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Labels: Dublin, Infrared, Ireland, Nick Pope, Video

Labels: Contactees, Dan Fry, George Van Tassel, Hans Stephan Santeson, Long John Nebel, M.K. Jessup, Radio, Video

     It’s hard to know how to respond to the oracular screed spattered onto the Internet Saturday by Exopolitician Alfred Webre. Imagine being cited by name as “smoking gun” evidence that the White House press corps is systematically filtering out UFO questions that could reach administration officials. Especially when nobody reads De Void anyway. I mean, how cool is that?

Cliff Notes: In late 2008, lobbyist Stephen Bassett urged visitors to his Paradigm Research Group Web site to join his “Million Fax On Washington” campaign requesting the White House Correspondents Association to ask the new regime about UFO transparency. Curious about how many phone calls, e-mails, faxes, etc., the stenographers club had received, De Void dropped a couple of voice messages and e-mails on the Association last year. Nobody called back. Which kinda sucked, but De Void eats rejection for breakfast.

Then. Saturday night. Webre (Bassett’s cohort and author of an “Exopolitics” manual explaining how Earthlings can change their ways to join the galactic federation) lurches into his latest conspiracy binge, using the “White House Press Association’s” non-replies to “Billy Cox of the St. Petersburg Tribune” and the “Sarasota Times” to prove the fix is in.

OK. This is pedantic, I know. But I have just one employer. The Herald-Tribune. It’s in Sarasota. And it’s not the “White House Press Association” — as Webre reported seven times Saturday night. It’s the White House Correspondents Association. No biggie. We all make misteaks.

But the man who has accused New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson of being “an employee of a secret CIA extraterrestrial liaison program,” and President Obama of being “a lifelong U.S. intelligence asset,” got most everything else right.

I have indeed, as Webre alleges, shown my “lack of bona fides as a disclosure reporter” for ignoring “secret U.S. government teleportation and time travel programs,” and NASA rover photos showing “the surface of Mars is a fragile post collapse ecology teeming with species of humanoid and animal life,” as well as “U.S. bases on Mars, interacting with a known Martian human civilization living underground.”

Dude? Seriously? All I wanna know are things like why the military refuses to release its radar data for colossal UFO events like Stephenville, Tex., in 2008. And why, in this post-9/11 universe, the media plays dead when F-16s chase a bogey without a transponder as it beelines for George W. Bush’s ranch.

So, Alfred: I hereby relinquish my disclosure credentials to “a wave of genuine whistleblowers, a popular groundswell, and transformational, ethical journalists who understand and conceptually own the importance of the evidence” you’ve gathered. The “Million Fax On Washington” story is all yours now. Go get ‘em, tiger. I’m done.

More . . .

See Also:

PRESS RELEASE:
The Million Fax On Washington To End The UFO Truth Embargo

Fractures in the Movement

The Idiocy of the Disclosure Movement

Exopolitics’ Michael Salla Rebuked by UFO Nukes Connection Researcher Robert Hastings

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Labels: Alfred Webre, Article, By Billy Cox, De Void, Disclosure, Exopolitics, Stephen Bassett

     Professor Paul Davies, a physicist at Arizona University will tell a meeting at the Royal Society that the best way of proving that extra-terrestrial life exists elsewhere in the universe is to use evidence from earth.

The meeting at the Royal Society, which will include representatives from Nasa, the European Space Agency and the UN Office for Outer space Affairs marks the 5th anniversary of the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) programme. Lord Rees, President of the Royal Society will also lead one of the sessions.

Prof Davies said: We need to give up the notion that ET is sending us some sort of customised message and take a new approach."

He suggested that the search could focus on deserts, volcanic vents, salt-saturated lakes and the dry valleys of Antarctica - places where ordinary life struggles to survive - to find "weird" microbes that belong to a "shadow biosphere".

Felissa Wolfe-Simon, from the US Geological Survey, is currently looking at the possibility that arsenic, found in contaminated places such as the Mono Lake in California, might support forms of life in the same way as other life forms use phosphorous.

However, Professor Colin Pillinger, who led the Beagle 2 Mars landing mission remains sceptical. He said: "I prefer to deal in scientific fact - this is wildly science fiction. You'd be off your trolley to go searching for arsenic-based life."

Prof Pillinger argues that Mars is the most likely place to find alien life.

The conference will also discuss how humans might respond to the discovery of extra-terrestrial intelligence.

Albert Harrison, the from University of California, said: "It is easy to imagine scenarios resulting in widespread psychological disintegration and social chaos. but historical prototypes, reactions to false alarms and survey results suggest that the predominant response to the discover of a microwave transmission from light years away is likely to be equanimity, perhaps even delight."

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Study: Aliens Living Among Us

Searching For 'Our Alien Origins'

Scientists, Ufologists Think We're Not Alone

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Labels: Aliens, European Space Agency, Paul Davies, SETI

     Despite her husband's claims to the contrary, Balloon Boy mom Mayumi Heene repeatedly confessed that the family staged the hoax to boost their prospects in reality TV.

Video recordings of the interviews conducted by the Larimer County Sheriff's Office with Mayumi Heene disprove the claims made by her husband, Richard, during his media blitz before he began serving his 30-day jail sentence.

The videos, obtained by the Coloradoan on Friday through the Larimer County District Attorney's Office, show Mayumi Heene telling investigator Bob Heffernan that she and her husband decided to report their 6-year-old son Falcon was aboard a UFO-shaped helium balloon.

"Richard and I agreed to it, so it was mutual," Mayumi Heene told Heffernan after she was told she failed a lie detector test she willingly took.

Both Richard and Mayumi Heene pleaded guilty in November to lying to authorities in connection with the Oct. 15 incident. Mayumi Heene received a lesser sentence, in part because she confessed and cooperated, prosecutors said.

Labels: Balloon Boy, Confession, Mayumi Heene, Richard Heene, Video

     It was during the early hours of 6 January 1966 in the Cheshire, England town of Wilmslow that extraordinary, and perhaps even other-worldly events were unfolding. Police Constable Colin Perks had begun his night-shift at 10,00 p.m. and had no idea that he would shortly thereafter find himself implicated in a face-to-face encounter with what might very well have been visitors from another galaxy.

In a stunning two-page report filed with his superior officer in the aftermath of the incident, P.C. Perks stated: "Sir, I have to report that I have been in the Police Force for almost four years. I am 28 years of age, a married man and I reside with my wife and child in [witness’s address]. I am in excellent health and I have no worries of any description."

The officer continued: "On the night of Thursday/Friday the 6th to 7th January 1966, which was a cold clear night and started [sic] with a full moon which made visibility good. I commenced duty at 10pm on the 6th and due to finish duty at 6am on the 7th. At 1.15am on the 7th I had my refreshments at Wilmslow Police Station where I resumed normal patrol at 2am on this date where I commenced walking around the village. I was alone on this occasion.

"About 4am on the 7th I was checking property at the rear of a large block of shops which are situated off the main A34 road (Alderley Road) Wilmslow. At 4.10am I was still checking property and facing the back of the shops when I heard a high pitched whine, for a moment I couldn’t place the noise as it was most unfamiliar to the normal surroundings. I turned around and saw a Greenish/Grey glow in the sky about 100 yards from me and about 35 feet up in the air. I stopped in my tracks and was unable to believe what I could see. However I gathered myself together after a couple of seconds and made the following observations. The object was about the length of a bus (30 feet) and estimated at being 20 feet wide. It was elliptic in shape and emanated a greenish grey glow which I can only describe as an eerie greeny colour. It appeared to be motionless of itself, that is there was no impression of rotation. The object was about 15 feet in height. The object had a flat bottom.

Drawing By Constable Colin Perks"At this time it was very bright and there was an East wind. Although it was cold there was no frost. No cloud formation was anywhere near ground level. The object remained stationary for about five seconds then without any change in the whine it started moving at a very fast rate in an East-South-East direction.

It disappeared from view very quickly. When it started moving it did not appear to rotate but moved off sideways with the 30 foot length to the front and rear. It is possible the short side given as 20 feet may in fact be longer as I was looking underneath the object and may have been deceived.

"About 500 yards away from where I was standing there is an electric railway line but the noise I heard was nothing to do with either electric or diesel trains. About 50 yards from where I was standing is a transformer belonging to the Electric Company. This is a sub-station and the noise I heard is of no comparison to the hum from this.

"There is no doubt that the object I saw was of a sharp, distinctive, definite shape and of a solid substance. However I did not notice any vents, portholes or other places of access. The glow was coming from the exterior of the object and this was the only light which was visible. I checked with Jodrell Bank and Manchester Airport shortly after the incident but they could not help or in any way account for what I had seen."

After having received Police Constable Colin Perks’ X-Files-like report, his Deputy Chief Constable moved to contact the Ministry of Aviation and from there the report was forwarded to the Ministry of Defense (MoD) at Whitehall, London.

Interestingly, from the publicly acknowledged ‘UFO Office’ at MoD Main Building, the report was sent to a covert division of the MoD’s Defence Intelligence Staff known as DI61.

Perhaps aware that this was no run-of-the-mill report, DI61 duly dispatched agents to Wilmslow to interview P.C. Perks and to investigate the area where the UFO was seen. "Constable Perks was interviewed by DI 61e(AIR) on 1st February 1966," reported Flight Lieutenant M.J.P.H. Mercer in a Restricted memorandum drawn up in response to the DI61 investigation. "He was questioned on a number of points arising from the statement he made on the 8th January."

"What sort of noise did the UFO make?" "What was its speed when it began to move?" "What was its altitude?" asked the DI61 agents. Impressed by Perks’ conviction, DI61 headed off for the site of the UFO encounter.

On arriving at the location where PC Perks had seen the UFO, the DI61 team noted that on the morning following the incident "some glass like substance" was found on the ground below where the UFO had been seen. Whilst DI61 felt that there was not enough firm evidence in hand to make a definite connection, it is worth noting that their investigation was extremely meticulous.

Having interviewed the P.C. at length, scrutinized his report and visited the area of the sighting, DI61 stated in their final analysis of the case that while "...it is not possible to arrive at any concrete conclusion, there is no reason to doubt the fact that this constable saw something completely foreign to his previous
experience."

With that surprisingly frank – albeit very carefully worded - statement, I wholeheartedly concur.

Two weeks after these remarkable events occurred, P.C. Perks was granted permission to relate the details of his encounter to the Media; however, until the official files were declassified, there was never any inkling that Perks had been visited by the authorities. Had he, perhaps, been advised by his superiors or the MoD to omit this part of the story when speaking with the Press?

It was largely thanks to the publicity afforded the Perks affair that a number of people contacted the MoD offering corroboration for the officer’s account. "I do not want any publicity at all!" wrote one such person to the MoD. It was twelve months prior to P.C. Perks’ encounter, she explained, when an unusual - looking object loomed into view at her hometown of St. Helens, Lancashire.

"It was towards the end of March 1965 [at] 4.00pm on a fine, windy day," she began. ‘I was in the garden when I heard a very high whining sound. Realizing it didn’t sound like an ordinary plane (which pass over very often) I looked up."

On doing so, she received the shock of her life. Moving across the sky at high speed was an object totally unlike anything that she had ever seen before. Egg-shaped and very much like the UFO seen by P.C. Perks, the craft traversed the Lancashire skies with ease.

"Then to my amazement," she continued, "and without slowing down, it stopped dead in its tracks and stayed completely still for about 3 minutes. Then instead of keeping its straight journey it moved up into the sky until it just disappeared. The object did not rotate in any way and it did not zig-zag up, but it was just as though it was being pulled up by a piece of string.

"I know this story sounds fantastic," conceded the witness to the Ministry of Defense, "but I am not given to seeing things that are not there, and I firmly believe this object to be from another world."

She closed her letter: "Please, please let me know if anybody else reported seeing anything like it, or if I was seeing things, because it just couldn’t have been mistaken for a plane, however 'supersonic.'"

Like P.C. Perks’ encounter, this particular one was filed ‘unexplained.'

And still further testimony in support of the constable’s report flooded into Whitehall. In a one-page report (forwarded to DI65, a Defense Intelligence Staff department associated with DI61), the witnesses – a Mr. D. Winstone and his girlfriend - reported that at 10.50 p.m. on the night of 4 February 1966, they viewed in the vicinity of London [Author’s Note: now Heathrow] Airport an "egg shaped" object that was "bright green in color". In this particular case, the couple’s account was reported to the MoD before aspects of P.C. Perks’ encounter were made public – effectively ruling out a hoax.

There was also the husband and wife who contacted the MoD to report that they, too, had an account to relate – this time involving a UFO that gave off a practically-identical "whine" to that described by P.C. Perks. In this case, however, the couple’s experience had occurred in Switzerland!

In other words, whatever the true nature of the UFO seen by Constable Perks, it seems it was most active in early 1966. But, precisely who, or indeed what, was flying the curious device is a matter that remains unfortunately unresolved more than forty years later...

References:

National Archive file: AIR 2/17983. Evening News, 2 March 1966.

Daily Sketch, March 1966. Sun, 3 March 1966.

Daily Mirror, 3 March 1966.

Daily Sketch, 17 May 1966.

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The Socorro Incident:
Did Zamora's Egg Shaped UFO Cause Burns On Young Witness?

Socorro Officer Saw Two Men Step Out of Big UFO

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Labels: Article, By Nick Redfern, Ministry of Defence, MoD, Socorro

     USAF Colonel Robert Friend was Project Blue Book’s director from 1958 to 1963. Originally known as Blue Book, the project was based at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio to investigate hundreds of UFO reports yearly through the 1950s and 1960s.

In a 2005 ABC News interview (The Secret of Project Blue Book), Friend said, “We wanted to explain as many (UFO) sightings as possible, but we recognized that the amount of resources that would have been necessary in order to do this would have been far beyond those that we were ready to commit at the time.” He said he also recognized the project’s real purpose. “What they wanted to try to do was, I think, to re-educate the public regarding UFOs, to take away the aura of mystery.”

Friend worked closely with one civilian scientist, Ohio State University astronomer J. Allen Hynek (d. 1986). Between 1948 and 1969, Dr. Hynek was the lead investigator on thousands of cases. Friend established monthly meetings with an unofficial scientific advisory group chaired by Dr. Hynek to discuss the unexplained cases and hopefully discern trends.

In February of 1958, the Air Force revised regulation 200-2 for the fifth time. It stated that, “Air Force activities must reduce the percentage of unidentified to the minimum.” In the wake of this change Blue Book started to look more and more like a mere repository of files with little investigative authority. The end result was to keep UFOs out of the newspapers and out of the public mind by repeatedly stating the sightings were nothing more than weather balloons or rare atmospheric conditions, like a star on the horizon. Lack of resources and continual budget cuts ultimately doomed the project.

In 1963, Friend retired as head of Blue Book—replaced by Major Hector Quintanilla who served merely as a caretaker of the project until it disbanded in 1969.

After retiring from the Air Force, Friend served over 17 years with Fairchild Controls, Fairchild Space and Defense, as Director of Human Resources, Director of Quality, Director of Performance Improvement and Planning, and Director of Engineering. He is currently on the Board of Directors and Executive Vice President for Stanford Mu Corporation. He is married to Anna Bernice Rice and has a family of eight children and many grand and great-grandchildren.

Expect an informative hour when The Joiner Report welcomes Robert Friend, Friday, Jan. 22, 9-10 p.m. CST, on the UFO Paranormal Radio Network.

Labels: Angelia Joiner, Blue Book, Colonel Robert Friend, Interview, Radio, Radio. Interview

     Using the vibration from a stereo speaker to levitate dust off surfaces may one day help keep colonies up and running on Mars and the Moon.

Blasting a high-pitched noise from a tweeter into a pipe that focuses the sound waves can create enough pressure to lift troublesome alien dust from equipment, suits or vehicles, according to a study published January in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

Dust is one of the biggest obstacles for long-term lunar and Martian space colonies. On the moon, there’s no atmosphere and no water, so the dust particles don’t get moved around, worn down and rounded like they do on Earth.

Consequently, dust kicked up by rovers and astronauts is “very abrasive and sharp, like freshly broken glass,” said University of Colorado Boulder physicist Zoltan Sternovsky, who was not involved in the study.

Electrostatic charging from solar winds and UV radiation on the moon makes this sharp dust cling to everything, including astronaut suits where it can work its way through the glove air locks. It also sticks to the solar panels that power rovers and other instruments.

Labels: Levitation, Mars, Video

Labels: Chupacabra, Texas, Video

     Using the Freedom of Information Act, I have obtained a copy of a document drawn up by the MoD in September 2007 when Defence Minister Des Browne approved the transfer of the UFO files to Britain’s National Archives.

In the 5-page document a senior MoD official says:

“Since the end of WW2, MoD have been tasked with recording and, from time to time, investigating UFO sightings. Contrary to what many members of the public believe, MoD has no interest in the subject of extraterrestrial life forms visiting the UK, only in ensuring the integrity and security of UK airspace."

The writer goes on to explain although the files contain nothing of relevance to the defence of the realm, the contents are of "keen interest to a large worldwide group of amateur and professional 'UFOlogists'" who had bombarded the Ministry with complex requests for information since the arrival of the Freedom of Information Act in 2005. The 'UFO desk' - closed in December 2009 - received 199 requests in 2005, 140 in 2006 and 120 in 2007.

Processing these requests had become “increasingly costly and time consuming” especially when MoD’s responses were challenged by UFO researchers. Furthermore, “the piecemeal release of information…fuels unhelpful speculation from those who believe there are issues that MoD are trying to hide.” Nevertheless, Des Browne was informed that:

“…MoD is aware of no clear evidence to prove or disprove the existence of aliens and consequently the files are considerably less exciting than the ‘industry’ surrounding the UFO phenomena would like to believe.”

Pressure was building during 2007 for full disclosure of the files. During this time myself and colleagues Joe McGonagle and Gary Anthony led a campaign to persuade the MoD the only sensible option was to commit to a public release of the entire remaining archive of files.

This document shows how successful our campaign actually was. The Secretary of State was told the Defence Intelligence Staff (DIS) had already made a written commitment to review its own UFO files for release “in response to an FOI request from an academic researcher” (me).

Early in the year the French National Centre for Space Studies decided to release its files on the internet, which “increased the already significant press and internet speculation that we [MoD] are about to release our own.”

By the end of 2007 it had become obvious that MoD would soon be obliged to release “virtually all its UFO files” and for copyright reasons it was decided the best conduit for disclosure was via The National Archives at Kew.

MoD impressed upon the Secretary of State for Defence there were “clear presentational benefits in meeting public demand and expectation” for the release which “would also smooth the workload” on the desk officers who were being distracted from more important priorities.

Although MoD did not expect the volume of requests about UFOs to reduce when the decision was announced (in May 2008), it planned to invoke exemption 22 under the FOIA that allows public authorities to turn down requests for information that had been earmarked for release in the next 12 months: "This would assist in managing the release of the files in a structured manner."

A total of 160 UFO files dating back to the 1970s were included in the three year project, 48 of which have been released via The National Archives UFO page to date. Most of these files were created by the Air Staff secretariat with a further 27 defence intelligence files whose contents were largely duplicate copies of those held by the 'UFO desk.' The disclosure would also include a considerable number of files covering FOI requests and responses since 2005. A further 20 or more files have been added to this total since this decision was made.The total costs of the project include £13,000 to scan the file and £3,000 to purchase specialised redaction software.

Referring to the contents of the files, the MoD noted that it was unusual for files to be transferred to TNA so far in advance of the usual 30 year rule. However, "it is assessed that the high level of public interest and lack of sensitive material in the files means that no precedent is set by their early release." He continues:

“The majority of the files are of low security classification but include references to air defence matters, defence technology, relations with foreign powers and occasional uncomplimentary comments by staff or police officers about members of the public, which will need to be withheld in accordance with FOI principles. In particular, the PQ [Parliamentary Questions] will require considerable work before they can be transferred as they contain background notes for Ministers, but there is no reason, in principle, why they cannot be released.”

The document ends by suggesting that MoD should continue their policy of playing down their interest in UFOs after the press announcement was made, in May 2008.

Anticipating a great deal of interest from the press and the general public, the Secretary of State for Defence was told “there is a risk that media will overplay the MoD’s involvement in these cases, therefore we will need to manage our message and be prepared to deal with a high level of media interest. There is also likely to be frustration that people who want to view files at the TNA will be charged.”

In the event, visitors to the TNA website have been able to download the files for free for the first month.

Des Browne gave his approval to the project on 25 September 2007 and the rest is history.

As these documents "are deemed to be of public interest" MoD plan to upload a full copy of the disclosure document onto their FOI publication scheme in the near future.

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UFO Files Make Headline News

Author of MoD UFO Study To Remain in the Shadows

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Labels: Article, By David Clarke, Disclosure, Ministry of Defence, MoD, UFO Files