Friday September 4

Good morning,




Quote of the day:



"Walter Mondale has the charisma of a speed bump". G. Gordon Liddy



My source in Columbia, SC informs me that the mechanism for the impeachment of Governor Sanford is already operating. This will be a microcosm of how it works in Washington. The state house committee will assemble a number of charges against Sanford and hand them over to the state senate for "trial". The Senate is supposed invalidate the charges that are untrue or can't be proven and uphold those that can. After this enormous orgy of hypocrisy, the select members of the state Senate will mete out what ever punishment they deem appropriate be it a censure right on up to removal. It reminds me of a hanging or a burning at the stake back in medieval times. It was a carnival atmosphere. There would be vendors of all kinds surrounding the scaffold or pyre selling wine, hams, vegetables, jewelry, etc. while the victims either dangled or smoldered. The only difference here is it is not commodities for sale, it is public offices. I hate politics and I will keenly remember those on the Senate Impeachment Committee. They will not see the light of day in the politics again if I can help it.



Good News:



To those of you out there that are planning on having children, or more children, a group of Canadian physicians have proven statistically that it is just as safe to have your children at home with a certified midwife as it is in a hospital. There is no doubt in this horse's mind that this is true. Ask yourself this question. If you were looking for infections, germs and viruses where would you go? You would easily find more of that in a hospital than anywhere else. Have any of you knew about people that go into the hospital for a minor operation and end up with a staph infection. You know why? Because that is where staph germs are the most prevalent. My sister died in a special care unit in a hospital from a lung infection. That was NOT why she went in there, but that is what she died from. Even combat wounds that are treated on the battlefield only rarely if ever there are cases of staph infections. Keep that in mind.



Greenpatch Grime:



20 or so students at the North Charleston, SC high School played John Belushi a few days ago and began a food throwing riot in the lunch room. It seems these two groups of people come from different neighborhoods and there had been tension between them in the past and it came to a head in the lunch room. 20 of them were arrested. I knew a woman that taught school there and she told me it was all she could do to maintain a modicum of order in the rooms, the curriculum be damned. Incidentally, the North Charleston community has the fifth highest murder rate in America, per capita. What the hell are they talking about "tension between neighborhoods" in the same damned school? You never hear of that in schools like Wando or any of the other high schools in the Charleston area. By the way, North Charleston is 90% black and Latino. I am not saying that has anything to do with it, I am just the messenger here.



About 8:30p Wednesday night a Spartanburg, SC deputy pulled over a car for a minor traffic violation on I-85. There were four occupants. The driver was taken out and frisked for a weapon. The deputy detected a weapon in the waistband and the driver broke and ran down an embankment and appeared to be trying to pull the gun. The deputy pulled his weapon first and fired one shot hitting no one. The driver kept running and the deputy called for back-up including dogs and a helicopter. They hunted all night and finally caught up with the fugitive at a short order restaurant at about 8:00a the next morning. Everybody was dog tired, including the dogs.





This date in history September 4

1971 The Lawrence Welk Show goes off the air much to the chagrin of almost every grey panther in the free world. However, the show stayed in syndication until 1982. I never understood the garish costumes that those folks wore from lime green to fire engine red and lapels that went to the tips of the shoulders when it was suppose to be an ultra-conservative outfit that was just and only interested in one dance number after another. But he and the band were very successful so I guess he knew what he was doing.



1972 God smiled on us all when the final episode of Gilligan’s Island airs on this date. This show was the epitome of trash and further reassures us that those FCC commissioner Newton Minnow’s words that TV was a “vast wasteland” had merit. But in the present sense, nothing has really changed with all these “reality” shows. They are nothing but a play on the familiar theme of Gilligan’s Island. Yet more trash.



1969 Radio Hanoi announces the death of Ho Chi Minh and declared a 3 day moratorium on military operations in honor of his memory. The American military believed that with the death of Ho the North Vietnamese would lose heart and begin a withdrawal of military activities. They were wrong. If anything the North Vietnamese resolve was strengthened and they fought the most powerful military force the world has ever seen to a standstill. It is all in the mind, ya’ll.



1967 The 1st Marine Division engages a sizeable North Vietnamese army in I Corp for 4 days and nights. The 5th Marine Regiment suffers the most casualties with 114 against the NVA count of 376. Speaking of the 1st Marine Division, I remember seeing a film about the 1st Marines being relieved after 45 days of combat on Okinawa and a news photographer asking one of the Marines coming out where he could find the 1st Marine Division. The Marine answered, “Mister, there ain’t no more 1st Marines.” Speaks volumes doesn’t it?



1864 CSA Gen. John Hunt Morgan is killed near Greeneville, Tenn. Morgan is recognized as one of the finest cavalry officers in American history He was a brilliant tactician and organizer. Morgan was born in Ala. But had moved to Ky. When he found out that Ky. was not going to secede he moved back to Ala. Morgan had planned an attack on Knoxville, Tennessee but his plans were discovered the US attacked his camp first. Morgan was killed trying to rally his men.



1957 Arkansas Governor Orville Faubus calls out the National Guard to prevent 9 black kids from entering Little Rock’s Central High School. This unbelievably stupid act endeared him to the extreme redneck elements both North and South. President Eisenhower called bullshit on that and called in the long suffering 82nd Airborne and the kids were finally allowed in school. I suppose ya’ll can imagine the shit those kids caught during their years at Central High School.



1945 The day after the Japanese surrender aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, the Japanese commander of Wake Island surrenders to the American Navy. The Japanese had captured Wake Island early in the war and had captured 95 Americans in the process. The Japanese commander decided that he could not feed these 95 prisoners and had them executed. In 1947 the commander was tried for war crimes and convicted. He went to meet his maker wearing a hemp necktie.



1886 The Apache chief Geronimo surrenders after 30 years of trying to keep the honkies off his people’s lands. THIRTY YEARS, ya’ll. Geronimo got hostile when at a young age his wife and children were killed by Mexican soldiers and his hostility never left him. After he surrendered he was jailed for a few years but was finally released and treated as a celebrity. He even was in a presidential inauguration parade. Honkies are strange critters.



Born today:



1908 US writer Richard Wright. He said “Every artist must bow to the monster of their own imagination.”



1918 US Journalist Paul Harvey. He said “In times like these it is good to remember there have always been times like these”. And now you have the ressssttt of the story.



1776 French writer Francois Chateaubriand. He said “One is not superior just because one sees the world as odious.” There are a lot of people that do, Francois.



1965 US explorer Rebecca Kerewsky. When speaking of trying to mow damp grass she said “I fought the lawn and the lawn won.” As us condo dwellers say “If the lawn is to be defeated it will have Juan and Miguel to do it.” I think ya’ll know what I mean.



Died today:



1965 Scientist/philosopher Albert Schweitzer. He said “The deeper we look into nature the more we recognize how full of life it is, and the more profoundly we realize that life is a secret that we are all part of.” I know a person in Black Mountain that has these thoughts.



1974 French writer Michel Achard. He said “Women like quiet men. They think they are listening.” It is a learned skill, Michel.



1997 English writer Jeffrey Bernard. He said “People say you are breaking my heart,” usually mean in fact that “You are breaking my genitals.” Ah yes, I remember it well.



2006 Australian naturalist Steve Irwin. He said “If something ever happens to me people will say ‘Well a croc finally got him.” It wasn’t a croc, it was a sting ray that buried its barb into Steve’s chest.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow