Well, I see it's time to straighten out the forever-mangled words and
theories of conspiracy theorist James DiEugenio once again.
In "Black Op Radio" Show #434 on July 30, 2009, Jim DiEugenio
attempts to move the goal posts regarding an issue concerning the
"strap muscles" of President Kennedy that I discussed in an earlier
critique of Jim's non-stop pro-conspiracy nonsense (in this article).
During the July 30th Black Op program, DiEugenio made a pathetic
attempt to sidestep the provable fact that he was wrong (in two
different ways) when he said the following words on July 16, 2009
(while talking about the topic of "probing" JFK's wounds):
"So what does Von Pein do? He quotes Specter examining Humes
[referring to the Warren Commission testimony of Dr. James Humes]."
Number 1 -- I never quoted Specter examining Humes concerning the
issue at hand (which is an issue all about "probing" JFK's upper-back
and neck wounds, and NOTHING more).
And number 2 -- Specter never even brought up the topic of "strap
muscles" during Dr. Humes' 1964 Warren Commission testimony. Not once.
Humes uttered the words "strap muscles" one time, but it was not
related to the "probing" topic at all. Humes was talking about JFK's
strap muscles being "bruised" by the passage of the bullet that went
through the President's upper back and throat/neck. Nothing more than
that.
So, what does DiEugenio do? He decides to quote Page 88 of the Warren
Commission Report, which states:
"The [autopsy] surgeons determined that the bullet had passed
between two large strap muscles and bruised them without leaving any
channel."
But the above WCR passage is a big "So what?" situation here, because
it has nothing whatsoever to do with DiEugenio's previously-stated
falsehood about there being on-the-record Warren Commission testimony
of Dr. Humes concerning the issue of "strap muscles" as those muscles
relate to the PROBING of President Kennedy's wounds.
Plus -- Page 88 of the Warren Report certainly doesn't eliminate the
additional falsehood that DiEugenio told about how I had allegedly
previously cited Dr. Humes and Arlen Specter talking about the "strap
muscles" as they relate to any probing of JFK's wounds, which is
something I did not do (nor could I have if I wanted to, because no
such WC testimony exists at all).
I'm certainly not denying the fact that the words "strap muscles" were
mentioned at some point in the official record by both Humes [2 WC 368]
and the Warren Commission [WR; Pg. 88].
To the contrary, in fact, I even said this in an Internet post that I
wrote on July 20, 2009 (which totally destroys DiEugenio's arguments
regarding another aspect of the "strap muscles" debate):
"You'll find ONE reference to "strap muscles" in Humes'
testimony...and that one reference isn't referring to the "probing"
matter at all. Humes was talking there about the "bruising" of the
strap muscles in JFK's neck. Which, in fact, defeats DiEugenio in
another area of his BlackOp appearance from July 16th, because Jim
was arguing that the "strap muscles" were WAY ABOVE the area where
the bullet passed through John Kennedy's body....which just is not
true, because those very "strap muscles" were BRUISED BY THE PASSAGE
OF THE BULLET THROUGH KENNEDY'S NECK." -- DVP; 07/20/09 [complete
message here]
-------------------
And here's a replay of Jim DiEugenio's July 16th claptrap regarding
Arlen Specter and the strap muscles:
"Specter and Humes understood that the probe was gonna be a big
problem. They thought the photographs would never be declassified.
So Specter made up this B.S. story about the strap muscles, never
knowing that that story was going to be exposed. And Von Pein goes
ahead and quotes him." -- James DiEugenio; 07/16/09
-------------------
And in rebuttal to Jim's silliness quoted above, I said this a few
days later:
"Everybody online can easily check it out for themselves. Just
search Humes' WC testimony and search for the words "strap muscles" --
those are the key words that DiEugenio thinks Arlen Specter decided to
invent a "B.S. story" about while Specter was questioning Dr. Humes
("B.S. story" is DiEugenio's exact quote from 7/16/09).
"Although just HOW Arlen Specter managed to get Humes to shed
his backbone and his professional integrity and go along with this so-
called "B.S. story" about the strap muscles is anybody's guess.
Apparently DiEugenio thinks that Humes would just obediently and
slavishly go along with such a "B.S. story", instead of showing a
little backbone and refuse to tow the Specter line.
"The idea that CTers think that Government people like Specter
of the Warren Commission would have been able to just snap their
fingers and get anyone on the witness stand to say any damn thing that
Specter (et al) wanted them to say is just silly beyond all belief.
"But, evidently, people like James DiEugenio seem to think that
Specter (et al) did, indeed, possess that kind of power. Crazy." --
DVP; 07/20/09 [full post linked earlier]
-------------------
Evidently, though, Mr. DiEugenio thinks that Dr. James Humes must
have, indeed, been a big fat liar when Humes said that the "strap
muscles" of President Kennedy were "bruised" as a result of the
passage of a bullet:
"We reached the conclusion that the damage to these muscles on
the anterior neck just below this wound were received at approximately
the same time that the wound here on the top of the pleural cavity
was, while the President still lived and while his heart and lungs
were operating in such a fashion to permit him to have a bruise in the
vicinity, because that he did have in these STRAP MUSCLES in the neck,
but he didn't have in the areas of the other incisions that were made
at Parkland Hospital." -- Dr. James Joseph Humes; 03/16/64 [WC Volume
2; Page 368][Emphasis provided by DVP.]
-------------------
Quite obviously, via the above testimony of Dr. Humes, the "strap
muscles" of President Kennedy were positively contused and bruised as
a result of the bullet that passed through JFK's body on November 22,
1963.
I guess Jim DiEugenio must think that the evil Arlen Specter was
holding a gun to Humes' head when Humes told the Warren Commission
that the "strap muscles" in JFK's neck were "bruised" by the bullet.
Because DiEugenio (via some comments he made previously on Black Op
Radio) seems to think that all of the "strap muscles" in the human
body are located ABOVE the areas where JFK was wounded by a bullet in
1963.
~big shrug~
-------------------
BONUS HUNK OF HILARITY:
As a bonus, I'll now offer up the following silly quote that came out
of the mouth of James DiEugenio on 7/30/09:
"The bullet did not go through the neck; and the strap muscles
are in the neck." -- Jim DiEugenio; 7/30/09
So, according to DiEugenio (who also believes, as all other conspiracy-
happy kooks also believe, that Bullet CE399 didn't hit either JFK or
John Connally), it's much more reasonable and logical to believe that
TWO separate bullets (fired from opposite ends of Dealey Plaza)
entered John Kennedy's body, with one of those bullets going into
JFK's upper back and NOT EXITING, and another bullet entering the
President's throat and NOT EXITING.
And then, per DiEugenio, BOTH of those bullets (which did not exit
Kennedy's body after entering!) completely vanish without a trace
after the assassination.
I wonder if Jim can answer the following question relating to the
insane theory that has two different bullets entering JFK's body but
not exiting (and then disappearing into thin air):
WHAT ARE THE ODDS OF THAT SHOOTING SCENARIO ACTUALLY OCCURRING?
It continues to boggle my mind on a daily basis that so many otherwise-
intelligent people (like Mr. DiEugenio) can swallow so much outright
nonsense and conspiracy-oriented crap concerning the JFK and J.D.
Tippit murder cases. It's simply incredible.
Single-Bullet-Theory.blogspot.com
-------------------
ADDENDUM:
James DiEugenio's pro-conspiracy and anti-Vincent Bugliosi nonsense
relating to the assassination of President Kennedy continues unabated
and without any end in sight (via Jim's 7-part review of Bugliosi's
book "Reclaiming History"; and also via DiEugenio's twice-a-month
visits to "Black Op Radio", during which he attempts to feed people a
never-ending series of half-truths, distortions, and misrepresentations
concerning Mr. Bugliosi's outstanding book and the JFK case in general).
Part 5 of DiEugenio's anti-Bugliosi crusade revolves around Bugliosi's
treatment of Jim Garrison, Oliver Stone's movie "JFK", the Clay Shaw
trial, and the various New Orleans-related aspects to Lee Harvey
Oswald and the Kennedy case.
I will fully acknowledge to everyone reading this message that I am
not nearly as well-schooled and informed as certain other JFK
researchers when it comes to some of the intricate details revolving
around the "New Orleans" aspects of the JFK case.
I always like to defer to Dave Reitzes' fine work when it comes to the
sub-topics of Jim Garrison, Oliver Stone's film, and "New Orleans" in
general, because Dave's study into these arenas appears to be rock-
solid, with large amounts of common sense thrown into the mix too,
which is something that shouldn't be underestimated:
http://www.jfk-online.com/garrison.html
http://www.jfk-online.com/jfkmovie.html
But one thing I'm very sure of is this ---
Even if we were to make the assumption (just for the sake of this
particular discussion, although I'm not conceding this to be a true
fact at all) that Lee Oswald WAS acquainted with the various "New
Orleans" characters that Jim DiEugenio thinks LHO was acquainted with
in the summer of 1963 (e.g., Clay Shaw, David Ferrie, and Guy
Banister).....that would still be a million miles away from proving
that ANY of those New Orleans characters had ANY INVOLVEMENT,
IN ANY WAY, WITH THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT KENNEDY IN
DALLAS ON NOVEMBER 22, 1963.
And the reason the above paragraph is the truth is because (once Perry
Russo's lie is tossed aside, as it must be) there isn't a shred of
evidence that CONNECTS any of those New Orleans individuals to the
planning and/or carrying out of the murder of John F. Kennedy in
Dallas, Texas. No evidence whatsoever.
Everything Lee Harvey Oswald did on 11/21/63 and 11/22/63 indicates
that he was a LONE ASSASSIN in Dallas. And that fact would still be
true even IF Oswald had been pals with ALL of the three previously-
named New Orleans-based people (Shaw, Ferrie, and Banister).
In other words -- Where is Jim DiEugenio's (or anyone's) BRIDGE and/or
UMBILICAL CORD that allows conspiracy theorists to make the grand leap
from this:
LEE HARVEY OSWALD KNEW CLAY SHAW, DAVID FERRIE, AND GUY BANISTER....
....to this:
....SHAW, FERRIE, AND BANISTER WERE CO-CONSPIRATORS IN THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT KENNEDY?
Given the physical and circumstantial evidence that exists of ONLY
OSWALD'S GUILT in the assassination of JFK, such a monumental leap of
faith like the one suggested above is, to put it bluntly, monumentally
ridiculous.
David Von Pein
July 31, 2009
