Daily History

Good morning,


Quote of the day:

“To be able to move on is easy; it is what you have to leave behind that is hard.”

                                      Dave Mustaine

Thoughts:

What is money?

Money means many things to different people. To me it is a tool, an instrument to be used to secure the necessities or luxuries of life. It can secure food, clothing, shelter, transportation, a feeling of security, symbols of success and other tangibles.

What it cannot secure is one person’s loyalty to another. It cannot secure a person’s moral fiber. It cannot secure a self esteem. It cannot secure an enduring friendship. It cannot secure one person’s control over others without the acceptance of all persons involved. In spite of all of this, some people still believe they can secure social acceptance because of wealth or what wealth can buy when what they really gain is the ridicule of those they are trying to impress. All anyone has to do is treat each others as an equal, not less, not more. It is simple to me, maybe that is why I am not wealthy but very content with my self worth.

Down near Columbia, South Carolina the cops were called about a burglary in progress by two juveniles. A nearby cop saw two juveniles in a car speeding away and began a pursuit. The juveniles decided to stop the car, jumped out and ran into the nearby woods. The cops brought in Officer Renzo who quickly picked up the scent and tracked the kids to a nearby house where the kids had stopped and asked to use the phone. They were still on the porch when Officer Renzo burst out of the woods and the kids immediately surrendered. Officer Renzo is a 4 year old, 70 pound German shepherd.

Down near Gulf Breeze, Florida a 34 year old woman named Michelle Vasquez and her 8 day old baby showed up missing and her parents called the cops. An investigation discovered the corpse of the baby in a patch of woods. The coroner determined that the infant had been smothered. The cops interrogated Michelle and she readily admitted that she held the baby “real tight”. When asked if she knew what would happen if she held the baby “real tight”. She said “Yes, die”. They asked her why she did it and she said that she did not want to be a burden to her family. What about the baby? Did he ask to be born? Michelle is charged with first degree murder.

This date in history April 20

1999    Earlier two teenagers named Dylan Keibold aged 18 and Eric Harris aged 17 had planted two propane bombs in the cafeteria of Columbine High School in the city of Littleton, Colorado. They would detonate them during lunchtime hoping to kill as many students as they could and then wait outside with firearms to kill as many kids as they could when the school was evacuated. On this date at about 11:15A, they tried to detonate the bombs but nothing happened. So these boys dressed in trench coats come out of the woods near the school and began shooting the students outside the school and then went on inside and continued shooting. There did not appear to be any pattern as to who they shot, it seemed to be completely at random. On one occasion one of the shooters walked up to a girl that was lying on the floor and asked it she believed in God. The girl said that she did and was killed instantly. On another occasion they asked another girl that was injured if she believed in God and she said that she did and the shooters just walked away. After killing 13 and wounding 25 the two boys turned the guns upon themselves and committed suicide at 12:02P. No one really knew what caused this outburst. The two were members of a group known as the “Trench coat Mafia”. But there was no evidence that this group fostered the killing of innocents. The group studied Gothic philosophy and they played a lot violent video games but other than that, the authorities didn’t have a clue. As a result of this event, nearly all schools in America adopted a “zero tolerance” attitude toward weapons of any kind or anything that can be used as a weapon. It is too late now.

1698    Earlier the Catholic King of England, James II had been deposed by his Protestant daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange. James goes to France and then to Ireland. He brought a small army with him from France and hoped to recoup the throne. He was able to capture Dublin and on this day his army encircled Londonderry. He ordered the city of Protestants to surrender. The city refused even though they did not have a reliable source of supplies. The city repelled one attack after another, but was soon running short of the necessities of life. Then the Protestant Mayor George Walker makes an inspiring speech and the people of Londonderry dug in their heels and delivered a ferocious defense. After 105 days of siege an army sent by William and Mary arrives and James and his army have to retreat. Eleven months later at the Battle of Boyne James and his army have their asses handed to them by the army of William and Mary and this was the end for James II. George Walker, the inspiring mayor of Londonderry was killed in this battle.

1978    On this date a Korean Air Line aircraft on a flight from Paris to Seoul, Korea flying an “over the pole” route shows up in Soviet airspace. It took a gigantic navigation error for this to happen and aviation experts doubted this could ever occur with the sophisticated navigation equipment aboard. Anyway, the Soviets sent up two fighters to intercept the aircraft and told the pilot to land at a particular Soviet airport but the Korean crew chose to land on a frozen lake south of Murmansk. The landing was a rough one and two passengers were killed and many injured but the Russians allowed an American aircraft to shuttle out the survivors. This a lot better than in 1983 when a Korean Air Line aircraft flying from Anchorage, Alaska to Seoul, Korea strayed 300 miles into Russian airspace and did not respond to commands by the Russian fighters that was sent to intercept. So the fighters shot the airliner out of the sky to the tune of 273 dead. Keep these facts in mind the next time you consider flying Korean Air Lines.

1906    Two days before a tremendous earthquake struck San Francisco. There were underground natural gas lines that were fractured and several fires erupted. The bad part was the wind; it was blowing at about 35 miles per hour. The fire fighting equipment of those days was not equal to the conflagration that resulted. The fire ran unchecked for two days burning an area ½ mile wide and four miles long but on this day the firefighters got a handle on this fire and extinguished it. There were about 700 killed and several thousands homeless.

1871    On this date Congress passes the Third Force Act which allowed President Ulysses Grant to declare martial law or even use military force to suppress the action of the KKK. The KKK was formed in Pulaski, Tennessee right after the end of the Civil War by Confederate veterans led by CSA General Nathan Bedford Forrest. What caused this action was the influx of people from out of the south coming in and taking the lands previously owned by Confederate soldiers that were killed in the War, among other atrocities. The KKK went over the edge and began dictating how lives were supposed to be lived and what church to attend, etc. Most of this turmoil could have been avoided if the so-called Reconstruction had been administered justly. But as with any large scale US government program, it became corrupted and the Southerners paid the price.

1945    On this date Operation Corncob begins. This operation was to bomb all the bridges going from Italy to Germany to cut off the escape route of the German army in Italy. Also on this date Adolph Hitler has a birthday party celebrating his 56th birthday. It is hard for me to tell ya’ll this but also on this day the German Gestapo hangs 20 Russian captives and 20 Jewish children. Of these children at least 9 were under the age of 12. These children were brought from Auschwitz to Neuengamme, the place of execution, for the purpose of medical experiments. I do not believe in the death penalty for whoever hanged these children or performed the “medical experiments”, but I do believe in cruel and unusual punishment. My imagination is fertile when it comes to dealing with monster such as these.

Born today:

1889    The worst monster in history Adolph Hitler. He said “The greater the lie, the greater the chance it will be believed.”

1961    US baseball player Don Mattingly. He said of Dwight Gooden “His reputation preceded him before he got here.” As I have said in the past baseball players do not need a basic vocabulary to hit .300, steal 50 bases or win a Gold Glove.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow.