Monday

                     Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“Old age is when your wife says “Honey, lets go upstairs and make love” and you answer “Honey, its one or the other.”

                                            Red Buttons

For the life of me I cannot figure out what the angst is against LGBT in North Carolina and what bathrooms they use. What I am hearing is that the majority of the ruling body in the North Carolina legislature believes that each and everyone that falls into these categories is a sexual predator. That is horseshit of course. What ever happened to the concept of taking each person individually rather lumping them into individual groups? Using their logic we may assume that since John Wayne Gacy and Gary Ridgway (Green River Killer) who were serial killers responsible for about 150 murders and were Catholics therefore every Catholic is a potential serial killer.

I keep hearing that people are worried if a LGBT is in a restroom with their little kiddies or their women there is a risk they would be sexually assaulted. How ignorant is that? How are you going to protect them knowing there are garden variety sociopaths and psychopaths out there? These people are far more likely to assault little Teddy or little Muffin or Miss Tunkie than an LGBT or anyone else. I just don't get it.

1776 On this date the Continental Congress passed what was known as “The Tory Act”. What the problem was that the Continentals did not quite know what to do with those jackasses that wanted to live in the colonies but remain loyal to King George III in England primarily because they earned their living sucking up to the British. With the Patriots seeking independence from Great Britain, it was obvious that they could not abide what would amount to traitors in their midst so the passed the Tory act. This act provided for the Tories to be counseled by different Patriot instructors as to the advantages of independence and they would try to persuade them to become Patriots. Then they would give them a little time to think about it and them there would be a second visit and if they still wanted to remain loyal to King George they would become an enemy of the Patriots and would be treated as such including warfare. The result of this was that some of them joined the British army and over 70,000 got aboard ships and hauled their asses up to Canada, Nova Scotia in particular. Good riddance is what I say. By the way, King George III, in spite of fathering 15 children, was not a well man. It is believed that he suffered from porphyry, a very debilitating disease. The last nine years of his life was spent in lunacy. After he died, they found high concentrates of arsenic in his hair. The source of the arsenic was never found, but he also had high concentrates of lead in his body. Well, that may have come from the use of high lead content pewter plates and goblets, but the arsenic…sounds pretty fishy to me.

1981 For the past five years, young women mostly prostitutes, had been showing up in northern England beaten, slashed and strangled. The press named this monster the Yorkshire Ripper. The method of operation (MO) was nearly identical in each case. They were beaten with a hammer and stabbed at least 10 times. On this date, a man named Peter Sutcliffe was seen in a stolen car with a prostitute. The car was stopped by Police Sergeant Robert Ring and Sutcliffe was arrested. But before Sutcliffe got into the patrol wagon, he asked Sergeant Ring if he could go over to the closest tree to take a leak. This was allowed and when Sutcliffe was locked in the wagon, Ring went over to the tree and found a hammer and a knife that Sutcliffe had disposed of. It was found that Sutcliffe had killed and mutilated 13 women almost twice as many as the legendary Jack the Ripper. After a plea of insanity was denied, Sutcliffe was sentenced to life in prison. I can think many more appropriate methods for disposal of this piece of garbage.

1923 In October of 1861, Albert Fall was born in Kentucky. At the age of 26 he moved to New Mexico and started ranching. Albert proved quite successful and diversified into the silver mining industry. He became a well known and respected businessman and eventually successfully ran for congress and was elected to the US Senate. Almost from the first day he realized how much power he had and how much money he could make in Washington. He made close friends with William McKinley and other men of questionable character. When McKinley was elected president he made Albert Fall his Secretary of the Interior. In this capacity, Fall had control of vast stretches of lands in the unsettled west. One of these stretches was known as the Teapot Dome in Wyoming. The Teapot Dome was a known oil reserve that was set aside for use by the US Navy is case of war. Well, during his time with McKinley before he was elected, he met with some very wealthy oilmen. Some of these oilmen “loaned” Fall $400,000 to help him prop up his failing silver mining investments. In return Fall allowed these oilmen to drill in Teapot Dome lands. Needless to say, when word got out about this the crap hit the fan. The general public did not need to get hit in the head with a brick to recognize a bribe of a government official. An immense amount of heat was applied and on this date, the once respected and powerful Albert Fall resigned in disgrace. Albert spent the rest of his life trying to recoup his honor. He died penniless in 1948. Is there a lesson here for all of us?

1788 On this date the state of Georgia voted to accept the United States Constitution and therefore became the 4^th state of the United States of America rather than a colony. Almost immediately young men gathered around 1955 Chevrolet pick-ups up on blocks, put snuff between their bottom lip and gum, put on “John Deere” baseball caps on frontward and “Got Milk?” tee shirts and started singing the praises of Dale Earnhardt, Jr. The women assume the size and shape of Dick Butkus, get tattoos of barbed wire around both biceps, put a bandana around a head of hair that looks like it was combed with the Exxon Valdez, an extra small “Yes, I got milk!” tee shirt, a pair of cut off jeans that would fit Gary Coleman and cheap white sunglasses. Georgia has made many contributions to this country like, Jimmy Carter, Newt Gingrich, Alan Jackson, Robert Woodward (founder of Coca-Cola), Fran Tarkenton, Hershel Walker, Marla Maples and tons and tons of peanuts. My friends down in the land of Ty Cobb know I am just joking. We South Carolinians have nothing to brag about except maybe Strom “Sperm” Thurmond who has gone to that great plantation in the sky. Again, I am just joking y'all.

Born today:

1939 US Evangelist Jim Bakker. When speaking about his semi amusement park near Charlotte, NC he said “When coming to Heritage USA bring your bible and a Visa card. The bible is the whole truth and even God does not accept American Express.” My man Jim was married to that makeup guru Tammy Faye Bakker. Tammy Faye has gone on to that great Mascara in the sky. Jim did time in the slammer for mail fraud. You can’t trust anybody anymore.

1956 US writer Lynda Barry. She said “Love is a loaded cigar that we willingly smoke.”

1880 Russian dictator Josef Stalin. He said “A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic.

         Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow