Sixth Floor Museum Oral Histories: notes on highlights from SA Walt Coughlin, SA John Joe Howlett, and Lisa McCubbin

SA Walt Coughlin (2/18/11): "He was a wonderful man to work with. I loved the job...But he [JFK]would listen if you told him not to do something. He would, as long as you didn‟t “cry wolf” all the time. If you said, you know, “Don‟t do that,” he assumed you had a good reason. He was good about that...I did the advance to Miami about three weeks before he was assassinated, and it was a difficult stop because it was right after the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cubans were up in arms and there was a lot of information, intelligence, that he was going to be try to be assassinated in Miami by disgruntled Cubans. We got around it by helicoptering him as opposed to using a motorcade. But yes, that was a difficult, difficult stop to make...I don‟t recall ever being unhappy with him. I never saw him being unkind with any of us. He certainly was not unkind to me. He had a wonderful sense of humor...Now we all knew about the media stuff about “Oh, don‟t come to Dallas” and “Don‟t come to Texas.” I didn‟t feel that. I saw it in the paper...We knew that it [the assassination] could happen, whereas the public never thought about it. We lived with it constantly. So even though we were disappointed in the fact that we “failed” (using air quote marks), I don‟t think we were terribly surprised that it could happen...you never want to fail in whatever you do. People have asked me if I wished I had been there. The answer‟s “yes.” My professional side tells me maybe, just maybe, I could have been able to do something or have seen something that somebody else missed. And I‟ll never know the answer. Yeah, it bothers me. Yeah...Well, I think it‟s a shame that they weren‟t allowed to keep the top on the car, the bubble. Not that it was bullet proof, but it may have deflected. And the way that President Kennedy was shot—from the upper right rear—had an agent been allowed to stay on that right bumper, he would have blocked the shot. Now, had Oswald had seen the agent on the back bumper and knowing that shot was not available, he may have made himself visible in that window to shoot him coming on. And hopefully, somebody might‟ve seen him and prevented it...Jerry Blaine, who wrote the book, started talking about that five or six years ago...Jack Ready, I understand, who was on the right side of the follow-up car, got criticized by someone somewhere for not jumping off the follow-up car and running towards… Well, he started to and Emory Roberts running the follow-up car said, “Don‟t! Don‟t jump, Jack, because we‟ve got to swerve to let Clint get by.” Well, you know, but Jack took that as an insult to his professionalism, and I don‟t think he‟s ever gotten over it. Like, you know, how come you didn‟t do anything, Jack Ready, is how he sees it. In fact, he did exactly as he was told, which is how we're trained...Well, the Secret Service being involved is ludicrous to start with. Now, a conspiracy—my definition is two or more people. There may well have been a conspiracy, but only one person performed the operation...I think his tragedy—the tragedy of his death—was the savior of the Secret Service. They almost lost the jurisdiction because of it. Unfairly, I think, but they almost lost it. Then the government finally…Congress or whoever finally realized that we‟ve got to do something about this...And it‟s a terrible thing to say, but Kennedy really helped improve the Secret Service (nodding).";
John Joe Howlett (4/6/11): "[re: Dallas office] my recollection is we had the boss, which was Sorrel[s]. We had Bill Patterson, Roger Warner, myself, and Mike Howard was in Fort Worth. And that‟s the only ones that I can recall right now. Charlie Kunkle came down very shortly after I got here...I noticed the thing that has intrigued me ever since was this mark on the windshield that was in the shape of what we normally think of a thirty-ought-six bullet—but about half that size—that was in the… on the windshield. And I thought, well, you know, that‟s a bullet fragment that hit the windshield. I could not see the so-called dent in the chrome because the top had been put on, and it covered that chrome area. Later on—well, as a matter of fact, three or four years ago—somebody was asking me some questions about it, and I thought, well, I‟m going to look into it. And I read Clint Hill's and… oh gosh (thinking)… Kellerman's statements, and they said that there was no exit wound in the president's forehead or face. And I got to thinking, there‟s no way I can see that a bullet could‟ve hit that windshield without an exit wound for the president‟s forehead or face. And that‟s when I got to thinking, along with another individual, Max Holland, that the bullet must‟ve struck something and this part that we were seeing on the windshield and the chrome was part of a ricochet. Of course, there had always been the controversy of the three bullets. Of course, clearly one bullet hits the president—I don‟t see how anybody can doubt that—in the so-called third shot. Then you have the second shot, or a shot, that hit both the president and Governor Connally. A lot of people kind of call that the “magic bullet.” But I was in Washington with Inspector Kelley of the Secret Service that coordinated our investigation, and we were at the meeting when that theory was brought up. And I think Arlen Specter was the staff… and I don‟t remember who all else was there. But as we left the meeting, Inspector Kelley said that was the craziest thing he ever heard, that bullet going through both of them. And I shook my head, and I said, “No, I believe he‟s right.”; The Commission came to the conclusion that he was trying to kill the president. I‟m not 100% convinced. I‟m, like, 85% to 90% convinced. Of course, I know he had a gripe against the president because of the Cuban situation and Kennedy‟s involvement with the Bay of Pigs. But he also had a complaint with Connally in that Connally was the Secretary of the Navy when he was in the Marines and was… got out, and of course, he got a bad conduct discharge...I think now after reading all of the agents‟ testimony and a lot of the testimony of the people around here or were witnesses to it, I am now personally convinced that it was the first shot that missed...[working with Holland?] Yes, Max [Holland]approached me about four years ago with this theory that the first bullet could have struck the lamppost, which was, you know, before the tree...I was astonished when I looked on the Internet at how many people are still, you know, working on theories and still arguing aspects of this case, many of which I think have already been resolved. But I was astonished at how much is still currently being done on the Net."
Lisa McCubbin (11/18/10): "[ever study assassination or read conspiracy books?](shaking head) No. No, I never really. I mean, other than just, you know, being interested from the perspective of knowing Jerry, you know, I was probably more interested in Jackie Kennedy and that sort of thing. But I never really studied the subject...It was Jerry Blaine’s idea, and he had been working on it for probably about five years...I would love for all the conspiracy theories to just end (smiling), but they… I know they won’t. And there are so many people that just seem like they have nothing better to do than analyze this fifty-year-old subject to death and try to come up with something new. And in doing so, a lot of these people want to crucify the Secret Service agents for not doing their jobs...there is no way that any of them had anything to do with his death...I think the people who do want to crucify them are in the minority (chuckling), and for the most part, people really respect these men—as they should...I appreciate the way the Museum has embraced the book and really we’ve had such great feedback from the Secret Service, the current Secret Service. They are thrilled with the book. The director has read it and even said he would like to make it required reading for all future Secret Service agents. I don’t know if that’s going to happen, but the fact that we’ve done something that can be bigger than what we even thought is great. And we just appreciate your support...They… we wanted them to be aware that it was being written and actually Clint Hill called—he knows the current director—he called and told him it was being written, that he was contributing. And the director said, “Well, Clint, if you’re involved, I don’t need to say anymore. I know it will be worthy of trusting in confidence.” And that’s what it is."

Paul Landis, Kennedy Detail agent in 2011...and then the real story

JFK secret service agent breaks his silence [he broke it, several times, years earlier] on assassination of president 48 years ago

From JFK secret service agent now security guard

CLEVELAND - A former U.S. presidential secret service agent, who was with President John Kennedy the day he was assassinated, now walks the quiet halls of the Western Reserve Historical Society, a Cleveland museum dedicated to the history of Northeast Ohio.

Paul Landis was in Dallas as part of the Kennedy secret service detail November 22, 1963, when bullets flashed through the sunlit Texas air, striking the president, killing him.

"I heard the gunshot," said Landis. "It came over my right shoulder." [He also wrote, in 2 seperate reports very soon after the assassination, that at least one shot came from the front, which he also confirmed to the HSCA. See below and my CTKA review of "The Kennedy Detail"]

Landis was within a few feet of the presidential limousine, the top of which had been removed at the president's request. Movies of that day show Landis and several other secret service agents trailing the limousine as each man watched for any unusual movement in the crowds of people who had lined Dallas streets to get a view of the nation's chief executive.

Landis said when he heard the first shot, his eyes turned toward where he thought the shot had originated. Still searching the crowd, there came another shot in quick succession.

"And when my eyes came back to the president again, it was a third shot and that was the one that hit him in the head," Landis remembered.

Dressed in a blue sweater with an shirt underneath, Landis sat quietly in one of the rooms of the Western Reserve Historical Society, where he has worked as a security guard for many years. Without emotion, he told the story of how he had joined the Secret Service.

After a time on the force, he was transferred to duty at the White House, where his responsibilities included guarding First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy and the couple's children, Caroline and John Jr.

Photographs in a book, "The Kennedy Detail," written by former JFK secret service agent Gerald Blaine, show the men of the security team assigned to the White House. Throughout, there are photographs of Landis with the Kennedy children or Mrs. Kennedy.

In one photograph, Landis is running alongside a galloping horse ridden by Caroline. On the book's cover is a picture of president and Mrs. Kennedy shaking hands with supporters at the Dallas Airport only moments before they rode in the motorcade toward Dealey Plaza, site of the fatal shooting.

In the cover photograph is Landis, wearing sunglasses, in between the president and Mrs. Kennedy. All around there are smiles, including on the First Couple's faces. Minutes later, the smiles through Dallas and the rest of the United States, and much of the world would, turn to grieving and mourning faces.

"We had a job to do and that was to protect the president or whomever we were assigned to and if you fail, you fail," he said. [Amen]

Landis said he and the other agents were haunted by the assassination. He said he grieved inwardly for decades. Oddly, he said, agents rarely spoke of their inner feelings on the death of the president. There was no professional psychological counseling for the Secret Service agents who witnessed the murder of the president.

"No, that wasn't even thought of and heard of," said Landis, matter-of-factly. But the hurt was there in his mind and in his memory. "Very much so," he added.

It was Blaine's 2010 book that prompted the Secret Service agents from the 1963 White House to gather and tell their stories in support of each other. The Discovery Channel produced a documentary, "The Kennedy Detail," where each man told his story of the assassination and how it had impacted the life of each.

"Up until then, I never said much about the Secret Service or of working on the presidential detail in 1963," said Landis. "The conversation would always then turn to the assassination."

It was Blaine's book and the documentary, which provided a therapy for Landis.

"That's the best thing that's happened to me since the assassination," said Landis.

He added he is no longer haunted by the event that day, which many sociologists contend robbed American of an innocence. He now talks teasily of the Kennedy Detail and of what he saw and heard that November day in Dallas.

From that day, presidents were secured even more. Landis noted how heavily armed agents are these days, although their weapons are not easily visible under their jackets.

"I carried a .38 pistol," said Landis.

At Parkland Hospital, where President Kennedy was rushed, Landis sat in a hallway with Mrs. Kennedy. He said she stared into space and said nothing. The nation saw her that day, dressed in a pink suit with a matching pillbox hat, which she had helped make popular.

In the hospital, on the Air Force Once trip back to Washington, and in front of the television news cameras that captured her image as she left the presidential jet, the world saw the blood of President Kennedy on her skirt with trails of blood running along her legs.

She had cradled John Kennedy's head in the backset of the limousine as it sped from Dealey Plaza to Parkland Hospital.

At the WRHS, Landis' job is to walk its hallways and guard the items that are housed in the museum. One of the items there, ironically, is a Lincoln Continental convertible, similar to the car in which President Kennedy rode in that day in Dallas.

For Landis, memories of the assassination are never far away. Forty-eight years later, he said they surface at times. He is talking about that day which, he said, at times seems far away. Certainly, however, it was turning point in his life. He was guarding the president the day shots blasted through the air, fataling striking President John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

A year later, Landis left the U.S. Secret Service.

He has lived quietly in a Cleveland suburb since 1975.

--------------
[from my book]
Agent Paul E. Landis, Jr. (First Lady Detail, rode in Secret Service follow-up car): From an obscure newspaper article in the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch, November 20, 1988: “Vice president of Knutsen Machine Products in Cleveland, Paul Landis graduated from Worthington High School in 1953 and is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio. Crediting [Agent] Bob Foster as ‘the influence in my joining the Secret Service’, Landis remained five years. Assigned to the protection of Jacqueline Kennedy, he was a part of that historic motorcade in Dallas. During this interview - only his second interview in 25 years - he says, ‘I’ve never gone back and read anything on [the assassination] … I’m about ready … Up until now, I didn’t want to rehash it. It was a very painful time for me.’ Landis remained with Mrs. Kennedy for six months after Dallas, helping her move out of the White House, as well as protecting her from the ever-growing, insensitive crowds. Among his photographs is a picture of the former first lady bearing the inscription: ‘To Paul Landis, with deep appreciation for all your help to us for three years. Jacqueline Kennedy.’ ”
This author contacted Landis, through an intermediary, on April 6, 1999 via email. Landis took down the author’s email address from the intermediary but did not make contact as he said he would. The former agent has likewise ignored two letters from the author, as well as two phone messages.
Regarding the drinking incident (see Chapter 8), Landis was a participant and he did not depart “The Cellar” until 5:00 a.m. on the morning of November 22, 1963!167
Although Landis was, like Agent Hill, assigned to protect Mrs. Kennedy, he was strangely out of position back on the opposite running board, making him un-available to assist her in the event of a crisis. Interestingly, Landis reported that the fatal head shot to JFK came from the front: “My reaction at this time was that the shot came from somewhere towards the front.”168 Landis later wrote: “I still was not certain from which direction the second shot came, but my reaction at this time was that the shot came from somewhere towards the front, right-hand side of the road.”169 The HSCA, who interviewed Landis on February 17, 1979, noted: “Landis confirmed the accuracy of his statement to the Warren Commission [sic: report submitted].”170
Finally, Landis’s Secret Service report confirms the very close proximity of the follow-up car to JFK’s limousine (this required close distance would evaporate once the shooting commenced).171 As former Eisenhower Press Secretary Jim Haggerty related on ABC on November 22, 1963, the Secret Service was to maintain about a six-foot distance between their car and the President’s car, regardless of the speed of the cars.
Landis’s White House Communications Agency (WHCA) code name was “Debut”.172
Conclusion: Landis was unaware of the security test and did his job to the best of his ability (albeit out of position).


167 18 H 687.
168 Landis’s report dated November 27, 1963: 18 H 758–9.
169 Landis’s detailed report dated November 30, 1963: 18 H 751–7.
170 HSCA Report, pp. 89, 606 (referencing Landis’s interview, February 17, 1979 outside contact report, JFK Document 014571).
171 18 H 751–7.
172 Manchester, pp. xxi, 61.

Urbanus Edmund Baughman

Urbanus Edmund Baughman
Memorial Photos Flowers Edit
Birth: May 21, 1905, USA
Death: Nov. 6, 1978
Toms River
Ocean County
New Jersey, USA

Secret Service Chief, Author. Urbanus Edmund Baughman was the chief of the United States Secret Service from 1948 to 1961, serving under Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy. He retired from this post on August 31, 1961, just over two years before Kennedy's assassination. After retiring, he penned a memoir detailing his time as head of the United States Secret Service, which explored details and responsibilities of protecting the president. He later became a vocal critic of the protection detail and investigative handling of the Kennedy Assassination. He died from arteriosclerotic heart disease at the Community Memorial Hospital in Tom's River, New Jersey. (bio by: Dan)

Family links:
Parents:
Urbanus Edmund Baughman (1870 - 1936)
Alberta Faunce Baughman (1874 - 1955)

Spouse:
Ruth Baughman (1910 - 2004)


Search Amazon for Urbanus Baughman

Burial:
Arlington Cemetery
Drexel Hill
Delaware County
Pennsylvania, USA
Plot: Silverline

Abraham Bolden-From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Abraham Bolden-From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



Abraham Bolden is an American former United States Secret Service agent and author.

Contents [hide]
1 Biography
2 Portrayals in fiction
3 Further reading
4 References

[edit] BiographyAbraham Bolden grew up in East St. Louis, Illinois.[1] After receiving a degree in music from Lincoln University of Missouri,[2] he began his professional career as an Illinois state trooper. He joined the Secret Service in 1961 and later that year he became the first African American member of the Secret Service's Presidential Protective Division after being appointed by President John F. Kennedy.[3] According to Bolden, Kennedy personally invited him to join the detail when the two met at an event in Chicago in April.[4] He worked in the dual capacities of guarding the President and investigating counterfeiting.[5]

