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From the November-December, 1995 issue (Vol. 3 No. 1) |
Notebook | ||
Apparently, the media didn't get Colin Powell's consent before they began maneuvering him into the White House. As noted in last month's "Notebook," there seemed to be a concerted effort by various media conglomerates to push the former head of the JCS into a run at the White House. On the road to the coronation though, Powell got cold feet. Either that, or no one talked to his chief adviser, former Warren Commission lawyer, William Coleman. According to Probe sources in Washington, Coleman has been a major manager for Powell in the post-military phase of his career. Coleman was in on the huge deal Powell cut with Random House on his book My American Journey (catchy title). Reportedly, this is the biggest book deal ever made. Powell is said to have gotten a six million dollar advance. It is interesting to note here that Random House not only shelled out the money, but hooked Powell up with co-author Joseph Persico. Persico did the posthumous (and rather mild) biography of Reagan's CIA Director William Casey in 1990. We have also learned that Powell, with his take from Random House, recently purchased a million dollar estate in an exclusive community in McLean, Virginia. Those familiar with the Garrison investigation will recall that McLean adjoins Langley (CIA HQ), and is the place where Gordon Novel took his infamous polygraph test smearing Garrison. Also, even though Coleman had divulged details of his talk with Castro while working for the Commission, he refused to talk to Tony Summers when Summers asked him about it for his Vanity Fair article on the Kennedy case. To us, Powell looks like a member of the club. We don't want to indulge in guilt by association, but any presidential nominee who is advised by a former member of the Warren Commission has to be either questioned or questionable.
The videotapes of the recent COPA Conference in Washington from October 20-22, are now available for purchase. David Starks did the taping and a full set of the entire proceedings can be secured for $250.00. Make out a check or money order to COPA. Mail to their address at P. O. Box 772, Washington D. C. 20044. Call John Judge to get prices on individual tapes. His phone is 202-785-5299.
Seems Ralph Schoenman's article in the Baltimore Sun (May 28, 1995) drew fire from an unexpected quarter. Schoenman had written about the still suspicious facets of the Robert Kennedy assassination, and received, much to his amazement, the threat of a libel suit from Dan Moldea, on behalf of Manuel Pena and Thane Eugene Cesar! As Schoenman said, "It is an instructive alliance which sheds retrospective light less on the Kennedy killing than it does on who Moldea is and to whom he holds allegiance." We couldn't agree more. |
In keeping with his new reformed, revisionist image, former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, visited Vietnam the first week of November. McNamara visited with, among others, his former nemesis, General Giap, commander of the North Vietnamese military. McNamara was there to propose a conference on the mistakes of that war and to try to convince the Vietnamese leaders to open up all their records on the conflict. We hope he succeeds but can't help but note how roughly he has been treated by the American press, especially those on the right, but even by supposed liberals like David Halberstam. McNamara's book is not completely candid, but it is certainly well above the usual "political memoir" fare one gets from former insiders. In other words, its not just an exercise in self-aggrandizement or, worse, a clever attempt at CYA. It is relatively honest, annotated, easy to read and defies the Lords of the Media by stating that JFK would not have expanded the war. In the scheduled republication of JFK and Vietnam, John Newman will have much to say on McNamara and how his book influenced In Retrospect.
As the reader can see from this issue, her previous piece in the 7/22 issue of Probe, and her presentations at both COPA conferences, Carol Hewett is one of the most proficient researchers around. She wants other researchers to know that there is a way to access databases for Florida residents. It is called AutoTrack Plus+. For an average cost of $3.00 (that's what they say) you can get a whole subject dossier including aliases, DOB's, social security number, weapons permits, current and previous addresses etc. We don't have to tell our audience how many important people from the JFK case currently reside in that state. For a free demo, call 800-279-7710. Two other databases that perform similar services are "CDB Infotek" in Santa Ana, California (800-427-3747) and "Information America" in Atlanta (800-532-9876). These two other companies are more national in scope, but they are also a lot more expensive. For instance, the former charges a $199 sign-up fee and $25 per month after that.
In the middle of November, the estate of Jim Garrison, i.e. his children, was named as part of a lawsuit against the Motion Picture Association of America. Specifically, Garrison's five children want an independent audit of Warner Brothers accounting of costs and profits on the film JFK. The disputed issue is a real sore spot in Hollywood, namely the concept of "net profits". Some contracts in Hollywood promise participants a share of the money a film makes after its original production and advertising costs are recouped. But due to movie company accounting practices, many participants never see anything since the companies say that most films never get into the black. A recent example of this is the smash hit Forest Gump. That film has grossed a half billion so far, yet Paramount Pictures says they have a net operating loss on the picture. Stone's film didn't do quite as well, its estimated total gross from all markets so far is about 200 million. Still, there have not been any net profits generated, according to Time Warner.
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One of the finest offerings in our catalog is The Kathleen Cunningham Collection of HSCA medically-related documents. For once, the reader can see much of the raw data about the autopsy and related matters for himself. It is not altered, as is the HSCA Final Report, nor is it locked away, as Robert Blakey had planned. Kathleen wants us to note though, that in the early copies and disks that went out, we called her a registered nurse in the Introduction we penned. She wants to correct that. She is a licensed nurse, not a registered one. No matter to the product of course. It's still extraordinary. | ||
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