Daily history

Good morning,


Quote of the day:

"A dreamer is one that can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world."

                                     Oscar Wilde

Back in 1944 the Japanese government and military had decided to expand their empire by capturing the petroleum and rubber rich area of the Philippines, Malaysia and New Guinea. Once this assault had begun it was imperative that Japanese shipping be protected. The only appreciable navies in that part of the world was the British in Singapore and the US navy at Pearl Harbor. On this date a Japanese flotilla departed the inner sea of Japan headed for Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Their intent was to destroy the US navy lying at anchor there so they would not be a threat to Japanese shipping. This plan was designed and executed by Harvard educated Japanese Admiral Yamamoto. The strike had to be made in complete secrecy to be effective. The target date for the strike was December 5, but there was bad weather and the strike was delayed a couple of days.

For the life of me I cannot understand the hullaballoo about a minor fender bender involving Tiger Woods. Every possible scenario has been put forth from this episode including Tiger's wife beating him with a 9 iron to Tiger and his wife belonging to a sex club to Tiger being hammered on alcohol or pot.

To all of you that were present at this event at the Woods' residence on this particular night please enlighten the rest of us who were not present. Even then, an eye-witness is the worst possible evidence. The only people that know the truth about what really happened is Tiger, his wife and two kids. The rest of what you hear or read is 100% bullshit speculation. It really is nobody's business anyway.

I guess all of you know by now about the killing of four policemen near Tacoma, Washington by a lone gunman. As of 7:30a Monday the police had surrounded a suspect in a house and knew that he was wounded probably by one of the policemen he attacked. It has been quite a spell since anyone had heard from the suspect and he may indeed have died from his wounds. A little later the University of Washington goes on a lock down because the alleged shooter was seen getting off a bus near the University. Until the "person of interest" is arrested or killed and the corpse identified, we will get more and more similar reports.

Good news:

Back in the 1960's the African White Rhino had been poached down to there were only 100 of them left. They were on the "endangered list". The White Rhino is renown for its large horns which is in high demand in the orient as an aphrodisiac. It is ground into a powder and distributed into the food. A breeding program to save the White Rhino was began in Botswana, Africa 15 years ago. Thanks to the dedication of the naturalists, there are about 15,000 White Rhino alive today and they have been removed from the endangered list. By the way, a White Rhino has a "square" mouth and a Black Rhino has a pointed mouth.

This date in history December 1

1779    Patriot commander General George Washington and his rag-tag army go into winter quarters at Morristown, New Jersey. Fortunately for Washington he was able to commandeer a fairly substantial house known as Ford House for the winter. His accommodations gave the General plenty of room and light to make plans for the next encounter with the Loyalists/British/German mercenaries. His troops had to build about 1,000 log cabins on about 600 acres to withstand one of the worst winters in American history. This was going to be a winter of not enough winter clothes, not enough food and receiving no pay. It was not much better for the civilians because the Continental treasury had all but collapsed and life was hard for them also. With the economy reduced by 40 per cent because of the war and both the Continental army and the English army raiding farms for horses and oxen to tow their artillery. This prevented the farmers from being able to till their crops which had a domino effect with the rest of the community. Even with the defeat of British General Burgoyne and the capture of nearly 8,000 British troops, this added a hardship to the colonies because they had 8,000 more mouths to feed. Even though Washington had 16,000 troops in the books, he had only 3,600 that were standing for orders; the rest had gone back to their homes. The Continental Army was on the cusp of dissolution. The British people were in a similar frame of mind. They did not share King George III in his zeal for keeping the colonies. They were fed up with the lack of trade and an exponentially decrease in their economy because of the extra costs of the war. A war of attrition had now become a war of contrition. The United States exists because of the grit, sacrifice, determination and an ocean of blood shed by our ancestors. Let us not ever forget that.

1955    On this chilly morning a black woman in Montgomery, Alabama name Rosa Parks boarded a city bus for a ride across town. She and all blacks were ordered by law to sit in the back of the bus aft of the rear door. That is unless a white, man or woman, was found to be standing and then one of the blacks had to give up their seat to the honky. Rosa was ordered by the bus driver to give up her seat to a white man that was standing. Rosa refused and was arrested and jailed. Rosa was a card carrying member of the NAACP and when word reached NAACP headquarters all hell broke loose. The NAACP ordered a boycott of the Montgomery bus system and it was successful which proved to be disastrous because the blacks represented 70% of the bus riders. This was the first time that the Rev. Martin Luther King got involved with a peaceful action against segregation. The NAACP sued the city of Montgomery because of the law that specified segregation on mass transit in the city. The US Supreme Court struck down that law as being a violation of the 14th Amendment and 381 days after the boycott began, blacks again began riding the buses and sitting anywhere they pleased. One of the first riders on this day was Rosa Parks.

1862    US President Abraham Lincoln gives his first State of the Union address to Congress. Lincoln was between a rock and a hard place because he had issued the Emancipation Proclamation just a few weeks before which freed the slave in those states in rebellion (Confederacy). His action here was very ill-advised because the majority of the northern states and many in his own Republican party did not feel the war should be based on freeing the slaves and the gain of the Democrats in the recent election proved it. So in this address Lincoln soft sold the Emancipation Proclamation and said that it should be enforced gradually. But that did not help those states that were slave-holding but did not secede. Lincoln did not know what to do about those states. If he made one false move those four states would probably secede and join the Confederacy. Not only that. The Army of the Potomac was not doing well against CSA General R.E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia. There was not a pretty picture that Lincoln could paint in this address. Part of his closing statement stated: “The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present...fellow citizens we cannot escape history. We will nobly save, or meanly lose, the last, best hope on earth.” Indeed Abe, indeed.

1958    On this date the grammar school named Our Lady of Angels in Chicago is hit with a disaster. The school was run by the Sisters of Charity in an old building with no fire protection like sprinklers and fire alarms. The Sisters had never held a fire drill. A small fire started in a trash pile in the basement which quickly spread to the floor of the first floor. The teachers on the first floor smelled smoke and took their students out to safety but did not alert the people on the second floor. The janitor discovered the fire and ran upstairs to pull the fire alarms but they apparently did not work which meant that the students and teachers on the second floor were trapped. Some of the students jumped out of windows to the awaiting arms of the firemen who had finally arrived. Many were injured, including the firemen. One improvising teacher told her students to get under the smoke and roll down the stairs and out the door to safety but others just stayed and awaited divine intervention. 90 students and three nuns were killed in the inferno. What a damned shame.

1884    A Mexican deputy sheriff named Elfego Baca arrests a gringo cowboy named Charles McArthur for firing for or five shots at him in Frisco (now Reserve), New Mexico. On this day about 80 cowboys show up to spring good old Charlie from the slammer. It seems this group of Texas cowboys had been using this Mexican village for their own personal entertainment by riding in and brutalizing the residents, raping the girls, etc so Baca was assigned the duty to put a stop to it and given the title of deputy Sheriff. When the 80 cowboys rode in Baca hustled the town’s people into the church where they would be safe and then ran to an old adobe house to make a stand. Baca opened up and killed one of the cowboys and wounded several. The cowboys responded with over 400 rounds into the flimsy building. Not hearing any response the cowboys thought Baca was dead. But the next morning they smelled beef stew and found out the Baca was indeed alive and cooking his breakfast. About then, two more lawmen showed up along with many of Baca’s friends and the cowboys retreated. There was no more trouble from the Texas cowboys after that, Baca went on to become a hero in the Latino community fir standing up to those gringos and enjoyed a life of peace and notoriety.

Born today:

1888    English mystery writer Rex Stout. He said “There is nothing more admirable than the fortitude that millionaires have dealing with the disadvantages of their money” Rex, shut up.

1939    Golfer Lee Trevino. He said “If I am on a golf course and it begins to thunder and lightning I walk around with a one iron because even God cannot hit a one iron.” Don’t count on it, Lee.

1945    American entertainer Bette Midler. She said “They arrested Helen Reddy for loitering in front of an orchestra.” I didn’t like her either, Bette.

Died today:

1964    English scientist John Haldane. He said “I have never met a healthy man who worried about his health or a good man that worried about his soul.” Tack onto that “or a drunk man who didn’t think he is irresistible to women.”

1987    US writer James Baldwin. He said “The price we pay for pursuing an art is calling in the familiarity of the ugly side of it.” Baldwin was a chronicler of the so called “Beat Generation”.

Quotable quotes:

“Don’t believe in reincarnation, I didn’t believe in it when I was a tuna.” Shane Richey

“I am always looking for a meaningful one-night stand” Me too. Dudley Moore

“For three years things were great, then she up and leaves me for a guy that didn’t beat her” Jim Norton

“If there really is a God with all of his glories, he will NOT use as his messenger a man on TV with a bad hairstyle.” Dave Barry.

When asked how far away form a nuclear explosion you have to be to be safe Brother Dave Gardner said “Far enough away that you can say, “What was that?”

“Sex without love is am empty experience, but as empty experiences go it is one of the best.” Woody Allen

“Sex appeal is fifty percent of what you have and fifty percent of what people think you have.” Sophia Loren

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow