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). ======================================================== 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 # # #