Nick Cook

Eli decided he wanted to get better at skate boarding. My advice to him was to spend more time on his board. Weekend after weekend thereafter we traipsed around the Paseo Mall in Pasadena, him on his skateboard, me walking. He got so good he lapped me once at first and then later twice.

Going back for a moment, I need to talk about Nick Cook in order to explain the events of 2004. Nick Cook is a well respected Jane’s aerospace journalist. (see http://www.janes.com/press/press_spokesperson.shtml) In 2002 he published The Hunt for Zero Point, Broadway Books. In the first chapter he described having contacted a police officer near Bakersfield, CA. She had knowledge of an airplane crash site and agreed to take Cook to look at the place. When I read Cook’s account, I immediately recognized the event and it seemed likely that Cook got his information about the crash by subscribing to the skunk works newsgroup I had belonged to.

In 1996 I publicly (to the skunk works newsgroup) asked what had crashed in Bakersfield in the 1970’s. A surprising response was forthcoming. Not only was the plane identified as an F-117, the responder gave the tail number and the pilot’s call sign. (Needless to say there had been a host of ufo theories to explain the event.) It was then I realized the group was seriously monitored and afterwards I asked the question about who exactly monitored the group. All I got was that some 26 organizations were watching.

The Hunt for Zero Point is quite an amazing book. I highly recommend it. After I read it I contacted Nick Cook by email. He responded right away. I got the impression he knew me and if so, that would certainly have been from his participation in the skunk works group. And, also, he would have read a post I made to the skunk works newsgroup in 1996 regarding the Philadelphia Experiment. (see http://www.netwrx1.net/skunk-works/v05.n704) The Philadelphia Experiment (written by Moore) was a feature point in Cook’s book, a blend of the real and disinformation.

Through 2003 I recovered some. But in early-mid 2004 I was reliving the events of 2002. I felt desperate to make some kind of statement. I decided to publish an article that linked some of the content in Cook’s, The Hunt for Zero Point, with Moore, the Philadelphia Experiment and the mathematical genius, Von Newmann. That is how I came to write the article at http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/viewcolumn/php?id=21. The article is more about disinformation than about the Philadelphia Experiment.

The rest of 2004 was ugly. I sold just about everything I owned including my beloved musical instruments just to eat and pay rent. I still had some work from the County of LA and TPA’s, but I never got paid for it. I resorted to taking a few call in assignments, even domestic cases, that I got paid for up front. But, that wasn’t enough to sustain me.

Shortly after I left Pasadena in 2005, the Pasadena Post Office just closed my post office box and returned all my mail undeliverable with no forwarding address. When I tried to get into my box several weeks later my key no longer worked. I had rented the box for 15 years. I knew everyone who worked there. Apparently, when I did not respond to a box rent due notice for a couple of days (highly unusual for only a couple of days notice), they shut it. The employees at the Post Office were apologetic, but by then it was too late. They refunded my $3.00 security deposit on the key.

Moore/Green Best Guess

I thought Eli had lost it when he asked me to let him use my digital camera to capture spheres. Spheres are little blobs of light that show up on a picture. We walked around my apartment building and he snapped dozens of photographs. To my utter amazement, when we looked at the images several had strange blobs of light, usually near the ceiling, randomly spaced and not reproducible with subsequent photos from the same location.

“Perception is reality,” touted a USAF Colonel in 1997 when a N.Y. Times correspondent asked him why he had lied about the identity of a flying military asset that had been observed over the east coast. In every respect the Colonel was right. Had his initial claim not been refuted, how would anyone know his statement was disinformation? If you don’t have a bag of tricks to help you decompose disinformation, you might as well stay home.

One of the simplest, most elegant and reproducible ideas ever conceived by a human was published in 1977 by noble prize winning brain scientist, Sir John Eccles in “The Self and Its Brain.” Eccles defined reality as something that can affect the behavior of large scale objects. (larger than the quantum level) Based on that idea he proceeded to further clarify reality with a three world view.

World I consists of physical objects including air, gravity, and magnetic fields. These objects are real because they conform to his definition of reality in that they affect the behavior of large scale objects.

World II consists of states of mind, conscious and unconscious, considered real for the same reasons as World I objects.

World III consists of products of the human mind, not physical objects, not brain states, but stories, myths, pieces of music, mathematical theorems, scientific theories, etc. This reality is established by the intervention of consciousness. Without consciousness these would not exist and only a self conscious mind can appreciate the reality of World III. So, according to Eccles, it follows that human consciousness itself must be real and different from any physical object, even the brain.

This remarkable concept of reality easily explains why disinformation works so effectively. Disinformation relies on our tendency to confuse World I with World III realities. Both are real, but neither World implies a reality for the other. They are their own, separate realities.

A ufo that is picked up on radar or seen by a person is a World I reality. That the ufo is piloted by aliens, regardless of the ufos flight characteristics, is a World III reality. They are both real, the first a physical object, the second a story or myth. Disinformation (and advertising for that matter) works so well because we confuse World I with World III realities and its reciprocal.

I seems unlikely I would have been enticed to a remote recreational area in New Mexico for termination, despite the fact that I suggested it. More likely, consistent with Moore and Doty prior dark deeds, I probably would have been subjected to a World I reality, strange lights in the sky, etc., with the expectation it implied a World III reality. Turn me into a believer and I lose all credibility. Just another ufo nut.

More Moore?

One of Eli’s greatest lessons in life was when he got ripped off playing Diablo on line. He had carefully built up his characters after hours and weeks of playing, gained experience and even purchased items for his characters on ebay. A kid in northern California offered him items in exchange for access to his account. When he went back into the game his good characters were gone. If it seems too good to be true, he learned, it probably is.

I somehow survived 2002 and by early 2003 I had work again and invoices were paid on a more timely basis. Deeper in debt than I had been in 2001, I earned enough money to cover my basic expenses. Since I had changed my telephone number I no longer got harassing calls from creditors and I actually answered my telephone whenever possible, “Chosa Investigations.”

About mid year I received a telephone call from Bill Moore. He told me he knew how strange it might seem that he was calling me. We hadn’t spoken since 2000. But, he explained, a situation came up and I was the first person he thought of. He said his daughter worked for a law firm in Pasadena and the attorney who owned the firm, Alan Green, had just lost his principle investigator. The investigator, an ex-PD, unexpectedly suffered a heart attack and died. Through his daughter, Moore said, he recommended me to Green as a replacement. He gave me Green’s telephone number and told me to stick it to him because he could certainly afford whatever I’d be asking. I thanked Bill and hung up the telephone scratching my head.

I called Green’s office and spoke with Bill’s daughter. Through her an appointment was scheduled for an interview the following day.

Green’s office was walking distance, just a couple of blocks on Marengo Street, from my apartment. The office is housed in a turn of the century, two story, converted residence. The inside was very nicely decorated with wood paneling, hardwood floors and antiques. I met Bill’s daughter, a very pretty lady in her mid twenties with a great smile. She buzzed Green and then told me to have a seat, that he would be with me in a few minutes. Ten minutes later I was shown into Green’s office.

Green introduced himself with a warm handshake. We sat down and Green, in his mid to late fifties with a slight build, explained how he had lost his investigation, how sad it was, but that he needed to fill the investigators position as soon as possible. He told me Bill Moore highly recommended me for the position. He wanted to know what I charged and I told him $55 per hour plus expenses. He said that seemed reasonable and he asked how soon I could start. I told him it would take me about a week to finish up the few cases I had. He said that was fine and he asked if I had any questions. I did. I had many questions.

I learned Green’s law office had three attorneys total, that he started his career as a prosecuting attorney for the Justice Department in Los Angeles where he worked for about 12 years before starting his own firm about 14 years ago, and that now he mostly defended individuals in Federal Court who were charged with white collar crimes. At present his firm had over 100 active cases.

I asked Green if he knew about the nature of my association with Bill Moore. He said he did and he wasn’t fazed by talk about ufos, aliens, conspiracy theories or black military programs. I told him I was deeply in debt and not credit worthy. That didn’t bother him. Finally, I told him all I had done for the past 20 years was defend civil litigation and investigate people for fraud. All he wanted to know was how soon I could start.

Green then told me he had a very important case that needed immediate attention. He said he had filed suit against the State of New Mexico on behalf of the parents of a boy who had died after drinking contaminated water from a lake in a remote recreational area. He said the State knew the water was hazardous to drink and they failed to post warning signs. He wanted me to fly out as soon as possible, grab a rental car and drive to the remote recreational area, take photographs, and then interview 13 witnesses. After that, he said, he had enough work to keep me busy full time. I told Green I had to think about his offer for a couple of days. He said that would be all right, we shook hand and I left.

The more I thought about Green’s offer, the weirder it seemed. And, admittedly, with all that had happened to me I was still somewhat paranoid. I asked myself if it was a dream come true, a chance to fully recover, or was it a dream just too good to be true? Green had worked for the Feds and he certainly had some current association with the Chief of the Criminal Division who I had met in 2000. Recall that Richard Doty, Bill Moore’s complicitious AFOSI partner was in New Mexico running the state police. Now, out of nowhere Moore calls and I am invited to visit a remote area in New Mexico. For what? A friend once told me that the best place to bury a body is beneath a protected, endangered cactus. The roots are shallow and no one would ever dig it up for fear of receiving a huge fine. Too many coincidences. It didn’t feel right then and it still doesn’t feel right.

Two days later one of Green’s attorneys called me on behalf of Green asking if I’d made a decision about the job offer. He said Green had interviewed a number of eligible candidates for the position, but Green wanted to get my decision first. I had already talked myself out of the job and I told him I would have to decline the offer. After I hung up I wrote Green a letter and explained I couldn’t see myself defending white collar criminals when my entire career had been spent doing the opposite.

Was it a mistake? Probably. Maybe. I just don’t know.