Daily lesson

Good morning,


Quote of the day:

"When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would have no talent left and say 'I used all that you gave me'."

Erma Bombeck

The skies have cleared and the wind has resumed it's normal northeast to southwest flow. The wind is pretty stiff though, the are white caps on the Sound.

They are holding festival in Downtown Greenville this weekend. The cops have set a curfew of 10:00p for any kid under the age of 18 not accompanied by a parent. As you might expect, a crowd of young kids gathered at their normal meeting place and would not go home at 10:00p. There are kids there that that 9 and 10 years old. What the hell are their parents thinking? Anyway, 30 or 40 cops went down there and broke it up. and they continued to patrol the streets until all had left. No wonder Greenville has a delinquency problem, some parents apparently don't give a shit.

Since June the police have been searching for a missing woman from the Charleston, SC area. Her name was Kate Waring from a very wealthy family from that area. At one point they were searching for her in the Anderson, SC area but she was found this weekend. Her remains were found on in upscale residential area named Wadmalaw Island near Charleston. A couple that had lied about seeing her and forged a check on her bank account have been arrested.

I guess y'all saw where the Florida Gators beat the LSU tigers Saturday night. Tim Tebow of the Gators played every minute they were on offense. There was some question about him playing at all since he suffered a concussion two weeks ago. Although he did not run with his usual abandon, his control and direction of the Gator offense was undeniable.

A few months ago Charleston, SC City Council woman Deborah Morinelli decided to go out and ride around with a bottle of wine. The wine finally kicked her ass and she ran into a ditch. The police dash video of this event was released recently. This girl gets out of the car and promptly falls on her ass and tried to get up but falls again. Finally the cops pick her up in the horizontal position and pour her into the back of a squad car. Deborah said that she is not going to run for city council woman any more.

A fourth grade school teacher up in Brewton, Alabama was caught in a sting involving the sale of prescription drugs. It seems that 46 year old Kelly Ball bought 30 Xanax pills for $100 near her home. I guess teaching fourth grade students is harder that I thought. Not only that, when the cops sprung the trap and tried to arrest her, she wanted to fight. Needless to say what the outcome of that event was. She had been charged with resisting arrest also. Her teaching career is sliding downhill fast.

Good news:

This Sunday that Irish Republican Liberation Army has declared that they will disband and lay down their arms in the search for peace in Northern Ireland. The IRLA is a paramilitary splinter group of the Irish Republican Army (IRA). The IRA and the Continued IRA have made no such commitment. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton is scheduled to make a speech in Dublin, Ireland and Belfast, Northern Ireland. For those of you that are uninformed the turmoil in Northern Ireland is basically caused by religion. The greatest majority of the residents of Northern Ireland are protestants and the rest of Ireland is overwhemingly Catholic. When Ireland voted for independence from England, the protestants in Northern Ireland voted against independence and therefore are under the wing of England including British troops. The protestants believe that if they are forced to join with Independent Ireland they would be ostracized by the Irish Catholics and blocked from decent jobs that would be offered to a Catholic first and not have a future of their own making. They are probably right. Anyway, any portion of that quagmire being neutralized is a step in the right direction.

This is Columbus Day. There will be more about this enormous event will be in the body of the lesson. Columbus knew that the Earth was a sphere but he and all the other navigators of their time severely underestimated the circumference. They estimated that the Earth was about 7,000 miles in circumference rather than the actual 24,000 miles. The reason for this was that they did not know the Pacific ocean existed. That is why Columbus thought that the Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica, etc. was the the Orient and that is why the natives were called Indians because Columbus thought he was in or near India. He though Cuba was China. But this misinterpretation was discovered by the explorers that followed.


A couple of days ago I mentioned that a man named Eli Siler was found shot to death at the intersection of 8th and Wright streets here in Pensacola. Sunday the family held a memorial for Eli. They mentioned that several of Eli's gay friends were in attendance. I don't know for sure but Eli was probably gay and 8th and Wright street is the location of more than one gay bar. I hope Eli was not killed by a homophobic. We have enough things to hate about one another about than a person because of sexual preference. That's right, my daughters, it is Dad talking.


This date in history October 12


1870    On this date one of the greatest military leaders in history dies as a result of a stroke he had a month before. Former CSA General Robert E. Lee died at his home in Lexington, Virginia at the age of 63. Lee was the son of the Revolutionary War hero Henry “Lighthorse Harry” Lee. As with many of the leaders of the CSA, Robert E. Lee was born on large plantation in Westmoreland County, Virginia. The plantation was part of his mother’s estate that was willed to her by her father and name Stratford Hall. She was a member of the famous Custis family of Virginia. Little Robert saw little of his father during the Revolutionary War or after the War for that matter. “Lighthorse Harry” was not a family man and was not well known to Robert. Robert attended West Point and graduated second in his class but in the four years there he received not one demerit. As with many of his classmates, he fought in the Mexican War and in the western theatre. He also served as Superintendent at West Point. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Lee was offered command of the US forces. After anguishing about this offer, he decided that he could not make war against his home and family and offered his services to the Confederacy. He was acting as a consultant in the beginning but eventually he was given command of the newly formed, and later to become immortal, Army of Northern Virginia. Lee and his army achieved phenomenal success through most of the war but in the end he ran out of supplies and manpower and was forced to surrender at Appomattox Court House, Virginia in the spring of 1865. After the war he was at a loss as to which direction his life would take. He was offered the Presidency of Washington College in Lexington, Virginia and accepted. He was able to raise the population of the College from a few dozen to more than 300. He also improved the curriculum and the condition of the building and grounds. After he died the College was renamed Washington and Lee University. Winston Churchill said of Lee “Never in the history of human conflict has one man been loved by so many.” Indeed.


1492    On this date three tiny Spanish ship under the command of an Italian navigator sailing from Spain arrive in the Bahamas, probably Watling Island. Christopher Columbus came ashore in a small skiff and claims the land for the King and Queen of Spain. Columbus thought he was in Cathay, or the Orient. He thought Cuba was Japan. Columbus was correct in assumption that European travelers could reach the Orient by sailing west, but he severely underestimated the diameter of the Earth. Columbus made three trips to the new world and tried each time to establish a settlement on Hispaniola, or the island that now is the Dominican Republic/Haiti. All settlements failed because of the wrath of the native Carib Indians who annihilated the new villages as fast as they were built. Columbus is given credit for discovering the new world but that is wrong. The Vikings had villages in present day Newfoundland hundreds of years before Columbus. The difference here is that the settlers that came after Columbus stayed whereas the Vikings did not stay. Some believe that the Vikings explored the North American coastline all the way down to Massachusetts and ever further. They might have, but we may never know for sure. It would benefit all of ya’ll to read the history of the Vikings and the great accomplishments accredited to them, the rape and pillage of Europe not withstanding.


2000    On this date the American destroyer USS Cole had stopped for a four hour long refueling stop at a port in Yemen at the mouth of the Persian Gulf. While refueling, a small Zodiac boat comes along side and lights off thunderous explosion that rips a gigantic hole in the Cole killing 17 US sailors and injuring 38. The Cole started taking on water at an unacceptable rate and was kept afloat only by the Herculean efforts of its crew. Even at this, the Cole achieved a small list but survived. Being that the Cole was only suppose to be in port for four hours and then take up the chore of blockading ships heading for Iraq, it is apparent that the saboteurs knew the time of arrival. Everyone thought that this attack was orchestrated by Osama but that was never proven. I knew a “retired” SEAL in Greenville,SC that disappeared the day after the attack and returned in out midst about two weeks later. I asked him where he had been and he said “Yemen”. Then I said “Did you kill anybody?” He said “Well I’ll put it this way, I went from number 158 to number 75 on Osama Ben Laden’s hit list.” I like it.


1786    On this date one of the heroes of the American Revolution, Thomas Jefferson writes a sappy love letter to a married woman. Jefferson had lost his wife earlier and obviously lovesick. He met a woman named Mariah Cosway in Paris while being the United States Council to France. Mariah was an accomplished artist and musician. She was also married. But nonetheless she and Thomas became close friends and maybe more. There is no evidence that the relationship became a sexual one. Mariah’s husband died in 1789 but there is no evidence that Thomas tried to reignite their relationship. Mariah moved to a small town in Italy and opened a religious school for girls. I guess Thomas found another love interest, beside the slave woman Sally Hemmings by which he fathered several children.


Births and deaths:


1866    British Prime Minister Ramsay McDonald is born. He said “Some people call war murder. It is not, it is suicide.”


1807    CSA General Robert E. Lee dies. He said “A mans education is never complete until he dies.” I agree. We all should have an unquenchable thirst for knowledge for life.


1946    US General Joseph “Vinegar Joe” Stillwell dies. He said “The higher a monkey climbs the more of his behind you can see.” Hey Joe, does that include those girls at the Men’s Club in Charlotte climbing those brass poles?


Quotable quotes:


“A Jewish nymphomaniac is one that will have sex on the same day she has her hair done.”

Joan Rivers


“Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes. After that who cares? He is a mile away and you have his shoes.” Billy Connolly


Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow.