On 10/1/2013 12:13 PM, Glenn V. wrote:
> Den tisdagen den 1:e oktober 2013 kl. 04:42:30 UTC+2 skrev
curtj...@hotmail.com:
>> On Monday, September 30, 2013 3:37:39 PM UTC-4, Glenn V. wrote:
>
>
>>
>> Here a man devotes a good portion of his life telling what he saw in
>>
>> detail after seeing the significance of what he saw...and goes into his
>>
>> grave...being steadfast and being a leader, and you're going with the
>>
>> 'myth strategy
>
> The answer is a resounding YES.
>
> This wouldn't be the first myth created in the JFK research community, and
> it will not be the last. Heck CJ, just look at this forum and the latest
> crackpot myth that's being promoted?
>
Only one crackpot myth? You don't get around much, do you?
> A better question you should ask yourself is - will I take this at face
> value without anything substantial to back it up? You also seem to forget
> that the various stories among those who says they've watched it, on
> crucial points differs greatly, which does nothing to strengthen their
> testimonies. The most important thing they agree on is that the limo
> stopped entirely for a few seconds, and that's of course how you keep a
> story like this one alive, isn't it?
>
> Until any of this is substantiated no one should regard these testimonies
> as anything but hearsay, at best. And that's, as a matter of fact, how
> almost all CTs seems to view this, wouldn't you say? I very rarely see
> anyone use these stories as confirmation that the limo stopped - do you
> have a better explanation as to why that is so?
>
Seems you didn't read my article. Some people just LIE and make up false
claims.
http://www.the-puzzle-palace.com/Mantik1.htm
Mantik's Misuse of Witnesses Who Said That the Limousine Stopped
On page 274 of the book Assassination Science Dr. David Mantik
uses a list of witnesses to advance the notion that the limousine had
stopped on Elm Street and because we can not see that happen in the
Zapruder film that therefore the Zapruder film must have been edited.
There are several problems with that argument. First, the point at which
the limousine stopped may have been before or after Zapruder had filmed
the limousine. Zapruder only started picking up the limousine at Z-133,
so if the limousine had stopped prior to Z-133, his film would not have
shown it. From Z-1 to Z-132 Zapruder had only filmed the lead cycles,
mistakenly thinking that the motorcade was about to round the corner
from Houston onto Elm Street. When he realized his mistake, he stopped
filming at Z-132 and began filming again when he actually saw the
Presidential limousine coming down Elm Street which started the
continuous sequence at Z-133. If Zapruder had filmed continuously from
the time he saw the lead cycles, he feared that he would run out of film
before he could have filmed the limousine going down Elm Street. There
is no indication that there was an edit between Z-132 and Z-133 and
every indication that there was not an edit at that time. Other films
and photos taken from other angles do not show the limousine stopping
before Z-133. Could the limousine have stopped after Zapruder stopped
filming? Yes, but such a stop would not advance Mantik's argument. If
the limousine had stopped inside the triple underpass, it could not have
been seen from Zapruder's viewpoint. Thus there would have been nothing
on his film to edit out. Films and photos taken from other angles show
that the limousine did not stop in the underpass.
Another problem with Mantik's approach is that eyewitness
testimony is unreliable. One can simply not point out a statement by a
witness and accept that as absolute proof of a fact. It needs to be
corroborated, especially with physical evidence such as photographic
evidence. And some authors, in their haste to prove a pre-conceived
conclusion, misuse the eyewitness testimony they select, or select only
the eyewitness testimony which supports their conclusion. For example,
Mantik quotes both motorcycle officers Baker and Chaney as stating that
the limousine stopped. But Baker was only stating what Chaney had told
him, as Sylvia Meagher points out in her book Accessories After the Fact
on page 4, which is quoted here:
4 ACCESSORIES AFTER THE FACT
Lane's allegation about Chaney is corroborated in the testimony of
another motorcycle officer, M. L. Baker. Baker testified on March 24, 1964
that his fellow officer, James Chaney, had told him:
He was on the right rear of the car or to the side, and then at
the time the chief of police, he didn't know anything about this, and he
moved up and told him, and then that was during the time that the Secret
Service men were trying to get in the car, and at the time, after the
shooting, from the time the first shot rang out, the car stopped
completely, pulled to the left and stopped. . . . Mr. Truly was standing
out there, he said it stopped.
Several officers said it stopped completely. (3H 266)
There is nothing wrong with the use of such hearsay to corroborate
Chaney's statement, but it is a misuse of research method to cite both
as separate witnesses to the same fact. One could easily puff up the
number of witnesses by adding in everyone who had heard the original
witnesses state something. But why would Mantik need to use Baker's
hearsay when he quotes Chaney's statement and even cites it as Warren
Commission (WC) testimony? Because Chaney NEVER testified before the
Warren Commission. The reference to the WC hearings at (3H221) is
totally fictitious. When you look at page 275, you can see that (3H221)
is Truly's WC testimony, which does not even mention Chaney. It appears
that the attribution of (3H221) to Chaney was a simple tabulation error.
Either Mantik or his source probably just wrote down the wrong citation
on separate lists and did not carefully compare and fact check them. If
the error was Mantik's then we should expect a quick and simple
correction. If Mantik had merely copied someone else's error, this
points up one major problem in this area of research. Too many
researchers make the mistake of taking for granted the "facts" presented
by a fellow researcher who happens to belong to the same clique, without
bothering to double-check the facts for themselves. They don't want to
risk angering fellow clique members by questioning their work. This is
how simple errors are perpetuated into "facts." Another common misuse of
eyewitness testimony is to misquote or quote out of context what the
witness actually said, in order to create a false impression. Mantik, as
well as others, has done this with the testimony of Patrolman Brown. He
only quotes the portion of WC testimony where Brown said, "when the
shots were fired, it stopped." (6H233) Mantik should have included the
next few sentences where Brown backed off that absolute statement and
could only state for sure that the limousine slowed down:
Brown: Actually, the first I noticed the car was when it stopped.
. . . After
it made the turn and when the shots were fired, it stopped.
Ball: Did it come to a complete stop?
Brown: That, I couldn't swear to.
Ball: It appeared to be slowed down some?
Brown: Yes; slowed down. (6H 233)
So, in his zeal to puff up the list of witnesses, Mantik has
included people who did not actually state that they had seen the
limousine stop. Yes, several people stated that they saw the limousine
stop, but not as many as Mantik has suggested. And we already know from
other witness statements that some witnesses were simply mistaken when
they stated that they saw something, such as Jean Hill seeing a dog in
the back seat of the limousine.
Another problem in this research area is when an author
misuses other researchers' work. The way that Mantik characterizes Vince
Palamara's article from The Third Decade (page 51) leaves the impression
that Palamara claimed (and that Mantik concurs) there were at least 48
witnesses who said that the limousine stopped on Elm Street. This is
incorrect. When you actually read Vince's article for yourself, you can
see that Vince clearly admits at the beginning of the article that he is
lumping together ALL witnesses, including some who said that the limo
had come to a complete stop, some who said that the limo had slowed
down, and those who said that the limo did not accelerate until after
the head shot. Mantik did not dare to quote Vince's article so that you
could find this out for yourself. I will:
". . . the vast number of witnesses who testified that the
Presidential limousine, driven by veteran Secret Service driver William R.
Greer, slowed, stopped or, at the very least, failed to accelerate until
only after the fatal head shot had found its mark."
So, out of 47 witnesses listed in Vince's article, how many
actually stated that the limousine made a complete stop? I went through
his article and noted how many actually stated that the limousine made a
complete stop. I had to throw out a few witnesses because it was not
clear that they meant the limousine when they talked about the 'party'
or the 'cavalcade' stopping. We know that some witnesses were referring
only to the rest of the motorcade, and the photographic evidence shows
that several cars further back in the motorcade did stop in the middle
of Elm Street. Out of the remaining 41 witnesses, only 14 actually
stated that the limousine stopped. 19 of the 41 only stated that the
limousine had slowed down, and 8 of the 41 only stated that the
limousine had waited until after the head shot to accelerate. I have
drawn up a chart (see below) which places the witnesses in the various
categories. The chart has no statistical significance, but it seems
evident that more witnesses only stated that the limousine slowed down
than those who were sure that it stopped. The Zapruder film itself, as
well as other films, corroborates that the limousine was going very
slowly when it rounded the corner onto Elm Street. And the Zapruder film
itself, as shown by the Alvarez study, corroborates that the limousine
had suddenly slowed down at about Z-300 from about 12 MPH to about 8 MPH.
Mantik's obvious errors are another reason why a book like
Assassination Science suffers from the lack of proofreading and fact
checking (just like Posner's Case Closed). The innocent reader would not
have the means to spot such obvious errors and thus would be impressed
by the false conclusions based on faulty data.
41 witnesses | limo stopped (14) | limo slowed down (19) |limo
waited (8)
______________________________________________________________________________
After the |Chaney, Mrs. Cabell, |Brown, Harkness,Moorman, |
first shot |Woodward, Truly |Hawkins,Brehm, Yarborough|
(13) | (4) |Jean Hill, Ready, Similas|
| | (9) |
_____________________________________________________________________________
At the time of|Hargis, Foster, Smith|Campbell, Holmes, Clark,
|Kinney, Hill,
the head shot |Broeder, Mrs. Willis |Clay, Powers
|Bennett, Nellie,
(18) | (5) | (5)
|Altgens, Chism,
| |
|O'Donnell,
| |
|Connally (8)
______________________________________________________________________________
At underpass | Betzner, Newman (2) | |
______________________________________________________________________________
Unspecified | Martin, Burney, Orr |Jackson, Johns, Lawson, |
(8) | (3) |Holland, Simmon (5) |
______________________________________________________