Thursday

                    Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“A banker is someone that lends you and umbrella while the sun is shining but wants it back the minute it begins to rain.”

                                           Mark Twain

A while back a law enforcement group established a series of road blocks on I-85 and I-26 near Spartanburg, South Carolina looking for anything illegal. They arrested 73 people for a variety of offenses. They found pot, crack, knock-off designer purses, illegal firearms, stolen credit cards not to mention 37 DUI’s. The head of the unit said “We’re not done yet, we aren’t fooling around. We want a safe community.” I-85 and I-26 are the main traffic arteries in western South and North Carolina.

Speaking of North Carolina, a while back the North Carolina Tarheels football team had 15 of their football players barred from playing against the always powerful LSU Tigers in their first game of the season. The NCAA investigated the h-ll out of a lot of teams including the Tarheels. They found a lot of infractions especially in college player involvement with professional football player agents. There apparently is no middle ground on this issue. In my opinion there will always have this problem until professional football as a whole steps in and refuses forever to do business with any agent that illegally contacts/courts a player while the player is at the collegiate level or below. I think that would do it.

This Date in History September 8

1187 Richard (Lionhearted) II the future King of England is born to Eleanor of Aquitaine and King Henry II of England. Richard gained the nickname “Lionhearted” during the Crusades. He was a superior warrior but was not a good administrator in peace time. On his return from the Crusades he was captured and held for ransom somewhere in Germany. His mother, who had just been released from imprisonment for fostering an unsuccessful coup against her husband the king, found out about her son’s capture and asked for the Pope to intervene and intervene he did, for a price. After a gigantic ransom was paid of which a good portion went to the Vatican, Richard was released.

1953 Continental Trailways Bus Company offered a coast-to-coast bus trip from New York to San Francisco. The trip took about 89 hours of which only 77 hours was riding time. I cannot imagine a more miserable time than a bus ride that long, especially with a cigar smoker aboard.

1966 The TV series Star Trek debuts. Even though the series only lasted for 3 years it had a hell of an impact on the entertainment industry. There were 5 or 6 big screen movies and 3 or 4 spin-off TV series as a result of Star Trek. In my opinion big screen movie “The Wrath of Khan” with Ricardo Montalban in the lead role was the best and “The Changeling” being the best TV show. Yes, I am a trekkie.

1926 Greta Garbo is a “no show” at her wedding to John Gilbert. This did not stop her and John’s relationship that continued for another 3 years. Greta was a weird but beautiful person. In her latter years she moved to a small apartment in Brooklyn, New York and tried to disappear. Greta was very jealous of her privacy and was rarely seen.

1863 The 2^nd Battle of Sabine Pass happened on this day. The US decided that they needed to blockade Sabine Pass to deny the Confederacy another port of entry. CSA Gen. McGruder called bullshit on that and captured Galveston from the US and prepared for the defense of Sabine Pass giving the Confederacy two ports of entry in Texas. An 8 ship US flotilla left New Orleans and arrived at Sabine Pass on this day and started up the river. But the Confederate artillery in Fort Griffin at Sabine Pass had pre-registered (aimed) their guns at the opening of the Pass and they opened a withering fire on the flotilla at which the commander of the flotilla ordered a reversal and they sailed their young asses back to New Orleans and decided to attack in another place at another time.

1941 The siege of Leningrad begins. The German army, along with some Finnish troops, began to cut off Leningrad from any supplies in the hope that this great city of 3 million will surrender. Before the Germans had completely surrounded the city approximately 1 million people fled. They were in fact surrounded and the siege lasted for 872 days. The people in the city ate everything in sight, even each other until the Russian army attacked and broke the siege. The Russians exacted a terrible revenge on the Germans after that. After seeing that over 1 million residents of Leningrad had perished during the siege and finding camps like Buchenwald and Dachau the Russian Army would not be denied in the massacre of the Germans.

1941 Italy surrenders to the allies (So what else is new). Germany was expecting this to happen and already had an army on the way to occupy Italy before the allies. The end result was a ferocious seesaw battle between the allies and the Germans until the allied landing at Normandy. Very soon thereafter the German army in Italy surrendered because they knew they were cut off from their supply routes and home.

1935 Senator Huey P. Long of Louisiana is shot. Long was a bombastic and quite a colorful character in the history of politicians. Long eventually gave himself such power in Louisiana that not even a school teacher could get a job if he did not approve. He unabashedly admitted that he bought other politicians and shuffled them around like a deck of cards. He was shot by a Dr. Carl Weiss inside the state capitol building in Baton Rouge. Weiss apparently was pissed because his father-in-law, a former judge in Louisiana, had lost his job because he would not join the Long political machine. Long’s body guards killed Weiss instantly and Long died 2 days later.

Born today:

1896 US actor Howard Deitz. He said “A day away from Tallulah Bankhead is like a month in the country.”

1773 French writer Alfred Terry. He said to his wife “You look exceptionally ugly tonight madam, is it because we have company coming?” I see a divorce on the horizon, Alfred.

1915 American football coach Duffy Daugherty. He said “Not only is he ambidextrous, he can throw with either hand.” Shut up Duffy.

1924 US writer Grace Metalious (Peyton Place). She said “It is those who wish they had something or done something that hate the most.” That reminds me of my third ex-wife.

         Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow