The Exopolitical Observer

He’s ba-ack: Former senator Mike Gravel will be among those who will probe UFOs. (Charles Dharapak - AP)

This is what a congressional hearing looks like in a some kind of bizarre-o parallel universe: All your favorite past members are there, including former senator Mike Gravel (D-Alaska), and former representatives Darlene Hooley, (D-Ore)., Merrill Cook (R-Utah), Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.), Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick (D-Mich.), and Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif).

And the topic? Extraterrestrials. As in little green men. And whether there’s a conspiracy within the U.S. government to cover up their existence.

A longtime UFO-truther organization called the Paradigm Research Group is holding what it’s calling a “Citizen Hearing on Disclosure,” a five-day event at the National Press Club to explore the matter. The confab, which kicks off on April 29 and was brought to our attention by our pals at Roll Call’sHeard on the Hill, will be styled to resemble a real Hill hearing, complete with witnesses, statements, the whole shebang.

And to give the proceedings the proper air of legitimacy, the hearing’s organizers enlisted a colorful roster of former members to wield the gavel and question the witnesses. Organizer Stephen Bassett tells us the group identified about 100 former members they thought might be up to the task and ultimately settled on a bipartisan panel of six.