Musings
and History
Quote
of the day:
“Wilma,
I promise you; whatever scumbag did this, not one man on this police
force will rest until he is behind bars. Now let's grab some lunch.”
Lt.
Frank Drebin (Leslie Nielsen), The
Naked Gun
Trivia
question of the day:
What
was the only battle in WWII where the US Marines suffered more
casualties (killed and wounded) than the enemy? Answer at the end of
the blog.
I
guess by no that all of you know that Great Britain has dropped out
of the European
Union.
I did not really understand the significance until I did a little
research. The headquarters of the European Union is in Brussels,
Belgium. It essentially is an economic organization but those that
govern have the ability to not recognize national borders, override
national laws and to dictate how many immigrants a member of the
Union should accept. This stuck in the craw of many of the Brits. Now
the Brits will be able to govern immigration as they see fit but it
could cost them economically. I guess you can push people so far then
they revolt and to hell with the consequences.
This
reminds me of the upcoming 4th of
July and an event that happened in Philadelphia in 1776...those
people were pushed too far and did something about it and suffered
the consequences for a while...but it was worth it. Freedom and self
determination does not have a monetary value.
A
while back President Obama indicated that if Great Britain did not
stay in the EU it could effect the trade agreement with the United
States. This display of unmitigated arrogance apparently lit a fire
under the Brits and they did something about him trying to interfere
with their national affairs...I don't blame them.
This
Date in History June 27
1844
Earlier in 1823 Joseph Smith, an 18 year old Vermonter, claimed to
have been visited by a Christian archangel named Moroni. Moroni
supposedly told Joseph about a book that had been written on gold
plates by a Native American in the 4th century.
The book was a history of an ancient Israeli tribe that had came to
America centuries ago but had been wiped out except for about 34
survivors. Moroni told Joseph where the book was buried and he dug it
up and it was written in an unknown language, unknown to everyone
except Joseph. Joseph deciphered this book into English and it became
the Book of Mormon. Joseph formed a church that became The Church of
Latter-Day Saints which flourished and quickly grew in number. The
tenets of the Mormon Church did not sit well with the regular
Christians primarily because polygamy was allowed. This hostility
caused Joseph Smith and his faithful to stay on the move to Ohio,
Missouri and finally to a town near Carthage, Illinois that Smith
named Nauvoo. Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were arrested and
jailed in Carthage. On this date, a group of “Christians” stormed
the jail, removed Joseph and Hyrum and hanged them. This did not stop
the growth of this religion, however, Brigham Young saw to that.
1864
In Early May the Union Army of the Tennessee had departed the
Chattanooga, Tennessee area headed for Atlanta, Georgia about 100
miles distant. The Union army was commanded by US General William T.
Sherman and the Confederate army in opposition was commanded by CSA
General Joseph Johnston. It was a very slow moving campaign which was
to the Confederate advantage. A couple of weeks before a corps of the
Confederates led by CSA General John Bell Hood had attacked at a
place known as Kolb’s farm and had lost 1,600 precious soldiers.
The Confederacy had no replacements. Seeing this, Sherman thought
that the Confederates were weakened and on this date he feinted to
both the right and left of the Confederate lines and launched an
8,000 man attack on the Confederate center. The attack was repulsed
with heavy losses for the Union and Sherman ordered a retreat.
However, the unit that had feinted to the Confederate left held its
ground and Johnston knew that eventually his position would be
untenable and he retreated back toward Atlanta.
1874
Earlier Indian tribal chiefs Quanah Parker and Lone Wolf had signed
the Treaty of Medicine Lodge in which they agreed to go to a
reservation in Oklahoma but reserved the right to claim the panhandle
of Texas as their private hunting grounds, primarily for the bison.
However, a group of white buffalo hunters believed that the Panhandle
of Texas was open range for hunting. The hunters established a small
settlement in the panhandle known as Adobe Walls which is where most
of the hides and meat was brought for trading. When Quanah Parker,
Lone Wolf and the other chiefs saw that the US was not going to force
the bison hunters off the agreed upon hunting ground they formed an
army of their own totaling 700 Kiowa, Comanche and Cheyenne to drive
the buffalo hunters off their lands. On this date the Indians
attacked Adobe Walls that was manned by only 28 bison hunters. The
difference was the bison hunters had the newly developed .50 caliber
Sharps buffalo rifle that was hard-hitting and had a long range. Also
to the advantage of the hunters was the thickness of the walls that
could stop any bullet or arrow. After three days the Indians decided
that the fort could not be taken and withdrew. Enraged at this loss,
the Indians went on a rampage of raping and pillaging less well
defended forts, house and farms that became known as The Red River
War. This war decimated what was left of the plains Indians in that
area and even more lands were taken by lies and conquest from the
Native Americans.
1944
Thee weeks before, the Allies had successfully landed on the Normandy
beaches and established a permanent beachhead. One of the main
reasons for the attack at Normandy was to secure a deep water seaport
to bring supplies in. That seaport was Cherbourg, France on the
northern tip of the Contenin peninsula. The task of kicking the
Germans out of the Contenin peninsula and Cherbourg in particular,
fell to US General Omar Bradley. On this date Cherbourg was declared
to be liberated. As the Allies turned east toward Germany they knew
they would need another deep water port and that was Antwerp,
Belgium. But that is another story.
Born
today:
US
billionaire H. Ross Perot. He said “Life is like a spider web, not
an organizational chart.” I wonder what life would have been like
with this Texan as our president.
1938
British writer Alan Coren. He said “I wonder if those companies
that make fool proof items have a couple of fools on their payroll
for testing purposes.” I don’t know, Alan, but I know where they
can find a few.
Answer to the trivia question:
The
only WWII battle where the US Marines suffered more casualties than
they inflicted was Iwo Jima.
Thanks
for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
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