WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic U.S. presidential hopeful Dennis Kucinich may have been ridiculed for saying he had seen a UFO, but for some former military pilots and other observers, unidentified flying objects are no laughing matter.
An international panel of two dozen former pilots and government officials called on the U.S. government Monday to reopen its generation-old UFO investigation as a matter of safety and security given continuing reports about flying discs, glowing spheres and other strange sightings.
"Especially after the attacks of 9/11, it is no longer satisfactory to ignore radar returns ... which cannot be associated with performances of existing aircraft and helicopters," they said in a statement released at a news conference.
The panelists from seven countries, including former senior military officers, said they had each seen a UFO or conducted an official investigation into UFO phenomena.
The subject of UFOs grabbed the spotlight in the U.S. presidential race last month when Kucinich, a member of Congress from Ohio, said during a televised debate with other Democratic candidates that he had seen one.
Former presidents Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter are both reported to have claimed UFO sightings.
Most turn out to be misidentified aircraft, satellites or meteors. A panelist who once worked for Britain's Ministry of Defense said 5 percent of incidents cannot be explained.
But the sightings are often dismissed by authorities without proper investigations, UFO activists say.
"It's a question of who you going to believe: your lying eyes or the government?" remarked John Callahan, a former Federal Aviation Administration investigator, who said the CIA in 1987 tried to hush up the sighting of a huge lighted ball four times the size of a jumbo jet in Alaska. The panel, organized by a group dedicated to winning credibility for the study of UFOs, urged Washington to resume UFO investigations through the U.S. Air Force or NASA.
"It would certainly, I think, take a lot of angst out of this issue," said former Arizona Gov. Fife Symington, who said he was among hundreds who saw a delta-shaped craft with enormous lights silently traverse the sky near Phoenix in 1997.
The Air Force investigated 12,618 UFO reports from 1947 to 1969 in what was known as Project Blue Book. Investigators concluded that the incidents posed no threat and there was no evidence of space aliens or a super technology in operation.
"Since the termination of Project Blue Book, nothing has occurred that would support a resumption of UFO investigations," the Air Force said on its Web site.
In regards to Kucinich, I felt that maybe Shirley MacLaine could have either omitted this part from her book ( about his UFO sighting.), and not attempted to do damage control on Larry King. There seems to be a certain stigma attached to the whole UFO business that's perpetuated by both the media and our culture. MacLaine, deservedly or not, gets the "New age loon" label and that's just not a way to start a campaign.
As to their existence, well I just don't know, because they haven't shown up at my doorstep, done the whole 'alien anal probe-wipe my memory schtick'.(well, I don't feel upset and my nether regions seem unmolested!) For every valid piece of evidence, there seems to be a dozen more pieces of fake crap out there. If they time travel, I've already left a note and coordinates so they can find it and meet me here...
Nope...still ain't here.
Dammit.
"Listen, man. Sleep gives you cancer. Everyone knows that."
It's funny how UFOs all seem to be very interested in the United States.
"Don't be down, now! Maybe we can find some AIDS in the forest!"
Time, bubbling under, I will rise, I will train
Then I can only sing of the true nature of things
and I'll feel the pain I won't feel again
and I will rise to the other side where I'll stay, and I'll stand, tall as Centrepoint
Justice, Be my Drug
Rich wrote:
It's funny how UFOs all seem to be very interested in the United States.
I've heard of plenty from the UK, EU and Australia/NZ.
Up there we were heroes, fighting robot bitches...
Priest: Great wall of prophecy, reveal to us God?’s will that we may blindly obey.
Crowd: Free us from thought and responsibility.
Priest: Your words guide us.
Crowd: We are dumb.
Rich wrote:
It's funny how UFOs all seem to be very interested in the United States.
I've heard of plenty from the UK, EU and Australia/NZ.
I know, but there's just so much more over there, which I attribute to the higher percentage of evangelical Christians.
"Don't be down, now! Maybe we can find some AIDS in the forest!"
Time, bubbling under, I will rise, I will train
Then I can only sing of the true nature of things
and I'll feel the pain I won't feel again
and I will rise to the other side where I'll stay, and I'll stand, tall as Centrepoint
Justice, Be my Drug
Sam Cogley 11/16/2007 03:01:54 My dumb kitten did the most amazing wireless wire-fu move the other day...she ran around two short walls at about 4 feet off of the ground.
Rich 11/15/2007 23:31:48 I don't suppose it's still in your hotmail account? I lost it last time my HD went psycho and I'd like to keep a copy of it.
Jeremy 11/15/2007 20:41:16 Shit, I responded a week ago. Must not have gone though. Damn. I'll send another email, dood.
Cujo 11/15/2007 20:37:45 Jer - Looking to hear back from ya regarding the email request.
Tupperfan 11/15/2007 20:29:02 Err...an oyster that got lost?
Sam Cogley 11/15/2007 19:15:41 Amy Winehouse had another rough night... http://news.yahoo.com/s/a
fp/20071115/wl_uk_afp/ent
ertainmentbritainmusicpeo
plewinehouse
Sam Cogley 11/15/2007 19:14:57 Hey, if the US is weird, it's all the fault of our parent nation...
More 
Guests Online: 1
v6.00.307 ? 2003-2025