We watched the three-hour Frontline special last night waiting for the conspiracy theories we've heard about our whole lives to finally be proven true. No such luck, of course. It's never that simple. They determined that yes, Oswald killed Kennedy, and yes, he did it alone. But for all of us who want to believe he might have been given help and encouragement along the way, they left only a shred of doubt for us to hold on to. As it turns out, all the doubt begins here in New Orleans:

Oswald arrives in [his hometown] New Orleans alone, leaving his family behind in Texas with a friend. He is about to enter the most mysterious and perplexing chapter of his short life and the murky trail he left behind in New Orleans still defies a complete explanation. If there was a plot to kill President Kennedy, then it was probably hatched in New Orleans. It was here that Lee Oswald may have crossed paths with men that hated Kennedy and wanted him eliminated. (from Frontline, link is here)

The five mysterious months Oswald spent on Magazine Street in his roach-infested house (actually half of a double shotgun) were spent working for Reily Coffee Company, spreading pro-Castro/Marxist leaflets on Canal Street, and joining anti-Castro organizations run by militant exiles. His office on Camp Street was in a building owned by Guy Banister, a right-wing, anti-Kennedy former-FBI PI who had deep mafia connections. He worked for the New Orleans mafia kingpin, Carlos Marcello, who was under investigation by the Kennedy administration.

It was here in New Orleans that Oswald "entered this world of plot and counter-plot," Frontline tells us, and it comes as no surprise. New Orleans is murky, soggy. It makes sense that the story unravels here in New Orleans, that it dissolves into nothingness here.

I found it interesting that Oswald spent significant amounts of time in his local library researching both pro- and anti-Castro literature. Oswald's local branch library is ours too, the Latter Branch, a St. Charles Avenue mansion converted into a library after World War II with lovely sitting rooms and hidden, secret crannies. The book sale we went to last month was on the lawn of this library.

I can imagine Oswald searching the stacks, sticking the "Marxist" books inside more "acceptable" ones while he read them in the comfortable chairs scattered around the library. Perhaps he met with his co-conspirators here, a quick rendevous before setting back out to Canal Street to recruit pro-Castro New Orleanians.

Wet, soggy, New Orleans seems to be able to absorb anyone and anything. Even time itself. Oswald's five months here are shrouded in mystery, as if the steam that drifts from the ground after a particularly cool rain on a hot afternoon took Oswald and his intentions with it.

Just saw Lou Dobbs and three of his republican friends (Steve Shepard from Business Week, some yahoo from Fortune, and Steve Forbes) discuss the democratic candidates and Bush's chances for reelection after the bad news of October's unemployment numbers (11 year high -- don't you love this recovery?). Forbes is absolutely the goofiest looking multi-millionaire who's ever run for president (and you know, that list has grown significantly over the years). Naturally they were all salivating at the prospect of Dean winning the nomination, since they are so desperate to believe he is a left winger instead of the centrist he really is (perhaps too much so for some of us). The only thing any of them said of note was this:

"There's a subsidy for the Hooter's in Shreveport, Louisiana in the energy bill." (Steve Shepard) I couldn't tell if they were upset about this (yes, there was some talk of "pork"), or excited at the prospect of their favorite Hooter's having the cash to hire a few more buxom babes and maybe add a lap dance to the happy hour buffalo wings special. Just imagine Lou Dobbs and his buds sitting in Shreveport sharing a pitcher of daiquiris and a bucket of wings. What joy!

Of course, seeing four pasty republicans laugh about regulation and democrats (and make jokes like Forbes' winner: "we need to regulate democrats!") wasn't the only awful, repugnant thing about Dobbs' show. The worse part was his assault on "illegal immigrants" and his insistence that they are ruining America. Really. This has been a crusade of his for months now, apparently, since many of the letters and emails he read were from right wingnuts who support his views. One even said that they were destroying the United States. I wondered how that letter writer would feel if he had to pay $10/pound or more for his ordinary fruits and vegatables. Do these people think that tomatoes come straight from the ground neatly arranged in crates and boxes? That strawberries can be farmed with a tractor? Perhaps strawberry puree for those daiquiris...

He also talked to Tommy Thompson about the prescription drug bill. Lucky for Lou, I was reading Krugman while Thompson was talking. Otherwise I might have gone over to our voodoo neighbor and had him throw a curse on Dobbs for being such a ninny.

Dobbs, daiquiris, Hooters, prescription drugs. Sounds like a fantasy Louisiana vacation for Rush. Ewww. Where's that juju! I need some of the good juice just to recover from that thought.