Musings
and History
Quote
of the day:
“It
is just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I
knock dudes out.”
Muhammad
Ali
Trivia
question of the day:
Recently
Albert Pujols of the Los Angeles Angels delivered his 3,000th
hit. There are only 2 players to have had over 4,000 hits, Ty Cobb
is one of them, who is the other one? Answer at the end of the blog.
Once
again here in the buckle of the bible belt there are evangelicals
saying that denying illegal immigrants entry is not “the Christian
thing to do”. This nation is not now nor has it ever been a
“christian nation”. The founders of this nation went to great
lengths to keep specific religious beliefs out of the machinations of
government. No where on any document associated with our government
is there reference to Jesus Christ but “God”, “Providence”,
“our Maker”, etc. is common. It was pointed out to me that
oaths of office is taken with a hand on the Bible. This is true and
half of the Bible is about people believing that Jesus Christ was the
son of God and the other half is about people that don't...but both
believe in God. The oath ends with “so help me God”. I am not
anti-religion or anti-Christian but religion has no place in the
decision making when it comes to the operation of a nation. Why?
Because all religions require a leap of faith or a belief that cannot
be proven. Affairs of the heart and mind vary widely depending on
the persons involved. When our founding fathers set the rules for
entering this country as an immigrant their religious beliefs or the
lack thereof was a non-issue and rightly so. Our ancestor had been
through that nightmare in Europe and were very careful in the
construction of the foundation of this, the mightiest nation in
history. But after all, Paul Tibbett the pilot of the Enola
Gay (see
Hiroshima)
was a Christian...and so was George Patton.
This Date in
History May 8
1864
Yesterday after completion of the bloody Battle of the Wilderness,
US General Ulysses Grant headed for the important crossroads near the
Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia in the hopes of gaining the lead
ahead of CSA General Robert E. Lee toward Richmond, Virginia.
General Lee again was able to sniff out Grant’s intentions and sent
CSA General James Longstreet’s division, under the command of CSA
General Richard Anderson because Longstreet was wounded, on a forced
march to reach Spotsylvania before Grant. On this date the
Confederates did indeed reach Spotsylvania before Grant and was able
to construct defensive breastwork before Grant arrived. This made it
extremely difficult for Grant because of the determination and grit
of the Confederate defenders. One of the top three bloodiest battles
in the American Civil War ensued. The Union and Confederate soldiers
fought each other without a break for 10 hours. The battle finally
waned because of sheer exhaustion of the troop and the coming of
night. But the next day it started all over again. At times the
soldiers’ bayonets were touching across the breastwork. It was
hell on earth, y'all. But again, Grant knew that he had more troops
and artillery than Lee and kept pushing.
1945
On this date the United States and Great Britain announced that
German soldiers everywhere they were to be found laid down their arms
and surrendered to whatever Allies were close by. The war in Europe
was over. They called it VE-Day for victory in Europe. Ever since
1939 and the invasion of Poland and the Balkans by the Germans, the
devil incarnate in Adolph Hitler had ruled Europe. He had preached
that the “3rd
Reich” would rule the world for a thousand years. They lasted a
little over 7.
1541
In 1539 the Spanish conquistador Hernan De Soto landed on the west
coast of Florida with 600 troops and 200 horses, a pack of war dogs
and began exploring the territory. As usual they were looking for
silver and gold like they found in Central and South America among
the native tribes. They headed north through North Florida, Georgia
and South Carolina before turning west across the Appalachians where
they went into north Alabama. They did not find any gold and silver
but they did find some valuable pearls in north Georgia. As usual
the Spanish took many Indians captive and treated them like hell
using them to carry supply packs and as guides. However, the Indians
set an ambush for De Soto and his troops near the Indian village of
Mabilia (Mobile) and they barely got out without annihilation. De
Soto’s troops wanted to head south and try to reach any Spanish
ships known to be cruising the area. De Soto headed his troops north
and then west through Arkansas and Louisiana and on this date, he
reached the Mississippi River just south of Memphis. De Soto and his
troops built rafts to cross the river but would only do it at night
to avoid the ever patrolling Indians on both sides. DeSoto and his
troops went west a short distance when De Soto came down with malaria
and died soon thereafter. His troops brought his body back to the
Mississippi and buried in the river at night so the Indians would not
know he was dead. De Soto had convinced the Indians that he was a
God and Gods don’t die. The troops wanted to get home so they
rafted down the Mississippi to the delta and followed the Gulf Coast
across Texas and on down into Mexico. They reached Vera Cruz in late
1543 with only half of the troops the started with, but they were
saved.
1792
On this date the United States Congress passed a conscription law
stating “all able bodied men between the age of 18 and 45 will make
themselves available to the military”. It was the beginnings of
the draft. Nearly every major power in the world has drafted or
conscripted troops at one time or another. In ancient Rome able
bodied men were drafted for a 20 years tour...If I am not mistaken,
able bodied women are also drafted into the Israeli army. Speaking
of that, two of the most vicious military commanders in history were
women. One was an early Britain name Boudicca and the other was a
Viking name Freida, the daughter of Eric the Red.
1846
On this date US General Zachary Taylor engaged a Mexican army of
nearly twice his size near the now Texas town of Palo Alto. General
Taylor and the Americans inflicted a severe ass-whipping on the
Mexicans. Not only that, the next day Taylor met them again near
Resaca de la Palma and kicked their ass once again. Again, even
though they were outnumbered, the Americans were much better trained
and had superior weaponry. The Mexican War had not been officially
declared but it might as well had been because Taylor had already
been engaged in two battles.
1988
Earlier Stella Nickell of Seattle, Washington had decided to
murder her husband. She took out a life insurance policy on her
husband that had a rider stating that if her husband died an
accidental death, she would get an extra $100,000. So she did some
research and found out all she could about cyanide. She went into
her husband’s bottle of Excedrin and took apart one of the capsules
and replaced the contents with cyanide. A few days later her husband
did indeed take the Excedrin and died. Believe it or not, an autopsy
was performed and the coroner decided that Stella’s husband had
died of emphysema making his death of natural causes not accidental
as stated in the insurance policy. Stella panicked and in order to
make his death appear as an accident, she went into two separate
drugstores and replaced the contents of a few Excedrin capsules with
arsenic and put them back on the shelf. This was the days before
there was a seal over the top of the cap like it is today. A few
days later, a woman named Susan Snow took a newly purchased capsule
of Excedrin and died instantly. Stella had in mind that if this
happened and the FDA investigated, there would be no doubt that her
husbands autopsy would be done again and his death would be ruled as
accidental giving her an extra 100K. But she was caught and
convicted and given 90 years. She will be eligible for parole in
2018...if she is still alive.
Answer
to the trivia question:
Other
that Ty Cobb the only other major league player to have over 4,000
hits was Pete Rose.
Thanks
for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
No comments:
Post a Comment