marked out for assassination

below is a recap of chapter 4 “marked out for assassination” from “jfk & the unspeakable: why he died and why it matters by james w. douglass”
click the links for recaps of previous chapters:

chapter 1: a cold warrior

chapter 2: kennedy, castro & the CIA

chapter 3: kennedy & vietnam

JFK was not afraid to die, nor was he afraid to live.  the trait kennedy admired most in others was courage (thus his 1951 book “profiles in courage”). he had respect for people who stood up and fought for causes, specifically with regard to war. political courage in trying to defuse the CIA and pentagon from “winning” the cold war was a much bigger type of courage, and yet kennedy was not afraid to fight that fight. the choice came down to eisenhower’s “assured destruction” and his own wanting to be “more flexible.”

the vietnam crisis was simmering when kennedy went against his conscience of wanting to appoint edward gullion as the new vietnam ambassador after gullion had worked magic in the congo keeping it independent during his time there. instead, kennedy made what he considered one of his biggest mistakes by allowing his republican rival, henry cabot lodge, to be appointed ambassador. lodge only wanted the position to use as leverage to try for the republican nomination against kennedy in 1964. lodge proceeded to take away all of kennedy’s power on the ground in vietnam and refused to even communicate with diem or guide him away from a potential coup. contrarily, lodge was working closely with henry luce, the media baron and staunch enemy of kennedy, and other generals supporting the coup efforts against diem. kennedy’s next option was to send his friend torbert macdonald to meet with diem to talk diem into removing the nhus from power to reassert some control and save his life, but diem wouldn’t budge. it was a marked defeat for kennedy and another victory for the CIA.

as if being on the CIA and pentagon’s blacklist was not enough, kennedy then found an unforgiving enemy in big business when they lured him into a trap to test his allegiances.  kennedy settled a steel strike crisis and brokered a deal to keep steel prices from rising.  the next move major steel companies made was a blatant duping by raising prices by 3.5%.  kennedy was incensed and made a comment he was never able to live down, “my father always said all businessmen were sons of bitches but i never believed it until now.”   he ordered the defense department to only order from small steel companies that had not risen prices or to take business overseas if necessary.  the government accounted for 9% of the nation’s total steel market. kennedy further attacked big steel by launching anti-trust investigations against them (which ultimately lead to fines in 1965 for price-fixing).  big steel’s response was that they were being treated as “enemies of the people” to which kennedy replied, they were exactly that “by putting pursuit of power and profit” above the interest of the people. seeing that kennedy was prepared to wage war against them, big steel backed down and relented on the price hikes.  business leaders, however, never forgot nor forgave kennedy’s handling of the situation or his subsequent recanting of his “all businessmen are sons of bitches” statement.   kennedy’s father was a prominent anti-business politician, who fought wall street with roosevelt in the 1930s.  douglass sees this through the fortune magazine lens of a test to see whether kennedy would accept defeat and lose credibility or fight back and unite the business world against him.  fortune then ran the article reading “steel: the ides of april” to foreshadow the fate of julius caeser onto kennedy.   the wall street journal made the quote, “the government set the price. and they did this by the pressure of the fear, by naked power, by threats by agents in the state security police.”  u.s. news commented, “the president is acting like a soviet commissar.”   it was obvious that the business world clearly had less use for kennedy now than they did before he was elected, back when he was, “their second choice for president and anyone else was their first choice.”

in continuing to probe oswald’s role in the years leading up to the assassination, douglass finds CIA fingerprints all over everything.  oswald had been, at the least, a CIA employee as a radar man in the marines.  after this, he either a) became a blatant traitor or was b) a double agent. (this chapter continues to point to a double agent role.)  angleton, the man in charge of the CIA assassinations unit, had created “201 files” on people to look like counter-intelligence files to be used as assassination scapegoats. oswald had a 201 file, though the document was incompletely preserved as evidence in the JFK assassination investigation. not that the full document could have mattered much anyway since allen dulles told the warren commission that “no CIA employee, even under oath, should ever say truthfully if oswald or anyone else was a CIA employee.”   ann egerton, after retiring from the CIA in the 1970s, was somewhat candid in HSCA interviews in implicating oswald as a CIA asset and a security risk that needed to be watched closely, thus the need for the 201 file.

other examples of oswald’s CIA connections came from the wilcott’s, a husband and wife team who resigned from the CIA in good conscience in the 1960s.  they gave interviews about the CIA keeping a lid on oswald in the soviet union in the late 1950s and how he was angered by the soviets being “onto him.” douglass continues, through their stories, to outline a structure of how individual employees can carry out certain roles of a larger plot with only a few people knowing the entire plan and outcome from the beginning.

the biggest example of a pawn in the game would undoubtedly have been james nagle.  the author of the book “the man who knew too much” walked into a san antonio bank, fired shots into the ceiling and waited in his car for the police to show up and arrest him.  he ended up serving four and a half years in prison and his only comment as to why was because he “would rather be arrested than commit murder and treason.”  he was holding a double-edged sword.  perhaps the most interesting part of the entire JFK assassination is that the KGB knew of the CIA’s plan and, though the KGB was opposed to JFK, they had to work hard to keep him alive because the CIA planned to implicate the soviets as part of the cover up.   james nagle was well acquainted with “angel” and “leopoldo,” two cuban double agents, who were financed by alpha 66 and working with oswald right up to the end.  nagle had been ordered by the soviets to make oswald aware of angel and leopoldo’s connections and their plans for him. when oswald would not listen to this advice, nagle was then asked to murder oswald.   this was the point when nagle bowed out of the game and sent j edgar hoover a letter detailing the kennedy assassination plot before getting himself arrested because his two options a) trusting the KGB, who wanted oswald dead, or b) trusting the CIA, who wanted kennedy dead, both were murder and treason as far as nagle was concerned.

this knowledge that j edgar received may or may not have been “news” to him, but it did raise enough awareness in the insider circles to rework the plan and shift the assassination site from washington to dallas a couple of months later.   hoover was certainly aware of the stealthy end-around the CIA did in moving out the de mohrenshildt’s and inserting michael and ruth paine as oswald’s benefactors bringing oswald back to dallas from new orleans.   ruth became a close friend of marina oswald so that she could brush up on her russian and then she helped oswald obtain a temporary job at a texas school book depository.  at the same time, he had been offered a better paying permanent position at trans texas airways, though he still, under some unclear and unacknowledged set of circumstances, accepted the temporary position at the depository. so, the question was posed, who were the paines?  michael, who was a helicopter engineer at bell helicopter, turned out to be no ordinary engineer. he was the step-son of the inventor of the bell helicopter and had the highest level of security clearance. (this minute fact was not known until 30 years later). he was well acquainted in the pentagon and his mother was friends with allen dulles mother and dulles mistress.  it seems more and more no small irony that the people coming and going from oswald’s life were moving him into a position on a chessboard.  but the fact that many of these circumstances were not known or asked about came as a direct result of the handling of the warren commission by dulles in the aftermath, who stated in mid 1964 that “at this point we are supposed to be closing doors, not opening them.”

well then, case dismissed.
…until chapter 5, “saigon and chicago” which will begin next week…

La Grande Main Street meeting of August 13

Notes from the La Grande Main Street meeting at Mt. Emily Ale House (8/13/2013)

      Main Street has broken the areas of interest down into four components, which I pretty much re-organize into three components. The idea of design could just as easily include the streetscape and façade into one group since they’re doing predominantly the same thing. Besides, very little was discussed on this topic. As far as this was concerned, only parking and signage on the freeway were discussed. Promotions and business development was the order of the day.   Promotions :: Design (Streetscape, Façade) :: Business development

       The arts community asked for more exposure on a higher level. They would like to move the Third Thursday Art Walk to a different day, such as “first Friday.” This is seen as a day when people are more likely to be out for pleasure and have more money. Everyone’s money is “gone by the third week.” Sharon Porter, of the Blue Turtle Gallery, wondered about where the people with the money are, such as professors and doctors. She said, “These are the people that have money, let’s shake it out.”
       However, the business development people in the room quickly took over, noting that the art scene was great, but the service industries wanted to know how they are supposed to capitalize off ideas pitched toward retail industries. The one apartment overlap that seemed appreciated by all was the La Grande Scenic Bikeway. And an idea for having a bike and brew tour was perhaps the one useful, tanglible idea that came out to tie most everyone's interests into one event.   The dry cleaner and another bar owner wanted to know if anything was being done to help off-Adams businesses. As far as they see things, they are “getting nothing from it” other than their parking spaces being taken up by people going to events on Adams. There was also the perception that “Main Street” is narrow focused and should be referred to more as “Downtown.” [Main Street is a umbrella organization that towns across America work under to help secure funding and such to progress with their goals. As far as I know the only way to change the name is to change the name of the national organization.]
        There were wishes about wanting to build with the university that seemed to come with a lot of approving gestures. People also are heavily in favor of bringing in more tourism. One way was proposed to add more signage along the exits, but that brought on a deeper debate, “do we need signage or do we need an integral product first and foremost?”
        In this discussion, the problem that everyone wanted to address was parking, specifically angle parking took up, in terms of time, most of the meeting with the same point being echoed by just about everyone in the room.
       Jerry, the owner of Mt. Emily Ale House, hit the most important factors in one fell swoop of a speech. People seemed afraid to invest in the economic development model because they were being misled into seeing it as an added tax instead of being integral to building the community. It is easy for people to buy into that when a typical routine has been “building a portfolio for a few at the expense of the rest of us.” While that was not the nature of the last failed initiative, the mindset remains a majority feeling apparently. La Grande does need a diversity of opinions and a collaborative nature if we are ever to “attract businesses, fill the holes.” Mainly, La Grande needs to choose an identity and go with it. A dichotomy exists within our view of ourselves. We need a positive perspective, because that encourages good things to happen. And when good things happen, good things keep happening. This is a much more productive outlet than continuing to slam La Grande as having nothing going on [which kid yoshida has never done, by the way]. Above all, get out and participate. If you are not going to volunteer and help the changes, then you cannot complain. [Say it again and again Jerry!]
       Al’s ideas followed everyone by echoing the need to keep people in downtown, that “every $1 spent here becomes $9 within a year. Where do you spend that?”
By the next meeting, set for October 15, 6:00pm, at the Ale House, people were asked to pick a committee and bring an idea for how to brand La Grande…

kid yoshida’s take on the various issues:
       Yes a time like Friday evening is a bit more user friendly. But then again so would be Saturdays and Sundays, especially Saturdays during farmer’s market season is a huge downtown experience. Expanding upon things that already happen like that would be great. However, businesses in La Grande don’t seem to like to be open on the weekends, especially Sundays. Of course, there will be a dichotomy between the arts and retail industries. They are marketing to two entirely different aspects of life. Intermingling the two seems a bit counterproductive, people generally use an arts side of life to escape the business side of life. It is somewhat true that the arts type things are really focused on retail industry, since things that go on after 5:00pm (like the Art Walk) and things on the weekends do not include service businesses that operate on a M-F 9:00-5:00 schedule either.
       On the topic of when people have money to spend, it is true that people tend to have more money at the beginning of the month. Yet, it is also true that people spend money based on what they know will be happening. I, for instance, budget how much I have to spend throughout the month and spend it according to what events are scheduled. It often happens that when events fall late in the month that I do not have money for them simply because I had no idea at the beginning of the month that about those events. There are only a few businesses that even seem to care about promoting events that they are going to have other than signs in their own windows, or random and scattered facebook posts. And the ones that do often don’t promote them until maybe a week before the event. Promotion and advertising are of the essence and people in LG are terrible at this aspect. The earlier the better! The Art Walk is well established and people know about that, but may there be other reasons why people don’t spend a lot then…? I am not of the opinion that an earlier in the month event like that would create more than a small percentage of extra revenue.

       Stores that feature items that are beyond the budget of most of us lower-wage earners, would sensibly want to target those with more discretionary income. My first reaction is that people that have a lot of money typically have a lot of money for one reason: they are not fond of parting with their money. It is a tougher battle to extract cash from people that shelter themselves away, but I am not sure Main Street can accomplish these more detailed tasks, nor should they be expected to.
       I see Main Street as an entity to stir up the public interest. I do not see it as an entity to solve all the problems that each individual business owner needs to take upon themselves to figure out how to sell to people. Yes, it’s hard to sell water to a poor fisherman. That’s where the merchant’s own ingenuity comes into play. Main Street can tell the merchant what to expect and work to bring people in, which is sort of setting the table. For instance, Main Street can do a promotion to set up a fisherman’s conference (disregarding for a moment that there is no place in downtown for them to stay or convene, the options are pretty much in Island City.) Main Street can tell the bottled water salesman to get ready and be prepared for fisherman coming to town. From there, however, it is up to the salesman to work his own magic in unloading his product.
       If there could be a doctor’s conference across the street from Blue Turtle or if Blue Turtle could have a more mobile version to hit up places like Nightingale on campus or at least dispense flyers or some such thing as that might be a place to start.  A similar issue happened with the insurance salesman who doesn't see much benefit in working with Halloween because it does nothing to sell his business.  The point to these scenarios is that, in the end, it is mainly the job of the merchant to make the move with the aide of Main Street. There are numerous ideas that need to be thought about, but specifics I believe belong to the merchant alone.
        The second aspect here is that a lot of merchants in La Grande seem to focus on people they expect to have money (ie, older, wealthier, etc.) even though such populations may be more frugal with the resources they have. One thing most merchants in La Grande (except for maybe the Maridell Center or Tropical Swirlz) do not do is target kids, teenagers, younger adults. It might seem odd at first glance, but these are the people that are most free with the cash in their pockets. Businesses need to be finding out what these kids like and want. Any successful business model seems to have in common that they are in tune with younger generations. Even if you are not selling specifically to a younger generation, bring in tune with a different crowd can only be good business savvy. To have the ability to adapt to a multitude of different clientele is a skill that not every businessman possesses. It is easy to get stuck in the ruts of the things we have been doing all along. Adapting is key to survival.
         Think about it this way. I go see live music often, at least once a week. I like singer-songwriter, acoustic folk and country-ish types of music and such, but after a certain point when that is all there is in La Grande, it gets pretty old. The day before this meeting, I went a concert at Riveria Center that had one rock band and three metal bands. That concert blew me away. And my favorite bands there were the youngest, and local bands. Neither had much to sell, but I bought what was available. It’s not like it would have been the best concert ever, but I am pretty sure I haven’t been to a metal concert in almost 20 years. So even at amateur levels it sounds pretty damn good when I am deprived of it for so long. Why wouldn’t club owners want to get more diverse things like in town? Or the city in general? It stirs up the interest. I know different things like that metal concert happen sometimes, but they are pretty infrequent and, again, not all that well advertised, only really word of mouth.
        A primary thing to understand is that kids typically have their fingers on the pulse of what is hot. Not to follow that lead seems foolish to me, no matter which business you operate. If kids go places, their parents usually know about it. And the more their parents know about it, the more it gets talked about, frequented, the less effort advertising and promoting takes, etc. It’s a pretty cyclical thing really. Once the best model is in place, it almost runs itself. But it starts with fresh ideas and different ways of living. Talking to kids at the high school and university and incorporating them more into the Main Street “scene” is essential.
         Let’s say you sell insurance, could you market a way for a 17-year-old to get a better deal buying directly from you than attaching to the Progressive plan their parents use? Maybe that is or isn’t much reality, but at some level there is a way to get through. If you run a bar, maybe the kids won’t be old enough to come into your bar, but soon enough they will be. And their friends might already be. The more adapting and accommodating people are, the more accepted they are from the other side. I don’t see many instances, if any, of where La Grande has this figured out.

        If anyone ever has the true answer to accomplishing a collaboration with EOU, then they will be a savior for sure. The downtown should be agressive in pursuing an collaboration with EOU. If downtown owners expect EOU to come to them, they are pretty shortsighted. EOU has no reason to come downtown, other than to occasionally get something different to eat. They have all the facilities. Downtown has nothing.
        As for the subject of extracting tourist dollars, this is a slippery slope and La Grande is sliding down the wrong side fast with their lack of identity. La Grande is a niche market and would likewise have to target niche tourists. If you are going after tourists that have lots of money, where will they stay, where will their events be hosted? There is no infrastructure because La Grande has never been that kind of town. La Grande is not Walla Walla, or even Joseph for that matter. If you could get someone like Marcus Whitman to put in a high rise hotel somewhere like where the old Blockbuster building is that would be a perfect start to building an infrastructure. Maybe turn Sac Annex, or some of it, back in hotel rooms. Baker has Geiser Grande, Wildhorse has a resort hotel, there is no place at all, and as such, no reason whatsoever for someone to stay in La Grande. The decision that was made to tear down the historic hotel or hotels that once stood where those Wells Fargo and US Bank reside in ever so hideous buildings was a death sentence. If those buildings so needed to be torn down, they should have been replaced by something more luxurious like what had been there before.
        However, they were not because La Grande is not that kind of town. Trying to make La Grande into another Walla Walla is an uphill battle because it doesn’t have the same history. The tourist industry, if there is to be one, needs to capitalize on the agricultural roots of the valley. That is the best hope, although it is sad to say that is a very specific market of tourists and most people passing through from Boise to Portland will not be interested in it.
         There does at the very least, as Jerry pointed out, need to be an anchor tenant and an identity to pull people into La Grande. Like Pendleton has the Round-Up, Joseph has the Wallowas…what does La Grande have? For that matter, La Grande doesn’t even have a rodeo at all! That is embarrassing from an outside perspective considering that even Haines, Elgin and Union have rodeos. The fight for tourist money is going to be tough because there are years of failed decision making to correct. Not that it can’t be done, but it will take a lot of capital, for one, and some very inventive ideas that can merge natural/scenic landscapes and agrarian roots with something that everyday people can identify with. The idea of having a couple more breweries in town was a decent pitch. To manage to create two more breweries that would be significantly better than the ones already in the region would obviously take a lot of finesse and sweet talking in pulling some people in from Portland or somewhere like that. I think there could be so many better ideas out there, but that is one that could provide anchor tenants and a La Grande identity to put on a billboard for 500 miles of I-84. Certainly that was the only thing close to a true answer presented at this meeting. Still, La Grande would have to go back to the issue of where people will stay…
        As far as signage and getting people off the interstate. Phew! Coming from Boise there is almost no reason to stop. There are only two exits and neither one are very inviting. The first follows a rest stop and it is less appealing than the rest stop itself. It is a truck stop and has no visible way to tell that there is any more of a town beyond. The second exit has a host of fast food chains and the majority of hotel rooms available in town. That’s not much of a reason to stop when billboards have already been encouraging the traveler to push on to Wildhorse. And even if they do stop, good luck getting them into downtown. They have the most essential things a traveler needs right there. The best exit of all doesn’t even have a turn off . If a driver decides that they want to stop in LG when driving by the fairgrounds, they need to go all the way to Perry or Hilgard.
        Coming from the other direction, the first exit is at least quite inviting and is the best way to lure people into La Grande. With a proper metal sculpture or something like what was discussed then it becomes even more inviting. The approach up through the woods and the view with the descent back into downtown is the sexiest spot in the entire town. That’s what got me here for the first time. For the signage issue and things along the freeway, that is the main place to start, getting people coming from the west. However, the infrastructure is going to take several years to build before these are relevant points.

        As for the beating a dead horse issue, yes, angle parking is a good idea for sure. But at the same time, it is a short-term solution. It would also require making the sidewalks smaller, particularly on the Red Cross side of Adams down to Joe Beans and taking out the turn lanes. And taking out the turn lane in front of City Hall probably needs to happen anyway. I signed the form to back the demand for angle parking, but in truth the biggest issue of the meeting had zero importance for me. I drive only in my work car and don’t even like to do it then. I live in downtown just so I can walk everywhere and if my car had any value I would have sold it a long time ago. The point here is that most downtowns are not known for their ease of accessibility anyway, so I am not sure what is the fuss is over all of this. There are far more pressing things that need to be addressed, such as once La Grande has angled parking and brings in some anchor tenants and a reason for people to come here, then where is all that influx of traffic going to park? There is enough parking made better by the angled idea, but that expands by about what, 50%? Meaning that 50 or so spaces from Island Ave to 4th Street will become about 75 spaces. That works well for the people who live here, but not once you have people wanting to spend vacations here.
         La Grande needs to not worry about petty things right now. I think it was optimistic for La Grande to be placed in a tier 2 of Main Street organizations. The reality of the situation is that is only determined by the funds available and interest in moving forward. The reality of the differing ideas, however, makes La Grande function as a tier one. We have no infrastructure for anything people want to do and people going too many different directions. People need to agree on one way to go and take off, support the efforts to build something to support those ideas and then start worrying about how to draw people in and how to market products and that kind of thing. There is years of work to do to correct years of bad decisions. That is not meant to discourage, but to be a sobering reality that nothing should be expected to change with the blooms of next spring.

kennedy & vietnam

a recap of chapter 3 "kennedy and vietnam" from "jfk and the unspeakable: why he died and why it matters"
by james w. douglass (2008/2010 simon & schuster)

click the link for recaps of chapter 1 "a cold warrior" & chapter 2 "kennedy, castro & the CIA"


abraham bolden had been a secret service agent in chicago that kennedy met by chance and appointed to be the first african american detail at the white house.  bolden was a man who had grown up in east st. louis and had risen to a relatively prominent position through a rare integrity, and playing by the rules and respecting authority.  bolden was not pleased with his secret service cohorts in washington.  he said that most agents seemed to hate kennedy and joked that if someone shot at him they would jump out of the way.  they were generally disrespectful toward kennedy and created a very lax security around the president. within 2 months at the white house, bolden removed himself from duty and returned to chicago.

such was the atmosphere around kennedy.  he was not liked or supported within many right wing communities, including those on the inside that were cold war patriots. there are, as we have seen, and will continue to see, a multitude of reasons why his support was deteriorating.

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

john kennedy, and his brother robert, traveled to vietnam in 1951 when most advisors in the government were in favor of military support, however a member of the consulate in saigon, edmund gullion, gave them some sobering advice:  "in 20 years there will be no more colonies. we're going nowhere out here. the french have lost. if we come in here and do the same thing, we will lose too, for the same reason. there's no will or support for this kind of war back in paris. the home front is lost. the same thing would happen to us."

kennedy considered gullion's perspective after becoming president and was inspired to issue national security memorandum 263 to begin withdrawing u.s. troops from vietnam.  kennedy was killed 6 weeks after that was issued and it was ignored by the johnson administration.  thomas merton had acknowledged as much, saying that if kennedy had taken too many steps toward peace he would "sooner or later be marked out for assassination."  kennedy himself also said that he could "only afford so many defeats in one year."   in the continued struggle with his national security state, kennedy understood the increasing isolation.

the military generals were shocked at the idea of withdrawal.  general lemnitzer had been one of the more aggressive military commanders who had proposed operation northwoods in cuba, which encouraged deception in starting rumors against cuba, staging attacks, riots, sabotage and to "develop a cuban terror campaign" to trump up stories in the media to make cuba look irresponsible and add credibility to any u.s. retaliation.  kennedy blocked this plan, but lemnitzer pushed the joint chiefs to support invasion so kennedy replaced him as the chief of staff.  however, the entire government was in the cold war movement and the mindset of military force and the opinions of the rest of the staff were no different than lemnitzer.

the night before his inaguration, kennedy asked eisenhower if it was preferable to support a coalition to form a laotian government or intervene militarily through SEATO.  eisenhower was shocked by the mere thought of concession to the enemy and counciled kennedy on the use of military.  kennedy was skeptical and said it sounded like a "prescription for disaster from the man who, in a few hours, would no longer have to bear any responsibility for it...there he sat telling me to get ready to put ground forces into asia, the thing he himself had been carefully avoiding for the last 8 years."  in contrast, kennedy had a meeting with former general douglas macarthur, who told kennedy, "anyone wanting to commit ground troops to the mainland of asia should have his head examined."  JFK repeated this message everytime his generals brought up the issue and would tell them "go back and convince general macarthur and i'll be convinced."

laos was in a precarious situation. the CIA was backing phoumi nosavan who had risen to power through support of the eisenhower administration. souvanna phouma had been deposed even though his administration was supported by all the u.s. allies as well as the communist bloc.  kennedy wanted to stabilize the country with a neutral government, however he had the same military advisors who had promoted the nosavan regime in the first place. the military was not going along and started asking for more and more troops the way they had tried to bully kennedy in cuba.

meanwhile, a similar situation was happening with a divided government in south vietnam.  ngo dinh diem and his brother ngo dinh nhu (who were to be assassinated shortly before kennedy) had destroyed both the democratic government and the communist rivals with the support of the u.s government in 1955-56.  like laos and cuba, kennedy refused to send combat units.  kennedy had by then lost all confidence in the joint chiefs and, in fact, subverted them by planting a story in the n.y. times that the military leaders were against sending in troops.  it was a dangerous game with the pentagon that worked with the public for a while.  it did not please the military, who put more pressure on kennedy to at least send "advisors" though they could not possibly hold back the vietcong.  the military would begin to use the advisor role as a cover for guerilla fighters.  in some cases kennedy had to concede to their wishes.  there was a show of force he authorized in thailand and some very controversial spraying of fields in vietnam to kill crops to weaken the country. kennedy had to keep his military at bay, saying he couldn't "go against his military advisors everytime."  part of his problem was the need for re-election and to do that he had to seem as though he wasn't selling out to the communists.  his plans for withdrawl had to be in convoluted political terms "like an elephant tiptoeing through a minefield" while he made piecemeal concessions.  still, his ideas became obvious by the south vietnamese forces.  they responded by wanting the americans out of vietnam.  then, kennedy came with the great revelation of putting forces in power that were opposed to the u.s. support so that they would take pressure off him by demanding the americans leave.  kennedy was telling his closest aides that "in '65, i'll become one of the most unpopular presidents in history. i'll be damned everywhere as a communist appeaser, but i don't care.  if i try to pull out completely now from vietnam, we'd have another joe mccarthy red scare on our hands. but i can do it after i've been re-elected."

at the beginning of his presidency, kennedy was not as interested in a whites vs asians war of nationalism, but more in defusing tensions in berlin.  generals lemnitzer and lemay wanted to use nukes everywhere, including berlin.  in august of 1961, while the berlin wall was being constructed and the tensions were at their height, kruschev sent a messenger to talk with kennedy who was all smiles saying everything was almost over. kruschev was willing to work with kennedy and wanted a summit meeting so long as kennedy's october 1961 speech in berlin didn't turn into a war-like ultimatum.  at the UN, kennedy said disarmament was a neccesity and challeged the soviets to a "peace race."  while the forces at the epicenter had engaged in a tense 16-hour standoff at checkpoint charlie, kennedy and kruschev, through backchannel communications, called off the tanks and the u.s. agreed to end any threats of destroying the berlin wall.  a year later, the rapport and trust the two leaders had started to develop would help the cuban missile crisis to be more easily resolved.  in both cases, kruschev was happy to oblige and retreat first because he knew that kennedy was under even more pressure from his own cabinet than kruschev was being pressured from the kremlin.

despite the backdoor talks and deepening respect, kruschev was powerless to stop ho chi minh in north vietnam as much as kennedy was to stop ngo dinh diem in south vietnam. the politics interwoven between and within the southeast asian nations was more complicated than outside forces could handle.  the idea of stopping the ho chi minh trail through laos was laughable in practice, but even moreso when neutrality was being systematically sabotaged by the CIA at the same time.  it referencing another comment from macarthur kennedy then gave a notorious quote, "the chickens are coming home to roost from eisenhower's years and i live in the chicken coop."


tune in to next week's show, when i will begin reading chapter 4 "marked out for assassination"

kennedy, castro & the CIA

a recap of chapter 2: “JFK and the unspeakable: why he died and why it matters.”

by james w. douglass. (for the review of chapter 1: click here.)


anti-communism was a “dogmatic theology” in the cold war. the worst thing imaginable was communicating with the enemy and compromising with “the satanic incarnation of evil.” anti-castro groups believed that “no one could talk with the devil in havana and remain in communion with the gods in washington.” this was especially true for the president of the united states. john kennedy knew this well, yet his response was to do exactly that, to “start thinking along more flexible lines.” this was such rogue thinking that even bobby kennedy tried to pressure his brother out of doing it.

like the bay of pigs invasion, the CIA once again tried to force JFKs hand by sabotaging cuba, trying to provoke them into retaliating, which would leave JFK with no other choice but to go to war. david atlee phillips (aka maurice bishop) publicized an alpha 66 raid on cuban boats. once kennedy learned of this, he called the CIA’s bluff and actually did the opposite of what they expected. he had the justice department arrest the perpetrators and impound the american boats in cuban waters. the CIA hatched numerous devious plots, including one to assassinate castro by giving him a contaminated diving suit that would produce a debilitating disease. this plan was thwarted when it was learned that washington’s envoy to cuba, james donovan, had already given castro a diving suit as a gift of good will after the two had become friends. such failure was a black eye for the CIA because a properly carried out plan could accomplish their three biggest objectives at once (a) kill castro, (b) discredit kennedy and (c) escalate soviet-american tensions. meanwhile, kennedy kept pushing the world closer to peace. the government thought he was crazy and painted him as a castro ally. he thought the government (which he had inherited from eisenhower) was crazy to not want to achieve peace.

for castro’s part, he was not about to trust america, but he was coming to see kennedy as an honorable person. the bay of pigs, the freezing of cuban assets in the united states and other actions had put him off of any dialogue, but kennedy’s american university address had given castro a new hope. the book gives a detailed look at how kennedy and castro planned a secret correspondence the way that kennedy and kruschev had and invloves a french interviewer meeting with castro with the understanding that interview be somewhat of a mediation. this occurred on november 19, 1963…

castro told him, “i believe kennedy is sincere. i also believe that today the expression of this sincerity could have political significance… i haven’t forgotten that kennedy centered his electoral campaign against nixon on the theme of firmness toward cuba. i have not forgotten the machiavellian tactics and the equivocation, the attempts at invasion, the pressures, the blackmail, the organization of a counter-revolution, the blockade, and above everything, all the retaliatory measures which were imposed before, long before there was the pretext and alibi of communism. but i feel that he inherited a difficult situation; i don’t think a president of the united states is ever really free. and i believe kennedy is at present feeling the impact of this lack of freedom. i also believe that he now understands the extent to which he has been misled, especially, for example, on cuban reaction at the time of the attempted bay of pigs invasion.” castro then gave his feelings of the agreements made between kruschev and kennedy during the missile crisis. above all, kruschev and castro were both eager for a second JFK term of office and felt that would be more productive than anyone else, such as lyndon johnson. the assassination occurred while the reporter was with castro, and castro said, “everything has changed. everything is going to change.” and it did. LBJ ignored all contact castro tried to make. no other president in the twentieth century would try to establish dialog with cuba. the question castro posed, while the war in vietnam was heating up, what sense did it make to fight a war on the other side of the world against a very formidable enemy and not close to home against the tiny island nation of cuba? the answer to that to come in chapter three…

meanwhile…

william b. reilly, who had been a CIA contact for many years and situated his coffee shop in close proximity to the CIA offices in new orleans, met with lee harvey oswald and immediately got him a job with his cohort, guy banister. banister himself had sent guns to miami for the alpha 66 raids. suddenly, oswald was passing out pro-castro leaflets on the streets of new orleans. when an employee notified banister of this, his response was “don’t worry, he’s working for us.” (oswald was shown to be on the CIA payroll at $200 per month for the two years leading up to the assassination of kennedy.) ostensibly, oswald was in new orleans as part of a plan to subvert the fair play for cuba committee as well as to put oswald in a position to be hated by people on both sides of the fence. this put CIA director allen dulles in position to be a prime suspect in the assassination, as if we needed more dirt on him. plans for oswald became two-fold, set him up as a scapegoat and draw the u.s. into war with cuba – the very thing that kennedy was trying to avoid.

one of maurice bishop’s insiders considered spilling the beans on meetings he had observed with oswald and to make bishop’s real identity of david atlee phillips known. he was told he would be killed, and sure enough he was shot in the head, though he survived the attack, yet the FBI and the police did no investigation. bishop was the head of the mexico city divison of the CIA, where Oswald next went to put on his pro-castro act at the soviet and cuban embassies asking for immediate visas to the two countries. however, the CIA documents of events were quite sketchy and cast much doubt on whether it was even oswald who was in mexico. there was even a “fake dialog” in a recorded phone call of oswald asking for his own address, which he apparently didn’t know himself, so that he could give it to the soviets. when “oswald” was denied visas, he was removed from the offices several times. the idea that an oswald impostor was sent to contrive a soviet-cuban plot to kill kennedy was admitted by j. edgar hoover. stay tuned for more on the lee harvey oswald saga of the making of a scapegoat…



chapter three “kennedy and vietnam” will begin on thursday night.

billable diagnoses for vision coverage under medicare

this is my job in a nutshell.  starting with an uncooperative optometrist's office, i sent an email to the state of nogero. i was not expecting anymore than a blow-off reply, which isn't far from what i got, but sometimes you have to keep pushing....

June 13 :: Email to OHA

I have a question regarding billing for vision coverage. I have encountered discrepancies among different optometrists billing departments.  Basically, what I am looking for is some kind of list of what are billable diagnoses that would allow someone to have an eye exam.

I have two clients with virtually the same age and health status, who are covered under OHP.  Neither had been to the eye doctor since 2009 (before the changes governing eye care occurred).  The main difference between the two is that one client has much worse eye sight.  That client cannot get his exam paid (according to the billing department of his eye doctor), while the other one did have his claim accepted last week (with the exception of the refraction fee).

The client who still needs to see the eye doctor has been told by the billing department that they cannot cover the exam fee unless he has a relevant medical diagnosis.  They called his PCP, who apparently told them he did not have any relevant diagnosis.  However, this client has been diagnosed with hypertension and seizure disorder as well as having developmental disabilities. 

Is this not enough?

When I called the other optometrist and asked their billing policies concerning the client who did have his exam fee covered, they said that all three of those things would have constituted a medical reason to have an eye exam and are covered by Medicare when they submit them.  I am trying to understand why one eye doctor will cover and one will not, when it seems a billing issue based upon an OHP policy.

June 17 :: Reply from OHA

There is no true list of diagnosis that would allow a member to get a sure fire payment on his vision claims. When it comes to denied exams claims processing problems may be to blame, there may be missing pieces in the members eligibility file, or there may be a misinterpretation of DMAP policy going on stopping the office from even billing out the claims. It is really hard to know without specific examples. I would like to take a look at the billing of the member that had his exam denied if at all possible.

Many things must be in place for a vision claim to process correctly, I wonder if you could give me something more to look into this so I can see the whole picture?

June 18 :: Reply to OHA

Thank you for the reply.

Here is what information I have at hand.

***** ********* ID #********** OHP Plus.

His PCP is **** ********. His eye doctor is ****** *******

I understand that he must pay a refraction fee and for any hardware, but his eye doctor has said that they cannot process the claim for the eye exam itself because he doesn't have a medical reason. However, he has developmental disabilities, hypertension, seizure disorder.  

If you need more information, please ask.

Thank you for your assistance. 

June 18 :: Reply from OHA

I was able to search his history and I see that it has been a long time since he has had an eye exam.

If his current clinic is unwilling to give him an exam, I would suggest that he visit another clinic.

I see that he is enrolled in a CCOB Eastern Oregon.  I would suggest calling them and asking why his clinic will not allow him to have an exam, and request a list of other clinics that he may go to for an exam.

June 19 :: Email to EOCCO

I left a voice mail with you earlier this morning, but cannot guarantee that I will be the person carrying my work phone at all times.  I have received advice from DMAP to contact CCOB Eastern Oregon for a client of mine who is enrolled in the program.  I must assume that means EOCCO?  If not, can you tell me who I would contact? 

The short version of the story is that this client was told by his eye doctor that he could not have his eye exam covered unless he has a medical diagnosis that necessitates an eye exam. He does have hypertension, seizure disorder, developmental disabilities and ADHD. They told me that none of those are sufficient reasons. However, another eye doctor in town, who is retiring and can't take new patients, just saw another of my clients two weeks ago and said that the hypertension, seizures and developmental disabilities are each reasons that they consider valid and have had these claims paid.

This client has been about 4 years since his last eye exam and since his vision is that good to begin with, it doesn't seem good for him to go that long.  He likely wouldn't be able to pay the full exam fee, especially if he needed to purchase new hardware on top of that.  I feel that if one doctor will cover it, then the other is giving me the run around.

When I posed this concern to DMAP, they pointed me in your direction to help find out either why his current eye doctor won't cover his eye exam or else to find another clinic would be willing to work with him.  Thank you for any help you can give me.

June 20
What I knew and learned about vision care:
$25 – vision refraction fee is not covered by Medicaid.  Hardware is also not covered. 
$125 is the approximate exam fee.  It is covered by Medicaid only if the participant is under 21 or is a pregnant female or unless they “have a medical need.”  What constitutes a medical need appears to be up to the PCP and/or eye doctor’s discretion, seeing as how one eye doctor said the same diagnoses are paid for them each time, while the other eye doctor said they are not acceptable. Concerned about these discrepancies, I contacted OHA/DMAP, who referred me to EOCCO.

Searching EOCCO, I saw only one name on the list and called **** ****** on Wednesday morning 6/19, received no reply, so I left an email that evening.  By Thursday morning, I had received two voice mails by agencies that my contact with ****** had been forwarded to.

First, a woman from EOCCO told me the following over the phone:

The case may require a referral to an ophthalmologist, rather than an optometrist. The ophthalmologist runs other tests along with the eye exam. That would be a way to have the exam done as long as the ophthalmologist is registered in-network with DMAP and MODA.  She thought the background was there, but he needs his PCP to make a referral.   She will track down an in-network provider and get back to me within a few days.  

Then a woman from MODA health called.

When I returned that call, I had to talk to someone else because it is a huge company (which Oregon has contracted out to take the place of ODS since this past May). That person told me that the man I called works for them, so he forwarded my message to them.  Presumably, the email I sent him was forwarded to EOCCO, though the woman at MODA was not sure why.  I explained to her that his name was the only one on the list for EOCCO.  She assured me that MODA was who I needed to contact in these matters, even though I told her the woman at EOCCO was in the process of assisting me already.  What I learned from her was very valuable and indicated even OHA had not been straight with me:

Both eye doctors in question are participants with MODA. To find which providers are in-network with MODA a search could be done on www.modahealth.com. Search for care, enter ID# and the site pulls up who is a participating member.  Somewhat helpful, though more helpful was information contradicting what the OHA person had said in my initial contact… A prioritized list as to what is funded is available on Medicaid website.   
http://www.oregon.gov/oha/healthplan/Pages/priorlist/main.aspx Click on “current prioritized list” and then click on a PDF of “prioritized list of health services.”   (Thankfully, I was taking notes!)   This is an exhaustive list meant primarily for providers that uses ICD codes to determine eligibility.  Depending on what diagnosis and procedure is meant to be done.  Higher than 498 will not covered, below 498 will be covered. (I assume she meant for adults with vision claims).  Anything not listed is also not covered.

While I awaited the return call from EOCCO, I looked up the ICD-9 codes for *****’s diagnoses:

Hypertension = 409.1

Seizure Disorders vary between epilepsy (345.9) and other convulsions (780.39)

Developmental disabilities (aka Pervasive Developmental Disorders) = 299.00-299.99

Unspecified Developmental Disability = 299.9 / Unspecified Intellectual Disability = 319

All mental disorders, including ADHD (314), range from between 290-319

The other client who had his claim processed had “amliopia” (code = 368.00)

Now I was really intrigued.  Basically, all the government agencies responsible for procuring providers and dispensing payment had told me that my client’s claim should be able to be processed. And every diagnosis seemed to be a qualifying factor.  However, the conversations I had with the PCP and the eye doctor indicated a heavy reluctance on their part.  It scarcely matters what any legal precedent is if the people directly involved in carrying out procedures won’t do it.  So, the issue pushed on…a couple weeks later.

July 2
I had not received a call back from EOCCO, but the MODA person did leave a message to say that ***** has relevant diagnoses and should be covered for a vision exam.  She tried to contact the PCP for a referral, but the office was closed for the week during the holiday.  Yes, the entire week!  I guess the message there is not to get sick during a major holiday.  The MODA person was able to leave a voice mail with the PCP.

July 10
The MODA representative still had not heard back from the person in charge of referrals, but assured me she was working on contacting them for a referral.

July 30
*****'s physician's office called to tell me that MODA had requested them to refer ***** for an eye exam.  It was to a different optometrist, but the expense is covered!   A success.  It only took a month and half and few headaches, but a success nonetheless.

Next time someone, even a person of authority, tells you something that doesn't quite make sense, do your homework and stand up for your rights.  Just a little bit of laziness and ambivalence on my part and my client would have either gone untreated or else ripped off.  And from the optometrist's point of view, listening and doing their homework might not have cost them a client. 

a cold warrior turns

featured the past two weeks on the rabble rouser show...“a cold warrior turns” chapter one of  “jfk and the unspeakable: why died and why it matters” by james w. douglass

humanity reached a new age with the advent of nuclear weapons. harry truman loved the power of the a-bomb and the military industrial complex shared in his excitement. kennedy did not share in this vision, instead turning toward a vision of peace.  this became the notorious “nuclear dilemma,” the idea of destroying the world in order to save it from the evils of communism.  a series of maladies had plagued kennedy throughout his life, yet he maintained a youthful exuberance in his life and work. “you’ve got to live every day like it’s your last day on earth.  that’s what i’m doing.”  his own war experiences taught him what it felt like to be killed and he learned the preciousness of life, his own and those of his comrades.  in certain death during wwii, kennedy did not give up hope while he struggled to save the lives of his crew in the south pacific.

kennedy went into politics because it was the one arena where he could make the most difference in pushing the world toward peace.  even running for senate in 1946, his visions of peace were evident, “what we do now will shape the history of civilization for many years to come. we have a weary world trying to bind the wounds of a fierce struggle that is dire enough. what is infinitely far worse is that we have a world which has unleashed the terrible powers of atomic energy. we have a world capable of destroying itself. the days which lie ahead are most difficult ones, but above all, day and night, with every ounce of ingenuity and industry we possess, we must work for peace. we must not have another war.”

despite his goals of peace, kennedy did vote for and campaign for an arms build up to not allow a missile gap to develop. that is, until he learned that the u.s. was way ahead of the rest of the world in the arms race. kennedy became more committed to peace as his military commanders became more committed to crushing the enemy.  pushing things further, kennedy supported the algerian revolution, which brought disgust from virtually every american for “attacking the unity of NATO,” but which also made him loved in europe and africa.

that the power brokers were against kennedy seemed no surprise to him.  a note he had written once on the matter took abe lincoln to heart, saying that a storm was coming and he believed he was ready.  around the same time, he had been in a discussion about the book “seven days of may” with friends in which he said that a coup d' etat would not happen in washington on his watch, but that he knew a couple people who wished they could pull such a thing off.  kennedy pointed out that the conditions for such a change were possible, but would require precisely the right conditions. apparently, he offered up the correct conditions in his policy making...

first, was the botched bay of pigs invasion.  kennedy rejected the military plan, but the CIA went over is head anyway to try to pull him into a trap, thinking that when the turmoil got bad enough that he would have no choice but to give in and go along with a plan he didn’t agree with.  but as he said, “they had me figured all wrong.”   kennedy, of course, was heavily villainized after the failed attack that saw 1000 troops captured.  kennedy came unglued and said he wanted to “splinter the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter it to the wind.”  he certainly tried by moving to cut their budget and reduce their military capabilities.  he had the director, allen dulles, and two deputy directors fired.  curiously enough, after JFK’s assassination, dulles was brought back and appointed by LBJ to direct the warren commission, an investigation that was pointed directly at himself!

second, JFK further alienated the CIA during the cuban missile crisis by ignoring requests from his joint chiefs for a pre-emptive strike.   in the media, kennedy played tough.  he demanded immediate withdrawal of the provocative soviet missiles and set up a naval quarantine of soviet ships getting into cuba.  kruschev’s own militant stand was based on castro’s warning that another bay of pigs was eminent, so kruschev sought to restrain u.s. forces while equalizing the balance of power that the u.s. had provoked by putting their own missiles in turkey.  kruschev said the missile placement was a direct response and that “now they would learn just what it feels like to have the missiles pointed at you.”  privately, however, kennedy was having secret correspondence with kruschev so as to be “free from the polemics of the cold war debate.”  kruschev duly did not wish for “backward glances from the press” and wanted to cast politics out the door without having them come back in the window.   they both impressed upon each other the need to find peace rather than try to win the last war on earth.  they both had the same dilemma of insiders pressuring them into acting, generals eager for a fight.  through their dialog, they agreed to a peace.  kruschev removed the cuban missiles and, in response, the u.s. removed their missiles from turkey six months later.   such trading was unorthodox politics and compromise was regarded as treason.  the joint chiefs saw the armistice as JFK’s lack of will.   they felt the need to strike first and quick and did not believe russia would have a reprisal to any attack.  kennedy’s response was that the military was mad and told his brother in another lincoln reference that “this is the night i should go to the theatre.”   bobby kennedy replied that, “if you go, i want to go with you.”

third, in the aftermath of the crisis, kennedy gave a speech at american university which was the mark of his turn away from the military’s imperialism toward peace.   he asked for a peace “not a pax americana peace…but a genuine peace.”   he disregarded the military industrial complex that was new in the american experience and held “total influence, political, economical, spiritual.”  kennedy told the graduating class in his speech that “we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence whether sought or unsought by the military industrial complex.  the potential for misplaced power exists and will persist…self examination is the beginning of peace…a way out of the cold war and into a new human possibility.”

kennedy seemed to support the russian cause more than what would seem acceptable.  he asked “what about our own attitude that doesn’t get beyond ‘what about the russians?’”  he always advised people to not concern about the speck in your neighbors eye more than the log in your own.  he pitied the russians as having suffered more during wwii than any other civilization in history.  his feelings such as “when we feel the enemy’s pain...peace is necessary” were not taken well in the u.s.  on the contrary, however, the speech at american university was broadcast in the u.s.s.r. despite their history of jamming u.s. broadcasts.  within a year, they would stop jamming all broadcasts and even allow the atomic energy agency into the country for inspections.  kruschev hailed the speech as “the best from a u.s president since roosevelt.”  meanwhile, the u.s. media ignored the speech and didn’t promote it all.   in other words, kennedy’s speech more censored in the u.s. than it was in russia!

at the same time that kennedy was making enemies with the CIA and the military, the trappist monk thomas merton was upsetting his superiors by publishing works calling for peace.  he was reduced to writing to friends (in high places) about the suicidal moral evil of the inconceivable destruction of nuclear war.   the new warfare, and perhaps even wwii, he thought was based on affluence and big business.   the people were reduced to passivity, blinded by mass media, which served only to come up with slogans to “engineer consent,” making people unaware of the real situations and that problems were “nine tenths our own fabricated illusion.”  merton was not a believer in JFK initially and dreaded that he was “in a position so impossible as to be absurd.”  merton did not believe any one in government had the depth, humanity and totality to serve the greater good.  he thought the use of such destructive weapons force us into corners and we live by their powers.  “we excel at getting ourselves into situations where we have to push the button.” merton certainly had no faith in the military watching radar screens 24/7 for any sign of attack, noting “you know what happens when you keep your eyes fixed on something?  you begin to see things that aren’t there.”   merton came to believe kennedy really did have his heart in the right place, but consented that we “need special graces from god if humanity were to survive.”

the final part of chapter one looks at an ex-marine that would be used as a pawn as “an assassin in the making for years.”   lee harvey oswald had went to the u.s. embassy in moscow saying he wanted to renounce his u.s. citizenship and pledge allegiance to the u.s.s.r.    he said he would make known radar information he had obtained in his higher than top secret position in the marine corps.  he then went to work at a factory in minsk for a year before coming back to the u.s. to open arms by the state department.  he was given a loan and job, quickly issued a u.s. passport, and connected with many important anti-bolsheviks in the dallas area.  in other words, despite his supposed allegiance to the u.s.s.r., he was given prodigal son treatment by the u.s.    it turns out that the u.s. had sent many disenfranchised youths to russia to act as spies. oswald’s former roommate, james botelho – a future california judge – admitted as much and said that oswald had always been very anti-communist and suspected that he had been on an intelligence assignment. shortly after oswald’s “defection” the russians shot down a u2, rumored to be with information he had supplied.  however, in questioning for the warren report, neither oswald nor anyone connected with him, was ever asked anything about the u2 incident.  instead, the warren commission omitteed many facts and made oswald’s character look like a megalomaniac.

oswald was a pawn in a game that kennedy himself didn’t even believe in anymore.  kennedy was “turning faster than was safe for a cold world leader.”  kennedy pulled off a miraculous public campaign to get a test ban treaty supported within the u.s.   his rhetoric pictured 300,000,000 people killed in the opening exchanges and that “the survivors would envy the dead.”  JFK wanted to stop the arms race and was killed in 1963.   kruschev wanted to stop the arms race and was removed from power in 1964.  the cold war continued until the late 1980s and defense contractors profited accordingly.

to read more, check out the book, or tune in for the next chapter “kennedy, castro and the CIA” next week. for airing times, check back on the facebook page.

rip 2013

patti page (85, jan 1) singer; best selling singer of the 50s; hits like tennessee waltz & how much is that doggie in the window were two of 15 singles that sold over a million copies each.

sammy johns (66, jan 4) folk/country/rock singer from northa carolina; wrote & recorded the oft covered chevy van on his debut album in 1973

burry stander (25, jan 6) South African mountain biker; 2008, 2012 olympian; accident with taxibus while training
myron stolaroff (90, jan 6) born in roswell; masters in engineering from stanford; important researcher of LSD & mescaline in 60s

kent abbott (32, jan 7) guitarist; grade & somehow hollow

tandyn almer (jan 9) singer/songwriter :: wrote "along comes mary"

fitzroy newsome  member of tuskogee airmen

claude nobs (76, jan 10) founder of montreaux jazz festival; “funky claude” in deep purple’s song smoke on the water

precious bryant (73, jan 12) folk, blues musician; released debut album fool me good at the age of 60.

pauline phillips (92, jan 16) started “dear abby” in 1956

nic potter (62, jan 17) bassist; van der graaf generator

claudio leo (40, jan 17) original guitarist for lacuna coil (1994-1998)

steve knight (77, jan 18) keyboardist; mountain

stan musial (92, jan 19) st. louis cardinals hall of fame outfielder, tied for major league record of 24 all-star games (other was willie mays)

earl weaver (82, jan 19) baltimore orioles hall of fame manager; won 1970 world series

hank taylor (77, jan 24) pitcher for the kansas city a's, apparently. a case for wikipedia ridiculousness.

leroy “sugarfoot” bonner (70, jan 26) lead singer, guitarist for the ohio players

sally starr (90, jan 27) radio, stage & film actress
george higgs (82, jan 29) north carolina-piedmont bluesman :: released debut album in 2001, taboro blues (living magazine's album of the year)
ann rabson (67, jan 30) blues singer 

patty andrews (94, january 30) last surviving member of the andrews sisters, an oft-imitated vocal group of the 1940s

ed koch (88, feb 1) three term mayor of nyc 1978-1989; lost a fourth-term election to nyc's first black mayor david dinkins following the controversial death of yusef hawkins

chris kyle (38, feb 2) navy seal; most lethal sniper in military history; killed at a gun range in texas

pepper paire (88, feb 2) catcher, infielder in all american girls professional baseball league; fourth all time in runs batted in
b.h. born (80, feb 3) center for kansas jayhawks 1951-54; jersey #23 retired in 1992; 1953 NCAA tournament most outstanding player; 22nd overall draft pick by fort wayne pistons in 1954; helped jayhawks recruit wilt chamberlain
james muri (94, feb 3) american fighter pilot at midway in wwii
reg pressley (74, feb 4) singer for the troggs; "wild thing", "love is all around"

donald byrd (80, feb 4) jazz trumpet legend; started as a sideman for art blakey & the jazz messengers in the 1950s, going on to work with every major player like coltrane, monk, mobley, silver, hancock and then forming his own blackbyrds. he merged jazz with hip hop with a tribe called quest and others, including a major role on guru's jazzmatazz volume one and two.






paul tanner (95, feb 5) went from playing in a strip joint to glenn miller's orchestra :: invented electric-thermin, which he played on the beach boys "good vibrations"
john cook (40, feb 9) key developer of louisville’s 90s punk scene :: bassist for post-hardcore band crain
w. watts biggers (85, feb 10) novelist; creator of underdog
kevin peek (66, feb 11) guitarist for australian prog rock band sky
rick huxley (72, feb 11) bassist for the dave clark five
yuko tojo (73, feb 13) japanese nationalist activist; granddaughter of hideki tojo
kazuo tsunoda (94, feb 14) ace fighter pilot for japanese imperial navy at guadalcanal & solomon islands
tim dog (46, feb 14) rapper with krs-one & ultramagnetics; recorded "fuck compton"
mark kamins (57, feb 14) producer, dj; brought then-girlfriend madonna to the attention of sire records
shadow morton (72, feb 14) record producer, songwriter; wrote "(remember) walking in the sand", "leader of the pack", produced janis ian's society's child

mary brave bird (58, feb 14) a.i.m. member present at wounded knee 1973; writer of lakota woman, later made into a film










tony sheridan (72, feb 16) early member of the beatles, sang on "my bonnie" (only non-beatle to appear as lead singer on a beatles chart single)
mike westhues (64, feb 17) american/finnish singer songwriter; new 2013 album "alder hill"
mindy mccready (37, feb 17) country singer; nearly murdered by ex-husband; had long-term affair with roger clemens
cleotha staples (78, feb 17) the eldest of the staples singers
damon harris (62, feb 18) at age 20, took over for eddie kendricks in the temptations in 1972

kevin ayers (68, feb 18) founder of 1960s psych band soft machine










sophie kurys (87, feb 17) aka the flint flash; second baseman for the racine belles; she was the all time leader in stolen bases until rickey henderson broke her record; still the single season record holder with 201 in 203 attempts









magic slim (75, feb 21) blues singer, guitarist
dangerous dan toler (65, feb 25) guitarist for allman brothers on enlightened rogues, reach for the sky & brothers of the road albums & the dickey betts albums dickey betts & great southern & atlanta's burning down.
c everett koop (96, feb 25) former us surgeon general
richard street (feb 27) singer with the distants, the monitors & finally the temptations :: remained with the motown group for 20 years
mido macia (27, feb 27) south african taxi driver, dragged to death by police

moon mullen (96, feb 28) reserve guard for the first ncaa champion university of oregon webfoots in 1939; second baseman for philadephia blue jays/phillies in 1944; in the minors for portland beavers, seattle rainers, boise pilots; manager for boise pilots in 1950; baseball coach and teachers at olympia high school; minor leagues stats






mr. magic (44, mar 1) 90s rapper on master p's no limit record label
jewel akens (79, mar 1) vocalist "the birds & the bees"
bobby rogers (73, mar 3) born on same day in same hospital as smokey robinson :: met smokey at age 15, becoming a singer in the miracles (first group signed to motown) :: choreographed miracles stage shows


alvin lee (68, mar 6) singer/guitarist for ten years after; lee's performance at woodstock with ten years after made him an international star; formed later supergroup with myron lefevre that released on the road to freedom featuring george harrison, ron wood, steve winwood & others







 






stompin' tom connors (77, mar 6) canadian folk singer; "the hockey song"
peter banks (65, mar 7) prog rock pioneer :: original guitarist for syn & yes
claude king (90, mar 7) 1960s country singer, part of lousiana hayride; wrote "wolverton mountain"

clive burr (56, mar 12) first drummer for iron maiden, appeared on "iron maiden" "killers" "maiden japan" & "number of the beast" :: so the iconic drumbeats heard on "running free", "the prisoner", "run to the hills" & others are the expertise of mr. burr; cowrote "gangland" & "total eclipse"; drummer for trust on "trust iv"  & "man's trap"; part of supergroup called gogmanog released one e.p. "i will be there"









jack greene (83, mar 15) 1960s country singer, gained fame as member of ernest tubb's band
hardrock gunter (88, march 15) rockabilly singer/songwriter; wrote "rocket 88" - the first rnr song?? - "birmingham bounce" & "sixty minute man"

bobby smith (76, march 16) lead singer of the spinners

jason molina (39, march 16) singer/songwriter, founder of magnolia electric co.

harry reems (65, march 19) star of deep throat

david parland (42, march 19) founding guitarist for dark funeral

floyd mcrae (80, march 19) singer & last surviving member of doo-wop group the chords :: famous for “sh-boom”

chinua achebe (82, march 21) nigerian poet & author :: “things fall apart”

larry robinson (64, march 23) 1960s americana singer/songwriter with dorados and things to come :: died from injuries in a music store mugging http://www.nodepression.com/profiles/blogs/the-death-of-larry-robinson-tragedy-in-temecula

deke richards (68, march 24) songwriter/producer in the clan and the corporation with berry gordy :: wrote lots of motown classics
paul williams (64, march 27) founder of crawdaddy, first rnr magazine

gordon stoker (88, march 27) primary member of the vocal group the jordanaires, backing singers for elvis presley 1956-1972 :: also backed up patsy cline, johnny cash, ween, dolly parton…

hugh mccracken (71, march 28) session guitarist, arranger, producer :: performed on many legendary recordings, including some rabble rouser staples like paul simon’s “still crazy…(see phil ramone below)” :: also john & yoko’s last two albums, eugene mcdaniel’s outlaw, paul mccartney’s ram & other stuff by steely dan, roberta flack, marlena shaw…

art malone (76, march 28) drag racer :: AHRA hall of famer & 1963 top fuel champion :: first person to top 180 mph at daytona :: died from injuries in a 2010 air-boat collision

robert ziljian (89, march 28) the founder of Sabian Cymbal Company, one of music's most popular brands.  Born into the family that began making cymbals in Istanbul in 1633, Zildian went into the family business at a very young age.  At almost 400 years old, the Avedis Zildjian Company is one of the oldest companies in the world.  In 1929, the business moved to America, and in 1981 - after a family dispute - Robert broke away and formed the Sabian Cymbal Company.  The two cymbal makers have coexisted yet remained rivals ever since.  Sabian Cymbals have been used by many of the greatest drummers in rock history.  Robert Zildian died of cancer on March 28, 2013.  He was 89.   - from themusicsover

phil ramone (72, march 30) classically trained violinist at julliard :: opened a recording studio in new york when he was still a teenager :: business grew into the A&R record label, with him becoming a legendary producer :: won 14 of the 33 grammy awards he was nominated for, most importantly on the rabble rouser staple, “still crazy after all these years” :: recorded marilyn’s happy birthday mr. president :: produced the first album ever to be released on a compact disc, when & what do you guess it was?

bob turley (82, march 30) won the 1958 cy young, world series mvp and hickock belt awards

jack pardee (76, april 1) ncaa hall of fame coach of the houston cougars & houston oilers
roy cox (64, april 2) bassist for bubble puppy ("hot smoke & sassafrass"), blues knights, nyc outlaws
chris bailey (62, april 3) late 70s, early 80s bassist for the angels
harry j (67, april 3) jamaican reggae producer

roger ebert (70, april 4) film critic for chicago sun-times, first film critic to win pulitzer prize for criticism

andy johns (61, april 7) an English record producer and engineer whose resume reads like an encyclopedia of rock. Still in his teens, Johns hit the ground running working as Eddie Kramer's second engineer on recordings by the likes of Jimi Hendrix. Over the next four decades, Johns left his mark on such iconic albums as Led Zeppelin's IV, Physical Graffiti, and Houses Of The Holy;  the Rolling Stones' Sticky Fingers, Exile On Main St., and Goat's Head Soup; Free's Highway; and  Television's Marquee Moon.  He also produced or engineered albums for Van Halen, Humble Pie, Ron Wood, L.A. Guns, Cinderella, Chickenfoot, Joe Satriani, Eric Johnson, Steve Miller, Mott The Hoople, Eric Clapton, Joni Mitchell, and many more.  Albums on which he worked have reportedly sold more than 160 million copies in all.  He was the younger brother of the equally impressive producer and engineer, Glyn Johns.  - from themusicsover.com


neil smith (60, april 7) short term bassist for ac/dc & rose tattoo 
annette funicello (70, april 8) mousketeer on mickey mouse club; 60s teen pop singer
margaret thatcher (87, april 8) former primer minister of great britain; as kid yoshida's fav female british band the smears say, "margaret thatcher is NOT a feminist icon. don't care what anybody says."

jimmy dawkins (76, april 10) chicago blues great; writer for living blues magazine

chi cheng (43, april 13) original bassist for nu metla band deftones; struggled to stay healthy after 2008 automobile crash
vincent montana jr. (85, april 13) percussionist, bandleader; former mfsb member;  founder of salsoul orchestra, "tangerine" "salsoul hustle" "Nine N Nasty"; worked also with harold melvin & the bluenotes, o'jays, johnny mathis, jackson 5 & others...
george jackson (68, april 14) soul singer; wrote "one bad apple" (#1 for the osmonds) & "old time rock & rol" classic rock staple by bob seger & others by ike & tina, james brown, zz hill ...
scott miller (53, april 15) founder & singer of game theory ("lolita nation" 1987)
rita macneil (68, april 16) canadian folk/country singer; spied on by rcmp for communist ties because of her protest singing for women's rights; host of rita & friends CBC tv show
jim mccandless (68, april 16) chicago singer/songwriter; "kareem & me"
pat summerall (82, april 16) former nfl placekicker; hall of fame super bowl announcer
george beverly shaw (104, april 16) "america's beloved gospel singer"; his performances on the billy graham show helped skyrocket billy graham to stardom
situ chan (25, april 17) hong kong pop singer; car crash
yngve moe (55, april 18) bassist dance with a stranger; drowning

storm thorgerson (69, april 18) graphic designer; designed "dark side of the moon" album cover & most of  the pink floyd catalog, black sabbath, the cult, megadeth, cranberries, phish & others.

cordell mosson (60, april 18) bassist, took over for bootsy in parliament-funkadelic; teenage band was united soul featuring garry shider, produced by george clinton















alicia gladden (27, april 19) former florida state seminole basketball player; car crash

allan arbus (95, april 19) dr. sidney freeman on m*a*s*h*
danny kriveli (april 24) drummer for krokus on "heart attack"

chrissy amphlett (53, april 21) australian new wave singer the divinyls; "i touch myself"

margaret groening (94, april 22) mother of matt groening; inspiration for marge simpson

richie havens (72, april 22) folk singer/guitarist; opening performer at woodstock; “freedom” “high flying bird”
james "creeper" vasquez (58, april 23) drummer

george jones (81, april 26) the possum; george was country when country wasn't cool, and still country after country wasn't cool again. he was one time married to tammy wynette.  he was mentioned in 3 of the songs on hank III's 2006 album "straight to hell". waylon jennings once said that "if we could all sound like we wanted to, we'd all sound like george jones."

brad lesley (54, april 27) "the animal" played for cincinnati & milwaukee in the early 80s, and a couple successful seasons in baseball & television in japan

chris “mack daddy” kelly (34, may 1) the kid sensation mack daddy made ya jump, jump while wearing his clothes backwards; drug overdose

jeff hanneman (48, may 2)  a lot of times this endeavor becomes a list of names, some of which affect us more than others.  hanneman is one of the bigger losses. jeff was the unheralded backbone of the most notorious band of the rabble rouser's youth. his punk influence combined with kerry king to make the fiercest cross over to thrash metal ever.  jeff's fascination with war memorabilia inspired some of the more intense war songs ever written. hanneman was solely responsible for about half of slayer's songs, including "angel of death" "raining blood" "die by the sword" "behind the crooked cross" "the antichrist" "praise of death" & more... with dave lombardo also not drumming for the band due to contract disputes, slayer chugs on with kerry king & tom araya still fronting the band, but one of the ten best bands of all time is a shell of the past now.  r.i.p to jeff hanneman!

sid selvidge (69, may 2)  guitarist, vocalist; mud boy & the neutrons

cedric brooks (70, may 3) jazz saxophonist; member of the 2000s era skatalites, mystic revolution of rastafari, the light of saba

malcolm shabazz (28, may 9)  grandson of malcolm x; beaten to death in mexico

grayson minney (28, may 11) lead singer columbia fields; car crash

joyce brothers (85, may 13)
dick trickle (71, may 16) nascar driver
alan o'day (72, may 17) singer "undercover angel"
dave mcmillan (31, may 18) former defensive end for cleveland browns
curley myers (93, may 19) guitar & banjo for captain stubby & the buccaneers; "roto rooter" song
phil buerstatte (46, may 19) drummer for white zombie
ray manzarek (74, may 20) keybordist for the doors
trevor bolder (52, may 21) drummer for uriah heep & david bowie
john "mule" miles (90, may 24) original member of tuskogee arimen; third baseman for chicago american giants; according to wikipedia, he hit a home run in 11 straight games  
marshall lytle (79, may 25) bassist for bill haley & his comets
clarence burke, jr. (62, may 26) singer for the five stairsteps; "o-o-o child"
marvin junior (77, may 29) lead singer of the dells; "oh what a night"
mulgrew miller (57, may 29) jazz pianist
jean stapleton (90, may 31)  played edith bunker on archie bunker

joey covington (67, june 4) drummer for hot tuna, jefferson airplane (69-72), fat fandango; car crash
arturo vega (65, june 8) graphic designer; created the hey ho, let's go seal and logo for the ramones; later becamce the ramones historian
darondo (67, june 9) sf funk & soul singer of the 70s; 1973 hit "didn't i"
jason leffler (37, june 12) nascar & indycar driver; injuries sustained in a racing collision
johnny smith (90, june 12) cool jazz guitarist of 1950s & 1960s; recorded the album "moonlight in vermont" feat. chet atkins; wrote the song "walk, don't run"
alastair donaldson: aka william mysterious (58, june 18) bassist for the rezillos



slim whitman (90, june 19) country guitarist, singer, songwriter; famous for his yodeling; george harrison & mischael jackson were huge whitman fans; played on the radio while he was stationed in the navy during wwII, whitman was heard by col. tom parker (manager of elvis); in 1948, whitman was given an RCA recording contract; hit UK #1 with "rose marie" in 1955, song stayed #1 for 11 weeks which was a record until bryan adams "cuts like a knife" in 1991. whitman's 1979 infomercial was considered the most successful ever.



lil snupe (18, june 20) rapper; shot
genaro garcia (35, june 21) mexican boxer; shot
allan simonsen (34, june 22) danish car racer; crash in 24 hours of le mans
kevin mcdade (june 22) bassist for behold! the monlith


bobby blue bland (83, june 23) "the lion of the blues"; "the frank sinatra of the blues"; #44 on the rolling stone list of best singers of all time; at a young age in memphis, joined the beale streetes along with bb king, johnny ace & others; here is a youtube video of bobby bland & bb king playing "the thrill is gone"




alan meyers (45, june 24) devo drummer from 1976-1986; brain tumor
mark fischer (66, june 25) british architect developed tour stages for pink floyd (the wall), rolling stones (steel wheels & voodoo lounge), u2 (360) and more for tina turner, madonna, peter gabriel, lady gag, etc.

kimberly mccarthy (52, june 26) 500th person executed by the state of texas since 1976
justin miller (35, june 26) former major league pitcher that was the cause of the "miller rule" in which MLB made him wear long sleeves due to hitters complaining of the distraction from his sleeve tattoos.

jim kelly (67, june 29) martial artist & actor; "enter the dragon" and some more 70s action films