Friday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“The primary cause of trouble in the world today is the ignorant are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt.”

                               Bertrand Russell

I have been reading the thoughts of Plato and Aristotle once again especially about what they think would be a “perfect government”. They both agree that it should be a “benevolent dictatorship”. Plato describes this premise in theory but Aristotle was the tutor of Alexander the Great and produced one of the most effective leaders in recorded history both in the executive methods and military expertise. According to Plato and Aristotle a “benevolent dictator” would be the offspring of a man and a woman that had all the leadership qualities desired. The child would be trained from birth how to rule benevolently. There would be a select group of men and women that was just to produce children for this purpose. Alexander the Great was indeed a benevolent dictator to the people of Greece and Macedonia...except for one shortcoming. When he went on that famous expedition where he conquered the known world, he had no problem with using his troops in combat that cost thousands of lives...both his and those that were conquered. Everyone in Greece and Macedonia knew he was doing this for the betterment of all...especially his troops. He overcame the loss of his troops by promising the troops in the countries that he had conquered a piece of the action if they would fight for him. These troops and those that started with him were fiery and eternally loyal. Once a country was conquered Alexander had no problem with using the local administrators to run the country but they were overseen by representatives of Alexander. He could not conquer Afghanistan and had to marry an Afghan princess to establish a viable organization. But in the long haul Alexander developed a mental and emotional breakdown and attempted suicide more than once. The symptoms described sounded like a variety of mental or emotional illnesses but was probably either epilepsy or bi-polar or both. He died in Babylon and was being transported back to Macedonia for burial. The entourage was hijacked in Syria by one of his Generals named Ptolemy and Alexander's corpse was taken to Alexandria, Egypt and buried in a secret location that has yet to be discovered.

Another mover and shaker died while on a military campaign. Atilla the Hun died and was transported to his burial place. The entourage that took him to his burial place killed everyone that saw them and the entire group of grave diggers and the burial squad was killed or committed suicide. Therefore no one knows where he is buried to this day. He died about 453AD.

This Date in History February 20

1985 Up until 1979 Irish law prohibited the importation and sale of contraceptives because the Catholic Church disapproved. I will paraphrase that. The Catholic Church wanted to go into the Irish bedrooms and tell them how to have sex. In 1979 the Irish Supreme Court ruled that the use of contraceptives fell under purview of privacy and was not a matter for the clergy to determine. The Catholic hierarchy in Ireland about peed their pants because the weight of the opinion of the Catholic Church was paramount in Ireland and with this ruling by the Irish Supreme Court the Church saw their power, influence and possibly a hell of a lot of money going down the toilet. But the sale and use of contraceptives still had a string attached. Contraceptives could only be distributed by a licensed pharmacist and only to those with a prescription from a licensed physician. And that is the way is stayed until this date when the Irish lawmakers shook off the shackles of the Church and on this date passed a law stating that it was up to anyone’s choice as to the use of contraceptives, prescriptions not withstanding. To quote MLK. Jr., Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, I am free at last.

1950 On this date one of the most gifted poets of all time arrived in the United States to go on a reading tour. The Welshman Dylan Thomas began his reading tour with blockbuster reviews. This man was truly gifted. Before coming to the US he had published a book titled 18 Poems in 1934 and then 25 Poems in 1936. Dylan’s shortcoming was that a very heavy drinker. He met a young woman named Caitlin McNamara in a London Bar and Dylan was smitten and began to court Caitlin. She was not enamored with Dylan at first but after she heard him read his poetry in his rich and resonant Welsh voice, she was also smitten and they married. They had issue of three children. The only problem with this union was that Caitlin could hang with Dylan drink for drink and they spent many a foggy night together. In August of 1953 Dylan visited the White Horse Bar on Hudson Street in New York City and knocked back 15 shots of Scotch and walked out on the sidewalk and promptly dropped dead. Caitlin never forgave him for that. What a damned shame and a waste of talent. He was 39 years old.

Born today:

1888 French writer Georges Bernanos. He said, “It is a fine thing to rise above pride, but you must have pride to begin with.”

1924 US heiress Gloria Vanderbilt. She said “The fame you earn is a lot different that the fame that is thrust upon you.”

1963 US basketballer Charles Barkley. He said “We don’t need ref’s, but I guess the white guys need something to do.” Hey Charles, you forgot about Yao Ming, Steve Nash, Pete Maravich, Larry Bird among many, many others.

     Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow