Christopher T. George

Hi Harry You don't think that the movement to eradicate or move aside the Indians would have occurred anyway, whether or not the Indians sided with the British? The Indians who fought for the U.S. side during the War of 1812 were treated no better than the ones who fought for the British. The simple truth is that "Manifest Destiny" meant that the Red Man was in the way. All my best Chris

Hi John Many thanks for undertaking this work, which is very helpful. Chris

Hi David Thanks for your reply, David. As you advise, I will seek out Fetzer's Film Hoax book. You might be right about the JFK assassination being solved before Jack the Ripper ... however studies in neither area are helped by people manufacturing "evidence" were there is none or letting their conspiracy fancies run away with them. All my best Chris

This is muddled thinking. The situation the USA and UK find themselves in is in fact entirely the making of their own feeble minded governments. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Thanks, Andy. See this article that I am going to partly quote-- "A cold-war tool for the terror era" By John Hughes Christian Science Monitor May 5, 2004 SALT LAKE CITY- Some people argue that the war on terrorism is a war between Islam and Christianity. But actually, the war that will do much to determine the future of terrorism is the war between Islamic extremists and Islamic moderates. This is a war of worldwide scope, played out not only in the Middle East but in lands from Indonesia to Pakistan, and such European countries as Spain and France and Germany, where sizable Muslim communities are beset by rising Islamic radicalism. The United States, primary target of Islamic terrorism, has a major stake in the outcome of this war. If moderation is the victor, political and economic freedom will flourish and extremism will wither. If moderation does not prevail, terrorism will become emboldened and even more dangerous. The US cannot stand aloof from this civil war between Muslims. One of its principal weapons in aiding the moderate cause is public diplomacy, our bureaucratic term for better explaining US motives, policies, and democratic ideals to an often skeptical audience. From International Education Matters <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Forgive me for being abrupt but all you quote is surely nothing more than predictable nonsense (but nonsense and propaganda all the same) from the Christian Science Monitor! Terrorism geared against America, Spain and Britain owes its origin to the aggressive economic, political and military offensives waged against a significant number of Islamic countries by the very wealthy western countries in recent years. It would be easy and hopelessly misguided to say all this is a "religious" issue. Such a view would vitiate any hope of an intelligent resolution. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Hi Andy I am sorry but it is you who is being short sighted. In essence the ultimate aim of Bin Laden and other fundamentalists is to unseat the governments of Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and what is happening between the West and Bin Laden, Zaquari and other terrorists is an outgrowth of the struggle in the Middle East. It is the fault of the western governments to think that the ire of the terrorists is mainly directed at them. It is not although I will agree that western intervention in the Middle East is firing the Jihad movement at this time. Chris

This is muddled thinking. The situation the USA and UK find themselves in is in fact entirely the making of their own feeble minded governments. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Thanks, Andy. See this article that I am going to partly quote-- "A cold-war tool for the terror era" By John Hughes Christian Science Monitor May 5, 2004 SALT LAKE CITY- Some people argue that the war on terrorism is a war between Islam and Christianity. But actually, the war that will do much to determine the future of terrorism is the war between Islamic extremists and Islamic moderates. This is a war of worldwide scope, played out not only in the Middle East but in lands from Indonesia to Pakistan, and such European countries as Spain and France and Germany, where sizable Muslim communities are beset by rising Islamic radicalism. The United States, primary target of Islamic terrorism, has a major stake in the outcome of this war. If moderation is the victor, political and economic freedom will flourish and extremism will wither. If moderation does not prevail, terrorism will become emboldened and even more dangerous. The US cannot stand aloof from this civil war between Muslims. One of its principal weapons in aiding the moderate cause is public diplomacy, our bureaucratic term for better explaining US motives, policies, and democratic ideals to an often skeptical audience. From International Education Matters

I posted this on another thread but I will post it here as well. Hi all Time to revive this thread. Having also read the Hoax site but not, I admit, having read Fetzer's Film Hoax book, I don't find the arguments on the website too convincing. Jack White seems to imply that the whole Zapruder film is a hoax but I would say to that there is simply far too much to fake: all the people standing on the grass, the car, the secret service and police as well as the principles in the car. The idea of propaganda films or Mary Poppins being "proof" that the Zapruder film was faked in its entirety will not wash. I agree that there are oddities about the film which might point to manipulation of the images in certain frames, similar to the probable doctoring of the JFK autopsy photos and the photograph of Lee Harvey Oswald with the rifle, and possibly frames missing, but again there is too much in the Zapruder film to fake to claim that the entire film is a hoax to the extent that it could take in my myself and other reasonably minded observers such as Congressional committees or other investigators. Best regards Chris George

Hi all Time to revive this thread. Having also read the Hoax site but not, I admit, having read Fetzer's Film Hoax book, I don't find the arguments on the website too convincing. Jack White seems to imply that the whole Zapruder film is a hoax but I would say to that there is simply far too much to fake: all the people standing on the grass, the car, the secret service and police as well as the principles in the car. The idea of propaganda films or Mary Poppins being "proof" that the Zapruder film was faked in its entirety will not wash. I agree that there are oddities about the film which might point to manipulation of the images in certain frames, similar to the probable doctoring of the JFK autopsy photos and the photograph of Lee Harvey Oswald with the rifle, and possibly frames missing, but again there is too much in the Zapruder film to fake to claim that the entire film is a hoax to the extent that it could take in my myself and other reasonably minded observers such as Congressional committees or other investigators. Best regards Chris George

Hi all I agree that the British and American forces in Iraq are only provoking the situation and creating more Jihadists. I made the point to my friend Jay here at work to whom I talk about the International Situation that what the U.S. and U.K. is really caught up in is a Moslem civil war, and if you really look at it the Moslems are killing each other at a much more astounding rate than Moslems killing Westerners. It is Sunnis versus Shiites or jihadists versus the westernized Moslems. Perhaps the unfortunate killing of the Egyptian envoy in Iraq will persuade the governments of Egypt and other Arab countries that they will have to set their own house in order. That might be one way ahead out the the spiral of evil the world is in. All my best Chris

Hi John A sad, sad day. Thanks for these updates on the unfolding tragedy, John. My sympathies to anyone who has lost anyone in the bombings. Since I work in Washington, D.C., and travel the D.C. Metro and train from Baltimore to the capital daily this makes me feel vulnerable. All my best Chris

Hi Steve I love your "Chosen People" line: Whilst we in old Europe have grown use to Assassinations of a deeply political nature, many Americans feel that, because of their special circumstances,such things can not happen there. Steve, surely you must know that Assassination is as American as Apple Pie. Consider the assassinations of Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, and Kennedy, as well as the attempts on the lives of Roosevelt, Truman, Ford, and Reagan. Meanwhile, Great Britain has only had one Prime Minister assassinated: Spencer Percival in 1812. Now who's the "Chosen People"? All my best Chris William McKinley, 25th president of the United States, was shot by anarchist Leon Czolgosz on April 6, 1901, and died eight days later.

Hi John Many thanks for these references. We are always looking for such websites to report in Ripperologist. In regard to the repetition of names in history, this is of course the reason why genealogical research can be so tricky, that often you land on the same name or a series of linked names such as those you cite, and end up on entirely the wrong path. All my best Chris

Hi John Unfortunately I believe you are right that the U.S. public is not well informed on the problems of global warming. The U.S. right has been successful in painting environmentalists as "tree huggers" and, worse still, "liberals." Someone like Al Gore who speaks out on global warning is characterized as a kook. I am not convinced of your statement that "The US media works closely with the Bush administration to keep information about global warming from the American people." That sounds too much like the conspiracist in you talking, John. I think these problems are covered in the U.S. media but that the political forces that need to be mobilized to get the message to the U.S. public are not doing so, partly because the present power of the Right and the fact that the Democrats are in disarray given the better organization of the Republicans and the Far Right. All my best Chris

Hi John John, you may be speaking narrowly about Bushy's policy or, more correctly, non-policy in regard to global warning but I took your post to be a statement about Bush's policies in general. If so, your analysis leaves out Bush's evident strong motivation to please the Christian Right, which has powered his blocking of embryonic stem cell research and which will surely be the basis for his Supreme Court nominations, given Sandra Day O'Connor's retirement and the likely retirement also of ailing Chief Justice William Rehnquist. I don't think you can argue that Bush's aim to nominate anti-abortion judges either to the Supreme Court or lower federal courts is because that is "in the short-term interests of [George W. Bush's] financial backers." Best regards Chris

Hi Harry Nice poem celebrating what is best about these United States. Here's another to go with it. . . Deep Impact The NASA techs and scientists give each other high fives. Dressed in red and blue shirts especially for July the Fourth, they're joyfully ecstatic to impact the comet with their probe, "igniting a dazzling fireworks display in space," CNN extolls. Planned destruction, shock and awe in the name of science, like the bullet ship in Georges Méliès' Voyage dans la Lune filmed in 1902: one in the eye for the green cheese Moon. Disregard the destruction, NASA reassures Earth worrywarts, "The comet will not split in half or be jarred out of its orbit; the impact will pose no danger to Earth in the near future." And what if life exists on it? Inside the comet may be the DNA that made you and those NASA geeks. Christopher T. George Voyage dans la Lune (1902) Cosmic Fireworks on July 4

Hi John I have thought that more often than not the double-barrelled name is a legalism -- though John Wilkes Booth is a clear example of a killer known by that name in life before his famous crime. In other words, Lee Harvey Oswald is known by that name now but pre-assassination, he was Lee Oswald. Similarly, the man who shot John Lennon is known to us as Mark David Chapman but prior to Lennon's shooting on December 9, 1980, he was Mark Chapman. And another example, the 1950's London serial killer and necrophiliac known as John Reginald Christie was simply John Christie before he was arrested. This is from the rules for criminal law and procedure for Colorado but would I think be standard for criminal prosecutions in most states and countries: "A law enforcement agency, when requesting the filing of any criminal case, shall submit to the district attorney the arresting agency's name, the offender's full name and date of birth. . ." Best regards Chris

Hi all I'm still trying to get my mind round what I have been reading that Elvis looked like Officer J.D. Tippit who looked like JFK, and that it might be Tippit who is buried in Arlington National Cemetery instead of JFK. How can they be so sure? It might be Elvis in Arlington if Elvis looked like JFK, and so it must have been a lookalike fatsuit Elvis who died in 1977. . . Chris

Hi John Bush's speech last night was pretty much what was expected, and what he has been saying for over a year, that the United States must stay the course. But then when things are going wrong, is he likely to say anything else? To admit that the situation in Iraq is deteriorating might be to admit that he made a mistake going into Iraq in the first place. So of course he is going to grit it out and hope that democracy in Iraq will take hold. However, I think two things: the American public is become increasingly jaded with the relentless bad news coming out of Iraq, and beginning to question if the American sacrifice in terms of service people and money is worth it, and second, the American military is stretched to its utter capacity by the crisis in Iraq, and simply can't spare many more soldiers for the fight, and not enough to defeat the insurgency. Bush's argument is that we are fighting the terrorists there instead of here, but what about if the United States is hit by a major terrorist attack? Would that show that he has got his priorities wrong, and that more should have been done to protect this country than to have ventured into a middle eastern country and got stuck there? Best regards Chris George

Hi John Sounds like a coupling made in heaven, just like Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley. Actually while not impossible the story does not sound too credible given the relentless spotlight that both JFK Jr and Diana lived in. Chris

Hi Ms Scully John Simkin kindly directed me to this thread in case I might have any thoughts that could be helpful to you in developing your project. Frankly it seems to me that the topic you are thinking of pursuing, the possibility of a possible secret change of foreign policy by JFK after the Cuban Missile Crisis is a bit intangible and hard to know. Thus it would seem to me it does not make for a ready topic to tackle. On the other hand, you may view your major proposed field of interest to be foreign policy and thus might be able to handle this topic ably, I don't know. I mentioned in a recent post that what I, as a relative newcomer to JFK assassination studies, have been getting out of the Education Boards is an introduction to the field. I did tune into a statement by one researcher that seemed wrong about the photos taken in the book depository that the writer thought showed they were not taken in daylight. I actually looking at the photos think the situation is the opposite to what the writer thought, that the photos were taken in daylight although there is a question about them that I would like to discuss. Ms Scully, you might focus on a similar topic within the field to determine if it is indeed true that evidence was tampered with. It would seem to me such a topic would be easier to handle and offer more ready information than a more intangible question. Just my thoughts on the matter. Meanwhile, I do wish you success with your project. Best regards Chris

Hi John What you are stating of course are the realities of war in the Napoleonic era and you make a number of good points. War is a slaughterhouse and it certainly was then with the weapons in use and the primitive state of medicine to cope with the horrendous wounds caused by cannonfire and musketry. Your points about Nelson's superiority in terms of firepower and trained men against an inferior enemy is also well taken. On the other hand I do think that if you believe what you are stating is not reflected in the Trafalgar celebrations, it is up to historians such as yourself to speak up and state the correct reality. I very much do believe that historians have a duty to rectify the myths of history and to teach the truth and so educate the public about the subject to hand. Best regards Chris George

Hi Adam He was too big and fat to fit in the sniper's nest... Oh, no that was the later Elvis. Seriously, he was better at shooting out TV screens, wasn't he? I would be interested to know who has put forward this seemingy wild theory that there is any sort of link between JFK's assassination and Elvis's death. Sounds doubtful to me. All my best Chris

Hi all I am glad Steve Turner issued an invitation to a number of those of us who are interested in the Whitechapel murders to come over to Education Forum. Having done so, I find there is much more here that interests me besides the always lively debate on Who Was Jack the Ripper? -- a question that in all likelihood will never be satisfactorily settled. Namely, I have been able to think about other problems in history such as the JFK assassination, and, as I have just posted on, whether to celebrate the Battle of Trafalgar... to which I, as a military historian (as well as a Ripperologist!), say, yes, most definitely, because all history is important, and all history holds lessons for those who follow. In terms of the JFK assassination debate, by the way, I have some opinions on those photographs that were taken, allegedly in daylight, in the Texas Book Depository with the blacked out (night time?) window, and I have been looking for the thread to post my ideas. Could someone please direct me to the thread, which I believe had links to a site with the pictures taken of Oswald's supposed "sniper's nest" in the Depository. Thanks! All my best Chris

As and Englishman I share your views. Once again schools are being encouraged to boost the egos of young people about its successful past. There are far more important subjects to study than old military victories. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Hi Dan With due respect to John Simkin and Juan Carlos, as a military historian, I really do think there is utility in commemorating what happened in old battles beyond the inevitable breast beating. As a British-born historian now living in the United States, and a historian of the War of 1812, I believe study of the past can help us avoid the mistakes of the present and future. In the era the I most study, it is the regrettable lack of preparation of the Americans to defend Washington, D.C., from British attack and burning in 1814, not to mention the lack of preparedness of the Madison administration in declaring war on Great Britain on June 18, 1812. On another thread in this forum, it is the failure of the federal government to properly protect the then President, John F. Kennedy, in 1963. To repeat the old adage, we are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past if we don't guard against them. Dan, in terms of Nelson, I think the lesson is the benefit of having a far-seeing and capable military commander. This seems a simplistic notion but how many troops have gone into battle with mediocre and less-than-prepared commanders (the U.S. at the beginning of the War of 1812, or the Union at the beginning of the Civil War, provide two cases in point). Last October, I gave a talk to the St. George's Society of Baltimore at their "Trafalgar Tea" and I spoke about what Nelson means to me, as an Englishman, and cited the Nelson Monument, on Exchange Flags in Liverpool (by the Town Hall), completed in 1823, as a powerful display of how Englishmen felt about Nelson, with naked men in irons around a round plinth, symbollizing the tyranny of Napoleon, and reminding Britons of the day of how Nelson had helped free Europe from the grip of Napoleonic hegemony. See below. All the best Chris See "Nelson's Monument at Liverpool" from the Mirror of Literature Issue 338, 1828 Best regards Chris George

You won the war of independence???? Hmmm... what about economic dependence these days on other countries? Best regards Chris George

Hi all I and my grandparents had gone to see an amateur dramatics play in Waterloo, north of Liverpool on the evening of Friday, November 22. It was an Agatha Christie-type mystery and one of the actresses was a friend of the family. I was age fifteen at the time and attending school in Liverpool. The cast learned about President Kennedy's assassination during the performance of the play and only made the announcement of the assassination to the shocked audience at the end of the show. I also have a recollection of the assassination of Robert Kennedy in summer 1968 when I was age 20. I was working as a clerk in Barclay's Bank in downtown Liverpool, beside the old Town Hall. I heard someone say as I was out for walking at lunchtime on Water Street that "Kennedy has been shot." I along with a number of other people thought it was a joking reference to JFK's murder, but we soon learned the news that RFK had been murdered as well. Best regards Chris George