Friday, October 26, 2007

"Baby Boomer" UFO Craze Hits 60 as UFOs Appear in Turkey





Presidential wannabe Hillary Clinton, one of the poster children for the narcissistic branch of the Baby Boomers family tree, is now 60. Last night she and Bill, the presidential has-been, partied down with Elvis Costello, Billy Crystal, and folks who paid up to $2,000 a head to come to the NYC party.

But hers aren't the only candles and the only cake. This year, the modern UFO craze turns 60 too. Not only that, the year's significance hits a triple fruit on the old slot machine of coincidence.

Most importantly, there was Roswell, NM. where a UFO with aliens aboard reportedly crashed in the New Mexico desert. The fallout from that crash--which official sources said was only a weather balloon accident--continues with tales of autopsies on dead aliens, removal of live aliens, secret research on aliens at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. and those Men in Black.

After Roswell, the term "flying saucer" became a part of our official, everyday English. The Washington Post, in a rock 'n roll riff of offbeat news, cheerfully reported that it was only 55 (numerologists, take note!) years ago that the paper ran headlines like: 'Saucer' Outran Jet, Pilot Reveals" and "D.C. Girl Sees Saucer Float Under Clouds" as UFOs paraded around DC.

And the gold rush of ufology was on. Like panning for gold, looking for that elusive sparkle of a real UFO event--not just glittery fool's gold--is hard work. Then there's the testing phase, which is done in the laboratory of human experience and reaction.

If you didn't have the big bucks for Hillary's conga line, there's still a chance to party down, and for no more than $40. A day-long UFO conference, Mysteries of Space and Sky IV: Sixty Years of UFOs, will beam into DC's Anne Arundel Community College Saturday. Various luminaries of the celestial mysteries world will present case studies of UFOs.

And if you miss that event, not to worry. The topic of UFOs is hot, and the candles on this cake aren't likely to go out anytime soon. In fact, in the midst of the Turkey-Iraq-PPK tensions, UFOs have been spotted in the region, some say.




And, as that jazzy little song says "Everything old is new again." The craze for UFOs in the modern era has expanded to denials of America's landing on the moon, which co-exists with a belief that there are top-secret bases on the moon,alien and human.

UFO sightings, crop circles, claims of astronauts seeing strange things in space (usually mostly sparkles from spacecraft debris), aliens, alien abductions--they're all part of the standard daily mix these days. But hey--what do I know? I've read Project Blue Book (the Condon Report), interviewed UFO witnesses, visited Roswell, and have an "Area 51" parking permit on my car. (Disclaimer--perhaps you'd better ask about that permit.)

UFOs, and the purported aliens among us-as well as the jet-setting aliens who only drop in to visit or probe us--are alive and well in books, movies, documentaries, on the lecture circuit and on the internet. Aging well--not that they haven't been sporadically reported for thousands of years-- those strange sightings of crafts and beings have become part of our planetary culture.

Klaatu barada nikto, ya'll.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

"Preppie Killer" Arrested For Selling Drugs

He's a murderer, liar, thief, druggie, drug dealer, and con man--and now Robert Chambers may be headed back to prison. New York City cops, working a sting operation, busted this unrepentant killer and multiple loser on several charges of peddling drugs.

Chambers, who thought his good looks and sleazy charm would be his ticket to the high life, has already served 15 years for the vicious sexual killing of 18-year-old Jennifer Levin in New York City's Central Park in 1986. Among his many stories: he had to kill her in self defense. That's right, at 6' 4" and 200 pounds, he was being victimized by a girl who was 5'4", and 130-pounds. When Levin's battered body was found, the case became a notorious nightmare.

Not that Levin hadn't had problems before. Constantly in trouble in school, Levin was into drugs, burglaries, and credit card theft. But, groomed by a mother who wanted him to be socially upward mobile, Chambers covered up his inner punk-ness with the right clothes, a smile, and charm.

The vicious twists and turns of this case included a spinmeister's attack on Levin's character, and oh yes, more weird sex. While Chamber on bail and waiting for trial, he became the star of his own video that showed a party with Chambers twisting the head off a doll and mocking the murder charges with weird gyrations while young girls danced in their underwear.

Despite his pleas that he had been oh, so victimized, Chambers went to jail--but only for 15 years. After all, he was young, good-looking, and enough mud had been slung around about his murder victim that he didn't wind up with a tougher term.

After his release from prison, Chambers continued to be arrested, building up a solid record of drug abuse. And oh yes, there was that movie about the murder, starring Laura Flynn Boyle and Billy Baldwin.

Chambers, it seems, had achieved infamy, which apparently, he regards as fame. With his current arrest on multiple drug peddling charges, Chambers will have to work hard to cry "victim" just one more time.