Friday, 11 May 2001

1. WEEKLY DISASTER REPORT: THE FAITH-BASED MISSILE DEFENSE.
Last week, you will recall, President Bush called for a global missile shield, including space-based elements, but he was pretty short on specifics (WN 4 May 01). This week, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld called a press conference to talk about military uses of space. Many of us expected he would fill in some of the missing details from the President's speech. He didn't. Rumsfeld devoutly believes that an effective missile defense is out there somewhere, but neither he nor the President seems to have any idea of what the shield would involve or any evidence that such a thing is even feasible, much less what it would cost, when it might be deployed or whether it even has to work. Rumsfeld wanted to talk about the management and organization of a new national-security space initiative; it would be given the task of filling in the missing details. Not a bad strategy -- opponents of a missile shield are left with nothing specific to attack.

2. ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE: WHITE HOUSE COMMISSION HOLDS MEETING.
Included among the political favors that were granted in the waning months of the Clinton administration, was the naming of a White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy, with mind-body guru James Gordon as chair (WN 4 Aug 00). Congress, meanwhile, increased funding for CAM research to $70M, and even our most respected institutions leaped into research on CAM. Next week, the Commission holds a meeting in Washington. The program will rely heavily on the usual alternative medicine establishment. However, WN has heard that a few skeptics, such as Marcia Angell and Arthur Grollman of SUNY at Stony Brook, may have gotten on some of the panels.

3. UFOS: IT TAKES A LOT OF ENERGY TO GET HERE FROM ANDROMEDA.
The news in Washington is not always depressing. This week, for example, Project Disclosure held a press conference at the National Press Club to expose the government's cover-up of the truth about UFOs. This could have important benefits; Steven Greer, director of the project, explained that aliens have a source of energy that could supply our energy needs, save the environment and lead to world peace. (A lot of humans make the same claim.) What wasn't explained is why aliens travel this far just to grope the genitals of Iowa farmers, or steal socks from the dryer. The "hard evidence" that was promised turned out to be things like a pencil drawing on cardboard of an alien spacecraft. Some 20 retired government and military were witnesses at the press conference, and dozens of other expert witnesses are listed in Project Disclosure's web site, http://www.disclosureproject.org. Alas, actual names are not always used, perhaps to shield these brave souls from government harassment, but it's pretty thin cover. "Dr. KKK," for example, is described as "the editor of Infinite Energy."



Bob Park can be reached via email at whatsnew@bobpark.org
THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND
Opinions are the author's and are not necessarily shared by the University, but they should be.