Good morning,







Quote of the day:


When asked about the exploding birth rate in India he said: “The bed of poverty is fertile. Sex is all they have.”


                             Mahatma Gandhi






To whomever it concerns: I had the familiar dream once again Saturday night.






Trivia question:


What Mexican-born movie actor was awarded an Oscar for best supporting actor twice? For extra credit name the movies.






Over in Spartanburg, SC a 25 year old man was arrested after undercover agents purchased large amounts of cocaine from him on two occasions. This jackass has been arrest twice before for possession of large amounts of pot with intent to distribute. He was convicted and sentenced to 18 years in a South Carolina prison. He has to serve 80% of the sentence before he is eligible for parole which guarantees him about 14 years and 4 months in the joint. 14 years and 4 months in a South Carolina prison will seem like a hundred years in any other state prison. The South Carolina prison system is not known for it's leniency.






Back in 1996 out in the Columbia River Gorge in Washington state near the town of Kennewick a couple of back packers discovered a human skull and subsequently an entire skeleton was uncovered. Local authorities were called and they immediately recognized it as not the average skeleton but one that was very, very old. Paleontologist from several different universities were called in. They began an examination but were stopped when the local representatives of the local Native Americans did not want “their ancestor's” remains disturbed and sued. It is true that the native Americans were here thousands of years before the Europeans so I suppose the Native Americans felt they has a case. The case reached the Supreme Court and they decided that the Native Americans could not positively prove kinship with the skeleton so their lawsuit was set aside and further investigation was begun. Several renown paleontologist and geneticists examined the skeleton and a strange fact came to light. It is well known that nearly all of the Native American tribes have Mongolian ancestry...meaning their ancestors crossed over to North America from Siberia via a land bridge that existed about 20,000 years ago. The Kennewick skeleton is without question about 9,500 years old and is Polynesian. How did he get here? It almost has to be by sea. It is remotely possible that a group of Polynesians made their way to southeast Asia and walked to the Bering land bridge and on into North America...but that is a long hike, y'all. But on second thought, the land bridge had disappeared by 9,500 years ago. That only leaves by sea. If that is the case, why haven't other skeletons with these genetics been found in North America before? I have no answers here...just questions. In the past, the very thought of Polynesians making it to North America was ludicrous and therefore no genetic examinations were warranted. Here is tangible proof that they did indeed make it. Perhaps the skeleton of this man was one of the first to arrive and his fellow travelers blended in with the Native Americans and their genetics became so diluted as to be nearly undetectable now. I don't really know, that is just a guess. I saw a program on TV about a skeleton found on an island off the coast of Chile that was tested and found to be about 4,000 years old and was without a doubt Oriental, Japanese in fact. Where....How.......? By the way, Kennewick man's skull was sent to a forensic specialist and artificial flesh was applied and now we know what he looked like.






It looks like the “good ole boy” system of politics here in South Carolina has taken a slap. This past Friday at 10:00a South Carolina Lieutenant Governor Ken Ard resigned because of an avalanche of charges of misconduct in his election campaign in 2010. During his resignation announcement Ard plead guilty to seven charges involving channeling campaign funds to his personal account, making lists of non-existant campaign contributors to make himself more popular than he really was, giving some of his friends, not campaign workers, money from campaign funds. He is expected to be sentenced very soon since he has plead guilty. He could be sentenced to 35 years in prison and fined for thousands of dollars. But maybe the “good ole boy” system is still viable...we will see when the sentence is announced. I suspect he has made a deal whereby he resigned and plead guilty for a softer sentence...a plea bargain as it were.


Here is an update. Ard was sentenced to five years probation, 300 hours of community service and fined $5,000. This is the penalty he got for the misuse of an estimated $46,000 in campaign funds. Perhaps crime does pay.






One of the main thoroughfares in the Charleston, SC area is I-526 which connects I-26 north of Charleston with Mount Pleasant, Sullivans Island and the Isle of Palms. This road is very busy almost 24/7. Last week a car was speeding down I-526 and was stopped by a State Trooper. The man failed a field sobriety test and was taken to the joint. Guess who it was. It was the second in command of the Mount Pleasant Police Department. I suspect the he and Ken Ard need to get together in their search for employment.






I suspect all of y'all remember South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford who disappeared for several days and was found to have went to Argentina to visit his secret lover. It cost him his marriage and tons of alimony and child support for his four boys. His permanent home at he time was a palatial estate on the Atlantic ocean front on Sullivan's Island, SC. It is now his ex-wife's palatial estate. Jenny Sanford was wealthy when she married Mark so she did not need his money, he was wealthy before the marriage also. The town of Sullivan's Island is very tense about it's appearance especially animals on the loose. Last week while Jenny was at Yoga, her pet black Lab named Julius got loose and was captured by the town constabulary. The estate has an electronic fence that is supposed to keep her animals on the estate but the fence was inoperative. She has another Lab named Jeep that had bolted twice in the past and she was fined $500 each time. This time when she was fined for the Julius episode it was $1,040. She complained to the Town Administrator stating the penalty was “over the top”. The Administrator was unsympathetic so a court date has been set. By the way, her estate is on the beach about half way between Poe's Tavern and the lighthouse. I don't know about her estate, but Poe's Tavern and Dunleavy's (across the street) are a must visit if you are ever in the area of Sullivan's Island, SC.






           This date in history March 12






1930 On this date the spiritual leader of India, Mohandas Gandhi begins a march of defiance from Delhi to the sea to gather salt. If you can believe this, the British government had forbidden the population of India to buy sell or gather salt except from a supply owned by the British. Salt was a very important addition to the diet of the Indians because of the heat. As in the past with opium in China. Great Britain wanted a monopoly on what was needed in different populations of the earth to keep the economy flourishing. In fact, Great Britain went to war with the Chinese Government over supplying opium to the Chinese. It was Great Britain’s contention that they had supplied the opium to China in the first place to get them addicted; now they wanted a monopoly. The Chinese government said that the drug was harmful and a war began because of it. Anyway, Great Britain had cornered the market on salt in India and they wanted to continue the monopoly but the religious leader Mohandas Gandhi called bullsh-t on that and headed for the Indian Ocean to gather salt. Gandhi contended that salt was a gift from Siva (God) and no man could sell it under force of law. He started the march of 241 miles with 78 followers, and when he reached the coastal town of Dandhi, he had a following of over 60,000. In that town, natural sea salt was available for the taking at low tide. The British chose to grind the sea salt into the mud making it unattainable, but Gandhi walked down to the ocean’s edge and reached down into the mud and brought out a crystal of sea salt, washed it off and ate a bite of it which started a chain of civil disobedience events that eventually drove the British out of India and led to their independence. Gandhi was arrested but immediately began a hunger strike that if it resulted in his death, the British would have millions of angry Indians on their hands. So Gandhi was released soon thereafter. By the way, Mohandas Gandhi was a student of American Henry David Thoreau and his theories of effective civil disobedience. India finally achieved independence from Great Britain in 1947 and Mohandas Gandhi was assassinated by left wing extremists a year later. This reminds me of the assassination of the Egyptian Anwar Sadat. He tried to gain some sort of peace with Israel and was succeeding but he was killed. I guess there are those out there that just like killing; world history is full of it unceasingly.






1864 Today began one of the worst fiascos in the history of the American military. In their wisdom, the American military set forth a plan to sent Admiral David Porter and 20 warships up the Red River from New Orleans into Texas with the intent of further expansion and control of the river systems in the Confederacy. The only problem here was that they put US General Nathaniel Banks, a proven loser, in command of the 27,000 ground troops that would follow along on the west bank of the river. Previously, Banks had been tasked with gaining control of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. The only problem here was that CSA General Stonewall Jackson and CSA General Jubal Early awaited him and wasted no time in handing Banks his a-s and sending him back to Washington. In his defense, Banks was not an experienced military field commander but had good connections with the upper military officials in Washington so they decided to give him a second chance. On this date, Banks and his army departed New Orleans headed up the Red River with Porter’s warships close aboard. They achieved moderate success with the capture of the Confederate outpost of Fort Derussy and then Porter captured Alexandria almost single handed. The only problem here was that Banks and his army was about two weeks late arriving at Alexandria which gave the Confederates plenty of advanced notice that he was coming. Porter headed on up toward Shreveport but Banks found the going a little soggy and headed inland to get out of the swamp. After he is about 20 miles from the river CSA General Richard Taylor (son of US President Zachary Taylor) and his army of howling Confederates ambushed Banks army and administered the mother of all ass-whippings and Porter's naval guns are useless at that range. So Banks, a-s in hand, said to hell with it and heads back toward New Orleans leaving Porter with no support. Poor old Porter turned his ships around and headed back south toward the Big Easy with the Confederates on both banks of the river shooting his a-s off every step of the way. This ain’t all. The river had fallen to the point that Porter’s ships were aground with no way out in sight. Porter was considering burning his ships and surrendering then a pretty smart Yankee engineer devises “wing dams” which raises the water a few feet and the warships head for home. A few of the ships were lost because there were waterfalls where there was none before, but essentially, the retreat was a success. Porter makes his report on the expedition and US General Nathaniel Banks disappeared from view never to be seen or heard from again.






1922 Jack Kerouac is born this date in Lowell, Massachusetts. Jack had a big influence on my life at one time. He was a member of the “beat” generation who saw life in a non-materialistic way but sought inner peace and the purpose of life. Jack gave us just a few books but by far the most important of was “On the Road”. Jack had traveled the country mostly hitchhiking and getting rides anyway he could. He developed an amalgam of ideas and outlooks that forged his own philosophy. He also gave us the book “The Subterraneans” which was about people he had met that had an even more slanted outlook on life and preferred to be less visible with their beliefs in non-conformity. Jack died of a brain aneurism in Saint Petersburg, Florida in 1967. He was 45 years old. What a damn-d shame.






Born today:






1889 English historian Phillip Guedella. He said “History repeats itself, historians repeat each other”. Good insight, Phillip.






1912 Canadian writer Irving Layton. He said of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau “Canada has finally produced a Prime Minister worthy of assassination.” Ouch!






1928 US playwright Edward Albee. When speaking to his wife he said “If you existed, I would divorce you.” That, my friends, is the best insult I have ever read.






Died today:






2001 US entrepreneur Morton Downey, Jr. When speaking about women who smoke he said “I had rather have sex with a raccoon.” I would not go that far, Mort.






 Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow