Tuesday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“The art of living is a fine mingling of letting go and holding on.”

Henry Ellis

Here is another of my aggravations which is the misuse of “there”, “their” and “they're”.

“There” is a location like “The crazy woman is over there”.

“Their” is a possessive like “It is their problem.”

“They're” is a contraction for they are. Like “I don't want want to go where they're going.” It ain't that tough, y'all.

A while back 18 year old De'Marquise Elkins was convicted of murdering a 13 month old infant in Brunswick, Ga. The child was being walked around the neighborhood in a stroller by his mother when Elkins and another person approached and demanded money. When the mother said she did not have any money De'Marquise shot the infant and the mother. The mother survived, the baby did not. The trial was held in Marietta, Georgia because of the ill-feeling in Brunswick almost insuring that a fair trial could not be held. I believe that. De'Marquis's mother was also convicted of attempting to hide evidence. When it was explained to her how much jail time she was facing she led the cops to a small lake where the murder weapon was recovered. Apparently she had chosen to try to hide the gun at her son's request. Since De'Marquise was 17 when the crime was committed, by Georgia law he cannot receive the death penalty but he is looking at life without parole. Life in a Georgia prison for murdering a child will seem like an eternity to De'Marquise...we all know what happens to convicted child abusers in every prison in the world. Why was there not as much news coverage at this outrage as there was in Sanford, Fl. with Martin and Zimmerman? How about that debacle in Ferguson? Well...Why? If you can believe this, De'Marquise's lawyer asked the judge for bond. Y'all can guess what the judge said...

What would be your response if one of your kids came home and admitted to murdering and infant and asked you to hide the murder weapon? Well, what?....

Last Thursday down in North Charleston, SC a peculiar event occurred. There is a Lowe's that has a small out building where all their display materials are stored. A couple was observed entering this building and closing the door behind them. It was about 10:00 am, y'all. The cops were called suspecting a robbery was in progress...the cops arrived and opened the out building door. The couple was not robbing the place, they found a 31 year old man and a 20 year old woman having sex. After they were allowed to dress, they were arrested. I do not recall the charges, but for the life of me I cannot imagine what charges could be brought except for trespassing. In any event, their pictures are on page 2 of the “Metro” section of the local newspaper. The item did not say it but I suspect one of them was a hooker...but maybe not. By the way, does anyone know the origin of the word “hooker” for a prostitute? Here is a brief history. At one point during the Civil War the Union Army commander was General Joe Hooker. Joe liked the girls and whiskey and was the only military commander that allowed “camp-followers” or prostitutes to tag along with his army thus “Hookers”. He was relieved soon after CSA General Robert E. Lee and CSA General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson beat the crap out of Hooker and the Union army at Chancellorsville, VA. in spite of being outnumbered by at least two to one.

A while back a despondent man parked his car near the “Double Bridges” over Lake Hartwell near Anderson, SC. For reasons known only to this man he waded out into the lake and drowned himself. When I think of this I wonder what happened to the human instinct of survival with this man. From what I have read if there is the slightest chance of survival, a human will fight for their life...this man obviously didn't. Someone suggested that the man probably could not swim. I learned to swim the hard way as many of us did. I was at a boys summer camp near Baltimore when I was about six years old. One of the councilors threw me into a lake from a platform where the water was over my head. I had never been in water that deep in my life. The councilor jumped in beside me but never touched me. He told me to make my way back to the platform ladder and he would not let me drown. At that point I was terrified but I dog-paddled and struggled and finally made it back to the ladder without help from that bastard that threw me in. The reason I remember this is because I thought I was going to die and struggled to stay alive. There are many ways to commit suicide but drowning oneself seems the most unlikely...to me at least.

A few of years ago the worst possible thing happened in Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide Heisman Trophy winner, running back Mark Ingram has sustained a knee injury just a few days before their opening game. Almost the same hour of the injury Ingram was on his way to Birmingham to go to the Andrews Orthopedic Clinic where an arthroscopic procedure was performed. Dr. James Andrews is one of the world’s most famous surgeons for athletes. My nephew had “Tommy John” surgery performed on his right elbow by Dr. Andrews.

The sign for exit 2B on the I-277 by-pass in Charlotte, NC reads “Indepednence Blvd.” What asked about the spelling the North Carolina DOT said they are “wokring” on it.

The College of Charleston in South Carolina has chosen to side with their horseback riding instructor, Rebecca Howsley, who was charged with animal neglect. Howsley kept her horses on a farm on John’s Island and was accused of keeping her horses out in the blistering heat with insufficient water and food. In fact, a few of her horses were taken by sheriff’s deputies and sent to a horse rescue farm. Howsley has a five year contract with the college for $513,000 and she has 88 students signed up for lessons this fall at $360 each. Isn’t it a bit snooty for an institute of higher learning to sponsor an instructor of horseback riding? How can this prepare the youth of this country to make a living afterward? But what do I know.

           This Date in History   September 2

1969   Ho Chi Minh died. You can say what you want but Ho was one of the most influential men in history. During WWII Ho and his followers entered into an agreement with the OSS whereby any American pilot that crashed or bailed out into Indo-China would be rescued and returned. The OSS was the precursor to what is now known as the CIA. After the war France wanted to re-instate colonial rule in Indo-China primarily for the oil and rubber and Ho and his boys said “I don’t think so.” And thus began a bloody 8 years of war against France. The struggle ended in 1954 with the surrender of the French troops at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. About 7 years later the first American military “advisor” arrived in Viet Nam. Horror ensued.

1862   President Abraham Lincoln restored Gen. George B. McClellan to command. Abe had previously fired George after he failed to take Richmond in the so called “Seven days”. In fact, George was so badly out-generaled by R.E. Lee that it was a total embarrassment. George essentially lost his nerve upon witnessing the horrible mangling of his troops during battle. Abe took most of George’s troops and gave them to Gen. John Pope and sent John out looking for Lee’s army. Lee and Stonewall Jackson found him first and John took an enormous ass-whipping at the Battle of Second Manassas. John Pope and his troops return to Washington with their collective asses in their hands. So now Abe is faced with a terrible problem. Neither John nor George is anywhere the equal of R.E. Lee and/or Lee’s lieutenants. So Abe went back to George only because he is the better organizer and trainer. Abe had this problem until a scruffy Ohioan named Grant arrived on the scene.

1945   WWII ended with Japanese delegates signing the instrument of surrender aboard the USS Missouri anchored in Tokyo Bay. US Gen. Douglas MacArthur was in command of these proceedings and did so with much dignity and aplomb but the entire Japanese Delegation was sobbing uncontrollably. Men are strange critters when it comes to matters of honor. General MacArthur had left General Wainwright in command of the Philippines while he went to Australia to organize a counter attack and for Wainwright to hold out as long as he could. Wainwright eventually had to surrender to the overwhelming Japanese forces. He and his forces surrendered and Wainwright was sent to a Japanese prison camp in Mongolia where he stayed over a year until rescued by the Russian army. It was just a couple of weeks before Wainwright was in attendance at the surrender ceremony aboard the Missouri. He was just barely skin and bone. When MacArthur saw him he broke into tears. War is hell....

1945   The Eugene O’Neill play The Iceman Cometh opened on Broadway. It is a play about people in a bar coping with life. O’Neill was well versed on this aspect because he was a two-fisted drinker himself. O’Neill was given a good education by his father. He went to a prestigious prep school and even went to Princeton. But after a while Gene said screw it, I am going to hit the road and hit the road he did. He went to South Africa hunting gold, haunted the bars in London, Buenos Aires, Liverpool and various other places. He started churning out some gritty short stories that were moderately successful but he really hit his stride being a playwright. Beside The Iceman Cometh he gave us A Long days Journey into Night among many others. O’Neill is recognized as America’s first major playwright. He died in Boston in 1953.

1957   The UN Court prosecutes for the first time someone for genocide. Jen- Pauls was the mayor of small town in Africa. He was responsible for the killing of at least 30,000 Hutu tribesmen. Most of them were killed by machetes in their beds while wounded. The number may have been as many as 500,000 but we will never know. It was a bloodbath of biblical proportions.

Born today:

1839   US economist Henry George. He said “How many men are there out there that have fairly made one million dollars?” Well Henry, there is Pac-man Jones, Tank Johnson, Senator Larry Craig of Idaho resigned in disgrace for hiding his homosexuality, Rep. Mark Foley from Florida who resigned in disgrace because he kept hitting on the senate pages and tried to hide his homosexuality, Ex-Governor Edwin Edwards of Louisiana who now is in a federal prison for corruption, Ex-Governor Don Seigelman of Alabama who is now in a federal prison for corruption, Ken Lay of Enron fame (deceased) was headed for a federal prison for corruption, Bernie Ebbers former CEO of WorldCom now in a federal prison for corruption, Senator (and US Navy ace pilot) Randall “Duke” Cunningham now in a federal prison for corruption, Arizona Governor Fife Symington was convicted of corruption in his real estate business and forced to resign, and finally there is Michael Vick went to federal prison for torturing animals for fun and profit. I am being facetious, of course, but it sure is disgusting because I ain’t even scratching the surface.

Born today:

1866  US Governor (Ca.) Hiram Johnson. He said “The first casualty in war is truth.”

Died today:

1997   Austrian physicist Herman Frankl. He said “Since Auschwitz we know what men are capable of, since Hiroshima we know what is at stake.”

2002   US basketball coach Abe Lemon. He said “I don’t jog. When I want to die I want to be sick.” Way to go, Abe, me too.

     Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow