After a lunch discussion, I decided to research the comment that a bull shark attack had once occurred in Lake Michigan. It appeared to be such an impossible thought that we all scoffed at the idea of sharks infesting a freshwater lake so far inland.

I found an online site that claimed that a bull shark attack did occur in Lake Michigan in 1955, but it was never verified.  A shark attack in Lake Michigan? There's speculation that it's all a practical joke. Even if the story was true, it would have been such a rare occurrence as to be statistically insignificant.

The above illustrates the propensity of green groups like the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) and even zoos like the Melbourne Zoo to scrape the bottom of the barrel in coming up with their lie-a-minute diatribes against palm oil.

Finally, the cat is out of the bag! Eager to give after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Americans poured $1.5 billion into hundreds of charities established to serve the victims, their families and their memories.

But a decade later, an Associated Press investigation shows the questionable motives and shady dealings of those non-profits.There are those that spent huge sums on themselves, those that cannot account for the money they received, those that have few results to show for their spending and those that have yet to file required income-tax returns. Yet many of the charities continue to raise money in the name of Sept. 11.

The AP investigation identified 325 charities created after 9/11 to serve victims, their relatives and their memories. Those nonprofits collected $1.5 billion for their causes, which included programs to help those affected by the attacks, memorials to honor the victims, and services and cash provided to relatives of victims.

The modus operandi that AP discovered with these shady charities was that dozen paid salaries and benefits to their founders without delivering on promises of charity; raised and spent money without publicly documenting their finances; or spent most of the money raised on programs or events, like a motorcycle ride, with only a small amount going to charitable purposes.

One charity, Stage 1 Productions, in Peoria, raised more than $700,000 for a giant memorial quilt, but there is still no quilt some 10 years after Sept.11. Another raised more than $4 million to help victims, but didn't account publicly for how it spent all the money. A third helps support a 9/11 flag sold by the founder's for-profit company.

There are other charities that can account for practically every penny raised - except that all the money went to pay for fundraising and not the intended mission. Questions are asked as to the real beneficiaries of all the fund raising.

Internal Revenue Service records show that less than 1 percent of the more than 1.2 million charities operating in the U.S. receive examinations or audits each year. Operating largely on an honor system, the tax-exempt organizations have little reason to fear regulator scrutiny for tax-exempt for these organizations meant only that they are exempted from paying taxes!

To be sure, most of the 325 charities identified by the AP followed the rules, accounting fully for their expenditures and closed after fulfilling identified goals.

But in virtually every category of 9/11 non-profit, an AP analysis of tax documents and other official records uncovered schemes beset with shady dealings, questionable expenses and dubious intentions.

Alarm bells must be ringing too for all the fund raising schemes introduced by certain “civil society” and “environmental” groups like the WWF and even zoos like the Melbourne Zoo and their equally questionable palm oil campaigns. These schemes read like a veritable playbook and modus operandi of these groups in targeting probably the most inherently sustainable of oilseeds for the donations and blood lucre that their palm oil campaigns attract.
 

Perhaps the greatest conman of all time has to be John Law, a Scottish playboy who’s so accomplished in the art of the scam that he was appointed the French Minister of Finance in 1720.

A son of the Scottish aristocracy, Law was a gambler and a ladies man in his youth. After burning through his inheritance, he left for the Continent.

In Paris, he befriended the Duke of Orleans, who admired his bold ideas. In 1715, King Louis XIV died and, as his heir was too young to assume the throne, the Duke of Orleans took the reins as regent.

Law saw his opportunity to try out the scheme he'd been thinking about for years. Not only did he have the ear of the regent, France was in a hole created by the late king's corruption, extravagance and costly wars. The country was in desperate need of a financial boost and Law knew just how to deliver it.

In 1716, he founded the Banque Royale in Paris to repay the debt resulting from the King Louis XIV wars. He convinced the Duke of Orleans of the need for paper currency and a bank to manage royal revenues; the bank would issue notes on that revenue and on landed security. The Duke of Orleans had such confidence in Law, he appointed him the Minister of Finance in 1720.

Law's bank was so successful he was allowed to merge it with the Mississippi Company, which had exclusive trade privileges with Louisiana. By 1720, the frenzy was in full force. Law first offered 50,000 new shares but found he needed to dramatically increase that number. Desperate to buy in, people lined up at all hours hoping to secure their place.

The hysteria became such a public nuisance that Law bought a hotel; a decree was issued stating that people could only buy or sell stock in the gardens of the Hotel de Soissons. There were more than 500 stalls set up in those gardens and a sort of wild, carnival atmosphere as people scrambled to get their hands on shares.

The prospects certainly appeared favorable. People saw others making their fortunes in a day; the word “millionaire” was invented to describe these newly rich Parisians. The bubble filled fast: on some days, the price of shares rose 10 or 20 percent in just a few hours.

When it collapsed, Law fled Paris in 1720 with an angry mob at his heels!

Today, a new generation of con artists has surfaced. Wearing the cloak of civil society groups, these organizations have worked out clever ploys to fill their coffers. Exploiting the natural inclination of the public, corporations and even governmental agencies to support or donate to good causes, they initially identify a “cause”. For the scam to work, the “cause” has to be one with a humanitarian ring to it. What better cause can there be but to save mankind from itself?