<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'> I said I wasn't going to bother repeating myself on this thread, but since you are being such a sweetheart, I feel obligated to respond to all of your "facts and reason"It shouldn't bother you though if I just pick and choose my responses and piece-meal it together:</p><p>JC: "The issue is that makes a specific claim and provides no evidence to back. He is the one making the claim, he is the one who needs to back it up."</p><p>OSS: Duh, okay, I think...(From what I can make of this through the mangled grammer.)</DIV></p><p>We agree</p><p>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>JC: "if this event really happened and really wasclassified he has already spilled the beans. He has got nothing more to loose by providing supporting evidence."</p><p>OSS: Sure, getting access to classified documentation is as easy as rolling off a log.</DIV></p><p>Who said anything about it being easy? But if you are going to make way out statements without supporting evidence you have to expect people to take them with a pinch of salt.</p><p>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>JC: "McClelland is in the same boat as a person saying that US nuclear submarines and dive to 5000 m and travel at 70 kts. They should provide some supporting evidence. if they are disclosing classified information they were privy to then what have they to loose by disclosing more?"</p><p>OSS: Uh, maybe 20 years in Leavenworth if he illegally discloses actual classified documents</DIV></p><p>A story this important would be worth it.</p><p>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>JC: "they all end either in dead ends because of inconclusive evience or they are conclusively shown to be misidentifcations. Not one has come though with specific evidence that supports the speculation that we are being visited by aliens, not in 60 years. So until someone has that evidence, who should any time be wasted on them??</p><p>OSS: My whole point is that anything real will be CLASSIFIED. Anything that has been released will either be fake or disinformation. This is the point you conveniently ignored. </DIV></p><p>Not all knowledge is within any government's power to classify.</p><p>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>JC: "Of course nuclear submarines actually exist. I have seen them and I know people who have served on them."</p><p>OSS: Again you missed my point, I asked that you provide me the blueprints for their construction, i.e. they are CLASSIFIED, can't do it.</DIV></p><p>You don't need blue prints to show that they exist. There is also considerable information that can be cgeaned about the details off how they are designed built and operated. Including dubtless information that would technically be classified.</p><p>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>JC: "As for black projects, if they are real (Steath, SR71 etc.) they come to light, sooner or later If they don't then they remain unsubstantiated speculation by people with over active imaginations.</DIV></p><p>OSS: Boy that is an all encompassing statement...and wrong. Do you know how many classified programs from WWII are still unknown? Project Mogel for example wasn't revealed until 1995 or so.</DIV></p><p>It might have been classified but the general details were still known long before then. I read about them in the early 80's. Just because something is classified does not mean that overal details are not known, or that declassification will dramatically change the overal picture.</p><p>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>JC: "Big secrets can't be kept secret for every, secrecy or not. Blaming secrecy for lack of substantiated evidence after 60 years is sour grapes, as m ost UF sightings are not classified. It is far more likely that there is nothing there."</p><p>OSS: Again, just another incorrect assumption on your part</DIV></p><p>Not an assumption, it is basic fact of history.</p><p>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>.JC: "No matter how many documents are declassified (and many have) a true believer will always say that there must be more that are being hidden. It is an irrefutable argument but not useful. You might as well argue that there are secret files on pixies and the fact that no evidence has been forthcoming just shows how well hidden they are.</p><p>OSS: Wrong, wrong, wrong, No one has claimed there are files on pixies. But lots of folks with credentials to back it up have made claims regarding documents about ufos.</DIV></p><p>How do you know there are not? It just shows how well hidden they are.</p><p>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>JC: "This is called shooting the messenger. Youy don't like the conclusions and so blame the "debunkers". This shows you already think that UFOs really are alien spacecraft</p><p>OSS: Now this one makes absolutely no sense, but maybe you misunderstood what I was saying. My point was that if a so-called leaked document is proven to be a fake, it could have been released on purpose as a disinformation tactic. This is quite an effective tool that is used by government intelligence and is mentioned in one of the Condon reports as a way to maintain a coverup. I did not blame debunkers for anything.</DIV></p><p>So what? One example of disinformation does not mean that all statements are false. Each must be judged on its merits. </p><p>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>JC: "Unfortunately in decades of research these people have not come up with anything worth squat. they are like the serious researchers who look for the Loch Ness Monster. They more careful they are the less specific their concusions become.</p><p>OSS: I'm sorry but they have come up with more than squat. This shows you have not done your homework and don't know what any of these people are reporting. Apparently you are so blinded by your own preconceived opinions and ideas that you don't or won't even bother to look at any of their material.</DIV></p><p>If any evidence of value had been discovered it would be the science story of the millenium. So where is it?</p><p>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>JC: "Except that Mitchell has not seen anything, has never claimed he has and has no evieence to support his assertions. It's all very interesting, but without evidence why should I believe him?</p><p>OSS: Call me gullible, but if a former Apollo Astronaut told me in all sincerity that the moon was made of green cheese, I could not dismiss it out of hand. My own preconceived ideas may not be the end all of everything sane and rational.</DIV></p><p>You an call yourself what you like. If an Apollo astronaut said the Moon were made of chesse he would be 1) pulling our leg, 2) in need of treatment, 3) lying, We have ample evidence from lunar samples from Russians, from meteorites as well as Apollo, from lunar missions from Russia, China, Japan, and ESA as well as the US, from ground based observations by thousands of astronomers all over the world as to what the Moon is made of.</p><p>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>JC: "Interesting! McClelland makes a claim about interaction between astronauts and aliens on a space shuttle mission but tenders no evidence. And you think that scepticism of this is a knee jerk reaction but acceptance of the statement is not? That is very revealling.</p><p>OSS: Again, nice word twist. I was specifically referring to Ed Mitchell when I said this, not McClelland. I said McClelland may be a wacko, I don't know anything about him. I do think Edgar Mitchell's word carries some weight if for nothing more than as a starting point for further investigation. Your automatic reaction is that he must be a wacko if he says X,Y, or Z. <br />Posted by onesmallstep</DIV></p><p>The same applies to Mitchell. he has provided no evidence to support ihs statement, and was not even claiming to be an eye witness. So why should I believe him without supporting evidence? Mitchell believes many odd things and has done so for decades. That does not make him right, or wrong. What matters is whether there is evidence to support such statements. So faar there is none.</p><p>Jon</p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars</em> Arthur Clarke</p> </div>