I mentioned to my brother that I felt the “Killing Kennedy” book by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard did not answer whether Lee Harvey Oswald was the single assassin of John F. Kennedy. He suggested that I read this book by Gerald Posner, which has the subtitle “Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK.” I must say that I was convinced after reading the 607 page book (there are over a hundred pages of appendices, acknowledgements, notes and the index). I agree with my brother that the book gives a definitive answer that Oswald was the lone assassin. I thought the strongest evidence was that some of Oswald’s coworkers were on the floor directly beneath where he was firing out the window at the President. They all said there were three loud shots directly over their heads, the concussion from the shots knocked loose “cement” from the ceiling that filtered down on them, they heard the bolt action of the rifle worked three times, and they heard three casings hit the floor directly over their heads. There is even a picture in the book of two of the men looking out the fifth floor window during the shooting to see what was happening on the floor above them where Oswald was firing. Continue reading
Author Archives: RF_Alum
Break the Ice
The Phrase Finder explains the expression means to “break down social formality and stiffness.” The original meaning was “to forge a path for others to follow” and refered to breaking ice to allow navigation. The expression had a resurgence with the development of special ships designed for exploration in the polar regions. Mark Twain wrote a version of the expression in 1883.
Wal-Mart versus Dodd-Frank
Family members watch for subjects for the commentary part of this web site. That led me to an article from the March 2013 North Carolina Banking Institute Journal by V. Gerald Comizio. The article discusses how the Dodd-Frank law included a moratorium on Industrial Loan Company (IFC) charters after Wal-Mart tried to get one. The focus of the article is what will happen when the moratorium expires, but I was more interested the fact Congress passed a law that included prevention of Wal-Mart or anyone else obtaining a charter to operate what is commonly called an Industrial Bank. I should give attribution that the articles published in the journal “…are written by professionals in the banking industry and Notes and Comments are written by law students at the University of North Carolina School of Law.” Continue reading
The Last Voyage of Columbus
My wife expressed an interest in reading this book by Martin Dugard to get a sample of his writing beyond the “Killing” books with Bill O’Reilly. She decided she would be good with me reading it and her reading a review. The subtitle of the book is, “Being the Epic Tale of the Great Captain’s Fourth Expedition, Including Accounts of Swordfight, Mutiny, Shipwreck, Gold, War, Hurricane, and Discovery.” I’m glad I read the book. It is filled with history and facts about Columbus, the New World, and the natives who should have chased Columbus off the instant he and his ships landed. Continue reading
Lucky Dog
I searched for the origin of this term and found that it was the title of first Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy movie. Stan is homeless in the street and is befriended by a stray dog. There are a series of events including the dog making friends with a poodle, a dog show, a jealous boyfriend, etc. Wikipedia says Laurel and Hardy play independently of one another and are “…not the comedic team they would later become.” Of course calling someone a “lucky dog” means that you believe they are very fortunate.
The 2% Solution
I nearly did not read this book by Matthew Miller after reading the introduction. I reacted that the author was saying the problems of the country would be solved if we just spent more on government. The subtitle “Fixing American’s Problems in Ways Liberals and Conservatives Can Love” made me decide to give it a try. The start of the book made me wonder whether I had made a bad decision. The book was published in 2003, and the first issue taken on was health care. That outdated chapter wasn’t encouraging, but I tried to plow ahead. I eventually ran into thoughtful discussions of the problems about failure to educate our children and the huge problems created by refusing to do something about the unfunded obligations for Social Security and Medicare. There are also interesting discussions of the failure of politicians to address problems because of unyielding ideologies that continue to get them reelected and the failure of the press to provide news that might actually educate readers about the problems. Continue reading