Friday

                      Musings and History

Quote of the day:

"Success? I don't know what that word means. I'm happy. But success, that goes back to what in somebody's eyes success means. For me, success is inner peace. That's a good day for me."

                                           Denzel Washington

I have been accused of being a male chauvinist because others believe I oppose Hillary Clinton just because she is a woman. That is not true, her gender has nothing to do with it. I have written several biographies and essays on outstanding female leaders that I admire. I can assure you that Hillary Clinton is not the equal of Golda Meir, Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Boadicea...but then again neither is Donald Trump.

Several years ago I used to ride trail motorcycles in the mountains just north and west of Greenville, SC. There were many old logging roads and even foot trails made by the Native Americans in that area, mostly Cherokee, Creek and Choctaw. At the time there was a dam being built that would eventually form Lake Keowee. The land was being cleared of nearly everything that could cause a jamming of the intakes ports at the dam. The lake was formed to provide cooling water to the Oconee nuclear power plant. There was an entire farm including the house, barn, pig pen, barbed wire fences, a well, etc. totally intact. That farm is now under about 150 feet of water and so is the major Cherokee village of Keowee.

I found an obviously seldom used trail and followed it for miles until I had to stop for a rest. I was on the edge of a mountain ridge that had a sheer drop-off on one side. I heard something and looked over the edge and there was ledge about 50 feet below me and on that ledge was a house, y'all, but it was more like a rustic cabin. I thought it was an abandoned home place but there was a clothesline with clothes hanging. I did not see any power lines of any kind nor did I see a road or a driveway...there was a small creek beside the house. Visions of the the movie Deliverance came to mind and I cranked up and backtracked to civilization. I doubt if I could ever find that place again...nor would I want to.

This Date in History April 22

1886 On this date the state on Ohio passed a law against seduction. That’s right y'all, I said seduction. The law forbade any male over the age of 21 that was a teacher or instructor of women from having even consensual sex with women of any age that he was instructing. The penalty for breaking this statute was 2 to 10 years ion the slammer, believe it or not. This law was not unique. New York had a law that disallowed any male “from having illicit connection with a previously chaste woman” if the man previously promised to marry said woman. Georgia’s version made it unlawful for men to “seduce a virtuous unmarried female and induce her into his ‘lustful’ embraces, and allow him to have carnal knowledge of her.” These laws were essentially ignored by law enforcement but on one occasion a man in Michigan was brought up on three counts with the same woman. The judge did his best to get all the charges dismissed because he knew the law was unenforceable. The last two of the charges were dismissed because the judge reasoned that after the first encounter the woman was no longer “virtuous”. The first encounter supposedly took place in a buggy and a doctor testified that penetration was not possible in a buggy so the first charge was dismissed. However some unscrupulous women would use this law to capture a husband. In one case in 1867 a man was on trial for seduction and was looking at 5 years in the slammer so he proposed to the woman that he had “seduced” and she accepted. A parson was retrieved the trial turned into a wedding ceremony. That ain’t fair, y'all.

1992 In spite of two weeks of warning with reports of foul smells in the center of Guadalajara, Mexico the local city government does nothing to discover the cause. On this date a gigantic, blocks long underground explosion occurs in the sewers killing 600 people and destroying thousands of houses. You guessed it; it was highly explosive methane gas from a broken sewer line. Twenty square blocks of Guadalajara were leveled or seriously damages. Holes were blown 300 feet deep swallowing entire buildings, street car and busses. The Mayor Enrique Dau Flores was indicted for ignoring the danger signals and the Federal Government went after PEMEX or the national petroleum corporation of Mexico. PEMEX had been dumping untreated corrosive materials down the sewer lines which ate holes in the pipes allowing sewer gas to escape. PEMEX was still reeling from a propane gas explosion earlier in Mexico City that killed 450. This latest disaster further accented the problem that Mexico has with industrial wastes and sewerage that exists to this day.

1889 On this date at exactly 12:00 noon the legendary Oklahoma Land Rush began. The United States Cavalry was present to ensure that no one left the demarcation line early. There were some that did anyway and were known as “Sooners” thus the name of the University of Oklahoma mascot. The Oklahoma territory was originally thought to be uninhabitable to Caucasians because of the aridity and the relative lack of water making the area not fit for farming. This made it ideal for reservation for the Native Americans like the Cherokee, Choctaw, Comanche, Kiowa, and Apache among others. Finally better farming techniques assures that the great plains could be farmed for grain and the Federal Government opened up the “Cherokee Strip” which basically was the majority of Oklahoma for homesteading. All told between 50,000 and 60,000 settlers came into the area over a 24 hour period. Towns like Norman, Oklahoma City, Kingfisher and Guthrie were established and populated almost overnight. Did I mention that the already established Indian reservations were also overrun? The settlers felt like the land owned by the Osage Indians was least arable and did not bother them. It was indeed not farmland but about 7,000 feet below the surface was an ocean of oil known as the Anadarko basin making the Osage Nation one of the wealthiest in the world.

1944 On this date Operation Persecution begins with the landing of allied troops in Hollandia, New Guinea. The Japanese held island was defended by 15,000 Japanese troops but they were mostly administrative types and not the savvy Japanese jungle fighters that had made themselves famous. But that did not stop the Japanese defenders from putting up a ferocious defense on spite of the ludicrous odds against them. Three months later the Japanese surrender with 12, 811 killed to 528 of the allies.

1945 On this date Adolph Hitler’s Generals tell him that there was no German defense offered against the advancing Russian army at the city Eberswalde about 30 miles south of Berlin. Hitler then admits that the war is lost and retreats to his underground bunker never to return to the surface alive.

Died today:

1995 Gray Panther Maggie Kuhn. She said “The ultimate insult is to be handed a bedpan by someone that calls you by your first name.”

       Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow