Tuesday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

From a Men's Rules list sent to me.

“If you come to us with a problem we will try to resolve it, that is what we do. If you want sympathy go to your girlfriends, that is what they do.”

Last Friday evening “Rebel Without a Cause” was on Turner Classic Movies. I was a senior in high school when this movie was released. It starred James Dean playing a teenager that was rebellious and confused. It was a huge hit with the youths of that period including myself. James Dean's performance was stunning as was the majority of the others. In addition to James Dean it starred Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo, Jim Backus, Nick Adams and one of my favorites, Dennis Hopper. There were others with minor roles but then I realized that all of them had something in common, they are all dead. That made me feel old...briefly.

Have any of you ever heard of the city of Bangui? It is the capitol of the Central African Republic...I never heard of it either. About three years ago a Muslim was elected president and as you might suspect, the president began an extermination of Christians. Recently the Christians finally got fed up and initiated a coup. The Muslims of that nation saw the handwriting on the wall and started getting the hell out of Dodge. There eventually was a UN peace-keeping force on site but the roads were packed with cars and buses full of Muslims leaving the area with Christians lining the roads screaming obscenities. Unfortunately a Muslim man fell off the top of one of the buses and immediately was hacked to pieces with machetes. You notice I said “fell off the top of the bus”...that should give you a mental image of what was going on over there. Another man fell off one of the buses but the peace-keeping force arrived before the machetes and he was saved. As many people a lot smarter than I have said...”There is no wars as bitter and vicious as wars of religion.” That is because each side believes that God is on their side. I invite you to study about what atrocities were committed by nearly everybody involved during the 9 Crusades...this included Muslims, Christians and Jews among many others that killed just because they liked it. This may give some of you heartburn but the most savage of all armies during the middle ages was any army under the umbrella of the sitting Pope. I also invite you to look up the “Spanish Inquisition” in the middle of the 15^th century led by a representative of the Catholic Church named Bishop Tomas Torquemada. This man was very inventive when it came to dealing with those that were not followers of the Pope. His philosophy was to drag people before him and ask them if they were sinners. If they answered yes, he would say that they needed to be tortured for their sins. If they answered no, he would say that no mortal is sinless and this person would get a double dose of torture for being a sinner AND lying about it. Do not get me wrong, I am not anti-Catholic or any other religion, I am just a historian relaying what I have found. And finally, I also invite you to look into what happened to the Knights Templar and why.

By the way, the phrase “saw the handwriting on the wall” came from the book of Daniel in the Bible. Daniel and his people were captives in the city-state of Babylon where Nebuchadnezzar was king. Daniel was the official interpreter of dreams. At a large feast and a ghostly finger appeared and wrote something on the wall. No one could understand what it meant so Daniel was called. Daniel took one look and told the king that it said that his kingdom is doomed. That night Babylon was invaded and sure enough.....

I was reminded of when I was an air traffic controller in Pensacola which is the home of the Blue Angels. On one occasion the Angels were out over the Gulf of Mexico practicing and an accident occurred killing one of the pilots. The next day one of our secretaries had been a secretary for the Blue Angels and was very sad and morose. One of our guys told her “That man chose the glory and accepted the danger, don’t be sad he was doing exactly what he wanted to.”

This Date in History February 10

1779 On this date band of 350 Patriots led by General Andrew Pickens, Colonel Robert Dudley and Lieutenant Colonel Elijah Clarke left South Carolina headed for Wilkes County, Georgia. They were after a group of 200 British/Loyalist commanded by British Colonel John Hamilton at Carr’s Fort. The Patriots arrive at the site and battle ensued. Just when the Patriots are about to wrap up this battle, General Pickens called for withdrawal and they headed out toward another column of British/Loyalist headed for North Carolina with recruits gathered up from the city of Augusta, Ga. by Loyalist Colonel Robert Boyd. They set up an ambush for Boyd’s column near Kettle Creek, When the Loyalists are in the right position, Pickens springs the trap and all but annihilates the column of recruits. British Colonel Colonel Boyd is killed instantly. Both of these events occurred in Wilkes County, Georgia named after the British revolutionary John Wilkes who raised much hell in English Parliament in the behalf of the colonies that he was arrested and jailed for his fiery speeches. Some American colonists sent him money for his defense.

