Capitalism is an economic system that stresses the private ownership of goods and property. Under capitalism anyone can start a business and reap the rewards of his or her hard work if the business is successful. Today, because of increased competition, it is becoming harder to succeed unless the owner is highly innovative.

In an economic or political sense socialism is a doctrine that believes the ownership of property is better relegated to the government or some other collective entity. In the social sense socialism can be considered a doctrine that stresses manipulation of the individual by the interests of the majority. The former USSR is an extreme example of a radical form of socialism called communism. There the government owned all business, and people were forced to work for a living in the manner dictated by their government.

Move over Homer Simpson, there's a new kid on your block and he is raising eyebrows in a shocking new animated parody that is taking the Internet by storm. The two minute clip featured exclusively on www.broadcaster.com stars a Homer Simpson-like character named O.J. living in a place very similar to Springfield. The intro segment includes Simpson on a golf course and even a low speed chase of a white Bronco. But once the dialogue begins you realize that the subject matter at hand is no laughing matter. Or is it actually funny after all?

In an earlier post I discussed attempts by Egyptian authorities to crack down on bloggers and the free flow of information in that society. The censorship threat is even worse in Iran, where the state goes to extraordinary lengths to control the media ... especially thoughts and images being channeled from Great Satan that are liable to incite lusts or non-Islamic ideas.

I've been thinking again. I know some of my readers regard that as a dangerous thing. For instance, the guy who ended his last letter to me with a "your hypocrisy knows no bounds". I get these sorts of letters all the time.

But, I have been thinking and, of course, I have been thinking about America's obsession with shutting down the Mexican-American border. You would wonder why I don't tire of this rhetoric and the reason is simple. America needs the likes of your humble and gracious columnist reminding them to get out of that box of uncritical thinking and untested assumptions.

The other day it occurred to me that during Ronald Reagan's run for the Presidency he created a "Misery Index". This index represented a total of the rate of inflation, plus the prime rate, as an indicator of how the American people felt about how they were doing. No one has suggested resurrecting this index in recent years. My thought was to create a "Happiness Index". How happy are you with the leadership of the country. The problem is that other than taking an outright poll, how do you determine happiness? Could you merely ask people if they are happy, or not with the way things are going?

We come across ghetto street fights not only in our neighborhood, but in fact it's available in underground DVD's and freely in the internet and it's quite in demand too. And yes, you must have heard of G-Unit, Black Rob, Funkmaster Flex and Lil Jon who really loves ghetto street brawls and uses them in remixed music videos. These videos fetch for about t $15 in stores, some amounting to $19.99 and it one great business. The fans are many, thus producers of ghetto street fights can make $300,000-$500,000 off that DVD! Swell! People can sit comfortably in their couches at home and have a great time watching real ghetto street fights, all with the bloody scenes and foul languages.

In Africa it seems to be all misery and nothing but problems, in the past few months we have had the attempted assassination of the Somali President, the invasion of Northern Somali towns by Ethiopian troops, continuing ethnic problems is Darfur (Sudan) and more than 20 people have been killed in political clashes in the DR Congo capital, Kinshasa, in the latest round of elections.

To top this off, Madonna has been to Africa to adopt a child called David, throwing Malawi into the worlds media. A group of Malawian charities sought a court injunction to try and block the pop star Madonnas bid to adopt a baby boy. A group of Malawian charities said that pop star Madonnas bid to adopt a boy was illegal and sought a court injunction halting the adoption.

Undoubtedly, we all agree that we are best defined by our relationships. When relationships we care about weaken or completely vanish, we most likely feel regret. A people finder helps you dismiss this feeling by getting rid of its cause: the vanishing connection.

The same as any other specialized people finder, people search Germany assumes the requested attitude when it comes to dealing with a client's wish to find a certain dear somebody with whom the relationship has been interrupted from a number of diverse reasons, among which distance and time are the most frequent.

In Sierra Leonne the race for the 2007 presidential and general elections is gearing up day by day. In his state opening of parliament a few months ago, President Kabbah has virtually said good-bye to the nation, opening the doors for speculation as to who will succeed him. Is it his Vice President Solomon Berewa? Is it the APC's Ernest Koroma? Is it the breakaway PMDC's Charles Margai? Or is someone else yet to win the hearts and minds of Sierra Leoneans?