Free Range Thoughts Grazing the Prairies of Fate

You know what I want to see now?  Guns.  More guns, millions of guns.  Over the weekend a citizen at a mall, legally carrying a handgun, almost took out another shooter, but you aren't likely to read that in your newspaper or hear about it on your TV news show (one Jacob Tyler Roberts was confronted by an armed citizen, and then he ran away and ultimately shot himself. By the time police arrived, Roberts was already dead*). In fact, people who aren't cops who possess permits to carry guns do save lives every year by taking out a significant number of society's gun murderers.  We just don't hear about these heroes.  And we surely won't hear about them from liberal Democrats rabidly jumping on the gun control issue currently, caring as they routinely do about extracting our freedoms in exchange for government control.  Connecticut’s liberal rulers gifted the state with some of the most stringent gun laws in the country, and the school stood as a monument to worthless “no gun” areas.  If there’s a joke here, it’s the elaborate electronic entry system at the school – easily blown to hell by rage wielded by a mind on fire.

Last night, President Obama spoke in Newtown, insisting we have to do something.  Strange, how strange, that he and Eric Holder didn't feel quite so speedy about Fast and Furious investigations, where the government apparently did monster gun-running duties.  Illegal guns, you see.  They killed our agent and lots and lots of Mexicans.  Not to mention gun-running by way of Benghazi, another matter on the slow burner. 

Then there's Major Hassan, the "alleged" Fort Hood shooter.  Gotta keep his new beard or we can't have justice. Maybe just let him go and become the President's advisor on matters of the mind and guns -- after all, he is a qualified professional member of the psychiatric community.  With his help, maybe we can build tons of psychiatric hospitals and be the old Soviet Union, where every contrary political case is a mental case.

The mainstream media got so many things wrong with initial reports on Friday that they should never be trusted again, not even to issue weather reports for the moon.  Their job is to fit every calamity into some desire for control on the part of liberal Democrats.  They serve none but their masters.

And there's Mayor Bloomberg, the shining jewel of NY City, calling to deprive citizens of the protections guaranteed under the Second Amendment -- but will he disarm his bodyguards to demonstrate safety in the streets? In homes invaded by thugs?

So, the whys of Connecticut soar, and we wonder if. . .

Why Sandy Hook School? Did the shooter revisit his past and kill because he wanted to erase his own childhood. . .by killing adults standing in his way, and then children in the classroom so they wouldn't inherit what he felt, and grow up to be like him?  Did he think he was saving their lives by taking them away?  Was it just raw power?  Or was it just an easy hit at a place known in advance as a place of non-resistance where he could release his demons?  Twisted and turned and broken. . .he stayed by himself, a loner who had no friends. . .but did he need friends?  People can be such obstacles, a nuisance to be barely tolerated and avoided at all costs. . .and when one grows up with the soothing comfort of the computer screen and games and strange new places to visit on the Internet. . .and video games of fun and violence and desensitization. . .who needs social interaction. . .and they'll just laugh at you behind your back anyway. . .even if you are a good student who eventually had to be home-schooled and maybe too smart for college courses which you took at age 16. . .and they say you don't fit in, but you didn't want to fit in, and fit into what if you did. . .and what is real and what is not real. . .. . .and the doctors say just take these pills. . .and you don't like the pills and you just want to tell the doctors to shove them up their. . .and your mother keeps interfering. . .and as a survivalist she thinks the end is coming anyway. . . and you know she loves you and you her, but you can't take it anymore. . .and maybe her conversations are getting louder, or seem louder. . .and it doesn't seem she's on your side anymore. . .but the world doesn't care anyway at your age and what's left out there anyway. . .so the ideas in your head rage and burn and enlighten and warn you. . .and you know you think differently from others. . .and you're smarter than the rest, so smart that your IQ should make you king of the world. . .and the school is a gun-free zone, the perfect place for people with guns. . .but first there's something else you have to do. . .after you smash the computer equipment responsible for such personal joy as you electronically murdered and lopped off body parts with blissful violent abandon. . . and so you do it and then you do that other thing and she is dead, never to argue, criticize or advise again, and that's a good thing because her ideas had become too crazy and so dangerous and you literally feared they would take you away. . .or maybe you wished they would, just for excitement. . .but what did you do. . .it really was the end of the world for her. . .and now you're unshackled and free to do what you want. . .even though they wouldn't sell you a gun, but you have guns anyway, right here. . .yes, they considered you a little weird and nothing you could do was right, even when they praised you with their lies. . .but now you're going to make it right. . .and show them, show them all. . .and nobody will laugh at you ever again. . .because you're in control, a kind of control they'll never have, a kind that money can't buy. . .and you'll set it right again, even though you know somewhere that you can't. . .confusion boggles your mind, but your destiny is clear and you'll pursue it at any cost. . .maybe resulting in the loss of your own life, you think. . .but maybe you can get away at last, escape from it all and from them. . .so you look around and realize everything's a sham, everybody's against you. . .and now she's dead, you killed her, and what's the next logical step. . .but logic escapes you, so you grab the firearms and go to the school because it just seems so right, your next stop on the road to something you have to do. . .and you drive and you arrive. . .and nothing can stop you or even dare to stop you now. . .and it’s no different than being at the shooting range. . .so you blast your way in because no security measures can prevent your entrance, your grand entrance, and they see you and, whoa! Aren't they impressed and frightened because their lives are yours now and they know it. . .and you make your way through a path cleared of anybody likely to deter you. . .and the classrooms at last. . .you knew it would be like fish in a barrel. . .and it was done, all those things you had to do and it was easy because they were too young to know or ask why. . .and what was left to do, you hear the sirens, and maybe even the voices of encouragement in your head. . .but the sirens are louder and there's no time left now. . .so you decide to check out, and it doesn't matter if they know why you did it and it doesn't matter that nobody will be able to tell them why, because you know why. . .and maybe the last thing you hear is a click initiated by yourself, a metallic click bathed in a fountain of urgent sounds from outside the school. . .and you probably don’t realize that the very last thing you did in the classroom with the handgun will be the only thing that makes sense to outsiders incapable of either grasping your shadows or chasing away their own.

(* A belated thank you to terry the censor, who updated and corrected me regarding Jacob Tyler Roberts, mentioned at the beginning of this entry.)

No Cure for Cunning, Crazy or Killing

Newtown.  You Town.  Screwed Town.

Was there any doubt?  Of course the Connecticut school shooter had "a history of mental illness."

My first thought wasn't where did he get the guns and what kind were they.  My first thought was psychotropic medications, either taken as prescribed or not taken at all  Either way,  some pharmaceutical time bombs are set to go off, sooner or later, personally or publicly. Antidepressants haven't exactly enjoyed a shining reputation recently, maybe a few years of those did the trick.  I'm betting on drugs as I type this Friday evening, the night of the day. 

I remember working in the wards of Air Force hospitals, and in the psychiatric wards where Thorazine was a medication of choice to convert the agitated or violent into wandering zombies without purpose, without intent.  Maybe we should all be on Thorazine.

Kids in the Sandy Hook School.  No place to hide.  No place to run. We should have more compassion now for animals condemned by humans -- just doing their jobs -- with a one-way ticket to the slaughterhouse, where the animals realize in sheer terror what's coming at our hand, but we won't.  It's always about us, only us.  Until the mainstream media rushes off to another story.

From time to time within the text of my blog entries over the years, I've made a basic assertion without further explanation, and the words are:   I know what we are.  Well, what can I say?  I know what we are.

Adding to the murders, there's a phenomenon sweeping the country where killers with guns take themselves out after finishing their grotesque tasks, thus inflicting even more outrage upon angry mobs whose screams, calls for justice, torches and pitchforks suddenly have no target.  Dangerous, because the mobs start looking for a straw man upon whom to place the blame.

President Obama held back tears as he spoke, an appropriate reaction.  One wishes he would shed a few tears for his death star policies.  He isn't crying over the prospect of inheritance taxes on other members of the dead rising from 35 to 55 percent, putting family farms in jeopardy as the mega-mega-wealthy rush in like vultures to claim the prize.  Does he cry over Benghazi?  Does he tear up over more U.S. troops now being sent to Iraq -- and Turkey?  And to. . .?  These words probably shouldn't be said here, but one should never let a crisis go to waste, according to his Administration.  Mrs. Obama told us from the start that her hubby was going to fundamentally transform this country, and wow what a bang-bang up result we're getting..  Forget the funda, we're off and running quite sufficiently now on the mentally part.  A few more Executive Orders and we'll be fine.  New potential campaign slogan?  "Share the wealth for mental health."

The bodies of dead children in Connecticut were probably still warm when NY City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and others of a controlling and/or liberal bent began calling for tighter gun control, whatever that means to representatives of the body politic. Of course, they always recite that chorus during instances of this nature because, to repeat what an Obama rep once said, one should never let a crisis go to waste.

Trouble is, if killing isn't accomplished with firearms, it's done with blades or explosives or poison or baseball bats or glass bottles or the noose or, I suppose, jars of salad dressing.  Almost anything can be a weapon. Even a paisley tie, revealed this week as the killing instrument of choice in the Justin Bieber murder plot.

Legislators wishful of re-election will blather and stomp their feet, and in the end they'll take the easy way out with gun legislation that should instead be mental disturbance legislation with a definite attack on pharmaceuticals and maybe the head shrinkers whose professional lives are consumed with writing prescriptions for brain poison.  Why?  Because it's easier to crack down on innocent firearm owners than mental illness in hiding and profitable drugs in plain sight, and everybody knows it's always best to at least appear as though officials are doing something to solve problems among what may well be the tragically insurmountable.

And there is that other problem -- the shooter got his guns from his mom, whom he killed, and she had obtained them legally.  The dilemma becomes not just mentally ill attackers, it extends to people they know who have guns ripe for the taking..  Now what's the solution?  Until the world stops spinning at a bonkers rate and until we stop drugging kids damned near from infancy with medications to control them, please them, calm them, fill them with joy or suppression -- as the nuclear family disappears simultaneously -- this kind of thing will continue.  We get out what we put in.  I don't think we need to go to the expense of a presidential task force or commission to figure that out, but just sit back and watch the worthless, fancy, financially lucrative studies start rolling out, all administered by the usual political,  psych and pharma-affiliated suspects.

Bits and Pieces for December 2012

As several weeks of winter approach the Northeastern United States, whatever form they  assume (last year's winter blow proved timid, of course), readers may observe a decrease in blog posts here.  Those of a far left political bent would both encourage and cheer any proliferation of days lacking my rant about President Obama & friends, so those folks should beg for weeks of snow and ice.  In any event, should this be my only entry for December, may I just say. . .

IF YOU CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS OR HANUKKAH  in peace, then let the season be everything it means to you.  If you embrace atheism, live as an agnostic or favor any number of personal commitments of peace, keep doing what you're doing, but please don't interfere with the religious beliefs or displays of those who worship without harming others. 

EXPAND YOUR VOCABULARY:  "They May Be Windmills" heralds the December 5 entry for the blog De Void by journalist Billy Cox (see link).  We love everything Billy writes about UFOs -- particularly because he's current and his accomplished writing style leaves me in awe -- and I simply wish to thank him for using a word that most of his colleagues routinely shun.  The word is smegma, and I must say, as an old Air Force medic, seeing that word on the screen brought a tear to my eye.  No, I wasn't crying, I was just reacting as one would to stepping on an automobile-flattened skunk in the road.  Oh yeah, smegma is one disturbing word, and if anybody's gonna use it in an article, I'm glad it was Billy.  I can't actually report that I've ever heard that word associated with Washington's attitude about UFOs in the past.  What's that you say?  You don't know what that word means?  Look it up. . .before you read Billy's article. I’m seriously thinking a Pulitzer is called for here.

THE BENGHAZI HEARINGS BEGIN at last with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton scheduled to answer questions.  Now that more than sufficient time has elapsed so all the main players can get their versions of the truth straight, this should end up as a yawner with no fingers ultimately pointed in an impeachable direction.  Shame.

DISC-LOSURE IN THE MODERN WORLD:  Major articles have appeared in recent days via The Washington Post and other sources regarding the Obama White House's increase in secrecy, a far cry from the open policy he promised, and about the possibility that our e-mails and other forms of communication may be monitored more stringently than ever, thanks to thumb-screw legislation making its way through the Senate.  Keep this in mind when and if Steve Bassett organizes another biggie UFO conference in Washington, D.C. or in parts yet unknown -- and he does have plans.  But official disclosure as The Result?  Craparoni, I'm getting too old for best intentions and the road to hell on which they travel.  But good luck.

SUPER CRIMINALS OF THE UNITED NATIONS:  A successful vote to let governments control the Internet surfaced yesterday.  Of course, the U.S. will fight the international criminals who voted for this, but make no mistake – our government drools over more and more Internet spying on its own citizens. 

THE RIGHT TO WORK IN MICHIGAN:  Like Wisconsin, Michigan has become a right-to-work state, presumably allowing people to gain employment without compulsory union association, interference or the payment of union dues.  Michigan would appear to be the last place where this could happen, yet there it is.  Natch', in his own words, President Obama opposes right-to-work states, hardly surprising when one notes constant union boss White House visits (they should give union higher-ups a room and bed already. . .).  It could be argued that Mr. Obama's visit to Michigan just before the vote was accomplished ultimately assisted in the promotion of violence by union muscle.  Nobody should dump on the good things unions have accomplished and the reason why unions began, but when one looks at the skeleton of Detroit and other primarily cozy Democrat / union-run cities falling into oblivion, it seems a little self-reevaluation is called for, because this tidy combo, in place after place, has poisoned once vibrant communities to death.  Word is that the Dems spent so much to keep Obama for another four years that the campaign money for the future is way down, and this won't help.  Apparently, right-to-work states, despite a load of b.s. propaganda circulated in Michigan this week by the unions, do very well in terms of employment, wages and employee satisfaction.  Didn’t Wisconsin actually hire more teachers as expenses diminished and unionized obstacles went away?

Also, though major TV networks seem not to have cared, there was a fair amount of union thug – mob -- action in Michigan, leading to violence as well as harsh words.  No wonder – once again, Democrats, long propped up by unions, have lost a major source of campaign funding, as a significant amount of union dues end up in Democrat Party bank accounts.  Those few agencies which still exist to handle organized crime might use the word, extortion, in cases where union members are forced to hand over their money, having no choice regarding its destination.  Folks have endured this sort of thing for so long that, sadly, looks like nobody remembers the days when people negotiated their own employment without being instructed that they MUST join a union first.

BROADCAST BOOMERANG IN AUSTRALIA:  It's interesting that the British press -- the same sort of people who assisted in pursuing Princess Diana to a tragic highway death -- are out there (in the "public interest," of course) screaming for the heads of those two Aussie disc jockeys upon whom humor took a terrible twist.

In recent years, I undertook the annoying task of digitalizing hundreds of aging LP records and tapes, many accumulated while serving in the Air Force decades ago.  Whether I'll live long enough to actually enjoy them all from start to finish is uncertain, but if not I'm sure they'll make a wonderful addition to some neighborhood garage sale's free box one day. 

Among the recordings were some LP albums on the Dot Records label featuring the late comedian, book and song writer, Steve Allen.  As the first host of the original "Tonight" show, Allen was known throughout his career for his humor and comedy stunts performed on various TV shows.  Though many of his fans knew he wrote some great music as well, few probably realized that Allen wrote somewhere around 2,000 songs, only a few of which ended up on his own records.

But music aside, Allen and Dot Records produced two very different albums during the early sixties.  At that time, Steve Allen was riding high as the host of his own nationally syndicated late-night TV show out of Los Angeles, and while popular musical LPs with Allen, frequently accompanied by the Donn Trenner Orchestra, flowed like water all over the country, there were diversions.  The diversions were entitled Funny Fone Calls and then More Funny Fone Calls.  Utilizing the talents of celebrity guests such as Jerry Lewis, Mel Brooks and Shelly Berman, Allen and guests made prank phone calls to Just Plain Folks all over the country, all pretending to be somebody else calling about common issues, injecting humor and sarcasm, and these calls were a staple of his program.  The audience roared.

I guess, at least in the increasingly over-regulated U.S., making prank calls isn't what it used to be, because the FCC at some point mandated that the person called must be informed in advance what is going on.  Too bad, some of that humor was quite inventive.  But now people may be offended by such calls.  And now Australian disc jockeys. . .

My first thought was, what's up with the Royal Family's security in Great Britain?  By now, wouldn't we expect that palace security personnel would be intercepting all phone calls intended for Duchess Kate at the hospital?  Seems pretty basic to me. 

But the nurse unknowingly accepting the prank call is dead, a suicide they say.  Maybe the Indian culture from which she emerged had something to do with it.  More likely, she had other issues or demons just waiting for some precipitant.  Some reports indicate that she was constantly taunted and ridiculed by other hospital staff members, even before the call.  And probably hounded mercilessly after.   The two disc jockeys?  I absolve them of any blame whatsoever.  They did what they were paid to do -- what they were expected to do -- and they pulled it off. A phone prank.  Just like Steve Allen and his comedic posse.  Nobody died after Steve Allen called.  Hell, he even sold record albums because people wanted to hear the funny calls.  The prank calls.  Funny phone calls.

So anyway, England is in shock over shock jocks, while Australia searches for some sort of punishment to rupture the very fabric of the universe, when in reality there's nothing to be done at all.  The DJs, deeply disturbed over the death, were fired by the same management which had approved the call -- this coming after Australian government fascists-in-waiting called for new laws against prank calls.

If she wasn't a nurse and instead was, say, a bouncer at a bar, nobody under the Queen's flag would give a rip.  But the lady was a nurse attending to matters Royal, and when you think of a nurse you think of a kind soul dedicated to serve humanity's medical needs.  Well, that's nice. . .

But let's not have a short memory.  Numerous are accounts of nurses discovered to have murdered a slew of bedridden patients with drugs after several years of honored employment at hospitals.  For all the honest, hard-working, caring nurses in the world, there's a small percentage of the opposite, masquerading as something better.  For all the nurses who let favorable emotions guide their work, there are others whose emotions drive them nuts, preparing them poorly for patient care.

The inner workings of hospitals can exemplify the art of bullying to extremes.  I know.  But that's a personal story that won't be told in this blog.

I've known great nurses, good nurses, fair nurses, poor nurses -- and even a nurse with homicidal tendencies whose dangerous outbursts got her booted from an Air Force hospital so fast that nobody had a chance to say goodbye or ask where she was going (this petite young woman tried to attack a corpsman friend of mine with a knife one evening, a surprise to all).

Should governments clamp down on global freedoms based upon the influence of a mentally ill nurse who – according to the usual over-the-top media fantasies – took her life merely because of 5-6 seconds on the phone?

As usual, government officials will over-react regarding the Australian prank, and the global thumbscrews will be turned a little more and a little more, all because of an emotionally charged situation pounced upon by nanny politicians attired in fascist clothing.  Any port in a storm, and any reason to control our lives.

DICTATOR LOVE:  Obama says nothing to condemn the new Egyptian dictator Morsi and, in fact, is intent upon sending more money and a few F-16s to our wonderful friends in Egypt.  About the only thing that could stop the Muslim Brotherhood now is a killer mummy uprising.  Probably unlikely.  The Egyptian people are on their own, Obama won't help.  White House crickets were the only sounds stirring when Iran's people took to the streets, and Egypt's wretched population will hear the same, as the new dictatorship takes its wrongful place.

CLIMATE CHANGE:  Get ready for more talk of world taxes and Things We Must Do.  Obama will continue to pedal this stuff hook, line and sinker, as long as the United Nations feeds it to him -- and wow, are those UN thugs ever ready to grab more of your money to fund their dreams.  Meantime, I'm sticking with all the scientists who deny man-made global warming because they still comprise many thousands.  Climate change is ongoing and natural, with or without our help.  Sorry Al Gore, not a consensus.

PSY:  Why the surprise?  There's no way this South Korean entertainer wasn't going to perform for Obama and Co.  I have a feeling that if I went out and sang songs about killing Americans and military folk, as did he a few years ago, I might be invited to the White House, too.  Apologies are so-o-o-o-o easily accepted by this bunch.  Unapologetically.

THE DOCTOR RESCUED IN AFGHANISTAN:  It's tragic enough that so many Americans have perished in the Middle East, and particularly so because a Navy SEAL member lost his life after the rescue of a physician working for a "charity."  Doc, your dedication toward the good people of Afghanistan is all well and good, but not at the cost of jeopardizing an American military crew in a country destined to fall into radical hands and hate us all over again as soon as we leave.  Haven't you heard?  Charity begins at home.

THE PLOT TO KIDNAP JUSTIN BIEBER:  We wouldn’t bother with this if it weren’t so disturbing, but, like a multiple car accident on the highway, we can’t drive by without having a look.  According to tabloid TV shows, the intent among some guys (pictured on the Internet) who will never qualify as male models on the fashion runway was to (1) kidnap, (2) strangle and (3) castrate the young singer. My immediate thoughts dictated that it seems just about any boy band would wish to do the same to the popular Bieber, but then I became more analytical about the plot.  Now, I’ve heard Bieber’s music, just as I’ve encountered the creations of Jonas Brothers (God help you if you say “the” Jonas Brothers) and the like, and I have to say – it all sucks, and five years from now all their CDs will be collecting dust in the bargain bins of moldy, ceiling-leaking discount stores housed one floor below the public restrooms of dilapidated cities.

Murdering Justin Bieber seems a tad over the top, but apparently the quality of his so-called performances had nothing to do with it.  Indeed, there was some fan worship thing going on here, and one of the alleged kidnappers even had a tattoo reading Bieber placed upon his skin.

Oh dear, this is all so confusing.  Anyway, one of these men even, reportedly, had a working pair of shears or loppers ready to go – and now I’m thinking, oh wow, isn’t this getting into cattle mutilation territory?  No, wait. . .that would involve lasers or scalpels or something, whilst  these are gardening instruments intended for harvest in the Bieber cornfield.

But, this is really crazy.  The lopping would occur after the murder?  For what purpose?  Souvenirs?  I don’t get it.  However, the trouble with potential kidnappers is always the same, no culture and no appreciation for art or history.  Look fools, I would say directly to them as they languish in prison, getting letters of thanks by the ton from teenage girls’ boyfriends all over the planet, don’t you guys know anything about boys’ choirs of ages past?  It was once routine to castrate young boys in order to maintain their soprano-range voices, an asset which deteriorated rapidly when puberty came-a-knocking.  Now, I don’t know about the brutal strangling plan, but I’m pretty sure that, properly anatomically equipped or not, Bieber’s voice, music and act will remain the same for years to come – and I have to say, if forced to listen to that stuff for hours on end, I’d take the damned loppers to myself.  And I’m not getting a Bieber tattoo, either.

James Moseley: Earlier Years, Earlier Words

 What seems an ever-spiraling death rate among familiar names involved with the ubiquitous subject of UFOs, as the decades go by all too fast, has claimed another.

James W. Moseley (age 81) died in Florida a few days ago, best known in recent years for writing Saucer Smear (the title pretty much nails its subject matter), dutifully typed out by himself and then, last I knew, posted online by another who possessed the Internet skills Moseley wouldn’t be bothered with.  Back in the sixties, I subscribed to his periodical, Saucer News, in which he routinely imparted "flying saucer" news, rumor, backyard gossip and opinion.  Perhaps his was the "Grit" (a newspaper of sorts) of the UFO reader.

I don't believe I had any contact with Jim Moseley since the sixties, but I did go into the archives of chance (that is, I went searching for things of mine that I rarely find, but sometimes luck shines) and found a 1965 letter and three postcards from the man himself, and for history's sake I've posted them today.  I say for history's sake because otherwise I appear petty and ghoulish for digging up memories from the recently departed so quickly. 

Most of the contents of these documents won't make sense to readers unacquainted with UFO history, but suffice it to say that I was in my teens at that time, had joined the (late and lamented) UFO organization NICAP (National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena -- see link to NICAP's historical Web site) the previous year and was staunchly supportive of NICAP, its director Major Donald E. Keyhoe (USMC, retired) and assistant director Richard Hall.

Moseley, often more concerned about the people interested in UFOs than with the phenomenon itself, remained exceptionally critical of NICAP, and particularly of Hall, and because his comments outraged me I wrote him in defense of things he condemned.  Thinking way back, I believe I felt especially exercised about his negative comments regarding Hall, whom I had found -- and always found as years passed -- both a positive influence on UFO research and a solid, friendly and educational contact for me.

Despite Moseley's anti-NICAP opinions, however, the Congressional hearings he assured would never be held eventually did materialize.

I've no doubt there were contentious meetings and conversations between NICAP personnel and the researchers Moseley references, though I submit that my own visit to the NICAP headquarters in Washington, D.C. was cordial and informative.

I've no longer carbon copies of my letters to Moseley, though I know I took several opportunities to respond to his slams about NICAP (maybe I was a bit too determined in my youthful exuberance, and Moseley was surely thrilled to have reeled in a blustering teenager who hung on to his every sarcastic word).  He did eventually print part of a letter I wrote (see posted image) in a 1966 issue of "Saucer News," but he deleted most of the things I thought were important to say.  He, of course, would say the letter was edited for space.  Maybe, probably so.

Jim Moseley was long known to many in the UFO research arena, and the fact that he remained strangely relevant and maintained a presence for so long in print is a credit to both the web (and Web) he wove and to all the buzzing bits of information and intrigue its strands ensnared.  I'd like to write that sentence differently, but quite honestly I don't know how.  No matter.  Circus tents will continue to rise and fall with the seasons.

CRUISING THE UNIVERSE ABOARD THE STAR SHIP OBAMA-PRIZE:  I’m so glad to have the ability to feature a list of links where you can tap into the latest news about the UFO phenomenon, because I’m the past and tend to post older scans and information – that is, when I’m not attacking political issues. I assure readers that I haven’t gone over the emotional cliff, it’s just that I see real danger ahead unrelated to UFOs, and sometimes all we have is words, and if one has an ability to use words wisely, soberly, sarcastically, with irony or outrage or humor, then let the alphabet flow as necessary. 

On Friday evening, with my TV tuned by some mistake to NBC News, a report from the streets of Egypt popped up, and to my amazement NBC actually carried a video segment of a woman in the crowd blaming Obama for embracing the Muslim Brotherhood and inadvertently encouraging events leading to the current outrage and upheaval. Well, she didn’t say inadvertently.  Her fears are warranted, however.

NBC allowing blame of Obama for anything is a miracle in itself, and to witness a voice from Egypt pipe up and put the burden where X marks the spot was incredible.  I’d love to simply write about UFOs all the time, but thanks in no small part to President Obama the world is a shakier place, and his negligent and dangerous foreign policy will affect the U.S. as well as the rest of the world. No, George Bush was no superhero, either, but consider that Mr. Obama remained basically silent and uninvolved when the people of Iran took to the streets in a desperate bid for democracy and escape from radical crazy-style Islamic brutality.  Hillary Clinton made a joke about the death of Libya's dictator, as if all would go well after his demise, and of course everything is falling apart still.  And now our “friends” in Iraq are reportedly allowing Iran to fly weapons into Syria over its air space.  Perhaps bolstered somewhat by Muslim Brotherhood gains across the Middle East as the MB attempts an Islamic Sharia law stranglehold on Egypt, it appears the latest Hamas rocket attacks on Israel from the Palestinian side were dispatched with considerable confidence.  One cannot underestimate radical Islam’s desire for an international Caliphate, and because the Muslim Brotherhood – formerly imprisoned and forbidden in Egypt, comprising terrorists and thugs (and remember, they assassinated Sadat) – is quickly regaining a foothold throughout the Middle East, yes, you bet, I’m angry as hell that some very uninformed people re-elected for the USA a significant perpetrator-in-chief, and his name is Obama. Obama, whom, we are now told, out of 104 golf games played, only included members of Congress twice.  From both sides of the aisle, at least? 

When Egypt eventually slips into radical Islamist mode for good, thank President Obama, the Prez who can do no wrong, even when he does.  Even, I hate to mention them, Pravda got this Administration right a few days ago, pointing out that the USA is becoming the old Soviet Union.  The world laughs at us whilst picking our pockets.  Wait until climate change tax initiatives pick up speed in the damned criminal United Nations, whose influence seems poised to interfere with or remove national sovereignty anywhere it wishes.  Even as I write this, a science update notes that while U.S. carbon emissions have decreased, China’s have increased dramatically.  Now, just what enviro-goons plan to tackle the Chinese, when picking on America under Constitutional guarantees is so much easier, and nobody’s body parts are harvested as a consequence?

Meanwhile, we await results of the official “investigation” into Benghazi deaths, an absolutely unnecessary activity intended only to buy time so all potential blame can be removed from the President’s doorstep -- despite his empty assurances that he’s ultimately responsible for everything (including, we assume, the very birth of the universe).  Must we be thought so stupid as to believe that the final answers were not right before everybody’s eyes as the Benghazi massacre unfolded? 

And now we have Syria.  Ah yes, Syria.  What did I read last week?  If the nerve gas stockpiles and such become a threat during the conflict, we may have to send in 75,000 troops to control that little situation?  75 thousand?  Of course, Americans.  With military cuts on the horizon, that would be interesting.  Oh, and Syria’s the one place where land mines are still in style, not to forget  Anyway, four more years coming up.  Enjoy.

SPORTS KILL:  So it happened again, dateline Kansas City this time.  How’s about the next time some football player or some other anger-unmanaged, testosterone-drenched jockstrap champion kills his wife or girlfriend, often leaving a kid or two behind, and then takes his own life, maybe the major TV news shows could start off THAT “top” story by just saying the killer was a thug who turned murderer, and then forget his name forever, and just go on with stories about the victim(s)?  We really must dispense with the athlete/hero status of these low-life killers who resort to their basic instincts.  Unless they experienced the trauma of battle as former military members, I really don’t give a whit about how screwed up their heads are because they chose to get beat to hell for a chance at self-serving fame and big money.  Really, if it’s not recurrent legal trouble with these pathetic morons, it’s local TV stations featuring school athletes of the week instead of intelligent brains of the week.  Every week, TV abounds with commercials driven by famous athletes, and they tell us to buy a certain deodorant because they do, or to buy specific automobiles because they drive them, or to purchase various items of highly priced sporting equipment because that’s what they use faithfully.  What if. . .

“Hi, I’m Bruno Adonis Narcissistaroney of the Northeastern State Central Wussies, and I successfully demonstrate my extreme talents on the football field every week.  I may seem like a nice guy off the field when my fans rightfully worship and cherish me like a god, but, man oh man, let me tell you – my lady is getting to me and I just know I’ll have to do something about it.  That’s why I’m on TV today to tell you about my preferred weapon of choice both on the street and in the bedroom.  Check this out.  It’s not just a gun and it’s not just a knife – it’s a knife that shoots real bullets!  The best part?  It comes with a non-stick surface, and if you order today we’ll double the offer.  Remember, I’m a famous athlete and while I’m a pro at making babies, I don’t handle my girlfriends so well, and maybe you don’t either, so that’s why I’m telling you to keep one or two of these around the house like me.  You never know when it might come in handy!  Don’t be caught short when you’re pissed – call the toll-free number on your screen and order today – and when you call, be sure to ask about free shipping!”

We’ve nurtured and grown a significantly large society of athleto-idiots, apparently craved with applause by the masses.  And in this regard, may I again throw out the words, Election Day 2012?  Proof positive.

OVERUSED PHRASES OF THE YEAR:  I’m no Hemingway, but even I know a screwed up phrase when I hear it over and over and over again:  It’s complicated.

What’s complicated?  These words appear often in TV shows and movies and pop up in normal conversation daily.  Why?  Is something really complicated?  Or did morons with little vocabulary in storage suddenly ponder that complicated contains four syllables, and using a four-syllable word makes them appear genius-level at the local bar & grill?

(“Tell me about your life,” she said, trying to make conversation on their first date.

“I can’t.  It’s complicated,” he replied, impressed with himself and certain she was dazzled by his approach. . .)

Of course, if one needs to leave the scene quickly without taking questions, the words can be drawn out as one makes an escape.

(“Sorry, have to run now, can’t explain because it’s cahhhhhhhmmmmpliiiiiiiicaaaaaaaaateeeeed. . .”)

I suspect, too, that TV writers like their characters to say It’s complicated a lot because they can avoid explaining things in depth with those two magical words.

(“Dad, how do you build a nuclear bomb?”

“It’s complicated, son.”)

We never used to say It’s complicated.  I think the popularity exists for even deeper reasons.  For instance, life has become so filled with detail and uncertainty that any throw-away phrase to dismiss a potential subject of discussion can be welcome.  Multi-tasking has also created a need to walk over a topic with appropriate words in order to get on with other tasks.

Worst of all, responding with “It’s complicated” allows all the young people learning nothing in school or college to get out of critical thinking exercises when questions of importance are raised out in public.  Why risk being embarrassed on the street when one can just weave matters of common sense or urgency into two-word complexities – and because one of those words is built upon four syllables, at least one sounds as if in possession of a scintilla of intelligence?  “It’s complicated” isn’t complicated at all, but to much of our self-hypnotized society those words apparently glitter like gold.

One More:  Particularly noticeable when people phone call-in radio or TV shows, but certainly evident in stores, why do people say, “I have a quick question for you.”?  Is there some expectation that those to whom questions are asked will listen more intently if given the assumption that queries will be issued in a quick split second?  Does the use of qu twice in a row sound somehow brilliant?  Is quick thrown in as something of an apology for daring to ask somebody a question and robbing them of a few seconds out of their life?  I’m pretty sure that most people desirous of asking a “quick question” would hardly be satisfied with a quick answer.

Barack Obama: Half Man, Half Horse?

Saturday brought two pieces of mail.  One was a Thanksgiving card posted in a timely manner, but which arrived several days too late -- maybe 'cause the credit cards used to fuel up USPS trucks were rejected due to the deficit. . .or perhaps stalled electric postal vehicles that logically should have been based instead on hydrogen technology couldn't reach the plug for a charge.

However - gadzooks! -- the other piece originated from The White House, adorned with raised blue lettering on a quality envelope, sharing space with an actual 45-cent postage stamp depicting the image of a sculptured centaur.  Yes, a centaur, one of those half man-half horse guys, except the man part was holding a bow, apparently poised to shoot off an arrow somewhere.  Seems this might be the Obama Administration’s strange way of expressing support for the Second Amendment?

Yet – shouldn’t we expect more from Pennsylvania Avenue?  Don’t we have a right to expect stamps innocently depicting solar panels, windmills, Marxist heroes or polar bears drowning in carbon dioxide emissions?  I have my own fairly sane liberal side, but really. . .an art-appreciation stamp which screams, "We in the White House are absolutely consumed with the arts and entertainment. . ."

I guess the White House never heard of postage meters (and money is no object with these folks, so the extra expense would be irrelevant) , which would have been the better option, because now I have to spend hours in sober contemplation of why The White House wants snail mail recipients to associate its occupants with half man-half horse beasts. Aside from all the other questionable actions instituted by this bunch, is it within reason that there’s a plot afoot to fundamentally transform Americans into centaurs?

Could be this is simply the Administration’s idea of a Christmas season greeting stamp, though at this point I’d anticipate something with more of a Middle Eastern Christmas flavor, such as Coptic Christians in Egypt being killed or driven out of their homes while churches burn to the ground, as the Egyptian people currently experience ongoing hope and change under the Muslim Brotherhood’s beneficent leadership.

Wait a minute.  I think I know.  Possibly, the stamp represents diversity? Yes, they’re big on diversity at the White House, for sure, and there’s nothing more diverse than a man & horse combo.  But who gets to be the rear end of the horse, and what exactly does one call that part?  Then again, what are the chances anybody will meet even one centaur with whom or for which to be diverse?  Doesn't the Post Office just make flag stamps anymore?

Nevertheless, I was holding in my hands a letter from them, the they of Washington.  And I didn't want to open it.

Why not?  Because a letter from TWH means a letter from BHO, and I've written and said some pretty nasty things about the President and his Administration, and likely will continue upon this course energetically.  So why open an envelope stamped with half a man and half a horse, when I just know the contents will drive me bonkers?  Wait -- maybe it's a wedding invitation?  No, nobody's getting married that I care about.  Whoa -- a letter of resignation, perhaps?  That would be enticing.  Nah, nah, he wouldn't do that.  Better just to wait for the impeachment, it's gotta be right around the corner.  Oh, I know – some insider minion looking for a donation to a   socialist charity or to some George Soros foundation, or to Acorn, or whatever they're called now.

Good grief, I suppose I may as well just open the thing and be done with it.

Carefully, I opened the envelope from top corner to bottom corner, cautiously examining the interior for razor blades or mysterious white powder residue.  One can't be too attentive to detail, these days, no matter the source.  Everything appeared normal, except the letter inside clearly consumed two pages, not simply one.  Oh, what semantic torture awaits me, I listlessly pondered?

And so I pulled out the letter, a document beautifully executed via some government printer, and imprinted with the words, The White House, Washington. The second page ended with the word, Sincerely, followed by President Obama's signature -- I mean, President Obama's auto-pen signature.  Somehow, I don't think he was sitting around just before Thanksgiving, waiting to sign a letter to a Not-A-Fan such as I.

Intrigued, however, even before I read the letter, I scanned the pages for the Presidential Seal or a government watermark or something official.  Yes, there was a tiny embossed seal at the top of the first page, but to my amazement the only watermark I discovered was a recycling emblem.  Obviously, they wanted to make a big deal out of using recycled paper, but I really had my heart set on something patriotic like an eagle, and by this time even a half man-half horse embossment would have been a welcome sight.

The letter. . .the letter concerned the President's proposed immigration policy.  Why did they send me this letter?  Oh, then I knew.  For several years, I had been sending faxes to various government officials online via the national lobbying/educational organization, Numbers USA, a group vitally concerned with illegal immigration into the USA and its long debilitating influence on American jobs and the economy.  Following years of faxes to The White House, I somehow now deserved one official response?  Why?  Because the elections are over and now the President is ready to go all out for his "reform" ideas.  Politics.  Suicidal national agendas. 

How is it that these people worry incessantly about this country’s criminal invaders and benefits due them for reasons beyond comprehension – yet the Obama folk can’t even keep four bona fide Americans alive in Benghazi, Libya?  I guess one’s sense of urgency, like home, is where you make it.

I wonder, what will happen first, immigration “reform” or the trial of the “alleged” extremist Islamist Army major shooter involved in that. . .that. . .what did some Admin official call it?. . .oh, right, “workplace violence” at Ford Hood?  Which reminds me, jihad professional psycho doctor dude needs his beard shaved -- or not -- so’s the jury and capital punishment can just get on with it.  And why is the monster still evading the courtroom, while numerous American military personnel who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan rot in federal prison? But not to digress. . .

They must know in Washington, but don't want us to notice, that the election didn't exactly give President Obama a mandate, as only about half the country seemed to be with him and the other half against -- sort of like that half human-half beast stamp thing.  Maybe that stamp actually references half the electorate.  I wonder if the Administration considers the electorate half human and half horse? 

Profoundly disappointed in the paragraphs before me, I start thinking, what the. . .?  This guy, the Prez, is responsible for one of the worst foreign policy initiatives the American people have ever witnessed.  If he can’t get that right, what’s he doing messing around with immigration, as his failed presidency continues on its flight of doom?

I've nothing against the Mexican people, whom, of course, are responsible for considerable illegal immigration to the U.S., and when I served with the Air Force I had many friends of Mexican and mixed descent -- though I should point out, for no good reason other than to be difficult, that one of my best friends with a Mexican heritage entertained this fantasy about one day sitting on the Southern border with a firearm and . . .well, you get it.

So I'm reading the letter -- me, the typical angry old white guy everybody hates these days and can’t wait until we all drop dead, and I'm remembering how, after Obama gave his popular speech before the Democratic National Convention in 2004, I actually wrote his office, complimented his fine presentation and suggested he might run for prez someday.  Got. . .my. . .wish, and I live with it like leprosy every day of the week.

Frankly, among the issues of illegal walk-ins, outrageous demands from dinosaur union thugs and other interests causing chaos, I see trouble ahead -- but the immigration problem will ultimately be settled to the discontent of almost everybody, no matter what.

What can I do now, except file the letter away?  Obviously, I find the inclusion of this particular stamp infinitely more fascinating than a letter full of computer-generated bureaucratic jargon topped off with an auto-pen signature, mailed on behalf of an Administration in love with rule via power-grab, Executive Order and over-regulation perpetrated by university eggheads who live nearly their entire lives immersed in classroom theory, seemingly in the grip of a peculiar desire to institute a socialist-like existence on our soil which failed everywhere and every time it was ever tried. And I’ve certainly no intention of responding, lest I receive a reply like this: