Two Types of Players in Shooter Games

There are, in simplest description, just two, the Combat Simulator and the Sadistic Killer.

The Combat Simulator looks for shooter games that give the best Close-To-Real effect as possible. The CS understands that not everything translates well but still, the more it has the better it is. This usually includes things such as:

- Teamwork

- Fair play

- Balance

- Good intelligence gathering

- Weapons that make some sense

- Don’t measure themselves based on scores

CS players are great to play with when they have a good understanding of military strategy & tactics especially if they were prior service of some kind.

Sadistic Killers on the other hand are a problem. Qualities of them include:

- Being out for themselves

- Looking to rack up high scores/Kill values

- Willing to exploit broken game qualities at other player’s expense

- Care little to nothing for intelligence gathering

- Don’t care if weapons or rules are out of balance

- Tend to lie a lot so long as ‘game balance’ favors them

Sadistic Killers are difficult to play with. At times it may look like they are working with you but their real goal is to be out for themselves. One obvious sign is they usually care nothing for strategy & tactics and tend not to come from military or similar background.

There are different shooters for both but one problem is when SKs decide they know shooters better and mess up games designed more for CS players resulting in CS’ers getting none of what they look for. In such situations SKs will flip CS’ers off with all kinds of obnoxious statements and false claims.

Right now I am convinced that is where MWO is at. Usually BattleTech related games appeal to CS’ers from my experience but there is a big push on the part of SKs to turn the game into what they want as shown by changes pushed through to enforce more ‘brawling’ since that is what SKs like, real simple close range combat. This is yet another area where MWO can get ruined by appealing to the SK’ers.

Other problems with MechWarrior Online

Some other items I have noticed that I believe are wrong with MWO.

1 – Autocannons are Nothing like the Name.

Look up the definition of what Autocannons are, basically they are machine guns using much higher caliber and thus larger rounds. So when they fire they shoot multiple rounds at a target in a burst. But MWO treats these as single shot weapons like a siege cannon, the only Ballistic weapon that should work like that in the time frame is the Gauss. I would rather have the machine gun effect and hear the rapid firing of multiple shells being shot at the target.

2 – Lasers do Splash Damage.

Previous games both MechWarrior and MechCommander had lasers fire in a short beam or at times like a Ballistic shot that did all their damage to one spot. For some reason unknown MWO changed this so lasers can do less damage ‘splashed’ across the target unless you use Pulse Lasers. It is possible for a laser beam to be brief and powerful enough to hit a target in one spot otherwise Ballistic weapons become too good despite their mass.

3 – Sensors are Too Good.

This is a continuation of how sensors worked in previous MechWarrior games. You could detect a unit anywhere no matter what was between you and the target though you could not fire unless you had nothing between you and it. Pretty outrageous and too good, I would not have been surprised if you could see the pilot in the nearby gas station using the bathroom. MechCommander actually made sensors more fun, at the farthest range you could only detect that there was a unit but never know if it was a Mech or vehicle, how big it was or what type. Certain units (4 out of 29 total you could get) could use a mid range sensor package that allowed detection of units without LOS but you still needed LOS to tell what they were. Even fewer units (3) could carry the best sensor package that allowed you to determine if the target was a Mech or vehicle and how big such as Light Mech or Heavy Vehicle but even these could not get specific, you still needed LOS. This would actually work in MWO, give everyone the Basic Sensor with the Intermediate Sensor being allowed on certain units and the Advance Sensor a module for very few units.

4 – Lack of Pre-Match Intel and Planning.

Two critical items that allow even new people to get into such games, the first such as showing what map will be used allows players to plan ahead regarding how they will approach the match. Good combat games including shooters have this feature, similar to how real life combat allows it, no good soldier goes into battle without knowing the layout of where they will be sent to. In BattleTech (the game MWO and other MW/MC titles are based on) players are supposed to be getting dropped from a Dropship that takes days to reach a planet and have access to maps either printed or electronic so they should be able to see the map. The other item missing here is being able to communicate with fellow players on your team beforehand to plan how you will work together, another critical item necessary in any combat simulation. Getting random dropped with people at the last minute doesn’t work well, you have no idea what their goals are, what they are using or if you can even get along with each other. These missing two items are what gets new players steamrolled a lot and I really wish some people would stop pushing the Voice Chat, you don’t need Voice Chat as THE only way to communicate.

5 – Covering up Flaws with More Flaws.

Taking the LRM flaws, creating the ECM flaw as a counter then creating the PPC flaw to counter that doesn’t make things better, the game is still flawed and should be fixed right by REMOVING the flaws. Further, some people can use TAG to get around the ECM flaw subjecting players to the LRM flaws then there are games where one of the flawed counters is not present such as a game with no ECM units, thus the LRM flaws still show or no one has PPCs so the ECM flaw still kicks in. No game should force you to carry certain equipment just to play in order to counter flaws.

6 – Fudging Numbers of Players.

There was a recent challenge event people could sign up for, I did it just out of curiosity. I have seen posts from players saying about 7000 people played, even an Admin on their forums claimed 8026 people played.

http://mwomercs.com/forums/topic/101374-be-a-hero-challenge-winners-and-statistics/page__p__1963909#entry1963909

Here’s the problem. When I signed up on Friday, February 22, after playing some then quitting for the day, I went to the webpage that listed who was in the top ranks as well as the rank of the person visiting the page (provided you were logged in). Do you know what my rank was? About 25,000. Can someone explain how the HELL you get ranked overall 25,000 in an event that only 7000-8000 players were involved in according to some including the developers? I cannot see anything but number fudging here, if you have to modify your statistics like this, you have something wrong with what you are doing.

7 – Players acting like Open BETA is a finished game.

I cannot believe the amount of players claiming they get high scores in a BETA, an acknowledgement that something is not finished, makes them exceptional and someone whose statements carry more weight than anyone else. If you are proud of getting high scores in an unfinished game and think it makes you better enough that everyone should play like you, you need to learn what skill really is. BETAs are meant for people to find and help fix problems in the game so it gets better, not to improve only themselves then tell others to play the same way. I did troubleshooting professionally in my career in computers, communications, military and even gaming, the only sense of pride is when you have been part of the process to get something out of BETA status.

I am sure some people hope problems will be fixed eventually but with certain obstacles currently in games like MWO especially #7, progress will be very slow if at all.

On Long Range Bombardment (Including MWO and LRMs)

Before discussing Long Range Missiles in MechWarrior Online, first they must be called what they are: Long Range Bombardment Units (LRBU).

LRBU has existed for a long time in military history. In medieval days and in some places before then, there was the bow & arrow. Good archers could shoot arrows over long distances saturating opponents under multiple missiles. Over time, there has always been some form of LRBU in combat, moving to catapults, cannons, mortars, rockets and missiles, each able to bring more ability to damage targets at long range at minimal risk to the shooters. Despite what some think, skill is required to employ these weapons since a shooter has to aim over long distance at times guessing where the target will be if it is a moving target such as cannons firing on people/ships or mortars aimed at moving targets on a battlefield. In modern times some rockets/missiles have the ability to be either remotely guided through manual control or guided by machines using some type of sensor/radar to lock on to the target.

Counters to these types of weapons have also existed the most common and oldest being to use cover such as terrain/shields/armor to protect the target from attack. Closing with the shooter of LRBU also works since usually those trained in firing such weapons do not have much skill at close range fighting. Modern times have brought electronic countermeasures though these counters are far from perfect and should never be treated as hard counters.

So now we come to LRMs in MWO.

The typical counters to LRBU work against LRMs fired upon a target. When a BattleMech can fire a lot of LRMs, that means they do not have good close range defenses, so you use cover while trying to figure out who and how to close with the unit firing. Who should be figured out before a match by hitting the TAB key when a match starts, you can see what your teammates are using, even without weapon loadouts it still gives a good idea of who can do what and how they affect the team you wound up on. Mechs with decent speed can take on LRM users, not just the fast lights but also fast Mechs such as Centurions and Dragons that some people think are not good. All it takes is one of them to do so.

Once one unit engages an LRM Mech, the target now has to choose, he can keep firing his missiles making him an easy mark for the person who engaged him or he can try to defend himself but the few close range weapons do not make up for what the engaging unit brings even if that unit is smaller. That is just basic tactics in dealing with LRBU units. I know this because I ran a Mech using LRMs and there were plenty of times someone engaged me forcing this situation. ECM was supposed to be a partial counter but instead has become too much of one (see next blog).

That said, there do seem to be one or a few problems with LRMs as designed in game, the one standing out the most is the weapon arc combined with bad game code for cover. Previous MechWarrior (MW) games did not have weapon arc on missiles because of the advantage it gave over other weapons, avoiding a lot of terrain that could provide cover. MechCommander (MC) had arcing missiles but still required line of sight before firing. Then there is the problem where cover does not always provide cover specifically against sensors that are used to detect and guide LRMs to targets. Just because you can detect something does not mean you can fire on it. As mentioned previously both early MW and MC games show this, MW allows early detection of units even behind cover (not a good thing) but all weapons cannot fire on targets even LRMs. MC allows detection with less effect (not as much info until closer, range is not that far) and while having arc, still requires line of sight before allowing missiles to fire. MWO however allows both arcing missiles as in MC and they can be fired even when there is no line of sight due to the strength of sensors, from MW, this results in the best of two previous games giving an advantage to anyone using LRMs. This is the most critical flaw of LRMs in my view and what makes them seem too strong in some players’ opinions. It is strange that LRM missiles arc while SRM (Short Range Missiles) do not.

A possible problem stemming from the arc is hit location. When LRMs hit their target despite hitting all over, most of the hits tend to result in what I call the Punch Table Effect. This is based on tabletop BattleTech rules, in certain situations BT weapons hit on a table that attacks everything from the waist up (torsos, arms and especially the head). Because vital systems and weapons are usually located in these areas, the results are far more damaging to a Mech than the Standard Hit Table. Situations that usually use the Punch Table include when the target is standing behind partial cover that protects from the waist down, standing in water (usually weapons cannot cause harm through water unless using advanced rules) and a jumping unit landing on an opponent. Point is due to the new arc effect LRMs have been given, they hit more often in this manner causing damage to systems that take longer to take out. Now it is hard to say for certain if this is a problem, after all Energy and Ballistic weapons have the ability to aim at locations based on player skill so it is a valid question why LRMs should not have something similar since LRMs cannot usually be aimed like the other two weapon types mentioned so they need something to be combat worthy, this explains why they have Lock On that must be maintained.

If they were to either modify sensors to work properly and/or remove the arcing effect of missile flight, I believe the effects of LRMs would be reduced to tolerable levels.

Review of MechWarrior Online

I have always been a big BattleTech fan even through some of the mistakes made in it. Since I first played the board game in the 80s, ran a campaign and played early editions of computer versions. I even tried out the CMG version though I had to drop that due to both cost and another mistake in the history to support it, another big time jump forward as if the writers did not know what to do with the time period being used.

So of course when I finally heard about a couple of current versions being done, MechWarrior Online and MechWarrior Tactics, I have tried the first and found a way into Closed BETA for the second, due to NDA I will not discuss the second at all until Closed BETA is finished. But I have spent some time at the first, MWO being its acronym.

Initially it looked interesting and promising despite being in Open BETA. I spent my time playing and seeing how much of previous BattleTech games were a part of it. I did not expect a finished product but what they had looked alright. Took a bit to get back into the play style of a MechWarrior game, I had not played one in about a decade. I did expect it to be similar to the MechWarrior titles I had played and that would make it enjoyable.

Initially I did not participate in the Forums much instead spending my time there reading up on a lot of subjects including the broken issues that are to be expected. Since then, here and there I would drop a post on something. Slowly I looked for the broken things that needed fixing so I could write informed reports on them since I have done analysis and review on other games along with professional troubleshooting in some industries.

Then came one of the most broken things I have seen done in BattleTech.

They changed an ECM System so it provided what you would call Stealth abilities. The claim was that Long-Range Missiles were broken and certain people were complaining that there needed to be a fix so this was it. The effect was that adding the Stealth system made targets unable to be fire upon by anyone using LRMs without a special device that was not easy to use in a shooter, it also made enemies undetectable, negated a few other systems that were never a problem and finally when a unit with ECM was close to you, made it impossible to tell friend from foe.

Problem was the system it was based on was never this strong, it only negated a few systems a feature that it still did but some of these Stealth features are way too overpowered, only someone with no skill at all and zero team qualities would benefit from them. It forces people to play by a bad style where there is nothing but brawling in close quarters, tactics and strategy are largely removed from the game. There have been attempts to counter this massive change but not enough to counter what it does.

I will follow this up with an article about the LRMs since it relates to other games and military history, an article about ECM in full and an article about other things in MWO.

Recent revealed truth about Democrats and the Occupy Movement

Ever since the 2012 elections, Democrats have talked a lot of hate speech seemingly under the impression they not only won, they destroyed Republicans so badly that the only party left in America is the Democratic party. Just to be clear, I am not a member of any political party, proof: http://photos.silive.com/photogallery/2012/09/my_political_affiliation.html I refuse to be in any party because I always find things I don’t believe in as part of what they are about, since the NYC voter form allows me to choose to be in no party, that is what I am. I also like it because it is similar to when the USA was founded, no parties just people being who they were.

Anyhow, this past week a couple of items show that a certain movement has failed in their approach. The whole push to tax the wealthy of finance more and raise minimum wages has resulted in 2 changes showing that failure.

First, financial firms are leaving New York due to high city and state taxes heading for Palm Beach county in Florida. http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/wall_st_flees_ny_for_tax_free_fla_Q6e4qSDMUethpylfznC4tO In their new location, they have the benefit of no state taxes and less expensive real estate. This is a loss for New York state and city along with a blow for the whole nonsense of Occupy and Michael Moore.

But it gets worse.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/26/filming-in-new-york-bloomberg-soundstages-brooklyn-navy-yard_n_1380955.html

While almost a year old, this story still goes on. Filming for the entertainment industry is moving into New York City more and more, encouraged by tax breaks that benefit the wealthy of that industry. Further, there are some jobs in entertainment where they pay you NOTHING, no minimum wage at all. I know because both a sister of mine and myself looked into this line of work once, a prime example is extra work that usually involves scenes where you have people in shots but not really having speaking parts, they are just there to fill out the look of the shoot. Plenty of times these crowds of people, small and large, get no pay at all for what they do. Makes you wonder what all the people who push for a minimum wage have to say about that though I have yet to hear anything.

Combined, New York City and state is losing business and jobs from finance including jobs with minimum wages and tax revenue and getting in return business with no minimum wages and tax breaks. Looking at this reality, I have to wonder just how the Democrats, Occupy and that fool Michael Moore can claim to have accomplished anything especially with the constant claims I hear how New York City is such a prime example of the greatness of the beliefs of the Democrat party. Is this their greatness, no minimum wage jobs and tax breaks for the wealthy? How come Occupy did not Occupy Hollywood pushing for taxes on their wealthy and minimum wages for all? I honestly wait for intelligent answers.

Don’t forget the filming move means lost tax revenue for Los Angeles and California, another area of Democrat strength that now suffers. I don’t see victory in any of this.

Why I will never support Legalizing Marijuana

There have been many stories regarding this subject and I am putting into writing why I am never going to be supporting this because I have gotten tired of the ‘other side.’ Following are a list of false arguments presented by various people I have seen who support legalization, not given in any order of priority.

1 – Legalizing marijuana brings lots of revenue and eliminate debt, that was why several states in the USA did so.

False – Overwhelmingly almost all states have debts right now, some extremely large and some with record debt. This includes states that have legalized marijuana such as California, one of the top 5 state debts in the nation, and New Jersey. The debts of states that have legalized marijuana disproves this position.

2 – Legalizing marijuana will stop the waste spent on the War on Drugs.

False – It is the people who wasted this money by NOT supporting it. If you take a lackadaisical attitude towards the efforts against drugs, that doesn’t make spending or governments at fault. There is a thing called personal responsibility and that puts the fault on those who refused to stand against marijuana use.

3 – Marijuana is a harmless substance and a victimless crime, it makes users less violent and aggressive.

False – It has been proven marijuana has victims and makes people more hostile in certain situations. There have been many stories proving this, some will be shown later. Other times marijuana makes people relaxed and lazy that is acknowledged by supporters, an attitude that does not work in some job fields thus unqualifying them for certain types of work therefore cutting down the ability to get employment. But there are times when marijuana users have become violent, also there have been times when women have sex when they don’t want to as ‘trade’ for marijuana. People do die from smoking pot.

4 – Alcohol is legal and a more dangerous substance.

Congratulations, you just made the case for why marijuana should never be legalized because clearly if made legal, marijuana would also become a MORE dangerous substance just like alcohol. Further, the historical prohibition of alcohol has been used by supporters to claim marijuana should be legalized, you cannot cherry pick what parts of alcohol’s history you use to support your argument.

5 – Legalizing marijuana will serve as a better option to alcohol and drug abuse.

Please, that just proves marijuana is addictive. Replacing one addiction with another is still an addiction, not a cure. Further there is proof people are getting bogus prescriptions already to get marijuana in states that legalized it much like the other drug abuse problem so you will actually add another drug to the list of the drug abuse problem going on.

6 – Teenagers drive slower on it.

Nope, sorry, I have personally known teenagers who smoked and drive fast still to this day. I also know teenagers who drive fast who don’t, point is driving fast is an interest like other things (sports, arts, etc.) that’s why some people like NASCAR and other racing sports.

7 – Users are only introduced to other drugs because the drug dealer makes them available. Legalize it, it is out of the users hands.

That’s funny AND wrong. Remember the argument about alcohol and prohibition? When trying to legalize alcohol, the same thing was said and look where that is now, heck the marijuana supporters claim alcohol is dangerous so you just supported the other side AGAIN by cherry picking.

8 – Legalizing it removes the criminal element.

Wrong again. Strip clubs are legal yet how many have ties to organized crime? Guns are legal yet there is a criminal element to that. You will not remove criminals by legalizing marijuana, you just provide more business fronts for them to acquire money to fund their illegal activities. This is especially true in regards to the cartels in Mexico, there are many reports of how much marijuana they try to get across the border and the Border Patrol has not been able to stop all of it. Interstates are used as pipelines to send the ‘product’ all the way to northern states and into Canada. Legalizing marijuana would let these shipments continue thus extending the use of these shipments and sales to fund the violence going on in Mexico.

9 – One item not mentioned by supporters that should be regards second, third and so on smoke. I’m sure everyone knows about that argument relating to cigarettes and why we have a lot of No Smoking areas today, well the same thing would happen if marijuana was legalized. Users would light up and the smoke will offend people, users will think getting others high is funny but it isn’t. Soon regulations will happen to restrict the effects of marijuana smoke on others eventually boxing them into the same spot where cigarette smokers are today except some of those cigarette smokers who don’t like marijuana will take exception and marijuana smokers who don’t like cigarettes will too so now all the Designated Smoking Areas will have to be split between cigarettes and marijuana like North and South Korea with a No Smoking DMZ between them.

10 – Those against legalization have a phony set of moral beliefs.

False – Ironically it is the supporters who have phony morals. Isn’t one of the claims by supporters about Individual Rights, a person’s right to choose for themselves? Yet if someone chooses under such rights to not support legalization, the phony morality of the supporters comes out. Accusations of Murder, ‘Being Right Wing Christian Extremists,’ Heartless and similar don’t prove legalizing is moral, it actually prove supporters immoral just by making phony stereotypical accusations.

11 – Those against legalization are trying to save The Children and that’s a phony argument.

No, using The Children in this manner by supporters proves they have little to stand on. Alcohol got legalized and yet The Children have access, same with cigarettes, they are even having sex at younger ages. Drop The Children nonsense, it doesn’t work when they illegally gain access to all three of those legal items as well as illegal stuff like marijuana, saving The Children is a separate argument.

True stories I have known not from reading or studying but real life and people I have met. Real life trumps any study for me.

Story 1 – I have known someone who died from marijuana, a cousin of mine. He started using in his teens then supposedly cleaned up and quit. He went on to join the Coast Guard and start a family. Then I heard he died. When I attended the funeral I remember the stories I heard where close family said he died from a marijuana OD though publicly they told non-family members it was a heart attack.

Not only is this story true, it shows something some people including marijuana supporters are not aware of. Suicides for a long time and sometimes still to this day are usually covered up, not by the government or secret societies, but by PEOPLE. That means not only did my cousin die from marijuana, there may be others who did as well, you just don’t know because such stories get covered up by PEOPLE. They do this because of the human desire to give the dead some dignity and let this part of their lives end but by doing it in this way keep the truth from the larger population.

Story 2 – I knew a few other relatives and their friends who used marijuana, they had behavior exhibited while on the drug that they did not show much of off the drug. Tendencies towards more violence, abuse and hostility plus paranoid beliefs they were being targeted by ‘secret organizations.’ I know this because I was one of their targets. I would get accused of being in plots to destroy all white people (I’m white) and other weirdness in addition to physical and social abuse, on a few occasions they even claimed they planned to kill me because for the men in the group, it meant ‘more money and sex for them since I would be dead,’ and they almost got to try since they kept testing the limits of what illegal activity they could get away with. The list is way too long for this story but it is pretty clear marijuana causes such problems.

Story 3 – I knew a guy in the military, he admitted he used marijuana before but after joining had quit. For this time he seemed pretty normal but then it was revealed he secretly had started again, the revelation came after he failed a drug test. As he started using again he also started becoming unhinged. He got more hostile with others at times ranting about government plots to destroy him and provoking fights with others even his  friends. He got committed twice, one of those times he actually bragged about how much ‘fun’ it was to be in a padded room. Eventually he found a military doctor who gave him a profile (a type of military prescription relating not to drugs but behavior) that allowed him to be as insulting as he wanted and went around intentionally trying to provoke anyone including NCOs and officers through false claims of them being murderers and other things, all this happened during peacetime in the 1990s. He was supposed to get discharged but kept causing problems that procedure required the military charge him for so they had to keep extending his time in service just to keep the paperwork going to charge him for each new problem he caused.

To be fair, there have been a few I have known who used (I don’t know if they still do) marijuana who were not violent or crazy but they are outweighed by the number I have met who have or worse. So there is no way I could ever support marijuana no matter what anyone says.

I may have missed a small number of points I once addressed elsewhere so this may be updated at a later time but have covered most of it if not all and have worked on this for a long time.

Vietnam Protestor Wannabe Syndrome

   That is the name I have for certain people, those who have been obsessed with the Vietnam War Protests and try to emulate them in a time when the specific war that was protested has been over.

   I first encountered such people in a few relatives and friends of theirs from my generation back in the 1970s when I was a kid and the early to mid-1980s. First sign was when they claimed they were victims and poor because they came from a bad neighborhood, this was bogus because a lot of the times they believed to be victims were actually when they screwed up and were being taught they were wrong, and the belief about being poor, they actually had more wealth than I or others did, but you couldn’t tell them because they would get violent when confronted with the truth. Over the years of this time, they slowly became worse as they looked for something, anything to fit with their fantasy, a thing they could protest against similar to Vietnam to keep their fantasy going.

   I saw this attitude continue into 1980s when I was a teenager with some people I met. During this time one thing that became clear to me, a lot of those suffering this sickness did so under the notion that it enhanced sex somehow. Apparently you couldn’t have relationships in their minds unless it was fueled by trying to emulate a protest of a war about 10 years old since it finished. It also appeared to encourage illegal drug use and the notion anything a government did was pure evil.

   It further continued into the 1990s especially when those I knew from the 1970s became part of my life again (I had distanced myself from them during the mid-1980s) and tried to rekindle, “that old feeling.” To make matters worse, such people wanted to inject their illness into the majority if not everyone and after being rebels previously, now wanted to join with politics as a means to force their fantasy on others regardless of anyone’s beliefs. It was one of many things I saw cause changes in the military service during the 1990s especially when I served from 1995-1999. I recall one incident clearly.

   In 1997, my unit was sent along with a bunch of other units to see a USO show involving 1 comedian, nothing else. Since it was peacetime, there was not much effort put into such shows like there is today. While we were outside the building this was to take place in, soldiers like civilians do stood around talking and one female soldier about 20 years old told a story of an encounter she had in town. She had gone to town in her uniform (soldiers do this at times for many reasons) and someone she encountered that she did not know spit on her and said, “That’s for Vietnam!” and walked off. From his comment, you would think he was one of today’s Liberals/Progressives/Democrats. Two things stood out to me when I heard this.

1 – This soldier was about 20 in 1997 meaning born around 1977, after Vietnam was over so couldn’t have served in it.
2 – This soldier was someone I knew who had more Liberal/Progressive/Democrat beliefs and was spit on by a Liberal/Progressive/Democrat.

   I still remember this story to this day, one of many strong experiences I have had in my life. It stands out to me again today when I hear a lot of people talk about keeping alive the spirit of Vietnam Protests and their goals. Such people do not seem to care this is a different age with a different set of issues and challenges facing us. They continue to inject this illness into their speech and behavior with terms such as, ’fair share,’ ’end justifies the means,’ and the all time favorite, ’illegal wars.’ I do not see where we need to keep such beliefs alive.

   This is not the day of the Vietnam War or the issues that were discussed and fought over back then. In a few years it will be 40 years since that war was over. Shouldn’t we have put all of it away and face what is going on right now instead of holding on to the fantasy, the almost rock star image some still have in their minds? Someone really needs to cure this illness before it makes any more people sick.