Wednesday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“It is not necessary to change. Survival is not essential.

                   Edward Dennings

Tomorrow is September 11. This should be a memorable date for every American especially the years 2001 and 2012. 2001 being the World Trade Center event and 2012 for the Benghazi disaster. Remember them.

In the past and present I have spent a considerable amount of time studying different civilizations including the Vikings, Greeks, Mayans, Mesopotamia, Incas, Egyptians and even the Comanche. There is a few of things that are common to all but mostly it is greed and and the desire for power. They all had the same currencies. That was gold, silver, precious gems...and slaves. Slaves were demand far more especially after the birth of the Bronze Age (bronze is a blend of copper and tin). Metal tools of war became the difference between victory and defeat. This meant that the copper and tin mines required more and more workers...or slaves. The Iron Age came and that meant even more slaves for the mines and smelters. Even before all of this, people in pre-history began to develop crops to the point that cities formed because there was enough food available and there was safety in numbers. This required the larger cities to raid other cities to gather slaves to tend their flocks, build structures and tend and cultivate crops (read the history of the Jews). There was a variation of this system with the Comanche. The Comanche became the most powerful entity in North America because they were the first to capture and “break” the fiery Spanish mustangs. Slaves was a very important part of the Comanche economy. They would raid the honky settlements not for anything other than people they could sell into slavery. They also raided the Apache, Pueblo, Hopi and a variety of other tribes looking for people to enslave. They would sell some of their slaves to the Navajo, Zuni, Utes and other silver producing tribes to be used in their silver mines. The Comanche would be paid in silver which they would use to buy guns, knives and a variety of marketable utility items to be used, sold or traded at various fairs. The gold and diamond mines in Africa were manned with people that were not exactly slaves, but pretty damned close. They were treated inhumanely. Is the days of slavery over? Not by a long shot. The white slave market is alive and well in third world countries. Will it ever end? Not as long as mankind has greed and a thirst for power...like I said.

Over in Merry Old England 62 year old Mike Edwards was riding in his van across the rural countryside when out of the blue, a 1,300 pound hay bale began rolling down a steep hill and ended up in front of him and he crashed into it. Mike was fatally injured. He was the cellist in the rock band Electric Light Orchestra better known as ELO. It was definitely Mike’s time to go because what are the odds of Mike’s van and a rolling bale of hay arriving at the same spot in the universe at the same time? I really enjoyed ELO’s music.

Over in Spartanburg County South Carolina Kathryn Thomason had been out with her friends and arrived back home in the wee hours of the morning and flopped down on the couch. Her 20 year boy friend Jamie Earnhart began shouting at her and eventually struck her in the face. At this point Kathryn’s children came in the room, jumped on Jamie and wore his ass out. The cops came and carted Jamie off to jail, including the recent wounds, and charged him with criminal domestic violence second offense. Let’s do some math here. Jamie is 20 years old and his girlfriend has children old enough to be able to kick his ass. That makes Kathryn not a cougar but a Smiladon (Saber Tooth tiger) .

Here is an example of how us humans can screw up nature. Before the Europeans, and the native Americans for that matter, arrived here in North America there were packs of gray wolves that roamed unhindered. They survived by preying of the native wildlife such as bison, elk, deer, antelope, various cats, rabbits, etc. The size and survivability of the packs increased and decreased dependent on the availability of game. Once the Europeans arrived and the Native Americans tamed the Spanish ponies, things changed. The Europeans began raising cattle and and horses and various other mammals as did the Native Americans. The increase in available “game” promoted an increase in the size and range of the wolf packs. Eventually the ranchers, including the Native Americans got fed up with the wolves killing their livestock and began a program of extermination of these “pests”. It took a while but the existence of the gray wolf became questionable. Due to the hell raising by the “tree-huggers” the gray wolf was put on the endangered list and any hunting or killing of these animals was disallowed. That was about 15 or 20 years ago. Since then the gray wolf has increased in size and number ten fold. Guess what...they once again began preying on all the readily available livestock and the rancher are raising hell because the wolves are feeding on them. Nature has proven time and time again that the size of the packs are dictated by the availability of food. I do not know the answer to all of this but the wolves were here way before any human. We arrived and increased the availability of food for the wolves and then complain when they kill. The real shit hit the fan a couple of weeks ago when a wolf attacked a human. To a wolf a human is just another dinner for the pack. The person survived but it just proves that in the wild humans are not on top of the food chain. A mature gray wolf averages between 90 and 110 ponds...they are formidable. By the way, cannibals call humans “long pig” saying that human flesh smacks of pork. Well, after all pigs and humans are both omnivores meaning we will both eat nearly anything...see Andrew Zimmern.

Yesterdays edition concerning the war between the Hutus and the Tutsis that cost about 500,000 lives and did not draw international intervention brought a response from a few different directions. One person explained that the war was allowed because it was politically expedient to a variety of different factions. Another one said that the use of Sarin, or any other poisonous gas, is disallowed internationally but attempted genocide with primitive weapons apparently is not. The only logical conclusion that anyone can arrive at is that it is not the number of deaths but the methods used. If knives, machetes, clubs, etc. are used then have at it...but if you use Sarin they are coming in to put a stop to it...Hello...I guess they are not as dead if they are chopped into confetti with a machete as they would be by breathing a whisper of Sarin and your nerve systems immediately shutting down. My solution is to go biological and spray the enemy with amoebic dysentery. A soldier cannot fire a weapon, a pilot cannot fly, a sailor cannot sail whilst sitting on the toilet. They will live even though they think they will not. I can assure you that they will think twice before being belligerent ever again.

       This Date in History    September 10

 

1897 Even without a breathalyzer test, George Smith is arrested for DWI in London. This is the start of legal entanglements for years to come that caused attorneys to jump for joy from that day to this. However, the statistics show that even the severest of penalties do not seem to deter the driving imbibers. Each year there is an average of 16,000 deaths, 500,000 injuries and $1 billion in damages. We are a very hardheaded bunch.

1921 Germany opened the autobahn. The autobahn being the first minimum access highways in the world with no speed limit. It closely resembles 1-385/Woodruff Rd. at 5:30p near Greenville, S.C. and Independence Blvd in Charlotte, N.C. at about the same time.

1942 President Roosevelt decrees the advent of gasoline rationing for the duration of the WWII. What we really need to do is outlaw any vehicle that cannot produce at least 25 MPG in the city and 28 MPG on the road and that means the SUV's like the Tahoe, Explorer/Expedition and Grand Cherokees, etc. will be parked until pre-Katrina production levels are resumed. I have a brother that has one of these beasts and when we go fishing and fill up the truck and the boat it will cost about $140. Too heavy.

1993 On this date is the final episode on Tonight with David Letterman on NBC. Dave's final guest was Tom Hanks. After the retirement of Johnny Carson it was a seesaw battle between Dave and Jay Leno to be Johnny's replacement. Jay won and Dave moved to CBS. Dave originally outdid Jay in the polls but eventually Jay prevailed and has been ahead ever since...until Jimmy Fallon took over for Leno.

1989 Hungary allows the East Germans that had been in refugee camps to return to West Germany if they wanted to which was opposed to Soviet policy. The president of Hungary said "We cannot be a nation of refugee camps." This unanswered act of defiance was a sure indicator the Russia's influence was circling the drain.

1977 Charlene Williams and Gerald Gallego met in a Sacramento Bar. Thus beginning one of the most sordid tales in the history of serial killers. These monsters decided that Gerald's sexual and sadistic appetites were the equal of Charlene's and so they went on rampage of capturing runaways and raping, torturing and killing them. They had done in 10 teenagers before finally being caught in an Ingles parking lot asleep in a stolen car in Greenville, S.C., tried and convicted. Charlene rolled on Gerald and got 20 years, Gerald got life without parole. In my opinion that ain't good enough, I wish we still used the rack and the Iron Maiden so we could get medieval on their collective asses.

1881 Tensions rise in Cochise County, Arizona after a stage robbery is investigated by Wyatt Earp and his brothers. By looking at some boot prints in the dirt, Wyatt decided that Frank Stillwell and sometime sheriff John Behan had done the deed and arrested them. Both Frank and John were supporters of the Ike Clanton and John McLaury families. These 2 families felt that they controlled the "range" country where they could do pretty much as they pleased including rustling other peoples cattle and horses, and the Earp brothers controlled the town. All this tension came to a head in October at the OK Corral. The Earp brothers and Doc Holiday prevailed.

Born today:

1487 Pope Julius III. When speaking to an aide he said “Do you not know, my son, with what little understanding this world is ruled?” Hey Julius, hell yes I know what you are talking about. Nothing has changed in 527 years.

1885 US writer Charles Van Doren. He said “Yes, it is hard to write, but it is harder not to.” I concur, Charles.

1890 French/Italian designer Elsa Schiaparelli. She said “Women all over the world dress the same: they dress to be annoying to other women.” Women are strange critters, y'all.

1929 US golfer Arnold Palmer. He said “The road to success is

always under construction.” Arnie had one of the fiercest competitive spirits ever seen in sports.

1934 US columnist (and one of my favorites) Charles Kuralt. He said “Thanks to the interstate road system, we can travel coast to coast without seeing a damned thing.” Unfortunately, this North Carolina native left this earth at the age of 63. What a damned shame.

                         Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow