I thought that I may write about why I call this the Extreme Centrist and go back in time from the beginning. I guess the first time I felt the need to put the word out was back in Pearce Jr. High School in Austin Texas back in 1969 when I and a few friends put out a small underground newspaper. We only put out two papers before we had to stop because of financial reasons. Our first paper was simply called The Free Press and the second was called Nirvana. Today it's no big deal for young people to put out an underground paper, but back then it was. I did the art work and some writing. After our first paper the school told us that we could no longer hand out our paper on school grounds. We were also told that we could be sued for an article we wrote in which we pretended to have an interview with one of our coaches but didn't really. It was done in a funny way so I think that saved us from a law suit. We were young and thought that free speech meant that we could write whatever we wished. The local newspaper wrote an article about us which made my parents and the school pretty upset at us. We later went to an underground paper called," The Rag" near U.T. to ask for suggestion on how we could keep our paper going. They offered as much help as they could but we just couldn't come up with the funds to keep it going. I was pretty far left at that time and against the war. Back then they had the draft which everyone hated. This was my main reason for my hating the war. It was very unfair because if you had enough money you could always find a way out, which meant that us poorer guys ended up being the ones having to fight and die. Another thing was that nobody could give us a clear reason for us being there. We didn't trust the guys that we were fighting for. It seemed like everyone was the enemy and no one could be trusted. Some of the guys that came back from Viet Nam would tell us that if you wanted to live then you should shoot at everything that moved. Also the war was fought with limited warfare which meant that they couldn't fire at ships that would bring them fuel and arms and other such rules which made it seem as if they never wanted the war to end. Later the draft ended when I turned 18 so I was very lucky. I remember that 1968 and 69 there were very few of us freaks, or what you may call hippies. We were way out numbered and were hated very much. You have to remember that America had never lost a war so we were treated like traders for trying to stop it. One day a freak couple asked to have a meeting with our small band of freaks, so we had one at a friend's house. They told us a story about how some rednecks chased them into the woods, beat them and smeared feces all over them. After telling us this sad story they wanted to make it very clear that they didn't want to discourage us but only to thank us for being so brave and standing up to so many. Back then the government would look the other way when people wanted to beat us or even kill us. It was as if it were legal to kill hippies back then because the government would always protect those people that came after us. We were treated the same way they used to treat blacks back in the old days. It felt like they missed those old days and needed some other group to hate. They still hated blacks but couldn't attack them like they used to so they went after the next best thing which was us. They would say things like, blacks can't help being black but whites that helped blacks were to be hated even more than they. I remember supporting the Black Panthers and trying to get other blacks to support them. We would tell them that if they didn't support them we would call them Uncle Toms. I don't remember having to call anyone that. I would help with my art work skills, like drawing a large fist with the words Black Power on the back of a friends wind breaker and stuff like that. Being young freaks we felt that it was our duty to try and be a little more radical because the older freaks could very easily be killed for doing the same thing. Like when you see very young people throwing rocks at army troops in some troubled region of the world. We could get away with a lot more than the older guys. That's not to say that we were super radicals or something. We were just your average radicals of the time. We would sometime be called Yippies in those days. Some of the things that I remember we did were things like pulling down the flag half mask on Memorial Day or perhaps it may have been Veterians Day. I believe they didn't call it Memorial Day back then. I know you must be thinking that the flag should have been half mask on that day but I think they hated that we would wear our black armbands so they keep it up. One day I remember coming to school wearing a large red, white and blue banner like a cape. We would get into arguments about the war, legalizing pot, going on fasts, and writing anti war stuff on the chalk boards and just a bunch of stuff like that which drove them crazy. I can remember once when a few of us were standing around the main hallway when slowly we began to notice that a large number of unfriendly people were surrounding us. I also noticed some teachers look at us and then duck into a room, like they were affriad to interfear. The croud began to get nearer and nearer making it impossible to escape. All of a sudden we began to start