Wednesday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“At this point in history we need a leader like Teddy Roosevelt but what we have is one like Peewee Herman.”

Anonymous

One of my subscribers reminded me of an important event on February 23, 1945. Here is a little background and a brief history of that event.

After the United States was attacked on December 7, 1941 at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, the American military was extremely interested in at attack on the Japanese homeland. It was determined that due to the vast distances between island airports in the western Pacific. The B-17 aircraft used in Europe would be impractical because of its relatively short range and limited bomb load. The Commander of the US Army Air Corp, General “Hap” Arnold issued a prospective order to the different US aircraft manufacturers and described the minimum requirements that included a range of 6,000 miles and a bomb load of 10,000 pounds. Boeing Aircraft won the order with the inimitable B-29 Superfortress. Now the US Navy and Marines were assigned the task of capturing islands with airports in the Marianas and the Caroline Island chains that could be made available to aircraft the size and weight of the B-29. The first two to fall were Kwajalein and Eniwetok. Next came the airports they were really after on Tinian, Saipan and Guam. The islands were within 2,500 miles of the Japanese homeland and all could be modified to handle the B-29. The problem was that the Japanese had already figured out what the Allied strategy was and was ramping up a defense of these islands. The Battle of Saipan was one of the bloodiest in history up to that point. The US Army Air Force began bombing attacks on the Japanese mainland in the summer and fall of 1944. The immediate problem was that the Japanese had radar and a squadron of interceptors on the island of Iwo Jima which was about halfway between Tinian and the Japanese mainland making the trip to and from the Japanese mainland very hazardous resulting in many B-29’s and crews being lost. Admiral Chester Nimitz and General Douglas McArthur agreed that Iwo Jima had to be taken at all cost. The reason was two-fold. One was they had to eliminate the interceptors launching from Iwo Jima and two; if the B-29’s on bombing missions had engine trouble or damaged from anti-aircraft fire, they could land at Iwo Jima and be saved. Hell ensued.

Here is a recap of an event that happened a couple of days ago. I was in a restaurant having breakfast when a young lady sat down beside me. Her accent was familiar and I asked her if she was from Pennsylvania and she said that she was from the Pittsburgh area the home of six Super Bowl champions and one Stanley Cup winner. I had known this person less than a minute and she wants to bring that crap up and I have experienced this disgusting arrogance before. She kept talking about it saying “we” did that and “we” did that. I finally had enough and told her that I do not remember seeing her on the gridiron or the ice so how could she say “we”. I looked into the major players for those Pittsburgh football teams and this is what I found. I will give you the players name, position and birthplace:

Terry Bradshaw...Quarterback...Shreveport, LA.

Franco Harris...Running back...Springtown, NJ

Bennie Cunningham...Tight end...Laurens, SC.

John Stallworth...Wide receiver...Tuscaloosa, Al.

Lynn Swann...Wide receiver...Alcoa, TN

The famous “Steel Curtain” defense:

“Mean” Joe Green...Defensive end...Elgin, TX

Ernie Holmes...Defensive Tackle...Jamestown, TX

L. C. Greenwood...Defensive tackle...Canton, MS.

Dwight White...Defensive end...Hampton, VA.

How many players do you see from Pennsylvania?

How many “down home” players do you see?

To you Pittsburgh Steeler chest-beaters, just shut the hell up.

This Date in History February 25

1779 A few days earlier American Patriot George Rogers Clark departed the small village of Kaskaskia on the Mississippi River with 175 militia and a few French mercenaries to capture Fort Sackville near present day Vincennes, Indiana. After wading through icy cold water Clark’s men arrived at the fort from a direction that was unexpected by the British army inside. Clark called for the surrender of the fort from the British commander who refused. Then Clark personally brought five Indians that he and his group had captured along the way, out in front of the fort and Clark personally hacked them all to death and disemboweled them with a tomahawk. Clark then called again for a surrender which was readily accepted. There were just over ninety British soldiers and their families in the fort. The success of this raid put the British between a rock and a hard place in that area because the French settlers realized that they could not depend on the British military to defend them and sided with the Patriots. George Roger Clark again was one of those little known hard-asses for the Patriots that had he not been where he was when he was, things may have turned out differently.

1576 On this date the head of then Roman Catholic Church, Pope Pius VI ex-communicated the queen of England, Elizabeth I and told the English Catholics that they did not have to obey Elizabeth any longer. Elizabeth really did not give a shit because her father, Henry VIII got fed up with the pope interfering with the affairs of the English crown and he formed his own church, a protestant church known as the Anglican Church or the Church of England. The only difference between the Catholic Church and the Anglican Church was the Pope was head of the Catholics and the King/Queen was the head of the Anglicans. Not a hell of a lot of difference for the faithful. Elizabeth did not have to stress that the English subjects had better abide by the rule of the queen or they would meet a date in a dungeon somewhere or meet a big guy with a big axe and a black hood over his head. Elizabeth proved to be one of the greatest monarchs in the history of western man.

Famous quotes:

“Some people see things that are and ask why, others see things that are not and ask why, others have to go to work and don’t have time for all that bullshit.”

George Carlin

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow