Daily lesson

Good morning,




Quote of the day:



"Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative."



                       Oscar Wilde



Monday morning I went for a late breakfast at a well known joint called "The Coffee Cup" on Cervantes Street. By the way, many of the streets in Pensacola have Spanish names like Intendencia, Alcaniz, Tarragona, etc. That is because it was the Spanish that first settled Pensacola back in the 16th century. Saint Augustine, Florida is the oldest continuously occupied town in America but Pensacola was settled by the Spanish before Saint Augustine but they could not hold on and abandoned the site only to come back later and make it stick but I digress, here is what I had for breakfast:



One biscuit laid open and covered with tomato gravy, a small bowl of Nassau grits and a side order of "smoked sausage". That is really about six inches of a kielbasa split open and fried, along with coffee that could walk and a tall glass of ice water.



Nassau grits is regular grits with diced green bell peppers, diced onions, tomatoes and crumbled bacon mixed in. It too, is orgasmic if you add about four drops of Tabasco.



I don't know if any of you have ever seen that early morning show on MSNBC with Joe Scarborough in the lead, but he is a Pensacola native and mentions a place called "The Fish House" in Pensacola on occasion. It is an upscale restaurant on the bay downtown. I have been there several times myself and will go again soon. It is expensive but the food is dynamite. I will take notes.



I have a good friend out in the Horseshoe Lake area of central Texas who owns a bookstore. She knows that I rarely read fiction but she offered to sent me Dan Brown's latest rendering. It is ironic because the last book of fiction I read was "Angels and Demons", also a Dan Brown book. I enjoyed the book but it got a little tedious in the middle. Anyway, thanks Dotty. I will do a South Carolina book review afterward, but I will not send it to Governor Sanford or Representative Joe Wilson. If I send it to Governor Sanford he might want to send me to Argentina or if I send it to Representative Joe Wilson he may jump up and yell "You lie!!" in which case I would have to issue a challenge. I would ask him to spell "jackass" on the first try. I would win.



Good news:



Sixty years ago the brothers Ari and Rudolph Dassler were in the sportswear business together but came to a disagreement. They decided to form their own companies and Adidas and Puma brands was born. They had been bitter rivals ever since. Recently these two German companies decided to bury the hatchet for "Peace Day" and the two CEO's shook hands and decided to have a joint picnic and a coed football (soccer) game. Both CEO's said that after that day it would be business as usual, bitterness included.



This date in history September 22



1989    Irving Berlin dies at the age of 101. What can be said that hasn’t been said already? He was a Russian immigrant and came to New York in 1893. His father died early and little Israel Balin (Irving Berlin) began trying to help his Mother and his 7 sibling with a sidewalk entertainment show. He sang, danced, told jokes, etc. for whatever coins that were tossed his way. But later he changed his name to Irving Berlin and began writing song and plays and was soon recognized for the genius that he was. Just a few of the songs he gave us: “God Bless America”, “Dancing Cheek to Cheek”, “Puttin’ On the Ritz”, “White Christmas”, “Blue Skies” and many others. He was drafted during WWI and went uncomplainingly into the infantry. While in the army he wrote “Oh How I hate to get up in the morning”. He was a truly gifted individual.



1964    Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona is running for president against LBJ and says that if the US is not willing to go in and conquer North Vietnam it would be better if the US withdraws completely. He also recommended using low yield nuclear devices at all country borders so they would be impassable for years to come. He called LBJ a liar and said that LBJ is indeed committing the US to what is essentially a private war. LBJ and the Democrats rose up in unison and called Goldwater a bloodthirsty warmonger. Within weeks after Johnson won the election he ordered the 1st and 5th Marines among others into Nam and very soon there 80,000 American troops on Nam and the numbers were still climbing. Maybe LBJ was indeed lying. But I ain’t sure low yield nuclear devices are the answer either.


1862    A. Lincoln issues the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation whereby all slaves in the states in rebellion would be freed. The essentially was a course reversal for the policy of the Lincoln Administration. The policy of the Administration at the outset of the war was that the states must remain united no matter what. After several military setbacks the Lincoln administration saw that they were losing the support of the people because of it, decided to use a moralistic basis for prosecuting the war and that be the freeing of the slaves rather than unity. The irony of all of this is that there were slave holding states not in rebellion such as Kentucky, Maryland and Delaware. What about them? Anyway, Lincoln had to have a basis for prosecuting the war other than unity. Unity as a basis wasn’t flying. The legislation banning slavery everywhere was enacted a couple of years later.


1995    Ted Turner has agreed to the buyout of Turner Broadcast System by Time Warner for a mere $7.5 Billion. 7.5 BILLION YA”LL!!!! Oh my God, lawyers started coming out of the woodwork wanting a piece of this action including those from the Federal Trade Commission. The lawyers knew better than to screw directly with Ted because he was a notorious hard ass and would cuss you out in a heartbeat. After several years of haggling the number was cut to $6.5 Billion. I guess the bloodsucking lawyers split up the $1 Billion. Ted went to one of his ranches in Montana and hung out for a while. It is reported that Ted collectively owns enough land to equal the state of Rhode Island. My hero. You don’t screw with Ted.



1961    JFK brings the Peace Corps into existence. Originally thought to be used a weapon against Communism it evolved into an agency to improve the education and well being of the less fortunate no matter who or where and that is what it is today.



1598 The famous poet and playwright Ben Jonson kills another man in a duel and this ain’t the first time. He killed another one in 1594 during an “affair of honor”. But a few months later his play “Every Man in His Humor” debuts and is an immediate success with Bill Shakespeare in the lead role. During this time, William Shakespeare and Ben Jonson were equally famous.



1554    The Spanish conquistador Coronado dies never having achieved his dream of finding the Seven Cities of Gold full of precious gems as told in mythology. He was lead on an expedition to what was said to be the city but it turned out to be a small Zuni village of adobe huts. Another Indian came and said that his tribe has a city like he was looking for and off they went on yet another trek. They went through what is now Texas, Oklahoma and on into what is now Missouri. No golden cities were found. So Coronado returned to Mexico, Vera Cruz in particular. Even though he found no gold, Coronado had the sense to map the areas he went through and these maps proved to be very valuable to those that followed.


Born today:


1694    English statesman Lord Chesterfield. He said “I recommend that you take care of the minutes and the hours will take care of themselves.” There is another adage that says take care of the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves.



1791    English scientist Michael Faraday. When trying to explain the usefulness of electricity to Prime Minister Gladstone he said. “Why sir, it is likely that soon you will be able to tax it.” Hey Mike, you have no idea how accurate you were.



1927    Baseball manager Tommy Lasorda. When talking about his catcher Mike Scioscia and his speed he said “If he got into a foot race with his pregnant wife he would come in third.” That’s cold, Tommy.



1958    US rocker Joan Jett. She said “I use to stand in front of a mirror and pretend I was Janis Joplin”. Janis sang not with her voice but with her heart and soul.


I have a songwriter friend who penned this line in one of his songs “They warned me about the wild Texas rattlesnakes, they warned me about the wild Texas rivers but they did not warn me about you." I think I met this girl in Houston.


Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow.