Monday

                      Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“Promise me you will always remember. You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”

Christopher Robin to Pooh written by A.A. Milne

It would do all of us good to start the day by looking in the mirror and repeating this sentence.

During the American Civil War there were several units totally composed of recent immigrants, especially the Irish and Germans. They wanted to preserve this nation that had taken them in when they had nowhere else to go. I can assure you that you would not see that from most of the the Latinos. Theft and lawlessness is apparently a way of life for them for the most part and no interest in citizenship, there are exceptions. A few years ago I had planned to rent a house near Merida, Mexico which is about 80 miles west of Cancun. The owner was from New Mexico and he sent me a few tips to make my trip more enjoyable. One of his points was to never leave anything outside unattended or it would be stolen. He said they would not break in but anything outside unattended was considered abandoned and fair game this included beach towels and wash cloths left on a hand rail to dry out, etc. A grill was to be taken out, used and then wait for it to cool off and take it back in or else lose it. I did read about a Latino that graduated from Arizona State University with a Mechanical Engineering degree. He eventually realized that he could not get a job with an American engineering firm because he was an illegal immigrant so he went back to Mexico. Nearly all large engineering firms that do business with the US Government require American citizenship from people that work on security sensitive projects. This man made no effort to find an avenue to citizenship...he just wanted to take and not give and that appears to be the norm.  I have no sympathy.

                       This Date in History July 30

1780 On this date Patriot Colonel Isaac Shelby and his division of 600 infantry captured Fort Thicketty which was about 10 mile southeast of Cowpens, South Carolina. Shelby and his troops were able to capture the fort that was manned totally by Loyalists without firing a shot. Earlier Shelby was part and parcel of the Battle of Kings Mountain, North Carolina where British General Thomas Ferguson and his division of Loyalists were trapped on top of a small mountain in the King’s mountain range near the North Carolina/South Carolina border and the Patriots had the bottom of the mountain surrounded. Even though Ferguson and his troops surrendered, he and his troops were annihilated. When Ferguson raised a white hanky as a signal of surrender, he said “I am an officer in his majesty’s army and will be treated with dignity and respect.” This comment was met with at least 8 musket balls and Ferguson was dead as fried chicken before he hit the ground. This action was caused by the slaughter of 200 Patriots a few weeks earlier that had surrendered to the infamous British Colonel Banaste Tarleton at the village of Waxhaw just south of present day Charlotte, NC and all were bayoneted and killed. Word of Shelby and his “over the mountain” men had reached the Loyalists at Fort Thicketty and they wanted no part of Shelby and company. Shelby went on down and defeated the British at the Battle of Cedar Springs (in the center of the present day city of Spartanburg, SC) and on down to the Battle of Musgrove Mill which is about 30 mile southwest of Spartanburg. Shelby and his “over the mountain” men were bloodthirsty and ruthless and everybody knew it, especially the Loyalists. The “over the mountain” men were those back country men that came down from the wilds of the Appalachian Mountains to kill the British and were good at it. Speaking of good at it, Shelby was born in Maryland and was involved in Pontiac’s War. He scalped his first Indian at the age of 13. The city of Shelby, North Carolina is named for this Patriot

1619 This date saw the first gathering of a legislative body in America. The House of Burgesses was founded in the choir section of the local church in Jamestown, Virginia. It had been 12 years since Jamestown had been founded and the financier of this expedition was The London Company, a group of investors, and they required a legislative body in the colony. 22 people were voted into office by the local adult males. The first thing they did was establish the minimum price for tobacco. Then they established a law defining what a person could and could not do on the Sabbath. These folks were very religious, y'all. By the way, in old English “Burgess” means “the public”.

1863 On this date Shoshone chief Pocatello signed the treaty of Box Elder Creek making the immigrants able to cross southern Idaho safely. At one time the Bannock Shoshone were one of the most powerful tribes on the Great Plains. But a white man’s disease called smallpox had swept through the tribe in the epidemic of 1781 decimating their number to the point that the fierce Blackfoot had pushed them off the plains and into the mountains. Then there came an even more dangerous group in the Lewis and Clark expedition carrying even more white man’s diseases. The Shoshone wanted to be friends with the white man so they could lay their hands on firearms to defeat the hated Blackfoot. But 50 years later the Shoshone finally realized that the white man was a much more dangerous threat than the Blackfoot but it was too late, the pioneers and settlers were well established along with the US Cavalry.

Born today:

1891 Baseball manager Casey Stengel. He said “The key to being a good manger is to keep those people that hate you away from those that are undecided.” Casey was funny.

Died today:

1784 French philosopher Denis Diderot. He said “All children are essentially criminal.” Tack onto that “especially those little monsters in restaurants sitting in a booster chair five feet from me screaming in their gravelly voices “NO I DON”T WANT THAT, I WANT ICE CREAM!!!!!” I have asked more than one waitress to go knock those brats out. They never do.

1975 Teamster boss Jimmy Hoffa. He had said “I don’t need bodyguards”. On this date Jimmy was sitting in his Cadillac outside of a restaurant near Detroit one minute and the next minute he and his car disappeared from the planet and have never been found to this day. I don’t know Jimmy, but maybe a couple of means guys with, .45 ACP automatics close by might have prevented that. But for today, goodbye Jimmy wherever you are.

                 Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow