Monday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“I shall pass through this life but once. Any good therefore that I can do let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.”

Etienne de Grellate

I just saw that Deion Sanders' house is for sale. It is located in Prosper, Texas which is about 30 mile north of Dallas. It is an estate of a 29,000 square foot main house, a smaller guest house on 6 acres...the price $10 million.

I am going to do something a little different starting today. I have written a bio of a man that went insane. It is pretty long so I am going to send it out in chapters. Here is the start:

                                                   Crazy as Hell

Chapter 1

This is a story of an apparently stable person deciding to go insane. Mark Essex was born in Emporia, Kansas the son of hard working honest parents. His family was part of a black community that was a very small percentage of that city. He left high school early and joined the US Navy saying he wanted to become a dentist. In 1970 he was assigned duty as a dental assistant at Imperial Beach NAS (near San Diego), California in 1970. Almost as soon as he arrived he started complaining that the Navy had institutionalized racial discrimination and bigotry. Keep in mind the the Vietnam War was raging and this man had the sparkling beaches and warm weather almost year round while other Americans were being chopped into confetti over in Southeast Asia. He met another black man from New Orleans that felt the same way he did and they fed off each other. Essex was so belligerent that the Navy gave him a Bad Conduct Discharge after only two years and the same happened to his buddy from New Orleans . Essex went to New York and joined the Black Panthers. He learned from them that in urban warfare the best weapons would be at least a Colt .38 special revolver and a Ruger .44 magnum carbine. After about three months he went back to Emporia but became restless and called his buddy from New Orleans and went down for a visit. While there he obtained a Colt .38 special revolver and a Ruger .44 magnum carbine.

Up on I-26 in western North Carolina a tragedy occurred. There were 6 cars and three semis that had stopped for a wreck ahead of them in the eastbound lane. Another car rammed into the back of the last car in line and pushed them all together into a metal to metal meat grinder. There were four killed and several severely wounded. Even though this accident happened at night, I still do not see how someone that is the least bit alert could not detect that many cars that were at a standstill, especially the semis. That just goes to show you that there is danger not only in front of you but from all directions. Be alert.

This Date in History October 27

1864 After several months of the siege of Petersburg, Virginia US General U.S. Grant decided that if he can cut the Confederate supply line and that being the Southside railroad that was bringing supplies in from the west the siege would be over. He assigns this task to US General George Meade who delegates three of his Corp led by Generals Winfield Scott Hancock, G.K. Warren and John Parke to attack the Confederate trenches near the railroad at a small creek named Hatcher’s Run. The combined forces would be about 40,000 infantry and a detachment of cavalry. The plan was for Warren and Parke to attack from the front and Hancock to circle and attack the Confederate flank. On this date the attack began. The frontal assault ran into trouble when the Confederate trenches proved to be more heavily defended than expected. But they kept demonstrating to try and conceal Hancock’s flanking movement. Because different units attacking from the front moved at different speeds a gap in the Union line occurred. Meade ordered the attack to slow down to close this gap. It was then that the Confederates launch a successful counter-attack and drove the Union troops attacking the front from the field and then turned their attention to Hancock and repulsed that attack. Finally Meade ordered a total withdrawal. It was very embarrassing failure for the Union and could have effected the upcoming presidential election. But Lincoln depended of the recent victories at Atlanta and Mobile, Alabama to tide him over and he was re-elected.

1962 Earlier the US intelligence community had discovered Russian medium range nuclear missiles being installed in Cuba. President Kennedy asked for confirmation and several over flights were made to photograph the construction sites there. And sure enough, the confirmation came. The missiles if launched from Cuba could strike anywhere in the US, Central America, northern South America and all of the Caribbean. President Kennedy made a TV speech telling the Americans what was happening and what we were going to do about it. He also warned the Russians that any attack launched from Cuba would be interpreted as an attack by Russia and an appropriate response would be forthcoming. The big bombers and missiles of the Strategic Air Command went to “Defcon 4” status meaning that the next step would be nuclear war. President Kennedy ordered a naval blockade of all ships headed for Cuba, only he called it a “quarantine”. Very soon thereafter a Russian cargo vessel with missiles aboard approached the naval blockade and the world held its breath. There was no doubt that had the ship attempted to break the blockade it would have been sunk and the risk of world war would have increased dramatically. But the ship slowed to a stop and eventually turned back to Russia. While all of this is going on, negotiations between the US and Russia kept the telephone lines hot. The final offer was that Russia would withdraw their missiles from Cuba if the US would promise to never invade Cuba and withdraw their missiles from Turkey. The US had already begun the dismantling of the missiles in Turkey so the deal was acceptable. On this date, the deal between the US and Russia was agreed upon by both parties and a potential world war was averted. I was sweating bullets that whole time. It was a scary thought to believe that this day on the planet could be your last.

1659 On this date William Robinson and Marmaduke Stevenson are hanged on Boston Common in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Their only crime was their religious belief, they were both Quakers and Quakers were forbidden by law under the penalty of death. Both Robinson and Stevenson had come to the colonies from England to escape religious persecution in 1656, believe it or not. Rhode Island and several other New England colonies accepted the Quakers, but not the hard-assed Bostonians. That law was later repealed. I have no clue as to why those from Massachusetts hated the Quakers. As we all know, the Quakers are some of the gentlest people out there.

1873 On this date a man named Joseph Glidden from DeKalb, Illinois is granted a patent for barbed wire (known in Texas as “Bob Wahr”). Glidden had seen a semblance of barbed wire at an exposition but it was single stranded. Glidden improved this concept by twisting two wires together which held the actual barbs in position. From this day forward the method of raising cattle changed forever. There would be no more cattle ranging and grazing free across the Great Plains. There were young wars fought over lands that were fenced and blocked cattle from ranging free and from finding water. What a damned shame.

861 In this year the wild-eyed Vikings successfully attack Paris, Toulouse, Aix-la Chapelle and Worms. They came to these towns by sailing their dragon boats across the North Sea and then down the west coast of Europe and up the Rhine and Seine rivers. This was no easy trick. Those rivers had a considerable downstream current and being able to reach those towns deep inland took a lot of rowing. But they were equal to the task and conquered most of Western Europe and even Russia by sailing down the Volga River from the Black Sea. They were so successful with their rape and pillage that there little doubt that all of us that have ancestry from Western Europe have a drop or two of Scandinavian blood flowing in our veins.

Births and deaths:

1858 One of my heroes Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt is born in upstate New York. He said “I think there is only one quality worse that having a hard heart and that is having a soft head.” When asked what was going to be his philosophy on the Presidency, he said “Speak softy but carry a big stick.” We need more leaders like Teddy.

1874 Business giant Owen Young is born. He said “When it comes to modern business crooks are not feared as much as an honest man who does not know what he is doing.” Hey Owen, what about women?

1914 Welch poet Dylan Thomas is born. He said “An alcoholic is a person you don’t like that drinks as much as you.” I know several.

1963 Bimbo Marla Maples is born. When meeting Tina Louise who played Ginger on “Gilligan’s Island she said “I loved Ginger, I have patterned my life after her.” Marla has a great body and face but she is very, very short on ambition.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow