Daily history

Good morning,


Quote of the day:

Message on an answering machine:

"Hello, this is Phil. If it is really important I will get back to you. If I don't get back to you, you will know why."

Recently deceased Captain Phil Harris of the crab boat Cornelia Marie.

I don’t know if y’all have read it or no but there has been a retired Catholic bishop up in Charlotte that is under investigation for sexually abusing young boys throughout his career. We had the same thing from a Catholic bishop over in Belgium last week. I have been trying to figure out what the hell is going on with those guys. What causes that behavior? The only thing I can figure out is the long gold chain and cross that they all wear. Perhaps some of them are allergic to gold and it affects their demeanor…or the weight of the chain and cross puts undo pressure on the back of the neck and causes a permanent mania. Then all of this theory went to hell when a pastor of a Pentecostal Holiness Church also in Charlotte has been arrested for improperly touching a 15 year old girl. He had hired two girls to clean his house and put a move on one of them which included a caress. At least he put a move on a girl. He gave the phrase “holy roller” a whole new meaning. He mercifully resigned.

A 65 year old man was caught taking photos up women’s dresses in the Wal-Mart up the street. This very lonely man would kneel down and pretend he has looking at something on the bottom shelf and when a woman in either a skirt or dress walked by, he would stick his cell phone under the woman and snap a photo For the life of me I do not understand how this could be considered sensual or sexy. Of course, I have been asked to go to some of the strip joints and always refuse because it would be a waste of time and money. At my age and attitude looking has no effect, I have to be touched. Maybe I am just too blasé. Perhaps there is a really hot lady out there that has not crossed my path yet…perhaps.

I just read something in the Charlotte paper that is somewhat disconcerting. It said that the Air Traffic Controllers were going into training this weekend to learn how to make the air traffic control procedures safer at the Charlotte-Douglas Airport. It seem that the controllers were afraid to report a safety problem because of fear of being chastised or even fired for opening their mouths. The one thing that air traffic control management has failed to realize is that the experts at the safe movement of aircraft on the ground and in the air is the air traffic controllers themselves. One other thing wrong with the system is that the Directorship of the Federal Aviation Administration is and always has been a political plum given to a person that contributed to the incoming president’s successful campaign. His/her knowledge of aviation is incidental. This article hints that the air traffic controllers are ill-trained and not proficient. When I was in that business I trained several air traffic controller and I can assure you that they knew what they were doing when I “signed them off” as being able to do the job without supervision. That normally took 1 ½ to 2 years for a controller fresh out of air traffic control school. I don’t know what is going on in Charlotte but it is scary, they are supposed to be at the journeyman level to work there. It is a pretty busy airport.

This date in history July 14

1099    A few years earlier Jerusalem was under the control of the Islamic rulers and the Christians were treated severely. They were treated so badly that Pope Urban II sent word out to Christian world that Jerusalem needed to be in the hands of Christians and ordered a crusade. His request was immediately answered and a large mob of ragged European paupers headed east. They arrived at Constantinople and were promptly annihilated by the irascible Seljuk Turks. The next army of Europeans was professional soldiers including infantry and mounted knights. They were lead by Raymond of Toulouse, Godfrey of Boullion, Robert of Flanders and Bohemond of Otranto. They headed up 25,000 infantry and 4,000 mounted knights and were a force to be dealt with by anyone. The Crusaders captured the Turkish city of Nicea and then met and defeated a massive army of Seljuk Turks at Dorylaeum. From there they went to the important city of Antioch and began a siege. They fought off a series of attacks by the Turks to relieve the city and finally they gained entrance. The good Christians went on an orgy of murder and killing of the Moslem and Jews. It was reported that five soldiers in rotation beheaded people with broadswords for two weeks in a row, day and night. Of course they said their prayers before eating and before going to sleep. The entire city was taken with the exception of a stone citadel that was acknowledged to be impregnable. A few days later yet another massive army of Turks showed up and they are also defeated. When this occurred the occupants of the citadel surrendered and were massacred for their trouble. I am telling y’all, the Christians took no prisoners. After they rested and reorganized for a few months they set out for their real target, Moslem held Jerusalem. After arriving at Jerusalem they built three gigantic siege towers and began an attack. The Christians eventually were able to fight their way into the city and resumed their usual behavior in slaughtering the Moslem and Jews wholesale. On this date, Jerusalem was considered under the control of the Christian army. A few weeks later a massive Egyptian army showed up and tried to re-take Jerusalem but received the mother of all ass-kickings by an outnumbered Christian army. In order to prevent further bloodshed, five small Christian states were founded, but the entire area was under control of the leaders of the Crusades.

1966    On this date an animal named Richard Speck broke into a group residence in Chicago. All of the residences were women, mostly student nurses. Speck chose to either strangle or stab to death eight of them on this night from hell. Oh, I forgot to mention that he raped them all too. Only one girl survived by sliding under a bed and remained undetected. Speck had lost count of how many he had killed and that is how the girl under bed survived. Speck was a petty criminal alcoholic and had been arrested 20 times before he was 25 years old, in fact he had “Born to Raise Hell” tattooed on his left forearm. After a night of drinking heavily in several Chicago bars he went to the dormitory for student nurses at the South Chicago Community Hospital and broke in. He produced a gun and ordered the first three women he met into a bathroom and tied them all up with strips of bed sheets. He took his time with each and every one of them and when more students began arriving he did the same to them. He left sometime after midnight with eight bodies lying about. At 6:00a the girl under the bed crawled out and started screaming for help out the window. The police came and with the girls description and a fingerprint found on the scene Speck was arrested two weeks later at a flop house. He had tried to commit suicide by slashing his wrists but had failed. He was tried and convicted of murder and sentenced to death but the Supreme Court had disallowed the death penalty at that time and he was sentenced to 400 years. He died in prison in 1991. As I have said in the past, if I could specify the penalty for such acts, I promise you crimes such as this would go downward precipitously. By the way, I wonder where Richard Speck is today.

1882    On this date the famous gunman Johnny Ringo is found dead in Turkey Creek near Tombstone, Arizona. Ringo was born somewhere in Indiana but moved to Texas at the age of 19. It was obvious that Johnny was a man of letters. He was very well read and spoken but no one knows where or how he was educated. The down side was along with his panache he was quick witted as well as quick tempered. Johnny was also a lover of the sauce and spent many a night in a grey fog like many of us have. Johnny was not a participant in the legendary gunfight at the OK corral, he did call out Doc Holliday into the street but the nearby citizenry disarmed both of them. Ringo found out that his family had moved to San Jose, California and went for a visit. His family gave him the cold shoulder which hurt Johnny deeply. He came back to Tombstone even tenser. He shot one man for refusing to have a drink with him but escaped prosecution somehow. Anyway, the coroner who examined Johnny reported his death as a suicide because he was depressed about the relationship with his family. But the citizens of Tombstone felt it was Johnny’s partner “Buckskin” Leslie that had got into an argument and Leslie had ambushed Johnny. But a few years later Wyatt Earp said it was he that had capped Johnny. We will never know where the truth lies.

Born today:

1888    US writer Kathleen Norris. She said “In spite of the cost of living, it is still popular.” Kathleen has a droll sense of humor.

1928    US writer Anita Brookner. She said “A man of such obvious and exemplary charm must be a liar.” Anita, think about Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Boxer, Pam Schroeder and many, many other female deceivers. Liars have no gender.

Died today:

1896    French writer Edmond de Goncourt. He said “The world needs barbarism every four or five hundred years to bring it back to life. If not it will suffocate from civilization.” Hey Edmond, we may be closer than you think.

1953    French writer Helaire Belloc. He said “When I am dead, I hope it may be said, His sins were scarlet, but his books were read.” Helaire, shut up.

1991    Philadelphia mayor Frank Rizzo. He said “The streets of Philadelphia are safe. It is the people that make them dangerous.” Frank, you shut up, too.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow