Frank Warren Interview with Francis Barwood (Phoenix Lights)

Frank Warren's UFO Chronicles interviews Francis Barwood,  the ex-city councilwoman who tried to get her collegues involved in investigating the UFO sightings in Arizona in March of 1997. Hat tip to Lesley at The Debris Field for link. Unfortunately at the time, Barwood was met with denial and ridicule when she tried to get, at her constituents' request, information about the sightings.

Lesley's Grey Matters: "Susan Boyle is killing Ufology!"

Lesley's new Grey Matters is up at Binnall of America, and this week she writes about the fascination with the decidedly non-fascinating, while ignoring the real fascinating stuff around us. In Susan Boyle is killing Ufology! Lesley writes:

When I see things like Susan Boyle capture so much attention -- I can only agree with the government (assuming they know a lot about ufos) that we are not ready for disclosure.

We watch it all the time -- the weird crap that captures the nation and/or the western world's attention. Anna Nicole Smith, OJ, Brad/Jen/Angelina and so on. Meanwhile, there is truly amazing stuff going on and most people don't seem to even care. (Italics mine)

I share with Lesley a pleasure in getting some gossipy goods -- shallow, fine, but the point is, as Lesley puts it, is that some of us know it's gossip, and get our gossip "news" from gossip type sources. It in itself isn't news news, not of any great import, but sadly, even places like CNN treat gossip and entertainment buzz with equal seriousness:

I expect to get my celeb gossip from the same place I have always got it, The National Enquirer, not the nightly news or 24 hour news channels. Even on those, I don't mind a short mention of the gossip, but I don't want it to be treated like news because it isn't. Celebrity gossip is treated like being REAL news, far more so than things that are really amazing and could really change the world as we know it -- like ufos.

Seriously, Britney's head shaving incident is treated like a national tragedy that should concern us all. Dozens of people seeing a strange object in the sky over Stephenville (or anywhere else) is comic relief.

Yes, culture has it ass backwards all right. I remember many years ago, when Miami Vice was popular, one of the network news programs breaking in during regular programming with a "news alert" to let us know that actor Don Johnson was gettting a divorce. I remember thinking if I hadn't just slipped into some silly topsy turvy alternate dimension, where news isn't, up is down, that kind of thing.

Lesley asks why it is that mainstream culture is so fascinated with the likes of gossip and other frivolous distractions, while ignoring the truly fantastic (and unexplained?)

Lesley begins her article by talking about American Idol's Susan Boyle who is "unattractive." I saw the clip where she comes out, and the expressions on the faces of both audience and judges. Some of those expressions included outright disgust.

As to the perennial question of why mainstream society and the infrastructure continues to ignore, ridicule and marginalize paranormal and Fortean type occurrences, while it's extremely frustrating, it might be some comfort to realize this is as much a part of the phenomena itself in many cultures, including ours. Call it the Trickster or what you like, but the phenomena enjoys this constant dance of "catch me if you can," of being elusive. Anomalous events, from Bigfoot to ghosts to UFOs and all of the other stuff in between are subversive, anti-structure, in your face occurrences that thumb their noses at science, religions, and society's comfort zones. Like gossip and entertainment. Everyone, including the skeptoids and pathological debunkers, know damn well these things exist, they simply cannot acknowledge the fact. Willful ignorance of the data, marginalizing and trivializing both the phenomena and individuals who experience, believe or research weird stuff, and insults are the rule, as well as the weird inverse of phenomena that Lesley points out. Gossip and fascination with the shallow bewitches; while the real mysteries are shoved aside.

Swine Signals

Some odd things in my town surrounding the swine flu scenario; first case (s) of swine flu reported in Oregon, local elementary school had roughly 1/5 of its population either call in sick, or go home sick, with a stomach ailment yet it was not, insists authorities, swine flu or food poisoning. All that, and a sudden, localized freak tornado -- also at a school -- levitating an adult. Read about it on my crustacean conspiracy blog Octopus Confessional.

Stand Down: Putting the Kibosh on the Texas UFOs

I haven’t commented on the recent Stephenville, Texas UFO sightings because everyone else has. Nothing much I can add. But the recent firing of reporter Angelia Joiner has me wanting to comment.

Reporter Angelia Joiner of The Empire Tribune was fired. She was asked to “stand down” from reporting on the UFOs in Stephenville, after writing a series of articles on the sightings. And in particular, two articles on Ricky Sorrells, a repeat UFO witness and victim of apparent military harassment.

What The Empire Tribune told Joiner was that the UFO angle had been “played out,” and it was time to let it go. It was said some city council members found the whole thing embarrassing. For those reasons, it was suggested Joiner choose something else to write about. E-mails Joiner sent to a UFO group were also found too embarrassing; in good faith, Joiner gave two weeks notice. However, her computer was confiscated and she was told to leave the premises immediately.

One of Joiner’s articles, UFO Witness Claims Harassment
Alien Surveillance of Stephenville & Sorrells, (The Empire Tribune, 2-3-08) discusses witness Ricky Sorrells alleged harassment by military authorities. In the article, Joiner writes that Sorrells:

... believes military officials have been harassing him by flying military aircraft over his property at low altitudes, at all hours of the day and night.

Sorrels says he’s seen the UFO four different times. The UFO was the length of “three or four football fields” Sorrells was contacted by someone from the military the day after an interview he gave with the Associated Press about his UFO sightings:

“He was sort of nice to me right off,” Sorrells said. “He asked to come and talk to me.”

Sorrells said he told the man that he needed time to think about it and then,

“He (the man) became really arrogant.”

The caller told Sorrells he wasn’t taking “no” for an answer and would be out to talk to him. Sorrells again tried to politely tell the man he did not wish to have company.

After that, Sorrells said the conversation became heated and he told the man not to cross his cattle guard.

Sorrells said the man responded with, “ Son, we have the same caliber weapons as you do but a lot more of them.”

Sorrells continued to experience more harassment with continued helicopter fly overs, bright lights shining into his home, and finding a threatening intruder on his property.

In this context:the number of witnesses to the event, Joiner’s termination, and the harassment of Sorrell, reports of military jets chasing after the UFO, it’s obvious there’s something more here than weather balloons or flares.

There’s also something I’ve been noticing the past couple of months; and I’m not the only flying saucer junkie to notice, not by any means. That’s the sheer number of UFO sightings lately, and not just small zippy lights in the sky, but huge craft not that far up above our heads. Are we in another UFO flap? Military weapons or some form of psy-op warfare?

There’s men in black type stuff, harassment, cover-ups, military involvement (both overt, as in the military jets seen going after the UFO, and covert, concerning Ricky Sorrells,) world wide media attention, photographic evidence, and, I suspect, some counter/disinformation going on as well. For example, on Linda Moulton Howe’s Earthfiles site, she has images of lights given to her by Steve Allen:

Steve said, “I have an amazing videotape to show you. The gentleman, David, who operated the camera brought a DVD to me at my office, I paid him some money and he said I could do whatever I wanted with the videotape. And I want you to have a copy, Linda.”

I acknowledge my paranoid side and so, will say this sounds like a set up to me. That’s not to suggest the images aren’t “real,” of course they are; they’re on video, and other witnesses have seen them. But I am of the opinion there’s some intentional manipulation going on by military factions -- or some human element -- in the midst of the Stephenville UFO sightings.

Whatever is going on - and there is something going on -- it’s getting pretty hot out there.

Notes
UFO witness claims harassment,Angelia Joiner
Sunday, February 3, 2008
http://www.empiretribune.com/articles/2008/02/03/news/news02.txt

More twists in the Sorrells' Saga,Angelia Joiner
Monday, February 4, 2008
http://www.empiretribune.com/articles/2008/02/04/news/news01.txt

Texas newspaper writer unemployed after publishing military harassment story of UFO witness
http://ireporter.wordpress.com/2008/02/09/texas-newspaper-writer-unemployed-after-publishing-military-harassment-story-of-ufo-witness/

CNN clip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oo-dx35bCvc

Linda Moulton Howe
Part 1: Mysterious Symbols Projected in Night Sky
by Aerial Disc Near Stephenville, Texas, Local Airport
http://www.earthfiles.com/news.php?ID=1384&category=Environment

Candace Talmadge: Government Can't Protect Us

Candace Talmadge on:
UFO Coverup: If We Know, We’ll Realize Government Can’t Protect Us