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