Romance and Bullets

Well, if Spring isn't finally here. A bit late. But we'll take it. As usual for Wisconsin, the weather sucks right up to Memorial Day and then the humidity, heat and mosquitos all show up at once.

Since the warm air has arrived riding the bike has been a real pleasure. The sweet smell of wild violets mixed with lilac is truly something to treasure. Especially when it comes wafting on a gentle breeze as you're rolling along a country lane in the soft golden light of late evening. Yes, Elvis has his romantic side (just ask Mrs. Kennedy!).

Elvis is so romantic in fact, that he'll lay off that scumbag Floyd Landis and the rest of pro cycling's doped up peloton. Elvis won't even suggest that 5-Time Tour winner Miguel Indurain's anger with the doping confession of Bjarne Riis would suggest (to someone less romantic) that maybe Indurain is worried that others will follow Riis' lead and come forward with facts about wide-spread doping. Elvis' romanticism will keep him from even hinting that Indurain, by thinking that the truth is a bad thing, surely must be hiding something. Indurain said this of Riis' confession, "Things like this take away from everyone's courage". What? Is he suggesting that it will now be harder for he and others to keep living some courageous lie? Elvis isn't about to give a big-time doper like Bjarne Riis any credit for coming clean on his dope usage, but it was certainly more courageous than keeping his mouth shut. Why would anyone, unless you had something to hide, be bothered by the truth? Read HERE.

Oops. Elvis sometimes forgets that he's an ambassador for romance. Here, take a moment to scratch and sniff these beautiful lilacs;

Scratch-n-Sniff

Speaking of turkeys; how drunk do you have to be to run over a turkey standing by the side of the road? To make matters worse, you don't even realize that your license plate frame (along with the plate itself) was broken off by the collision. It's sights like these that harsh the mellow of the romantic Elvis when he's out and about on his bicycle;

Drink Wild Turkey - Kill Wild Turkey

Jeepers! I just realized something. Even though the photo depicts the license plate upside-down, I suppose it would be easy enough for someone with the requisite skill to print the photo, turn it around and identify the vehicle and it's owner. Or just tilt your head to the side. Hmm... Anyone care to ID the perpetrator?

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Happy Birthday Mr. President

John F. Kennedy would have turned 90 today if he were still alive (And there are knuckle-heads who believe just that. Read HERE). Elvis has just finished a wonderful new biography of JFK by Robert Dallek, entitled "An Unfinished Life" (get your copy at your local library or HERE). This book was published in 2003 and what, you ask, could possibly be new regarding our 35th President? Lots of recently released medical records for one. JFK suffered from; Addison's disease, colitis, degenerative spine disease and ulcers, to name just a few of his maladies. The most debilitating of these being his back problems. The pain was so bad that during most of his Presidency he was wearing a large and bulky back brace. It went from his hips to under his arms. Your point, Elvis? Let's take a fresh look at the famous Abraham Zapruder film of Kennedy's assassination. Knowing that his back could not bend normally due to the brace note these two items; 1) Watch him as he clutches his throat early in the film. Bullet number one went into his upper back and out just above the knot of his tie. Note how he leans towards Jackie, as opposed to slumping as someone without a brace might do. 2) At the fatal head shot he goes famously back and to the left. Seems unusual at first. But now that we know he was wearing a full back brace does that change how we perceive how a human body might respond to the tremendous force of a high velocity bullet?

Questions for the class; Had JFK not been wearing a back brace might he have slumped far enough forward (and down) after the first shot so that the sniper could not have gotten a clean head shot? Now that we know JFK was wearing a back brace - does it change the validity and/or veracity of the "back and to the left" argument that the fatal shot had to come from in front of the President? To prevent assassinations in the future, should back braces be out-lawed?

The film Elvis provides here is a stabilized version of the Zapruder film. Meaning that the outer frame moves around to compensate for Mr. Zapruder's lack of steadiness. It's a great version to study if you're into this sort of thing. You can pause, go in reverse and in slow-motion. And yes kids, you will see blood. It's gruesome. You have been warned. It's enough to give a romantic sort of guy the heebie-jeebies.

VIEW THE JFK ASSASSINATION FILM