Wednesday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

This quote is the type that daughter #2 appreciates:

“I organized a band named '999' megabytes'...but we never had a gig.”

                                                Woodie Paige

I am going to catch y'all up on the action after the death of Henry VIII and the discovery of a conspiracy in which Henry's son, King Edward VI was murdered. All of those that were actively involved had a fatal meeting on the lawn of the Tower of London with a big guy in a black hood toting a big ax. Henry's daughter Mary I ended up on the throne even though she was a devout Catholic. Catholics were not allowed to be King or Queen after Henry had a squabble with them and formed his own church. After Lady Jane Grey was seated on the throne and the murder of Edward came to light, the English people rose up and an army of nearly 60,000 was formed and marched on London and it was then that the beheadings took place and Mary was seated as Queen. Almost immediately the politicians leaned on Mary to take a husband so there would be a King also. The first choice was an Englishman named Courtney that Mary had known since she was a child but he did not have the approval of the politicians of power. The head of the Holy Roman Empire, Charles V leaned on Mary to marry Prince Phillip of Spain. I forgot to mention that Phillip was the son Charles V, also a Spaniard. Being a devout Catholic, Mary took the word of Charles V to heart and agreed to marry Phillip and a letter of provisions was being composed to that effect. Remember the English people rising up and forming an army of 60,000? They did it again, but with only 7,000, when they found out that a Spaniard was going to become the King of England. Spain and England had been fighting since recorded history. That is as far as I am going at this point. Stay tuned.

I don’t know y’all, but this upcoming full moon apparently having an effect. Down in Batesville, South Carolina a high school band director was caught in the band room teaching a 14 year old girl on how to play his trombone, if you get my drift. He got five years in the joint. I can assure you that he will find out what playing an instrument is all about in a South Carolina slammer.

Then about 150 miles away in Boiling Springs, South Carolina a 44 year and a 42 year old woman threw a party for their students and furnished vodka and pot. The 44 year old did the nasty with anyone that would sit still for it from 11 to 15 years old. But the 42 year old used a little logic and only bedded the boys that were 17 years old or older. In this state consensual sex with anyone 17 or older is allowed meaning no statutory rape charge. However, she was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor for the booze and drugs. They were both fired. We never had anything like that in my high school...dammit.

All of you may remember the Susan Smith case 15 years ago over in Union, SC. To those of you that were in a cave in Mongolia during that time and do not remember it, I will give a brief vignette. Susan fell in love with a man other than her husband. Her lover did not want children so Susan chose to strap her three and five year old boys into their car seats, then she ran the car into a nearby lake where the boys drowned. She then called the police and said that her car with the boys aboard had been carjacked while she was in a convenience store. A police dragnet was quickly began but in the span of three weeks nothing was found. Then the sheriff of Union County, Harold Wells, called a news conference and said that Susan had confessed to drowning the boys and told him where the car was. Sheriff Wells was very composed and spoke with a very professional demeanor. Later on Harold Wells was convicted of loan sharking and witness tampering. He spent 90 days in the joint and paid a fine of $3,600. His days as an honest law enforcement officer are over. In fact, his days as an honest person are over.

                      This Date in History    September 24

622AD On this date Muhammad arrived in Medina after being kicked out of Mecca. This trip is known in the Muslim world as the Hegira. In fact, the completion of this trip begins as year 1 on the Moslem calendar. Muhammad was born in Mecca about 570AD. His father died before he was born and his mother died when he was six so he went to live with his grandfather. His grandfather died when little Mohammad was 8 years old so he went to live with his uncle Abu Talib. When he was 25 years old he married a wealthy woman 15 years older than he. They had issue of six children, 2 boys and 4 girls. Both of the boys died in childbirth, however. For reasons known only to Muhammad, once in a while he would go to Mount Hira near Mecca and sleep in a cave. On one particular occasion Mohammad heard a voice saying “You are the messenger of God”. Mohammad later said that he was sure it was the archangel Gabriel that gave him the message. Anyway, Muhammad went back into Mecca and began his evangelizing with his new found faith. He leaned heavily on the rich merchants who he declared as evil for scamming the poor people for fun and profit. He also says that the religions with more than one God are of the devil, that there is only one true God. He also declares himself as the last true prophet of the Judeo-Christian religious sect. He gathered himself about 100 followers but his reputation as a trouble maker, especially to the rich merchants, has become well known and the local constabulary in Mecca came after him and his entourage. So Muhammad and the boys slipped out and make the 200 mile trip to Medina and arrived on this date. Eventually Muhammad and the people of Mecca made their peace and the people of Mecca also became followers of Muhammad. After a few years Muhammad got the nation of Islam on its feet on the entire Arabian Peninsula and the rest is history. By the way, Islam translated means “surrender to God” and Muslim means “those who have surrendered.” Also the Koran was a series of thoughts and revelations experienced by Muhammad or by others then relayed to Muhammad. Both Mecca and Medina are in Saudi Arabia. Muhammad died in June of 632 and his successors continued with the expansion of Islam...up to a point. About the year 800 a division occurred in Islam that exists today and that being the Sunnis and the Shiites. One branch insists that the leader of Islam must be a direct descendent of Muhammad and the other branch believes that the leader of Islam must be a descendent of a series of Caliphs. They have been squabbling ever since. By the way, the last provable direct descendent of Muhammad was Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran.

1776 On this date a select committee of the Continental Congress assembled to hammer out the basics of a treaty with France. We needed arms, ammunition and military expertise. France had been providing some of the above covertly already but it was proving to be insufficient. The French did not want to totally commit unless they were reasonably sure the Continentals would be successful in their separation from England. The first negotiator was Silas Deane who went to France secretly. Next came the suave and debonair Benjamin Franklin and a few others followed by a smashing victory by the Continentals over the British at the Battle of Saratoga which convinced the French to sign a formal treaty. This was hurried along when the British Navy opened fire on a French warship in international waters without a declaration of war. The signing of the treaty meant that the France had declared war on Great Britain and even though there were several years of bloodshed ahead, our ancestors knew that victory was within their grasp.

1890 After several years of squabbling between the United States and the Mormon Church, the United States finally put its foot down and stated that if the Church did not abandon the “plural marriage” belief the US would seize all the Church’s lands in the Salt Lake City area and deny them statehood which would prevent any protection of the United States Army from the hostile Indians all around them. So on this day the Church of Latter Day Saints edicts that the church no longer fosters “plural marriage” and from then on all marriages must be singular. If you read into the laws and tenets of this church you will find that the church is pretty dominate in the day in and day out operation of the individual family unit. I don’t know if that is good or bad, but there it is.

1971 On this date Game Warden Neil LeFeve showed up missing. He was a warden in the Sensiba Wildlife area of Wisconsin and was known to be as tough as nails especially with poachers. A huge search was begun and Neil’s body was found headless with several .22 caliber bullets in his torso. Soon thereafter they found his head with three .22 caliber bullet holes in the back. LeFeve was known to deal harshly with those that he had arrested; the police asked those he had previously arrested and without alibis to take lie detector tests. Even though there was a lot of grumbling all of them did except for one and that was Brian Hussong. LeFeve had recently arrested Hussong for shooting pheasant out of season. This was not the first time Hussong had been arrested for the same thing. With a court order the police obtained a phone tap on Hussong’s phone and heard him to tell his grandmother to hide all of his guns. The police immediately went to the grandmother’s house with a search warrant and found the .22 rifle used in the murder. Both Hussong and his grandmother denied the phone call but Voice Identification technology proved it was indeed both of them. Hussong was tried, convicted and sentenced to life without parole.

Born today:

1717 English writer Horace Walpole. He said “Nine tenths of the people were created so they would enjoy being with the other tenth.” Indeed, Horace.

1896 F. Scott Fitzgerald. He said “First you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink, and then the drink takes you.” 

                             Been there, done that.

Died today:

1981 US actress Patsy Kelly. She said “I laughed from the time I got to the studio until I left at night. I sometime felt guilty for taking a paycheck. Some years I could do no wrong and some years I could do no right. I owe everything to show business, it owes me nothing.”

 

  You don’t hear that very often from the egotistical bastards of today.

1991 Theodore (Dr. Seuss) Geisal. He said “Adults are just obsolete children.”

             Yes Doc, we are.

Thanks for listening    I can hardly wait until tomorrow