Wednesday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“It has been reported that Hillary Clinton will NOT run for President in 2016 because a brain tumor was discovered during a recent colonoscopy.”

                                 Dan “Sonofthebeach”

(A name of your choice is allowed to be substituted for Hillary)

A while back actress five time Oscar nominated actress Amy Adams was in line waiting to board a Delta Airlines flight from Detroit to Los Angeles. Beside her in line was a US Army soldier. She chatted with the soldier briefly then turned and spoke with her traveling companion. When they boarded Amy spoke briefly with one of the flight attendants and they guided the soldier to Amy's first class seat and she went to the back and sat down in the soldier's assigned”economy class” seat. This restores my faith in show biz people somewhat. Can y'all see this happening with Jane Fonda, Sean Penn, Leonardo DeCaprio or Angelino Jolie? Amy's father was in the military and she was born in Italy.

Strange happenings in Africa: Your military advisers in the good ole US has given the Nigerian army several F-16's to help fight the invading al-queda bastards that are trying take over the country from the north. The bad part is that these fighter/bombers ain't exactly a Piper Cub. They are a handful for even seasoned fighter pilots because of their complexity, speed and maneuverability. No one in the Nigerian army has ever flown an aircraft of any kind. It will take years for a rookie pilot to conquer an F-16 and fly it to its full capabilities in combat. I can assure you that for quite a spell the pilots that fly these aircraft will not be Nigerians. I wonder who they will be?

Back in the early 1840's a large wagon train was assembled near St. Joseph, Missouri headed west. Included in this group was the Morgan family consisting of John, Jane and two children. Somewhere in Nebraska John got into an argument with the wagon-master and he chose to set off alone across the great plains which was a very bad move. They had four oxen. It was hot as hell making the spokes in the wagon wheels to shrink and the wheels became unstable not to mention the oxen needed water frequently and so did John, Jane and the kids. One one occasion they decided to back the wagon into a river in to allow the wagon wheel spokes to swell and tighten up. Since they were on the great plains they just turned the oxen loose and made camp. They knew the cattle would not stray far from water. The next morning John sent his son to find the oxen and drive them back toward the camp. He did not return right away so John went looking. He did not return right away and their teen aged daughter went looking. Soon Jane heard a scream from her daughter, grabbed an ax and went the direction of the scream. She soon found that her son was dead, her husband tied to a tree and had been scalped alive and her daughter was naked on the ground being gang-raped by a group of Pawnees. Jane went crazy as hell and with and ax ran into the crowd of Indians and killed whoever was near . The Pawnees retreated under this onslaught because it was obvious that this white woman was “touched”. Within just a few hours Jane's daughter and husband died and she as all alone on the prairie. A few days later she was discovered by a couple of trappers who were afraid of her insanity also but chose to help her. Through the “mountain telegraph” several other trappers showed up and they built Jane a small cabin near the river. Every night at sundown Jane would scream in her grief and did this every night for the rest of her days. The Indians and the trappers kept their distance because she was armed but occasionally the trappers would sneak in at night and leave her food. She lived by herself loudly keening every night for about 20 years but died one winter after a severe blizzard which prevented her from hunting. She starved to death. There is a historical marker near Jane Morgan's cabin site. I could not find out where she is buried. By the way, there is a place called Crazy Woman Creek, Wyoming.

This Date in History July 1

1863 Two months earlier the Army of Northern Virginia, CSA General Robert E. Lee commanding, even though being out-manned and out-gunned, routed the Army of the Potomac, US General Joseph Hooker commanding at small village named Chancellorsville, Virginia. Lee and CSA President Jefferson Davis decided that the war needed to be introduced to the northern states in the hope that the outcry of the citizenry would force Lincoln to the negotiation table. They also wanted the war out of battle weary Virginia. On June 3 Lee assembled about 80,000 troops and began a slow march northward. The Army of the Potomac, after discovering Lee’s movement, assembled an army of 100,000 and shadowed Lee always staying between Lee’s army and Washington. US General Joseph Hooker was still in command even after the disaster at Chancellorsville. About two weeks later Hooker got fed up with the meddling of those in Washington and resigned. He was replaced with US General George Meade. A Confederate scout detected the lead elements of the Yankee army as being just a few miles from Lee’s right flank. So Lee turned his army eastward down the Chambersburg Pike to meet this threat. On this day, elements of CSA General Harry Heth’s division of A.P. Hill’s Corp engaged the dismounted cavalry of US Colonel John Buford east of the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Even though Buford was reinforced by elements of US General John Reynolds Corp, they were severely outnumbered and fell back through the town and dug in on Cemetery Ridge south of town. This was the opening shots of the bloodiest three days of combat ever fought on the North American continent. Incidentally, US General John Reynolds was killed by a Confederate sniper very soon after joining the fray.

Quotable quote:

“A conclusion is where you go to when you get tired of thinking”.

                              Andrew Bloch

“Maybe this world is another planet’s hell”.

                           Aldous Huxley

This man may have been to Morgantown, Pa.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Tuesday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“Take this kiss upon the brow!

And, in parting with you now,

This much let me avow-

You are not wrong who deem

That my days have been a dream;

Yet if hope has flown away

In a night, or in a day,

In a vision or in none,

Is it therefore less gone?

All we see or seem

Is but a dream within a dream.”

Edgar Allen Poe

The last stanza of this poem is on a sign over the bar in Poe's Tavern on Sullivan's Island, SC.

Will someone explain to to me why your President has chosen to provide financial SUPPORT to the Syrian insurgents and then send Black Ops troops to help the Iraqi government AGAINST their insurgents?

Johnny Manziel was in a Cleveland Browns rookie interview and was asked about his flamboyant off-the-field lifestyle...Johnny is a party animal. He stood up on his hind legs and stated that he was not going to change what he is for anyone. Apparently that includes the Cleveland Browns front office. I am with Johnny on this one. There is a clause in every NFL contract stating that ANY behavior that is detrimental to the NFL will not be tolerated. That is fine but do not expect someone to become the image of someone else's expectations no matter the money. There was a bunch of comments after this item, most saw Johnny a a cocky bastard...so was Joe Namath, Tom Brady, RG III, Michael Vick etc, etc, etc. This world is full of disturbed and downright crazy people along with billions of dollars spent on mood altering drugs because some people are trying to please others and feel like they are not successful. Not only that, the professional athlete catalog is full of party animals like Babe Ruth, Joe Namath, Ted Hendricks, Whitey Ford, Mickey Mantle and many, many others that are in their respective Halls of Fame. Over here is your job...and over there is your personal life. I will not allow anyone to dictate how I should live my personal life and neither should you. Your heart and soul are your most prized possessions cannot not be for sale.

I was watching Law and Order reruns a few days ago. I knew that Mariska Hargitay (Olivia Benson) was the daughter of blond bombshell Jayne Mansfield and decided to look into the history of Jayne. She was born in Bryn Mawr, Pa. and attended SMU, UT at Austin and UCLA. I did not look into how she got from Pennsylvania to Texas and California but she was a nude model for art classes at UT. When about 22 years old she was noticed by the entertainment industry primarily because of her kick-ass body but she was a pretty good singer also. She made several movies and was on many TV shows and plays. The fickleness of show business showed its ugly head and she was no longer in demand when she turned 32. She began appearing in night clubs one of which was Gus Stevens in Biloxi, Mississippi (been there). In the spring of 1967 she was working at this night club but one day she had an early morning radio show in New Orleans (about 100 miles). Gus Stevens loaned her his '66 Buick Electra 225 convertible to make the trip. Aboard during this trip there was Jayne, her boyfriend and her driver along with her three kids one of which was three year old Mariska. The adults were in the front and the kids were in the back. For reasons yet known the driver did not detect that a semi ahead had slowed way down because of a truck ahead of him was spraying for mosquitoes. At 2:25a near Slidell, La. the car caught up with the semi and ran under it killing the people in the front seat instantly but the kids (probably sleeping) were only slightly injured. It is generally reported that she was beheaded. The report I read said that was NOT TRUE. It was true that she had severe head trauma but the reason for the beheading report is because the photos of the wreck showed a hank of blond hair where the windshield used to be and people thought it was her head. It wasn't, it was the wig she was wearing but she was definitely killed. She was 34 years old.

Back to the Comanche. In the 1880’s the Comanches were acknowledged by military experts worldwide as being the finest light cavalry in the world. Their primary leader was Quanah Parker, a half breed. His mother was a white woman that had been captured at the age of 6 and spent 24 years with the Comanche. She bore her husband three children, one of which was Quanah. She was captured by the US Cavalry and sent back to her birth family. She strenuously objected to leaving her native family but was taken anyway. A while later she was dead. She refused to eat and starved to death. She was terminally homesick and wanted to go back home to her kids and husband. But others decided that the path to her happiness and contentment was not her decision to make. Does that sound familiar...very familiar?

This Date in History June 30

1775 The Continental Congress ratified the Articles of War to be sent to King George III. This was a year before the Declaration of Independence was ratified. The Articles of War begins with the phrase “As his majesty’s most faithful subjects in these colonies”, and it goes on to describe “attempts of the British ministry to carry out the execution, by force of arms, unconstitutional and oppressive acts by British Parliament with taxes on America.” The colonists could not believe that King George III would knowingly allow unfair treatment of his subjects and this was an attempt to notify him of it. This was not a condemnation of King George, but of Parliament. Well, King George not only did not agree with the colonists, he did not even read the Articles of War. With this the Colonists knew they were being raped with the approval and encouragement of King George III. After this, the wrath of the colonists turned from Parliament to King George himself. The Declaration of Independence attacks and accuses King George not Parliament. In the span of 12 months the colonists re-focused their venom on the King alone. All of this was stoked into an inferno in January of 1776 when Thomas Paine published Common Sense and it scathingly called King George everything but a white man and listed many unfair things that he had allowed to happen to the colonists. This was a clear act of treason as the British saw it and they began applying even more harsh pressure on the colonists. It did not work then, nor in 1812 and hopefully never.

“Smoking kills…If you are killed you have lost an important part of your life”

Professional moron, Brooke Shields

“Thank God I am an atheist.”

Luis Brunel

Shut up, Luis.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

     

 

Monday

Good morning,

Quote of the day

“I am not going to spend the later years of my life as a hermit so I can spend an extra two years in the geriatric ward.”

                                           George Carlin

How many of you are about to vomit because of the continued turmoil about the Confederate flag? This is the absolute last I will say about this issue. The media has decreed that you either have to be a racist or an activist dependent on which “side” you are on with relation to the flag. I am neither one, I am a historian but I do put a significance on this symbol. As I have said before, to me it represents the most tragic era this country has ever known. It represents the death of about 460,000 Americans by the most vile of means. The majority died from disease or infection because the importance of being sanitary and antiseptic was unknown at that time. But that is not what the media wants to hear. They want prejudice and hatred because it sells air time, magazines and newspapers, all other thoughts and opinions be damned. It also bothers me that the media somehow advocates the proposition that anyone born south of the 39^th north parallel and east of the 103^rd west meridian is ignorant...that somehow the geography of your place of birth has an influence on your intelligence. That thought is the ignorant one. Here is an example: I was working on an engineering project in eastern Pennsylvania. After work one day a man and a woman and I went to a local tavern. The man and woman were locals. Almost as soon as I opened my mouth one of the people in the bar said “Where the hell are you from?” I said “South Carolina”. There was a lot of snickering. Then one of the people I went there with said “Don't let his accent fool you, he is no dummy.” I eventually made friends with a lot of people there but the point is they originally believed that I was a dumb-ass because of my accent and was from “down south”. Where did that train of thought come from? It had to come from the media. There is your enemy.

The General Assembly of South Carolina has passed a law that allows the hunting of wild pigs and coyotes at night. I do not ever remember this area of the country having problems with coyotes but evidently they have become a nuisance as have the pigs. It has been reported that there is a large population of coyotes living very near the Greenville Downtown airport. It seems that the two main runways are built on large embankments and the coyotes dig into the side and make dens. They are very smart and efficient hunters, including targeting family pets. They also are subject to rabies and will attack humans if they thing they are in danger. The wild pigs are another story. I used to deer hunt in swamps down on the Carolina coast and wild pigs were common. It seems that hunters from other parts of the state have been trapping wild boars and sows and moving them into private hunting preserves in the upstate to give the owners game to hunt. The problem with that is a wild sow can deliver a litter of 8 to 10 piglets twice a year. Assume that you place 5 sows in one area. You do the math on how many wild pigs you could have in a very short period of time. They also become menacing but it isn’t their fault, it is the fault of those supposedly great hunters. In the swamps the pigs have bear, bobcat, panthers and even packs of bear dogs that run them down and kill them. That is not true elsewhere in the state. You mess with Mother Nature nothing ever good comes from it.

I guess y'all saw that the monument in Charleston to John C. Calhoun was defaced by someone spraying “racist” in red. It is true that Calhoun was an advocate of slavery but he was also the Vice-President of the United States, Secretary of State, Secretary of War, a US Senator and Representative from the state of South Carolina. I would like for the small minded person that did the spraying to tell us what contribution he/she has made to society. That monument has been there for over 100 years and has never been touched...that is until people from out of state showed up expecting a riot so they could burn and loot like they did in Ferguson and Baltimore. That is speculation, of course, but as I have said before the Charlestonians have too much class to do something that tacky...not to mention climbing a flag pole.  

              This Date in History   June 29

1776 South Carolina representative to the Continental Congress, Edward Rutledge, sent a letter to John Jay of New York expressing his misgivings about independence from Great Britain. Both he and John Jay were ambivalent on this issue. It is understandable since both Edward and his brother John were educated in England with both becoming lawyers and members of the Continental Congress. Both were very successful with their Charleston, South Carolina clientele and they lived across the street from each other. Finally, Edward relented and did sign the Declaration of Independence being the youngest signer at the age of 27.

1993 On this date a knife-wielding man broke into the Allentown, Pennsylvania home of Denise Sam-Cali and tried to rape her. A struggle ensued but the rapist succeeded in raping Denise on the front lawn. He then stabbed Denise trying to kill her but she fought him off and the rapist ran away. This courageous woman would play a big role in the resolution of this crime. On the 9^th of July a 15 year old girl is abducted and her body was found by a reservoir stabbed 22 times. She had been raped also. On the 15^th of July a five year old girl was abducted and raped and the attacker unsuccessfully tried to strangle her. Then on the 19^th of July the house of Denise Sam-Cali was broken into while she was away. The police decided to set a trap and staked out Sam-Cali’s house and left a window enticingly open. On July 30 a man crawled into the open window and was greeted by a policeman and a gunfight ensued. The intruder crashed his way out through another window and fled. A few hours later, career criminal Harvey Robinson staggered into a hospital with two gunshot wounds. While waiting he was recognized by a policeman and Harvey fled with the cop in close pursuit. The cops ran Harvey down and arrested him. He went to trial and was easily convicted due to the DNA evidence that they retrieved from Denise Sam-Cali’s clothing. Denise had carefully laid aside her underclothing she had on during the rape just for this eventuality. Harvey got the death penalty. I wish I could designate the type of death to be given to animals like this. If I could, I promise you crimes of this sort would drop precipitously.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Friday

Good morning,

Leslie: This is for you and Boo. I think both of you have been touched with compassion.

Quote of the day:

“Our sorrows and wounds are healed only when touched with compassion.”

Buddha

After retiring I spent a year researching the Egyptians, a year on the Vikings, not enough time on Great Britain, a lot of time on the Comanche and a lot of time on the American Civil War and that research continues. I cannot lay aside the greatest tragedy that ever befell this nation and I learn something new almost every day. I know of some of the heroes and some of the villains both blue and grey. History shows that there is no question that slavery was an issue...but not the only issue. It is true that the United States advocated slavery for many years as was the norm for that time period...that is just the way things were. Our ancestors also advocated genocide. It was in their best interest to keep the slaves alive but they also felt it was in their best interest to eliminate all the Native Americans so they could take their lands uncontested...and they came within a gnat's ass of succeeding. Strangely, the Native Americans dealt in slavery also and had been doing so long before the arrival of the Europeans. I am fortunate to have much of this history in my mind and on my hard/thumb drive(s). I know something about what really happened and I feel sorry for those of you that don't. Nearly all of those present day orators don't know what the hell they are talking about. I laugh at them a lot but frown a lot when I realize that others believe them. Here is a prime example from the prince of morons, Al Sharpton. He saw a street named “General Lee Blvd” and blurted out that the name should be changed. There was a Patriot named General Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee that was instrumental in the defeat of the British during the Revolutionary War. Is that who Sharpton is talking about? Or was it Henry's son Robert E. Lee who was a superintendent at West Point? Going by Sharpton's scathing logic all the places with names like Washington (George), Jefferson (Thomas), Madison (James), Monroe (James), Grant (Ulysses S.) should be changed because all of them, among many others, or their families were slave holders. The home of the Green Berets, Fort Bragg, NC, needs to be changed also because there was a Confederate General named Braxton Bragg. I could go on for several pages but I think all of you understand what I am talking about. Do not pay any attention to the Reverend Sharpton because he may be the most uninformed jackass in North America. His purpose in life is to create turmoil not resolve it. If there was a semblance of tranquility he would not have a purpose...he doesn't anyway.

Are any of y'all sick and tired of seeing apparently addicted people fooling around with some kind of hand held electronic device no matter when or where they are? Me too. Here is a story that makes me smile.

Up near Minneapolis a man broke into a house to burglarize. He gathered up several valuables but could not resist going on the homeowners computer and signing on to Facebook...but he left without signing off. The homeowner had no trouble finding out who had been in his house and went to the burglar's home page and left him a message saying “You have a few things that belong to me” and told him to meet with the homeowner at a remote location to give them back. The burglar agreed and showed up at the meet wearing the homeowner's watch. Of course the homeowner had a few cops with him and now the burglar is looking at about 20 years in the joint plus he is in the running for the title of the stupidest human in the western hemisphere...beside Al Sharpton.

Recently some American film maker decided to make a movie that is a comedy about planning the assassination of the present day ruler of North Korea. Recently that jackass demanded that the United States ban this this movie and called it “an act of war” if they didn't and he also promised “unmerciful” retaliation. I don't know if this imbecile was brain damaged during birth or not but I can assure you that China, his neighbor to the north will rein his ass in if he begins anything resembling war with anyone over a movie not to mention, France, England, Germany, Russia and many other countries that know this moron is on the ragged edge of sanity and blows a hell of a lot of smoke but they can't take a chance. They all have nuclear submarines, warships or long range bombers that have Pyongyang targeted.

I read about an event that happened up in Philadelphia. There was a concert by a rap artist in a local theater. There was a young teenager standing in line wearing some pretty fancy sneakers. They were “Michael Jordon's” at about $150 a pair. Someone in line noticed the shoes, went over to the kid and threw him down and tried to take his shoes. Several of the other people in line came to the kid's rescue and beat the holy crap out of the attacker...in fact they capped him. Everyone got back in line and when the cops came...nobody had seen anything. That is until a forensics team arrived and then the kid with the shoes told what happened but absolutely would not identify anyone. I have mixed emotions here...no I don't, I am glad it happened.

Quotable quotes:

“Sir you are one of the most foul, disgusting, immoral, perverted men I have ever known. Have you ever considered a career in the church?”

                                     James Blackadder

“Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.”

                                                     Mark Twain

I don't know about all that but I remember seeing my 3^rd ex-wife nude for the first time...it had an influence.

“You don’t have to be a genius to play football. I mean a genius like Norman Einstein”

                                         Joe Theisman

“When women hold back from marrying men it is called independence but when men hold back from marrying women it is called fear of commitment.”

                                    George Carlin

          No George, it is called having a divine revelation.

       Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Thursday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“Life is a smorgasbord. Take a little bite of different parts of it every day.”

                                              Al Campbell

I have been reading with interest about what is happening to Glen Campbell. Glen started having symptoms of Alzheimers in 2011. Here of late the 78 year old “Rhinestone Cowboy” had a turn for the worse and his wife Kim of 32 years put him in a long term care facility upon the suggestion of the family doctor. Glen's stepdaughter began raising hell in assorted country music publications saying that she wanted to take Glen to her home in Arizona because she did not believe he was getting adequate care in Nashville. Glen's wife said that of all the people in the world she wanted what was the best for Glen. She said that the specialists in the facility were all Glen Campbell fans and his care was exceptional. She said that she visits Glen every day and his two daughters who live in the Nashville area visit him weekly. Not only that, some of the musicians in Nashville and elsewhere visit Glen regularly and play for him and occasionally Glen will join in. My mother died of this unbelievable horrible affliction and it was torture to see what was happening to this once vibrant woman who, along with my father, were my best friends and will not be forgotten.

I am glad to report to y'all the that country music singer/pianist Mickey Gilley is negotiating with the city fathers of Pasadena, Texas to open his world famous bar once again. He has been in Branson, Missouri along with several others but he is from the deep south as is his cousin, Jerry Lee Lewis, both of which grab my heart when singing Hank Williams or nearly every song they choose...they have heart y'all. Pasadena, Texas is a suburb of Houston. I was assigned an engineering project in LaPorte, Texas and was looking forward to going to “Gilley's”. It used to be the largest bar in the US, but it burned to the ground (for the third time as I recall) before I could get there. LaPorte is about 30 miles from Pasadena and about 20 miles from Houston. In my head I can hear Mickey and/or Jerry Lee singing “Born To Lose” playing that honky-tonk piano.

A while back the Brussels, Belgium police with a search warrant in hand, raided the home and office of a Roman Catholic Archbishop named Godfried Daneels. The cops captured a lot of written material and the hard drive out of his computer. Y’all can guess what the raid was all about but it was in connection with the sexual abuse of minors. The police were not specific if they were looking for evidence against the Archbishop himself of for information about others that participated. The cops did say that the Archbishop was fully cooperating. There is no telling for how long or how much abuse of children has been evident over the centuries.

This Date in History June 25

1876 Earlier the US Army tasked three US cavalry commanders to form three columns and proceed to south and central Montana and round up the hostile Sioux and Cheyenne and escort them to reservations. A few days earlier the main column of US General John Gibbon was attacked by over 2,000 Sioux warriors and was forced to retreat and re-group. This critical information never reached the other two columns thus informing them of the number of hostiles out there. Anyway, it was on this day that one of the divisions of US General Terry; the 7^th Cavalry commanded by Colonel George Custer approached an area of Montana known as Greasy Grass to the Indians. Several of Custer’s Crow and Shoshone scouts returned to Custer with word of the largest Indian gathering ever seen on the northern plains and suggested they wait for reinforcements. Custer blew them off and said they were exaggerating. They were not exaggerating, there were over 5,000 Sioux and Cheyenne led by Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull. Custer ordered his troops into a two pronged attack formation. The Crow and Shoshone scouts asked for time to sing their death songs but Custer refused and launched the attack. He sent Major Benteen and Major Reno and their commands to attack from the east and Custer swung around and attacked from the north. From the time the first shot was fired an estimated 2,500 wild-eyed Sioux and Cheyenne warriors swarmed out of the sea of teepees and delivered the mother of all ass-kickings. Major Benteen and Major Reno were immediately overwhelmed and were forced to dismount and fight from cover. They eventually retreated in a rout and were forced to leave Custer alone When Custer saw the overwhelming number of warriors approaching, he hastily established a defense perimeter but it was too little too late. Crazy Horse surrounded the small group and picked them off one at a time until they were all dead. Then the worst happened. The Sioux and Cheyenne women came in and heavily mutilated the dead troopers. It was their belief that if a man’s body was not complete, he could not go to heaven (happy hunting ground). 227 US cavalry troopers were massacred on this day, but the Indians paid a price that has been exacted every day since.

1864 On this date US Colonel John Pleasance with the help of some Pennsylvania coal miners begins digging a tunnel under the Confederate line at Petersburg hoping to break the stalemate. Pleasants was convinced by the miners that they could dig a tunnel under the Confederate breastworks pile in tons of black powder and literally blow a hole. After a period of time the miners came to Pleasants and told him that the tunnel was finished and so Pleasants persuaded his superiors to give him the gunpowder needed and he had his miners stack the gunpowder in the end of the tunnel and lit it off. A gigantic explosion resulted in a hole being blown in the Confederate breastworks but another thing happened that was unexpected. In addition to the blast going upward, it went downward also resulting in a steep-walled hole 30 feet deep. A division of US troops (mostly black) were ordered into the gap. A few Confederates atop the breastworks were killed in the blast but when the Confederates recovered, they just leaned over the edge of the hole and slaughtered the troops that were trapped in the bottom of the hole unable to escape. War is hell.

1796 Russian ruler Czar Nicholas I. He said “I do not rule Russia: Ten thousand clerks do.” Nothing has changed has it?

1865 US painter Robert Henri. He said “There are very few people who think what they think they think.” Hey Robert, what have you been smoking?”

1875 English politician Earnest Benn. He said “Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly and providing the wrong remedy,” Sounds like just another day at the office of the Democrats to me.

1945 US singer Carly Simon. She said of her divorce from singer/songwriter James Taylor she said “Basically he refused to dress up like Louis XIV before we had sex; I demand that in my man....” That is too bad Carly, I understand what you mean because I want my partner to dress up like Sacagawea; I demand that in my women.

              Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Wednesday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“The Washington Redskins need to change their disgusting and demeaning name back to just “The Redskins”.

                                          Ruth Buzzi

Thanks to the civility of those in Charleston we here in South Carolina have a great opportunity to take a giant leap toward better race relations...that is unless it becomes a launching pad for the politicians.

Your President has decided to sent 450 “advisers” to help the Iraqi government with the “insurrection” presently under way. The present Iraqi government is entirely Shiite and the insurrectionists are Sunnis. The Sunnis and Shiites are people of differing religious beliefs. Each one of them believes that Allah means for them to rule the Arab world if not the entire world and they have been fighting about this issue since about 800AD. It is a religious war, y'all! America should not take sides...but we have. We are sending help to the Shiites and can expect retaliation by the Sunnis and your President has acknowledged this. There have been wars in Europe over religion many, many times including nine Crusades and nothing good ever comes from it. We have not learned a damned thing. There are two tribes in central Africa known as the Tutsis and the Hutus. They hate each other for reason unknown and have fought for centuries including an untold number of massacres of each other. Why doesn't the good ole USA do something about this destruction of humanity? Answer: They don't have any oil.

I had occasion to visit with my brother recently. He and I often discuss space travel and the colonization of another planet. We always come to the same conclusion. We have no way to overcome the enormity of time and distance with our present technology...we ain't going nowhere. The closest star system is Alpha Centauri which is about 4.7 light years away. This means that it would take 4.7 years traveling at the speed of light to get there. This velocity is impossible because of the enormous amount of fuel required to accelerate to that speed. Even if we were able to achieve 1/10^th the speed of light it would take about 47 years to get there and 47 years back. Even this speed is unimaginable to present day physicists. But if it was this would mean that two generations would be born and die aboard the vehicle while in transit. Not only that, according to Albert Einstein, at that speed time would slow down to about 1/7 that of Earth. The vehicle and the people aboard would have aged about 94 years but Earth would have aged about 650 years. Would the Earth still exist after that time span? Would the mission still be remembered? Here is something to consider. Look up at the sky and pick out a star. It is likely that the light from that star has been traveling toward Earth for millions if not hundreds of millions of years. This means that you are looking into the past. That star may have exploded thousands of years ago but light from that event has not yet arrived. It is tough to wrap you head around, isn't it?

This Date in History June 24

1997 On this day the United States issued its final report on the 1948 incident at Roswell, New Mexico. The locals in the area had reported that a space ship in the shape of a disc had crashed in the desert on a ranch owned by J. J. Brazell. While riding patrol on the ranch, Brazell ran across some scattered metallic debris and two bodies, one alive and the other dead. His descriptions of the bodies are what you imagine them to be today. Big head, small torso, large almond shaped eyes, almost no nostrils or lips, very short and skin with a greenish tint. The local newspaper printed that it was indeed a “flying saucer” and the bodies were those of alien beings. Well, United States Air Force officers and other government officials descended on Roswell and the alleged crash site like locusts and spirited away any scrap of evidence including the bodies. The next day the local newspaper reported that it was a high altitude balloon that had crashed with two dummies that were to be used for high altitude parachute tests. And that is the report that was issued on this date as the “official’ report on the incident and the US government would no longer discuss the incident. There are two things that keep my interest alive when it comes to this and that is soon after the Government officials departed the Roswell area, a hangar at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio became restricted with an armed AP’s guarding it. Wright-Patterson was noted for its medical facilities on site. Another thing was the extraordinary activity near Grooms Lake, Nevada. This place eventually became the infamous Area 51. By the way, if you have “Google Earth” software, you can crank in ‘Grooms Lake” or just look at the west central area of the Nevada desert and , Voila!, there is an airport with two very, very long runways and various and assorted buildings in a place where the US Government says that there is no such place. I look at it frequently and can see aircraft on the ground but I am unable to determine what kind. Secret bases always make me suspicious.

1812 After Czar Alexander I rejected the “continental” plan as described by Napoleon Bonaparte making Napoleon the ruler of the European continent, Napoleon assembled what he calls the “Grand Armee” in anticipation of the invasion of Russia. Napoleon has amassed over 500,000 troops for this adventure. On this day, the invasion began. Napoleon made the same mistake Hitler made 30 years later. He waited too long before advancing. The result was that winter arrived before their objectives were met. Anyway, when Napoleon and his army arrive at the gates of Moscow and Petersburg in the middle of the winter, suddenly he smelled smoke and soon all of Moscow is an inferno. The Russians had move out into the countryside carrying their extra food and supplies with them and burned any building that could be used as shelter denying Napoleon and his army protection from the fierce Russian winter that was already upon them. Napoleon had no choice but head his young ass back to France. The Russian army was waiting. At nearly every bridge the Russians would wait until the majority of the troops were across and then burn the bridge stranding some of Napoleon’s troops on the other side where they were massacred by the awaiting Russians. Anyway, Napoleon arrived back in the Balkans with just over 100,000 troops. That right folks, he had lost 400,000 troops. This adventure by Napoleon is one of the worst military disasters in recorded history.

Born today:

1842 US writer Ambrose Bierce. He said there are four kinds of murder. “Felonious, excusable, justifiable and praiseworthy.” Does anyone know a person that fits the last two?

1915 English astronomer Sir Fred Doyle. He said “Space is not that far away. You can reach it in your car in a couple of hours if you drive straight up.”

1946 US politician Robert Reich. He said “In Washington it is dog eat dog. In academia it just the opposite.”

                  Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Tuesday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“Go for it today. The future is promised to no one.”

William Dyer

Monday I wrote that when it came to the Confederate flag I was only interested in the military aspect plus what resulted, what was the cost and what did we learn. Here is my answers:

The result was a UNITED States sealed with blood. The cost was about 460,000 AMERICANS which is more that all other wars America has been involved in combined. Militarily we learned that an army with superior leadership can be defeated by logistics. We learned that the President can suspend the Bill of Rights. We learned that a the president can issue a directive that applies to one section of the nation and not others. The Emancipation Proclamation freed the slaves in the “states in rebellion”. There were 4 slave states that were not part of the “rebellion” and this proclamation did not apply to them and they remained slave holding until the end of the war. Americans have proven time and again that we squabble amongst ourselves but when real danger arises we respond together. I think my outlook on the flag in question is more gratifying than believing it is hatred and racism. By the way, Governor Nikki Haley has decreed that the Confederate flag on the South Carolina state grounds be moved to a museum. There is still a tall monument to those South Carolinians killed in that tragic war on the state capitol grounds. What happens to it?

Yesterday Ben Carson was being interviewed and was asked about the Confederate flag and he said “The flag is of no consequence, it is the hearts and minds that count.” We must be aware that the media thrives on controversy and if there is none, they will invent some. Remember the souls lost in Mother Emanuel AME church in Charleston plus the march over the Ravenal bridge on Sunday, June 21 by Charlestonians and others of all creeds and ignore the pot-stirring media. They do not want peace and understanding...hatred sells air time, advertising and newspapers.

Here is something to contemplate. Assume you are an alien along with thousands of others in a vessel on your way from another solar system to visit Earth for the first time. You have established contact with people on Earth and they know you are coming. Knowing what you know about the history of mankind, where would you choose to land today to expect the least hostility? Keep in mind that ever since the beginning of recorded history there has always been turmoil somewhere on the planet.

Along the same lines...How would you as a resident of Earth feel about the arrival of such a vessel?

The past revisited:

That gadabout Governor of South Carolina Mark Sanford has once again gone on vacation without informing Lieutenant Governor Andre Bauer. It has been confirmed that he spent two days with his four sons over Father’s Day on Sullivan’s Island, SC. The Governor was back in his office a day late. His staff claimed that he was never out of touch with his office. There was a small change this time. He was accompanied by a couple of SLED agents at the behest of SLED Commander Reggie Lloyd. To those that are unaware, SLED is the law enforcement arm of the Attorney General of South Carolina. The latest rumor on the street is that the reason the Governor went to Argentina come hell or high water was that his “soul mate” was delivering their child that week. A continuation of this saga is that Sanford moved his “soul mate” and their child to the vicinity of Columbia, South Carolina as soon as the child was old enough. Like I say, this is just rumor but it would explain a lot of things. By the way, on this last vacation the Governor’s location other than Sullivan’s Island to see his son’s, is unknown…except to the SLED agents. Later on it was confirmed that the Governor's mistress and child did indeed move to the Columbia, SC area.

Recently the ex-mayor of North Charleston, South Carolina Bobby Kinard had convinced himself that his wife was cheating on him. He retrieved a firearm and went to her apartment. The man that Bobby thought was his wife’s paramour was there and Bobby shot him. The man was just wounded but when a police car pulled up outside Bobby blew his own brains out. His wife said that he had been suffering from post traumatic stress disorder from his days as a helicopter door gunner in Nam. His depression was so severe lately that he was seeing a psychiatrist and taking powerful anti-depressants. He talked frequently about being in combat but to make matters worse, his son was in a combat unit in Afghanistan. His wife claimed that the man Bobby wounded was just her friend. At one point in my life I was accused by a very jealous husband of being the lover of his wife. They were going through a very bitter divorce at the time. I was not even a friend of this woman much less a lover but I could have ended up very dead. I just kept a lot of space between me and that man and woman until everything calmed down. No, I did not pursue her even then; I was not going to take a chance.

There is a restaurant in Gulf Shores, Alabama named “Lulu’s”. The owner is Lucy Buffett who has a famous brother named Jimmy. A while back Lucy announced that she was working up a free concert on the beach starring Jimmy Buffet and the Coral Reefers Band, Kenny Chesney and the Zac Brown Band. The tourist industry in Gulf Shores was suffering because of the oil spill and Lucy and her brother want to encourage people to come anyway. Jimmy and Lucy are Mobile, Alabama natives but spent many, many hours on the beach at Gulf Shores and the Flora-Bama Lounge in particular. I wonder how long those tickets lasted.

This Date in History June 23

1996 On this date John Gotti, better known as the “The Teflon Don”, is sentenced to life without parole on a RICO charge. A RICO charge is about racketeering but Gotti was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and extortion. He had been arrested and put on trial and had been acquitted many times thus the nickname “Teflon Don”. Gotti was raised on the mean streets of Brooklyn, New York and became a member on organized crime at an early age. He was an enforcer or one who collected money due the organization by what ever means it took, including murder. He worked his way up to a “capo” or a captain which was third in line to the “Don” or the head of the organization. Gotti was an ambitious devil and decided that the wanted to be the head of his organization which was a branch of the Gambino crime family. The leader of Gotti’s group was Paul “Big Paul” Castellano. Castellano was a tall man with salt and pepper wavy hair. After a while Gotti decided that he had reached a point where he needed to take over the leadership so he did the honorable thing. He sent three assassins to Sparks Steak House in Brooklyn and awaited the arrival of Big Paul who was known to be coming there for supper. Sure enough Big Paul and the driver of his limo Anthony “Fat Tony” Bilotti arrived and the assassins open up with a hailstorm of automatic gunfire and Big Paul and Fat Tony are dead before they hit the sidewalk. The next day began the reign of John Gotti. Gotti died a horrible death in prison from cancer of the throat. God works in mysterious ways.

Born today:

1876 US writer Irving Cobb. Upon hearing that his boss was sick he said “My God, I hope it is nothing trivial.”

1925 NFL team owner Art Modell. He said “The power and presence of a professional football team in a town is far more important that 30 libraries.”
Shut up Art, you dumb-ass.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Monday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“Men approach sex like playing a game of pinball. We don't have any idea of the inner workings or what we should do to win, we are just going to keep the ball in play as long as possible.”

Tim Steeves

We are all familiar with what happened last Wednesday in the Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC. There is no explaining the actions of a twisted mind. I do not have an answer to that one...and neither does anyone else. Your President chose jump aboard the anti-gun boat while offering his condolences to those in Charleston. This was certainly not the time or place to promote his political agenda. Make no mistake, the bad guys already have their guns and additional or stricter laws will not change that. I can assure you that the Hell's Angels, the Banditoes, the Outlaws, the Mongols and smaller associated clubs (remember Waco a few weeks ago) along with the Mexican and Central American drug cartels like MS-13 and each and every street gang and organized crime crew is heavily armed already. Anyway, the Charleston shooter got his weapon as a gift. Jon Stewart mentioned that there are streets in Charleston named after Confederate Generals. Jon, wake up...some of those Generals became senators and governors. There are also streets named after Revolutionary War Generals, WWI Generals, WWII Generals, War of 1812 Generals not to mention Martin Luther King, Jr. and George Rogers, a Heisman Trophy winning football player. Racial intolerance does not start from, nor is it sustained by, the name of streets nor the appearance of flags, it begins and is sustained in the home.

Here is my thoughts on the Confederate flag. To me it symbolizes the death of over 460,000 AMERICANS in the most tragic event in this country's history. I really don't give a shit what caused that war but I am interested in what resulted, what was the cost and what we learned from it. To suggest that everyone that is NOT offended by this flag is a racist makes you the stupid bigot, not me. I am a historian...I know what price was paid by the soldiers on both sides in these four years of obscene carnage. I can't forget that. It has been my experience that everyone that belittles the American Civil War has no understanding of what happened and are just parrotting other people's thoughts. I invite all of you out there to read about Fredericksburg, Shiloh, Cold Harbor, Antietam, Gettysburg and Chickamauga just to name a few. There were also several diaries written by soldiers of both sides and none of them mention that they are fighting to keep slavery or free the slaves. Most of the Union diarists say they were fighting to preserve the Union and the Confederates say they are fighting because they felt they were being invaded but a large number of them on both sides said that they joined up just because they were bored at home. I am not interested in what the politicians crow about but I am interested in what is in the minds of the young men pulling the trigger. That is what war is all about and always has been. Many, many soldiers have been interviewed after a bloodbath and every time when asked why they fought so hard, they say “I did not want to let my unit down.” It certainly was not because of some lofty ideal. After four days and nights fighting for their lives around the Chosin Reservoir in North Korea, “George” company of the 5^th US Marines was relieved. A news reporter asked one exhausted Marine what he would like most of all and he said “Just give me tomorrow”...he did not say that he wanted peace and freedom for the people of South Korea...and I don't think he gave a shit about what caused the war either.

To all of you hypocrites that suggest that South Carolina is a hotbed of racism: If you are a honkie why don't you go take a walk somewhere north of 125^th street in NYC after midnight...or down Agnew Road here in Greenville, SC....or on the north side of Chicago...or if you are black go take a walk on the south side of Boston in an Italian community...or in the Brighton Beach area of NYC...Well, why not? After all, this is the land of the free and the home of the brave isn't it? I personally don't give a damn whether the flag flies ot not, but don't tell me that the only place racial prejudice exists in near the Confederate flag in South Carolina. That is ignorant. Clean up you own damned neighborhood...or shut the hell up...by the way, Mitt Romney can kiss my ass. Hey Mitt, why don't you go up to Detroit, walk around a while and then come back and tell me about the racial serenity you found...if you are not killed by a street gang.

I am really proud at the response of those people of all races and creeds in Charleston...they drew together. But I knew that would happen rather than a mob stripping and burning down a CVS pharmacy or two and throwing rocks at the police. There is no question that it is because those people in Charleston have class, y'all. A city councilman from Charleston was interviewed on CNN and he was asked about the political ramifications of this event. In a very soft voice and excellent enunciation with a definite southern drawl this elderly black man said “We have nine funerals to arrange and grieve about. There will be plenty of time later on for all of that.” The newsman stood there in stunned embarrassment...and he should have.

I saw a program on OWN that was interesting:

The program was about the content of the human face as being beautiful or not. Plastic surgeons have the dimensions down to the millimeter of what makes human faces beautiful. I mean the distance between the eyes, the width of the face, the location of each part of the face relative to each other, the width of the nose and lips, etc. Guess what they used as a model? That's right y'all, they used Nefertiti. This woman was the queen to Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten (probably King Tut's father) and a finely sculpted and painted limestone bust of her was found in 1912 by an archaeological team. There is little question that her face is one of the most beautiful I have ever seen but to try to sculpt a living person to look like Nefertiti is ludicrous...but very profitable. “Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder” is a phrase first uttered in 3^rd century Greece. After seeing this program I would paraphrase it to “Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder...or what you have been told it is.”

                Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow