On the night of a UFO sighting, seven people at a diner claim to be of Earth, though one of them is not. CAST: Morgan Jones, John Archer, Bill Kendis, John Hoyt, Jack Elam, Jean Wiles, Barney Phillips

  This episode from the "Twilight Zone" series was prophetic. Between living in fear of a war with Iraq and taping our windows with cellophane, it pleases me to know that Rod Serling foresaw our problem some forty years ago!

  Let me share the gist of the episode. A bridge is unsafe and so passengers of a bus have stopped at a diner. A woman has called two police officers to check a pond where she saw a UFO land. The police discover the diner. A cook, a bus driver, a crazy old man, a serious businessman, a young couple, a married couple, and a dancer are all there. The driver remembered having only six passengers, but seven are there. Ooh, the suspense! So everyone becomes panicky and accuses one another. Then odd occurrences unravel like a jukebox playing without being plugged in, lights flickering, sugar holders exploding. A phone call was answered by the policeman telling him the bridge was safe to cross, so they all depart knowing that the mysterious person/alien would be set free. Then we're cut back to the diner scene with the cook/waiter and the businessman. The waiter is shocked to see him so soon after he left to ride on the bus. The businessman revealed that the bridge collapsed and everyone died. The businessman has a third arm now and revealed he was responsible for all the illusions. The businessman was a scout for Mars in hopes of colonizing Earth. But the extra twist is that the cook is not a cook, oh no, he's from Venus with a third eye. The Martians have been intercepted and Venus, not Mars, would colonize Earth.

  Okay, so how does this episode relate to the state of our society as if it's not already clear? Well, the panic of the bunch in knowledge of an alien presence is the same anxiety of our society, anxiety of a terrorist, of a Saddam Hussein, of a war. But the ending is what got me. The Martian is a master of illusions, but was fooled by his greatest illusion, his arrogance. America is like the Martian. Now, you're going to accuse me of not being patriotic. America, since its birth, has been the new country trying to join the crowd of superpowers. It is the extra member that doesn't quite belong. Has gotten there without knowing how, crash landing at the top of the world order. Think about it, life in America is alien to the rest of the world. We have money hanging out the anus, eat ten meals a day like each was our last, we conquer and colonize countries (i.e. globalization). America is hated and feared by the rest of the world. If you think America is so great, you have probably been oblivious of the news, American history classes, Michael Moore, The Narrative of Frederick Douglass, and the list goes on. The business Martian, whom I've figured to be America, to avoid capture, led the police and the bus riders to their graves. Does this sound familiar to anyone? Here's a clue, he has the same first and last name as his father. Yes, George W. Bush is America, he is the business Martian. The bus riders are first world countries and the police are the U.N. You see the Martian allied himself with the bus riders to conceal his identity. Bush is trying to ally himself with countries to conceal his motive of just wanting to blow shit up. The police are investigating who the alien is. The U.N. is trying to find out who has nuclear weapons of destruction. The Martian created illusions to scare the people and throw off the investigation. Bush is using phrases like "axes of evil", "wiping out terrorism" and pulling strings of marionette Powell to reveal "conclusive" evidence of two men talking about a "mobilized" VW bug. The Martian escaped with a grand illusion, of posing as an engineer on the phone, and telling them it's safe. Bush is somehow equating peace with war and already mesmerized England and maybe Canada, but the U.N. will be glazed soon. The bridge collapsed and so will the world for a while after this war. Bush is trying to colonize the world, but better watch out for aliens from Venus.

  Those are just many coincidental (?) parallels, but the title, "Will the real Martian please stand up?" makes me think of whom the real enemy or the real problem of today's current events is. Am I safe in thinking America is the enemy, or are Republicans correct in labeling Iraq and NoKo? Will the real issue please stand up? Does the war have anything to do with fear of weapons of mass destruction, or is it a ploy to boost economy or possibly jack the middle east of their oil (which I hope we do, gas would be cheaper if we stole the oil from the four richest kings, c'mon, two dollars for Christ sake!)? My brother was one man away from going to the Middle East. Just what is America or rather the Commander in Chief attempting to accomplish by the surge of mobilization? Rod Serling in this episode probed that very same question of just what the goal of a madman (/alien/President/foreigner) was. His answer was simple. Darwinian evolution. I just hope Bush wins the war and blows up Iraq and NoKo first, cause I live here in America and I don't want my life to change drastically like learn Iraqian and have a picture of Hussein in my home, or forced to drink virgin blood and watch cheesy American Swarzenegger movies like NoKo's dictator. Go America, its ya birfday!