I recently finished reading “A Cruel and Shocking Act” by Philip Shenon – a book about the “Secret History of the Kennedy Assassination.”  I don’t want to get into the details of the book other than to say that it appears to me most of the people who’ve “investigated” the Kennedy murder have, for whatever reason, glossed over many of the details.  Shenon, it seemed to me, didn’t seem too motivated to do anything more than show that the “Warren Commission” was not a complete investigation and give the evidence that our FBI and CIA lied to the Commission.  There wasn’t much probing.  As soon as I finished the book, I had to re-read “The Family of Secrets” by Russ Baker, who, in his research into the “Bush dynasty” provides MUCH MORE information as to what COULD HAVE happened leading up to Kennedy’s murder.

The reality is that the Warren Commission was FULL of Kennedy “haters” and it’s hard for me to understand why so many who’ve “investigated” this murder haven’t been able to put this all together.  Shenon did come to the conclusion that the CIA lied to the Commission, but maybe if he had read Baker’s book he’d have looked a bit further at all the evidence.  The main reason I feel a need to discuss this is because the WEB of “Eastern elite” and oil interests along with America’s “intelligence” community which MIGHT have “outed” Kennedy is a bit unsettling to me.  I’ve written on several occasions that I believe the evidence strongly suggests CIA involvement in Kennedy’s death (probably his brother as well) and, in addition, they were ostensibly behind the scheme to get rid of Richard Nixon – all with the compliance of J Edgar Hoover and the FBI.  We Americans don’t WANT to believe that the “inner workings” of our national government would be like the KGB of the Soviets we were all TAUGHT to hate as we grew up, but the reality is that our CIA has been involved in one Assassination after another around the globe since its inception in 1947 and what should make us think they wouldn’t ply their “trade” at home?  Especially against someone like JFK who they literally DESPISED.

The part that seems so incredible to me is that Baker – without doing anything more than leaving the reader to make inferences – “connects the dots” among the WEB of people around Dallas Texas who were part of the CIA and the oil industry (and, conveniently in Dallas at the time of the assassination).  He also gives a compelling argument as to why one person in the “web” after another stood to gain from the removal of Kennedy from the White House.  In November of 1963 it was assumed that Kennedy was going to win re-election in 1964 and there were MANY people who didn’t want that to happen.  Keep in mind that President Kennedy was pushing for the elimination of the oil depletion allowance – a government subsidy to the oil industry that was, at the time, a multi-MILLION dollar boon.  And, since its inception, the CIA has been intertwined with the oil industry as – first, the nation realized after WW II the importance of oil to our military “might,” and secondly, the multinational nature of the oil business allowed for the CIA to “plant” operatives around the world in disguise as “oil executives.”

Baker’s book is focused on George HW Bush in relation to the Kennedy murder and the evidence STRONGLY suggests that Bush was a member of the CIA almost from the day he graduated from Yale and their Skull and Bones secret society (and was involved to some extent in the relationship between a CIA operative I’ll mention shortly and Lee Harvey Oswald – prompting Bush to concoct a phony alibi for his whereabouts on the day Kennedy was killed).  In fact, a long list of CIA agents has come directly from that same group (“Skull and Bones”).  I really suggest that anyone interested in understanding the inner workings of America’s government read “A Family of Secrets” – it’s one of the more eye opening books I’ve read (I’m reading it for the third time – and, after reading Shenon’s book I’m getting even more out of it).

I can’t get into all the details due to time and space constraints, but George HW Bush was an associate of a guy named George de Mohrenshildt, who was – by all evidence – a covert CIA agent (just as Bush) and he was the guy who befriended Lee Harvey Oswald upon Oswald’s return to the U.S. from Russia (at the request of other CIA “people”) – where he defected for a couple of years.  The “inner circle” of people that Bush and de Mohrenshildt were associated with is like a “who’s who” of America’s right wing aristocratic “Eastern establishment” families connected to the “military industrial complex” and “intelligence.”  (Oh yes, and the oil industry) These people HATED Kennedy, and just as they did with Franklin Roosevelt, they felt JFK was a “traitor to his class.”  If you read the book, I think you’ll end up with the same inferences I’ve made about how “Poppy Bush,” along with a number of other famous Americans who are expert at “covering their tracks” when it comes to their misbehavior, were probably somehow involved in the conspiracy to murder Kennedy  – along with many issues besides this. (for example, they are experts at laundering money – which I believe has led to the present day financial “world” that has been enabled to the point they control so much MORE than those of us who they consider “peons” will ever understand – ie, Cayman Islands, Bermuda, Switzerland, etc.)

The part of all this that intrigues me the most is that many of these same people and their “offspring” are behind the right wing “cabal” I’ve been writing about for several years now that I believe is trying to undermine the very “fabric” of the American republic.  George W Bush was a great example of their “scheme.”  The guy’s been a proven FAILURE his entire life, yet he was thrust upon us as our president by the power of this invisible group of people who are happy to be “covertly” operating out of the public eye.  (If you were paying close attention during the 2012 election republican insiders, when commenting on a possible Romney/Ryan administration, were saying, “We just need someone to sign our bills”)  I still believe that the “right” thought they had their “permanent republican majority” with “W” in office – he had a republican congress – but, he had difficulty putting a complete sentence together and committed one buffoonish act after another that temporarily “upset their apple cart.”  Presently, we’re seeing to what extreme ends they will go in order to get that “cart” upright again.  (I even think they might try to do it with another Bush – Jeb in 2016)  I believe they think their unlimited “budget” causes them (the republican “right”) to believe they can get anyone elected – remember, George W Bush had a history of drug and alcohol abuse, womanizing, and failures at one venture after another – including allegedly being AWOL from the National Guard – only to have his “history” “wiped clean” by republican insiders loyal to his “Poppy.”

We’ve seen over the past 30+ years the emergence and re-emergence of people like Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Douglas Feith, and others who keep showing up in positions of power and continue to cram the “military industrial complex” that Dwight Eisenhower warned us about “down our throats.”  With the demise of the Soviet Union these people needed a “reason” to continue America’s unbelievable expenditure on “defense” and 9/11 seems to have been the perfect “tonic.”  It wasn’t hard for me to understand, especially after all the books I’ve read, why GW Bush was pushing the militarism (and, the tax cuts, and the “defrocking” of the internal workings of our government, and the “corporate welfare,” and the…….. OK, I hope you get my point) but I continue to struggle to understand why democrats (and, of course, Barack Obama) seem to want to keep us on the same “path.”  The “no investigations” of, not only Bush/Cheney by President Obama but also Reagan/Bush by the Clinton administration into obvious criminal activity continues to befuddle me.

“A Family of Secrets” helps me to at least postulate why “The change we can believe in” seems to be “republican lite” at best.  When I think back to the days of Iran/Contra I clearly remember wondering why President Reagan was never asked to testify and was never implicated.  Additionally, I thought it was strange that then Vice President Bush also “got off ‘Scott free.'”  Upon reading Baker’s book (A Family of Secrets) it became increasingly clear to me that George HW Bush was right in the middle of the entire Iran/Contra scheme.  This was CIA/Eastern elite establishment/oil industry/John Birch Society/etc.,etc., behavior at its “finest.”  And, when you learn a bit about the “secret society” that is represented by the Yale “Skull and Bones” graduates – which includes a “who’s who” of right wing politics in America in the last 100 or so years, it’s not hard to imagine people feeling it’s their “duty” to LIE to Congress or any other investigative body.

America’s CIA has been “cloaked” in secrecy since its inception.  I believe their unlimited budget is TOTALLY secret – even to members of congress.  I’m convinced that even what little oversight exists in congress, there is an “unwritten” rule not to probe into their actual practices.  If “we the people” actually knew what our CIA had been doing “in our name” over the past 66+ years, I think most people (at least the fair minded people) would be disgusted and shocked.  I also believe their (the CIA’s) power is WAY beyond what any of us “normal” people can even imagine.  As mentioned above, I have often wondered why President Bill Clinton essentially “pardoned” George HW Bush of any involvement in Iran/Contra shortly after taking office.  In my mind, you have to be what I’ve termed a “low information voter” (I invite you back Lars Larsen) to believe that George HW Bush and Ronald Reagan were not involved in Iran/Contra.  In fact, it’s not hard to find compelling evidence about their “deal” with the Iranians to prevent the so-called “October Surprise” they thought might derail the Reagan election – that’s when, reportedly George HW Bush met with Iranian officials and paid them off to keep the hostages (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, Google the 1979 hostage crisis in Iran) until after the election.  Curiously to me, but evidently not to our “liberal media,” the hostages were released as Reagan was taking his first oath of office. So, why the “looking the other way?”

Think I’m nuts?  Well, check out who was implicated in the Iran/Contra “affair” and what happened to them.  I’ll help you out, it was a “who’s who” of Reagan appointees, and  once president George HW Bush was in office he pardoned them (some, he waited until he was leaving office – and, of course, many of the “culprits” keep “popping up” in government offices – several of them appointed by Bush II).  They say the “apple doesn’t fall far from the tree,” and just like his Dad, George W Bush pardoned “Scooter” Libby who “outed” Valerie Plame – a covert CIA agent – presumably to make sure Libby remained “loyal” to his bosses who the prosecutor implied were involved (he suggested further investigation was needed, and, of course, it never happened).  “And the beat goes on.”

I’ve always wondered a couple things when trying to understand why Clinton, a democrat, didn’t push for investigations of George HW Bush that would have uncovered much of the shenanigans of our CIA and clearly would have “pointed fingers” at both Bush and Reagan (maybe a repeat of why Lee Hamilton, the chairman of the House committee investigating Iran/Contra, chose not to proceed with the investigation during Reagan’s presidency while having evidence that implicated both “Poppy” Bush and Reagan – ostensibly to “protect” us from another “Watergate type” scandal).  Well, my first guess as to why this keeps happening is that the CIA might have a “heart to heart” with every new president (or anyone else “snooping” in their “turf” – you know, the kind of talk where they say “If you repeat any of this conversation I’ll deny it and………….”) explaining how America’s government “really” works.  Need more evidence?  It’s not hard to find, but click here for some eye popping details.  Do you think it’s possible the CIA reminds incoming presidents of what happened to JFK and Richard Nixon? (ALL the “Watergate burglars” were CIA operatives – Baker’s evidence suggests Nixon was expertly “set up”)

I’ll finish this rant with a topic, if you’ve been reading my posts for any length of time, you’ll be familiar with.  So, after all of the aforementioned, along comes President Barack Obama.  A constitutional lawyer (actually professor at the University of Chicago) and a progressive running on “The Change we can Believe In!”  What was one of his first acts in office?  He, essentially, pardoned George W Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and everyone else involved in the despicable lies that got us enmeshed in Iraq, the incompetence that left us stuck in Afghanistan, the conspiracy to undermine our government which left countless agencies in “ruins,” the “outing” of a covert CIA agent, the wiretapping of our own citizens WITHOUT warrants, and on and on – PLUS the TORTURE issue!  (guess who’s doing the torturing – read “The Shock Doctrine” by Naomi Klein and you’ll clearly see the path that leads right back to our CIA – there they are again!)  So, have you asked yourself, “Why would President Obama pardon all these CRIMES?”  Honestly, I’d like to ask President Obama that question to his face!

In speaking to several of my peers (I’m of the “retirement age”) many have come to the conclusion that the corruption in our nation’s capital is so pervasive that there’s nothing we can do but throw up our arms and attempt to go along with our lives.  To me, if that’s the reality, then the “puppeteers” behind this right wing cabal have succeeded.  I feel a sense of responsibility because it’s my generation who’ve taken so much from America and are now apparently unwilling to “give back.”  The “forces” represented in today’s political climate by the right wing “eastern elite billionaires,” the oil industry, the CIA and their surrogates have become the “backbone” of our present day republican party – but, were “fringe elements” of society until the election of Reagan.  They are all about “me” and disparaging to anyone who believes in “we.”  This “web” of right wing extremism started getting “spun” as FDR was implementing the “New Deal,” and has evolved to the stage where they can see “the light at the end of the tunnel.”  As so clearly pointed out in “A Family of Secrets” they are passing their greed and arrogance to the law from generation to generation.  I’m just hoping we will find the leaders necessary to stop these people “in their tracks” before it’s too late!

I’m going to get this thought started while it’s still fresh in my mind (I just returned from the Verizon store).  I’m sure there’s MANY other Americans out there who would agree with me that allowing the government, with the help of the telecommunication carriers, to “spy” on the normal everyday communication of MILLIONS of Americans is WRONG.  I believe it is unconstitutional.  However, this all started with the so-called Patriot Act of 2002 and has morphed into something that is completely out of control as of the beginning of 2014.  I stated back then, and I’ll reiterate, it’s so much easier to give away RIGHTS than to get them back.  I believe many Americans besides myself felt that by electing Barrack Obama in 2008 many of the egregious overreaches of the Bush/Cheney regime would be reversed – ESPECIALLY, the government eavesdropping on its citizens.  Apparently, the problem has progressively gotten worse, and the “transparent” promises of the Obama campaign have turned into one of the most secretive administrations yet.

In a society where there is true transparency one would think that “whistle-blowers” would be honored and even encouraged as a true “backstop” against government and/or corporate overreach.  Yet, during the Obama presidency we’ve seen Bradley Manning tortured for over one year (and subsequently receiving a stiff prison sentence) for leaking information to Wiki Leaks that simply stated the truth about America’s foreign policy.  (the first sign that “transparency” wasn’t such a priority)  Then came Edward Snowden who “leaked” the NSA spying information (and continues to do so) that caused many in Washington’s “Beltway” to label Snowden a “traitor.”  My response, at the time, was “are you kidding me?”  First of all, there were several (including me) who had been paying attention to this issue and knew the “spying” was going on (just not the extent of it) because it was easy to put “two plus two” together.

Then Senator Obama alarmed many of his supporters (including me) in 2008 when he supported the FISA bill passed in Congress that gave Verizon and ATT&T immunity from CLEARLY many FELONIES as they willingly gave the NSA access to what should have been private phone conversations and emails.  I actually protested with a letter to Obama’s campaign and got a response which PROMISED that Senator Obama would “fix” the FISA bill once he was elected president.  Of course, as time went by and I saw no indication any “fix” was going to happen, I realized that President Obama, once in office, was allowing the illegal spying to proceed.  As I recall, there was a court decision that supported the viewpoint of those of us who claim this action violated the 4th amendment to the constitution, but I don’t believe the subject would have garnered ANY public discussion without the efforts of Mr Snowden – who had to actually leave the country in 0rder to inform the rest of us what OUR government was “up to.”

I’ve been constantly amazed at all the Americans who “wrap” themselves in the American flag and proclaim constitution this and constitution that – for example, I can’t tell you how many people I know who believe the constitution gives them the “right” to own assault weapons and magazines that hold 50-100 bullets – yet support the Patriot Act.  (It’s like selective commitment to the constitution – as people imagine it)  NRA members are BLOCKING attempts at even requiring the registration of guns while jumping on the “traitor” bandwagon in relation to Snowden.  What has happened to common sense?   In my mind, at some point, Edward Snowden will become an honored public figure.  He continues to give us information as to how far beyond the imaginable our own government has gone in their attempt to convince us all they’re “making us safer” in the “war on terror.”  I believe it was Franklin Delano Roosevelt who proclaimed, “We have nothing to fear, but fear itself.”  And, the paranoia which has engulfed the United States since the infamous 9/11 attacks has essentially turned this nation upside down.  We have responded in the very way Osama bin Laden expected – and, it’s (this paranoid response) continuing to weaken the “fabric” of America from within.

Those in the “Military Industrial Complex” which we were so prudently warned about by none other than Dwight Eisenhower – the general who led us to victory in WW II – are, and will continue – profiting on the paranoia which has been spread amongst the American public by none other than our “leaders.”  Bush/Cheney were expert at this as they, on the one hand, ginned up our response to one terrorist attack by committing our nation to TWO unwinnable OCCUPATIONS of nations on the other side of the world and then, on the other hand, they supported and participated in the corporate profiteering from these two occupations which has pilfered TRILLIONS from the American economy almost directly into the hands of themselves and their supporters.  (there are numerous books you can read which will leave you with the same result they left with me – Bush/Cheney NEVER intended to prosecute bin Laden – he gave them the excuse to implement their “plan”)  Bush/Cheney not only preached fear on the American public as a way to set up their corporate warmonger friends for unbelievable profits, they used fear and terror tactics themselves in Iraq as they attempted to “privatize” the Iraq economy to further benefit their “cronies” (with estimates in the MILLIONS  of Iraqi’s victimized by their actions)

For example I’ve read several accounts of how Vice President Cheney gained over $100 MILLION from his association with Halliburton and their seemingly unending NO BID contracts from the defense department in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Halliburton, under Cheney (he was CEO from 1995 until he became Vice President in 2000) operated as if “above the law,” just as Cheney did as VP and before, including opening a Halliburton office in Tehran Iran (that’s right, the Iran Cheney wanted to “bomb”) while Cheney was CEO which was a violation of the “Trading with the Enemy Act” – although Halliburton claimed their “innocence” because it was actually a “shill” (my description) subsidiary with a “base” in the Cayman Islands. (yuk)  Additionally, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld reportedly profited just as handsomely based on his previous employment with entities such as Bechtel.  Douglas Feith supposedly, as did many other Bush/Cheney “cronies,” “retired wealthy” based on the “privatization” of the Iraq “war” and his (and others’) willingness to PROFIT from it.  When you see the long list of Bush related people (including his father and grandfather) involved in the corporate no-bid “merry-go-round” involved in Iraq and Afghanistan it makes your stomach curdle (well, if not yours, mine).  The Bush family has a history of war profiteering that goes back to the 1930’s when Prescott Bush was providing war related materials to Adolf Hitler as the Third Reich was preparing for their “Blitzkrieg” of Europe.

Getting back to my main point tonight, it’s the SECRECY that pervades Washington DC – both the government and the multinational corporate interests who are profiting from America’s militarism – that allows this abomination to continue.  “We the people” are already facing a sad reality that our “liberal media” has been consolidated into the “hands” of about 9 multinational corporations which are anything but “liberal.”  If we allow our government to intrude on our privacy by making our phone messages and emails available to the government (and, who knows who else?) we are heading for what can only be termed a “slippery slope.”  America became a world leader of the “free world” through the efforts of LIBERAL activists who gained momentum during the “New Deal” administration of Franklin Roosevelt.  The “right” in America has been FIGHTING the gains made by many of our grandparents and great grandparents (depending on your age) since Roosevelt’s first “radical” initiatives – mostly all aimed at building a vibrant MIDDLE CLASS of hard working “blue collar” workers.  We’re seeing today (2014) the same “class” of people who were called the “Robber Barons” trying to take us back to that time period.  Just check their (the “right’s”) message – they’ve been focused on making the word “liberal” an abomination to the point where even liberals don’t use the word anymore – that’s part of the propaganda “plan.”

And, for those of us who want to prevent the “right” (people like Charles and David Koch, Sheldon Adleson, Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, Dick Cheney, untold numbers of CEO’s and executives of the multinational corporations who are spending wildly to control our legislatures, and the list could go on and on) from succeeding in turning the clock in America back a hundred years or so (that’s what they accomplished with Citizens United) this NSA spying issue is MAJOR!  I’m constantly shocked at how far this right wing “cabal” has managed to “get” in the days since Ronald Reagan “flipped the switch” on America’s political scene.  I keep thinking “we the people” will “wise up,” but the sophistication of the “opposition” and the economic viability (they’ve got UNLIMITED funding) they possess constantly reminds me that unless “we the people” can somehow get the “masses” to “wake up” to what are the intentions of the “right” the possibilities are scary.

That’s why today, as I was walking out of the Verizon store, I couldn’t help but think that the “hammer” possessed by the opposition is getting heavier all the time.  I’m reading books as fast as I can, I’m talking to as many people as I can, I’m giving money (very small amounts – like $20 at a time) to the few people in politics I believe “get it,” (people like Bernie Sanders, Alan Grayson, Elizabeth Warren, Jeff Merkley, and various web based organizations) and, yet, here I am giving money to Verizon (have been for years) and getting sucked into their “2 year contracts” so that I can have one of their “smart” phones.  I’m beginning to think they’re really “stupid” phones – because I’m giving them money (and, by the way, their service borders on arrogance – yet, their store was jammed with people – you have to WAIT a significant amount of time in order to give them your money!) while I KNOW that they are passing on the “data” that is generated by my “smart” phone to some HUGE data base that can be accessed by who knows who based on who knows what! I continued to wonder;  Are we Americans financing the destruction of our own republic through unknowing reliance on companies like Verizon who are helping to dismantle our constitution?  All progressives need to decide in 2014; “how important is our constitution?” and, if we decide (and, I hope we do) that it’s important, then, “What do we need to do in order to protect our right to privacy and the 4th amendment?”

I’ll end this by saying that, unfortunately, this is an issue where I don’t feel any sense of confidence that progressives can rely on democrats to “come to the rescue.”  Obviously, President Obama has performed dismally in standing up for the 4th amendment.  We need another FDR to emerge in the next couple of years – someone who will “take on” the corporate interests who are leading the assault on these basic privileges we’ve evidently taken for granted to the point where we may loose them.  FDR, in response to attacks from the corporate “right,” famously said, “They hate me, and I welcome their hate.”  My hope was that President Obama would have the same fighting spirit – but, that hasn’t been the case.  Somehow, this issue and issues like “Citizens United” need to be resolved at the ballot box – and it will be up to progressives to put these issues into the public domain so that if Americans choose to abandon their traditional values it won’t be unknowingly.