AUGUST 29th

Good morning,


Quote of the day:

"Snow skiing combines outdoor fun with knocking trees down with your face." Dave Barry

I am not going to say anything more about Ted Kennedy because if I hear another word about him I will probably spit up.

Good news:

Back on 2003 when the US and Allies were invading Baghdad, conservationist Leonard Thompson go down in Zululand and trim gearing up to go-try and rescue the aimals in the substantial Baghdad Zoo. Leonard and his volunteers went to Baghdad and gathered up the terrified tigers, lions, zebras, monkies and even an elephant and are able to evacuate them while dodging combat action along their escape route. After this the United Nations declared that an invading army is responsible for the preservation of wildlife and their habitat under the threat of being tried for war crimes.

Greenpatch Grime:

In the last three days the Greenville PD have been rounding up the street gang members found in our fair city. They arrested 185 of an estimated 750 gang members. Some have already been deported. You know, I never see evidence of street gangs. But I never go over on the west side either.

An employee of the Easley, South Carolina recreation department has come down with H1N1 swine flu. This resulted in the closing of the Larry Bagwell (former Easley High school football coach) Gym Thursday afternoon. The city officials brought in a team and they worked all night disinfecting the gym. They opened again Friday morning and 6:00a.

A 39 year old Hilton Head, South Carolina resident called Governor Mark Sanford's office and spoke with one of the Governor's assistants and said theat he wanted to kill the Governor. This jackass named Brian McDermant was arrested for threatening the life of a public official. He is looking at a possible five years in the joint. I hope he does every day of it.

I guess all of y'all have read about the girl that had been kidnapped for 18 years. She was snatched when she was 11 years old who kept her in his back yard in Placerville, California. The girl bore two children by the maniac, the first when she was 14. In every state I know of, kidnapping is a capital crime punishible be death in ths states with the death penalty. I doubt that those crazy asses in California have the death penalty. They will probably with give him a punishment of denying him any Latta for three years.

In addition to the lesson I have attached a bio of a king of England name Alfred the Great. It was he that finally stopped the Vikings from invading England.

AUGUST 29th

2005 Earlier a small Category 1 hurricane named Katrina slips out of the Caribbean Sea, takes a swipe at the southern tip of Florida and then breaks loose in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico on a northwest course. The warm waters of the Gulf pump Katrina up to a Category 3 in short order. It looked like the hurricane was going ashore in Mobile, Alabama or maybe Pensacola, Florida. But on this date, the storm took dead aim at the Mississippi River delta and New Orleans. Early on this morning Katrina quickly expanded to a Category 4 and then briefly to a Category 5 and then back to a category 3 and stormed ashore in the Mississippi river delta packing winds of 140 MPH and a storm surge of 22 feet. The eye of the storm reached New Orleans intact and the excess water and wind quickly overwhelmed the levees holding back the Mississippi River and Lake Ponchartrain. From what I have read, the majority of Big Easy is at least 6 feet lower than the River and the Lake. Once the levees failed, the center of New Orleans was flooded with the 9th Ward being the hardest hit. Hundreds upon hundreds of people were stranded on the roofs of their houses and just had to wait to be rescued by boats or helicopters. There were some areas that boats were not allowed because of downed power lines and the rescuers just had to try to block out the screams for help in those areas. As we have all seen, the unflooded areas of the commercial districts were subject to unobstructed looting whilst being observed by the NOPD. The next few days were a montage of events of pure bravery and further events of battles with gangsters trying to take control of the city by force. The arrival of the 82nd Airborne and the Louisiana National Guard put a stop to this shit. But of those that evacuated 9th Ward to the tune of at least 100,000, almost none have returned. I do not know the exact amount of evacuees that left their homes as a result of Hurricane Katrina including parts of Mississippi, but many, many remain in cities like, Atlanta, Houston, Austin and many others, there does not seem to be a desire to return to the Gulf Coast. It looks like they are no longer evacuees but settlers in new lands. It was the worst natural disaster in United States history. I do not remember any presence of the 82nd Airborne or any looting during the recent flooding in central Iowa. What’s up with that?

1779 On this day the American Continental army commanded by Major General John Sullivan and Brigadier General James Clinton engage a combined Loyalist/Indian army commanded by British Captain William Butler and Iroquois chief William Brandt. The engagement takes place near Chemung, New York which is Elmira today. Earlier George Washington had tasked Patriot General Horatio Gates with going to the Finger Lake region and subduing the Iroquois Indians under Chief Brandt who are on constant attack of the new settlements. Gates refused the assignment so Washington assigns the task to Major General John Sullivan. Sullivan and company depart Easton, Pennsylvania and travel by the Susquehanna River to the area of conflict. The Patriot artillery was too much for the Indians and they fled leaving a small contingent of Loyalist which were killed or captured by the Patriot infantry. Sullivan orders his troops to burn and destroy the Iroquois villages and supplies. His troops laid waste to 40 Indian villages and mountains of supplies which made the following winter a severe one for the Iroquois but it did not belay their spirit and the attacks continued at least for a while. Eventually Iroquois leader Charles Brandt saw that the Patriots were going to win the war and took his tribe into Canada to lands given to them by the British.

1885 On this date German inventor Gottfried Daimler invents the prototype of the modern motorcycle. The motorcycle was used extensively WWI by both sides as a messenger vehicle. The popularity fell between WWI and WWII but the motorcycle was again used extensively by both sides during WWII. After the war the returning veterans had developed a taste for them and the demand rose precipitously. The down side of the rise in motorcycle craze was led by a group of hardcore gangsters led by the leader of a San Bernardino group of bikers that organized themselves into a club named the “Hell’s Angels”. Their leader was Sonny Barger. From then many “Hell’s Angels” clubs and clubs like them were formed world wide fostering a wild, unfettered lifestyle. They wanted to project a tough, “Don’t mess with me image” and they indeed succeeded. But today the greatest majority by far, is middle class America that holds meets without the gangster types. For instance this month a motorcycle rally is held in Sturgis, South Dakota that over 500,000 motorcyclists attend, not to mention those rallies at Daytona Beach, Fla., Myrtle Beach, South Carolina among other places and they all seem to happen without a lot of trouble. I was a rider at one time. But I did not ride on the street that much, I preferred to ride a trail bike in the mountains up and down logging trails or make my own trails, the rougher the better. It was not a glorifying type of avocation but I enjoyed the hell out of it. I can’t do it now because of my age, but I miss the challenges.

1862 Earlier President Lincoln seeing that the commander of the Army of the Potomac, US General George McClellan was not going to follow through with his a attack on Richmond, sends a large portion of McClellan’s army to join with US General John Pope’s Army of Virginia. CSA General Robert E. Lee detects this movement and he also believes that McClellan has lost his nerve, sends “Stonewall” Jackson to the north to keep an eye on Pope. Pope heads for Manassas Junction and finds out the Jackson is on his way begins a search for Jackson’s army. Stonewall knows that Pope is looking for him because Pope has him outnumbered three to one and wants to annihilate Jackson. Jackson disperses his troops in the woods and bushes along Bull Run Creek. On this date, after Pope was unable to find Jackson, the rest of Lee’s army arrives on site and Jackson’s army emerges from the trees and bushes and joins up with Lee’s army and the combined force unleashes a devastating flank attack and envelopment of Pope’s army resulting in a total rout of the Army of Virginia. This was not the first victory by Lee at this location. This engagement was forever known as the Battle of Second Manassas.

Born today:

1915 Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman. She said “A kiss is a lovely trick used by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous.”

1876 US inventor Charles Kettering. He said “I am more interested in the future because that is where I am going to spend the rest of my life.” Kettering invented the electric starter for automobiles among other things.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow...