Stephen Bassett in the New York Times.

[barracuda]

A climate solution that's out of this world

One of the newest energy lobbyists claims he has the answer to climate change: spaceships.

The government has in its possession "extraterrestrial vehicles," lobbyist Stephen Bassett said. As in flying saucers.

Imagine the power source, he said, behind a 30-foot wide saucer that weighs the same as a tractor-trailer yet hurtles through galaxies at 20,000 miles per hour.

"What is the energy system operating that craft?" Bassett said. "They're not burning kerosene."

He added, "It eliminates oil. It eliminates coal. If it's as good as we think it is, it transforms everything."

No more ozone hole or melting polar ice caps, Bassett said. And the price of electricity would drop to almost nothing.

Bassett believes this. Fervently.

He is working for free as a lobbyist, representing the Hawaii-based Exopolitics Institute, an educational organization which describes itself as "dedicated to studying the key actors, institutions and political processes associated with extraterrestrial life." Bassett said he is less lobbyist and more political activist.

"The UFO phenomenon is real," Bassett said. "The E.T. extraterrestrial presence is real."

Bassett's been lobbying about seven months, targeting the science and technology, and defense and aviation angles. He added energy to his portfolio in a Senate filing last week.

He has spoken to lawmakers in the past, Bassett said, but he's writing off lobbying Congress for now, calling the extraterrestrial issue "the third rail" of politics. Besides, he and other believers have a bigger name on their list.

"Knowing that Congress could not act," Bassett said, "what we did was focus on the executive branch, the White House."

Those who believe the truth is out there have been waiting for someone like President Obama to come clean about the government hiding information on extraterrestrials, Bassett said. Obama would be "sensitive to the concerns of the military intelligence community," Bassett said, plus he is popular worldwide, and he "has the intelligence to handle it."

Bassett and fellow believers during the presidential campaign launched the "Million Fax on Washington" and have been sending Obama faxes and e-mails and leaving voice mail messages asking him to admit that E.T. is real. Documents should be released. There should be congressional hearings. And that spaceship technology should be made available to the public.

Odds that this will happen are improving, Bassett said. Obama has friends backing a release of all information on extraterrestrials. Those friends include John Podesta, president and CEO of the progressive Center for American Progress.

"John has been supportive of efforts by groups who have pushed for government transparency," said John Neurohr, a Center for American Progress spokesman. "But he has not talked with President Obama about the issue."

One energy analyst said it is not surprising that among the great diversity of energy lobbyists there is one who wants to expose a UFO cover-up.

"I hope he's right. Wouldn't it be cool?" said Jerry Taylor, senior fellow and energy analyst with the libertarian Cato Institute. "Good luck to him. Hopefully, the magic energy machine will be coming our way shortly."

[barracuda]

Mr. Basset made it to Boing Boing via the Politico:

Washington DC's UFO lobbyist

Stephen Bassett is a registered lobbyist in Washington DC who focuses on alien issues. Space alien issues. For nearly 15 years, his Paradigm Research Group has been advocating "in all ways possible for an end to a government imposed truth embargo of the facts surrounding an extraterrestrial presence engaging the human race." He's part of what's known as the Exopolitics movement. From Politico:

Earlier this month, Bassett hosted X-Conference 2010 at the National Press Club, during which he and other experts called for disclosure. While every member of Congress and representatives from the White House were invited, the 130-person crowd contained mostly scientists and believers.
For most lawmakers, UFOs are an intergalactic third rail a concept they can’t touch for fear of looking like overgrown Trekkies.

“I have met with members of Congress, but the overall situation is always the same. They will not publicly address the issue,” says Bassett. “People on the Hill are largely taken up with raising money and getting reelected. They aren’t going to say something that will hurt them.They’ll get clobbered pretty badly.”

“The problem is, I don’t know if [extraterrestrials] are registered in my district,” says Rep. Gene Green (D-Texas), an avid supporter of space exploration. “Members typically tend to deal with problems we already have. Maybe someday we’ll deal with this, but we’ll have to cross that bridge when we come to it.”

[Montag]

Looks like the usual hit pieces, not much there really.

[barracuda]

Very true, Montag. Here's a bit more measured piece mentioning Mr. Bassett, from April.

The Politics of Extraterrestrials

Famed astrophysicist Stephen Hawking isn't the only man concerned about the potential ramifications of an extraterrestrial presence on Earth.

Turns out, a growing number of people are becoming involved in "exopolitics," the study of the political ramifications of alien visitors -- whether they be friend or foe -- and how humans should prepare for either scenario.

Take Michael Salla, an international politics scholar who in 2001 started dedicating his time to exopolitics. Since then, Salla, an expert in conflict resolution, has been lobbying for extra transparency from the government regarding extraterrestrials.

He says that it's imperative for the planet to have a plan just in case an E.T. decides to make Earth his new home.

"It's not necessary to assume E.T.s are real, just possible," Salla said. "Then you prepare for it and think through all the issues."

According to Salla, those issues include deciding how the alien presence will be announced (he advocates announcing the presence of microbes and working up to more sentient beings), and who will be in control -- a secret committee or a corporate entity.

Even more important: If the E.T.s have superior technology, should they be forced to share it?

Of course, another big issue is determining the protocol for contact between humans and aliens, lest either side be exposed to strange viruses, a Romeo and Juliet situation between Martians and Earthlings -- or worse.

"A big question is how will humans interact with aliens," Salla said. "If someone is threatened by one, will they take a shot at them while driving by? And, if so, will this be as illegal as shooting a human?"

Luckily, for Salla and the others in this pioneering form of paranormal political science, they aren't the only ones asking these questions.

"In the last six months, both the Vatican and the Royal Society of London have held astrobiological conferences studying the implications of life found on other worlds," he said.

No wonder, he says, that many UFOlogists believe that JFK planned to make such an announcement before his 1963 assassination.

However, Webre also admits that if, say, President Barack Obama were to make such an announcement, it could likely fall prey to the partisan battles that have plagued other big issues such as the economy, immigration reform and health care.

"There have been rumors that Obama might make such an announcement, but there have been so many immediate crises that what might be a political slam dunk hasn't taken place," said Webre, who recently shocked the world by claiming that both the U.S. and Russia have developed electromagnetic weapons that can trigger earthquakes.

Webre concedes that while being the person who announces the real presence of alien life will make history, it's possible that E.T.s might not want to put their eggs in one basket, politically speaking, since they wouldn't want to give the appearance of favoring one nation over another.

If and when aliens "do surface, the thought is that they'd do it through a neutral party such as the United Nations," Webre said.

Other exopoliticians, like political activist Stephen Bassett, believe that the governments of the world -- especially the United States -- don't want to give such a momentous announcement to the U.N.

Bassett, a registered lobbyist who wants Congress to release information about the presence of aliens, says any announcement made about E.T.s -- at least in the U.S. -- is only likely to happen with the express cooperation of U.S. military intelligence.

"Barack Obama won't say he wants to reveal the truth; the military will come to him and say, 'You're the guy,'" Bassett said. "Then there would be a substantial press conference with all the evidence anyone could want that proves the presence is real."

And he says that announcement would come quickly.

"You can't have a leak 20 days in advance," Bassett said. "You don't float trial balloons. You make the decision and you move quickly."

Bassett, who is organizing the X-Conference 2010, an exopolitical gathering May 7 to 9 in Washington, D.C., says that after a nation makes the initial announcement, others would promptly follow. But he admits, "This is a transcendent issue. Whatever country makes the announcement will get most of the historical attention."

Although Bassett believes any such announcement would be made by one nation, Webre says he and other exopoliticians have been talking with members of the U.N. General Assembly regarding U.N. Resolution 33/426, which is a proposal to set up a Department of Extraterrestrials Affairs.

He is more confident of this happening than Salla.

"There has been a 60-year period where any information that the governments of the world may have has not been shared with the public," he said. "Whatever is decided, it needs to be done with transparency and accountability. It's important to share such information with U.N. and U.S. office holders."

Of course, a lot has changed in that 60-year period. Webre says that in 1961, studies indicated that a sudden announcement of an alien presence would scare people and cause psychological distress and panics, like the one that surrounded Orson Welles' 1938 "War of the Worlds" hoax.

"A more recent study showed that 85 percent view an announcement about aliens on Earth as something positive," he said.

However, Webre may get some argument from Hawking, who is still pessimistic about trying to make friends with an alien species.

"If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn't turn out very well for the Native Americans," he said while promoting his new Discovery Channel series "Into the Universe With Stephen Hawking."

But Salla says the extreme divide between cynics like Hawking and optimists like the Vatican, which has declared that God may have created theologically minded beings on other planets besides Earth, is OK, just as long as the debate is happening.

"While one can heartily disagree with Hawking's public policy recommendation of ignoring intelligent alien life, he is to be congratulated for elevating exopolitical study as a 'perfectly rational' discussion," Salla said.

[Montag]

Glad you agree Barracuda... I'm sick of folks getting excited about MSM UFO coverage, if it's just going to be an infantile sort of thing.

p.s. The other article is much better.

[Hammer of Los]

What happened, did Steven Greer retire or something? Don't tell me he gets to keep his pension.

David Moye of AOL news connects these "exo politics" characters with Stephen Hawking. Is the association meant to give them credibility? Good luck with that one. Do people actually believe that the government(s) are hiding the truth about et presence on earth right now? That secret governmental and non-governmental groups have the evidence and also are in possession of advanced technology? Who wants people to believe this? Why are the New York Times (via its "Energy and Environmental News") and Aol News giving this "exo politics" group such a public platform?

I loved this bit though;

Even more important: If the E.T.s have superior technology, should they be forced to share it?

He's right. We really need to decide whether we are going to steal their stuff. I mean, we might need that stuff. Actually, I hope the poor old space brothers steer well clear of this planet.

Back to Anne Mulkern, writing on "Energy and Environmental" issues in the New York Times;

Those who believe the truth is out there have been waiting for someone like President Obama to come clean about the government hiding information on extraterrestrials, Bassett said. Obama would be "sensitive to the concerns of the military intelligence community," Bassett said, plus he is popular worldwide, and he "has the intelligence to handle it."

So, why does Mr Bassett think that Obama would be especially "sensitive to the concerns of the military intelligence community?" There isn't any sort of connection between Obama and military intelligence, is there?

[Montag]

What happened, did Steven Greer retire or something? Don't tell me he gets to keep his pension.

David Moye of AOL news connects these "exo politics" characters with Stephen Hawking. Is the association meant to give them credibility?

Can you explain why they don't have credibility? It's clear to me that the government goes to great lengths to muddy the waters on the UFO topic. If there is nothing to hide, why does the government act so wriggly?

Good luck with that one. Do people actually believe that the government(s) are hiding the truth about et presence on earth right now?

Yes.

That secret governmental and non-governmental groups have the evidence and also are in possession of advanced technology? Who wants people to believe this?

I don't think they want people to believe it at all, they usually ridicule anyone associated with UFOs no matter how credible. Oh, and some credible people are J. Allen Hynek (a UFO debunker for the Air Force and astronomer who became a ufoologist), Edgar Mitchell (astronaut who has been to the moon who believes there is a governmental cover-up of UFOs), Gordon Cooper (another astronaut who believed in a government cover-up of UFOs).

[jingofever]

It's clear to me that the government goes to great lengths to muddy the waters on the UFO topic. If there is nothing to hide, why does the government act so wriggly?

Maybe they just want to be the first ones to crack UFOs. If they can't stop people from seeing and investigating maybe the next best thing is to spread disinformation. I guess they're still hiding in that case but there isn't necessarily anything to hide.

[Montag]

It's clear to me that the government goes to great lengths to muddy the waters on the UFO topic. If there is nothing to hide, why does the government act so wriggly?

Maybe they just want to be the first ones to crack UFOs. If they can't stop people from seeing and investigating maybe the next best thing is to spread disinformation. I guess they're still hiding in that case but there isn't necessarily anything to hide.

Hiding things that there is no reason to hide LOL! This is one of the best skeptic arguments yet. You skeptics put me in stitches! The lengths you'll go to explain away something that just won't be!

[jingofever]

Hiding things that there is no reason to hide LOL! This is one of the best skeptic arguments yet. You skeptics put me in stitches! The lengths you'll go to explain away something that just won't be!

I'm just saying that the government may not know any more than we do.

[Montag]

I'm just saying that the government may not know any more than we do.

Oh ok... I agree with that.

[barracuda]

I'm just saying that the government may not know any more than we do.

That's not really possible though, is it? It may be fruitful to simply categorise the various levels of information possibly available to "the government" which continue to remain outstanding with regards to our own civilian knowledge base.

For example "they" certainly are aware of:

- the parameters of their own black projects in the realm of experimental propulsion, advanced design aircraft, and space faring and weaponry deployments.

- the fundamental operations pertaining to those activities such as the locations of secret bases, satellite and space station functions, etc.

- the truth behind nazi researches into these areas, and the dispostion and activities of the paperclipped scientists.

- the similar ops and researches of other "competing" nations, or corporations as far as they know.

- the identities of the various strains of governmentally seeded disinformation in circulation as UFO apocrypha.

- actual unreleased historical case files of a military nature and probably high degrees of detail that are collated into studies which would be of extreme interest on their face to UFO researchers.

- outstanding or hidden data on the realities or histories of life on Mars or other planets or bodies in the form of microorganisms, etc.

And this is simply on the base level of the more obviously prosaic types of information. Of even more more esoteric interest may be:

- the true nature of any possible missions to the moon or other planets not publicly available.

- experimental research into ET or extra-dimensional entity contact via presumably occult or paranormal channels of inquiry.

- the realities of any possible recovered artifacts of an "alien" or non-human nature.

- the possibilities of reverse-engineered technology.

- secret archaeological data gathered outside of the public realm related to ancient civilisations, prior historical contact, anomalous artifacts, etc.

And so on. Presumably, much of this data circumscribes the areas of which the so-called exo-politicians may be petitioning for examination. And most of this information I would expect to remain fully outside the scope of possible future transparency. So even if we may postulate that the government has not made true contact with aliens in the form of a presidential hand-shaking, or that they have really little better understanding of the deep nature of the UFO question than us, it would seem quite safe to assume that they know more than we do. The centrality of this information, and how isolated it is even within the stratification of departmental provenance is another matter.

[jingofever]

That's not really possible though, is it? It may be fruitful to simply categorise the various levels of information possibly available to "the government" which continue to remain outstanding with regards to our own civilian knowledge base.

For example "they" certainly are aware of...

I don't think any of this would necessarily inform them of the true nature of genuine UFO sightings. Most of the examples above would only give negative information, not positive. (Assuming UFOs are non-human.) And with any unreleased military case files you are still dealing with humans observing a phenomenon that is most likely more intelligent and doesn't reveal more than it wants to. I doubt unreleased files reveal anything more than the released files which haven't done much to enlighten us over the past sixty years. Maybe the Project Magnet files are right about the MJ-12 style study group but even then I'm skeptical that humans could figure out this mystery just by reading over case files and looking at photographs and video and I don't think there are any experiments that can be done. It wouldn't surprise me if they decided that no amount of study would find out the truth and so decided to drop active research. I think we just have to wait for them to tell us what they are up to (if they aren't doing that already with certain people).

And this is simply on the base level of the more obviously prosaic types of information. Of even more more esoteric interest may be...

The only things here that I would consider would be recovered and reverse-engineered technology but my feelings on the strongest candidate for that technology retrieval, Roswell, fluctuate and have been on a downward trajectory lately.

[barracuda]

I don't think any of this would necessarily inform them of the true nature of genuine UFO sightings. Most of the examples above would only give negative information, not positive.

I agree, to an extent. We don't know the full scope of what evidence they may have - unknown unknowns - but even the answer to these prosaic questions would allow real research to move in more positive directions, and away from the many areas which must surely be populated by answers of a disinformational and miltech nature. This is why the petitioning by the likes of Bassett and associates is important in any case.