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Just when you thought nothing further could be written about JFK's assassination

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by JR, May 14, 2007.

  1. Oz

    Oz Well-Known Member

    I respect him, but that doesn't mean I have to agree with all of his theories.
     
  2. Shaggy

    Shaggy Guest

    350 pages is my max for a book. How long is Helter Skelter?
     
  3. Amazon lists it at 689 pages.

    http://www.amazon.com/Helter-Skelter-Story-Manson-Murders/dp/0393322238/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-6566196-5019067?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1179213953&sr=8-1

    I read it in high school. It was really a good book, and well written.
     
  4. Second Thoughts

    Second Thoughts Active Member

    Oswald, huh? Gee, nothing does it like breaking news there VB.

    I still have my doubts.
     
  5. Gold

    Gold Active Member

    Helter Skelter was a great book and Bugliosi did a great job to put Manson away for life. The book also captured the true evil that is Manson.

    I will pretty much read anything about the Kennedy assassination, but this will take a while. Having said that, I'll keep my skepticism about Bugliosi's later efforts. With respect to the Simpson trial, he didn't even keep transcripts because he called another author to ask for them. The review in the LA Times by Jim Newton was fawning and uncritical.

    I have read the Warren Commission report and Posner's book, "Case Closed". I thought "Case Closed" was a piece of junk. What Posner did was to take the Warren Commission report and try to prove it using better technology and facts since the Warren Commission came out. If you read the Warren Commission report, it reads like the typical government cover yourself and find an easy answer report. They blamed lapses in the Secret Service and absolved the FBI and CIA. The networks and major magazines in the 60s pretty much went along with the official version.

    I have read a lot about this, but nothing in the last four or five years so my memory probably needs a little refreshing. I have a brother who is totally into this. I'll try to give some of my thoughts.

    1. If you look at the films and pictures of the event, it seems that people were pointing toward the grassy knoll.

    2. When you see films of the assassination, the fatal shot has Kennedy going backward violently. Oswald shoots him from behind, and JFK goes backward? Huh?

    3. If you see the area, Oswald would shoot him from high up as he was going away and curving to go under the Triple Underpass, which is near a lot of rail. On the grassy knoll, the car would be coming toward a shooter and it would seem to be more range. I'm not an expert on balistics or guns, but I was always curious about that.

    4. The gun Oswald used was regarded as a bad weapon.

    5. The Dallas Police tapes, sound recordings, and eyewitness accounts described between four and seven shots, not the three shots of the Warren Commission.

    6. The Dallas Police in 1963 appeared to be corrupt. Jack Ruby made efforts to be friends with a lot of them and invite them to his club. Having Oswald assassinated made things easier for a lot of people.

    7. When the autopsy was performed, it was performed by military doctors who appeared inexperienced for this sort of forensic work. What has convinced me the most about the falacy of the Warren Commission report has been a book, Best Evidence, by a doctor and the criticism of Cyril Wecht, a noted forensic doctor.

    With so many conspiracy theories, there are a lot of crazy things floating out there. But the Warren Commission is really weak.

    My theory is that the JFK assassination was a Mob hit, and they had some help from some rogue CIA people... not that the CIA killed Kennedy, but there were CIA people who helped facilitate things and with the coverup. Bobby Kennedy launched a lot of federal investigations against Mob figures, something which had never been done. By killing JFK, the Mob got LBJ who was not going to keep the same level of pressure against the Mob.
     
  6. The most recent bio of Earl Warren makes it pretty clear that the WC was designed to keep the country calm, to keep prying eyes away from certain government activities, and keep the people in Texas and the Congress from investigating independently. Given all that, the notion they got everything right essentially without looking for it stretches my credulity.
     
  7. Jones

    Jones Active Member

    This is has nothing to do about nothing, but Helter Skelter was the longest book I'd ever read until Harry Potter came along.

    Clearly, I'm a borderline imbecile.
     
  8. But it's a broad and friendly border.
     
  9. JR

    JR Well-Known Member

    You mean you've never read War & Peace? Or anything by James Michener?
     
  10. HejiraHenry

    HejiraHenry Well-Known Member

    Re: Just when you thought nothing further could be written about JFK's assassina

    HARTMAN: Anybody know who Lee Harvey Oswald was? Private Snowball?

    SNOWBALL: Sir, he shot Kennedy, sir!

    HARTMAN: That's right, and do you know how far away he was?

    SNOWBALL: Sir, it was pretty far! From that book suppository building, sir!

    HARTMAN: All right, knock it off! Two hundred and fifty feet! He was two hundred and fifty feet away and shooting at a moving target. Oswald got off three rounds with an old Italian bolt action rifle in only six seconds and scored two hits, including a head shot! Do any of you people know where these individuals learned to shoot? Private Joker?

    JOKER: Sir, in the Marines, sir!

    HARTMAN: In the Marines! Outstanding! Those individuals showed what one motivated marine and his rifle can do! And before you ladies leave my island, you will be able to do the same thing!
     
  11. Del_B_Vista

    Del_B_Vista Active Member

    "That ... was one magic loogie."

    Something sacrilegious about turning an assassination into something so hilarious, but what are you going to do?
     
  12. crusoes

    crusoes Active Member

    And before that, he talks about Charles Whitman, and his performance in that tower in Texas. I thought that was one of the most perversely funny moments in a movie I've ever seen.

    I've been to Dealey Plaza, and it wasn't 250 feet, by the way.
     
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