Doug's Darkworld

Poot, the UFOs didn’t show up as promised. Well, except for some escaped mylar balloons in NYC apparently. Yes, the aliens cleverly disguised their spacecraft to look like balloons, then brainwashed some hapless human into thinking they had lost some balloons. All part of the alien’s diabolical, and frankly, inexplicable plot. Bottom line is, I have seen and heard enough about UFOs. There has been the occasional intriguing anecdotal report, and aliens are permissible in the sense that they are certainly possible. There just hasn’t been a case that has yielded clear unmistakable evidence of extra-terrestrial intelligence. If a truly intriguing UFO case pops up, or is suggested to me, I’ll revisit the issue. Until then, there’s a whole universe of other mysteries to explore.

I’m glad the miners in Chile were rescued. I’m saddened that it was front page news world wide. This was a human interest story, and I can certainly see why it would be big news in Chile. I find the massive coverage outside of Chile just more proof that the mainstream news is now “infotainment,” and not really news at all. And more proof of how shaky our grasp of reality is becoming, where people identify on the TV with people that aren’t a part of their lives in any way, but have a hazy or no grasp of important events going on in the world. I posted this on the twitter feed, and I really recommend it for those who missed it: Our Country Is Lost Believing in What It Sees on Screens, and We Are Going to Pay a Nasty Price for It

I haven’t mentioned the upcoming “elections” in the USA because they are a bipartisan joke. All the candidates do is attack each other, claim they’ll cut government and not raise taxes, and cheer the military. No real discussion of the issues, no real plans for change, and no chance whatsoever that the election results will mean a damn thing. The only thing upper tier politicians do now is act as shills for the big corporations, the military, and a host of other special interest groups that have increasingly dictated government policy for their own purposes for decades. On a local level, there’s some hope, on a state and national level our elections are as meaningful as the elections they held in the old Soviet Bloc. No matter who one votes for, the result will be more war,  more fear mongering, more government, more spending.

In a  last bit of recent political theatre, the esteemed secretary of defence, Robert Gates, claimed that allowing gays to serve openly in the military would hurt military readiness. He wasn’t really clear on what he meant by that, though it sounds like it meant that there would have to be changes made. Um, so fucking what? They had to make changes when blacks and women were allowed to serve in the military, and it didn’t end the military. There’s two things that galls me about his remarks. First of all, isn’t the military supposed to be about adapting to changes? More importantly, as the press and almost everyone seem to ignore, the military is about following orders. If the order of the day is “You will serve with pride and professionalism beside gay service members,” the only acceptable response is “Sir, Yes Sir!” Anyone who doesn’t understand that, doesn’t belong in the military in the first place. It’s appalling that a former service member either doesn’t understand this or simply ignores it. And frankly giving service members the idea that their own personal prejudices will be catered to  is going to hurt readiness a lot more than ordering them to suck in their personal shit and serve like professionals, nu?

I local notes, I’m probably going to only be able to publish three times a week from now on. That’s all I can promise at least. And I have added a “subscribe” button in the sidebar. I likely should have done so long ago, but I’m a writer not a web guy. Coming up this week, German chancellor Merkel’s bizarre comments on multiculturalism in Germany, instructions on how to build a telescope able to see the flag the astronauts left on the Moon, and the afterlife explained. As always, suggestions welcome. As long as they are polite and anatomically possible.

Enjoy your Monday (or survive it at least) and have a great week everyone.

(The above image is claimed as Fair Use under US copyright law. It’s not being used for profit, is central to illustrating the post, and its use here in no conceivable way interferes with the copyright holder’s commercial use of the image. Credit and Copyright: Jason Diamond / Barcroft USA. I was fascinated by UFOs as a kid. Now I’m fascinated by how so many people can staunchly believe in them despite the paucity of evidence they are anything more than hoaxes or mistaken identifications.)