Daily history

Good morning,






Quote of the day:


When asked about Osama Bin Ladin he said “Osama is either alive and well, alive and not too well, or not alive.”


                            Donald Rumsfeld


                    Donald, you are a dumb ass.






About a year ago Rodell Vereen from Longs, South Carolina was caught in the act of having sex with one of the horses in the Lazy B stable owned by Barbara Kelsey. Barbara suspected that something was afoot and had a surveillance camera installed. On one occasion she saw something going on in the stable and Barbara step out from hiding with a shotgun and held Rodell (who was mounted on one of her horses) at bay until cops arrived. Rodell got 16 months in the joint for this crime. He was released on parole two days ago. All of y'all with good looking horses beware. There was no mention as to whether the sex was consensual or not. It is suspected that the horse was an Arabian mare with very shapely hindquarters and a promiscuous attitude.






A few days ago a 73 year old man down in Clinton, SC finished fabricating a home made single place airplane. He did a taxi test a few times to see if all the engine controls worked. Finally he decided to make a short test flight to see if the flight controls worked. His 68 year old wife was close by and took movies of the take-off from one of his pastures which was successful. After reaching about 50 feet in the air one of the wings clipped a small tree and the plane crashed to the ground. His wife ran to the wreck and found her husband face down in the wreckage unconscious and pulled him free. The EMS crew arrived on site and hurried the pilot to the hospital but it was too late, he died. His wife stated that the engine was running perfectly right up to the point of the crash. The pilot was experienced so there is no telling what caused that misjudgment. What a shame, a man dies fulfilling his life's dream.






A few days ago I told y'all about a young woman that chastised me about the Confederate battle flag being displayed on the South Carolina state capitol grounds in Columbia and explained why this, and many other events in the history of our great nation, should not be belittled. This lady was from Vermont. I could not help myself but to ask her if she knew the history of Vermont and she admitted that she did not so I gave her an ad hoc history lesson. Very briefly here it is. From the very beginning of the states in New England what is now Vermont was considered part of New York. It was not uncommon for real estate salesmen in New York to sell parcels of land in Vermont as being part of New York. The people of Vermont became very agitated at this and on more than one occasion tried to “secede” from the United States. They sent messages to King George III of England requesting to be admitted as being part of Canada so they could have independence from New York. Eventually that portion of the United States known as Vermont was declared as being a separate and independent state from New York and part of the United States independently. Those hardheads from what is now Vermont are still known to this day as rock-ribbed independent people. This means that it was not South Carolina that was the first state that wanted to secede from the Union, it was Vermont, so help me Stonewall Jackson.






This date in history March 22






1820 On this date one of America’s greatest naval heroes is shot in a duel with a man named James Barron. Stephen Decatur succumbs to his wounds that next day. Barron, also shot, survived his wounds. Stephen Decatur was born in 1769 in Maryland to a naval family. In 1789 he joined the American navy he went through the familiar naval training and was assigned as a midshipman of the new frigate, United States. The fledgling United States merchant navy was being preyed upon by pirates sailing out of the North African port of Tripoli on the north coast of Africa because they knew that the United States did not have a viable military navy such as Great Britain that could provide retribution. One of the United State’s newest warships, the Philadelphia, had been forced aground near Tripoli by the pirates. US President Thomas Jefferson tasked the navy with dealing with this situation because he did not want such a ship to fall into the hands of the pirates nor to allow them to use the American design of the ship to build one of their own. So the navy sent Stephen Decatur and 12 others to Tripoli disguised as Maltese fishermen. They sailed their small fishing smack into Tripoli harbor, overcame the guards on the Philadelphia and burned that puppy down to the waterline. English naval hero Horatio Nelson called this feat as “one of the most daring of the age.” Finally the United States navy gained enough armaments and manpower and sailed into each of the North African ports that had been giving them shit and sent in the recently chartered United States Marines. The Marines went in and kicked ass and took names and threatened each country with continued slaughter if they did not sign a peace agreement. It is from this action that in the Marine Corps Hymn the line “from the shores of Tripoli” arose. Anyway, the trouble with James Barron began when Barron was less that resistant to a British capture of a ship under his command. Barron was brought before a court martial board of which Stephan Decatur was a member. Barron was convicted of dereliction of duty and was kicked out of the US Navy for a period of five years. At the end of the five years, the United States was again at war with Great Britain in the War of 1812 and Barron chose to stay in Europe until the war was over. When he then tried to re-join the United States navy, Stephan Decatur opposed it and Barron was not accepted. Well, Barron felt now it was matter of honor and challenged Decatur to a duel. Duels were frowned upon except for the United States Navy. The challenge was accepted on this date the duel was consummated in Bladensburg, Maryland. Barron was finally reinstated into the US Navy in 1821.






1984 Earlier the most blatant display of public hysteria and miscarriage of justice ever seen began. Seven teachers at the McMartin Pre-School in Manhattan Beach, California are brought under siege by a yuppie soccer Mom who claimed that her 2 ½ year old toddler had been sexually molested at the school. The policed are brought in and they begin a comedy of stupid acts that results in the destruction several people’s reputations. After hearing the Soccer Mom they sent out 200 form letters to the parents of all the little kiddies that attended the school telling them about the charge and that the suspected culprit was on of the owner’s son, Ray Buckey. As you might suspect, the parents went apeshit and immediately withdrew their children and initiated lawsuits against the school and Ray Buckey in particular. Let’s recap at this point. As a result of zero credible information and the sheer stupidity of the police, a legitimate and honest business is destroyed and the eight employees are on the street. That ain’t all. On this date, seven employees including owners Ray Buckey and his mother are indicted after the Grand Jury interviews 18 of the toddlers. Then a wacko outfit is brought in called Children Information International. These jackasses spread panic across the United States by saying that nearly all juvenile daycare centers had instances of sexual abuse. The parents of the little kiddies nationwide acted as you might suspect, with hysteria. Finally, credible child psychologists were called in and convinced the courts that a child in the toddler range can and will tell you what he thinks you want to hear. As incredible as it sounds one child testified that Ray Buckey took him to a cemetery and they dug up bodies and cut them open. In the meantime the McMartin School was burned to the ground by an arsonist. Eventually, American parents came to their senses and the hysteria abated but not before a lot of damage was done. It took years for day care and pre-schools to regain credibility.






1908 On this date Louis L’Amour is born in Jamestown, North Dakota. Louis was not much of a student and at the age of 15 he left home to seek his fortune. At various times he was a cowboy, seaman, longshoreman, boxer, miner and fruit picker. During World War II he ended up an officer in the American tank corps. After the war he tried his hand at writing and was soon recognized for his compact and hard-hitting style. He wrote several novels that were moderately successful but he hit a home run with the novel “Hondo” that became the basis of a John Wayne movie. A little later he wrote the novel and screen wrote another hit in “How the West Was Won.” After these blockbusters his career was assured. He wrote a series of novels about three different pioneer families in the early west in “The Sacketts”, “The Chantrys and “The Talons”. For his contribution to the learning and lore of the American west he was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 1983. Louis went to that that great cattle ranch in the sky in 1988. I miss him.






Born today:






1930 US educator Derek Bok is born: He said “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.” He is right. Mick Jagger has a degree in economics and look at him.






1930 US evangelical Pat Robertson. “During my Presidential bid I stated that I would only bring in Christians and Jews into my cabinet. This created a firestorm in the press and they asked “Do you mean that atheists, Hindus and Moslems are not any good at governing?” and I said “Yes, I do.” I normally am not enamored with his obvious prejudices and he did not disappoint this time either.






Died today:






1930 German philosopher Johann Goethe. He said “If everyone grew up to be what their parents think of them as children, we would all be geniuses.” Ah yes, I remember it well.






Thanks form listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow