THE PARACAST NEWSLETTER
April 12, 2015
www.theparacast.com
Gene and Chris Present “Shop Talk 2015” on The Paracast!
The Paracast is heard Sundays from 3:00 AM until 6:00 AM Central Time on the GCN Radio Network and affiliates around the USA, the Boost Radio Network, the IRN Internet Radio Network, and online across the globe via download and on-demand streaming.
Announcing The Paracast+: You asked for it! For a low monthly or annual subscription fee, you will receive access to a higher-quality ad-free version of The Paracast, chat rooms, and don’t miss our exclusive After The Paracast podcast, featuring politically incorrect color commentary, and other exclusive content. NEW! We’ve added an RSS feed for fast updates of the latest episodes, and The Paracast+ video channel is coming soon. For more information about our premium package, please visit: Introducing The Paracast+ | The Paracast — The Gold Standard of Paranormal Radio.
Attention U.S. Listeners: Help Us Bring The Paracast to Your City! In the summer of 2010, The Paracast joined the GCN radio network. This represented a huge step in bringing our show to a larger, mainstream audience. But we need your help to add additional affiliates to our growing network. Please ask one of your local talk stations if they are interested in carrying The Paracast. Feel free to contact us directly with the names of programming people we might be able to contact on your behalf. We can't do this alone, and if you succeed in convincing your local station to carry the show, we'll reward you with one of our special T-shirts, and other goodies. With your help, The Paracast can grow into one of the most popular paranormal shows on the planet!
Please Visit Our Online Store: You asked, and we answered. We are now taking orders for The Official Paracast T-Shirt and an expanded collection of other specially customized merchandise. To get your T-Shirt now featuring our brand new logo, just pay a visit to our online store at The Official Paracast Store to select your size and place your order. We also offer a complete lineup of other premium merchandise for your family, your friends and your business contacts.
About The Paracast: The Paracast covers a world beyond science, where UFOs, poltergeists and strange phenomena of all kinds have been reported by millions across the planet.
Set Up: The Paracast is a paranormal radio show that takes you on a journey to a world beyond science, where UFOs, poltergeists and strange phenomena of all kinds have been reported by millions. The Paracast seeks to shed light on the mysteries and complexities of our Universe and the secrets that surround us in our everyday lives.
Join long-time paranormal researcher Gene Steinberg, co-host and acclaimed field investigator Christopher O'Brien, and a panel of special guest experts and experiencers, as they explore the realms of the known and unknown. Listen each week to the great stories of the history of the paranormal field in the 20th and 21st centuries.
This Week's Episode: Gene and Chris present “Shop Talk 2015,” where we talk about the issues of the day in paranormal research, and cover the serious questions being discussed in our forums and online. You’ll hear talk about the sad state of UFO research, as your hosts wonder why there’s been little or no progress towards learning much about the cause of this incredible phenomenon. We’ll also feature on of our outspoken forum members, Robert, known to our regulars as Burnt State.
Chris O’Brien’s Site: Our Strange Planet
Reminder: Please don't forget to visit our famous Paracast Community Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal: The Paracast Community Forums.
Stolen Valor and Other Offenses
By Gene Steinberg
Back in the early days of the modern UFO field, we had a character, contactee George Adamski, who was referred to by his fellow travelers as “Professor.” Only Adamski had no college degree, and the title was strictly honorary, given to him by his band of followers.
Now with those conditions in mind, I suppose there was nothing wrong with Adamski accepting the title so long as he didn’t pretend to be a real professor. Not so with others who claimed to have college degrees of one sort or another.
So we have one of Adamski’s most ardent followers, “Doctor” George Hunt Williamson, who was soon exposed as having no such degree. Williamson also sometimes ran around using the names Michael d’Obrenovic and Bother Philip. I don’t have the patience to explain why.
Later on, the validity of contactee Frank Stranges’ doctorate was also called into question, but I’ll leave it at that and focus on supposedly serious paranormal researchers.
In 2011, The Paracast revealed the results of some research done by our forum members and Don Ecker, host of the “Dark Matters” radio show, which conclusively demonstrated that a highly-respected UFO researcher had faked his military and educational credentials. So Philip Imbrogno, author of several UFO books, was exposed as never having attended MIT, where he claimed to have a doctorate. He was also accused of stolen valor for allegedly falsifying his military credentials.
Now the details aren’t as important as the fact that Imbrogno felt that he had to hide his real background, as if having fake degrees and bogus military experience somehow made him appear more credible in the UFO field. The deception was so blatant that it only made the offense appear worse.
If you want to read the details for yourself, you might want to check this topic (thread) in our forums: Imbrogno, Fraud, Stolen Valor | The Paracast Community Forums
While Imbrogno certainly should have a chance to explain himself, he appears to have vanished from the field in disgrace.
He’s not the only one whose background has been questioned in recent years. Sometimes you read of such things with people involved in more traditional pursuits. But when such behavior is discovered in the UFO field, already tainted as far as respectability is concerned, the situation only looks worse.
Another case of fakery involves Pennsylvania UFO researcher Butch Witkowski, who claimed to be a law enforcement officer. Well, as revealed in our forums in 2010 by Don Ecker, quoting Jack Sarfatti, it appears that Witkowski not only was never employed as a police officer in the state of Pennsylania, he was reportedly convicted multiple times as a felon. His military background also appeared to be bogus.
The raw details were first revealed in this thread in our forums: Been HAD...AGAIN! | The Paracast Community Forums
But Witkowski didn’t just slink away, tail between his legs. He’s still hanging out in the field as if nothing ever happened. I suppose it’s a matter of out of sight, out of mind, but the original expose was posted five years ago, so perhaps he felt it would all be forgotten. Again, we’re happy to allow him his say if he feels he’s been wronged. But I’m not holding my breath.
A more recent example of possible deception involves David M. Rountree, a New Jersey-based paranormal investigator who had murky credentials. In his most recent appearance on The Paracast, in 2013, he claimed that he didn’t want to reveal his actual work background, perhaps because he didn’t want to admit a connection to offbeat research. But he is already a public figure, so that excuse didn’t make much sense.
We gave him his due, but his position did seem more than a little curious.
Well, last month, I got a link to a long article in which Rountree’s entire background was evidently exposed as false. The article is entitled “Author and TV Personality, David Rountree, Accused of Stolen Valor and Academic Embellishment.” You can download a copy from: https://nobluefalcons.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/rountree-expose.pdf and come to your own conclusions.
I read the article thoroughly, and I was particularly troubled by Rountree’s apparent offhand and insulting dismissals of the charges against him. He even admitted faking his credentials, claiming he did so for privacy reasons. But why bother? Wouldn’t it have made more sense to say that he preferred to keep his background a secret because he didn’t want third parties to be annoyed by the media and other curiosity seekers?
But that would be a curious maneuver, since it’s not that Rountree is a household word and his being followed around by paparazzi. So was he just trying to boost his ego?
More important, claiming to be an honored military veteran dishonors those who truly served and sacrificed their health and often their lives for their country. I have no military background, and I question some of the decisions made by the U.S. government in our recent military involvements. But the soldiers who gave so much must be honored. Stolen valor is simply intolerable.
Now I’ll grant Rountree may have been misquoted, and, again, he certainly has the right to dispute the attacks and provide facts that can be verified. Those who claim a military background can produce their DD214 discharge papers to demonstrate the details of their service and awards, if they received any.
It’s curious that those whose military backgrounds have been questioned usually refuse to deliver that document, assuming they even have one. That makes such behavior doubly suspicious.
As you readers know, I’ve been down on Ufology in recent years, particularly as I watch the years go by without meaningful progress to solve the mystery. It’s hard to see much progress since the 1950s, and it almost seems as if the same old arguments and theories are being repeated over and over again.
On The Paracast, we’ve also featured such guests as James Carrion and George Wingfield in recent weeks. Both question the conventional wisdom and seek alternate answers to some of the classic sightings. It may be, in the end, that these cases are still unknowns, and that they might represent visits by extraterrestrials.
But if we don’t constantly question our theories and conclusions, no progress is going to be made. Just collecting more sightings may be useful if all you care about are databases. But wouldn’t all the time and resources be better spent on trying to figure out what it all means? Isn’t it about time to do some real research?
In the meantime, we will continue to expose the fakers, and I sincerely hope they will just get out of the way so we can get on with our business.
Copyright 1999-2015 The Paracast LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy: Your personal information is safe with us. We will positively never give out your name and/or e-mail address to anybody else, and that's a promise!
