MUFON Spokesperson Alejandro Rojas says he was present for the Friday, 5/30/08 Denver Press Conference where Peckman unveiled the Alien video. He was also a guest on Coast To Coast and stated that MUFON does not yet have a stance on the video. Rojas did say that “the way it was released was awful. It was a terrible idea."

I can certainly understand how Rojas feels, however, I don’t really know how anyone would expect a person with a video like that to release it to the press or anyone else. Thanks to years of anti-UFO government propaganda, most people will reject it out of hand anyway. The media apparently did.

Fox News mentioned Peckman’s ballot initiative on their Friday cable news broadcast just a few times in the morning. They aired a brief snippet of an interview they did with him a month ago and said he was planning to introduce an Alien video to the public during a press conference that day, but that was it! They followed up the brief snippet by saying “we’ll bring you more on this story if it’s newsworthy.” I guess it wasn’t.

I recall when I investigated an incident where a UFO hovered over and landed it a New York City Park (Kissena Park, Flushing, Queens, NYC) during the late 1980s. The event was witnessed by hundreds of people (possibly thousands), a crop circle was left behind, a tree and other objects nearby were oddly affected and strange material was found in the circle.

When I arranged a press conference in the park to explain the case, the foreign media, Reuters, CNN and other large news gathering groups showed up. I walked the reporters through what happened and showed them the evidence we had. They treated the story fairly and covered it well. However, we didn’t offer it to the media in a half-hearted way. We didn’t apologize for telling people about what happened.

Is it any wonder that the media doesn’t take UFO evidence seriously when we offer it to them in manner that leaves them wondering if we even believe UFOs and Aliens exist? We can always be wrong if the evidence turns out to be false, but we can’t afford to ignore or dispute it when it appears to be genuine.

As MUFON Assistant New York State Director, I spent quite a large sum of money to send samples of the materials, video, photos of the area, and copies of everything else I had from the Kissena Park case to Walt Andrus (former MUFON Director). After waiting for weeks to hear from him, I gave up and called. His only comment was, “Do you know what kind of grass was growing in that park. It’s important that we know that.”

The materials I sent to MUFON ended up in the black hole of their file cabinets. I assume that were too busy with a case they felt was more important and credible, that being the Gulf Breeze Florida, Ed Walters Photographic Case (yuk yuk). At the same time, I was criticized by some UFO researchers for releasing the Kissena Park UFO Case information to the media shortly after it occurred. One researcher said, “This is an important case, but we need to release it in the appropriate manner.” And what manner would that be?

News is only news if you release it to the media in a timely manner. Most experienced UFO investigators and researchers possess the mental skills to take a look at a case and decide whether it has enough merit to be of high strangeness without requiring a year long investigation before they comment on it.

Of course I have to be fair and say that MUFON is a grass roots organization. It has many dedicated, serious, enthusiastic and experienced members that among the various local chapters. These people spend their own money and time to investigate cases reported to them. Sadly, their work is often muted by an unenthusiastic hierarchy with their own agenda.

Jeff Peckman and Stan Romanek must also share the blame in terms of the cold shoulder they are receiving from the national media. By refusing to release the video to the general public until it’s available in some documentary, they immediately bring suspicion on it. A better way would have been to release the Alien video now, then mention they were creating a documentary around it that would be available later. I think most people would be interested in seeing and even purchasing such a documentary.

There are times when UFO experienced researchers must step up to the plate and advise people like Peckman and Romanek. We must make them understand the conditions under which we’re willing to support their information and materials and hold fast to those conditions. We shouldn’t show up at their press conference with half-hearted support just to be there.

I Got DEM old Kosmic Blues Again Mama. It’s the title of an album by the late Janis Joplin, but it may also describe an amazing discussion that is going on within the Democratic Party in the USA. Their Cosmic blues were first brought to light by Shirley MacLaine’s revelation that former U.S. Presidential Candidate Dennis Kucinich had a UFO sighting while he was visiting her home in Graham, Washington, about fifteen years ago.

Dem blues continued after the news media mentioned that the Bill Clinton Presidential Library released a number of documents related to UFOs from his administration. That occurred because Shirley MacLaine happened to be Chelsea Clinton’s godmother and because Hillary Clinton, another U.S. Presidential Candidate, mentioned the threat of an Alien Invasion during one of her speeches.

According to a Democratic Insider and UFO buff that sent me an email recently, high ranking members of the Democratic Party are concerned about how their party members and candidates will handle the UFO question. “If something happens like the Kucinich thing or aliens are in the news, they don’t want pundits and politicians verbally stumbling around,” he said.

He also claims that the Democrats agree changes need to be made in the way the subject is handled and the changes had better come fast. “They expect big UFO news on the horizon. They won’t say what that might be. My guess is some kind of announcement or major sightings after the busy year we’ve had (for sightings) so far… They are trying to come up with a kind of policy statement…something that everyone can accept.”

Democrats have a long history of commenting on UFOs. Jimmy Carter talked about a 1969 UFO sighting during his 1976 presidential campaign. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson was asked about the Roswell UFO Crash and said he would investigate it. Richardson says he once asked the Defense Department for data on Roswell and was told it was classified. He followed that up by saying, “I’ve always felt that the government doesn’t tell the truth as much as it should on a lot of issues.”

The Democrats were not the only ones that had to deal with government cover-ups involving UFO information. The late New Mexico Congressman Steven Schiff, a Republican, was also denied information about the Roswell UFO Crash when he asked for it from the Defense Department. He called their lack of response to his requests “astounding” and was angry when the U.S. Government’s General Accounting Office told him that most records on the Roswell Crash had been destroyed.

It’s amazing to think that we may finally have cohesive and well-thought out statements about the UFO subject from serious politicians. Now we just have to hope that that will be informative and not just just-serving.

Big Bird Is Joined By A Little Glowing Alien. I recent reported on sightings of a gigantic bird seen flying over the skies of Peru and Argentina in South American. Now the big bird has company in the form of a little glowing alien. Inexplicit (the Journal of Hispanic Ufology) reports that a “strange being” about 40 cm tall has been seen around the town of San Carlos, Argentina.

Witnesses say that some sort of an invisible protective shield kept them from getting close to the Being. They did notice that it glowed and wore some king of pants. UFO sightings in the area of San Carlos have been legendary (as well as recent) and news of the Being’s appearance has caused concern among the populace.

Local officials are taking the story of the Being seriously and residents are keeping their children in after dark. We’ll keep you updated as more about this story becomes available.