers not granted to the federal government by the Constitution, nor prohibited to the States, are reserved to the States or the people."

Anyone who foolishly compares the UK system of goverment to the US one and then claims they understand it better and are far more entitled to comment like in another forum I read lately is clearly something of a jackass. For a start the UK is a Constitutional Monarchy whereas America is governed by the system of Federalism.You can't compare the systems, yes they're both democratic but they're not the same.

"Federalism is a political concept in which a group of members are bound together by covenant." In the case of the USA this covenant is clearly the constitution.

From Wiki: A Constitutional Monarchy is a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of state within the guidelines of a constitution, whether it be a written, uncodified, or blended constitution. This form of government differs from absolute monarchy in which an absolute monarch serves as the source of power in the state and is not legally bound by any constitution and has the powers to regulate his or her respective government.
Most constitutional monarchies employ a parliamentary system in which the monarch may have strictly ceremonial duties or may have reserve powers, depending on the constitution. Under most modern constitutional monarchies there is also a prime minister who is the head of government and exercises effective political power. There also exist today several federal constitutional monarchies. In these countries, each subdivision has a distinct government and head of government, but all subdivisions share a monarch who is head of state of the federation as a united whole.

Let me point out once again the differences in that a monarch acting within the guidelines of the constitution is not all similar to a President. The monarch gains his/her position by heredity means not by elective.

Sorry for the long comment but thats the way I understand it. I know people from the US will know far more about it than I do thats non debatable. I just thought it best to show not all of us are niave morons and do their best to understand something before they run off at the mouth.

Oh and Nakia/Mr K please take note of this particular quote, I'm sure you're familiar with it:

"I believe friendly debate is a good thing, it helps bring more understanding and should be encouraged.

And I believe this is worth fighting for regardless of the cost.

But I have found many on this forum do not believe people should be able to speak freely, they use very trick in the book to have their say and deny me my say. Resorting to racism, fascism and many other things to silence me and I have seen them do it to others.

They all claim to believe in freedom of speech but none of them seem to know how to apply it to people they meet. It always seems to be about their right to speak freely and nobody elses.

That in my book is the very nature of fascism."

Ironic since theres a great deal I consider fascist about banning people for speaking their mind. Isn't banning a form of silencing opposition when they disagree with you?

Hi Chris,
I have never taken a Political Science course and anything I know I have learned by research and discussions on the Internet. I know very little about how governments of other countries work and so very seldom comment on those topics.

The USA is a Federal Constitutional Republic. The Constitution is the basis of our Union and our laws.

I am not feeling very good today so I will get back to this later.

Thanks for posting Chris.

Hi Chris;

You are basically correct, in that the individual States are responsible for their own internal policy, and the States have to follow Federal Law and the US Constitution. But the US Constitution, limits the Federal Government in many ways, and over the years the Congress and President have found many ways to get around the limits on the US Government, and taken a lot of Power from the States, and made the States weaker, and the Federal Government bigger and stronger.

You are also right, that most people have very little knowledge of how other Governments work. And I would add to that, that most people don't know much about their own Government, or how it works.

On TEG, the point of ever looking at that Site, is to learn about Mods, and Modding, and there are a lot of related topics for the Members of TEG, Politics is not related to Modding of Computer Games, other than how the Laws for the effects of Laws, and political decisions effect the sometimes controversial aspects of Gaming.

Introducing a Deeply Political Topic like Gun Control, in the wake of the Newtown massacre, was a very bad idea for a Web-Site that has members that all like to play Computer Games, and are from all over the World. Leave that kind of discussions to web-sites that say they are a Political discussion site that will let you know they are a Political site. Sites like http://www.heritage.org/ The Heritage Foundation, is a Conservative-Small-Government Think-Tank site, and is well researched, and have many Political Thinkers working to gather and organize Political Thought, could be a place to read about Gun Control, or the Freedom of Speech, or for that matter Fascism (a weak form of Socialism).

So really, I don't think this Saloon is a very good place for Politics, it will make us all look foolish at some point.

But for short discussions about some broad Political topic, or questions about something in Politics that is confusing is good to have on sites like this one. BUT everyone in the discussion must stay focused on the topic as a discussion, not a place to Rant about some "Sound Bite", or "Talking Point" that the Politically active News Media has promoted as a way to sale advertizing space.

Political stuff in here, and this post is already way too long.

Spoiler:

I Talk too Much

Mr. K

I like discussing politics as long as it is impersonal, no mud slinging. I do not know much about other governments. Not sure how much I really know about our own.

I understand that the formal name of Australia is Commonwealth of Australia and the it is Constitutional Monarchy. The powers and procedures of the government are defined by the Constitution but the head of State is the Queen.

Here is a quote from the australia.gov.ay site.
"The birth of our nation is often referred to as 'federation'. This is because the Constitution created a 'federal' system of government. Under a federal system, powers are divided between a central government and individual states. In Australia, power was divided between the Australian Government and the six state governments."

This sounds similar to what we did in the USA when thirteen colonies joined together to form a Federal government.

Nakia/Mr K. My interest in politics is only when its concerned with history. If you wanted to chat about a new Defence Secretary of the US or a new governer of Louisiana I'd be bored silly.

Nakia: You are right Australia is a very similar form of government. A more notable Federation is of course Russia. In the UK where we have governments for Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland its very different because they came about from a system of Devolution. What this means is the British government allow them a measure of independence but it can also be taken away because its not written into the Constitution. This is the best explanation from Wiki to show the difference between the UK and the USA:

"Devolution differs from federalism in that the devolved powers of the subnational authority ultimately reside in central government, thus the state remains, de jure (in law) unitary. Legislation creating devolved parliaments or assemblies can be repealed or amended by central government in the same way as any statute."

Then of course you have other systems of governments too such as Confederation like in Switzerland. As well as the historical American Confederacy.

Interesting, so "States" Rights can be abolished by an act of the Parliament? The Federal Government in the USA could abolish States Rights by amending the Constitution but that is easier said than done. The Amendment has to be ratified by 2/3 rd of the States. So the states would have to be willing to give up their rights. Other wise the Supreme could strike the law down as unconstitutional.

Essentially yes but to do such a thing would be very bad form and not very British. I think the system is there mainly to deter the possibility of the UK breaking up. As you'll know from history Britain has had its share of civil wars especially in medieval times so maintaining unity is something of a priority. Its not as if anyone feels their rights are being compromised because they aren't even if it might appear that way.

Yes ammending the Constitution of the US is a very difficult prospect.

Thanks Chris;

I lack a lot of basic info about the UK, and anything about how their Government works is fascinating.

The Constitutional Amendment being worked on now is the Balanced Budget Amendment, it is the only way we will ever get our National Budget and Debt in order, and maybe not even then. It may take a bit of an Uprising by the States to force it on the Washington Politicians.

Mr. K

Mr. K wrote:

I lack a lot of basic info about the UK, and anything about how their Government works is fascinating.

Believe me its not so fascinating when you have to live under it.

Mr. K wrote:

It may take a bit of an Uprising by the States to force it on the Washington Politicians.

Uprising? That sounds like rebellion to me. Civil War Mark 2 on the way?

Right now in the UK we have a government that no one wanted and shouldn't be trusted to run a race, never mind a country!

Government and how it works is interesting. In fact the USA just had an election that proves that Mother Nature can affect the outcome of an election. I didn't come up with the phrase "Frankenstorm Sandy won the election for Obama" some news commentator did. It was considered a very close election but because of the storm and Obama's swift response to it the East Coast states ended up voting for him. Even Virginia fell into line and late night voted with a very small margin for him.

So what does this prove? That Mother Nature favors the incumbent?

Just checked mileage between New York city and London, UK and NYC and San Francisco.
From New York to London is a little over 3400 miles.
From New York to San Francisco 2900 miles.

ION: Bet you didn't know that I almost became an Australian. Yep, when I was small my mother considered immigrating to Australia. Don't know why she changed her mind. I think that would have been fun. I would have missed my grandparents though. The rest of the family I could have done without.

