Daily history

Good morning,


Quote of the day:

“Go for it today. The future is promised to no one.”

                    William Dyer

That gadabout Governor of South Carolina Mark Sanford has once again gone on vacation without informing Lieutenant Governor Andre’ Bauer. It has been confirmed that he spent two days with his four sons over Father’s Day on Sullivan’s Island, SC. The Governor will be back in his office on Tuesday. His staff claims that he was never out of touch with his office. There was a small change this time. He was accompanied by a couple of SLED agents at the behest of SLED Commander Reggie Lloyd. To those that are unaware, SLED is the law enforcement arm of the Attorney General of South Carolina. The latest rumor on the street is that the reason the Governor went to Argentina last year come hell or high water was that his “soul mate” was delivering their child that week. A continuation of this saga is that Sanford moved his “soul mate” and their child to the vicinity of Columbia, South Carolina as soon as the child was old enough. Like I say, this is just rumor but it would explain a lot of things. By the way, on this last vacation the Governor’s location, other than Sullivan’s Island to see his son’s, is unknown…except to the SLED agents.

Last Thursday the ex-mayor of North Charleston, South Carolina Bobby Kinard had convinced himself that his wife was cheating on him. He retrieved his sidearm and went to her apartment. The man that Bobby thought was his wife’s paramour was there and Bobby shot him. The man was just wounded but when a police car pulled up outside Bobby took his own life. Bobby’s wife said that he had been suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome from his days as a helicopter door gunner in Vietnam. His depression was so severe lately that he was seeing a psychiatrist and taking powerful anti-depressants. He talked frequently about being in combat but to make matters worse, his son is in a combat unit in Afghanistan. His wife claims that the man Bobby wounded was just a friend. At one point in my life I was accused by a very jealous husband of being the lover of his wife. They were going through a very bitter divorce at the time. I was not even a friend of this woman much less a lover but I could have ended up very dead. I just kept a lot of space between me and that man and woman until everything calmed down. No, I did not pursue her even then; I was not going to take a chance.

In yesterday’s lesson I stated that Andrea Yates had murdered three of her children. That was incorrect; she had murdered all five of her children. Thanks for keeping tabs on me Carol.

As most of y’all know some of the shrimpers and oystermen on the Gulf Coast have been reimbursed by BP (British Petroleum) for income lost due to the oil leak in the Gulf. Your friend and mine, the Internal Revenue Service is looking into seeking income tax on those awards. These guys used the net income on past income tax returns as the basis for their money reimbursement requests and now the IRS wants a part of what is essentially their net income. What the hell is America coming to?

There is a restaurant in Gulf Shores, Alabama named “Lulu’s”. The owner is Lucy Buffett who has a famous brother named Jimmy. Lucy announced Tuesday that she is working up a free concert on the beach starring Jimmy Buffet and the Coral Reefers Band and Kenny Chesney and the Zac Brown Band. The concert is planned for July 1 and the 35,000 free tickets go up for grabs on Wednesday, June 24. The tourist industry in Gulf Shores is suffering because of the oil spill and Lucy and her brother want to encourage people to come anyway. Jimmy and Lucy are Mobile, Alabama natives but spent many, many hours on the beach at Gulf Shores and the Flora-Bama Lounge in particular. I wonder how long those tickets will last.

This date in history June 23

1996    On this date John Gotti, better known as the “The Teflon Don”, is sentenced to life without parole on a RICO charge. A RICO charge is about racketeering but Gotti was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and extortion. He had been arrested and put on trial and had been acquitted many times thus the nickname “Teflon Don”. Gotti was raised on the mean streets of Brooklyn, New York and became a member on organized crime at an early age. He was an enforcer or one who collected money due the organization by what ever means it took, including murder. He worked his way up to a “capo” or a captain which was third in line to the “Don” or the head of the organization. Gotti was an ambitious devil and decided that the wanted to be the head of his organization which was a branch of the Gambino crime family. The leader of Gotti’s group was Paul “Big Pauli” Castellano. Castellano was a tall man with salt and pepper wavy hair. After a while Gotti decided that he had reached a point where he needed to take over the leadership so he did the honorable thing. He sent three assassins to Sparks Steak House in Brooklyn and awaited the arrival of Big Pauli who was known to be coming there for supper. Sure enough Big Pauli and the driver of his limo Anthony “Fat Tony” Bilotti arrive and the assassins open up with a hailstorm of automatic gunfire and Big Pauli and Fat Tony are dead before they hit the sidewalk. The next day began the reign of John Gotti. Gotti died a horrible death in prison from cancer of the throat. God works in mysterious ways.

1959    Back in 1930 a brilliant but young scientist in Germany name Klaus Fuchs joins the German Communist Party. In 1934 Klaus decides that he had better get the hell out of Germany because of the rise of the Nazi Party which was the dead set enemy of Communists. So he moves to London and is soon recognized for the brilliant scientist that he was. A few years later England and the United States began testing the waters for a nuclear weapon. England hired Fuchs in spite of his Communist background and used him as a research scientist for a nuclear project. Fuchs did not disappoint and proved to be very knowledgeable. The English sent Fuchs to the United States and was absorbed into the Manhattan Project and in fact he joined the other scientists at Los Alamos, New Mexico where the first actual nuclear device was invented and detonated. Little did anyone know that Fuchs had already contacted a Soviet spy and began feeding his information on the progress of America’s attempt at a nuclear weapon. In fact he sent this spy the actual blueprint of “Fat Man” or the bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki. It was after the capture of Fuchs and the understanding of how much damaging information had been passed to the Russians that Harry Truman authorized the research into a H-bomb, or a bomb that was a thousand times more powerful that the Hiroshima bomb. The first one of these was detonated in 1952. Anyway, Fuch was found out and convicted and went to prison. He was released on this date for good behavior after just 12 years. They could not try him for treason because neither England nor the United States was at war with Russia at the time of the acts of espionage. Fuch immediately went to Communist East Germany where he lived out his days. He died in 1988, the chicken-shit bastard that he was.

1776    Earlier England had called sea Captain Peter Parker out of a ten year retirement and tasked him with capturing Charleston, South Carolina and providing support to the Loyalists. On this date Captain Parker and his armada approached Charleston and opened fire on Sullivan’s Island embrasures. Well, the fortifications were made with Palmetto logs that are so soft that the naval artillery shells just buried into the logs and did not explode doing little or no damage. Then the commander of the forces on Sullivan’s Island, Colonel William Moultrie, directed a very accurate and efficient return barrage that did tremendous damage to Parker’s ships especially his flagship the HMS Bristol. Parker himself was injured in both legs and ended up with his pants removed so his wounds could be treated. To add insult to injury the Royal Governor William Campbell who was also on the Bristol, was killed along with 261 more English sailors. The HMS Sphinx had its bowsprit shot away and the HMS Actaeon ran aground right in front of Moultrie’s deadly guns and was shot into kindling. Captain Parker decided to get is young ass out of range of Moultrie’s death dealing ordinance and the battle was ended. The Patriots suffered six with minor injuries.

1862    Earlier the commander of the Army of the Potomac, US General George McClellan, had been transporting his army down the Chesapeake and disembarking them on the end of the James River peninsula in the hope of attacking Richmond from the southeast. This jackass had his army in place since June 1 and had been moving slowly and timidly ever since. CSA General Robert E. Lee had been watching and wondering the whole time wondering what McClellan had in mind. On this date General Lee calls a conference with his Corp commanders. Lee had decided that he was tired of waiting on McClellan’s first move and mapped out an assault on the Yankee left flank to begin on June 26. Lee had to wait a day or two because the troops of his II Corps were still on the way from the Shenandoah Valley but that Corps commander, CSA General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson was present at the meeting. The attack on the 26th began with the Battle of Mechanicsville which was the first of the series of battles known as the Seven Days. At the end of these battles McClellan turned his ass around, re-boarded the awaiting ships and sailed his young ass back up the Chesapeake Bay to safety. He was a horrible commander, but Lincoln did not have anyone else. He kicked out McClellan and made a desk jockey named General Ambrose Burnsides as commander and he promptly leapt right into a meat grinder trap set by CSA General Robert E. Lee at Fredericksburg and the Army of the Potomac suffered its most ignominious defeat. But that is another story.

1878    In 1822 Martin Sweeney was born somewhere in New Jersey. At the age of 23 he got gold fever and headed west and ended up being a blacksmith on an Apache Indian reservation. Sweeney became absorbed into the Apache lifestyle and gained a great respect for the Apache abilities to survive in the desert when honkies could not. He was asked to be a US Government liaison officer since he had learned the language. Sweeney refused because he found something that held his attention better and that being mining speculation. Along the way Sweeney gained a reputation as a man with a quick temper and an even quicker set of fists. He and a partner named Oliver Boyer bought controlling interest in silver mines near Tombstone, Arizona. On this date, Martin and his partner Oliver, enter into a heated argument. Even though Sweeney was good with his fists he did not pack a gun but Oliver did. The argument reached a fever pitch and eventually Oliver pulled a gun and shot Martin in the chest killing him instantly. Oliver was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Born today:

1876    US writer Irving Cobb. Upon hearing that his boss was sick he said “My God, I hope it is nothing trivial.”

1925    NFL team owner Art Modell. He said “The power and presence of a professional football team in a town is far more important that 30 libraries.”

Shut up, Art.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow