Daily history

Good morning,


Quote of the day:

“Take this kiss upon the brow!

And, in parting with you now,

This much let me avow-

You are not wrong who deem

That my days have been a dream;

Yet if hope has flown away

In a night, or in a day,

In a vision or in none,

Is it therefore less gone?

All we see or seem

Is but a dream within a dream.”

        Edgar Allen Poe

I don’t know if y’all know about this but Michael Vick is back in the news. It seems that Michael and his entourage decided to go to a Virginia Beach night club to celebrate Michael’s birthday. Included in his entourage was a couple of guys that was involved with Michael in an illegal dog fighting/breeding organization that Vick went to jail for. That night there was a shooting outside the club. According to Vick and many witnesses Vick had already left the club when the shooting occurred. I certainly hope so. Surely no one is so stupid as get involved in a shooting while on probation…but on second thought…

I cashed in my Father’s Day present (gift certificate from Amazon) and bought two books and three movies. The two books were about the history of the Comanches in central and northern Texas. In the 1880’s the Comanches were acknowledged by military experts worldwide as being the finest light cavalry in the world. Their primary leader was Quanah Parker, a half breed. His mother was a white woman that had been captured and spent 25 years with the Comanches. She bore her husband three children, one of which was Quanah. She was captured by the US Cavalry and sent back to her family. She strenuously objected to leaving her native family but was taken anyway. Just a few months later she was dead. She refused to eat and starved to death.

The second book is vignettes about others that were captured by the Indians and kept as their own.

The three movies were “Hurt Locker”, “Invictus” and “Blind side”. One of my daughters said the Hurt Locker disturbed her and she could not watch all of it. I felt the same way with “Deer Hunter” and “Platoon”.

Tropical Storm Alex is approaching hurricane strength and the eye is forecasted to grind ashore about 30 miles south of Brownsville, Texas on Wednesday night or early Thursday morning with winds in the 90’s. The clean-up crews dodged the bullet this time…but it is early in the hurricane season.

In the last few days a man from South Carolina chose to get into the professional Mixed-Martial Arts business. He had been doing it as an amateur and thought he was ready for the pros. In the first round of his debut fight he caught a right cross by his opponent and he suffered a brain hemorrhage and died. There is nothing sporting about MMA, it is just a street fight with gloves on, very small gloves at that.

This date in history June 30

1775    The Continental Congress ratified the Articles of War to be sent to King George III. This was a year before the Declaration of Independence was ratified. The Articles of War begins with the phrase “As his majesty’s most faithful subjects in these colonies”, and it goes on to describe “attempts of the British ministry to carry out the execution, by force of arms, unconstitutional and oppressive acts by British Parliament with taxes on America.” The colonists could not believe that King George III would knowingly allow unfair treatment of his subjects and this was an attempt to notify him of it. This was not a condemnation of King George, but of Parliament. Well, King George not only did not agree with the colonists, he did not even read the Articles of War. With this the Colonists knew they were being raped with the approval and encouragement of King George III. After this, the wrath of the colonists turned from Parliament to King George himself. The Declaration of Independence attacks and accuses King George not Parliament. In the span of 12 months the colonists re-focused their venom on the King alone. All of this was stoked into an inferno in January of 1776 when Thomas Paine published Common Sense and it scathingly called King George everything but a white man and listed many unfair things that he had allowed to happen to the colonists. This was a clear act of treason as the British saw it and they began applying even more harsh pressure on the colonists. It did not work then, nor in 1812 and hopefully never.

1862    We are about half way through the so-called Battle of the Seven Days. On this day the Battle of White Oak Swamp occurred. CSA General Robert E. Lee decided that the time has come to apply the coup de grace to the Army of the Potomac that is in full retreat with Lee hounding their every step. Lee gave a plan of attack to his three Corp commanders in which the Army of the Potomac would be attacked from three different directions at once. It was a complicated plan and required precise timing. After the attack began, inexplicably, CSA General “Stonewall” Jackson allowed his attack to stall at the edge of the swamp which allowed the Union troops being under attack by him to reinforce other troops that were being overwhelmed. No one has ever figured out to this day what Jackson was thinking. Anyway, this action also allowed the Army of the Potomac to go to the closet high ground and dig in……Malvern Hill. But that is another story.

1981    Glen Godwin got into an argument with a known drug dealer named Kim LeValley. In his rage Godwin stomped, beat, choked and stabbed him 28 times. He wasn’t done yet. He took the corpse out onto the desert near Palm Springs, California and using a home made explosive, blows it into confetti. Godwin is caught and sentenced to 25 to life and goes to Soledad Prison. While there he marries Shelly Rose. In 1985 He is transferred from Soledad to Folsom prison. In 1987 he escapes from Folsom through a 300 yard drain pipe that someone had cut the iron bars off the end from the outside. He gets on a raft, floats across the American River to freedom. In 1989 the American authorities receive a message from Mexico they have a man in custody named Stewart Carrera that has the same fingerprints as Glen Godwin. Before they could get him extradited, Godwin killed his cellmate and escapes. In 1996 Godwin is put on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list and he and Shelly are featured on the TV show “America’s Most Wanted.” Someone recognized Shelly on the TV show as living in Dallas and she is arrested. But Shelly had divorced Glen long ago and had remarried. She had no idea where Glen was. And no one else does either because he is still at large to this day.

1876    On this day the 140 ft stern wheeler river boat “Far West” arrived on the Little Big Horn River and begins taking aboard the wounded troopers from the infamous battle. Remember, there were three units of US cavalry at that battle. It was only Custer’s unit that was annihilated. Even though the other two units suffered horrendous casualties, there were survivors. The pilot of the “Far West” was the best at the time in Grant Marsh. The boat only drew 20 inches of water when fully loaded and therefore could navigate a long way up streams and rivers before running out of water. Marsh took the wounded troopers to Fort Abraham Lincoln, North Dakota. There is little doubt that the easy ride on the boat saved many of the wounded. A ride in a wagon to the fort would have been fatal to many of them.

1520    On this day the Aztecs in the capitol of Tenochtitlan led by their king Montezuma II finally get fed up with the Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortez and his troops and revolt. First of all, Tenochtitlan is an island in the middle of a huge lake with a man made causeway to the mainland. It was located approximately where Mexico City is today. Anyway, the Aztecs seal off the causeway making Cortez and company have to fight their way out by boat. Cortez loses many troops when the boats carrying the troops along with an overload of gold booty each, capsize and sink, drowning most of them as they are in armor. Cortez escaped, but Montezuma is killed. No one knows if it was the Spanish or the Aztecs that killed him but the next day Montezuma’s brother assumes the crown. Eventually, Cortez returns and with the help of other tribes retook the city. The other tribes resented the hated Aztecs because they subjugated them and required tribute from them all, even all the way to present day Nicaragua.

Births and deaths:

1685    English writer John Gay is born. He said “Some men are born to lie, and women to believe them.” I can see in my minds eye all of you women out there nodding your heads in agreement.

1884    French writer Georges Duhamel is born. He said “It is always brave to say what others are thinking.” George must have been a politician also.

1917    US singer Lena Horne is born. She said “It is ill-becoming for an old broad to sing about how much she wants it. But occasionally we do.” Lena has her finger on the pulse of womankind.

1984    US writer Lillian Hellman died. When asked what she thought of the beauty of actress Norma Shearer she said “She has a face unclouded by thought.” Lillian had a long and tumultuous relationship with famous writer Dashiell Hammett. Both were extremely talented. I guess that was the problem.

2003    US comedian Buddy Hackett died. He said “Golf is more fun that suddenly appearing naked to a strange crowd, but not by much.” I read a story about him playing in a golf tournament and he had knocked his ball in deep rough with grass over his head. He went in after the ball and later comes running out naked screaming “Run, Locusts, Locusts”. He was a funny guy.

Quotable quotes:

“Work is the curse of the drinking crowd.”

                         Oscar Wilde

“Smoking kills…If you are killed you have lost an important part of your life”

                      Professional moron, Brooke Shields

“You can tell German beer from vinegar by reading the label.”

                                    Mark Twain

“Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.”

                          Ben Franklin (one of my heroes)

“Without question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is beer. Some would say the wheel, but it does not go near as well with pizza.”

                                     Dave Barry

“People who drink “light” beer do not enjoy the taste of beer, they just enjoy peeing.”

                                  Capitol Brewing

“An alcoholic is someone you don’t like that drinks more than you”.

                                   Dylan Thomas

“If there is no God, who pops up the next Kleenex?”

                                    Art Hoppe

“Hearing nuns’ confession is like being stoned to death with popcorn.”

                                Bishop Fulton Sheen

“If there is no hell, a good many preachers are receiving money under false pretenses.”

                                   Billy Sunday

And finally,

“Thank God I am an atheist.” Luis Brunel. Shut up, Luis.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow