Issue 03 - May 16, 2002

Editor: Jim Aho

In this issue:
1. US Marine Witnesses USO
2. President Carter On UFO Disclosure
3. Where are the Aliens
4. Beyond Pancake Day
5. An Honest Question
6. A PhD in UFOlogy?
7. An Odd Conspiracy
8. Update on Alien Autopsy

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US Marine Witnesses USO

Thanks To John Colaw

Editor's Note: This is a very interesting story not about a UFO, but a USO - Unidentified Submerged Object. Very intriguing.

I was among a dozen witnesses who observed a huge USO in 1977, in the Bermuda triangle in the Caribbean. We were part of a large invasion fleet traveling on a secret mission to invade Panama to take control of the canal for President Carter. The ship was the USS Ponce, an LPD. It cargoed tanks, Mike boats, helicopters and marine landing parties which included myself. We were running completely dark, with no lights on deck whatsoever. There was no moon, but it was clear and you could see a little bit by starlight once your eyes adjusted. We were watching the phosphorescent glow that trailed the edge of ship, caused by certain plankton that light up when disturbed. This effect flickered like low flame, and did not extend far behind the ship before the glow dimmed out. Like an underwater magnetic field, dancing here and there while we watched it.

Then we saw a large blue glow approaching our ship underwater from the stern. As it caught up to us, and began passing underneath, we sat on the fantail and looked right down at it. It was much wider than our ship, and it was pulsing almost like the way embers flicker. It was brighter and a deeper hue than the flickering plankton. My first thought was that maybe it was a submarine, disturbing plankton much like our ship did. Except the plankton effect seems to occur in the trailing edge and wake, not over such a large surface area.

Someone else suggested maybe it was a whale, or a gigantic glowing squid. But one thing for sure, we were all dumbfounded as it passed the ship and continued off to a tangent to our own direction until we lost in in the tossing and the waves. The seas were not very high, and the extreme darkness enhanced the experience. It was sort of oval in shape, but being underwater one could not see a definite shape, except that is was about as wide as it was long and that our ship's length was about the size of its diameter.

It then occurred to me that it very well be an underwater UFO. A submarine would leave a much more narrow profile, being longer than wide, as would a whale or squid. It did not emerge from the water, however.
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President Carter On UFO Disclosure

Thanks To Grant

Editor's Note: The following is a Wisconsin related tidbit from the Presidential UFO web site - a site about "Extraterrestrial Politics in the White House " - www.presidentialufo.com. A very interesting site that I'd definitely recommend checking out. The following is part of an article about President Jimmy Carter's comments about UFOs:

Carter, however, did say something very similar during a campaign stop in Appleton, Wisconsin on the morning of March 31, 1976. During a news conference at the airport, Thomas Heiman, Associate Director of the UFO Education Center in Appleton Wisconsin, asked Carter a question.

Heiman: As President, would you air what's "behind-closed-doors" today in regards to UFOs?

Carter: I don't know what to make of it. However, some of the sightings have been witnessed by 20 to 25 people, law enforcement officers, and everyone in the cockpit of a major airplane, and so forth. But I can't tell you what to make of it. If I knew, I'd be the only one in the world who does. But, yes, I would make these kinds of data available to the public, as President, to help resolve the mystery about it.

Heiman: On a public basis?

Carter: Yes, on a public basis.

Following the news conference, Jimmy Carter spoke with the questioner Thomas H. Heiman, Associate Director of the UFO Education Center in Appleton. Heiman told Carter of the extensive films and evidence held by the Center. In reply, Carter thanked Heiman for the offer to review the evidence. Further he told Heiman that "a meeting could be arranged sometime after the election" when he could meet with the group and review the material they had.

Following Carter's election, the White House staff moved to distance themselves from the UFO Education Center. One meeting, with the members of the UFO Education Center, was held in the Executive Office Building with Richard Reiman, from the Office of Public Liaison. Phone calls and letters were exchanged, but despite the fact that Carter had promised to meet with the group, in the end Fran Voorde, the Director of Scheduling for the President gave the group the kiss-off.

The President is indeed grateful for the willingness of Ms. Blob and her associates to come in and talk with him in an effort to be helpful and would like to see personally all who now are expressing this desire. If circumstances permitted, he would be glad to meet with them but, most unfortunately, the heavy demands on his time just will not allow him to do so.
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Where Are the Aliens?

Thanks To Patrick Redding

There is a longstanding controversy among the new era of scientists: if there is other intelligent life in the universe, where is it? If there are aliens, why have we not seen them? Does the lack of evidence prove that we are alone in the universe? I would like to address some of the assumptions - and what I believe to be misconceptions - regarding these questions. Hopefully this will shed light on some aspects of the search.

First of all, I would like to point out that, as researcher Clifford Stone has stated, “The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.” Just because we have not found it does not mean it is not there. Believing that something does not exist simply because you have not found evidence (based on your own particular definition of what constitutes evidence) is like refusing to believe that bears exist based solely on the fact that you have never seen a bear in your backyard. You’ve never even seen bear tracks; therefore, your neighbors must be making up those stories they tell about bears in the woods, and those blurry photos they showed you are obviously doctored pictures of some other animal - perhaps they’re images of a house cat which have been altered on someone’s computer. And the growling sounds on that home video sound kind of like a garbage disposal with a fork stuck in it. The mystery is solved. Bears are clearly a hoax drummed up by nervous neighbors who have been duped by a computer-savvy photographer.

Ludicrous as this scenario may sound, it is exactly this sort of of thinking that many people bring to the question of whether there is other intelligent life in the universe. It is, in fact, reasoning such as this which sometimes causes me to wonder whether there is intelligent life on earth. Not being Vulcan, I cannot simply note that it is illogical and move on to the next thing. It annoys me. But the lack of real logic doesn’t stop there.

As I’ve said before, I don’t firmly believe or disbelieve that there is other life “out there.” I have no personal proof either way. But I do find it ridiculous to discount even the possibility based on such faulty reasoning and uncreative thinking. I also find it equally silly to believe wholeheartedly in little green men - or gray ones - based on questionable evidence, but that’s another story. At the moment I’m more concerned with those whose minds seem a trifle too tightly closed than those who surely must feel a draft between their ears when the wind is right.

For instance, consider these assumptions that people make about the idea of alien life:

1. We assume that they would be humanoid when they may not be. “Life” encompasses a great deal more than those creatures who are able to walk upright. And as far as “intelligence” goes, we also define “intelligence” by human standards. (And again, walking upright on two legs is not necessarily evidence of “intelligence,” as anyone who’s ever ventured out to Wal-Mart on a Friday night can attest.)

2. Following the logic of assumption #1, we also assume that intelligent beings would choose to try to communicate with others, even if those others are not as “advanced.” This is like a schnauzer sitting smugly in its doghouse, certain that no one else in the house is as smart as he is because obviously, if they were intelligent, they would have tried to learn to bark by now.

3. We assume that if there were intelligent beings out there, they would need very technologically-advanced ships of some sort in which to travel the universe. This may not be the case at all. A more “advanced” civilization may not necessarily be more technologically advanced in the way that we think of it. They may be perfectly capable of traveling WITHOUT the use of ships of any kind (i.e., teleportation or some such concept). They may not even need to travel to us at all, in the way that we think; even some humans have demonstrated abilities for remote-viewing. Such abilities, if dependable, would eliminate the need for actually going to a planet for reconnaissance purposes at all.

4. We assume that any life form must have a physical body, even if it is a non-humanoid species. Again, this may not necessarily be the case at all.

5. We assume that all “alien” priorities are the same as ours. Are your hopes and dreams the same as that of your goldfish? No? Then why on earth (no pun intended) should we assume that the goals of other species would be the same as our own imperialistic ones? The universe could be teeming with life forms who have absolutely no interest in conquest, colonization, exchanging information, or saving the earth from catastrophe - and yet even those who are inclined to think that there might be alien life tend to lean toward one of these common viewpoints.

6. We assume that if there are multiple species of alien life, even if their motives are not the same as ours, they must be at least the same as each other (also known as the “alien agenda”). This is bound to be faulty logic. All HUMANS’ motives are not the same. Why would we assume that those of species we know nothing about would be? All too often, if the anecdotal evidence is not discounted outright, the relatively small sampling of stories are presumed to be indicative of the whole. If it is believed that aliens exist, chances are very good that they’re expected to have gray skin and big black eyes a la the cover of Communion, and they’re here to either perform medical procedures and/or save the earth (possibly in order to invade it later). While I have no doubt that many of the people who describe just such abduction scenarios are sincere, I find it hard to imagine why there is not more variety among the stories. (Especially given the idea that aliens are supposed by many to be able to shape-shift.)

These are just a few especially prevalent ideas that I’ve encountered in my own experience; I’m sure there are many more that deserve re-examination. Any assumption left unchallenged runs the risk of becoming dogma. In a field of inquiry as open as this is, if we really want to find truth, we need to start thinking more creatively.

(Copyright 2002 by Patrick Redding. Feel free to use the article in full or to quote from it; just drop me a line to let me know where it's going. You can reach me by e-mailing GatewoodJournal@aol.com and putting "Patrick" in the subject line. Thanks!
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Beyond pancake day…

Thanks to Steve Clementson

Website: www.geocities.com/heavenlykey2002/index.htm

Editor's Note: This is Steve's second contribution on the Joe Simonton encounter. His first article appeared in the last issue of Pancake Perspectives and these ideas are a continuation of that line of thought.

Beyond the Shrove Tuesday connection, cross-referenced with such things as the Last Supper, there was yet more symbolism to be found in the Joe Simonton case. Eagle River, Wisconsin, is close to Star Lake, and Joe was a master plumber. Beyond the security leak symbolism, I found no less than 22 references to Eagle, Eagles, Eagle’s, or Eagles’, in the Old Testament passages. Further to that, another five passages containing the word Eagle, or Eagles, appear in the New Testament. Revelation 8: ‘Seventh seal’ possesses references to a star, an eagle, rivers, and fountains.

But most importantly for a master plumber, it possesses references to waters. It also possesses references to the number three (the number of extraterrestrials aboard the craft), in the reciprocal form ‘third’, in the form of ‘the third angel’, and in the form of ‘three angels’. Joe also reported hearing the ship’s approach, as in “I heard an eagle flying in mid-heaven”.

Revelation 8: ‘Seventh seal’ (snippet)…

[8:8] And the second angel sounded [his] trumpet: and as a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea, and the third part of the sea became blood; [8:9] and the third part of the creatures which were in the sea which had life died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed. [8:10] And the third angel sounded [his] trumpet: and there fell out of the heaven a great star, burning as a torch, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters. [8:11] And the name of the star is called Wormwood; and the third part of the waters became wormwood, and many of the men died of the waters because they were made bitter.

[8:12] And the fourth angel sounded [his] trumpet: and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so that the third part of them should be darkened, and that the day should not appear [for] the third part of it, and the night the same. [8:13] And I saw, and I heard an eagle flying in mid-heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to them that dwell upon the earth, for the remaining voices of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound.


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An Honest Question

Thanks To Jordan S. Carroll

My biggest problem with UFOlogy (other than UFOlogists themselves) is the fact that it seems to cater almost entirely towards obviously human wants and needs. For example, Alien abductions address obvious sexual anxieties and take the place of fairy & succubi lore. Conspiracy theory works well with Millennial hysteria, Post Vietnam government distrust, persecution complexes, and a vague melange of xenophobia\fear of the unknown. New Age aliens (channeling, Raelians, Zeta Reticulans) fill the religious vacuum of a more or less post-Christian society by a spiritualism masquerading under allegedly scientific pretenses.

Never, when talking to UFOlogists, do we get the sense that humanity is ignored or overlooked by the extraterrestrials. Instead, humans seem to be a hub of galactic activity, peered at and pondered about by interstellar counsels and unholy alliances. We're either commodities for voracious lizard-kings or breeding stock for fetal homonculi. We're saved or plotted against by a hodge-podge of humanoids. Nearly always we're special to them, either as a convert or as dinner. This is always a "crucial time" for us. We're forever on some turning point. What we do now means something, to someone else, out there in the skies. Or underneath the ground. Or by a well-paid government agent, typing ad hominem attacks on a newsgroup or daring to debate UFOlogists.

It seems to me that what UFOlogists are striving for is a personal, responsive mythology that will not only live up to the standards of science but also fulfill ancient, deep-seated needs of man. They need something in the here-and-now: not a vague supreme deity, or an unseen diabolical power, but instead entire nations of airspace invaders who all are so incredibly rapt with humanity and humanity's fate. That's my view on the matter, but here's the question: Why should aliens be concerned with a tribal collection of evolved ape-like organisms who have yet to perfect even interplanetary flight, let alone interstellar flight? If they are cosmological anthropologists, why have they caused such a disturbance? If they are invaders, what prevents them from taking us over? If they are messiahs, why don't they save us now while saving's still possible? Why is there always a wall of secrecy, darkness, and covert operations between us and this ever-important, ever-special world beyond the stars?
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A Ph.D in UFOlogy?

Thanks To Bill Clark

Website: www.inviticus.com

Fifteen years ago I was stationed at the U.S. Army White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico - less than 100 miles from Roswell. I had the honor of presenting a technical paper to the Post Commander Major General Fulwyler and his senior scientific staff. The paper gave proof that every star had to have many small planets for dynamic stability. It was a radical idea at the time and I was ridiculed for it. Of course, the ridiculing might have been because of the elaborate poster I brought to the presentation showing the working parts of an advanced "Star Trek" type spacecraft, illustrating some concepts of earlier research of mine that had been favorably evaluated by NASA. This research must have upset SOMEBODY quite badly, because a little war started out there in New Mexico not long after my presentation - I had a car blown up, and a motorcycle totaled (with me on it) in a freak accident , etc...

Eventually I went on the offensive myself and turned in a half dozen senior enlisted personnel for drug use on the job . . . my Commanding Officer told them I was the informant; and it REALLY hit the fan. The accused threatened my life, etc... By law the Army should have transferred me to another post ASAP, but they did nothing; I had to appeal for assistance from my U.S. Congressman. Eventually the accused were all found guilty and given dishonorable discharges, or hard time in Leavenworth; I got the Army Commendation Medal, the highest peacetime award in the Army. But it was clear the scientists had the upper hand at White Sands, and I too was eventually railroaded out of the military with an absurd medical discharge having not an ounce of substantiation. I was recently told that only a formal Act of Congress would make the Army accept any written appeals to my wrongful discharge. So I wrote it all up in a book and published it, two years ago. Chapter Four has verbatim testimony from my formal medical discharge hearing. The novel is available in paperback or electronic version.

White Sands is only an hours drive from Roswell, the site of the infamous UFO event in 1947. Even back then White Sands was the highest security installation in the world - the atomic bomb had been tested there, and the German V2 rockets were brought there to be studied. What better place to bring remnants from the crash at Roswell, and anything else that you wanted to hide from the American people; and from the world?! Maybe the military's extreme reaction to my research was they thought I was a crusading Fox Mulder after the Truth, and not the sober scientist I really was . . .

This past summer I remembered a visit I made to the High Energy Laser facility there on post. It's where the "Star Wars" ballistic missile defense laser was being tested (we needed ultra top secret clearance to go there). It was in a huge auditorium sized building, with a large yard of chemical tanks outside like a small refinery, and a giant domed computer facility extending from the surface several stories deep into the ground. Yet, with all that horsepower, the best they could do was toast a cow in a nearby field! Fifteen years of solid engineering experience later (and I still vividly recall the entire facility), I'd swear on the Bible that place wasn't a laser facility at all; a large microwave could do more damage than it could . . .

Actually, it wasn't until I finished my Ph.D research here at the University of Texas at Austin that I really started to believe in the possibility - not in UFO's and extraterrestrials, but in a very secret government program to build advanced aircraft. What convinced me was some research I was doing in my field, Celestial Mechanics, showing that a significant shift in perspective happened in the field in the early 1900's. They stopped using Fourier Series methods; methods which I found were extremely effective, and which I show in the technical reports here on the web site could possibly have lead to the design of a device capable of masking gravity by a method similar to that done by our own Solar System naturally.

Even then I was extremely skeptical - although by this time the UFO community had become quite fascinated in my work. It wasn't until I went public with my findings last summer, and immediately started getting severely harassed by the authorities here at the University of Texas at Austin, that my skepticism started to fade. Eventually I was dismissed from graduate school for non-academic reasons (I have a 3.8 GPA and just passed all my written Ph.D qualifying exams). The Graduate College and the Aerospace Engineering Department have between them rejected over twenty letters of reference and other documents I have submitted in my own support, violating their own rules - and making the chances of my appeal succeeding next to nil. They are very serious about getting rid of me, and it is clear they will stop at nothing.

As of May 12th, the Aerospace Engineering Department committee has rejected the first stage of my appeal. They compared my research to an extremely simplistic case, it came up short; so they rejected everything outright. They are implicitly requiring I complete my dissertation before even being admitted to candidacy. I have appealed to the Dean of the Graduate College, but so far I have no indication Dean Sullivan will be any more receptive to my technical research. So, I submitted the entire "Project Orange Book" as my dissertation - I have nothing to lose; and, besides, it'll be worth it to see their reaction!

Please visit my web site at www.inviticus.com to view the entire dissertation. This column is in the "read this first" link, if you wish to see all the supporting references - letters from NASA, UT, and the Army; plus a guestbook you can sign to support my appeal.
Bill Clark

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An Odd Conspiracy

Submitted Anonymously

Editor's Note: Certainly an interesting although brief theory on UFO involvement. What more can I say about this one?

Little UFOs are actually terrestrial, all the earlier projects are frauds like the mediums saying "they're receiving alien messages to build a spaceship." The U.S. government is holding aliens hostage for alien technology and will until they die or demands are met.
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Update on Alien Autopsy

In last weeks issue, Ray inquired about footage or photos of the Alien Autopsy video. We received a photo from Anthony James of UFO News UK E-newsletter (for FREE UFO News UK subscription details, send.  As for the photo, we weren't able to determine if the hands had suction cups or not, but are posting it below for your reference.



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DISCLAIMER: Pancake Perspectives is an open forum filled with stories, experiences, beliefs, and theories from many people. The views within the newsletter are the opinion of the individual writer(s), and do not reflect the opinions, views, or beliefs of UFOWisconsin.