Trickster's Realm: MIBS, Clowns and Helicopters

My Trickster's Realm column is now up at Binnall of America: MIBS, Clowns and Helicopters.

New Blog: "UFO-Mary"

I know, I probably need help, but I have a new blog: UFO Mary. Not the best title, but I wanted something that would say it's about Marian Apparitions in non-religious context and a Fortean, Paranormal UFO context.

Trickster Northwest, Regan Lee Oregon, Updated

I've updated Trickster Northwest and Regan Lee Oregon. Basically changed links around, etc and the colors a bit, but not too much of a change.

I'm also working on my website, which I've neglected for a long time. Part of the problem in Yahoo's offerings for Mac users, which isn't much. The other problem is simply a lack of time. This time I really hope to have something fairly decent up very soon.

Kevin Randle: "How Secret Was Mogul?"

Over on Snarly Skepticism, an item on Kevin Randle's "How Secret Was Mogul?", with link to his article.

MUFON Radar Report: Stephenville

MUFON's report on radar readings in connection with the Stephenville, Texas UFO sightings here, on Alien Case Book.

Things

Snarly Skepticism
Lots going on at Snarly Skepticism. I had to change the comment settings after getting a few nasty comments (ah yes, the ad homs and the skeptic!) so sorry about that, but there's three, four at least new items up there.

Vintage U.F.O.
I have something about creepy clowns on Vintage U.F.O., which fits in a bit with my Trickster's Realm column on Binnall, which will be up sometime on Monday. That column is about "MIBs, Clowns and Helicopters," inspired mostly by Tim Beckley's The UFO Silencers, but also Chris O'Brien's Mysterious Valley books.

James Rich, Artist
I've been shamelessly promoting my husband's work everywhere. He's finally finished taking images of his paintings and finding a good art hosting site at Yessy.com. He has literally hundreds of paintings, so be sure to check it out regularly; he's putting up images daily.

Lulu.com: E-Books
So are, I only have one little thing up there; a collection of articles on the Trent UFO case and the McMinnville, UFO Festival. I'll more things up there in the weeks to come. You can see what's available on my Lulu Storefront.

A Fortean Gift Bounty From Timothy Green Beckley

Yes, "Mr. UFO", (Tim Beckley) e-mailed me a few weeks ago, asking if I would like to receive some of his books. Well, der! He very generously sent me a whole stack of books, AND an audio CD:Godlen Age of UFOs: Orfeo and the Contactees Speak.

I am eternally grateful to Tim for this Fortean package of goodies, and I'll be writing about them as I plow through them. Can't wait!!!!! Now, which one first? Hmmm...I'll start with the CD, maybe, and then on to The UFO Silencers. Jim will probably read Commander X's Nikola Tesla: Free Energy and the White Dove.

More to come!

Oh, and here's a link to Conspiracy Journal. Join, buy something, drop him a line!
http://uforeview.tripod.com/

Green Orbs in BC

I find this report of green orbs in Vancouver from the HBCC site very interesting, because it has some of that eerie high strangeness stuff attached to the sighting.

The witness and a friend saw "a flashing green orb in the sky." This was around 12:30 a.m. Both were in a car, witness drops friend off, then witness experiences something strange with his cell phone. Which, it turns out, his friend also experienced with his phone.

What does it mean? Who can say; alien, military,paranormal, who knows. Very odd though.

Snarly Skepticism: Bill Nye, the Bow Tie Guy

Bill Nye, The Bow Tie Guy, over on Snarly Skepticism. I know, me and everyone else has been yakking about the Larry King Roswell program but I just couldn't help myself.

Lehmberg in UFO Magazine, April Issue

There's just not enough time to write about all the great writing that's around, in blogs, on UFO and Fortean news sites, in print. I'm just now getting to the issue before last of UFO Magazine; April's issue.

In that issue, Alfred Lehmberg wrote, for his An Alien View column: Ufological Obstacles, Culture: Risking Validity, Relevancy, and Credibility in the Postmodern Age. (I think it fits in well with the current issue's piece by Professor Jaynes, but more on that later.) I hope I can do Alfred's article justice but here goes.

Lehmberg asks what most all of us from the most mired in psychotic skepticism to the so-called "believer" asks, and that is: why hasn't UFO research progressed in 60 years? Despite all the efforts. Lehmberg asks:

"What keeps ufologogy in its giggle-factor limbo? What banishes UFOs to the realm of tabloid magazines and the reflex derision of, say, current uberklasskurtxian apologists James McGaha or Micheal Shermer when the actuality of UFOs seems otherwise so assured?"

Great question, one we're all asking. Lehmberg gives the what should be an obvious answer; it's the:

"...paid cadre of busy imps at the Committee for Sceptical inquiry (CSI)."

It is also, Lehmberg goes on to say, in so many words, the powers that be, the ones in control, the infrastructure, the system. This is so damn obvious and simple, and yet so many within the field chase their own tails looking for other causes. We haven't made friends with science yet, there are too many kooks or "New Age mush brains" as Richard Hall recently put it in his article on getting up a UFO Commission; it's all kinds of things except for the one simple fact: they don't want us to. (Lehmberg also addresses the "why they don't want us to" part.)

Lehmberg gives several excellent reasons why there is such a strong and successful legacy of cover ups and disinformation. Lehmberg doesn't stick to UFOs; he makes his case for the methodical control by the infrastructure by comparing other societal disconnects. Politics, culture, business, academia, and sex. The same mechanism in place that ensures control of our responses (and knowledge) to UFOs is the same used in the previously mentioned. Take sex, for example:

"Revealed is the shame of dishonesty concerning sex because it is teasingly pushed in our faces on the one hand, and then we're penalised, persecuted, diseased, and made lunatic for induldging in it on the other."

(We can have a crude show like Two and a Half Men in prime time, with an eleven year old as fodder for the adolescent and shallow sex jokes that occur every three seconds, but Janet Jackson shows a glimpse of boob, and the entire nation goes insane in fake moral outrage, demanding the involvement of government, fines, and punishments for all concerned.)

The UFO researcher has to constantly look at the cultures around her to understand UFOs. Lehmberg writes:

"The point? If culture lies and denies about the everyday, they'll work overtime to clutter up the inordinately strange. Especially if this highly strange complicates their program. Especially if the highly strange invalidates them in the commissions of their crime. Especially, good reader, if the highly strange interferes with their very convenient and coveted status quo. And please, please, please challenge me on who they are. Dwight Eisenhower knew who they are and could point them out to us today.

Again, this is so damn obvious, and yet so many who should know better dismiss this as conspiracy minded kook stuff, or insist it's something else. Anything but this. Well, it's exactly this. (I've been saying this forever as well, although in a different way; that a happy shiny moment with science, mainstream media, academia, and politics will never take place -- not fully, not completely, not ever -- because of the Trickster element, which ensures that such things will never reach the light of day. Moaning about how nothing's changed in sixty years is non productive, and the wrong complaint. And, I realize I'm starting to digress here; is it really true that we've not progressed in sixty years? We don't have the answers -- but is that the goal? We need to shift our focus. But as I say, I'm dissgressing. . .)

There's much more to the article, well worth reading.

Coincidentally, I was just over at UFO Magazine's site, and discovered a comment by a reader who had some positive things to say about this same article in Alfred Spikes Another One Over the Net!


Notes:
Alfred Lehmberg, An Alien View in UFO Magazine: Ufological Obstacles, Culture: Risking Validity, Relevancy, and Credibility in the Postmodern Age, p14.

Vaeni On Dolan

In the April (2008) issue of UFO Magazine, contributor Jeremy Vaeni has an article about Richard Dolan: Praise for Dickie Dolan. In giving kudos to Dolan for his research, Vaeni also says:

He isn't all about compiling government documents -not that that's an easy task or one I'm taking lightly. I'm saying he's got more to his repertoire, and it's about damn time someone with genuine intellect,genuine curiosity, and the ability to sift through new data just sat down and considered everything anew.

Vaeni says what should be obvious, but to my constant surprise, isn't to many: that we don't know what the aliens are, are from or are up to, so any pronouncements about that are only speculation. Nothing wrong with speculation -- we need specuatlion -- as long as we remember that's all it is. Instead of asking, (or telling) others what we know about UFOs and aliens, we should ask, Vaeni suggests:"What do we know about us?"

Vaeni has been "crying this" for years, giving Dolan credit for also understanding this:

If anyone is qualified to ponder it, it's him. Why? Because he doesn't have his answer and he's not looking for it. He's looking, period. (italics mine.)

I like it!

Source:
Jeremy Vaeni in UFO Magazine, April 2008: Praise for Dickie Dolan, pp 28 - 29

Well, that sounds about right! Hat tip to Lesley, who I always steal from!

What Your These Fireworks Say About You

You are chaotic, inspired, and very creative. You're so creative, people don't really recognize your creativity. What's expressive for you sometimes looks like a mess. But you don't really care... you enjoy making your messes!

The Fireworks Test

The Debris Field:
thedebrisfield.blogspot.com/

Random Bits . . .

Torchwood Quotes
I love the BBC program Torchwood. I hear they're coming back for a third season, but in a limited way, a mini-series of five episodes. I hope not. But I'll take it. Here are some quotes from the show:

Gwen: The thing is I just don't understand—
Jack: I'll tell you what I don't understand. You're going to rattle on with that "How can this be true?" kind of shtick. What's it going to take for you people. If you want evidence of aliens, how about that great big spaceship hovering over London on Christmas day? What about the battle of Canary Wharf. A Cyberman in every home.
Gwen: My boyfriend says it's like a sort of terrorism. They put drugs in the water supplies. Psychotropic drugs. Causing mass hallucinations.
Jack: Yeah well, your boyfriend is stupid.

Jack: Alright, usual formation.
Gwen: What's the usual formation?
Owen: Varies.
Gwen: How can the usual formation vary?

Jack: No other race in the universe goes camping, Owen. Celebrate your uniqueness.

Captain Jack Harkness: Contraceptives in the rain. I love this planet. Still at least I won't get pregnant. I'm not doing that again.

I Believe in Aliens
I have a little item on my Snarly Skepticism blog about my "belief" in aliens and UFOs.

Jeremy Vaeni and Culture of Contact
It's that time again, Vaeni's been working hard at getting it together. Buy his book and DVD by the way. Why am I plugging his stuff? Why not? We're all in this together. So, buy something, visit his site, buy a ticket. After all, as he says, he doesn't want to put a Donate button on his site. It's so tacky and needy after all.


New Blog Link Feature

I love bloggers new link feature that updates links to other blogs. I don't have it set up on all my blogs but I do on Vintage UFO and The UFO Proletariat. It gets kind of clunky if you have too many but overall, I like it.


Off For The Summer!
So I'll be writing a lot. Finally off since yesterday until September. Our school goes two weeks beyond the usual, so we didn't finish until yesterday. Now back to writing, writing writing. I hope to put something up at Lulu.com in a week or two; probably about the Trent and McMinnville event.

Mystical UFO Experiences

A bit on the mystical side of UFO experiences, as well as insectoids and drug induced journeys on UFO Proletariat.

Appartions and UFOs and Control

The news that the Vatican will be, for the first time, officially investigating the apparitions at Medjugorje inspired this week's Trickster's Realm column for Binnall of America. It should be up sometime tomorrow, so look for it there.

Also be sure, as always, to read all the great columns, and listen -- for free! -- the podcasts Tim does with some amazing guests.

As to my article, on apparitions and UFOs, a book can be written on all the aspects. In fact, there have been several written! I just touch the surface of one . . .

Quote of the Day

The Regan Lees, Frank Warrens, Don Ledgers, Moulton Howes, Steven Greers, Chris Rutkowskis, et al. are the UFO proletariat; they don’t count or matter. ~ UFO Provocateur(s)

Heh. Hey, I made it first on the list! Hooray for me.

Proletariat: pro·le·tar·i·at (prl-târ-t)
n.
1.
a. The class of industrial wage earners who, possessing neither capital nor production means, must earn their living by selling their labor.
b. The poorest class of working people.
2. The propertyless class of ancient Rome, constituting the lowest class of citizens.


All their other nonsense aside, they sure are a snooty bunch, aren't they?

The UFO Potluck

Okay, so it's a rant. What are blogs for?

The study of UFOs is not cohesive. There is no UFO Guild, no UFOLogy, no set standards -- scientific or otherwise -- and this, complain the skeptics, as well as a good chunk of those within UFO research -- think is wrong.

There has to be rules, standards, approved researchers with credentials, science, labels, rulers, overseers! There has to be someone who stands guard and kicks out the gaudy, the kooks, the Contactees, the over the top abductees, the New Age types, the channelers!

No, there doesn’t. Not one bit. Not at all. Not one damn bit!

The UFO phenomena is full of people. Well, people, aliens, and flying saucers. People who have stories to tell of their experiences, which both vary wildly and share eerie similarities. People come forward and share their encounters with strange beings, unexplained happenings, and unusual craft. We’re all trying to figure it out in our own way. Everyone needs to get this: there is no right way to go about this stuff.

A lot to sift through, a lot to think about. Depending on who we are and our own experiences, we accept or reject the stories of others for what amounts to, in the end, arbitrary reasons. This is valid; it’s not wrong to do so. We’re all human, and we’re all dealing with something we know very little about. So how can we possibly dare to say UFOs are such and such? We have no idea.

If the Contactees strike you as ridiculous attention seeking kooks, you’re entitled. Ignore them and move on. If stories of Reptilians from outer space coming to our planet to make torrid lizard love with earth women have you laughing so hard you wet your pants, okay. Move on.

Some of us find value in these stories. And if that makes you crazy too, it’s not my problem. Move on.

But it’s the people that carry the stories of these encounters, and we need to listen to them out of respect. Oh, I know, both the arch skeptic and many UFO students (for we’re all students) will say that some wack jobs aren’t worth respect. We can only say that after we’ve given them our attention, thought about what they have to say, then move on. If we decide they’re lairs, nuts, or simply disagree, fine.

Some are in need, some are deluded, -- it’s part of the package. Most are not. Most are average people with definitely not your average kinds of experiences and the brave ones share them with the rest of us.

All perspectives are welcome (well, except for the usual gang of pathological irrationalist skeptibunkies. . .) and that includes science. Sure, they can play too. But “UFOlogy” --- such as it is, and, we should ask, should it even be? ---- isn’t exclusive to science. Science doesn’t own UFOs, nor does any other discipline. (If anything, it’s the spiritual/folklore/historical/sacred mythology systems that have a better claim.)

The UFO Phenomena is a grass roots phenomena. It’s truly of the folk, and if the smug, the self righteous, the smarmy, want to fling their weight around in self important proclamations that such people are nothing more than trailer trash, or ignorant, or drunks, or unscientific, or uneducated, or not versed in this discipline, or that . . . let ‘em. They’re wrong, but we can’t stop them. They’re wrong because their classism, elitism, sexism, ageism, even at times racism, and all other “isms” are a form of bigotry that excludes a huge number of individuals with UFO experiences.

We need data. We need all of it. We need the documents, the paper trials, the historical perspective. We need the stories. We need people who know all kinds of things, from science to Trickster tales to pop culture punditry. We need it all, which means we can’t exclude those we don’t like or think are wrong.

The UFO Playground isn’t just yours, or mine, or for those that want an exclusive and controlled venue for their agendas. It’s for all of us.

What are people afraid of? We can think for ourselves. Let the people make up their own minds. Put the stories out there about Bigfoot and UFOs, UADS and aliens, hybrid babies, the Contactees, and all the rest. We can take it.

The argument that these things only muddles things is nonsense. We don’t know what we’re looking at in the first place; how can we be so pompous as to say certain genres under the UFO umbrella are unimportant or silly, while others aren’t? Who decides that?

Complaints that science doesn’t take UFOs seriously, that UFOlogy needs to .. . whatever one thinks it needs to do, (and that there’s a “UFOLogy” to begin with), that the mainstream media makes fun of and ignores UFOs,are wasted. It will always be so, most likely, so move on. Study what you want to, talk about the stories that interest you.



Go to the people, go to the thing itself -- UFOs -- go to yourselves. Yes, that last bit was kind of New Agey, but I’m kind of New Agey. It’s who I am. I don’t like it either some days, but there you go.

The biggest mistake those who are into UFOs can make is to insist on some kind of controlling faction that decides content, approves information, bestows rights upon individuals to speak.

If we really care about the UFO phenomena, we need to recognize we’re all in this together. So-called UFOlogy isn’t a private club. It’s an open pot luck, and some of the attendees may be embarrassing, like some relatives you see only once a year, but you can’t really kick them out. You don't have to ask them to dance; just ignore them if you must. But you aren't allowed to kick them out.

Orb News

Which isn't much.

Busy as usual with work and projects unrelated to UFOs and the esoteric. (I realize that for some Orb readers, that comes as a shock -- the idea I actually have a life outside of wasting time on UFOs.)

As a couple of recent posts here have shown, there's heavy chemtrail activity in Eugene. Today there isn't any. . . as far as June weather goes, it's more muggy than anything. Yesterday was what we call "spaceship" weather. Heavy, muggy, humid, -- like the sky is waiting and watching, and you can feel it. So we call it spaceship weather, because it seems like the perfect setting for the ten mile wide mother ships to come through and land.

I have a couple of things on Mating Hedgehogs about the Anonymous movement and Scientology. Besides the zeolotry exhibited by these people, it also strikes me as ironic in many ways.

Lesley has some interesting reflections on Sexism in Esoterica on Women Of Esoterica.

I like what's happening over at the UFO Magazine site and blog. Lots of good and interesting postings over there.

My blog Vintage U.F.O. has a new look. I changed the black.

chemtrails 6/8/07

Here's a video from someone who lives in Eugene, Oregon (same town I'm in) who shot trails being made on June 8th.

Photographer Documents 189 Secret Spy Satelittes

Very interesting. . . his photographs are currently on exhibit in California. For story and images go here.

http://www.wired.com/culture/art/news/2008/06/
secret_satellites?npu=1&mbid=yhp