Friday

                      Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“What we call progress is the exchange of one nuisance for another nuisance.”

                                      Havelock Ellis

Aggravations:

I was working in Charlotte, NC and would occasionally come back to Greenville, SC (about 93 miles) on days off. I had gotten off work and was headed toward Greenville on I-85, I was going fishing with my brother the next day. Close to the Gastonia, NC exit the traffic slowed to about 15 MPH and was backed up to the horizon. I thought it must have been a horrendous crash. When I got to where the backup began I discovered that people were slowing down to look at all the vehicles with flashing blue and red lights. The problem was whatever the problem was it as on the other side of the median...with a 6 foot tall concrete barrier in the middle. You could not see a damned thing except the reflection of lights flashing. I was beside myself.

Aggravation: Dumb-assed rubberneckers.

                This Date in History  March 24

1765 On this date British Parliament passed the Colonies Quartering Act making it the responsibility of the American Colonies to provide quarters, or barracks, for the British troops that had been sent to the colonies, as inflaming as it sounds. Look at the date and tell me how the colonists were able to put up with this abomination for 10 years without revolting. There was an order of priorities for which type of cover the colonists had to provide of the Redcoats. The very last on the list was a colonist’s house but it was there. Just to think that it was the responsibility of the land being invaded to be responsible for the housing of the army doing the invading. The arrogance of even thinking of such a thing arouses the Scottish blood in my veins and makes me believe that freedom and liberty are indeed worth dying for. Don’t test me..don’t even go there.

1989 The night before Captain Joseph Hazelwood, the commander of the oil tanker Exxon Valdez is out partying with some of his crew and the regular bar flies in the city of Valdez, Alaska. On this afternoon Captain Hazelwood is on the bridge when the gigantic oil tanker leaves the docks of Valdez filled to the scuppers with Alaskan North Slope crude. But when he is assured that the course is clear, he takes little nip and retires to his cabin. The unqualified officer he left in command on the bridge gets confused by all the icebergs in Prince William Sound and ran aground on Bligh Reef in the middle of the Sound. That ain’t the bad part; the Exxon Valdez is holed and begins leaking Alaskan crude oil into the pristine Prince William Sound. Captain Hazelwood is awakened and called the Coast Guard in short order and reported what happened. There was no response from a containment group for three hours. After that it was too late. 11 million gallons of crude were leaked into the Sound, and spread into a 100 mile radius and polluted 700 miles of shoreline killing thousands of animals and making the normally fertile Prince William Sound a marine desert. In short it was the worst ecological disaster in American history. There was a lot of financial fencing done between the state of Alaska, Exxon and the US Environmental Protection Agency. Eventually, Exxon offered the state of Alaska $25 million unopposed against the contested amount of $100 million. The state of Alaska took the $25 million. Money talks.

1862 On this date abolitionist Wendell Phillips was scheduled to make a speech in Cincinnati, Ohio. Phillips was the son of a famous and wealthy family in the New England area. Wendell never had to work so he was looking for a “cause” to occupy his time. He chose freeing the slaves as his crusade. After the Civil War broke out, the abolitionists tried to persuade Lincoln to declare the reason for the war was to free the slaves. For almost two years Lincoln called baloney on that and proclaimed the purpose of the war was to maintain the union. Then when that didn’t work after the Union army got their ass kicked in rapid succession and the Union supporters said “to hell with it, let them have their own country, stop the slaughter.” Then Lincoln changed horses and proclaimed the War was to free the slaves making it a moral issue. Anyway, Wendell Phillips got up on the rostrum in Cincinnati and started orating about how right it was that the war was to free the slaves and he was booed off the stage and had to be escorted off the premises under armed escort. Of course I am not an advocate of slavery, but Lincoln not staying with the original “cause” as being the preservation of the Union was at least suspect if not unconscionable in its sincerity. If you weigh the freeing of the slaves against the preservation of this great nation, it is no contest.

1890 On this date the United States Supreme Court handed down what was called a “surprise decision”. The case in question was the Milwaukee, Chicago and St. Paul Railroad v the State of Minnesota. The State of Minnesota imposed fees on the railroad to limit the profits to a “reasonable amount”. The railroad sued claiming that in this situation the railroad must be considered an individual and therefore the 14^th Amendment applied which stated that an individual is allowed to make as much money as they want. Incredibly the Court ruled in favor of the railroad making the railroad the same as an individual. But we must keep in mind that at that point in time this country was literally run by the railroad barons, Andrew Carnegie and J.P. Morgan for instance. But eventually these barons ran upon a hard–ass named Teddy Roosevelt and things began to change.

Born today:

1936 Canadian scientist David Suzuki. He said “Education has in a very serious way to convey the most important lesson can teach: Skepticism.” I agree.

Died today:

1603 Queen Elizabeth I of England. When speaking to Sir Walter Raleigh she said “I have known many people that have turned gold into smoke, but you are the first person that I have seen that turned smoke into gold.” Her Majesty was speaking of Walt bringing tobacco into Europe.

1882 US writer Henry Longfellow. He said “Talk not of wasted affection, affection is never wasted.” Henry sure had a way with words.

1905 French writer Jules Verne. He said “I believe cats to be spirits come to earth. A cat, I am sure could walk on a cloud without coming through.”

              Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow