Daily history

Good morning


Quote of the day:

“It is just as important to learn how to let love in as it is to give love out.”

                                  Morrie Schwartz

My final scary experience in Alaska involved a duck hunting trip. Three of my friends and I decided to go out on the mud flats south of Anchorage where ducks were swarming like mosquitoes in anticipation of heading south for the winter. We all had on hip waders and on the way out the third round in our shotguns was a slug in case we ran across a big predator, mostly bears. This was in late September and most, but not all, of the bears were in hibernation but we did not want to take a chance. We slogged our way out onto that muskeg (swamp) until we were in the clear. The water was about knee deep when we went out. After couple of hours of productive hunting we started back to the car but a strange thing was happening. The water was getting deeper. It never occurred to us that the mud flat water depth would rise and fall with the tide and the tide was coming in…and fast. We figured that if we did not get out of that area soon we would drown because it would flood our waders. We walked as fast as we could in knee deep water with a sticky mud bottom. The inevitable happen when the water got high enough it filled my waders when I was about 30 yards from high ground. The obvious answer was to take off the waders. That cannot be done because of the fit of the shoe part and the water pressure on the outside of the boot. I struggled and dragged myself to an embankment and started crawling up to high ground. I finally reached the peak of the embankment and I had to lie down and rest because I was exhausted. Finally I held my legs up as high as I could to try and drain the waders because I had about 70 yards to walk to the car. The ground was so rough I knew I had to have foot protection to even walk the 70 yards. This meant that I had to keep the waders on. I did not get all of the water out of the waders and had to struggle to the car carrying all the extra weight. When I finally got to the car I lay down on the tarmac and took off those waders with my hip joints on fire. There is a reason for me to be alive today because I should have been killed on that day near Anchorage, Alaska. By the way, we went duck hunting again the next day.

All of y’all know that President Barak “The Poser” Obama showed up unannounced in Afghanistan and immediately had a hush-hush conference with the Afghani President. We don’t exactly know what was said but I can guess that Obama want the Afghani Army to take a bigger role in killing the Taliban.

I saw something I thought I would never see on CNN. The news anchor went into a tirade about the promises Obama made about “transparency” in his administration including C-SPAN participation just to get elected and once he was elected it was one secret meeting after another. The news anchor parroted what thousands of people have been saying and that is “I just hope that everyone remembers this deception in the mid-term elections in November.” Not to worry.

About 4:30a Monday morning down in Belton, South Carolina two men broke into a house on Lewis Drive. They beat and robbed the two residents and left in a black Crown Victoria. Very soon thereafter the Belton cops spotted the car and a short chase ensued. Finally the car stopped and four men bailed out of the car and ran. The cops brought in the dogs and by 9:30a the four men were in custody. One of them is a documented gang member. I can assure you that if I detect someone attempting to break in or actually breaks in on me they will be in the cemetery soon thereafter. I am armed to teeth all the time I am home including in bed. Those people in those bullshit gangs that want to feed off the rest of us do not deserve to live.

Two women suicide bombers walked into a Moscow train station and lit off their self contained explosives killing many and wounding over 100. The Russian police thinks the women were from Chechnya who has been at war with Russia for many years. Chechnya borders with Russia and it has been Russia’s policy for many years that all border countries will be under Russian control. Obviously the people from Chechnya take exception to that. By the way, there was not enough left of the bombers to be identified.

This Date in History March 30

1775    On this date King George III of England endorses the so-call Restraining Act. Parliament had proposed this abomination and the King liked it. Now ya’ll listen to this. This act declared that the colonies must trade exclusively with Great Britain and that ain’t all, the Act forbade the American fishing fleet from fishing in the North Atlantic. Are you mad yet? This meant that all the most eaten fish in the colonies such as cod and salmon would have to be bought from Great Britain even though the Danes and Dutch fished the North Atlantic also and the American fleet had no problem with supplying its people with these fish. The British Prime Minister, Lord North, knew that this act would stir up a hornet’s nest in the colonies and tried to calm things down by stating that if a colony paid the salary of the Royal Governor of their Colony, they would be taxed less. But Lord North knew this would have little or no effect and sent the Military Commander General Thomas Gage to Boston to become Governor of Massachusetts. This was just the first step toward martial law and the colonists knew it. In July Gage sent a British regiment to destroy a cache of arms and ammo known to be in Concord, Massachusetts and arrest firebrand Patriots Samuel Adams and John Hancock. It was during this event that the first shot was fired at the British in anger and the Revolutionary War was under way. Considering what humiliation burdens the British put on the colonists, I am amazed it did not start before now.

1825    Samuel Bell Maxey is born in Kentucky. Maxey went to West Point and graduated next to last in his class of 59 in 1846. As with many West Point officers of this era, he went to fight in the Mexican War. Maxey resigned his commission after the war and moved to Kentucky to practice law. In 1857 he moved to Texas. After the outbreak of the Civil War he offered his services to the Confederacy and helped organize the 9th Texas Infantry. The 9th Texas was sent to fight in Mississippi with Maxey in command as a Brigadier General. Maxey was present at the battles of Vicksburg, Port Hudson and Chattanooga. It was here that Maxey was promoted to commander of the Indian Territories. Maxey began to train Cherokee, Creek and Choctaw Indians into Confederate combat troops. Maxey’s Indian troops attacked a Union wagon train near Poison Springs, Arkansas that was driven by a Black Kansas regiment. The Union troops were routed and many fled, but of those black troops that surrendered or were wounded there were no survivors. Maxey’s troops killed them all. After the war Maxey continued to support the Native Americans and as a United States Senator he introduced legislation in behalf of them. He died in 1895.

1980    In the stormy North Sea the oil companies provided apartments for the drilling platform workers on their off time. The apartment had room for about 220 workers and was afloat on gigantic pontoons. On this night while most of the workers were watching a movie with a gale howling outside, a gigantic rogue wave estimated to be over 100 feet high slams into the apartment and capsizes it. Most of the workers were Norwegian but there were a few Brits and Americans aboard. The apartment was about 220 miles from Dundee, Scotland and soon Royal and Norwegian helicopters were on site but the gale was still howling and rescue was difficult if not impossible. Of the 208 that were aboard the apartment, 123 of those that were unable to reach a life boat were drowned. Eight years later there was a fire and explosion on a drilling rig in the North Sea took the life of another 167. The oil platform workers make a lot of money but it isn’t worth the risk.

1855    On this date the first legislative election is held in the state of Kansas. The only problem was that the so-called “Border Ruffians” were interfering with election. The Border Ruffians were pro slavery advocates from Missouri near the Kansas border. Kansas came into the Union as a “free” state meaning slave free and Missouri came in as a slave state. Even though more votes were counted than were registered voters and a pro-slavery legislation was elected, the Governor of Kansas ratified the election to avoid more bloodshed. It did not help that much because there was continued fighting between the pro and anti slavery advocates until the end of the Civil War in 1865. There was so much fighting in Kansas that it became known as “Bleeding Kansas”.

1867    On this date the United States Secretary of State William Seward coughs up $7.2 million dollars and gives it to Russia for what is now Alaska. Seward caught a large ration of shit for this deal. His detractors called Alaska a “huge stump of ice “or “Seward’s Icebox.” Little did they know what a plethora of minerals lay underground including gold, silver, coal, and iron ore not to mention oil. I would say that the $7.2 million was a good investment for these United States.

Born today:

1135    Spanish philosopher Moses ben Maimon. He said “The risk of a wrong decision is preferable to the terror of no decision.” I think we all agree to this.

1880    Irish writer Sean O’Casey. He said “The world is just a stage and we are woefully unrehearsed.”

Died today:

1986    US writer John Ciardi. He said “Early to bed early to rise usually indicates unskilled labor.” I guess that means the majority of us.

Quotable quotes:

“The Cardinal rule of politics is don’t get caught in bed with a live man or a dead woman”. Larry Hagman How about a semi-dead woman, Larry?

“Any party that takes credit for the rain should not be surprised if their opponents blame them for a drought." Dwight D. Murrow

“If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.” Harry Truman...I have known several, Harry.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow