Wednesday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.”

William Shakespeare from his play As You Like It

I have started reading a book titled Guns. Germs and Steel. This book was a Pulitzer Prize winner authored by Jared Diamond and is the second reading for me. I have read several books more than once. The record for me is Texas by James Michener five times. James is no longer with us, unfortunately. James once said “My success never ceases to amaze me. All of my books have no violence or sex except as it applies to history.” Guns. Germs and Steel is a book attempting to explain why certain cultures excel and progress and others do not. It begins in New Guinea with the author interviewing a chief of a very primitive tribe. The chief does not understand why the author and other “whites” have more “cargo” than they do. Cargo being anything metal, woven cloth, medicine, umbrellas, etc. It appears that it is the hunter/gatherers that progress the slowest because they can make kills with stone tipped weapons whereas the farmers cannot plow or reap efficiently with stone tipped implements and began looking for something better and found metal...which lead to swords, axes, guns, etc. It is apparently also true that the hunter/gatherers live in very small tribal groups and therefore develop no natural immunity to different diseases and when a foreign disease was encountered they were history. The North American plains Indians were a prime examples. The agricultural communities seemed to prevail over the long haul, the Egyptians are an example here. Speaking of the Egyptians, I spent a year studying these amazing people. The one thing about them that stuck with me was their burial sites, especially the Valley of the Kings. In some of them the actual burial site was 60 or 70 feet underground and 200 to 300 feet long with no light source except torches and lamps. With this in mind, there were walls of very detailed paintings and sculptures...and not one scintilla of soot to be found anywhere. Where did the light to work by come from? It cannot be totally torches and lamps because the availability of oxygen that far underground would be very limited and the torches and lamps would not burn efficiently putting out a hell of a lot of soot. There is none...what happened? Not only that, most of the kings were buried in stone sarcophagi weighting up to 7,000 pounds (see King Tut). It was proven that these items were moved into place after the construction of the burial site. How did they do that?

This Date in History December 24

1865   On this date a group of Confederate veterans headed by former Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest met in Pulaski, Tennessee and formed the core of what became the Ku Klux Klan. They felt it was necessary for two reasons: To combat the influx of northern people into the south to take advantage of a defeated nation like taking lands and property from Confederate soldiers that had been killed in the Civil War. They also were very apprehensive about the rise of privilege and power of the black man. As I said, The first Grand Wizard was the famous CSA General Nathan Bedford Forrest. The name of the organization came from the Greek word “kyklos” meaning circle and “clan”. After two years Forrest resigned as Grand Wizard and tried to disband the organization because he felt the Klan had become too violent and indeed they had. In counties that were nearly balanced racially black and white, the Klan would make raids at night against the blacks and the white Republicans in an attempt to influence any upcoming elections to keep white men in control of the political machinery. Eventually in 1871 Congress decided that action was needed and they passed the Ku Klux Klan act giving the President, Ulysses Grant, the power to use what ever means he deemed necessary to subdue the Klan. In nine counties in South Carolina alone Grant instituted martial law and thousands were arrested. In 1882 the US Supreme Court declared the Klan act unconstitutional but by that time Reconstruction had ended and the Klan faded away. But the Klan arose again mightily during the 1920’s and 30’s. This time the major base was in Skokie, Illinois. The Klan was very influential in the internal politics of several states. But as the old saying goes, power corrupts and there was a sex scandal involving the Grand Wizard where a young lady died. After that the popularity of the Klan and those associated with it went to hell in a hand basket. The Klan has had its ups and downs though out the years but their basis for existence is white Anglo-Saxon supremacy. They don’t like Jews either. I don’t understand that concept, y'all, and I can find nothing admirable about it.

1745   On this date Benjamin Rush is born in Bayberry Township, Pennsylvania. There were two famous Patriots named Benjamin during the formation of this great country. One was the self made and self educated Benjamin Franklin and the other was Benjamin Rush. Rush was educated in the finest schools on both sides of the Atlantic. His father died when he was six and he was raised by his grandfather Samuel Finley. He graduated from the College of New Jersey which is now Princeton. His grandfather wanted Ben to become a lawyer but he wanted to be a doctor. His grandfather sent him to medical school at one of the finest in the world, the Medical University of Edinbourgh, Scotland. When he returned to the Colonies he became an active and trusted Patriot and established a practice in Philadelphia. His medical knowledge was invaluable during the eventual Revolutionary War. He was and eager signer of the Declaration of Independence. He raised almighty hell at the treatment of the wounded Patriot soldiers which Washington took personally and Rush resigned his post. In spite of that he continued to offer invaluable advice to continued emergence of this nation. He spoke long and hard for the ratification of the Constitution he also was an advocate of the emancipation of the slaves. Rush chartered the first college in the newly founded United States in 1873. It was Dickenson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania whose motto is “A bulwark of liberty.” Indeed.

1953    On this date a very unusual event occurred in New Zealand. A train was traveling from Wellington to Auckland filled with passengers on there way to spend Christmas aboard the ocean liner Queen Elizabeth II that was docked in Auckland for the holidays. Then an active volcano north of the train track had a small eruption and the molten lava ran down and melted and ice dam on a nearby glacier releasing millions of gallons of water. The water ran downhill toward a railroad bridge gaining speed every second. The train was approaching this bridge when the torrent of water arrived and the train was washed off of its tracks into the river below. 185 people were drowned out of a total of 260, some of the bodies were never found. Their bodies were merely washed out to sea with the current in the river. You never know, do you?

1994    On this date a group of Arab extremists (does that sound familiar?) hijacked an Air France airliner in Algiers, Algeria. They wanted the plane to go to Marseilles for reasons unknown but the French government agreed and secretly ordered a French Marine hostage rescued team to meet the plane. The plane sat on the tarmac for three days in Algiers before leaving for Marseilles. During this wait the terrorist killed three hostages. The plane left Algiers with no further killing and landed unhampered in Marseilles whereupon a squad of French Marines stormed aboard and killed all of the terrorists with no harm to the hostages. The hijacking came during a period of political upheaval in Algiers. There had been friction between the Islamic extremists and the military dictatorship in power. The United States and nearly every other western country wanted the dictatorship to remain in power because they damn sure didn’t want those Arab sons-of-bitches taking control. This conflict is still cooking as we speak with over 100,000 people dead as a result so far. The military dictatorship is still in power and I hope they continue to kill those reeking towel heads.

1809    On this date Christopher Houston “Kit” Carson is born in Richmond, Kentucky. When Kit was still an infant his family moved west to Howard County, Missouri. This was a perfect place for Kit to be raised; it was the beginnings of wagon trains heading west down the Santa Fe Trail. In the early 1820’s he was apprenticed to a saddle maker in nearby Franklin, Missouri. He worked for there for three years all the time watching those wagon trains heading west. Finally his wanderlust got the best of him and he ran away from home and joined a wagon train of traders. He proved to be a self sufficient and resourceful and learned enough Spanish to become a translator. One day the famous Irish fur trapper Tom Fitzpatrick offered Kit a chance at joining his trapping caravan to the northern Rockies. Kit jumped at the chance and proved himself an uncanny tracker and memory for terrain. One on occasion a party of Crow Indians stole their horses and Kit tracked them for 40 miles, killed most of the Crows and got their horses back. Using his ability to recognize terrain and topography, he gained fame when he served as guide for John C. Fremont’s mapping expedition along the Oregon Trail in 1842. Fremont was so impressed with Carson’s skills that he hired him the next year to map the Great Salt Lake and the Sierra Nevada Range. When Fremont wrote his report about this expedition he included glowing accolades for Kit. He also gained fame as an Indian fighter in New Mexico. On one occasion a party of Jicarilla Apache kidnapped a Mrs. J. M. White and her child from a wagon train. Kit and a party of Taos militia tracked down the Apache and defeated them but it was too late for Mrs. White who was found with an arrow in her heart. But nearby was a dime novel about Kit. He was astounded knowing that he was now a “Hero of the West”. Even though he was a good Indian fighter he had great sympathy for them also. He became the Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Territory of Colorado in spite of his failing health. He made a strenuous trip to Washington to help negotiate a Ute Indian tribe’s treaty. After returning home to Boggsville, Colorado he died shortly thereafter. He was 58 years old.

1942  Shortly after the Germans had occupied France, French Admiral Jean Darlan had stated that he would sail the French fleet to Great Britain to keep it out of German hands. Winston Churchill said that he would crawl a mile on his hands and knees if that happened. Soon thereafter the Germans offered Darlan a high position in the German navy if he did not surrender the fleet. Darlan agreed and moved many of his fleet to North Africa out of reach of the British fleet....or so he thought. Just before the Allies attacked North Africa, US General Mark Clark went into North Africa secretly, met with Darlan and asked for his cooperation in the upcoming invasion. At first he refused but when Clark said that if he did not cooperate he would be killed just like any other enemy. Darlan acquiesced and the invasion came off as advertised. On this date a representative of the anti-German “Free French” capped Darlan’s rotten ass much to the glee of all the Allies. They did not want to deal with this son-of-a-bitch on a friendly basis if at all.

Born today:

1898 US film director Michael Curtiz. When speaking to one of his perfumed actresses he said “My darling, you stink so beautifully.” I think I met this woman.

1922 US actress Ava Gardner. She said “Deep down I am pretty superficial.” I think I met one like this too.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow