Read all the stuff he's spinning in current interviews. We SWG vets have heard it all before. This is from the first Combat Upgrade, back in May, 6 months before having this new horror dropped on us like a nuke:
Hello Everyone,
We realize that the recent Combat Upgrade has caused quite a stir. Yes, we've seen the petition. Yes, we're reading your emails very carefully.. in fact I've responded to many of you personally. From our perspective the Combat Upgrade was a crucial thing for us to do for the long term health of the game. In order to make the experience in SWG more diverse and to breathe new life into this game we felt it was important for us to entirely overhaul the current system and to make sure that it's balanced properly. Are we finished? Not by a longshot... by doing this what we've effectively done is to provide a new baseline to add a lot of new content into the game in a very short time, and to make sure that the professions really mean something in the game. We recognize there are problems that have arisen from this, and what I'd like to ask your help in doing is to target these problems so that we can knock them down very quickly. As you've seen in the last few days, the team is working tirelessly towards fixing any problems that have arisen.. and with your help we're confident we can get the rest of them taken care of as well.
Please understand that we love this game too.. our goal wasn't to upset the existing userbase.. but we do recognize that changing a game does inherently mean some people aren't going to like that change. What we're trying to do is to insure that we can accomplish a lot of what you've all been asking us to do (things like Galactic Civil War) in really cool and meaningul ways.. and frankly speaking, we just couldn't do that with the old combat system in place.
What would really help us is to give us ideas on how we can improve the new system and cool things you would like to see us do in the near term. We aren't going back to the old system, but with your help I'm confident in a few weeks you're going to feel this was the right call. Obviously you are our customers, and you pay the bills around here... we're trying to make changes that are going to make your experience better in the long run. Please bear with us while we make that effort, and give us a little time to respond and address your concerns.
Thanks a lot,
John Smedley President, Sony Online Entertainment jsmedley@soe.sony.com
They won't bother. No one will be cheating in NGE because I doubt there will be anyone to play. The combat system is a moronic, hand cramping click.click.click.click.click.click.click.click.cl ick.click. fest.
Yep, this was very unethical. I have (well, had, I cancelled them) 4 SWG accounts, a Jedi, a crafter, a bounty hunter, a pistoleer/combat medic, and a TKM/Pikeman to suit my tastes. I bought the expansion for ALL of my combat toons (3 copies).
I think SOE broke at least several states fraud laws with the way they did this, particularly when they ELIMINATED certian professions (creature handler) that bought the expansion specifically for a certain reward (an item that let them tame higher level creatures than they previously could).
"cool, so you can start as a Jedi now? I might go back to SWG! I'd feel right at home since they sound like the Paladin class in wow anyway."
You won't like it. We are the only melee class (4m range), while ranged professions (the other 6 combat professions) can shoot at us 4 times per second at up to 60 meters away.
Jedi won't even be the echo of a shadow of what they are currently when this hits live on TUESDAY...
Introduction
So far with this NGE we have seen numerous "nerfs" to our Jedi profession. In this context, the definition of "nurf" would be to reduce the effectiveness of a character class (in any form).Many of these have been quite devastating to what we have come to know as our alpha class over the last two years. Applying an alpha class to a mmorpg was a decision that Sony made for SWG and unfortunately players are not only asked but expected to adapt and adjust according to the decisions Sony makes without taking into consideration its effect on long term players. A basic philosophical discrepancy exists here between Sony, Lucasarts, and the customers of this game. That discrepancy is the issue here. Public announcements stating that the players think the game is too complicated and difficult is a farce. A majority of the players that have been playing for a length of time continue to play because of the diversity, and complication. The "instant action" style of play has (up to this point) never included RPG as a primary component. The reason for this is because most "instant action" players are not interested in content, storyline, or quest based playing.
With the last two test center clones we have been able to shed some light on certain portions of the conversion process and how unbalanced our profession will wind up when its all said and done. To most of you I am sure this has been a tremendous let down from what we have come to know and for many of you this will be the end. Our profession is about to be utterly destroyed by the unbalances put forth by this New Game "Enhancement". An Enhancement that will soon take away all the diversity we had, resulting in the Jedi profession being nothing more than a Starting profession.
Combat Level Conversion
On both TC-Corbantis and TC-Ahazi we have seen characters Pre-NGE converting to CL80. This is totally unbelievable. Most of use Vets are finished templates by now and to be converted to CL80 is an insult. It just means one more thing; back to the grind. As a Jedi we have ground out numerous templates from double masters to dabblers and back again. Why should we be forced to grind again. We also have been without the FRS for countless months and from what Tiggs said a week or so back, we will be without it for the rest of our time in this game. Again this is unacceptable.
Experience (xp) Conversion
Again on both TC-Corbantis and TC-Ahazi our negative xp is being cleared to zero. For some Jedi who are in the negative due to numerous BH encounters, FRS deaths, and/or PvE deaths this must be great. But to the Jedi that have been careful throughout their life as a Jedi this must be a downright slap in the face. To have survived all the hardships of being a Jedi and still come out on top is a great accomplishment. This great accomplishment will mean nothing in the end if we don't get a reward for it. Show us what our time and effort was worth. Give us our xp so that we can convert above CL80. As it is our grind will be hindered due to lack of weaponry (no 4th Gen until CL86). Getting nothing for our time and efforts again is completely unacceptable.
Abilities from new Skill Tiers
Most of us are use to the many diverse templates that we once accomplished. With the new NGE we will no longer have that ability. We will no longer have any of those abilities. To quote a player from the community "I am not upset about the new NGE, it actually seems pretty cool. What I am upset about is what we (Jedi) are losing. We are losing all of our skills. We Jedi are being watered down to a no
NGE was dropped on us on 11/2, the day AFTER we were charged for the Trials of Obiwan expansion. Why did you deliberately withold this announcement until it was too late for veteran players to cancel their pre-orders so they could play on Test Center to see if they liked the changes?
Our community relations director, Tiggs, was fired yesterday. She has been the ONLY person who has gone above and beyond the call of duty to communicate with the community (staying up to 4AM and still showing up at work after little sleep).
Mr. Smedley, I have been told that the game was going to be shut down in January, yet your inverview stated that SWG didn't lose subscriptions over the first CU, and that it was growing faster than other SOE titles.
I have heard from multiple sources that the subscriber base was collapsing rapidly, which is why the game was to be shut down, and that NGE is a desperate last gasp attempt to save it.
Why, then, did you decide to do something very very radical, take away ALL our ability to customize our characters and abilities, delete whole professions, and worst of all, make the MOST sought after (took me many months) and iconic Star Wars character, Jedi, the weakest combat class in the new game (you say you play the game, go play a Jedi on TC), the ONLY one that has: No armor, no defenses, no rooting ability, that attacks at HALF the rate of ranged professions?
Why did you do this rather than do what the community has consistently asked and BEGGED you do do, FIX the bugs, and BALANCE what we have?
Is that YOU, the computer OWNER is not trusted. This is the first step towards taking actual ownership away from the owner and handing it over to the manufacturer after the fact.
Which is why I do not support Digital Restrictions Management.
I play SWG, and have for the last 9 months. I went thru the crazy insane grinding that was needed to get a Jedi character, and then to get full template.
SOE also "upgraded" the forum software on CU day. The forums have been bugged and stuff like everyone appearing to be in your guild and on your server, etc.
They just crashed.
Couple that with the fact that Bloodfin and Chimaera servers got hit with rollbacks because they DIDNT BOTHER TO DO A BACKUP before database conversion, and you know what one huge problem is at SOE...
Combat is SLOW, boring (press one button over and over again), whole professions are now worthless (doctors), and it is NOT AT ALL Star Wars like!
The old AI has been ripped out and replaced with a "level system". Basically, everything higher level than you gets a damage multiplier based on the difference. And we are capped at level 80, while there are MANY monsters in game that aren't.
Not to mention my server (Bloodfin) got rolled back a week, causing lots of us to lose skills we frantically did before the sudden CU publish, and we aren't getting compensated.
And, anyone who DARES speak out on the CU gets banned from the forums. My main account username got a 14 day ban for a mildly critical post about customer service (or lack thereof).
Community relations? THERE ARE NONE. The Community Relations Director (Tiggs) rarely interacts with players, and forum bans anyone who disagrees with here.
I'm THROUGH with SWG, and I will never buy ANYTHING with the Sony brand name on it again. Even if they fix the game (months from now) most of us despise the game and Sony because of the horrid ABUSIVE customer service.
Someone needs to do SOMETHING about these judges making laws out of thin air.
Clearly this ruling is contrary to the interstate commerce clause of the Constitution. By this court's "logic" Everyone employed by any company has to pay taxes to EVERY municipality and state that the company has a presence in.
People love to talk of the greed of corporations for money, and that talk is somewhat justified. Too little and seldom, however, is the talk of the greed of GOVERNMENTS who think they have a God given right to a "cut" of all money that flows through the economy.
When is this court going to demand income taxes from all those offshore Indian programmers that I'm sure more than one NYC basef firm employs?
In the long run, if this were to stand, and I think it won't, because federal judges, being bigger pompous asses than even state judges, won't stand for federal authority to be usurped, this tax scheme would have a DEVASTATING effect on NYC and it's economy.
Will this be a HUGE burden and inconvienence on the honest?
Yes.
Governments so often believe they can wave a piece of paper and behavior stops. Just like gun control, this will never stop a scammer but will punish the honest.
Carly the Pinkslip Princess has ruined the business and reputation of the once great HP and Compaq.
I have had to actually hold my nose and use Dell servers thanks to her dumbass SAP system that has caused MONTHS of backlogs in ProLiant server production. It takes me a month to get a HP server when I can have IBM or Dell in DAYS.
Take out Apple and replace it with Microsoft and the rage and venom against the company doing this would fill hundreds of pages.
Apple could club baby seals or kill newborn babies and people here would give them a pass.
Anyone who lived though the dark ages of the home PC (the 1980's) can tell you that had Apple won (and IBM/Microsoft lost) an Apple monopoly would be so horrid and so EVIL that everyone here would dream of what we have now...
Imagine if Apple had the same share of PC sales they do for Mp3 players. Apple decides they don't wand you installing Linux on "their" system (that you bought) because Linus won't pay their extortion fees, and includes a "fix" to disallow it on an UNRELATED irreversable firmware "upgrade" that you have to download and install because of a BUG in "their" system that YOU paid for.
That is what we WOULD have had in that world. It's true that MS is bad (and I despise them), but with the OPEN PC (as opposed to the closed Apple box) you have a CHOICE as to what you want to run.
Apple has ALWAYS had this "our way or the highway" attitude, not just with the ipod, but with their computer line since the 1980's. Looking at their market share in 1990 compared to now, I guess most chose the highway.
How Apple survived the 1980's and Commodore (who always produced a superior, lower cost product to the Mac) I will never know. Gross mismanagement at Commodore, most likely (and there was plenty of that).
" I'm sorry, we're looking at a theological magazine for technical articles?"
Let me get this straight... Christians can't invent things, or are ever involved in science?
Look around you. The vast majority of everything you take for granted was invented by someone who happened to be Christian, or was made possible by the FREEDOM to invent only possible with the democratic freedom invented by Christian dominated countries.
The Christian Sciene Monitor is not some church publication. But what if it were? The VATICAN even has scientific institutions, including one of the world's better astronomical observatories.
You know, and I will be modded to hell for suggesting this... But even as our governemnt and courts seem to move to FORCE secularization into all parts of public life and expression, our freedom to invent is being ever more threatened by new IP laws.
These laws are being proposed and imposed by a legally atheistic government, that is divorcing all decision from MORALITY finds no problem with granting multinational corporations intellectual property monopolies and the ability to crush individuals.
Guess what in 2004 is the biggest POLLUTER, and emitter of "greenhouse" gases in Washington State? It emits several times what the next biggest polluter does (a coal power plant).
Mt. St. Helens. And it hasn't even had a MAJOR eruption yet! So, how are we going to stop volcanoes from violating the sainted Kyoto treaty?
For every scientist who predicts global warming doom and gloom, you will find as many who say that it isn't happening, or that human activity isn't a significant factor. Indeed there is ONE REASON for global warming and cooling... The Sun.
Even a relatively stable middle aged star like our Sun doesn't have constant output. There are some who think that ice ages and warming periods are caused by variations in the Sun's output. Indeed, as the Sun gets older, it's output on average INCREASES as the nuclear fusion reaction expands to get more fuel...
Speaking of ice ages, did you know we are barely 10,000 years out of our last one, and may still be warming FROM it? 10,000 years are mere seconds in geologic time.
Slashdot Mirror
Read all the stuff he's spinning in current interviews. We SWG vets have heard it all before. This is from the first Combat Upgrade, back in May, 6 months before having this new horror dropped on us like a nuke:
Hello Everyone,
We realize that the recent Combat Upgrade has caused quite a stir. Yes, we've seen the petition. Yes, we're reading your emails very carefully.. in fact I've responded to many of you personally. From our perspective the Combat Upgrade was a crucial thing for us to do for the long term health of the game. In order to make the experience in SWG more diverse and to breathe new life into this game we felt it was important for us to entirely overhaul the current system and to make sure that it's balanced properly. Are we finished? Not by a longshot... by doing this what we've effectively done is to provide a new baseline to add a lot of new content into the game in a very short time, and to make sure that the professions really mean something in the game. We recognize there are problems that have arisen from this, and what I'd like to ask your help in doing is to target these problems so that we can knock them down very quickly. As you've seen in the last few days, the team is working tirelessly towards fixing any problems that have arisen.. and with your help we're confident we can get the rest of them taken care of as well.
Please understand that we love this game too.. our goal wasn't to upset the existing userbase.. but we do recognize that changing a game does inherently mean some people aren't going to like that change. What we're trying to do is to insure that we can accomplish a lot of what you've all been asking us to do (things like Galactic Civil War) in really cool and meaningul ways.. and frankly speaking, we just couldn't do that with the old combat system in place.
What would really help us is to give us ideas on how we can improve the new system and cool things you would like to see us do in the near term. We aren't going back to the old system, but with your help I'm confident in a few weeks you're going to feel this was the right call. Obviously you are our customers, and you pay the bills around here... we're trying to make changes that are going to make your experience better in the long run. Please bear with us while we make that effort, and give us a little time to respond and address your concerns.
Thanks a lot,
John Smedley
President, Sony Online Entertainment
jsmedley@soe.sony.com
http://ngedidit.ytmnd.com/
:)
It's FUN and very Star Warsy!
They won't bother. No one will be cheating in NGE because I doubt there will be anyone to play. The combat system is a moronic, hand cramping click.click.click.click.click.click.click.click.cl ick.click. fest.
Yep, this was very unethical. I have (well, had, I cancelled them) 4 SWG accounts, a Jedi, a crafter, a bounty hunter, a pistoleer/combat medic, and a TKM/Pikeman to suit my tastes. I bought the expansion for ALL of my combat toons (3 copies).
I think SOE broke at least several states fraud laws with the way they did this, particularly when they ELIMINATED certian professions (creature handler) that bought the expansion specifically for a certain reward (an item that let them tame higher level creatures than they previously could).
"cool, so you can start as a Jedi now? I might go back to SWG! I'd feel right at home since they sound like the Paladin class in wow anyway."
You won't like it. We are the only melee class (4m range), while ranged professions (the other 6 combat professions) can shoot at us 4 times per second at up to 60 meters away.
Jedi won't even be the echo of a shadow of what they are currently when this hits live on TUESDAY...
State of the Jedi Profession: NGE Conversion
Introduction
So far with this NGE we have seen numerous "nerfs" to our Jedi profession. In this context, the definition of "nurf" would be to reduce the effectiveness of a character class (in any form).Many of these have been quite devastating to what we have come to know as our alpha class over the last two years. Applying an alpha class to a mmorpg was a decision that Sony made for SWG and unfortunately players are not only asked but expected to adapt and adjust according to the decisions Sony makes without taking into consideration its effect on long term players. A basic philosophical discrepancy exists here between Sony, Lucasarts, and the customers of this game. That discrepancy is the issue here. Public announcements stating that the players think the game is too complicated and difficult is a farce. A majority of the players that have been playing for a length of time continue to play because of the diversity, and complication. The "instant action" style of play has (up to this point) never included RPG as a primary component. The reason for this is because most "instant action" players are not interested in content, storyline, or quest based playing.
With the last two test center clones we have been able to shed some light on certain portions of the conversion process and how unbalanced our profession will wind up when its all said and done. To most of you I am sure this has been a tremendous let down from what we have come to know and for many of you this will be the end. Our profession is about to be utterly destroyed by the unbalances put forth by this New Game "Enhancement". An Enhancement that will soon take away all the diversity we had, resulting in the Jedi profession being nothing more than a Starting profession.
Combat Level Conversion
On both TC-Corbantis and TC-Ahazi we have seen characters Pre-NGE converting to CL80. This is totally unbelievable. Most of use Vets are finished templates by now and to be converted to CL80 is an insult. It just means one more thing; back to the grind. As a Jedi we have ground out numerous templates from double masters to dabblers and back again. Why should we be forced to grind again. We also have been without the FRS for countless months and from what Tiggs said a week or so back, we will be without it for the rest of our time in this game. Again this is unacceptable.
Experience (xp) Conversion
Again on both TC-Corbantis and TC-Ahazi our negative xp is being cleared to zero. For some Jedi who are in the negative due to numerous BH encounters, FRS deaths, and/or PvE deaths this must be great. But to the Jedi that have been careful throughout their life as a Jedi this must be a downright slap in the face. To have survived all the hardships of being a Jedi and still come out on top is a great accomplishment. This great accomplishment will mean nothing in the end if we don't get a reward for it. Show us what our time and effort was worth. Give us our xp so that we can convert above CL80. As it is our grind will be hindered due to lack of weaponry (no 4th Gen until CL86). Getting nothing for our time and efforts again is completely unacceptable.
Abilities from new Skill Tiers
Most of us are use to the many diverse templates that we once accomplished. With the new NGE we will no longer have that ability. We will no longer have any of those abilities. To quote a player from the community "I am not upset about the new NGE, it actually seems pretty cool. What I am upset about is what we (Jedi) are losing. We are losing all of our skills. We Jedi are being watered down to a no
NGE was dropped on us on 11/2, the day AFTER we were charged for the Trials of Obiwan expansion. Why did you deliberately withold this announcement until it was too late for veteran players to cancel their pre-orders so they could play on Test Center to see if they liked the changes?
Our community relations director, Tiggs, was fired yesterday. She has been the ONLY person who has gone above and beyond the call of duty to communicate with the community (staying up to 4AM and still showing up at work after little sleep).
Why did you fire her?
Mr. Smedley, I have been told that the game was going to be shut down in January, yet your inverview stated that SWG didn't lose subscriptions over the first CU, and that it was growing faster than other SOE titles.
I have heard from multiple sources that the subscriber base was collapsing rapidly, which is why the game was to be shut down, and that NGE is a desperate last gasp attempt to save it.
Why, then, did you decide to do something very very radical, take away ALL our ability to customize our characters and abilities, delete whole professions, and worst of all, make the MOST sought after (took me many months) and iconic Star Wars character, Jedi, the weakest combat class in the new game (you say you play the game, go play a Jedi on TC), the ONLY one that has: No armor, no defenses, no rooting ability, that attacks at HALF the rate of ranged professions?
Why did you do this rather than do what the community has consistently asked and BEGGED you do do, FIX the bugs, and BALANCE what we have?
Is that YOU, the computer OWNER is not trusted. This is the first step towards taking actual ownership away from the owner and handing it over to the manufacturer after the fact.
Which is why I do not support Digital Restrictions Management.
I play SWG, and have for the last 9 months. I went thru the crazy insane grinding that was needed to get a Jedi character, and then to get full template.
:)
Nuts.
But now I am having tons of fun
This is something some people I was chatting with the other day told me... Gets nuked from the forums every time it's posted.
When you cancel because of the Combat Downgrade, call your credit card company and ask that the charge for your last month be reversed.
It will cost Sony $35 for each person who does it.
SOE also "upgraded" the forum software on CU day. The forums have been bugged and stuff like everyone appearing to be in your guild and on your server, etc.
They just crashed.
Couple that with the fact that Bloodfin and Chimaera servers got hit with rollbacks because they DIDNT BOTHER TO DO A BACKUP before database conversion, and you know what one huge problem is at SOE...
THEY DONT HAVE COMPETENT IT PEOPLE!
They also killed the US server Bloodfin with not as bad of a rollback...
And Chimaera gets CSR's to return their skills, but Bloodfin does not!
Combat is SLOW, boring (press one button over and over again), whole professions are now worthless (doctors), and it is NOT AT ALL Star Wars like!
The old AI has been ripped out and replaced with a "level system". Basically, everything higher level than you gets a damage multiplier based on the difference. And we are capped at level 80, while there are MANY monsters in game that aren't.
Not to mention my server (Bloodfin) got rolled back a week, causing lots of us to lose skills we frantically did before the sudden CU publish, and we aren't getting compensated.
And, anyone who DARES speak out on the CU gets banned from the forums. My main account username got a 14 day ban for a mildly critical post about customer service (or lack thereof).
Community relations? THERE ARE NONE. The Community Relations Director (Tiggs) rarely interacts with players, and forum bans anyone who disagrees with here.
I'm THROUGH with SWG, and I will never buy ANYTHING with the Sony brand name on it again. Even if they fix the game (months from now) most of us despise the game and Sony because of the horrid ABUSIVE customer service.
SWG is a class action lawsuit waiting to happen.
To get a sweeter deal with Intel.
This has been happening since the days of the P3 shortage. Dell wraps itself around Intel's cock and gets preferrential treatment.
That is what is happening here.
Someone needs to do SOMETHING about these judges making laws out of thin air.
Clearly this ruling is contrary to the interstate commerce clause of the Constitution. By this court's "logic" Everyone employed by any company has to pay taxes to EVERY municipality and state that the company has a presence in.
People love to talk of the greed of corporations for money, and that talk is somewhat justified. Too little and seldom, however, is the talk of the greed of GOVERNMENTS who think they have a God given right to a "cut" of all money that flows through the economy.
When is this court going to demand income taxes from all those offshore Indian programmers that I'm sure more than one NYC basef firm employs?
In the long run, if this were to stand, and I think it won't, because federal judges, being bigger pompous asses than even state judges, won't stand for federal authority to be usurped, this tax scheme would have a DEVASTATING effect on NYC and it's economy.
As in beer.
If I have to pay for it, I will not accept DRM of any kind.
DRM is reasonable to me, if someone wants to give me free content and have it available for only a certain length of time, or not be copyable, etc.
Will this do anything to stop scammers?
No.
Will this be a HUGE burden and inconvienence on the honest?
Yes.
Governments so often believe they can wave a piece of paper and behavior stops. Just like gun control, this will never stop a scammer but will punish the honest.
Carly the Pinkslip Princess has ruined the business and reputation of the once great HP and Compaq.
I have had to actually hold my nose and use Dell servers thanks to her dumbass SAP system that has caused MONTHS of backlogs in ProLiant server production. It takes me a month to get a HP server when I can have IBM or Dell in DAYS.
He's dead!
Take out Apple and replace it with Microsoft and the rage and venom against the company doing this would fill hundreds of pages.
Apple could club baby seals or kill newborn babies and people here would give them a pass.
Anyone who lived though the dark ages of the home PC (the 1980's) can tell you that had Apple won (and IBM/Microsoft lost) an Apple monopoly would be so horrid and so EVIL that everyone here would dream of what we have now...
Imagine if Apple had the same share of PC sales they do for Mp3 players. Apple decides they don't wand you installing Linux on "their" system (that you bought) because Linus won't pay their extortion fees, and includes a "fix" to disallow it on an UNRELATED irreversable firmware "upgrade" that you have to download and install because of a BUG in "their" system that YOU paid for.
That is what we WOULD have had in that world. It's true that MS is bad (and I despise them), but with the OPEN PC (as opposed to the closed Apple box) you have a CHOICE as to what you want to run.
Apple has ALWAYS had this "our way or the highway" attitude, not just with the ipod, but with their computer line since the 1980's. Looking at their market share in 1990 compared to now, I guess most chose the highway.
How Apple survived the 1980's and Commodore (who always produced a superior, lower cost product to the Mac) I will never know. Gross mismanagement at Commodore, most likely (and there was plenty of that).
" I'm sorry, we're looking at a theological magazine for technical articles?"
Let me get this straight... Christians can't invent things, or are ever involved in science?
Look around you. The vast majority of everything you take for granted was invented by someone who happened to be Christian, or was made possible by the FREEDOM to invent only possible with the democratic freedom invented by Christian dominated countries.
The Christian Sciene Monitor is not some church publication. But what if it were? The VATICAN even has scientific institutions, including one of the world's better astronomical observatories.
You know, and I will be modded to hell for suggesting this... But even as our governemnt and courts seem to move to FORCE secularization into all parts of public life and expression, our freedom to invent is being ever more threatened by new IP laws.
These laws are being proposed and imposed by a legally atheistic government, that is divorcing all decision from MORALITY finds no problem with granting multinational corporations intellectual property monopolies and the ability to crush individuals.
I am all for the eating of tasty animals. Thanks to your post, I'm going to have me a nice medium rare steak today.
Guess what in 2004 is the biggest POLLUTER, and emitter of "greenhouse" gases in Washington State? It emits several times what the next biggest polluter does (a coal power plant).
/ 20 02105397_volcano01m.html
a rs un.html
Guess?
Give up?
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews
Mt. St. Helens. And it hasn't even had a MAJOR eruption yet! So, how are we going to stop volcanoes from violating the sainted Kyoto treaty?
For every scientist who predicts global warming doom and gloom, you will find as many who say that it isn't happening, or that human activity isn't a significant factor. Indeed there is ONE REASON for global warming and cooling... The Sun.
Even a relatively stable middle aged star like our Sun doesn't have constant output. There are some who think that ice ages and warming periods are caused by variations in the Sun's output. Indeed, as the Sun gets older, it's output on average INCREASES as the nuclear fusion reaction expands to get more fuel...
Speaking of ice ages, did you know we are barely 10,000 years out of our last one, and may still be warming FROM it? 10,000 years are mere seconds in geologic time.
http://solar-center.stanford.edu/sun-on-earth/v
Now I expect to get moderated down to hell.