Richard Dolan at X-Conference 2010 (A.D. Disclosure)

The Roswell Onion

Well, most everyone’s been writing on Roswell lately, due to the 60th anniversary of “the crash.” I’ve stayed away from saying anything because I have never delved deeply into Roswell, so therefore don’t have much to say. I don’t have anything of value to say about the particulars of the Roswell event itself. But I’ll go ahead and join everyone else and throw in my observations. Why not? That’s the perk of having your own blog.

Clearly, something huge and weird happened that’s continuing to be covered-up.

There’s that very large rut that’s still there, and not often mentioned. That rut is proof something on the big side crashed there.

Nick Redfern’s book Body Snatchers in the Desert offers new, if not horrific, information on what might have happened. And curiously, like that rut, his theories don’t seem to be considered seriously; or rather, they don’t seem to stick. I’m not saying Redfern is correct, who knows at this point, but he’s offered something new, and something disturbing, and something that should be given consideration other than a cursory “yeah, well. . .” and everyone moves on.

The Roswell, er, “mythos” (excuse the cliché) is in itself highly interesting. Stories of sticky fingered aliens, magic foil, and all the rest. All those people aren’t lying. Maybe they didn’t see aliens, just thought they did, maybe some sort of mass delusion overtook the town. It’s too simplistic to dismiss it all as lying townsfolk. Sure, now there’s circus folk involved (so to speak) and layer upon layer of disinformation and misinformation and okay, sometimes just plain lying, but that’s all part of any UFO event. Roswell’s just bigger.

Oh yes, then there’s those alien ghosts Jim Marrs speaks about. That’s highly interesting as hell!

I agree with those who think we shouldn’t spend too much time on Roswell, while ignoring other cases, particularly current ones. Still , to try to bury it once and for all would be a disservice to UFOlogy as well as the more general world of the weird and anomalous: myths, motivations, deceits, belief, government manipulations and more.

Whether or not one believes ET crashed there, something happened, something so important that the government still believes it needs to cover it up. Obviously the Mogul balloon explanation doesn’t fly, and no one took the crash test dummies seriously. (I don’t think the government took that one seriously either.)


Personally, I don’t think aliens crashed there. I’m not sure why I don’t believe that. I “believe” (hate that word) extraterrestrials are about. Out there, down here, and have been for thousands of years. But that’s just me and my good old ancient astronaut theory.


The point isn’t, almost, whether ET crashed there or not. (Well, now of course it is a huge point, if it could be proven. . .) I mean that, aside from that point, there are other layers to the Roswell onion that can still reveal things about ourselves, each other, and “them.”

WHY DON'T THEY FAKE IT?

Pictured:Edward J. Ruppelt, General Ramey, image source:Answers.com
http://www.answers.com/topic/edward-j-ruppelt

UFO Is Reported at O'Hare; Feds Are Silent

All Things Considered, January 1, 2007 · In November, a gray, metallic, saucer-like object was spotted hovering above Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. As many as 12 United Airlines employees spotted the object and filed reports with United.

Officials at the airline say they have no knowledge of the incident, and the Federal Aviation Administration is not investigating.

Melissa Block speaks with Chicago Tribune transportation reporter Jon Hilkevtich, who reported on the incident.

Reading Dr. Lynne Kitei’s book The Phoenix LIghts, two things struck me as odd. One, the apathetic and bewildered response (or lack of response) from official agencies (military, law, etc.) and the lack of response from both UFO researchers and anti-UFOists (chronic skeptics) about this.

About the Phoenix Lights: forget the “flare theory.” Even if you accept that as the explanation (sigh)) it doesn’t cover the nights previous to, and following, that night’s UFO events. (Not to mention a decades long history of UFO sightings in the area.)

UFOs were filmed and photographed; and literally hundreds of citizens witnessed these objects. Numerous calls to agencies went ignored, or were shuffled off to other agencies who didn’t know (or pretended not to know) anything either. Explanations, when forthcoming, changed, and it was clear no one in any official capacity knew a damn thing.

Seems to be the way with the O’Hare sighting. Whatever the object was, it was something and no, a natural phenomeana, like the flares story, just won't do.

It is beside the point, for the sake of this argument, what the UFOs in Phoenix and Chicago were, if they came from space or not, if they were ours, or aliens. I’m not so much concerned with inane questions about “beliefs” in UFOs and/or aliens, but the lack of a vital and active response from those supposedly in control.

The point is, we have layers upon layers of baffled bureaucracies that don’t know a damn thing, and have long ago given up any illusion of pretending to care.

Damn it. When we see weird objects in the skies above our cities, I expect local, state, and federal agencies to act like they have everything under control. That they know what’s what.

I want a few people -- in uniform, if at all possible -- to hit the airwaves, the radio, CNN, and somberly state that they are investigating, or that it’s classified, or that... anything, something, as long as that something conveys a solid sense of We Know What We’re Doing.

Even if it’s clear they’re lying (they’re politicians, law, and government, of course they’re lying) or that they really don’t have a clue, who cares? These days in particular, with our current administration, we’re well used to them lying even while not knowing what they’re doing. That’s a minor point; the point is, where is everyone?

From roughly the late 1940s to the 1960s our government had several official programs (Project Twinkle, Project Grudge, Project Bluebook, and the Air Force as official agency handling UFO reports) devoted to studying UFOs. Of course, as we know, the general purpose seemed to be debunking UFOs or passing on disinformation. But they at least pretended to assure the country everything was A-OK.

When it comes to UFOs flying over our cities, it’s insane to pretend that they’re not. And that is what various agencies of authority have been doing in recent years regarding UFOs. We’ll just say “what UFOs”and maybe they’ll go away. Like Alfred E. Neuman, the reaction to UFO reports is "What, me worry?"

Even if the UFOs don’t go away, as long as they’re not really doing anything (the UFOs, not the humans) the agencies can get away with acting oblivious.

They can get away with it because no one is calling them on it. The ones that are, are the ‘UFO kooks,,” the ones the chronic skeptics, the anti-UFOists, call anyone who refuses to quietly accept the silly explanations like swamp gas, plasma, flares, or clouds. Refusing to immediately accept the all too quick and weak explanations, those of us who say “hey, wait a minute...’ are allowed to get beat up by the anti-UFOists because no one’s shaking them by their collars and telling them to knock it off.

One would think the U.S. government would act all gruff and strong and humbug and serious and state firmly that the UFO event (Phoenix, O’Hare, etc.) is being taken care of. “We care,” they should be saying, “We really do. We’re looking into this. and now go back to whatever you were doing, nothing to see here.” One would think the government would at least pretend to act like it’s ready to take charge in a big blustery way and put up a good show to the rest of the world.

Instead, when it comes to UFOs, the United States seems to enjoy looking like buffoons. In this post 9/11 era, one would hope for something better. The Air Force no longer has anything to do with UFOs; no official agency does. (At least on the surface; it's a safe and rational assumption to think they're actually paying great attention.) As many have pointed out, including George Hansen in his book Trickster and the Paranormal, there is no official policy of being remotely interested in the subject. If it weren’t for people like Peter Davenport and his National UFO Reporting Agency, or MUFON, -- neither of who receive any government money at all -- we’d be up a creek in regards to UFO activity.


We have a smattering of reporters who risk credibility and their jobs in taking serious looks into UFO reports, dedicated individual UFO researchers like Peter Davenport, MUFON members, various bloggers, writers, investigators and UFO related publications and a scant handful of national television programs, like Out There TV, and C2C. After that are pod casts, local radio and televisions programming, satellite programs, etc.

As to officials, their seems to be a hierarchy among “officials” when it comes to UFOs. Municipal police seem to be neutral to matter of fact when it comes to UFOs. This is purely an observation, nothing more. But police will follow up on reports, and many a police officer has seen a UFO. (The Illinois UFO sighting in 2000 is a good example.) But the higher up you go, the more dysfunctional things get.

The rest are left to their own devices, sneered at by the chronic skeptics, ignored by government agencies at just about all levels. We pay taxes for these services and should expect more, even if they are faking it.

Instead, we get either a mad dash at a silly explanation before it gets squashed, or it’s ignored altogether.

Maybe “they’ (you know, them) have given up. After all, as I admit freely here, any uniformed official, as a Representative of Something (preferably Air Force/military) is going to be lying. We all know that.

One example: if the Triangles are classified military craft, and not something extraterrestrial, then what the hell are they doing flying over populated areas, and in the restricted airspace's of other countries? The officials can't very well admit that they’re doing something illegal. They can’t acknowledge they’re performing illegal maneuvers in restricted air space. Still, they could just lieif only to make us feel a bit better, even for a few moments. It wouldn’t be the first time.

But sometimes there’s comfort in faking it, even if all of us know damn well they’re faking it. The faker is a sort of scapegoat for us who don’t trust a thing he/she says. For the chronic skeptics, the faker will be perceived as a rational voice in the midst of UFO insanity. Which in turn will propel the rest of us to laugh heartily before getting pissed off and doing something about it, like exposing the faker for the faking faker he/she is. And for rest of the culture, people are left to decide for themselves what to do. Ignore the whole thing, believe the official explanation, etc. Witnesses who may not have had much previous interest in UFOs may now say ‘Hey just wait a goddamn minute” and begin their own journeys.

The Representative of Something can provide needed functions for our culture. In trickster like reversal, it’s possible the ostensible purpose of officials placating the public might actually do the reverse.

SKEPTO REVAMPO: SKEPTICISM GOES HOLLYWOOD

source:http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2002/Dec-31-Tue-2002/photos/chicago.jpg

Recently
CSICOP changed its name. From the ponderous CSICOP (Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal ) to the sleek and bright CSI. Yes, “CSI.” Not the TV CSI, but CSI for Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. CSICOP, er, CSI, has gone Hollywood. Slicker, shorter, brighter, juxtaposed with the hipness and scientifically aligned TV program of the same name, skepticism has gone Tinsel Town.

Will this name change garner a lawsuit from CSI, the TV franchise? That would be delicious; after all, we all know CSI, er, the skeptic CSI, not CSI the TV show, would sue in a heartbeat if they were pissed off enough at someone. Speaking of
sue happy skeptics, The Amazing Randihas had his fun going after participants of the strange; (if they’re not going after him.)

“Name change reflects growth, focus on science and reason” assures the blurb from their website. (Did any of us have any doubt as to the purpose of CSICOP?) Of course, given the scurrilous history of CSCICP in that regard, it’s no wonder they want a name change. There was never anything of a ‘scientific” inquiry towards UFOs, the paranormal or Forteana, (the

sTARBABY scandal proves that.) In fact, many of CSICOP’s/CSI’s media skeptics do not have a science background.

The new CSCIOP is no longer solely concerned with debunking UFOs or ghosts. There’s a higher moral imperative:

“Today there are new challenges to science,” Kurtz writes in Skeptical Inquirer. “Yet powerful moral, theological, and political forces have opposed scientific research on a whole number of issues.”

While that may sound rational and reasonable (no sane person believes creationism mythologies should be taught in a science class) that’s a hell of a scary statement. The danger here is the potential of cultural cleansing by the chronic skeptics of all they deign to be “unscientific.” (See: Colin Bennett: Skepticism as Mystique: A Fortean Essay in Rationalist Panics and Skeptical Dementia, UFO Magazine vol 21, No.10 December 2006 ,George P. Hansen:CSICOP and the Skeptics: An Overview, Robert Anton Wilson:The New Inquisition)

This journey has been a long one for CSCIOP/CSI. In 1997, CSCICOP held its first

”Council” in Hollywood. Hollywood was chided for airing “pseudoscientific” programs “almost every month.”

"Recently there have been programs on prophecies, astrology, psychic powers, creationism, Noah's Ark, angels, and alien abductions," said the Council. All of them posed, in some way, as being based on scientific fact."

The Council also criticized the many talk shows devoted to the paranormal in which claims in favor of the paranormal are given a platform but the scientific viewpoint is rarely allowed.“

Back in 1997, CSICOP/CSI
bought media stock in its efforts to quash hokey documentaries on UFOs and Bigfoot:

"In its latest effort in the battle against fringe-science TV, the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP) and it's "media watch-dog" arm, the Council for Media Integrity (CMI), established the "Media Stock Fund." Aimed at providing leverage for CSICOP's response to the television industries lucrative commercial marketing of fringe science and psuedoscience, CMI is asking friends and supporters to help it aquire common stock in media conglomerate companies. The Media Stock Fund will allow CSICOP and the CMI to take part in shareholder meetings, where it can question the increasing infatuation with the paranormal in television programming."

"We are deliberately targeting each of the major television networks and well-known media conglomerates - Viacom (CBS), General Electric (NBC), NewsCorp (Fox), AOL/Time Warner (WB, Turner Broadcasting, CNN), and Disney (ABC)," says Paul Kurtz, chairman of CSICOP”

CSICOP/CSI has been working on joining the hoi poli and entertainment media for awhile now. Note the CMI:Council for Media Integrity, and the lack of the words "science" or "skeptic" within.

Other skeptic organizations have been been busily remaking themselves. The JREF (James Randi Educational Forum) forum has recently changed its look on its website and forum. I’m not sure how long ago it took place, but I noticed it a month or so ago. New look, new colors. Still serious though of course. Somber maroonish brown and bold black; veering on hip but still too classic to be considered at all edgy, it conveys what it's meant to convey: serious inquiry of non-serious things.

And now
Randi’s revised the infamous “Challenge.” (The challenge is an award of one million dollars to any claimant who demonstrates paranormal powers. No winners so far.)

The reason for the changes has to do in part with people flapping about the JREF offices, or laboratories, or wherever it is they test these hapless, optimistic entrants:

"We can't waste the hundreds of hours that we spend every year on the nutcases out there -- people who say they can fly by flapping their arms," says Randi. "We have three file drawers jam-packed with those collections.... There are over 300 claims that we have handled in detail."

This new Challenge will only take those with head shots. Meaning, JREF is going Hollywood as well, just like CSI. Applicants now have to have been on the news or have some other media oomph behind them before they’ll be allowed in to the Challenge. They’ll have to have press clippings and those press clippings have to be “backed up by academia.” Someone from a University (does the Community College count?) has to support the applicant’s claims.
Ah, but it can’t be just any moldy old academic.

"They have to get some academic to endorse their claims," says Randi. "And that academic is not the local chiropractor or some such thing."

Quite a Catch 22 there: really, what academic that “the Challenge” people would accept, would back a paranormal claim? As soon as one does such backing of such claims, such academic is kicked rudely to the curb by inhabitants of Randi Land. You can’t take those academics seriously! After all, they back claimants to “the Challenge!’

Randi and the JREF are nothing if not good citizens, altruistically protecting the rest of us from the evils of fake psychics. Which, in Randi World, includes all
psychics;

“Randi says he'll start actively investigating professional mind-readers and mediums for proof of criminal fraud, or opportunities for civil lawsuits. “

I see potential here for some sort of reality based SKEPTO program, in partnership with the sleek bright CSI (sceptic CSI, not TV CSI), where a strange hierarchy of skeptics, seers and paranormal claimants ar pitted against each other. Guest hosts Penn and Teller are sure to enjoy themselves when it comes to be their turn at mocking the weird. Maybe Donald Trump will add some cash to the Challenge’s coffers. (cue Billy Flynn singing ‘Razzle Dazzle”) Lights and music come one while the rainbow colored confetti swirls down among the skeptics, the audience, and the somewhat dazed cons tenants.

"We're going to pick people every year and hammer on them," says Wagg. "We're going to send certified mail, we're going to do advertising. We're going to pick a few people and say, we are actively challenging you. We may advertise in The New York Times.

Boy, sounds like fun.

Yes, they’re going for the glamour, the gold, the gusto for sure. Spending years sneering at those UFO book writers and TV psychics for making money off their stuff, the JREF and CSICOP (damn, I mean CSI) is now working towards doing the same thing.

It’s all just ‘Flim Flam.’

Razzle Dazzle
Artist: Richard Gere Lyrics
Song: Razzle Dazzle Lyrics
BAILIFF(Spoken)
Mr. Flynn, his honor is here

BILLY(Spoken)
Thank you. Just a moment.
You ready?

ROXIE(Spoken)
Oh Billy, I'm scared.

BILLY(Spoken)
Roxie, you got nothing to worry about.
It's all a circus, kid. A three ring circus.
These trials- the wholeworld- all show business.
But kid, you're working with a star, the biggest!

(Singing)
Give 'em the old razzle dazzle
Razzle Dazzle 'em
Give 'em an act with lots of flash in it
And the reaction will be passionate
Give 'em the old hocus pocus
Bead and feather 'em
How can they see with sequins in their eyes?

What if your hinges all are rusting?
What if, in fact, you're just disgusting?

Razzle dazzle 'em
And they;ll never catch wise!

Give 'em the old Razzle Dazzle

BILLY AND COMPANY
Razzle dazzle 'em
Give 'em a show that's so splendiferous

BILLY
Row after row will crow vociferous

BILLY AND COMPANY
Give 'em the old flim flam flummox
Fool and fracture 'em

BILLY
How can they hear the truth above the roar?

BILLY AND COMPANY
Throw 'em a fake and a finagle
They'll never know you're just a bagel,

BILLY
Razzle dazzle 'em
And they'll beg you for more!

BILLY AND COMPANY
Give 'em the old double whammy
Daze and dizzy 'em
Back since the days of old Methuselah
Everyone loves the big bambooz-a-ler

Give 'em the old three ring circus
Stun and stagger 'em
When you're in trouble, go into your dance

Though you are stiffer than a girder
They'll let you get away with murder
Razzle dazzle 'em
And you've got a romance

COMPANY(The same time as BILLY's)
Give 'em the old
Razzle Dazzle

BILLY
Give 'em the old Razzle Dazzle
Razzle dazzle 'em
Show 'em the first rate sorceror you are
Long as you keep 'em way off balance
How can they spot you've got no talent
Razzle Dazzle 'em

BILLY AND COMPANY
Razzle Dazzle 'em
Razzle Dazzle 'em

And they'll make you a star!

WELL, GLAD THAT’S ALL CLEARED UP!

"Skeptics longs [sic] knew (scratch that ... long suspected) that the very nature of UFO sightings -- always occurring away from urban areas . . ."

But no matter, because:

” . . .UFOs don’t exist.”

And here's the quote of the week, on why one would hoax a UFO photo:

"Stories also tended to make girls scared, and thus with a little alcohol, they could be hit upon."

RIP: UFO Sightings. b. 1946, d. 2006