Tuesday

                            Musings and History

Quote of the day:

I asked a friend that is an LSU fan how to stop the Crimson Tide football juggernaut and he said:

“I don't see a way except maybe a sniper with a high powered rifle up high in the cheap seats.”

                                                Tom Sylvest, Jr.

                                           Reasons

For reasons that I don't understand after citing events in the past where Christians proved to be great mass killers like 7 Crusades and 5 inquisitions I was accused of being an “Left Winger” by bringing up events from the "Dark ages". I was asked has any Christians beheaded anyone. The answer is yes (see Mary Queen of Scots, Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, Charles I, Anne Boleyn among many others) in addition to “The Rack”, the “Iron Maiden” and many other tools of torture not to mention burning at the stake (see Joan of Arc). Here is some more recent events:

What was the most devastating terrorist attack in America's history beside 9/11? Give up? It was the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City. There were 168 dead including at least 30 children under the age of 7 and 680 wounded of varying severity. The bombers were America born and military veterans named Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols...both were Catholic. What was next?

It was the destruction of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas. 86 killed including several children under age of 12. The leader of the compound was a man named Vernon Howell but later changed it to David Koresh. He was born in Houston, Texas and claims to have been "saved" in a Southern Baptist Church. He later changed to the Mormon church apparently because he had the hots for the daughter of a particular Mormon Church pastor. He eventually formed a splinter group known as the Branch Davidian. After a 51 day siege a tank was brought in and knocked down a wall and discharged several tear gas canisters which might have caused the fire that killed the 76 inhabitants. There were 10 others killed in earlier skirmishes including several federal officers.

I have a very talented friend that is a songwriter, here is the lyrics of one of my favorites. It is a tribute to Patsy Cline.

                                        Where I Could Be Patsy

                                         Writer Brenda McAfee

Legs dangling from a limb, salt shaker in my hand

Green apples and imagination, my childhood combination

For flights of fancy

Queen of the hill, world at my command

Dreaming dreams beyond my means, a reverie of finer things

Utopia, my own fairyland, where I could be Patsy

Home alone, front porch for a stage

Crazy, Sweet Dreams and Wayward winds would take me away

But I never could stay

Rope on a limb, wood plank for a seat

I'd sing and swing my fantasy complete

Then there I'd be, back to reality

Queen of the hill, world at my command

Dreaming dreams beyond my means, a reverie of finer things

Utopia, my own fairy land, where I could be Patsy

This Date in History October 31

1863 US General Winfield Scott retired from military service. Scott had been given command of all the US army by A. Lincoln at the outbreak of the Civil War in April. Lincoln’s detractors criticized Lincoln for this because of Scott’s advanced years and ill health. Scott was the commander of the American Army during the Mexican War of 1846-1847. When asked how best to defeat the Confederacy he proposed what was called “The Anaconda Plan” whereby all of the Confederate naval ports would be blockaded to strangle them financially and gain control of the Mississippi River to starve them. This plan was scoffed at as being too sluggish but in the final analysis, that is exactly what happened. After his resignation Scott moved to West Point to write his memoirs. He died in 1866 at the age of 80.

1892 The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is published. Doyle had been writing about Sherlock Holmes in different magazines as a serial but this was the first time in a book. Doyle was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and attended Edinburgh University and became a doctor. One of his teachers at the university was renowned for his deductive reasoning and it is believed that Doyle used him as a model for Sherlock. After graduating from Edinburgh Doyle went to London and set up a medical practice that was moderately successful and gave him time to dive into more of his writing. After the success of the Sherlock Holmes novels, he dropped out of the medical profession and began writing full time. Doyle died in 1930 as an icon of creative writing.

1926 Escape artist Harry Houdini died of peritonitis in Detroit. Twelve days earlier Houdini had been giving a speech at a university and told everyone there how hard his stomach muscles were. One of the students came up and blindsided him with two hard blows to the stomach before Houdini could prepare for it. The blows had ruptured his appendix. Houdini had a scheduled performance the next day and went through with it even though he was in severe pain. After another day or two the pain became unbearable and he went to a hospital and went into surgery almost immediately but it was too late, the poison had already taken its toll throughout his entire system. Houdini had made a pact with his wife and a close circle of friends that after the death of either one of them, they would try to contact the others from the spiritual world. A few of Houdini’s friends did indeed die but Houdini never received any contact. After he died his wife had heard nothing from Harry and declared the test a failure

1864 Nevada became a state. Even though the state only had 40,000 residents as opposed the normal requirement of 60,000 it was allowed into the fold for two reasons: The state was hard core Republican and Lincoln needed all the help he could get for the upcoming election and the largest silver deposit ever found was discovered in Nevada in the Comstock Lode not to mention placer gold mining. Politics and money...a deadly combination.

Births and Deaths:

1988 Actor/Producer/Director John Houseman died at the age of 86. John had a long and distinguished career in the entertainment industry. There aren’t many his equal.

1948 Baseball player Mickey Rivers is born. Mickey once said “Me, George and Billy are two of a kind.” If Mickey wasn’t black I would think he was related to Yogi Berra.

1993 US actor River Phoenix died of a drug overdose outside a Los Angeles nightspot at the age of 23. River was a very talented actor but as many who achieve fame do, he thought he was ten feet tall and bulletproof. Wrong. Ironically he once said “I would rather quit while I am ahead, there is no use in overstaying your welcome.” What a waste of god given talent.

           Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Monday

                         Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“Sorrow is tranquility remembered in emotion.”

                         Dorothy Parker

              This Date in History October 30

1775 The Continental Congress decided that if they are going to war with England they will need more than two war ships to combat the mightiest navy in the world. So they decided to form a seven man committee headed by Esek Hopkins to do something about it. Esek and the others first start by trying to find naval commanders and crews with combat experience. This was a tall order because this young nation had never been at war before that required a navy. But they round up seven men with sailing experience including a young Scotsman named John Paul Jones that later became a hero of the upcoming conflict. They finally round up seven warships in the Alfred, Columbus, Andrea Doria, Cabot, Hornet, Wasp and the Fly. These vessels were in no way the equal of even the smallest British war ship but it was a start. The plan was to use these vessels to surreptitiously board British vessels, murder the captain and most of the crew and abscond with the warship. In other words, they were to utilized open piracy to advance the strength of their country’s navy. It was soon discovered that the best at this strategy was the young Scotsman John Paul Jones. After a time the fledgling Continental Navy had increased their navy to 40 warships and toward the end of the war were able to more than hold their own against the British warships one-on-one. After the war was over in 1781 these ships were decommissioned and the Captains and crews furloughed. It was not until 1798 that it was decided that a permanent United States navy would be required. This was caused by the constant harassment and capture of United States merchant ships by pirates off the west coast of Africa and in the Mediterranean Sea near the North African coast, especially near the coast of Tripoli. If you listen to the Marine Corps hymn and the phrase “to the shores of Tripoli”, this is the Tripoli they are talking about. That’s right; the ubiquitous Marines went ashore and took care of business. No more pirates.

1938 Communications genius Orson Welles and distinguished actor John Houseman formed a radio program named the Mercury Radio Theatre. They would put on weekly plays using guest actors and actresses. Keep in mind that Orson was still a teenager. At the beginning of the show on this date, Orson stated that everything the public heard in the following show was fiction and wished everyone a Happy Halloween. The show started with a mystery play and about five minutes into the show, a voice broke into the play and announced that he was a news reporter and was observing the following. An alien spaceship had landed on a farm in central New Jersey and was moving across the countryside vaporizing everything and everyone in sight. The US Army was on site and had nothing that could stop the space ship. It looked like it was the end of the world. He went on telling what carnage the ship was producing and how impotent the military was. Well, people from all over the country ran out of their houses screaming for divine intervention from this apparently unstoppable foe. After about 20 minutes of this nonsense the “reporter” bade his farewell to the audience because the spaceship was nearly on top of him and the “death ray” was coming his way. After this Orson came back on the air and said that he wished that all had enjoyed the program and wished them a good night. Only then did America realize it was a ruse. I am a loss for words at this, after all it was Halloween. It was Adolph Hitler who said “The more preposterous the suggestion, the more likely it is to be believed.”

1811 On this date one of the greatest novels ever written in Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen is published in England. Jane would not allow her name to be used as the author and the author was named as “a young lady”. Jane refrained from using her name because a woman writing novels was not considered “ladylike”. Even when she was writing at her desk and someone came in she would hide her manuscripts under the blotter. Jane also delivered to the world other masterpieces such as Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park and Emma. As for Jane not using her real name because of what she thought people would think of her. There are some of those writers of “romance” novels out there need to stop generating that trash and go home, the 1^st Amendment not withstanding.

1735 One of the heroes of the American Revolution, John Adams, is born in Braintree, Massachusetts. Braintree is now part if Quincy, Massachusetts. He was the third son of John and Susanna Adams and was recognized at an early age as an intellectual. He attended Harvard at the age of 16 and graduated at the age of 20. For a while he worked and studied in the law firm of James Putnam and taught school at Worchester, Massachusetts. He was admitted to bar at the age of 26 and married Abigail Smith at the age of 29. Abigail was the daughter of a Weymouth, Massachusetts congregational minister. From the start of the marriage John and Abigail developed a deep trust and respect for each others thoughts and opinions and Abigail was not afraid to express hers even if it was the opposite of John’s. John and Abigail were eyewitnesses to the Battle of Bunker Hill that was fought literally in their back yard. John became a ridgepole in the support of the cause for American independence. He was never in the military but his political guidance was instrumental in the machinations of our government. It was he that brilliantly mapped out the three branches of Federal Government; Legislative, Judicial and Executive. He also saw the Legislative branch with two sections (House and Senate). This man had incredible vision and ideas that are in practice to this day. He had a problem with the Federalists party under the leadership of Alexander Hamilton who wanted a Federal Government stronger than Adams had envisioned. But that problem dissolved when Hamilton was killed in a duel with Aaron Burr. It was said that Madison was an intellectual, Jefferson was the unquenchable idealist, and Franklin the most charming and versatile but is was Adams that was the most captivating of all of out founding fathers on most counts. Even though the Declaration of Independence was primarily drafted by Thomas Jefferson, Adams was among the group of people to offer help to Jefferson in the phrasing. The Declaration of Independence was introduced as a resolution to the Continental Congress by Richard Henry Lee and that resolution was seconded by John Adams. After the Revolutionary War he was elected as representative to The Court of St. James in 1787. This today is known as the Ambassador to Great Britain. Adams was responsible for beginning the healing of the wounds inflicted to both sides in the Revolutionary War that had ended in 1781 and establish a friendship and rapport between the United States and England that exists to this day. Adams played a very important role in establishing the United States as a major player in the world politic, especially in Europe and Holland in particular. The Dutch were major worldwide traders in those days and Adams saw the market for American goods being shipped on Dutch vessels as an advantage for both America and Holland. There are so many contributions that Adams made to his country, including the first Vice-President and the second President, that it would take a book to fully cover this man’s life and indeed there are many of them out there. It would be worth all of out times to read one about this giant in the history of the United States.

Births and deaths:

1751 English satirist Richard Sheridan is born. In an argument with his son about his academics, his son suggested that he should write “Room for rent” across his own forehead and Richard responded with “Write under that ‘unfurnished’”

            Thanks for listening    I can hardy wait until tomorrow

History of Halloween

                               Halloween

This pagan celebration of Halloween goes back more that 2000 years to the ancient Celts of present day Ireland, England and northern France. The original name of the festival was Sawhain pronounced “sow-in” and was to celebrate the harvest and prepare for the upcoming harsh winter. The Celts celebrated November 1 as the beginning of a new year and the evening before became known as “All Hallow’s Eve” which was morphed to Halloween. It was the only day of the year that the boundary between the living and the dead became cloudy and on this night the dead walked the earth. It was also believed that only on this night could one person predict the future of another. This was very important because of the rigors of the upcoming winter did indeed kill many of them. Every house extinguished the fire in their hearth because the Celtic priests (Druids) would cut down a sacred tree and build a gigantic bonfire for this night’s celebration. It was believed that if they could get a scrap of burning wood from this sacred fire and bring it into their homes, it would keep them warm throughout the winter. When the Celts approached the sacred fire they were costumed in animal heads and skins for ritualistic reasons. Upon the arrival of the Romans the rituals changed somewhat and Roman rituals were introduced as being part of the ritual. One of these rituals was the celebration of the harvest also except here they would honor the Roman goddess Pomona of fruits and trees. Pomona is represented by the symbol of an apple. I guess y’all see where this is going. That’s right; it is the bobbing for apples and trying to bite an apple while it is hanging from a string that was the result of paying homage to Pomona. During the 8^th and 9^th century the Roman Catholic Church tried their damnedest to eliminate this pagan festival and make it a church related event and instituted all Saint’s Day on November 1 hoping to sway the existing pagans back under the umbrella of the church. It did not work. This pagan festival continues to this day. There is no written evidence for the rise of the event known as “trick or treat” except that on All Hallow’s Eve some of the dead that walked the earth were mean, spiteful creatures. I suspect that ritual was really fostered by candy manufacturers and costume makers. Anyway the colors that are associated with Halloween as being orange and black have a meaning. Orange represented the changing color of the leaves on deciduous trees and black meant winter, shorter days and death was on the horizon for some. It bothers me somewhat for different churches to sponsor a Halloween event. It means that they are fostering a pagan festival. But maybe I am too old-fashioned. Bah Humbug.

              Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow   

Friday

                           Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“I shall pass through this life but once. Any good therefore that I can do let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.”

                                             Etienne de Grellate

Over in the Valley Falls community of Spartanburg, SC three different women in adjacent apartments reported that a man had walked into their apartment while they were asleep. One of them said that she heard the man moving around in her bedroom but thought she was having nightmare and closed her eyes. She opened them a short while later and the man was standing over her bed. She screamed and the man excused himself saying that he was in the wrong apartment and fled. It was a similar scenario for the other two except with one of them he pulled up the covers and stroked her leg. The common thing about all of these invasions was that all of them had left their patio sliding glass doors unlocked. They need at least one dog. I have two. They are named “Rossi .38 special revolver” and the other is “Remington Model 1100 semi-automatic 20 gauge shotgun.” These “dogs” are the type that bark over here…and bite over there. Almost every time they bite twice or more, it is fatal. I feel very secure when they are present.

A while back up on I-26 in western North Carolina a tragedy occurred. There were 6 cars and three semis that had stopped for a wreck ahead of them in the eastbound lane. Another car rammed into the back of the last car in line and pushed them all together into a metal to metal meat grinder. There were four killed and several severely wounded. Even though this accident happened at night, I still do not see how someone that is the least bit alert could not detect that many cars that were at a standstill, especially the semis. That just goes to show you that there is danger not only in front of you but from all directions. Be alert.

             This Date in History   October 27

1864 After several months of the siege of Petersburg, Virginia US General U.S. Grant decided that if he can cut the Confederate supply line and that being the Southside railroad that was bringing supplies in from the west the siege would be over. He assigned this task to US General George Meade who delegated three of his Corp led by Generals Winfield Scott Hancock, G.K. Warren and John Parke to attack the Confederate trenches near the railroad at a small creek named Hatcher’s Run. The combined forces would be about 40,000 infantry and a detachment of cavalry. The plan was for Warren and Parke to attack from the front and Hancock to circle and attack the Confederate flank. On this date the attack began. The frontal assault ran into trouble when the Confederate trenches proved to be more heavily defended than expected. But they kept demonstrating to try and conceal Hancock’s flanking movement. Because different units attacking from the front moved at different speeds a gap in the Union line occurred. Meade ordered the attack to slow down to close this gap. It was then that the Confederates launch a successful counter-attack and drove the Union troops attacking the front from the field and then turned their attention to Hancock and repulsed that attack. Finally Meade ordered a total withdrawal. It was very embarrassing failure for the Union and could have effected the upcoming presidential election. But Lincoln depended on the recent victories at Atlanta and Mobile, Alabama to tide him over and he was re-elected...but was not in office for very long.

1962 Earlier the US intelligence community had discovered Russian medium range nuclear missiles being installed in Cuba. President Kennedy asked for confirmation and several over flights were made to photograph the construction sites there. And sure enough, the confirmation came. The missiles if launched from Cuba could strike anywhere in the US, Central America, northern South America and all of the Caribbean. President Kennedy made a TV speech telling the Americans what was happening and what we were going to do about it. He also warned the Russians that any attack launched from Cuba would be interpreted as an attack by Russia and an appropriate response would be forthcoming. The big bombers and missiles of the Strategic Air Command went to “Defcon 4” status meaning that the next step would be nuclear war. President Kennedy ordered a naval blockade of all ships headed for Cuba, only he called it a “quarantine”. Very soon thereafter a Russian cargo vessel with missiles aboard approached the naval blockade and the world held its breath. There was no doubt that had the ship attempted to break the blockade it would have been sunk and the risk of world war would have increased dramatically. But the ship slowed to a stop and eventually turned back to Russia. While all of this is going on, negotiations between the US and Russia kept the telephone lines hot. The final offer was that Russia would withdraw their missiles from Cuba if the US would promise to never invade Cuba and withdraw their missiles from Turkey. The US had already begun the dismantling of the missiles in Turkey so the deal was acceptable. On this date, the deal between the US and Russia was agreed upon by both parties and a potential world war was averted. I was sweating bullets that whole time. It was a scary thought to believe that this day on the planet could be your last.

1659 On this date William Robinson and Marmaduke Stevenson are hanged on Boston Common in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Their only crime was their religious belief, they were both Quakers and Quakers were forbidden by law under the penalty of death. Both Robinson and Stevenson had come to the colonies from England to escape religious persecution in 1656, believe it or not. Rhode Island and several other New England colonies accepted the Quakers, but not the hard-assed Bostonians. That law was later repealed. I have no clue as to why those from Massachusetts hated the Quakers. As we all know, the Quakers are some of the gentlest people out there.

1873 On this date a man named Joseph Glidden from DeKalb, Illinois is granted a patent for barbed wire (known in Texas as “Bob Wahr”). Glidden had seen a semblance of barbed wire at an exposition but it was single stranded. Glidden improved this concept by twisting two wires together which held the actual barbs in position. From this day forward the method of raising cattle changed forever. There would be no more cattle ranging and grazing free across the Great Plains. There were young wars fought over lands that were fenced and blocked cattle from ranging free and from finding water. What a damned shame.

861ad The wild-eyed Vikings successfully attack Paris, Toulouse, Aix-la Chapelle and Worms. They came to these towns by sailing their dragon boats across the North Sea and then down the west coast of Europe and up the Rhine and Seine rivers. This was no easy trick. Those rivers had a considerable downstream current and being able to reach those towns deep inland took a lot of rowing. But they were equal to the task and conquered most of Western Europe and even Russia by sailing down various rivers from the Gulf of Finland. They were so successful with their rape and pillage that there little doubt that all of us that have ancestry from Western Europe have Scandinavian blood flowing in our veins.

Births and deaths:

1858 One of my heroes Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt is born in upstate New York. He said “I think there is only one quality worse that having a hard heart and that is having a soft head.” When asked what was going to be his philosophy on the Presidency, he said “Speak softy but carry a big stick.” We need more leaders like Teddy.

                Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Thursday

                            Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“Many men go fishing all their lives not knowing that it is not the fish that they are after.”

                                             Henry David Thoreau

A while back down near Clinton, South Carolina a female

State Trooper stopped a car near the intersection of I-26 and I-385, there were two Latinos aboard. The trooper arrested the driver and asked the passenger to get out of the car, at the same time she called for backup and two deputies of the Laurens County sheriff’s department headed her way. The passenger refused to get out of the car and threatened the trooper’s life while producing an xacto knife. The passenger then tried to slide over into the driver’s side but the trooper held on like a bulldog and they started down the road struggling. Finally the trooper pulled her trusty .40 caliber Glock and shot the Latino several times killing him on the spot. I just have a few questions. Why not shoot out one of the tires? Did the late Latino believe that a woman would not use deadly force? Was he wrong? I can assure you, some women are lethal with or without a gun.

A while back night up in Charlotte, NC there was a football game between Charlotte Catholic and Garinger high schools. At the beginning of the fourth quarter a fight broke out in the Garinger stands. The cops came in and called an end to the game after breaking up the fight. Soon afterward shots were fired in the parking lot and another fight began. The cops took a more aggressive stance at breaking up that fight. The cops said that they believed the fight was gang related. What the h-ll is this world coming to? A gang fight at a high school football game!

               This Date in History   October 26

1948 Earlier Betty and Jerry Ferreri had been married for some time with Betty getting the worst of the deal. Jerry was the spoiled son of a New York family and gave Jerry enough income that he never worked and after moving to Los Angeles and they bought him a five bedroom house in upscale Hancock Park. Jerry was a notorious and unapologetic womanizer and was a wife beater. He hit Betty so hard on the side of her face that it ruptured an eardrum and when he got the doctor bill he became infuriated and hit her on the other side of her face an ruptured that eardrum also. He said “Maybe the doctor will give a two-for-one now.” On this day the final straw came when Jerry brought a young model home while Betty was there. Betty produced a large wrench and ran them both off. Betty knew that when Jerry came back home it would be hell to pay so she conspired with her housekeeper, Alan Adron, to kill Jerry upon his arrival. Sure enough, Jerry came home and began dragging Betty around the house by her hair. As directed, Alan shot Jerry twice in the stomach and then the gun jammed and Jerry was still alive and kicking. It was then that Betty produced a large meat cleaver and struck the staggering Jerry 22 times in the head and shoulders that resulted in his demise. Both Betty and Alan went to trial for first degree murder. It was touch and go until the defense attorney quoted the things that Jerry had done to Betty. Both Betty and Alan were acquitted. This jury resorted back to justice in the old west when men were acquitted of murder if the victim “needed killin'.”

1881 Earlier on October 25 Ike Clanton and Tom McLaury had came into Tombstone, Arizona for supplies. The Clanton-McLaury gang lived out of town on ranches and felt that the range was theirs to rob and rustle and the town of Tombstone was the Wyatt Earp’s domain. All throughout the day Ike Clanton and Wyatt Earp had been verbally sniping at each other and the atmosphere was very tense. The next day, October 26, Billy Clanton, Frank McLaury and Billy Claiborne rode into town to help Ike and Tom. Billy Clanton and Frank McLaury went into the closest bar and the first person they met was Doc Holiday. Doc told them that Wyatt was about fed up with Ike’s mouth and there would probably be a fight. Billy and Frank immediately left and went to find Ike and Tom. In the mean time Wyatt Earp had assembled his brothers Morgan and Virgil knowing that a fight might be on the horizon. Wyatt’s close friend Doc Holiday also offered his expertise. At about 3:30p Wyatt had seen the Clanton/Mclaury bunch at the end of Fremont Street near the OK Corral and the four of them headed that way. When the men were about 20 feet apart Wyatt said “You sons-of-bitches have been looking for a fight and now you’ve got one”. No one knows who really fired the first shot but it is believed that it was Virgil that pulled his revolver and shot Billy Clanton point blank in the chest. Almost simultaneously Doc Holiday unloaded both barrels of his double barreled shotgun into Tom McLaury’s chest. Wyatt got off a couple of rounds into Frank McLaury’s stomach, Frank did not go down right away and got off a couple of rounds at Wyatt before collapsing as did Billy Clanton. There were about 30 shots fired and it was all over in about 30 seconds. Billy Clanton and the McLaury brothers were dead. Ike Clanton and Billy Claiborne ran like hell and got their young asses back to the ranch. Sheriff John Behan, a supporter of the Clantons, had witnessed the fight and arrested the Earps and Doc Holiday for murder. They were all acquitted when the judge ruled that they “were fully justified in committing these homicides”. To paraphrase the judge, “they needed killin’.” Morgan, Wyatt and Doc were all wounded but survived.

1998 Earlier a tropical storm named Mitch had ambled in to the Caribbean Sea apparently without much punch and seemed to be headed toward the Nicaragua/Guatemala border. Soon thereafter it blossomed into a category 4 Hurricane and stormed ashore as such. Belize had already evacuated 70,000 people but the poor and indigent in Nicaragua and Guatemala did not get the word and even if they had, they had no transportation to escape. Mitch stalled out over Nicaragua and eventually dumped over 50 inches of rain. The flooding was the worst in 200 years as you might expect. Entire villages disappeared in gigantic mudslides. There was 10 feet of water in the Nicaraguan capitol of Tegucigalpa. No one knows for sure but it is estimated that between 11,000 and 18,000 people perished. In several villages that were buried in mudslides, the Presidents of Guatemala and Nicaragua did not even attempt to dig them out and just declared the whole area as a cemetery. In addition to this misery, the crops of both nations were destroyed by 60% making the agricultural workers in even more in a bind. Sometimes we think we have had it bad, but just think of these people.

1942 On this date during the battle of Guadalcanal the aircraft carrier USS Hornet is struck by an avalanche of Japanese aerial bombs and torpedoes. The Japanese were desperate to hold onto control of Guadalcanal as a fighter/bomber base to protect their advance onto Indo-China and sent swarms of fighter and bombers to attack the US Navy and Marines that were attacking that island. The Japanese had put underway several shiploads of troops to counter the Marine landing. The ultimate battle was called the Battle of Santa Cruz where the US Navy and Marines knew that if those reinforcements reached Guadalcanal the Marines already there would be in deep doodoo. The explosions from the Hornet were so severe that a couple of Japanese bombers that dropped the bombs were damaged and crashed. By the way, it was the Hornet that US Colonel James Doolittle launched his famous B-25 air attack on Tokyo. After a series of gigantic explosions the Hornet was abandoned and it now rests on the ocean bottom near Santa Cruz Island but the Japanese reinforcements never reached Guadalcanal in force and the Marines secured control. There was a second aircraft carrier built and launched during the war in 1943 that was also named the USS Hornet.

               Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Wednesday

                         Musings and History

Quotes of the day:

“It is no use in saying ‘We are doing our best’. You have to succeed at what is necessary.”

                                             Winston Churchill

A while back down in Simpsonville, SC the neighbors in an apartment complex heard gunshots in one of the apartments. The cops came and could not get anyone to come to the door so they broke out a window and gained entrance. There were two people dead. One was a 42 year old woman and the other was a 58 year old man and they were known to live together in that apartment. The cops determined that the woman had died first from a gunshot wound and the male had taken his own life seconds later. It was well known that these two people frequently argued and fought. What I do not understand is why the man who was an apparent “cradle-robber”, even though I have done it myself, did not just walk away rather than terminate 1/3 of his life because of this woman. But it has been a while since I have been in love, so what do I know?

            This Date in History   October 25

1994 On this date a Union, South Carolina woman named Susan Smith called the Union County Sheriff’s department and reported that her car with her two small boys Michael and Alex aboard had been carjacked by a black man and that he had left her at a convenience store and drove away. In very short order, with the help of several other law enforcement offices including the FBI, there was a dragnet thrown around that area of South Carolina and an intensive search began. Nothing was found and after nine weeks the sheriff of Union County held a news conference and reported that Susan had confessed to killing those two boys by driving the car into nearby John D. Long Lake with the kids strapped into their car seats. This event came as a culmination of her tumultuous on and off marriage whereby both Susan and her husband had participated in several affairs each. Finally Susan found the man of her dreams but he did not want children and Susan saw fit to fix that problem permanently. It apparently never crossed that bitch’s mind to file for divorce and surrender custody. Susan was tried and convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life without parole. While in prison she was disciplined several times for having sex with the inmates and/or the guards. Her husband w

rote a book about his experiences during this ordeal and stated that he could not live a comfortable life while Susan was alive and wished that the court had seen fit to execute her. With animals like this we need to resort back to medieval methods of dispensing justice.

1415 Two months earlier Henry V of England and an army of 11,000 had sailed across the English Channel and laid siege to the city Harfleur, France. After five weeks Harfleur fell. During the five week siege Henry had lost half of his army to disease and combat casualties. Henry decided to head north to the French port of Calais and meet up his navy that was coming to pick up him and his army and take them back home. About half way to Calais he met up with a French army of 20,000 near the town of Agincourt. Henry chose to array his troops in a fairly small field that was bordered by forests. This would prevent any large scale maneuvering by the French. At 11:00a the battle was joined. The French knights in their newly designed heavy armor began an attack toward the English across a muddy field. The English responded with a barrage of arrows from their newly designed long bows that had a range of 250 yards. The French knights were so densely packed that many could not even raise their arms and the knights in the rear kept pushing. Even though they were in armor, the English had designed a type of an arrowhead that could penetrate it and launched wave after wave of the deadly missiles into the French ranks. Soon the French knights were just a mass of confused humanity slipping, sliding and dying in the mud. It was then that Henry ordered his lightly armored bowmen to lay down their bows and take up pikes, swords, axes and clubs and led the rest of the 5,500 man army into the ranks of the French and took care of business. The slaughter was fantastic. The French lost 6,000 troops in that one afternoon while the English suffered 400 killed. After this resounding victory, Henry was declared heir to the French throne but it was for naught because he died of a fever two years later near Paris. Henry V’s victory at Agincourt went down as one of the greatest victories in military history.

1929 Two years earlier the Secretary of the Interior, Albert Fall, had petitioned to have control of the naval oil reserves at the Elk Hill in California and Teapot Dome in Wyoming transferred to his department. The naval oil reserves are set aside for the US navy to use in case of a war. The transfer did indeed take place and soon thereafter Secretary Fall accepted a $100,000 bribe from the president of Pan-American Petroleum to allow them to drill in the Elk Hill reserve and $300,000 to allow Mammoth Oil to drill at Teapot Dome. This deception was discovered and on this date Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall was arrested. Fall was tried, convicted and was imprisoned. This was the first time that a sitting cabinet member was jailed, and hopefully it will not be the last.

1853 On this date US Army Captain John Gunnison and his survey crew of 35 were set upon by a war party of Piute Indians near Sevier Lake, Utah. The survey crew was trying to find a route for a railroad to get to the west coast. Seven members of the survey team were killed including Gunnison. His second officer, Lt. Edward Beckwith assumed command and continued the survey and did indeed find three possible routes. Beckwith and his survey party made it back to Saint Louis and reported their findings which went a long way toward the completion of a trans-continental railroad.

1944 On this date the largest naval battle ever fought began in the Philippines at a place named Leyte Gulf. It was also the first time the Japanese had used Kamikaze aircraft attacks. The Japanese had not been able to stem the western advance of the US navy using traditional means so they decided to use nontraditional means. They asked for volunteers to dive their bomb laden aircraft into US navy ships, aircraft carriers in particular. They had swarms of volunteers and on this day the pilot of a Japanese Zero aircraft crashed his plane into the escort carrier St. Lo and it was on the bottom in 20 minutes. This was the very first attack of this kind. In all the Kamikaze sank 34 ships and damaged many more in this battle. Even though this carnage was phenomenal, the worst was yet to come at Okinawa. But that is another story. In all there were 1,321 Kamikaze aircraft used in WWII.

Births and deaths:

1989 US writer Mary McCarthy died. She said “We must not force sex to do the work of love nor love do the work of sex.” Mary, you are making it far more complicated that it really is...isn't she?

                    Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow.

Monday

                             Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“Architects are people that don't like open fields.”

