Tuesday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“Stress is nothing more than a sociably acceptable definition of mental illness.”

                                                     Richard Carlson

I felt the need to say a few things about this. There was a play written by William Shakespeare titled “Much Ado About Nothing” and that is what we have here with the Pledge of Allegiance. There is much ado as to whether the phrase “under God” should be part of it or not. This phrase was added during the Eisenhower administration. It is being hinted that God will abandon the United States if this phrase is not there. This frame of thought is sponsored by the Evangelicals, of course. Keep in mind that the Continental Army that beat the mightiest military organization on the planet at the time (Great Britain) never said that phrase. The greatest American generation saved the world during World War II without saying that phrase even though they survived the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. Then we get someone saying “Remember the Bible says that if you deny Jesus, Jesus will deny you before God”....or words to that effect. The Bible also said that God relayed instructions through Moses to Joshua that when the Hebrews finally stopped fooling around in the Negev desert for 40 years and headed north into the land of the Canaanites and Philistines, Joshua was instructed to slaughter every human they came across so they would not leave people behind that could attack them from the rear. That is in the Bible too. They did not try to save their souls or convert them...they killed them out of military necessity. The point of all of this is that it is not what you say or swear, it is what you do. Think about the Marines on Guadalcanal. They charged through a fetid stinking jungle and kicked out the Japanese because they needed the airstrip that was there. When asked about why they fought so hard and so long, the greatest majority of the marines said the “I did not want to let my unit down” and “it was the right thing to do.” There was no mention of the Pledge of Allegiance and/or it's phasing. I am not belittling the Pledge ...it serves a purpose but actions not words is what makes a difference. In my humble opinion, it is love of country and your countrymen that make you a Patriot not your phrasing.

Once again I was asked to prove there was a God without a leap of faith or a belief in the Bible. Using logic alone here it is: There have been several archaeological digs world wide where people were buried with their personal belongings, food and water even chariots with a team of horses and even dogs. There was a chariot in the tomb of King Tut. There has been tombs that pre-date any any of the Egyptians uncovered and explored. They all have one thing in common. It was obvious that they believed in an afterlife. That is why they had the horses, chariots, food, water, etc. They even had the expected journey described by paintings or etchings on the walls of their tombs. I am not advocating an afterlife. What I am advocating is how did that seed of thought that there is an afterlife get instilled in different pockets of humanity from the ancient Chinese, Europeans, Native Americans, Meso-Americans, eastern Asians, etc., etc.? It is without a doubt universal and apparently this seed of thought is planted at birth. It is easy for me to find an answer...and it should be for you. What I am saying is that it is entirely possible that the Mongols were burying a king that was killed in combat including his personal sword, lance, spear, clothing and a little food and water...The same ceremony could be underway at the same exact time in Central American with the Maya or Inca. To me the reasoning is impossible to ignore....this universal thought had to be given to us by a superior being.

I just read where the South Carolina violent crimes are reduced by several percentage points over this time in 2009. Then in the next column I read where South Carolina has taken over third place in the FBI “states with the most violent crimes per capita.” As most of you can guess, it all depends who is giving out the facts as to who is the most accurate. I would not doubt the FBI rating. Almost every day I make a comparison with the violent crimes in the Greenville/Spartanburg area as compared with crimes in the Austin, Texas area. I chose Austin because it is a close approximation to the Greenville/Spartanburg area in population. There is no comparison. There are three times the violent crimes up here in the piney woods of northwestern South and North Carolina than in the Austin area. I do not know what the reasoning is. Unfortunately, perhaps we rednecks here in the western Carolinas have less respect for the law than those cowboys around Austin. Austin seems like a good place to live to me...except for the heat in the summer.

Back in May a 19 year old Clemson coed was picking some things up from a storage facility she had rented. Suddenly she was attacked and thrown into an adjacent cubicle by a drifter that had rented the storage cubicle and was living there. He tied her up and raped her but he did not frisk her. After the drifter left the coed was able to free herself and called 911 on her undetected cell phone and was rescued by sheriff’s deputies. The deputies found out that a 37 year old man named Dennis Temple had rented the next cubicle. Dennis was arrested that night. He is being charged with kidnapping, criminal sexual conduct and larceny. If he is convicted and does not get the death penalty (which is likely) he will be an old man when he sees the light of day again and rightfully so. Like I say, no respect for the law…or anything else.

A while back down in Florida the race for the US Senate seat boiled down to a contest between Governor Charlie Crist and Congressman Mario Rubio. Crist chose to run as an Independent and Rubio is a Republican. Rubio was ahead in the polls by almost double digits. Crist said that he was opposed to same sex marriage in the state of Florida. Later the most recent polls showed that he is getting his brains beat out by Rubio, he has reversed his position and now sanctions same sex marriage. He justifies this by saying that “he has gotten older and wiser.” I would like to see a show of hands of all that believe that obvious dance. He is willing to say whatever is necessary, whether he believes it or not, to get elected. What is he going to do for you Floridians if he does get elected? It is obvious that he is for sale. It should be disgusting to all of you, it is to me. I have met Marco Rubio personally but that does not make me a fan of his, all politicians shake hands and kiss babies. What makes me a supporter of his is that he was endorsed by ex-South Carolina US ex-Senator Jim DeMint. I believe in Jim. I do not think he would lie or mislead us. I hope I am not disappointed.

     This Date in History    September 16

1908 A great visionary William C. Durant founded General Motors with the consolidation of Buick, Oldsmobile and Cadillac along with Chevrolet, Delco, Fisher Body and Frigidaire. The first electric starter came on a 1912 Cadillac; the starter was invented by Charles Kettering. Pontiac came later on and with this consolidation General Motors surpassed Ford in gross sales. But in the early 60’s with the avalanche of better quality import cars, GM had to cut back, close some of their plants and re-think their product quality. We all know what has happened to them recently.

1924 Betty Joan Perske is born in Brooklyn. Betty was a born performer and showed it at an early age by working as a song and dance girl in the local community. Her Mother and Father were divorced and Betty changer her name back to her Mother’s maiden name Bacal, a Rumanian name. Later she refined her name to Lauren Bacall. At the age of 18 she landed a role in the movie To Have or Have Not with Humphrey Bogart. She and Bogie hit it off greatly and they were married until Bogie died of lung cancer in 1953. Later on she married Jason Robards but they were divorced soon afterward. She continued in show biz winning a Tony for her role in the Broadway play Applause. She won an Oscar nomination for her movie role as Barbra Streisand’s mother in The Mirror Has two Faces. A very talented lady.

1949 Warner Bros. introduced the Road Runner Cartoon. It was Mel Blanc doing the “Beep Beep”. They are still funny.

1832 George Washington Custis Lee is born to Robert E. and Mary Custis Lee in Fort Monroe, Virginia. Custis followed his father to West Point and as his father did graduated first in his class in 1854. During his last two years at West Point his father was superintendent. At the outset of the War Between the States, CSA President Jefferson Davis requested Custis Lee as his Aide-de-Camp and was given the task of reinforcing the defenses around Richmond even though Custis was verbal in his request for a field command. After his father died in 1870 as President of Washington (Soon to be known as Washington and Lee) College, Custis became president until he retired in 1897. Custis died in Fairfax, Va. in 1913. Thus ended the lineage of great American leaders going back to “Light Horse Harry” Lee of the American Revolution.

1620 English ship Mayflower leaves Plymouth harbor bound for the new world, Jamestown, Virginia in particular. After a stormy 66 day passage and being blown off course by 500 miles they end up at the tip of Cape Cod and drop anchor in Providencetown harbor. While enroute the passengers got together and made up a document known as the Mayflower Compact. This document was the earliest basis for what is now our present democracy. A few armed men under the leadership of Myles Standish depart the ship and begin a hunt for a suitable site to begin a settlement. They found an open field with plenty of running water and named it Plimouth (their spelling). An interesting fact about Standish was that he was so short that he had to cut 6 inches off his sword and scabbard to keep them from dragging the ground, that would make him no taller than 5’-3” and probably shorter. But he was a fiery and capable military commander and we are lucky he was aboard. The Mayflower sailed around to Plymouth harbor and thus began preparations for the tough upcoming winter. The majority of those aboard were religious dissidents against the Church of England the rest were opportunist and entrepreneurs. While anchored in Plymouth harbor one Susanna White delivered a son name Peregrine he being the first child born in this new settlement. In my opinion, this expedition along with the founding of Jamestown, Virginia in 1607, ranks up there with the Lewis and Clark expedition as being the greatest adventures of all time. I would have loved to be on either one.

1920 Someone pulled a wagon load of explosives in front of the sub-treasury on Wall Street and lights it off killing 300 people and injuring many. No one comes forward to claim responsibility and therefore rumors flew that is was the Communists, Anarchists, etc. Some even claim that it was a construction wagon that turned down the wrong street. In any event this mystery remains unsolved to this day. I think it was a Sunni that had spotted a Shiite and the battle was on. They are all crazy as bedbugs anyway, let them kill each other off.

1943 James Alan McPherson is born in Savannah, Georgia. James is a very smart man and a gifted writer and attended Harvard Law School. James won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature in 1977 for his novel Elbow Room being the first and only black man to do so. He also won $196,000 award from the Guggenheim “Genius” foundation. After this his life began to unravel. His interracial marriage failed resulting in a bitter custody fight and his favorite student committed suicide. McPherson wrote but little after that and waited 20 years before writing the novel Crabcakes which was about his trip to Japan to escape the burden of racism. (His words).

Born today:

1858 British Prime Minister Bernard Law. He said “There is no such thing as inevitable war, if there is a war it is because the failure of human wisdom.” Hey Bernie, add to that “unless there are born lunatics like Adolph Hitler, Attila the Hun, Napoleon Bonaparte, Genghis Khan, Francisco Pizzaro, Hernan Cortez, Alexander the Great, etc, etc, etc.”

1887 French artist Jean Arp. She said “Art is a fruit that grows in man, like fruit on a plant, or a child in a mother’s womb.” Jean was a driven and gifted artist.

1919 US psychologist Dr Lawrence Peter. He said “Competence, like truth, beauty and contact lens, is in the eye of the beholder.” To me competence is directly tied to the complexity of the issue and the mental capabilities of the solver. There are those that are assigned issues too complex for the solvers abilities, that ain’t incompetence of the solver that is the incompetence of the assigner. In my humble opinion, at least half of a manager’s responsibilities are to assign duties that make the solver stretch his imagination but not so far out of reach of their capabilities that they become discouraged.

1924 US actress Lauren Bacall. She said “Imagination is the highest kite one can fly.” Lauren was married to actor Humphrey Bogart, one of my favorites of all time.

1925 US bluesman B.B. King. He said “We musicians don’t steal from each other; we just borrow from time to time.” B.B. has thrilled us with his guitar “Lucille” and his soulful singing voice for over 60 years.

1926 US TV evangelist Robert Schuller. He said “Don’t look at what you have lost, look at what you have left.” Good advice, Reverend.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow