Daily History

Good morning,


Quote of the day:

“It is not who you are that counts, it is what you are.”

                              John Wooden

That Dutch lunatic that was suspected of killing Natalee Holloway in Aruba has been officially charged with murder in Peru. A pretty young Peruvian woman was the victim. He took this young lady to a motel room and left the room for a period of time and the woman opened his lap top and found and entry about Natalee Holloway. The Dutchman caught her at it and beat her to death. He confessed to the murder of the Peruvian woman and said that he was ready to tell the location of Natalee’s body on Aruba which essentially was a confession to complicity. The courts in Peru have a tendency to be more lenient with those criminals that confess. I wonder what prison’s are like in Peru, the past home country of the mighty Inca Empire. We shall see.

A couple of days ago 22 year old Aron Hallum was driving west on Tunnel Road in Asheville, NC when he lost control of his 2000 Suzuki Forenza and struck a Harley-Davidson motorcycle with two aboard. Both riders were thrown off and the driver was seriously injured and eventually died. Hallum was driving with a suspended license and he chose to jump out of the car and run away on foot. He left two people in the car that quickly identified Hallum and told the cops where he lived. The cops were waiting for Hallum at his house and he was arrested for hit and run with a death involved. He was hit with $50,000 bond. I don’t know if Hallum was able to make bail or not but I can assure you that there is hard time in that man’s future.

I suppose all of you know now that the 16 year old girl that was trying to sail around the world alone has failed. Her yacht was de-masted in a storm in the Indian Ocean. The falling mast destroyed her satellite communications equipment meaning she had lost touch with the world. She activated an emergency radio which was picked up by an Australian Search and Rescue station and they sent an airplane to investigate. They found Abby Sunderland’s boat with her aboard seemingly in good shape. She was able to contact the plane and confirmed that she had plenty of food and water and was in pretty good shape. A nearby French fishing vessel was notified and this boat came over and took Abby aboard. They are headed for a few islands off the coast of Madagascar named Reunion Islands. Madagascar is an island off the coast of east Africa. There are lots of plans as to how to get Abby home to southern California but the final decision has not been made. Abby is very disappointed that she was unable to complete her voyage but is thankful that she is still alive. I’ll bet she is. By the way, the Australian Rescue team is already preparing a bill to send to the Sunderlands for their part in the rescue. There is no word from the French fishing boat.

Here is a short history lesson about my area.

In about 1768 a Virginia trader named Jacob Hite acquired a huge plot of land from the Cherokees and moved his family there in 1775. The land was about 10 mile northeast of Greenville, SC between the present communities of Greer and Duncan. Apparently the Cherokees had second thoughts because they killed Hite's son shortly thereafter. On July 1, 1776 the Cherokees raided Hite's property and killed him and his wife and kidnapped two of Hite's daughters. The bodies of Jacob and his wife were found and identified in spite of severe mutilation. Hite's two daughters were never found.

This date in history June 14

1863    Earlier CSA General Robert E. Lee and CSA President Jefferson Davis agreed that the best way to win this war was to invade the northern states and this would persuade them to put the heat on Lincoln to go to the negotiating table. A few days before Lee had sent CSA General Richard Ewell into the Shenandoah Valley where he was suppose to swing north and head for Harrisburg, Pennsylvania using the Blue Ridge Mountains as a screen. There was a small US detachment of US military in Winchester, Virginia commanded by US General Robert Milroy. Winchester was directly in the path of the advancing army of CSA General Ewell. The commander of the US Army was General Joseph Hooker who was dancing around trying to figure out what Lee was up to but all he knew was that Lee was on the move. Hooker contacted Milroy and warned him that the Rebs may be headed his way. Milroy sent a message back saying that no Confederate army could ever defeat him. On this date, CSA General Ewell and his army arrived at Winchester and quickly surrounded Milroy’s forces. Ewell chose to open yet another can of whoop-ass. After a short but sharp battle, Ewell’s army crushed Milroy’s troops and ended up capturing 4,000 Yankees whilst 2,700 of them escaped including Milroy. Ewell lost 270 men but captured 300 wagons, hundreds of horses and 23 artillery pieces. The US military was not amused at the arrogance of this jackass Milroy and he was relieved and later arrested. He was found not culpable of this disaster at his court martial.

1903    At this point in American history at least half of America was in a flood plain. Since then flood control devices including dams and levees have been erected to prevent flooding. On this date in Heppner, Oregon, after an extremely heavy rain in the Blue Mountains overwhelmed the streams adjacent to this small town and a flash flood occurred. 200 of the residents of the town were swept away never to be seen again and another 125 in the outlying farmland were swept away also. The greatest flood that there is proof of in the United States was in the last Ice Age. There was an ice dam that melted and a volume of water equivalent to five times the water in Lake Erie poured down the Pacific coast of Oregon and Washington for 11 days washing away the soil right down to bedrock. I do not know how the scientists know this data because there could not have been any witnesses. Speaking of melting, we all know that at one time in history there was a gigantic sheet of ice at least a mile thick covering the northern United States all the way down to central Illinois. We also know that the Great Lakes were formed by the advancing and retreating of glaciers. Where are they now? You do not need to answer, we all know that the disappearance of all of this was caused by global warming. Ice ages and subsequent warming is proven to be cyclic. But your friend and mine, Al Gore is making millions selling books warning that humans are responsible for the next warming trend. Could it be caused by the Earth’s regression (wobble) on its axis? I think it could, but that does not sell books.

1940    All the people of Paris, France woke up this morning to the sound of some jackass with a German accent announcing over loudspeakers that Paris is now under German control and there was a curfew of 8:00p that there could be no one on the streets that was not approved or they would be immediately executed. Unknown to the majority of the Parisians, the lame-assed French government had declared Paris an open city meaning they would offer no resistance to the advancing German army. A few days later several thousand German troops marched goose-stepping through this great city to the great remorse of the French people. The people of France chose not to form a powerful army to combat this great abomination known as Adolph Hitler. In 2004 I had been on the streets of Le Havre, France for less than an hour when my traveling companion and I were at a small bar within sight of our cruise ship and I had an encounter with a French speaking man (I use the term loosely) and I made a move toward him and he ran away. I was in my middle sixties and this jackass was about 30 years old. He was a brave bastard. By the way Le Havre is a beautiful city, this man not withstanding.

Born today:

1811    US author Harriet Beecher Stowe. The author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin said “The obstinacy of cleverness and reason is nothing to the obstinacy of folly and inanity”. Harriet, shut the hell up and go the hell away.

1928    Argentine revolutionary Che Guevara. He said “Silence is just another way of continuing an argument.” I think Che knew my third ex-wife.

1961    English singer (of a sort) Boy George. He said “Comparing Madonna to Marilyn Monroe (nee Norma Jean Baker) is like comparing Raquel Welch to the back of a bus.” I think Boy George knew my second ex-wife.

1998    US actress/model Yasmine Bleeth. She said “My ultimate fantasy is watching QVC with credit card in hand, making love and eating cheesecake, someone else’s credit card of course.” I think Yasmine knew all of my ex-wives.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow