Dennis Kucinich's UFO sighting

Dennis Kucinich was the mayor of Cleveland when I lived there and he was considered quite a not job back then even at an early age. I believe he was only 30 when he was mayor.

I don't doubt at all that he believes in UFO's.

Wasn't he the mayor who put Cleveland into bankruptcy?

Quote: Wizard

This post concerns the following magic trick by David Blaine.

This trick may not have much magical integrity but it is worth the 1:47 of your time for the girl in the pink blouse.

The question for the forum is how do you think he does it? Let me elaborate on the choices a bit:

This trick is legitimate: Blaine could repeat this trick anywhere anytime.
Trial and error: He kept doing it until it worked, perhaps editing out some losing spins.
Audience plants: Those girls were actresses who made the "prediction" after the spins and they put the prediction first in the editing room.
Betting system: Blaine knows a winning betting system and for $99 I'll tell it to you too.
Other: He did it another way, which I shall explain.
I know the secret and won't tell: A good magician never reveals the secret.
I believe that Dennis Kucinich saw a UFO: Rep. Dennis Kucinich Acknowledges UFO Sighting.

The probability of this trick working by blind luck is (18/38)^5 = 2.38%, or 1 in 41.9.

If Kucinich can get a woman like his wife, he can certainly see a UFO

Quote: aceofspades

If Kucinich can get a woman like his wife, he can certainly see a UFO

I always dislike the "I saw a UFO" arguments. I've seen a UFO. Are you saying you saw aliens? Because we've all seen an object in the sky that we cannot identify, which is all a "UFO" is...

I've always wanted to start a hoax. A UFO one would be a good idea, but I'm open minded. Any suggestions?

I am not sure that I appreciate being labeled as the thread starter for this since it was broken off another thread, but he was considered a wack job when I was a kid.

Quote: Wizard

I've always wanted to start a hoax. A UFO one would be a good idea, but I'm open minded. Any suggestions?

get a drone?

Quote: DRich

Dennis Kucinich

Don't Know; Don't Care.

Quote: DRich

I don't doubt at all that he believes in UFO's.

People believe in UFO's, LGM, Facilitated Communication, the IRS, massive child sexual abuse, Vibrations,Pyramids, Politicians, Priests, EVOO, The Triumph of Good over Evil ... and lots of other things.

I'm perfectly willing to go see UFO's with any member of this board. Five bottles of single malt Scotch or about thirty pints of Guinness and I'll be seeing UFO's. Warning: Any more than that and I'm liable to start singing to the UFO's. I sing about as well as I can add to 21. (You Pay).


NOTE: St. Patrick's Day looms on the horizon (and those of you who did the Victory Casino at Christmas time have to take the St. Patricks Day cruise to redeem the final third of your 2014 points) so remember: Guinness is appropriate on St Patrick's Day and it might take me fewer than thirty pints before I started to see UFOs.

Quote: DRich

I am not sure that I appreciate being labeled as the thread starter for this since it was broken off another thread,

Sorry about that. Next time I'll add "split-off" in the title.

As cclub79 indicated, most of us have seen flying objects that we can't identify. The weirdest I ever saw was way back in the mid 1970s, and it was strange enough that I still think about it occasionally and wonder what I saw.

It was on a very rainy night, coming down so hard that I would not have wanted to be out in it looking for or at much of anything. I was driving and saw a bright light in the sky, several times the apparent diameter of the moon. It seemed to be floating slowly across the sky rather than hovering or zipping as most UFOs are described.

It looked to be maybe a little higher than the treetops and less than a quarter-mile from where I first saw it. I tried to get closer to check it out. I drove a mile or so over some back roads, but whatever the thing was it wasn't considerate enough to stick to a path that I could follow with the available roads. My guess was that it was maybe three or four feet in diameter, but since I could not get close enough to get a good estimate of its distance, I could easily be way off on its size.

I would not describe it as lighting up the whole area, but it was very bright, and I think it might have done a good job of lighting up the area if there had not been such a heavy rain. I "chased" after it for five or ten minutes maybe, but finally I just gave up and went about my business.

I tried to speculate on what it could have been. I had heard of ball lightning, though I didn't know much of anything about it, and I don't think I had ever heard of ball lightning floating along through the sky. It moved much as I would expect of a balloon, but a balloon would not explain the brilliance. The only thing I could think of that came close to matching this object was a flare. I had seen some military flares that I think had parachutes -- they were shot into the air and slowly drifted over an area. However, those flares tended to have a center hot-spot with a glow all around. The object I saw looked more like a translucent globe with uniform illumination within. If it was some kind of flare, I couldn't figure why anyone would have launched it during such a storm. I never heard anyone else mention having seen it that night.

No idea what it really was, but I never had any notion that little green creatures were likely to pop out of it if it reached the ground.

Norman C. Miller, the Washington Bureau Chief for The Wall Street Journal claims that Ronald Reagan (governor at the time) told Miller about his UFO sighting in 1974. "We followed it for several minutes. It was a bright white light. We followed it to Bakersfield and all of a sudden, to our utter amazement, it went straight up into the heavens. When we got off the plane, I told Nancy all about it” Reagan said. Bill Paynter, Reagan’s pilot at the time, backed Reagan’s version of the UFO sighting saying, “We were near Bakersfield when Governor Reagan and the others called my attention to a big light flying a bit behind the plane. It appeared to be several hundred yards away. It was a fairly steady light until it began to accelerate, then it appeared to elongate. The light took off. It went up at a 45-degree angle, at a high rate of speed."

On page 125 of Lucille Ball's book, Lucy in the Afternoon, she writes that Reagan also told her about the UFO sighting. Entertainer Steve Allen claims that Reagan told him, too.

***

But as far as alien obsessions go, Kucinich and Reagan don't go nearly as overboard as Bill Clinton's Chief of Staff, John Podesta. Yikes. For Kucinich & Reagan, it was a passing thing, an interesting anecdote. But Podesta? The guy can't stop talking about aliens! He even wrote the introduction to a book about the U.S. government's secret knowledge of UFOs.

I can't imagine why a White House Chief of Staff would be obsessed with UFOs. Looney Tunes.

I never knew that about the Reagan sighting. I vaguely recall that Jimmy Carter had one as president.

That probably got overshadowed by him report of being attacked by a rabbit on a fishing trip.

The entire paradigm of 'alien visitation' is beset by charlatans, hucksters and profit-seekers. Now and again, a credentialed individual enters the fray.

That said, there are kernels that pop to the surface once in a while that make one wonder.

Quote: Wizard

That probably got overshadowed by him report of being attacked by a rabbit on a fishing trip

I have never looked at Rabbits the same since I first watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Quote: Wizard

That probably got overshadowed by him report of being attacked by a rabbit on a fishing trip.

Take a look-and-listen at Tom Paxton's humorous take on that rabbit incident.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SVJhL0j-ojY

Quote: Doc

As cclub79 indicated, most of us have seen flying objects that we can't identify.... [tells story]

Wow, Doc, cool! No explanation I can think of.

It's all Air Force test planes, don't be worried the government is here to help.....

in all seriousness I would like to hear a credible source say they have seen UFO's or aliens for me to take notice. Perhaps a Vice President or a respected military general or someone in the higher echelons of government, then I'd be interested.

Taking a general look at Dennis Kucinich, he kind of looks like an alien, well, not 100%, perhaps enough to be an the half human, half alien offspring. Perhaps his visit was required by an intergalactic court.

I'm not saying this is the case with Doc's story, but there is one thing that is under-appreciated I think with UFO sightings: the atmosphere can do weird things.

The best example might be what can happen at the poles. If conditions are right, ships on the horizon might appear to be upside down. If something like that is possible, I think you have to realize atmospherics can play tricks on you.

Quote: odiousgambit

, I think you have to realize atmospherics can play tricks on you.

But can it probe you?

Remember when Mr. Spock did the voice over for those universe shows in the 70s about what could be out there.

Now Mr. Spock is dead.

Sadlife :(

Quote: AxelWolf

But can it probe you?

Maybe aliens know something we don't know. Such as all you ever need to know about other beings is sourced at the their respective butt hole. Interviews and such are secondary.

Quote: Wizard

I've always wanted to start a hoax. A UFO one would be a good idea, but I'm open minded. Any suggestions?

How about uncovering a "mystery safe"; discovered after the demolition of the Riviera? You could play up the history of the joint, an organized crime connection, etc. Folks would eat that up.

I always thought a "Bigfoot" film or a Loch Ness "Lake Mead" video would do wonders for the local economy. How about one of those?

Quote: Wizard

Quote: reno

Out of trillions of planets, the probability that Earth is the only one with intelligent life is extraordinarily low.

Why is it that none of them seem to have found us?

Because if the aliens are intelligent they don't want to have anything to do with our civilization.

Quote: FleaStiff

Because if the aliens are intelligent they don't want to have anything to do with our civilization.

Please answer this question in the split-off thread Why don't all these intelligent little green men out there ever visit? (split-off). Flea must have posted this during the split-off process.

Quote: djatc

in all seriousness I would like to hear a credible source say they have seen UFO's or aliens for me to take notice. Perhaps a Vice President or a respected military general or someone in the higher echelons of government, then I'd be interested.

Would the Senate's Chairman on the Armed Services suffice? Goldwater was also Chairman of the Senate Committee on Intelligence, so he knew all the top secret stuff.

If not, the White House Chief of Staff is certainly in the highest echelons of government. The White House Chief of Staff works with the President every day. When the Chief of Staff is not in the Oval Office itself, he’s in the room immediately next door to the Oval Office. He’s the gatekeeper: he controls the flow of people and information into the Oval Office. Everything he knows, the President knows.

John Podesta’s tenure as Chief of Staff ended in January 2001. In 2002, he announced that the U.S. government is lying to the public about UFOs. He won’t elaborate beyond that; everything’s classified. But he's been filing FOIAs (unsuccessfully) because Podesta believes “the American people can handle the truth.”

Is this an elaborate hoax? Is Podesta mentally ill? The glaring problem with Podesta’s account is that his former boss, Bill Clinton, denies everything. Clinton has reassured us (3 minute video here; 30 minute video here) that the government has no contact with aliens because there are no aliens.  So one of them is telling the truth, and one of them is lying. 

Who do we trust: Bill Clinton or John Podesta?

Quote: Doc

The weirdest I ever saw was way back in the mid 1970s, and it was strange enough that I still think about it occasionally and wonder what I saw.

Doc- fascinating story! Thanks for sharing it.

My favorite UFO testimonials are from NASA astronauts, because they tend to be reliable witnesses with a background in science.

1) Leroy Chiao was commander of the International Space Station in 2005. He was 230 miles above Earth, travelling at 17,000 miles per hour: "I saw some lights that seemed to be in a line and it was almost like an upside-down check mark, and I saw them fly by and thought it was awfully strange. It wasn’t just one, but a line of them strung out along the South American coast”

2) Gordon Cooper piloted the longest and final Mercury spaceflight in 1963. He was the first American to sleep in space during that 34-hour mission and was the last American to be launched alone to conduct an entirely solo orbital mission. In 1965, Cooper flew as Command Pilot of Gemini 5. Cooper had 2 different encounters with UFOs, once in 1951 and again in 1957 when he filmed a UFO land on the tarmac at Edwards Air Force Base. In this video he explains what he saw.

3) Edgar Mitchell was the Lunar Module Pilot of Apollo 14; he spent nine hours working on the lunar surface in the Fra Mauro Highlands region, making him the sixth person to walk on the Moon. His video interview is here.

Quote: reno

1) Leroy Chiao was commander of the International Space Station in 2005. He was 230 miles above Earth, travelling at 17,000 miles per hour: "I saw some lights that seemed to be in a line and it was almost like an upside-down check mark, and I saw them fly by and thought it was awfully strange. It wasn’t just one, but a line of them strung out along the South American coast”

Something like this reminds me of sun reflections. (you know, you usually find out how far the sun reflects off a shiny object as a child and you can send it around the room)

Something like a passenger plane with iced up windows flying hidden under a cloud might reflect the windows off another nearby cloud. And maybe when the plane changes directions the lights appear to change direction at incredible speeds, which is also a typical UFO description about UFOs suddenly changing directions at seemingly improbable speeds.

The upside-down "Question Mark" sounds like,

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper-atmospheric_lightning

There's many things about our own atmosphere were still finding out. This could have easily been a Sprite.

In this day in age when everyone has a recording device in their pocket there should be much more evidence of possible extraterrestrials. I guess I just need more scientific proof beyond some grainy/shaky video, a few ol boys out for a night of drunk fishing or someone trying to sell their book.

Quote: BoulderDamIt

The upside-down "Question Mark" sounds like,

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper-atmospheric_lightning

There's many things about our own atmosphere were still finding out. This could have easily been a Sprite.

In this day in age when everyone has a recording device in their pocket there should be much more evidence of possible extraterrestrials. I guess I just need more scientific proof beyond some grainy/shaky video, a few ol boys out for a night of drunk fishing or someone trying to sell their book.

Are you saying you didn't believe Walton Experience story? The guy was found naked and alone a few days after being missing (camping in the woods ?) with his 2 buddies (I wonder what other explanation it could be?) If his ass hurt it had to be Galiens. They all passed lie detector tests years later.

Quote: AxelWolf

Are you saying you didn't believe Walton Experience story? The guy was found naked and alone a few days after being missing (camping in the woods ?) with his 2 buddies (I wonder what other explanation it could be?) If his ass hurt it had to be Galiens. They all passed lie detector tests years later.

Ah yes, the Walton Experience. I'm sure there's absolutely no explanation for what occurred there. There were gaps so big in their stories you could have driven a truck through them. If I remember correctly they were caught in several lies. Evidence and "Experts" have always been laughable in that case.

Made a great movie though.