Thursday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“In the end, we will not remember the words of our enemies but we will remember the silence of our friends.”

                                         Martin Luther King, Jr.

As some of you may or may not know South Carolina is one of the leaders in the United States in violent crimes per capita and Greenville county leads the state. That ain't all...Greenville county is also one of the state wide leaders in illegal narcotics. One of my nephew's best friends died Monday. It was suicide...a self inflicted overdose of heroin...that's right, right here in river city, y'all...he was from a relatively upscale family. In spite of the rantings of the Chamber of Commerce, Greenville ain't Nirvana.

As some of you may of may not know I was an air traffic controller for 25 years and was also a certified weather observer. I know intimately what the mechanics of the air traffic control system here in the United States and most other nations. I also am very familiar with what makes our weather and what makes it move always west to east across the contiguous land area of North America. I was also a licensed private pilot. I have been in a friendly argument with some others that do not understand how tightly controlled aircraft in American airspace are, especially military and commercial because of their size and speed and especially after after 9/11. They believe that something surreptitiously is taking place in our skies that I know for certain is impossible. But one of them put me in my place when she said “We will believe what we want to and you believe what you want to.” She is right, I will not discuss it with them any longer...they have their minds made up so I will not confuse them with the facts. It is human nature to fear things they do not understand. Come to think of it, there are many things that we read and choose to believe without one scintilla of personal knowledge. We believe them because they agree with our already preconceived prejudices and that makes us feel more justified, right or wrong. Hitler said it best: “The more preposterous the proposal, the more likely it is to be believed.”

Over the weekend there was a strange occurrence here in Greenville. A cop stopped a car for an alleged traffic violation. The driver decided to not lower his window and began to drive away. The cop “tried to stop the car”, fell and was injured. He was out the hospital the next morning. The driver was arrested for attempted murder, for crying out loud. How in the hell can it be attempted murder without intent. I am as sure as I am sitting here that the driver just wanted to get away from the cop...attempted murder? I could not do the job of a cop but I believe that after a while a cop having seen the dregs of society will begin to believe we all are criminals. It has eventually become not “to protect and serve” but “it is us against them”. I guess all of you have seen that clip of a man that was stopped for an alleged traffic violation and the cop came up to the side of the car and began yelling at him like he was Al Capone. Little did the cops know that the man was recording all of this on his cell phone and it became viral nationwide. Like I have said before, my grandfather was a city cop here in Greenville and was killed in the line of duty. He was a very kind and religious person and I certainly do not believe that he would treat anyone with disrespect from the git-go like it is these days. The cops have their jobs because we are here, not vice-versa. Watch the TV show “Cops” and see how everyone they meet is treated...its ugly and disrespectful. By the way, how was the cop going to stop a 4,000 pound moving vehicle with his hands and body? Was that stupid or what?

Down in Gulf Shores, Alabama a fight broke out at 1:30a in the parking lot of “Mud Bug's Pub And Club”. The cops arrived and the fight had essentially stopped. They found out that there was one man down and one with a knife wound. It seems that there was a short fight between two men that was broken up by one of the two bouncers. The problem was the wife of one of fighters would not give up and launched an attack of her own. One of the bouncers restrained her but her husband produced a knife and stabbed that bouncer. The other bouncer got a choke hold on this lunatic and threw him to the tarmac with a sickening crack as his head hit the surface. This man later died at a local hospital. The stabbed bouncer refused treatment. What lesson can we learn from this? Stay away from any place named Mud Bug's...do not stab a bouncer...do not “restrain” a raging female just knock her the hell out. At one point in my widely varied career I was a bouncer at a beach bar on Pensacola Beach. One thing I found out very early. You can reason with a drunk man because they understand the meaning of “ass whipping”. Women apparently do not. I could go up to an “over-served” man and whisper “It is time for you to leave or I will get a cop in here that will take you out of here in two piece.  Your move, pal.” They would just nod their head and leave. Not the “over served” ladies...they wanted to fight every time. I used whatever force that was necessary, a knock out blow was not out of the realm of possibility if a weapon was involved. I am not proud of this part of my life but it was a learning experience that I could never have gotten otherwise. By the way, the beach cops loved for me to call. Most of the time violence would be involved....they loved it.

This Date in History March 5

1770 In 1768 the British army occupied Boston because the gnarly Bostonians were giving the British hell about taxes that had been levied on them by Parliament while there was no one in Parliament representing Boston or any other city or state in the colonies. Three days before today, a group of British soldiers had gone down to John Hancock’s dock seeking a part time job. There is no need for me to tell you what the response was from the American dockworkers already there. That’s right, y'all, it was a wall banging brawl. It took the British army to straighten it out. The fight was over but the hard feelings were still embroiled. On this cold and snowy night a group of Bostonians gathered outside the Custom House where the British stored the tax money and began throwing snowballs and rocks at the lone British guard posted at the door. The pelting became so severe that the guard called for help and seven other troops showed up. Five of the guards that showed up and several of the Bostonians were the same ones in the fight at Hancock’s dock. Y'all know what happened next, the snowballs came at more speed and more tightly packed along with many words of profanity exchanged. One of the guards named Robert Montgomery slipped and fell and discharged his musket. Upon hearing gunfire, the rest of the guards fired their weapons also. After the smoke cleared, five Bostonians lay dead or dying. This event was from that moment on was known as the Boston Massacre. All of the soldiers were put on trial and were defended by John Adams and Josiah Quincy as a show to the British that justice existed in the Colonies. All the soldiers were acquitted with the exception of two. Those two had the letter “M” branded on their thumbs to identify them as murderers. I suppose justice was served but what a strange punishment.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow