Friday

                            Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“Never pick a fight with people who buy ink by the barrel.”

                                   Bill Clinton

Speaking of Bill Clinton:

In 1998 the House of Representatives brought Articles of Impeachment against sitting President William Clinton. The major charges were perjury and obstruction of justice. It seems that Bill had allowed oral sex from a woman named Monica Lewinsky several times in the White House and other locations. He gave sworn testimony saying “I did not have sexual relations with that woman.” The same charges were made with a woman named Paula Jones that Bill had known back in Arkansas and Bill had the same response. There was several votes but there as never enough to kick him out of office. As you might suspect the votes were split almost exactly down party lines with those voting against removal saying “it would not be good for the country.” They came within 8 votes of an expulsion. Bill was only the second American President to be impeached. The other one was Andrew Johnson. Richard Nixon would have been kicked out of office but he resigned before it got that far. By the way, impeachment mean “Charged with a Crime or malfeasance in office” the penalty could include removal. Bill was censured and left to finish his term in office. Censured is a slap on the wrist but the chief prosecutor said in part “Not prosecuting to the fullest extent of the law for lying under oath by the President of the United States presents a dangerous precedent”. The issue was not if Bill and committed these acts but whether or not he lied about them under oath. The prosecutor had taped conversations of Monica Lewinsky talking with one of her friends about what had happened with her and Bill. In one of the conversations Monica said “If this continues I am going to have to get some knee pads.” Nothing more was heard from Monica, however Paula Jones filed a civil suit against Bill. The original charge was disallowed but Paula appealed. Before the appellant process ended Bill settled with Paula for $850,000. Thanks God this jackass did not end up back in the White House in a position of influence and trust.

On Friday September 30, 2016 about noon a man named Douglas M. Rainey walked into a Family Dollar Store at the intersection of Hiway 14 and Hiway 11 near the town of Campobello, SC, pulled a gun and robbed the place. Apparently a silent alarm was activated while the robbery was in progress and the cops were on the scene almost before the thief was out of sight. The robber chose to run around a neighborhood that bordered the Links 'O Tryon golf course. A helicopter was called in and the thief was sighted running through some woods. A police dog with a handler were sent in and quickly cornered the thief. The robber decided that he wanted to fight and he, the handler and the dog engaged in hand to hand combat...that is until the cop saw that he still had his weapon and yelled that out. Another cop arrived and capped the thief with one shot to the head. God works in mysterious ways.

              This Date in History   October 6

1973 Even after the severe ass-whipping they received in the 1967 six day war, the combined armies of Egypt and Syria attack Israel on this date. The Syrians attack down through Lebanon and the Egyptians attack across the thirsty Sinai desert. This attack came during Yom Kippur and the war was named such. The Israelis were not expecting this and their defensive forces were thrown back into a headlong retreat. After a while the Israelis got their act together and began a counter-attack. The Syrians/Egyptians were using the latest Soviet equipment and the Israelis were using the latest French and American equipment. After a ferocious tank battle with the Syrians, the Israelis gain the Golan Heights and brought swarms of artillery and rockets up there and rained hell on the hapless Syrian army. That, along with air superiority, sent the Syrians scurrying back to Damascus. Then the Israelis turned their attention to the Egyptians. Again using air power, the Israelis cut the retreat of the Egyptians and had them surrounded on the Sinai. It was within the Israeli’s grasp to virtually annihilate the Egyptian army. The Egyptians ran out of food, water and medical supplies and the end was near. Then Russia stepped in and threatened to go rescue the Egyptians if a cease fire was not brought to fruition. The Americans said ”Like hell you will” and both the Russians and Americans began to ramp up their military presence in the middle east. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed and a shaky cease fire was reached. The Russians and Americans came within a gnat’s ass of open warfare but the cease fire held and peace, of a sort, again prevailed. Those countries that want Israel out of there just do not get the picture. The want to attack without air supremacy and in that part of the world tanks, artillery pieces and rolling stock have no place to hide and the Israeli fighter-bombers just blow their asses into confetti. Not only that, they fail to realize the Israel has nuclear weapons, Armageddon indeed.

1981 Previous to this date Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israel President Menachem Begin had signed a peace accord at Camp David, Maryland under the sponsorship of US President Jimmy Carter. Begin and Sadat had been deadly enemies since they were in their teens but somehow Carter was able to persuade them to seek peace together. They ended up signing the peace accord and shaking hands. On this date, Sadat is sitting on a reviewing stand watching a military parade commemorating the Egyptian losses in the Yom Kippur War (see above). About halfway through the parade, a personnel carrier rolled by and several men dressed in Egyptian camo jumped down and began firing and throwing grenades at the reviewing stand. Sadat was hit four times and died the next day. Vice President Hosni Mubarak was on the stand also but escaped injury. Mubarak assumed power soon thereafter and had over 800 people arrested looking for the culprits. I will give ya’ll one guess as to who the perpetrators were. Correct, it was Arab terrorists that do not want peace. As we all know these mad dogs thrive on chaos and turmoil and should be shot down as such. Mubarak finally whittled down the 800 detainees to 24. Most were hanged defiant to the end but a few went to prison for life. They were not given trials y'all, they were just executed or sent to prison. I like it.

1866 On this date the Reno Brothers, John and Simeon, executed the first train robbery in American history in Jackson County, Indiana. There had been some pilfering of some trains while they were stopped at a station but not one where a moving train was stopped and robbed out in a remote area away from curious onlookers. The Reno brothers got away with $13,000, an enormous sum for the time. Even though this method of robbery was invented in Indiana, it became very popular in the American west. The railroad owners finally installed very heavy safes and heavily armed guards to protect the cash and gold. They even went so far as to have a special rail car built whereby law enforcement officers and their horses would be ready to quickly disembark and give chase to the outlaws. Eventually, train robbery became more dangerous than it was worth and faded into legend.

Births and deaths:

1908 US actress Carole Lombard is born. When actor George Raft caught her applying peroxide to her pubic hair she said “Relax George, I am just making my collar and cuffs match.”

             Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow