Daily history

Good morning,


Quote(s) of the day:

"America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between."

                                      Oscar Wilde

"Some people want to see Sarah Palin as Secretary of Homeland Defense, Some people want to see her a Secretary of Education, I want to see Sarah Palin in a black teddie and white thigh high fish-net stockings, spike heel shoes and her hair piled on top of her head."

                                    Al Campbell

One day in my life that is permanently etched in my memory was the evening when me and a friend of mine were lounging at the Wade Hampton "Clock" drive in. He and I were about 15 years old. Two girls got into my car and said "Lets go across the street and get a beer." There was a drive-in across the street that sold beer named "The Oasis". I had never tasted it in my life, but I was not going to appear juvenile so across the street we went and ordered a Pabst Blue Ribbon each. I gagged down about half of it and was drunker that Cooter Brown and sick as a buzzard. Very soon thereafter I emptied my stomach in the parking lot but that did not stop the dizziness. It took a while for all of that to go away. I finally was able to get back across the street and let those girls out and take my friend home. I should have learned something from that experience, but I didn't.

Recently I was reading about the history of banking. Back in the Middle Ages the banks in Florence, Italy held sway. On one occasion the King of England, Edward III, came to them for a loan to finance his war with France and several other countries. The Florentines charged Edward 240% interest and demanded collateral. Edward gave them the Archbishop of Canterbury as hostage until the loan is satisfied. I thought bankers were heartless today, I was wrong.

It is unbelievable what is happening in Haiti. They have brought in the long suffering 82nd Airborne and 1st Marines to prevent anarchy which is just hours from occurring. There is no question in this redneck's mind that it will break out soon. They have food, water and medical supplies among other things sitting at the airport but there is no way to get it out to the general population. The road were tenuous at best before the earthquake, now they are rubble meaning there is no way to get the supplies across the countryside. It has been proven throughout history that people that get thirsty, hungry and sick and see no way out begin fighting for crumbs even at the risk of their lives. That usually means four or five days. That is how far humankind is removed from savagery. There have been over 7,000 people buried in a mass grave and other people are wearing masks to be able to bear the overwhelming stench of death from the dead still above ground. They have the supplies on ground with no way to deliver it, not to mention shelter. How are those thousands of people going to get out of the weather? By the way, in this situation the American military rules of engagement is "Your first order is to protect yourself." They are armed but have been told to not take their rifle from their shoulder or unholster their hog-legs unless they intend to fire. Speaking of by the way, has anyone seen hide nor hair of the President of Haiti or any member of his staff?

I guess y'all know about the Senate seat that was vacated by the death of Edward Kennedy. The sitting Democrats thought they could run a chimpanzee for that seat and win. They are wrong. There is a Republican that is in the lead for that office and appears to be pulling away. That should send a signal to the executive branch that all is not well with the populus.

Good news:

There is no doubt in my mind that when the mid-term elections for members of the House occurs in November, the Republicans will take the majority meaning that is the last we will see of Nancy Pelosi. God works in mysterious ways.

This date in history January 16

1777    For years the state of New York had claimed what is now the state of Vermont was part of their state. As you might suspect, the hard-ass Vermonters called bullshit on that and had threatened each other with war on several occasions. You can imagine how the Vermonters felt when someone showed up in Vermont to claim a piece of land that was sold to them in New York as being part of that state. Earlier the frustrated Vermonters had petitioned Great Britain to allow them to join the British Empire as part of Canada. The stubborn United States Congress refused to recognize Vermont as anything other than a part of New York. Well, on this date the state of Vermont declared its independence from Great Britain and New York. They already had a constitution in place and operated as a separate state from New York even into the second year of Washington’s presidency. Their constitution was the first to prohibit slavery and allowed all adult males to vote rather than just the land owners. Originally the state was known as New Connecticut but when they formed their own country they decided they needed a new name and arrived at a corrupted French word for “Green Mountain”. Finally the United States recognized Vermont as a state and came into the fold as the 14th state in 1791 as a free state. This was counter-balanced a year later when Kentucky was admitted to the union as a slave state.

1861   Kentucky senator Joseph Crittenden introduces legislation called the Crittenden Compromise to try and stop the flood of states seceding from the union. Four states had already seceded and more were threatening. The Compromise was essentially this: In 1820 the Missouri Compromise was passed stating that all the states north of the latitude 36 degrees, 30 minutes north would be free states and any states south would be slave states. As you expect this did not float very well and the Compromise was amended in 1850 that made the decision as to whether a new state would be slave or free to be left up to the sovereignty of each state. Then in 1850 the Republican Party was formed whose admitted purpose was to stop the spread of slavery in the United States. What Crittenden proposed was that the United States would revert back to the 1820 version of the Missouri Compromise and the 36 degree, 30 minutes latitude issue in the hope that this would bring the seceding states and those threatening back into the fold. The compromise was defeated by two votes primarily because of the Representatives and Senators belonging to the Republican Party. The southern states could not secede fast enough and the Civil War erupted in April of 1861.

1780    On this date British Admiral Sir George Romney and 18 “ships of the line” encounter a squadron of 11 French battleships led by Don Juan de Langara off the coast of Portugal near Cape St. Vincent. Spain was at war with Great Britain because Spain had supported the United States in their bid for independence from Great Britain. The normal strategy in those days was for warships to line up parallel and blast away at each other. Admiral Langara knew that he was outnumbered and out gunned so he and his squadron head for Cadiz, Spain and safety. Admiral Rodney broke up his formation and told all his ships to give “general chase” knowing that his ships were a knot or two faster that the Spanish ships. The British ships were faster because the bottom of their ships were copper clad which eliminated barnacles and the Spanish ships were not meaning that they probably had barnacles attached which slowed them somewhat. The British fleet caught up with the Spanish at about 2:00am which made this battle known as the Moonlight Battle. This was not the norm in those days. Naval battles took place in daylight. Anyway, the Spanish surrendered all except for two ships which ran aground. The most important thing was that Admiral Langara’s flagship was captured. One again the British navy proved to be the sovereign of the seas.

1936    One of the most perverted maniacs in recorded history is executed in the electric chair in Sing Sing prison in New York. Albert Fish was known to have killed 10 people most of them under the age of ten and then consumed them. He was tried and convicted for the murder of little six year old Gracie Budd of Westchester, New York. A little later he wrote Gracie’s mother and described in detail how he had killed her, cut her up into pieces and made a stew that he ate off of for nine days. Not only was he a cannibal, he was a masochist. His children testified that he made them spank him with nail studded paddles. He ate his own excrement and burned himself with hot iron and red hot pokers. He also pushed sewing needles into his genitals. He told the prison officials about them and an investigation revealed over thirty needles imbedded there. Albert was interrogated by several psychiatrists and all reported back that there was no conceivable perversion that he had not done or was capable of doing. There was no question in the jury’s mind that Albert was insane but they voted for execution anyway to rid the earth of this animal. When he was told that he would be executed, he said that he was excited about it. He said he was looking forward to the new experience. When given the chance to write his last thoughts, it was full of filthy obscenities. To those that are opposed to the death penalty, keep Albert Fish in mind.

2007    On January 15 we commemorate the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He was born in Atlanta where his grandfather and father were the pastors of the Ebenezer Baptist Church. He was assistant pastor of that church also. Later on he accepted being the pastor of the Dexter Street Baptist church in Montgomery, Alabama. It was from this venue that he began his famous fight for equality for the blacks. He went to jail innumerable times and encouraged his followers to protest peacefully and accented that with the phrase “Remember, the military is in the hands of the white man.” At the unheard of age of 35 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Think what you want about Dr. King, but he was one of the most effective movers and shakers America has ever seen. He single handedly changed America but racial prejudice persists, I guess we all need someone to hate.

Quotable quotes:

“Heaven will be inherited by every man that has heaven in his soul.” Henry Ward Beecher

“Learn to get in touch with that silence within yourself and know that everything in life has a purpose.” Elizabeth Kubler-Ross.

Born today:

1855    English writer Eleanor Marx. She said “By the time your life is finished, you will have learned just enough to live it well.” That is depressing, Eleanor.

1911    US baseball pitcher “Dizzy” Dean. After losing a game 1-0 he said “The game was closer that the score indicated.” “Ole Diz” was a hoot.

1944    US country singer Ronnie Milsap. He said “Work for the fun of it. The money will arrive sooner or later.” Ronnie, the problem is that we have to eat between “sooner” and “later”.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow