Good morning,
Quote of the day:
“The trouble with cats is they have the same expression on their face whether they see a moth or an axe-murderer.”
Paula Poundstone
Trivia question answer: It was Henry Fonda that was awarded the Bronze Star for action in the Pacific in WWII. Eddie Albert won a Bronze Star also, for his service at the bloodbath known as Tarawa. This fact escaped me until an eagle-eyed subscriber pointed it out. I will try to be more diligent.
Trivia Question: What famous actor was awarded six battle stars while serving aboard B-24 bombers over Europe in WWII and was awarded an Oscar in 1966. Hint: It ain't Jimmy Stewart even thought they were in the same bomber group.
Over the weekend a city cop down in Aiken. SC was shot while investigating a suspicious vehicle report. It was a 47 year old female cop. A person has been arrested for this outrage. If this person is convicted I can assure you that he will at least get life without parole...or worse if the cop dies. The lady cop did indeed die which means that if the suspect, Joshua Tremaine Jones, if convicted is looking at that pesky needle. Not only that, he is the prime suspect in the murder of his 21 year old pregnant girlfriend over in Georgia. If found guilty, he does not deserve to walk the Earth with the rest of us...hell awaits him and good riddance.
Out in Santa Maria, Calfornia (wine country) it was found that a charge of one of the city cops had a charge of improper sexual contact with a minor (17 years old) filed against him. At the time, this cop was manning a license check point on the edge of town. Three other cops went immediately to arrest him. The cop wanted to fight and a physical altercation ensued and eventually he went for his service weapon. His fellow cops were looking for that and capped him with a single .40 caliber round into his chest. He died on the way to the hospital. That is what lust will do for you...among other things.
Down near Columbia, South Carolina an obviously disturbed woman had barricaded herself into a closet and was threatening to kill her self. The cops came and a negotiator began trying to talk her out of it. He found out that she was indeed armed. The negotiations seemed to be going nowhere so they did the honorable thing...they shot her in the leg. She was subsequently captured and sent her to the hospital where it was determined that the wound was non life-threatening. The message I got is if a person is extremely depressed and seems to be at the end of their rope, you shoot them. There is a plethora of ways to disable a human being without shooting them with a bullet and the cops have them all. If they could shoot her in the leg with a firearm, they could shoot her with a bean bag shotgun, stun gun or Taser, Mace, pepper spray, tear gas, etc. What's up with that jackass that shot her? I wonder if he had on bib overalls?
This date in history January 31
1865 Earlier United States President Abraham Lincoln had declared that the purpose of the Civil War was to preserve the Union. But after the major ass-kickings the Union army had received during the first year of the War, the northern public said “To hell with it, let the Rebs have their own country, stop the bloodbath.” So Abe had to take another tack to get the country back together so he now changed horses and said the purpose of the War was to free the slaves. It had been noticed that when the Union Army infrequently won a battle, the slaves nearby would join-up with the Yankee soldiers and they would not give them back to their owners. Then Abe issued the Emancipation Proclamation which allegedly freed the slaves in those states in rebellion. Abe’s advisors had in mind that those slaves in the Confederacy would rise up in rebellion upon hearing of the Emancipation but they were wrong, it did not happen and Abe stood there with egg on his face. The Confederacy did not consider themselves “states in rebellion”. They considered themselves as a separate and equally sovereign nation. Not only that there were four states that had slaves but had not seceded. What happened to those slaves? And finally, the Proclamation was not enforceable. I don’t know what Abe was thinking but the Emancipation Proclamation wasn’t worth paper it was written on. It took the 13th Amendment to the Constitution that was ratified on this date to get the job done and it read in part ...”neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist in the United States nor any place subject to their jurisdiction....” Now the law had some teeth. This amendment passed the Senate and a House vote of 119-65, barely enough of a majority. The bill was introduced in 1864 but failed to pass the House vote because of “states rights” issues.
1923 One of my favorite writers is born on this day. Norman Mailer is born in Long Branch, New Jersey and raised in Brooklyn, New York Norman was seen as a gifted child at an early age and was given a scholarship to Harvard during WWII but delayed his education and joined the army. After the war he attended the Sorbonne in Paris. While there he was encouraged to pursue his obvious writing skills and gave us one of the greatest war novels ever written in “The Naked and the Dead”. It is very unusual for an author to deliver such a blockbuster on their first try. He wrote a couple of more novels that were not as successful as his first. Norman joined the peace protest march in Washington in 1967 and wrote about his experiences in the book “Armies of the Night” and received a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award for this one. Later he gave us another winner in “The Executioners Song”. It is the story of the last few days and months of convicted serial killer Gary Gilmore before he met his maker in front of a firing squad in Utah. Again, Norman received a Pulitzer Prize and another National Book Award. Norman is known as a two-fisted drinker/brawler and avid anti-feminists. He has written about nearly everything and everyone. He has written about politics, war, religion, etc and written biographies on people like Marilyn Monroe and Richard Nixon among many others. He wrote about the Chicago police riot during the Democratic National convention. His irascible nature and anti-feminisms has made him one of the most controversial in the entire literary world. It had been reported that he got into an argument with actor Rip Torn and the mother of all brawls ensued. He got into an argument with his wife at a party and chose to stab her in the arm. But no matter, Norman Mailer is one of the most versatile and talented writers this country has ever produced. Not that it matters, Norman is Jewish.
1945 During the later years of WWII the United States were running out of soldiers and lowered the draft requirements. Eddie Slovik had originally been rejected because of a Grand Theft Auto conviction. Since the lowering of the standards Slovik was re-classified as 1-A, trained and sent to France to join the 28th Division as a private. Slovik got lost in the turmoil of battle and ended up with a Canadian outfit. Slovik was a hater of guns and a pacifist and refused to fight. The Canadians finally got fed up with Slovik and turned him over to MP’s of the 28th Division. Slovik tells his commanding officer that he does not want to fight and runs away to the Canadians again. He is again returned to the MP’s of the 28th Division. This time his commander gives him a choice to go immediately to his combat team or face a firing squad. Slovik refuses and a date is set for his execution. He appeals to General Dwight Eisenhower but this is a bad time for this because the Battle of the Bulge was underway and American soldiers were dying by the hundreds. Eisenhower rejects Slovik’s appeal and on this date at dawn, a firing squad of twelve riflemen ends the life of Private Eddie Slovik for cowardice and desertion. He was the first man in the United States military that was executed since the Civil War. It was reported that the men in the firing squad never flinched because they believed he was getting what he deserved. Maybe so, maybe not.
1872 Future western writer Zane Grey is born to a wealthy family in Zanesville, Illinois. He is encouraged to become what his father is, a dentist. He also develops a good fist fighting technique because of his given name. In their wisdom, his parents had named him Pearl. It was later that he changed his name to Zane. Zane had a talent for baseball and is given a scholarship to Penn to play baseball while attending a school for dentistry. After graduating he moved to New York and opens a practice. Zane quickly determines that he hated the dentistry business and is on the alert for any other vocation so he tries writing. He wrote an unsuccessful novel about his ancestry and it looked like it might be a boring life of dentistry for Zane. Then he met a man named “Buffalo” Jones, an explorer of the American west. Zane was encouraged to write by Jones and so Zane wrote a novel about the life of Jones called “The Last of the Plainsmen” The novel received little attention so Jones took Zane on a tour of the great American west. This tour formed Zane’s life forever and western novels became his forte. In 1912 he delivered to the world the eternal western novel “Riders of the Purple Sage”. It was similar to the famous novel by Owen Wister “The Virginian” whereby a tenderfoot easterner comes west and learns what it takes to survive in a hostile environment and finds out things about himself that he did not know before. Zane wrote 78 western novels which made him a very wealthy man. He loved to big game fish and some of his records for big fish have never been broken and he fished on many an expedition with Ernest Hemingway. It was his descriptions of the great southwest like the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest that makes me want to go for a tour there to this day. His death was a loss for us all, but his books endure.
Born today:
1892 US entertainer Eddie Cantor. He said “Every time I see a Most Wanted list I have this thought. If they had been wanted in their youth, would they be wanted now?” I wonder if Atilla the Hun, Vlad the Impaler or Hitler were wanted as a youth.
1905 US writer John O’Hara. He said “So who is perfect? Washington had false teeth, Ben Franklin was nearsighted, Mussolini had syphilis, unpleasant things have been said about Walt Whitman and Oscar Wilde, Tchaikovsky had his problems too, and Lincoln was constipated.” That is really ironic that thousands of troops on both sides in the Civil war died of dysentery.
1921 US actor John Agar. He said “Hell I don’t drink anymore than John Wayne or Ward Bond or Spencer Tracy or Alan Ladd or Robert Walker but I got in hell of a lot more trouble.” John, that is because you got into the acting business only because you were married to Shirley Temple. You are really wimpy.
1938 US Secretary of the Interior James Watt. He said “Hell, we don’t have to protect the environment; the evangelicals say the Second Coming is at hand.” They are right ya’ll. If the Second Coming is at hand, why do we need to worry about the future?
Thanks for listening I can’t wait until tomorrow.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Friday, January 27, 2012
Good morning,
Quote of the day:
Woman chatting with at a bridge game: “There is something seriously wrong with our computer. When I walk into the room where Harry is on the computer, the screen if full of naked women in compromising positions and Harry said he does not now how they got there so it must be a glitch in the computer.”
Anonymous
A few months ago 26 year old James Brock and his wife came to a parting of the ways and his wife moved into another house not yet identified near Travelers Rest, SC. James chose to go to this house on several occasions trying to talk with his wife. The homeowner got fed up and obtained a non-trespass order on James. This past Wednesday night James foolishly chose to approach the house once again seeking a conversation with his estranged wife. Soon after this the homeowner called 9-1-1 and said that he had shot someone. He had shot James in the back with a shotgun. James was taken to the local hospital but he expired about an hour later. James was in the front yard when he was shot. I am not sure what the law is on a case like this. Is it murder? Is it self protection? As of this writing the homeowner has not been charged nor arrested. The exact relationship between the homeowner and James' wife was never identified and neither was the homeowner. It sounds like a relative to me.
This past December Heather Locklear and fiance Jack Wagner got into a spat at Jack's house in San Fernando Valley, California. Actually, it was more that a spat, Heather took a swing at Jack and Jack retaliated. The cops were called and a domestic violence report was filed on both of them. A few days later both Heather and Jack told the cops that they did not want to press charges. They were told that it was not a case of pressing charges...any and all domestic violence charges in the state of California are pursued and adjudicated before a judge, come hell or high water. They will be paying a judge a visit the end of this month. South Carolina has similar laws, law enforcement takes domestic violence charges seriously and after the charges are filed, it is no longer in the hands of the perpetrator or the victim.
Here is a case of the most inattentive person on the planet. A few days before Christmas over in Sarpy County, Nebraska there is one night at the local Wal-mart known as “Shop with a cop“ night. In this case 25 county cops took underprivileged
children Christmas shopping. On this particular night a 25 year old man chose to shoplift a video game, stuffing it under his jacket, and headed for the door. Needless to say, he was spotted and arrested. The strange part was that there were 15 police cruisers parked near the front door. What was this thief thinking? How can you miss a caravan of police cruisers?
This date in history January 27
1863 On this date President Abraham Lincoln issued General War Order #1. He orders all US forces on land and sea to make an advance against the Confederate forces on February 22. Abe was fed up with the stalling tactics of General George B. McClellan and he was eager to get this conflict ended. Abe was neither military trained nor experienced so he rounded up some books on military tactics and read up on it. After this he decided that a simultaneous attack on all fronts would reveal the Confederate weaknesses and there they could concentrate their efforts. The philosophy was good but there were a host of reason why it would not work but he ordered the action anyway. The arrogant General McClellan called the order “amateurish” and ignored it and stayed encamped after February 22. However, US General Ulysses S. Grant in the Tennessee-Mississippi theater did indeed begin a push against the Rebs and captured Fort Donelson and other forts on the Mississippi River. This action eventually led to Grant being able to isolate and capture Vicksburg, Mississippi. While all of this was going on Abe found out that his Secretary of War, Simon Cameron, had been unapologetically taking bribes and using his position for personal gain. Abe fired Simon and installed Edwin Stanton into that position where he remained for the remainder of the war. A little later Abe fired McClellan and put US General Ambrose Burnside in his place. Ambrose lasted two months then Abe fired him and installed US General Joseph Hooker in his place. Even though Hooker was known to get into the sauce on a regular basis and allowed prostitutes to follow his troops (this is where the word “hooker” for a prostitute came from) he was not afraid to move his army and attack. This is what Abe wanted to see. It didn’t work however. Hooker was no match for CSA General Robert E. Lee and Abe had to fire him too.
1967 In 1960 US President John F. Kennedy had issued an order for the United States to put a man on the moon before the end of the decade and eventually NASA was born. NASA began a series of programs aimed at putting a man on the moon. The programs began with fits and starts and some failures but eventually progress was being made by leaps and bounds. Maybe too fast because on this date the spacecraft Apollo 1 was on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral with the crew aboard going through drills and exercises to be done once launched and a fire broke out and killed astronauts Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chafee. Examination revealed that it was an electrical short that had caused the fire but the real fault was the buildup of combustibles in the spacecraft. NASA engineers had ignored the possibility of a fire and plunged ahead recklessly. In spite of this tragedy, NASA was able to put a man on the moon with Apollo 8, Neil Armstrong commanding, in 1969. In all there were 17 Apollo missions and 6 visits to the moon.
1926 Scottish inventor John Baird demonstrated in London the first transmission and reception of a TV signal. It was a program about a red-haired housewife with a Cuban bandleader for a husband and their interplay with their landlord and his wife, just joking. Anyway, in 1932 the Radio Corporation of America demonstrates television using a cathode ray tube called an iconoscope created by a Russian inventor named Vladimir Zworykin. This invention made the picture much cleared than before. In 1936 the British Broadcasting Company began sporadic television broadcasts in high definition and in 1939 they began regular broadcasts. The first color set reached the public in 1954. In 1969 the head of the United States Federal Communication Commission, Newton Minnow, called television “a vast wasteland”. But things are much better today with shows like: The Simpsons, Wife Swap and American Idol. Hello Newton, where are you?
1975 On this date a Senate investigative committee headed by Idaho Senator Frank Church opened hearings on the actions of the FBI and the CIA. The committee comes to find out that the FBI had been conducting illegal surveillance on hundreds of thousands of Americans for years. The also found out that the CIA had been fostering or participating in the murder of elected officials worldwide. It was only two years before that the CIA had engineered the murder of the democratically elected president of Chile Salvador Allende and the military takeover of the government by a Chilean General that was sympathetic to the US, at least as long as the money kept rolling in. The real reason for the murder of Allende was he had threatened to nationalize the copper mines held by the American company Kennecott Copper and ITT also. He also had open trade with North Korea and Cuba among others, all United States enemies. Not only that, they had ignored a presidential directive to destroy their vast supply of poisons. It is ugly out there, y’all.
1978 On this date a man named Richard Chase is captured near Sacramento, California for the murder of Evelyn Mirith and Daniel Madden. He had sexually mutilated Evelyn with a knife before stabbing her to death and had shot Daniel in the head. The strange part of this is that Richard removed some of their organs, filled them with blood and took them to the house. The people that knew him were not surprised because a few years before Richard were found out in the middle of a pasture covered with the blood of the cow he had just killed. When the police searched Richard’s house they found blood in containers throughout the house. It appeared that Richard had been drinking blood for some time. He went to trial for murder and even though he was obviously insane, the jury found him guilty of murder and sentenced him to life without parole. On the day after Christmas in 1980, Richard was found dead of a suicide in his San Quentin prison cell....... and stay gone.
1951 On this date United States detonated the first nuclear device, fueled by fissionable material made at the Hanford, Washington facility, on the recently acquired Nevada test site. The blast was so large that the flash was seen in San Francisco. The previous tests had been done at the test site at Los Alamos, New Mexico including the very first nuclear explosion in history in July of 1945. The device was known as “Fat Man”. The only other nuclear devise in existence at that time was also an American invention known as “Little Boy”. This bomb was dropped on Nagasaki without testing because the scientists were sure it would work and they were very, very right.
Born today:
1807 American author Henry Wordsworth Longfellow. He said “It take less time to do something right than it does to explain why you did something wrong.” Obviously Henry was a married man.
1847 English actress Ellen Terry. She said “No matter the skill of the actress can overcome the loss of youth.” Time marches on, Ellen....Damn it!
1886 US Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black. He said “The layman’s constitutional view is that anything he likes is constitutional and anything he doesn’t like is unconstitutional.” Yeah, so what is wrong with that, Hugo?
1897 US singer Marian Anderson. She said “So long as you hold somebody down, a part of you must be down there with them, meaning that you cannot soar as far as you otherwise might.” That sounds like my third ex-wife.
1902 US writer John Steinbeck. He said “Writers are somewhere between clowns and trained seals.” Steinbeck gave some of the best literature ever written and he received many awards for it. He gave us The Grapes of Wrath and Travels with Charlie among many others. He is no longer with us and it is our loss.
1912 English writer Lawrence Durrell. He said “All culture corrupts, but French culture corrupts absolutely.” My sentiments exactly Larry.
1913 US writer Irwin Shaw. When speaking of American football he said “If they armed the players, there would not be a stadium big enough to hold all the crowds.” I like the idea of men armed with ice picks against hungry lions.
1930 US actress and wife of Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward. She said “Sexiness wears this and beauty fades, but to be married to a man that makes you laugh every day, now that is a real treat.” Joanne went to high school right here in good old Greenville for a while.
1932 English-borne actress Elizabeth Taylor. I have been in love with Liz ever since I saw her in National Velvet. She said “The problem with people with no vices is there is a good chance they will have many irritating virtues”. There is little doubt that Liz had a plethora of vices. She was a skank, no doubt about it.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Quote of the day:
Woman chatting with at a bridge game: “There is something seriously wrong with our computer. When I walk into the room where Harry is on the computer, the screen if full of naked women in compromising positions and Harry said he does not now how they got there so it must be a glitch in the computer.”
Anonymous
A few months ago 26 year old James Brock and his wife came to a parting of the ways and his wife moved into another house not yet identified near Travelers Rest, SC. James chose to go to this house on several occasions trying to talk with his wife. The homeowner got fed up and obtained a non-trespass order on James. This past Wednesday night James foolishly chose to approach the house once again seeking a conversation with his estranged wife. Soon after this the homeowner called 9-1-1 and said that he had shot someone. He had shot James in the back with a shotgun. James was taken to the local hospital but he expired about an hour later. James was in the front yard when he was shot. I am not sure what the law is on a case like this. Is it murder? Is it self protection? As of this writing the homeowner has not been charged nor arrested. The exact relationship between the homeowner and James' wife was never identified and neither was the homeowner. It sounds like a relative to me.
This past December Heather Locklear and fiance Jack Wagner got into a spat at Jack's house in San Fernando Valley, California. Actually, it was more that a spat, Heather took a swing at Jack and Jack retaliated. The cops were called and a domestic violence report was filed on both of them. A few days later both Heather and Jack told the cops that they did not want to press charges. They were told that it was not a case of pressing charges...any and all domestic violence charges in the state of California are pursued and adjudicated before a judge, come hell or high water. They will be paying a judge a visit the end of this month. South Carolina has similar laws, law enforcement takes domestic violence charges seriously and after the charges are filed, it is no longer in the hands of the perpetrator or the victim.
Here is a case of the most inattentive person on the planet. A few days before Christmas over in Sarpy County, Nebraska there is one night at the local Wal-mart known as “Shop with a cop“ night. In this case 25 county cops took underprivileged
children Christmas shopping. On this particular night a 25 year old man chose to shoplift a video game, stuffing it under his jacket, and headed for the door. Needless to say, he was spotted and arrested. The strange part was that there were 15 police cruisers parked near the front door. What was this thief thinking? How can you miss a caravan of police cruisers?
This date in history January 27
1863 On this date President Abraham Lincoln issued General War Order #1. He orders all US forces on land and sea to make an advance against the Confederate forces on February 22. Abe was fed up with the stalling tactics of General George B. McClellan and he was eager to get this conflict ended. Abe was neither military trained nor experienced so he rounded up some books on military tactics and read up on it. After this he decided that a simultaneous attack on all fronts would reveal the Confederate weaknesses and there they could concentrate their efforts. The philosophy was good but there were a host of reason why it would not work but he ordered the action anyway. The arrogant General McClellan called the order “amateurish” and ignored it and stayed encamped after February 22. However, US General Ulysses S. Grant in the Tennessee-Mississippi theater did indeed begin a push against the Rebs and captured Fort Donelson and other forts on the Mississippi River. This action eventually led to Grant being able to isolate and capture Vicksburg, Mississippi. While all of this was going on Abe found out that his Secretary of War, Simon Cameron, had been unapologetically taking bribes and using his position for personal gain. Abe fired Simon and installed Edwin Stanton into that position where he remained for the remainder of the war. A little later Abe fired McClellan and put US General Ambrose Burnside in his place. Ambrose lasted two months then Abe fired him and installed US General Joseph Hooker in his place. Even though Hooker was known to get into the sauce on a regular basis and allowed prostitutes to follow his troops (this is where the word “hooker” for a prostitute came from) he was not afraid to move his army and attack. This is what Abe wanted to see. It didn’t work however. Hooker was no match for CSA General Robert E. Lee and Abe had to fire him too.
1967 In 1960 US President John F. Kennedy had issued an order for the United States to put a man on the moon before the end of the decade and eventually NASA was born. NASA began a series of programs aimed at putting a man on the moon. The programs began with fits and starts and some failures but eventually progress was being made by leaps and bounds. Maybe too fast because on this date the spacecraft Apollo 1 was on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral with the crew aboard going through drills and exercises to be done once launched and a fire broke out and killed astronauts Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chafee. Examination revealed that it was an electrical short that had caused the fire but the real fault was the buildup of combustibles in the spacecraft. NASA engineers had ignored the possibility of a fire and plunged ahead recklessly. In spite of this tragedy, NASA was able to put a man on the moon with Apollo 8, Neil Armstrong commanding, in 1969. In all there were 17 Apollo missions and 6 visits to the moon.
1926 Scottish inventor John Baird demonstrated in London the first transmission and reception of a TV signal. It was a program about a red-haired housewife with a Cuban bandleader for a husband and their interplay with their landlord and his wife, just joking. Anyway, in 1932 the Radio Corporation of America demonstrates television using a cathode ray tube called an iconoscope created by a Russian inventor named Vladimir Zworykin. This invention made the picture much cleared than before. In 1936 the British Broadcasting Company began sporadic television broadcasts in high definition and in 1939 they began regular broadcasts. The first color set reached the public in 1954. In 1969 the head of the United States Federal Communication Commission, Newton Minnow, called television “a vast wasteland”. But things are much better today with shows like: The Simpsons, Wife Swap and American Idol. Hello Newton, where are you?
1975 On this date a Senate investigative committee headed by Idaho Senator Frank Church opened hearings on the actions of the FBI and the CIA. The committee comes to find out that the FBI had been conducting illegal surveillance on hundreds of thousands of Americans for years. The also found out that the CIA had been fostering or participating in the murder of elected officials worldwide. It was only two years before that the CIA had engineered the murder of the democratically elected president of Chile Salvador Allende and the military takeover of the government by a Chilean General that was sympathetic to the US, at least as long as the money kept rolling in. The real reason for the murder of Allende was he had threatened to nationalize the copper mines held by the American company Kennecott Copper and ITT also. He also had open trade with North Korea and Cuba among others, all United States enemies. Not only that, they had ignored a presidential directive to destroy their vast supply of poisons. It is ugly out there, y’all.
1978 On this date a man named Richard Chase is captured near Sacramento, California for the murder of Evelyn Mirith and Daniel Madden. He had sexually mutilated Evelyn with a knife before stabbing her to death and had shot Daniel in the head. The strange part of this is that Richard removed some of their organs, filled them with blood and took them to the house. The people that knew him were not surprised because a few years before Richard were found out in the middle of a pasture covered with the blood of the cow he had just killed. When the police searched Richard’s house they found blood in containers throughout the house. It appeared that Richard had been drinking blood for some time. He went to trial for murder and even though he was obviously insane, the jury found him guilty of murder and sentenced him to life without parole. On the day after Christmas in 1980, Richard was found dead of a suicide in his San Quentin prison cell....... and stay gone.
1951 On this date United States detonated the first nuclear device, fueled by fissionable material made at the Hanford, Washington facility, on the recently acquired Nevada test site. The blast was so large that the flash was seen in San Francisco. The previous tests had been done at the test site at Los Alamos, New Mexico including the very first nuclear explosion in history in July of 1945. The device was known as “Fat Man”. The only other nuclear devise in existence at that time was also an American invention known as “Little Boy”. This bomb was dropped on Nagasaki without testing because the scientists were sure it would work and they were very, very right.
Born today:
1807 American author Henry Wordsworth Longfellow. He said “It take less time to do something right than it does to explain why you did something wrong.” Obviously Henry was a married man.
1847 English actress Ellen Terry. She said “No matter the skill of the actress can overcome the loss of youth.” Time marches on, Ellen....Damn it!
1886 US Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black. He said “The layman’s constitutional view is that anything he likes is constitutional and anything he doesn’t like is unconstitutional.” Yeah, so what is wrong with that, Hugo?
1897 US singer Marian Anderson. She said “So long as you hold somebody down, a part of you must be down there with them, meaning that you cannot soar as far as you otherwise might.” That sounds like my third ex-wife.
1902 US writer John Steinbeck. He said “Writers are somewhere between clowns and trained seals.” Steinbeck gave some of the best literature ever written and he received many awards for it. He gave us The Grapes of Wrath and Travels with Charlie among many others. He is no longer with us and it is our loss.
1912 English writer Lawrence Durrell. He said “All culture corrupts, but French culture corrupts absolutely.” My sentiments exactly Larry.
1913 US writer Irwin Shaw. When speaking of American football he said “If they armed the players, there would not be a stadium big enough to hold all the crowds.” I like the idea of men armed with ice picks against hungry lions.
1930 US actress and wife of Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward. She said “Sexiness wears this and beauty fades, but to be married to a man that makes you laugh every day, now that is a real treat.” Joanne went to high school right here in good old Greenville for a while.
1932 English-borne actress Elizabeth Taylor. I have been in love with Liz ever since I saw her in National Velvet. She said “The problem with people with no vices is there is a good chance they will have many irritating virtues”. There is little doubt that Liz had a plethora of vices. She was a skank, no doubt about it.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Good morning,
Quote of the day:
“I don't diet and I never gain an ounce. I eat six meals a day...four steaks, 10 pounds of potatoes, a dozen hamburgers, apple pie with ice cream and lots of beer. Yet I still weigh the same...367 pounds.”
Cyril Smith
The FBI has moved into the upscale town of East Haven, Connecticut. They have arrested four of the city police officers for police brutality and uneven enforcement of the law. It seems that in the last few years latinoes have moved into this town and now represent about 13 percent of the population.
The local natives were not pleased at all with this turn of events and neither were the police. The police began a campaign of harassment of the latinoes and especially latino business owners and people from Mexico and Ecuador. The Chief of Police was heard saying “These greaseballs drifted here on a raft of chicken bones and expect respect.” I understand the police and the native resident's unhappiness, but using the law as a weapon is unacceptable.
I guess all of you have read about the two hostages held by Somali pirates and were rescued a few nights ago. I found out that the rescue team was those wild and crazy guys known as SEAL Team Six. Y'all will remember them back in May going into Pakistan and capping Osama Bin Laden. All the report would say is that it was this team that parachuted in at night and rescued an American woman and a Danish man. The item did not mention if any of the Somali pirates were killed or not but it would be a miracle if there wasn't. SEAL teams don't take any chances. They shoot first and don't even fool with asking the questions later.
If y'all will recall a few days ago I told you about Iran backing off the threat of closing the Staits of Hormuz in retaliation for the US and other countries instituting sanctions on Iran for their continued attempts at developing nuclear weapons. Iran backed off of this threat two days ago. That same day the European Union instituted even more sanctions against Iran for their refusal to discontinue pursuit of nuclear weapons. On Tuesday afternoon Iran reinstituted the threat of blocking the Strait of Hormuz if the sanctions are not eased. Y'all need to keep in mind that the US 5th fleet is based in Bahrain which is in the Persian Gulf. Iran stated that they will request that all Arab combat vessels to come and help with the blockade. If this happens there is no question that a major military confrontation will occur between the Arabs and the rest of the world. Iran is counting on the rest of the world backing down because of the fear of an Armegeddon in the Middle East. If a blockade of the Straits of Hormuz occurs this will mean that the 5th Fleet and all the other countries bordering the Persian Gulf will not have access to the open sea. I do not believe that our nation and all the others in the world will allow that to happen. The Straits of Hormuz is considered open sea by international agreement. No one entity owns it.
Over in Monroe, NC good old Jeremiah McManus was stopped for weaving and crossing the center line under suspicion of DUI. The cops found an open container of an alcoholic beverage in the car. This is not an unusual event except that this is Jeremiah's sixth arrest for DUI. He pled guilty to FIVE DUI's in 2008 alone. This time there will be an additional charge of terminal stupidity.
Just to show you how we are manipulated my the media read this comparison. After the results of the GOP South Carolina primary hit the airwaves the descriptions were totally different dependant upon what particular media issued the statement. Fox news stated “Newt buries Mitt in South Carolina”. Yahoo news stated “Disappointing results in South Carolina.” Disappointing to whom, jackass?
This date in history January 26
1788 Eight months Captain Arthur Phillips was commissioned by the British government to establish a colony in the newly discovered land that eventually became Australia. The strange part of it was that the British government wanted Phillip to do it with prisoners that may or may not have farming expertise. So Phillip set out with 11 ships headed to the land down under with nearly as many Marines aboard as he had prisoners. On this date he hove to off the east coast of what was labeled New South Wales and the country of Australia was born. Right from the git-go Captain Phillip found out that most of his prisoners indeed knew more about robbing and killing than they did about farming and not only that the soil was not rich enough to raise crops. Needless to say discipline amongst the prisoners became a serious problem. Hungry criminals can be a handful, Marines nearby or not. Finally the Marines were not up to the task and Captain Phillip himself took over control of the prisoners and he proved to be a tough but fair overseer, but many floggings and several hangings ensued. Eventually Captain Phillip, the Marines and the prisoners were on the cusp of starvation for several years. Captain Phillip returned to England in 1792 but the colony had already showed signs that it would survive and by the turn of the century the colony became prosperous with a deep sense of patriotism. In fact in 1808 an Australian historian wrote “there was a celebration of the founding of the colony with much drinking and merriment.” Australia is famous for having one of the largest quantities of beer consumed per capita on the planet, mostly Foster’s. I like it myself.
1950 After years of hassling with the British, India passed its own Constitution and became an independent nation on this date. Indian religious leader Mahatma Gandhi had been leading the fight for independence for decades and he finally succeeded. But before all of this came to pass, religious differences between the Hindus and the Moslems raised it ugly head. To settle this problem the British Viceroy of India, Lord Mountbatten, declared that the country would be partitioned with the Moslems going to Pakistan and the Hindus to India. This seemed like a perfect plan but the Moslems and the Hindus still fought vicious battles where thousands were killed, including Mahatma Gandhi. He was a Hindu and was assassinated by another Hindu because Gandhi accepted the partition in the interest of peace. You can say what you want but the most bloody and vicious wars ever fought were in the interest of one or more religion against another. Remember the Crusades?
1863 After the disastrous tenure of US General Ambrose Burnside in command of the Army of the Potomac and his subsequent removal, on this date US General Joseph “Fighting Joe” Hooker takes command. Hooker knew that the morale of the Army of the Potomac was at its lowest ebb and he needed to do something to restore pride. He allowed each regiment to design and wear their own “badge” or shoulder patch hoping this would have an effect. Hooker was a West Point graduate and participated in the Seminole War. When the Civil War broke out he was given the rank of Brigadier General and given command of a Division in the Army of the Potomac. Speaking of command, Abe Lincoln had been having a hell of a time finding a commander that could defeat Robert E. Lee. This was a tall order for anyone. Lincoln had gone through Generals Irwin McDowell, George McClellan, John Pope, McClellan again, Ambrose Burnside and now Joseph Hooker, none of which had been successful against Bobby Lee but Hooker had his chance coming. Hooker had two faults: women and whiskey. In fact he allowed prostitutes to follow his army around and that is where the word “hooker” to identify prostitutes came from. In May of this year Joe Hooker got his chance against Bobby Lee in an engagement near the small Virginia town of Chancellorsville. Hooker had a good plan and by dark of this fateful day he had the Army of Northern Virginia caught in a pincer movement. But “Fighting Joe” had not planned on the tactics of Lee and the brilliance of “Stonewall” Jackson. Jackson led his division on a forced night march around the right flank of Hooker’s army. The next morning while the Union troops on the right flank were cooking their breakfast, all of a sudden deer, rabbits and all types of game came running out of the woods behind them and right behind the animals came Jackson’s wild-eyed screaming Confederate infantry and those stunned Yankees got up and ran without even stopping to gather their weapons and put out their camp fires. Hooker had the Army of Northern Virginia outnumbered by at least two to one but was routed by Bobby Lee and Stonewall Jackson. Thus was the beginning of the end of the career of “Fighting Joe”.
1936 On This date the dismembered corpse of Frances Portillo was found with the head in a basket and the remainder of the various parts stuffed into burlap sacks in Cleveland, Ohio. This was not the first nor would it be the last. The killings and dismemberment continued until the number reached double digits. Needless to say the Cleveland PD was frantic to find the “Mad Butcher”. The corpses had been dissected with precision and therefore the PD began looking for a real butcher. The arrested a butcher named Frank Dolezal and interrogated him for 40 straight hours until he confessed to killing Frances Portillo. Frank committed suicide in his cell soon thereafter. Very few of the people of Cleveland believed that Frank Dolezal was the actual “Mad Butcher” and that the real killer was a well heeled and well connected member of the community. The Cleveland PD chose to destroy any and all records about these crimes and the killings stopped after the suicide of Dolezal. But the actual identity of the “Mad Butcher” is unknown to this day.
1875 The James brothers, Jesse and Frank, had been hotly pursued by the Pinkerton Detective Agency for over a year. They had been hired by the railroad barons to try and stop the robbing of their trains and banks by the James gang. They were not successful, in fact one of their best detectives named James Witcher had been found dead from a gunshot to the abdomen and his upper torso had been eaten by wild hogs. It was known that Jesse and Frank would visit with their kin in Clay County, Missouri on occasion. On this date a group of men surrounded the house of Jesse and Frank’s mother in Clay County thinking that the James boys were home visiting Mom. It has never been confirmed if the men surrounding the house were law enforcement officials or Pinkerton detectives or a combination of both. Anyway, the people surrounding the house decided to throw in a couple of flares to flush out anyone in the house. One of the flares exploded killing Jesse and Frank’s nine year old step-brother outright and took off one of Mom’s arms. Jesse and Frank were not there and the local community came after the ones that surrounded the house with blood in their eye. The lawmen/detectives got away and no one to this day admits to who it was that committed that atrocity but after this the Pinkerton Agency cut back on their often violent methods.
Born today:
1715 French philosopher Claude Helvetius. He said “To limit the press is an insult to a nation; to prohibit the reading of certain books is to declare the inhabitants either fool or slaves.” It was less than three years ago that a church in a small town outside of Greenpatch threatened to picket the local library to remove “Catcher in the Rye” from the shelves as being immoral because it mentions masturbation. There is no need for me to tell you what my response to that bullshit was. There is nothing more immoral on the planet than to tell someone what they can or cannot read. That is nothing but an attempt at mind control. I had forgotten why I don’t attend organized religions, after this, I remember.
Born today:
1880 US General Douglas MacArthur: He said “I will keep on living as if I expect to live forever. Nobody grows old by living a number of years. People grow old for deserting their Ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin but to give up wrinkles the soul.” General MacArthur was one of America’s greatest military commanders in spite of having an ego the size of Oklahoma.
1918 US writer Phillip Farmer. He said “The universe is a big place, maybe the biggest.” Phillip, shut up.
1925 US actor Paul Newman. Paul has a side business of different salad dressings and once said “It is embarrassing to know that my salad dressings are out grossing my movies.” Paul donates all of the profits from his salad dressings to charity. He is no longer with us. He had been married to actress Joanne Woodward since 1958.
1929 US cartoonist Jules Feiffer. He said “Christ died for out sins, dare we make his martyrdom meaningless by not committing them?” I am working on it, Jules.
1935 US baseball catcher Bob Uecker. When asked how do you catch a knuckleball he said “You wait until it stops rolling and go pick it up.” Bob worked for several years as the color man of baseball game broadcasts. He is a funny guy.
1961 Canadian ice hockey great Wayne Gretzky. He said “You miss 100% of the shots that you don’t take.” I have a friend in Charlotte that said “80% of all the golf balls that you do not putt hard enough don’t go in the hole.”
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Quote of the day:
“I don't diet and I never gain an ounce. I eat six meals a day...four steaks, 10 pounds of potatoes, a dozen hamburgers, apple pie with ice cream and lots of beer. Yet I still weigh the same...367 pounds.”
Cyril Smith
The FBI has moved into the upscale town of East Haven, Connecticut. They have arrested four of the city police officers for police brutality and uneven enforcement of the law. It seems that in the last few years latinoes have moved into this town and now represent about 13 percent of the population.
The local natives were not pleased at all with this turn of events and neither were the police. The police began a campaign of harassment of the latinoes and especially latino business owners and people from Mexico and Ecuador. The Chief of Police was heard saying “These greaseballs drifted here on a raft of chicken bones and expect respect.” I understand the police and the native resident's unhappiness, but using the law as a weapon is unacceptable.
I guess all of you have read about the two hostages held by Somali pirates and were rescued a few nights ago. I found out that the rescue team was those wild and crazy guys known as SEAL Team Six. Y'all will remember them back in May going into Pakistan and capping Osama Bin Laden. All the report would say is that it was this team that parachuted in at night and rescued an American woman and a Danish man. The item did not mention if any of the Somali pirates were killed or not but it would be a miracle if there wasn't. SEAL teams don't take any chances. They shoot first and don't even fool with asking the questions later.
If y'all will recall a few days ago I told you about Iran backing off the threat of closing the Staits of Hormuz in retaliation for the US and other countries instituting sanctions on Iran for their continued attempts at developing nuclear weapons. Iran backed off of this threat two days ago. That same day the European Union instituted even more sanctions against Iran for their refusal to discontinue pursuit of nuclear weapons. On Tuesday afternoon Iran reinstituted the threat of blocking the Strait of Hormuz if the sanctions are not eased. Y'all need to keep in mind that the US 5th fleet is based in Bahrain which is in the Persian Gulf. Iran stated that they will request that all Arab combat vessels to come and help with the blockade. If this happens there is no question that a major military confrontation will occur between the Arabs and the rest of the world. Iran is counting on the rest of the world backing down because of the fear of an Armegeddon in the Middle East. If a blockade of the Straits of Hormuz occurs this will mean that the 5th Fleet and all the other countries bordering the Persian Gulf will not have access to the open sea. I do not believe that our nation and all the others in the world will allow that to happen. The Straits of Hormuz is considered open sea by international agreement. No one entity owns it.
Over in Monroe, NC good old Jeremiah McManus was stopped for weaving and crossing the center line under suspicion of DUI. The cops found an open container of an alcoholic beverage in the car. This is not an unusual event except that this is Jeremiah's sixth arrest for DUI. He pled guilty to FIVE DUI's in 2008 alone. This time there will be an additional charge of terminal stupidity.
Just to show you how we are manipulated my the media read this comparison. After the results of the GOP South Carolina primary hit the airwaves the descriptions were totally different dependant upon what particular media issued the statement. Fox news stated “Newt buries Mitt in South Carolina”. Yahoo news stated “Disappointing results in South Carolina.” Disappointing to whom, jackass?
This date in history January 26
1788 Eight months Captain Arthur Phillips was commissioned by the British government to establish a colony in the newly discovered land that eventually became Australia. The strange part of it was that the British government wanted Phillip to do it with prisoners that may or may not have farming expertise. So Phillip set out with 11 ships headed to the land down under with nearly as many Marines aboard as he had prisoners. On this date he hove to off the east coast of what was labeled New South Wales and the country of Australia was born. Right from the git-go Captain Phillip found out that most of his prisoners indeed knew more about robbing and killing than they did about farming and not only that the soil was not rich enough to raise crops. Needless to say discipline amongst the prisoners became a serious problem. Hungry criminals can be a handful, Marines nearby or not. Finally the Marines were not up to the task and Captain Phillip himself took over control of the prisoners and he proved to be a tough but fair overseer, but many floggings and several hangings ensued. Eventually Captain Phillip, the Marines and the prisoners were on the cusp of starvation for several years. Captain Phillip returned to England in 1792 but the colony had already showed signs that it would survive and by the turn of the century the colony became prosperous with a deep sense of patriotism. In fact in 1808 an Australian historian wrote “there was a celebration of the founding of the colony with much drinking and merriment.” Australia is famous for having one of the largest quantities of beer consumed per capita on the planet, mostly Foster’s. I like it myself.
1950 After years of hassling with the British, India passed its own Constitution and became an independent nation on this date. Indian religious leader Mahatma Gandhi had been leading the fight for independence for decades and he finally succeeded. But before all of this came to pass, religious differences between the Hindus and the Moslems raised it ugly head. To settle this problem the British Viceroy of India, Lord Mountbatten, declared that the country would be partitioned with the Moslems going to Pakistan and the Hindus to India. This seemed like a perfect plan but the Moslems and the Hindus still fought vicious battles where thousands were killed, including Mahatma Gandhi. He was a Hindu and was assassinated by another Hindu because Gandhi accepted the partition in the interest of peace. You can say what you want but the most bloody and vicious wars ever fought were in the interest of one or more religion against another. Remember the Crusades?
1863 After the disastrous tenure of US General Ambrose Burnside in command of the Army of the Potomac and his subsequent removal, on this date US General Joseph “Fighting Joe” Hooker takes command. Hooker knew that the morale of the Army of the Potomac was at its lowest ebb and he needed to do something to restore pride. He allowed each regiment to design and wear their own “badge” or shoulder patch hoping this would have an effect. Hooker was a West Point graduate and participated in the Seminole War. When the Civil War broke out he was given the rank of Brigadier General and given command of a Division in the Army of the Potomac. Speaking of command, Abe Lincoln had been having a hell of a time finding a commander that could defeat Robert E. Lee. This was a tall order for anyone. Lincoln had gone through Generals Irwin McDowell, George McClellan, John Pope, McClellan again, Ambrose Burnside and now Joseph Hooker, none of which had been successful against Bobby Lee but Hooker had his chance coming. Hooker had two faults: women and whiskey. In fact he allowed prostitutes to follow his army around and that is where the word “hooker” to identify prostitutes came from. In May of this year Joe Hooker got his chance against Bobby Lee in an engagement near the small Virginia town of Chancellorsville. Hooker had a good plan and by dark of this fateful day he had the Army of Northern Virginia caught in a pincer movement. But “Fighting Joe” had not planned on the tactics of Lee and the brilliance of “Stonewall” Jackson. Jackson led his division on a forced night march around the right flank of Hooker’s army. The next morning while the Union troops on the right flank were cooking their breakfast, all of a sudden deer, rabbits and all types of game came running out of the woods behind them and right behind the animals came Jackson’s wild-eyed screaming Confederate infantry and those stunned Yankees got up and ran without even stopping to gather their weapons and put out their camp fires. Hooker had the Army of Northern Virginia outnumbered by at least two to one but was routed by Bobby Lee and Stonewall Jackson. Thus was the beginning of the end of the career of “Fighting Joe”.
1936 On This date the dismembered corpse of Frances Portillo was found with the head in a basket and the remainder of the various parts stuffed into burlap sacks in Cleveland, Ohio. This was not the first nor would it be the last. The killings and dismemberment continued until the number reached double digits. Needless to say the Cleveland PD was frantic to find the “Mad Butcher”. The corpses had been dissected with precision and therefore the PD began looking for a real butcher. The arrested a butcher named Frank Dolezal and interrogated him for 40 straight hours until he confessed to killing Frances Portillo. Frank committed suicide in his cell soon thereafter. Very few of the people of Cleveland believed that Frank Dolezal was the actual “Mad Butcher” and that the real killer was a well heeled and well connected member of the community. The Cleveland PD chose to destroy any and all records about these crimes and the killings stopped after the suicide of Dolezal. But the actual identity of the “Mad Butcher” is unknown to this day.
1875 The James brothers, Jesse and Frank, had been hotly pursued by the Pinkerton Detective Agency for over a year. They had been hired by the railroad barons to try and stop the robbing of their trains and banks by the James gang. They were not successful, in fact one of their best detectives named James Witcher had been found dead from a gunshot to the abdomen and his upper torso had been eaten by wild hogs. It was known that Jesse and Frank would visit with their kin in Clay County, Missouri on occasion. On this date a group of men surrounded the house of Jesse and Frank’s mother in Clay County thinking that the James boys were home visiting Mom. It has never been confirmed if the men surrounding the house were law enforcement officials or Pinkerton detectives or a combination of both. Anyway, the people surrounding the house decided to throw in a couple of flares to flush out anyone in the house. One of the flares exploded killing Jesse and Frank’s nine year old step-brother outright and took off one of Mom’s arms. Jesse and Frank were not there and the local community came after the ones that surrounded the house with blood in their eye. The lawmen/detectives got away and no one to this day admits to who it was that committed that atrocity but after this the Pinkerton Agency cut back on their often violent methods.
Born today:
1715 French philosopher Claude Helvetius. He said “To limit the press is an insult to a nation; to prohibit the reading of certain books is to declare the inhabitants either fool or slaves.” It was less than three years ago that a church in a small town outside of Greenpatch threatened to picket the local library to remove “Catcher in the Rye” from the shelves as being immoral because it mentions masturbation. There is no need for me to tell you what my response to that bullshit was. There is nothing more immoral on the planet than to tell someone what they can or cannot read. That is nothing but an attempt at mind control. I had forgotten why I don’t attend organized religions, after this, I remember.
Born today:
1880 US General Douglas MacArthur: He said “I will keep on living as if I expect to live forever. Nobody grows old by living a number of years. People grow old for deserting their Ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin but to give up wrinkles the soul.” General MacArthur was one of America’s greatest military commanders in spite of having an ego the size of Oklahoma.
1918 US writer Phillip Farmer. He said “The universe is a big place, maybe the biggest.” Phillip, shut up.
1925 US actor Paul Newman. Paul has a side business of different salad dressings and once said “It is embarrassing to know that my salad dressings are out grossing my movies.” Paul donates all of the profits from his salad dressings to charity. He is no longer with us. He had been married to actress Joanne Woodward since 1958.
1929 US cartoonist Jules Feiffer. He said “Christ died for out sins, dare we make his martyrdom meaningless by not committing them?” I am working on it, Jules.
1935 US baseball catcher Bob Uecker. When asked how do you catch a knuckleball he said “You wait until it stops rolling and go pick it up.” Bob worked for several years as the color man of baseball game broadcasts. He is a funny guy.
1961 Canadian ice hockey great Wayne Gretzky. He said “You miss 100% of the shots that you don’t take.” I have a friend in Charlotte that said “80% of all the golf balls that you do not putt hard enough don’t go in the hole.”
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Good morning,
Quote of the day:
“The ability to make love frivolously is what separates humans from beasts.”
Heywood Broun
This past weekend the Anderson County, SC sheriff's department was called about a shooting. They went to an apartment complex near Iva, South Carolina. Sure enough, a woman had been shot in the neck but was still alive. In fact, the EMS technicians were very optimistic as to a quick recovery and the victim was able to identify the shooter. The cops were then notified about a car crash about 5 miles away that was probably fatal. When the cops arrived they discovered the crash was indeed fatal. The dead person was the shooter. He was going at a ferocious speed when he left the road and hit several trees before coming to rest inverted with the car in more that one piece. In fact the left front wheel was lodged in a fork of a tree 12 feet off the ground.
All of y'all know about the death of Joe Paterno at the age of 85. Joe was the head football coach of Penn State for many years before he was fired in a sex scandal involving one of his coaches. He is in the books as the winningest collegiate football coach in history. If you look back in history you will find that it is not unusual for a person that has spent their lifetime in a certain calling and dying very soon after retiring or getting out of what they know the best. In addition to Paterno we should remember “Bear” Bryant, Lyndon Johnson, General Douglas MacArthur and several others. It makes you believe that some people are put here on the planet for a specific purpose and when the purpose is served they leave us. By the way, here is an interesting trivia item. The only father/son combination where they both were awarded Medals of Honor is Arthur and Douglas MacArthur. Arthur (the father) was awarded a Medal of Honor in the Civil War and Douglas (the son) in WWII.
Last week your President sent a letter to the President of Iran who had threatened to block marine traffic in the Straits of Hormuz. Soon after this threat three American Navy aircraft carrier task forces moved into the Arabian Sea. The straits of Hormuz is a relatively narrow passage between the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea. If this passage is blocked the oil producing countries bordering the Persian Gulf would not be able to export any oil. Some of these countries are, Kuwait, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Dubai and Iraq. How could that jackass President of Iran think that these countries would sit still for extortion like this? Anyway, soon after he received the letter from Obama he said that he was just joking about blocking the Straits of Hormuz...or words to that effect. I think the three US aircraft carrier task forces just offshore had an effect also. By the way, on Sunday evening the US aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln and its support ships passed from the Arabian Sea through the Straits of Hormuz into the Persian Gulf unchallenged. The President of Iran had crow for dinner.
This date in history January 25
1500 On this day Spanish employer Vincente Pinzon raises the coast of Brazil. Pinzon was the captain of the Nina, one of the ships that came over with Christopher Columbus. Pinzon explored the northern coast of Brazil and the Amazon River. There was always contention as to who claimed this country first, the Spanish or the Portuguese. That issue was settled a few years later when the Portuguese explorer Pedro Cabol went ashore and established the city of Sao Paolo, Brazil.
1863 About two months ago Abe Lincoln had enough of US General McClellan’s snot-nose and told him to take a hike and put US General Ambrose Burnside in command of the Army of the Potomac. McClellan was a great trainer and organizer but was very shy and reluctant when it came to combat meaning that the aggressive CSA Robert E. Lee handed McClellan his ass on several occasions even though at times Lee was outnumbered two to one. The final straw came when McClellan’s army had defeated Lee’s army at Antietam and Lee headed back in to Virginia to lick his wounds. McClellan chose to stay in camp for 6 weeks and not pursue Lee. Anyway, that was enough for Abe and he sent McClellan to the showers in and promoted Burnside into command. Burnside had been a desk jockey most of his career with very little if any combat experience and told everyone that they should take someone else but General of the Army Henry Halleck insisted. Very soon after taking command, Burnside knowing that Abe wanted an aggressive commander, launched a movement against Lee. Unfortunately, the movement was detected by Lee and he moved his army in a position to intercept Burnside at Fredericksburg, Virginia. Some of y'all may not know what happened at Fredericksburg but the US Army walked into trap a prepared by Lee and his Lieutenants that cost the Union 15,000 casualties to 5,000 for the CSA. Lincoln gave Burnside another chance and he tried a counter-move to attack Lee’s position at Fredericksburg from another direction and during the movement it rained for four straight days and the Army of the Potomac was bogged down to a stop in mud waist deep. The exasperated US troops gained access to some booze, got hammered and many fights broke out between units, not only that the CSA troops were on the opposite side of the Rappahannock taunting and teasing without mercy. So Abe put a stop to it by firing Burnside after only two months of command and gave command of the Army of the Potomac to US General Joseph Hooker. Little did Hooker know that yet another spectacular victory for the CSA awaited him at a little town named Chancellorsville, Va.
1945 On this date, after a stiff fight the Russian army broke through the German defenses near Auschwitz, Poland. What they found here was evidence of the most cruel and inhumane treatment of human beings yet recorded. It was a death camp of unimaginable proportions. There were three main camps, I, II and III with 8 other “satellite” camps. This camp had but one purpose and that was killing of human beings. The Russians discovered ovens with human remains still inside smoking, metal buildings with an opening for the insertion of poison gas. The German’s used Cyklon B gas. It was an insecticide and easy and cheap to make, the down side was that it did not kill quickly meaning that the people that were put inside those buildings knew after a short while that they were being poisoned and fought and struggled for life. The Russians found 645 corpses and 7,000 walking skeletons who told them that the guards found out that the Russians were close and they began killing all that they could until they ran out of ammo and then they began blowing up the crematoria and death buildings. The Russians also found three warehouses that were stacked to the top with women’s dresses, men’s suits and shoes that the German’s did not have a chance to destroy. And finally they discover the laboratories and journals of Dr. Josef Mengele. Mengele performed inconceivably cruel and inhuman medical experiments on the prisoners, especially children. There are many records of what this animal did to others but I will not describe them now. But I can tell you that when the Russian army left Auschwitz, they had lost all mercy and remorse for any and all Germans and killed all they found, man, woman, children, dogs, cats, geese, ducks, etc...They intended to wipe the slate clean of Germans. When one particular Russian tank crew entered Berlin they were confronted by an antitank gun manned by seven Germans no older than 12. The Russians destroyed the German crew and repeatedly ran back and forth across the corpses with their tank until there was nothing there that could be identified as human. Hate and no remorse, all wars depend on it.
1905 About noon of this day, the supervisor of the Premier Diamond Mine in South Africa in making an inspection and stops briefly and noticed something sticking out of the wall above his head. He pulled out the largest diamond ever found. It is a 3,160 carat monster that was named the Star of Africa. The diamond is sent to the greatest diamond cutter in the world in Amsterdam for cutting and polishing. The cutter examined the stone for six months before making the first cut. When he decided where the cut will be made, he has a doctor standing by in case he makes a wrong cut and shattered the stone. He is successful and he produced two gigantic polished stone that are now in the Tower of London as part of the British National Treasury. There were hundreds of smaller stones also that made the Star of Africa the most valuable gem ever found.
Born today:
1759 Scottish poet Robert Burns. He said “There is nothing more uncertain as a sure thing.” Obviously Robert has been to a horse track.
1882 English writer Virginia Woolf. She said “On the outskirts of every agony sits some observant fellow who points.”
1950 US writer Gloria Naylor. She said “I don’t believe life is supposed to make you feel good, or make you feel miserable either. Life is just supposed to make you feel.” This sounds like a person I know in Black Mountain, NC.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Quote of the day:
“The ability to make love frivolously is what separates humans from beasts.”
Heywood Broun
This past weekend the Anderson County, SC sheriff's department was called about a shooting. They went to an apartment complex near Iva, South Carolina. Sure enough, a woman had been shot in the neck but was still alive. In fact, the EMS technicians were very optimistic as to a quick recovery and the victim was able to identify the shooter. The cops were then notified about a car crash about 5 miles away that was probably fatal. When the cops arrived they discovered the crash was indeed fatal. The dead person was the shooter. He was going at a ferocious speed when he left the road and hit several trees before coming to rest inverted with the car in more that one piece. In fact the left front wheel was lodged in a fork of a tree 12 feet off the ground.
All of y'all know about the death of Joe Paterno at the age of 85. Joe was the head football coach of Penn State for many years before he was fired in a sex scandal involving one of his coaches. He is in the books as the winningest collegiate football coach in history. If you look back in history you will find that it is not unusual for a person that has spent their lifetime in a certain calling and dying very soon after retiring or getting out of what they know the best. In addition to Paterno we should remember “Bear” Bryant, Lyndon Johnson, General Douglas MacArthur and several others. It makes you believe that some people are put here on the planet for a specific purpose and when the purpose is served they leave us. By the way, here is an interesting trivia item. The only father/son combination where they both were awarded Medals of Honor is Arthur and Douglas MacArthur. Arthur (the father) was awarded a Medal of Honor in the Civil War and Douglas (the son) in WWII.
Last week your President sent a letter to the President of Iran who had threatened to block marine traffic in the Straits of Hormuz. Soon after this threat three American Navy aircraft carrier task forces moved into the Arabian Sea. The straits of Hormuz is a relatively narrow passage between the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea. If this passage is blocked the oil producing countries bordering the Persian Gulf would not be able to export any oil. Some of these countries are, Kuwait, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Dubai and Iraq. How could that jackass President of Iran think that these countries would sit still for extortion like this? Anyway, soon after he received the letter from Obama he said that he was just joking about blocking the Straits of Hormuz...or words to that effect. I think the three US aircraft carrier task forces just offshore had an effect also. By the way, on Sunday evening the US aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln and its support ships passed from the Arabian Sea through the Straits of Hormuz into the Persian Gulf unchallenged. The President of Iran had crow for dinner.
This date in history January 25
1500 On this day Spanish employer Vincente Pinzon raises the coast of Brazil. Pinzon was the captain of the Nina, one of the ships that came over with Christopher Columbus. Pinzon explored the northern coast of Brazil and the Amazon River. There was always contention as to who claimed this country first, the Spanish or the Portuguese. That issue was settled a few years later when the Portuguese explorer Pedro Cabol went ashore and established the city of Sao Paolo, Brazil.
1863 About two months ago Abe Lincoln had enough of US General McClellan’s snot-nose and told him to take a hike and put US General Ambrose Burnside in command of the Army of the Potomac. McClellan was a great trainer and organizer but was very shy and reluctant when it came to combat meaning that the aggressive CSA Robert E. Lee handed McClellan his ass on several occasions even though at times Lee was outnumbered two to one. The final straw came when McClellan’s army had defeated Lee’s army at Antietam and Lee headed back in to Virginia to lick his wounds. McClellan chose to stay in camp for 6 weeks and not pursue Lee. Anyway, that was enough for Abe and he sent McClellan to the showers in and promoted Burnside into command. Burnside had been a desk jockey most of his career with very little if any combat experience and told everyone that they should take someone else but General of the Army Henry Halleck insisted. Very soon after taking command, Burnside knowing that Abe wanted an aggressive commander, launched a movement against Lee. Unfortunately, the movement was detected by Lee and he moved his army in a position to intercept Burnside at Fredericksburg, Virginia. Some of y'all may not know what happened at Fredericksburg but the US Army walked into trap a prepared by Lee and his Lieutenants that cost the Union 15,000 casualties to 5,000 for the CSA. Lincoln gave Burnside another chance and he tried a counter-move to attack Lee’s position at Fredericksburg from another direction and during the movement it rained for four straight days and the Army of the Potomac was bogged down to a stop in mud waist deep. The exasperated US troops gained access to some booze, got hammered and many fights broke out between units, not only that the CSA troops were on the opposite side of the Rappahannock taunting and teasing without mercy. So Abe put a stop to it by firing Burnside after only two months of command and gave command of the Army of the Potomac to US General Joseph Hooker. Little did Hooker know that yet another spectacular victory for the CSA awaited him at a little town named Chancellorsville, Va.
1945 On this date, after a stiff fight the Russian army broke through the German defenses near Auschwitz, Poland. What they found here was evidence of the most cruel and inhumane treatment of human beings yet recorded. It was a death camp of unimaginable proportions. There were three main camps, I, II and III with 8 other “satellite” camps. This camp had but one purpose and that was killing of human beings. The Russians discovered ovens with human remains still inside smoking, metal buildings with an opening for the insertion of poison gas. The German’s used Cyklon B gas. It was an insecticide and easy and cheap to make, the down side was that it did not kill quickly meaning that the people that were put inside those buildings knew after a short while that they were being poisoned and fought and struggled for life. The Russians found 645 corpses and 7,000 walking skeletons who told them that the guards found out that the Russians were close and they began killing all that they could until they ran out of ammo and then they began blowing up the crematoria and death buildings. The Russians also found three warehouses that were stacked to the top with women’s dresses, men’s suits and shoes that the German’s did not have a chance to destroy. And finally they discover the laboratories and journals of Dr. Josef Mengele. Mengele performed inconceivably cruel and inhuman medical experiments on the prisoners, especially children. There are many records of what this animal did to others but I will not describe them now. But I can tell you that when the Russian army left Auschwitz, they had lost all mercy and remorse for any and all Germans and killed all they found, man, woman, children, dogs, cats, geese, ducks, etc...They intended to wipe the slate clean of Germans. When one particular Russian tank crew entered Berlin they were confronted by an antitank gun manned by seven Germans no older than 12. The Russians destroyed the German crew and repeatedly ran back and forth across the corpses with their tank until there was nothing there that could be identified as human. Hate and no remorse, all wars depend on it.
1905 About noon of this day, the supervisor of the Premier Diamond Mine in South Africa in making an inspection and stops briefly and noticed something sticking out of the wall above his head. He pulled out the largest diamond ever found. It is a 3,160 carat monster that was named the Star of Africa. The diamond is sent to the greatest diamond cutter in the world in Amsterdam for cutting and polishing. The cutter examined the stone for six months before making the first cut. When he decided where the cut will be made, he has a doctor standing by in case he makes a wrong cut and shattered the stone. He is successful and he produced two gigantic polished stone that are now in the Tower of London as part of the British National Treasury. There were hundreds of smaller stones also that made the Star of Africa the most valuable gem ever found.
Born today:
1759 Scottish poet Robert Burns. He said “There is nothing more uncertain as a sure thing.” Obviously Robert has been to a horse track.
1882 English writer Virginia Woolf. She said “On the outskirts of every agony sits some observant fellow who points.”
1950 US writer Gloria Naylor. She said “I don’t believe life is supposed to make you feel good, or make you feel miserable either. Life is just supposed to make you feel.” This sounds like a person I know in Black Mountain, NC.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Good morning.
Quote of the day:
“How do you know when it is time to wash your dishes, clean your house. Look inside your pants and if a penis is detected it is NOT time.
Al Campbell
Hey Edie, it was good to see you Saturday evening.
I never understood why ABC TV network wanted to interview Newt Gingrich's ex-wife. It is a well known fact the Newt and his ex-wife experienced a very bitter divorce. How can any journalist expect this woman to be objective? They cannot. This just confirms my suspicions that the news media lusts not after news but after sensationalism. That is the reason I cannot and will not read or watch any news with any thought of credibility. As far as I am concerned there is only one publication that is totally honest and without an agenda and that is the Christian Science Monitor.
Here are few tidbits about our past leaders that proves they and we are not perfect.
George Washington was a slave owner and whiskey maker.
John Adams had black women as housekeepers to help Abigail when John was gone. It is not clear if they were slaves, indentured servants or freedmen.
Thomas Jefferson sired several children by one of his slaves. When he was in France he had a blistering affair with a married woman.
Benjamin Franklin was a member of “The Hell Fire Club” in London. This club would meet occasionally and the men came dressed as priests and the women came dressed as nuns. They drank heavily and eventually the meeting descended into orgiastic debauchery.
William McKinley sold cabinet positions.
Dwight Eisenhower had a girlfriend while he was in command of all allied forces in Europe (SHAEF) while stationed in London. It was his driver, a foxy lady named Kay Summersby.
Harry Truman gained his political powers from being part and parcel of the Pendergast political machinery in St. Louis.
John Kennedy had several girlfriends including Marilyn Monroe and so did Bobby.
Richard Nixon interfered with FBI investigations of the Watergate burglary, it cost him his career.
Bill Clinton, Monica Lewinsky, Gennifer Flowers, etc, etc.
Teddy Kennedy and Chappaquiddick.
I have not scratched the surface of how flawed our leaders have been...We are very lucky...so far.
Early this past Saturday morning two men walked into a Waffle House near Spartanburg, SC. One of them produced a sidearm and announced that they were there to rob the place. Little did they know that one of the patrons was armed and had a concealed weapons permit. The patron got the drop on the robbers and told them to get down on the floor. The stupid one with the sidearm raised his weapon instead and the patron capped him with one shot to the chest and one to the head. The other robber fled but was captured two days later. In the sovereign state of South Carolina where concealed weapons permits are obtained with a minimum of effort, you can never tell who is packing and who isn't. No charges have been filed against the shooter.
This date in history January 24
1781 On this date the combined cavalry forces of the Virginian Lieutenant Colonel Henry “Light-Horse Harry” Lee and South Carolinian Brigadier General Francis “Swamp Fox” Marion descended upon a 200 man British encampment near Georgetown, South Carolina. Henry Lee was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia and was the father of CSA General Robert E. Lee. Francis Marion was born on a plantation on Winyah Bay near Georgetown, South Carolina. Marion had been given command of the South Carolina Militia while the commander, Thomas “The Gamecock” Sumter, was recovering from a severe wound. The raid came as a complete surprise to the British and the Patriots were able to capture a large portion on the encampment including several officers and the camp commander. A month later “Light-Horse Harry” Lee was able to destroy another British unit on the banks of the Haw River in North Carolina. Lee’s unit was able to close in on the British without opposition this was because the uniforms worn by the Patriots were very similar to those worn by the British cavalry unit of the infamous Colonel Banastre Tarleton. When the Patriots were within sight of the British they waved greeting to them and kept it up until they were within striking distance. After this is was nothing short of a slaughter. The British commander, Colonel John Pyle, lost three fingers and the sight of one eye during the attack but was able to escape by jumping into a nearby pond and hiding in the reeds. To this day that body of water is known as “Pyle’s Pond”.
1956 Earlier a 14 year old black kid from Chicago named Emmett Till was visiting his great-uncle on his farm near Money, Mississippi. He bragged to the locals there that he had a white girlfriend in Chicago and was challenged to see if he could get one there in Mississippi. Emmett was the typical teenager and accepted the challenge. He went into the local convenience store and made a pass at a married white woman working there. A couple of days later the woman’s husband came home from a business trip and was told of what happened with Emmett. So J.W. Milam and his cousin Roy Bryant went to Emmett’s great-uncle’s farm and kidnap Emmett. I don’t have to tell you what happened next. They beat Emmett to death with their pistols; Milam and Bryant took Emmett’s corpse to the crest of the Tallahatchie Bridge, wrapped barbed wire around Emmett’s neck and the other end to a heavy cotton gin fan and threw them both off the bridge. The corpse was eventually discovered and Milam and Bryant were arrested and went to trial for murder. They were acquitted because the defense lawyer was able to convince the jury that the corpse was so decomposed that the true identification could not be determined. The prosecution produced a ring that was found on the corpse that was known to be owned by Emmett. The defense blew it off as being stolen. Anyway, because of the law of double jeopardy Milam and Bryant, knowing they could not be tried again, on this date sold their description of the murder of Emmett to Look magazine for $4,000. Emmett’s mother retrieved his corpse back to Chicago and in her anger held an open casket funeral that was attended by over 5,000 people. No other attempts to bring Milam and Bryant to justice but they both died of cancer a few years later. God works in mysterious ways.
1848 Earlier a Swiss emigrant to the United States named John Sutter had acquired 7,000 acres in Mexico owned California if he would swear allegiance to Mexico and keep those pesky European settlers at bay. The land was in the Sacramento Valley east of San Francisco. Sutter had ideas of creating a type of commune on his lands. He determined that in order to build housing he would need a saw mill so he hired a man named James Marshall to build one. The main water source in that area was the American River and Marshall decided to build his water powered saw mill on the south fork of the American River. He began digging to deepen the creek and in the diggings he kept seeing flashes of light off some of the flakes therein. On this date he gathered up some of the flakes and took them to Sutter who immediately took them to an assayer who told Sutter that it was indeed gold. Sutter tried to keep this discovery a secret and succeeded for a while but eventually the word leaked out and in 1849 the largest gold rush in history was under way. Sutter did not have to worry about the Mexicans any longer because Mexico ceded all its lands in California to the United States as a result of the US victory in the Mexican War. You would think that this would make Sutter very happy but by 1852 his thoughts of a commune had gone down the toilet and the oncoming gold seekers trampled his gardens and slaughtered his farm animals for food. He spent the last years of his life petitioning the US government to recompense him for his losses at the hand of the miners. He did not get anything.
1943 On this date the commander of the German 6th Army, General Frederick von Paulus, entreated Hitler to allow his army to surrender. Hitler refused. Earlier Hitler had launched Operation Barbarossa which was the attempt to conquer Russia. There were three armies that departed Germany on this mission. Paulus was the commander of the central army whose main target was the capture of the city of Stalingrad. Upon arrival at the gates of Stalingrad he ran across a nut he could not crack so he surrounded the city and established a siege in an attempt to starve the people of Stalingrad into submission. In spite of millions starving to death, the city did not fall. Eventually the Russian army got on its feet and attacked Paulus’ army at its weakest point, the Romanian detachment. After breaking through here, the Russians swarmed around the Germans and encircled them cutting off their supplies. After the Russians had overrun his last airfield, Paulus knew the end was near especially since the descent of the worst winter in fifty years. A few days after the loss of this airfield, Paulus surrendered his army to the Russians, Adolph Hitler be damned. The Russians, remembering the people that starved to death in Stalingrad, accepted the surrender and gathered up the 500,000 half starved, half frozen Germans and sent them to prison camps. Of those that were captured, only 5,000 ever lived to see Germany again. Paulus was tried at the Nuremberg War Crimes trials, but was released and spent his last days in East Berlin.
Quotable quotes:
“I go to see my doctor and tell him that when I get up in the morning I look in the mirror and begin to throw up. The doctor said that he did not know what was causing the nausea but my eyesight was perfect.” Rodney Dangerfield
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow.
Quote of the day:
“How do you know when it is time to wash your dishes, clean your house. Look inside your pants and if a penis is detected it is NOT time.
Al Campbell
Hey Edie, it was good to see you Saturday evening.
I never understood why ABC TV network wanted to interview Newt Gingrich's ex-wife. It is a well known fact the Newt and his ex-wife experienced a very bitter divorce. How can any journalist expect this woman to be objective? They cannot. This just confirms my suspicions that the news media lusts not after news but after sensationalism. That is the reason I cannot and will not read or watch any news with any thought of credibility. As far as I am concerned there is only one publication that is totally honest and without an agenda and that is the Christian Science Monitor.
Here are few tidbits about our past leaders that proves they and we are not perfect.
George Washington was a slave owner and whiskey maker.
John Adams had black women as housekeepers to help Abigail when John was gone. It is not clear if they were slaves, indentured servants or freedmen.
Thomas Jefferson sired several children by one of his slaves. When he was in France he had a blistering affair with a married woman.
Benjamin Franklin was a member of “The Hell Fire Club” in London. This club would meet occasionally and the men came dressed as priests and the women came dressed as nuns. They drank heavily and eventually the meeting descended into orgiastic debauchery.
William McKinley sold cabinet positions.
Dwight Eisenhower had a girlfriend while he was in command of all allied forces in Europe (SHAEF) while stationed in London. It was his driver, a foxy lady named Kay Summersby.
Harry Truman gained his political powers from being part and parcel of the Pendergast political machinery in St. Louis.
John Kennedy had several girlfriends including Marilyn Monroe and so did Bobby.
Richard Nixon interfered with FBI investigations of the Watergate burglary, it cost him his career.
Bill Clinton, Monica Lewinsky, Gennifer Flowers, etc, etc.
Teddy Kennedy and Chappaquiddick.
I have not scratched the surface of how flawed our leaders have been...We are very lucky...so far.
Early this past Saturday morning two men walked into a Waffle House near Spartanburg, SC. One of them produced a sidearm and announced that they were there to rob the place. Little did they know that one of the patrons was armed and had a concealed weapons permit. The patron got the drop on the robbers and told them to get down on the floor. The stupid one with the sidearm raised his weapon instead and the patron capped him with one shot to the chest and one to the head. The other robber fled but was captured two days later. In the sovereign state of South Carolina where concealed weapons permits are obtained with a minimum of effort, you can never tell who is packing and who isn't. No charges have been filed against the shooter.
This date in history January 24
1781 On this date the combined cavalry forces of the Virginian Lieutenant Colonel Henry “Light-Horse Harry” Lee and South Carolinian Brigadier General Francis “Swamp Fox” Marion descended upon a 200 man British encampment near Georgetown, South Carolina. Henry Lee was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia and was the father of CSA General Robert E. Lee. Francis Marion was born on a plantation on Winyah Bay near Georgetown, South Carolina. Marion had been given command of the South Carolina Militia while the commander, Thomas “The Gamecock” Sumter, was recovering from a severe wound. The raid came as a complete surprise to the British and the Patriots were able to capture a large portion on the encampment including several officers and the camp commander. A month later “Light-Horse Harry” Lee was able to destroy another British unit on the banks of the Haw River in North Carolina. Lee’s unit was able to close in on the British without opposition this was because the uniforms worn by the Patriots were very similar to those worn by the British cavalry unit of the infamous Colonel Banastre Tarleton. When the Patriots were within sight of the British they waved greeting to them and kept it up until they were within striking distance. After this is was nothing short of a slaughter. The British commander, Colonel John Pyle, lost three fingers and the sight of one eye during the attack but was able to escape by jumping into a nearby pond and hiding in the reeds. To this day that body of water is known as “Pyle’s Pond”.
1956 Earlier a 14 year old black kid from Chicago named Emmett Till was visiting his great-uncle on his farm near Money, Mississippi. He bragged to the locals there that he had a white girlfriend in Chicago and was challenged to see if he could get one there in Mississippi. Emmett was the typical teenager and accepted the challenge. He went into the local convenience store and made a pass at a married white woman working there. A couple of days later the woman’s husband came home from a business trip and was told of what happened with Emmett. So J.W. Milam and his cousin Roy Bryant went to Emmett’s great-uncle’s farm and kidnap Emmett. I don’t have to tell you what happened next. They beat Emmett to death with their pistols; Milam and Bryant took Emmett’s corpse to the crest of the Tallahatchie Bridge, wrapped barbed wire around Emmett’s neck and the other end to a heavy cotton gin fan and threw them both off the bridge. The corpse was eventually discovered and Milam and Bryant were arrested and went to trial for murder. They were acquitted because the defense lawyer was able to convince the jury that the corpse was so decomposed that the true identification could not be determined. The prosecution produced a ring that was found on the corpse that was known to be owned by Emmett. The defense blew it off as being stolen. Anyway, because of the law of double jeopardy Milam and Bryant, knowing they could not be tried again, on this date sold their description of the murder of Emmett to Look magazine for $4,000. Emmett’s mother retrieved his corpse back to Chicago and in her anger held an open casket funeral that was attended by over 5,000 people. No other attempts to bring Milam and Bryant to justice but they both died of cancer a few years later. God works in mysterious ways.
1848 Earlier a Swiss emigrant to the United States named John Sutter had acquired 7,000 acres in Mexico owned California if he would swear allegiance to Mexico and keep those pesky European settlers at bay. The land was in the Sacramento Valley east of San Francisco. Sutter had ideas of creating a type of commune on his lands. He determined that in order to build housing he would need a saw mill so he hired a man named James Marshall to build one. The main water source in that area was the American River and Marshall decided to build his water powered saw mill on the south fork of the American River. He began digging to deepen the creek and in the diggings he kept seeing flashes of light off some of the flakes therein. On this date he gathered up some of the flakes and took them to Sutter who immediately took them to an assayer who told Sutter that it was indeed gold. Sutter tried to keep this discovery a secret and succeeded for a while but eventually the word leaked out and in 1849 the largest gold rush in history was under way. Sutter did not have to worry about the Mexicans any longer because Mexico ceded all its lands in California to the United States as a result of the US victory in the Mexican War. You would think that this would make Sutter very happy but by 1852 his thoughts of a commune had gone down the toilet and the oncoming gold seekers trampled his gardens and slaughtered his farm animals for food. He spent the last years of his life petitioning the US government to recompense him for his losses at the hand of the miners. He did not get anything.
1943 On this date the commander of the German 6th Army, General Frederick von Paulus, entreated Hitler to allow his army to surrender. Hitler refused. Earlier Hitler had launched Operation Barbarossa which was the attempt to conquer Russia. There were three armies that departed Germany on this mission. Paulus was the commander of the central army whose main target was the capture of the city of Stalingrad. Upon arrival at the gates of Stalingrad he ran across a nut he could not crack so he surrounded the city and established a siege in an attempt to starve the people of Stalingrad into submission. In spite of millions starving to death, the city did not fall. Eventually the Russian army got on its feet and attacked Paulus’ army at its weakest point, the Romanian detachment. After breaking through here, the Russians swarmed around the Germans and encircled them cutting off their supplies. After the Russians had overrun his last airfield, Paulus knew the end was near especially since the descent of the worst winter in fifty years. A few days after the loss of this airfield, Paulus surrendered his army to the Russians, Adolph Hitler be damned. The Russians, remembering the people that starved to death in Stalingrad, accepted the surrender and gathered up the 500,000 half starved, half frozen Germans and sent them to prison camps. Of those that were captured, only 5,000 ever lived to see Germany again. Paulus was tried at the Nuremberg War Crimes trials, but was released and spent his last days in East Berlin.
Quotable quotes:
“I go to see my doctor and tell him that when I get up in the morning I look in the mirror and begin to throw up. The doctor said that he did not know what was causing the nausea but my eyesight was perfect.” Rodney Dangerfield
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Good morning,
Quote of the day:
“Deja Moo...The feeling that you have heard this bullsh-t before.”
Anonymous
As all of you know the GOP primary was held in South Carolina over this past weekend. The favorite going in was The Georgia Amphibian Lizard or Newt Gingrich. The end result was a massacre by the lizard. Since the advent of primary elections the GOP winner in the South Carolina primary has ended up as the presidential nominee for the GOP. Several members of my family are Democrats. All I have to say to them is that it is time that we had an intellectual as president rather than a quasi-politicial wannabe...what a relief it would be. The lizard has a PhD in history...right up my alley. The Florida GOP primary is at the end of this month...we shall see what we shall see.
By now all of you have heard that your president has chosen to reject the proposed oil pipeline that would run from central Canada to two different locations in the USA. The project would have meant about 20,000 jobs all paid for by the petroleum companies that would benefit from it, not to mention income taxes gathered by the states involved and the Federal government. I am not sure what this man had in mind but why should he worry, he has a job and a guaranteed retirement. He has said in the past that he felt that America's energies should be focused on alternative energy sources like solar, wind and water movement (water wheels turned by the movement of the tide operating a dynamo) and other sources. What are we supposed to do with the recent discovery of shale oil in the Dakotas that contains more potential crude oil reserves than in the entire middle east? I can hardly wait until November.
For some reason I have been doing a lot of reading about explorers during the 15th and 16th centuries. One was an Italian explorer named Giovanni Caboto but he explored for England and went by the name of John Cabot. He was tasked with finding a water passage to the Orient across the North America better known as the Northwest Passage. He went on his first voyage but was unable to find a passage but asked for a second chance which was granted. He left Bristol, England with two ships and neither he, his ships nor his crews were ever seen or heard from again.
Then there was Henry Hudson. Henry was an English explorer during Elizabethan era. He was tasked with finding the Northwest Passage also. He explored the river that bears his name in what is now New York. He sailed up river for about 150 miles but determined that this could not be the way to the Pacific. He sailed back out into the Atlantic, went north and found the St Lawrence river and the bay that bears his name. There is a small bay off Hudson Bay that juts southward into Ontario, Canada. One particular winter Hudson found himself trapped in Hudson Bay by ice in the St. Lawrence so he sailed as far south as he could and spent the winter in that small bay now named James Bay. When the ice finally relented, Hudson ordered his crews to continue westward looking for the Northwest Passage. After the privations they suffered that winter in James Bay, his crewmen wanted to go to the house. Hudson insisted so they mutinied and put Hudson, his son and seven crewmen loyal to Hudson into a small boat and set them adrift in James Bay. Hudson and company were never seen nor heard from again. The mutineers sailed back to England but were not executed for mutiny because of the knowledge they had of the New World.
The first European to lay eyes on the Grand Canyon was a Spanish soldier named Cardenas who was part of the retinue of Spanish conquistador/explorer Francisco Coronado.
This date in history January 23
1865 On this date CSA General John Bell Hood is relieved of command of the CSA Army of Tennessee thus ending a sad chapter in the history of the United States. Hood had requested to be relieved a couple of weeks earlier. John Bell Hood was born in Kentucky and graduated from West Point in 1853. As with most of his class, he served in the western theater until hostilities broke out at the start of the Civil War. Hood resigned his commission and offered his services to the famous Texas 4th Infantry. His regiment was sent to serve with CSA General Robert E. Lee and the equally famous Army of Northern Virginia. Hood served with distinction in the Peninsular Campaign and especially in the Battle of the Seven Days in 1862. Hood aggressive nature did not go unnoticed and he was eventually given command of a division. There is little question that his aggressive counter-attack at the Battle of Antietam saved General Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia from total annihilation. His next major assignment came at the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg in June of 1863 when he was ordered to attack the left flank of the Union lines on a hill known as Little Round Top. He had under his command was the 4th and 5th Texas, the 5th Alabama and a number of other regiments totaling about 2,500 men. He was attacking the 20th Maine numbering about 300. At the onset of the battle Hood was severely wounded and lost the use of an arm as a result. Hood’s troops were not successful in turning the flank of the Union army on Little Round Top only because of the stubbornness of the 20th Maine and the resolve of their commander Colonel Joshua L. Chamberlain. Hood spent quite a bit of time recuperating from this severe wound. Hood resumed his duties with the CSA Army of Tennessee and fought at the bloody Battle of Chickamauga where he was again severely wounded which resulted in the loss of a leg. When US General William T. Sherman began his attack across the state of Georgia beginning near Chattanooga, Tennessee and aimed at Atlanta and the port of Savannah, CSA General Joseph Johnston was in command of the CSA Army of Tennessee. Johnston knew he was out manned and outgunned and chose to use defensive strategy by digging in, fight and retreat. The closer Sherman got to Atlanta, the more nervous CSA President Jefferson Davis became. Finally Davis decided that the CSA needed a more aggressive commander of the Army of Tennessee and relieved Johnston and named Hood as his replacement. Hood assumed command and immediately struck hard at Sherman’s army in three different futile and costly attacks in and around Atlanta. Eventually Hood pulled his army out of Atlanta, moved west and headed north back toward Chattanooga hoping that Sherman would follow to protect his supply line but it didn’t happen that way. Hood finally moved the Army of Tennessee within striking distance of Sherman’s vital supply line near Nashville, Tennessee. Another Union army was dug-in and waiting but Hood flung what was left of his army at the Union fortifications in two unsuccessful and even more costly attacks. At the end of these two battles the CSA Army of Tennessee ceased to exist as a viable fighting force. When Hood took command in July of 1864, the CSA Army of Tennessee had 64,000 troops, when he was relieved on this day there were 18,000. War is hell.
1968 The United States intelligence gathering vessel USS Pueblo is on patrol 16 miles off the coast of North Korea when a North Korean gunboat pulls along side the Pueblo and orders it to stop. The commander of the lightly armed Pueblo, Captain Lloyd Bucher, tries to run away but the gunship opens fire killing a crewman and wounding Bucher. Bucher surrenders and the ship is ordered to the North Korean port of Wonsan. The crew of 84 is taken off the ship and sent to the capitol of Pyongyang where they are imprisoned. US President Lyndon Johnson demands the release of the crewman stating that the ship was in international waters when attacked and captured. The North Koreans refused stating that the ship was well within the North Korean limit of 12 miles. Johnson had a much larger problem in the small Oriental country of Vietnam and did not want to risk having to fight another military engagement so he decided to let our guys rot in that North Korean prison and try to resolve the problem diplomatically. The North Koreans wanted Captain Bucher and the crew to make a public statement avowing that they were indeed intentionally spying in North Korean waters and were deeply sorry for this breach in the sovereignty of North Korea. When interviewed the American sailors made sarcastic remarks and stuck up their middle finger, a gesture the North Koreans did not understand. Finally the North Koreans caught on and beat those guys for a week and threatened further torture if their demands were not met. Not only that, they demanded that the US State Department to issue a similar statement. The US government finally conceded and issued a public apology and the crew was released. It would not do for me to be in a position of power when that sort of atrocity is made on our guys by those vermin in North Korea. I can assure you that part of the Orient would glow in the dark to this day.
1863 This is another incidence of the American cavalry out of control. Earlier a Montana cattle rancher named Malcolm Clarke had accused a Blackfoot sub-chief name Owl Child of stealing his horses and had savagely whipped him in public. As you might expect, Owl Child returned with a group of his closest friends and capped Clarke and his son in the most horrible of fashions and then fled north to join up with a group of rebel warriors led by another Blackfoot named Mountain Chief. The public outcry became so loud that the military Indian agent in that area notified Colonel Eugene Baker to gather up some troops and cavalrymen and seek out Owl Child and bring him in. The only problem here is that Colonel Baker is heavy into the sauce and stays in the bag most of the time. Anyway, the force led by Baker sets out looking for Owl Child. Finally, some of Baker’s Indian scouts find an Indian encampment. They return and tell Baker what they had found but they could tell by the markings on the teepees that they were not of the tribe that Owl Child belonged to, that they were a peaceful group of Blackfeet. Baker absorbs this information along with another quart of whiskey and at dusk he says “I don’t care, they are still Indians” and orders his troops to surround the village and open fire and burn anything combustible including their meager food supply. The troopers surround the encampment and did indeed open fire and burned all that would burn. The Indians have no idea what the hell is going on and are massacred. The total killed was 39 men, 60 women and 55 children. Baker allows the capture of a few of them but when he finds out that some of them have smallpox, a gift from the damned Europeans, and orders them released out onto the prairie in a Montana winter with no food. When word of this atrocity reaches the east there is a loud outcry and demands are made to correct this situation. President Ulysses Grant orders that all Indian agents must be civilians from now on. But the troopers and Colonel Baker were never brought to justice. No wonder Crazy Horse, Dull Knife, Red Cloud, Sitting Bull and the others were so vicious and cruel in their retribution. What goes around….
1556 In the middle of the afternoon the ground around the Chinese city of Shannxi begins to heave and shake. It is the beginning of the most deadly earthquake in recorded history. The city is a conglomeration of small shacks and huts that are heated by charcoal braziers that also serve as a stove. The aftershocks continue until the following morning triggering huge crevasses that open and close crushing thousands of people along with miles long landslides not to mention the fires. After all was said and done there were an estimated 830,000 deaths. I am going to repeat this: 830,000 deaths. The second largest disaster in history was the tsunami of 2004 in the Indian Ocean. There were only 240,000 deaths there. Repeat: 240,000 deaths.
Born today:
1737 US Super Patriot John Hancock. He said “A chip on the shoulder is too much baggage to carry around all of your life.” I know what will cure that infliction...age or a severe ass-kicking.
Died today:
1875 English clergyman Charles Kingsley. He said “Young blood must have its course, lad, and every dog its day.” I had often wondered where that adage came from.
1893 US clergyman Phillips Brooks. He said “Be such a man and live such a life, that if every man were such as you, and lived a life such as your, the earth would be a paradise.” Phillips, you failed to mention women...Paradise Lost.
1931 Russian dancer Anna Pavlova. When on her death bed and seconds from dying she said “Get my swan costume ready.” A professional to the end.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Quote of the day:
“Deja Moo...The feeling that you have heard this bullsh-t before.”
Anonymous
As all of you know the GOP primary was held in South Carolina over this past weekend. The favorite going in was The Georgia Amphibian Lizard or Newt Gingrich. The end result was a massacre by the lizard. Since the advent of primary elections the GOP winner in the South Carolina primary has ended up as the presidential nominee for the GOP. Several members of my family are Democrats. All I have to say to them is that it is time that we had an intellectual as president rather than a quasi-politicial wannabe...what a relief it would be. The lizard has a PhD in history...right up my alley. The Florida GOP primary is at the end of this month...we shall see what we shall see.
By now all of you have heard that your president has chosen to reject the proposed oil pipeline that would run from central Canada to two different locations in the USA. The project would have meant about 20,000 jobs all paid for by the petroleum companies that would benefit from it, not to mention income taxes gathered by the states involved and the Federal government. I am not sure what this man had in mind but why should he worry, he has a job and a guaranteed retirement. He has said in the past that he felt that America's energies should be focused on alternative energy sources like solar, wind and water movement (water wheels turned by the movement of the tide operating a dynamo) and other sources. What are we supposed to do with the recent discovery of shale oil in the Dakotas that contains more potential crude oil reserves than in the entire middle east? I can hardly wait until November.
For some reason I have been doing a lot of reading about explorers during the 15th and 16th centuries. One was an Italian explorer named Giovanni Caboto but he explored for England and went by the name of John Cabot. He was tasked with finding a water passage to the Orient across the North America better known as the Northwest Passage. He went on his first voyage but was unable to find a passage but asked for a second chance which was granted. He left Bristol, England with two ships and neither he, his ships nor his crews were ever seen or heard from again.
Then there was Henry Hudson. Henry was an English explorer during Elizabethan era. He was tasked with finding the Northwest Passage also. He explored the river that bears his name in what is now New York. He sailed up river for about 150 miles but determined that this could not be the way to the Pacific. He sailed back out into the Atlantic, went north and found the St Lawrence river and the bay that bears his name. There is a small bay off Hudson Bay that juts southward into Ontario, Canada. One particular winter Hudson found himself trapped in Hudson Bay by ice in the St. Lawrence so he sailed as far south as he could and spent the winter in that small bay now named James Bay. When the ice finally relented, Hudson ordered his crews to continue westward looking for the Northwest Passage. After the privations they suffered that winter in James Bay, his crewmen wanted to go to the house. Hudson insisted so they mutinied and put Hudson, his son and seven crewmen loyal to Hudson into a small boat and set them adrift in James Bay. Hudson and company were never seen nor heard from again. The mutineers sailed back to England but were not executed for mutiny because of the knowledge they had of the New World.
The first European to lay eyes on the Grand Canyon was a Spanish soldier named Cardenas who was part of the retinue of Spanish conquistador/explorer Francisco Coronado.
This date in history January 23
1865 On this date CSA General John Bell Hood is relieved of command of the CSA Army of Tennessee thus ending a sad chapter in the history of the United States. Hood had requested to be relieved a couple of weeks earlier. John Bell Hood was born in Kentucky and graduated from West Point in 1853. As with most of his class, he served in the western theater until hostilities broke out at the start of the Civil War. Hood resigned his commission and offered his services to the famous Texas 4th Infantry. His regiment was sent to serve with CSA General Robert E. Lee and the equally famous Army of Northern Virginia. Hood served with distinction in the Peninsular Campaign and especially in the Battle of the Seven Days in 1862. Hood aggressive nature did not go unnoticed and he was eventually given command of a division. There is little question that his aggressive counter-attack at the Battle of Antietam saved General Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia from total annihilation. His next major assignment came at the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg in June of 1863 when he was ordered to attack the left flank of the Union lines on a hill known as Little Round Top. He had under his command was the 4th and 5th Texas, the 5th Alabama and a number of other regiments totaling about 2,500 men. He was attacking the 20th Maine numbering about 300. At the onset of the battle Hood was severely wounded and lost the use of an arm as a result. Hood’s troops were not successful in turning the flank of the Union army on Little Round Top only because of the stubbornness of the 20th Maine and the resolve of their commander Colonel Joshua L. Chamberlain. Hood spent quite a bit of time recuperating from this severe wound. Hood resumed his duties with the CSA Army of Tennessee and fought at the bloody Battle of Chickamauga where he was again severely wounded which resulted in the loss of a leg. When US General William T. Sherman began his attack across the state of Georgia beginning near Chattanooga, Tennessee and aimed at Atlanta and the port of Savannah, CSA General Joseph Johnston was in command of the CSA Army of Tennessee. Johnston knew he was out manned and outgunned and chose to use defensive strategy by digging in, fight and retreat. The closer Sherman got to Atlanta, the more nervous CSA President Jefferson Davis became. Finally Davis decided that the CSA needed a more aggressive commander of the Army of Tennessee and relieved Johnston and named Hood as his replacement. Hood assumed command and immediately struck hard at Sherman’s army in three different futile and costly attacks in and around Atlanta. Eventually Hood pulled his army out of Atlanta, moved west and headed north back toward Chattanooga hoping that Sherman would follow to protect his supply line but it didn’t happen that way. Hood finally moved the Army of Tennessee within striking distance of Sherman’s vital supply line near Nashville, Tennessee. Another Union army was dug-in and waiting but Hood flung what was left of his army at the Union fortifications in two unsuccessful and even more costly attacks. At the end of these two battles the CSA Army of Tennessee ceased to exist as a viable fighting force. When Hood took command in July of 1864, the CSA Army of Tennessee had 64,000 troops, when he was relieved on this day there were 18,000. War is hell.
1968 The United States intelligence gathering vessel USS Pueblo is on patrol 16 miles off the coast of North Korea when a North Korean gunboat pulls along side the Pueblo and orders it to stop. The commander of the lightly armed Pueblo, Captain Lloyd Bucher, tries to run away but the gunship opens fire killing a crewman and wounding Bucher. Bucher surrenders and the ship is ordered to the North Korean port of Wonsan. The crew of 84 is taken off the ship and sent to the capitol of Pyongyang where they are imprisoned. US President Lyndon Johnson demands the release of the crewman stating that the ship was in international waters when attacked and captured. The North Koreans refused stating that the ship was well within the North Korean limit of 12 miles. Johnson had a much larger problem in the small Oriental country of Vietnam and did not want to risk having to fight another military engagement so he decided to let our guys rot in that North Korean prison and try to resolve the problem diplomatically. The North Koreans wanted Captain Bucher and the crew to make a public statement avowing that they were indeed intentionally spying in North Korean waters and were deeply sorry for this breach in the sovereignty of North Korea. When interviewed the American sailors made sarcastic remarks and stuck up their middle finger, a gesture the North Koreans did not understand. Finally the North Koreans caught on and beat those guys for a week and threatened further torture if their demands were not met. Not only that, they demanded that the US State Department to issue a similar statement. The US government finally conceded and issued a public apology and the crew was released. It would not do for me to be in a position of power when that sort of atrocity is made on our guys by those vermin in North Korea. I can assure you that part of the Orient would glow in the dark to this day.
1863 This is another incidence of the American cavalry out of control. Earlier a Montana cattle rancher named Malcolm Clarke had accused a Blackfoot sub-chief name Owl Child of stealing his horses and had savagely whipped him in public. As you might expect, Owl Child returned with a group of his closest friends and capped Clarke and his son in the most horrible of fashions and then fled north to join up with a group of rebel warriors led by another Blackfoot named Mountain Chief. The public outcry became so loud that the military Indian agent in that area notified Colonel Eugene Baker to gather up some troops and cavalrymen and seek out Owl Child and bring him in. The only problem here is that Colonel Baker is heavy into the sauce and stays in the bag most of the time. Anyway, the force led by Baker sets out looking for Owl Child. Finally, some of Baker’s Indian scouts find an Indian encampment. They return and tell Baker what they had found but they could tell by the markings on the teepees that they were not of the tribe that Owl Child belonged to, that they were a peaceful group of Blackfeet. Baker absorbs this information along with another quart of whiskey and at dusk he says “I don’t care, they are still Indians” and orders his troops to surround the village and open fire and burn anything combustible including their meager food supply. The troopers surround the encampment and did indeed open fire and burned all that would burn. The Indians have no idea what the hell is going on and are massacred. The total killed was 39 men, 60 women and 55 children. Baker allows the capture of a few of them but when he finds out that some of them have smallpox, a gift from the damned Europeans, and orders them released out onto the prairie in a Montana winter with no food. When word of this atrocity reaches the east there is a loud outcry and demands are made to correct this situation. President Ulysses Grant orders that all Indian agents must be civilians from now on. But the troopers and Colonel Baker were never brought to justice. No wonder Crazy Horse, Dull Knife, Red Cloud, Sitting Bull and the others were so vicious and cruel in their retribution. What goes around….
1556 In the middle of the afternoon the ground around the Chinese city of Shannxi begins to heave and shake. It is the beginning of the most deadly earthquake in recorded history. The city is a conglomeration of small shacks and huts that are heated by charcoal braziers that also serve as a stove. The aftershocks continue until the following morning triggering huge crevasses that open and close crushing thousands of people along with miles long landslides not to mention the fires. After all was said and done there were an estimated 830,000 deaths. I am going to repeat this: 830,000 deaths. The second largest disaster in history was the tsunami of 2004 in the Indian Ocean. There were only 240,000 deaths there. Repeat: 240,000 deaths.
Born today:
1737 US Super Patriot John Hancock. He said “A chip on the shoulder is too much baggage to carry around all of your life.” I know what will cure that infliction...age or a severe ass-kicking.
Died today:
1875 English clergyman Charles Kingsley. He said “Young blood must have its course, lad, and every dog its day.” I had often wondered where that adage came from.
1893 US clergyman Phillips Brooks. He said “Be such a man and live such a life, that if every man were such as you, and lived a life such as your, the earth would be a paradise.” Phillips, you failed to mention women...Paradise Lost.
1931 Russian dancer Anna Pavlova. When on her death bed and seconds from dying she said “Get my swan costume ready.” A professional to the end.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
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