17-10-2010, 04:14 AM
Phil Dragoo Wrote:Disagreeing with Charles, I don’t think people would pay the extra money to visit Harlem or Appalachia. But Hawaii, yes.
As per JFK being an “oligarch” who was changing at the time of his death, I have to say, when I read something like that, I really believe that everything I have done up to this time has been, as they say, “pissing in the wind”.
Three points for Jim -- but first I must engage in a "full disclosure" moment:
In years gone by I have been critical of Jim's work on many levels. And said criticism has not always been offered with the requisite respect and specificity. Let the record show that, for whatever it's worth, I do indeed honor much of what he has accomplished in our common quests to reveal truth and bring about justice in the case of JFK's murder and related matters. In a word, I am a fan.
1. In re the conference: Jim, it is not about attracting people with the lure of an edenic locale. It is about empowering people with the overarching theme of unification in service to the aformentioned shared quests. The choice of venue in this instance amounts to a tacit admission that truth and justice alone are insufficient to serve as rallying cries for those we wish to unite. I for one have yet to reach that conclusion.
We should not be about tempting the recalcitrant with a trip to Diamond Head, but rather firing a diamond bullet into the foreheads of the unenlightened.
Or as Fidel might put it: Revolutions are not staged in Aspen, but in the Sierra Maestra.
2. Everything I know about the human condition compels me to reject as absurd the notion that JFK -- or, for that matter, any human being -- came into this world fully formed. My respect and indeed reverence for John Fitzgerald Kennedy exist in direct proportion to my understanding of his heroic -- in the Homeric sense -- spiritual growth and emotional and intellectual maturation in the face of forces dedicated to stunting such growth and maturation.
While Jim significantly points to evidence of nascent transcendence at a relatively early stage of JFK's life, he by no means demonstrates that which cannot be demonstrated -- even in the lives of the saints.
As the poet reminds us: It is better to travel hopefully than to arrive.
It is the journey, not the arrival, that compels reverence.
3. Jim, why not join us here?
Respectfully,
Charles