More On JFK...

I'm old enough to remember where I was when JFK was shot. I was 5 or 6 years old and was visiting with my grandma. I remember how shocked she was, crying "oh my God!." It's one of those early memories which will never leave me.

But for years I took no interest in the details of that case until some time in the mid-80's I remember a TV special where they put Lee Harvey Oswald "on trial." They placed his picture in the defendant's chair, they had a real jury, real prosecutors and defense attorneys and a real judge. It was the first time I understood that there actually WAS some measure of doubt about his guilt. If I remember correctly, the trial took something like 3 days of daily multi-hour installments, complete with witnesses being called - the works. And I also remember how we all watched this and to our complete surprise we concluded, basing on the evidence presented, that Oswald would have to be found not guilty! In fact, I remember our discussions (and that was "many" people including family and friends and people you'd speak to on the streets, etc), and we all wondered if that trial would have an "official" impact and would history books have to be re-written. Oswald was clearly NOT guilty, we all thought! (I just found it online...! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvisjH1v304&feature=PlayList&p=1993B641DFC1CB06&index=0&playnext=1)

Imagine my (and almost everybody else's) infinite surprise when the jury returned the "guilty as charged" verdict. Did they listen to different evidence than what the TV audiences were shown? What? How was that possible? Didn't they see OBVIOUS evidence of conspiracy (i.e. more than 1 person)?

Since then, on and off, I took lively interest in understanding the circumstances of that tragic event, fancying myself something of an armchair detective, but battling conflicting feelings about this case. On the one hand the romantic in me "wanted" for Oswald to be proven innocent but on the other hand I found it very hard at that time to believe that all these extremely clever people who had all the evidence and studied everything in great detail would somehow get it wrong. (It NEVER occured to my naive mind that they might WANT to get it wrong...). I happen to be a very logical person. Since I studied physics at a university for a while (I dropped out eventually only to grace another in a series of universities with my presence, but that's another looong story, hehe), I had to have solid mathematical grounding and Logic was a separate subject taught to us - complete with laws, formulas and all that. This kind of formal approach to logic suited my personality really well. And when I'd let my mind dwell on a case like that of JFK, I could put my intuition as well as my more formal training to the test.

Try as I might, however, my faith in the official story was shaken. In fact, I remember almost desperately looking for data and reasons why I the official account WAS correct after all. It wasn't easy then, because those were the days before Internet, but I did do quite a lot of reading. At one point I gave up. I decided that I just couldn't find enough data which would convince me one way or the other and I agreed with the official story. In spite of contradictory evidence, I told myself that they "had to be right."

Recently, my interest in this case was re-ignited while doing some other unrelated research on the web. I stumbled on a video of an official account of that story and it was right next to an "alternative" version. I watched both and my old suspicions about the case were reignited with a vengeance. I've spent a number of weeks (I only have an hour or so per day, late at night to devote to stuff like that) studying all the available evidence and... I HAD TO agree with my original conclusions from way back in the 80's. But with a twist. Not only did they NOT get the right man, but more than likely they actively covered up any evidence to the contrary!

See what you think. Check out this very long video (9 parts, each with five 10-minute sub-parts), "The Men Who Killed Kennedy". Among all the hundreds of documentaries on this subject this one struck me as one of the very best and most balanced. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4QkKkXYtr4)




When you add to this the 2007 deathbed confession of E. Howard Hunt (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlpL7qZxPhA) which, incidentally, barely even made the news (while Brtiney Spears and other truly stupid news did!), things start looking ever more suspicious no matter how you slice this.

Now that I closed the lid on my JFK research I must confess to feeling really angry. I've lived a bit now and my understanding of the world of politics and human nature has matured somewhat over the years. It's not an easy case regardless of which side of the argument you fall on. But the way it's being treated in the media is scandalous - even to this very day. Young people - ALL people - owe it to themselves and our future generations to solve this mystery with and OBJECTIVE study.

I think I'm gonna write a song about this... How about you?