An even more famous recent UFO story comes from Chicago, where a UFO was seen (allegedly) by many people at O'Hare airport, including pilots and other airline employees. It's a fascinating story, just like any ghost story you might tell around a campfire. But of all the people who witnessed the craft, we haven't gotten a photo or video. No pictures. No videos. No evidence of any kind, unless you count eye witness accounts as evidence. Ok, some blurry, spotty photos have arrived months after the event, but they aren't accepted even by the most open-minded ufologists.

I can't imagine that all these eye witnesses, if they really exist, collaborated to invent this story and tell it to the world. But I also can't imagine that a government cover-up could be happening. Could the military have surrounded the airport and its surrounding area and confiscated all cameras from all civilians? No, I don't think so. We would like to think that our military is brilliant and organized, but this is a stretch.

So, no pictures, no video, and, come to think of it, no names of the eye witnesses. No names? Read the Chicago Tribune article about it. The witnesses are identified with these phrases: "some United Airlines employees", "the witnesses", "a United ramp worker", "some said", "a United mechanic", "one United employee", "a United manager", and so on. Never a name given to the witnesses.

So, by process of elimination, I would have to say that only one person is telling this story. Somehow, the media got it wrong and is saying that lots of people witnessed something. Great hoax, and I admire whoever pulled it off. But there is zero evidence to support it.

I have to look back at the case against the undercover police at Montebello that I wrote about yesterday. When a crowd of people witnesses an important event that would be unbelievable to those who were not there, they take pictures, video, and anything else they can. Then they present it without anonymity to the media immediately, as CUPE did at a press conference within the same week. In the case of the O'Hare UFO, the event was not revealed until long after it allegedly happened, without any photos or videos. It's false, I'm sad to say.

I have the same problems with the Disclosure Project, which features testimony by many impressive people with unbeatable credentials. Nevertheless, all they can present us with are campfire ghost stories. No evidence except the words that come out of their mouths. Please go and watch the two hour presentation and come back to tell me I'm wrong. Tell me I've become too jaded and skeptical. Tell me that the aliens are here! I'm ready to be convinced!

But when I see a case where evidence is presented so clearly, it makes me doubt all the things that I believed without evidence. Information can be disseminated without barriers on the Internet, so there is no reason why people can't disclose their evidence anymore. Ghost stories are obsolete.

Come on, aliens! Upload your home movies to YouTube already!

Have you seen any evidence of UFOs that convinced you?

This was clearly a botched police operation. Soon after the dirty cops were identified and called out by the protesters, they approached the line of riot cops seeking help. They were taken to the other side of the riot cops' shields, and gently arrested. They remained masked the entire time. As if it wasn't clear enough that they were cops, the riot cops made the mistake of putting them on the ground, which allowed all the digital cameras to get high resolution images of the pigs' boots and the riot cops boots. All the boots had identical Vibram soles. The failed instigators clumsily put duct tape on their boots to try to disguise them, but didn't cover the bottoms where the boots can be identified.

Thanks to social news sites like digg, the story is not just causing a stir in Canada. (Can Canadians be stirred by anything?) The story, pictures, and video are being viewed worldwide. This certainly isn't the first time that police have been accused of inciting violence to defame protesters, but the evidence here is incontrovertible, in my opinion: The way the dirty cops fled from the protesters, practically begging the riot cops to rescue them. There were no arrests made or charges laid. The identities of the three men has not been released. Their masks were never removed. The standard issue Vibram police boots. The dissemination of information across the internet was swift. It's too late for a government cover-up this time.

It's disgusting and outrageous. Where did the orders come from for this repulsive mission? To know for certain that our police are using violent tactics against peaceful civilians is hard to accept. It's the worst kind of abuse of power.

Sadly, I think this event will be forgotten by next week.

Update Aug. 24, 2007

Looks like the issue got enough attention that it got a response from the federal government. Time to see some legislation to keep the police in check.

Time to "police the police"