Monday

                     Musings and History

Quote of the day:

I asked a friend that is an LSU fan how to stop the Crimson Tide football juggernaut and he said:

“I don't see a way except maybe a sniper with a high powered rifle up high in the cheap seats.”

                                      Reasons

For reasons that I don't understand after citing events in the past where Christians proved to be great mass killers like 7 Crusades and 5 inquisitions I was accused of being an “Left Winger” by bringing up events from the "Dark ages". I was asked has any Christians beheaded anyone. The answer is yes (see Mary Queen of Scots, Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, Charles I, Anne Boleyn among many others) in addition to “The Rack”, the “Iron Maiden” and many other tools of torture not to mention burning at the stake (see Joan of Arc). Here is some more recent events:

What was the most devastating terrorist attack in America's history beside 9/11? Give up? It was the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City. There were 168 dead including at least 30 children under the age of 7 and 680 wounded of varying severity. The bombers were America born and military veterans named Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols...both were Catholic. What was next?

It was the destruction of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas. 86 killed including several children under age of 12. The leader of the compound was a man named Vernon Howell but later changed it to David Koresh. He was born in Houston, Texas and claims to have been "saved" in a Southern Baptist Church. He later changed to the Mormon church apparently because he had the hots for the daughter of a particular Mormon Church pastor. He eventually formed a splinter group known as the Branch Davidian. After a 51 day siege a tank was brought in and knocked down a wall and discharged several tear gas canisters which might have caused the fire that killed the 76 inhabitants. There were 10 others killed in earlier skirmishes including several federal officers.

I have a very talented friend that is a songwriter, here is the lyrics of one of my favorites. It is a tribute to Patsy Cline.

Where I Could Be Patsy

Writer Brenda McAfee

Legs dangling from a limb, salt shaker in my hand

Green apples and imagination, my childhood combination

For flights of fancy

Queen of the hill, world at my command

Dreaming dreams beyond my means, a reverie of finer things

Utopia, my own fairyland, where I could be Patsy

Home alone, front porch for a stage

Crazy, Sweet Dreams and Wayward winds would take me away

But I never could stay

Rope on a limb, wood plank for a seat

I'd sing and swing my fantasy complete

Then there I'd be, back to reality

Queen of the hill, world at my command

Dreaming dreams beyond my means, a reverie of finer things

Utopia, my own fairy land, where I could be Patsy

This Date in History October 31

1863 US General Winfield Scott retired from military service. Scott had been given command of all the US army by A. Lincoln at the outbreak of the Civil War in April. Lincoln’s detractors criticized Lincoln for this because of Scott’s advanced years and ill health. Scott was the commander of the American Army during the Mexican War of 1846-1847. When asked how best to defeat the Confederacy he proposed what was called “The Anaconda Plan” whereby all of the Confederate naval ports would be blockaded to strangle them financially and gain control of the Mississippi River to starve them. This plan was scoffed at as being too sluggish but in the final analysis, that is exactly what happened. After his resignation Scott moved to West Point to write his memoirs. He died in 1866 at the age of 80.

1892 The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is published. Doyle had been writing about Sherlock Holmes in different magazines as a serial but this was the first time in a book. Doyle was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and attended Edinburgh University and became a doctor. One of his teachers at the university was renowned for his deductive reasoning and it is believed that Doyle used him as a model for Sherlock. After graduating from Edinburgh Doyle went to London and set up a medical practice that was moderately successful and gave him time to dive into more of his writing. After the success of the Sherlock Holmes novels, he dropped out of the medical profession and began writing full time. Doyle died in 1930 as an icon of creative writing.

1926 Escape artist Harry Houdini died of peritonitis in Detroit. Twelve days earlier Houdini had been giving a speech at a university and told everyone there how hard his stomach muscles were. One of the students came up and blindsided him with two hard blows to the stomach before Houdini could prepare for it. The blows had ruptured his appendix. Houdini had a scheduled performance the next day and went through with it even though he was in severe pain. After another day or two the pain became unbearable and he went to a hospital and went into surgery almost immediately but it was too late, the poison had already taken its toll throughout his entire system. Houdini had made a pact with his wife and a close circle of friends that after the death of either one of them, they would try to contact the others from the spiritual world. A few of Houdini’s friends did indeed die but Houdini never received any contact. After he died his wife had heard nothing from Harry and declared the test a failure

1864 Nevada became a state. Even though the state only had 40,000 residents as opposed the normal requirement of 60,000 it was allowed into the fold for two reasons: The state was hard core Republican and Lincoln needed all the help he could get for the upcoming election and the largest silver deposit ever found was discovered in Nevada in the Comstock Lode not to mention placer gold mining. Politics and money...a deadly combination.

Births and Deaths:

1988 Actor/Producer/Director John Houseman died at the age of 86. John had a long and distinguished career in the entertainment industry. There aren’t many his equal.

1948 Baseball player Mickey Rivers is born. Mickey once said “Me, George and Billy are two of a kind.” If Mickey wasn’t black I would think he was related to Yogi Berra.

1993 US actor River Phoenix died of a drug overdose outside a Los Angeles nightspot at the age of 23. River was a very talented actor but as many who achieve fame do, he thought he was ten feet tall and bulletproof. Wrong. Ironically he once said “I would rather quit while I am ahead, there is no use in overstaying your welcome.” What a waste of god given talent.

        Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Friday

                       Musing and History

Quote of the day:

“The degree of inner tranquility comes from the development of love and compassion. The more we care for the happiness of others, the greater own on sense of well-being.”

                                               Dalai Lama

                    The History of Halloween

This pagan celebration of Halloween goes back more that 2000 years to the ancient Celts of present day Ireland, England and northern France. The original name of the festival was Sawhain pronounced “sow-in” and was to celebrate the harvest and prepare for the upcoming harsh winter. The Celts celebrated November 1 as the beginning of a new year and the evening before became known as “All Hallow’s Eve” which morphed to Halloween. It was the only day of the year that the boundary between the living and the dead became clouded and on this night the dead walked the earth. It was also believed that only on this night could one person predict the future of another. This was very important because of the rigors of the upcoming winter did indeed kill many of them. Every house extinguished the fire in their hearth because the Celtic priests (Druids) would cut down a sacred tree and build a gigantic bonfire for this night’s celebration. It was believed that if they could get a scrap of burning wood from this sacred fire and bring it into their homes to start a fire, it would keep them warm throughout the winter. When the Celts approached the sacred fire they were costumed in animal heads and skins for ritualistic reasons. Upon the arrival of the Romans the rituals changed somewhat and Roman rituals were introduced as being part of the ritual. One of these rituals was the celebration of the harvest also except here they would honor the Roman goddess of fruits and trees, Pomona. Pomona is represented by the symbol of an apple. I guess y’all see where this is going. That’s right; it is the bobbing for apples and trying to bite an apple while it is hanging from a string that was the result of paying homage to Pomona. During the 8^th and 9^th century the Roman Catholic Church tried their damnedest to eliminate this pagan festival and make it a church related event and instituted all Saint’s Day on November 1 hoping to sway the existing pagans back under the umbrella of the church. It did not work. This pagan festival continues to this day. There is no written evidence for the rise of the event known as “trick or treat” except that on All Hallow’s Eve some of the dead that walked the earth were mean, spiteful critters. I suspect that ritual was really fostered by candy manufacturers and costume makers. The colors that are associated with Halloween as being orange and black have a meaning. Orange represented the changing color of the leaves on deciduous trees and black meant winter, shorter days and death was on the horizon for some. It bothers me somewhat for different churches to sponsor a Halloween event. It means that they are fostering a pagan festival. But maybe I am too old-fashioned. Bah Humbug.

           This Date in History October 28

1961 Rhythm and blues singer Chuck Berry went on trial for the second time for violation of the Mann Act. The trial was dubbed the “Apache Trial” by the media. It seems that Chuck had met Janice Escalante in a bar in El Paso, Texas. Chuck became enamored with Janice and invited her to join his entourage. Janice was a Mescalero Apache Indian. Chuck questioned her at length about her age and she insisted that she was 21 years old. After a few weeks Janice tired of the road and Chuck’s treatment of her and she went to the cops and complained and Chuck was arrested. At the trial the prosecution produced a birth certificate showing Janice as being only 14 years old. In spite of the fact that Janice lied to Chuck about her age, Chuck was indeed found guilty and was sentenced to three years in Leavenworth. Later on he was sent to a jail in Saint Louis where he served his time until paroled. By the way, the Mann Act makes it a Federal crime to transport women across state lines for immoral purposes. It was meant to prevent interstate prostitution and white slavery. Does that mean if I take a woman from Greenville, South Carolina to Hendersonville, North Carolina, about 40 miles, to look at the leaves or pick apples and we spend the night, am I am guilty of a Federal crime? I realize that leaf looking and apple picking is not immoral, but I had thoughts of staying over in mind from the start.

1775 The new British military governor, General William Howe, ordered that every citizen of the city of Boston cannot leave town until further notice. Additionally, he decreed that all the citizens were expected to combat that group of ruffians that threw the tea into the harbor and that rag tag militia that had killed 226 and wounded 838 of his majesty’s troops at the Battle of Bunker Hill in June of this year. The Continental Congress had elected Virginia planter George Washington as commander-in-chief of the army but he was having a hell of a time convincing his troops that this was not a game. They were used to being commanded like a militia whereby the leaders are elected by the troops and if the leader was not what they wanted they simply fired him. Not only that, they all went back to the farm at harvest time. It happened here and Washington had no choice but to wait until spring and recruit a new army. Only this time he would have a professional military trainer to whip them into shape. That man was the Prussian Baron Von Steuben who joined Washington at Valley Forge this winter. Von Steuben did indeed begin training the troops that were left soon after his arrival. It worked and a well trained and disciplined army emerged. Von Steuben also cured the unusual amount of disease and illness among the troops when encamped. The troops had never heard of a latrine and just went where they were. Von Stuben convinced them to dig slit trenches downhill from the camp site and that went a long way to fix things. Howe stayed in Boston until in the following March when Washington and the brilliant Henry Knox were able to get some captured British artillery on high ground overlooking Boston. Howe had no choice but to retreat and the Bostonians were free to travel about for the first time in six months.

1999 Cyclone 05B comes ashore on the southeast coast of India. As y'all know, in that part of the world a hurricane is known as a cyclone. This bad boy was a category 4 when it came ashore. The only problem is that it never quite came ashore completely and stalled out with part of it still out over the Indian Ocean which kept feeding it warm, moist air and therefore the storm never broke up. It poured torrential rains for days which resulted in biblical flooding. After it was all over there were 10,000 dead or missing along with 406,000 head of cattle. The same thing happened here that happened earlier in Bangladesh. Some of the human bodies were not found right away and the tigers came out of the jungle and feasted on them. They developed a taste for it and began hunting humans as a matter of course. It took a generation for the tigers to get back to normal.

1965 On this day the famous arch in Saint Louis, Missouri is dedicated. This monument was designed by the famous Finnish architect Eero Saarinen as a memorial to the western expansion fostered by Thomas Jefferson and explored by the immortal Lewis and Clark expedition that began and ended in Saint Louis.

Births and deaths:

1898 US costume designer Edith Head is born. She said “Your dress should be tight enough to show that you are a woman but loose enough to show that you are a lady.” Hey Edith, will you go have a talk with Lindsay Lohan?

        Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow.

Thursday

                    Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“I shall pass through this life but once. Any good therefore that I can do let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.”

                                     Etienne de Grellate

Over in the Valley Falls community of Spartanburg, SC three different women in adjacent apartments reported that a man had walked into their apartment while they were asleep. One of them said that she heard the man moving around in her bedroom but thought she was having nightmare and closed her eyes. She opened them a short while later and the man was standing over her bed. She screamed and the man excused himself saying that he was in the wrong apartment and fled. It was a similar scenario for the other two except with one of them he pulled up the covers and stroked her leg. The common thing about all of these invasions was that all of them had left their patio sliding glass doors unlocked. They need at least one dog. I have two. They are named “Rossi .38 special revolver” and the other is “Remington Model 1100 semi-automatic 20 gauge shotgun.” These “dogs” are the type that bark over here…and bite over there. Almost every time they bite twice or more, it is fatal. I feel very secure when they are present.

Up on I-26 in western North Carolina a tragedy occurred Sunday night. There were 6 cars and three semis that had stopped for a wreck ahead of them in the eastbound lane. Another car rammed into the back of the last car in line and pushed them all together into a metal to metal meat grinder. There were four killed and several severely wounded. Even though this accident happened at night, I still do not see how someone that is the least bit alert could not detect that many cars that were at a standstill, especially the semis. That just goes to show you that there is danger not only in front of you but from all directions. Be alert.

              This Date in History  October 27

1864 After several months of the siege of Petersburg, Virginia US General U.S. Grant decided that if he can cut the Confederate supply line and that being the Southside railroad that was bringing supplies in from the west the siege would be over. He assigned this task to US General George Meade who delegated three of his Corp led by Generals Winfield Scott Hancock, G.K. Warren and John Parke to attack the Confederate trenches near the railroad at a small creek named Hatcher’s Run. The combined forces would be about 40,000 infantry and a detachment of cavalry. The plan was for Warren and Parke to attack from the front and Hancock to circle and attack the Confederate flank. On this date the attack began. The frontal assault ran into trouble when the Confederate trenches proved to be more heavily defended than expected. But they kept demonstrating to try and conceal Hancock’s flanking movement. Because different units attacking from the front moved at different speeds a gap in the Union line occurred. Meade ordered the attack to slow down to close this gap. It was then that the Confederates launch a successful counter-attack and drove the Union troops attacking the front from the field and then turned their attention to Hancock and repulsed that attack. Finally Meade ordered a total withdrawal. It was very embarrassing failure for the Union and could have effected the upcoming presidential election. But Lincoln depended on the recent victories at Atlanta and Mobile, Alabama to tide him over and he was re-elected...but not for very long.

1962 Earlier the US intelligence community had discovered Russian medium range nuclear missiles being installed in Cuba. President Kennedy asked for confirmation and several over flights were made to photograph the construction sites there. And sure enough, the confirmation came. The missiles if launched from Cuba could strike anywhere in the US, Central America, northern South America and all of the Caribbean. President Kennedy made a TV speech telling the Americans what was happening and what we were going to do about it. He also warned the Russians that any attack launched from Cuba would be interpreted as an attack by Russia and an appropriate response would be forthcoming. The big bombers and missiles of the Strategic Air Command went to “Defcon 4” status meaning that the next step would be nuclear war. President Kennedy ordered a naval blockade of all ships headed for Cuba, only he called it a “quarantine”. Very soon thereafter a Russian cargo vessel with missiles aboard approached the naval blockade and the world held its breath. There was no doubt that had the ship attempted to break the blockade it would have been sunk and the risk of world war would have increased dramatically. But the ship slowed to a stop and eventually turned back to Russia. While all of this is going on, negotiations between the US and Russia kept the telephone lines hot. The final offer was that Russia would withdraw their missiles from Cuba if the US would promise to never invade Cuba and withdraw their missiles from Turkey. The US had already begun the dismantling of the missiles in Turkey so the deal was acceptable. On this date, the deal between the US and Russia was agreed upon by both parties and a potential world war was averted. I was sweating bullets that whole time. It was a scary thought to believe that this day on the planet could be your last.

1659 On this date William Robinson and Marmaduke Stevenson are hanged on Boston Common in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Their only crime was their religious belief, they were both Quakers and Quakers were forbidden by law under the penalty of death. Both Robinson and Stevenson had come to the colonies from England to escape religious persecution in 1656, believe it or not. Rhode Island and several other New England colonies accepted the Quakers, but not the hard-assed Bostonians. That law was later repealed. I have no clue as to why those from Massachusetts hated the Quakers. As we all know, the Quakers are some of the gentlest people out there.

1873 On this date a man named Joseph Glidden from DeKalb, Illinois is granted a patent for barbed wire (known in Texas as “Bob Wahr”). Glidden had seen a semblance of barbed wire at an exposition but it was single stranded. Glidden improved this concept by twisting two wires together which held the actual barbs in position. From this day forward the method of raising cattle changed forever. There would be no more cattle ranging and grazing free across the Great Plains. There were young wars fought over lands that were fenced and blocked cattle from ranging free and from finding water. What a damned shame.

861AD The wild-eyed Vikings successfully attack Paris, Toulouse, Aix-la Chapelle and Worms. They came to these towns by sailing their dragon boats across the North Sea and then down the west coast of Europe and up the Rhine and Seine rivers. This was no easy trick. Those rivers had a considerable downstream current and being able to reach those towns deep inland took a lot of rowing. But they were equal to the task and conquered most of Western Europe and even Russia by sailing down the Volga River from the Black Sea. They were so successful with their rape and pillage that there little doubt that all of us that have ancestry from Western Europe have Scandinavian blood flowing in our veins.

Births and deaths:

1858 One of my heroes Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt is born in upstate New York. He said “I think there is only one quality worse that having a hard heart and that is having a soft head.” When asked what was going to be his philosophy on the Presidency, he said “Speak softy but carry a big stick.” We need more leaders like Teddy.

        Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Wednesday

                    Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“Many men go fishing all their lives not knowing that it is not the fish that they are after.”

                                   Henry David Thoreau

A while back down near Clinton, South Carolina a female

State Trooper stopped a car near the intersection of I-26 and I-385, there were two Latinos aboard. The trooper arrested the driver and asked the passenger to get out of the car, at the same time she called for backup and two deputies of the Laurens County sheriff’s department headed her way. The passenger refused to get out of the car and threatened the trooper’s life while producing an xacto knife. The passenger then tried to slide over into the driver’s side but the trooper held on like a bulldog and they started down the road struggling. Finally the trooper pulled her trusty .40 caliber Glock and shot the Latino several times killing him on the spot. I just have a few questions. Why not shoot out one of the tires? Did the late Latino believe that a woman would not use deadly force? Was he wrong? I can assure you, some women are lethal with or without a gun.

A while back night up in Charlotte, NC there was a football game between Charlotte Catholic and Garinger high schools. At the beginning of the fourth quarter a fight broke out in the Garinger stands. The cops came in and called an end to the game after breaking up the fight. Soon afterward shots were fired in the parking lot and another fight began. The cops took a more aggressive stance at breaking up that fight. The cops said that they believed the fight was gang related. What the h-ll is this world coming to? A gang fight at a high school football game!

       This Date in History   October 26

1948 Earlier Betty and Jerry Ferreri had been married for some time with Betty getting the worst of the deal. Jerry was the spoiled son of a New York family and gave Jerry enough income that he never worked and after moving to Los Angeles and they bought him a five bedroom house in upscale Hancock Park. Jerry was a notorious and unapologetic womanizer and was a wife beater. He hit Betty so hard on the side of her face that it ruptured an eardrum and when he got the doctor bill he became infuriated and hit her on the other side of her face an ruptured that eardrum also. He said “Maybe the doctor will give a two-for-one now.” On this day the final straw came when Jerry brought a young model home while Betty was there. Betty produced a large wrench and ran them both off. Betty knew that when Jerry came back home it would be hell to pay so she conspired with her housekeeper, Alan Adron, to kill Jerry upon his arrival. Sure enough, Jerry came home and began dragging Betty around the house by her hair. As directed, Alan shot Jerry twice in the stomach and then the gun jammed and Jerry was still alive and kicking. It was then that Betty produced a large meat cleaver and struck the staggering Jerry 22 times in the head and shoulders that resulted in his demise. Both Betty and Alan went to trial for first degree murder. It was touch and go until the defense attorney quoted the things that Jerry had done to Betty. Both Betty and Alan were acquitted. This jury resorted back to justice in the old west when men were acquitted of murder if the victim “needed killing.”

1881 Earlier on October 25 Ike Clanton and Tom McLaury had came into Tombstone, Arizona for supplies. The Clanton-McLaury gang lived out of town on ranches and felt that the range was theirs to rob and rustle and the town of Tombstone was the Wyatt Earp’s domain. All throughout the day Ike Clanton and Wyatt Earp had been verbally sniping at each other and the atmosphere was very tense. The next day, October 26, Billy Clanton, Frank McLaury and Billy Claiborne rode into town to help Ike and Tom. Billy Clanton and Frank McLaury went into the closest bar and the first person they met was Doc Holiday. Doc told them that Wyatt was about fed up with Ike’s mouth and there would probably be a fight. Billy and Frank immediately left and went to find Ike and Tom. In the mean time Wyatt Earp had assembled his brothers Morgan and Virgil knowing that a fight might be on the horizon. Wyatt’s close friend Doc Holiday also offered his expertise. At about 3:30p Wyatt had seen the Clanton/Mclaury bunch at the end of Fremont Street near the OK Corral and the four of them headed that way. When the men were about 20 feet apart Wyatt said “You sons-of-bitches have been looking for a fight and now you’ve got one”. No one knows who really fired the first shot but it is believed that it was Virgil that pulled his revolver and shot Billy Clanton point blank in the chest. Almost simultaneously Doc Holiday unloaded both barrels of his double barreled shotgun into Tom McLaury’s chest. Wyatt got off a couple of rounds into Frank McLaury’s stomach, Frank did not go down right away and got off a couple of rounds at Wyatt before collapsing as did Billy Clanton. There were about 30 shots fired and it was all over in about 30 seconds. Billy Clanton and the McLaury brothers were dead. Ike Clanton and Billy Claiborne ran like hell and got their young asses back to the ranch. Sheriff John Behan, a supporter of the Clantons, had witnessed the fight and arrested the Earps and Doc Holiday for murder. They were all acquitted when the judge ruled that they “were fully justified in committing these homicides”. To paraphrase the judge, “they needed killin’.” Morgan, Wyatt and Doc were all wounded but survived.

1998 Earlier a tropical storm named Mitch had ambled in to the Caribbean Sea apparently without much punch and seemed to be headed toward the Nicaragua/Guatemala border. Soon thereafter it blossomed into a category 4 Hurricane and stormed ashore as such. Belize had already evacuated 70,000 people but the poor and indigent in Nicaragua and Guatemala did not get the word and even if they had, they had no transportation to escape. Mitch stalled out over Nicaragua and eventually dumped over 50 inches of rain. The flooding was the worst in 200 years as you might expect. Entire villages disappeared in gigantic mudslides. There was 10 feet of water in the Nicaraguan capitol of Tegucigalpa. No one knows for sure but it is estimated that between 11,000 and 18,000 people perished. In several villages that were buried in mudslides, the Presidents of Guatemala and Nicaragua did not even attempt to dig them out and just declared the whole area as a cemetery. In addition to this misery, the crops of both nations were destroyed by 60% making the agricultural workers in even more in a bind. Sometimes we think we have had it bad, but just think of these people.

1942 On this date during the battle of Guadalcanal the aircraft carrier USS Hornet is struck by an avalanche of Japanese aerial bombs and torpedoes. The Japanese were desperate to hold onto control of Guadalcanal as a fighter/bomber base to protect their advance onto Indo-China and sent swarms of fighter and bombers to attack the US Navy and Marines that were attacking that island. The Japanese had put underway several shiploads of troops to counter the Marine landing. The ultimate battle was called the Battle of Santa Cruz where the US Navy and Marines knew that if those reinforcements reached Guadalcanal the Marines already there would be in deep doodoo. The explosions from the Hornet were so severe that a couple of Japanese bombers that dropped the bombs were damaged and crashed. By the way, it was the Hornet that US Colonel James Doolittle launched his famous B-25 air attack on Tokyo. After a series of gigantic explosions the Hornet was abandoned and it now rests on the ocean bottom near Santa Cruz Island but the Japanese reinforcements never reached Guadalcanal in force and the Marines secured control. There was a second aircraft carrier built and launched during the war in 1943 that was also named the USS Hornet.

              Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Tuesday

                        Musings and History

Quotes of the day:

“It is no use in saying ‘We are doing our best’. You have to succeed at what is necessary.”

                                           Winston Churchill

Breakfast Monday morning:

Two eggs over medium with a liberal sprinkling of Tabasco, fried bologna and Jim Dandy grits with a liberal sprinkling of Tabasco, buttered toast with a lot of Smuckers strawberry jam, 2 cups of coffee and 2 glasses of ice water. The extra water is so BJ won't bitch me out about fluids in my body.

Tee shirt of the day:

"Trust me, you can dance" Rumple Minze (local band)

Song of the day:

"Seven Bridges Road" by the Eagles

A while back down in Simpsonville, SC the neighbors in an apartment complex heard gunshots in one of the apartments. The cops came and could not get anyone to come to the door so they broke out a window and gained entrance. There were two people dead. One was a 42 year old woman and the other was a 58 year old man and they were known to live together in that apartment. The cops determined that the woman had died first from a gunshot wound and the male had taken his own life seconds later. It was well known that these two people frequently argued and fought. What I do not understand is why the man who was an apparent “cradle-robber”, even though I have done it myself, did not just walk away rather than terminate 1/3 of his life because of this woman. But it has been a while since I have been in love, so what do I know?

         This Date in History  October 25

1994 On this date a Union, South Carolina woman named Susan Smith called the Union County Sheriff’s department and reported that her car with her two small boys Michael and Alex aboard had been carjacked by a black man and that he had left her at a convenience store and drove away. In very short order, with the help of several other law enforcement offices including the FBI, there was a dragnet thrown around that area of South Carolina and an intensive search began. Nothing was found and after nine weeks the sheriff of Union County held a news conference and reported that Susan had confessed to killing those two boys by driving the car into nearby John D. Long Lake with the kids strapped into their car seats. This event came as a culmination of her tumultuous on and off marriage whereby both Susan and her husband had participated in several affairs each. Finally Susan found the man of her dreams but he did not want children and Susan saw fit to fix that problem permanently. It apparently never crossed that bitch’s mind to file for divorce and surrender custody. Susan was tried and convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life without parole. While in prison she was disciplined several times for having sex with the inmates and/or the guards. Her husband wrote a book about his experiences during this ordeal and stated that he could not live a comfortable life while Susan was alive and wished that the court had seen fit to execute her. With animals like this we need to resort back to medieval methods of dispensing justice.

1415 Two months earlier Henry V of England and an army of 11,000 had sailed across the English Channel and laid siege to the city Harfleur, France. After five weeks Harfleur fell. During the five week siege Henry had lost half of his army to disease and combat casualties. Henry decided to head north to the French port of Calais and meet up his navy that was coming to pick up him and his army and take them back home. About half way to Calais he met up with a French army of 20,000 near the town of Agincourt. Henry chose to array his troops in a fairly small field that was bordered by forests. This would prevent any large scale maneuvering by the French. At 11:00a the battle was joined. The French knights in their newly designed heavy armor began an attack toward the English across a muddy field. The English responded with a barrage of arrows from their newly designed long bows that had a range of 250 yards. The French knights were so densely packed that many could not even raise their arms and the knights in the rear kept pushing. Even though they were in armor, the English had designed a type of an arrowhead that could penetrate it and launched wave after wave of the deadly missiles into the French ranks. Soon the French knights were just a mass of confused humanity slipping, sliding and dying in the mud. It was then that Henry ordered his lightly armored bowmen to lay down their bows and take up pikes, swords, axes and clubs and led the rest of the 5,500 man army into the ranks of the French and took care of business. The slaughter was fantastic. The French lost 6,000 troops in that one afternoon while the English suffered 400 killed. After this resounding victory, Henry was declared heir to the French throne but it was for naught because he died of a fever two years later near Paris. Henry V’s victory at Agincourt went down as one of the greatest victories in military history.

1929 Two years earlier the Secretary of the Interior, Albert Fall, had petitioned to have control of the naval oil reserves at the Elk Hill in California and Teapot Dome in Wyoming transferred to his department. The naval oil reserves are set aside for the US navy to use in case of a war. The transfer did indeed take place and soon thereafter Secretary Fall accepted a $100,000 bribe from the president of Pan-American Petroleum to allow them to drill in the Elk Hill reserve and $300,000 to allow Mammoth Oil to drill at Teapot Dome. This deception was discovered and on this date Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall was arrested. Fall was tried, convicted and was imprisoned. This was the first time that a sitting cabinet member was jailed, and hopefully it will not be the last.

1853 On this date US Army Captain John Gunnison and his survey crew of 35 were set upon by a war party of Piute Indians near Sevier Lake, Utah. The survey crew was trying to find a route for a railroad to get to the west coast. Seven members of the survey team were killed including Gunnison. His second officer, Lt. Edward Beckwith assumed command and continued the survey and did indeed find three possible routes. Beckwith and his survey party made it back to Saint Louis and reported their findings which went a long way toward the completion of a trans-continental railroad.

1944 On this date the largest naval battle ever fought began in the Philippines at a place named Leyte Gulf. It was also the first time the Japanese had used Kamikaze aircraft attacks. The Japanese had not been able to stem the western advance of the US navy using traditional means so they decided to use nontraditional means. They asked for volunteers to dive their bomb laden aircraft into US navy ships, aircraft carriers in particular. They had swarms of volunteers and on this day the pilot of a Japanese Zero aircraft crashed his plane into the escort carrier St. Lo and it was on the bottom in 20 minutes. This was the very first attack of this kind. In all the Kamikaze sank 34 ships and damaged many more in this battle. Even though this carnage was phenomenal, the worst was yet to come at Okinawa. But that is another story. In all there were 1,321 Kamikaze aircraft used in WWII.

Births and deaths:

1989 US writer Mary McCarthy died. She said “We must not force sex to do the work of love nor love do the work of sex.” Mary, you are making it far more complicated that it really is. ..just do it.

            Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow.

Monday

                     Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“A pessimist is a person that looks both ways when crossing a one way street.”

                                           Laurence Peters

In 1810 Pope Leo XIII was born. In the later stages of his life as Pope he said “It is quite unlawful to demand, defend, or to grant unconditional freedom of thought, or speech, or writing or worship as if these were so many gifts given by nature to man.” I had to read this statement over and over again to make sure that I copied it right from the text. Pope Leo XIII has since gone on to his reward.

This Date in History October 24

1775 The last British governor of Virginia, Lord Dunmore, ordered British Captain Matthew Squire to take British warships up the James River and then up Hampton Creek and attack and capture Norfolk. On this date Captain Squire carries out his orders and brought 6 British warships into Hampton Creek and opened up an artillery barrage on the city of Norfolk. At the same time a contingent of British infantry disembarked in small boats and headed to the city. Upon arriving the artillery barrage ended and the infantry deployed in finely shaped lines of attack and await a similar arrangement from the Patriots. The only problem here is that the Patriots are not about to line up out in the open and array themselves in front of the British. The Patriots are outnumbered at least two to one and it would be suicide to fight as the British wished so they did the smart thing. The British did not know that the Patriots had a large contingent of expert sharpshooters and they began picking off the British infantry at extreme range while well hidden. Upon hearing the gunfire, the leader of the local militia brought an additional 100 marksman to the fore and the British infantry suffered even more dramatically. Even though the British thought this form of warfare as being ungentlemanly, they knew they had to do something and fast because they were falling like leaves. They beat a hasty retreat back to their ships and re-boarded still falling in rapid succession. Once aboard their ships, the carnage was not yet over. The sharpshooters moved closer and began picking them off while aboard their ships. Captain Squire ordered his ships to sail the hell out of there and fast. In his retreat, two of his warships ran aground and were captured. There was not even one injury to the Patriots. It was not a good day for the British, this October 24, 1775.

1862 US General Don Carlos Buell is relieved of his command and is replaced by US General William Rosecrans. Buell had proven himself as a capable leader in previous engagements, especially at Shiloh. A few days before Buell had defeated the army of CSA General Braxton Bragg at the Battle of Perryville, Kentucky and for reasons known only to Buell, he failed to vigorously pursue Bragg and try to eliminate the threat of that army and Bragg and his army slipped away. Needless to say the US military and especially A. Lincoln was not pleased. Buell was assigned several different tasks but none that included combat. His days of command of a combat unit were over. After the war Buell retired and settled in Kentucky. He died in 1898.

1970 On his third try for the Presidency of Chile, devout Marxist Salvador Allende is elected much to the chagrin of the United States. The US, ITT and Kennecott Copper had poured a lot of money into keeping Allende out of office knowing what he would do one elected. Allende did not disappoint. He established diplomatic relations with North Korea, Red China and Cuba and began nationalizing ITT and Kennecott Copper. With that the US, ITT and Kennecott started peeing in their pants and began trying to find a way to get that son-of-a-bitch out of there. It would not be easy because Allende was elected peacefully and democratically so an invasion like the Bay of Pigs was out of the question. But the CIA was equal to the challenge and spread enough money around that the Chilean army rose up in a coup, arrested and murdered Allende and peace, as the CIA saw it, prevailed. I suspect that the ouster of Allende was not the first nor will it be the last interference in a foreign government by the good old CIA.

1997 Famous sportscaster Marv Alpert is arrested in New York for biting a woman on the butt. That right folks, I said Marv was arrested for biting a woman on the butt. It seems that Marv had met 42 year old Vanessa Perhach in Miami a few years before and they had a continuing liaison since. On this night, after Marv had called a basketball game in Madison Square Garden between the Knicks and the Bullets, he had invited Vanessa up to his hotel room. At first Marv approached Vanessa for a threesome and she refused. Then he approached her for oral sex and she again refused. It was then that Marv pinned her down and administered the bites. Yes, there was more than one bite. At first Marv denied it but a court ordered dental match of Marv’s teeth and the bite marks confirmed Marv as the biter. To add insult to injury, another woman came forward claiming the Marv had done the same to her. Marv was convicted and was sentenced to one year probation and a $2,500 fine and was fired by the Madison Square Garden. The deal was that if Marv kept his nose clean for year his arrest record would be expunged. After a year his record was indeed cleansed and he was re-hired by MSG.

1648 On this date the 30 Year War came to an end with the signing of the Treaty of Westphalia. The war had started in 1618 when the king of Bohemia, Ferdinand II, became the Holy Roman emperor and had declared that everyone is his domain, almost all of Eastern Europe, would be required to become a Catholic. Needless to say what happened next. The Protestant princes and kings said “Not no, but hell no we ain’t giving up our Duchies and Earldoms to the Catholic Church” and went to war. It was not one continuous battle but several battles stretched out over many years. The end result was that the Catholic Church did not get what it wanted and France, with Louis XIV as king, emerged as the most powerful country in Europe. It still do not understand the need of the Catholics to own property or dominate people. What has that got to do with saving my soul?

Births and deaths:

1830 US writer Belva Lockwood is born. She said “No one can be called a Christian that spends money on warships or arsenals.” Hey Belva, you need to read about Adolph Hitler, Attila the Hun, Francisco Pizzarro, Hernan Cortez, Napoleon Bonaparte, etc, etc. But better still, just stay encapsulated in that little cocoon you are in and quit ruining my life.

1909 US writer Moss Hart is born. He said “So far as I know, anything worth hearing is not uttered at 7:00 in the morning; if it is, it will probably be repeated later on at a reasonable hour.” I like the way Moss thinks.

1981 US costume designer Edith head died. She said “I have yet to see a completely unspoiled star, except for Lassie.”

       Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow.

Friday

                     Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing then you are successful.”

                                     Howard Cain

Here are a few brief headlines from my neck of the woods.

A fight broke out outside the Club Odyssey in Rock Hill, SC involving over 50 people. Shots were fired with no one being hit. The crowd scattered when the cops rolled in.

Over in the Tega Cay area (on the border of North and South Carolina near Charlotte) the employees of a Wal-Mart found two babies unattended in a Lexus in the parking lot. The cops arrived and sure enough, there was a 2 year old and a 4 year old in the car crying their eyes out. The cops went into the store and had the driver paged. Seven minutes after page the female driver emerged. She said that she just went in the store for a few minutes and the babies were asleep. The total time that the babies were alone was over 30 minutes. The woman was arrested and the cops called the father to come and get the kids and the Lexus.

Again over in Rock Hill a 23 year old man was pumping some gas into his car when a woman walked up and asked for $10. Apparently an arrangement was reached and the two went into a close by Executive Inn motel room whereupon the woman produced a knife and took the man’s wallet containing about $600. She was last seen jumping into a white Crown Vic with several men aboard. At least she could have earned the $600. What was that man thinking, he could have been murdered...on second thought I know what he was thinking.

Down near Belton, SC (about 30 mile southeast of Greenville) 43 year old Randy Nabors was found hiding behind a farm building. When he was ordered out by the cops, Nabors wanted to fight and fired his Glock at the cops and the cops responded with shots of their own. Randy went down like a sack of potatoes and bled out before EMS could get him to the hospital. He was shot in the hind leg and his main artery was severed. When that happens you only have minutes to live.

            This Date in History October 21

1779 On this date South Carolinian Henry Laurens is named as Ambassador to Holland. Soon thereafter he was on his way to Holland to negotiate a treaty to secure them as an ally against England. He takes with him a proposal written by William Lee that was accepted and signed by Holland. On his way back to the US, Laurens’ ship was intercepted off the coast of Newfoundland by a British warship and he was arrested. While the British were going through Laurens’ personal belongings, they found the treaty signed by the Dutch. The British used this document to declare war on Holland and Laurens was sent to London, tried and convicted of treason and spent 15 months in the Tower of London. Laurens was eventually released in a prisoner exchange in return for the British retrieving Lord Charles Cornwallis that had been captured at Yorktown by US General George Washington. After returning to the US, Laurens retired to his plantation near Charleston, SC. He was approached several times to become a candidate for Continental Congress or the governorship of South Carolina but Laurens refused in each attempt and chose to stay down on the farm and he stayed on the farm until he died in 1792. By the way, there is a county near Greenville named for Henry Laurens.

1861 Earlier in the year, the Union observers had seen the Confederates strengthening their forces in and around Leesville, Virginia. Leesville is across the Potomac River from Washington and any military buildup that close to Washington was cause for alarm. The US General in command of the US Army of the Potomac was General George B. McClellan and on this date he sent a detachment of 1,600 troops to look into the buildup. The commander of the US troops was inexperienced and green but he was the close personal friend of Abraham Lincoln and therefore received a rank that made him a regimental commander. His name was Henry Butler. It was not Butler’s fault that he was sent on this expedition with no military training or experience. Butler sent yet another green and inexperienced trooper out to scout out and find the Confederates. The scout thought he saw the Confederate encampment but in reality he had not. On this information Butler deployed his troops in an open field that was bordered of three sides by a forest and on the back side was a 100 foot cliff called Ball’s Bluff that dropped into the Potomac River. Soon the forest began filing with the wild-eyed Confederates and when the time was right, the screaming Confederates came boiling out of the wood and pushed those Yankees right into the river. Some drowned and some were killed on the drop over the cliff including Butler, but in any event it was a total debacle for the Union Army. Lincoln was appalled at the loss of Butler and blamed himself for his loss and he should have. Sending a totally untrained and inexperienced individual into combat who has the rank because of who he knows rather than what he knows is nothing short of murder.

1805 Napoleon Bonaparte has the all of Europe under his heel and is looking into the invasion of England. Napoleon knows he must have an overpowering Navy of his own to keep the British Navy in check during any invasion. On this date, the British Navy, 27 warships strong and under the command of Lord Horatio Nelson, sighted the combined navy of France and Spain 33 warships strong off the coast of Trafalgar, Spain. The Franco Spanish fleet deployed in a “line-of–battle” meaning that all of their ships were in a straight line sailing in the same direction. They were expecting Nelson to deploy his ships in a straight line and sailing in the opposite direction and they would exchange broadsides. Instead Nelson signaled his ships into two divisions and sailed into the enemy fleet at right angles. The British fleet took a few broadsides at the onset but when they broke through the Franco/Spanish line of battle, they delivered a series of devastating broadsides of their own. The Franco/Spanish fleet was all but destroyed with the sinking of 19 ships and the loss of 14,000 soldiers and sailors while the British suffer not one ship loss but did lose 1,500 troops. The greatest loss was when Nelson’s flag ship HMS Victory was closely engaged in battle and a French Marine sniper up in the rigging found Nelson and delivered two shots into chest and lungs. Nelson was taken below and died soon thereafter. Before dying he was told about his victory and said “I am satisfied now. Thank God I have done my duty.” Nelson’s corpse was stashed into a barrel of rum to preserve him until they got him back to England. Nelson was acknowledged to have saved England from invasion in the destruction of the Franco/Spanish fleet. He was buried with honors in the cemetery at Saint Paul’s Cathedral in London (been there). From this event the daily ration of grog (rum) to the English sailors is called “Nelson’s Blood”. There is a park in London that is known to this day as Trafalgar Square with a column and statue of Lord Nelson at the entrance (been there, too).

Births and deaths:

1956 US actress Carrie Fisher is born. She said “I don’t want life to imitate art. I want life to be art.” Hey Carrie, listen to Plato. He said “Life is to be lived as a child at play.”

1920 US LSD guru Timothy Leary is born. He said “Dropping acid has three effects. It enhances your long term memory, damages your short term memory and I forget the rest.” Me too, but it ain’t because of dropping acid.

           Thanks for listening  I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Thursday

                      Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“I have outlived my penis.”

       Willie Nelson

A while back I had this for breakfast:

12 steamed shrimp, 12 raw oysters, 4 slices of raw yellow fin tuna marinated in Soy Sauce and lemon juice. 1 Seven-Up. (I like it better than coffee).

The next few paragraphs are from my last visit to Pensacola Beach.

Yesterday for lunch I went to one of my favorite restaurants in the world and that being “The Coffee Cup” on Cervantes Street. I had soft scrambled eggs, Nassau grits, fried Kielbasa, toast with Smucker's grape jelly, coffee and water. Nassau grits is regular grits mixed with Ro-Tel tomatoes, onions and bacon chips and green chilis. It is delicious, y’all. Of course the Kielbasa is just a type of Polish sausage where they cut about a 6 inch length, split it long ways and fry it like a regular sausage. It is delicious also.

I went out to visit with some of my trashy friends and we renewed old and exciting memories. The leader of our pack is “Mayor Bob” Merrimon. Bob is about 88 years old and is just as active as a man half his age. He suns himself on the beach three or four times a week and has a chestnut colored tan year round. He has been a fixture on this beach for over 50 years, y’all. There is very little he hasn’t seen. On the way home I stopped at Peg Leg Pete's and got a bowl of seafood gumbo.

Tomorrow I will have a light lunch at Sidelines (about a mile away) and have a heavy dinner at Lillo’s, a Tuscan Italian café (about 1 ¼ miles away). The owner of Lillo’s has an eye for beauty and his bartenders and servers show it. Then I will meet Bob and the rest of the clan at the Sandshaker for more tall tales, jokes and ale. I am sorry to report that there have been no drive-by shootings, gang activity, convenience store clerks shot or stabbed, etc. I guess all this spells boredom to some…but not this horse. The serenity, the beauty of the flora and fauna along with the slow pace of life is very, very palatable at this point in my life.

This Date in History October 20

1944 Earlier in 1942 the United States military commander of the Philippines, General Douglas MacArthur had been kicked out by the invading Japanese army. Before leaving at the order of the United States President Franklin Roosevelt, he gave command to General Jonathon Wainwright knowing he was doomed to be killed or captured by the overwhelming Japanese forces. According to MacArthur he vehemently objected to being ordered to withdraw, he said he had rather stay with his troops no matter their fate. He made a short speech before he left stating that he was leaving but vowing that “I shall return”. On this date, General MacArthur did indeed return when he splashed ashore in the Philippines accompanied by a huge US army, Navy and Marine combination and ended up kicking out, killing or capturing all the Japanese soldiers on the archipelago. He did not find out the fate of General Wainwright until Wainwright was rescued from a Japanese prison camp in Mongolia by the invading Russians. This rescue was just a few weeks before the surrender of Japan on August 10. Wainwright was ordered by MacArthur to be present at the surrender ceremony aboard the battleship USS Missouri anchored in Tokyo Bay. When MacArthur first saw the severely emaciated Wainwright he broke down sobbing. War is hell.

1774 On this date the Continental Congress passed a bill called the Continental Association Act. The Continental Association Act forbade any of the colonies to do business of any sort with Great Britain. This bill was in response to an act passed by British Parliament that the Continentals called the “Intolerable Acts”. The so-called Intolerable Acts were passed in response to the Boston Tea Party and consisted of four parts and there were: 1. The port of Boston was closed to all shipping except the English. 2. The Massachusetts Government act made Great Britain in command of all town meetings and decisions as to the state of Massachusetts. 3. British officials would be immune from criminal prosecution. 4. The colonists must provide quarters to the British military on demand including individual homes. Can you imagine a government trying to push something like this on anyone? As you might suspect, almighty hell was raised by each and every colony, even the Loyalist bent state of Georgia. The following spring the Continentals got fed up with the damned Redcoats and opened fire on them at Breed’s Hill, better known as Bunker Hill and was called “the shot heard around the world”. The Revolutionary War began in earnest.

1944 Early this morning an employee of the East Ohio Gas company in Cleveland sees a stream of white vapor coming out of the side of a natural gas tank. This bad boy was 57 feet in diameter and had the capacity of 90 million cubic feet. One hour later a stupendous explosion rocked the Lake Erie waterfront. A fire of biblical proportions erupts and flames reach upward to 2,500 feet. Each and every fireman in Cleveland participated in the containing this fire. After the fire finally died the fireman found 130 bodies all burned beyond recognition and hundreds wounded. Two factories were leveled, 70 houses destroyed and 200 cars melted into puddles. The leak was caused by contraction. The natural gas is put into the tank at 210 degrees below zero which forces the tank to contract and a small split at a seam occurred. All existing tanks were upgraded and newer tanks were designed to overcome this design flaw.

1803 Earlier the fledgling United States realized that they needed another port on the Gulf of Mexico and thought that New Orleans would be ideal. At the time, New Orleans and a huge chunk of North America was owned by France having had that land ceded to them by Spain two years before. The United States sent James Monroe and James Livingston to France to try and purchase New Orleans from Napoleonic France. They met with Napoleon’s second in command Lord Talleyrand and requested a price for New Orleans. On this date, Talleyrand came into the office and said “What will you give me for all of it?” He meant the whole of the lands owned by France in North America that stretched from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada. After Monroe and Livingston got through peeing in their pants, they requested a few days to come up with a figure. They came back to Talleyrand and offered $15 million which was accepted. They had overstepped their bounds by light years but knew they could not let this opportunity pass. It would take several months to sail back to America, meet with Congress, and then back to France and they did not want Napoleon to change his mind. The reason Napoleon wanted to do this was twofold. He needed money finance his war in Europe and he wanted to keep North America out of the hands of the British. Napoleon said that he wanted North America to be a “thorn in the side of England” as indeed it was. This purchase was known as the immortal Louisiana Purchase. By the way, Louisiana was named after French king Louis XIV.

Births and deaths:

1946 US writer Lewis Grizzard is born. He said “I have written a song titled “When My Love Comes Back From the Ladies Room, Will I Be Too Old To Care.”

                  Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow.