As long as we're speaking of ideals... why not an OC192 or at the very least, an OC3 connection instead of a relatively slow T1? Or at least a T3?

While you do have a good point, I must draw upon a previous post of yours not to dispute your claim but to prove that neither of us can know for sure. "Darth Vader's master is Palpatine, but Sidious was Darth Maul's master - and later Palpatine's (Ep 3 (?!?) I suppose). Palpatine becomes the new master after Sidious dies." Something bothered me about that post, but I didn't realize until just now. It violates the major tenet of the Sith, which is that there can be only two Sith in existence at any time. That is a fact. Starting with Darth Bane after the near destruction of the Sith, there have only been two at any given time for the 1000 years preceeding the events in Episode I, at his decree. In Episodes 4,5,6 there were only two Sith as well. It is only reasonable to assume that the Sith held to this major tenet of their "faith." Therefore, Palpatine, Darth Sidious, and Darth Maul could not all exist at the same time. Furthermore, the folks at starwars.com have done a great job avoiding all questions pertaining to this debate - for obvious reasons: they don't want people to know until episode II or III. Hope this helps.

I did check out the link, but found no information that would support your argument. Sure, in that database, Palpatine and Sidious are mentioned as separate entities in the character lists and descriptions, but I believe this to be purposeful, so as not to reveal the answer to the biggest question from Episode I. Furthmore, in Episode I, when are Sidious and Palpatine ever in the same scene together?

Saying that Palpatine becomes the new master after Sidious dies is akin to me saying that they are one and the same. Neither of us can be sure whether or not Senator Palpatine is actually Darth Sidious or not. While George Lucas takes great pains to hint to the audience in The Phantom Menace that they are one and the same (at Qui-Gon's funeral when the Jedi speculate as to the identity of Darth Sidious, and the camera pans to Palpatine... etc), he could be just setting the audience up for a huge plot twist, along the order of "Luke, I am your father..." What led me to believe that they are the same was because of the clues that were dropped in Episode I (although again, they could just be a set up), and the fact that the same actor (Ian McDiarmid) plays both Darth Sidious and Senator Palpatine in Episode I. However, until we find out in Episode II or III, none of us can be sure. Therefore, it does no good for either side to portray their opinion as fact.

I believe it was called "The Phantom Menace" because Senator Palpatine was able to usurp the position of Supreme Chancellor by manipulating the Trade Federation and Queen Amidala from the shadows. By attaining this position of power, he was then able to orchestrate the demise of the Republic.

Right, but Senator Palpatine _is_ Darth Sidious. They are one and the same. All the best, BP