Daily Lesson

Good morning,



Quote of the day:


"You don't love someone because of how they look, the clothes they wear, the fancy car they drive, you love them because they sing a song that only you can hear." That is pretty romantic.


                                        Ocsar Wilde


I cannot tell you how much better I am sleeping by not diving into that black hole known as American politics and associated scandals trying to do research.


My research will be on the lighter sides of the streets until I complete this tour in paradise. As I have said before, any bad news, especially about politics will be deleted immediately without comment.


I have Dan Brown's (DaVinci Code, Angels and Demons) newest book on the way. Even though it is fiction, I an eager to dive into something that I know is just a figment of someones imagination. Thanks to a good friend out on the Texas plains for the book... thanks Dotty.


I read where the recent floods in the mountains of western Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina have begun to recede. The flood did cost some lives, however.


I did take a quick glance at what was happening in my neighborhood in South Carolina and nothing has changed. 44 year old John Helmuth, the pastor of the Tabernacle Christian Church in Piedmont, South Carolina (about 16 miles from Greenville) got online in a chat room and made a date for sex with what he thought was a 13 year old girl. They made a date to meet at a place in Greenville. The only problem was that it was not a 13 year old girl it was a 6'-3", 250 pound cop. When the good reverend showed up at the appointed place and time, he was immediately cuffed and jailed. His bond is $100,000. By the way, the cops seized his home and office computers. There is no telling what they will find.


The county council of Cherokee County has decided to stop using Bank of America in Gaffney, SC to do business to the tune of $500,000 minimum deposits. Last week an American soldier from Gaffney that was killed in Afghanistan was brought through town in a hearse with the streets lined with patriots. They had gone ahead of the hearse and planted small American flags along the side of the road. One of the places the flags were planted was on the lawn of Bank of America. A representative of the bank came out and pulled up all the flags. It seems that there is a rule at BOA that there can be no flags on their lawns. Apparently they realized what was going on and ran back out and put the flags back but it was too late, the hearse had passed. Everyone that saw this raised almighty hell with the County Council. One of the quotes heard was "We used American dollars to bail those sons of bitches out and now they won't honor the soldiers that made it happen." I suspect the withdrawal of the Cherokee County Council will not be the last withdrawal from BOA in Gaffney.


Good News:


A group of scientists at UCLA have recently rehabilitate a mouse from total paralysis do to spinal cord injury by using electrical impulses, drugs and exercise. The mouse now has total use of all its faculties. It is a promising step in the right direction.


                      This date in history September 24


622   On this date the Muhammad arrives in Medina after being kicked out of Mecca. This trip is known in the Muslim world as the Hegira. In fact, the completion of this trip begins as year 1 on the Muslim calendar. Muhammad was born in Mecca about 570AD. His father died before he was born and his mother died when he was six so he went to live with his grandfather. His grandfather died when little Mohammad was 8 years old so he went to live with his uncle Abu Talib. When he was 25 years old he marries a wealthy woman 15 years older than he. They had issue of six children, 2 boys and 4 females. Both of the boys died in childbirth, however. For reasons known only to Muhammad, once in a while he would go to Mount Hira near Mecca and sleep in a cave. On one particular occasion Mohammad heard a voice saying “You are the messenger of God”. Mohammad later said that he was sure it was the archangel Gabriel that gave him the message. Anyway, Muhammad goes back into Mecca and begins his evangelizing with his new found faith. He leans heavily of the rich merchants who he declares as evil for scamming the poor people for fun and profit. He also says that the religions with more than one God are of the devil, that there is only one true God. He also declares himself as the last true prophet of the Judeo-Christian religious sect. He gathers himself about 100 followers but his reputation as a trouble maker, especially to the rich merchants, has become well known and the local constabulary in Mecca came after him and his entourage. So Muhammad and the boys slip out and make the 200 mile trip to Medina and arrive on this date. Eventually Muhammad and the people of Mecca made their peace and the people of Mecca also became followers of Muhammad. After a few years Muhammad got the nation of Islam on its feet on the entire Arabian Peninsula and the rest is history. By the way. Islam translated means “surrender to God” and Muslim means “those who have surrendered.” Also the Koran was a series of thoughts and revelations experienced by Muhammad or by others then relayed to Muhammad. Both Mecca and Medina are in Saudi Arabia. Muhammad died in June of 632 and his successors continued with the expansion of Islam...up to a point. About the year 800 a division occurred in Islam that exists today and that being the Sunnis and the Shiites. One branch insists that the leader of Islam must be a direct descendant of Muhammad and the other branch believes that the leader of Islam must be a descendant of a series of Caliphs. They have been squabbling ever since. By the way, the last provable direct descendant of Muhammad was Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran.


1776   On this date a select committee of the Continental Congress assembled to hammer out the basics of a treaty with France for arms, ammunition and military expertise. France had been providing some of the above covertly already but it was proving to be insufficient. The French did not want to totally commit unless they were reasonably sure the Continentals would be successful in their separation from England. The first negotiator was Silas Deane who went to France secretly. Next came the suave and debonair Benjamin Franklin and a few others followed by a smashing victory by the Continentals over the British at the Battle of Saratoga which convinced the French to sign a formal treaty. This was hurried along when the British Navy opened fire on a French warship in international waters without a declaration of war. The signing of the treaty meant that the France had declared war on Great Britain and even though there were several years of bloodshed ahead, our ancestors knew that victory was within their grasp.


1890   After several years of squabbling between the United States and the Mormon Church, the United States finally put its foot down and stated that if the Church did not abandon the “plural marriage” belief the US would seize all the Church’s lands in the Salt Lake City area and deny them statehood which would prevent any protection of the United States Army from the hostile Indians all around them. So on this day the Church of Latter Day Saints edicts that the church no longer fosters “plural marriage” and from then on all marriages must be singular. If you read into the laws and tenets of this church you will find that the church is pretty dominate in the day in and day out operation of the individual family unit. I don’t know it that is good or bad, but there it is.


1971   On this date Game Warden Neil LeFeve shows up missing. He was a warden in the Sensiba Wildlife area of Wisconsin and was known to be as tough as nails especially with poachers. A huge search was begun and Neil’s body was found headless with several .22 caliber bullets in his torso. Soon thereafter they found his head with three .22 caliber bullet holes in the back. LeFeve was known to deal harshly with those that he had arrested; the police asked those he had previously arrested and without alibis to take lie detector tests. Even though there was a lot of grumbling all of them did except for one and that was Brian Hussong. LeFeve had recently arrested Hussong for shooting pheasant out of season. This was not the first time Hussong had been arrested for the same thing. With a court order the police obtained a phone tap on Hussong’s phone and heard him to tell his grandmother to hide all of his guns. The police immediately went to the grandmother’s house with a search warrant and found the .22 rifle used in the murder. Both Hussong and his grandmother denied the phone call but Voice Identification technology proved it was indeed both of them. Hussong was tried, convicted and sentenced to life without parole.


Born today:


1717 English writer Horace Walpole. He said “Nine tenths of the people were created so they would enjoy being with the other tenth.” Indeed, Horace.


1896   F. Scott Fitzgerald. He said “First you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink, and then the drink takes you.” Been there, done that and continuing.


Died today:


1981   US actress Patsy Kelly. She said “I laughed from the time I got to the studio until I left at night. I sometime felt guilty for taking a paycheck. Some years I could do no wrong and some years I could do no right. I owe everything to show business, it owes me nothing.” You don’t hear that very often from the egotistical bastards of today.


1991   Theodore (Dr. Seuss) Geisal. He said “Adults are just obsolete children.” Yes, Doc, we are.


Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow