The Truth About UFOs and Aliens

[John Simkin]

On 17th June 1579 Francis Drake landed in a bay on the the coast of California. It seems that the Miwok Indians thought they were being visited by aliens. A local group of Miwok brought him a present of a bunch of feathers and tobacco leaves in a basket. John Sugden, the author of Sir Francis Drake (1990) has argued: "It appeared to the English that the Indians regarded them as gods; they were impervious to English attempts to explain who they were, but at least they remained friendly, and when they had received clothing and other gifts the natives returned happily and noisily to their village."

On 26th June a large group of Miwok arrived at Drake's camp. The chief, wearing a head-dress and a skin cape, was followed by painted warriors, each one of whom bore a gift. At the rear of the cavalcade were women and children. A man holding a sceptre of black wood and wearing a chain of clam shells, stepped forward and made a thirty minute speech. While this was going on the women indulged in a strange ritual of self-mutilation that included scratching their faces until the blood flowed. Robert F. Heizer has argued in Elizabethan California (1974) that self-mutilation is associated with mourning and that the Miwok probably thought the British sailors were spirits returning from the dead. However, Drake took the view that they were proclaiming him king of the Miwok tribe.

When the The Golden Hinde left on 23rd July, the Miwok exhibited great distress and ran to the hill-tops to keep the ship in sight for as long as possible.

The Native Americans also welcomed the Spanish as Gods. It took them some time to realise that these strange aliens had not come to help them but to destroy them.

I wonder if those people living in America today would be so generous if they were really visited by "aliens".

[Michael Hogan]

On 17th June 1579 Francis Drake landed in a bay on the the coast of California. It seems that the Miwok Indians thought they were being visited by aliens. A local group of Miwok brought him a present of a bunch of feathers and tobacco leaves in a basket. John Sugden, the author of Sir Francis Drake (1990) has argued: "It appeared to the English that the Indians regarded them as gods; they were impervious to English attempts to explain who they were, but at least they remained friendly, and when they had received clothing and other gifts the natives returned happily and noisily to their village."

On 26th June a large group of Miwok arrived at Drake's camp. The chief, wearing a head-dress and a skin cape, was followed by painted warriors, each one of whom bore a gift. At the rear of the cavalcade were women and children. A man holding a sceptre of black wood and wearing a chain of clam shells, stepped forward and made a thirty minute speech. While this was going on the women indulged in a strange ritual of self-mutilation that included scratching their faces until the blood flowed. Robert F. Heizer has argued in Elizabethan California (1974) that self-mutilation is associated with mourning and that the Miwok probably thought the British sailors were spirits returning from the dead. However, Drake took the view that they were proclaiming him king of the Miwok tribe.

When the The Golden Hinde left on 23rd July, the Miwok exhibited great distress and ran to the hill-tops to keep the ship in sight for as long as possible.

The Native Americans also welcomed the Spanish as Gods. It took them some time to realise that these strange aliens had not come to help them but to destroy them.

I wonder if those people living in America today would be so generous if they were really visited by "aliens".

Any visiting "aliens" might be in the form of artificial intelligence, and may have as much interest interacting with us as we do with the fish in the ocean.

[Ron Ecker]

I like the idea of aliens/UFOs being from our own future. They're time travelers from Earth. Thus they're humanoid. This eliminates both the distance and time problems. Of course it introduces another problem entirely: time travel.

As far as other civilizations being as ruthless as we are, that's assuming they would have reptilian ancestry like us. Why would they (necessarily)?

[Steve Knight]

Because reptiles are a much simpler (read "easier") evolutionary "stage" than us?

Given similar conditions on other planets as happened here (as far as we can know what happened here that far back), wouldn't it stand to reason similar (if not exact- I'll eschew the "carbon"-copies pun ) life-forms would develop?

Star Trek aside, I can see both happening, really - similar life to what we know, and bizarre, exotic creatures from bizarre, exotic worlds with different (no or even far more, asteroid/comet impacts for example? no "Dinosaur killers") historical events.

Certainly one for the exo-biologists and the like, anyway

[John Simkin]

Any visiting "aliens" might be in the form of artificial intelligence, and may have as much interest interacting with us as we do with the fish in the ocean.

Stephen Powers was an anthropologist who studied Native Americans in California. He published "Tribes of California" in 1877. He argues in the book that the tribes in California did not go to war with each other. The reason was that the area supplied all their needs and because of the region's geography, they were not overpopulated. Therefore, they did not feel threatened by the initial arrival of the Europeans and were willing to share their resources with the visitors. Of course, times have changed, and the arrival of aliens would obviously cause panic as we would consider they were after our limited resources.

[John Dolva]

I think share is a keyword. It's (imo) a survival method that works when a society does not have individuals or groupings that appropriates surplus. Thus the means of exchange is not according to the value of a 'property' but a direct relationship with things. Aqcuisiteveness is its opposite; the relationship is with the value and striving for the value is the dominant feature.

I don't think the two systems can coexist in the final analysis.

[Michael Hogan]

In my opinion, one of the best treatments of the subject is UFOs and the National Security State: The Cover-Up Exposed, 1973-1991 by Richard M. Dolan.

From his website, this is the author's bio:

Richard was born in Brooklyn, New York, studied at Alfred University and Oxford University, was a finalist for a Rhodes scholarship, and completed

his graduate work in history at the University of Rochester. Prior to his interest in UFOs, he studied U.S. Cold War strategy, Soviet history and culture,

and international diplomacy.

Many of the topics Dolan explores have direct relevance to the Kennedy assassination. The shadow of the Cold War and the fingers of Operation Mockingbird and American intelligence are all over the UFO phenomenon.

From Dolan's introduction:

This book is more than a collection of UFO accounts, however. Ultimately, it tells a story, some of which concerns the attitudes of political and military agencies. We can learn these in several ways. One is through the available military and intelligence reports. While there are limits to what we can know based on reports of mid-level classification (i.e. “Confidential” as opposed to “Top Secret”), we can still see that the military considered many UFO encounters with great seriousness, even gravity. Responsible thinkers must ask why this was so, and why such an attitude has continually been countered by official silence and dismissal. When powerful groups dismiss something publicly, but take it seriously in private, we can assume something important is being withheld.

A related theme of this book concerns the evolution of the “national security state.” During the period under review, the power of the U.S. military and intelligence communities expanded at the expense of ordinary citizens. Elsewhere, multinational structures also weakened citizen power. It is little appreciated how UFO secrecy has also eroded human liberty. From the 1940s onward, it required the creation of an apparatus that was independent of realistic oversight by elected representatives, with substantial funding and latitude of action. Indeed, secrecy on UFOs is arguably a key factor in the genesis of America’s so-called “black budget.” That, in turn, has shown itself to be among the most formidable enemies of classical republican government.

For anyone that finds the above interesting, here is a link to the complete introduction: http://keyholepublishing.com/V2.html

By no means do I necessarily agree with everything Dolan writes, nor do I claim his book is flawless. But Dolan's research is important and for the most part very carefully documented.

He is not afraid to speculate in certain cases, however. It's well-written in a page-turning style, in my opinion.

Anyone with an interest in the Cold War, the Kennedy assassination, or the growth of the National Security State will probably enjoy reading Dolan's book.

[Greg Burnham]

I found the following article very interesting regarding a study conducted in Texas about 7 years ago. The factual discoveries contained therein are of particular interest. I am not enthused by the author's eventual conclusion as it is based solely on unsupported assertions. IOW: there very likely are alternate possibilities that are neither consistent with the big bang theory nor with creationism. If the newly discovered (2004) very "old and mature" galaxies defy the Big Bang theory--so be it. Their existence does not necessarily prove "creation" by any means. However, they do raise some interesting questions and the answers may have relevance to John's topic.

LINK: 300 Unexpectedly "mature" Galaxies Discovered

[William Kelly]

Mon Jun 6, 4:50 pm ET

‘Armchair astronaut’ Mars video goes viral

By Liz Goodwin

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A self-described "armchair astronaut" claims to have found a base on the planet Mars using a satellite imaging map. He thinks the base could have been made by aliens

The video David Martines uploaded to YouTube has been viewed more than 850,000 times. He says the 750'-by-150' cylinder-like structure that he's zoomed in on using Google Mars looks like it's made for people to inhabit. In the video, Martines say he assumes people live in the cylinder or have lived in it.

He named the shape "Bio Station Alpha." Experts told Space.come that the image was most likely caused by "cosmic energy" interfering with the cameras--not by aliens.

"It looks like a linear streak artifact produced by a cosmic ray," Alfred McEwen, a planetary geologist at the University of Arizona told Space.com. Cosmic rays, which are emitted by the Sun and other stars, don't make it to Earth because of its magnetosphere. "But with space images that are taken outside our magnetosphere, such as those taken by orbiting telescopes, it's very common to see these cosmic ray hits. You see them on optical images and a lot of the infrared images too."

You can watch the video below:

‘Armchair astronaut’ Mars video goes viral - Yahoo! News

[Michael Hogan]

New Paradigm Films describes themselves as "a Norwegian based production company with a vision to produce films that inspire to see an expanded world view."

In 2010 they produced and released a documentary on UFO phenomena titled The Day Before Disclosure. They've made it available at no cost online: http://newparadigm.no/web/guest/home

It's also available for viewing on YouTube. Richard M Dolan, whom I mentioned a couple of posts earlier, appears several times. He has written one of the best books on the subject of UFOs and the national security state.