Daily lesson

Good morning,


Quote of the day:

"True love is eternal, infinite, and always like itself it is equal and pure, without violent demonstrations: It is seen with white hair and always young at heart."

                                      Honore de Balzac

I cannot get over the difference in the weather between Greenville, SC and Pensacola, Florida. The cities are only 500 miles apart. This morning the temperature here in Pensacola was 71 and expecting a high of 85. In Greenville it was 47 this morning and expecting a high of 72. But I am no meteorologist.

The sheriff of Escambia (Pensacola), Florida said that what he saw in the home of 21 year old woman Christian Woods disturbed and troubled him. Sheriff David Morgan described the photos taken by his crime squad of a house in the Bellview community that had no running water and no electricity. A mother of three toddlers, Christian Woods, left the kids in the house for several days and went on a trip to Mobile, Alabama. She left 6 cups of Jello on the floor to sustain the children while she was gone. She finally came home and found one of her 18 month old twins dead and chose to put her in a trash bag and then in a garbage can on the back porch. The other two kids were barely alive and were taken away in a rescue vehicle. The paramedics originally said that it was touch and go if the kids would survive but now they said they are sure that they will. Christian was arrested. I would love to be at at her trial and sentencing. If ever there was a reason to revert to medieval justice and punishment it is Christian Woods. By the way, her bail was set at $1 million. Not any of her family or friends were there at her arraignment.

Shades of Heinrich Himmler! Up in Canton, NC the pastor of the Amazing Grace Baptist Church Marc Grizzard has stated that he and his flock will hold a book burning out on the lawn of the church on Halloween night. He said they are going to burn all the bibles that can be found that are not the King James version. He said the "Living Bible" and all other versions are a "perversion" and "Satanic". He also said that they were going to burn all the books and literature written by Christian writers like Billy Graham and Rick Warren.

There is no accounting for pure stupidity and the good Reverend Grizzard is a prime example. First of all he is going to hold this ceremony on Halloween night. Halloween has it's roots in paganism. It is a celebration started by the Celts who believed that once a year the people that are alive could communicate with the dead among other ceremonies. Reverend Grizzard, choose another day or just go ahead and wallow in your own ignorance. The King James Version was an interpretation of the Bible ordered by King James I of England in about 1612. I addition to ordering this manipulation of the Bible, he order the slaughter of thousands of Irish because he wanted their lands and hated the Catholic Church who was prominent in Ireland. That angst is still with us today in the turmoil between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Not that it matters, he had at least three male lovers that we know about. Reverend Grizzard, you are a dumb-ass. I had forgotten why I abandoned the Baptist church, now I remember.

Back in 2006 a woman named Rita Cantrell went into a Target store in Greenville, SC and tried to pay from some things with a $100 bill. The cashier refused the bill claiming it was counterfeit. The store manager automatically notified at least 75 stores in the Greenville area that a Rita Cantrell was trying to pass off counterfeit money. The Secret Service paid Rita a visit and determined the the $100 bill was genuine. As you might suspect, Rita sued asking for $3 million for defamation and humiliation. After several failed legal maneuvers, Target settled with Rita yesterday for an undisclosed amount. I don't know how much it was but her attorney got at least one third.

On Thursday afternoon over in Baldwin County, Alabama 46 year old Joseph Pruitt and his wife were in a fierce argument with their 13 year old son as a witness. The argument reached a crescendo when Joseph pulled a handgun and pointed at his wife. The 13 year old boy goes to his room and retrieves a 20 gauge shotgun and returns and shoots his father twice, once in the arm and once in the side. Baldwin County Sheriff Huey Mack said that if he someone pull a gun his mother he would have done the same thing. Me too. Joseph is in the Baldwin County Hospital in critical condition. A 20 gauge shotgun at 7 or 8 feet would be pretty messy....and deadly.

Good News:

The "Terminator", Governor Arnold Schwartzenegger of California, has signed into law a bill that will lean on the king of all pests, the paprazzi. The law states that any photographer that physically interferes with anyone in a family or personal activity will be fined $50,000 and the fine for the media that buys the photos will be fined triple that amount. There was such a law already in force after the tragedy with Princess Diana who was trying to escape from a host of paprazzi in London. The most recent occurence was Linsay Lohan and Scarlett Johansson who were involved in high profile auto accidents trying to get away from those jackasses. This law also will fine the photographers if they sell photos of anyone in a position that could damage their image and career. The media has promised to sue because they feel the law is in violation the 1st Amendment. We shall see. Something has to be done.


This date in history October 16


1925    Angela Lansbury is born in London. Angela was the daughter of an actress and started studying acting at an early age. At the outset of WWII and the bombing of London, Angela was sent to New York. At the age of 18 she was signed by MGM and was in the movie hit “Gaslight” with Ingrid Bergman and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. She was also nominated for Oscars in “The Picture of Dorian Grey” and “The Manchurian Candidate”. She did her best work on the stage and won Tonys for “Mame” and “Gypsy”. In her later years she made the TV series “Murder, She Wrote” which is seen to this day. What a great talent.


1973    American negotiator Henry Kissinger and North Vietnamese negotiator Le Duc To are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Kissinger rejects his by saying “True peace has not been achieved”. Henry has some class, ya’ll


1931    In Phoenix, Arizona apartment neighbors of Agnes LeRoi and Hedvig Samuelson hear screaming in the night be do not call the police. A day or two later Agnes and fellow worker Winnie Judd uncharacteristically do not show up for work. Winnie shows up at a train station with two large suitcases dripping a dark red substance. When this is pointed out by a station agent, Winnie turns and runs away. After opening the suitcases the dismembered parts of Agnes and Hedvig are found. After a few days Winnie surrenders at the behest of her husband. Winnie tells a tale of large sex orgies orchestrated by Agnes and Hedvig in their apartment one of which got out of hand. Winnie is convicted and sentenced to life. Winnie played the lunatic most of the time in prison but was paroled in 1971 and was never heard from again. Forty years in the slammer will do that.


Births and deaths:


1854    Poet/author Oscar Wilde in born in Dublin, Ireland. Oscar received a good education including a degree from Oxford with honors. Oscar once said “To lose one parent may be considered misfortune but to lose them both seems like carelessness”.


1888    World famous playwright Eugene O’Neill is born. When asked about critics he said “Critics? I love every bone in their heads.”


1958    Actor and companion of Susan Sarandon Tim Robbins is born. When a column writer wrote a disparaging article about Tim’s family he tactfully retorted to the author of the article “If you write another “f______g” article about my family I will find you and “f______g hurt you”. Tim was upset.


1795    Marie Antoinette dies on the guillotine. Just before going to meet her maker she said “I was a queen and you took away my crown, I was a wife and you killed my husband, I was a mother and you took my children from me, all I have left is my blood, at least do not make me suffer.” They didn’t.


1997    One of my favorite authors if not THE most favorite, James Michener dies. In my opinion James wrote some of the most engrossing books of all time, especially “Texas”, “Centennial” and “Hawaii”. He once said “I think it is remarkable that I write the thing I do, intricate, lengthy and with no sex or violence and have the readership that I do”. James was humble to the end. I miss him.


Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow