You've heard of Edwin (Buzz) Aldrin. He's the PhD astronaut that ended up solving a lot of NASA's problems with space walks during the Gemini program. He was the second man to walk on the moon. He's as big an American hero as George Clooney or the guy that invented the remote control.

You probably haven't heard of Bart Sibrel. Sibrel is a publicity hound who is trying to make a name for himself "proving" that the moon landings were faked.

On September 9, Aldrin showed up at the Rodeo Hotel in Beverly Hills for what was supposed to be an interview with Japanese TV. Instead he was ambushed by Sibrel, who was surrounded by cameras and waving a Bible. According to the story, thirty-seven year old Sibrel, 6'2" tall and 250 lbs., accosted the 72 year old 5'11" Aldrin and demanded he swear on the Bible that he had walked on the moon.

Aldrin calmy endured Sibrel's calling him a thief and a liar and a phony. He calmly tried to walk away and Sibrel chased him. Aldrin tried to let the police handle the situation. When Sibrel refused to leave him alone, Aldrin punched him.

Oh, yeah. Can you see why Aldrin is an American hero?

Of course, this being America and Sibrel being a publicity hound (pronounced "wuss"), Sibrel pressed charges.

Now the right side of my brain would like to hold the man while every astronaut in the country takes a poke at him. But the left side of my brain is telling me, 'the law must be upheld.' That's why it surprised me that the LA county DA refused to prosecute.

But it became clear to me after watching the video of the event why the DA couldn't prosecute.

After you look at the video of BS getting punched, you'll understand. It was a fake. The whole thing was a hoax.

I'm sure those in the DA's office are indebted to Sibrel himself for alerting them to the techniques that can be used in faking such an event.

• First of all, according to numbers that I pulled out of thin air, 20% of all Americans believe "(T)he . . . video . . . was . . . faked."
• If you're still not convinced, just look at the video. The quality of the video was jumpy and poor. We have the technology to shoot good video. The only possible explanation for shooting poor video is to intentionally hide any errors that might prove it to be a fake. I mean, really, the very punch occurred when the actors were obscured behind a sign. The only possible explanation for that is to mask the faked punch and allow Sibrel to put on makeup looking like he'd been punched.
• And did you see the red spot on his nose? A Russian cosmonaut no one's ever heard of said that it didn't look to him like the mark that would be made by a punch on the nose.
• The shadows were all wrong. You could clearly see features on people's faces both indoors and outdoors. The shadows from the camera mounted lights didn't go in the direction you'd expect them to, according to a video expert that no one has ever heard of. And the camera was supposedly held at shoulder level but you can see things above and below shoulder level. 
• There were no stars in the video. The video was supposedly shot in Beverly Hills. Who could possibly believe you could shoot a video in Beverly Hills and not have stars be visible?
• The building was just like one that I've seen right here in Salt Lake. The clumsy attempt to film the fake sign on front was an obvious ploy to make us believe the event was taking place where they said it was.
• Had it been real life, Buzz would've punched Sibrel the first time he opened his mouth. Who can believe that he endured his abuse for so long before popping him one? That was an obvious literary tool to build tension to make the video more palatable for viewers.
• Does anyone doubt that we have the technology to fake a video like that? Would Sibrel really go to the risk and expense of being punched in the nose when he could simply fake the whole thing and silence the dozens of people that would have to be involved in the conspiracy?
• And speaking of silencing people, the obituaries in the LA Times the very next day listed several people who had died, some of whom were involved in the movie making industry. Huh? Huh? Pretty serious stuff.
• I personally saw a movie where someone punched another person. No, really, I really have. Was this whole hoax modeled after that movie (and after other movies that will be made after the event)? That right there proves it.
• In fact, several unnamed independent video experts that no one has ever heard of have expressed "serious doubts" about the [authenticity] of . . . the video.
• And if you're still not convinced, here are Buzz Aldrin's own words: 
  "I . . . seen . . . movie . . . " Now if that's not a smoking gun, I don't know what is.
• Now, for you die hard skeptics, chew on this: No one is allowed to go into a studio sound stage without authorization. What more proof do you need? What are they trying to hide? Are they afraid we'll see the set they used to film this video? That's the only possible explanation.

If, after looking at all this evidence, you still believe that Aldrin punched Sibrel, my cause is hopeless. You probably believe we really walked on the moon.

Here's a longer video with sound (if this link works).

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