Is really out there ... maybe

The Citizen Hearing on Disclosure, etc., is going to occupy five full days, starting on Monday, at the National Press Club, whose windows overlook the grounds of the White House to which the debonair alien Klaatu and his indestructible robot Gort came in peace — and were summarily blasted with machine guns and flame throwers by the U.S. army — in The Day The Earth Stood Still.

Hellyer and dozens of other witnesses will present their opinions and their evidence to five former members of the House of Representatives plus ex-Sen. Mike Gravel of Alaska, the iconoclast Democrat who made a bid for the White House in 2008 but whose support never exceeded what the experts call “statistical zero.”

“When they invited me to take part in this hearing, I told them very candidly that I’m somewhat skeptical about some of the areas that are involved in this,” Gravel tells me from his California residence. “That was not a showstopper for them.”

Gravel, 83 and the son of emigrant Quebecers — “I have more relatives in Canada than in the United States, but they’re dying” — promises his role in the hearing will be that of an impartial auditor.

“At my age, I can’t ski or play tennis,” the two-term senator says. “All I can do is acquire information.

“From my point of view,” he reasons, “the number of UFO sightings would indicate that, even if the numbers are exaggerated, they should be examined and reported to the public. France, Canada, and a few of the others have revealed all the information that they have — the exception to this rule is the U.S. government. This canard that the American public would panic if there was anything proven is ridiculous. The people ... understand there are many facets of life that are unexplainable, and this is one of them. Are there Little Green Men? I don’t know. We’ll see what the testimony is.”

“What would change in our lives if they really do exist?” I ask Gravel.

“Nothing,” he replies. “Nothing. People would be satisfied that there are unexplained events ... the whole belief in god is empirically unproven, yet we accept THAT.”

(It is important to note that Mike Gravel was not one of the 12 senators who were exposed by the tabloid, Weekly World News, in 1992 to actually BE extraterrestrials. When confronted with this at a news conference, one of the dozen, Sen. Alan Simpson of Wyoming, told reporters, “Klaatu barada nikto.”)

Both Gravel and the Hellyer agree that the United Nations should be involved in any further venture into intergalactic affairs. This path has been trodden before. In 1978, prime minister Eric Gairy of Grenada beseeched the UN General Assembly, “Why should man be precluded from information on UFOs, a matter of great interest and importance to man, while at the same time he is fed so many trivialities which can contribute nothing to his personal enrichment?” But while Gairy was meeting with Secretary General Kurt Waldheim in New York, he was overthrown by a leftist coup at home.)

Hellyer adamantly does not believe that proof of extraterrestrial visitation would provoke, as Gravel says, “nothing.”

“The ramifications are just enormous,” Hellyer affirms. “The question is, what’s the end game is as far as the people are concerned who have the knowledge and are doing the engineering and building the machines that the aliens showed them that will blow your mind away? If the United States is doing these things, then Russia and China know about it and are doing the same thing. These are big issues, especially when people are starving.”

“Is this what you want to be remembered for?” I ask.

“No,” he answers. “I’d like to be remembered for changing the banking and financial system of the world. I guess you could say the secrecy is about equal.”

“Have the aliens conquered death?” I wonder.

“Some of the species live 900 years,” Hellyer replies. “If you read about Methuselah in the Bible, there might have been some around then. Personally, I have no desire to live 900 years. I have no desire to even live 100.”

“If you do make it to 100, will you run for your old seat in Parliament?” I ask the seeker of truths.

“Funny you should ask,” the Hon. Paul Hellyer says. “In one of my dreams recently, I saw myself dabbling in politics again. When I woke up, I realized that I’m really too old for that kind of strenuous living.”