I've never seen anything like this situation down South. It's insane. Now, more than ever, I'm of the opinion that we are hanging by our fingertips on the cliff of a massive paradigm shift. What that entails is anyone's guess. My heart goes out to all those folks displaced, disgruntled, and dismayed over Katrina. We will persevere.

On the binnall front, we roll out four big names who will be appearing in the much anticipated and hyped binnall of america : audio, Season One. Meanwhile, we've got a triple dose of Hot Newz as my spies grabbed some choice shots from the MTV Video Music Awards. We also look at how C2C dealt with the Katrina disaster, along with a look ahead to next week to see how it shapes up. Other stuff too.

Let's do this ...

The Week That Was

When we last left The Noor, he was preparing to entertain us with three guests from some internet radio show about ghosts. Scott L, Doug, and Will, who posses no first names. Sheesh. Anyway, they talked about ghosts for two hours. I skipped this for reasons I can't recall. Standard Open Lines followed.

Saturday, Ian Punnett featured controversial doctor, Dr. William Campbell Douglass, to push health benefits of smoking. After the 1st hour of Punnett, I checked out, despite some interest in what Douglass had to say. He sounds pretty radical and probably was not giving very sound medical advice. I'll try and check this one out again as it hits close to home with me.

Sunday. Art Bell. 5 Hours. Hurricane Katrina Special. Well, unlike when Noory tried a hurricane special last December, this one actually was prior to a truly terrible hurricane. Kudos to Bell going the extra hour. I'll be honest, I wasn't expecting Katrina to be as bad as the news made it out to be, so I only tuned in and out of this episode. Obviously, things didn't turn out as tepid as I expected.

For what it's worth, Bell had Mark Sudduth, Lyn Whitlake, and Whitley Strieber. Note that there was no Hoagland, lending further credence to the theories of heat between Hoags and Art.

By Monday, I was back in my regular C2C listening routine and The Noor kicked it off with Terry Hansen, talking about UFOs and the media. As many longtime binnall readers may recall, I've been calling for a Hansen appearance since Spring of 2004. Thankfully, C2C finally listened to me.

Hansen brought a lot of the goods that I have grown to love and I was happy to hear him finally get the word out to the larger C2C audience. I do, however, think that Noory just did not bring his "A game" on Monday night, as I'm sure his mind was with the story of hurricane Katrina. Had Noory not been distracted, I think this episode would have soared even higher. Noory seemed to divert from the media to general UFO related topics, which I found to be unnecessary.

That said, I've been pleased with the many positive responses to Hansen's appearance on Coast throughout the various message boards where I read and lurk. I'm also happy to say that if you want more Terry Hansen, scroll down to the news section re: BoA : Audio, Season One and you will be pleasantly surprised.

Also, in the 1st hour, Noory brought back Dr. Louis Turi to take credit for predicting Katrina. Despite what some naysayers may say, I give Turi credit for nailing the date and a pretty accurate prediction of mass evacuation. Yes, he did get plenty of stuff wrong in his appearance, but he was spot on in the date and description. Kudos to Noory for latching onto it with his hurricane follow up on that very night. At some point in there, Noory showed the stress of the Katrina was already getting to him, as he suggested they bring back Fr. Wingate for an update. Why, I have no idea.

Tuesday, Noory finally seemed to be ready to grasp the seriousness of Hurricane Katrina and he covered it as only C2C knows how : with Richard C. Hoagland, "science advisor". I've been meaning to call Coast out on this for a while, so now is no better a time. Somewhere while Discovery was up in space, C2C designated Richard C. Hoagland it's "science advisor". No formal announcement that I know of, just another added title to Hoagland's lofty resume.

You may be wondering why Hoagland got the post of "science advisor", so am I. There are a plethora of reasons why RCH may have been deemed special SA to Coast. First, maybe Noory tired of reading his lengthy intro for every appearance. Second, Noory is trying to compare himself to Walter Cronkite, so forever people will say, "Richard C. Hoagland, former science advisor to Walter Cronkite and George Noory." Ah, Noor, your ego knows no bounds. Also, maybe Hoagland demanded it for appearing constantly. Or, C2C needed a reason to justify it's endless Hoagathon, and thusly dubbed him "science advisor".

Anyway, Hoagland was all over this show, popping in during the first hour to goad on Scott Stevens, who was suspicious that Hurricane Katrina was part of some "Weather War". Hoags would go on to pop in every hour or so to update us on Katrina Aftermath and later would go on to co-host the final hour of the show with Noory and Open Lines. This was a little bit of Hoagland overload and it seemed to be all about him beating the hyperdimensional "Weather War" drum, an idea that seemed plausible but way too far out to even consider at the time.

The full show guest was Dr. Gabriel Cousens, talking about health and diet, who was every bit as boring as I'd expected. Thankfully, he was pretty much a non-factor after Coast cut him to two hours and then had Hoagland interspersed throughout.

By Wednesday, the situation in New Orleans was going from bad to worse. Coast brought in James Chiles to blame the federal government for not fortifying the levees. Noory was characteristically "chagrined" at this.

The full guest was Dr. Jim Tucker, who was decent, but also overshadowed by Katrina. His stuff was decent, but they opened up phone lines like halfway through the show, which is usually a sign that Noory has stopped caring. The topic of children with past lives is promising, but this episode started as too ephemeral and then got too anecdotal.

Of course, Richard C. Hoagland appeared throughout the show to rant about "Weather War". Of the three nights appearing (so far) this week, this was Hoagland's worst. His updates weren't particularly news laden and seemed suspiciously like he was parroting whatever he'd heard on CNN in the last hour.

Coast tried to pull up a lagging week on Thursday with Dr. Stephen LaBerge talking about lucid dreaming. C2C pulled out Russell Targ mid-show to give it that A-level feel to it. It was good for what it was, but when the "mainstream news" is more engaging than Coast's fare, it is hard to really dig in to C2C.

Hoagland made his third consecutive appearance on Coast, with his half hour updates throughout the show. This may have been the best of his nights, as RCH was frothing with righteous indignation. He seemed to have dropped the "Weather War" concept for the most part and was now just mad that things were going so bad. His updates sounded less canned and he did get pretty daring with some of his pop ins.

All in all, a week marred by tragedy that really couldn't quite recover. Coast may have been better off scrapping some of the guests this week, particularly Tuesday and Wednesday, to cover Katrina more, considering the story warranted that type of coverage. However, that would have been a logistical nightmare.

The Week That Is

Tonight, for two hours, Linda Moulton Howe will be the Friday Night Pop-In. One wonders if she's growing jealous of all the "voice time" that RCH has been getting. LMH will be discussing crop circles, a classic LMH topic that should be fantastic. Standard Open Lines will follow. I'm assuming somewhere in there Hoagland will show up.

Saturday Night Punnett features one of my least favorite guests, Matt Savinar, to push peak oil. With the US trying to recover from Katrina, I expect Savinar to be even more dire over how the oil is running out. Since I'm not a big believer in "peak oil", this episode should be as compelling as Seth Shostak crapping on UFOs for three hours. Since Punnett is a bit of a "scaredy pants", I expect he'll be freaking out for the whole show, which may make it more enjoyable to those of us who like that sort of thing.

Sunday Night Noory features another of my least favorite guests, the Phil Plait of conspiracy theory, Peter Lance. Considering Lance was on 7 weeks ago, I see no reason for him to return again. C2C claims he will have "devastating new evidence" which is usually Coast-speak for "boring documents that can barely be verified much less believed". I'm sure Lance will prance about with his "evidence" and tell us how we're all wrong for 3 hours. I just hope Noory asks him about the "Weather War" theory, so I can hear Lance burst a blood vessel.

Vaunted esoteric name Gordon Michael-Scallion will be be the Monday guest to talk about Earth Changes and Katrina. GMS has been making claims of insane natural disasters and what-have-you for years, so expect a big steaming pile of "I told you so". Also, more crazy predictions that may scare the crap out of you. I've not heard too much of GMS, but I'm in the mood for a little zaniness after last week's not so wild fare.

Tuesday features one of my personal favorite esoteric followers, Jon Ronson. Many have compared me to Ronson, so I'm looking forward to hearing this episode. Ronson wrote a fantastic book where he hung out with folks like Alex Jones and various other "extremists". The book became a best seller and Ronson a brief media darling in the UK. I expect a fun romp through esoterica, for sure.

Wednesday, Coast gets all gnostic on us, with Mark Pinkham to talk about the International Order of Gnostic Templars. Much discussion of Roslyn Chapel and other Templarific stuff. Sounds good.

Thursday, Psychic Sylvia Browne will take a break from haunting Montel to give us some predictions on the future and either take credit for or backpeddle on some past predictions. Either you love her or loathe her. I find her decent in small doses.

Friday, Open Lines. 1st Hour Pop In.

binnall of america : audio, Season One

At this point, a mere 7 days stands between now and the Season Premiere of binnall of america : audio, Season One. We have finished the tests and will unveil Streaming Audio @ BoA this weekend, we hope. In preparation for the 9.10.5 launch of BoA:A, S1, you can listen to all of the X-Conference Sessions without the mess of downloading. And, starting next week, each new episode of BoA : Audio. Enjoy.

Now, onto the business at hand. The four guests who will follow the 2 part Jim Marrs Season Premiere :

Marshall Klarfeld, author of "Adam, the Missing Link"

Terry Hansen, author of "Missing Times"

Robert Miles, author of "Safe Space"

and

Greg Bishop, author of "Project Beta"

More details on these fine folks will be forthcoming as BoA : Audio, Season One is rolling along. Along with the Jim Marrs interview, that will take us up to the last week in October or so. Sometime towards the end of September, we will announce the next 4 guests.

Next week, final hype for the Season Premiere of BoA : Audio, Season One, including a preview of Part One of the Jim Marrs interview.

binnall report mailbag

Letter # 1 :

What's your favorite C2C episode so far this year ?

Pat in Chicago, Illinois

Hmm. Good question. I was wondering that myself a few months back. If I were forced to make a choice right here and now, I'd say the 911 Roundtable. The Greg Bishop / Richard Doty episode was classic as well. UFO Roundtable was excellent and informative. I'm sure I am forgetting quite a few others but I'll remember them again in a few months when we Coastie season begins. Biscardi's meltdown will hold a special place in my heart, as well as Wingate's meltdown and JC's 1st hour pop-in.

Letter # 2 :

Any new characters coming to Hot Newz ?

Don in Providence, Rhode Island

Well, Don, we'll be working Ian Punnett into the mix soon enough. Also, in the Hot Newz vein, we'll be rolling out a new feature at Saturday Night Punnett : The Many Faces of Ian Punnett, playing off of his challenge for someone to find the proper facial hair for him.

Also, we hope to feature some new characters and settings as the holiday season begins.

Questions ? Comments ? Send them here : tbinnall@hotmail.com

This Week in C2C History

9.2.2003 : Col. John Alexander appeared on Coast to give Noory his unvarnished opinion on the present state of military affairs. He pushed that we are at war with Islam and it began on 9/11. He also dubbed it the catchy name "World War X".

9.3.1998 : Strangely, Art Bell had Linda Moulton Howe on to talk about crop circles, including this hilarious exchange, "Art and Linda discuss the possible meaning of the crop circle 4:20. Art reads faxes from listeners who relate their opinions on what 4:20 means. Three faxes say it is a reference to the time of day marijuana users smoke." (artbell.com cd rom).

9.2.1997 : A veritable concert on this night as Art Bell welcomed country music legend Merle Haggard for 5 hours.

End Notes

And, with that, we end this week's binnall report. Hope you enjoyed the ride.

Plugs : Tomorrow, we hope to have some of the Streaming Audio available for y'all and, of course, late night Saturday Night Punnett. Sunday, smoker dave. Monday, News Watch. Tuesday, Grey Matters. Wednesday, Coastie Update ? Thursday, Hot Newz. Friday, binnall report. binnallofamerica.com ... the place to be.

We return next week in full on hype mode for BoA : Audio, Season One. If it were possible to commission a commemorative coin, we'd have done so by now. So we'll be hard at work for the next few weeks and months delivering quality stuff above and beyond the binnall report. Be that as it may, the mothership will be back next week, hovering over C2C and beyond.