                          Mike Harding

I tend to think mechanically as most men do. Like “If this is this, then that has to be that”. This is why I know without a doubt that there is a God. Here is a reasoning:

Ever since recorded history we know that people believe in an afterlife. The very first record of people's thoughts come from the “Fertile Crescent” or the lands between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers between present day Baghdad and Basra. These people were the first to develop a written language and left a record. Even in the burial sites in ancient China the dead were left with accouterments to help them in their “journey”...and so did the Egyptians, North Africans, Eastern Europeans, Vikings and nearly every Native American tribe in North and South America along with the Polynesians, Aborigines, Maoris, Asians and many others. How did this seed of thought that there is an afterlife get distributed universally? It could be said that the Sumerians could have influenced the middle east and north Africa including Egypt. The Sumerians certainly could NOT have had an influence in the Americas and the Orient and yet the belief exists...How? Where does the instinct toward survival come from? Nearly any animal both warm and cold blooded will fight for their lives once they realize they are in danger. Even one celled animals will retreat from fire. Human's are born with an innate fear of falling. Once a baby is tossed in the air for a split second fear will show on its face and its little arms will stretch out trying to grab something. Nearly all beings on this planet both plant and animal will change its size, shape, behavior and demeanor to cope with changes in its environment to survive. Some are successful some are not, those that don't go extinct but the need to adapt is inborn whether consciously or not. Think about reproduction like cell division, sperm and egg, pollen and stamen, etc. All of this requires engineering and pre-planning...it cannot be happenstance, y'all. There has to be a prime cause and effect behind all of this...there must be a chief architect, there has to be a God. If one uses rock-ribbed reasoning here it will require a leap of faith to NOT believe there is a God...logic says there is.

                This Date in History   October 23

The 1^st Cavalry division launches Operation Silver Bayonet in an attempt to drive the North Vietnamese Army out of II corps (Central Highlands) in Vietnam. They met up with the North Vietnamese 33^rd and 66^th regiments. It was a week long bitter struggle and ended up being one of the bloodiest of the War. The fleeing North Vietnamese Army decided to make a stand and protect one of their supply depots on the La Trang Valley. This three day battle with the 7^th Cavalry engaged was the most savage of the operation. The final result was 834 North Vietnamese killed on this battlefield alone. In a related attack, 500 NV soldiers fell upon a company of American Soldiers waiting at a landing zone and were annihilated. The final result of this operation was 1771 North Vietnamese and 241 Americans/South Vietnamese killed.

1864 CSA Gen. Sterling Price attacks US Gen. Samuel Curtis’ infantry unit near Westport, Missouri. Price had entered Missouri from Arkansas and had raided several small Union detachments before reaching Westport in an attempt to draw away some of the Union forces from the Eastern theater. The war was not going well for the Confederacy and President Jefferson Davis ordered Price to try and spread out the Union Army. Price’s attack on Westport went well at first but he was unaware of US Gen. Pleasanton’s cavalry was closing in fast from another direction and he was going to be trapped and possibly forced to surrender. Price orchestrated a skillful withdrawal and escaped. The exhausted Union units failed to follow but if they had, the war would have been over sooner. There were about 1,500 casualties on both sides but this represented about 10% to the Union forces but 20% to Price. As usual, the Confederates were outnumbered about 2 to 1.

42BC One of the conspirators in the assassination of Julius Caesar, Marcus Brutus, commits suicide after losing the 2^nd battle of Philippi. Brutus and Cassius had formed an army in an attempt to reinstitute the Republic of Rome rather than an empire which was the reason for the assassination. They were opposed by Octavian and Marc Antony who wanted to preserve the empire. This was the same Marc Antony that got hung up with Cleopatra. Anyway, the first major engagement between these two armies was at Philippi at which Octavian and Antony defeated the army lead by Cassius and Cassius committed suicide. Then came the 2^nd Battle at Philippi and with Brutus in command and he was defeated also and committed suicide. After a while Octavian and Marc Antony started squabbling and they split up with Octavian taking the crown under the name of Augustus and the rest is history.

1983 A coward pig sucking Arab drive an explosive laden truck through three blockades into the lobby of a hotel in Beirut, Lebanon and lights it off destroying the hotel and killing 241 American military personnel that had been using the hotel as a barracks. We had troops there to try and stop the civil war that had been raging for some time between the Palestinians and the Christian militia for the control of Lebanon. I have an acquaintance in Greenville that is an immigrant from Lebanon and was a member of the Christian Militia. His solution for the war in Iraq is a simple one. Get rid of the media and take care of business, meaning kill any and all suspected insurgents wholesale giving no quarter. That means take no prisoners. I like it.

1942 Author Michael Crichton is born in Chicago. Mike evidently was from a pretty affluent family because he graduated from Harvard Summa Cum Laude. After this he went to Cambridge in England and taught anthropology. In the mean time he had turned out some fairly successful books and decided that writing was his calling and started doing it full time. This man cranked out some of the best books ever written by a modern day American author in: “Andromeda Strain”, “The Terminal Man”, “Congo”, and “The Great Train Robbery”. He wrote and directed the movies: “Binary”, “Westworld”, “Jurassic Park” and “Rising Sun”, at one point in 1993 he had four books on the best seller list. He is a very wealthy man and deservedly so.

Births and deaths:

1869 US Football coach John Heisman, for which the trophy is named, is born. John once said “It is better to die as a young man than to fumble”. He was a hard man.

1920 The Mayor of Philadelphia John Rizzo is born. John once said “A conservative is a liberal that just got mugged the night before.” I concur.

1976 Actor Ryan Reynolds is born. John had to kiss an older woman as part of a movie scene. When asked about it he said “You have never had an experience until you have a mature tongue darting in and out of your mouth.” Indeed.

1942 English writer Anita Roddick is born. She once said “If you think you are too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito in the room.”

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Tuesday

                              Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“A pessimist is a person that looks both ways when crossing a one way street.”

                                                    Laurence Peters

In 1810 Pope Leo XIII was born. In the later stages of his life as Pope he said “It is quite unlawful to demand, defend, or to grant unconditional freedom of thought, or speech, or writing or worship as if these were so many gifts given by nature to man.” I had to read this statement over and over again to make sure that I copied it right from the text. Pope Leo XIII has since gone on to his reward. 

                This Date in History   October 24

1775 The last British governor of Virginia, Lord Dunmore, ordered British Captain Matthew Squire to take British warships up the James River and then up Hampton Creek and attack and capture Norfolk. On this date Captain Squire carries out his orders and brought 6 British warships into Hampton Creek and opened up an artillery barrage on the city of Norfolk. At the same time a contingent of British infantry disembarked in small boats and headed to the city. Upon arriving the artillery barrage ended and the infantry deployed in finely shaped lines of attack and await a similar arrangement from the Patriots. The only problem here is that the Patriots are not about to line up out in the open and array themselves in front of the British. The Patriots are outnumbered at least two to one and it would be suicide to fight as the British wished so they did the smart thing. The British did not know that the Patriots had a large contingent of expert sharpshooters and they began picking off the British infantry at extreme range while well hidden. Upon hearing the gunfire, the leader of the local militia brought an additional 100 marksman to the fore and the British infantry suffered even more dramatically. Even though the British thought this form of warfare as being ungentlemanly, they knew they had to do something and fast because they were falling like leaves. They beat a hasty retreat back to their ships and re-boarded still falling in rapid succession. Once aboard their ships, the carnage was not yet over. The sharpshooters moved closer and began picking them off while aboard their ships. Captain Squire ordered his ships to sail the hell out of there and fast. In his retreat, two of his warships ran aground and were captured. There was not even one injury to the Patriots. It was not a good day for the British, this October 24, 1775.

1862 US General Don Carlos Buell is relieved of his command and is replaced by US General William Rosecrans. Buell had proven himself as a capable leader in previous engagements, especially at Shiloh. A few days before Buell had defeated the army of CSA General Braxton Bragg at the Battle of Perryville, Kentucky and for reasons known only to Buell, he failed to vigorously pursue Bragg and try to eliminate the threat of that army and Bragg and his army slipped away. Needless to say the US military and especially A. Lincoln was not pleased. Buell was assigned several different tasks but none that included combat. His days of command of a combat unit were over. After the war Buell retired and settled in Kentucky. He died in 1898.

1970 On his third try for the Presidency of Chile, devout Marxist Salvador Allende is elected much to the chagrin of the United States. The US, ITT and Kennecott Copper had poured a lot of money into keeping Allende out of office knowing what he would do one elected. Allende did not disappoint. He established diplomatic relations with North Korea, Red China and Cuba and began nationalizing ITT and Kennecott Copper. With that the US, ITT and Kennecott started peeing in their pants and began trying to find a way to get that son-of-a-bitch out of there. It would not be easy because Allende was elected peacefully and democratically so an invasion like the Bay of Pigs was out of the question. But the CIA was equal to the challenge and spread enough money around that the Chilean army rose up in a coup, arrested and murdered Allende and peace, as the CIA saw it, prevailed. I suspect that the ouster of Allende was not the first nor will it be the last interference in a foreign government by the good old CIA.

1997 Famous sportscaster Marv Alpert is arrested in New York for biting a woman on the butt. That right folks, I said Marv was arrested for biting a woman on the butt. It seems that Marv had met 42 year old Vanessa Perhach in Miami a few years before and they had a continuing liaison since. On this night, after Marv had called a basketball game in Madison Square Garden between the Knicks and the Bullets, he had invited Vanessa up to his hotel room. At first Marv approached Vanessa for a threesome and she refused. Then he approached her for oral sex and she again refused. It was then that Marv pinned her down and administered the bites. Yes, there was more than one bite. At first Marv denied it but a court ordered dental match of Marv’s teeth and the bite marks confirmed Marv as the biter. To add insult to injury, another woman came forward claiming the Marv had done the same to her. Marv was convicted and was sentenced to one year probation and a $2,500 fine and was fired by the Madison Square Garden. The deal was that if Marv kept his nose clean for year his arrest record would be expunged. After a year his record was indeed cleansed and he was re-hired by MSG.

1648 On this date the 30 Year War came to an end with the signing of the Treaty of Westphalia. The war had started in 1618 when the king of Bohemia, Ferdinand II, became the Holy Roman emperor and had declared that everyone is his domain, almost all of Eastern Europe, would be required to become a Catholic. Needless to say what happened next. The Protestant princes and kings said “Not no, but hell no we ain’t giving up our Duchies and Earldoms to the Catholic Church” and went to war. It was not one continuous battle but several battles stretched out over many years. The end result was that the Catholic Church did not get what it wanted and France, with Louis XIV as king, emerged as the most powerful country in Europe. It still do not understand the need of the Catholics to own property or dominate people. What has that got to do with saving my soul?

Births and deaths:

1830 US writer Belva Lockwood is born. She said “No one can be called a Christian that spends money on warships or arsenals.” Hey Belva, you need to read about Adolph Hitler, Attila the Hun, Francisco Pizzarro, Hernan Cortez, Napoleon Bonaparte, etc, etc. But better still, just stay encapsulated in that little cocoon you are in and quit ruining my life.

1909 US writer Moss Hart is born. He said “So far as I know, anything worth hearing is not uttered at 7:00 in the morning; if it is, it will probably be repeated later on at a reasonable hour.” I like the way Moss thinks.

1981 US costume designer Edith head died. She said “I have yet to see a completely unspoiled star, except for Lassie.”

              Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow.