Tuesday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“Necessity is the mother of invention.”

Plato

About a year ago a couple near Brentwood, Pa. moved to a town about 400 miles away. Somehow they had lost their pet beagle named “Sassy”. Later Sassy was returned to them. It seems that Sassy was taken in by a Beagle Rescue unit after she had been assigned a death date by an animal shelter. Sassy was adopted from the rescue unit by a family who eventually heard about some pets having a microchip buried in their skin and took her to a veterinarian to see if she had one. Sure enough, Sassy had one and the Vet was able to find the rightful owners and there was a tearful reunion. The chip is about the size of a grain of rice and it takes some pretty fancy equipment to read them but thanks to this particular vet, Sassy is home.

Down in Mobile, Alabama an athlete had been offered a scholarship to Auburn University. This young man was a superb high school quarterback but he could not pass the minimum mental knowledge requirements to be allowed into Auburn. He applied and was accepted into Gulf Coast Community College to spend a couple of years which would make him eligible for the NFL draft. A few days ago he was arrested for possession of illegal drugs with the intention to distribute. He is in the joint for an undetermined length of time and his long term life is ruined. There is no NFL team out there that will draft a “dealer”. The tests obviously were accurate..he is indeed stupid.

I do not understand all of this but a 41 year old female substitute teacher in an area in central Florida was arrested on a plethora of charges for sexual abuse of some of her students. She had several encounters with male students none of which were over the age of 15. One particular kid that she had approached agreed to a tryst but the kid chickened out and along with his parents, went to the cops. One of the cops gave him his cell phone to call this teacher and pretend to confirm the potential meeting. The teacher reassured him that he was not her first high school boy and would not be the last. The teacher told which boys she had had a relationship with and described in detail what he could expect from her. All of this conversation was recorded by the cops and it was all over for the teacher. That also is stupidity.

A couple of days ago a man with a history of diminished mental capacity walked out of a mental hospital near Georgetown, SC and the cops were called. The Georgetown police spotted a man walking down the side of Highway 17, a major thoroughfare on the South Carolina coast. The police tried to arrest the man but a foot chase evolved and somehow the mental patient made it back to the patrol car before the cops. The keys were in the car and the man hit the road, Jack. A high speed chase began near Murrell's Inlet, SC and went across state lines into North Carolina. It was near Tabor City, NC that a North Carolina trooper as able to get the car stopped and the man arrested. Those involved were the Georgetown City cops, the Murrells Inlet city cops, the South Carolina state troopers, the Columbus County, NC cops and the North Carolina state troopers...Oh yes, and one unbalanced man. He may have been unbalanced but he had to be a hell of a driver.

This Date in History March 31

1776 On this date Continental Congressman John Adams’ wife Abigail wrote him a letter saying in part “I long to hear that you and the others have declared an independency. By the way, in the new code of laws I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you to remember the ladies and be more favorable and generous to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands. Remember, all men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws which we do not have any voice or representation,” Let us recap at this point. John Adams and the Continental Congress are gathered together in Philadelphia on the cusp of creating a new nation the likes of which the world has never seen. They are doing this knowing that the mightiest army and navy on the planet will bring all their forces to bear to prevent this from happening. Then one our greatest leaders is reminded to remember gender parity under the threat of a “rebellion”. Abigail Adams was a brilliant person and was as devoted to John as John was to her but to threaten a “rebellion” at this point was nothing short of baloney. This country was facing the most important decision in world history and Abigail is worried about gender parity! Abigail, this wasn't the time to start nagging about that, for crying out loud! It is at least shortsightedness if not a total lack of vision. On second thought, maybe Abigail had extraordinary vision because it took just short of 150 years for the United States Congress to enact the 19^th Amendment allowing women to vote. Abigail Adams and Barbara Bush are the only two women to be wives and mothers to two American presidents.

1492 On this date, at the direction of the Catholic Church in Spain, all Jews are ordered to become Christians or leave the country. Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face, a great majority of the Jews did indeed leave rather than give up their heritage. They took with them huge amounts of money, skills and business connections with many of the countries in the Mediterranean, Europe and Scandinavia. But some of the Jews stayed and held secret Jewish ceremonies while claiming to be Christians. It didn’t help any; the Jews claiming to be Christians were treated like crap anyway. Then the Catholic Church in Spain stepped on its tongue once again and declared that all Moors (Muslims) in Spain must become Christians or leave the country also. One would think that the loss of such a money making and tax paying segment would bankrupt a country. But it didn’t. Spain remained one of the major players in Europe and the world for over 300 years afterward. They took a small dip in power when the Spanish navy was crushed by the English navy in the mid-1500’s. They took another hit when they joined with France and Napoleon Bonaparte and again were crushed by the British navy in the late 1700’s. But Spain reaped an enormous fortune from the “new world” by their conquistadors enslaving the natives in Central and South America and bringing literally tons of gold, silver and precious gems back home.

Born today:

1915 TV personality Henry Morgan. He said “A careful driver is one that blows his horn as he crosses a railroad track.”

1948 US politico Al Gore. He said “A leopard cannot change its stripes.” Al is a piece of work, y'all. Pretty dumb for someone that invented the internet.

Died today:

1631 English writer John Donne. He said “Wicked is almost the same as discreet.” I prefer discreetly wicked.

1998 US representative Bella Abzug. She said “The establishment is made up of little men, very frightened.”

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow