The JFK assassination.I am tired of all the nonsense of the assassination plots..This is all to make money for the people who write about it.

I am so tired of all the nonsense about the Kennedy assassination. I have read so many books on it and every book has a different cast of people involved in the plot. I am of the idea that we have made a lot out of nothing.

I think that Oswald did it. He was a high awarded marksman in the Marines. He was one of the best. He was high marked for 200 yard shots in the Marines. To be honest he shot the President at a much shorter distance...so for Oswald it was like a turkey shoot...quite easy.

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I think a lot of people have made a lot of money talking and writing about this stuff.

One has to remember that there is a LOT OF MONEY TO BE MADE IN CONSPIRACY!!

And everyone from Oliver Stone down has made a fortune out of the death of JFK! To hell with the truth, conspiracy makes money!!!!!

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In fact if you add all the people that are supposed to have shot the President in Dallas....

They would all be getting in each others way!!!!!!


I find that rather funny, of course each conspiracy theorist thinks they have the guy or have made up the guy to make money. Because if you want to see some silly stuff, read some of these conspiracy books on Kennedy. They are a hoot at times.


I have seen everything from a gunman at the grassy knoll to Kennedy's own secret service accidentally shooting him, even his driver!!!!! The computer has aided us in the real truth behind the assassination. The fellow who is supposed to be in the picture on the grassy knoll. Computer studies have shown that he would have to be around three and half feet tall.
Connally was in a jump seat and lower than the President so the bullets line up perfectly. I know this get conspiracy folks all upset. But the longer time goes on the more we can see we have the answer already.
People want to believe that one man could not do this...why not..remember he was an amazing marksman and a nutcase!

No one seems to want to mention that!! It spoils the story....and once again conspiracy makes MONEY!!!


I have mentioned this before, and it seems to be something conspiracy folks like to leave out and that was Kennedy was in a back brace and wrapped from the chest down in this brace. It was to keep him erect. He needed this as he was so weak in his spine. He was on drugs when in public to look like he was OK, but behind the scenes he was a wreck. Therefore this harness was put on him from the nipples to the small of his back and he was wrapped in ace bandages around a metal frame so he could be erect and not strain his very weak back. Sadly this device which helped him tremendously, also led to his death. As he had no freedom of movement.

When he received the first bullet, he should have crumpled, but he did not as he could not. The reason quite simply was that he was wrapped and bound in this brace.
Even when he was hit in the head he bounced and snapped back into position and then fell over sideways. He never crumpled up. He just fell to his side dead. Much has been made of this snapping back and rarely do I hear about the back brace...It does not make as much money to say that. So they do not and sell more books and movies that way. This is the way to make money.....That is why there are books on everything from Marlyn Monroe to the Lock Ness Monster selling...People love to be given the chance to believe what is not real...The conspiracy people fill that need nicely.


Even the stuff about the "magic bullet" Tests done on similar bullets from the same batch shot into 45 inches of wood came out even more pristine than the magic bullet. By the way the Magic bullet is not really in that great of condition. It is in good condition not pristine!! Major fact

When the real facts are looked at and the nonsense put out by some really questionable people is looked at....you start to see things in a very different way.

The truth will set you free is the old saying ...and in this case the more you learn the real facts people like Oliver Stone look rather foolish. Sadly most of the younger people of the world are instructed by that awful movie......People think it is fact...it needs to be mentioned that it is fictional. Hello just like Star trek Fiction!!

Now I know many people would like to argue that fact...But I will go back to the facts.... Marksman, open clear shots, and a slow moving vehicle. To me it seems really easy if you are a marksman...and rather nuts as Oswald was.

Amazing huh!!


I was lucky to talk President Gerald R.Ford and we did talk about the Warren commission and the Kennedy assassination (he must have been so sick of that subject) He talked about the movie JFK. He said it was a nice movie, just a movie not based on fact.
He said they looked at the evidence and they decided on their conclusions on the evidence. He was very convinced and after looking at much of the evidence that Oswald was the assassin.

After looking at the magic bullet debunked, and the nonsense of many of the books like one where they altered the Presidents body. I agree that I find Ford is correct.


I know there are problems with the Warren Report, but I think it is more on the ball than many of these half baked conspiracy theories.


I am of the opinion that we will never know everything...But I think we know more than we think we do.....Till then, the writers will put out more nonsense and Oliver Stone will be given credit for exposing the truth. I can't wait till he does a movie on the Easter Bunny...It will be about as truthful I am sure.

Exhuming James Madison around 1856. This was done so the ground around his grave was strong enough to support his gravestone

The grave marker of James Madison.
James Madison 1751-1836




James Madison died on June 28, 1836 while seated in bed with his breakfast tray. In fact he died in such a gentle way. His niece asked him him if he was doing well..In one of the gentlest of farewells he simply said "Nothing but a change of heart, my dear." and his head immediately hit his chest. He was dead so fast and so quietly.

His funeral on the 29th was a quiet affair, attended by family, officials, friends and all the slaves. Once the body was placed in the grave there was a great moaning and cry from all attending the funeral. The 4th President was no more.

He was indeed the last of the "Founding Fathers". He was eulogised by all of the leaders of the country. All the great orators of the day spoke of his greatness. John Quincy Adams read his eulogy and spoke of his greatness before a joint session of Congress. His wife Dolley was in bad financial shape as had been Mr. Madison. He had been over the last 10 years of his life selling land, slaves, and his last resort was a house he owned in Washington DC. Dolley hoped that would never happen, and indeed it never did. Madison was extremely depressed over money in his later years.
It was not till the 20th century that ex Presidents received a pension. So in his case and every other ex President till Harry S Truman, no one received a pension

Truman started it all when he said why don't we get pensions??? After Truman pushed it, all ex Presidents got one.

But back in the 1830's James Madison was in pretty rough shape financially. He sold most of his slaves together to a man names Taylor so he could keep all the husbands and wife's together. He was another of those Virginians who said slavery was bad, but was a part of it. But I am venturing off my topic here as I can write for hours on so much of this era and I will some day.

Madison was buried amazingly in an unmarked grave. Dolley when she died in 1849 was buried in Congressional Cemetery in Washington DC. She was buried in some one Else's crypt. It was not till around 1858 that she finally was laid to rest with her husband.

It was not till 1856, twenty years after his death that many people got upset that the "Father of the American Constitution" did not even have a grave marker.

Now there are two stories I have found so far on this and I am sure there are more. But for now here are the two of them. The first was a history of Orange County Virgina by W.W. Scott in 1907, the second one is from the Fredricksburg news on Oct. 6, 1857.


The first story states it was around 1856 and the second says it was 1857. None the less the stories are rather similar and are interesting to read. It is most amazing how many of our former Presidents have been exhumed, looked at, and reburied.



#1

A HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY, VIRGINIA
From its Formation in 1734 ( O. S.) to the end of Reconstruction in 1870 ; compiled mainly from Original Records. With a Brief Sketch of the Beginnings of Virginia, a Summary of Local Events to 1907, and a Map

By W. W. SCOTT
.State Law Librarian, Member of the State Historical
.Society, and for ten years State Librarian
of Virginia


MADISON'S TOMB. This monolith was erected about 1856 by private subscriptions, mostly by admirers of Madison outside the County The date of birth is an error, as explained in the sketch of Madison, infra. The smaller tombstone in the illustration is that of Mrs. Madison, and curious to say, Maude Wilder Goodwin, in her "Life of Dolly Madison," complains of a wrong inscription on her tombstone also. She died July 12, not July 8, as the inscription reads, and she signed her name "Dolly," not "Dolley," to her will, which was dated on the 9th. She was buried first in Washington, D. C., in 1849, and her remains were not brought to Montpelier until about 1858. As her own nephew, not Madison's, erected the tombstone, the error must be imputed to him. The inscription on Madison's tomb is:

MADISON
BORN MARCH 16, 1751.
DIED JUNE 28, 1836.
I have been told that when the stone was erected it was necessary to take up his remains in order to get a safe foundation. The coffin was opened, and, except that one cheek was a little sunken, his appearance was the same as in life; but disintegration began immediately, and the coffin had to be closed. He had been buried about twenty years.



#2

"MADISON'S MONUMENT AND REMAINS. -- Since his death and burial in 1836, the mortal remains of Ex-President Madison have been quietly reposing at Montpelier, in Orange county – a locality distant some nine miles from Gordonsville, on the line of the Virginia Central Railroad. During all this time no mural record with high-sounding eulogy disclosed the place of his final rest; only neighborhood tradition and historic record serving to point the way to it. The neglect in attesting his worth by some suitable monument attracted attention, and some few years since a number of gentlemen of Orange county set about the task of procuring one. Having been procured, it was conveyed to Montpelier on the 15th inst., and placed in position... In digging for a suitable foundation, it became necessary to go below the coffin, which was consequently exposed to view. The boards placed above the coffin had decayed, but no earth had fallen in upon it, and everything appeared to be as when the coffin was deposited there, except that the coffin-lid was slightly out of place, allowing a partial view of the interior. As there were no fastenings to prevent, the part of the lid covering the superior portion of the body was raised, and the several gentlemen present looked in upon the remains of the great Virginian..."
– Fredericksburg News, 6 October 1857



So there you have it George Washington was exhumed and looked at in the 1830's, Madison and John Quincy Adams in the 1850's, Lincoln was observed several times from1870 till the last time he was looked at was in late 1901!! Of course the latest look at a dead President was of Zachary Taylor in 1991. It was said that he was indeed still recognizable, although badly decomposed.

I cannot recall any other Presidents being observed after being buried or in a crypt for a while. I think the days of doing such things are over. At least I think they are.

Did the Lusitania really get us into World War One?

Not really.


I agree that the Lusitania did have a vast impact on the world. Sadly the impact was promoted more through propaganda.

It was a horrible and great mistake on both the sides of the Allies and Germans. The Allies were using all of the ships sailing to Europe to carry a lot of munitions.
They sugar coated it by putting passengers on such ships.

The loss of life was amazing. Both sides hold the blame for their loss. Ironically a little known story concerns some Germans. Four of them were seen looking around the Lusitania and they were taken to the ships brig and there they still remain. They were locked in their cage and when the ship was torpedoed they were forgotten.

The Germans were not at all at fault by sinking a ship carry such munitions. One has to remember that each of these ships was carrying materials that would in time be fired at them by the Allies!!

Germany even issued warnings in the Newspapers telling passengers not to sail on such a vessel as there existed a state of war. But few paid any attention, and paid dearly with their lives.

It is interesting that the Allies never mentioned such a fact to their passengers. It was arrogance on a grand scale, and the result was catastrophic to everyone.

So it was in their best interest to sink any ship carry such items. However, if only they could have done it a little easier by telling everyone to abandon ship and then sunk her.

The problem with that was that the German's originally did that with ships. They would surface and tell the ships company to go to the boats and after all were off they would sink the ship with gun fire or torpedo's.
But after this bit of courtesy was started the Allies would ram the U boats. So they stopped that practice.

Therefore when the U 20 saw the Lusitania she did not surface, she just fired one torpedo, just one. That one torpedo caused a 790 foot liner to go down in 18 minutes!

There are still problems in my mind about why that ship sank so fast? She was subdivided like a cruiser and made to withstand a lot. She was still plowing through the water as she sank.
The RMS Britannic (sister of the Titanic) Struck a mine the following year and received a great deal of damage as the ship plowed along in the water. Yet she lasted an hour.

By the sinking, the Allies had a great piece of propaganda, and used it for 2 years till the USA was in the picture.
There were Lusitania Memorial Cards and one other piece that truly was an awful piece of propaganda.

When the Lusitania was sunk there was a private issue of a metal made in Germany. No one would have known of it. However the British got a hold of one of the metals and had tens of thousands of them made and then they blamed the German's for making them!
That was one of the factors that turned the tide against the German's.

The Lusitania was sunk in 1915 and it was a big issue for a while. However the United States did not enter the war till well into 1917. It was not till there were the famous Zimmerman telegrams intercepted concerning Mexico and many other ships torpedoed that the United States reluctantly entered the war.

It was the worst thing the United States ever did.

Perhaps the two greatest errors of the USA in the 20th century were entering the war and the terrible peace process that followed.

This war was a continuation of the wars that had been going on in Europe for the last few hundred years.
It was a war blown out of proportion by the foolish actions of the Russian Tsar, who never was much of an intellect at all.
Much of the problems started with his actions. The Kaiser sent telegrams to the Tsar basically saying to him

"shut up and be quiet and let it all cool down"

But he did not...Before long through that first action the sides were drawn and the world started to fall apart. In fact it has never recovered from that moment of 1914. Much of the mess that exists in our world today dates from the peace process of World War One.

That process effected the world in such a way that we are still paying for it. Iraq, Iran,and really what would in time become Israel as we know it was created in that peace conference of World War One.
Just one of the many great blunders. I have often wondered if they gave it a thought back then? We are creating a whole mess of countries side by side and each of them hates the other!

Yes, the Lusitania was a terrible event, but not the major reason the USA went into the war. Many people think that was the reason. No, it was one of many reasons, but not the major one.
But if Germany and England had changed their tune in 1915. We would not have entered the war.
If we had not allowed contraband to be put on passenger ships in New York Harbor there would not have been issue with the Lusitania either. But that is another story, for another posting.