Daily history

Good morning,


Quote of the day:

"The man who never makes a mistake is the man who doesn't do anything."

                                Theodore Roosevelt

A few comments about Afghanistan:

About 2,300 years ago one of the mightiest military commanders in recorded history invaded Afghanistan trying to conquer it. Alexander the Great was not successful militarily and finally brought the Afghanis under his umbrella politcally by marrying an Afghani princess. From there he moved on into India but he never conquered the Afghanis.

In the 1980's the Russians invaded Afghanistan trying to install a repressive pro-Russian government. All this did was to inflame the independence minded Afghanis. Eight years later the Russians gave up and went to the house knowing they could not defeat the Afghanis. The Afghan war lords have been fighting each other since recorded history just because they like to fight. The Russian war in Afghanistan literally bankrupted Russia and lead to the breakup of the USSR.

Can anyone tell me why American military is present in Afghanistan? What country leads the world in the production of opium poppies? I will answer that one. It is Afghanistan. Is heroin a derivative of opium? Is the heroin addiction a nightmarish plague in the United States and the rest of the world? How does the Taliban help finance their war efforts? Is it through the sale of Afghanistan grown opium? I will answer that one too. The answer is yes. What is the largest income crop to the farmers in Afghanistan? Answer: It is opium poppies. What would happen if opium was outlawed in Afghanistan? The answer to that one is obvious. Back to the original question. Why are American troops in Afghanistan?

My brother says the answer is to send B-52's on an around the clock bombing of the mountain range between Afghanistan and Pakistan and spray all the poppy fields in Afghanistan with Agent Orange. He believes that the money we would save when we withdrew our military would more than reimburse the Afghani farmers for the loss on their crops and would deny the Taliban an income. That is a bit harsh but there is little question that it would have an effect one way....or another. I guess he did not stop and think that perhaps everyone in those mountains are not members of the Taliban....or are they?

To no one's surprize Jenny Sanford has filed for divorce from her husband Mark Sanford, the Governor of South Carolina. I will not go into the sordid details but the real victims are their four sons. There is no question in my mind that they are suffering more than both their parents combined. They live in a beautiful home on Sullivan's Island near Charleston. SC. There is no way of knowing what kind of crap they have to put up with at school, if they are still going to school. They might be "home schooled" for a while. If it was up to me that is what would happen.

The freaking media is foaming at the mouth. First it was Mark Sanford, then Tiger Wood and now Jennie Sanford. Those vultures subsist on other people's misery.

Good news:

The American Cancer Society has reported that the cancer rate in the United States has declined about 1.6% for the last seven years. The most common cancers in men is prostate, lung and colorectal. In women it is breast and colorectal. The ACS attributes the cause for the decline is less people are smoking and more people are getting screened for cancer a lot sooner.

This date in history December 12

1862    In early November US President A. Lincoln replaced the commander of the Army of the Potomac, US General George B, McClellan, with US General Ambrose Burnside. Burnside almost immediately begins plans for the capture of Richmond and begins bringing his army down the Rappahannock River to Falmouth, Virginia. After arriving at Falmouth, he is disappointed to find that his engineers are not there with portable bridges and pontoons. So his enormous army has to wait several days for the bridges to be built. In the mean time, CSA General Robert E. Lee is able to dig in on the highest ground around at that being Marye’s Heights near Fredericksburg, Virginia. Burnside’s engineers begin building the pontoon bridge amid swarms of Confederate snipers in the town of Fredericksburg. Burnside orders artillery fired into Fredericksburg to silence the snipers which all but levels the town but did not silence the snipers. Finally the bridge is completed and three US regiments go into the town and the snipers are finally silenced. On this date, Burnside finally gets all of his army across and assembled. A little later Burnside orders an attack on the dug in Rebs with devastating results. After the battle was complete, the US army had suffered 12,600 casualties to 2,500 Confederates. It is the worst casualty ratio any US army had suffered before or since.

1936    On this date the King of England, Edward VIII abdicates the throne of England after serving less than a year. A few years earlier the then Prince Edward had met with American born socialite Wallis Simpson and had fallen hard for this girl. Wallis was married to a minor American government official and had been previously married and divorced from a US Navy pilot. Prince Edward and Wallis begin a covert relationship which developed into a white-hot affair. Foreign newspapers jumped all over this scandal but the London Times ignored it out of respect for the crown. Edward had started to go to his father King George V to discuss his dilemma but the king died before Edward got to talk with him. With Edward being the eldest son, he was crowned King Edward VIII. In the mean time, Wallis had filed for divorce from her husband in the hopes of marrying Edward. You can be assured that a twice divorced woman would never in a million years be made Queen of England. Queen Mary, Edward’s mother, tried to compromise and offered Edward and Wallis a quasi-marriage whereby they would live together but Wallis would not receive any titles and would not attend any official functions. Wallis and Edward would not buy that arrangement and Edward made a radio address stating that he would give up the throne for “the woman I love”. Soon thereafter Edward’s younger brother became King George VI of England. King George made Edward the Duke of Windsor which made Wallis the Duchess of Windsor. The Duke and Duchess spent the greatest part of their lives in France, Paris in particular. The Duke dies n 1972 and was buried at Frogmore cemetery on the grounds of Windsor Castle. The Duchess died in 1986 and was buried at Edward’s side.

1994    The largest Russian military contingent since Afghanistan swarms across the border with Chechnya to keep this country under the Russian umbrella. The country of Chechnya is within the border of Russia even after the breakup of the Soviet Socialist Republics. Prime Minister Yeltsin and later Prime Minister Putin would have no part of a separate country with their borders. The Russians enjoyed initial success but when they neared the capitol of Grozny things changed. The Chechnya rebels were dug in and waiting. Thousands of Russian soldiers and Chechnya civilians were killed. A cease fire was finally reached and the Russians retreated back into Russia in the knowledge that Chechnya would remain under Russian influence. Soon thereafter many acts of terrorism occurred in Russian that was tracked back to the Chechnya rebels. The Russian army went back into Chechnya to try and purge the country of the hard asses. It did not work; there is still conflict there with no end in sight.

Born today:

1745    US politico John Jay. While acting as US Postmaster he received a request by some jackass that wanted his picture on postage stamps. Jay responded with “We cannot put someone’s picture on stamps unless they are deceased. I therefore suggest that you drop dead.”

Died today:

1968    US actress Tallulah Bankhead. When speaking about her rival Bette Davis she said “After all the nice things I have said about that hag! When I get a hold of her I will tear out every hair in her moustache.”

1881    US producer of silent films Harry Warner. He said “Who the hell wants to hear the actors talk?” Harry, your vision is about as long as Barry Bonds’ memory.

1897    US educator Lillian Smith. She said “Education is a private matter between the person and a world of knowledge and experience. It has nothing to do with universities and colleges.” This is true. One of my heroes was self taught at home but he was encouraged to proceed when teachers recognized his genius. Sir Isaac Newton is a giant in the catalog of brilliant minds.

1924    New York City mayor Ed Koch. He said “Life is precious, and the death penalty reaffirms that fact.” Good thinking Ed.

Died today:

1998    Ukrainian movie producer Lew Grade. When speaking of the cost of producing the movie “Raise the Titanic” he said “It would have been cheaper to lower the Atlantic.” No comment

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow