Tuesday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“A pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. An optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.”

                                Winston Churchill

It was a busy Labor Day weekend. Over in Hanover county North Carolina (on the coast) there was either a triple homicide or a shootout where all participants killed each other. It was a lot better in Durham, North Carolina. In a residential neighborhood 12 people were shot but only three were injured seriously and no one was killed.

It is the same down here in rural South Carolina. A woman called her estranged husband and told him that her present boyfriend, 31 year old Dave Mauger, was coming to shoot him. The man blew it off but about 20 minutes later Dave did not disappoint and came by and fired five or six rounds at the man’s double-wide. He did not hit anyone and only one round went into the trailer. Dave needs to spend more time at the range. Anyone that can only put one round out of six into something the size of a double wide needs help. Dave is in the joint right now, however.

Early Saturday morning Fred Lester was in the Boom Boom Room over near Woodruff, SC knocking back a few. He got into an argument and his antagonist pulled a hog-leg and fired one round into Fred’s chest. Fred was declared dead at the scene. The cops are still looking for the shooter.

I suppose most of you have seen that news clip of a Syrian insurgent cutting open the chest of a dead Syrian soldier and removing his heart and taking a bite. The media jumped all over this as being barbaric...it may be barbaric but it is not unknown. There is a documented life of an American mountain man named John Johnson. He had a Flathead wife that he had been married to for less than six months. He had to be away from his house for an extended period while fur trapping. When he returned he found his wife and unborn child had been massacred by the Crow Indians. He began a personal vendetta against the Crows and killed about 500. His signature was removing their livers and taking a bite. He was known throughout the Rockies as “Liver Eatin' Johnson”. He died in a Los Angeles veterans home in 1900. The movie “Jeremiah Johnson” starring Robert Redford was loosely based on his life. He was buried in a cemetery in Los Angeles but was disinterred and re-buried in a cemetery in Cody, Wyoming dedicated to those American mountain men that settled the west. Robert Redford was one of his pall-bearers. Not only that, nearly all the American Indians would remove and take a bite of an enemy's heart that was exceptionally courageous hoping their courage would be instilled in them. This ritual was also known to many peoples of a violent and aggressive nature, such as the Vikings, Celts, Vandals and yes...even the Persians (Iran and Iraq today) and various others. I am not condoning it, I am just saying that the news clip that is supposed to be so repulsive is not news...it is ancient history but it is used as a scam by the media and the present administration for fun, profit and political influence.

Please will someone explain something to me. The United States was an eyelash from engaging in an armed conflict on foreign soil because it is alleged that the existing administration delivered poisonous gas on its own citizens to discourage an ongoing insurgency killing about 1,400. A few years ago in west central Africa there was a war between two tribes that have been squabbling for centuries. The tribes were the Hutus and the Tutsis. They finally engaged in all out war in the early 1980's and over 500,000 were slaughtered...it was probably more like 800,000 but they did not keep records. For the most part they did it the hard way, with knives, machetes, clubs and an occasional firearm. Why didn't the US, UN, NATO, Greenpeace, Red Cross, Salvation Army and a plethora of tree-huggers intervene? It obviously is not the number of lives lost, it is something else that triggers intervention...what is it, y'all?

Earlier your President was convinced that American and Israeli intelligence can verify that Syria has used poisonous gas (probably Sarin) on his own people to deter an ongoing insurrection. Almost all of the countries near Syria agree that the use of Sarin is inherently dangerous....but they are unwilling to forcefully resolve it. They had rather wait until the UN or the United States takes the initiative. It looks like your President wants the US Navy to be in harm's way. I have heard many people say that no one can go in there and blow up the Syrian supply of Sarin because it is a gas and will spread out and kill everybody. The objective is to not destroy the gas because we know that the gas will be stored near schools and hospitals to discourage any direct attack. That is not the objective anyway. The objective is delivery systems. The attacks will be on airport runways, airplanes, helicopters, missile launch sites (be they mobile or stationary), artillery pieces and artillery shells, fuel depots, trucks, etc. Technically, this could be accomplished using Tomahawk missiles, Hellfire missiles launched from drones and a variety of other surface-to-surface and air-to-surface hardware all directed and guided by satellite information. In my opinion sterile strikes could be accomplished with minimum danger to the attackers. The problem I have is that it is not our (USA) call to defuse this danger. If Mexico were to develop nuclear weapons, a way to deliver them and became belligerent with the US, would Poland and Italy come over and try to defuse the situation? No...because it is the USA that is the world's policeman...and I am fed up with it.

Now that I am stirred up here is something else. Somehow the Monsanto corporation has made it illegal for corn farmers to use any other seed corn other than Monsanto. That is a monopoly guaranteed by your government to the benefit of a private corporation. Not only that, since the days of cattle drives from Texas to Kansas young calves are raised in “feed lots” to minimize exercise and feed them corn to make then grow faster, bigger and more tender. Now Monsanto has got into bed with the meat producers and add growth hormones to the corn to make the livestock, including chickens, ducks, etc. grow even bigger faster, the danger or disadvantage to humans be damned. Back when I was in the engineering business I worked on a project for developing a plant to generate a hormone that was mixed with their feed to make dairy cows produce more milk. It was discovered that the hormone would eventually cause the cow to produce twice as much milk but would reduce their productive years by 25%. That is a net gain of 25%, to hell with what effect the hormone has on humans or the cattle...it made more money for the producers. Americans are alleged to be the best fed, bigger and more robust than the rest of the world...but there are many countries whose people live longer on the average...wonder why? By the way, all of us have heard the scam of “tender corn fed beef”...cattle are grazers, they eat grass, not corn....don't even look into how veal is produced.

       This Date in History    September 9

1939 The Fox theater in Riverside, California had a surprise premier of the movie Gone with the Wind. The producer of the film David O. Selznick was sitting in the rear of the theater to see the audience’s reaction. Selznick had bought the film rights from Margaret Mitchell for $50,000 the year before and immediately began a search for Rhett and Scarlett. He was unsuccessful at first but he made a deal with MGM for Clark Gable for which MGM got a piece of the action. The newly arrived British actress Vivian Leigh came to the set to see her agent who was Selznick’s brother and was persuaded to read for the role of Scarlett. The official premier was in Atlanta in December.

1956 Elvis makes his first appearance on the popular TV variety show Ed Sullivan’s Toast of the Town. Elvis does Don’t be Cruel and Hound Dog and as usual swivels his hips. Sullivan was so incensed by this that he swore that he would never allow Elvis back on his show but a year later with Elvis on top of the recording heap, he had him back but instructed the cameramen to not show him from the waist down. Times have changed haven’t they...thinking about Miley Cyrus

1863 The Yankee army occupied Chattanooga after US Gen. William Rosecrans severely out-generaled CSA Gen. Braxton Bragg. Bragg had to retreat to a point south of Chattanooga but had his army dig in at a place called Chickamauga. Rosecrans followed Bragg and the ensuing battle is one of the bloodiest of the war. Rosecrans is defeated and he and his army retreated back to Chattanooga. Bragg was acknowledged to be the worst field commander in the Confederacy and many attribute the loss of the war to his inadequacies.

1971 The worst prison riot in American history happens at Attica Correctional Facility near Buffalo, N.Y. The riot occurred spontaneously but was primarily caused by the severe overcrowding which resulted in deplorable living conditions. The inmates could take a shower only once a week and had one roll of toilet paper to last a month among many other things. Nearly all of the 2200 inmates joined in the riot. The riot was essentially contained in a recreational field but the inmates had 39 guards and civilians as hostages. There were long and tedious negotiations between the inmates and the prison officials, even the Governor Nelson Rockefeller came and talked with the inmates but the negotiations stalled and the governor order a forceful takeover. The officials sent a helicopter over the yard and dropped tear gas into the yard and the prison guards charged through the mist guns blazing. 10 prison guards were killed and 89 inmates were either killed or wounded. The prison officials at first said that the inmates had killed the guards by cutting their throats but autopsies proved that they were all killed with gunfire. A congressional investigation ensued.

1943 A Japanese float plane launched from a submarine dropped an incendiary bombs on a forest in western Oregon causing a forest fire. This is the only time a bomb has fell on the continental United States and hopefully the last.

1850 California receives statehood. In 1847 California had only 7,500 residents and to become a state there must be at least 60,000 residents. After gold discovered the state’s population grew by 60,000 in 1849 alone. Normally a state must become a US Territory for a period of time before becoming a state but this was foregone because of the gold. Uncle Sam wants his piece of the action, don’t he?

Born today:

1868 US writer Mary Austin. She said “People would be surprised to find out how much I found out about prayer while playing poker.” I found out about prayer trying to hammer out a divorce settlement. I had always heard that “Prayer changes things”.... it didn’t.

1890 US chef Colonel Harlan Sanders. He said “There is no reason to be the richest person in the cemetery. You can’t do business there”. I concur with the first sentence, the second one is unnecessary.

1925 US actor Cliff Robertson. He said “This isn’t exactly a stable business; it is like standing up in a hammock with your pants down.” Even more unstable would be making love standing up in a hammock, Cliff.

1949 NFL quarterback Joe Thiesmann. He said “The word “genius” is not applicable in football. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein.” Joe, you are a dumb-ass.

1958 US Comedian The Amazing Johnathon. He said “A duck walks into a drug store and says”Give me a stick of Chap Stick and put it on my bill” No comment

           Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow