There Appears To Be Some Trouble With Happy Jack

The Kentucky Derby horse race was run Saturday, and the most unlikely horse won the race. That was inspiring, but what was most interesting to me was the horse who rebelled. Just before the race began there was a delay, and the TV announcer said "There appears to be some trouble with Happy Jack." He was stirring in his cage, fighting against being confined. He was taken out of the cage for a few seconds, and then put back in, and the race began. He finished in 14^th place, far from the winner's circle, but not last. He at least beat one of the favorites, Messier, and five others.

I can easily picture myself in that situation, resisting conformity, not going along with the program, still willing to have a good run. "Screw you and your Kentucky Derby, honoring the presence of Donald Trump, honoring obscene wealth, starting with a song that honors the "legacy" and "tradition" of slavery.

Also, honoring the selective breeding that makes horses fragile, prone to injury and early death, and to an inbreeding that makes them an unnatural subspecies. All for money, money, money. And the glory of winning the Kentucky Derby. Time and again owners and "trainers" are caught administering performance-enhancing drugs and pain killers, and are given the proverbial slap on the wrist. The show must go on. Everyone plays along.

Except Happy Jack. He reminds me of a time in 1956 when Richard Nixon came to my town on a "whistlestop" train tour when he was running for reelection as Vice-president. The train station was pretty close to my school, so a group of us sauntered over to see what was going on. In order to get a better view a couple of us climbed up on a taxicab call box (this was so long ago they didn’t have radios in their cabs). I thought "One more can't hurt," and climbed up to join them. The call box caved in, interrupting Nixon’s speech.

The look on his face was priceless, as if he wanted to kill us. Or, more specifically, me. But, he recovered, and went on with his speech. It was a "Republican" town, so he had a good reception – except for our little group - or, more specifically, me. It wasn’t until many years later that Nixon got to kill someone. Many, as it turned out, in Vietnam. The "Killing Fields" of Cambodia can be laid at his doorstep as well. Kent State. Jackson State.

So have a mint julep for Happy Jack. Wear a fancy hat. He was the true hero of the Kentucky Derby. And a kindred spirit. He kept alive a long tradition of Happy Jacks who refuse to conform.
_______________________________

Here’s a song. Here’s another. And another. The RollingStones. The Grateful Dead. Another from the Grateful Dead. John Mellencamp. It's a very strange world. Ray Charles. The Steve Miller Band. Bob Marley. Peter Tosh. The Band with the Staple Singers.

Wanted Man

A professor was interviewed a few days ago about what he thinks we should do about Vladimir Putin and his criminal war against Ukraine. He said we should give Putin a way out, so that he won’t feel humiliated. This is a famous, esteemed professor suggesting that Vladimir Putin, sociopathic killer, brutal mass murderer, poisoner and vicious suppressor of dissent shouldn’t be humbled, lest he use nuclear weapons. If he feels he has nothing to lose, he might be capable of anything. So let’s appease him.

Because appeasement worked so well with Hitler. Give the man what he wants. He might do something really bad. Pardon me, esteemed professor, but he has already done something really bad. He doesn’t deserve a way out. There is a vile subtext to this line of reasoning. Implicit in giving a way out is the view that Ukraine and its people aren’t worth the risk of offending Vladimir Putin, world criminal. The world “community” stands for the highest principles – as long as they don’t carry any risk. War of aggression violates the U.N. charter, but when the aggressor is sufficiently evil, never mind.

There is another way. Declare Vladimir Putin a wanted man, a fugitive from justice, an armed and dangerous criminal, and offer a reward of, say, $50,000,000 for his apprehension, dead or alive. If I remember right, Osama bin Laden was wanted dead or alive, and there was a reward for him. Obama wanted him dead, and got him dead. Vladimir Putin is a far more dangerous and threatening presence on this planet than Osama bin Laden ever was, so where are the wanted posters?

There is a bit of a procedure involved in making Putin a wanted man. First, he has to be declared the illegitimate leader of his country. He has used criminal methods to stay in power, including murder, poisoning, and arrest of opponents, dissidents and journalists. He should be wanted in England for ordering the poisoning to death former allies, and for poisoning innocent bystanders. Since he is the illegitimate leader of his country he has no lawful authority to use nuclear weapons, to say nothing of invading another country, destroying its cities and murdering its people.

Operatives all the way down his chain of command should be told they don’t have to obey his orders, and if they do they will pay dearly. Whoever cooperates in starting a nuclear war should know in no uncertain terms that they will be held fully responsible, and would also become wanted, dead or alive.

Or, we can appease him, treat him nice, offer him, hmm, some territory – eastern Ukraine, the Donbas region, maybe southern Ukraine, a “buffer” zone of a few hundred miles inside the country, some money, a yacht, a hotel in New York City, or maybe in Mar-a-Lago, so he could visit his Kompromatee Donald Trump, a Pacific island or two, a castle, maybe even an entire country. How about giving him Ukraine?

We are in a dilemma, to be sure. The world has never been in such a predicament before. The U.S. was the first and only country to bomb another with nuclear weapons. It was easy to do, because we were the only country to have atomic bombs. We invented them and no one could deter us. Bombs away!

Now nine countries have nuclear weapons: the U.S., of course, Russia, England, France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea, and Israel. Any one of these countries could start a nuclear conflagration that could be the end of life on this planet, but they are all deterred by the prospect of retaliation and annihilation. Except, it seems, Vladimir Putin, madman. Let’s appease this madman. That’s a plan for the ages. The last of the ages.

_________________________________

Here's a song. Cash and Dylan. George Thorogood. In Kyiv too. The Eagles. Linda Ronstadt. Guy Clark. Jerry Jeff Walker. The Grateful Dead. Here's a song for Putin when he is found guilty of mass crimes against humanity. Merle Haggard. Jerry Garcia did this song too.

Something worth mentioning is that there are several other world leaders who should be on wanted posters. Jair Bolsonaro, president of Brazil, for, among other things, destruction of the Amazon rain forest. Alexander Lukashenko, president of Belarus, for complicity in Putin's invasion, and for imprisoning opponents and suppressing dissent. Rodrigo Duterte, president of the Philippines, for murder and human rights violations. George W. Bush, former president of the United States, for criminal negligence before the 911 attacks, two wars of aggression, for stealing the 2000 presidential election, and for the likely theft of the 2004 election. Donald Trump, for, among other things, colluding with Putin, for blackmailing the president of Ukraine, for stealing the 2016 presidential election, and for attempting to overthrow the 2020 election. Mohammed bin Salman, beheader, dismemberer, assassin, indiscriminate bomber, oppressor of women and dissidents. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, dictator, jailer of opponents, all-around bad guy. Too many others.

I Almost Wasn't

I almost wasn’t. My mother was born with heart defects, and having children was an unlikely and dangerous prospect. When she married my father they wanted to know if it was possible to raise a family, and they took a train to Boston to meet with renowned cardiologist Paul Dudley White, who was Dwight Eisenhower's cardiologist. He told her she could have two kids. I'm the third. Thanks, Catholicism.

It certainly could be said that I owe my life to the authority of the Catholic Church, but I don’t owe a thing to Catholicism. It is a fake religion, long descended from the original Christianity, so long that it has little resemblance to the life and words of the "holy man" "Jesus," who may not even have existed. We have been told by authorities that he existed, but we also have been told that priests haven’t been molesting children for, hmm, centuries, a couple of millennia.

I grew up Catholic. I remember being told in grade school that only "baptized" Catholics went to "Heaven." By having some water poured on your head you qualify for eternal reward. Obey, obey, and obey, and maybe you get into Heaven, but "Hell" awaits you if you don’t have water poured on your head and don't obey, obey, and obey. And it isn’t just any water, or any baptism. "Protestant" baptism doesn’t count, or at least doesn’t get you any farther than "Purgatory," sometimes known as "Limbo." Everyone else though, no luck for you, especially Jews, who killed Jesus, a Jew, if he existed. To paraphrase Bob Dylan, you ask why I don’t pray here, why, why, why you gotta ask me that!?

So much for Catholicism. I’m grateful for my life, but I don’t credit Catholicism with its eternal damnation threats for making my mother risk her life to have me. Life is. People incarnate. Lots of people. Too many, these days. There were too many in 1945 when I was born, and there are way too many people now. I have had a pretty good life, but I am under no illusion that my presence on this planet is something it couldn’t exist without. It is something determined on a higher level, so I’m glad to be here, and hope I have done some good.

Abortion isn’t my top concern in life, but the subject has come to the fore in recent days, and I was reminded of my own circumstance in the grand question of to be or not to be. People engage in sexual activity, and pregnancy often results. Some women find having a child to be something they are unable or unwilling to do, and they seek ways to terminate the pregnancy. As of now it is legal in this country, but various authoritarian religious groups – not just Catholics – have doggedly attempted to dissuade, prevent or limit abortions. Some of the more fanatical opponents have tried terrorism and murder as a method of being "pro life."

My attitude towards abortion is probably similar to that of most "Americans." It isn’t murder, but it isn’t nothing. Eternal damnation doesn’t await women who get abortions, because there is no such thing as eternal damnation, authority notwithstanding. A developing fetus is not yet a complete, viable human being, but it isn’t an appendix or wisdom tooth either. A potential human has some worth. Still, the decision to complete the pregnancy is best made by the person who bears the most burden – the mother. Fathers bear a burden as well, but not to the degree that mothers do.

In my case my mother made the decision all on her own. My father was an Army doctor serving in the Philippines in World War II when I was born. Since I look like him, I can safely assume that my gestation began when he was home on leave before being sent overseas. My sister was eleven months older than me, so I was neither planned nor expected. Irish fertility and Catholicism make for a lot of surprises. After I was born my mother got a "dispensation" to have her fallopian tubes tied, so that she wouldn’t be able to have any more children. Her dispensation likely came from the legendary Cardinal Stritch, the archbishop of the Chicago archdiocese. Birth control was forbidden by the Church, just like abortion, but a dispensation can be a get out of Hell free card. One would think that if you can get a dispensation to prevent pregnancy that you could get one for abortion, but no such luck.

The whole issue of abortion is phony. Religions are cults, and they keep their followers in line by making threatening, scary rules. Deviate from the rules and authority and you become eligible for eternal damnation, and maybe even temporal damnation. It is all about power, and the combination of power and sex is where humans battle for supremacy.

It is worth mentioning that the most fanatical supporters of both Bush presidents in their murderous invasions of Iraq were "white" Christians. And the second Bush's invasion of Afghanistan. Some now support Vladimir Putin’s slaughter in Ukraine, even though most Ukrainians are Christian. It was easier when the invadees were Muslims and/or Arabs – someone comfortably "other," but when it comes to tribal identity, a way is found.

"Liberals" aren’t much help. It is a black and white issue with them, as it is for "Conservatives." Rights versus the sanctity of life. Two different arguments. It’s not rights versus no rights or pro-life versus anti-life, but one category versus another, and ne'er the twain shall meet. What it boils down to constituency versus constituency, tribe versus tribe. "Pro-lifers" are predominantly "Christian," though the attributed quotes from the reputed savior of all mankind, "Jesus," don’t include anything about abortion.

Rights are what people say they are. There is nothing inherent or written in stone about rights to anything. We are animals, evolved as biological beings. We breathe, consume water and food, defecate, urinate, cough, wheeze, vomit and make sounds. And we reproduce. Or not. I don’t look at abortion as a "right" so much as something people have done since we individuated into a species, and likely before. It only became "murder" when men declared it so, using cult religion as the authorization and power to forbid and punish declared "sinners."

So now the "Supreme" Court is going to reverse the previous "Supreme" Court decision that made abortion legal in every state. Five of "justices" are "Conservative" Catholics. Another is a Conservative sort-of Catholic. They drink the Kool-aid of Catholicism on a daily basis, though only symbolically. Authority says that abortion is forbidden. This is the same authority that the Catholic Church used to burn people at the stake, among other atrocities.

I know this religion. I went to Catholic schools for seventeen years. I have had my hair and ears pulled by nuns, had my head knocked against a classmate’s head, numerous assaults with thick wooden rulers and yardsticks, even a big wooden slide rule. A priest slammed me against a locker when I was in high school. A pedophile priest, James Beatty, CSV, told my class that I was "Dr. Hamilton's only mistake" – for no reason, just that I was available for insult. I was lucky. At least he didn’t molest me. Maybe my butt didn't look attractive enough for him. He grabbed guys by the penis in the hallways between classes. He hit boys in the face with closed fists. Again, I was lucky. He only insulted me. He might be in "Hell" now. (Update, September 5, 2023: The State of Illinois Attorney General's Office has released its report on Catholic clergy abuse, and it includes James Beatty. They have him listed as John Beatty, but I am certain his name was James. De nada. I may have been wrong about him getting married and defrocked, but also de nada. He supposedly "retired" in San Diego, a haven of-sorts for predatory priests. The State of Illinois report lists one victim, but there were many more.)

I knew a few of the guys he molested. They never talked about it, but it scarred them for life. One of them drank himself to death in his 20s. The priesthood – religious authorities who molest, but who can command others to give birth. I wonder how many of these religious “authorities” have availed themselves to the innocence of children during the time of A.D. – Anno Domini, in the year of the "Lord." It could be millions.

So, a crackpot religious element is fanatical about something other people do, something they do themselves when push comes to shove, or dalliance comes to pregnancy. "Pro-life" is phony. Maybe we should make crackpot religion illegal. First we need to get the crackpots, molesters and sexual deviants off the "Supreme" Court. They should be forced to become priests.

____________________________________   

Here's a song. Jimmy Cliff. Garcia and Grisman. Norman Greenbaum. R.E.M. The Byrds. The Edwin Hawkins Singers. Joan Osborne. George Harrison. Bob Marley. Another from Bob Marley. And this. The Steve Miller Band. Another from the Steve Miller Band. The Grateful Dead.

This interview is worth seeing.