This is in response to recent posts that discussed at length the supposed roles of various types of aliens, identified as Orions, Dracos and Andromedans.

Orion, Draco, and Andromeda are constellations. A constellation is a pattern formed in the sky of Earth by the relative positions of stars. In order to be part of a constellation, stars need only lie in the same general direction from the Earth - they may be at vastly different distances from us. In other words, a constellation is not a place. Stars belonging to the same constellation can be, and often are, many light years away from each other. So it makes no sense to speak about beings from "Orion" or "Draco" because those are the names of patterns formed in the Earth's sky, not of actual places in the heavens. (Zeta Reticuli, which was also mentioned as the home of an alien race, is a particular star and so could indeed be such a home. It is, I believe, the star that the aliens in the famous Betty and Barney Hill case said they came from).

I don't believe anyone knows enough about alien races to create a realistic view of "exopolitics" in our galaxy. Probably not even the top men in MJ-12 or whatever the organization is really or currently called.

On the other hand, a lot is known about alien technology. A review of an excellent book which examines "flying saucer" propulsion objectively can be found here. And original papers of T. Townsend Brown, who developed a theory of UFO propulsion and demonstrated working models (long before Roswell), can be found here.

These papers go into considerable detail about the "Biefield-Brown Effect", which very simply is the tendency of a charged capacitor to move toward its own positive end. All the evidence points to this being the principle by which UFOs operate. The effect is proportional to

1) The size of the capacitor's plates
2) The distance between them
3) The dielectric constant of the material between them
4) The voltage the capacitor is charged to, and
5) The mass of the dielectric.

(1, 2, and 3 can be combined as the quantity capacitance, and 4 is to be expected, but 5 is the kicker which doesn't fit conventional views of physics. What is missing though are hard numbers: given particular values of capacitance, voltage, and dielectric mass, how much motion can actually be expected? Anyone have an answer?)

A number of people, notably Richard Hoagland of The Enterprise Mission, have claimed that these effects can be derived from the original quaternion-based form of Maxwell's Equations, but as far as I know no one has actually demonstrated this. Have they?

It looks like the Roswell coverup will soon be fully exposed, A new scan of a 1947 photo shows Gen. Ramey holding a piece of paper on which secret orders to implement the coverup can actually be read! Details here. And a story in Nexus Magazine strongly suggests that much of our present technology (starting with the transistor) is indeed derived from aliens.

So to sum up: Alien technology YES, alien politics NO!