Thursday OYSTERS

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“The Constitution only guarantees the American people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.”

                                                   Benjamin Franklin

Down in North Charleston, SC a 33 year old woman was awakened at 6:30a by someone knocking on her door. She went and saw no one and returned to bed. This happened a couple of more time until she went out on her porch to see what he hell was going on. Suddenly a teenage boy appeared brandishing a knife and the woman tried to jump back in the house but the teen blocked the door and came in. They fell on the floor wrestling for a while until the woman was overwhelmed and was carried to a bedroom where he tried to take her shorts off. A well aimed kick to the crotch deterred him but just for a second. He pinned her down and stuck his tongue in her mouth. The woman said she bit down as hard as she could and heard a snap like eating a piece of beef jerky and she had a piece of his tongue loose in her mouth. This went a long way toward deflation of his...passion and he ran away. About an hour later the attacker's mother called the cops saying her son did not have a tongue and needed medical attention and that he was the Waffle House on Remount Road. The cops had already answered a call on the woman biter and had the tongue in a zip lock bag on ice. The cops arranged for a meeting of the attacker, his tongue, a doctor and themselves. I don't know if a reattachment is possible. How would it be to have a mouth full of stitches or staples for several weeks? This reminds me of a quote “Never kiss a fool...or let a kiss fool you” but in this case it was a rejected assault that he will carry the rest of his days.

Here is an event that makes you wonder.

Toward the end of the War of 1812 the British had defeated the American army at the Battle of Bladensburg, Maryland and marched into Washington, DC with intent of burning it to the ground in retribution for the US army burning a British building in Canada. They set fire to the Capitol and the White House. It was in late August with clear skies and warm temperatures. Soon after the fires were started a raging thunderstorm quickly arose and a deluge fell on Washington. The fires were extinguished but that ain't all. A tornado developed and headed straight for the encamped British troops and sent them scurrying away in terror. How did this happen? It had to be an act of God and the United States was meant to be here...for a while at least.

By the way, during the Battle of Bladensburg James Madison was on hand with an artillery battery. He was the President of the United States at the time and the only US President to be actively involved in combat while in office.

A good thing has happened in San Antonio, Texas. It is legal and common in the state of Texas for people to walk around with a long gun (shotgun or rifle) as long as they are not displayed in a threatening manner. The city of San Antonio has an ordinance that disallows the display of guns because it is discomforting to the tourists, at least that what it sounds like to me. A while back about 400 gun owners organized and gathered at the Alamo guns in hand. There were indeed tourists there and one couple from Ontario, Canada said they were very uncomfortable with all the weapons about. Another couple from Arkansas said they thought it was healthy, that this was a visual display of what America is all about. It would not bother me at all. What caused all of this was a man carrying long gun was arrested sitting outside a Starbucks in San Antonio drinking coffee. There were signs carried by some of the demonstrators reading “Come and take them”. That phrase is from two different sources in history. Before the beginning of the Mexican War, the Mexican Army had given the town of Gonzales, Texas a small cannon to help protect them from the Comanches. Mexican General Santa Ana sent a message to Gonzales telling them to bring him the cannon and the people from Gonzales sent a message back saying “Come and take it.” The other occasion was at the Battle of Thermopylae where 7,000 Greeks, including 300 Spartans lead by Leonidas were gathered. There was a face-down between the Greeks and over 300,000 Persians lead by Xerxes. Xerxes sent a message over to the Spartans demanding that they surrender their weapons. Leonidas sent a message back saying “Come and take them”.

For reasons I don't fully understand, the Grambling State University (Louisiana) football team failed to meet a bus that was to take them to Jackson, Mississippi to play Jackson State and the game was forfeited. It was a mutiny, y'all. I read that the team was not happy for several reasons. They were not happy that their head coach Doug Williams was fired. Doug was a graduate of Grambling and was a Super Bowl winning QB for the Washington Redskins. They were not happy about games being scheduled with teams from as far away as 900 miles and it was a bus ride both ways. They were not happy with the weight room floor in shambles and nothing was being done to fix it. The University has been indeed in need of funds but I can't say what all the reasons are for the mutiny but it is the first time I have ever heard of such a thing.

By the way here is a trivia question. What NFL Hall of Fame running back went to Jackson State?

An airline on-board cop has been arrested for taking pictures of women from the ground up into their skirts and dresses. I wonder what kind of weapon or dangerous device he was looking for.

A man and a woman on a flight from Medford, Oregon to Las Vegas were arrested when the plane landed in Vegas. It seems that the man was exposing himself to the woman seated beside him...the woman responded in a positive way in spite of the flight attendant's warnings. That would take some nerve y'all. Nothing like that has ever happened to me...well, once I was on a long Greyhound bus ride and.............

The answer to the trivia question as to what NFL Hall of Famer attended Jackson State...it was “Sweetness” or Walter Payton of the Chicago Bears, may he rest in peace.

This Date in History October 22

1975 On this date United States Air Force Sergeant Leonard Matlovich allowed Time magazine to put his face on the cover in uniform with the words “I am a homosexual” as a challenge to the Air Force ban on homosexuals. The Air Force immediately gave him a “General” discharge even though he was a decorated combat veteran. Matlovich immediately sued and the Air Force changed horses and gave Matlovich an Honorable discharge. Matlovich died at the age of 44 as a result of complications from AIDS. He was buried with military honors in the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, DC and he wrote his own epitaph which read: “A gay Vietnam Veteran. They gave me a medal for killing two men and a discharge for loving one.”

Died today:

1995 English writer Kingsley Amis. He said “It is not worth giving up the pleasures of life to spend two extra years in the geriatric ward.” You da man, Kingsley.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow