Tuesday

                             Musing and History

Quote of the day:

“There are three kinds of economists, those that can count and those that can't.”

                                                   Eddie George

Trivia question of the day:

Who played Henry Higgins in the movie “My Fair Lady”? Answer at the end of the blog.

Here is what history tells us about terrorists. If a terrorist attack was made on any persons or things belonging to Roman Empire, the Roman army would kill all of the terrorists except for a few. They would interrogate them by what ever means it took to find out who they were and where they came from. They would then find each and every member of the terrorists families and kill them all top to bottom, not only that they would destroy their town and villages. If the towns and villages were too large to destroy they would indiscriminately kill a large number of people, gather up another large number and sell them into slavery. This had two results. It prevented the terrorists families from attacking in revenge and it made each and every town and village under the umbrella of the Roman Empire an outpost of vigilantes. If the villagers found that one of their number was planning and attack on the Romans they would try to talk him/her out of it or kill them lest they receive the wrath of the Roman Army. This philosophy has been used by different conquering nations since before recorded history including the Sumerians, Persians, Egyptians, Carthaginians, Neapolitans, Greeks, Romans, Moors, Visigoths, etc. We did something similar in WWII. The Japanese in an act of terrorism killed about 2,100 Americans in the attack on Pearl Harbor. The end result was we firebombed hundreds of Japanese cities and killed hundred of thousands of civilians. In an act of terrorism the Germans began sinking our merchant vessels at sea. The end result was total destruction of hundreds of German cities and the killing of hundreds of thousand of civilians. It was brutal, but it was necessary and effective. History has told us the most effective way to suppress terrorism is to be a much more brutal, vicious and determined terrorists than they. But today we are soft and afraid to hurt someone's feelings and innocent people will continue to die because of it.

                This Date In History September 4

1971 The Lawrence Welk Show goes off the air much to the chagrin of almost every grey panther in the free world. However, the show stayed in syndication until 1982. I never understood the garish costumes that those folks wore from lime green to fire engine red and lapels that went to the tips of the shoulders when it was suppose to be an ultra-conservative outfit that was just and only interested in one dance number after another. But he and the band were very successful so I guess he knew what he was doing.

1972 God smiled on us all when the final episode of Gilligan’s Island airs on this date. This show was the epitome of trash and further reassures us that those FCC commissioner Newton Minnow’s words that TV was a “vast wasteland” had merit. But in the present sense, nothing has really changed with all these “reality” shows. They are nothing but a play on the familiar theme of Gilligan’s Island. Yet more trash.

1969 Radio Hanoi announces the death of Ho Chi Minh and declared a 3 day moratorium on military operations in honor of his memory. The American military believed that with the death of Ho the North Vietnamese would lose heart and begin a withdrawal of military activities. They were wrong. If anything the North Vietnamese resolve was strengthened and they fought the most powerful military force the world has ever seen to a standstill. It is all in the mind, y'all.

1967 The 1^st Marine Division engaged a sizeable North Vietnamese army in I Corp for 4 days and nights. The 5^th Marine Regiment suffered the most casualties with 114 against the NVA count of 376. Speaking of the 1^st Marine Division, I remember seeing a film about the 1^st Marines being relieved after 45 days of combat on Okinawa and a news photographer asking one of the Marines coming out where he could find the 1^st Marine Division. The Marine answered, “Mister, there ain’t no more 1^st Marines.” Speaks volumes doesn’t it?

1864 CSA Gen. John Hunt Morgan is killed near Greeneville, Tenn. Morgan is recognized as one of the finest cavalry officers in American history He was a brilliant tactician and organizer. Morgan was born in Ala. But had moved to Ky. When he found out that Ky. was not going to secede he moved back to Ala. Morgan had planned an attack on Knoxville, Tennessee but his plans were discovered the US attacked his camp first. Morgan was killed trying to rally his men.

1957 Arkansas Governor Orville Faubus calls out the National Guard to prevent 9 black kids from entering Little Rock’s Central High School. This unbelievably stupid act endeared him to the extreme redneck elements both North and South. President Eisenhower called bullshit on that and called in the long suffering 82^nd Airborne and the kids were finally allowed in school. I suppose y'all can imagine the shit those kids caught during their years at Central High School.

1945 The day after the Japanese surrender aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, the Japanese commander of Wake Island surrenders to the American Navy. The Japanese had captured Wake Island early in the war and had captured 95 Americans in the process. The Japanese commander decided that he could not feed these 95 prisoners and had them executed. In 1947 the commander was tried for war crimes and convicted. He went to meet his maker wearing a hemp necktie.

1886 The Apache chief Geronimo surrendered after 30 years of trying to keep the honkies off his people’s lands. THIRTY YEARS, y'all. Geronimo got hostile when at a young age his wife and children were killed by Mexican soldiers and his hostility never left him. After he surrendered he was jailed for a few years but was finally released and treated as a celebrity. He even was in a presidential inauguration parade. Honkies are strange critters.

Born today:

1908 US writer Richard Wright. He said “Every artist must bow to the monster of their own imagination.”

1918 US Journalist Paul Harvey. He said “In times like these it is good to remember there have always been times like these”. And now you have the ressssttt of the story.

Died today:

1965 Scientist/philosopher Albert Schweitzer. He said “The deeper we look into nature the more we recognize how full of life it is, and the more profoundly we realize that life is a secret that we are all part of.” I know a person in Black Mountain, NC that has these thoughts.

Answer to the trivia question:

In the movie “My Fair Lady” Henry Higgins was played by Rex Harrison.

         Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow