"AND AN ANGEL RIDES IN A WHIRLWIND AND DIRECTS THIS
STORM!" GOD BLESS YOU ALL, AND GOD BLESS AMERICA,"
were the closing comments of President George W. Bush's inaugural address.
In recent weeks we discussed angels as being God's messengers in unidentified flying
objects. In a short speech the President twice quotes this passage
that an angel rides in a whirlwind and directs this storm. He
promised to tell us about UFOs if elected, is it possible he has
already? It is interesting that our new President should choose to
use these statements and discuss that we are guided by a power larger
than ourselves. He says, "We will build our defenses beyond
challenge. We will confront weapons of mass destruction, so that a
new century is spared new horrors." He plans on building an
antimissile system sometimes called 'Star wars.' The whirlwind in the
Bible generally refers to the restless and sweeping destruction sure
to overtake the wicked. He states, "And this is my solemn pledge: I
will work to build a single nation of justice and opportunity." This
was a powerful speech from an apparently religious man and to
understand him it will be prudent to become acquainted with the Bible.
The Book of Ezekiel 1-4 states," Then I looked, and behold, a
whirlwind was coming out of the north, a great cloud with raging fire
engulfing itself; and brightness was all around it and radiating out
of its midst like the color of amber, out of the midst of the fire. "

PHOTO CONTROVERSY -- Whenever photos are found of UFOs or possible
alien activity a controversy develops between those who are convinced
they are real, hoaxed, or just cases of mistaken identity. Often the
actual identity, and motivation of the photographer is more important
than the details of the actual photograph. Two recent photos, one of
a Chinese missile launch and the so-called Alien Choir are causing
concern. The investigation is just beginning, and there may be
mundane explanations for both photographs. Some people suggest I
should not mention them until the investigation is over, realistically
that can take years. My readers ask for the latest reports and
investigation may or may not prove they are factual. A report a few
hours old is much easier to investigate than one weeks or months old.
We only have to prove one case to prove that UFOs are real. MUFON
investigators are standing by to interview the photographer in
Alabama. The original photographers in China or Alabama have not
shown a willingness to let us interview them. These two cases are
discussed in more detail below. UFOs have been seen in Connecticut,
Georgia and Texas. Practically everyday, I talk to sincere people who
see or photograph unidentified flying objects in our skies. I
personally chased them while in the Air Force and had them on my
aircraft radar. Something unknown is flying in our skies, being an
optimist I think they may be helping us. Although, accidents may
occur when we get in each others way. When I get a call from a farmer
in Canada or an architect in New Jersey who have spotted a UFO, and
they describe the same craft including the rust on its side, I'm
convinced they are seeing the same object. When they see the a photo
taken in Mexico years ago they identify it as the same craft. When
President Bush flew jet fighters for the Air National Guard, I
wouldn't be surprised if he saw a UFO since there were many operating
in Texas at the time. Many people's lives are changed forever by the
experience. Watch the skies particularly before sunrise and at
sunset. You might be surprised what you see.

CHINA SHENZHOU SPACE LAUNCH AND UFO INVESTIGATION

BEIJING -- China's state television announced that the Shenzhou II
spaceship, which blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center
in northwest China's Gansu Province on January 9, 2001, in the
country's second test of its future manned spacecraft, returned to
Earth on January 18. Nick Balakas wrote that the Shenzhou Spacecraft
photo discussed last week, was actually an earlier daylight test of
the rocket powered "escape tower" that is attached to the Shenzhou
spacecraft itself and is mounted on top of its tall Long March rocket
booster." The Shenzhou II spaceship launch was actually at night.
"As for what the bell shaped object is, I do not know although it does
remind me of a small weather balloon which may have been released just
before the escape tower test." Jeff has done a great job in picking
out unknown or unexplained objects in space but this picture of a bell
shaped object in the atmosphere is certainly no evidence of a UFO
monitoring the launch of Shenzhou-2. Thanks to Nick Balaskas

Author Whitley Strieber also wrote, "The picture you have on your web
site as the launch of the Shenzou-2 rocket is apparently a test of an
escape tower, probably of the Shenzou-1 module. It is possible that
the object seen is the Shenzou-1 capsule descending on its parachute.
Thanks to Whitley Strieber Go to
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Launchpad/1921/shenzhou.htm to
confirm.

Jeff Challender responds, "While looking at the photos of the launch,
I noticed a bell or pyramid shaped object flying next to the space
launch during the flight to orbit. At first I considered that it
might be a piece of the launch shroud which protects the space craft
during ascent. That must be ruled out since in the picture it can be
seen that the escape tower rockets have just been fired. These must
be clear before the shroud can be jettisoned. "Further research has
indicated that I was a bit hasty in my mistaken belief that the photo
was of the Shenzou 2 launch. I stand corrected on this point. I must
disagree with Mr.Balaskas concerning his explanation for the UFO. I
have seen many a weather balloon in my home area.
We live but three miles from McClellan AFB, and the object displays
none of the characteristics of such a balloon. Where is the instrument
package carried by the balloon? There is none. Balloons also have a
pronounced "inverted onion" shape, and the object's shape is nothing
like that. What's more, the "bells" seen during STS-101 were in
space, where there are no balloons. I still say the object in the
rocket picture bears a striking resemblance to the "bells" seen during
STS-101. I don't see anything like a parachute. There are no
shrouds, nor is there a canopy. The parachutes used by the Chinese on
their capsules are quite colorful and would be difficult to miss. The
official Chinese space agency photograph can be seen at
www.filersfiles.com. Thanks to Jeff Challender.

Editor's Note: It appears the Chinese have released photos of several
launches causing some confusion. The daylight photo is probably the
Shenzhou 1, which looks almost exactly like the 2. It is interesting
that the Chinese should release a daylight photo of an earlier launch
showing what appears to be a UFO? There is nothing that appears to be
missing from the rocket, such as shrouds or escape test tower, the two
deployed aero-panels, rockets or the reentry vehicle to account for
the unidentified bell shaped flying object. The Shenzhou is listed as
3.35 meters in diameter while the UFO appears to be
about five meters or about 20 feet in diameter. In another released
photo the reentry vehicle is about three meters (10 feet) in diameter and
hanging below a huge parachute. I agree with Jeff that there may be
an unidentified flying object flying below the test rocket that is
larger than in diameter than any part of the Shenzhou. The
photographer may have a mundane explanation but China nor the Beijing
Evening Post have not explained what the object is. Instead the photo
is published with only "Escape Tower Test" explanation. We should
remember that the Chinese are very clever and have officially asked
the United Nations to study UFOs. They report their fighter aircraft
attempt to intercept the UFOs, and that airliners have had midair
collisions with them. The US has provided the chief obstruction to
this study.

ALABAMA ALIEN CHOIR IMAGE

Australian researcher Barry Taylor writes, "I strongly suggest that
the image not be called a HOAX. This indicates that the photographer
and researchers involved deliberately and knowingly falsified the
evidence presented. After close examination of the image, I am fully
convinced that this is not the case. I consider that the illumination
was actually at the scene when the image was taken by the
photographer. This makes this case, "a misidentification and
misinterpretation of the image in question." I have looked for
obvious signs of 'pasting' within the image, and have found none. The
larger 'background' pixels are consistent throughout the whole image.
The smaller pixels within the brighter illumination areas are also
consistent with the way the illumination is displayed. Strong
contrast creates the 'pixel boarder' around the 'Alien choir'
illumination. Firstly, when scaled to the daylight image, the "Alien
Choir" aligns with the tree trunks and lower branch outline against
the wall of the white house positioned above the garage roof in the
image. Now study the "False Color Enhanced" image (fcolor~1.jpg )
This image shows the make-up of the "falloff" of the brightness of the
illumination as the effect of the trees trunks and branches interfere
with the edges of the main illumination.

The concentric rings of color indicate the way the light fades from
the brightest to the dullest. The "Heads and necks" of the "Alien
Choir" are caused by gaps in the branches, showing the reflected light
off the wall of the house behind the trees. Vertical Movement in the
Image. I am not sure, by I think a Digital camera was used to take
the original images. The 'pixel scatter' around the electric wires in
the daytime image, and the pixel 'glitches' and abnormal color pixels
in the night image seems to indicate a digital camera. Digital
cameras use a 'Progressive Scan' feature when viewing to frame your
scene to photograph. As you slowly move the camera, you can see the
image in the view finder 'jumping' as the progressive scan feature is
working. The vertical distortions seen in the 'Alien choir' image
could have resulted when the photo was taken 'between progressive
scans of the image in view.' This would show up in the resulting
image as the top half of one image blending in with the lower half of
the second image during slight movement during progressive scan within
the camera. [slight elongation of brightest features, especially under
low light conditions] I hope careful study of my findings will also
convince you that this explains the truth behind the 'Alien Choir'
image. Barry Taylor UFO Researcher Australia. [email protected]

Bruce Maccabee writes, "Here is a comment from another Bruce: the
picture appears to have been jiggled vertically during exposure. All
images have the same sort of vertical stretch. This means that the
Shapes pf the images are not the true shapes of the light sources. I
don't know what made the light sources, perhaps a UFO, but IMHO the
image shapes do not represent the true shapes. Also, overexposed
images are always larger than they would be without overexposure, so
the brightness is another cause for image distortion. Supposedly there
is no light normally at that location. But I would like to see a
nighttime photo taken under identical conditions by a reputable
investigator. The photo is still under investigation. Thanks Bruce
Maccabee [email protected]

Marilyn Ruben says that, "In response to the various questions
forwarded from you or your readers over the "alien choir" photograph,
I have addressed many issues at the web site on page
http://www.abduct.com/photos/pn010.htm or
http://www.abduct.com/photos/pn007.htm Thanks to Marilyn Ruben

Editor's Note: I felt the photograph should be investigated in much
greater detail. Perhaps even more important is the integrity of the
photographer since advancements in computers and photography make
almost any photo suspect. MUFON State Director s Tom Sheets and
investigator John Thompson have offered their services in
investigating this case. I personally think the case is important
because of the report of the humming power lines, and the green colors
in a digital photo. It is important to attempt to duplicate the scene
at night. Security lights or transformer arcing might explain the
photo. Other similar photos are turning up.

CONNECTICUT HEXAGON SHAPED OBJECT

MONROE -- On Jan 16, 2001, at about 7:30 PM, a resident of Newtown was
traveling on Route 25 near Monroe. A hexagonal shaped object flew
across the roadway in front of her. The object was about as long as a
commercial jumbo jet, and was a dark gray or black in color. This
witness saw some sort of 'ridges' on the bottom surface, with a
blue/green light at each of 5 points, and a small red light on the 6th
point. There are similar hexagon type reports on file for Georgia and
Pennsylvania. In 1992, Corinth Georgia investigation by John Thompson
MUFON/ISUR- Hexagon shaped object with 3 triangular lights at each
corner, hovering; 28 Sept 99, Chatsworth Georgia, investigation by Tom
Sheets MUFON/ISUR. Thanks to Tom Sheets, ISUR Board, SD-MUFONGA.

MARYLAND UFO SOUNDS

SILVER SPRINGS -- Five years ago in August at 8:00 PM in Wheaton, my
wife and I heard the sound of a large slow craft pass directly over
our top third floor apartment. The sound was similar to the Rense
recreation except instead of a wavering treble pitch component going
up and down, there was a pulsing HUMM of ~ G 2 octaves below middle C
and about 2-3 pulses per second there were also more undertones than
overtones)*. As a classically trained musician I am accurate in sound
memory. Two other sightings in this area over 6 years have produced
another large disk and one triangle which I previously reported with
some excitement due to the fact there was a live re-enactment of the
craft using a helicopter with hanging lights within 2 hours of the
initial triangle sighting. I feel an obligation to my old friend Alan
Hynek to report what needs to be reported. Regards Don Hakman
j12_lanl_underg_facilities.htm

GEORGIA UFO INVESTIGATIONS

Tom Sheets MUFONGA State Director writes, Field Investigator Olivia
Newton of Lilburn is currently training and supervising the personnel
of Georgia's foremost haunting and paranormal scientific investigation
group. On the night of November 26, 2000, a group of investigator's
were returning from a case in Walton County. Ms. Olivia was driving
one portion of the team, with additional members in a second vehicle.
About 8:30 PM, they were driving up Good Hope Rd. when a series of
lights in the SW sky drew their attention. Upon closer observation,
it appeared to be a double row of brilliantly glowing pearl like
spheres, a reddish orange to amber in color, hovering in the sky about
1 mile away. She indicated that they were aspirin size at arm's
length (AAL) and in a straight line. As everyone turned to look, and
while seeking a spot to pull off, some trees obscured the view and the
objects had then disappeared. Total event duration was about 1
minute. There have also been some other reports of unusual objects on
the East side of Atlanta. She has extensive investigative experience
with a world renowned university academic who specializes in
paranormal research.

On January 3, 2001, MUFONGA investigators Carl and Helen Thim were
driving west on Hwy 54 just outside of Fayetteville proper. At 5:32
PM, twilight conditions, Ms. Helen noticed a glowing object in the sky
about 30 degrees off of the SW horizon. Closer observation revealed
it to be acorn shaped with a rounded top, about thumbnail size AAL,
and glowing with a yellowish light, also appearing to have a mist like
vapor at the top. As they continued westbound in traffic, she
observed it to begin a slow descent of about 5 degrees, leaving what
appeared to be a misty trail tracing the descent. She pointed this
out to her husband Carl who was trying to drive and observe. About
this time, they reached the central area of town and noticed 2 jet
like contrails in the sky near the object. These contrails appeared
to circle in the sky as if in reaction to what was being observed, but
no aircraft were seen. About this same time a helicopter was observed
flying north away from Fayetteville. Ms. Helen added that before
their visual was lost, the object did a Z shaped maneuver. Upon
arriving home, she phoned the Fayette County Sheriff's Department and
spoke to Sheriff Randall Johnson. He advised that their agency had
received no other calls regarding the object. The Thims were later
perplexed, Carl observed the object to be of a definite silver disc
but Helen did not. This team has conducted several excellent
investigations and are widely respected. They both are former
aerospace employees, Carl being seconded from Boeing to the Pacific
Missile Range for 5 years and working as an electronics specialist in
our manned space program. He is currently a senior instructor with
one of the largest aviation corporations in the world. There are
similar cases in which two or more reliable witnesses in close
proximity observe the same phenomena, but each describe different
object types and/or different details. High strangeness in Dixieland,
God's country.

We continue to receive inquiries about MUFONGA from law enforcement
officers in several regions of Georgia. John Bodin, our south Georgia
DD who is also with the Peace Officer's Association of Georgia,
recently advised me that a follow-up article to the original piece for
the Peace Officer's magazine would be welcome. I will be working on
that a little later. MUFONGA historian and FI Michael Hitt wrote an
excellent article on the Milledgeville UFO event from 1967 (MUFON
Journal Dec00), which involved several law enforcement officer
witnesses. He later spoke with retired Milledgeville Chief Eugene
Ellis who was also a witness and a central figure when various
'officials' arrived to investigate. Michael suspects that there was a
certain 'twisting' of the facts by these 'officials', which varied
from the astute and correct observations of the police officers i.e.
the truth. We've made arrangements for John Bodin to sit down with
Chief Ellis and debrief him in detail about the events from those
days in 1967. Being that we three are from the Georgia law
enforcement community, the Chief will no doubt have some revelations
for us. John Bodin indicated he will be carrying a court stenographer
with him for that debriefing. Thanks to Tom Sheets, FSA Scot,
SD-MUFONGA, ISUR Board

TEXAS SIGHTINGS

CANYON LAKE -- ..Michael Harman writes, My wife and I saw an object
over the lake and were a little scared, but my wife confirmed what I
was seeing. It hovered over our house, and made its way over the
lake. Two nights ago at 10:00 PM, this object got really close to the
water and within seconds a huge spotlight was cast upon it by the Corp
of Engineers that are stationed next door. Two minutes later, four
helicopters come out of nowhere surrounding this object. The object
got bigger as the copters came closer. Within a few minutes of
maneuvering, the object disappeared. I proceeded to call the Corp of
Engineers and they stated that nothing happened, no copters had landed
and no spotlight was projected. I took digital pictures but they did
not come out too well, but you can see the copters. The colors
shining from this object were very bright and colorful. I've seen
this exact object 10 to 12 times in the last two years. The object
camouflages as a star, almost going undetected. I always thought it
was a probe from the army base in San Antonio checking the air
quality, water, etc. This adventure took almost four hours. Its
now 12:30 AM, and its back and brought two more that are hovering
around the lake. "This is just too weird for me." If anyone wishes
to investigate this on-going event, I suggest renting a small boat and
spending a night out on Canyon Lake and you'll likely see a UFO up
real and close. There's a lot happening in the state of Texas, See
our "60 Years of Texas Sightings" database. Visit the web site at:
http://ufo-pi.homepage.com/index.html
www.homestead.com/ufopi2/index.html Thanks to Mike Harman

CANADA GOVERNMENT RELEASES 100 UFO SIGHTINGS

HBCC UFO Research writes, You and your readers may be interested to
know that I received 98 pages from the Canadian National Defense
through the Freedom of Information Act. These reports are sightings
of objects dating from 1995 to 1999, which were reported and gathered
by the Canadian Government. I have most of them placed on my web site
at http://www.homestead.com/ufo3/ufo.html
[email protected]

CANADIAN MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT SPEAKS AT CONFERENCE

WHITEHORSE, YUKON -- Ms. Louise Hardy, Canadian Member of Parliament
who spoke at the Yukon UFO Conference on October 14, 2000, stated,
"Well I'd like to thank Martin Jasek for inviting me and I want you to
know how hard he has worked on this. He's come to my office at
different times over the years to let me know what work he was doing,
the reports that he was compiling and I was impressed with how
serious Martin was and the fact that he has a very scientific
background, and he wanted to bring the study of unidentified objects
to the forefront and to a more normal area because it does come with
stigma, and I know that. I've had a few nudges and winks when I tell
people that I'm coming to the UFO Conference. But I remember being a
teenager, and the curiosity we have. I think drive and curiosity are
so important because it is bout wanting to know what it is that is
around us, not just our own lives, not just our own planet. We know
that there's a wider world out there and I see this work as people
coming together to investigate and study that wider world so I hope
everybody enjoys the conference and I hope that you know that you are
on the cutting edge here! There's not too many places that have UFO
Conferences so congratulations!" Louise Hardy, M.P., Yukon. Thanks to
EcoNews Service - http://www.ecologynews.com/ Prague
[email protected]

GERMANY TRIO SIGHTS TRIANGULAR UFO

FREIBURG -- On Monday, January 1, 2001, at 12:25 AM, Dr. Jann Arende,
a physician and amateur astronomer, his wife and his sister-in-law
were watching the New Year's celebration fireworks from a lofty
hillside in the suburbs west of Freiburg, a city in southern Germany.
"The sky was almost clear and visibility quite good," Dr. Arende
reported, "When walking back down the hill at about 12:25 AM, we
suddenly noticed a flickering object approaching from the east. The
object appeared somewhat oval or triangular in shape. The color was
yellow or orange, with a glistening or flickering of the color across
the object. It then appeared as if the object were hovering up in the
sky. The size was about one-quarter of the full moon." "The object
moved slowly and stealthily towards us at great altitude. It took
one minute for the object to reach a point directly above us. We
heard no sounds. The color continued to flow across the object. When
the object had reached a point roughly above us, it stopped moving and
remained motionless at a point close to the star Capella. "After
about three to four minutes, it started to move north. The
(departure) speed was similar to its speed during approach." "When
the object halted above us, we started running home to get our
binoculars. Viewing it as it went away, the object seemed smaller in
size and retained its flowing orange color. The shape appeared to be
similar to a triangle with a convex rounded base. At that point, the
object disappeared." Thanks to UFO Roundup Volume 6, Number 3
January 18, 2001 Editor: Joseph Trainor http://ufoinfo.com/roundup/

NEW NASA SHUTTLE VIDEO OF UFOs IN SPACE

Jeff Challender has prepared a new tape of various UFOs that were
caught on recent Shuttle video footage. Jeff has over an hour long
tape of UFOs shot in space. Jeff spends hundreds of hours watching
the shuttle broadcasts from space and is now an expert on NASA
missions and even those onboard the shuttle are unlikely to see what
Jeff does. Using Jeff's directions you will be able to learn the
difference between space junk, ice crystals and real UFOs. One
segment has 24 UFOs watching the shuttle from space. I feel confident
we could go into a court of law and convince any jury that there are
UFOs moving at high speed around the Earth. Send $25 to: Jeff
Challender 2768 Mendel Way - Sacramento, California 95833-2011

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