Friday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

In 1066 just before the arrival of William the Conqueror an observer at the southern coastal city of Pevensy, England said “Look at all those freaking ships flying Norman flags, I wonder what's up with that.” Just joking...but William really did bring 8,000 cavalrymen, horses included plus infantry.

Keep in mind that the northern half of England was under Danish rule. The Danes had arrived in Viking ships and were about to overpower the whole of England but Alfred, King of Wessex, later known as Alfred the Great, had fought the Vikings to a standstill and negotiated the division of England to prevent any further bloodshed. Not only did the Vikings have a presence in England, so did the Saxons, or tribes from Germany. The very first king to rule over a united England was a Danish Viking name Canute who became king through conquest in the year of 995AD. Through the years that followed four separate kingdoms evolved in England...then here comes William...the Duke of Normandy of Viking ancestry. William said that he had been promised the throne by English King Edward the Confessor. When Edward was on his death bed he named Harold Godwinson as his heir to the throne. When Edward died, Harold Godwinson became King of England. William called baloney on that and began assembling an army to take the crown by force. He had to wait for favorable winds to cross the unpredictable English Channel but cross he did and arrived at Pevensy on England's south coast. William moved his army to the small town of Hastings where Harold's army awaited. A ferocious battle ensued with William attacking with archers, cavalry and infantry. Harold was struck in the eye by and arrow about the same time a mounted Norman knight broke through Harold's defense, swept by Harold and beheaded him with one swipe of his sword. When seeing the death of Harold the English defense crumbled and William and company were the victors. This was know as the Battle of Hastings. A short distance from Hastings is the actual battlefield where a small village named “Battle” exists to this day. William build an abbey over the spot where Harold was struck down and the high altar is over the very spot where Harold fell. William also was able to unite England by kicking out all the Anglo-Saxon aristocrats and installing Normans in their castles and lands...he did the same with the clergy. William had an answer for any subversion or revolt...he would simply destroy their crops and wait on them to starve to death. He also initiated the process of feudalism which made the poor farmers just short of slaves. There were many that did not believe that story about Edward the Confessor promising William the crown, but it didn't matter...his army did. After the dispersal of the English army William went through the countryside securing his authority and was crowned King of England on Christmas day in Winchester Abbey. Williams wife was Mathida of Flanders. She was just five feet tall and very petite with William being over six feel tall and eventually became obese but he and she had issue of 10 children. See, any and all problems can be overcome. William died in 1087 at the age of 59. By the way, Windsor Castle, the ancestral home of the present day Queen of England was built by William the Conqueror.

This Date in History November 28

1862 Earlier US General John Blunt and his army had driven the CSA army commanded by General John Marmaduke into the Boston Mountains in northwest Arkansas. On this date CSA General George Hindman and his army arrived from across the Boston Mountains to try and kick Blount and his Yankee army out of Arkansas. Hindman and his army joined in battle with Blount’s army at a place called Cane Hill. Hindman was unsuccessful and Blount and his army stayed in Arkansas. The Battle of Cane Hill was short and sweet with the Yankees suffering less than 50 casualties and the Rebs less than 40.

1987 On this date the New York City Police found a 16 year old black girl covered in feces and wrapped in plastic garbage bags near a dumpster. She was alive and kicking but had parts of her hair cut off and a few small cuts on her arms and legs. Her name was Tawanda Bailey. Tawanda told the police that she had been kidnapped by four white men, with one of them was wearing a badge. She said that she had been repeatedly tortured and raped over a four day period. The rabble-rousers came out of the woodwork in the form of C, Vernon Mason, Alton Maddox and the ever present Rev. Al Sharpton. They began raising hell claiming that there was a conspiracy against the black community by the NYPD. They even had the nerve to accuse the Solicitor Stephan Pagones of not only turning his head at this crime but that he was present and participated in the kidnapping and rape of Tawanda. The police could get no cooperation from Tawanda’s family but the family had no problem with accepting contributions. It was finally determined that Tawanda’s parents knew that Tawanda was lying but saw it as an opportunity to get some easy money. The police increased their investigation and put the pressure on Tawanda and she finally cracked and admitted that she had hatched the plan to fake the kidnapping to cover her attending an overnight party and not attending school then next day and cut her self and cut her hair as part of the plan. Well, there stood Mason, Maddox and Sharpton with egg on their respective faces knowing that Solicitor Pagones would come after them with slander charges galore and come he did and filed a defamation charge against the trio. Before the ink had dried, the trio offered Pagones a settlement that was never made public. Pagones took the offer and resigned his position and disappeared from the public arena. We still have Mason, Maddox and that bane of justice, Al Sharpton who are still with us, however.

1582 On this day playwright/actor William Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway in the town of Avon, England. Five months later the blissful couple is delivered of a daughter. Evidently the Bard of Avon had been doing more than just writing and acting.

1520 Earlier the Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan had been tasked with finding a passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific by sailing west rather than south and east around Africa. He sailed across the Atlantic to a point near Venezuela and began sailing south exploring the rivers coming out of South America for a passage to the Pacific. He was not successful until he reached the Patagonia region of Argentina and he found a passage that appeared to be the one they were looking for. They sailed southwest and then northwest through a narrow passage for several weeks and on this date they sailed out onto the broad Pacific. This route is known to this date as the Straits of Magellan. Even with this passage shortening the trip around Cape Horn (The southern tip of South America) by several hundred miles, the trip through the Straights was a formidable one, especially in the winter which was May to September. During this time severe storms prevailed and is was a dangerous passage for any ship regardless of size. The Panama Canal ended that danger.

1979 On this date an Air New Zealand DC-10 crashed in Antarctica killing all 257 souls aboard. Air New Zealand had been flying tourist flights over Antarctica for several years. The vast wasteland was a sight to see and was relatively close. On this trip an inexperienced crew was making their first trip there. The airline forbade their pilots to descend below 6,000 feet while over the Antarctic continent but on this day there was cloud cover and the pilots took the plane down to 1,500 feet to get under it. Suddenly the12,600 foot extinct volcano Mount Erebus appeared straight ahead and the plane crashed into the side of it. It took the rescue teams many days to get to the crash site. There were no survivors.

Births and deaths:

1757 English writer William Blake is born. He said “He who thinks and acts not, breeds pestilence.”

1820 German philosopher Frederick Engels is born. He said “Some laws of state aimed at reducing crime are even more criminal.”

1908 French writer Claude Levi-Strauss is born. He said “A wise man doesn’t give the right answers, he poses the right questions.”

     Thanks for listening    I can hardly wait until tomorrow

 

Thursday

Good morning,

Quote of the day;

“You have all the characteristics of a popular politician: a horrible voice, bad breeding and a vulgar manner.”

Aristophanes

A Brief History of Thanksgiving

In spite of popular belief, the first Europeans to put ashore in what is now Plimouth (the way the early Europeans spelled it), Massachusetts was not the Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower in 1620, it was the infamous adventurer/explorer John Smith in 1614. That’s right; it is the same John Smith that had helped establish Jamestown, Virginia in 1607. Smith had came to Plimouth to do some mapping because he had intentions of starting a plantation there. After completing his mapping, Smith departed and left a man named Thomas Hart to establish trading with the Indians. Hart proved to be an unscrupulous bastard and coaxed 24 Nanset Indians aboard his ship and locked them in the hold and set sail. Hart had intentions of sailing to Malaga, Spain and selling the Indians into slavery. To say the least, the Nanset/Patuxet Indians were extremely pissed and any progress made toward trade with the Europeans went down the toilet. One of the Indians aboard Hart’s boat was named Tisquantum but he became known as Squanto and he played a major role in the successful settlement by the Pilgrims as you will see. Hart did indeed land at Malaga, Spain and attempted to sell the 24 Indians. The problem was that there was an abbey close by and some Franciscan Friars came down and put a stop to it. The Friars took most of the Indians under their wing and began teaching them Christianity. Squanto was not one of them. He made his way to England and became an employee of a man named Thomas Slayer who was the Treasurer of the Newfoundland Company. The Newfoundland Company needed someone that knew the terrain and could speak the different dialects of the Indians in the New World and they took Squanto to be that person. They wanted to establish a fur trading link with the Indians. After Squanto had learned enough English they sent him to Newfoundland to translate and establish liaison with the Indians. After Squanto had been in Newfoundland for a few years, he met a sailing captain name John Devers that was with John Smith on his visit to Plimouth. Squanto talked himself into accompanying Devers on his next trip to Plimouth so he could get to see his relatives that he had not seen for several years. Squanto finally did get back to Plimouth in 1619. The downside was that his village had been wiped out by an epidemic in 1618-1619, probably contracted from John Smith’s group and all of his relatives had died of either tuberculosis or smallpox. He arrived just in time because the Mayflower arrived the next year. The Nauset Indians had not forgotten what Thomas Hart had done with the kidnapping of some their own and any suggestion that they should trade with the Europeans that Squanto knew was coming was met with scorn, especially by the most powerful chief in the area. That would be Massasoit, the Chief of the Wampanoag Confederation. But fortunately for the Pilgrims, Squanto was there to mediate. The Pilgrims finally arrived and anchored in Cape Cod Bay. It was not near any rock name Plimouth. Plimouth is a name given to the area by John Smith. From the git-go the Pilgrims had a hell of a time with the Indians but the Indians were fearful of their firearms and thought the Europeans could unleash an epidemic at will so they were very careful with them. The Mayflower had landed in November of 1620 and went through a hell of a winter with many of the pilgrims dying of exposure and starvation and all would have been wiped out if they had not received some help from the Indians at the behest of Squanto. The next spring the Indians helped the Pilgrims with gardening, especially maize or corn, and the local edible game and seafood. Squanto was responsible for this education also. The harvest of 1621 saw the Pilgrims led by Governor William Bradford and the Indians led by Squanto and Massasoit exchange gifts of food and game. This was essentially the first Thanksgiving. The Pilgrims were not out of the woods yet because farther expansion westward led them into other tribes' territories and fights ensued but after the first harvest, they knew they were here to stay. As I have said many times before, I have to believe that the United States was ordained to be here by a higher power because when our ancestors needed guidance someone always showed up. This time it was a strong administrator like William Bradford and a take-no-prisoners type military man like the diminutive Mile Standish and first and foremost it was Squanto. Miles Standish was so short that he had to cut six inches off his sword to keep it from dragging the ground but his lack of altitude was more than compensated by his fiery attitude. Squanto got too big for his britches and began extorting his own people by threatening to have them shot or come down with a disease if they did not pay him off. Massasoit told Bradford the he wanted Squanto’s head because of the mistreatment of his people. Bradford had Squanto headed to the gallows when a ship showed up on the horizon and Bradford demurred. Bradford knew if it was more Pilgrims Squanto would be essential to their survival. There was indeed more Pilgrims aboard the ship Fortune and Squanto’s life was spared but Bradford’s warning to stop the sh-t with the extortion had an effect.

This Date in History November 27

1746 Robert R. (R.R.) Livingston is born on this date at his father’s estate, Clermont, on the banks of the Hudson River in upstate New York. R.R. was born into a family of the wealthy and privileged. In 1766 R.R.’s uncle Lord Livingston had been treating his tenant farmers severely and they revolted. They attacked the Livingston Manor in force and would have prevailed had not the English Army had not intervened and the attack was stopped. However, in 1777 the British army burned the Livingston estates of Clermont and Belvedere in retaliation for the Livingston’s siding with the Patriots in their search for independence and freedom. R.R. graduated from King’s College or present day Columbia. He was the Secretary of Foreign Affairs during the time of the Articles of Federation. He was a contributor in the phrasing of the Declaration of Independence but was not there for the signing. As he was the Chief Judge of New York, it was he that issued the oath if Office to George Washington at his first inauguration. He was selected as Chancellor of the state of New York and from that time on he was known as “The Chancellor” for the rest of his days. It was Livingston that was present in France trying to negotiate the sale of the port of New Orleans to the fledgling United States during the Jefferson administration. At the time, France was governed by Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon had dreamed of coming ashore in New Orleans and conquering all of North America but he knew that war with England was on the near horizon and he could not fight a war of two fronts that far apart. After an offer to buy New Orleans was issued to Talleyrand, Napoleon’s chief of staff, Talleyrand responded with “How much will you give me for it all? He was talking about all of the French lands in North America except for Canada. Well, R.R. and John Jay about peed their pants and asked for some time to come up with an amount. This was the beginnings of the Louisiana Purchase which all but doubled the lands of the United States. R.R.’s soul departed this earth on February 26, 1813.

1863 On this date Confederate Raider John Hunt Morgan and most of his staff, having previously been captured, tunneled out of the US Prison Camp in Columbus, Ohio and escaped back to Tennessee. Morgan was a native Kentuckian but when Kentucky did not secede, he moved to Alabama and offered his services to the Confederate Army. He was assigned the task of making raids on US installations in Kentucky since he was familiar with the area. Later he felt his Wheaties and went into Ohio and raided several US facilities. The down side was that when he came back to his place of crossing the Ohio River back into Kentucky, there was an overwhelming US cavalry unit waiting for him. After an extended chase, Morgan and most of his staff were captured. After returning to Tennessee, Morgan assembled another cavalry unit and began his raids again. Ironically, a year later Morgan’s cavalry unit was the victim of a surprise US cavalry attack near Greeneville, Tennessee. Morgan was killed trying to organize a defense. His attacks in Kentucky and Ohio did little logistic damage but did enormous good for the morale of the Confederacy.

1978 On this date former San Francisco city supervisor Dan White walked into city hall and kills Mayor George Moscone and supervisor Harvey Milk. He shot them both several times with a 9mm automatic pistol. It seems that earlier Dan White has not happy with the way things were going in city hall and had resigned. Soon thereafter, Mayor Moscone hires Harvey Milk to replace White. Milk was the very first acknowledged homosexual to hold public office. White was arrested in short order and charged with premeditated murder. White was upset because Moscone had not conferred with him before hiring Milk, and he expected Moscone to try and get him to come back to his supervisor job but Moscone did not do it and hired Milk. The funny thing about all of this was that White’s defense was that he was hyped up from eating too much junk food. It was the first of the so called “Twinkie” defenses. The astounding part about this is that the jury bought it and White got ten years for manslaughter. After White was paroled he had a hard time adjusting and eventually blew his own brains out. I guess he got back on the Twinkies.

1868 A year before, US Calvary officer Colonel George A. Custer had been disciplined for the mistreatment of his troops and was demoted and removed from active service for a year. While he was out of service, US General Phillip Sheridan’s troopers had been getting their asses handed to them by the Cheyenne in Kansas and Oklahoma. Sheridan relented and after 10 months he brings Custer back to active duty to see if he can contain the fierce Cheyenne. On this date, Custer launches a surprise attack on a peaceful Cheyenne village led by Chief Black Kettle near the present day town of Cheyenne, Oklahoma. As was common with Custer, he did no scouting or reconnoitering before attacking. If he had, he would have determined that this village was peaceful and was indeed on a reservation. It did not seem to bother Custer that the village was essentially unarmed and they killed 105 men, women and children in cold blood. Custer was not interested in punishing the Indians as much as he was in making a name for himself and getting back into a good light with his superiors no matter how many lives it took. It was his recklessness and lack of scouting that cost him 227 of his troopers being slaughtered and cut to pieces at Little Big Horn. In my personal opinion he may have been the worst officer the United States ever had. He was a good fighter but his ego came first before anything else, a very dangerous combination.

Births and deaths:

8BC Roman writer Horace is born. He said “Whatever your advice, make it brief.” The only advice I remember receiving was “Go slower”, and it was brief.

1874 US historian Charles Beard is born. He said “Whom the Gods choose to destroy, make mad with power.”

1909 US writer/critic James Agee is born. After reviewing the play “You Were Meant for Me” he wrote “That’s what you think”.

1937 US writer Gail Sheehy is born. She said “Creativity consists of letting go of certainties.”

1940 Legendary martial arts master Bruce Lee is born. He said “I am not in this world to fulfill your expectations of me and you are not here to fulfill mine.” Here, Here.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow.

Wednesday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“Liars when they finally tell the truth are not believed.”

Aristotle

Here is a short questionnaire for you. Who is the most dead?

Michael Brown from Ferguson, Missouri?

The two back teenagers that were killed in Chicago by members of a Latino drug gang this past weekend?

The black teenager killed in Cleveland by members of a black street gang this past weekend?

Three young Latinoes killed in East Los Angeles by an opposing Latino street gang?

Why was there no riots and looting in Chicago, Cleveland or East Los Angeles?

Why was Al Sharpton not at these locations?

Are we fools for responding to the media in a fashion that benefits only them and not us?

Marble Falls is west of Austin about 35 miles and is on the Colorado River. Before a dam was built, there was a series of shoals on the river with the river bed being very hard stone. The rushing water polished the stone to a marble like appearance. At one point Marble Falls was at the very edge of our western expansion much to the anger of the mighty Comanche and Kiowa nations. Much blood was shed and there were atrocities galore on both sides. As I have said before, even the US cavalry acknowledged the mounted Comanche as the finest light cavalry in the world. They could travel faster, further with less rest, food and water than anyone out there. A while back my friend sent me a book about the history of the Comanche...what an amazing people. They were considered the “trailer trash” of the plains by the other tribes...that is until they were the first to catch, break and mount the wild Spanish ponies brought over by the conquistadors...then they were the unchallenged masters of the Great Plains.

I finished with the other book titled Bonnie Sue. That was the name of a US Marine helicopter squadron in the summer of 1966 in Vietnam.. The beginning of the book was a fight known as The Battle of Groucho Marx. It was called that because the fight began when a Marine recon team known as Groucho Marx was dropped onto a high rock outcropping to spot for Marine artillery and air strikes...they had enough food and water to stay three days...there were eight of them. The recon team did indeed see and hear the NVA (North Vietnamese Army) and called in an artillery barrage. The NVA knew that there had to be a spotter calling in the artillery for it to be so accurate and they began a rock by rock search. They did not find them right away but eventually did and a fight erupted. The recon team called for an extraction helicopter to get them the hell out of there. The Marines sent four helicopters, two extraction and two gunships. The extraction helicopters were given bad information about the LZ. They were landing downhill with a tailwind and both of them crashed with no serious injuries. The combat helicopters had combat Marines aboard to protect the LZ (Landing Zone) during the pickup. Now they had about 30 Marines on the ground in a small perimeter and the NVA knew it. A ferocious firefight erupted and the Marines had to be re-supplied with ammo and water several times at extreme peril for the helicopter pilots. The Marines were being attacked on three sides by at least 500 NVA. Suddenly a strange aircraft showed up. It was a WWII cargo aircraft known as a C-47 (later they were C-130's) except this bad-ass had a mini-gun (looks like a Gatling gun) capable of firing 6,000 rounds a minute. The pilot of this aircraft figured out where the Marines were and the gunner laid down a solid stream of hot lead around the stranded Marines. The NVA did not want any part of this and melted away into the jungle....There were five Marines killed and nearly everybody had a wound of some type. The Battle of Groucho Marx was over. I will have more about this book later.

This Date in History November 26

1922 Earlier archaeologist Howard Carter had discovered an unopened tomb of an Egyptian pharaoh name Tutankhamen but waited to enter the tomb until his financier English Lord Caernarvon arrived to be there for the opening. Carter knew then name of the pharaoh because of the hieroglyphs on the portal. On this date Carter and Caernarvon standing shoulder to shoulder cut a small hole in the doorway to take a look. Carter stuck his arm through the hole while holding a candle and peeked inside. Lord Caernarvon asked Carter what he saw and Carter answered “Things, wonderful things.” After the opened a hole large enough to crawl inside they uncovered one of the most dazzling and important archeological discoveries ever found. Carter was a veteran explorer and in the past had found the tombs of Queen Hatshepsut and King Thutmose IV. Both were important discoveries but nowhere the equal of King Tut. What a thrill it had have been to have been the first human being to lay eyes on that tomb in 2,500 years. I am sure that we all have seen the gold funeral mask of King Tut. What a beautiful work of art it is as with many other pieces found there.

1863 After the disastrous Confederate loss at Gettysburg, The Army of Northern Virginia, CSA General Robert E. Lee commanding, escaped back into the friendly confines of Virginia pursued by the Army of the Potomac commanded by US General George Meade. The were several encounters with no clear victor all the while US President A. Lincoln is on Meade’s ass to bring Lee to bear and finish off the Army of Northern Virginia. Even though Meade had the Confederates outnumbered nearly two to one, he was unable to corner the elusive Lee. After spending several weeks of Lee and Meade warily eyeing each other across the Rappahannock River with Lincoln raising hell with Meade to do something, Meade ordered extensive reconnoitering and cannot find a weakness in Lee’s lines but to placate Lincoln on this date he ordered US General William French and three corps (about 33,000 men) to attempt an attack on Lee’s right flank. French and his troops set out and promptly got lost and make their position and intentions known to the Rebs. Lee sent CSA General Edward Johnson and his corps to cut French off. The two armies finally meet in a small valley named Mine Run and the battle is joined. After about four hours of little progress being made by either side, they both withdraw. French’s troops had suffered 940 casualties to 540 for the Confederates. Meade, in spite of the bitching of Lincoln, decided it is time to go into winter quarters and this battle is the last of 1863.

1933 Earlier 22 year old San Jose, California resident Brooke Hart showed up missing. Hart was the popular son of a San Jose store owner. The parents of young Brooke receive a ransom note for $40,000 a few days after his disappearance. The police retraced Hart’s steps to a ship near San Mateo and arrested two crewman named James Thurmond and John Holmes as the kidnappers. Eventually Hart’s corpse is found. He had been tortured before being beaten to death. Both Holmes and Thurmond blamed each other for the slaying and are jailed in San Jose. On this day, the fine citizens of San Jose storm the jail and take Thurmond and Holmes outside and suspend them by the neck from the nearest light pole. They are not done yet. They cut the ropes used in the hanging and sell the pieces and give the money to charity. They also allow pictures of the fine citizenry of San Jose to have picture of themselves with the corpses…for a price. That money went to charity also. The people of San Jose are praised by everyone in the state of California including the good Governor who stated “We need to turn over all the kidnappers in San Quentin to the good people of San Jose.” I believe in justice but I do not believe in vigilantism. That inevitably leads to anarchy.

1898 One of the worst blizzards to ever strike the northeastern United States begins on this date. Previously the winds had been blowing in from the Atlantic Ocean for two days then in a matter of minutes the wind began blowing form the northwest meaning a cold front called an Alberta Clipper had arrived and interacted with the moisture laden air already in place. It snowed for 36 hours at a ferocious pace to the tune that there were snow drifts even with the second story windows in places. As you might suspect, all communication were stopped. After all was said and done, there were over 450 dead but the real total may never be known because of the unsophisticated communications in those days.

1872 On this date one of the greatest hoaxes in the history of the United States begins. Two men named Phillip Arnold and John Slack walked into a San Francisco bank and tried to deposit some raw diamonds. The bank president named William Ralston tried to get more information from the two but they behave very secretively and refuse Ralston’s questioning. Finally Ralston got the two to admit that they found the diamonds in a mine. Ralston finally persuaded the two to take him to the mine and they blindfold Ralston and take him to a mine where they had “salted” diamonds and rubies, meaning that they threw some diamonds and rubies about like they were extracted from the mine. Ralston about peed his pants and came back to San Francisco and organized a $20 million investment group. They offered Arnold and Slack $600,000 for the rights to the mine which they took. Soon afterward the San Francisco newspaper hired a geologist to inspect the mine and he returned and said that the mine is just a hole in the ground and is totally worthless. Ralston began giving back the money to the investors but is unable to retrieve the money he gave to Arnold and Slack. These smoothies lived the rest of their lives in luxury thanks to the greed of man.

1941 On this date the combined Japanese fleet departed the Japanese Inland Sea heading east-southeast. They are headed for the United States military installations in the Hawaiian Islands. As we all know they arrive of December 7 and all but destroy America’s ability to wage war in the Pacific. For reasons known only to the Japanese, they did not occupy any part of the Hawaiian Islands nor sail on eastward to the United States unopposed. It was later reported that the commanding Japanese Admiral Yamamoto was educated for several years at Harvard and he knew how well armed the Americans were and argued against and invasion of America proper. For whatever reason they did not do either and we were able to recover and prevail in the bloodiest war ever fought.

Birth and deaths:

1792 US Suffragist Sarah Grimke is born. She said “I ask nothing for my sex. All I ask is that my brethren get their feet off our necks.” That’s a real peculiar position for sex, Sarah.

     Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow.

Tuesday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“The tongue cannot tell, the eye cannot conceive nor the pen cannot describe the horror I have seen on this day.”

US Army Captain John Tripplett, after the Battle of Antietam, near Sharpsburg, Md. September 17, 1862.

Thanks to Munki for this segment

The beginning of civilization began in what is known as “The Fertile Crescent” or the area from the north end of the Persian Gulf following the Tigris and Euphrates rivers north then west to northern Syrian and what is now coastal Lebanon on the Mediterranean. There were several small city-states clustered near the northern end of the Persian Gulf (near present day Basra, Iraq) among them was Kish and Akkad. There was a young man of vision named Sargon living in Akkad. Civil war erupted in Kish and turmoil resulted. Sargon went over and took control and from there he expanded his powers and eventually was in control of the entire Fertile Crescent. He was then known as Sargon the Great. This man modified warfare to his advantage. The usual method of warfare in those days was heavily armored infantry carrying heavy weapons and trundling into combat well aligned and shoulder to shoulder. Sargon sent his troops in with no armor and armed with only a sword and a dagger. His troops became a running cavalry, rushing in and doing as much damage as possible and then retreating and reforming and slashing again and again until all the enemy were killed or surrendered. Sargon also introduced archers into combat for the first time. The heavily armored enemy just could not move swiftly enough to avoid the hailstorm of arrows and the lightning attacks of the infantry. Sargon would capture all the important leaders of the lands he conquered and used them as an advisory group but they were really hostages. If any of the countries represented were to revolt, he would kill the representative he had in custody. Once Sargon's power was assured, there was no doubt that he was the absolute monarch and shared power with no one. He died in 2261BC.

Why are we in Afghanistan? The Russians failed there and that adventure caused the Russian government to go bankrupt and the dissolution of the USSR. Even one of the mightiest military leader in history could not conquer the Aghanis...Alexander the Great. To get any kind of cooperation Alexander had to marry an Afghani princess. To those guys, war is a way of life and has been for hundreds if not thousands of years. So why are we there? To kill those in Al-Queda? Maybe. To protect the largest business in Afghanistan which is the opium poppy crop? Maybe. But the one that profits the most is the so called US Military Industrial Complex. That would be companies like Lockheed-Martin, Boeing, McDonnell-Douglas, Sandia, Northrup, Hercules, Remington, Winchester, Colt, Federal, General Electric, Fluor, Kellogg-Brown and Root (KBR), Ingall's ship yards, etc., etc., etc. If the war in Afghanistan were to end these companies would lay off thousands not to mention those soldiers returning to the US looking for a job. As horrible as it may seem, the US crawled out of the Great Depression faster because of WWII. The US started sending the tools of war to Europe in 1937. I talked with a man the other afternoon that said he worked for Fluor and went to work at 1:30AM. I pursued that and he said that he was a buyer for Flour and his working hours had to be the same as the working hours in Afghanistan. Why does a buyer have to be that instantly available? What cannot wait until 8:00AM EST? Y'all think about all of this...it sounds like the US is willing to risk American lives to keep a certain part of the US economy afloat...or am I wrong??

This Date in History November 25

1783 On this date nearly 3 months after the signing of the Treaty of Paris ending the American Revolutionary War, the final contingent of British soldiers left New York City. New York had been continuously occupied by the British since 1776. As soon as the British withdrew the Patriot army led by George Washington marched triumphantly into the city amid a jubilant crowd. Soon thereafter New York was declared the capitol of the United States and that is where George Washington received his first inauguration as President. New York was the capitol until 1790 and then the capitol was moved to Philadelphia. As you might suspect, the Americans that remained loyal to England during the war were between a rock and a hard place after the British left, the victorious Patriots had confiscated their lands and property. England did not disappoint and gave lands in Ontario and Nova Scotia to the Loyalists. This event seriously changed the demographics and changed eastern Canada from a New France with Catholics to a majority of English speaking Protestants.

1863 On this day US General Ulysses Grant broke the siege of Chattanooga, Tennessee. A substantial number of Union troops were trapped in a semi-circle in the city of Chattanooga and had been there for several weeks with no apparent way out. When Grant arrived on the scene he changed the strategy of defense to one of aggressive offense. After opening a supply line by driving the Confederates away from the Tennessee River in mid- October, he planned a breakout to begin of November 23. The attack was in three parts with US General William T. Sherman on the left flank and US General Joseph Hooker on the right. Both on these attacks failed but the attack on the center led by US General George Thomas succeeded. The success came primarily because of confusion in the orders on both sides. Eventually, the Union troops pushed the Confederates out of their poorly prepared rifle pits and then on to the top of the ridge they were defending. This battle was know afterward as the Battle of Missionary Ridge and went a long way toward driving the Confederates out of Tennessee. After this debacle the overall Confederate commander, CSA General Braxton Bragg, blamed everyone but himself for the loss. But CSA President Jefferson Davis was not fooled and pressed for Bragg to resign which he did by having lost the confidence of his troops. His replacement was CSA General Joseph E. Johnston.

1950 The so-called “Storm of the Century” or the “Appalachian Storm” got underway. A low pressure system over North Carolina got some rotation and formed into a major storm and headed northeast. This monster dumped massive amounts of snow on West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania. The snow depth prevented travel in many areas for a week, and then it gathered some steam and headed into New England. It wasn’t just the snow it was the wind also. New York City recorded wind speeds of 94 MPH and on Bear Mountain north of New York there was a gust of 140 MPH recorded. The temperature on Mount Mitchell, North Carolina fell to 26 degrees below that night. The strange thing was that in Buffalo, New York the wind reached a speed of 50 MPH but the temperature never got below 50 degrees. The US weather service reported that this storm had the greatest difference in weather ever recorded in America...so far. Over 160 people died in this storm.

1876 On this date the US Cavalry launched a retaliatory raid against the Cheyenne for the Little Big Horn massacre of Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer and his 7^th Cavalry. After news of this event reached the east coast a public outcry was raised to intensify the “Indian War”. So the US Cavalry called up US General Ranald McKenzie from the Texas area to lead an expedition to find and punish the Cheyenne. McKenzie had good results fighting the Comanche and Kiowa tribes in Texas. He gathered 1,000 troopers and 400 Indian guides and headed out. He tracked down the Powder River and finally found a Cheyenne village under the leadership of chief Dull Knife. Then the troopers did the honorable thing. They got into position before daylight and opened fired on the sleeping village at dawn. Many Indians were killed instantly but many escaped into the nearby woods and had to watch many more being slaughtered and their winter food supplies and clothing being burned. The troopers were not done yet. They cut the throats of all of the Cheyenne ponies. After the troopers left the survivors began an 11 day journey to the village of Sioux chief Crazy Horse who took them in but many very young and elderly did not survive the walk. The next year Dull Knife talked his people into surrendering and they were sent to the “Indian Nation” in what is now the state of Oklahoma. Like I have said in the past, this era in the formation of the United States is a dark one. We came within an eyelash of total genocide because we wanted the land on which they had been living for thousands of year. Greed and avarice has no boundaries. However, there was a certain section of Oklahoma where one particular tribe was sent because it appeared to the honkies that the land was not fit for raising crops...but it was later found that section of land was afloat on a sea of oil and natural gas. That tribe is the wealthiest on Earth.

Born today:

1835 Scottish-US industrialist Andrew Carnegie. He said “The first man gets the oyster and the second one gets the shell. I love them.

1846 US temperance leader Carrie Nation. When speaking about cigarette smokers she said “I want all those hellions to quit puffing that hell fume into God’s clean air”. Hell yes Carrie, give me a good old fashioned coal fired power plant any day.

1915 Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. He said “I am not a dictator I just have a grumpy face.” I addition to the ugly face, he has the blood of thousands on his hands that were tortured and killed under his administration.

         Thanks for listening    I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Monday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“God does not deduct from a man’s life the time spent fishing.”

Izaak Walton

I am reading a book by Jimmy Buffet. As you might suspect the setting is the Caribbean specifically Cancun, Tulum, Belize and a mythical place named Punta Margharita. The mention of Tulum brought back memories of my visit there during the honeymoon with my third ex-wife. I am a historian especially interested in the Maya. Tulum was a thriving Maya trading post in the 13^th and 14^th centuries. It is located about 70 kilometers south of Cancun with the main building (El Castillo) being on a bluff overlooking a breathtaking beach. El Castillo is built of stone and is three stories tall. There are a number of windows on the top floor facing the Caribbean. No one could figure out the purpose of this building until recently. Paleontologists traveled to the top floor via a tiny staircase and found evidence of lanterns being placed at specific spots. The size of the staircase gave us a hint at the diminutive size of the Maya in general. Like many places in the Caribbean there is a reef just off shore with one natural opening to the beach. It was discovered that if two or three of these lanterns were aligned by boats outside the reef, it would lead them through the natural opening. El Castillo was a type of light house. The Maya were amazing people. What happened to the Maya in Tulum? The Spanish happened. In 1518 a Spanish conquistadors arrived at Tulum and met with fierce resistance but gunpowder and armor prevailed...and so did smallpox, tuberculosis and measles, etc. There is a place in Maya mythology called Xilbalba (She-bahl-ba). It is a name for the underworld or hell. Considering the person I was with on this trip, I made a visit to Xibalba also.

I saw a program on the history channel about strange lights on earth that are unexplained. One of them was about Brown Mountain, North Carolina where strange lights have been seen for centuries. Scientists went up there with all sorts of gadgets and cameras to diagnose this phenomenon. Sure enough the lights showed up and the eggheads took pictures from several different angles and sent them to several analytical laboratories. The lights are still unexplained, that is until they talked to an old Cherokee. He explained it this way: Back in the year 1200 there was a ferocious battle between a tribe of Cherokees and a tribe of Creeks at the base of Brown Mountain. On the night after the battle the Cherokee and Creek women carrying torches went among the corpses trying to find if any of their loved ones were still alive. The lights that people have been seeing ever since then are the ghosts of those women. That explains it to me.

Over in Spartanburg, South Carolina two women went to visit a friend. As soon as the door was opened the owner’s pit bull attacked the women who retreated to their car and the pit bull continued the attack trying to get at them through the windows. The owner tried to pull the dog away and was attacked himself. The dog bit him in the face and when he backed away the dog grabbed him by the arm and held on. By then a sheriff’s deputy arrived and shot the dog in the chest with his trusty 9mm but the attack continued. The deputy fired once again and the dog died but still held on to the owner’s arm. It took the EMS crew using a large screwdriver to pry the dog’s mouth open. I don’t care what Cesar Millan says, that breed has been used for fighting since before colonial times and their genetics have been affected. They can and will be dangerous, “Daddy” notwithstanding. By the way, the Animal Rescue of Spartanburg was called and they refused to come out until their shift supervisor ordered them to and then only after they had learned that the dog had been killed. That is an example of our tax dollars at work.

This Date in History November 24

1859 After spending five years at sea aboard the exploratory ship the HMS Beagle, English scientist Charles Darwin finally published a book about what he had seen and deduced during his travels. He waited quite a few years before publishing The Origin of Species because he knew how much hell would be raised by the evangelicals. The books tell how man adapted to his environment through the “survival” of the fittest” meaning those creatures that had the right distribution of the genetics would survive whilst those that did not would perish. Those creatures with the right genetics would continue to thrive and reproduce their images. If there was a change in the environment, then there would be another period of testing whereby those that had the right genetics to be able to survive would send forth their genetics to their progeny, etc, etc. Notice that there was no mention of divine guidance and intervention. This is what bothered the bible-thumpers. Then in 1871 Darwin unleashed yet another bomb. He published The Descent of Man which traced the rise of man from a lower animal again with no mention of God. Oh Hell!!! The Evangelicals began a show of fury and foaming at the mouth that continues to this day. I am no geneticists but it is a fact that mans genetic profile is more than 90% that of a chimpanzee. I personally believe in the rise of man through evolution from lower animal and resolve it in my mind by saying to my self that God used evolution as the mechanics to get man to where he is today. The problem that I have not yet resolved is the issue of at what point did man achieve having a soul. The existence of a God is unquestionable and I can prove it with logic and not with a leap of faith or reading a bible. OK, I will shut up now.

1963 Two days earlier the President of the United States John F. Kennedy was shot and killed while riding around Dallas, Texas in an open car. A man named Lee Harvey Oswald was stopped and questioned by Dallas cop J. D. Tippet whereupon Oswald whipped out a pistol and shot and killed Tippet. Oswald was eventually captured and charged with the murder of Officer Tippet and was sent to jail. On this date, the Dallas Police chose to move Oswald to a different facility and while Oswald was being moved out of the basement of the jail amid a swarm of Dallas cops, a strip club owner named Jack Ruby broke through and pumped one round from his .38 Special into the stomach of Oswald. Oswald died the next day. Ruby was immediately arrested and charged with 1^st degree murder. He said that his motive was his rage at the killing of President Kennedy but the skeptical ones (me included) believe he did it to silence Oswald from spilling his guts about a giant conspiracy. To me the proof positive was that in very short time Ruby was discovered and having stomach cancer and died. To me that sounds like Jack knew his days was numbered and he volunteered to the other conspirators to kill Oswald because he was living on borrowed time anyway.

1971 This date saw the beginning of a legend. A man named D.B. Cooper commandeered a Northwest Orient Airline B-727 and forced it to land at the Seattle–Tacoma airport. He demanded $200,000 and four parachutes. His demands were met and the plane took back off without the passengers and the crew locked into the cockpit with instructions to “fly toward Mexico”. About 15 minutes into the flight, the crew detected that the rear stair door had opened. After the plane landed the crew found that Cooper had indeed bailed out of the aircraft. The problem was the aircraft was flying through a violent thunderstorm when Cooper bailed out. Most people believed that Cooper had been killed during the jump however; in 1980 a kid found about $6,000 of the ransom money buried a sandy bank of the Columbia River five miles from Vancouver, Washington which was a long ass way from the bailout point. Anyway, no trace of D.B. Cooper or the remainder of the ransom money has ever been found.

1944 Earlier a United States Army Air Force reconnaissance B-29 named Tokyo Rose made a pass over Tokyo taking 700 photos of the Nakajima aircraft factory. This factory would be the target for a raid very soon. On this date 111 B-29’s departed Tinian and Saipan headed for the Nakajima Aircraft factory. They bombed the hell out of Iwo Jima on the way which was about half way to Tokyo to keep the Japanese fighters on the ground. At this point in time the Marines had not yet captured Iwo Jima. Upon their arrival at Tokyo they found the target obscured by clouds and even with radar their bombing was only 5% effective. But this raid was just the first of an ocean of B-29’s coming to Japan.

Born today:

1713 English writer Laurence Sterne. He said “I take a simple view of life. I keep my eyes open and get on with it.” It sounds like Larry was living a life of drudgery.

1808 French writer Alphonse Kerr. He said “Some people think that virtue consists of severity toward others.” Some people are full of shit too, Alphonse.

1877 US Vice President Alben Barkley. He said “The best audience is intelligent, well educated and a little drunk.” Alben, you need to hang around with my trashy friends.

1922 English statistician Sir Claus Moser. He said “Education is expensive, but not as expensive as ignorance.” Hey Claus, did you say something?

1925 US writer William F. Buckley. He said “Bobby Kennedy and Nelson Rockefeller are having a fight, ostensively over the plight of New York’s mentally retarded who the majority of are people that voted for Bobby Kennedy and Nelson Rockefeller.” Bill Buckley is a conservative’s conservative.

1944 US actress Candy Darling. She said “I believe that the socially unacceptable men make the best lovers because they are more sensitive” Hey Candy; did you know that I am known as “Lone Wolf” Campbell?

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

.

Friday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

When asked how many people work at the Vatican, Pope John XXIII said “About half.”

As I have told y'all before, a friend has given me two books that are gold mines of history. Here is an item that I have often wondered about and just found the answer. The question is since the Jews do not celebrate Christmas, what the heck is the Jewish celebration of Hanukkah all about?...Here is the answer:

Earlier the Greeks and the Syrians had overwhelmed the Jews at the Temple in Jerusalem and had defiled it by bringing in icons of their pagan religions and destroyed the caches of Jewish holy water and holy oil, etc. About 200BC a Jewish warrior named Judas Maccabeus killed the Greeks and Syrians or kicked them out of Temple along with all of their pagan symbols. The problem was that Jewish law specified that the Temple had to be purified. The purification process required that a Menorah be lit for eight days using holy oil. A Menorah is a candle holder/lamp with nine spires and an arc shaped support , I know all of you have seen pictures of one especially around Christmas. Anyway, there was only one small vessel of holy oil left which was enough for about one day in a Menorah. Maccabeus lit the lamp and miraculously the lamp burned for eight days without refueling and the Temple was purified. Hanukkah celebrates this event. I know the event sounds impossible but so does the parting of the Red Sea, the Nile River turning into blood and the raising of the dead...but that is what “faith” is all about, y'all.

I took a look at the local news (Greenville, Columbia, Charlotte and Asheville) and there was nothing new reported. There was the usual rape, robbery and murder. The media has determined that blood and gore sells more air time and advertising than good news and this is justified by those stupid rubber-neckers that slow down to nothing when they see an auto accident even though it is obvious that it is not an obstruction to their lane and the cops and EMS are on the scene. A while back I was heading home to Greenville from Charlotte and the traffic slowed to less than 15 MPH. When I finally got to the pinch point nothing was happening on my side of I-85 but there was an accident on the other side with yellow and blue lights flashing. In addition there was a 6 foot tall concrete barrier in the median and you could not see a damned thing on the other side except flashing lights. I was beside myself.

Here is another tidbit of interesting history...to me at least. Phillip of Macedonia hired Aristotle to teach his son Alexander (later Alexander the Great) and Alexander requested that his best friend Ptolemy be allowed to join him in the classes. Ptolemy joined Alexander in his drive of conquest to the east . When Alexander died his commanders divided the conquered lands among themselves...Ptolemy got Egypt. He studied Egyptian history so to be familiar with their customs. It was Ptolemy that established the Library of Alexandria in the city of the same name on the western side of the Nile delta. I will do a separate treatise about this great library of ancient knowledge in the future. As you might suspect the city was named for Alexander. Alexander died in Babylon and the Macedonian army was carrying the body of Alexander back to Macedonia for burial. Ptolemy hijacked the entourage in Damascus, kidnapped the body of Alexander and buried him in a secret location in Alexandria. The burial site is still unknown to this day. All of this took place about 250BC. The progeny of Ptolemy ruled Egypt for three hundred years and ended with the suicide of Cleopatra.

This Date in History November 21

1985 On this date Jonathon Jay Pollard is arrested. Pollard was an American Jew working for United States Naval Intelligence as an analyst. As incredible as it seems, Pollard was arrested for espionage for selling intelligence information about different Muslim groups to Israel. I personally do not have a problem with this but Secretary of State Casper Weinberger really wigged out about this information leak and persuaded the Justice department to seek a life sentence. Pollard was eventually convicted of espionage and was sentenced to life. The Israeli government did not really object to the sentenced and deemed it as an embarrassment. However, a few years later the Israeli government pushed to have Pollard’s sentenced reduced because his sentence was far more severe than other similar cases where information was being sold to “friendly” countries and they gave Pollard an Israeli citizenship. It was for naught because Pollard is still in the slammer with no end in sight.

1783 On this date the first manned flight of a sort occurred. Frenchmen Jean-Francois Rozier and Francois Laurent traveled 5.5 miles across the city of Paris in a hot air balloon. They were aloft for about 25 minutes. One hundred and twenty years later, the Wright Brothers gave us controlled flight. They were not the first to fly in a heavier-than-air vehicle. There were several flights made in gliders that were uncontrolled. In their patent they called the control surfaces ailerons which are what they are called today. Man has been seeking a way to break the bonds of gravity all the way back to Greek mythology and Daedelus and Icarus in particular. Even Leonardo da Vinci designed a wing that was supposed to be used by humans but as far as we know it was never built and tested.

1776 US General George Washington ordered General Charles Lee to abandon his position Westchester County, New York and to join Washington in New Jersey. Lee liked it in New York and did not particularly care about reinforcing Washington so he dawdled and delayed moving his troops. But eventually he headed towards Washington’s position. Lee was a horny guy and sought a place to engage a willing woman along the way and found one in “Widow White’s Tavern” in Basking Ridge, New Jersey. The next morning a British detachment led by the infamous Colonel Banastre Tarleton woke Lee up, arrested him and took him to a British camp in his sleeping gown. That’s right; men wore gowns for sleeping in those days. While in captivity he even designed battle plans for the British. Before the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, Lee was in the British army and he and Tarleton were in the same unit. After serving a short sentence Lee went and joined Washington in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. He had a short argument with Washington whereupon he was kicked out the Continental army. Lee was well thought of in the Indian community because he was married to a Mohawk. That’s right, he was married.

1860 Tom Horn is born this day of a farm near Memphis, Missouri. As a youngster he loved to roam field and forest with his dog and rifle hunting for game. He sharpened his skills with rifle to a fine edge but Tom had a problem at home. His father was a violent man and beat him and his mother on a regular basis which resulted on Tom running away from home at the age of 14. He made his way to Santa Fe, New Mexico where he took a job as a teamster. He showed and unusually good adaptation at learning different Indian languages, Apache in particular. His skill at languages earned him a job with the US Cavalry as an interpreter and scout. Some time after this Tom decides to put his skills with a rifle to good use and becomes a hired assassin. He said “Killing is my specialty. I look at it as a business proposition, and I think I have corner on the market.” He took a job with the famous Pinkerton Detective Agency. Under normal circumstances a Pinkerton detective would stop short of killing, but under some cases they would form small armies and engage in shootouts with bank and train robbers. Then he became a free-lance assassin. He was hired by a huge cattle corporation in Wyoming to take out a “settler” who had started a ranch in the open range which was considered private property by the corporation for the grazing of their cattle. On occasion the settler would brag about how good the beef tasted was that he found grazing on his land and refused all attempts to buy him out. The corporation hired Tom to put an end to this problem. The settler showed up dead a few days later. It was determined that the settler was shot at a distance of over 300 yards. No one in the area could make that shot other than Tom Horn. Tom eventually went to the gallows for killing a 14 year old boy.

Born today:

1694 French philosopher Voltaire. He said “In England it is considered well to kill an admiral once in a while to encourage the others.” Voltaire had an acid tongue but he wrote some good stuff.

1907 US writer Jim Bishop. He said “A writer in not, per se, a good critic anymore that a drunk is a good bartender.” I am not a good bartender.

1922 US basketball coach Abe Lemons. He said “You finish last in your league they call you an idiot. You finish last in medical school and they call you a doctor.” Tack on to that “lawyers also”.

1945 US actress Goldie Hawn. She said “There are just three ages for female actresses in Hollywood, Babe, District Attorney and Driving Miss Daisy.”

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Thursday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“If you love a man, set him free. If he comes back it is because he forgot his car keys.”

Jasmine Birtles

A while back my brother and I were discussing the possibility of space travel. We both agreed that until we are able to conquer time, space travel will will be impossible. It takes many months just to get to Mars, the next planet outside of Earth orbit in our solar system. The closest galaxy to us is Andromeda which is about 4.2 light years away. As y'all know the speed of light is 186,000 miles per SECOND which is the celestial speed limit, so said Albert Einstein. Think about the distance light travels in a year at that speed and you will realize how far away things are. It is difficult to wrap your brain around that. We will never be able to reach that speed because with our present technology a space craft could not carry near enough fuel to accelerate to that speed. If somehow we were able to accelerate to 1/10^th the speed of light, no matter how unlikely, that would mean it would take 42 years to reach Andromeda and 42 years back. There would be very little communications because an electronic transmission travels at near the speed of light and it would take 4.2 years for a transmission to travel from Earth to Andromeda or vice versa. My brother said it best. “Until we overtime time, we ain't going nowhere.” Indeed.

Once again the proposed Canada to US oil pipeline is in the news. The Democratically controlled Senate recently voted to oppose it. What really bothers me is the environmentalists screaming and yelling about the possible damage to the environment but they fail to mention that the Trans-Alaska pipeline has been operating for 30 years without an environmental disaster. The Brooks Range, the Alaska Range and the Chugach Range and several other are as pristine as ever. There was the Exxon Valdez fiasco but that had nothing to do with the pipeline itself. Once again the opposition is blaming greedy “big oil” for wanting the pipeline. Who the hell is “big oil”? It is NOT a couple of fat cats sitting around a mahogany table smoking Cuban cigars. There IS a board of directors and millions and millions of stockholders both foreign and domestic. This means that “big oil” is everybody that expects a return on their investment...it means us. Why is the automotive industry thriving? It is because we continue to buy vehicles that use petrochemicals and then complain when “big oil” tries to provide for them. You can't have it both ways! Anyone that is opposed to a pipeline that could reduce the price of gasoline needs to get rid of your automobiles and ride bicycles, roller skates and maybe Vespas...or just shut the hell up and go into the kitchen and use that range that is fueled by natural gas...or take a bath in water heated by natural gas...or draw water for the bath...I wonder how all of that got to your your house? Don't be stupid.         

This Date in History November 20

1820 On this date the whaling vessel Essex based in Nantucket, Rhode Island encountered an enraged bull sperm whale 2,000 mile off the west coast if South America. The 80 ton whale rammed the 280 ton ship twice causing it to capsize. All of The 20 man crew escaped to three smaller boats but their troubles were not over. The crew spent 83 days adrift and ran out of food and soon chose to draw straws to see who would be shot to provide food for the others. After the boats were spotted near the west coast of South America and picked up by other boats there were only five survivors. There were three others that were marooned on an uninhabited Pacific island but they were eventually rescued. The first capture of a sperm whale was in 1711 and it was then that the value of whale oil and ambergris was discovered. From then on the whaling industry ballooned to 800 ships that traveled the entire globe looking for these giants. It was this event that inspired Herman Melville to give us the immortal Moby Dick the next year. To my knowledge whaling has been banned or severely restricted. I believe that if they had not the whale would have gone the route of the Moa and the Dodo bird, extinct.

1947 On this date Princess Elizabeth, the heir apparent to the English throne, is married to Phillip Mountbatten. Phillip was a Prince of Greece and Denmark and he renounced his titles to marry Elizabeth. Elizabeth was 21 years old and Phillip was 26 and had fought with the British Navy during WWII. He was given the title of Duke of Edinburgh just before the wedding. As you might suspect, the wedding was a lavish one held in Westminster Abbey in London. This event raised the spirits of the British people who were suffering personally and financially from the effects of WWII. As expected, Elizabeth’s father King George VI died in 1952 and Elizabeth rose to the throne of Great Britain where she remains to this day. The coronation of Elizabeth, also held in Westminster Abbey, was also a lavish event. It is not very often that there is a change in the monarchy of England and the ceremony is the same as it was with the crowning of William the Conqueror in December of 1066. The English are big on tradition. I forgot, Phillip is Elizabeth’s cousin.

1843 On this date a major trading post on the Mississippi River named Blacksnake Hills trading post has a name change to Saint Joseph’s trading post. The post had been wisely established in 1826 by French fur trader Joseph Robidoux right in the mouth of the Platte River valley. This valley was a major artery for the fur trappers returning from the far west and the Rocky Mountains. Eventually the fur trade dried up but the pioneers heading west stopped at Saint Joseph to gear up for their trip to Oregon and California. The Platte River was again a major avenue for those traveling west. The trail split near present day Beatrice, Nebraska with some heading northwest on the Oregon Trail and others heading southwest on the Santa Fe and several other trails. What an adventure that would have been.

1945 On this date the Nuremberg war crimes trial began in Nuremberg, Germany. The trial was judged by a tribunal of the French, United States and Russia. There were 24 Germans on trial for war crimes; of those half were eventually hanged. The others received sentences from life to twenty years. Naturally the root of the charges of “crimes against humanity” was what happened to the Jew, Gypsies and various other minorities throughout Europe during WWII. The trial took a year. Most of the Germans defended themselves by claiming they were just doing what they were ordered as good soldiers do. One of the most famous of the accused was Field Marshal Herman Goering who was the second in command of the German military after Adolph Hitler. Herman was sentenced to the gallows but on the day before the hanging, Herman got his hands on a cyanide capsule and committed suicide. No one knows how he came by the capsule but the rumor was that he bribed one of his guards to get him one. We will never know.

Born today:

1884 US social reformer Norman Thomas. He said “If you want a symbolic gesture, don’t burn the flag, wash it.” Norman was a famous communist.

1908 British social commentator Alistair Cooke. He said “A professional is one that does their best even when they do not feel like it.” That sounds like a prostitute to me.

1919 US actress Evelyn Keyes. She said “I always took up with the man of the moment, and I had many moments.” Life is a smorgasbord isn’t it Evelyn?

1923 South African writer Nadine Gordimer. She said “Truth is not always beauty, but the hunger for it is.” Good thinking, Nadine.

1925 US politician Robert F. Kennedy. He said “One fifth of the people are against everything all the time.” Most of them are the Evangelicals these days.

1946 US blues guitarist Duane Allman. When he was asked what his philosophy on life he said “Just rock on, and have yourself a good time.” What a good basis for life, y'all.

1954 US actress Bo Derek. She said “Whoever said that money can’t buy happiness just doesn’t know where to shop.” Bo, get in touch with reality.

        Thanks for listening    I can hardly wait until tomorrow