Daily history

Good morning,


Quote of the day:

“The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words unsaid and deeds undone."

                             Harriet Beecher Stowe

I guess all of you have heard the motto for the Allstate Insurance Company “You're in good hands”. They are considering changing it to “Get the good finger.” They and Farmers Insurance have stated that they will not insure any houses for wind damage on the Alabama Gulf Coast. They have also quadrupled the deductible on houses in Florida on the Gulf Coast. On top of that they have stated that they will not insure mobile homes of any kind on the South Carolina Atlantic coast. I imagine that if I pursue the research I will find that they are trying and succeeding to escape the wrath of coastal hurricanes everywhere. It appears that they prefer to insure something like houses in Wyoming and Montana against hurricane damage. That thing about not insuring mobile homes on the South Carolina coast will hurt. There are thousands of mobile homes permanently planted in a variety of “RV sites” throughout the whole South Carolina Atlantic coast. We are talking about insurance companies here. Remember AIG? That was an insurance company too. They used taxpayer money to stop from disappearing into the sunset. The insurance industry can steal more money by accident that 1,000 gangsters with guns.

If you were to go the Benson house in the Cordova Park community in Pensacola, Florida and ring the door bell, a young man in a blue suit, crisp white shirt and a red power tie might answer the door and it might be Jalen Benson. After short conversation you will quickly realize that this is not your average teenager. He is brilliant when it comes to history and will move his hands in flourishes when discussing the turmoil in Jerusalem to the ramification of the construction the Great Wall of China, but his passion is the history of the progression of civil rights worldwide. He is in the PATS program at Pensacola High School and has scored first or second in the last several Escambia County education fairs. He has been in national educations fairs also. He likes reading, eating and soccer in that order. Jalen is a 14 year old black kid and has expressed a desire to be President of the United States. Good for you, Jalen…don’t deny yourself any ambitions.

My daughters sent me an article about a Swiss and a German archaeologist that have come upon a “dig” that will shake the world of archaeology to its roots. It is in southeast Turkey and the location is known as Gobekli Tepe which mean “fat hill’ in Turkish. They uncovered a temple of sculpted stone that is 11,500 years old. This means this temple was built about 7,000 years before the architects laid out the foundation of the pyramids in Egypt. This temple had decayed into ruin before the first stone was lifted at Stonehenge 6,000 years later. The archaeologists have determined that there was no agriculture, pottery and domesticated animals in used at that time. A while back I read about the discovery of a city-state name Ebril in southeastern Turkey. Ebril, along with Jericho, was estimated to be about 7,000 years old. Ebril and Gobekli are about 4 miles apart. The archaeologist believe that Gobekli was the first construction project in history and the development of agriculture, pottery and the domestication of animals may have began at this site. The site was obviously very important to those that built it and in an attempt to stay nearby, rather than use the hunt-and-gather method to survive, maybe they tried to raise their own food and domesticate animals for food and farming. What a thrill it would be to look back through that dark glass of antiquity and catch a glimpse of life at Gobekli 11,500 years ago. The reading of this article was like eating a piece of Key Lime Pie…what a treat.

This date in history February 22

1777    On this date Georgia heavyweight politico Archibald Bulloch is found dead under mysterious circumstances. The ongoing opinion was that he was poisoned. Bulloch was born in Charleston, South Carolina in 1730 to a minister father named James, and a Puritan mother named Jean. Bulloch was educated at the College of South Carolina Law School (present day University of South Carolina) and opened a law practice in Charleston. In 1764 Bulloch moved to Savannah, Georgia and married Mary De Veaux, the daughter of a powerful judge and landowner. Bulloch began dabbling politics and was elected to the Georgia Commons House of Assembly in 1768 and eventually into the Continental Congress in 1775. In 1776 when it became obvious that Georgia would be invaded by the British, Bulloch was elected 1st President and commander of the Georgia Militia and gave him essentially Carte Blanche to do what he wanted to combat the English invaders. He was given what were essentially dictatorial powers. It was soon thereafter he showed up dead. The reason and cause of his death was never determined. Bulloch was the great-great- grandfather of United States President Theodore Roosevelt. Teddy named his first son Archibald in honor of his ancestor. Bulloch County, Georgia is also named in his honor.

1819    Finally the disposition of the lands in Florida is determined on this date. Spanish Minister Don Luis du Onis meets with American minister John Quincy Adams and signs over Florida to the United States. The United States received these lands just for the debts owed by Spanish to the settlers. Spain had a claim on Florida ever since the days of Pensacola and Saint Augustine settlements in the 16th century. However, in their greed Spain sided with the wrong side in the French and Indian War and lost Florida to England via the 1st Treaty of Paris. Then they sided with the right side during the American Revolution and got Florida back via the 2nd Treaty of Paris. Now it was in the hands of the United States and the drug kings from Cuba and other Central and South American countries.

1847    The United States and Mexico had been squabbling over the ownership of Texas for several years. Finally, President James K, Polk who believed heavily in western expansion for the United States sends the US Army into Mexico. A 15,000 man Mexican army commanded by General Santa Anna meets up with the recently landed 5,000 man America army commanded by General Zachary Taylor at Angostura Pass and the first day of the Battle of Buena Vista began. Santa Anna sent over an emissary under a flag of truce demanding the surrender of the Americans. In typical Taylor fashion he responded with “Tell the son-of–a-bitch to go to hell.” Santa Anna began a two pronged attack on Taylor’s position. Taylor organized the greater majority of his artillery onto one of the prongs. One of the commanders of an artillery unit was “Stonewall” Jackson. Taylor then sent Colonel Jefferson Davis and his hawk-eyed Mississippi sharpshooters to attack the other prong. We all recognize Jefferson Davis as later on being the President of the Confederacy. Well, the American artillery on the left flank and the sharpshooters on the right flank lay down a blistering fusillade and Santa Anna decides to retreat. Apparently Santa Anna did not learn his lesson because he again confronts Zachary “Old Rough and Ready” Taylor at the Battle of Monterrey and has his ass handed to him even though he has Taylor outnumbered. In 1848 Zachary Taylor running as a Whig defeated the Democratic nominee for President of the United States. And 13 years after that Jefferson Davis became the President of the Confederate States of America.

2006    On this date the largest robbery in the history of Great Britain occurs at the Kent bank depot. This evening two men dressed as policemen grab Securitis Bank president Colin Dixon as he was leaving the bank and persuade him to get into the car with them. They then drive to Dixon’s home and kidnap his wife and son and drive to a remote barn and a third person takes the wife and child into the barn and then reassured Colin Dixon that they would kill his wife and child if he did not cooperate. They go back to the bank and Dixon leads the other two through the bank’s security system and the two robbers tied up and gagged 14 other bank employees. They then load 53 million pounds into a van and drive away. The take was the equivalent of about 107 million US Dollars. Eventually one of the banks workers got loose and notified the police. The police put out a net for the robbers but to no avail because most of the loot was in used bills. The bank put out a reward of 2 million pounds with no takers. There were a few people arrested but they were all released. The police were able to recover only 20 million pounds but the majority of the loot is still out there.

1942    Things did not look good for the allied forces in the Philippines. The Japanese were running rampant across the Island of Luzon and were forcing the American army into a smaller and smaller perimeter ending up on the Bataan Peninsula. At this point the Commander of the American forces, General Douglas McArthur, was ordered out of the Philippines by the President of the United States Franklin Roosevelt. McArthur hesitated at first as he was prepared to fight to the last with his troops but on this date he conceded and boarded a PT-boat and was taken to New Guinea and eventually Australia where he began planning his return.

Born today:

1732 George Washington...The father of our country...I do not believe he was here at this point in time by accident.

1857    Robert Baden-Powell...The founder of the Boy Scouts...He said “A Scout always smiles and whistles no matter the circumstances.” Obviously Mr. Baden Powell had never been involved in a divorce action.

1824    Jules Renard...French writer...He said “Love is like an hourglass, the heart fills as the mind empties.” Ah yes, I remember it well, kind of.

1892    Edna St. Vincent Millay...American writer...She said “It is not true that life is one damn thing after another, it is the same damn thing over and over.” Obviously Ms. Millay has been involved in more than one divorce action.

1900    Luis Bunuel...Mexican film maker...He said “Thank God, I am still an atheist” No comment.

              Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow