Do these points bother you?

It is said that all of us old enough to remember, know where we were when we heard the news of JFK's death. For me, it was a cold crisp sunny afternoon at recess at Hampton Heights Public School in Hamilton, Ontario. Little did I know how the event would consume me in years to come. At that age you looked at the world with unquestionable trust in those older and wiser and in power. There was an automatic acceptance of the Warren Commission's findings. In about 1968, at the age of 14, I stumbled across Josiah Thompson's book Six Seconds in Dallas and was left shaken by what the system -- theirs, ours or possibly any -- was capable of in this post Camelot age. The world for me had changed!

I have now read from sixty to seventy books dealing with the assassination, some credible, some not. But all have something to contribute in some way. I have read even more published articles and papers from both the conspiracy theorists to the Warren Commission apologists, as well as having walked the historic steps through Dealy Plaza and stood on the very spot were Zapruder captured the most historic 'home movie' of all time as well as the infamous sixth floor window, I still feel that many important questions have not been adequately addressed. I believe that some of the catastrophic events which played themselves out that cold November day are not yet recognized due to honest oversight, sheer incompetence or sinister design.

One can examine any sequence of events, in any time frame one might choose, from Oswald in Russia or New Orleans leading up to the Dallas visit or even afterwards up to Jack Ruby's death. One will find coincidence upon coincidence or mystery upon mystery, as one wishes to interpret, but the tragic events cannot seem to be explained away.

Was Lee Harvey Oswald totally innocent? Probably not. Was he caught up in a bigger game beyond his control? Was he a patsy? I have to believe so with all that I've read to date.

For the sake of brevity, let us take just one segment of the catastrophic Dallas events as they played themselves out that day and see if it doesn't make you go hmmmmmmmm?? as it did to me. One can dissect any time frame with equally disturbing realizations but for now take this short tour with me during the most critical hours of November 22, 1963...

Why did Lee Harvey Oswald buy guns by mail order, leaving a traceable paper trail when he could have bought them anonymously in Dallas with cash in any firearms store in the 1960's?
Why do the eyewitnesses insist that Lee Harvey Oswald carried his "package" into the Texas School Book Depository by placing it under his armpit and cupping the other end in his hand, impossible to do given the length of even a disassembled Manlicher-Carcano?
How could Lee Harvey Oswald count on the 6th Floor (or any other floor chosen) being empty at the time the motorcade passed with employees jockeying for a vantage point to observe the procession?
How could this slight man move hundreds of pounds of boxes of books to create the sniper's nest and not be fatigued and have steady enough hands to fire the fatal shot?
The rifle was sighted for a left-handed person, although Lee Harvey Oswald was right-handed. Regardless, the scope was so far off that the FBI had to shim it in order to carry out tests and reenactments.
Why did the well-oiled gun not leave any oil stains on the brown paper bag purportedly constructed to smuggle the weapon into the building?
Fired three (?) shots in 6.5 seconds, missing the first shot (the closest shot, the one with the element of surprise) by a wide margin, but made the next two more distant and partially obscured shots perfectly! To this day, this feat has not been successfully duplicated by expert shooters given the same height, angle of decline, distance and a moving target using and aligned Manlicher-Carcanno--not to mention the one in the shape that Lee Harvey Oswald owned!
In the Marines, Lee Harvey Oswald, obtained the rating of "sharpshooter" on the target range. This sounds somewhat impressive, however, this was the lowest rating of the three available to service personnel (sharpshooter, marksman, expert) and Lee Harvey Oswald even had difficulty in qualifying for that. After the service, there is little, if any, evidence of him purchasing ammunition or practicing his "skills".
He gave up the best shot of the limousine advancing towards the Texas School Book Depository on Houston Street for the more difficult shots on Elm.
Why did the crowd of spectators spontaneously run up the grassy knoll in pursuit of an unseen assailant and nobody from the crowd ran towards the Book Depository? Gunpowder odour was immediately described by witnesses in the grassy knoll/bridge overpass area, as well as the passing motorcade, long before it should be able to defuse down to the street level from a sixth floor window.
Four "bullets" were found at the scene: three hulls on the floor and one live round in the chamber. One of the shells on the floor had a dented lip which experts agree could not have been fired in that shape on that day. The dent reassembles one made by "dry chambering" (practice loading) and was probably ejected prior to the first shot. If this practice shell was not fired and the last chambered round was not fired, this leaves only two shots being made, although the majority of "ear witnesses" believe they heard three or more. If only two shots were taken with the "Magic Bullet" resulting in seven wounds between JFK and John Connolly, and the final shot being the fatal head wound, what shot resulted in the wound on James Tagues' cheek clear on the other side of the plaza? If it was the missed shot, which shell accounts for it, if only two were fired from the Texas School Book Depository?
Lee Harvey Oswald supposedly took the time to load one last round into the rifle, but realizing that there was no shot left, or no need for a shot, took the time to wipe prints off the easily traceable weapon, hide it rather poorly on the opposite side of the room, then run down four flights of stairs to the lunch room, produce the change to buy a Coke and be sipping it unfazed and unwinded when confronted by Officer Baker, not more than 90 seconds after the last shot.
He calmly left the building, walked back towards the city, then boarded a bus travelling back towards Dealy Plaza. Stuck in the resulting traffic chaos, he leaves the bus and heads towards the Greyhound Terminal where he tries to catch a cab, but gives the first one up to an elderly lady. Hardly a desperate getaway!
Why did a police car pull up in front of Oswald's boarding house and "toot" its horn then drive off?
Lee Harvey Oswald grabs a jacket and handgun and leaves his rooming house. Last seen waiting for a bus at the stop across the street. No evidence of his having caught the bus and is next seen in Oak Ridges, near Jack Ruby's neighbourhood walking in the direction back towards his rooming house. Where was he going? Did he already get there? As his direction now indicated, he was heading back? And, how did he get there, as there is a time-distance conflict. He might have made the distance if he ran it, but there are no witnesses to this activity, which surely would have caught someone's attention.
Why did Officer Tippet stop Lee Harvey Oswald? Only the very basic descriptions of a figure in the 6th floor window were available (young man, in mid- to late 20's...Oswald was 21). This description could fit a large percentage of Dallasites and Lee Harvey Oswald had not yet been listed as missing from the Texas School Book Depository. Why? The source of the broadcasted description is still not entirely explained.
Reports of automatic handgun fire at the scene, although Oswald had a revolver. Two makes of shells were recovered at the scene and did not exactly match the makes of the slugs recovered. More shells of one make than slugs of another make. Officer who marked the shells with his initials later refused to identify the shells as being the same ones as he took possession of at the scene.
Numerous conflicts with the witnesses at the scene as to the age, height, complexion of the assailant, not to mention the number of assailants and direction in which he/they fled.
Discarded jacket while in flight. When recovered, this jacket had laundry tags pinned to the inside despite Lee Harvey Oswald never having been known to use this service and was probably too broke to do so. In spite of efforts by the FBI, these tags could not be traced to any laundry in Dallas or New Orleans. Marina failed to identify this jacket as belonging to Lee Harvey Oswald.
Did not pay to enter the theatre, although he had enough cash on him. Why did he risk arousing suspicion when he could have paid?
Why were so many police cars and policemen sent to arrest a "gate crasher", as this was all that was known about this individual at this time? Although there was an officer shot some blocks away, this news was just getting out. How did they decide to link this gate crasher to the murder and decide to send in such manpower?
Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested with a fully loaded handgun, but with no other ammunition on his person. If he shot Officer Tippett, how did he know he was going to use four shots and carry four, and only four, spares to reload his gun prior to his arrest? Or, did he just have a full gun and never fire a shot?
Having been tested for nitrites, a byproduct of gunfire, Lee Harvey Oswald tested positive on one hand, but negative on the other, and negative on his cheek, which would be expected using the old leaky Manlicher-Carcanno. Although not a reliable test, this would tend to indicate that he had not fired a rifle that day! Nitrites can be found in other sources, from printer's ink (he worked at a book depository), to fertilizer, to urine.

If you have any theories or comments on these items, I'd really like to get some answers!

Links where you can find more information:

gopher://gopher.freenet.akron.oh.us:70/11/SIGS/JFK
gopher://gopher.neoucom.edu:1070/11/SIGS/JFK
My JFK Links
JFK Resources Online
Directory of /pub/users/sub/rharris/
http://users.southeast.net/~bgoldman/jfk.html
http://www.thuntek.net/~rharris/jfk.html
John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection
John F. Kennedy Library Home Page
Kennedy Assassination Records Collection