Friday

                       Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“By all means marry. If you get a good wife you will be happy. If you get a bad one you will become a philosopher.”

                                          Socrates

Trivia question of the day:

Who was the first European to see the Grand Canyon? Answer at the end of the blog.

Aggravations:

Some snot nosed Mexicans in San Jose, Ca. waving a Mexican flag saying “This is Mexican soil and Trump is not welcome here.”

The mayor of San Jose saying the violence perpetrated by the Mexicans is Trump's fault and shame on the police for making it happen.

I was the fifth in line at Church's chicken and some lady (I use the term loosely) first in line kept trying to order a “Combo” but specifying things that were not included. It took 5 or 6 minutes for this woman to get it through her thick skull that a combo has specific items...she was doing all of this so that her “combo” would get her an iced tea included...a difference of 47 cents. It was disgusting. But the wait was worth it. Two dark pieces, ear of corn, fried okra and two jalapeno peppers...$6.08...enough for 2 meals.

Also a while back the Spartanburg County SC Sheriff’s department made a drug sweep and arrested over 150 people dealing mostly in meth and pot. The cops said that they had been investigating these people for several months and finally decided it was time to drop the hammer. They went to Spartanburg County Solicitor Trey Gowdy for warrants. The cops say it was a very successful raid. By the way, Trey Gowdy was elected Congressman for District 4. Isn’t it strange coincidence that this drug raid and the Republican primary were so close together? Or was it? I love South Carolina politics, they are so transparent.

                                 This Date in History June 8

1968 On this date the supposed assassin of Martin Luther King, James Earl Ray, is capture in Heathrow Airport near London, England. Ray had fled the United States to Canada and then to London then he was supposed to go to Rhodesia, Africa and spend the rest of his days. Rhodesia was founded by people from the area of South Africa that just could not abide blacks and neither could James Earl Ray. Ray was a small time hoodlum most of his adult life yet he was able to afford and airline ticket to Toronto and then to London with his final destination being Rhodesia. Rhodesia eventually became Zimbabwe, an independent nation. Anyway, how could a small time hood like Ray afford the plane tickets for such a jaunt? Also, someone had to get permission from the country of Rhodesia to allow Ray to expatriate himself there. There is no doubt in this redneck’s mind that he did not operate alone. Ray died in prison of liver failure but in his last days he had a conference with Rev. Martin Luther King’s son and, knowing he was dying, told King’s son that he was just a very small part of a giant conspiracy and it was not he that fired the fatal shot. There are so many other possibilities for that assassination just like there is for the assassination of JFK.

632AD The exact date is unknown but the future prophet Muhammad was born in Mecca in the approximate year of 570AD. At the age of 25 he married a wealthy widow in Mecca and for the next 10 years he was an unremarkable trader. Then one day in the year 610AD he is was a cave in Mount Hira where he said the arch angel Gabriel came to him in a vision and instructed him to form the “true religion” and the roots of Islam began to form and grow. Strangely, Muhammad gathered thoughts and doctrines from the other two major religions, the Jews and Christians, and incorporated them into the new religion but added his own doctrines creating what he called the “perfect religion” and the introduced a bible known as Qur’ran or Koran. By 622AD Muhammad had gathered a substantial following which the city fathers of Mecca found threatening. They profited best under a pagan religion and put out a contract on Muhammad’s life. Muhammad found out about and fled to Medina. By the way, Mecca and Medina are in present day Saudi Arabia. Muhammad returned to Mecca in 629 as a conqueror and also at the head of substantial religion extending for thousands of miles across North Africa and into the Iberian Peninsula (Portugal and Spain). Muhammad died on this date in the arms of his third and favorite wife Aishah. Then Islam advance into Europe was blunted by the defeat of the Moslem army at the Battle of Tours by Charles Martel and a Christian army in the year 732AD. Islam today is the world’s second most populous religion.

1986 A seldom remembered race car driver named Tim Richmond wins the first of his seven Winston Cup races for this year. Tim cut his teeth in sprint cars and Indy cars and got his first NASCAR win at the race in Pocono in 1983. In 1986 he got the break of his life when he was hired by Rick Hendricks to drive the Folger Coffee sponsored car and he responded with the seven wins. It was he and the legendary Dale Earnhardt that were named co-drivers of the year. Earnhardt was the typical NASCAR driver with his cowboy hat and boots and drinking beer after the races while Richmond was the antithesis of this. He wore the latest fashions, drove the fanciest cars and rubbed elbows with rock and movie stars. The race fans loved him but he was rejected by his teammates and competitors. He fell ill in the winter of 1986-1987. He was originally diagnosed with pneumonia but a little later it was confirmed as being AIDS. As the 1987 NASCAR season approached his condition worsened to double pneumonia and he missed the Daytona 500 opener. Later that year he had recovered enough to drive at Pocono which he won. As Earnhardt, Kyle Petty and others gathered around to congratulate him; he burst into tears and continued to sob throughout the ceremony in the winner’s circle. This was his last victory. NASCAR did everything to keep Tim off the track even by trumping up a charge of Tim failing a “drug test”. Tim sued but withdrew the suit because he did not want the public to find out about his condition, they did anyway. Tim died in the winter of 1988 and virtually disappeared from the NASCAR record books. Kyle Petty put it this way. “Tim disappeared from the record books because of AIDS and not from the lack of his driving skills and victories.” Indeed Kyle, indeed.

1944 After only two days of combat after the D-Day invasion, US General Omar Bradley’s American troops join with the British and Canadian troops that came ashore on Gold and Sword beaches to the East forming a continuous 70 mile long front. At the same time Russian Premier Stalin opened a front east of Germany preventing them from concentrating their forces against the Allies. This maneuver was agreed upon by America, Great Britain and Russia at the Teheran Conference.

Born today:

1925 Former first lady Barbara Bush. After George H. injured two people when duck-hooking a drive playing golf she said “We have enough violence on TV.” Barbara is the only the second woman in American history to be the wife and the mother of an American president. The other was Abigail Adams.

The answer to the trivia question:

The first European to see the Grand Canyon was Garcia Lopez de Cardenas in 1540 who was leading a group of 13 Spanish soldiers sent by conquistador Coronado in search of Eldorado or “the city of gold”.

            Thanks for listening    I can hardly wait until tomorrow