Daily history

Good morning,




Quote of the day:

“The reason people find it so hard to be happy is that they see the past better than it was, the present worse than it is, and the future less resolved that it will be.”

                                     Marcel Pagnol



Some of you know about the Albert Haynesworth saga and some of you don’t. Albert is an all-pro defensive lineman in the NFL. Last year his contract was bought by the Washington Redskins whose head coach is Mike Shanahan. Albert really did not want to go to Washington and began a series of obnoxious behaviors. He did not show up at mandatory camps in pre-season. He feigned sickness during practice and finally refused to play defense unless it was an obvious passing situation. He also refused to talk with Shanahan. On Tuesday he was suspended without pay for the rest of the season for “Conduct detrimental to the team.” This will cost him about $3.5 million. The Redskins bought his contract for $100 million, if you can believe that. He received his first installment of $15 million earlier this year. There is little doubt that the Redskins have an escape clause that allows them to back out of any contract if the player does not perform. My advice to the Redskins: Kick that obnoxious bastard to the curb and forget about it. A candidate for the AGCUS award.



I had planned to fly to Key West for a few weeks to avoid the ice box weather that is on the way. The TSA agents want me to come to the airport two hours early because their body scanner will not cover my entire torso in one shot, it will take at least two, and a body search just might be toxic, just joking.



The US Senate has voted unanimously to impeach a Federal judge from Louisiana. There are four charges against him and the first charge was upheld meaning the judge will lose his seat on the bench and will lose his pension also. This judge was accepting gifts, fancy dinners and fishing trips financed by the attorneys practicing in his courtroom. This judge is also a candidate for an AGCUS award.



Here is another candidate. 33 year old Tony Christie was arrested. Tony is the basketball coach at Daniel High School over near Clemson/Anderson, SC. It seems that he had a 16 year old girl that was his teaching assistant and he chose to stroke her on the butt and put his hand down the front of her blouse. The girl resisted and eventually ran out of the room. When she went home and her mother and father noticed a change in her demeanor for the next few days. She cried for no apparent reason and did not want to go to school. They finally found out what was wrong with her and called the cops. This jackass coach played on the Clemson basketball team.



This date in history December 9





1775   Earlier the British governor of Virginia John Murray, also known as Lord Dunsmore, was run out of his office in Williamsburg, Virginia by a contingent of Patriots. Lord Dunsmore hauled ass to Norfolk which was primarily Tory (loyal to England) territory. Dunsmore knew the Patriots would come after him so he felt it prudent to raise an army but he did it in an unorthodox way. He put out a notice that any slave of a Patriot that came to his aid and joined the army he was forming would be freed. He ended up with an army of 800 slaves and 300 British redcoats that became known as the “Ethiopian Brigade”. The slave owners, both Patriot and Loyalist, were not pleased with the good governor freeing slaves for whatever reason. It set a bad precedent and he did not have the power to do such a thing. So the slave owners sent reinforcements to the army of the Patriots that were after Dunsmore. Dunsmore was sure that he had enough troops to defeat any Patriot army. He was wrong. When the eventual confrontation occurred, Dunsmore’s troops were severely outnumbered and soon after the battle was joined Dunsmore ran like a rabbit and got aboard his ship “Otter” anchored in the bay. There were only three hundred survivors of the Ethiopian Brigade and they ran and got aboard the Otter also. They were not there very long because of an outbreak of smallpox which killed most of them including John Murray, also known as Lord Dunsmore.



1950   On this date British authorities arrest a man named Harry Gold. Good old Harry was a “mule” that carried atomic secrets from a Russian spy working at the super secret American Los Alamos Laboratories where the first Atomic bomb was assembled. The spy was named Klaus Fuchs, a brilliant scientist but a dedicated Russian sympathizer. So Good old Klaus was arrested by English authorities and he rolled on yet another worker at Los Alamos named David Greenglass. Greenglass rolled on the people that ran the spy network and they were American scientists Ethel and Julius Rosenberg. Everybody got extended jail terms except the Rosenbergs. These traitors to their country got the death penalty. Both went to meet their maker medium rare courtesy of “Old Sparky” the electric chair. I wish I would have been there singing and dancing to the song “I used to know You Were Around Because of the Garlic on Your Breath, but Now that you have Gone Away So Have Gnats and Flies.”



1981   On this date Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner is found dead on the city streets and black political activist Mumia Abu-Jamal lying nearby severely wounded. It seems that Mumia was riding around in Philadelphia late at night in a cab when he spotted his brother engaged in a fight with Officer Faulkner. Mumia jumps out of the cab and tries to intervene by pulling out a pistol at the same time. Apparently Faulkner had time to unholster his weapon also and the two exchanged gunfire. Faulkner was mortally wounded but Mamia was seriously wounded but not fatally. Mamia is put on trial for the first degree murder of Officer Faulkner even though the actual circumstances were not really known. Anyway the prosecution used their peremptory challenge and put 10 white people and only two blacks on the jury in a city that is 43% black. The trial was held only two months after the gunfight and Mamia was no where near well enough to answer any question much less help his attorney ask any questions. As you might suspect, he was convicted and is serving a prison term as we speak. I usually am not easy on crime but this case appears to be a rush to judgment.



1940   On this date a British army of two divisions, half of them from India, with the strength of 30,000 troops and 275 tanks begin an assault on a five division Italian army consisting of 80,000 troop and 120 tanks. Italy had declared war on England in March right after joining with Hitler in the Axis. The prime purpose of the English army was to prevent the Italians from taking control of the Suez Canal. Very soon after the battle was joined, the British found a safe route through and around the Italian mine fields for their tanks and quickly surrounded the Italians. Two days later the Italians surrendered. Needless to say, Hitler was furious. Soon after that, the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini convinced Hitler that his army could conquer Greece. Hitler warned that any country that is fighting on its own soil is twice as ferocious as otherwise. Mussolini blew it off and invaded Greece. Soon thereafter he found his army surrounded on three sides with their young asses backed up to the sea and would have been annihilated had it not been for Hitler sending in a division of paratroopers to bail the Italians out. The Italians were the absolute worst fighting force during World War II and were a thorn in the side of Hitler.



Born today:



1608   English writer John Milton. He said “It is not miserable to be blind, it is miserable to no be incapable of enduring blindness.” John gave us “Paradise Lost” and “Paradise Regained” two books that are beacons in the literary world.



1848   US writer Joel Chandler Harris. He gave us the “Uncle Remus” tales and sayings, one of which was “Watch out when you are getting all you want, the fattening of a hog ain’t luck.” Somehow that reminds me of Rosie O’Donnell.



1895   Spanish communist leader Delores Ibarruri. She said “It is better to die on your feet that to live on you knees.” She was not the first to say that, it was also said by Leonidas, the commander of the Spartans at Thermopylae. But I guess neither Leonidas nor Delores knew Monica Lewinsky.



1904   US writer Louis Kronenberger. When describing a recent date he said “That woman ate so many clams that her stomach rose and fell with the tide.” That is not as bad as seeing someone pull a chair up to the salad bar. I saw that happen. He was from Alabama.



1922   US comedian Redd Foxx. He said “All of those health nuts out there are going to feel pretty damn stupid one day when they are lying in a hospital bed dying of nothing”.



1911 US actor Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. He said “I was telling the Queen just the other day how much I hate name dropping.” Shut up, Doug.



Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow