If Only ……

You’ve no doubt heard it already. It’s all over the news. Obama’s outgoing senior advisor, John Podesta tweeted on Friday (2/13/15), “Finally, my biggest failure of 2014: Once again not securing the #disclosure of the UFO files. #thetruthisstilloutthere.”

If only … he was going to stay in that position long enough to correct his ‘biggest failure.’ But, alas, Podesta is on to bigger game – most likely as campaign chairman for Hilary Clinton’s 2016 presidential run.

So, why are we including this story on unknowncountry when everyone knows it already? Perhaps it’s just a wistful nod to the once-again delayed gratification of getting to say, “I told you so” to all those doubters and skeptics out there who still don’t believe, ‘There are more things in heaven and earth … than are dreamt of in your philosophy.’

It’s not likely that Podesta’s tweet was ironic, given that he wrote the foreword to Leslie Kean’s 2010 book, “UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record.” But since he seemed in his tweet to be passing the torch on to NY Times columnist Maureen Dowd (who will not have anywhere near the insider access that he enjoyed), it seems only fitting at this time to quote a bit from her piece in the Times on June 1997 to get a glimpse of her perspective.

Dowd titled her Opinion piece, ‘We’re Not Alone,” when the U.S. Air Force issued its definitive report on what really happened at Roswell 50 years prior. The fact that the Air Force stamped the report, ‘Case Closed,’ was a good indication that they were hoping it would put an end to all the pesky speculation from the ‘fringe’ that indicted them for trying to cover up the crash landing of an alien space craft – complete with aliens. Here is Maureen waxing poetic on the subject:

“The Roswell report will settle the debate over aliens about as well as the Warren report settled the debate over the single-bullet theory.” As for the explanation offered in the 1997 report, Maureen wrote, “Oh, that sounds plausible, coming from the folks who brought you Agent Orange, optimistic body counts in Vietnam and denials of chemical weapons in the gulf.”

Dowd goes on to say, “This cover-up may be bigger than we thought. The briefing with Colonel Haynes indicates that aliens may now be working at the highest levels of government. Only aliens would be unsophisticated enough about American culture to think they could dispel suspicions of their presence here by issuing a government report.” She concludes her commentary by saying, “It’s a strange day in America when the Steven Spielberg view of life and the Oliver Stone view of life coincide.”

Many years ago, when working as an editor for a university professor, I questioned him about the general unintelligibility of his writing. He responded that he knew he presented a far greater percentage of new material on each page than is generally recommended. I countered by saying – perhaps a bit impertinently – that I found nothing new on his pages. In response, he sighed and said, “Oh, I know. By the time it hits academia it is already street-knowledge.” The same can be said about government disclosures that come when all opportunities for denial have been exhausted. That’s when, in many cases, Conspiracy Theory is revealed to be Conspiracy Fact.