From: mst4298@rigel.tamu.edu (Mitchell S Todd)
Newsgroups: alt.conspiracy.jfk
Subject: Re: Clark Panel
Date: 7 Apr 92 16:28:00 GMT
Organization: Incontinental Blather, Inc
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

david@cats.ucsc.edu (David Wright) writes...
>grant_jo@ripple.enet.dec.com (Joel Grant) writes:


>The photograph showing the rear head of the president is a forgery, or
>a composition. The head wound extends to the back of the head, as all
>the Parkland people said it did.

	Unfortunately, you have yet to show any substantiative proof of
	this. So far as I can tell, the only reason you claim it to be a
	forgery is that it doesn't show what you want it to. Dr. McClelland's
	(Along with Drs. Dulany, Jenkins, and, I believe, Clark) testimony 
	confirms that the autopsy photos --including the 'forged' one-- 
	*do*, in fact, show the wounds they remember seeing. I don't
	think there's any way around that.

	The wound *does* extend into the occipital (that's clear from
	the body of descriptions taken from Parkland, the autopsy, and
	the descriptions of the autopsy materials. As McClelland said,
	the photo in question shows a flap of skin pulled out over the
	wound. This apparently was done in order to clearly show the
	small entry wound in the back of the head.

	As to Gordon Banks' question about the flap not being described,
	he might want to look up the word commonly used to describe
	the head wound, ie "Avulsive". No, I'll do that for him.
	
	A copy of the 1937 abridged edition of the Oxford English Dictionary
	defines the word as meaning "Torn". A large, torn (or also torn
	out) wound in the back of the head. This certianly implies
	loose flaps of skin.


>Rather than quoting from the
>panel report, you might want to explain why you think that the photos and
>X-rays should be as untainted as anything else in the Kennedy assassination. 

	I think it's *your* job to demonstrate that the x-rays and other
	autopsy materials *are* tainted. The null hypthesis, and all
	that.
	

>The fact is that we have three different interpretations of the Kennedy
>assassination: one from Parkland, one from Bethesda, and one based on the 
>incomplete autopsy photographs and x-rays.

	All of the official reports I've read, from Parkland, Bethseda,
	and the various committees seem to be talking about the
	same wound. There are differences in the description of them
	are, really, fairly minor, and resemble other instances where
	different people have differed as to the fine details of an
	event while agreeing on the general situation.

	But, a question to you: how different are the various
	descriptions of the head wound? What are the differences,
	and why can't those differences be attributed to differing
	interpetations of what is (essentially) the same evidence.

	As for your mentioning the Clark panels determination 
	(and I haven't seen their report yet, so I'm relying
	on your scource's version of the story) that the back wound
	was too small to put a finger in, consider this: a woman
	can push an object the size of a watermelon through a hole	
	in her body about the size of a quarter. Not a bad trick, eh?
	Human tissue is remarkably resilient.


>|First, they quote from the autopsy report:  
>|"The fatal missile entered the skull above and to the right of the
>|external occipital protuberance. 

>Then why did the House hired radiologist say that a missle could have enterd
>the front, if Kennedy's head was looking down, as it was?

	Maybe he has a limited understanding of ballistic forensics.
	


>|1. The photographs - "Photographs 7, 14, 42, and 43 show the back of
>|the head, the contours of which have been grossly distorted by
>|extensive fragmentation of the underlying calvarium. 

>Doesn't this contradict what was said above, and your assertion that the exit
>wound was in the forward part of the skull?

	Did the bullet exit from the entire wound? No. The location
	where the largest fragment exited JFK's skull is at the forward
	margin of the head wound.


>|2. X-rays - 

>|"There are multiple fractures of the bones of the calvarium
>|bilaterally.  These fractures extend into the base of the
>|skull and involve the floor of the anterior fossa on the
>|right side as well as the middle fossa in the midline. 

>Also, the Clark Panel
>concludes that the president was shot with a "high-velocity" bullet, where as
>the M-C is low velocity, and at impact was travelling at a low 
>1880 feet per second. 

	The term "High Velocity", with respect to bullets, has several
	meanings. The most specific use is for a projectile travelling
	over about 2500ft/sec. A more common use is for a spuersonic 
	bullet. Another use is used to distinguish the sort of bullets
	fired by military and hunting rifles from pistols, shotgun slugs,
	and things like .22's.

	
>I quote the above to show that the fragmentation of the skull is inconsistent
>with copper-jacketed amunition, which the comission itself tested. Copper
>bullet tend not to shatter the upon impact but go right through to the exit
>location. 

	Odd. Lattimer's book includes three photos showing three seriously
	deformed bullets side by side. The first bullet is one fired
	by the Commission's Dr Olivier through a human skull. The second
	is a bullet fired by Dr Lattimer through a human skull. The
	third bullet is the one that went through JFK's head. All three
	show the same sort of distortion: what's left of the core is
	just a lump of lead, while the remains of the jacket resemble
	nothing so much as a small, metal banana peel.

	Photos of skulls after Lattimer shot them with 6.5mm FMJ rounds
	show the same extensive fracturing as seen in the x-rays of
	JFK's head. 

	

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