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