THE CONSPIRACY OF A BRAND NEW DAY

O.K., let’s file this one under …

THE CONSPIRACY OF A BRAND NEW DAY

How quickly we forget our past. 

I’m not talking about the fact that a couple days ago it rained about an inch an hour, flooding the streets of New York City…

The Storm Of The Century-

… and now that it is bright and sunny outside, people are back to their every day lives with nary a memory of the deep water or the loose branches…

Look Out-

… Nor am I talking about the fact that a couple of days ago business owners were boarding up stores with shelves that were already picked clean, and that the city’s population was preparing for long-term loss of electricity and water, and indefinite suspension of public transportation…

Clean Out In Aisle 3-

… and now that there power and water system seem once again safe, there is not a single hoarder in any of the stores along Second Avenue. 

Home Sweet Home-

There are also thousands, maybe millions, of apartments with unused, and soon to be forgotten, portable generators that will take up badly needed closet space.

In this problem-filled world, we move quickly past the old, and into brand new challenges. 

History itself stays locked in archival video, ready to be dragged out for the next approaching hurricane, around which talking heads will refer to 'Irene', the storm of 2011, and how New York City “dodged a bullet.”

Life goes on.  What’s past, is past, and thankfully so…

Not so for Conspiracy theorists. 

Conspiracy theorists tend to hold on to the past.  They grab on to certain events and seek to explain their cause by connecting them and filling in the blanks with supposition.  They often do this with remarkable creativity.  Usually these explanations defy rationality.

One does not need much of a memory of the past few days to be confused by the shift of focus within the culture of conspiracy.

For those who hold on to the past, and make sense of its randomness in creative ways, it’s been remarkably out of character.

It’s almost as if there was a collective use of mid control over the entire conspiracy theorist population.

Before the storm, a conspiracy theory involving the control of the weather was in full-Hurricane-force.  As I blogged about previously, conspiracy theorists, like my roommate Jeff, believed that there was a coven of mad scientists somewhere, working in secret, with the ability to make and chose the trajectories of large and powerful Hurricanes, formed to target American cities, and decimate populations. 

The idea of global warning didn’t really seem to play into this belief, nor did the randomness of nature.  The theory involved weather control on a massive scale, and the once-in-a-hundred-year trajectory of the storm only fueled their belief. 

For days on end, weather forecasters projected the track of the storm would take it near or over Washington, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston.  Depending on the exact track, and the storm's intensity, these cities could all  be hit extremely hard by the effects of the storm during a very short period of time.  

The forecasters warned that the devastation could be massive.  Homes, businesses, transit, and other basic infrastructure could be destroyed. 

According to the conspiracy the next thing that would happen would be the Masons swiftly moving in to start rebuilding massive structures for our new leaders, and these stone structures would be decorated with Swastikas and Sickles.

Cut to now, and the storm has passed us by, and the destruction, though significant, has not destroyed civilization. 

Now, say conspiracy theorists, the potential disaster itself was, and is, a smokescreen for the something far more worrisome that a simple storm.

Whether or not the weather (I couldn’t resist) was man made, is just no longer important. 

That particular issue had been blown off the map.

As regularly followers of this blog know, I work as a field cameraman for NY1, a 24 hour a day news network that covers the five boroughs. 

I read enough other blogs to know that the large news organizations and corporations get accused of everything from leaning in a certain way politically, to trying to manipulate public opinion, to over-hyping events to create sensationalism and keep viewership.

The latter is what conspiracy theorists are now hanging their hats on… over hyping the Hurricane.

This collective bout with exaggeration was not done to boost viewership and discourage channel changing, or even to spur the economy with impulse spending, but to create mass-hysteria and to give public officials the necessary standing to be able to easily evacuate certain areas.

My roommate Jeff, just days ago, had been strongly advocating the “Hurricane as the weapon” theory, but now he’d moved on from that and focused on the “convenient evacuation”.

What follows is part of the actual conversation that occurred in this very apartment early this morning between my roommate Jeff and I.

Jeff: It’s no coincidence that September 11th is just around the corner.

Me: Have you been drinking at that bar around the corner?

Jeff: Listen dummy, what areas did they evacuate?

Me: Fire Island?  Far Rockaway.  Atlantic City?

Jeff:  Ground Zero.

Jeff’s conspiracy theory is that government officials used the impending storm to evacuate the area around Ground Zero – that’s the site of the former World Trade Center Towers -- to be able to be prepare, far from watchful eyes, for a spectacular world changing event, planned for the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks, which is just days away.

From This Spot Was Borne So Many Conspiracy Theories-

On it’s face, Jeff’s theory is attractive and I can see how it can easily catch on with those who are given to the fear that the very media seemed to create this week.  The big bad hurricane is coming, you’d better prepare, and then it all turned out to be just a bag of wind.

The City’s Administration. taking a “better safe than sorry” attitude, had indeed ordered mandatory evacuation of certain downtown areas. 

Always Better Safe-

I freely submit that it’s true that a mandatory evacuation of New York City had never been ordered, but neither had the city ever potentially experienced a direct hit from a Category 1 Hurricane for many years, and the one dubbed the Long Island Express, in the 1930s, had left massive destruction in its wake.

Conspiracy theorist have asked why buildings that have been built to withstand up to 120 mile an hour winds would need to be evacuated.  That only deals with a small part of the issue.  The potential loss of power in high-rise building for many days, the potential flooding of low lying areas, and the possible loss of other infrastructural elements, made the area potentially unsafe and dangerous.

Now, it is true that none of it came to pass, but it did in the outer boroughs, and it did in upstate New York. 

Being a news cameraman I have the opportunity to see footage in its unedited stage, without any spin or hype and there was a strong possibility the level of the rivers would rise up so high as to completely flood downtown Manhattan.  With the possibility of downed power lines, it would hardly be safe to wade around in this.   Nor would it be safe to drive in, in case of emergency, like the need for ambulances or fire trucks.

But conspiracy theorists see this whole thing as fishy and a smokescreen for events that are yet to be revealed to an unsuspecting public.  They connect the dots to the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks.  That, plus the evacuation of the same area, seems like a large red flag to them.

Of course, it’s impossible to seek the truth about events that have not yet happened.

So, just like the Hurricane failing to take out the entire Eastern Seaboard, I am going to sit back and wait until September 11, 2011 passes.

I’d love for the day to pass eventless, and so, I’m certain will all of you.

This is one conspiracy theory I will be personally grateful to have quickly forgotten.

Until then, feel free to comment…

… and check back on September 12 to see if we are all still here... or if the conspiracy theorists are correct.

THE CONSPIRACY TO FOG THE REAL PROBLEM

O.K., let’s file this one under …

THE CONSPIRACY TO FOG THE REAL PROBLEM

The weather is on the mind of almost everyone today, and Jeff and I are no different than any one else. 

Well, meybe we are a bit different than some of our neighbors, who are downstairs at the Korean delis, waiting on long lines, to buy dozens of bottles of water. 

This is, of course, New York City folks, the city that never sleeps.

I spent yesterday running around all over that very city getting shots of people talking about what they were doing to brace for the impact of the Hurricane. 

Some New Yorkers were given to high drama, others were given to deep cynicism. 

Sometimes those statements refer to what happens in this very apartment.

New York City hasn't had to deal with a Hurricane like this one is predicted to be like since the l938.  I've seen the archival video from that storm, and it wasn't pretty.  That was before Hurricanes were given names.  That started in 1950.

But our building stood through that un-named Hurricane of 1938, and stood through Hurricane Bob, and survived Hurricane Gloria, and several other Hurricanes with names which I've been acquainted while I've been down at NY1 over the past view days, so I'm confident our apartment will still be here on Monday morning, and my laptop will still be dry.  I can even walk to NY1 to be able to get stories of people who claim it was all “A tempest in a teapot” or how it the city just was not prepared to keep them safe from the eye of the storm.

I've long believed the old Mark Twain adage that "everyone talks about the weather, but no one does anything about it."

Enter Jeff, on a well-timed commercial break:

Jeff:  You do know that Hurricane Katrina wasn't an accident?

I avoided saying, "No, it was a Hurricane", because saying that just didn't seem funny in the face of the aftermath of what happened to the city of New Orleans.

According to Jeff, the Russian KGB has been testing weather control technology and is using it against American cities.

Now, conspiracy theories about the weather are very attractive. The weather is constantly changing and, at the moment, beyond the control, except in regard to long term global warming.  It's very attractive to imagine that it's a man-made event and within the control of mad scientists.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Mad Scientist-

And Jeff is right.  Man can certainly alter local weather.  The Fog that engulfed London from the 17th to the 20th centuries, proves that fact, it was caused by human pollution.

The Best Time For Conspirators To Come Out And Play-

But the ability to create and target Hurricanes? 

Global warming aside, my logical brain cannot even embrace any scenario in which this could be possible by any sort of modern, or soon-to-be-developed technology.  It seems much more in the domain of super-hero-or science fiction movies.

And, face it, if the KGB wanted to destroy and American city, there are some ways currently available to do so, without stirring up the atmosphere and the ocean.

But, Jeff’s statement also fails on the fact that New Orleans was not devastated by Hurricane Katrina.  It was washed out when levees that had been constructed over the past three centuries to keep back the waters broke in the wake of Hurricane flooding.

Man Made And Monstrous-

Local and federal officials knew that the levees weren't good enough if a Hurricane higher than Category 3 ever hit the city.  But these officials allowed people to keep draining the wetlands that had naturally protected New Orleans from storms and to keep building homes and businesses below sea level. 

Severe flooding had occurred the last time New Orleans was hit by a hurricane in 1965.

So, in a way, a conspiracy theory like targeted Hurricanes, avoids the real, actual likely conspiracy, of government officials choosing to pocket much needed funds to improve infrastructure, or seeking to find ways to address the real problems, while upgrading local, substandard infrastructure,

So, Jeff, instead of creating bogies like the KGB, perhaps the focus should be on the real problem, and whether it's dishonesty or incompetence, or both, and protect humanity with better infrastructure.

I'll let you know if I'm right about our local infrastructure after we say "Good Night Irene".

Man Made Monster?-

Until then, keep safe.

THE CONSPIRACY TO VANISH INTO THIN AIR

O.K., let’s file this one under …

THE CONSPIRACY TO VANISH INTO THIN AIR.

Today, Jeff really surprised me.  He actually criticized a conspiracy theory. 

I take these tiny little victories whenever I can.  The pursuit of the truth can often be a very lonely journey, especially when one spends most of his time front of a computer screen, or looking through a camera. 

I’m sure many of you are booting up that violin computer program right about now…

Anyway, Jeff was reading one of those conspiracy websites that keeps him informed of all of the daily doings of the evil-doers who are constantly conspiring to take over the world.

It seems in the middle of the news feed about mind control, secret societies, and other such fodder for this blog, Jeff came upon a what I now have learned is a persistent conspiracy theory about the late singer, Michael Jackson.

Supposedly, Michael Jackson faked his own death. 

The theories of why Jackson did so did so include his desire to avoid bankruptcy, or to avoid another round of accusations of pedophilia, or to get out from under the thumb of a domineering father.

This is how the conversation went down:

Jeff: Oh c’mon.  This is the sort of thing that gives conspiracy theorists a bad name.

Me:  O.K. I’ll take the bait.  What sort of thing?

Jeff:  That Michael Jackson is not really dead.

Me:  Neither was Paul McCartney.

I’ll leave it to your imagination, whether or not Jeff laughed at my response.

But of course you can reference the prior bog called THE CONSPIRACY OF THE DEAD MOP TOP.

But… Michael Jackson… He might have been just crazy enough to do something crazy.  That’s what crazy people do.

Michael Jackson was married for a short time to Elvis Presley’s daughter.  So, perhaps, the former lead singer of the Jackson 5 - the true boy wouldn’t grow up - might have learned the ins and outs of faking one’s own death from his father-in-law who, as we all know did the same thing, a generation ago.

Why is it that some celebrities might try, and perhaps even succeed at faking their own deaths?  

Why is it such a popular conspiracy theory?

Take James Dean for instance…

The actor had a brief, but stellar, career in the 1950s.  He lived a movie-star life and had a tremendous love of racing cars.  His custom Porsche 550 Spyder would ultimately lead to his demise.  Or, if you believe the conspiracy theory, his way out of the limelight.

On September 30, 1955, he was driving the car on Route 466 in California, and was hit head on.  Dean was pronounced DOA at the hospital.

Some of those who later examined the wreckage of his car said that the damage to the vehicle was supposedly too light to result in a victim who would be killed instantly. 

Scene of the accident-

The theory is, that just like the driver of the other car, Dean walked away from the accident. 

Logic just doesn’t support the idea that James Dean would use such a method to fake his own death.  A car accident seems such a messy and uncertain way to stage such an event.  Plus the other driver had no connection to the actor, and would be risking his own life to pull off the “ruse.”   Also, there were just so many people involved in the aftermath for the dead James Dean to make a clean getaway. 

Years later, singer Elvis Presley supposedly found a more private place to fake his own death: his own bathroom.

The superstar was found dead in his Graceland mansion, on August 16, 1977. 

Graceland-

Two separate autopsies into the cause of death (one in the aftermath of the incident, and a second one performed in 1994) concluded that drugs did not play a part, and that Presley was killed by a sudden heart attack. 

However, given Presley’s widely documented prescription drug abuse, most experts believe that he really overdosed on a cocktail of drugs.

Because the cause of death is so subject to question, it has opened the door for myth making.  By far the most persistent theory is that Elvis Presley chose to stage his death in a bid to boost flagging record sales.  

For me, this also falls into the category of “Oh, C’mon.”

Yet, Elvis Presley and his music are still a multi-million dollar business.  So, if that was his intention in faking his death, it certainly worked.

Again, let’s apply simple logic… The second autopsy was performed in 1994 and the body was still recoverable.  So, unless an entirely new set of people were let in on the conspiracy, dead is dead. 

Singer Jim Morrison of the group The Doors had actually really tried to fake his own death once to create some career buzz, so it’s not entirely out of the question that he would try do so again.

So when he was found dead in his bathtub in his apartment in Paris, on July 3, 1971 at the age of 27 the seeds were planted early. 

Fueling speculation of history repeating itself was the fact that there was no autopsy, and his death was not immediately revealed to the public.

The Paris apartment building-

Unlike the prior incident, the theory this time is that he faked his death to avoid the trappings of fame, which was the very reason he had moved to Paris. 

Three years later, his girlfriend Pamela died of a heroin overdose.  Seems like a hell of a legacy for someone to leave, just to avoid living in the spotlight.

Several more celebrities have been said to have staged their own demise for various reasons:  Walt Disney and Tupac Shakur are among the best known. 

Disney’s “death” even plays into the upcoming investigation on the video blog.

If you want to simply leave your old life behind, I guess anything is possible.  Perhaps there is an entire dead celebrity colony on the island of Atlantis. 

The fact that this particular type of conspiracy theory is so enduring is somewhat of a mystery to rival the acts themselves. 

For the performer, fame can be very isolating.  It leads to drug abuse, alcoholism, depression, thoughts of suicide…

I guess the opportunity to start fresh could come in a more lucid moment.  Maybe some even act on it.  Money can buy a lot of things.

As far as the fans, maybe they simply cannot let go.  They faked death theory allows them to think that their idol is still out there somewhere.

Michael Jackson left three kids behind, and his daughter’s tears looked very real at the memorial service.  I weep for him, if he spent his money fabricating his death and caused that much pain to those so young.

Over the years Michael Jackson fabricated his appearance so much, maybe it was always part of his plan to step into a new identity.

Long Before Plastic Surgery-

Sometimes I am sure we would all like to start fresh…

And on that thought, I too must vanish into thin air.  Except you know I’ll be back, just like they say about Elvis…

As always, emails comments, and even floral arrangements are welcome.

THE 9TH DOT 101 – THE BASIC TRUTHS

O.K., let’s file this one under…

THE 9TH DOT 101 – THE BASIC TRUTHS

Lee Falk, who created the comic strip The Phantom, regularly included a series of four panels at the beginning of his comic strips that began: “For those who came in late”.

This explanation of the character of The Phantom’s origin and purpose was literally for the audience who might stumble upon the comic strip for the first time, and would need this “Cliff’s Notes” version to be brought up to speed. 

So I thought it would be helpful to do somewhat the same thing here periodically.

The Phantom comes to mind because the character is timeless in more ways than one.  He’s a hero who walks as a ghost through the ages fighting evil-doers.

There seem to never be a shortage of those.

The Phantom legend is not only about human heroism, but also about perception.  This same concept is also central to this blog.  The same event perceived from various points of view.  Only one of which can actually be the truth.

So for those who came in late to this blog…

My roommate Jeff and I have been living in this same apartment since film school.  We get along about as well as two guys probably can when crammed into a tiny East Village two bedroom.

Jeff’s a self proclaimed conspiracy theorist. 

Jeff’s world-view is that there is a Phantom with an agenda much different than that of Lee Falk’s… 

A man behind the curtain holding the control levers… 

An unseen Geppetto holding the strings… 

Actually, Jeff thinks there are many more than just one of these men, since the very nature of a conspiracy theory requires multiple unseen, malevolent individuals. 

Perhaps Jeff is just a little bit paranoid, so his last name is not included here. 

As to me, some would call me a debunker. 

But I would like to debunk that label right here and right now.

I’m an actually investigator. 

I try to be a reality check in a world where reality has come to be more and more manufactured.  That sad fact has actually helped to give credence to the possible existence of those very men behind the curtain.  

Of this, I am painfully aware.

But, sometimes, bad things are simply done by lone individuals.

You know why I think the paparazzi follow celebrities?  They are looking for that one real moment.

I know that less and less is left to chance.  It’s this lack of randomness which also helps give rise to conspiracy theories.  People need to give order to a world that becomes increasingly harder for one person to fully grasp.

But, sometimes things do happen randomly.

I do not deny that there are bad people who do bad things, sometimes working together, and even working in secret. 

And, Jeff does not deny that sometimes there is randomness and sometimes there are loners. too.  

That is what keeps us friends, and keeps our arguments healthy.

Both Jeff and I have agreed to keep an open mind in pursuit of objectivity. 

Like the nine dots of the puzzle that gave its name to this blog, we both try to think outside the box and let our journey take us where it might.

I’ve also been making little documentaries about our investigations and arguments about some of Jeff’s theories since film school. 

We’ve got a great one coming up, I’m editing nightly.  I’m not certain where it will lead yet either.

It’s about someone who dared to think outside the box as well.

That’s the fun of being an investigator, you don’t know the answer until you get there. 

So pass on the URL to this blog, you never know from where the next piece of evidence is going to come, or where that evidence might take us…

One thing I have always admired about Jeff, his intentions are good, he desires to expose those whose intentions are not so good.

That is an agenda I am happy to share and, like the character The Phantom, one that is worthy enough to continue for generations.

So for those who came in late, glad that you found the blog.  

Feedback is always welcome.

Sam Moore

THE CONSPIRACY OF THE NUMBERS GAME

O.K., let’s file this one under…

THE CONSPIRACY OF THE NUMBERS GAME

I like numbers. 

I especially like numbers like a million, and I’d like them even more if this sort of number might someday appear on my monthly bank statement preceded by a dollar sign.

Unfortunately, the reality of that happening to this lowly documentary camera person, is probably just a pipe dream at this point. 

Since, for the moment, these larger numbers are probably out of the question -- unless of course I hit all 6 numbers of the New York State Lottery -- we should concern ourselves with much smaller numbers, like the number “3”. 

According to the document Thomas Jefferson jotted down in 1776, there are 3 basic freedoms: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.  Conspiracy theorists are convinced that nefarious others are trying to constantly take from us these very freedoms.

The first of these – life -- is the subject of Jeff’s latest conspiracy theory.  And it relates to life in large numbers, in the millions, maybe even tens of millions or hundreds of millions.

As crowded of the streets of the East Village are on Friday and Saturday nights – with thousands, even tens of thousands of people partying hard - I never ever dream of all the people just going away, leaving me alone to prowl the streets in an “I am Legend” situation. 

After all, who would I blog to?

I don’t even ever wish that Jeff would just get taken away by reptilian aliens… or by Black Helicopters… or by agents of HARP... or disappear in any other conspiratorial fantasy in which he believes, despite what regular readers of this blog might think.  

The apartment Jeff and I share is Number 9 Second Avenue in New York City (yes we live at number 9).  The building has about 40 apartments, occupied by people packed into 600 square feet.  Our apartment building is crowded with Village Bohemians, Slackers, and New York University students (also ex-New York University students, like Jeff and myself).  It’s crowded, but I love the city in which I live.  Where else can you get dinner at 5 o’clock in the morning on Tuesday?

Jeff and I are good tenants.  We keep our noise level to a respectable level.  We conserve water. 

We have never once peed out the window, even on the most tequila-laden night.

We recycle.  Beer cans and Jose Cuervo bottles in one container, take out menus in another. 

Because of the need to recycle, there are so many garbage pails in the lobby, it creates both an eyesore and an obstacle course of sorts.

For instance, on the way back from a pizza run last night, Jeff almost tripped over one of the garbage pail lids and mumbled about something called “Sustainable Development”.

Of course, I can never resist a challenge. 

So here’s how it went down:

Me: What’s Sustainable Development?

Jeff: The Green Agenda.

 

Me: Conspiracy Theories are now color-coded?

Jeff: And naïve debunkers’ websites are numbered, as are all our days.

So, here’s how the conspiracy theory shapes up:

According to Jeff, “Sustainable Development” and “The Green Agenda” are based on the idea that an international ruling body has centralized global control over all human activity.  This living body seeks to control what you eat, what you drink, and how much energy you use.

The code name for all of this is Agenda 21.  A new world order for Century 21.

So now 21 is a scary number.  It used to just be a time where you’d be able to drink, vote, and smoke. 

Much like in the world of Logan’s Run, or in that of Solyent Green, under the agenda of Agenda 21, it isn’t just control over food and fuel that’s coming, but over birth, life, and death itself.  Much of the human race will be systematically euthanized, and after that the right to one’s life, or the right to have children, will no longer be part of Jefferson’s original legacy.

With this secret agenda already underway, in just a few decades, the world’s population is to be brought a full 99 per cent per cent lower than it is today.

According to Jeff, 178 nations have signed on to Agenda 21, which is defined as a comprehensive plan of action to be taken globally, nationally and locally by organizations of the United Nations and its member Governments. 

Al Gore, who is kind of an unofficial Green Czar, who was very nearly elected President in the year 2000, and who is supposedly one of the architects of Agenda 21, and has made the following statement regarding population control:

“One of the things we could do about it is to change the technologies, to put out less of this pollution, to stabilize the population, and one of the principle ways of doing that is to empower and educate girls and women.

You have to have ubiquitous availability of fertility management so women can choose how many children have, the spacing of the children.

You have to lift child survival rates so that parents feel comfortable having small families and most important - you have to educate girls and empower women.

And that’s the most powerful leveraging factor, and when that happens, then the population begins to stabilize and societies begin to make better choices and more balanced choices.”

There certainly are people out there talking about how population control is a smart idea, enough to make Jeff, and the rest of us a little scared.

For instance, a Professor of Biology at the University of Texas, Eric R. Pianka, writes of the wisdom of human population control.

This is verbatim from his article “What Nobody Wants To Hear”:

First, and foremost, we must get out of denial and recognize that Earth simply cannot support many billions of people…

… Human populations must be greatly diminished, and as quickly as possible to limit further environmental damage.

Corporate leaders have also weighed in.  The founder of CNN, Ted Turner was quoted as saying, “A total population of 250-300 million people, a 95% decline from present levels, would be ideal.”

Ideal for who?  Certainly not his ratings.

This is not as easy to dismiss than some of Jeff’s other conspiracy theories.  There certainly is enough precedent in history of planned mass murder by government leaders, done in secret.

One need look no further than the Final Solution to know that Governments sometimes don’t have the best interest of a large group of the population.  

However, let’s look at the actions of our own Government and compare it against this 21st Century Agenda:

If the New World Order wants to keep us from being fruitful and multiplying, then why not give out free contraception in every bar?

And if our leaders want us to hurry up and die, then why place the additional stress on the United States budget, which would be inevitably be taxed to the max (pun intended) with the low cost health care now being extended to even the poorest among us. 

I know all the talk of death panels that’s been linked with implementing universal health care, but look at what a stink got raised by even the slightest rumors of killing off Grandma in the guise of human efficiency and cost benefit analysis.  

But would it actually be possible to start killing people off without a latter day Charlton Heston or Kevin McCarthy blowing the whistle on the tactics of the secret police on every street corner of every small town and city from Boston to Denver?

And wouldn’t there be a new Constitutional Amendment allowing easy abortions even more quickly than one could once have said "repeal Row v. Wade"?

Over the span of human history, large segments of the population have been wiped out by plagues, wars, and starvation.  Yet life expectancy continues to be on the rise.  Shouldn't it be heading the other way if people were being exterminated?   

Watch the Sunday Morning talk shows.  Our Government seems much more concerned about raising the retirement age then in putting us in early graves.

Could it be that all the talk of recycling and conservation is to preserve the future for all of us?  Why is it necessary to put a bad spin on good behavior? 

I for one would hate for being kind to the environments to giving rise to bogeymen, or take on such a negative connotation that we throw our trash in the street, take up large sections of land with garbage dumps, and stop searching for renewable energy.

Jeff I think this one falls in my column.  Beers are on you.  Maybe a whole 12 pack.  And 2 shots of tequila.  We’ll keep the numbers small and the footprint tiny.

As such, I promise to recycle the cans. 

I expect to be here long into the future, which is a good reason to be extra kind to the environment.

Emails are always welcome.  Even by snail mail.  On recyclable paper, of course.