Bad decisions and a cover-up are for damned sure a sign that the people in charge need to be tighter-reined, but does that fall into the same category as a full-scale conspiracy? I really don't think so. Not quite. Dennis listed a neat grocery list of stuff the government needs to be hounded for, watched-over for, made responsible for. Each, however, was likely less than a "grand plan." In truth, the decisions made were likely made by one or two people with no oversight to speak of, allowed to run amuck. Then the others, the ones who
should have watched over this one or two people to make sure such breeches didn't occur, found out about it post facto, they decided to cover-up.
Ockham's razor: entities should not be multiplied needlessly; the simplist of two or more competing theories is preferable, and an explanation for unknown phenomena should first be attempted in terms of what's already known. This was a good rule of logic in the 14th century (when they had some
real conspiracies!), and it's good now.
I could frankly string you together a convincing theory that the reason toilet bowls are only 11" high (except for handicapped ones!) is due to a "joint" conspiracy between the National Orthopedic Society and the Mexican ceramics workers, in an effort to save on costs of porcelain
and make more money for orthopedists who treat knee and hip problems! How? Why, it's
all right there, if you'll just LOOK! Haven't you ever
wondered why those daggum bowls are
so low to the floor? Haven't you every wondered why you never see a kiln that makes these bowls in the U,S.? It's a conspi
rrrrrracy! You see, it all started when Mr. Taylor, of Taylor Johnson fixture fame, was shooting craps with Dr. B. Dover, famed orthopedist. . .
Never mind...!
[This message has been edited by Long Path (edited September 20, 1999).]