Good morning,







Quote of the day:


“If I had all the money I have spent on alcohol, I would spend it on alcohol.”


                              Winston Churchill






The answer to the trivia question as to what famous movie star/singer is from Tioga, Texas...It is Gene Autry.






Trivia question:


What is the oldest continuously occupied city on Earth?






A few days ago down near Gilbert, SC (west of Columbia) a 20 year old man driving on US 378 struck a deer crossing the road. The deer was not killed but was injured. The man stopped and was trying to pull the deer out of the road to give it chance at living. The terrified deer was struggling mightily. Soon a 17 year old boy from Gilbert High School came along and saw the struggle in the middle of the road. He pulled over and went out to help the man trying to rescue the deer. Another car came from the opposite direction and struck and killed the 17 year old. The 20 year old man was not injured and the deer finally found its footing and disappeared into the undergrowth. There was a quote from the movie Gettysburg. After the Confederates had their asses handed to them at Pickett's Charge, CSA General James Longstreet grabbed a rifle and started to mount his horse and “Go after those Yankees.” He was restrained by one of his orderlies who said “There is no use in going out there trying to get yourself killed, General, the Lord will come for you in his own good time.” The Lord came for the 17 year old boy from Gilbert High School on US 378 trying the rescue a deer.






Do any of you out there know where the word shampoo comes from? It comes from a Hindu word champu meaning “head massage”. It was brought back to England when the British Empire included India. No one knows how the head massage came to include soap and water as it is today. That ain't the only words we have borrowed from India...pajamas, dungarees and khakis, for example. The word hurricane was borrowed from the Maya. The Mayan god of storms was Huracan. It is this montage of borrowed words that make the English language the most difficult to learn.






This past January a group of four University of South Carolina students were out on the town partying in Columbia, SC. They were being driven around by a student from Fairfield, CT driving Dodge Charger, a very, very quick automobile. After their last stop at about 4:45am, they were headed home down George Rogers Blvd at a high rate of speed, control was lost and the car crashed into the side of a brick building and burst into flames. All four were killed instantly. The city cops estimated they were going over 90 MPH. George Rogers Blvd is not that long so they had to really lean on that car to get up to that speed. The Chief of Police said that this was the worse traffic accident he had seen in his career.






It looks like I will be unable to make the pilgrimage to Pensacola Beach this Spring because of finances. I will have withdrawal.






A few days ago an off duty Charlotte, NC fireman came home and lo and behold, someone had backed up a truck into his drive way and was attempting to drive off with his camping trailer. There were two people in the truck. The fireman blocked the driveway and got out, sidearm in hand. He had already called the cops and was trying to detain the thieves until the cops got there. The driver in the truck revved the engine and headed toward the fireman who opened fire and capped the driver instantly with a shot to the forehead. The other thief jumped out and ran away. The fireman did not fire at him for fear of hitting one of his neighbors' houses. The police said that the evidence shows that the fireman shot because he was in fear for his life and would not be charged with a crime. The sister of the dead man said that even though her brother had a long criminal record, the fireman should not have used a gun. By the same token, the driver should not have tried to steal. It was he that took the chances and paid the consequences.






             This date in history February 8






1777 On August 12, 1739 Timothy Bigelow is born in Worcester, Massachusetts. After helping remove some of the dead Patriot soldiers from the field after the battle of Lexington, he joined the Continental Army. He is one of two majors with General Benedict Arnold on the ghastly march from Maine to Quebec, Canada. Many Continental soldiers died of starvation and exposure during this ordeal. The attack on Quebec was not successful and Bigelow was captured and was imprisoned by the British from December 1775 to August 1776 and then released. After returning to the Continental Army he was promoted to the rank of Colonel on this date. Bigelow was a dedicated and very efficient soldier. He was present at some of the most important battles in United States history. He was there at the Battle of Saratoga, a Patriot victory that persuaded France to come to our aid, the Battle of Monmouth, and most of all he was with the Continental Army at the battle of Yorktown where the entire army under British General Charles Cornwallis surrendered. After the war Bigelow went back home to Worcester and resumed his profession as a blacksmith. He fell into financial ruin and was jailed for failure to repay his debts. He died in prison on March 31, 1790. He left a wife and five children. What the hell can you say about this outrage?






1587 In 1542 Mary is six days old when her father James V, the King of Scotland died making little Mary the ruling Monarch of Scotland. After reaching an appropriate age Mary is sent to be raised in France. She ends up marrying the dauphin (apparent heir to the French throne) and he eventually becomes King Francis II. Francis dies the year after becoming king and Mary returns to Scotland to assume her position as the ruling monarch, Mary Queen of Scots. Mary marries her cousin Lord Darnley but has a lover in Lord Bothwell. Lord Darnley is killed in a mysterious explosion and three months later Mary marries Lord Bothwell. Well, the Scottish nobles call bullshit on that action and accuse Mary and Bothwell of assassinating Lord Darnley to get him out of the way and call for Mary to step down. Mary refuses and civil war breaks out with the army that is loyal to Mary against an army raised by the Scottish nobles. Mary’s army has the crap kicked out it and Mary has no choice but to flee the country. She goes to England seeking refuge with her cousin Queen Elizabeth I. Mary’s son James becomes the King of Scotland as James VI. Elizabeth welcomes Mary and offers refuge. Later on it was discovered that Mary had conspired with the French to assassinate Elizabeth so Mary can rise to the throne of England. Queen Elizabeth is not pleased and in 1568 sends Mary to Fotheringay Castle for imprisonment. She stays imprisoned for 19 years and on this date, Mary Queen of Scots has a date with the ever present big guy with a big axe and a black hood. Mary went to meet her maker in two pieces. Mary’s son James calmly accepts his mother’s execution and cools his heels waiting for Elizabeth to expire and sure enough, in 1603 Elizabeth passes away and James VI of Scotland becomes the King of Scotland, Ireland and the King of England and is titled James I. This is the first time all three countries were under one rule and the phrase “Great Britain” came into being.






1887 On this date President Grover Cleveland signs the Dawes Severalty Act. As incredible as it sounds, Senator Lauren Dawes of Massachusetts formulates a plan to divide the Indian’s reservations into domestic plots with Indian males with families would get 160 acres, single males 80 acres and boys 40 acres. The women were not eligible for any lands at all. After all of this took place, what land that would be left over would be sold to the Anglos. The so called “friends of the Indians” endorsed this project as the best way to assimilate the Indians into the Anglo society in spite of the fact that the Indians lost ownership of 86 million acres or 63 % of their lands. The “friends of the Indians” were the first in line when the excess lands came up for sale. They weren’t “friends” they were just lusting after Indian lands. The Dawes Severalty Act remained in place for 40 years and then in 1934 the Wheeler-Howard Act became law and the Dawes Act was repudiated. The Wheeler-Howard Act stated that the Indian tribes would be allowed to revert back to a central type government that they had been in the past. But much damage had already been done. We honkies are not such hot shit, are we? After all, we were the very first “illegal aliens” to step foot on the Continent to stay (the Vikings were first but they did not stay) and drive the Natives almost into extinction with disease, cheating, betrayal and mass murder. It is estimated that there were 26 million Indians on the lands that became the continental United States when Columbus arrived in the Bahamas. After the last US military engagement with the Indians at Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota in the 1880’s, there were 750,000. What is wrong with this picture?






1692 Previously the good Reverend Samuel Parris had purchased two slaves in the Bahamas and brought them back to his home in Salem, Massachusetts. The two teenaged girls living in his house were his niece Abigail Williams and his daughter Betty. The girls were beginning to act a little weird so the Reverend took them to see a doctor. On this date the doctor diagnosed the girls as being under the influence of an “evil spirit.” Well, the Reverend immediately suspected his slaves and being the culprits so he takes his slaves, Tituba and John Indian aside and administers a severe beating to them both trying to get them to confess to being witches/warlocks. Neither one of them confessed. One of the neighbors suggested making a cake with the girls’ urine and fed it to the dog. The logic was if the dog began acting strangely, then the girls were under the influence of a witch. Fortunately for Fido, that idea was scrapped. But the girls kept having what appeared to be fits and convulsions and said that they had seen Tituba in their hallucinations. Then other girls that had visited Abigail and Betty began having fits and convulsions. This set off the well documented panic in the fear of witches in the town of Salem. Soon everyone was pointing fingers at others with which they had a grievance against. On February 29 an arrest warrant was issued for three other women as being witches and the panic was in high gear. In the summer of 1692 the first of the Salem witch trials began with Sarah Good, Rebecca Nurse, Susannah Martin, Elizabeth Howe and Sarah Wildes. All were convicted and sentenced to hang on July 23. While these women were on the gallows all but one forgave those that convicted them. The one woman said to the executioner Nicholas Noyes who read them the order of execution for being witches “You are a liar. I am no more a witch that you are a wizard and if you take my life, God will give you blood to drink.” Nicholas Noyes died a few years later bleeding from the mouth. Eventually the credibility of the accusers went away and the good people of Salem came to their senses, but not before hanging 19 and imprisoning over 100 and the Governor stepping in and putting a stop to it. The most important family in Salem was the Proctor family. The powers that be chose to hang John Proctor as a witch but spared his wife because she was pregnant. People are fools at times, in fact, most of the time.






Born today:






1820 US General William Tecumseh Sherman. He said “If I had my choice I would kill all of the reporters but we would be getting reports from hell before breakfast.” Believe it or not the US General that laid waste to Georgia and South Carolina became the President of LSU.






1828 French writer Jules Verne. He said “Whatever one man can conceive another man can achieve.” Jules was one of the first authors to write about space travel.






1884 English racer Lord Brabazon. He said “If you cannot say what you want to say in twenty minutes you ought to go home and write a book.” Lord Brabazon was not known for his patience.






1888 US movie director Elbert “King” Vidor. He said “Marriage isn’t a word...it is a sentence.” It is close to life without parole.






1931 US actor James Dean. He said “Dream as if you will live forever, live as if you will die today.” James was a rising star in the movies when he was killed in a car wreck at the age of 24. He only made three movies, Giant, East of Eden and Rebel Without a Cause, but he is a legend to this day.










1941 US actor Nick Nolte. When speaking about Barbra Streisand he said “She is a ball-buster...protect me from her.” Hey Nick, there are millions of them out there… just joking.






Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow