[RightWhale]

Dr Malin has done a fine job. His Mars-cam is still the best thing NASA has going at Mars. Hoagland thinks Malin is in on the NASA scam, but I don't agree.

Someone asked Malin about finding evidence of life on Mars, would he keep it secret so as to not alarm the masses. He said that if he found evidence of life on Mars it would be the news of the century and there is no way he would keep it to himself. NASA could not possibly hide such news.

[Quix]

IT HASN'T TOTALLY SUCCESSFULLY HIDDEN SUCH NEWS.

HOWEVER, OUR GOV *CAN* KEEP HIGHLY SENSITIVE THINGS SECRET FOR MANY, MANY DECADES--VERY SUCCESSFULLY.

Those of us who have had highly classified security clearnces for any serious length of time have seen BOTH the capacity to keep and the incapacity to keep. Many things affect both. But when the chips are down and the topic or the contingencies serious enough--for all intents and purposes--those on a need to know are the only ones who know. And sometimes literally, those are the only ones who know.

But in terms of these topics, many people know and many people talk. But the disinformation and media management has been classically successful. Ridicule is a very effective censoring mechanism. And on such a grand scale with so many successful tools, the powers that been have been grandly successful. No big mystery in that. No need for incredulity regarding that.