VENTURA (REVISED)

Ventura, J  with D. Russell (2010) American Conspiracies, New York: Skyhorse Publishers

228 pages.

INTRODUCTION

This big bestseller is a popular account of some conspiracies in American history. The division of labor on this book is Mr. Ventura is both former Governor of Minnesota and entertainer. The voice of the book is his, the research is probably that of Russell. Ventura also made a series out of this for Tru TV.

This book review essay is to present Gov. Ventura and Mr. Russell's interpretation of what happened as opposed to perhaps other sources. In other words, If I possibly can,  will try to compliment/ or refine the theories. The time spent on this is because so much has been shuffled to the conspiracy corner. The trust in the government, industry, and among each other is quite low and thus conspiracies make sense, but are they accurate? Even in some of the worst countries in terms of popular participation, complicated bad things happen that were without conspiratorial causes.

Ventura's introduction indicates that he is trying to show the reader that the lone nut theory may be valid, but often it is not. The rest of the introduction is an overview of the book. Each chapter is very organized   around INCIDENT/ OFFICIAL WORD/ HIS TAKE/ EXPLANATION/ AND WHAT ONE CAN DO NOW.

CHAPTER ONE. LINCOLN ASSASSINATION

. John Wilkes Booth who shot President Lincoln was part of a vast Confederacy plot that started in the south and went all the way to Canada. You may get an account on Wikipedia which is now refereed. It supports Ventura's position. He maintains that 8th grade history books describe Booth pretty much as a lone nut. I was able to find my 8th grade history book THIS IS AMERICA'S STORY (1954) by Wilder, Ludhum, and Brown, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Houghton, Mifflin Company.

My history book says(396) "Booth had decided to kill Lincoln and urged his friends to kill others in the administration." That's it. My history book may be an outlier, but it could be representative and Ventura is correct.

CHAPTER TWO. PRESCOTT BUSH TO KILL FDR

Big money crowd of conservatives lead by Prescott Bush conspired to kill FDR in 1934. Prescott is the father of Bush 41' and grandfather of Bush 43' The rest of the group are famous names of the

wealthy back then and today. They appointed a General Butler to organize the plot. Butler was ousted by the New York Times. The headlines made Butler look foolish but the details were on the back pages and later acknowledgements amounted to indicating that Butler was probably right. That the wealthy old money wanted a Fascist dictatorship in the USA.

The official history is that Giussepe Zangara a loner of sorts tried to kill

FDR but without success. The other plot is not mentioned in Wikipedia or other sources. Official history denies that Bush was a Nazi supporter.

CHAPTER THREE. JFK ASSASINATION

Kennedy was killed by a hit man on the grassy knoll. The police-military wings of the American government conspired to kill the president and blame it on Cuba. There were 2 Oswalds. The real one and a double were used in the plot. The 2 Oswalds come from another book by Armstrong, J. (2003)Harvey and Lee , Arlington, Texas: Qasar Ltd.

The Official versions are so well known by now. A slow depressed individual named Lee Harvey Oswald killed the president from a window in the Dallas School Textbook Deposit building. He was caught and inadvertently killed by a small time hood named Jack Ruby a strip joint

owner.

The thousands of books on this issue say something with this premise.     Lee Harvey Oswald acted with at least one other person. From there, numerous theories expand.

Ventura's approach I believe is a minority one and don't see it as viable conspiracy theory as others. Official history does not acknowledge this theory. Oswald worked alone. So again a lone nut killed a famous individual that may have profoundly changed history.

CHAPTER FOUR . MALCOM X ASSASSINATION

Ventura describes this as a CIA-FBI plot to kill Malcolm X and to stop him from forming an alliance with Dr. Martin Luther King.

Official history indicates that the above is possible, but the killing is

likely to have been an internal struggle between differing wings of the

Nation of Islam. Recently Thomas Hayer was released as the killer of

Malcom X.

CHAPTER FIVE . DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING

The author sees King being killed by forces in the Right Wing, the mob, and the military. Killers were located in shrubs right across from the Lorraine Motel. James Earl Ray was the "fall guy" or patsy.

The shrubs were torn down during the night after the assassination. In a hurried fashion, the terrain changed and most likely killer became Mr. Ray.

Numerous commissions and studies indicate that Ray had a very poor rifle and the bullets that he shot were not the ones that killed Dr. King.

The man holding  the bloody Dr. King as he was dying had infiltrated the organization and worked for the CIA. The latest is that a local Black minister a Rev. Wilson killed King. He thought King was a communist.

Thus, the government was not involved. It was a lone nut name Mr. Ray or another named Rev. Wilson.

CHAPTER SIX . SENATOR ROBERT F. KENNEDY

Senator Kennedy's killer was hypnotized and programmed to kill by the CIA. There were 13 bullets, Sirhan had only 8. Kennedy's security man shot the senator right behind the back of his head. Further there may have been another one or two shadowy figures.

The official response is that Senator Robert F. Kennedy was killed by a Palestinian immigrant who was opposed to Kennedy's support of Israel.

Again a lone nut killed the senator.

However, there  have been studies supporting the number of bullets fired and the trajectory coming from directly behind Senator's head. Beyond that, there is little else that matches up. A prominent pathologist strongly indicates that Kennedy died from a bullet directly

behind his head. Sirhan probably did not do that. So Ventura has some value here.

CHAPTER SEVEN . WATERGATE CONSPIRACY

The CIA got to Nixon because he was trying to find out who killed JFK.

Thus, the break-in would be the catalyst for the downfall of Nixon. Ventura is borrowing here from Alderman's THE ENDS OF POWER.

This in footnoted in the NOTES at the end of book.

The official sources indicate the following.

The President empowered a number of operatives to break into the Democratic Party's headquarters to get secret information that Nixon and GOP could use. They were caught. Nixon resigned. Ventura appears off on this, but he does suggest alternative in terms of what the President wanted. It had something to do with dealings of both parties and the billionaire recluse Howard Hughes.

CHAPTER EIGHT. JONESTOWN MASSACRE

The CIA murdered most of the members to hide a mind control experiment according to Ventura.

The official is that after Congressman Ryan and aides were killed.

leaders in Jonestown knew that the USA would send troops. Thus,

nearly everyone was killed. Jonestown was a mix of Christianity and

a rigid form of Soviet Communism. Ventura may have missed this one. He said that

it was made by the CIA to look like a mass suicide. Only a few of the bodies were autopsied.

CHAPTER NINE . THE "OCTOBER SURPRISE"

Right after President Reagan was inaugurated, the hostages in Iran were released. The previous President James Earl Carter tried for months to get them released. Ventura indicates that the release was timed so that Reagan could win. Even though, the election was over, it would have helped Carter if he could have gotten them back. Ventura believes Gary Sick a prominent official in a previous Republican administrations indicated that the Reagan people had the release delayed until they were in office.

The official version is that the hostages timing release was coincidental.

Many mainstream sources appear to support Ventura.

CHAPTER TEN  IRAN-CONTA

Ventura indicates that the CIA is involved in drug trafficking all over the world for numerous reasons. The official version is that President Reagan sold weapons to Iran to get money to fund the fight against the Nicaraguan Contras. The money was needed because it was not officially funded by Congress. Ventura indicates that the biggest drug merchant in the world is large American banks.

The official version is that there was a trade of guns for hostages and money, but that it was difficult to connect President Reagan to the transactions.

Ventura may step too far with American banks as major drug dealers.

CHAPTER ELEVEN.   REPUBLICANS STOLE ELECTIONS OF 2000 AND 2004.

Bush lost the popular vote in 2000 but won the electoral vote. Florida was the deciding state. Sources indicate that many potential Democratic voters were turned away or had ballots that were poorly constructed. Further electronic machines at the time could be manipulated to help Bush against Kerry in 2004.

This is fairly mainstream and his filled with controversy and related matters.  All are possible, but the official word is that however imperfect, Bush won the races.

Ventura believes that Republicans fixed the election. This may be true, but it is not recognized as such. Bush won the election. Gore in 2000 made perhaps the most inspiring speech to unite the country in indicating that he had lost the elections and yet society must go on.

CHAPTER TWELVE.  9/11

4 large transport planes were taken over by terrorists of Arabic descent. One plane ran into Towers 1 and another into Tower 2.

A third plane ran into the Pentagon and a 4th plane was stopped by passengers who overcame the terrorists and fell to the ground in

Pennsylvania.

According to Ventura, Dick Cheney told NORAD and its fighter jets to stand down. So the targets remained vulnerable. Three buildings Tower 1, 2, and 7 fell .

This one is not settled. Most of the mainstream sources indicate that a conspiracy did not cause the killings. I also believe that the black boxes were not indicated that they had been discovered. However, the boxes were

or  are in the possession of the authorities. So I was wrong.

For this one, Ventura may be off the mark, but not completely wrong. This one still needs more time.

CONCLUSION

Ventura writes an exciting book, but it may be filled with some inaccuracies. Mediacritic

ranks the book some

where in the middle of their ranking system.

CAUTION

If you are in a momentous and catastrophic

situation of an assassination or related, quietly move away from it. Do not volunteer information.

If you have a camera phone, give copies to at least 2 networks so that what you have may go through. Do not identify yourself. What you have may be worth a lot of money. However, you may be fearful for your life for the rest of the time that you are here on earth.

There are a number of things that may be done or said of you. First, you are mentally ill. Second, your camera may be taken and never returned by authorities. Third, quietly leave the scene. You may be tied up in court for years with costly legal bill. Fourth, your brakes on your car may be

cut and you could die in an accident. Fifth, a rendition could be placed on you. You see someone that you know and they beckon you over to the car. When you get there, you are shoved into the car are never seen again.

We still live in a democracy, but it is imperfect. What you may do as a

good citizen could drastically change social order. Stay quiet. Never talk about it. What you claim not to know is far superior to what you claim to know.