by Len Hart, The Existentialist CowboyWhy 'instant justice' via drones is an evil, pernicious, insidious, undemocratic outrage to the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights, specifically the Fourth Amendment:
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." --U.S. Constitution, Fourth Amendment
On its a face, the use of a drone means that the people are NOT '...secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects' should some asshole in government merely DEEM you to be a threat in any way whatsoever! If the use of domestic drones should result in but one civilian death, the people are then justified to OVERTHROW, by any means, the government in D.C.. and replace it! Death by anything other than the judgement of a jury having heard a case brought upon probable cause is MURDER --pure and simple. The people must NOT stand for it!A final observation: under U.S. leadership and prosecution, the Nuremberg Trial of NAZIS resulted in the hanging death of several Nazis. Some died for less egregious crimes than that of ORDERING an anonymous drone hit on citizens!
I once spent several hours with a famous witness to the murder of JFK ---Rosemary Willis, often called the little girl in the red dress. She is easy to spot in the Zapruder films, running along the south side of Elm street just ahead of her father, Phil Willis. Phil Willis was taking 35mm slide films of the motorcade. Rosemary is seen running ahead and, suddenly, stopping! Rosemary showed me her father's slides and a double-page center-spread from one of the Willis photos depicting the Grassy Knoll.
Her father's photos had appeared in Look Magazine. One of the photos became a double-page spread. Rosemary and I placed the spread on a light table beside the original photo which had only recently been released by the FBI. Interestingly, those photos were seized AFTER Look had published. "Do you notice anything unusual', she asked me. I looked again! It hit me like a brick! In the original slide there was NO train visible between the columns of the pergola.
But the train was CLEARLY visible in the Look magazine spread. Why? Rosemary explained that AFTER Look had published its piece the FBI came calling. They SEIZED all of Willis' original photos. When she showed those photos to me, they had only recently been released, having been in FBI possession for years. The FBI --playing the role of 'Big Bro' --did not want people to verify that there had, indeed, been a train on the tracks at the very time that the fatal bullets were being fired. But why?
Then I recalled the 'tramps' who had been rousted earlier while hanging out in box cars behind the Grassy Knoll. Those tramps, as you recall, included Frank Sturgis and, the man whom I believe lead a team of assassins --E. Howard Hunt. As a result of my time spent discussing this with Rosemary, I became increasingly convinced that a team of shooters had targeted JFK; the box cars, the area behind the picket fence became a secured staging area.
I had always believed that the fatal shot, the horrible head shot seen in the Zapruder film, had come from the front, the grassy knoll, the significance of which The The FBI seemed eager to cover up. I held evidence of this in my hand!
Incidentally, just prior to the shooting George H.W. Bush was photographed with his hands in his pocket 'hanging around' the front entrance of the TSBD. I am convinced that I have met at least one of the perpetrators of murder and high treason.Method! Motive! Opportunity! This case, this evidence should have gone to a federal grand jury! Instead, the evidence was destroyed and tampered with to PROTECT the guilty and murderous traitors who pulled it off.
The CIA never forgave JFK for withdrawing air support at the Bay of Pigs. Infamous for his role in Watergate, Howard Hunt's 'confession' fails to mention G.H.W. Bush's role in the murder of JFK. In every other respect he pulled no punches in what Rolling Stone headlined: the Confessions of E. Howard Hunt.
Hunt named Lyndon B. Johnson whose own career had been assisted by JFK nemesis J. Edgar Hoover. According to Hunt, it was the FBI that ordered the CIA hit-team to snuff JFK. Later, they helped engineer the absurd cover story and cover up! The Warren Commission was a fraud and I suspect that you and I knew that at the time.
Hunt named other 'conspirators':
Cord Meyer: CIA agent, architect of the Operation Mockingbird disinformation apparatus, and husband of Mary Meyer (who had an affair with JFK).
David Atlee Philips: CIA and Bay of Pigs veteran. Recruited William Harvey (CIA) and Cuban exile militant Antonio Vecian
William Harvey: CIA and Bay of Pigs veteran. Connected to Mafia figures Santos Trafficante and Sam Giancana.
Antonio Veciana: Cuban exile, founder of CIA-backed Alpha 66.
Frank Sturgis: CIA operative, mercenary, Bay of Pigs veteran, and later Watergate figure.
David Morales: CIA hit man, Bay of Pigs veteran. Morales was also a figure involved with the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy.
Lucien Sarti: Corsican assassin and drug trafficker, possible "French gunman," Grassy Knoll (second) shooter.
The Rolling Stone --which cites and summarizes Hunt's 'confession' --failed to mention George H.W. Bush and Richard Nixon; they were the two most obvious beneficiaries of the murder of JFK. As someone wrote of the E. Howard confession:
"...the piece fails to go after the roles of Richard Nixon and George Herbert Walker Bush. But the Hunt confession, if accurate, leads directly to them, to their lifelong associates, and all the way to the present George W. Bush administration"
As for the Senior Bush --I met/interviewed him in West TX as he was seeking a U.S. Senate seat. The occasion was a Bush Sr 'news conference' held in a conference room at the Odessa-Midland Air Terminal.
Over the years I met him several times in Houston to include a one-on-one in the Grand Ballroom of the Hyatt-Regency in downtown Houston. I have regretted that while I asked him about the deals that had been cut with China when he was 'special' envoy to China, I left without the 'smoking gun' that might help us understand how, subsequently, China came to top the CIA's list with the world's largest POSITIVE Current Account Balance while the U.S. has dropped to dead last on the list with the world's largest NEGATIVE Current Account Balance.
And --about that famous photo of a slouching man 'hanging around' outside the front entrance of the Texas School Book Depository --I might have asked him point blank: is that you?
Had I done so, I might have wound up on a hit list.
The photo to which I refer is the one of Bush Sr 'hanging around' the front entrance to TSBD just prior to the murder of JFK. I believe it is George H. W. Bush --the distinctive receding hair line, his characteristic slouch, the profile. It's Bush Sr! I don't think he was there just to see a parade.
Meantime, E. Howard's confession links almost all the 'tramps' photographed as they had been arrested hanging around the train tracks just west of the TSBD. That particular photo dates to a time just prior (perhaps a week or so) to the JFK hit. E. Howard Hunt and Frank Sturgis are easily identified in the photo.
I met a witness to the JFK assassination. Her name is Rosemary Willis. If you look at the Zapruder film, she is the little girl in the red dress who appeared to be trying to keep pace with the motorcade. She showed me high quality 35mm slides that her father had taken. She had just reclaimed the slides after they had been for years in the possession of the FBI which seized them shortly after LOOK magazine had published some of them, most notably a shot of the grassy knoll looking west. Look made it a TWO PAGE DOUBLE SPREAD. Through the columns in the pergola was clearly seen a TRAIN with box cars.
THEN --Rosemary put the newly re-acquired ORIGINAL SLIDE on the light table. And there was NO TRAIN on the tracks seen through the Pergola. Simply ---the 'train' had been RE-TOUCHED OUT of the slide when it had been in FBI possession.
There is only one reason the FBI would re-touch a photo in such an Orwellian manner. They wanted to erase all 'original' proof of the train! Why? Simply because the TRAIN is the missing piece in Hunt's confession. The box-cars were a staging area for Frank Sturgis and even E. Howard Hunt himself. While a box car was providing cover for the murderer(s), Bush Sr was photographed pensively hanging around the front entrance of the TSBD waiting to make sure that his 'team' got the job done. It did!
And, eventually, Bush would become director of the CIA. And --even worse --'President'. The lesson: crime, murder and high treason has its 'rewards'.
Bush at the TSBD on the Day JFK was Murdered; Did Bush confess to killing JFK?
Though his 'presidency' was cut short, JFK had already grown disillusioned by the CIA and the US Military-Industrial Complex. JFKs "awakening" was among several motives for his murder, according to a new book: JFK'S Conversion from War by James Douglass.
JFK won a narrow victory over Nixon who was running as a "Cold Warrior" when everyone, it seems, was a 'cold warrior' by merely being alive at the time. Under-reported is the young President's growing disillusionment following the "Bay of Pigs" which figures prominently as motive in various "theories" about his murder.
JFK had been shaken by the Cuban Missile Crisis and so, too, was Soviet Premier Nikita Khruschev who was at least as shaken as had been the young, new American President. JFK could not have known at the time that the Cuban Missile Crisis would help improve U.S.-Soviet relations.
The object of ridicule and parody in Stanley Kubrick's ascerbic comedy hit of the era, Dr. Strangelove, the axis of CIA-Pentagon-MIC was not happy. JFK represented a threat to various plans for global domination. The President was convinced that such plans would lead inexorably to nuclear armageddon. He was correct as Dwight Eisenhower had been earlier when he issued his own warnings about the rising power of the Military/Industrial Complex.
The "Brass" would never forgive JFK's peace overtures toward Fidel Castro. Later, LBJ would assuage the brass, putting further talks with CUBA on hold. One wonders what LBJ knew and when he knew it. Certainly --no President since the cold-blooded murder of JFK have dared piss off the brass. That being the case, it is fair to call the U.S. government a "military-dictatorship".
JFK was blamed for Viet Nam when, in fact, it was Pentagon incompetence that was and remains responsible for a financially ruinous debacle. The Pentagon's compromised position is understandable: $millions$, $billions$ were riding on an Orwellian 'perpetual war' in Southeast Asia from whom only military contractors benefited.
Little has changed. Because the Pentagon, the MIC and K-street call the shots, America is still stuck in war muck from which only big military contractors benefit. If Obama sucks up to the CIA-MIC, he will be fine. If not, he may very well wind up dead, accused of getting blow jobs or worse. Since JFK was gunned down mercilessly in the street in Dallas, TX, Presidents have served at the pleasure of higher and more ruthless powers, a latter day Praetorian Guard.
The murder of JFK has been called a coup d' Etat. Who but the MIC with CIA help could have pulled it off? A man who would later become President of the United States was, at the time, a little known oil man, the founder of an alleged 'oil company' called Zapata! This man, who was most certainly connected to the CIA, was photographed hanging around just outside the Texas School Book Depository in the short, tragic moments leading up to the murder of our last great hope.
Modern U.S. history has a familiar ring to it. Roman writer and military strategist Flavius Vegetius Renatus --supported in modern times by Arthur Ferrill --believed that Rome's decline can be traced to the use of German mercenaries in the legions. Certainly, any fan of the BBC's historic "I, Claudius" based upon the books by Robert Graves will remember the "Germans" who wore the tunic, fought the battles and took the orders.
A state of Orwellian "perpetual war" and foreign occupations define "empire" and "fascism". A series of foreign wars and internal struggles preceded Caesar's "crossing the Rubicon". The rest is grist for Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, a work which illustrates the internal dynamics driving the will to power. Later, the Praetorian Guard, Rome's proto-type Military-Industrial Comlex, auctioned off the empire to a nobleman --Didius Julianus. Significantly, the sale was concluded in Greek Drachmas, not worthless Roman sesterces, yet another parallel another instance in which the U.S. seems destined to repeat Rome's numerous follies.
The result in America, as in Rome earlier, is the literal "auctioning off" of the office of President of the United States, an act embodied in Mussolini's term: corporatism. A society is morally lost when mass murder becomes its number one export. A nation is lost whenever there are mercenary exceptions to the "rule of law". In such a society, everyone is guilty if proven innocent and only corporations, elites and suck-ups are enriched. Corporations have become "people" and real people are made poorer by design.
Following are JFKs remarks in Fort Worth on the very day that he would die:
In the past 3 years we have increased the defense budget of the United States by over 20 percent; increased the program of acquisition for Polaris submarines from 24 to 41; increased our Minuteman missile purchase program by more than 75 percent; doubled the number of strategic bombers and missiles on alert; doubled the number of nuclear weapons available in the strategic alert forces; increased the tactical nuclear forces deployed in Western Europe by over 60 percent; added five combat ready divisions to the Army of the United States, and five tactical fighter wings to the Air Force of the United States; increased our strategic airlift capability by 75 percent; and increased our special counterinsurgency forces which are engaged now in South Viet-Nam by 600 percent. I hope those who want a stronger America and place it on some signs will also place those figures next to it.
This is not an easy effort. This requires sacrifice by the people of the United States. But this is a very dangerous and uncertain world. As I said earlier, on three occasions in the last 3 years the United States has had a direct confrontation. No one can say when it will come again. No one expects that our life will be easy, certainly not in this decade, and perhaps not in this century. But we should realize what a burden and responsibility the people of the United States have borne for so many years. Here, a country which lived in isolation, divided and protected by the Atlantic and the Pacific, uninterested in the struggles of the world around it, here in the short space of 18 years after the Second World War, we put ourselves, by our own will and by necessity, into defense of alliances with countries all around the globe. Without the United States, South Viet-Nam would collapse overnight. Without the United States, the SEATO alliance would collapse overnight.
Without the United States the CENTO alliance would collapse overnight. Without the United States there would be no NATO. And gradually Europe would drift into neutralism and indifference. Without the efforts of the United States in the Alliance for Progress, the Communist advance onto the mainland of South America would long ago have taken place.
So this country, which desires only to be free, which desires to be secure, which desired to live at peace for 18 years under three different administrations, has borne more than its share of the burden, has stood watch for more than its number of years. I don't think we are fatigued or tired. We would like to live as we once lived. But history will not permit it. The Communist balance of power is still strong. The balance of power is still on the side of freedom. We are still the keystone in the arch of freedom, and I think we will continue to do as we have done in our past, our duty, and the people of Texas will be in the lead."
--JOHN F. KENNEDY, Fort Worth, Nov 22, 1963
Following is an account of the last day of a man who was arguably the last legitimate President of the United States.
On November 21, the President and First Lady departed on Air Force One for the two-day, five-city tour of Texas. JFK was aware that a feud among party leaders in Texas could jeopardize his chances of carrying the state in 1964, and one of his aims for the trip was to bring Democrats together. He also knew that a relatively small but vocal group of extremists was contributing to the political tensions in Texas and would likely make its presence felt—particularly in Dallas, where UN Ambassador Adlai Stevenson had been physically attacked a month earlier after making a speech there. Nonetheless, JFK seemed to relish the prospect of leaving Washington, getting out among the people and into the political fray.
The first stop was San Antonio. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, Governor John B. Connally and Senator Ralph W. Yarborough led the welcoming party and accompanied the President to Brooks Air Force Base for the dedication of the Aerospace Medical Health Center. Continuing on to Houston, he addressed a Latin American citizens’ organization and spoke at a testimonial dinner for Congressman Albert Thomas before ending the day in Fort Worth.
A light rain was falling on Friday morning, November 22, but a crowd of several thousand stood in the parking lot outside the Texas Hotel where the Kennedys had spent the night. A platform had been set up and the President, wearing no protection against the weather, came out to make some brief remarks. “There are no faint hearts in Fort Worth,” he began, “and I appreciate your being here this morning. Mrs. Kennedy is organizing herself. It takes longer, but, of course, she looks better than we do when she does it.” He went on to talk about the nation’s need for being “second to none” in defense and in space, for continued growth in the economy and “the willingness of citizens of the United States to assume the burdens of leadership.” The warmth of the audience response was palpable as the President reached out to shake hands amidst a sea of smiling faces.
Back inside the hotel the President spoke at a breakfast of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, focusing on military preparedness. “We are still the keystone in the arch of freedom,” he said. “We will continue to do…our duty, and the people of Texas will be in the lead.”
The presidential party left the hotel and went by motorcade to Carswell Air Force Base for the thirteen-minute flight to Dallas. Arriving at Love Field, President and Mrs. Kennedy disembarked and immediately walked toward a fence where a crowd of well-wishers had gathered, and they spent several minutes shaking hands. The First Lady was presented with a bouquet of red roses, which she brought with her to the waiting limousine. Governor John Connally and his wife, Nellie, were already seated in the open convertible as the Kennedys entered and sat behind them. Since it was no longer raining, the plastic bubble top had been left off. Vice President and Mrs. Johnson occupied another car in the motorcade.
The procession left the airport and traveled along a ten-mile route that wound through downtown Dallas on the way to the Trade Mart where the President was scheduled to speak at a luncheon. Crowds of excited people lined the streets waving to the Kennedys as they waved back. The car turned off Main Street at Dealey Plaza around 12:30 p.m. As it was passing the Texas School Book Depository, gunfire suddenly reverberated in the plaza. Bullets struck the President’s neck and head and he slumped over toward Mrs. Kennedy. The Governor was also hit in the chest.
The car sped off to Parkland Memorial Hospital just a few minutes away. But there was little that could be done for the President. A Catholic priest was summoned to administer the last rites and at 1:00 p.m. John F. Kennedy was pronounced dead.
--JFK in History: November 22, 1963: Death of the President, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
Read: "JFK'S CONVERSION FROM WAR" The author is James Douglass, a founder of the 'Ground Zero Center.
apothe?sis n., pl., -ses (-s?z'). 1 Exaltation to divine rank or stature; deification. 2 Elevation to a preeminent or transcendent position; glorification: "Many observers have triedto attribute Warhol's current apotheosis to the subversive power of artistic vision" (Michiko Kakutani). 3 An exalted or glorified example: Their leader was the apotheosis of courage. [Late Latin apothe?sis, from Greek, from apotheoun, to deify : apo-, change; see apo- + theos, god.]
When the Zapruder film was, at last, released to the public, several news anchors/reporters described what was seen in these words: "back and to the left"! That refers of course to JFKs head which suffered a fatal shot from the Grassy Knoll --not the Texas School Book Depository as the Warren Commission and its counsel, Arlen Specter, would have you believe. If JFKs head moves "back and to the left", then the fatal shot was fired from in "front and to the right". In other words --the Grassy Knoll.
The significance of a shot from the grassy knoll cannot be adequately described. A shot from the knoll implies not merely a conspiracy but an official one --a coup d'etat, an act of high treason at the very highest levels, an act of high treason that --in fact --rendered the government illegitimate.
Always interested in the JFK assassination, I became more so upon meeting a witness to the the murder of our President. That witness was Rosemary Willis, often called the "little girl in the red dress". She is seen in the Zapruder film running along the south side of Elm street as the motorcade passed by. Her father --Phil Willis --was just behind her taking 35mm slides. He may have called to her. Other than the famous Zapruder film, the Willis Photos are among the most important photographs taken that day.
Rosemary Willis asked me to look at her father's slides. We put them on a light table and examined them with a photographer's loupe. One of the slides was of particular interest. It was a stunning photograph of JFK in the Limousine looking slightly to the northwest; the Pergola atop the grassy knoll was the background.
"Do you see anything unusual in the photo?" Rosemary asked me.
When I admitted that I had not, she produced an "old" copy of Look Magazine, opened to the bookmarked center spread photo. I was immediately struck by the presence of a train clearly visible between the upright columns of the Pergola. Rosemary asked me to look again at the slide. Incredibly, the train --visible in the Look 'spread' --was NOT visible in the slides! At this point I was speechless. But for the train, the photos were identical! Why was a train missing in the slide but present in the Magazine spread which was, in fact, a reproduction of that very slide?
Rosemary continued: the FBI, she said, seized her father's photos only after Look Magazine had published them. The FBI kept the pictures for years. When the original slides were at last returned, the train was missing.
Clearly --the train had been removed from the slides while the slides were in the possession of the FBI. Just as clearly --the FBI did not want you to know that a train had been on the very tracks where, earlier, Watergate figures E. Howard Hunt and Frank Sturgis had been arrested and were henceforth referred to as the tramps who whore Gucci loafers. Both figures are notable for their involvement in Watergate and the abortive Bay of Pigs fiasco. Revenge for 'Bay of Pigs' is often cited among the top three or four motives for the murder of JFK. [ For other motives, see: Three Reasons JFK was Murdered ]
The FBI tampered with evidence --a crime! Why? Obviously, the FBI did not want it known that the train had been present behind the grassy knoll just minutes before the President would be murdered. The motives for altering evidence, tampering with evidence, destroying evidence is simply this: guilt! Only the guilty are always threatened by the truth. Only the guilty are motivated to lie about a crime or, in this case, destroy and/or tamper with evidence. In this case, the FBI proved to my satisfaction that it was guilty of the crime in question and/or had participated in some other ways to include a massive cover-up, the criminal obstruction of justice that follows. The only rational conclusion is that the FBI did not wish it known that the train had been there because the train was, in some way, associated with a "frontal shot". With its actions, the FBI made of itself "a crook".
The FBI tampered with evidence!
The removal of the train from the photos is more significant than the train itself. Otherwise --why the cover up? What was it about the presence of a train near Dealy Plaza that the FBI did not want you to know? The only explanation is that the boxcars provided a staging area for a professional team to include a professional assassin behind the picket fence. It is not difficult to imagine that this shooter, having hit his target, simply folded up his XP-100 Fireball [or an equally effective weapon], put it away in a "brief case" and calmly walked away into the area behind the fence, an area that had been secured by E. Howard Hunt, Frank Sturgis et al --the tramps who wore Guccis!
What is the name of this shooter?
Does it really matter at this point? The bigger issue is who conceived the crime, who gave the orders, who organized the "operatives" in the field? The FBI participated in the overt cover up of what was most surely a CIA hit upon the elected President of the United States. I cannot imagine the FBI participating in a cover-up of a crime unless it is in some way complicit in the crime itself. A "cover-up" itself a crime but in this case, the cover up implicates those who participated!
The murder of JFK was a coup d'etat! It was most certainly motivated by JFK's refusal to supply air cover for an infamous CIA operation: the "Bay of Pigs" debacle; by his promise to "smash the CIA into a thousand pieces"; and by his his threat to big oil, specifically, his promise to rescind the "oil depletion allowance" --a sacred cow to oil men.
Certainly all these issues --big oil, Cuba, CIA atrocities --figure prominently. There were other motives, of course. JFK was a marked man. His murder defines the day on which an American' dream died. It was a day from which this nation has not yet recovered! A day which will live in infamy!
If Oswald had been a mere patsy, as he had said he was, then the murder of JFK was a CIA hit. Set up to take the fall, Oswald, nevertheless, had to die before he could talk or raise more questions that no one on the Warren Commission seemed willing to raise or confront. The Warren Commission, in fact, is remembered for the questions that it either failed or refused to ask!
There are good reasons to suspect one George H.W. Bush of having been in Dealy Plaza that very day. There is a famous photo of him "hanging out" beside the front entrance to the Texas School Book Depository. Having known and interviewed GHWB on numerous occasions, I would testify --in court --that that is, indeed, the senior Bush who was photographed hanging around the front entrance of TSBD on the very day JFK would die. [My first meeting with GHWB was in a conference room at the Midland-Odessa Air Terminal as he was running for Senate against, as I recall, Ralph Yaborough]
Lee Harvey Oswald Had to Die!
On the other hand, there is simply no case against Oswald but that of a propaganda campaign. There was no prosecutable case against him. Any competent defense atty would have won acquittal in any honest court. A competent/honest judge would have thrown out the "magic bullet" for lacking "bona fides". Oswald would have walked. Therefore, he had to die.
CE-399, found on a gurney (possibly the wrong gurney) at Parkland hospital, cannot even be placed at the scene of the crime. A competent lawyer would have challenged it! And he would have won! An honest judge would have not admitted it into evidence. The 'real killers' would not risk that!
It is, indeed, a magic bullet. It is, to this day, in remarkable condition considering that it is said to have created numerous wounds in two men while defying gravity, Newton's laws of physics, specifically, his laws of motion and numerous principles of ballistics. It cannot be proven to have been fired. It cannot even be placed at the scene of the crime! A competent judge would have throw it out of court!
'Back and to the left'
We are often told that JFKs head only 'appears' to be thrust backward from a bullet fired from the front. That's absurd on its face. In fact, JFK's head appears to have been struck from the front and thrust backward! The backward motion of the head upon being struck from the front is consistent with first semester physics. As a kid hoping to be a big league pitcher, I used to practice a fast ball against a picket fence. One day --I "smoked" one right over 'home plate' knocking the slats right out of the fence!
Interestingly --and in accord with Newton's first law of motion --the slats did not fall forward upon being struck; instead, they fell backward upon being hit from the front. There is nothing surprising about that! It is one of the ways the world works. It is only controversial when powerful criminals try to get away with murder and numerous obstructions of justice. It's only controversial when culprits try to rewrite the laws of physics.
As a rambunctious kid, I used to target practice firing a BB gun against tin cans on a post. None of those tin cans fell forward upon being hit from the front! Later, I used to fire .22 and 30 ought 6 rounds at various targets. None ever fell toward me. The same is true of cantaloupes or watermelons. There is NO "jet effect". The same laws of physics are consistent with what honest people will see in the Zapruder film and that is the President's head struck as it was from the right front was forced back and to the left! That's --back and to the left!
Those facts --plus the pristine condition of the so-called 'magic bullet' (CE-399) --are reason enough to discount the Warren Commission summarily. The magic bullet is --we are told --the fatal bullet fired by Lee Harvey Oswald. I doubt that the magic bullet had ever been fired but, if it had, it most certainly never struck anything. Moreover, had Lee Harvey Oswald gone to trial, the charges would have been dismissed.
Found on 'a' gurney at Parkland Hospital, the 'magic bullet' [CE-399] cannot even be placed at the scene of the crime, NOR can it be proven to have ever been IN the alleged murder weapon or, indeed, fired from any weapon whatsoever. A competent judge (had the case gone to trial) woud have dissallowed it. Of course, whomever murdered JFK never intended this 'case' to go to trial in the first place. If you had conspired to assassinate a popular President, would you want the case to go to court?
The Magic Bullet Cannot be Placed at the Scene of the Crime
"The killing shot that spread JFK’s brains all over the trunk of the limo – the pieces of which Jackie tried to crawl out to retrieve – was so obviously from the front of the car, any suggestion that the shot came from behind is ridiculous."
--Mondo Media
The fatal shot came from the front, the grassy knoll. Only those with a vested interest in the official cover story will try to convince you or intimidate you otherwise. Only the guilty lie about a crime. Only the guilty are motivated to do so. The innocent, by contrast, benefit ONLY when the truth is told!
The single bullet theory (or magic bullet theory, as it is commonly called by its critics) was introduced by the Warren Commission in their investigation of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy to explain what happened to the bullet which struck Kennedy in the back and exited through his throat. Given the lack of damage to the presidential limousine consistent with it having been struck by a high-velocity bullet and the fact that Texas Governor John Connally was wounded and was seated directly in front of the president, the Commission concluded they were likely struck by the same bullet.
--Wikipedia
I cite wikipedia only because it summarizes the so-called "Magic Bullet" theory as it survives in the Warren Commission report. The theory itself is an elaborate ex post facto fallacy cooked-up to paper over a bald-faced lie, a lame theory, an official position that is intended to obstruct justice and hide the truth from the American people. Warren Specter, I believe, intended or was, perhaps, recruited to protect the coup d'etat which benefited from this 'high crime', this callous act of bloody treason!
said official about the murder of JFK is untrue. So --as we have asked about 911 --who lies about a crime? Who is most motivated to lie about a crime but those who have committed the crime? At the very least, the authors of the 'Magic Bullet Theory' are guilty of obstruction of justice by virtue of their lies; at worst --they should be tried for their complicity in the murder itself. Lying about a crime in order to protect the guilty is a crime and there is an enormous body of case law about it. Are you reading this Arlen Specter?
If it Does Not Fit
As Lee Harvey Oswald himself said --he was a patsy. There was no case against him. Secondly, the sixth floor is most certainly the worst place from which to try to kill a sitting, legitimate President of the United States. It offers a very small window of opportunity. The distance to target is about three times that of a knoll shooter.
No intelligent sniper, no experienced 'hit man' would have considered trying to murder a President from the sixth floor of the TSBD. There is no hope of escape from the sixth floor. It is said that, upon firing the fatal shot (the magic bullet) LHO ditched the Mannlicher-Carcano behind some boxes and fled down six stories by way of the staircase. Witnesses, however, say he was spotted on the third floor (as I recall) having a soft-drink! Are we to believed that he stopped there to have coke on the way down? If he were suspected, why was he not arrested then and there? Would a sane man, a man of just normal intelligence have risked such a stupid move? No wonder the real criminals would not risk, would not even try to get a conviction against their 'patsy'. Simply --he had to die! Dead men tell no tales.
An experienced hit man would not have considered the sixth floor, knowing that he might get off the fatal shot, rush down some six flights of stairs and into the waiting arms of the 'man'! The 'real killers' thought the TSBD to be a great place to set up a patsy. It worked because people are gullible, the press was under control and the FBI --as we know --would seize and tamper with real evidence. The real killers and their co-conspirators ---Bush Sr, E. Howard Hunt, Frank Sturgis, et al --had secured the area behind the knoll. It was a simple case of mis-direction.
The train --which the FBI so carefully removed from Phil Willis' slides --would make a great staging area. Anyone wishing to get to the train and/or hang around in a box car would be harassed! Cops? It would appear that a fix was in! In any case, does anyone believe that a gang to include Bush Sr and E. Howard Hunt is going to allow their plans to be screwed up by a foot patrolman or an underpaid detective? The CIA pros --simply --'secured' the area.
There are NO discernable missing fragments. Where did the other fragments comes from? I suggest they be weighed and an estimate made of how many bullets were fired that day. That just might put the lone gun man 'theory to rest forever!
"Back and to the Left"
As the film depicts, JFK was struck by a bullet fired from the front! His head was driven 'back and to the left'. Some (notably Gerald Posner) have said that a 'jet effect' explains backward motion of the head. That is --at least --a concession that the head moves 'back and to the left'! The flaw in that reasoning is that 'jet effect' was invented for the purpose of 'explaining away' a shot from the front! I know of no other instance in which a jet effect has ever been observed or documented. There is no reason to believe that the laws of biology and physics were alterred radically on Nov 22, 1963 and restored the following day --Nov 23rd!
As lies become more outrageous in support of a 'theory', the more suspicious one becomes of them. I had not yet concluded that the fatal shot came from the knoll until Posner's ludicrous ex post facto fallacy cinched it. Like the 'official conspiracy theory of 911', one is justified in asking: if the official theory were true, then why is it necessary to lie about it? If the Warren Commission were true, why is it necessary to invent psuedo science ex post facto ? Ask yourslef --who is most motivated to lie about crime? Who is most motivated to cover up a crime? Who is most eager to cover up the truth? That's easy! Who lies about a crime?
THE GUILTY
Early lies about the JFK murder said that two bullets were fired from the direction the TSBD. Those lies were "starkly contradicted" by testimony of doctors and nurses who attempted to save Kennedy’s life at Parkland. Two groups of doctors saw a head wound in the back or back-right of the head as a result of a bullet that came from the front. That conclusion is supported by Zapruder and by the fact that a position in front was --from an assassin's point of view --the very best chance of getting off a fatal shot.
Much has been said of 'method'. But what of 'motive'? There were many motives, three of which I dealt with in a previous article. In summary, however, JFK was a revolutionary. The target of his 'revolution' we now call the 'New World Order' i.e, NEOCONS, militarists with a stake in the Military-Industrial Complex! It was JFK who told us how to beat them: 1) abolish the FED 2) Smash the CIA 3) Rescind the Oil Depletion. I believe that JFK intended to tax them and might have abolished 'corporate person-hood' and other dodges that have, over the years, placed this elite, this corporate class above the law!
Most importantly, Sen. Arlen Specter et al are wrong about frame Z313; STABILIZED FOOTAGE confirms Police Chief Curry who stated flatly -- In 1978-- that the fatal shot came from the front. The Zapruder film confirms him --the head is driven backward by a shot from the front.
Why Was JFK Murdered and who benefited?
George H.W. Bush --who was in Dealy Plaza that very day --benefited from the JFK murder as President of Zapata Corporation, a holding company based in Rochester, New York. Many have alleged that there existed many links between Zapata and the CIA. Certainly, GHWB would become Director of the CIA.
That, in itself, is a significant connection. Among many motives three are major motives and are related in many ways to George H.W. Bush: 1) JFK had threatened to repeal the OIL DEPLETION ALLOWANCE; Big Oil was not happy and one would not have expected the President of Zapata to have been pleased with JFKs plans. 2) JFK tried to strip the Federal Reserve Bank of its power to loan money to the government at interest 3) JFK Threatened to 'smash the CIA into a thousand pieces'. Now --recall that BUSH SR who was, at the time, at the very nexus of the AXIS of CIA-BIG OIL --would later become the Director of the CIA and, eventually, 'President' of the United States.
It's always been about the 'price of oil' at the wellhead and the profits that accrue to 'big oil'! Having grown up in Texas, I can vouch for the following very short, illustrative history:
Ross Sterling, the former owner of Humble Oil, was elected governor of Texas and took office on 20th January, 1931. The Texas Railroad Commission, under the control of the large oil producers, attempted to limit the production of oil (prorationing) in the new fields of East Texas. On 31st July, 1931, the federal court in Houston sided with a group of independent oil producers and ruled that the Texas Railroad Commission had no right to impose prorationing.
Large oil companies in Texas such as Humble Oil were in favour of prorationing and Sterling came under great pressure to intervene. On 16th August, 1931, Sterling declared martial law in Rusk, Upshur, Gregg and Smith counties. In his proclamation Sterling declared that the independent oil producers in these counties were "in a state of insurrection" and that the "reckless and illegal exploitation of (oil) must be stopped until such time as the said resources may be properly conserved and developed under the protection of the civil authorities".Sterling now ordered the commander of the Texas National Guard, Jacob F. Wolters, to "without delay shut down each and every producing crude oil well and/or producing well of natural gas". Wolters who was the chief lobbyist of several major oil companies in Texas, readily agreed to this action. Wolters used more than a thousand troops to make sure that the oil wells in East Texas ceased production. The Texas Railroad Commission was now in firm control of the world's most prolific oil fields. It now controlled the supply of the oil in the United States. As a result, the price of oil began to increase.
Humble later became "Exxon". It is not only prices but profits that are of considerable if not irrational concern. Big oil had been, in effect, guaranteed huge profits by another bit of accounting legerdemain: the oil depletion allowance. The 'oil depletion allowance' is like depreciation but more abstract. Depreciation is often visible. Machines wear out, the loss of utility is real. From an accounting standpoint, the 'oil depletion allowance' is just a whopping write off, literally a pay off for the oil you won't find later! Now --how would like to be paid NOW for the money you WON'T make LATER when the business you're in NOW is no longer profitable?
Sweet deal --perhaps even better than the 'sweet deal' the FED got. I can think of no other industry that has managed to so effectively shake down the government. I can think of few businesses in which you are paid upfront the money you will not earn at some point in the future. If there should be such a scheme, I would like to sign up for it right now!
By 1962, JFK had sealed his fate. He had decided to take on the Texas oil industry. He persuaded Congress to 'remove the distinction between repatriated profits and profits reinvested abroad'. The law applied to all industries but affected the oil industry particularly. Texas oil fat cats watched earnings from foreign investments fall by one half --or from 30 per cent to 15 per cent.
As President, LBJ, abandoned plans to abolish the oil industry's sacred cow, the cow it regularly milked. The oil depletion allowance was not disallowed until the Presidency of Jimmy Carter still reviled in Texas though he is among the nation's best Presidents in terms of GDP growth and job creation. One would never suspect it --given the campaign of lies that he still inspires. At that, Carter is among the fortunate; it is only his 'record' that has been assassinated.
Moreover, I knew Bush SR and would testify under oath that the pic of a man in front of the TSBD just prior to the fatal shooting of JFK is --in fact --Bush sr. I know that slouch, that unmistakable hairline and jaw. It's him. I believe Bush Sr was in a position to supervise the 'hit'; in the field. The tramps had secured the area behind the picket fence for an 'egress'. One of those tramps was E. Howard Hunt; another was Frank Sturgis.
In our lifetimes, the best and brightest have been snuffed before our very eyes by the cowardly, unseen, shadowy exercise of pure evil and rotten ambition. The most prominent victims are John F. Kennedy who was, at the time, President of the United States, Robert Kennedy, a former U.S. Attorney General and candidate for his party's Presidential nomination, Dr,. Martin Luther Kr whose 'dream' while liberating to right thinking persons was, in fact, a gauntlet thrown down in front of those who dare to enslave us. Those benefiting most from JFKs murder are most certainly guilty of it. It's a question of motive, method and opportunity. The American right wing had all three. An analysis of the motives reveal a pattern, a constituency supporting murder as a means of achieving 'regime change'.
JFK tried to strip the power of the FED, abolish the Oil Depletion Allowance, and 'smash the CIA into a thousand pieces'. No President since has dared piss off so many powerful and ruthless people.
JFK tried to strip the Federal Reserve Bank of its power to loan money to the government at interest
The move would have bypassed the Fed by restoring to the government the power and authority to issue currency. Executive Order 11110 gave the US government the ability to create its own money --backed by silver! It just might have put the FED out of business.
Some background and basic economics: to pay it's bills, the US government borrows money from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The Federal Reserve Notes are not backed up by anything. 'Silver certificates' issued under the authority of JFKs order would have been backed up by government owned silver. The government would no longer borrow from the FED to pay its obligations. It would have done so with 'silver certificates' issued by the government itself.
Like any commodity, Federal Reserve notes are subject to the laws of supply and demand. The demand for Federal Reserve notes might have collapsed altogether and the FED itself might have been forced out of business.
Executive Order 11110 could have prevented the national debt from reaching its current level. It would have would have made it possible for the government to repay its debt without having to borrow worthless 'notes' from the Fed and having to repay them later at interest.
Executive Order 11110 was never repealed. One wonders why no other President ever bothered to utilize it. Could it have had anything to do with the fact that JFKs order made him very, very unpopular throughout the banking establishment? In fact, JFK was brutally murdered in Dallas just five months after issuing the order. No more silver certificates were issued. The FED's gravy train was still intact.
The 'scheme' preferred by the Fed allows the Fed to create money which it loans to the government at interest.
The private Federal Reserve owners don’t have a trillion dollars to lend the Government, nor do they need it. All they do is create it, via a bookkeeping entry, and write a check to the U.S. Government as the loan in exchange for the U.S. Bonds. The U.S. Government banks at the Federal Reserve Bank so cashing this check is very easy.
It's a scheme, possibly a scam. Certainly --no hard currency is exchanged. Government agents are never seen walking out of the FED offices --under armed guard --carrying bullion, coins, or, indeed, anything of real value. The Fed makes an 'entry' in the books! The government makes an entry in its books! And you thought you had to work hard to make money!
"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."
--variously attributed to Thomas Jefferson [editor note: if it is confirmed that he did not say it, it is, in the opinion of the author of this article, true! And, if he did not say it, someone should have! h/t Warren Aide-Riley]
JFK Threatened to 'smash the CIA into a thousand pieces'
The CIA had conspired with 'cuban exiles' in Florida to assist in the invasion of Cuba. Both entities acted without authorization from the government, without a declaration of war from Congress which alone has the power to declare war --or so says that 'goddamned piece of paper', the US constitution.
Certainly, because of Cuba, the CIA was more motivated to murder JFK than was Lee Harvey Oswald. The CIA saw Kennedy as a threat to "national security" and, from the CIA/Cuban exile perspective, he proved it when he refused to order air support during the Bay of Pigs invasion. The axis of CIA/Cuban exiles never forgave JFK this 'act of betrayal'.
It is at this time in our history that the name George Bush comes up. It was in 1959 --the year that Fidel Castro seized power in Cuba--that George Bush set up Zapata Offshore in a Houston headquarters.
George must have been a frequent visitor to New Orleans. Because of his family's estate on Jupiter Island, he would also have been a frequent visitor to the Hobe Sound area. And then, there were Zapata Offshore drilling operations in the Florida Strait. On all of these activities, the official "red Studebaker" biographical material and the Zapata Offshore annual reports are extremely cryptic.
...
According to Joseph McBride of The Nation, "a source with close connections to the intelligence community confirms that Bush started working for the agency in 1960 or 1961, using his oil business as a cover for clandestine activities." 1 By the time of the Kennedy assassination, we have an official FBI document which refers to "Mr. George Bush of the Central Intelligence Agency," and despite official disclaimers there is every reason to think that this is indeed the man in the White House today. The mystery of George Bush as a possible covert operator hinges on four points, each one of which represents one of the great political and espionage scandals of postwar American history. These four cardinal points are:
The abortive Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, launched on April 16-17, 1961, prepared with the assistance of the CIA's "Miami Station" (also known under the code name JM/WAVE). After the failure of the amphibious landings of Brigade 2506, Miami station, under the leadership of Theodore Shackley, became the focus for Operation Mongoose, a series of covert operations directed against Castro, Cuba, and possibly other targets.
The assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas on November 22, 1963, and the coverup of those responsible for this crime.
The Watergate scandal, beginning with an April, 1971 visit to Miami, Florida by E. Howard Hunt on the tenth anniversary of the Bay of Pigs invasion to recruit operatives for the White House Special Investigations Unit (the "Plumbers" and later Watergate burglars) from among Cuban-American Bay of Pigs veterans.
The Iran-contra affair, which became a public scandal during October-November 1986, several of whose central figures, such as Felix Rodriguez, were also veterans of the Bay of Pigs.
George Bush's role in both Watergate and the October surprise/Iran-contra complex will be treated in detail at later points in this book. Right now it is important to see that thirty years of covert operations, in many respects, form a single continuous whole. This is especially true in regard to the dramatis personae. Georgie Anne Geyer points to the obvious in a recent book: "...an entire new Cuban cadre now emerged from the Bay of Pigs.
The names Howard Hunt, Bernard Barker, Rolando Martinez, Felix Rodriguez and Eugenio Martinez would, in the next quarter century, pop up, often decisively, over and over again in the most dangerous American foreign policy crises.
There were Cubans flying missions for the CIA in the Congo and even for the Portuguese in Africa; Cubans were the burglars of Watergate; Cubans played key roles in Nicaragua, in Irangate, in the American move into the Persian Gulf." 2 Felix Rodriguez tells us that he was infiltrated into Cuba with the other members of the "Grey Team" in conjunction with the Bay of Pigs landings; this is the same man we will find directing the contra supply effort in central American during the 1980's, working under the direct supervision of Don Gregg and George Bush. 3 Theodore Shackley, the JM/WAVE station chief, will later show up in Bush's 1979-80 presidential campaign....This FBI document identifying George Bush as a CIA agent in November, 1963 was first published by Joseph McBride in The Nation in July, 1988, just before Bush received the Republican nomination for president. McBride's source observed: "I know [Bush] was involved in the Caribbean. I know he was involved in the suppression of things after the Kennedy assassination. There was a very definite worry that some Cuban groups were going to move against Castro and attempt to blame it on the CIA."
I recently quoted Albert Speer's summation of the Third Reich which, for so long, he served admirably with the best fascist architecture Reichsmarks could buy! Speer summed up the Third Reich. He said that it had been built upon hollow, meaningless platitudes. The same can be said of the GOP in America:
George Bush's inaugural address of January 21, 1989, was on the whole an eminently colorless and forgettable oration. The speech was for the most part a rehash of the tired demagogy of Bush's election campaign, with the ritual references to "a thousand points of light" and the hollow pledge that when it came to the drug inundation which Bush had supposedly been fighting for most of the decade...Bush's performance during the Panama crisis was especially ominous because of the president's clearly emerging mental imbalance.
Several outbursts during the Noriega press conferences had resembled genuine public fits. Racist and sexual obsessions were reaching critical mass in Bush's subconscious. These gross phenomena did not receive the attention they would have merited from journalists, television commentators, and pundits, who rather preferred studiously to ignore them. It was during these waning days of 1989 that Bush's mental disintegration became unmistakeable, foreshadowing the greater furors yet to come.
How will we remember the 'presidency' since the murder of JFK? I will remember these years for what was not accomplished because JFK was murdered --the dreams that are still unfulfilled, the hopes that were dashed! I will remember an era of GOP dominance distinguished by its celebration of mediocrity. I will remember a GOP that rewarded crookery and made of evil a banality. It took a horrible war and millions of deaths to crush the Third Reich! What will it take to crush the oppressive GOP dominion of some fifty years? Please tell me! We have work to do.
Zapruder Film Stablized: The fatal shot came from the Grassy Knoll
A new book by James W. Douglass [JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters] addresses an "an evil whose depth and deceit seemed to go beyond the capacity of words to describe." A few events, many of them very recent, qualify to be so described. The unspeakable 'evil' in this case is the assassination of JFK, in fact, a cold-blooded murder in the streets.
That it was a 'President' so ignominiously gunned-down is in itself appalling, unspeakable but that it was a President who held out our best hopes to survive as a Democratic, free nation makes it all the more tragic in retrospect.
The assassination succeeded, claims Douglass, because Americans can't handle the truth. Americans have not faced up to what has happened to our nation or what has become of our dreams of freedom, democracy, equal rights and liberty.
Douglass's books is not another conspiracy book. Many books, articles, writers, and talk show hosts have proven to my satisfaction and that of millions of Americans that the cold blooded murder of JFK could not have been anything other than a conspiracy. The 'lone nut' theory is subscribed to only by lone nuts and legions of liars. Douglass not only affirms a 'conspiracy' but speaks directly to jaded Americans, addressing in the subtitle: "Why He Died and Why It Matters."
No murder but especially that of JFK can be understood in a vacuum. There is a fateful history leading up to that dreadful day in Dallas, when the United States lost a President, America lost a future, and every American lost the 'Yankee' optimism that had made our nation great.
John F. Kennedy began as a 'Cold Warrior' and ended as and perhaps because he transcended that role, that label. He had become the embodiment of all our hopes for peace as well as prosperity, more mature relations with both allies and adversaries as well as more humane domestic peace with those citizens who had been denied a fair share of that dream.
Today, anyone aspiring to any political office so lofty as that of President risks his/her life. This outcome may not, must not be tolerated if we are ever again to enjoy the blessings of competent government.
Since the murder of John F. Kennedy, it has become clear to every thinking American that the path toward peace is opposed by those who make war for profit. In the U.S., the group is called the Military-Industrial Complex, in short, the M.I.C., whose 'living' is nothing else but industrialized murder. It is also clear to every thinking American that as long as there is a profit motive, as long as there are big bucks to be made manufacturing and selling arms, peace is but an elusive dream. As long as just one percent of the nation's population owns more than the rest of us combined, peace is but a hopeless dream. As long as there is oil in the Middle East, you will find either the American military and/or the CIA.
Doulgass' book identifies a 'designated patsy', the term used by Lee Harvey Oswald himself upon his arrest. Earlier, according to Douglass, there was a 'second Oswald' who was moved about the country 'like a pawn'. This doppelganger was, in fact, setting Oswald up to 'take the fall'. It was, at the time, a mere sub-plot. The Soviet Union was 'set up' as well. The Soviet Union and its satellite China had a role thrust upon them: 'Evil Empire'. As an ironic result, we are now owned by China. Again --ironically --it is the CIAs own 'World Fact Book' which confirms and documents that fact.
It was during the administration of President Harry Truman that the CIA was given near 'unlimited powers'. This event is referred to by Gore Vidal in his 'Decline and Fall of the American Empire'. Sen Arthur Vandenburg is quoted as having told Truman that if he expected to raise taxes in order to pay for 'covert activities' then he must "...scare the hell out of the American people." Thus was born a 'cold war', an incipient empire, and the Orwellian, non-ending war which has, at last, bankrupted America, enslaved its people, enriched but one percent of the population, and incurred the enmity of many throughout the world who see themselves as victim slaves because of it. They are correct.
The goal was nothing less than the destruction of the Russian Communist State. In a shallow sense and in the shorter term, they succeeded. In the longer term, they failed. The costs of waging Orwellian war had not been assayed. In the end, the victory was merely pyrrhic, short-lived and did not justify the lives lost in Viet Nam and every other surrogate battlefield.
Blessed with secrecy and lack of congressional oversight, CIA operations became corrupt almost immediately. Using propaganda stations like Voice of America and Radio Free Europe, the CIA felt justified in manipulating the public for its own good. The broadcasts were so patently false that for a time it was illegal to publish transcripts of them in the U.S. This was a classic case of a powerful organization deciding what was best for the people, and then abusing the powers it had helped itself to.
During the 40s and 50s, most of the public was unaware of what the CIA was doing. Those who knew thought they were fighting the good fight against communism, like James Bond. However, they could not keep their actions secret forever, and by the 60s and 70s, Americans began learning about the agency’s crimes and atrocities. (3) It turns out the CIA has:
Corrupted democratic elections in Greece, Italy and dozens of other nations;
Been involved to varying degrees in at least 35 assassination plots against foreign heads of state or prominent political leaders. Successful assassinations include democratically elected leaders like Salvador Allende (Chile) and Patrice Lumumba (Belgian Congo); also CIA-created dictators like Rafael Trujillo (Dominican Republic) and Ngo Dinh Diem (South Vietnam); and popular political leaders like Che Guevara. Unsuccessful attempts range from Fidel Castro to Charles De Gaulle.
Helped launch military coups that toppled democratic governments, replacing them with brutal dictatorshipsor juntas. The list of overthrown democratic leaders includes Mossadegh (Iran, 1953), Arbenz (Guatemala, 1954), Velasco and Arosemena (Ecuador, 1961, 1963), Bosch (Dominican Republic, 1963), Goulart (Brazil, 1964), Sukarno (Indonesia, 1965), Papandreou (Greece, 1965-67), Allende (Chile, 1973), and dozens of others.
Undermined the governments of Australia, Guyana, Cambodia, Jamaica and more;
Supported murderous dictators like General Pinochet (Chile), the Shah of Iran, Ferdinand Marcos (Phillipines), "Papa Doc" and "Baby Doc" Duvalier (Haiti), General Noriega (Panama), Mobutu Sese Seko (Ziare), the "reign of the colonels" (Greece), and more;
Created, trained and supported death squads and secret police forces that tortured and murdered hundreds of thousands of civilians, leftists and political opponents, in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Haiti, Bolivia, Cuba, Mexico, Uruguay, Brazil, Chile, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Iran, Turkey, Angola and others;
Helped run the "School of the Americas" at Fort Benning, Georgia, which trains Latin American military officers how to overthrow democratic governments. Subjects include the use of torture, interrogation and murder;
Used Michigan State "professors" to train Diem’s secret police in torture;
Conducted economic sabotage, including ruining crops, disrupting industry, sinking ships and creating food shortages;
Paved the way for the massacre of 200,000 in East Timor, 500,000 in Indonesia and one to two million in Cambodia;
Launched secret or illegal military actions or wars in Nicaragua, Angola, Cuba, Laos and Indochina;
Planted false stories in the local media;
Framed political opponents for crimes, atrocities, political statements and embarrassments that they did not commit;
Spied on thousands of American citizens, in defiance of Congressional law;
Smuggled Nazi war criminals and weapon scientists into the U.S., unpunished, for their use in the Cold War;
Created organizations like the World Anti-Communist League, which became filled with ex-Nazis, Nazi sympathizers, Italian terrorists, Japanese fascists, racist Afrikaaners, Latin American death squad leaders, CIA agents and other extreme right-wing militants;
Conducted Operation MK-ULTRA, a mind-control experiment that gave LSD and other drugs to Americans against their will or without their knowledge, causing some to commit suicide;
Penetrated and disrupted student antiwar organizations;
Kept friendly and extensive working relations with the Mafia;
Actively traded in drugs around the world since the 1950s to fund its operations. The Contra/crack scandal is only the tip of the iceberg –- other notorious examples include Southeast Asia’s Golden Triangle and Noreiga’s Panama.
Had their fingerprints all over the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcom X. Even if the CIA is not responsible for these killings, the sheer amount of CIA involvement in these cases demands answers;
And then routinely lied to Congress about all of the above.
The Association for Responsible Dissent estimates that by 1987, 6 million people had died as a result of CIA covert operations. (4) Former State Department official William Blum correctly calls this an "American Holocaust."
We should note that the CIA gets away with this because it is not accountable to democratic government. Former CIA officer Philip Agee put it best: "The CIA is the President's secret army." Prior to 1975, the agency answered only to the President (creating all the usual problems of authoritarianism). And because the CIA’s activities were secret, the President rarely had to worry about public criticism and pressure. After the 1975 Church hearings, Congress tried to create congressional oversight of the CIA, but this has failed miserably. One reason is that the congressional oversight committee is a sham, filled with Cold Warriors, conservatives, businessmen, and even ex-CIA personnel.
--Steve Kangas, The Origins of the Overclass
A summit meeting of U.S. President Eisenhower with Soviet Premier Khrushchev was canceled after a U.S U2 spy plane crashed in Russia. Eisenhower had order such flights canceled. So--who disobeyed or counter-manded orders from the President? It was after this incident that Eisenhower issued his famous warning about the 'Military-Industrial Complex' in his farewell address. It was, thus, left to John F. Kennedy to defy the "conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry."
What is so clear today, in retrospect, may not have been so obvious at the time. Else, we might have avoided the tragic history that has resulted. Clearly, JFKs fate was sealed when he refused to support the CIA invasion of Cuba to regain control of Cuba for organized crime. Think of it this way: the CIA had hoped to hijack the apparatus of the U.S. government and its military in order to make Cuba safe for the Mafia.
Kennedy was not buying it. He knew that he had been lied to by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the CIA. He refused to provide air support for the Cuban brigade. It was not the only time that JFK had run afoul of the military. During the Cuban-Missile Crisis, he resisted 'tremendous pressure' on him to take military action, which in retrospect, it is clear would plunged the nation in a nuclear Armageddon.
JFK intended to end the cold war, establish peaceful relations with the Soviet Union. At this time in our history, the bumper sticker: "better dead than red" was seen on millions of vehicles, often beside the slogan: 'Impeach Earl Warren'. This is the political atmosphere that prevailed in the short years and months preceding JFK's cold-blooded murder.
The bumper stickers, however, were just the political atmosphere that was promoted and exploited. The real power opposing JFK was the arms industry which still controls the United States. At the time, the war machine generated billions of dollars. It was then as now, the producer of America's chief exports: death and destruction.
JFK learned to trust Khrushchev more than the 'people' within his own government. Traitors to the Constitution and the President, they had embarked upon a strategy in which they would oppose him, isolate him and subvert his policies. The gang of traitors included Richard Bissell, Charles Cabell, Henry Cabot Lodge, Lyman Lemnitzer, Curtis LeMay and perhaps the most contemptible of all, Allen Dulles who was, in fact, a traitor.
On June 10, 1963, JFK spoke about his desire for world peace, a new relationship with the Soviet Union and Nikita Khrushchev with whom he had hope to form a new relationship with the Soviet Union. To these ends, he said that nuclear disarmament was a necessity and to that end proposed a Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. And, as 'we are all mortal', he most certainly infuriated the American right wing by declaring that the Russian people wanted peace as much as did the American people.
Just as Dwight David Eisenhower was, as I have called him, the last honest Republican, JFK died a martyr for the cause of peace. The speech also certified JFK's death warrant. With so many powerful enemies opposing his policies and hating him, JFK didn't have a chance. He was craftily maneuvered into the crossfire in Dallas.
The CIA was infuriated when it learned that JFK had exchanged private letters with Khrushchev and had, in secret, planned to seek 'rapprochement' with Cuba. Castro was interested and was, in fact, meeting with American representatives when JFK was murdered. Douglas rightly claims that "JFK died a martyr" to the causes of freedom and peace.
Douglass is right to claim that if JFK had not been murdered, the Cold War would have ended amid 'peace talks' with Khrushchev. The tragedy of Viet Nam might have been avoided or cut short. They're might never have been a 'War on Terrorism'. Within a month of JFKs assassination, Harry Truman wrote an article for the Washington Post warning of a CIA take-over of the United States. Harry was right!
In our lifetimes, the best and brightest have been snuffed before our very eyes by the cowardly, unseen, shadowy exercise of pure evil and rotten ambition. The most prominent victims are John F. Kennedy who was, at the time, President of the United States, Robert Kennedy, a former U.S. Attorney General and candidate for his party's Presidential nomination, Dr,. Martin Luther Kr whose 'dream' while liberating to right thinking persons was, in fact, a gauntlet thrown down, a challenge to those who dare to enslave us.
Those benefiting most from JFKs murder are most certainly guilty of it. It's a question of motive, method and opportunity. The American right wing had all three. An analysis of the motives reveal a pattern and a constituency that supported the murder as a means of achieving 'regime change'.
JFK tried to strip the power of the FED, abolish the Oil Depletion Allowance, and 'smash the CIA into a thousand pieces'. No President since has dared piss off so many powerful and ruthless people. JFK tried to strip the Federal Reserve Bank of its power to loan money to the government at interest
The move would have bypassed the Fed by restoring to the government the power and authority to issue currency. Executive Order 11110 gave the US government the ability to create its own money --backed by silver! It just might have put the FED out of business.
Some background and basic economics: to pay it's bills, the US government borrows money from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The Federal Reserve Notes are not backed up by anything. 'Silver certificates' issued under the authority of JFKs order would have been backed up by government owned silver. The government would no longer borrow from the FED to pay its obligations. It would have done so with 'silver certificates' issued by the government itself.
Like any commodity, Federal Reserve notes are subject to the laws of supply and demand. The demand for Federal Reserve notes might have collapsed altogether and the FED itself might have been forced out of business.
Executive Order 11110 could have prevented the national debt from reaching its current level. It would have would have made it possible for the government to repay its debt without having to borrow worthless 'notes' from the Fed and having to repay them later at interest.
Executive Order 11110 was never repealed. One wonders why no other President ever bothered to utilize it. Could it have had anything to do with the fact that JFKs order made him very, very unpopular throughout the banking establishment? In fact, JFK was brutally murdered in Dallas just five months after issuing the order. No more silver certificates were issued. The FED's gravy train was still intact.
The 'scheme' preferred by the Fed allows the Fed to create money which it loans to the government at interest.
The private Federal Reserve owners don’t have a trillion dollars to lend the Government, nor do they need it. All they do is create it, via a bookkeeping entry, and write a check to the U.S. Government as the loan in exchange for the U.S. Bonds. The U.S. Government banks at the Federal Reserve Bank so cashing this check is very easy.--FDRS
It's a scheme, possibly a scam. Certainly --no hard currency is exchanged. Government agents are never seen walking out of the FED offices --under armed guard --carrying bullion, coins, or, indeed, anything of real value. The Fed makes an 'entry' in the books! The government makes an entry in its books! And you thought you had to work hard to make money!
"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."--Thomas Jefferson
JFK Threatened to Repeal the 'Oil Depletion Allowance'! It's always been about the 'price of oil' at the wellhead and the profits that accrue to 'big oil'! Having grown up in Texas, I can vouch for the following very short, illustrative history:
Ross Sterling, the former owner of Humble Oil, was elected governor of Texas and took office on 20th January, 1931. The Texas Railroad Commission, under the control of the large oil producers, attempted to limit the production of oil (prorationing) in the new fields of East Texas. On 31st July, 1931, the federal court in Houston sided with a group of independent oil producers and ruled that the Texas Railroad Commission had no right to impose prorationing.
Large oil companies in Texas such as Humble Oil were in favour of prorationing and Sterling came under great pressure to intervene. On 16th August, 1931, Sterling declared martial law in Rusk, Upshur, Gregg and Smith counties. In his proclamation Sterling declared that the independent oil producers in these counties were "in a state of insurrection" and that the "reckless and illegal exploitation of (oil) must be stopped until such time as the said resources may be properly conserved and developed under the protection of the civil authorities".Sterling now ordered the commander of the Texas National Guard, Jacob F. Wolters, to "without delay shut down each and every producing crude oil well and/or producing well of natural gas". Wolters who was the chief lobbyist of several major oil companies in Texas, readily agreed to this action. Wolters used more than a thousand troops to make sure that the oil wells in East Texas ceased production. The Texas Railroad Commission was now in firm control of the world's most prolific oil fields. It now controlled the supply of the oil in the United States. As a result, the price of oil began to increase.--Texas Oil Industry and the Assassination of JFK
Humble later became "Exxon". It is not only prices but profits. Big oil was literally guaranteed huge profits by another bit of accounting legerdemain: the oil depletion allowance. the 'oil depletion allowance' is like depreciation but more abstract. Depreciation is often visible. Machines wear out, the loss of utility is real. From an accounting standpoint, the 'oil depletion allowance' is a whopping write off, literally a pay off for the oil you WON'T FIND LATER! Now --how would like to be paid NOW for the money you WON'T make LATER when the business you're in NOW is no longer profitable?
Sweet deal, perhaps even better than the 'sweet deal' the FED got. I can think of no other industry that has managed to shake down the government so effectively. I can think of few businesses in which you are paid upfront the money you will not make at some point in the future.
By 1962, JFK had sealed his fate, deciding to take on the Texas oil industry. He persuaded Congress to 'remove the distinction between repatriated profits and profits reinvested abroad'. The law applied to all industries but seemed to affect the oil industry particularly. Texas oil fat cats watched earnings from foreign investments fall by one half --or from 30 per cent to 15 per cent.
As President, LBJ, abandoned plans to abolish the oil industry's sacred cow, the cow it regularly milked. The oil depletion allowance was not disallowed until the Presidency of Jimmy Carter who is still reviled in Texas. One would never suspect that Carter is among the TOP Presidents in terms of economic performance. At that, Carter is among the fortunate; it is only his 'record' that has been assassinated.JFK Threatend to 'smash the CIA into a thousand pieces'
We know that the CIA had conspired with 'cuban exiles' in Florida to assist in the invasion of Cuba. Both entities acted without authorization from the government, without a declaration of war from Congress which alone has the power to declare war --or so says that 'goddamned piece of paper', the US constitution.
Certainly, because of Cuba, the CIA was more motivated to murder JFK than was Lee Harvey Oswald. The CIA saw Kennedy as a threat to "national security" and, from the CIA/Cuban exile perspective, he proved it when he refused to order air support during the Bay of Pigs invasion. The axis of CIA/Cuban exiles never forgave JFK this 'act of betrayal'.
It is at this time in our history that the name George Bush comes up. It was in 1959 --the year that Fidel Castro seized power in Cuba--that George Bush set up Zapata Offshore in a Houston headquarters.
George must have been a frequent visitor to New Orleans. Because of his family's estate on Jupiter Island, he would also have been a frequent visitor to the Hobe Sound area. And then, there were Zapata Offshore drilling operations in the Florida Strait. On all of these activities, the official "red Studebaker" biographical material and the Zapata Offshore annual reports are extremely cryptic.
...
According to Joseph McBride of The Nation, "a source with close connections to the intelligence community confirms that Bush started working for the agency in 1960 or 1961, using his oil business as a cover for clandestine activities." 1 By the time of the Kennedy assassination, we have an official FBI document which refers to "Mr. George Bush of the Central Intelligence Agency," and despite official disclaimers there is every reason to think that this is indeed the man in the White House today. The mystery of George Bush as a possible covert operator hinges on four points, each one of which represents one of the great political and espionage scandals of postwar American history. These four cardinal points are:
The abortive Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, launched on April 16-17, 1961, prepared with the assistance of the CIA's "Miami Station" (also known under the code name JM/WAVE). After the failure of the amphibious landings of Brigade 2506, Miami station, under the leadership of Theodore Shackley, became the focus for Operation Mongoose, a series of covert operations directed against Castro, Cuba, and possibly other targets.
The assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas on November 22, 1963, and the coverup of those responsible for this crime.
The Watergate scandal, beginning with an April, 1971 visit to Miami, Florida by E. Howard Hunt on the tenth anniversary of the Bay of Pigs invasion to recruit operatives for the White House Special Investigations Unit (the "Plumbers" and later Watergate burglars) from among Cuban-American Bay of Pigs veterans.
The Iran-contra affair, which became a public scandal during October-November 1986, several of whose central figures, such as Felix Rodriguez, were also veterans of the Bay of Pigs.
George Bush's role in both Watergate and the October surprise/Iran-contra complex will be treated in detail at later points in this book. Right now it is important to see that thirty years of covert operations, in many respects, form a single continuous whole. This is especially true in regard to the dramatis personae. Georgie Anne Geyer points to the obvious in a recent book: "...an entire new Cuban cadre now emerged from the Bay of Pigs.
The names Howard Hunt, Bernard Barker, Rolando Martinez, Felix Rodriguez and Eugenio Martinez would, in the next quarter century, pop up, often decisively, over and over again in the most dangerous American foreign policy crises.
There were Cubans flying missions for the CIA in the Congo and even for the Portuguese in Africa; Cubans were the burglars of Watergate; Cubans played key roles in Nicaragua, in Irangate, in the American move into the Persian Gulf." 2 Felix Rodriguez tells us that he was infiltrated into Cuba with the other members of the "Grey Team" in conjunction with the Bay of Pigs landings; this is the same man we will find directing the contra supply effort in central American during the 1980's, working under the direct supervision of Don Gregg and George Bush. 3 Theodore Shackley, the JM/WAVE station chief, will later show up in Bush's 1979-80 presidential campaign....This FBI document identifying George Bush as a CIA agent in November, 1963 was first published by Joseph McBride in The Nation in July, 1988, just before Bush received the Republican nomination for president. McBride's source observed: "I know [Bush] was involved in the Caribbean. I know he was involved in the suppression of things after the Kennedy assassination. There was a very definite worry that some Cuban groups were going to move against Castro and attempt to blame it on the CIA." --Webster G. Tarpley & Anton Chaitkin, George Bush: The Unauthorized Biography --- by Webster G. Tarpley & Anton Chaitkin, CHAPTER VIII-b - THE BAY OF PIGS AND THE KENNEDY ASSASSINATION
I recently quoted Albert Speer's summation of the Third Reich which, for so long, he served admirably with the best fascist architecture Reichsmarks could buy! Speer summed up the Third Reich. He said that it had been built upon hollow, meaningless platitudes. The same can be said of the GOP in America:
George Bush's inaugural address of January 21, 1989, was on the whole an eminently colorless and forgettable oration. The speech was for the most part a rehash of the tired demagogy of Bush's election campaign, with the ritual references to "a thousand points of light" and the hollow pledge that when it came to the drug inundation which Bush had supposedly been fighting for most of the decade...Bush's performance during the Panama crisis was especially ominous because of the president's clearly emerging mental imbalance. Several outbursts during the Noriega press conferences had resembled genuine public fits. Racist and sexual obsessions were reaching critical mass in Bush's subconscious. These gross phenomena did not receive the attention they would have merited from journalists, television commentators, and pundits, who rather preferred studiously to ignore them. It was during these waning days of 1989 that Bush's mental disintegration became unmistakeable, foreshadowing the greater furors yet to come. -- Chapter XXIII, The End of History
How will we remember the 'presidency' since the murder of JFK? I will remember these years for what was not accomplished because JFK was murdered --the dreams that are still unfulfilled, the hopes that were dashed! I will remember an era of GOP dominance distinguished by its celebration of mediocrity. I will remember a GOP that rewarded crookery and made of evil a banality. It took a horrible war and millions of deaths to crush the Third Reich! What will it take to crush the oppressive GOP dominion of some fifty years? Please tell me! We have work to do.
In a twisted, right wing brain like that of Richard Mellon Scaife, murder may be justified by endless ideological rationalizations. Not only lives are lost but truth itself. It is a sick mentality that sacrifices the voice of reason for lies and bullshit. Short-term, short-sighted victories are pyrrhic and the very fabric of society is corrupted.
The whole fabric of society will go to wrack if we really lay hands of reform on our rotten institutions. From top to bottom the whole system is a fraud, all of us know it, laborers and capitalists alike, and all of us are consenting parties to it.--Henry Adams
Surely someone has done a study that proves that the murder of liberals is suspiciously and statistically high in America and would be higher still if you include those who are 'suicided' under 'suspicious circumstances'. No theory --just cold hard statistics! Numbers don't lie but liars often take up a gun, a private airplane, or a lonely bathroom stall when they have no other argument to back them up. That has been the case with the morally bankrupt and depraved American right wing for too long now. Even Rome fell --but America will have done in a few decades what took centuries for Rome. The bad news is --the process of America's fall was begun in the middle seventies. The time now is about one minute to midnite. There have been many milestones along the US path to fascism and dictatorship. For excellent reasons, I have often singled out Ronald Reagan's infamous tax cut of 1982 which I said re-started a pernicious trend: the rich getting obscenely rich and everyone else getting obscenely poor.
See: Conscience of a Liberal by Paul Krugman. We had not yet 'survived' the worst effects of that cut when Bush, the Lesser made of three short words --'tax', 'cut' and 'elite' --his entire economic philosophy and program. Gore Vidal, in his Decline and Fall of the American Empire, denounced the emergence of an American empire which began a long decline in the middle 80's when the US became a net debtor nation.
The late Steve Kangas, however, dates the onset of decline to the middle seventies. It was between 1975 and 1994, claimed Kangas, that income inequality grew most dramatically. WWII, coming as it did toward the end of the Great Depression, had ushered in what has been called the 'Great Compression', the most egalitarian period in American History.
Income inequality in postwar America can be divided into two distinct periods. Between 1947 and 1974, income inequality was reduced from .376 to .355 on the Gini scale (which goes from 0 to 1, with 1 being the most unequal). But between 1975 and 1994, income inequality dramatically grew, from .357 to .426, a level not seen since the Great Depression. Although the decades immediately following World War II were socially conservative, they were impeccably liberal from an economic standpoint. In the 1950s, the top individual tax rate was 91 percent. By the 60s, President Johnson would cut poverty nearly in half with his Great Society programs. And this was an era of unprecedented prosperity; white middle class families never had it so good, either before or since. Black families made enormous strides towards equality, with their poverty rate falling from 55 to 31 percent.This liberal economic era came to an end in 1975, when a quiet revolution took over Washington DC The stage was set in 1974, when the House of Representatives decentralized its power, allowing 22 committees to delegate much of their authority to 172 subcommittees. This not only created a mass of competing special interests, but enabled corporations to lobby their particular subcommittees much more directly, secretly and effectively. But the real shift in power came with the 1975 SUN-PAC decision, which basically legalized corporate political action committees. In 1974, there were only 89 quasi-corporate PACs; a decade later, this had exploded to 1,682. By 1992, corporations formed 67 percent of all PACs, and they donated 79 percent of all contributions to political parties.The rise of the corporate special interest system in 1975 resulted in a tremendous shift in power, away from workers and the poor, and towards corporations and the rich. Corporate lobbyists wasted no time scaling back the programs of the New Deal and the Great Society. Under Jimmy Carter's presidency alone, corporate lobbyists bribed Congress to do all of the following:
Pass the first tax cut for the rich in 15 years: a reduction in the capital gains tax from 39 to 28 percent.
Raise social security taxes, a heavily regressive tax that hits the poor the hardest.
Impose a tax on unemployment benefits. (!)
Reduce cash welfare benefits.
Kill Ralph Nader's pet project: the creation of a Consumer Protection Agency.
Deregulate airlines, trucking, railroads, oil, telecommunications and interest rates, and create the deregulation machinery that Reagan would later use.
Increase defense spending.
And all this happened before Ronald Reagan!Under the corporate special interest system, the top tax rates were reduced from 70 percent to as low as 28 percent, while regressive payroll, state and local taxes were raised on the poor. Executive pay exploded, while the average hourly wage fell from $8.55 to $7.40 in constant 82 dollars. The value of individual welfare benefits were cut over 40 percent. Poverty has actually risen, from 11 to 15 percent. And this is the first generation of middle class Americans who believe that they will not see their parents' standard of living -- while the richest 1 percent owns nearly 40 percent of America's wealth.This, in a nutshell, is the core problem facing liberals. Those who wish to become activists need to direct their energies to dismantling the corporate special interest system and restoring greater equality of income. The gap between the rich and poor cannot be completely eliminated, nor should we want it to, but the gap should certainly be reduced from its current insane size, and policies should be enacted that allow rich and poor incomes to grow at the same pace, not apart.--Steve Kangas, Activism in Three Easy Steps
Thus, the right wing sought to shut up yet another dissenter and may have done it the old fashioned way, as it had done with John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Robert Kennedy, and, most probably, Paul Wellstone and JFK Jr. The right wing has a stake in your not believing 'conspiracy theories' or in the truth. Killing folk is how the right wing 'wins' a 'debate'. Shutting your mouth is a permanent solution to dissent. It was “Origins of the Overclass” in which Kangas mentioned Richard Mellon Scaife by name.
The origins of this machine, interestingly enough, can be traced back to the CIA. This is not to say the machine is a formal CIA operation, complete with code name and signed documents. (Although such evidence may yet surface — and previously unthinkable domestic operations such as MK-ULTRA, CHAOS and MOCKINGBIRD show this to be a distinct possibility.) But what we do know already indicts the CIA strongly enough. Its principle creators were Irving Kristol, Paul Weyrich, William Simon, Richard Mellon Scaife, Frank Shakespeare, William F. Buckley, Jr., the Rockefeller family, and more. Almost all the machine's creators had CIA backgrounds.During the 1970s, these men would take the propaganda and operational techniques they had learned in the Cold War and apply them to the Class War. Therefore it is no surprise that the American version of the machine bears an uncanny resemblance to the foreign versions designed to fight communism. The CIA's expert and comprehensive organization of the business class would succeed beyond their wildest dreams. In 1975, the richest 1 percent owned 22 percent of America’s wealth. By 1992, they would nearly double that, to 42 percent — the highest level of inequality in the 20th century.--Kangas, Origins of the Overclass
That was in 1999.
Body no. 2: Steve Kangas, a prolific writer who got on the wrong side of George W Bush and his cronies, was found dead on 8 February 1999. He was discovered in a semi-conscious state by electrician, Don Adams. Adams reported blood on the floor around the spot and left to call for help.
When he returned they found Steve sitting on the toilet slumped over and covered in blood. His website, Liberalism Resurgent, ruffled many high-profile feathers, but it disturbed billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife most of all, even though he was only fleetingly mentioned on Kangas's website. Scaife, a publishing magnate and Bush crony who the most generous donor to conservative causes in American history, hired a private detective to look into Kangas' past. The award-winning political website, with over 300 html pages, was a 'one-stop-shop' of liberal arguments and facts to be used in debates against popular neo-conservative myths. Scaife tried to discredit Kangas by viciously attacking him with a long-running smear campaign in his many newspapers. While Scaife was on the war path, Kangas was quietly working with a publisher to finish his book. Kangas' body was found in a 39th-floor bathroom outside of Scaife's offices in Pittsburgh, the victim of an apparent suicide.
But the story is full of holes: Kangas was a prolific writer, yet he left no note. Why did he go on a long trip from Las Vegas to Pittsburgh with a fully-packed suitcase of clothes? He also bought a burglar alarm shortly before he left for Pittsburgh. Why did he need a burglar alarm if he was planning to kill himself? A gun-control campaigner, he nevertheless bought a gun. What was he afraid of? And why on earth did he go to Pittsburgh just outside of Scaife's doorway? After his death, everything in his flat was trashed, but his computer was sold for $150 and its hard drive wiped clean. Although the most bizarre detail of his suicide is that he was shot twice in the head? The police never conducted an investigation beyond the autopsy and the very next morning, 18 hours after his death, they ruled it a suicide, without even carrying out toxicology tests. Equally odd, there are over 1,000 internet posts on this topic, dated from eleven days after his death, yet it was not reported in mainstream media until nearly a month later.--The extraordinary frequency of untimely deaths that benefit the Bush family, Britt Collins
Kangas described specifically the cozy partnership between the CIA and the US media, pointing out that “Journalism is a perfect cover.” “People talk freely to journalists”, Kangas wrote; "few think suspiciously of a journalist aggressively searching for information. Journalists also have power, influence and clout. Not surprisingly, the CIA began a mission in the late 1940s to recruit American journalists on a wide scale, a mission it dubbed Operation MOCKINGBIRD. The agency wanted these journalists not only to relay any sensitive information they discovered, but also to write anti-communist, pro-capitalist propaganda when needed.”
Every four years the naive half who vote are encouraged to believe that if we can elect a really nice man or woman President everything will be all right. But it won't be. Any individual who is able to raise $25 million to be considered presidential is not going to be much use to the people at large. He will represent oil, or aerospace, or banking, or whatever moneyed entities are paying for him. Certainly he will never represent the people of the country, and they know it. Hence, the sense of despair throughout the land as incomes fall, businesses fail and there is no redress."--Gore Vidal
'Liberal' comes from the Latin liberalis, literally, pertaining to a free man. In politics, therefore, to be liberal means extending democracy to all citizens through change and reform, or, if need be, revolution. It was the latter course favored by both Thomas Jefferson, in the Declaration of Independence, and Che Guevara, in his Principles of Guerilla Warfare. As Gore Vidal points out, one understands why the word 'liberal' simply 'had to be erased from our political lexicon'. The erasure of 'liberal' from 'politically correct' discourse in America has taken many forms, primarily, the seizure of the US media by irresponsible liars, like Rupert Murdoch, or mendacious money grubbers like Clear Channel. More ominously, dissenters are simply murdered, 'suicided', or disappeared. I am hard pressed to name a single 'right wing' activist to have ever 'disappeared' but the list of 'lefties, pinkoes, liberals, 'niggers', and 'tree huggers' to have died under 'mysterious circumstances' is legion. I am not inclined to believe an absurd and obvious cover story that Steve Kangas knocked out his own teeth before he shot himself in the head. Twice!
Radical right wing nut jobs who think it possible to shoot one's self in the head TWICE, should try it themselves!
When I first heard that Steve Kangas may have died in Pittsburgh, I searched for an obituary and could find none. I wanted to know about the circumstances. I knew Steve Kangas had written an investigative essay on Richard Mellon Scaife and wondered whether there might be a connection, though I really didn't expect to find one. Finally, someone with Lexus Nexus access verified that Steve Kangas had actually died, and sent me the short obituary from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette of Feb. 12:
"The body of a 37-year-old man found in a 39th floor bathroom of One Oxford Centre late Monday night has been identified as Steven Kangas of Las Vegas. He died of a gunshot wound to the head. The Allegheny County coroner's office ruled the death a suicide."
I plugged in One Oxford Centre and Scaife -what popped up made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
Scaife Foundations One Oxford Centre 301 Grant Street, Suite 3900 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15219-6401
Since then, the questions surrounding the death of Steve Kangas have snowballed. There were two parallel tracks being taken. One track was seeking more information about Steve's death and wanting a further investigation. The other track was bent on smearing Steve's reputation and turning him into everything from an embezzler to a neo nazi to a down and out womanizing drunk to an assassin out to murder Richard Mellon Scaife. For instance Tucker Carlson, in an article "Stalking Scaife" characterized Steve Kangas as, "Kangas, a 37-year-old Internet pornographer from Las Vegas" and Tony Snow, in an article "Steve Kangas Left-Wing Vince Foster" characterized Steve Kangas as, "Squeeky Frohme with intellectual pretensions." For any who are unfamiliar with Steve Kangas and wish to make up their own mind, I suggest you visit his web page and read through his essays ("The Origins of the Overclass" is the essay that mentions Scaife).[...]He posted his last essay to his Web site on February 3, just five days before his untimely death. In my opinion, it is not the writings of a man in throes of alcoholism, though people like Richard Scaife have suggested as much and he may well view Steve's work as pornography. See:[...]There are more questions than answers. Richard Scaife hiring a detective to try and dig up dirt on Steve Kangas raises a red flag. He used the same detective, Rex Armistead, that was used to try and dig up dirt on President Clinton for the Arkansas Project. [See: A Break in the Case , Rex P. Armistead's "odoriferous background",Rex Armistead spied on CNN's correspondent John Camp, Assaulted suspect] The Pittsburgh police should have been so thorough. I doubt the police even questioned Richard Scaife, though one report did say they were thinking about it. The systematic attempted trashing of Steve Kangas' raises questions. Discrepancies between the coroner's report, in which Steve was injured when first found, and the police report, with no mention of injuries when he was first found raises questions. The quick cremation and the erasure of Steve Kangas' hard drive raises questions.If magically I could have three questions about the circumstances around this case answered, I suppose they would be -- (1) Is the checking of the circuit breakers in One Oxford Centre rest rooms sop, and is there a log to prove this? (2) Was the gun that killed Steve empty when found? The news articles infer this, stating 47 rounds were found in his backpack and in one pocket. This is important because if Steve Kangas were in custody of Scaife security, they may have initially taken his gun away and emptied the clip. There may even be prints on the bullets or the clip, if the gun is still in evidence. (3) One intriguing puzzle piece that doesn't fit with the theory of suicide -- the bullet found around the time that Steve Kangas was found. There was a bullet hole found in the window of a street level clothing store. The slug was found inside the store. The bullet got there somehow. The location of One Oxford Centre doesn't appear to be a part of Pittsburgh where random bullet holes would be found. I suspect this may be the first time ever that a bullet hole was found in a window of one of the shops. Maybe some time after all the stores had closed, Steve Kangas had attempted to leave, was stopped by Scaife security, shots or a shot were fired, with Steve Kangas was forced to go back up to the 39th floor. If that bullet is connected, suicide becomes implausible.I don't know what happened to Steve Kangas on the evening of February 8. I can write several scripts from the facts, as reported in the various newspaper articles. Many of the facts of the case seem suspicious and do not fit well with the theory of suicide. When I started digging on my own, that is what I expected to find. But from the burglar alarm system, to the $300 gun, to the intensive work he'd been doing on his political web site, that does not seem to be where Steve Kangas was at.And then there is that bullet hole in the window of the Kountz and Rider clothing store.For Steve's sake, this case deserves to be investigated further by someone with the means and abilities far greater than I. Hopefully someone, or some agency, will investigate the death of Steve Kangas in the manner it deserves.Rest in peace, Steve Kangas.--John Van Matre--A letter from John Van Matre
Are we 'liberals' to cower in alley ways? Not a chance! We organize and inspire a revolution that will sweep away the inequities compounded since Ronald Reagan. We undo Bush's treasonous assault upon the Constitution. We prosecute and sentence those guilty of mass murder, war crimes and high treason!
We bravely shout: 'J'Accuse!' or, as is often said today, we speak truth to power!
We get in their faces!
We shall never shut up!Piecemeal, 'they' can simply 'off' one of us here, another there. Anyone daring to connect a fall from a hospital window with a tragic plunge from an airplane is simply marginalized as a 'conspiracy theorist'. But what if millions rise up in defiance amid massive civil disobedience? What if when Bush whines class warfare, we answer in a chorus: 'well, DUH, you stupid fuck!!!'
And what if you track down these men and kill them? What if you murdered all of us? From every corner of Europe hundreds of men -- thousands -- would rise up to take our places. Even Nazis can't kill that fast....
Lazlo to Major Strasser, Casablanca
And not even the Bush crime family or the GOP can kill or 'suicide' that fast. Selected Links from Kangas' Liberal Resurgent
On its a face, the use of a drone means that the people are NOT '...secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects' should some asshole in government merely DEEM you to be a threat in any way whatsoever! If the use of domestic drones should result in but one civilian death, the people are then justified to OVERTHROW, by any means, the government in D.C.. and replace it! Death by anything other than the judgement of a jury having heard a case brought upon probable cause is MURDER --pure and simple. The people must NOT stand for it!A final observation: under U.S. leadership and prosecution, the Nuremberg Trial of NAZIS resulted in the hanging death of several Nazis. Some died for less egregious crimes than that of ORDERING an anonymous drone hit on citizens!
