• Updated by editor: 9/01/2011. Since this article was published, several countries have released thousands of pages documenting UFO sightings. The United States, which reportedly has the largest file of sightings,  encounters and photos, has not. "Fog" discusses possible reasons.

Flying Saucers

(Purported leaked Secret Government Memo at end.)

People in the panhandle of Florida are claiming they've seen flying saucers.

In these parts we have the dubious distinction of being one of the most frequented areas of the country for the elusive critters.

People out West have to travel to some place in Nevada for a similar opportunity.

Interestingly, some of the people who have seen these things represent some pretty respectable, feet-on-the-ground types.

Not prone to Elvis sightings or making things up in order to get attention.

Even so, the government's explanations has leaned toward swamp gas and weather balloons.

But, given their personal experience, many people in these parts aren't buying the swamp gas or weather balloon explanations. Neither are all the people who have followed these things on radar screens.

Personally, I had never put much stock in flying saucers...

...but when I started noticing how much effort the government seems to be putting into explaining away the reports, I began wondering...

...and I started thinking about the issue.

Why might our government be so desperate to "explain away" thousands of UFO sightings?

I'm still pretty dubious about all this, but for a brief moment let's just assume for the sake of argument that this flying saucer stuff is true.

What would a accountable government do?

There are basically two choices:

-tell the truth

-lie like hell

If you tell the truth, you might throw the country into a level of panic that's not been witnessed since the biblical flood.

Given the demonstrated technology implicit in these things, we would clearly be witnessing an intellectually superior species.

Maybe, if reports are true, a number of intellectually superior species.

We would no longer have our egocentrically central place in "our" God's universe.

You may recall that before the evidence became overwhelming, "the Church" staunchly maintained that the sun revolved around the earth and the earth was the center of the universe.

In other words, mankind -- with emphasis very much on man at that point -- was at the very center of all of what God created.

To find out that wasn't true was enough of a shock...

...but finding that there are species in the universe that were clearly superior to "man" would be even more ego deflating.

Using history as a guide, many people would instantly reject that possibility.

Fundamentalist preachers — the kind that we always seem to hear from when it comes to religion — would have to scramble to publicly reinterpret scriptures to keep the faithful from questioning religion...

...the very thing people turn to when they feel threatened by things like this.

Not good.

Plus, in the face of superior technology such as this, the military of the US-of-A might look a bit inadequate.

A technology far beyond our capabilities to defend ourselves?

Not at all good.

So should a government do?

Maybe anything necessary to keep the truth from coming out.

Lie about it.

Cover it up.

Hide the evidence.

For the good of the people. For the good of the country. For the good of all those votes associated with fundamentalist religion.

Sort of makes you wonder, doesn't it?

Editor's notes:

• The following is a (rather poor) photocopy of a supposedly leaked U.S. Government document.