Joe Bauer

Thinking more broadly, there are many things that were "done" by agencies that - in retrospect - would reflect poorly on government today. This is one reason (imho) that official JFK stories have not changed, nor are any politicians interested in dredging-up the truth and laying it out in modern times. One knowledgeable person who had worked the HSCA once told me - when asked about why the truth wasn't revealed after so many years - >>> "why do you think that (JFK's murder) was the worst thing they'd done?" <<< Dear God ... what could be worse than the bloody head exploding slaughter of a sitting president in broad daylight just feet away from hundreds of innocent citizens and inches from his wife's face? While the perpetrators are clearer today (for me anyway), I'd venture that today's CIA and other intelligence agencies are vastly different than they were 50 years ago. Vastly different? In some ways perhaps however, I think the same main great worry among citizens who care about the health of our society and constitutional form of government has not changed. And that is the real and rational fear that these secret, massive budge, limited oversight agencies ( and the unknown people and groups who control them ) have acquired more real power and influence than our elected officials. That the ominous message conveyed in Eisenhower's MIC warning farewell speech has possibly become our new reality. I also have no doubt there are many earnest (and honest) folks who devote their careers to those agencies; I worked in government for 17 years, and can attest to such. However, one thing that I vividly learned is that the very strongest instinct within an agency is its continuance ... and anything that threatens its existence (funding by Congress, public reputation as civil servants, mission etc.) is defended in strong terms. Federal agencies deeply believe in themselves, and their mission, and will fight to no ends to continue to exist. Again, your take forces one to ask the logical and ominous question of how far these agencies would go to defend their existence? And when JFK said he was going to scatter one of them to the winds ... what would they honestly do in response to this threat? I find that telling friends, family, co-workers and others the true JFK "story" is met with mixed results. Some are fascinated, some are uninterested, and some cannot countenance this would happen. Its difficult to keep their focus and attention for too long. I too teach, and students have less patience today for books, research and deeper inquiry. They like their news in snippets and their stories in one simple summary paragraph. When you lay some enigmas and sub-plots out clearly (pictures help, like umbrella man or Tippit's murder scene) they are fascinated, but its like driving by an accident on the highway... a brief fascination and then quickly move on. Young people not caring about the JFK event is natural. But I always felt sad that with each ten years passing, this detachment was greater and greater. I couldn't keep my kids ( now adults) interest in this story if I paid them. Well ,maybe if I could pay off their crushing student loans. I was 12 on 11,22,1963 and to me it was truly "The Day The Earth Stood Still." Starting the afternoon of 11,22,1963 I watched TV every minute for 4 straight days except when the late-at-night black and white TV light about made me blind with eye strain and leep deprived exhaustion. Of course none of saw the Zapruder film at that time which would have shocked and traumatized us even more, but seeing Mafia connected, strip joint owning Jack Ruby whack Lee Harvey Oswald on "live" national TV inside a major city police department building crawling with over 70 armed and highest alert in their lifetimes security personnel was so powerfully effecting, those of us who witnessed this can't help but feel this the rest of our lives. And it was so illogical that you also were rationally forced to be very suspicious about the whole JFK affair also for the rest of your life.

This statement by Marina is thoughtfully reflective and relevant. Marina Oswald has always been extremely interesting. Her place in this incredible historical drama. Her entire life from Russia and marriage to Oswald to now. Her words and commentaries throughout the decades. Even her early contradictory testimony which changed over the years. And so many from 1963 on were smitten by her natural beauty. Norman Mailer in a nationally televised book interview promoting his book on Oswald said after meeting and interviewing Marina Oswald ... She's very intelligent and " the truth is very important to her." He also said about Marina "She has extraordinary blue eyes, absolutely beautiful, they look like diamonds."

Married men of great financial means having sex with other women besides their one legal spouse is so common that to me it is a non-issue. Unless you are a TV preacher/evangelist asking people to send in "donations" to help you in your moral crusade message cause. I have wondered several times in my life what it must be like to have millions of dollars and a true love for women and intimacy with them and how hard it would be to not have at least "some" extra-marital affairs. That kind of temptation would be extremely hard to avoid under those circumstances. I am sure that more than half of all married men of these common male traits would do this if they had the financial means. I am brand new to the forum. I joined out of desperation. I am no writer. I am not a person who has spent anything close to the "years" of incredibly hard work, time and even money the core group of contributing members here have in researching the JFK assassination. For those two reasons I felt I didn't deserve to join the forum and post. Until now. I am getting up there in age and I am willing to risk some embarrassment to leave my deeply, deeply heart-felt JFK murder and cover-up injustice thoughts and feelings "somewhere more meaningful" than my own head and my poor suffering wife's head as she has truly earned martyrdom granting me a one person audience ( albeit with eyes rolled back in her head and her mouth agape ) listening to my long-winded and surely boring JFK assassination obsession rants ... for the last 34 years! It is with a leap of faith that my personal passion for the JFK truth will somewhat balance my lack of research knowledge and writing skills and not lower this most prestigious JFK research and debate forum's standards when posting. Quick JFK assassination historical interest synopsis: I was 12 when a fellow student ran out on our junior high school football field and yelled "the president's been shot!" We were sent home. I watched TV every second for the next few days. I watched Jack Ruby whack Lee Harvey Oswald live on TV. It was Lee Harvey Oswald's incredible openness, lack of logical security and his killing inside the Dallas Police Department building with dozens of armed security looking on that instantly made me feel in my young gut...that the entire JFK affair was much more than one "Lone Nut" who wanted fame. I lived ( and still do ) in the same small town area that Mae Brussells and I believe Harrison Livingstone lived. Monterey, Carmel and Carmel Valley, Calif. I listened to Mae Brussell's radio broadcasts on KRML for years. Clint Eastwood lives here. In his film "Play Misty For Me, Eastwood's role is that of a radio DJ and the station he is broadcasting from is this same KRML. I have always been deeply effected, saddened and curious about the killing of JFK and the falsehood of the official explanation of this event as stated in our MSM and accepted historical record. I have read what I could regarding independent JFK research off-and-on while just living and scraping by and raising a family. I feel Jim Garrison and Mark Lane and so many other investigators, researchers and writers are heroes in this regard, including many who post here currently. You know who you are. The work you have done for this cause is just incredible and invaluable and will never get the credit it deserves in your life times. Just to mention one of many who are on my mind - Doug Caddy. I know your background from reading your many postings and watching your interviews when I can. I find it truly inspiring that someone of your first person republican political insider position back in the 60's and 70's would spend years of great time and effort on your part, trying to help everyone find the truth about not just the JFK affair but so many other important American secrets. I hope to post my own thoughts of some areas of JFK study soon enough. Mostly just tid-bits to further the discourse. My one claim to fame regards any input in the JFK discussion? An e-mail I sent to Ian Punnit ( spelling? ) of Coast To Coast AM during his interview of David Talbot about his book "Brothers" was read in it's entirety while he and Talbot were in the middle of their interview...and given a positive acknowledgement by both. The e-mail I sent to Punnit and Talbot expressed my thoughts that one thing we could all agree on regards JFK's assassination, was that America was a much more corrupt country than most of it's citizen's could ever imagine and that in fact, corruption was one of America's top 3 legacies of the 20th century. Corruption in every area and level of government, corporate and organized crime importance. An as Robert Kennedy said in his book "The Enemy Within" it was this corruption that was eating away at the core of America's societal soul. And I believe it was this same great corruption that took out Robert Kennedy in 1968. One of my favorite Dealey Plaza testimonies? Julia Ann Mercer.

INTERVIEW WITH EVELYN LINCOLN (JFK'S PERSONAL SECRETARY) (JANUARY 21, 1964) David Von Pein's JFK Channel

Born the same year the film "The Day The Earth Stood Still" was released. Youngest of 7 poverty stricken sons. No sisters - they wouldn't have survived. No education past high school. Functionally illiterate. Witnessed Ruby shooting Oswald on live TV. To me 11/22/1963 was the day "The Earth Stood Still." Consider Mark Lane & Jim Garrison American Heroes.