•  Musings and History

    Quote of the day:

    “It is just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I knock dudes out.”

                                                  Muhammad Ali


    Trivia question of the day:

    Recently Albert Pujols of the Los Angeles Angels delivered his 3,000th hit. There are only 2 players to have had over 4,000 hits, Ty Cobb is one of them, who is the other one? Answer at the end of the blog.

    Once again here in the buckle of the bible belt there are evangelicals saying that denying illegal immigrants entry is not “the Christian thing to do”. This nation is not now nor has it ever been a “Christian nation”. The founders of this nation went to great lengths to keep specific religious beliefs out of the machinations of government. Nowhere on any document associated with our government is there reference to Jesus Christ but “God”, “Providence”, “our Maker”, etc. is common. It was pointed out to me that oaths of office is taken with a hand on the Bible. This is true and half of the Bible is about people believing that Jesus Christ was the son of God and the other half is about people that don't...but both believe in God. The oath ends with “so help me God”. I am not anti-religion or anti-Christian but religion has no place in the decision making when it comes to the operation of a nation. Why? Because all religions require a leap of faith or a belief that cannot be proven. Affairs of the heart and mind vary widely depending on the persons involved. When our founding fathers set the rules for entering this country as an immigrant their religious beliefs or the lack thereof was a non-issue and rightly so. Our ancestor had been through that nightmare in Europe and were very careful in the construction of the foundation of this, the mightiest nation in history. But after all, Paul Tibbett the pilot of the Enola Gay (see Hiroshima) was a Christian...and so was George Patton.


                                        This Date in History   May 8


    1864 After completion of the bloody Battle of the Wilderness, US General Ulysses Grant headed for the important crossroads near the Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia in the hopes of gaining the lead ahead of CSA General Robert E. Lee toward Richmond, Virginia. General Lee again was able to sniff out Grant’s intentions and sent CSA General James Longstreet’s division, under the command of CSA General Richard Anderson because Longstreet was wounded, on a forced march to reach Spotsylvania before Grant. On this date the Confederates did indeed reach Spotsylvania before Grant and was able to construct defensive breastwork before Grant arrived. This made it extremely difficult for Grant because of the determination and grit of the Confederate defenders. One of the top three bloodiest battles in the American Civil War ensued. The Union and Confederate soldiers fought each other without a break for 10 hours. The battle finally waned because of sheer exhaustion of the troop and the coming of night. But the next day it started all over again. At times the soldiers’ bayonets were touching across the breastwork. It was hell on earth, y'all. But again, Grant knew that he had more troops and artillery than Lee and kept pushing.


    1945 On this date the United States and Great Britain announced that German soldiers everywhere they were to be found laid down their arms and surrendered to whatever Allies were close by. The war in Europe was over. They called it VE-Day for victory in Europe. Ever since 1939 and the invasion of Poland and the Balkans by the Germans, the devil incarnate in Adolph Hitler had ruled Europe. He had preached that the “3rd Reich” would rule the world for a thousand years. They lasted a little over 7.


    1541 In 1539 the Spanish conquistador Hernan De Soto landed on the west coast of Florida with 600 troops and 200 horses, a pack of war dogs and began exploring the territory. As usual they were looking for silver and gold like they found in Central and South America among the native tribes. They headed north through North Florida, Georgia and South Carolina before turning west across the Appalachians where they went into north Alabama. They did not find any gold and silver but they did find some valuable pearls in north Georgia. As usual the Spanish took many Indians captive and treated them like hell using them to carry supply packs and as guides. However, the Indians set an ambush for De Soto and his troops near the Indian village of Mabilia (Mobile) and they barely got out without annihilation. De Soto’s troops wanted to head south and try to reach any Spanish ships known to be cruising the area. De Soto headed his troops north and then west through Arkansas and Louisiana and on this date, he reached the Mississippi River just south of Memphis. De Soto and his troops built rafts to cross the river but would only do it at night to avoid the ever patrolling Indians on both sides. DeSoto and his troops went west a short distance when De Soto came down with malaria and died soon thereafter. His troops brought his body back to the Mississippi and buried in the river at night so the Indians would not know he was dead. De Soto had convinced the Indians that he was a God and Gods don’t die. The troops wanted to get home so they rafted down the Mississippi to the delta and followed the Gulf Coast across Texas and on down into Mexico. They reached Vera Cruz in late 1543 with only half of the troops the started with, but they were saved.


    1792 On this date the United States Congress passed a conscription law stating “all able bodied men between the age of 18 and 45 will make themselves available to the military”. It was the beginnings of the draft. Nearly every major power in the world has drafted or conscripted troops at one time or another. In ancient Rome able bodied men were drafted for a 20 years tour...If I am not mistaken, able bodied women are also drafted into the Israeli army. Speaking of that, two of the most vicious military commanders in history were women. One was an early Britain name Boudicca and the other was a Viking name Freida, the daughter of Eric the Red.


    1846 On this date US General Zachary Taylor engaged a Mexican army of nearly twice his size near the now Texas town of Palo Alto. General Taylor and the Americans inflicted a severe ass-whipping on the Mexicans. Not only that, the next day Taylor met them again near Resaca de la Palma and kicked their ass once again. Again, even though they were outnumbered, the Americans were much better trained and had superior weaponry. The Mexican War had not been officially declared but it might as well had been because Taylor had already been engaged in two battles.


    1988 Earlier Stella Nickell of Seattle, Washington had decided to murder her husband. She took out a life insurance policy on her husband that had a rider stating that if her husband died an accidental death, she would get an extra $100,000. So she did some research and found out all she could about cyanide. She went into her husband’s bottle of Excedrin and took apart one of the capsules and replaced the contents with cyanide. A few days later her husband did indeed take the Excedrin and died. Believe it or not, an autopsy was performed and the coroner decided that Stella’s husband had died of emphysema making his death of natural causes not accidental as stated in the insurance policy. Stella panicked and in order to make his death appear as an accident, she went into two separate drugstores and replaced the contents of a few Excedrin capsules with arsenic and put them back on the shelf. This was the days before there was a seal over the top of the cap like it is today. A few days later, a woman named Susan Snow took a newly purchased capsule of Excedrin and died instantly. Stella had in mind that if this happened and the FDA investigated, there would be no doubt that her husbands autopsy would be done again and his death would be ruled as accidental giving her an extra 100K. But she was caught and convicted and given 90 years. She was eligible for parole in 2018, I don't know after that.


    Answer to the trivia question:

    Other than Ty Cobb the only other major league player to have over 4,000 hits was Pete Rose.


                            Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow