Jim Kelley wrote:

...
Turns out they don't do very much filtering anymore, Art. It used to be
called verification, ...

Funny, I lived through those times. Even Walter Cronkite speculated on
such things as a conspiracy in Kennedys' death, etc. He sat there and
calmly gave you the good, the bad and the ugly. Nightly we got body
counts of the war and seen graphic picture of such things as mutilated
bodies and buddhist monks pouring gas on themselves and burning to death
in the streets of vietnam.

It is much different now. We all know it is strange on how a
congressman can go into office whose worth can be counted in thousands
and come out a multimillionaire, especially when his yearly salary is
about 100,000 or so. Reporters are so controlled they fear to say chit
if they have a mouthful!

But, back then men were more honest. Now we have family dynasty's (bush
sr., bush jr.--bill, hilary) and it is difficult to draw a line between
BIG MONEY (oil, drug companies, military contractors, etc.) and gov't.

It is good to keep in mind a saying that is as old as the hills, "Truth
is stranger than fiction." And, I have found it is hardly ever the
perpetrator who ends up in the slammer--he has had a good bit of time to
plan his crime and has a suitable and believable fall guy(s) set up way
ahead of time.

And, before anyone accuses me of being a conspiracy nut, my whole life
has been a conspiracy. A conspiracy to take someone elses' money and
put it in my pocket (legally--or at least without breaking the law!) A
conspiracy to be an "insider" and "fortune teller" and walk away with
the money others have lost in "the game." A conspiracy to place myself,
my wife, my family, my community, my county, my state and my country
ahead of all others.

It really all depends on how you look at things, doesn't it?

No, if some nut is claiming something, I wanna know about it. While I
am still sucking air and not dirt, I will attempt to captain my ship.
If some of the crew are screaming insane things, I wanna know about that
too ... if it damages others psyches, so be it. If I am fooled, I'll be
that much smarter next time ...

JS