In Memoriam: Fallen Heroes & Uncommon Values -

Bill Hicks talking about JFK on “Revelations“

Today marks the 46th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Over the years my views on JFK have undergone significant revision. As a youth the assassination seemed distant and generally irrelevant. During my undergraduate study of American history, I became disenchanted with Kennedy and the whole edifice of Camelot. Now, following a few more years of experience and reflection, I have come to see JFK as America’s Last Best Hope. That’s not to say that I idolize him or excuse his many excesses, but I can name no other modern president who so greatly championed the American people. During Obama’s run for president, many pundits compared his oratory skills, charisma and worldview with JFK, but I would argue this is a poor analogy. Obama has never once shown an inclination to standing up for the will or needs of the American people. JFK, on the other hand, threatened the military industrial complex, publicly admonished the CIA, and aggressively attacked the Federal Reserve. (For more background on JFK and his assassination, see this tag filter and/or this list of ‘facts’)

Paralleling the events of 9-11, I do not think a thorough, reasoned evaluation of the data can corroborate or legitimate the official explanation of JFK’s assassination. JFK, I think, was assassinated by agents of the US governmental octopus. I also think there’s a strong likelihood that George Bush and Richard Nixon were directly involved. Further, I think many of their co-conspirators remained in positions of power and influence. Subsequently, the Great American Experiment has been under the firm control of misanthropic autocrats.

In contrast with Obama, I do not think “looking forward, not backward” is necessarily the most appropriate course of action. Granted, most of the people who might’ve been involved with JFK’s assassination have died (e.g., E. Howard Hunt) or been murdered (e.g., Jack Ruby?), and it might be a little silly to seek convictions for dementia-ridden senior citizens. However, I think the characters may have changed, but we’re still watching the same play. The architects of 9-11 were no less profligate or successful. Joseph Moshe, a microbiologist who tried to warn people that H1N1 was an engineered plague, was disappeared. The NSA helped make Windows 7 ‘more secure’. In Honduras, generals who recently orchestrated a military coup were trained by the US government. And, of course, Timothy Geithner, former president of the NY Federal Reserve and upholder of plutocracy, has been entrusted with the keys to the treasury. He’s helped oversee the dispensation of billions for bankers while more than 12 million American children suffer from food insecurity.

None of this will stop until accountability is demanded. Today, for me, is a day to remember how high the stakes are. JFK fought so hard and so well he got deleted. That, to me, is impressive. Similarly, Bill Hicks fought so hard and so well he’s become more popular after death than he ever could’ve imagined in life. America simply wasn’t ready. But times have changed, and maybe it’s time we start demanding our institutions change too. IMO, the students at Berkley have the right idea:

“I’m a student representing no one. Statement by the occupiers of Campbell Hall, now renamed carter-Huggins Hall. On 19 November at approximately 12:30 a.m., students occupied Campbell Hall at UCLA. The time has come for us to make a statement and issue our demands. In response to this injunction, we say we will ask nothing. We will demand nothing. We will take. We will occupy. We have to learn not to tiptoe through space which ought to be, by right, to belong to everyone.

We are under no illusions. The UC Regents will vote the budget cuts and raise student fees. The profoundly undemocratic nature of their decision making process and their indifference to the plight of those who struggle to afford an education or keep their jobs can come as no surprise. We know that the crisis is systematic. It reaches beyond the regents, beyond the criminal budget cuts in Sacramento, beyond the economic crisis, to the very foundations of our society.

But we also know that the enormity of the problem is just as often an excuse for doing nothing. We choose to fight back, to resist where we find ourselves, the place we live and work, our university. We therefore ask that those who share in our struggle lend us not only their sympathy, but their active support. For those students who work two or three jobs while going to school, to those parents for whom the violation of the UC charter means the prospect of affordable education remains out of reach, to laid-off teachers, lecturers, to students turned away, to workers who have seen the value of their diplomas evaporate in an economy that grows without producing jobs, we say that our struggle is your struggle, that alternative is possible if you have the courage to seize it. We are determined that the struggle should spread. That is the condition in which the realization of our demands becomes possible.” – (Democracy Now!)

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What are your views on JFK? His legacy? Does the assassination of JFK have any relevance today? Do you think the JFK assassination will ever be resolved? Has America ever recovered? Would JFK stand a chance of getting elected today?

Additional Rabbit Holes -

• Want Liberty? Freedom?
• At What Point Do You Stand Up?
• For Whom Does the Bell Toll?
• Media and Fascism in America -
• Subversive History -

Tags: activism, agitprop, assassination, bill hicks, bush, conspiracy, controversy, diatribes, eschatology, fascism, history, jfk, obama, polemic, propaganda, revolution, subversion, This Day in History, youtube

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