Daily history

Good morning,







Quote of the day:


Comedian Chris Rock talking to his black brothers on how to avoid an ass-kicking. “When you see a blue light flashing in your rear view mirror, stop immediately and do not run. If the cops have to come after you, you can be assured that they will bring an ass-kicking with them.”






In the previous lesson I said that Mother Nature evidently was disappointed in us and since the Indonesian earthquake/tsunami in 2004 we have suffered a horrendous volcano eruption in Iceland, 2 earthquake/tsunamis in Chile' and the worst earthquake/tsunami in Japanese recorded history. For some reason I left out the Haiti disaster. I do not know if global warming has disturbed the earth's crust or not but if it has I can assure you the Al Gore will claim victory in his predictions. What a moron.






Some of y'all may have read this but down on New Orleans someone had rented a bar down in the French Quarter for a teenager party. While the party was underway, someone walked by and fired and automatic weapon into the crowd injuring 5 and killing 1. The kids in the bar were from 15 to 18 years old. I have searched my mind and I cannot rationalize why someone would rent a bar in the French Quarter to have a party for kids that young. People that frequent that area of the world are not Franciscan priests, they are very, very rough and ruthless. The organizer of the party needs a no anesthesia castration or tubal ligation.






I found out yesterday that that ancient rock star “Prince” (or that rock star previously known at Prince) is coming to Greenville to do a concert. It has stirred up quite a stir with middle aged women. That is because Prince was popular when they were in high school. All of my men friends say “Who?” when I mention Prince. But they sigh when I mention Raquel Welch. It is a case of priorities, I suppose.






This date in history March 15






1783 Previously the United States Congress had received word that a group of officers in the Continental Army had planned a secret meeting in the Newburgh, New York area to plan a revolt or mutiny, if you will, because Congress had failed to pay them and provide them with a clothing and food allowance that had been previously promised. On this date, George Washington shows up at the meeting of the officers. As you might suspect, you could hear a pin drop as Washington walked up to the rostrum. He read them the riot act and called the meeting illegal and nonmilitary. He then pulled out a letter that Congress had sent him about the meeting. With his hands slightly shaking he reached in his coat pocket and retrieved a pair of spectacles and before he put them on he said “I am shaking because I have grown old in the service of my country, and now it appears that I will go blind.” At this there was not a dry eye in the house because they realized what a tremendous contribution this great man had made for his country and they felt very small for what they were contemplating. Anyway, the officers withdrew any threat to Congress and rededicated themselves to the service of their country. We all need to contemplate this.






44BC On this date, the Ides of March, Julius Caesar is murdered in the Roman Senate by 60 Senators. Leading the attack was Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus, better known as Brutus and Cassius. After Caesar was struck in the neck with a sword, the rest of the Senators fell upon him and made a contribution with a stab of their own. Because of the contribution that Caesar had made to Rome with his organizational skills and military expertise, he was named dictator for life. Well, come to find out that even this much power is too much for one man and the Senate agreed that they had to cap Caesar. It is legend that his last words were “et to Brute” meaning “You to Brutus?” Brutus and Caesar had been life long friends and I suppose Caesar could not believe that Brutus would be part of this conspiracy. As the saying goes “Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.”






1831 On this date Edward R. Perry is born in Richmond, Massachusetts and is educated at Lee Academy and at Yale. In 1852 he moved to Georgia to teach school and study law. After a trip to Alabama he decided to settle in Pensacola, Florida to practice law. At the outbreak of the Civil War he offered his services to the Confederacy and became a member of the Pensacola Rifle Rangers. This unit was absorbed into the 2nd Florida Regiment which played and important role in several battles later on. His unit was involved in the Peninsular Campaign and especially the Battle of the Seven Days. The commander of his unit was killed at the Battle of Williamsburg and Perry assumed command and was promoted to Brigadier General and was given command of two other regiments. A few months later his unit was involved in the Battle of Antietam and suffered heavy losses. He came down with typhoid fever and he missed Gettysburg where his unit suffered heavy losses once again. He was able to rejoin his unit just in time for the Battle of the Wilderness where he was seriously wounded. This wound forced him to surrender command of his unit and he spent the rest of the war recruiting in Alabama. He served as Governor of Florida from 1884 to 1888. With his health failing he moved to a drier climate in Kerrville, Texas in 1889 where he died from a stroke in October of that year. He is buried in the cemetery of Saint John’s Church in Pensacola. The city of Perry, Florida is named in his honor.






1767 On this date Andrew Jackson is born in the Waxhaw villages on the North Carolina/South Carolina border. Andy was captured and tortured at the age of 13 by the British during the French and Indian War, an ordeal he never forgot and never cut a British military unit an inch of slack for the rest of his life. He proved it time and time again when he was sent to northern Florida to clear out the British. He did this with much efficiency and a hell of a lot of brutality. He was taken to task for his relentless slaughter of every Briton he found, but he was effective and they finally let him alone. We all know of his triumph at the Battle of New Orleans where he defeated the British assault almost to the point of annihilation. Andy fought many duels and was wounded more than once, but for the most part his opponents suffered far worse. He finally became president and was known for taking walks along the streets of Washington. On one occasion while walking out of the capital building a man ran up to him and whipped out pistol and fired only the pistol misfired. He then pulled out another one and it misfired also. It was then that Andy raised his hickory cane and beat the living s--t out of this guy and probably would have killed him if others had not intervened. It was from this event that he gained the nickname of “Old Hickory”. It was Andy that signed the Removal Act which resulted in the transfer on the greatest majority of the Southern Cherokees to Oklahoma and the infamous “Trail of Tears”. Andy had proven time and again that he was a hater of blacks and Indians. Andy died in 1845 and is buried at his home near Nashville, Tennessee known as “The Hermitage”.






1820 The State of Maine enters the Union. Maine was the other side of the Missouri Compromise. Missouri was allowed into the United States as a slave state if it was guaranteed that Maine would enter the Union as a free state so as to keep the balance of Free states to Slave states.






Born today:






1767 Future President Andrew Jackson. He said “It’s a damned poor mind that think of only one way to spell a word.” Andy was not the most educated man we ever had for a president but he damned sure was the meanest.






1849 English actress Dame Margaret Kendal. When speaking of Sarah Bernhardt she said “She is a great actress from the waist down.” I wonder what she meant by that.






1935 US televangelist Jimmy Swaggart. He said “The media is run by Satan, I wonder how many Christians are aware of that”. When it comes to being a sincere preacher, Jimmy is a good singer/piano player.






1892 English writer Dame Rebecca West. She said “The hatred of doing housework is the natural progression of civilization.” Methinks the good Dame Becky and I are related.






Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow