Daily history

Good morning,


Quote of the day:

"If you look deeply in the palm of your hand you will see your parents and all generations of your ancestors. All of them are alive at this moment. Each of them is present in your body. You are continuation of them."

                                  Thich Nhat Nanh

The committee that is trying to impeach our present Governor here in South Carolina, Mark Sanford, have started grabbing at straws and telling downright lies. On one event the committee accused the Governor of using the state airplane for personal reasons. The truth of the matter was that he flew to Charleston on official business. The Governor's home is on nearby Sullivan's Island. After the official meeting was over, the Governor delayed his flight back to Columbia for 1 1/2 hours so he could watch one of his four sons play in a soccer game. The committee considered that as misuse of the airplane (a King-Air 200), How trivial can you get? It is called a "witch-hunt". I hate politics.

Speaking of hatred, in his State of the Union address your president hinted at bringing the troops home and he also hinted at sending 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan. He suggested that the defeat of the Taliban ans al-queda on foreign soil is preferable to doing it on American soil. I does not take a rocket scientist to figure that out. By the way, the president of Iran is plunging ahead with building centrifuges to extract weapons grade Uranium and Plutonium. He has said in private and public that he thinks our president is "weak". In my humble opinion his demeanor is indeed weak. The president of the United States does not bow to the king of Saudi Arabia nor the Emperor of Japan. Can any of you imagine Teddy Roosevelt bowing to anyone?

There is a mean looking low pressure area in the northern Gulf of Mexico. That usually means a hell of a lot of rain and maybe a tornado or two here in the Carolinas. We will neend to keep a close watch in the next day or two.

Y'all remember me talking about that flotilla of Japanese warships headed from Japan to Hawaii and how important secrect was, well, an Austrailian coast watcher caught a glimpse of the ships from a supposed deserted island and sent a message to the British military. The message finally reached the Commander of the American Pacific fleet. The message was disregarded because of the lack of confirmation. They got their confirmation four days later.

Tiger Woods confessed to having a girlfriend for about 31 months. He met her in Vegas after the Masters a couple of years ago. Like I said, what happens in the private life of the Tiger Woods family is their business and not the business of the scum-sucking media.

Good news:

The country of Egypt, Cairo in particular, has had a problem with their garbage and the minute you get off the plane the aroma is apparent. A team of American engineers have developed a digestor system that turns food particles into "biogas" that can be used to heat home and can be used for cooking.

This date in history December 3

1776    The Continental Army was in real trouble. They had inadequate clothing, arms and leadership to combat the mightiest army on the planet. George Washington sent a letter to the Continental Congress advising that he found that his position in Trenton, New Jersey was untenable against the British onslaught and that he was taking his army across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania and indeed he did. He commandeered every boat within 50 miles and took his men and arms across the river and then burned all the boats that they did not use denying the British access to them. To add insult to energy Washington sent his second in command, Charles Lee, on a mission into New Jersey and Lee and his second in command, John Stockton, were captured by the British. But Washington was not deterred. Upon the arrival of Prussian General Baron Von Steuben, a training routine that shaped the Continental Army from a mob to a fighting unit was initiated. After these many days of rigorous training and drilling, the army was finally ready to hold their own against the Redcoats and not a minute too soon.

1989    A crime was committed in Fairfax, Virginia that was solved by the fledgling forensic evidence. 5 year old Melissa Brannen was attending a Christmas party and showed up missing. A search of the grounds discovered nothing. So the police went over the guest list and found out that a man named Caleb Hughes had left about the same time little Melissa was discovered missing. The police descended on Hughes’ house that night at 2 AM only to find Hughes washing a shirt, pants, belt and socks. The police use tape on almost every surface looking for fiber evidence and did the same thing to Hughes’ car. They found some blue fibers on the front seat that appeared to be the same color of the sweater Melissa was wearing. Further investigation revealed that the fibers came from a sweater from the Sesame Street collection by J.C. Penny. Melissa’s mother had bought Melissa a sweater from that collection three days before. Hughes was tried and convicted of abduction with the intent to defile. They could not go any further because little Melissa’s body was never found. I can assure you that if I and my selection of tools are given 10 minutes with Hughes, we would know where Melissa’s body is. Count on it.

1984    In Bhopal, India an accident happens at the Union Carbide plant there. This particular plant manufactured the pesticide Sevin. Sevin is composed of the chemicals carbon tetrachloride, methyl isocyanine (MIS) and alpha –napthol. The MIS chemicals are held in three partially buried tanks of 15,000 gallons each. If one of the tanks begins leaking, the plant operators are suppose to use pressurized nitrogen to move the chemical from the leaking tank to one that is not leaking. The plant operator found that one of the tanks was leaking and began pumping nitrogen into the tank. The only thing here is that the remotely operated discharge valve did not open completely and pressure began building inside the tank. The plant operators saw that the instruments indicated that the tank was approaching a dangerous pressure level but they ignored it as being inaccurate. At 2:10P a thunderous explosion occurs on the Union Carbide plant site, rupturing all three of the MIC tanks. A gray chemical cloud arose from the site and drifted downwind. The MIC chemical has a base of cyanide and people began dropping like flies. The cloud reached the local train station that was jam packed and when people began falling the rest of the crowd stampeded and several hundred were trampled to death. In all there were 2,000 killed and 20,000 injured. It is the worst chemical accident in history. Soon after this disaster, the name of Union Carbide disappeared and “Kemet” appeared at their former plants. I guess that was a good public relations move because even to this day, Bhopal and Union Carbide brings an image of disaster.

1947    The play “A Streetcar Named Desire” opens on Broadway. The play is a dark drama by the immortal Tennessee Williams. The play starred a 23 year old Marlon Brando as Stanley Kowalski and Kim Hunter as his wife Stella. The theme of the play is that Stella’s sister, Blanche Du Bois who is very mentally unstable, comes to live with her sister in the French Quarter of New Orleans. The down side is that Blanche and Stanley do not get along at all and many explosive encounters ensue. Eventually, Stanley chooses to rape Blanche but Blanche fights like a wildcat and scratches him and tears his shirt, etc but Stanley prevails. Keep this in mind that all of this brutality and turmoil is shown on stage without pulling any punches. The play ended with Blanche being carried out of the house in a straightjacket. After the curtain fell there was a stunned silence and then the crowd yelled and applauded for a full thirty minutes. Tennessee Williams was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for this work. The play was made into a movie with Blanche being played by Vivien Leigh and Marlon and Kim in their regular roles. The movie was modified somewhat before it received the OK from the studios because of the violence. Marlon was nominated for an Oscar for best actor but he was beaten out by Humphrey Bogart in “African Queen.”

Births and deaths:

2003    US actor/director David Hemmings dies. He said “Everyone thought I was dead. I was just directing “The A Team.”

1794    English theologian Sir Rowland Hill is born. When speaking of Oscar Wilde Sir Rowland said “He did not see any reason why the Devil had to have all the good times.”

1967    US actor Brendan Fraser is born. While filming the movie “George of the Jungle”, he said “They had a hard time putting a mike on me while I am just in my loincloth, where are they going to put it?” I don’t know, Brendan, but it sounds like a size issue to me.

Quotable quotes:

“Nothing is more responsible for the good old days than a bad memory.” Franklin P. Adams

“I love men, even though they are lying, cheating scumbags” Gwyneth Paltrow

“If God had intended us to us the metric system he would have had 10 disciples.”

                                        Dave Barry

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow