Friday OYSTERS

                                       Al's Most Recent

Quote of the day:

“Women are made to be loved, not understood.”

Oscar Wilde

I recently watched the movie The King's Speech. It was one of the most enjoyable movies I have ever seen. I did not know any of the actors but they all were superb. I did recognize the man who played the Archbishop. He played Senator Graccus in Gladiator. The Kings Speech was based on a true historical event and here is a brief explanation of what happened.

The King of England had died and the next in line was his eldest son Prince Edward. The Prince had a girlfriend/lover named Wallis Simpson, an American divorcee. Edward had been sleeping with Wallis Simpson for quite a spell but she being an American AND twice divorced made her very unlikely to be accepted as Queen by the English peerage. Edward chose to give up (abdicate) his lineage as King of England so he could marry Wallis. In early 1937 he was officially trashed as the next King of England. That made his brother the next in line. The problem was that the brother nicknamed “Bertie” stammered horribly. The brother was crowned the King of England as George VI very close to the outbreak of WWII. Everyone in England knew that war with Hitler was inevitable and the King was expected to make a speech when England declared war on Germany. Bertie was very upset knowing that he eventually had to make speech to the entire British empire and the entire world and sought help where he could get it. He eventually contacted a man that was not a speech expert but Bertie had confidence in his ability to extract a good speech. The movie was about Bertie and his relationship with this man and others training him to make this speech. He eventually made the speech and it made me want to fight...but that is nothing unusual.

Thursday night was a good one...a friend invited me over for dinner and a movie. The dinner was bacon wrapped and baked seasoned chicken tenders and green beans. The beverage of choice was Canada Dry Ginger ale. The movie was “Bridge of Spies” starring Tom Hanks. The movie was good too but all movies with Tom Hanks are good ones. After I got home “Cool Hand Luke” came on. This is one of my all time favorites. It is from this movie that the phrase “What we have here is a failure to communicate.” came from.

Once again I have read about the pro-choice vs pro-life arguments. I personally have decided that insisting on implementing one side or the other is playing God and believe me, I ain't qualified. I just have one question...how many unwanted children have those of the “pro-life” genre adopted or are supporting? If the answer is “few or none” then there is only one logical thought left. They foster their attitude only to appear noble. As far as the pro-choice side is concerned, each person is responsible for their soul and whatever reward or punishment awaits them. It is a personal issue and really none of my business...or anybody else's. I know, some of you pro-lifers out there are going to “yawp” (a word coined by Walt Whitman) about “What about the life of the baby?” What about it? Agree to adopt them, support them or shut the hell up. The only other answer is when a woman shows up pregnant by mistake or rape and does not want to have a baby for a variety of reasons, she is sent to the Gulag Archipelago to have the baby whether she likes it or not. Don't try to be God, you ain't qualified either.

This Date in History February 5

1631 A young hell-raiser arrived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. It is Roger Williams, a teacher and minister. This colorful guy begins traveling around to the different cities like Plymouth and Salem and began preaching that the civil authorities had no right to administrate religious behavior and not only that the civil authorities had no right to take Indian lands without offering recompense. The people in the Colony could not stand that kind of criticism and kicked Roger out of the Colony. Roger gathered a large number of Narragansett Indians and moved into another section not far away and named it Providence. That’s right if was the birth of the state of Rhode Island. Roger invited those that were unhappy with the civil government administrating an individuals religion and any and all religious sects were invited to join them.

1865 Union General U.S. Grant ordered General David Gregg to go try and break the Confederate lines near Dabney Mill during the siege of Petersburg during the Civil War. Upon arrival, Gregg attacked a dug in and ready Confederates with little or no effect. The next day the battle began anew but the Union added US General Gouverneur Warren and his brigade to the battle. It did not help either because the Confederates just moved to face the attacks and beat the living crap out of both regiments so those Yankees withdrew and went back to the house. The total was 1,000 Confederate casualties to 3,400 for the Union. But no matter, the war was over in April anyway,

1885 On this date the Southern Pacific Railroad completed its tracks on its so called “Sunset Route” This line ran from New Orleans to California. Earlier The Central Pacific had been completed when the tracks coming from California met the tracks coming west from the Great Plains met at Promontory Point, Utah. There were four men that owned the railroads in America at the time and they were Collis Huntington, Charles Crocker, Leland Stanford and Mark Hopkins. It was Huntington that owned the Sunset Route. He knew he had to hurry to finish the route because the Texas Pacific Railroad was making good progress westbound. On this date using his superior finances, Huntington was able to tie in with the Santa Fe Railroad first making the Sunset Route a reality.

Famous quotes:

“But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.”

“Question with boldness even the existence of a god; because if there be one he must approve of the homage of reason more than that of blindfolded fear.”

“They [the clergy] believe that any portion of power confided to me, will be exerted in opposition to their schemes. And they believe rightly; for I have sworn upon the altar of god, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man. But this is all they have to fear from me: and enough, too, in their opinion.”

Some of his thoughts lead one to believe that he is an atheist but other documents say he is not. He authored a very famous document that contains the phrase “...nature and nature’s God entitle them”. The document is of course the Declaration of Independence and he is one of the most brilliant men this country has ever produced ...Thomas Jefferson. He is the author of all these quotes.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow