Good morning,




Quote of the day:

“The ability to watch two men stand toe to toe and pummel each other into insensibility is what seperates us from the animals.”

                                            “Reverend Jim” Ignatowski, Taxi



A few weeks ago the most severe arctic storm in a decade came ashore in northwestern Alaska. The result was that the roads to Nome, Kotzebue and several other villages were blocked. Not only that the sea ice gathered up in the bays which disallowed any tankers and supply ships from coming close enough to deliver. Finally after two weeks of the people holding on by their finger nails, this past weekend a US Coast Guard Ice breaker plowed a path for a Russian oil tanker to get within ½ mile of Nome. It will unload it 1.2 million gallons of arctic diesel and gasoline. The tanker cannot get any closer than ½ mile because of the depth of the bay. They will unload using hoses laying across the ice. By the way as I understand it, “arctic diesel” has a small percentage of alcohol to prevent freezing in ultra-low temperatures. On top of all of this, Cordova, Alaska received 18 feet of snow within the last two weeks. 18 FEET Y'ALL! Some of the residents were asked what they wanted the most and some of them said a snow shovel. What the hell is a resident in Alaska doing WITHOUT a show shovel? Keep all of this in mind with the knowledge that we are in the early stages of global warming. if you don't believe me ask Al Gore.



Two entertainers died this past year. Funny guy Dom DeLouise and Marilyn Chambers. Marilyn was a porno star with some outstanding skills. Ask any man what they were. She had enormous control as shown in the world famous movie Behind the Green Door.



A couple weeks ago a disgruntled employee of a lumber yard up in North Carolina showed up at work with a Model 12 Winchester 12 gauge shotgun and killed three of his fellow employees. He then went home, waited a while and then shot himself with the same shotgun. His wound was serious but not fatal. It is not easy shooting yourself with a shotgun in such a way that it is NOT instantly fatal. The shooter eventually did die about two weeks later. World famous author Ernest Hemmingway committed suicide with a shotgun. He was at his cabin in Ketchum, Idaho and put the butt end of his 12 gauge double-barrelled Fox standing upright on the floor and his forehead on the end of the barrells and lit that sucker off. It was not pretty



This date in history January 18



1778 Earlier one of the greatest navigators in history had sailed from England and discovered Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia. Captain James Cook was assigned the task of the exploration of the South Pacific and departed England in the spring of 1776 commanding two ships, the Resolution and the Discovery. On this date Captain Cook sighted the Hawaiian Island of Oahu. Cook named these islands the Sandwich Islands in honor of one of his patrons, the Earl of Sandwich. After seeking an appropriate harbor, Cook anchored at Waimea on the island of Kauai. The islanders thought the Englishmen were Gods and were fascinated by the iron used on the ships because there is no metal ores in the Islands. The English sailors traded iron nails for sex with the native women. During Cooks stay one of the sailors died proving that they were not gods and tensions increased. After exploration of the islands, Cook sailed north looking for the alleged western entrance to the “Northwest Passage”. The Northwest Passage was a supposed water passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific across North America. As we know, this passage has been proven not to exist. After a year of exploration Cook returned to the Hawaiian Islands. This time Cook was unfortunate in his choice of anchorages when he sailed into Lono Bay. Lono Bay was considered a holy place by the natives on certain days of the year, unfortunately for Cook, this was one of the days. The ships were met with a hail of curses and a shower of stones and coral. The natives were able to steal one of the small transfer boats from the Resolution. Cook was not going to sit still for that and he and thirty other sailors armed themselves and went ashore (or tried to) to negotiate getting the boat back. One of the sailors got nervous and fired his weapon killing a native whereupon the natives attacked and killed most of the sailors, Cook included. Six or seven of the sailors were able to return to the ship. The next morning the Resolution fired a broadside at the islanders still yelling and screaming on the shore killing 30 of them. After this the sailors sailed their young asses back to England.



1776 On this evening the Committee for Safety in the city of Savannah, Georgia commanded by Patriot Major Joseph Habersham went to the home of Royal Governor James Wright and placed him under arrest. He stayed under house arrest until February 11 when he escaped and made his way to the British warship HMS Scarborough. After failing in an attempt to negotiate a treaty with Habersham he sailed for London. On December 28, 1778 Wright returned to Savannah with a hell of a lot of troops and was able to re-take Savannah but he was never able to control the entirety of Georgia. He remained as governor until 1782 but he found out that Patriot General Anthony “Mad Anthony” Wayne was on his way to Savannah with a group of seasoned and battle hardened veterans that had recently kicked the living sh-t out a military group of Loyalist/British/Cherokees even though Wayne’s troops were outnumbered 2 to 1. Rather than risk being captured or killed by Wayne’s troops, Wright got aboard yet another British warship and sailed his young ass back to England never to return. He died in London of February 7, 1785. Georgia was one of the few colonies the British were able to enforce the hated Stamp Act which was one of the main reasons for the fire being lighted under the move toward independence. Georgia had the largest percentage of Loyalists in the colonies but in spite of that, they were one of the first to argue for independence. Go figure.

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1990 As incredible as it seems, the Mayor of Washington, D.C. Marion Barry is captured on camera smoking crack cocaine given to him by a woman that had proposed that if she gave him some “crack” he would help her get a reduced prison sentence. The woman that made the proposal was a plant by the Washington PD and Barry was arrested on the spot. Barry was taken away while screaming “That bitch set me up”, “That bitch set me up”. Barry was convicted and spent 6 months in the slammer. While he was in prison, the control of the city was reverted to the Congress with an appointed administrator in control. That did not end the career of Marion Barry. Even after being convicted of a drug crime, Barry ran for a city council seat and was elected by a vote of 96%. That should give you insight as to the character of the residents of our nation’s capitol.



1803 On this date President Thomas Jefferson sent a secret monetary request of $2,500 to Congress to be used for the “exploration of the Missouri River basin” which turned out to be the Lewis and Clark expedition. Jefferson rationalized that trade for furs with the yet to be discovered Indian tribes in the “higher latitudes” would more than re-pay the costs. Jefferson specified that the expedition would be just one officer and 10 men involved so that the Indians would not think it was an invasion. The expedition ended up with a few more men that what was requested but that “Corps of Discovery” made inroads into the expansion of this nation that were never equaled.



Born today:



1200 Japanese spiritualist Dogen. He said “Do not expect that you will be aware when you achieve enlightenment.” Are you listening, Jaci?



1807 American military leader Robert E. Lee. He said “Whiskey---I like it and always have, that is why I never use it.” I don’t like it so I limit myself to only 7 or 8 drinks a day.



1809 American author Edgar Allen Poe. He said “I have great faith in fools---self confidence my friends call it.” Been there, done that, do not have a tee shirt.



1943 US singer Janis Joplin. She said “Fourteen heart attacks and that son-of-a-bitch had to croak on my week---MY WEEK!” Janis was supposed to have been on the cover of Time magazine but it was preempted with the death of President Eisenhower.



Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow