MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Alfred Lehmberg:UFO Magazine - UFO Magazine Blog - ...Something Better Than�Bitter...

UFO Magazine - UFO Magazine Blog - ...Something Better Than�Bitter...

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The Orange Orb: Conscience of the Queen, by Elsie Conner

A different view than Jack Brewer's (and to some extent, mine) from Elise Conner at Alien Jigsaw on Leah Haley's statements concerning mind control, MILABS, and abductions: The Orange Orb: Conscience of the Queen, by Elsie Conner

David Jacobs to Speak at MUFON Los Angeles: A Message From Jeremy Vaeni

As I posted on Orange Orb, David Jacobs is going to speak at MUFON in L.A. He's slated to talk about the psychology of the abductee. We will remind the reader Jacobs is a Dr. of history, not psychology. Following are some words from Jeremy Vaeni:

Alright, this has to stop. MUFON LA is promoting a speaking engagement with David Jacobs. The title of his lecture--tellingly enough--is, "Abductees and their Involuntary Tasks." This is set to take place on Tuesday the 15th. Read all about it here:

http://www.mufonla.com/meetings-mufonla/

Now, Steve Murillo is the section director for MUFON LA. He knows all about the Emma Woods case. In fact, she tried to warn him about Jacobs when he was previously scheduled to give a lecture entitled, “Hybrids: New Research into the Integration Program.”

She gave him a brief description of what had taken place between her, Jacobs, and Elizabeth along with links to her website and audio backing up her claims, to which he responded in email:

[i]Emma,

Your website has a ton of information to go through. It's going to take a while to go through it. Suffice it to say that your remarks here regarding Dr. Jacobs are duly noted. Forgive me if I seem obtuse, but are you a hybrid as well?

Steve Murillo
State Section Director

MUFON LA[/i]

Clearly, this man is not a serious researcher and does not care. So who do we turn to? Is anyone above Steve Murillo? Do [i]they[/i] care? Well, Jeremy Vaeni wrote about him in the Woods/Jacobs cover story for [i]UFO Magazine[/i] and he's still got his job, so draw your own conclusion there.

What can we do, then?

I urge everyone to call or write to the Unitarian Church in which this is supposed to take place. Let them know who the man is they are welcoming into their fold.

That phone number is: (818) 769-5911
Their email address is: info@uustudiocity.org

Send them a link to Emma's website: http://www.ufoalienabductee.com/

Tell them that this was the big shocker of the year in ufology and although they may be unfamiliar with the issue, it is unacceptable that this man be given a platform in their church!

Steve Murillo, California State Section Director of MUFON, actually had the classless chutzpah to ask Emma Woods if she was a hybrid. Doesn't this astound anyone else out there?

alienviews: ...Finding's Looking...

Alfred has a beautiful item at his alienviews blog:alienviews: ...Finding's Looking...

Outside, I couldn't see them, so then went inside again... occluded by my thoughts on hidden stars. I reflected on the masking of these things so large or vast ... exceeding any measure of a section or a class, and the suffocation's woeful like I'm underneath some heel; the atmosphere is cloistered, and I cannot breath or feel.
.
I feel imposition that the sky somehow projects. The sky becomes a metaphor for: "that which disrespects." So, cut off by some malevolence to the fullness of my life (!), I feel withered, drawn, emulsified, or whittled by a knife.
.
"Craft" leap and dance behind their clouds, each one a different color, but it's color in a spectrograph, so then wider, Brighter—FULLER!! ...And these boil ultra-violet! Then, they simmer infrared! They churn in colors you shan't see passed livid bluish REDS!

After thought: you know, Alfred Lehmberg gets bashed by some, which I find odd. I think it's because, in part, he doesn't take any bit of crap -- quick to fling it back. He's also quick quick quick to say what he thinks. Those two responses pisses a lot of people off. But, here's something that a lot of people miss. Alfred's pieces are, no matter what the topic, about hope, our greater potential. He also points out, cleverly, sharply, our awful deeds, but it's all so unnecessary, if we only looked. Looked up, looked out and within, stopped denying. So simple a message and positive.

Now I have no idea if Alfred would agree with me on my insight or not. He might think I'm full of it. It's just my take on things. But I find it weird a lot of people spend a lot of time griping and arguing and flinging poo, rather than...well, being real and taking chances. At being wrong, at being surprised, at ...being.

alienviews: ...Ford Had Sack...

alienviews: ...Ford Had Sack...

Remember John Ford. Who's he, you ask? Find out!

UFO Magazine - UFO Magazine Blog - The Comedic Styling of Gene�Steinberg!

Alfred Lehmberg at UFO Magazine's blog: UFO Magazine - UFO Magazine Blog - The Comedic Styling of Gene Steinberg!, with comments...

In a Snarky Mood: Books

A UFO blog that shall not be named nor linked to recently posted "Three Books You Haven't Read" with cover images of the three books, and the comment that most readers of their blog had not read any of the books. Well, smart asses, I read one out of the three, it's on my bookshelf right now, I can see it from here: In Search of Schrodinger's Cat.

Feh. Pompous snark-masters.

Reminds me of the smug full of himself puritan professor I had who taught a James Joyce seminar each year. Me, in my enthusiastic naivety (older "returning student" as anyone over 40 was euphemistically called) and pure joy at being in college, said to him something like "I was happy to hear you teach a Joyce course; he's among my favorite writers." "Yes?" sniffed (literally, he sniffed!) Professor Important. "I love Joyce, I've read all of his work, ..." "You? You've read all of James Joyce?" he said. He seemed downright offended as well as shocked. And a bit suspicious. "Well, yes..." I said. "How interesting..." and he walked away.

UFO Magazine - UFO Magazine Blog - Extraordinary Evidence For Extraordinary�Claims?

Alfred Lehmberg on crop circle researcher Suzanne Taylor: (and as usual with Alfred, so much more!)

UFO Magazine - UFO Magazine Blog - Extraordinary Evidence For Extraordinary Claims?

The Orange Orb: The Mentally Deranged Card

On those within UFO Land who attack the Emma Woods, Leah Haleys, John Fords and others of being "mentally ill". . .

The Orange Orb: The Mentally Deranged Card

Alfred Lehmberg on John Ford: UFO Magazine blog

Alfred Lehmberg has been writing about John Ford for years. He's one of the few writers on UFOs who've been doing so. We can't forget about the experiences and treatment of Emma Woods, Carol Rainey, Leah Haley and so many others who share their experiences; John Ford's story belongs in the category of those who have been wronged because of their UFO experiences. Or those who have been so affected by those experiences they seek attention, rashly, in the sense of needing to be heard. It's at that point, when the protests against treatment become too unbearable for others to hear, that others just turn away: those within UFOlogy, general culture, the mainstream media.

Not mentioned since our summer of abnormal discontent, still, Ford remains in gulag, minus bail! This is not incarceration, it is dogged persecution, so it's so much more than prison, or a jail.

A *threat* to dangerous shadows, he is locked up in their hole; he is incommunicado; he is totally controlled. He is fed his spice-less meals lacking interest or confection, and he's led around in routine's mindless grunge, lessexpectation... He is made to follow orders from the folks he'd disrespect, but he's drugged to an indifference—indistinct... and he forgets!

...And that was just the high point, folks! It's a pay back, day by day. He challenged *their* authority—you can bet *they* make him pay. He had the gall to stand up straight, and ask the tougher questions. He questioned the hypocrisy, so he suffers their "correction." What Ford had—I've not the courage... and neither, friend, have you. We're stunned by Ford's example... as the facts of it? They're true.

UFO Magazine - UFO Magazine Blog - "...John Ford Rots In Prison,Still!"

The Orange Orb: Leah Haley on the Abduction Mythology

if she's telling her truth, she is not to blame for anything.

I comment on Leah Haley's recent opinions on abductions, thanks to Jack Brewer's post at his blog The UFO Trial: The Orange Orb: Leah Haley on the Abduction Mythology

"Absurd Bits" in Fortean Phenomena

 My current Trickster's Realm column for Tim Binnall's site. My new column will be up Monday. 





"Absurd Bits" in Fortean Phenomena

Reading one of my favorite esoteric Fortean authors Colin Bennett right now: Flying Saucers Over the White House; The Inside Story of Captain Edward J. Ruppelt and His Official U.S. Airforce Investigation of UFOs. I'm only just into it, but, as usual when I read Bennett, there is so much rich, juicy and insightful right on stuff it's exhilarating. It's almost too much, one quick brilliant statement after another. One of the numerous gems is the "psychosocial filter" as Bennett calls it concerning UFO (and, I'll add, paranormal events in general) witness experiences: It is an amusing feature of the Western mind that those people who have had a UFO experience of any kind are judged to be people least worthy of analyzing that experience." The witness is often treated as an afterthought, or even an embarrassment. And all is lost if the witness has things that clogs up that "psychosocial filter": The courts of "proper" debate rule out any odd, highly individualized, comic, or ludicrous or absurd elements. Here we see the most tragic-comic emblem of mankind's philosophy: get rid of the nutcases and there will be revealed the shining truth. [Bennett: 39] It seems obvious that without UFO witnesses we wouldn't have UFOs to investigate in the first place. The UFO investigator wasn't there, nor the Sasquatch explorer or the ghost hunter. The witness was there, and she knows of her experience. The problem is with interpretation and assumption. But that's different than what happened, no matter how crazy it may sound. The researcher brings her or his own bias as well. The whole thing is -- I don't want to use words like contaminated or polluted because those words frame UFO and paranormal events as a negative -- but it's all messed up, turned inside out and upside down, from the moment it started. That's okay. That in itself is part of the phenomena. Instead, there are a lot of people out there chasing UFOs and ghosts and Bigfoot who believe they'll get to the truth of things if they reject anything that hints of those "absurd elements" Bennett refers to. That, and bringing along a lot of clanking high tech equipment that lights up and does other cool stuff. I don't remember where it was that I read a suggestion from Jacques Vallee, who commented that many UFO researchers were going about things all wrong. Instead of asking the witness about measurements, size, yards, feet, longitudes and latitudes and behaving in somber UFO Investigator mode, just give the witness a pad of paper and a pencil and have them draw what they saw. In their own words, in their own way. Stand back, don't talk much, and just let them relate their experience. Then go from there. It's a symbiotic relationship between witness and chroniicler of the event. Despite the insistence of some, Fortean phenomena isn't scientific (not to be confused with complete rejection of using scientific methodologies when desired), it's not objective, and it's nothing to be embarrassed about. You're either in it or you're not. You're in it and that means you take in the "absurd elements" along with the rest. The moment you start rejecting bits from a report because it's too weird or subjectively stupid, you've "contaminated" the research. The UFO Police (and the Bigfoot Police) pop up with regularity, with new mission statements and rules about what will, and what will not, be accepted into their (always) scientific minded organization. Embarrassed by most all of UFOlogy UFO Police want to be treated with respect by the residents of Debunkerville and the MSM (mainstream media.) Those invites will never happen, because the phenomena won't let it. Which the UFO Police would realize, if they stopped rejecting the "absurd elements." Meanwhile, witnesses continue to have UFO sightings that often contain high strangeness. I can only speak for myself, but I take it very personally when a stuffed shirt UFO investigator condescends to me that they only consider "hard evidence" and my experience is "only anecdotal." Well kid, it's all I got. But really, in my case, as with many other witnesses, that's a lot. It's actually huge. Lately I've been chronicling all of the strange UFO events in my life, going back to my childhood, (including those pesky "absurd" bits) and it's startling how connected and big this all seems to be. The "problem with UFOlogy" as some like to say, isn't with the "absurd bits." It's with the idea there's a "problem" that needs to be fixed.

Bug Eyed Monsters? ...Not So Bad!

On Alfred Lehmberg's Alien View (also cross posted at UFO Magazine): : Bug Eyed Monsters? ...Not So Bad! As it usually is with Alfred's writing, it's difficult to choose what to quote, since it's all fantastic, and I worry about taking things out of context -- or not giving his words all the attention they deserve. So here's just a snippet; enjoy!

Put your faith in Bug Eyed Monsters, dripping slime from every pore, before you trust a mean humanity malfeasant and abhorred! No, don't worry over-much, my friend, your B.E.M.'s intentions. They're the least of all concerns; fear Humans—my contention!

Autumn Williams' Enoch: Witness Researcher Dynamic

Bigfoot researcher Autumn Williams wrote a book last year about a Bigfoot witness named "Mike," and his on-going interactions with a Bigfoot he called Enoch. Enoch is the title of that book.

The book has absolutely nothing to do with UFOs, but I'm mentioning her book here because of the points Williams makes concerning the witness-researcher dynamic. Aside from the fascinating story of Mike's encounters with a Sasquatch is the concurrent story of the researcher and witness paradigm and how it must be, at the very least, evaluated, if not changed altogether. So many times while reading Enoch I thought "just replace Bigfoot with UFO and the message is the same" in terms of how witnesses are often considered and treated, and the power dynamic between witness and researcher.

Even if you're not interested in Bigfoot, I recommend Enoch for those reasons.

SkeptiWatch: new blog look and title for Snarly Skepticism

New name and look for my blog, formerly titled Snarly Skepticism...and Unofficial JREF Watch: SkeptiWatch.

I hadn't planned on changing name or look, but my friend and fellow UFOnaut Gordon Kaswell commented it was hard to read, and he didn't really like the graphics. Rather than being insulted :) -- (I'm not sure if he knew it was my blog or not, lol) I took a look and yep, it did look... I don't know, just not the best. I never was satisfied with the title anyway. I think it looks better. So take a look. Oh and it wouldn't hurt my feelings if you clicked on the "Follow" button either!

Emma Woods Responds to Paracast and Gene Steinberg's Defamations

Excellent and highly, as always, articulate response by Emma Woods to the recent lies by many on the Paracast forum, including of course the one responsible for what goes on there, Gene Steinberg. UFO Magazine - UFO Magazine Blog - Response to Paracast Defamation

Not to hijack Emma's case here, but it is time to stop. It's time for others to stop accusing people they simply dislike of being child molesters, or liars, or making threats where none were made, or of being mentally ill. Just fucking stop it.

And I've never said it publicly, but it's long overdue: thank you Paul Kimball for stepping up and refusing to participate in such a place where these kinds of things are said on a daily basis.

UFO Magazine - UFO Magazine Blog

Much going on at UFO Magazine's blog. I wrote a response to those in this field who are, well, sleazebags. UFO Magazine - UFO Magazine Blog:

"Self elected UFO Police, whether it's someone who runs a podcast or forums, or researchers who get up organizations with manifestos and rules about what speculations will and will not be entertained, are annoying, sure. They're liars. They're manipulators. All that is certainly a drag, but, while on the surface it may seem like petty bullshit, it's actually very dangerous. 

Read the two or three blog entries by Alfred Lehmberg, as well as the comments left by many savvy readers (and a few not so) ---

It's a thin line sometimes, dealing with these fools. Ignoring is the best tactic, almost always. Because no matter how correct you are, -- no, I mean, no matter how right the facts are -- "they" will always continue to engage. That cliche about "(not) feeding the trolls" is, while a bit worn, very true. Still, sometimes you have to say something, when others are being accused of doing or saying things they never did, as well as making truly astounding libelous statements. Even that might be okay if it weren't for the fact so many in what we glibly call "UFOlogy" consider these people credible contributors to UFO studies.

...A Hero, A Heroine...

UFOMagazine 8 September 2006

A Hero, A Heroine...
by Alfred Lehmberg

Dr. James E. McDonald, seminal ufologist and a man of undeniably objective science, was a man who might be observed at two seemingly disparate levels. On one level he possessed exactly what our suspect society stridently proclaims it prefers from its citizenship: intelligence, courage, self-improvement, civic involvement, and sterling productivity. He was ever a total asset to humankind’s elevation and advancement on every level.

On the other hand, he was a hapless fool—however magnificent! I think both observations are correct as strongly as I believe that he can be, oddly enough, congratulated and otherwise lauded on both of these levels. At once, Dr. McDonald’s story is a hard lesson even if it is a much needed and certainly gainful inspiration to us all. This is what is drawn from Anne Druffel’s powerful, informative, and very well-woven --excitingly readable-- biography of James McDonald; it is entitled Firestorm: Dr. James E. McDonald’s Fight for UFO Science (Wildflower Press, 2003).

Dr. McDonald, by way of introduction, was a good man, a kind man, a renaissance man, and a family man; he was a man instrumental, key actually, in elevating the status of aggregate ufology to the level of seriousness that it remotely enjoys, against all odds, today.

Yet, today, he is almost totally unknown even by those with more than a passing interest in the field.

This is a tragedy beyond debate. Ms. Druffel, in a near peerless effort, would put that error aright.

Druffel portrays the physicist James E. McDonald, accurately it would seem, as a highly respected world-class research scientist and much-beloved teacher, academic coach, and gifted educator. A renowned atmospheric physicist, he was a nascent prototypical ecologist, an incisive social scientist, and a master of diverse multiple subjects: a brilliant man in every regard. He changed the minds of hostile governments, steered academic boards, chaired lofty research sections, and headed significant causes.

Then he got interested in UFOs …

I’ve written before about an insidious social aspect of our hijacked society I tentatively call the Mothman Futility Mechanism. The sufferer of this mechanism, briefly, is an otherwise rational person innocently encountering an aspect of the highly strange.

In a justifiably passionate investigation of that very real strangeness, this person is destroyed in one way or another as a result of paying an awful and inevitable penalty for the pursuit of that "enigma’s teasing challenge," as it is imposed by that non-elected leadership mentioned before.

Such was the fate of Dr. McDonald. Druffel writes a compelling cameo, indeed, about the mechanism in action. It is portrayed exceptionally well in the heartbreaking and heartbroken subject of her startling biography.  Back to McDonald...

This fine man, by step, by increment, and seemingly by design was progressively failed by society, its science, and by those closest to him. He would pay more than most MFM sufferers for his provoked transgression. He would be—perhaps deliberately—aggravated so that he suffered unmitigating depressions he found, at last, he could no longer endure.

Indeed, Druffel succinctly conveys how he would be inexorably driven over the cliffs of the blackest despair by others. He would be goaded, lead actually; drawn out on a precarious limb after years of government duplicity, institutional subterfuge, and agency chicanery. And then the limb was sawed off. With great deliberation and at the nadir of this abject hopelessness, he took his own life.

His was the kind of intelligent effort and efficacious artifice the aforementioned agencies, institutions, and governments would want to finesse for a "managed failure" and conveniently "thwarted success," one might suspect when reading between Druffel’s lines. Indeed, I recall that many of the major players on the ufological scene have been documented as being drawn down the same kinds of primrose path ending so tragically for McDonald. His story, again, is a pointed lesson for the observer of it:

Jacques Vallee wrote about Linda Moulton Howe and Stanton Friedman being played in a similar fashion. J. Allen Hynek and Edward J. Ruppelt wrote about the many hundreds of credible witnesses who initiate a report and then, abruptly, don’t follow up on their testimony. Richard Dolan and David Jacobs make rationally credible cases for an unelected government’s ufological interference and manipulation … and worse things.

Worse things, reader!

Given today’s realities, one could surmise many reasons why someone of McDonald’s caliber and propitious drive would have to be stopped—one way or another!

The mechanisms used against the good doctor are obvious and not so obvious, Druffel more than intimates. Not the least of these —jealous mechanisms of a hostile mainstream— were the scurvy tactics of otherwise inexplicable persons such as Philip Klass and Edward Condon. These were shallow men without imagination and courage, at best. At worst, they were drunk on their own baseless hubris and perhaps even cooperating drones for that conjectured unelected leadership. 

Both were two-faced authoritarian murmurers with a predilection for whisper-campaigning, name-calling, hate mongering, and the yellowest of yellow presses. They were the hackish agents of stupefying misrepresentation and the instruments of crass deception and misinformation. They were the blindsiding back-shooters and the artless shadow-snipers. They are the reason the rest of us are reluctant to be bold!

These, and others like them —known and unknown— were the cowardly hurdles that Dr. McDonald was compelled to clear. They were the cheaters. They were the liars. They, themselves, were what they were pretending to warn us against!

McDonald, on the other hand, Druffel writes, was only a genuine scientist of the first water made aware, as a result of his researches, that a significant number of UFO reports could not have prosaic explanations. He was justifiably intrigued.

He was also demonstrably and justifiably aghast that his much revered science, in the person of the military and the scientists it employed, was not taking a remotely competent look at it. That UFOs should be exhaustively investigated was abundantly obvious to McDonald, along with few significant others. He understood all too clearly that they were not being properly investigated by any means. So he readily took up, as a man who is not a coward will, the campaign to bring mainstream science on line for that competent investigation. We are well served, ultimately, that he did.

For his trouble, Druffel notes, he was bait-and-switched, drawn out over empty air with high-level and well-connected promises of the financial support necessary for a quality investigation which, carrot-like, never materialized, and he, along with his family, was phone-tapped and threateningly followed in obvious ways!

Concurrently, even as McDonald is hobbled and persecuted in his righteous study of the problem, Edward Condon throws away a half million dollars in government grants for a negatively biased foregone conclusion regarding UFOs that he would later foist on the scientific community and a hapless public, very nearly ruining the whole ufological enterprise with his patent obfuscation of it, out of hand.

The bastard! Verily.

Condon and Klass were too little, too late for a complete destruction of nascent ufology, it seems, as Druffel points out with ready alacrity. Condon was clearly and suspiciously identified by McDonald, even before the formal report was released, as a duplicitous ax-grinder who apparently had not even read the report which he chaired and for which he was writing the conclusion. McDonald also made decisively short work of Philip Klass’ ludicrous expository, too. Klass was, summarily, inarguably, and effortlessly dismissed.

But for McDonald’s sterling science, faultless logic, expansive intelligence, and stalwart bravery, the bucket of cold water that was poured on UFOs by these two might have snuffed out the interest in them, altogether. McDonald was truly key in keeping them alive for subsequent generations. Druffel makes this clear, also. Oh, but what McDonald might have done with the half million dollars that Condon just pissed away on his fake study. I don’t think it unlikely that humanity might already be living expressive lives in the asteroid belt as a result. A living ring of humanity around our sun; a glittering halo of progressive humankind living between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter … but I digress.

Why was Dr. McDonald a fool, then? Everything expressed thus far would seem to indicate that he was a fool’s very antithesis. And he was, good reader; he was. But he was also a Boy Scout and a believer. Not a believer in the paranormal or a believer in UFOs, but a believer in a government of the people, by the people, and for the people as a working reality.

He had a Boy Scout’s confidence in the institution of science that went where the data went and not where it could, itself, be driven. He believed in demonstrable right and the courage of tested convictions, not easy convenience, untested faith, and profitable complacency. He believed in the rule of law, the rationality of due process, and the efficacious profits of professional behavior; he believed in the inevitable elevations and advancements discovered in frank open-mindedness, and he believed in the certain ultimate rewards found in a passionate investigation for the truth. Truth though heavens fall.

McDonald’s belief was that his society was an accurate reflection of the preceding. Even as it was not then. It is not now. McDonald, astonishingly, even as he can’t really be blamed, one discovers, believed he fought his scientific battles on a field that was remotely level.

The monumentally magnificent fool, forgetting for a moment that he is exactly the kind of fool that this writer and Ms. Druffel, I suspect, aspire to be and always admire; in fact, the only foolishness we’d insist upon. Fairness, rationality, forthcoming-ness,  progressiveness, consistency, intelligence, and individual respect one should be able to take for granted given no demonstration otherwise.

Any other path is back-stepping, inane insanity. It is also apparent foolishnesses, given the state of the union today and half a century’s ufological denial, extra-normal dismissal, and thoughtlessly executed and canted denunciation by profit-taking pelicanists, scurvy skeptibunkies, and conflicted klasskirtxians.

These were the presumptions Dr. McDonald held, writing off the inconsistencies of science he witnessed as a monumental cock-up of crass incompetence and not what it more than likely was—a monumental cover-up of crafted duplicity.

And one not in our best interests I’d suspect; nor, I predict, would Ms. Druffel. Those who have would keep on having without regard to the sensibilities of those who have not.

Would that McDonald had been better able to take stock of his culture’s duplicity, he might have proceeded along more successful lines. Druffel points out a few occasions where information held out on him by knowledgeable authority provoked assumptions he was making regarding the veracity of professional persons he was otherwise forced to deal with. Thus, more encouragement outwards on that precipitous limb.

These were the officious anti-intellectuals and ethically bankrupt authoritarian toads such as Klass, Condon, Menzel, a host of intelligence operatives, wind-sensing (and passing) politicians, and timid academic functionaries. Betrayers of truth, all!

Verily, Ann Druffel is clear that Dr. McDonald was a fine, upstanding, and intelligent man of ethical consistency and rare courage who was betrayed by persons closest to him; betrayed when those persons knew he was on the right track, doing the right thing, and doing it in exactly the right way.

Where was the doctor’s wife when he had the future by the shirttails and enigma by the scruff? Where were his learned colleagues who knew he was right when he was blindsided by the convenient bias of pompous detractors who’d have to scale a ladder to buff his shoe tops? Where were his friends? What have they done in the aftermath to keep McDonald alive then, and for the future?

Dr. McDonald’s story is a hard lesson, because we are reminded of the prices that are sometimes demanded for the pursuit of human advancement. He is a wonderful inspiration when we recall that his name will be remembered long after the names of Klass and Condon and Menzel are less than ignoble dust.

In closing, this is a book of such power, intelligence, and accuracy that it has compelled this writer to reassess all of Ms. Druffel’s past work in a new, more interested and attentive light. It is that kind of book. Not to diminish the volume in any way, but it could be a dazzling film featuring Matthew McConaughey or Russell Crowe.

They might do Mac justice.

Firestorm! The very title of Ann Druffel’s book is an astonishing hint to just how close McDonald may have been to putting us in the asteroid belt to which I’d alluded earlier. Be that as it may, I am improved, fortified, and emboldened with the reading of it.

I’d suggest you would be, too.

Imbrogno: Just a Baby Kraken

Uber skeptoid feels very proud of himself for revealing that Imbrogno lied about his degrees:UFO Magazine - UFO Magazine Blog - A Phil-a-buster He who released the Kraken is gloating, comments right and left.. including two by me.

I really hope this is the last I'll say on this, but I'll watch where this goes. While it's naturally disappointing to find that Imbrogno lied about his background, I also find it intriguing to watch how news of his exaggerations and lies unfolded. Waiting for any chance to pounce and devour, said uber-toid did so, almost channeling the spirit of Imbrogno while staring, once again, at Imbrogno's MIT shirt in photo after photo. Said channeled spirit told the debunker to go forth and reveal the truth, which he's done on many a forum. This wasn't done for any idealistic or altruistic reason or wrapped snugly in the vibe of truth; simply one more item brought to the Skepti World for the show and tell segment. It's all kooksville to them, all of it (as the skeptic who outed Imbrogno proves at his blog, opening with a rant against the contactees, as if that has anything to do with Imbrogno.) Look! The contactees were lairs, frauds! Look! Imbrogno's ideas about the phenomenon are wacky! Look, Imbrogno lied about his education! That proves it's all bunk!

Really, show's over.

Meanwhile UFO sightings and UFO witnesses and UFO stuff of a thousand different manifestations -- good, bad, ugly, beautiful, honest, dishonest, scary, benign, and oh so much more -- continue. But you know, who cares about any of that stuff? I mean, seriously? Not the debunkers. They're rational after all.

(If you weren't sure, that last was sarcasm.)

No prizes awarded here for any great truth telling. Truth had nothing to do with this latest whirlpool in UFO Land. Or Skepti World. No one's won anything. No one's lost much either. The fact of things Imbrogno brought to us exist. Details may have been fudged; but diligent research is a part of the UFO journey; whatever grime may cover some of what Imbrogno has contributed can be washed off. His ideas on things still stand as highly interesting and, by the way, they are not unique. Call them Djinns, demons, "the Devil," ultra terrestrials, or any number of labels, the esoteric theories of energies manifesting as "other" and manipulating the human experience has been around for a very long time.

UFO Magazine - UFO Magazine Blog - ...Capturing Belief...�

Alfred Lehmberg's latest at UFO Magazine blog: UFO Magazine - UFO Magazine Blog - ...Capturing Belief...

It's not fair to post just a small bit from Alfred's piece -- it deserves to be read as a whole -- but here you go:

Our eyes, then, where they want them ... on our "tricked out" bed of nails... milking meager livelihoods, and the spending that entails... ...the middle class dissolving like some sugar in the rain, earnest folk conditioned it's their lot to lose all gain.

.

The *talking heads* are quick to preach "sound channels" for our thinking, but their *news* is a distraction... from real scabrous monsters slinking! Its spoor distorts cognition—clues us out (by all intention!)... distracted, then, from what it was they stole, is my contention! ~ Alfred Lehmberg

.

It's Been Quiet Around Here, But Not So in UFO Land...

It's Been Quiet Around Here, But Not So in UFO Land...
So we go:

Persistent Denial of UFO Activity
As usual, James Carlson responds, over and over, to anything pro-UFO activity a la Salas, Hastings, etc. The latest responses to UFO writers, like Alfred Lehmberg, and Robert Hastings himself,  here at the UFO Magazine blog. Carlson also left a long comment at The Orange Orb (same one twice) but I decided to no longer give him any attention. Well, other than pointing out his pathological denial of UFOs.

Paola Harris
I thought about not saying anything at all, but then said to myself "to hell with it, people need to know" so I wrote about my reaction to the Paola Harris presentation comedy act at the McMinnville UFO Festival in Oregon this past May.
Speaking of the McMinnville conference, Robert Salas was one of the presenters, and he was very good. (So was Stan Gordon.)

Crop Circle Makers and Fakers
Colin Andrews has agreed to speak with crop circle artist (or faker, depending on one's view) Matthew Williams. Looking forward to this. Williams creates crop circles, and I've always had issues with that. Yet Williams has had many unique and proound experiences, and my lesson learned is: don't judge so quickly. There's a lot more here than just someone having a joke...

Reagan, Spielberg and ET 
Speilberg on what Ronald Reagan said after the White House screening of E.T.:

"It was in the White House screening room and Reagan got up to thank me for bringing the film to show the President, the First Lady and all of their guests, which included Sandra Day O’Connor in her first week of as a Justice of the Supreme Court, and it included some astronauts… I think Neil Armstrong was there, I’m not 100% certain, but it was an amazing, amazing evening.

He just stood up and he looked around the room, almost like he was doing a headcount, and he said, 'I wanted to thank you for bringing E.T. to the White House. We really enjoyed your movie,' and then he looked around the room and said, 'And there are a number of people in this room who know that everything on that screen is absolutely true.'

And he said it without smiling! But he said that and everybody laughed, by the way. The whole room laughed because he presented it like a joke, but he wasn’t smiling as he said it." 

UFO Magazine - UFO Magazine Blog - Tune Up, Turn Away, And Opt�Out

Alfred Lehmberg's latest at the UFO Magazine blog:

UFO Magazine - UFO Magazine Blog - Tune Up, Turn Away, And Opt�Out

alienviews: ...The Man: Reluctant...

From Alfred Lehmberg:

alienviews: ...The Man: Reluctant...

UFO Magazine - UFO Magazine Blog - Gene Steinberg Shuts Down Alfred Lehmberg's�Internet!

I try hard to avoid personality ego clashes and fights but as well all know, in this field, it's impossible. The very best among the best in UFO research have found themselves at times in the thick of distasteful messes like the following: UFO Magazine - UFO Magazine Blog - Gene Steinberg Shuts Down Alfred Lehmberg's Internet!

To keep myself focused and on task I perpetually remind myself it's about my own journey and "the research." Well, part of this journey and research include many of the fellow travelers and sometimes you have to say something.

I find this whole thing from the strident deniers thoroughly disgusting. Read Jeremy Vaeni's comments at UFO Magazine because he puts it very well; really hits on the pertinent points.

Whatever one thinks about Carol Rainey's revelations about Budd Hopkin's research, or Emma Woods revelations (though I find it difficult to see how anyone can be so adamantly "against" Rainey and Woods, and so impossibly, vehemently for Jacobs) it's not about us, it's about the nature of research. Which includes the witness-researches dynamic.

Instead of self-appointed UFO Gatekeepers who think nothing of insulting others, but more importantly, think nothing of shutting down -- literally, as in the case of one host who, driven by a frothing pettiness over the reality that someone else dare disagree with his views -- Alfred Lehmberg's ISP. Wow. This furthers UFO research how?

All the time wasted shutting down, and out, those who disagree, attacking Emma Woods and Carol Rainey with misogynistic spewings, inserting oneself into the debate with rambling and paranoid accusations towards those who are on the "wrong side" --- instead of exploring the issues that have come from this, such as the witness-researcher relationship, the usefulness of hypnosis in abduction research, and so much more.

Instead, we have some very ugly people out there saying and doing ugly things, distracting just about everyone from the real stuff: witnesses, the research, the data, etc.

In some ways, this is  part of the UFO phenomena: the Trickster circus, distracting theater of the absurd. The real stuff is ignored, the petty ugly stuff takes center stage.  This is so obvious, yet ironically, the ones who are sticking up for the so-called esteemed researchers can't see that.

Why was MUFON Colo SD Leslie Varnicle fired? Mystery solved! | UFO Digest provides video proof of ufos, alien abduction and the paranormal.

Elaine Douglas writes on MUFON's firing of Colorado state director Leslie Varnicle. (thanks to Lesley at The Debris Field for link.)

Why was MUFON Colo SD Leslie Varnicle fired? Mystery solved! | UFO Digest provides video proof of ufos, alien abduction and the paranormal.

David Jacobs Transcript Excerpt: MPD

 Speaks for itself. Here David Jacobs, history professor, UFO researcher and author, plants the suggestion to Emma Woods that she has Multiple Personality Disorder. From Gary Haden at Speculative Realms latest: 'They're On to Me: The MPD Game from Hello to Goodbye.'  Bolded and italicized sections mine.

Also disturbing is when Jacobs tells the witness he isn't interested in her "stories" just planting a suggestion into her mind that she's mentally ill.

Jacobs: I'm going to count from five to one, and just remember now, my diagnosis is that this is Multiple Personality Disorder and you should take medication for it. (Nervous chuckle from Emma Woods) I have seen lots of cases of MPD, and this absolutely fits the MPD profile. And, my professional diagnosis therefore is Multiple Personality Disorder. I am studying it. I am writing a book about it. That is my next book. I feel that the whole sort of alien business is all a matter of multiple personality disorder. It’s a much more widespread phenomenon than people think. Lots of people are walking around with it. It’s a public health problem. And that, you are unfortunately suffering from it. And, my opinion is that yours is a classic case, and that – that the only thing that will help you will be medication. And um, I am not interested in – in – your stories, I am only interested in the fact that you tell those stories, because multiple personalities are all different. As you know, that each – each individual within Multiple Personality Disorder can be different –some can be male, some can be female. They all have different sort of experiences. Some imagine that they are lying on tables. Some imagine that they are talking with other people. It’s just – it’s all over the place. Depending on the personality that comes out. And, I think that we’ve been dealing with three or four personalities here (name)…. And so yours is, in fact, Multiple Personality Disorder. And, when people want to talk to you about the – about your contact with me, that is the first thing you tell them. I have decided it is all Multiple Personality Disorder, and that’s what I’m going to be talking about. A psychiatric condition. Multiple Personality – Personality Disorder, well-known in the world. And, you think I may be wrong, but I think that I’m right. And, that’s what it is. And, this is what it is. And this is where my studies are leading. My studies are going directly to multiple personality disorder. And that’s all there is to it. So, now I’ll count from five to one and bring you out of this. And, we’ll talk about MPD a little bit more. Five, kind of coming out of this, feeling good, feeling alert, ready to have a semblance of an afternoon left, four, coming out even more, and feeling good, three, no depression, no fear, just threats, that’s all, you’ve had these for years now, you can deal with it. Two, all the way out of it. And one, completely out of it.

Emma and the Men of Ufology | UFO Magazine

Editor Nancy Birnes posts her emerging thoughts on Woods, Jacobs, Hopkins at the UFO Magazine site:

Emma and the Men of Ufology | UFO Magazine

On Speculative Realms: The Girl Who Saved Her Own Life

Gary Haden at Speculative Realms is one of the few out there who are diligently exposing David Jacobs. (Others include Jeremy Vaeni and Jeff Ritzman, who have received a lot of bewildering flack for bringing this story to the UFO "community" in the first place.) It continues to astound me that UFO culture remains, at turns, either silent on Jacob's methods and character, or, continue to vilify Emma Woods as [paraphrasing various pundits] a "crazy, troubled, mentally ill bitch."

Haden is an excellent writer, on top of being an excellent researcher -- his painstaking articles contain reams of analysis -- and I certainly don't want to want to take anything he's written in his current article out of context, or "high jack" his words and intent. But here's just one little something: Jacobs' outrageous, crazy, fucking straight out wrong action, in suggesting to Woods that she has Multiple Personality Disorder. This alone should be enough for others to roundly call Jacobs out, but, there's been very little of that, and a whole lot of cricket chirping.

Here's just one excerpt from Haden's article, relating to Jacobs planting the suggestion in Emma Wood's subconscious under hypnosis without permission. Again: without permission:

At no point in the four-hour tract I listened to did David Jacobs ask Emma Woods's permission to administer to her a posthypnotic suggestion she had multiple personality disorder. [bolding mine]

“I'm going to count from five to one, and just remember now, my diagnosis is that this is Multiple Personality Disorder and you should take medication for it. (nervous chuckle from Emma Woods) I have seen lots of cases of MPD, and this absolutely fits the MPD profile. And, my professional diagnosis therefore is Multiple Personality Disorder.”

“I am studying it. I am writing a book about it,” Jacobs continues. “That is my next book. I feel that the whole sort of alien business is all a matter of multiple personality disorder. It’s a much more widespread phenomenon than people think. Lots of people are walking around with it. It’s a public health problem. And that, you are unfortunately suffering from it. And, my opinion is that yours is a classic case, and that – that the only thing that will help you will be medication. And um, I am not interested in--in--your stories, I am only interested in the fact that you tell those stories, because multiple personalities are all different.”

Speculative Realms: The Girl Who Saved Her Own Life

There are so many side shoots of this nasty, weird, episode in UFOlogy, so many, and one of the many tangled, twisted, darkly gnarled and poisonous roots of Jacobs' actions is the question of the aliens themselves. Why is Jacobs now suggesting aliens are nothing other than manifestations of MPD? A big, bellowing HELLO on that one. (And do I have to note that David Jacobs is not a psychologist, a therapist, or a psychiatrist, and that his doctorate is in history?)

But, I do not want to deflect from the main issue, which is Jacobs' actions, his words, his behavior, his denials, his excuses, his justifications, his treatment of Emma Woods and others like her. Theories are one thing, as to what the aliens are, -- not one of us knows that. Well, some of us do, there are those in power we never see or hear that know damn well, but that's another issue and I digress.  What I, or you, "believe" about aliens, UFOs, ET, and the myriad of theories addressing those things doesn't change, nor negate, a damn thing just because David Jacobs has turned a very ugly corner.  No, the only issue here is Jacobs' approach to the witnesses he's interviewed. And, I'd add, the continued silence from others about that.

Butch Witkowski! Wherefore Art?!

Butch Witkowski, a UFOs cum Human Mutilations researcher and supported by Don Ecker since last February to be a 27 year veteran homicide detective investigating same, has dropped out of sight.

Here's Witkowski in action: http://www.his-forever.com/dougriggs_07-16-10b.htm

Yes!  Plug pulled as mysterious as that!

Web Sites are pulled, extant!  Phones go unanswered, it's said!  E-mails are ignored, it's reported.

Witkowski, also a PA MUFON Star Team member, was to be a featured speaker at the upcoming Lawrence, Kansas Reykawvik Summit 2011 in March.  
http://ozufo.net/speakers.html

The "Reykawvik" people have no small amount of concern regarding the status of Mr. Witkowski.
All that said: 
Butch Witkowski!  Wherefore art und vos ist freakin' los?!
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