Wednesday

                          Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“Holding anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.”

                                                     Buddha

A while back investigations by federal and local authorities led them to raid a house in a quiet community in a middle income neighborhood in Charlotte, NC yielded 400 pounds of pot and $1 million in cash. Five Latinos were arrested on site three of which were illegal aliens from Mexico. The liberals would just say “They are here just trying to make a better life.” BTW...If they had escaped and made their way to a “sanctuary” could law enforcement go in after them?

Last Friday a 37 year old woman over in Gastonia, NC rammed a police cruiser and kept going like nothing had happened. The cops finally got her stopped and tested her for alcohol and then arrested her for DWI. The cops knew this girl by her first name; this was her seventh arrest for DUI. The cops knew that her license had been revoked long ago and asked her where she got the car. She said that she took her husband’s car without his knowledge...for a trip to the liquor store.

           This Date in History   February 22

1777 On this date Georgia heavyweight politico Archibald Bulloch is found dead under mysterious circumstances. The ongoing opinion was that he was poisoned. Bulloch was born in Charleston, South Carolina in 1730 to a minister father named James, and a Puritan mother named Jean. Bulloch was educated at the College of South Carolina Law School (present day University of South Carolina) and opened a law practice in Charleston. In 1764 Bulloch moved to Savannah, Georgia and married Mary De Veaux, the daughter of a powerful judge and landowner. Bulloch began dabbling politics and was elected to the Georgia Commons House of Assembly in 1768 and eventually into the Continental Congress in 1775. In 1776 when it became obvious that Georgia would be invaded by the British, Bulloch was elected 1^st President and commander of the Georgia Militia and gave him essentially Carte Blanche to do what he wanted to combat the English invaders. He was given what were essentially dictatorial powers. It was soon thereafter he showed up dead. The reason and cause of his death was never determined. Bulloch was the great-great-grandfather of United States President Theodore Roosevelt. Teddy named his first son Archibald in honor of his ancestor. Bulloch County, Georgia is also named in his honor.

1819 Finally the disposition of the lands in Florida is determined on this date. Spanish Minister Don Luis du Onis met with American minister John Quincy Adams and signed over Florida to the United States. The United States received these lands just for the debts owed by Spanish to the settlers. Spain had a claim on Florida ever since the days of Pensacola and Saint Augustine settlements in the 16^th century.

By the way, Saint Augustine is advertised as the oldest continuously occupied European city in the USA. It was founded in 1565. Pensacola was founded in 1559 but a hurricane came three years later and the city was destroyed and the site abandoned.

1847 The United States and Mexico had been squabbling over the ownership of Texas for several years. Finally, President James K, Polk who believed heavily in western expansion for the United States sends the US Army into Mexico. A 15,000 man Mexican army commanded by General Santa Anna meets up with the recently landed 5,000 man America army commanded by General Zachary Taylor at Angostura Pass and the first day of the Battle of Buena Vista began. Santa Anna sent over an emissary under a flag of truce demanding the surrender of the Americans. In typical Taylor fashion he responded with “Tell the son-of–a-bitch to go to hell.” Santa Anna began a two pronged attack on Taylor’s position. Taylor organized the greater majority of his artillery onto one of the prongs. One of the commanders of an artillery unit was “Stonewall” Jackson. Taylor then sent Colonel Jefferson Davis and his hawk-eyed Mississippi sharpshooters to attack the other prong. We all recognize Jefferson Davis as later on being the President of the Confederacy. The American artillery on the left flank and the sharpshooters on the right flank lay down a blistering fusillade and Santa Anna decided to retreat. Apparently Santa Anna did not learn his lesson because he again confronted Zachary “Old Rough and Ready” Taylor at the Battle of Monterrey and has his ass handed to him even though he had Taylor outnumbered. In 1848 Zachary Taylor running as a Whig defeated the Democratic nominee for President of the United States.

2006 On this date the largest robbery in the history of Great Britain occurs at the Kent bank depot. This evening two men dressed as policemen grab Securitis Bank president Colin Dixon as he was leaving the bank and persuade him to get into the car with them. They then drive to Dixon’s home and kidnap his wife and son and drive to a remote barn and a third person takes the wife and child into the barn and then reassured Colin Dixon that they would kill his wife and child if he did not cooperate. They go back to the bank and Dixon leads the other two through the bank’s security system and the two robbers tied up and gagged 14 other bank employees. They then load 53 million pounds into a van and drive away. The take was the equivalent of about 107 million US Dollars. Eventually one of the banks workers got loose and notified the police. The police put out a net for the robbers but to no avail because most of the loot was in used bills. The bank put out a reward of 2 million pounds with no takers. There were a few people arrested but they were all released. The police were able to recover only 20 million pounds but the majority of the loot is still out there.

1942 Things did not look good for the allied forces in the Philippines. The Japanese were running rampant across the Island of Luzon and were forcing the American army into a smaller and smaller perimeter ending up on the Bataan Peninsula. At this point the Commander of the American forces, General Douglas McArthur, was ordered out of the Philippines by the President of the United States Franklin Roosevelt. McArthur hesitated at first as he was prepared to fight to the last with his troops but on this date he conceded and boarded a PT-boat and was taken to New Guinea and eventually Australia where he began planning his return.

Born today:

1732 George Washington...The father of our country...I do not believe he was here at this point in time by accident.

1857 Robert Baden-Powell...The founder of the Boy Scouts...He said “A Scout always smiles and whistles no matter the circumstances.” Obviously Mr. Baden-Powell had never been involved in a divorce action.

1892 Edna St. Vincent Millay...American writer...She said “It is not true that life is one damn thing after another, it is the same damn thing over and over.” Obviously Ms. Millay has been involved in at least one divorce action.

1900 Luis Bunuel...Mexican film maker...He said “Thank God, I am still an atheist” No comment.

             Thanks for listening  I can hardly wait until tomorrow