Tuesday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“It is only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth…and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up…that we will begin living our lives to the fullest…as if it is the only one we had.”

Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

I saw a film of 96 year old blues pianist John “Pinetop” Perkins appearing at a blues festival. When he took the stage the emcee asked him what he attributed his long life to...my man Pinetop said “Because I like it here.”

Y’all will be glad to know that disgraced US Army General Stanley McChrystal, now retired, has avoided all the traps and millions of dollars offered to military men of his rank by the giant defense contractors and big business just to have his influence available. He has taken a job at Yale School of Global Affairs to teach at a newly founded leadership school. He will be in good company. In addition to McChrystal there will be John Negroponte, former US Ambassador and Deputy Secretary of State along with former Mexican President Ernesto Padilla. As expected, McChrystal was offered gigantic amounts of money to accept employment with several defense contractors plus agencies that represented wounded veterans but he chose another path. This will be strange territory for this man who was well known in “Special Ops” world as a leader of, or the planning of, covert missions. General McChrystal is a man’s man. It has been reported that he is being courted by the Republican Party to run for office. As far as I know, there has not been a response from the General.

Over in the country of Myanmar (was Burma in the past) which is northeast of India (if my geographical memory has not escaped me) two religious sects have chosen to begin a battle for power. What bothers me is one of them is Buddhists. I think all of you have an image of a Buddhist. For me it is the very large gilded statue of a heavy set, bald guy sitting cross legged, with extended earlobes from heavy ear rings with a whimsical smile on his face...This is the image of the original priest called Buddha (yes, there was such a person that predates Jesus). Buddha's teachings are almost totally about self knowledge and mental peace and peace among all others. Now the followers of this great teacher are almost engaged in a fighting war with another sect...the other sect is Islamic. What the hell is going on, y'all? It is a lot easier to remember Burma than Myanmar and I think y'all will agree.

Recently I read an essay by Stephan Hawking. Hawking is the President of the Lucasian Society at Cambridge University in England. This society is primarily for those that are mathematical or astrophysical geniuses. Hawking advocated that we of the planet Earth need to start right now to plan to abandon this planet for another. He believes that we have already crossed the point of no return in exhausting the Earth's ability to cleanse it's atmosphere or poisoning the materials required for our existence. He believes that our energies and resources should be aimed at finding another planet to migrate to. As we all know, the biggest problem with space travel is time/speed/distance. Our average lifespan is less than required just to get out of our solar system. We have not yet figure out how to even design a method of travel that is anywhere near the speed of light. Because of the enormous distances involved and our inability to travel but a couple of percentage points of the speed of light, travel to another galaxy would require several generations. The main reason is the enormous amount of fuel required to continue acceleration to light speed making that speed unreachable with present day technology. The closest galaxy is 4 light years away. This means it would take light traveling at 186,000 miles PER SECOND 4 years to reach us from that point in space. Assume that we become capable of traveling 1% of the speed of light or about 670,000 MPH which is very unlikely, it will take about 400 years to get to the nearest galaxy. Hawking said that research should begin immediately to find methods of time travel such as “worm holes”, etc. I don’t know if I understand all of this but after all, Hawking has been acknowledged to be the smartest man on Earth since Sir Isaac Newton. By the way, Sir Isaac was also the President of the Lucasian Society and Hawking was born on the 300^th anniversary of Galileo's death.

Recent turmoil in the Middle East reminds me of the days of the Black Panthers, Weather Underground, SNCC and other militaristic organizations that seemed intent in a military-type takeover of the United States or an extended guerrilla war. Martin Luther King, Jr. was asked what he thought of all of this. He said that it was futile because the US military is run by the white man. He said that they have thousands of combat trained troops, automatic weapons, mortars, tanks, combat aircraft, ships and various other military weapons. He also said that in open combat these groups would be slaughtered....for nothing. His words had an effect. This man said words that were wise and knowledgeable. We are fortunate that he came along when he did.

This Date in History August 19

1812 On the is date a United States frigate named the USS Constitution encountered the British frigate HMS Guerriere off the coast of Nova Scotia. A sea battle ensued and witnesses said that the British shells just bounced off the sides of the Constitution like they were made of iron. From then on the USS Constitution was known as “Old Ironsides” and went on to glory in sinking or capturing six more British vessels before the war of 1812 ended. The Constitution was a large ship built for 44 guns but frequently carried 50, built in Boston and had it’s oak sides sheathed in copper forged by that master metal smith Paul Revere. The ship carried a crew of about 485 men that savored combat, especially boarding and capturing and enemy vessel equal in size to their own. They loved one on one combat led by the ship’s commander Isaac Hull. After the war there was talk of scrapping “Old Ironsides” but public sentiment did not allow it and it was brought into Boston Harbor and refitted several times. It remains in old Charlestowne Harbor near Boston as a tourist attraction but is still seaworthy and is a commissioned ship in the inventory of the United States Navy.

1862 A small band of Dakota Indians after finding they had lost their corn crop to insects went to the local merchants near their reservation in Minnesota to get credit for food lest they starve to death. The credit was not forthcoming and the Dakota went on the warpath on their way down the Minnesota River looking for food. The Dakota had to endure hunger and the chipping away of the tribal lands and this lack of credit for food was the last straw. On this date they were approaching Fort Ridgley and decided to by-pass this American Infantry post and fell upon Fort Ulm later on and killed the inhabitants to a man. Finally, the United States cavalry showed up led by General John Pope and captured the renegade Dakota and hanged 37 of them simultaneously. Earlier Pope had his ass handed to him by CSA General Robert E. Lee at 2^nd Manassas but now he was the hero by executing a few half starved mostly unarmed Native Americans. What a loser.

1980 Y'all listen to this. A Saudi Airline Lockheed 1011 with 300 people aboard had departed Karachi, Pakistan headed for Jeddah, Saudi Arabia with a stopover at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The first leg to Riyadh was uneventful but immediately after departure from Riyadh the pilot called the control tower and reported a fire aboard and needed to return to the airport immediately. He notified the tower that he did not think he could make it back to have the emergency equipment waiting at the approach end of the airport. Sure enough, the plane (a big son-of-a-bitch) crashed landed on the approach end of the runway amid an avalanche of foam sprayed by the fire fighting equipment. It did not help; the plane burst into giant fireball that could not be controlled and all aboard were killed. NOW LISTEN TO THIS. The fire started because some hard core Muslims aboard had fired up a propane stove to cook dinner, if y'all can believe that. The strange part was that this was not unusual because the Muslims have a very defined diet and time to eat that is part and parcel of their religion, the danger to others be damned. Anyway, there should have been some survivors but none of the escape hatches were opened. This could have been caused by the panic stricken passengers ganged up tight against the hatches which would not have allowed them to be opened or that the pilot forgot to de-pressurize the airplane which would not have allowed the hatches to be opened either. The escape hatches have to be pulled inward first before they can go outward. With the cabin being pressurized, the hatches could not have been pulled inward. Keep that in mind if y'all ever think about flying in an airplane based in a Muslim country.

1895 On this date one of the most bloodthirsty killers in the history of the American west met his maker in El Paso. John Wesley Hardin killed his first man at the age of 15 and the trail of blood was continuous after that. For reasons known only to Hardin he hated blacks and the blacks knew it and gave him a wide berth. He made the mistake of shooting a sheriff in Texas and ran away eastward. The Texas Rangers tracked him down to a rail yard in Pensacola, Florida and even though they had no authority in Florida, the Rangers took Hardin back to Texas for trial. Hardin was convicted and given a 14 year sentence. This jail time seemed to calm Hardin down and he studied enough to get a law degree. After he was paroled he went to Gonzales, Texas and opened a practice. He was not pleased with this sedate lifestyle and went looking for excitement. He chose to go to the wild and woolly town of El Paso. As luck would have it on this date he went to a bar and got into an argument. An off duty policeman recognized Hardin and walked up and put a slug into his head at point blank range killing Hardin instantly...thus ending the days of John Wesley Hardin.

Born today:

1686 English writer Samuel Richardson. He said “Calamity is the best test of integrity”. I cannot help but visualize the wholesale looting in mid-town New Orleans a few hours after Katrina and then the photos of those city and towns in central Iowa after the levees broke and water was 5 feet deep in the streets. Nothing was happening in Iowa except neighbor helping neighbor but New Orleans was a whirlpool of robbery and looting.

1870 US economist Bernard Baruch. He said “To me old age is fifteen years older than me.” Bernie’s father was a surgeon on the staff of CSA General Robert E. Lee during the Civil War.

1942 Ex-presidential candidate and Senator from Tennessee Fred Dalton Thompson. He said “I have not found my way around Washington. The other day I caught myself spending some of my own money.” Fred was an actor and played the District Attorney Arthur Branch on the TV series Law and Order.

1942 Ex-president Bill Clinton. He said “You can put wings on a pig but that does not make it an eagle.” Speaking of pigs......

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow