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| About as good a theory as any, I suppose ... |
Kennedy Assassination: Off the Top 'O My Head
Now that the "Dallas Orgy" is over, I'll post my half cent in.
Conspiracy
We've heard 'em all ad nauseum. Folks with empty lives and nothing better to do expounding to others of the same about why it all went down and who was behind it. Johnson, the Mafia, the Birchers, the commies etc. were in on it somehow. Elvis and bigfoot may have had a hand in it too. This is not something that's kept me up nights. Howsomever ...
The reds. Yup! That's what I think. Why? Seems the most plausable.
1.
Oswald spent some time in the Soviet Union after "defecting" there.
2. While there, he was given the unprecedented privilege of practicing with a rifle.
3. Both
Khrushchev and
Castro could have understandably had it in for
Kennedy what with the past "
missle crisis", "
Bay of Pigs" and all.
4. While in the Marines stationed at installations in Japan, Oswald was known to consort with a "lady" who had connections with the Communist movement in that country.
5. Oswald did some "free lance activism" for the
Fair Play For Cuba Committee.
6.
Jack Ruby allegedly spent some time in Cuba a short time before killing Oswald.
The Rifle
One of the "proofs" that Oswald REALLY COULDN'T have killed Kennedy was the
"cheap, junky, ITALIAN" rifle he used.
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| Mannlicher/Carcano Model 38s 6.5mm. Not as bad a rifle as it's "cracked down" to be. |
Yes, it was "cheap". Around twenty bucks (In 1963 dollars.). Cheap in comparison to the M1 Garand (90 bucks! Just try getting a Garand for that price today!) advertised just above it in the Kleins Sporting Goods (Then a subsidiary of Pepsi Cola.) ad that Oswald ordered (Under an assumed name.) from. As for it being "junky", bullcrap! I've owned two in the past. They both worked just fine.
Some years back the Hysterectomy ... uh ... History Channel aired a program "proving" how Oswald couldn't have possibly killed Kennedy by getting a couple of malfunctioning examples and badly stored ammo. I switched channels after I saw where that was going. If one is to go "hunting" one is to make sure his weapon is functioning properly. Any malfunctions or defects are to be corrected or repaired by taking it to a competant gunsmith. Oswald obviously did if that was the case. As I've said before, mine worked great from the start.
As an aside, the
Italian military got a lot of bad press during WW2 due to its shortcomings and early defeats. This and their having been on the losing side are the main causes of its bad reputation. The Italian soldiers and their small arms were as good as anybodys'. A LOT of Allied combatants were taken out by these "comic reliefs" and their "crappy" rifles. Before the surrender in 1943 they actually scored victories (Without German assistance.) in the dust up in North Afrika. When reading various histories of that campaign it's interesting to note at times, mention of AXIS victories in the desert instead of German or
Afrika Korps (MOST of the forces under
Rommels' command were Italian.). Some authors don't like to admit that sometimes the allies got their butts handed to them by the "eye ties".
I understand there were a couple tests/studies as to wether or not one could score two plus hits on a moving target at that range, angle etc. One after the assassination and one done in the '90s. Both had at least one of the shooters consistently scoring all three on target and concluded it could be done. Conspiracy or not, Oswald was the shooter (He "connected" with two shots.).
The Mindset
Yeah. Oswald claimed not to have shot Kennedy. But ...
1. He attempted to kill right winger
Edwin Walker some time before.
2. He was quite willing and successful in gunning down officer
J. D. Tippet at close range.
Yeah, "guilt by association", I know. All the same ...
So...
Was there a conspiracy? Who knows? Even more important ... Who actually REALLY cares? I don't and never did (My 9 year olds' concern at the time was there were no cartoons on TV that November weekend. Man! ... Was I ticked off!).
As for the fascination and claims of conspiracy on peoples' minds, in the words of one gun writer: "No one wants to believe that a lone loser bought a cheap rifle from Pepsi Cola and stopped Camelot."
Face it. The past "Dallas orgy" was for entertainment purposes only, though most probably won't admit that.
As the title of this article says, this stuff is "off the top 'o my head" and NOT to be taken as "authoritative" or the last word. Just some rambling musings on my part.
Just sayin' ...
Kennedy Kurses!
here.
Go to Jays' Tee Vee blog main page
here.
