Good morning,
Quote of the day:
“The metric system never caught on in the United States except for the popularity of the 9 millimeter bullet.”
Dave Barry
A good friend of mine said that she will not continue to attend the “Four O’clock” club meetings at our new venue. I asked why and she said that the owners of the bar have not bought her favorite type of whiskey yet. I asked her if I understood her correctly; she wanted the bar owner to buy her favorite type whiskey (blended Canadian) and sell it to her at happy hour prices? She said that was correct. I am going to expect the same. I want Maker’s Mark at happy hour prices or I am going to stop going there in spite of some of the best Italian food north of the 35th parallel. After all, I have my pride. Just joking Annie.
A Republican representative hinted that the GOP is approaching having enough support to repeal Obamacare. You know, when we Americans find ourselves in real trouble we forget our squabbles and get down to business. Without question the worst condition this country has ever been in was between 1860 and 1865. Ten of our states seceded from the Union and formed another nation called the Confederacy. Texas already had a Constitution in place and was called the Republic of Texas. They probably would have seceded from the Confederacy sometime in the future had the Confederacy won the War. The same can be said about California. It took a bloody Civil War to resolve this issue but we are still together. There is a man up in Charlotte that vehemently disagrees with my philosophy as we have discussed in the past, but we are still friends.
I saw an obviously ignorant but well known news analyst on a program a few days ago. The moderator pointed out that some of the changes that he suggests are clearly a violation of several Bill of Rights Amendments and promotes the change from a democratic republic form of government that we now have as described in the US Constitution. The US Constitution and the Declaration of Independence are the two most important documents in the history of western man. This jackass said that the Constitution was out of date and hard to understand and should be abolished and another form of government examined. I cannot tell you how outraged I was. I had to go take another high blood pressure pill and another Lexapro. I thought I had control of my temper a lot better lately, I was wrong. A group of very intelligent men and women got together and hammered out a way to live in freedom and guaranteed it with the Bill of Rights and this jackass want to change it because it is adverse to what he wants. I will tell y’all something in metaphor. This great ship of State known as The United States was carved out of the bones of the bones of our ancestors and is afloat on a sea of their blood from the deep past and present day military heroes that die every day in YOUR behalf to preserve YOUR freedom. All of this is glued together with a love and faith of our founding fathers and the faith and love we have for each other. We all sail along on this ship designed by Thomas Jefferson and friends. Then some arrogant bastard says that the Constitution should be trashed. He should go read any Medal of Honor citation and find out what being an American is all about because he certainly is not. The Constitution and the Declaration of Independence are the most treasured documents ever written and will stay that way as long as this old, grey-haired Patriot is alive. It makes me teary eyed to think on it. To all that are interested, I am armed to the teeth and I am not bashful.
I was watching TV about how dangerous moose can be, especially during the rut and right after giving birth. I got to thinking about the scariest situations I have ever been in. All of them involve either hunting or fishing. Here they are: (1) I was wading across a bunch of muskeg (swamp) up in Alaska headed toward a creek that was full of trout. I was wearing hip waders and carrying an 8 foot fly rod and a fly box. I DID NOT have a weapon (.357 Mag. or better) on me like the laws of the state dictate. I got about half way to the creek when a cow moose stormed out of the woods to my left and headed right toward me. She could have killed me with one stroke of her hooves. But I was not going down without a fight so I waved my fly rod at her and called her bad names. I could not stomp around too much because the water in the muskeg was only about two inched below the tops of my boots. It I had started running, my boots would have filled up and I would have probably drowned or fell and the moose would have stomped me into Tapioca. So I did the best that I could, I stood my ground and yelled at the top of my lungs and finally I hooked my rod together to its full eight feet and waved it with a fly known as a Royal Coachman tied at the end of the fly line leader. She finally stopped about 20 yards away and retreated to the woods. I am sure she had a calf hidden somewhere close. I don’t know why she stopped. She had me, but on second thought she must have been afraid of the Royal Coachman. I will tell some more adventures later.
This date in history January 4
1999 On this date for the first time since Charlemagne in the 10th century most of Europe adopts a common currency and named it the “Euro”. The only nations that refused to go along were Great Britain and Denmark. At first it was only used in internal banking and stock and bonds then they came out with paper and coin currency. When I was in Europe in ’04 the Euro was worth about $1.20. The value of the Euro varies a lot but right now it is about the same as it was in ’04.
1964 On this date a young lady named Mary Sullivan is found dead in her Boston apartment raped and strangled. There was a business card leaning against her foot with the words “Happy New Year” written on it. This girl was the last victim of the serial killer Albert DeSalvo also known as “The Boston Strangler”. Mary was his 13th victim. Albert started a life of crime at an early age and there was a reason for it. His father would bring prostitutes home and have sex with her in front of the entire family and then he would finish off the evening by beating the hell out of each and every one of them. His father sold little Albert and two of his sisters to become farm laborers. Albert acquired several nicknames. When very young he would knock on doors and proclaim himself as representative of a modeling agency and that he needed to take some “measurements” and then crudely fondle them. The cops labeled him “Measuring Man” and sent him to the slammer for a year. When he got out he kicked it up a notch and began to break into apartments, tie up and rape any women he ran across. He was always in a green handyman’s coveralls so the cops named him “Green Man”. In 1962 he began killing women after raping them. He always left a “signature”. He tied whatever he used to strangle his victims into a bow. In 1964 for reasons known only to Albert, he raped a woman but did not kill her and the cops were on his ass like a swarm of locusts and threw him in jail. Albert told his cellmate about his killings and his cellmate told the cops. The famous lawyer (and Marine Captain) F. Lee Bailey took Albert’s case and through a series of brilliant negotiations with the Boston District Attorney he got Albert’s case condensed to just the rapes he committed while in his “Green Man” phase. These charges would put Albert away for life without parole instead of death. It didn’t help though, Albert had a shank (homemade knife) driven into his liver and killed by another inmate in the Walpole Prison in 1973. What goes around......
1847 On this date, when within a hairs breadth of bankruptcy, Samuel Colt gets a contract to sell 1,000 of his .44 caliber revolvers to the US army. During this time handguns were not very popular in America because they were expensive and inaccurate. There was one exception and that was dueling pistols. In this formalized ceremony very well made and ornate pistols were used but again very expensive and inaccurate due to them being smoothbores. Most people preferred knives for personal protection especially the deadly Bowie knife. Mr. Colt’s .44’s had rifled barrels making them much more accurate but cost was still a problem. The .44 also was a revolver meaning it could be preloaded with 5 or 6 shots and be fired in rapid succession whereas guns like the dueling pistols had to be reloaded after every shot as did many of the rifles of the day. Anyway, Mr. Colt’s .44 proved to be very popular with the US troops and they made several more orders which allowed Colt to gather the advice of other industrialists like Eli Whitney and other inventors who helped him get a production line going and helped him design interchangeable parts which vastly lowered the price of his weapons. Although never really cheap, by 1850 the cost had reached a point that it could be afforded by many Americans that were headed west to settle new lands. Between 1860 and 1880 he sold nearly 270,000 pistols to the pioneers.
1965 On this date the giant broadcasting company CBS bought the Fender Guitar and Amplifier Company from the ailing Leo Fender. In 1940 Fender starting manufacturing sweet-singing Telecaster and Stratocaster guitars, along with a large variety of amplifiers and kick-ass bass guitars. Fender felt he had to get rid of the business because of failing health. CBS held onto Fender until 1985 when they decided to divest themselves of any non-broadcasting entity. The company was bought by a small group of employees and a few investors led by William Schultz. They still have some of the best “axes” out there.
Born today:
1896 US Senator Everett Dirksen. He said “I am a man of fixed and unbending principles, the first of which is to remain flexible at all times.” It was also Everett that said “In the Senate we spend a million here and a million there but sometimes we get into real money.”
1922 US journalist Phyllis Batelle. She said “A broken heart is what makes life so wonderful five years later, when you meet him in an elevator and he is fat, bald and smoking a cigar and says “Long time, no see”.
1930 US football coach Don Shula. He said “Luck is a big part of football. Not having a good quarterback is bad luck.” Shula used to be the head coach with the Miami Dolphins.
1937 US actress Dyan Cannon. After meeting Albert Einstein she said “He made me think differently....besides his smile made my tummy warm.” Dyan was Johnny Carson’s girl friend when he was between wives.
Died today:
1960 French writer Albert Camus. He said “People do not realize that some people struggle mightily just to remain normal.” I know some of these people.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
No comments:
Post a Comment