Monday

Good morning,

 

 

A good friend who lives near Charleston, SC but is working in Houston contacted me a few days ago.  He said he had been home for the weekend and went fishing at Santee-Cooper.  He said he caught a limit of shell crackers (a variation of the bream family only larger) and loaded his freezer.  I have caught these when I lived in Florida and they are a handful on light tackle.  I used a fly rod but my friend was using 4 lb. test ultra light spinning gear.  That would be a handful also.  By the way, Santee-Cooper is the most important fresh water fishery east of the Mississippi.  But it is relatively shallow and if you get caught out in the middle in high wind you are in deep doodoo...but the fishing is orgasmic.  

Quote of the day:

“My mother's fried chicken would bring peace to the Middle East.”

                                                          Ricky Skaggs

Ricky says that he can trace his ancestry back to where two of his ancestors on his father's side were participants in the Battle of King's Mountain in 1780. It was after this thrashing of a British and Loyalists unit by mostly undisciplined Appalachian mountain men that everybody knew the end was in sight. I am envious of anyone that knows that much about their ancestry. I do not now where either of my grandfathers were born or who their brother and/or sisters were.

That grieving father whose son was shot to death by that mad man in Santa Barbara is still raising hell about increased gun control. In my opinion he is doing this only because of HIS son that was killed with a firearm...what about those that were stabbed to death? Well, what about them? Does the loved ones of those that were knifed to death want government control of edged implements? The killer was under the care of a psychiatrist...what about him not telling the cops about this man's mental illness? Is that a violation of doctor/patient privilege even at the risk to the community? If it is, where do you draw the line? The people to blame is not those that sell firearms it is those, including his family and the psychiatrist, that knew this man was deranged and had already said that he was prepared to commit a massacre and did nothing.   I have a .38 Smith & Wesson on my bedside stand and to my knowledge it has never arisen and shot anyone. Lets see...would increased gun control have effect on the Mexican drug gang MS-13 and others like them, or the five crime families in New York and many other cities nationwide...or the Hell's Angels, the Mongols and all the other “outlaw” motorcycle gangs, all the street gangs like the Bloods and the Crips etc. etc.? Well would it? Of course not...don't be naive.

On June 2, 1944 the countries of England, Ireland and Scotland are packed to the gills with over a million men at arms and all the tools of war required. The allies are on the cusp of the invasion of Hitler’s Germany beginning on a stretch of beach in southwestern France known as Normandy. Since 1938 Hitler has been enslaving one nation after another seeking world domination. Now it is time for retaliation. Hitler will commit suicide in April of 1945 essentially ending the war. Europe and hell rejoiced at the arrival of one of the most evil creatures that ever existed. By the way, the Allies agreed to allow the Russian troops to be the first to enter Berlin. The Russians had had over 26,000,000 of their civilians and soldiers slaughtered in German “Operation Barbarossa”. This was Hitler’s attempt to overrun Russia. Not only that, it was the Russians that liberated many of the unspeakably horrible concentration and death camps in Poland and other places. Having seen these horrors first hand and remembering the slaughter of millions of their citizenry, once they entered Germany they showed no mercy and killed every air breather they encountered including livestock, pets, women, children, etc. They literally were taking no prisoners.

A few days ago down in the South Carolina low country near the town of Socastee a 25 year old man was beating the hell out of a woman. He was pulling across the floor by her hair and had struck her several times with his fists. A 14 year old boy saw what as going on, retrieved a butcher knife and stabbed the man in the throat severing his jugular. The man bled out and died before the emergency vehicle arrived. The coroner and the chief of police examined the evidence and said they were not going to pursue this event any further stating that this was indeed justifiable homicide. I like it.

Also a few days ago, the Greenville, SC city cops were called to a fight in progress in the middle of a street in a residential neighborhood. When the cops arrived there was about 100 people standing around watching the fight but after the cops arrived they began to disperse...all except a small group who refused. The cops were able to break up the fight and then turned their attention to the belligerents who still were in defiance. There was a K-9 unit on the scene and that officer, who thought his dog was locked up in the back, got out to help deal with the defiant ones. As soon as he opened the door the dog (who was NOT locked up in the back) forced his way out and headed for the group at a gallop. As you might suspect, that really encouraged them to disperse. As y'all know, no human can outrun a police dog in a short sprint. Before the cop could stop the dog he had latched on to the buttock of one of the group and was shaking his head like we all have seen. The cop finally was able to get the dog under control and the bad-ass with rips and tears in his ass was taken to the hospital for stitches. The dog was relieved of duty while an investigation is underway. The dog was doing exactly as trained so what the hell is the problem? Don't fault the dog...or the cop.

                                    This Date in History June 2

1935 George Herman Ruth was born in Baltimore in 1898. He parents were very poor and sent George was sent to a Catholic parochial school. He excelled at sports especially baseball. He was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles which was a farm club for the Boston Red Sox at the time. He quickly came into the major leagues as a pitcher and won 69 games for the Red Sox before 1920. For reasons known only to the Boston Red Sox front office, they traded Ruth to the New York Yankees. This stupid trade gave the Red Sox what was called “The Babe Ruth curse” meaning they did not win another World Series until 2004, while the Yankees won seven pennants and four World Series. It was not until Roger Maris hit 61 home runs in an extended season that Ruth’s record of 60 home runs in one season was broken and Hank Aaron broke his record of 711 home runs. But Ruth’s slugging percentage of .690 has never been equaled. In his later years Ruth was traded to the Boston Braves hoping he would become the manager but “The Babe” decided he liked gambling, girls and booze better and on top of that he developed cancer of the throat. Babe Ruth retired on this date and died in 1948. His body was held in repose in Yankee Stadium for two days and his corpse was visited by over 150,000 people. Ruth was one of the most beloved sports figure in world history. Yes, his memory rests in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.

1865  In spite of the CSA Army of Northern Virginia, General Robert E. Lee commanding, surrendering two months earlier, the Civil War was not completely over. There were a couple of more organized Confederate armies in the field. There was the army under the command of General Joseph E. Johnston primarily in the Carolinas and Georgia. This army surrendered within days of Lee. Then there were the Confederate armies of General Kirby Smith and Sterling Price who were primarily in Arkansas and Missouri. On this date General Kirby Smith surrendered virtually eliminating any organized resistance for the Confederacy. There were still a few guerrilla bands but they were quickly subdued. There were 680,000 Americans killed in this war, and that is more that all other wars America has ever been in combined. Think about it, y'all.

1924  On this date the United States Congress passed the Indian Citizenship Act. This act made any Indian born on United States soil an automatic citizen. Before the Civil War to be a citizen an Indian had to have less that half his blood be Native American. But even after the passage of this act back then each state was responsible for the votes and some of the western states would not allow the Indians to vote. I guess they still had in mind the massacres on both sides. Prejudice has a long memory.

1953    On this date Elizabeth II is crowned the Queen of the United Kingdom in a lavish ceremony dating back a thousand years. She was 27 years old and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh was 30. The ceremony was held in Westminster Abbey (been there). According to legend in 616AD the site of the Abbey was determined by a fisherman who said that he saw an image of Saint Peter there and soon the river Thames was full of salmon. The actual first stones for the abbey were laid in about 950AD and was completed and made into a home for Benedictine monks. The Abbey was used for the first coronation for King Harold and then later his successor King William the Conqueror in the year 1067 AD. Speaking of William the Conqueror, he was a Viking that had been living in France and could not speak English but this man was an awesome leader and organizer, not to mention a ruthless military leader. It was William that built Windsor Castle the traditional home of the present Queen Elizabeth II.

1823  Two years before William Ashley had set forth down the Missouri River on a fur trapping expedition. Included in this expedition were some of what would become the greatest explorers of the great American west. Names like Jim Bridger, the Sublette brothers, Jedediah Smith and Edward Rose, Hugh Glass, Chris Lapp among others. They had a hard go of it on the first expedition because of their lack of experience. They were not that much better off on this expedition two years later but the 70 trappers headed upriver. On this date they got to what is now the border of North and South Dakota and were set upon by about 600 Arikara Indians. The Arikaras were the chief fur traders among the Indians in that area and did not take kindly to others moving in on their livelihood. The 70 trappers were soon overwhelmed and 20 were killed and many more wounded before they hightailed it back to the safety of Saint Louis. The trappers told their tale and asked for military assistance and a Colonel Leavenworth organized a 200 man cavalry and headed out for the Arikara territory. Colonel Leavenworth and his cavalry caught sight of a few Arikara braves but they faded away and none of the other Arikaras were ever seen. Leavenworth headed back to Saint Louis. But the threat of an Arikara attack in the river persuaded Ashley to make his next expedition across country by horseback. It was in expeditions such as this that much of the exploration of the American west was accomplished thanks to the Arikara raids on the river.

1944    From his headquarter in England US General Eisenhower and his staff is putting the final touches on the invasion of Europe. It was on this date that June 5 was set as D-Day. As we all know the date ended up being June 6. Eisenhower himself said that he and his staff only got cat naps for the last four days before the actual launch of the mightiest amphibian assault in history.

Born today:

1947    US swimmer and gymnast Jocelyn Smith...She said “Live young”. She is one of my dearest friends and has been my pleasure to have known her.

1879    US Football coach Bob Zuppke. He said “We don’t care how big or strong our opponents are as long as they are human.” Bob must have coached in the SEC.

1931    Philippine politico Imelda Marcos. She said “Filipinos love beauty and I try to be beautiful so the poor people will have a star to look at from their slums.” Imelda, you jackass, shut up.

1956    Supermodel and ex-wife of Mick Jagger Jerry Hall. She said “Mick and I used to get along famously; we would sit up all night discussing nuclear disarmament.” Jerry, why don’t you and Mick get with Imelda and all of you shut the hell up.

                 Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow