Daily history

Good morning,


Quote of the day:

“Don’t confuse fame with success. Madonna is one; Helen Keller is the other.”

                                         Erma Bombeck

I will not be writing lessons over the weekend. I am taking yet another break.

As of Thursday morning the BP technicians have successfully cut the oil line above the BOP and are preparing to lower a cap and fit it on the stub of pipe they created. They say that this will not stop all of the oil leaks but it will allow the recovery of most of the oil that is now running loose in the Gulf of Mexico. The true end to this disaster will come with the completion of the two relief wells that should be completed in August. These wells will enter the runaway well below the seabed from two sides and siphon off all of the oil coming up.

I hope most of y’all remember Natalee Holloway from the Birmingham, Alabama area that disappeared while on vacation to Aruba. The alleged killer of Natalee was the son of a prominent Dutch family. It has been reported that this young man has tried to extort $250,000 from Natalee's family in return for revealing the loction of her corpse and the circumstances surrounding her death. A lw suit as been filed. This same young man is being sought in Peru for the murder of another young woman. He ws captured in Chile on Thursday and is being held for extradition to Peru.

One of my friends in Pensacola Beach told me that the large hotels on the beach are beginning to lay off employees in anticipation of a fouling of the beach and coastal waters by the oil spill. Under normal circumstances Pensacola Beach has sugar white beaches and turquoise waters and that is what attracts the tourists in addition to the kick-ass seafood. All of that type of lifestyle will be at risk if worse comes to worse. As some of you know, I spend two or three months a year (mostly in the winter) in Pensacola Beach. I will go down this year also but it will not be the same if the beaches are fouled. There will be a dark pall in the atmosphere…sadness.

This date in history June 4

1919    After many years of bitching, marching and semi-rioting by the girls, on this date the United States Congress ratifies the 19th Amendment that allowed women to vote. The amendment then went out to each state for individual ratification. This crusade began in 1848 in Seneca Falls, N.Y. headed up by Elizabeth Stanton and Lucretia Mott. Their crusade was halted for several years due to the American Civil War from 1861-1865. The disenfranchisement of women voters was supported by most of the population at the time. It took the dedication and zeal of the leaders of the women voting rights campaign to get this black mark on America erased. We still have not erased that black mark left by the rape and near genocide of the American Indian.

1944    The loading of the combat troops and the tools of war on ships in anticipation of the landing on Normandy is nearing completion. The combat troops are sitting on pins and needles. They had been trained to a razors edge for this operation and that includes the British and American airborne troops that were going in ahead of everybody to help clear the way. Everybody was ready in fevered anticipation.

1863    CSA General Robert E. Lee had persuaded CSA President Jefferson Davis that if he was able to capture a Union state Capitol the general public in the north would realize that the war could be fought on their soil and would force Lincoln to the negotiations table. Lee had chosen Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. In order to get this operation underway, on this date he sent General Richard Ewell and the 2nd Corp from Fredericksburg, Virginia into the Shenandoah Valley then he would swing north into Pennsylvania and encircle Harrisburg. Lee and the rest of the army would be close behind and reinforce Ewell and then demand that Lincoln meet them for negotiations or Harrisburg would be leveled. The Union military found that Lee was on the move and headed north so they hastily began a chase hoping to cut Lee off. Ewell was within 30 miles of Harrisburg when the Union army was discovered close aboard to Lee’s army. Lee knew he could not fight a battle as strung out as his troops were so he called Ewell and the others in to meet and deploy near a small Pennsylvania town named Gettysburg and await the damned Yankees.

1989    For three weeks an estimated 300,000 young Chinese had been gathering tin Tiananmen Square in Beijing protesting the repressive Chinese Communist Government and were demanding a democratic form of government be established. On this date the Chinese Government got fed up and sent in Chinese troops to take care of business. The troops went in with AK-47’s ablaze and began killing indiscriminately and arresting as many as they could. News media from all over the world was there and could not believe what they were seeing. There were at least 1,000 killed and over 10,000 arrested. President Bush (George H) ordered financial sanctions imposed in protest of this clear abridgement of human rights. Then we turn around and send our athletes over there for the Olympics. What are we thinking?

1986    US Naval intelligence specialist Jonathon Pollard is arrested for selling US military intelligence information to Israel. Pollard had given Israel enough information to fill a small room. In return he was given $50,000 and was supposed to have $300,000 put in a secret Swiss bank account. Pollard was tried for espionage and convicted and given a life sentence. Israel stood by Pollard declaring that since the US and Israel are allies, they should have been given the information anyway. Needless to say, relations with Israel and the US chilled a great deal. Later the US and Israel met and tried to hammer out their differences. Pollard’s release was part of Israel’s stipulations. The US said “Not no, but hell no.”

1940    On this date the book The Heart is a Lonely Hunter authored by Carson McCullers is published and is an immediate success. She was born in 1917 in Columbus, Georgia and named Lula Carson Smith. Her mother believed she was an artistic genius and gave her much encouragement. Lula decided she wanted to be a concert pianist and was indeed talented enough to be accepted at the famous Julliard School in New York. On the way riding the subway to her first class, the money her parents had given her to survive on was stolen. She worked and supported herself in school for about a year but decided that she would try writing and moved back to Georgia. She married a soldier named Reeves McCuller who had no ambition and their marriage suffered because of it. Not only that they both were sexually ambidextrous. The both frequently fell madly in love with members of either sex. They split up and now Carson McCullers moved into a Victorian house in Brooklyn, N.Y. and began writing in earnest. There were other artists in that house including Alan Copland and Salvador Dali. Reeves re-joined the army and became a decorated soldier in WWII. However, after the war he got heavy into the sauce and ended up killing himself in a Paris hotel room. Carson gave us several more great prices of literature such as The Ballad of the Sad Café which was made into a movie by screenwriter Edward Albee. Carson died at the age of 50 from breast cancer and a series of strokes. What a damned shame.

1942    On this date Japanese Admiral Naguma commanding the bulk of entire Japanese navy orders a preplanned attack on the central Pacific US military installation on the island of Midway. The Japanese felt that Midway and Aleutian Islands in Alaska were imperative to control if they were going to expand their empire. They also had hoped that the remainder of the US Navy that was not destroyed at Pearl Harbor five months before would come out and fight so the Japanese could finish them off. The first air attack on Midway did significant damage and the US Navy responded with an attack of their own from the aircraft carriers they had left. US Navy intelligence had determined that the Japanese were going to attack Midway and the US Naval forces were there waiting when the attack came. The first attacks by the US Navy resulted in the destruction of 68 US planes and crews but Admiral Nagumo now knew that there were at least two US carriers within striking distance. Nagumo also had conflicting information from his staff as to what to arm his planes with, either bombs or torpedoes to either make a follow-up strike on Midway or sent torpedo planes after the US carriers. It was too late. A swarm of US dive bombers arrived on the scene when the deck of the Japanese carriers were in the middle of re-arming and three of the four Japanese carriers were sunk going to the bottom in flames. Nagumo had lost 3,500 men, 368 aircraft and three carriers. He had to withdraw. He had not counted on the tenacity of US Admirals Jack Fletcher, Ray Spruance, overall commander Chester Nimitz and hundred of courageous sailors and airmen.

Born today:

470BC    Greek philosopher Socrates. He said “By all means get married. If you have a good wife you will be happy. If you have a bad one you will become a philosopher.” Think on that, all of you philosophers out there.

1908    US actress Rosalind Russell. She was talking to another actress who said “I dread the thought of forty-five.” Rosalind responded with “Why, what happened to you then, dear?” Women can be very catty at times.

1936    US actor Bruce Dern. He said “Because I am the only man to have killed John Wayne in a movie so the producers consider me a villain.” If I ain’t mistaken it was Bruce that starred in “Middle-Aged Crazies” and also that movie “Coming Home” with Jane Fonda and John Voight about a soldier returning from Nam with no legs (Voight). The movie ends with Bruce wading out into the ocean committing suicide.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow