"Should the government prepare for UFOs?" Steve Padilla is asking Los Angeles Times readers to vote on this question--and Denver officials are asking the city's citizens the same. Padilla's colleagues Ashley Powers and DeeDee Correll report that UFO enthusiast Jeff Peckman has gathered "about 4,000 valid signatures needed to place the issue before the 350,000 registered voters of the Colorado state capital." Now the question of an extraterrestrial welcoming committee is on the ballot in Denver, they say, "embarrassing just about everyone--except Peckman."

Meanwhile in the L.A. Times online poll, those in favor of an "Extraterrestrial Affairs Commission" are ahead, with 47 votes. Only 14 are against the commission, with an additional 12 in favor of their hometown forming such a body "only if it creates a similar commission to investigate Bigfoot." Readers may giggle, but as the Wire covered here, Denver and the L.A. Times aren't alone: the Catholic Church is also giving time to the subject of little green men. Is this just a joke, or are the pope and Steve Padilla on to something? Would a plan for alien arrival be a good idea?

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Heather Horn