| EDITOR AND STILL SUPREME COMMANDER: James W. Moseley
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR:
|
NON-SCHEDULED NEWSLETTER Volume 46, No. 12 December 5th, 1999 |
MAILING ADDRESS: P. 0. Box 1709 Key West, FL 33041 |
Incidentally, we again want to thank those few of you (you know who you are) who have continued to send material for "Smear". We can't print everything we receive, but we sincerely appreciate all of it! And as always, our special thanks go out to cartoonist Matt Graeber, whose work is spread throughout this issue and many others. Also, special thanks to graphic artist Miller Johnson for unique pictures of our recent San Antonio convention. We wish we had Space to print some of them here.
It is now fifteen years since the late, great Gray Barker passed on
to whatever he passed on to. He is pictured at right during a television
appearance many years ago.
The Clarksburg - Harrison County Library in Clarksburg, West Virginia has a room in its annex devoted to the display of Barker's UFO-related books, magazines, and correspondence. Serious researchers are allowed to look through this collection by appointment. Your editor has contributed back issues of "Smear" (which Barker briefly edited in the late 1960s) and we intend to make other contributions in the future. There have been rumors, however, that the Barker Collection may be downgraded or even disposed of. If you oppose this idea, write a gentle note to the gentleman in charge of the Barker project. His name is David Horechin, and the Library's address is 404 West Pike Street, Clarksburg, W.Va. 26301.
One long-time member of the POC died on November 9th of this year. His name was Al Manak, and he had been involved in UFO research ever since the year 1947, when he was still a child. He was active throughout the years with the United Aerial Phenomena Agency (UAPA) ofCleveland, Ohio, and was one of the founders of the NUFOC, back in 1964. Although not a nationally-known ufologist, he will be missed.
Other members of the POC are: Jim Moseley, Permanent Chairman; Rick Hilberg; Tom Benson; Tim Beckley; Antonio Huneeus; William Moore; Allen Greenfield; Karl Pflock; Matt Graeber; and Curt Sutherly.
Now we are adding two new people to the POC: Dennis Stacy of San Antonio, who hosted this year's NUFOC, and is a former editor of the MUFON journal. Also Tim Brigham of Pensacola, Florida (right next to Gulf Breeze), who is the former editor of "Devil's Advocate", a printed zine which sadly has been lost to the Internet craze.
Thus there are now twelve members of the POC. Perhaps we should change the name to MG-12 (Moseley's Group of Twelve), or some such title. We will give this some thought.
Famed offbeat writer Brad Steiger and his wife Sherry were among the
intended speakers, but at the last minute they were unable to attend.
Substituting for the Steigers were Whitley Strieber and abduction researcher
Constance Clear.
Ms. Clear is shown in the photo at the right doing her stand-up comedy routine, which was separate and different from her pro-abduction lecture. The picture below shows a semi-mysterious cigar-shaped object that your fearless "Smear" editor photographed outside the Hilton Hotel. No one else was present at the time.There was writing - possibly alien in nature - on the craft, but it was too far away to read.
Other speakers included Lloyd Pye, still pushing the possibly alien skull(s) that he has described in previous talks. He expects to get a DNA report back shortly, which, if it shows anything weird, will cause quite a sensation when released.
Then there was journalist Jim Marrs, whose lecture had the ominous title "Rule by Secrecy: Unmasking The Hidden Masters of History and Religion". Our favorite speaker was a woman named k.t. (small letters!) Frankovich. She met Jesus Christ and the prophet Abraham during some sort of out-of-body experience. They met in the 3 1/2th Dimension, since they were 4-D and she was merely 3-D. Frankovich probably doesn't know (or care) that the 3 1/2th Dimension was "invented" quite a few years ago by your "Smear" editor, as a reasonable compromise between competing theories.
Other speakers included Michael Lindemann of "CNI News", Franceen King, William Buhlman, Dolores Cannon, and Joe McMoneagle, who is an expert on "remote viewing".
The next "Project Awareness" event will be held early next year, in or near famed Gulf Breeze.
Bryant and another man are behind the current "ballot initiative", which is a petition drive in the 16 states that allow this direct initiative. If enough signatures are obtained, a pro-UFO proclamation would be put on the state ballot in the next election, and voters would be asked to decide whether or not the year 2000 should be declared "The Year of UFO Awareness".
Bryant is also on the Board of Directors of MUFON, with the title Director of Governmental Affairs. (Interestingly, the late Major Donald Keyhoe held this same title in MUFON, many years ago, after the breakup of NICAP.) Apparently it was only with some reluctance, and largely due to Bryant's extreme enthusiasm, that MUFON finally decided to back the "ballot initiative" a few months ago.
Now comes Bryant's next move: He decided it would be productive to sue the state of Virginia, where he lives, over the alleged fact that it is not fulfilling its constitutional duty to protect its citizens from harm - in this case, abduction by aliens. A similar move in Arizona by Gersten is explained in some detail in our Oct. 10th issue. Gersten is not on the MUFON Board of Directors, so the wrath of that organization has come down on Bryant, as some of its members feel that the man has finally gone too far. On Oct. 19th, MUFON czar Walt Andrus sent a letter to Bryant on behalf of the five-man Executive Committee of the Board, asking Larry to either resign or risk being expelled.
Andrus' wrath was partly due to provocative headings CAUS had put onto some of its Internet postings, such as "MUFON Board of Directors Needs Some Backbone" and "National MUFON - Forty Years of Impotence". The latter statement is false, if only because MUFON has not been in existence for more than about 30 years. Bryant blames the provocative headings on Gersten.
In one heated exchange of views, Executive Committee member Dan Wright had (in part) this to say about Larry Bryant's actions: "Threatening the Governor of Virginia with a lawsuit is WRONG! This man probably never heard of MUFON. He may not have given a cumulative 30 seconds of his life to considering a threat to our planet from non-human species. The Virginia constitution - indeed, the U.S. constitution - does NOT contemplate intrusions from beyond Earth. How DARE you attack the man, invoking the name of Patrick Henry and implying that he is less than a patriot unless he calls out the National Guard to protect the citizenry against alien invasion. That is ignorant at best... To whatever extent MUFON is tied to this, we'll be slaughtered!..."
Bryant has defended himself vigorously against all charges, but the matter has been put to a formal vote by the MUFON Board, which consists of about 22 members. As of this writing no decision about Larry's fate has been made, as all the votes are not in. But there is some question as to whether a Board member can be removed this way, without a hearing. Such a hearing would split the MUFON membership even more seriously than has already occurred.
Our view is this: MUFON is far, far from being a scientific organization. It is simply an advocacy group, and in an advocacy group it is not unreasonable for the Director of Governmental Affairs to behave as Bryant has. Removing him from the Board serves no useful purpose whatsoever. Granted, Bryant's legal moves are, in our opinion, largely futile - as the UFO phenomenon, whatever it may actually be, will reveal itself if and when it cares to do so. The Government has no control over that!
This column marks my first anniversary as
"Smear', Contributing Editor and Fifth Columnist, the
perfect occasion to pick a fight with our Esteemed
Editor.
Awhile back ("Smear", July lst, '99), Jim Moseley offered his personal position statement on the nature of UFOs and what's behind them. This is the latest iteration of his 3 1/2D/4-D/4 1/2D non-theory, one of several bazillion different positions on UFOs and their origins he's held since 1954, ranging from Mars to Earth to Magonia (though curiously, apparently not Zeta 2 Reticuli):
"(Editorial Royal) We feel that, whatever this phenomenon is, it has been a permanent part of earth's environment at least since the dawn of recorded history... There is a vast spectrum of weirdness that includes saucers as well as the paranormal. One cannot be separated from the other... The reality behind the saucers is the ultimate reality behind science and religion..."
Jim rejects nuts & bolts saucers and beings from another planet because our visitors are too much like us, their technology appears to be only a skip ahead of ours, and they "seem to be obsessed with sex - just as we are!"
Sigh...
The overriding problem with Moseleyism is that it accepts ufology's willy-nilly definition of its subject matter. Anything labeled "UFO" or "ufological" is part of the UFO phenomenon. If science worked that way, wombats and supernovas could as easily be lumped together. Just because someone thinks something is a UFO or UFO related (e.g., sexually-obsessed ETs), doesn't make it so.
The seeming connections between sundry paranormal phenomena and UFOs - not to mention the particulars of what people report - likely are for the most part artifacts of sloppy/wishful human thinking and perfectly natural unconscious attempts to interpret extraordinary events in terms of ordinary experience. To the degree that anything seemingly paranormal is associated with nuts & bolts saucers and critters, it's likely to be a consequence of our present state of knowledge. As Arthur Clarke observed, any sufficiently advanced science would appear to us as majic ... uh..maGic. Which doesn't make it magic.
As for the general similarities between us and Them, it stands to reason that spacefaring beings would seek out worlds like their own, and as a consequence of evolutionary selection, they likely would bear a passing resemblance to the natives. The Moseleyist notion to the contrary puts me in mind of the late Carl Sagan telling Betty Hill he'd find visiting aliens that looked like elephants more believable than humanoids. To which Betty retorted, "If they looked like elephants, then they'd be bothering the elephants, not us."
Official sources tell us that there were 30 paid attendees, but we observed the lecture hall through the miracle of Remote Viewing, and the actual number was exactly 22. O Shame!...
"With regard to the Woods and the 'New!Improved!' MJ-12 documents, it seems to me that we've gone this route before, with the 'research team' of Moore, Shandera, and Friedman (MSF), who led us around by the nose for years, promising much but delivering nothing but B.S. by the truckload."The Woods have refined the MSF method of 'research', turning it into a fine art. They exercise absolute control over the 'documents', and demand that everybody sign a non-disclosure agreement before allowing them access. The Woods seem dead set against any independent examination and investigation of the documents. They have indicated quite clearly that they do not want the documents appearing in public without their spin on them. But so far all they've done is issue Orwellian press releases explaining why Cooper's lies mean he's telling the truth, and the documents are genuine because they're fakes. Hey, makes sense to me. No matter what happens, they can't lose ...
"The Woods have a website, and say they plan to release some of the documents on that website starting Nov. 15th. They also plan to release additional documents in books, and they have a video 'documentary' in the works. It will be a multimedia extravaganza! Ryan Wood's marketing background really is getting a workout!"
"In 'Pflock Ptalk' (Nov. 5th 'Saucer Smear') Karl accuses me and several other UFO skeptics of being unwilling to consider alternative hypotheses. He charges that we 'will fight down and dirty...to suppress any evidence or theory to the contrary (of our own).' (Emphasis added.)"As evidence, Pflock cites the 1975 Travis Walton 'UFO abduction' which he agrees with me is probably a hoax. Whereas I believe Mike Rogers and his crew concocted the story of seeing Travis being zapped by a UFO, Pflock believes that Rogers and Walton constructed a portable 'mock UFO' which they hung from a tree and which later 'zapped' Travis and sent him flying through the air. I had serious doubts about Karl's hypothesis, but suggested he build such a 'mock UFO' and see whether it was realistic enough to fool observers into believing it was a genuine UFO. I even suggested that TV producer Robert Kiviat might be willing to fund and film the experiment - an idea which Karl subsequently explored.
"I'm still waiting for Karl to construct a portable, inexpensive 'mock UFO', demonstrate its ability to zap a subject, send him flying through the air without significant injury, and convince a group of observers that the object is a 'real UFO'. Then I will give more credence to Karl's theory."
"A brief response to Mr. Sheaffer's comment in Vol. 46, #11: "Regarding my analysis of the Trent photo case and the shadows on the east wall of their garage, Mr. Sheaffer suggests that the cloud which created shadows on the east wall of my house and therefore proves it is possible for a cloud to create reasonably sharp shadows, was 'remarkable'.Fortunately I did photograph the cloud. It was not particularly remarkable. Of more importance is the densitometer 'scan' (relative brightness measurement) of the horizontal 'edge' of the shadow under the eave of the garage as it appears in the Trent photos. The shadow gradient region (the vertically-measured 'width' of the 'edge' of the shadow) is much greater than it would be if the sun had been the light source.
"Incidentally, Mrs. Trent died in 1997 and Mr. Trent in 1998. In their last interviews regarding the sighting, done in 1996, they maintained repeatedly their original story and denied taking part in any hoax."
... Okay, let's talk degrees. No, California Coast University is not a 'mail order' outfit, but a 'distance learning' facility. It is the wave of the future. Many people will be getting degrees in this fashion (and thousands already have), and while it doesn't have the prestige of a degree from Harvard, little does. I spent nearly four years taking classes, reading textbooks and writing papers ..."The school is recognized by the state of California and the only qualification that I haven't met to be licensed in California is a 1500 hour internship. The degree is recognized by the U.S. Air Force, various government agencies and private industry, as well as other universities. If it's good enough for them, it should be good enough for everyone else. ... I had no doubt that the degree would be attacked in the UFO community, mostly by those who have claimed degrees but have none...
"As for Strieber, it is clear to me that he has read (my book) 'The Abduction Enigma' and that it hit too close to home. I did think of the perfect response to him, but unfortunately it was about two hours after the event. I should have said, 'Then I pick government agent.'
"I also have noticed that Strieber wrote, in 1991: 'The "abduction reports" that they (UFO researchers) generate are not real. They are artifacts of hypnosis and cultural conditioning... It is something that human beings have been experiencing for a long time. It is the cause of religion, mythology, and folklore. Presently (sic) it is the cause of the 'alien abduction' belief ... What is 'really' behind our experiences? We are.'
"Isn't that what we said in 'The Abduction Enigma'? Of course we had additional points that needed to be made, but here, we agreed with Strieber. And then he gets so angry!"
Your "Smear" editor agrees with Strieber's former view, as expressed here. - Editor.
"... I note in the latest 'Smear' that you credit Dennis Stacy with referring to you on the Internet as ufology's 'reigning court jester', yet the caption to Matt Graeber's cartoon has you referring to yourself in such terms. Since the two versions clearly contradict each other, perhaps we have the beginnings of ufology's next big scandal here? Maybe you can enlist that screwball down in Georgia (whose name I have forgotten - Ed something) to lobby for Congressional hearings to sort out the truth?"It's good to hear that Tom Deuley has finally solved the El Indio - Guerrero crash and cover-up of 1944. Now the question becomes: Who, in the mid-1980s, would have known enough about this obscure and obviously well-covered matter to have craftily included it in a disinformation ploy - assuming, of course, that the MJ-12 documents were a disinformation ploy. Good work, Tom! Based upon your findings, I am inclined to move even farther away from my previously-announced 'centrist' position on this still very perplexing affair...
The solution to the puzzle is that we decided to accept Stacy's "court jester" designation in good humor, even though it doesn't really fit. The "screwball down in Georgia" is Ed Komarek.- Editor.
"Dear Supreme Commander:"Wow! Supreme Commander, MUFON 'J.S.', and now 'Court Jester'! With all of the jokers in ufology, you really have to go a long way to be nominated as 'Reigning Court Jester'.
"I enjoyed the Nov. 5th issue. Keep 'Smear' coming! ...
"...I disagree with the letter writer who thought it unusual that 'Smear' publishes letters from people in mental hospitals. Actually, 'Smear' publishes letters from a lot of folks who probably should be in such a facility. Thus illustrating the fact that 'Smear' is an equal opportunity newsletter!..."Oh for the good ol' days of finding the remains of Marvin the Martian or a feisty elk abduction! Vallee may long for the halls of Congress and silver-haired Congressional types - but for me, a beamed-up porker would surely make my day!"
"...I've been reading Karl Pflock's column in recent 'Smears' with great interest, particularly the one several months back where he put forth his criticisms of the UFO community. I agree with him fully, but I think he was too soft on the whole UFO scene. For myself, I've found the current state of'Ufology' too embarrassingly stupid to pay attention to, by and large!..."
Saucer Smear Index
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