Friday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

”In time of war God smiles on the side with the most artillery.”

                                       George S. Patton

As of this writing it looks like the wing segment and the debris that washed up on Reunion Island in the western Indian ocean is more than likely from MH370 that disappeared 16 months ago. I looked into where they were searching right after and the disappearance and the location of Reunion Island. Reunion Island is about 2,940 miles northwest of where the search area was. According to NOAA it is possible for the debris to have been caught in the South Equatorial Current and made it to Reunion Island in this length of time dependent upon how far south of the equator the plane crashed...or it crashed at lot further west than the searchers calculated.

A while back down in Anderson, SC there was a killing. There is a late night joint there that finally closed the doors at about 4:30AM on a Saturday morning. There evidently been a hell of a fight inside and a someone reported that one of the fighters flashed a gun. The owner and a couple of bouncers ran every body out and tried to hold them in the parking lot for the police. One pickup truck with a female driver and a male companion tried to escape and almost ran over one of the “security guards”. The guard was armed, y'all...and he fired a couple of rounds at the pickup. Very soon thereafter the truck hit a tree. The cops found that both the driver and the passenger had been hit...the female was dead at the wheel. The passenger will live...but it was found that he was also armed. Sounds like great place to party doesn't it?

Up in Asheville, NC for 35 years they have held a three day street party this time of year. The last one was held a few years ago. The city fathers decided decided not to cough up the $450,000 to finance this shindig...even though it attracted thousands of visitors and millions of dollars. In the later years the festival was plagued with gangs harassing and robbing the festival goers and “street preachers” on many corners telling everyone about their sins in spite of beer, wine and booze flowing like the French Broad river. The party goers and the preachers had verbal exchanges that almost reached the boiling point. A lot of people believe that it was this evangelism, especially anti-gay signs and subjects of sermons that doomed the festival named Bele Chere. Many people are glad it is over so these problems will disappear, not be resolved...disappear. It is my belief that my religion and my association with God is a personal issue... God and I will resolve issues in my life and no one else needs to be included. Does that make me an infidel? No one can answer that you would be playing God...and believe me, you ain't qualified.

This Date in History July 31

1777   On this date a 19 year old Frenchman named Marquis de Lafayette joined George Washington’s Continental army as a Major General. Earlier Continental Congress secret envoy to France, Silas Deane had persuaded French military expert Baron Johan De Kalb and his protegee Marquis de Lafayette to offer their services to the fledgling United States in its war with England. The ruling monarch of France was King Louis XVI and he knew that any support sent to the colonies by France would result in war with England and forbade DeKalb and Lafayette from donating their expertise. In fact the British demanded that the ship Lafayette was aboard to be captured and Lafayette imprisoned. This in fact did happen but Lafayette escaped and boarded another ship that was able to evade the pursuing British ships. Lafayette finally arrived in South Carolina and made his way north and met up with Washington. The Continental Congress was reluctant to bestow such a rank on such a young man but Washington’s influence prevailed and Lafayette was given the rank. Lafayette served with distinction at the Battles of Brandywine, Monmouth and Rhode Island. After the United States and France signed a treaty, as expected, England declared war on France. This disturbed Lafayette and he requested to return to his homeland and see what Louis XVI had in mind for him in the war against England. He returned to France but came back to the United States and joined with Washington once again. He was at Yorktown, Virginia when British General Charles Cornwallis and his entire army were forced to surrender which virtually assure a Patriot victory in their war for independence. In fact, it was Lafayette that cut off the retreat of Cornwallis’ army forcing his surrender. After this, Lafayette returned to France to offer his services to that nation in turmoil.

1975 The leader of the powerful Teamsters Union of America, Jimmy Hoffa, is reported missing in Detroit. Jimmy had been waiting in the back seat of his Cadillac in front of the Red Fox restaurant in suburban Detroit one minute and the next minute both Jimmy, his driver and the Cadillac were gone. Jimmy had gone to jail for jury tampering for 8 years and while he was gone, his second in command in the Union Jim Fitzsimmons moved in and was elected President. This precisely what Hoffa had ordered not to happen. Hoffa wanted to remain President and run the Union from a jail cell. After he got out of jail, he went on a campaign to regain control of the Teamsters. Jimmy had some murky dealings with organized crime but nothing specific was ever determined. He finally was re-elected as President of the Union but Fitzsimmons and his followers were not pleased and the word on the street was that organized crime felt that Jimmy had become a threat. So it could have either or both that sent Jimmy to where he is today and has never been found. The most popular theory is that he was killed and his corpse was encased in one of the 8 foot diameter concrete columns that were under construction building the Meadowlands arena in New Jersey. I don’t think we will ever know what happened, but for now “Goodbye Jimmy, wherever you are.”

1715  On July 5 10 Spanish galleons and 1 French frigate departed Havana, Cuba loaded to the scuppers with Maya and Inca gold and silver headed for Europe. The Spanish ships hugged the Florida shore while the French ship sail further off shore. On this date when the Spanish ship were somewhere between Cape Canaveral and Fort Pierce, Florida a hurricane struck and all 10 of the Spanish ships were sunk spilling tons of gold and silver on the ocean floor. The French ship was able to ride out the storm with minimum damage. Later salvage boats from Cuba recovered 80% of the booty but the rest of it lay on the bottom until the early 1960’s when the rest of the treasure was salvaged.

1921 US racial advocate Whitney Young. He said “It is better to prepare for an opportunity and not have one than to not be prepared and have an opportunity.” You are right, Whitney, that is why I have Viagra, Cialis and Levitra in a capsule holder on my key chain for what good it does...but I am prepared.

        Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow