Well, since Daniel has twitted moi, I'll respond to you. The current administration has made their feelings about checks and balances be well known. From day 1 cheney has said he felt that the office of the president had too much power stripped from it after nixon. The number of signing statements authored by bush shows how much he is willing to answer to others.

And checks-and-balances really showed their effectiveness as the administration put together their packet of lies in the run-up to the Iraqi war.

>>>You speak as if this islamic world has one single mind. Those among them who would want Sharia out of their hair can be easily quashed by the fundamentalists who'd just have to say "look how Christian priests make laws in USA".
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>>>Forgot about setting an example?
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>>That is a spurious argument at best. Those among Muslim populations who don't want Sharia are already being quashed by the fundamentalists that insist they aren't truly Muslim if they don't. And, it's the fundamentalists with the weapons, so guess who makes the rules.
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>One could equally argue that those among the Serbs who were against all the wars were being quashed by the staunch Slobists who insisted they weren't true Serbs and patriots if they dissented. And it was the Slobists who had the weapons, so guess who was making the rules.
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>But in the end, who won? And how? Sloba did have a majority for quite a while, but eventually lost it. This minority of dissenters managed to overturn the popular vote.
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>If you don't like a regime in some country, fighting it openly only makes the outside attacker someone to rally against. Which is why Sloba didn't fall in 1999 - the bombing bought him a whole year of extra time, just when he was running out of palpable enemies to point his finger to.
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>>Besides, it isn't "Christian priests making laws" over here. Religious groups influence politicians, as do any large groups of voters. But our system of checks and balances, for the most part,
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>...is already dismantled. I don't see it having too many teeth left.
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>> deals with overtly religious laws and actions by governments if necessary. Witness the furor over having Ten Commandment displays on government property.
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>>So that whole line of thinking - that they "might" see "Christian priests make laws in USA" - is invalid.
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>Sloba killed nobody. Others did that. He was still responsible for pushing/enticing them.