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Your Paracast Newsletter -- February 5, 2011


Gene Steinberg

Forum Super Hero
Staff member
THE PARACAST NEWSLETTER
February 5, 2011


UFO Experiencers and Other Mysteries Explored on The Paracast

Special Announcement: The Paracast is heard Sundays from 6:00 PM until 9:00 PM (Central Time) on the GCN radio network.

The Paracast Humbly Requests Your Donations: Although ads help cover a small part of our expenses, the income they produce is never enough. Also, we do not receive any revenue from the ads placed on the show by our network. So we hope you'll be willing to help fill the gap if you can to help us cover increasing server costs and other expenses -- or perhaps provide a little extra cash for lunch. No contribution is too small (or too large :). We have a Donate link on our home page, below the logo and audio player. There's also a Donate link on our forums, right below our logo. Or just send your PayPal donation direct to sales (at) theparacast (dot) com.

Attention U.S. Listeners: Let's Bring The Paracast to Your City! Last summer, The Paracast joined the GCN radio network. This represented a huge step in bringing our show to a larger, mainstream audience. Now we want your help to add more 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 directly. With your help, The Paracast can grow into one of the most popular paranormal shows on the planet!

You Can Now Order The Official Paracast T-Shirt: You asked, and we answered. We are now taking orders for The Official Paracast T-Shirt and a collection of other specially customized merchandise. To get your T-Shirt, just pay a visit to our new online store at Welcome to The Official Paracast Store to select your size and place your order. We now also offer a lineup of other premium merchandise featuring The Paracast logo.

Sunday, February 6, 2011: 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 hosts interview long-time researchers in the field, to shed light on the mysteries and complexities of our Universe and the secrets that surround us in our everyday lives.

Join us as we explore the realms of the known and unknown, and hear great stories of the history of the paranormal field in the 20th and 21st centuries.

This Week's Episode: Co-host Christopher O'€™Brien joins Gene to introduce long-time UFO researcher David Halperin, who began his UFO studies as a teenager, explored UFOs in connection with ancient religious traditions of heavenly ascension and the visions of Ezekiel, and other events. He is author of a novel based on his life as a teen UFO researcher, "€œJournal of a UFO Investigator: A Novel."€

Christopher O'Brien's Site: Home - Our Strange Planet

Dave Halperin's Site: Official Website of David Halperin, author of Journal Of A UFO Investigator

Reminder: Don't forget to visit our always-active Discussion Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal (and note our new Internet address): The Paracast Community Forums.

The Fractured UFO Field Becomes Even More Fractured
By Gene Steinberg, J.S.

I’d rather write about paranormal speculation and significant encounters. Unfortunately, the press of events forces us to deal with personality conflicts instead. The UFO field is particularly vulnerable to such unfortunate behavior, which is why many people have decided to make a mad dash to the exit door and give it all up.

Many of these ongoing disputes are chronicled in such publications as Jim Moseley’s “Saucer Smear,” and I have to admit that I’ve found myself embroiled in such arguments from time to time, even though I never wanted to get involved in these matters. That’s why I’ve given up on the UFO field for long periods of time, though there’s no turning back now.

I recall a visit I made with several young friends to the headquarters of the legendary UFO group, NICAP, off DuPont Circle in Washington, D.C. in the 1960s. In passing, NICAP’s modest office suite was located very close to the place where the movie character Klaatu was shot down by the authorities in the legendary 1951 sci-fi film, “The Day The Earth Stood Still.” But I’m sure there was no connection, and that the offices were rented based on other considerations, such as a low monthly expense.

Well, when I knocked on the door, Richard Hall, a well-known figure in the UFO field and, at the time Major Donald Keyhoe’s assistant at NICAP, saw my face, pointed his finger at me and announced angrily, “you’re not welcome here.” He was evidently concerned that I was, at the time, a paid staffer for Jim Moseley’s original “Saucer News,” which, at the time, was presented as a serious UFO magazine.

Talk about personality disputes.

When MUFON was created in the dust of the disintegration of NICAP (which technically still exists, more or less), Jim was barred from membership. The same situation held true for NICAP, so Jim simply signed up under an assumed name.

Later on, Jim made peace with the original MUFON Director, Walt Andrus, and was accepted as a paying member. He even held, for a short time, a position with MUFON’s Florida division, but was later fired from that post, and demoted to the “J.S.” status, meaning he was nothing more than a “Journal Subscriber.” That explains why those letters appear after his name on each issue of “Saucer Smear.”

In keeping with that tradition, I opted, for this column alone, to also use “J.S.” in my byline, since I am also a regular subscriber, or member, of MUFON.

To be sure, MUFON has found itself, willingly or otherwise, engaged in personal conflicts, particularly in the last couple of years. International Director James Carrion (who appeared as a guest on The Paracast a while back), left in a dispute with the organization’s board of directors. He was replaced in that post by Clifford Clift, also a recent guest on the show, who has since had to confront his own share of personality issues.

There’s been a brouhaha over the recent dismissal of several MUFON state directors, not to mention the organization’s controversial contract with hotel and aerospace entrepreneur Robert T. Bigelow, who earned his large fortune as owner of the Budget Suites of America hotel chain.

Bigelow’s involvement in the field includes the Skywalker Ranch paranormal case, and, most recently, that pact with MUFON, in which he offered $672,000 for their research work in exchange for what, on the basis of the published version of the contract, appears to be substantial control of the organization.

However, this agreement apparently fell apart after MUFON received $334,000 of the total. Worse, the entire affair has become fodder for yet another major controversy involving this long-time UFO investigative organization.

I don’t pretend to know the fine details of these disputes. But there’s plenty of pro and con to be found online or in The Paracast forums. However, since we’ve gotten some of Clift’s side of the story on The Paracast, we have invited his predecessor to join us on the show soon to provide his version of his service in the organization, and why he’s since taken an increasingly skeptical approach to whether or not UFOs are real.

Disputes of this sort surely make it far more difficult to attract seasoned scientists to the UFO field. To the outside world, we all seem to be nothing more than a bunch of spoiled children who haven’t learned how to get along. I only hope that, by exposing these issues fairly, you’ll understand why such things happen, and maybe we’ll find better ways to work together. Certainly legislators in government could learn a thing or two about playing nicely with each other.

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