WHO WE WERE

  In 1989 I was driving down the Old Nashville Highway when I first heard Rush Limbaugh on 1510 WLAC AM. By the time I was in front of the cemetery at Stones River National battlefield I was laughing and cheering like a crazy person. Finally, I thought. There is someone on the radio that really gets it. By the 1980's I already knew, before Rush came along, that the news media, Hollywood and academia were biased toward the left. This is why I had such an emotional reaction to Rush Limbaugh. In the 1980's there was no FOX News. It would not come on the air until October 7th 1996. Before Rush there were a few so-called conservatives on talk radio. One of my favorite local talk show hosts was Teddy Bart because he would at least allow some pretty good conservatives on his show like Crom Carmichael. The brilliance of Rush is that he has the ability to say, more eloquently than most of us, what we are already thinking. Reagan had that ability. 

 Rush did challenge me to think about such issues as the radical environmentalist movement and the animal rights movement which I had never given much thought to before he came on the air. He is a polarizing figure but people who tell the truth usually are. The truth is a two edged sword. Rush is human and a flawed individual but Jesus said in Matthew 10:34 - Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. That sword is the truth. God did not come to earth to have us compromise the truth. The Founding Fathers set up a form of government that was intended to have checks and balances. Compromise is okay on technicalities but you never compromise on principle. The one moral issue that they compromised on would eventually lead to the Civil War which was the issue of slavery. 

 If today it means shutting down the government or whatever we have to do to begin trimming the deficit, end funding of Planned Parenthood, or stop thousands of Syrian refugees and illegal immigrants from entering this country we should do it. People may not not like Congress for it but I believe if properly explained the people would rally around the Republicans in the long run. The Republicans shut discretionary spending down in 2010 and 2014. In 2010 they won back the House of Representatives and in 2014 they won back the Senate. Why they are afraid to make a stand is beyond logic. My wife agrees with Rush Limbaugh most of the time but she hates his style. This is because like many people out there, she does not understand his humor. I will be laughing hilariously at something he says and it goes right over her head. Bless her heart. I listen to a variety of Conservative talk show hosts but my favorite by far is still Rush Limbaugh. Mark Levine is a close second. I like them because they are so smart. 

 Rush came from a long line of lawyers but he is self educated for the most part and only has a few hours of college. All conservative talk show hosts owe their existence to Rush Limbaugh because he paved the way for them. I am convinced that talk show listeners are among the smartest and most well informed Americans. The value of talk radio is that the media will report a news story by either telling an outright lie or partial truths. Or they will ignore the real news story altogether. Talk radio will ultimately sort it all out. As in the case of the fight against the Tennessee state income tax in 1999 and 2000 it can spur the citizen to action or to call or write their political representatives.

  The other day Rush was talking about how the Kennedy assassination gave birth to the radical left of today. I have been saying this very thing at least from the 1980's and beginning in the late 1990's I wrote a book that was about this very subject but I have never published it. My contention is that the death of Kennedy was the catalyst to the rise of the radical left. Very few people seem to connect the dots on this. The radical left always existed on the fringe of the party. Franklin Roosevelt's Vice President, Henry Wallace, who served from January 1941 until January 1945 was a radical leftist. Fortunately Roosevelt died in April 1945 after Harry Truman had replaced Wallace. Kennedy realized that the Vietnamese were going to have to shoulder the brunt of the fighting before he died. It has been hotly debated whether or not Kennedy would pursue the same course in Vietnam that Johnson did. But there is evidence that Kennedy intended to withdraw American troops from Vietnam after his reelection in 1964. 

  The escalation of the war and Johnson's mishandling of it opened the door for the radical left. The left would eventually dominate the Democratic Party, Hollywood, academia and the media to the point that they were eventually able to elect the most radical president in American history, Barack Hussein Obama. A Nixon win in 1960 or a Goldwater win in 1964 would have left America in a much better shape than having a Johnson presidency. Rush goes even farther to say the left could not come to grips with the fact that Kennedy was killed by a leftist. They could never accept that one of their own killed Kennedy.The left has tried for many years to pin the blame on the right. Even a spokesman for the Soviet Union  tried to blame "Barry Goldwater and other extremists on the right.” Jackie Kennedy had no delusions about who was to blame when she said "He didn’t even have the satisfaction of being killed for civil rights. It’s — it had to be some silly little Communist."  Judge Sarah T. Hughes, who swore in Lyndon Johnson said the following about Dallas. Oswald was an avowed Marxist, which might seem to absolve the city’s right wing of any responsibility. But “Dallas 1963” places the assassin in context as a malleable, unstable figure breathing the city’s extraordinarily feverish air. It could have happened anywhere, but Dallas, I’m sorry to say, has been conditioned by many people who have hate in their hearts and who seem to want to destroy.” 

Lee Harvey Oswald

Jackie in mourning

  This is the attitude that I hate about the left. The people of Dallas and the conservatives did not kill Kennedy. Lee Harvey Oswald, the Castro loving Marxist killed Kennedy. I remember the night that Robert Kennedy was shot when I was working second shift at Baird-Ward Printing company. On the way home from work the disc jockey on the popular rock station of the time, WMAK, kept saying over and over that we were a sick and violent nation. Even then I resented being lumped in with a nut like Sirhan Sirhan. This was the same attitude that was expressed after the bombing of Oklahoma City when Bill Clinton tried to blame conservative talk radio for instigating Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols. The media would try the blame game again when Arizona congressman Gabbie Gifford and 18 other people were shot by Jared Lee Loughner a paranoid schizophrenic. There is no evidence that he even listened to talk radio. I agree with Ronald Reagan when he said "We must reject the idea that every time a law's broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions".

  In addition to the fact that a Marxist killed Kennedy we can speculate legitimately that there might have even been a Mafia connection to Kennedy's death. Just before the 1960 election Joseph Kennedy used Frank Sinatra to solicit support from the head of the Chicago Mafia, Sam Giancana, to win the primary state of West Virginia and in the general election the state of Illinois. It has also been stated in such books as (The Dark Side Of Camelot), Joe Kennedy himself met with Giancana. Sinatra's youngest daughter Tina said because (Kennedy) knew dad had access to Sam Giancana, it would be in Jack Kennedy's best interest if his father did not make the contact directly…Dad was on an errand. Giancana agreed and said "It's a couple of phone calls." I have also read in other accounts that Giancana agreed only if Kennedy could keep his boys under control. His boys meaning John and Robert had served on the Senate McClellan committee investigating organized crime in 1957. John Kennedy was elected in one of the closest elections in American history in 1960. A little over 100,000 votes separated Kennedy and Nixon in the general election with Kennedy winning Illinois and Texas. This was another reason Kennedy chose Johnson as Vice President. Not only to balance the eastern liberal wing of the party with the southern conservative wing but because Johnson had used voter fraud in order to win his own senate race of 1948 by less than a hundred votes. Johnson acquired the nickname of "Landslide Lyndon"

  It was hoped that Johnson could secure Texas for Kennedy. Kennedy was Catholic and West Virginia was protestant. Help from the mob would be invaluable there using the United Mine Workers Union as a means of delivering votes for Kennedy. A few days after Kennedy won he flew to Key Biscayne Florida to consult with Nixon. I believe that he knew that Nixon knew how he had won the election and wanted to find out if Nixon would challenge the results. An investigation of the election could get mighty messy. Nixon, unlike Gore in 2000, decided not to challenge the results because he did not want to drag the nation through the mud. Robert Kennedy was appointed Attorney General at the urging of Joe Kennedy. On December 19th, 1961 Joseph Kennedy suffered a stroke that left him a wheelchair bound invalid. He could no longer even speak. Joe was incapable of keeping his boys in line. Robert Kennedy began a ruthless campaign against the mob, including a campaign to indict Jimmy Hoffa. Tina Sinatra said that Giancana told her dad "That's not right. You know he owes me,' meaning Joe Kennedy, and dad, I think, said, 'No, I owe you. I asked for the favor.'" Giancana and other mobsters were recruited by the CIA to kill Castro. Also Kennedy and Giancana shared mistresses.

Joe Kennedy

Sam Giancana

  There were many threats made by mob figures against John Kennedy. The following is just two of many threats made against him. "Kennedy's not going to make it to the ((1964)) election -- he's going to be hit." -- Santo Trafficante, the top Florida mobster, to an FBI informer in August 1962.  Carlos Marcello, the head of the New Orleans mafia was overheard saying "You know what they say in Sicily: if you want to kill a dog, you don't cut off the tail, you cut off the head." -- He was explaining why President John Kennedy, not Attorney General Robert Kennedy, would be killed. He also said, I will make it look like a nut did it. It was alleged that Lee Harvey Oswald was recruited through his uncle, who worked for the Marcello organization. Oswald can be heard on tape telling reporters ."I’m just a patsy" I read Sam Giancana's autobiography. Giancana himself was murdered in 1975. In his book he said that using a patsy to carry out hits is a common practice in the mob. The mob of old would not kill an honest politician or a policeman because of the unwanted attention that it would bring to themselves. I have read accounts of where the mob has even killed other mobsters after they discovered that they were planning a hit on honest politicians or policemen. 

 Giancana said that the attempted assassination of President Elect Franklin Roosevelt, in 1933, was not an attempt on Roosevelt. The real target was Chicago mayor Anton Cermak who was mortally wounded in the attack. Cermak was corrupt and had double crossed the mob. Giuseppe Zangara, an anarchist Italian immigrant assassinated Cermak. Marcello had been investigated by Robert Kennedy on the senate committee where he repeatedly invoked the 5th amendment as mobsters usually do unless they turn states evidence. The following is from Robert Caro's book (The Passage Of Power) about Lyndon Johnson.  Robert Kennedy was questioning Sam Giancana, who had also invoked the 5th. Kennedy would angrily ask questions pointing his finger, which looked more like a balled up fist. After a question Giancana replied "I decline to answer because I honestly believe my answer may tend to incriminate me". Kennedy answered "Would you tell us anything about any of your operations or will you just giggle every time I ask you a question?" Giancana answered "I decline to answer". Kennedy: "I thought only little girls giggled Mr. Giancana."  On another occasion he went after mobster Joseph Glimco. "And you defraud the Union?" Glimco: "I respectfully decline to answer." Kennedy : "You haven't got the guts to answer, have you, Mr. Glimco?" After the microphone was turned off Kennedy told one witness repeatedly "Your full of shit". He told mobster Joey Gallo in private "So your Joey Gallo, the Juke Box King. You don't look so tough. I'd like to fight you myself". Gallo replied that he didn't fight. It is no wonder that the mob hated him.  

 As Attorney General Robert Kennedy had Marcello deported as an illegal alien on April 4, 1961. He was arrested while making what he thought was a routine visit to the immigration authorities in New Orleans. Marcello was forcibly transported to Guatemala but after a few weeks in the jungle he found his way back to New Orleans and was furious. This was the straw that broke the camels back and prompted him to make the comment about cutting off the head of the dog. Edwin Guthman, an aide to Kennedy, said that he told him after Johns assassination “I thought they would get one of us. I thought it would be me.” They would get Robert Kennedy five years later when he was shot after winning the California primary. I believe that this was another mob hit using the patsy Sirhan Sirhan. Robert Kennedy would have lived, I believe, if he had not run for president. The mob wasn't going to let that happen. This is why I believe Ted Kennedy never made a serious run for the White House. I can't help but believe that Lee Harvey Oswald's death was a mob hit by Jack Ruby to keep him quite. Jack Ruby was interviewed by reporters after he was granted a new trial and he said this "Everything pertaining to what's happening has never come to the surface. The world will never know the true facts, of what occurred, my motives. The people had , that had so much to gain and had such an ulterior motive for putting me in the position I'm in, will never let the true facts come above board to the world. Reporter : Are these people in very high positions Jack ?  Jack Ruby replied : Yes.

Robert and John on the McClellan committee

Carlos Marcello

Jimmy Hoffa

Jack Ruby supposedly died of cancer on January 3, 1967 before he could ever take the stand in his second trial. Every conspiracy theory about Kennedy cannot be proved beyond a reasonable doubt but the mob connection makes a whole lot of sense to me. When we realize that the Kennedy assassination might have been caused by the corruption of Joe Kennedy and his son John it makes the attempt to connect the political right and conservatism to the Kennedy assassination, even more insidious and evil.

  The myths created about Kennedy had a huge impact on the public after his death. The left romanticized the life of Kennedy. He was placed on a pedestal of martyrdom. I even fell into the trap for a while. Of course I was only thirteen when he died and I still had a lot of growing up to do intellectually. Many of the youth on the left bought into the Camelot myth and the assassination soured them on America. They rejected the conservative values of their parents and linked conservatism with the racist reactionary policies in the South and the nation as a whole. The irony of it all was that Kennedy was a conservative. He was a Cold Warrior and had a conservative view of the economy. Kennedy built the conventional army and special forces that would go on to fight in Vietnam. He spurred the longest period of economic growth in history prior to Reagan with his tax cuts. John, Robert  and their father Joe Kennedy were personal friends of Joseph McCarthy and supported his efforts at weeding out communists in government. 

 As far as Civil Rights he was progressive for the time but probably not as progressive as Richard Nixon, who was a card carrying member of the NAACP. Most of Kennedy's court appointees were obstructionists on civil rights while it would be Eisenhower's court appointees such as Frank Johnson and Earl Warren who would be instrumental in advancing the cause of civil rights in the South. Kennedy and Nixon were personal friends and respected each other. Jackie once said about Nixon  “There is no one my husband admires more.” Kennedy had Martin Luther King wiretapped because he was afraid King was a communist. He wanted change for Blacks in the South but at his pace. King knew this and he was constantly creating circumstances that forced Kennedy's hand. As a result events controlled Kennedy rather than Kennedy controlling events. The Kennedy of 1963 would have felt much more comfortable in the modern day Republican Party than as a present day Democrat. I feel sure that he would be horrified at the changes wrought by Obama over the last seven years.

Jack Ruby killing Oswald

  When the Republicans wanted to block the importation of Syrian refugees to the United States over terror concerns by a majority of the American people no less, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton preached to us that this was not who we are. Joseph Kennedy would always preach to his family that it was not who you are but who people think you are that counts. Kennedy wasn't who we thought he was but he was capable of spurring the American people on to greater things. The following is from the speech that he made committing the United States to landing a man on the moon. "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth." This speech was given on May 25th 1961 and America landed men on the moon by July 20th 1969. His inaugural address was one of the greatest speeches in American history and it nailed what our foreign policy should always be. 

 Such inspiring words as the following: Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty. We dare not tempt them with weakness. For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed. Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate. Now the trumpet summons us again--not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need--not as a call to battle, though embattled we are-- but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, "rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation"--a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease and war itself. In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility--I welcome it. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it--and the glow from that fire can truly light the world. Finally the greatest line of all: And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country. I can't imagine a modern day Democrat saying these words.

Kennedy's Inaugural address

  This is who we were Barack and Hillary. America was a can do nation before the rise of the radical left. I grew up thinking that we could do anything that we set our mind to. Yes, I was taught that we were a flawed nation but we had the capability of rising above that and I was hopeful for the future. Actually the fundamental change of this country did not start under Obama. It began with the War on poverty of the Johnson years. The sexual revolution, and drug proliferation of the Hippie movement and the undermining of the Vietnam war by the radical anti-war movement. The combination of these things have led to a weakening of the nuclear family and a corresponding rise in crime. In the early 1960's 7 out of 10 black children and 9 out of 10 white children were born into a family where the parents were married. Today 7 out of 10 black children and 3 out of 10 white children are born out of wedlock. In addition to crime this situation causes a multitude of social and economic problems which raises our deficit. It is these problems, however; that create a permanent voting class for the Democratic Party. 

 Frankly Barack I no longer know who we are. I don't recognize this country anymore. Thanks to you and your Alinskyite buddies all I see is a country divided by race, class, gender, and we are twenty trillion dollars in debt.  In addition I see a country being invaded by foreigners unwilling to assimilate into American society and many who show outright hostility toward America. On top of everything the world no longer fears or respects us. I blame the lions share of this on the radical element of the Democratic Party and a Republican Party who has abandoned conservative principles in order to pander to the class of voters created by the Democrats. Not since Reagan have we been reminded of the greatness of the American people in the way Kennedy reminded us. I believe that there is still a silent majority out there that has that same vision of America. Hopefully we will elect a true conservative that will remind us again of who we are. 

Ted Cruz