Musings
and History
Quote
of the day:
He
was assigned the task of relieving the 101st
airborne along with elements of the 82nd
airborne and the 10th
Armored in the besieged Belgian city of Bastogne. When told that his
army might have to delay their attack because of the weather he said:
“There
are brave men dying up there. We are not going to delay another
hour, not another minute. We are going to attack all night, we are
going to attack tomorrow morning.
If we are not victorious,
let no man come back alive.”
General George
Patton
Merle
Haggard died yesterday. The only “outlaw” left is Willie and
after him there will no longer be any male “country” music
stars...it will just be pop music stars in 2/4 time. I remember
Merle doing “Mama Tried” and it brings a lump to my throat.
Country music is 6 or 7 men together in Richard's biker bar in Mount
Pleasant, SC joining together in a sing-along with Johnny Cash doing
Folsom
Prison Blues.
I
don't understand the problem with both men and women using the same
bathroom. Unisex bathrooms are not unknown. After all the men
snuggle up to the urinals and the women are on toilets in enclosed
stalls...what is the freaking problem? It isn't the men that are
complaining, it is the women. Is it because of what they might
see...or perhaps what they won't see.
On
my drive from Greenville, SC to Pensacola Beach on April 1 I paid
attention to the gas prices. When I left Greenville 87 octane as
$1.84/gal. In Georgia it was $2.08, in Alabama it was $1.84 and here
in Florida it is $2.08. I could not tell any difference in the
condition of the roads.
Here
on Pensacola Beach there has been some trouble with ruffians picking
fights with anybody over on the boardwalk especially at or near a
venue known as Bamboo Willie's. I asked one of my friends that lives
here on the beach about it. He said it is because Bamboo Willie's is
scheduling Rap bands instead of rock and roll bands. He surmised
that Rap music attracts the rough and unruly crowd. The beach cops
have severely cracked down on anyone that behaves in an aggressive
manner. My friend said that the answer is to permit only country
music on the Boardwalk...or better still only Polka music.
This
Date in History April 7
1776 On this date
the first United States warship captured a British ship off the coast
of Virginia. It was the newly launched USS Lexington against HMS
Edward. The commander of the Lexington was Captain John Barry.
Barry was a fierce naval warrior that was born in Wexford, Ireland in
1745 and came to the United States aboard his own warship named the
Black
Prince
at the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. The United States bought
the ship from Barry and renamed it the USS Alfred and put Captain
Esek Hopkins in command. Not only was Barry a superb naval officer,
he was instrumental in aiding in Washington’s several victories in
New Jersey. After this he returned to the sea and took command of
the newly launched USS Alliance. He captured the British vessels HMS
Atlanta and the HMS Trepassy. He was engaged in the last naval
engagement of the Revolutionary War when he captured the HMS Sybylie
in March of 1783. This great man was honored on both sides of the
Atlantic. There is a bridge across the Delaware River named in his
honor. There is a park in Brooklyn named for him and there is a
statue of him in Villanova University. There is also a stature of
him in Wexford, Ireland. I have said it before and I will say it
again, I believe that it is no accident that all of these exceptional
people showed up at the same place and the same point in time to
guide us to independence and freedom.
1994 A very tense
situation in Rwanda comes to the boiling point with the killing of
two Hutu tribal leaders by the Patriotic Front which is the
representative group for the rival tribe of the Tutsis. After word
of these murders reached across Rwanda, the Hutus and the Tutsis
began a mutual slaughter of each other that cost hundred of thousands
of lives. At the beginning the Hutus had the upper hand because they
were in command of the military, but eventually they got down to
business with knives and machetes. The struggle is not completely
over yet, there is an occasional hacking to this day. There have
been over 800,000 killings with no end in sight. There has been
warfare between these tribes since before recorded history. I don’t
get, it but it does sounds a lot like the Sunnis and the Shiites,
doesn’t it?
1805 On this date
the Lewis and Clark expedition departed Fort Mandan, Sacajawea
included, headed west. Lewis and Clark sent a detailed message to
President Thomas Jefferson and sent it downstream toward Saint Louis
aboard a 16 man cargo boat. The expedition had wintered across the
Missouri River from a Mandan Indian village near present day
Bismarck, North Dakota. When they left to head west they only had 6
light canoes and 2 heavy pirogues. The Missouri River had been
basically mapped to the Mandan village. After that they were in
unknown territory. They figured correctly that the current would get
stronger the further west they went and the big cargo boats would be
too tough to handle. Lewis and Clark thought they would be back
through the Mandan village by winter of the next year. They did not
get to meet Thomas Jefferson personally until 1807. When the
expedition departed the Mandan village headed west, Lewis wrote in
his diary that this was “the most thrilling moment of my life.”
It would have been the same for me.
1945 Earlier the
United States Navy, Marines and Army had invaded the Japanese island
of Okinawa. This action was the bloodiest for America of any in the
Pacific theater. This was because Okinawa was only 350 mile from
mainland Japan and the Japanese knew that if the United States Air
Force gained use the airfields on the island, they would be bombed
around the clock. The Japanese had already sent over 340 kamikaze
aircraft that wreaked havoc with the US Navy. Now the Navy found out
that the largest battleship on the planet was coming. It was the
78,000 ton Yamato.
The US Navy knew they had to stop this beast because it could raise
hell with the supply ships still unloading. They sent a whole
squadron of torpedo bombers after the Yamato and after they found it
they put 12 torpedoes into the sides. In spite of its size, the
Yamato quickly went to the bottom carrying 2,498 Japanese sailors to
a watery grave.
Born today:
1915 US singer
Billie Holliday. She said “Don’t threaten me with love, baby.
Let’s just go walking in the rain.” Billie could rip your heart
out with her voice but she had a short drug laden life. What a
shame.
1939 US film maker
Francis Ford Coppola. He said about his movie Apocalypse Now “My
movie was not about Vietnam, is was Vietnam.”
1964 US actor
Russell Crowe. He said “I am destined to be attracted to those I
cannot defeat.” Me too
Died today:
1891 US showman
P.T. Barnum. His last words were “How were the receipts in Madison
Square Garden today?” This guy was the ultimate showman.
1947 US auto maker
Henry Ford. He said “Thinking is the hardest work there is which
is probably why so few people engage in it.”
Thanks
for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow.
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