Pocket podcast review: Jeremy Vaeni

Culture Of Contact, 05/20/08: Guest: Budd Hopkins. thumbs up

I have become a big fan of Jeremy Vaeni in recent weeks. Although he is an "experiencer," he has not let his experiences drag him off the deep end into muddled metaphysics, as some have. I've followed Budd Hopkins' work since Missing Time (which scared the crap out of me) and have noticed an ever-so-slight evolution of his perspective, away from the nuts-and-bolts/scary alien hypothesis toward something more nuanced. Perhaps, in time, he will conclude, as Jacques Vallée has, that "unknown aerial phenomena" cannot be accepted at face value. The slice of the world that we physically perceive is only that; much of reality escapes our perception, and the anomalies that we do perceive might well be a masquerade.

Pocket radio show review: John White

Coast to Coast, 03/26/08: Guest: John White. thumbs down

I was prepared to like this show; I downloaded it because George Washington is a historical figure I admire. However, there is a disturbing subtext to Mr. White's discussion, "George Washington and the Hand Of God." That George Washington believed that Providence guided his life and, indeed, guided the creation of the United States is beyond debate. However, I think that the Revolutionary children of the Enlightenment had a slightly more nuanced view of "God" than our current religious and political leaders. So I have to wonder why Mr. White is even bringing this subject up, now, when so much hinges on who, what, exactly, "God" is.

'Tis a dangerous thing to claim to act on the authority of God in our current era. Just ask the Iraqis... or, on the converse, the victims of 9/11.

I think that if George Washington were alive today (and I do think that he's watching over us), he would tell us, point-blank, "Yes, I do believe that Providence guided me, but he is not guiding you. You by your actions have forfeited the right to invoke God's authority for any reason, so stop doing it. And clean up your act--fast."

"God" evolves and changes according to our capacity to intellectually apprehend him. Our Revolutionary forefathers were intellectuals who were learned in both philosophy and the arts and sciences; they were multilingual, literate, and, on the whole, wise. Our current leaders? Ask George Washington who "God" is, and I would wager that his response would be more challenging than our current George's man behind the curtain who tells him to smite nations.

Pocket radio show review: Tracy Torme

Coast to Coast, 04/09/08. Guest: Tracy Torme. thumbs up

Tracy Torme is from what I regard as the "brick-and-mortar" school of UFOlogy: fact centered, with a quasi-scientific bent, and a dispassionate weighing of the evidence. There's really nothing wrong with that. His inclinations lead him to some interesting conclusions: He regards the Roswell crash as probably terrestrial in origin (Mogol balloon), yet he accepts Bud Hopkins' hypnotic regression work as prima facia evidence of hostile "alien" genetic experimentation. Tracy has been involved in the field for a while. I still have a transcript of a chat session that he did on CompuServe from the early days of the 'net. Bonus: Travis Walton is brought into the show briefly. I did drop my jaw when George Noory asked Tracy, "Are you related to Mel Torme?"

Pocket radio show review: Gerald Celente

Coast to Coast, 04/28/08. Guest: Gerald Celente. meh

Gerald Celente promotes a trends analysis product on his website for which he charges $100 per year subscription, which raises a red flag for me. Still, his views are interesting, and possibly accurate. I confess to always listening to his C2C appearances. He believes that we are headed for a depression greater than the Great Depression. Is he correct? Who knows? Looking at the recaps of his past appearances, however, Mr. Celente seemed focussed on "terrorism" as the major trend after 9/11. He did not shift his emphasis to the economy until 2006. I agree with him that the devaluation of the dollar is 800-pound gorilla in the room that no one is talking about. But I don't think that his predictions or trends analyses are any more informed than a well-read observer.

Pocket radio show reviews: Jay Wedner and Lynne McTaggart

A review of podcasts, recently listened to....

Whitley Strieber's Dreamland, 03/01/08. Guest: Jay Weidner. thumbs down

Stopped listening about five minutes into the show after Weidner begins rambling about the Freemasons. Should have skipped it earlier during the "2012" speculations. I have never been able to follow any line of inquiry involving wormholes, stargates, modern alchemy, 2012, Illuminati, light beings, or related ilk. Unfortunately, this is what Strieber's once-excellent podcast tends to devolve to lately.

Coast to Coast, 02/14/08. Guest: Lynne McTaggart. thumbs up

This stuff is real; it works; and it may be civilization's path forward. Halfway through this podcast, and so far, George Noory asks intelligent questions and stays awake.