Daily history

Good morning,







Quote of the day:


When reviewing The Sex Pistols, critic Joe Strummer said: “They would not recognize the Antichrist if he hit them in the face with a sardine.”






At one point in my life while I was in the Air Force I was chosen to teach a class on “Surviving a Nuclear Attack”. After reading the supplied material I determined that I am not sure that I want to survive a nuclear attack. The “half-life” of U-235 Uranium or weapons grade Plutonium is several lifetimes. “Half-life” is the time it takes for the radioactive material to decrease in toxicity by one half. In case of full scale retaliatory strikes world wide, the atmosphere would be so toxic that it would be unbreathable for centuries. If the minutest amount of the dust is ingested through the mouth or nose it is curtains, sooner or later. That is a possibility in Japan. At the most severely damaged nuclear power plant in Japan that has four reactors, three have experienced explosions and the leakage of radioactive material. The difference is that the fuel used in nuclear power plants are a lot less toxic that weapons grade Uranium or Plutonium. There is a scale used to quantify the severity of a nuclear accident and leakage into the ground water or atmosphere. Three Mile Island was rated a number 3, Chernobyl was rank a number 7 (the most severe ranking). The accident in Japan is a number 6. This means that the area around those reactors will be uninhabitable for at least 30 years for a radius of at least 20 miles. After the Chernobyl explosion and resulting fire, the building was so radioactive that there were no safety suits available that would protect the firemen enough to save their lives but the fire had to be extinguished. The Ukrainian officials told any volunteer firemen that went into that inferno that they would surely die from radiation poisoning but their families would receive unlimited care for the rest of their lives. Enough firemen volunteered and the fire was indeed extinguished. Three weeks later all the volunteer firemen were dead. That, my friends, is grace under fire.






Up in Sharon, SC a 53 year woman did not show up for work and her fellow workers sent someone to her house that she shared with her 47 year old boyfriend for seven years. The doors were locked and no one answered their yells and knocks so they forced their way in. They found both of them sitting on the couch dead as fried chicken with a bullet to the brain. The cops determined that the man capped the woman and turned the weapon on himself. How can things get so bad that a murder/suicide appears to be the only answer? My philosophy is that life is a smorgasbord, try to take a little taste of it all.






I will be going to the local kick-ass jazz club tonight for good music. They also serve kick-ass fine dining food. Both the food and the music will be a real treat. A good friend of mine will be playing trumpet and singing and then she is having minor surgery on Friday that will put her out of circulation for a few weeks but she says it will be worth it.






This date in history March 16






1751 On this date future president James Madison is born on a Virginia plantation. James led a privileged childhood and attended the College of New Jersey (now Princeton) and graduated after only two years. After college in 1771 Madison returned home very ill and it took him until 1776 to sufficiently recover to return to politics where he became a member of the Virginia legislature. James was a drafter of the United States Constitution and was a chronicler of the Constitutional Convention. His notes of the Convention are the most accurate of any records of that immortal meeting. But Madison forbade any of his notes to be made public until all those in attendance had died. It was he, John Jay and Thomas Jefferson that authored The Federalist Papers which foster the idea of a larger government being better capable of the protection of individual rights. The most important of these was Federalist Paper no. 10 authored by Madison alone. James married Dolley Payne Todd who proved to be one of the finest hosts in Washington of all time. While James Madison was Secretary of State under the widowed Thomas Jefferson, it was Dolley that arranged and hosted the White House frivolities in behalf of Jefferson. After resigning from public office he became rector for Thomas Jefferson’s beloved University of Virginia. Later on he became the president of Virginia State Teachers College at Harrisonburg. The college eventually became James Madison University. Madison was yet another man that showed up at the right place in the right time in history with the right skills and determination to contribute to the success of this great experiment in freedom known as the United States of America. We need many more men/women of this caliber.






1985 On this date Associated Press Beirut bureau chief is kidnapped in Beirut, Lebanon. American journalist Terry Anderson was leaving his hotel when he was whisked into a waiting car, blindfolded and taken to the basement of a destroyed house in southern Beirut where other western journalists were being held. Terry stayed in different houses in Beirut until November 2, 1991 when he was released by his Hezbollah captors, meaning 2,455 days wearing a blindfold the whole time. No one to this day knows to what end these journalists were captured. What the hell did Hezbollah want from these journalists and/or their employers? Israel and the other free nations are supposed to negotiate with these jackasses. Negotiate what? There never really said what they wanted in exchange for the journalists. By the way, Terry was one of a very few that got away from these hyenas. The greatest majority were assumed killed and were never seen again. After being released Anderson sued Iran and received several million dollars in recompense. In 2002 wrote a book about his captivity named “Den of Lions.” He ran for Senator from Ohio but was defeated.






1881 On this date on of the most famous gigolos in Los Angeles, California is found shot to death through the right eye. Francisco “Chico” Forster was the most eligible bachelor in the Los Angeles area when he happened into the pool hall owned by Jose Abarta. Jose’s daughter Lastania was singing there. Chico was smitten by this raven haired Latino beauty and began to pay her much attention. On March 14 Lastania was invited to sing at a party given in honor of the outgoing Governor of California, Pio Pico the last Mexican Governor of California. Chico’s father had just tricked a huge chunk of land near San Diego from the unfortunate Pio. In one of her songs, Lastania made fun of Pio and the stupid land deal he made with Chico’s father. Bad feelings began to surface so Chico and Lastania left and went to a fancy hotel. As men will do on occasion, Chico told Lastania that he would marry her if she would have sex with him. Lastania agreed. Afterward Chico left saying he was going to get a ring and a Padre to marry them. As you might guess, he never showed up again. So Lastania and her sister hit the road looking for Chico. They find him at the horse track and gathered his young ass up, put him in a carriage and the three head for a preacher. At one point Chico jumps out of the carriage and begins walking away. Lastania is right behind and tells him to stop because she has a gun. Chico turns around and sure enough, she has a revolver pointed at this head. Chico says “You aren’t going to shoot.......“ Lastania put a .38 caliber bullet through Chico’s right eye killing him instantly. At the trial, Lastania’s lawyer was able to convince the jury that Lastania was in “her time of the month” and as everyone knows, a woman’s blood flow is disrupted during this time and the blood in Lastania’s brain was clogged and she wasn’t thinking clearly. The jury bought it and Lastania was released and immediately disappeared. All you guys out there keep this in mind if some women promises marriage if you will sleep with them, and if betrayed, you cannot shoot them and use a defense of it was my “time of the month”.






1903 One of the most colorful characters in the history of the American west dies. It was Judge Roy Bean of Langtry, Texas. He was the self proclaimed “Law West of the Pecos.” Bean was born somewhere in Kentucky in the 1820’s. In 1847 he and his brother Sam left home and went to Mexico and lived a rogue’s life until he got into an argument with another man and ended up killing him. This forced Bean out of Mexico and he ended up in San Diego. As usual, Bean got into a fight in a bar and ended up killing anther man so he had to skedaddle out of there and ended up in Los Angeles. He got into a fight with a Mexican General over a woman and shot and killed the General. The General had a lot of friends and they took Bean to the closest tree and strung him up. The woman who he had the fight over ran to his rescue and cut him down in the nick of time. He carried the scars from that rope for the rest of his life. Bean decided that California just ain’t the place to be and he moved out into the wilds of New Mexico and Texas. For about 16 years he was a prosperous and legitimate business man in San Antonio. In 1882 he moved to southwest Texas and built his famous bar “Jersey Lilly”. Eventually he founded the town of Langtry, Texas named after the actress Lilly Langtry as was his bar. Bean became a justice of the peace in Langtry and was famous for dispensing justice using common sense rather that the letter of the law. He once fined a dead man for carrying a concealed weapon. But on the down side when a man shot a Chinese rail worker, Bean let him go saying that he could find no law against shooting a Chinaman. Bean fell ill and died in November of 1903, just 10 months before the real Lilly Langtry came by for a visit to his famous saloon.






Born today:






1751 American President James Madison. He said “The truth is that all men of power should be mistrusted.” Right on, James. I learned my lesson with Richard Nixon.






Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow