Daily history

Good morning,


Quote of the day:

"Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for 'tis better to be alone than with bad company."

                                George Washington

I am sure that the father of our country meant that tidbit of wisdom for women also.

We have a new subscriber from Greenville. This woman is so capable and knowledgeable she is scary, but at least she is right wing. Welcome aboard "Wandaful".

Most of y'all saw that the marina where Tiger Wood keeps his yacht is doing service on that behemoth of a boat Including topping off the fuel tanks. That boat is indeed an ocean going vessel and I think I saw a show on TV that Tiger has a house on a private island near the British Virgin Islands. The island is approachable only by sea. If I was him, that is exactly where I would be for the next month or two. Just staying incommunicado, let things cool down and to hell with the carrion-eaters in the media.

University of Alabama running back Mark Ingram from Flint, Michigan tearfully accepted the Heisman Trophy Saturday night. He is second sophomore to receive this award in the last four year. the other one was Tim Tebow of Florida. The Crimson Tide will play the Texas Longhorns for the national championship. By the way, Ingram was the very first Alabama football player to with the Heisman.

One of my daughters and I was discussing US Presidents. She asked who was our President when that 14 year nightmare known as the Vietnam War began. It was John Kennedy. It began only a few years after the North Vietnamese Army kicked the French out of Southeast Asia. Kennedy first started by authorizing MAAG troops. These guys were the embryo of the infamous Green Berets. They went to Vietnam to train the South Vietnamese troops how to kill more efficiently. Later on President Kennedy went to Fort Bragg personally and encouraged the formation of what became the present day Green Berets. The training they received at Bragg made them not only efficient killers but they were versed in medicine, aeronautics and any other skill required to gain the advantage in open warfare or covert assassinations.

As we know, President Kennedy was assassinated and Lyndon Johnson took command until the end of Kennedy's term. After that Johnson was elected President and almost immediately sent about 80,000 Marines and soldiers to Vietnam and escalated the war exponentially. Johnson refused to run for re-election when the time came, the war was killing him in addition to our troops. Richard Nixon became president and eventually he ordered a withdrawal of our troops because he believed the war could not be won and I think he was right. We did indeed withdraw and left the country to the North Vietnamese. At least the country is united. Beside the Seminole War, this was the only war the United States has not won. The rest is history.

This an opinion that y'all have heard before. There is a big meeting in Copenhagen about what to do about the supposed Global warming cause by a variety of reasons but mostly from fossil fueled power plants, auto and trucks. Geologists have proven that at one point 22,000 to 25,000 years ago there was a sheet of ice covering the North American continent down to near the 40th parallel which was about central Illinois. There is irrefutable evidence that gigantic glacier scraped and gouged its way across New York City and some of the evidence is found in Central Park. It is estimated that the ice sheet was a mile thick in places. Where is that ice now? What made it melt and retreat back into the Arctic? There was no fossil fueled machinery and therefore no carbon or methane emmissions. So what caused the ice to freaking melt?

This date in history December 14

1799    On this date the father of our country, George Washington, dies on his Mount Vernon estate in Virginia. He was 67 years old. George died of acute laryngitis. I cannot recall ever hearing of anyone dying of that but there was no anti-biotics in those days. George was born in 1732 in Westmorland County and his first military experience was as a Lieutenant Colonel for the Virginia militia in a few forays against the French in the Ohio Valley in 1754. In 1756 he took command of the defense of the western flank of Virginia during the French and Indian War and when the battle moved elsewhere he resigned and returned to his farm and took a seat in Virginia’s House of Burgesses. For two decades he vehemently opposed Great Britain in the over taxation and repression of the colonists. When the Revolutionary War broke out for good, Washington was elected a Commander-in-chief of the military by the Continental Congress. Some of those in the congress were opposed to Washington but they felt that having a Virginian in command would have a better chance of uniting the southern states with the war in the northeast. Washington’s superb leadership and foresight was able to bring a rag-tag army into one that defeated the mightiest nation on the planet. They were not alone however, the Continentals somehow persuaded France to contribute men, money and supplies to this fledgling country. In fact, if it had not been for the French Navy blockades on the Chesapeake Bay which trapped British General Charles Cornwallis at Yorktown and forced him and his army to surrender essentially ending the land war in the Revolutionary War. At Washington’s eulogy it was his friend Henry Lee that uttered those immortal words “He was first in peace, first in war and first in the hearts of his countryman”.

1777    On this date Irish born Thomas Conway is selected as Inspector General of the United States. Conway was Irish born but fought for many years with the French army. He met Continental Representative Silas Deane in France and Deane invited him to join the Continental Army. Conway sailed over and met with George Washington who offered him a rank of Brigadier General and assigned him to the unit commanded by Major General John Sullivan. Conway fought admirably at Brandywine and at Germantown and received glowing reports from Sullivan. Washington named him Inspector General. Soon thereafter the Continental army suffered a couple of defeats so General Conway sent a letter to US General Horatio Gates suggesting that General Washington should be replaced. Washington got a copy of the letter and read it to the Congress. The embarrassed Conway offered his resignation which was unexpectedly accepted and Conway was out of the army. His troubles were not over yet. Washington supporter John Cadwalder challenged Conway to a duel in which Conway was severely wounded. After recovery he hauled his young ass back to France where he died in 1800.

1874    While asleep this night in New York, Holmes Van Brunt hears a commotion in the house next door. He gathered up three other men and they go next door each carrying a loaded shotgun. Upon arrival they encounter a group of men trying to kidnap Holmes’ neighbor. Holmes and his boys unload with their shotguns and cut down all of the kidnappers. On his deathbed, one of the kidnappers confessed that he was part of the Charlie Ross kidnapping also. Little four year old Charlie Ross was playing on his front lawn when he was kidnapped about 10 years before. The parents received a ransom note for $20,000 and took the money to the drop point but the money was never picked up. Little Charlie Ross was never found.

Born today:

1546     Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe. He said “Now it is quite clear to me that there are no solid spheres in the heavens and those that have been devised by the authors for appearances exist only in their imagination.” Tycho, you were considered a genius during your time, but you should have chatted with Galileo, he had a telescope.

1935    US actress Lee Remick. She said “I make movies for adults. When Hollywood starts making them again, I will start acting again.” Lee went to that great movie lot in the sky in 1991.

Died today:

1873    Swiss naturalist Louis Agazzis. He said “Every scientific truth goes through three states: First, people say it conflicts with the Bible, next they say it has been discovered before and lastly, they say they always believed it.”

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow.