President's tumble off a Segway seems a tiny bit suspicious.

President Bush meant to fall off his Segway.

Oh, I'm sure of it. What we've got here is a clever conspiracy -- a pre-emptive strike to save the oil industry from a technology that could sap its power.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...satoday/5252375

The above article is just another in a series of conspiracy theories that surface regularly.

Do you pay any attention to conspiracy theories? Do you think there is always a hidden truth to a conspiracy theory?

The Segway is a stupid idea, given the current living conditions in the US.

Let's see, it has:

Limited range: we are a nation of commuters. Many people commute 30 or more miles one way.
Limited cargo space : we like cargo space. SUV's and trucks ring a bell to anyone?\
Small size: Americans have a fetish for larger vehicles.
Limited cover : I guess driving an Segway through a thunderstorm or blizzard would NOT be a pleasant experience.
No climate control: See above, except add 100 degree heat.
It is slow: 12.5 mph? I can run faster than that...

The Segway might succeed in Europe, which doesn't suffer from most of the above idiosyncracies of Americans.

So given the fact that THIS conspiracy theory is completely bonkers on its face...
I can confidently say that not all conspiracy theories have a grain of truth in them.

Yes, I agree. Even though I know nothing about this particular conspiracy theory, I am convinced that the doctrine of "there's no smoke without fire" is mostly counter productive.

If there's EVIDENCE for a conspiracy, fair enough, but to just be suspicious of people's motives because we don't like what they say is a refuge for weak thinking most of the time.

Anyway, I like the philosophical principle of Hanlon's Razor (a descendant of Occam, perhaps? )

My hat's off to you, then. That's better than a five-minute mile, and a lot of people can't run a mile no matter how much time they're given.

And this contributes to the debate in what way?

The comment was a bit facetious, although most people CAN run for 12.5 MPH for short times.

Yeah, I'll bite.

There is an old conspiracy. It's called the Good Old Boy Network. And if you don't belong to it, your battles will be uphill all the way. No Segway will help on that rocky course. You can succeed, but you must be determined.

"Ordo ab chao" (Order out of chaos) is their motto. It was imported from Europe via Freemasonry, which had been infected with a grandiose agenda in Germany. The pyramid with the eye at the apex is a Masonic symbol found on our dollar bill.

A conspiracy does not have to be omnipotent in order to be a conspiracy. It needs to be quasi-secretive, organized, and have an agenda. It seems to me that any organization of this nature wants to acquire and wield power and influence.

But there's a lot of competition these days. There are clusters of nationalism within this country that vie with the Good Old Boy network for economic and political power, e.g., Cubans in Florida and of late, feminists (the "Masters" Tournament), various PACs, etc.

So there isn't a reason to fear the conspiracy, just work around it.

(Edited to add: Thanks, Wertz, for some of the information in a previous thread. Also, one source is RULE BY SECRECY by James Marrs.)

It seems to me that liberty can be a fertile breeding ground for conspiracy...

Yeah, most of these conspiracy theories are a bit "out there."

However, we have to look at everything that is allowed in to the mainstream media with a critical eye. Especially when it comes to important and influential people, nothing that gets out is accidental. Our press is not as "free" as many like to believe it is.