Wednesday OYSTERS

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“The United States Constitution only guarantees the right to pursue happiness, the capture of it is up to you.”

                                         Benjamin Franklin

A change in the gun laws will have no effect. The scumbag criminal element, the emotionally and mentally unbalanced will pay it no attention. Only the law abiding citizens will comply and that is who we do NOT need to worry about. They are not the ones doing the damage. My family back to my great- grandfather all had weapons and to my knowledge they killed no one. Using the present day hysteria, one day they will.

I am still reading the Southern Methodist University textbook about the history of the Comanches. The more I read the more fascinated I become with the Comanche train of thought. As I have said before their largest financial interest was human beings, they were used by them as currency. In the early to mid 1800's the Central and North Texas Comanches were the most powerful assemblage in North America and the greatest light cavalry in the world. They were the first to tame and train the free-roaming Spanish mustangs. Their final “Comancheria” went from the Houston area to Santa Fe and from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arkansas River. It was an enormous chunk of real estate. They would trade with other tribes and the Mexicans but after the trade was over, the Comanche felt that they were back on level ground and would not hesitate to raid the same people that they had just traded with. I guess they felt that in one hand there is trading and in the other hand was a raid and they are not connected. They also raided heavily on the white settlers primarily looking for horses and guns but another prize was butcher knives. They did not have a metal that would hold an edge like steel. But they would capture men and sell them to the Zunis and Navahos among others to be used as slaves in silver mines. They would also take women and children and sell or trade them like currency. Nearly all the tribes felt that it was their right to raid the white settlers for women and children to replace those they lost to the white man's diseases or were killed by them. I do not understand the concept of trading with a group and them raiding them later on but I do understand their angst in replacing members of their tribes lost because of the white man's raids or diseases. I read about one “fair” or trading event where a horse was worth between five and seven butcher knives. I guess a knife that held a sharp edge allowed for more game to be butchered in a given period of time. I know all of you have read about the Native American's being “The Noble Savage”. Not exactly. They were a lot nobler before the white man came and offered one treaty after another which was accepted and then each and every one they signed was broken by the white man because of greed. That would make me less noble too. More later.

Back in August of 1881 in a small stone cottage on the west coast of Scotland there were five people sitting out a late summer storm. There was a 31 year old man, his parents, his wife and one child. While sitting near a roaring fire waiting for the storm to abate, the man began sketching with colored pencils. He drew an island and added mountains, valleys, cliffs and three red X'es. In the upper right corner he wrote “Treasure Island”. He encouraged the other to offer suggestions about a story concerning this imaginary island. From this humble beginning this man wrote one of the greatest adventure novels ever conceived and included the following characters: Israel Hand, Captain Smollet, the cargo ship Hispaniola, Long John Silver (he was the cook on the ship but actually was a pirate), Jim Hawkins, Ben Gunn, Dr. Livesey, Squire Trulauny and a variety of ne'er do wells bent on finding the treasure on an uncharted island. The man wrote three chapters on the first day while the storm raged. This unparalleled adventure novel originally was published as a series in a weekly magazine aimed at young people but the adults got deeply into it and in 1883 it was published as a book. There is no question that this book was a stupendous feat of human imagination seldom equaled. The writer also gave us Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde among several others landmarks in literature making him a very wealthy man. Of course, I am talking about Robert Louis Stevenson. Stevenson was not very healthy most of his life. In his final days he and his family left San Francisco to cruise the islands of the South Pacific including Hawaii. He and his family visited Samoa and decided to live the rest of their days there and built a home facing the ocean. He died of a stroke at the age of 44 and was buried on the peak of a mountain near his home...with a view of the ocean.

       This Date in History   October 7

1969 The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Earle Wheeler announced that the “Vietnamization” program was going as scheduled and withdrawal of US troops would begin but the South Vietnamese would need American assistance for “some time to come”. In June President Richard Nixon had decreed that the South Vietnamese should accept more responsibility for the prosecution of the war and American forces would be withdrawn as the South Vietnamese became more and more capable. By 1972 there were only 75,000 American troops left in country. But I guess the South Vietnamese were not as capable as they should have been because the North Vietnamese eventually conquered their southern brethren and renamed Saigon to Ho Chi Minh City. But at least it is one country now good, bad or indifferent.

1985 Four Palestinian terrorists highjacked the cruise ship Achille Lauro in the harbor of Alexandria, Egypt. The leader of the terrorist wing of the PLO Abu Abbas had ordered this but did not give these jackasses any instructions as to what to do with the ship. The four terrorists decided that they should demand that all the PLO terrorists held in Israeli jail should be released. This was rejected, of course, and these brave sons-of-bitches shot wheelchair ridden American Leon Klinghofer in the head and threw him and his wheelchair over the side. The US dispatched a SEAL team to take the ship back but when they arrived the terrorist had already left and were on an airplane to Libya. The US sent fighters from a carrier in the Mediterranean to intercept the flight with the terrorists aboard and forced the plane to land in Sicily. Italian authorities arrested the terrorist which included Abu Abbas. In spite of intense pressure from the US, Abbas was allowed to leave the country and the others were put on trial and given various lengths of time in prison. As I have said in the past, my mind is very fertile when it comes to dealing with those pig sucking cowards and a prison sentence ain’t part of it.

Born today:

1939 Australian critic Clive James. When writing a critique on Judith Krantz’s performance in Princess Daisy he said “As a work of art, it is in the same status as a long conversation with two not very bright drunks.” Clive is a smart-ass.

Died today:

1849 US writer Edgar Allen Poe. He said “Those that dream in the daytime are a lot more cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only at night.” Poe attended West Point for a very short time but was kicked out because he had no discipline but ended up as a giant of American literature.  he was stationed at Fort Moultrie which is on Sullivan's Island just across the bay from Charleston, SC.

               Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow