Tuesday OYSTERS

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“Eva was considering opening her own tree nursery, then I heard her sing “The Rose” and everything changed.”

                            Hugh Cassidy, Eva Cassidy’s father

The largest grizzly bear ever taken happened not long ago. A man was deer hunting somewhere in Alaska. A gigantic grizzly charged from the undergrowth and he emptied his 7mm rifle stopping the bear just feet away. The bear was not dead so the hunter reloaded and shot the bear between the eyes. The bear weighed about 1,600 pounds and would be over 12 feet tall when standing. This means that he could stand on the ground and look into a second story window. This monster will be sent to a taxidermist and then placed in the airport terminal in Anchorage International airport. There is a polar bear already there that stands about 10 feet tall. By the way, when they opened up the grizzly they found the remains of two humans. They backtracked and found pieces of one of them but no sign of the other one. To the grizzly we are just “long pig”. That is what the cannibals from the Amazon river basin and New Guinea call us. It makes sense because like the pig, we are omnivores. We will eat nearly anything...if you don't believe me watch that TV show with Andrew Zimmern, this man is the king of omnivores.

I think it was up in the Great Smoky Mountains where a man walked up on a large black bear and started taking pics with his cell phone. The bear finally detected him, charged and killed him. The rescuers recovered the phone. Mother Nature's critters don't know we are at the top of the food chain and don't really give a damn.

A while back an Anderson, SC County Deputy Sheriff Brent Moore pulled over Anderson County administrator Joey Preston for a suspected DUI. This past Tuesday Deputy Moore was indicted for taking a bribe. Anderson County Sheriff John Skipper said that Moore’s encounter with Joey Preston had nothing to do with the present charges. I would like to see a show of hands of those that believe that…that’s what I thought…me neither…Preston is sending a message to all law enforcement in the Anderson, South Carolina area.

This Date in History December 1

1955 On this chilly morning a black woman in Montgomery, Alabama name Rosa Parks boarded a city bus for a ride across town. She and all blacks were ordered by law to sit in the back of the bus aft of the rear door. That is unless a white, man or woman, was found to be standing and then one of the blacks had to give up their seat to the honkie. Rosa was ordered by the bus driver to give up her seat to a white man that was standing. Rosa refused and was arrested and jailed. Rosa was a card carrying member of the NAACP and when word reached NAACP headquarters all hell broke loose. The NAACP ordered a boycott of the Montgomery bus system and it was successful which proved to be disastrous because the blacks represented 70% of the bus riders. This was the first time that the Rev. Martin Luther King got involved with a peaceful action against segregation not by rioting, looting and burning. The NAACP sued the city of Montgomery because of the law that specified segregation on mass transit in the city. The US Supreme Court struck down that law as being a violation of the 14^th Amendment and 381 days after the boycott began, blacks again began riding the buses and sitting anywhere they pleased. One of the first riders on this day was Rosa Parks.

1862 US President Abraham Lincoln gives his first State of the Union address to Congress. Lincoln was between a rock and a hard place because he had issued the Emancipation Proclamation just a few weeks before which freed the slave in those states in rebellion (Confederacy). His action here was very ill-advised because the majority of the northern states and many in his own Republican party did not feel the war should be based on freeing the slaves and the gain of the Democrats in the recent election proved it. So in this address Lincoln soft sold the Emancipation Proclamation and said that it should be enforced gradually. But that did not help those states that were slave-holding but did not secede. Lincoln did not know what to do about those states. If he made one false move those four states would probably secede and join the Confederacy. Not only that. The Army of the Potomac was not doing well against CSA General R.E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia. There was not a pretty picture that Lincoln could paint in this address. Part of his closing statement stated: “The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present...fellow citizens we cannot escape history. We will nobly save, or meanly lose, the last, best hope on earth.” Indeed Abe, indeed.

1884 A Mexican deputy sheriff named Elfego Baca arrested a gringo cowboy named Charles MacArthur for firing four or five shots at him in Frisco (now Reserve), New Mexico. On this day about 80 cowboys show up to spring good old Charlie from the joint. It seems this group of Texas cowboys had been using this Mexican village for their own personal entertainment by riding in and brutalizing the residents, raping the girls, etc. Baca was assigned the duty to put a stop to it and given the title of deputy sheriff. When the 80 cowboys rode in Baca hustled the town’s people into the church where they would be safe and then ran to an old adobe house to make a stand. Baca opened up and killed one of the cowboys and wounded several. The cowboys responded with over 400 rounds into the flimsy building. Not hearing any response the cowboys thought Baca was dead. But the next morning they smelled beef stew and found out that Baca was indeed alive and cooking his breakfast. About then, two more lawmen showed up along with many of Baca’s friends and the cowboys retreated. There was no more trouble from the Texas cowboys after that. Baca went on to become a hero in the Latino community for standing up to those gringos and enjoyed a life of peace and notoriety.

Quotable quotes:

“Don’t believe in reincarnation, I didn’t believe in it when I was a beagle.”

                                          Shane Richey

             Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Monday OYSTERS

                                 Al's Most Recent

Quote of the day:

“Men are superior to women. For one thing, men can successfully urinate from a speeding car.”

                                                       Will Durst

When I travel alone on long road trips I carry an empty milk jug. I will let your imagination take over from here.

Clemson won but didn't cover...you gamblers out there know what I am talking about.

I made my life a lot more simplified this weekend. I eliminated Donald Trump as a possible presidential candidate. I like what he says but he just doesn't have any class. His strategy appears to be attempting to destroy his competition's pride and self esteem and obviously he does not understand the team concept...in other words he is a blowhard bully.  What else bothers me is when he is waiting at a debate he has the character, the facial expressions and demeanor of Benito Mussolini...some say he is a narcissist...me included and that ridiculous comb over confirms it. What I am worried about is he has the resources to buy the presidency. It has happened before. All someone has to do is pay people to vote for a particular person in those districts with the most votes in the electoral college. In spite of what you believe, it is not the popular vote that elects the President of the United States.

I read about a man that called the cops because he saw someone pull up in his yard, jump out and grab one of his prize Albany Brood Cocks . He claimed that the rooster was worth $1,000. The thief jumped back in his car and sped away. The owner chased for a while but the thief escaped. I could not help but research what a Albany Brood Cock was. It is a fighting cock, y’all. A Gamecock, if you will. It seems that this particular breed along with the McAnally breed are the fiercest fighters out there. They are among a group known affectionately in the cockfighting arena as “roundheads”. It is obvious that the owner of this rooster is not in the cockfighting business or he would have not called the cops, but that does not stop him from raising these athletes and selling them to those who do. When you think about how much this rooster is worth and what care is involved, it sounds like a lucrative business to me. Nah, If I did that my daughters would never speak to me again even though their inheritance would increase dramatically…or would they?

A while back a Somali Muslim that was a naturalized American citizen conspired to build and plant a bomb in a large crowd gathering around for a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland, Oregon. The only problem was that this jackass was getting the bomb parts from an FBI operative and the parts were fake. He was arrested and is looking at a long time in the joint. I have been fishing in Rogue River in the Medford, Oregon area in the past. Let me tell you, those Oregonians in that area are as close to real cowboys as you will find in America today. They are rough and ready and are prepared to fight at the drop of a hat, and you don’t even need the hat. After this episode in Portland, the Muslim communities in Oregon are terrified that these “rough boys” will come after them and I would not be surprised if they did. It was a great pleasure to associate with people that just take you for what you are and expect the same from you…just don’t lie to them or betray them. If you do, the hat with drop.

         This Date in History November 30

1776 On this date one of the greatest screw-ups in history occurs. British Admiral Richard Howe and his bother British General William Howe offer amnesty to any colonist that would swear an oath to cease and desist from “Treasonable acting and doings” within 60 days. Earlier in September Admiral Howe had brought his fleet into Long Island Sound and disembarked his brother General William Howe and his well trained and polished infantry. After landing Howe engaged in two battles with Patriot General George Washington and his rag tag army and on one occasion Howe had the entire Patriot army flanked and could have cut off Washington’s retreat and captured and hanged him and his entire staff for treason and the rebellion would have ended. But the Howe brothers saw themselves as peace makers and allowed Washington and company to escape by boat over to Manhattan. A little while later the Patriots sent over a committee headed by Ben Franklin to negotiate with the Howe brothers. After two days of talks the negotiations broke down when the Howe brothers would not even consider American Independence as being necessary for peace. After this both sides ramped up for the all out war they knew was coming. Seven years later after an ocean of tears and blood was shed by our ancestors, victory was ours.

1835 On this date Samuel Clemens was born in Florida, Missouri. At the age of 13 he was apprenticed out to a printer but then went to work for an older brother who was an editor with the Hannibal Journal in Hannibal, Missouri. He was commissioned to write a humorous travel column for the Keokuk Daily Post in Keokuk, Iowa. But Samuel saw himself as a riverboat captain on the mighty Mississippi and became an apprentice. At the age of 23 he received his license as a riverboat captain. He piloted until the outbreak of the Civil War and then nearly all riverboat traffic was discontinued. It was during his time as a captain that he received the nickname of “Mark Twain” which was a call out signifying the depth of two fathoms which was the minimum safe depth on the river. He moved out west and began writing for the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise, in Virginia City, Nevada. He eventually moved to San Francisco and began writing in earnest and delivered one of his best renderings in “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”. In addition to this he gave us “Huckleberry Finn”, “Tom Sawyer”, “Roughin’ it” and many other gems. It is unlikely that the world will ever be graced with another such a talented wit as he. He eventually moved to Hartford, Connecticut where he died in 1910. What a great legacy he left us.

1989 On this date the so called “America’s first female serial killer” struck. A trucker named Richard Mallory was last seen in the company of Aileen Wournos. They had left a truck stop near Palm Bay, Florida and Richard was never seen alive again. They found his truck three days later near Ormond Beach with his wallet, a few condoms and pocket change on the front seat, but no Richard. Finally Richard’s body turned up in a Daytona Beach junkyard with three bullet holes in his chest. Over a period of two years seven men were found dead killed in a similar manner. The Florida Bureau of Investigation finally tracked Wournous down to a seedy biker bar near Tampa. She went on trial and was convicted of seven counts of murder. After the jury rendered their verdict, Aileen screamed “I am innocent. It was self defense. I was raped. I hope all of you scum sucking maggots get raped.” This was not a smooth move for Aileen because it would be the same jury that would convene two weeks later and determine her punishment. They gave her the death penalty. After Aileen figured out that the state of Florida was not kidding and they were going to kill her, she became a born again Christian. Sure enough, the state of Florida did indeed mean business and in October of 2002 she went meet her maker via “Old Sparky” and her corpse was cremated. The ashes sent to her birthplace in Michigan where a former friend spread her ashes under a tree where they used to play. It seems sad, but think of the families of her victims first and then think of Aileen.

           Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Friday OYSTERS

                                 Al's Most Recent

Quote of the day:

“Liars when they finally tell the truth are not believed.”

                                  Aristotle

Here is a short questionnaire for you. Who is the most dead?

Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri?

The two black teenagers that were killed in Chicago by members of a Latino drug gang during the same time period?

A black teenager killed in Cleveland by members of a black street gang during the same time period?

Three young Latinos killed in East Los Angeles by an opposing Latino street gang during the same time period?

The black kid that was killed by a cop in Chicago?

Why was there no riots and looting in Cleveland, East Los Angeles and Chicago but there was in Chicago after a cop was involved? Who is the most dead and what is the logic behind the riots in Chicago? Was it because a cop was involved? The lack of response to those murders NOT involving a cop indicate that it is. It sounds like it is acceptable for blacks to kill blacks, blacks to kill Latinos or Latinos to kill both Latinos and blacks but it is not acceptable for a cop to kill either one. We had something similar happen a short while ago in Seneca, SC. The cops got wind of a drug deal going down behind a fast food restaurant and rushed in. There was a teen aged boy in a car that had been involved in the deal for a bag of weed. All of this is captured of the cop's dash camera. The cop got out ran up to the car with pistol drawn yelling for the driver (teenager) to get out of the car. The driver chose to speed away and the cop shot through the driver side window at point blank range killing him. The cop claimed that the driver tried to run him over but the camera says otherwise. At no time as the cop in front of the car he was only beside the car the whole time. The left front tire was as close as the driver but the cop chose to shoot the driver rather than the tire. I think the cop was angered because he was not immediately obeyed and the idea of just stopping the car never crossed his mind. In the cop's defense he was a long time career officer and all he has seen for the last 20 years is criminals and the trash of humanity. This probably effected his judgment...but the kid is just as dead.

Why was there no rioting in Charleston, SC when a white lunatic killed nine black people in a church, for crying out loud?

The media asked a local black leader and Sullivan's Island (near Charleston) resident actor Bill Murray why there was no rioting. They both said “The blacks in Charleston have more class than that”...but the shooter was not a cop.

Marble Falls is west of Austin about 35 miles and is on the Colorado River. Before a dam was built, there was a series of shoals on the river with the river bed being very hard stone. The rushing water polished the stone to a marble like appearance. At one point Marble Falls was at the very edge of our western expansion much to the anger of the mighty Comanche and Kiowa nations. Much blood was shed and there were atrocities galore on both sides. As I have said before, even the US cavalry acknowledged the mounted Comanche as the finest light cavalry in the world. They could travel faster, further with less rest, food and water than anyone out there. A while back my friend sent me a book about the history of the Comanche...what an amazing people. They were considered the “trailer trash” of the plains by the other tribes...that is until they were the first to catch, break and mount the wild Spanish ponies brought over by the conquistadors...then they were the unchallenged masters of the Great Plains.

I finished with the other book titled Bonnie Sue. That was the name of a US Marine helicopter squadron in the summer of 1966 in Vietnam.. The beginning of the book was a fight known as The Battle of Groucho Marx. It was called that because the fight began when a Marine recon team known as Groucho Marx was dropped onto a high rock outcropping to spot for Marine artillery and air strikes...they had enough food and water to stay three days...there were eight of them. The recon team did indeed see and hear the NVA (North Vietnamese Army) and called in an artillery barrage. The NVA knew that there had to be a spotter calling in the artillery for it to be so accurate and they began a rock by rock search. They did not find them right away but eventually did and a fight erupted. The recon team called for an extraction helicopter to get them the hell out of there. The Marines sent four helicopters, two extraction and two gunships. The extraction helicopters were given bad information about the LZ. They were landing downhill with a tailwind and both of them crashed with no serious injuries. The combat helicopters had combat Marines aboard to protect the LZ (Landing Zone) during the pickup. Now they had about 30 Marines on the ground in a small perimeter and the NVA knew it. A ferocious firefight erupted and the Marines had to be re-supplied with ammo and water several times at extreme peril for the helicopter pilots. The Marines were being attacked on three sides by at least 500 NVA. Suddenly a strange aircraft showed up. It was a WWII cargo aircraft known as a C-47 (later they were C-130's) except this bad-ass had a mini-gun (looks like a Gatling gun) capable of firing 6,000 rounds a minute. The pilot of this aircraft figured out where the Marines were and the gunner laid down a solid stream of hot lead around the stranded Marines. The NVA did not want any part of this and melted away into the jungle....There were five Marines killed and nearly everybody had a wound of some type. The Battle of Groucho Marx was over. I will have more about this book later.

This Date in History November 27

1922 Earlier archaeologist Howard Carter had discovered an unopened tomb of an Egyptian pharaoh name Tutankhamen but waited to enter the tomb until his financier English Lord Caernarvon arrived to be there for the opening. Carter knew then name of the pharaoh because of the hieroglyphs on the portal. On this date Carter and Caernarvon standing shoulder to shoulder cut a small hole in the doorway to take a look. Carter stuck his arm through the hole while holding a candle and peeked inside. Lord Caernarvon asked Carter what he saw and Carter answered “Things, wonderful things.” After the opened a hole large enough to crawl inside they uncovered one of the most dazzling and important archaeological discoveries ever found. Carter was a veteran explorer and in the past had found the tombs of Queen Hatsheput and King Thutmose IV. Both were important discoveries but nowhere the equal of King Tut. What a thrill it had have been to have been the first human being to lay eyes on that tomb in 2,500 years. I am sure that we all have seen the gold funeral mask of King Tut. What a beautiful work of art it is as with many other pieces found there.

1792 US Suffragist Sarah Grimke is born. She said “I ask nothing for my sex. All I ask is that my brethren get their feet off our necks.” That’s a real peculiar position for sex, Sarah...just joking.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow.

My blog will be suspended until after Thanksgiving

Monday OYSTERS

                                   Al's Most Recent

Quote of the day (Courtesy of my number 3 girl):

“Suffering is like a pile of rocks. You can choose to carry the load, throw them at other people, let them lay there or use them to build an altar.”

                                            Chad Arnold

Chad had a liver transplant with his brother as the donor. Chad lived but his brother died of complications. That is a burden, my friends. By the way, a human can easily survive with only half of their liver intact.

In my opinion there will be several things that will happen because of the attacks in Paris.

It went a long way toward the election of Donald Trump as President of the USA.

It shows how impotent our lame-ass President and irresponsible Hilary Clinton is...remember allowing our undefended Ambassadors and entourage to Benghazi to be killed by Islamic terrorists...it just encouraged them.

It will shut up the anti gun activists. Paris is a gun free zone...except for the terrorists...gun free zones my ass.

It should make our politicians think twice about taking Syrian refugees into America because one of the terrorist was a Syrian refugee.

Before WWI US General John “Black Jack” Pershing was passing through Palestine and his troops were attacked by Arab terrorists. Pershing sent a group of his soldiers looking for them and allowed his soldiers to used whatever means necessary to find them...and they did not have water boarding back then. They indeed found them and brought them back. Pershing had them covered with pig blood, executed by firing squad and buried with the slaughtered pigs. According to their religion they will not go to heaven and get their virgins because they would be “unclean”. Pershing had no more attacks. This story came to me many years ago but it make sense to attack them through their religion...that is their weakness. By the way, I don't want a virgin...at my age skill level goes a long way.

OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Those days of the year between Thanksgiving and New Years Eve will be referred to by me as the CHRISTMAS Season and personally I don't give a damn what our lame-ass President thinks is proper. I don't care what Starbucks has as decorations on their cups either, it does not change what is in my heart and mind and it shouldn't change yours. By the way, the founder of Starbucks was Jewish.

Without doing one iota of research several people relayed the rumor that Carly Fiorina made her fortune because she is Jewish. Here is what her official bio says:

Her maiden name is Sneed. She was born in Austin, Texas to an Episcopalian family. Her grandparents ran a cattle ranch near Calvert, Texas. Her father Joseph worked on his uncle's ranch until he was 18 and then went to and graduated from law school at the University of Texas (Hook 'em Horns, come back Charlie Strong). He worked for the state attorney general's office until finally being appointed to the 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals where he served for over 30 years. He was married to a woman named Madelon Juergens born in Butler county, Ohio. Madelon's father was born in Covington, Kentucky. She was a successful artist, both modern and abstract and was Carly's mother. Madelon died in 1998 at the age of 77. Carly had a normal childhood and adolescence. Her higher education was a bachelors degree from Stanford, an MBA from the University of Maryland and a Masters degree from M.I.T.   Carly entered the business world as a trainee with AT&T and eventually worked her way to an executive Vice-President. She was made President of Lucent Technologies when is was spun off by AT&T. She made the majority of her fortune when she was paid in part by stock options from these companies and it was she that engineered the merger of Compaq with Hewlett-Packard when she was the CEO. They paid her with stock options also and these and her previous stock options made her wealthy. She was not given anything by her family except help with education. But what if she was Jewish? What difference does that make? To all of you Jew haters...kiss my ass, we have enough hatred already and you don't know what the hell you are talking about anyway. Correct information does not come to you by osmosis, you have to read about it...read, remember? It is the solution to stop people from laughing about you behind your back because you are so ignorant. By the way, Carly belongs to a non-denominational church these days. The trouble I see with those people with small minds passing rumors is that they are very jealous of someone that is light years smarter and more successful than they, especially a woman in the business world. I feel better now.

   This Date in History  November 16

1863 After the Confederate defeat at Gettysburg, CSA General Robert E. Lee sent CSA General James Longstreet and two divisions to assist the beleaguered CSA General Braxton Bragg in his campaign in the area of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Longstreet and his troops had arrived in the nick of time at the Battle of Chickamauga to ensure a Confederate victory. The Confederates had the Union army in the middle of a semi-circle which prevented any supplies from reaching them. A surprise attack by the Union army opened the way for supplies to reach them by river boat. Longstreet and Bragg argued much of the time about tactic and strategy but since Bragg was in command, he prevailed. Bragg was acknowledged to be the most inept commanding General on either side. It cost the Confederacy the lives of thousands of brave men.

1957 On this day one of the worst monsters in American history, Edward Gein, killed his final victim. He killed Bernice Worden in Plainfield, Wisconsin. This man would dig up corpses of women, have sex with them and eat parts of their bodies at times. After the death of Bernice the police became suspicious of Gein because of his unusual behavior. He had been extremely dominated by his mother and when she died in 1945, he began studying anatomy and became fascinated by the human body, especially female. Even though he was a quiet and unassuming farmer, a monster lurked beneath. The police obtained a search warrant for his house. What they found was a scene from hell. The fridge was full of human organs. There was a human heart on the stove roasting and human limbs scattered about. He had soup bowls made of human skulls and had chairs upholstered in human skins. It is this character that was the inspiration for Hannibal Lechter and Buffalo Bill in the movie “Silence of the Lambs”. Gein was properly judged to be crazy as a loon and was sent to the Wisconsin Asylum for the Criminally Insane where he died in 1984.

1849 On this day Russian author Fedor Dostoevsky is sentence to be executed by firing squad. He was accused of belonging to an anti-government extremist group and indeed he was. He delivered to us some of the greatest novels ever written the first success was the immortal Crime and Punishment. As he was being tied to a post to be shot, a reprieve arrived and he was sent to a labor camp in Siberia for four years. After leaving the labor camp he began writing once again and gave us Possessed which was successful. But in 1880 he gave us his masterpiece in The Brothers Karamazov that was an immediate success. He never was able to reap the fruits of his talent because he died a year later.

             Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Friday OYSTERS

                                         Al's Most Recent

Quote of the day:

After being elected Prime Minister at the start of WWII the recently elected Sir Winston Churchill stood before Parliament and said “As I have told this body and others joining this Government, I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.”

Within the last few days the USS Tennessee was active in the western Pacific. The Tennessee is a “Boomer” meaning a nuclear powered submarine with nuclear tipped ballistic missiles aboard. In a training exercise the Tennessee launched two Trident missiles, presumably unarmed, at a target about 2,000 miles away. They arrived on target without a hitch. I personally do not think it was strictly a training exercise, I think it was a reminder to the Chinese that we are close by. By the way, the Trident missiles cost about $31 million each. This is another example of your tax dollars at work.

Robert L. Howard was born in 1939 and raised in Opelika, Alabama. He joined the army in 1956 at the age of 17. If there was ever a person that found their niche in life it was Robert L. Howard. Howard ended up in Vietnam at a Sergeant First Class in the MACV/SOG, better known as Special Ops. These guys pulled off some of the most hairy combat missions ever attempted. His under strength 60 man recon team was acknowledged to be one of the most decorated in United States history with five Medals of Honor, including Howard. In fact Howard had been nominated for the Medal of Honor three times during his five tours in Vietnam but Congress passed a law in 1917 that there could only be one Medal of Honor per person. All of his superiors and people under his command said that he deserved them all. It was his leadership in an attempt to rescue a fellow Green Beret that had been cut off in Cambodia that got him recommended for his third. He was promoted to 1^st Lieutenant from Sergeant First Class in 1969 and remained an outstanding and inspirational military leader throughout his entire 36 year career and was eventually promoted to full Colonel. Colonel Howard ended up with more medals that the immortal Audie Murphy in WWII. In short, it is Colonel Howard that is the most decorated soldier this country has ever produced. There was a United States Marine named Daniel Daly that fought during the Spanish-American War and the Boxer Rebellion that was awarded two Medals of Honor but the display of valor and courage by Colonel Howard is unequaled in United States military history. He was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Richard M. Nixon in 1971. The reason he is relatively unknown is because the Vietnam War was an unpopular one and many soldiers were not given the honor they deserved. In addition to the Medal of Honor Colonel Howard was awarded The Distinguished Service Medal, two Silver Stars, three Bronze Stars, eight Purple Hearts, I am going to repeat that, eight Purple Hearts and many, many other medals of occupation. 

 

This Date in History  November 13

1775 On this date Continental General Richard Montgomery captured Montreal, Canada without firing a shot. At the direction of General George Washington, Montgomery had been tasked with the capture of Montreal that was a marshaling place for the British army to get organized for forays into the Colonies. The British Governor/General Guy Carleton had escaped to Quebec City. Earlier a Continental army commanded by Ethan Allen had launched a fragmented and undermanned attack on Montreal that failed with Allen being captured by the British and sent to prison in Pendennis Castle in Cornwall, England. The upside was that the British Governor/General Carleton would not split his defensive units to counter the probe coming from Montgomery’s troops which allowed Montgomery to get into position unmolested. Once his position was established the British realized that they could not successfully defend Montreal and surrendered. The Continental’s next objective was Quebec. Montgomery decided that he would launch a two pronged attack with him leading one prong and the other led by Continental Colonel Benedict Arnold. The attack was launched during a blizzard and was well coordinated but British Governor/General Carleton had been made aware of the attack and was prepared and waiting. Carleton’s troops fired a devastating artillery and rifle barrage at Montgomery’s unit approaching from the west and Montgomery was killed early on and that attach was stalled. Carleton then turned his attention to Benedict Arnold’s troops attacking from the north and Arnold suffered a severe leg wound. Patriot Colonel Daniel Morgan immediately assumed command and the attack continued and the first line of defense was breached. At this point Morgan halted the attack to await reinforcements that were supposed to be on the way. The reinforcements were late and that allowed the British to re-group and Morgan’s attack was repulsed. The Patriot army retreated to the St. Lawrence River and crossed back in the Colonies. Benedict Arnold supervised the crossing, wounded leg and all, and after making sure that all of the troops were on their way, Arnold shot his horse and crossed the river in a canoe. Benedict Arnold was an enigma, y'all. He was a superior military field commander but his vanity and pride got in the way and he betrayed his country. His act of treason hurt his commander, George Washington, more than anyone.

Earlier a high school teacher in Indiana had refused to teach the legend of Robin Hood. She said the concept to robbing the rich and giving to the poor smacked of Communism. She also condemned the classic books Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo and Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck as having Communist leanings. As some of y'all may know, the main culprit in the legend of Robin Hood was the Sheriff of Nottingham along with King John. The very first mention of Robin Hood or a variation of the spelling thereof was found in literature dating back to 1229. The Sheriff of Nottingham, Robin of Loxley and several other characters are mentioned therein. When the current Sheriff of Nottingham heard about the turmoil in Indiana, he wrote the school board and assured them that Robin of Loxley was no Communist. It just goes to show you how insane censoring literature can get. We laugh about it now but then it was a serious matter. Reading any form of literature is optional and so is believing what it says. We must have freedom of thought and expression or we invite anarchy.

Births and deaths:

1929 US writer George Higgins is born. He described a date thusly “She had rouged her cheeks the color of a Pontiac Firebird and had a feathered appliance in her ears that resembled a surfcasting jig that is especially attractive to Striped Bass.” I think I know this woman.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Thursday OYSTERS

                                     Al's Most Recent

Quote of the day:

“I moved to New York City for my health. I am very paranoid and New York is the only place where all my fears are justified.”

                                            Jessica Baker

Several years ago there was a man in Columbia, South Carolina name Maurice Bessinger. This entrepreneur concocted a very tasty mustard base barbecue sauce and eventually he had three barbecue restaurants in the Columbia area. His barbecue sauce became so popular that it was on the shelves in large supermarket chains. Maurice had a Confederate flag flying over his main store in Columbia. Eventually the supermarkets asked him to take down the flag and he refused so they took his barbecue sauce off their shelves. Maurice said that he would do whatever he wanted on his property and he did not really need the money from the sauce sales in the markets anyway. I am with Maurice on this one, y'all. Everyone has the right to put anything they want on their own property, especially commercial ones. If you are offended by it, don't go to his place of business and/or don't look at it. I am up to my eyeballs with that crap of being “politically correct”. I will not discuss the meaning of the Confederate flag because it means different things to different people and every person has a right their opinion. By the way, Maurice has since gone to that great barbecue pit in the sky.

Bruce Jenner does not have “courage” but the man below does.

                                Medal of Honor

DAVIS, RAYMOND G.

Rank and organization: Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Marine Corps

Commanding officer, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division (Rein.). Place and date: Vicinity Hagaru-ri, Korea,

December 1950. Entered service at: Atlanta, Ga. Born: 13 January, 1915 in Fitzgerald, Ga.

Citation:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as commanding officer of the 1st Battalion, in action against enemy aggressor forces. Although keenly aware that the operation involved breaking through a surrounding enemy and advancing 8 miles along primitive icy trails in the bitter cold with every passage disputed by a savage and determined foe, Lt. Col. Davis boldly led his battalion into the attack in a daring attempt to relieve a beleaguered rifle company and to seize, hold, and defend a vital mountain pass controlling the only route available for 2 Marine regiments in danger of being cut off by numerically superior hostile forces during their re-deployment to the port of Hungnam. When the battalion immediately encountered strong opposition from entrenched enemy forces commanding high ground in the path of the advance, he promptly spearheaded his unit in a fierce attack up the steep, ice-covered slopes in the face of withering fire and, personally leading the assault groups in a hand-to-hand encounter, drove the hostile troops from their positions, rested his men, and reconnoitered the area under enemy fire to determine the best route for continuing the mission. Always in the thick of the fighting Lt. Col. Davis led his battalion over 3 successive ridges in the deep snow in continuous attacks against the enemy and, constantly inspiring and encouraging his men throughout the night, brought his unit to a point within 1,500 yards of the surrounded rifle company by daybreak. Although knocked to the ground when a shell fragment struck his helmet and 2 bullets pierced his clothing, he arose and fought his way forward at the head of his men until he reached the isolated Marines. On the following morning, he bravely led his battalion in securing the vital mountain pass from a strongly entrenched and numerically superior hostile force, carrying all his wounded with him, including 22 litter cases and numerous ambulatory patients. Despite repeated savage and heavy assaults by the enemy, he stubbornly held the vital terrain until the 2 regiments of the division had deployed through the pass and, on the morning of 4 December, led his battalion into Hagaru-ri intact. By his superb leadership, outstanding courage, and brilliant tactical ability, Lt. Col. Davis was directly instrumental in saving the beleaguered rifle company from complete annihilation and enabled the 2 Marine regiments to escape possible destruction. His valiant devotion to duty and unyielding fighting spirit in the face of almost insurmountable odds enhance and sustain the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service.

              This Date in History   November 12

1775 Here is a letter sent to John Adams:

“Let us separate, they are unworthy to be our Brethren. Let us renounce them and instead of supplications for their happiness and prosperity, let us beseech the almighty to blast their councils (Parliament) and bring naught to all of their devices (laws and taxes).” This person was obviously very angry. The letter was written by Abigail Adams, Johns wife. Later on our ancestors in their wisdom told King George III to kiss their ass.

1867 After almost a decade of battles with the Cheyenne and the Sioux Indians of the Great Plains, not to mention the Civil War, the US military held a conference at Fort Laramie, Wyoming to try to work out a peace agreement with Indians. There had been unspeakable atrocities on both sides and the American public was fed up with the bloodletting both on the plains and during the Civil War. The US military chose to abandon their policy of an “aggressive military solution” to the “Indian problem” and called in several Sioux leaders for a pow-wow. The negotiations bore fruit when the American military decided to abandon their forts on the Bozeman Trail through Montana which was a major sore spot with the Sioux and Cheyenne, Chief Red Cloud in particular. As usual the US military reneged on their promise to provide several Cheyenne tribes with guns and the Cheyenne showed their anger by slaughtering 15 people in Kansas and raping five women. The US military saw that peace was impossible and in 1868 began ramping up for war with the Sioux and Cheyenne. The US military agreed to treaty after treaty with the Sioux and Cheyenne among other tribes and broke each and every one of them. If ever there was a black mark on this great nation it is the treatment of the Native Americans. We came within a gnat’s eyebrow of complete genocide of these people.

Born today:

1929 US actress Grace Kelly. She said “The freedom OF the press works in such a way that there is not much freedom FROM it.” I personally fed up with the media spoon feeding us what they want us to know and nothing else. I am not a freaking clone, my mind is sharp, clear and individualistic and not easily fooled. OK, I am off my soapbox now.

         Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Wednesday OYSTERS

                                     Al's Most Recent

Quote of the day:

After the 1^st and 5^th Marines among others had successfully fought for and taken control of the island of Guadalcanal in WWII, news reporters came ashore to get interviews and take pictures. The battle for Guadalcanal was one of most bloody and savage battles ever documented. The American combat troops had been in a constant battle for two months. A news reporter saw a ragged Marine with a two month growth of beard and smelling like a garbage dump and went over and asked him if he knew where the headquarters of the 1^st Marines was. The Marine just looked at him and said “Mister, there ain’t no more 1^st Marines.”

It is Veterans Day. This originally was a memorial to the end of WWI and the millions, that's right, millions of soldiers who died.

In the Battle of the Marne in 1914 alone lasting a week in September there was 1 million soldiers for the Allies and 1.5 million German soldiers engaged. There was about 150,000 casualties. In the Battle of Verdun lasting a little over 9 months there was about 1.1 million Allied soldiers and 1.2 million Germans engaged. There was over 500,000 casualties. When an armistice was signed in November of 1918 people called this the war to end all wars...they were wrong. See the history section for more.

The act of honoring our veterans cannot be amplified enough.

 

We all know what happened at the University of Missouri. It reminds me of an office management course I once took. Lets assume this is the situation:

You are the manager of an office with 12 women, one male bookkeeper named Joe Lamb and yourself. The women work with very complex equipment that takes 6 months of training to get them up to full speed. One night Joe Lamb is arrested for attempted rape but is released for lack of evidence. One of the women passes you a note saying they want Joe Lamb fired because they all are afraid. And if you don't they will all quit and go to work for your competition across town. What is the appropriate response?

The correct response is at the end of this writing.

          This Date in History   November 11

1918 On the 11^th hour of the 11^th day of the 11^th month an armistice was signed in a rail car near Compeigne, France ending four years of one of the bloodiest conflicts in the history of warfare called World War I. This war began in 1914 with the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, the apparent heir to the Austria-Hungary Empire. The Archduke was inspecting his uncle’s troops in Sarajevo, Bosnia when he and his wife were gunned down by a Bosnian Serb nationalist. There had been bad blood between Austria-Hungary and Serbia in the past and Austria-Hungary chose this opportunity to settle the issue once and for all. After Austria-Hungary had received assurances that Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany would support Austria-Hungary if they declared war on Serbia and Russia intervened, they declared war on Serbia and began shelling the capitol of Belgrade. Russia was an ally of Serbia and began mobilization to support Serbia and Germany began mobilization in support of Austria-Hungary. Well, the rest of Europe began taking sides and it eventually ended up being Europe (France, Belgium, England and eventually the US) against Germany combined with Austria-Hungary. The war cost the lives of over 9 million and 26 million wounded. Finally the Treaty of Versailles of 1919 was signed which officially ended the conflict. The Treaty was so harsh to the German people that many German civilians died of starvation and disease afterward. All this did was to anger the German people and they almost immediately began seeking revenge. And sure enough, a German madman named Adolph Hitler said the right words In the early 1930’s and instilled a pride back into the German people and he also engineered the re-birth of the German military expertise and equipment in spite of the Treaty of Versailles and in 1938, they launched the most effective and deadly assemblage of military might the world had ever seen. But this time, they had control of the air over Europe, something never seen in WWI, WWII was underway.

1933 On November 11 a sustained wind out of the west arrived in the farmlands of South Dakota. This was the beginning of one of the largest dust storms in American history. The Great Plains of American had been suffering from 6 year long drought that added to the misery of the Great Depression. This particular dust storm arising out of what was called the “Dust Bowl” lifted tons and tons of topsoil and took much of it as far east as Albany, New York. There were many factors that brought this misery to the fore. There was the drought of course plus the farmers plowing up nearly all of the prairie grasses and then planting a less hearty plant such as wheat or barley. They also had no clue as to contour plowing and other modern techniques. There was a story about a representative of the US Department of Agriculture that giving a seminar to the farmers in the Dust Bowl on how to farm more productively when one older farmer rose up and said “Sonny, You can’t tell me about how to farm. I have worn out three farms already.”

The correct response to the Joe Lamb question:

You fire Joe Lamb. First of all you cannot take it personally as a challenge to your authority, your first thought should be what is best for the company. If they did quit it would take 6 months of lost revenue to train another staff. If that happened the home office would fire you. Repeat...you cannot take it as a personal challenge to your authority, you must stay focused on keeping the office productive...if your ego gets in the way then it is you that must go.

This relates to the University of Missouri the same way. Nearly every University relies on the football revenues to fund the other sports like golf, tennis, soccer, etc. If the football program collapses, so would the rest of the sports. Questions:

What is best for the University of Missouri as a whole?

Are the students are justified in their protests?

What is the solution..and it ain't kicking all the protesters out of school?

These questions, among others, must be answered to end the turmoil.

         Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Tuesday OYSTERS

                                   Al's Most Recent

Quote of the day:

“I have an inferiority complex, but it is not a very good one.”

                                   Steven Wright

A little trivia couldn't hurt:

Where did the word “Sharpshooter” come from? It came from a American named Christian Sharps who patented a special rifle in 1848. This rifle was .52 caliber shooting a 475 grain projectile and 70 grains of powder in a brass cartridge. This essentially was an elephant gun designed to kill bison. A mature male bison can reach 2,000 pounds. As the bison became more wary the cartridge morphed into the immortal .45/90. This kept most of the knockdown power by decreasing the size of the projectile but increasing the amount of powder which increased the range. A shot of 800 yards was not unusual. There was an instance where 12 buffalo hunters were surrounded by over 300 irate Comanches at a place in the panhandle of Texas called Adobe Walls. Most of the hunters had the latest Sharps rifle and began picking off the Comanche at enormous range. The Comanche tried and tried again but finally determined that they could not cope with the Sharps and left. After that it became a “Sharps shooter” for those shooters with long range accuracy and eventually corrupted into “sharpshooter”. There you have the resssstt of the story.

             This Date in History   November 10

1775 The United States Marines were born on this date with the signing of a resolution by President John Adams specifying the formation of “two battalions of Marines”. The first amphibious assault by the Continental marines was led by Captain Samuel Nicholson against a British held fort on New Province Island in the Bahamas which was captured by the Marines. The Marines consider Captain Nicholson the first Commandant. After the Revolutionary War in 1783 the short-sighted United States Congress de-mobilized the Navy and disbanded the Marines. However in 1798 United States shipping was harassed partly because of the French Revolution and the rise of Napoleon. Not only that, pirates were preying on US shipping in the southern Mediterranean near the Barbary Coast (Tripoli) so the United States navy was resurrected along with the US Marines as an arm of the Navy. Now a days the Marines are divided into three divisions based at Camp Lejuene, North Carolina, Camp Pendleton, California and Okinawa. In these divisions there an “expeditionary” force. These guys are ready to go anywhere in the world and attack in force within two weeks of notification. The have their own artillery, tanks and armaments, etc meaning they are pretty much self contained. The US Marines have made over 300 landings in their history. As we all know, they are usually the first ones in and the last ones out. They are very much feared and respected by our enemies, as well they should be.

1926 Mrs. William Edwards shows up dead in San Francisco. Mrs. Edwards had been strangled and raped, in that order. She was not the only one that had been killed in that manner, there were nine others. The police finally figured it was a madman named Earle Nelson. Earle was a smoothie. He would go to a boarding house bible in hand and ask to speak to the landlady about a room. Once he got inside the door it was all over for the landlady. Earle felt the heat from the police and skedaddled into Canada and set up shop there. Pretty soon the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (Mounties) discovered a trail of murdered and raped women all across Canada. Coordination with the American authorities who put the Mounties on Nelson’s trail and he was finally arrested but not before killing and raping an additional 11 Canadian women. When the Mounties asked if he was Earle Nelson and was it he who had killed all of those women? He said “Yes, but I only killed my ladies on Saturday nights.” Obviously Earle was a tent short of a campsite. He was tried, convicted and sentenced to death and in 1928 went to meet his maker wearing a hemp necktie.

1975 Two days before the merchant ship Edmund Fitzgerald had departed an iron mill in Wisconsin with a load of 26,000 tons of taconite (iron pellets) heading east across Lake Superior. The Edmund Fitzgerald was the biggest and fastest of all the ships on the Great Lakes. This puppy was 729 feet long with a crew of 29. On this night a storm of hurricane proportions roared in out of Canada. The merchant ship Anderson was following the Fitzgerald a few miles back and they were in occasional radio and visual contact. As night fell and the winds increased to over 80 miles an hour pushing up monstrous waves. According to the captain of the Anderson he had the Fitzgerald on his radar almost all the time then all of a sudden the blip disappeared and there were no answers to his radio calls. It was later determined that the huge ship had sank with all aboard lost. The ship was only 15 miles from Whitefish Bay and safety. The remains of the ship were found in 536 feet of water. The ship was in two pieces but that is no indicator of why the ship went down in the first place. That mystery will remain. The ship’s bell was recovered and is now in a museum on Whitefish Point.

1808 The Osage branch of the Sioux Indians ceded to the United States their lands in Missouri and Arkansas for settlers in return for a huge chunk of land in central Oklahoma. What the United States did not know was that that hunk of land was virtually afloat on a sea of oil and natural gas. Not only that, cattle ranches exploded with the arrival of new people and a railroad. The Osage Indians began charging a fee to let the ranchers graze cattle on their lands while drilling for and finding oil. As of this writing, the Osage tribe is the richest in the Americas.

Births and deaths:

1875 US inventor Wilbur Wright is born. When he and Orville were at Kitty Hawk, Wilbur said “We can hardly wait to get up in the morning”. They knew they were on the cusp of a world shaking event. What a thrill it had to be when that contraption flew under its own power.

1922 English writer Kingsley Amis is born. When speaking of a fellow writer he said “He is chiefly of the faith in the sense that the church he does not attend is Catholic.” I know several like that.

         Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow