Friday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

Seen on a subway wall:

“God is dead” Fredrick Nietzsche Below that was:

“Fredrick Nietzsche is dead” God

Another air traffic control saga:

Moody AFB in addition to being an all weather interceptor school, was the home of IPIS meaning Instrument Pilot Instructors School. They were teaching instrument rated pilots how to be instructors. The aircraft they were using was B-25's, believe it or not. A B-25 is the type aircraft Jimmy Doolittle used in his raid on Tokyo in 1942. My fraternal grandfather died in Greenville, SC and the Red Cross notified my squadron commander that my presence was requested at the funeral. It was arranged for me to be flown to the nearest AFB to Greenville and that being Donaldson AFB. So two of the instructor pilots took me aboard one of their B-25's and flew me to Donaldson where my family met me. The weather was really crappy all the way. We took off from Moody and I lost sight of the ground soon after departure and I did not see the ground again until just before we touched down at Donaldson. It was rough in spots also. I normally like to fly, but not this time. It was loud, and smelly.

At a recent meeting of the “Four O'clock Club” the subject of the succession of the English crown after Queen Elizabeth II arose. Here is a brief history:

The King of England George V died in 1936. He had two sons, Edward and George. Edward was the oldest and was crowned as Edward VIII, the King of England. Within a year Edward said that he had eyes for an American woman named Wallis Simpson and wanted her for his wife. This lady had two strikes against her...she was not of royal blood and she had been divorced. Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin told Edward that it would not be politically nor religiously right for him to marry a divorced woman and remain king. Edward chose the woman and abdicated the throne. After the marriage they became the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. After the abdication Edward's younger brother George was crowned King as George VI. George's had two children in Elizabeth and Margaret with Elizabeth the oldest. After seeing England through WWII George died in 1952 and with no male heirs Elizabeth was crowned Queen Elizabeth II. By the way, it was about George VI that the movie The King's Speech was made. Elizabeth had four children, Charles, Anne, Andrew and Edward. Prince Charles is the heir apparent. However, Charles was divorced from Princess Diana Spenser and then married a divorced woman named Camilla Bowles. Keeping in mind that Edward VIII could not be married to a divorced woman and remain king, how is Charles going to make that happen when the time comes? Do to some research done by by my friend in the Big Apple I have found two opinions from experts on English Royalty. One of them declared that Charles can become king because his marriage to Camilla was illegal for not being held in an Anglican Church. It was held in what would be a magistrates court in the US. However after the wedding the couple was blessed by an archbishop of the Anglican church and Camilla has a royal title in the Duchess of Cornwall but can never be named Queen. The other “expert” says that yes Charles can become King and Camilla Queen. The end result is that I do not have an answer. It is generally believed that Queen Elizabeth II is hoping that she outlives Charles and Charles' eldest son William would become king and all of this divorce crap would go away. The rumor is that William is being finely honed to take the throne. The rules about marriage was changed three times recently. Once during Winston Churchill's term, again during Tony Blair and again during John Major. I can't verify all of that but it is interesting to contemplate.

This Date in History March 27

1775 On this date a young redhead from Virginia is elected to the 2nd United States Continental Congress. Thomas Jefferson was soon recognized as an efficient composer of letters especially with his first submission called “A Summary View of the Rights of British America.” He also stunned the others with “Draft Notes on the Virginia Constitution”. Jefferson had a large part in drafting the Virginia Constitution and as a result he was tasked at drafting the instrument that the United States would use to separate from England. He was 33 years old. He came up with a document he titled “A Declaration by the Representative Congress Assembled”. This document has been recognized as the most important in the history of democracy. Jefferson presented his draft to Congress on Jun, 28, 1776 and a very few changes were made to the text and the title was changed to The Declaration of Independence and adopted on July 4, 1776. I still wonder at the bravery and courage of these men by adopting and signing this monumental declaration knowing it would bring even more pressure from the mightiest army and navy on the planet. Not only that: There was a good percentage of the American population that wanted to stay under the wing of King George III and many ended up joining the British Army. In fact, most of the combat units for the British in the Carolinas were all Loyalists led by British commanders. That is why the encounters between the Loyalists and the Patriots were so savage and bitter. Anyway, Jefferson held several positions in the Government of Virginia and the United States and ended up being elected as our third president and served two terms 1801-1809. It was Jefferson that was president for the Louisiana Purchase and for the Lewis and Clark Expedition. He eventually retired to his homestead in Virginia known as Monticello. He dabbled in the formation and running of his beloved University of Virginia. He died on July 4, 1826; exactly 50 years after his draft of the Declaration of Independence became adopted. He was 86 years old. Jefferson is a giant among the framers of this great nation. We were very, very lucky to have had men of his caliber. Was he here at this place in this time frame by accident? I think not.

1836 On this date 411 Texans had assembled in the small town of Goliad to defend against the 3,000 troops of the Mexican dictator Santa Anna. The Texans felt that they would be treated as prisoners of war but Santa Anna considered them traitors because he still considered Texas as part of Mexico. Anyway, when Santa Anna arrive and encircled the town, the Texans surrendered to avoid annihilation. It did not work; they were massacred to a man anyway. But as the saying goes “What goes around comes around.” A few months later near a village called San Jacinto near Houston, Sam Houston and about 750 wild-eyed howling Texans fell upon Santa Anna’s unsuspecting troops and cut them to pieces without mercy. Santa Anna was captured and brought before Houston. Houston spared his life if he promised to leave Texas and never return. Very soon after this the Republic of Texas came into being.

Died today:

2002 British actor Dudley Moore. He said “Not all people that drink are poets; some of us drink because we are not poets.” Me too.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow