I’m going to ask you to do something now. Listen. Not because I’m smarter than anyone else or because I’m more important. But because I’m not those things. I’m just a guy. Who thinks you might want be a better president than you have been so far. I’m sharing because as song goes, this land is your land, this land is my land.

First, please take over the BP operation right now. I don’t mean stop BP and bring in your own people, I mean use your executive power and take over the corporation, at least temporarily. Use the fact they are criminals and have committed crimes here and now. Or however you need to phrase it. If you can do it with banks, you can do it with oil companies. Use their resources properly, aimed to stem the damage and clean it honestly, not white wash it with chemicals that may be worse than the original spill. Make them start giving you the truth. Then form a council. Invite not CEOs of oil companies, but the most experienced engineers in the field, experts of oil rigs and plugging of leaks underwater, long time navy guys who know about deep pressure, environmentalists who’ve worked with oil spills before, and more. Don’t just talk to other countries, ask them to send their topmost experts. Then have them come up with solutions. All you have to do is ask, people will come help, again, at least temporarily. And the longer you wait, the more BP destroys livelihoods, environments and people.

Second, please start being serious about fixing our oil/coal addiction. I know big corporations with lots of money and power are aligned against that idea AND have funded your presidency. So what. Fight the power. There are many ways to approach this. I’m not an expert in these things. But you know what? Some people are. There are scientists that have great ideas to completely change the way our country runs and the energy it uses. Maybe you could form a council here too. A longer term bigger thing. A scientific council established for the betterment of the country. Hire them. Hire the best people in academics and in the industry. Pay them richly. You could hire then guys, pay them a couple of million each and it would cost less to have them for your whole presidency than it would to build one fighter plane. While you’re forming dream teams, the Ring of Fire guys would be great.

Third, and this ties into the above one, please employ the country. Yeah, politicians will complain. So what? If you use the council created above and get a plan to overall the entire energy grid and power our country off say the deserts in the south because the grid can now transfer energy anywhere…guess who can build that? Our people. You can train them, you can employ them, you can enable them. Not give a handout, put them to work for the betterment of all. People will come in droves. You will educate them in a field and empower them to provide for themselves. And they will love you for it. You’ll be fixing the country and helping the people. That’s just one way. There are so many different ways you could take the 10% of population of who a large amount actually want work and put them to working to change how our country works. With a real energy grid (not a magical one, other countries have done this), we could be off oil and coal and nuclear in 20 years maybe.

That’s not all, but that’s a start. Start thinking of the people. If you start acting from that place, from the place of what’s the best thing for the people, not for the other politicians or for just your voter base or for anything but the people, you’ll start making decisions that will make us love you…instead of just being happy your not as bad as the last guy. In less that’s all your looking to be, not as bad.

I hope this finds you and yours well, and I truly hope you listened. I voted for you. I didn’t believe your words, but I knew you’d be better than the alternatives. But a part of me was really hoping you were the man you gave speeches like. You can still be that man.

Thank you,

Matt

I’m pretty big into politics, at least into watching and laughing at them. Mainly because if I didn’t laugh, I’d go insane thinking that these are the guys running our country. But you know what? I’ve been listening (and researching and reading his book and watchng the debates, etc, etc) to Obama and I almost believe he’s for real. That’s he’s not just saying bullshit, that it isn’t just a game with him. I’m not 100% sure since he’s a politician and all, but I find myself wanting to believe and care and think this man will actually do good by our country.

A president I can vote for instead of just voting for the man less evil? That’s unheard of, but I did that today.

This country needs someone is going to treat the american public like adults, instead of straight faced lying to them. Someone who will surround himself with competent, useful people, instead of hiring cronies to run things like FEMA (that worked great!). We need someone is going to take being president seriously, constantly, and not do it because god mandated it, but because they feel they have something to offer to the job, to the country, to the people.

I hope this is that man.

What Would Matt Do: I’d like to think I’m not alone.

It may be the most unsurprising announcement ever, but I can’t tell you how much joy it brings me. You see, I’m a Star Wars geek. Not a Lucas is god and I care about the Star Wars history and universe geek, but more of a in spite of George’s inability to make good movies without others help I still love light sabers and force powers and that sound that lightsabers make when they clash geek. So with that in mind, I know Bioware is probably going screw it all up, but at least they aren’t Verant and they don’t have the idiot creator of The Vision™, so they are already steps above the last Star Wars game.

At they aren’t doing it in the current Star Wars lore. Doing a game in the past is by far the best way. Or even the future, assuming Jedi’s exist in the future of SW lore. Something where you can break the Jedi universe as we know it in the name of fun…

I’d love to see everyone be able to be Jedi AND since they are having other classes, those other classes be fun to play. I know that’s asking a lot, but hey, I’m like that. Also, I’d like the MMO to be fun in general. That’s asking even more from a first time MMO developer.

What Would Matt Do: I’d make a game where everyone can be a Jedi and let the NPCs be the other classes. That’s really where most Star Wars games fall down, requiring that some people are this or that or whatever. Or even better, I’d make it so everyone can wield the force if they so choose, so maybe if you aren’t a Jedi, you’re still awesome. Break the Star Wars lore in the name of fun. Also, this is pretty funny.

That’s the part that really hooked me on speech.

Tonight, I say to the American people, to Democrats and Republicans and Independents across this great land – enough!  This moment – this election – is our chance to keep, in the 21st century, the American promise alive.  Because next week, in Minnesota, the same party that brought you two terms of George Bush and Dick Cheney will ask this country for a third.  And we are here because we love this country too much to let the next four years look like the last eight.  On November 4th, we must stand up and say: "Eight is enough."

This speech didn’t shy away from anything. Barack stood his ground on every single issue, made the issues that separate us seem silly and things we shouldn’t be arguing about and absolutely destroy Bush and McCain. This may be the best political speech I’ve seen in my lifetime and maybe the best in generations.

May this speech convince people that paying attention is needed, that we don’t need more Bush bullshit and that not only can Obama lead this country, he may be able to do it with diginity. Scary fucking thought.

What Would Matt Do: I’m hearing all across the internet how people just stood and watched his speech at bars and resturants and other places and how people hadn’t seen anything like it before. Maybe this will be the changing point America needs. Maybe this will be the president we need. Maybe.

That’s an absolutely horrible statement to make in justifying anything. I know it is, and yet, this guy makes me want to hold him down and write it on his forehead:

But goddamit, am I the only one who think it’s morally disturbing to make a game that celebrates COLONIZATION? It’s ironic, actually, because just a few months ago a friend sent me a link to some information about the original "Colonization" game from 1994 (pictured left) that this one updates. At first, I thought it had to be a joke, but sure enough, it was real. However, I dismissed it as a relic from a time when neither developers nor players took videogames seriously as media with moral implications.

But the idea that 2K and Firaxis and Sid Meier himself would make and release a game in the year 2008 that is not only about colonization, but celebrates it by having the player control the people doing the colonizing is truly mind boggling.

There are more than a few ways to refute this argument.

You could go with, I didn’t hear you say anything as you played WWII games where you celebrated the killing of other human beings over and over in a very grotesque manner (some call it war). I didn’t hear you complaining when you played Civilization where you potentially do almost the same thing you’re going to be doing Colonization, but it’s called a different name. I didn’t hear you complaining as you played evil races doing evil things in numerous games. I didn’t hear you complaining when you played any of the Age of Empires games.

Or you could go with, it’s just a game. No matter the subject matter, it is what you make of it. If you find it personally offensive, don’t play it. It’s not actually real you don’t actually have to do any raping and pillaging. You don’t have spread diseases to wipe out whole nations and you don’t have to get your PC panties all in a bunch about it.

What I’d really say though, don’t be dumb. Just like FPS games aren’t murder simulators, this isn’t a genocide simulator. If you really can’t see that, the least you can do is stop posting your trollish type posts on the internet where I’m subjected to reading them. I mean, I know the 1st amendment protects your freedom of speech, but if you had any morals, you wouldn’t post things like this:

And yes, before anyone brings it up, I believe in the First Amendment. Of course 2K has the right to release it. Nobody should stop them from doing so. But I think personally think they shouldn’t release it, if it’s at all what it appears to be based on the early marketing.

What Would Matt Do: Your forehead, my marker, bitchlips.