Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
This is all about one of my favorite subordinating conjunctions: "because."
"It seems that the word 'because' is disappearing from the landscape of writers and editors, being replaced by 'since' and 'as,'" wrote reader Neal Lorenzi.
I'd add the empty-calorie mouthful "due to the fact that" to the list.
But Neal is not done making his point.
"It's been happening for a long time. More and more sentences read: 'This engine offers better performance (since or as) it has 12 cylinders.' What's wrong with: 'This engine offers better performance because it has 12 cylinders"?