Good
morning,
Quote
of the day:
“I
really live in a tough neighborhood. The other day I left a note on
the front door saying “I’m inside”. I came back home and my
apartment is ransacked. There was a note inside of the front door
saying “I looked all over for you.”
Rodney
Dangerfield
The
media is telling us that Iraq is going to hell in a hand basket once
again. No it isn't. It is a continuation of a squabble that began
about 800AD. That's right y'all. The dissidents that are raining
hell are Sunnis. The Shiites are volunteering in droves to combat
their centuries long antagonists. It is a religious war that no one
can stop except the participants. We need to stay the hell away from
that bullsh-t and take care of us here in the good ole USA.
I
am reading a book about the history of the Comanches. This book is
courtesy of a good friend that owned a book store in Marble Falls,
Texas and the book was used as a text book by Southern Methodist
University. The last I heard this beautiful lady was cooling her
heels on the beach on Padre Island, Texas. The Comanches along with
all the other Native Americans in North America did not have horses
until the invasion of the Spanish conquistadors and that being Cortez
in Mexico and Coronado in California. In the middle of the 16th
century these guys brought their horses with them across the Atlantic
Ocean from Spain. Naturally a few horses escaped, formed herds and
increased precipitously. The Comanches were the first to capture and
“break” these wild Spanish ponies then they were the most
powerful tribe in North America, especially after joining into a
coalition with the Utes. Before the discovery and taming of the
horses the Comanche were your basic hunter/gatherers but after horses
they were almost exclusively followers of the bison herds. They had
a running war with the Apaches in what is now New Mexico (Taos and
Santa Fe area) and northern Mexico over the slave trade. That's
right y'all, both tribes used captured human beings in barter and
trade, especially women and children. The wars were finally subdued
but not totally eliminated when the Apaches started trading humans
for horses with the Comanches. I was really surprised when I read
this. It changed my perspective. I will keep y'all advised about
what I discover about the Comanches and who they dealt with. By the
way, as I understand it most of the Spanish ponies were either Pinto
or Appaloosa. I don't think the Spanish knew of the Arabians in
those days...but on second thought Spain was invaded by the Moors
(North Africans that crossed the Mediterranean near Gibraltar) in the
8th
century and they probably brought Arabian horses with them.
I
saw a story a couple of days ago about a couple that went through a
bitter custody fight during a divorce action. The husband won
custody. The wife then sought out the “Vagabonds” motorcycle
club and solicited them to kill her ex-husband. The police sniffed
it out and put a stop to it and arrested the wife who confessed. She
did several years of hard time before being released. After this she
filed a suit claiming half of her ex-husband’s assets and won for
crying out loud! This happened in California where there is a
“no-fault” divorce law which allowed this woman to seek half of
the man’s assets no matter what. There is also a law stating that
a criminal cannot profit from their crimes. The judicial system is
in quite a quandary in California, but what else can you expect from
California.
Y'all
know that I am a member of two internet “dating sites” where I go
grazing on occasion. I am not really looking for date it is just
that I read their profiles in hopes that I will get a glimpse at how
the female minds operates. It ain't working. What I did find that
under “My favorite things” category about 70% “Want to take a
walk on the beach hand in hand at sunset”. Many of them want
“flowers for no apparent reason”. They want to “Have coffee or
a drink and interesting conversation to see if there is any
“chemistry”. I am not sure what that means but I am assuming it
means mutual attraction. I can assure you that a men's sense of
“chemistry” is a hell of a lot different than a woman's. It is a
well known fact that men more readily remember what they see than
what they hear. I think it goes back to the cave man days when men
were hunter/gatherers and depended heavily on vision to make a kill.
The women stayed around the campfire and relied on their hearing to
warn them of predators. That is my theory anyway. I still am
confused about the pics in the profiles. Just yesterday I saw a
profile that had a nice pic of her and it said ten more pics. Of the
remaining 10 pics four were of hers dogs, one of her cat, two of
either a sunrise or a sunset somewhere, one of her with two of her
daughters and one with her with her graduating high school class of
270 in 1960. After this I sent her a pic of my Nandinas that are in
severe need of trimming, a pic of my neighbor's new grill, a pic of
my nephew driving my brother's Corvette, a pic of me and my brother
fishing in Alaska, a pic of me and my father with a large string of
bass caught in 1983, and finally a pic of my brother's Yellow lab
Kaylee. This should give her a lot of insight into who and what I am
like hers did for me.
A
while back I went to my family doctor for my bi-yearly check-up. He
was very pleased that my blood pressure was well within tolerance and
my glucose (blood-sugar) count was almost perfect. Most of all he
was pleased that I had lost 32 pounds in the last four months and I
am pleased also. This happened because I cut waaayyy back on the
sauce and changed my diet to avoid red meat and nothing white (rice,
bread, grits, etc). This means a hell of a lot of broiled or grilled
chicken and/or fish but it is obviously working thanks to my eldest
daughter leaning heavily on me about my weight the last time I was in
Florida. What my doctor and I talked about the most was when I asked
him what he was going to do about Obamacare. He said that he has no
plans to retire and since he has no attachment to any hospital system
he is the captain of his own ship. He did say he felt sorry for the
young people because their health insurance costs will skyrocket. He
gave this as an example. He has a office of three doctors and about
10 staff members. The last increase in health insurance was about
30% and he and his associate doctors absorbed that one, but when the
January 1st increase arrives he will have no choice but to lay off a
few members of his staff. He said he believed that those employers
that have over 50 will lay off 15 to 20% to cover the increase in
premiums for group insurance. He said we are looking at yet another
massive increase in the unemployed. I asked him what about down
loading the extra cost to the clientele. He said that those that have
health insurance already will not sit still for paying what they are
right now for health insurance plus a hell of a lot of extra money
for the doctor that is not allowed by insurance. He said that his
office and any other doctor's office is a business and must be run as
one...or go out of business. I ask all of you to ask your doctor's
opinion of what will happen with Obamacare...It looks pretty dark to
me...especially for the young. By the way, my daughters think my
doctor (Hammond) is nothing but a witch doctor. I don't know about
all that but I am in pretty good health for my age considering how
badly I have treated myself...or maybe it was the black cat bone, eye
of newt , a mojo and a doll made to look like my worst enemy that I
can stick pins in that Doc Hammond gave me along with the lessons in
the ancient art of creating Zombies...but that don't make him a witch
doctor...does it?
This
past Thursday night began the last year of one of my favorite TV
series. My favorite is Law
and Order,
then Law
and Order SVU and
then this one...Burn
Notice.
Most of you probably have never seen it but I like it because it is
well written and a lot of imagination is evident. There are three
men and a girl in this series. It is the girl that piques my
interest in addition to plots and dialogue. She plays the part of
“Fiona”, or “Fee” as the men call her. She is a tall, rangy,
long-haired brunette beauty with the finest set of legs I have ever
seen. During the trailer advertising the beginning of their last
season and last Thursday being the 100th
episode, the trailer shows this girl and the others walking in
slow-motion straight at you and she is wearing a melon colored
mini-dress with those long shapely legs flexing and relaxing. Her
feet ending up in the exact footprint of the previous step. I
remember seeing a head-on slow-motion shot of Secretariat
and
his steps were nothing short of majestic...and so was
Fee's...majestic indeed.
This
Date in History June 17
1775
On this date British General Charles Howe landed at Charlestown,
Massachusetts near Boston with an infantry force and heads toward
Breeds Hill where a known Patriot armed force waited. Breeds Hill
was just south of a larger one named Bunker Hill. Breeds hill was on
the property of John and Abigail Adams and they were indeed witnesses
to the battle. Anyway, the Patriots were led by General William
Prescott and it was he who supposedly uttered the famous phrase
“Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes.” Sure
enough, the Patriots waited until the neatly aligned and arranged
British lines were within 40 yards and they opened up with a
blistering fusillade which forced the British to retreat and
re-aligned their lines and then they tried it again. The Patriots
were again ready and waited until the British within 40 yards and
opened up again forcing another retreat. The British again retreated
out of range and re-grouped. On the third charge the British did not
stop and retreat but kept coming and forced the Patriots to retreat.
This first organized engagement between the British and the Patriots
was a tactical victory for the Patriots because the British lost over
80 men while the Patriots lost less than 20. The down side was this
battle proved the resolve of the British Army to achieve their
objective. The Patriots knew they were in for a long haul indeed.
This was the Battle of Bunker Hill and it was the end of the
beginning, we were now committed to our war for Independence and
freedom.
1579
Earlier in December of 1577 British sea captain Francis Drake was
tasked by Queen Elizabeth I to locate and rob the Spanish settlements
on the west coast of the new land. Drake left Plymouth, England
(been there) with five ships and headed southwest. His small armada
reached the east coast of South America and sailed south to the
Straights of Magellan. Along the way one of his ships had to be
abandoned and only four of his ships reached the Straights. There
they encountered one of the Straits infamous storms. One of his
ships was wrecked and two had to come about and head back to England
leaving Drake and his ship, The
Golden Hind,
alone in his quest. Drake survived the storm and upon leaving the
Straits into the Pacific, he encountered and captured a Spanish
treasure ship. After loading the treasure aboard the Golden Hind he
continued to sail north to seek Spanish settlements. He sailed all
the way to present day Washington before returning to a small bay
just north of San Francisco where he set about refurbishing and
repairing his ship for crossing the vast Pacific. It was on this day
while anchored in this small bay that he claimed California for
England and Queen Elizabeth I. Drake finally got his repairs made
and headed west. He sailed by the Philippines, out into the Indian
Ocean and around the toe of Africa, The Cape of Good Hope, and
finally back into the harbor of Plymouth with the Golden
Hind
loaded to the scuppers with Spanish gold. Needless to say, Queen
Elizabeth was pleased and knighted Drake and he became the famous
adventurer Sir Francis Drake. By the way, in London near the Tate
Gallery on the Thames River is a replica of the Globe theater where
Shakespeare was an actor in plays that he had authored and a replica
of the Golden
Hind
was also there. They thought highly of Sir Francis Drake. By the
way a “hind” is a type of male deer or buck.
1972
On this date a night watchman making his rounds in the Watergate
complex in Washington, DC when he noticed a door lock that had been
taped open and sees flashlights in that office, that being the
Democratic National Committee Headquarters. The night watchman
called the police and five men are arrested. There were three Cuban
nationals, one Cuban/American and a man named James McCord. Found
with these Bozos was burglary tools and very sophisticated bugging
equipment. But what was the real surprise was that McCord was and
ex-CIA agent and under the employ of CREEP, or the Committee to
Re-elect the President. This means that they were hired by the
Republican Party to burglarize and spy on the Democratic Party. The
report of this arrest was stuck on the fourth or fifth page of the
Washington Post until it was noticed by two reporters for the Post
named Carl Bernstein and Robert Woodward. These guys dug into this
event until they uncovered a conspiracy that went all the way to the
White House. A Senate Committee headed by North Carolina Senator Sam
Irvin was formed to look into possible impeachment of the president.
By July of 1974 the Irvin Committee had adopted three articles of
impeachment and was set to move on them when President Richard Nixon
called in one of the Republican leaders in the Senate, Barry
Goldwater of Arizona, and asked him if he, Nixon, had enough support
in the Senate to overpower the impeachment charges. Goldwater told
him no, he did not. A few days later for the first time in American
history the President of the United States resigned and
Vice-President Gerald Ford takes the reins of the Presidency. Nixon
was a very spooky individual, when I heard him speak I said to myself
that I would not buy a used car from this man. By the way, Gerald
Ford was the only President we ever had that was an Eagle Scout.
1876
The United States Cavalry had been tasked with gathering up the
Sioux and Cheyenne tribes in the northern plains led by Sitting Bull
and Crazy Horse and take then by force if necessary, to reservations.
The Cavalry decided to send three columns led by General Terry from
the east, General Gibbon from the west and General Crook coming up
from the south. General Terry had the infamous 7th
Cavalry, Colonel George A. Custer commanding, aboard. Anyway General
Crook had about 270 Indian guides and scouts made up primarily of
Crows and Shoshone. On this date General Gibbon ordered half of his
troopers to dismount and allow the horses to graze and for the
troopers to rest in the tall grass. Soon thereafter the Indian
guides and scouts came riding in yelling “Many Sioux”, Many
Sioux”. Right behind them came 2,000 Sioux warriors headed
straight for the dismounted troopers. In an unbelievable show of
bravery, the Crow and Shoshone Scouts ride headlong into the charge
and turned it aside allowing the troopers to retrieve their horses
and guns. But General Crook’s troopers suffered a severe
ass-kicking that forced the whole column to retreat and re-organize.
Little did they know what awaited the 7th
Cavalry eight days later at Little Big Horn. By the way, General
Crook was assigned the task of capturing Geronimo. In the span of
five years Crook was unable to capture Geronimo and in fact only
caught sight of him but once in the whole time. Because of this
failure, General Crook resigned. But in his defense, an Apache
warrior the caliber of Geronimo wasn’t meant to be captured.
Born today:
1898
Dutch artist M. C. Escher. He said “I don’t take drugs, my
dreams are frightening enough.” Mine too. Most of the time it has
something to do with limes.
Thanks for
listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
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