This problem has my mind twisting and roiling. Jed, your frustration and that of Ed Storms is palpable, and I can understand why.
Here are some suggestions. Keep the Manifesto. It worked pretty well for Marx. It worked pretty well for the Bauhaus. I was going to suggest that the public is inured to government scientists lying, but what the hell, it always makes a good story. You have to make your case in terms of a government cover-up, like Watergate. You might be able to pull this off for no dollar outlay whatever. If not, you can hire a low-budget PR firm. These people always know whom to contact. Here's the main plan. This worked surprisingly well for me, although it was quite a long time ago. If your timing is right and you are lucky, you can get millions of dollars worth of free publicity. Call one of your local TV stations, which is also a network affiliate, and see it you can get in contact with a reporter. Just keep at it until you get someone. Remember we are presently going through a slow news period. The elections are over, both here and in Iraq. Most of the news right now is more or less manufactured, so right now would be perfect unless something exciting occurs. In other words, the news business is just begging for something to talk about. If you finally get someone to talk to, just tell them what's happening. You know, the usual, thousands of reputable scientists getting positive CF results, the scientific establishment suppressing all the information, etc., etc. You might throw in some of your petrocracy suppression ideas and you must include the fact that a large Japanese corporation is taking this very seriously and providing funding. This fact is practically unknown in the U.S. Make it sound like breaking news. Do the same thing with a local newspaper. You're bound to get some sort of coverage. It's important to time this so that both the TV news and the newspaper carry your story with in a few days of each other. This makes it seem more important. If everything goes as planned, and you are lucky, the TV station's network will pick it up and the AP might pick it up from your local newspaper. You simply can't get any better advertising at any price. BTW, I suggest you try your local CBS affiliate. The have a little greater tendency to take local stories national and they will do almost anything to divert attention from their recent Dan Rather problem. Something else probably needs to be emphasized. You really need to make clear that the funding required here is far, far less than almost any other government project. This can be very low budget research compared to most. Worth a try, no? M. _______________________________________________ Join Excite! - http://www.excite.com The most personalized portal on the Web!
