Dec. 28th show...." and stuff....".

[Gil Bavel]

did i miss one ? just in case there were 6, .........Heinous


puppies.....

i have a mix of pure bred and mongrel, and some came from breeders and some are pound pups, using the internet to source a pup is really only something a breeder should do, and its usually done to import a bloodline.
for example in the rottweiller circuit down here breeders will source a pup from england or sweden or germany or the USA, this will be used as a gene source to revitalise a local bloodline.
the internet is actually very helpful in terms of improving bloodlines.
but thats for breeders who are experts, the average joe should always take the time to go and look at the animals on offer either at a shelter or a breeder.
what drives me nuts is pet stores in shopping malls with live pups in the window, this is just disgusting. these stores are usually supplied by shonky breeders/brokers like Knell, and are a primary source of shelter dogs.

people who had no intent to purchase a dog will impulse buy these animals because they look soooo cute and sad in the window, and then 6 months after they have bought them, realise they dont fit in with the lifestyle and its off to the shelter they go.

people should never buy a pup from a shop window, anyone wanting a dog should sit down and decide if they want a pure breed or a mongrel and then source one from a registered breeder or a shelter, doing the homework and legwork as required

i seem to have an unnatural affinity with animals, and my house is often called "the zoo" in addition even wild species seek me out, i have wild animals that will seek me out and eat out of my hand, and even let me touch them, some even bring their babies to meet me. perhaps its because i resemble grisly adams, it can get strange sometimes, i taught a few of the wild cockatoos to say "hello", and now if i walk the dog to the shops i get followed by the whole flock calling "hello" as we go.

Well, Mike--that explains a lot...

 

[Schuyler]

Gareth, I love ya like a brother, and you know that I do... but I'm just curious... how many of you super-duper animal lovers either are members of an animal rights organization (doesn't have to be PETA), or have donated money, time or effort to an animal organization? EVER?

So what's your point there, Gil? Are you telling us that if someone does not donate money, time, or effort to an organization on some animal rights approval list, then they have no right to call themselves an animal lover? Are you saying someone does not have the right to criticze Bill Knell for his actions UNLESS they have proven themselves worthy?

And PETA?! Good, Lord, Gil. These guys burn down buildings if they decide they don't like what you are doing. Animals first; people second. No thanks.

I can understand you rolling your eyes over some of the over-the-top 'I love animals so much!' comments, but free speech and all. Let 'em go ahead. They are not in factual error and they don't need 'correction.' And MONEY doesn't prove anything.

 

[Siani]

I love animals but despise PETA. Here's why:

PETA Kills Animals | PetaKillsAnimals.com

 

[Gil Bavel]

PETA?!? LMAO. what a BS organization.
i personally know dozens of people who donate time, money, effort to animal rights, shelter, medical attention including myself. i rescued a blind kitty and she has been a delight. you can see her on the cover of a "caring for a blind cat" book at Cat Professional - Caring for Cats - Home Page this blind cat (Sugar) is the most amazing cat i have ever owned.

Good. That counts you out.

How about the rest of you?

P.S.: I spent time last year at the PETA HQ in Norfolk, VA... they have their shit together and until you've been there and see the work they do, you really can't form an informed opinion about their work.

But, even so, ANY animal organization or charity... Who's next?

 

[bobheck]

Good. That counts you out.

How about the rest of you?

P.S.: I spent time last year at the PETA HQ in Norfolk, VA... they have their shit together and until you've been there and see the work they do, you really can't form an informed opinion about their work.

But, even so, ANY animal organization or charity... Who's next?

Holy Christ, what a holier than thou post this was!

I give to whom I choose, time and money - mostly to organizations that help people without homes and such (Habitat for Humanity, etc...). Yes people.

But I am an animal lover, and my dog has a better life than many people on the streets - that makes me feel a little guilty.

Your implication that you have to give money to animal rights organizations and probably eat bean curd and veggie burgers or you are not a true 'animal lover' is a crock.

You wanna give to those organizations and be a vegetarian, fine. But don't look down your nose at us that choose otherwise. If you feel that way, then screw you and the horse you SHOULD have rode in on.

 

[skunkape]

My dogs live better than me in my own house! They stayed at my parents house while I lived in a van.

 

[pixelsmith]

PETA is not a great organization. i wouldnt give them a penny.

 

[bobheck]

Check out Dark Mission--Mike Bara has not only reined him in, but made him rational once again... the reason that he freaked out so hard was that NASA was fighting him tooth and nail.

When disgruntled NASA officials and ex-employees started leaking stuff to him that validated (some of) his theories, he went back to being the rational guy he started out being. I'm just starting Dark Mission now, and it didn't spend time near the top of the NYT Bestseller list for nothing....

You know, i bought Dark Mission when it first came out last year. It is the first book I believe that I actually could not stomach finishing.

The first part of the book attempted to tie together the Kennedy assassination (with pictures (pfft) of the second gunman on the grassy knoll none the less!), the Masons, and some crazy LBJ conspiracy thing.

Then, we have to look at the pictures, most of which could pass as actual Rorschach blots. These were a joke. Black and white splotches used to convince gullible naive minds that something is actually there.

Then, I really believe one of the reasons they brought Bara into the mix was so that within the text, Hoagland could be referred to in the third person about 23 times per page, to give the statements pseudo validity.

I listen to Hoagland when I catch him on a show. And, he is very well spoken and even makes me pause to ponder some of his wild ideas. I fell for his pitch on this book, which is why I bought it. Luckily I unloaded it on Ebay while it was still hot and was out a net of only about 7 bucks.

 

[DrLogic]

Holy Christ, what a holier than thou post this was!

I give to whom I choose, time and money - mostly to organizations that help people without homes and such (Habitat for Humanity, etc...). Yes people.

But I am an animal lover, and my dog has a better life than many people on the streets - that makes me feel a little guilty.

Your implication that you have to give money to animal rights organizations and probably eat bean curd and veggie burgers or you are not a true 'animal lover' is a crock.

You wanna give to those organizations and be a vegetarian, fine. But don't look down your nose at us that choose otherwise. If you feel that way, then screw you and the horse you SHOULD have rode in on.

Well put!


Gil, you sound like you know the price of everything and the value of nothing.

Many a great deed has been done in this world, without anyone knowing who did it...

 

[Mothra]

Gareth, I love ya like a brother, and you know that I do... but I'm just curious... how many of you super-duper animal lovers either are members of an animal rights organization (doesn't have to be PETA), or have donated money, time or effort to an animal organization? EVER?

All of my animals have been rescues. Every single one. Including my little bird.

If it was a rescue from a shelter, believe me I hooked them up.

Cmon down off the high horse Gil.

When I was taking trains to work everyday in philly I used to feed homeless people everyday. Just doing anything to make someones day not suck. It was all I could do.

People donating time and money is all good, but a lot of people cannot, or do not have the time or money. If each person just does a little thing, Like rescueing a blind kitty, or feeding someone down on their luck, believe me it helps. If millions of people do this then it makes a difference. You don't have to have a Militant attitude. PETA has done a lot of good, but they also have some real whack jobs working for them.

 

[kova81]

 

[David Biedny]

I've just read this over at Lesley Gunter's Debris Field blog:

The Debris Field: Alexandra Holzer -- Clearing up misinformation

So that's another bit of misrepresentation by Knell!

Thanks for that heads up, Siani. Here's the post I just put up there...

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

The reason that we mentioned that Knell represented himself as an agent for Alexandra, is that he was doing _just that_ on his website (which has now been taken down). I even went so far as to alert Alexandra of this fact, and she didn't seemed concerned about it. She didn't seem to know that Knell had her listed on a page on his site called "Speakers Bureau", the wording was fairly unambiguous. She was indeed linked to Knell in a professional context, and she's lucky that's no longer the case now that his site has been removed. We ended up doing her a favor, so I don't know what she's complaining about. Then again, she claimed that we ate her alive on the show, but I challenge anyone who actually LISTENS to the episode to confirm that accusation.

The idea that it was somehow wrong of us to expose Knell is ridiculous - the guy was pirating commercial DVDs, plagiarizing editorial copy (from no less than Angelina Joiner, a respected journalist), making wild (and untrue) claims and engaging in mail fraud. Those of you who have ever written articles and books in a commercial context can certainly understand the sensitivity of literary plagiarism, and if you've dumped your life savings into doing a great documentary about UFOs - like James Fox - imagine what it feels like to find someone claiming to be a UFO researcher, stealing your hard work and selling it for cash. It's heinous behavior, and while C2C and other shows gave this thief a platform, The Paracast did a good deed by taking this guy down. The avalanche of positive feedback has been something to behold, especially from content owners thankful that we brought this crook's activities to a wider level of attention. He's not well-known enough to go after? How many of you heard of Bernie Madoff before the last few weeks? For crying out loud, the soft-thinking behind those sentiments is astonishing.

It's great that some of you are happy listening to someone talk for hours without being asked a single in-depth question, but on The Paracast, we prefer to have in-depth conversations with our guests, and based on the number of people who listen to the show, it seems there are lots of folks who are also hungry for something other than platitudes and lite chit-chat. I personally take these subjects very seriously, and have an emotional investment in the pursuit of some answers, even if this proves to be an impossible task (I rarely take the easy road in life, my bad). I understand that there are lots of folks who see this all as entertainment, but I'm not one of them. And when I can help expose a charlatan, a crook, I'll be more than happy to do so in the future. It's called "making a mitzvah".

dB

 

[Kevin Daly]

I was horrified to read the comments on The Debris Field: people seem to think it's bad manners to expose charlatans, and that little issues like truth and the character of the messenger are irrelevant.
But the truth exists, facts are facts and if you truly believe reality is a matter of opinion, try jumping off a skyscraper then tell me how that works for you.
There is a consistent pattern to the "don't bother me with facts" brigade: on the one hand you have those who don't care because they're only interested in making money, and on the other hand you have people who just seem to be looking for a comfortable fantasy to live in. I think the more commercially savvy members of the second group often end up migrating to the first.
As long as this continues we'll get nowhere with this subject and won't be able to ask anyone with a functioning mind to take it seriously. I vote we persuade these determinedly gullible people to shift their attention to matters of such crucial import as the 9th Annual Fairy Human Relations Conference (thanks again valiens)...(Come to think of it, there's more than a whiff of exopolitics about that title - seriously, are they expecting to open embassies in Tír na nÓg, Annwfn and Alfheim?).
I do think it's interesting the extent to which the reaction resembles what you might expect if you'd been running around telling all their little kids there's no Santa.

 

[Gil Bavel]

Holy Christ, what a holier than thou post this was!

I give to whom I choose, time and money - mostly to organizations that help people without homes and such (Habitat for Humanity, etc...). Yes people.

But I am an animal lover, and my dog has a better life than many people on the streets - that makes me feel a little guilty.

Your implication that you have to give money to animal rights organizations and probably eat bean curd and veggie burgers or you are not a true 'animal lover' is a crock.

You wanna give to those organizations and be a vegetarian, fine. But don't look down your nose at us that choose otherwise. If you feel that way, then screw you and the horse you SHOULD have rode in on.

I never said that you have to give money to animal rights organizations and probably eat bean curd and veggie burgers or you are not a true 'animal lover'. You're totally putting words into my mouth.

This got taken totally out of context. I was responding to a post in which somebody said that PETA was a joke. I was showing from my own experience that that's not true, and that somebody saying that they're a BS organization is spouting nonsense... because of what they've heard secondhand. PETA does a lot of good.

And I wasn't trying to downplay anyone else's experience, or devalue their actions--just to find out what exactly everyone that says they're big animal lovers have done. Time, money, effort--it's not holier than thou--I'm just asking! What have you done?

Since that post, plenty of people have stepped up and answered my question. Like I said, it was taken out of context--I didn't mean it the way it must have come out, so I'll be the first to apologize if anyone felt that I impugned their character--that's not the reason for the post, or why I'm here.

I'll admit, I was a little stung by the PETA comment--but I've gotten used to it. Still, I think many people in this thread way overreacted, and that stung more.

 

[Dolphtesla]

How does one quantify the stinging of comments? "Yours hurt me more than mine hurt you?" What?

 

[Gil Bavel]

How does one quantify the stinging of comments? "Yours hurt me more than mine hurt you?" What?

Gee, thanks, Dolph, it takes a real man to kick a guy when he's down.
Especially when he meant no harm in the first place, and apologized to boot, to cover all his bases--it really takes quite a guy to lay in that last kidney punch when everyone else has turned to start walking home and isn't looking. Mob rules, eh?

And let me be clear--since you've stuck in that last, final skewer--now, I really, fully understand what I did that was wrong. The error of my ways is forever emblazoned on my brain, thanks to your last post. You have really helped me see the light--and, God, I thank you for it.

You're a real hero, Dolph, the likes of which we've never seen. You've got what it takes--you're a real winner!

Oh, and thanks for your long history of contributing valuable and insightful posts. I'm sure I speak for everybody on The Paracast boards when I say that things here just wouldn't have been the same without you over the last year.

 

[Mothra]

You're a real hero, Dolph, the likes of which we've never seen. You've got what it takes--you're a real winner!

Oh, and thanks for your long history of contributing valuable and insightful posts. I'm sure I speak for everybody on The Paracast boards when I say that things here just wouldn't have been the same without you over the last year.

<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

ZING!!

Gil - Nobody thinks ill of you. You just came off a little off-putting in your post. We have nothing but love for you. Animal rights, like Politics and religion really stirs up a hornets nest pretty much everywhere you go.

 

[Mothra]

I was horrified to read the comments on The Debris Field: people seem to think it's bad manners to expose charlatans, and that little issues like truth and the character of the messenger are irrelevant.
But the truth exists, facts are facts and if you truly believe reality is a matter of opinion, try jumping off a skyscraper then tell me how that works for you.
There is a consistent pattern to the "don't bother me with facts" brigade: on the one hand you have those who don't care because they're only interested in making money, and on the other hand you have people who just seem to be looking for a comfortable fantasy to live in. I think the more commercially savvy members of the second group often end up migrating to the first.
As long as this continues we'll get nowhere with this subject and won't be able to ask anyone with a functioning mind to take it seriously. I vote we persuade these determinedly gullible people to shift their attention to matters of such crucial import as the 9th Annual Fairy Human Relations Conference (thanks again valiens)...(Come to think of it, there's more than a whiff of exopolitics about that title - seriously, are they expecting to open embassies in Tír na nÓg, Annwfn and Alfheim?).
I do think it's interesting the extent to which the reaction resembles what you might expect if you'd been running around telling all their little kids there's no Santa.

I'm actually putting together a post for that board. I'm just frigging speechless right now after reading some of those responses.

 

[Dolphtesla]

Gee, thanks, Dolph, it takes a real man to kick a guy when he's down.
Especially when he meant no harm in the first place, and apologized to boot, to cover all his bases--it really takes quite a guy to lay in that last kidney punch when everyone else has turned to start walking home and isn't looking. Mob rules, eh?

And let me be clear--since you've stuck in that last, final skewer--now, I really, fully understand what I did that was wrong. The error of my ways is forever emblazoned on my brain, thanks to your last post. You have really helped me see the light--and, God, I thank you for it.

You're a real hero, Dolph, the likes of which we've never seen. You've got what it takes--you're a real winner!

Oh, and thanks for your long history of contributing valuable and insightful posts. I'm sure I speak for everybody on The Paracast boards when I say that things here just wouldn't have been the same without you over the last year.

Thanks, I really appreciate the warm words. I am glad someone as mature as you is an admin. Oh, and thanks for threatening to delete me privately. That was real tough of you.

Also, you didn't really apologize. You ended your post explaining that you were hurt MORE than the animal lovers out there that were appalled by you on your high horse. So I called you out. Sorry you couldn't take it.

But thanks again for not letting your power corrupt you. Thanks a lot.

I'll miss it here. this has to be the best paranormal show out there. Good luck Gene and Dave.

 

[Schuyler]

I just have a couple of questions. Why do dolphetsla's posts reflect an unregistered status? Did he (or she) take himself out or was he TAKEN out? Was dolphetesla threatened with removal privately by Gil as he claimed? Is Gil an 'admin' of some sort with extra privileges in that regard? (There is no indication of that on the headers.) Just wondering if some people are more equal than others, or if this is a set-up to make it look that way, or what. TIA.