Musings
and History
Quote of the day:
“After 25 years
hookers are back on the streets of Baghdad. Do you really want a
hooker that was working 25 years ago?”
David
Letterman
Trivia question of the
day:
In Star Trek the role
for the communications officer was an African woman named “Uhura”
played by Nichelle Nickols. What does Uhura mean in Swahili? Answer
at the end of the blog.
March 7, 1945 was the
anniversary of the Allies capturing the railroad bridge across the
Rhine river near the town of Remagen, Germany.
The German
army had destroyed every other bridge in Germany across this river
trying to delay the Allied onslaught. They had detonated explosives
under this bridge also but it refused to fall. An American army
patrol had found this bridge in tact and reported to their superiors
who came running. The German army had snipers and artillery pieces
firing at the bridge until American tanks arrived and put a stop to
it. The bridge defied reason and stayed erect. Not only that, the
bridge was strong enough to support tanks, artillery pieces, trucks
and thousands of infantrymen for several days. After enough men and
the tools of war had crossed to assure the Allies had enough that
there could be an end to the Nazi nightmare, the bridge collapsed on
it own. Tell me there is no God.
This
Date in History March 13
1733
Future Unitarian preacher Joseph Priestly is born in Birstall,
Yorkshire, England. Priestly became acquainted with Benjamin
Franklin while he was in London trying to do something to avoid a war
with England and Ben became a Unitarian as a result even though he
did not join Priestley’s Church. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson
also were followers of Priestley and were indeed members of Unitarian
Churches. John Adams frequently attended services in Priestley’s
Church in Philadelphia. A Unitarian is one that believes in God but
does not believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ. They believe that
Jesus was a great speaker of God but was not supernatural. Priestley
had a church in London and somehow preached in favor of the American
and French Revolutions and got away with it for a while anyway. On
the 2nd
anniversary of Bastille Day, a crowd in London attacked and burned
Priestley’s house, a well equipped laboratory and his Unitarian
Church. After this, Priestley had not choice but to get the hell out
of Dodge and he immigrated to the United States in 1794. He settled
in Northumberland, Pennsylvania and established the 1st
Unitarian Church in Philadelphia. He lived in Northumberland until
his passing in 1804. Even though Priestly taught an unpopular
religion, he was sincere in his belief and was a dedicated lover of
freedom.
1865
On this date the Confederate States of America began recruiting
black soldiers into their ranks. There were two sides to this
issued. One side, Robert E. Lee included, wanted to recruit blacks
into the Confederate Army and freedom as the incentive. The other
side felt like that they should be allowed into the Confederate army
with no incentive at all. The side that wanted no incentives
prevailed and they did indeed succeed in recruiting a few black
soldiers but not near as many as the over 200,000 recruited by the
Union. It was a moot issue anyway because Lee surrendered in April
of this year and the war was over. But the most horrible of all
times began and that being the so-called Reconstruction which
succeeded in instilling more hatred on both sides than four years of
combat could have ever done.
1989
On this date one of the most evil men in North America is brought
to justice. It is a Mexican named Adolpho de Jesus Constanzo. This
jackass owned a ranch named Rancho Santa Elena. He believed in black
magic and tortured his victims to the point of death and were mostly
prostitutes which made their discovery most unlikely. If his
intended victims did not beg for their life, he would kill them
immediately and send his henchmen out to find some that would. His
mistake was capturing an American named Mark Kilroy after he
staggered out a bar in Matamoras. He ended up killing Kilroy and
soon the American law enforcement officials were combing the
countryside looking for Kilroy. Constanzo convinced one of his
henchmen that if he uttered the right words he would be invisible to
the police. This dumb-ass left town and drove straight to the ranch
knowing that the police in hot pursuit could not see him. Anyway
when the police arrive Constanzo is not home but the police
“convince” those that are there to tell them where he is. He is
in Mexico City and the police surround the apartment he is in.
Constanzo wants to fight and opens fire with several Uzis. The
police respond in kind and Constanzo knows the jig is up and
convinces his henchman named El Duby to kill him rather than be
captured. El Duby obliges and Constanzo dies in a hailstorm of Uzi
gunfire from good old El Duby. It is estimated that Constanzo was
responsible for the torture and death of over 20 but the number could
have been as many as 100. With monsters like this, the world needs
to re-think the “cruel and unusual punishment” clause in the
Constitution. We of English, Irish and Scottish ancestry can be very
inventive when it comes to that, our history is full of it.
1996
On this date a man walked into a kindergarten in Dunblane,
Scotland an opened fire killing 16 toddlers, one of their teachers
and wounding 12 others before turning the gun on him. This animal
was at one time a leader of Boy Scouts but was kicked out for
misconduct with the boys. So he decided to take it out on the
littlest of children. Can anyone imagine how terrified those little
kids were? It is too bad that he committed suicide, again my thought
wander to the basement of the Tower Of London with the Iron maiden,
the rack, the pear, thumb screws, a variety of iron rods in various
shapes heated to a fiery red, disemboweling tools, a 1000 pound shire
horse tied to each limb with someone beating the hell out of all
four, etc. I believe if we still had these instruments the incidence
of crime would plummet precipitously. But we would not be civilized,
now would we?
1836
Just eleven days after the disaster at the Alamo Sam Houston heard
that the Mexicans are on their way to Gonzalez, Texas and Sam doesn’t
have anything to stop them. The troops that he does have are barely
trained if at all. So Sam keeps just out of Mexican chief Santa
Anna’s reach while he trains his troops to a fine edge. The troops
know that the men at the Alamo were annihilated and want their
revenge but Sam knows they re not ready so he stays out of Santa
Anna’s way. Finally, Sam feels that his men are ready and turns to
face Santa Anna. Sam has 756 troops to more than 2000 Mexicans.
They trapped the Mexicans between Buffalo Creek and San Jacinto Creek
southwest of present day Houston and launched a surprise attack. The
befuddled Mexicans ran away in every direction but the most of them
got caught in the waist deep water of San Jacinto Creek and are
massacred by the Texans and other Patriots screaming “Remember the
Alamo”. Revenge is sweet, y'all.
Born today:
1950
US actor William Macy. He said “You don’t become an actor
because you had a good childhood.” One of my favorite actors said
the same thing...Gene Hackman
Died today:
2006
US actress Maureen Stapleton. When asked how it felt to win and
an Oscar for best supporting actress in the movie “Reds” she said
“Not nearly as exciting as it would be declared one of the greatest
lays in the world”. Pretty crusty old girl, huh?
Answer
to the trivia question:
In
the TV series Star Trek the communications officer was named
Uhura...translated it means “Peace”.
Thanks for
listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
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