A different time

One of the most striking scenes from the aftermath of the JFK assassination occurred after Oswald's arrest.

The police had a home address from LHO's employment records and went out to Irving to search it. Today, we'd expect a massive show of force-- SWAT teams, snipers, maybe a "dynamic entry".

In 1963 two Dallas police officers and one sheriff's deputy went to the front door and knocked. They waited until the owner of the house answered and then explained their business Then they searched the house and began to question Oswald's wife.

Waco: Fifteen years later

The first time I watched Waco: The Rules of Engagement it was a revelation. Up until that point I had not paid a lot of attention to the matter. I accepted the conventional wisdom that a bunch of dangerous religious nuts killed themselves and their families after a stand-off with law enforcement. Just a bunch of crazies like the Aryan Brotherhood or The Order.

W:TROE called most of that into question. It turned out that the Branch Davidians were multi-racial with many educated adults as members. They had nothing in common with racists like the Aryan Nation. Then there was the 911 call. Wayne Martin called 911 when the raid started. That just seemed like an odd action for someone who was eager to fight the federal government in an apocalyptic battle.

But most of all, I was struck by the videotapes. Planning for the raid might have been haphazard, but the ATF made certain that they had plenty of videotapes so they could record their big bust at Mount Carmel. It made you wonder: was the “dynamic entry” search a law enforcement necessity or was it a PR move by an embattled agency?

The aftermath was weird. I think Mickey Kaus summed it up best in a column he wrote for The New Republic:

Am I alone in thinking there’s something perverse, even a bit obscene, about the current lionization of Attorney General Janet Reno? She made a disastrous decision that resulted in the loss of more than seventy lives. In a bizarre bit of political alchemy, this somehow protected her from suffering any of the consequences that normally attend disastrously handled responsibilities. Far from restoring accountability, Reno seems to have hit on the formula for avoiding it. Make a dreadful mistake? Go immediately on ‘Nightline’. Say the buck stops with you. Recount in moving terms the agony of your decision. And watch you polls rise.

It was classic Washington. CYA. “Mistakes were made.” “We are sorry”. “Let’s move on.”

Kopel and Blackman understood the problem with the Reno passive accountability:

There is perhaps no institution in the United States government with more unchecked power than the Department of Justice. The job of attorney general is therefore one of the most difficult in the entire cabinet. It cannot be performed effectively by an attorney general who looks the other way at misconduct by her own employees. Nor can it performed effectively by an attorney general who, having been deceived into approving a plan which directly led to the unnecessary death of seventy-six persons, fails to discipline a single one of the persons who deceived her.

The MSM was surprisingly complacent about the big questions raised by Waco. By and large, they did not challenge the government. Instead, they served as its mouthpiece. As Kaus notes, it was strange to see reporters fawning over Reno after she presided over a catastrophic failure that left twenty-six children dead.

The MSM was amazingly happy to accept government statements at face value. They continued to do so even after it was clear that some of those statements were wrong, misleading, or outright lies.

Moreover, the press helped to demonize those who raised questions. Critics were lumped together with “far-right militias”, “conspiracy theorists”, and other kooks.

(There is an interesting side note on this point. Kooks who believed conspiracy theories about the Clintons were called “right-wing kooks” by the MSM. Lefties who believed conspiracy theories about the JFK assassination were labeled “buffs”, “critics”, and “researchers”.)

At the time, Waco raised three serious questions that deserved debate. The first was the use of paramilitary tactics in law enforcement. They have become commonplace but Waco showed that they can have tragic consequences. The second issue was one of simple honesty. ATF and the FBI tried to cover-up the truth after the tragedy. Even if their actions were justified, they had no right to spin and lie as they did. The third issue was the use of the press by law enforcement to demonize suspected criminals before they come to trial.

Those issues remain relevant today. Unfortunately, few seem interested in raising them.

This is turning into a sad bleak day

William F. Buckley Jr. Is Dead at 82

George Will got it right:

“All great biblical stories begin with Genesis,” George Will wrote in the National Review in 1980. “And before there was Ronald Reagan, there was Barry Goldwater, and before there was Barry Goldwater there was National Review, and before there was National Review there was Bill Buckley with a spark in his mind, and the spark in 1980 has become a conflagration.”

Myron Cope, RIP

Legendary broadcaster Myron Cope dies at 79

Cope's voice-- that unmistakable, nasal Pittsburgh voice-- is the essential soundtrack of the Steelers's dynasty. It shot out of the radio during the games-- excited, goofy, yet also astute and erudite.

He was a homer. He grew up in Pittsburgh. He pulled for the Steelers. He suffered when they lost and exulted when they won. Yet, he did not hesitate to point out poor play during the game.

Yoi, we didn't block anyone on that play!

He was a homer, but he was not blind. And he was happy to tell us what he saw.

He invented the Terrible Towel and gave away the rights. All the proceeds now go to charity.

Cope liked players. He was not the type to rip a guy just to create controversy and build ratings. He was the antithesis of the loud shock jocks who dominate sports radio today.

Any fool can argue and insult. It takes real talent to hold an audience by being informative, insightful, and interesting. For three decades in Pittsburgh Cope held his audience doing just that.

Before he went into radio Cope was a sportswriter. Actually, he was one of the best. His profiles of Muhammad Ali and Howard Cosell stand up well after forty years and still make it into anthologies. The writing sparkles and the insight still shines through. Here is a bit of the Cosell profile that ran in Sports Illustrated in 1967:

''Oh, this horizontal ladder of mediocrity,'' sighs Howard Cosell, ruminating on the people who make up the radio-television industry, which pays him roughly $175,000 a year. ''There's one thing about this business: There is no place in it for talent. That's why I don't belong. I lack sufficient mediocrity.''

Cosell fondles a martini at a table in the Warwick bar, across the street from the American Broadcasting Company headquarters. Anguish clouds his homely face. His long nose and pointed ears loom over his gin in the fashion of a dive bomber swooping in with fighter escort.

''This is a terrible business,'' he says.

It being the cocktail hour, the darkened room is packed with theatrical and Madison Avenue types. A big blonde, made up like Harlow the day after a bender, dominates a nearby table, encircled by spindly, effete little men. Gentlemen in blue suits, with vests, jam the bar.

A stocky young network man pauses at Cosell's table and cheerfully asks if he might drop by Cosell's office someday soon. Cosell says certainly, whereupon the network man joins a jovial crowd at the bar.

''He just got fired,'' Cosell whispers. ''He doesn't know that I already know.''

The man, he is positive, wants his help, but what is Cosell to do when there are men getting fired every week?

''This is the roughest, toughest, cruelest jungle in the world,'' Cosell grieves.

A waiter brings him a phone, and he orders a limousine and chauffeur from a rental agency. He cannot wait to retreat to his rustic fireside in Pound Ridge up in Westchester County.

It is Monday evening, barely the beginning of another long week in which he, Howard W. Cosell, middle-aged and tiring, must stand against the tidal wave of mediocrity, armed only with his brilliance and integrity.

Yes, it is a stupid decision

Is this crazy, or is this crazy?

The decision by Britain, America and certain other European countries to recognise Kosovo as an independent state is mind-blowingly stupid and suicidal and of a piece with their obvious determination to capitulate in the war for civilisation.

That last line is gonna leave a mark

Steve Sailer on HRC:

Failing the bar exam isn't so bad, except that the media has never explained why she should be President other than that she's so smart. But if she's not so smart, then her main claim to being President is the nationally embarrassing one that nobody is supposed to talk about: that she was married to the last President, that she's Imelda Marcos in sensible shoes.

Today's must read

Snark does not equal wisdom

One of my criticisms of modern America is that we don't understand that sarcasm, wittiness or plain snarkiness don't equal wisdom or profundity. We mistake cleverness for thoughtfulness. This is nowhere more evident than in our political life, where politicians live and die, politically speaking, by the sound bite. Sound bites used to be up to 30 seconds, but nowadays they've shrunk to one or two sentences. Consultants get paid riches to come up with the right one-liner.

RTWT

Related:

Humor is over-rated

Sarcasm is corrosive

Its very purpose "is to dethrone the serious"

Another glib fad bites the dust

Maybe hip early-adopters aren't the key to starting trends. That's the gist of this debunking article from Fast Company

Is the Tipping Point Toast?

An island of sanity

Now that the JFK assassination is back in the news, it is worth noting that Dale Myers's has a tremendous website/blog that sorts out the facts from the garbage.

Secrets of a homicide

JFK: The conspiracy puzzle

The vast majority of Americans believe that JFK was murdered by a conspiracy that may or may not have included Lee Harvey Oswald. This has been true for decades.

That is sad on many levels. It is also puzzling. The belief in conspiracy took hold at a time when the MSM was powerful and trusted and the MSM initially defended the Warren Commission.

For example, CBS News and Walter Cronkite (“the most trusted man in America”) did a four part special report on the assassination in 1967. They rebutted the charges made by Mark Lane and other “critics”, yet the conspiracy train kept moving on and gathering steam.

In that same year, NBC News and The Saturday Evening Post ran big stories that were harshly (and rightly) critical of Jim Garrison and his so-called “investigation”. Once again, the conspiracy theories kept finding adherents.

It is astounding when you think about it. A handful of cranks, frauds, and charlatans managed to convince a majority of the public that there was a conspiracy in Dallas. For some reason, they were more persuasive and more influential than the MSM at the height of its power.

Rosenhan redux

KC Johnson posts on a new Duke lacrosse article in a law review. This point caught my eye:

In Mosteller’s opinion, quite beyond Nifong’s complete lack of ethics, a structural problem exists: “Ethical principles, Brady, and our adversary system require a prosecutor to operate with a type of split personality.” On the one hand, the prosecutor is supposed to do justice and hand over exculpatory material. But “for a prosecutor who has reached the conclusion that the accused is guilty, which obviously should be updated as new evidence is received, there can be no true exculpatory evidence.”

There can be no true exculpatory evidence.

See here for additional commentary.

The problem with Lit Crit today

A CURSE ON MEAN-SPIRITED INTELLECTUALS

But I was very pleased when a friend recently sent me a book of literary criticism that he said I would like, and I did. This is rare: I am sick of university teachers treating literature as though it were a branch of something else—Social Studies, Gender Studies, Post-Colonial Studies, Political Studies. The book was by Brigid Lowe and is called "Victorian Fiction and the Insights of Sympathy ".

It is a brave book, with one big simple message: all too often literary scholars merely use books (they call them "texts") for the sake of their own agendas and careers. Here's the novel; here's the ideological agenda to which it is to be fitted; and here's the critical mallet to whack it into shape. For example, here is the opening of another recent book on Victorian Sympathy from Stanford University Press which goes something like this: "The Victorians were very interested in sympathy - which was all about consolidating the male sense of identity, and an early example of interpellation in action." So that's what it's all about.

HT: Milt's File

See also:

Knowledge and Knowingness

Fraud with Footnotes

Warren Commission Redux

Bombshell!

Commission Confidential

In a revelation bound to cast a pall over the 9/11 Commission, Philip Shenon will report in a forthcoming book that the panel’s executive director, Philip Zelikow, engaged in “surreptitious” communications with presidential adviser Karl Rove and other Bush administration officials during the commission’s 20-month investigation into the 9/11 attacks.

Shenon, who led The New York Times’ coverage of the 9/11 panel, reveals the Zelikow-Rove connection in a new book entitled The Commission: The Uncensored History of the 9/11 Investigation, to be published next month by Twelve Books. The Commission is under an embargo until its February 5 publication, but Washington DeCoded managed to purchase a copy of the abridged audio version from a New York bookstore.

In what’s termed an “investigation of the investigation,” Shenon purports to tell the story of the commission from start to finish. The book’s critical revelations, however, revolve almost entirely around the figure of Philip Zelikow, a University of Virginia professor and director of the Miller Center of Public Affairs prior to his service as the commission’s executive director. Shenon delivers a blistering account of Zelikow’s role and leadership, and an implicit criticism of the commissioners for appointing Zelikow in the first place—and then allowing him to stay on after his myriad conflicts-of-interest were revealed under oath.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. How did Karl Rove ever get the genius tag anyway?

Tennessee Women End Duke Home Streak

DURHAM, N.C. — The Tennessee men’s basketball coach, Bruce Pearl, showed his school spirit last season, baring his chest and painting it with a white “V” when the Lady Vols faced Duke in Knoxville. There was no such display Monday night from Pearl’s Duke counterpart, Mike Krzyzewski, when Tennessee played at Duke.

Instead, the Cameron Indoor Stadium fans greeted Tennessee with the kind of vitriol that Coach Pat Summitt has warned could end the series between two of the elite teams in women’s college basketball. But amid the chants and jeers, Tennessee held off the Blue Devils, 67-64, to end Duke’s 24-game home winning streak.

Sometimes the good guys win one.

Wendy's comes to its senses

Wendy’s: No Longer Red All Over

A new rule at Wendy’s: only Wendy can be coiffed like Wendy.

Wendy’s, the third largest hamburger chain, is jettisoning a campaign it introduced amid much hoopla last May. The fast-paced campaign showed consumers in pigtailed red wigs that emulated the hairstyle of the chain’s familiar female mascot.

See also:

Marketing Malpractice

Brian Nichols and the high price of death

The New Yorker as a very interesting article on Brian Nichols-- the man who murdered four people in a jail escape turned rampage in Atlanta in 2005.

Death In Georgia

The high price of trying to save an infamous killer’s life.

His trial is at a standstill because the state of Georgia does not want to pay for his defense. It's become a political issue and that is never good for justice. Nichols's escape provided a log of blog fodder for a couple of days in 2005. (See here and here). Then we moved on.

That's too bad because there were some serious issues raised about the procedures in the jail that allowed this crime to happen.

This blew my mind when i read it in the article.

The response by law-enforcement officials to Nichols’s crimes was marred by terrible errors. After the shanks were discovered, Judge Barnes said he wanted the sheriff’s department, which handles security in the courthouse, to provide Nichols with additional guards, yet he was escorted to court by a single female deputy sheriff. Part of his attack on the deputy was captured by surveillance cameras, but no one was monitoring them. The Atlanta police, who did not begin searching for Nichols until forty minutes after the first shootings, failed to seal off access to two parking garages where Nichols had been seen; he escaped from both. During a subsequent investigation, five sheriff’s deputies were found to have lied about their actions with regard to Nichols. Eight deputies were fired for misconduct, all but two of whom were later rehired.

Four people dead and most of those involved escape consequences.

Forty-five years in Dallas: Time to put the conspiracy theories in their place

OK. So we know Oswald did it. Why do so many people believe otherwise?

That, in my mind, is the only important question left when it comes to the JFK assassination.

Bryan Burrough, in his review of Bugliosi's Reclaiming History describes the appropriate response to the conspiracy theorists:

What Bugliosi has done is a public service; these people should be ridiculed, even shunned. It’s time we marginalized Kennedy conspiracy theorists the way we’ve marginalized smokers; next time one of your co-workers starts in about Oswald and the C.I.A., make him stand in the rain with the other outcasts.

What is killing newspapers?

Great piece in Slate by Jack Shafer:

Simple Simon

What the auteur of The Wire doesn't (and does) understand about the newspaper business.

See also:

The newspaper today and tomorrow

Fear and loathing in Arizona

Until this season, I was not a Patriot-hater. To the contrary, I found a lot to admire in the way they played and how they won. They were smart and flexible on defense. One week they could shut down a high-powered passing offense like the Colts and then the next week they would stuff a physical running team like the Steelers. No team was better at halftime adjustments. Few teams hustled more or executed as crisply.

All of this is still true, but now it is overshadowed by the baggage. Or, to be blunt about it, the cheating and the Patriots’s arrogant response when they were caught.

Videogate is a big deal. To me, it did taint the Patriots legacy. It was a big illegal edge that is especially important in light of the narrow winning margin New England racked up in their first three Super Bowls. It was supremely relevant to Belichick’s ability to beat teams the second time around.

Sadly, the NFL blinked when they confronted the issue when they confronted the issue. While they dished out some fines, they also moved quickly to sweep the matter under the rug and to destroy the evidence.

Sports media played along. Instead of investigating the matter, jock-pundits assured us that “everyone steals signals” and it was no big deal. (If it was no big deal and if the Patriots did nothing wrong, then why even bother with the fines?)

The “every one does it” defense of the Patriots stands to in stark contrast to the on-going crusade by sportwriters against Barry Bonds. To be fair, shouldn’t they admit that his home run mark is A-OK because pitchers were juicing too?

The Patriots response was telling. Belichick churlishly refused to admit that he did anything wrong. He just copped to an inaccurate interpretation of the rules. Right after the fines were levied, his boss gave him a big raise and contract extension. His bank account never felt the pain of his “punishment.”

This is in keeping with the Patriot way. Belichick does not like the NFL’s injury reporting requirements. So he makes a mockery of it by listing Tom Brady on it by for over 50 straight weeks (4 seasons). In that time, Brady never missed a start. Belichick does not like the coaches game day dress code, so he manages to comply while at the same time looking like a tramp.

The NFL, to its shame, has tolerated this willful defiance. The new commissioner was John Wayne when it came to players and their off-field behavior. When Roger Goodell has to go nose to nose with Robert Kraft or Bill Belichick the tough talking lawman turns into Barney Fife.

This official cowardice makes its way onto the playing field. In big games, the Patriots get to push the envelope. TMQ has made this point many times but the problem continues.

Once again, not only did the weather (stiff winds died down just before kickoff) seem to be under Belichick's control, but so did the officials. Disciplined teams commit fewer penalties, and Belichick teams are disciplined -- but there's a difference between discipline and seeming to get a free pass from the officials. A few years ago, New England won an AFC championship when repeated obvious pass-interference penalties by the Patriots against the Colts went uncalled in the fourth quarter; that year, New England won the Super Bowl without ever being called for pass interference or offensive holding in the postseason. On Sunday, the Pats were flagged just twice, for 19 yards. With 11 minutes remaining and San Diego driving, Richard Seymour, after the whistle, shoved Philip Rivers to the ground directly in front of referee Jeff Triplette -- no flag. During a play, linebacker Mike Vrabel spun around his blocker, then leg-whipped Rivers, causing him to fall and throw an interception -- no flag. Reader Jacob Robertson of Rock Hill, S.C., writes, "Tripping is a penalty in the NFL, yet not only was this not called, the announcers praise New England linebackers when they cheat."

I fully expect the Patriots to win SB XLII. That will make them the greatest team in the Super Bowl-era. I’m just sorry that an extraordinary season comes with so much baggage.

Oswald’s Ghost After watching it and thinking about it a few days, I have three big problems with the documentary. While it does, finally seem to come down on the side of Oswald as Lone Gunman, it does so subtly and quietly. I wish the director had been more clear and forthright about the manifest problems with the conspiracy theories. The film uses Tom Hayden and Todd Gittlin as talking heads who spend most of their time talking about the impact the “unanswered questions” surrounding the assassination on the politics. Since both men were leaders in the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) we get a heavy does of New Left perspective and apologetics. Hayden is especially problematic because he is more propagandist and activist rather than sober historian. Morevover, the famed socialist Irving Howe said of him: “Tom Hayden gives opportunism a bad name.” I can’t help wondering if Gitlin’s and Hayden’s explanation is the whole story. The New Left was quite willing to seize an issue and use it to their own end: From The Roots of Radicalism by Stanley Rothman and S. Robert Lichter: (1982)

Quoting Mark Rudd (SDS president at Columbia): "We manufactured the issues. The Institute of Defense Analysis is nothing at Columbia. And the gym issue is bull. It doesn't mean anything to anybody. I had never been to the gym site before the demonstration began. I didn't even know how to get there." "Even Berkeley had a slogan that "the issue is not the issue," meaning that the real issue was not free speech on campus but thoroughgoing social change." Mike Goldfield in New Left Notes (1966): "You have to realize that the issue didn't matter. The issues were never the issues....It was the revolution that was everything. The only thing that mattered was what you were doing for the revolution. That is why dope was good. Anything that undermined the system contributed to the revolution and was therefore good."

Hayden and Gittlin’s narrative is debatable. Maybe the New left was energized by the conspiracy theories. OTOH, maybe The Movement promoted the theories because they fit their preconceived ideas about a corrupt power structure and also helped undermine the authority of the Establishment. That’s a key question for historians. Are we looking at an honest attempt to grapple with unanswered questions, or a species of “popular delusion”, or a cynical exercise in agit-prop. “Oswald’s Ghost” treats the conspiracy theorists and promoters as honest and never addresses the other possibilities. The movie basically ignores the toxic, noxious, consequences of the Grassy Knoll cult. Very little time is spent on Clay Shaw, the innocent man that Jim Garrison indicted in New Orleans as part of his crude, demagogic charade. Shaw was bankrupted and died a few years after the jury exonerated him. Or take the case of Dallas police officer J D Tippett. He was shot by Oswald shortly after the assassination. His murder is a problem for the conspiracy theorists. Rather than revise their opinion that Oswald was innocent, they perform contortions to exonerate LHO on this murder as well. Many of them suggest that Tippett was part of the plot (i.e. he helped kill JFK or helped those who did). Thus, the “buffs” smear a policeman who died in the line of duty so that they can still pretend that Oswald was a patsy. They have no evidence, of course, but that has never stopped the Church of the Grassy Knoll.