April 12, 2015
www.theparacast.com
Gene and Chris Present “Shop Talk 2015” on The Paracast!
The Paracast is heard Sundays from 3:00 AM until 6:00 AM Central Time on the GCN Radio Network and affiliates around the USA, the Boost Radio Network, the IRN Internet Radio Network, and online across the globe via download and on-demand streaming.
Announcing The Paracast+: You asked for it! For a low monthly or annual subscription fee, you will receive access to a higher-quality ad-free version of The Paracast, chat rooms, and don’t miss our exclusive After The Paracast podcast, featuring politically incorrect color commentary, and other exclusive content. NEW! We’ve added an RSS feed for fast updates of the latest episodes, and The Paracast+ video channel is coming soon. For more information about our premium package, please visit: Introducing The Paracast+ | The Paracast — The Gold Standard of Paranormal Radio.
Attention U.S. Listeners: Help Us Bring The Paracast to Your City! In the summer of 2010, The Paracast joined the GCN radio network. This represented a huge step in bringing our show to a larger, mainstream audience. But we need your help to add additional affiliates to our growing network. Please ask one of your local talk stations if they are interested in carrying The Paracast. Feel free to contact us directly with the names of programming people we might be able to contact on your behalf. We can't do this alone, and if you succeed in convincing your local station to carry the show, we'll reward you with one of our special T-shirts, and other goodies. With your help, The Paracast can grow into one of the most popular paranormal shows on the planet!
Please Visit Our Online Store: You asked, and we answered. We are now taking orders for The Official Paracast T-Shirt and an expanded collection of other specially customized merchandise. To get your T-Shirt now featuring our brand new logo, just pay a visit to our online store at The Official Paracast Store to select your size and place your order. We also offer a complete lineup of other premium merchandise for your family, your friends and your business contacts.
About The Paracast: The Paracast covers a world beyond science, where UFOs, poltergeists and strange phenomena of all kinds have been reported by millions across the planet.
Set Up: The Paracast is a paranormal radio show that takes you on a journey to a world beyond science, where UFOs, poltergeists and strange phenomena of all kinds have been reported by millions. The Paracast seeks to shed light on the mysteries and complexities of our Universe and the secrets that surround us in our everyday lives.
Join long-time paranormal researcher Gene Steinberg, co-host and acclaimed field investigator Christopher O'Brien, and a panel of special guest experts and experiencers, as they explore the realms of the known and unknown. Listen each week to the great stories of the history of the paranormal field in the 20th and 21st centuries.
This Week's Episode: Gene and Chris present “Shop Talk 2015,” where we talk about the issues of the day in paranormal research, and cover the serious questions being discussed in our forums and online. You’ll hear talk about the sad state of UFO research, as your hosts wonder why there’s been little or no progress towards learning much about the cause of this incredible phenomenon. We’ll also feature on of our outspoken forum members, Robert, known to our regulars as Burnt State.
Chris O’Brien’s Site: Our Strange Planet
Reminder: Please don't forget to visit our famous Paracast Community Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal: The Paracast Community Forums.
Stolen Valor and Other Offenses
By Gene Steinberg
Back in the early days of the modern UFO field, we had a character, contactee George Adamski, who was referred to by his fellow travelers as “Professor.” Only Adamski had no college degree, and the title was strictly honorary, given to him by his band of followers.
Now with those conditions in mind, I suppose there was nothing wrong with Adamski accepting the title so long as he didn’t pretend to be a real professor. Not so with others who claimed to have college degrees of one sort or another.
So we have one of Adamski’s most ardent followers, “Doctor” George Hunt Williamson, who was soon exposed as having no such degree. Williamson also sometimes ran around using the names Michael d’Obrenovic and Bother Philip. I don’t have the patience to explain why.
Later on, the validity of contactee Frank Stranges’ doctorate was also called into question, but I’ll leave it at that and focus on supposedly serious paranormal researchers.
In 2011, The Paracast revealed the results of some research done by our forum members and Don Ecker, host of the “Dark Matters” radio show, which conclusively demonstrated that a highly-respected UFO researcher had faked his military and educational credentials. So Philip Imbrogno, author of several UFO books, was exposed as never having attended MIT, where he claimed to have a doctorate. He was also accused of stolen valor for allegedly falsifying his military credentials.
Now the details aren’t as important as the fact that Imbrogno felt that he had to hide his real background, as if having fake degrees and bogus military experience somehow made him appear more credible in the UFO field. The deception was so blatant that it only made the offense appear worse.
If you want to read the details for yourself, you might want to check this topic (thread) in our forums: Imbrogno, Fraud, Stolen Valor | The Paracast Community Forums
While Imbrogno certainly should have a chance to explain himself, he appears to have vanished from the field in disgrace.
He’s not the only one whose background has been questioned in recent years. Sometimes you read of such things with people involved in more traditional pursuits. But when such behavior is discovered in the UFO field, already tainted as far as respectability is concerned, the situation only looks worse.
Another case of fakery involves Pennsylvania UFO researcher Butch Witkowski, who claimed to be a law enforcement officer. Well, as revealed in our forums in 2010 by Don Ecker, quoting Jack Sarfatti, it appears that Witkowski not only was never employed as a police officer in the state of Pennsylania, he was reportedly convicted multiple times as a felon. His military background also appeared to be bogus.
The raw details were first revealed in this thread in our forums: Been HAD...AGAIN! | The Paracast Community Forums
But Witkowski didn’t just slink away, tail between his legs. He’s still hanging out in the field as if nothing ever happened. I suppose it’s a matter of out of sight, out of mind, but the original expose was posted five years ago, so perhaps he felt it would all be forgotten. Again, we’re happy to allow him his say if he feels he’s been wronged. But I’m not holding my breath.
A more recent example of possible deception involves David M. Rountree, a New Jersey-based paranormal investigator who had murky credentials. In his most recent appearance on The Paracast, in 2013, he claimed that he didn’t want to reveal his actual work background, perhaps because he didn’t want to admit a connection to offbeat research. But he is already a public figure, so that excuse didn’t make much sense.
We gave him his due, but his position did seem more than a little curious.
Well, last month, I got a link to a long article in which Rountree’s entire background was evidently exposed as false. The article is entitled “Author and TV Personality, David Rountree, Accused of Stolen Valor and Academic Embellishment.” You can download a copy from: https://nobluefalcons.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/rountree-expose.pdf and come to your own conclusions.
I read the article thoroughly, and I was particularly troubled by Rountree’s apparent offhand and insulting dismissals of the charges against him. He even admitted faking his credentials, claiming he did so for privacy reasons. But why bother? Wouldn’t it have made more sense to say that he preferred to keep his background a secret because he didn’t want third parties to be annoyed by the media and other curiosity seekers?
But that would be a curious maneuver, since it’s not that Rountree is a household word and his being followed around by paparazzi. So was he just trying to boost his ego?
More important, claiming to be an honored military veteran dishonors those who truly served and sacrificed their health and often their lives for their country. I have no military background, and I question some of the decisions made by the U.S. government in our recent military involvements. But the soldiers who gave so much must be honored. Stolen valor is simply intolerable.
Now I’ll grant Rountree may have been misquoted, and, again, he certainly has the right to dispute the attacks and provide facts that can be verified. Those who claim a military background can produce their DD214 discharge papers to demonstrate the details of their service and awards, if they received any.
It’s curious that those whose military backgrounds have been questioned usually refuse to deliver that document, assuming they even have one. That makes such behavior doubly suspicious.
As you readers know, I’ve been down on Ufology in recent years, particularly as I watch the years go by without meaningful progress to solve the mystery. It’s hard to see much progress since the 1950s, and it almost seems as if the same old arguments and theories are being repeated over and over again.
On The Paracast, we’ve also featured such guests as James Carrion and George Wingfield in recent weeks. Both question the conventional wisdom and seek alternate answers to some of the classic sightings. It may be, in the end, that these cases are still unknowns, and that they might represent visits by extraterrestrials.
But if we don’t constantly question our theories and conclusions, no progress is going to be made. Just collecting more sightings may be useful if all you care about are databases. But wouldn’t all the time and resources be better spent on trying to figure out what it all means? Isn’t it about time to do some real research?
In the meantime, we will continue to expose the fakers, and I sincerely hope they will just get out of the way so we can get on with our business.
Copyright 1999-2015 The Paracast LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy: Your personal information is safe with us. We will positively never give out your name and/or e-mail address to anybody else, and that's a promise!