Daily history

Good morning,


Quote of the day:

“Change is the essence of life. Be willing to surrender what you are for what you could become.”

                                     Mahatma Gandhi

Back in January I sent out a lesson that had a small vignette about the US sending arms to England to help fight the onslaught of the Germans in WWII and calling it a “lend lease”. I also mentioned that the German military had been storing arms for years and had the British “severely outgunned”. A friend sent me a message relating to this situation. He had a 1941 edition of American Rifleman that had an ad in the front asking Americans to surrender some of their arms and ammo and send them to the British. This seems like a peculiar request until history tells us that in 1922 the British parliament banned firearms for personal use. The Germans began their assault on England in 1939. It is also a known fact that when the Japanese successfully attacked the American fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and did not sail on to the American west coast and attack, Japanese Admiral Yamamoto the supreme naval commander, was asked why he did not attack. He said he did not attack because most of the Americans are armed. Yamamoto went to Harvard and was very familiar with what was prevalent here in the United States. Yamamoto was also asked to comment on the “great victory” at Pearl Harbor and he said “I am afraid that all we have done is awaken a sleeping giant”. He was right, y’all. One of the latter signs that a dictatorship attempt is afoot is the disarming of the citizenry. Read the history of Germany under Adolf Hitler. Be aware and be vigilant.

This section is aimed at a close friend. She knows who she is. I met a couple a few nights ago that had moved to Greenville from New Orleans. They felt that Greenville would be a better place to raise children than “The Big Easy”. During our conversation they mentioned that they had an autistic child. They said that the child was normal until he was about 3 ½ years old when a change swiftly came shortly after the child got a 5 in 1 vaccination. They are convinced that the vaccination caused the autism. My friend has been sending me information about this possibility for quite a while and now I am staring it in the face and am leaning toward that possibility as being factual. I do not know the possible cure or prevention except to abstain. Perhaps some people are susceptible to autism when injected with a mixture of vaccines…perhaps.

As y’all know there was a maniac that rented a small aircraft and crashed it into an office building housing a large IRS office in Austin, Texas. He left a suicide note. I read the note and it is not your average note it was essentially the man’s biography. He was trying to be an independent engineer in several places before ending up in Austin. He lost his retirement nest egg more than once and blamed everyone but himself for these setbacks including the IRS. He had also recently been through a divorce. The man was obviously deranged and he admitted that he needed professional counseling. It is difficult for me to feel any empathy for someone that obviously could not adapt to a situation that was not what had imagined. It reminds me of the quote “Adapt or die.” I do not recall the author nor is it important.

This date in history February 20

1985    Up until 1979 Irish law prohibited the importation and sale of contraceptives because the Catholic Church disapproved. I will paraphrase that. The Catholic Church wanted to go into the Irish bedrooms and tell them how to have sex. Well, in 1979 the Irish Supreme Court ruled that the use of contraceptives fell under purview of privacy and was not a matter for the clergy to determine. The Catholic hierarchy in Ireland about peed their pants because the weight of the opinion of the Catholic Church was paramount in Ireland and with this ruling by the Irish Supreme Court the Church saw their power, influence and possibly a hell of a lot of money going down the toilet. But the sale and use of contraceptives still had a string attached. Contraceptives could only be distributed by a licensed pharmacist and only to those with a prescription from a licensed physician. And that is the way is stayed until this date when the Irish lawmakers shook off the shackles of the Catholic Church and on this date passed a law stating that it was up to anyone’s choice as to the use of contraceptives, prescriptions not withstanding. Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, I am free at last.

1725    On this date a posse from New Hampshire happened upon a group of Indians that they had been tracking and decided that they would try the Native American custom of “scalping”. The posse killed 10 of them and crudely scalped them. They brought the scalps back to the Massachusetts Bay Colony where they received 10 pounds sterling for each scalp. The act of scalping was not peculiar to the American Indian. Scalping had been practiced in Europe and Asia since before recorded history. In European, Asian and American Indian history it was believed that you gained the other person’s courage by taking his/her scalp. But as you might expect, this act by this posse set off a bloodbath of scalping between the Indians and the settlers that continued for generations.

1864    Earlier US General Quincy Gilmore had sent US General Truman Seymour and an army of 5,000 from Jacksonville, Florida to capture the rail yard at Lake City, Florida, about 60 miles west. Right behind Seymour was President Lincoln’s secretary John Hay trying to get some of the Floridians to sign and oath of allegiance to the Union and persuade them to come to the next Republican Convention so they could vote for Lincoln as the presidential candidate. He wasn’t having much luck then the US army ran across a Confederate army of 500 led by CSA General Joseph Finegan at the little crossroad town of Olustee. Seymour immediately attacked seeing that he had the Confederates greatly outnumbered. Finegan and company were able to hold their ground but were running out of ammo. Previously Finegan had sent for reinforcements and ammo and at the last minute the ammo and the reinforcements arrived and the forces were about equal at that point. After this it was no contest. The Confederates delivered a severe ass-kicking and Seymour and his army shuttled their young asses back to Jacksonville. Secretary Hay gave up on recruiting any Floridians and the state stayed under Confederate control for the remainder of the war. The US army suffered 1,800 casualties to the CSA’s 900.

1974    A couple of days before this the editor of the Atlanta Constitution, Reg Murphy had been contacted by a man named William Williams who promised Murphy that he would contribute 300,000 gallons of heating oil for the poor if he would meet him and make the deal front page news. Murphy agreed and met with Williams whereupon Williams pulled out a revolver and kidnapped Murphy. Williams wanted a ransom of $700,000 to be used by an extreme right wing militia. Williams had him and Murphy riding around Atlanta awaiting the results of his ransom demand. The second in command on the newspaper, G. James Minton rounded up the $700,000 delivered it to the pick-up point and Murphy was released. In a matter of hours the Atlanta PD was knocking of William’s door and he was arrested and the money recovered. He was originally sentenced to 40 years but he was tried again in federal court because of the kidnapping and was given 50 years. He was released after serving 9 years, believe it or not.

1950    On this date one of the most gifted poets of all time arrived in the United States to go on a reading tour. The Welshman Dylan Thomas began his reading tour with blockbuster reviews. This man was truly gifted. Before coming to the US he had published a book titled 18 Poems in 1934 and then 25 Poems in 1936. Dylan’s shortcoming was that a very heavy drinker. He met a young woman named Caitlin McNamara in a London Bar. Dylan was smitten and began to court Caitlin. Caitlin was not enamored with Dylan at first but after she heard him read his poetry in his rich and resonant Welsh voice, she was also smitten and they married. They had issue of three children. The only problem with this union was that Caitlin could hang with Dylan drink for drink and they spent many a foggy night together. In August of 1953 Dylan visits the White Horse Bar on Hudson Street in New York City and knocks back 17 shots of Scotch and promptly walks out on the sidewalk and drops dead. He was 39 years old. What a damned shame and a waste of talent. Caitlin never forgave him for that.

1942    Earlier the USS Lexington, a United States aircraft carrier, had departed Bougainville in the Marshall Islands headed for the Japanese Island stronghold of Rabaul. This was supposed to be surprise attack but somehow the Japanese got wind of the pending attack and sent a squadron of bombers to intercept the Lexington. The Lexington picked up the oncoming bombers on radar and sent a squadron of F-4-F Wildcats led by Lieutenant Edward O’Hare to intercept the bombers. In the span of four minutes Lieutenant O’Hare shot down five of the bombers making him an ace. Not only was he an ace he was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions on this day. The O’Hare airport near Chicago is named for him. After this action the Lexington knew they had lost the element of surprise and retreated back to Bougainville.

2003    The rock band Great White opens a concert in a West Warwick, Rhode Island nightclub with fireworks behind the band. The fireworks catch the ceiling on fire and 100 are burned to death and 300 injured. The roadie that set off the pyrotechnics was arrested for setting of fireworks without a permit and 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter. He was sentenced to four years. That is 3.65 days for each person killed or wounded.

Born today:

1888    French writer Georges Bernanos. He said, “It is a fine thing to rise above pride, but you must have pride to begin with.”

1924    US heiress Gloria Vanderbilt. She said “The fame you earn is a lot different that the fame that is thrust upon you.”

1963    US basketballer Charles Barkley. He said “We don’t need ref’s, but I guess the white guys need something to do.” Hey Charles, you forgot about Yao Ming, Steve Nash and Pete Maravich among others.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow