Charles Drago
-
Posts
1,504 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Store
Posts posted by Charles Drago
-
-
The "Truth Movement" (AKA People Who Disagree With The Findings Of The 9/11 Commission And Believe Official Collusion)...
(emphasis added by Drago
"Truthers" --- are most accurately defined, in the context of 9/11, as "People Who, in Informed, Intelligent, Courageous Manners, Take Legitimate Issue with the Official Government Conspiracy Theory of the Attacks on 9/11/01."
Charles,
While this is likely a description of the majority within this group, I have personally encountered some "truthers" whose tactics were not even good enough to be defined as 'Ill-mannered'. On one occasion, when I attempted to enter into a civil discussion with a few 'leaflet handlers' on a street corner, as soon as they determined that I was not going to fall into compliant agreement with their 'point of view', they immediately resorted to ad homs and one guy even threatened me physically.
Not all of these people are 'Courageously mannered'. When Bill Maher refused to enter into an impromptu discussion of '9/11 truth' on his cable show he was subjected to loud and threatening derision (heard on the show being screamed by some rowdy audience members).
Maybe the "truthers", like any group, has its share of the ill mannered. On the other side of the coin, I have also seen many "truthers" act with zen like restraint in the face of an assault of derision.
Peter,
I am in accord with your comments as offered above and in the previous post.
Charles
-
The "Truth Movement" (AKA People Who Disagree With The Findings Of The 9/11 Commission And Believe Official Collusion)...
(emphasis added by Drago
I'm afraid, Evan, that you've lured me out of retirement yet again.
Your definition of "Truth Movement" is so flawed, so at variance with fact, and so cripplingly superficial as to provoke suspicions of disingenuousness.
I dare you even to define "official" in any reasonable way within this context. Do you mean "governmental?" If so, are you referencing elected and/or appointed uber-government personnel, or would you direct our attention to those who operate at what Peter Dale Scott would term the "deep political" levels?
By extension, would you describe those of us who recognize conspiracy in the death of JFK to be historical fact as "People Who Disagree with the Findings of the Warren Commission and Believe Official Collusion?"
Do you really want to do this, Evan?
"Truthers" -- the most condescending, manipulative, confrontational, designed-to-demean epithet to come down the pike since "conspiracy buff" -- are most accurately defined, in the context of 9/11, as "People Who, in Informed, Intelligent, Courageous Manners, Take Legitimate Issue with the Official Government Conspiracy Theory of the Attacks on 9/11/01."
Period.
Count me among their number.
Would some of my comrades indict "Bush" and "Cheney" as 9/11 perps? Certainly.
Do not count me among their number.
Am I any less a "Truther?"
One need not assign blame to recognize, analyze, and present proof of and detail criminal activity.
One need not name the gunmen in Dealey Plaza to prove that there were multiple gunmen in Dealey Plaza.
One need not name the 9/11 conspirators to prove that the acts were carried out in such manners as to demonstrate the non-viability of the official U.S. government conspiracy theory.
Your unreasonable and all-too-common definition of "Truthers" promotes confusion and derision. I suspect that, in doing so, it is living up to the expectations of its designers.
-
Dear Cigdem,
You come to this site like a breath of fresh air.
The films (dramas) that most powerfully influenced my own art, in chronological order of viewing:
Goldfinger
The Thomas Crown Affair (original)
A Man for All Seasons
2001: A Space Odyssey
The Lion in Winter
Sweet Love, Bitter
The Connection
The Godfather
The Godfather, Part II
The Producers (original)
Hannah and Her Sisters
The Night of Shooting Stars
The Leopard
Raging Bull
Au Revoir les Infants
There Will Be Blood
-
The Warren Commission Report.
The rest in chronological order, followed by the approximate age at which I read them:
On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Ian Fleming (11)
Against the Fall of Night/Childhood's End, Arthur C. Clarke (15)
The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway (15)
The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald (15)
Ulysses, Joyce (17)
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, John Le Carre (22)
Legends of the Fall, Jim Harrison (31)
In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead, James Lee Burke (45)
At least three more that escape me at this late hour.
-
I dare you: Show me one that says it better.
Charles
***
The sleepless nights,
the daily fights,
the quick toboggan when you reach the heights,
I miss the kisses and I miss the bites,
I wish I were in love again!
The broken dates,
the endless waits,
the lovely loving and the hateful hates,
the conversations with the flying plates,
I wish I were in love again!
No more pain,
no more strain,
now I'm sane but ...
I would rather be gaga!
The pulled-out fur
of cat and cur,
the fine mismating of a him and her,
I've learned my lesson, but I wish I were
in love again!
REFRAIN 2
The furtive sigh,
the blackened eye,
the words "I'll love you till the day I day,"
the self-deception the believes the lie,
I wish I were in love again!
When love congeals
it soon reveals
the faint aroma of performing seals,
the double-crossings of a pair of heels.
I wish I were in love again!
No more care,
no despair,
I'm all there now,
But I'd rather be punch-drunk!
Belive me sir,
I much prefer
the classic battle of a him and her,
I don't like quiet and
I wish I were in love again!
"I Wish I Were in Love Again" from Babes in Arms
Rodgers and Hart
No, not Roy and William S.
Richard and Lorenz.
"The faint aroma of performing seals" ... Indeed.
-
I only miss her when I think of her,
And I think of her all the time
-
In America, public education is a joke.
-
I see your face before me,
-
All The Sad Young Men
by Tommy Wolf and Fran Landesman
Sing a song of sad young men, glasses full of rye
All the news is bad again, kiss your dreams goodbye
All the sad young men, sitting in the bars
Knowing neon nights, and missing all the stars
All the sad young men, drifting through the town
Drinking up the night, trying not to drown
All the sad young men, singing in the cold
Trying to forget, that they're growing old
All the sad young men, choking on their youth
Trying to be brave, running from the truth
Autumn turns the leaves to gold, slowly dies the heart
Sad young men are growing old, that's the cruellest part
All the sad young men, seek a certain smile
Someone they can hold, for just a little while
Tired little girl, does the best she can
Trying to be gay, for a sad young men
While a grimy moon, watches from above
All the sad young men, who play at making love
Misbegotten moon shine for sad young men
Let your gentle light guide them home again
All the sad, sad, sad, young men
_________________________________________________
For those who return contained or minimized.
Vocal version: Anita O'Day
Instrumental version: Art Pepper
-
A new day, a new favorite.
For today: "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most," Ella Fitzgerald, from the Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie LP.
-
A man goes to the doctor and is seated on the exam table.
The doctor says somberly, "You're going to have to stop masturbating."
The man asks, "Why?"
The doctor says, "Because I'm trying to examine you."
***
What is E.T. short for?
His legs are only a foot long.
***
A man goes to the doctor. "Doc," he says, "you gotta help me. I have terrible flatulence. They're silent, but they're deadly. Oh no, there goes one and it's terrible! Total silence, but man, I'm killing small animals. Uh oh, there goes another silent monster. Doctor, what do you think's wrong with me?"
And the doctor says, "Well, for starters, you're loosing your hearing."
-
BK,
I haven't attended a Folk Festival, alas.
I was born in 1952, so the heyday of the NJF was before my time. Wein returned in 1980, when I was Rhode Island's only regularly published jazz critic. He hired me to host the festival, and I was very flattered. I was asked back five more times.
There are great stories to be told, and I hope someday to get around to the telling.
I'll read your attached concert review now. And thanks for this most pleasant exchange.
Best,
Charles
-
Bill,
It was sheer serendipity. I was there representing an elderly, house-bound member of my extended family on business matters. It was a brief trip on the ultra-cheap, with little chance for tourism. In and out. However, I did manage to place a call to an American attorney whose acquaintance I had made a few years earlier when I was MC of the Newport Jazz Festival (the year of George Wein's return as festival promoter to the City by the Sea). She had told me then that she was transferring to a Tokyo office; her field was intellectual property law.
We connected. She had an extra ticket. My seat was not a good one, but I think I can see myself during one of the crowd shots on the laser disc version of the concert.
I flew home the next day. Somewhere around the archives are the program book and a huge, beautiful promotional poster.
By the way, in his inimitable fashion, Sinatra sang the lyric, "Ruck be a rady tonight." Seriously.
Charles
-
The Bill Evans Trio, Providence, RI, 1980 (the year of his passing).
Ella Fitzgerald with the Count Basie Orchestra, Newport, RI, 1978.
Shirley Horn, Scullers, Boston, MA, 2006.
Mark Murphy, Scullers, 2007.
Pepper Adams, Allary, Providence, 1978.
Phil Woods Quintet, Sandy's Jazz Revival, Beverly, MA, 1975.
Duke Ellington Orchestra, Veterans Memorial Auditorium, Providence, 1969.
Joe Henderson, Yoshi's, Oakland, CA, 1983.
Ella Fitzgerald, Ronnie Scott's, London, 1974.
Frank Sinatra, Budokan Hall, Tokyo, 1985.
Frank Sinatra, Radio City Music Hall, New York, 1990
-
Just a brief head-in-the-tent visit to restate the base line:
Until the life of the terrorist is held to be as sacred as the life of the terrorized, the terror will continue.
The executioner is, by definition, suicidal.
Charles
It works both ways.
The terrorist's aim, by definiton, is to terrorize, therefore, no life is sacred and all can be expendable for "the cause"
however unreasonable it might be.
Considering this, the terrorized feel no sympathy for those who make them suffer, which is understandable.
But wanting to see them hanged is extreme.
The more extreme the terror, the greater the impulse to vengeance, the more sacred, liberating, and lasting the impacts of forgiveness.
-
Them that's got shall get,
Them that's not shall lose
-
Just a brief head-in-the-tent visit to restate the base line:
Until the life of the terrorist is held to be as sacred as the life of the terrorized, the terror will continue.
The executioner is, by definition, suicidal.
Charles
-
BK,
The key very well may be Mitchell Rogovin.
CD
-
Edit: One quick comment - I have yet to see a photo of Roland 'Bud' Culligan. Does anyone have a photo of him?
- lee
Can't help chiming in on this one, and for an obvious reason.
For a time -- I believe in the late 1970s/early 1980s -- Culligan was incarcerated in Rhode Island's state prison, the Adult Correctional Institution.
He regulary spoke with the ACI's Christian pastoral counselor of the period (we'll call him "Al"), who was a devoted follower of a northern RI-based, politically active, Fundamentalist minister named Cugini.
When Al, with whom I was casually acquainted, learned that I was a JFK "buff," he told me some of what Culligan had been spinning to him:
-- Culligan was an Air Force colonel.
-- He possessed that rarest of U.S. government-sanctioned licenses -- the license to kill (cue John Barry).
-- He had been a major facilitator (my word) for the JFK hit in the area of funds transfers to the mechanics (mine again).
-- He was frequently moved from one state prison to another by the feds, who had jurisdiction over him.
-- He was released from the ACI and for a brief time worked with Cugini.
-- Culligan remained in touch with Al after the former left RI and took up residence with his wife in Florida.
-- Al and Cugini believed that an act of arson that destroyed the controversial Cugini's church was a "keep your mouths shut" warning related to Culligan.
I corresponded and spoke, respectively, with Harold Weisberg and Mary Ferrell about this character. Both had Culligan files, one of which included personal correspondence. One considered him nothing more than a disinforming nuisance, the other was not so sure.
My sense -- and it's only at the level of instinct -- is that there's a Culligan/Delk Simpson connection -- direct and/or thematic. I lean toward the latter, but I can hear George Michael whispering, "The third alternative, Charles ... "
Efforts to retrieve Culligan's records from state sources in RI were totally unsuccessful.
-
Why not?
-
Apologies to those who may be crestfallen that once again I break my vow of silence.
Hoagland is the anti-Jacques Vallee -- the white noise to the harmonies of truth.
-
For two very good reasons I am obliged to break my self-imposed public silence on the JFK assassination and address the theme of this thread.
(Before I go into detail, let it be noted for the record that, since the early 1990s, I have thought of Vince Palamara as a friend as well as a comrade in arms. We've enjoyed many important [to me, at least] conversations on the subject of Secret Service culpability and related issues, and I'll never forget the impact of Vince's initial screening, to a JFK Lancer audience in Dallas, of the footage he discovered of Henry Rybka being ordered to stand down at Love Field. For now, the friendship remains intact. But Vince will forgive me if I look elsewhere for someone to watch my six.)
Reason One: Within just a few weeks of its publication, Vince phoned me to ask if I'd had the chance to read Case Closed. I responded in the affirmative, and then proceeded to offer what amounted to a brief but, if I may say so, absolutely sound expose of just a few of the near-countless fatal flaws in Posner's confused and/or criminal (see below) presentation. Here's the important part: Vince said to me -- and I'm quoting nearly verbatim -- "Thanks, Charlie, because for a while I thought we'd been proven wrong. I was ready to say, 'Hey, you guys were right all along.'" He literally sighed in relief.
Apparently Vince is not the ideal foxhole partner.
In other words, his current behavior is hardly without precedent.
Reason Two: It was my friend and mentor George Michael Evica who gave to Vince the first three words of the title of the latter's most important work: The Third Alternative.
George Michael expects me to respond. He valued Vince's dogged persistence as a researcher and his ability to charm the most difficult of interview subjects. When I informed him of our young friend's less than steadfast response to Posner, he was neither surprised nor disappointed.
Which just about sums up my own thoughts on the man.
The strength of Vince's Secret Service work should not be diminished by our recognition of his personal weaknesses. If in fact he has been bought off by Bugliosi and his masters, then to hell with him. But unless I miss my guess, this is just a case of Palamara being Palamara. He'll be back.
So ... I'll take my leave yet again, but not before thanking Don Jeffries for referencing the following:
Anyone with reasonable access to the evidence in this case who does not conclude that JFK was the victim of a criminal conspiracy is cognitively impaired and/or complicit in the crime.
-
If there is benefit to be discerned from the exchanges I recently initiated regarding Gary Mack, I suggest it lies within consideration of the passionately and self-righteously delivered claim by so many posters ostensibly on the side of truth and justice that conspiracy is simply a matter of opinion.
And so Housman is brought to mind ...
What can I do, what can I write
Against the fall of night?
I have reached the conclusion that the fight, at least for me, is best fought elsewhere than in these cyberpages.
The truth may be rendered as a simple statement of fact and is inescapable save through ignorance and/or corruption:
Anyone with reasonable access to the evidence in the JFK assassination who does not conclude that President Kennedy was murdered by conspirators is cognitively impaired and/or complicit in the crime.
The field is not mine to cede. I simply move to a different line to stage what passes for an offensive of my own choosing.
To those who, as a consequence of their dementia and/or criminal intent, deny conspiracy, I offer only this: Pray for a cure and/or forgiveness.
To those who choose to continue the fight on this, a ground that your sacrifices have hallowed, I offer my solidarity and respect.
As for me, I shall continue in a different manner to speak and to write against the fall of night.
Watch your newspapers.
Charles R. Drago
February 25, 2008
-
From now on, Peter, I see no reason to read a book, see a film, or listen to a concert in its entirety before I publish a scathingly negative review.
Whatever they're paying this guy, it's WAY too much.
Then again, let's take heart: He's taken not only to showcasing his ignorance and intellectual dishonesty. He's CELEBRATING it!
Sort of lessens our shared burden, wouldn't you say?
Judy Wood's legal action dismissed with prejudice
in 11 September 2001 attacks
Posted
Jack, I thank you for a lifetime of bearing eloquent witness to the truth.
Charles