Ism Schism.

I am about 80/20 on this subject: that is 80% in seeing that UFOs are more then what is commonly thought, and 20% that it may just be nothing at all. There is so much confusion on this matter is very hard to see through.

But history is history, and history ain't the National Enquirer:

A strange fact, is that our government 'officially' studied the "UFO" phenomenon from July 2, 1947 to January 30, 1970. That is more then twenty-two years. Twenty-two years! How does a body as large as the United States Government study a 'subject' for twenty-two years, without any real credible evidence to further, or even support, their research? On what basis did they fuel their research, or to clarify: what exactly brought about a period of 22 continous years of research; further: what exactly was the need for 22 years of research into 'nonsense'? Or better yet, how can a large body such as the U.S. Government study a subject for 22 years without any objective gain in what the underlying cause for the study was? I for one, would really like to know.

Some Historical quotes:

General Nathan D. Twining, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1957-1960). As Lieutenant General in charge of the Air Force Air Material Command at Wright-Field, Ohio, he reported in 1947 on his investigation of UFO sightings to date:

"a. The phenomena reported is something real and not visionary or fictitious.

b. There are objects probably approximating the shape of a disc, of such appreciable size as to appear to be as large as a man-made aircraft.

c. There is a possibility that some of the incidents may be caused by natural phenomena, such as meteors.

d. The reported operating characteristics such as extreme rates of climb, maneuverability (particularly in roll), and action which must be considered evasive when sighted or contacted by friendly aircraft and radar, lend belief to the possibility that some of the objects are controlled either manually, automatically, or remotely." (Letter to the Commanding General of the U.S. Army Air Forces, September 23, 1947.)

J. Edgar Hoover, in response to a government request to study UFOs:

"I would do it, but before agreeing to do it, we must insist upon full access to discs recovered. For instance, in the L.A. [or La.] case, the Army grabbed it and would not let us have it for cursory examination." (Handwritten note to Clyde Tolson, July 15, 1947.)

General Douglas MacArthur:

"Because of the developments of science, all the countries on earth will have to unite to survive and to make a common front against attack by people from other planets. The politics of the future will be cosmic, or interplanetary." (The New York Times, October 8, 1955.)

"You now face a new world - a world of change. The thrust into outer space of the satellite, spheres and missiles marked the beginning of another epoch in the long story of mankind - the chapter of the space age... We speak in strange terms: of harnessing the cosmic energy... of the primary target in war, no longer limited to the armed forces of an enemy, but instead to include his civil populations; of ultimate conflict between a united human race and the sinister forces of some other planetary galaxy... " (Address by General Douglas MacArthur to the United States Military Academy at West Point, May 12, 1962.)

Captain Edward J. Ruppelt, Chief of Project Blue Book, from his book, The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects, 1956:

"When four college professors, a geologist, a chemist, a physicist and a petroleum engineer report seeing the same UFOs on fourteen different occasions, the event can be classified as, at least, unusual. Add the fact that hundreds of other people saw these UFOs and that they were photographed, and the story gets even better. Add a few more facts - that these UFOs were picked up on radar and that a few people got a close look at one of them, and the story begins to convince even the most ardent skeptic." (Ruppelt, Edward J., The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects, New York: Doubleday, 1956.)

Admiral Roscoe, first Director of the CIA (1947-50). In 1957, he joined the Board of Governors of the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomenon (NICAP), a UFO investigating group. In 1960, he stated:

"Unknown objects are operating under intelligent control... It is imperative that we learn where UFOs come from and what their purpose is... " (Maccabee, Bruce, "What The Admiral Knew: UFO, MJ-12 and R. Hillenkoetter," International UFO Reporter, Nov./Dec., 1986.)

He also recommended:

"It is time for the truth to be brought out in open Congressional hearings. Behind the scenes high ranking Air Force officers are soberly concerned about the UFOs. But through official secrecy and ridicule, many citizens are led to believe the unknown flying objects are nonsense." (Statement in a NICAP news release, February 27, 1960.)

Lt. Col. Lawrence J. Coyne, U.S. Army Reserve helicopter pilot with 3,000 hours of flying time. He and other three airmen had a close encounter with a UFO on the night of October 18, 1973, while flying in a U.S. Army Bell Huey utility helicopter in the vicinity of Mansfield, Ohio. Lt. Coyne described his experience at a United Nations UFO hearing in 1978:

"With the aircraft under my control, I observed the red-lighted object closing upon the helicopter at the same altitude at a high rate of speed. It became apparent a mid-air collision was about to happen unless evasive action was taken.

"I looked out ahead of the helicopter and observed an aircraft I have never seen before. This craft positioned itself directly in front of the moving helicopter. This craft was 50 to 60 feet long with a grey metallic structure. On the front of this craft was a large steady bright red light. I could delineate where the red stopped on the structure of this craft because red was reflecting off the grey structure. The design of this craft was symmetrical in shape with a prominent aft indentation on the undercarriage. From this portion of the undercarriage, a green light, pyramid-shaped, emerged with the light initially in the trail position. This green light then swung 90 degrees, coming directly into the front windshield and lighting up the entire cockpit of the aircraft. All colors inside the cabin of the helicopter were absorbed by this green light. That includes the instrument panel lights on the aircraft.

"As a result of my experience, I am convinced this object was real and that these types of incidents should require a thorough investigation. It is my own personal opinion that worldwide procedures need to be established to effectively study this phenomena through an international cooperative effort. The establishment of a Transponder Code for aircraft flying worldwide is needed, to identify to ground controllers that a pilot is indeed experiencing a UFO phenomena and that pilot anxiety can be reduced to provide safe effective flying, knowing he is under radar control." (Statement to the Special Political Committee of the United Nations, November 27, 1978.)

<a href="http://www.isso.org/inbox/ubd/quote/quogov.htm" target="_blank">These quotes and many other from HERE.</a>

Your thoughts on the matter?

[ January 17, 2002: Message edited by: Ism Schism. ]</p>

Thor Q. Mada

Dear "Ism Schism",

The fact that large groups of people believe something is no proof whatsoever. (look at religion).
The fact that governements do the same thing is even a lesser proof.
The question, "do you believe in Ufo's" as if it was some kind of a religion is the wrong question.
The question should be "How good is the evidence that UFO's exist"??
The answer to that is:"Not very good at all".
In my opinion, since the witches, the devil, and demons are not popular anymore, the UFO's are on the rise. That's the explanation. Mass hystery.

Ism Schism.

Actually I might owe you an apology. The first time I read your post, it struck me as really patronizing. The "Dear Ism Schism", instantly put me in that direction. I see now that you are from Hong Kong, so it may just be a cultural differance. Consider this an apology, if it wasn't meant to be patronizing.

[ January 18, 2002: Message edited by: Ism Schism. ]</p>

GunnerJ

I don't have any problem with the existance of UFOs. Unidentified Flying Objects probably do exist. It's when people start identifying them that the problems start...

:: Runs off at blinding speed to escape the wrath of the person I stole this from ::

[ January 17, 2002: Message edited by: Rimstalker ]</p>

Marduk

We all know the only way to prove that a UFO is an alien craft would be to catch one and dissect the little critters inside. Oh wait it's been claimed that this has already been done, Col. Phil Corso came out and said it in his book 'Roswell the Day After' "I was there, I had the clearance." He said till the day he died. But since no one believes him or anyone else saying the same thing it is therefore impossible to prove that UFO's are alien craft, or that you ever saw one. If you did you will here the mantra "it was swamp gas, birds, balloons, airplanes, the planet Venus coming in for a visit, a hallucination, ANYTHING BUT an alien spacecraft"
No point in wasting your time saying a word ever. It is truly amazing how many mentally unstable people our government employs in such highly sensitive areas, Pentagon, NASA, fighter pilots, air traffic controllers etc. must be part of the citizens with disabilities act.
The government investigation began in 1947 with project 'Sign' which concluded that the UFO phenomena is of extraterrestrial origin, (as did more recent studies by the French & Belgium Governments) The Air force refused to accept this and made them go back and start over, they named the next step 'Project Grudge' for obvious reasons, this became project Bluebook which concluded "The UFO Phenomena poses no threat to the security of the United States" not that UFO' s are not alien craft.
Dr. Hynek, who was on the committee spoke in later years that Bluebook and the even more bogus Condom Report were simply debunking committees 'if you can explain a certain case as a non-alien craft do it, if not bury it. (Some investigation)
The ties between UFO's and religion are indeed too close for the comfort of many, (God's a Grey) if Corso was right they will never release this information.

Jayhawker Soule

Good grief. With folks like this, who needs aliens?

ecco

What is it that you find strange:

1. That the government would waste taxpayer’s money for 22 years studying UFO’s?

2. That during 22 years nothing was found?

3. That the government has done no research during the past 21 years?

Perhaps you should know that our government also wastes money researching things like telepathy and telekinesis. The people who make up the government are a broad mix of people with preconceived ideas and the desire to build empires.

RE: Your list of “reputable” people who had actual sightings or voiced public opinions: it seems nothing much has been seen or said since 1978. I guess the aliens, having observed, dissected, etc. have now all gone back to their homeworlds to report on what easy pickings we are. If the aliens home planet is about 10 light years away, and assuming that they can travel at about .9c, then I guess that any day now they will descend upon us. The big question is which will come first: The alien invasion or the “Second Coming”.

Ihatecheese

Firstly I think the whole UFO thing was created by trailer dwellers in Vegas to explain how metallic objects found there way to be inserted in up their asses.
Secondly the whole thing is bullshit. Pure unadulterated grade A prime Crap.
Any probe sent to investigate earth would need to come from a close star within the range of our closest and even then the journey would be one way. That darned cosmic speed limit and its infuriating link to time.
Then they come all that way on a one way ticket to be elusive until of course they catch sight of a butt which fills them with uncontrollable urge to probe.
Perhaps we should build a massive butt pointing skywards and wait. I have a feeling if we build it they will come.

lpetrich

It depends on what one means by "UFO", which is short for Unidentified Flying Object.

There are certainly unusual phenomena to be seen, such as Ball Lightning; however, such phenomena tend to be rare and sometimes controversial (there are some who claim that most Ball Lightning sightings are really sfterimages).

However, the favorite hypothesis of UFO enthusiasts has been extraterrestrial spaceships (ETS's). In fact, they sometimes seem to think that *every* seemingly mysterious object in the sky is to be presumed an ETS until proven otherwise.

I think that the ETS hypothesis is a modern high-tech mythology. Instead of elves and ghosts and fairies and goblins and jinn and so forth, there are ETS's on the loose.

Also, the "flying saucer" concept is IMO essentially mythological, because the saucer shape is poor aerodynamics, at least judging from airplane designers' unwillingness to use that shape. An ETS operating in the Earth's atmosphere would most likely have the overall shape of an Earthling airplane -- a missile with some wings and control surfaces. However, a very slow-moving one may have a boxy or cylindrical or spherical shape, at least approximately, since such a shape exposes a minimum of surface area, and since a saucer disk would not serve any clear function.

There are further UFOlogical paradoxes, as they might be called.

Why would they travel with lights on at night? Most vehicle lights have the function of advertising the vehicle's presence, which is important when the vehicle would otherwise not be seen and when it could possibly be collided into. So it would be lights off if one does not want to be seen.

How would they be able to perform boomless supersonic flight? There is an abundance of theoretical, calculational, and observational evidence that suggests that a sonic boom will always happen; if there are ETS's with boom suppressors, it would be important to find out how they work.

Also, the alleged occupants of the ETS's show a certain lack of imagination; their shape is not as physically constrained as the shape of their vehicles. Why hasn't there been one that looks like a theropod (carnivorous dinosaur)? Or like some spidery robot?

And what is especially amusing is the George Adamski sort of contactee, who reports that some very benevolent Space Brothers and Sisters care for us and want us to stop our fighting; however, these SB's/SS's never bother to contact anyone really important, such as the leaders of major nations, and they never intervene in force.

To see what I mean, consider that President Bush and Prime Minister Blair are currently trying to keep India and Pakistan from going to war with each other. They are doing so by sending diplomats to the leaders of both countries, rather than giving their messages to obscure citizens inhabiting out-of-the-way places in these countries and then running off and hiding.

lpetrich

I also note that the US Air Force had studied UFO's out of concern that there might be some secret Russian airplanes among them. However, the investigations continued, out of bureaucratic inertia if nothing else, until the USAF decided to do its Condon study in the late 1960's. This study concluded that there was no clear evidence that any UFO's present a clear threat to US national security, though the Condon group could not explain all of the cases that they had looked at. Which was good reason for the USAF to quit investigating UFO's. Which it did.

And where are the pictures and video of a UFO observed at close range? People have captured on film and similar media a wide variety of unusual events, such as the first of the kamikaze-hijack airliners of Sept. 11 to hit a building. So why not some similar footage of an extraterrestrial spaceship?