Habeas Corpses for $2000 Alex

Have you noticed that I’m a trivia nut? Back when the “Pursuit” game was popular, our friends wouldn’t let my wife and me on the same team because we have complimentary garbage minds. So, you might guess that we watch Jeopardy at our house.

I love it when the contestants are stumped but I have the answer. It happened today and the answer was “who is Joe Hill.” I was surprised that none of them knew it; after all, two of them looked old enough for Woodstock.

But I shouldn’t be surprised. Since Richard Nixon killed Jimmy Hoffa, and Ronald Reagan gave the death penalty to the air traffic controllers, union busting has become the national sport in this country, so that now union membership has fallen over 300% since the 1970’s.

So, a little history: Joe Hill, 1879 – 1915, was a migrant worker who joined the Industrial Workers of the World while working on the docks of San Francisco. He became an organizer for the IWW, or Wobblies as they were called, and was a popular speaker and songwriter for the union. He coined the phrase “pie in the sky,” and wrote the song “Rebel Girl,” later popularized by the Grrl group Bikini Kill.

While organizing striking copper miners in Utah, he was framed for murder of a policeman and was executed by a firing squad. His body was sent to Chicago where it was cremated, the ashes sent to IWW locals in every state but Utah, Joe having said “I wouldn’t be caught dead in Utah.”