Tuesday

                                              Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“Experience is the name we give to our mistakes.”

                                  Oscar Wilde

Trivia question of the day:

What was Cleopatra's nationality?” Answer at the end of the blog.

Every day we see where groups of politicians oppose or try to slow down any and all legislation not because it is good or bad for the nation as a whole but because of who was/orwas not the author. How can these jackasses be considered “Patriots”? They can't, they are vultures and hyenas attempting to gain for themselves at our expense...and I think Trey Gowdy saw this and is dropping out...Swamp indeed.

                        This Date in History   April 30

1945 On this date one of the most depraved beasts to ever walk the earth committed suicide. Adolph Hitler spent the last few days of his life in his underground bunker 30 feet under the German Chancellery in Berlin. He could easily hear the thunderous approach of the Russian army coming from the east and southeast. He had already instructed his staff to gather up 40 liters of gasoline to incinerate his corpse when the time came. Earlier this bastard had came out of his bunker and met with his “last line of defense” and that being untrained boys at the age of 15 and younger and old men over the age of 70. Even trained German paratroopers would be no match for the relentless Russians but this son-of-a-bitch wanted children and old men to sacrifice their lives for him with him knowing that all was lost. All the other important members of his private staff had already committed suicide by biting into a cyanide capsule. Early in the day Hitler had married his mistress Eva Braun and it was she and Hitler that were left in his private bunker when he died much to the free world’s relief. Eva had taken cyanide and Hitler had taken cyanide also but before the poison had time to work, he put a 9mm bullet in his brain also. Oh, I almost forgot. In order to test the cyanide poison, he gave a dose of it to his German shepherd named Blondi. She died also. There was no end to the depth of Hitler’s evilness. As instructed, his staff dug a small trench in the garden of the Chancellery, put Hitler’s corpse and 40 liters of gasoline into it and lit it off. Finally, the world was rid of Adolph Hitler. But there will be another; history has proven it time and again.

1803 On this date the Louisiana Purchase was officially offered to the United States which doubled its land area. President Thomas Jefferson had gotten wind that Spain was secretly going to cede its lands in America to France. Jefferson sent Robert Livingston and others to France to see if they could broker a deal to gain the port of New Orleans, as the United States had no dependable port in that area. Livingston met with the Prime Minister of France who was acting in behalf of Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon knew that he could not fight a war on two fronts against the British, in Europe and North America, and Napoleon needed money to finance the war in Europe. So when Livingston had the meeting with the Prime Minister and asked him what he wanted for New Orleans, the Prime Minister asked “What will you give me for all of it?” meaning all of the French possessions in North America, Livingston and the others were so astounded that they asked for a couple of days to come up with a figure. They really wanted time to go change their pants. The figure that Livingston came up with was $15 million. $11.5 million for the land (3 cents and acre) and $3.5 million for unpaid debts the United States owed to France. Ya’ll have to keep in mind that there was no instant communications available and Livingston had to make this unexpected decision on his own. He did good, ya’ll. The actual deal was signed on May 2 but the date on the document was May 30. What enormously talented men and women we had on our side at this point in time.

1776 One of the most fire blooded Patriots in American history, Samuel Adams, writes letter to his pastor, saying that he wished there was another battle suggesting that that would make the “Declaration of Independence” more readily accepted. Our greatest General George Washington had already run the redcoats out of Boston with the brilliant Battle of Dorchester Heights and the British had already headed to Nova Scotia with their tails between their legs. Fifteen days after Samuel Adam’s letter the British were not beaten by bloodshed but by words alone. Thomas Paine issued “Common Sense” a pamphlet that was a sequence of words that were some of the most inspiring ever written. It was these few words that inspired out forefathers decided to stay at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania rather that hold the US government to the contract that would expire on December 31, 1777 and our most experienced soldiers would go home. Instead they went to Trenton, New Jersey and kicked the shit out the Hessians (mercenaries) there. The war was by no means over and our independence was not assured, but there was light at the end of the tunnel.

1864 Earlier Union General Nathaniel Banks had tried to go from New Orleans to the intersection of the Mississippi and the Red River and then follow the Red River on into Texas. To pin the Confederates onto the river, and follow Banks on into Texas via the east bank of the Red River, US General Frederick Steele and an army of 2,500 left Little Rock headed to the river. Then Nathaniel Banks had his ass handed to him by CSA General Richard Taylor at the Battle of Mansfield, Louisiana and Banks headed back to New Orleans leaving Steele stranded and short on supplies. Not only that, after CSA General Kirby Smith found out about Steele’s condition he closed in for the kill. Smith attacked Steele near Jenkins Ferry, Arkansas finding Steele’s troops in mid stream trying to cross the rain swollen Saline River. General Smith was not able to finish the job because of muddy roads and river crossings but he was able to capture over 400 of Steele’s supply wagons before Steele reached the safety of Little Rock.

Born today:

1771 US theologian Hosea Ballou. He said “Real happiness is cheap enough, but how dearly we pay for its counterfeit.” True words, ya’ll.

1834 English naturalist Sir John Lubbock. He said “Reading, writing, arithmetic and grammar do not make an education any more than a knife, fork and spoon make a dinner.”

1933 US songwriter/singer Willie Nelson. When asked why he smokes marijuana he said “It keeps me from killing people.” Willie is a hoot.

Died today:

1879 US writer Sarah Hale. She said “I have no riches except my thoughts, yet this is enough wealth for me.” Me too.

1983 US blues legend Muddy Waters. When speaking of Mick Jagger he said “He took my music but gave me fame.”

Answer to the trivia question:

Cleopatra and 7 of the previous rulers of Egypt were Greek. They were ancestors of Ptolemy, a Greek general under Alexander the Great who he left ruling Egypt while he continued his campaign into Persia and on eastward.

       Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Monday

                              Musings and History

Quote of the day:

When asked what surprised him the most about humanity he answered “Man...because he sacrifices his health for money. Then he sacrifices his money to regain his health. Then he is so anxious about his future that he does not enjoy the present: The end result is that he lives in neither the present nor the future; he lives like he is never going to die then he dies never knowing he has really lived.”

Dalai Lama

I saw a story about the Winder family in Selmer, Tennessee. The man of the house was a Church of Christ minister. His wife looked just like you might suspect coming from a tiny town in south Central Tennessee and an ever smaller church. The man and the wife had issue of three daughters. He was a tall, good-looking athletic type, the wife was a very quiet mousy type. One night she got out of bed, retrieved a pump shotgun and fired one round into the back of her husband who was asleep. The blast did not kill the man right away and he wallowed around on the floor until he bled out. The wife gathered up her girls into the family van and disappeared. The next afternoon the church was holding a bible study and neither the preacher nor his wife showed up. After the service a couple of the elders went over to the Reverend's house. The doors were locked but a key was found in a tackle box in the garage. They got into the house and found the minister dead as fried chicken and the wife and kids were gone. The local sheriff put out a nationwide BOLO (be on the lookout) for the wife, kids and the van. Everybody thought it had been a kidnapping, but about 600 miles away near Orange Beach, Alabama (been there), a van matching the BOLO made an illegal U turn on Ocean Boulevard and was stopped. It was indeed the minister's wife and kids. She went on trial for murder. With her and the older daughter's testimony it appeared that the good minister was a wife beater in addition to having a few kinks. The wife still had a few bruises on her arms and chest and produced a couple of wigs and platform shoes that had been bought by her husband for her to wear. When asked if her husband had required her to do sex acts she was not comfortable with...she nodded her head....when asked what she just said “on top”....it took me a while to grasp that as being “kinky” but being a wife-beater is not allowed under any circumstance, wigs and shoes not withstanding. The end result was she was convicted of manslaughter and given 210 days minus time served. There was no doubt that her testimony was from the heart. Her parents were given custody of the kids while she was in the joint. Six months after she was released she had her kids with her once again. We never know what goes on behind closed doors...do we?

Trivia question of the day:

What is the capitol of Lithuania?  Answer at the end of the blog.

                                    This Date in History   April 29

1945   On this date the 45th division of the United States 7^th Army (US General Alexander ‘Sandy’ Patch commanding) on its march across Europe to free the different nations from the hell of the Nazis, come upon an enclosed camp in Poland. General Patch was as an efficient commander as General George Patton, the commander of the 3^rd Army, but was not as an egomaniac. The soldiers could detect the plant from afar because of the smothering stench that emanated downwind. It was Auschwitz, y'all. It was facility that had no other purpose that to kill Jews and Gypsies as fast and efficiently as possible. It is estimated that 3 million Jews that were literally exterminated as vermin by these Nazi beasts. When the Nazi camp commander and his staff determined that the Americans were within a day or two of liberating the camp, they went on a murder rampage hoping to eliminate all the prisoners that they could before running out of ammo and then scorched as many of the buildings with flamethrowers as they could and then they left hoping to blend in with the general population. The Americans were stunned at what they saw. There were heap and piles of emaciated copses including a nearby train with cattle cars full to capacity with the same. The Americans had no choice but to bury the corpses along with tons of quick lime to eliminate the chance of a cholera epidemic. It was the Russians that came upon the camp at Buchenwald, the worst of them all. Buchenwald had ovens, y'all, ovens. I will leave it to you to figure out what the ovens were for but when the Russians arrived the ovens were out of coal and had stopped working. The Russians had nothing on their minds but revenge for the Germans killing 26 million of their brethren, now upon seeing this every Russian soldier was a razor. They left there and headed to Germany and were not to be denied their revenge. It turned out to be a 570 mile long bloodbath. It was nothing short of a massacre of the Germans by the Russians be it, man, woman, children, dogs, cats, cattle or any other air breather...all were slaughtered. In the meantime the allies had sealed off the western side of Germany and would not accept a surrender. They just saw to it that the Russians got their belly full of German blood. The Russians did not cut any slack y'all, they indeed got a belly full.

Born today:

1897 English conductor Sir Thomas Beecham. When speaking to a female cellist in his orchestra he said “Madam, you have between your legs an instrument that is capable of giving pleasure to thousands, all you have to do is scratch it.” No Comment.

Answer to the trivia question:

The capitol of Lithuania is Vilnius.

        Thanks for listening    I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Friday

•                                    Musings and History

  
  

  Quote of the day:

  During WWI a US Marine unit was pinned down by ferocious German machine gun fire in the section of France known as Belleau Wood. 1^st Sgt. Dan Daly ordered a bayonet charge, rose up and yelled “Come on you sons-of-bitches, do you want to live forever?” and off they went. Daly was awarded two Medals of Honor in his long career as a Marine. A law was passed since then that there could be only one MOH per person. His commanding officer said of Daly “He is the fightingest Marine I ever saw”. The Commandant of the Marine Corps said “Sergeant Daly is the most outstanding Marine of all time.” Daly was 5'-6” and weighed 134 pounds. In later blogs I will tell you why he was awarded the two MOH's.

  
  

  Here is an event from my air traffic controller days. The control tower at the Asheville, NC contacted us here in Greenville, SC and said they had a non-instrument rated pilot caught on top of an overcast and needed help getting down and was a little short on fuel. Asheville at the time had no radar. The pilot came over to my frequency and I located him with radar. He was about 10 mile south of the Asheville airport. I got him headed south to where the overcast ended and the ground would be visible. He expressed concern about his fuel so I suggested that he start a gentle descent and back off the throttle to a near glide. This meant that his ground speed would decrease but he would burn less fuel. I was careful to make sure he did not get so low he would crash into the mountains. He eventually was able to see the ground, descended faster and I turned him directly to the Greenville Downtown airport. He landed on runway 36 and ran out of fuel on the taxiway. God works in mysterious ways.

  
  

  Trivia question of the day:

  When was the US Marines formed?  Answer at the end of the blog.

  
  

                       This Date in History April 26

  
  

  1986 Near a small village 65 miles north of Kiev, Ukraine the world was awakened to the possible dangers of nuclear power plants. The four reactor power facility at Chernobyl experienced the worst nuclear accident in history. Electrical engineers decided to perform an experiment on reactor #4. They wanted to see if the gigantic turbine could power the emergency pumps with inertia alone. These guys had hardly any experience with nuclear power and their experiment was not well thought out. Then a series of mistakes occurred. The engineers shut down all the emergency systems and reduced the power level in the reactor to where the nuclear reaction was unstable. So these geniuses decided that they should withdraw many of the control rods to heat up the reactor. They then continued with their experiment by disconnecting the turbine from its power source and waited to see of the now wind milling turbine could power the emergency pumps. It did not work; the pumps would not operate in that fashion. They finally realize that the reactor was on the edge of being out of control and slammed nearly 200 control rods back into the reactor simultaneously causing an immense explosion and fire. A deadly radioactive cloud rose up and headed northwest. The Russian designed nuclear power plant here did not have a “containment building” over their reactor buildings like are those in the United States. These buildings would have contained this accident.

  
  

  The Russian government originally tried to cover up this debacle but it was just a matter of hours that stations in Scandinavia began reporting radioactivity levels 200 times higher than normal so they knew something had happened. It was estimated that 50 tons of highly radioactive debris was blown into the atmosphere. The Russian immediately evacuated 30,000 people but not before 32 had died almost instantly and about 5,000 Russians died of cancer as a result of contact with the radioactivity. Needless to say there was hardly any way to get firefighters into that inferno with any degree of safety so the Russians asked for volunteers to go in and put the fire out and informed them that there was no doubt that they would die of radiation poisoning but the Russian government would take care of their families. So a group of walking dead firemen went in and put the fire out. Eventually the entire power plant was closed but there is a defined perimeter around that plant site that is uninhabitable to this day. By the way, all the firemen did indeed die.

  
  

  1865 After killing US President Abraham Lincoln, actor John Wilkes Booth jumped down on the stage of the Ford Theater and yelled “Thus to all tyrants” except he yelled it in Latin. Booth broke his leg in the jump but was able to make his way out the back door to an awaiting horse and his fellow conspirator David Herold and they made good their escape southbound. Booth and Herold have no problem getting help because Maryland was a hotbed of Confederate sympathizers. He stopped at the home of a Dr. Mudd to get his leg set and the good doctor set and splinted Booth’s leg. Booth and Herold stayed on the run for 12 days and stopped by a farm and asked the farmer if they could sleep in his barn. The farmer agreed but after they were inside the farmer sent his son out to lock the barn door so his horses would not be stolen. As you might suspect, the countryside was swarming with Federal troops looking for these two. The funny part is that the soldiers would not exchange information with each other because there was a $20,000 reward on Booth's head. On this date a group of Federal troops figured out that Booth and Herold were in the barn, surround it, and demand their surrender. Herold surrendered only to be hanged soon thereafter. Booth refused to surrender and the barn is set aflame to drive Booth out. Not only did the troopers set the barn on fire, they asked Herold where Booth was in the barn. They then fired fusillade of gunfire into that area of the barn killing Booth before the barn is consumed. By the way, Dr Mudd was captured as being part of the conspiracy but was released later when it became apparent that he was not.

  
  

  1798 Future mountain man James Beckwourth is born on a plantation near Fredericksburg, Virginia the issue of a white man and a black slave woman. James was a slave also and ended up in St. Louis where his owner emancipated him. He joined in the third fur trapping expedition organized by William Ashley. James was green as grass when it came to surviving in the Rocky Mountains and he leaned heavily on others until he was educated. He developed a good relationship with the Crow Indians and eventually gave up his white man ways and moved in with the Crows and had several wives and children. Later on he hired himself out as a guide and scout for the US Cavalry and participated in the Seminole War. Beckwourth was a participant in the notorious Sand Creek Massacre where a whole village of peaceful Cheyenne was wiped out simply because they were Indians. After this James moved back in with the Crows. Beckwourth was a notorious braggart and liar especially about himself. In fact the date he gave for his birth date is in question. Some western writers say he was born in 1800. In any event he died in 1867 and some say he was buried in an unmarked grave near Denver and others say he died while with the Crows and they buried him in typical Crow fashion, on a platform in a tree and left to decompose into a skeleton. The Crows believed that it was an honor to be buried “in the sky”.

  Born today:

  1599 English Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell. He said “Do not trust the cheering crowd. They would cheer just as loud if you were being taken to the gallows.” Speaking of the gallows, here is an interesting story about Cromwell. He was part of the crowd that overthrew the Charles I, King of England. The king was beheaded at the behest of Cromwell. Cromwell became the “protector” of England making him essentially the king. He could not officially be king because he was not of royal blood. Cromwell eventually died and Charles II, the son of Charles I, was made king. Charles II was really pissed about his father being beheaded and had Cromwell’s corpse dug up and hanged even though he had been in the ground for 11 years.

  
  

  Answer to the trivia question:

  The US Marines was formed by the 2nd Continental Congress on November 10, 1775,  The first commander was Samuel Nicholas.

  
  

                             Thanks for listening    I can hardly wait until tomorrow                    

Thursday

                                     Musings and History

Quote of the day:

During WW1 an American Marine infantry unit was sent into the fray in France at a spot known as Belleau Wood. Almost as soon as they got there a French officer said that they needed to retreat because the Germans had just launched major offensive in their direction. Marine Captain Lloyd Williams responded with “Retreat Hell, we just got here.” Captain William's Marines dug in and their actions in Belleau Wood went down in history as a benchmark in the courage and tenacity of the United States Marines.

Another quote:

“I don't want Black History month. Black History is American history.”

                                              Morgan Freeman

Trivia question of the day:

Who was the oldest player in the NBA?  Answer at the end of the blog.

                            This Date in History   April 25

1859 On this date the first shovelful of dirt was turned over beginning the construction of the Suez Canal. The Suez Canal meant that boat traffic could travel from the Mediterranean and Black Sea to the Indian Ocean via the Red Sea without going around the continent of Africa. The first construction began near Port Said, Egypt with the designing French engineer Ferdinand de Lesseps on hand. There had been attempts at building canals between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea since antiquity. Some were partially successful and others were not. Anyway, on this attempt the first construction was done by hand but eventually steam powered equipment was brought on the scene and things went must much faster. But even at that, it took ten years and when they were finished the canal was only 25 feet deep, 200 to 300 feet wide at the surface and only 75 feet wide at the bottom. This meant that the size and shape of ships able to traverse this canal was very limited and it was going to get worse when ships grew larger and larger. In 1876 a canal enlargement was began and the result went a long way toward today’s marine capacities. Unfortunately, the canal has been included in several battles, both political and otherwise especially if the Israelis are involved. The canal was closed for 10 years because of this crap but finally a man of vision, Egyptian Anwar Sadat opened the canal as a show of peace. Sadat won the Nobel Peace Prize during his watch as President of Egypt. As you might suspect, he was assassinated.

1781 On this date British General William Cornwallis and his 800 man army of British regulars and Loyalists met up with the 1,174 man army of Patriot General Nathaneal Greene near the Guilford Court House, North Carolina. The ensuing battle results in Cornwallis having his ass handed to him by the Patriots and he beat a hasty retreat to Wilmington, North Carolina and the safety of the cannons of the British warships anchored close by. Unfortunately there was another British General named Lord Rawson with 800 British/Loyalist troops that had been fed information by Loyalists that had been observing Greene and his army they the worst thing happened when one of Greene’s troops deserted and went to Lord Rawson and told him how short Greene was of supplies. Rawson chose to attack immediately before Greene was re-supplied. Rawson’s attack was successful and Greene was forced to retreat but he did not lose any of his few supplies or any of his artillery. Greene was a superb military commander and we were fortunate to have him. My home town, Greenville, South Carolina is name in his honor and there is a life sized statue of him in the steps of city hall as they are in many towns throughout America.

1862 Earlier US Admiral David Farragut had fought his way through attacks by forts on the Mississippi River south of New Orleans and on this date he arrived at that great city and it fell into Union hands. The US military chose to put US General Benjamin Butler in command of the US troops in New Orleans. A bad move y'all. The Creole and Cajun women of The Big Easy were used to genteel talk and treatment. But Butler’s men were typical soldiers and hit hard on these soft talking beauties. The ladies reacted by emptying their “waste” buckets on the heads of the Union soldiers walking the sidewalks below. Butler responded with an order saying that any woman that treated his soldiers with disrespect would be considered as “ladies of the night” or prostitutes. There was so much hell raised about this outrage that Butler was relieved of duty and sent back to the Carolinas. The order was rescinded but the oncoming commander had yet another problem. He could not speak Spanish or French which was the normal languages of the area. It was just one problem after another.

1989 After 21 years of being locked up for a crime he did not commit, James Richardson was released from a Florida prison. Richardson was convicted of killing his seven children. He was a field hand and was out picking fruit at the time of the alleged killing. He had hired a next door neighbor named Betsy Reese to come over and feed his seven children during lunch. A few minutes after eating the kids began foaming at the mouth and all died. The autopsy proved they were poisoned with insecticide. The prosecution decided in advance that the father was the culprit and did not pursue any other leads other than the police found some insecticide behind a barn near the Richardson home. They also pressed home that an insurance agent had visited the Richardson’s a few days before and an insurance policy for the children was discussed. What they did not say was that the insurance agent had shown up at the house unannounced (been there, done that, hated it) and talked about insuring the children but Richardson refused because he could not afford the premiums. The woman that came over to feed the kids for lunch admitted to her nurse at an old folks home that she had killed the children and that ain’t all, she had poisoned at least one of her ex-husbands. The Governor of Florida got wind of all this and soon Richardson was free. But 21 years is a long time in the slammer for doing nothing. It sounds like the prosecutor in the Duke Lacrosse players’ case to me. Some people in law enforcement do not want to be confused with the facts.

Born today:

1917 US Jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald. She said “The only thing better than singing is more singing.”

1908 US journalist Edward R. Murrow. He said “Just because your voice reaches half way around the world does not mean you are any wiser than reaching the other end of the bar.”

1969 US actress Renee Zellweger. When speaking of Hollywood she said “It opens your eyes in this town. It teaches you what you don’t want to be.”

Died today:

1970 US dancer Gypsy Rose Lee. She said “Anything worth doing is worth doing slowly.”

1995 US dancer Ginger Rogers. She said “My mother told me that she knew I was going to be a dancer because she could feel my toes tapping around inside her.”

Answer to the trivia question:

The oldest player in the NBA was Nat Hickey who played in the 1947-48 season at the age of 47 years, 363 days.

      Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Wednesday

                                                  Musings and History

In addition to my daily history items I have over 300 essays and biographies...I think it is time to spread them around, here is the first. Enjoy

                            

                                Eleanor of Aquitaine

                                                             1122-1204

This is a biography of one of the most fascinating people in history. Her life reads like a soap opera so I will give the main characters soap opera nicknames to save space and they are:

Eleanor of Aquitaine………..Ellie

Henry II, King of England….Hank

Louis VII, King of France…..Lou

Eleanor’s real name was Alia-Aenor meaning “another Aenor”. Eleanor’s mother’s name was Aenor of Chatellerault and a female birth was of no consequence in the high middle ages, they were looking for male heirs to carry on the family name. Her father was William X, Duke of Aquitaine, one of the richest men in Europe and Ellie was his eldest child and the apple of William’s eye. William died when Ellie was 15 and he left everything to Ellie making her the richest woman in history to date. Before he died William had contacted the king of France, Louis VI earlier and requested that in the event of his death Louis VI would promulgate the marriage of Ellie and Louis’ son who would become Louis VII, king of France. Louis VI obliged William and after much pomp and circumstance, Ellie and Lou were married eventually making Ellie the Queen of France. There was one stipulation. Ellie made the Aquitaine estate exempt from being absorbed into the French realm. Aquitaine estate was in what is now south central France. Now here is where the fun starts. The 2^nd Crusade began a few years after Lou became King and he being a very pious man, did the Pope’s bidding and started gathering an army to go to Jerusalem and try to kick the Muslims out. Ellie joined in the fervor and personally began recruiting men to go. She even offered 2,000 of her own vassals. Not only that, she insisted on going on the Crusade herself being the first woman to do so. Upon arrival in the Holy Land, Ellie became enamored with all those knights literally in shining armor and decided it was party time especially with her uncle Raymond, a French knight. Many people were not pleased that Lou brought Ellie with him, but Lou was so enamored with his young bride that any thing she wanted was OK with him. Lou was an ineffective military leader; he was more of a religiously pious man. He was pretty wimpy on the whole. Even before leaving on the Crusade, Lou and Ellie were estranged and after they returned Ellie wearied of Lou’s weaknesses and began looking for a way out of the marriage. She found that they had a mutual relative which made their marriage illegal and Lou granted a divorce but kept custody of their two children. While all of this was going on, Ellie was scanning the countryside looking for a virile and powerful bachelor. She found one in the 19 year old Henry, the Duke of Normandy and heir to the English throne. Ellie wrangled a meeting with Hank and had a series of sleepovers. Ellie was a sexually experienced 30 year old woman and Hank was a 19 year old virtual virgin meaning that Hank didn’t have a chance. Soon after this encounter he and Ellie were married. Eventually Hank was crowned Henry II, the King of England and Ellie as Queen. Ellie and Hank squabbled from the git-go primarily because of what Ellie perceived as Hank’s indiscretions with other women. Although it was well known that Ellie’s pantyhose had been on fire continuously since the Crusades and she had innumerable trysts and brief encounters herself. You men that are married and those that have been married will understand how Ellie was able to justify this hypocrisy in her own mind. Nearly all women are capable of it. In fact one of her lovers was probably Hank’s father Geoffrey of Anjou who counseled Hank to not mess with Ellie from the git-go. But in spite of all of that, Ellie delivered Hank five sons and three daughters in a span of 13 years. They were William, Henry, Richard (the Lionhearted), Geoffrey, John, Matilda, Eleanor and Joan. Hank had many, many illegitimate children also. In spite of her obvious hypocrisy, Ellie went to France and started planning the unseating of Hank with the help of the King of France among others. She called in two of her sons to help plan a coup but her sons ain’t buying what Mom is selling and tell Hank what is going down. Hank took a ship over to France, gathered up Ellie and headed back to England. As soon as the ship docked at Southampton Hank sent her to the Castle of Winchester to cool her heel under house arrest. Ellie remained under arrest for 15 years in spite of her sons beseeching Hank to release her. While Ellie was paying her dues in Winchester, Hank struck up a liaison with an Irish beauty named Rosemund Clifford. Normally, Hank was discreet with his mistresses, but he flaunted Rosemund for several years. Rosemund died in 1176 and was buried in the nunnery at Godstow and Hank contributed largely to the nunnery in her behalf. Hank died in 1186 and the unquestioned heir to the throne was he and Ellie’s son Richard. The only problem here was that Richard had been captured on the way home from yet another Crusade and was being held for ransom in a castle in Germany. Upon hearing of Hank’s death, Richard got word back to England to immediately release his Mother. Ellie was released and immediately beseeched the Pope to engineer the release of her son which he did, for a price. After an enormous ransom had been paid with a large chunk going to the Vatican, Richard was released and returned to England and was crowned King. During all of this time Ellie had engineered the marriage of two of her daughters to the King of Castile and the King of Navarre respectively. Ellie lived through the reign of Richard and a large part of the reign of her son King John also. It was her son King John that signed the Magna Carta declaring that the king was not omnipotent and granted certain rights. This document was the first its kind and laid the foundation for human rights in England. Ellie returned to Aquitaine for a while and in fact directed the defense of her castle from an attack by some of her grandchildren. What I am trying to tell you is that greed knows no limits even up to trying to savage your own grandmother. Ellie eventually tired of all of this hassle and went to the place of Hank and Richard’s tombs, Fontevraud Abbey, and took the oath of a nun. She lived the rest of her days in relative serenity. In 1204, at the age of 81, Ellie died and was buried along side her husband Henry II and son Richard I (The Lionhearted).

This tale of Eleanor is by no means complete with all the plots, intrigues and travels that occurred throughout her long life. But in summary she was the richest woman in history up until that time, the Queen of two countries, the mother of two Kings and the mother of two Queens. What a magnificent life.

              

                  Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Tuesday

                           Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“The eyes are open and the mouth moves but Mr. Brain has long since departed.”

W.C. Fields when speaking of Mae West

Trivia question of the day:

Who was the first European to step foot on North America that we know of? Answer at the end of the blog. (It ain't Christopher Columbus)

                        This Date in History April 23

1934 On this date the FBI thought they had the John Dillinger gang cornered at Little Bohemia Inn in central Wisconsin. As you might suspect, there was the mother of all shoot outs when the gang chose to fight their way out. Among the gang was George “Baby-Face” Nelson. Nelson had a pistol in each hand when he ran from the Inn toward a car he was going to use for escape. Two agents tried to intercept Nelson and he yelled “I know you wear bullet-proof vests so I will shoot high and low” and fire away he did. He was successful in reaching the car after killing FBI agent H. Carter Baum along the way. Nelson led what would be called a “normal” childhood but upon reaching adulthood he decided on the ways of the gun. He started of as a member of Al Capone’s gang in Chicago. The only problem here was that Nelson was so mean and brutal that he scared other members of the gang and he was kicked out. Can you imagine being too mean for Al Capone? He preferred to be called “Big George” Nelson but because of his juvenile appearance he was called “Baby Face” but not to his face. You would risk annihilation if you did. This man hated to be called “Baby Face”. Anyway after splitting with Capone he joined with some California bootleggers then he met his mentor, John Dillinger. He accompanied Dillinger on two bank robbing trips to Iowa and South Dakota with Nelson killing a bank employee in each. Dillinger perfectly understood Nelson’s rage and said nothing to him about it. However with Nelson killing someone at every stop, Dillinger finally had to put a stop to it. When Dillinger was killed in an ambush by the FBI in Chicago, Nelson became # 1 on the FBI’s most wanted list. Nelson was spotted in Illinois and two FBI agents cornered him on a remote dirt road. Nelson hid behind his car and the agents hid behind theirs and they blazed away at each other. Finally Nelson got fed up and jumped out from behind his car, Tommy gun in hand, and charged the two agents like John Wayne. He was successful in killing both of the agents and staggered back to his car. The next morning the FBI found the dead agents and the body of George “Baby Face” Nelson in a ditch beside his car. He had 17 bullet wounds. I guess the agents called him “Baby Face”.

1002 In 963 Brian Boru from southern Ireland wrests away control of the Irish throne. By 1002 he had amassed all of the control in Ireland much to the chagrin of the Irish Vikings. King Sitric of the Dublin Norse gathered together other Vikings from Ireland, the Hebrides, the Orkney Islands and Vikings from Scandinavia and formed them up into an army to take control of Ireland by force. On this date Brian sent an army led by his son Muchan to meet Sitric and his Vikings. The Vikings were destroyed by Muchan’s army almost to the point of annihilation. There was just a handful of Vikings left. By some strange coincidence these few Vikings stumbled upon the tent of King Brian and killed his guards and the elderly King. The loss of commanding leadership plunged Ireland into anarchy for several years.

1564 It is on this date and on this same date in 1616 that most historians name as the date that William Shakespeare was born and died. Shakespeare was born in Stratford-on Avon, England. When he was 18 he got married to Anne Hathaway and 6 months later a daughter was born. It appears that William was doing more than writing plays. Anyway, he wrote most of his comedies in his younger days and his tragedies in his later years. In any event he became a member of one of the most envied acting troops called “Lord Chamberlain’s Men” and moved to London and acted and wrote many plays. He did the greatest majority of his acting in the Globe Theatre (been there) in London. There was a move afoot that it was impossible for a man of less than noble birth such as Shakespeare to have authored so many gems of plays and sonnets. They suggest it was a man of more noble birth like Sir Francis Bacon that chose to remain anonymous. The elitists can kiss my ass; I will take the beloved Bard of Avon every time.

Born today:

1524 English playwright William Shakespeare. He said “Many a good hanging stops a bad marriage.” William, methinks thee are a bit harsh.

1791 US President James Buchanan. He said “I like the noise of a democracy”. Me too, like “Off with his head!”

1818 English historian Edward Froude. He said “The superstition of science scoffs at the superstition of faith.” Hey Ed, how can science be a superstition, it does not require a leap of faith.

1834 US senator Chauncey Depew. He said “I get my exercise acting as pallbearer to my friends that exercise.” Me too.

1897 Canadian Prime Minister Lester Pearson. He said “Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.” I felt that was the case.

1928 US actress Shirley Temple Black. She said “I quit believing in Santa Claus when I was six. My mother took me to a department store to see Santa and he asked for my autograph.” Notoriety is a heavy burden.

1936 US musical legend Roy Orbison. He said “I may be a living legend but that does not help when changing a flat tire.” See item above.

1954 US film maker and political activist Michael Moore when speaking of President George “Dubya” Bush he said “When the Pope and The Dixie Chicks are against you, your time is up.” Michael Moore is full of shit.

Died today:

1616 English playwright William Shakespeare. He said “I am basically not an honest man, but I am that way sometimes by mistake”. I love you, Bill

Answer to the trivia question:

The first European to step foot on North America was Leif Ericcson. Leif was a Norwegian Viking born in Iceland and the son of Eric the Red. Leif established a village in present day Newfoundland in about 1,000 AD. The National Historic site is known as L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland

         Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Monday

•                                        Musings and History
  

  
  

  Quote of the day:

  “Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance.”

                                    Confucius

  
  

  Here in Greenville, SC a Cabela's recently opened and Bass Pro Shop has announced the nearby location of a new giant facility that will be built soon. To those of you that are not familiar with Cabela's, it is essentially a sporting goods store but they have a large clothing section also. I heard some people talking about being in the mob that was there for the grand opening. They spoke about the number of mounted animal heads and whole animals and said that they really were opposed to the killing of animals for sport. Then when they began to leave they discussed going to either Henry's Smokehouse, Outback Steakhouse or Harbor Inn for dinner. Those people that are opposed to the killing game animals need to go to a slaughterhouse where pigs or cattle are processed, or worse still a chicken processing plant. Those animals know what is up and resist with all their might...and then we kill and eat them. One of my daughters told me that she was riding down a street behind a truck load of live chickens and one of the chickens stuck his head out and looked directly at her. She felt strongly that the chicken knew what was up and was looking to her for help. She would not eat chicken for a long time.

  
  

  I read something interesting. The absolute first written language yet found is called cuneiform. It originated in those ancient cities near the northern end of the Persian gulf in present day Iraq. This written language spread throughout the “Fertile Crescent” or the land between and near the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. This would include that area in the Jordan River valley known as Canaan. In addition to being mentioned many time in the Bible, the people of Canaan are responsible for modifying Cuneiform into a 40 character alphabet. It was the Arabs and the Greeks that are responsible for the modification of the Canaanite alphabet into the present day 26 character alphabet that we all are familiar with. Speaking of the Canaanites, a lot of the Bible is dedicated to the adventures of the Israelite army led by Joshua fighting its way to Canaan. All of this is supposedly dated to about 1,400BC. A problem arises because this time period is proven to be the absolute peak of Egyptian dominance throughout that area. It is very unlikely that Egypt would have allowed an Israelite army to capture lands that belonged to them, but we believe what we want to. By the way there is no mention of Joshua in any other historical document yet discovered other than the Old Testament. In fact there is no mention on anything of the Israelite people in that area until about 1040BC and that is on an Egyptian stone carving. It has been estimated that there were about 630,000 Hebrews that were released from Egypt at the behest of Moses and then wandered the thirsty Negev for 40 years. The is no archaeological evidence that his ever happened, not even evidence of one camp site or pottery shard...nothing. But anything that is believed and cannot be proven is called faith, humanity depends on it.

                      This Date in History   April 22

  
  

  1886 On this date the state on Ohio passed a law against seduction. That’s right y'all, I said seduction. The law forbade any male over the age of 21 that was a teacher or instructor of women from having even consensual sex with women of any age that he was instructing. The penalty for breaking this statute was 2 to 10 years in the joint, believe it or not. This law was not unique. New York had a law that disallowed any male “from having illicit connection with a previously chaste woman” if the man previously promised to marry said woman. Georgia’s version made it unlawful for men to “seduce a virtuous unmarried female and induce her into his ‘lustful’ embraces, and allow him to have carnal knowledge of her.” These laws were essentially ignored by law enforcement but on one occasion a man in Michigan was brought up on three counts with the same woman. The judge did his best to get all the charges dismissed because he knew the law was unenforceable. The last two of the charges were dismissed because the judge reasoned that after the first encounter the woman was no longer “virtuous”. The first encounter supposedly took place in a buggy and a doctor testified that penetration was not possible in a buggy so the first charge was dismissed. However some unscrupulous women would use this law to capture a husband. In one case in 1867 a man was on trial for seduction and was looking at 5 years in the slammer so he proposed to the woman that he had “seduced” and she accepted. A parson was retrieved and the trial turned into a wedding ceremony. That ain’t fair, y'all.

  
  

  1889 At exactly 12:00 noon the legendary Oklahoma Land Rush begins. The United States Cavalry was present to ensure that no one left the demarcation line early. There were some that did anyway and were known as “Sooners” thus the name of the University of Oklahoma mascot. The Oklahoma territory was originally thought to be uninhabitable to Caucasians because of the aridity and the relative lack of water making the area not fit for farming. This made it ideal for reservation for the Native Americans like the Cherokee, Choctaw, Comanche, Kiowa, and Apache among others. Finally better farming techniques assured all that the great plains could be farmed for grain and the Federal Government opened up the “Cherokee Strip” which basically was the majority of Oklahoma for homesteading. All told between 50,000 and 60,000 settlers came into the area over a 24 hour period. Towns like Norman, Oklahoma City, Kingfisher and Guthrie were established and populated almost overnight. Did I mention that the already established Indian reservations were also over run? The settlers felt like the land owned by the Osage Indians was least arable and did not bother them. It was indeed not farmland but about 7,000 feet below the surface was an ocean of oil known as the Anadarko basin. This oil and gas field was discovered and explored making the Osage nation one of the wealthiest in the world.

  
  

  Born today:

  
  

  1766 French writer Germaine Stael. She said “The desire of men is women; the desire of women is the desire of men.” Does this mean that all that women want is to be desired? Does that mean that diamonds are NOT a girl’s best friend? Does that mean that there is no need for flowers, fancy candlelight dinners, remembrance of anniversaries and birthdays, candy on Valentine’s Day, etc? Who the hell are you trying to kid, Germaine?

  
  

          Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

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