Daily history

Good morning,


Quote of the day:

"Imagination is a quality given to man to compensate him for what he is not, and a sense of humor to console him for what he is."

                                        Oscar Wilde

The weather here in paradise is cloudy but no rain. The low temp was about 55 and the high today will be in the mid-70s. The wind is pretty stiff from straight out of the north. I guess there is still an influence of Ida. Normally the wind is from the east-northeast.

Perhaps I have been too hard on my home state of South Carolina and it's crime rate. I have heard from more than one source about me being unfair about it. The truth is that there are more people moving to the Greenville, South Carolina area than there are moving to Gulf Breeze/Pensacola, Florida. Maybe I should start trying to think of Greenville's assets rather than its liabilities. It is true that all sections of the country has a certain amount of crime but I have not seen drive-by shootings, gang activity, etc. where I am right now. But that is not all there is to it, I suppose. I will be coming home in a week so I guess I should get another mind set for living in a much bigger city with all its advantages and disadvantages but I will miss Boardwalk condo, unit E-3. Thanks Mo.

That being said, there was a woman walking her dog near a locally famous golf course located at or near 34 degrees, 56 minutes north by eighty-two degrees, 20 minutes west when a man jumped out of the bushes, grabbed her and raped her. In addition to a hog-leg to blow that bastard's brains out, she needed a 100 pound Rottweiler, German Shepherd or Pit Bull on the other end of the leash to bite his leg (or whatever) off.

Last night I went to my favorite watering hole for karaoke. There were four Hispanics and a white guy in there that nobody had ever seen before. They got louder and brassier as the evening wore on and everyone knew a confrontation was on the horizon. The owners of this place, Sonny and Beverly, hire top notch bartenders in skill, personality and good looks and they dress the part. They are always well dressed but there is no doubt about the condition and shape of their bodies top to bottom. Anyway, one of the bartenders named Hillary came out from behind the bar and headed toward the storeroom when one of the Hispanics grabbed her. Hillary stopped, turned around and told them all to get out. The white guy said that she would be losing a lot of money if they left. By then at least 10 of the regulars were headed toward Hillary. Hillary said "You can take your lousy $150 and get the f--k out of here. I make twice that in tips every day." They wisely chose to get the f--k out. I think the Hispanics think all women are toys to be played with. There a two major building projects underway on the island and I am sure that is where they came from. They will get an education, I assure you.

This past Monday a female student at Presbyterian University in Clinton, SC was reported missing. She had not answered her phone, there was no activity in her bank account and she was not attending classes. On Wednesday she contacted her family and will be returning to school. The Chief of Police in Clinton did not want any more information about this event given out. That seems strange to me. I sounds like she was kidnapped, a ransom was paid and she was released. But I guess we will just have to wait and see.

Good News:

The Secretary of Fish, Wildlife and Parks has taken the brown pelican off the endangered list. This bird has been on the endangered list ever since the disaster with DDT was discovered in 1972. DDT got into the bird's food chain through insects that had been sprayed with the insecticide and fell into the water, were eaten by smaller fish and those fish were eaten by the pelicans. DDT makes bird egg shells very fragile and would break at the slightest movement. As we know, DDT has been banned but it took a generation for DDT-free pelicans to mature. I see a hell of a lot of them out my back windows. They are great dive bombers.

This date in history November 12

1775    Earlier in 1774 the American colonies sent a document to King George III called “The Olive Branch” proposal written by John Dickenson. The proposal was directed to the King specifically and stated the colony’s unhappiness with the different laws and taxes levied upon them by Parliament. The scent of war was heavy in the colonies and several important men in the colonies, including John Dickenson, would travel almost any avenue to avoid war with Great Britain. They wanted to make sure that the King knew what Parliament was doing to them before any warlike action was taken. The proposal essentially kissed King George’s ass in the hopes of not inflaming him. Well, King George not only did not read the proposal, he did not even open the envelope. This told the colonies that King George was in agreement and complicit with whatever Parliament was dishing out. Upon receiving the notification that King George did not even open the envelope, a letter was written to John Adams on this date stating: “Let us separate, they are unworthy to be our Brethren. Let us renounce them and instead of supplications for their happiness and prosperity, let us beseech the almighty to blast their councils (Parliament) and bring naught to all of their devices (laws and taxes).” This person was obviously very pissed. The letter was written by John Adam’s wife Abigail. The next year the Declaration of Independence was written and among other things said this about King George: “The history of the present king of Great Britain is a history of injuries and usurpation, all having in direct object the establishment of absolute tyranny over these states.” So our forefathers in the span of one year went from kissing George’s ass to calling him a tyrant. There is little question that this document did indeed inflame King George but our ancestors in their wisdom, told King George III to kiss their ass.

1864    Earlier US General William T. Sherman had arrived in Atlanta, Georgia after a torturous running battle with the Confederates coming south from Chattanooga, Tennessee. On this date Sherman orders the destruction of anything that could be useful to the Confederate Army. During the trip down from Chattanooga, Sherman had accumulated a large store of supplies captured from the Confederates. Sherman decided to set up a large supply dump in Atlanta and destroy everything else. He then split his army and sent US General George Thomas backtracking to make sure that what was left of the Confederate army commanded by CSA General John Bell Hood did not try to cut off his supply line coming down from the north. This move assured Sherman that he could continue south and destroy what ended up being 37% of consumables in the state of Georgia and hastened the end to the tragedy known as the American Civil War.

1867    After almost a decade of battles with the Cheyenne and the Sioux Indians of the Great Plains, not to mention the Civil War, the US military held a conference at Fort Laramie, Wyoming to try to work out a peace agreement with Indians. There had been unspeakable atrocities on both sides and the American public was fed up with the bloodletting both on the plains and during the Civil War. The US military chose to abandon their policy of an “aggressive military solution” to the “Indian problem” and called in several Sioux leaders for a pow-wow. The negotiations bore fruit when the American military decided to abandon their forts on the Bozeman Trail through Montana which was a major sore spot with the Sioux and Cheyenne, Chief Red Cloud in particular. Well, as usual the US military reneged on their promise to provide several Cheyenne tribes with guns and the Cheyenne showed their anger by slaughtering 15 people in Kansas and raping five women. The US military saw that peace was impossible and in 1868 began ramping up for war with the Sioux and Cheyenne. The US military agreed to treaty after treaty with the Sioux and Cheyenne among other tribes and broke each and every one of them. If ever there was a black mark on this great nation it is the treatment of the Native Americans. We came within a gnat’s ass of complete genocide.

2001    Almost two months to the day after the destruction of the World Trade Center an American Airline Airbus 300 with 265 people aboard departed runway 31 at New York’s JFK airport bound for the Dominican Republic. Before takeoff a Japan Airline Boeing 747 had departed ahead of the Airbus. After reaching 13,000 feet the Airbus suddenly fell almost vertically into a Rockaway, New York neighborhood killing all aboard and many on the ground. The immediate thought that it was an act of terrorism. But the FAA/National Aviation Safety Org. recovered the cockpit voice recorder and the so-called “black box” and determined the following: Even though the correct takeoff distance (4 miles) between two “heavy” aircraft was maintained, the wake turbulence behind the Japan Airline 747 was sufficient to cause an upset to the aircraft behind. In a “heavy” (300,000 pounds or heavier) aircraft there are horizontal “tornadoes” (wake turbulence) coming off the wingtips. The heavier the aircraft, the more intense the wake turbulence. The pilot and co-pilot of the American Airline Airbus felt a slight shudder and then a large dive and then a severe climb and over compensated and tore the tail section off the aircraft. In fact, the tail section fell into Rockaway bay. After that, the Airbus fell like a rock. When I was an air traffic controller, we received a lot of instructions on how to deal with “heavies”. Even if all the procedures are followed, there can still be a chance of an upset if the atmospheric conditions are exactly right. That is what happened here.

Born today:

1908    US Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun. When asked to describe the Supreme Court he said “We’re all eccentrics. We’re nine prima donnas.” Hey Harry, tell us something we don’t know.

1929    US actress Grace Kelly. She said “The freedom of the press works I such a way that there is not much freedom from it.” I personally fed up with the press spoon feeding us what they want us to know and nothing else. When is the last time you have seen a photo of a Republican candidate that was not in a paid political ad? When is the last time you saw a photo of Hilary and/or Obama in a news item? The press is using a type of psychology on us, the more we see of the Democrats and the less we see of the Republicans the more likely we are to vote Democrat. This horse is not a clone, my mind is sharp, clear and individualistic and not fooled. OK, I am off my soapbox now.

Died today:

1865    English writer Elizabeth Gaskell. She said “Sometimes one likes a fool for their folly, better than wise people for their wisdom.” It would be nice to know people with a little of both, a sense of humor is a gift.

1989    Spanish communist leader Delores Ibarurri. She said “It is better to be the widow of a hero that the wife of a coward.” I would think it would depend on how much money they make.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow