Sunday, August 30, 2009

the kennedys

The Kennedys
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The story goes that Ted Kennedy was sitting outside the Senate chamber, crying.Sen. Orin Hatch, a very conservative Mormon, sat down behind him.After a few minutes, Hatch told Ted, “Let’s work together (perhaps meaning the SCHIPProgram).They built a strong personal friendship, transcending political ideology.At least 44 Senators attended the Boston services, attesting to EMK’s charisma.The ceremonies yesterday were a great learning moment. I suspect many of the 18-30 yr. old millennials became acquainted with JFK, RFK, Jackie and the symbolism of the eternal flame for the first time. We are formed by the decade that we come-of-age. For me, it was the 60ies. It was the best and worst of times.JFK had a tremendous impact on me. I became a political junkie in grammar school; had a temporary illusionary belief that I was JFK; and married a young Jackie look- alike.I showed my grammar school classmates the Time cover of RFK that I sent to the AG ,and that he sent it back,signed.I watched RFK and Hubert Humphrey debate in the Senate during my time in Wash. Ol’ Hubert looked up to gallery, waved to me, while RFK smiled, but failed to wave. He wouldn’t do that,but Ted would have.I also became an assassination conspiratorialist.JFK’s murder was a conspiracy. The best, and most recent, books on this are the two by Thom Hartmann and Lamar Waldron, Ultimate Sacrifice and Legacy of Secrecy. These books describe the JFK/RFK plans for a coup against the Castro brothers, scheduled for Dec. ’63. The plans were infiltrated by organized crime, and turned against JFK in Dallas.RFK’s murder was a conspiracy. There were too many shots fired in the Ambassador Hotel kitchen, and Sirhan was not in the position to shoot RFK behind the ear.Two recent books make a case that Aristotle Onassis was the bag man for the murder (see Nemesis: The True Story of Aristotle Onassis, Jackie O, and the Love Triangle That Brought Down the Kennedys by Peter Evans and Bobby and Jackie: A Love Story by C David Heymann. )In Nemesis, the author has witnesses to Onassis’ confession that he paid to have RFK hit. Aristotle could not marry Jackie as long as RFK was alive.The assassination conspiracy community has accumulated voluminous data on both these murders.It is now time to come together and file legal murder charges in both of these cases. There is no statue of limitations on capital murder.

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Ted Kennedy

Psalm 72: Read today by Kara Kennedy at her father’s service.
1 Endow the king with your justice, O God,the royal son with your righteousness.
2 May he judge your people in righteousness,your afflicted ones with justice.
3 May the mountains bring prosperity to the people,the hills the fruit of righteousness.
4 May he defend the afflicted among the peopleand save the children of the needy;may he crush the oppressor.
5 May he endure [a] as long as the sun,as long as the moon, through all generations.
6 May he be like rain falling on a mown field,like showers watering the earth.
7 In his days may the righteous flourishand prosperity abound till the moon is no more.
8 May he rule from sea to seaand from the River [b] to the ends of the earth.
9 May the desert tribes bow before himand his enemies lick the dust.
10 May the kings of Tarshish and of distant shoresbring tribute to him.May the kings of Sheba and Sebapresent him gifts.
11 May all kings bow down to himand all nations serve him.
12 For he will deliver the needy who cry out,the afflicted who have no one to help.
13 He will take pity on the weak and the needyand save the needy from death.
14 He will rescue them from oppression and violence,for precious is their blood in his sight.
15 Long may he live!May gold from Sheba be given him.May people ever pray for himand bless him all day long.
16 May grain abound throughout the land;on the tops of the hills may it sway.May the crops flourish like Lebanonand thrive [c] like the grass of the field.
17 May his name endure forever;may it continue as long as the sun.Then all nations will be blessed through him, [d]and they will call him blessed.
18 Praise be to the LORD God, the God of Israel,who alone does marvelous deeds.
19 Praise be to his glorious name forever;may the whole earth be filled with his glory.Amen and Amen.
20 This concludes the prayers of David son of Jesse.———–For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die.Ted Kennedy.—–Kara Kennedy’s reading of Psalm 72 is very appropriate.The positive legacy of the Kennedy brothers will endure.This positive legacy includes JFK taking Curtis LaMay’s cigar and stuffing it up his arse during the Cuban missile crisis. It saved the world from a nuclear war.It includes JFK pushing the military-industrial complex aside and calling for an end to the Cold War at his American U. commencement address in 1963.It includes RFK’s anti-Vietnam war stance after 1967.It includes RFK’s empathy for the powerless.And it includes Ted’s long public career fighting for the powerless.The Catholic Church’s social gospel and Ted’sliberalism were, in many ways, compatible.The major difference is that the Church rejects the unfettered private-market capitalism, while Ted accepted the private market while fighting to protect us from the ravages of this same private market.The Church is good on death. Faith and redemption are very positive. Ted’s death is easier for him and the Kennedys if you believe in an afterlife.I like to believe something of us lives after our body dies.If we don’t believe this, nothing in our earthly lives would be worth while, including posting on this blog.Today is a day to put aside the warts in the Kennedy legacy.But I would still like to see murder indictments in the Kennedy brothers’ assassination conspiracies.Indictments against Carlos Marcello in the JFK murder; and Aristotle Onassis in the RFK murder. After all, both of this criminals confessed to these murders.Let’s get on with the indictments.
Comment by gecannonphd — August 29th, 2009 @ 1:40 pm

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Heath care reform

( Congressman Paul Tonko got an earful during his town hall on health care reform yesterday)
I attended some of this town hall meeting. The opponents of the House reform bills were loud and insulting.Their minds are rigid, and they do not want an honest dialogue.Having said that, there are many myths swirling around this debate.It’s important to separate the myths from the reality.Myth 1:There are 50 million uninsured Americans.There are, but this figure blurrs the reality of the segments included in this total.The Census Bureau report “Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2005,” puts the initial number of uninsured people living in the country at 46.577 million.But 10 million are non-citizens. They need health care, and they go to ER for treatment. This costs all of us.“… according to the same Census report, there are 8.3 million uninsured people who make between $50,000 and $74,999 per year and 8.74 million who make more than $75,000 a year. That’s roughly 17 million people who ought to be able to “afford” health insurance because they make substantially more than the median household income of $46,326.”So there are 17 million who could afford their own insurance.That leaves about 20 million that cannot afford health insurance, but may qualify for already existing programs (Medicaid)It is this core that should be the priority in moving to universal care.