Maybe it’s more about secret military technology falling into the wrong hands. As this article in The Resister so aptly put it, “That might be no more than an attempt by the Pentagon to downplay the importance of the satellite’s payload, in an attempt to big up the official we-just-want-to-save-the-world-from-hydrazine line.”

Another explanation could be their wanting to show off their fancy Star Wars toys. The Russians are particularly incensed, as is China, “Many people are worried that a new race of military weapons has just begun.” Investigating this controversy led me down several fascinating rabbit holes, not the least of which is the Sea Based X-Band Radar (SBX-1; SBX-2 is in the works, too).

The world’s largest phased-array X-Band radar, SBX is part of the ballistic missile defense system. The first one was constructed in Texas on a Russian-built mobile, ocean-going semi-submersible oil platform. Here is the image gallery from Boeing. The $900 million radar “is so powerful that if it were off the east coast of the United States near Washington, D.C., it would be capable of detecting the motion and rotation of a baseball launched into outer space from the San Francisco area,” according the to the Missile Defense Agency.

It really does look like something built by a James Bond villain. After a slow trip around Cape Horn, it arrived in Pearl Harbor here in Hawaii in January 2006 to complete repairs. It attempted to make the move to its home base in in Alaska later that year but returned to Pearl Harbor in May to repair ballast problems; this is contradicted by a report from the military which insists that was part of its testing, sea trials and calibration. It finally arrived in its home port of Adak, Alaska in February of 2007. This location was supposedly chosen for its best view of space, though as Noah Shachtman wrote back in 2006, the high seas there are worrisome. HAARP is also located at this latitude, perhaps for similar reasons; however, I did find this article from 2003 that claimed six different locations had been considered, one of them being Hawaii. That same article claimed that an environmental impact study would have to be completed first, to rule out “potential adverse effects of electromagnetic radiation on health.” (Yeah, right; considering how the Hawaii Superferry, built largely for military purposes, managed to get around that, one wonders whether such a study would have been cast aside for the SBX as well.) Certainly electromagnetic radiation is a concern regardless of the home port; this entire next generation of military technology brings up numerous concerns. One cannot help but wonder about the effects on our fragile planet, not to mention our fragile and susceptible minds, which all operate within certain electromagnetic frequencies.

According to Shachtman, three ships are currently just north of Hawaii preparing for the operation. The SBX-1 has also been deployed; from 3000 miles away, its job is to track the object. FEMA has been alerted to dangers, and foreign governments have been briefed. They won’t attempt the operation until the shuttle Atlantis is safely back on the ground.

• That hasn’t stopped Pele. Kilauea volcano continues to march towards a mostly deserted subdivision on the Big Island.  One guy is a holdout down there, and we often wonder about him; here’s a recent news video on this very story.

• Another undersea internet cable was damaged yesterday in the Middle East, making it the fourth inside of a week. Egypt claims it was not ships’ anchors; so, what was it? Just a coincidence, or Information Warfare? (Thanks, Todd, at Through the Looking Glass)

• Reading up on the reverse speech phenomenon, for whatever reason it caught my eye, particularly the category Planet X: Breaking the Net over at EVP Reverse Speaking. Very bizarre stuff and yet, deeply resonant with my own inner sense of what is going on. Not quite sure what to make of it all; I guess backmasking has been in use for awhile now, from Crowley to pop music, and now you can upload your own audio file and listen backwards, or even download a free open source sound editor.

• DNA research is accelerating: Researchers find electrostatic attractions cause Twin strands of DNA seek each other out. On the heels of that discovery, the news that “strands of DNA can be programmed to assemble nanoparticles into 3D structures, pointing towards a new way to engineer materials from the bottom up.” Notable that scientists use DNA to build 3D structures out of gold. Then move to freaky Dr. Moreau-type human chimera experiments as reported by National Geographic. Or how about Scientists find Extraterrestrial genes in Human DNA? Perhaps interesting is tetrahedra-shaped DNA cages, used in nanotech. Keep in mind DNA is about to get a lot easier to read.

• Shapeshifting Robots in Action. Navy tests their new sci-fi weapon, electromagnetic railgun. Frightening nonlethal Humvee-mounted crowd-control. But alas, no more death rays.

• Fun with numbers: I knew that the precession of the equinoxes takes about 26,000 years to complete, marked by our alignment with the galactic center. What I didn’t realize was the center of our galaxy is about 26,000 light years away.

• Particle Accelerator May Reveal Shape Of Alternate Dimensions. This is particularly interesting when viewed alongside the other recent news that the Ophiuchus galaxy cluster emanates highly energetic X-rays, which basically turn the area into a giant particle accelerator. Ophuichus is the Serpent Bearer, the 13^th, or “lost” sign of the zodiac. Thanks to A Kean Eye for the synch. Incidentally Ophiuchus is located near the galactic center with which we will be soon aligning.

• Some cool sites: See the winners of the 2007 Benoit Mandelbrot Fractal Art Contest. See who’s betting on the future. And if you haven’t been there yet, give Free Rice a try.

While many here look forward to an alternative mode of interisland transport, others are concerned about spreading invasive species, endangering whales and increasing pollution as well as straining an already suffering infrastructure (traffic congestion, no parking, crumbling harbors and highways). These paddlers on Maui weren’t prepared for the large, disruptive wake from such a fast ship.

Why all the fuss? The airlines are already in a fare war so they’re probably none too thrilled. This article explains many businesses stand to benefit from the convenience of driving a truck laden with goods between islands; but Young Brothers has had a monopoly on the market for years and can’t be too happy either. This site, Superferry Impact, gives a nice round-up of the controversy.

Most interesting is – no surprise here – the military finds them quite useful. In fact this article points out that there are far more fuel efficient and less environmentally dangerous vessels in existence, but they weren’t chosen for Hawaii. Why? They can’t carry Stryker Brigades, hummers, helicopters, and other equipment (which could even become contaminated with depleted uranium). The article goes on to point out that the Chair of the Superferry board is John Lehman, a former Navy Undersecretary during the Reagan years and member of the 9/11 Commision, and claim, “The Superferry was foisted on Hawai‘i to meet a new mission for the US military. That mission: To have civilian looking high-speed military transport, manned by subcontractors, available at short notice to deliver assault troops and equipment, anywhere in the Pacific.”

Apparently the military has identical ferries other places around the world and finds them convenient and unobtrusive. Camouflaged by civilian ownership and use, they could be commandeered if necessary. From the Pacific Business News in 2005, “With Lehman’s expertise, the Superferry plans …essentially to carry military equipment and ferry vehicles from O‘ahu to the Big Island on a daily basis.” Lehman told PBN that ‘This logistical plan will make it easier for soldiers to train when the Stryker Brigade comes to Hawai‘i.’” He also was quoted as saying, “Power corrupts, but absolute power is pretty neat!”

There is no doubt that Hawaii is very important strategically. The Big Island in particular has been the subject of a lot of controversy in regards to its Pohakuloa training facility; an acquaintance of ours is a former Marine who worked in what he called an enormous underground city there, replete with fast-food joints and malls, but I can’t prove that. We do see quite a bit of large military transport arriving and then just disappearing in the middle of nowhere out there. Those of you into the global grid will note the Big Island lies at 19.5 degrees latitude. Do I have to add the number of UFO sightings we have?

A second ferry is being built to serve the Big Island starting in 2009.

Last week I noticed the Navy released information about their program using dolphins and sea lions to patrol military bases. Trained Navy dolphins can drop a beacon if they detect a person in the water; they can also detect underwater mines. Dolphins were used for this in Iraq in 2003. They also patrolled the bay in San Diego during the Republican National Convention in 1996.

The U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program explains dolphins are useful for their echolocation, or biological sonar, which enables them to locate mines or other objects underwater. The Navy also lists a page of FAQs about their program, to explain questions such as why they use marine mammals (they also employ sea lions and whales), and whether they use them for offensive warfare. They claim they do not train them to attack, yet after Hurricane Katrina there were reports that three dozen U.S. military dolphins, which had been trained and fitted with toxic darts, had been washed away and were missing. They were supposedly accounted for soon after, and the Pentagon denied they were ever trained to attack. Perhaps the fear mongers and rumor mill at work; perhaps the truth is still secret.

The history of the use of marine mammals by the military can be found at PBS. Begun in 1960, the program was originally classified. Rumors still abound that dolphins were used to attack and kill enemy swimmers in Vietnam. By the 1990s, with the Cold War over, much (but not all) of the program was declassified and many of the dolphins were retired. Some still claim dolphins were used to attack and kill; many animal rights organizations object to their employment, and I found a petition online objecting to the Navy’s use of dolphins.

Many people believe dolphins are particularly special, beyond their incredible intelligence. I’ve seen many spiritual books and websites devoted to them. John Lilly was a scientist who was responsible for much of the early research involving dolphins and their means of communication, providing the basis for the movie “Day of the Dolphin” and the enactment of the Marine Mammal Protection Act. He also contributed to research involving psychology and human consciousness, including use of the isolation tank (forming the basis for the movie “Altered States”), and is often discussed alongside people like Aldous Huxley. His work was cited in an article by Steve Hammons, who also responded to the recent news about dolphins in the Navy. Hammons noted that the recently declassified information about Project Stargate includes a 1987 report called “A Remote Action Investigation with Marine Animals” regarding research conducted by SRI International into anomalous cognition. In other words, the Pentagon is looking into remote viewing, telepathy and other ESP phenomena relating to dolphins and our means to communicate with them.

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