Jerry Tenuto: 'When our republic ceased to be'

Jerry Tenuto, Lone Star Iconoclast

A few evenings ago we watched Oliver Stone's excellent celluloid treatise on
the American political landscape in the latter half of the 20th Century,
"JFK."

Looking back on what has transpired since the release of this incredible
film, only a fool - or a complete idiot -- would not agree that Stone's
vision was nothing short of the likes of H.G. Wells or George Orwell.

I suppose we chose that particular film because his latest observation of
America, "World Trade Center," has been all over the media and we just
haven't gotten around to seeing it yet. Marketing, plus the DVD was right
there, on the shelf and handy.

With "JFK" Stone was then, as he continues to be now, assailed from certain
quarters as playing fast and loose with the truth, making up facts, and
glorifying a scalawag.

Piffle, say I.

The majority of those who make these comments haven't the foggiest idea of
film theory or what the movie watching experience is supposed to entail. How
many hardcore, Right-wing Conservatives, especially Neo-cons, show any true
acumen for popular culture or societal awareness?

It wouldn't surprise me if a sizeable percentage of those who lambasted
"JFK" and Stone's other "anti-American, Leftist" movies hadn't even seen any
film by VietNam veteran Oliver Stone.

I'm sure the list of VietNam vets among his detractors - let's say military
vets in general - would be a short one, indeed.

"JFK" opens with footage of outgoing President Dwight David Eisenhower's
farewell speech in January, 1961. He leaves American public life with an
ominous warning to beware the rapidly burgeoning Military-Industrial
Complex.

Fast-forward less than three years to the funeral procession of President
John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

It's an iron-clad cinch that by Nov. 22, 1963, most Americans had forgotten,
if they'd paid attention at all in the first place, Ike's dire prediction.

On that bier, being drawn by horse power, for all the World to see on black
and white television, was a casket containing the corpse of my parents' and
grandparents' generations' belief in the vitality of enchanted Camelot.

Well, even in the ancient tale that wondrous land and its beneficent leader
were laid waste through the evils of deceit, greed and avarice from within
at the highest of levels.

When Kennedy's trip to Dallas was finalized, several key senior security
personnel had been told their presence would not be needed. One of them
commanded the military unit that would have been assigned security detail;
it had been instructed to stand down.

As four to six shots echoed through Dealey Plaza that warm Friday afternoon
one November in Dallas, the Democratic Republic, which had for 187 years
been the United States of America, existed no longer. A coup d'etat had
taken place; the conspiracy was now in overdrive.

There were no three shots fired in a lightning-quick 5.6 seconds by the lone
Lee Harvey Oswald with a cheap-o, Italian-made bolt-action rifle with smart
bullet accuracy from his inconvenient perch on the sixth floor of the Texas
Book Depository.

That he was even on the sixth floor at 12:30 that afternoon has never been
proven.

Nor did any proof exist that Oswald was in fact the person who had ordered
the weapon found on the sixth floor from a mail order house.

A dumbass move in a state where he could have bought a rifle and scope just
about anywhere, no questions asked. Oswald was not as stupid as he appeared
or was portrayed.

The Depository building was not put under lockdown in a timely fashion
following the shooting.

In violation of Texas law, the president's body was whisked away from
Parkland Hospital to Washington, D.C. before the Dallas coroner could
perform a proper autopsy; the "autopsy," as performed at Bethesda Naval
Hospital, was overseen by numerous high-ranking military officers, a
plethora of suited individuals also in attendance.

The military doctors, not specialists at post mortem medical examination,
found themselves tossed into the ring greatly outnumbered and seriously
outranked. They were precisely instructed how to conduct the autopsy.

Nothing that took place in the room even came close to resembling normal
procedure.

The ranking doctor, who thought he was in charge of the procedure, was not
allowed to make written notes as prescribed by law; he was forced to do so
secretly at a later time from memory, thus rendering them incomplete and
somewhat inaccurate.

Only four photos of JFK's body on the table survive, with one verifying the
written notation of a bullet wound near his right shoulder blade - not in
the back of his neck as the Warren Commission officially determined for
posterity.

The Dallas Police Department, excessively corrupt in 1963, only sort of
investigated the assassination. During the nearly 48 hours Oswald was in DPD
custody no notes or tape recordings were made of any conversations or
questioning interviews. The FBI was just as remiss, or hid whatever it had.

As soon as Jack Ruby murdered Oswald - the first murder on live national
television, Sunday, Nov. 24 - the DPD's responsibility shifted to the latter
killing.

Oswald had also been accused of the murder of DPD Officer J.D. Tippet. There
were neither corroborating witnesses testifying to nor forensics evidence
put forth that placed Oswald at the scene or the gun his hand.

Tippet was an honest cop who had enemies on the force, and it's long been
assumed that he was set up.

Thus, the Kennedy assassination, although a murder that occurred in Dallas
jurisdiction, illegally became a full-fledged Federal investigation.

And, most conveniently, the prime - only - suspect was dead.

Virtually all witness testimony that indicated it could have been anyone
beside Oswald was either altered or disregarded completely.

Within a matter of months at least a dozen people with eyeball or firsthand
knowledge that would have disputed the Government's official story died
unexpectedly in violent or suspicious ways - mysterious accidents,
shootings, sudden "heart attacks," et alia.

Watching "JFK" 15 years after Oliver Stone crafted it has now become an
ethereal experience.

It's like looking at America backward through a crystal ball.

The murder of John Fitzgerald Kennedy was the first salvo in the War on the
American Citizen.

The man wanted no part of VietNam, among other things; the
Military-Industrial Complex needed a place to sell weaponry and assorted
sundry associated goods.

Bottom line, the men who killed Kennedy needed to get him out of the way.

FYI: George H.W. Bush is apparently the only living person on Earth who
doesn't remember where he was when John Kennedy was shot. A memo dated Nov.
22, 1963 places him at the Sheraton-Dallas Hotel that night.

How else could nearly bankrupt Bell Helicopter sell billions of dollars
worth of rotary-wing aircraft to the military?

Who's been able to keep track of the corporations and combinations thereof
that have profited in the thousands of billions over the past 43 years
supplying weapons of mass and micro destruction to our military and
satisfied consumers worldwide?

I sincerely doubt Halliburton has missed one day of being under government
contract in all this time.

Even Mattel and other toy manufacturers got in on the VietNam gravy train.
The M-16s issued to me at various Army units were designed and built, at
least in part, by Mattel - the very same company that made the best guns in
my arsenal without death.

I knew an old radio station engineer, whom I'll call Wyatt, in Arizona who
worked as a toy designer at Mattel in the 1960s or early '70s. One of his
pet projects was a scale model guided missile system. Now, Wyatt was quite
happy at his work - the man loved his job - until he discovered the end
result wasn't going to be quite as expected.

Once Wyatt got the system to work reasonably well, the overseers came along
and told him to put the specs and dimensions on steroids, so to speak. They
wanted his "toy" increased in size many times over.

Wyatt asked his immediate supervisor what the deal was, why were the honchos
messing with his toy design. The response was that Wyatt didn't really think
Mattel had sunk that much money into developing a toy; it would never pay
for itself.

No, Mattel had failed to inform Wyatt that his project was in fact a
prototype for a real live guided missile system - and if it was good enough
the U.S. Government was going to use it to kill people.

From a long distance and in mass quantities.

Blowing women, children, men, animals, maybe even soldiers into little
pieces, for real.

Weapons of mass destruction, one might call them.

Say, where have we heard that term before?

Not quite the hours of imaginative and thoughtful scientific fun Wyatt had
envisioned.

From a dream to a nightmare.

Wyatt stayed on at Mattel for a bit after that revelation, and played along
with the big boys. He used the time wisely, sabotaging as much material as
possible until absolutely certain the project would be an utter failure.

As soon as he felt his work was through, Wyatt bid a final though less than
fond farewell to Mattel. As of 1981, the last time I saw him, he had never
worked for another major corporation again.

Since I met Wyatt, I have never had any desire to work for a major
corporation.

Now, we were not at war during the entire eight years of President Clinton's
administration. At least not outside of our national boundaries.

There were actions in Somalia and Bosnia, of course. We also had some
problems in Haiti that needed fixing. Now and again there were the bombing
runs over Iraq, just to keep Saddam awake and moving from palace to palace.

Overall, we were just doing what the United States does around the World,
being Steve McGarrett and the Five-0 guys (c'mon, the show really sucked the
season they added women).

However, since Election Night 2000 our Nation has been in a constant state
of war. Sure, there was a period of relative calm between December, 2000
(following the abolishment of the individual's right to vote for the
president by Rehnquist's Federalist Supremes) and September, 2001.

If you remember, however, John Ashcroft used that time to attack certain
Constitutional Freedoms, such as the 1st Amendment by imploring the FCC to
find more reasons to infringe upon the rights of broadcasters and viewers.
He also covered priceless artwork that he personally found distasteful with
$50 sheets because it glorified the human body - created in God's image, so
I've been told.

Personally, I find Ashcrafty's singing beyond distasteful, and his
songwriting ability strictly sophomoric, but you don't see me censoring him
or covering the man with a sheet (he can do that all on his own, now that
his home state of Missouri has resurrected 19th Century Jim Crow voting laws
to go along with its antiquated Sunday "blue laws").

If you're wondering what good Christian former Attorney General Brother John
Ashcrafty is doing now, he's the head of his own lobbying firm right down
the street from the Justice Building in D.C. Having not just one foot in the
door, as with the typical GOP ex-congreedperson or aide, but both feet,
hands, head, and soul have given Ashcrafty an edge - his rather neophyte
organization already sports 30 clients in just two-and-a-half years.

You tell me if the set up could get any sweeter: Ashcrafty was at the helm
of the creation of the Department of Homeland Security. Now, he helms a
lobbying firm that specializes in high-tech security firms.

That's just flat out wrong!

One of Ashcrafty's clients is ChoicePoint, Inc. This data marketer that
gathers public records and sells access to them had a contract with the
Justice Department going back to 1998. According to its chief marketing
officer, James Lee, ChoicePoint signed on with Ashcrafty in 2005 to make the
connections with "the right people within the agencies who could match up
our capabilities with their needs..."

The former Attorney General made a rather weak case for this sort of match
up. He doesn't think the government should be involved with information
warehousing. Said Ashcrafty, "The private sector does a better job of
maintaining and developing information." He continued by saying that
Americans "don't want government to have access to any more information than
necessary."

This horse manure from the schmuck who brought us warrantless, free range
wiretaps and e-mail searches!

The last non-governmental clown on the planet I want with access to my
privacy is John Ashcroft! I'd sooner re-route all my electronic
transmissions to Fidel down in Cuba!

Also, in those early days of the Fascist takeover Dark Lord the Dick Cheney
was extra busy plotting the "energy policy" in secret with his buddies. Damn
the House of Representatives and Senate for even asking what went on in
those meetings! How dare the elected officials of the people want to know
what was plotted?

It's none of the people's business what the Dick does in secret meetings to
make more money for himself, King George XLIII and Herr Oberst Karl Rove at
our expense.

Let's not forget about all their friends and the ludicrous profits they're
making off our backs.

With all that money flowing in, is there any reason BP should even worry
about maintenance on its Alaskan oil pipeline? Don't be absurd!

Here we go again... again. It's August during an even-numbered year. Our
pals across the pond caught some al Qaeda-types (we're still not certain of
their ties to the big boys of the terror movement). Herr Karl and King
George are scrambling to find some way to steal the credit and turn MI5's
success into yet another a rallying cry for a "Democrats are soft on terror"
load of crap. So far so good - they haven't been able to spin it into GOP
gold.

I know you've heard about Dark Lord the Dick's wholly asinine comments
regarding the outbreak of Democracy in Connecticut. Sure, it's old news by
now, but I really need to share: "The thing that's partly disturbing about
it is the fact that, the standpoint of our adversaries, if you will, in this
conflict, and the al Qaeda types, they clearly are betting on the
proposition that ultimately they can break the will of the American people
in terms of our ability to stay in the fight and complete the task."

Everytime Mr. Five Draft Deferments says something about staying in the
fight and completing the fight I want to vomit!

Five -count 'em - Five deferments! Most guys were lucky to get one!

Cheney is the biggest chickenshit of the VietNam era, without equal!

And his statement doesn't even make any sense.

Democracy is fine for Afghanistan and Iraq, but we'll just have none of it
here in the U.S. of A!
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that
among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

"That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men,
deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

"That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends,
it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new
government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its
powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their
safety and happiness."

-- The Declaration of Independence
A few days ago John Prescott, the British Deputy Prime Minister, summed up
the regime of our illustrious King George XLIII in one word: "Crap."

I'm sure he was using a great deal of what the English might call tact,
something unheard of among the Cheney-Bush crowd.

Then, just this morning (Aug. 17, 2006), in a 43-page opinion upholding the
Constitution on behalf of a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union
against the King's warrantless wiretap scheme, U.S. District Judge Anna
Diggs Taylor of Detroit concurred, in spirit, with the Deputy PM's
assessment of Bush's regime.

The court found the warrantless wiretap program illegal and ordered that it
cease immediately.

Naturally, King George laughed away such folly, for no law ever written has
applied to him.

You have the power to alter the Government, to institute a new Government.

We all have that power.

Let the voters of Connecticut be the voices that begin to silence the evil
that has cast its dark shadow over our great Nation for more than five
years.

Democracy, and Democrats, frighten Cheney, Bush, and especially Rove. Vote
for a new tomorrow, and watch the worms as they squirm!

Shalom, y'all.

Jerry Tenuto is an erstwhile Philosopher and sometime Educator. A veteran
with seven years of service in the U.S. Army, he holds a BS and MA in
Communications from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. Visit his
blog Blue State View at illinoiscentral.blogspot.com

Copyright (c) 2006, The Lone Star Iconoclast

Source: The Lone Star Iconoclast
http://www.lonestaricon.com/absolutenm/anmviewer.asp?a=435&z=55

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"A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their
spells dissolve, and the people recovering their true sight, restore their
government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are
suffering deeply in spirit,
and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public
debt. But if the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have
patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning
back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at
stake."
-Thomas Jefferson