1 Anybody lookin'?
2 Whew.
3 <takes off prop cowboy hat, dusts it off, and puts it back on> So...how was Wednezzday?
4 I quate agree.
5 Quate, quate, quate.
6 I ducked a few missiles yesterday, picked up my hat, dusted it off, and got on with things. Fortunately I had spent much of this past weekend planning ahead.
7 The trouble with planning ahead is that I had to go back to last Friday.
8 This is okay, but I spent a good part of this past weekend working on all the new stuff I'll work on from now 'til the end of the semester.
9 Sometimes when you are TOO prepared you get eager.
10 I am especially excited about my non-fiction unit, featuring the fiftieth anniversary of the assassination of JFK.
11 The first thing I did in the morning was to have a student draw a map of Dealey Plaza on my whiteboard.
12 I spent a goodly part of the weekend re-researching that tragic day. I found tons of new and interesting things.
13 I also had to throw some things away.
14 Most people aren't really watching, but as we approach the anniversary on November 22, more and more wacky conspiracy theories will naturally surface.
15 I saw one conspiracy theory that slipped in aliens from outer space. I guess they tried zapping Kennedy from the Knoll.
16 The guy who came up with that one gave away my entire lesson plan for the week. So much for surprises.
17 I think he dubbed it The Single-Laser Theory. I saw the beam. The guy couldn't have done the zapping.
19 Sidebar: Some guy somewhere read this and instantly Googled it. I'm certain of it.
hashtag noshortageofmorons hashtag theresareasonIhaveajob
20 That was mentioned as a theory, by the way, but probably a planted one among the many to discredit people who have spent time researching this crime. I consider it a cold case. I also don't suspect aliens.
21 There were a few other suspects as well, including the driver of the limo, who somehow managed to pull out a gun in front of God and everybody (it's the reflection of the sun on some guy's hair), the Umbrella Man, a guy who opened a black umbrella and then closed it when the limousine passed him, Jackie, based on a theory that she hid a gun in a Lamb Chop puppet hidden under the roses, and my favorite, Joe Dimaggio.
22 Why of course! Dimaggio! Aha moment!
23 Fun times. I'm about ready to break out the party hats and whistles.
24 I'm going to enjoy the unit, but you can bet that all of the above won't be a part of it.
25 I'll use reasonably sane resources. I won't list them all here. Most are respected men such as Professor Peter Dale Scott (ret.) from U.C.Berkeley, Lietenant L. Fletcher Prouty, Chief of Special Operations/Joint Chiefs of Staff, New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison (although his reticence about mob connections leaves some of his work suspect), author Russ Baker, who wrote the quintessential Family of Secrets, and finally the incredible Mae Brussell and her protege, political researcher David Emory. I will also include some work by both Mark Lane and David Groden, even though some of their stuff can be dismissed.
26 What impressed me about Lane, who's monumental Rush to Judgment set the table for all conspiracy research, is watching old film and seeing how amazingly early he was on to a lot of things. I'm surprised he lived to tell about it.
27 Facts are what work. Speculation, even while logical, must be examined carefully. Sometimes even the most revered of these researchers must be brought into examination. With the JFK assassination, there simply ain't no perfect. But there is logic and facts. Scott, by the way, disliked the term "conspiracy theory" because of its pop connotations of screwballs and nut cases tilting at windmills. He preferred the term "dark politics." Personally, I don't care. I just spent time entering the mirrored labyrinth of this story, and have enjoyed the various avenues. Why? Because something huge happened. We were clearly lied to by some extremely shady people. That's why. And that is also why I like to look at the facts, even if the process of looking might be for personal edification. I enjoy passing this torch to students, however, since students by nature enjoy sleuthing.
28 The facts are that the doctors at Parkland hospital in Dallas reported entirely different wounds than the doctors who flew the body to the Bethesda Medical Facility in Maryland.
29 The facts have fifty witnesses who saw or heard gunshots from behind the fence on the now famous Grassy Knoll.
30 The facts are that Lyndon Johnson's protege Bobby Baker was being scandalized, and LBJ was not only staring at losing his job, but he was staring down the pipe of prison time as well.
31 The facts are that Allen Dulles, who basically ran the government's commission, along with his brother John Foster,had strong links to I.G. Farben, the German company that funded the Nazi death camps.
32 Want more?
33 Nah, I think that's a dazzling sampler.
34 Look stuff up.
35 It's in the news, and there's lots of fun places to see truth.
36 Meanwhile, you chew on all of this. I have a saloon to run.
37 See you again.
38 Peace.
~H~
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