November 22, 1963

[Octafish]

November 22, 1963 is the day President John F. Kennedy died. He was proud to be a Liberal Democrat in the tradition of the Democratic Party of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and President Harry S Truman. These leaders were statesmen, who believed in using the powers of government to make ours a better nation for ALL Americans.

Liberal Democrats also believe in the Constitution where it says:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Liberals believe ALL men are created equal and thus have the right to equal Rights and equal Justice under the law. What’s more, Liberal Democrats aren’t afraid of working to make that a reality. Liberal Democrats also are willing to take on the job, personally. Even when it means paying more than their hard-earned tax dollars.

JFK sacrificed his time, and was willing to give his life, to serve his country — from the time he led his crew aboard PT-109 in World War II to the time he drove through Dallas, on the way to give a speech on the importance of public education, a speech he would never deliver.

As history records, President Kennedy used his time wisely. From the time he was inaugurated on January 20, 1961, to the day he died, November 22, 1963, just 1,036 days passed. That’s 24,864 hours or 1,491,840 minutes or 89,510,400 seconds.

The period’s been called the thousand days of Camelot. Really just a blink of an eye, for America it means more than that. It truly was a legendary time and America truly was a magical place — a place where anything was possible.

Consider what President Kennedy worked to achieve: He raised the minimum wage, cut taxes, kept America from nuclear annihilation at least twice, fired the general who brought him plans to kill Americans and blame it on a foreign government (Operation NORTHWOODS), maintained world peace, set about to bring equal rights for all Americans, got the country to invest in the arts and education, and set out to do the impossible — land an American on the Moon and return him safely to the Earth. JFK did all that in a thousand days.

One thousand days is not much time considering how much JFK accomplished. And President Kennedy used each day to make ours a better nation for ALL Americans.

Here’s a bit of reality programming — what’s happened in the 14,869 days since November 22, 1963:

• Vietnam
• Guatemala
• Chile
• Watergate
• October Surprise
• El Salvador
• Reagan Survives Hinckley and Bush
• Voodoo Economics
• INSLAW/Promis
• Haiti
• Iraq-gate / Banca Nazionale del Lavoro arms
• BCCI International Money Laundering for Terrorists & Intelligence Community
• Savings & Loan scandal in general and Silverado in particular
• Iran-contra Guns/Drugs/Martial Law
• Gulf War I Glaspie Gives Go-Ahead
• Selection 2000 Shreds US Constitution
• Tax Cuts for UltraRich
• Criminal Justice Department
• Suicidal Environmental Policy
• ENRON Energy Policy
• 9-11 Criminal Negligence, at best; Treason, most likely
• Illegal Iraq Invasion

And while there have been occasional flashes of the old Democratic magic in the administrations of James Earl Carter and William Jefferson Clinton, the fact of the matter is things haven’t really been the same since JFK’s leadership. It’s as if the Liberal leadership in the White House happened long, long ago.

It’s interesting in reviewing the above list, just how much ultra-right, conservative Republican leadership has really been. More than a listing of criminality, the list demonstrates there have been many treasonous activites against “We the People” through “business opportunities” in the finance, energy, and defense industries. That brief listing doesn’t sound like it’s been a good deal for the average American for the past four decades — and each has never been adequately explained to the American people.

There is one name that runs through all the history, the four decades since the JFK administration. Since the very hour of President Kennedy’s death, and through the list of sinister events and unrelenting criminality noted above — a record of infamy stretching back 41 years — appears the name George Herbert Walker Bush, a tradition continued by his son, George Walker Bush.

— Octafish

PS: I posted something close to the same thing a year ago. I thought it might make a decent re-post tonight. Let me know your thoughts either way -- on Dallas, Liberalism or President Kennedy.

[autorank]

1. Superb! Gave me an entirely new perspective. Thanks!

[Octafish]

4. You're welcome, autorank! Here’s JFK on “terrorism”…

The media have done all they could to paint JFK and Liberalism a certain way; establishment "Liberal" academics like Noam Chomsky say he was the same as LBJ and would've gotten the USA mired in Vietnam, despite the nearly buried historical record; and kids today raised on Reagan and Bushes hear near-zero positive about Liberalism. President Kennedy was a good man and a great President -- a REAL President.

[DerekG]

27. Chomsky is wrong

Michael Parenti refuted both he and Alexander Cockburn in a sterling series of essays that state the myriad motivations the Right would have in fomenting Kennedy's murder, as they did to other leaders on the Left.

Although I agree with Chomsky that our presidents--Democratic and Republican--have been upholders of a barbaric institutution, I find it a bit disconcerting that he can't admit there was *one* aberration, one--among a string of puppets--who slipped through the cracks.

[Octafish]

55. Chomsky is right about a lot of things, Central America...

... but not about President Kennedy.

You stated it most succinctly, DerekG. Thanks!

Here's a bit on where the "Establishment Left" (no conspiracies, rigged elections, wars for oil, etc) get their bread.

http://www.questionsquestions.net/gatekeepers.html

They are most kind to Dr. Chomsky and The Nation.

And I know that he's a nice feller. But still...

"That's an internet theory and it's hopelessly implausible. Hopelessly implausible. So hopelessly implausible I don't see any point in talking about it." -- Noam Chomsky, at a FAIR event at New York's Town Hall, 22 January 2002, in response to a question from the audience about US government foreknowledge of 9/11. At that time, 9/11 investigators had already presented substantial documented evidence for: prior warnings, Air Force stand-down, anomalous insider trading connected to CIA, cover-up of the domestic anthrax attacks, inconsistencies in identities & timelines of "hijackers", US connections to al Qaeda in Balkans, a Pak ISI-al Qaeda funding connection, etc etc etc. see http://www.leftgatekeepers.com


"The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum." - Noam Chomsky

Source: Where Chomsky Will Not Roam

http://www.oilempire.us/chomsky.html

[whalerider55]

2. thanks.

the post is a keeper

whalerider55

[Octafish]

6. You're welcome, whalerider55! Here's something to pass around...

Former President George Bush, within MINUTES of JFK's murder, was on the phone to the FBI. His mission or purpose seems to have been to cast suspicions on a college Republican name of "James Parrot." Here's the FBI memo recording some of what George H W Bush did on 22 November 1963:



This FBI memo dated 29 November 1963 records the briefing "Mr. George Bush of the Central Intelligence Agency" provided regarding the anti-Castro and pro-Castro Cuban communities. Interesting how this George Bush seems to "clear" the anti-Castro "Bay of Pigs" crowd who regret the "great loss." From what we know today, these are some of the main suspects.



SOURCE: http://www.internetpirate.com/bush.htm

[whalerider55]

3. thanks.

the post is a keeper

whalerider55

[Frank Rose]

5. Greetings Octafish, thank you

for all you do on research and rememberance.

[Octafish]

7. You're welcome, Frank! Those are just a few reasons ...

... why I miss President Kennedy so much personally and for our nation. What he stood for seems to have become passé, even among many Democrats. His relevancy today, and his accomplishments in office, certainly have been painted in a negative light by his political opponents — more accurately, political enemies.

As you, would that John Kerry had won. JFK2 would carry on the tradition of Liberal American leadership. The powers-that-be pretty much have rigged the game -- from character assassinating smear boat liars to a Corporate McPravda that presents one small view on their managed reality.

These thugs who killed President Kennedy are still with us today. My regret is that I wish that I had done more to counter their ways. If I'd helped you, who knows what would've happened?



John Kerry, left, sails with President John F. Kennedy
aboard the 62-foot Coast Guard yawl Manitou
in Narragansett Bay on Aug. 26, 1962.

[Frank Rose]

11. In my view, we lost by 1000 tiny cuts

a little voter fraud, a little pulpit politics, a little OBL video... We went up against a giant machine, talk radio, fox, corporate news... we fought with integrity and honor, so did our candidates, I'm not sure if that's the winning strategy, but it is what we do best. If we keep spreading he word and remember our leaders from the past, and their examples, we will take our country back. You helped more than you give yourself credit for, we did good, and we're not done. Politics aims at moving targets, the '06 season started the day after the election, let's go!

[karlrschneider]

8. Nice. this old phart will never forget hearing the news that day.

I suspect few people who were over age ~10(?) will either. Decades pass by like weeks used to...sigh...but I guess that's how it works. :-(

I've lived through an amazing period of human history...the invention of television (commercial, at least), the transistor, computers, jet planes (which I've been privileged to fly), travel to the moon, and so forth.
Yet in the last couple years, seen a tendency to regress to the 'flat earth' mentality that appears to be infecting so many people. How weird is that? It boggles the mind. I'm almost to the point of not even worrying about it...que sera sera, as it were, I suppose.

[Octafish]

10. These are "interesting times" like the Chinese spoke of.

And, in a way, we seem cursed to live in a land that is ruled by the people my grandfather and his brothers -- John F. Kennedy's comrades-in-arms -- fought, the NAZIs. And that's why I'll never tire of bringing these thugs up and exposing them to the light.

Thank Gore for the Internets and thank JFK for Project APOLLO, that financed the pioneering breakthroughs in electronics that led to the Integrated Circuits, the portable computer and eventually the wonderful machines we use to exchange information, ideas and opinions instantly and around the world. Imagine what we could do if we had Liberal leadership and put the nation's might to use for something other than personal enrichment.

PS: Don't worry about the passage of time, DU Friend. It's how we get to learn more -- and see the fruits of our labor.

PSS: Here's what the late Mrs. Mae Brussell discovered:

The Nazi Connection to the John F. Kennedy Assassination

Evidence of link between Nazis still in operation after World War II to the still unsolved murder of John F. Kennedy

EXCERPT...

The parts left out of J. Edgar Hoover's investigation before and after Kennedy was killed were the nazi associations (George) de Mohrenschildt had while working for U.S. intelligence.

George's cousin, the movie producer Baron Constantine Maydell, was one of the top German Abwehr agents in North America. Reinhard von Gehlen recruited Maydell in the post-war era to be in charge of the CIA's Russian emigre programs.

(Former NAZI General Reinhard) Gehlen recruited veterans of Maydell's Abwehr Group to work with East European emigre organizations inside the U.S.

Part of Lee and Marina's red carpet treatment in the U.S. started with their arrival from the USSR. Spas T. Raigkin was the ex-Secretary General of a group such as Maydell's. The AFABN, the American Friends of the Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations, with CIA funding, assisted Lee and Marina to get settled.

J. Edgar Hoover was trained only to see if there were Communists around ...the red menace. The Abwehr, Reinhard Gehlen and Maydell were overlooked by the FBI.

After the war Interpol ostensibly cleaned up its act, moved to Paris and installed the prestigious Hoover as vice president. Yet Interpol steadfastly refused to hunt for nazi war criminals, contending it was independent of politics. The excuse appeared a bit lame when, in the 1970s, former SS officer Paul Dickopf became president.

CONTINUED...

http://www.maebrussell.com/Mae%20Brussell%20Articles/Nazi%20Connection%20to%20JFK%20Assass.html

[Lugnut]

22. I was 18 years old in 1963

It's a day that is burned into my memory. :(

[UNIXcock]

29. This date was one of the first I can actually remember ...

... I was 5. The neighborhood moms used to meet for coffee after the morning chores were complete. Us pre-schoolers would play outside while the ladies chatted. I remember wondering why all the mommies were crying

[Carl Brennan]

9. Dead on and eloquent to boot!!

Fine work friend.

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[Octafish]

17. Thanks, Carl! Robert F. Kennedy talked of the "Ripple of Hope."

"Few will have the greatness to bend history; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation ... It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is thus shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."

— Robert F. Kennedy Day of Affirmation Address, University of Capetown, South Africa, June 6, 1966

The entire speech is a must-read. Truly, I thank God we've been fortunate to have such leaders as these.

http://www.rfkmemorial.org/RFK/affirmation2.htm

Two years later and Bobby was gone.

[seemslikeadream]

26. those ripples build a current

[Octafish]

70. This stuff matters. That's why we give a damn, seemslikeadream!

These "historical" posts matter because they explain how we got to where we are -- a nation where the NAZIs are in charge.

Imagine:

If RFK was going after the Mafia, whole-hog; what would today been like if JFK had gone after the NAZIs? You know they wouldn't still be running things in the CIA or anywhere.

[geomon666]

12. I'm only 24 years old...

but even I know how important Kennedy was to this country. Not because of what I was 'taught' in school or what I watched on tv, but because of my older peers and the stories they told. Also from my own readings of the time.

I've watched some of his speeches that even though they're 40 years old, have moved me almost to tears. I truly believe that whatever power progressives had in Washington, died that day with him and with his brother years later when he tried to revive it.

[Merlin]

14. Not so, goemon666. The Spirit lives on. And the Dream will never die!

Believe me, ancient as many of us old farts are, and sad as we are to see the pathetic state of things in this nation today, we will never surrender. We will continue the fight. And we will overcome.

The thing is that in politics, as in life, everything is temporary. So win or lose, things will change soon enough. We will bang away and bang away and bang away, and then--some day--things will begin to fall into place, and we can begin to rebuild and move forward again.

You are fortunate in that your generation will surely live to see that day. Fight for it. Never give in. Never give up.

When that day comes, treasure every moment. For it will be brief but profound. Make every opportunity count. For life offers all too few of them.

And above all, remember that the most important thing you can do is to pass the inspiration along to those who come after you.

Ask every person if he's heard the story
and tell it loud and clear if he has not.
That once there was a fleeting whisp of glory.
Called Camelot.

[Octafish]

19. Friends of mine lost brothers in Vietnam.

Friends of mine today are losing brothers and sisters in Iraq.

They, and the millions of innocent people who just happened to live in these nations, are really ALL of our brothers and sisters.

JFK was a man of peace. The people who killed him are men of war. I believe that many of the same ones who ordered the assassination -- and their organizational and, in some cases, biological descendants -- still wield the levers of power today.

That's why I appreciate that you and so many good DUers still give a damn. It's what Hubert H. Humphrey called "The Good Fight."

[American Tragedy]

37. It's been much the same for me, and I'm 21

My parents adored the Kennedys, so I've gotten a fair share of stories about that time. My mom's family loved JFK, even had a picture of him displayed in the house, so her parents and eight brothers and sisters were awash in tears that day. My dad's side was similarly affiliated except for his mother, who didn't vote for Kennedy, and even she was bawling when he came home from school.

My eyes too stung when I watched a two hour program of archival footage from Kennedy's race against Nixon right up to the Zapruder film and the funeral, when little John saluted the casket, and soldiers stand weeping in the background.

As a student, I really do consider it a great dividing point in American history, when one era dramatically closed and a new one began, both politically and culturally. My father said that he recalled that as one of several defining moments for his generation, when innocence and optimism were obliterated. I'm not certain that our country or the Democratic party have ever truly recovered. It is so unfair.

[Merlin]

13. "In the long history of the world, only a few generations ...

have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility. I welcome it. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people in any other generation. The energy, the faith and the devotion that we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it. And the glow from that fire can truly light the world."
--John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Inaugural Address Jan 20, 1961


After all these years, this speech and many of his others replay themselves routinely in my memory. And JFK's voice rings in my mind, my ears and my heart as if it were yesterday.

In that way, through the high ideals and purpose he inspired, JFK lives on in each of us, in spirit. It is an indomitable spirit. It is the great spirit of liberalism and of the responsibility we all share to never, never, never to quit striving--no matter what the odds--to achieve the dream of a better nation and a better world.

It is well we remember this spirit and JFK's very words. Because this is very definitely one of freedom's hours "of maximum danger." It is to us and to our generation to fight through this; to bear with the loses; to remain resolute; to see clearly through our sweat and our tears, and to continue the fight.

It is now our duty to bear the torch, to keep it lit, and to pass it on. No matter what the odds, we must succeed. And we will!

Thanks, Octy, for another great tribute.

[Octafish]

36. Thanks, Merlin. You are a Watchman.

Remarks Prepared for Delivery at the Trade Mart in Dallas

President John F. Kennedy
November 22, 1963

I am honored to have this invitation to address the annual meeting of the Dallas Citizens Council, joined by the members of the Dallas Assembly--and pleased to have this opportunity to salute the Graduate Research Center of the Southwest.

It is fitting that these two symbols of Dallas progress are united in the sponsorship of this meeting. For they represent the best qualities, I am told, of leadership and learning in this city--and leadership and learning are indispensable to each other. The advancement of learning depends on community leadership for financial and political support and the products of that learning, in turn, are essential to the leadership's hopes for continued progress and prosperity. It is not a coincidence that those communities possessing the best in research and graduate facilities--from MIT to Cal Tech--tend to attract the new and growing industries. I congratulate those of you here in Dallas who have recognized these basic facts through the creation of the unique and forward-looking Graduate Research Center.

This link between leadership and learning is not only essential at the community level. It is even more indispensable in world affairs. Ignorance and misinformation can handicap the progress of a city or a company, but they can, if allowed to prevail in foreign policy, handicap this country's security. In a world of complex and continuing problems, in a world full of frustrations and irritations, America's leadership must be guided by the lights of learning and reason or else those who confuse rhetoric with reality and the plausible with the possible will gain the popular ascendancy with their seemingly swift and simple solutions to every world problem.

There will always be dissident voices heard in the land, expressing opposition without alternatives, finding fault but never favor, perceiving gloom on every side and seeking influence without responsibility. Those voices are inevitable.

But today other voices are heard in the land--voices preaching doctrines wholly unrelated to reality, wholly unsuited to the sixties, doctrines which apparently assume that words will suffice without weapons, that vituperation is as good as victory and that peace is a sign of weakness. At a time when the national debt is steadily being reduced in terms of its burden on our economy, they see that debt as the greatest single threat to our security. At a time when we are steadily reducing the number of Federal employees serving every thousand citizens, they fear those supposed hordes of civil servants far more than the actual hordes of opposing armies.

We cannot expect that everyone, to use the phrase of a decade ago, will "talk sense to the American people." But we can hope that fewer people will listen to nonsense. And the notion that this Nation is headed for defeat through deficit, or that strength is but a matter of slogans, is nothing but just plain nonsense.

I want to discuss with you today the status of our strength and our security because this question clearly calls for the most responsible qualities of leadership and the most enlightened products of scholarship. For this Nation's strength and security are not easily or cheaply obtained, nor are they quickly and simply explained. There are many kinds of strength and no one kind will suffice. Overwhelming nuclear strength cannot stop a guerrilla war. Formal pacts of alliance cannot stop internal subversion. Displays of material wealth cannot stop the disillusionment of diplomats subjected to discrimination.

Above all, words alone are not enough. The United States is a peaceful nation. And where our strength and determination are clear, our words need merely to convey conviction, not belligerence. If we are strong, our strength will speak for itself. If we are weak, words will be of no help.

I realize that this Nation often tends to identify turning-points in world affairs with the major addresses which preceded them. But it was not the Monroe Doctrine that kept all Europe away from this hemisphere--it was the strength of the British fleet and the width of the Atlantic Ocean. It was not General Marshall's speech at Harvard which kept communism out of Western Europe--it was the strength and stability made possible by our military and economic assistance.

In this administration also it has been necessary at times to issue specific warnings--warnings that we could not stand by and watch the Communists conquer Laos by force, or intervene in the Congo, or swallow West Berlin, or maintain offensive missiles on Cuba. But while our goals were at least temporarily obtained in these and other instances, our successful defense of freedom was due not to the words we used, but to the strength we stood ready to use on behalf of the principles we stand ready to defend.

This strength is composed of many different elements, ranging from the most massive deterrents to the most subtle influences. And all types of strength are needed--no one kind could do the job alone. Let us take a moment, therefore, to review this Nation's progress in each major area of strength.

I.

First, as Secretary McNamara made clear in his address last Monday, the strategic nuclear power of the United States has been so greatly modernized and expanded in the last 1,000 days, by the rapid production and deployment of the most modern missile systems, that any and all potential aggressors are clearly confronted now with the impossibility of strategic victory--and the certainty of total destruction--if by reckless attack they should ever force upon us the necessity of a strategic reply.

In less than 3 years, we have increased by 50 percent the number of Polaris submarines scheduled to be in force by the next fiscal year, increased by more than 70 percent our total Polaris purchase program, increased by more than 75 percent our Minuteman purchase program, increased by 50 percent the portion of our strategic bombers on 15-minute alert, and increased by too percent the total number of nuclear weapons available in our strategic alert forces. Our security is further enhanced by the steps we have taken regarding these weapons to improve the speed and certainty of their response, their readiness at all times to respond, their ability to survive an attack, and their ability to be carefully controlled and directed through secure command operations.

II.

But the lessons of the last decade have taught us that freedom cannot be defended by strategic nuclear power alone. We have, therefore, in the last 3 years accelerated the development and deployment of tactical nuclear weapons, and increased by 60 percent the tactical nuclear forces deployed in Western Europe.

Nor can Europe or any other continent rely on nuclear forces alone, whether they are strategic or tactical. We have radically improved the readiness of our conventional forces--increased by 45 percent the number of combat ready Army divisions, increased by 100 percent the procurement of modern Army weapons and equipment, increased by 100 percent our ship construction, conversion, and modernization program, increased by too percent our procurement of tactical aircraft, increased by 30 percent the number of tactical air squadrons, and increased the strength of the Marines. As last month's "Operation Big Lift"--which originated here in Texas--showed so clearly, this Nation is prepared as never before to move substantial numbers of men in surprisingly little time to advanced positions anywhere in the world. We have increased by 175 percent the procurement of airlift aircraft, and we have already achieved a 75 percent increase in our existing strategic airlift capability. Finally, moving beyond the traditional roles of our military forces, we have achieved an increase of nearly 600 percent in our special forces--those forces that are prepared to work with our allies and friends against the guerrillas, saboteurs, insurgents and assassins who threaten freedom in a less direct but equally dangerous manner.

III.

But American military might should not and need not stand alone against the ambitions of international communism. Our security and strength, in the last analysis, directly depend on the security and strength of others, and that is why our military and economic assistance plays such a key role in enabling those who live on the periphery of the Communist world to maintain their independence of choice. Our assistance to these nations can be painful, risky and costly, as is true in Southeast Asia today. But we dare not weary of the task. For our assistance makes possible the stationing of 3-5 million allied troops along the Communist frontier at one-tenth the cost of maintaining a comparable number of American soldiers. A successful Communist breakthrough in these areas, necessitating direct United States intervention, would cost us several times as much as our entire foreign aid program, and might cost us heavily in American lives as well.

About 70 percent of our military assistance goes to nine key countries located on or near the borders of the Communist bloc--nine countries confronted directly or indirectly with the threat of Communist aggression--Viet-Nam, Free China, Korea, India, Pakistan, Thailand, Greece, Turkey, and Iran. No one of these countries possesses on its own the resources to maintain the forces which our own Chiefs of Staff think needed in the common interest. Reducing our efforts to train, equip, and assist their armies can only encourage Communist penetration and require in time the increased overseas deployment of American combat forces. And reducing the economic help needed to bolster these nations that undertake to help defend freedom can have the same disastrous result. In short, the $50 billion we spend each year on our own defense could well be ineffective without the $4 billion required for military and economic assistance.

Our foreign aid program is not growing in size, it is, on the contrary, smaller now than in previous years. It has had its weaknesses, but we have undertaken to correct them. And the proper way of treating weaknesses is to replace them with strength, not to increase those weaknesses by emasculating essential programs. Dollar for dollar, in or out of government, there is no better form of investment in our national security than our much-abused foreign aid program. We cannot afford to lose it. We can afford to maintain it. We can surely afford, for example, to do as much for our 19 needy neighbors of Latin America as the Communist bloc is sending to the island of Cuba alone.

IV.

I have spoken of strength largely in terms of the deterrence and resistance of aggression and attack. But, in today's world, freedom can be lost without a shot being fired, by ballots as well as bullets. The success of our leadership is dependent upon respect for our mission in the world as well as our missiles--on a clearer recognition of the virtues of freedom as well as the evils of tyranny.

That is why our Information Agency has doubled the shortwave broadcasting power of the Voice of America and increased the number of broadcasting hours by 30 percent, increased Spanish language broadcasting to Cuba and Latin America from I to 9 hours a day, increased seven-fold to more than 3-5 million copies the number of American books being translated and published for Latin American readers, and taken a host of other steps to carry our message of truth and freedom to all the far corners of the earth.

And that is also why we have regained the initiative in the exploration of outer space, making an annual effort greater than the combined total of all space activities undertaken during the fifties, launching more than 130 vehicles into earth orbit, putting into actual operation valuable weather and communications satellites, and making it clear to all that the United States of America has no intention of finishing second in space.

This effort is expensive--but it pays its own way, for freedom and for America. For there is no longer any fear in the free world that a Communist lead in space will become a permanent assertion of supremacy and the basis of military superiority. There is no longer any doubt about the strength and skill of American science, American industry, American education, and the American free enterprise system. In short, our national space effort represents a great gain in, and a great resource of, our national strength--and both Texas and Texans are contributing greatly to this strength.

Finally, it should be clear by now that a nation can be no stronger abroad than she is at home. Only an America which practices what it preaches about equal rights and social justice will be respected by those whose choice affects our future. Only an America which has fully educated its citizens is fully capable of tackling the complex problems and perceiving the hidden dangers of the world in which we live. And only an America which is growing and prospering economically can sustain the worldwide defenses of freedom, while demonstrating to all concerned the opportunities of our system and society.

It is clear, therefore, that we are strengthening our security as well as our economy by our recent record increases in national income and output--by surging ahead of most of Western Europe in the rate of business expansion and the margin of corporate profits, by maintaining a more stable level of prices than almost any of our overseas competitors, and by cutting personal and corporate income taxes by some $ I I billion, as I have proposed, to assure this Nation of the longest and strongest expansion in our peacetime economic history.

This Nation's total output--which 3 years ago was at the $500 billion mark--will soon pass $600 billion, for a record rise of over $too billion in 3 years. For the first time in history we have 70 million men and women at work. For the first time in history average factory earnings have exceeded $100 a week. For the first time in history corporation profits after taxes--which have risen 43 percent in less than 3 years--have an annual level f $27.4 billion.

My friends and fellow citizens: I cite these facts and figures to make it clear that America today is stronger than ever before. Our adversaries have not abandoned their ambitions, our dangers have not diminished, our vigilance cannot be relaxed. But now we have the military, the scientific, and the economic strength to do whatever must be done for the preservation and promotion of freedom.

That strength will never be used in pursuit of aggressive ambitions--it will always be used in pursuit of peace. It will never be used to promote provocations--it will always be used to promote the peaceful settlement of disputes.

We in this country, in this generation, are--by destiny rather than choice--the watchmen on the walls of world freedom. We ask, therefore, that we may be worthy of our power and responsibility, that we may exercise our strength with wisdom and restraint, and that we may achieve in our time and for all time the ancient vision of "peace on earth, good will toward men." That must always be our goal, and the righteousness of our cause must always underlie our strength. For as was written long ago: "except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain."

[Minstrel Boy]

15. "that's when they tried to take over, but he didn't die in vain -

since he stood up we know some of their names."

That's Paranoid Larry, singing about Kennedy, the Bay of Pigs fiasco and his execution, in "Two Boats in the Night."

"And Operation Zapata was the code name for the Bay of Pigs
Like the Bushes' oil company
What a funny coincidence
And they painted two gunboats to make it look like a pleasure trip
And the Houston and the Barbara were the boats they sailed in on."

Like he says, "we know some of their names."

America hasn't been right since Nov 22, 1963. And it won't be put right until that is put right, because so many wrongs and so much cognitive dissonance spring from it.

Thanks Octafish, I knew you'd be on top of the anniversary.

[Octafish]

39. On Woody Guthrie's Guitar: 'This Machine Kills Fascists'

Yes, Brother Minstrel, You and the rest of the young ones give me hope.



What Are Their Names?

I wonder who they are
The men who really run this land
And I wonder why they run it
With such a thoughtless hand.
Tell me what are their names,
And on what street do they live?
I'd like to ride right over
This afternoon and give
Them a piece of my mind
About peace for mankind
Peace is not
An awful lot
To ask.

(© Guerrilla Music/BMI)

From "If I Could Only Remember My Name" by David Crosby. Pretty durn good record, if I say so myself.

We'll have Justice, so help me God.

[Minstrel Boy]

44. lol at "young ones"

I'm afraid "Minstrel Boy" ain't such a young one.

I was three when JFK was murdered, and cried because my favourite cartoons were cancelled that weekend. ;)

[Nicky Scarfo]

16. "Chickens coming home to roost"-- Malcolm X. By the way, JFK first

sent the military advisers into Vietnam. LBJ, his VP, simply escalated the policy of his predecessor. Same with Guatemala. The Dems have always been as hawkish as the Repubs. Reagan and George W. Bush were (is) just so ultrahawkish, that the Dems look like doves in comparsion. But let's not rewrite history here.

[Octafish]

20. "Let's not rewrite history here."

What uh noble perspective. I didn't mean to miscast aspersions on the conservatives.

The post in no way rewrites history. It states facts. The parts that are my opinion are pretty well marked, as well.

Here are a couple of FACTS you might want to know about:

National Security Action Memorandum #263 (JFK's orders withdrawal of all US forces from Vietnam after 1964 election, dated 11 October 1963 )

http://www.jfklancer.com/NSAM263.html

National Security Action Memorandum # 273 (LBJ's orders the US government and military to committ whatever level of support needed to preserve government of South Vietnam, dated 26 November, 1963)

http://www.jfklancer.com/NSAM273.html

Bonus Fact:

Watergate burglar and "ex" CIA fellah E Howard Hunt had planted faked cables in his White House safe that made it out like JFK was behind the assassinations of South Vietnamese president Diem and his brother. Odd that. Then again, Hunt is a very conservative fellah.

SOURCE:

http://www.hoboes.com/pub/Politics/United%20States/Scandals/Watergate%20Hearings

BTW: A warm welcome to DU, Nicky Scarfo. Do you know Eric Blair?

[Nicky Scarfo]

21. Eric Blair?

I'll take a look at those sites. Thanks. Not that a decision to withdraw from Vietnam discounts the Bay of Pigs, support of right-wing dictators and parmilitaries in S. America, and dozens of CIA assisted assinations and assasination attempts. But, I'm sure your info will prove interesting all the same.

[H2O Man]

28. "support of right-wing dictators ....

and parmilitaries (sic) in S. America," : This phrase suggests that you are either {a} ignorant of the Kennedy policies in Central America; or {b} purposely chosing to distort these policies. I would hope it is {a}, because all of us can be mistaken, and learn the truth.

Regarding Malcolm: he was frustrated by the slow rate of progress that JFK was making on civil rights. The assassination came at a time, however, when Malcolm was at odds with Elijah. For years, Elijah had forecast the destruction of the white culture; after JFK was killed, Elijah was in a panic, demanding his ministers not comment publicly. This was not because Elijah loved JFK. It was because he had been accepting significant funding from an oilman from Texas named Hunt. I suspect that those familiar with the circumstances of Dallas in November of 1963 understand exactly why being on Hunt's payroll would make Elijah nervous after the assassination. Malcolm's "off the cuff" statement wasn't off the cuff, at all. And it was directed at Elijah for his relationship with Hunt.

[Bridget Burke]

31. Eric Blair is the real name of a famous writer....

One of his most famous books depicted just how history can be re-written. But he published under another name.

[Name removed]

23. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Beam Me Up]

35. I understand your feelings but lets let it stay.

Sometimes it is good when RTPs are posted here where rebuttals can be posted for all to see. Very educational.

[Name removed]

40. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[H2O Man]

45. Look at his Central American policy

and its stated goals, and the steps that were taken towards achieving those goals. Then look at the shift that occured under LBJ. Vietnam was not the only area that the country changed its approach in.

[Name removed]

47. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Nicky Scarfo]

51. It does appear contradictory, so allow me to clarify...

Democratic Adminstrations were (more or less) as hawkish as their Republican counterparts, up to Reagan, who ushered in a new era of ultra-rightist Republicans (later pushed forward by Gingrich's 1994 Republican Revolution, then finally consolidated by the current Bush administration).

Evidence?

A short list of military interventions, proxy wars, and other aggressive foreign policy initiatives under Democratic Administrations from 1950-1980:

Korean War (Truman)

Bay of Pigs (JFK)

Attempted assasination(s) of Castro (JFK)

Blockade (JFK) and subsequent economic embargo of Cuba (supported by every admin, both R and D, since)

Many CIA-sponsored terrorist actions against Cuba, including poisoning milk (JFK)

Vietnam War (JFK/LBJ-- take your pick. I'm still considering the evidence other people brought up about JFK's plan to w/d, but certainly LBJ can shoulder the blame)

Provoking 1979 invasion of Afghanistan (Carter)-- Edward Brzenzski, Carter's chief foreign policy adviser, has bragged that Carter authorized a clandestine CIA operation to support the radical Islamist opposition to the PDPA's progressive policies, thus provoking a Soviet invasion to prop up the USSR's regional client regime.

Finally, more CIA proxy wars and support for Latin American and African tyrants, death squads and private militias than I have time to mention.

Note that I selected only a 30-year period when these aggressive acts were at their most egregious, thus excluding the Dresden firebombing, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the seven military interventions under Clinton.

I did this because the Dresden firebombing could be seen as an isolated incident, Nagasaki and Hiroshima as strategic imperatives that saved many more lives than the bombings exacted.

Also, Kosovo and Bosnia could be arguably seen as "humanitarian" missions (even if I'm too cynical to believe that). Somalia began under Bush, and Clinton ended the operation, so I didn't think it would be fair to include. But let's not forget that Clinton did bomb Iraq, and even worse authorized the bombing of a pharmaceutical company in Sudan believed to be manufacturing chemical weapons (to which the CIA later said "oops, I guess it really was a pharmeceutical plant"). We'll never know how many people died in the impoverished country as a result of lack of medication caused by the bomoming, because the Clinton Administration effectively blocked a UN inquiry into the matter.

Plainly, George W. Bush is worse than any of these administrations, but there was a time, not so long ago, when there was little difference between Democratic and Republican administrations in terms of foreign policy. In regard to many issues, like Israel, this still holds true (damn, I forgot to include arming Israel to the teeth while they consitently defy international law and UN resolutions on my list-- oh well). And for every Howard Dean dove out there, there are two Joe Lieberman hawks.

That's my position, and I think a lack of self-criticism is a very unhealthy thing in terms of political organizing. Blind faith clouds strategic judgement. Unless you understand political, ideological and organizational failings, you will never be able to correct them. Perhaps you don't like the way I did it, but I felt it was reality-check time.

Anyways, I hope this suffices for you in terms of being neither "specious" or "idiocy", though I feel nothing will satisfy your self-righteous rage short of getting down on my knees to worship liberal icons and blindly ignoring their trangressions.

[Name removed]

52. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Nicky Scarfo]

53. "Psy-ops dude"? Ah yes, the convienent refrain of the true believer who

attributes genuine criticism from the left to the work of right-wing bogeymen in order to either silence the criticism from others' ears, or to avoid confronting the bankruptcy of his own presuppositions.

If I ever start a cult, I will be sure to remember you as a good potential recruit.

One last thing...

"Now you've restricted your take on hawkishness to foreign policy."

Yes, because, hawkishness generally does refer to foreign policy, not domestic policy.

Carry on, true believer.

[Carl Brennan]

59. Didn't even read my rebuttal, just jumped on the last few words.

Counter my claims or hit the road.

[Nicky Scarfo]

60. You hit the road

I didn't feel there was anything of substance in your post worth countering. Just because you've been here longer than me doesn't give you the right to demand I counter your claims or "hit the road". Give me a fuckin break.

[Carl Brennan]

61. You didn't even read anything. You sit here and tie up a fine topic with

fucking bullshit. I critique part of it and you do not rebut and then you counter that I am without substance and you cannot refute anything specifically.

Take what I said and make a counterclaim or go back under your bridge.

[Nicky Scarfo]

64. I would have been done with this topic long ago if it weren't for your

incessant whining. Others who responded to my post actually tried to direct me towards useful links regarding JFK's change of heart regarding foreign policy. You just want to self-righteously argue, implicitly accuse me of being an undercover right-wing disruptor, make demands on me, tell me to "hit the road" and "go back under my bridge".

Why should I treat this as a serious discussion when you immediately started accusing me of being a "psy-ops dude", thus effectively derailing any serious discourse? I'm done fucking talking about this shit.

You wanna keep on believing what you believe, and wallowing in your self-righteousness, I'm not gonna stop you. I'm moving on to another thread, so you can go ahead, get in the last word and declare victory. Yee-haw! Victory is yours! I'm gonna go back under my bridge and continue plotting my nefarious right-wing schemes to disrupt DU. You really think I'm so big of a loser to consider an abstract discussion on JFK's foreign policy on an internet message board some monumental organizing task that has any bearing in the real world?

I'm not sure which is sadder, the Freepers who burrow their way into DU to disrupt, or the paranoid freaks constantly worrying about it. Obviously people with little real-world organizing experience to waste their time worrying about infiltrators on a PUBLIC internet message board. Well, I must admit the Freeper infiltrators are probably the sadder lot wasting time playing internet James Bond, but the overreaction of people on DU to such foolishness is also pretty sad.

Like I said, I'm done. You can have the last word, oh great defender of Democratic Party values.

[Carl Brennan]

65. Thanks anyway for helping

keep it near the top of the forum, hee.

[Carl Brennan]

68. Kick an

:kick:

[Djinn]

71. why?

because it disagree's with the Kennedy as a Saint theory?

[Merlin]

30. Let's be true to history here. JFK did not "first" send advisers to Nam.

Ike did, beginning in 1955 after the peace accord that split Nam into North/South. When JFK took office there were several thousand advisers already there.

JFK did increase that number to about 17,000. Why? Visit the JFK Library site. Take a listen to--or read transcripts of--JFK's early meetings with his National Security Counsel. The Joint Chiefs from day one brought relentless pressure on Kennedy to send COMBAT TROOPS into Nam. Kennedy refused. During one Joint Chiefs meeting, JFK was actually cursed as a traitor after he left the room (with the tape still recording) by Air Force Chief of Staff, General Curtis Lemay (the man Kubrick patterned the cigar smoking general after in "Doctor Strangelove").

Kennedy resisted these pressures to the end. Johnson fought him every step of the way and sided with the military from the start in every meeting. Eventually, JFK agreed to increase the number of advisers as a compromise, still refusing to send in troops. He understood that it was harder to get out of a war than to get into one.

On Oct 3, 1963, JFK signed an order for all US advisers to be withdrawn from Vietnam by 1965. On Sunday, November 24, 1963--before JFK was even in his grave--LBJ met with the Joint Chiefs in the White House and reversed that order.

9 months after JFK's murder, the Gulf of Tonkin incident was fabricated to give LBJ cover for sending in combat troops, eventually numbering a force of over half a million. The rest is history, tragedy and farce.

[H2O Man]

32. Good point

although the US had advisors in Vietnam since WW2. FDR had been in favor of Vietnamese independence; after his death, Truman changed course in order to support French efforts to remain in control of Vietnam's resources. Much of this is covered in a book I read decades ago; I believe the title was "Vietnam: A History in Documents." The same basic information is available elsewhere.

[Octafish]

62. E Howard Hunt planted phony cables implicating JFK in Diem murder.

One of the things Charles Colson, nee BFEE now a Bible Thumper First Class, hired E Howard "Bay of Pigs Planner" Hunt was to blacken the name of President Kennedy. Here's a nice resource on the turd who may've been in Dallas on 22 November 1963:

From the Watergate hearings:

Senator Talmadge Now, you related yesterday about the fabrication of cables from this country to Saigon, relating to the Diem government. Could you state who directed you to go to the State Department and look at those cables?

Mr. Hunt It was my suggestion initially. I was authorized to do so by the State Department itself at the request of Mr. David Young.
...

Senator Talmadge Now, you got there and you found that you thought some of those cables needed a little beefing up to implicate the Kennedy administration ; is that what you recited?

Mr. Hunt In effect, Senator, yes.

Senator Talmadge Now, what did you finally do? You got there and you fabricated some cables; what was the nature of the fabricated cables and what did they say?
...

Mr. Hunt As I recall it, one, the text of one cable which I fabricated was a query or inquiry from the Saigon Embassy, which Ambassador Lodge then headed, postulating a course of action such as granting political asylum to Diem and to his brother-in-law in the event that they should seek asylum, and the second cable that I fabricated was an alleged response from the White House to that inquiry.

Senator Talmadge What was the reason?

Mr. Hunt It was a negative response.

Senator Talmadge In other words, it was alleged to be President Kennedy speaking for this Government that political asylum would not be granted; is that it?

Mr. Hunt Yes. sir.

Senator Talmadge Now were there other cables fabricated?

Mr. Hunt No, sir.

Senator Talmadge How did that relate to the implication of President Kennedy and the assassination of President Diem?

Mr. Hunt The mere witholding of asylum would have resulted in the deaths of the two men who sought it, should they have sought it.

Senator Talmadge In other words, this was the only way out of the assassination, as you saw it?

Mr. Hunt Yes, sir.

Senator Talmadge And the object of that fabrication was to alienate the Catholic vote in the Presidential election of 1972?

Mr. Hunt That would have been part of the thrust of the cable; yes, sir.

Senator Talmadge Who worked with you and directed your efforts in that fabrication?

Mr. Hunt I was directed solely by Mr. Charles Colson. No one worked with me.

Senator Talmadge Mr. Colson authorized, directed it and condoned it, is that your testimony?

Mr. Hunt Yes, sir.

Senator Talmadge And also sought to get wide dissemination in the press relating to those fabricated cables, is that correct?

Mr. Hunt Through Mr. William Lambert of Life magazine.


Senator Talmadge Now you put those cables, I believe, the fabricated cables in your safe at the White House?

Mr. Hunt Yes, sir.

Senator Talmadge And left them there and those cables were ultimately turned over to Mr. Dean and others in the White House to Mr. Gordon Gray who ultimately burned them at his country residence, is that correct?

Mr. Hunt So it has been alleged, yes, sir.

Senator Ervin That is Patrick Gray.

Senator Talmadge Patrick Gray, I stand corrected.

Senator Ervin My fellow North Carolinian.

===========================================================================

Mr. Dash. What was Mr. Colson's reaction to your statement and the showing of the cables to him? Did he agree that the cables were sufficient evidence to show any relationship between the Kennedy administration and the assassination of Diem?

Mr. Hunt. He did.

Mr. Dash. Did he ask you to do anything?

Mr. Hunt. He suggested that I might be able to improve upon the record. To create, fabricate cables that could substitute for the missing chronological cables.

Mr. Dash Did you in fact fabricate cables for the purpose of indicating the relationship of the Kennedy administration to the assassination of Diem?

Mr. Hunt. I did.

Mr. Dash. What was his response to the fabricated cables?

Mr. Hunt. He indicated to me that he would probably be getting in touch with a member of the press, to whom he would show the cables.

Mr. Dash. And were you, in fact, put in touch with a member of the media?

Mr. Hunt. I was.

Mr. Dash. Who was that?

Mr. Hunt. Mr. William Lambert of Life magazine.

On being asked whether Mr. Lambert had used the information in any way, Hunt replied "not to my knowledge." Hunt later showed the fake cables to Colonel Conein prior to Conein's appearance on an NBC-TV special on Vietnam:

Mr. Dash. And did Colonal Conein use any of this information from the fabricated cables in his program?

Mr. Hunt. I would have to answer in these terms, Mr. Dash, that I had shown him the fabricated cables in the context of the overall cables, that he was then interrogated by a camera and interview crew and that I believe he made, if not specific reference to the cables I showed him, at least they reinforced his own belief that there had been direct complicity by the Kennedy administration in the events leading up to the assassination of the South Vietnamese Premier.

SOURCE:

http://www.hoboes.com/pub/Politics/United%20States/Scandals/Watergate%20Hearings

[anarchy1999]

18. All I can say is thank you for such an eloquent post. I've lost track

of days in the last few weeks. I was only six and in 1st grade the day President Kennedy was assassianted. I remember to this day vividly, most of it. I'll never forget our teacher coming back into the room in tears and telling us all to get ready to go home. Thank you once again for posting this sad and poignant reminder of what we probably lost that day and how this nation truly mourned. (we won't even begin to go into the cover-up and all the anamolies, it was a just a very sad day for the world.)

November 22, 1963 - November 22, 2004, I'm not sure I'm up for it this year.

I'll probably go down to Dealey Plaza tomorrow for an hour or two for quiet reflection and to watch the crowds. There are many days it can be quite moving. Any day of the week there are people in that area from all over the world, some days more than others.

[Octafish]

41. You're welcome, anarchy1999! We must be the same age...

Born in 1957, I was six that day, too.

And I still remember hearing the news like it was yesterday.

My dad was in the Navy at the time. We were heading to our hometown for the Thansgiving holidays when the radio cut in with the news. He pulled in to the first phone we saw and he called his C.O. to see what to do. He was ordered to return to base.

My first thoughts, I remember today thinking at the news were: “Things will never be the same.” Why I thought that, I don’t know. But in the 41 years since, I’ve always remembered that’s what I thought.

If you went to Dealey Plaza today, please let me know what the scene was like.

Thanks for remembering. Thanks for caring. Thanks for working to make ours a better future.

[anarchy1999]

63. I had a very long busy day. I'm going down now.

I'll report back probably tomorrow. Last year was very big. This year, for me and my love, I want it small and gracious.

This day in time has never lost meaning for me and I was only six when it happened.

Peace and lots of love to all......

S and D or D and S, whatever you prefer, and not in a "bad way", no s/m tendencies here. (alias, anarchy1999). We just like to keep it simple, we only need one name.

[RunningFromCongress]

24. It's also my birthday

So I always have mixed emotions on my birthday.

[Octafish]

34. Happy Birthday, RunningFromCongress!

There's infinitely more good that's happened on that day than bad. Several other good DUers who share that birthday, IIRC. To you and them, best wishes and thanks for caring!

[Swamp Rat]

25. Brasil - 1964

They're still working on Venezuela, Columbia, Agrentina... x(

[Octafish]

42. Oh yeah. Laos. Cambodia. Fiji. Indonesia.

These turds of the BFEE go anywhere to plunder, rape and kill. Help me with the list, Swamp Rat. We need to shine some light where the Mighty Whorelitzer fears to tread.

[MisterP]

54. Friendly Dictators trading cards

http://home.iprimus.com.au/korob/fdtcards/Cards_Index.html

[Octafish]

57. Love those things. Need 'em to keep track of the BFEE, too.

The members of the BFEE are so crooked, they can’t even pee straight. They represent a criminal class unlike anything the world has ever seen before. Here’s the short history of WHAT WE KNOW:

A Pocket History of the Bush Organized Crime Family Crime Line

Hitler’s “Angel” — Prescott Bush and his Wall Street cronies helped finance and arm the Third Reich. Some continued trading with the enemy even after Germany declared war on America. No wonder the BFEE counts the NAZIs as their special friends today.

Bay of Pigs — Bush the Oilman and his Cuban and Mafia friends raise hell in Miami, New Orleans and Houston. Nice fellahs. LBJ called their organization "A regular Murder Inc in the Caribbean."

22 November 1963, Dallas — George DeMohrenschildt the “White Russian geologist” is friends with both Lee Harvey Oswald and George Herbert Walker Bush. Small world, as the coincidences get bigger. Almost 40 years later, FBI memos surface that detail how George Herbert Walker Bush fingered a young conservative the day of the assassination and "Mr. George Bush of the Central Intelligence Agency" cleared the anti-Castro Cubans in Miami days later.

Vietnam — OK for poor kids to fight an illegal war started over the phony Gulf of Tonkin Incident, just as long as "W," the drunken coke-whore dim son, “destined” to become preznit some day, or the rest of his rich frat brothers don't have to go. Meanwhile Poppy’s rich friends became very, very, very rich.

Watergate — Nixon was willing to throw anyone and everyone to the wolves — except George Herbert Walker Bush and “The Texans” because “They’ll do anything for our side.” Gee. Would “murder” qualify as “anything.” Think so, especially seeing how Nixon got the ziggy and Bush ended up in the clear.

October Surprise — Carter probably would’ve beat Reagan, but Bush and his buddies in INTEL and the military-industrial complex cut a deal with the Ayatollah to hold the hostages clear through the election. On inauguration day, they got to leave Tehran. A couple of weeks later, Israel starts sending US-supplied weapons. It proves so "profitable," that Ollie North cuts out the Israelis and decides to sell them US-direct.

Reagan survives assassination attempt —Just a couple of months after Reagan is sworn in, Reagan is ALMOST taken out and Bush stood ready to take charge. His son Neil was ready to have dinner that night with John Hinckley’s brother, Scott. Odd how these “One Degree of Separation” coincidences always happen to Poppy.

INSLAW/Promis — The turd Ed Meese and cronies stole software that enabled the Justice Department to track criminal prosecutions, had their INTEL buddies add a trap door, and then sold it around the world, making it possible to track what every BFEE-connected dictator or friend from Saddam to d’Aubission is up to -- in Freedom™’s name.

Iraq-gate / Banca Nazionale del Lavoro arms — Just how do you think Iraq managed to run its war against Iran for all those years? Saddam had to be getting juice from somebody, so they found a low-level banker in Miami to take the fall. US taxpayers floated Saddam $5 billion in loans. Meanwhile the Iran-Iraq war is prolonged by years and several hundreds of thousands of lives are lost.

BCCI International Money Laundering for Terrorists & Intelligence Community — The terrorists’ favorite bank, used by among others Abu Nidhal, Osama bin Laden, Ollie North, CIA, SIS and KGB. The Reagan and Bush administrations and friends on both sides of the aisle in Congress did all they could to keep it open. John Kerry got it shut down.

Savings & Loan Scandal — Legalized robbery in the form of “loans” made to the politically connected, Mafia and INTEL-huggers. Odd how even Neil Bush, who made millions while Silverado, the S&L he helped direct, lost billions in bad loans to Bush cronies, never spent a day in jail. Kid from Detroit steals a pair of shoes from the mall and it’s OK to shoot him dead. Meanwhile, after the bailout “fixes” everything, Poppy’s very, very, very rich friends become ultra-rich.

Iran-Contra — Neo-con Michael Ledeen, Munacher Ghorbanifar and Adnan Khashoggi bend over backward to sell arms the Ayatollah and use the profits to arm the terrorist Contras. Most of the players should be in prison, but, thanks to Poppy’s pardon, remain free to roam the streets, let alone corridors of power, and continue the terror.

Arbusto, HARKEN, Spectrum-7, Aloha — Every company the crazy monkey’s ever touched, he’s run into the ground. Yet Poppy's family and friends, including James R Bath, the bin Mahfouz and bin Ladens, always help him out. No wonder the dim bulb went off thinking of ENRON, Kenny Boy and all the possibilities.

Gulf War I — Poppy Bush gives April Glaspie the signal to greenlight Saddam’s “border dispute” and push into Kuwait. No wonder Saddam felt betrayed when Cheney ordered the extermination of tens of thousands of fleeing Iraqi conscripts heading north on the “Highway of Death.” Meanwhile, Poppy’s ultra-rich friends become ultra-ultra-ultra rich.

Selection 2000 Shreds US Constitution — After fixing things up so that 70,000 likely Democratic votes and voters are turned away or disenfranchised, the 2000 Florida Presidential “election” results in a “tie.” Associate Justice Antonin Scalia gets the idea that maybe the GOP-packed Supreme Court should grant petitioner George W Bush’s request for taking the Oval Office, anyway. Someone on DU wrote: “You don’t steal elections to do good things.” Prophetic words, those.

ENRON Energy Policy — Sneering Dick Cheney meets with Kenny Boy Lay to discuss ways of helping ENRON rip-off California and the rest of America. There were others there, like Chevron and EXXON, because they need oil, too. Besides, the ultra-, ultra-, ultra-rich can never have enough.

9-11 — After ignoring the warnings of outgoing President Bill Clinton, former National Security Advisor Sandy Berger, anti-Terror Chief Richard Clarke, and Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet, George W Bush ignores a report titled “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in the U.S.” A month later, 3,000 innocent people are murdered. Two ways of looking at this one: 1.) Criminal Negligence, at best; 2.) Treason, most likely.

Gulf War II — George W Bush, Sneer, and most of “the bureaucracy” make a phony case for going to war in Iraq, stating there are clear-cut connections between 9-11 and Saddam Hussein, who planned to use his arsenal of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons on America. (So far, the only bioweapon used on America was Anthrax that came from a US Army lab grown from a batch of the University of Iowa Strain.) Anwyay, it’s not really odd to see how attacking Iraq was the Administration’s Number-One priority, according to former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill and anti-Terror Chief Richard Clarke, from January 2001.

The reason for the treason?

There’s money to be made and power to be gained.

Remember: Others call war hell; to the BFEE it's business as usual.

[Swamp Rat]

67. One more important thing to tell the world:

SLEEEEEEEEEP!!!!

[Victimerican]

33. JFK, the last great president...

Just to clarify, there have been GOOD presidents since then (I'll let you guess who I mean, but none of their names start with "Bus"), but none of them have been the caliber of man or leader that Kennedy was. I don't know a single person who lived through that era that didn't at least like him. God only knows what we missed out on...

[American Tragedy]

38. There are great and potentially great men and women among us

Unfortunately, the office of the presidency has become virtually unattainable for those who are most deserving and most qualified. The electorate seems more easily swayed by the vices of mankind than their virtues.

[Octafish]

48. We Missed the Moon.

What we missed: Kennedy believed the world’s problems were caused by man, then the human mind could be applied to solve it. And so, we went to the moon and back within a decade, a feat that had been considered impossible. Imagine how we could have tackled poverty, homelessness, hunger, disease, ignorance and want? All the things too many today consider "impossible."

No wonder American (and the world’s) fascists killed him. They fear "someone" would have to pay for all that. In doing so, they would have to give up their positions of power.

BTW: A hearty welcome to DU, Victimerican. I appreciate your Spirit!

[bobthedrummer]

43. I have never accepted The Warren Commission's Report "findings"

and never will.
Btw, tomorrow 11-23 is my birthday.

[Octafish]

49. New Orleans cops suspected FERRIE on 22 November 1963

This is from Richard PNAC Perle's paper, of all places...

The secrets of Dallas

Arieh O'Sullivan, THE JERUSALEM POST Nov. 21, 2004

On April 7, 1964, a 26-year-old detective in the New Orleans Police Department appeared before the Warren Commission investigating the previous November's assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

That detective was my father, Fred (later Efraim) O'Sullivan.

SNIP...

But with JFK we always believed there was a conspiracy. I mean, how could one lone gunman have killed the president of the United States, in a rolling motorcade, at an almost impossible distance?

My father always intimated that he thought there was more to the story, and that the plots to kill JFK and black rights activist Martin Luther King Jr., gunned down in Memphis in 1968 by white supremacist James Earl Ray, crossed paths in New Orleans.

SNIP...

And so he told them how he and another New Orleans detective drove out to the local airport immediately after the assassination to examine Ferrie's airplane. It was their initiative, he said. They wondered if Ferrie had somehow been involved.

CONTINUED...

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1101010793346&apage=1

BTW: A happy birthday to you, bobthedrummer! There is an infinite amount more good on these days.

[Clinton Crusader]

46. Thank you Octafish

[Octafish]

50. You're welcome, Clinton Crusader! The stars, indeed.

TEXT OF PRESIDENT JOHN KENNEDY'S RICE STADIUM MOON SPEECH

President Pitzer, Mr. Vice President, Governor, Congressman Thomas, Senator Wiley, and Congressman Miller, Mr. Webb, Mr. Bell, scientists, distinguished guests, and ladies and gentlemen:

I appreciate your president having made me an honorary visiting professor, and I will assure you that my first lecture will be very brief.

I am delighted to be here and I'm particularly delighted to be here on this occasion.

We meet at a college noted for knowledge, in a city noted for progress, in a State noted for strength, and we stand in need of all all three, for we meet in an hour of change and challenge, in a decade of hope and fear, in an age of both knowledge and ignorance. The greater our knowledge increases, the greater our ignorance unfolds.

Despite the striking fact that most of the scientists that the world has ever known are alive and working today, despite the fact that this Nation¹s own scientific manpower is doubling every 12 years in a rate of growth more than three times that of our population as a whole, despite that, the vast stretches of the unknown and the unanswered and the unfinished still far outstrip our collective comprehension.

No man can fully grasp how far and how fast we have come, but condense, if you will, the 50,000 years of man¹s recorded history in a time span of but a half-century. Stated in these terms, we know very little about the first 40 years, except at the end of them advanced man had learned to use the skins of animals to cover them. Then about 10 years ago, under this standard, man emerged from his caves to construct other kinds of shelter. Only five years ago man learned to write and use a cart with wheels. Christianity began less than two years ago. The printing press came this year, and then less than two months ago, during this whole 50-year span of human history, the steam engine provided a new source of power.

Newton explored the meaning of gravity. Last month electric lights and telephones and automobiles and airplanes became available. Only last week did we develop penicillin and television and nuclear power, and now if America's new spacecraft succeeds in reaching Venus, we will have literally reached the stars before midnight tonight.

This is a breathtaking pace, and such a pace cannot help but create new ills as it dispels old, new ignorance, new problems, new dangers. Surely the opening vistas of space promise high costs and hardships, as well as high reward.

So it is not surprising that some would have us stay where we are a little longer to rest, to wait. But this city of Houston, this State of Texas, this country of the United States was not built by those who waited and rested and wished to look behind them. This country was conquered by those who moved forward--and so will space.

William Bradford, speaking in 1630 of the founding of the Plymouth Bay Colony, said that all great and honorable actions are accompanied with great difficulties, and both must be enterprised and overcome with answerable courage.

If this capsule history of our progress teaches us anything, it is that man, in his quest for knowledge and progress, is determined and cannot be deterred. The exploration of space will go ahead, whether we join in it or not, and it is one of the great adventures of all time, and no nation which expects to be the leader of other nations can expect to stay behind in the race for space.

Those who came before us made certain that this country rode the first waves of the industrial revolutions, the first waves of modern invention, and the first wave of nuclear power, and this generation does not intend to founder in the backwash of the coming age of space. We mean to be a part of it--we mean to lead it. For the eyes of the world now look into space, to the moon and to the planets beyond, and we have vowed that we shall not see it governed by a hostile flag of conquest, but by a banner of freedom and peace. We have vowed that we shall not see space filled with weapons of mass destruction, but with instruments of knowledge and understanding.

Yet the vows of this Nation can only be fulfilled if we in this Nation are first, and, therefore, we intend to be first. In short, our leadership in science and in industry, our hopes for peace and security, our obligations to ourselves as well as others, all require us to make this effort, to solve these mysteries, to solve them for the good of all men, and to become the world's leading space-faring nation.

We set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained, and new rights to be won, and they must be won and used for the progress of all people. For space science, like nuclear science and all technology, has no conscience of its own. Whether it will become a force for good or ill depends on man, and only if the United States occupies a position of pre-eminence can we help decide whether this new ocean will be a sea of peace or a new terrifying theater of war. I do not say the we should or will go unprotected against the hostile misuse of space any more than we go unprotected against the hostile use of land or sea, but I do say that space can be explored and mastered without feeding the fires of war, without repeating the mistakes that man has made in extending his writ around this globe of ours.

There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in outer space as yet. Its hazards are hostile to us all. Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation many never come again. But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas?

We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.

It is for these reasons that I regard the decision last year to shift our efforts in space from low to high gear as among the most important decisions that will be made during my incumbency in the office of the Presidency.

In the last 24 hours we have seen facilities now being created for the greatest and most complex exploration in man's history. We have felt the ground shake and the air shattered by the testing of a Saturn C-1 booster rocket, many times as powerful as the Atlas which launched John Glenn, generating power equivalent to 10,000 automobiles with their accelerators on the floor. We have seen the site where the F-1 rocket engines, each one as powerful as all eight engines of the Saturn combined, will be clustered together to make the advanced Saturn missile, assembled in a new building to be built at Cape Canaveral as tall as a 48 story structure, as wide as a city block, and as long as two lengths of this field.

Within these last 19 months at least 45 satellites have circled the earth. Some 40 of them were "made in the United States of America" and they were far more sophisticated and supplied far more knowledge to the people of the world than those of the Soviet Union.

The Mariner spacecraft now on its way to Venus is the most intricate instrument in the history of space science. The accuracy of that shot is comparable to firing a missile from Cape Canaveral and dropping it in this stadium between the the 40-yard lines.

Transit satellites are helping our ships at sea to steer a safer course. Tiros satellites have given us unprecedented warnings of hurricanes and storms, and will do the same for forest fires and icebergs.

We have had our failures, but so have others, even if they do not admit them. And they may be less public.

To be sure, we are behind, and will be behind for some time in manned flight. But we do not intend to stay behind, and in this decade, we shall make up and move ahead.

The growth of our science and education will be enriched by new knowledge of our universe and environment, by new techniques of learning and mapping and observation, by new tools and computers for industry, medicine, the home as well as the school. Technical institutions, such as Rice, will reap the harvest of these gains.

And finally, the space effort itself, while still in its infancy, has already created a great number of new companies, and tens of thousands of new jobs. Space and related industries are generating new demands in investment and skilled personnel, and this city and this State, and this region, will share greatly in this growth. What was once the furthest outpost on the old frontier of the West will be the furthest outpost on the new frontier of science and space. Houston, your City of Houston, with its Manned Spacecraft Center, will become the heart of a large scientific and engineering community. During the next 5 years the National Aeronautics and Space Administration expects to double the number of scientists and engineers in this area, to increase its outlays for salaries and expenses to $60 million a year; to invest some $200 million in plant and laboratory facilities; and to direct or contract for new space efforts over $1 billion from this Center in this City.

To be sure, all this costs us all a good deal of money. This year¹s space budget is three times what it was in January 1961, and it is greater than the space budget of the previous eight years combined. That budget now stands at $5,400 million a year--a staggering sum, though somewhat less than we pay for cigarettes and cigars every year. Space expenditures will soon rise some more, from 40 cents per person per week to more than 50 cents a week for every man, woman and child in the United Stated, for we have given this program a high national priority--even though I realize that this is in some measure an act of faith and vision, for we do not now know what benefits await us.

But if I were to say, my fellow citizens, that we shall send to the moon, 240,000 miles away from the control station in Houston, a giant rocket more than 300 feet tall, the length of this football field, made of new metal alloys, some of which have not yet been invented, capable of standing heat and stresses several times more than have ever been experienced, fitted together with a precision better than the finest watch, carrying all the equipment needed for propulsion, guidance, control, communications, food and survival, on an untried mission, to an unknown celestial body, and then return it safely to earth, re-entering the atmosphere at speeds of over 25,000 miles per hour, causing heat about half that of the temperature of the sun--almost as hot as it is here today--and do all this, and do it right, and do it first before this decade is out--then we must be bold.

I'm the one who is doing all the work, so we just want you to stay cool for a minute.

However, I think we're going to do it, and I think that we must pay what needs to be paid. I don't think we ought to waste any money, but I think we ought to do the job. And this will be done in the decade of the sixties. It may be done while some of you are still here at school at this college and university. It will be done during the term of office of some of the people who sit here on this platform. But it will be done. And it will be done before the end of this decade.

I am delighted that this university is playing a part in putting a man on the moon as part of a great national effort of the United States of America.

Many years ago the great British explorer George Mallory, who was to die on Mount Everest, was asked why did he want to climb it. He said, "Because it is there."

Well, space is there, and we're going to climb it, and the moon and the planets are there, and new hopes for knowledge and peace are there. And, therefore, as we set sail we ask God's blessing on the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked.

Thank you.



http://vesuvius.jsc.nasa.gov/er/seh/ricetalk.htm

What we've missed.

Here's working towards a better day, again!

[robertpaulsen]

56. Kicked and bookmarked!

Hey Octafish, I noticed you mentioned Promis as one of the things that's happened to America during the ultra-right leadership. I've just recently learned about Promis reading Crossing the Rubicon. Do you have anything bookmarked about Promis that you could post here? I'd sure appreciate it as I enjoy all your threads.

[Octafish]

58. Danny Casolaro died tying Inslaw/PROMIS to the BFEE.

WIRED magazine has an excellent overview of the Promis INSLAW affair...

The INSLAW Octopus

Software piracy, conspiracy, cover-up, stonewalling, covert action: Just another decade at the Department of Justice

By Richard L. Fricker

Hacking & Warez

The House Judiciary Committee lists these crimes as among the possible violations perpetrated by "high-level Justice officials and private individuals": >> Conspiracy to commit an offense >> Fraud >> Wire fraud >> Obstruction of proceedings before departments, agencies and committees >> Tampering with a witness >> Retaliation against a witness >> Perjury >> Interference with commerce by threats or violence >> Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) violations >> Transportation of stolen goods, securities, moneys >> Receiving stolen goods

Bill Hamilton, Inslaw & PROMIS

Who: Bill Hamilton and his wife, Nancy Hamilton, start Inslaw to nurture PROMIS (Prosecutors Management Information Systems).

Why #1: The DOJ, aware that its case management system is in dire need of automation, funds Inslaw and PROMIS. After creating a public-domain version, Inslaw makes significant enhancements to PROMIS and, aware that the US market for legal automation is worth $3 billion, goes private in the early '80s.

Why #2: Designed as case-management software for federal prosecutors, PROMIS has the ability to combine disparate databases, and to track people by their involvement with the legal system. Hamilton and others now claim that the DOJ has modified PROMIS to monitor intelligence operations, agents and targets, instead of legal cases.

By late November, 1992 the nation had turned its attention from the election-weary capital to Little Rock, Ark., where a new generation of leaders conferred about the future. But in a small Washington D.C. office, Bill Hamilton, president and founder of Inslaw Inc., and Dean Merrill, a former Inslaw vice president, were still very much concerned about the past.

The two men studied six photographs laid out before them. "Have you ever seen any of these men?" Merrill was asked. Immediately he singled out the second photo. In a separate line up, Hamilton's secretary singled out the same photo.
Both said the man had visited Inslaw in February 1983 for a presentation of PROMIS, Inslaw's bread-and-butter legal software. Hamilton, who knew the purpose of the line-up, identified the visitor as Dr. Ben Orr. At the time of his visit, Orr claimed to be a public prosecutor from Israel.

CONTINUED... (althought they might've misspelled "Eitan")

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/1.01/inslaw.html

Then here's a MONSTER of a web site...Print and distribute, please...

Nothing Is Secret

By Kelly Patricia O’Meara
[e-mail]

Insight uncovers a spy probe in the United States by the
Canadian government into the theft of computer software that allegedly allows surveillance of top-secret government computer systems.

EXCERPT...

But the keystone to this RCMP investigation is PROMIS, that universal bridge and monitoring system, which stands for Prosecutor’s Management Information System — a breakthrough computer software program originally developed in the early 1970s by the Hamiltons for case management by U.S. prosecutors. The first version of PROMIS was owned by the government since the development money was provided by the Department of Justice (DOJ), but something went awry on the way to proprietary development.

SNIP...

Seymour’s involvement with PROMIS began more than a decade ago while working as an investigative reporter on an unrelated story about high-level corruption within the sheriff’s department of the Central California town of Mariposa, near Yosemite National Park, where deputies reportedly were involved in illegal-drug activity. The dozen or so who were not involved repeatedly had begged the journalist to conduct an investigation. When she learned that one of the officers had taken the complaints to the state attorney general in Sacramento and within weeks was reported missing in an alleged boating accident on nearby Lake McClure, she launched her probe.

SNIP...

Within a week the Mountie had arranged to meet Seymour at her home to discuss aspects of his own secret investigation and begin the laborious task of copying thousands of documents Seymour had collected from an abandoned trailer in Death Valley belonging to a man at or near the center of the PROMIS controversy, Michael Riconosciuto, a boy genius, entrepreneur, convicted felon — and the man who has claimed that he modified the pirated PROMIS software. The documents provided specific information about Riconosciuto’s connections to the Cabazon Indian Reservation, where he claims to have carried out the modification, but they also painted a clear picture of the men with whom Riconosciuto associated, including mob figures, high-level government officials, intelligence and law-enforcement officers and informants — even convicted murderers.

SNIP...

“I sat there with my mouth wide open and my eyes practically popping out of my head — you know, that deer-in-the-headlights look,” Seymour recounts. “I couldn’t believe what this guy was telling us. It wasn’t anything I anticipated or even was prepared to hear.” She says, “McDade told us his investigation had to do with locating information on the possible sale of PROMIS software to the RCMP in the mid-1980s. He had found evidence in RCMP files that PROMIS may have been installed in the Canadian computer systems, and he said an investigation was initiated by his superiors at the RCMP.”
According to Seymour, “McDade said that the details of his findings in Canada could conceivably cause a major scandal in both Canada and the United States.… He said if his investigation is successful it could cause the entire Republican Party to be dismantled — that it would cease to exist in the U.S.” Hyperbole, perhaps, but bizarre stuff from a professional lawman.

CONTINUED...

http://www.apfn.org/apfn/octopus3.htm

[sundancekid]

66. amid a torrent of tears, a ripple of hope - thanks for these fine memories

kudos to you, Octafish, for spotlighting JFK's eternal flame

[Octafish]

69. Thanks, sundancekid!

As Merlin writes above, the Spirit of Camelot lives on inside each and every one who understands. The BFEE? They think this world is all there is. The fools.

"Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world." -- Percy Bysshe Shelley

[Eloriel]

72. Have you seen Madsden's recent email re the Kennedy

assassination?

PM me if not.