Wednesday

                         Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“Growing old is like being increasingly penalized for a crime that you have not yet committed.”

                                              Anthony Powell

In December of 1937 after a stiff battle against a Chinese army defending Shanghai the Japanese army prevailed and continued on to Nanking. The commanding general of the Japanese ordered his men to rape and pillage the entire city so as to toughen them up for the battles yet to come. An orgy of the degradation and massacre of civilians followed of a magnitude never seen on this planet before or since. I will not go into the description the unspeakable atrocities but I will tell you this...Nanking had a population of 600,000 and in the span of 6 weeks the Japanese murdered 300,000 people. They did it the hard way with bayonets, knives, rifles, pistols, cans of gasoline, etc. 300,000 is about 70,000 more than the number of people killed in Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined. Have you ever heard of the Japanese apologizing for this? Have you ever heard of this at all? Have you heard your president call this “evil”? It is the worst attack on civilians in recorded history. There is no doubt in my mind that Obama had an agenda to debase this nation as much as he could. But he has brought about a good thing...he has taught me what complete disdain for another human being is all about. I am sorry Barry (Barack), I don't feel guilty...I take that back, I am not sorry. I invite y'all to read The Rape of Nanking.

                  This Date in History May 31

1862 After persuading the Union military leaders, US General George McClellan ordered the gigantic assemblage of the Army of the Potomac, 120,000 strong to sail down the Chesapeake Bay, land on the James River Peninsula and proceed northwest and attack the Confederate capital of Richmond from an unexpected direction. His forces are met by the CSA Army of Northern Virginia let by General Joseph E. Johnston. Johnston recognized that he was vastly outnumbered and slowly retreated up the peninsula using delaying tactics. On this date they finally reach the outer perimeter of Richmond and bloody battle of Fair Oaks ensued. This was one of the bloodiest of the entire war. Two important events occurred during this bloodbath. One was that McClellan rode out onto the battlefield and was appalled at the mutilation of his troops and from then on he was even more timid and cautious. The second was that General Johnston was seriously wounded and President Jefferson Davis ordered his chief military adviser, General Robert E. Lee to take command of the Army of Northern Virginia. After this everything changed.

1964 On this date 18 year old Charles Schmid murdered his fifteen year old girl friend Aileen Rowe and buried the corpse out in the desert near Tucson, Arizona. Earlier he had bragged to his friends that he wanted to kill a woman that night. Charles had a “short man syndrome” and he was very paranoid about it to the point that he wore cowboy boots with extra high heels. He was also a pathological liar and would tell girls that he had a terminal illness and/or he was Mafia connected. He was able to enjoin two of his friends to help him murder Aileen. The three lured her out into the desert where Charles raped her and then smashed her head with a large rock. The three took turns digging a shallow grave and then buried Aileen. The three provided alibis for each other and the police charged the disappearance of Aileen as being a runaway. Charles killed three other girls before he was caught because he continuously bragged about it. The end came when he enlisted one of his friends to help him bury victim number two and his friend determined that Charles was indeed crazy as a loon and was afraid he would kill his girlfriend and went to the cops. Charles was tried and sentenced to death but a short time later the Supreme Court outlawed the death penalty so he was re-sentenced to life without parole. Too bad the death penalty was outlawed; he needed to realize the terror like he made others feel.

1889 On this date one of the greatest disasters in American history occurred. Johnstown, Pennsylvania is 60 miles east of Pittsburg and is in a flood plain with the Allegheny, Little Conemaugh and Stony Creek rivers close by. The biggest threat was the Little Conemaugh so a dam was built across the river forming a huge lake behind it. The dam was 900 feet long by 72 feet thick and was built in 1840. It was made of earth making it the largest dam of its type in the country. The lake was used for years as a transportation medium but with the increase of railroads the lake transportation was abandoned and the dam was neglected. On this date, after several days of heavy rain an engineer at the dam saw ominous warning signs that the dam was on the verge of collapse. He rode on horseback to the next village downstream from the dam to warn the residences and to send a telegram to Johnstown, which was 14 miles downstream, about the danger but the telegraph lines were down. At 3:30p the dam collapsed with a thunderous roar and a wall of water moving at 40 MPH roared downstream sweeping everything in its path including nine locomotive engines. When it arrived in Johnstown the water was full of debris making it even more dangerous. Some of the residences were able to climb on the roofs of their houses and avoid the water but the debris battered their houses and they collapsed drowning or crushing them. There was a bridge across the river downstream from Johnstown that quickly became clogged with flammable debris and somehow caught fire. Some of the people caught in the flood were riding the debris downstream only to be burned alive at the bridge. One baby was on the third floor when the house collapsed and a portion of the house stayed afloat carrying the baby away. The baby was found 75 miles away alive and well. The exact number of deaths is not exactly known but it was in excess of 2,200. By the way, Johnstown has suffered deadly floods in 1936 and 1977 also. Why do people still live there?

Born today:

1819 American poet Walt Whitman. Walt gave us “Leaves of Grass”, a great piece of literature. He also retrieved his severely wounded brother from the Fredericksburg battlefield during the Civil War and tended to him for the rest of his life.

1816 English painter Walter Sickert. He said to departing visitors “Come again when you won’t stay so long.” Lighten up, Walt.

1930 American actor Clint Eastwood. He said “It seems that the less secure a man is, the more prejudicial he is”. Clint is on of my favorites especially his performance in The Unforgiven and The Outlaw Josie Wales.

1961 American actress Lea Thompson. She said “I only grow hair in places men like.” I am going to let that one alone.

                Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow