Tuesday OYSTERS

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

A while back a Russian “Bear” long range bomber got too close to American airspace near Alaska and a couple of USAF F-35's intercepted them. One of the fighters got so close they could see the faces of the crew members and were taking photos. One of the crew member contacted the captain and said “Captain, the American fighter is so close that he is taking photos of us, what should I do.” The captain said “Smile.”

I went on a cruise once and one of the stops was La Havre, France. After walking around a while in that beautifully flowered city, my traveling companion and I decided that a beer would be in order. We found a “Sticky Fingers” not far from the ship and stopped in. I asked the female bartender if she spoke English and she held up two finger close together. I asked her for two “Stella Artois” which is a well known Belgian beer knowing she would understand that. I took the beers outside to where my companion was waiting at an umbrella table. Nature called and I went back in and just said “toilet”? She pointed to a spiral staircase going down. At the bottom was a basement with two “toilets” in one small room but they had separate doors. I did not understand the French writing on the doors and just went to the one on the left. All of a sudden the door flew open and man about 23 years old came in shouting something in French that I didn't understand but I knew it was not complimentary. He came around and flushed the toilet while I was still in progress and left still shouting. It took me a few seconds to get decent and I took off after that jackass. I heard him going up the spiral staircase and so did I. I got to the top but he was no where to be seen. I asked the female bartender if she knew where that man was and she pointed down the street. I was about 63 years old and would have taken on the frog bastard but he ran the hell away...typical. To this day, I do not know what that was all about.

Speaking of journalism: We all want and expect the news to be reported truthfully...as long as it agrees with our preconceived prejudices.

Recently a 12 year old boy was told that he could not fly the American flag on the back of his bicycle when coming and going to school. The abomination was issued by a middle school in central California. Two days later about 40 bikers with the American flag on the back of their motorcycles escorted this young patriot to school. When this ruling by the school was sent across the countryside, the school was flooded with e-mails, telegrams and phone calls protesting this inane ruling and they rescinded the ban on the American flag. The school officials said that they made the ruling because they were afraid the Latino kids would be offended by the display of “Old Glory”. We have gutless traitors like this teaching our children? I am glad I was not there.

This Date in History January 12

1777 On this date one of the most colorful and important leaders in the history of the United States died of seven bayonet wounds delivered by the British at the Battle Of Princeton. Hugh Mercer was born in Rosehearty, Scotland in about 1725. It is known that he studied medicine at the University of Aberdeen and served King Bonnie Prince Charles and his army in 1745. After this army was crushed at the Battle of Culloden by the British Mercer went to Aberdeenshire, Scotland and hid out for a couple of years. After this he secretly crossed the Atlantic and settled in Pennsylvania. Surprisingly enough, after his arrival in 1747 he joined the army of British King George III, the very king he was trying to overthrow two years before. During the Seven Years War he was under the command of British Edward Braddock. Braddock and company wandered into a disastrous ambush and were all but annihilated with Mercer being wounded also. After recovery he joined with Lt. Col. John Armstrong and was involved in the brilliant raid of Kittanning in 1756. Peace prevailed for a while and Mercer became a doctor and apothecary in Fredericksburg, Virginia. When the Colonies decided to take up arms against Great Britain and seek independence, Mercer’s warlike nature arose and he offered his service to the Colonial Army. He eventually ended up in command of the 3^rd Virginia regiment with such luminaries as James Monroe and John Marshall under his command. General George Washington personally requested his promotion to Brigadier General. Five months later Mercer led a brigade into a line of British infantry at the Battle of Princeton and was impaled seven times. Even though he was under the care of one of the best doctors in America, Benjamin Rush, he died nine days later in a house on the north end of the battlefield. He was 52 years old. He did live long enough to know that the Continentals had kicked the living sh-t out of the British and this battle turned out to be a pivotal battle in America’s pursuit of independence. Hugh Mercer was a pure warrior, y'all. He was one of many that showed up here at the right place and the right time. America is here for a reason.

1838 Earlier Joseph Smith had established a Mormon controlled bank in Kirkland, Ohio along with a Mormon settlement. Due to the nationwide run on banks called the Panic of 1837, Smith’s bank failed and he felt that the had better get his ass out of Dodge so on this date he headed into Missouri with the cops nipping at his heels. He and his followers did not stay long because word got out about the Mormons practicing polygamy and they were ran out of Missouri so they headed on to the Illinois frontier and settled a town they called Nauvoo. A little later on the word got out about the polygamy thing and a crowd of people surrounded the town with blood in their eye. Not to mention Joseph Smith had spread the word that he might run for president. Joseph told the mob that he and his brother would surrender if the rest of the town would be allowed to leave peacefully. The mob allowed this and jailed Joseph and his brother. Three days later, the mob got likkered up and raided the jail and hanged Joseph and his brother. Everyone thought that with the death of Smith the Mormon movement would collapse. They were wrong, Brigham Young assumed command and the whole bunch headed west and did not stop until Young saw the Great Salt Lake Valley and said the immortal words “This is the place”. The Church of Latter Day Saints based in Salt Lake City thrives to this day.

1943 Earlier Adolph Hitler decided that he wanted to conquer Russia even though he had signed a non-aggression pact with them earlier. Hitler sent three enormous armies into Russia to capture its three largest cities, Leningrad, Stalingrad and Moscow. The three German armies were named the Northern army, The Central army and the Southern army. The Northern army headed a bee line toward Leningrad thinking it would be an easy operation. They found out, as did the other two armies, that these operations would be no walk in the park. The Northern army ran up against a stone wall and was repeatedly repulsed on any attack they tried. Hitler decided that siege would be the best avenue so the Northern army surrounded the city and would not let anyone or anything in or out. During the first year of the siege 650,000 residents of the city died of exposure, starvation or injuries from the almost constant bombardments. The Russians secretly moved the very young and the very old out of the city and eventually left only 2 million people to feed and this left enough open ground to raise a modicum of crops and livestock. On this date during a blizzard with temperatures in the -30’s, the Russian army broke through the encirclement and surrounded the Germans themselves. The Germans were then in deep doo-doo because their supply lines would be cut and they would wither without a constant supply of high protein food and winter clothing to fight the worst Russian winter in 50 years.

The Germans saw the handwriting on the wall and on January 27 began a retreat back toward Germany with the enraged Russians right behind them. The siege was over after 827 days and the sacrifice of millions of Russian lives. No one knows for sure but it is estimated that the Russians lost over 26,000,000 soldiers and civilians in WWII. It is no wonder that when the Russians finally began an offensive and when they entered Germany they slaughtered every air breather they came across. They wanted their pound of flesh.

         Thanks for listening  I can hardly wait until tomorrow