No matter what our political ideologies, violence and murder is never the answer. While some try to influence others with inflammatory rhetoric and calls for non-compromise, others understand that gray areas exist and that compromise is essential. Extremist thinking leads to extremist actions. Let us not forget what extremist thinking led to on 11/22/1963, in our own state, a little less than 350 miles from us. Whether a lone gunman or a conspiracy, it is very likely that extremist thinking led to the fateful events of that day in Dallas. We must remember that no matter our disagreements with our current President Obama, or our former President Bush, extremist thoughts that can lead to violent actions have no place in our current political climate. There are those who will say the Occupy movements are extremist; they will do so to deflect attention from true extremism that singles out an individual (e.g. Obama) as the cause for 100% of the problems in America. Those who know better understand the falseness in this way of thinking. Those who don't, don't. On this day, 48 years after the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, we remember our slain President and his contributions during his all-too-brief term. We remember the contributions of both Republicans and Democrats to the success of the United States of America, the greatest country on earth. And most of all, we remember that together, so much more can be accomplished than apart. We salute you, JFK, and the USA. May your death be remembered as a symbol for supporting tolerance and a warning against advocating demagoguery.
It is an important message. That said, I've always viewed Oswald as someone who killed Kennedy out of Herostratic glory rather than out of political ideology.
I agree with Kojirou. Its a good message but I don't buy the JFK conspiracy theories. Oswald was mentally unstable and its very debatable how much political rhetoric drove him. If we are talking about the dangers of extremism and assassinations I would look at Lincoln as extremism caused the Civil War and motivated Boothe to shoot Lincoln.
I don't think Kennedy's assassination was motivated by extreme political ideals... Also, I could never compromise when the choice is essentially between one's heart and one's soul.
Can you explain the difference? Not being sarcastic, I really don't get the difference between one's heart and one's soul. They're both constructs used by people to explain their emotions, as far as I'm concerned.
It wasn't political rhetoric, but it was political ideology. Oswald was a devoted communist who saw himself at war with the enemies of communism. It's why he had taken a shot at the head of the John Birch Society.
He was a U.S. Marine who defected to the Soviet Union renouncing his U.S. citizenship and informed the U.S. consulate on the way out that he would be turning over military secrets...and yet he was allowed to come back to live in the U.S. just 3 years later with no problem at all in the midst of the Cold War. Damn, that's fishy. He had committed treason, a crime punishable by death. But he just waltzed right back in. I met a guy who came upon the shooting of Officer Tippett in a Dallas neighborhood that day...he swears there's no way you could have gotten to that neighborhood on foot in the time it would have taken for Oswald to get there from the book depository. I have a very difficult time believing lone gunman and magic bullet theory....particularly when that bullet appears magically next to the president's body hours later at the hospital in near pristine shape after having smashed through multiple entrance and exit wounds on two different persons.
I don't really consider myself a conspiracy theorist...just someone with a crapload of unanswered question who can't understand why it's still necessary for the government to hold back information on the assassination of our own elected president. And remember, Congress did its own investigation and determined there was a conspiracy in the 70's. How the hell did this treasonous defector end up with an office in NOLA that was in the same building as anti-Castro movement for his pro-Castro movement in the former offices of the CIA and FBI? Why did TX authorities believe him to be FBI when he was arrested? And when he was arrested in NOLA for some pro Castro demonstration, he requested an FBI agent instead of a lawyer...why? How the hell did this same man happen to end up with this job storing books at the book depository in this most advantageous location to shoot a president on a parade route -- a route that was changed at the last minute and which didn't have ample security, particularly given the hostility for Kennedy in Texas. Why the hell did the Secret Service clean and refinish the president's limo before anyone could do analysis...and Connally's clothes were immediately sent to the cleaners. These were law enforcement guys...they knew better. And ultimately the president's body is examined by non-forensic experts?? No one had even had training in combat wounds, and yet they were the ones picked to determine the cause of death of the President of the United States? really? Just too many questions...too much crap.
The truth is the best answer, with the information we have. That's what we have to live with and make peace with. Or rest assured that if anyone else was involved, worms have since eaten their brains.
TLDNR Lee Harvey Oswald, driven by his own twisted and impenetrable furies, was the only assassin at Dealey Plaza on November 22, 1963. http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/parnell/sl2.htm My point, after 50 years, the best evidence, though sorely tainted, weighed against any evidence to the contrary, though infinitely more intriguing, leaves current truth, probably the only truth, since there will probably never be any more evidence. Time to leave it as the 'Lone Gunman With The Magic Bullet' and move on. A truth, indeed, stranger than fiction.
Thank you. Plus, the gun used for the assassination was an old bolt-action P.O.S. I'm not necessarily a conspiracy theorist. But I'm not a coincidence theorist, either.
Google "LBJ" and "the wink". Also: http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/april2007/300407deathbedconfession.htm Doesn't prove anything, just like Posner's book, which keeps this whole thing spinning in a circle.
I don't believe anything Arlen Specter says. With little evidence beyond what I know of his character, I think LBJ had Kennedy killed. That being said, regardless of which conspiracy theory you believe, Oswald's motive for participation was an extremist political ideology.
Except he also said he was disillusioned with the Soviet Union and even Soviet and Cuban officials considered him something of a nut case. I agree that Oswald was a communist sympathizer but his reasons for shooting JFK appear much more to do with mental illness than with ideology.
I don't believe the second gunman stuff. But, I do think it possible there were others involved in a conspiracy. I find Oswald's assassination by Ruby highly suspicious.
Really? The difficulty of the shots, and the extremely difficult to believe bullet path are the biggest weaknesses in the official story in my mind. Both of those suggest a second shooter.
