Friday

                       Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“Men have always been able to read maps better than women. It takes a male mind to understand the concept of 1 inch equals 5 miles.”

                                              Suzanne Barr

A while back four illegal aliens stowed away in a shipboard container in the Dominican Republic. The ship docked in Mount Pleasant, SC where only three of them disembarked, the fourth one was dead. The three were captured and turned over to ICE officials. All four of them were convicted drug dealing felons in the US and had been deported but found their way back. As you might suspect, this is not unusual. The Charleston SC Sheriff’s department and ICE have agreed that on a daily basis the police and the illegal aliens see each other but the police do not have the manpower to process all of them. The cops and ICE have agreed to bear down on the criminal illegal aliens and it seems to be working. Over 100,000 criminal aliens have been jailed and/or deported. Who do they think they are kidding? SEAL THE BORDERS is the only viable solution.

This few years ago the Carolina Panthers played the Cincinnati Bengals at home. The Bengals arrived in Charlotte on Saturday afternoon. Before their arrival, Bengal wide receiver Chad Ochocinco (his maiden name was Chad Johnson) tweeted that he would spring for dinner downtown for some of his fans in Charlotte. No one knew what restaurant would be chosen so all of the fancy restaurants downtown had people standing around out front. Ochocinco showed up at the Brazilian Steakhouse on South Tryon Street and picked up the tab for 85 dinners. That, my friends, is at least $50 a plate. You do the math.

          This Date in History  September 30

1955 Actor James Dean and his mechanic Rolf Wutherich are killed in a head on collision in Dean’s Porsche 550 Spyder while en route to a road race. Dean, even though only making 3 movies, became an icon of the restless generation and its convoluted lifestyle. He never could get a handle on his unbounded energy and lust for speed even trying motorcycle racing. I remember him best as Jett Rink in the movie Giant. What an amazing performance he gave us. But what made the movie especially good was that Elizabeth Taylor was co-starring. I have been in love with her for centuries. I guess he is best known for his first movie Rebel Without a Cause where he plays a tortured man that is pretty much like himself. To me he seemed like a person going fast down a hill and don’t know how to stop. His death was a great loss for all of us.

1930 Louis Armstrong arrived in New York to join Fletcher Henderson’s jazz orchestra as second horn. Louis had been playing in King Oliver’s band in Chicago for the previous 12 years honing his skills and now he was going to the most famous jazz ensemble in the world. Louis was immediately recognized for his ability to play solo and to harmonize with others in the brass section. He rose to be recognized worldwide; in fact he died being the most important influence in the history of jazz. A great talent and I miss him.

1938 British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and French Prime minister Eduardo Daladier meet with Hitler in Munich and sign a pact with this monster that they would not intervene when Hitler “annexed” Czechoslovakia. Chamberlain is elated that war between England and Germany had been averted even though Czechoslovakia was offered up as a sacrificial lamb. Daladier in really pissed off about it but he knew that the French army could not stand up to the German war machine and did not want to have his country destroyed. It happened anyway. The next day the German army rolled into Czechoslovakia. Shortly thereafter Germany invades Poland and Chamberlain has to announce that England is going to war against Germany. The Germans also invade France and they capitulate without a fight. Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfield one said “Going to war with France as an ally is like going duck hunting with an accordion.”

1962 A black man named James Meredith accompanied by U.S. Marshals tries to register at the University of Mississippi. James had previously been accepted but the acceptance was rejected once it became known that James was black. It is needless for me to say what happened next. There was day and night rioting that was subdued only by the arrival of 3,000 paratroopers from the long suffering 82^nd Airborne. Even then there was sporadic violence but James was finally admitted and began classes. James graduated with a degree in political science. After this James chose to make a march from Memphis to Jackson in protest the unequal treatment of blacks. On the second day he was shot from ambush by a sniper. He wasn’t killed but was hospitalized for long while. Other black leaders showed up and continued the march much to their own peril.

1924 Author Truman Capote is born in New Orleans. Truman achieved much success and wealth from his writings primarily with In Cold Blood and Breakfast at Tiffany’s both of which were made into movies and he was a flaming homosexual. He did not how to handle his fame very well and began a life of jet setting and party, party. Truman died at the age of 60 after a life of excesses.

1946 The Berlin Airlift ends. Let me tell you folks, as an ex-air traffic controller this was the greatest logistical operation ever achieved. Russia had blocked all ground accesses to West Berlin leaving those folks with no way to get anything for survival. So the allies, primarily the good old USA, began flying supplies to the beleaguered city. The Airlift began 15 months previous and those airmen flew 250,000 flights and hauled 2 million tons of supplies into West Berlin. I have seen movies on how this was done without planes running over each other. It was a miracle that there were very, very few instances of danger. After seeing that the allies could supply West Berlin indefinitely the Russian said “To hell with it” and opened the roads and rails.

1889 The state of Wyoming enacted a law that allowed women to vote and was the very first one to do so. There was a lot of speculation as to why a remote western state would be the first and the consensus of opinion was that this was a reward for the pioneer women that helped settle this wild frontier. By 1914 there was a definite pattern emerging because every state west of the Mississippi had woman suffrage and none of the states east of the Mississippi did. What’s up with that? Anyway, all is cool now.

Born today:

1207 Afghan mystic Jalal-ud-din-Rumi. He said “Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment.” Sounds like the stock market to me.

1921 Scottish actress Deborah Kerr. She said “I came over here (Hollywood) to act, but turned out that all I had to do was be high-minded, long-suffering, white gloved, and decorative.” This girl was dynamite in two movies, From Here to Eternity and An Affair to Remember.

1924 Playwright Truman Capote. He said “Life is a moderately good play with a poorly written third act.” Truman died at the age of 60 probably of AIDS but he burned the candle at both ends.

            Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow        

Thursday

                        Musing and History

Quote of the day:

“Scientists have found that the drug Prozac is effective in combating the adverse effects of PMS in women, but it is not in the form of a pill. To be safe the husband injects his wife from a distance of 50 feet using a dart gun.”

                                              Dave Barry

As y’all may or may not know late night “comedian” Stephen Colbert testified before a Congressional committee advocating the possibilities of alien migrant farm workers finding a way to become an American citizen rather than the usual route. I will venture to say that he set back that campaign several years with his inane ramblings trying to be funny. The committee was not amused nor was I. I was incensed because this jackass was born in Washington, DC but spent the majority of his formative years on James Island (near Charleston), South Carolina. I certainly do not claim him. He wears his ego like a tiara. By the way, how do we tell a Latino farm worker from a soldier in the Guadalajara drug cartel?

A little over a week ago three men in their early twenties chose to do something daring as men that age will do. They chose to jump off the Highway 17 bridge into the Ashley River west of Charleston, South Carolina. It is a drop of at least 50 feet. Two of the jumpers were able to swim to a nearby marina but the third one never showed up. It was 22 year old Jackie Washington that was missing. He apparently got caught in the current and drowned. A search was begun that evening and two days later Jackie’s corpse was located. They never said where these men were from but the famous military academy known as The Citadel is about 2 miles away.

      This Date in History September 29

1908 Gene Autry is born in Tioga, Texas. At a young age his family moved to Oklahoma where Gene became a railroad telegrapher. One day while sitting in the train station strumming his guitar and singing, a stranger walked up and listened for a while and suggested that he should try singing on the radio. The stranger was the world famous Will Rogers and Will told Gene he should go to New York and who to contact. Gene did not succeed in The Big Apple and came back to Oklahoma and started a radio show that ran for many years. He started a successful TV show also along with making many B Grade movies. Gene was a wise investor and became one of the wealthiest men in America. Gene went to that great ranch in the sky in 1998. Bye the way, his horse’s name was Champion.

1964 The Republic of North Vietnam declared that any pilot captured would be considered as a war criminal rather than prisoners of war thereby bypassing the laws of the Geneva Convention for the treatment of POW’s. Hell ensued. The first American pilot captured was Navy Lieutenant Everett Alvarez. He was captured August 5, 1964. The person spending the longest time was Green Beret Captain Floyd Thompson who was captured March 26, 1964. The American POW’s accounted for 766. The Paris Peace Accord allowed for the release of 565 military and 26 civilians. There are to this day more than 2,500 missing in action. What a freaking nightmare that was/is.

1864 In an attempt to break the stalemate at Petersburg, US Gen. U.S. Grant ordered US Gen. Benjamin Butler to attack the Confederate lines at a place called New Market Heights. Butler scouted the lines personally and decided on a two pronged attack led by US Gens. Ord and Birney. Both attacks failed only because the Confederates had built several trenches one behind the other so that if one trench was overrun the defenders would just move back to the next trench. The Confederate lines were bent but not broken. The US had 3,300 casualties out of 20,000 engaged and the Confederates had 2000 out of 11,000 engaged.

1862 In Louisville Ky. US Gen. Jefferson Davis (not the President of CSA) and US Gen. William Nelson got into a screaming argument in the lobby of a hotel. Nelson losses it and slapped Gen. Davis and headed upstairs. Davis followed him, pulled out a pistol and capped Nelson. Davis was never taken to trial for two reasons and that being Davis was a recognized as a superior military leader and the Governor of Indiana intervened in Davis’ behalf. The Governor was with Davis when the shot was fired. Davis went on to serve with distinction in the Chickamauga/Chattanooga campaign among others.

1748 The legendary British hero Horatio Nelson is born in Burnham Thorpe, England. If there was a military leader that needed to be canonized it was Nelson. Nelson joined the British Navy and went to sea as a midshipman at the age of 12 and became a Captain at the age of 20. In their seemingly unending battles with Spain and France Britain gave Nelson command of the 64 gun frigate HMS Agamemnon to beef up the naval forces. He immediately showed his peers his bravery and skill in naval warfare and I could spend an entire lesson on the adventures of Nelson. His life was one that would make a great novel. But briefly he won several important naval engagements that prevented Spain or France from invading England. During these battles he lost and eye and his right arm but kept his command. He had a lover who was the wife of a British diplomat along with a wife of his own. His lover’s husband Lord Hamilton allowed the tryst because of Nelson’s importance in his country. Finally he was in command of the frigate HMS Victory during the Battle of Trafalgar where his navy crushed the French navy that was in support of Napoleon stopping him from invading England. During this battle Nelson was shot in the shoulder and chest by a French sharpshooter. Knowing he was close to death Nelson uttered the famous phrase “Thank God I have done my duty.” After he died, his body was put into a barrel of rum to preserve it while reroute back to England for a heroes burial. He was buried at the famous St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. I have been to St. Paul’s and have seen the statue of Nelson at; you guessed it, Trafalgar Square. From that time on the rum kept aboard ships was known as “Nelson’s blood”

Born today:

1547 Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes. He said “Where there is music there can be no evil.” Miguel is the author of “The Man of La Mancha” better known as Don Quixote, one of the most read and beloved creations of literature in history.

1903 US actress Greer Garson. When speaking about Marlon Brando she said “Actors like him are good but I do not like people that try to communicate with their armpits.” Marlon was one of my favorites but he has gone to that great sound stage in the sky.

1935 US rock and roll pianist Jerry Lee Lewis. He said “If I go to hell, I will go playing a piano.” Jerry Lee married his 14 year old cousin at one time. A lot of people remember Jerry Lee for the song “Great Balls of Fire” but I think his rendition of Hank Williams’ “Born to Lose” is his best. It really gets to me.

1943 Polish leader Lech Welesa. He said “I must tell you that the supply of words worldwide is increasing, but it appears the demand is falling.” I agree with you, Lech.

             Thanks for listening  I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Wednesday

                     Musings and History

“Men would sleep with a bicycle if it had the right color lip gloss on. They have no shame. They are like a bull elk in an open field. They locate what they want by scent.”

                                               Tori Amos

Yesterday a friend of mine said that he was going to start taking Karate lessons because it was getting dangerous out on the streets in our city. I told him that instead of that he needs a course on how to meet people…..like Colt, Smith, Wesson, Remington, Rossi, Glock, etc…They have something that barks over here and bites over there.

A while back down in Orangeburg, South Carolina a 44 year old man knocked down an 87 year old woman with his car in a K-Mart parking lot, jumped out grabbed her purse and got back in his car and took off. The car was located and a pursuit ensued. The attacker finally ran out of gas, ditched the car and started running across a cotton field. The cops ran him down, subdued him with a Taser and took his rotten ass to the joint. The lady is in the hospital with a fractured pelvis. Last Thursday he was denied bond. I can assure you that he is looking at growing old behind a chain link fence surrounded by, and topped with, razor wire. What if it had been your mother or grandmother?

The United States delegation to the United Nations walked out on a speech given by that moron from Iran, Ahmadinejad. This jackass suggested that it was the United States that orchestrated the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center to help insure the survival of Israel. If I had been in that delegation I would not have been able to contain myself. I would had to have called him something I heard from a drunk sailor in Biloxi a few years back. It was not complimentary, I assure you.

A few months ago the Sheriff of Lee County, South Carolina was arrested along with three of his deputies for selling drugs out of the evidence room. Last week the Feds added 48 more charges of being involved in a drug ring several states wide. How did that dumb-ass sheriff expect to get away with that? Eventually the criminal will come to trial and the drugs would be evidence.

       This Date in History  September 28

1991 Trumpet virtuoso Miles Davis died at the age of 65. Miles was born to a privileged family who gave to him a good education including the renowned Julliard School of Music where Miles soared with his virtuosity. Miles was basically a jazz musician but was not restricted to that. He was not afraid to venture out into or mix different genres of music. He had a monkey on his back most of his adult life as did his roommate Charlie “Yardbird” Parker. Charlie was a gifted musician on the alto sax. Miles and Charlie played many, many sets together. If I am not mistaken, Charlie Parker died of a heroin overdose. Miles was finally able to kick the habit and produced several jazz milestone albums before going to the great trio in the sky.

1863 US Generals Alexander McCook and Thomas Crittenden are given the blame for the severe ass-kicking that was received at Chickamauga at the hands of CSA Gen. Braxton Bragg and CSA Gen. James Longstreet. It was the flanks held by McCook and Crittenden that were shattered by Longstreet’s Rebs resulting a panic and rout of the Union left. The Union right flank under the command of US Gen. George Thomas stayed cohesive and withdrew in an orderly manner. It was the Union overall commander US Gen. Rosecrans that did the finger pointing to take the heat off him. McCook and Crittenden were relieved and sent to the Indiana area to menial jobs. Rosecrans did not dodge the bullet and he also was relieved and the command of his army was given to US Gen. George Thomas known as “The Rock of Chickamauga.” What goes around...

1066 One of the most important events the history of western man occured on this day. William of Normandy set foot on English soil near Pevensey in Southeast England to stake his claim for the English throne. However, he wasn’t the only one who had eyes for the throne. Three days before William’s brother Tostic and King Harald III of Norway joined forces and had attacked England from Scotland but were met by King Harold of England and his army at Stamford Bridge. The English army annihilated Tostic and Harald III and their army. The destruction was total. King Harold of England was told of the landing of William at Pevensey and turned his army in that direction. He marched the 250 miles to Hastings battlefield in 29 days gathering volunteers as me went. Once there he and his army dug in on a hill to minimize any cavalry movements and awaited Williams attack. William did not disappoint and struck hard at Harold’s center. Harold was correct in assuming the hillside minimized the effect of the cavalry and the fight was mostly with infantry. A chronicler wrote that “William’s forces looked as a dancer in their movements whilst Harold’s army appeared to grow out of the ground unmoving.” A French mounted knight got through Harold’s lines and swept by and beheaded Harold with one swipe of his sword. After this the English forces scattered. Harold of England’s army was soundly defeated and William was crowned King. William got his claim to the throne by being the illegitimate son of one of the natural heirs to the English throne who had died. William was from a long line of Scandinavians meaning Vikings. His crowning marked the end of Anglo-Saxon England and the French speaking people from Normandy melded their languages into what now is modern English. William from this day on was known as William the Conqueror. I have a separate essay on William the Conqueror I think y’all would find it interesting.

1542 Spanish explorer Juan Cabrillo attempting to find a “northwest passage” across North America to get back to the Atlantic and home discovered San Diego Harbor. There had always been a legend about “The Straights of Alina” that was a waterway between the Atlantic and Pacific in North America. There was no such thing as we know but it promoted a lot of exploration up and down the American west and east coast. Strangely Cabrillo sailed right by San Francisco Bay and never saw it.

1988 I am reading the story of Roch Theriault a cult leader in Canada. It is difficult for me to tell you about this monster that hacked off peoples arms and legs, put vise grips on women’s nipples, disemboweled people while still alive in an attempt to drive “demons” out of their bodies, etc. He was arrested and put on trial for murder after one of his people the he disemboweled died. The judge and jury were so appalled at what they heard that they tried and convicted him and gave him life just to get the trial finished. They forgot to add life “without parole” in their haste. Roch is eligible for parole after a given time.

Born today:

555BC Chinese philosopher Confucius. He said “Have no friends not equal to yourself”. Hey Confucius, not equal to yourself doing what?

1972 US actress Gwyneth Paltrow. She said “Beauty to me is being comfortable in your own skin, or maybe a kick-ass red lipstick.” This girl has great lips.

           Thanks for listening I can hardy wait until tomorrow

Tuesday

                     Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“Fathom the hypocrisy that Obama wants everyone to prove they are insured, but people do not have to prove they are citizens.”

                                                Ben Stein

A while back a new car wash opened in the small South Carolina town of Moncks Corner. The owner decided that it would be good advertising if he had strippers in Bikinis washing the cars on opening day. One of the first cars to arrive was city police squad car. Unfortunately a photo of the squad car with five or six top notch exotic dancers in Bikinis washing the car appeared on Facebook. The city cop was fired before dark. The peculiar part was that one of the supposed exotic dancers doing the washing was not a dancer at all, she was a city cop and she was not fired. I have seen the photo and let me tell you, that girl can get a job at any strip joint if she gives up on law enforcement. What puzzles me is why the cop driving the car was fired and she was not. The driver was just trying to keep the squad car clean and the girl doing the washing (off duty) was trying to make a little extra money. The chief of police said that the girl did not break any of the city’s rules and regulations. That indicates to me that there is a rule or regulation in Monck’s Corner that says, “Squad cars cannot be washed by women with kick-ass bodies in Bikinis.” There are some strange laws out there, y’all.

Back in 2007 two Charlotte city cops were gunned down and killed from ambush by a career criminal. The alleged shooter was captured and has been in the joint ever since. As you might suspect, the city and county prosecutors got together with city cops and piled up an enormous amount of evidence and trial began a while back. The prosecutors called any and everybody that had ever known the slain cops including their families and nearly all the city cops to testify. To this minute, the alleged shooter has yet to utter a word. I see that pesky needle in his future.

             This Date in History September 27

1925 Construction of the famous road race course Nuburgring in Germany is begun. This race course was world renown as the toughest course in the world with its 13 miles and 72 corners. Not only that, the course had an elevation change of 1,000 feet up and down. The drivers called it “Fighting the Dragon”. The course is no longer in use but during its time it claimed the lives of 22 drivers.

1935 Judy Garland signed with MGM at the age of 13. I have written about the tragic life of this woman before but here are some more tidbits. She was born in Grand Rapids, Minnesota to parents that owned a movie theater. Before the movies Judy (known then as Frances Gumm) and her sisters would get on stage and do a vaudeville act. Her name was changed to Judy Garland at the age of 10. Judy finally was cast in a couple of fluffy movies with Mickey Rooney which was moderately successful but her real break came with The Wizard of Oz. She married Band Leader Davis Rose in 1941 and divorced him in 1945. That same year she married movie director Vincente Minnelli and her daughter Liza came from this union but she divorced Vincente in 1951. Judy got bad on the sauce and uppers and virtually disappeared from view. In the late 50s she had a triumphant return when she played to a packed house at the Palladium in London to rave revues. She was in a couple of hit movies like A Star in Born and A Judgment in Nuremberg for which she received and Oscar nomination. In 1969 Judy died of an overdose of sleeping pills. She was 47.

1983 On this day the Broadway show A Chorus Line broke all records for the longest running Broadway show ever with 3,389 performances. The show is about the behind the scene lives of the people involved with producing a chorus line type show.

1991 Oona O’Neill Chaplin died. Oona was the wife of the famous movie star Charlie Chaplin. The funny part of this marriage was that she was 18 and Charlie was 54 when they were wed. Charlie made many movies in the US but on one occasion he had left the US on vacation and was not allowed back in because the government thought he was a communist sympathizer. Look at what we have coming into out country today, for crying out loud. Anyway, Oona and Charlie moved to Switzerland and raised 8 children. Charlie sired 8 children after the age of 54. Charlie died in 1977.

1864 This is a dark day for the Confederacy when Confederate guerrilla William “Bloody Bill” Anderson raided and pillaged the small village of Centralia, Missouri killing 22 unarmed Union soldiers in the process. There was a train pulling into Centralia during the raid which had 120 Union soldiers aboard. Anderson saw them and started an escape, but it ain’t an escape. He went a few miles out of town and set a trap for the Union soldiers in pursuit and killed all 120 of them then he rode back into town and does some more pillaging.

1996 A stamp honoring the author F. Scott Fitzgerald is issued by the USPS. What can one say about Fitzgerald? He was born to a wealthy family in St Paul, Minnesota was sent to a fancy boarding school and then to Princeton. He could not seem to find himself so he joined the army during WWI. He was stationed in Montgomery, Alabama where he met his future wife Zelda. He proposed to her but she refused thinking that he could not support her in the lifestyle to which she was accustomed. Does that sound familiar to you divorced guys out there? Later on Fitzgerald wrote a successful book and started making a lot of money. Guess who contacted him and said that she had changed her mind, yes it was Zelda. So Scott and Zelda were wed and set about on a life of fun, frolic and oceans of booze. Even though Scott was making tons of money, they were sinking further and further into debt so they move to Paris to try to ease their living expenses. While there they met Earnest Hemingway and other writers that encouraged Scott to more writing. It was there that he delivered his masterpiece The Great Gatsby. Even more money starts rolling in but to no avail, they found out that it was just as expensive in Paris as it was in the US. About this time Zelda in beginning to show signs of terminal weirdness. They come back to the US where Zelda completely wigged out and has to be put in a mental facility where she stayed the rest of her days. Scott moved to Hollywood to try screenwriting. He fell in love with a gossip columnist, stopped drinking and straightened out his life then promptly dropped dead of a heart attack at the age of 44. Moral: Don’t stop drinking.

1869 It seems the fine citizenry of Ellis County, Kansas are fed up with the soldiers, buffalo hunters and drovers coming into town, getting drunk and raising general hell, so they hired James Butler Hickok better known as “Wild Bill” as sheriff to calm things down. It was well known throughout the west that Bill didn’t play, you had better do exactly what he said immediately upon receipt. It was also known that Bill was a deadly shot with either hand and was as quick on the draw with either, also. On this night Bill was told that Sam Strawhun and several of his drunken buddies were shooting up John Bitter’s Beer Hall in Hays City. Bill and his deputy went into the bar and told the drunks to stop. Strawhun makes a move toward Bill and Bill stopped him and the brawl with one shot to the forehead of poor Sam. Sam hit the deck as dead as fried chicken. The next day a drunken soldier tried to resist Bill’s arrest and Bill capped him too. The citizens of Ellis County decide that they ain’t ready for Bill and at re-election time they elect Bill’s deputy instead of him. Bill then headed for the Dakotas and fame.

                 Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Monday

                        Musing and History

Quote of the day:

“My first psychiatrist said I was paranoid, but I want a second opinion because I think he is out to get me.”

                                              Tom Wilson

                                The Damned Media

I feel like I have had a great awakening, it all seems very clear now. We the general public are being played like a piano. The maestro is the media networks. The are trying to control our thoughts and emotions for one purpose only...ratings. Ratings are the percentage of people within a certain age group that are watching a particular network. The higher the ratings the more advertising and higher price they can demand. It is for money, y'all. Make no mistake, turmoil sells...peace doesn't. They are not interested in issuing unbiased information, they want racial strife. There can be no question in your mind that the media is promoting an agenda that there is a giant conspiracy by the American police nationwide to kill black men. When was the last time you saw a news program about the cops killing a Caucasian, Latino, Middle Eastern (other than a terrorist), Native American, Asian, Greek, Italian, Turk, with or without a gun, etc, etc? You must know that there have been but these are ignored in favor of reporting in depth those killings that will cause the most angst. They are causing unrest in the long run because it is to their financial benefit. Not many realize that they have already been turned into a parrot bespeaking what the media has taught them and believe they are free thinkers. What GOOD did showing the police video in Charlotte do? It only aroused anger and disgust to no avail. The media wants you to make a judgment on the guilt or innocence of the police OR the victim. That is not your business...that is the business of the judicial system. They want you to be angry and disgusted because it diverts your attention from the real issue..and that is mind control so they can make more money. I know a person that was in the media but quit because this person realized they were governed only by their ratings...the quality of the programming be damned. Why do they only want a network news anchors to moderate the presidential debates? There are plenty of respected people out there that could serve without bias, but no they want to make a choice that suits their agenda. There was a movie I saw once where everyone was screaming “I AM MAD AS HELL AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE.” That's me, y'all...from now on I will get my news from BBC, Reuters and PBS, even then I will be alert for bias reporting.

            This Date in History   September 26

1957   The Broadway musical West Side Story opened at the Winter Garden Theater in New York with the music and lyrics by Leonard Bernstein and Stephan Sondheim. The story line was a modern day version of Romeo and Juliet set in the West Side of New York where gangs ruled. But love prevailed and the lovers found each other in spite of the turmoil. The song “Maria” was the one most remembered. But how can the show fail with the two geniuses of Bernstein and Sondheim at the reins. The play is still a major attraction to the fans of musicals. It I am not mistaken, Sondheim gave us Phantom of the Opera also.

1945   The first American is killed in Vietnam. OSS operative Lt. Col Peter Dewey is shot by refusing to stop at a road block while in his car. OSS was the precursor to CIA and Dewey was in country looking for American pilots that his been shot down and incarcerated in Vietnam. At the same time 1,400 French troops had been liberated from Japanese prison camps in Vietnam and were re-armed by French constituents hoping to take over the country and make it a French Colony as it was before WWII. Ho Chi Mien denied that this would happen and thus began the war with France in Indo-China and ended in 1954 with the French taking an ass whipping at Dien Bien Phu and were forced to leave the country. During this interim, Col Dewey was riding down a road and came upon a road block and refused to stop because he was an American but those running the road block thought he was a French soldier and capped him. Mistaken identity.

1888  T. S. Eliot is born to a privileged family in St. Louis. From the git-go it was apparent that he was brilliant. He was sent to Harvard, Sorbonne, back to Harvard and then to Oxford. He chose essays and poetry as his calling and was soon recognized for his mastery. He moved to London where he met fellow poet Ezra Pound and they eventually fed upon each other for inspiration. Eventually Eliot landed a job as editor at Faber and Faber and stayed there until his death in 1965. In his life he had written many poems and essays and his death marked the end of a very fruitful life for us all.

1944    A military operation called Market-Garden came to an end on this day with the virtual destruction of 10,000 British and Polish Paratroopers near the Dutch city of Arnhem. It seems that the biggest blowhard in WWII, British Gen. Sir Bernard Law Montgomery decided that he had waited long enough to get into Germany from France so he put together an operation whereby paratroopers would land near Arnhem in the Netherlands and capture the two bridges crossing into Germany and the allied tanks would pour across into Germany. The only problem was that is was too far for the tanks and re-enforcements to reach Arnhem to bail out the paratroopers and Montgomery was told this. Monty blew it off and ordered the assault anyway. Of the 10,000 paratroopers that went only 2900 escaped. The rest were either killed or captured. Montgomery had a good military mind but constantly let his lust for glory interfere with his decisions. Sounds like US Col. George Armstrong Custer to me.

1820    Daniel Boone died in his sleep near Defiance, Missouri. What can one say about this giant of American history? He was born in Berks County, Pa. in 1734 but his family moved to the Yadkin Valley in N.C. when little Daniel was very young. Daniel did not take well to schooling but much preferred to explore his surroundings. He would go further and further afoot everyday going just beyond the extent of the exploration of the day before. He finally left home and set out to explore what was past the Blue Ridge Mountains. He went through the Cumberland Gap and down into the valleys of Kentucky and settled the town of Boonsboro, Ky. This settlement provided a place for other pioneers and settlers to come to for refitting for further trips west. Boone himself decided that Ky. was getting too crowded and moved on westward. Boone's many adventures are too much for this small epistle but if you like true adventure get a book about this man. His contribution to the expansion of this nation is incalculable. I will give you one small story. A group of Indians had kidnapped Boone’s daughter and was headed for Illinois as fast as they could. It took Boone 3 months to track them down but track them down he did. He killed three of the Indians grabbed his daughter and headed home with Indians hot on his trail. With his woodman’s skills he was soon able to elude them and got his daughter home safely.

Born today:

1892 US religious leader Robert Lynd. He said “One of the greatest joys known to man is to take flight into ignorance in search of knowledge.”

1896 Religious leader Pope Paul VI. He said “Technological has succeeded in multiplying the opportunities for pleasure, but it has great difficulty in generating joy.” Hey Pope, you are dancing on the edge of understanding, but that is common for Popes. Maybe you should look into your priests that have been jailed for various offenses. I am sure they know where joy lies.

         Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Friday

                    Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“Enjoy when you can and endure when you must.”

                                  Johann Von Goethe

A while back I sent y’all a vignette about the Battle of Thermopylae in eastern Greece. In spite of the heroics by the Spartans, the Persians did eventually prevail and went through Greece burning, raping and pillaging. They did not prevail in the long run and here is why. It was because of two battles. One by sea and another was a land battle…here they are:

                                 Salamis

After the defeat of the Greeks at Thermopylae, the Persian army marched almost unopposed and began the razing of many of the city-states in Greece including Athens. Earlier the Athenians began evacuating to the Salamis peninsula across the Sardonic Gulf from Athens. Following the Persian army was the Persian navy of about 750 ships. The only way for the Athenians not to be captured or cut off was to prevent the Persians from blockading Salamis. The Greeks assembled about 378 triremes (warships) to combat the 750 ships in the Persian fleet. The Persians were lured into a small estuary in a light wind with the Athenians slowly retreating. The Persians did not learn a damned thing at Marathon. The Greeks do not withdraw unless they have a mission in mind, especially if Spartans are involved. After a while the wind began to freshen and blew the Persian ships right at the Greeks. The Greeks were not interested in fighting ship-to-ship as the Persians; they use their larger and slower ships as nothing more than platforms for their infantry and catapults of “Greek fire”. Greek fire is mentioned in many manuscripts throughout the ancient world. No one knows exactly what it was but Herodotus tells us that is was probably a mixture of tar and naphtha, poured into a clay jar and set afire then launched toward the enemy by catapults. The burning tar sticks to nearly everything it touches and since all the ships were made of wood, the fire was deadly. If that didn’t work, they would throw grappling hooks to the enemy ships and send the wild-eyed Spartan hoplites aboard the enemy ships to take care of business with spear and sword. The Greeks knew that the winds would increase and from what direction and set up for the Persian to be blown right into their laps. The retreat was just a delaying tactic waiting on the winds to come, and come they did. The Persians finally figured out what the Greeks were up to and tried to retreat but the prevailing wind prevented it. Before the battle was joined, King Xerxes set a chair out on a bluff overlooking the battle site and watched as over 200 of his ships were destroyed or sunk. After this, Xerxes boarded one of his ships and sailed his young ass back to Persia. It is thought by many historians that this was the most important military victories in history because it prevented a Persian presence in Europe. The next major battle was a land battle, see below.

                                  Plataea

After Salamis Persian King Xerxes returned to Persia and left his military commander Mardonius in command of a reinforced army of 300,000 to oversee their captured lands. Mardonius met with the Athenian leaders and offered them autonomous government and Persian aid in rebuilding Athens that had been partially destroyed. The Athenians refused and the destruction of Athens was completed. Athens sent emissaries to Sparta and told them what had happened and warned them against the possibility of Athens and the Persians making peace and what a threat that would be for Sparta remembering the Peloponnesian wars between Athens and Sparta. The Spartans were reluctant at first but saw the light eventually and realized the possible threat. The Spartans and the Athenians got together once again and summoned help from the other city-states in kicking these illegal aliens out of southern Greece. They eventually gathered a force of 110,000 to combat the 300,000 Persians. The difference here was that 38,700 of the Greek army were Spartan hoplites or Greek professional soldiers, recognized as the meanest and most capable warriors on the planet and this was the largest group of them ever assembled. The combined armies were commanded by the veteran Pausanias. After hearing about the consolidation of the Greeks, and especially the hoplites, Mardonius completed the razing of Athens and covered the rubble with earth, and then withdrew to the Asopus River where he fortified his position. The Athenians sent 8,000 and joined with a Spartan force along with many smaller city-states and established a base in hilly terrain where Persian cavalry would be ineffective. Mardonius sent a cavalry unit anyway under the command of Masistius to see if a cavalry attack was possible. He found out that the hilly terrain did indeed neutralize the cavalry. Masistius was killed early on and the rest of the cavalry retreated. Finally the two armies spread out and lined up for a massed attack. Pausanias put the Spartans of the left flank and the Athenians on the right flank with the other city-states in the middle. The Persians used heavy wooden shields while the Greeks used heavy bronze ones. At the onset of the battle the Persians unleash a maelstrom of arrows which made the Greeks cover up and they kept this up for an extended period. Eventually the center of the Greek lines got fed up and attacked which forced the Spartans and the Athenians to attack also and they succeeded in an envelopment. Once the combined forces of the Spartans and Athenians met in the middle it was all over for the Persians. The slaughter was total. Out of the original 300,000, there were a group of 40,000 Persians refused to join in the battle because they did not like Mardonius’ tactics. That left 260,000 Persians actively engaged. From this number, only 43,000 Persians survived to head home. The number of casualties for the Greeks was 1,340. That’s right folks, there were over 220,000 Persian corpses left on the field. The surviving Persians were not out of the woods yet. They were picked off a few at a time all the way back to the Hellespont and on into Asia Minor. That was the end of the illegal aliens in southern Greece.

Quotable quotes:

“Behind every successful man there are a lot of unsuccessful years.”

                                               Bill Brown

“Behind every man is a woman, with absolutely nothing to wear”

                                         James Stewart

“I am not a vegetarian but I eat animals that are.”

                                       Groucho Marx

When asked how many husbands she has had, Zsa Zsa Gabor said “You mean other than my own?”

“I have been accused of vulgarity. I say bullshit to that.”

                             Mel Brooks

“A study shows that men are hit by lightning four times as many times as women and it is usually after saying “I’ll call you.”

                                         Jay Leno

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Thursday

Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“We are all captains of our own ships; if your ship sinks you go down with it”

Winston Churchill

A while back someone said to me that they knew racial prejudice existed because they see it every day. Listen to this story, I have never told it before:

I was raised in the deep south when there was no Civil Rights Act, no "Hate Crime" penalties,etc. it was racism at its rawest. This will anger you.

In the fall of 1947 a white cab driver was robbed and stabbed to death here in the Greenville, SC area. The cops arrested Willie Earl, a black man. A group of about 30 white men got all likkered up and went to the jail looking for him. The cops had gotten wind of this mob and sent Willie Earl over to the next county's jail. The jailer in Greenville feared for his life and told the mob where Willie was. The mob went to that jail, took Willie back to the Greenville area, beat on him for a while then shot him in the head three times with a shotgun at point blank range. I remember my father and grandfather talking about it...I was 10 years old.

It was day after Christmas and a bunch of us kids were showing off our presents. I do not remember the circumstances but it wasn't family. One kid about 8 years old pulled out a pocket knife and opened it and said "This could cut a niggers head off"...his father was beaming. I was about 12 years old.

I was riding home from downtown Greenville on a city bus. There was about 5 people on the bus including one middle aged black lady. I don't know what the problem was but the bus driver and her exchanged some sharp words. The bus stopped about where Henry's Smokehouse is now. The lady got off the rear exit and the bus driver (a white man) got off the front of the bus and they stood face to face arguing when suddenly he slapped her hard enough that she fell down. I was about 14 yrs old.

All of this took place over 60 years ago...why do I remember it I don't know but it depresses the hell out of me.

This Date in History September 22

1989 Irving Berlin died at the age of 101. What can be said that hasn’t been said already? He was a Russian immigrant and came to New York in 1893. His father died early and little Israel Balin (Irving Berlin) began trying to help his mother and his 7 siblings by doing a sidewalk entertainment show. He sang, danced, told jokes, etc. for whatever coins that were tossed his way. But later he changed his name to Irving Berlin and began writing song and plays and was soon recognized for the genius that he was. Just a few of the songs he gave us: God Bless America, Dancing Cheek to Cheek, Puttin’ on the Ritz, White Christmas, Blue Skies and many others. He was drafted during WWI and went uncomplainingly into the infantry. While in the army he wrote Oh How I hate to get up in the morning. He was a truly gifted individual.

1964 Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona is running for president against LBJ and says that if the US is not willing to go in and conquer North Vietnam it would be better if the US withdrew completely. He also recommended using low yield nuclear devices at all country borders so they would be impassable for years to come. He called LBJ a liar and said that LBJ is indeed committing the US to what is essentially a private war. LBJ and the Democrats rose up in unison and called Goldwater a bloodthirsty warmonger. Within weeks after Johnson won the election he ordered the 1^st and 5^th Marines among others into Nam and very soon there 80,000 American troops on Nam and the numbers were still climbing. Maybe LBJ was indeed lying. But I ain’t sure low yield nuclear devices are the answer either.

1862 A. Lincoln issued the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation whereby all slaves in the states in rebellion would be freed. This essentially was a course reversal for the policy of the Lincoln Administration. The policy of the Administration at the outset of the war was that the states must remain united no matter what. After several military setbacks the Lincoln administration saw that they were losing the support of the people because of it, decided to use a moralistic basis for prosecuting the war and that be the freeing of the slaves rather than unity. The irony of all of this is that there were slave holding states not in rebellion such as Kentucky, Maryland, Delaware and Missouri. What about them? Anyway, Lincoln had to have a basis for prosecuting the war other than unity. Unity as a basis wasn’t flying. The legislation banning slavery everywhere was enacted in December of 1865.

1995 Ted Turner has agreed to the buyout of Turner Broadcast System by Time Warner for a mere $7.5 Billion. 7.5 BILLION Y'ALL!!!! Oh my God, lawyers started coming out of the woodwork wanting a piece of this action including those from the Federal Trade Commission. The lawyers knew better than to screw directly with Ted because he was a notorious hard ass and would cuss you out in a heartbeat. After several years of haggling the number was cut to $6.5 Billion. I guess the bloodsucking lawyers split up the $1 Billion. Ted went to one of his ranches in Montana and hung out for a while. It is reported that Ted collectively owns enough land to equal the state of Rhode Island. You don’t screw with Ted.

1961 JFK brings the Peace Corps into existence. Originally thought to be used a weapon against Communism, it evolved into an agency to improve the education and well being of the less fortunate no matter who or where and that is what it is today.

1598 The famous poet and playwright Ben Jonson killed another man in a duel and this ain’t the first time. He killed one in 1594 during an “affair of honor”. But a few months later his play Every Man in His Humor debuts and is an immediate success with William Shakespeare in the lead role. During this time, William Shakespeare and Ben Jonson were equally famous.

1554 The Spanish conquistador Coronado died never having achieved his dream of finding the Seven Cities of Gold full of precious gems as told in mythology. He was lead on an expedition to what was said to be the city but it turned out to be a small Zuni village of adobe huts. Another Indian came and said that his tribe has a city like he was looking for and off they went on yet another trek. They went through what is now Texas, Oklahoma and on into what is now Missouri. No golden cities were found. So Coronado returned to Mexico, Vera Cruz in particular. Even though he found no gold, Coronado had the sense to map the areas he went through and these maps proved to be very valuable to those that followed.

Born today:

1791 English scientist Michael Faraday. When trying to explain the usefulness of electricity to Prime Minister Gladstone he said. “Why sir, it is likely that soon you will be able to tax it.” Hey Mike, you have no idea how accurate you were.

1927 Baseball manager Tommy Lasorda. When talking about his catcher Mike Scioscia and his speed he said “If he got into a foot race with his pregnant wife he would come in third.” That’s cold, Tommy.

1958 US rocker Joan Jett. She said “I use to stand in front of a mirror and pretend I was Janis Joplin”. Janis sang not with her voice but with her heart and soul.

        Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Wednesday

                        Musing and History

Quote of the day:

“Happiness is not found in possessions and gold; Happiness is found only in the soul.

                                            Democritus

A few days after D-day a trumpeter/bugler came ashore and was playing Reveille in the morning and Taps at night. On one particular night his commander told him to not play Taps because they knew of one particular German sniper out there that they had not been able to locate. The trumpeter known as “Captain Jack” decided to play anyway, except he played Lili Marlene, which is almost the national song of Germany. Jack was not shot at but the next morning a team of Allied soldiers brought in 15 German prisoners and one of them said in broken English, “Who played the trumpet?” Captain Jack said that he was the trumpeter and they shook hands. The prisoner said that when he heard Lili Marlene he thought of his girl friend, his brothers and sister, his parents and grandparents and decided that he had rather live and surrendered. In this case, music made the difference.

Illegal immigrants are on all of our minds because of recent events. It reminded me of another time in the history of this nation. In the early 1800's many Irish immigrants landed on our shores. They were not welcomed for the most part. Primarily because of their fiery nature and they didn't speak English very well. Later on they proved their dedication to this country with the formation of the New York 69^th Regiment during the American Civil War. This unit was lead by an Irish immigrant named Thomas Meagher (pronounced Maar) and labeled “The Fighting 69th”. This unit was the third in the most casualties per unit during the entire war. Once they started and attack they did not stop until they were all dead or were victorious. They didn't have to fight with that kind of ferocity but they wanted this country to survive and was willing to die for it. I wonder if one of the stipulations of becoming an American citizen was four years in our military would make difference.

This Date in History September 21

1945 Henry Ford II takes over at Ford after the sudden death of his father. The company was rapidly approaching bankruptcy and needed help. The first thing Henry II did was fire the Personnel Chief Harry Bennett who for years had used strong armed tactics and a anti-union stance that made Ford famous for bad labor relations. Henry had virtually no management training or experience and he knew it. So he hired several young financial wizards led by Robert McNamara known as the “Whiz kids”. Among these young guys was a Princeton graduate named Lee Iacocca. As we all may or may not remember Robert McNamara later became the Secretary of Defense under JFK and Iacocca became president of Chrysler. The “whiz kids” saved Ford from bankruptcy and the rest is history.

1961 The US 5^th Special Forces Group, 1^st Special Forces is activated at Fort Bragg, NC by President JFK. Kennedy was very interested in this unit and came to visit. While there he specified that the unit was to be used to train the Vietnamese people to do their own counter-insurgency work. He also allowed them to wear a special headgear, the Green Beret. The 5^th Special Forces Group went to Nam in 1964 and assumed responsibility for all Special Forces. They zeroed in on the mountain people known as the Montagnards and trained them extensively. By 1970 there were about 42,000 men and women trained by the Green Berets in Nam and the Green Berets transferred responsibility to the South Vietnam Border Rangers for the rest of the war. The 5^th was withdrawn from Nam in February of 1971. The Green Berets executed their mission magnificently but sadly it seems that it was all for naught.

1938 The incredible happens when a category 3 hurricane struck New England. As with all Atlantic hurricanes the storm began off the west coast of Africa near the Cape Verde Islands. It became a hurricane as it approached the Leeward Islands and was reported to the US Weather Service by a ship. The hurricane headed for the Carolinas coast but suddenly turned north and followed the eastern seaboard. The US Weather Service thought the hurricane would dissipate over the colder waters but the storm was over the warm waters of the Gulf Stream and held together. The howling storm came ashore over Long Island, NY with virtually no warning for the residents. As house by house was disintegrated by the onslaught and some of the residents were washed out to sea and were never seen again. The storm arrived at New London, Connecticut at high tide with 40 ft waves preceding it. New London was nearly leveled with many injuries and death. The next city in the path of this monster was Providence, Rhode Island and after all was said and done there was 13 feet of water in the city. This sounds familiar, doesn’t it? The hurricane dissipated over Nova Scotia. Hurricanes were not named in those days so this disaster is just known as the Storm of 1938. The final totals were: 600 dead, 9,000 homes destroyed and 15,000 damaged, 3,000 ships sunk. There hadn’t been a hurricane in New England for 100 years and I guess the residents were not worried about them. They do now.

1942 The first B-29 Super Fortress went on a test flight in Seattle, Washington. The bomber was an idea dreamed up by US Gen. Hap Arnold that wanted a bomber that could lift nearly its own weight and have a range of 3,000 plus miles. Boeing got the contract and delivered the bomber in minimum time. This bomber was instrumental in ending the war in the Pacific as the B-17 Flying Fortress was in ending the war in Europe during WWII. I guess the 2 most famous B-29s were the Enola Gay and Bock’s Car. The morning of August 6, 1945 saw the Enola Gay over Hiroshima, Japan and the morning of August 9, 1945 saw Bock’s Car over Nagasaki, Japan. Bock’s Car got its name from the pilot John Bock but on this day the pilot was Major Charles Sweeney.

Born today:

1821 English writer H.G. Wells. He said “Every time I see an adult riding a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race.” It will take a lot more than that for me to lose my despair.

1954 US drummer Phil Taylor. He said “We go home afterward safe in the knowledge that we have deafened a few.” Not this horse, Phil.

1966 Canadian actor Kiefer Sutherland (son of Donald.) After being awarded the Golden Globe award he said “Now I know how Charlie Sheen felt. I’ve lost all feeling in my lower half.” I really enjoy his performance in “24”.

Died today:

19BC Roman writer Virgil. He said “It does not bother the wolf as to how many sheep there are.” That sounds like Robert E. Lee to me.

1947 US sportscaster Harry Carey, Sr. He said “There goes Steve Bullett into left field and he is getting congratulations from everybody. He and his sister are parents of a new baby.” How is that again, Harry?

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow