21.   In places like Silicon Valley or Fairfax County, Va., such overnight empires are no longer news.

22.   It seemed proof positive to many that the empire was being dismantled in an orderly and liberal fashion.

23.   Its empire is gone, its once-powerful military is shattered and its place in the world is no longer clear.

24.   It was unnatural - empire is unnatural.

25.   Murdoch, whose media empire is now more reliant on TV rather than newspapers, has said present media laws should be scrapped.

26.   New empires are emerging, breeding enmity among a once-collegial group.

27.   Shotgun though it was, the marriage was not all that bad as long as there was empire.

28.   So if the suburban empire is to continue expanding, where will they open their next store?

29.   That empire is about to go through a massive change, entering a new chapter that sprawls far beyond any vantage points offered by Magnolia Cemetery.

30.   That empire is already sizable.