Joe
Backes's reply to alt.c.jfk
21 March 1999
To all,
Ah, isn't it fun to play the victim?
Kenny Rahn is now bemoaning the facts about his own conference. "Oh, I'm under attack! Isn't it unfair? Woe is me!."
What a shyster, what a fraud!
Rahn - "Many of you may have heard that just a couple days ago, attacks on our conference, on my URI course, and on me personally were launched over the Internet by Joe Backes, George Michael Evica, and Charlie Drago."
Our conference? OUR conference? OURS??? I think not!
Attacks? Or the Facts?
This "attack" is an effort by me alone, to inform the JFK assassination research community, who Ken Rahn is, and what to expect at HIS JFK conference.
I posted for you all an URL which I don't think many of you were aware of that contained information Rahn posted. Included at this web site were essays he was teaching, if you can call this "teaching", to college kids.
Several of you wrote back to me in utter astonishment at the gall of the man based solely on the titles of these "essays".
Rahn -"I will not repeat their words because I do not write such things in public forums."
Liar and fraud! He doesn't want these words repeated because they are the true words, and true feelings of two men he tried to ensnare to support him and his conference. George Michael Evica and Charles Drago have nothing but contempt for Ken Rahn and this conference. Evica is not participating in this. Charles Drago is because he feels a moral obligation to confront such evil when it's in his own backyard.
Kenny, on the defensive, writes, "The purpose of this message is to reassure you that our conference is safe and sound. In fact, it may have even been strengthened, as the community as a whole sees the lengths to which a fraction of its members will go to assure that views contrary to their own are not disseminated, debated, or legitimized."
"Fraction of it's members," eh? Mr. Drago and Mr. Evica were contacted by Rahn to be a part of this conference. Now that Evica has dropped out, and Drago is going solely to confront the garbage that is Ken Rahn they are now both a small "fraction" of the JFK assassination community.
The contrary view is Rahn's advocacy of the lone nut, pro-Warren Commission viewpoint. He's just too much of a charlatan to come forward and actually say so because he knows damn few people would attend such a conference. He is trying to hide his true colors under the banner of "a debate", "free speech", etc.. It's total bullshit!
Kenny writes, "This meeting is all about communication, enlightenment, and mutual respect." It's a con, not a conference. It's to con you out of your time and money, to con you into believing you will be attending a conference wherein two sides of an issue will debate.
"It is also time to repudiate the words and actions of those individuals, which work in the opposite direction--of diminishing communication, of limiting "enlightenment" to their view of it, and to abolishing mutual respect. The JFK community remains marginal because of acts like the above."
Free yourselves from the belief in a conspiracy America! Heed the words of your savior Ken Rahn! Free yourselves from the belief in a dark conspiracy, see the light of Rahn. Attend his con(ference)!
Oh, we're marginal are we? 90% of the American people, marginal, hmmm.
Remember Evica and Drago were contacted, by Rahn, and lied to, by Rahn. Now that I've gotten them to express their true feelings about this guy and his conference in their own words they are marginal people, who limit "enlightenment", and diminish communication.
"Let us announce to the world that those days are numbered,..."
Oh, Hallelujah!! Sing it sister!
"...and that with the Providence Conference, the JFK community is beginning to hold truly open meetings where all views are welcome and where all are open to intellectual challenge as well. "
The intellectual challenge of being told you're a fucking moron for believing in a conspiracy, and paying for that privilege as well.
"In other words, the JFK community is finally taking a step away from cultishness and toward the openness and free enquiry expected of any free society, together with the challenges and risks that inevitably accompany such openness."
To embrace Rahn is to be free!
All right, let's get to it. This guy is a fraud and a liar. He's a lone nutter who doesn't have the guts to admit it. These types were cast out, and rightly so from the A.S.K. conferences. The JFK research community got fed up with them. The feeling of frustration of having to constantly deal with these types led to the creation of COPA. And then when COPA obviously wasn't living up to what it should be doing JFK Lancer was created.
IMO, attending this conference and listening to people like Rahn is a huge step backward. It's a waste of time and energy.
Some may think we need to debate. I would make the argument that we cannot afford to waste the time in such a meaningless endeavor wherein the outcome will be the same at the start as at the outcome. I would also make an analogy of sorts, most people would debate the merits of a painting, let's say, after the painting is painted. Our painting is not finished. There are far too many documents to read. There are still many people to contact and interview. There are problems unaddressed, and in some instance created by the sunsetting of the ARRB. That is where the energy MUST be focused. Forward, not backward.
Joe Backes