Wednesday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“The price of Prozac went up 50% last year. When Prozac users were asked about it, they said, “Whatever…’”

Jay Leno

I am still reading “Comanche Empire”. As I understand it this is used as a textbook at Southern Methodist University. There was one passage that stood out. The Osage tribe originally lived within the boundaries of the Comancheria (lands claimed by the Comanche) but constant clashes with the well mounted and well experienced Comanche cavalry forced them to move to a small strip of land on the present day Oklahoma/Kansas border. In 1823 under the auspices of the US Government a treaty between the Osage and Comanche was achieved and a system of trade was established. In one trade session the Osage bought 20 white children for firearms, gunpowder and ammo that they had taken in raids on white settlers. The Osage took the kids to a US Cavalry fort where an American Indian Agency existed and offered them for horses and metal utensils like knives, axes and pots and pans (believe it or not) in return. The Osage decided that ransoming white children was a great way to make a living. Two years later the Osage and the Comanche met for another trade event and a trade valued at an estimated $60,000 changed hands. That was a hell of a lot of money in those days. By the way, right after the turn of the century the mighty Comanche had virtually disappeared and so had the bison. The Osage discovered that the cattle ranchers would pay rent to the Osage to allow grazing on the miles and miles of grass on Osage land. They also discovered that their lands were virtually afloat on a sea of oil. To this day, the Osage is the richest aboriginal tribe in existence. God works in mysterious ways.

Over in Fayetteville, NC an elderly cattleman had raised a black Angus bull from a calf to a 2,000 pound behemoth. The bull never relented from his hostile behavior. The cattleman wanted to keep the bull at stud to replenish his herd but he had very little control of his behavior. One day the bull got out of his personal pasture and went a couple of pastures over chasing the cows around. The cattleman attempted to coax the bull back into his personal field but tripped and fell. The bull immediately charged and pinned the old gentleman to the ground by pressing his forehead into the man’s chest killing him. A few days before the cattleman had sold the bull to a slaughterhouse because of its behavior. The bull will soon be distributed around the southeast in smaller pieces.

I just read where the amount of money we contribute to Medicare in our lifetime in no way covers out medical expenses after the age of 65. I vehemently disagree. What about the hundreds of thousands of tax payers that die a couple of years before or after the age of 65? What happens to that money they contributed virtually all their lives? Is there a refund to their heirs? Of course there isn’t. That money is spent anyway the House and Senate...and Obama...see fit.

Here is a few comments about the book Guns, Germs and Steel. The author is investigating the mystery of why some segments of society progress to become conquerors and adventurers and others do not. In one chapter he touches on the Aborigine peoples of Australia. It is well known the they had been there alone for at least 40,000 years and DNA has proven that their ancestors came from the Indonesian archipelago. It seems that during a distant ice age the sea levels fell hundreds of feet making it possible to walk from Indonesia to Australia...except for one stretch where there was a channel about 50 miles wide that would require a substantial boat. The Aborigine never did have boats larger than a hollowed out log and essentially did not know what a ship was until they saw the English arrive in them.

Not only that, the Aborigine never progressed past the stone age before the arrival of the Europeans. They did not need to...they could kill or capture game with sharpened stone tipped weapons. What the mystery is, what happened to make the Aborigine have no ambition to improve their lives? They did not seek ways to improve their health...no medicine...no sanitation, no discovery of the causes of diseases, etc. I read about one instance where an explorer went with a group of them on a food scavenging trip. They walked for a considerable distance, stopped and dug up a plant that was of the sweet potato family, removed the tuber and planted it back in the same hole. The explorer asked them why did they not take it back to their camp and plant it and they said that they never thought of it.

There are tribes in central Africa and in the Amazon rain forest that to this day are still in the stone age. How is this possible with me sitting here looking at an devise that is about 1 1/2” X 3” and I can pick it up and talk to someone in Russia in real time?

I wish all of y’all a Happy and Prosperous New Year!

This Date in History December 31

1600 On this date Queen Elizabeth I signed a charter authorizing a group of London merchants to form an organization known as the East India Company to act at the behest of the crown to capture the spice trade in the East Indies from the hands of the Dutch. This endeavor was unsuccessful but the market they found in India and China more than made up for their failure against the Dutch. Soon the flow of spices from India and the tea from China was almost unending on their way to England. This almost untapped gold mine of consumables did not go unnoticed by the French and Dutch and they attempted to move in and get part of this cornucopia. This prompted the East India Company to form their own army and navy to protect their investment. Eventually England felt it was necessary to declare India as a British possession and sent in a governor and staff to rule this most recent colony to protect the trade from interlopers by use of the mighty British army and navy. After this decision the East India Company became nothing but an administrative arm of the British Governor. In 1857 the Indian soldiers in the British army revolted against the British control of their country. This “Indian Revolt” was crushed the next year and Great Britain tightened its grip on India even more by dissolving the East India Company. They even had the gall to pass a law stating that the Indians could not go to the seaside and dig out settling ponds to allow the water to evaporate leaving the salt. Salt was imperative to the Indians not only for seasoning but for food preservation. This meant that they could only get their salt from the British. It was a monopoly of a necessary item. In the early 1930’s an Indian holy man named Mahatma Gandhi began a peaceful revolt that eventually caused the demise of English rule and the beginning of an Independent India. By the way, the beginning of the end of British rule began when Gandhi left home headed for the coast to evaporate out some salt stating that salt was a gift from God and should not be controlled by man. Along the way he had gathered more and more followers and he arrived at the coast with over 60,000 people following. The British army did not know what to do with that many people and they let them alone to get some salt.

1862 Earlier on December 11 Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest left Columbus, Tennessee with the intention of destroying Yankee supply lines. He met and defeated a Yankee army near Lexington, Tennessee on December 18 and spent the week of Christmas destroying Yankee rail lines north of Jackson, Tennessee. On this date Forrest was approaching a small village of Parker’s Crossroad when his scouts told him that there was a Yankee army detachment ahead. In typical Forrest fashion, he ordered an attack. All of Forrest’s troops were mounted cavalry but on this encounter he ordered a large part of his troops to dismount and circle around and attack the right flank of the Yankees. He left several troopers behind to hold onto the horses left by those dismounted. Forrest engaged the Yankee troops ahead but soon heard gunfire from behind and then his troopers that were holding the horses came running past him and he found himself in the midst of the Yankees who ordered him to surrender. Forrest said that he would go get his horse and order his troops to surrender. He mounted his horse and instead of ordering surrender he yelled “Attack in both directions!” His troopers sprung to action and the majority of his 2,000 cavalrymen were able to escape including Forrest but he did lose 300 troopers when they were trapped and had to surrender.

1972 Baseball superstar Roberto Clemente was in the San Juan International Airport, Puerto Rico. Clemente was an all-star outfielder for the Pittsburg Pirates and spent the majority of the off-season doing charity work in his native Puerto Rico or other places in Central America. Earlier Clemente had sent a huge amount of relief supplies to Managua, Nicaragua after that city was ravaged by an earthquake. He found out later that only a small amount of the supplies had reached those that needed it; the majority of it had been stockpiled by corrupt officials and sold to the needy. Clemente was a fiery individual anyway and when he found out about this travesty, he gathered more supplies in Puerto Rico and was going to take them to Managua himself and distribute them to the needy. He soon found that he had more supplies that the plane that he had chartered could handle. Observing all of this was an unscrupulous man named Arthur Rivera. Rivera owned a ram shackled propeller driven DC-7 that could barely fly. He offered to rent this plane to Clemente for $4,000. Clemente agreed and they began loading the DC-7. Rivera was not a pilot and he began frantically searching for a pilot and found one in a man named Jerry Hill. Rivera, Clemente and the pilot finally got aboard and the plane began its takeoff roll. Observers knew the plane was in trouble from the start because of the sound of the engines. The plane reached about 200 feet over the Caribbean and exploded and fell into the sea. It was found that the pilot had over-boosted the engines. The bodies of Clemente, Rivera and Hill were never found. Clemente was admitted to the baseball Hall of Fame posthumously and in 2002 he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. What a great loss for us all.

Born today:

1830 Scottish writer Alexander Smith. He said “To be occasionally quoted is all the fame I desire.” Tack on to that, “occasionally paid”.

1894 Movie star Pola Negri. She said “Love is disgusting when you no longer own yourself.” Huh?

1943 US songwriter John Denver. He said “Music paints pictures and often tells stories. All of it magic and all of it true.” John had a pure and clear voice; I have not heard a voice close to his since his demise except Josh Groban

1952 US Guitarist/singer George Thorogood. He said “There are two types of music, the “blues” and that bullshit they play on MTV.” I second that.

1958 US actress Bebe Neuwirth. She said “If you have to ask how to be sexy after the age of 40, you probably can’t do it.” I am still trying, Bebe.

Thanks for listening    I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Tuesday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“What is wrong with this country is an ineffective immigration policy enacted by the American Indians.”

Pat Paulsen

Speaking of the American Indian, I am reading a book titled “Comanche Empire”. As you might suspect it is essentially the history of the Comanche nation. Back in the middle 1500's the Spanish invaded the western US, Central and South America. These guys brought their mustangs with them from Spain. Can you imagine a two month Atlantic crossing living with a herd of terrified horses? Anyway, many of their horses ran away and finally settled primarily on the Great Plains and reproduced into enormous herds. That's right y'all, there was no horses in North America before the Spanish came. The Comanche were the first to capture and tame them. After that, their whole existence depended on horses and bison and they were good at it. They kept and cultured gigantic horse herds and used them as currency. They added to their herds with slavery. Here is how. They would kidnap members of other tribes (and eventually white settlers), trade the men for horses to the Navajo, Zuni, Hopi and few other tribes to be used as slaves in their silver mines. The women and children would be taken to “fairs” primarily in Santa Fe and Taos and traded for horses with the Mexican Apaches and other slave traders. On occasion they would keep a few slaves for themselves to replace those that had died or been killed in various raids. Then the best possible thing happened as far at the Comanche were concerned. In 1829 the United States chose to force the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw and Chickasaw off their lands in western Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia in the infamous “Trail of Tears” and send them to Oklahoma and Kansas. These tribes brought with them all their personal belongings including about 5,000 black slaves. Shocked you didn't I? That's right, they had slaves. These tribes were essentially agrarian societies including wild game like deer, elk, etc. Once on the great plains they were at a loss on how cultivate these vast lands with a minimum of water available and began looking at the millions of bison and antelope all around them. They did not have a chance at this almost unlimited food supply without horses. The enterprising Comanche showed up and taught them how to hunt from horseback and offered horses in return for manufactured goods and furs but warned them about hunting on the “Comancheria” or lands claimed by the Comanche. Now the Comanche had goods that they could trade, along with their spare horses, with the illegal gun runners for firearms and anything metal like knives and axes. The gun runners sold the manufactured goods at fairs and the horses to anyone that wanted them especially the US cavalry. Unfortunately the black slaves were used as trade items also. The Comanche used the black slaves just like they did with any of the others that they had kidnapped. The “white” captives offered a double opportunity for them. They could either take them to the miners or “fairs” in Santa Fe and Taos or eventually have them taken via a middleman to an American Indian Agency where a ransom in either cash or horses would be paid. The agency was reluctant to pay a ransom for the blacks, however. This small treatise doesn't even scratch the surface as to what happened with these enterprising people, but I'll bet you have a different image of them now.                   

Recently an inventor died. This man created a device that changed to world forever. It was the Russian Mikhail Kalashnikov. He invented the AK-47 assault rifle.

This is a recap of a couple of years ago:

I saw one person that was in the Milwaukee airport that was jammed to the rafters with others that have been trapped there since Saturday because of a blizzard. This one woman said that she had no change of clothes because she had no clue where here luggage was. She did say that she had a small carry-on bag with her full of cosmetics only. Not only that, her credit cards were in the lost luggage (bad move) and she was out of money to eat on. This is why men carry their stuff in their wallets. The airport appeared to be operating but the departures were so far behind that it will “take until New Years to get caught up”. I also heard about a pregnant woman in New York that had gone into labor and the baby was in trouble. Someone with the woman called EMS and explained what was wrong. The EMS dispatcher said that she would get someone there as soon as possible. 9 hours later and ambulance showed up but it was too late, the baby was dead. You can imagine what kind of turmoil those guys were going through in the early hours of a blizzard.

I saw a program on TV about the ice melting on the polar ice caps. They showed one ice field that had retreated and it exposed an area that had not seen daylight for millions of years. Guess what was there? They found fossils of mussels and clams that will not live in water deeper than 10 feet or in water colder than 50 degrees. There were also fossilized stumps of trees that were of the cedar and cypress family All of this tells us that at one point the Arctic and Antarctic ice fields were in a temperate climate.

     This Date in History   December 30

1916 Earlier Czar Nicholas of Russia and his wife the Czarina Alexandra fell under the spell of a holy man named Rasputin. The Czar and Czarina had a son that was a hemophiliac and had suffered a cut and no one could stop the bleeding. Rasputin was called and somehow he was able to stop the bleeding and saved the boy’s life. From this time on Rasputin was in favor with the royal family. In addition to being a holy man, Rasputin was known to be a heavy drinker and skank chaser. The best possible thing happened for Rasputin. Czar Nicholas was called away to a foreign war. This left the Czarina in control of Russia and Rasputin in charge of her. Eventually the other member of royalty got fed up with Rasputin and decided to cap this bastard. A group of them invited Rasputin to dinner in a fancy mansion. What Rasputin did not know was that his food and drink had been heavily poisoned but he swallowed everything with great relish with no apparent ill effects so they shot him. Rasputin fell and as the other try to drag him out of the room, Rasputin got up and knocked one of them out and then ran outside trying to escape. He was shot once again and fell face down. The others jumped on top of him, tied his hands and feet and threw him in a near freezing river never to be seen again. The Czarina was heartbroken at the loss of her lover but the Czar was ecstatic.

1853 Earlier the United States Secretary of War under Franklin Pierce, Jefferson Davis (later to become the President of the Confederate States of America) sent the Ambassador to Mexico named James Gadsden to visit with the President of Mexico, General Santa Ana. Gadsden’s job was to settle the squabbles the United States had been having with Mexico about the lands in the southwestern area of the present day United States. Gadsden and Santa Ana set down with a map and drew up a new border for northern Mexico and the southwestern United States that formed the area known as the Gadsden Purchase and that map became the present day southern border of Arizona and New Mexico. We offered Santa Ana $12 million that was later lowered to $10 million. The United States felt that this strip of land was vital for the development of a transcontinental railroad. In 1861 the “big four” in railroading, Collis Huntington, Leland Stanford, Mark Hopkins and Charles Crocker got together and decided that a railroad was to be built on the newly acquired land and make it a branch of the Central Pacific Railroad known later as the immortal Southern Pacific Railroad.

1862 Earlier the United States ironclad U.S.S. Monitor had dueled with the Confederate ironclad C.S.S. Virginia (originally known as the Merrimac) on the James River near Hampton Roads. They battled to a draw but this duel signaled the end of wooden warships. The Monitor was used also to support U.S. General George B. McClellan’s ill fated Peninsular Campaign. The Monitor was effective in the relatively calm waters of bays and rivers, but it was decided that it would be very effective in the attempt to capture the city of Charleston, South Carolina so they started towing it down the east coast with the side wheeler U.S.S. Rhode Island. Very early on the Monitor started leaking around its turret but the onboard pumps were adequate to keep her afloat. Then they ran across a storm near Cape Hatteras, North Carolina and the leaks got worse to the point that the pumps were overcome and the Monitor began sinking. On this date Captain Bankhead of the Monitor signaled the Rhode Island that they were going to abandon ship so the Rhode Island pulled as close as safety allowed and started taking aboard the crew of the Monitor. But there were 16 sailors aboard the Monitor that were not about to get up on the pitching deck of the Monitor and they went to the bottom with the Monitor. A few years ago the remains of the Monitor was located and photographed.

1803 One of the most important but least known Patriots in America dies on this date. Francis Lewis was born in Llandaff, Wales and immigrated to the colonies when he was 22. He started a very lucrative business supplying provisions to the British army in the colonies. He was an aide to General Hugh Mercer during the Seven Years War and was captured by the Oswego Indians and sent to France as a prisoner of war. Upon his return he was granted 3,000 acres by the New York Government as a reward for his services. In 1765 he sold his mercantile business and retired to Whitestone, Long Island. His retirement gave him a lot of time to get involved in the Revolution. He was a member of Congress, a signatory of the Declaration of Independence, a member of those wild and crazy guys, the Sons of Liberty who made themselves famous at the Boston Tea Party. He served as a member of the Continental Congress until 1779 when he resigned and became a commissioner of the Board of the Admiralty. His patriotism came at a tall price, however. In 1776 the British destroyed his estate on Long Island and captured his wife and kept her as a prisoner of war. The problem with this was that George Washington had no British women to trade for Mrs. Lewis. It was reported that the British kept her without a change of clothes or a bath for some time and it affected her health. The destruction of his estate adversely affected Francis Lewis financially from which he never recovered completely. The time his wife spent as a prisoner of war affected her health to a point that she never completely recovered.

Born today:

1822 US theologian William Alger. He said “A man makes up in wrath what he lacks in reason.” That is a deep truth, y'all.

1895 English writer L.P. Hartley He said “Memory is a foreign country, they do things differently there.” Indeed they do.

1982 Canadian actress Kristin Kreuk. She said “Just because I don’t do bad things does not mean that I don’t have bad thoughts.” I have bad thoughts all the time, Kristin.

Died today:

1970 US Boxer Sonny Liston. He said “Newspaper men ask dumb questions. They squint at the sun and ask if it is shining.” Sonny was not the sharpest knife in the drawer but understood journalism.

2003 US writer John Dunne. He said “Writing is like hard labor of the mind, like laying pipe.” I am going to let this one alone.

2006 Iraqi despot Saddam Hussein. After he was caught he said “If you want to execute me, I will bring my own f---k---g rope.” He did not have to, the US provided one made of nylon...a DuPont product.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Friday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“A little sincerity can be dangerous, a lot of it is absolutely fatal.”

Oscar Wilde

I got considerable feedback about my opposition to treating women differently just because they are women. Lets assume that Three women walked into a bar that was “standing room only”. These three women are Susan Smith, Andrea Yates and Elsa Koch.

Susan Smith was married but her lover told her he did not like children. She drowned her 3 and 5 year old boys by strapping them into their car seats and rolling the car into a nearby lake hoping her lover would divorce his wife and marry her. The Idea of surrendering custody evidently never crossed this bitch's mind.

Andrea Yates got depressed and slowly and methodically drowned her five children in a bathtub.

Elsa Koch was the wife of the commandant of the Buchenwald concentration camp during WWII. This animal would seek out prisoners with interesting tattoos, have them killed and the tattooed skin removed very carefully, tanned and made into gloves and lampshades.

Am I going to hold the chair for these beasts...open a car door for them...help them with their coats on and off just because they are women? The point I am trying to make is treating someone with kindness applies to anyone regardless of gender. As far as I am concerned respect is earned and is not a gift from God because of gender. I will treat any and all with equality. The “Golden Rule” will always keep you out of trouble.

I received this from a friend that helped me when I was on my semi-annual visit to Pensacola Beach and without a car. He also is a frequent fellow imbiber at one of the most famous watering holes on the Gulf Coast...Dan lives on Little Sabine Bay and can hang with anybody. These are his words:

Christmas day, 1967,  Cam Ranh Bay.Vietnam

It was another hot day, as most were.  I was used to it by then.  I was lucky to be where I was, not slogging through a swampy jungle or a  rice paddy like a lot of guys on that day,  especially those whose lives would end before nightfall.

The view from Observation Post 10 was spectacular from the mountaintop.  Sunlight glittered from a cloudless sky on the myriad azure colors of the South China Sea.  Gentle waves broke on crystalline quartz sand so pure that Japan imported it for optical glass.

The mountain wasn’t big as mountains go, probably not more than a thousand feet or so. OP 10 sat atop a massive boulder near the top, jutting out over the side. From there it seemed that you could see forever:  distant hazy mountains on the mainland to the left, scrub covered hills to the right, and everywhere the dazzling glare from the sandy beaches.  Sampans dotted the horizon as grizzled old fishermen eked out their meager catches from the sea. 

None of this mattered though.  I was too busy feeling sorry for myself to see the beauty before me, to count my blessings, to be thankful for family and friends.  The SAT team came by to relieve me for an hour, so I could eat a turkey dinner in the chow hall instead of cold C rations.  Bah!  Humbug!  I sent them away so I could sulk Christmas away by myself.

As I pondered my miserable existence, the wop, wop, wop of a chopper grew louder as it neared from somewhere out of view behind the peak.  Suddenly it burst around in front of my lonesome boulder directly in front of me and hovered.  There in the open doorway was Santa, bedecked in his red suit and hat, full white beard blowing in the wind.  Over the noise he greeted me with a “Merry Christmas! Ho. Ho. Ho.” over a bullhorn and dashed away to his next destination.

I will never forget that Christmas and how that one simple unexpected greeting brightened my day.

Last night, Christmas Eve, a neighbor friend and another beautiful young lady tapped on my front door.  Hawkeye, one of my cats, alerted. As  I opened the door and they broke into a  Christmas carol for me.  The bore a gift of homemade decorated cupcakes packaged beautifully for the occasion.  This will be another Christmas to remember because of good friends’ caring and kindness.

Today, I would like to pass that on to you.

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to you.  May they be memorable as mine.

Oh, and by the way….Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.

Dan

         This Date in History   December 26

2004 On this date at 8:06a Indonesian time a large slip in the earth’s crust occurred when a continental plate southwest of the Indonesian archipelago, dropped about 15 feet for a length of about 50 miles. This event generated an enormous amount of energy that spread rapidly throughout the Indian Ocean and displayed itself as one of the most devastating series of tsunamis or tidal waves in recorded history. The hardest hit was several different beaches in Thailand which was just a short distance north and east of the tectonic event. Then the waves traveled across the Indian Ocean and came ashore on the east coast of India and Bangladesh and traveled on to the east coast of Africa to a lesser extent. There were many home movies made at the resorts in Thailand and it was scary to watch as the water on the beaches retreat to the horizon and then come storming back with a vengeance in three or four waves. I have a mental image a little kid on the beach after the water had disappeared and then when the tsunami arrived it washed that kid inland like a rag doll. She did not survive. I fact there was in the vicinity of 350,000 deaths attributed to these tsunamis world wide. We will never know exactly because the small villages up and down the coast that simply disappeared. One strange thing was the people on the beaches in Thailand saw their dogs, cats and even goats and cattle run for high ground even before the water retreated. They knew what was going on.

1908 On this date the first black American Jack Johnson wins the World Heavyweight boxing title by knocking out Canadian Tommy Burns in 14 rounds near Sydney Australia. Johnson held the title until 1915 and was hated and reviled by boxing fans in the United States because he did not fit in the typical “Jim Crow” image Americans had of the back man. Johnson drove fancy cars and wore fancy clothes and had a white wife, flashed gold teeth and had several overlapping affairs with different women, all white, which further inflamed the prejudiced. Johnson was born in Galveston, Texas in 1878. He dropped of the school in the fifth grade and began working on the docks in Galveston. Not long thereafter he began his career as a boxer. In those days boxing was divided into black and white divisions and Johnson became the “Black Heavyweight Champion” on 1903. In 1904 Johnson issued a challenge to the White Heavyweight Champion, Jim Jefferies. Jefferies was not interested. It was not until 1908 that White Heavyweight Champion Tommie Burns granted Johnson the match in Australia which Johnson won. It wasn’t long before the sports reporters began writing about a “Great White Hope” to get the Heavyweight Championship back into white hands. Johnson was one of the best defensive boxers in history. He was also a devastating slugger when the opportunity presented itself. In 1910 Jim Jefferies agreed to come out of retirement and challenge Johnson. Johnson was the only boxer that Jefferies ever faced that knocked him off his feet. In the 15^th round Jefferies’ corner threw in the towel and it was all over. Johnson faced several challengers and defeated them all. In 1912 Johnson was convicted of transporting an unmarried woman across state lines for “immoral purposes”. This law was implemented to stop prostitution and white slavery not to stop a night club owner and World Champion from taking his white secretary out for a weekend tryst. This was clearly an instance of law enforcement using the law for their own prejudicial purposes. Johnson was released pending an appeal. Johnson decided to get the hell out of Dodge and fled to Europe where he lived in exile for seven years and continued to defend his title in Europe and he became a very rich man. In 1915 he fought Jess Willard in Havana and was defeated. Some thought that he had thrown the match hoping the charges against him would be dropped. He returned to the United States into the waiting arm of U.S. Marshals. He did a year of hard time in a prison in Kansas then he was released he tried boxing again but he had lost a step and was not effective. His fortune went away and he ended up working in carnival side shows. He died in an automobile accident in 1945. He was 67 years old. I don’t know what lesson we can learn from this man’s life except “Don’t flaunt it and take the money and run.”

1861 Earlier Confederate States of America representatives James Mason and John Slidell had boarded the British mail ship Trent for a trip to England to try to gain support for the Confederacy from the British. The ship was stopped in the Bahamas by the United States warship U.S.S. San Jacinto and Mason and Slidell were taken off and sent to Boston. British authorities raised almighty hell for this act which was nothing short of piracy. They sent a message to Abe Lincoln to release Mason and Slidell immediately and issue a letter of apology to Great Britain or risk war yet again with the England. Abe ignored this warning for a while but when England sent 11,000 combat troops to Canada Abe got the message. Abe knew he could not fight the Confederacy and Great Britain simultaneously and succeed at either one. Abe demurred and ordered the release of Mason and Slidell. This event proved two things. It showed Abe the animosity that England had for the United States and to what ends he would go to avoid a war with them at this point in time.

1609 On this date Count Gyorgy Thurzo pays a visit to the castle of Countess Elizabeth Bathory in Hungary. He was sent there by the King Matthias of Hungary. The King had been getting reports from some titled people in the area of the Countess’ castle had some young girls had been showing up missing and he sent Thurzo to look in to it. What Thurzo found was a genuine chamber of horrors. The good Countess got off on torturing young girls for days and then killing them in the most demented ways. This girl believed that the drinking of human blood, especially young girls, would keep her youthful appearance. She was not above biting a chunk out her victims either. She would drive needles under her victim’s fingernail and toenails. On one occasion she made one of her victims cook a piece of her own flesh and serve it to the Countess. Finally she would coat he victims with honey and stake them out on the lawn and leave them to the ants and bees. She had much of staff scouring the countryside looking for young girls to bring to the Countess for her fun and games. Count Thurzo was stunned at what he found and executed over 80 people but he could not execute the Countess because she was of royalty. So he imprisoned her in a room in the castle that had only tiny slits for air and food. She survived for three years but was found dead. I wonder what happened with her body waste. I am going to let that alone.

1820 Previously a man named Moses Austin had opened a lead mine in what is now Missouri. He did well for about ten years but the ravages of the War of 1812 bankrupted him. He then decided to take advantage of his good relationship with the Spanish. On this date he meets with Spanish officials in San Antonio and asked for permission to bring 300 families into Spanish territory and establish a settlement. Initially the Spanish refused but after further persuasion by Austin they agreed to grant 200,000 acres for this settlement. Delighted, Austin went back into the United States and began recruiting families to his settlement which was in the lower reaches of the Colorado and Brazos rivers. Unfortunately, Moses died before he could get back to his proposed settlement so his son Stephan F. Austin stepped in and continued fulfillment of his fathers dream. The first settlers arrived in December of 1821 and within a decade the settlement numbered 25,000 people. As you might suspect, the settlers had no love for the Spanish and in 1836 they became part of the Republic of Texas and eventually one of these United States. By the way, the settlement is now the Texas state capitol of Austin.

1944 On this date tank units of General George Patton’s 3^rd Army break through the German army encirclement of the Belgian city of Bastogne. This city was a major objective of the German Army when they launched a surprise assault out of the Ardennes Forest that later became know as the Battle of the Bulge. The city was defended by 18,000 Americans mostly of the 101^st Airborne. During the encirclement the troops defending Bastogne eventually ran very nearly out of food water and ammunition at the same time. They also were ill-dressed for the bitterly cold weather. After the breaking of the siege the long hard task of pushing the Germans back to where they came from began. Patton pulled off one of the greatest maneuvers in military history. His army was driving east toward Germany 100 mile south of Bastogne when the German assault began out of the Ardennes. Patton was able to turn his army 90 degrees to the left and attack the German encirclement of Bastogne. That was an amazing feat considering the logistics involved making that happen. In spite of the brilliance of Patton in rescuing the 101^st many of those proud paratroopers said “We did not need to be f----k---g rescued”. By the way, if I m not mistaken, the leader of the tank column that broke through to the city was Colonel Creighton Abrams, later to become a four star General.

Born today:

1792 English mathematician Charles Babbage. He said “Errors committed because of inadequate data are much less than those using no data at all.”

1893 Chinese leader Mao-Tse Tung. He said “When awakening a sleeping tiger, use a long stick.” When disappointing a woman on PMS, use an even longer one.

1930 Us writer Frank Hubbard. He said “It will be interesting to see how long the meek hold onto the Earth after they inherit it.” Me too.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Thursday

Good morning,

“We are celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, y'all, and that is all you need to know.”

Al Campbell

I saw an item on Facebook about 21 ways that a “gentleman” should behave...like rising when a woman enters the room, holding her chair, helping her with putting on or removing her coat, giving up your seat to a woman (not pregnant) when it is standing room only. I have seen lists like this before and I a couple of questions. Why have I never seen a list of what makes a “lady”? Does age have any value? I encounter “standing room only” frequently with the Four O'clock Club meetings. I am 77...do I surrender my seat to a much younger woman? What is my reward for behaving like someone else thinks I should? If I do not follow the 21 “behaviors” should I feel guilty? What ever happened to everybody is equal regardless of gender especially in the workplace? Or is it ONLY in the workplace where everyone is equal? My sense of fair play says that you can't have it both ways. Someone help me with this.

I became curious about the advent of the Christmas trees this is what I found. I may have mentioned this before and if I have, here it is again:

According to my research an evangelist that became St. Boniface came over to what is now central Germany from the British Isles in the early 800's seeking to introduce infidels to the Christian religion. There were still savage tribes of idol worshipers in that area in those days. When the time of Christmas came around St. Boniface chose a fir tree because of its triangular shape to demonstrate the trinity...the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and the tradition is still with us to this day.

Speaking of tradition, here is a very brief history of the humanity that populated the Appalachian mountains in the early days of this great nation. Sometimes they are called Rednecks...and Crackers, etc....But to me they are known as my ancestors...here they are:

                 A Brief History of Rednecks

I have been reading the history of the impact of the Scots-Irish in America and naturally the author went back into the far past to trace them out to present day. By the way it is Scots, not Scotch. Scots are a people and Scotch is a whiskey. Anyway, the big movement came right after James I became the King of Great Britain. Previously, he was James VI of Scotland making him the first of the dual crowned kings of Great Britain. It got started when James financed the expedition to the new world led by Captain John Smith. But James' real passion was religion. He could not abide Catholics and he began a project to oust the Catholic landowners in Ireland and seize their lands. The Catholic Irish had been in rebellion against England for centuries and James saw this as a way of diluting them. This resulted in many Catholic Irish Earls fleeing the Emerald Isle trying to escape the wrath of the Protestants and Anglicans. To fill this void, it was decided that a “plantation” in Ireland in an area called Ulster would be formed. It consisted of six shires or counties. To fill the void James and company decided to kill two birds with one stone and offered land in Ulster to Protestant Scottish lords with the stipulation that they would bring their Scottish tenants with them. The waspish Scots would fight at the drop of a hat over anything that interfered with their independence or messed with the clans, or their tight-fisted Presbyterian religion. They were a hard-ass bunch, especially the Borderers or those that lived close to the border with England. As you might expect, the disenfranchised Catholic Irish fought like hell to take their lands back to no avail. The Scottish Lords indeed took the offer and brought their Scottish tenants with them. There was a stipulation that the Lords could not employ Irish tenants, they had to import them from England and Scotland and they had to be English speaking Protestants, moreover the landowners were banned from selling land to the Irish. Whatever land that was left over was given to the Protestant Churches of Ireland including any lands previously owned by the Roman Catholic Church. James meant to castrate the Catholics in Ireland, y'all. This influx put the Protestant Irish in a hard way because they spoke Gaelic while everyone else spoke English. As a result of this turmoil there were civil wars in England, Scotland and Ireland. In 1630 many Ulster Scots went home because Charles I, the king of England declared that the Church of Ireland had to use the prayer book of the Church of England essentially making it an Anglican church. That would change the way the fiery Scottish Presbyterians practiced their religion. As I have said before, you don’t pull on Superman’s cape or spit into the wind and you don’t fool around with the Scots religion. In 1638 an oath was imposed by King Charles I on the Ulster Scots binding them to never take up arms against England not matter what. I don’t need to tell you what kind of hell was raised after this outrage. By the way, it was King Charles I presumptuousness that cost him his head as will be discussed in a future lesson. In 1641 the Irish Catholics rose up in an armed rebellion and the prime target was the Plantation land owners. Many, many atrocities were committed by the Irish on the Scottish land owners in retribution for them taking Irish lands. In the 1690s a huge immigration of Protestant Scots came over to Ulster during a famine and as a result the Protestant Scots became the majority. The planters are known as the Ulster Scots. The present partition of Ireland with Ireland and Northern Ireland gets it roots from this era. Northern Ireland is occupied by the progeny of British Protestants and wanted to keep a link with England whereas the rest of Ireland are Catholic and want independence. Later on, the Scots being fed up with restrictions on their religion began heading west to America. They primarily landed in Philadelphia. They were not welcomed by the highbred plantation owners on the Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina tidewater and not by the snooty Puritans in the northeast so they headed further west and settled in small clans in the Appalachian mountain chain starting in western Pennsylvania and then south and west down the chain into Virginia, the Carolinas and Georgia. They were encouraged in this endeavor because of their warlike nature they would be a good match for the savage Shawnee and Cherokees, and a good match they were. There is a legend in my family on my father’s side that one of my great-great uncles owned a huge chunk of land in Maggie Valley, NC which is the very heart of Cherokee country, but he could not hold on to it because of the repeated attacks by the Cherokees. There are many reports of atrocities committed by both the natives and the Scots. It is the roots of almost constants turmoil, the love of fighting and an independent nature, especially their religion, which the so-called Scots-Irish have in their hearts and souls. Actually, the Scots-Irish are not a mix of Scots and the Irish; it is Scots that immigrated to Ulster, Ireland before coming to America and it is these Ulster Scots that are my ancestors on my father’s side. It is known that nearly all the troops fighting for the Patriots in the Revolutionary War in the south were Scots that came down out of the mountains and using guerrilla type tactics like they use against the Indians and against the staid and upright British to great effect. They demonstrated their ferocity at the Battle of Cowpens where Patriot General Daniel Morgan outmaneuvered the infamous British Colonel Banastre Tarleton and would have annihilated the entire army of British/Loyalists but some of them escaped the wrath of Morgan’s wild-eyed mountain men. But there were no escapees at the Battle of Kings Mountain. This group of Patriots was led by General John Sevier and was able to trap British General John Ferguson and his army of Loyalists on the peak of a mountain by surrounding the base. General Ferguson fought for a while but then realized that there was no escape and surrendered. The surrender was not accepted and the Patriots waded in and either shot or hanged them all to a man. This massacre was brought about because of Tarleton killing 220 Patriots that had surrendered but were bayoneted by Tarleton’s troops angering the Patriots and especially the mountain men. They sought revenge and found it. My ancestry comes from the Holston Valley of Tennessee and the mountains of Habersham County Georgia. That’s right folks; I am a Redneck and/or a Cracker albeit a well read and well spoken one. I am proud of my ancestors.

The Scots proved their heritage again during the Civil War, some fought in gray and some fought in blue but they fought with great zeal just for the sheer joy of it.

This epistle in no way covers everything that happened to the Ulster Scots during this time period but it gives you and idea of the mold that formed them.

                                       Merry Christmas!

       Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Wednesday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.”

William Shakespeare from his play As You Like It

I have started reading a book titled Guns. Germs and Steel. This book was a Pulitzer Prize winner authored by Jared Diamond and is the second reading for me. I have read several books more than once. The record for me is Texas by James Michener five times. James is no longer with us, unfortunately. James once said “My success never ceases to amaze me. All of my books have no violence or sex except as it applies to history.” Guns. Germs and Steel is a book attempting to explain why certain cultures excel and progress and others do not. It begins in New Guinea with the author interviewing a chief of a very primitive tribe. The chief does not understand why the author and other “whites” have more “cargo” than they do. Cargo being anything metal, woven cloth, medicine, umbrellas, etc. It appears that it is the hunter/gatherers that progress the slowest because they can make kills with stone tipped weapons whereas the farmers cannot plow or reap efficiently with stone tipped implements and began looking for something better and found metal...which lead to swords, axes, guns, etc. It is apparently also true that the hunter/gatherers live in very small tribal groups and therefore develop no natural immunity to different diseases and when a foreign disease was encountered they were history. The North American plains Indians were a prime examples. The agricultural communities seemed to prevail over the long haul, the Egyptians are an example here. Speaking of the Egyptians, I spent a year studying these amazing people. The one thing about them that stuck with me was their burial sites, especially the Valley of the Kings. In some of them the actual burial site was 60 or 70 feet underground and 200 to 300 feet long with no light source except torches and lamps. With this in mind, there were walls of very detailed paintings and sculptures...and not one scintilla of soot to be found anywhere. Where did the light to work by come from? It cannot be totally torches and lamps because the availability of oxygen that far underground would be very limited and the torches and lamps would not burn efficiently putting out a hell of a lot of soot. There is none...what happened? Not only that, most of the kings were buried in stone sarcophagi weighting up to 7,000 pounds (see King Tut). It was proven that these items were moved into place after the construction of the burial site. How did they do that?

This Date in History December 24

1865   On this date a group of Confederate veterans headed by former Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest met in Pulaski, Tennessee and formed the core of what became the Ku Klux Klan. They felt it was necessary for two reasons: To combat the influx of northern people into the south to take advantage of a defeated nation like taking lands and property from Confederate soldiers that had been killed in the Civil War. They also were very apprehensive about the rise of privilege and power of the black man. As I said, The first Grand Wizard was the famous CSA General Nathan Bedford Forrest. The name of the organization came from the Greek word “kyklos” meaning circle and “clan”. After two years Forrest resigned as Grand Wizard and tried to disband the organization because he felt the Klan had become too violent and indeed they had. In counties that were nearly balanced racially black and white, the Klan would make raids at night against the blacks and the white Republicans in an attempt to influence any upcoming elections to keep white men in control of the political machinery. Eventually in 1871 Congress decided that action was needed and they passed the Ku Klux Klan act giving the President, Ulysses Grant, the power to use what ever means he deemed necessary to subdue the Klan. In nine counties in South Carolina alone Grant instituted martial law and thousands were arrested. In 1882 the US Supreme Court declared the Klan act unconstitutional but by that time Reconstruction had ended and the Klan faded away. But the Klan arose again mightily during the 1920’s and 30’s. This time the major base was in Skokie, Illinois. The Klan was very influential in the internal politics of several states. But as the old saying goes, power corrupts and there was a sex scandal involving the Grand Wizard where a young lady died. After that the popularity of the Klan and those associated with it went to hell in a hand basket. The Klan has had its ups and downs though out the years but their basis for existence is white Anglo-Saxon supremacy. They don’t like Jews either. I don’t understand that concept, y'all, and I can find nothing admirable about it.

1745   On this date Benjamin Rush is born in Bayberry Township, Pennsylvania. There were two famous Patriots named Benjamin during the formation of this great country. One was the self made and self educated Benjamin Franklin and the other was Benjamin Rush. Rush was educated in the finest schools on both sides of the Atlantic. His father died when he was six and he was raised by his grandfather Samuel Finley. He graduated from the College of New Jersey which is now Princeton. His grandfather wanted Ben to become a lawyer but he wanted to be a doctor. His grandfather sent him to medical school at one of the finest in the world, the Medical University of Edinbourgh, Scotland. When he returned to the Colonies he became an active and trusted Patriot and established a practice in Philadelphia. His medical knowledge was invaluable during the eventual Revolutionary War. He was and eager signer of the Declaration of Independence. He raised almighty hell at the treatment of the wounded Patriot soldiers which Washington took personally and Rush resigned his post. In spite of that he continued to offer invaluable advice to continued emergence of this nation. He spoke long and hard for the ratification of the Constitution he also was an advocate of the emancipation of the slaves. Rush chartered the first college in the newly founded United States in 1873. It was Dickenson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania whose motto is “A bulwark of liberty.” Indeed.

1953    On this date a very unusual event occurred in New Zealand. A train was traveling from Wellington to Auckland filled with passengers on there way to spend Christmas aboard the ocean liner Queen Elizabeth II that was docked in Auckland for the holidays. Then an active volcano north of the train track had a small eruption and the molten lava ran down and melted and ice dam on a nearby glacier releasing millions of gallons of water. The water ran downhill toward a railroad bridge gaining speed every second. The train was approaching this bridge when the torrent of water arrived and the train was washed off of its tracks into the river below. 185 people were drowned out of a total of 260, some of the bodies were never found. Their bodies were merely washed out to sea with the current in the river. You never know, do you?

1994    On this date a group of Arab extremists (does that sound familiar?) hijacked an Air France airliner in Algiers, Algeria. They wanted the plane to go to Marseilles for reasons unknown but the French government agreed and secretly ordered a French Marine hostage rescued team to meet the plane. The plane sat on the tarmac for three days in Algiers before leaving for Marseilles. During this wait the terrorist killed three hostages. The plane left Algiers with no further killing and landed unhampered in Marseilles whereupon a squad of French Marines stormed aboard and killed all of the terrorists with no harm to the hostages. The hijacking came during a period of political upheaval in Algiers. There had been friction between the Islamic extremists and the military dictatorship in power. The United States and nearly every other western country wanted the dictatorship to remain in power because they damn sure didn’t want those Arab sons-of-bitches taking control. This conflict is still cooking as we speak with over 100,000 people dead as a result so far. The military dictatorship is still in power and I hope they continue to kill those reeking towel heads.

1809    On this date Christopher Houston “Kit” Carson is born in Richmond, Kentucky. When Kit was still an infant his family moved west to Howard County, Missouri. This was a perfect place for Kit to be raised; it was the beginnings of wagon trains heading west down the Santa Fe Trail. In the early 1820’s he was apprenticed to a saddle maker in nearby Franklin, Missouri. He worked for there for three years all the time watching those wagon trains heading west. Finally his wanderlust got the best of him and he ran away from home and joined a wagon train of traders. He proved to be a self sufficient and resourceful and learned enough Spanish to become a translator. One day the famous Irish fur trapper Tom Fitzpatrick offered Kit a chance at joining his trapping caravan to the northern Rockies. Kit jumped at the chance and proved himself an uncanny tracker and memory for terrain. One on occasion a party of Crow Indians stole their horses and Kit tracked them for 40 miles, killed most of the Crows and got their horses back. Using his ability to recognize terrain and topography, he gained fame when he served as guide for John C. Fremont’s mapping expedition along the Oregon Trail in 1842. Fremont was so impressed with Carson’s skills that he hired him the next year to map the Great Salt Lake and the Sierra Nevada Range. When Fremont wrote his report about this expedition he included glowing accolades for Kit. He also gained fame as an Indian fighter in New Mexico. On one occasion a party of Jicarilla Apache kidnapped a Mrs. J. M. White and her child from a wagon train. Kit and a party of Taos militia tracked down the Apache and defeated them but it was too late for Mrs. White who was found with an arrow in her heart. But nearby was a dime novel about Kit. He was astounded knowing that he was now a “Hero of the West”. Even though he was a good Indian fighter he had great sympathy for them also. He became the Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Territory of Colorado in spite of his failing health. He made a strenuous trip to Washington to help negotiate a Ute Indian tribe’s treaty. After returning home to Boggsville, Colorado he died shortly thereafter. He was 58 years old.

1942  Shortly after the Germans had occupied France, French Admiral Jean Darlan had stated that he would sail the French fleet to Great Britain to keep it out of German hands. Winston Churchill said that he would crawl a mile on his hands and knees if that happened. Soon thereafter the Germans offered Darlan a high position in the German navy if he did not surrender the fleet. Darlan agreed and moved many of his fleet to North Africa out of reach of the British fleet....or so he thought. Just before the Allies attacked North Africa, US General Mark Clark went into North Africa secretly, met with Darlan and asked for his cooperation in the upcoming invasion. At first he refused but when Clark said that if he did not cooperate he would be killed just like any other enemy. Darlan acquiesced and the invasion came off as advertised. On this date a representative of the anti-German “Free French” capped Darlan’s rotten ass much to the glee of all the Allies. They did not want to deal with this son-of-a-bitch on a friendly basis if at all.

Born today:

1898 US film director Michael Curtiz. When speaking to one of his perfumed actresses he said “My darling, you stink so beautifully.” I think I met this woman.

1922 US actress Ava Gardner. She said “Deep down I am pretty superficial.” I think I met one like this too.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Tuesday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“I was going to buy a copy of The Power of Positive Thinking, and then I thought, what good would it do?”

Ronnie Shakes

Down on I-20 near Fort McClellan, Alabama the road surface is in terrible shape. A while back a family of four was traveling east toward Atlanta in an SUV. The parents were in the front and their two young children were in the back strapped into safety seats. A car was coming in the opposite direction and hit a pothole. The pothole had been repaired in the past but was falling apart again. When the car hit the pothole a piece of concrete flew up and crashed into the windshield of the SUV coming in the opposite direction striking the mother in the forehead killing her instantly. Then the concrete went between the two kids in the back and exited through the rear window. What are the chances of that piece of concrete and that woman’s forehead being at the same point in space at the same instant traveling in opposite directions. The odds are astronomical, but it happened.

I have written several times about football players and the results of concussions on their memories in spite of their helmets. One of my subscriber, and a dear friend, reminded me that it was not only football players that received one concussion after another...she asked what about those kids that were physically abused as she was. This really good person has said that she exhibits effects very similar to those football players and there appears to be no cure. There is no question that physical abuse of children has and does exist today and her reminder is one that I will pass on to the rest of us. Be aware of this abomination and look for signs of it. There is a special place in hell for people like these abusers of those that cannot defend themselves. If makes me tearfully angry to think about it.

Final word about Phil Robertson of West Monroe, La. I know there are those that will disagree with me but those that do are merely exercising your rights guaranteed under the 1^st Amendment. That is simply what Phil Robertson was doing. In addition to being very wealthy, the Bill of Rights applies to him also. I think the show is silly but anyone, and I mean anyone that sacrifices ANY of their Constitutional Rights for money is a fool and not worth any of my considerations...I don't think Phil did.

Here is a few other thoughts. I hear other people adamantly proclaim a viewpoint and then try to postulate it by quoting others opinions that agrees with theirs. People are not born with a political, philosophical, religious or nearly any other viewpoint. It is human nature to listen to or read information gathered and constructed by others and then discard the parts that makes them uncomfortable and accept those that they agree with. There is no question that people disseminate descriptions of particular events do so with a certain amount of prejudice making their conclusions flawed. If you are not an eye or ear witness to certain events then you can count on the author writing his version dependent upon what makes him/her feel comfortable with their conclusions...the actual facts be damned. I have read many, many books about certain battles by different authors. You would think they were talking about different battles because of certain events that were added or omitted dependent upon the authors prejudices. The point I am trying to make is if you encounter someone that almost preaches a sermon about what reality is or what will happen in the future is almost certainly prejudicial and has not examined his/her own heart and mind and is merely parroting the thoughts of others. As Socrates said “Know thyself”. Stay suspicious of those that try to guide your thoughts and opinions...they are preaching just to make themselves appear superior when in reality, it is just the opposite...and they are boring as hell.

By the way, that paragon of virtue...the Pope of proper behavior Charlie Sheen has lambasted Phil Robertson for using the Bible as a moralistic guide. Charlie Sheen??? Are you kidding me? Who hunted down Charlie and asked for his opinion? Did this person have an agenda? Who gives a damn what Sheen thinks anyway?

This Date in History December 23

1944 In January of this year a man named Eddie Slovik was drafted into the United States Army. Slovik was originally rejected for the draft because he was a convicted felon (grand theft auto) but the standards were changed when more manpower was needed. Slovic was trained as a rifleman and in August of 1944 was assigned to the 28^th Division which had taken a beating in the last few months both in France and in Germany because of the Battle of the Bulge. Slovic vowed that he would never fight because he hated guns but in October he arrived in France and went in search of the 28^th Division during a ferocious battle and got lost. He found a Canadian outfit and they took him in. Eventually the heat of the battle abated and the Canadians took him to 28^th Division Headquarters. It was not unusual for replacement troops to get lost in the midst of a major battle so Slovic’s tardiness was overlooked. Slovic again told the personnel at Division Headquarters that he hated guns and would not fight and would run away if forced to. He was ignored until the next day and Slovic showed up missing. A day later he came back in but still told his superiors that he would not fight. His commanding officer was fed up and told him he had a choice. Grab a rifle and go into combat immediately or face a court martial. He reminded Slovic that the United States Army in general and the 28^th Division in particular was not in a forgiving mood because of all the casualties they had suffered. Slovic still refused and sure enough a court martial was convened. He was found guilty of desertion and given the death penalty and Slovic was “to be shot to death by musketry”. A stunned Slovic appealed to General Eisenhower for leniency. On this date General Eisenhower signed the order for the execution of Private Slovic. Eisenhower was in no mood for mercy either because of all the American casualties and the “Battle of the Bulge” was well under way where thousands of Allied solders were being slaughtered. In January of 1945 Private Slovic was stood up before a squad of 12 riflemen and shot to death. None of the riflemen even flinched because they believed that Slovic was getting what he deserved. He was the first American soldier executed for desertion since the Civil War.

1783 After the signing of the Treaty of Paris which declared the United States as a separate and sovereign nation General George Washington resigns as commander-in-chief of the American Army. He told his men this:

"Happy in the confirmation of our independence and sovereignty, and pleased with the opportunity afforded the United States of becoming a respectable nation, I resign with satisfaction the appointment I accepted with diffidence; a diffidence in my abilities to accomplish so arduous a task; which however was superseded by a confidence in the rectitude of our cause, the support of the supreme power of the Union, and the patronage of Heaven.”

George Washington wished to go back to his plantation and live the life of a gentleman planter but his country called again when he was elected our first President. As I have said before, we were very fortunate to have the group of Patriots that we had on our side during this time frame. There is no doubt in my mind that all of this is an act of Providence for all of these things to come together as they did when they did.

1862 On this date the President of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis declared US General Benjamin Butler a felon. This meant that if Butler was captured by Confederate forces he would be hanged on the spot. What happened was that the city of New Orleans was captured by US forces and Butler was made military governor. Butler’s leadership had nothing to do with the capture; it was the expertise of the US Navy commanded by David Porter. Anyway, Butler was a complete horse’s ass during his tenure. He allowed his troops to plunder the civilians personal effects. He also allowed his brother to set up shop in New Orleans and sell contraband that General Butler let him steal. And finally he issued General order No. 28. This abomination stated that if any lady insulted any of his troops, the lady would be assumed to be a prostitute and treated accordingly. In these days the ladies of the South were treated with great respect and honor. This order by Butler was the ultimate insult and President Davis essentially put a bounty on the head of Benjamin Butler.

Born today:

1896 Italian writer Giuseppe Lampedusa. He said “If you want things to remain as they are, they there will have to be some changes.” Huh?

1908 Armenian photographer Yousef Karsh. He said “There is a secret in every man and woman. It is my task as a photographer to reveal it if I can.”

Died today:

1834 English economist Edward Malthus. He said “Population, when unchecked, makes a geometrical progression of such a nature as to double itself every twenty-five years.” That is spooky, y'all, but this was before “the pill”.

1959 English politico Edward Halifax. He said “True merit, like a river, the deeper it is the less noise it makes.” Good thinking, Ed.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow.