Daily history

Good morning,




Quote of the day:

“He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only

human institution which rejects progress is in the cemetery.”

Harold Wilson



I guess by now all of you know that the last US combat troops are in the process of withdrawal from Iraq. However, there is a major increase in combat personnel in Afghanistan. I used to not have a clear understanding of our mission in either Iraq or Afghanistan but I think I have it figured them out. In Iraq there is very little of the Taliban, even the Iraqis don’t like their tight fisted attitude toward strict adherence to Islamic law. We are in Afghanistan to kill the Taliban. I used to wander around from pillar or post trying to figure out the politics of our presence in Afghanistan. It ain’t politics, y’all, it is war. Kill the enemy.



At the Friday meeting of the “Four o’clock Club” a rather winsome server came in to speak with the bartender. We all knew that she was in law enforcement in the past and someone asked her why she got out. She said that she could not make enough money. There was long pause and one of the guys said “Do you still have your handcuffs and shackles?”



A few days ago a 10 year old boy was out on a fishing pier near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Close by was a couple of men trying to wrestle a fair sized sting ray onto the pier. They succeeded amid a hell of a lot of flopping around by the ray. Suddenly the ray’s stinger flew apart and impelled itself in the stomach of the 10 year old where only a tiny amount of the stinger was showing. Fortunately for the kid, a nurse was close by and persuaded everyone to not try to withdraw the stinger because it is barbed like a fish hook and withdrawal would promote heavy bleeding. The boy was taken to a nearby hospital and the stinger was surgically removed successfully. The doctors said that the stinger had penetrated the boys liver and if the stinger had been backed out he would have bled out in a matter of minutes. That is what happened to Steve Irwin. He was penetrated in the heart and they tried to back it out he bled to death.



Last week 146 combat soldiers from Afghanistan arrived at the Dallas/Fort Worth airport for a little R & R. They were greeted in the airport terminal by a cheering crowd including Dubya and Laura Bush. He did not have to be there. Neither he nor Laura are running for public office. I think he and Laura went there because they are true Patriots, politics notwithstanding.



A few months ago a fight in Saudi Arabia resulted in one man being attacked by a man with a meat cleaver. This man was wounded in the spine and was paralyzed. As you might suspect a Saudi judge began searching for a hospital that would sever the attacker’s spinal column making him paralyzed as well. This judge has had men blinded when they caused the blindness of another and had a man’s teeth removed by a dentist when he had knocked out the teeth of another. Amnesty International is trying their best to rein in this judge from paralyzing the attacker on purpose. He apparently believes in the old mosaic rule of “an eye for an eye” statute.

This date in history August 23

1784 On this date four counties in the state of North Carolina declare their independence from the state and form a new state of Franklin. The state of North Carolina has previously ceded some of the lands in western North Carolina to the United States Congress. The residents in these lands equaling four counties were afraid that Congress would sell these lands to either France or Spain to pay off war debts accumulated during the Revolutionary War. In order to prevent this, the four counties form their own state. They had their own constitution, legislature, courts and president. The president was John Sevier who was a patriot warrior leader during the Revolutionary War. Franklin existed on it’s own for two years but got into financial trouble and offered to sell their lands to Spain. Needless to say the state of North Carolina frowned on the prospect of having a Spanish colony on their border and arrested Sevier. But the real problem with the state of Franklin was that they had no appreciable militia and this information got to the Cherokee, Chickamauga and Chickasaw and raids on frontier villages in the state of Franklin increased exponentially. So the state of Franklin asked to rejoin the state of North Carolina if for no other reason that the protection of the state militia from the Indians. These four counties were absorbed into the state of Tennessee later on.



1861 On this date Allen Pinkerton arrests Rose Greenhow in Washington, DC. Rose was an outspoken supporter of the Confederacy and was without a doubt the leader of a very efficient spy network in the nation’s capitol. Rose was close friends if not more with one of the Senators from Massachusetts and many of his friends. Rose fed information to CSA General P.T.G. Beauregard just before the Battle of 1st Manassas about the deployment of the Union troops commanded by US General Irwin McDowell which resulted in the severe ass-kicking delivered by the Confederates. After the war CSA General Jubal Early testified that the information delivered by Rose was instrumental in the defeat of the US army in more than one engagement. While Rose and her daughter were under house arrest in Washington she was allowed to have visitors which meant that he spy network did not slow down. Pinkerton became very exasperated with Rose and her daughter “Little Rose” and imprisoned her and her daughter in a real prison south of Washington. After a while she and he daughter was released and banned to live in the south until the war was over. Rose went abroad to drum up money for the Confederacy. On one occasion she was on her way back home to Charleston, SC when her ship was encountered by a US blockade ship and was run aground. Rose was washed overboard from her lifeboat and went to the bottom like an anvil because he had many pounds of gold on her person meant for the Confederacy. She died supporting her belief.



1877 Three years before outlaw John Wesley Hardin kills a deputy named Charles Webb in a small town near Austin, Texas. This murder was just one of several murders committed by this monster. If ever there was a “bad seed” on this earth it was John Wesley Hardin. He apparently took delight in killing, especially law enforcement officers. The Texas Rangers tasked their best man, John Armstrong, to find Hardin and bring him to justice. Hardin moved to southeast using and alias and divided his time between Florida and Alabama. The relentless Armstrong discovered his alias and tracked Hardin down to a rail yard in Pensacola, Florida. On this date Armstrong and two of his deputies boarded the rail car that held Hardin and two of his compatriots. The two of Hardin’s compatriots tried to draw their pistols and were shot and killed for their trouble. Hardin had a pistol in a shoulder holster but he got tangled up and Armstrong ran over and knocked Hardin’s brains out with the barrel of his pistol. As you might suspect, Armstrong and his buddies being Texas Rangers had no authority in Florida but Armstrong and company would not be denied. They took the unconscious Hardin off the train and waited until the next train headed west came by and got aboard. They arrived in Texas with Hardin in tow. Hardin was tried and sentenced to life in prison in the Huntsville, Texas prison. He spent 15 years in prison and was paroled. He went to El Paso, Texas and tried to settle down but a deputy sheriff found out who he was and walked up behind him in a bar and blew his brains out at point blank range. The good citizens of El Paso rejoiced.



Born today:



1932 US comedian Mark Russell. He said “I like the scientific theory that the rings around Saturn are composed entirely of lost airline luggage.” Mark is a funny guy.



1933 The governor of California Pete Wilson. When speaking of his adversaries he said “They can kiss my ass, if they can jump that high.” I like his attitude.



1834 US actress Barbara Eden. She said “If gentlemen prefer blondes then I am a blonde that prefers gentlemen.” Barbara had a drop dead good looking body, ya’ll.



1970 US actor River Phoenix. He said “I am having a hard time keeping my head above water in this crazy business.” This young man was a dynamite actor who died of an overdose at the age of 23. What a damned shame.



Died today:



1960 US lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II. He said “If you want to be admitted to the fold of the brotherhood of man, you have to let everyone else in also.” We are already there, Oscar.



1995 German photographer Alfred Eisenstadt. He said “As long as I have a camera in my hand, I have no fear.” Good thought Alfred, but I prefer a .40 caliber Glock automatic.





Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow