Friday, September 30, 2005

The Poetry Of Secretary Donald Rumsfeld No. XIV:::::::The Unknown

I saved the best for last. Unless I come up with some juicy press briefings, this is the last Rumsfeld poem. This poem is so relevant to what I do for a living (one part of which involves investigating the unknown) that it is the first page in my manual. If you work for me, it's required reading.




The Unknown

As we know,
There are known knowns.
There are things we know we know.

We also know
There are known unknowns.

That is to say
We know there are some things
We do not know.

But there are also unknown unknowns,
The ones we don't know
We don't know.
---o0o---

Department of Defense news briefing Feb. 12, 2002

The Poetry Of Secretary Donald Rumsfeld XIII:::::::::It Hasn't Happened



It Hasn't Happened

You're going to be told lots of things
You get told things every day that don't happen
It doesn't seem to bother people, they don't—
It's printed in the press

The world thinks all these things happen
They never happened
Everyone's so eager to get the story
Before in fact the story's there

That the world is constantly being fed
Things that haven't happened.
All I can tell you is
It hasn't happened

It's going to happen
---o0o---

Department of Defense briefing Feb. 28, 2003

Google Blog Search Is In Beta

As Google continues to roll out more services, they have now unleased a Blog Search tool.

As Google says
"Blog Search is Google search technology focused on blogs. Google is a strong believer in the self-publishing phenomenon represented by blogging, and we hope Blog Search will help our users to explore the blogging universe more effectively, and perhaps inspire many to join the revolution themselves. Whether you're looking for Harry Potter reviews, political commentary, summer salad recipes or anything else, Blog Search enables you to find out what people are saying on any subject of your choice."

They seem to do a good job of crawling the blog world. Typing in my name (of course the most important test!) brought up 350 references to this blog. I checked on the blogs of some people I know-- and found lots of results--Newsquirt, El Snoozo, Zen Lawncare, Aunty Sassie's Nothing Witty Left blog. A longer established blog like Dr. Clarke-Willson's Random Blts brought up several hundred hits. My son Del's blog had fifty or so hits. A search for Hira Bluestone's blog (Better Red Than Dead) told me there are at least four other blogs with the same name! Typing in Sarvananda Bluestone's first name led me to his hundreds of haiku, his blogspot blog, and a blogger that referenced his (wonderful) book on How To Read Signs And Omens.

There are several ways to get there: blogsearch.google.com brings up a standard Google interface; search.blogger.com brings up a blogger stype interface. Click on the title of this post for the Google style version.
---o0o---

The Poetry Of Secretary Donald Rumsfeld XII:::::::::The Pause



The Pause

Things will not be
Necessarily continuous

The fact that they are
Something other than

Perfectly continuous
Ought not to be characterized

As a pause
There will be some things

That people will see
There will be some things

That people won't see
And life goes on
---o0o---

Department of Defense news briefing Oct. 12, 2001

Thursday, September 29, 2005

Lajas, Puerto Rico To Build UFO Landing Strip


UFO landing strip gets mayor's support

September 28, 2005. LAJAS, Puerto Rico (AP) - People in this sleepy hamlet are so sure they have been receiving other-worldly visitors, they want to build a UFO landing strip to welcome them. Click here to read the full story on CNN.
---o0o---

The Poetry Of Secretary Donald Rumsfeld XI:::::::::Existence, Evidence, Absence



Existence, Evidence, Absence

There's another way to phrase that
And that is that the absence of evidence
Is not the evidence of absence.

It is basically saying the same thing
In a different way
Simply because you do not have evidence

That something does exist
Does not mean that you have evidence
That it doesn't exist
---o0o---

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Ex-Majority Leader Tom Delay Caught With His Pants Down Around His Ankles

A Texas grand jury charged Rep. Tom DeLay and two political associates today with conspiracy in a campaign finance scheme. DeLay, 58, is accused of a criminal conspiracy along with his henchmen for cooking up an elaborate but twisted scheme to hide corporate contributions.

The House of Representative rules states that indicted members of the house leadership must resign from their office (but not Congress itself). DeLay resigned this morning. I suspect further wrongdoing will emerge as people are given subpoenas and immunity. The full story is all over the usual news sources and blogs...

All This Is That Editorial Opinion:

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
---o0o---

School Of Rock - Geezer Edition (Four Days: $8,500)

click image to enlarge

This article is from today's Fox 411 column by By Roger Friedman. I didn't know this camp was real; I always thought it was just a funny episode of The Simpsons.

Daltrey Joins Rock Fantasy Camp

"David Fishof's annual Rock Fantasy Camp has just snared its most famous counselor yet: The Who's Roger Daltrey.

Daltrey will join Dickey Betts, Mickey Thomas, Neil Schuon, the entirety of Cheap Trick and Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead next February as they instruct high-paying campers in becoming rock and roll stars.

The price for the four-day weekend, scheduled Feb. 16-20, 2006, is $8,499.

I don't know if that includes bug juice or panty raids, but it does have its own version of a color war: a battle of the bands at the House of Blues in Los Angeles at the end of the weekend.

Personally, I'm going to audit the class where Daltrey shows you to how lasso a microphone. "

---o0o---

Painting: The Balance Of Power Tilts


<---Click painting to enlarge--->

The Poetry Of Secretary Donald Rumsfeld X:::::::::Where Is Osama bin Laden?

The great part of Rummy's circumlocution here is that he could be referring to anyone, dead or living, who has ever lived on earth. /jb



Where is Osama bin Laden?

We do know of certain knowledge
That he
Is either in Afghanistan
Or in some other country
Or dead.
---o0o---

The Poetry Of Secretary Donald Rumsfeld IX::::::Accuracy


Accuracy

If I said yes
That would then suggest
That that might be the only place
Where it might be done
Which would not be accurate--
Necessarily accurate.

It might also not be inaccurate
but I'm disinclined to mislead anyone
---o0o---

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

The Poetry Of Secretary Donald Rumsfeld VIII::::::Litany: What I Don't Do


Litany: What I Don't Do

I don't do quagmires.
I don't do diplomacy.
I don't do foreign policy.
I don't do predictions.
I don't do numbers.
I don't do book reviews.
---o0o---

[each line is from a different press briefing)

The Poetry Of Secretary Donald Rumsfeld VII::::::What I Think












What I think

I believe
What I said yesterday

I don't know
What I said,

But I know
What I think and--

Well, I assume
It's what I said.
---o0o---

[A new one, from an undated quote from a briefing]

The Poetry of Secretary Donald Rumsfeld VI:::::Predicting The Future












Predicting The Future

I would not say that the future
Is necessarily less predictable
Than the past.

I think the past
Was not predictable
When it started.
---o0o---

The Poetry Of Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Part V:::::A Confession

It's become a mania, and I am starting to make my own Rummy poems from briefings and press conferences..which I am now mixing in with the already known Rummy poems.


A Confession

Once in a while,
I'm standing here
Doing something

And I think

What in the world
Am I doing here?

It's a big surprise.
---o0o---

(Interview with the New York Times May 16, 2001)

Monday, September 26, 2005

The Poetry Of Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Part IV::::::The Digital Revolution



The Digital Revolution

Oh my goodness gracious,
What you can buy off the Internet
In terms of overhead photography!

A trained ape
Can know an awful lot
Of what is going on in this world,
Just by punching on his mouse
For a relatively modest cost!
---o0o---
(press briefing following his European trip June 9, 2001)

Matt "Sleazeball" Drudge Strikes Again



Click image to enlarge.

This morning on the Drudge Report, the headline was "Cindy Sheehan arrested at White House in cunning stunt." The headline is a play on the joke that goes something like "A cunning stunt, or a stunning c***." As he almost always does when he crosses the line, he changed the headline shortly after to "FUN: CINDY ARRESTED AT WHITE HOUSE.
---o0o---

Poem: Dogpaddling



Dogpaddling

Caught in the riptide
She went down
Like an anchor

But sweet life pulled her
Wobbling to the surface
Like an air bubble

Her fear sprouted fins
And she dogpaddled
Like she was going home
---o0o---

Sunday, September 25, 2005

The Poetry Of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Part 3::::::That's Life


On NATO

You may think it's something
I ought to know,
But I happen not to.
That's life.
---o0o---
(July 9, 2003)



On Reporters

If you do something,
Somebody's not going
To agree with it.
That's life.
---o0o---
(Feb. 19, 2003)



On The Budget [1]

If you do anything,
Someone's not going
To like it and
That's life.
---o0o---
[1] May 7, 2002. Yes, he did say nearly the identical
thing a year later, about reporters.



On Leaks

Look bumpy? Sure.
But you pick up
And go on.
That's life.
---o0o---
(May 17, 2002)



On Democracy

People elected
Those people to office.
That's what they think, and
That's life.
---o0o---
(Feb. 20, 2003)



On People

They're going to have
Some impact on
What happens in that country
And that's not wrong.
That's life.
---o0o---
(Nov. 16, 2001)



On Criticism

It makes it complicated.
Sometimes, it makes
It difficult.
That's life.
---o0o---
(Sept. 11, 2003)
---o0o---

Saturday, September 24, 2005

Speculations On Blogging

Two bloggers wrote me this week, asking permission to reprint my story "Fishing With The Old Man" in an anthology of "the blogosphere." I dislike that word almost as much as "cyberspace."

Interestingly, they didn't find the story on All This Is That[tm], but on three other blogs that mine blogs for articles they like. . .these blogs all gave credit and even reproduced the All This Is That[tm] copyright notice. This has also happened with some of my jobs stories, the one about egging cars, a political rant, and some of the poems and art as well. That's fine. It's not like they're cutting into my profits (the income from this blog totals between twenty cents and a dollar a month from ad clickthroughs).

Blogging, at times, becomes a world of funhouse mirrors, reflecting off each other; an incestuous, inwardly referential blog to blog world. Blogs anthologizing blogs. Blogs writing for, to, and about other blogs. Blogs mining other blogs (as I sometimes do...including yesterday, when I referred to another blog that published an article about Al Gore's presidential prospects).

It's a little like poets--if you buy a small press poetry magazine, there's a strong chance that most of the other purchasers or subscribers are all poets too. It is fascinating how many people utilize the NEXT BLOG button, and just surf through whatever random blog pops up next. I can tell about those in my traffic reports because those people all come from other blogspot blogs. Because the story appears without the usual formatting, they probably took it from the newsreader site feed for this blog (jackbrummet.blogspot.com/atom.xml). Click here to read the fishing story.
---o0o---

Poem: Clarity By Donald Rumsfeld

I like these poems so much that I have no problem resurrecting them two years later. I wasn't blogging when they originally appeared. I will be posting at least two more of my favorites.

Reprinting these poems also gives me the chance to put up pictures of Rummy, who is always good for some wacky photos.

As much as I disagree with his policies, I have a soft spot for Rummy. He was a real hard-ass in his early years, but on his second trip through the White House--and please don't rip into me, liberals--I find him an avuncular presence, at least when you compare him to the likes of Condi Rice, Tom Ridge, Luis Gonzales, John Ashcroft, et al.





Clarity [1]

I think what you'll find--
I think what you'll find is,
Whatever it is we do substantively,

There will be near-perfect clarity
As to what it is.

And it will be known--
And it will be known to the Congress,
And it will be known to you,

Probably before we decide it--
But it will be known.
---o0o---

[1] Feb. 28, 2003 briefing

Friday, September 23, 2005

Poem: Those Glass Boxes By Secretary Donald Rumsfeld

You may have heard about the poetry of our Secretary of Defense. A while back, someone published these versified excerpts of Rumsfeld's speech. Someone set them to music and is selling CDs of the resulting songs. Some of these are true classics. I present here, Those Glass Boxes.


Those Glass Boxes

You know, it's the old glass box at the—
At the gas station,
Where you're using those little things
Trying to pick up the prize,

And you can't find it.
It's—
And it's all these arms are going down in there,
And so you keep dropping it

And picking it up again and moving it,
But—
Some of you are probably too young to remember those—
Those glass boxes,

But—
But they used to have them
At all the gas stations
When I was a kid.
---o0o---


poem verbatim from a Department of Defense news briefing, 12-6-2001

Al Gore In 2008?


The Ostroy Report--another blogspot blog--has a thoughtful article today about Al Gore's potential run for the White House in 2008. In fact, the Vice-President has done the big turnabout. I have heard a couple of his speeches on cable over the last year, and they were fantastic. He has shed the policy-geek aura in favor of high impassioned oratory. Click on the title of this post to link to this blog posting.

A lot of us feel like we owe one to Al after the 2000 travesty. He has long been opposed to the war in Iraq (unlike the other potential demo candidates like Hillary, who voted to go to war). Al Gore has recently helped airlift hospitalized patients from New Orleans (including paying for the charters). . .he did so very quietly, and refused to be interviewed. He probably has more curb appeal right now to the American public than the competition.

A glance at the list of potential candidates, and you realize he starts to look very good indeed.


Senator Evan Bayh
Ex-Gen. Wesley Clark
Senator Hillary Clinton
Ex-Senator Tom Daschle
Senator John Edwards
Senator Russ Feingold
Governor Bill Richardson
Governor Mark Warner
Senator John Kerry
Senator Joseph Biden


As for the G.O.P., there is a long list of potential candidates, including

Senator Dr. Bill Frist
Ex-Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich
Ex-Mayor Rudy Giuliani
Senator John McCain
Governor George Pataki
Governor Tim Pawlenty
Governor Mike Huckabee
Governor Jeb Bush (like we're going to be fooled a third time)
Ex-Governor Mark Racicot
Governor Mitt Romney


The spookiest one is Senator McCain. If he can keep himself under control, he will have a lot of cross-party appeal, despite the fact that he is essentially a hard-core conservative. In these increasingly tight Presidential races, cross-party appeal could well be the overwhelming deciding factor. McCain's maverick/renegade reputation can only help. It's tough to tell with Republicans, 'though. I thought Bob Dole was a shoe-in, and I was sure that George W. Bush was a joke.

Between the President's plummeting ratings, runaway federal spending and debt, the war in Iraq, the Hurricane Katrina fiasco, and whatever comes up next, this could be a pretty crazy election. It just may be Al Gore's time.
---o0o---

Thursday, September 22, 2005

Alien Lore No. 25::::::The Physiology Of The Greys

According to the Wikipedia (the internet's free and sometimes reliable encyclopedia), "the Greys (also known as Zetas or Reticulians after the ζ Reticuli star system) are the type of intelligent extraterrestrial life that appears most commonly in modern conspiracy theories, particularly UFO conspiracy theories and other UFO-related paranormal phenomena, especially the Abduction Phenomenon."

Greys also appear in science fiction, television shows like The X Files, and Dark Skies, and in the completely bizarre (even in this admittedly strange realm of lore) documents of the Raelian movement."

Greys have replaced "little green men from Mars" as the stereotypical extraterrestrial of popular culture. You wouldn't believe the body of literature that has sprung up around grey lore.



Some of what we think we know about grey physiology comes from Colonel Phillip Corso. His accounts sound verimilitudinous.

The "body of the Roswell alien"


Colonel Corso allegedly had access to the Roswell grey autopsies and discusses ways in which the makeup of the greys makes them suitable for space (and "time") travel. He even concluded that Greys in flight become an integral part of the ufo. Seated in their craft, (and isn't it funny that alien entities need seats, and have keisters not unlike ours?)! In their seats, Corso said, the grey becomes one with the circuitry of the UFO, which uses the alien brain to pilot the ship telepathically...which goes a long way toward explaining why (as always, allegedly), there are no control mechanisms in crashed UFOs, which has been said to have baffled scientists. Right. It all happens in the hive mind baby!



The skin is. . . grey! Some claim it is beige, tan or pinkish-grey. Greys have no blood as we know it, but there is a fluid which is greyish in color.

As far as distinguishing characteristics go, the greys appear to be extruded from a mold; they share identical racial and biological characteristics.

The grey head is large by human standards, and appears even larger due to the brain swell and the utter dearth of any peachfuzz or hair.

The nose is quite indistinct...a couple of small nostrils and little else.

The grey's mouth is a small slit without lips; it appears to be almost vestigial.

Greys have no teeth (in the mouth anyhow!). Lord knows about the uncharted nether regions...

The body and head are completely hairless.

The grey's torso is small, short, and thin. There are no pudgy greys. They are reported to wear clothing similar to what you see on Star Trek, shiny, almost metallic, and close fitting.

The greys arms are long and thin, and reach to the knees. For all their advanced features, they are knuckledraggers!

The hands of the greys contain 3 to 4 fingers, long webbed, and with either a sort of fingernail or claw.

Most reports say their legs are short and thin. Greys usually seem to wear a close fitting boot or shoe.

Ears do not appear to exist on greys. Nor are there any apertures for hearing. It's quite possible there is no need for hearing because their ability to telepath is so advanced.

The grey brain is larger than ours and may well have three lobes, instead of two. Many folks seem to believe the third lobe is dedicated to telepathic communication. Greys can not only read minds, but can also communicate with all greys in the area in via the "hive pulse," or, group telepathic communication.



The eyes are the most striking (and appalling) feature of the grey's makeup. Many different descriptions of the eyes have been reported. The black look of the eye may be a possible lens covering. . .kind of like built-in goggles and sunglasses. The eyes are generally slanted, large and black. I have heard them described as unfeeling insect eyes.


The innards. The grey digestive systems are reported to be failing, or atrophied. Nutrition is absorbed through the skin, or, maybe injected. It is often said the greys soak various chemical solutions, which may cause the reported strange checmical smell of greys.


Now, we come to the naughty bits as they might say in England. The male and female genitalia are the hardest to describe because the greys appear to never expose these parts to abductees and others. This is a little strange, isn't it? Since so many people report being probed and molested by the greys that one might think that is a primary focus of the greys.


For purposes of crossbreeding however--just as we have found out with "assisted pregnancies" and artificial insemination--genital contact is probably not necessary to create life. All you need is a way to get the pollinating materials from one place to another. And that can even include a test tube! We humans have in general found that our genitalia work pretty well for reproduction (and for fun). However, we only need to look at bees and pollen to know there are other efficacious methods. Fish eggs are fertilized externally. For all we know, alien genitalia could well be on their foreheads, tucked away in their armpits, or behind their knees.

The author of The Krill Papers states "There are over 1,000 humans in the United States alone who are the offspring of intergalactic or extragalactic beings and terrestrial humans. (The son of an acquaintance of [deleted in original] is one.)" Other documents, naturally, place the numbers in the millions.
---o0o---

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Vicar Rolls Out A Bible You Can Read Cover To Cover In 100 Minutes


This is just depressing. The 100 minute Bible? Whatever your stand on religion, and specifically Christianity, The Bible does not deserve to be read in 100 minutes. I re-read the first four books of the old testament last month, and it took several nights.

Yeah, you can probably present the ideas in The Bible in that time -- but what will you miss in this "executive summary" of The Bible? In the book of Genesis alone, will you get to read about David and Goliath, Bathsheba, the Garden of Eden, Sodom and Gomorrah, The Burning Bush, The Tower of Babel, Noah's Ark, Jacob wrestling God, the story of Jacob's cousins, Jacob's Ladder, the call of Abraham, The Covenant, Pharoah's Dream, and the move to Egypt? And that's just in the very first book! What becomes of The Psalms? Can this new book render the subtle nuances that exist between the four gospels? 100 minutes will cut literally hundreds of stories, and reduce the rhythm and sweep and majesty of a great book to that of an instructional manual.

This Reader's Digestification of The Bible is a travesty from a purely literary standpoint, and surely from a religious standpoint as well. I realize the Vicar had noble motives to spread The Word. But a lot of really bad ideas begin with great intentions.

What is the rush in reading The Bible? Has it come to this? Click on the title of this post to read the article about this "invention" by a Vicar of the Church of England.
---o0o---

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Alien Mythology No. 24::::::Phantoms In The Skies

---click image to enlarge---

This brief excerpt is from a longer article by Scott Corrales in FATE magazine, 2005.

"Although most accounts found in published works on the UFO phenomenon concentrate on classic encounters between commercial and military airliners and unidentified flying objects, these encounters are by no means a thing of the past. The 1990s were particularly rich with such encounters, many of which border on the incredible. Perhaps it is only fitting to begin our story with one of the most startling (and credibility-straining) of them.

"According to the March 13, 1992, issue of Mexico’s reputable El Universal newspaper, a sudden encounter with a UFO on March 6 of that year caused an airliner to become invisible.

"The staff-written article provides no flight number, but the Aeromexico airliner allegedly departed from Mexico City at 11:30 p.m. en route to Monterrey. The pilot dimmed the cabin lights and passengers began falling asleep for the short flight, until they suddenly found themselves staring into the night sky and the bright stars in the heavens above, as if the entire fuselage had been lifted away. “We were flying in space, seeing the skies and stars without the barrier of cabin walls, which were still there and detectable to the touch, but completely invisible,” said a witness to this sudden phenomenon. “We could even see the pilots in the cabin, at the controls of an aircraft that none of us could see, only touch.”

"More surprising is that panic did not spread throughout the aircraft. The startled passengers tried to make sense of the phenomenon until they suddenly became aware of a glowing object shaped like two inverted bowls stuck together flying alongside the aircraft.

"The newspaper account states that the broadcast media reported the disappearance of the Aeromexico airliner from radar screens in both Monterrey and Mexico City for ten minutes, along with the corresponding gap in communications. "


---o0o---

President Clinton Takes The Gloves Off

Even as he is closely involved with Ex-President Bush, raising money for Hurricane Katrina relief, the former president took off the gloves this weekend, ripping into The President for financing our war(s) with loans from China /deficit financing; for reacting slowly to Hurricane Katrina, and helping the wrong people; for ridiculous tax cuts "for people like me."

I don't think a former President has ever come out like this against a sitting President. It's prety interesting. . .it has to make things a little frosty when the Ex-Presidents club gets together for fund-raisers!

Ex-President Truman did rip into JFK during the 1960 election, but never criticized him after he assumed office (not publicly anyway).

I think we're starting to see some previews of Bill on the campaign trail for Senator Clinton in 2008.
---o0o---

Monday, September 19, 2005

Poem: The Prosthetic Head & The Absence Of Blood


The Prosthetic Head
& The Absence Of Blood

Everyone was out for blood
And there was none.

When Toto pulled back the curtain,
Every mother's son and daughter saw

The bolt-on head. The wax face
Slid off in my hands.
---o0o---

Alien Mythology No. 23::::::::Gravity Chained?:::::::::Control Gravity And Control The Universe

click image to enlarge



". . . It can't be stopped now. But it can be speeded up. Harnessing gravity could put us years ahead and save us enormous sums of money. With control of the universe at stake, a crash program is imperative. We produced the A-bomb, under the huge Manhattan Project, in an amazingly short time. The needs, the urgency today are even greater. The Air Force should end UFO secrecy, give the facts to scientists, the public, to Congress. Once the people realize the truth, they would back - even demand - a crash program. For this is one race we dare not lose. "
from a long article "I know the Secret of the Flying Saucers"
by Maj. Donald E. Keyhoe, TRUE Magazine, January 1966

Sunday, September 18, 2005

Frank Rich Hits A Home Run, Using POTUS'S Head As The Baseball

Frank Rich's editorial in this morning's NY Times was a winner. I am not always a fan of his because he can go so far over the top. But when he is on, he is on. Make sure to go read the entire editorial. The first couple of paragraphs follow:



I Care About the Black Folks
By FRANK RICH September 18, 2005

ONCE Toto parts the curtain, the Wizard of Oz can never be the wizard again. He is forever Professor Marvel, blowhard and snake-oil salesman. Hurricane Katrina, which is likely to endure in the American psyche as long as L. Frank Baum's mythic tornado, has similarly unmasked George W. Bush.

The worst storm in our history proved perfect for exposing this president because in one big blast it illuminated all his failings: the rampant cronyism, the empty sloganeering of "compassionate conservatism," the lack of concern for the "underprivileged" his mother condescended to at the Astrodome, the reckless lack of planning for all government operations except tax cuts, the use of spin and photo-ops to camouflage failure and to substitute for action.

---o0o---

Get Your War On's Take On The Hurricane Katrina Disaster

Get Your War On's take on the Hurricane Katrina aftermath:


Click image to actually be able to read it...
---o0o---

Alien Lore No. 22::::::::The Run-up To Roswell And Area 51


--click image to enlarge--

On June 24, 1947, the first American UFO sighting occurred. And it occurred right here, in the northwest, not far from Seattle.

Kenneth Arnold was flying a search route in his single-engine plane on the way to Yakima, Washington. Since it as such a clear sky, Arnold put his plane in cruise control. He sat back and watched the beautiful scenery around him.

Suddenly--out of the corner of his eye--Arnold saw some bright flashes of light. He looked over and saw nine bright objects hovering about 9,500 feet above the ground. The objects were heading north to south at about 1,700 miles an hour.

The saucers were heading toward Mount Rainier, so at first Arnold thought they were search planes. As he kept watching, the objects starting going in between Mount Rainier and Mount Adams. This was a distance of 47 miles. Every few seconds the objects would change course, and as they turned, Arnold tried to see tails or wings; there were none. When he drew the objects later on, they looked sort of like boomerangs.

Kenneth Arnold landed and told some of his friends what had happened. Later he found himself surrounded by reporters. He told them that the motion of the strange objects was like that of skimming saucers. A reporter, named Bill Bequette, heard this and put the words "flying saucer" in his article about Arnold.

The next day there were headlines in papers all over the country about what Kenneth Arnold had seen. No one knew what the objects were, not even the United States government. The War Department was looking into what they were because they wanted ships that could travel as fast as these.

After Arnold's sighting, there were hundreds of reports of the strange flying disks every day. There was even one the same day. At the Cascade Mountains, a man named Fred Johnson reported 5 or 6 disks. They had a slight tail, were about thirty feet in diameter, and they reflected the sun when they turned. They weren't flying in any particular formation. As they flew by, Johnson's compass spun. This was the first report of any instrument being affected by the disks.

On June 25th, there were two major sightings. The first was made at Kansas City, Missouri. There were nine objects in loose formation. Another sighting was made by Lloyd Lowry in Pueblo, Colorado. There were two objects close together. It seemed as if one was chasing the other.

On the 26th, there were an incredible number of sightings from Utah, Arizona, Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico. There were sightings all over the south-west.

On the 27th, the reports started to change; they became more wide spread. Some came as far north as Canada and Michigan. The reports came from all over the world now.

It started to become a world-wide problem. No one knew what the objects were. Newspapers started to give explanations for what they thought the saucers were. Scientists thought that it was government research.

There are three main lines of speculation about just what had been seen. 1) The hexagon theory. The government was making hexagon shaped aircraft, and at high speeds, it gave the illusion of saucers. 2) They were remote-controlled rockets. 3) They were controlled by some hidden scientific group that was experimenting with different ways of travel.

Shortly thereafter, Roswell occurred and the era of UFOs, crop circles, abductions, cross-breeding, government conspiracies, and cattle mutilations had begun.
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Saturday, September 17, 2005

Recall Greg Nickels!


click image to enlarge

Painting: Last Days - The Tyrannosaur Steps Into History


click the painting to enlarge
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All This Is That Is All That Again

Yesterday, I could no longer publish images on this blog. Old images disappeared and instead displayed the dreaded "403 Forbidden" message. Obviously, no images
would require some sort of new approach.

I've always been amazed that blogger will take anything I throw at it...including multiple images a day and audio blogs.

Somehow, it has been fixed. I will probably hear from Blogger/blogspot sooner or later, telling me they fixed something, or that I am close to the wall on space. And I'll have to figure out what to do next.
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