After a handful of slides, Lynn Woolsey, an ex-congresswoman from California, tilts her head and asks the panel of witnesses in front of her to explain one more time why our extraterrestrial visitors are so interested in bits of bovine. "It's a genetic harvest," comes the patient reply.

The five former congressmen - three Democrats and two Republicans - said they were frustrated with Congress's failure to explore the issue of extraterrestrial life and were taking manners into their own hands.

"The Citizen Hearing on Disclosure of an extraterrestrial presence engaging the human race will attempt to accomplish what the Congress has failed to do for forty-five years - seek out the facts surrounding the most important issue of this or any other time," the group said in a statement.