Daily Lesson

 Good morning,




Quote of the day:



"You can tell German wine from vinegar by reading the label." Mark Twain.



I was chatting with one of the subscribers yesterday and we were discussing the value of history. He said that his pre-teen daughter did not know anything about Viet Nam or Korea and could not be convinced why she should. No wonder the United States patriotism is on the wane. In my humble opinion being aware of the dedication and suffering our ancestors bore to establish and keep alive this great nation is the core love of country. I have been told that the schools in America are by-passing the most important historic events that formed the roots of this nation in favor of more recent events. Did our ancestors at Saratoga, Valley Forge, Monmouth, Trenton, Yorktown, New Orleans, Manassas, Antietam, Shiloh, Gettysburg, the Marne, Belleau Wood, San Juan Hill, Normandy, Battle of the Bulge, Bastogne, Guadalcanal, Pelilu, Saipan, Okinawa, Iwo Jima, Chosin reservoir, An Loc, Khe Sanh, Fallujah and many, many other dirty, nasty battles bleed, suffer and die in vain? Well, did they? I will just fall back to the motto of my Scottish clan which is "Nae Obliviscaris" meaning "never forget." I will never forget and neither will anyone else that will listen to me.



One of the people that I have been communicating with the longest (about 9 years) had a birthday this past Saturday. When we first chit-chatted every morning over coffee, she was working for Sysco in Oklahoma City, if my memory serves. She is now semi-retired as a book store owner in a small town west of Austin, Texas. She is a beautiful, well read and well spoken lady and I truly enjoy our conversations. A belated Happy Birthday, Dotty!



Good news:



17 year old Killian Mansfield had been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer that was incurable. He fancied himself a musician and knew he was dying but he insisted on making an album. He was a ukelele played but he needed a band. Guess who showed up to help. First was Levon Helm of "The Band" fame, then came Todd Rundgren, Dr. John, John Sebastian and Kate Pearson of "The B-52's". After a week of rehersals the album was cut. One week later Killian was dead. He requested that the song "Big Rock Candy Mountain" be sung at his funeral. His request was honored.



Greenpatch Grime:



Last week four American soldiers were killed by the Taliban in Afghanistan. Within the last day or two the American military lauched a retalitory raid against the Taliban and killed dozens. By the way, it is not the Taliban that is our enemy, it is the Saudi led and financed al-queda. They are the ones responsible for the attacks on the World Trade Center and the deaths of about 2,400 Americans.



The Asheville, North Carolina police were called about a shooting at the Hillcrest apartments. The cops found 49 year old Lewis Fleming slumped over the steering wheel of a van that had ran into a corner of a building. Lewis had been shot in the abdomen and was dead. His girl friend who wasin the passenger seat had been shot in the face and was transported to Mission Memorial Hospital for treatment. There was no mention of the prognosis for the woman. Evidence indicated that there was a drug deal underway when the shooting occured. What else is new?



Last Friday a 21 year old man in Hendersonville, NC stabbed another man seven times because he was dating his ex-girl friend. For this indescretion this jackass will go the joint for at least 15 years. Was it worth it? I don't think so.



This date in history September 14


1982    Princess Grace of Monaco dies in an automobile wreck after having a stroke and plunging down an embankment. Born Grace Kelly to a wealthy family in Philadelphia, she had the finest schooling and went to a prestigious acting school. Grace was a woman of classic beauty, blond and blue eyed with a statuesque figure. She was in several memorable movies such as; “High Noon” with Gary Cooper, “Country Girl” with Bing Crosby and “Rear Window” with Jimmy Stewart. It was when she went to the French Riviera to make “To Catch a Thief” that she met Prince Rainier of Monaco. Grace was not impressed at first even though the Prince was terminally smitten with this American Beauty and set forth on a campaign to capture her and he finally succeeded. They were married in 1958. The couple had three children with Princess Grace devoting much of her time to charitable events and programs. She was 52 when she died. A loss for us all.


1927    The flamboyant and influential dancer Isadora Duncan is killed. It seems that Isadora was having trouble with her Bugatti automobile and had a mechanic come and work on it after which they took a test drive. Isadora, in her usual dramatic fashion, had a long scarf trailing out behind her as they drove along when her scarf got caught in the spokes of the rear wheel and immediately strangled her. Bizarre, to say the least. Moral: Don’t leave things hanging out while driving.


1812    Napoleon Bonaparte and his army enter Moscow. Napoleon was sure that Czar Alexander would surrender making Napoleon the ruler of Russia. But when Napoleon arrived there was no one there. All the residents had left the city for the countryside. After a day of two of searching for Czar Alexander, Napoleon started seeing more and more fires in the city and pretty soon nearly all of Moscow was aflame. Napoleon knew he was in deep doodoo because he had planned on re-supplying his troops here for the return trip to France. It was not to be and Napoleon arrived back in France with only 100,000 of the 500,000 he had left with. This expedition was a total disaster as was the same event with Germany 125 years later when they tried the same thing but did not plan well enough for the upcoming Russian winter. The Russian winter is what defeated Napoleon and Hitler.


1964    John Steinbeck is awarded the Medal of Freedom by the United States. This award is the highest award available to an American civilian and deservedly so. John had given us such milestones of literature as; Tortilla Flats, Cannery Row, Viva Zapata, Travels with Charlie and his Pulitzer Prize winner, Grapes of Wrath. He was also awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962. John left us forever in California in 1968. He will always be remembered as a bastion of American literature.


1901    Theodore Roosevelt becomes president after the assassination and death of President McKinley. Teddy was a man’s man. In 1884 after the death of his wife in childbirth and the death of his Mother 12 days later, Teddy heads west and disappears for about 3 years in the wilderness of South Dakota in an attempt to get his life back together. While there Teddy does all he is expected to do as a rancher and part time marshal. He went out on more than one occasion to bring in criminals. He loved to hunt, especially big game. It was reported that on one mountain lion hunt, the hounds had the big cat cornered against a cliff and Teddy would not shoot for fear of hitting one of the dogs, so he pulled his knife and waded through the howling melee and finished off the cat with his knife. He finally returned to Washington and resumed his political career but never forgot his experiences out west and considered himself a Westerner. A great leader, we need more like him.


Born today:


1849     Russian scientist Ivan Pavlov. He said “Even though a bird has wings, it could not fly if unsupported by air. Facts are the air of science. If a scientist has no facts he could not rise.”


1857     US suffragist Alice Blackwell. She said “Justice is better than chivalry if we cannot have both.” Alice was one of the hard-assed women that led the fight for women’s right to vote.


1888     US Nurse and founder of Planned Parenthood Margaret Sanger. She said “Diplomats make it their business to conceal facts.” I agree, Maggie.


1914     US actor Clayton Moore. He said “Once I landed the role of The Lone Ranger, I did not want any other.” It did not take much to please Clayton.


1917    British writer Sydney Harris. He said “The danger is not that computers will begin thinking like men, but that men will begin thinking like men.” It is too late, Sydney.


1940    US comic artist Larry Brown. He said “Capitol punishment is either an affront to humanity or an extra parking place.” It is not an affront to me, Larry, cap their rotten ass and give me a place to park in downtown Greenpatch.



Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow