Musings
and History
Quote
of the day:
“Being
in politics is like being a football coach; you have to be smart
enough to understand the game, and dumb enough to think it is
important.”
Eugene McCarthy
One
of my female subscribers bitched me out about my prologues here
lately. She said they needed more “bite” to them. These
prologues should get the job done.
The
TV series “Band of Brothers” was about the 101st
Airborne, “Easy” company in particular, in basic paratrooper
training at Camp Toccoa, Georgia. One of the obstacles that the
trainees had to conquer was a nearby mountain named Currahee
by the Creek Indians. All training units had to run up and down that
mountain several times during their training curriculum. The running
of that course was exceptionally grueling and the 101st
adopted the word Currahee as
their motto. A while back a member of the 101st
was wounded by a roadside bomb in Iraq. It took off both legs and
did something to his mind. He became essentially a zombie. He lay
in bed, looking but not seeing, listening but not hearing, eating and
drinking but not tasting, etc. His mother and father came to his
bedside and were with him constantly getting no response
This
warrior was visited by General Petraus who was the commander of the
101st
at one point in his career. He spoke to the wounded man for several
minutes to no avail. He turned to leave but at the last minute the
General turned and said in a loud voice “CURRAHEE” and the
warrior’s leg stumps began moving and soon he sat bolt upright in
the bed and acknowledged those around him. A few weeks later General
Petraus visited this man once again and they grabbed and hugged each
other with tears flowing. A year later the warrior is moving around
very well with artificial limbs and has recovered all of his
communication skills. By the way, Currahee means “Stand alone”
in Creek. God works in mysterious ways, y’all.
Months
ago I met an old friend that I had not seen in a couple of years and
we got re-acquainted. He told me that his wife of 47 years had
mysteriously died about and he was at a loss as to how to live with
the grief. He said that she knew the end was coming by the things
she said and preparations she made. One morning she got up a
showered and dressed for work. She told my friend that she was going
to lay down on the couch and take a short nap before going to work.
She never woke up. The doctors could not find a thing wrong with her
except her heart just stopped. I did not pursue that because he got
a little choked up talking about it. He said a little later on he
was standing in the bathroom shaving when he saw his wife in the
mirror standing behind him, she was radiant. He turned around and
they hugged and he asked how she got there. She said that she was
allowed this one visit and told him that it was time for him to get
on with his life and stop grieving as best he could. He said he
closed his eyes in tears and when he opened them she was gone. I do
not know where reality lies here except that it is certainly real in
the mind of my friend and that is all I need to know. God works in
mys...well, you know.
This
Date in History February 24
1836
On this date the commander of the Texas Militia, a South
Carolinian named William Travis, sent out a plea for help to his
embattled troops trapped in an old Spanish Mission named the Alamo in
the city of San Antonio de Bexar, or San Antonio as it is known
today. Colonel Travis sent a note to “The people of Texas” to
come to the assistance of about 220 Militia along with volunteers
under the command of Jim Bowie and another group under Davy Crockett.
Travis sent his friend from the same area of South Carolina as he
named James Bonham out carrying the message. Bonham was able to
sneak out and sneak back in with 30 volunteers from Gonzales, Texas.
But even with this help they were surrounded by a Mexican army of
over 2,000 against a force of about 237 Patriots. Travis had ended
the note he sent with Bonham stating those immortal words “victory
or death”. The Mexican army under General Santa Anna kept
tightening the noose and finally launched a night assault in early
March and Santa Anna ordered “take no prisoners” and they stormed
the Alamo and killed everyone to a man. The next encounter was the
Texas Militia, commanded by Sam Houston, against Santa Anna southwest
of Houston at a place called San Jacinto. But that is another story.
1981
On this date socialite Jean Harris is convicted of murdering Dr.
Herman Tarnower. Tarnower was the author of the bestselling book
titled The Scarsdale Diet.
Harris and Tarnower had been lovers/companions since 1966 in spite
of the fact that Harris was the superintendent of a fancy-schmantzy
girl’s school in Virginia. Tarnower was a notorious womanizer but
in spite of that Harris helped Tarnower write his book. Tarnower had
vaguely promised Harris that he would eventually marry the 56 year
old Harris but never did, and then one day Harris found out that
Tarnower was going to dump her for a younger woman. Harris,
accompanied by a .32 caliber revolver, jumped into her car and headed
for Tarnower’s house in Westchester County, New York. Upon arrival
at Tarnower’s house Harris let herself in with her key, went
upstairs to Tarnower’s bedroom and confronted him. Here is where
things get a little fuzzy. Harris said she went up there to commit
suicide and Tarnower tried to wrestle the gun away from her and it
went off killing Tarnower making it an accident. The only problem
was that Tarnower was shot four times in the abdomen at very close
range with the wounds very close together. The jury did not buy the
accident scenario and convicted Harris of first degree murder and
gave her life in prison. Harris was a model prisoner and wrote a
book about how women prisoners are treated titled “They
Always Call Us Ladies”.
Governor Mario Cuomo commuted her sentence in 1992 and upon her
release she continued her campaign for better treatment of female
prisoners. I have said it a million times, men have been putting up
with rejection for centuries but if a woman gets rejected...look out.
I have been asked why I say this and here is the answer. If you go
to a dance, any dance, you will see men ask women to dance and get
rejected and he just moves on to the next one. But if a woman asks a
man to dance and he says no, the woman gets really pissed off and
stalks away. I know what I am talking about here.
Born today:
1500
Roman Emperor Charles V. He said “Name me an emperor that has
ever been struck by a cannonball.” Hey Chuck, don’t you know
that old men start wars and young men fight them?
1940
Scottish soccer player Denis Law. He said “Whoever wins today
wins the championship not matter who wins.” Denis, shut up.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait
until tomorrow
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