Daily history

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

"Life is a tragedy for those who feel and a comedy to those who think"

                                Horace Walpole


I think I told y'all about the John Ludwig case. It was about a very wealthy and connected man here in Greenville, SC who was doing at least 85 MPH on a 35 MPH road in his Maserati and lost control, went through a large pasture and crashed completely through a house killing the owner who was sitting in his living room watching TV. When Lugwig came to trial, through a plea agreement he plead guilty to a charge of reckless homicide rather that murder as was the original charge. The circuit judge named James Williams, Jr. cited the fact that Ludwig had given a lot of money to charity, gave Ludwig 3 years probation and 500 hour of community service. The community as a whole hit the freaking roof and screamed that Ludwig got such a ridiculously light sentence because of wealth and fraternization with those in influential positions. The Solicitor (district attorney) Bob Arial hit the roof also and requested that Judge Williams reconsider his sentence. The Judge arrogantly said that he may or may not review his sentence, it was totally at his discretion. All of this hell raising finally reached the ears of South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMasters who agreed with the good citizens of Greenville and requested all the transcripts from the trial to be examined by state attorneys to determine if the justice system had been compromised and the public faith in the judicial system in South Carolina had been eroded because of preferential treatment of Ludwig. After this revelation, all of a sudden circuit Judge Williams said that he would indeed review the transcripts and the sentence and deliver a decision within two weeks. All of this may be a smoke screen and Ludwig may still remain free. We shall see how fair the justice system here in the land of the "good old boys" really is.

A panel of demagogues in the South Carolina legislature that have been examining the possibility of impeaching Governor Sanford for 38 charges of ethic violations have reduced the charges to 7 or 8 and are now seeking a censure rather than an impeachment. The greatest majority of the charges were about rules of travel for state employees. The rule says that state employees must take the cheapest flights when traveling on state business unless there is an exceptional reason not to. The governor used business class or first class when he was on an international flight. Anyone who has taken a flight of 7 or 8 hours in the cheap seats know what effect it has on you, not to mention jet lag. You are a zombie for at least a day. The governor did not want to appear out of sorts while doing state business on an international scale. The Governor's lawyers argued that the Governor was technically not a state employee anyway, that he was a "congressional officer". They maintained that state employees are hired by different departments throughout state government and congressional officers are elected. The demagogues had no viable response to this argument.

Good news:

PAY ATTENTION JACI:

It has been determined that many "hand sanitizers" that are now common in schools and restaurants and are used to suppress the flu and H1N1 swine flu. We are warned to make sure that the chemical "Triclosan" is NOT in the compound. This chemical have severe side effects. It causes hormonal changes in both men and women. It has been proven that it causes an increase in the possibility of breast cancer in women. When washed into a water source it causes deformity in frogs. There is a chance that this chemical may be present in some mouth washes and toothpastes. I do not understand how those bozos in the Food and Drug Administration allowed this to slip through the cracks. Here is a partial list of some of the hand sanitizers that DO NOT contain Triclosan.

Seventh Generation, Mrs. Meyers, Cleanwell, LUSH, Nature's Gate, Purell Instant Hand Cleaner, Weleda, Listerine Essential Care.

Y'all be careful and observant out there.

This date in history December 6

1941    A Japanese naval task force consisting of 6 aircraft carriers and various other support vessels approach within 500 miles of the Hawaiian Islands undetected. They plan to attack and neutralize the United States Pacific Fleet based at Pearl Harbor. The plan of battle is to attack in three waves consisting of about 360 fighter, dive-bomber and torpedo planes. The American Naval experts believed that ships in Pearl Harbor are safe from torpedo attack because of the shallowness of the water. They were wrong. The Japanese wanted to gain access to the rubber and oil in the Dutch East Indies and perhaps even New Zealand and Australia without interference from the American fleet. It was imperative that the Japanese gain this territory if they were going to be able to continue their war of expansion. The Japanese task force was commanded by Admiral Ozawa but the overall planner was the Harvard educated Admiral Yamamoto. Yamamoto warned his superiors about the United States ability to manufacture the tools of war once they get focused but his superiors blew it off. Yamamoto said it this way. “We may have victory at Pearl Harbor but I am afraid that all we will do is awaken a sleeping giant.” And indeed, that is exactly what happened.

1776    In Williamsburg, Virginia a group of five students of the College of William and Mary meet at Raleigh’s Tavern to hammer out a new fraternal organization. They are pissed because of the constant berating of the Colonists by the invading British. The British were constantly beating their breasts about their early military victories against “nothing but a poor band of ragamuffins.” The five students plan to establish an organization that recognized scholastic excellence and those with depth of character and Phi Beta Kappa was born.

1865    On this date the 13th Amendment to the constitution is ratified. With the passage of this act slavery is abolished “in the United States and any territories subject to its jurisdiction.” This Amendment did indeed end slavery in the United States unlike the so-called Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. This document supposedly freed the slaves “in those states in rebellion.” Well, they were not states in rebellion; they were the Confederate States of America, a separate nation. Lincoln had originally based the military recruiting campaign on the dogma of preserving the Union, but after the US army received a succession of severe ass-kickings, the general opinion in the North became “To hell with it, let them have their own country.” This meant that Lincoln had to take a new tack and chose the morality issue of slavery as a recruiting basis. The Emancipation Proclamation did not free those slave-holding states that were not in rebellion. They were Maryland, Kentucky, Delaware and Missouri. What about those slaves? Lincoln did not want to abrade those states lest they secede and join the Confederacy so he danced around that issue until the end of the war.

1921    On this date the country of the Irish Free State comes into being. For years, the Irish have been fighting for independence from England and on this day it happens, almost. The people of the northeastern corner of Ireland vote not to separate from England and they became Northern Ireland. Shortly after this, an organization known as the Irish Republican Army comes into being. These guys are not going to have any part of a piece of Ireland staying as part of Great Britain and they begin a guerrilla war with the British Army that is still prevalent to this day. It is easy to understand why this division happened. At the time of James I of England in the early 1600’s, James had tired of the waspish Irish continually battling with his armies and decided to dilute the Irish population on the island and formed the province of Ulster in Ireland. Ulster was made from five shires (counties) and made into a plantation. James then brought Scottish lords and their mostly Presbyterian tenant farmers over to establish the plantation. James forced the Irish landowners to give up their lands in Ulster to the Scots. This is the root of the problems in Northern Ireland to this day. James made this move for two reasons. It put a large group of people on this rebellious island that were Protestants and held fealty to the King of England. The greater majority of the Irish were Catholic and held fealty to their priests and the Pope. Not only that, the Protestants was mostly members of the Church of England and was more readily controlled by the Crown. The boundaries of Northern Ireland are almost exactly what the boundaries of the Ulster Plantation. The ancestors of those that King James sent to Ireland are still loyal to the crown and are Protestants and friction between the Catholics and Protestants abides to this day in that area. See, knowing a little history make things that are happening today more clear.

Quotable quotes:

“Men are not attracted to me by my mind. They are attracted to me by what I don’t mind.” Gypsy Rose Lee

Born today:

1862    English poet Sir Osmet Sitwell. He said “Poetry is good if it is fresh, stale it is bad, if you aren’t sure try it on the cat.”

1920    US composer, musician Dave Brubeck. He said “I am beginning to understand myself but it would have been better if I was 22 rather than 82.”

Died today:

1949    US Blues master Huddie “Leadbelly” Ledbetter. He said “The blues is like this. You go to bed and toss from one side of the bed to the other. The bed isn’t too cold or too hot, it’s just the blues has got you.”

1951    US publisher (New Yorker magazine) Harold Ross. When he saw Truman Capote for the first time he said “Good God, what is that!”

Me too Harold, me too.

1993    German Physicist Wolfgang Pauli. When reviewing a college’s paper he said “Good God, this isn’t right, it isn’t even wrong.”

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow