Outsourcing

As I read the news of the plethora of Presidential issues that need to be addressed, I still fail to see any answers to outsourcing.

Mr Bush follow's the doctrine of helping business, which isn't bad. However it doesn't address the problems of corporate greed in exploiting the vast and fast new Broadband supply which allows service jobs to be performed overseas for a fraction of the cost.

Likewise, Mr Kerry has a pro union position which will do little to aid those most severely impacted by the continuing migration of work to cheaper sources.

Businessmen follow the creed of Gordon Gecko. Greed is good. In their quest to gain advantages and up their stock a few dollars, they have no regard for the middle class or their displaced workers.

What these stock worshippers have forgotton is it is not a right to run a business here, it's a priviledge.

My answer to the outsourcing problem is simple. If a company is US based and contracts a services position overseas, tax the difference between what it's paying for the overseas asset and the fair market wage in the US. If Microsoft hires 1000 programmers in India for 500 dollars a month, the US Government needs to tax them 65,000 dollars per Indian and also surtax them for Health coverage for those displaced workers.

Removing Tax incentives is not punishment, as Mr Kerry suggests. Giving Small Business is not the answer, as Mr Bush suggests. Neither will have any effect.

The only way is to hit companies where it counts, in their wallet.

The problem is the Washingtonians stopped working for the people a long time ago, and now work for the special interests. The Special interests are the same companies who are outsourcing people en masse.

The answer is a grass roots push, and massive lawsuits against companies unfairly outsourcing. A few lawsuits will not be an issue, but when they turn into hundreds with an endless amount of red tape and bad press, then perhaps we'll see a shift in the tide..

The WOW Factor

In the 1980s, the Japanese Auto Makers burst on the scene and revolutionized the car industry. They didn't do this by offering anything new, or by creating a paradigm shift. They simply offered a better product. These cars were more reliable, better made, and with more options for less price. Americans started to purchase their vehicles en masse and it created a panic within the Big Three US auto companies. The Big Three in turn made wholesale changes and re-engineered their cars to be competitive with the much more reliable and better made Japanese ones.

World of Warcraft is the MMORPG equivalent of what happened to the Big 3. Right now there are a few dominant MMOs, that have been staying in cruise control. When WOW is released, the industry will have to combat a stunning, well coded, detailed re-engineered MMO masterpiece. Once Blizzard releases their baby, I predict many will flock to it for the same reasons they bought Toyota's and Honda's, it is a better product.

There is no revolution or wholesale design change when one looks at WOW. It offers many of the things that Everquest and Dark Age of Camelot offer. What differentiates WOW from these two, is it has fixed the problems that plagued many, and is a far superior product. The graphics are nice and do not require a Cray to run. The quests are done much, much better. The land and immersion is superior.

Worlds of Warcraft will not kill any of the big MMO players. Mainly because these games are not about the world, but moreso about the people one is playing with. However, it will hurt them and cause them to look closely and makes changes to try and stay competitive.

At the end of the day, WOW will release not only a single powerful MMO, but it will cascade changes across the board and advance the genre moreso than if it were something completely different.

Woe is us!

In watching the DNC convention it strikes me odd that we in America are all doing bad, and gloom and doom permeates. We must be saved.

If we elect Kerry, all our poor citizens will have jobs, health care coverage will be fixed, social security will be sorted, and he'll even do the robot dance to boot just to entertain you.

According to the DNC, our country is doing poor and only one man can save us from the foul, evil bastions of darkness, the Republicans.

The only problem with all these hard luck stories and Republican finger pointing episodes is that they portray a false picture of where we are. Yes, we do have some big issues regarding health coverage, outsourcing, and trade agreements, but our economy is doing well and most Americans are doing better than they were 4 years ago.

There were a lot of good jobs created, and there is a lot of positive momentum in regards to both our economy and the situation in Iraq. Checking out the DNC convention, you'd think we were in the middle of the second episode of the Great Depression.

The DNC has some good issues, but in pushing a partisan Bush bash agenda, they have ensured that they will go lower than the lowest Karl Rove speech. Attack. Attack. Attack. The only problem is when someone like myself watches all these attacks, and see's the outright false message being sold it does quite the opposite of selling the Democratic party to me.

Terry McAuliffe has been an overtly vocal nastyman for the DNC for months, and I understand he's playing the bad cop. That said, John Kerry is no Bill Clinton and when you debate and make the main issue personal attacks then you will alienate many fringe voters.

Its a shame that we didn't see a convention promoting ideas, differences between the parties, and a healthy dose of information as to why we should vote for their man. All we got was the same political rhetoric repackaged and pushed out in a way that helps keep that nasty, partisan edge.

People are surpised nobody is watching the convention. Nobody should be. Reruns tend to get low ratings.

The Microsoft gaming woes

Microsoft owns the personal computer operating system market. That is a simple fact, and allows them tremendous leverage in marketing and selling other products. Not that they need to, mind you, since they make tens of billions from one piece of software every year.

They are powerful and use the Washington Lobby to perfection in a perfect dance allowing them to maintain their monopoly, crush any challengers, and still keep an appearance of being benevolent.

Microsoft was slow to move to the Internet. However, once they realized its potential, owning that market and controlling what goes on their OS has made them the software gatekeeper of our times. The demise of Netscape, which had the killer application of the Internet revolution should be proof of MS' ability to have its way on personal computers.

When it comes to games, however, the MS brass do not get it. Sure, they have a few hits like Dungeon Siege or Age of Empires. That said, you look at the next generation MMORPG games, and Microsoft is as far behind now as they were in 1996 with the Internet.

Asherons Call 2 was a disaster and despite heavy marketing and money, sold poorly. Mythica was cancelled after years and millions funding it. Microsoft's rival Sony owns the market with Everquest, and with Everquest2 and Worlds of Warcraft both being released this year, MS will continue to fall behind.

Micrsoft, in typical fashion, is trying to buy its way in, hiring the Everquest Architect Brad Mcquad to attempt to stop the bleeding and to get in on this market. Will it work? Time will tell as it seems Sigil's game won't be out for a while. However, if Microsoft insists on using it's technology, then I predict the same result that occured when they tried to migrate hotmail from Solaris to NT.

MMOs will be a multi billion dollar industry soon. I wonder how many of those billions will be revenue from Windows inserted into the gaming domain to try to crush the MMO equivalent of Netscape.

Power corrupts......absolute power...absolutely

The truth regarding absolute power corrupting has been proven many times. However, the latest evidence comes from our humble gardener, Saddam.

According to the AP, Hussein appears depressed and demoralized in solitary confinement, spending his time writing poetry, tending a garden and reading the Quran.

I have a tough time comparing Saddam to Sam Gamgee, but really it does make one think what would've happened if this man had not wrestled power away in a Ba'ath power struggle, and had followed a different road.

If we look at ruthless leaders, it's easy to forget that they were not born megalomaniacal villains, but were products of power.

Josef Stalin studied for the priesthood.

Adolph Hitler's goal was to be an artist, but he was rejected from the Academy of Fine Arts.

I look at the situation in Sudan, and realise that dictatorship is a step up from anarchy, but recalling the nastiness done by those in positions of power really makes it the lesser of two evils.

This week at the Democratic convention in Boston, while all the self important people explain how our lives should be, and our money should be spent, I hope they take a moment and realize that the Darfurs, like the Auschwitz' of the past demand our attention, and that the future priests, gardeners and artists should be given the chance to fulfill their dreams in democracies.

Moving Sucks

After spending the previous month packing and moving my stuff, my sole link to sanity was comedy. Nobody is better at making one realise how silly life is than Stephen Wright...

In that vein, and since I need comedy more than I need another GW, JK, or MMO rant, I present you random Stephen Wright quotes, which make as much sense as moving does:

• What's another word for "thesaurus"?
• When I get real bored, I like to drive downtown and get a great parking spot, then sit in my car and count how many people ask if I'm leaving.
• When I was a kid, we had a quicksand box in the backyard. I was an only child . . . eventually.
• I bought some batteries, but they weren't included. So I had to buy them again.
• For my birthday I got a humidifier and a dehumidifier. I put them in the same room and let them fight it out.
• I bought a house on a one-way dead-end road. I don't know how I got there.
• I have a hobby. I have the world's largest collection of sea shells. I keep it scattered on beaches all over the world. Maybe you've seen some of it.
• My school colors were clear.
• I stayed in a really old hotel last night. They sent me a wakeup letter.
• I'm taking La maze classes. I'm not having a baby, I'm just having trouble breathing.
• When I was in high school, I got in trouble with my girlfriend's Dad. He said, "I want my daughter back by 8:15." I said, "The middle of August? Cool!"
• My girlfriend's weird. One day she asked me, "If you could know how and when you were going to die, would you want to know?" I said, "No." She said, "Okay, forget it."
• I went for a walk last night and she asked me how long I was going to be gone. I said, "The whole time."
• My buddy got busted for counterfeiting. He was making pennies. They caught him because he was putting the heads and tails on the wrong sides.
• He's in a minimum security prison now; he's on a whiffle-ball and chain.
• Hermits have no peer pressure.
• Whenever I think of the past, it brings back so many memories .
• There's a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot.
• How much deeper would the ocean be if sponges didn't live there?
• Did Washington just flash a quarter for his ID?
• I just got skylights put in my place. The people who live above me are furious.
• Imagine if birds were tickled by feathers.
• I got stopped by a cop the other day. He said, "Why'd you run that stop sign?" I said, "Because I don't believe everything I read."
• It doesn't matter what temperature a room is, it's always room temperature.
• Yesterday, my eyeglass prescription ran out.
• I'm a peripheral visionary.
• I make my own water - two glasses of H, one glass of O.
• Ballerinas are always on their toes. Why don't they just get taller ballerinas?
• The other day, I went to a tourist information booth and asked, "Tell me about some of the people who were here last year."
• Why in a country of free speech, are there phone bills?

Mongo only pawn in game of life

Damn Damn Damn Damn

why do the BEST MMOs get cancelled or killed while the crap keeps on being regurgitated?

Paint me jaded. There isn't a clueful MMO large developer out there. The guys at Climax were making a gem, but now its a footnote in history.

Its sad the only original one out there is from a small group making it out of passion.. something that the MMORPG industry sorely lacks in its regurgitation of new reincarnations of Diku Muds and level treadmills.


What we need is a small shop to do what ID did in the early 90s.

My only hope is as MMOs become simpler to support and design, we'll see the groundbreaking simulation world that has it all.

As bad as Warhammer Online closing was... This was totally amazing, and made it hard for me to be upset about a 'game'.

Then again, Life is just a game.

MMORPG Regurgitation and my 'Vision'

In reading MMORPGdot this AM, I came across a very interesting article in regards to Single Player RPGs, MMORPGs, and the future written by a game designer.

He had an outstanding point regarding MMORPG design and development.

"The core of it is that there are five things that most current MMORPG's hold as law to presumably be successful; the player must be able to group, kill, loot, craft, and level. These items are held in the forefront of the core game design, with story and player centralism as secondary (or even tertiary) requirements - or so it seems. " - Damien Foletto

While his article went a different direction into what he wants, it made me consider what it is I want in an MMORPG.

My biggest problem with MMORPGs is they are big, static worlds without change and with the same treadmill and limitations.

I think the industry needs a paradigm shift.

My dream MMORPG would be to completely remove all five of the 'laws' that are now governing Online Worlds.
Here's what I would do:

1. Remove Levels and base treadmills of experience. These promote a caste system within the game and are not good for developing community.

2. Make death MEANINGFUL. Presently all MMOs subscribe to a theory of players killing nonstop. We kill, kill, kill until we die, then we respawn. My desire is for no respawns, period. If a player die, that character is dead and the player starts over. Likewise if a boss dies, he's a dead and a new boss moves in eventually. I want the word 'respawn' completely removed.

3. Crafting needs to follow the same 'dynamic' laws and respawn rules that death follows. Limits and levels in crafting is the same as limits and levels in other area's of MMOs, and should be removed.

4. A world with real change and a 'vision'. Dynamic Worlds are the key. Have a plan and have the players be part of this plan. Have storylines and let the actions of the player characters have real effects.

5. Finally, real factions and real repercussions for actions. Alignment should influence how people interact and how characters should act. The world should evolve based on how the people playing in it behave.

Unfortunately I don't see this happening in the near future, since companies copycat success and fear uncertainty.

World of Warcraft, Dragon Empires, Everquest 2 are all based on what has worked so far. What I call the treadmill model, but in actuality what is a single player world that allows for thousands of people, but has nothing dynamic or evolving.

I think it'll take a small shop with the courage to break free of copycat mode and to try something revolutionary. Hopefully it won't take them too long...

Relevant issues ignored for politics?

Do the major media corporations ignore large news items in favor of spreading their personal political agenda?

There is a major international threat that should be headlining news. Iran is ignoring the UN Nuclear Inspections team in a desire to move forward with Nuclear testing. They also are training suicide bombers for future strikes.

Meanwhile, CNN is still headlining with vague stories in regards to Abu Ghraib.

Its sad that CNN, which used to be about cutting edge news stories, now is truly living up to its moniker of being the Clinton News Network.

Between Fox and CNN, we have about as much unbiased reporting as people in Tehran get.

Then again, maybe CNN is trying to get some sleazy free big advertising dollars.

A culture of super sizing

Our culture is one that emphasizes bigger is better. Super size meals, gargantuan SUV cars, and hundreds of channels of TV.

This axiom is especially true in regards to news coverage. We have so many reporters, channels, and hours to fill that any significant event becomes the TV spotlight for as long as the networks think they can milk it for. Sometimes it's good for reflecting, as in Reagans funeral. However overtly 'good' news coverage is the exception. For every story of something meaningful, there are 20 about nasty events.

Last month I was subjected to the news channels devoting literally hundreds of hours to whether GW was where he should've been 30 years ago. Likewise, I had to suffer through endless debate regarding Kerry and his medal tossing agenda back when I was 6 years old.

There's an old Don Henley song that I thought was passe at the time, but seems more and more accurate as I grow older and more jaded. Here are some lyrics from Dirty Laundry:

"I make my living off the Evening News
Just give me something-something I can use
People love it when you lose,
They love dirty laundry"

Is it that we love bad news? Do we enjoy pure garbage? I have on occasion listened to Howard Stern. While his show is entertaining, it's brainless fodder with no real meat or redeeming value to it. This type of desire for 'shock' seems to sell. However is this our nature, or are we products of our environment?

In India today, many young people strive to be Doctors and Engineers and knowledge is their goal. When I was young I wanted to be a fighter pilot, mainly due to watching too many gunfighter movies, as well as Top Gun. Why do so few US kids strive to be doctors and engineers? Is the dirty laundry and sensationalistic lifestyle promoted by our media overriding our history of intellectual gains?

We have moved to being a drive-through, super-size, A.D.D. society who lives on pessimism. As we look upon the death of Reagan, the great communicator and optimist, perhaps we can shift gears and move a bit away from the death and pain and see the whole picture? Then again the media does love dirty laundry, and ratings are more important then being right...

Fire in the Hole! The SCO bomb is about to boom boom

The time bomb that is SCO is slowly running out of time.

I wonder how long a company can survive by lawsuit solely? In reading our friends updates at Groklaw, it's apparent SCO has little of a case, and is merely a witting pawn of a larger power

I predict another 6 months of funded FUD, followed by a vindication of all, SCOs demise, and Linux's continued rapid ascension into the server rooms everywhere.

Maybe SCO could find another similarly lucrative market to enter.

Captain Obvious reporting from Gameland USA

In a news report that would do Captain Obvious proud, Games Press is announcing casual gamers will generate more cash than the full time crowd.

With this type of thinking, no wonder we get the same games recylced over and over.

From Games Press:
"Screen Digest forecasts that the total online PC games market will top $1.1bn in the West in 2004 and reach $2.2bn by 2007. Nick Gibson, a games industry analyst and the author of the report states: "The casual online gaming market has matured rapidly since the end of the dotcom boom era and a number of new, high margin revenue models have emerged that have, following a three year hiatus, returned rapid growth to this sector. Amazingly, every single one of the major casual games service providers reported that this growth was being predominantly fuelled by middle-aged and female gamers, the antithesis of the MMOG and hard-core gaming markets."

These studies make me wonder if companies care about making money the old fashioned way, or are looking for a fly by night big dollar solution for peanuts. In the copycat world of Online games, someone is bound to cause a paradigm shift, and the initial company that gets it right could be the next Microsoft.

Online games are the future of entertainment, and it is still a mostly untapped reservoir. As technology and broadband spread across the country and the world, the revenues seen from online games will blow away these guesses.

The higher demographic are women and 30something men, so why do we still see games predominately marketed and made with a single niche in mind?

I have ideas I think would revolutionize the industry, as do others, I'm sure. The problem is how does one realize this dream, without it being stolen by software companies with no soul, but bottomless bank accounts?

Then again, looking at how Asherons Call 2 turned out, maybe limitless resources do not enable a company to buy success.

Sneezy Patriot Talk

A large portion of the United States suffers from some sort of an allergy.

Allergies tend to be inherited. So, if you can't be near the kitty next door, blame Mom and Dad as their genes are the reason why.

An allergy is defined as a hypersensitive reaction to something. Bills and ex-wives cannot cause an allergic reaction, despite reported evidence to the contrary.

Here's some basic information one may, or most likely may not, want to know. Allergic causing substances are known as 'allergens'. Ones body produces white blood cells called 'Basophils' which contain histamine and other allergy inhibitors. There are also other cells which also contain histamine and allergy inhibitors called 'Mast Cells'.

What causes some allergies? Ironically enough, ones immune system is the culprit. It wrongly identifies the substance as harmful, and then attacks the substance with a ferocity far greater than required. The problems this attack can cause range from inconvenient to deadly.

Allergic reactions specifically are caused by what the immune system does. When an immune system encounters a cell that is identified as 'evil' it immediately starts responding, fighting said cell and making all kinds of noise such as runny noses, sneezing, and watery eyes. To help alleviate the problem of ones body abusing itself, we take medications such as Anti-histamines. Ironically, these aren't to prevent the allergen from entering our body, since in most cases that won't cause us problems. It's to prevent the evil gestapo cells from hurting us while pretending to protect us.

In many cases, the Constitution and the liberties provided by it provide an interesting corelation to allergens and our body's destructive immune system. The nature of the Bill of Rights is to provide the citizens of our country with protection from the government. I would consider the Bill of Rights akin to an anti-histamine in the legal system of the US.

Unfortunately, I have some problems with our government removing our 'medication', and losing some protections we need.

The Patriot Act has some portions that give Government the power to abuse 'ourselves' without the benefit of the needed 'anti allergy' support that our laws provide for us. Essentially it grants increased surveillance and intercept powers to the government against our citizens that defy the guarantees given in the Bill of Rights.

Amendment 4 of the Bill of Rights reads, "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

Much of this is circumvented by the Patriot Act.

Amendment 6 of the Bill of Rights reads, "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense"

U.S. citizens designated enemy combatants are being held for years without trials. This goes directly against the rights we are guaranteed. While this may, or may not, be done for the right reasons, the fact this is done at all should be scary. It effectively neutralizes our rights in the name of security, and this must not ever be allowed.

I personally believe the war on terror is important, and we need to ensure we are safe. However, we need to not take away our inalienable rights in our goals of safety, or we lose the battle before it has even begun.

They prepared for their journey and waved good-bye and "slipped the surly bonds of earth" to "touch the face of God.

In 1986, I watched live as the Challenger blew up. Then, as so many young people of my generation who were fascinated by space and devastated by this, I was fortunate enough to hear one of the greatest speeches of my life. So, in respect for his passing, this is my lasting memory that will stay with me for my life:

"Ladies and gentlemen, I'd planned to speak to you tonight to report on the state of the union, but the events of earlier today have led me to change those plans. Today is a day for mourning and remembering. Nancy and I are pained to the core by the tragedy of the shuttle Challenger. We know we share this pain with all of the people of our country. This is truly a national loss.

Nineteen years ago, almost to the day, we lost three astronauts in a terrible accident on the ground. But we've never lost an astronaut in flight; we've never had a tragedy like this. And perhaps we've forgotten the courage it took for the crew of the shuttle; but they, the Challenger Seven, were aware of the dangers, but overcame them and did their jobs brilliantly. We mourn seven heroes: Michael Smith, Dick Scobee, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffe. We mourn their loss as a nation together.

For the families of the seven, we cannot bear, as you do, the full impact of this tragedy. But we feel the loss, and we're thinking about you so very much. Your loved ones were daring and brave, and they had that special grace, that special spirit that says, "Give me a challenge and I'll meet it with joy." They had a hunger to explore the universe and discover its truths. They wished to serve, and they did. They served all of us.

We've grown used to wonders in this century. It's hard to dazzle us. But for 25 years the United States space program has been doing just that. We've grown used to the idea of space, and perhaps we forget that we've only just begun. We're still pioneers. They, the members of the Challenger crew, were pioneers.

And I want to say something to the school children of America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle's takeoff. I know it is hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It's all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It's all part of taking a chance and expanding man's horizons. The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we'll continue to follow them.

I've always had great faith in and respect for our space program, and what happened today does nothing to diminish it. We don't hide our space program. We don't keep secrets and cover things up. We do it all up front and in public. That's the way freedom is, and we wouldn't change it for a minute. We'll continue our quest in space. There will be more shuttle flights and more shuttle crews and yes, more volunteers, more civilians, more teachers in space. Nothing ends here; our hopes and our journeys continue.

I want to add that I wish I could talk to every man and woman who works for NASA or who worked on this mission and tell them: "Your dedication and professionalism have moved and impressed us for decades. And we know of your anguish. We share it."

There's a coincidence today. On this day 390 years ago, the great explorer Sir Francis Drake died aboard ship off the coast of Panama. In his lifetime the great frontiers were the oceans, and a historian later said, "He lived by the sea, died on it, and was buried in it." Well, today we can say of the Challenger crew: Their dedication was, like Drake's, complete.

The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved good-bye and "slipped the surly bonds of earth" to "touch the face of God." - Ronald Reagan, 1986 at a speech commemorating the Challenger

The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades

It seems Sun and IBM have realized there is coin to be had by investing in servers and software for Online/MMORP Games. This is good for future competition, and the ability of smaller shops to be able to compete with the larger established companies.

IBM is backing Butterfly.net, a growing effort to apply grid supercomputing power to operating online games.

Sun also is working to ensure their software and big iron runs Online Worlds through their Game Tech Group.

The North American online game market earns roughly 1 billion per year, and is expected to have heavy growth in the near future.

As reliability and scaleability become better, and total cost becomes cheaper we should see some amazing advanced in online games.

In the future, given more companies are either purchasing ready made 3D engines or have ones already available, we could see development cycles being cut in half or more, as the pieces to the puzzle of MMORPGs and Online games are ready made and available.

A future MMORPG project could start out 80% done. A team would purchase servers ready made from IBM with Linux loaded with Oracle grid technology. Then after licensing an engine, the game would be in alpha practically from the beginning of the project, and the development cost would be greatly reduced.

GW aka Harvey Dent

In the last week, the esteemed U.S. President has been in France and Italy.

While there, it turns out there was no anger at the Frenchies, and the Congressional French Fry thing was indeed not done from any sort of madness at the Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys.

Also, it turns out despite the Catholic Churches many issues this year, the Pope was awarded the Medal of Freedom

I get the feeling that we are watching 'Diplomacy for Dummies' being written live.

I saw an interesting link on the Andrew Sullivan page to a Marine's Diary of events. If you are curious what is really happening in Iraq, I suggest reading first hand accounts, and not just swallowing what Fox and CNN are spoonfeeding.

Unification by Domination

In around 275 AD the young wife of a Roman Officer gave birth to a son she named Constantine. The Roman Officer had the disctinction of being in the right place at the right time, and became Emperor of Rome. His child's name was Constantine. At this time Rome had a large Christian population who suffered heavy persecution.

When the Emperor of Rome died in 305, there was the typical squabble for the throne that was common in those times. Constantine held his own lands, but shrewdly sat out the initial fight. When he did engage, he won decisive battles and made short term alliances which benefitted his expansion. By 323 Constantine had control of the entire Roman Empire.

Constantine in his early life was a Pagan and sun worshipper. While fighting in the succession wars he learned of Christianity, converted, and later adopted it as the official religion of the Roman Empire. In military matters, he was his fathers son. However, his mother's influence and compassion also left their imprint on him.

Constantine had an outward appearance of complete tolerance. There was no overt persecution of people of other faiths. Coins kept pictures of the Roman Gods. Constantine respected liberty, but he supported Christianity. He built temples, sought advice from bishops, and had the ruthlessness that many Christian leaders have, even when they espouse New Testament ideals, but govern from an Old Testament mentality. He put to death his eldest son and his second wife.

The way of Constantine was unification by domination. Looking at the world today, it's ironic how much has changed and yet stayed the same.

I'd buy that for a dollar...

America, the land of Liberty.
America, land of the Judiciary.

Lets examine liberty. It means, "Exemption from subjection to
the will of another".

Of late, much of our news time has been devoted to three ongoing trials. The Scott Peterson case. The Kobe Bryant trial. The Michael Jackson case. These are a reminder of the nature of America. True liberty is attained via the almighty dollar. Knowledge is not objective analysis of facts, but what we are shown on TV.

The court of public opinion will make decisions based on what station they are watching, and what information they have been fed. This is unfair for those charged with said crimes, but it opens another interesting paradox. These people have coverage because of their status and/or access to money. They also have access to high money lawyers that the average Joe does not.

So, should we be outraged at the fact these people are getting unfair exposure and the media are spoonfeeding the masses what their view of the trial is? Then again, it's equally disturbing that potentially guilty people might easily walk from a crime due to being able to afford the whiz bang law people.

Young colored people who cannot afford representation get sent to jail for half their adult life without committing a violent crime. People get burnt with coffee and sue and make Millions. A doctor who spent his life attempting to heal people is bankrupted by an unhappy family of a terminally ill patient.

How much of our liberty is based on ones standing and ones assets? Too much. How many of our rights are decided by a panel of senior citizens sitting in power in a courtroom? Too much.

Did Kobe rape the young woman? The public is already decided. The same is mostly true with Scott Peterson and Michael Jackson.

Unfortunately, what we have learned may have nothing to do with the truth. But then, I wonder how often truth and justice is actually served in our courtrooms.

Another brick in the wall

Agendas.

It seems that every news, media, and political group is focused totally on their important, urgent plans. Right wing, Left wing, Green Party, Libertarians, Red Party, Conservatives, Liberals, and the list goes on.

Listen to me! Do what I want. If you do this we are doomed! You did that, so you are incompetent!

Whatever the result of the Iraq War, the Economy, Outsourcing, and Judiciary decisions, it's a shame the days of courtesy and debate are over.

And the sad thing is this overhyped extremism portrays a terrible picture of the average American, and is completely and utterly inaccurate. I've spent time in every part of the world, and despite cultural differences, the divide between the people of the world is very slim. A Smile in Bahrain, and a joke in India are the same as they are in Canada.

The lessons of the past fall on deaf ears, as the US continues on the path of the Romans of the times of Caesar. The ironic thing is we are not alone in our political Soliloquy