Monday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“I am an optimist. But I am an optimist that brings an umbrella.”

                                    Harold Wilson

There is little question that there are racial moats worldwide and has been for thousands of years. The Tutsis and Hutus in Africa hate each other for reasons that have been lost in the mists of time but the hatred remains. The Arabs and Jews have been squabbling on and off for about 3,500 years with no permanent resolution. Reading the history of the indigenous Native American tribes in North America indicates that certain tribes fought each other for various and sundry reasons imagined or otherwise or just for the hell of it. Some of them killed just because they liked it and this is true of all mankind since recorded history. For as long as anyone can remember there was regular meetings of two or three different tribes in Africa to engage in one-on-one mortal combat because it is/was their heritage. While all of this is going on the single women of the different tribes would be scanning the horizon for a potential husband not of their tribe. I guess this is population control and genetic diversity taking care of itself in one felled swoop.

Here in the 21^st century in the land of the free and the home of the brave we are still squabbling because of racial divisions. All of our leadership. religious and otherwise do not have an answer that works and it ends up with both sides of the moat blaming each other. Beating the crap out of people at the Pettus Bridge near Selma, Alabama is not the answer. Neither is doing permanent brain damage to a kid of the wrong ethnicity in Brooklyn, New York because he was in an Italian neighborhood after dark. But neither is shooting 2 cops or breaking down the doors of a convenience store and stealing a case of Colt 45 and three bags of Doritos. Everybody points their fingers at the effects but no one knows the cause. I have heard it is poverty, lack of education, no jobs, drugs, economy, ad nauseum...If anyone can come up with the solution will you please pass it on to both sides of the moat...the Golden Rule not withstanding. As the old saying goes “You cannot legislate morality”. You can legislate a penalty for not treating everyone fair and equally but you cannot govern people's thoughts, religion, prejudices and preferences...so far.

This Date in History March 16

1751 On this date future US president James Madison is born on a Virginia plantation. James lived a privileged childhood and attended the College of New Jersey (now Princeton) and graduated after only two years. After college in 1771 Madison returned home very ill and it took him until 1776 to sufficiently recover to return to politics where he became a member of the Virginia legislature. James was a drafter of the United States Constitution and was a chronicler of the Constitutional Convention. His notes of the Convention are the most accurate of any records of that immortal meeting. But Madison forbade any of his notes to be made public until all those in attendance had died. It was he, John Jay and Thomas Jefferson that authored The Federalist Papers which fostered the idea of a larger government being better capable of the protection of individual rights. The most important of these was Federalist Paper No. 10 authored by Madison alone. James married Dolly Payne Todd who proved to be one of the finest hosts of all time in Washington. While James Madison was Secretary of State under the widowed Thomas Jefferson, it was Dolly that arranged and hosted the White House frivolities in behalf of Jefferson. After resigning from public office he became rector for Thomas Jefferson’s beloved University of Virginia. Later on he became the president of Virginia State Teachers College at Harrisonburg. The college eventually became James Madison University. Madison was yet another man that showed up at the right place in the right time in history with the right skills and determination to contribute to the success of this great experiment in freedom known as the United States of America. We need many more men/women of this caliber.

1881 On this date on of the most famous gigolos in Los Angeles, California is found shot to death through the right eye. Francisco “Chico” Forster was the most eligible bachelor in the Los Angeles area when he happened into the pool hall owned by Jose Abarta. Jose’s daughter Lastania was singing there. Chico was smitten by this raven haired beauty and began to pay her much attention. On March 14 Lastania was invited to sing at a party given in honor of the outgoing Governor of California, Pio Pico the last Mexican Governor of California. Chico’s father had just tricked the unfortunately Pio into selling him a huge chunk of land near San Diego. In one of her songs, Lastania made fun of Pio and the stupid land deal he made with Chico’s father. Bad feelings began to surface so Chico and Lastania left and went to a fancy hotel. As men will do on occasion, Chico told Lastania that he would marry her if she would have sex with him. Lastania agreed. Afterward Chico left saying he was going to get a ring and a Padre to marry them. Y'all know what happened, he never showed up again. Lastania and her sister hit the road looking for Chico. They found him at the horse track and gathered him up, put him in a carriage and the three headed for a preacher. At one point Chico jumped out of the carriage and began walking away. Lastania was right behind and told him to stop because she had a gun. Chico turned around and sure enough, she had a revolver pointed at this head. Chico said “You aren’t going to shoot.......“ at this point Lastania put a .38 caliber bullet through Chico’s right eye killing him instantly. At the trial, Lastania’s lawyer was able to convince the jury that Lastania was in “her time of the month” and as everyone knows, a woman’s blood flow is disrupted during this time and the blood in Lastania’s brain was clogged and she wasn’t thinking clearly. The jury bought it and Lastania was released and immediately disappeared. This is a lesson to be learned for all you single guys out there.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow