Friday

                     Musings and History

Quote of the day:

A Cheyenne legend:

A troubled youth pays a visit to the tribal shaman and says "I have two wolves in my heart, one tells me to kill the white man and the other one tells to seek peace...which one should I listen to?"  The shaman says "You listen to the one that you feed." 

The sign for exit 2B on the I-277 by-pass in Charlotte, NC reads “Indepednence Blvd.” When asked about the spelling the North Carolina DOT said they are wokring on it.

The College of Charleston in South Carolina has chosen to side with their horseback riding instructor, Rebecca Howsley, who had been charged with animal neglect. Howsley kept her horses on a farm on John’s Island and was accused of keeping her horses out in the blistering heat with insufficient water and food. In fact, a few of her horses were taken by sheriff’s deputies and sent to a horse rescue farm. Howsley has a five year contract with the college for $513,000 and she has 88 students signed up for lessons this fall at $360 each. Isn’t it a bit snooty for an institute of higher learning to sponsor an instructor of horseback riding? How can this prepare the youth of this country to make a living afterward? But what do I know.

       This Date in History  September 2

1969 Ho Chi Minh died. You can say what you want but Ho was one of the most influential men in history. During WWII Ho and his followers entered into an agreement with the OSS whereby any American pilot that crashed or bailed out into Indo-China would be rescued and returned. The OSS was the precursor to what is now known as the CIA. After the war France wanted to re-instate colonial rule in Indo-China primarily for the oil and rubber and Ho and his boys said “I don’t think so.” And thus began a bloody 8 years of war against France. The struggle ended in 1954 with the surrender of the French troops at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. About 7 years later the first American military “adviser” arrived in Viet Nam. Horror ensued.

1863 President Abraham Lincoln restored Gen. George B. McClellan to command. Abe had previously fired George after he failed to take Richmond in the so called “Seven days”. In fact, George was so badly out-generaled by R.E. Lee that it was a total embarrassment. George essentially lost his nerve upon witnessing the horrible mangling of his troops during battle. Abe took most of George’s troops and gave them to one Gen. John Pope and sent John out looking for Lee’s army. Lee and Stonewall Jackson found him first and John took an enormous ass-whipping at the Battle of Second Manassas. John Pope and his troops return to Washington with their collective asses in their hands. So now Abe is faced with a terrible problem. Neither John nor George is anywhere the equal of R.E. Lee and/or Lee’s lieutenants. So Abe went back to George only because he is the better organizer and trainer. Abe had this problem until a scruffy Ohioan named Grant arrived on the scene.

1945 WWII ended with Japanese delegates signing the instrument of surrender aboard the USS Missouri anchored in Tokyo Bay. US Gen. Douglas McArthur was in command of these proceedings and did so with much dignity and aplomb but the entire Japanese Delegation was sobbing uncontrollably. Men are strange critters when it comes to matters of honor. General McArthur had left General Wainwright in command of the Philippines while he went to Australia to organize a counter attack and for Wainwright to hold out as long as he could. Wainwright eventually had to surrender to the overwhelming Japanese forces. He and his forces surrendered and Wainwright was sent to a Japanese prison camp in Mongolia where he stayed over a year until rescued by the Russian army. It was just a couple of weeks before Wainwright was in attendance at the surrender ceremony aboard the Missouri. He was just barely skin and bone. When McArthur saw him he broke into tears. War is hell....

1945 The Eugene O’Neill play The Iceman Cometh opens on Broadway. It is a play about people in a bar coping with life. O’Neill was well versed on this aspect because he was a two-fisted drinker himself. O’Neill was given a good education by his father. He went to a prestigious prep school and even went to Princeton. But after a while Gene said screw it, I am going to hit the road and hit the road he did. He went to South Africa hunting gold, haunted the bars in London, Buenos Aires, Liverpool and various other places. He started churning out some gritty short stories that were moderately successful but he really hit his stride being a playwright. Beside “The Iceman Cometh” he gave us “A Long days Journey into Night” among many others. O’Neill is recognized as America’s first major playwright. He died in Boston in 1953.

1957 The UN Court prosecuted for the first time someone for genocide. Jen-Pauls was the mayor of small town in Africa. He was responsible for the killing of at least 30,000 Hutu tribesmen. Most of them were killed by machetes in their beds while wounded. The number may have been as many as 500,000 but we will never know. It was a bloodbath of biblical proportions.

Born today:

1839 US economist Henry George. He said “How many men are there out there that have fairly made one million dollars?” Well Henry, there is Pac-man Jones, Tank Johnson, Senator Larry Craig of Idaho resigned in disgrace for hiding his homosexuality, Rep. Mark Foley from Florida who resigned in disgrace because he kept hitting on the senate pages and tried to hide his homosexuality, Ex-Governor Edwin Edwards of Louisiana who now is in a federal prison for corruption, Ex-Governor Don Seigelman of Alabama who is now in a federal prison for corruption, Ken Lay of Enron fame (deceased) was headed for a federal prison for corruption, Bernie Ebbers former CEO of WorldCom now in a federal prison for corruption, Senator (and US Navy ace pilot) Randall “Duke” Cunningham now in a federal prison for corruption, Arizona Governor Fife Symington is convicted of corruption in his real estate business and forced to resign, and finally there is Michael Vick went to federal prison for torturing animals for fun and profit. I am being facetious, of course, but it sure is disgusting because I ain’t even scratching the surface.

Died today:

1997 Austrian physicist Herman Frankl. He said “Since Auschwitz we know what men are capable of, since Hiroshima we know what is at stake.”

2002 US basketball coach Abe Lemon. He said “I don’t jog. When I want to die I want to be sick.” Way to go, Abe, me too.

          Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow