<\/p>\n
The Final Three<\/span><\/p>\n How they Match up in Space Exploration, Government Transparency, and the UFO Disclosure Issue<\/span><\/u><\/p>\n Grant Cameron<\/span><\/p>\n The This So <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Hillary Clinton<\/span><\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Hillary Clinton on Outer Space<\/span><\/strong> \u2013 Grade A<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u00b7 <\/span>Hillary \u00b7 <\/span>Played a role in the appointment and public announcement of the first female shuttle Commander Eileen Collins.[2]<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n \u00b7 <\/span>She \u00b7 <\/span>Hillary claims she will<\/span> double NASA’s and FAA’s aeronautics R&D budgets as part of her plan to reverse the Bush administration’s war on science.[4]<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n \u00b7 <\/span>Bill Hillary Clinton on Government Transparency<\/span><\/strong> – Grade C+<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u00b7 <\/span>Hillary was the only one of the three remaining candidates to reply to the Sunshineweek.com<\/a> survey on government openness.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00b7 <\/span>Hillary was open in the one time she was questioned (in early February) on the subject of UFOs in the Clinton administration.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00b7 <\/span>Clinton claims to be <\/span>"committed \u00b7 <\/span>Clinton \u00b7 <\/span>Hillary \u00b7 <\/span>Hillary \u00b7 <\/span>Hillary \u00b7 <\/span>"She <\/span><\/p>\n Hillary Clinton on UFOs<\/span><\/strong> \u2013 Grade B+<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u00b7 <\/span>Hillary was clearly the point person on an effort by Laurance Rockefeller to bring UFO disclosure to the Clinton White House.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00b7 <\/span>"She \u00b7 <\/span>It is known that Hillary, while first lady, tried to collect UFO information from UFO researchers using intermediaries.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00b7 <\/span>In a conversation with Rob Simone in February 2008, Hillary did not try and hide her UFO role during the Clinton administration.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00b7 <\/span>Hillary <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Barack Obama<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Barack <\/span><\/strong>Obama on Outer Space \u2013<\/span><\/strong> <\/span><\/u>Grade F<\/span><\/p>\n \u00b7 <\/span>His website clearly spells out that money to finance his proposed $18 billion education plan will come from delaying the NASA Constellation program (to return humans to the moon) in five years.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u00b7 <\/span>Obama downplayed the role of future manned space flights saying the next president would need, <\/span>a <\/span><\/p>\n Barack Obama on Government Openness \u2013<\/span><\/strong> Grade A<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u00b7 <\/span>In the February 21, 2008 Dallas Democratic debate, \u201cI believe very strongly in transparency\u2026\u201d[12]<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n \u00b7 <\/span>In \u00b7 <\/span>In \u00b7 <\/span>In \u00b7 <\/span>In \u00b7 <\/span>Barack Obama did not reply to Shineshineweek.com<\/a> survey on government openness.<\/span><\/p>\n Obama on UFO Disclosure \u2013<\/span><\/strong> Grade C<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u00b7 <\/span>Despite \u00b7 <\/span>Obama has now major backing from Bill Richardson who has a background related to UFOs.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00b7 <\/span>Asked in a Democratic debate if he believed there was life in outer space replied, \u201c<\/span>You \u00b7 <\/span>Asked <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n John McCain<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n On Space<\/span><\/strong> \u2013 Grade B+<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u00b7 <\/span>McCain stated"…very enamored of Mars… since I was a child."[18]<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n \u00b7 <\/span>"There’s a certain romanticism associated with exploration of space, which is one of the major factors why we’ll continue,"[19]<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n \u00b7 <\/span>McCain \u00b7 <\/span>Stated of space exploration \u201c<\/span>"Let us now embark upon this great journey into the stars to find whatever may await us."[21]<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n \u00b7 <\/span>McCain\u2019s On Government Transparency<\/span><\/strong> \u2013 Grade C<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u00b7 <\/span>McCain \u00b7 <\/span>A survey on government openness sent to candidates by sunshineweek.org<\/a> was answered only Clinton campaigns. McCain\u2019s campaign did not reply.
<\/span><\/p>\n
\n2008 presidential election campaign has become one that for the first
\ntime includes UFOs as at least a small issue that most campaigns were
\nforced to address. Combined with this, the excessive secrecy of the
\nBush administration has also made the 2008 campaign one where
\ndetermining who is the \u201c<\/span>most transparent presidential hopeful\u201d has become an issue.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nopenness topic became one all the final three candidates (Obama,
\nClinton, and McCain) were forced to address when it was made public
\nthat a survey conducted by Scripps Howard News Service and Ohio
\nUniversity showed that \u201c75 percent of Americans view the federal
\ngovernment as \u2018secretive,\u2019 and that nearly 9 out of 10 say it is
\nimportant to know presidential and congressional candidates’ positions
\non open government when choosing a candidate.\u201d [1]<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n
\nhow do the three remaining candidates vying for the White House stack
\nup on outer space and government transparency, and more importantly how
\ndo they stack up on the thorny issue of UFO disclosure?<\/span><\/p>\n
\nwanted to be an astronaut. As a young 14 year old girl she wrote to
\nNASA to become an astronaut, and was told they were not taking women.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nrecently voted in favor of a Senate bill to add a billion dollars to
\nNASA’s budget in 2008, and claims former US Senator John Glenn as an
\nadvisor. Glenn was the first American to orbit the earth in 1962, and
\nthe oldest person ever to fly in space in 1998, when he flew aboard the
\nshuttle Discovery.[3]<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n
\nClinton stated, "Hillary has always supported the manned space program
\njust as I did when I was president. Her opponent (Obama) says we should
\ndowngrade man space travel and upgrade robotic travel."[5]<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n
\nto restoring open government," both by mandating more open meetings and
\nrelease of public documents and by nominating "an attorney general who
\nhas a proven commitment to open government.\u201d[6]<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n
\npromises to nominate an attorney general who will roll back John
\nAshcroft’s infamous and still-standing order for bureaucrats to favor
\nnon-disclosure over disclosure in freedom of information requests.[7]<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n
\nwas present in the White House during one of the biggest government
\nefforts to release classified files. Steven Aftergood, director of the
\nProject on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists,
\nsaid the attacks on Clinton for failing to release her records from the
\nIRS and the National Archives are all "minor blemishes." "The Bill
\nClinton administration was the most open in living memory, with the
\nstrongest declassification program in our lifetime," said Aftergood, an
\nauthority on government secrecy issues. [8]<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n
\npromised she would "replace secrecy and mystery with transparency,"
\nincludes ending no-bid government contracts and posting all contracts
\nonline, publishing budgets of every government agency and putting more
\nservices online. She also wants to protect government whistle-blowers. [9]<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n
\nClinton said she has urged the release of records as soon as possible
\nfrom the National Archives and Records Administration. "It’s a
\ncumbersome process set up by law," Clinton said. However, in the files
\nthat have been released she has not waved any of the many exceptions
\nthat are used to withhold various documents. Therefore great portions
\nof processed FOIA requests are still secret. The one appeal filed on
\nthe withdrawn UFO files was denied by the Clinton Library.<\/span><\/p>\n
\ndidn’t put a lot in writing," said Carl Sferrazza Anthony, who is based
\nin Los Angeles and has written extensively about first ladies. "She
\nexplicitly told me she didn’t put a lot in writing because everything
\nin writing, including a personal diary, could be subpoenaed."[10]<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n
\nwas particularly interested at one point," said researcher William
\nLaparl, "and she was asking a lot of questions\u2026She was almost an equal
\nmover with him on this. I would not give him any more weight at all on
\nthis UFO thing. If anything she may have slightly been pushing it more
\nthan he was. That\u2019s the way I read the situation."<\/span><\/p>\n
\nhas not mentioned UFOs in any campaign speech. It still does not seem
\nto be an issue she thinks will help her by talking about it.<\/span><\/p>\n
\npractical sense of what investments deliver the most scientific and
\ntechnological spinoffs \u2014 and not just assume that human space
\nexploration, actually sending bodies into space, is always the best
\ninvestment.\u201d[11]<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/u><\/p>\n
\nthe foreign policy section of his website Obama promises that he \u201cwill
\ninstitute a National Declassification Center to make declassification
\nsecure but routine, efficient, and cost-effective.[13]<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n
\nan October 2007 speech Obama promised to "turn the page on a growing
\nempire of classified information" and "help connect government to its
\ncitizens and engage citizens in a democracy.\u201d[14]<\/span><\/a> <\/span><\/p>\n
\na December 2007 speech in the Senate Obama declared, \u201cI have been very
\ntroubled by the extent to which America has become a nation of
\ngovernment secrets. More and more information is kept secret or made
\nintolerably complicated and inaccessible. More and more decisions are
\nmade behind closed doors with access limited to insiders and lobbyists.\u201d[15]<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n
\na speech at St. Paul University, "I’ll lead a new era of openness,"
\n"I’ll turn the page on a growing empire of classified information, and
\nrestore the balance we’ve lost between the necessarily secret and the
\nnecessity of openness in a democratic society by creating a new
\nNational Declassification Center." which would "serve as a
\nclearinghouse to set rules and regulations for declassification for
\nfederal agencies, and to make declassification secure but routine,
\nefficient, and cost-effective." "We’ll protect sources and methods,
\nbut we won’t use sources and methods as pretexts to hide the truth.
\nOur history doesn’t belong to Washington, it belongs to America.\u201d[16]<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n
\nObama\u2019 s lack of interest in life in outer space, his na\u00efve view of
\ncomplete transparency would make him quite open to releasing any UFO
\nfiles he could find despite the fact that he is an unbeliever.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nknow, I don’t know, and I don’t presume to know. What I know is there
\nis life here on Earth — and — and that we’re not attending to life
\nhere on Earth. We’re not taking care of kids who are alive and,
\nunfortunately, are not getting health care. We’re not taking care of
\nsenior citizens who are alive and are seeing their heating prices go
\nup. So as president, those are the people I will be attending to first.
\nThere may be some other folks on their way.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
\nabout the truth embargo on UFOs by the Washington Post, Obama\u2019s
\nspokesman said, \u201c"We’re more focused on lifting the government-imposed
\ntruth embargo on issues like the war in Iraq.\u201d[17]<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n
\nsaid he strongly supports missions to Mars and that Florida should
\ncontinue to play a major role in space exploration. "There’s too much
\ninvested there. There’s infrastructure that’s very expensive and very
\nextensive there," he said."[20]<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n
\nwebsite says, \u201cHe is proud to have sponsored legislation authorizing
\nfunding consistent with the President’s vision for the space program,
\nwhich includes a return of astronauts to the Moon in preparation for a
\nmanned mission to Mars. He believes support for a continued US presence
\nin space is of major importance to America’s future innovation and
\nsecurity. He has also been a staunch advocate for ensuring that NASA
\nfunding is accompanied by proper management and oversight to ensure
\nthat the taxpayers receive the maximum return on their investment. John
\nMcCain believes curiosity and a drive to explore have always been
\nquintessential American traits.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
\nhas so far refused to release his income tax returns, and personal
\nmedical records. Sunshine Week research reports that he supports
\ncontinuing to classify certain records from the Vietnam War.<\/span><\/p>\n