JC - Interesting to read in his book - just
published: JFK- An American Coup D'Etat - Col.
John Hughes-Wilson (ex-MI6) mentions (p.137)
that on the 11th October 1963 - a month or so
before his death - JFK had (quote) "signed a crucial National Security Action Memorandum, number 263, signalling his intention to pull
1000 troops out of Vietnam by the end of the
year and eventually run down the US's commitment to Vietnam."
Col. Hughes-Wilson continues: "We now know that Kennedy was seriously considering getting
all U.S troops out of Vietnam by the end of
1965, after the presidential election. There
were only 16000 American soldiers in Vietnam at that time, so that removing over 1000
represented a significant withdrawal."

(We should remember Vietnam also represented a
significant source of revenue for certain
business/military power-brokers).

On a matter of presidential assassinations (and
attempts), I find it worth mentioning that
ONLY JFK's was effected "at long range).
ALL of the others could be called "Up close and
personal"...much more in keeping with a lone
nut and his/her obsessions. JFK's demise had
all the hallmarks of a military style organisation and planning...and the grotesque
failure by the SS and FBI to follow basic
chain of evidence procedures (even destroying
vital evidence) only adds to the suspicion
that powerful hidden forces were at work that day.

Comment is about Kennedy (blog)

Original item by Simon Austin

I wonder if this one is inspired by what's happened in the world of cricket?

Great analogies for just losing it here. The important thing is what's going on behind the eyes - very sad.

Comment is about He knew the score (blog)

Original item by Ray Miller

Hello, what does 'reddit' mean ?

Comment is about John Coopey (poet profile)

Original item by John Coopey

Jarrow was sacked by the Vikings in 794, the year after Lindisfarne (the island; not the band).
"Walha" or "Waelsh" was what the Saxon invaders 350 years earlier called the indigenous British (literally = "foreigner")
"Sais" = Saxon. From whence the Picts call us Sasanachs.
"Wyrd" was the pagan Saxon concept of Fate.

Comment is about If They Come (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Yes - I could never understand that mother of young kids, who went off to conquer some dangerous mountain and died in the process. I mean, what is the point? Even it you do it, so what?

I'd get much more enjoyment from writing the perfect poem - which still eludes me... each to their own, I suppose.

"Crazy people,
buried in the sky."

That sums it up perfectly for me - though I can see some sadness in the way people strive to achieve - at such a personal sacrifice.

Comment is about People who climb K2 (blog)

Original item by Dave Bradley

thanks for the update MC - got the Anthony Summers book 'Not In Your Lifetime' to read next - offers an alternative perspective to my own. I must have about 20 programs sitting on my Sky+ to watch that have been on various Sky channels in the past fortnight - will probably archive them to DVD as I watch them - just need to find the time
Ian

Comment is about M.C. Newberry (poet profile)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Hi Isobel
thanks for the comments on 'Glam' I know what you mean about the tainted stars - it wasn't just glam though - you should read some of the stuff the big bands like Zeppelin and Motley Crue got up to!!!!!
I still love glam rock - it was the music I listened to when I got my first record player, kiss, long hair and attitude - so it will always be MY music - irrespective of the arseholes who have muddied its name
Ian

Comment is about Isobel (poet profile)

Original item by Isobel

Thanks for the comment (and correction) on 'Glam' Laura - amended and glad you liked it
D'Ya wanna be in my gang? ;-)
Ian

Comment is about Laura Taylor (poet profile)

Original item by Laura Taylor

thanks for the supportive comments on 'Glam!!!' Starfish - I'm pleased you liked it
Ian

Comment is about Starfish (poet profile)

Original item by Starfish

thanks for the comment on M.I.A tomas - much appreciated
Ian

Comment is about Tomás Ó Cárthaigh (poet profile)

Original item by Tomás Ó Cárthaigh

agreed-tis indeed!x

Comment is about Poem: For Your Review (blog)

Original item by Joseph J. Breunig 3rd

Thank you for commenting on 'Beano.' Appreciated. P.

Comment is about John Coopey (poet profile)

Original item by John Coopey

no change there then John ;-)

Comment is about John Coopey (poet profile)

Original item by John Coopey

I have a similar but opposite memory of dropping No 2 daughter off at University.
We lugged all her stuff up 3 flights of stairs while she nattered to the other freshers in the communal kitchen.
We'd done everything we needed after about 2 hours (unpacked, positioned furniture, hung pictures etc) and I was ready to come home.
Our Gert on the other hand continued to fuss and do stuff for another 2 hours - she couldn't bring herself to leave!
Now they've both left home to live with boyfriends. We had to buy them a house apiece but it was worth it.

Comment is about Touch and Go (blog)

Original item by Cate

I Looked A Twat.

Comment is about GLAM!!!!!!!! (blog)

Original item by Ian Whiteley

I don't suppose we'll ever know.
I do feel though that his assassination prevents history from evaluating how he would have conducted the Vietnam War (he had just committed 16000 "military advisers").

Comment is about THE DAY THEY MURDERED JFK (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Enjoyed this, Simon (if "enjoyed" is the right word). This was one of those pivotal moments whereby everyone around at the time remembers what they were doing when they heard the news.
MC certainly details correctly the suspects and, although I'm normally no great fan of conspiracy theories, I agree that the lone gunman (Oswald) is a hard one to swallow.
What I also feel is that assassination polished his legacy. Had he lived he would have had to have perpetuated or escalated the Vietnam War (having already committed 16000 "advisers" or withdrawn in ignominious defeat (like Nixon and Ford).

Comment is about Kennedy (blog)

Original item by Simon Austin

I wish

Comment is about John Coopey (poet profile)

Original item by John Coopey

Reddit.

Comment is about How many more frogs ? (blog)

It must take a particular strain of motivation to want to test yourself in this arena, Dave; where not even experience and skill are guarantees of success, only of improved advantage.

Comment is about People who climb K2 (blog)

Original item by Dave Bradley

Thanks for your kind words. The poem was written as a response to the Sylvia Plath poem "Hardcastle Crags" near Hebden Bridge which she always found oppressive.

Graham

Comment is about Over the Edge (blog)

Original item by Graham Ramsden

I watched Oliver Stone's JFK the other night. I wonder when, if ever, the truth will be fully revealed and who the perpetrators really were.

Comment is about THE DAY THEY MURDERED JFK (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Well done, really nice piece,and very true X

Comment is about Love Is No FairyTale (blog)

Original item by sash

Brilliant!

Comment is about Monkey on the park (blog)

Original item by Kath Hewitt

Brilliant!

Comment is about Monkey on the park (blog)

Original item by Kath Hewitt

I like this X

Comment is about Sex Addict (blog)

Original item by Mia Darlone

I must arise and go now...
:-)

Comment is about If I were a proper poet (blog)

Original item by Gray Nicholls

Thanks for looking in on my JFK offering. As for the truth, somebody knows it, but they're not talking! All the best,
Steve

Comment is about Starfish (poet profile)

Original item by Starfish

You've painted this tragic moment well Simon, best wishes, Steve

Comment is about Kennedy (blog)

Original item by Simon Austin

heres our two penny worth Steve-well done.xx

Comment is about President Kennedy (Re-post) (blog)

Original item by Steve Higgins

Thanks for your kind observations on eleven eleven. the older we get the more permutations flood into the mind for the reasons of past events in history and the consequences of them K.E.D.

Comment is about Starfish (poet profile)

Original item by Starfish

Hi Starfish! Glad you liked the book shop. It's a pity so many of them are clsing down.

Comment is about Starfish (poet profile)

Original item by Starfish

This is really beautifully and sincerely put.

Comment is about Poem: For Your Review (blog)

Original item by Joseph J. Breunig 3rd

I liked this. As with the assassination of JFK, we'll never know the truth about the death of Marilyn Monroe either.

Comment is about President Kennedy (Re-post) (blog)

Original item by Steve Higgins

An interesting read. I suppose we will never really know the truth.

Comment is about Kennedy (blog)

Original item by Simon Austin

Yes, I agree, great and very well said. Thought-provoking stuff.

Comment is about Fair (blog)

Original item by Steve O'Connor

loved it Steve!and,guess what?
I've got used to your zany profile pikky now.

I referred myself to the book of cool and style ---found you were right,after all.x

Comment is about President Kennedy (Re-post) (blog)

Original item by Steve Higgins

We are all products of our times for sure. In
terms of a newly emerging religious movement that
offered an invisible omnipotent force, how useful
to keep a woman's place as "mother" in terms of
a mere mortal being "intacto". No need of human
interference when "birth" of a "Son of God"
can be explained away for easily convinced
sensibilities that knew no better, feared
everything and hoped for something better in
death than they ever knew in life.

Comment is about Your God and My God (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

History has certainly shown that JFK had many
enemies. The failed coup against Castro and
plots to dispose of the latter: the intention
to have the FBI take over the CIA - with disastrous ramifications for the powerful
bosses of both organisations - Hoover and Dulles -
and not least, the hatred of the Mob who felt
he was hounding them via his brother (attorney
general) and failing to show respect for their
part in getting him elected. Add to these, the
Zionists who thought he had abandoned Israel...
and the powerful interests in war and oil, both
of which were set to lose huge sums as a
result of government policies, and you have
all the makings of powerful and determined
factions that saw him very much as "the enemy".
Lone nut assassin? Pigs might fly!
Their personal tragedy was the Kennedy brothers'
failure to keep their private lives free from
consorting with the likes of Marilyn Monroe whose
increasingly erratic behaviour placed all at risk
and surely led to her own tragic demise.
Shakespeare himself could not have come up with
a plot with more intrigue, betrayal, danger and
death!

Comment is about Kennedy (blog)

Original item by Simon Austin

The girl that thought she was nothing,
Died for nothing,
Alone.

These lines from "Amy" are so brutally true.
Amazing work.

Comment is about Simon Austin (poet profile)

Original item by Simon Austin

Hello Shirley,
One God who doesn't make room for another God to sit in the sun seems to me to have a bit of an inferiority complex.

Comment is about Your God and My God (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Bugger. I meant Keats! lol Thanks for pointing it out M.C.

Comment is about If I were a proper poet (blog)

Original item by Gray Nicholls

Great stuff - right up my street. Well said.

Comment is about Fair (blog)

Original item by Steve O'Connor

Hey cheers Cayn! Looking forward to it :)

Comment is about LauraTaylor and Louise Fazackerley on bill with Attila in Wigan (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Only just found this (busy week). Wow. So powerful. The poem makes much of the 2CV but you're right - it wouldn't have been quite the same in another car. Totally endorse the others' comments.

Comment is about Touch and Go (blog)

Original item by Cate

lovely! your best one yet,Larisa.x

Comment is about Spring Mood (blog)

Original item by Larisa Rzhepishevska

Hi Ann! Pleased to meet you! I've just read your samples and think your writing is fantastic!

Comment is about Ann Foxglove (poet profile)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

David cites hundreds, Ambit and Magma: thousands. It occurs to me that I might sensibly halve the submissions I make, not that I make many, and I'll guess I'm not the only one. A little filtering might be called for: but in those giddy moments...!

Comment is about Poetry magazines and the creative writing boom: are editors being swamped with poems? (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Words to picture
Sentence to scene
Seasons to create
Art of make-believe.

Comment is about Stockport WoL (group profile)

Original item by Stockport WoL

Wot - no Keats?!
:-))

Comment is about If I were a proper poet (blog)

Original item by Gray Nicholls