Hey y'all,
In accordance with my freedom that was bought and paid for by the blood, sweat and tears of our past and present military, I will take the next three days off and will meditate and appreciate those men in uniform that are still out there sacrificing on our behalf.
No lessons until next Tuesday.
Memorial Day is not about grilled hamburgers and hot dogs. Y'all know what the meaning of this day is. Remember it.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
This is my commentary on current news items, what's happening around my neck of the woods and what happened on this date in history. I sometimes get on my soapbox and stay there a while so be prepared.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Daily history
Good morning:
Quote of the day:
“It is better to be in chains with your friends than in a perfumed garden with your enemies.”
Persian Proverb
North Korea has broken all possible ties with South Korea including diplomatic. This is normally a precursor to war or an invasion attempt. We all need to be alert to any border incidents. That is the way that most conflicts begin. That is what Hitler did as an excuse to invade Poland, at least.
We are approaching the first anniversary of the crash of Air France 447 and loss of all 227 aboard. Air France flight 447 was an Airbus 332 that departed Rio de Janerio headed to Paris. The theory is that The pilot decided to try to fly between two mature thunderstorms and got caught in the middle of a vicious cross current and stalled. Several search parties looked for the remains of this aircraft to no avail. They tried again recently with no results. They want the “black boxes” most of all to determine the cause of the crash but it appear it is not to be.
Last week the Prime Minister of Jamaica Bruce Golding folded to public pressure and dropped his opposition to the extradition of acknowledged drug lord “Dudas” Coke. Coke is a world leader in the transportation of marijuana to the United States and it is America that wants to get their hands on him. He has set up his headquarters in the Trench Town district of Kingston which is collection of ramshackle huts and poverty stricken people living in absolute squalor. After word got out that the prime minister was no longer in Dudas’ pocket, Dudas’ henchmen began arming up and building barricade ready to fight it out. Sure enough, the Jamaican police came after Dudas and a young war erupted. This conflict is still underway as of this writing. The Jamaican police said that they cannot guarantee that Dudas is hunkered down in Trench Town or may be somewhere else on the island, if at all. There is a rumor that US officials had a meeting scheduled with Dudas’ lawyers but the meeting was canceled. By the way, Trench Town is where reggae star Bob Marley was born and raised. Bob invented a whole new type of music.
Last month US Army General Petraeus authorized an increase in covert “Special Ops” in different sections of the Middle East. Then yesterday a rocket attack on a known al-queda hideout in Yemen killed six including a politician and his bodyguard. What the hell was a Yemeni politician doing in an al-queda hideout? You hang around with pit bulls you are going to get bit.
This date in history May 28
1754 On this date the first blood was shed on American soil heralding the start of the French and Indian war. This conflict was the last of a series of wars for North American lands with the colonists and England on one side and France and their large contingent of Native American allies on the other. The governor of Virginia had ordered a contingent of militia led by a 22 year old Lieutenant Colonel named George Washington, to help protect a fort that was at the present day location of Pittsburg. Colonel Washington got within 40 miles of the fort when it surrendered to the overwhelming French forces who renamed it Fort Duquesne. This put Colonel Washington between a rock and a hard place because he was depending being re-supplied and refitted at the fort so he did the next best thing. He built a fort of his own and named it Fort Necessity. On this date Colonel Washington’s troops intercepted a French patrol and killed 10 French soldiers and captured 21 whilst losing only one of his number. When word got back to the colonies in the east, Washington was hailed as a hero and was promoted to a full Colonel and reinforcements from Virginia and the Carolinas were sent to Fort Necessity. In the autumn the French Army descended on Fort Necessity and a day long battle ensued with Washington’s troops holding their own but eventually Washington surrendered to superior numbers. Washington and his troops were disarmed and were allowed to march back home.
1863 On this date the 54th Massachusetts Regiment departs Boston headed for the southern US and to join into the Civil War. The 54th was the first all black unit in the Civil War. It took a lot of persuading President Lincoln to allow this regiment to be formed. He was totally against it early but eventually condescended. As you might suspect the black unit was commanded by all white officers. Colonel Robert Gould Shaw was selected by the Governor of Massachusetts to form the regiment. Shaw’s family was well known abolitionists (fostered the abolishment of slavery). Shaw personally selected his troops and chose only the finest physical specimens he could find. The 54th boarded a steamboat and headed for Port Royal (near Beaufort), South Carolina. They experienced combat almost as soon as they disembarked and proved to be equal to the task. Soon after the regiment was tasked with the capture of Fort Wagner located near the mouth of Charleston Harbor, but that is another story.
1986 On this date the United States Court of Appeals upholds the conviction of writer R. Foster Winans for fraud. Winans was a writer for the Wall Street Journal and wrote a column titled “Heard on the Street”. He wrote about stocks and bonds that he thought good or bad investments. Two stock brokers from the investment firm of Kidder Peabody named Kenneth Felis and Peter Brandt persuaded Winans to tell them in advance about which stocks he was going to pan and which stocks he was going to foster. Even Winans’ column had an effect on the stock market. With this information the two stock brokers bought and sold stocks early and made $700,000 in short order. Winans and his lover, David Carpenter, made only $30,000. As you might suspect the Securities and Exchange Commission saw that something was fishy and dug deeper and Winans quickly confessed. Winans and the two brokers were convicted and went to the slammer. The relatively small amount of money involved was not the issue, it was the widespread greed and “make money at all costs” attitude on Wall Street that this case brought to light.
1902 The first “serious” western novel The Virginian authored by Owen Wister is published. The novel was enormously successful. Owen Wister was hardly the type of man to write about rough and ready cowboys. He was a member of a well heeled and cultured family in Philadelphia. He went to school in Switzerland and eventually graduated Summa Cum Laude from Harvard. He had originally planned to be a classical composer and no one doubted that he would be successful, but then he became disillusioned and depressed. One of his best friends, Theodore Roosevelt, convinced Wister to go west and spend time on a ranch saying that that lifestyle would change his attitude. Sure enough, Wister spent several months on a ranch in Wyoming. He came back to Philadelphia and began a career in law but he never forgot the magical life of sleeping in tents, bathing in creeks, etc. He decided to be a writer of western novels and honed his skills by writing a few short novels and then he began his masterpiece.
1969 On this date US army forces abandon a place in Vietnam known by the media as “Hamburger Hill”. The 101st Airborne had been tasked with the capture of the hill known to the Vietnamese as Ap Bia Mountain. The crest of the hill was occupied by a veteran North Vietnam army unit who had dug in to stay. Several assaults by the 101st were repulsed so the commander of the 101st sends in more and more troops, both American and South Vietnamese, along with an avalanche of air strikes but the North Vietnamese troops held on. After 20 assaults the 101st was finally able to kick them off the mountain. The North Vietnamese just walked back across the border to Laos and safety. When the American public heard about the bravery and determination displayed by the 101st and then giving it back there was a lot of hell raised but it didn’t do any good.
Born today:
1908 British writer Ian Fleming. As ya’ll know he authored the James Bond novels. When he met Sean Connery who had been selected to be the first James Bond in a movie he said “I am looking for Commander James Bond, not an overgrown stunt man”. Sean worried about that all the way to the bank.
Died today:
1820 British writer Anne Bronte of the famous family of writers. She said “He who will not grasp the thorn should not crave the rose.” She is right; there is an element of danger in every worthy pursuit.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Quote of the day:
“It is better to be in chains with your friends than in a perfumed garden with your enemies.”
Persian Proverb
North Korea has broken all possible ties with South Korea including diplomatic. This is normally a precursor to war or an invasion attempt. We all need to be alert to any border incidents. That is the way that most conflicts begin. That is what Hitler did as an excuse to invade Poland, at least.
We are approaching the first anniversary of the crash of Air France 447 and loss of all 227 aboard. Air France flight 447 was an Airbus 332 that departed Rio de Janerio headed to Paris. The theory is that The pilot decided to try to fly between two mature thunderstorms and got caught in the middle of a vicious cross current and stalled. Several search parties looked for the remains of this aircraft to no avail. They tried again recently with no results. They want the “black boxes” most of all to determine the cause of the crash but it appear it is not to be.
Last week the Prime Minister of Jamaica Bruce Golding folded to public pressure and dropped his opposition to the extradition of acknowledged drug lord “Dudas” Coke. Coke is a world leader in the transportation of marijuana to the United States and it is America that wants to get their hands on him. He has set up his headquarters in the Trench Town district of Kingston which is collection of ramshackle huts and poverty stricken people living in absolute squalor. After word got out that the prime minister was no longer in Dudas’ pocket, Dudas’ henchmen began arming up and building barricade ready to fight it out. Sure enough, the Jamaican police came after Dudas and a young war erupted. This conflict is still underway as of this writing. The Jamaican police said that they cannot guarantee that Dudas is hunkered down in Trench Town or may be somewhere else on the island, if at all. There is a rumor that US officials had a meeting scheduled with Dudas’ lawyers but the meeting was canceled. By the way, Trench Town is where reggae star Bob Marley was born and raised. Bob invented a whole new type of music.
Last month US Army General Petraeus authorized an increase in covert “Special Ops” in different sections of the Middle East. Then yesterday a rocket attack on a known al-queda hideout in Yemen killed six including a politician and his bodyguard. What the hell was a Yemeni politician doing in an al-queda hideout? You hang around with pit bulls you are going to get bit.
This date in history May 28
1754 On this date the first blood was shed on American soil heralding the start of the French and Indian war. This conflict was the last of a series of wars for North American lands with the colonists and England on one side and France and their large contingent of Native American allies on the other. The governor of Virginia had ordered a contingent of militia led by a 22 year old Lieutenant Colonel named George Washington, to help protect a fort that was at the present day location of Pittsburg. Colonel Washington got within 40 miles of the fort when it surrendered to the overwhelming French forces who renamed it Fort Duquesne. This put Colonel Washington between a rock and a hard place because he was depending being re-supplied and refitted at the fort so he did the next best thing. He built a fort of his own and named it Fort Necessity. On this date Colonel Washington’s troops intercepted a French patrol and killed 10 French soldiers and captured 21 whilst losing only one of his number. When word got back to the colonies in the east, Washington was hailed as a hero and was promoted to a full Colonel and reinforcements from Virginia and the Carolinas were sent to Fort Necessity. In the autumn the French Army descended on Fort Necessity and a day long battle ensued with Washington’s troops holding their own but eventually Washington surrendered to superior numbers. Washington and his troops were disarmed and were allowed to march back home.
1863 On this date the 54th Massachusetts Regiment departs Boston headed for the southern US and to join into the Civil War. The 54th was the first all black unit in the Civil War. It took a lot of persuading President Lincoln to allow this regiment to be formed. He was totally against it early but eventually condescended. As you might suspect the black unit was commanded by all white officers. Colonel Robert Gould Shaw was selected by the Governor of Massachusetts to form the regiment. Shaw’s family was well known abolitionists (fostered the abolishment of slavery). Shaw personally selected his troops and chose only the finest physical specimens he could find. The 54th boarded a steamboat and headed for Port Royal (near Beaufort), South Carolina. They experienced combat almost as soon as they disembarked and proved to be equal to the task. Soon after the regiment was tasked with the capture of Fort Wagner located near the mouth of Charleston Harbor, but that is another story.
1986 On this date the United States Court of Appeals upholds the conviction of writer R. Foster Winans for fraud. Winans was a writer for the Wall Street Journal and wrote a column titled “Heard on the Street”. He wrote about stocks and bonds that he thought good or bad investments. Two stock brokers from the investment firm of Kidder Peabody named Kenneth Felis and Peter Brandt persuaded Winans to tell them in advance about which stocks he was going to pan and which stocks he was going to foster. Even Winans’ column had an effect on the stock market. With this information the two stock brokers bought and sold stocks early and made $700,000 in short order. Winans and his lover, David Carpenter, made only $30,000. As you might suspect the Securities and Exchange Commission saw that something was fishy and dug deeper and Winans quickly confessed. Winans and the two brokers were convicted and went to the slammer. The relatively small amount of money involved was not the issue, it was the widespread greed and “make money at all costs” attitude on Wall Street that this case brought to light.
1902 The first “serious” western novel The Virginian authored by Owen Wister is published. The novel was enormously successful. Owen Wister was hardly the type of man to write about rough and ready cowboys. He was a member of a well heeled and cultured family in Philadelphia. He went to school in Switzerland and eventually graduated Summa Cum Laude from Harvard. He had originally planned to be a classical composer and no one doubted that he would be successful, but then he became disillusioned and depressed. One of his best friends, Theodore Roosevelt, convinced Wister to go west and spend time on a ranch saying that that lifestyle would change his attitude. Sure enough, Wister spent several months on a ranch in Wyoming. He came back to Philadelphia and began a career in law but he never forgot the magical life of sleeping in tents, bathing in creeks, etc. He decided to be a writer of western novels and honed his skills by writing a few short novels and then he began his masterpiece.
1969 On this date US army forces abandon a place in Vietnam known by the media as “Hamburger Hill”. The 101st Airborne had been tasked with the capture of the hill known to the Vietnamese as Ap Bia Mountain. The crest of the hill was occupied by a veteran North Vietnam army unit who had dug in to stay. Several assaults by the 101st were repulsed so the commander of the 101st sends in more and more troops, both American and South Vietnamese, along with an avalanche of air strikes but the North Vietnamese troops held on. After 20 assaults the 101st was finally able to kick them off the mountain. The North Vietnamese just walked back across the border to Laos and safety. When the American public heard about the bravery and determination displayed by the 101st and then giving it back there was a lot of hell raised but it didn’t do any good.
Born today:
1908 British writer Ian Fleming. As ya’ll know he authored the James Bond novels. When he met Sean Connery who had been selected to be the first James Bond in a movie he said “I am looking for Commander James Bond, not an overgrown stunt man”. Sean worried about that all the way to the bank.
Died today:
1820 British writer Anne Bronte of the famous family of writers. She said “He who will not grasp the thorn should not crave the rose.” She is right; there is an element of danger in every worthy pursuit.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Daily history
Good morning,
Quote of the day:
“Life is meaningless if you allow it to be. Each of us has the power to give life meaning, to make our time, our bodies and our words into instruments of love and hope.”
Tom Head
Here is another entry into the cesspool known as South Carolina politics. The leading candidate for Governor is Nikki Haley, a 38 year old mother of two and a good looking woman. This past couple of days some jackass named Will Folks posted on a blog site that he had “an inappropriate physical relationship” with Nikki 3 years ago. The math tells us that Nikki was married at the time. This shovel of mud was neither confirmed nor substantiated. When asked why he chose to make this statement at this time Folks said the Nikki’s opponents were about to leak this information to the mainstream media to impugn both his and Nikki’s reputation. Nikki has already jumped on the closest soapbox and denied that anything like that ever happened. She said that she had been 100% faithful to her husband for their entire marriage of 13 years. Will Folks was a spokesman for present Governor Mark Sanford in the distant past but is now in the TV communications business. I believe Nikki because I think Folks is on the take. This toilet of political mud-slinging here in the buckle of the Bible belt stinks….to high heaven.
Here is something to get your blood flowing. There is a fresh water lake in south Texas named Lake Falcon and portions of this lake is within 200 yards of Mexico. There have been occasions of a boat load of Mexicans approaching a recreational boater, pulling an automatic weapon forcing the boater to stop, then boarding and robbing the people aboard. They then would throw the keys to the boat into the lake and driving away. With this in mind, did Arizona make the right decision?
To some of you that have never been to the extreme northwestern portion of South Carolina are missing a treat. There is a part of it called The Jocassee Gorges that is as close to untouched and pristine as any mountainous area can be because of its remoteness. There is a lake wedged between two mountains that is very, very deep and cold. It is believed that this lake will produce the new world record rainbow trout. The largemouth bass are sizable also because they feed on rainbow trout fry. Now we have an invader in this paradise. It is feral pigs, y’all, better known as wild hogs. These beasts have moved into this area and are rooting up everything in sight including some flowering plants that exists nowhere else on the planet. What do we do about it? That is hard to say. One female hog can deliver 40 piglets a year meaning if there are 10 females in one herd…well, you do the math. There are some farmers near the Jocassee Gorges that have been complaining for a long time that the herds of wild hogs are increasing faster than they can kill them and the result is their crops being destroyed. The hogs also eat the amphibians that feed on mosquito larvae and we know what that will mean. The South Carolina Wildlife Department has no answers…yet. A year round open season on wild hogs in Oconee County, SC would go a long way to putting a handle on this problem.
This date in history May 27
1831 In 1822 the Ashley fur trapping expedition departed Saint Louis headed up the Missouri River. Included in the expedition was two men named Jedediah Smith and Jim Bridger. These two men play an immense role in the settling of the west. Jim Bridger was more of a mountain man/trapper and Jedediah Smith was more of an explorer. Bridger was the discoverer of the legendary South Pass in southern Wyoming which allowed pioneers and their heavily laden wagons and carts to cross the Rocky Mountains into Oregon and California. Bridger also was the first Caucasian to lay eyes on the Great Salt Lake. Some of his friends dared him to track down the end of a nearby creek and off he went. The creek emptied into the Salt Lake. Bridger had thought it was an inlet of the Pacific Ocean because of its salty taste. Bridger had a great memory for topography and was depended on greatly as a guide to others. But it was Smith who explored Oregon in depth and survived three or four attacks by the Indians in Oregon. He also explored the northern part of California. Smith wrote down everything he saw which proved to be invaluable to the people that followed. Even though Jim Bridger discovered the South Pass he chose not to tell a lot of people about it but Smith told in detail how to get to the Pass and the Oregon Trail was born. After Smith found out that his mother and sister had died he decided to move back to Saint Louis and open a mercantile store and write a complete book about his explorations, But before he could get started a trader offered him a deal he could not refuse. He wanted Smith to guide a wagon train full of trade good to Santa Fe. Smith agreed and off they went. Smith probably was over-confident about his skills and was eager to get back to Saint Louis knowing that the Santa Fe Trail was well marked and well used. After they got started Smith decided to depart from the Trail and head down the Cimarron River which would cut off about 300 miles. Smith was confident that he would be able to find potable water on the shortcut. Fresh water sources on the Santa Fe Trail were known and the wagon train left with enough water to get them to the first water hole but now they were off the trail. On this date the potable water became dangerously low and Smith sent seven men including him in different directions to find water. While Smith was hunting water in central Oklahoma a Comanche war party found him first. Smith was killed but his body was never found. We know that he was killed because of the account given by the Comanche. That is what over-confidence and impatience will do for you.
1813 On this date Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to his one time bitter political enemy John Adams to tell him that their mutual friend and physician Benjamin Rush had died. In the letter Jefferson reminisced about the heady days of the Revolutionary War. He mentioned that there were only six other signers of the Declaration of Independence still alive. Jefferson beat Adams in a very close presidential race in 1800. They argued bitterly about the form and power of the Federal government during this election and they remained silent to each other until this letter. Jefferson also had a tenuous relationship with Benjamin Rush over religion. Rush was a born again Christian and had accepted Christ as his savior while Jefferson was a deist meaning he believed in God but did not believe that Christ was the son of God. Jefferson and Rush had several conversations about this and had reached an impasse. Now here is where the spooky stuff happens. Jefferson and Adams both died on July 4, 1826 exactly fifty years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Apparently God is sentimental also.
1863 On this day United States Supreme Court chief justice Roger Taney issues an Ex-parte Merryman against President Abraham Lincoln for suspending the writ of habeas corpus between the cities of Washington and Philadelphia. The reason for this is the plantation owners in Maryland were raising hell about the freeing of the slaves. Maryland was one of those states that were slave holding but did not secede. Lincoln allowed the military and others to arrest anyone that they felt was interfering or their dissent were causing unrest. Anyone they arrested could be held for an undetermined length of time without being charged or arraigned. I suspect that the President today could do the same thing in time of war. After all we interned many Japanese during WWII just because they were Japanese.
1940 As I told ya’ll in a previous lesson, many English boats had crossed the English Channel to evacuate the soldiers of the ill-fated invasion of Dunkirk. On this date the Germans commit one of many atrocities. They captured several English soldiers and herded them into a small depression and machine gunned them all and called in a bulldozer and covered them up. They were rotten people then. But General Eisenhower said toward the end of the war “I am not worried about the German navy or air force, I am worried about the German infantry, they die hard.”
Born today:
1912 English writer Arnold Bennett. He said “Always behave as if nothing has happened even if something has happened.” Arnold, shut up.
1894 French writer Louis Celine. He said “The more hated a person, I find, the happier they are.” You would expect something like that from a Frenchman. They all suck.
1907 US naturalist Rachel Carson. Rachel wrote the immortal book The Silent Spring. She said “In every outthrust headland, in the curve of every beach, in every grain of sand there is the story of the earth.” Silent Spring had a big effect on me, as with many others.
1911 US Vice-President Hubert Humphrey. He said “The right to be heard does not include the right to be taken seriously.” I think Hubert knew Barack Obama.
1917 US editor Gene Fowler. He said “Every editor should have a pimp as a brother so he can have someone to look up to.” Gene obviously has animosity toward editors.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow.
Quote of the day:
“Life is meaningless if you allow it to be. Each of us has the power to give life meaning, to make our time, our bodies and our words into instruments of love and hope.”
Tom Head
Here is another entry into the cesspool known as South Carolina politics. The leading candidate for Governor is Nikki Haley, a 38 year old mother of two and a good looking woman. This past couple of days some jackass named Will Folks posted on a blog site that he had “an inappropriate physical relationship” with Nikki 3 years ago. The math tells us that Nikki was married at the time. This shovel of mud was neither confirmed nor substantiated. When asked why he chose to make this statement at this time Folks said the Nikki’s opponents were about to leak this information to the mainstream media to impugn both his and Nikki’s reputation. Nikki has already jumped on the closest soapbox and denied that anything like that ever happened. She said that she had been 100% faithful to her husband for their entire marriage of 13 years. Will Folks was a spokesman for present Governor Mark Sanford in the distant past but is now in the TV communications business. I believe Nikki because I think Folks is on the take. This toilet of political mud-slinging here in the buckle of the Bible belt stinks….to high heaven.
Here is something to get your blood flowing. There is a fresh water lake in south Texas named Lake Falcon and portions of this lake is within 200 yards of Mexico. There have been occasions of a boat load of Mexicans approaching a recreational boater, pulling an automatic weapon forcing the boater to stop, then boarding and robbing the people aboard. They then would throw the keys to the boat into the lake and driving away. With this in mind, did Arizona make the right decision?
To some of you that have never been to the extreme northwestern portion of South Carolina are missing a treat. There is a part of it called The Jocassee Gorges that is as close to untouched and pristine as any mountainous area can be because of its remoteness. There is a lake wedged between two mountains that is very, very deep and cold. It is believed that this lake will produce the new world record rainbow trout. The largemouth bass are sizable also because they feed on rainbow trout fry. Now we have an invader in this paradise. It is feral pigs, y’all, better known as wild hogs. These beasts have moved into this area and are rooting up everything in sight including some flowering plants that exists nowhere else on the planet. What do we do about it? That is hard to say. One female hog can deliver 40 piglets a year meaning if there are 10 females in one herd…well, you do the math. There are some farmers near the Jocassee Gorges that have been complaining for a long time that the herds of wild hogs are increasing faster than they can kill them and the result is their crops being destroyed. The hogs also eat the amphibians that feed on mosquito larvae and we know what that will mean. The South Carolina Wildlife Department has no answers…yet. A year round open season on wild hogs in Oconee County, SC would go a long way to putting a handle on this problem.
This date in history May 27
1831 In 1822 the Ashley fur trapping expedition departed Saint Louis headed up the Missouri River. Included in the expedition was two men named Jedediah Smith and Jim Bridger. These two men play an immense role in the settling of the west. Jim Bridger was more of a mountain man/trapper and Jedediah Smith was more of an explorer. Bridger was the discoverer of the legendary South Pass in southern Wyoming which allowed pioneers and their heavily laden wagons and carts to cross the Rocky Mountains into Oregon and California. Bridger also was the first Caucasian to lay eyes on the Great Salt Lake. Some of his friends dared him to track down the end of a nearby creek and off he went. The creek emptied into the Salt Lake. Bridger had thought it was an inlet of the Pacific Ocean because of its salty taste. Bridger had a great memory for topography and was depended on greatly as a guide to others. But it was Smith who explored Oregon in depth and survived three or four attacks by the Indians in Oregon. He also explored the northern part of California. Smith wrote down everything he saw which proved to be invaluable to the people that followed. Even though Jim Bridger discovered the South Pass he chose not to tell a lot of people about it but Smith told in detail how to get to the Pass and the Oregon Trail was born. After Smith found out that his mother and sister had died he decided to move back to Saint Louis and open a mercantile store and write a complete book about his explorations, But before he could get started a trader offered him a deal he could not refuse. He wanted Smith to guide a wagon train full of trade good to Santa Fe. Smith agreed and off they went. Smith probably was over-confident about his skills and was eager to get back to Saint Louis knowing that the Santa Fe Trail was well marked and well used. After they got started Smith decided to depart from the Trail and head down the Cimarron River which would cut off about 300 miles. Smith was confident that he would be able to find potable water on the shortcut. Fresh water sources on the Santa Fe Trail were known and the wagon train left with enough water to get them to the first water hole but now they were off the trail. On this date the potable water became dangerously low and Smith sent seven men including him in different directions to find water. While Smith was hunting water in central Oklahoma a Comanche war party found him first. Smith was killed but his body was never found. We know that he was killed because of the account given by the Comanche. That is what over-confidence and impatience will do for you.
1813 On this date Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to his one time bitter political enemy John Adams to tell him that their mutual friend and physician Benjamin Rush had died. In the letter Jefferson reminisced about the heady days of the Revolutionary War. He mentioned that there were only six other signers of the Declaration of Independence still alive. Jefferson beat Adams in a very close presidential race in 1800. They argued bitterly about the form and power of the Federal government during this election and they remained silent to each other until this letter. Jefferson also had a tenuous relationship with Benjamin Rush over religion. Rush was a born again Christian and had accepted Christ as his savior while Jefferson was a deist meaning he believed in God but did not believe that Christ was the son of God. Jefferson and Rush had several conversations about this and had reached an impasse. Now here is where the spooky stuff happens. Jefferson and Adams both died on July 4, 1826 exactly fifty years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Apparently God is sentimental also.
1863 On this day United States Supreme Court chief justice Roger Taney issues an Ex-parte Merryman against President Abraham Lincoln for suspending the writ of habeas corpus between the cities of Washington and Philadelphia. The reason for this is the plantation owners in Maryland were raising hell about the freeing of the slaves. Maryland was one of those states that were slave holding but did not secede. Lincoln allowed the military and others to arrest anyone that they felt was interfering or their dissent were causing unrest. Anyone they arrested could be held for an undetermined length of time without being charged or arraigned. I suspect that the President today could do the same thing in time of war. After all we interned many Japanese during WWII just because they were Japanese.
1940 As I told ya’ll in a previous lesson, many English boats had crossed the English Channel to evacuate the soldiers of the ill-fated invasion of Dunkirk. On this date the Germans commit one of many atrocities. They captured several English soldiers and herded them into a small depression and machine gunned them all and called in a bulldozer and covered them up. They were rotten people then. But General Eisenhower said toward the end of the war “I am not worried about the German navy or air force, I am worried about the German infantry, they die hard.”
Born today:
1912 English writer Arnold Bennett. He said “Always behave as if nothing has happened even if something has happened.” Arnold, shut up.
1894 French writer Louis Celine. He said “The more hated a person, I find, the happier they are.” You would expect something like that from a Frenchman. They all suck.
1907 US naturalist Rachel Carson. Rachel wrote the immortal book The Silent Spring. She said “In every outthrust headland, in the curve of every beach, in every grain of sand there is the story of the earth.” Silent Spring had a big effect on me, as with many others.
1911 US Vice-President Hubert Humphrey. He said “The right to be heard does not include the right to be taken seriously.” I think Hubert knew Barack Obama.
1917 US editor Gene Fowler. He said “Every editor should have a pimp as a brother so he can have someone to look up to.” Gene obviously has animosity toward editors.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Daily history
Good morning,
Quote of the day:
“The basic thing is that everyone wants happiness, no one wants suffering. Happiness mainly comes from our own attitude rather than external factors. If your own mental attitude is correct, even though you remain in a hostile atmosphere, you will feel happy.”
Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
Today will be a short dialogue about the history of Rednecks and then the regular history lesson…enjoy.
A Brief History of Rednecks
I have been reading the history of the impact of the Scots-Irish in America and naturally the author went back into the far past to trace them out to present day. By the way it is Scots, not Scotch. Scots are a people and Scotch is a whisky. Anyway, the big movement came right after James I became the King of Great Britain. Previously, he was James VI of Scotland making him the first of the dual crowned kings of Great Britain. It got started when James financed the expedition to the new world led by Captain John Smith. But James real passion was religion. He could not abide Catholics and he began a project to oust the Catholic landowners in Ireland and seize their lands. The Catholic Irish had been in rebellion against England for centuries and James saw this as a way of diluting them. This resulted in many Catholic Irish Earls fleeing the Emerald Isle trying to escape the wrath of the Protestants and Anglicans. To fill this void, it was decided that a “plantation” in Ireland in an area called Ulster would be formed. It consisted of six shires or counties. To fill the void James and company decided to kill two birds with one stone and offered land in Ulster to Protestant Scottish lords with the stipulation that they would bring their Scottish tenants with them. The waspish Scots would fight at the drop of a hat over anything that interfered with their independence or messed with the clans, or their tight-fisted Presbyterian religion. They were a hard-ass bunch, especially the Borderers or those that lived close to the border with England. As you might expect, the disenfranchised Catholic Irish fought like hell to take their lands back to no avail. The Scottish Lords indeed took the offer and brought their Scottish tenants with them. There was a stipulation that the Lords could not employ Irish tenants, they had to import them from England and Scotland and they had to be English speaking Protestants, moreover the landowners were banned from selling land to the Irish. Whatever land that was left over was given to the Protestant Churches of Ireland including any lands previously owned by the Roman Catholic Church. James meant to castrate the Catholics in Ireland, ya’ll. This influx put the Protestant Irish in a hard way because they spoke Gaelic while everyone else spoke English. As a result of this turmoil there were civil wars in England, Scotland and Ireland. In 1630 many Ulster Scots went home because Charles I, the king of England declared that the Church of Ireland had to use the prayer book of the Church of England essentially making it an Anglican church. That would change the way the fiery Scottish Presbyterians practiced their religion. As I have said before, you don’t pull on Superman’s cape or spit into the wind and you don’t fool around with the Scots religion. In 1638 an oath was imposed by King Charles I on the Ulster Scots binding them to never take up arms against England not matter what. I don’t need to tell you what kind of hell was raised after this outrage. By the way, it was King Charles I presumptuousness that cost him his head as will be discussed in a future lesson. In 1641 the Irish Catholics rose up in an armed rebellion and the prime target was the Plantation land owners. Many, many atrocities were committed by the Irish on the Scottish land owners in retribution for them taking Irish lands. In the 1690s a huge immigration of Protestant Scots came over to Ulster during a famine and as a result the Protestant Scots became the majority. The planters are known as the Ulster Scots. The present partition of Ireland with Ireland and Northern Ireland gets it roots from this era. Northern Ireland is occupied by the progeny of British Protestants and wanted to keep a link with England whereas the rest of Ireland are Catholic and want independence. Later on, the Scots being fed up with restrictions on their religion began heading west to America. They primarily landed in Philadelphia. They were not welcomed by the highbred plantation owners on the Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina tidewater and not by the snooty Puritans in the northeast so they headed further west and settled in small clans in the Appalachian mountain chain starting in western Pennsylvania and then south and west down the chain into Virginia, the Carolinas and Georgia. They were encouraged in this endeavor because of their warlike nature they would be a good match for the savage Shawnee and Cherokees, and a good match they were. There is a legend in my family on my father’s side that one of my great-great uncles owned a huge chunk of land in Maggie Valley, NC which is the very heart of Cherokee country, but he could not hold on to it because of the repeated attacks of the Cherokees. There are many reports of atrocities committed by both the natives and the Scots. It is the roots of almost constants turmoil, the love of fighting and an independent nature, especially their religion, which the so-called Scots-Irish have in their hearts and souls. Actually, the Scots-Irish are not a mix of Scots and the Irish; it is Scots that immigrated to Ulster, Ireland before coming to America and it is these Ulster Scots that are my ancestors on my father’s side. It is known that nearly all the troops fighting for the Patriots in the Revolutionary War in the south were Scots that came down out of the mountains and using guerilla type tactics like they use against the Indians and against the staid and upright British to great effect. They demonstrated their ferocity at the Battle of Cowpens where Patriot General Daniel Morgan outmaneuvered the infamous British Colonel Banastre Tarleton and would have annihilated the entire army of British/Loyalists but some of them escaped the wrath of Morgan’s wild-eyed mountain men. But there were no escapees at the Battle of Kings Mountain. This group of Patriots was led by General John Sevier and was able to trap British General John Ferguson and his army of Loyalists on the peak of a mountain by surrounding the base. General Ferguson fought for a while but then realized that there was no escape and surrendered. The surrender was not accepted and the Patriots waded in and either shot or hanged them all to a man. This massacre was brought about because of Tarleton killing 220 Patriots that had surrendered but were bayoneted by Tarleton’s troops angering the Patriots and especially the mountain men. They sought revenge and found it. My ancestry comes from the Holston Valley of Tennessee and the mountains of Habersham County Georgia. That’s right folks; I am a Redneck and/or a Cracker albeit a well read and well spoken one. I am proud of my ancestors, if you do not believe me, just ask.
The Scots proved their heritage again during the Civil War, but that is another story.
This epistle in no way covers everything that happened to the Ulster Scots during this time period but it gives you an idea of the mold that formed them.
This date in history May 26
1637 Since the establishment of the Massachusetts Bay colony the settlers had been expanding into what is now Connecticut. The problem here was that in central Connecticut was a tribe of very hostile Indians known as the Pequot. The Pequot began raiding the settlers’ villages more and more frequently. In early 1637 the Pequot had raided a small village and killed 13 men, women and children. The Governor of the Colony, John Endicott, ordered a mobilization of a military force to punish the Pequot. The Indians found out about this and in an act of defiance raided another village killing six settler and kidnapping two girls. On this date the retaliation against the Pequot began. The settler military force commanded by John Mason and accompanied by several Mohegan Indians, who were enemies of the Pequot, got underway. The settlers attacked three different Pequot villages killing over 500 in one village alone. After the third attack there were only a handful of Pequot that escaped to live with the southern tribes. What were not killed was sold into slavery and that was the end to yet another tribe of Native Americans at the hands of our ancestors.
1782 General George Washington had gotten fed up with the Indians of the Ohio Valley fighting on the side of the British during the Revolutionary War. He tasked his friend retired Colonel William Crawford with assembling a military force and punishing the offending Indians. On this date Crawford and his troops headed out from central Pennsylvania. Crawford had been retired from the French and Indian War but came out of retirement on three different occasions to help Washington. It was not a good time to go into the Ohio Valley because the local tribes were extremely irate about a horrendous event perpetrated by the Patriots. What happened was this: A group of Patriot soldiers happened upon a church occupied by Indians that had adopted the pacifist Christian Moravian religion and were kneeling in prayer when the soldiers arrived. The soldiers unfortunately chose to go up behind and shoot them all in the back of the head. Some of the soldiers that had participated in this massacre were with Crawford on this expedition. Anyway, after this came to light the Ohio Valley Indians had blood in their eyes, especially the Wyandot under Chief Pipe. Again, unfortunately Colonel Crawford’s troops lost contact with their supply train and were surrounded and captured. Colonel Crawford and his son-in-law William Harrison were scalped and burned at the stake. But the Indians did not let them burn to death at once. They pulled them out of the fire at the point of death and let them recover a little and then put them back. It took 2 ½ hours before Crawford perished. Needless to say that Crawford was named a martyr and later a stone monument was erected at the spot where he died. The monument is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
1940 On this date almost any British boat that could stand the crossing crossed the English Channel to Calais, France. There were 46,000 British and other allied soldiers pinned on the beach after the ill-fated invasion of Dunkirk. The Germans had the invasion force out manned and out gunned with their tanks and half tracks. The plan was to evacuate the troops back to England in two days but the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) had other ideas. They strafed and bombed the trapped soldiers relentlessly, that is until the British Air Force came over and provided air cover for the evacuation. The allied soldiers were finally back to safety after nine days of hell. They were not the only people suffering. The French and Belgian civilians that lived on the coast had to flee their homes during the air battle and many were homeless after their homes were destroyed by bombs and machine gun fire. War is hell.
1924 YA’LL PAY ATTENTION: On this date President Calvin Coolidge signs into law the most stringent immigration law in American history. This law mirrored the American attitude of isolationism after the unequaled slaughter of World War I. It also demonstrated the pervasiveness of racial fear and discrimination prevalent in America at that time. After the influx of so many unskilled workers in the early 1900’s the Americans felt that they were taking too many jobs and too much land. The law stated that no one could enter the country without a college degree or a recognized skill. It also disallowed Mexicans entirely and severely restricted central and southern Europeans and Japanese. Again Coolidge was parroting the American attitude of citizens being mostly of Northern European descent. The law really pissed off the Japanese because a few years earlier the United States and Japan had a “Gentleman’s agreement” that would loosen up immigration quotas for Japan. But eventually that went down the toilet when the agriculture in California exploded and provided plenty of work for those Americans already here. There was fear that the Japanese workers would take many of those jobs and they were probably right. Anyway, Cal had no problem with enacting laws that he felt was in the nation’s best interest. Where is Cal or someone like him when you need him?
Born today:
1689 English writer Lady may Montagu. She said “Most people wish their enemies dead. I do not, I wish them to stay alive and have gout and kidney stones.” Ouch
Died today:
1703 English writer Samuel Pepys. He said “Me thinks lesser of kings if they cannot command the rain”.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Quote of the day:
“The basic thing is that everyone wants happiness, no one wants suffering. Happiness mainly comes from our own attitude rather than external factors. If your own mental attitude is correct, even though you remain in a hostile atmosphere, you will feel happy.”
Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
Today will be a short dialogue about the history of Rednecks and then the regular history lesson…enjoy.
A Brief History of Rednecks
I have been reading the history of the impact of the Scots-Irish in America and naturally the author went back into the far past to trace them out to present day. By the way it is Scots, not Scotch. Scots are a people and Scotch is a whisky. Anyway, the big movement came right after James I became the King of Great Britain. Previously, he was James VI of Scotland making him the first of the dual crowned kings of Great Britain. It got started when James financed the expedition to the new world led by Captain John Smith. But James real passion was religion. He could not abide Catholics and he began a project to oust the Catholic landowners in Ireland and seize their lands. The Catholic Irish had been in rebellion against England for centuries and James saw this as a way of diluting them. This resulted in many Catholic Irish Earls fleeing the Emerald Isle trying to escape the wrath of the Protestants and Anglicans. To fill this void, it was decided that a “plantation” in Ireland in an area called Ulster would be formed. It consisted of six shires or counties. To fill the void James and company decided to kill two birds with one stone and offered land in Ulster to Protestant Scottish lords with the stipulation that they would bring their Scottish tenants with them. The waspish Scots would fight at the drop of a hat over anything that interfered with their independence or messed with the clans, or their tight-fisted Presbyterian religion. They were a hard-ass bunch, especially the Borderers or those that lived close to the border with England. As you might expect, the disenfranchised Catholic Irish fought like hell to take their lands back to no avail. The Scottish Lords indeed took the offer and brought their Scottish tenants with them. There was a stipulation that the Lords could not employ Irish tenants, they had to import them from England and Scotland and they had to be English speaking Protestants, moreover the landowners were banned from selling land to the Irish. Whatever land that was left over was given to the Protestant Churches of Ireland including any lands previously owned by the Roman Catholic Church. James meant to castrate the Catholics in Ireland, ya’ll. This influx put the Protestant Irish in a hard way because they spoke Gaelic while everyone else spoke English. As a result of this turmoil there were civil wars in England, Scotland and Ireland. In 1630 many Ulster Scots went home because Charles I, the king of England declared that the Church of Ireland had to use the prayer book of the Church of England essentially making it an Anglican church. That would change the way the fiery Scottish Presbyterians practiced their religion. As I have said before, you don’t pull on Superman’s cape or spit into the wind and you don’t fool around with the Scots religion. In 1638 an oath was imposed by King Charles I on the Ulster Scots binding them to never take up arms against England not matter what. I don’t need to tell you what kind of hell was raised after this outrage. By the way, it was King Charles I presumptuousness that cost him his head as will be discussed in a future lesson. In 1641 the Irish Catholics rose up in an armed rebellion and the prime target was the Plantation land owners. Many, many atrocities were committed by the Irish on the Scottish land owners in retribution for them taking Irish lands. In the 1690s a huge immigration of Protestant Scots came over to Ulster during a famine and as a result the Protestant Scots became the majority. The planters are known as the Ulster Scots. The present partition of Ireland with Ireland and Northern Ireland gets it roots from this era. Northern Ireland is occupied by the progeny of British Protestants and wanted to keep a link with England whereas the rest of Ireland are Catholic and want independence. Later on, the Scots being fed up with restrictions on their religion began heading west to America. They primarily landed in Philadelphia. They were not welcomed by the highbred plantation owners on the Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina tidewater and not by the snooty Puritans in the northeast so they headed further west and settled in small clans in the Appalachian mountain chain starting in western Pennsylvania and then south and west down the chain into Virginia, the Carolinas and Georgia. They were encouraged in this endeavor because of their warlike nature they would be a good match for the savage Shawnee and Cherokees, and a good match they were. There is a legend in my family on my father’s side that one of my great-great uncles owned a huge chunk of land in Maggie Valley, NC which is the very heart of Cherokee country, but he could not hold on to it because of the repeated attacks of the Cherokees. There are many reports of atrocities committed by both the natives and the Scots. It is the roots of almost constants turmoil, the love of fighting and an independent nature, especially their religion, which the so-called Scots-Irish have in their hearts and souls. Actually, the Scots-Irish are not a mix of Scots and the Irish; it is Scots that immigrated to Ulster, Ireland before coming to America and it is these Ulster Scots that are my ancestors on my father’s side. It is known that nearly all the troops fighting for the Patriots in the Revolutionary War in the south were Scots that came down out of the mountains and using guerilla type tactics like they use against the Indians and against the staid and upright British to great effect. They demonstrated their ferocity at the Battle of Cowpens where Patriot General Daniel Morgan outmaneuvered the infamous British Colonel Banastre Tarleton and would have annihilated the entire army of British/Loyalists but some of them escaped the wrath of Morgan’s wild-eyed mountain men. But there were no escapees at the Battle of Kings Mountain. This group of Patriots was led by General John Sevier and was able to trap British General John Ferguson and his army of Loyalists on the peak of a mountain by surrounding the base. General Ferguson fought for a while but then realized that there was no escape and surrendered. The surrender was not accepted and the Patriots waded in and either shot or hanged them all to a man. This massacre was brought about because of Tarleton killing 220 Patriots that had surrendered but were bayoneted by Tarleton’s troops angering the Patriots and especially the mountain men. They sought revenge and found it. My ancestry comes from the Holston Valley of Tennessee and the mountains of Habersham County Georgia. That’s right folks; I am a Redneck and/or a Cracker albeit a well read and well spoken one. I am proud of my ancestors, if you do not believe me, just ask.
The Scots proved their heritage again during the Civil War, but that is another story.
This epistle in no way covers everything that happened to the Ulster Scots during this time period but it gives you an idea of the mold that formed them.
This date in history May 26
1637 Since the establishment of the Massachusetts Bay colony the settlers had been expanding into what is now Connecticut. The problem here was that in central Connecticut was a tribe of very hostile Indians known as the Pequot. The Pequot began raiding the settlers’ villages more and more frequently. In early 1637 the Pequot had raided a small village and killed 13 men, women and children. The Governor of the Colony, John Endicott, ordered a mobilization of a military force to punish the Pequot. The Indians found out about this and in an act of defiance raided another village killing six settler and kidnapping two girls. On this date the retaliation against the Pequot began. The settler military force commanded by John Mason and accompanied by several Mohegan Indians, who were enemies of the Pequot, got underway. The settlers attacked three different Pequot villages killing over 500 in one village alone. After the third attack there were only a handful of Pequot that escaped to live with the southern tribes. What were not killed was sold into slavery and that was the end to yet another tribe of Native Americans at the hands of our ancestors.
1782 General George Washington had gotten fed up with the Indians of the Ohio Valley fighting on the side of the British during the Revolutionary War. He tasked his friend retired Colonel William Crawford with assembling a military force and punishing the offending Indians. On this date Crawford and his troops headed out from central Pennsylvania. Crawford had been retired from the French and Indian War but came out of retirement on three different occasions to help Washington. It was not a good time to go into the Ohio Valley because the local tribes were extremely irate about a horrendous event perpetrated by the Patriots. What happened was this: A group of Patriot soldiers happened upon a church occupied by Indians that had adopted the pacifist Christian Moravian religion and were kneeling in prayer when the soldiers arrived. The soldiers unfortunately chose to go up behind and shoot them all in the back of the head. Some of the soldiers that had participated in this massacre were with Crawford on this expedition. Anyway, after this came to light the Ohio Valley Indians had blood in their eyes, especially the Wyandot under Chief Pipe. Again, unfortunately Colonel Crawford’s troops lost contact with their supply train and were surrounded and captured. Colonel Crawford and his son-in-law William Harrison were scalped and burned at the stake. But the Indians did not let them burn to death at once. They pulled them out of the fire at the point of death and let them recover a little and then put them back. It took 2 ½ hours before Crawford perished. Needless to say that Crawford was named a martyr and later a stone monument was erected at the spot where he died. The monument is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
1940 On this date almost any British boat that could stand the crossing crossed the English Channel to Calais, France. There were 46,000 British and other allied soldiers pinned on the beach after the ill-fated invasion of Dunkirk. The Germans had the invasion force out manned and out gunned with their tanks and half tracks. The plan was to evacuate the troops back to England in two days but the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) had other ideas. They strafed and bombed the trapped soldiers relentlessly, that is until the British Air Force came over and provided air cover for the evacuation. The allied soldiers were finally back to safety after nine days of hell. They were not the only people suffering. The French and Belgian civilians that lived on the coast had to flee their homes during the air battle and many were homeless after their homes were destroyed by bombs and machine gun fire. War is hell.
1924 YA’LL PAY ATTENTION: On this date President Calvin Coolidge signs into law the most stringent immigration law in American history. This law mirrored the American attitude of isolationism after the unequaled slaughter of World War I. It also demonstrated the pervasiveness of racial fear and discrimination prevalent in America at that time. After the influx of so many unskilled workers in the early 1900’s the Americans felt that they were taking too many jobs and too much land. The law stated that no one could enter the country without a college degree or a recognized skill. It also disallowed Mexicans entirely and severely restricted central and southern Europeans and Japanese. Again Coolidge was parroting the American attitude of citizens being mostly of Northern European descent. The law really pissed off the Japanese because a few years earlier the United States and Japan had a “Gentleman’s agreement” that would loosen up immigration quotas for Japan. But eventually that went down the toilet when the agriculture in California exploded and provided plenty of work for those Americans already here. There was fear that the Japanese workers would take many of those jobs and they were probably right. Anyway, Cal had no problem with enacting laws that he felt was in the nation’s best interest. Where is Cal or someone like him when you need him?
Born today:
1689 English writer Lady may Montagu. She said “Most people wish their enemies dead. I do not, I wish them to stay alive and have gout and kidney stones.” Ouch
Died today:
1703 English writer Samuel Pepys. He said “Me thinks lesser of kings if they cannot command the rain”.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Daily history
Good morning,
Quote of the day:
“A day is eternity’s seed, we are its gardeners.”
Unknown
I received an e-mail this past weekend that would be very disturbing to me if I was still working. It seems that the IRS is going to include the value of your health insurance (whether company or government supplied) into you gross income. This, my friends, will increase your tax debt several times over. I might have misinterpreted it but you guys out there that are still working (except job shoppers) need to have a chat with your finance office soon because this change begins next year. As I understand it, you folks that are retired on a pension with the company paying for your health insurance will be severely damaged.
Here is something that I am sure I understand. A TV station in Atlanta, using the Freedom of Information Act, got their hot little hands on a summary of who is crossing our southern borders in addition to the Mexicans. It turns out that in addition to the Guatemalans, Panamanians, Salvadorans, etc there are Afghanis, Pakistanis, Jordanians, Syrians, Iraqis, Iraqis all of which have flown into a Central American country, learned to speak Spanish and blend in with the river of illegal aliens crossing into America in Texas, Arizona and California. What are these Muslims up to? I think all of you know what is going on. So the next time you think about those poor little Mexicans that are crossing into America just to see if they can make a better life for their families and we should cut them a little slack, think about who is coming with them. In addition to the genuine day workers, we have Muslim Jihadists and “mules” for the Mexican drug cartel coming along for the ride. Our government has refused time and time again to seal our borders and allowed this avalanche of garbage that have dedicated their lives to the demise of America to set up camp on our soil. Don’t feel sorry for the poor Mexicans, nearly none of them have ever been vaccinated against anything and have developed a natural immunity against diseases that we do not. It is scary, y’all. Lean on your legislators to stand on their hind legs and protect America.
Here are a few words in French for all the illegal aliens.
"Sortez de mon pays et restez dehors".
This date in history May 25
1660 On this date the people of the English Commonwealth invite the exiled King Charles II to return to England and assume the throne. Earlier the father of Charles II, Charles I had engaged his army of Royalist against the army of Oliver Cromwell’s Parliamentarians and was defeated. Cromwell became the ruler of England. He could not be King because he was not royalty. He was a very militaristic leader and demanded puritanical behavior from everyone. After the defeat of his father, Charles II handed Parliament, led by Oliver Cromwell, a blank sheet of paper meaning that he would concede nearly everything Parliament wanted. But that wasn’t good enough for Cromwell, he wanted the head of Charles I and sure enough, Charles I was beheaded. After the death of Charles I, royalist in England and Ireland proclaimed Charles II as King but Cromwell still prevailed and Charles II fled to Germany and the Netherlands living in exile. Cromwell ruled until his death and then his son Richard assume command. Richard proved to be an ineffectual ruler and the people were fed up with the Puritanical military leadership. General George Monck met with Charles II and assured him that he and his army would assure his return to the English throne if Charles would grant amnesty and religious toleration for his former enemies. Charles agreed and sailed across the English channel to Dover (been there) and four days later he made a triumphant entrance to London and was restored as King of England. This event is known as the English Restoration. Eleven years later Charles II decided that Oliver Cromwell had been a traitor and dug that boy up and hung his corpse in Tiburon, a suburb of London designated for the execution of traitors. What a sight that must have been. I am here to tell ya’ll that the medieval English were a mean and spiteful bunch and they were very inventive in their machines of torture.
1787 On this date, four years after the United States had won its independence from Great Britain, the first Constitutional Convention was held in Philadelphia. It was attended by George Washington, James Monroe and Ben Franklin among other luminaries. This meeting was the defining moments of these United States and what makes it great. The country had been operating under what was called the Articles of Federation. This document did nothing but assure each state of its sovereignty. The people of America were so fearful that another monarchy might raise its ugly head here that they nailed down that as being impossible. But the Articles were unwieldy and did not work for the benefit of the entire nation and they all knew it. After three weeks of deliberation these heroes delivered brilliant document that is the spine of our present day Republic. However, several states felt that there were not enough guarantees of personal rights and refused to sign unless something was done about this. Then they delivered another document of pure brilliance called the Bill of Rights that contained 10 articles. After this enough states signed it and it became the law of the land. There was a story that while all of the discussions were going on, Ben Franklin walked out for a break and a woman asked him what form of government was being sculpted and he said “Madam, it appears that it will be a Republic, if we can hold it.” Our government is a finely balanced, well oiled machine that does not allow any one branch to over power another. It is a miracle that all of this was conceived out of mid air because nothing like it had ever existed in the past, a miracle indeed.
1979 On this date at 3:03P an American Airline DC-10 began takeoff roll at Chicago’s O’Hare airport bound for Los Angeles fully loaded. About half way down the runway the left engine and pylon fall from the aircraft onto the runway in a sheet of flame. The pilot was able to get the aircraft airborne but upon reaching about 400 feet the aircraft rolls to the left past vertical and crashes into an open field nose down upside down. All 271 passengers and crew were incinerated not including two people in a nearby trailer park. It was the worst air disaster in American history up until that time.
1862 On this date the first Battle of Winchester, Virginia occurs. This battle was part of CSA General Stonewall Jackson’s brilliant Shenandoah Valley campaign that made Jackson recognized as one of the most brilliant military minds in history. The Union army of Nathaniel Banks was right outside Winchester when Jackson struck. The Confederates were originally repulsed but Jackson brilliantly orders a simultaneous attack on both flanks of the Yankees with devastating effect and Bank’s army broke and retreated in panic through Winchester. The good citizens of Winchester took this opportunity to shoot at them from the windows of their homes. Banks retreated all the way in Maryland to safety. This allowed Jackson to continue his unprecedented rampage against the other two Union armies in the valley. He kicked their asses too.
1944 On this date Adolph Hitler initiates Operation Knights Move. In this operation Hitler sent in a group of paratroopers to capture or kill the leader of Yugoslavia Marshall Tito. Tito had been leading his country to resist the German occupation. The paratroopers landed in a village where they thought Tito was but never found him, he had escaped. In exasperation the paratroopers shot and killed each and every air breather in the village meaning, men women, children, dogs, cats, cattle, horses, etc. They were brave sons-of-bitches.
Also on this date a riot breaks out in one of the sections of the infamous concentration camp of Auschwitz. This section was known as Birkenau. Several hundred Polish Jews realizing what would happen to them, rioted at night and were able to get through the fence and fled into the nearby woods. What they did not know was that the Germans had installed floodlights throughout the woods and when the turned them on it illuminated like daylight. The German prison guards casually walked into the woods an unceremoniously killed them all to a man.
Born today:
1803 US philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson. He said “The more he talked about his honor, the faster we counted our silver.” Sounds like Ralph knew Nancy Pelosi.
1897 Canadian statesman Lord Beaverbrook. He said “Buy old master paintings. They are cheaper in the long run than a young mistress.”
1898 American columnist Bennett Cerf. He said “The Detroit String Quartet played Brahms last night. Brahms lost”
Thanks for listening I can hardy wait until tomorrow.
Quote of the day:
“A day is eternity’s seed, we are its gardeners.”
Unknown
I received an e-mail this past weekend that would be very disturbing to me if I was still working. It seems that the IRS is going to include the value of your health insurance (whether company or government supplied) into you gross income. This, my friends, will increase your tax debt several times over. I might have misinterpreted it but you guys out there that are still working (except job shoppers) need to have a chat with your finance office soon because this change begins next year. As I understand it, you folks that are retired on a pension with the company paying for your health insurance will be severely damaged.
Here is something that I am sure I understand. A TV station in Atlanta, using the Freedom of Information Act, got their hot little hands on a summary of who is crossing our southern borders in addition to the Mexicans. It turns out that in addition to the Guatemalans, Panamanians, Salvadorans, etc there are Afghanis, Pakistanis, Jordanians, Syrians, Iraqis, Iraqis all of which have flown into a Central American country, learned to speak Spanish and blend in with the river of illegal aliens crossing into America in Texas, Arizona and California. What are these Muslims up to? I think all of you know what is going on. So the next time you think about those poor little Mexicans that are crossing into America just to see if they can make a better life for their families and we should cut them a little slack, think about who is coming with them. In addition to the genuine day workers, we have Muslim Jihadists and “mules” for the Mexican drug cartel coming along for the ride. Our government has refused time and time again to seal our borders and allowed this avalanche of garbage that have dedicated their lives to the demise of America to set up camp on our soil. Don’t feel sorry for the poor Mexicans, nearly none of them have ever been vaccinated against anything and have developed a natural immunity against diseases that we do not. It is scary, y’all. Lean on your legislators to stand on their hind legs and protect America.
Here are a few words in French for all the illegal aliens.
"Sortez de mon pays et restez dehors".
This date in history May 25
1660 On this date the people of the English Commonwealth invite the exiled King Charles II to return to England and assume the throne. Earlier the father of Charles II, Charles I had engaged his army of Royalist against the army of Oliver Cromwell’s Parliamentarians and was defeated. Cromwell became the ruler of England. He could not be King because he was not royalty. He was a very militaristic leader and demanded puritanical behavior from everyone. After the defeat of his father, Charles II handed Parliament, led by Oliver Cromwell, a blank sheet of paper meaning that he would concede nearly everything Parliament wanted. But that wasn’t good enough for Cromwell, he wanted the head of Charles I and sure enough, Charles I was beheaded. After the death of Charles I, royalist in England and Ireland proclaimed Charles II as King but Cromwell still prevailed and Charles II fled to Germany and the Netherlands living in exile. Cromwell ruled until his death and then his son Richard assume command. Richard proved to be an ineffectual ruler and the people were fed up with the Puritanical military leadership. General George Monck met with Charles II and assured him that he and his army would assure his return to the English throne if Charles would grant amnesty and religious toleration for his former enemies. Charles agreed and sailed across the English channel to Dover (been there) and four days later he made a triumphant entrance to London and was restored as King of England. This event is known as the English Restoration. Eleven years later Charles II decided that Oliver Cromwell had been a traitor and dug that boy up and hung his corpse in Tiburon, a suburb of London designated for the execution of traitors. What a sight that must have been. I am here to tell ya’ll that the medieval English were a mean and spiteful bunch and they were very inventive in their machines of torture.
1787 On this date, four years after the United States had won its independence from Great Britain, the first Constitutional Convention was held in Philadelphia. It was attended by George Washington, James Monroe and Ben Franklin among other luminaries. This meeting was the defining moments of these United States and what makes it great. The country had been operating under what was called the Articles of Federation. This document did nothing but assure each state of its sovereignty. The people of America were so fearful that another monarchy might raise its ugly head here that they nailed down that as being impossible. But the Articles were unwieldy and did not work for the benefit of the entire nation and they all knew it. After three weeks of deliberation these heroes delivered brilliant document that is the spine of our present day Republic. However, several states felt that there were not enough guarantees of personal rights and refused to sign unless something was done about this. Then they delivered another document of pure brilliance called the Bill of Rights that contained 10 articles. After this enough states signed it and it became the law of the land. There was a story that while all of the discussions were going on, Ben Franklin walked out for a break and a woman asked him what form of government was being sculpted and he said “Madam, it appears that it will be a Republic, if we can hold it.” Our government is a finely balanced, well oiled machine that does not allow any one branch to over power another. It is a miracle that all of this was conceived out of mid air because nothing like it had ever existed in the past, a miracle indeed.
1979 On this date at 3:03P an American Airline DC-10 began takeoff roll at Chicago’s O’Hare airport bound for Los Angeles fully loaded. About half way down the runway the left engine and pylon fall from the aircraft onto the runway in a sheet of flame. The pilot was able to get the aircraft airborne but upon reaching about 400 feet the aircraft rolls to the left past vertical and crashes into an open field nose down upside down. All 271 passengers and crew were incinerated not including two people in a nearby trailer park. It was the worst air disaster in American history up until that time.
1862 On this date the first Battle of Winchester, Virginia occurs. This battle was part of CSA General Stonewall Jackson’s brilliant Shenandoah Valley campaign that made Jackson recognized as one of the most brilliant military minds in history. The Union army of Nathaniel Banks was right outside Winchester when Jackson struck. The Confederates were originally repulsed but Jackson brilliantly orders a simultaneous attack on both flanks of the Yankees with devastating effect and Bank’s army broke and retreated in panic through Winchester. The good citizens of Winchester took this opportunity to shoot at them from the windows of their homes. Banks retreated all the way in Maryland to safety. This allowed Jackson to continue his unprecedented rampage against the other two Union armies in the valley. He kicked their asses too.
1944 On this date Adolph Hitler initiates Operation Knights Move. In this operation Hitler sent in a group of paratroopers to capture or kill the leader of Yugoslavia Marshall Tito. Tito had been leading his country to resist the German occupation. The paratroopers landed in a village where they thought Tito was but never found him, he had escaped. In exasperation the paratroopers shot and killed each and every air breather in the village meaning, men women, children, dogs, cats, cattle, horses, etc. They were brave sons-of-bitches.
Also on this date a riot breaks out in one of the sections of the infamous concentration camp of Auschwitz. This section was known as Birkenau. Several hundred Polish Jews realizing what would happen to them, rioted at night and were able to get through the fence and fled into the nearby woods. What they did not know was that the Germans had installed floodlights throughout the woods and when the turned them on it illuminated like daylight. The German prison guards casually walked into the woods an unceremoniously killed them all to a man.
Born today:
1803 US philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson. He said “The more he talked about his honor, the faster we counted our silver.” Sounds like Ralph knew Nancy Pelosi.
1897 Canadian statesman Lord Beaverbrook. He said “Buy old master paintings. They are cheaper in the long run than a young mistress.”
1898 American columnist Bennett Cerf. He said “The Detroit String Quartet played Brahms last night. Brahms lost”
Thanks for listening I can hardy wait until tomorrow.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Daily history
Good morning,
Quote of the day for CY and others:
"Each morning I open my eyes and say to myself: I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow has not arrived yet. So I just have one day, today, and I am going to be happy in it."
Groucho Marx
Last Thursday over in West Memphis, Arkansas two city cops stopped a suspicious car with Ohio plates. When the cops got close, a gunfight erupted resulting in the death of both cops. The perpetrators sped off with the cops initiating a dragnet. The car was spotted in a Wal-Mart parking lot and the cops closed in. Another gunfight erupted with two cops suffering superficial wounds but the cops capped both shooters. One of the cops that was killed was the Chief of Police’s son. Anyone that attacks a cop or kills one can expect a swift, violent and intense response from law enforcement and I don’t blame them. At least the two scumbags are dead.
Down in Winnsboro, SC in Fairfield High School the students had just started having lunch when an argument started between two girls about a boy that both of them had eyes for. It finally escalated to a real cat fight involving 20 girls. The cops showed up and had to use their Taser on a few of them to get everything calmed down. Those girls that were 17 or older went to the joint and those younger went home to Mom and Dad or whomever.
A bill was discussed in the South Carolina House that would be constructed almost identical to the recently enacted Arizona crackdown law. Fireworks erupted when two women confronted Representative Larry Grooms after the meeting and shouted “We are Latinos, can you tell if either one of us is illegal?” Grooms said that he thought that both of you are legal. They then jumped on the race wagon and said it nothing short of racial profiling. Grooms said “My job is to protect the people of South Carolina not to provide financial opportunities for another country.” Then a Cuban-American man named Roan Garcia-Quintana from Greenville jumped in and told the women that if they did not like it here to go back to where they came from. The passing of such a bill will not happen soon because the end of this legislative session is just two weeks away but I am glad they are considering it. Good for Larry Grooms and Roan Garcia-Quintana.
This date in history May 24
1543 On this date one of the most brilliant scientists in history dies in what is now Frombork, Poland. Nicolo Copernicus was the first scientist to formulate the theory that it was the sun, not the earth, which was the center of “universe” meaning the solar system. It also was he that determined that it was the tilt of the earth on its axis that formed the seasons. His theories were discussed among other scientists but Copernicus would not publish his thoughts because it was adverse to the opinions of the Catholic Church and in those days no one opposed the Church at the risk of torture and death. Another Pole named Johann Kepler also fostered the theory of Copernicus but was able to make his theories known because he moved to Denmark where the Catholic Church did not hold sway. And finally the immortal Galileo determined that the theories of Kepler and Copernicus were indeed the closest to the mark as far as the mechanics of the “universe” is concerned and published his opinions. Unfortunately, Galileo lived in Italy and soon had a visit from a representative of the Vatican and was persuaded to recant his teachings under the threat of torture and was sent to exile in his country villa. But fortunately for science, Copernicus was able to get his thoughts published and distributed throughout Europe and eventually the world even though he lived in a country under the heel of the Pope. He did this by dying just days after publication so threats of torture meant nothing. God works in mysterious ways.
1844 On this date while being watched by members of Congress, Samuel F. B. Morse sends a telegraph message to Alfred Vail at a Baltimore train station. Morse sent “What hath God wrought?” A few seconds later Morse received the same message back from Vail. Morse did not invent the telegraph an Italian inventor did but it was Morse that made it into something that could be used universally. He had worked on it for 12 years and even invented the famous code that is in used to this day. After perfecting his system, Morse was able to get a patent. He had members of Congress watch him send and receive the messages in the hope that Congress would help finance the expansion of this service. Naturally, Congress agreed and within 10 years there was over 20,000 miles of telegraph lines criss-crossing America.
1989 On this date Lori Ann Auker disappeared from the parking lot of the pet store where she worked in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania. The shop was at the busy Susquehanna Mall. The police were at a loss for what happened to Lori. That is until it dawned on them that there probably was a bank security camera film out there with a picture of Lori on it. And sure enough, they found a picture of Lori getting into a 1983 to 1986 Chevrolet Celebrity. Lori and her husband Robert had been involved in a bitter custody battle making him the prime suspect. Two weeks later Lori’s body was found with multiple stab wounds, the police also found out the Lori’s husband had been using his father’s 1984 Chevrolet Celebrity the day that Lori disappeared. The police went on a search for the car and found out that Lori’s father-in-law has sold the car two days after Lori disappeared. In spite of the car going through several owners, the police found the car and detected a few of Lori’s hairs and hair from her cat still in the car. Finally, the police felt they had enough evidence and three years after Lori’s death her husband was arrested, tried and convicted. He is now doing life without parole.
1962 A critical soccer match between Peru and Argentina was being played in the National Arena in Lima, Peru and winning went a long way toward going to the World Cup. Within a minute or two of the end of the game an apparently winning goal by Peru was disallowed by the referee and ya’ll can guess what happened then. The irate Peruvians stormed out of the stands and headed toward the referee en masse. The police were able to contain the crowd but the downside was there were 300 people crushed to death in the avalanche of humanity. This is not the worst case of sport fanatics being killed at a sporting event. This one happened in Moscow in 1982 also at a soccer game. In this game a lot of the fans had left the arena thinking the game was virtually over when a late goal tied the score. Those fans that had left tried to get back in and the police were herding those headed for the gates to leave and those caught in the middle were crushed to the tune of 360 Russians. Soccer fans are crazy as hell.
1797 On this date widower and future President Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to his friend Angelica Church and casually asks about a mutual friend named Maria Cosway. It appears that Maria and Thomas had lit a fire a few years ago but was unable to continue. In 1786 while Jefferson was in Paris as an American representative he met Maria Cosway and a deep relationship ensued. There was no evidence that they ever slept together but there were strong implications that they had. It was reported that Jefferson acted like a giddy school boy when around Maria. He even once jumped into a fountain while walking with her. There was a small problem, Maria was married. During his jump into the fountain he had fallen and broken his wrist. Right after this Maria and her husband left for London for an expended stay. After his wrist had healed he wrote a very syrupy letter to her detailing his lovesickness. I have not read the letter but I can imagine how juicy it would have been with his way with words.
1941 On this day the mightiest warship afloat, the German battleship Bismarck engages the best English battleship HMS Hood. They meet in the North Atlantic southeast of Iceland and began exchanging gunfire. The Hood was faster but the Bismarck had heavier armor. In just a matter of minutes the Hood was fatally wounded and went to the bottom carrying 1,500 English sailors with it. There were three English survivors. During the battle the Bismarck sustained damage in her fuel oil tanks and was leaving an oil trail. The Captain of the Bismarck decided that he needed to get his ship into a German held French port for repairs and heads southeast. After the loss of the Hood the British navy was going to put an end to the Bismarck come hell or high water. Over a period of several days the English navy attacked the Bismarck several times with no effect, they just could not penetrate her armor. But by sheer luck, one torpedo attack damaged the Bismarck’s rudder and she cannot do anything but circle. This gave the British time to bring up the heaviest ships in their navy from English waters and they surround the crippled Bismarck and all ships pour gunfire into the Bismarck until she disappears beneath the waves taking 2,300 German sailors with her. There were several German survivors who spent the rest of the war in a prison camp. The Hood had been avenged.
Born today:
1870 US jurist Benjamin Cardozo. He said “Justice is not to be taken by storm, it is to be wooed by slow advances.” Ben, you dumb ass. It is well known opinion by the United States Supreme Court that “Justice delayed is justice denied.”
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Quote of the day for CY and others:
"Each morning I open my eyes and say to myself: I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow has not arrived yet. So I just have one day, today, and I am going to be happy in it."
Groucho Marx
Last Thursday over in West Memphis, Arkansas two city cops stopped a suspicious car with Ohio plates. When the cops got close, a gunfight erupted resulting in the death of both cops. The perpetrators sped off with the cops initiating a dragnet. The car was spotted in a Wal-Mart parking lot and the cops closed in. Another gunfight erupted with two cops suffering superficial wounds but the cops capped both shooters. One of the cops that was killed was the Chief of Police’s son. Anyone that attacks a cop or kills one can expect a swift, violent and intense response from law enforcement and I don’t blame them. At least the two scumbags are dead.
Down in Winnsboro, SC in Fairfield High School the students had just started having lunch when an argument started between two girls about a boy that both of them had eyes for. It finally escalated to a real cat fight involving 20 girls. The cops showed up and had to use their Taser on a few of them to get everything calmed down. Those girls that were 17 or older went to the joint and those younger went home to Mom and Dad or whomever.
A bill was discussed in the South Carolina House that would be constructed almost identical to the recently enacted Arizona crackdown law. Fireworks erupted when two women confronted Representative Larry Grooms after the meeting and shouted “We are Latinos, can you tell if either one of us is illegal?” Grooms said that he thought that both of you are legal. They then jumped on the race wagon and said it nothing short of racial profiling. Grooms said “My job is to protect the people of South Carolina not to provide financial opportunities for another country.” Then a Cuban-American man named Roan Garcia-Quintana from Greenville jumped in and told the women that if they did not like it here to go back to where they came from. The passing of such a bill will not happen soon because the end of this legislative session is just two weeks away but I am glad they are considering it. Good for Larry Grooms and Roan Garcia-Quintana.
This date in history May 24
1543 On this date one of the most brilliant scientists in history dies in what is now Frombork, Poland. Nicolo Copernicus was the first scientist to formulate the theory that it was the sun, not the earth, which was the center of “universe” meaning the solar system. It also was he that determined that it was the tilt of the earth on its axis that formed the seasons. His theories were discussed among other scientists but Copernicus would not publish his thoughts because it was adverse to the opinions of the Catholic Church and in those days no one opposed the Church at the risk of torture and death. Another Pole named Johann Kepler also fostered the theory of Copernicus but was able to make his theories known because he moved to Denmark where the Catholic Church did not hold sway. And finally the immortal Galileo determined that the theories of Kepler and Copernicus were indeed the closest to the mark as far as the mechanics of the “universe” is concerned and published his opinions. Unfortunately, Galileo lived in Italy and soon had a visit from a representative of the Vatican and was persuaded to recant his teachings under the threat of torture and was sent to exile in his country villa. But fortunately for science, Copernicus was able to get his thoughts published and distributed throughout Europe and eventually the world even though he lived in a country under the heel of the Pope. He did this by dying just days after publication so threats of torture meant nothing. God works in mysterious ways.
1844 On this date while being watched by members of Congress, Samuel F. B. Morse sends a telegraph message to Alfred Vail at a Baltimore train station. Morse sent “What hath God wrought?” A few seconds later Morse received the same message back from Vail. Morse did not invent the telegraph an Italian inventor did but it was Morse that made it into something that could be used universally. He had worked on it for 12 years and even invented the famous code that is in used to this day. After perfecting his system, Morse was able to get a patent. He had members of Congress watch him send and receive the messages in the hope that Congress would help finance the expansion of this service. Naturally, Congress agreed and within 10 years there was over 20,000 miles of telegraph lines criss-crossing America.
1989 On this date Lori Ann Auker disappeared from the parking lot of the pet store where she worked in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania. The shop was at the busy Susquehanna Mall. The police were at a loss for what happened to Lori. That is until it dawned on them that there probably was a bank security camera film out there with a picture of Lori on it. And sure enough, they found a picture of Lori getting into a 1983 to 1986 Chevrolet Celebrity. Lori and her husband Robert had been involved in a bitter custody battle making him the prime suspect. Two weeks later Lori’s body was found with multiple stab wounds, the police also found out the Lori’s husband had been using his father’s 1984 Chevrolet Celebrity the day that Lori disappeared. The police went on a search for the car and found out that Lori’s father-in-law has sold the car two days after Lori disappeared. In spite of the car going through several owners, the police found the car and detected a few of Lori’s hairs and hair from her cat still in the car. Finally, the police felt they had enough evidence and three years after Lori’s death her husband was arrested, tried and convicted. He is now doing life without parole.
1962 A critical soccer match between Peru and Argentina was being played in the National Arena in Lima, Peru and winning went a long way toward going to the World Cup. Within a minute or two of the end of the game an apparently winning goal by Peru was disallowed by the referee and ya’ll can guess what happened then. The irate Peruvians stormed out of the stands and headed toward the referee en masse. The police were able to contain the crowd but the downside was there were 300 people crushed to death in the avalanche of humanity. This is not the worst case of sport fanatics being killed at a sporting event. This one happened in Moscow in 1982 also at a soccer game. In this game a lot of the fans had left the arena thinking the game was virtually over when a late goal tied the score. Those fans that had left tried to get back in and the police were herding those headed for the gates to leave and those caught in the middle were crushed to the tune of 360 Russians. Soccer fans are crazy as hell.
1797 On this date widower and future President Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to his friend Angelica Church and casually asks about a mutual friend named Maria Cosway. It appears that Maria and Thomas had lit a fire a few years ago but was unable to continue. In 1786 while Jefferson was in Paris as an American representative he met Maria Cosway and a deep relationship ensued. There was no evidence that they ever slept together but there were strong implications that they had. It was reported that Jefferson acted like a giddy school boy when around Maria. He even once jumped into a fountain while walking with her. There was a small problem, Maria was married. During his jump into the fountain he had fallen and broken his wrist. Right after this Maria and her husband left for London for an expended stay. After his wrist had healed he wrote a very syrupy letter to her detailing his lovesickness. I have not read the letter but I can imagine how juicy it would have been with his way with words.
1941 On this day the mightiest warship afloat, the German battleship Bismarck engages the best English battleship HMS Hood. They meet in the North Atlantic southeast of Iceland and began exchanging gunfire. The Hood was faster but the Bismarck had heavier armor. In just a matter of minutes the Hood was fatally wounded and went to the bottom carrying 1,500 English sailors with it. There were three English survivors. During the battle the Bismarck sustained damage in her fuel oil tanks and was leaving an oil trail. The Captain of the Bismarck decided that he needed to get his ship into a German held French port for repairs and heads southeast. After the loss of the Hood the British navy was going to put an end to the Bismarck come hell or high water. Over a period of several days the English navy attacked the Bismarck several times with no effect, they just could not penetrate her armor. But by sheer luck, one torpedo attack damaged the Bismarck’s rudder and she cannot do anything but circle. This gave the British time to bring up the heaviest ships in their navy from English waters and they surround the crippled Bismarck and all ships pour gunfire into the Bismarck until she disappears beneath the waves taking 2,300 German sailors with her. There were several German survivors who spent the rest of the war in a prison camp. The Hood had been avenged.
Born today:
1870 US jurist Benjamin Cardozo. He said “Justice is not to be taken by storm, it is to be wooed by slow advances.” Ben, you dumb ass. It is well known opinion by the United States Supreme Court that “Justice delayed is justice denied.”
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Friday, May 21, 2010
Daily history
Good morning,
Quote of the day:
“Remember what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, except for herpes, that shit comes home with you.”
Jeffrey Tabor in the movie “The Hangover”
I guess all of y’all saw where President Calderon of Mexico and President Obama of Fairyland got together with their bare faces hanging out and condemned Arizona’s law cracking down on illegal immigrants. I have heard hypocrites before but Calderon takes the cake. There is no question that the Mexican Mafia controls the Mexican economy with murder and torture and it goes on unabated because of the impotent and corrupt law enforcement officials. Then this grease ball condemns an American state for trying to stop that kind of garbage from crossing over and setting up business in Arizona. When I said grease ball, I was talking about both of them. The Arizona law is a copy, almost word for word, of an existing Federal Law. If the Feds cannot or will not enforce their own laws then it is up to each state to do something about it. The reason they don’t is because there is a large Latino voting block out there and doing the right thing takes a back seat to getting re-elected. It is disgusting. Calderon, get your skinny ass back into Mexico and deal with the drug cartels, that is if you want to get tortured and beheaded.
A few weeks ago a South Korean warship was torpedoed and sunk by a North Korean submarine. Forty-six sailors were killed and about 50 were plucked from the frigid Yellow Sea. The North Koreans claimed that the ship was in North Korean waters. A committee of civilians gathered to examine this event to see what really happened. The report came out this past Thursday and it said the there is no question that the South Korean warship was in international waters and the sinking was an act of piracy by North Korea. North Korea immediately said that if there is any act of retribution or sanctions there would be total war with South Korea. This would mean that the United States would be involved since South Korea and the United States are members of the SEATO mutual defense group. It would not be a long war because I am sure there are several nuclear missile submarines on station in the Yellow Sea.
Russia has stated that Iran will have an operating nuclear reactor by August. I’ll bet Israel is very interested.
Here in South Carolina there are three people in the forefront in the race to replace Governor Sanford whose term expires in January. They are South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMasters, state representative Nikki Haley and US Congressman Gresham Barrett. All are Republicans but Haley is by far the most conservative. A political action group from Charleston, SC has endorsed Haley and reinforced here flagging political pocketbook. Haley is now in the lead. Barrett’s political committee has filed a law suit against Haley’s TV ads. They sued stating that the political group from Charleston is chartered to either back or oppose different state issues but cannot endorse an individual candidate. A judge from Spartanburg, SC has issued a temporary restraining order against Haley’s TV ads and they will argue it out in court soon. Ah, South Carolina politics, keeping in mind our horny Governor; it is a never ending carnival.
The cops over in Union, SC were finally able to stop a speeder. It was Janet Powell that is about 55 years old. This girl was clocked at doing 106 MPH in a 45 MPH zone. The cops asked her why she was going so fast and she said " I am late for my hair appoinment". The cops snickered and threw Janet into the joint for a 12 hour visit. What the hell is this world coming to? Risking lives because you need a haircut! Give me a break.
There will be no lesson over the weekend, I have discovered how to smell the roses.
This date in history May 21
1539 In about 1500 a man later known as Estevan was born on the west coast of Morocco. At an early age he was sold into slavery to the Spanish explorer Andre de Carranza. Carranza was the leader of an ill-fated expedition to Florida in 1527 where through a series of disasters reduced the original force of 300 to only four men: Dorantes de Carranza, Cabeza de Baca, Alonzo Del Castillo and Estevan. These guys decided to live with the Indians on the Florida Gulf Coast for several years. They finally decided to head west with the hopes of reaching Mexico City. With the help of Spanish slave hunters; they reached Mexico City in 1536. Their tale of survival caused a sensation and the Spanish Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza decided to take advantage these men’s knowledge of the southwest area and organized an expedition looking for the alleged “cities of gold” in Pueblo country. The three white men said hell no. They had been gone for nine years and they wanted to go home. Estevan had no choice because he was a slave and off he went back where he came from. Estevan was leading the expedition commanded by Fray Marcos de Niza. As usual their was a Catholic friar along and several porters to carry their supplies and they left Mexico City on March 7, 1539 headed into present day Arizona and New Mexico. The pious Marcos was irritated by Estevan’s penchant for turquoise and native women but he sent Estevan to scout ahead. Six days later Estevan sent word back to Marcos that he had encountered some Indians that had told him that wonderful things lay ahead. Marcos assumed that the “wonderful” things ahead were the fabled cities pf gold. On this date an Indian contacted Marcos to tell him the Estevan was dead. Marcos found out that on his previous transcontinental crossing, Estevan had found out that a gourd filled with pebbles and rattled was big medicine with the plains tribes. He tried that with the Pueblos and demanded women and treasure. The Pueblo were very suspicious of anything to do with the plains tribes, especially a black man demanding treasure. They held him for three days and then killed him near the present day Arizona border near Zuni, New Mexico. Upon hearing this, Marcos got his young ass back to Mexico City. Everybody thinks it was the Spaniard Coronado that was the first to penetrate the southwestern area of the present day United States, it wasn’t, it was a black slave named Estevan. If I was Estevan I would have just reported myself killed and been a free man. In fact, I would to choose to believe that rather than that bullshit about a gourd filled with pebbles.
1940 Previously Adolph Hitler had ordered all those deemed mentally “unfit” in East Prussia moved to a common facility also in East Prussia. On this date this date an “investigation” squad was sent to the facility by Hitler. This squad killed over 1,500 of these poor people in three days.
1942 On this date 4,300 Jews were corralled in the Polish city of Chelm and sent to the concentration camp of Sobibor where they were all gassed to death in a week. The Germans at Sobibor were responsible for the deaths of over 230,000 Jews. Also on this date the German manufacturing giant IG Faber opened a plant near the concentration camp of Auschwitz in order to take advantage of the Jewish slave labor in the camp close by. The people that survived working in that factory reported that the treatment in the plant was just as bad as it was in the concentration camp. IG Faber today is known as Hoechst, Bayer and BASF. Think on that the next time you take an aspirin.
1758 On this date little 10 years old Mary Campbell is kidnapped by the Linape Indians in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. This incident became an icon of the French and Indian War. The greatest majority of the Indians was allies of the French and had no problem with attacking English villages at will. Mary lived with the family of chief Netawatwees in the Ohio Valley. The French and their Indian allies were a formidable foe but the English finally kicked them out. Mary returned to her English settlement when she was 16. Mary got married in 1770 and had issue of seven children. She lived long enough to see her native Pennsylvania become independent from England.
Born today:
427BC Greek philosopher Plato. He said “An empty vessel make the loudest noise.”
1265 Italian writer Dante Alighieri. He said “There is a special place in hell for those that in the time of great crises maintain their neutrality”. Amen, brother.
1867 Kentucky senator Augustus Stanley. He said of the Governor of Kentucky “I will stand by Governor Fields if he is right, if he is not I will stand beside him because he is a Democrat.” Gus, shut up.
Died today:
1983 US philosopher Eric Hoffer. He said “Non-conformists normally travel in bunches. You rarely find a non-conformist that travels alone. And woe to him in the non-conformist clique who does not conform to non-conformity.” Eric, you were a hell of a philosopher.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Quote of the day:
“Remember what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, except for herpes, that shit comes home with you.”
Jeffrey Tabor in the movie “The Hangover”
I guess all of y’all saw where President Calderon of Mexico and President Obama of Fairyland got together with their bare faces hanging out and condemned Arizona’s law cracking down on illegal immigrants. I have heard hypocrites before but Calderon takes the cake. There is no question that the Mexican Mafia controls the Mexican economy with murder and torture and it goes on unabated because of the impotent and corrupt law enforcement officials. Then this grease ball condemns an American state for trying to stop that kind of garbage from crossing over and setting up business in Arizona. When I said grease ball, I was talking about both of them. The Arizona law is a copy, almost word for word, of an existing Federal Law. If the Feds cannot or will not enforce their own laws then it is up to each state to do something about it. The reason they don’t is because there is a large Latino voting block out there and doing the right thing takes a back seat to getting re-elected. It is disgusting. Calderon, get your skinny ass back into Mexico and deal with the drug cartels, that is if you want to get tortured and beheaded.
A few weeks ago a South Korean warship was torpedoed and sunk by a North Korean submarine. Forty-six sailors were killed and about 50 were plucked from the frigid Yellow Sea. The North Koreans claimed that the ship was in North Korean waters. A committee of civilians gathered to examine this event to see what really happened. The report came out this past Thursday and it said the there is no question that the South Korean warship was in international waters and the sinking was an act of piracy by North Korea. North Korea immediately said that if there is any act of retribution or sanctions there would be total war with South Korea. This would mean that the United States would be involved since South Korea and the United States are members of the SEATO mutual defense group. It would not be a long war because I am sure there are several nuclear missile submarines on station in the Yellow Sea.
Russia has stated that Iran will have an operating nuclear reactor by August. I’ll bet Israel is very interested.
Here in South Carolina there are three people in the forefront in the race to replace Governor Sanford whose term expires in January. They are South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMasters, state representative Nikki Haley and US Congressman Gresham Barrett. All are Republicans but Haley is by far the most conservative. A political action group from Charleston, SC has endorsed Haley and reinforced here flagging political pocketbook. Haley is now in the lead. Barrett’s political committee has filed a law suit against Haley’s TV ads. They sued stating that the political group from Charleston is chartered to either back or oppose different state issues but cannot endorse an individual candidate. A judge from Spartanburg, SC has issued a temporary restraining order against Haley’s TV ads and they will argue it out in court soon. Ah, South Carolina politics, keeping in mind our horny Governor; it is a never ending carnival.
The cops over in Union, SC were finally able to stop a speeder. It was Janet Powell that is about 55 years old. This girl was clocked at doing 106 MPH in a 45 MPH zone. The cops asked her why she was going so fast and she said " I am late for my hair appoinment". The cops snickered and threw Janet into the joint for a 12 hour visit. What the hell is this world coming to? Risking lives because you need a haircut! Give me a break.
There will be no lesson over the weekend, I have discovered how to smell the roses.
This date in history May 21
1539 In about 1500 a man later known as Estevan was born on the west coast of Morocco. At an early age he was sold into slavery to the Spanish explorer Andre de Carranza. Carranza was the leader of an ill-fated expedition to Florida in 1527 where through a series of disasters reduced the original force of 300 to only four men: Dorantes de Carranza, Cabeza de Baca, Alonzo Del Castillo and Estevan. These guys decided to live with the Indians on the Florida Gulf Coast for several years. They finally decided to head west with the hopes of reaching Mexico City. With the help of Spanish slave hunters; they reached Mexico City in 1536. Their tale of survival caused a sensation and the Spanish Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza decided to take advantage these men’s knowledge of the southwest area and organized an expedition looking for the alleged “cities of gold” in Pueblo country. The three white men said hell no. They had been gone for nine years and they wanted to go home. Estevan had no choice because he was a slave and off he went back where he came from. Estevan was leading the expedition commanded by Fray Marcos de Niza. As usual their was a Catholic friar along and several porters to carry their supplies and they left Mexico City on March 7, 1539 headed into present day Arizona and New Mexico. The pious Marcos was irritated by Estevan’s penchant for turquoise and native women but he sent Estevan to scout ahead. Six days later Estevan sent word back to Marcos that he had encountered some Indians that had told him that wonderful things lay ahead. Marcos assumed that the “wonderful” things ahead were the fabled cities pf gold. On this date an Indian contacted Marcos to tell him the Estevan was dead. Marcos found out that on his previous transcontinental crossing, Estevan had found out that a gourd filled with pebbles and rattled was big medicine with the plains tribes. He tried that with the Pueblos and demanded women and treasure. The Pueblo were very suspicious of anything to do with the plains tribes, especially a black man demanding treasure. They held him for three days and then killed him near the present day Arizona border near Zuni, New Mexico. Upon hearing this, Marcos got his young ass back to Mexico City. Everybody thinks it was the Spaniard Coronado that was the first to penetrate the southwestern area of the present day United States, it wasn’t, it was a black slave named Estevan. If I was Estevan I would have just reported myself killed and been a free man. In fact, I would to choose to believe that rather than that bullshit about a gourd filled with pebbles.
1940 Previously Adolph Hitler had ordered all those deemed mentally “unfit” in East Prussia moved to a common facility also in East Prussia. On this date this date an “investigation” squad was sent to the facility by Hitler. This squad killed over 1,500 of these poor people in three days.
1942 On this date 4,300 Jews were corralled in the Polish city of Chelm and sent to the concentration camp of Sobibor where they were all gassed to death in a week. The Germans at Sobibor were responsible for the deaths of over 230,000 Jews. Also on this date the German manufacturing giant IG Faber opened a plant near the concentration camp of Auschwitz in order to take advantage of the Jewish slave labor in the camp close by. The people that survived working in that factory reported that the treatment in the plant was just as bad as it was in the concentration camp. IG Faber today is known as Hoechst, Bayer and BASF. Think on that the next time you take an aspirin.
1758 On this date little 10 years old Mary Campbell is kidnapped by the Linape Indians in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. This incident became an icon of the French and Indian War. The greatest majority of the Indians was allies of the French and had no problem with attacking English villages at will. Mary lived with the family of chief Netawatwees in the Ohio Valley. The French and their Indian allies were a formidable foe but the English finally kicked them out. Mary returned to her English settlement when she was 16. Mary got married in 1770 and had issue of seven children. She lived long enough to see her native Pennsylvania become independent from England.
Born today:
427BC Greek philosopher Plato. He said “An empty vessel make the loudest noise.”
1265 Italian writer Dante Alighieri. He said “There is a special place in hell for those that in the time of great crises maintain their neutrality”. Amen, brother.
1867 Kentucky senator Augustus Stanley. He said of the Governor of Kentucky “I will stand by Governor Fields if he is right, if he is not I will stand beside him because he is a Democrat.” Gus, shut up.
Died today:
1983 US philosopher Eric Hoffer. He said “Non-conformists normally travel in bunches. You rarely find a non-conformist that travels alone. And woe to him in the non-conformist clique who does not conform to non-conformity.” Eric, you were a hell of a philosopher.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Daily history
Good morning,
Quote of the day:
“Happiness is not a matter of events; it depends on the tides of the mind.”
Alice Meynell
I left a few things out for the events of May 19. We found out that the American voters are clearly anti-incumbent and especially in Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Arkansas. I am positive that this mind set is America-wide and will manifest itself this coming November. There will be no more Nancy Pelosi and Harry “The Slug” Reid among others.
To those readers that exchange books in the Four O'clock Club, I have the latest semi-autobiographal book by Fred Thompson (politician, actor) on the way, thanks to "The Book Shop" in Marble Falls, Texas and the owner's named Dotty. What a woman! By the way, the name of the book is "Teaching the Pig to Dance." I think I have met several of them but they didn't dance.
A local newspaper is sniffing around about my 490 or so “history lesson” and biographies. I think they want access to them for fill-ins. If we come to terms all of this will end and my musings will be for sale in a newspaper. We shall see.
May 19, 1563 is the day that the wife of the king of England, Anne Boleyn, was beheaded by order of her husband Henry VIII. The supposed reality of the situation was that Henry wanted a divorce from Anne but the Catholic Church disallowed it. Henry then accused Anne of adultery and sentenced her to death by beheading with the broad axe. A few women later Henry wanted another divorce and the church disallowed it again so Henry told the Catholic Church to take a hike and formed his own church, thus the end of the divorce issues.
May 19, 1066 is the day that William of Normandy, later to be known as William the Conqueror, with his infantry and cavalry engaged the English army led by King Harold. A few days before Harold had been in northern England defeating to the point of annihilation an army of Vikings led by the king of Denmark and William’s brother Tostic. Harold found out that William and fleet had arrived at Pevensey in southern England. Harold began a forced march for the intervening 225 miles gathering volunteers along the way and made the trip in nine days. On May 19 he arrived in southern England and established a defensive position near the town of Hastings and awaited William’s attack. William did not disappoint. What happened after this is worthy of a history lesson and will follow at a later time. By the way, William was a French speaking Viking.
There have been a few more shootings, stabbings and hit and runs here in the buckle of the Bible Belt but I am sure y’all are weary of hearing about all this gore in a town that probably has more churches per capita than any place in America, not to mention Bob Jones University.
This date in history May 20
1873 Earlier Loeb Strauss emigrated with his family from Bavaria to the United States. In 1847 his father died and he changed his first name to Levi and took control of his father’s dry goods business in New York. In 1853 Levi was drawn west by the gold rush and settled in San Francisco and established his own dry goods business. He primarily dealt in imported dry goods. One of his customers was Jacob Davis who manufactured work pants in Reno for the nearby miners. The only difference here was that Davis made his “waist overalls” out of denim and put brass rivets at all the stress points including the bottom of the fly. Davis was one of Strauss’ customers and on one particular visit Davis showed a pair of his work pants to Strauss. Davis made his work pants virtually one at a time and did not have the money to expand. Davis suggested to Strauss that they get together and manufacture the work pants on a much larger scale with Strauss providing the capital. Strauss agreed and moved Davis to San Francisco and they set up business and the Levi’s 501 jeans were born. On this date both Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis were awarded a patent for the now famous jeans. According to nearly every worldwide poll ever taken in the last 50 years, Levis is the most recognized brand name in the world beside Coca-Cola.
1927 On this date at 7:52A a monoplane departed Roosevelt field on Long island headed for Paris, France. The difference here was that there was only one person aboard and the trip was going to be non-stop. The airplane almost did not clear the telegraph lines at the end of the runway it was so loaded with fuel. As you know by now the pilot was Charles Lindberg and the plane was named “The Spirit of Saint Louis” because the Saint Louis Chamber of Commerce sponsored him. Lindberg’s trip was as a result of a contest of who could make a solo airplane trip from New York to Paris non-stop with the prize being $25,000. Lindberg designed the aircraft himself using every spare square inch of space for fuel. In fact there was no windshield that space was taken by a fuel tank. Lindberg got what information he needed from a small side window. The biggest problem that he would have is trying to stay awake but 33 ½ hours and 3,610 miles later he landed at Le Bourget airport in Paris. The success of this trip instilled a confidence in people world-wide for travel by air and the race was on and continues to this day.
1969 After 10 bloody days and 10 even more bloody assaults on Hill 937 in Vietnam the United States and South Vietnam forces finally capture the crest. The soldiers that took the hill renamed it “Hamburger Hill” because it was such a meat grinder. On the same day, US Senator Edward Kennedy raises hell with the Nixon military policies in Nam and Hamburger Hill in particular saying that the American loss of life was unnecessary. Hill 937 was only 1 mile from the Laotian border and appeared to be necessary for watching the legendary Ho Chi Minh trail but after two days, the US army ordered the hill abandoned, saying it was just a diversion. It appears that Edward Kennedy was right after all. The next day the North Vietnamese soldiers moved back into their original position on hill 937 in a hell known as Vietnam and American soldiers were sent home in body bags from Hamburger Hill.
1778 On this date the Battle of Barren Hill, Pennsylvania occurs. Barren Hill is known today as Lafayette Hill just northwest of Philadelphia. Earlier George Washington had tasked the Marquis de Lafayette and 2,200 Continental soldiers to keep watch on the English occupation of Philadelphia. The Marquis recruited 50 Oneida Indians to help him on this expedition. The Oneida much preferred the French over the English so it was easy for this Frenchman to recruit them. The down side was that the English found out about the observation post and sent 7,000 to 8,000 troops to surround and capture the Continentals. By superior maneuvering Lafayette put the Oneidas as a rear guard with several cannon and began crossing the Continentals back across the Schuylkill River to safety. The Oneida rear guard action was successful and all the Continental soldiers made it safely across followed by the Oneidas in their canoes. Lafayette and the soldiers he trained this coming winter emerged from Valley Forge a damn fine fighting machine that was instrumental in the success of this pursuit of freedom and independence.
1956 In 1952 the United States detonated a hydrogen bomb in the Marshal Islands but that weapon was large, heavy and unwieldy and it was incapable of being dropped from a bomber making it a useless weapon. The device was brought to the Marshall Islands on a ship and lifted onto a tower. On this date an Air Force B-52 flying above 50,000 feet drops a hydrogen bomb on the atoll of Bikini, also in the Pacific. The bomb had to be dropped deploying a large parachute to give the B-52 a chance of escape from the blast. The bomb detonated at an altitude of 15,000 feet and had the brightness of 500 suns. From that day onward, the world has always had the threat of a nuclear holocaust in the back of our minds. I cannot imagine a worse nightmare, but it is there. By the way, the first animal life found after this blast was a rat and a cockroach. They opined the rat came ashore on a floating cocoanut and the cockroach probably came ashore in a bag of groceries from Wal-Mart.
2005 On this date Mary Kay Letourneau marries Vili Faulaau. Ya’ll are wondering why this is significant. Well, ten years before Mary Kay was a second grade teacher in an elementary school near Seattle, Washington. This girl began a sexual relationship with 12 year old Vili who was one of her sixth grade students. In 1997 her activities were discovered and she was arrested. Mary Kay did not deny that she had been having sex with Vili for two years, but she said they were in love in spite of her being married and the mother of four children. Vili was now 14 years old. The judge cut her some slack and gave her a light sentence. When she was finally free, the first place she headed was to find Vili and get a little. She was caught in a car with Vili engaged in sex. This time she went to jail for some serious time right after she delivered the second child by Vili. She was released from jail in August 2004. On this date, she and Vili were wed. Vili was 22 and Mary Kay was 43. I do not see what a 34 years old mother of four would find sexually attractive in a 12 year old Polynesian kid. But there is a hell of a lot of things about women that disproves logic to me....and I can assure you I am not the only male with this malady. I was watching “Fatal Attraction” with a female friend a couple of days ago and I asked her if she thought that she could be capable of such actions. She said “Sure, under the right circumstances.” Lord have mercy to all men.
Born today:
1799 French writer Honore de Balzac. He said “Bureaucracy is a giant mechanism operated by tiny minds.” Hey Honore, do you know Barack Obama?
1806 English economist John Mills. He said “That so few dare to be eccentric marks the chief danger of our time” Hey John, Do you know Hillary Clinton?
1894 US writer Adele Rogers St. John. She said “There is so little difference between husbands you might as well keep the first.” It damn sure ain’t that way with wives, I want to tell you!
1908 US actor James Stewart. He said “When it came to kissing, Jean Harlow was the best.” Do any of you remember the best kisser you had?
1919 US comic George Gobel. He said I have never been drunk, but I have damn sure been over served.” Me too.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Quote of the day:
“Happiness is not a matter of events; it depends on the tides of the mind.”
Alice Meynell
I left a few things out for the events of May 19. We found out that the American voters are clearly anti-incumbent and especially in Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Arkansas. I am positive that this mind set is America-wide and will manifest itself this coming November. There will be no more Nancy Pelosi and Harry “The Slug” Reid among others.
To those readers that exchange books in the Four O'clock Club, I have the latest semi-autobiographal book by Fred Thompson (politician, actor) on the way, thanks to "The Book Shop" in Marble Falls, Texas and the owner's named Dotty. What a woman! By the way, the name of the book is "Teaching the Pig to Dance." I think I have met several of them but they didn't dance.
A local newspaper is sniffing around about my 490 or so “history lesson” and biographies. I think they want access to them for fill-ins. If we come to terms all of this will end and my musings will be for sale in a newspaper. We shall see.
May 19, 1563 is the day that the wife of the king of England, Anne Boleyn, was beheaded by order of her husband Henry VIII. The supposed reality of the situation was that Henry wanted a divorce from Anne but the Catholic Church disallowed it. Henry then accused Anne of adultery and sentenced her to death by beheading with the broad axe. A few women later Henry wanted another divorce and the church disallowed it again so Henry told the Catholic Church to take a hike and formed his own church, thus the end of the divorce issues.
May 19, 1066 is the day that William of Normandy, later to be known as William the Conqueror, with his infantry and cavalry engaged the English army led by King Harold. A few days before Harold had been in northern England defeating to the point of annihilation an army of Vikings led by the king of Denmark and William’s brother Tostic. Harold found out that William and fleet had arrived at Pevensey in southern England. Harold began a forced march for the intervening 225 miles gathering volunteers along the way and made the trip in nine days. On May 19 he arrived in southern England and established a defensive position near the town of Hastings and awaited William’s attack. William did not disappoint. What happened after this is worthy of a history lesson and will follow at a later time. By the way, William was a French speaking Viking.
There have been a few more shootings, stabbings and hit and runs here in the buckle of the Bible Belt but I am sure y’all are weary of hearing about all this gore in a town that probably has more churches per capita than any place in America, not to mention Bob Jones University.
This date in history May 20
1873 Earlier Loeb Strauss emigrated with his family from Bavaria to the United States. In 1847 his father died and he changed his first name to Levi and took control of his father’s dry goods business in New York. In 1853 Levi was drawn west by the gold rush and settled in San Francisco and established his own dry goods business. He primarily dealt in imported dry goods. One of his customers was Jacob Davis who manufactured work pants in Reno for the nearby miners. The only difference here was that Davis made his “waist overalls” out of denim and put brass rivets at all the stress points including the bottom of the fly. Davis was one of Strauss’ customers and on one particular visit Davis showed a pair of his work pants to Strauss. Davis made his work pants virtually one at a time and did not have the money to expand. Davis suggested to Strauss that they get together and manufacture the work pants on a much larger scale with Strauss providing the capital. Strauss agreed and moved Davis to San Francisco and they set up business and the Levi’s 501 jeans were born. On this date both Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis were awarded a patent for the now famous jeans. According to nearly every worldwide poll ever taken in the last 50 years, Levis is the most recognized brand name in the world beside Coca-Cola.
1927 On this date at 7:52A a monoplane departed Roosevelt field on Long island headed for Paris, France. The difference here was that there was only one person aboard and the trip was going to be non-stop. The airplane almost did not clear the telegraph lines at the end of the runway it was so loaded with fuel. As you know by now the pilot was Charles Lindberg and the plane was named “The Spirit of Saint Louis” because the Saint Louis Chamber of Commerce sponsored him. Lindberg’s trip was as a result of a contest of who could make a solo airplane trip from New York to Paris non-stop with the prize being $25,000. Lindberg designed the aircraft himself using every spare square inch of space for fuel. In fact there was no windshield that space was taken by a fuel tank. Lindberg got what information he needed from a small side window. The biggest problem that he would have is trying to stay awake but 33 ½ hours and 3,610 miles later he landed at Le Bourget airport in Paris. The success of this trip instilled a confidence in people world-wide for travel by air and the race was on and continues to this day.
1969 After 10 bloody days and 10 even more bloody assaults on Hill 937 in Vietnam the United States and South Vietnam forces finally capture the crest. The soldiers that took the hill renamed it “Hamburger Hill” because it was such a meat grinder. On the same day, US Senator Edward Kennedy raises hell with the Nixon military policies in Nam and Hamburger Hill in particular saying that the American loss of life was unnecessary. Hill 937 was only 1 mile from the Laotian border and appeared to be necessary for watching the legendary Ho Chi Minh trail but after two days, the US army ordered the hill abandoned, saying it was just a diversion. It appears that Edward Kennedy was right after all. The next day the North Vietnamese soldiers moved back into their original position on hill 937 in a hell known as Vietnam and American soldiers were sent home in body bags from Hamburger Hill.
1778 On this date the Battle of Barren Hill, Pennsylvania occurs. Barren Hill is known today as Lafayette Hill just northwest of Philadelphia. Earlier George Washington had tasked the Marquis de Lafayette and 2,200 Continental soldiers to keep watch on the English occupation of Philadelphia. The Marquis recruited 50 Oneida Indians to help him on this expedition. The Oneida much preferred the French over the English so it was easy for this Frenchman to recruit them. The down side was that the English found out about the observation post and sent 7,000 to 8,000 troops to surround and capture the Continentals. By superior maneuvering Lafayette put the Oneidas as a rear guard with several cannon and began crossing the Continentals back across the Schuylkill River to safety. The Oneida rear guard action was successful and all the Continental soldiers made it safely across followed by the Oneidas in their canoes. Lafayette and the soldiers he trained this coming winter emerged from Valley Forge a damn fine fighting machine that was instrumental in the success of this pursuit of freedom and independence.
1956 In 1952 the United States detonated a hydrogen bomb in the Marshal Islands but that weapon was large, heavy and unwieldy and it was incapable of being dropped from a bomber making it a useless weapon. The device was brought to the Marshall Islands on a ship and lifted onto a tower. On this date an Air Force B-52 flying above 50,000 feet drops a hydrogen bomb on the atoll of Bikini, also in the Pacific. The bomb had to be dropped deploying a large parachute to give the B-52 a chance of escape from the blast. The bomb detonated at an altitude of 15,000 feet and had the brightness of 500 suns. From that day onward, the world has always had the threat of a nuclear holocaust in the back of our minds. I cannot imagine a worse nightmare, but it is there. By the way, the first animal life found after this blast was a rat and a cockroach. They opined the rat came ashore on a floating cocoanut and the cockroach probably came ashore in a bag of groceries from Wal-Mart.
2005 On this date Mary Kay Letourneau marries Vili Faulaau. Ya’ll are wondering why this is significant. Well, ten years before Mary Kay was a second grade teacher in an elementary school near Seattle, Washington. This girl began a sexual relationship with 12 year old Vili who was one of her sixth grade students. In 1997 her activities were discovered and she was arrested. Mary Kay did not deny that she had been having sex with Vili for two years, but she said they were in love in spite of her being married and the mother of four children. Vili was now 14 years old. The judge cut her some slack and gave her a light sentence. When she was finally free, the first place she headed was to find Vili and get a little. She was caught in a car with Vili engaged in sex. This time she went to jail for some serious time right after she delivered the second child by Vili. She was released from jail in August 2004. On this date, she and Vili were wed. Vili was 22 and Mary Kay was 43. I do not see what a 34 years old mother of four would find sexually attractive in a 12 year old Polynesian kid. But there is a hell of a lot of things about women that disproves logic to me....and I can assure you I am not the only male with this malady. I was watching “Fatal Attraction” with a female friend a couple of days ago and I asked her if she thought that she could be capable of such actions. She said “Sure, under the right circumstances.” Lord have mercy to all men.
Born today:
1799 French writer Honore de Balzac. He said “Bureaucracy is a giant mechanism operated by tiny minds.” Hey Honore, do you know Barack Obama?
1806 English economist John Mills. He said “That so few dare to be eccentric marks the chief danger of our time” Hey John, Do you know Hillary Clinton?
1894 US writer Adele Rogers St. John. She said “There is so little difference between husbands you might as well keep the first.” It damn sure ain’t that way with wives, I want to tell you!
1908 US actor James Stewart. He said “When it came to kissing, Jean Harlow was the best.” Do any of you remember the best kisser you had?
1919 US comic George Gobel. He said I have never been drunk, but I have damn sure been over served.” Me too.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Daily history
Good morning,
Quote of the day:
Even after being warned that there was an encampment of nearly 5,000 Sioux and Cheyenne ahead he said “Some of you attack from the east and I will swing around and attack from the north, we will surprise them.”
Lt. Col. George A. Custer at Little Big Horn
Here is a little something different today. I am sending y’all a biography of a very powerful woman in addition to the history lesson. Enjoy.
Golda Meir
In May of 1898 a female child was born to Blume and Moshe Mabovitch in Kiev, the Russian Empire now known as Ukraine. They named her Golda. Moshe was a carpenter and in order to seek a better life he moved to the United States when Golda was five. Moshe found a job in Milwaukee and his family of his wife and three daughters joined him when Golda was eight. Golda’s two sisters were named Shenya and Tzipke. She and Shenya were very close for all of their lives. With Moshe working as a carpenter Blume opened a small market and Golda proved she could run the market even though she was only eight years old. Golda attended the Fourth Street School (Now named the Golda Meir School) and even thought she could not speak English when she started school, she graduated as valedictorian. During her school years she frequently directed fund raisers to buy text books for the school. There is no question that Golda was a gifted leader and motivator. At the age of 14 Golda’s mother want her to drop out of school and get married. Golda did not want any part of that and hopped train to Denver to be with her married sister Sheyna. While there she had many long conversations with Sheyna and her husband about many subjects like women’s suffrage, Zionism, Socialism, etc. In her autobiography Golda said it was these conversations that formed her political footing. While there she also met a sign painter named Morris Meyerson who eventually became her husband. She returned to Milwaukee and graduated from High School and entered a college named Milwaukee Normal College that eventually became the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. During this time she joined several Zionist (promoting Jewry) organizations and embraced the political dogma of Socialist Zionism. She and Morris were married in 1917. One of the organizations that she joined was Paole Zion who requested her to travel the country and raise funds for the organization. During this time she became pregnant but chose to have an abortion because she felt that there was not room for child amid her fundraising. As part of the agreement to get married, Golda insisted that she and Morris must do an “Aliyah” or a return to Palestine, the land of her ancestors. This attitude is a large part of Zionism to this day. They could not go to Palestine for a few years because Trans-Atlantic travel was restricted because of World War I but in 1921 Golda, Morris, Sheyna and her husband arrived and joined a “kibbutz” in Palestine. A kibbutz is usually a farming community that operates as a commune. While in the kibbutz Golda’s leadership was recognized and she was elected to be a representative to the General Federation of Labor. In 1924 Golda and Morris left the kibbutz and briefly moved to Tel Aviv before moving on the Jerusalem where she and Morris had two children. In 1924 Golda was elected to The Working Women’s Council. A prerequisite of this position was to spend two years (1932-34) in the United States as a fund raiser. She took her children with her but left Morris in Jerusalem this resulted in Golda and Morris being divorced. Morris died in 1951. When Golda came back to the United States she joined the General Federation of labor and took over the political arm. This move greatly enhanced her weight in the future organization of the nation of Israel. During this time the Jews in Europe were fleeing the holocaust brought on by the Nazis and Golda was made privy to many meetings with President Franklin Roosevelt as how to resolve this outrage. After the end of WWII, with Jews all over the world looking for a homeland, Palestine in particular, immense pressure was put on Great Britain who was the “military protector” of Palestine. Great Britain responded with pressure of their own against the Zionists (Jews determined to have a homeland in Palestine). There was much squabbling between and give and take during this crucial period with Golda acting as prime minister in many of the cases. Finally in 1948 Palestine was partitioned and a new nation was born named Israel thanks to many Jews, Golda Meir among them. On May 14 a Declaration of Independence was signed by officials of the new Israeli government including Golda. Golda broke down into tears because she remembered studying about the signing of the American Declaration of Independence and now she was doing the same thing herself. As you might suspect, the next day the Arab nations surrounding the new Jewish state of Israel launched an attack. Golda was one of the first people to receive a passport issued by the new state of Israel and in 1948 she went to Moscow as foreign minister. In 1949 she came home to Jerusalem and was elected as a member of the Knesset which is the equivalent of the United States Congress. She served continuously until 1974 and as Minister of Labour on one occasion. In 1956 she became Foreign Minister under Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and was requested to “Hebraize” her name so she changed her last name from Meyerson to Meir. In the early 1960’s she was diagnosed with Lymphoma and retired because of declining health. Even retired she supported Prime Minister Levi Eshkol in political arenas. Eshkol died unexpectedly in early 1969 and Golda was called out of retirement as Prime Minister. She led Israel through several attacks and the massacre of the Israeli athletes at the Olympics in Munich, Germany. When the world appeared to be less than enthusiastic about retribution for this outrage, she called in the Mossad (equivalent of our CIA) and told them to hunt down and kill every member of the Arab terrorists that did the assassinations. It took years but they were indeed killed by Mossad. Her biggest test was the so-called Yom Kippur War of 1973. The Israeli intelligence had informed Golda that the Syrians were gathering military forces on the Golan Heights and an attack was imminent. Her military advisors told her that it was just saber-rattling and to not worry. Golda wanted to launch a pre-emptive strike but held back. Two days later the Syrians and the Egyptians poured across the border in a simultaneous attack that caught the Israeli military on their heels. They finally got started and pushed the Syrians and Egyptians back across the border but they took a beating doing it. All fingers pointed to Golda for not being prepared. Following the war much political in-fighting ensued and Golda got tired of it and retired. In December 1978 Golda died of cancer in Jerusalem. She is remembered by the Israelis as a person in the exact right place at the exact right time for their survival. It sounds like that she was not there by accident.
This date in history May19
1836 In 1832 the family of Cynthia Anne Parker and family moved from Illinois to west Texas to a place that later on became known as Parkers’s Fort which was located about 40 miles east of present day Waco, Texas. The Parker’s build a substantial stockade that, “could withstand a large attack under the most vigorous circumstance.” The Parkers became lax in their security and frequently left the huge gates open. On this date a combined force of Comanche, Caddo and Kiowa descended on Parker’s Fort and killed almost everybody except Cynthia Ann, her brother and sister who were juveniles and took them into captivity. After the Indians and their captives reached safe territory, they were divided amongst the attacking tribes. Cynthia Anne went to the Comanche. About four years later (Cynthia would have been about 13) a fur trapper saw her and attempted to buy Cynthia from the Comanche. The Comanche chief allowed the trapper to speak to Cynthia and he reported that all she did was not respond and stared at the ground the whole time. Four years later she was again spotted and she ran away and hid to keep from being questioned but she did but this time she said that she was happy as a Comanche and to leave her ass alone. She was about 17 years old at the time. During the interview she admitted that she was the wife of the sub-chief Peta Nacona. By all accounts Cynthia was very happy as the wife of Peta and bore him three children. Normally Comanche warriors had more than one wife but Peta was apparently happy with Cynthia and remained monogamous. Unfortunately Peta was also a warrior against the Anglos invading his tribal lands and made several raids on white settlers. As you might suspect, the US cavalry put Peta on their most wanted list and the eventually they killed Peta and captured Cynthia and her infant child Prairie Flower. By now Cynthis Anne was 34 years old. She was returned to an Anglo society very reluctantly and never adapted. She was taken to her uncle’s farm near Birdville, Texas but tried to run away several times. However, with her husband dead and her adopted people fighting a losing battle against the whites, she resigned herself to a miserable remainder of her life. Her only connection with her people was Prairie Flower and she died of pneumonia in1863. After this Cynthia gave up the will to live and starved herself into weakness and died of influenza in 1870. She was 40 years old. This is a sad tale about a person that was not allowed to live the life that she wanted and was forced to live the life as directed by others. It bothers the hell out of me.
1715 On this date the good people of the colony of New York are the first to implement specie protection. The law they passed forbade the “taking, reaping or the harvesting or bringing to market oysters between the months of May and August.” There were several other states that governed the taking of deer and other game like raccoons not to protect the species but to protect the supply of game for the hunters. It appears that New York was the first to realize that our natural resources are not unending, especially something as tenuous and perishable as oysters. We should all be as aware.
1588 King Phillip II of Spain decided that he was fed up with Queen Elizabeth I of England backing and financing the Netherlands against Spain and constructs an enormous fleet of 130 ships including 30,000 troops and on this date the so-called “Invincible Armada” departs the Netherlands headed for England for an invasion. They would have gotten started sooner but English seadog Sir Francis Drake had found the fleet almost finished construction and sent in “fire ships” into the Spanish fleet eliminating the threat for several months. In the mean time, Drake sails back to England and warns the Queen of the threat. By the time the Spanish Armada was prepared to cross from the Netherlands to England, the English fleet was ready. The Spanish Armada arrived in the English Channel and then the English fleet sailed out of Plymouth (been there) and met the Armada in mid-channel. About the time the two fleets met, an enormous storm struck the channel and all hell broke loose. The English marine captains were very familiar with rough weather and their ships were well built to handle it. The Spanish ships were built for speed and floundered badly in the rough seas. The Spanish fleet was scattered and King Phillip’s dreams of invading England went to the bottom along with his fleet and 30,000 troops. Here is an amusing story. I was an Air Traffic Controller stationed in Pensacola, Florida. We had a break room with a few magazines and I was reading one and read a story about the discovery of the remains of a vessel off the coast of Scotland that was one of the Spanish Armada. I told one of my friends that were sitting there about it and he said “What was the Spanish Armada?” I explained it to him and he said “You mean that 30,000 Spanish soldiers drowned in the English Channel.” I told him that was correct. He then uttered the famous words “Then that explains why to this day there is a thin layer of grease on the English Channel.” I am just the messenger here.
1897 Two years before the Marquis of Queensbury in England accused the brilliant author Oscar Wilde of homosexuality with his son. It was true that Oscar and the Marquis’ son had been doing their thing for over ten years but when the Marquis brought it out into daylight, Oscar had to sue for defamation because being a fag in England at that time was a crime. Oscar was beaten in court which, in the court’s mind, he was guilty of homosexuality and he was sentenced to two years hard labor. On this date Oscar was released. He was still as brilliant and energetic as before. Oscar delivered to us one of the most inventive novels of all time in The Portrait of Dorian Grey. It was essentially a novel about a very evil man that all of his evil acts and aging went to his portrait rather than to him. It was pretty spooky.
Born today:
1861 Austrian opera singer Dame Nellie Melba. She said “A musical composition is not written in red, white and blue. It is written in the blood of the composer.”
1879 US multi-millionaire Lady Nancy Astor. She said “The reason I do not drink is because I want to remember when I have a good time.” Me too, but I drink a little also.
1930 US writer Lorraine Hansberry. She said “The thing that makes you exceptional, if you are at all, is the one that also makes your lonely.” Hey Lorraine, I don’t think I have ever heard of a lonely and depressed exceptional javelin thrower.
1953 English comic Victoria Woods. She said “I advertised for a vacation companion, capable widow, no sense of humor, some knowledge of hemorrhoids preferred. I got no responses.” What an amazing vision comes to mind.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Quote of the day:
Even after being warned that there was an encampment of nearly 5,000 Sioux and Cheyenne ahead he said “Some of you attack from the east and I will swing around and attack from the north, we will surprise them.”
Lt. Col. George A. Custer at Little Big Horn
Here is a little something different today. I am sending y’all a biography of a very powerful woman in addition to the history lesson. Enjoy.
Golda Meir
In May of 1898 a female child was born to Blume and Moshe Mabovitch in Kiev, the Russian Empire now known as Ukraine. They named her Golda. Moshe was a carpenter and in order to seek a better life he moved to the United States when Golda was five. Moshe found a job in Milwaukee and his family of his wife and three daughters joined him when Golda was eight. Golda’s two sisters were named Shenya and Tzipke. She and Shenya were very close for all of their lives. With Moshe working as a carpenter Blume opened a small market and Golda proved she could run the market even though she was only eight years old. Golda attended the Fourth Street School (Now named the Golda Meir School) and even thought she could not speak English when she started school, she graduated as valedictorian. During her school years she frequently directed fund raisers to buy text books for the school. There is no question that Golda was a gifted leader and motivator. At the age of 14 Golda’s mother want her to drop out of school and get married. Golda did not want any part of that and hopped train to Denver to be with her married sister Sheyna. While there she had many long conversations with Sheyna and her husband about many subjects like women’s suffrage, Zionism, Socialism, etc. In her autobiography Golda said it was these conversations that formed her political footing. While there she also met a sign painter named Morris Meyerson who eventually became her husband. She returned to Milwaukee and graduated from High School and entered a college named Milwaukee Normal College that eventually became the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. During this time she joined several Zionist (promoting Jewry) organizations and embraced the political dogma of Socialist Zionism. She and Morris were married in 1917. One of the organizations that she joined was Paole Zion who requested her to travel the country and raise funds for the organization. During this time she became pregnant but chose to have an abortion because she felt that there was not room for child amid her fundraising. As part of the agreement to get married, Golda insisted that she and Morris must do an “Aliyah” or a return to Palestine, the land of her ancestors. This attitude is a large part of Zionism to this day. They could not go to Palestine for a few years because Trans-Atlantic travel was restricted because of World War I but in 1921 Golda, Morris, Sheyna and her husband arrived and joined a “kibbutz” in Palestine. A kibbutz is usually a farming community that operates as a commune. While in the kibbutz Golda’s leadership was recognized and she was elected to be a representative to the General Federation of Labor. In 1924 Golda and Morris left the kibbutz and briefly moved to Tel Aviv before moving on the Jerusalem where she and Morris had two children. In 1924 Golda was elected to The Working Women’s Council. A prerequisite of this position was to spend two years (1932-34) in the United States as a fund raiser. She took her children with her but left Morris in Jerusalem this resulted in Golda and Morris being divorced. Morris died in 1951. When Golda came back to the United States she joined the General Federation of labor and took over the political arm. This move greatly enhanced her weight in the future organization of the nation of Israel. During this time the Jews in Europe were fleeing the holocaust brought on by the Nazis and Golda was made privy to many meetings with President Franklin Roosevelt as how to resolve this outrage. After the end of WWII, with Jews all over the world looking for a homeland, Palestine in particular, immense pressure was put on Great Britain who was the “military protector” of Palestine. Great Britain responded with pressure of their own against the Zionists (Jews determined to have a homeland in Palestine). There was much squabbling between and give and take during this crucial period with Golda acting as prime minister in many of the cases. Finally in 1948 Palestine was partitioned and a new nation was born named Israel thanks to many Jews, Golda Meir among them. On May 14 a Declaration of Independence was signed by officials of the new Israeli government including Golda. Golda broke down into tears because she remembered studying about the signing of the American Declaration of Independence and now she was doing the same thing herself. As you might suspect, the next day the Arab nations surrounding the new Jewish state of Israel launched an attack. Golda was one of the first people to receive a passport issued by the new state of Israel and in 1948 she went to Moscow as foreign minister. In 1949 she came home to Jerusalem and was elected as a member of the Knesset which is the equivalent of the United States Congress. She served continuously until 1974 and as Minister of Labour on one occasion. In 1956 she became Foreign Minister under Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and was requested to “Hebraize” her name so she changed her last name from Meyerson to Meir. In the early 1960’s she was diagnosed with Lymphoma and retired because of declining health. Even retired she supported Prime Minister Levi Eshkol in political arenas. Eshkol died unexpectedly in early 1969 and Golda was called out of retirement as Prime Minister. She led Israel through several attacks and the massacre of the Israeli athletes at the Olympics in Munich, Germany. When the world appeared to be less than enthusiastic about retribution for this outrage, she called in the Mossad (equivalent of our CIA) and told them to hunt down and kill every member of the Arab terrorists that did the assassinations. It took years but they were indeed killed by Mossad. Her biggest test was the so-called Yom Kippur War of 1973. The Israeli intelligence had informed Golda that the Syrians were gathering military forces on the Golan Heights and an attack was imminent. Her military advisors told her that it was just saber-rattling and to not worry. Golda wanted to launch a pre-emptive strike but held back. Two days later the Syrians and the Egyptians poured across the border in a simultaneous attack that caught the Israeli military on their heels. They finally got started and pushed the Syrians and Egyptians back across the border but they took a beating doing it. All fingers pointed to Golda for not being prepared. Following the war much political in-fighting ensued and Golda got tired of it and retired. In December 1978 Golda died of cancer in Jerusalem. She is remembered by the Israelis as a person in the exact right place at the exact right time for their survival. It sounds like that she was not there by accident.
This date in history May19
1836 In 1832 the family of Cynthia Anne Parker and family moved from Illinois to west Texas to a place that later on became known as Parkers’s Fort which was located about 40 miles east of present day Waco, Texas. The Parker’s build a substantial stockade that, “could withstand a large attack under the most vigorous circumstance.” The Parkers became lax in their security and frequently left the huge gates open. On this date a combined force of Comanche, Caddo and Kiowa descended on Parker’s Fort and killed almost everybody except Cynthia Ann, her brother and sister who were juveniles and took them into captivity. After the Indians and their captives reached safe territory, they were divided amongst the attacking tribes. Cynthia Anne went to the Comanche. About four years later (Cynthia would have been about 13) a fur trapper saw her and attempted to buy Cynthia from the Comanche. The Comanche chief allowed the trapper to speak to Cynthia and he reported that all she did was not respond and stared at the ground the whole time. Four years later she was again spotted and she ran away and hid to keep from being questioned but she did but this time she said that she was happy as a Comanche and to leave her ass alone. She was about 17 years old at the time. During the interview she admitted that she was the wife of the sub-chief Peta Nacona. By all accounts Cynthia was very happy as the wife of Peta and bore him three children. Normally Comanche warriors had more than one wife but Peta was apparently happy with Cynthia and remained monogamous. Unfortunately Peta was also a warrior against the Anglos invading his tribal lands and made several raids on white settlers. As you might suspect, the US cavalry put Peta on their most wanted list and the eventually they killed Peta and captured Cynthia and her infant child Prairie Flower. By now Cynthis Anne was 34 years old. She was returned to an Anglo society very reluctantly and never adapted. She was taken to her uncle’s farm near Birdville, Texas but tried to run away several times. However, with her husband dead and her adopted people fighting a losing battle against the whites, she resigned herself to a miserable remainder of her life. Her only connection with her people was Prairie Flower and she died of pneumonia in1863. After this Cynthia gave up the will to live and starved herself into weakness and died of influenza in 1870. She was 40 years old. This is a sad tale about a person that was not allowed to live the life that she wanted and was forced to live the life as directed by others. It bothers the hell out of me.
1715 On this date the good people of the colony of New York are the first to implement specie protection. The law they passed forbade the “taking, reaping or the harvesting or bringing to market oysters between the months of May and August.” There were several other states that governed the taking of deer and other game like raccoons not to protect the species but to protect the supply of game for the hunters. It appears that New York was the first to realize that our natural resources are not unending, especially something as tenuous and perishable as oysters. We should all be as aware.
1588 King Phillip II of Spain decided that he was fed up with Queen Elizabeth I of England backing and financing the Netherlands against Spain and constructs an enormous fleet of 130 ships including 30,000 troops and on this date the so-called “Invincible Armada” departs the Netherlands headed for England for an invasion. They would have gotten started sooner but English seadog Sir Francis Drake had found the fleet almost finished construction and sent in “fire ships” into the Spanish fleet eliminating the threat for several months. In the mean time, Drake sails back to England and warns the Queen of the threat. By the time the Spanish Armada was prepared to cross from the Netherlands to England, the English fleet was ready. The Spanish Armada arrived in the English Channel and then the English fleet sailed out of Plymouth (been there) and met the Armada in mid-channel. About the time the two fleets met, an enormous storm struck the channel and all hell broke loose. The English marine captains were very familiar with rough weather and their ships were well built to handle it. The Spanish ships were built for speed and floundered badly in the rough seas. The Spanish fleet was scattered and King Phillip’s dreams of invading England went to the bottom along with his fleet and 30,000 troops. Here is an amusing story. I was an Air Traffic Controller stationed in Pensacola, Florida. We had a break room with a few magazines and I was reading one and read a story about the discovery of the remains of a vessel off the coast of Scotland that was one of the Spanish Armada. I told one of my friends that were sitting there about it and he said “What was the Spanish Armada?” I explained it to him and he said “You mean that 30,000 Spanish soldiers drowned in the English Channel.” I told him that was correct. He then uttered the famous words “Then that explains why to this day there is a thin layer of grease on the English Channel.” I am just the messenger here.
1897 Two years before the Marquis of Queensbury in England accused the brilliant author Oscar Wilde of homosexuality with his son. It was true that Oscar and the Marquis’ son had been doing their thing for over ten years but when the Marquis brought it out into daylight, Oscar had to sue for defamation because being a fag in England at that time was a crime. Oscar was beaten in court which, in the court’s mind, he was guilty of homosexuality and he was sentenced to two years hard labor. On this date Oscar was released. He was still as brilliant and energetic as before. Oscar delivered to us one of the most inventive novels of all time in The Portrait of Dorian Grey. It was essentially a novel about a very evil man that all of his evil acts and aging went to his portrait rather than to him. It was pretty spooky.
Born today:
1861 Austrian opera singer Dame Nellie Melba. She said “A musical composition is not written in red, white and blue. It is written in the blood of the composer.”
1879 US multi-millionaire Lady Nancy Astor. She said “The reason I do not drink is because I want to remember when I have a good time.” Me too, but I drink a little also.
1930 US writer Lorraine Hansberry. She said “The thing that makes you exceptional, if you are at all, is the one that also makes your lonely.” Hey Lorraine, I don’t think I have ever heard of a lonely and depressed exceptional javelin thrower.
1953 English comic Victoria Woods. She said “I advertised for a vacation companion, capable widow, no sense of humor, some knowledge of hemorrhoids preferred. I got no responses.” What an amazing vision comes to mind.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Daily history
Good morning,
Quote of the day:
“I never gave them hell, I just told the truth and they thought it was hell”
Harry S. Truman
I don’t know if y’all have been following the Democratic primaries but something interesting is happening in Pennsylvania. There is a man named Joe Sestak running against that jackass Arlen Specter and Sestak is way ahead in the polls. It has been reported that Sestak was promised a lucrative position in one of your President’s cabinet offices if he would drop out of the race. He did not take the offer because he considered it a bribe which is exactly what it was. But it doesn’t matter because the polls also indicate that a Republican is ahead of both of them. It looks like Specter will lose his seat in the US Senate. Let me re-phrase. It looks like Specter will lose his ass.
Last week down in Newberry County, South Carolina some people held a block party and there were hundreds in attendance. About 2:30a a fight broke out and one of the participants pulled pistol and open fire. The shooter must have been hammered because of the six people that were wounded, none of the shots were fatal and all were wounded in the lower leg. The report did not mention if booze or drugs was involved but I cannot imagine an unimpaired person shooting into a crowd of hundreds.
Over in Spartanburg, South Carolina the sheriff’s office was called about shots being fired. When the deputies arrived they found two men with gunshot wounds lying in the middle of the road. Both men had a pistol nearby. One of them was dead and the other was alive but in serious condition. Apparently there had been a “showdown” of sorts, a Gunfight at the OK Corral if you will.
I guess all of you know by now that the technicians over the oil spill have successfully inserted a tube into the pipe that was fractured and are putting that oil aboard a tanker. They did not mention if the flow was stemmed to any degree. I still do not understand why the BOP failed to close unless it was faulty wiring. That valve can be closed by a manual command from the platform or it is supposed to close automatically if a big difference in pressure is detected, neither one happened. The manufacturer of the BOP or the company that overhauled it is in real trouble and they should be.
I was just reading about the Revolutionary War and the account of an army of 8,000 redcoats led by General Burgoyne that headed south from Canada into upstate New York. They were guided by 400 American Indians that sided with England hoping they would be able to keep their hereditary lands. A band of 500 Patriot sharpshooters led by Daniel Morgan harassed this army every step of the way. They did not stand shoulder to shoulder and fire from an exposed position, they sniped at them. The first target was the guides and after a few hundred were killed, the rest disappeared and the redcoats had no one to get them through the endless forests. Morgan then ordered his men to take out the officers which left the army with no leadership. Burgoyne surrendered to Patriot General Horatio Gates at Saratoga and soon thereafter France declared war on England which meant that England had to fight a war on two continents. It was all downhill for England after that.
This date in history May 18
1980 Two weeks before geologist set up sophisticated monitoring equipment around the Cascade Range volcano Mount Saint Helens because of ominous rumblings and small earthquakes nearby. Park Rangers had been warned by the geologists that there would be an eruption very, very soon and the Rangers went throughout the countryside warning campers and loggers that they had better get the hell out. I remember one resident on the north side of the volcano named Harry Truman, believe it or not, who said that he is not going to leave his home on a small lake at the base of the mountain no matter what. The Rangers asked him who was his next of kin and old Harry just blew them off. On this date the entire north flank Mount Saint Helens collapses with a thunderous roar and ash and pumice ejecta are blown 80,000 feet into the air not to mention a pyroplastic flow of white hot ash throughout the countryside. If I recall correctly there were 26 deaths primarily to suffocation from the ash piling up to several feet thick and it being scalding hot also. There are always some people who do not get the message or choose to ignore it. Later on the Park Rangers went to try and find Harry Truman and not a scrap of Harry nor was any part of his house ever found. Not only that, the pond filled up with ash and is meadow now. Harry is under there somewhere defiant to the end.
1783 On this date the so-called United Loyalists land near Parrtown, Nova Scotia (now New Brunswick) to establish new residences. These jackasses were residents of the United States but chose to stay loyal to the English crown during the Revolutionary War and many of them fought with the British army and navy. Now that the Treaty of Paris had been signed meaning that Great Britain had granted independence to the United States and that put the Loyalists between a rock and a hard place because the Americans considered them to be traitors and treated them accordingly. So the Loyalists rightly decided it would be to their advantage and get the hell out of Dodge. England offered the Loyalist a small parcel of land in Canada if they immigrated. For several years their life was not an easy one because the land was occupied by a French speaking population who resented and anglophile squatters. England had given the Loyalists 200 acres each which was not really arable lands. But they made their bed, let them lay in it.
1926 On this date the Billy Graham of her day, evangelist Aimee Simple McPherson disappeared from her very popular Angelus Cathedral in Los Angeles. Almost from the time that she opened the church in 1923, she preached to overflow crowds. But now she was nowhere to be found. Hundreds of searchers scoured the countryside and the bays and rivers to no avail. About the same time a radio announcer named Kenneth Ormiston also disappeared. About two weeks later Aimee shows up in a small town in New Mexico saying that she had been kidnapped. But the truth finally came out that she and Kenneth Ormiston had spent the entire two weeks together contemplating the meaning of life. They finally figured out that the meaning of life was to experience all the pleasure life had to offer in the shortest period of time. Needless to say that Aimee’s evangelism and church went down the toilet. The religious zealots of then and now do not cut anybody any slack when it comes to worldly pleasures. An interesting bit of trivia is that it was Aimee that baptized Marilyn Monroe in spite of her oversized floatation devices.
1593 Two well known and talented playwrights named Christopher Marlowe and Thomas Kyd were roommates in London. On occasion the church would inspect writer’s productions to see if they were writing anything adverse to church doctrine. This bullshit is also one of the main reasons that America came into being. Anyway, the church was not pleased with what they found and accused Thomas Kyd of heresy but Kyd told the churchmen that what they read was written by Christopher Marlowe. So they go find Marlowe and arrest him for heresy. The difference was that Marlowe was a favorite of Queen Elizabeth I and had probably spied for her on occasion. She ordered Marlowe to be released. That night Christopher went out to the local tavern to celebrate his release. I think he got half in the bag and decided to argue about his tab with the bartender. Anyway he got into a fight with the bartender who inserted a knife into Marlowe’s liver and he was gone in a matter of minutes. Moral: Pay your freaking bar tab.
1943 On this date Adolph Hitler initiates Operation Alaric. This came about because Hitler had been watching with interest the ineptness of the Italian army even to defending their own country. Hitler knew that the Allies were coming to invade Sicily and eventually Italy and Hitler did not want to see Italy collapse without a fight or repulse of the Allies. Operation Alaric was to move a well-oiled German army under the command of General Alfred Kesselring into Italy and Sicily at the first sign of the Italian army getting their ass beat. He did not have to wait long. The Italian were smashed in North Africa by a British army half its size. After that Kesselring and his army moved into Italy and began building formidable defenses for which the Allies paid in blood to cross over, but they got the job done and the Germans were eventually kicked out of Italy.
Born today:
1872 Welsh philosopher Bertrand Russell. He said “The whole problem with this world is that the fools and fanatics are always sure of themselves, but wiser people are so full of doubts.” That is what makes them wise, Bernie.
1882 Irish writer James Stephens. He said “If a man wishes to become a humorist then all the people around him needs to be as wise or he would not be understood.” Jim, have you ever heard of Mark Twain or Will Rogers?
Quotable quotes:
“If it weren’t for pickpockets I would have no sex at all.”
Rodney Dangerfield
“My girlfriend always laughs during sex, no matter what book she is reading.”
Steve Jobs
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Quote of the day:
“I never gave them hell, I just told the truth and they thought it was hell”
Harry S. Truman
I don’t know if y’all have been following the Democratic primaries but something interesting is happening in Pennsylvania. There is a man named Joe Sestak running against that jackass Arlen Specter and Sestak is way ahead in the polls. It has been reported that Sestak was promised a lucrative position in one of your President’s cabinet offices if he would drop out of the race. He did not take the offer because he considered it a bribe which is exactly what it was. But it doesn’t matter because the polls also indicate that a Republican is ahead of both of them. It looks like Specter will lose his seat in the US Senate. Let me re-phrase. It looks like Specter will lose his ass.
Last week down in Newberry County, South Carolina some people held a block party and there were hundreds in attendance. About 2:30a a fight broke out and one of the participants pulled pistol and open fire. The shooter must have been hammered because of the six people that were wounded, none of the shots were fatal and all were wounded in the lower leg. The report did not mention if booze or drugs was involved but I cannot imagine an unimpaired person shooting into a crowd of hundreds.
Over in Spartanburg, South Carolina the sheriff’s office was called about shots being fired. When the deputies arrived they found two men with gunshot wounds lying in the middle of the road. Both men had a pistol nearby. One of them was dead and the other was alive but in serious condition. Apparently there had been a “showdown” of sorts, a Gunfight at the OK Corral if you will.
I guess all of you know by now that the technicians over the oil spill have successfully inserted a tube into the pipe that was fractured and are putting that oil aboard a tanker. They did not mention if the flow was stemmed to any degree. I still do not understand why the BOP failed to close unless it was faulty wiring. That valve can be closed by a manual command from the platform or it is supposed to close automatically if a big difference in pressure is detected, neither one happened. The manufacturer of the BOP or the company that overhauled it is in real trouble and they should be.
I was just reading about the Revolutionary War and the account of an army of 8,000 redcoats led by General Burgoyne that headed south from Canada into upstate New York. They were guided by 400 American Indians that sided with England hoping they would be able to keep their hereditary lands. A band of 500 Patriot sharpshooters led by Daniel Morgan harassed this army every step of the way. They did not stand shoulder to shoulder and fire from an exposed position, they sniped at them. The first target was the guides and after a few hundred were killed, the rest disappeared and the redcoats had no one to get them through the endless forests. Morgan then ordered his men to take out the officers which left the army with no leadership. Burgoyne surrendered to Patriot General Horatio Gates at Saratoga and soon thereafter France declared war on England which meant that England had to fight a war on two continents. It was all downhill for England after that.
This date in history May 18
1980 Two weeks before geologist set up sophisticated monitoring equipment around the Cascade Range volcano Mount Saint Helens because of ominous rumblings and small earthquakes nearby. Park Rangers had been warned by the geologists that there would be an eruption very, very soon and the Rangers went throughout the countryside warning campers and loggers that they had better get the hell out. I remember one resident on the north side of the volcano named Harry Truman, believe it or not, who said that he is not going to leave his home on a small lake at the base of the mountain no matter what. The Rangers asked him who was his next of kin and old Harry just blew them off. On this date the entire north flank Mount Saint Helens collapses with a thunderous roar and ash and pumice ejecta are blown 80,000 feet into the air not to mention a pyroplastic flow of white hot ash throughout the countryside. If I recall correctly there were 26 deaths primarily to suffocation from the ash piling up to several feet thick and it being scalding hot also. There are always some people who do not get the message or choose to ignore it. Later on the Park Rangers went to try and find Harry Truman and not a scrap of Harry nor was any part of his house ever found. Not only that, the pond filled up with ash and is meadow now. Harry is under there somewhere defiant to the end.
1783 On this date the so-called United Loyalists land near Parrtown, Nova Scotia (now New Brunswick) to establish new residences. These jackasses were residents of the United States but chose to stay loyal to the English crown during the Revolutionary War and many of them fought with the British army and navy. Now that the Treaty of Paris had been signed meaning that Great Britain had granted independence to the United States and that put the Loyalists between a rock and a hard place because the Americans considered them to be traitors and treated them accordingly. So the Loyalists rightly decided it would be to their advantage and get the hell out of Dodge. England offered the Loyalist a small parcel of land in Canada if they immigrated. For several years their life was not an easy one because the land was occupied by a French speaking population who resented and anglophile squatters. England had given the Loyalists 200 acres each which was not really arable lands. But they made their bed, let them lay in it.
1926 On this date the Billy Graham of her day, evangelist Aimee Simple McPherson disappeared from her very popular Angelus Cathedral in Los Angeles. Almost from the time that she opened the church in 1923, she preached to overflow crowds. But now she was nowhere to be found. Hundreds of searchers scoured the countryside and the bays and rivers to no avail. About the same time a radio announcer named Kenneth Ormiston also disappeared. About two weeks later Aimee shows up in a small town in New Mexico saying that she had been kidnapped. But the truth finally came out that she and Kenneth Ormiston had spent the entire two weeks together contemplating the meaning of life. They finally figured out that the meaning of life was to experience all the pleasure life had to offer in the shortest period of time. Needless to say that Aimee’s evangelism and church went down the toilet. The religious zealots of then and now do not cut anybody any slack when it comes to worldly pleasures. An interesting bit of trivia is that it was Aimee that baptized Marilyn Monroe in spite of her oversized floatation devices.
1593 Two well known and talented playwrights named Christopher Marlowe and Thomas Kyd were roommates in London. On occasion the church would inspect writer’s productions to see if they were writing anything adverse to church doctrine. This bullshit is also one of the main reasons that America came into being. Anyway, the church was not pleased with what they found and accused Thomas Kyd of heresy but Kyd told the churchmen that what they read was written by Christopher Marlowe. So they go find Marlowe and arrest him for heresy. The difference was that Marlowe was a favorite of Queen Elizabeth I and had probably spied for her on occasion. She ordered Marlowe to be released. That night Christopher went out to the local tavern to celebrate his release. I think he got half in the bag and decided to argue about his tab with the bartender. Anyway he got into a fight with the bartender who inserted a knife into Marlowe’s liver and he was gone in a matter of minutes. Moral: Pay your freaking bar tab.
1943 On this date Adolph Hitler initiates Operation Alaric. This came about because Hitler had been watching with interest the ineptness of the Italian army even to defending their own country. Hitler knew that the Allies were coming to invade Sicily and eventually Italy and Hitler did not want to see Italy collapse without a fight or repulse of the Allies. Operation Alaric was to move a well-oiled German army under the command of General Alfred Kesselring into Italy and Sicily at the first sign of the Italian army getting their ass beat. He did not have to wait long. The Italian were smashed in North Africa by a British army half its size. After that Kesselring and his army moved into Italy and began building formidable defenses for which the Allies paid in blood to cross over, but they got the job done and the Germans were eventually kicked out of Italy.
Born today:
1872 Welsh philosopher Bertrand Russell. He said “The whole problem with this world is that the fools and fanatics are always sure of themselves, but wiser people are so full of doubts.” That is what makes them wise, Bernie.
1882 Irish writer James Stephens. He said “If a man wishes to become a humorist then all the people around him needs to be as wise or he would not be understood.” Jim, have you ever heard of Mark Twain or Will Rogers?
Quotable quotes:
“If it weren’t for pickpockets I would have no sex at all.”
Rodney Dangerfield
“My girlfriend always laughs during sex, no matter what book she is reading.”
Steve Jobs
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Monday, May 17, 2010
Daily History
Good Morning,
Quote of the day:
"There is neither happiness nor misery in the world; there is only a
comparison of one state of mind to another, nothing more."
Alexander Dumas
For a change I am sending y'all a biography instead of a history lesson.
Eleanor of Aquitaine
1122-1204
This is a biography of one of the most fascinating people in history. Her life reads like a soap opera so I will give the main characters soap opera nicknames to save space and they are:
Eleanor of Aquitaine………..Ellie
Henry II, King of England….Hank
Louis VII, King of France…..Lou
Eleanor’s real name was Alia-Aenor meaning “another Aenor”. Eleanor’s mother’s name was Aenor of Chatellerault and a female birth was of no consequence in the high middle ages, they were looking for male heirs to carry on the family name. Her father was William X, Duke of Aquitaine, one of the richest men in Europe and Ellie was his eldest child and the apple of William’s eye. William died when Ellie was 15 and he left everything to Ellie making her the richest woman in history to date. William had contacted the king of France, Louis VI earlier and requested that in the event of his death Louis VI would promulgate the marriage of Ellie and Louis’ son who would become Louis VII, king of France. Louis VI obliged William and after much pomp and circumstance, Ellie and Lou were married eventually making Ellie the Queen of France. There was one stipulation. Ellie made the Aquitaine estate exempt from being absorbed into the French realm. Aquitaine estate was in what is now south central France. Now here is where the fun starts. The 2nd Crusade began a few years after Lou became King and he being a very pious man, did the Pope’s bidding and started gathering an army to go to Jerusalem and try to kick the Muslims out. Ellie joined in the fervor and personally began recruiting men to go. She even offered 2,000 of her own vassals. Not only that, she insisted on going on the Crusade herself being the first woman to do so. Upon arrival in the Holy Land, Ellie became enamored with all those knights in shining armor and decided it was party time, especially with her uncle Raymond, a French knight. Many people were not pleased that Lou brought Ellie with him, but Lou was so enamored with his young bride that any thing she wanted was OK with him. Lou was an ineffective military leader; he was more of a religiously pious man. He was pretty wimpy on the whole. Even before leaving on the Crusade, Lou and Ellie were estranged and after they returned Ellie wearied of Lou’s weaknesses and began looking for a way out of the marriage. She found that they had a mutual relative which made their marriage illegal and Lou granted a divorce but kept custody of their two children. While all of this was going on, Ellie was scanning the countryside looking for a virile and powerful bachelor. She found one in the 19 year old Henry, the Duke of Normandy and heir to the English throne. Ellie wrangled a meeting with Hank and had a series of sleepovers. Ellie was a sexually experienced 30 year old woman and Hank was a 19 year old virtual virgin meaning that Hank didn’t have a chance. Soon after this encounter he and Ellie were married. Eventually Hank was crowned Henry II, the King of England and Ellie as Queen. Ellie and Hank squabbled from the git-go primarily because of what Ellie perceived as Hanks indiscretions with other women. Although it was well known that Ellie’s pantyhose had been on fire continuously since the Crusades and she had innumerable trysts and brief encounters herself. You men that are married and those that have been married will understand how Ellie was able to justify this hypocrisy in her own mind. Nearly all women are capable of it. In fact one of her lovers was probably Hank’s father Geoffrey of Anjou who counseled Hank to not mess with Ellie from the start. But in spite of all of that, Ellie delivered Hank five sons and three daughters in a span of 13 years. They were William, Henry, Richard (the Lionhearted), Geoffrey, John, Matilda, Eleanor and Joan. Hank had many, many illegitimate children also. In spite of her obvious hypocrisy, Ellie goes to France and starts planning the unseating of Hank with the help of the King of France among others. She calls in two of her sons to help plan a coup but her sons ain’t buying what Mom is selling and tell Hank what is going down. Hank takes a ship over to France, gathers up Ellie and heads back to England. As soon as the ship docks at Southampton Hank sent her to the Castle of Winchester to cool her heel under house arrest. Ellie remained under arrest for 15 years in spite of her sons beseeching Hank to release her. While Ellie was paying her dues in Winchester, Hank strikes up a liaison with an Irish beauty named Rosemund Clifford. Normally, Hank was discreet with his mistresses, but he flaunted Rosemund for several years. Rosemund died in 1176 and was buried in the nunnery at Godstow and Hank contributed largely to the nunnery in her behalf. Hank dies in 1186 and the unquestioned heir to the throne was he and Ellie’s son Richard. The only problem here was that Richard had been captured on the way home from yet another Crusade and was being held for ransom in a castle in Germany. Upon hearing of Hank’s death, Richard got word back to England to immediately release his Mother. Ellie was released and immediately beseeched the Pope to engineer the release of her son which he did, for a price. After an enormous ransom had been paid with a large chunk going to the Vatican, Richard was released and returned to England and was crowned King. During all of this time Ellie had engineered the marriage of two of her daughters to the King of Castile and the King of Navarre respectively. Ellie lived through the reign of Richard and a large part of the reign of her son King John also. It was her son King John that signed the Magna Carta declaring that the king was not omnipotent and granted certain rights. This document was the first its kind and laid the foundation for human rights in England. Ellie returned to Aquitaine for a while and in fact directed the defense of her castle from an attack by some of her grandchildren. What I am trying to tell you is that greed knows no limits even up to trying to savage your own grandmother. Ellie eventually tired of all of this hassle and went to the place of Hank and Richard’s tombs, Fontevraud Abbey, and took the oath of a nun. She lived the rest of her days in relative serenity. In 1204, at the age of 81, Ellie died and was buried along side her husband Henry II and son Richard I.
This tale of Eleanor is by no means complete with all the plots, intrigues and travels that occurred throughout her long life. But in summary she was the richest woman in history up until that time, the Queen of two countries, the mother of two Kings and the mother of two Queens. What a magnificent life.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Quote of the day:
"There is neither happiness nor misery in the world; there is only a
comparison of one state of mind to another, nothing more."
Alexander Dumas
For a change I am sending y'all a biography instead of a history lesson.
Eleanor of Aquitaine
1122-1204
This is a biography of one of the most fascinating people in history. Her life reads like a soap opera so I will give the main characters soap opera nicknames to save space and they are:
Eleanor of Aquitaine………..Ellie
Henry II, King of England….Hank
Louis VII, King of France…..Lou
Eleanor’s real name was Alia-Aenor meaning “another Aenor”. Eleanor’s mother’s name was Aenor of Chatellerault and a female birth was of no consequence in the high middle ages, they were looking for male heirs to carry on the family name. Her father was William X, Duke of Aquitaine, one of the richest men in Europe and Ellie was his eldest child and the apple of William’s eye. William died when Ellie was 15 and he left everything to Ellie making her the richest woman in history to date. William had contacted the king of France, Louis VI earlier and requested that in the event of his death Louis VI would promulgate the marriage of Ellie and Louis’ son who would become Louis VII, king of France. Louis VI obliged William and after much pomp and circumstance, Ellie and Lou were married eventually making Ellie the Queen of France. There was one stipulation. Ellie made the Aquitaine estate exempt from being absorbed into the French realm. Aquitaine estate was in what is now south central France. Now here is where the fun starts. The 2nd Crusade began a few years after Lou became King and he being a very pious man, did the Pope’s bidding and started gathering an army to go to Jerusalem and try to kick the Muslims out. Ellie joined in the fervor and personally began recruiting men to go. She even offered 2,000 of her own vassals. Not only that, she insisted on going on the Crusade herself being the first woman to do so. Upon arrival in the Holy Land, Ellie became enamored with all those knights in shining armor and decided it was party time, especially with her uncle Raymond, a French knight. Many people were not pleased that Lou brought Ellie with him, but Lou was so enamored with his young bride that any thing she wanted was OK with him. Lou was an ineffective military leader; he was more of a religiously pious man. He was pretty wimpy on the whole. Even before leaving on the Crusade, Lou and Ellie were estranged and after they returned Ellie wearied of Lou’s weaknesses and began looking for a way out of the marriage. She found that they had a mutual relative which made their marriage illegal and Lou granted a divorce but kept custody of their two children. While all of this was going on, Ellie was scanning the countryside looking for a virile and powerful bachelor. She found one in the 19 year old Henry, the Duke of Normandy and heir to the English throne. Ellie wrangled a meeting with Hank and had a series of sleepovers. Ellie was a sexually experienced 30 year old woman and Hank was a 19 year old virtual virgin meaning that Hank didn’t have a chance. Soon after this encounter he and Ellie were married. Eventually Hank was crowned Henry II, the King of England and Ellie as Queen. Ellie and Hank squabbled from the git-go primarily because of what Ellie perceived as Hanks indiscretions with other women. Although it was well known that Ellie’s pantyhose had been on fire continuously since the Crusades and she had innumerable trysts and brief encounters herself. You men that are married and those that have been married will understand how Ellie was able to justify this hypocrisy in her own mind. Nearly all women are capable of it. In fact one of her lovers was probably Hank’s father Geoffrey of Anjou who counseled Hank to not mess with Ellie from the start. But in spite of all of that, Ellie delivered Hank five sons and three daughters in a span of 13 years. They were William, Henry, Richard (the Lionhearted), Geoffrey, John, Matilda, Eleanor and Joan. Hank had many, many illegitimate children also. In spite of her obvious hypocrisy, Ellie goes to France and starts planning the unseating of Hank with the help of the King of France among others. She calls in two of her sons to help plan a coup but her sons ain’t buying what Mom is selling and tell Hank what is going down. Hank takes a ship over to France, gathers up Ellie and heads back to England. As soon as the ship docks at Southampton Hank sent her to the Castle of Winchester to cool her heel under house arrest. Ellie remained under arrest for 15 years in spite of her sons beseeching Hank to release her. While Ellie was paying her dues in Winchester, Hank strikes up a liaison with an Irish beauty named Rosemund Clifford. Normally, Hank was discreet with his mistresses, but he flaunted Rosemund for several years. Rosemund died in 1176 and was buried in the nunnery at Godstow and Hank contributed largely to the nunnery in her behalf. Hank dies in 1186 and the unquestioned heir to the throne was he and Ellie’s son Richard. The only problem here was that Richard had been captured on the way home from yet another Crusade and was being held for ransom in a castle in Germany. Upon hearing of Hank’s death, Richard got word back to England to immediately release his Mother. Ellie was released and immediately beseeched the Pope to engineer the release of her son which he did, for a price. After an enormous ransom had been paid with a large chunk going to the Vatican, Richard was released and returned to England and was crowned King. During all of this time Ellie had engineered the marriage of two of her daughters to the King of Castile and the King of Navarre respectively. Ellie lived through the reign of Richard and a large part of the reign of her son King John also. It was her son King John that signed the Magna Carta declaring that the king was not omnipotent and granted certain rights. This document was the first its kind and laid the foundation for human rights in England. Ellie returned to Aquitaine for a while and in fact directed the defense of her castle from an attack by some of her grandchildren. What I am trying to tell you is that greed knows no limits even up to trying to savage your own grandmother. Ellie eventually tired of all of this hassle and went to the place of Hank and Richard’s tombs, Fontevraud Abbey, and took the oath of a nun. She lived the rest of her days in relative serenity. In 1204, at the age of 81, Ellie died and was buried along side her husband Henry II and son Richard I.
This tale of Eleanor is by no means complete with all the plots, intrigues and travels that occurred throughout her long life. But in summary she was the richest woman in history up until that time, the Queen of two countries, the mother of two Kings and the mother of two Queens. What a magnificent life.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
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