Daily Lesson

Good morning,



Quote of the day:


"To be able to move on with your life you must learn to forgive those who have wronged you, and also you must learn to forgive yourself for those you have wronged."

Eugenia Tipputti

It is another ominous looking day out across the Sound. There is a solid overcast at about 1,500 feet and the wind is petty stiff from the northeast. There is light rain and threatens to be come heavier.


Yesterday was a day of college football with the feature of the day being LSU vs Georgia. I was a grinder, y'all. LSU had a hell of a time figuring out the Georgia front line defense. LSU prevailed but only after their running back breaking loose for a touch down with less than a minute to go making the score 20-13. The Bayou Bengals have a good team but they ain't number four in the country.


Let me see, I promised myself that I would not get embroiled in politics while here in paradise so I take a glance of two at local happenings both here and at home, both good and bad.


Lets start in Greenville where a 26 year old Latin teacher resigned from J.L. Mann High School after a 15 year old student reported that he had fondled and kissed her. After this several other girls came forward with the same information. However, one girl reported that he did indeed fondle and kiss her but he also lifted her skirt. dropper her panties and bent her over a desk in an empty class room and had intercourse with her.



Then a pickup truck driven by Jonathon Rivera flipped over in the median on I-85 near Gaffney, SC. Rivera was thrown out as was several other passengers. All of the passenger broke and ran away but Rivera stayed and was eventually struck by a passing car. I think we all know what is happening here. Rivera's injuries were not life threatening.



It happened again. Some dumb-ass got in a chat room and solicited sex from what he thought was a 13 year old girl. But is was not a young girl, it was a big cop from Orangeburg, SC. The dumb-ass agreed to meet at a certain location but the girl did not show up, a couple of Orangeburg's finest did showed up and jailed his ass. They also confiscated his computer. The Orangeburg PD say this their 175th arrest for this offense.



Down here in Pensacola there is a Texas hold-em tournament at Rocky's Bar. The songwriter's convention continues for the remainder of the month as various venues, most of them less that three miles from my condo. All this serenity makes me want to go back home to all the violence and crime.


This date in history October 5


1986    Earlier the United States Congress became alarmed with President Reagan’s apparent obsession with Sandinista paramilitary group in Nicaragua which Reagan believed was Communists led and financed seeking a foothold in Central America. Their opposition was the Contras which Reagan wanted to finance and supply. Congress saw the whole situation as a civil war and passed the Boland Amendment which forbade any appropriated funds from being used in any way to aid the Contras. On this day an unmarked cargo plane flying over Nicaragua was shot down with two of the crewmen killed but the pilot, Eugene Hasenfus, survived. Hasenfus was interrogated and admitted that he and the dead crewmen were employees of the CIA and were supplying arms to the Contras. Meaning that he, the dead crewmen, the CIA and President Reagan were breaking the law as being in violation of the Boland Amendment. Well, many Senators and Representatives hit roof at the apparent arrogance of the CIA and the cavalier attitude of the Reagan administration in defying Congress and an in depth investigation began. This debacle became known as the Iran-Contra scandal. What came to the fore was that the CIA was selling surplus US arms to Iran and using those funds to purchase arms and materiel to give to the Contras. In effect they were dancing around the Boland Amendment because no “appropriated” funds were used. But they were converting arms that had been purchased with appropriated funds as barter and was defeating the spirit of the Boland Amendment which was to keep the US out of a Central American civil war. The broker in these transactions was a US Marine Lieutenant Colonel named Oliver North. In the final analysis the public confidence in the Reagan administration was shaken to the core. 13 members of the administration received various forms and lengths of punishment. Eugene Hasenfus was tried and convicted in Nicaragua and sentenced to 30 years. However, he was back in the US in a matter of weeks.


1892    On this autumn morning in Coffeyville, Kansas, Bob Dalton, Grat Dalton, Emmett Dalton and Dick Broadwell, better known as the Dalton gang, attempt to rob two banks at once. The banks were across the street from each other. They think that the sheer audacity of the plan would stun the general population into inaction. They were wrong, dead wrong. The local populous had spotted the gang when they rode into town even though they were in disguise. The heavily armed good citizens of Coffeyville were waiting when the gang came out of the banks having already killed one bank teller. The gang made it to the alley where their horses were tied and then the mother of all gunfights erupted. A virtual hailstorm of gunfire rained upon the gang killing all but Emmett Dalton who had suffered 13 gunshot wounds but was still alive. Dick Broadwell was able to ride out of town even though he was severely wounded and about 2 miles out of town Dick fell off his horse and died. Emmet survived his wounds and served 16 years in prison. He eventually became a successful screenwriter in Hollywood. He died in 1937 at the age of 62.


1813    Since the Revolutionary War Shawnee chief Tecumseh had been in a constant battle with the white man moving in on his trial lands in the central and western Ohio area, which was his place of birth. At the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, Tecumseh and a great number of his warriors had sided with the British against the Patriots. But when the British were kicked out, Tecumseh had no choice but to move to Canada. Then at the outbreak of the War of 1812 Tecumseh again sided with the British. On this date a large mixed unit of British army/Shawnee warriors with Tecumseh leading the Shawnee joined into battle against an American army led by future President William Henry Harrison near the Thames River, Ontario, Canada. The battle was short but spirited and the US forces led by Harrison prevailed and Tecumseh was killed. His life was a sad one. He fought most of his life trying to retain his tribal lands in the US, Ohio in particular, but was evicted anyway. It makes me sad to think on it.


1969    On this date a Cuban pilot flying a Russian MIG-17 fighter is able to defect to the US by flying his fighter across the Florida Straights and land at Homestead Air Force Base near Miami. Listen to this. He made the trip undetected until his wheels touched down at Homestead. The US military then decided that it was time to update their early warning and detection hardware. Duh….Yeah, I would think so.


1945    At the outset of WWII and the capitulation of France to the Germans, French politico Pierre Laval is convinced that the Germans will win the war and begins to kiss the Germans’ ass so as to get a good position in the French Government when the war is over. He proves his stripes more than once by pointing out French Jews to the Germans and sending his French countrymen to German labor camps. When France was liberated, Laval knew he was in deep shit and tried to flee. But he was caught, tried and convicted of treason and sentenced to death by firing squad. Laval was scheduled to be executed on October 6 but somehow got his hands on some cyanide and attempted suicide of this date. Luckily for him, a doctor was close by and was able to pump Laval’s stomach and save his life. Two weeks later Laval went to meet his maker air conditioned by a squad of riflemen. Now that was a lot better than a cyanide suicide, wasn’t it?


Births and deaths:


1879    US Educator John Erskine is born. “There is a difference between beauty and charm. Beauty is what I notice in a women and charm is when she notices me.” You know, under these rules I haven’t met a charming woman in years.


1908    US actor/director Joshua Logan is born. He said “Not since Attila the Hun who swept across Europe leaving 500 years of blackness has there been a man like Lee Marvin.” Lee was wounded on Iwo Jima.


2004 US comic Rodney Dangerfield dies. He said “If it were not for pickpockets I would have not a sex life at all.” He was one of my favorites, and he did have my respect.


Quotable quotes:


“I have been breast feeding for two years. I can light my gas range with my nipples.”

Jo Brand


Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow