Thursday

                     Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“Finding Nemo is number one at the box office. It is based on a game that President Bill Clinton played with the interns.”

                                      David Letterman

Here is another American hero:

                        Congressional Medal of Honor

BAKER, JR., THOMAS ALEXANDER
CMH #2604

Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. ArmyBirthday: 25 June 1916Unit: Company A, 105th Infantry, 27th Infantry DivisionPlace and Date of Action: Saipan, Mariana Islands, 19 June to 7 July 1944 Date of Death: 12 July 1944Cemetery: National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (F-162) (MH); Honolulu, HI

CITATION: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty at Saipan, Mariana Islands, 19 June to 7 July 1944. His entire company was held up by fire from automatic weapons and small-arms fire from strongly fortified enemy positions that commanded the view of the company, Sgt. (then Pvt.) Baker voluntarily took a bazooka and dashed alone to within 100 yards of the enemy. Through heavy rifle and machine gun fire that was directed at him by the enemy, he knocked out the strong point, enabling his company to assault the ridge. Some days later while his company advanced across the open field flanked with obstructions and places of concealment for the enemy, Sgt. Baker again voluntarily took up a position in the rear to protect the company against surprise attack and came upon 2 heavily fortified enemy pockets manned by 2 officers and 10 enlisted men which had been bypassed. Without regard for such superior numbers, he unhesitatingly attacked and killed all of them. Five hundred yards farther, he discovered 6 of the enemy who had concealed themselves behind our lines and destroyed all of them. On 7 July 1944, the perimeter of which Sgt. Baker was a part was attacked from 3 sides by from 3,000 to 5,000 Japanese. During the early stages of this attack, Sgt. Baker was seriously wounded but he insisted on remaining in the line and fired at the enemy at ranges sometimes as close as 5 yards until his ammunition ran out. Without ammunition and with his own weapon battered to uselessness from hand-to-hand combat, he was carried about 50 yards to the rear by a comrade, who was then himself wounded. At this point Sgt. Baker refused to be moved any farther stating that he preferred to be left to die rather than risk the lives of any more of his friends. A short time later, at his request, he was placed in a sitting position against a small tree. Another comrade, withdrawing, offered assistance. Sgt. Baker refused, insisting that he be left alone and be given a soldier’s pistol with its remaining 8 rounds of ammunition. When last seen alive, Sgt. Baker was propped against a tree, pistol in hand, calmly facing the foe. Later Sgt. Baker’s body was found in the same position, gun empty, with 8 Japanese lying dead before him. His deeds were in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Army.

This Date in History March 31

1776 On this date Continental Congressman John Adams’ wife Abigail wrote him a letter saying in part “I long to hear that you and the others have declared an independence. By the way, in the new code of laws I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you to remember the ladies and be more favorable and generous to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands. Remember, all men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws which we do not have any voice or representation.” Let us recap at this point. John Adams and the Continental Congress are gathered together in Philadelphia on the cusp of creating a new nation the likes of which the world has never seen. They are doing this knowing that the mightiest army and navy on the planet will bring all their forces to bear to prevent this from happening. Then one our greatest leaders is reminded to remember gender parity under the threat of a “rebellion”. Abigail Adams was a brilliant person and was as devoted to John as John was to her but to threaten a “rebellion” at this point was nothing short of bullshit. This country was facing the most important decision in world history and Abigail is worried about gender parity! Abigail, this ain’t the time to start nagging about that, for crying out loud! It is at least shortsightedness if not a total lack of vision. On second thought, maybe Abigail had extraordinary vision because it took just short of 150 years for the United States Congress to enact the 19^th Amendment allowing women to vote. Abigail Adams and Barbara Bush are the only two women to be wives and mothers to two American presidents.

1492 On this date, at the direction of the Catholic Church in Spain, all Jews are ordered to become Christians or leave the country. Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face, a great majority of the Jews did indeed leave rather than give up their heritage. They took with them huge amounts of money, skills and business connections with many of the countries in the Mediterranean, Europe and Scandinavia. But some of the Jews stayed and held secret Jewish ceremonies while claiming to be Christians. It didn’t help any; the Jews claiming to be Christians were treated like shit anyway. Then the Catholic Church in Spain stepped on its tongue once again and declared that all Moors (Muslims) in Spain must become Christians or leave the country also. One would think that the loss of such a money making and tax paying segment would bankrupt a country. But it didn’t. Spain remained one of the major players in Europe and the world for over 300 years afterward. They took a small dip in power when the Spanish navy was crushed by the English navy in the mid-1500’s. They took another hit when they joined with France and Napoleon Bonaparte and again were crushed by the British navy in the late 1700’s. But Spain reaped an enormous fortune from the “new world” by their conquistadors enslaving the natives in Central and South America and bringing literally tons of gold, silver and precious gems back to Spain.

Born today:

1948 US politico Al Gore. He said “A leopard cannot change its stripes.” Al is a piece of work. Pretty dumb for someone that invented the internet.

        Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Wednesday OYSTERS

                    Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“I have never killed anyone, but I have read a few obituaries with much pleasure.”

                                      Clarence Darrow

Some of you have seen the following before here it is again.

Why is Trump so popular?

Could it be that many of us are fed up with entrenched American politicians that have allowed for rampant spending that puts us in a debt that our great-grandchildren will still be paying for, internal divisiveness and turmoil and we are disrespected internationally. Then they expect us to reward them with electing them to the most powerful position in the world?

Could it be that being a professional political hack blinds them to the needs and desires of those that elected them and their own personal agenda is all that matters?

The original concept of a democratic republic was for the general population to elect people represent their interests for a period of time and then "go back to the farm" not to stay and wallow in the morass of corruption that is inevitable after an extended period.

A while back a man was elected to represent us in the House for "only two terms". After running for re-election for his sixth term he was defeated because of his betrayal of this promise. Later when asked he said "The power and influence you gain is intoxicating".

To me that translates to "Power corrupts". The longer you stay the more you are corrupted.

A very smart man once said “An occasional revolution is good for a country, it keeps the politicians honest”. Trump is a revolution.

            This Date in History March 30

1775 On this date King George III of England endorsed the so-call Restraining Act. Parliament had proposed this abomination and the King liked it. Now y'all listen to this. This act declared that the colonies must trade exclusively with Great Britain and that ain’t all, the Act forbade the American fishing fleet from fishing in the North Atlantic. Are you mad yet? This meant that all the most eaten fish in the colonies such as cod and salmon would have to be bought from Great Britain even though the Danes and Dutch fished the North Atlantic also and the American fleet had no problem with supplying its people with these fish. The British Prime Minister, Lord North, knew that this act would stir up a hornets nest in the colonies and tried to calm things down by stating that if a colony paid the salary of the Royal Governor of their Colony, they would be taxed less. But Lord North knew this would have little or no effect and sent the Military Commander General Thomas Gage to Boston to become Governor of Massachusetts. This was just the first step toward martial law and the colonists knew it. In July Gage sent a British regiment to destroy a cache of arms and ammo known to be in Concord, Massachusetts and arrest firebrands Patriots Samuel Adams and John Hancock. It was during this event that the first shot was fired at the British in anger and the Revolutionary War was under way. Considering what humiliation burdens the British put on the colonists, I am amazed it did not start before then.

1980 In the stormy North Sea the oil companies provided apartments for the drilling platform workers on their off time. The apartment had room for about 220 workers and was afloat on gigantic pontoons. On this night while most of the workers were watching a movie with a gale howling outside, a gigantic rogue wave estimated to be over 100 feet high slammed into the apartment and it capsized . Most of the workers were Norwegian but there were a few Brits and Americans aboard. The apartment was about 220 miles from Dundee, Scotland and soon Royal and Norwegian helicopters were on site but the gale was still howling and rescue was difficult if not impossible. Of the 208 that were aboard the apartment, 123 were unable to reach a life boat and were drowned. Eight years later there was a fire and explosion on a drilling rig in the North Sea took the life of another 167. The oil platform workers make a lot of money but it isn’t worth the risk.

1867 On this date the United States Secretary of State William Seward coughed up $7.2 million dollars and gave it to Russia for what is now Alaska. Seward caught a large ration of shit for this deal. His detractors called Alaska a “huge stump of ice “or “Seward’s Icebox.” Little did they know what a plethora of minerals lay under ground including gold, silver, coal, and iron ore not to mention oil. I would say that the $7.2 million was a good investment for these United States.

Quotable quotes:

“The Cardinal rule of politics is don’t get caught in bed with a live man or a dead woman”.

                                     Larry Hagman

How about a semi-dead woman, Larry?

            Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Tuesday OYSTERS

                       Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“I worked in strip joints, but I never got my clothes off, the crowd kept yelling 'Don't do it, Don't do it'”

                                         Whoopi Goldberg

On March 2, 1810 Pope Leo XIII was born. In the later stages of his life as Pope he said:

“It is quite unlawful to demand, defend, or to grant unconditional freedom of thought, or speech, or writing or worship as if these were so many gifts given by nature to man.” I had to read this statement over and over again to make sure that I copied it right. Pope Leo XIII has since gone on to his reward.

When speaking of Hollywood stars he said:

“I no longer think Hollywood stars are terribly important. They are uniformly pleasant, friendly people, and they treat me better than I deserve to be treated. But a man or woman who makes a huge wage for memorizing lines and reciting them in front of a camera is no longer my idea of a shining star we should all look up to.”

                                             Ben Stein

             This Date in History March 29

1776 On this date General George Washington assigns the task of the protection of New York and its waterways to General Israel Putnam. If ever there was a true warrior it was Israel Putnam. He was a lieutenant under George Washington during the French and Indian War. He was captured and tortured by the Caughanawega Indians but eventually escaped. This man was a fire-breathing Patriot from the git-go when the British began with their enactment of laws trying to suppress the colonist’s rebellious attitude. He was a founding father of the infamous Sons of Liberty. It was this bunch that was the hosts at the so-called Boston Tea Party. Israel was there. After hostilities really got under way, Israel joined the Continental Army with gusto. He was with Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen at their victories at Ticonderoga and Montreal. After taking command of the troops in New York, he suffered two defeats in a row at Fort Montgomery and Fort Clinton in 1777. After these two losses, Washington’s faith in Israel Putnam began to fade. He continued to serve in the Continental Army until he had a career ending stroke in 1779. It is unfortunate that such a warrior ended his career in disrepute. Putnam was raised in Salem, Massachusetts and it was some of his ancestors that were responsible for execution by various means of “witches and warlocks” during the infamous Salem witch trials in 1692.

1951  Earlier nuclear physicist Klaus Fuchs was arrested in England by British authorities with the assistance of the FBI. Fuchs worked on the A-bomb project both in England and the United States during the development period. He was arrested for espionage in a conspiracy to give atomic secrets to the Russians. Fuchs readily admitted to the conspiracy and pointed his finger at his “mule” Harry Gold. Gold had been the go-between to deliver the paperwork to the Russians. Gold was arrested and admitted to being the “mule” but said he knew of someone with a hell of a lot more knowledge about the inner workings and pointed to David Greenglass. Greenglass was also arrested who worked at the laboratory at Los Alamos with his sister and brother-in-law Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Greenglass named Ethel as the brains of the conspiracy and Julius was the activator. All four went on trial were convicted. Greenglass and Gold got prison sentences. On this date the Rosenbergs were sentenced to death for treason in spite of the fact that Russia was an ally at the end of WWII. But the “fear” of atomic attack from the Russians was a real one for several years. What condemned the Rosenbergs was that Greenglass and Gold gave almost identical testimony against the Rosenbergs in separate hearings. Julius and Ethel were executed in 1953 in the electric chair in Sing Sing yelling that they were innocent to the very end.

1973  Two weeks after the signing of the peace agreement between North Vietnam and the United States, the last American combat troops leave South Vietnam and the last of the American POW’s (allegedly) are released. After a seven bloody years, the Vietnam War is over for the United States. Within a matter of hours the North Vietnam army enters Saigon and renames it Ho Chi Mien City and Vietnam is one country once again. The mightiest military force the world has ever seen was unable to keep the country split into two nations at the cost of about 70,000 American lives. Thank God that nightmare is over, but another may have replaced it.

1878  Earlier the Boers, or Dutch settlers in Africa, were driven from Natal by the British. In the way was the nation of the Zulu. The Zulus were renowned for their ferocity in battle. The British tried to remove the Zulus but soon found that they had a tiger by the tail and the so-called Zulu Wars began. The British got their ass handed to them on two successive battles, however on this date 2,000 British troops routed about 20,000 Zulus and the conquest of South Africa by Great Britain was complete when the province of Natal was absorbed in the Republic of South Africa.

Born today:

1819   US entrepreneur Edwin Drake. When proposing to his investors that he was going to drill for oil. His investors said “Drill into the ground and expect to find oil! Are you crazy?” I would have said the same thing.

Died today:

1885  US writer Anna Strong. She said “I normally do not know where my journey is going until just before I arrive.” I like this girl’s attitude.

1957  English writer Joyce Cary. She said “How unfortunate love is, it is always too much or too little.” That is true except with a dog, they give unconditional love.

2004  English commentator Alistair Cooke. When speaking about Greta Garbo he said “She gave you the impression that, if your imagination had to sin, it could at least congratulate itself on impeccable taste.”

       Thanks for listening  I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Monday OYSTERS

                      Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“Life's tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late.”

                          Benjamin Franklin

Here is a colorful individual from the old American west:

                        Judge Roy Bean

One of the most colorful characters in the history of the American west dies. It was Judge Roy Bean of Langtry, Texas. He was the self proclaimed “Law West of the Pecos.” Bean was born somewhere in Kentucky in the 1820’s. In 1847 he and his brother Sam left home and went to Mexico and lived a rogue’s life until he got into an argument with another man and ended up killing him. This forced Bean out of Mexico and he ended up in San Diego. As usual, Bean got into a fight in a bar and ended up killing anther man so he had to skedaddle out of there and ended up in Los Angeles. He got into a fight with a Mexican General over a woman and shot and killed the General. The General had a lot of friends and they took Bean to the closest tree and strung him up. The woman who he had the fight over ran to his rescue and cut him down in the nick of time. He carried the scars from that rope for the rest of his life. Bean decided that California just ain’t the place to be and he moved out into the wilds of New Mexico and Texas. For about 16 years he was a prosperous and legitimate business man in San Antonio. In 1882 he moved to southwest Texas and built his famous bar “Jersey Lily”. Eventually he founded the town of Langtry, Texas named after the actress Lily Langtry as was his bar. Bean became a justice of the peace in Langtry and was famous for dispensing justice using common sense rather that the letter of the law. He once fined a dead man for carrying a concealed weapon. But on the down side when a man shot a Chinese rail worker, Bean let him go saying that he could find no law against shooting a “Chinaman”. Bean fell ill and died in November of 1903, just 10 months before the real Lily Langtry came by for a visit to his famous saloon.

This Date in History March 28

1979 On this date began a comedy of errors resulted the worst nuclear accident in United States history at the recently built Reactor #2 at the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant. This particular power plant was built on an island in the middle the Susquehanna River about 10 miles from the Pennsylvania capitol of Harrisburg. There was a slight over pressure in the reactor and a pressure relief valve opened as it was supposed to, the only problem was that it failed to close back and cooling water began to escape. The emergency relief pumps began to operate automatically as they were suppose to. If the plant operators had let this safety system work as designed, nothing would have happened. But the newly trained plant workers could not figure out what the hell was going on. With the cooling water leaking out onto the floor of the containment building the reactor core temperature began to rise. For reasons known only to the plant operators, they chose to shut down the emergency relief pumps. There is no need for me to tell you what happened to the core temperature. Pennsylvania Governor Thornburgh was between a rock and a hard place. After being appraised of the situation, he had to so something but he did not want to cause a panic. He sent out a notice that everyone with a 10 mile radius of Three Mile Island to stay indoors. Then the next day he advised that pregnant women should evacuate. Then word leaked out that radioactive steam had escaped and a small amount of radioactive water had leaked into the Susquehanna River. All of this was true but it was not that much of a risk but a panic began and over 100,000 people near the plant evacuated. By now the core had reached a temperature of 4,000 degrees which is within 1,000 degrees of a complete meltdown. Eventually experts from Metropolitan Energy and the reactor designer (Babcock and Wilcox) arrived and figured out what the problem was and the emergency pumps were restarted and the core temperature began to fall. In an attempt to lessen the panic, United States President Jimmy Carter went to the plant. Carter was a Naval Academy trained nuclear engineer and had dealt with damaged cores in the past probably in a nuclear submarine. But he was not there to offer expertise but to restore the confidence of the population. Everyone thought the problem had been solved but two days later a hydrogen bubble was discovered in the top of the containment building and there had been a small explosion but the containment building held. It was determined that the hydrogen bubble was not a threat. By the way, it was an explosion of a hydrogen bubble that destroyed the Russian power plant at Chernobyl but the Russians did not use containment buildings. The core had been damaged in reactor # 2 making it useless. During the crises, reactor # 1 had been shut down also. Reactor # 1 was not restarted until 1985 and reactor # 2 was sealed. Since this emergency the building of not one nuclear power plant has begun in the United States. There have been reports that those that stayed those few days after the initial accident have an increased incidence of leukemia and other cancers but it is not a proven statistic. There was one of the plant operators that put on a safe suit and went into the floor of the containment building where the water was about 18 inches deep trying to find out what the problem was. He had with him a flask of test water that began to effervesce like carbonated water very soon after he arrived. He saw this and got the hell out of there, and I don’t blame him. A lot of lessons were learned during this experience. That is the only upside I can find to this whole scenario.

Died today:

1957 US writer Christopher Morley. He said “A critic is a gong at a railroad crossing clanging wildly while the train passes by.”

1984 US educator Benjamin Mays. He said “Isn’t it a calamity that we died with unfulfilled dreams, but it is even a bigger calamity not to dream.” Ben was a wise individual.

         Thanks for listening     I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Friday OYSTERS

                       Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“Be the master of your petty annoyances and preserve your energies for the big, worthwhile things. It is not the mountain ahead that wears you out...it is the pebble in your shoe.”

                                                 Robert Service

At home I have three pair of reading glasses. One pair on my coffee table to use when I read, another pair near my laptop to use when I am doing research and writing my blog, and finally a pair on my night stand for even more reading. At one point last Saturday I could not find any of them. Throughout the day they surfaced one at a time until I had them all back. This is not the first time this has happened. I don't know who keeps coming in and hiding my glasses like that, but I eventually find them. God works in mysterious ways. By the way, I have two pair in my car but somehow those are never hidden from me.

I am a historian and this is what history tells us about dealing with difficult circumstances in the past. Here is one example. Hannibal crossed the Mediterranean from Carthage (present day Tunis) to the present day Spanish Riviera and headed east with the aim of defeating Rome. He brought 32 war elephants with him. He assembled a considerable army on the way east because the people he encountered had been under the heel of the Romans for centuries and wanted revenge...Hannibal had many volunteers especially in France. After crossing the Alps and entering Italy from the north Hannibal encountered the vaunted Roman legions. It was no contest. The horses used by the Roman cavalry had never seen, heard or smelled an elephant and panicked. Hannibal's horses were used to them. An entire Roman legion was annihilated and this happened more than once. The Romans decided that they could not defeat Hannibal in open combat so they chose to combat Hannibal with terrorism. The Roman army went behind Hannibal's army and began the slaughter of anyone and their families that had aided Hannibal or did nothing to stop him thus discouraging volunteers and it cut his supply lines. Then they went to Carthage and leveled it. The order was to not leave one stone standing atop another, to salt the earth so nothing would grow and poison their water sources. This had the desired effect and Hannibal eventually was defeated. The point I am making is the Romans killed thousands of civilians behind Hannibal's army and the destruction of Carthage would leave the Carthaginian army no place to come home to and no families to greet them. It destroyed their dedication and the Romans prevailed. What can we learn from this? It is cruel but the open slaughter of innocent civilians as we have seen recently cannot under any circumstance be a one way street. If it is, then the slaughter will continue. Savage and brutal attacks require savage and brutal responses...history has proven it time and again.

This Date in History March 25

1774 On this date the British Parliament passed the Boston Port Act which was part of the so-called Coercive Acts. The Boston Port Act closed the ports of Boston and Charleston, SC to any shipping not condoned by the British navy, a blockade if you please. The Boston Port Act also had a glimmer of hope for the Bostonians in that if the city coughed up the equivalent $1 million dollars to repay the English merchants for the loss of their tea in the famous Boston Tea Party, they MIGHT lighten up on the blockade. That was bullshit because the British brought in the military commander of the British army in the Colonies, General Thomas Gage, and made him the Governor of Massachusetts. The Bostonians and the colonies in general saw correctly that this was the first step toward martial law and England’s attempt to isolate New England and Boston in particular from the rest of the colonies. It did not work, y'all. The rest of the colonies gathered together and began sending supplies to New England via different avenues and the colonies overwhelmingly decided to tell those British merchants to suck it up because they ain't repaying them anything for the lost tea. If you take all the things the British Parliament burdened the colonies with collectively, it is a wonder the Revolutionary War did not start before Lexington and Bunker Hill. In addition to the Boston Port Act they gave us the Stamp Act which decrees that every scrap of printed matter must have a British designed stamp on it at a cost to the colonists. The income from the Stamp Act was to be used to finance the British Army in the colonies. In other words, the colonists were going to provide pay for their own invaders. Parliament also passed the Quartering Act. This act decreed that it was the responsibility of the colonists to provide quarters for the British troops, the colonist’s own homes if necessary. There were other acts but these three were the most obnoxious and clearly led to the Revolutionary War and the creation of this great experiment in freedom known as the United States of America.

1932 On this date the United States Supreme Court reversed the conviction of nine young black men from Scottsboro, Alabama for rape of two white women. It all started when two women riding on a train told police that nine black men also riding on the train had forcibly raped them. The nine blacks were soon arrested and charged with rape. The Alabama court found out these two women are not “flowers of the South” but are professional prostitutes and later on admit that they made up the rape story. That did not stop the Alabama court and they proceeded on with the case against the black guys. As you might suspect, they were convicted and sentenced to death. The liberals all over the country jumped out of their chairs and ran to the defense of the black men in this unbelievable outrage. The black men never even met their defense attorneys until the day of the trial. With the conviction overturned, the Alabama courts were not done yet. The nine were arrested again; convicted again and sentenced to death again and again the United States Supreme Court stepped in and put a stop to it. The nine men are finally permanently released but not before spending about 10 years in prison unnecessarily. Prejudicial hatred has no limit.

1911 On this date a fire broke out in a box of rags in the Triangle Shirtwaist Company located on the lower east side of New York City. This building lacked the basic safety features like outside fire escapes and sprinkler systems. There were fire hose connections at regular intervals but each and every one of them had not been tested in so long that all the valves were rusted closed. Not only that, the three elevators operated only sporadically and on this date, they all went to the bottom but the doors would not open nor would the elevator move upwards meaning that those in the elevators were doomed. The greedy owners have access to a stairwell that took them to the roof and they were able to escape by running to the roof of the next building. As you might expect all of the production workers were women and the greatest majority of them were immigrants. 146 women were killed in this conflagration. The upside from this is that all buildings in that part of New York ended up with outside fire escapes and eventually sprinkler systems, but it was too late and not enough for those ladies in the Triangle Shirtwaist Company.

          Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Thursday OYSTERS

                   Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“What we call progress is the exchange of one nuisance for another nuisance.”

                                      Havelock Ellis

Aggravations:

I was working in Charlotte, NC and would occasionally come back to Greenville, SC (about 93 miles) on days off. I had gotten off work and was headed toward Greenville on I-85, I was going fishing with my brother the next day. Close to the Gastonia, NC exit the traffic slowed to about 15 MPH and was backed up to the horizon. I thought it must have been a horrendous crash. When I got to where the backup began I discovered that people were slowing down to look at all the vehicles with flashing blue and red lights. The problem was whatever the problem was it as on the other side of the median...with a 6 foot tall concrete barrier in the middle. You could not see a damned thing except the reflection of lights flashing. I was beside myself.

Aggravation: Dumb-ass rubberneckers.

This Date in History March 24

1765 On this date British Parliament passed the Colonies Quartering Act making it the responsibility of the American Colonies to provide quarters, or barracks, for the British troops that had been sent to the colonies, as inflaming as it sounds. Look at the date and tell me how the colonists were able to put up with this abomination for 10 years without revolting. There was an order of priorities for which type of cover the colonists had to provide of the Redcoats. The very last on the list was a colonist’s house but it was there. Just to think that it was the responsibility of the land being invaded to be responsible for the housing of the army doing the invading. The arrogance of even thinking of such a thing arouses the Scottish blood in my veins and makes me believe that freedom and liberty are indeed worth dying for. Don’t test me. Don’t even go there.

1989 The night before Captain Joseph Hazelwood, the commander of the oil tanker Exxon Valdez is out partying with some of his crew and the regular bar flies in the city of Valdez, Alaska. On this afternoon Captain Hazelwood is on the bridge when the gigantic oil tanker leaves the docks of Valdez filled to the scuppers with Alaskan North Slope crude oil. But when he is assured that the course is clear, he takes little nip and retires to his cabin. The unqualified officer he left in command on the bridge gets confused by all the icebergs in Prince William Sound and ran aground on Bligh Reef in the middle of the Sound. That ain’t the bad part; the Exxon Valdez is holed and begins leaking Alaskan crude oil into the pristine Prince William Sound. Captain Hazelwood is awakened and called the Coast Guard in short order and reported what happened. There was no response from a containment group for three hours. After that it was too late. 11 million gallons of crude were leaked into the Sound, and spread into a 100 mile radius and polluted 700 miles of shoreline killing thousands of animals and making the normally fertile Prince William Sound a marine desert. In short it was the worst ecological disaster in American history. There was a lot of financial fencing done between the state of Alaska, Exxon and the US Environmental Protection Agency. Eventually, Exxon offered the state of Alaska $25 million unopposed against the contested amount of $100 million. The state of Alaska took the $25 million. Money talks.

1862 On this date abolitionist Wendell Phillips is scheduled to make a speech in Cincinnati, Ohio. Phillips was the son of a famous and wealthy family in the New England area. Wendell never had to work so he was looking for a “cause” to occupy his time. He chose freeing the slaves as his crusade. After the Civil War broke out, the abolitionists tried to persuade Lincoln to declare the reason for the war was to free the slaves. For almost two years Lincoln called baloney on that and proclaimed the purpose of the war was to maintain the union. Then when that didn’t work after the Union army got their ass kicked in rapid succession and the Union supporters said “to hell with it, let them have their own country, stop the slaughter.” Then Lincoln changed horses and proclaimed the War was to free the slaves making it a moral issue. Anyway, Wendell Phillips got up on the rostrum in Cincinnati and started orating about how right it was that the war was to free the slaves and he was booed off the stage and had to be escorted off the premises under armed escort. Of course I am not an advocate of slavery, but Lincoln not staying with the original “cause” as being the preservation of the Union was at least suspect if not unconscionable in its sincerity. If you weigh the freeing of the slaves against the preservation of this great nation, it is no contest.

1890 On this date the United States Supreme Court handed down what was called a “surprise decision”. The case in question was the Milwaukee, Chicago and St. Paul Railroad v the State of Minnesota. The State of Minnesota imposed fees on the railroad to limit the profits to a “reasonable amount”. The railroad sued claiming that in this situation the railroad must be considered an individual and therefore the 14^th Amendment applied which stated that an individual is allowed to make as much money as they want. Incredibly the Court ruled in favor of the railroad making the railroad the same as an individual. But we must keep in mind that at that point in time this country was literally run by the railroad barons, Andrew Carnegie and J.P. Morgan for instance. But eventually these barons ran upon a hard–ass named Teddy Roosevelt and things began to change.

Born today:

1936 Canadian scientist David Suzuki. He said “Education has in a very serious way to convey the most important lesson can teach: Skepticism.” I agree.

Died today:

1603 Queen Elizabeth I of England. When speaking to Sir Walter Raleigh she said “I have known many people that have turned gold into smoke, but you are the first person that I have seen that turned smoke into gold.” Her Majesty was speaking of Walt bringing tobacco into Europe.

1882 US writer Henry Longfellow. He said “Talk not of wasted affection, affection is never wasted.” Henry sure had a way with words.

1905 French writer Jules Verne. He said “I believe cats to be spirits come to earth. A cat, I am sure could walk on a cloud without coming through.”

        Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Wednesday OYSTERS

                       Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“The next time a prostitute solicits you for business, ask her for the clergyman's rate.”

                                      George Carlin

I recently wrote an article that was published in the newspaper. It essentially advocated the destruction of the families of our enemies as a deterrent. I offered the WWII firebombing of cities in Europe and Japan by the US as precedent. Look at Brussels...why can those monsters kill innocents and we cannot respond?

What is the difference between “tamed” and “domesticated” animals? In a book I am reading it is this. A tamed animal is like the Indian elephants that are used in the timber industry but it takes at least 20 years for one of them to get large enough and trained enough to be useful. A domesticated animal is like cows, chickens, dogs, etc. They mature fairly quickly and can be bred into many varieties. Some animal cannot be domesticated for a variety of reasons even though they mature relatively quickly. An example is the African cape buffalo. They are bovine (cows) but the are some of the most temperamental and downright dangerous beasts out there. The zebra has never been domesticated because they absolutely will not breed in captivity. Cheetahs have not either. The reason is the females insist on going through a mating ritual that covers miles of running and sparring. If this don't happen, the female does not ovulate and rejects all suitors...story of my life.

        This Date in History March 23

1862 Earlier CSA General “Stonewall” Jackson is tasked by CSA General Robert E. Lee to watch for Union troops leaving the Shenandoah Valley. Lee believes that US General George McClellan is calling for all available troops in the Shenandoah to join his already gigantic army for a spring offensive as indeed he was. If such a movement was detected, Jackson was to stop or delay it. Accordingly, Jackson stepped up patrols by his cavalry commander CSA Colonel Turner Ashby. On this date, Ashby does indeed detect a troop movement near Kernstown, Virginia by US General Shields. Only this time Jackson was outfoxed by the sly Shields. Ashby sent a courier back to Jackson and informed him of the troop movement and estimates the troop strength at 3,000. The difference here is that Shields had kept most of his troops hidden, he really had 9,000 troops. After receiving the message, Jackson sent additional troops to join Ashby raising the Confederate total to 4,000. In the middle of the afternoon Jackson, in spite of it being Sunday, ordered an attack on Shields left flank. Jackson, being a very pious man, tried not to fight on the Sabbath. After the attack was well underway, Shields brought out his hidden troops. Confederate division commander General Richard Garnett, expecting a short battle against only 3,000 and providing ammo to his troops accordingly, ran out of ammo and is forced to retreat which forced the divisions on either side to follow and soon the Confederates were in a general retreat making it a victory for Shields. This was the beginning of Jackson’s brilliant Shenandoah Valley campaign and the last battle he ever lost. After the battle, Jackson accused Garnett of cowardice in retreating no matter that his troops were out of ammo. Some believe that Jackson was trying to blame someone else for the loss because he had been outfoxed by Shields. Anyway, Garnett carried that stigma with him the rest of his career even after the death of Jackson. Garnett was determined to shed this stigma of cowardice that Jackson had burdened him with and at Gettysburg, in spite of a general order that no one rides, Garnett rode a horse directly into the very teeth of Union artillery fire. No part of CSA General Richard Garnett was ever found that could be identified. The Confederates knew that he was dead because his horse “Red-Eye” returned to Confederate lines without him.

1979 In 1976 former Chilean ambassador Orlando Letelier and two his friends, Mike and Ronni Moffitt, were riding in a limousine down Embassy Row in Washington, DC when a bomb exploded under the car killing all aboard. Letelier was the US ambassador for the leftist Chilean government headed by Salvatore Allende who was elected in a democratic election. The CIA unashamedly engineered a military coup and Chilean General Augusto Pinochet took over in Chile. But the CIA had done its job by preventing another openly leftist government in the western hemisphere. General Pinochet arrests Letelier and imprisoned him in a facility down near the Straights of Magellan. Eventually Letelier was released and came to Washington and began a campaign of voicing anti Pinochet rhetoric. On this date, the men responsible for the car bombing are convicted and sentenced to life. The only problem here was that later on it was found that the CIA knew about the pending car bomb attack, and since Letelier was a leftist they did nothing to stop it. Because of this the two bombers were released. Way to go, CIA!

1806 The Lewis and Clark expedition after spending a miserable winter near present day Astoria, Oregon broke camp and headed back east up the Columbia River. They had named it Camp Clapsop for reasons known only to them. In my opinion, this is the greatest adventure of all time and I would have loved to have been part of it.

1961 A US intelligence gathering (spy) aircraft is shot down in Laos. The US was interested in learning the extent of Russian assistance given to the Pathet Lao guerillas. The guerillas and the Royal Lao had been battling for some time and US President John Kennedy was asked to broker a truce. Kennedy needed information no matter how illegal and stated there had to be a joint cease fire before anything happened.

Born today:

1900 US psychoanalyst Erich Fromm. He said “Education makes machines that behave like men, and men that behave like machines.” I think Erich knew Al Gore.

1910 Japanese director Akira Kurasowa. He said “All men are geniuses when they dream.”

1912 German rocket scientist Wernher von Braun. He said “Basic research is what I call it when I don’t know what the hell I am doing”.

1972 US Pro basketball player Jason Kidd. Upon joining the Dallas Mavericks he said “We are going to turn this team around 360 degrees.” Jason, shut up.

Died today:

1953 French artist Raoul Dufy. He said “My eyes were made to erase all that is ugly.” I don’t think Raoul ever met Rosie O’Donnell or Janet Reno because the human eye cannot erase that much ugly.

1995 US actor Jerry Lester. He said “What do you give a man who has everything? Penicillin.”

Quotable quotes:

“Man forgives women of everything except the ability to outwit him.”

                                    Minna Antrim

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Tuesday OYSTERS

Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“I don't like repeat offenders, I like dead offenders.”

                             Ted Nugent

I saw General Petraeus being interviewed and he was asked about the Trump phenomenon. I think he hit the nail on the head when he said Trump is succeeding because a large part of America was anxious about where this country is headed and what it means to their children. He also said that these same Americans had little or no confidence in present day national political leadership.

I say that the reason is that there is no leadership. The legislative branch as a whole has little or no men and/or women that are Patriots and many are downright cowards when their job could be in danger. How many of them would excel or even survive in the private sector? It was a very smart man that said “Politics is the final refuge of the mediocre.”

This Date in History March 22

1820 On this date one of America’s greatest naval heroes is shot in a duel with a man named James Barron. Stephan Decatur succumbs to his wounds the next day. Barron, also shot, survived his wounds. Stephen Decatur was born in 1769 in Maryland to a naval family. In 1789 he joined the American navy he went through the familiar naval training and was assigned as a midshipman of the new frigate, United States. The fledgling United States merchant navy was being preyed upon by pirates sailing out of the North African port of Tripoli on the north coast of Africa because they knew that the United States did not have a viable military navy such as Great Britain that could provide retribution. One of the United State’s newest warships, the USS Philadelphia, had been forced aground near Tripoli by the pirates. US President Thomas Jefferson tasked the navy with dealing with this situation because he did not want such a ship to fall into the hands of the pirates nor to allow them to use the American design of the ship to build one of their own. So the navy sent Stephen Decatur and 12 others to Tripoli disguised as Maltese fishermen. They sailed their small fishing smack into Tripoli harbor, overcame the guards on the Philadelphia and burned that puppy down to the waterline. English naval hero Horatio Nelson called this feat as “one of the most daring of the age.” Finally the United States navy gained enough armaments and manpower and sailed into each of the North African ports that had been giving them shit and sent in the recently chartered United States Marines. The Marines went in and kicked ass and took names and threatened each country with continued slaughter if they did not sign a peace agreement. It is from this action that in the Marine Corps Hymn the line “from the shores of Tripoli” arose. Anyway, the trouble with James Barron began when Barron was less that resistant to a British capture of a ship under his command. Barron was brought before a court martial board of which Stephan Decatur was a member. Barron was convicted of dereliction of duty and was kicked out of the US Navy for a period of five years. At the end of the five years, the United States was again at war with Great Britain in the War of 1812 and Barron chose to stay in Europe until the war was over. When he then tried to re-join the United States navy, Stephan Decatur opposed it and Barron was not accepted. Well, Barron felt now it was matter of honor and challenged Decatur to a duel. Duels were frowned upon except for the United States Navy. The challenge was accepted on this date the duel was consummated in Bladensburg, Maryland. Barron was finally reinstated into the US Navy in 1821.

1984 Earlier the most blatant display of public hysteria and miscarriage of justice ever seen began. Seven teachers at the McMartin Pre-School in Manhattan Beach, California are brought under siege by a yuppie soccer Mom who claimed that her 2 ½ year old toddler had been sexually molested at the school. The police are brought in and they began a comedy of stupid acts that results in the destruction several people’s reputations. After hearing the Soccer Mom they sent out 200 form letters to the parents of all the little kiddies that attended that school telling them about the charge and that the suspected culprit was on of the owner’s son, Ray Buckey. As you might suspect, the parents went crazy as hell and immediately withdrew their children and initiated lawsuits against the school and Ray Buckey in particular. Let’s recap at this point. As a result of zero credible information and the sheer stupidity of the police, a legitimate and honest business is destroyed and the eight employees are on the street. That ain’t all. On this date, seven employees including owners Ray Buckey and his mother are indicted after the Grand Jury interviews 18 of the toddlers. Then a wacko outfit is brought in called Children Information International. These jackasses spread panic across the United States by saying that nearly all juvenile daycare centers had instances of sexual abuse. The parents of the little kiddies nationwide acted as you might suspect, with hysteria. Finally, credible child psychologists were called in and convinced the courts that a child in the toddler range can and will tell you what he thinks you want to hear. As incredible as it sounds one child testified that Ray Buckey took him to a cemetery and they dug up bodies and cut them open. In the meantime the McMartin School was burned to the ground by an arsonist. Eventually, American parents came to their senses and the hysteria abated but not before a lot of damage was done. It took years for day care and pre-schools to regain credibility.

1908 On this date Louis L’Amour is born in Jamestown, North Dakota. Louis was not much of a student and at the age of 15 he left home to seek his fortune. At various times he was a cowboy, seaman, longshoreman, boxer, miner and fruit picker. During World War II he ended up an officer in the American tank corps. After the war he tried his hand at writing and was soon recognized for his compact and hard-hitting style. He wrote several novels that were moderately successful but he hit a home run with the novel “Hondo” that became the basis of a John Wayne movie. A little later he wrote the novel and screen wrote another hit in “How the West Was Won.” After these blockbusters his career was assured. He wrote a series of novels about three different pioneer families in the early west in “The Sacketts”, “The Chantrys and “The Talons”. For his contribution to the learning and lore of the American west he was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 1983. Louis went to that that great cattle ranch in the sky in 1988. I miss him.

Born today:

1930 US educator Derek Bok is born: He said “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.” He is right. Mick Jagger has a degree in economics and look at him.

1930 US evangelical Pat Robertson. “During my Presidential bid I stated that I would only bring in Christians and Jews into my cabinet. This created a firestorm in the press and they asked “Do you mean that atheists, Hindus and Moslems are not any good at governing?” and I said “Yes, I do.” I normally am not enamored with his obvious prejudices and he did not disappoint this time.

Died today:

1930 German philosopher Johann Goethe. He said “If everyone grew up to be what their parents think of them as children, we would all be geniuses.” Ah yes, I remember it well.

      Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Monday

Musings and History

Quote of the day:

"Propaganda is that branch of lying which often deceives your friends without ever deceiving your enemies.”

                                         Walter Lippman

For lunch Friday I had “Reedy River, 8, 16 and 18. That translates to fried flounder, potato salad, fried okra and sweet potato cobbler. I also had iced sweet tea and cornbread.

My server was a middle aged black man named James. He had on a black tee shirt with cross and “I Love My Church” on the front. He was occasionally singing ...”Precious Lord, take my hand, lead me own, let me stand...” and frequently saying “Lord, I am too blessed to be stressed”. I asked him where he was from and he said “I am from Georgia...I am a runaway slave.” James is a hoot.

I injured my left shoulder pretty badly Friday night making my left arm disabled. Until it heals better than it is now, my musings will be less plentiful because typing with one hand sucks.

This Date in History March 21

1778 Earlier Loyalist Colonel Charles Mawhood had successfully attacked the Patriot regiment at Quinton’s Bridge, Mass. with a mixture of Loyalist and British troops. On this night, he attacked the Patriot troops sleeping on the ground near Hancock’s Bridge, Mass. with the same regiment. He attacked with bayonet only to try and not arouse anyone unnecessarily. Finally, he yelled “Attack, Attack Give no quarter”, and several Patriots were killed with their hands in the air. The arrogant Mawhood also ran into the house of the nearby George Hancock house and killed everyone in it including Mr. Hancock who was a devoted subject of the King. He then threatened all the survivors with killing all of their families and burning down their houses, but changed his mind when the survivors told him that was a two way street and they would send people looking for him and his family very soon if that occurred. I cannot find any further reference to Mawhood other than he was present at the Battles of Princeton and Trenton and was also present at a murder trial where one of his officers was shot and killed by an English Ensign.

1980 On this date United States President Jimmy Carter announced that the American contingent of Olympic athletes would not be allowed to attend the games in Moscow. This was the first time the United States would not be in attendance since the revival of the modern games in 1896. Jimmy did not want to contribute to the economy of Russia who had just a few months before ruthlessly invaded Afghanistan (who is over there now) to try and prop up the Russian backed government that was having its ass handed to it by the Mujahadin or the independent warlords that are giving our troops in present day Afghanistan such a difficult time. The Afghani warlords owe their loyalty to no one and are fiercely independent. The system of independent warlords in Afghanistan has been in place since the days of Alexander the Great and I do not think it is going to change anytime soon. These guys love to fight and are not afraid of death and ended up sending the mighty Russian army home with its tail between its legs. The Russians had more than 70,000 casualties. How does the Untied States expect to change this system that has been in place for 2,300 years into a Democracy? I don’t get it.

1932 A surge of warm air rose out of the Gulf of Mexico and met up with an Alberta Clipper (a mass of really cold air) sweeping down from Canada. The meeting took place in lower and central Alabama and as you might suspect violent weather is the result, especially tornadoes. These people in rural Alabama and any other southern tier state were already suffering in the grinding Depression then here this monster comes. The first town hit with a tornado was Marion, Alabama which resulted in enormous damage and 18 killed and 150 wounded. This deadly front moved northeast, as they all do, and dealt death and destruction to Demopolis, Northport, and Sylacauga, Alabama before splitting into two divisions and one going into Tennessee and Kentucky and the other into the Carolinas and Georgia. The end result was millions in damage and 299 killed and thousands wounded. I don’t know but I would think those people that were already suffering under the yoke of the depression would have felt that this was the end of the world.

1960 On this date there was a peaceful demonstration in the South African town of Sharpeville. The demonstration was by blacks who had travel restrictions put on them that did not apply to the whites. Sharpeville is near Johannesburg, South Africa. The local police in Sharpeville waded into the crowd and opened fire with automatic weapons killing 69 and wounded 180. The next day in Cape Town, South Africa thousands of blacks hit the streets in protest and order was regained only after 10,000 were arrested. It was after this that Nelson Mandela, the president of the African National Congress decided that peaceful disobedience would not work and began raising an army. Mandela was captured, tried and convicted of treason and thrown in jail for life. After 27 years Mandela was released. He eventually became the first black President of South Africa. What an amazing display of perseverance.

1871 On this date American ex-patriot Henry Stanley departed Zanzibar after being tasked with locating the British explorer Davis Livingstone or proof of his death. Livingstone was in Africa trying to find the source of the Nile River and had not been heard from for six years. Stanley left with 2,000 porters and guides but the greatest majority of them had deserted shortly after the expedition began. Stanley searched for eight months and then one day he walked into the village of Ujiji on the banks of Lake Tanganyika, American flag flying. He spotted a white male in the middle of the village and walked up and uttered the immortal “Doctor Livingstone, I presume.” By the way, the source of the Nile River is Lake Victoria.

Born today:

1685 German composer Johann Sebastian Bach. He said When speaking of playing the harpsichord he said “There nothing to it, all one has to do is hit the right keys at the right time and the instrument plays itself.” It is simple, y'all.

1905 US writer Phyllis McGinley. She said “In Australia, not reading poetry is a national pastime.” I really think their national pastime is drinking Foster’s beer.

1946 US Director Russ Meyer. He said of his third marriage. “I am a serial bigamist.”

Quotable Quotes:

“I have been through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened.”

                                         Mark Twain

Samuel Clemens is my most favorite author of all time.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow