CNI News - Volume 21.1
August 2, 1996
Published by the ISCNI News Center
Editor: Michael Lindemann
The stories in this edition of CNI News are:
1) PAT ROBERTSON'S 700 CLUB HAS "FACTS" ON UFOS
2) UFOs, CROP CIRCLES KEEP RESEARCHERS BUSY IN OHIO
3) NASA UNVEILS "INTELLIGENT" TEST AIRCRAFT
4) BUFO's MEDIA ALERT
The subject matter of CNI News is inherently controversial, and the views and
opinions reported in the news are not necessarily those of ISCNI or its
staff.
The next edition of CNI News will appear on Friday, August 9.
========================================================
MEDIA WATCH MAY BE BACK SOON: As a step toward the reappearance of Media
Watch, today's CNI News includes Bufo Calvin's Media Alert. Thanks, Bufo!
========================================================
1) PAT ROBERTSON'S 700 CLUB HAS "FACTS" ON UFOS
[CNI News thanks Errol Bruce-Knapp of UFO Updates Toronto for sending this
text. The opening remarks were written by Michael Malone. CNI News hastens to
add that the 700 Club's view of the "facts" leaves much to be desired, even
discounting their "demonic" interpretation of abduction. Most glaring is
their casual dismissal of "all" crop circles as being (apparently) the work
of Doug and Dave. Pleeeze! Nonetheless, some elements of the following text
are intriguing -- such as the reference to Louis Farrakhan's UFO experience,
and Farrakhan's apparent belief that the aliens "are your friends."]
I'm not a fan of the 700 Club, but I was switching channels late last month,
and there were scenes from ID4 being shown. I quickly learned that I was
watching one of the 700 Club's psuedo-news shows. It was on the evil of
UFOs. There was a number to call for a "Fact Sheet" on UFOs. I thought it
might be interesting, so I called.
Yesterday [July 30] I got this Fact Sheet in the mail (see below).
The 700 Club, for those who don't know, is home to Pat Robertson. It's one
of the larger Christian organizations in America. Thinking that it's not a
powerful entity would be a mistake. One of Robertson's spawns, Ralph Reed,
is a formidable power in Washington, D.C. Reed has been attempting to
distance himself from Robertson, unsuccesfully. While Reed would like to
look more independant, the truth is that Robertson is the one pulling his
strings. Reed's organization is one of the strongest "pro-family"
organizations lobbying in Washington and in various state capitals. It's
strongly anti-gay, anti-abortion, anti-new-age, anti-paranormal, and
anti-UFO. Hypnotheripists will be "happy" to know that [Reed's group] are
strong believers in the Satanic Cult Theory of repressed memories.
Anyway, here is the 700 Club's Fact Sheet on UFOs.
Fact Sheet
The 700 Club
UFOs: A Christian Response
As Featured on CBN's Newswatch Today April 26, 1996
The Facts
America is captivated by little creatures from outer space. In fact, some
even claim to have been abducted by them. Several polls say as many as half
of all Americans believe in UFOs, while 1 in 7 claims to have had a UFO or
paranormal experience.
"They had very large heads, they had small frail bodies and really, really
big black eyes," explains Kathie Davis.
"I was terrified. I felt a strong sense of a presence of someone standing
behind me, I was actually floating above the bed! I tried to wake my husband
up; I was completely terrified," recalls Melanie Green.
Are these people spaced out, or have they really been abducted? UFO expert
Stanton Friedman believes them. He says thousands of similar yet unrelated
abductee stories are just part of the growing evidence that is bringing a
new, extraterrestrial reality down to earth. "The evidence is overwhelming
that planet earth is being visited bv intelligently controlled
extraterrestrial spacecraft."
Lending credence to these visits are some high-profile Americans who claim
they are real. Among them is Louis Farrakhan. "I was transported by a small,
circular plane -- you call it a UFO -- to a great mother wheel," he claims.
"Before you call me crazy, these wheels will be seen all over America.
They'll be coming down over the major cities. You will look up one day and
see them, and I don't want you to be terrified. They're your friends."
For the victims, episodes of alien abduction often become life altering.
"When something like this happens to you, you have two choices," says Ron
Blevens, an abductee. "You can decide you're crazy. or you can expand your
reality to include these other life forms."
Recalling her abduction experience, Davis says, "I don't want to offend
people when I say this, [but] I kind of lost my taste for organized religion
and found a deeper spiritual something inside of me."
Not all experts, however, are so convinced. Philip Klass has written numerous
books debunking the UFO phenomenon and has offered to pay $10,000 to anyone
whose abduction can be verified by the FBI. "I have spent nearly 30 years
looking for a case with scientifically credible evidence that the earth is
being visited and have yet to find a single case that we have
extraterrestrial visitors."
Klass says most sightings can simply be explained away, either as a natural
phenomenon, aircraft or hoax. For example, the crop circles that mysteriously
appeared in British wheat fields over the past twenty years -- thought to be
created by UFO landings -- were actually made by two men with planks tied to
their feet.
But abductee stories are not so easily debunked, especially when thousands
claim similar experiences.
"Either we're being visited by extraterrestrial beings created by God, or
we're dealing with a spiritual phenomenon -- either angelic or demonic," says
John Weldon. In his book, The Encyclopedia of New Age Beliefs, Weldon
explains that many abductees sincerely believe that what happened to them was
real. "They are very convinced that they have been taken on board a UFO,
examined medically and had some kind of experiment performed on them. That's
because they've undergone a hypnotic experience," he says.
Hypnosis, according to Friedman, plays a large part in many, if not all,
abduction experiences. "It appears that the hypnosis is required because the
aliens program the people not to remember."
Although these experiences may be real to the abductees, Weldon is convinced
that they are strictly a spiritual phenomenon. "The entities that these
people run into have the capacity to manipulate their experiences to such an
extent that they can't distinguish fantasy from reality."
That's precisely why many theologians suggest that the UFO phenomena are
demonic and caution people to avoid them whoever and whatever they are.
Standards to live by: "For false Christs and false prophets will arise, and
will show signs and wonders, in order, if possible, to lead the elect astray"
(Mark 13:22).
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2) UFOs, CROP CIRCLES KEEP RESEARCHERS BUSY IN OHIO
[The following article appeared in UFO ROUNDUP, Volume 1, Number 24, dated
July 28. CNI News thanks Roundup editor Masinaigan for permission to reprint
this article.]
On Wednesday, July 3, 1996, at 9:30 p.m., three people in Urbana, Ohio
observed a "glowing red object" traveling across the sky from north to south.
The UFO was observed by a former USAF officer who served in the Gulf War and
operated Hawk missile systems. Trained at Fort Bliss, he has extensive
training in identification of all types of aircraft. He stated that the
glowing UFO was surrounded by five F-14 jet interceptors. The jets,
strangely, made no sound as they passed overhead. The UFO then vanished,
while the F-14s "flew around for awhile, as if they were looking for it."
On Monday, July 8, an Urbana resident telephoned Tristates Advocates for
Scientific Knowledge (T.A.S.K.) and reported a UFO flying over the Odd Lots
Department Store on Scioto Drive. According to T.A.S.K. researcher Kenneth
Young, "the object was described as a self-luminous ball of red light and was
traveling at the speed of an airplane, traversing the sky from east to west
and (looked) as big as a dime held at arm's length."
On Wednesday, July 10, at 11 p.m., three obervers in Owensville, Ohio
reported a UFO hovering above the Zebulon Park apartment complex. This
"glowing red object" hovered in position for about 30 minutes, leaving two of
the witnesses "stunned" by the sight.
On Friday, July 12, a resident of Loveland phoned WLW Radio (700 AM) and
reported "a very large object surrounded by very bright white lights." The
WLW deejay said the caller sounded "very serious, very scared."
On Thursday, July 18, at 3:25 a.m., an Owensville resident phoned the
Clermont County Sheriff's Department and reported a UFO hovering over a field
adjacent to his home. This UFO was described as a glowing red light. As the
police cruiser arrived, the UFO drifted to the right and dropped into
concealing shrubbery. The deputy found nothing amiss and left. As soon as
he was gone, the witness said, the UFO returned to its former position "and
resumed its previous level of luminosity." Again the witness called the
sheriff, and this time three cruisers responded to the call. Again the UFO
ducked into the nearby woods. The deputies searched the area for 30 minutes
and found nothing. After they departed, the UFO rose again. This time the
witness did not bother to call. Instead he watched the UFO until it vanished
shortly before daybreak.
T.A.S.K. members also investigated the appearance of a crop circle on July 4
in Paulding County, Ohio. A pilot taking his family out for a flight spotted
the circle from the air. Upon landing, he contacted Dan Arend, owner of the
property. At 8:30 p.m., Mr. Arend phoned Sheriff Daniel T. Harrow.
Investigating officers found that the field's wheat had been levelled to the
ground in a counterclockwise direction. There were no visible tracks leading
to or from the site, located just off Township Road 126.
The crop circle was photographed July 8. Several scientists visited the
scene, including Jim Timmerman of Chicago's Center for UFO Studies. The crop
circle was soon branded a hoax. However, on July 11, a team from Eastern
Michigan University found that the wheat within the circle was radioactive.
According to T.A.S.K. field investigator Dale Farmer, the circle registered
60 clicks on their Geiger counter, as opposed to 30 clicks found within the
surrounding area.
========================================================
3) NASA UNVEILS "INTELLIGENT" TEST AIRCRAFT
[The following press release was issued by NASA on August 2. CNI News finds
this of interest on two counts: first, because it reveals that NASA and
associated agencies are working with highly exotic but operational
"waverider" technology capable of hypersonic speed and previously associated
with controversial claims concerning the "Aurora;" and second, perhaps more
interesting still, because NASA now reveals the existence of neural network
control systems in this test aircraft, a technology that some researchers
believe was derived from the back-engineering of alien spacecraft.]
NASA and the U.S. Air Force today unveiled a jet-powered aircraft equipped
with state-of-the-art flight control technologies that will demonstrate a
computerized flight control system that learns as it flies -- especially
important for the demands of ultra high-speed flight.
Called the Low-Observable Flight Test Experiment (LoFLYTE), the 8-foot-4-inch
aircraft, announced at a briefing in Oshkosh, WI, has been developed by
Accurate Automation Corp., Chattanooga, TN, for NASA and the Air Force. The
program contracts are being administered through NASA's Langley Research
Center, Hampton, VA, and the Air Force Wright Laboratory, Dayton, OH, under
the Small Business Innovative Research Program.
The experimental LoFLYTE aircraft will be used to explore new flight control
techniques involving neural networks, which allow the aircraft control system
to learn by mimicking the pilot.
The model is a Mach 5 waverider design -- a futuristic hypersonic aircraft
configuration that actually cruises on top of its own shockwave. Waverider
aircraft, powered by airbreathing hypersonic engines, would fly at speeds
above Mach 4. LoFLYTE represents the first known flying waverider vehicle
configuration, but upcoming flight tests at NASA's Dryden Flight Research
Center, Edwards, CA, will be flown only at low subsonic speeds to explore
take-off and landing control issues.
The remotely-piloted aircraft has been designed to demonstrate that neural
network flight controls are superior to conventional flight controls.
Neural networks are computer systems that actually learn by doing. The
computer network consists of many interconnected control systems, or nodes,
similar to neurons in the brain. Each node assigns a value to the input from
each of its counterparts. As these values are changed, the network can
adjust the way it responds.
The aircraft's flight controller consists of a network of
multiple-instruction, multiple-data neural chips. The network will be able to
continually alter the aircraft's control laws in order to optimize flight
performance and take the pilot's responses into consideration. Over time, the
neural network system could be trained to control the aircraft. The use of
neural networks in flight would help pilots fly in quick-decision situations
and help damaged aircraft land safely even when controls are partially
destroyed.
The main objective of LoFLYTE is to demonstrate the utility of such a flight
control system that learns through experience, said Robert Pegg of Langley's
Hypersonic Vehicles Office. In addition to experimenting with neural
networks, the flight of the model also is key as a low-speed demonstration of
a hypersonic vehicle. "We're very interested in both outcomes, both the
neural net technology and the flight characteristics," he said.
"We see a big advantage to using this type of control system in a hypersonic
vehicle," Pegg said. "At those high speeds, things happen so quickly that the
pilot cannot control the aircraft as easily as at subsonic speeds."
The waverider was chosen as the testbed for the neural networks because the
configuration has an inherently high hypersonic lift-to-drag ratio. If neural
networks can control this "worst-case scenario" configuration, then they
should be able to handle virtually any other configuration. The waverider
configuration was also chosen because it allows for long hypersonic cruise
ranges of up to 8,000 miles. At an altitude of 90,000 feet, a Mach 5
waverider would fly at a rate of one mile per second.
Technologies being implemented in the LoFLYTE program could eventually find
their way into commercial, general aviation and military aircraft.
========================================================
4) BUFO's MEDIA ALERT
[Bufo's WEIRD WORLD (e-zine and paper newsletter) -- TAP (The Address
Project) -- NEARU (National Events by Area Registry of the Unexplained) --
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED (Permission is granted for redistribution for any
non-commercial use, provided the entire post, including this header, is
used.)]
August 1, 1996
It's kind of a slow week. Things will start changing in about September. For
instance, UPN has canceled PARANORMAL BORDERLINE (although an episode is
running this week). SIGHTINGS will move to THE SCI-FI CHANNEL. STRANGE
UNIVERSE, anchored by Emmett Miller and Dana Adams, is a syndicated
"paranormal news show" booked already in most markets. Even Dan Aykroyd, who
appears as though he may be one of the most informed people in the world on
this stuff (present company excepted, of course), has his own syndicated
series, THE PSI FACTOR.
SYNDICATED TV:
THE EXTRAORDINARY: No details
SIGHTINGS -- Showing through Sunday, August 4th (Show 4-048, Repeat): Her
Name Was Cathy; Mysterious Valley Of Colorado; News Wrap -- Alien Universe,
Free Willy, HK Feng Shui; The Great Gadsden; Master Healer; Fingerprints Of
The Gods.
SIGHTINGS -- Showing Monday, August 5th through Friday, August 9th (Show
4-030, Repeat): Black Forest Haunting; The Mars Complex; News Wrap -- John
Mack Witch Hunt, Target Earth, Hug Point Sand Rings; Restless Warrior;
Iranian UFO Update
SATURDAY, AUGUST 3
2:00 PM -- THE DISCOVERY CHANNEL, ARTHUR C. CLARKE'S WORLD OF STRANGE POWERS:
"FROM MIND TO MIND" looks at 60 years of controversy concerning the study of
ESP
7:00 PM -- CABLE RADIO: DON ECKER'S UFOS TONIGHT
7:30 PM -- THE DISCOVERY CHANNEL, ARTHUR C. CLARKE'S MYSTERIOUS WORLD:
"STRANGE SKIES," astronomical mysteries like the canals on Mars and the Star
of Bethlehem
8:00 PM -- THE DISCOVERY CHANNEL, SPECIAL OF THE WEEK: "GHOSTS AND
GRAVEYARDS"
9:00 PM -- THE DISCOVERY CHANNEL, SPECIAL OF THE WEEK: "HAUNTED WATERS"
SUNDAY, AUGUST 4
12:00 midnight -- THE DISCOVERY CHANNEL, SPECIAL OF THE WEEK: "GHOSTS AND
GRAVEYARDS"
1:00 AM -- THE DISCOVERY CHANNEL, SPECIAL OF THE WEEK: "HAUNTED WATERS"
11:30 AM -- THE SCI-FI CHANNEL: MAGIC, MYSTERIES & MIRACLES (no details)
6:00 PM -- THE DISCOVERY CHANNEL, ARTHUR C. CLARKE'S WORLD OF STRANGE POWERS:
"FROM MIND TO MIND" looks at 60 years of controversy concerning the study of
ESP
6:30 PM ET -- QUEENS, NY PUBLIC ACCESS CHANNEL 35, UFOS TODAY (no details)
7:00 TO 10:00 PM -- SYNDICATED RADIO, ART BELL'S DREAMLAND (repeat because
Art is on vacation)
7:30 PM -- THE SCI-FI CHANNEL: MAGIC, MYSTERIES & MIRACLES (no details)
10:00 PM -- THE LEARNING CHANNEL, SCIENCE FRONTIERS: "SUPERNATURAL STORIES:
THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE -- SECRETS REVEALED:" scientists use the "latest
technology" to try to solve the mysterious disappearances
11:30 PM, THE SCI-FI CHANNEL: MAGIC, MYSTERIES & MIRACLES (no details)
MONDAY, AUGUST 5
1:00 AM -- THE LEARNING CHANNEL, SCIENCE FRONTIERS: "SUPERNATURAL STORIES:
THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE -- SECRETS REVEALED:" scientists use the "latest
technology" to try to solve the mysterious disappearances
TUESDAY, AUGUST 6
9:00 PM -- UPN, PARANORMAL BORDERLINE: a medium tries to contact spirits at a
WWII Japanese internment camp; top-secret military base (Area 51?); prophets
warn meditator of coming Earth changes; UFO filmed in Colorado; psychic
detectives work on New Orleans case
THURSDAY, AUGUST 8
9:00 PM -- THE DISCOVERY CHANNEL, ARTHUR C. CLARKE'S MYSTERIOUS WORLD:
"MONSTERS OF THE DEEP," photographs and other evidence of sea monsters
FRIDAY, AUGUST 9
1:00 AM -- THE DISCOVERY CHANNEL, ARTHUR C. CLARKE'S MYSTERIOUS WORLD:
"MONSTERS OF THE DEEP," photographs and other evidence of sea monsters
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