Well the verdict is in with regard to the Oklahoma bombing. At least the verdict in the Federal trial. Heard it read in the last 30 min.or so.....
Guilty as charged. All eleven counts.
OK.
But really???
You sure??
Let me first say this commentary is not about Tim McVeigh and whether he's guilty or not. A jury has found him guilty, and by our laws.....
This commentary is about the process. The way "things" can be twisted and turned to make us believe anything the "powers that be" want us to believe. Remember Hitler and Goebels and the "big lie".
This commentary is one long question.
See.
If he had been found not guilty I could write about what a prime example this is of the governments methods of investigating a case and making up whatever evidence they think they need. I can still make a case for indicting those methods, but since he's been found guilty I have to change the tone of the argument a little bit. The bottom line is the same. The governments investigative arms are piss poor at best. It's just that the argument takes on a bit of a different slant now.
Which is ok.
As I've said, a jury found him guilty.
They heard all of the evidence.
I didn't.
To start off with, One of the things that bothers me most about the whole affair is the governments conduct -- again!!
I think the most disturbing aspect of the case against Tim McVeigh is there is no direct evidence. It's a circumstantial case and the prosecution said as much on numerous occasions.
I'm not saying he's not guilty.
It's not for me to say.
Not at all, but people with attitudes like his should all be locked up -- their gundamentalist frame of mind is a crime against humanity in and of itself.
Not in this country.
You're free to think and say anything you want, but if it were up to his kind of people there would be no freedom of thought, so think of it in that light. The same laws that allow them to speak freely would be grossly violated and eventually eliminated altogether in their "perfect world". The same mold that produced Adolf Hitler probably produced Tim McVeigh and his type of right wing gundamentalist Malitia people.
They're evil folks.
The epitome of evil.
I've heard some say that the incident in Oklahoma City has ended the Malitia movement in the U.S. I hardly think so. They've just buried themselves a bit deeper. Melted even more into the fabric of society. But gone?? I seriously doubt it!!!
Pretty scary when you think that these kinds of people are all over the place!!! And you don't even know who they are.
What bothers me about all the circumstantial evidence??
It's just that.
Circumstantial.
Nothing you can sink your teeth into.
Conjured??
Manufactured??
Made to fit a pre-determined conclusion???
It certainly wouldn't be the first time.
Tim McVeigh himself is actually irrelevant to the whole discussion.
What does it all mean??
What it means to you and me is that "the Government" can manufacture any kind of case they want against anyone they want and need only convince 12 people that their evidence is good enough. I'm sorry, but in a case the magnitude of the Bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah building in Oklahoma City, you better show me the evidence.
I won't consider convicting someone on the basis of purely circumstantial evidence (and I really don't give a damn what a judge says in so called instructions to the jury), especially if that evidence is lashed together by a government agency or two -- the FBI probably being the worst of the lot at this point in time.
Now they are considering a death penalty??
With no direct evidence.
Where is the justification for that??
I wouldn't even consider a hanging in any case that uses the FBI labs exclusively......
Yes it was a heinous crime, and yes Tim McVeigh has been convicted of that crime. He was convicted on very slim evidence, mostly circumstantial, and now they want to kill him. I'm sorry, but there's something wrong with this picture.
What about the bombing case in Atlanta?? They apparently found their man but Richard Jewel called their bluff and they had to back down.
Push came to shove and the Government was forced to put up or shut up.
Well they had to shut up, but there's a perfect example of what I'm trying to say.
"Hey there's no doubt that Richard Jewel is going to be indicted for the bombing in Atlanta.
They have him cold.
Pictures, tapes the whole nine yards."
Hey. The guy isn't going to be the next Pope, but they jerked him around for weeks, ripped to shreds what life he had, but they had no real evidence!!!
They were fishing.
Desperate to "solve the crime". Show the public that something was being done about such a dastardly deed.
First the voice prints didn't fit.
Then there was no evidence of explosives. Anywhere. No evidence that Richard Jewel was even smart enough to put a bomb together.
Oh oh.
Well. Uh. Then he must have had an accomplice.... Right??
Didja ever consider he may be innocent???
Hello???
All they had was their own conjured up circumstantial case.
Well, in the past he did grandios things to make himself look good (finding and reporting an object in the park in a place it should not have been -- like a security guard is supposed to do). He "fit the profile".
What profile??
Where do they get this crap??
Probably could have gotten him convicted if he didn't get himself a really good lawyer and create a whole bunch of publicity about the case that the FBI didn't want.
You go tell Richard Jewel that I'm crazy!!!!
Or Paranoid....
Go ahead. Tell him! I dare you!!
Ya want another example?? Sure you do.
Elmo "Geronimo" Pratt in California. He did 27 years for a murder he probably had nothing to do with (I say probably, because only Mr. Pratt knows for sure). The evidence at his trial showed he was 400 or so miles away from the crime scene, but hey....
"He's black." The crime was committed by a black male.
"He's a Black Panther." They're violent....aren't they??
"He's gotta be guilty".
Twenty seven years people -- for a crime there is NO credible evidence he committed.
You tell Geronimo Pratt I'm crazy!!!
Or Paranoid....
Go ahead. Tell him. I dare you!!!
Let's talk some history.
Look at the trail of evidence the FBI manufactured surrounding the John Kennedy Assassination.
Incomplete, conjured and completely faked in some instances, to fit a pre-conceived story. And this was the evidence on which the Warren Commission was supposed to and did base their conclusions.
It's no wonder that even today, it's considered such a farce. Read it!!
J. Edgar Hoover and some of the boys, a whole screed on scumbags and sleaze by itself, made the evidence fit the lone gunman theory, even after the evidence was in, and the evidence showed that the theory was obviously absurd.
Then because of the name and reputation of the FBI, the entire country was spoon fed this preconceived bullshit by a news media that was being brilliantly manipulated into presenting the case in Hoovers pre-determined light.
America was slowly losing her virginity.
The Vietnam War and if not that, then Watergate finished the job.
But that's a whole different story.
Trust your government?? My country right or wrong?? Not anymore!!!!
Hoover was probably one of the biggest scumbags that has ever served in the government service. And that includes noted sleaze artists such as spies Aldrige Ames, John Walker, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg.... Demagogues such as Senator Joseph McCarthy, Richard Nixon and the like.
Hoover himself did more real damage to our national image of morality than any foreign spy.
J. Edgar Hoover blatantly subverted the laws of our country.
J. Edgar Hoover subverted the constitution and everything it stands for.
And for that we erect statues and name large federal buildings after him??
Fortunately, one can neither persecute nor run from history, and history has been providing J. Edgar Hoover with the legacy he so richly deserves.
The swine.
In my mind, the FBI has been tainted ever since the JFK investigation, but there are some questionable things that went on in the 50's as well. Hoover had something on everyone. How'd he get it?? Chances are his methods were not legal even in the 50's.
Think about it. Lee Harvey Oswald, Sirhan Sirhan, James Earl Ray.
Railroad jobs performed by the FBI under Hoover in the name of swift justice. It really didn't matter if the parties were guilty or not, just that the public was satisfied that something was being done.
Smoke and mirrors folks. Smoke and mirrors.
Oswald?? Alone?? That's a total insult to the intellegence of the American people. Check this reading list on the Assassination of John F. Kennedy .
If memory serves me correctly they found 11 bullet holes in the hotel where Robert Kennedy was shot and Sirhans gun only held 9 rounds and the fatal wound was fired from extremely close range into the back of his head. Sirhan Sirhan didn't get close enough to Robert Kennedy to have fire the so-called fatal shot.
They didn't even test fire James Earl Rays alleged murder weapon to determine if it really was the murder weapon. He's been in jail for nearly 30 years for a crime he may not have committed!! (Don't get me wrong. James Earl Ray is no saint, but chances are pretty good he didn't kill Martin Luther King Jr. Just like it's a pretty good bet that Lee Harvey Oswald didn't murder John F. Kennedy in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963.) Now here it is 1997, and that test is finally being done!!! What if the rifle turns out not to be the murder weapon. What then???
What's wrong with this picture people??
What does all that mean??
What does it really mean to you and me??
It means that if you even remotely resemble a "John Doe #1" in a FBI artists description you best lay low until they find some other poor slob. If you end up as the "mark" they can and will manufacture a case against you that will be totally plausible, with plausible witnesses -- some of whom are your friends that you may have made some off hand comments to in a moment of anger, drunkeness or humor, a fact which will more than likely be withheld from the jury -- will testify against you and hang your ass up on a federal charge and all you were doing was sitting at home, smoking a joint and watching Bugs Bunny on TV.
"What's your alibi, boy???"
And it better be tight!!!
It's been a bit off of this subject, but relevant to the argument because it shows a history of treachery. A trail of manufactured evidence and/or botched investigations that are "prosecuted" (persecuted is the proper word, however...) for the sake of prosecution -- doesn't matter what the real facts show, just don't introduce the real facts into evidence.
But back to Oklahoma City.
I really feel for the victims of this heinous crime. You can't help feeling for them. They have suffered immeasurably.
But listen to them talk about the Tim McVeigh case. There is nothing but venom and revenge in their voices, their eyes and their words. This is very understandable given the situation, but are you sure it's really Tim McVeigh??
Positive??
Who says??
The government?? They did convince a jury!!
I'm sorry folks but this is the same government that brought you the Vietnam conflict, Watergate, CIA-gate, Iran Contra-gate. And you still trust them to tell you the truth??
You do? They do say "ignorance is bliss".....
Will that expected revenge bring the victims any closure? No. Probably not, and they are generating a whole bunch of really bad Karma for themselves, and even if the Feds do end up killing Tim McVeigh and the other punk he's been hooked-up with, there will be no closure for the true victims of this holocaust.
Only death will bring to them the peace they seek.
Most just don't know it yet.
They will.
Soon enough.
Unfortunately for the rest of us, Tim McVeigh's kind of right wing gundamentalist mentality lives on.
Return to The New Goose Flight
Updated 22 Aug., 1997