Daily lesson

Good morning.




Make sure you read all of todays lesson, it is longer than ususal. I have added a Medal of Honor citation, lest we forget.



Quote of the day:

Love is patient, love is kind.

It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

It is not rude, it is not self-seeking.

It is not easily angered, it keeps no record of

wrongs.

Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the

truth.

It always protects, always trusts, always hopes,

always perseveres.

Love never fails.



Saint Paul's first letter to the church at Corinth, Chapter 13


The Sound has a strange cast to it this morning, I suspect it is because the wind is from the south That usually means a cold front is approaching, we shall see They are calling for a cooling trend accompanied by occasional thunderstorms for the next four or five days.

A 77 year old man from Fripp Island (are you listening, Dave) South Carolina was playing golf at the Ocean Creek golf course. He hit his ball out of bounds near a water hazard and when he bent over to pick the ball up, a 10 foot alligator lunged out and grabbed him by his arm and started to drag him into the water. His playing partners were able to pummel the gator into submission (probably with their sand wedges) and they rescued their playing partner. The man's arm was badly mangled and was amputated. He and his arm were taken to the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston in the hope that it could be re-attached. No word yet on the prognosis.

Good News:

A few years ago, with the approval of the principal, a teacher in a high school in Little Rock removed all the desks form her class room. When the student came in the teacher asked "What have you done to deserve a desk?" She received a variety of answers, all of them wrong. The students ended up sitting on the floor for three or four different classes. Finally, in the last class of the day, she said "You have done nothing to deserve a desk." She then went and opened the classroom door and various men and women in military uniforms brought the desks in and placed them in neat rows and stood against the wall. Then the teacher said "You have a chance at an education because it is a gift from men and women like these, both past and present." Thanks to Jaci for this powerful message.

The years of waiting for Max Payne of Cullman, Alabama are over. He has been on death row in the Alabama state prison in Atmore since 1992. Last night at 3:32a Max died of a lethal injection by order of the Alabama Supreme Court. In 1992 Max stuck up a convenience store, kidnapped the clerk, took him to a bridge and shot him in the back of the head and threw his body into the river below. There were a few of his family present but none of the victim's family were in attendance. His last meal was a hot turkey sandwich, potato salad and chocolate cake. His last words were to the prison chaplain who patted him on his arm and then he took a long breath and then he was still.

This date in history October 10

1780 The most powerful hurricane ever recorded arrives in the West Indies, known simply as the Great Hurricane of 1780. Keep in mind that the United States was in the midst of the Revolutionary War meaning that in addition to British and French cargo ships in the West Indies there were many British and French warships dueling each other for control. As the storm approached the British warships sought safety in St. Lucia harbor and the French in Jamaica. The British and French warships were no match for this killer storm anchored or not. The British lost 8 of this squadron of 14 warships and the French lost 40 ships and both lost hundreds of sailors and soldiers. British Admiral George Radney later wrote: “There were only two houses on St Lucia left standing with the majority of them being built of stone and only the foundations left. Even the stone forts were destroyed with several of the cannon being moved several hundred feet. If someone had told me about this storm I would not have believed it. There was even bark blown off trees.” Bark being blown off trees usually means winds over 200 MPH. But it was the locals that suffered. There were 6,000 deaths on St. Lucia, 9,000 on Martinique, 4,000 on Barbados and 1,000 on Jamaica. In total there were 24,000 deaths. The next closest disastrous storm was hurricane Mitch in 1998 that stalled out over Guatemala/Nicaragua and dumped several feet of rain and about 18,000 perished in the resulting floods.

732 On this date the first of the Carolingian kings of the Franks, Charles Martel defeats an army of North African Muslims that had Martel and his army severely outnumbered, near Tours, France and they did it the hard way with swords, pikes, axes, and cudgels. This defeat was so complete that the Muslims never again tried to invade Europe in force again. It was Martel’s grandson Charlemagne the achieved the most fame and fortune. He was able to hack out a huge kingdom in Europe. I have not done the research but I will almost bet that Charles Martel had a lot of Viking blood flowing in his veins. The Vikings were doing a lot of raping and pillaging in Europe in that time period.

1957 US President Dwight Eisenhower issues a formal apology to Ghana’s Finance minister. It seems that the good minister was denied service in a restaurant in Dover, Delaware because of his race. Does that mean that Delaware is considered a southern state? Anyway, the US government had received many complaints from both black and Asian foreign diplomats along these lines. It seems that they have been having trouble getting service in many arenas, such as restaurants, barbers shops, dry cleaners, etc. Whether you believe it or not, prejudice is guaranteed by the Constitution. No one can be forced the fraternize with anyone they do not want to. However, the local government can withhold their business with anyone that is predjucial. An example is the next county west of Greenpatch. The County Council put out a notice that they would not let any contracts to companies that hired illegal aliens. I like the way they talk. I don’t blame the illegal aliens as much as I do the greedy employers that hire them knowing they are illegal or not requiring proper proof of citizenship or a work visa.

1845 On this date the Unites States Congress decides that since the United States Navy is expanding with leaps and bounds it would be prudent to have an academy to train naval officers the same as the US Army has in West Point, New York They decide that the best location would be Annapolis, Maryland on the Chesapeake Bay. Strangely, Annapolis was a major disembarkation port for slaves coming to the Colonies.

1877 For some reason the US Army decided to disinter Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer’s remains from his grave at the Little Big Horn battleground and re-bury him on the grounds of West Point in a place of honor. Custer and most of his 7th Cavalry were wiped out by the Sioux and Cheyenne one year before. There was no doubt that he was reckless and flamboyant at times that cost the lives of many of his troopers. Not only that, he would kill Indians even if they were no threat just to keep himself in the limelight. There was little doubt that Custer had political ambition after his retirement. I see no reason that someone that vain and uncaring about human life should get a place of honor anywhere.

1944 On this date the brave German soldiers at the concentration camp of Auschwitz, Poland decide that children are a deadly threat to the 3rd Reich and kill 800 Gypsy boys between the ages of 9-14 in a gas chamber and bury them in a common grave. Even after the war was over those arrogant German sons-of-bitches retained their ways. In 1950 some of the Gypsies came after the Germans for reparations for the murder of their children. The damned Germans said that they were convicted criminals and just were being executed. Children of 9-14 doing a crime worthy of execution? I am glad the Russians came through Germany and killed every air breather they came across.

Births and deaths:

1813 Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi is born. He said “I will give you the universe if I can have Italy.” It is all yours, Giuseppe, as far as I am concerned. Ciao.

1895 Chinese Writer Lin Yutang is born. He said “In order to appreciate England, one must have a contempt for logic.” I loved London. Across the street from where I was staying was the Stanhope Pub. What a great bar except they did not have many cold beers, most of them were at room temperature. But they did have Budweiser and Fosters and it was cold.

Quotable quotes:

“Have any of you noticed that when those people that believed the day of their deaths are predestined always look right and left before crossing the street?” Stephan Hawking

On William Buckley’s first visit to a McDonalds he was asked what he would like to drink he said “I will have glass of your house Chablis.” Buckley is a sophisticate.

“Anything worth fighting for is worth fighting dirty for.” W. C. Fields That sounds like one of my divorce actions to me.

“Michael Jackson is a young black kid that grew up to be a beautiful white woman.” Jay Leno

Medal of Honor

EHLERS, WALTER D.

Rank and organization: Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, 18th Infantry, 1st Infantry Division. Place and dare: Near Goville, France, 9-10 June 1944. Entered service at: Manhattan, Kans. Birth: Junction City, Kans. G.O. No.: 91, 19 December 1944.

Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty on 9-10 June 1944, near Goville, France. S/Sgt. Ehlers, always acting as the spearhead of the attack, repeatedly led his men against heavily defended enemy strong points exposing himself to deadly hostile fire whenever the situation required heroic and courageous leadership. Without waiting for an order, S/Sgt. Ehlers, far ahead of his men, led his squad against a strongly defended enemy strong point, personally killing 4 of an enemy patrol who attacked him en route. Then crawling forward under withering machinegun fire, he pounced upon the gun crew and put it out of action. Turning his attention to 2 mortars protected by the crossfire of 2 machineguns, S/Sgt. Ehlers led his men through this hail of bullets to kill or put to flight the enemy of the mortar section, killing 3 men himself. After mopping up the mortar positions, he again advanced on a machinegun, his progress effectively covered by his squad. When he was almost on top of the gun he leaped to his feet and, although greatly outnumbered, he knocked out the position single-handed. The next day, having advanced deep into enemy territory, the platoon of which S/Sgt. Ehlers was a member, finding itself in an untenable position as the enemy brought increased mortar, machinegun, and small arms fire to bear on it, was ordered to withdraw. S/Sgt. Ehlers, after his squad had covered the withdrawal of the remainder of the platoon, stood up and by continuous fire at the semicircle of enemy placements, diverted the bulk of the heavy hostile fire on himself, thus permitting the members of his own squad to withdraw. At this point, though wounded himself, he carried his wounded automatic rifleman to safety and then returned fearlessly over the shell-swept field to retrieve the automatic rifle which he was unable to carry previously. After having his wound treated, he refused to be evacuated, and returned to lead his squad. The intrepid leadership, indomitable courage, and fearless aggressiveness displayed by S/Sgt. Ehlers in the face of overwhelming enemy forces serve as an inspiration to others.

Sergeant Ehlers was on the D-Day invasion as was his brother but in different outfits. He lost contact with his brother and about three weeks later he found out that his brother was killed. I saw him interviewed recently and he said that he would have rather lost his arms and legs than his brother. They were very close. It is ironic but Sergeant Ehlers’ parents were second generation German immigrants.


Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow