This page is a compilation of the truly unique occurrences, ideas, and plans I come across. Since the term "crazy" can have many meanings, depending on your perspective and level of insanity, the message this page tries to convey is awareness. While our world may not be under attack from an asteroid, alien force, or a significant political leader with penis envy, the thousand cuts of "craziness" that occur every day alter our future forever. I'll put the info up here, you decide for yourself whether you think it's crazy or not. 

If you feel the information is not complete, or question the source, please e-mail me. I keep the stories brief, because it's not always the story, but the message/intent behind it, that earns it a spot on the "Crazy Years." If you find something worthy, e-mail me. I'll add it to the melee. This page is updated frequently, as crazy things are occuring at an alarming rate. 
 

A Quote to Consider:   When they took the 5th Amendment, I didn't speak up because I wasn't a criminal. When they took the 4th Amendment, I didn't speak up because I didn't deal drugs. When they took the 2nd Amendment, I didn't speak up because I don't own a gun. When they took the 1st Amendment, I couldn't speak up. 
 
 

A Candidate for Mother-of-the-Year  New Jersey -- A mother was arrested for giving her son some sound advice. Her advice: "GO HIDE THE BODY!" The way the story reads so far, her 19-year old son allegedly kidnapped and murdered a 10-year old neighbor while she walked home from school, past their house. The mother was arrested a few days after her son was apprehended and interrogated. 

You can just hear the daily conversation in that house..."Quick, hide the body. No, not there! Oh, you're getting blood everywhere! Finished? Good, don't forget the trash -- and vacuum that rug!  -- Editor
 
 

Massacre of the Month   Algiers -- Tuesday April 28 -- 40 men, women and children were slaughtered in an overnight attack in the mountainous Medea region, in the town of Chouardia, 60 miles south of the capital. No one claimed responsibility, and this is the largest attack since 52 people, including 32 children, were massacred on March 27 in the town of Had Sahary Youb. 

Two attacks in three weeks for a total of 92 lives. That's not crazy. What's crazy is that I found this information buried in my local newspaper. The headline that day spoke of a civil employee strike. Union workers fighting over better wages is bigger news than the second massacre of innocent people. Now that's crazy! 
 
 

Politics and Religion   Cherry Hill, New Jersey -- The "United House of Prayer for All People of the Church on the Rock of the Apostlistic Faith" has plans for a new mission house in Cherry Hill, NJ. The proposed house is a 40 room, 9,514 Sq. ft., 6 bathroom (one is 20 x 40 feet) 2 million dollar mansion that CEO and Bishop S.C. Madison from Washington, DC needs for a retirement home for his weary bones. The Bishop holds in his name thousands of properties from rural counties in Florida to city streets in Los Angeles. He may only visit this home twice a year. 

There are ten "United House of Prayer for All People of the Church on the Rock of the Apostlistic Faith" churches in Philadelphia, and two in South Jersey. Bishop S.C. Madison's average stay in the New Jersey area is usually 3 days annually, in a $130,000 home in Cherry Hill. The new $2 million home is the 4th largest in Cherry Hill. Servants will maintain the home in their absence. 

The property the new house will reside on was originally purchased by a widow for $193,000. The Bishop's contracting company purchased the plot for $65,000. Any church that can spend millions to build and maintain a house and staff it with servants to maintain it while it stands empty nearly most of the year, but finds it necessary to haggle an old widow down to one-third of the property's worth, is in my opinion a church whose concept of "Christian charity" is severley warped. Why can't the Bishop stay in an expensive hotel? Why not give the woman a fair price? Money, that's why. The church turned a $128,000 profit -- a good example of modern-day "big business" religion. 

Editor's note: Its funny how a non-profit organization and religious leader can also be CEO and property owner and have so much money that this is all possible. I wonder what the average income of the "United House of Prayer for All People of the Church on the Rock of the Apostlistic Faith" members is.
 
 

A New National Rifle Association (NRA) Poster Child
Oklahoma -- Long-time advocates of the necessity of firearms in the home for personal protection, the NRA, can pat themselves on the back for a successful awareness campaign. Kip Kinkel, the NRA's new poster child, took the NRA's ordinary "defensive" home safety strategy to the school, with a slight modification -- an offensive attack against school mates. The attack was precipitated when Kinkel was suspended from school. In the aftermath, 21 students were injured and four were killed. 

Kips parents are very distraught. A few years ago, Kip was obsessed with explosives, and even started making his own bombs. To help turn this destructive obsession into a constructive one, Kip's dad purchased some firearms and worked with him to help Kip become interested in a more useful hobby -- one with pinpoint target selection and better accuracy. Although the teachers and children have returned to school, the fear of student retaliation lives long into their future and promises many sleepless nights for those involved. 

Related News: On October 1, 1997, Luke Woodham, a 17 year-old student allegedly pulled a rifle in a crowded area of his Mississippi school and started shooting. The results left two students killed and seven others wounded. 

More Related News: June 15, 1998, Richmond, Virginia, Armstrong High School. A 14-year-old boy was arrested for shooting and injuring a school teacher and volunteer in the crowded hallway of his school. The suspect, a ninth-grade student from the high school, will be charged as an adult with two counts of aggravated assault and two counts of using a firearm in a felony, police said. There is no known motive for the shooting. 

Still More Related News: June 17, 1998, Washington D.C.. A 17 year boy pumped 10 rounds of shotgun shells into 18-year-old Damon Damar Ingram while he walked his dog. He was buied in his graduation cap and gown on Friday, June 19. 

And Some More: June 18, 1998, Fairfax, Virginia. A 14-year old boy and his friend played Russian Roulette with a .38 caliber handgun. He lost, and is now in intensive care. 

Don't Stop Now, We're on a Roll: August 11, 1998, Jonesboro, Arkansas. Two boys, age fourteen and twelve, plead guilty to 5 counts of murder and 10 counts of battery. The two staged an ambush by pulling a fire alarm, then shot into the crowd when the students and faculty filled the hallways. 

As our political "trickle-down" theory promises: we hand our problems over to our children. Don't be surprised that they're taking some action -- Editor

Facts that no gun proponent can argue: More Americans are killed by handguns in one day than in an entire year in Japan. More Americans are killed by handguns in one week than in all of Western Europe in one year. Texas, with its open gun policy, has 68 million guns for 17 million Texans (4 guns for every person). 

I wonder how many TV sets they have? -- Editor.

There are more than 10 times as many licensed gun dealers in America than there are McDonalds restaraunts. 142,000 gun dealers; 12,000 McDonalds restaraunts. 

Maybe McDonalds should offer firearms on their menu: "You want a Smith and Wesson 9 millimeter with hollow-point rounds with your fries? -- Editor. 
 
 

Germs We Can't Kill
Atlanta, Georgia, Center for Disease Control -- Antibiotics--the allopathic medicines many rely on to cure ailments are losing their effectiveness, largely due to the enormous amounts that enter our bloodstream from the food we eat. Antibiotics "from the farm" are present in chickens, cattle, and many orchard fruits, and have now helped create a new strain of salmonella that is resistant to 5 forms of antibiotics. U.S. scientists reported this month (May 1998) that the new strain has sickened thousands of Americans and nearly killed a Vermont dairy farmer.

Another new germ discovered in Minnesota, campylobacter, is also resistant to to a powerful antibiotic. And to keep us all afraid of sexual contact, the CDC recently identified a new strain of gonorrhea, which was discovered in Florida. While curable, this new and powerful strain is resistant to all known gonorrhea cures, and forced Doctors to try alternate treatments. 

Note: Almost half the 50 million pounds of U.S.-produced antibiotics is used in animals -- 80% to make the animals grow faster and increase farm profits, not treat disease -- and 40,000 pounds are sprayed on fruit trees. 
 
 

Politics and the "Peter Principle"
Israel -- The "Peter Principle" states that in any organization, a person rises to their highest level of incompetence -- and stays there. Such is the case for Newt Gingrich and why he earns a spot on the "Crazy Years".

Newt breaks new political ground by taking bi-partisanship to the International arena. Newt recently tried to make a name for himself by getting involved in the Israeli-Palestinian negotioations, and created comedy of errors for the Republican party instead. Newt directly attacked Secratary of State Madeline Albright by calling her ". . .an agent of the Palestines" and by stating that "When I see an American Diplomat (Albright) suggest to Israeli generals that our understanding of their security needs on the West Bank is better than their understanding -- then I'm looking at somebody who's been in fancy hotels too long and is out of touch with reality." 

Apparently Newt missed the CNN footage of Desert Storm, as one pass of a defense satellite is all it takes to have a great viewpoint from which to discuss defense strategies. And when you consider his background and high-dollar fund-raising activities for the Republican Party, hearing him complain about expensive hotels is like listening to a preacher from the choir pit. Was he saying this from his suite at the Econolodge? Highly unlikely. Simply stated, Newt's job is to help administer the peace process between two countries that have endured decades of war. Instead he chooses to put political gain first, and hits the International road with a hidden agenda. 

While in Israel, he was definitively anti-Palestine, declaring Jerusalem to be the "now and forever" capital of Israel. Why take sides when your job is to mediate peace? Did he forget that the war over there (the issue we're paying him to help resolve) is over territory like Jerusalem, among other key issues. He's lucky the Arabs didn't stone him. (Maybe they should have, then the Arabs would be at war with Newt's Republican Party.) You have to wonder whether or not Newt is being paid to louse things up. Why else would he act this way? 

Enough said? Take this one for the road: Newt was quoted in the Israeli press as saying he ". . .would burn down Washington" if President Clinton blamed him for scuttling the peace-process. I hope he has a lot of matches -- or maybe he knows something we don't. Or just read this story and you'll see how difficult it is to replace Gingrich. 
 
 

I Love That Greasy Water
Washington -- Make that "greasy, chemically altered and potentially cancer-causing" water. According to a recent report from the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, a non-profit organization, Industry discharged 1 billion pounds of toxic chemicals into U.S. waterways from 1992 to 1996. The Mississippi River was the most heavily used dumping site, receiving more waste than all aother majow waterways combined.

Here's the scary part: not all the chemicals dumped into the waterways are reported. According to PIR, their individual testing of all the waterways revealed large amounts of chemicals that are not on the required reporting list. These chemicals not only leave inventory records concerning river dumping incomplete, they commesurately increase the possibility of health problems, including cancer and birth defects.

Since many Americans rely on these waterways for drinking water, swimming and recreation, and employment, the absence of difinitive laws concerning the mandatory reporting of discharged chemicals only empowers industry to continue the trend of "dump now, pay later." The problem is that they're paying a small amount of cash for destroying a natural resource that may never fully recover.

Case in point: Shell Oil Company agreed to pay 1.5 million in fines and an additional 10 million to clean up the area around its Wood River Refinery in Roxana, Illinois. According to the U.S. government, Shell violated emission standards for benzene, sulfur dioxide, and hydrogen sulfide.

Is 11.5 million enough? I guess you have to ask the family that looses a child to environmentally-caused cancer, or our great-grandchildren when they try to clean up the mess.

U.S. Waterways Effected So Far
These rivers and waterways receive daily toxic waste and may be near you

The Ohio River, the Brazos River in Texas, Connoquenessing Creek in Pennsylvania, the Rock River in Illinois, Pacific Ocean sites off the coasts of Oregon, California and Hawaii, the Savannah River, the Tennessee River, the Delaware River and the Houston Ship Channel.

Since China's public admission that over 80% of their 900 rivers are polluted, this shocking information concerning U.S. waterways paints a dismal portrait of the state of our world. With large businesses dumping billions of gallons of chemicals into waterways worldwide, and only offering money for cleanup when "caught" and forced to, it will take a miracle to restore this planet's life-sustaining natural resource.

The whole "Lost In Space" movie plot is beginning to look pretty good. Let's all go find another planet to exploit!