Everyone is a little like Sam Bicke

Sean Penn playing Sam Bicke, a pitiful specimen who dreamed of freedom, honesty, purity and grace among and between people, pulls off a trick of mesmerism! This actual American, what most of us call a LOSER, carved his niche in history by being a complete and utter failure at chasing the American Dream and, ultimately, getting himself killed by police for killing a traveler in a feeble attempt to hijack a jet and fly it into the White House, hoping to kill President Richard Nixon

Bicke's fall down the rabbit hole of misery, confusion and insanity is played out daily in our competitive society, and Penn's portrayal of Bicke is as fascinating a study in the human condition as ever I saw.

And so it goes. I'm heading out the door. It's too painful to watch this flick in one gulp, so I'll pick it up later.

Bicke's undoing was his honesty. An honest man in a world of thieves and liars is alone. And a man alone is all but dead.

And then there's the death of God's banker, Roberto Calvi. The Italian businessman was found hanging from a rope around his neck attached to the Black Friar's Bridge in London. The death is considered by many to be a Masonic murder mystery nested in a secret society's power and the politics intrinsic to Vatican banking.

Calvi's body was discovered in the late 1970s, during a violent period in Italy. The Red Brigade, a terrorist organization, was active in Italy at the time. And other killers were pursuing political agendas via violent means. This period of upheaval gave rise to a secret society called Propaganda Duo, or P2, which was nothing less than a shadow Italian government, according to NBC news.

The society was peopled by magistrates, bankers, journalists, businessmen and, in general, powerful people.

Calvi was a member of this Masonic society and during the last moments of Calvi's life he referred to a London branch of P2, an utterance that may have led to his murder.

Calvi's body was clothed, and in the pockets of his jacket were bricks; bricks that police initially thought he had placed in his own pockets to weigh him down so he could suicide efficiently. But apparently Calvi also had relations with Mafia types who, with his help, 'cleaned' millions of dollars through the Vatican banking system.

The story is a dark novel waiting to be written.

And so it goes.

It's Sunday night in Lubbock, Texas, and it's warm outside. We're entering the hot, dusty days here on the South Plains. My stomach is flip-flopping and gurgling because hunger is gnawing on me.

So I'm off to grab a bit of quick food at a Sonic up the street.

Adios for now.