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[[Category:ParaNet]]
{{Infobox BBS
{{Infobox BBS
| image         = Archived-En.png
| image = Category NWO.png
| file         = alt3.txt
| image2= Archived-En.png
| author       = Unknown
| file = alt3.txt
| date         = Unknown
| author= Unknown
| date = Unknown
| subject      =  
| subject      =  
| orig_bbs      = Unknown
| orig_bbs      = Unknown
| bbs_main_page = [[ParaNet Main Page]]
| bbs_main_page = [[ParaNet Main Page]]
| key_words    = ParaNet, UFO, Ufology
| key_words    = ParaNet, UFO, Ufology
| case_file      =
}}
}}


<pre>


(8959)  Sat 13 Feb 93  2:38p<br>
By: Robert Sheaffer<br>
To: All<br>
Re: Re: [[Alternative 3]] - Mars Nasa Tapes<br>
St: 8474<>8968
<hr>
From: sheaffer@netcom.com (Robert Sheaffer)<br>
Date: 13 Feb 93 00:43:55 GMT<br>
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)<br>
Message-ID: <1993Feb13.004355.25186@netcom.com><br>
Newsgroups: alt.alien.visitors<br>
<center><big>
"BOOK, HYPE, AND SNOOKERED"
by Robert Sheaffer
(Book Review reprinted from the Nov.Dec., 1979 issue of the now-defunct magazine, "Second Look")
[[Alternative 3]]
by  Leslie  Watkins, David Ambrose and Christopher  Miles.<br>
New York: Avon Books, 1979.
</big></center>
Can a book be banned from sale in the United States?  Well-
known  UFOlogist  Gray Barker [died 1984] claims in  his  regular
column  in UFO Review (June, 1979) that this one was. The  book's
thesis that the end of life on earth is coming, and that only the
elite  of the world can be rescued, is purportedly  too  shocking
for  the government to permit the book's release. "I'm not  going
to  risk  trouble  by  trying to get  a  copy,"  Barker  shudders
(although  after I effortlessly obtained a copy of  the  original
British edition, no "Men In Black" came pounding on my door).
An American edition of "[[Alternative 3]]" is available now.  It
is not difficult to see why the government might want to suppress
the  book, *if* what it says is true*. East/West tensions  are  a
deliberate  fraud,  it says, a smokescreen thrown  up  to  divert
attention  from the real danger now reportedly facing the  world.
The  eco-alarmists are right, the authors contend: the  world  is
now  facing  certain extinction due to  an  accelerating  runaway
greenhouse effect resulting from the buildup of carbon dioxide in
the atmosphere from the combustion of fossil fuels. Alternative 1
was  supposedly discussed by an elite panel  of  end-of-the-world
brainstormers,  and rejected as being impractical and  hazardous:
using  a  series of nuclear explosions to "punch  holes"  in  the
supposed  envelope of carbon dioxide. Alternative 2 - moving  the
elite  of  mankind  to  live in underground  cities  -  was  also
rejected as impractical and undesirable.
That leaves us with [[Alternative 3]]: transporting the  world's
intellectual  and  governmental elite off the  earth  completely,
using the moon as a way-station in the colonization, and eventual
terraforming,  of  Mars.  The technology to  accomplish  this  is
alleged to already be in existence: the space program as we  know
it is said to be just a diversion from the *real* space effort, a
joint  US/USSR venture, which is far more advanced than  everyone
has  been  led to believe. A lunar colony is claimed  to  already
exist, managed by the elite "designated movers," where a corps of
de-sexed,  lobotomized  slaves,  tactlessly  called    "batch
consignments," performs all of the manual labor.


(8959)  Sat 13 Feb 93 2:38p
It  is difficult for the casual reader to know what to  make
By: Robert Sheaffer
of  Alternative  3. The book purports to  be  non-fictional  (the
To: All
British  edition  carries  the  categorization  "World  Affairs/
Re: Re: Alternative 3 - Mars Nasa Tapes
Speculation"),  an  adaptation of a supposedly  earth-shaking  TV
St:                                                                  8474<>8968
documentary produced by Anglia TV. It is filled with references
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
to  real  persons and real events. Otto Binder  *did*  make  wild
From: sheaffer@netcom.com (Robert Sheaffer)
claims about weird objects that the astronauts supposedly sighted
Date: 13 Feb 93 00:43:55 GMT
in  space. Gerard O'Neill [died 1992] *did* make  headlines  with
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)
his advocacy of space colonies (the US/USSR conspirators are said
Message-ID: <1993Feb13.004355.25186@netcom.com>
to  have  debated whether Professor O'Neill should be  done  away
Newsgroups: alt.alien.visitors
with,  since he knows so much: "not necessary," they  decided. I
wonder  if  he  realizes how close to death  he  came!) We  find
references to Senator Edward Kennedy, astronauts Mitchell, Aldrin
and  Armstrong  (as  well  as  a  fictitious  moon-walker  named
"Grodin"), UFOlogist Dr. David Saunders and many others. We  find
many apparently authentic quotes from newspapers and magazines.


Yet  the  book  is obviously a novel. The  dialogue  is  too
contrived,  and the protagonists' slam-bang uncovering  of  layer
after  layer or treachery and conspiracy is typical of  low-grade
spy  novels. Can anyone truly convince himself that top  American
and Soviet officials meet regularly in docking submarines beneath
the  arctic ice cap to review conspiracy developments,  and  that
the  transcript  of their ultra-secret deliberations  would  read
like this?


'''American  2:'''  I  told you we should  have  killed  that  guy Gerstein . . . way back in February . . . I said that he was dangerous . . .


'''Russian  4:''' My friend is right...he did say that. And I pointed out that Gerstein's talk could start a panic among the masses...


'''A 8:''' . . . and I propose an expediency.


                          "BOOK, HYPE, AND SNOOKERED"
'''A 2:''' Seconded.
                              by Robert Sheaffer


            (Book Review reprinted from the Nov.Dec., 1979 issue of
'''R  8:''' Those in favour?... hen that is unanimous. The method?
                    the now-defunct magazine, "Second Look")


'''A  3:''' How about a telepathic sleep job ...maybe with a gun.


'''R  8:''' that seems sensible .. . it's too soon after Ballantine for another hot job.


        ALTERNATIVE 3


        by Leslie Watkins, David Ambrose and Christopher Miles.
Gray Barker devoted a full column to the book  because  of
        New York: Avon Books, 1979.
information received from an unnamed Major so-and-so. (The  hints
Barker drops appear to be chosen to make us immediately  conclude
"The  Major" to be former NICAP director Major Keyhoe. But it  is
not.  It is a different retired Major [Wayne Aho], living on  the
West coast, not nearly as well-known as Keyhoe, who has long been
associated with Adamski-style contactees.) The Major attempted to
buy  one  hundred  copies of "[[Alternative 3]]"  from  the Canadian
publishing firm or Thomas Nelson & Sons. Jim Gifford, the manager
of  the  paperback division, informed the Major  that  the  order
could not be filled because, in his ill-chosen phrase, "the above
title has been banned from sale in the United States."


The  Major apparently sent a copy of this letter to  Barker,
who picked up the football and ran a hundred yards, charging that
this book was suppressed in the U.S. because it was  embarrassing
to the authorities, and that the "space program is a hoax" movie,
"Capricorn One", was canned prematurely, supposedly for the  same
reason.


            Can  a book be banned from sale in the United States?  Well-
Since, however, the full letterhead of Thomas Nelson & Sons
        known  UFOlogist  Gray Barker [died 1984] claims in  his  regular
is reproduced in the Barker piece, I wrote to Gifford asking if
        column  in UFO Review (June, 1979) that this one was. The  book's
"Alternative 3"  really was banned in the United States.  He
        thesis that the end of life on earth is coming, and that only the
replied  that it is unfortunate that Barker did not contact him
        elite  of the world can be rescued, is purportedly too  shocking
before rushing off to print, as it would have saved considerable
        for the government to permit the book's release. "I'm not going
embarrassment on both their behalfs! The reason the  book was
        to risk  trouble  by  trying to get  a  copy,"  Barker shudders
supposedly  "banned"  in the U.S. , he explained, was that Avon
        (although after I effortlessly obtained a copy of the original
Books had purchased the U.S. paperback rights. Had the  Canadian
        British edition, no "Men In Black" came pounding on my door).
firm filled the Major's order, it faced the risk of  a  whopping
            An American edition of "Alternative 3" is available now.  It
lawsuit from Avon Books.
        is not difficult to see why the government might want to suppress
        the  book, *if* what it says is true*. East/West tensions are  a
        deliberate  fraud, it says, a smokescreen thrown up  to  divert
        attention from the real danger now reportedly facing the world.
        The  eco-alarmists are right, the authors contend: the  world is
        now  facing  certain extinction due to  an  accelerating  runaway
        greenhouse effect resulting from the buildup of carbon dioxide in
        the atmosphere from the combustion of fossil fuels. Alternative 1
        was  supposedly discussed by an elite panel  of  end-of-the-world
        brainstormers,  and rejected as being impractical and  hazardous:
        using  a series of nuclear explosions to "punch  holes"  in the
        supposed  envelope of carbon dioxide. Alternative 2 - moving  the
        elite  of  mankind  to  live in underground  cities  -  was  also
        rejected as impractical and undesirable.
            That leaves us with Alternative 3: transporting the  world's
        intellectual  and  governmental elite off the  earth  completely,
        using the moon as a way-station in the colonization, and eventual
        terraforming,  of  Mars.  The technology to  accomplish  this is
        alleged to already be in existence: the space program as we know
        it is said to be just a diversion from the *real* space effort, a
        joint  US/USSR venture, which is far more advanced than  everyone
        has  been  led to believe. A lunar colony is claimed  to  already
        exist, managed by the elite "designated movers," where a corps of
        de-sexed,  lobotomized  slaves,  tactlessly  called    "batch
        consignments," performs all of the manual labor.
            It  is difficult for the casual reader to know what to  make
        of  Alternative  3. The book purports to  be  non-fictional  (the
        British  edition  carries  the  categorization  "World  Affairs/
        Speculation"),  an  adaptation of a supposedly  earth-shaking  TV
        documentary produced by Anglia TV. It is filled with  references
        to  real  persons and real events. Otto Binder  *did*  make  wild
        claims about weird objects that the astronauts supposedly sighted
        in  space. Gerard O'Neill [died 1992] *did* make  headlines  with
        his advocacy of space colonies (the US/USSR conspirators are said
        to  have  debated whether Professor O'Neill should be  done  away
        with,  since he knows so much: "not necessary," they  decided.  I
        wonder  if  he  realizes how close to death  he  came!)  We  find
        references to Senator Edward Kennedy, astronauts Mitchell, Aldrin
        and  Armstrong  (as  well  as a  fictitious  moon-walker  named
        "Grodin"), UFOlogist Dr. David Saunders and many others. We  find
        many apparently authentic quotes from newspapers and magazines.
            Yet  the  book  is obviously a novel. The  dialogue  is  too
        contrived,  and the protagonists' slam-bang uncovering  of  layer
        after  layer or treachery and conspiracy is typical of  low-grade
        spy  novels. Can anyone truly convince himself that top  American
        and Soviet officials meet regularly in docking submarines beneath
        the  arctic ice cap to review conspiracy developments,  and  that
        the  transcript  of their ultra-secret deliberations  would  read
        like this?


            American 2: I told you we should have killed that guy
But are the startling claims of "[[Alternative 3]]" true? How do
            Gerstein . . . way back in February . . . I said that he was
we explain the interviews with whistle-blowers, the tie-in  with
            dangerous . . .
missing persons, the clues to allegedly mysterious deaths of
            Russian 4: My friend is right . . . he did say that. And I
prominent  persons? Our British readers already know the answer:
            pointed out that Gerstein's talk could start a panic among
April  Fool!  As reported in "The Times" of London  on  June  21,
            the masses . . .
1977,  the day after the TV version was presented,  "Independent
            A 8: . . . and I propose an expediency.
television  companies last night received hundreds of protest
            A 2: Seconded.
calls after an Anglia programme, "[[Alternative 3]]", giving alarming
            R 8:  Those in favour? . . . then that is unanimous.  The
"facts" about changes in the earth's atmosphere. It was a hoax,
            method?
originally intended for April 1." Reporter Alan Coren  observed
            A 3: How about a telepathic sleep job . . . maybe with a
that "the year's worst kept secret was that [[Alternative 3]] was a
            gun.
spoof  . . . if you know that 'a hoax is a hoax,  how can you
            R 8: that  seems sensible . . . it's too soon after
possibly attack it for lacking authenticity?" He suggested that
            Ballantine for another hot job.
had he not been in on the "secret" in advance, while the total
preposterousness of the story itself might not have deterred
belief, the acting was so unconvincing as to remove all doubt.


            Gray  Barker  devoted a full column to the book  because  of
It  seems  that  we Americans, who  almost  never  read  the
        information received from an unnamed Major so-and-so. (The  hints
British  press  and whose own media have said  virtually  nothing
        Barker drops appear to be chosen to make us immediately  conclude
about  this  matter,  are  having our  credulity  tested  by  the
        "The  Major" to be former NICAP director Major Keyhoe. But it  is
promoters  of "[[Alternative 3]]". Some of us have already  risen  to
        not.  It is a different retired Major [Wayne Aho], living on  the
the  occasion, mustering credulity above and beyond the  call  of
        West coast, not nearly as well-known as Keyhoe, who has long been
duty: [[Gray Barker (Military)|Major A., Gray Barker]] (the first to write a book about  the
        associated with Adamski-style contactees.) The Major attempted to
supposedly  mysterious  "[[Men In Black]]," whose existence  has  now
        buy  one  hundred  copies of "Alternative 3"  from  the  Canadian
been swallowed by [[Allen Hynek|Hynek]], [[Jacques Vallee|Vallee]], [[John Keel|Keel]], [[Jerome Clark|Clark]] and many others), as
        publishing firm or Thomas Nelson & Sons. Jim Gifford, the manager
well  as [[Timothy Green Beckley]], editor of "UFO Review". Don't  be
        of  the  paperback division, informed the Major  that  the  order
the  next  to  bite the hook. The marketing  of  "[[Alternative 3]]"
        could not be filled because, in his ill-chosen phrase, "the above
represents a real-world test of the old adage that a fool and his
        title has been banned from sale in the United States."
money are soon parted.
            The  Major apparently sent a copy of this letter to  Barker,
        who picked up the football and ran a hundred yards, charging that
        this book was suppressed in the U.S. because it was  embarrassing
        to the authorities, and that the "space program is a hoax" movie,
        "Capricorn One", was canned prematurely, supposedly for the  same
        reason.
            Since, however, the full letterhead of Thomas Nelson &  Sons
        is  reproduced in the Barker piece, I wrote to Gifford asking  if
        "Alternative  3"  really  was banned in  the  United  States.  He
        replied  that it is unfortunate that Barker did not contact  him
        before rushing off to print, as it would have saved  considerable
        embarrassment  on  both their behalfs! The reason  the  book  was
        supposedly  "banned"  in the U.S. , he explained, was  that  Avon
        Books  had purchased the U.S. paperback rights. Had the  Canadian
        firm  filled the Major's order, it faced the risk of  a  whopping
        lawsuit from Avon Books.
            But are the startling claims of "Alternative 3" true? How do
        we  explain the interviews with whistle-blowers, the tie-in  with
        missing  persons,  the clues to allegedly  mysterious  deaths  of
        prominent  persons? Our British readers already know the  answer:
        April  Fool!  As reported in "The Times" of London  on  June  21,
        1977,  the day after the TV version was  presented,  "Independent
        television  companies  last night received  hundreds  of  protest
        calls after an Anglia programme, "Alternative 3", giving alarming
        "facts"  about changes in the earth's atmosphere. It was a  hoax,
        originally  intended for April 1." Reporter Alan  Coren  observed
        that  "the year's worst kept secret was that Alternative 3 was  a
        spoof  .  .  . if you know that 'a hoax is a hoax,  how  can  you
        possibly  attack it for lacking authenticity?" He suggested  that
        had  he not been in on the "secret" in advance, while  the  total
        preposterousness  of  the story itself might  not  have  deterred
        belief, the acting was so unconvincing as to remove all doubt.
            It  seems  that  we Americans, who  almost  never  read  the
        British  press  and whose own media have said  virtually  nothing
        about  this  matter,  are  having our  credulity  tested  by  the
        promoters  of "Alternative 3". Some of us have already  risen  to
        the  occasion, mustering credulity above and beyond the  call  of
        duty: Major A., Gray Barker (the first to write a book about  the
        supposedly  mysterious  "Men In Black," whose existence  has  now
        been swallowed by Hynek, Vallee, Keel, Clark and many others), as
        well  as Timothy Green Beckley, editor of "UFO Review". Don't  be
        the  next  to  bite the hook. The marketing  of  "Alternative 3"
        represents a real-world test of the old adage that a fool and his
        money are soon parted.
--
--


        Robert Sheaffer - Scepticus Maximus - sheaffer@netcom.com
Robert Sheaffer - Scepticus Maximus - sheaffer@netcom.com


Past Chairman, The Bay Area Skeptics - for whom I speak only when authorized!
Past Chairman, The Bay Area Skeptics - for whom I speak only when authorized!


<blockquote>
"Truth is the summit of being: justice is the application of it to affairs. All individual natures stand in a scale, according to the purity of this element in them. The will of the pure runs down from them into other natures, as water runs down from a higher into a lower vessel. This natural force is no more to be withstood, than any other natural force."


    "Truth is the summit of being: justice is the application of it
- Emerson: Essay, "Character"  (1844)
      to affairs. All individual natures stand in a scale, according
</blockquote>
      to the purity of this element in them. The will of the pure runs
      down from them into other natures, as water runs down from a
      higher into a lower vessel. This natural force is no more to be
      withstood, than any other natural force."
 
                  - Emerson: Essay, "Character"  (1844)


<pre>
--- ConfMail V4.00
--- ConfMail V4.00
  * Origin: Paranet(sm) - The world's leading UFO Investigative News Network
  * Origin: Paranet(sm) - The world's leading UFO Investigative News Network
(1:30163/150)
(1:30163/150)


</pre>


{{article summary
| image = Category NWO.png
| title = {{TITLE}}
| summary =
}}


 
[[Category: ParaNet]]
</pre>
[[Category: UFO]]
[[Category: Ufology]]
[[Category: Pyramid]]
[[Category: BBS]]
[[Category: Alternative 3]]
[[Category: Protocol 5]]

Latest revision as of 21:43, 2 August 2025

ParaNet BBS/alt3
File Name: alt3.txt
Author: Unknown
Date: Unknown
Posting BBS: Unknown
BBS Main Page: ParaNet Main Page
Key Words: ParaNet, UFO, Ufology


(8959) Sat 13 Feb 93 2:38p
By: Robert Sheaffer
To: All
Re: Re: Alternative 3 - Mars Nasa Tapes
St: 8474<>8968

From: sheaffer@netcom.com (Robert Sheaffer)
Date: 13 Feb 93 00:43:55 GMT
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)
Message-ID: <1993Feb13.004355.25186@netcom.com>
Newsgroups: alt.alien.visitors

"BOOK, HYPE, AND SNOOKERED" by Robert Sheaffer

(Book Review reprinted from the Nov.Dec., 1979 issue of the now-defunct magazine, "Second Look")


Alternative 3

by Leslie Watkins, David Ambrose and Christopher Miles.
New York: Avon Books, 1979.

Can a book be banned from sale in the United States? Well- known UFOlogist Gray Barker [died 1984] claims in his regular column in UFO Review (June, 1979) that this one was. The book's thesis that the end of life on earth is coming, and that only the elite of the world can be rescued, is purportedly too shocking for the government to permit the book's release. "I'm not going to risk trouble by trying to get a copy," Barker shudders (although after I effortlessly obtained a copy of the original British edition, no "Men In Black" came pounding on my door).

An American edition of "Alternative 3" is available now. It is not difficult to see why the government might want to suppress the book, *if* what it says is true*. East/West tensions are a deliberate fraud, it says, a smokescreen thrown up to divert attention from the real danger now reportedly facing the world. The eco-alarmists are right, the authors contend: the world is now facing certain extinction due to an accelerating runaway greenhouse effect resulting from the buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from the combustion of fossil fuels. Alternative 1 was supposedly discussed by an elite panel of end-of-the-world brainstormers, and rejected as being impractical and hazardous: using a series of nuclear explosions to "punch holes" in the supposed envelope of carbon dioxide. Alternative 2 - moving the elite of mankind to live in underground cities - was also rejected as impractical and undesirable.

That leaves us with Alternative 3: transporting the world's intellectual and governmental elite off the earth completely, using the moon as a way-station in the colonization, and eventual terraforming, of Mars. The technology to accomplish this is alleged to already be in existence: the space program as we know it is said to be just a diversion from the *real* space effort, a joint US/USSR venture, which is far more advanced than everyone has been led to believe. A lunar colony is claimed to already exist, managed by the elite "designated movers," where a corps of de-sexed, lobotomized slaves, tactlessly called "batch consignments," performs all of the manual labor.

It is difficult for the casual reader to know what to make of Alternative 3. The book purports to be non-fictional (the British edition carries the categorization "World Affairs/ Speculation"), an adaptation of a supposedly earth-shaking TV documentary produced by Anglia TV. It is filled with references to real persons and real events. Otto Binder *did* make wild claims about weird objects that the astronauts supposedly sighted in space. Gerard O'Neill [died 1992] *did* make headlines with his advocacy of space colonies (the US/USSR conspirators are said to have debated whether Professor O'Neill should be done away with, since he knows so much: "not necessary," they decided. I wonder if he realizes how close to death he came!) We find references to Senator Edward Kennedy, astronauts Mitchell, Aldrin and Armstrong (as well as a fictitious moon-walker named "Grodin"), UFOlogist Dr. David Saunders and many others. We find many apparently authentic quotes from newspapers and magazines.

Yet the book is obviously a novel. The dialogue is too contrived, and the protagonists' slam-bang uncovering of layer after layer or treachery and conspiracy is typical of low-grade spy novels. Can anyone truly convince himself that top American and Soviet officials meet regularly in docking submarines beneath the arctic ice cap to review conspiracy developments, and that the transcript of their ultra-secret deliberations would read like this?

American 2: I told you we should have killed that guy Gerstein . . . way back in February . . . I said that he was dangerous . . .

Russian 4: My friend is right...he did say that. And I pointed out that Gerstein's talk could start a panic among the masses...

A 8: . . . and I propose an expediency.

A 2: Seconded.

R 8: Those in favour?... hen that is unanimous. The method?

A 3: How about a telepathic sleep job ...maybe with a gun.

R 8: that seems sensible .. . it's too soon after Ballantine for another hot job.


Gray Barker devoted a full column to the book because of information received from an unnamed Major so-and-so. (The hints Barker drops appear to be chosen to make us immediately conclude "The Major" to be former NICAP director Major Keyhoe. But it is not. It is a different retired Major [Wayne Aho], living on the West coast, not nearly as well-known as Keyhoe, who has long been associated with Adamski-style contactees.) The Major attempted to buy one hundred copies of "Alternative 3" from the Canadian publishing firm or Thomas Nelson & Sons. Jim Gifford, the manager of the paperback division, informed the Major that the order could not be filled because, in his ill-chosen phrase, "the above title has been banned from sale in the United States."

The Major apparently sent a copy of this letter to Barker, who picked up the football and ran a hundred yards, charging that this book was suppressed in the U.S. because it was embarrassing to the authorities, and that the "space program is a hoax" movie, "Capricorn One", was canned prematurely, supposedly for the same reason.

Since, however, the full letterhead of Thomas Nelson & Sons is reproduced in the Barker piece, I wrote to Gifford asking if "Alternative 3" really was banned in the United States. He replied that it is unfortunate that Barker did not contact him before rushing off to print, as it would have saved considerable embarrassment on both their behalfs! The reason the book was supposedly "banned" in the U.S. , he explained, was that Avon Books had purchased the U.S. paperback rights. Had the Canadian firm filled the Major's order, it faced the risk of a whopping lawsuit from Avon Books.

But are the startling claims of "Alternative 3" true? How do we explain the interviews with whistle-blowers, the tie-in with missing persons, the clues to allegedly mysterious deaths of prominent persons? Our British readers already know the answer: April Fool! As reported in "The Times" of London on June 21, 1977, the day after the TV version was presented, "Independent television companies last night received hundreds of protest calls after an Anglia programme, "Alternative 3", giving alarming "facts" about changes in the earth's atmosphere. It was a hoax, originally intended for April 1." Reporter Alan Coren observed that "the year's worst kept secret was that Alternative 3 was a spoof . . . if you know that 'a hoax is a hoax, how can you possibly attack it for lacking authenticity?" He suggested that had he not been in on the "secret" in advance, while the total preposterousness of the story itself might not have deterred belief, the acting was so unconvincing as to remove all doubt.

It seems that we Americans, who almost never read the British press and whose own media have said virtually nothing about this matter, are having our credulity tested by the promoters of "Alternative 3". Some of us have already risen to the occasion, mustering credulity above and beyond the call of duty: Major A., Gray Barker (the first to write a book about the supposedly mysterious "Men In Black," whose existence has now been swallowed by Hynek, Vallee, Keel, Clark and many others), as well as Timothy Green Beckley, editor of "UFO Review". Don't be the next to bite the hook. The marketing of "Alternative 3" represents a real-world test of the old adage that a fool and his money are soon parted. --

Robert Sheaffer - Scepticus Maximus - sheaffer@netcom.com

Past Chairman, The Bay Area Skeptics - for whom I speak only when authorized!

"Truth is the summit of being: justice is the application of it to affairs. All individual natures stand in a scale, according to the purity of this element in them. The will of the pure runs down from them into other natures, as water runs down from a higher into a lower vessel. This natural force is no more to be withstood, than any other natural force."

- Emerson: Essay, "Character" (1844) 

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