Once I was naive and believed that people were truthful, that our elected leaders were honest and did what was best for us, and the only good ideas came from the U.S. of A. Now I know few of us consistently tell the truth and most habitually lie. It seems that most of our elected officials lie to us so they can stay in office and enrich themselves. When we were in grade school, we were told of great inventions and ideas from America. Now we are told that being the first to get an American patent doesn’t mean they invented it. Bell, Edison, Ford and many others stole the ideas.

We have been manipulated all our lives by those who want to get us to do something or buy something we don’t need. We were told that Iraq was involved in 9-11 and had nuclear and biologic weapons. This was in spite of contrary evidence. To disagree was unpatriotic and just un-American. We now know the black-hearted truth as to why and how we were conned.

WE were told bigger TV screens were more desirable so six foot screens were sold. Digital TVs are better than analog so buy new ones. Now the movies you were looking at on wall-sized screens, you now watch on six-inch screens. Maybe our national candy should be the sucker.

The current big con doesn’t just affect you and me; it affects the future of our planet and all life on earth. Certain groups are telling us what we can see, what we know, and what science has told us for fifty-seven years is wrong.

Scientists know Venus, Earth, and Mars were alike for over a billion years and probably supported at least single celled organisms. Venus’ volcanoes pumped too much sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere, disrupted the carbon cycle, and created its greenhouse effect. Mars lost most of its atmosphere and its surface water.

Goldilocks’ Earth has gone through many different disasters that wiped out all or almost all life (six are documented). Each time tens and hundreds of millions of years allowed life to start over along a different path. No major events have occurred since our earliest ancestor left the trees. Those extinction events took from a day to several millennia.

The current big con is that climate change isn’t occurring, and if it is, we aren’t the cause. First, you see the effects on the news (even FOX has to acknowledge it.) or with your own eyes by traveling around our country. Second, even scientific papers paid by fossil companies have now confirmed the planet is warming because of the added CO2 produced by burning fossil fuels. (Note the current Natural Gas Association ads on TV telling us it puts less CO2 into the air.)

Glacial ice records tell us that a little less than 3% CO2 brings ice ages and a little over brings excessive heat and drought. We are now well over 3% and getting higher every day.