It's a question of balance. Again, today, the question was called, and fell short.
NASA should know better about non-human life, and may, but still pretends it doesn't. Or the working scientists, who are pursuing legitimate research in their own worlds, know not to ask big uncomfortable questions that will get their funding cut. Meanwhile, the ruling elite of the media buy the the scraps but miss the meal.
Today we heard about some microbes that can exist in the extremely salty, alkaline, arsenic-rich body of water in eastern California that's known as Mono Lake. This death-stew should kill most living things, crushing any primitive will to live completely. But not this new life form that uses arsenic in place of phosphorus to build DNA and proteins. Because Mono Lake is such an inhospitable environment for life, the scientists say, this means that maybe we can find life "in some places we might never have thought to look before."
That's low-hanging fruit. They could start by craning their necks up and opening their eyes.
The esteemed scientists gathered today say their discovery clears the path "for a whole new way of thinking about where to look for life" in the universe, and even in this Solar System. Well, now...
It isn't just that NASA should be scolded for looking down when they should have been looking up, it's the sense of importance they bring to their bacteria while ignoring so many other solid facts, witnesses and reports and that, by doing so, they allow the sense of derision the media heaps on anyone who dares believe that UFOs are sometimes physical craft from someplace that isn't here.
For example, Time magazine's Michael D. Lemonick phrased it this way in his article "Arsenic and Old Space: A Key to Life on Other Planets?
The Web has been percolating for a couple of days now about a hush-hush NASA press conference scheduled for Thursday afternoon about a major discovery in the field of astrobiology — the search for life on other planets. "Has NASA Found Life Near Saturn?" asked the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "Has NASA Found Alien Life?" wondered PC Magazine. Well, no, and it's unfortunate that all of this nonsense has been out there, because the real story is important enough without the hype. What a team of scientists actually found, as described in a paper in Science, is what may be the oddest bacteria on Earth.
Let's start with the fact that reporter Michael Lemonick wrote his article from the point-of-view of knowing what was in the paper, but he wrote it before the news conference. This means that he had an early release copy. That's right. Lemonick, like all the other favored reporters, gets his back scratched and he probably likes his insider status. And, in return, he attacks other people for speculating while he acts like the sage and wise man of knowledge. That's just not right.
Remember, it was NASA's own press release that caused all the speculation in the first place, and not just in the blogosphere. So they gin it up by design, then guys like Lemonick get to deplore as "unfortunate" all the "nonsense." Then he assures us the story is important on its own because -- gasp -- scientists have found an unusual and hardy bacteria right here on Earth! On Earth! Amazing!
I'm sure Lemonick also thinks UFOs are deplorable nonsense. He's probably never looked into the area and, if he has, he clearly has not done so with an open mind. I wonder if he would read Leslie Kean's great new book, UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Go On the Record. How exactly would he dismiss all that Kean reports so clearly? What about my co-author's excellent first two volumes of UFOs and the National Security State? There may be different interpretations for what's being reported in those works, but nonsense they are not.
But we can't single out for shame any one reporter on this story. They all contribute to the problem. NBC's Lee Cowan managed -- twice -- in his report to use the phrase "little green men." It's just so ignorant, and the fact that he can invoke this canard in his story, that a segment producer lets it go, that the show producer approves it, and that Brian Williams says, "Well, that settles it" after the piece, simply shows how deeply the media does not get it.
So it's probably no surprise that media poobahs don't fare too well in the new book that Rich Dolan and I have just published, A.D. After Disclosure. But, then again, neither do the scientists. So let's end with another great quote, this time from lead report author Felisa Wolfe-Simon of NASA's Astrobiology Institute and the U.S. Geological Survey. She actually said this at today's news conference:
"We've cracked open the door for what's possible for life in the universe, and that's profound. What else might we find?"
Well, Felisa, how much time do you have?
The problem here is that Felisa Wolfe-Simon is probably an incredibly bright woman, and a top notch scientist. But she is a product of the system that discourages such brainpower as hers from actively looking into the UFO phenomenon. She is doing good, if limited vision, work. Someday, and maybe soon, she is going to have her mind blown by the idea that she was looking at Earth microbes to learn more about non-human, possibly extraterrestrial, life at a time when advanced intelligent non-human creatures had traveled here from wherever "there" is.
Felisa might just answer her own question by looking up at the skies. If she did, with all the sophisticated technological equipment that her employer could bring to bear on that endeavor, we would wager she would find evidence for something like this:
- Some Unidentified Flying Objects appear to be physical, structural craft with performance characteristics that defy current public knowledge, things that aren't supposed to exist. But they do, and they don't appear to be from here, and they act with intelligence, either remote or on-board.
That is what else we might find.
If you want to know a bit more about the book itself, here is the link to read the Introduction to A.D. After Disclosure. It is easily available through Amazon.com. Or you can order it through your local bookstore.
As always, we thank you for considering a purchase of the book through the button below at Keyhole Publishing. It will be shipped directly from the publisher signed by co-author Richard Dolan, and you will receive a free MP3 of "Need-to-Know: The UFO Disclosure Song," currently available on iTunes.
