Monday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

When asked what is his greatest mystery astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson said:

“One of my greatest mysteries is how did a chemical molecule in the beginning morph into the self-replicating, intelligent beings that we are today.” Religion could enter this picture at this point but Tyson is a scientist.

Years ago this area of South Carolina was the textile mill capitol of the world. Each mill had a surrounding village where the workers lived. The houses were owned by the cotton mill company and they charged rent making the phrase “owe my soul to the company store” a reality. One of them was a mill and village known as Monaghan. Here it is pronounced Mona-gon. Everywhere else in the world including Ireland where the name originated it is pronounced Mona-han. I suppose those that did not know this pronounced it as they interpreted the spelling. The same can be said of Edinburgh the capitol of Scotland. According to the Scots it is NOT pronounced Edin-burg...it is pronounced Edin-boro. I guess it is all in how you perceive it but it is a Scottish city and they can call it anything they want. During the Civil War there was an Irish immigrant that became the commander of a Union infantry unit.  His name was Thomas Meagher.  It is pronounced "Marrr".  The extra "r's" is so you roll them with your tongue.  New York is similar...natives up there pronounce it "Noo Yawk" regardless of the spelling. By the way, it bothers me to say “up” north or “down” south. That means you are seeing the world in two dimensions. Actually on this planet “down” is toward the center of the earth and “up” is toward the heavens. Think in 3D for a change.

Here is a short biography of one of the first trappers and explorers this country has ever seen.

                                             John Colter

John Colter was born near Staunton, Virginia in 1774. Little is known of Colter until his family moved to what would later become Maysville, Kentucky when little John was about five years old. Surviving in that area of the country was no easy trick. Even though the land later known as Kentucky was ceded to Virginia, the Indian tribes in the Ohio River valley who had not been party to this and considered that area to be their private hunting grounds. Believe it or not, the area was swarming with bison at the time. Anyway, the Indians raided the homes and villages of these honky settlers on a regular basis. Because of this, John Colter became an astute woodsman and an expert hunter and fighter. He was described as about 5’-10”, which was tall for that time. He was blond, blue eyed and somewhat shy. He gained a reputation that caught the eye of a man named Meriwether Lewis. Lewis and his partner William Clark had been tasked by President Thomas Jefferson to explore the upper reaches of the recently acquired Louisiana Purchase and find out what was there and they began assembling a crew. The obvious choice of travel was the Missouri River basin. No one at the time knew where the rivers origin was but they knew it went out of sight northwest of Saint Louis, Missouri at its branch with the Mississippi. America was very interested to find out if there was a water passage to the Pacific Ocean. In October of 1803, Lewis offered Colter a place on the expedition at the pay of $5.00 a month. The offer was accepted and the expedition began gathering boats and supplies in Saint Louis. When Lewis and Clark were in Washington celebrating the acquisition of the Louisiana Purchase, against the orders of the sergeant left in charge, Colter and three others left the camp named Fort Dubois and went to the closest “grog” shop (bar) and got hammered. After Lewis and Clark returned to the camp they told Colter and the others that in their absence, the sergeant left in charge had the authority of a Captain and any further disobedience would result in expulsion form the expedition and ordered them to not leave camp for ten days. Colter was given a court martial because he threatened to shoot the Sergeant that had turned them in. But after Colter apologized to Lewis and the sergeant, he was reinstated. Soldiers will be soldiers, y'all. In May of 1804 Colter and the others departed Saint Louis, crossed the Mississippi and began rowing up the Missouri River amid much ceremony. Before the day was out they were out of sight of civilization. Right from the start it became obvious that Colter was a superior hunter and was assigned as the provider of game for the expedition. It also became obvious that Colter was a superior woodsman and frequently led small scouting groups. The expedition wintered on the opposite bank of the River from a large Mandan Indian village in North Dakota. When the river froze over, the curious but friendly Indians came over to visit and trade. As the expedition passed through Blackfoot Indian country, they were frequently harassed. The Blackfeet had a virtual monopoly of the fur trade in their area and would not hesitate to keep it that way. They just could not understand that the expedition was not interested in furs. But they lusted after what they saw in the boats like swords, guns and knives and would steal them at any opportunity. Lewis and Clark did not want to kill any of them because they did not want to start a war. Finally, taking the advice of their Shoshone guide, they crossed the Rocky Mountains via Lost Trail Pass. It proved to be a very strenuous undertaking. The expedition finally reached the upper reaches of the Columbia River and Colter was selected to be one of a small group to see where the river ended. Colter had located some Nez Perce Indians and the Shoshone guide was able to communicate with them and they said the Columbia River emptied into the Pacific. And indeed the River did empty into the Pacific and the expedition beached their boats near present day Astoria, Oregon. Colter was selected part of a small group to explore the coast north of their location. The group made it up to the coast of present day Washington State but not before having several run-ins with the Klamath Indians. This group established a camp that they named Fort Clapsop and spent a miserable winter amid weeks long rains and snow as is the norm in that area. In the spring of 1806 Colter and the others began retracing their steps to re-join the rest of the expedition. It went much faster now because they knew what lay ahead. After reaching the rest of the expedition, Colter, Forest Hancock and Joe Dickson requested to be discharged so they could go out on their own and trap furs. All three were honorably discharged and set out down the Rocky Mountains on their great adventure. The only problem was that three weeks later the three had a falling out and Colter set out alone. In 1807 in the vicinity of the Big Horn River, he ran across a fur trapping expedition led by Manuel Lisa. Lisa later became a legend in the lore of Mountain Men. Colter joined with this group for a while, and as you might suspect the irascible Blackfeet was on their ass constantly because there was no doubt that these honkies were trapping furs. He helped the Lisa expedition build Fort Raymond at the confluence of the Yellowstone and Big Horn Rivers. He stayed with Lisa until 1809 and then he and a man name Joe Potts split off from the Lisa group. It was after this that Colter enhanced his reputation. He and Joe Potts were captured by those damned Blackfeet and given an option. Be killed immediately or be stripped naked and after given a small lead, try to outrun a group of pursuing warriors. Potts and Colter chose the later. Potts was not as fast on his feet as Colter and was caught and killed but the fleet-footed Colter ran until there was only one Blackfoot left so he stopped and killed that one and took his clothes. It is believed that Colter was the first white man to lay eyes on the wonders of Yellowstone. He reported many “gushers of steam” (geysers) and “bilins” (hot water mud holes). He was not readily believed but further exploration proved him right. Further descriptions that he made ensured that he had explored the Grand Teton Valley around what is now the Jackson Hole, Wyoming area. During the entire time he had to be on the alert for the Blackfeet. Colter headed back toward Fort Raymond to meet up with two friends that were going into a fur trapping expedition with him. When he got there he found out that both of his friends had been tortured and killed by the Blackfeet. Colter decided that he had enough of the Blackfeet and headed to Saint Louis where he arrived in the fall of 1810. He met with William Clark, his old commander and told him what he had seen. Using this information, Clark created a map that was used for the next 75 years. Colter fell ill and died in 1812 of “jaundice”. He is buried near New Haven, Missouri on private land...he was 38 years old.

     Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Friday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“Noise means nothing. Often a hen will lay and egg and cackle like she has laid an asteroid.”

                                          Mark Twain

Up in Marshfield, NC a 23 year old man kicked open a front door of a house and entered wearing a ski mask and waving a gun. There was a woman and her son in the house. One of them dialed 911 and the other retrieved a 12 gauge shotgun. When the intruder turned a corner into a hallway he was met with a blast in the chest from the shotgun and died instantly. Both the mother and the son said that they could not remember who had the shotgun. I guess they were afraid that whoever did the shooting would be in trouble with the law...not so, there will be no charges by law enforcement. When you are under attack and afraid for your life, anything works.

       Date in History   May 29

1780 On this date British Colonel Banastre Tarleton led a cavalry charge of mostly Loyalists (American colonists who remained loyal to King George) against an out gunned and out manned Patriot force near the Waxhaws, a village on the South Carolina/North Carolina border south of what is now Charlotte, North Carolina. The Patriots did not have a chance and surrendered but Tarleton ignored the signs of surrender and kept ordering the shooting and bayoneting of the Patriots. The end result was 113 Patriots killed and 203 captured whilst Tarleton’s troops suffered 17 killed or wounded. This event was from then own known as “giving Tarleton Quarter”. Even though it was a rout, word of this atrocity spread like wildfire throughout the Carolinas and lit a fire of revenge under every Patriot that heard it especially a South Carolinian name Thomas Sumter, known to the British as “The Gamecock”. Sumter began a bloody reprisal against the South Carolina Loyalist that could be interpreted as nothing less than a civil war because it meant killing your neighbors if they were loyal to King George and kill them he did. Sumter was originally from Virginia the son of Welch immigrant parents. Through a series of adventures that would warrant another blog, Sumter ended up in central South Carolina with no money. He eventually married a wealthy widow and opened several successful businesses and an active plantation near the town of Stateburg located about 15 miles west of present day Sumter, South Carolina. Sumter was made Brigadier General of the local militia and was a proven warrior with the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. He was instrumental in driving Tarleton and Cornwallis out of the Carolinas and into the waiting arms of George Washington and the Continental Army at Yorktown. Again he was one of those people that ended up at the right place at the right point in time to allow this melting pot of immigrants to congeal into the great nation we are today. It was no accident.

1953 On this day with a stupendous display of strength and stamina, New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Nepalese guide Tensing Norgay reach the summit of Mount Everest for the first time by anyone. Hillary and Norgay were part of an 11 man climbing team who reached a base camp at the elevation of 27,400 feet and Hillary and Norgay made the assault on 29,030 foot summit alone. Then the hard part began...the descent. The two had traversed near vertical walls on the way up, now they had to negotiate them coming down. But they prevailed and one of the greatest feats of exploration and adventure came to an end.

1914 On the date the ocean liner “Empress of Ireland” departed Quebec Harbor, Canada into the Saint Lawrence Seaway headed to Liverpool, England. Since the sinking of the Titanic the shipboard safety devices and procedures had been greatly improved. The Saint Lawrence was very foggy on this spring morning and the Norwegian freighter “Storstad” was nearby but the both the captains of the Empress and the Storstad were aware of each other and indeed had each other in sight. Through a series of miss-interpreted signals the two ships finally engaged in a fatal embrace when the Storstad plunged 15 feet into the starboard side of the Empress. It took the Empress just 14 minutes to find the bottom and took more than 1500 passengers with her. There would have been more but the heroic efforts of the crew of the still floating Storstad resulted in the saving of scores of passengers from the frigid waters.

1864 After a series of running battles that began near the Wilderness and swinging south to the James River, US General Ulysses Grant had been out maneuvered and out guessed by CSA General Robert E. Lee. After leaving the Wilderness Grant headed as quickly as he could for the Spotsylvania Courthouse in Virginia only to find CSA General James Longstreet and his Corps already there and dug in. A fierce and bloody battle ensued with Grant withdrawing after receiving a severe ass-kicking. Grant’s intention was to get between Lee and Richmond and Lee knew this. It was no mystery and Lee simply guessed where Grant was going to try to make this happen. On this date Grant reached the Topopotomy Creek only to be greeted by the grinning rebels looking down on his army from the bluffs above. The frustrated Grant slid further south to a small crossroad called Cold Harbor only to find that Lee had indeed out-guessed and outmaneuvered him and had the Confederates dug in and waiting. The exasperated and angry Grant flung his army against the Confederate embrasures only to have his army chopped to pieces by aimed rifles/muskets and artillery. This is one of the bloodiest battles ever fought in North America for its duration. Grant had to admit defeat once again and withdrew but he knew that he had almost an unlimited supply of replacements and Lee had none. It was a war of attrition after that.

Born today:

1630 King Charles II of England. He said “It is better to have one king than 500.” He was right there but why have any king at all? His father, King Charles I, was dethroned and be-headed by followers of Oliver Cromwell.

1736 American patriot Patrick Henry. He said “If this be treason, then let’s make the most of it.” Yet another fire breather in the right place at the right time.

1898 Canadian actress Beatrice Lilly. She said “One time Noel Coward and I was staying in a London hotel with adjoining rooms. I felt mischievous and knocked on his door. He said “Who is it” and I lowered my voice and said “It is the hotel detective, do you have a gentlemen in your room?” Noel said “Just a minute, I will ask him.”

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

 

Thursday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“The cyberspace avenue is teeming with people looking for salvation or hope.”

                                      Pope Francis

Fer several years the Clemson football coach Dabo Sweeney has supported a local organization that promotes traditional family values and is vehemently opposed to same sex marriage. He is catching a hell of a lot of grief because of his support of this group in light of same sex marriage legalization being in the news . We will see how dedicated he is to his beliefs.

I may have told this tale about my blood kin before but here it is again:

Before the attack on D-Day during WWII, allied intelligence felt that there was at least two large pieces of German artillery on a cliff known as Pont Du Hoc on the French Coast. This position was perfect for the Germans to fire down the landing beaches. 225 of the 2^nd Rangers were assigned the task of destroying these guns. The only way to climb the cliff was to was to fire grappling hooks with ropes attached onto the cliff and climb up. After the first few minutes of US naval gunfire, the German knew an attack was coming and presented a formidable defense. After an enormous display of determination, courage and bloodshed the Rangers took control of the cliff. There were no guns. The Germans had moved them a few inland a few days before but the Rangers discovered them and they were destroyed. After a few days the area had been secured it was found that of the 225 Rangers that originally attacked there was only 90 still alive. One of them was my uncle Vincent. When he came back home after war he was a changed man. He was very hostile toward nearly everyone and preferred not to talk to us about his experiences but he did tell me about one. He said that he was caught out in the open during an artillery barrage and dove into a small artillery hole. Right behind him a German soldier jumped in beside him. They struggled with each other for a while but my uncle was able to grab his “boot knife” and stabbed the German in the throat killing him. We found out that after a while he had been promoted and was a platoon leader. We also found out that he had been captured and tortured for information but had escaped and rejoined his unit. He fought at the battle of Huertgen Forest and the Battle of the Bulge. It was during this battle that he was captured once again and taken behind German lines and tortured for information. His platoon knew about where he was and sent a squad to retrieve him. He was indeed saved and was able to come back to the good ole USA after the war...but was deeply scarred. He went into the insurance business in Greensboro and was very successful. Later on he had a stroke that semi-paralyzed his left side but he recovered enough to resume work. After his kids were out on their on and self-sustaining, on a clear autumn day on dry road he drove headlong into a bridge abutment and was instantly killed. However, about 6 months before he had taken out an insurance policy on himself for $250,000 with a double indemnity clause in case of accidental death with his wife of many years the beneficiary...you do the math. True story y'all.

I am reading about research in New Guinea and discovered this. The size of towns and villages are determined by the amount of protein available. In New Guinea the towns and cities are a lot larger and more plentiful the closer to the coast they are. That is because there is readily available, easily obtainable and an unending supply of protein in the form of fish, shellfish, marine mammals, birds, birds eggs, etc. But further up in the mountains the towns become small villages and the further apart they become. This is because the available protein is much more scarce and harder to obtain. The remote villages average about 12 people and are several miles from another village. The villagers have determined the number of people they can feed and the amount of protein available within a days walk round trip. The were very reluctant to spend the night in the forest. Their prime source of food is the pulp of the Sago palm, wild pigs, monkeys and birds. They can exhaust the Sago palm supply and the monkeys and pigs are difficult to kill with primitive weapons. These villages have no chief. They do have a person called “big man”. This person is just acknowledged to be a very minor decision maker. His prime job is to determine the the distribution of a slain pig, any other decisions are made by the whole village. On occasion with no one in charge they will gather in a circle and those that have something to say are listened to until all talk has been heard, then a mutual decision is made. They have lived this way since before recorded history. Mother nature oversees this arrangement also. If they have too many people to feed, the intake of protein diminishes and so does the general health and some of them are more susceptible to diseases, especially Malaria, and this thins their ranks accordingly. All of this means that the people in the highlands are very interested in steel tipped weapons and firearms for a more sure kill of their prey. A wounded animal or bird that escapes does them no good. The people on the coast are far more interested in nets for obvious reasons and therefore did not seek steel tipped lances, arrows or firearms...that is until they became “civilized”.

Over in Union County, South Carolina a 16 year old boy had committed a crime and had been convicted. He was standing before a judge and a sentence was delivered. This kid went crazy as hell, broke and ran out of the courtroom but was caught by a deputy and a fist fight ensued. The kid was eventually subdued and brought back. When back in the courtroom the kid turned to judge and threatened his life using the M-F bomb. Lets do a recap at this point. He had already been convicted and sentenced for a crime and added to that is escape, striking a law enforcement officer and threatening a judge's life. How in the hell can a kid that young have such disrespect? That must come from no discipline at home. When I was 16 all I was interested in was girls, basketball, football, hanging out at Paris Mountain State Park all summer and girls...in that order.

This Date in History May 28

1521 The Spanish Armada under the command of Admiral Medina-Sedonia departed Spain headed for England with the intentions of invading, subduing, pillaging and enslaving. Fortunately for England, Sir Francis Drake had smelled out the assemblage and notified the Queen, Elizabeth I. This immortal leader ordered her entire navy to be prepared and prepared they were. The Spanish galleons were longer but lighter than the average English warship meaning they could out-maneuver the English but were a lot less capable in rough seas. Guess what happened when the Armada arrived in the English Channel. That's right, y'all, a kick-ass storm arrived and scattered the Spanish fleet and the English began picking them off one by one. The Spanish ran for cover but it was too late, the greater majority of the Spanish fleet plus over 30,000 Spanish soldiers went to the bottom. England was saved.

       Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Wednesday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

A few years after realizing that he was worth about $20 million he said “I wish everybody could get anything they ever wanted then they would realize that this is NOT the answer.”

                         Comedian/actor Jim Carrey

A while back the father of one of the people killed in the shootings in Santa Barbara, California somehow received air time to express his grief saying the politicians are at fault for his sons death. He said that tighter gun control should have been enacted after the Sandy Hook massacre. The Sandy Hook shooter was under treatment for a mental illness and his relatives knew he was on the edge of being out of control. Why is those that treated the shooter for mental illness not at fault? Why was the shooter allowed to walk the streets in that condition? Suppose the mentally ill person had used a machete, a dagger, bow and arrow or a can of gasoline? Who would be at fault then? I understand that the father is emotionally distraught but how did he gain air time to express his personal outrage about firearms? I think we all know why....it is clearly the influence of the anti-gun lobby over there to your left.

My favorite bartender said this “There are three things we will not discuss at this bar...that is religion, politics and Justin Bieber.”

In further remembrance of Memorial Day, here is another Medal of Honor citation.

The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the MEDAL OF HONOR to:

SERGEANT WILLIAM G. HARRELL
UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS

for service as set forth in the following.

CITATION:
"For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as Leader of an Assault Group, serving with the First Battalion, Twenty-Eight Marines, Fifth Marine Division, during hand- to-hand combat with enemy Japanese at Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, on 3 March 1945. Standing watch alternately with another Marine in a terrain studded with caves and ravines, Sergeant Harrell was holding a position in a perimeter defense around the company command post when Japanese troops infiltrated our lines in the early hours of dawn. Awakened by a sudden attack, he quickly opened fire with his carbine and killed two of the enemy as they emerged from a ravine in the light of a star-shell burst. Unmindful of his danger as hostile grenades fell closer, he waged a fierce lone battle until an exploding missile tore off his left hand and fractured his thigh; he was attempting to reload the carbine when his companion returned from the command post with another weapon. Wounded again by Japanese who rushed the foxhole wielding a saber in the darkness, Sergeant Harrell succeeded in drawing his pistol and killing his opponent and then ordered his wounded companion to a place of safety. Exhausted by profuse bleeding but still unbeaten, he fearlessly met the challenge of two more enemy troops who charged his position and placed a grenade near his head. Killing one man with his pistol, he grasped the sputtering grenade with his good right hand and, pushing it painfully toward the crouching soldier, saw his remaining assailant destroyed but his own hand severed in the explosion. At dawn Sergeant Harrell was evacuated from a position hedged by the bodies of twelve dead Japanese, at least five of whom he had personally destroyed in his self-sacrificing defense of the command post. His grim fortitude exceptional valor and indomitable fighting spirit against almost insurmountable odds reflect the highest credit upon himself and enhance the finest traditions of the United States Naval Service."
/S/ HARRY S. TRUMAN

He lost both hands, y'all.

This Date in History May 27

1831 In 1822 the Ashley fur trapping expedition departed Saint Louis headed up the Missouri River. Included in the expedition was two men named Jedediah Smith and Jim Bridger. These two men play an immense role in the settling of the west. Jim Bridger was more of a mountain man/trapper and Jedediah Smith was more of an explorer. Bridger was shown the legendary South Pass in southern Wyoming by the Shoshone which allowed pioneers and their heavily laden wagons and carts to cross the Rocky Mountains into Oregon and California. Bridger also was the first Caucasian to lay eyes on the Great Salt Lake. Some of his friends dared him to track down the end of a nearby creek and off he went. The creek emptied into the Salt Lake. Bridger had thought it was an inlet of the Pacific Ocean because of its salty taste. Bridger had a great memory for topography and was depended on greatly as a guide to others. But it was Smith who explored Oregon in depth and survived three or four attacks by the Indians in Oregon. He also explored the northern part of California. Smith wrote down everything he saw which proved to be invaluable to the people that followed. Even though Jim Bridger found out about the South Pass he chose not to tell a lot of people about it but Smith told in detail how to get to the Pass and the Oregon Trail was born. After Smith found out that his mother and sister had died he decided to move back to Saint Louis and open a mercantile store and write a complete book about his explorations, But before he could get started a trader offered him a deal he could not refuse. He wanted Smith to guide a wagon train full of trade goods to Santa Fe. Smith agreed and off they went. Smith probably was over-confident about his skills and was eager to get back to Saint Louis knowing that the Santa Fe Trail was well marked and well used. After they got started Smith decided to depart from the Trail and head down the Cimarron River which would cut off about 300 miles. Smith was confident that he would be able to find potable water on the shortcut. Fresh water sources on the Santa Fe Trail were known and the wagon train left with enough water to get them to the first water hole but now they were off the trail. On this date the potable water became dangerously low and Smith sent seven men, including himself, in different directions to find water. While Smith was hunting water in central Oklahoma near the Canadian River a Comanche war party found him first. Smith was tortured and killed but his body was never found. We know that he was killed because of the account given by the Comanche and some items known to belong to Smith were seen for sale in Santa Fe. That is what being over confident and impatient will do for you and what a waste of a soul with the spirit of an explorer.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow.

Monday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“The basic thing is that everyone wants happiness, no one wants suffering. Happiness mainly comes from our own attitude rather than external factors. If your own mental attitude is correct, even though you remain in a hostile atmosphere, you will feel happy.”

                 Tenzin Gyatso, 14^th Dalai Lama

I read about the cop in Cleveland that was acquitted of a voluntary manslaughter charge. There was a demonstration afterward proclaiming justice had not been done. The hell it hasn't.   Justice in the United States is whatever a jury of your peers says it is. If that is not sufficient then the only other answer is justice is whatever a stupid mob says it is...that is anarchy, y'all. This means that justice would be administered by the most heavily armed. Who would win that battle?

Martin Luther King Jr. had a meeting with the Black Panthers who were trying to convince him that an armed insurgency was the best option. King responded with “The military is in the control of the white man...and how many tanks, ships, warplanes and trained combat troops do you have?”

In recognition of Memorial Day I offer this document:

The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the CONGRESSIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR to

SERGEANT JOHN BASILONE
UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS

for service as set forth in the following

CITATION:
For extraordinary heroism and conspicuous gallantry in action against enemy Japanese forces, above and beyond the call of duty, while serving with the First Battalion, Seventh Marines, First Marine Division, in the Lunga Area, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, on October 24 and 25, 1942. While the enemy was hammering at the Marines' defensive positions, Sergeant Basilone, in charge of two sections of heavy machine guns, fought valiantly to check the savage and determined assault. In a fierce frontal attack with the Japanese blasting his guns with grenades and mortar fire, one of Sergeant Basilone's sections with its gun crews was put out of action, leaving only two men able to carry on. Moving an extra gun into position, he placed it in action, then, under continual fire, repaired another and personally manned it, gallantly holding his line until replacements arrived. A little later, with ammunition critically low and the supply lines cut off, Sergeant Basilone, at great risk of his life and in the face of continued enemy attack, battled his way through hostile lines with urgently needed shells for his gunners, thereby contributing in a large measure to the virtual annihilation of a Japanese regiment. His great personal valor and courageous initiative were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.
/S/FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT

A side note: After receiving the CMH Sergeant “Manila John” Basilone was selected to come back to America and tour the country selling War Bonds. He did that for a short while and then requested to return to his unit. He was killed soon after coming ashore on Iwo Jima.

This Date in History May 25

1637 Since the establishment of the Massachusetts Bay colony the settlers had been expanding into what is now Connecticut. The problem here was that in central Connecticut was a tribe of very hostile Indians known as the Pequot. The Pequot began raiding the settlers’ villages more and more frequently. In early 1637 the Pequot had raided a small village and killed 13 men, women and children. The Governor of the Colony, John Endicott, ordered a mobilization of a military force to punish the Pequot. The Indians found out about this and in an act of defiance raided another village killing six settler and kidnapping two girls. On this date the retaliation against the Pequot began. The settler military force commanded by John Mason and accompanied by several Mohegan Indians, who were enemies of the Pequot, got underway. The settlers attacked three different Pequot villages killing over 500 in one village alone. After the third attack there were only a handful of Pequot that escaped to live with the southern tribes. What were not killed was sold into slavery and that was the end to yet another tribe of Native Americans at the hands of our ancestors.

1940 On this date almost any British boat that could stand the crossing crossed the English Channel to Calais, France. There were 46,000 British and other allied soldiers pinned on the beach after the ill-fated invasion of Dunkirk. The Germans had the invasion force out manned and out gunned with their tanks and half tracks. The plan was to evacuate the troops back to England in two days but the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) had other ideas. They strafed and bombed the trapped soldiers relentlessly, that is until the British Air Force came over and provided air cover for the evacuation. The allied soldiers were finally back to safety after nine days of hell. They were not the only people suffering. The French and Belgian civilians that lived on the coast had to flee their homes during the air battle and many were homeless after their homes were destroyed by bombs and machine gun fire. War is hell.

1924 YA’LL PAY ATTENTION: On this date President Calvin Coolidge signs into law the most stringent immigration law in American history. This law mirrored the American attitude of isolationism after the unequaled slaughter of World War I. It also demonstrated the pervasiveness of racial fear and discrimination prevalent in America at that time. After the influx of so many unskilled workers in the early 1900’s the Americans felt that they were taking too many jobs and too much land. The law stated that no one could enter the country without a college degree or a recognized skill. It also disallowed Mexicans entirely and severely restricted central and southern Europeans and Japanese. Again Coolidge was parroting the American attitude of citizens being mostly of Northern European descent. The law really pissed off the Japanese because a few years earlier the United States and Japan had a “Gentleman’s agreement” that would loosen up immigration quotas for Japan. But eventually that went down the toilet when the agriculture in California exploded and provided plenty of work for those Americans already here. There was fear that the Japanese workers would take many of those jobs and they were probably right. Anyway, Cal had no problem with enacting laws that he felt was in the nation’s best interest. Where is Cal or someone like him when you need him?

Born today:

1689 English writer Lady may Montagu. She said “Most people wish their enemies dead. I do not, I wish them to stay alive and have gout and kidney stones.” Hell hath no fury.....

Died today:

1703 English writer Samuel Pepys. He said “Methinks lesser of kings if they cannot command the rain”.

             Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Friday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“Those that find the most things wrong are the ones most afraid.”

                               The Bard of Timberidge

Yesterday afternoon I watched two “girly” movies and strangely I do not feel any different. They were Love is a Many Splendored Thing and the other was Peggy Sue got Married. I liked the first one because I was a fan of William Holden and the second because I am a fan of Kathleen Turner. Nicholas Cage was about 18 years old. Then I switched over and watched To Hell and Back” which was the bio of WWII Medal of Honor winner Audie Murphy with Murphy playing himself. Murphy was a horrible actor and the bio was much enhanced but I liked it.

Unimaginably I was invited to an awards function for the chief magistrate of Greenville County, SC. I have known this magistrate on a personal level for several years. This lady is a good person and has been good to me. As you might suspect it was wall-to-wall attorneys and law enforcement. Strangely, I did not feel threatened, in peril or ill at ease.

Thoughts on our beginnings. According to how I understand the bible, the Garden of Eden was located at the confluence of five rivers. Civilization as we know it began in the land of Sumer and Ur. These places were at the northwestern end of the Persian Gulf. However there are only two rivers in that area, the Tigris and Euphrates. But if you go back to the last Ice Age about 13,000 years ago, there was so much of the worlds oceans frozen in Polar ice caps that the ocean levels dropped 200 to 300 feet. This means that there would have been no water in the Persian Gulf north of the Straits of Hormuz and dry land up to the present day northern limits of the Gulf. According to satellite surveys, there are three river beds in that area that have been covered by the Gulf. These three plus the Tigris and Euphrates makes the correct number. Perhaps there was a Garden of Eden that is now on the bottom of the Persian Gulf. This drop in the ocean level also allowed for the Bering Straits land bridge from Siberia to Alaska and this is supposedly the route that the first occupants of North America used. There is many, many cases with tangible evidence saying otherwise and I will touch on them later on.

This is a fun contest in the use of adjectives, adverbs and nouns. This happened at a local restaurant just a couple of days ago. A lady had eaten lunch and was walking toward the front door. All of a sudden her panties fell to her ankles...she just stepped out of them, kept walking and never looked back. Describe this event with one or two words. What comes to my mind right away is trolling.

Down in the central Congo there is a tribe that has a “coming of age” ceremony for the young male members. This involves a days long celebration with feasting and dancing...and then the boys are circumcised. As you might suspect some of the boys die of either blood loss or infections. The report said that a centuries old procedure is followed. I can assure you that an antiseptic and a scalpel is NOT involved. What a horrible thought.

Down in Haleyville, SC an 80 year old man that had lost both his legs to diabetes was moving down the road in his wheel chair. A pack of pit bulls attacked, pulled the man out of his wheelchair, killed and devoured parts of him. It was discovered that the “dogs of the devil” belonged to the next door neighbor. I hear a lot about how good pit bulls are as pets and companions but you never hear about beagles and many other breeds attacking anyone...it is always a rottie or a pit bull. Some of you may not know this but Dade County (Miami), Fl. and a couple of other counties have banned rotties and pit bulls because of repeated unprovoked attacks. They may be good companions but there is a chance that some of them will eat the face off of anybody at any given time...how do you know the difference?

This Date in History May 22

1843 On this date one of many wagon trains departed near Independence, Missouri headed for Oregon to take advantage of free lands. There were over 1,000 settlers and 1,000 head of cattle. They followed the Santa Fe Trail for about 40 miles and then turned right and followed the Platte River to Fort Laramie, Wyoming. From there they went through the South Pass across the Rocky Mountains. The South Pass was courtesy of that famous mountain man/explorer Jim Bridger who was shown this wide and shallow rising meadow by the Shoshone making it easy for heavily laden wagons. From there they stopped at Fort Hall in present day Idaho for a rest and supplies in preparation for the final push across the Cascades into Oregon. In October of this year they arrived in Oregon. It had taken them five months to make the 2,000 mile trip. This trail was used many times by several wagon trains until the advent of the coast-to-coast railroad. The last wagon train into Oregon was in the early 1870’s. There are wagon wheel ruts visible to this day along the famous Oregon Trail. What a thrill it would have been to make such a trip. Let me change that to an exciting trip because I would be crossing the lands of the ferocious Pawnee, Sioux, Cheyenne and Blackfoot among many others who did not take kindly to us honkies, or anyone else for that matter, encroaching on their lands. I went to Oregon a few years ago to do some salmon fishing in the breathtaking Rogue River near Medford and Apple Valley. The guys I met and provided guide service were rough and ready, y'all. They were just what I imagined the pioneer spirit to be like. Most of the guides that I met guided for salmon in the summer and elk in the winter. Let me put it this way. If a riot were to break out, I would want these men on my side, full beards, Bowie knives and .44 magnum revolvers included. These guys were ready for anything.

1781 On this date Patriot General Nathaneal Greene (Greenville, SC is named for him) attempted to take the British encampment of Star Fort in the village of Ninety-Six, South Carolina. Greene soon realized that he cannot take the Fort with an assault so on this date he surrounded the fort and began a siege. The Fort and 550 Loyalists were under the command of British Lieutenant Colonel John Crugar. Greene sustained the siege until he found out on June 18 that British reinforcements commanded by British Colonel Francis Rawdon were on the way. Greene tried one more assault which failed and he was forced to withdraw. Star Fort held great importance because it controlled most of northwestern South Carolina. But in response to this the other Patriot leaders in South Carolina, Francis Marion and Thomas Sumter captured five other British forts in South Carolina which isolated Star Fort. On July 1 the British pulled out of Star Fort of their own volition. Star Fort was the last Loyalist fort in South Carolina. This was the beginning of the end of British in America. The war was over two years later thanks to Greene, Marion, Sumter and thousands of other dedicated lovers of freedom. By the way, the name of the town of Ninety-Six has an interesting history and will follow a little later on.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Thursday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“Remember what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, except for herpes, that sh-t comes home with you.”

               Jeffrey Tabor in the movie “The Hangover”

Here is a thought from me:

Why is that people will classify anyone as being ignorant or stupid because they do not believe as they do but will rebel indignantly if they are lumped into a similar category? One must be very careful in not believing certain concepts simply because it make one feel more comfortable with preconceived prejudices. Worse still is fostering certain concepts because it is expected from the social group that you wish to meld into. In either case the learning process stops and others will be your decision makers because you are too cowardly to do it yourself.

As some of you may or may not know there was a very advance civilization known as the Minoans on the Mediterranean Island of Crete. This civilization disappeared about 1,400BC for reasons yet to be determined. The ruins of their structures are still with us and in 1908 an archaeological team investigating these ruins discovered a small clay tablet with symbols arranged in a clockwise spiral ending in the middle. Every so often there would be a perpendicular mark obviously meant to separate the symbols into groups. The tablet was a disc about 6 ½ inches in diameter and there were 45 different symbols. The really strange thing is the symbols were not carved into the tablet using an instrument like a stylus or a pencil, they were stamped using a carved block with a raised surface like is used with a printing press. These symbols used have never been seen anywhere else and therefore are undecipherable. Not only that, some of the symbols were very detailed and if these stamps were man made today it would take the skill of a watchmaker using a magnifying device to get the job done. The making of this disc remains an unsolved mystery to this day. My opinion about the disappearance of the Minoans is this. The island of Crete is located about 70 miles south of the Greek island of Santorini. This island was at one time known as Thera and was a very active volcano. About 1,400BC this volcano erupted in one of the most cataclysmic explosions in history. The middle of the island disintegrated and sank into the ocean. The remains of Thera is present day Santorini. When the island sank there had to be a gigantic tsunami and probably flooded Crete or most of it. I think this disaster encouraged the survivors to get the hell out of Dodge making the Minoan civilization vulnerable to invasion and annihilation. But this is just an opinion.

This Date in History May 21

1539 About 1500 a man later known as Estevan was born on the west coast of Morocco. At an early age he was sold into slavery and then to the Spanish explorer Andre de Carranza. Carranza was the leader of an ill-fated expedition to Florida in 1527 where through a series of disasters reduced the original force of 300 to only four men: Dorantes de Carranza, Cabeza de Baca, Alonzo Del Castillo and Estevan. These guys decided to live with the Indians on the Florida Gulf Coast for several years. They finally decided to head west with the hopes of reaching Mexico City. With the help of Spanish slave hunters; they reached Mexico City in 1536. Their tale of survival caused a sensation and the Spanish Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza decided to take advantage these men’s knowledge of the southwest area and organized an expedition looking for the alleged “cities of gold” in Pueblo country. The three white men said hell no. They had been gone for nine years and they wanted to go home. Estevan had no choice because he was a slave and off he went back where he came from. Estevan was leading the expedition commanded by Fray Marcos de Niza. As usual their was a Catholic friar along and several slaves to carry their supplies and they left Mexico City on March 7, 1539 headed into present day Arizona and New Mexico. The pious Marcos was irritated by Estevan’s penchant for turquoise and native women but he sent Estevan to scout ahead. Six days later Estevan sent word back to Marcos that he had encountered some Indians that had told him that wonderful things lay ahead. Marcos assumed that the “wonderful” things ahead were the fabled cities pf gold. On this date an Indian contacted Marcos to tell him the Estevan was dead. Marcos found out that on his previous transcontinental crossing, Estevan had found out that a gourd filled with pebbles and rattled was big medicine with the plains tribes. He tried that with the Pueblos and demanded women and treasure. The Pueblo were very suspicious of anything to do with the plains tribes, especially a black man demanding treasure. They held him for three days and then killed him on the present day Arizona border near Zuni, New Mexico. Upon hearing this, Marcos got his young ass back to Mexico City. Everybody thinks it was the Spaniard Coronado that was the first to penetrate the southwestern area of the present day United States, it wasn’t, it was a black slave named Estevan. If I was Estevan I would have just reported myself killed and been a free man. In fact, I would not choose to believe that baloney about a gourd filled with pebbles.

Born today:

427BC Greek philosopher Plato. He said “An empty vessel makes the loudest noise.”

That reminds me of this date I had once. We met at a seafood house in Birmingham, Al. We were trying to chat but she must have received 10 cell phone calls in 30 minutes. That ain't all, she also made several calls. I went to the bartender and explained to him was was happening and to cash me out as of this minute and anything after will be on her. He laughed out loud and said he had been watching and didn't blame me. I paid and walked out. Was I wrong?...maybe...but she was mega-rude...great legs, though.

A couple of days ago I was at a meeting of the Four O'clock Club and a couple came in and sat at the bar. The woman was typing on her I-Pad when she came in the door and had to be helped up on the bar stool because she would not take her eyes off the f—king I-Pad. She ordered her drink without taking her eyes off the I-Pad and was still at it when I left 45 minutes later...Great date, huh?

Died today:

1983 US philosopher Eric Hoffer. He said “Non-conformists normally travel in bunches. You rarely find a non-conformist that travels alone. And woe to him in the non-conformist clique who does not conform to non-conformity.” Eric, you were a hell of a philosopher.

      Thanks for listening       I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Wednesday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“Happiness is not a matter of events; happiness depends on the tides of the mind.”

                                        Alice Meynell

Does anyone know how the Arlington National Cemetery came into being? Arlington was originally a plantation owned by Robert E. Lee. Lee was offered command of the Union Army but offered his services to the Confederacy instead. He anguished over this decision but said the he could not “raise his hand to his state (Virginia), his friends and relatives”. Some of those Union soldiers killed in battles where Lee was in command of the Confederates were buried on Lee's Arlington plantation just for spite...believe it or not.

May 19, 1563 is the day that the wife of the king of England, Anne Boleyn, was beheaded by order of her husband Henry VIII. The supposed reality of the situation was that Henry wanted a divorce from Anne but the Catholic Church disallowed it. Henry then accused Anne of adultery and sentenced her to death by beheading with the broad axe. A few women later Henry wanted another divorce and the church disallowed it again so Henry told the Catholic Church to take a hike and formed his own church, thus the end of the divorce issues.

                This Date in History   May 20

1873 Earlier Loeb Strauss emigrated with his family from Bavaria to the United States. In 1847 his father died and he changed his first name to Levi and took control of his father’s dry goods business in New York. In 1853 Levi was drawn west by the gold rush and settled in San Francisco and established his own dry goods business. He primarily dealt in imported dry goods. One of his customers was Jacob Davis who manufactured work pants in Reno for the nearby miners. The only difference here was that Davis made his “waist overalls” out of denim and put brass rivets at all the stress points including the bottom of the fly. Davis was one of Strauss’ customers and on one particular visit Davis showed a pair of his work pants to Strauss. Davis made his work pants virtually one at a time and did not have the money to expand. Davis suggested to Strauss that they get together and manufacture the work pants on a much larger scale with Strauss providing the capital. Strauss agreed and moved Davis to San Francisco and they set up business and the Levi’s 501 jeans were born. On this date both Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis were awarded a patent for the now famous jeans. According to nearly every worldwide poll ever taken in the last 50 years, Levis is the most recognized brand name in the world beside Coca-Cola.

1969 After 10 bloody days and 10 even more bloody assaults on Hill 937 in Vietnam the United States and South Vietnam forces finally capture the crest. The soldiers that took the hill renamed it “Hamburger Hill” because it was such a meat grinder. On the same day, US Senator Edward Kennedy raised hell with the Nixon military policies in Nam and Hamburger Hill in particular saying that the American loss of life was unnecessary. Hill 937 was only 1 mile from the Laotian border and appeared to be necessary for watching the legendary Ho Chi Minh trail but after two days, the US army ordered the hill abandoned, saying it was just a diversion. It appears that Edward Kennedy was right after all. The next day the North Vietnamese soldiers moved back into their original position on hill 937 in a hell known as Vietnam and American soldiers were sent home in body bags from Hamburger Hill.

1956 In 1952 the United States detonated a hydrogen bomb in the Marshal Islands but that weapon was large, heavy and unwieldy and it was incapable of being dropped from a bomber making it a useless weapon. The device was brought to the Marshall Islands on a ship and lifted onto a tower. Three years later on this date an Air Force B-52 flying above 30,000 feet dropped a hydrogen bomb on the atoll of Bikini, also in the Pacific. The bomb had to be dropped deploying a large parachute to give the B-52 a chance of escape from the blast. The bomb detonated at an altitude of 15,000 feet and had the brightness of 500 suns. From that day onward, the world has always had the threat of a nuclear holocaust in the back of our minds. I cannot imagine a worse nightmare, but it is there. By the way, the first animal life found on Bikini after this blast was a rat and a cockroach. They opined the rat came ashore on a floating coconut and the cockroach probably came ashore in a bag of groceries from Wal-Mart.

2005 On this date Mary Kay Letourneau married Vili Faulaau. Y'all are wondering why this is significant. Well, ten years before Mary Kay was a second grade teacher in an elementary school near Seattle, Washington. This girl began a sexual relationship with 12 year old Vili who was one of her sixth grade students. In 1997 her activities were discovered and she was arrested. Mary Kay did not deny that she had been having sex with Vili for two years, but she said they were in love in spite of her being married and the mother of four children. Vili was now 14 years old. The judge cut her some slack and gave her a light sentence. When she was finally free, the first place she headed was to find Vili and get a little. She was caught in a car with Vili engaged in sex. This time she went to jail for some serious time right after she delivered the second child by Vili. She was released from jail in August 2004. On this date, she and Vili were wed. Vili was 22 and Mary Kay was 43. I do not see what a 34 years old mother of four would find sexually attractive in a 12 year old Polynesian kid. But there is a hell of a lot of things about women that disproves logic to me....and I can assure you I am not the only male with this malady. I was watching “Fatal Attraction” with a female friend a couple of years ago and I asked her if she thought that she could be capable of such actions. She said “Sure, under the right circumstances.” Lord have mercy.

Born today:

1799 French writer Honore de Balzac. He said “Bureaucracy is a giant mechanism operated by pygmies.” Hey Honore, do you know Barack Obama?

1806 English economist John Mills. He said “That so few dare to be eccentric marks the chief danger of our time” Hey John, Do you know Hillary Clinton?

1894 US writer Adele Rogers St. John. She said “There is so little difference between husbands you might as well keep the first.” It damn sure ain’t that way with wives, I want to tell you!

1908 US actor James Stewart. He said “When it came to kissing, Jean Harlow was the best.” Do any of you remember the best kisser you ever had?

1919 US comic George Gobel. He said I have never been drunk, but I have damn sure been over served.” Me too.

          Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Tuesday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“Major Reno, you attack from the east and I will swing around and attack from the north, we will surprise them.”

                 LT. Col. George A. Custer at Little Big Horn

I have voice my outrage at what I saw Monday morning. Jimmy Swaggart has a cable network channel and I pass by it while “surfing”. I cannot be sure but there was a man that looked a hell of a lot like Jimmy on camera, voice trembling and sounding like he was about to break out sobbing. He quoted a verse from the bible instructing everyone to support “The Temple” and it is the home of God on Earth. The camera scanned the congregation and there were people with their arms in the air and lips murmuring “Yes lord”, “Yes Lord”. The verse he was talking about is in the Old Testament and is instructing the Hebrews to help build the first temple in Jerusalem. There is no doubt in my mind that this man was using this verse to coax people to contribute to their “temple” in Baton Rouge. The temple in Jerusalem was NOT the home of God on Earth, it was supposed to be the permanent home of the Ark of the Covenant. How sacrilegious can you get? It is nauseating.

Why we are what we are. One of the most important inventions in the progress of humankind was the written language. Being able to write down and retain information was giant leap in the distribution of knowledge and retention of records that could be transported. The very first written language yet found was once again in the ancient area of Sumer which was in the northern end of the Persian Gulf. Many clay tablets with peculiar wedge shaped markings were found near some ancient ruins. It was obvious that the marks were made when the clay was damp and then allowed to dry. It took a while but these markings (called cuneiform) were eventually deciphered and to no one's surprise, most of them were records of domestic animal numbers and types. In those days a person's wealth was determined by how many cows, sheep and goats he/she had in their possession. In the very early times animals were also used as currency...that is until they discovered how to smelt metal including bronze, silver and gold. The use of written communications spread through out the area like wildfire because of the obvious advantages. The symbols used varied widely, however. There were some scripts that had symbols that represented a whole word or a thought. There were glyphs like those used in Egypt where a name of a person was contained in an oval called an ankh. Inside this oval would be individual symbols that when combined would identify the name of the person. It took a while before the Egyptian hieroglyphs were understood. In fact it was during the time of Napoleoon Bonaparte's occupation of Egypt that the Rosetta Stone was discovered. This stone had the same text written in three different languages, one of which was Greek. The Greek alphabet had been deciphered for many years and so it was simple to translate one language for another and the written ancient Egyptian language was conquered. The English language we speak today is a montage of several different ones but is based on the sound attributed to one letter or symbol. For instance English uses two letters for the sound of sh or th but the Russian language has only one symbol for these sounds. English also has words that have the same identical sound with different meanings like their, there and they're but are easily differentiated in the written form. We also use symbols like %, $ and +. Like I said, English is a montage of words and symbols that has been taken from other languages. The Mayan God of Storms was Huracan...I think you can see where I am going with this one. A stein is German. In old England there was a place called a gaol, that became jail. All of these advancements in communications has blessed us with mountains of the written word which captures human thought much to the benefit of all. Where would we be without it?

               This Date in History   May 19

1836   In 1832 the family of Cynthia Anne Parker and family moved from Illinois to west Texas to a place that later on became known as Parkers’s Fort which was located about 40 miles east of present day Waco, Texas. The Parker’s build a substantial stockade that, “could withstand a large attack under the most vigorous circumstance.” The Parkers became lax in their security and frequently left the huge gates open. On this date a combined force of Comanche, Caddo and Kiowa descended on Parker’s Fort and killed almost everybody except Cynthia Ann, her brother and sister who were juveniles and took them into captivity. After the Indians and their captives reached safe territory, they were divided amongst the attacking tribes. Cynthia Anne went to the Comanche. About four years later (Cynthia would have been about 13) a fur trapper saw her and attempted to buy Cynthia from the Comanche. The Comanche chief allowed the trapper to speak to Cynthia and he reported that all she did was not respond and stared at the ground the whole time. Four years later she was again spotted and she ran away and hid to keep from being questioned but she did but this time she said that she was happy as a Comanche and to leave her ass alone. She was about 17 years old at the time. During the interview she admitted that she was the wife of the sub-chief Peta Nacona. By all accounts Cynthia was very happy as the wife of Peta and bore him three children. Normally Comanche warriors had more than one wife but Peta was apparently happy with Cynthia and remained monogamous. Unfortunately Peta was also a warrior against the Anglos invading his tribal lands and made several raids on white settlers. As you might suspect, the US cavalry put Peta on their most wanted list and the eventually they killed Peta and captured Cynthia and her infant child Prairie Flower. By now Cynthia Anne was 34 years old. She was returned to an Anglo society very reluctantly and never adapted. She was taken to her uncle’s farm near Birdville, Texas but tried to run away several times. However, with her husband dead and her adopted people fighting a losing battle against the whites, she resigned herself to a miserable remainder of her life. Her only connection with her people was Prairie Flower and she died of pneumonia in1863. After this Cynthia gave up the will to live and starved herself into weakness and died of influenza in 1870. She was 40 years old. This is a sad tale about a person that was not allowed to live the life that she wanted and was forced to live the life as directed by others. It bothers the hell out of me.

1588  King Phillip II of Spain decided that he was fed up with Queen Elizabeth I of England backing and financing the Netherlands against Spain and constructed an enormous fleet of 130 ships including 30,000 troops and on this date the so-called “Invincible Armada” departed the Netherlands headed for England and an invasion. They would have gotten started sooner but English sea-dog Sir Francis Drake had found the fleet almost finished construction and sent in “fire ships” into the Spanish fleet eliminating the threat for several months. In the mean time, Drake sailed back to England and warned the Queen of the threat. By the time the Spanish Armada was prepared to cross from the Netherlands to England, the English fleet was ready. The Spanish Armada arrived in the English Channel and then the English fleet sailed out of Plymouth (been there) and met the Armada in mid-channel. About the time the two fleets met, an enormous storm struck the channel and all hell broke loose. The English marine captains were very familiar with rough weather and their ships were well built to handle it. The Spanish ships were built for speed and floundered badly in the rough seas. The Spanish fleet was scattered and King Phillip’s dreams of invading England went to the bottom along with his fleet and 30,000 troops.

   Thanks for listening    I can hardly wait until tomorrow