American Dream wrote:LilyPatToo wrote:I'm doubtful that a bottom-feeder like Hughes will be able (or allowed) to bring down any of the powerful people who made up the head of the Octopus back then...wouldn't that be something to see?!
I agree, and I'm doubtful also that even the most immediate conspirators with Jimmy Hughes will face justice, much less those who really co-ordianted ed that particular hit job-much, much less the powerful people and organizations who
really orchestrated Cabazon.
I don't think it's in the interest of the Riverside County detective co-ordinating the case (John Powers) to really dig more deeply than making the case for anything more than a simple homicide by this one accused perpetrator.
If not, what am I missing?
AD, there's just no way to answer that question without doing some investigating or being privy to the investigation. Obviously, they're not going to put an end to all corruption everywhere for all time. But beyond Dr. Doogie's point -- ie, that it would be almost impossible to try him without implicating at least
some figures higher up in the chain of command, each of whom would have a damn good reason to sell out still others -- it's totally possible that there are 28 years worth of shit that we don't yet know we're missing. For example, think about what the guy's curriculum vitae was when he decided to pull up stakes and establish himself in -- of all places -- Honduras. In 1985. How do you think he planned on keeping body and soul together in his adopted country, which is not exactly famous for its plethora of job opportunities? And what business contacts might he have had there?
Or, to ask a purely speculative question to which I'm not claiming to know the answer one way or another:
What advantages might someone from the same general background as Jimmy Hughes have seen in getting into a line of work that doesn't have to file income taxes, isn't subject to any kind of oversight or regulation from government authorities, and just happens to involve dealing with -- inter alia -- children who have no guardians or parents to look out for their interests or -- for that matter -- even check up on where they are and what they're doing?
And I really do ask that question prejudice, btw. Because I really don't have any idea at all whether it's a specifically applicable one or not. My point is not that it's true, or even that it's likely. It's that as a general proposition, absent any more particular and certain information, I could make just as reasonable an argument that the activities of Jimmy Hughes Ministries were dubious as I could that the extent of Detective Powers's interest in digging deeply into the investigation is.
I mean, Honduras now is still very much as Honduras was in 1985 only more so when it comes to being too ideally located for illegal-trafficking purposes for it not still to be a major point on one of the main routes by which the drug-and-human cargo heads north in exchange for the money-and-weapons cargo headed to points south (and thence elsewhere, in some cases). Criminal, military and/or espionage operations in Latin and South America have certainly been known to use both religious and secular charitable fronts before. According to Hughes himself, he has extensive professional experience in and around the illegal trafficking business.
So. If, for some reason, I either had to say what I thought about the sincerity of his faith or die, assuming that I had nothing more specific than that to go on, I'd really have to say that I didn't think it would be in the interests of a man with that kind of background and those connections who was a resident of Honduras to dig more deeply into being spiritually reborn or doing good works for the poor than simple appearances required him. Because that would be by far the most reasonable inference I could draw and the most logical conclusion I could reach based on such thin and unrevealing evidence.
In reality, since I don't have any particular or specific grounds for thinking that, as it happens, I don't. But if I did, I wouldn't be any more or any less justified than you are in thinking that Detective Powers wants to let sleeping dogs lie, AD. And in both cases, the reason would be the same: Neither of us knows what we're missing. So come on. Be of better cheer. You don't actually have to fill in those blanks by assuming the outcome you wish for the least. It's not like it serves any activist or otherwise productive purpose, plus it seems to make you feel bad. And perhaps quite unnecessarily.
I know that it's not my business at all. But naturally I don't at all like to see you feeling bad for no very perceptible reason. Can I interest you in a cautiously measured half-full glass of "so far, so good"? You might like it.
