Monday, January 25, 2016

They Tell Us This, But Not That

 We love the way news services went ga-ga last week over a report that in 2014 three Air Force airmen assigned to, and with special clearances for, nuclear missile maintenance damaged a nuke at a USA missile base.  Apparently -- goes the story -- the public was never in any danger, though we're told the trio of USAF personnel no longer have missile-related duties.  That's the good news,  The bad news is that Iran now has over 100 billion extra dollars to pursue their own nuke program, no matter how long it takes, because Obama, Kerry & Co. apparently feel we can somehow tame the best terrorism manufacturer on the planet and chase away all that annoying radicalism like fleas off a dog.  But I digress. . .

I only raise a question here, but why is it that we find this little tidbit in the mainstream media, yet years of documented reports by former officers and enlisted personnel of, primarily, the Air Force regarding eyewitness observations of UFOs visiting and, in some cases, interacting with nuclear missiles on various military bases fail to raise more than an eyebrow or two?

Despite extensive interviews with former (and current) military witnesses to UFO activity on U.S. nuke bases, researchers such as Robert Hastings and others seem to be routinely ignored or referenced mainly as human interest subjects for mainstream news sources, and their efforts certainly seem to have motivated no public pursuit of the truth in Congress.

In this era of drones and other spectacular air technology, we fear increasingly, as stated on previous occasions, that the main people remembered for their connection to the UFO subject far in the future will be the contactees, those intrepid and often delusional folks who spun wild tales of trips to other planets and meetings with glamorous extraterrestrials back in the 1950s.  Why?  Simply because they're the ones who spoke up and established a place, outrageous or not, for themselves early on, while scientists who should have tackled the serious side of the UFO phenomenon immediately chose instead to dismiss and ridicule what actually seemed curious and potentially rewarding UFO evidence at that time.  By their silence, by their derision, by their very response of hiding in fear from the scientific obligation to examine "flying saucer" evidence early on, scientists forfeited history's spotlight to the absurd, first and foremost, and nothing makes great newspaper headlines like contactee-generated taradiddle.

So, perfectly willing we are to speak of careless airmen damaging a missile (IF that's the real story), but to even whisper of nukes allegedly evaluated and even affected operationally by one or more strange somethings from the sky on far more than one occasion, well, how much truth can we stand?  Actually, the question is, how much truth can we get?  And who will give it?

Moments in time, like individual snowflakes observed under a microscope, appear unique.  My current moment expresses confidence in the belief that Ted Cruz should be President.  Sure, I could live with Donald Trump if necessary -- but even months after he first announced, and I questioned then whether he would be a legitimate candidate or class clown, I continue to have problems with his all too apparent blowhard & blather aspect.  One gets the impression he's a solitary act, not big on taking advice from others -- and don't we currently have somebody like that sitting in the White House?

Worse, a disturbing and growing congregation of "old boy" GOP establishment members suddenly cling to Donald Trump's pant leg as if he's the only candidate on the right who can save their cushy affiliation with the GOP:  Trent Lott (!), Bob Dole and O. Hatch, for example.

So Trump bad-mouths Cruz with more than a few verbal back-stabbings and becomes the very definition of "a nasty man" that he piles upon Cruz.  Claiming that Cruz is owned by banks (oh, please!), Trump fails to mention his own troubled relationship with casino-related bank loans which went south and cost him not a penny's worth of personal responsibility -- whereas Cruz's involvement with banks pretty much involves taking out personal loans against money he already invested and had available as collateral.  Who's the bad guy here, Donald?

Then there's everybody's darling, the only woman in history who ever deserved to be President, Hillary R. Clinton.  After all, Bill held Office, so it's her turn.  Can't wait until the Obama spouse plays that game.  The trouble with "Hill" is her ever-evolving problems with those troublesome e-mails -- and now we find her server may have shared documents classified way higher than "Top Secret," reportedly even allowing access by the questionable Clinton Foundation.  Oh oh.  Well, not to worry, that's just Hillary being Hillary.  Military people have gone to prison and received other punishments for far less, but, dang it all, she's Hillary, wife of Bill.  It'll be okay, won't it?  Besides, treating her server like a publicly accessible candy machine dispenser for the Chinese, the Russians and any other anybody who cared to grab a peek provided a real global, United Nations-style public service, did it not?

True enough, if she wastes away in a prison cell, a lot of The Faithful currently drooling in anticipation that she would find and release All The Government Files About UFOs if elected President will be profoundly disappointed.  Me?  I've hoped longer than 50 years that any such information would be released.  But the giant caveat is Hillary herself.  If you love what Obama & Co. have done to the country, Hillary's your (not to sound sexist) girl, ready and willing to take progressive standards to the nth degree. 

When it comes down to putting the nation back on a rational course vs. allowing Hillary Clinton and progressive Democrats to continue taking us over the cliff, even as she makes UFO-related promises  that will likely never see the light of day, I'll choose fixing the USA, thank you.  As things stand now, Hillary Clinton's talents might best be expressed by having her make license plates in some women's prison.  As if.

Of some curiosity is the revelation that the Clinton Library intends to release nearly 500 pages of something regarding Donald Trump's contacts with the Clinton White House -- yet, this mini-flood of documents won't be accomplished until April.  Perhaps just in time to attempt a Trump annihilation before the elections?  Hmm, what could possibly be in store?

Not to forget the other election "choice" -- confirmed socialist Bernie Sanders.  I love the smell of communism in the morning, doesn't everybody?  So what does the Democrat Party offer its misguided and delusional faithful this time around on the ol' election circuit?  A commie geriatric, a soon-to-be far leftist geriatric all dolled up for a possible (though unlikely, the Elite being whom they are) prison stint and that other candidate, old what's-'is-name, The Invisible Man. 

Everybody hates Ted?   Not unexpecTEDly, all the Washington elitists are coming out to take Cruz down.  Nobody likes Ted, says Donald Trump?  Good.  Good.  GOOD.   Cruz couldn't receive a higher compliment under any circumstances.  Some seem enraged because he called Sen. Mitch McConnell a liar -- though if the story Cruz tells about his encounter with McConnell is true, then the senator is a liar (Have we seen McConnell responding to the charge?  No.).

However, of more immediacy is Ted Cruz's comments about "New York values."  Well now, it so happens he's right, and nobody knows this to be true more than people who live anywhere in New York BUT the city and its boroughs.  Many problems arise from the NY State Assembly and Senate, examples of the most corrupt government institutions in the United States.  Recent indictments, trials and verdicts of guilty for members at the highest levels of state government tell the story in a state long drowning in elitist crime, absurdly high taxes and abandonment by businesses and entrepreneurs.  As non-NYC residents well realize, a vastly unfair amount of taxpayer money goes to support NY City, as Upstate areas are deprived, dismissed and considered by snotty, progressive elitists as "cow country" inhabited by bumpkins incapable of self-governance and whose opinions are irrelevant.

And then there's New York's megalomaniac Democrat governor Andrew Cuomo, who condemns Cruz for his reference to NY "values," but who himself said just months ago that there is "no place" for conservatives in New York.  A hypocrite in every sense is Cuomo, who claims a welcoming state and beams with pride as he proclaims his intention to make NY the most progressive state in the nation.  Cuomo originally campaigned for governor by promising to eliminate mandates which strangle NY growth and keep taxes through the roof, yet to date his assurances have failed.  In addition, Cuomo and NY City's communist mayor despise one another, each playing the "progressive" game to his own satisfaction. Recently, Cuomo has even played a sort of "Hunger Games" with the state, dangling taxpayer funds, which rightly belong to all taxpayers, over specific areas, daring them to come up with appropriate plans to "win" funding.  The elitist rulers pull the strings, every day, and Cruz had it right.

By excoriating Ted Cruz, Trump reveals himself as an elitist in his own right, and we should regard such meanness and smugness with some concern.   Yes, Trump is successful and gets things done. Cruz, to his own credit, promised Texans when he ran for the state senate that he would accomplish certain goals -- and reportedly did everything he promised.  How often does that happen in politics?

The country, at least for this fleeting moment, craves a Ted Cruz as President.  He's consistently soft-spoken, without all the blather, and maintains a cool head.  Nobody among the Washington royalty class likes brilliant constitutionalist and promise-keeper Ted Cruz?  No wonder!   That's a giant asset for the country, and at this very moment I'm thinking Cruz is the best choice of all to get America back on a rational track.  But yes, Trump could indeed surprise us all as president, in a good way.  We'll see.

Oscar Nominations:   Well, controversy rages over the absence of black actor nominations for an Academy Award.  Me?  This year, I think the whole project should go south except for maybe a half hour where actor Jamie Foxx receives the highest award for pulling that guy out of a burning vehicle -- and, for gosh sakes, give Sean Penn honorable mention for bravely interviewing "El Chapo" for  Rolling Stone  and arranging, albeit against his will or expectation, to probably add his own name to a hit list, courtesy of the brutal Mexican drug cartel.  No good deed goes unpunished.

DiCaprio warns the world:   Good grief, yet another speech by a "dedicated" Hollywood actor about climate change and what we need to do about it.  Meanwhile, Leonardo DiCaprio and his fellow actors and actresses jet around the world in their private, presumably environmentally destructive aircraft and foul the waters with fuel needed to propel huge watercraft whilst condemning the rest of us for not waking up to correct things which, frankly, science on the other side tells us do not exist.  Funny, oh how uproariously funny, how people who make their money by parroting words from a movie script, as they manipulate every practiced muscle and limb exactly as directors require, presume to portray themselves away from the movie cameras as experts who know what's best for us, the intellectually unwashed of the world.   Sorry, mere fame and fortune acquired during daily showers of  Let's Pretend  do not an authority make, silver screen kiddies.  I think I like self-righteous celebrities better when they're on drugs and speaking incoherently about subjects they can barely speak about when coherent.

Football, everywhere football,. . .and other "professional" sports dominate TV screens and daily lives.  What's it about, what's the attraction?  We suspect it all adds up to nothing more than bragging rights consistent with  mine is bigger than yours  boasts.  And this, mind you, goes on day after week after month after year.  If only the fans cared as much about a government and world affairs collapsing all around us, all prettied up with presidential speeches saturated in one man's personal national and global fantasies.

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Cryin' Frauds, Lyin' Frauds and it Ain't Over Until the Fat Lady's King?

 After a mirror obviously broke somewhere in the U.S. and brought us, to date, seven years of bad luck -- really, really bad luck -- in the indictable persona of President Barack Obama, we suddenly get tears.  Plenty of tears.  We didn't get presidential tears after the Fort Hood murders and we never get presidential tears when cops are shot down in cold blood by the best examples of ignorant human street trash.  Apparently, crying only occurs when Obama, perhaps having absorbed acting lessons effectively from his association with leftist actors and directors, attacks the Second Amendment.  We suggest those were tears of joy, not tears of sorrow, because he was all dolled up and ready to shoot yet another Executive Order into the heart of American rights.  This time, it's guns, and next time -- well, with another year to go. . . . . .

Conservative news sources are abuzz with a report that FBI investigators have discovered so much evidence against Hillary Clinton that Bureau and even DOJ personnel are ready to "revolt" if Loretta Lynch's Dept. of Justice doesn't take appropriate action.  The fear, of course, is whether she will adhere to political considerations (that is, keep the Democrats happy) or actually do her job.  So far, because we seem to have running the DOJ little more than Eric Holder as a woman, all suspicious eyes are watching Lynch closely.

Mexican drug king "El Chapo" may  be extradited to the United States, but we may ask, why bother with all the paperwork? Just drop him a few miles from our border, point him north and tell him to start walking.  He'll be here in no time at all, along with all the others just looking - for - a - better - life.  Like a magnet, our border will deliver "E.C." here in no time flat.  Sean Penn's role?  Um, I don't know -- but don't be surprised if Obama awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom to both the Chavez of Venezuela-lovin' Penn and  The Rolling Stone  for. . .because of their. . .due to. . .well, the White House  characteristically thinks of something to cover up questionable odors.

Is this what we've come down to?   You can't even challenge 'em with the brains needed to accomplish crossword puzzles anymore.  NOW, the ADULT weak of ability need only order coloring books with images of cats already printed on each page, and they can while away vacant time by coloring drawings of cats in seemingly endless patterns.  What used to be couched as paint-by-number activities for children has now taken so-called adults by storm, and we, frankly, fear, rather then embrace, this phenomenon.  Duh.  Then again, maybe coloring paper cats in his cell will give El Chapo something to keep him occupationally occupied until his next prison break.

The State of the Union speech   should be interesting this evening, but only because the prez says he's going to do something different.  Seems he plans to focus on the country's future, rather than spending incredibly boring minutes on all his failures -- which, to be honest, pretty much account for his whole term in office to date.  Oh, I know his fans would profess otherwise, but just look at his supporters. . .the ones who stubbornly remain at his side, that is.  No surprise there.

Thursday, January 7, 2016

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir and a Little Abduction on the Side

 1947 must have been an interesting year, though I hadn't yet arrived on the birth scene to know anything, but just imagine -- something (something, something, something. . .) landed, crashed or bounced on ranch land, causing a stir in Roswell, New Mexico.  In addition, reports of strange flying discs and other airborne objects were being reported through official government channels, often by pilots, thus racking up a wealth of documents, most of which wouldn't see public release until many years later, redactions included.

The same year, Twentieth Century Fox released an enchanting film entitled,  The Ghost and Mrs. Muir,  starring Rex Harrison, Gene Tierney, George Sanders and a very young Natalie Wood (forget the TV series of a later day, populated by different actors, remarkable only for being a TV series. . .).   TGAMM  has long been one of my favorite motion pictures of all time, enhanced by a  beautiful and haunting musical score by master composer Bernard Herrmann.

In basic terms, the story concerns the ghost of dead sea captain Daniel Gregg (Harrison) and a very much alive purchaser, widow Lucy Muir (Tierney) of his former seaside home, Gull Cottage.  After a few minor ghostly episodes in a house the captain has no intention of sacrificing to a new owner, Gregg and Muir develop a sometimes stormy but ultimately loving relationship, and of course the "happy ending" arrives when Mrs. Muir grows old, dies and walks off into an eternal mist with the captain.

Why do I bring this up?  Only because this early film, innocently appearing in 1947, the "year of the UFO,"  mirrored coincidentally a scripted relationship with alleged UFO/alien abductions which would become routinely reported later on in the sixties and seventies.


Okay, this is minor stuff, but if I don't plant myself on terra firma now and then, I'll have to write about Hillary Clinton's comments about aliens, and I really don't want to lower myself to  those  standards (and may I reiterate -- if you plan to vote a chronic liar and demon of Benghazi into the presidency simply because you "hope" or "expect" that she'll perform some nebulous disclosure about UFOs, totally ignoring her poised ability to build upon Obama's fetid legacy many times over as a presidential bonus for four or eight years -- you're fooling yourself and trading freedom for more tyranny).

This fictional movie about ghosts reflected a few similarities to the UFO abduction phenomenon during a time long before UFO abductions were even acknowledged.  For instance, in a scene where Mrs. Muir sleeps in her bed, having become infatuated by the attention of a man (George Sanders) whom she thinks will marry her, Capt. Gregg appears over her sleeping figure, commanding her subconscious mind to forget him, to forget that he ever existed except as merely a dream.  This somewhat Shakespearean approach would later be classic for alleged UFO abductees who, through hypnosis or the passage of time itself, would tell investigators that they were told by an entity in control to forget about their experiences.  And yes, though I cringe to insert this -- those who believe "sleep paralysis" has a role in the perceived UFO abduction experience would view both Lucy and abductees as nothing but victims of sleep paralysis.

Earlier, Lucy had written a best-selling book about the life of a sea captain, dictated to her by Capt. Gregg's ghost.  How many books have been written by contactees  and abductees who profess special knowledge gleaned from entities with whom they claim experiences?

Clocks and bells also play a role in the film, denoting time changes and perhaps "missing time" in "Lucia's" (Lucy's) relationship with Capt. Gregg.

However, of most interest to me in noting similarities to abductions and this ghostly tale is an encounter between Lucy and her daughter Anna, who has grown from a small child to a young adult woman preparing to marry.  Anna, having just arrived for a visit with her mother at Gull Cottage with boyfriend in tow, apparently reveals to her mother in the kitchen for the first time ever that she, too, had seen Capt. Gregg as a child.  Lucy, having by now (per Gregg's instructions) remembered Gregg as only a dream, is surprised by the revelation, and after the two disagree on actually witnessing the manifestations years ago, they seem to let the matter drop, though still uncomfortable about reality vs. a dream and childhood imaginations.

Fiction often gives us a view of the future, though I realize harping upon a ghostly dramatic love story and its parallels with some alleged UFO abductions may be tenuous at best.  But it's so true that we can usually find recurrent themes among a wealth of subjects throughout history. Whether involving one's alleged "interrupted journey" on a lonely road in the dark of night, or the sound of waves from a stormy sea, crashing against a rocky shore during a particular fictional midnight, primal emotions and fears arise to have their own say within the dense, blackened fog of it all.