Good morning,
Quote of the day:
"Our greatest pretenses are built up not to hide the evil and ugly in us, but our emptiness. The hardest thing to hide is something that isn't there."
Eric Hoffer
I suppose everyone has OD'ed on college and pro football by now. This past weekend has proven that the SEC is much tougher than the ACC. If you don't believe me talk to Florida State, Georgia Tech and Clemson. Next week we will see Alabama vs Florida for the SEC championship and probably a seat in the BCS national championship game. Both teams are undefeated in the toughest conference on the nation. We cannot forget TCU, number four in the nation, they are undefeated also as is Boise State. In my humble opinion neither TCU nor Boise State can hold a candle to either Bama or Florida.
As some of you might know, this is the month of the Hajj. This is when the Muslim faithful go on a pilgrimage to various sites in Saudi Arabia to visit the locations where Muhammad was supposed to have performed various miraculous deeds, where he was born and where he was allegedly visited by the arch Angel Gabriel who defined which path Muhammad was to follow. Anyway, there are millions of Muslims that gather in very tight quarters in these ceremonies and this year H1N1 swine flu is kicking ass among them resulting in several deaths. Allah works in mysterious ways.
Saturday evening the Spartanburg, SC County Sheriffs department was called about a suspicious person lurking in a Union Street neighborhood. By the time the deputies arrived two men were injured. It appeared that 52 year old Charles Gory had walked from his house to the neighborhood packing a shotgun and was looking for 43 year old Lafayette Taylor. I seems that both Gory and Taylor had eyes for the same woman and thought that killing each other would resolve the issue. Gory unloaded his scattergun into Taylor's abdomen using very small bird shot. Taylor retaliated and Gory was injured in an undescribed manner. Both were taken to a hospital, treated and released with non life threatening wounds. Here we have 52 and 43 year old men fighting over a woman trying to use deady force. I wonder how old the woman was. How can she be worth killing someone over?
By now all of you know about the killings over near Tacoma, Washington. Early Sunday morning four uniformed policemen were sitting in a coffee shop with their laptops preparing to come on duty by looking to get a look-see and the most wanted. Someone walked into the shop and with a handgun killed all four of the cops. The police have a good description of the gunmen from the other people in the shop. That area is swarming with cops and dogs. It will be a miracle if the gunman will survive. Police frown on their own being killed and will be extra vigilant in their search for the gunman. I personally hope they cap his ass.
Good News:
Back in WWII when everybody in the Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz was trying to escape, a British soldier named Denis Avey smuggled his way in so he could witness the horror that was rampant and report it to the world. He had a double mission. He was there also to contact a prisoner named Ernst Lobethall on behalf of Ernst's sister who had escaped to the United States. Avey not only smuggled himself in but he had cigarettes and chocolate also. He gave this contraband to Ernst who traded them for favors which allowed him to survive. Ernst is dead but Denis is still with us at the age of 91. It is only recently that Denis was able to tell about his journeys into "hell on earth". He suffered severely with PTSD and it is no wonder.
This date in history November 30
1776 On this date one of the greatest screw-ups in history occurs. British Admiral Richard Howe and his bother British General William Howe offer amnesty to any colonist that would swear an oath to cease and desist from “Treasonable acting and doings” within 60 days. Earlier in September Admiral Howe had brought his fleet into Long Island Sound and disembarked his brother General William Howe and his well trained and polished infantry. After landing Howe engaged in two battles with Patriot General George Washington and his rag tag army and on one occasion Howe had the entire Patriot army flanked and could have cut off Washington’s retreat and captured and hanged him and his entire staff for treason and the rebellion would have ended. But the Howe brothers saw themselves as peace makers and allowed Washington and company to escape by boat over to Manhattan. A little while later The Patriots sent over a committee headed by Ben Franklin to negotiate with the Howe brothers. After two days of talks the negotiations broke down when the Howe brothers would not even consider American Independence as being necessary for peace. After this both sides ramped up for the all out war they knew was coming. Seven years later after an ocean of tears and blood was shed by our ancestors, victory was ours.
1835 On this date Samuel Clemens was born in Florida, Missouri. At the age of 13 he was apprenticed out to a printer but then went to work for an older brother who was an editor with the Hannibal Journal in Hannibal, Missouri. He was commissioned to write a humorous travel column for the Keokuk Daily Post in Keokuk, Iowa. But Samuel saw himself as a riverboat captain on the mighty Mississippi and became an apprentice. At the age of 23 he received his license as a riverboat captain. He piloted until the outbreak of the Civil War and then nearly all riverboat traffic was discontinued. It was during his time as a captain that he received the nickname of “Mark Twain” which was a call out signifying the depth of two fathoms which was the minimum safe depth on the river. He moved out west and began writing for the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise, in Virginia City, Nevada. He eventually moved to San Francisco and began writing in earnest and delivered one of his best renderings in “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”. In addition to this he gave us “Huckleberry Finn”, “Tom Sawyer”, “Roughin’ it” and many other gems. It is unlikely that the world will ever be graced with such a talented wit as he. He eventually moved to Hartford, Connecticut where he died in 1910. What a great legacy he left us all.
1864 Earlier CSA General John Bell Hood and the once proud army under his command was trying his damnedest to stop the enormous Union army from capturing Atlanta from the north. He was not successful and finally had to pull his troops out of the area and into Alabama to refit and recover. After finally getting his army into condition Hood headed for Nashville, Tennessee to try and capture the Union supplies known to be there. U.S. General William T. Sherman had enough troops that he was able to send and army commanded by General George Thomas to Nashville to protect his supplies. Thomas arrived at Nashville way ahead of Hood and was dug in way before Hood’s arrival. Yet another Union army commanded by General John Schofield was headed toward Nashville from the south and Hood was approaching Nashville from the southwest. It looked like Hood and Schofield would arrive at Nashville on the same day. Hood’s scouts and Schofield’s scouts had located each other’s armies and reported their positions back to their commanders. Schofield’s plan was to march right by Hood and go to the already prepared positions just south of Nashville near the town of Franklin, Tennessee. Hood attacked the left flank of Schofield marching army to no avail. In spite of being attacked, those Yankees made it to their prepared positions and dug in. Hood was furious and blamed his underlings for not stopping Schofield and arrayed his troops for a frontal assault. On this date, Hood launched a ferocious attack on Schofield’s center in spite of the fact that all of his army had not yet arrived and much of his artillery was still miles away. The Confederates marched off in perfect unison and broke the Yankee lines on the outer flanks but were unable to crack the center. Then the Yankees launched and equally ferocious counter-attack from the center and pushed the Confederates back in defeat. This was the last attack of this type in the Civil War. Any battle after this was a cavalry exchange or a siege. In this one battle Hood lost seven Generals and a majority of his regimental commanders not to mention 5,500 troops. This was the end of the Confederate army in the “western theatre”. There was a meeting of CSA General Lee and US General Grant five months later in Appomattox Court House, Virginia where Lee asked for terms for the surrender of the once mighty Army of Northern Virginia. The war was over.
1989 On this date the so called “America’s first serial killer” struck. A trucker named Richard Mallory was last seen in the company of Aileen Wournos. They had left a truck stop near Palm Bay, Florida and Richard was never seen alive again. They found his truck three days later near Ormond Beach with his wallet, a few condoms and pocket change on the front seat, but no Richard. Finally Richard’s body turned up in a Daytona Beach junkyard with three bullet holes in his chest. Over a period of two years seven men were found dead killed in a similar manner. The Florida Bureau of Investigation finally tracked Wournous down to a seedy biker bar near Tampa. She went on trial and was convicted of murder on seven counts. After the jury rendered their verdict, Aileen screamed “I am innocent. It was self defense. I was raped. I hope all of you scum sucking maggots get raped.” This was not a smooth move for Aileen because it would be the same jury that would convene two weeks later and determine her punishment. They gave her the death penalty. After Aileen figured out that the state of Florida was not kidding and they were going to kill her, she became a born again Christian. Sure enough, the state of Florida did indeed mean business and in October of 2002 she went meet her maker and her corpse was cremated. The ashes sent to her birthplace in Michigan where a former friend spread her ashes under a tree where they used to play. It seems sad, but think of the families of her victims first, and then think of Aileen.
Born today:
1874 British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. He said “Life is fraught with opportunities to keep your mouth shut.” Churchill is one of my favorite personalities.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Monday, November 30, 2009
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Thanksgiving
Here is a bonus...Happy Thanksgiving, y'all.
A Brief History of Thanksgiving in America
In spite of popular belief, the first Europeans to put ashore in what is now Plimouth (the way the early Europeans spelled it), Massachusetts was not the Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower in 1620, it was the infamous adventurer/explorer John Smith in 1614. That’s right; it is the same John Smith that had helped establish Jamestown, Virginia years before. Smith had come to Plimouth to do some mapping because he had intentions of starting a plantation there. After completing his mapping, Smith departed and left a man named Thomas Hart to establish trading with the Indians. Hart proved to be an unscrupulous bastard and coaxed 24 Nanset Indians aboard his ship and locked them in the hold and set sail. Hart had intentions of sailing to Malaga, Spain and selling the Indians into slavery. To say the least, the Nanset/Patuxet Indians were extremely pissed and any progress made toward trade with the Europeans went down the toilet. One of the Indians aboard Hart’s boat was named Tisquantum but he became known as Squanto and he played a major role in the successful settlement by the Pilgrims as you will see. Hart did indeed land at Malaga, Spain and attempted to sell the 24 Indians. The problem was that there was an abbey close by and some Franciscan Friars came down and put a stop to it. The Friars took most of the Indians under their wing and began teaching them Christianity. Squanto was not one of them. He made his way to England and became an employee of a man named Thomas Slayer who was the Treasurer of the Newfoundland Company. The Newfoundland Company needed someone that knew the terrain and could speak the different dialects of the Indians and they took Squanto to be that person. They wanted to establish a fur trading link with the Indians in the New World. After Squanto had learned enough English they sent him to Newfoundland to translate and establish liaison with the Indians. After Squanto had been in Newfoundland for a few years, he met a sailing captain name John Devers that was with John Smith on his visit to Plimouth. Squanto talked himself into accompanying Devers on his next trip to Plimouth so he could get to see his relatives that he had not seen for several years. Squanto finally did get back to Plimouth in 1619. The downside was that his village had been wiped out by an epidemic in 1618-1619, probably contracted from John Smith’s group, and all of his relatives had died of either Tuberculosis or Smallpox. He arrived just in time because the Mayflower arrived the next year. The Nauset Indians had not forgotten what Thomas Hart had done with the kidnapping of some their own and any suggestion that they should trade with the Europeans that Squanto knew was coming was met with scorn, especially by the most powerful chief in the area. That would be Massasoit, the Chief of the Wampanoag Confederation. But fortunately for the Pilgrims, Squanto was there to mediate. The Pilgrims finally arrived and anchored in Cape Cod Bay. It was not near any rock name Plimouth. Plimouth is a name given to the area by John Smith. From the git-go the Pilgrims had a hell of a time with the Indians but the Indians were fearful of their firearms and thought the Europeans could unleash an epidemic at will so they were very careful with them. The Mayflower had landed in November of 1620 and went through a hell of a winter with many of the pilgrims dying of exposure and starvation and all would have been wiped out if they had not received some help from the Indians at the behest of Squanto. The next spring the Indians helped the Pilgrims with gardening, especially maize or corn, and the local edible game and seafood. Squanto was responsible for this education also. The Harvest of 1621 saw the Pilgrims led by Governor William Bradford and the Indians led by Squanto and Massasoit exchange gifts of food and game. This was essentially the first Thanksgiving. The Pilgrims were not out of the woods yet because farther expansion westward led them into other tribe’s territories and fights ensued but after the first harvest, they knew they were here to stay. As I have said many times before, I have to believe that the United States was ordained to be here by a higher power because when our ancestors needed guidance someone always shows up. This time it was a strong administrator like William Bradford and a take-no-prisoners type military man like the diminutive Mile Standish and first and foremost it was Squanto. Miles Standish was so short that he had to cut six inches off his sword to keep it from dragging the ground but his lack of altitude was more than compensated by his fiery attitude. Squanto got too big for his britches and began extorting his people by threatening to have them shot or come down with a disease if they did not pay him off. Massasoit told Bradford the he wanted Squanto’s head because of the mistreatment of his people. Bradford had Squanto headed to the gallows when a ship showed up on the horizon and Bradford demurred, Bradford knew if it was more Pilgrims and Squanto would be essential to their survival. There was indeed more Pilgrims aboard the ship Fortune and Squanto’s life was spared but Bradford’s warning to stop the shit with the extortion had an effect.
Happy Thanksgiving
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Daily history
Good morning,
Quote of the day:
"Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first"
Bill Gates
This will the last lesson until this coming weekend. My daughters are in town.
On Tuesday morning a Spartanburg, SC cop spotted a suspicious car and ran the tag number. It came back as stolen. They light the car up and gave chase. The driver stopped and jumped out of the car and fired a shot at the cops, the cops returned fire and the driver jumped back in and drove away. There was a medium speed chase for a while then the driver stopped again, jumped out and fired another round and then threw the gun down and surrendered. It is a miracle that the cops did not kill him anyway. They take dim view of being shot at.
Down in Fairhope, Alabama the police were notified that man was holed up in the Ravenite Pizzaria across the street from the police station. The man had threatened to blow the building up and the police out side could smell gas coming from the building. A police negotiator was able to get in contact with the man inside but that did not work out. Then the cops called in a SWAT team who threw in a flash-bang grenade, kicked in the door and arrested the man without a fight. It turned out that the man was the owner, Rick Gambino. I guess Rick was in financial trouble and was trying to burn the business down. I also suspect he was trying to use his name as a draw to his business. The story is that one of the gathering spots for the Gambino crime family in New York City was the "Ravenite Club". The last crime boss that frequented that place was "The Teflon Don" John Gotti. John has since gone on to his reward.
Good News:
Kim Yamagucci up in Portmouth, New Hampshire has a son with severe autism and cerebral palsy. 15 year old Jason must be transported twice a week over 100 miles for treatment. Kim knew that her 1998 Ford Taurus was on its last legs and she would hold her breath when trying to start it. This past week she recieved a 2008 Chevrolet Impala as a gift from famous NASCAR car owner Rick Hendrick. The car came through the "Good News Foundation" which was founded for the purpose helping those in need with transportation.
This date in history November 25
1783 On this date nearly 3 months after the signing of the Treaty of Paris ending the American Revolutionary War, the final contingent of British soldiers leaves New York City. New York had been continuously occupied by the British since 1776. As soon as the British withdrew, a Patriot army led by George Washington marches in triumph into the city amid a jubilant crowd. Soon thereafter New York was declared the capitol of the United States and that is where George Washington received his first inauguration as President. New York was the capitol until 1790 and then the capitol was moved to Philadelphia. As you might suspect, the Americans that remained loyal to England during the war were between a rock and a hard place after the British left, the victorious Patriots had confiscated their lands and property. But England did not disappoint and gave lands in Ontario and Nova Scotia to the Loyalists. This event seriously changed the demographics and changed eastern Canada from a new France to a majority of English speaking protestants.
1863 On this day US General Ulysses Grant breaks the siege of Chattanooga, Tennessee. A substantial number of Union troops were trapped in a semi-circle in the city of Chattanooga and had been there for several weeks with no apparent way out. When Grant arrived on the scene he changed the strategy of defense to one of aggressive offense. After opening a supply line by driving the Confederates away from the Tennessee River in mid October, he planned a breakout to begin of November 23. The attack was in three parts with US General William T. Sherman on the left flank and US General Joseph Hooker on the right. Both on these attacks failed but the attack on the center led by US General George succeeded. The success came primarily because of confusion in the orders on both sides. Eventually, the Union troops pushed the Confederates out of their poorly prepared rifle pits and then on to the top of the ridge they were defending. This battle was know afterward as the Battle of Missionary Ridge and went a long way toward driving the Confederates out of Tennessee. After this debacle the overall Confederate commander, CSA General Braxton Bragg, blamed everyone but himself for the loss. But CSA President Jefferson Davis was not fooled and pressed for Bragg to resign which he did by having lost the confidence of his troops. His replacement was CSA General Joseph E. Johnston.
1950 The so-called “Storm of the Century” or the “Appalachian Storm” gets underway. A low pressure system over North Carolina gets some rotation and forms into a major storm and heads northeast. This monster dumped massive amounts of snow on West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania. The snow depth prevented travel in many areas for a week, and then it gathers some steam and heads into New England. It wasn’t just the snow it was the wind also. New York city recorded wind speeds of 94 MPH and on Bear Mountain north of New York there was a gust of 140 MPH recorded. The temperature on Mount Mitchell, North Carolina fell to 26 degrees below that night. The strange thing was that in Buffalo, New York the wind reached a speed of 50 MPH but the temperature never got below 50 degrees. The US weather service reported that this storm had the greatest difference in weather ever recorded in America. Over 160 people died in this storm.
1876 On this date the US Cavalry launches a retaliatory raid against the Cheyenne for the Little Big Horn massacre of Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer and his 7th Cavalry. After news of this event reached the east coast a public outcry was raised to intensify the “Indian War”. So the US Cavalry called up US General Ranald McKenzie from the Texas area to lead an expedition to find and punish the Cheyenne. McKenzie had good results fighting the Comanche and Kiowa tribes in Texas. He gathered 1,000 troopers and 400 Indian guides and headed out. He tracked down the Powder River and finally found a Cheyenne village under the leadership of chief Dull Knife. Then the troopers did the honorable thing. They got into position before daylight and opened fired on the sleeping village at dawn. Many Indians were killed instantly but many escaped into the nearby woods and had to watch many more being slaughtered and their winter food supplies and clothing being burned. The troopers were not done yet. They cut the throats of all of the Cheyenne ponies. After the troopers left the survivors began a 11 day journey to the village of Sioux chief Crazy Horse who took them in but many very young and elderly did not survive the walk. The next year Dull Knife talked his people into surrendering and they were sent to the “Indian Nation” in what is now the state of Oklahoma.
Born today:
1835 Scottish-US industrialist Andrew Carnegie. He said “The first man gets the oyster and the second one gets the shell.” I am about OD’ed on oysters for the present but I sure that will change.
1846 US temperance leader Carrie Nation. When speaking about cigarette smokers she said “I want all those hellions to quit puffing that hell fume into God’s clean air”. Hell yes Carrie, give me a good old fashioned coal fired power plant any time.
1915 Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. He said “I am not a dictator I just have a grumpy face.” I addition to the ugly face, he has the blood of thousands on his hands that were tortured and killed under his administration.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Quote of the day:
"Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first"
Bill Gates
This will the last lesson until this coming weekend. My daughters are in town.
On Tuesday morning a Spartanburg, SC cop spotted a suspicious car and ran the tag number. It came back as stolen. They light the car up and gave chase. The driver stopped and jumped out of the car and fired a shot at the cops, the cops returned fire and the driver jumped back in and drove away. There was a medium speed chase for a while then the driver stopped again, jumped out and fired another round and then threw the gun down and surrendered. It is a miracle that the cops did not kill him anyway. They take dim view of being shot at.
Down in Fairhope, Alabama the police were notified that man was holed up in the Ravenite Pizzaria across the street from the police station. The man had threatened to blow the building up and the police out side could smell gas coming from the building. A police negotiator was able to get in contact with the man inside but that did not work out. Then the cops called in a SWAT team who threw in a flash-bang grenade, kicked in the door and arrested the man without a fight. It turned out that the man was the owner, Rick Gambino. I guess Rick was in financial trouble and was trying to burn the business down. I also suspect he was trying to use his name as a draw to his business. The story is that one of the gathering spots for the Gambino crime family in New York City was the "Ravenite Club". The last crime boss that frequented that place was "The Teflon Don" John Gotti. John has since gone on to his reward.
Good News:
Kim Yamagucci up in Portmouth, New Hampshire has a son with severe autism and cerebral palsy. 15 year old Jason must be transported twice a week over 100 miles for treatment. Kim knew that her 1998 Ford Taurus was on its last legs and she would hold her breath when trying to start it. This past week she recieved a 2008 Chevrolet Impala as a gift from famous NASCAR car owner Rick Hendrick. The car came through the "Good News Foundation" which was founded for the purpose helping those in need with transportation.
This date in history November 25
1783 On this date nearly 3 months after the signing of the Treaty of Paris ending the American Revolutionary War, the final contingent of British soldiers leaves New York City. New York had been continuously occupied by the British since 1776. As soon as the British withdrew, a Patriot army led by George Washington marches in triumph into the city amid a jubilant crowd. Soon thereafter New York was declared the capitol of the United States and that is where George Washington received his first inauguration as President. New York was the capitol until 1790 and then the capitol was moved to Philadelphia. As you might suspect, the Americans that remained loyal to England during the war were between a rock and a hard place after the British left, the victorious Patriots had confiscated their lands and property. But England did not disappoint and gave lands in Ontario and Nova Scotia to the Loyalists. This event seriously changed the demographics and changed eastern Canada from a new France to a majority of English speaking protestants.
1863 On this day US General Ulysses Grant breaks the siege of Chattanooga, Tennessee. A substantial number of Union troops were trapped in a semi-circle in the city of Chattanooga and had been there for several weeks with no apparent way out. When Grant arrived on the scene he changed the strategy of defense to one of aggressive offense. After opening a supply line by driving the Confederates away from the Tennessee River in mid October, he planned a breakout to begin of November 23. The attack was in three parts with US General William T. Sherman on the left flank and US General Joseph Hooker on the right. Both on these attacks failed but the attack on the center led by US General George succeeded. The success came primarily because of confusion in the orders on both sides. Eventually, the Union troops pushed the Confederates out of their poorly prepared rifle pits and then on to the top of the ridge they were defending. This battle was know afterward as the Battle of Missionary Ridge and went a long way toward driving the Confederates out of Tennessee. After this debacle the overall Confederate commander, CSA General Braxton Bragg, blamed everyone but himself for the loss. But CSA President Jefferson Davis was not fooled and pressed for Bragg to resign which he did by having lost the confidence of his troops. His replacement was CSA General Joseph E. Johnston.
1950 The so-called “Storm of the Century” or the “Appalachian Storm” gets underway. A low pressure system over North Carolina gets some rotation and forms into a major storm and heads northeast. This monster dumped massive amounts of snow on West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania. The snow depth prevented travel in many areas for a week, and then it gathers some steam and heads into New England. It wasn’t just the snow it was the wind also. New York city recorded wind speeds of 94 MPH and on Bear Mountain north of New York there was a gust of 140 MPH recorded. The temperature on Mount Mitchell, North Carolina fell to 26 degrees below that night. The strange thing was that in Buffalo, New York the wind reached a speed of 50 MPH but the temperature never got below 50 degrees. The US weather service reported that this storm had the greatest difference in weather ever recorded in America. Over 160 people died in this storm.
1876 On this date the US Cavalry launches a retaliatory raid against the Cheyenne for the Little Big Horn massacre of Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer and his 7th Cavalry. After news of this event reached the east coast a public outcry was raised to intensify the “Indian War”. So the US Cavalry called up US General Ranald McKenzie from the Texas area to lead an expedition to find and punish the Cheyenne. McKenzie had good results fighting the Comanche and Kiowa tribes in Texas. He gathered 1,000 troopers and 400 Indian guides and headed out. He tracked down the Powder River and finally found a Cheyenne village under the leadership of chief Dull Knife. Then the troopers did the honorable thing. They got into position before daylight and opened fired on the sleeping village at dawn. Many Indians were killed instantly but many escaped into the nearby woods and had to watch many more being slaughtered and their winter food supplies and clothing being burned. The troopers were not done yet. They cut the throats of all of the Cheyenne ponies. After the troopers left the survivors began a 11 day journey to the village of Sioux chief Crazy Horse who took them in but many very young and elderly did not survive the walk. The next year Dull Knife talked his people into surrendering and they were sent to the “Indian Nation” in what is now the state of Oklahoma.
Born today:
1835 Scottish-US industrialist Andrew Carnegie. He said “The first man gets the oyster and the second one gets the shell.” I am about OD’ed on oysters for the present but I sure that will change.
1846 US temperance leader Carrie Nation. When speaking about cigarette smokers she said “I want all those hellions to quit puffing that hell fume into God’s clean air”. Hell yes Carrie, give me a good old fashioned coal fired power plant any time.
1915 Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. He said “I am not a dictator I just have a grumpy face.” I addition to the ugly face, he has the blood of thousands on his hands that were tortured and killed under his administration.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Daily history
Good morning,
Quote of the day:
"You don't get to choose they way or when you are going to die. You only get to choose how you are going to live right now."
Joan Baez
You South Carolinians will be glad to know that an ethics committee has been formed look into the alleged 37 ethics violations perpetrated by Governor Mark Sanford. The name of this committee should be named "Hypocrisy incorporated" and is lead by David "Two Tongues" Thomas of Fountain Inn, SC. The allegations deal with the use of the state airplane for personal and political reasons rather than state business. The committee also has their panties in a wad over Sanford allegedly using a higher priced airline seats than is allowed to other state employees. The Governor has already offered to step down if the state will pay him the money he would make until the end of his term. But the carrion eaters in state government had rather use this opportunity to get their names in the media. The reason I know this is no matter what decision this phoney committee arrives at, it will be the Attorney General Henry McMaster's choice to pursue it or not. I hate politics.
Recently a cutting-edge edition of an assault ship built by the French docked at Saint Petersburg, Russia. Russia has not had a viable navy since their collapse during the Gorbachev years. Since then the former countries of Georgia, Bosnia, etc. have been giving Russia hell. This new ship can carry 26 assault helicopters and 400 assault troops along with many other configurations. This means that if trouble breaks out, Russia can have shock troops on the ground in 40 minutes rather than 23 hours like it does now. Naturally the neighboring countries are raising hell but I think it will be for naught, the Russians are notoriously paranoid.
Good news:
Last year on the way down to Pensacola Beach I saw a land being scraped off in a large valley between LaGrange, Georgia and the Alabama line. There was a large sign saying that there was a Kia assembly plant going in there. On the way back toward Greenville, SC this year I saw the plant site completed with many cars in the parking lot. I found out that that area of America was suffering 12% unemployment but this plant is employing about 2,000 people and the perimeter will employ many more. I am glad to see it and so should y'all.
This date in history November 24
1859 After spending five years at sea aboard an exploratory ship the HMS Beagle, English scientist Charles Darwin finally publishes a book about what he had seen and deduced during his travels. He waited quite a few years before publishing The Origin of Species because he knew how much hell would be raised by the evangelicals. The books tell how man adapted to his environment through the “survival” of the fittest” meaning those creatures that had the right distribution of the genetics would survive whilst those that did not would perish. Those creatures with the right genetics would continue to thrive and reproduce their images. If there was a change in the environment, then there would be another period of testing whereby those that had the right genetics to be able to survive would send forth their genetics to their progeny, etc, etc. Notice that there was no mention of divine guidance and intervention. This is what bothered the bible-thumpers. Then in 1871 Darwin unleashed yet another bomb. He published The Descent of Man which traced the rise of man from a lower animal again with no mention of God. Oh Hell!!! The Evangelicals began a show of fury and foaming at the mouth that continues to this day. I am no geneticists but it is a fact that mans genetic profile is more than 90% that of a chimpanzee. I personally believe in the rise of man through evolution from lower animal and resolve it in my mind by saying to my self that God used evolution as the mechanics to get man to where he is today. The problem that I have not yet resolved is the issue of at what point did man achieve having a soul. The existence of a God is unquestionable and I can prove it with logic and not with a leap of faith or reading a bible. OK, I will shut up now.
1963 Two days earlier the President of the United States John F. Kennedy was shot and killed while riding around Dallas, Texas in an open car. A man named Lee Harvey Oswald was stopped and questioned by Dallas cop J. D. Tippet whereupon Oswald whipped out a pistol and shot and killed Tippet. Oswald was eventually captured and charged with the murder of Officer Tippet and was sent to jail. On this date, the Dallas Police chose to move Oswald to a different facility and while Oswald was being moved out of the basement of the jail amid a swarm of Dallas cops, a strip club owner named Jack Ruby broke through and pumped one round from his .38 Special into the stomach of Oswald. Oswald died the next day. Ruby was immediately arrested and charged with 1st degree murder. He said that his motive was his rage at the killing of President Kennedy but the skeptical ones (me included) believe he did it to silence Oswald from spilling his guts about a giant conspiracy. To me the proof positive was that in very short time Ruby was discovered and having stomach cancer and died. To me that sounds like Jack knew his days was numbered and he volunteered to the other conspirators to kill Oswald because he was living on borrowed time anyway.
1971 This date saw the beginning of a legend. A man named D.B. Cooper commandeered a Northwest Orient Airline B-727 and forced it to land at the Seattle–Tacoma airport. He demanded $200,000 and four parachutes. His demands were met and the plane took back off without the passengers and the crew locked into the cockpit with instructions to “fly toward Mexico”. About 15 minutes into the flight, the crew detected that the rear stair door had opened. After the plane landed the crew found that Cooper had indeed bailed out of the aircraft. The problem was the aircraft was flying through a violent thunderstorm when Cooper bailed out. Most people believed that Cooper had been killed during the jump however; in 1980 a kid found about $6,000 of the ransom money buried a sandy bank of the Columbia River five miles from Vancouver, Washington which was a long ass way from the bailout point. Anyway, no trace of D.B. Cooper or the remainder of the ransom money has ever been found.
1944 Earlier a United States Army Air Force reconnaissance B-29 named "Tokyo Rose" made a pass over Tokyo taking 700 photos of the Nakajima aircraft factory. This factory would be the target for a raid very soon. On this date 111 B-29’s departed Tinian and Saipan headed for the Nakajima Aircraft factory. They bombed the hell out of Iwo Jima on the way which was about half way to Tokyo to keep the Japanese fighters on the ground. At this point in time the Marines had not yet captured Iwo Jima. Upon their arrival at Tokyo they found the target obscured by clouds and even with radar their bombing was only 5% effective. But this raid was just the first of an ocean of B-29’s coming to Japan.
Born today:
1713 English writer Laurence Sterne. He said “I take a simple view of life. I keep my eyes open and get on with it.” It sounds like Larry was living a life of drudgery.
1808 French writer Alphonse Kerr. He said “Some people think that virtue consists of severity toward others.” Some people are full of shit too, Alphonse.
1877 US Vice President Alben Barkley. He said “The best audience is intelligent, well educated and a little drunk.” Alben, you need to hang around with my trashy friends.
1922 English statistician Sir Claus Moser. He said “Education is expensive, but not as expensive as ignorance.” Hey Claus, did you say something?
1925 US writer William F. Buckley. He said “Bobby Kennedy and Nelson Rockefeller are having a fight, ostensively over the plight of New York’s mentally retarded who the majority of are people that voted for Bobby Kennedy and Nelson Rockefeller.” Bill Buckley is a conservative’s conservative.
1944 US actress Candy Darling. She said “I believe that the socially unacceptable men make the best lovers because they are more sensitive”
Hey Candy, did you know that I am known as “Lone Wolf” Campbell?
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
.
Quote of the day:
"You don't get to choose they way or when you are going to die. You only get to choose how you are going to live right now."
Joan Baez
You South Carolinians will be glad to know that an ethics committee has been formed look into the alleged 37 ethics violations perpetrated by Governor Mark Sanford. The name of this committee should be named "Hypocrisy incorporated" and is lead by David "Two Tongues" Thomas of Fountain Inn, SC. The allegations deal with the use of the state airplane for personal and political reasons rather than state business. The committee also has their panties in a wad over Sanford allegedly using a higher priced airline seats than is allowed to other state employees. The Governor has already offered to step down if the state will pay him the money he would make until the end of his term. But the carrion eaters in state government had rather use this opportunity to get their names in the media. The reason I know this is no matter what decision this phoney committee arrives at, it will be the Attorney General Henry McMaster's choice to pursue it or not. I hate politics.
Recently a cutting-edge edition of an assault ship built by the French docked at Saint Petersburg, Russia. Russia has not had a viable navy since their collapse during the Gorbachev years. Since then the former countries of Georgia, Bosnia, etc. have been giving Russia hell. This new ship can carry 26 assault helicopters and 400 assault troops along with many other configurations. This means that if trouble breaks out, Russia can have shock troops on the ground in 40 minutes rather than 23 hours like it does now. Naturally the neighboring countries are raising hell but I think it will be for naught, the Russians are notoriously paranoid.
Good news:
Last year on the way down to Pensacola Beach I saw a land being scraped off in a large valley between LaGrange, Georgia and the Alabama line. There was a large sign saying that there was a Kia assembly plant going in there. On the way back toward Greenville, SC this year I saw the plant site completed with many cars in the parking lot. I found out that that area of America was suffering 12% unemployment but this plant is employing about 2,000 people and the perimeter will employ many more. I am glad to see it and so should y'all.
This date in history November 24
1859 After spending five years at sea aboard an exploratory ship the HMS Beagle, English scientist Charles Darwin finally publishes a book about what he had seen and deduced during his travels. He waited quite a few years before publishing The Origin of Species because he knew how much hell would be raised by the evangelicals. The books tell how man adapted to his environment through the “survival” of the fittest” meaning those creatures that had the right distribution of the genetics would survive whilst those that did not would perish. Those creatures with the right genetics would continue to thrive and reproduce their images. If there was a change in the environment, then there would be another period of testing whereby those that had the right genetics to be able to survive would send forth their genetics to their progeny, etc, etc. Notice that there was no mention of divine guidance and intervention. This is what bothered the bible-thumpers. Then in 1871 Darwin unleashed yet another bomb. He published The Descent of Man which traced the rise of man from a lower animal again with no mention of God. Oh Hell!!! The Evangelicals began a show of fury and foaming at the mouth that continues to this day. I am no geneticists but it is a fact that mans genetic profile is more than 90% that of a chimpanzee. I personally believe in the rise of man through evolution from lower animal and resolve it in my mind by saying to my self that God used evolution as the mechanics to get man to where he is today. The problem that I have not yet resolved is the issue of at what point did man achieve having a soul. The existence of a God is unquestionable and I can prove it with logic and not with a leap of faith or reading a bible. OK, I will shut up now.
1963 Two days earlier the President of the United States John F. Kennedy was shot and killed while riding around Dallas, Texas in an open car. A man named Lee Harvey Oswald was stopped and questioned by Dallas cop J. D. Tippet whereupon Oswald whipped out a pistol and shot and killed Tippet. Oswald was eventually captured and charged with the murder of Officer Tippet and was sent to jail. On this date, the Dallas Police chose to move Oswald to a different facility and while Oswald was being moved out of the basement of the jail amid a swarm of Dallas cops, a strip club owner named Jack Ruby broke through and pumped one round from his .38 Special into the stomach of Oswald. Oswald died the next day. Ruby was immediately arrested and charged with 1st degree murder. He said that his motive was his rage at the killing of President Kennedy but the skeptical ones (me included) believe he did it to silence Oswald from spilling his guts about a giant conspiracy. To me the proof positive was that in very short time Ruby was discovered and having stomach cancer and died. To me that sounds like Jack knew his days was numbered and he volunteered to the other conspirators to kill Oswald because he was living on borrowed time anyway.
1971 This date saw the beginning of a legend. A man named D.B. Cooper commandeered a Northwest Orient Airline B-727 and forced it to land at the Seattle–Tacoma airport. He demanded $200,000 and four parachutes. His demands were met and the plane took back off without the passengers and the crew locked into the cockpit with instructions to “fly toward Mexico”. About 15 minutes into the flight, the crew detected that the rear stair door had opened. After the plane landed the crew found that Cooper had indeed bailed out of the aircraft. The problem was the aircraft was flying through a violent thunderstorm when Cooper bailed out. Most people believed that Cooper had been killed during the jump however; in 1980 a kid found about $6,000 of the ransom money buried a sandy bank of the Columbia River five miles from Vancouver, Washington which was a long ass way from the bailout point. Anyway, no trace of D.B. Cooper or the remainder of the ransom money has ever been found.
1944 Earlier a United States Army Air Force reconnaissance B-29 named "Tokyo Rose" made a pass over Tokyo taking 700 photos of the Nakajima aircraft factory. This factory would be the target for a raid very soon. On this date 111 B-29’s departed Tinian and Saipan headed for the Nakajima Aircraft factory. They bombed the hell out of Iwo Jima on the way which was about half way to Tokyo to keep the Japanese fighters on the ground. At this point in time the Marines had not yet captured Iwo Jima. Upon their arrival at Tokyo they found the target obscured by clouds and even with radar their bombing was only 5% effective. But this raid was just the first of an ocean of B-29’s coming to Japan.
Born today:
1713 English writer Laurence Sterne. He said “I take a simple view of life. I keep my eyes open and get on with it.” It sounds like Larry was living a life of drudgery.
1808 French writer Alphonse Kerr. He said “Some people think that virtue consists of severity toward others.” Some people are full of shit too, Alphonse.
1877 US Vice President Alben Barkley. He said “The best audience is intelligent, well educated and a little drunk.” Alben, you need to hang around with my trashy friends.
1922 English statistician Sir Claus Moser. He said “Education is expensive, but not as expensive as ignorance.” Hey Claus, did you say something?
1925 US writer William F. Buckley. He said “Bobby Kennedy and Nelson Rockefeller are having a fight, ostensively over the plight of New York’s mentally retarded who the majority of are people that voted for Bobby Kennedy and Nelson Rockefeller.” Bill Buckley is a conservative’s conservative.
1944 US actress Candy Darling. She said “I believe that the socially unacceptable men make the best lovers because they are more sensitive”
Hey Candy, did you know that I am known as “Lone Wolf” Campbell?
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Daily history
Good morning,
Quote of the day:
"Love is a choice you make from moment to moment."
Barbara DeAngelis
Hey Barbara, does that apply in a one-time sleepover?
Last Friday night I went to hear a kick-ass singer/guitarist at a local place called Brown Street Club here in Greenville, SC. My brother found this girl and gave me a CD of her and I have been following her ever since. Her name is Sabra Callas.
A 17 year old female high school senior in a school about 20 miles south of Greenville, SC showed up missing last Wednesday. They found her car and her corpse this past Saturday. It is strange that the coroner was unable to determine the exact cause of death, he suspected strangulation but he would not be sure until an autopsy was performed. How tough can it be to find a ligature mark on a neck?
This for all of you that live in the Greenville, SC area. Law enforcement is twisting down tighter than Dick's hat band. They don't cut anybody any slack in traffic stops and their "drivers license checkpoints" have sprung up double the normal rate. All of this started when a confessed killer was given 3 years probation and 500 hours of community service. Almighty hell has been raised with law enforcement and the judicial system in this county and rightly so. There is no question that the killer was released because he was wealthy and who he was and who he knew. To add insult to injury, when the Solicitor requested that the judge reconsider his sentence, the judge arrogantly said that he would reconsider it when he felt like it. Because of this embarrassment, law enforcement is cracking down to prove to everyone that they are not corrupt. Riiiggghht!
Speaking of embarrassments, the attempts by the left wing media to ridicule Sarah Palin just reinforces my belief that there is no such thing as non-prejudicial news reporting anymore, all of it is in one political arena or another meaning you cannot really believe anything you read or see in the media as being factual and complete. All of the media has an agenda and we are something to be manipulated to fit a mold. You should be embarrassed if you are taken in by this assault on your common sense.
By now all of you know that the Senate version of the so-called Health Care Reform Bill has passed. That issue is a long way from being enacted. There are many more steps to come.
I saw a brief bio on stand-up comedian Sam Kenison. Sam was from the west coast and at one time was a evangelist but he decided that he wanted to go into show biz. He got a couple of breaks and eventually he was getting $50,000 a show and his lifestyle began to hinge on Southern Comfort and cocaine. He hit his professional peak and the low point in his personal life within a matter of months. As his bookings dwindled, Sam figured out that it was his lifestyle that was killing his career and made a change. With the help of AA, Sam gave up the Southern Comfort and cocaine. Shortly after getting married he was involved in a car wreck and was seriously injured. While lying on the side of the road Sam suddenly said "No, no, not yet!" Shortly after that he said "OK, OK", then he died. To all of you atheists out there, who was Sam talking to?
Good news:
There is a village in the Netherlands named Essent. This village is surrounded by dairy farms and the village has decided to use the abundant cow dung to heat their homes. The are not going to dry it out and burn it in a fireplace, they are going to put the dung and residual feed grains into a digester and send the resulting biogas to a gas turbine as fuel which will then be sent to heat the 1,100 homes in the village. This means that the demeaning phrase "Not worth a s--t" has no basis in fact.
This date in history November 23
1749 “The Reluctant Patriot” Edward Rutledge is born in Charleston, South Carolina. Edward and his brother John were both Oxford educated attorneys and had very lucrative practices across the street from each other in Charleston. John and Edward were the sons of a physician the immigrated from Ireland. When the fever of American independence from England began to rise in the colonies, Edward and John fostered patience and were opposed to war. Edward communicated frequently with John Jay of New York about being patient and avoid war with the most powerful nation in the world. Edward became a member of the Continental Congress and after he saw that war was inevitable, he was a signatory to the Declaration of Independence at the age of 26, the youngest man to do so.
1819 Benjamin Mayberry Prentiss is born in Belleville, Virginia. His family moved to Missouri and then to Quincy, Illinois. He joined the Illinois Militia and was present during the lynching of Mormon Founder Joseph Smith. At the outbreak of the Civil War his unit was assigned the security of Cairo, Illinois at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. Later his unit was assigned the task of protecting the Hannibal-Saint Joseph railroad across northern Missouri. Eventually Prentiss’ unit was sent to join US General Ulysses Grant’s Army of Tennessee. Very soon thereafter The Army of Tennessee met the Confederate army commanded by CSA General Albert Sidney Johnson near a church close to the banks of the Tennessee River called Shiloh. Johnson unleashed as ferocious attack that pushed the Yankees almost into the river. Grant assigned Prentiss’ unit to delay the Confederate advance at all costs so Grant could better prepare a defense. Prentiss and his men dug in at a spot that was later name the “Hornet’s Nest” and they meant to stay. They were stubborn and did indeed delay the advance but when Prentiss saw the Confederates line up several cannon set hub to hub aimed at him and his unit, he knew the end was near. After one salvo of canister by the Confederates, Prentiss and the other survivors of his unit were captured. Before the Battle of Shiloh he was on the Court Marshal of US General Fitz-John Porter who refused to carry out orders issued by the inept General John Pope at the battle of 2nd Manassas which Porter considered suicide. Porter was stripped of rank and cashiered out of the army. Incidentally, the Union Army did indeed receive a severe ass-kicking at 2nd Manassas but not because of Porter’s disobedience but because Pope was overwhelmingly out-generaled by Robert E. Lee. But Pope needed a scapegoat and Porter was it. After the war the US could not find a place for Prentiss and he resigned. He became a postmaster for many years in Missouri. He died there in 1901.
1979 Well known IRA (Irish Republican Army) terrorist Thomas McMahon is sentenced to life in prison for the assassination of English war hero Lord Louis Mountbatten. On August 27 McMahon had boarded Mountbatten’s boat docked in Donegal Bay, Ireland and planted 50 pounds of TNT with a remote detonation device attached. Finally Lord Mountbatten and a party of five board the boat and set out. McMahon remotely detonates the TNT and four people are killed including Mountbatten. The same day another bomb detonated in a train station in Northern Ireland killing 18 English Army Paratroopers for which the IRA took credit also. In 1998 the so-called Good Friday Agreement goes into effect whereby certain jailed IRA members would be released in return for a truce, McMahon was released swearing that he was through with terrorism and the IRA.
1903 Earlier the union of the Western Federation of miners had called for a sympathy strike by its members for the smelter workers that were seeking an 8 hour work day. Slowly but surely the strike spread across the western mines. The hotbed of union activity was at the gold and silver mines near Cripple Creek, Colorado. The mine owners at Cripple Creek began hiring scabs and as you might suspect, the striking miners set up lines that blocked access to the mine entrances. Soon there was over 1,000 miners manning that picket line. The mine operators knew they could not overwhelm that many men and sent a telegraph to Governor of Colorado James Peabody asking for help. On this date the good Governor sent in the Colorado Militia to break the strike and allow the scabs to go into the mines. When the militia arrives the mother all riots begins but the militia did indeed prevail and public opinion swayed in favor of the Union because of this outrage. Apparently in retaliation the union hired famous assassin Harry Orchard and Harry did not disappoint and blew up a railroad station killing 13 scabs. Public opinion then swayed the other direction and the miners Unions lost ground and negotiation strength that was not recovered until the advent of the United Mine Workers (UMW) led by John L. Lewis. He led the miner’s union back into prominence in the early 1940’s and the Union became a very powerful influence in America.
Births and deaths:
1927 US writer Guy Davenport is born. He said “In curved Einsteinian space, technically, at times we would be looking at the back of our own heads.”
1938 US Ad Exec Alexander Kroll is born. He said “When Alexander the Great met with the great Greek thinker Diogenes, Alexander asked if he could do anything for him” Diogenes answered with “Just stay out of my light.” That’s funny.
1973 US actress Constance Talmadge dies. When walking onto the set to begin a movie directed by the immortal D.W. Griffith, she turned to Griffith and said “I am here your Majesty, you may begin at once.” Smart ass.
Quotable quotes:
“Hillary Clinton said in her book that it was hard for her to forgive Bill but if Nelson Mandela can forgive then I should be able to. I did not know that Bill had hit on Mandela’s wife.” Jay Leno
“I made love to a female clown once and she twisted my penis into a poodle.”
Dan Whitney
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Quote of the day:
"Love is a choice you make from moment to moment."
Barbara DeAngelis
Hey Barbara, does that apply in a one-time sleepover?
Last Friday night I went to hear a kick-ass singer/guitarist at a local place called Brown Street Club here in Greenville, SC. My brother found this girl and gave me a CD of her and I have been following her ever since. Her name is Sabra Callas.
A 17 year old female high school senior in a school about 20 miles south of Greenville, SC showed up missing last Wednesday. They found her car and her corpse this past Saturday. It is strange that the coroner was unable to determine the exact cause of death, he suspected strangulation but he would not be sure until an autopsy was performed. How tough can it be to find a ligature mark on a neck?
This for all of you that live in the Greenville, SC area. Law enforcement is twisting down tighter than Dick's hat band. They don't cut anybody any slack in traffic stops and their "drivers license checkpoints" have sprung up double the normal rate. All of this started when a confessed killer was given 3 years probation and 500 hours of community service. Almighty hell has been raised with law enforcement and the judicial system in this county and rightly so. There is no question that the killer was released because he was wealthy and who he was and who he knew. To add insult to injury, when the Solicitor requested that the judge reconsider his sentence, the judge arrogantly said that he would reconsider it when he felt like it. Because of this embarrassment, law enforcement is cracking down to prove to everyone that they are not corrupt. Riiiggghht!
Speaking of embarrassments, the attempts by the left wing media to ridicule Sarah Palin just reinforces my belief that there is no such thing as non-prejudicial news reporting anymore, all of it is in one political arena or another meaning you cannot really believe anything you read or see in the media as being factual and complete. All of the media has an agenda and we are something to be manipulated to fit a mold. You should be embarrassed if you are taken in by this assault on your common sense.
By now all of you know that the Senate version of the so-called Health Care Reform Bill has passed. That issue is a long way from being enacted. There are many more steps to come.
I saw a brief bio on stand-up comedian Sam Kenison. Sam was from the west coast and at one time was a evangelist but he decided that he wanted to go into show biz. He got a couple of breaks and eventually he was getting $50,000 a show and his lifestyle began to hinge on Southern Comfort and cocaine. He hit his professional peak and the low point in his personal life within a matter of months. As his bookings dwindled, Sam figured out that it was his lifestyle that was killing his career and made a change. With the help of AA, Sam gave up the Southern Comfort and cocaine. Shortly after getting married he was involved in a car wreck and was seriously injured. While lying on the side of the road Sam suddenly said "No, no, not yet!" Shortly after that he said "OK, OK", then he died. To all of you atheists out there, who was Sam talking to?
Good news:
There is a village in the Netherlands named Essent. This village is surrounded by dairy farms and the village has decided to use the abundant cow dung to heat their homes. The are not going to dry it out and burn it in a fireplace, they are going to put the dung and residual feed grains into a digester and send the resulting biogas to a gas turbine as fuel which will then be sent to heat the 1,100 homes in the village. This means that the demeaning phrase "Not worth a s--t" has no basis in fact.
This date in history November 23
1749 “The Reluctant Patriot” Edward Rutledge is born in Charleston, South Carolina. Edward and his brother John were both Oxford educated attorneys and had very lucrative practices across the street from each other in Charleston. John and Edward were the sons of a physician the immigrated from Ireland. When the fever of American independence from England began to rise in the colonies, Edward and John fostered patience and were opposed to war. Edward communicated frequently with John Jay of New York about being patient and avoid war with the most powerful nation in the world. Edward became a member of the Continental Congress and after he saw that war was inevitable, he was a signatory to the Declaration of Independence at the age of 26, the youngest man to do so.
1819 Benjamin Mayberry Prentiss is born in Belleville, Virginia. His family moved to Missouri and then to Quincy, Illinois. He joined the Illinois Militia and was present during the lynching of Mormon Founder Joseph Smith. At the outbreak of the Civil War his unit was assigned the security of Cairo, Illinois at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. Later his unit was assigned the task of protecting the Hannibal-Saint Joseph railroad across northern Missouri. Eventually Prentiss’ unit was sent to join US General Ulysses Grant’s Army of Tennessee. Very soon thereafter The Army of Tennessee met the Confederate army commanded by CSA General Albert Sidney Johnson near a church close to the banks of the Tennessee River called Shiloh. Johnson unleashed as ferocious attack that pushed the Yankees almost into the river. Grant assigned Prentiss’ unit to delay the Confederate advance at all costs so Grant could better prepare a defense. Prentiss and his men dug in at a spot that was later name the “Hornet’s Nest” and they meant to stay. They were stubborn and did indeed delay the advance but when Prentiss saw the Confederates line up several cannon set hub to hub aimed at him and his unit, he knew the end was near. After one salvo of canister by the Confederates, Prentiss and the other survivors of his unit were captured. Before the Battle of Shiloh he was on the Court Marshal of US General Fitz-John Porter who refused to carry out orders issued by the inept General John Pope at the battle of 2nd Manassas which Porter considered suicide. Porter was stripped of rank and cashiered out of the army. Incidentally, the Union Army did indeed receive a severe ass-kicking at 2nd Manassas but not because of Porter’s disobedience but because Pope was overwhelmingly out-generaled by Robert E. Lee. But Pope needed a scapegoat and Porter was it. After the war the US could not find a place for Prentiss and he resigned. He became a postmaster for many years in Missouri. He died there in 1901.
1979 Well known IRA (Irish Republican Army) terrorist Thomas McMahon is sentenced to life in prison for the assassination of English war hero Lord Louis Mountbatten. On August 27 McMahon had boarded Mountbatten’s boat docked in Donegal Bay, Ireland and planted 50 pounds of TNT with a remote detonation device attached. Finally Lord Mountbatten and a party of five board the boat and set out. McMahon remotely detonates the TNT and four people are killed including Mountbatten. The same day another bomb detonated in a train station in Northern Ireland killing 18 English Army Paratroopers for which the IRA took credit also. In 1998 the so-called Good Friday Agreement goes into effect whereby certain jailed IRA members would be released in return for a truce, McMahon was released swearing that he was through with terrorism and the IRA.
1903 Earlier the union of the Western Federation of miners had called for a sympathy strike by its members for the smelter workers that were seeking an 8 hour work day. Slowly but surely the strike spread across the western mines. The hotbed of union activity was at the gold and silver mines near Cripple Creek, Colorado. The mine owners at Cripple Creek began hiring scabs and as you might suspect, the striking miners set up lines that blocked access to the mine entrances. Soon there was over 1,000 miners manning that picket line. The mine operators knew they could not overwhelm that many men and sent a telegraph to Governor of Colorado James Peabody asking for help. On this date the good Governor sent in the Colorado Militia to break the strike and allow the scabs to go into the mines. When the militia arrives the mother all riots begins but the militia did indeed prevail and public opinion swayed in favor of the Union because of this outrage. Apparently in retaliation the union hired famous assassin Harry Orchard and Harry did not disappoint and blew up a railroad station killing 13 scabs. Public opinion then swayed the other direction and the miners Unions lost ground and negotiation strength that was not recovered until the advent of the United Mine Workers (UMW) led by John L. Lewis. He led the miner’s union back into prominence in the early 1940’s and the Union became a very powerful influence in America.
Births and deaths:
1927 US writer Guy Davenport is born. He said “In curved Einsteinian space, technically, at times we would be looking at the back of our own heads.”
1938 US Ad Exec Alexander Kroll is born. He said “When Alexander the Great met with the great Greek thinker Diogenes, Alexander asked if he could do anything for him” Diogenes answered with “Just stay out of my light.” That’s funny.
1973 US actress Constance Talmadge dies. When walking onto the set to begin a movie directed by the immortal D.W. Griffith, she turned to Griffith and said “I am here your Majesty, you may begin at once.” Smart ass.
Quotable quotes:
“Hillary Clinton said in her book that it was hard for her to forgive Bill but if Nelson Mandela can forgive then I should be able to. I did not know that Bill had hit on Mandela’s wife.” Jay Leno
“I made love to a female clown once and she twisted my penis into a poodle.”
Dan Whitney
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Daily history
Good morning,
No lesson Sunday...I am taking the day off.
Quotes of the day:
"Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile."
Albert Einstein
When told that her son Jim was killed at the Alamo she said "I'll bet they did not find any scars on his back."
Mrs. Alvina Bowie
The evangelicals have arisen and are trying to get creationism into the classroom once again. In nearly every enlightened society the theory of "creationism" is not allowed to be taught in a scientific arena such as a biology class because it requires a "leap of faith" rather than physical evidence. They only have the Bible to confirm their beliefs and this requires an individual to "believe" the Bible is factual rather than physical evidence that is required in any science. What they are doing is handing out copies of Charles Darwin's book "Origin of Species" on street corners and on college campuses. It was Darwin that apologetically published what he had found in his travels around the world that suggested that humans evolved from a lower primate beginning the furor over evolution that is embroiled to this day Anyway, a preface to the book is a 60 page tirade about what is reported in the book as being untrue. The book is more about interpreting what you observe and drawing a logical conclusion than it is anti-religion but it appears that way to those who are dogmatic about what they believe and want that taught as an "alternate" theory in biology and other scientific type academics. The preface indicates that the book was instrumental in the mental corruption of Adolph Hitler which is rubbish. Don't get me wrong, I am not anti-religion but we must keep religion out of scientific academia. We should have learned something during the "Dark Ages" and even into the renaissance when teachers risked torture and death if they taught a curriculum that was opposed to what the Pope believed (see Galileo and Martin Luther among many others). We have two stations here, science and religion and ne'er the twain should meet.
I met a young man from the wilds of Mississippi a few days ago. He expressed his displeasure with the way our country is headed and suggested that now was the time to expand our militias and take country back by force if necessary. This young man was so naive that it was hard for me to talk reasonably to him. I told him that if they did not have the support of the greater majority of America's military they would be massacred. I asked him how was his militia going to deal with the 101st and the 82nd Airborne, 2nd and 5th Rangers, the 10th Mountain, SEALS, Delta, Air Commandos, etc.? Incredibly he said that those soldiers would not kill their fellow Americans and who would issue the orders? I I assured him that the Chief of Staff would order whatever is necessary to prevent anarchy. He said that they were going to take our weapons away and most of the armed people are down south anyway. Wrong again. I assured him that the more populous states like Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, etc., will not give up their guns either and the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches know this. This kid says, the people up north are not interested in firearms. At that point I abandoned that conversation, he was way too ignorant. How can someone be that uninformed and a college graduate (Southern Mississippi)? Not only that, he said was going to Afghanistan and work for Fluor as a chemical engineer. What is this world coming to?
Down in paradise the Pensacola cops arrested seven people in a prostitution bust on the city's west side in a section of town known as Brownsville. Two of the photos of the girls involved reminded me of known celebrities. One looked liked Yogi Berra and the other resembled "Too Tall" Jones.
Good news:
Back in the Spring of 2008 a women's softball game was underway between Western Oregon and Central Washington universities. A senior player for Western Oregon named Sara Tucholsky hit a three run homer, the first of her career. On the way around the bases she realized that she had not touched 1st base and turned around headed back when the ACL in her right knee tore and she went down writhing in pain. The referees, umpire and coaching staff don't know what to do because if any of her team mates assist she she would be out. Then the opposing 1st baseman, Mallory Holtman asked the umpire if it would be OK for her and another player to assist Sara. The umpire allowed it. So Mallory and the shortstop Liz Wallace picked up Sara and carried her around the bases allowing her to touch each base securing the home run. The details of this amazing act of good sportsmanship has circled the globe and Mallory has found a career in making speeches all over the world about good sportsmanship. There is even a Good Sportsmanship award named for Mallory Holtman and rightfully so.
This date in history November 21
1985 On this date Jonathon Jay Pollard is arrested. Pollard was an American Jew working for United States Naval Intelligence as an analyst. As incredible as it seems, Pollard was arrested for espionage for selling intelligence information about different Muslim groups and countries to Israel. I personally do not have a problem with this but Secretary of State Casper Weinberger really wigged out about this information leak and persuaded the Justice department to seek a life sentence. Pollard was eventually convicted of espionage and was sentenced to life. The Israeli government did not really object to the sentenced and deemed it as an embarrassment. However, a few years later the Israeli government pushed to have Pollard’s sentenced reduced because his sentence was far more severe than other similar cases where information was being sold to “friendly” countries and they gave Pollard an Israeli citizenship. It was for naught because Pollard is still in the slammer with no end in sight.
1783 On this date the first manned flight of a sort occurred. Frenchmen Jean-Francois Rozier and Francois Laurent traveled 5.5 miles across the city of Paris in a hot air balloon. They were aloft for about 25 minutes. Twenty years later, the Wright Brothers gave us controlled flight. They were not the first to fly in a heavier-than-air vehicle. There were several flights made in gliders that were uncontrolled. In their patent they called the control surfaces ailerons which are what they are called today. Man has been seeking a way to break the bonds of gravity all the way back to Greek mythology and Daedelus and Icarus in particular. Even Leonardo da Vinci designed a wing that was supposed to be used by humans but as far as we know it was never built and tested.
1776 US General George Washington orders General Charles Lee to abandon his position Westchester County, New York and to join Washington in New Jersey. Lee liked it in New York and did not particularly care about reinforcing Washington so he dawdled and delayed moving his troops. But eventually he headed towards Washington’s position. Lee was a horny guy and sought a place to engage a willing woman along the way and found one in “Widow White’s Tavern” in Basking Ridge, New Jersey. The next morning a British detachment led by the infamous Colonel Banastre Tarleton woke Lee up, arrested him and took him to a British camp in his sleeping gown. That’s right; men wore gowns for sleeping in those days. While in captivity he even designed battle plans for the British. Before the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, Lee was in the British army and he and Tarleton were in the same unit. After serving a short sentence Lee went and joined Washington in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. He had a short argument with Washington whereupon he was kicked out the Continental army. Lee was well thought of in the Indian community because he was married to a Mohawk. That’s right, he was married.
1860 Tom Horn is born this day of a farm near Memphis, Missouri. As a youngster he loved to roam field and forest with his dog and rifle hunting for game. He sharpened his skills with rifle to a fine edge but Tom had a problem at home. His father was a violent man and beat him and his mother on a regular basis which resulted on Tom running away from home at the age of 14. He made his way to Santa Fe, New Mexico where he took a job as a teamster. He showed and unusually good adaptation at learning different Indian languages, Apache in particular. His skill at languages earned him a job with the US Cavalry as an interpreter and scout. Some time after this Tom decides to put his skills with a rifle to good use and becomes a hired assassin. He said “Killing is my specialty. I look at it as a business proposition, and I think I have corner on the market.” He took a job with the famous Pinkerton Detective Agency. Under normal circumstances a Pinkerton detective would stop short of killing, but under some cases they would form small armies and engage in shootouts with bank and train robbers. Then he became a free-lance assassin. He was hired by a huge cattle corporation in Wyoming to take out a “settler” who had started a ranch in the open range which was considered private property by the corporation for the grazing of their cattle. On occasion the settler would brag about how good the beef tasted was that he found grazing on his land and refused all attempts to buy him out. The corporation hired Tom to put an end to this problem. The settler showed up dead a few days later. It was determined that the settler was shot at a distance of over 300 yards. No one in the area could make that shot other than Tom Horn. Tom eventually went to the gallows for killing a 14 year old boy.
Born today:
1694 French philosopher Voltaire. He said “In England it is considered well to kill an admiral once in a while to encourage the others.” Voltaire had an acid tongue but he wrote some good stuff.
1907 US writer Jim Bishop. He said “A writer in not, per se, a good critic anymore that a drunk is a good bartender.” I am not a good bartender.
1922 US basketball coach Abe Lemons. He said “You finish last in your league they call you an idiot. You finish last in medical school and they call you a doctor.” Tack on to that “lawyers also”.
1945 US actress Goldie Hawn. She said “There are just three ages for female actresses in Hollywood, Babe, District Attorney and Driving Miss Daisy.”
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
No lesson Sunday...I am taking the day off.
Quotes of the day:
"Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile."
Albert Einstein
When told that her son Jim was killed at the Alamo she said "I'll bet they did not find any scars on his back."
Mrs. Alvina Bowie
The evangelicals have arisen and are trying to get creationism into the classroom once again. In nearly every enlightened society the theory of "creationism" is not allowed to be taught in a scientific arena such as a biology class because it requires a "leap of faith" rather than physical evidence. They only have the Bible to confirm their beliefs and this requires an individual to "believe" the Bible is factual rather than physical evidence that is required in any science. What they are doing is handing out copies of Charles Darwin's book "Origin of Species" on street corners and on college campuses. It was Darwin that apologetically published what he had found in his travels around the world that suggested that humans evolved from a lower primate beginning the furor over evolution that is embroiled to this day Anyway, a preface to the book is a 60 page tirade about what is reported in the book as being untrue. The book is more about interpreting what you observe and drawing a logical conclusion than it is anti-religion but it appears that way to those who are dogmatic about what they believe and want that taught as an "alternate" theory in biology and other scientific type academics. The preface indicates that the book was instrumental in the mental corruption of Adolph Hitler which is rubbish. Don't get me wrong, I am not anti-religion but we must keep religion out of scientific academia. We should have learned something during the "Dark Ages" and even into the renaissance when teachers risked torture and death if they taught a curriculum that was opposed to what the Pope believed (see Galileo and Martin Luther among many others). We have two stations here, science and religion and ne'er the twain should meet.
I met a young man from the wilds of Mississippi a few days ago. He expressed his displeasure with the way our country is headed and suggested that now was the time to expand our militias and take country back by force if necessary. This young man was so naive that it was hard for me to talk reasonably to him. I told him that if they did not have the support of the greater majority of America's military they would be massacred. I asked him how was his militia going to deal with the 101st and the 82nd Airborne, 2nd and 5th Rangers, the 10th Mountain, SEALS, Delta, Air Commandos, etc.? Incredibly he said that those soldiers would not kill their fellow Americans and who would issue the orders? I I assured him that the Chief of Staff would order whatever is necessary to prevent anarchy. He said that they were going to take our weapons away and most of the armed people are down south anyway. Wrong again. I assured him that the more populous states like Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, etc., will not give up their guns either and the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches know this. This kid says, the people up north are not interested in firearms. At that point I abandoned that conversation, he was way too ignorant. How can someone be that uninformed and a college graduate (Southern Mississippi)? Not only that, he said was going to Afghanistan and work for Fluor as a chemical engineer. What is this world coming to?
Down in paradise the Pensacola cops arrested seven people in a prostitution bust on the city's west side in a section of town known as Brownsville. Two of the photos of the girls involved reminded me of known celebrities. One looked liked Yogi Berra and the other resembled "Too Tall" Jones.
Good news:
Back in the Spring of 2008 a women's softball game was underway between Western Oregon and Central Washington universities. A senior player for Western Oregon named Sara Tucholsky hit a three run homer, the first of her career. On the way around the bases she realized that she had not touched 1st base and turned around headed back when the ACL in her right knee tore and she went down writhing in pain. The referees, umpire and coaching staff don't know what to do because if any of her team mates assist she she would be out. Then the opposing 1st baseman, Mallory Holtman asked the umpire if it would be OK for her and another player to assist Sara. The umpire allowed it. So Mallory and the shortstop Liz Wallace picked up Sara and carried her around the bases allowing her to touch each base securing the home run. The details of this amazing act of good sportsmanship has circled the globe and Mallory has found a career in making speeches all over the world about good sportsmanship. There is even a Good Sportsmanship award named for Mallory Holtman and rightfully so.
This date in history November 21
1985 On this date Jonathon Jay Pollard is arrested. Pollard was an American Jew working for United States Naval Intelligence as an analyst. As incredible as it seems, Pollard was arrested for espionage for selling intelligence information about different Muslim groups and countries to Israel. I personally do not have a problem with this but Secretary of State Casper Weinberger really wigged out about this information leak and persuaded the Justice department to seek a life sentence. Pollard was eventually convicted of espionage and was sentenced to life. The Israeli government did not really object to the sentenced and deemed it as an embarrassment. However, a few years later the Israeli government pushed to have Pollard’s sentenced reduced because his sentence was far more severe than other similar cases where information was being sold to “friendly” countries and they gave Pollard an Israeli citizenship. It was for naught because Pollard is still in the slammer with no end in sight.
1783 On this date the first manned flight of a sort occurred. Frenchmen Jean-Francois Rozier and Francois Laurent traveled 5.5 miles across the city of Paris in a hot air balloon. They were aloft for about 25 minutes. Twenty years later, the Wright Brothers gave us controlled flight. They were not the first to fly in a heavier-than-air vehicle. There were several flights made in gliders that were uncontrolled. In their patent they called the control surfaces ailerons which are what they are called today. Man has been seeking a way to break the bonds of gravity all the way back to Greek mythology and Daedelus and Icarus in particular. Even Leonardo da Vinci designed a wing that was supposed to be used by humans but as far as we know it was never built and tested.
1776 US General George Washington orders General Charles Lee to abandon his position Westchester County, New York and to join Washington in New Jersey. Lee liked it in New York and did not particularly care about reinforcing Washington so he dawdled and delayed moving his troops. But eventually he headed towards Washington’s position. Lee was a horny guy and sought a place to engage a willing woman along the way and found one in “Widow White’s Tavern” in Basking Ridge, New Jersey. The next morning a British detachment led by the infamous Colonel Banastre Tarleton woke Lee up, arrested him and took him to a British camp in his sleeping gown. That’s right; men wore gowns for sleeping in those days. While in captivity he even designed battle plans for the British. Before the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, Lee was in the British army and he and Tarleton were in the same unit. After serving a short sentence Lee went and joined Washington in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. He had a short argument with Washington whereupon he was kicked out the Continental army. Lee was well thought of in the Indian community because he was married to a Mohawk. That’s right, he was married.
1860 Tom Horn is born this day of a farm near Memphis, Missouri. As a youngster he loved to roam field and forest with his dog and rifle hunting for game. He sharpened his skills with rifle to a fine edge but Tom had a problem at home. His father was a violent man and beat him and his mother on a regular basis which resulted on Tom running away from home at the age of 14. He made his way to Santa Fe, New Mexico where he took a job as a teamster. He showed and unusually good adaptation at learning different Indian languages, Apache in particular. His skill at languages earned him a job with the US Cavalry as an interpreter and scout. Some time after this Tom decides to put his skills with a rifle to good use and becomes a hired assassin. He said “Killing is my specialty. I look at it as a business proposition, and I think I have corner on the market.” He took a job with the famous Pinkerton Detective Agency. Under normal circumstances a Pinkerton detective would stop short of killing, but under some cases they would form small armies and engage in shootouts with bank and train robbers. Then he became a free-lance assassin. He was hired by a huge cattle corporation in Wyoming to take out a “settler” who had started a ranch in the open range which was considered private property by the corporation for the grazing of their cattle. On occasion the settler would brag about how good the beef tasted was that he found grazing on his land and refused all attempts to buy him out. The corporation hired Tom to put an end to this problem. The settler showed up dead a few days later. It was determined that the settler was shot at a distance of over 300 yards. No one in the area could make that shot other than Tom Horn. Tom eventually went to the gallows for killing a 14 year old boy.
Born today:
1694 French philosopher Voltaire. He said “In England it is considered well to kill an admiral once in a while to encourage the others.” Voltaire had an acid tongue but he wrote some good stuff.
1907 US writer Jim Bishop. He said “A writer in not, per se, a good critic anymore that a drunk is a good bartender.” I am not a good bartender.
1922 US basketball coach Abe Lemons. He said “You finish last in your league they call you an idiot. You finish last in medical school and they call you a doctor.” Tack on to that “lawyers also”.
1945 US actress Goldie Hawn. She said “There are just three ages for female actresses in Hollywood, Babe, District Attorney and Driving Miss Daisy.”
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Friday, November 20, 2009
Daily history
Good morning,
Quote of the day:
Near the end of WWII several news journalists were given a tour of the Nazi death camp of Buchenwald. Here is a comment by one of them. "They tell us that there are 20,000 people here. At one time there were 60,000. No one had to explained what happened to the 40,000. I have told you only part of the story, for the remainder of what I have seen I have no words."
Lowell Thomas
I have to confess to a "cuss fight" I got into that was silly. The next to my last day I went to a well known seafood house on Pensacola Beach. I got involved in a discussion about the NFL with one of the bartenders there. Sean is one of the best informed people I have ever met with knowledge about the NFL, he has a phenomenal memory. We were discussing who would win probably win the AFC and the NFC championships and we agreed that it would be Indy and New Orleans in the Super Bowl. Suddenly a man two stools down almost shouted out "I am from Pittsburgh and how many teams have won six Super bowls...nobody...we are the only ones!" Sean and I looked at each other and shrugged our shoulders in disbelief. This guy kept saying how great "we" were. He finally crossed the line and I had to say something. I asked him if he was ever a player with the Steelers and he said no. Then I asked what positive reinforcement he had ever made to a Steeler victory and he said none but I am a big fan. I said that since he was never a player and never had directly helped the team to a win then it is not a case of "we", it is a case of "I" and "they". He stood up at that point and Sean intervened and told both "cool it" or leave. I left knowing what my temper will allow and not allow. I hate braggarts, especially if they have a snotty attitude and a "know-it-all" demeanor, if you get my drift.
I guess all of you now by now that the FAA's automated flight data system has failed...again. A flight plan on all commercial aircraft including charter flights are required. Normally the information is entered into the system by the airline dispatcher or a flight service station. The flight plan then is automatically transmitted to air traffic control and the flight plan is printed out on the point of origin air traffic control facility. Something has failed in the system between the airline dispatchers and air traffic control. This means the flight plan will have to be called in to air traffic control on the telephone and air traffic control will have to type it in manually. In this case safety is not an issue, but to get everything in order the time required will quadruple. Lots of money is/will be lost by the airlines because they will have to delay or cancel many flights. When I was an air traffic controller 28 years ago the system operated almost the same as it does today but I never recall a failure in the flight data system. Maybe there are a lot more flights now than back then and the system has not kept pace...maybe.
This date in history November 20
1820 On this date the whaling vessel “Essex” based in Nantucket, Rhode Island encounters an enraged bull sperm whale 2,000 mile off the west coast if South America. The 80 ton whale rammed the 280 ton ship twice causing it to capsize. All of The 20 man crew escaped to three smaller boats but their troubles were not over. The crew spent 83 days adrift and ran out of food and soon chose to draw straws to see who would be shot to provide food for the others. After the boats were spotted near the west coast of South America and picked up by other boats there were only five survivors. There were three others that were marooned on an uninhabited Pacific island but they were eventually rescued. The first capture of a sperm whale was in 1711 and it was then that the value of whale oil and ambergris was discovered. From then on the whaling industry ballooned to 800 ships that traveled the entire globe looking for these giants. It was this event that inspired Herman Melville to give us the immortal "Moby Dick" the next year. To my knowledge whaling has been banned or severely restricted. I believe that if they had not the whale would have gone the route of the Moa and the Dodo bird.
1947 On this date Princess Elizabeth, the heir apparent to the English throne, is married to Phillip Mountbatten. Phillip was a Prince of Greece and Denmark and he renounced his titles to marry Elizabeth. Elizabeth was 21 years old and Phillip was 26 and had fought with the British Navy during WWII. He was given the title of Duke of Edinburgh just before the wedding. As you might suspect, the wedding was a lavish one held in Westminster Abbey in London (been there). This event raised the spirits of the British people who were suffering personally and financially from the effects of WWII. As expected, Elizabeth’s father King George VI died in 1952 and Elizabeth rose to the throne of Great Britain where she remains to this day. The coronation of Elizabeth, also held in Westminster Abbey, was also a lavish event. It is not very often that there is a change in the monarchy of England and the ceremony is the same as it was with the crowning of William the Conqueror in December of 1066. The English are big on tradition. Oh I forgot, Phillip is Elizabeth’s cousin.
1843 On this date a major trading post on the Mississippi River named Blacksnake Hills trading post has a name change to Saint Joseph’s trading post. The post had been wisely established in 1826 by French fur trader Joseph Robidoux right in the mouth of the Platte River valley. This valley was a major artery for the fur trappers returning from the far west and the Rocky Mountains. Eventually the fur trade dried up but the pioneers heading west stopped at Saint Joseph to gear up for their trip to Oregon and California. The Platte River was again a major avenue for those traveling west. The trail split near present day Beatrice, Nebraska with some heading northwest on the Oregon Trail and others heading southwest on the Santa Fe and several other trails. What an adventure that would have been.
1945 On this date the Nuremberg war crimes trial begins in Nuremberg, Germany. The trial was judged by a tribunal of the French, United States and Russia. There were 24 Germans on trial for war crimes; of those half were eventually hanged. The others received sentences from life to twenty years. Naturally the root of the charges of “crimes against humanity” was what happened to the Jew, Gypsies and various other minorities throughout Europe during WWII. The trial took a year. Most of the Germans defended themselves by claiming they were just doing what they were ordered as good soldiers do. One of the most famous of the accused was Field Marshal Herman Goering who was the second in command of the German military after Adolph Hitler. Herman was sentenced to the gallows but on the day before the hanging, Herman got his hands on a cyanide capsule and committed suicide. No one knows how he came by the capsule but the rumor was that he bribed one of his guards to get him one. We will never know.
Born today:
1884 US social reformer Norman Thomas. He said “If you want a symbolic gesture, don’t burn the flag, wash it.” Norman was a famous communist.
1908 British social commentator Alistair Cooke. He said “A professional is one that does their best even when they do not feel like it.” That sounds like a prostitute to me.
1919 US actress Evelyn Keyes. She said “I always took up with the man of the moment, and I had many moments.” Life is a smorgasbord isn’t it Evelyn?
1923 South African writer Nadine Gordimer. She said “Truth is not always beauty, but the hunger for it is.” Good thinking, Nadine.
1925 US politician Robert F. Kennedy. He said “One fifth of the people are against everything all the time.” Most of them are the Evangelicals these days.
1946 US blues guitarist Duane Allman. When he was asked what his philosophy on life he said “Just rock on, and have yourself a good time.” What a good basis for life, ya’ll.
1954 US actress Bo Derek. She said “Whoever said that money can’t buy happiness just doesn’t know where to shop.” Bo, get in touch with reality.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Quote of the day:
Near the end of WWII several news journalists were given a tour of the Nazi death camp of Buchenwald. Here is a comment by one of them. "They tell us that there are 20,000 people here. At one time there were 60,000. No one had to explained what happened to the 40,000. I have told you only part of the story, for the remainder of what I have seen I have no words."
Lowell Thomas
I have to confess to a "cuss fight" I got into that was silly. The next to my last day I went to a well known seafood house on Pensacola Beach. I got involved in a discussion about the NFL with one of the bartenders there. Sean is one of the best informed people I have ever met with knowledge about the NFL, he has a phenomenal memory. We were discussing who would win probably win the AFC and the NFC championships and we agreed that it would be Indy and New Orleans in the Super Bowl. Suddenly a man two stools down almost shouted out "I am from Pittsburgh and how many teams have won six Super bowls...nobody...we are the only ones!" Sean and I looked at each other and shrugged our shoulders in disbelief. This guy kept saying how great "we" were. He finally crossed the line and I had to say something. I asked him if he was ever a player with the Steelers and he said no. Then I asked what positive reinforcement he had ever made to a Steeler victory and he said none but I am a big fan. I said that since he was never a player and never had directly helped the team to a win then it is not a case of "we", it is a case of "I" and "they". He stood up at that point and Sean intervened and told both "cool it" or leave. I left knowing what my temper will allow and not allow. I hate braggarts, especially if they have a snotty attitude and a "know-it-all" demeanor, if you get my drift.
I guess all of you now by now that the FAA's automated flight data system has failed...again. A flight plan on all commercial aircraft including charter flights are required. Normally the information is entered into the system by the airline dispatcher or a flight service station. The flight plan then is automatically transmitted to air traffic control and the flight plan is printed out on the point of origin air traffic control facility. Something has failed in the system between the airline dispatchers and air traffic control. This means the flight plan will have to be called in to air traffic control on the telephone and air traffic control will have to type it in manually. In this case safety is not an issue, but to get everything in order the time required will quadruple. Lots of money is/will be lost by the airlines because they will have to delay or cancel many flights. When I was an air traffic controller 28 years ago the system operated almost the same as it does today but I never recall a failure in the flight data system. Maybe there are a lot more flights now than back then and the system has not kept pace...maybe.
This date in history November 20
1820 On this date the whaling vessel “Essex” based in Nantucket, Rhode Island encounters an enraged bull sperm whale 2,000 mile off the west coast if South America. The 80 ton whale rammed the 280 ton ship twice causing it to capsize. All of The 20 man crew escaped to three smaller boats but their troubles were not over. The crew spent 83 days adrift and ran out of food and soon chose to draw straws to see who would be shot to provide food for the others. After the boats were spotted near the west coast of South America and picked up by other boats there were only five survivors. There were three others that were marooned on an uninhabited Pacific island but they were eventually rescued. The first capture of a sperm whale was in 1711 and it was then that the value of whale oil and ambergris was discovered. From then on the whaling industry ballooned to 800 ships that traveled the entire globe looking for these giants. It was this event that inspired Herman Melville to give us the immortal "Moby Dick" the next year. To my knowledge whaling has been banned or severely restricted. I believe that if they had not the whale would have gone the route of the Moa and the Dodo bird.
1947 On this date Princess Elizabeth, the heir apparent to the English throne, is married to Phillip Mountbatten. Phillip was a Prince of Greece and Denmark and he renounced his titles to marry Elizabeth. Elizabeth was 21 years old and Phillip was 26 and had fought with the British Navy during WWII. He was given the title of Duke of Edinburgh just before the wedding. As you might suspect, the wedding was a lavish one held in Westminster Abbey in London (been there). This event raised the spirits of the British people who were suffering personally and financially from the effects of WWII. As expected, Elizabeth’s father King George VI died in 1952 and Elizabeth rose to the throne of Great Britain where she remains to this day. The coronation of Elizabeth, also held in Westminster Abbey, was also a lavish event. It is not very often that there is a change in the monarchy of England and the ceremony is the same as it was with the crowning of William the Conqueror in December of 1066. The English are big on tradition. Oh I forgot, Phillip is Elizabeth’s cousin.
1843 On this date a major trading post on the Mississippi River named Blacksnake Hills trading post has a name change to Saint Joseph’s trading post. The post had been wisely established in 1826 by French fur trader Joseph Robidoux right in the mouth of the Platte River valley. This valley was a major artery for the fur trappers returning from the far west and the Rocky Mountains. Eventually the fur trade dried up but the pioneers heading west stopped at Saint Joseph to gear up for their trip to Oregon and California. The Platte River was again a major avenue for those traveling west. The trail split near present day Beatrice, Nebraska with some heading northwest on the Oregon Trail and others heading southwest on the Santa Fe and several other trails. What an adventure that would have been.
1945 On this date the Nuremberg war crimes trial begins in Nuremberg, Germany. The trial was judged by a tribunal of the French, United States and Russia. There were 24 Germans on trial for war crimes; of those half were eventually hanged. The others received sentences from life to twenty years. Naturally the root of the charges of “crimes against humanity” was what happened to the Jew, Gypsies and various other minorities throughout Europe during WWII. The trial took a year. Most of the Germans defended themselves by claiming they were just doing what they were ordered as good soldiers do. One of the most famous of the accused was Field Marshal Herman Goering who was the second in command of the German military after Adolph Hitler. Herman was sentenced to the gallows but on the day before the hanging, Herman got his hands on a cyanide capsule and committed suicide. No one knows how he came by the capsule but the rumor was that he bribed one of his guards to get him one. We will never know.
Born today:
1884 US social reformer Norman Thomas. He said “If you want a symbolic gesture, don’t burn the flag, wash it.” Norman was a famous communist.
1908 British social commentator Alistair Cooke. He said “A professional is one that does their best even when they do not feel like it.” That sounds like a prostitute to me.
1919 US actress Evelyn Keyes. She said “I always took up with the man of the moment, and I had many moments.” Life is a smorgasbord isn’t it Evelyn?
1923 South African writer Nadine Gordimer. She said “Truth is not always beauty, but the hunger for it is.” Good thinking, Nadine.
1925 US politician Robert F. Kennedy. He said “One fifth of the people are against everything all the time.” Most of them are the Evangelicals these days.
1946 US blues guitarist Duane Allman. When he was asked what his philosophy on life he said “Just rock on, and have yourself a good time.” What a good basis for life, ya’ll.
1954 US actress Bo Derek. She said “Whoever said that money can’t buy happiness just doesn’t know where to shop.” Bo, get in touch with reality.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Daily history
Good morning,
I normally make the trip to and from Pensacola Beach, Florida a two day trip. I usually spend the night in either Opelika or Montgomery, Alabama. However, on the trip back yesterday I decided to go straight through to Greenville,SC. It took seven hours and 22 minutes. I was pretty tired but I was glad to be home. My Maxima was quick and fast as it normally is and I got 24 MPG. It would be a lot faster if I would clean out all the junk. I will make that my project for today. All that believe that raise their hand. Today will be a day of rest and recovery.
As all of you local people know by now that John Ludwig plead guilty of reckless homicide for speeding, losing control and running his car through a house and killing one of the occupants. The maximum sentence for that offence is 10 years in prison. Judge Williams gave Ludwig 3 years probation, 500 hours of community service and a fine. Ludwig settled with the family of the person he killed for $3 million. Solicitor Bob Arial who tried the case has asked the judge to reconsider his sentence as being way too light but it is unlikely that Ludwig will do any hard time.
I have a lot to say about politics but I will refrain from opening that can of worms. I am going to stick with my own credo and that is do not find fault or criticize without two possible solutions. I will say this, most of the news analysts say that there will be a "bloodbath" for the Democrats in next year's House of Representatives elections. I agree. I think the Democrats will lose the majority in the House.
Good news:
Don Ryder is the public safety director for for the city of Wausau, Wisconsin. He had read about the years long drought in the Maasai area of Africa. The drought was killing the cattle the Maasai tribesmen rely on, not to mention the Maasai women have to walk dangerous 15 miles to get drinking water for their families. Ryder belongs to the Franciscan Church, a branch of the Catholic church. He worried about the drought and according to him he went to the bible for a solution. He said he opened the bible and a phrase jumped out at him. It was Jesus said, "I was thirsty and you gave me water to drink." Ryder went on a fund raising campaign to get enough money to drill water wells at the cost of $45,000 to $65,000 each. The drillers found fresh water down 400 feet which provided enough water for a village of 5,000 plus their 100,000 cattle. So far they have drilled 4 wells to allow the tribesmen to plan crops and irrigate instead of having to rely on their cattle alone. For his efforts Don Ryder was awarded the prestigious National Franciscan Peace Award. This award has been previously awarded to Martin Luther King, Jr., Mother Teresa and Pope John Paul II. There are some good people out there after all.
This date in history November 19
1942 Earlier in 1941 Adolph Hitler ordered his army to invade Russia is spite of a treaty that had been signed just a few months earlier. The German army dashed across the Russian plains delivering horrendous death and destruction. The Germans had unquestioned control of the skies and could bomb anything they felt like. The Germans had split their forces into three sections and very soon Moscow and Leningrad were under siege. Hitler ordered the 6th Army to attack and capture the great city of Stalingrad. The 6th Army was commanded by General Von Paulus and he had 250,000 troops. Von Paulus estimated it would take about 10 days to force the city to surrender. There was one thing that he neglected, the Russian winter. The German air force had bombed Stalingrad into rubble and Von Paulus thought he could set up a siege and Stalingrad would surrender. He was wrong. The Russians used the rubble to establish defensive strong points. This meant that the Germans would have to go in and dig the defenders out a few at a time. What happened after that was a battle that went down in history as one of the most ferocious ever fought. There were 15,000 to 16,000 casualties every day for an extended period. Finally the winter descended on the Germans that were not prepared for such bitter weather. Eventually the 6th army rolling stock came to a halt. On this date Russian General Zhukov orders a counter attack and he was able to cut the supply lines to the Germans. Between the cold weather and the Russians looking for revenge, Von Paulus surrendered. He only had 90,000 troops left with no help in sight. There were only 5,000 Germans that lived to see their homeland again.
1967 On this date Chaplain (Major) Charles Watters is recommended for the Medal of Honor. The Chaplain went in with the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry when they attacked the North Vietnamese regulars on hill 875 during the battle of Doc To. The Americans were taking a beating but the Chaplain moved among the troops administering first aid to those that he could reach. He went outside the perimeter on several occasions to retrieve soldiers that had been caught outside the perimeter and wounded. Chaplain Watters was on his knees giving the last rights to a dying soldier when an American fighter/bomber dropped a 500 pound bomb on the perimeter by mistake. Chaplain Watters was killed instantly. The Medal of Honor was given posthumously in a White House ceremony in 1969.
1977 On this date in an unprecedented move, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat visits Israeli President Menachem Begin in Jerusalem and makes a speech to the Israeli Knesset, or the equivalent of the House and Senate in the United States. Sadat was seeking peace with the Israelis after fighting on and off with them since 1948. It is needless to say that the rest of the Moslem world was outraged. The two went one step further the next year when they met in Camp David, Maryland under the sponsorship of US President Jimmy Carter and an accord was reached and signed by all parties concerned. This historic event cost Anwar Sadat his life when he was assassinated the next year. He was killed because he sought peace. The greater majority of Muslims don’t want peace.
1985 Earlier the petroleum giant Pennzoil made an offer to buy the family owned oil company of Getty Oil. Getty Oil agreed to the price and the deal was announced over the media. The problem was that there was not yet a signed agreement for the deal, so the even bigger oil giant Texaco step in and offered the Getty family twice as much as what Pennzoil had offered and they took the deal. Pennzoil raised almighty hell and initiated a lawsuit against Texaco. On this date a state court in Texas awarded Pennzoil a judgment of $10 Billion stating that even though there was not a written contract, there was indeed a contract. That just goes to show you that in Texas your word is a contract and that is the way it should be, except when you utter “I do”.
Born today:
1862 Evangelist Billy Sunday. He said “Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than going to a garage makes you an automobile.” Billy Sunday was the engineer of one of the greatest Christian revivals in American history.
1917 Indian politician Indira Ghandi. She said “There is not politician in India that is bold enough to say that cows can be eaten.” People in India are starving to death with a cow standing just outside the door. I don’t get it.
1938 US Zillionaire Ted Turner. He said “If I had a little humility I would be perfect”. The rumor is that Ted was really crushed when he and Jane Fonda split. It would not bother me at all.
1962 US actress Jody Foster. She said “Normal is something not to be sought after; it is something to be avoided.” Jodie is one of my favorites.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow.
I normally make the trip to and from Pensacola Beach, Florida a two day trip. I usually spend the night in either Opelika or Montgomery, Alabama. However, on the trip back yesterday I decided to go straight through to Greenville,SC. It took seven hours and 22 minutes. I was pretty tired but I was glad to be home. My Maxima was quick and fast as it normally is and I got 24 MPG. It would be a lot faster if I would clean out all the junk. I will make that my project for today. All that believe that raise their hand. Today will be a day of rest and recovery.
As all of you local people know by now that John Ludwig plead guilty of reckless homicide for speeding, losing control and running his car through a house and killing one of the occupants. The maximum sentence for that offence is 10 years in prison. Judge Williams gave Ludwig 3 years probation, 500 hours of community service and a fine. Ludwig settled with the family of the person he killed for $3 million. Solicitor Bob Arial who tried the case has asked the judge to reconsider his sentence as being way too light but it is unlikely that Ludwig will do any hard time.
I have a lot to say about politics but I will refrain from opening that can of worms. I am going to stick with my own credo and that is do not find fault or criticize without two possible solutions. I will say this, most of the news analysts say that there will be a "bloodbath" for the Democrats in next year's House of Representatives elections. I agree. I think the Democrats will lose the majority in the House.
Good news:
Don Ryder is the public safety director for for the city of Wausau, Wisconsin. He had read about the years long drought in the Maasai area of Africa. The drought was killing the cattle the Maasai tribesmen rely on, not to mention the Maasai women have to walk dangerous 15 miles to get drinking water for their families. Ryder belongs to the Franciscan Church, a branch of the Catholic church. He worried about the drought and according to him he went to the bible for a solution. He said he opened the bible and a phrase jumped out at him. It was Jesus said, "I was thirsty and you gave me water to drink." Ryder went on a fund raising campaign to get enough money to drill water wells at the cost of $45,000 to $65,000 each. The drillers found fresh water down 400 feet which provided enough water for a village of 5,000 plus their 100,000 cattle. So far they have drilled 4 wells to allow the tribesmen to plan crops and irrigate instead of having to rely on their cattle alone. For his efforts Don Ryder was awarded the prestigious National Franciscan Peace Award. This award has been previously awarded to Martin Luther King, Jr., Mother Teresa and Pope John Paul II. There are some good people out there after all.
This date in history November 19
1942 Earlier in 1941 Adolph Hitler ordered his army to invade Russia is spite of a treaty that had been signed just a few months earlier. The German army dashed across the Russian plains delivering horrendous death and destruction. The Germans had unquestioned control of the skies and could bomb anything they felt like. The Germans had split their forces into three sections and very soon Moscow and Leningrad were under siege. Hitler ordered the 6th Army to attack and capture the great city of Stalingrad. The 6th Army was commanded by General Von Paulus and he had 250,000 troops. Von Paulus estimated it would take about 10 days to force the city to surrender. There was one thing that he neglected, the Russian winter. The German air force had bombed Stalingrad into rubble and Von Paulus thought he could set up a siege and Stalingrad would surrender. He was wrong. The Russians used the rubble to establish defensive strong points. This meant that the Germans would have to go in and dig the defenders out a few at a time. What happened after that was a battle that went down in history as one of the most ferocious ever fought. There were 15,000 to 16,000 casualties every day for an extended period. Finally the winter descended on the Germans that were not prepared for such bitter weather. Eventually the 6th army rolling stock came to a halt. On this date Russian General Zhukov orders a counter attack and he was able to cut the supply lines to the Germans. Between the cold weather and the Russians looking for revenge, Von Paulus surrendered. He only had 90,000 troops left with no help in sight. There were only 5,000 Germans that lived to see their homeland again.
1967 On this date Chaplain (Major) Charles Watters is recommended for the Medal of Honor. The Chaplain went in with the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry when they attacked the North Vietnamese regulars on hill 875 during the battle of Doc To. The Americans were taking a beating but the Chaplain moved among the troops administering first aid to those that he could reach. He went outside the perimeter on several occasions to retrieve soldiers that had been caught outside the perimeter and wounded. Chaplain Watters was on his knees giving the last rights to a dying soldier when an American fighter/bomber dropped a 500 pound bomb on the perimeter by mistake. Chaplain Watters was killed instantly. The Medal of Honor was given posthumously in a White House ceremony in 1969.
1977 On this date in an unprecedented move, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat visits Israeli President Menachem Begin in Jerusalem and makes a speech to the Israeli Knesset, or the equivalent of the House and Senate in the United States. Sadat was seeking peace with the Israelis after fighting on and off with them since 1948. It is needless to say that the rest of the Moslem world was outraged. The two went one step further the next year when they met in Camp David, Maryland under the sponsorship of US President Jimmy Carter and an accord was reached and signed by all parties concerned. This historic event cost Anwar Sadat his life when he was assassinated the next year. He was killed because he sought peace. The greater majority of Muslims don’t want peace.
1985 Earlier the petroleum giant Pennzoil made an offer to buy the family owned oil company of Getty Oil. Getty Oil agreed to the price and the deal was announced over the media. The problem was that there was not yet a signed agreement for the deal, so the even bigger oil giant Texaco step in and offered the Getty family twice as much as what Pennzoil had offered and they took the deal. Pennzoil raised almighty hell and initiated a lawsuit against Texaco. On this date a state court in Texas awarded Pennzoil a judgment of $10 Billion stating that even though there was not a written contract, there was indeed a contract. That just goes to show you that in Texas your word is a contract and that is the way it should be, except when you utter “I do”.
Born today:
1862 Evangelist Billy Sunday. He said “Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than going to a garage makes you an automobile.” Billy Sunday was the engineer of one of the greatest Christian revivals in American history.
1917 Indian politician Indira Ghandi. She said “There is not politician in India that is bold enough to say that cows can be eaten.” People in India are starving to death with a cow standing just outside the door. I don’t get it.
1938 US Zillionaire Ted Turner. He said “If I had a little humility I would be perfect”. The rumor is that Ted was really crushed when he and Jane Fonda split. It would not bother me at all.
1962 US actress Jody Foster. She said “Normal is something not to be sought after; it is something to be avoided.” Jodie is one of my favorites.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Daily history
Good morning,
There will be no lesson for Wednesday, I will be on the road going back to the hill country and away from Grouper Supreme sandwiches and two-bite oysters.
Quote of the day:
"A man's face is his autobiography. A woman's face is her work of fiction."
Oscar Wilde
Some of you may remember back in April a Greenville, SC businessman was driving his Maserati down a country road doing 85 MPH when he lost control and plowed all the way through a house killing a 65 year old man sitting in his living room watching TV. On Monday John Ludwig went before a judge and plead guilty to a charge of reckless homicide. The state recommended a sentence of 10 years in prison. There are those in Greenville that think he will not serve a day in prison because of his wealth and that he is well connected. They are right, that jackass got three years probation. Money talks, justice be damned. By the way, Ludwig has had 26 speeding tickets.
Back in June of 2006 a pawn shop owner named John Bruin of Easley, SC was shot to death in a robbery. The security cameras showed the killer as being 24 year old Roger Shepherd. Three days later Shepherd was arrested in Montreal, Canada. Shepherd knew that he could get the death penalty in South Carolina and he also knew that Canada would not extradite a criminal if the death penalty was a possibility. This jackass spent two years in jail in Canada before South Carolina 13th circuit solicitor Bob Arial assured the Canadian government that he would not seek the death penalty and then Shepherd was extradited. His trial started Monday.
Back in 2006 over in Mobile, Alabama a man named Troy Crum was driving home drunker than Cooter Brown. For reason known only to Troy, he decided to make a U-turn and drive the wrong direction in the wrong lane. He collided with another car head-on nearly wiping out an entire family. Troy agreed to a twenty year sentence. Later on his attorney got him out on a technicality saying the Troy should have not been tried as a habitual offender because he had not been convicted on the three other DUI charges. He is being tried again not as a habitual offender but as a regular old drunk.
A couple of years ago the decommissioned aircraft carrier USS Oriskany was towed 24 mile due south of Pensacola and sank to be a an artificial reef. It is a magnet to SCUBA divers since the top of the mast is only 70 feet down. Divers from all over the world come to dive on the 880 foot ship. It is the only aircraft carrier that has been made into a reef. Just outside the Pensacola Pass there is a WWI battleship that sank for reasons unknown to me. This ship is in water so shallow that parts of it are above water at low tide. It is the USS Massachusetts. This past weekend a SCUBA diver died while diving the Oriskany. There was no reason given for the death in the report. By the way, the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico in this area is covered with downed aircraft. In addition to being a major training area for US Navy pilots since WWI, there used to be an aircraft carrier based at Pensacola for Navy pilots to carrier qualify. During Vietnam there were swarms of aircraft out there. Many did not make it back.
Y'all remember Antoinette Davis up in central North Carolina that sold her daughter for sex. Monday afternoon little five year old Shaniya Davis was found dead in thick woods near Sanford, NC. It would not do for me to be on that bitch Antoinette's jury. I originally said that she should be drawn and quartered, I have changed my mind. She should be waterboarded for a couple of years and then drawn and quartered. To those of out there that are opposed to cruel and unusual punishment, think about the last few minutes in the life of little Shaniya Davis.
This date in history November 17
1558 On this date The Queen of England, Mary I died and the Elizabethan era of England begins with the coronation of Queen Elizabeth I. England had been undergoing a lot of turmoil because of religion. Queen Mary was a Catholic and was trying all in her power to get the Pope involved in the politics of the English government and saw to it that laws were passed that were unabashedly pro-Catholic even though the greater majority of the English people were either Calvinists or Presbyterian. Elizabeth never married so that her power would have no chance of being diluted. She had at least two boyfriends, however. They were the Earl of Leicester and the Earl of Essex. Elizabeth was a descendant of Henry VIII and was a devoted Protestant. The people of England were pleased with the rise of Elizabeth because they thought she would be more tolerant of different religions and they were right. England moved into a time of religious tolerance and that eliminated much of the civil turmoil that had been present with Queen Mary. Elizabeth’s tolerance had a limit, however. When her cousin Mary, Queen of Scots was kicked out of Scotland because of her trying to turn Scotland into a Catholic stronghold by force. She fled to be with her cousin Elizabeth in England and she let Mary stay in safety. The thanks that Elizabeth got was that Mary, Queen of Scots plotted to kill Elizabeth so she could assume the crown, she was a descendant of Henry VIII also. Mary and other Catholics in Europe wanted England to be ruled by Catholics. Well, this indiscretion cost Mary, Queen of Scots her head. She was imprisoned for many years in Fotheringay Castle and then one fateful day she was taken out on the lawn to meet a big guy, in a black hood with a big double bladed axe. She went to meet her maker in two pieces. Elizabeth ruled during some of the most turbulent times in English history with the attempted invasion by Spain with Spanish Armada, but the Spanish were ground down to the bottom of the English Channel by one hell of a storm and the indefatigable British navy which sailed out of Southampton and Plymouth in ships that were designed for rough water. They chopped those Spaniards into salsa. During her reign the British navy became recognized as the most powerful in the world. Eventually Elizabeth sent Sir Francis Drake on a voyage of discovery which resulted in a trip around the globe. She also sent Sir Walter Raleigh to the new world on a mission of discovery. She died in 1603 and was succeeded by Mary, Queen of Scot’s son, James VI of Scotland. James was a protestant and at his coronation he was titled as James I, King of Great Britain. This was the first time in English history that England, Scotland and Ireland were ruled by one king. Elizabeth’s long and productive reign puts her as one of the greatest Monarchs in the history of England if not the world.
1777 On this date the American Congress submits the Article of Federation to the states for ratification. It had taken 16 months of bickering to get to this point. Virginia and Maryland kept bickering over lands in their western sections that delayed ratification for 4 more years. Finally in 1781 the Articles of Federation were ratified. The Articles shown how much paranoia had been brought over from Europe by out ancestors. The Articles were very specific about the independence and sovereignty of each state which essentially made each state it own little dukedom. Our ancestors were very afraid of anything that looked like a central Kingdom. Soon the shortcomings of this arrangement became obvious. We had to have a centralized government to control the economy, military and a common code of laws, etc. In 1798 we came up with our present Constitution and its attached Bill of Rights which is what we exist with today. To many, me included, this is the most important document in the history of mankind. It describes our method of government (a republic) and a strong central government but protecting the rights of the individual citizen. It was a carefully crafted and a well thought out instrument by a group of brilliant men that had to be at this place in this point in time not by accident but by design. To me it is ludicrous to assume that the presence of Thomas Jefferson, among others, in Virginia in this time period as being a random event. The United States exists for a reason, what it is we don’t know......yet.
1863 Previously CSA General James Longstreet had left the Army of Northern Virginia, R.E. Lee commanding, to help shore up CSA General Braxton Bragg’s army near Chattanooga, Tennessee. Bragg was present at the siege of Chattanooga and the CSA victory at Chickamauga. Then he got into a quarrel with the inept Bragg and left headed back to Virginia and General Lee. Along the way he decides to besiege Knoxville, Tennessee to try to kick out the Yankees that were there. That siege began on this day. Longstreet called off the siege a week later and headed east and toward the Army of Northern Virginia and General Robert E. Lee.
Born today:
1771 US businessman Charles A. Allen. He said “You can make more friends in a month by expressing interest in them than you can in ten years of trying to get them interested in you.” Good thinking, Charles, by the way, what do you think of me?
Died today:
1888 US businessman and father of a president Joseph Kennedy. He said “If you want to make money, go to where the money is.” Many called him a bootlegger and he did indeed bring illegal whiskey into America during prohibition. But he made most of his money by buying huge amounts of Scotch and put it in railroad cars and let it sit in Scotland during Prohibition and waited for it to be changed and when it did, he almost had a corner on the Scotch whisky market.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
There will be no lesson for Wednesday, I will be on the road going back to the hill country and away from Grouper Supreme sandwiches and two-bite oysters.
Quote of the day:
"A man's face is his autobiography. A woman's face is her work of fiction."
Oscar Wilde
Some of you may remember back in April a Greenville, SC businessman was driving his Maserati down a country road doing 85 MPH when he lost control and plowed all the way through a house killing a 65 year old man sitting in his living room watching TV. On Monday John Ludwig went before a judge and plead guilty to a charge of reckless homicide. The state recommended a sentence of 10 years in prison. There are those in Greenville that think he will not serve a day in prison because of his wealth and that he is well connected. They are right, that jackass got three years probation. Money talks, justice be damned. By the way, Ludwig has had 26 speeding tickets.
Back in June of 2006 a pawn shop owner named John Bruin of Easley, SC was shot to death in a robbery. The security cameras showed the killer as being 24 year old Roger Shepherd. Three days later Shepherd was arrested in Montreal, Canada. Shepherd knew that he could get the death penalty in South Carolina and he also knew that Canada would not extradite a criminal if the death penalty was a possibility. This jackass spent two years in jail in Canada before South Carolina 13th circuit solicitor Bob Arial assured the Canadian government that he would not seek the death penalty and then Shepherd was extradited. His trial started Monday.
Back in 2006 over in Mobile, Alabama a man named Troy Crum was driving home drunker than Cooter Brown. For reason known only to Troy, he decided to make a U-turn and drive the wrong direction in the wrong lane. He collided with another car head-on nearly wiping out an entire family. Troy agreed to a twenty year sentence. Later on his attorney got him out on a technicality saying the Troy should have not been tried as a habitual offender because he had not been convicted on the three other DUI charges. He is being tried again not as a habitual offender but as a regular old drunk.
A couple of years ago the decommissioned aircraft carrier USS Oriskany was towed 24 mile due south of Pensacola and sank to be a an artificial reef. It is a magnet to SCUBA divers since the top of the mast is only 70 feet down. Divers from all over the world come to dive on the 880 foot ship. It is the only aircraft carrier that has been made into a reef. Just outside the Pensacola Pass there is a WWI battleship that sank for reasons unknown to me. This ship is in water so shallow that parts of it are above water at low tide. It is the USS Massachusetts. This past weekend a SCUBA diver died while diving the Oriskany. There was no reason given for the death in the report. By the way, the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico in this area is covered with downed aircraft. In addition to being a major training area for US Navy pilots since WWI, there used to be an aircraft carrier based at Pensacola for Navy pilots to carrier qualify. During Vietnam there were swarms of aircraft out there. Many did not make it back.
Y'all remember Antoinette Davis up in central North Carolina that sold her daughter for sex. Monday afternoon little five year old Shaniya Davis was found dead in thick woods near Sanford, NC. It would not do for me to be on that bitch Antoinette's jury. I originally said that she should be drawn and quartered, I have changed my mind. She should be waterboarded for a couple of years and then drawn and quartered. To those of out there that are opposed to cruel and unusual punishment, think about the last few minutes in the life of little Shaniya Davis.
This date in history November 17
1558 On this date The Queen of England, Mary I died and the Elizabethan era of England begins with the coronation of Queen Elizabeth I. England had been undergoing a lot of turmoil because of religion. Queen Mary was a Catholic and was trying all in her power to get the Pope involved in the politics of the English government and saw to it that laws were passed that were unabashedly pro-Catholic even though the greater majority of the English people were either Calvinists or Presbyterian. Elizabeth never married so that her power would have no chance of being diluted. She had at least two boyfriends, however. They were the Earl of Leicester and the Earl of Essex. Elizabeth was a descendant of Henry VIII and was a devoted Protestant. The people of England were pleased with the rise of Elizabeth because they thought she would be more tolerant of different religions and they were right. England moved into a time of religious tolerance and that eliminated much of the civil turmoil that had been present with Queen Mary. Elizabeth’s tolerance had a limit, however. When her cousin Mary, Queen of Scots was kicked out of Scotland because of her trying to turn Scotland into a Catholic stronghold by force. She fled to be with her cousin Elizabeth in England and she let Mary stay in safety. The thanks that Elizabeth got was that Mary, Queen of Scots plotted to kill Elizabeth so she could assume the crown, she was a descendant of Henry VIII also. Mary and other Catholics in Europe wanted England to be ruled by Catholics. Well, this indiscretion cost Mary, Queen of Scots her head. She was imprisoned for many years in Fotheringay Castle and then one fateful day she was taken out on the lawn to meet a big guy, in a black hood with a big double bladed axe. She went to meet her maker in two pieces. Elizabeth ruled during some of the most turbulent times in English history with the attempted invasion by Spain with Spanish Armada, but the Spanish were ground down to the bottom of the English Channel by one hell of a storm and the indefatigable British navy which sailed out of Southampton and Plymouth in ships that were designed for rough water. They chopped those Spaniards into salsa. During her reign the British navy became recognized as the most powerful in the world. Eventually Elizabeth sent Sir Francis Drake on a voyage of discovery which resulted in a trip around the globe. She also sent Sir Walter Raleigh to the new world on a mission of discovery. She died in 1603 and was succeeded by Mary, Queen of Scot’s son, James VI of Scotland. James was a protestant and at his coronation he was titled as James I, King of Great Britain. This was the first time in English history that England, Scotland and Ireland were ruled by one king. Elizabeth’s long and productive reign puts her as one of the greatest Monarchs in the history of England if not the world.
1777 On this date the American Congress submits the Article of Federation to the states for ratification. It had taken 16 months of bickering to get to this point. Virginia and Maryland kept bickering over lands in their western sections that delayed ratification for 4 more years. Finally in 1781 the Articles of Federation were ratified. The Articles shown how much paranoia had been brought over from Europe by out ancestors. The Articles were very specific about the independence and sovereignty of each state which essentially made each state it own little dukedom. Our ancestors were very afraid of anything that looked like a central Kingdom. Soon the shortcomings of this arrangement became obvious. We had to have a centralized government to control the economy, military and a common code of laws, etc. In 1798 we came up with our present Constitution and its attached Bill of Rights which is what we exist with today. To many, me included, this is the most important document in the history of mankind. It describes our method of government (a republic) and a strong central government but protecting the rights of the individual citizen. It was a carefully crafted and a well thought out instrument by a group of brilliant men that had to be at this place in this point in time not by accident but by design. To me it is ludicrous to assume that the presence of Thomas Jefferson, among others, in Virginia in this time period as being a random event. The United States exists for a reason, what it is we don’t know......yet.
1863 Previously CSA General James Longstreet had left the Army of Northern Virginia, R.E. Lee commanding, to help shore up CSA General Braxton Bragg’s army near Chattanooga, Tennessee. Bragg was present at the siege of Chattanooga and the CSA victory at Chickamauga. Then he got into a quarrel with the inept Bragg and left headed back to Virginia and General Lee. Along the way he decides to besiege Knoxville, Tennessee to try to kick out the Yankees that were there. That siege began on this day. Longstreet called off the siege a week later and headed east and toward the Army of Northern Virginia and General Robert E. Lee.
Born today:
1771 US businessman Charles A. Allen. He said “You can make more friends in a month by expressing interest in them than you can in ten years of trying to get them interested in you.” Good thinking, Charles, by the way, what do you think of me?
Died today:
1888 US businessman and father of a president Joseph Kennedy. He said “If you want to make money, go to where the money is.” Many called him a bootlegger and he did indeed bring illegal whiskey into America during prohibition. But he made most of his money by buying huge amounts of Scotch and put it in railroad cars and let it sit in Scotland during Prohibition and waited for it to be changed and when it did, he almost had a corner on the Scotch whisky market.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Monday, November 16, 2009
Daily history
Good morning,
Quote of the day:
"Perhaps our eyes need to be washed with out tears once in a while, so we can see life with clearer vision."
Alex Tan
A mother checked herself into a hospital in Rock Hill, SC and delivered a baby that night. The next morning she left the hospital without the baby and never returned. She cannot be charged with child abandonment because she left the child in a safe place but the baby tested positive for crack cocaine and marijuana. Because of this she can be charged with child neglect. She also is guilty of being the trash of the earth.
A couple of days ago Antoinette Davis fron the Fayetteville, NC area reported that her 5 year old daughter Shaniya missing. The child has yet to be found but they did find a few things about Antoinette. She was arrested and charged with trafficing in human beings for purposes of prostitution. That is better known as "white slavery". It is suspected that she was selling her children into prostitution. There is no telling where little Shaniya is now. But I know where Antoinette should be. That would be drawn and quartered into five pieces.
The mighty Carolina Panthers beat the Atlanta Falcons' brains out this Sunday. The New Orleans Saints remain undefeated but it was a struggle with the Saint Louis Rams. I think we will see the Saints and the Indy Colts in the Super Bowl in Miami.
Good news:
Russian premier Vladimir Putin has organized a project intended to being the Siberian (Amur) tigers back from the ranks of the endangered. The Siberian is the largest of all tigers. Putin has called summit meeting in Vladivostok to try and raise $1 Billion from other nations to get the program up and running. Of all the people in the world, Putin is the very last person I would suspect as fostering conservation. I guess we never know.
This date in history November 16
1776 Hessian Lieutenant General Wilhelm Von Knyphausen and 3,000 mercenaries along with 5,000 British troops surround and begin a siege of Fort Washington. The fort is on the northern end of Manhattan Island. The Hessians received stiff resistance from the 3,000 Continentals inside the fort initially but they were eventually overwhelmed. The 3,000 Continentals faced a rough road ahead because most of them would be put aboard British prison ships anchored in New York harbor where the majority would die from deprivation and disease. Included in the people inside the fort were James and Margaret Corbin from Virginia. James was an artilleryman manning one of the cannons that was firing on the Hessians. James was severely injured and died soon after, his wife Margaret took over his duties in spite of receiving a severe arm and leg wound herself, and the firing of the cannon continued until the fort’s commander, Patriot General Robert Magaw surrendered the fort to avoid a massacre. Margaret survived but lost the use of here left arm. Earlier a Patriot soldier named William Demont had deserted and went to the Hessians and told them how the fort was laid out what the strengths and weaknesses were which went a long way toward Von Knyphahausen’s success. The site of Fort Washington today is at the corner of Fort Washington Avenue and 183rd street in New York City.
1863 After the Confederate defeat at Gettysburg, CSA General Robert E. Lee sent CSA General James Longstreet and two divisions to assist the beleaguered CSA General Braxton Bragg in his campaign in the area of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Longstreet and his troops had arrived in the nick of time at the Battle of Chickamauga to ensure a Confederate victory. The Confederates had the Union army in the middle of a semi-circle which prevented any supplies from reaching them. A surprise attack by the Union army opened the way for supplies to reach them by river boat. Longstreet and Bragg argued much of the time about tactic and strategy but since Bragg was in command, he prevailed. Bragg was acknowledged to be the most inept commanding General on either side. As with most, he allowed his ego to hold high esteem in his planning of a military action. It cost the Confederacy the lives of thousands of brave men. Bragg released Longstreet to go east and try and secure the area of Knoxville, Tennessee which was a hotbed of anti-Confederacy and pro-Union sentiments. Defending this area for the Union was US General Ambrose Burnside and his division of 5,000 troops. Both Longstreet and Burnside realized that the Tennessee River crossing at Campbell Station was paramount. If Longstreet reached the crossing first, he could annihilate Burnside’s division because of superior numbers. But if Burnside reached the crossing first he could prevent a pursuit by Longstreet. On this date Burnside reached the crossing first and was in the process of crossing when Longstreet arrived. There was a brief fire fight but it was too late in the day and the crossing by Burnside succeeded and he and his troops escaped.
1957 On this day one of the worst monsters in American history, Edward Gein, kills his final victim. He killed Bernice Worden in Plainfield, Wisconsin. This boy would dig up corpses of women, have sex with them and eat parts of their bodies at times. After the death of Bernice the police became suspicious of Gein because of his unusual behavior. He had been extremely dominated by his mother and when she died in 1945, he began studying anatomy and became fascinated by the human body, especially female. Even though he was a quiet and unassuming farmer, a monster lurked beneath. The police obtained a search warrant for his house. What they found was a scene from hell. The fridge was full of human organs. There was a human heart on the stove roasting and human limbs scattered about. He had soup bowls made of human skulls and had chairs upholstered in human skins. It is this character that was the inspiration for Hannibal Lechter and Buffalo Bill in the movie “Silence of the Lambs”. Gein was properly judged to be crazy as a loon and was sent to the Wisconsin Asylum for the Criminally Insane where he died in 1984.
1849 On this day Russian author Fedor Dostoevsky is sentence to be executed by firing squad. He was accused of belonging to an anti-government extremist group and indeed he was. He delivered to us some of the greatest novels ever written the first success was the immortal “Crime and Punishment”. As he was being tied to a post to be shot, a reprieve arrived and he was sent to a labor camp in Siberia for four years. After leaving the labor camp he began writing once again and gave us “Possessed” which was successful. But in 1880 he gave us his masterpiece in “The Brothers Karamazov” that was an immediate success. He never was able reap the fruits of his talent because he died a year later.
1821 On this date William Becknell arrives at Santa Fe, New Mexico and opens a trade good store. He is immediately successful and starts planning another expedition. His most important contribution was the marking of the Santa Fe Trail that was used by thousands of settlers heading west but most importantly the trail came right by his trade good store. He had to stop trading for a while because the owners of the land at the time were the Spanish and they did not want any honkies setting up permanent town and cities on their lands. So Becknell moved his operation further north out of Spanish territory. Later on he ran across a group of Mexican soldiers who told him that Mexico had fought and defeated the Spanish and was no longer under Spanish rule meaning Santa Fe was open for business. He immediately pulled up stakes, went and replenished his supplies and hot-footed it back to Santa Fe. After he had sold all of his goods, he returned to his home in Franklin, Missouri with his saddle bags full of Mexican silver and gold. He was a wealthy man. But he was known as “The Father of the Santa Fe Trail.”
Births and deaths:
1873 US Composer W.C. Handy was born. He said “Life is like a trumpet. You can’t get anything out of it unless you put something in.”
1904 US Guitarist Eddie Condon is born. When asked for his hangover cure he said “Take the juice of two fifths of whiskey.”
1961 US senator Sam Rayburn dies. When asked what the three most important words were he said “Wait a minute.”
Спасибо за слушать, я не смочь трудно ждать до завтра
(This is “Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow” in Russian)
Quote of the day:
"Perhaps our eyes need to be washed with out tears once in a while, so we can see life with clearer vision."
Alex Tan
A mother checked herself into a hospital in Rock Hill, SC and delivered a baby that night. The next morning she left the hospital without the baby and never returned. She cannot be charged with child abandonment because she left the child in a safe place but the baby tested positive for crack cocaine and marijuana. Because of this she can be charged with child neglect. She also is guilty of being the trash of the earth.
A couple of days ago Antoinette Davis fron the Fayetteville, NC area reported that her 5 year old daughter Shaniya missing. The child has yet to be found but they did find a few things about Antoinette. She was arrested and charged with trafficing in human beings for purposes of prostitution. That is better known as "white slavery". It is suspected that she was selling her children into prostitution. There is no telling where little Shaniya is now. But I know where Antoinette should be. That would be drawn and quartered into five pieces.
The mighty Carolina Panthers beat the Atlanta Falcons' brains out this Sunday. The New Orleans Saints remain undefeated but it was a struggle with the Saint Louis Rams. I think we will see the Saints and the Indy Colts in the Super Bowl in Miami.
Good news:
Russian premier Vladimir Putin has organized a project intended to being the Siberian (Amur) tigers back from the ranks of the endangered. The Siberian is the largest of all tigers. Putin has called summit meeting in Vladivostok to try and raise $1 Billion from other nations to get the program up and running. Of all the people in the world, Putin is the very last person I would suspect as fostering conservation. I guess we never know.
This date in history November 16
1776 Hessian Lieutenant General Wilhelm Von Knyphausen and 3,000 mercenaries along with 5,000 British troops surround and begin a siege of Fort Washington. The fort is on the northern end of Manhattan Island. The Hessians received stiff resistance from the 3,000 Continentals inside the fort initially but they were eventually overwhelmed. The 3,000 Continentals faced a rough road ahead because most of them would be put aboard British prison ships anchored in New York harbor where the majority would die from deprivation and disease. Included in the people inside the fort were James and Margaret Corbin from Virginia. James was an artilleryman manning one of the cannons that was firing on the Hessians. James was severely injured and died soon after, his wife Margaret took over his duties in spite of receiving a severe arm and leg wound herself, and the firing of the cannon continued until the fort’s commander, Patriot General Robert Magaw surrendered the fort to avoid a massacre. Margaret survived but lost the use of here left arm. Earlier a Patriot soldier named William Demont had deserted and went to the Hessians and told them how the fort was laid out what the strengths and weaknesses were which went a long way toward Von Knyphahausen’s success. The site of Fort Washington today is at the corner of Fort Washington Avenue and 183rd street in New York City.
1863 After the Confederate defeat at Gettysburg, CSA General Robert E. Lee sent CSA General James Longstreet and two divisions to assist the beleaguered CSA General Braxton Bragg in his campaign in the area of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Longstreet and his troops had arrived in the nick of time at the Battle of Chickamauga to ensure a Confederate victory. The Confederates had the Union army in the middle of a semi-circle which prevented any supplies from reaching them. A surprise attack by the Union army opened the way for supplies to reach them by river boat. Longstreet and Bragg argued much of the time about tactic and strategy but since Bragg was in command, he prevailed. Bragg was acknowledged to be the most inept commanding General on either side. As with most, he allowed his ego to hold high esteem in his planning of a military action. It cost the Confederacy the lives of thousands of brave men. Bragg released Longstreet to go east and try and secure the area of Knoxville, Tennessee which was a hotbed of anti-Confederacy and pro-Union sentiments. Defending this area for the Union was US General Ambrose Burnside and his division of 5,000 troops. Both Longstreet and Burnside realized that the Tennessee River crossing at Campbell Station was paramount. If Longstreet reached the crossing first, he could annihilate Burnside’s division because of superior numbers. But if Burnside reached the crossing first he could prevent a pursuit by Longstreet. On this date Burnside reached the crossing first and was in the process of crossing when Longstreet arrived. There was a brief fire fight but it was too late in the day and the crossing by Burnside succeeded and he and his troops escaped.
1957 On this day one of the worst monsters in American history, Edward Gein, kills his final victim. He killed Bernice Worden in Plainfield, Wisconsin. This boy would dig up corpses of women, have sex with them and eat parts of their bodies at times. After the death of Bernice the police became suspicious of Gein because of his unusual behavior. He had been extremely dominated by his mother and when she died in 1945, he began studying anatomy and became fascinated by the human body, especially female. Even though he was a quiet and unassuming farmer, a monster lurked beneath. The police obtained a search warrant for his house. What they found was a scene from hell. The fridge was full of human organs. There was a human heart on the stove roasting and human limbs scattered about. He had soup bowls made of human skulls and had chairs upholstered in human skins. It is this character that was the inspiration for Hannibal Lechter and Buffalo Bill in the movie “Silence of the Lambs”. Gein was properly judged to be crazy as a loon and was sent to the Wisconsin Asylum for the Criminally Insane where he died in 1984.
1849 On this day Russian author Fedor Dostoevsky is sentence to be executed by firing squad. He was accused of belonging to an anti-government extremist group and indeed he was. He delivered to us some of the greatest novels ever written the first success was the immortal “Crime and Punishment”. As he was being tied to a post to be shot, a reprieve arrived and he was sent to a labor camp in Siberia for four years. After leaving the labor camp he began writing once again and gave us “Possessed” which was successful. But in 1880 he gave us his masterpiece in “The Brothers Karamazov” that was an immediate success. He never was able reap the fruits of his talent because he died a year later.
1821 On this date William Becknell arrives at Santa Fe, New Mexico and opens a trade good store. He is immediately successful and starts planning another expedition. His most important contribution was the marking of the Santa Fe Trail that was used by thousands of settlers heading west but most importantly the trail came right by his trade good store. He had to stop trading for a while because the owners of the land at the time were the Spanish and they did not want any honkies setting up permanent town and cities on their lands. So Becknell moved his operation further north out of Spanish territory. Later on he ran across a group of Mexican soldiers who told him that Mexico had fought and defeated the Spanish and was no longer under Spanish rule meaning Santa Fe was open for business. He immediately pulled up stakes, went and replenished his supplies and hot-footed it back to Santa Fe. After he had sold all of his goods, he returned to his home in Franklin, Missouri with his saddle bags full of Mexican silver and gold. He was a wealthy man. But he was known as “The Father of the Santa Fe Trail.”
Births and deaths:
1873 US Composer W.C. Handy was born. He said “Life is like a trumpet. You can’t get anything out of it unless you put something in.”
1904 US Guitarist Eddie Condon is born. When asked for his hangover cure he said “Take the juice of two fifths of whiskey.”
1961 US senator Sam Rayburn dies. When asked what the three most important words were he said “Wait a minute.”
Спасибо за слушать, я не смочь трудно ждать до завтра
(This is “Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow” in Russian)
Daily history
Good morning,
Quote of the day:
"Time is a companion that goes with us on a journey. It reminds us to cherish each moment, because it will never come again. What he leave behind is not as important as how we have lived."
Captain Jean-Luc Picard
Today's weather here in paradise is a carbon copy of yesterday except the temperature will a bit higher and the wind has shifted and is coming from the north. That usually means a low pressure area is to the west.
The air show will begin soon and I will be out on the deck with a pair of binoculars. The Navy base is about three miles as the crow flies from my condo.
The University of Florida Gators defeated the South Carolina Gamecocks 24-14 but not before a titanic defensive struggle. It was the Florida defense that was responsible for one of the touchdowns. The Gamecocks played valiantly but were out manned. It was Florida defensive back Joe Haley and linebacker Brandon Spikes that make the difference.
Up in Hendersonville, NC there was murder/suicide. It seems that a man and a woman had been dating for quite awhile but eventually broke up. The woman moved on and soon had another boyfriend. Later on the man asked her ex-girlfriend and he new boyfriend to meet him so they could establish a friendship. The meet took place and the man got the new boyfriend and his ex-girlfriend in a car and they rode round a while. They stopped in front of a restaurant assuming they would go in and have a bite to eat. The man who was in the back seat, pulled out a pistol and capped the new boyfriend who was driving and then blew his own brains out. The woman was unhurt. Some people handle grief better that others.
Good news:
Doctors in Australia have developed a procedure to allow those women that have had mastectomies to grow new breasts. They form a biodegradable mold in the shape of a breast and implant it under the skin. Then they implant stem cells inside the mold and attach a blood supply. The stem cells will form fatty cells that will fill the mold an then the mold will disintegrate. This procedure has been tried successfully on pigs. A human test in on the near horizon.
This date in history November 15
1943 German official Heinrich Himmler issues an order that all Gypsies and those with Gypsy blood should be put “on the same level” as Jews and therefore be gathered up and sent to concentration camps. Himmler was following Hitler’s proclamation that all “inferior races” and “asocial” people should be eliminated. It was Hitler and his henchman that decided which races were inferior. They stated that an “asocial” person was one that had been convicted of a crime no matter how trivial or serious. It was Himmler that engineered the creation of death camps throughout eastern Europe. He also dictated how to organize a pool of slave laborers to be used by the German military to make weapons and/or other devices to the benefit of Hitler’s monsters. It is still hard for me to conceive of human beings that are so cruel and heartless. But on second thought, we killed about 230,000 Japanese civilians in the span of three months. I guess all that matters is who wins and who loses.
1984 An infant called Baby Fae was born without the left side of her heart. This condition is always fatal. Baby Fae was a fake name used to protect her parent’s privacy. The doctors at a Loma Linda, California hospital convinced the parents to allow them to try an experiment and transplant a baboon heart into little Baby Fae. The parents were very skeptical about non-human tissue being accepted by a human. On this date the heart was transplanted into the 14 day old Baby Fae and sure enough, her body eventually made concerted effort to reject this foreign tissue forcing the doctors to more and more increase the anti-rejection drug to the point that Baby Fae suffered kidney failure and died 20 days after the operation. But she survived longer than other infants that had received this transplant. The normal life span after this operation was 3 ½ days. I wonder if this experiment is still performed today.
1965 On this date drag racer Craig Breedlove broke the 600MPH barrier on the Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah. He was driving his jet powered Spirit of America-Sonic II. His certified speed was 600.601MPH. It was Breedlove that broke the 400MPH barrier and the 500MPH barrier also. Not to be outdone, Gary Gableich built a vehicle not using a jet engine; this boy used a rocket engine for propulsion. He blistered the Salt Flats a while later going 633.330MPH. As I have stated previously, the sound barrier was broken by a land vehicle fairly recently. That speed is about 750MPH at sea level. That is really humming, ya’ll. Are you listening, Smitty?
1923 A mentally disabled white woman name Mamie Snow of Waukegan, Illinois told the police that a black man named James Montgomery had raped her. Montgomery was a World War I veteran, factory worker and homeowner but, on this date, he was immediately thrown in jail. He went from jail to trial and was convicted and given a life sentence. During the trial Montgomery’s lawyer was threatened by the local Ku Klux Klan and the lawyer presented a weak defense. Montgomery vehemently denied that he had raped Mamie and while in prison he studied the law and became very knowledgeable. He eventually raised enough hell that his case was re-examined and it was found out that a medical report on Mamie showed that she had not been raped and was probably a virgin. This information was discovered by the prosecution and was kept hidden from Montgomery’s lawyer. After this was discovered, Montgomery was released. He had been in prison 26 years.
Born today:
1741 Swiss theologian Johann Lavater. He said “The public seldom forgives twice”. Ted Kennedy and Bill Clinton are prime examples.
1881 US writer Franklin P. Adams. When chatting with Robert Benchley about a very unpopular man Benchley said “That man is his own worst enemy”. Adams responded with “Not while I’m around.” Adams was a funny guy, so was Benchley.
1887 US artist Georgia O’Keefe. She said “I hate flowers. But I paint them because they are cheaper than a model and they don’t move.” This woman was responsible for an entirely different form of art.
Died today:
1932 US writer Charles Chestnutt. He said “Impossibilities are things yet to be learned, or which we do not wish to happen”. Sound wisdom, Charlie.
1958 US actor Tyrone Power. He said “The secret to charm is bullshit”. Damn Tyrone, lighten up.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Quote of the day:
"Time is a companion that goes with us on a journey. It reminds us to cherish each moment, because it will never come again. What he leave behind is not as important as how we have lived."
Captain Jean-Luc Picard
Today's weather here in paradise is a carbon copy of yesterday except the temperature will a bit higher and the wind has shifted and is coming from the north. That usually means a low pressure area is to the west.
The air show will begin soon and I will be out on the deck with a pair of binoculars. The Navy base is about three miles as the crow flies from my condo.
The University of Florida Gators defeated the South Carolina Gamecocks 24-14 but not before a titanic defensive struggle. It was the Florida defense that was responsible for one of the touchdowns. The Gamecocks played valiantly but were out manned. It was Florida defensive back Joe Haley and linebacker Brandon Spikes that make the difference.
Up in Hendersonville, NC there was murder/suicide. It seems that a man and a woman had been dating for quite awhile but eventually broke up. The woman moved on and soon had another boyfriend. Later on the man asked her ex-girlfriend and he new boyfriend to meet him so they could establish a friendship. The meet took place and the man got the new boyfriend and his ex-girlfriend in a car and they rode round a while. They stopped in front of a restaurant assuming they would go in and have a bite to eat. The man who was in the back seat, pulled out a pistol and capped the new boyfriend who was driving and then blew his own brains out. The woman was unhurt. Some people handle grief better that others.
Good news:
Doctors in Australia have developed a procedure to allow those women that have had mastectomies to grow new breasts. They form a biodegradable mold in the shape of a breast and implant it under the skin. Then they implant stem cells inside the mold and attach a blood supply. The stem cells will form fatty cells that will fill the mold an then the mold will disintegrate. This procedure has been tried successfully on pigs. A human test in on the near horizon.
This date in history November 15
1943 German official Heinrich Himmler issues an order that all Gypsies and those with Gypsy blood should be put “on the same level” as Jews and therefore be gathered up and sent to concentration camps. Himmler was following Hitler’s proclamation that all “inferior races” and “asocial” people should be eliminated. It was Hitler and his henchman that decided which races were inferior. They stated that an “asocial” person was one that had been convicted of a crime no matter how trivial or serious. It was Himmler that engineered the creation of death camps throughout eastern Europe. He also dictated how to organize a pool of slave laborers to be used by the German military to make weapons and/or other devices to the benefit of Hitler’s monsters. It is still hard for me to conceive of human beings that are so cruel and heartless. But on second thought, we killed about 230,000 Japanese civilians in the span of three months. I guess all that matters is who wins and who loses.
1984 An infant called Baby Fae was born without the left side of her heart. This condition is always fatal. Baby Fae was a fake name used to protect her parent’s privacy. The doctors at a Loma Linda, California hospital convinced the parents to allow them to try an experiment and transplant a baboon heart into little Baby Fae. The parents were very skeptical about non-human tissue being accepted by a human. On this date the heart was transplanted into the 14 day old Baby Fae and sure enough, her body eventually made concerted effort to reject this foreign tissue forcing the doctors to more and more increase the anti-rejection drug to the point that Baby Fae suffered kidney failure and died 20 days after the operation. But she survived longer than other infants that had received this transplant. The normal life span after this operation was 3 ½ days. I wonder if this experiment is still performed today.
1965 On this date drag racer Craig Breedlove broke the 600MPH barrier on the Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah. He was driving his jet powered Spirit of America-Sonic II. His certified speed was 600.601MPH. It was Breedlove that broke the 400MPH barrier and the 500MPH barrier also. Not to be outdone, Gary Gableich built a vehicle not using a jet engine; this boy used a rocket engine for propulsion. He blistered the Salt Flats a while later going 633.330MPH. As I have stated previously, the sound barrier was broken by a land vehicle fairly recently. That speed is about 750MPH at sea level. That is really humming, ya’ll. Are you listening, Smitty?
1923 A mentally disabled white woman name Mamie Snow of Waukegan, Illinois told the police that a black man named James Montgomery had raped her. Montgomery was a World War I veteran, factory worker and homeowner but, on this date, he was immediately thrown in jail. He went from jail to trial and was convicted and given a life sentence. During the trial Montgomery’s lawyer was threatened by the local Ku Klux Klan and the lawyer presented a weak defense. Montgomery vehemently denied that he had raped Mamie and while in prison he studied the law and became very knowledgeable. He eventually raised enough hell that his case was re-examined and it was found out that a medical report on Mamie showed that she had not been raped and was probably a virgin. This information was discovered by the prosecution and was kept hidden from Montgomery’s lawyer. After this was discovered, Montgomery was released. He had been in prison 26 years.
Born today:
1741 Swiss theologian Johann Lavater. He said “The public seldom forgives twice”. Ted Kennedy and Bill Clinton are prime examples.
1881 US writer Franklin P. Adams. When chatting with Robert Benchley about a very unpopular man Benchley said “That man is his own worst enemy”. Adams responded with “Not while I’m around.” Adams was a funny guy, so was Benchley.
1887 US artist Georgia O’Keefe. She said “I hate flowers. But I paint them because they are cheaper than a model and they don’t move.” This woman was responsible for an entirely different form of art.
Died today:
1932 US writer Charles Chestnutt. He said “Impossibilities are things yet to be learned, or which we do not wish to happen”. Sound wisdom, Charlie.
1958 US actor Tyrone Power. He said “The secret to charm is bullshit”. Damn Tyrone, lighten up.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Daily history
Good morning,
Quote of the day:
"It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows"
Epictetus
The weather here in paradise is as beautiful today as I have seen since I have been here. It was cool this morning, about 48 degrees. It will heat up to about 72 with a very light wind from the northeast. The skies and air is crystal clear.
One of my favorite women is raising a lot of eyebrows lately. Beautiful Sarah Palin is trudging around the country selling her book. She also has said that Senator McCain's election staff treated her poorly not to mention calling out Katie Couric. I think it is all part of a plan to get her in the public eye for the future. She definitely has an agenda.
A couple of days ago down in the Anderson, South Carolina area, a 13 year old boy and his 12 year old adopted brother showed up missing. The parents called the cops and they sent out patrols, including helicopters, scouring the countryside. The scary part was they were armed. Their family had avid hunters and the boys stole five weapons. On Thursday a man sighted the boys near a construction site and immediately knew who they were. Reports and photos were on every type of media and the man called out to the boys by name. The boys asked him for a ride, they were going to hitchhike to North Carolina. The man called the cops instead and the boys laid down their weapons and were taken to police headquarters and interviewed. All of this started when report cards from the boys school were not good and the parents put them on restrictions. The father said that he is relieved that they are safe but was angry at the same time. There is no report as to what punishment the boys received, if any.
On Saturday the Blue Angels will be the headliner at an air show at the Pensacola Naval Air Station. I have seen them there in the past. They are spectacular but the noise is horrific. The F-18 Hornet is a powerful airplane. This air show will be the last one for them in 2009. The pilots spend two year flying with the Blue Angels then they are deployed to the fleet.
About a month ago the city of Pritchard, Alabama (near Mobile) filed a Chapter 9 bankruptcy. When is the last time you ever heard of an entire city declaring bankruptcy? Anyway, this week the Chief of Police handed in his resignation to be come a probation officer. He said the city's bankruptcy had nothing to do with him resigning a year early from his five year contract. Everybody that believes that raise their hand.
I am watching a helicopter land on a Coast Guard cutter that is about a half mile from my condo. In fact the helicopter made five or six landings and takeoffs so they must be training. I have never seen a Coast Guard vessel this far up Santa Rosa Sound.
Good news:
The day after Tropical Storm Ida passed by a motorist near Gulf Shores, Alabama saw a bottle-nosed dolphin stranded about 150 feet up on the beach. The motorist notified the Alabama wildlife authorities and they were on the scene quickly. The 190 pound dolphin was taken to a unit in Gulfport, Mississippi that specializes in the rescue of dolphins. The attending veterinarian said the dolphin has a good chance of survival but does have pneumonia and a lot of parasites all of which are treatable. Apparently the dolphin was washed ashore by the high winds associated with Ida.
I just found out that the dolphin died. That veterinarian did not know whereof he spoke, did he?
I guess y'all know by now that the mastermind of the 9/11 disaster is going to be brought from Gitmo to New York City to stand trial. As SC Senator Jim DeMint said "What lunatic authorized that?" He is right. Putting a kingpin of terrorists on trial in the United States is asking for another strike. It is at least putting thousands of Americans at risk. By the way, the initials of the person that did authorize this is Barak Obama.
I went to a high school football game with my daughter last night. It was the Gulf Breeze Dolphins against the Navarre Raiders. We did not go especially to see the game but to see my grand daughter who is in the marching band. Let me tell y'all, the Gulf Breeze band had about 90 members. It looked like the Crimson Tide band out there. My grand daughter plays a french horn but in a marching band it is called something else. Scottie will know. By the way, my daughter and I left after the half time show with the score 28 to 6 in favor of Navarre.
This date in history November 14
1862 On this date President Abraham Lincoln approves US General Ambrose Burnsides’ plan for the capture of the Confederate capitol of Richmond , Virginia . Burnsides was the replacement for US General George McClellan who had been fired by Lincoln for being an obnoxious horse’s ass. McClellan was the architect of landing troops southeast of Richmond and attack Richmond up the James River Peninsula . Well, he ran into CSA General Robert E. Lee in a series of battle over the span of seven days and McClellan had his ass handed to him and he retreated back down the peninsula and took his young ass back north. However, he ran into Lee again near a small town in Maryland named Sharpsburg . The battle took place near a body of water named Antietam Creek. This was the bloodiest single day in American history and the battle was called a draw. Both armies were beat up badly which forced Lee to retreat back into Virginia to regroup and refit. McClellan, remembering what happened to him in Virginia before, decided to languish a couple of months near Sharpsburg and refused to follow Lee into Virginia . This was the last straw and Lincoln canned him in favor of Burnsides. Burnsides’ plan was to march down the east bank of the Rappahannock River cross over to the west side near the town of Fredericksburg , Virginia and attack Richmond from the south. Lincoln would have rather had Burnsides to try and crush Lee’s army but for the lack of any other choice he approved Burnsides’ plan. So Burnsides’ goes down the river bank until he was opposite Fredericksburg but he had to wait for two days because of the weather. By then Lee’s army had deployed his army on Marye’s Heights facing the River and had pre-registered (aimed) his artillery. In fact Lee's artillery commander said "A chicken could not cross that field and survive." Burnsides sent his troops on the attack a regiment at a time and those poor guys were literally chopped to pieces. This did not slow Burnsides down he kept sending more and more troops into that cauldron for 14 separate charges. All of them failed. Can you imagine what those soldiers that were in the 14th charge were wading through? Anyway, Burnsides ordered a retreat but then there came three days of torrential rain which turned the roads into quagmires. Burnsides’ retreat bogged down and the Confederates on the opposite bank were sniping at them from cover and were yelling taunts at them. Burnsides’ finally completed his retreat after suffering horrendous losses. This was an ignominious end to the combat command of US General Ambrose Burnsides.
1851 Earlier an author named Herman Melville had published a novel named Typee about his experiences aboard a trading ship in the south Pacific. But on this date he released one of the most engrossing books ever written. He gave us Moby Dick. This novel is based on Melville’s experiences on a whaling vessel. The first line of this book is famous: “Call me Ishmael.” It is a story of the revenge of a whaling vessel captain named Ahab against an albino sperm whale, that he named Moby Dick, for taking off his right leg on an earlier expedition. His desire for revenge was absorbed by the rest of his crew and their whole being became aimed at killing the great whale. I will let it go at that and ya’ll can find out what happened on your own. It gives you an insight to the depths that human hatred can descend.
1882 This is a tale about one of the lesser known gunmen in the old west named Franklin “Buckskin” Leslie. According to him he was either born in Texas or Kentucky depending upon his mood at the time. He also said that he went to medical school in Europe . No one really knew much about him except he was a very capable gunman. He gained a reputation as a bad-ass long before he arrived in that famous city of hell called Tombstone, Arizona . He was not as well known as the Earp brothers and Doc Holliday but he was just as deadly. He got into a cuss-fight with man named John Killeen about Killeen ’s wife. They drew down on each other and Killeen was killed. Very shortly afterward Leslie married the former Mrs. Killeen. After a while of him beating her up, his wife and Leslie were divorced. Leslie then took up with a Tombstone prostitute. Then one night he got drunk and chose to shoot and kill the prostitute. Even in Tombstone , the killing of a woman would not be tolerated and “Buckskin” went to the slammer for ten years. After he was released he returned to Tombstone and resumed his life of before. He had a drinking partner named Johnny Ringo that was just as mean and deadly as Buckskin. Well, Ringo was found dead outside Tombstone in Turkey Creek and yet another gunslinger named Billy “The Kid” Claiborne blamed Buckskin as the murderer. No one knows why, but on this date Claiborne proclaimed all of this in public which was essentially a challenge to Buckskin to fight and fight they did. Claiborne lost. After this the trail of Buckskin becomes obscure. Some claim that he made a fortune in the Klondike gold fields no one really knows but Buckskin Leslie faded from the pages of history. By the way, Wyatt Earp later claimed that it was he that had killed Johnny Ringo at Turkey Creek.
1940 On this date German Luftwaffe bombed the hell out of the English city of Coventry . There is a story that Winston Churchill knew that the Germans were going to attack Coventry because they had broken the German code named Enigma which is what the Luftwaffe used. He could not warn the people of Coventry that a raid was coming because then the Germans would know their code had been broken. War is hell.
Born today:
1951 US songwriter Stephen Bishop. He wrote a song named “I am so miserable without you; it is almost like having you here.” I think I was married to this woman
1952 US Representative Maureen Murphy. She said “The reason there are so few women politicians is that is so much trouble to put make-up on two faces.” I think we all know a female politician that has multiple faces, don’t we? Her initials are Hillary Clinton.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Quote of the day:
"It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows"
Epictetus
The weather here in paradise is as beautiful today as I have seen since I have been here. It was cool this morning, about 48 degrees. It will heat up to about 72 with a very light wind from the northeast. The skies and air is crystal clear.
One of my favorite women is raising a lot of eyebrows lately. Beautiful Sarah Palin is trudging around the country selling her book. She also has said that Senator McCain's election staff treated her poorly not to mention calling out Katie Couric. I think it is all part of a plan to get her in the public eye for the future. She definitely has an agenda.
A couple of days ago down in the Anderson, South Carolina area, a 13 year old boy and his 12 year old adopted brother showed up missing. The parents called the cops and they sent out patrols, including helicopters, scouring the countryside. The scary part was they were armed. Their family had avid hunters and the boys stole five weapons. On Thursday a man sighted the boys near a construction site and immediately knew who they were. Reports and photos were on every type of media and the man called out to the boys by name. The boys asked him for a ride, they were going to hitchhike to North Carolina. The man called the cops instead and the boys laid down their weapons and were taken to police headquarters and interviewed. All of this started when report cards from the boys school were not good and the parents put them on restrictions. The father said that he is relieved that they are safe but was angry at the same time. There is no report as to what punishment the boys received, if any.
On Saturday the Blue Angels will be the headliner at an air show at the Pensacola Naval Air Station. I have seen them there in the past. They are spectacular but the noise is horrific. The F-18 Hornet is a powerful airplane. This air show will be the last one for them in 2009. The pilots spend two year flying with the Blue Angels then they are deployed to the fleet.
About a month ago the city of Pritchard, Alabama (near Mobile) filed a Chapter 9 bankruptcy. When is the last time you ever heard of an entire city declaring bankruptcy? Anyway, this week the Chief of Police handed in his resignation to be come a probation officer. He said the city's bankruptcy had nothing to do with him resigning a year early from his five year contract. Everybody that believes that raise their hand.
I am watching a helicopter land on a Coast Guard cutter that is about a half mile from my condo. In fact the helicopter made five or six landings and takeoffs so they must be training. I have never seen a Coast Guard vessel this far up Santa Rosa Sound.
Good news:
The day after Tropical Storm Ida passed by a motorist near Gulf Shores, Alabama saw a bottle-nosed dolphin stranded about 150 feet up on the beach. The motorist notified the Alabama wildlife authorities and they were on the scene quickly. The 190 pound dolphin was taken to a unit in Gulfport, Mississippi that specializes in the rescue of dolphins. The attending veterinarian said the dolphin has a good chance of survival but does have pneumonia and a lot of parasites all of which are treatable. Apparently the dolphin was washed ashore by the high winds associated with Ida.
I just found out that the dolphin died. That veterinarian did not know whereof he spoke, did he?
I guess y'all know by now that the mastermind of the 9/11 disaster is going to be brought from Gitmo to New York City to stand trial. As SC Senator Jim DeMint said "What lunatic authorized that?" He is right. Putting a kingpin of terrorists on trial in the United States is asking for another strike. It is at least putting thousands of Americans at risk. By the way, the initials of the person that did authorize this is Barak Obama.
I went to a high school football game with my daughter last night. It was the Gulf Breeze Dolphins against the Navarre Raiders. We did not go especially to see the game but to see my grand daughter who is in the marching band. Let me tell y'all, the Gulf Breeze band had about 90 members. It looked like the Crimson Tide band out there. My grand daughter plays a french horn but in a marching band it is called something else. Scottie will know. By the way, my daughter and I left after the half time show with the score 28 to 6 in favor of Navarre.
This date in history November 14
1862 On this date President Abraham Lincoln approves US General Ambrose Burnsides’ plan for the capture of the Confederate capitol of Richmond , Virginia . Burnsides was the replacement for US General George McClellan who had been fired by Lincoln for being an obnoxious horse’s ass. McClellan was the architect of landing troops southeast of Richmond and attack Richmond up the James River Peninsula . Well, he ran into CSA General Robert E. Lee in a series of battle over the span of seven days and McClellan had his ass handed to him and he retreated back down the peninsula and took his young ass back north. However, he ran into Lee again near a small town in Maryland named Sharpsburg . The battle took place near a body of water named Antietam Creek. This was the bloodiest single day in American history and the battle was called a draw. Both armies were beat up badly which forced Lee to retreat back into Virginia to regroup and refit. McClellan, remembering what happened to him in Virginia before, decided to languish a couple of months near Sharpsburg and refused to follow Lee into Virginia . This was the last straw and Lincoln canned him in favor of Burnsides. Burnsides’ plan was to march down the east bank of the Rappahannock River cross over to the west side near the town of Fredericksburg , Virginia and attack Richmond from the south. Lincoln would have rather had Burnsides to try and crush Lee’s army but for the lack of any other choice he approved Burnsides’ plan. So Burnsides’ goes down the river bank until he was opposite Fredericksburg but he had to wait for two days because of the weather. By then Lee’s army had deployed his army on Marye’s Heights facing the River and had pre-registered (aimed) his artillery. In fact Lee's artillery commander said "A chicken could not cross that field and survive." Burnsides sent his troops on the attack a regiment at a time and those poor guys were literally chopped to pieces. This did not slow Burnsides down he kept sending more and more troops into that cauldron for 14 separate charges. All of them failed. Can you imagine what those soldiers that were in the 14th charge were wading through? Anyway, Burnsides ordered a retreat but then there came three days of torrential rain which turned the roads into quagmires. Burnsides’ retreat bogged down and the Confederates on the opposite bank were sniping at them from cover and were yelling taunts at them. Burnsides’ finally completed his retreat after suffering horrendous losses. This was an ignominious end to the combat command of US General Ambrose Burnsides.
1851 Earlier an author named Herman Melville had published a novel named Typee about his experiences aboard a trading ship in the south Pacific. But on this date he released one of the most engrossing books ever written. He gave us Moby Dick. This novel is based on Melville’s experiences on a whaling vessel. The first line of this book is famous: “Call me Ishmael.” It is a story of the revenge of a whaling vessel captain named Ahab against an albino sperm whale, that he named Moby Dick, for taking off his right leg on an earlier expedition. His desire for revenge was absorbed by the rest of his crew and their whole being became aimed at killing the great whale. I will let it go at that and ya’ll can find out what happened on your own. It gives you an insight to the depths that human hatred can descend.
1882 This is a tale about one of the lesser known gunmen in the old west named Franklin “Buckskin” Leslie. According to him he was either born in Texas or Kentucky depending upon his mood at the time. He also said that he went to medical school in Europe . No one really knew much about him except he was a very capable gunman. He gained a reputation as a bad-ass long before he arrived in that famous city of hell called Tombstone, Arizona . He was not as well known as the Earp brothers and Doc Holliday but he was just as deadly. He got into a cuss-fight with man named John Killeen about Killeen ’s wife. They drew down on each other and Killeen was killed. Very shortly afterward Leslie married the former Mrs. Killeen. After a while of him beating her up, his wife and Leslie were divorced. Leslie then took up with a Tombstone prostitute. Then one night he got drunk and chose to shoot and kill the prostitute. Even in Tombstone , the killing of a woman would not be tolerated and “Buckskin” went to the slammer for ten years. After he was released he returned to Tombstone and resumed his life of before. He had a drinking partner named Johnny Ringo that was just as mean and deadly as Buckskin. Well, Ringo was found dead outside Tombstone in Turkey Creek and yet another gunslinger named Billy “The Kid” Claiborne blamed Buckskin as the murderer. No one knows why, but on this date Claiborne proclaimed all of this in public which was essentially a challenge to Buckskin to fight and fight they did. Claiborne lost. After this the trail of Buckskin becomes obscure. Some claim that he made a fortune in the Klondike gold fields no one really knows but Buckskin Leslie faded from the pages of history. By the way, Wyatt Earp later claimed that it was he that had killed Johnny Ringo at Turkey Creek.
1940 On this date German Luftwaffe bombed the hell out of the English city of Coventry . There is a story that Winston Churchill knew that the Germans were going to attack Coventry because they had broken the German code named Enigma which is what the Luftwaffe used. He could not warn the people of Coventry that a raid was coming because then the Germans would know their code had been broken. War is hell.
Born today:
1951 US songwriter Stephen Bishop. He wrote a song named “I am so miserable without you; it is almost like having you here.” I think I was married to this woman
1952 US Representative Maureen Murphy. She said “The reason there are so few women politicians is that is so much trouble to put make-up on two faces.” I think we all know a female politician that has multiple faces, don’t we? Her initials are Hillary Clinton.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
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