Thursday

                             Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“When I got married my feminist friends went mad. One of them sniffed 'Are you going to take his name?' I said 'No, because I don't think “Dave” suits me very much.”

                                                      Joe Brand

I don't know what made me think of it but here it is.

In 1978 serial killer Ted Bundy was captured in Pensacola Fla. after a life of murder with no remorse. He beheaded a few his victims (all women) and kept the heads for mementos among other unspeakable horrors. He had killed three women in the state of Florida. He went to trial, was convicted on all three counts and was sentenced to death. He was scheduled to executed in the electric chair on January 2 of 1989. A little before dark people began gathering outside the gate at Raiford prison with their charcoal grills knowing the execution would take place at midnight. They lit their cookers about 10:00p and held a tailgate party in celebration of “the frying of Ted". About 1:00 an ambulance left the prison to the yells and cheers of the celebrants while lifting their steins of ale and freshly grilled hamburgers in knowing justice had been served. I know it sounds a little macabre but it happened.

Hate Muslims? Read this:

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.

               This Date in History October 12

1870 On this date one of the greatest military leaders in history died as a result of a stroke he had a month before. Former CSA General Robert E. Lee died at his home in Lexington, Virginia at the age of 63. Lee was the son of the Revolutionary War hero Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee. As with many of the leaders of the CSA, Robert E. Lee was born on large plantation in Westmoreland County, Virginia. The plantation was part of his mother’s estate that was willed to her by her father and named Stratford Hall. She was a member of the famous Custis family of Virginia. Little Robert saw little of his father during the Revolutionary War or after the War for that matter. “Light Horse Harry” was not a family man and was not well known to Robert. Robert attended West Point and graduated second in his class but in the four years there he received not one demerit. As with many of his classmates, he fought in the Mexican War and in the western theater. He also served as Superintendent at West Point. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Lee was offered command of the US forces. After anguishing about this offer, he decided that he could not make war against his home and family and offered his services to the Confederacy. He was acting as a consultant in the beginning but eventually he was given command of the newly formed, and later to become immortal, Army of Northern Virginia. Lee and his army achieved phenomenal success through most of the war but in the end he ran out of supplies and manpower and was forced to surrender at Appomattox Court House, Virginia in the spring of 1865. After the war he was at a loss as to which direction his life would take. He was offered the Presidency of Washington College in Lexington, Virginia and accepted. He was able to raise the population of the College from a few dozen to more than 300. He also improved the curriculum and the condition of the building and grounds. After he died the College was renamed Washington and Lee University. Winston Churchill said of Lee “Never in the history of human conflict has one man been loved by so many.” Indeed.

1492 Earlier three tiny Spanish ship under the command of an Italian navigator sailing from Spain arrive in the Bahamas and sighted land probably San Salvador Island. On this date Christopher Columbus came ashore in a small skiff and claimed the land for the King and Queen of Spain. Columbus thought he was in Cathay, or the Orient. He thought Cuba was Japan. Columbus was correct in assumption that European travelers could reach the Orient by sailing west, but he severely underestimated the diameter of the Earth. Columbus made three trips to the new world and tried each time to establish a settlement on Hispaniola, or the island that now is the Dominican Republic/Haiti. All settlements failed because of the wrath of the native Carib Indians who annihilated the new villages as fast as they were built. Columbus is given credit for discovering the new world but that is wrong. The Vikings had villages in present day Newfoundland 300 years before Columbus. The difference here is that the settlers that came after Columbus stayed whereas the Vikings did not stay. Some believe that the Vikings explored the North American coastline all the way down to Massachusetts and ever further. They might have but we may never know for sure. It would benefit all of y'all to read the history of the Vikings and the great accomplishments accredited to them, the rape and pillage of Europe included.

2000 On this date the American destroyer USS Cole had stopped for a four hour long refueling stop at a port in Yemen at the mouth of the Persian Gulf. While refueling, a small Zodiac boat came along side and lit off a thunderous explosion that ripped a gigantic hole in the Cole killing 17 US sailors and injuring 38. The Cole started taking on water at an unacceptable rate and was kept afloat only by the Herculean efforts of its crew. Even at this, the Cole achieved a small list but survived. Being that the Cole was only suppose to be in port for four hours and then take up the chore of blockading ships heading for Iraq, it is apparent that the saboteurs knew the time of arrival. Everyone thought that this attack was orchestrated by Muslim terrorists but that was never proven. I knew a “retired” SEAL here that disappeared the day after the attack and returned in out midst about two weeks later. I asked him where he had been and he said “Yemen”. Then I said “Did you kill anybody?” He said “Well I’ll put it this way, I went from number 158 to number 75 on Osama Ben Laden’s hit list.” I like it.

1786 On this date one of the heroes of the American Revolution, Thomas Jefferson wrote a sappy love letter to a married woman. Jefferson had lost his wife earlier and obviously lovesick. He met a woman named Mariah Cosway in Paris while being the United States Council to France. Mariah was an accomplished artist and musician. She was also married. But nonetheless she and Thomas became close friends and maybe more. There is no evidence that the relationship became a sexual one. Mariah’s husband died in 1789 but there is no evidence that Thomas tried to reignite their relationship. Mariah moved to a small town in Italy and opened a religious school for girls. I guess Thomas found another love interest, beside the slave woman Sally Hemmings by which he fathered several children.

             Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow