I just don't get why people can't accept that a punk-ass loser killed JFK

[Bucky]

138. What's frustrating is belief that "do not always tell the truth" means "always lies with competence"

Just as "reserving some degree of skepticism of government explanations" doesn't mean everything the government says is part of a tapestry creating an orchestrated illusion of truth. The conspiracy theorists' consensus view of a supercompetent, indeed error-free, far-sighted elitist cabal planning out the Kennedy assassination, Oswald framing, and perfectly concealed multiple snipers in a crowded public square simply doesn't jibe with actual human experience.

But the most instructive argument in this thread is the uncaptioned photograph of Colin Powell making the case for WMDs in Iraq. To some people in this thread, this is confirmation that the government lies to us about important things in order to get its way and suck our tax dollars into the military-industrial complex.

Only, the context of that photograph more clearly shows that large scale conspiracies do not work. Within months of the invasion of Iraq, the whole web of lies, fabrications, manipulations, and distortions used in the conspiracy to drag America into a war with the wrong country came unraveled. A conspiracy on that high a level of government, where competing ideologies, career goals, personal ambitions, personality clashes, and emotion-laden revenge fantasies all clash in the jumble of cover-ups and marketing switcharoos, simply can not be kept in secret. Hundreds of actors would have had to be involved in the murder of Kennedy and framing of Oswald for most conspiracy theories to pan out (with the possible exception of the mafia-related conspiracies--but even then the target should've been Bobby, not Jack Kennedy). Someone would have talked; some ego would have been driven to a deathbed braggadocio. Secrets that big do not remain secret.

Now something wacky was going on in Dallas (and New Orleans) in the run up to Kennedy's murder. I don't swallow the Warren Commission report. But a concerted effort by a villainous clique, each member in turn commanding dozens of loyal, lip-locked minions, none of whom ever spilled the beans, just doesn't make a damn bit of sense.