Daily history

Good morning,


Quote of the day:

"Failure is only a change in direction to set you straight for your next success. Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly."

                                     Ted Turner

I guess all of you know by now that Mark Mcgwire has confessed. To those of you that don't know him, Mark was a first baseman for the Oakland Athletics and the Saint Louis Cardinals. He was renown for driving baseballs long, deep and frequently. In 1998 he set a major league record by hitting 70 home runs in a single season. Word leaked out that the heavy hitters in baseball had "beefed" up their body strength by the use of illegal drugs, especially steroids and human growth hormones (HGH). Several of them were called before Congress to testify among them was Mark. He refused to testify about anything that had happened in the past frustrating any examinations by the legislators. Mark was retired when this testimony was given. A couple of weeks ago he was hired by the Saint Louis Cardinals as a hitting coach. On Monday Mark came out and said that he had used HGH and steroids throughout most of his career. He said that he wanted to set the record straight for his team mates at Saint Louis. He will never see the inside of the Baseball Hall of Fame because of his lying and cheating and rightfully so.

By now all of you know that the Fox TV network has hired Sarah Palin to be an occasional reporter. They made a wise choice there. This girl as charisma, y'all. Not only that she is very pretty and as far as I am concerned, she is damned sexy. I do not know why she cut short her tenure as Governor as Governor of Alaska but it is obvious that she has and agenda, what it is is yet to be determined. I hope that she is successful in her new career at Fox because the other TV networks crucified her during the last presidential election only because of their personal political convictions. I personally do not give a damn what the "news journalists" have as a political agenda. Just report the news and let me make my own judgements...I am no dummy...but they think we are.

I have a group of friends that play double deck pinochle every Wednesday. We play at one of our favorite watering holes at noon. The chef named Melvin has become a friend and is open to suggestions for the soup we prefer for lunch. This man cranks out some dynamite vegetable/beef soup but he mentioned that he might make us some Brunswick Stew this Wednesday. That is down home food that I have been craving. I will keep y'all advised.

This date in history January 13

1776    The so-called Battle of Prudence Island happens on this day. Prudence Island is a barrier island off the coast of Rhode Island that had but one or two structures. It was primarily used as a pasture for sheep with the structure for the shepherds. The British troops had been eyeing the sheep across the waterway hungrily. One night the British decided to cross over to Prudence Island and make off with a couple of sheep, only the pretty ones of course. They rowed over and before they could get ashore they were met with musket fire from a fairly large detachment of militia led by Patriot Captain Thomas King and are turned back, The militia had learned of the planned sheep theft a day or two before and sitting there waiting for them in the dark. The militia just was not going to give up those lovely, sensual sheep.

1128    On this date Pope Honorius II names the Knights Templar, led by Frenchman Hughes de Payens, as the “army of God”. In the year 1118 the Knights was formed to protect the Christians that are on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. They took their name from the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. In the beginning there were only 9 of them because of their very strict rules. They had to be of noble birth, take vows of poverty, obedience and chastity. By 1127 the grateful pilgrims had contributed considerable amounts of land and other valuables to the knights. Even though the knights had sworn a vow of poverty as individuals possession of lands by the organization was allowed and the Knights Templar became extremely wealthy. I’ll bet ya’ll can tell me what comes next. That’s right, in 1307 the Catholic Church led by Pope Clement V along with Philip IV of Spain lusted after these riches and they attacked the Knights Templar the only way they knew how and that was with religion. They dragged up the leader the Knights, Jacques DeMolay up on charges of heresy, sacrilege and Satanism. DeMolay denied these charges of course but with a little persuasion from the rack and hot irons, DeMolay acquiesced and was burned at the stake. That was pretty much the fate of the rest of the Knights. Their valuables and lands were given away to their closest rival, the Knights of Hospitaliers with a substantial chunk going to Phillip IV of Spain, Edward II of England and last but not least the Catholic Church. Later on the Catholic Church admitted wrong doing in this case and said that Pope Clement V was pressured by secular rulers to do what he did. Hey Clement V you jackass, what has the division of worldly possessions got to do with saving my soul? Thank God you have gone on to your reward. It was/is believed that the Knights Templar has possession of the Holy Grail, the Ark of the Covenant and a piece of wood from the true cross that Jesus was crucified on. It is the possibility of these objects still being in existence that has made for today’s legends and made Dan Brown, the author of “The Da Vinci Code” a zillionaire.

1842    Early on this morning a British military doctor staggers into a British sentry post near Jalalabad, Afghanistan. He was the only survivor of a 16,000 British/Indian force that were attacked by extremely pissed off Afghani rebels at Khyber Pass. It seems that the ever Empirical England was attempting to expand their empire from India to include Afghanistan and blatantly interfered to the selection of the ruler of Afghanistan in that he was be a supportive of Great Britain. That 16,000 British/Indian Army was in Kabul to make sure of the transition but soon thereafter the pissed off Afghani warlords began gathering in Kabul and the British/Indian army had to choice but to withdraw. The combined warlords caught up with the British/Indian army at Khyber Pass and slaughtered them almost to a man. Only the doctor had escaped. This did not deter the British, however. They tried again and again were driven out but on the third try they were able make it stick. But not for long, the Afghanis love to fight; it is part and parcel of their makeup. The last total domination of that country was only when Alexander the Great passed through in the third century BC.

1958    Peter Manuel is arrested in a pub in Glasgow, Scotland. This maniac was born in America to British parents. He got an early start when he was arrested for burglary at the age of 12, then he moved up to assault at the age of 15 a little later he was convicted of sexual assault and did eight years of hard time. After getting out he resumed his life of crime by killing a mother, her two children and her sister during a burglary. A little later he broke into another house and killed the entire family. It is estimated that Peter Manuel had killed 15 people during his short life. They caught him by comparing bank notes that he had stolen form the family he had killed against the ones he used to buy beer in a Glasgow pub. He took the money from the father that had just been paid and the employer tracked the serial numbers of the bank notes used for salaries, shortly after Peter Manuel went to meet his maker wearing a hemp neck-tie. I don’t know what it is but sometime kids are just born with bad blood and insist on bad behavior in spite of the consequences.

I will tell ya’ll the brief history of a gang leader in the lower East side of New York. His gang did as most gangs; they raised money by selling drugs, extortion and occasional murder for hire. The leader’s name was “Yummy”. He got this name because he always had Oreo cookies close at hand. He was an uncompromising and insistent person that demanded complete loyalty among his soldiers. As was commonplace, there was a rival gang that Yummy and his boys had an ongoing turf war with, that frequently brought about large battles. During one of these battles, Yummy was captured by the rival gang, tortured for several days and then strangled. His body was thrown out in the middle of Harlem from a speeding car. Yummy was 12 years old.

1929    Nearly fifty years after his famous gunfight at the OK Corral in Tombstone, Arizona, Wyatt Earp dies peacefully in Los Angeles. A little while after the gunfight Wyatt’s Brother Virgil was ambushed riding along a trail and a shotgun blast took out his left arm permanently but he survived. A few days later Wyatt was playing billiards with his brother Morgan when a shot came the window and hit Morgan in the head and he was dead before he hit the floor. Wyatt and Doc Holliday left Arizona headed to California. But on the way our they killed Frank Stillwell in a Tucson rail yard and Florendento Cruz out in the desert as revenge for the murder of Morgan. Wyatt knocked around the west an occasional bartender even up in Nome, Alaska and was a temporary movie consultant in his life when he passed. He was legend, ya’ll.

Born today:

1884    US entertainer Sophie Tucker. She said “From birth to 18 a girl need good parents, From 18 to 36 she needs good looks, from 36 to 55 she needs a good personality, from 55 on she needs good money, that’s why I am saving.” Sophie was known as “The last of the red-hot mamas.” I think we could give that title to Brittany Spears these days

Died today:

1929    US western legend Wyatt Earp. He said “Fast is fine, accuracy is everything.” Wyatt was familiar with firearms, to say the least.

1978    US politico Hubert Humphrey. “We should not allow the shortness of funds to prevent the cities from financing needed projects.” Hubert, shut the hell up.

Thanks for listen I can hardly wait until tomorrow.