The Bizarre and Strange Circumstances Surrounding the Death of JFK Jr.

Mostly taken from the documentary Dark Legacy II The Murder of JFK Jr.

The report of the National Transportation Safety Board came out on August 8, 2000 (on January 8, 2001, the NTSB removed their original posting, and greatly edited the contents of the report. The unedited original NTSB report, downloaded from the NSTB website in August of 2000, can be read at link), 13 months after the plane crash of JFK Jr.  It contradicts many of the lies pushed in the media.

Timeline:

On John’s fatal last Friday, he told his staff not to worry about their jobs, because, “As long as I’m alive, this magazine will continue to publish.” This would be a really cruel thing for a guy to say who was planning to kill himself in a few hours.

At 8:30, 45 minutes after arriving, John, his sister-in-law, and his wife took off from Caldwell Airport in NJ, and headed northeast toward Martha’s Vineyard ascending to a cruising altitude of 5,500 feet. An NTSB radar analysis shows the final moments of the flight in great detail.

At 9:33, the plane, still headed northeast, began descending from its cruising altitude of 5,500 feet.

At 9:38 the plane while still descending began a slight turn to the right so that it was headed due east, lining itself up with the southern coast of Martha’s Vineyard.

At 9:38 and and 20 seconds the plane completed the turn and stopped its descent, leveling off at 2200 feet. But it’s against FAA regulations for a plane to fly below 2,500 feet without first contacting the tower. So in a manner that’s typical of John’s carefulness and following procedures, he brought the plant back up to 2,500 feet.

At 9:38 and 50 seconds, with wings level, the plane was on final approach, with 14 miles to go to the airport. At 200 mph, the plane would land in about 5 minutes.

At 9:39 John contacted the tower.

At 9:40 and 15 seconds, one minute and 15 seconds later, the plane suddenly dove out of the sky, falling 2,500 feet in 45 seconds, crashing into the water at 200 mph.

At 10:00 Adam Budd (link is cached page because link was removed from Boston.com) reported the missing plane to the FAA.

“An employee of Martha's Vineyard Airport alerted federal aviation officials that John F. Kennedy Jr.'s plane was unaccounted for nearly four hours before a phone call from a Kennedy family friend early Saturday morning triggered a massive air and sea search.

The first phone call - which cited Kennedy by name - prompted no action by the Federal Aviation Administration. It was made at 10:05 p.m. Friday, only 25 minutes after Kennedy's plane was lost on radar and presumably crashed into the ocean.

''Actually, Kennedy Jr.'s on board. He's, uh, they wanna know, uh, where he is,'' Adam Budd told an unidentified FAA employee at the Bridgeport Automated Flight Service Station.

Until the plane is found, there is no way to say if an earlier search would have made a difference in the survival chances of Kennedy, his wife, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, or her sister, Lauren Bessette.

However, a transcript of Budd's call, obtained by the Globe, adds fuel to questions about whether the FAA responded as promptly as it should have, and as quickly as its own regulations specify, to concerns about Kennedy's missing plane.

FAA officials said they responded appropriately to the call.

''We've researched the matter and found the FAA was not told that the aircraft was overdue, or that there was any indication there was a problem or a cause for concern that would raise warning flags,'' said Eliot Brenner, a senior FAA spokesman.

Kennedy was flying to Martha's Vineyard to drop off Lauren Bessette, after which he planned to fly to Hyannis to attend the wedding of his cousin Rory Kennedy. A well-dressed couple with a child who had come to the airport to meet Lauren Bessette grew concerned when the plane did not arrive as expected by 10 p.m.

They sought help from Budd, 21, a Bridgewater State College student from Sharon, Mass. In a telephone interview last night, Budd said he is also a licensed pilot who has worked for the past month as a ramp attendant at the airstrip.

Budd said he first called the airport tower, but was told Kennedy's plane was not expected - Kennedy had filed no flight plan - and that it had made no radio contact.

Budd then called the FAA outpost in Bridgeport, Conn., a repository for flight plans that also provides pilots with weather information and notices about flight restrictions.

During his conversation with the unidentified FAA employee, Budd asked if the FAA could track an airplane. Budd said he was with airport operations at Martha's Vineyard, then mentioned Kennedy's name and provided two possible aircraft numbers for Kennedy's plane.

The employee questioned Budd repeatedly about who he was and where he was calling from. After Budd gave his name, the FAA employee asked if he was, in fact, with airport operations. He ultimately told Budd, ''We don't give this information out to people over the phone.''

At that point Budd gave up, saying, ''I'll just have 'em wait,'' and then, ''All right, it's no big deal.''

In the interview, Budd said the transcript tells only part of the story.

''You have to hear his tone of voice, because the guy was kind of rude to me, making me feel uncomfortable,'' he said. ''I've called before and they were happy to help me out. The guy might have been having a bad day or something. I don't know.''

Brenner, the FAA spokesman, said the problem with the tone was Budd's. ''There was no tone of concern in the voice or anything out of the ordinary,'' Brenner said. ''There needed to be some expression that this airplane is overdue.''

In the end, no action was taken until a 2:15 a.m. Saturday phone call from Carol Ratowell, a Kennedy family friend. Her call to the Coast Guard set in motion a multiagency search that began with calls to regional airports and officially became a search and rescue mission at 3:28 a.m.

Globe correspondent Jennifer Babson contributed to this report.

No search and rescue

Breaking news broadcasts at the time of the incident reported that there was final communication between the FAA and JFK Jr’s plane at the precise moment of 9:39 PM according to Petty Officer Todd Burgun from the Coast Guard base in Boston. This is absolutely consistent with the radar information from the NTSB that was used to reconstruct the last moments of the plane before it crashed therefore his report is credible, otherwise he could not have identified the exact minute that the plane was holding at 2,500 feet, waiting to get clearance from the tower before descending. He had to have gotten that information from FAA flight personnel in the tower at Martha’s Vineyard Airport.

This contact by JFK Jr. to the airport is very important for numerous reasons. Whenever you contact air traffic control, your particular radar blip is then entered into the FAA’s air traffic computer system. If anywhere on your flight path your plane should happen to descend below 100 feet, the computer will automatically set off an alarm at the FAA Traffic Control Facility. Therefore, as a result of Kennedy’s 9:39 contact with the tower, the computer should’ve set off a low altitude alarm in the FAA’s traffic control offices when the plane descended below 100 feet.

The FAA should’ve begun the search at 9:40 when this low altitude alarm went off. They knew before the plane hit the water. FAA regulations require that a search commence anytime a plane contacts the tower on its final approach and then fails to land within 5 minutes. As a result of JFK Jr’s contact with the tower,, the FAA also should’ve begun a search at 9:44 when JFK Jr’s plane failed to land.

How long did it take the FAA to begin a focused search... searching the approaches to the Martha Vineyard’s airport?

15 ½ HOURS!

The cover up:

The information containing JFK Jr’s contact with the FAA was disappeared. At 12:30 Burgun was removed/silenced from any further reports of any kinds. In fact, all government agencies went silent and reporters were referred to the Pentagon spokesman, Col. Steven Roark.

The report from Todd Burgun wasn’t the only on-the-scene reporting that disappeared from the news by the Pentagon. According to the Pentagon the families of both JFK Jr and Carolyn Bessette waited 4 hours to report them missing. Total lie! Friends of Lauren Bessette, Carolyn’s sister, were waiting at the airport and when the plane didn’t land at around 10:00, quickly reported it to the FAA officials, who did nothing.

One hour later, at 11 PM Senator Edward Kennedy contacted the FAA to let them know the plane was missing. The FAA officials did nothing.

Since the FAA refused to act, at 2:15 AM a family friend, Carol Radziwill, contacted the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard contacted the FAA. The FAA then contacted the Air Force who told the Coast Guard that they were in charge and sent the Coast Guard on a wild goose chase, to search an area 100 miles away from anywhere the plane may have gone down.

Linda Killian from People Magazine questioned Lt. Col. Steve Roark, the director of the U.S. Air Force's National Search and Rescue School at the time and former director of the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center, on TV about the time discrepancy regarding official notification of the missing plane. Raw uninterrupted static cut her off before she could even finish the question. This question never got answered and never got asked again and never got any mention in any media outlet.

At 6:30 AM Ted Kennedy woke up John Podesta, Clinton’s Chief of Staff. At 7:00 AM, Podesta woke up Clinton. At 7:15, Clinton told Podesta to call the Air Force and warn them if they didn’t have a search underway in 15 minutes, they shouldn’t bother to come to work Monday morning because they would all be fired, if they weren’t in jail.

So the Air Force scattered two planes and two helicopters across 20,000 square miles of ocean. The Air Force kept them searching this vast expanse for the next five and a half hours.

click image to enlarge

Of course, there were honest employees at the FAA who did their job, one of which is to perform what is called an “N-Tap” radar analysis. An “N-Tap” goes back to take-off, starting with the plane identifying itself to the tower, giving its “N number” its registration number, in this case, N529JK. The plane’s radar blip is identified at take-off. And this particular blip is then followed along its flight path until it disappears, indicating the crash site. The New York Times said this report was available at 5 AM.

When Col. Roark was asked why he his search was scattered all over the Atlantic, when the “N-Tap” report was available 8 hours earlier, pinpointing the location of crash, he said he would continue on the same track, stating that “we have nothing that absolutely pinpoints to one area as opposed to another, so we can’t rule out the entire flight.” When asked again about the radar position of the crash site, Roark lied and said it was just a “possible” position.

Moreover, all civil aircraft are required to carry an emergency beacon, an ELT (Emergency Locator Transmitter), which are crash activated. The ELT sends out a signal that is received by a network of satellites that can instantly locate the crash within a matter of a few feet. 

In other words, the FAA knew where JFK Jr's plane went down before it hit the water.  But, it wasn't until 1:00 the next afternoon when Lauren Bessette's suitcase washed up on shore that the Coast Guard was able to focus on something remotely near the crash site.

click to enlarge

JFK Jr was a careful and conscientious pilot, who did file a flight plan and who always flew his relatively new plane with a flight instructor as he was working on his instrument rating, not to mention his injured ankle.   He was not the careless, irresponsible daredevil that the media portrayed.  JFK Jr had a 17 year record--more than 300 hours--of careful, meticulous adherence to safety procedures.

Missing Pieces:

Where did the backup battery--necessary to preserve the last few words of the pilot on the radio and in the cockpit--to the cockpit voice recorder go?

Who was JFK Jr talking to minutes before he took off?  What as he talking about?  But it's missing despite the fact that it's supposed to be in the NTSB report.

Where is the aquamarine duffel that JFK Jr kept his flight log, which records who was on the plane?

What about the flight instructor who was reported--by family friend, Carol Radziwill--to be on the plane taken from the earliest statements after the crash? JFK Jr never flew his new plane without a flight instructor.  Later on, "the family" reported the flight instructor was not on the plane and that JFK Jr didn't even have a license to pilot the plane that crashed, when he most certainly did.

So who is this person identifying themselves as "the family" and spreading lies?  
Arnold Schwarzenegger, perhaps?



And where did the missing airplane seat go? Portions of five of the six seats were recovered. Could it be the reason for the delayed search?  They had to recover the body of the flight instructor who wasn't on the plane according to unreliable or coerced sources?

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The Science of Killing a Human Being.

In the documentary below, former Conservative MP, Michael Portillo pushes his body to the brink of death in an investigation into the science of execution. At the very beginning he states, "If the state's going to kill people, you want to do it as humanely as possible, I think most people agree on that." I'm not so sure. From my very limited perspective, I think the man who invented the lethal injection protocol, Dr. Jay Chapman's response,  "My basic attitude is so they suffer a little pain, who cares?" might just be the attitude shared by most.

Of course, as I've stated repeatedly, I do not believe in the death penalty under any circumstances, but if the state insists upon executing people, the least they could do is spare the doomed individual as much pain as possible. As I have also stated many times before, I think the lethal injection protocol is, as they say in the film "torture disguised as a medical procedure." And that's whether they carry it with two or three drugs. I mean, just imagine not getting enough of the drug that is supposed to cause unconsciousness, before getting the paralyzing drug (most likely used for aesthetic reasons) that renders you unable to signal your distress, followed by a heart-stopping drug, which "feels like a fire traveling through the vein to the heart.” The chance of this occurring is extremely high because it is administered by ill-trained staff.  After all, doctors and nurses are supposedly bound by the "Hippocratic Oath" or take a pledge to do no harm.

It's not just a lack of expertise that contribute to the controversy over lethal injection; it's the second drug in the cocktail: pancuronium bromide, the paralyzing agent  Carol Weihrer, who has testified in 15 court cases against lethal injection, knows all too well the pain this drug can cause. During a routine eye operation, in which she was given anesthesia and then pancuronium bromide, the anesthesia failed to work, leaving her fully aware of the excruciating pain as the pancuronium bromide coursed through her veins, but unable to tell anyone or move. She said if felt like "ignited jet fuel going through your body feeling like you're absolutely on fire." Carol believes that most executed inmates go through the same experience as she did.  She states that the anesthetic used in the lethal injection protocol is  "short-acting, five minute version" and that that lethal injection "takes between 10-12 minutes on a good day."  In other words, the inmate is put out for a couple of minutes, and then conscious, thus feels the pancuronium bromide painfully charge through their veins without being able to alert anyone and dies from suffocation before their heart is stopped.

One example:

Angel Diaz

On December 13, 2006,  Angel Diaz took more than a half-hour to die and required a second dose of the chemicals. After the first injection, he continued to move and was squinting and grimacing as he tried to mouth words.  The medical examiner stated that the needle had gone through Mr. Diaz's vein and out the other side, so the deadly chemicals were injected into soft tissue rather than the vein.

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Anatomy of a Massive Cover Up at the Highest Levels.

An inquest of an inquest:

The following documentary asks these questions:

Was it pure coincidence that Diana told people she would be deliberately killed in a car crash?

Why did the CCTV cameras along the route apparently fail to record anything?

Were the driver's blood samples tampered with to make him appear wildly drunk even though he seemed to be sober?

Why were Diana's phone calls being bugged by the secret service?

Who was driving the white Fiat Uno who may have caused the crash?

And last but certainly not least, why weren't the press more suspicious?

The unelected extended family of extremely wealthy aristocratic free-loaders, the Royals, like to present themselves as a benign and freedom loving tradition, thanks mostly to their highly paid establishment sycophants who wouldn't dare cross them. Wouldn't dare cross them?  Wait.  I thought the royals were figureheads whose birthright is upheld only to entertain and charm the masses with their quaint pageantry.

Not true.  I mean, the Queen has the power to unseat an elected Prime Minister.  That's right. According to the Constitution, all public power (executive, legislative and judicial) is created and commanded by the Queen. She has the power to: dismiss and appoint a Prime Minister (she may choose a Prime Minister of her own choice, though nominally she appoints the individual most capable of commanding the House of Commons); to dismiss and appoint other ministers; to summon, prorogue and dissolve Parliament; to grant or refuse Royal Assent to bills (making them valid and law; to commission officers in the Armed Forces; to command the Armed Forces of the United Kingdom; to appoint members to the Queen's Council; to issue and withdraw passports; to grant Prerogative of mercy (though Capital Punishment is abolished, this power is still used to remedy errors in sentence calculation); to grant honors; to create corporations via Royal Charter. She also has the power to shape foreign policy by: the power to ratify and make treaties; to declare War and Peace; to deploy the Armed Forces overseas; to recognize states; to credit and receive diplomats. Does that sound benign, or as if the Queen's merely a figurehead to you?

Which brings us to the car "accident" that killed Princess Diana, her driver, and her betrothed, Dodi Fayed. It was just after midnight, on August 31, 1997, that the much celebrated couple and their driver, Henri Paul, left the Paris Ritz in a Mercedes and then proceeded to crash into a concrete pillar in the Pont de l'Alma road tunnel, ten years later, leading to the largest, most sensational inquest in British history. Hundreds of witnesses were called.

"Whether you think it's an accident or murder, it was chillingly convenient for the Windsors that Diana died when she did."

Before continuing to read, keep in mind that there is no doubt that the media had already reached their verdict long before the inquest started, while at the same time, declaring it a waste of time and money. Many media organizations, including the BBC,  sent their royal reporters to cover it, rather than their legal ones. Even though Diana was no longer a royal at the time of her death After all, their job is to suck up to the palace and present the royals in a favorable light.

The French report of the "accident" was kept secret. The British report was riddled with contradictions. Several coroners came and went when attempts to hold the inquiry without a jury was finally overturned.

The inquest was held at the Royal Family's own court,  Royal Courts of Justice.  So is it any wonder that the royal representative in charge, the so called "judge", or coroner as it's called in the court system, in this case, Lord Justice Scott Baker, who has sworn an oath of allegiance to the Queen, has already decided that the key royal suspects need not even appear at the inquest in order to be questioned?

From the outset, it was clear that the coroner was on the side of the establishment, which is not surprising considering he is a part of it. He led the jury in the direction of it being an accident, despite the fact that right from the start, the circumstances surrounding the crash were very suspicious. Within minutes after the crash, the French police allowed a road sweeping van to wash away all of the evidence. That's exactly what the Pakistan police did on December 27, 2007 in Rawalpindi, Pakistan after Benezir Bhuto was assassinated.

Moreover, less than one day after the accident, the French authorities leaked a story to the press that this was an accident and that the driver was "dunk as a pig" before the blood test results were even complete. Later it came out that he only consumed two Ricards, one-quarter the alcohol the French authorities claimed.

The coroner even prevented the jurors from knowing the state of the relationship between Dodi and Diana. Prince Philip's very hostile letters to the Princess were redacted, or "censored into incomprehensibility." One witness, Simone Simmons, a friend of Diana, received a gag order, stating she could not mention these letters. She was not the only one to receive one. Makes you wonder how many people were paid off to stay silent.

In the days/weeks/months leading up to her murder, Princess Dianna and her affair with Dodi Fayed plastered the tabloid headlines, speculating on possible marriage, baby, etc. Diana said,

"The most daunting aspect was of the media attention, that I seemed to be on the front of the newspaper every single day, and the higher the media puts you...place you, the bigger the drop."

The inquest exploited this prior media frenzy for all it was worth by devoting several weeks to a minute investigation of her period, contraceptives and her sexual habits. Was she, in fact, impregnated by Dodi. It was as if the establishment wanted to de-mythologize her in the eyes of ordinary people.

Diana died after arriving at the hospital and although having been stripped of her royal status in life, in death, her corpse mysteriously became royal property. Within hours, royal representatives had given orders for her body to be partially embalmed, a process that conveniently made it impossible for anyone to tell if she had been pregnant.

What's more, Diana's attorney gave a sworn statement from Diana, predicting her death in a car "accident"--devastating evidence about Diana's security--and handed it over to Police Commissioner Condon (1993-2000) who concealed it for three years, who then passed it on to his replacement, Stevens, who concealed it for another 3 years. Both were made Lords by the queen for their good work.

Another thing, Diana habitually wore a seat belt with the exception of that fateful night when she sat in the rear right seat. Why? Well, when the car was subsequently examined by a crash expert on behalf of Metropolitan police , the rear right seat belt was found to be defective, "jammed in the retracted position because part of the integral mechanism had become displaced." Had it been tampered with? And why wasn't the inquest told about this?

Now most people still blame the paparazzi for causing the "accident", however, it was clearly demonstrated that they were not involved. While it's true some of the paparazzi outside the hotel set off in hot pursuit, they never caught up. Their scooters and motorcycles were unable to keep up with the much more powerful car. Police evidence given at the inquest confirmed, by the time the Mercedes entered the Pont de l'Alma road tunnel all the pursuing paparazzi had been left far behind.

Yet several witnesses had seen several motorcycles and a white Fiat Uno surrounding the Mercedes, along with several motorcycles, and blocking its progress as it entered the tunnel. They saw a very bright flash and then saw the white fiat collide with the Mercedes, which then lost control and crashed headfirst into a concrete pillar. Who was driving the other vehicles?? Because the paparazzi had been excluded after a very close analysis of all the known paparazzi who were on duty that night and they could all be accounted for.

What about the infamous cameras embedded all over the UK? Well, the always on CCTV at the entrance of the tunnel was conveniently switched off when Dodi and Diana's car entered its underground passage. But too many witnesses identified the car, and motorcycles, not to mention, the paint from the white Fiat Uno was found on the Mercedes. So who was driving this car? It's believed that James Andanson, a millionaire photographer, who owned a white Fiat Uno, connected to intelligence, and who was not present at the hotel when Diana and Dodi left, drove the car. Also, he gave contradictory alibis. Moreover, in the year 2000, Andanson's body was found in the trunk of a burned up car with two bullet holes in his skull, and no keys to be found anywhere. Despite those facts, the authorities declared it a suicide. Really? He drove the car without keys, shot himself in the head, twice! and then set the car on fire.

What about the "drunken pig" of a driver, Henri Paul?

Well, if he was really a chronic alcoholic, this would've been diagnosed during the stringent medical evaluation he underwent three days before the crash while renewing his pilot's license...that he passed with flying colors. So why wasn't the doctor who gave him a clean bill of health at the inquest or questioned by the police. In fact, Police Commissioner Stevens (2000-20006) stated to Paul's parents that Henri Paul was not drunk and that he was driving at a lower speed than indicated in the French proceedings.

Six weeks later, after Paul's parents testified at the inquest, Police Commissioner Stevens published a report that Paul was drunk. Henri Paul's residence was searched twice by the French Police. The first time, all that was found was an unopened bottle of champagne and a quarter bottle of a martini which hardly supports the claim that he was an alcoholic. So the police returned a few days later, and this time they found enough alcohol to stock an entire bar!

Here's another thing. The coroner at the inquest said Paul had no links to the security services. But Paul's bank accounts show that he received 349,800 French francs (34,980 pounds) during the final months of his life, mostly by checks. But the inquest never investigated who wrote those checks, nor investigated the transactions on his five credit cards, not to mention his mobile phone records.

That's not all. An autopsy was carried out by Dr. Dominique Lecomte, a doctor notorious in France for covering up medical evidence that would be embarrassing to the state. She committed 58 basic errors during the autopsy. Not only were her results inept, but "biologically inexplicable" as well. Every scientist involved in the inquest signed a joint statement stating that the blood test results for Henri Paul were "biologically inexplicable". There was a good chance that the blood samples were not even from Henri Paul.

But both doctors--Lecomte and Papal--did not attend the inquest even though as citizens of the European Union, they were legally obliged to. They were protected by the French government, who publicly sighted reasons of public order for their refusal, however the real reason was protection of state secrets in the essential interests of the nation.

In 2006, a team of scientists offered to do a DNA analysis of the blood samples to determine if they were in fact, from Henri Paul. The French government told them the samples no longer exist.

And what about the 3 hours and 41 minutes it took to get Princess Diana to the hospital? While Dodi Fayed and Henri Paul died instantly, and the bodyguard Trevor Reese was seriously injured, Diana was still conscious and alert. It was Dr Jean-Marc Martino, an emergency specialist who oversaw the Princess's treatment from shortly after the crash, who made a series of bizarre decisions that sealed her fate. It took an astonishing 37 minutes after the crash for Dr. Martino to remove the still conscious Diana from the Mercedes to the ambulance. The back of the car was undamaged, so there is no excuse for the delay. Then, it took an extraordinary 81 minutes for the ambulance to set off for the hospital, and another inexplicable 1 hour and 43 minutes for the ambulance to travel the three miles of empty roads to finally arrive at the hospital!

At the inquest, experts agreed that Diana's life could've been saved if not for the suspiciously slow and furtive actions of Dr. Martino and his crew.

But, why would anyone, let alone the powerful secret services of France, Britain and America want Diana dead? The secret services would never kill anyone, right? After all, Richard Dearlove, head of British Intelligence in 1997 calmly announced we have never killed anyone in the last 50 years. But Richard Tomlinson, a former MI6 agent gave testimony at the inquest by video link in France that contradicted that absurd statement. He couldn't come to Britain because if he had he would've been arrested. Tomlinson "outlined the execution of an assassination of a Serbian leader--Milosevic-- that involved arranging a car "accident" in a tunnel by flashing a very "bright flashing strobe gun to disorient Milosevec's chauffeur while the cavalcade passed into the tunnel. The advantage of a tunnel crash that there would be fewer incidental witnesses and greater chance of fatality." Sound familiar?

But, still, why would they want to kill Diana? Perhaps, it was her campaign to ban land mines. On January 15, 1997 Diana visited Angola to partake in the greatest photo opportunity the campaign had ever had, followed up in February 1997, by a photo op in Bosnia. Afterwards, she received a call from a British government defense minister who threatened her saying not to meddle in things she doesn't understand, and that accidents happen.

All of her calls were being monitored by British and American secret service. The Americans finally admitted to having over 1200 pages of transcripts in a National Security Council report, dated, January 5. 1999. Her campaign was clearly infuriating the armaments industry

Then, less than three weeks after the crash, the OSLO meeting in Norway, September 19, 1997 began. With Diana out of the way, most of the press didn't even bother attending. And Bill Clinton was the only western leader who voted AGAINST the ban on landmines, something he would've had a hard time doing if he had to look in Diana's eyes.

The only senior representative of the royal household to appear at the inquest was Sir Robert Fellowes, the Queen's private secretary. On Day 68 of the inquest, he stated that he was not at the palace before, during or after Diana's death because he was on vacation. Really?

In The Blair Years: The Alastair Campbell Diaries, Campbell writes of contact with Robert Fellowes from August 31 through September 5, 1997, proving Richard Fellowes was not on vacation and at the very center of Diana's funeral arrangements, overseeing her burial throughout the week.  Diana described Fellowes as one of the men that she fears. She said "he hates me and will do anything he can to get me out of the royals." Sir Robert Fellowes was made a lord in 1998 for his good work.

So why weren't the press more suspicious? Well, journalists have to answer to their editors who must answer to their proprietors, and in the UK, they all want knighthoods. The upshot is that most journalists are instinctively pro-establishment, therefore all to willing to believe the official story of Dianas's death even though it does not make any sense. It's difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding something.

In conclusion, there is no doubt that the entire inquest was skillfully manipulated by powerful unelected forces to the advantage of the royal family. This could only happen because Britain is, in essence, a monarchy, not a democracy. Much of Britain still operates on a system of unelected power, and its center are the Windsors, the old aristocracy and their vast wealth. Just as in medieval times British royalty live a life of unfettered privilege, the British taxpayers funding their lavish existence, officially 40 million pounds, unofficially, much, much more.

The letter Diana wrote to her butler predicting her death

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Bullies Are Cowards

Normal everyday seemingly boring events often lead me to post what most would consider a boring rant. I just hope that no one reads my blog and recognizes themselves in one of these boring events. Considering that all of one or two people read this blog, I'll say my chances are pretty good that won't happen.

A few days ago I was jogging across the school parking lot I ran into an old acquaintance and his 10-year old son. I hadn't seen him in years so I decided to do a "stop and chat" as Larry David calls it, and catch up on his life. While we were talking his son starts laughing and pointing toward an unusually short man walking along the edge of the parking lot. My friend casually told the boy,

"Cut it out, we're trying to talk."

The boy continued to mock this man so my friend turns to me and jokingly says,

"He is really short, isn't he?"

As if the fact that this man was unusual in some way was justification for his son's behavior. Since it was obvious that this kid's father wasn't going to intervene and the man could probably hear and see what the boy was doing I leaned over and told the kid,

"You do know that the man you're laughing at is Sammy "the stub" Luciano, descendant of Lucky Luciano. He specializes in taking out people under 5' tall."

I was hoping this kid was less than 5' tall and would get the message to back off. He must've understood because he looked at me like I was psycho and quickly walked over to his father's side for protection from me or Sammy "the stub" Luciano, I don't know which.

Unfortunately, often times, danger must be present, real or imagined, as Sammy "the stub" Luciano was for that boy, for an issue to be taken seriously; the fact that the matter at hand is hurting others is not enough.

Now that school shootings seem to occur more often than ever before and children or teenagers who have been severely bullied are the shooters, schoolyard bullying is being taken a little more seriously but I'm afraid it's going to take a few more "Columbines" before teachers, parents, politicians and administrators make eliminating or decreasing bullying a priority.

The other end of the spectrum and far more common and much less reported on, are those victims of bullying that turn on themselves. We'll never know how many people end up committing suicide because they are being bullied and see no way out or the bullying they've experienced in the past has resulted in taking their own life. Most of the time the cause will be blamed on something else such as mental illness, or an abusive home situation, which is more than likely true but I'm sure there are many cases where bullying plays a large part.

It's reported that teachers notice and intervene in only one out of 25 episodes of verbal or emotional bullying behavior. There is no excuse for teachers and/or parents to ignore such behavior for that type of conduct usually escalates. In addition to intervening, adults should take a proactive approach and create role-playing situations to teach empathy to children starting in pre-school and continue teaching the importance of empathy throughout the child's educational process. If we combine intervention, teaching empathy with a no tolerance for schoolyard terrorism policy, I think we would see a radical decrease in such behavior.

Bullies intimidate smaller or weaker people that they know won't fight back...bully is just another word for coward.

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Wanted For Murder .

A record-breaking 152 executions in the state of Texas, a massive death-toll close to one million resulting from the Iraq war and let's not forget Katrina.

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