I’m just sayin’…

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Yes, I know…

Where the HECK have you been, MsBurb?!!!

I’ve been “here”, “there”, well, mostly “there” ‘cause “here” is SOOOO crowded this time of year…oh, and I’ve spent some time bein’ “around” too, I like to walk on the wild side of “around” once in a while!

Not that anyone cares, but I’ve also been “nowhere” at least twice in my life…long stories I won’t bore you with…

Yes…and while at all these locales, I have spent quite the time reading, you see, absorbing and digesting the books and transcripts and witness statements that were piling high and looming large on my bookshelves and in my Inbox, not that I made a huge dent, as this case seems to spawn information like bunnies make bunnies in Springtime…sigh…but I did give it the old college try…

And you know what?

One wonders why one reads on this case at all sometimes, especially given the many books printed over the years, publicized in the name of “enlightening” the reader on The Manson Family and murders…sigh…enlightening being one heck of an operative word in the world of the Manson “research” community!

Don’t get me wrong, I like sensational “news” just like the rest of the media-enslaved North American public, but I tend NOT to like it when it centres around murder mixed with third party hearsay, innuendo, supposition and irrational conclusion-jumping..but that’s just the old cop’s daughter in me I suppose.

I was asked by a viewer recently why Bugliosi, in his Manson tome “Helter Skelter”, didn’t extend the book, didn’t add in all the other parts to this story, of which, beyond the known killings, are legendary and legion, and I said I thought basically because he was a lawyer at the time and a lawyer by thought, a man who’s main responsibility was to bring criminals to justice  by way of corroborative evidence that could be served up palatable to a Jury and legally admissible in a court of law.

There can be jawing on all sides, about all issues, in chambers, but when it comes to the court record, all admissions must adhere to the precedent laws of the land, for the benefit of the State and the protection of the Defendant(s)…anything less is well, just window-dressing for the “What If” Department Store of Life.

I believe that if you live that mindset long enough, to do anything less, to say anything more, to offer to the people unsubstantiated rumour and half-baked ideas is doing no one any good, and The Bug knew this and kept HS to a “just the facts, ma’am” kind of literary record.

Yes, by doing so, if you were as deeply involved in this case as I’ve always been, there were more questions than answers after reading The Bug’s take, but you knew, when you did read it, and referred to it at a later date, that what information he had given you COULD be corroborated and WOULD stand the test of time, ultimately stand head and shoulders above all the other so-called Charliemite “researchers” book attempts of that time.

Of late, when the snow was flying and I couldn’t write for various reasons, I began to read these Manson books by other authors, expecting, naively so, the same quality of delivery as The Bug had offered me so long ago, and boy, was I disappointed.

I could give you a list of the books I read, but, in the very near future, will do a critical assessment of all of them on TLB2 instead, no use mouthing off if I can’t defend my opinion, right?

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I often get chided for being too much the Law & Order chick in the Manson research community, I think, because of the inherent nature of the players in this case and the times from which they spawn. Life was free and easy back then, supposedly, “hip” people thumbed their noses at The Establishment and to be arrested for anything back then or seen to be publicly sensational was a badge of honour to the Hippie Generation.

Whoopdeedoo!

How’d that work out for all of ya?!

You lost grey cells, yet, in your middle age, ended up investing in 401ks and buying Cadillac's and spacious houses with mortgages you couldn’t afford…hmmm…oh yeah, what a bunch of Establishment rebels you guys turned out to be! (snicker)

But in amongst all that un-hippie-like eventual conformity, you had ONE last vestige of riotous fight left in you and that was in discussing these criminals and assessing these crimes, that if to place the blame on outside forces, you were not only excusing the players but making your era seem better than it actually was.

I get that…after all, that was MY era too…but an offbeat approach to a simple act of murder does not an enlightened readership make.

If you don’t believe me, allow me to cite just one case of murder as the quintessential example - the JFK assassination.

Forty-seven years of book addled supposition, rumours and unsubstantiated bad science, and because most of the population balk at the idea of reading dry Warren Report or House Select Committee on Assassination exhibits over a pretty, colourful glossy new book expounding the newest tell-all aspect of this crime, most of the American population (2003 Gallup Poll put that figure at 75%) still believe that there was a conspiracy and that Oswald was indeed a patsy…

What the Manson case needs is what all murder cases need, clear heads, no political or monetary agenda and a rigid self-discipline and adherence to the established facts…to try and go elsewhere will lead you down roads with no answers at all. And some authors, who shall remain un-named for now by yours truly, gleaned a huge audience of whackos willing to believe anything left of centre while gleaning for themselves a less than stellar reputation of a tell-all Town Crier; hence, why The Bug’s book became the Bible to this case and all others fell by the wayside. It may not have been glitzy or glamorous but hell if it wasn’t factual…and in the end, factual is usually more sensational than sensation ever is.

Yes, I took a hiatus but now MsBurb is back. You may not receive a reporter’s delivery with me but I will endeavour to deliver what should be the last word, according to the available evidence, on all issues concerned with this case. TLB2 will never be sensational nor glitzy, nor, I doubt, will get tongues wagging from the posts, but if our entries stand the test of time for reliable information to the new reader on this subject, I believe our job has been done.

Don’t worry though, drunk-induced blather and frontal lobotomy humour will still invade from time to time…they’ll have to, I and my Guest Authors can’t possibly be stable if we’re spending our time on Buck knives and bayonets, Barker Ranch and ex-con bravado, now can we?