Dr. Mary's Monkey

Dr. Mary's Monkey, Edward T. Haslam, TrineDay, 2007

This book gives a very different view of recent American history.

In the 1950s, Jonas Salk developed a vaccine against polio, then ravaging America. It involved inoculating children with dead polio viruses, so their bodies would build up immunity. Just before the mass inoculation was to begin, a technician injected the vaccine into some monkeys. The supposedly dead viruses were not exactly dead, so thousands of children contracted polio. The safer Sabin vaccine was quickly developed, and rushed into production.

The bigger problem for the Salk vaccine was that it was impregnated with cancer-causing monkey viruses (imagine the panic if that became known). Consider today's epidemic of soft tissue cancers. A secret program was rushed into existence to look for some sort of vaccine. Such a program involved lots of mice (thousands), and someone to do the day-to-day observing of the mice, someone like David Ferrie (later to be well-known in JFK assassination circles). A defrocked priest and former airline pilot, he was a long-time CIA asset. Also needed in such a project was a cancer expert to do the actual mutating of the viruses.

Mary Sherman was a world-renowned cancer researcher with a list of qualifications as long as your arm. It is unknown why she would get involved with a right-wing fanatic like David Ferrie. In 1964, her burned and naked body was found in her apartment. The press tried very hard to make it look like a lesbian burglar sex killing, even though there was no sign of forced entry. The bizarre thing is that her entire right arm and the right-hand part of her torso were gone, like they had been disintegrated. The small fire that was set on her bed, to cover up the crime, was nowhere near hot enough to do it.

Mutating viruses required huge amounts of power, on the order of several million volts. A linear particle accelerator was powerful enough, but they require very heavy-duty wiring. The author found evidence of such wiring at the US Public Health Service Hospital in New Orleans. The author theorizes that, one day, Sherman touched the wrong button, or there was sabotage, causing all that energy to ravage her body. It was quickly decided to bring her back to her apartment, stab her in the exact right place in her heart (she may have still been alive at that moment), and cover up her death. This whole arrangement also required a courier to travel from Sherman to Ferrie and back again. His name was Lee Harvey Oswald. He was killed after the JFK death to silence him; having him on a witness stand would have publicized things that powerful people did not want publicized.

This is a wonderful piece of writing. It is a huge eye-opener, and will make the reader look at cancer in a whole new way. It is extremely highly recommended.

The Great Tejon Club Debate

The Great Tejon Club Jubilee, Gerald W. Haslam, Devil Mountain Books, 1996

This is a group of short stories about some transplanted Southerners living and working in central California. They are quite a motley bunch. There's Wylie Hillis and Shoat Willhite; Big Dunc, who is most known for showing way too much of his rear end when he sits at the bar, and Earl, the proprietor of the Tejon Club, their home away from home. Bob Don Bundy is the "intellectual" of the group, having graduated from the local junior college, and J.B. is the narrator.

The stories start with the guys sitting around the Tejon Club, consuming large amounts of beer. One or another starts in with some tall tale, and, before you know it, they're off doing something ill-considered. One story is about going after giant African frogs supposedly in the area. In another story, their quest is to rid the area of killer bees that are allegedly coming from Central America. One day, Bob Don comes in with his new wife (women aren't really forbidden from the Tejon Club, but their presence is discouraged). She is the sort who bears a strong resemblance to a Before picture; not that Bob Don looks any better. So the guys give them a wild, alcohol-fueled party. They also try their luck at white-water rafting, but spend most of their time in the water or arguing with each other.

The best story of the group is about the gang (and their spouses and/or children) helping out a group of Hmong refugees from Southeast Asia living in the nearby woods. They celebrate an old-fashioned American Christmas in the Tejon Club complete with lots of homemade food, warm coats and gloves for all the Hmong, men, women and children, with Christmas decorations and everything.

These stories will not be compared to Great Literature. They are short, easy to read, raunchy and very politically incorrect. They are also quite entertaining and worth reading.