On Saturday, September 21, 1996 8:51 AM, Tim Bass[SMTP:bass@cactus.silkroad.com] wrote: @ @ Hans, @ @ I understand, I am fairly serious as well. And I like your @ Star Trek analogy..... @ @ On a similar cynical note, I was skating yesterday in the @ Virginia countryside and stopped to rest over a creek. @ There I watched a turtle lying in the sun in a pollution @ ravaged creek and thought to myself.... @ @ "Man has this ability to reason, so by default, should take @ responsibility not to destroy the lives of all the other @ creatures on the earth; however, there may very well @ come a day when turtles have all died due to mankind's @ irresponsibility toward the planet and it's fragile @ creatures and other life forms." @ @ You realize that you are losing your innocence when you @ begin to believe that 'what is right' is not 'what will @ happen' (at least in our mortal lifetimes). @ Try to step back many years...imagine...if the U.S. Government decided to develop Northwestern Wyoming as a nature preserve... ...which we will call Yellowstone something... ...imagine that three contractors are hired to oversee this development... imagine that one contractor is the general manager imagine that another is in charge of building roads, sewers, etc. and imagine that another runs the concession stands... millions are spent building make shift hot-dog stands and volunteers do most of the work... no one can figure out where all the money goes... ...now, imagine that things do not go so well and the roads are not built very quickly and and the concession operator puts up stands everywhere to make a buck, tourists overrun the area (building their own roads) and the general contractor runs around without being of much help... now...imagine that the U.S. government steps in and decides that the general contractor is the problem, is useless and removes funding... ...meanwhile, the concession operator keeps selling hot-dogs and soft drinks and the road builder builds roads further into the forest...closer and closer to Old Faithful... ...then imagine one day that the concession operator starts renting camp sites and camp grounds spring up everywhere without concern for the ecology of the area or all the hot-dog wrappers that cover the landscape...people complain, but are told they do not know anything about running a national park..."period !!!"... ...imagine people going to the U.S. Government and asking "what is going on out there in Wyoming?"...and having the government say..."we are not sure, who cares?...go ask those guys in the hot-dog stand for directions, I think they are the park rangers..." ...imagine that the U.S. Government quietly removes all the "Property of the U.S. Government" signs and the place is overrun with land developers, and other opportunists... imagine that the opportunists study the situation and... just when they thought they were going to open their own concession stands to compete and sell hamburgers, they find out that all NEW fast food concessions are now outlawed and not considered the best current practice...by the "rangers" ...with revenue from the camp grounds, the hot dog vendor starts selling "trailer sites" and the road builder starts charging for sewer and water hook-ups...people view this as an improvement and tough zoning laws are enacted to make sure that camping is no longer allowed... ...furthermore, imagine that the hot dog stands are converted over night into real estate offices with an exclusive right to sell any and all land...after all, the signs are gone, no one seems to care any more who owns the property... take the money and run... ...imagine that the general public is starting to drive down the roads everything is portrayed as being wonderful... no one mentions that the sewer and water systems are poorly engineered and that the mobile homes are built on land-fills built from hot-dog wrappers... ...imagine that everyone stands around endorsing this activity and if anyone asks any questions they are rudely told to stay out of the path of progress...everything is under control...all decisions are being handled by the proper authorities..."period !!!" imagine if... ...no one knows who the authorities are... ...no one knows who owns (or owned) the land... ...the U.S. Government is gone... ...the hot-dog wrappers are out of sight... ...there are no camp sites... ...just luxury "gated" trailer communities... ...overlooking...Old Faithful... everything is beautiful...and a few people are rich... what started as a National Park... is now a National Trailer Park... Yellowstone National Trailer Park...yes sir...that is what the U.S. Government had in mind when it gave out those three contracts...what a beautiful "site" !! the project must be a success...people are moving in by the car load...as the signs say..."Many choice home sites near Old Faithful still remain...follow the arrows... still only $50 per car...pay the ranger at the gate..." -- Jim Fleming UNETY Systems, Inc. Naperville, IL e-mail: JimFleming@unety.net.s0.g0