In the wake of the 1963 John F. Kennedy assassination, Bolden contacted the Warren Commission, hoping to testify about an alleged assassination plot in Chicago two weeks before Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. He traveled to Washington but before he could testify, Bolden was returned to Chicago. There he was arrested on May 20, 1964 on federal charges that he had solicited a bribe from a counterfeiting ring that he had helped break.[6] He was accused of seeking $50,000 in exchange for a secret file on the investigation.[7] He maintained his innocence, asserting that he had been framed because he planned to expose dereliction among the agents assigned to guard Kennedy in front of the Commission. The Secret Service denied Bolden's claims. Bolden's first jury deadlocked 11-1 in favor of conviction, at which time presiding judge Joseph Sam Perry issued an Allen charge in which he expressed his belief that Bolden was guilty but that the jury was free to disregard his opinion. The jury remained deadlocked and Perry declared a mistrial on July 11, 1964. In his retrial Bolden was convicted and Judge Perry sentenced him to six years in prison.[3] Bolden appealed his conviction to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, based in part on Perry's Allen charge in the first trial. Bolden claimed that the charge was evidence that Perry was not impartial and that his failure to recuse himself denied Bolden a fair trial. The Appeals Court disagreed and upheld Bolden's conviction in a decision issued December 29, 1965.[8]

Following his release from prison, Bolden worked as a quality control supervisor in the automotive industry until his retirement in 2001.[9]

In 2008, Bolden published his memoir, The Echo From Dealey Plaza: The True Story of the First African American on the White House Secret Service Detail and His Quest for Justice After the Assassination of JFK.

[edit] Portrayals in fictionAbraham Bolden appears in the 2011 television miniseries The Kennedys. He is depicted joining the President's protective detail and later President Kennedy turns to him as a sounding board during the crisis surrounding the 1962 desegregation of the University of Mississippi. Bolden is portrayed by Rothaford Gray.

[edit] Further readingBolden, Abraham (2008). The Echo From Dealey Plaza: The True Story of the First African American on the White House Secret Service Detail and His Quest for Justice After the Assassination of JFK. Random House Digital, Inc. ISBN 030738201X.
[edit] References^ "Suspended Agent Denies Charges". Toledo (OH) Blade (Associated Press): p. 8. July 10, 1964.
^ "Secret Service Agent In Recitals For Defense Fund". Jet: p. 10. June 25, 1964.
^ a b "US Agent Bolden Gets 6 Year Sentence". The Milwaukee Journal (UPI): p. 3. August 12, 1964.
^ Kelly, Joyce; Daily News staff (February 25, 2009). "First African-American Secret Service agent to speak in Franklin". The Milford (MA) Daily News. http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/x1694332433/First-African-American-Secret-Service-agent-to-speak-in-Franklin. Retrieved 2011-04-08.
^ "Whites Were Slack on Guard of JFK, Says Secret Service Negro". Jet: pp. 6-7. June 4, 1964.
^ "Secret Service Agent Accused". The Reading (PA) Eagle (UPI): p. 19. May 20, 1964.
^ "Mistrial Declared In Secret Service Agent's trial". Ocala (FL) Star Banner (Associated Press): p. 23. July 12, 1964.
^ United States v. Bolden
^ Turner Rice, Dawn (January 18, 2010). "Secret Service agent Abraham Bolden of Chicago served President John Kennedy as the first African-American on the White House security detail". Chicago Tribune. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-01-18/news/1001170163_1_secret-service-agent-white-house-security-detail-kennedy-compound. Retrieved 2011-04-08.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Bolden"
Categories: Living people | African American memoirists | African American police officers | African American writers | Lincoln University (Missouri) alumni | People convicted of bribery | People from East St. Louis, Illinois | Researchers of the John F. Kennedy assassination | United States Secret Service agents | Writers from Illinois
Hidden categories: Year of birth missing

Blaine is getting desperate now---almost humorous if it wasn't pathetic (more about the WC reports---CE1025---that Blaine says came out in 1992 and we are avoiding...or is that just ME he means?)

Hey, ole Jer: NO ONE IS IGNORING THOSE REPORTS YOU MISTAKENLY THOUGHT ONLY CAME OUT IN 1992 in your book. I, along with hundreds, if not thousands, of other authors and researchers have dealt with them, at length, since they first appeared in The Warren Report and the 26 accompanying volumes of hearings and exhibits...in September 1964 (the massive best-sellers The Warren Report, The Day Kennedy Was Shot, and The Death of a President", to name just a few...oh, yes: and my own book "Survivor's Guilt: The Secret Service & The Failure To Protect The President").


Here's what Jerry says in his latest blog (no one is fooled: the timing coincides with the release of yet more videos containing the audio that debunks the claims he is attempting to make [see below***]):

"For those who have not read the Warren Report, or chose to simply ignore it [hahaha---a not-so-subtle and erroneous "dig" at myself, no doubt], I have posted below statements submitted by Special Agent in Charge Jerry Behn, ASAIC Floyd Boring, ATSAIC Emory Roberts, SA Jack Ready and SAIC Clinton J. Hill regarding presidential requests... I paraphrased the statements in the book, but here are the originals submitted to the Warren Commission: [CE 1025]"

Always remember: these reports are AFTER-THE-FACT CYA crapola, written by men with blood on their hands. Blaine and his colleagues failed to prevent the murder of JFK and, by his own admission, Blaine damn near killed yet another President, Lyndon Johnson. This admission reminds one of the tales O.J. Simpson wrote in his tell-all confessional "If I Did It." I always said that Blaine should have titled his book "We Let Them Do It...Now it's Time To Profit From Our Errors Which We Now Blame On JFK."


The TRUE heroes of the Secret Service are the many men and women who came AFTER 11/22/63 (as well as quite a few beforehand): not only the modern Secret Service, but especially the heroes of 3/30/81---SAIC Jerry Parr...ATSAIC Ray Shaddick...SA Tim McCarthy...

ASAIC Robert DeProspero, Parr's deputy who eventually went on to replace him as Reagan's #1 agent, is the greatest protection agent the Service has ever had---here is what he had to say about my work: "Vince,I have been watching your work for many months. Am impressed with your research, accuracy and willingness to "tell it like it is". [e-mail to Vince Palamara 4/10/11] Now THERE is a man (my personal hero)the Secret Service can be very proud of. In my opinion, he towers above any and all JFK-era agents, but I digress.

My favorite agent wrote to me! :O)

Message from Bob DeProspero

Sunday, April 10, 2011 3:34 PM

From: "Robert L. DeProspero" <[deleted for privacy]>

To: vincebethel@yahoo.com

Vince,

I have been watching your work for many months. Am impressed with your research, accuracy and willingness to "tell it like it is".

In retrospect, should have talked to you instead of Del.

Bob DeProspero

This book was written to counter Vince Palamara's work: epic FAIL

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars This book was written to counter Vince Palamara's work: epic FAIL, October 31, 2010
By r-devic-saint (Pittsburgh, PA) - See all my reviewsThis review is from: The Kennedy Detail: JFK's Secret Service Agents Break Their Silence (Hardcover)
Researcher Vince Palamara interviewed and corresponded with many former agents, including Gerald Blaine. They ALL told him that JFK never interfered with their actions at all and DID NOT order the agents off his limousine. Blaine, in a panic because the truth hurts, hastily wrote this book as a result. Notice how defensive it is in tone and how Blaine goes on and on about the fraudulent notion that President Kennedy ordered the agents off his limo on 11/18/63, which somehow became a standing order to be applied to the upcoming Dallas trip...false! SAIC Gerald Behn, ASAIC Floyd Boring, ATSAIC Art Godfrey, GERALD BLAINE, and many other former agents and non-agency personnel debunked this years before this book was written. What's more, Blaine, without having the courage to name Palamara (pages 359-360), seeks to denigrate his massively researched work via the alleged misidentification of the agent who was recalled at Love Field...as if THAT alone overrides all the damning evidence of Blaine's lies about JFK throughout the work. Mr. Blaine, with all due respect, you should be ashamed of yourself for this book. You know the real story, as does Palamara and many of your colleagues. The agents who protected President Reagan on 3/30/81 put your men to shame. Irony: you have made major amounts of money on this case, much more than 99 percent of the critical research community you seek to denigrate. No one is buying it, but they sure are BUYING it...guess huge profits are nice, huh?