1342 The Horse that Couldn't

ELMONT, NY (Wessays™) -- So, the adage remains intact: never bet the favorite.

California Chrome was “sure” to become the first horse since 1978 to win the Triple Crown, probably the most important and most sought-after achievement in the sport of kings.

And Chrome was a king, alright. Say you look at that horse.  You know nothing about horses.  You know nothing about racing. You know nothing about the Triple Crown.  You don’t even know the horse’s name.  But the instant you see him, you know.  This one’s special.

Not special enough.

Chrome won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness with room to spare and that ain’t hay.

The Belmont is longer.  The Derby is a mile and a quarter.  The Preakness is a mile and 3/16ths.  The Belmont is a mile and a half.  It doesn’t sound like a big difference.  But it often is.

Not every horse runs in all three Triple Crown races.  The winner, Tonalist, ran only in the Belmont.  Same is true of the place (2nd finishing) horse, Commissioner.  The show (3rd place) horse, Medal Count, ran in the Derby but skipped the Preakness.

So, Chrome finished in a dead heat for fourth with Wicked Strong.

Chrome has working class roots. And he captured the imagination of people far and wide because he is beautiful and he fits that wonderful rags-to-riches kind of story we all love to hear or watch unfold.

Win or lose, the story of the day was going to be California Chrome. And you could hear and read in the faces of the owners and the trainers and the crowd the disbelief and disappointment as Chrome was forced to the outside and these nobodies pulled ahead. And that crowd? One hundred thousand people come out to watch a horse race?  For the Belmont, often. For the Belmont where a Triple Crown is at stake?  As sure as gravity.

But Elmont, New York is where racing hopes come to die. And die they did this past Saturday.  This track is not only long and sandy.  It is brutal.  And when it comes to this kind of race, there is no overtime or extra innings. There is no “next season.” There are no drafts, no player trades, no switches in managers or owners or trainers or jockeys.

You’re only three once.

So what’s next?  Well, not to worry. It’s not the glue factory.  It’s the stud farm.  This is where a lot of great horses make their real money. Except those peasant roots are going to get in the way.

Eric Mitchell, writing on the website Bloodhorse.com says it’s tricky.  According to Mitchell, Chrome’s value depends on his ability to sire top class runners for many years.

For those of us who love heroics, love the liquid grace of a thoroughbred in motion in hot but beautiful weather, for those of us who love Belmont Park, well… no history this time. Again. But still, it was a race to remember.  Just not for the right reasons.

Shrapnel:

--Note to co-owner Steve Coburn:  Shut up. You lost. Your sour grapes rant is tarnishing your horse, your sport (which has enough problems without you piling on more) and you’re making yourself look like the back end of a junk wagon nag.

I’m Wes Richards.  My opinions are my own but you’re welcome to them. ®

Additional reporting by the Wessays™ New York Bureau and Special Correspondent Lyda Kane in Los Angeles.

Please address comments to wesrichards@gmail.com

© WJR 2014

1341 The Best Health Care Advice You'll Ever Get

The doctor is in.  And here’s that advice:  Don’t get sick.  If you do get sick, make sure it’s fatal and you are at home.

Okay, now that that’s out of the way, let’s look at hospitals.

Of course,  there’s really no such thing as a “hospital” anymore.  

They’re all Medical Centers.  With a capital “M” and a capital “C.” And like centers of anything, they behave like they’re bigger and more important and better than they are.

What the Affordable Care Act did for many was force us to re-think whether the current health obsession in this country is what it’s cracked up to be.

And in trying to navigate the system, maybe we should be thinking about that obsession more than about our health.

The big medical centers -- oops, I mean Medical Centers --  have started acting like breakfast cereal companies.  It’s cutthroat competition.  

Everyone makes cornflakes, and says “ours are better than theirs.”

Everyone makes some version of Cheerios or Special K or Rice Checks.

And everyone spends gazillions to tell you why their version of Total With Raisins is better than anyone else’s.

Medical Centers spend an awful lot of money on advertising.  And fund raising.

Everyone is trying to grow.  And this is hothouse growth.  The big systems in this country have grown organically and over periods of many years.  But now, everyone wants to be big.  And they do it fast.  And on the fly.

The Mayo Clinic, Hopkins, Kaiser-Permanente, Vanderbilt, Mass-General, Columbia Presbyterian took decades to get to their present size and financial condition.

The little guys are struggling to catch up.  This does not necessarily affect medical care if there are sharp doctors on staff.  But it does affect things like infection rates, attention to detail, cleanliness, office procedure and accuracy.

So, here’s more of the best advice:

---If you’re hospitalized, read your chart.  Ask for translations of the things you don’t understand.

---If they have to wake you up to give you a sleeping pill, consider refusing it.

---Your best defense against a misstep in the operating room is a Sharpie or a Magic Marker.

If they’re operating on your foot, you write or get someone else to write on your bad one “This is the bad one.”  And on your other foot write “See note on other foot.”

Same goes for any other body part of which you have more than one.

Disclaimer:  Best Healthcare Advice is not right for everyone.  Possible side effects include illness up to and including death.  Common side effects are constipation, stomach pain, back pain, knee pain, runny nose, sore throat, dizziness, headache, neuritis and neuralgia.

Best Healthcare Advice does not protect against pregnancy or STDs.

The FDA has not tested and has not endorsed Best Healthcare Advice.

See your doctor.  See our ads in Popular Mechanics and Guns and Ammo magazines.

Magic Marker and Sharpie are registered trademarks of the respective manufacturers.

I’m Wes Richards.  My opinions are my own but you’re welcome to them. ®

Please address comments to wesrichards@gmail.com

We do not accept insurance.

© WJR 2014

1340 This is No Yoke

News item

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) -- A self-made titan in the egg industry, his son and the Iowa company they ran pleaded guilty Tuesday to federal food safety violations stemming from a nationwide salmonella outbreak that sickened thousands in 2010.

Hard-boiled “egg industrialists” in hot water over salmonella outbreak?  It’s hard not to scramble to make fun of these guys even though it’s a pretty serious story.  But you have to admit you cracked a smile when you read it.

The father-son team, Austin and Peter DeCoster copped a plea that likely will mean fines but no jail time.  Oh, and a little bit of medical help for some of the thousands of victims.  Oh… and $6.8 million dollar fine for bribing a federal inspector and shipping poisonous food in interstate commerce, largest penalty of its kind in history.   The DeCosters have accepted all that.  The prosecutor has accepted all that.  The judge has yet to say and -- evidently -- his word is final.  The sentencing is scheduled for September.  

If the deal goes through, the Egg Titans won’t be cooped up in a cell.  They’ll just be a few million poorer.

The USDA inspector who let millions of contaminated eggs come to market for an extra 300-dollars in his pocket got the death penalty.  That is to say he died before he could be put on the griddle.

And the DeCoster’s company?  Well, it’s been fried before.  In 2003 they were fined for knowingly hiring illegal immigrants.  Oh...  and faking “sell-by” dates.

The accused knew this was coming because this deal was reached before the charges were actually filed.  Think about that.  Would you get that preview of coming attractions?

Quality Egg is not on anyone’s list of top private companies.  We’re not talking about something the size of General Foods, General Mills or General Electric.  But Q-E is plenty big enough.  Ask the 62-thousand people affected or the 1,900 who were made REALLY sick.

Papa Austin -- they call him “Jack”-- lives in Maine.  Absentee landlord. Son Peter lives near enough to company headquarters in Iowa to smell the rotten eggs.

This kind of prosecution has become semi fashionable in recent decades.  There were few of them before the Clinton administration. Better too many than too few.  After all, if you didn’t do anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about.  Just ask the Innocence Project.

Grapeshot:

-Don’t bother to count… there are eight gratuitous sophomoric references to eggs in this post.

Shrapnel:

--Military justice varies considerably from civilian justice in this country. So it’s quite possible Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, freed by the Taliban after five years, will face some kind of charges.  Especially since six soldiers are said to have died while searching for him.  So far, he’s only been charged with “wandering off.”

--We can’t find “wandering off” anywhere in the Uniform Code of Military Justice.  But it sounds like something that should be added to the various state law books.  Kind of a politically correct substitute for things like jailbreaks and fugitives from justice.

I’m Wes Richards.  My opinions are my own but you’re welcome to them. ®

Please address comments to wesrichards@gmail.com

© WJR 2014

1339 Shinseki's "Resignation"

The chairman of U.S. Megabank walks into a bar.  Guy comes over, says “You know what, pal?  I was just in your branch in Kalamazoo, Michigan and the line was out the door.  Took forever for me to cash my paycheck.”

“Good heavens!” says the CEO, “thanks for letting me know. I’ll have it fixed right away, and here’s my card.  If you ever have trouble like that again, call my direct line.”

The Secretary of Veterans Affairs walks into Ben’s Chili Bowl in Washington.  Guy comes over, salutes, says “You know what, General,  sir? I was just down in Phoenix and the line at the VA hospital was out the door.  Took eight months to get my cardiogram and a prescription.  In the meantime, I had to go to an emergency room for a heart transplant and I almost died.  And the sergeant just ahead of me in Phoenix? He actually DID die, right there in the waiting room.”

“Huh?” Asks the Secretary.

Is Megabank’s chairman supposed to be aware of every little thing that goes on in every little branch in every little town it has one? If you DO run into him in a bar or a bistro and tell him about a problem, he’ll fix it.

Isn’t the VA as important as a bank?  Certainly, especially in this age of troop worship.  Anyone in camos is automatically a hero, even if his service is patrolling Penn Station.

But in all fairness, you can’t expect every CEO to know what goes on everywhere.  

So after a relatively stellar career in the army, Four Star General Eric Shinseki, 71, takes the hit for the book cooking at the VA facility in Arizona.  A head had to roll when bonus-hungry peons decided to lie about wait times instead of fixing them.  No BMW for you this year, Mr. Appointments Scheduler.

Is this going to satisfy anyone?  No. The VA remains overloaded with patients and underloaded with doctors and other health professionals.

You meet this man, Shinseki, you like him.  You meet this man, you respect him.  By all accounts, he’s that kind of a guy.  Did he cause the Arizona backups?  Or the lack of doctors?  Or the useless wars that spat out more injured wounded and sick vets than GM and Ford combined have recalled cars in the last ten minutes?

No, no and no.

The President’s fellow Democrats in congress screamed for a beheading and got one.  You’d think the flag-lapelled Republicans would be just as loud.  But someone clued them in by whispering into their collective ear “It was you schmucks who didn’t provide the funding. Be happy they just pick on Ric.”

Shinseki’s parents came to this country from Japan in 1901.  Good thing they’re gone because stuff like this is a face-loser of face losers.

Shrapnel:

--The VA is not the only medical service with a crummy office system.  Medical offices are all backed up and hidebound.  The doctors themselves often are unaware but you can help yourself and others by telling them about wait times… if you live long enough.

I’m Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but you’re welcome to them ®

Please address comments to wesrichards@gmail.com

© WJR 2014

1338 Back to You, Jodi

Television star, former waitress and former murderer Jodi Arias will not have the pleasure of amusing you each day at her penalty phase trial set to begin next month, barring incident.

The pneumatic problematic babe was convicted of aggravated first degree murder of her former boyfriend and every minute of the trial was carried on live television.

It was one of two great arguments for banning TV in the courtroom. Everyone played to the camera.  We suffered the insufferable prosecutor, an attack dog who would strike fear into the heart of angel convicted of jayflying in the Arizona desert.

The defense “team” was a ragtag couple of state-paid lawyers one of whom seemed to sleep through the proceedings while the other didn’t know what to say next.

The defense witnesses were ridiculous “experts” in abuse and who talked in the riddles common to their trade.

The jury deadlocked over whether to send her to the chair or just lock her up forever.

Arizona law says the murder conviction stands but the state can form a new jury to consider the punishment.

If the new jury deadlocks, the judge will impose sentence, but the chair will have left the room.  The decision is life without parole or life with eligibility.

So… the cameras can come in and record every thrilling moment of the trial.  But their owners can’t broadcast the pictures until the whole thing is over.  Not a single frame.  Not a millisecond of sound.

What we’ll get instead is standups from reporters who’d been in the courtroom, once they’ve moved to the great lawn in front of the building.

And we’ll get the constant drivel of the legal analysts, law enforcement analysts, psychologists, court watchers, historians, media critics, profilers, butchers, bakers and candlestick makers.

The first trial lasted for a million days.  Jodi was on the stand for at least 100-thousand of them, spinning lies, trying to tone down her cheap pinup image with a pair of glasses and fake upset.

The TV decision was a wise compromise between people who think television should never be in a courtroom and those who think every nose blow should be shown to satisfy the “public’s right to know.”

The other case that showed why cameras shouldn’t be on was the OJ Simpson circus where everyone played to the camera and the beleaguered judge, Lance Ito, lost control of his courtroom.

There are those who say OJ would never have been pronounced not guilty if there weren’t cameras. The jurors wouldn’t have had to go home and face angry friends and neighbors for voting “guilty.”

The camera ban is a minority view in the world of journalism.  Most reporters, editors and producers want every bit of the action on video.  Especially during sweeps week.  Especially when there’s a hot girl accused of a miserably brutal crime.  Especially when the victim’s family sat in the courtroom and cried consistently.

We have had enough of Jodi and the whole case.  And that’s beyond a reasonable doubt.

I’m Wes Richards.  My opinions are my own but you’re welcome to them. ®

Please address comments to wesrichards@gmail.com

© WJR 2014

1337 Mass Murder

Seems like we hear about a new mass murder every other day. Columbine, Newtown, Connecticut, Virginia Tech, the Amish school in Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Colin Ferguson on the LIRR, Aurora, and on and on, and most recently a college town in California.

We’re not talking about the Ted Bundys or the John Wayne Gacys, the sons of Sams, the Jeffrey Dahmers or anyone of that ilk.  They’re serial killers. We’re talking about multiple deaths in a short burst of time.

So what ties these murderers together?  What makes this happen?  What do they have in common?

Gun control advocates will tell you it’s the availability of firearms, even when the killer uses a knife or a baseball bat or a shoe.  And they’re partly right.

The National Rifle Association and a legion of claim-filing psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers will say the killers are mentally ill.  And they’re partly right.

And these things play out in much the same way.  All the killers were people who friends and relatives knew should be watched.  All the victims were saints. And the enormous number of former and retired FBI profilers will appear on the various news channels to hand- wring about the dearth of non-former or non-retired FBI profilers.

Maybe the answer is simpler than we’re told.  Sure, guns, violence on television, the disconnect between video games and reality and the unabridged dictionary of mental diseases play roles.

But what worries some of us is not a mental illness, but a mental condition. What all these killers share is a feeling of deprivation and its emotional brother, blaming someone else.

We all feel sorry for ourselves some of the time.  Most of us shake it off -- or have it shaken off -- and go on with life without hurting a garden slug let alone killing a bunch of contemporaries.

In the Elliot Rodger’s video selfie, lecture, “manifesto” and threat list, he blames other “men,” for his failure with women.  He calls them obnoxious brutes, while labeling himself the true gentleman and alpha male.  And he blames the “spoiled” “blonde” “sluts” of the “hottest sorority house on campus” for his troubles.

And had he lived after killing six others, he would have repeated versions of that for his jailhouse interview with Anderson Cooper or Dr. Phil or Dr. Drew or Dr. Lechter.

Do the self-pitiers who murder have a stronger case of “poor little me and it’s your fault?”  Hard to tell.  But that’s where we need to start looking.

And we don’t need an FBI profiler to pick them out ahead of time.  We know them because they live with us and sometimes because they ARE us.

Shrapnel:

--The median pay for CEOs of large companies has risen by 8% since 2012, according to an AP survey.  It now tops $10 million.  How much the median pay for an hour has changed and in which direction is one of life’s great mysteries but the guessing is down and about 5% in buying power.

I’m Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but you’re welcome to them. ®

Please address comments to wesrichards@gmail.com

© WJR 2014

1336 Drug Problem Solution: The Electric Chair

1336 Drug Problem Solution: the Electric Chair

 

A fellow who was born and raised in a rural village with a big prison once said when they used the electric chair, all the lights in town dimmed.

Fortunately for nighttime readers, the state didn’t execute a lot of people.  But when they did, the electric chair was their eraser of choice.

Of course, we’ve become much more humane now.  So we use drugs.  Except sometimes they don’t work. Like in Oklahoma last month. And sometimes, there’s such a drug shortage, the executioner can’t get enough of them to do his job.

Pharmacies don’t typically carry a supply.

What to do?  Well, we could try to get those drugs listed on the Medicare Part-D formulary.  Or we could return to those thrilling days of yesteryear.

One lawmaker in Utah wants to bring back the firing squad.

In Tennessee they didn’t wait for debate.  They’re bringing back the electric chair. But wait, before you start talking about cruel and unusual punishment, understand the fine print.

They will use it only when they can’t get their hands on the death drugs.  Or when the executee is found to be less dead with generic versions than with the name brands.

Or if there’s a sudden emergency execution.

Of course, in the age of conservation and environmental interest, someone’s soon going to demand that electric chairs meet Energy Star specifications like your washing machine, refrigerator and 95 inch plasma TV.

Prisons have just so much in the budget to pay the electric bill, and have to watch what they spend.

The gentleman’s village is situated on the Marcellus Formation.  Right now, there’s a 49ers-style gas rush not much smaller than California’s gold rush.

So you’d think that budget and economy-minded legislators would consider the gas chamber over the chair.  But no.  Never gave it a thought.

The chair was first used in New York State and has been in general use since 1890, 124 years.  It has a rocky history.  But most states have stopped using them.

And it’s not like it’s easy to find one.  You can’t just waltz into a furniture store or bid on one at eBay.  Many prisons have dismantled their old ones or put them in storage.  And after all those years in a dusty storeroom, they need testing before use.

Volunteers are scarce.

Grapeshot:

-Why do they use a germ-killing alcohol swab when inserting the death drug needle in the arm of the person they’re executing?

--All executioners work freelance.

--Executions are punishment, not deterrent but could be if televised live on C-Span.

--We have a “war on drugs” which isn’t working too well and maybe we should be channeling those resources into a war on treason which is committed every day in the House of Representatives, on the radio and on the internet.

--We could also have a war on war which if won would slow the growth of graves to decorate on Decoration Day, which is today.

I’m Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but you’re welcome to them. ®

Please address comments and schematic drawings to wesrichards@gmail.com

© WJR 2014