Daily history

Good morning,


Quote of the day:

“In the long run the pessimists may be right, but it is the optimists that have a more enjoyable trip.”

                                        Bernard Baruch

Over in the Indian Ocean near the Seychelles Islands a group of dumb-asses that deemed themselves “pirates” decided that they were going to challenge the guided missile frigate USS Nicholas. They pulled up within gun range and open fire on the warship. As you might suspect the warship returned fire and the pirates suddenly realized that they were woefully out-gunned and surrendered. A boarding crew from the Nicholas boarded the boat and arrested the pirate crew after which the Nicholas blew the boat out of the water. After that the Nicholas located the “mother ship” that serviced the pirate boat and arrested everyone on that boat and you can guess what the Nicholas did to the Mother ship. In the span of about a week the Seychelles Coast Guard has sunk seven or eight “pirate” boats. What were those stupid asses thinking by attacking an American warship with a 25 foot wooden boat and three crewmen? Who the hell do they think they are? They are very fortunate that they were not killed.

There is a group of young people that live in the Sumter, South Carolina area that have started a program for the poor the likes of which has not been done before in that area. Sumter is primarily a agricultural oriented community except for Shaw Air Force Base. There are many older houses that have been abandoned by those that have given up and moved on. This group of young people locates these houses and using donated materials refurbish them and donate them to families that are in the most need. The prime sponsor of this effort is the “Full Victory Interdenominational Church of God.” Does this sound familiar, Dotty? Anyway, it is a win-win situation for all concerned. The workers probably profit the most in their expanding pride and enhancement of their self-esteem.

Russian Premier Medvedev has promised to get "crueler" with the Chechnyan rebels. I told you.

South Carolina State Representative Dr. Kristopher Crawford of Florence, South Carolina is in the joint for non-payment of taxes. South Carolina has a state Income tax and this pillar of the community failed to file personal income tax at all for two years and also failed to provide his accountant enough information to file a corporate tax return on his practice for two other years. He is looking at a sentence of 7 years and perhaps a fine of $75,000. You can’t trust anyone anymore.

A bizarre event happened Wednesday afternoon down in Austin, Texas. About 1:20p people began to notice a small red car in a parking garage with no one in the car but the keys were in it and the motor was running. After a while the cops were called and they saw a backpack in the front seat with wires underneath. Y’all know what they thought. They brought in a robot device and the backpack was brought out and dissected but no bomb was found. Several attempts were made to locate the owner of the car but that was unsuccessful. As of 4:15p the car was still in the parking lot with the owner not to be found. What the hell is going on here? It sounds like a kidnapping to me.

A couple of days ago a 21 year old Yale University student from Austin, Texas did a swan dive off the observation deck on the 86th floor of the Empire State building. How is it possible for that to happen? This man is going to one of the most prestigious institutions of higher learning in the world. Upon graduation his future would be guaranteed and a comfortable living would be available for the rest of his life. What could have been going through his mind? There are many situations that could provide the impetus for a suicide but not this. You cannot go to Yale without brains, money or influence from a family member (see the Bush family). In any event, it is a damned shame that this promising life was snuffed out by demons of the mind.

Those that are from north of the 37th parallel really need to read the history lesson below.

This date in history April 2

1516    On this date the Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon lands on the Florida peninsula near present day Saint Augustine. Florida had been sighted by previous Spanish sailing vessels but Ponce de Leon was the first to step ashore. Believe it or not, he was looking for a legendary “fountain of youth” thought to be there. He thought that he was on an island instead of a peninsula and named it La Florida because of the Easter ceremony called Pascua Florida that was about to be celebrated. He left and continued to explore other areas of the southern part of what was to become America and the Bahamas. He returned to this site in 1521 with the intention of establishing a Spanish settlement. He and his party were met at water’s edge by hordes of hostile Creek and Seminole Indians and were driven back into sea. They retreated to Cuba to re-group. Ponce de Leon died there of wounds received in the encounter with the Indians. Another group of Spaniards arrived at the Florida site in 1565 and were successful in establishing a permanent settlement that exists to this day. The United States bought Florida from Spain in 1819 and soon thereafter the first retirement community was established and a bunch of bossy old Yankees from New York, Providence, New Haven, etc, descended upon the site and immediately began complaining that it was a lot better than this up north.

1982    In 1832 the Falkland Islands in the south Atlantic became a British possession and became a British colony in 1852. The possession of this strategically important island group had been contested for years by Argentina. On this date a group of Argentine Marines easily overcomes the company of Royal Marines at the capitol of Stanley and captured the Falkland Islands. When word got back to London, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher sent word to Argentina that they had two weeks to get their asses back to Argentina. Two weeks would be about how long it wound take to mobilize the Royal Marines and get them down to the Falklands. The Argentineans blew it off as a bluff and continued to stay in Stanley and the rest of the Falklands. Two weeks later the Royal Navy arrived and a naval battle ensued. The Argentineans were able hold their own against the Royal Navy primarily because they had used the French Excocet and the Chinese Silkworm anti-ship missiles. But once the Royal Marines accompanied by Royal Ghurkas got ashore it was just a matter of time. The British Naval air arm swept the skies clear of Argentine fighter-bombers and anti-aircraft batteries. Once this was accomplished the Argentine Marines were ordered to surrender of they would unleash the Ghurkas. The Ghurkas are mainly from India and Pakistan and prefer to engage in combat by surrounding their enemy, forcing them to give up their firearms and then wade into them and take care of business with their long curved knives. This was not that appealing to the Argentineans and they did indeed surrender and got their young asses back to Argentina.

1979    On this date near the Russian city of Yekaterinburg an epidemic of anthrax erupts. After all is said and done there were 65 dead and hundreds of head of livestock had perished. The official Russian report said that the people died from tainted meat. They chose not to explain the livestock deaths. The United States and nearly all the other free countries of the world knew this was bullshit because just outside Yekaterianburg was a well photographed and satellite viewed biological warfare laboratory ran by the Russian military. 13 years later the Russian government admitted that one of the operators in the plant had replaced a lid on a container of Anthrax spore incorrectly and some of the spores had escaped. Anthrax can be absorbed by various means but breathing in the spore almost guarantees death. Anyway the spores drifted downwind from the laboratory into a small village where the deaths occurred. Had the wind been blowing toward Yekaterinburg there would have been deaths of biblical proportions.

1800    On this date a trial occurred that gives us a peek at the way trials were conducted in the early days. On trial was a man name Levi Weeks. He was defended by Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr and Weeks was acquitted. The peculiar part here was that the acquittal verdict came at 3:00AM. I came to find out that once a trial was started it did not stop until a verdict was achieved. Would that be better than a trial lasting as long as the one with O.J. Simpson? I don’t know. We want everyone to get the entire defense that was available for them but keeping the jury going that long would be impractical. I guess we had better not fool with the present judicial system. Even though it is not perfect I cannot imagine one better.

Born today:

1840    French writer Emile Zola. He said. “Perfection is such a nuisance that I often regret having cured myself of using tobacco.” Emile was an arrogant bastard.

1908    US actor Buddy Ebsen. He said “If brains were lard, Jethro couldn’t grease a pan”

Buddy played Jed Clampett on the TV show “The Beverly Hillbillies”.

1928    French singer Serge Gainbrough. He said “Ugliness is superior to beauty because it lasts longer.” Good insight there, Serge.

1947    US singer Emmylou Harris. She said “Mediocrity is going to kill the world before Armageddon ever does.” I am sorry Emmylou, my money is on Armageddon.

1964    US baseball player Pete Incaviglia. He said “Most people think we baseball players make $3 to $4 million dollars a year. Most of them don’t realize that we only make $500.000”. Is that too much for working 6 or 7 months a year?

Died today:

1920    Pope Paul John II. He said “The truth is not necessarily the majority opinion.” He is right, ya’ll.

Quotable quotes:

“You are the worst entertainer since Saint Paul the Evangelist toured Palestine with a trampoline.” Critic Paul Blackadder's review of a Broadway actor.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow