Tuesday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“A man does what he must---in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures. That is the basis of all human morality.”

                                                       John F. Kennedy

I saw a clip of a Sesame Street episode and it reminded of this. My oldest daughter (Leslie) was about 4 years old and was watching Sesame Street by herself . All of a sudden she yelled “NO, NO IT IS THE OTHER ONE”. She yelled that a couple of times and her mother and I ran in to see what the problem was. What is was that on the show there were three windows shaped in a triangle, a rectangle and a circle and below them was three window panes in the same shapes. Bert and Ernie were trying to fit the triangle pane into the square or the circle into the rectangle, etc. and kept saying that they had been sent the wrong panes and would have to send them back. Little Leslie was frantic and even got up and ran to the TV and yelled “PUT THIS ONE OVER THERE!” It was funny to watch but it said something about the education those kids got. I told this to one of Leslie's teachers and she said that she and many other teacher were excited to teach the “Sesame Street” kids.

I don’t know if y’all have read it or not but there was a retired Catholic bishop up in Charlotte that is under investigation for sexually abusing young boys throughout his career. They had the same thing from a Catholic bishop over in Belgium. I have been trying to figure out what the hell is going on with those guys. What causes that behavior? The only thing I can figure out is the long gold chain and cross that they all wear. Perhaps some of them are allergic to gold and it affects their demeanor…or perhaps the weight of the chain and cross puts undo pressure on the back of the neck and causes mania. Then all of this theory went to hell when a pastor of a Pentecostal Holiness Church also in Charlotte was arrested for improperly touching a 15 year old girl. He had hired two girls to clean his house and he put a move on one of them which included a caress of her buttocks. He gave the phrase “holy roller” a whole new meaning. He mercifully resigned.

Up the street from me a 65 year old man was caught taking photos up women’s dresses in a Wal-Mart. This very lonely man would kneel down and pretend he has looking at something on the bottom shelf and when a woman in either a shirt or dress walked by, he would stick his cell phone under the woman and snap a photo For the life of me I do not understand how this could be considered sensual or sexy. Of course, I have been asked to go to some of the strip joints and always refuse because it would be a waste of time and money. At my age and attitude looking has no effect, I have to be touched and spoken to. Maybe I am just too jaded. Perhaps there is a really hot lady out there that has not crossed my path...perhaps.

This Date in History July 14

1099 A few years earlier Jerusalem was under the control of the Islamic rulers and the Christians were treated severely. They were treated so badly that Pope Urban II sent word out to Christian world that Jerusalem needed to be in the hands of Christians and ordered a crusade. His request was immediately answered and a large mob of ragged European paupers headed east. They arrived at Constantinople and were promptly annihilated by the irascible Seljuk Turks. The next army of Europeans was professional soldiers including infantry and mounted knights. They were lead by Raymond of Toulouse, Godfrey of Boullion, Robert of Flanders and Bohemond of Otranto. They headed up 25,000 infantry and 4,000 mounted knights and were a force to be dealt with by anyone. The Crusaders captured the Turkish city of Nicea and then met and defeated a massive army of Seljuk Turks at Dorylaeum. From there they went to the important city of Antioch and began a siege. They fought off a series of attacks by the Turks to relieve the city and finally they gained entrance. Then the good Christian Crusaders went on an orgy of murder and killing of the Muslims and Jews. It was reported that five soldiers in rotation beheaded people with broadswords for two weeks in a row, day and night. Of course they said their prayers before eating and going to sleep. The entire city was taken with the exception of a stone citadel that was acknowledged to be impregnable. A few days later yet another massive army of Turks showed up and they are also defeated. When this occurred the occupants of the citadel surrendered and were massacred for their trouble. I am telling y’all, the Crusaders took no prisoners. After they rested and reorganized for a few months they set out for their real target, Muslim held Jerusalem. After arriving at Jerusalem they built three gigantic siege towers and began an attack. The Christians eventually were able to fight their way into the city and resumed their usual behavior in slaughtering the Muslims and Jews wholesale. On this date, Jerusalem was considered under the control of the Crusader army. A few weeks later a massive Egyptian army showed up and tried to re-take Jerusalem but received the mother of all ass-kickings by the outnumbered Crusader army. In order to prevent further bloodshed, five small Christian states were founded, but the entire area was under control of the leaders of the Crusaders.

1966 On this date an animal named Richard Speck broke into a group residence in Chicago. All of the residences were women, mostly student nurses. Speck chose to either strangle or stab to death eight of them on this night from hell. Oh, I forgot to mention that he raped them all too. Only one girl survived by sliding under a bed and remained undetected. Speck had lost count of how many he had killed and that is how the girl under bed survived. Speck was a petty criminal alcoholic and had been arrested 20 times before he was 25 years old, in fact he had “Born to Raise Hell” tattooed on his left forearm. After a night of drinking heavily in several Chicago bars he went to the dormitory for student nurses at the South Chicago Community Hospital and broke in. He produced a gun and ordered the first three women he met into a bathroom and tied them all up with strips of bed sheets. He took his time with each and every one of them and when more students began arriving he did the same to them. He left sometime after midnight with eight bodies lying about. At 6:00a the girl under the bed crawled out and started screaming for help out the window. The police came and with the girls description and a fingerprint found on the scene Speck was arrested two weeks later at a flop house. He had tried to commit suicide by slashing his wrists but had failed. He was tried and convicted of murder and sentenced to death but the Supreme Court had disallowed the death penalty at that time and he was sentenced to 400 years. He died in prison in 1991. As I have said in the past, if I could specify the penalty for such acts, I promise you crimes such as this would go downward precipitously. I wonder where Richard Speck is today.

Born today:

1888 US writer Kathleen Norris. She said “In spite of the cost of living, it is still popular.” Kathleen has a droll sense of humor.

1928 US writer Anita Brookner. She said “A man of such obvious and exemplary charm must be a liar.” Anita, think about Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Boxer, Pam Schroeder and many, many other female deceivers. Liars have no gender.

Died today:

1953 French writer Helaire Belloc. He said “When I am dead, I hope it may be said, His sins were scarlet, but his books were read.” Helaire, shut up.

1991 Philadelphia mayor Frank Rizzo. He said “The streets of Philadelphia are safe. It is the people that make them dangerous.” Frank, you shut up too.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow