My Critique of the Belzer Booki (Hit List)

[John McAdams]

http://jfkfacts.org/assassination/belzer-misses-the-mark-with-hit-list/

Morley agreed to publish this after I took him to task for publishing
an article (not written by him) that seemed to uncritically laud the
Belzer book.

http://jfkfacts.org/assassination/news/belzer-jfk-assassination-the-work-of-magicians/

That was quite reasonable on Morley's part.

He prefaces my post with this:

<Quote on>

Note the byline on this story. It is not written by Jefferson Morley.
JFK Facts welcomes contributions from readers, which are published
every Saturday. Articles should be 750 words or shorter and should
deal with recent developments or publications about JFK's
assassination, presidency or related issues of secrecy and national
security.. If you want to contribute, email me your submission here.

<Quote off>

This sounds like a pretty good offer to researchers -- especially
those who don't have their own web page or blog (or whose web site or
blog has less visibility than Morley's).

I would suggest that lone assassin people might submit articles to
Jeff.

He's got a mainstream media background, and his standards for quality
of writing are going to be tolerably high, but there are some people
here who could certainly do well-written pieces.

If it sounds like I'm trying to subvert a conspiracy site, I would
note that I have several conspiracy essays on my site, including
multiple ones by Peter Whitmey and Vince Palamara.

Those of us who have strong opinions don't necessarily want contrary
opinions silenced.

.John
-----------------------
http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/home.htm

[Ralph Cinque]

My critique of your critique, John. I have sent it to Jeff Morley in the
hope that he will publish it.

http://oswaldinthedoorway.blogspot.com/2014/02/john-mcadams-premiere-defender-of-jfk.html

[Vincent Buglisi]

I think that Hulk Hogan dropped him on his head.

[David Von Pein]

Nice review of "Hit List", John. I enjoyed it.

Based on Prof. McAdams' advice in this thread, I decided to submit a short
piece to Jefferson Morley's website too.

Thanks, .John.

[Ralph Cinque]

OIC senior member Professor James Norwood responded to Professor McAdams.

Ralph,

Great job in writing a rebuttal to John McAdams' review of Richard
Belzer's book Hit List.

I too wrote a reply.

If you are interested in including my remarks on your blog, I am attaching
a copy below.


All the best,

James

(Professor James Norwood)






************************



At the time of the 50th anniversary of the death of President Kennedy, I
taught a course on the assassination. Many of the students became
interested in the topic of how individuals with important knowledge about
the assassination died under suspicious circumstances. I read and
recommended to the students the book "Hit List" by Richard Belzer and
David Wayne. Therefore, I must challenge every point the author is making
in the review.

In fact, the review is so brief that it is impossible for the writer to
develop and support his contention that there is an "intellectual
slovenliness" to the scholarship of "Hit List." The reviewer casually uses
the term "factoid" to diminish the value of the true stories of people's
lives which were changed forever because of what they knew about the JFK
assassination. For example, the book provides a discussion of eyewitness
Warren Reynolds, who saw the man running from the scene of the Tippit
shooting. Reynolds was at first unable to identify Lee Harvey Oswald as
the man he observed. Later, after Reynolds miraculously survived a gunshot
to the head, his memory was refreshed, and he changed his testimony to
implicate Oswald as the shooter of Tippit. That "factoid" tells us a great
deal about the widespread and fully-documented intimidation of
eyewitnesses that occurred for many years after the assassination.

"Hit List" is a good starting point for the students to learn how and why
the truth about the death our thirty-fifth president has been suppressed
for over a half century. The book serves as an introduction to the lives
of such individuals as Dorothy Kilgallen, Mary Pinchot Meyer, Lee Bowers,
and William Bruce Pitzer. The lurid circumstances of their deaths are less
significant than the explosive first-hand information they possessed about
the truth of the death of President Kennedy. In this area, Richard Belzer
and David Wayne have made an important contribution in "Hit List."

[John McAdams]

On 9 Feb 2014 18:17:24 -0500, Ralph Cinque <buda...@gmail.com> wrote:

>OIC senior member Professor James Norwood responded to Professor McAdams.
>
>Ralph,
>
>Great job in writing a rebuttal to John McAdams' review of Richard
>Belzer's book Hit List.
>
>I too wrote a reply.
>
>If you are interested in including my remarks on your blog, I am attaching
>a copy below.
>
>
>All the best,
>
>James
>

>(Professor James Norwood)=20

>
>
>
>
>
>
>************************
>
>
>
>At the time of the 50th anniversary of the death of President Kennedy, I
>taught a course on the assassination. Many of the students became
>interested in the topic of how individuals with important knowledge about
>the assassination died under suspicious circumstances. I read and
>recommended to the students the book "Hit List" by Richard Belzer and
>David Wayne. Therefore, I must challenge every point the author is making
>in the review.
>
>In fact, the review is so brief that it is impossible for the writer to
>develop and support his contention that there is an "intellectual
>slovenliness" to the scholarship of "Hit List." The reviewer casually uses
>the term "factoid" to diminish the value of the true stories of people's
>lives which were changed forever because of what they knew about the JFK
>assassination.

I'm afraid that begs the question.

This guy apparently uncritically accepts the factual accuracy of the
book.

Bad idea.

>For example, the book provides a discussion of eyewitness
>Warren Reynolds, who saw the man running from the scene of the Tippit
>shooting. Reynolds was at first unable to identify Lee Harvey Oswald as
>the man he observed. Later, after Reynolds miraculously survived a gunshot
>to the head, his memory was refreshed, and he changed his testimony to
>implicate Oswald as the shooter of Tippit. That "factoid" tells us a great
>deal about the widespread and fully-documented intimidation of
>eyewitnesses that occurred for many years after the assassination.
>

OK, so Reynolds failed to ID Oswald as the man fleeing from the Tippit
scene.

But it didn't say it *wasn't* Oswald either.

So the conspiracy neeed to "improve" his testimony.

And to do so, they shot him in the head.

Beautiful.

Do you folks even *think* about these things?

>"Hit List" is a good starting point for the students to learn how and why
>the truth about the death our thirty-fifth president has been suppressed
>for over a half century. The book serves as an introduction to the lives
>of such individuals as Dorothy Kilgallen, Mary Pinchot Meyer, Lee Bowers,
>and William Bruce Pitzer. The lurid circumstances of their deaths are less
>significant than the explosive first-hand information they possessed about
>the truth of the death of President Kennedy.

But none of the *did* pass any first-hand information.

>In this area, Richard Belzer
>and David Wayne have made an important contribution in "Hit List."
>
>

Dream on.

.John

--
The Kennedy Assassination Home Page
http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/home.htm

[David Von Pein]

Jeff rejected my submission. (Boo-hoo.)

:-(

[John McAdams]

On 9 Feb 2014 19:13:21 -0500, David Von Pein <davev...@aol.com>
wrote:

>Jeff rejected my submission. (Boo-hoo.)
>
>:-(
>

Why don't you put it on your site, and put the link here?

Or just post it here (which would not preclude putting on your site
when you get time)?

Everybody can decide whether it deserved to be on Morley's site.

It's possible that Morley agreed to pust my review only because I was
giving him grief on a listserv that we are both on.

If so, it may not really be his policy to post lone assassination
articles.

[David Von Pein]

JOHN McADAMS SAID:

http://jfkfacts.org/assassination/belzer-misses-the-mark-with-hit-list/

Morley agreed to publish this [linked above] after I took him to task for

publishing an article (not written by him) that seemed to uncritically
laud the Belzer book.

http://jfkfacts.org/assassination/news/belzer-jfk-assassination-the-work-of-magicians/

That was quite reasonable on Morley's part.

He prefaces my post with this:

<Quote on>

Note the byline on this story. It is not written by Jefferson Morley. JFK
Facts welcomes contributions from readers, which are published every
Saturday. Articles should be 750 words or shorter and should deal with
recent developments or publications about JFK's assassination, presidency
or related issues of secrecy and national security.. If you want to
contribute, email me your submission here.

<Quote off>

This sounds like a pretty good offer to researchers -- especially those
who don't have their own web page or blog (or whose web site or blog has
less visibility than Morley's).

I would suggest that lone assassin people might submit articles to Jeff.

DAVID VON PEIN LATER SAID:

Jeff rejected my submission. (Boo-hoo.)

:-(

JOHN McADAMS SAID:

Why don't you put it on your site, and put the link here?

Or just post it here (which would not preclude putting on your site when
you get time)?

Everybody can decide whether it deserved to be on Morley's site.

It's possible that Morley agreed to post my review only because I was

giving him grief on a listserv that we are both on. If so, it may not

really be his policy to post lone [assassin] articles.


DAVID VON PEIN SAID:

The short article I submitted to Jefferson Morley is on my site already
(see link below), and has been there for more than three years (although I
did tweak it a little bit and change a couple things yesterday before I
submitted it to Mr. Morley)....

http://JFK-Archives.blogspot.com/2010/08/hoover-and-oswald.html


Here's the response I received....

Subject: Re: Article Submission For "JFK Facts" Website
Date: 2/9/2014 8:01:37 A.M. Eastern Standard Time
From: Jefferson Morley
To: David Von Pein

-----------------

Hi David,

I can't use this. You are making an argument about your impression of an
argument "many conspiracists" have made. I don't know who you are
referring to so it feels like a straw man.

Thanks for sending it along.

Jeff

[Ralph Cinque]

I'm glad to see that Jeff Morley allowed Jim Fetzer's rebuttal in the
Comments section as well as James Norwood's, as well as mine.