Paine was buried in New Rochelle on his farm. Most American newspapers reprinted the obituary notice from the New York Citizen, which read in part: "He had lived long, did some good and much harm." Only six mourners came to his funeral.
Our species (modern humans, or Homo sapiens sapiens) is over 100,000 years old. For 95 percent of this time it has not been characterised at all by many of the forms of behaviour ascribed to ‘human nature’ today.
Thomas Merton has been my guide through a story of deepening dialogue, assassination, and a hoped-for resurrection. While Kennedy is the subject of this story, Merton is its first witness and chorus from his unique perspective in a monastery in the hills of Kentucky. In terms of where this narrative began and how it has been guided, it is contemplative history. Thanks to Merton’s questions and insights, grounded on a detachment few other observers seemed to have, we can return to the history of JFK, the Cold War, and Dallas on a mind-bending pilgrimage of truth. Reality may indeed be bigger than we think.
“Historical truth matters,” said former Princeton historian Martin Duberman, now a Distinguished Professor of History Emeritus at CCNY. “As a nation, we care little for it, much preferring simplistic distortions that sustain our national myths about ‘freedom,’ ‘opportunity,’ and ‘democracy.’ You can’t grow into adulthood when you’re fed pabulum all your life. And that’s why we remain a nation of adolescents, with a culture concerned far more with celebrityhood than with suffering.”
At a private dinner five years after the Kennedy assassination, O’Neill recalled a conversation with Kenny O’Donnell and Dave Powers, during which they had told him that at least “two shots” had come from in front of the motorcade “behind the fence.”11 “That’s not what you told the Warren Commission,” the astonished Tip O’Neill had said to O’Donnell. “You’re right,” O’Donnell replied. “I told the FBI what I had heard, but they said it couldn’t have happened that way and that I must have been imagining things. So I testified the way they wanted me to. I just didn’t want to stir up any more pain and trouble for the family.”
Bobby Kennedy, upon learning that his brother had been killed, placed a telephone call to a ranking official at CIA headquarters in Langley—reportedly less than an hour after the shooting—demanding to know, “Did your outfit have anything to do with this horror?”15 Bobby’s question was confounding and staggering.
After reviewing the 16-millimeter film at NPIC that Sunday evening, November 24, with his assistant Morgan Bennett Hunter, he was sure, he told the ARRB, that “about eight (8) shots” had been fired at the president’s limousine.
“The only time in my entire life I ever saw fear in my father was when I would ask him about who really killed Kennedy,” recalled Toni. “He would look at me. I could see his fear. ‘Don’t push me’ he would say, adding, ‘It would be dangerous for you to know the truth.’ And then he would just change the subject.”
Ignorance dipped in fear-mongering and dazzled by fabricated myths had become the breeding ground for official stupidity, darkness, and senseless wars. Ignorance had once again become evil’s greatest handyman. As Benjamin Franklin wisely noted, “It is in the region of ignorance that tyranny begins.” Mary Pinchot Meyer had been struck down before she could speak publicly. Leo Damore had fallen, very likely poisoned into uncontrollable despair. John Davis, having picked up Leo’s mantle, finally opted out, his life threatened. He “wanted to live,” he said, shortly before a crippling stroke.
4 comments:
Mike Gold
said...
Charles:
I found the details about Oswald's attempted assassination of General Edwin "Ted" Walker to be fascinating. If I didn't know better, I'd say the truth about what happened to JFK begins with the Walker story. No coups, no CIA plots, just two left wing Marxists from the Fair Play for Cuba Committee who didn't like the way Kennedy was dealing with Castro.
No less tragic, the truth may be just that mundane.
Well, what I'm saying is that Oswald had help shooting at Walker in Dallas in April of '63. The neighbors reported two men leaving the scene. Not only that, someone poisoned the barking dog that lived next to the Walker residence the night of the attempted shooting. If that weren't enough, the rifle that Oswald used to shoot at Walker was the same weapon used to fire at Kennedy. It's all in the Dallas Morning News. You can read about it online.
As for General Walker, he later testified before the Warren Commission that he believed that two men attempted to kill him, and that the same two individuals later fired on Kennedy.
Yes, there appears to be a conspiracy. Yes, shots were fired from the front of the motorcade, but the individuals involved, and their motives, appear to be something much more down to earth.
Obviously, people will believe what they want to. But I think the facts of the Kennedy assassination are much simpler than what people want to believe. General Walker's story is really worth looking at. It may just point toward what really happened to Kennedy.
Charles Deemer teaches screenwriting at Portland State University. He is a playwright, novelist, screenwriter, and pioneer in hyperdrama. He was the editor of Oregon Literary Review and the artistic director of Small Screen Video.
"Having written almost daily for over 40 years, I can say that writing is not a job or a vocation or a profession--it is an existence. It is a way of being in the world."
"Wall Street owns the country. It is no longer a government of the people, by the people and for the people, but a government of Wall Street, by Wall Street, and for Wall Street." Mary Ellen Lease, 1890
"All humanity's troubles come from not knowing how to sit still in one room," - Blaise Pascal.
4 comments:
Charles:
I found the details about Oswald's attempted assassination of General Edwin "Ted" Walker to be fascinating. If I didn't know better, I'd say the truth about what happened to JFK begins with the Walker story. No coups, no CIA plots, just two left wing Marxists from the Fair Play for Cuba Committee who didn't like the way Kennedy was dealing with Castro.
No less tragic, the truth may be just that mundane.
no way because the undeniable fact is there were front entry wounds. everything else is less certain.
Well, what I'm saying is that Oswald had help shooting at Walker in Dallas in April of '63. The neighbors reported two men leaving the scene. Not only that, someone poisoned the barking dog that lived next to the Walker residence the night of the attempted shooting. If that weren't enough, the rifle that Oswald used to shoot at Walker was the same weapon used to fire at Kennedy. It's all in the Dallas Morning News. You can read about it online.
As for General Walker, he later testified before the Warren Commission that he believed that two men attempted to kill him, and that the same two individuals later fired on Kennedy.
Yes, there appears to be a conspiracy. Yes, shots were fired from the front of the motorcade, but the individuals involved, and their motives, appear to be something much more down to earth.
Obviously, people will believe what they want to. But I think the facts of the Kennedy assassination are much simpler than what people want to believe. General Walker's story is really worth looking at. It may just point toward what really happened to Kennedy.
What I've read, this connection is a Warren Comm invention.
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