Well, some of us value the touchstones. Bully for those who can get on without 'em. If the date gives us pause, it's because it serves as a kind of benchmark. Things after were different in some way from things before, even if the difference did not have that event as their cause, or if (as some suspect) the differences and that event shared causes. The conspiracy theories would be attractive even in the absence of certain inanities in the Warren report simply because it's not a happy thought that some grandiose loser with a mail-order rifle could do that kind of damage.


The Atlantic Monthly, just arrived yesterday, has a lead article on what an incredibly sick man JFK was (physically sick, that is).

Adam