Monday

                             Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“I was arguing with my son and said 'One day you will have kids of your own' and he said 'So will you.'”

                                             Rodney Dangerfield

Reasons why I know I am here for reason:

While in Alaska I was wading across a muskeg (swamp) wearing hip waders headed to a small steam that I thought would have some trout or grayling (type of trout). The water in the muskeg was about 3 inches below the top of the waders meaning if the waders filled with water there is no question there is a good chance I would drown. All I had with me was a fly rod and a box of flies. I got almost to the stream which was about 40 yards from dry land when a gigantic cow moose charged out of a patch of woods to my left headed straight for me. She probably had a calf close by. She was so tall and her legs were so long that the water depth meant nothing. She could have stomped me into tapioca if she wanted to. All I could do was yell, call her bad names and wave my fly rod at her. I stood my ground because I knew I could not reach dry land successfully. She stopped about 20 yards from me, snorted a time or two and retreated back into the woods. I could have been easily stomped to death or drowned...but I wasn't. This is reason number 1, more to follow in future editions.

                This Date in History   February 20

1985   Up until 1979 Irish law prohibited the importation and sale of contraceptives because the Catholic Church disapproved. I will paraphrase that. The Catholic Church wanted to go into the Irish bedrooms and tell them how to have sex. In 1979 the Irish Supreme Court ruled that the use of contraceptives fell under purview of privacy and was not a matter for the clergy to determine. The Catholic hierarchy in Ireland about peed their pants because the weight of the opinion of the Catholic Church was paramount in Ireland and with this ruling by the Irish Supreme Court the Church saw their power, influence and possibly a hell of a lot of money going down the toilet. But the sale and use of contraceptives still had a string attached. Contraceptives could only be distributed by a licensed pharmacist and only to those with a prescription from a licensed physician. And that is the way is stayed until this date when the Irish lawmakers shook off the shackles of the Catholic Church and on this date passed a law stating that it was up to anyone’s choice as to the use of contraceptives, prescriptions not withstanding. Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, I am free at last.

1725   On this date a posse from New Hampshire happened upon a group of Indians that they had been tracking and decided that they would try the Native American custom of “scalping”. The posse killed 10 of them and crudely scalped them. They brought the scalps back to the Massachusetts Bay Colony where they received 10 pounds sterling for each scalp. The act of scalping was not peculiar to the American Indian. Scalping had been practiced in Europe and Asia since before recorded history. In European, Asian and American Indian history it was believed that you gained the other person’s courage by taking his/her scalp. But as you might expect, this act by this posse set off a bloodbath of scalping between the Indians and the settlers that continued for generations.

1864   Earlier US General Quincy Gilmore had sent US General Truman Seymour and an army of 5,000 from Jacksonville, Florida to capture the rail yard at Lake City, Florida, about 60 miles west. Right behind Seymour was President Lincoln’s secretary John Hay trying to get some of the Floridians to sign and oath of allegiance to the Union and persuade them to come to the next Republican Convention so they could vote for Lincoln as the presidential candidate. He wasn’t having much luck then the US army ran across a Confederate army of 500 led by CSA General Joseph Finegan at the little crossroad town of Olustee. Seymour immediately attacked seeing that he had the Confederates greatly outnumbered. Finegan and company were able to hold their ground but were running out of ammo. Previously Finegan had sent for reinforcements and ammo and at the last minute the ammo and the reinforcements arrived and the forces were about equal at that point. After this it was no contest. The Confederates delivered a severe ass-kicking and Seymour and his army shuttled their asses back to Jacksonville. Secretary Hay gave up on recruiting any Floridians and the state stayed under Confederate control for the remainder of the war. The US army suffered 1,800 casualties to the CSA’s 900.

1974   A couple of days before this the editor of the Atlanta Constitution, Reg Murphy had been contacted by a man named William Williams who promised Murphy that he would contribute 300,000 gallons of heating oil for the poor if he would meet him and make the deal front page news. Murphy agreed and met with Williams whereupon Williams pulled out a revolver and kidnapped Murphy. Williams wanted a ransom of $700,000 to be used by an extreme right wing militia. Williams had him and Murphy riding around Atlanta awaiting the results of his ransom demand. The second in command on the newspaper, G. James Minton rounded up the $700,000 delivered it to the pick-up point and Murphy was released. In a matter of hours the Atlanta PD was knocking of William’s door and he was arrested and the money recovered. He was originally sentenced to 40 years but he was tried again in federal court because of the kidnapping and was given 50 years. He was released after serving 9 years, believe it or not.

1950   On this date one of the most gifted poets of all time arrived in the United States to go on a reading tour. The Welshman Dylan Thomas began his reading tour with blockbuster reviews. This man was truly gifted. Before coming to the US he had published a book titled 18 Poems in 1934 and then 25 Poems in 1936. Dylan’s shortcoming was that a very heavy drinker. He met a young woman named Caitlin McNamara in a London Bar. Dylan was smitten and began to court Caitlin. Caitlin was not enamored with Dylan at first but after she heard him read his poetry in his rich and resonant Welsh voice, she was also smitten and they married. They had issue of three children. The only problem with this union was that Caitlin could hang with Dylan drink for drink and they spent many a foggy night together. In August of 1953 Dylan visits the White Horse Bar on Hudson Street in New York City and knocked back 17 shots of Scotch and walked out on the sidewalk and promptly dropped dead. He was 39 years old. What a damned shame and a waste of talent. Caitlin never forgave him for that.

1942   Earlier the USS Lexington, a United States aircraft carrier, had departed Bougainville in the Marshall Islands headed for the Japanese Island stronghold of Rabaul. This was supposed to be surprise attack but somehow the Japanese got wind of the pending attack and sent a squadron of bombers to intercept the Lexington. The Lexington picked up the oncoming bombers on radar and sent a squadron of F-4-F Wildcats led by Lieutenant Edward O’Hare to intercept the bombers. In the span of four minutes Lieutenant O’Hare shot down five of the bombers making him an ace. Not only was he an ace he was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions on this day. The O’Hare airport near Chicago is named for him. After this action the Lexington knew they had lost the element of surprise and retreated back to Bougainville. BTW, Lieutenant O'Hare's father was a capo in the Mafia. It just goes to show you...

Born today:

1924   US heiress Gloria Vanderbilt. She said “The fame you earn is a lot different that the fame that is thrust upon you.”

           Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow