Edited to correct the name of Stephen Bassett, executive director of Paradigm Research Group and organizer of the Citizen Hearing on Disclosure.
There's a new twist in the Greek tragedy that is the Kilpatrick family's money woes.
Former Congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, mother of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, will get $20,000 to conduct a hearing into ... alien conspiracies.
The goal of these hearings is ambitious: get the federal government to admit that aliens exist.
That they've contacted humans.
And that for decades, the government has been covering this up.
Now let's be very clear, this is NOT actually a congressional hearing. It's all being put on by a group of alien conspiracy theorists calling themselves the Citizens Hearing on Disclosure.
They're shelling out $20,000 to each of the five former members of Congress who've agreed to come to Washington, DC for this panel.
Stephen Bassett is the chief organizer behind these hearings.
In a trailer on YouTube, he wears a Steve Jobs-like black turtleneck and talks about the hearings.
He says Congress hasn't focused on "the extraterrestrial issue" for over 40 years.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=HtE7GTxtLCc
"In those four and a half decades, hundreds of thousands of new sightings have taken place. Government agency witnesses have come forward. Media coverage has expanded. Hundreds of documentaries have been produced. Thousands of books have been written, and yet the United States Congress has remained silent."
Now, if you're surprised that former Michigan Congresswoman Cheeks Kilpatrick is suddenly taking such a keen interest in UFO sightings...
It's worth remembering the 20 grand she's making for this trip. Cheeks Kilpatrick lost her re-election bid as part of the fallout from the scandal that unraveled the career of her son, former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
The former mayor is flat broke, and has just recently started what looks to be a loooong stint in federal prison.
Meanwhile, Cheeks Kilpatrick didn't even have enough money to convince the court that her son wasn't a flight risk.
She offered up her house as insurance, but the court declined.
The alien hearings in DC will run from April 29 to May 3.
