When we talk about JFK in 2013 we’re ultimately talking about fixing the problem of entrenched secret power in America, says a reader who goes by JSA.
I like this formulation. It identifies the contemporary relevance of the story.
America has done this before, he writes.
How many years after the extermination of the Cherokee did we finally acknowledge the US government’s role in the ‘Trail of Tears’? Or acknowledge slavery? Or the internment of the Japanese-Americans during WWII? It’s not that the USA is all bad, or all good, but that we are imperfect, and capable of horrific deeds just as other nations are. The sooner we own up to our misdeeds, the sooner we can move forward. This cover up of the JFK assassination has got to end, so we can fix the problem of entrenched secret power, painful as it might be.
So nobody is responsible for their actions because a secret power is running everything?
What do you call that?
Precisely. The purpose of pursuing the conspiracy is to hold those responsible accountable, to a person.
Wow. The Black Dahlia? Caylee Anthony? Monica and Bill?
Who would have thought that the Unified Theory of Matter explains the JFK assassination?
Bill Shatner was right.
Entrenched secret power in any country around the globe relies on the closed mind of its citizens. We Americans claim to be wiser.
When you talk about JFK you are talking about an “inside job” to eliminate him & replace him with another more in tune with the vision of war hawks of that time according to folks I interact with.
Others see it as a brutal reminder that America is a dangerous place to live where anyone (regardless of social and economic status)can be murdered anywhere at any time without justice being served to the perpetrators. Victims such as the Black Dahlia, Nicole Simpson, Ron Goldman, Caylee Anthony fall into this category.
It is doubtful anyone connected to the US government or it’s contractors will ever disclose participation by predecessors simply because it not only opens up an avenue for JFK’s offspring & relatives to file lawsuits for wrongful death but also it may be necessary for the current power elite to do it again sometime in the future.
HT: “it may be necessary for the current power elite to do it again sometime in the future.”
In some ways, I believe that has happened. Not in the spectacular manner of murder, but in the disruption of a president’s administration. Nixon-Watergate; Carter-October Surprise; Clinton-Monica; Obama-the meltdown.
Those whose administrations have not been overwhelmed are Ford-ineffectual and the gatekeeper of the lies of the assassination; Reagan – in spite of Iran Contra he was allowed two toxic terms, and the Bushes. Except for Pamela Harriman’s interdiction to get Clinton elected, GHW would have served two terms. That was a curiosity.
Admittedly, this is a very elementary analysis.
My point being, perhaps it is the presidency itself that periodically requires disruption.
Yes, he is an arrogant poseur, but I doubt that he is a real doctor. Probably an EMT.
However,it is somewhat amusing that he throws out facts that people on this site simply can’t deal with in a rational manner.
Die Gedanken sind frei.
Of course it is made up. That is the results of 40 years of objective investigation,common sense and a complete lack of any real evidence to the contrary.
“…and a complete lack of any real evidence to the contrary.”
You’re a typical physician. Biased and close-minded. You’re free to comment on everything.
Problem is, you side with the wrong guys. Humes and Boswell botched the biggest autopsy ever. Humes not only burned his notes but also the initial draft of the autopsy report. And someone stole Finck’s autopsy notes the night of November 22.
You come here rudely and pompously. I’ve seen your type before. I bet you’ve botched some medical procedures in your day.
Nathaniel Heidenheimer, what the hell are you trying to say?
You weren’t even alive at the time of the assasination,were you?
The CIA is not a law enforcement agency. It is absolutely ludicrous to expect them to do an investigation of a domestic crime. The Warren Commision did not rely almost exclusively on the FBI; most of its information came directly from Dallas PD,which had by November 23 an airtight case against Oswald. Obviously John Edgar Hoover wanted to minimize the FBI’s negligence in regard to Oswald’s threat to SA Hosty, but the basic police work done at the scene was by Jesse Curry’s men. The FBI never had to ignore any leads that conflicted with the Oswald-did-it theory because there weren’t any. The investigation was essentially complete by the time of Oswald’s assassination by Ruby, an assassination that was cheered by attendees at President Kennedy’s funeral and at least one Secret Service agent present at the time of the assassination.
“most of its information came directly from Dallas PD,which had by November 23 an airtight case against Oswald”
There are so many instances of shoddy police work immediately following the assassination, not the least of which was the handling of the alleged rifle. There are videos posted online of officers handing it from one to another. There is also a video of their engaging a press photographer in a reenactment of their discovery of the rifle – only hours after the assassination.
If one researches the history of the Dallas Police Department in those years – readily accessible in news archives – one would be less willing to jump to the conclusion you have offered. I am not suggesting there weren’t conscientious officers on the case, I am suggesting there were less than credible ones interfering.
When you can, locate the edition of Life Magazine, published some weeks after the murder I believe (possibly later) that includes a photograph of Elm Street viewed from the 6th floor window with the caption “the crime scene – ONLY HOURS after the assassination” and see the number of automobiles passing the building, see that there is not one cordon, not one piece of tape, not one officer protecting the scene of the crime for that basic police work you applaud.
What we are talking about when we are talking about the JFK assassination is the point where elected power stopped and unelected permanent military and intelligence bureaucracies made elections nothing but dashboard.
To reveal that true engine would undermine the only common denominator we have, our outdated language about checks and balances. This, of course has nothing to do with how power really works in 2013. That is why the JFK story is so threatening. It shows the dashboard as just that: it permits curiosity about engine, and that is too dangerous for an empire this vast, this late.
The complete erosion of the Fourth Estate may be the nail in the coffin of checks and balances. That is why I believe that forums of this kind are critical to keeping them on life support. On my worst days I worry that you may be right, it may well be too late.
Well, quite frankly how can you completely ignore the real evidence? I’m sorry, but some of the absolute nonsense put out by conspiracy buffs is laughable. Interpretation of movements on a film are more important than actual physical autopsy evidence? Impressions of what x-ray reports mean from someone who has never seen the inside of a radiology department, let alone a real medical school? Claims about how blood spatter from a moving target can be used to establish a totally incoherent shooting solution?
What I have a problem with is this insane need to exculpate one of the most heinous criminals this country has ever put forth, a man who decided on his own that the democratic process was meaningless and he had the right to deprive this country of its democratically elected leader. He also took it upon himself to gun down in cold blood a Dallas police officer,a veteran of WWII who left a family with young children. It sickens me that people ignore facts and continue to insist that this monster was a patsy and innocent bystander.
It sickens me that the crime was never actually investigated properly. Most of us accept that LHO was almost certainly involved somehow and likely fired at least some shots. What I don’t accept is that he acted alone (and this is even if he was the only shooter, which I think is a near impossibility). I also grant you that a lot of the conspiracy stuff is nonsense, and it’s hard sometimes to separate the wheat from the chaff.
I also grant that the medical evidence is difficult for laymen. Fortunately, some of the best evidence of a conspiracy we have is on the human side of things, a lot of it developed by Jeff Morley and others, like Gaeton Fonzi. If you can read the stuff that Morley, Fonzi and Newman have put out, and still believe that LHO acted alone and wasn’t associated somehow with US intelligence, then I don’t really know what else to say to you.
Then why the name-calling?
Well, if you’re talking to me, it’s because they ignored obvious evidence in favor of cotton candy evidence that wouldn’t hold up in a strong wind. Whose side are you on?
1.Yes. We should put more stock in the experiments and observations of JOHN Lattimer than the rushed and incomplete observations of the Parkland docs.Exactly how much time did the Parkland docs attend to JFK? As he was declared dead 22 minutes after reaching Parkland (and perhaps even sooner) it is unlikely that anybody had more than a superficial examination-and most of the individuals in the room had even less than that. The fact is that the Parkland team was totally unaware of the wound in JFK’s back because they never even turned him over. Lattimer had months to study the photos,autopsy notes and particularly the x-ray films.He was a urologist but also the main medical expert on the Lincoln assassination. To date no one has been able to impeach his findings or character.
2. It seems that a lot of posters here want to comment on the medical evidence. When folks like Jonathan state ” the autopsy photos are inconsistant with the autopsy x-rays and autopsy report” I can only roll my eyes at the ignorance of the statement. Are we to believe that Jonathan knows how to read radiographic films? Does he understand pathologic terminology and landmarks? Has he ever taken a gross anatomy lab? Of course not.
Lattimer was not a mutt. He was a highly educated and intelligent man.
Alvarez was a brilliant physicist and expert in the motion of bodies from the size of subatomic particles to stars. Neither one had any ax to grind except for a desire to seek the truth.
Great. I could give a learned disquisition on string searching and the taxonomy of linear algebraic approaches to the solution of sparse matrix systems. But what I don’t have is an inherent bias vis the manner in which JFK was assassinated. So I calls ’em like I sees ’em.
“Lattimer was not a mutt. He was a highly educated and intelligent man…Neither one had an axe to grind except for a desire to seek the truth”
This sounds like a good description of Dr Robert McClelland.
Shorter common sense:
1. We should be selective in what we believe. For example, we should put stock in George Lattimer, M.D.’s, experiments with skulls and Carcanos and disregard the Parkland ER docs.
2. None of us has ever been to an autopsy or gone to medical school. So how can we presume to comment on the medical evidence?
And Leslie Sharp precisely what does any of that have to do with a sociopathic criminal shooting the President of the U.S.?
Dear doctor,
You know lots more about the human body than I do.
Kennedy’s head was violated twice according to Humes’s report.
There was a low occiput entry. And a big blow-out.
The topic was “entrenched secret power,” so I chose to contribute to a limited degree. When the topic is forensics, I’m extremely limited in my knowledge so I’m hesitant to participate. I know my limitations. Perhaps you’re not familiar with the concept of coup d’etat and so you chose to change the subject. That’s understandable, and very human.
The body (or the skull for that matter)does NOT always move in the direction of the bullet at impact-that was decisevely refuted by the experiments of Dr John Lattimer, the first person allowed by the Kennedy family to see the autopsy photos and x-rays. The Alvarez effect explains any movement of JFK’s head backwards, although head movements cannot be predicted with any real accuracy after a shot, despite your (or Fiester’s) allegation to the contrary. It is pointless to claim that the position of brain debris in this situation has any bearing whatsoever on where the shot came from. At the time of the headshot the limo was almost stationary,then it rapidly accelerated through the cloud of aerosolized blood and brain tissue. This is very evident on the Muchmore film. Mrs. Kennedy later stated that she had no memory of her actions in the immediate period after the head shot; the claim of reaching for a piece of skull while exiting the limo was more of a chivalrous explanation from Clint Hill as to why she tried to get out of the line of fire. There is no piece of skull or debris on the trunk of the car in the Zapruder film. Fiester has no expertise in forensic pathology; she has no medical backround to discuss x-ray films or their interpretation. As stated above the movement of the limo makes any splatter analysis totally subjective and inaccurate.
Lattimer was a mutt. Alvarez was a fantasist. Read the testimony of neurosurgeon Kemp Clark, who said the bullet was a tangential shot that plowed through a lot of bone. That would have imparted a considerable amount of force to a body.
Before you hit caps-lock, however, look at the Z-frames from 313 on. JFK’s right shoulder moves forward after he is shot. The only way that could happen, with a tangential shot to the right side of the head, is if the shot had come from behind.
Now you’re revealing what you know and understand, common sense. That’s good.
“… refuted by the experiments of Dr John Lattimer, the first person allowed by the Kennedy family to see the autopsy photos and x-rays.”
The autopsy photos are inconsistent with the autopsy x-rays and with the autopsy report. And you can take that to the bank, Dr. common sense.
An elementary study of corporations pre and post-Kennedy assassination reveal the intertwined nature of economic power in our nation. Finance locked with industry in a scorpion’s embrace and both married to the military, reliant upon it for industry contracts and profiteering, security while operating abroad, and through war, expansion into new markets. Concentration solely on government, made up primarily of elected officials, overlooks the elephant in the room – its symbioses with The Complex.
While we dig deeply into the role that Cuba played in the assassination drama, or study what might have happened in Viet Nam had Kennedy lived, we completely miss for instance, what was happening in Latin America ‘in our name,’ at the behest of expansionists lead by the Rockefeller dynasty and Adolf Berle (followed by a similar advisor in Henry Kissinger and oil companies capitalizing on Rockefeller’s investment in infrastructure). Distract the electorate with light incursions into Cuba, destabilize our own government with a spectacular daylight assassination of the president, and enmesh young lives in a violent protracted war while in the shadows, private industry takes control of a continent through support of tyrants and execution of leaders of democratic movements. That is one example of entrenched secret power.
In our country, capitalism frequently trumps democracy and tends toward imperialism. This is the entrenched power we are confronted with, not who sits in the oval office. However, when that individual recognizes the threat and initiates resistance against unelected power, he must be taken out, and a message sent (ref. Vince Salandria).
When the public writ large realizes that we have yet to achieve true democracy then perhaps we will stop recalling the good old days and proceed with the revolution, only this time it could be peaceful. Whether or not one respects or even understands the fundamental premise of the Occupy Movement, the effort brought into focus the damage caused by entrenched power.
Believe what you want, but you obviously are not familiar with the Lattimer films of skulls being shot from behind, nor the Alvarez effect of ejectia from the head, nor the fact that frame analysis of the Zapruder film demonstrates that the initial movent of the head was forward. The movie “J.F.K.” is not a credible source. It is amazing that you can’t accept the results of the only true forensic study of the wounds on the body.Where exactly is the brain matter on the trunk in the Zapruder film? I do know that it was scattered in the car; the Governor recalled seeing a piece of brain tissue on his leg-how did that get there from a front shot? “No one has to be an expert in anything…”-well, that pretty much sums up your argument.I prefer facts. Where did “Fiester” do his forensic pathology fellowship?
I’m dealing in facts. Are you saying that the head snap back and to the left didn’t occur? It’s a fact. The WC itself commissioned an expert to shoot the heads, etc. of cadavers and goat carcasses and this report (which was suppressed for a decade) showed that the body pretty much always moved in the same direction as the bullet after impact.
Fiester’s book shows that it has been observed that the initial reaction of the skull is often slightly into the direction of the shot. Of course, this issue is why over the years many people have suggested the two head shot theory, which I agree probably isn’t correct.
The brain matter that went on the trunk that Jackie retrieved. She had it in her hand hours after the event. This is a fact. Brain matter was also on the officers (and one piece was later found in the grass) back and to the left of the limo (another fact). The wind was out of the south at 10-20 as well, which can be observed if you look at the skirts of the women in the photos. So this ejecta went forcefully to the rear of JFK against the wind.
Yes, and Bobby Hargraves, no bleeding-heart liberal, riding to the rear left of the limo was hit so forcefully by brain matter he thought he’d been struck by a bullet. That’s a fact; that’s in the record.
Jason L, you obviously have never seen an autopsy. After removing the brain it is ALWAYS sliced like a loaf of bread.It has nothing to do with “trajectory analysis” and everything to do with aneurysms, neoplasms and degenerative diseases.
To this date there has not been ANY objective evidence to contradict the autopsy finding that all shots came from the back. Period.
The head snap back and to the left is prima facie evidence of a shot from the front. If the Z film had been showed publicly the day after the assassination and not for the first time 12 years later, NO ONE would have believed the Warren Report, not a single person. The motorcycle policemen were also spattered with brain tissue (against a stiff breeze), not to mention the matter on the trunk of the limo, which is also prima facie evidence of a frontal shot.
No one has to be any kind of an expert in anything except seeing with their eyes to understand this.
Fiester’s latest book also suggests that the way the skull is fractured and the way the bullet fragments are dispersed in the head indicate a shot from the front.
I agree that in a normal autopsy that is the kind of thing you would look for in the brain. You’re dealing with a gunshot wound to the brain in this case though, so it seems like the trajectory would be the first thing you’d look for when analyzing the brain.
And to answer your previous question about the kidneys, etc. of course one wouldn’t be too concerned about that, since there was no gunshot wound to those organs.
Jason L the doctors at Parkland at first didn’t even know that JFK had been hit in the head-incredible you might think,but reflective of the cursory exam done on what was essentially a DOA patient who happened to be president. They were under extreme pressure because of the status of the patient-as an example being the large, hurried tracheostomy noted on the autopsy photos. Mac Perry was an excellent surgeon, but obviously he was stressed and moved as fast as he could to make an airway; I doubt that any other trach he did looked like that incision. The point is that the rushed perceptions of the ER docs are completely unreliable about specifics. They thought that the neck wound was the principle wound and never knew that there was a back wound, because THEY NEVER EVEN TURNED HIM OVER.I don’t care what McClelland said initially, when he was shown the autopsy photos by PBS he stated that they were exactly as he remembered the wounds to be. End of story. Most people at the scene thought that the shots came from behind-if you really want to see what most witnesses thought look at the Altgens photo after the first shot hit JFK. The Governor always stated that he was not hit by the first shot, the shot that the Warren Report stated hit Kennedy. We now know that the first shot missed and both the Governor and JFK can be seen reacting to it-a shot that the Governor turned to look BACK at. The .223 comment is just plain silly-at the time the round was not common, Armalite rifles were scarce and most experts thought that the round was underpowered, a perception that continued into the Vietnam war. The simultaneous head shots impacting an 8 square inch target moving across the line of sight within milliseconds of each other has never been executed in the history of marksmanship. I remember when frame 313 was published in LIFE; it clearly showed 2 fragments being propelled UP and FORWARD. That of course would be impossible with a shot from the front.
Common sense, you are mistaken in your comments regarding Dr Robert Mclelland.
Dr Mclelland gave a radio interview in 2009, in which he discussed the time when he first saw the autopsy photos. He stated that the autopsy photos did reflect what he had seen until it came to the photos of the back of JFK’s head. Dr Mclelland was quite clear that the autopsy photo of the rear of JFK’s head did not compare to what he had seen, because what he said he had seen was a large gaping hole in the rear of JFK’s head, and the autopsy photo did not show this.
I consider Dr Mclelland to be an extremely credible witness.
Common sense, if you would like to listen to this interview that Dr Robert Mclelland did in 2009, you can find it in you tube.
Re Mclelland and Perry this article from 2012 is absolutely essential. THE FACT THAT IT DID NOT MAKE NATIONAL NEWS SPEAKS VOLUMES.
There is a typo in the beginning of the article: says 39 years means 49.
http://www.planostar.com/articles/2012/01/28/mckinney_courier-gazette/news/9270.txt
This article really should be spread around.
Common sense: I don’t agree with the premise — that those skeptical of the “official story” only pursue their theories because an alleged Marxist allegedly pulled the trigger. In my experience the political stripes of whomever did it was never a driver of the interest — rather, just getting to the bottom of a hugely consequential event in American, indeed global, history.
I’m curious how we moved from what seemed to be an opportunity to discuss “entrenched power?”
Unless we began the thread by discussing the entrenched power that John Kennedy had to prevent his own murder. Blaming the victim is seldom a wise tack, but unfortunately it was an effective one here.
The lead response:
“What coverup? What secret power? The willing coverup by the press of JFK’s relationship with a woman who had clear ties to the Chicago Outfit? The secret power of JFK getting involved with an unstable and vulnerable Hollywood actress?”
common sense challenged accepted beliefs here. It was an effective threadjack.
Jonathan: Sorry, but I’m not familiar with the term ‘threadjack.’ Can you define it for me?
It’s like hi-jack but applies to a thread of comments in a blog.
Tks. That’s what I thought had happened. And certainly I’m guilty of getting sidetracked, but it’s never intentional.
Posterior scalp wound of 15×6 mm is the entrance wound-certainly not a”blow-out” wound by any means, but approximately the diameter of the 6.5 mm round that made it. Of course you realize that at autopsy the brain is fixed and then sliced like a loaf of bread and examined, with sections made for microscopic examination. What was left and not disposed of by burning was placed in the custody of RFK, who presumedly disposed of it by cremation or separate burial-this has been known for years. Why not send a damaged car back for refurbishing,particularly a week after the incident? Considering that they washed it out at Parkland ( oh my, the cover-up!) what further evidence were they going to obtain? The autopsy said all shots to JFK came from the back-and nothing since has ever refuted that fact. Connally’s surgeon stated that ALL of his wounds were from one bullet, traversing from back to front. Blame him if you don’t like the answer. JFK’s blood was on the original autopsy notes; the pathologist in charge did not want them to be collector’s items as had been done with objects from the Lincoln assassination that had been stained with Lincoln’s blood. An autopsy can be messy-that’s why they are usually dictated ongoing during the procedure. Why aren’t you concerned about JFK’s lungs,liver,kidneys,etc-they are also removed at necropsy?
You want my view? JFK was hit in the back of the head by a frangible bullet and a fraction of a second later was hit somewhere in or near the right temple by another frangible or .223 bullet.
The doctors in Dallas described the blow out wound in the right back of the head (and described the neck wound as an entrance wound). The Bethesda autopsy report reads as you say, but to say that there is nothing out there that contradicts it is flatly wrong.
The brain was never sectioned for a trajectory analysis. It later disappeared from the library of congress (I think, someone correct me if I am wrong on that).
The limo was a crime scene, even under crime scene analysis standards of the day, you don’t destroy it or tamper with it. What more would have been found? That’s kind of the point.
Common sense, you write ;
“The autopsy said all shots to JFK came from the back – and nothing since has refuted that fact”
In this statement, you are only half correct, for there is evidence which suggests that the head shot came from the front:
1) Dr Robert Mclelland, one of the Doctors to treat JFK at Parkland Hospital has always maintained that the wound to the rear of JFK’s head was a wound of exit.
2) Multiple witnesses who were at the assassination scene described hearing gunshots coming from the grassy knoll area. This is where some people, including a motorcycle cop, ran to after the assassination.
3) Governor Connolly always maintained that the bullett which struck him was NOT the same bullett which struck JFK. If correct, this disproves the magic bullett theory.
4) There is also the Zabruder film which appears to show that the head shot most likely came from the front.
So, you are wrong to state that there is nothing to refute the autopsy findings. On the contrary, I would suggest that the weight of evidence points to something completely different.
At this link (http://www.consortiumnews.com/1999/c010699b.html) Gary Aguilar, M.D., writes about Doug Horne’s conclusion that PHOTOS of the brain in the National Archives are phony, basically because they depict a brain with far too little mass missing relative to what witnesses (e.g., Sibert) and the autopsy report declared.
I’m flattered to have one of my earlier posts brought up in this blog as a discussion topic. Thanks.
When I find some time I will try to respond to a few of the comments individually.
-JSA
From the autopsy report:
Missile Wounds
1. There is a large irregular defect of the scalp and skull on the right involving chiefly the parietal bone but extending somewhat into the temporal and occipital regions. In this region there is an actual absence of scalp and bone producing a defect which measures
approximately 13 cm. in greatest diameter.
From the irregular margins of the above scalp defect tears extend in
stellate fashion into the more or less intact scalp as follows:
a. From the right inferior temporo-parietal margin anterior to the right ear to a point slightly above the tragus.
b. From the anterior parietal margin anteriorly on the forehead to
approximately 4 cm. above the right orbital ridge.
c. From the left margin of the main defect across the midline
antero-laterally for a distance of approximately 8 cm.
d. From the same starting point as c. 10 cm. postero-laterally.
Situated in the posterior scalp approximately 2.5 cm. laterally to the right and slightly above the external occipital protuberance is a lacerated wound measuring 15 x 6 mm. In the underlying bone is a
corresponding wound through the skull which exhibits beveling of
the margins of the bone when viewed from the inner aspect of the
skull.
Clearly visible in the above described large skull defect and exuding from it is lacerated brain tissue which on close inspection proves to represent the major portion of the right cerebral hemisphere. At this point it is noted that the falx cerebri is extensively lacerated with disruption of the superior saggital sinus.
Please amplify what medical evidence was covered up.
Oswald himself stated that he was a Marxist, not a Communist. Don’t blame me if you don’t like his answer. There never was a “bullet hole” in the windshield; there was a stellate crack from a fragment from the head shot. The Bethesda “medical witnesses”, ie, board certfied pathologists and a world-renowned ballistic wound expert did not see a blowout at the back of JFK’s head simply because there was none. The autopsy report clearly states where the exit wound was; in addition it clearly states where the entrance wound was, including the beveling c/w a wound of entrance. Ever been to an autopsy?
I think “not investigated” applies better to a lot of the facts of the case, rather than covered up, though there was plenty of both.
The limousine was sent to Detroit for a complete refit within a week after the assassination. This is criminal obstruction of justice at a minimum. Also: What happened to JFK’s brain? What happened to the curb next to James Tague? What about the burned autopsy notes? You can go on and on.
On the not investigated front: No one seems to have investigated the who the fake secret service agents were that were reported by credible witnesses. No one wanted to see the clothes of John Connally at Parkland. In fact, these were finally sent to his wife after no one at the FBI or DPD wanted them. She had them dry cleaned before anyone ever looked at them months later! The FBI never seriously looked for other possible shooters.
Sounds like you might be a medical expert. Please tell us your view of how many shots were fired and from where, so as to account for Connally’s wounds, Tague’s wound, and what you believe are JFK’s wounds.
Q.E.D.
>>When we talk about JFK in 2013 we’re ultimately talking about fixing the problem of entrenched secret power in America,<<
Sigh. Where to begin? The proliferation of drones? NSA's domestic data mining? Full spectrum surveillance? Privatization of government? Corporate ownership of Congress? The president's 'right' to murder people? Crowd control technology? Pravda-like media? Fusion Centers?
Entrenched secret power is here to stay and it's going to get much, much worse.
Specifically regarding JFK's murder, start with Phillips as the central character and add a few of the boys associated with JM/WAVE. Executive consent came from the usual suspects: Helms, Angleton and Dulles. Angleton was probably hunched over a spider web pulling the wings off of flies when he approved the sanction.
The cover-up simply protected America's "entrenched secret power".
Jeff,
I think the problem of entrenched, nefarious, secret power is too large to be solved. The problem is not monolithic over time. When J. Edgar Hoover wielded power, it was one thing. As Robert Morrow writes persuaively, when GHWB and Clinton were in power, it was another. Always in the background is the MIC, driven by money.
I say, let’s continue prying loose the secrets of the JFK assassination. Ultimately, one must believe, the truth will win out.
As for prying loose the secrets, I’ve just bought three DVDs containing all nine episodes of “The Men Who Killed Kennedy.” In an April 4 posting, Dough Horne writes that the DVD of one episode (not the corresponding You Tube) shows clearly a bullet hole in the limousine windshield. Well, Kellerman testified that he ran his hand over both sides of the windshield; he said the front surface was smooth and the inner surface was rough (in one spot). Those facts support a shot from the front through the windshield.
The overwhelming majority of conspiracy theorists and blogs are of a left wing orientation, made up of individuals who have never been able to come to terms with the fact that JFK was assasinated by a Marxist. Many conspiracy theories start with the belief that the right wing had some hand in JFK’s murder; the facts be damned if they contradict that belief.
What medical evidence? What Medical School did you attend that qualifies you to comment on such evidence?
This kind of silly ridicule is not going to fly here. Oswald was apparently the only “marxist” in history who didn’t know the difference between a Leninist and a Trotskyite. He also somehow managed to share an office with a right wing former FBI agent in New Orleans. One can just go on and on and on. Crack a book.
If you are genuinely interested in learning how the ARRB revealed HSCA and other related) medical cover-ups, see the material at this address as a starter: http://www.maryferrell.org/wiki/index.php/Proof_1_-_Medical_Evidence
The short version is that the HSCA report said the Bethesda medical witnesses did not see a large blow-out in the back of JFK’s head. HSCA buried all of its medical interviews under as 50-year security classification, however. ARRD lifted the 50-year ban, and lo-and-behold, it’s revealed the Parkland and Bethesda medical witnesses AGREED on a large blow-out to the back of the head.
As for Oswald being a Marxist. I for one will give you that one, because (a) it’s superficially provable, and (b) it doesn’t matter. Doesn;’t matter, because Oswald had lots of associates in Dallas and New Orleans who were of the distinctly opposite persuasion. Besides, Oswald said on camera in New Orleans that although he was a Marxist, he wasn’t a communist.
Right- and left-wing political terminology is so emotionally larded as to be worthless. Both philosophies have been proven to be equally liable to end up in totalitarianism.
JFK was moving away from both of these tired characterizations towards the philosophy of individual and collective self-determination.
I think that the overwhelming majority of conspiracy theorists and bloggers sense what we lost out on when JFK was assassinated.
I happen to be a former conservative radio talk show host with 22 years on the air in one of the most conservative enclaves in the South, Mobile, AL. I still consider myself conservative. As a “card carrying” member of the Republican Party I’ve served on the local executive committee as well as that body’s steering committee.
And, while I don’t necessarily subscribe to any one particular conspiracy narrative, I firmly believe, convinced beyond doubt in fact that something other than or at least in addition to Lee Harvey Oswald was responsible for the murder of President Kennedy.
Lest you yet doubt my bona fides, simply Google my name. The above is my real and actual name.
I am a 3 time delegate to the Texas State Republican convention (2006, 2008, 2010). My views are Ron Paul libertarian. I am no Marxist; quite the opposite. The Texas Republican and Libertarian parties are not known as Marxist strongholds.
I believe the JFK assassination was a right wing military/CIA/Texas oil coup using the Democratic vice president Lyndon Johnson.
For my views, google “LBJ-CIA Assassination of JFK.”
Hi, common sense.
I for one agree the press covered up JFK’s many affairs; and also believe these affairs made JFK vulnerable to blackmail, to the disrespect of his Secret Service guards, and worse.
As for the HSCA, yes, it did under the direction of G. Rober
…it did under the direction of G. Robert Blakey cover up key medical evidence. ARRB releases in the 1990s establish this beyond doubt.
You’re among students of the JFK assassination here. You bring politics to the table, which is fine. But please know the posters here appear (to this observer) to span the political spectrum and appear not to approach the various puzzles of the assassination with any political agenda whatsoever.
Was the HSCA report a coverup? Even after the crackpot “acoustic evidence” claiming a fourth shot from the grassy knoll with grater than 95% certainty? “Hold everything secure”- who would even consider saying such a thing while in the middle of an assassination?
The point is that if Oswald had been a Right Wing fanatic none of this conspiracy cottage industry would have come to pass.Instead, you have had nearly 50 years of desperate and ludicrous attempts to explain away the fact that the assassin of JFK was a Marxist, contrary to the narrative of virtually every initial report that this deed “had to be” the result of Right Wing hatred in Goldwater Dallas.
“Entrenched power” was solidified with the assassination. Not simply because John Kennedy was removed from office, but because the conspiracy was covered up.
Had he been killed by a lone nut Marxist, our country would have rebounded and quickly, providing we didn’t retaliate, which leads one to suspect that is why the adjectives “lone” and “nut” were attached to ‘Marxist.’
Why would we as a country choose to debate this for fifty years? There have been courses on the conspiracy offered in some of the best universities in the country, hundreds of credible books published, tens of thousands of essays written, dozens of movies, thousands of interviews, two major commissions, etc. etc. – all because a lonely ex-Marine with contradicting allegiances shot President Kennedy? That is not plausible, but if it were, then our nation needs a massive dose of therapy.
The majority of American citizens who were alive in 1963 know that something went terribly wrong that day, and we are unsettled.
JSA’s observations imply the need for a ‘truth and reconciliation’ for the nation which would serve to expose and address entrenched power. We can begin with Kennedy.
What coverup? What secret power? The willing coverup by the press of JFK’s relationship with a woman who had clear ties to the Chicago Outfit? The secret power of JFK getting involved with an unstable and vulnerable Hollywood actress?
The CIA is still withholding 1,170 documents as classified that are related to the JFK assassination, according to their statements. As we approach the 50th anniversary of that event, this ongoing secrecy raises troubling questions about the nature of secrecy in government today. There can be no doubt that the military and security apparatus created after World War II for the Cold War was a dramatic change in American life. President Eisenhower warned the nation of this accumulation of power in his Farewell Address in 1961. These are some of the issues that give rise to concerns about misplaced secret power.
Re: Common sense: the national security state & LBJ murdering JFK and the government & media covering it up for 50 years.
Just that. A good essay for one to read is “The JFK Assassination: A False Mystery Concealing State Crimes” by Vincent J. Salandria:
http://spot.acorn.net/jfkplace/09/fp.back_issues/27th_issue/vs_text.html