Charlie Walks

Unlike KTS Jackie I don't post to tell you my keyboard is broken. I'm not gonna tell West Virginia jokes or obsess about spanking anonymous women over the net (how pathetic is Jimmy Nelson, I asked in an earlier post?). I'll only post when we have something to discuss. Like Global Thermonuclear War. Aka Helter Skelter.

Let's Play.

So you are sitting on the jury back in 1970. You're not a retarded housewife or a gullible businessman. You are a smart, educated person with an open mind not named Janice. You're determined that if you are gonna be sequestered all this time, you are gonna be impartial. Cool.

You weigh the case of Tex. Done. Fry the bastard. You got fingerprints, you got eyewitnesses, you got enough. Oh wait, he's in a separate trial. My bad.

You weigh Katie. She wrote at the LaBiancas. She left palm prints. Guilty. Fry the bitch.

You got Susan. She was there and snitched the whole story. Bye bye girl.

You got Leslie. Again we have evidence that she did it. What are we debating? Guilty as OJ!!!!

Now they want you to fry Charlie. And goddamn the guy has been an asshole during this trial. Not even amusing- scary. But that don't make him guilty. He is only guilty if he PLANNED these murders with the others, if he ordered them, if he was a co-conspirator. You are told that conspiracy is the same as killing under the law, and you agree that it should be. You think the standard of proof for a conspiracy should be higher than for a killer- you want to be sure the bastard really did conspire before you fry him.

He wasn't there at Tate and his followers at best claim uniformly that he ordered them to "do something witchy." Maybe he wanted them to put a spell on Sharon. Not enough.

He tied up the LaBiancas and stole their money. Very bad man. But nobody said he said to kill anyone. Maybe he wanted them threatened.

Okay Okay Okay you say. WHY did he order the murder of seven people he never met? Give me one clear reason WHY and I'll convict his ass, you think.

You are told- he did it to start a race war that would end with him ruling the world.

Uh huh.

You think.... the writing on the walls evoked the Hinman killing which means that related people did it all right... but NO ONE thought Hinman was done by the Panthers.

Not a single cop thought Panthers had done Tate or LaBianca.

If there was a desire to start a race war why did they write "Pig" on the door at Tate rather than "Fuck Whitey?". Why did they write "Death to Pigs" instead of "Death to the White Oppressor"? In fact, what the HELL did they actually do that made anyone THINK it was a black uprising?

Nothing.

Now, maybe you think, they were just incompetent. But you are a smart, logical person. You respect the Bug, but you don't abandon reason at his request. Maybe Tex THOUGHT that was why he was killing. But even that isn't clear. And there was a theory called Helter Skelter at the ranch that Manson believed it. But there were also theories of underground rivers. Also known as mirages.

You think. You ponder. But it doesn't pass the bullshit test. Here is a motive unlike ANY in the history of jurisprudence. A guy sends flunkies to kill random people and start a race war so he can rule the world? It doesn't go down the gullet you think. Whatever the motive was, this was NOT the motive.

You don't need a motive to nail Charlie under the law. But under logic, if you want me to believe he ordered these jerks to kill random people I would like a reason. And you offered me a reason THAT DOESN'T MAKE A LICK OF SENSE.

As scared as I am by him, ours is a country of laws.

Charlie walks.