Tuesday

                        Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“The worst thing about a new baby is its mother's singing.”

                                     Kim Hubbard

Trivia question of the day:

There was a commander of the starship “Enterprise” in Star Trek before James T. Kirk played by William Shatner. What was his name and who played him? Answer at the end of the blog.

                     This Date in History   March 12

1930 On this date the spiritual leader of India, Mohandas Gandhi begian a march of defiance from Delhi to the sea to gather salt. If you can believe this, the British government had forbidden the population of India to buy, sell or gather salt except from a supply owned by the British. Salt was a very important addition to the diet of the Indians because of the heat and food preservation. As in the past with opium in China, Great Britain wanted a monopoly on what was needed in different populations of the earth to keep the economy flourishing. In fact, Great Britain went to war with the Chinese Government over supplying opium to the Chinese. It was Great Britain’s contention that they had supplied the opium to China in the first place to get them addicted; now they wanted a monopoly. The Chinese government said that the drug was harmful and a war began because of it. Anyway, Great Britain had cornered the market on salt in India and they wanted to continue the monopoly but the religious leader Mohandas Gandhi called bullshit on that and headed for the Indian Ocean to gather salt. Gandhi contended that salt was a gift from Siva (God) and no man could sell it under force of law. He started the march of 241 miles with 78 followers, and when he reached the coastal town of Dandhi, he had a following of over 60,000. In that town, natural sea salt was available for the taking at low tide. The British chose to grind the sea salt into the mud making it un attainable, but Gandhi walked down to the ocean’s edge and reached down into the mud and brought out a crystal of sea salt, washed it off and ate a bite of it which started a chain of civil disobedience events that eventually drove the British out of India and led to their independence. Gandhi was arrested but immediately began a hunger strike that if it resulted in his death, the British would have millions of angry Indians on their hands. So Gandhi was released soon thereafter. By the way, Mohandas Gandhi was a student of American Henry David Thoreau and his theories of effective civil disobedience. India finally achieved independence from Great Britain in1947 and Mohandas Gandhi was assassinated by left wing extremists a year later. This reminds me of the assassination of the Egyptian Anwar Sadat. He tried to gain some sort of peace with Israel and was succeeding but he was killed. I guess there are those out there that just like killing; world history is full of it unceasingly.

1864 Today began one of the worst fiascos in the history of the American military. In their wisdom, the American military set forth a plan to sent Admiral David Porter and 20 warships up the Red River from New Orleans into Texas with the intent of further expansion and control of the river systems in the Confederacy. The only problem here was that the put US General Nathaniel Banks, a proven loser, in command of the 27,000 ground troops that would follow along on the west bank of the river. Previously, Banks had been tasked with gaining control of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. The only problem here was that CSA General Stonewall Jackson and CSA General Jubal Early awaited him and wasted no time in handing Banks his ass and sending him back to Washington. In his defense, Banks was not an experienced military field commander but had good connections with the upper military officials in Washington so they decided to give him a second chance. So on this date, Banks and his army departed New Orleans headed up the Red River with Porter’s warships close aboard. They achieved moderate success with the capture of the Confederate outpost of Fort Derussy and then Porter captured Alexandria almost single handed. The only problem here was that Banks and his army was about two weeks late arriving at Alexandria which gave the Confederates plenty of advanced notice that he was coming. Porter headed on up toward Shreveport but Banks finds the going a little soggy and heads inland to get out of the swamp. After he is about 20 miles from the river CSA General Richard Taylor (son of US President Zachary Taylor) and his army of howling Confederates ambushed Banks army and administers the mother of all ass-whippings and Porters naval guns are useless at that range. Banks, ass in hand, said to hell with it and headed back toward New Orleans leaving Porter with no support. Porter turned his ships around and headed back south toward the Big Easy with the Confederates on both banks of the river shooting his ass off every step of the way. That ain’t all. The river had fallen to the point that Porter’s ships were aground with no way out in sight. Porter was considering burning his ships and surrendering then a pretty smart Yankee engineer devises “wing dams” which raises the water a few feet and the warships head for home. A few of the ships were lost because there were waterfalls where there was none before, but essentially, the retreat was a success. Porter makes his report on the expedition and US General Nathaniel Banks disappeared from view never to be seen or heard from again.

1922 Jack Kerouac is born this date in Lowell, Massachusetts. Jack had a big influence on my life at one time. He was a member of the “beat” generation who saw life in a non-materialistic way but sought inner peace and the purpose of life. Jack gave us just a few books but by far the most important of was “On the Road”. Jack had traveled the country mostly hitchhiking and getting rides anyway he could. He developed an amalgam of ideas and outlooks that forged his own philosophy. He also gave us the book “The Subterraneans” which was about people he had met that had an even more slanted outlook on life and preferred to be less visible with their beliefs in non-conformity. Jack died of a brain aneurism in Saint Petersburg, Florida in 1967. He was 45 years old. What a damned shame.

Born today:

1889 English historian Phillip Guedella. He said “History repeats itself, historians repeat each other”. Good insight, Phillip.

1912 Canadian writer Irving Layton. He said of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau “Canada has finally produced a Prime Minister worthy of assassination.” Ouch!

1928 US playwright Edward Albee. When speaking to his wife he said “If you existed, I would divorce you.” That, my friends, is the best insult I have ever read.

Died today:

2001 US entrepreneur Morton Downey, Jr. When speaking about women who smoke he said “I had rather have sex with a raccoon.” I would not go that far, Morton.

Answer to the trivia question:

The commander of the Enterprise before James T. Kirk played by William Shatner was Jefferson Pike played by Jeffrey Hunter.

            Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow