Of Cabbages and Kings

by William S. Lind

Two weeks ago, a small, single-engine plane inadvertently strayed into the closed air space above Washington. The result was panic. Both the White House and the Capitol were evacuated, with police shouting "Run! Run!" at fleeing staffers and visitors. Senators and congressmen abandoned in haste the floors of their respective Houses. Various RIPs (Really Important People) were escorted to their Fuehrerbunkers. F-16s came close to shooting the Cessna down.

The whole episode would have been funny if it weren't so sad. As an historian, I could think of nothing other than the behavior of an earlier profile in courage, the Persian king Darius, at the battle of Issus. As the Roman historian Arrian described it,

"The moment the Persian left went to pieces under Alexander's attack and Darius, in his war chariot, saw that it was cut off, he incontinently fled – indeed, he led the race for safety … dropping his shield and stripping off his mantle – even leaving his bow in the war-chariot – he leapt upon a horse and rode for his life."

Not surprisingly, Darius' army was less than keen to fight to the death for its illustrious leader. As one British officer said, commenting on U.S. Marines' love of running for exercise, "We prefer our officers not to run. It can discourage the troops."

I suspect that more than a few of our soldiers and Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan, enjoying as they do a daily diet of IEDs, ambushes and mortarings, were less than amused at watching Washington flee from a flea. More importantly, what message does such easy panic send to the rest of the world? Osama bin Laden has whole armies trying to kill him, but as best I know he has shown no signs of fear. Here again we see the power of the moral level of war. In cultures less decadent than our own, few men are likely to identify with leaders who fill their pants at one tiny blip on a radar screen.

The episode also reveals what has become one of the main characteristics of America's "homeland defense:" a total inability to use common sense. We have already seen that in our airport security procedures, our de facto open borders immigration policy, and the idiotic "PATRIOT Act." Here, it seems that no one was willing to act on the obvious, namely that if a small plane is approaching Washington, it is probably because the pilot got lost (which pilots do frequently). Why? Because to bureaucracies what is important is not external reality but covering your own backside politically. Putting on shows serves that purpose well, even if the shows make us look like both fools and cowards.

There was also a message to the American people in the Cessna affair, and from a Fourth Generation perspective it was not a helpful one. The message was that the safety of the New Class in Washington is far more important than the safety of other Americans. As the first really serious terrorist incident is likely to show, America remains ill-prepared either to prevent or to deal with the consequences of a suitcase nuke or an induced plague. Not only will ordinary people die in large numbers, but it will be realized in retrospect that many of the deaths could have been avoided had the New Class cared about anyone other than itself. But, of course, it doesn't.

As I have said many times before, what lies at the heart of Fourth Generation war is a crisis of legitimacy of the state. In America, that crisis can only be intensified by any instance where the Washington elite draws a distinction between itself and the rest of the country. When the same people who have sent our kids to die in Iraq and left our borders wide open run in panic because of a Cessna, the American people get the message: Washington is "them," not "us." At some point, that gap may grow wide enough to swallow the state itself. Kings who become cabbages, like Darius, end up history's losers.

Star Wars film mirrors themes of post 9/11 world

Well, just one week remains before the opening of the new, highly anticipated Star Wars movie, and my human is understandably very excited to see this last installment of the films she loved so very much as a teenager. I was reading that this latest version is somewhat darker than the previous films and is being given a rating of 14C. This means that no one under the age of 14 will be allowed into the theatre unless accompanied by a cat! This is very good news for the likes of my feline friends down the road because even though we sometimes look upon a vast majority of human culture with a great deal of disdain, even we can't help but look forward to viewing this monumental film.

After a few of us watched the movie's trailer through the grimy window of a neighbouring farmhouse, we immediately launched into a lively conversation of the parallels between the Star Wars series and life in a post 9/11 world. One of the most astonishing synchronicities is the depiction of how a modern, overly beaurocratic but still democratic society, can morph over time into a souless dictatorship. The similarities between the Evil Empire and Bush's America are numerous and frightening to say the least.

One facet of the movie that seems most apt in these days of fake terror alerts, rampant media propaganda, Patriot Act fascist legislation and increasing planetary chaos is that of personal choice. The dark side of the force in movie terminology, or entropic path of the universe in modern parlance, is just one face of reality that lies open to us all. The light side of the force or creative path is also open to those who desire it. The difference being that of CHOICE, and how it is up to each of us personally, in every waking moment of our lives to make a choice that favours the creative aspect and the not the entropic aspect of the universe.

This of course entails that we begin to observe ourselves closely, being aware of all the insidious but subtle programs that influence our thinking and behaviour. All of us carry these erroneous belief systems that have been conditioned into us since birth by parents, peers, education, politics and media, and prevent us from perceiving reality objectively. The creative path towards the light side of the force awaits in potential as one by one, each of us use what time remains for us on this planet to really begin to SEE.

It seems that us cats are not the only ones thinking along similar lines...

by William S. Kowinski
San Francisco Chronicle

In the hubbub surrounding "Revenge of the Sith," the latest and last Star Wars film, George Lucas has made no secret of saying the theme of this film and the prequel trilogy it completes is "how a democratic society turns into a dictatorship, and how a good person turns into a bad person."

A pop culture phenomenon like "Star Wars" has an inevitable relationship to other cultural currents of its time. This is especially true of Lucas' films, since the story within their space opera is political: the rise and fall of an empire.

The first "Star Wars" burst onto screens in 1977 when science fiction films were rare and dour. After Vietnam and Watergate and with the Cold War superpowers still facing off, the future seemed doubtful. The anti-hero ruled the screen.

Lucas came up with a simple, revolutionary concept: injecting heroic mythological themes into a fantasy world -- Joseph Campbell directs Flash Gordon.

"Star Wars" edged the old innocent virtues with contemporary knowingness in recognizable new heroes: Hans Solo, the swaggering mercenary with hidden heart, and Princess Leia, the damsel in distress who runs the war room and shoots the bad guys. Soulless technology became personable in the robots, C- 3PO and R2D2. But the true hero was Luke Skywalker, all impulse and openness.

Lucas captivated audiences on another level with an astonishing premise: The Force, which emanated from all life and was accessible to all, although present more strongly in some. The Force had a good side, accessed by the Jedi knights, like Obi Wan Kenobe, serving the rebel alliance.

It also had the dark side, represented by Darth Vader, serving the Imperial Empire and its powerful hooded emperor. The Force not only added an all-purpose explanation for fantastic accomplishments but also had a mystical and spiritual dimension largely absent from a 1970s American culture dominated by the linear materialism of economics and science.

In the third film of this trilogy, "Return of the Jedi," the empire was overthrown by Luke Skywalker and an underdog alliance with more virtue than technology in a final battle fought partly in space, and partly on a green world that looks very much like Eureka (Humboldt County).

It was a satisfying ending. Released in 1983, its message inspired New Age advocates and environmentalists as well as President Ronald Reagan, who began referring to the Soviet Union as the evil empire and proposed a missile defense system that was quickly dubbed "Star Wars."

But Lucas had a larger, more complex and less comfortable story in mind. Darth Vader, the black-clad, half-machine villain skulking in the darkness, turned out to be the evil father of Luke Skywalker and his twin sister, Leia. Even though Vader turns away from the dark side before he dies, the question of how an evil father becomes good was raised. The new prequel trilogy demonstrates the reverse: how good is the father of evil.

Beginning with "The Phantom Menace" in 1999, Lucas explores the rise and fall of Anakin Skywalker, who becomes Darth Vader in "Revenge of the Sith." (The Sith are revealed as the dark side equivalent of the Jedi.)

In between chat on the mechanics of filmmaking (the Bantha is really an elephant in costume), Lucas reveals how deliberate his thematic thinking has been. The evil empire figures wear black and white because they represent a black-and-white world view of self-righteous certainties. The rebels are clothed in earth-tones, representing organic complexities. The same situations and motifs recur purposefully. The difference is in the choices characters make.

In "Jedi" we saw Luke reject the temptations of the dark side's power by restraining his anger and hate. The entire prequel trilogy may be seen as a demonstration of how someone makes the opposite choice, and Lucas has clearly tried to make Anakin Skywalker sympathetic as well as strong. [...]

Moreover, Lucas is clear about the paths to the dark side: The hunger for more and more power serving a possessiveness and greed that include surrender to revenge and to the emotional demands of what Buddhists call attachment.

The prequel trilogy says that hot-blooded righteousness in a hero is not enough, for it is too easily perverted. Like all cautionary tales, this is a call to consciousness. Like all tragedies, it tells us that even born heroes have human flaws that mirror their society's faults.

That's a lot for a film series to bear, especially one wrapped up in the animated noise of a tech-crazy age and partly pitched to children. This film, Lucas warns, is darker than any of its predecessors, showing Anakin Skywalker's descent into Hell (almost literally, in the fires of a volcanic planet.) The birth of Luke and Leia could add a different emotional dimension.

How well this theme is expressed remains, like the film itself, to be seen. Will anyone now want to hear the film's message? In America, the audience seems split between angry triumphalism and forlorn, global-cooked dread. It's the rapture red staters versus the apocalyptic blues.

Perhaps the biblical imagery of hellfire will attract the religious right, suspicious of the New Age pantheistic/Buddhist sound of the Force. But even Lucas will probably not be surprised if this essentially moral message is lost or, as in the Reagan '80s, co-opted.

It's raining shrimp? Get sauce

Sometimes my human gives me a treat by replacing my usual dry food with a small can of very tasty soft food. One of my most favourite flavours is seafood surprise, which consists of a mixture of cod, crab, shrimp and probably other unidentifiable bottom-feeding sea creatures. When I came across this story from an alternative news website, I couldn't help but feel envious of all the cats living in San Diego, who only have to wander outside for this fresh and tasty feast.

UNION-TRIBUNE
May 10, 2005

"Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs." That's the name of a children's book about the strange town of Chewandswallow where it rains soup and snows mashed potatoes. All the town's food is delivered by the weather.

Up on Mount Soledad, Janet Andrews is reporting it rained shrimp on April 28. She and others found masses of baby shrimp on the tennis courts of the Summit residential development.

"They're not crazy," says Bob Burhans, curator of the Birch Aquarium at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla. "I haven't heard of it raining shrimp, but I have heard of it raining fish." About 15 years ago, a Chula Vista man reported that hundreds of minnows had dropped out of the sky onto his driveway, yard and roof. A marine biologist at Scripps identified the airborne fish and theorized they were from the Sweetwater Reservoir.

The most likely delivery system: a wind funnel that formed over the water, picking up surface creatures and then dropping its load as it dissipated.

So it probably went for the shrimp. When the weather gets rough, juvenile shrimp at the ocean surface tend to gather in large numbers in the shallows, Burhans explains.

"There were warnings of potential sea spouts a couple of hours before that storm came in," says Burhans, adding that a sea spout can travel a mile or two, or even farther.

"If I hadn't heard about the minnows," Burhans says, "I might have thought these people were crazy."

Area 51 Turns 50 This Month

By George Knapp
KLAS-TV Investigative Reporter
5-7-5

It's hard to believe now, but not too many years ago, few people outside of Nevada had ever heard of Area 51, the secret military base that turns 50 years old this month.

All of that changed in 1989 when KLAS-TV aired a series of reports about alleged alien technology being tested in and around the Groom Lake facility. The UFO stories changed Area 51 forever, and spawned all sorts of spin-offs.

I-Team Investigative Reporter George Knapp is the guy who first broke the UFO tales back then and is here now with an update.

For better or worse, those Channel 8 stories did put Area 51 on the map. The first time George Knapp read about UFOs at Area 51, it was in the pages of the Las Vegas Review Journal back in the mid '80s. The paper reported it as a mere rumor.

KLAS-TV reports a few years later made quite a splash, even internationally, and Area 51 has never been the same. The reason for all of the attention is a man who said he worked on flying saucers.

Dennis said, "There were 9 flying saucers, flying discs..."

A live interview with the shadowy Dennis in the spring of 1989 was the beginning of the end for Area 51's anonymity. Dennis, a pseudonym, claimed to be working on a top-secret project involving flying saucers of extraterrestrial origin. In November of '89, the true identity of Dennis was revealed.

Bob Lazar, former government scientist, said, "Physical contact with another intelligence could be the biggest event in history. It's real and it's there."

Bob Lazar said he was hired by the Navy to work at a facility called S-4, adjacent to Papoose dry lake, south of Groom Lake. Several hangars were built into a mountainside, he said, and inside each hangar was a flying saucer.

Lazar continues, "They were all different, as if they got the assortment pack."

The story set off a stampede. UFO enthusiasts took bus trips to the outskirts of Area 51, staged saucer watches, told even wilder tales about alien beings running amok at Groom Lake. Media outlets poked fun at the so-called saucer nuts, and at Lazar, but in the years that followed, every major news organization in the world visited or wrote about the base. TV specials aired in many countries. Tens of thousands of visitors trekked to the base to see for themselves.

In nearby Rachel, Nevada, the town closest to Area 51, residents recognized a good thing. The Rachel Bar and Grill became The Little A'le'inn, plastered its walls with UFO photos, put a few clever doo-dads and eye catchers outside, and began selling alien merchandise.

Pat Travis, owner of The Little A'le'inn, says, "I have candles, patches, pins, coffee cups, badges, licenses, shot glasses..." -- along with post cards, posters, cookie jars, and alien spoons -- "mini playing cards, guitar straps, sunglasses. You name it, we've got it."

They have books too, including this one by Area 51 gadfly Chuck Clark. Clark says, "Yeah, it still sells. I keep it up to date with changes as necessary."

The Las Vegas Stars baseball team became the Las Vegas 51's. There's an Area 51 rock band, video game, dance troupe, and fireworks company. Oh, and alien jerky stands.

The base has been featured in numerous TV dramas and a movie or two. Area 51, the base that didn't officially exist, has become a household name all over the world, to the chagrin of the so-called cammo dudes who have to keep trespassers out.

The notoriety inspired the State of Nevada to dedicate the Extraterrestrial Highway, the only one of its kind on this planet, anyway. While critics think its all nonsense, a lot of people have seen glowing objects over the base. True, some of the photos are probably secret craft made in the USA, but a few look and act like, dare we say it, flying saucers.

The vantage points once used to look at the base have been seized, but skywatchers still catch a glimpse now and then of something strange. Chuck Clark said, "Every once in awhile there'll still be a sighting, one of the weird objects moving in that air space."

Several other people have come forward in the years since Lazar and have told the I-Team bits and pieces of the same story. But after Lazar's reputation was so thoroughly pummeled, none of the other witnesses were willing to appear on camera or let us use their real names.

These days, Lazar is alive and well in a western state and still stands by his story.

If you're interested in Area 51, or want information about the 50th anniversary activities later this month, check out some of the links above.

Comment (from Signs of the Times): Speaking of Area 51. Google's satellite images recently turned up an very interesting formation near an airstrip at an unknown facility in the vicinity of Groom Lake aka Area 51. The image in question has been described as a SAM missile battery formation for the purpose of practice bombing runs by US war planes. Sounds somewhat farfetched to us. The image of the the "SAM battery" is below. We will let readers ponder the more likely possible explanations for themselves.