Thursday, April 3, 2014


News Clips For The Day


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Should We Close Part Of The Ocean To Keep Fish On The Plate? – NPR
by Alastair Bland
April 02, 2014

­ For lovers of fatty tuna belly, canned albacore and swordfish kebabs, here's a question: Would you be willing to give them up for several years so that you could eat them perhaps for the rest of your life?

If a new proposal to ban fishing on the open ocean were to fly, that's essentially what we might be faced with. It's an idea that might help restore the populations of several rapidly disappearing fish – like tuna, swordfish and marlin — that we, and future generations, might like to continue to have as a food source.

The novel conservation plan, introduced recently in a paper in the journal PLoS Biology, would close international waters – where there's currently pretty much a fishing free-for-all — to all fishing and restrict commercial fishermen to coastal areas managed by individual nations. The authors, Crow White and Christopher Costello, suggest turning the open ocean into a worldwide reserve for the migratory species that travel huge distances.

That reserve would give these fish populations to chance to rebound. And the fish that strayed into coastal national waters, where fishing would remain legal, could meanwhile be caught by fishermen. Overall, under such a plan, fish populations would grow healthier, fishing would become a more lucrative business and we would have more fish to eat, the researchers argue.

But let's face it: Closing off most of the ocean to fishing boats would be a pretty drastic move.

But as White, a marine biologist at the California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, notes, the policies we currently have in place to regulate fisheries — catch quotas, seasonal closures and minimum size limits — aren't working.
"We're already failing to create, much less enforce, other fishery regulations on the high seas," White tells The Salt.

The "high seas," according to the Food and Agriculture Organization, are international waters more than 200 miles from land that make up 64 percent of ocean's surface and 95 percent of its volume.

In these waters, millions of tunas, sharks and billfish every year are hauled onto enormous industrial-scale fishing vessels at a rate faster than they can reproduce. Tunas are a main target of high seas fishing boats, with species like the Atlantic bluefin, albacore and bigeye especially impacted by overfishing.
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Costello, an environmental and resource economist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, tells The Salt that populations of these fish could start rebounding within five or ten years of enacting a high seas fishing ban. He says catches — and availability for consumers — would decline for only a few years.

"By catching less fish in the short run we'd be able to catch more fish every year on a sustainable basis forever," he says. "This has huge implications for food security."

Enforcement could be relatively simple, too, says White — with the help of satellites. Any large ship observed moving slowly, meandering in circles or simply drifting in international waters would be considered suspicious.

White and Costello expect some nations — like Spain, China and Japan, which have major investments in fishing fleets in international waters — to resist the idea of a ban. White says that Spain, especially, could be impacted because, while it currently relies heavily on offshore fish populations, it has relatively little of its own national waters to exploit.

White and Costello aren't the only ones raising the idea of a fishing ban in international waters. Martin Stuchtey, with the global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company, recently argued that high seas fishing operations are overall a losing endeavor, as reported by AFP. Fishing on the high seas is often supported with subsidies. But Stuchtey calculated that closing the high seas would cost every person on earth $2 but would ultimately give them a return of $4.

There could be unintended environmental consequences, however. Gib Brogan, fisheries campaign manager with Oceana, wonders if restricting the global fishing fleet to nearshore waters could have adverse effects on fishes like flounder, snapper and grouper that occupy these waters year round.

"If we swap diffuse fishing across a wide swath of ocean for intense fishing on the edges and near shore, will this be a good thing or will it just concentrate the effects near shore?" Brogan says in an email.

Costello, the environmental economist, says no, because overfishing of nearshore species could be avoided if each nation steps up to manage its own resources and protect them from foreign plundering.

Costello and White are now taking the next step toward a high seas fishing ban by trying to determine precisely how such a measure might affect individual nations, certain fish species and seafood consumers. Costello expects that research to be published in about a year.

"All big ideas have to start somewhere," White says.




The plan would be to make all commercial fishing illegal on the open ocean with the exception of each nation's own coastal waters for a period of five to ten years. Wolves were hounded into an endangered condition in the US until the last couple of decades when they were reintroduced at Yellostone and other places and given a protected status. They have recovered very well, as a result. The bald eagle is another such case. I think many fish would do the same thing. The ocean used to be a seemingly endless source of fish, but now the numbers of those species which we most like to eat are getting low. When that happens many predator species in the ocean such as dolphins will also run out of food, possibly causing them to become endangered.

“Closing off most of the ocean to fishing boats would be a pretty drastic move,” says the writer. International waters is stated to be those within 200 miles of the coast of each nation, and actually makes up 65% of all ocean surfaces and 95% of their volume. That's a fairly large area for fishing. The fishermen are using “enormous industrial-scale fishing vessels,” so the catch is huge. White recommends using satellites to monitor large ships moving in a suspicious manner in International waters. Spain, Japan and China especially are expected to fight any such measure and some species of fish might be adversely impacted as they are found only in the coastal waters and may tend to be depleted by intensive fishing there. Costello and White are doing studies now on individual nations and the impact that the ban would have on them. I think the goal of preventing the extinction of many species of fish makes the plan worth the effort, in spite of “unintended consequences.”





U.S. Secretly Built 'Cuban Twitter' to Stir Unrest, AP Reports – NBC
First published April 3 2014

The U.S. government masterminded the creation of a "Cuban Twitter" — a communications network designed to undermine the communist government in Cuba, built with secret shell companies and financed through foreign banks, The Associated Press has learned.

The project, which lasted more than two years and drew tens of thousands of subscribers, sought to evade Cuba's stranglehold on the Internet with a primitive social media platform. First, the network would build a Cuban audience, mostly young people; then, the plan was to push them toward dissent.

Yet its users were neither aware it was created by a U.S. agency with ties to the State Department, nor that American contractors were gathering personal data about them, in the hope that the information might be used someday for political purposes.

It is unclear whether the scheme was legal under U.S. law, which requires written authorization of covert action by the president and congressional notification. Officials at USAID would not say who had approved the program or whether the White House was aware of it. The Cuban government declined a request for comment.

At minimum, details uncovered by the AP appear to muddy the U.S. Agency for International Development's longstanding claims that it does not conduct covert actions, and could undermine the agency's mission to deliver aid to the world's poor and vulnerable — an effort that requires the trust and cooperation of foreign governments.

USAID and its contractors went to extensive lengths to conceal Washington's ties to the project, according to interviews and documents obtained by the AP. They set up front companies in Spain and the Cayman Islands to hide the money trail, and recruited CEOs without telling them they would be working on a U.S. taxpayer-funded project.
"There will be absolutely no mention of United States government involvement," according to a 2010 memo from Mobile Accord Inc., one of the project's creators. "This is absolutely crucial for the long-term success of the service and to ensure the success of the Mission."

The project, dubbed "ZunZuneo," slang for a Cuban hummingbird's tweet, was publicly launched shortly after the 2009 arrest in Cuba of American contractor Alan Gross. He was imprisoned after traveling repeatedly to the country on a separate, clandestine USAID mission to expand Internet access using sensitive technology that only governments use.

USAID said in a statement that it is "proud of its work in Cuba to provide basic humanitarian assistance, promote human rights and fundamental freedoms, and to help information flow more freely to the Cuban people," whom it said "have lived under an authoritarian regime" for 50 years. The agency said its work was found to be "consistent with U.S. law."

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and chairman of the Appropriations Committee's State Department and foreign operations subcommittee, said the ZunZuneo revelations were troubling.

"There is the risk to young, unsuspecting Cuban cellphone users who had no idea this was a U.S. government-funded activity," he said. "There is the clandestine nature of the program that was not disclosed to the appropriations subcommittee with oversight responsibility."

The AP obtained more than 1,000 pages of documents about the project's development. It independently verified the project's scope and details in the documents through publicly available databases, government sources and interviews with those involved in ZunZuneo.

The estimated $1.6 million spent on ZunZuneo was publicly earmarked for an unspecified project in Pakistan, public government data show, but those documents don't reveal where the funds were actually spent.

For more than two years, ZunZuneo grew and reached at least 40,000 subscribers. But documents reveal the team found evidence Cuban officials tried to trace the text messages and break into the ZunZuneo system. USAID told the AP that ZunZuneo stopped in September 2012 when a government grant ended.




The name "ZunZuneo" is slang for a Cuban hummingbird's tweet, and the program gained the confidence of some 40,000 people, mainly young people, while compiling their personal information for unspecified political uses. USAID said in a statement that it is "proud of its work,” but Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-VT has described it as “troubling” and said that the program was not disclosed to the appropriations subcommittee with oversight responsibility." The funds for the effort were purportedly intended for use in Pakistan and did not reveal any connection to Cuba. The article says that Cuban officials did try to trace the tweets and break into ZunZuneo, but whether they succeeded or not is not told.

Hillary Clinton, who was Secretary of State at the time, was on the news this morning defending the program with the government's good intentions of helping people in oppressed places to gain more information from the outside world. She didn't mention the fact that those using the program were giving personal information about themselves without being aware of it and the information was being collected. “Spy versus Spy” activities always strike me as being wrong, though they may be justified if they succeed in democratizing totalitarian countries. It isn't good that they didn't notify the oversight committee in the Senate and that there was no written consent from the president. In fact there is no proof that he even knew about it. Though USAID said the project was “consistent with US law,” this article says that the complete secrecy with which it was conducted and the lack of Presidential consent may make it illegal.

All countries do conduct spying activities, and it is evident to me that inside knowledge is necessary to the success of attempts to influence or combat other countries, but it is mandatory that the spying effort not come to light, as it causes other countries to distrust the US more and makes us look foolish. The fact that this was an aid organization makes it look even worse. Also, the hope that these young people would unite to do anything against the government of Cuba was probably not founded on the reality of their actual political beliefs. Most people born under a very closed system like that of Cuba are either totally indoctrinated after fifty years of domination or are afraid to rebel. I think those who most want to change the government are the ones who get into a boat and come across the water to Florida. What they want most of all is to get away safely.






Not An April Fools' Joke: Russians Petition To Get Alaska Back – NPR
by Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson
April 01, 2014 3

President Vladimir Putin's annexation of Crimea is reigniting talk in Russia of taking back Alaska from the United States, which purchased the territory from a czar for $7.2 million nearly a century and a half ago.

Most of the talk is tongue-in-cheek, but it comes at a time of heightened sensitivity in the West over whether Russia is planning further incursions or land grabs.
A recent petition written in clunky English on the official White House website seeks Alaska's secession and return to Russia.

So far, it has generated more than 37,000 signatures — or more than a third of the 100,000 needed to get the Obama administration to formally respond.

According to the website, the petition was created by "S.V." of Anchorage on March 21. But The Moscow Times wrote Tuesday that the petition was actually uploaded by a pro-Kremlin outfit called Government Communication G2C, which was trying to show flaws in the White House petition system rather than get Alaska back.

In Russia, a digitally altered photograph showing a group of protesting "Alaskan" penguins holding up Russian signs that read "Crimea is ours," "Alaska is Next" and "Only Putin" has proved very popular online.

That penguins aren't native to Alaska was apparently lost on the photo's unidentified creator. But his or her intent appears to mock the pro-Kremlin United Russia Party, given that some of the penguins are holding party banners.

On the March 23 episode of BBC One's Andrew Marr Talk Show, Vladimir Chizhov, who is Russia's ambassador to the EU, also brought up Russia's historical claim to Alaska to another guest that day, U.S. Sen. John McCain, the Republican from Arizona.
"We do not have any — I would say — expansionist views," Chizhov said, when pressed about Russia's intentions in Ukraine and elsewhere. When the moderator persisted, Chizhov responded: "Should I tell Sen. McCain to watch over Alaska? ... It used to be Russian."

He quickly added: "I'm joking, of course."
But it's no joke to some Russian officials and groups. Putin's annexation of Crimea resonated with many Russians, who see him as having righted a historical wrong. Similar sentiments are fueling Russian legal claims to oil-rich Alaska.

Last year, an obscure group called The Little Bees filed a claim with the U.S. government demanding a cancellation of the Alaska sales agreement and millions of dollars in compensation.

The plaintiffs claimed the payment the U.S. made to Russia was illegal and that legalization of gay marriage also violated the American-Russian contract.
Several Russian news outlets in the past week reported on a claim for a small part of Alaska by the mayor of the Siberian town of Yakutsk, who says he has uncovered documents showing that Spruce Island actually belongs to the Russian Orthodox Church.
The mayor has petitioned Putin, the Russian Parliament and the Foreign Ministry for the island's return to the church, rather than to Russia.

As for the Alaska secession petition drive, the Obama administration had no comment on its merit:
"We're not in a position to comment on the substance of a response before it has been issued," National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin M. Hayden told NPR.
That won't happen unless the petition receives 100,000 signatures by April 20.


Government-to-citizen
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Government-to-Citizen (abbreviated G2C) is the communication link between a government and private individuals or residents. Such G2C communication most often refers to that which takes place through Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), but can also include direct mail and media campaigns. G2C can take place at the federal, state, and local levels. G2C stands in contrast to G2B, or Government-to-Business networks.


This article is funny only because it's so unlikely to be serious. I've heard, speaking of humor, that the satirical cartoon show The Simpsons is closely watched lately by both Ukrainians and Russians, so apparently it is dealing with the crisis. The very tension generated by the real life crisis causes a certain amount of semi-hysterical laughter. The following is from the NPR blog of Gregory Warner. See http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2014/04/01/297155827/what-the-simpsons-says-about-ukraines-language-divide


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What 'The Simpsons' Says About Ukraine's Language Divide – NPR
by Gregory Warner
April 01, 2014

­Misha Kostin, a 21-year-old construction engineer in eastern Ukraine, loves The Simpsons. He's loved it for 10 years. He says the animated series "illustrates everyday life problems in humorous ways, and offers a useful moral at the end of each episode."

And though Kostin and most of the people in eastern Ukraine are native Russian speakers, he prefers to download episodes dubbed not in Russian but in his second language, Ukrainian. All his friends in the city of Donetsk prefer the version dubbed in Ukrainian.

"They talk in Russian, they think in Russian," and even their parents speak only Russian, he says of his friends. "But Simpsons? They like in Ukrainian."

Vladimir Lykov, creative director of an animation studio in Donetsk, agrees that The Simpsons is more popular in Ukrainian than are some other shows, like Family Guy.
In the recent crisis in Ukraine, much has been made of the divisions between Russian speakers, who are the majority in the east and the south, and the Ukrainian speakers, who are dominant in the western part of the country.

But Lykov says language in Ukraine has always been more a political tool of division than an actual divide. People in eastern Ukraine — especially those under 35, who came of age after the Soviet Union collapsed — like being bilingual, he says.
"Unfortunately," he says, "the media likes to show that only Russians live here and only Ukrainians live in western Ukraine. Actually people here have no trouble understanding both languages. And Ukrainian is even funnier for Russian-speakers [because] it's got cleverer slang."

He blames the media, controlled by oligarchs and Ukrainian politicians, for exaggerating the language divide. He says it has always been easier to stoke language fears than address real problems, like the lack of jobs or the stumbling economy.
Russian officials worry publicly that the Russian language is under threat in Ukraine and point to the February ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych. He was toppled by a popular revolt in Kiev done by both Ukrainian and Russian speakers.

American officials have said this Russian claim is wildly overblown, and there are worries that Russia's emphasis on the language issue could become a rationale for military intervention in eastern Ukraine.

Indeed, there's a growing movement in Donetsk to break off from Ukraine and form an autonomous republic with Russian as the dominant language. That's the first step to joining Russia.

That worries Lykov, the animator, who says that the propaganda today out of Russia tells Ukrainian Russian-speakers they're under siege. Ukrainian domestic politicians have honed a similar message themselves.

"It's always been this way," he says. "This constantly present rhetoric of our politicians — all the 20 years of independence."

So might The Simpsons, which has been in existence longer than Ukraine has been independent, be a small counterforce to unite this divided country?
Unfortunately The Simpsons ceased being dubbed in Ukrainian five years ago. Now people like Kostin, the engineer, have to go online to download the program dubbed in Ukrainian by a private company.

No one could tell me why the televised version of the show was switched into Russian, but it was right around when Yanukovych, from this eastern region, took power.




“But Lykov says language in Ukraine has always been more a political tool of division than an actual divide. People in eastern Ukraine — especially those under 35, who came of age after the Soviet Union collapsed — like being bilingual, he says.” He goes on to say that the lack of jobs and the weak economy are the main problems. The article goes on to say that both Ukrainian and Russian speakers united to oust Yanukovych. Lykov says that the Ukrainian Russian speakers enjoy being bilingual. They like to watch The Simpsons in Ukrainian because that language has “cleverer slang.” Unfortunately The Simpsons dubbing was switched from Ukrainian to Russian at about the same time as Yanukovych came to power. No accident there.

“Russian officials worry publicly” that the Russian language is endangered there, and the US is concerned that the issue may become an excuse for further military attacks. Lykov calls it “rhetoric” and says that the situation has been the same during the entire 20 years of Ukraine's independence. The article says that Lykov is “worried” about a movement in Donetsk to break off from Ukraine and join Russia, however. It apparently is not nearly as clear-cut a cultural division as Russia and even the US has said, though, and I have hopes that this “crisis” will lessen with time, especially if the peace talks go forward with good results.

The US may still have to make some military changes by strengthening our forces – along with other NATO countries – in Eastern Europe and continuing to help Ukraine directly. Trusting Russia's intentions is not something I will do again any time soon. I noticed last night that NASA has announced that they will no longer cooperate with Russia on the space program, except for the international space station. I wondered how long that would last. I am sorry to see it go, but I agree with the move.



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Ukrainians Open Their Homes To Crimean Refugees – NPR
by Peter Kenyon
March 31, 2014

­Here's yet another sign that Russia is firming up its control of Crimea. The Russian prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, and much of his cabinet showed up there today. Medvedev announced that Crimea will become a special economic zone with tax breaks to attract investors. Now, Russia says it annexed Crimea at the request of its large ethnic Russian population. But not everyone there is Russian. And even before the annexation, some people were leaving their homes and fleeing. Many people elsewhere in Ukraine are offering their homes to Crimean refugees.

NPR's Peter Kenyon is in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, where the number of newcomers is overwhelming.

PETER KENYON, BYLINE: Yelena Tarasenka was born and raised in a town near Sevastopol, home to the Russian Black Sea Fleet. She always considered herself a Crimean and a Ukrainian, but all of a sudden being both is extremely hard.

KENYON: Sitting on a park bench overlooking Kiev's Independence Square, Tarasenka explains that even before the Russian takeover, it was clear things were getting dangerously unstable. Suddenly there were more than 10 times the usual number of Russian troops on the streets, as well as other armed groups. There were Russian armored vehicles on the move and helicopters flying overhead. She took her nine-year-old son and a few belongings to the train station.

YELENA TARASENKA: (Through translator) And when I arrived to the station, the tickets were almost gone. The train was packed, so many wanted to leave. I managed to get a ticket for me and my son and we had to squeeze on board. So many people wanted to leave. They were mostly women and their children. And this was before the referendum.
KENYON: Oleksandra Dvoretska is a young Crimean activist forced to leave her home of 23 years, as Russian forces advanced. She called the government hotline for displaced Crimeans and got no help. She's watching the acting parliament pass a bill about the occupation of Crimea and is shocked to find it doesn't even address the myriad problems facing Crimeans who don't want to be absorbed by Russia.

OLEKSANDRA DVORETSKA: (Through Translator) How will social benefits, pensions, child allowances be paid? How will children be registered for school? Will Crimeans pay taxes to Ukraine? A business registered in Crimea should pay taxes there but nobody wants to pay the Kremlin.

KENYON: Anna Sandalova helps her son enter an address into their car's GPS. They're headed to bring food to a Crimean Tatar refugee and her family, that Sandalova helped relocate to a suburb of Kiev. A public relations manager by profession, she says she didn't know a single person in Crimea, but she woke up one morning realizing that even those who didn't face the bullets in Independence Square had to do something.
ANNA SANDALOVA: And if you see what you have to do, you have to do that. And in the beginning of March, I understood that we have to bring kids from Crimea to more safe place in Ukraine - in Western Ukraine, in Kiev.

KENYON: She created a Facebook page and soon had a thousand people volunteering rooms, apartments, even homes for Crimean families - focusing on mothers and their children. She says many of them feel lost when they arrive, with so many questions that they can't find answer to yet.

SANDALOVA: Do they want Ukrainian passport? Or do they need to change it because they have their lands, their houses there, and they didn't know what to do with that?
KENYON: The recipient of Sandalova's food delivery is Suzanna, a 38-year-old Crimean Tatar mother of four. She asks that her last name not be used because the men in her family are still in Crimea. Suzanna says the feelings of anger and betrayal are still running strong among not just Tatars but all pro-Ukrainian residents of Crimea.

SUZANNA: (Through Translator) Yes, that's true. When the Russian forces came, many people thought Ukraine had abandoned Crimea. They said: Why didn't they resist? We showed our patriotism, why didn't they protect us? And many people still feel that way. But since coming here, I understand that maybe they couldn't do anything after the Yanukovych regime degraded the military.

KENYON: Suzanna says Ukraine also relied on the Budapest Declaration, in which the U.S. and Britain - as well as Russia - committed to protecting Ukraine against aggression. Now she hopes that the new pro-Russian mood in Crimea won't turn to violence against the Tatars who remain, who say they won't be driven from their homeland again.





Dmitry Medvedev and much of his cabinet are visiting Crimea as of March 31. He is quoted as saying that Russia plans to make Crimea a “special economic zone” with tax breaks to attract investors.

Yelena Tarasenka “always considered herself a Crimean and a Ukrainian, but all of a sudden being both is extremely hard.” She said that Russian troops “and other armed groups” were building up even before the Russian takeover and things were getting unstable.

Another voice says “How will social benefits, pensions, child allowances be paid? How will children be registered for school?” Anna Sandalova carried food to a refugee whom she had settled in Kiev and opened up a Facebook page to connect refugees with people in Kiev offering places for them to live. The efforts of these women are beautiful to see. I had wondered unhappily what would happen to the loyal Ukrainians in Crimea.

Another refugee named Suzanna said that the Yanukovych regime had degraded the Ukrainian military before he was forced out of office, possibly explaining the Ukrainian forces' lack of resistance against Russia, and said that the Ukrainians had relied on the Budapest Declaration, a pact between the US, Britain and Russia to defend Ukraine. One thing is clear, the Ukrainian government and army has to be strengthened again in order for it to be a viable nation on its own. Thank goodness the US already has sent them a billion dollars. Hopefully some weapons will also come to help them build their military back up.




Bill Clinton on aliens visiting Earth: "Wouldn't be surprised"
ByJake Miller CBS News April 3, 2014

Former President Bill Clinton never saw evidence of aliens when he sat in the White House, he said Wednesday, but he wouldn't be surprised if they show up some day.
During an appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live," Mr. Clinton was asked whether he had any inside knowledge about extraterrestrial life, and he said he'd ordered a review of records from Area 51 and Roswell -- two sites scrutinized by alien conspiracy theorists -- when he was in office.

"First I had people go look at the records for Area 51 to make sure there was no alien down there," he said, "and people thought that because everybody who works there has to stop about an hour away and put on special clothing and then drive in and out, and that's because a lot of our stealth technology is made there."
"But there are no aliens there," he said.

A similar review of the records from Roswell turned up nothing, Mr. Clinton said, but that doesn't mean we're alone in the universe.

"We know now we live in an ever expanding universe," he explained. "We know there are billions of stars and planets literally out there, and the universe is getting bigger. We know from our fancy telescopes that just in the last two years more than 20 planets have been identified outside our solar system that seem to be far enough away from their suns -- and dense enough -- that they might be able to support some form of life."

"So it makes it increasing less likely that we're alone," he said.
"Oh, you're trying to give me a hint that there are aliens!" Kimmel exclaimed.
"No, I'm trying to tell you I don't know," Mr. Clinton insisted. "But if we were visited some day, I wouldn't be surprised. I just hope that it's not like 'Independence Day,' the movie -- that it's, you know, a conflict."
Still, Clinton said, a battle with aliens "may be the only way to unite this incredibly divided world of ours."

"Think of how all the differences among the people on earth would seem small if we felt threatened by a space invader," he said.




Clinton said that some people think there is possibly a space alien at Area 51 “because everybody who works there has to stop about an hour away and put on special clothing and then drive in and out, but it's really because “a lot of our stealth technology is made there." He says that some 20 planets have been discovered that look like they would possibly be able to maintain life. I have been watching the news on this during the last twenty years or so and there are many scientists who do think it is possible. I think it is even probable that there are others out there, because I do believe in evolution, and that on other planets that have water and chemical environments like ours, life will also have evolved there.

One article that dealt in depth about the matter, though, said that most of those planets are too far away for their inhabitants to come to earth within the probable lifespan of an organism and that most of them probably won't have a technology developed that would enable such a trip. So, like Clinton, I have no disbelief in the existence of space aliens, but I don't expect to see one during my lifetime. If I felt that I had seen a flying saucer with little aliens moving in and out like the guy in “Close Encounters Of The Third Kind,”I would probably go see my psychiatrist. I love to watch movies about it, though.