shouting,"hell no we won't go,"which was one of one of our anti war cries of the time. We keeped it up until even the teachers couldn't pretend not notice us any more. This was clearly a smart move. One time there were a higher number police cars driving around our school as if they knew something was about to happen. The principals office asked that we have a meeting between the three groups, the blacks the freaks and the straights. We called them the straights because they didn't get high like we did. It had nothing to do with being gay. They would call themselves the silent majority because they were the majority and not as vocal as we were. I remember that before we could even begin the meeting that we had to get the straights to not call the blacks, niggers. They finally agreed and we could now let in the blacks. There were two people representing each group. I would be one of the freaks. We talk things out and had a good meeting in which we agreed not to fight. This is one time the school did something good for a change. There were a large number of blacks at my school so we were glad to have them as an ally. You would think that all of the blacks would like us but there were a few that hated us. At first I couldn't understand this but later figured it out. You see these blacks were too afraid to show there anger to the majority but found there courage when they saw a small group like us. Most of the protests and speeches were done at the University of Texas where we made our paper with the help of my friends professor dad. I went to two large protests at that time. One started from U.T. and ended up at the capitol. The other was near the capitol but wasn't a legal protest like the other. The police would arrest you if you got off the sidewalk. I'll never forget seeing every kind of cop there was looking like they wanted to beat us so badly. I remember feeling a little scared when I first saw them but later became brave with a kind of mob mentality. A few of us would give pig calls to the police because we would call them the pigs back then and we wanted to make them angry. Another time , myself and some friends were driving around out in the country when we were pulled over by some sheriffs department guys. They were telling us that we were breaking laws that I'm sure they were making up. As they were leaving I called them "pig assholes." They turned around and grabbed me and threw me into the front seat of there car. I was in between both of them. They looked down and asked me which club I would like to be beaten with. One club was there offical club and the other was a custom made one.This was one of those times when your brain is racing to think of a way to save your ass. All of a sudden I said that I was speaking to the girl driving and not them. I don't know if they may have believed me or if there were too many witnesses or they just wanted to scare me, but they let me go. Most of the people then were very nonviolent. I remember that I would think of the nonviolent pacifist as being like Jesus people because they were so peaceful and not like us yippie types. These are the same kind of people that are today's anti war protesters. They will always be against war until they literally see the enemy is coming for them. So unless someone is after there head, don't expect them to change. If people today wonder why there are so few anti war protesters with this new war, it's because they only have the support of these pacifist types. People like me who were more to the center may not be with them this time. Anybody who thinks that today's war and the Viet Nam war are somehow the same, have no idea of what there talking about. I can see how a pacifist may see them as being the same because they hate all wars or any kind of killing for whatever reason. Americans never wanted to have to kill in World War II, for instance, but where would we be today if we had not. To me the far right and the far left are the same. Both are too far out there to be taken seriously. Sure it's entertaining to listen to the far right or far left radio shows. I don't think anybody would be entertained by listening to a center view radio show. The far right started the hate radio and later the left made Air America to try and combat them. The right would say that the media is too far left so they came up with there radio to combat them. I think that the main media is a little to the left and so I can see why they started this hate radio war. The difference is that the right uses hate to get people to listen. I understand why the left felt the need to fight back with there own hate radio. I also understand why they feel they should be Bush bashers after the way the right bashed Clinton. I can't blame them one bit but somehow wish that they would have been the bigger person and not have tried to become the same as they are. If people can't understand why the left only has one radio station and the right has many, it's because the left are trying to be like something they aren't. To me the left have a kinder nature and are a bit out of there element. The same way Jesus was a kinder type. I think most people would agree that Jesus was to the left. He loved the poor and the unwanted which caused the religion to be such a huge revolution all over the world. A simple idea that spread like wildfire. Most people understood, in there heart, that this was Gods messenger, or even the son of God as many believe. To me the lesson of Jesus is that kindness is greater than hate. I see people as having two sides and only one can be greater. I think that each person should have this understanding in there heart but also each person needs to be able to listen to the other side when it is needed. Life isn't always a bed of roses. No matter how much love you may have for Jesus one needs to be ready to put down there cross and pick up a gun when called. One can not turn the other cheek when one doesn't have a head. One can not spread the word of God when one is dead. As with every war, both sides clam that God is on there side. Ask yourself this question, do you believe God is a kind merciful God or a curl hateful God. As for myself I believe that no one may ever know for sure until they die. I also believe that if you would like to know the answer then just look into your own heart. I don't believe like most that God controls everything that happens on earth. I believe that if there is a God he is far from us and can not help us or hurt us until we die. I believe that God is counting on us all to choose the correct answer by simply looking into your own heart because we are the same. Like us, I believe God has two sides but one must be greater than the other. We all have the ability to be good or bad. I sometimes feel like life is a big test and if we want to have a good place in the next life then we must choose wisely. Maybe you feel the same way. Like this war in Iraq. The easy thing for me to do would be to jump on the anti war anti Bush bandwagon. The only problem is, is that I feel deep in my heart that this would be the wrong decision for me to make. We help create this monster call Saddam Hussein. We sold him arms because we hated Iran so much. The left like to point this out. Most of us have seen the infamous photo of Rumsfield shaking Saddams hand that the left like to show. I believe that this is the reason we should be the ones to destroy him. If not us, then who? After he invaded Kuwait I think it was or duty to send him back home. I believe that the current war there is just part II of the first war because he didn't live up to his agreement by not allowing the U.N. inspectors to do there job. Everyone thought that he had weapons of mass destruction. Even the U.N. thought he had them. Now people will say that we should have known better. There are so many Monday morning quarterbacks with 20/ 20 hindsight. They will tell you that they knew what nobody else knew, which is such a joke. They will also say that this war is about oil. There is truth in this statement also. It's true that America is hook on oil just as it's true that Iraq is the pusher. When we saw Saddam pay suicide bombers for killing Israelis, then it's not hard to figure out where the money is coming from. Seeing these people being blown to bits and knowing where the funding is coming from is just too much for many in this country. Hearing about the rape rooms and all the different ways of torture and all the mass graves, it's hard to think that we had nothing to do with it. I know that there are many who could care less about there people. It's very easy for them to look the other way and say it's not our problem. I can't understand how these same people will say how we made this monster Saddam and yet think that it's not our problem. It's like setting someone's house on fire and saying that's it's not my problem. Yes I understand that there are many bad people in charge of countries, but it's different when we have blood on our hands, like many on the left like to point out. My worry is that the Democratic Party will be seen as being too weak at fighting this new kind of war. I think that many in our party are blinded by hate for George W. Bush that they see him as the enemy and not the Islamo fascist. They will even tell you this themselves. This war isn't going too magically disappear when we have a Democratic president in office. How is it going to help us if we are attacked when we are running things and not be attacked when the Republicans are in charge? I've heard many people say that Bush planed and carried out 9-11. That Bush blew up the levies in New Orleans, that he caused global warming. You name it, Bush caused it. These same people will then say that Bush is a moron. Which is it? Either he's the smartest person in the world or he's the dumbest. All of these kinds of statements will be used in the future to show how we cared more about hating Bush then face the true problem which was going on before Bush was elected. They will even say that we are helping the fascist. They are already saying that. Yesterday I heard a man say, Democrats kill marines, on the radio. This is what I'm talking about. This will be one of there bumper stickers, if it isn't already. Like it or not Bush is our leader. When we endlessly attack the leader of our country then it's not hard to see why they feel this way. Of course we need to speak up when we don't agree but who's going to listen when so many keep crying wolf day after day. Why should they listen? Why can't we put or differences aside and focus on the real problem. It's only a matter of time before they hit us again. Maybe if we work together then we may be able to stop some of there attacks and save alot of American lives.