Australia is pretty awesome.

Yes it is. Part of my wishes she had immigrated but then I would have to curtsy to the royalty and that is against my principles. So I guess it is better she didn't. On the other hand I was very young so many I would have developed different principles. Who knows?

I don't think you'd have to. Unless you actually met her and wanted to follow protocol.

Some how I doubt I would ever be invited to meet the Queen or any member of royalty although I did meet Lord and Lady Somebody. He was one of big shots in the company that owned the company I worked for. I jokingly told my cousin Karin I would need to practice curtsying and she got angry at me. "We do not curtsy to foreign nobility" Something like that in a very annoyed tone.However the company party where we met them was rather mandatory. I understood they (the brass) kept a list of who attended. We have our protocol and ways of enforcing it.

For some reason I have gotten off on an Australian streak. Guess old age is catching up with me and I keep thinking of what might have been.
I am Australian

Well, I almost was.

Hokay, I'm on a roll. Here is another song from my childhood. I had an aunt who could sing it in Welch.
Men of Harlech

Hokay, that is out of my system so now I am going to babble about New York City. I love New York City. I lived in Brooklyn for twenty five years the longest I ever lived in any one place. New York city is divided into five Burroughs which are also state counties. Manhattan is New York county, Queens is Queens, Brooklyn is Brooklyn, Staten Island is Richmond and the Bronx is the Bronx.

I first lived in Manhattan for a year and then moved to Brooklyn were I lived for twenty five years. NYC has a population of over 8 million in an area of roughly 784 KM making the most densely populated city in the US. Over 800 languages are spoken in NYC it is one of the most linguistically diverse areas in the world. The five Burroughs were consolidated into a single city in 1898. Manhattan, the original New York is an island, so is Staten Island. The Bronx lies to the north of Manhattan on the mainland. Brooklyn and Queens are located on the west end of Long Island. Which is exactly that a very long island. From time to time one of the Burroughs other than Manhattan makes noises about succeeding. Brooklyn does that a lot.

I am not going to say much about the Bronx because to be honest I probably know more about London, Paris and Rome than I do about the Bronx. I lived a year in Queens before actually moving to NYC and I didn't like it. Too many dead end streets and I was always getting lost when driving. Staten Island I mainly know from friends who lived there and the fact that during rush hour is one long parking lot as far as I am concerned. I know that isn't fair but I do have have my prejudices.

Manhattan however is absolutely marvelous. The city which never sleeps is a good description of it. You can go out any time of day or night and find delis, restaurants, entertainment places open. You can get free entertainment just walking around seeing all the weird things going on. If you see a bunch of people protesting it is best stay clear of them and observe from a distance. Sometimes they get rambunctious and the police aren't always particular about who they arrest.

Oops made a mistake. Time to take a break. To be continued.

Just what it says a map of New York city showing the five Burroughs.

[img][/img]

Hi Nakia;

Good map. I have always been a little confused on how NYC, is arranged on the map, and this one explains a lot.

Mr. K

I knew there was a reason I liked you Nakia. You are an aussie, you just were not born here and don't live here(yet). I met my wife when she was backpacking in oz, she is german/italian and said she didn't really 'fit' in europe. When she first arrived, she found out that she was an aussie straight away. We met about seven months into her working holiday. We were married three months later. This was in 2004. On january 26 (australia day) 2012 Anne became an Australian Citizen. Come on Nakia, visit us sometime. I would bet anything (within reason) that you will love the place and want to stay. Immigration touting AR.

analog, I wish I could afford to visit and I think you are right I would want to stay. When I was young I was given some books about Australia and I fell in love with it. After getting on the Internet I met a young man (15) from Australia on a game forum. We chatted about it a bit. Just reinforced the feeling. My only complaint is you keep the good beer for yourself and send us the Bud type. The wine y'all send isn't bad though.

When I lost my sight I made up a game world based on Australia rather loosely. I think game developers are missing out not paying more attention to the Southern Hemisphere and real life fantasy of Australia and New Zealand. They are to locked into what I will call the European Syndrome for lack of a better phrase.