1962 Earlier an America spy pilot for the CIA named Gary Francis Powers launched a spy mission from a secret base in Pakistan and is to fly across central Russian enroute to a secret spy base near Buda, Norway. He was flying the infamous U-2 spy plane. At the same time Russian spy Rudolph Abel is gathering information for the Soviets in New York and Washington. About half way through his mission, Power’s U-2 aircraft lost power and descended to an altitude that can be reached by Russian fighters and ground-to-air missiles. Normally the U-2 is at such a high altitude that nothing can reach them, but not this time. Powers is shot down and captured alive. Meanwhile Russian spy Rudolph Abel is also captured. After a while the Russians and the US decided to swap Powers and Abel so on this day Gary Francis Powers and Rudolph Abel passed each other walking in opposite directions on a bridge to freedom for Powers and suppression for Abel.

1920 Unfortunately for silent actress Theda Bara, she opened in San Francisco in a play named “Kathleen Mavoureen”. The play makes fun and ridicules the Irish immigrants. The majority of the men in the audience were Irish immigrant miners and railroad workers that had moved out west to work in the gold and silver mines near San Francisco. After it became apparent that the play was making fun of the Irish, the Irishmen got out of their seats and tore the joint apart. The moral of the story is the Irish have no sense of humor when they are the focus of a joke.

Quotable quotes:

“My grandmother is 85 and still does not have glasses; she drinks right out of the bottle.”

Henny Youngman

“An opera is a play where a guy is stabbed in the back and instead of dying, he sings.

Robert Benchley

“There is a confection that induces women to give up sex. It is called wedding cake.”

Bill Maher

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Monday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“It is best to master the chaos within you. You are not being thrown into the fire...you are the fire.”

                                  Mama Indigo

Here is a bio of one of the most powerful women in history.

                     Catherine de Medici

Catherine was born on April 13, 1519 in Florence, Italy. Her father was Florentine ruler Lorenzo de Medici otherwise known as Lorenzo the Magnificent because of his support and fostering of the arts. In 1533 at the age of 14 she married the Duke of Orleans as part of a political arrangement as was done most of the time with the powerful families in Europe. The good Duke became the King of France as Henry II making Catherine the queen of France. Many of the French did not cotton to having and Italian as queen but she stayed anyway. She had little influence in affair of state until Henry II died and soon thereafter her first son and also king as Francis II, died in 1560 leaving her in control of the French government as regent for her younger son Charles IX until he became of age to take control. In 1563 Charles reached the appointed age and became a full-fledged king but Catherine continued to dominate Charles throughout his reign. Catherine saw her role as maintaining royal power at all costs. This girl was ruthless when it came to that as y'all will see. She spent much time and energy trying to maintain a balance of power between the Huguenots, a Protestant group led by military leader Gaspard de Coligny, and the Catholics led by the powerful House of Guise. After the beginning of the religious wars that began in 1562, Catherine was a Roman Catholic but sided with which ever side held sway at any given time. In order to maintain a balance she included her family in her wheeling and dealing. She arranged for her daughter Elizabeth to marry the powerful Roman Catholic king of Spain Phillip II. And then she arranged for another daughter, Margaret, to marry the powerful Protestant ruler Henry of Navarre. You see what she is doing here, maintaining political and religious alliances no matter what it took. Catherine looked on with alarm at the rise in influence the Huguenots were having on her son Charles. Then in 1572 she did the honorable thing by having the Huguenot leader Garpard de Coligny assassinated along with an estimated 50,000 of his followers. This event went down in history as the St. Bartholomew Day Massacre . In 1574 her son Charles the king died and is succeeded by her third son Henry III. Henry III ain’t buying any of this from his mom and tells Catherine to take a hike that he and only he is in command. Needless to say Catherine’s influence over the French court went down the toilet. Catherine died January 5, 1589 in Blois, France at the age of 70. Catherine like her father, was instrumental in the promotion of the arts what time she wasn’t involved in political intrigue. She added a wing to the famous Louvre museum began construction of the Tuileries Gardens and built the chateau of Monceau. Her personal library and rare manuscripts was and are some of the most treasured in history. She was a patron of the arts in spite of that indiscretion in the St.Bartholomew’s Day thing. She was a powerful influence in the history of Europe but as with most women, don’t threaten their security or they will do something rash.

This Date in History February 9

1942 In the late 1930’s the grandest ocean liner on the planet was built in France and named the Normandie. The ship had a revolutionary hull shape that made it very speedy and was able to cross the Atlantic in four days and was the first ship of that size to be able to do this. After the United States entered WWII in December of 1941, it became apparent that the American commercial fleet had enough ships to carry cargo but virtually no passenger vessels. In those times the luxury liners were English, Scottish or Dutch. England donated the liner Queen Mary to shuttle American troops worldwide. The French liner Normandie was seized while it was in port in New York and renamed the U.S.S. Lafayette. The ship fitters pulled the ship into dry dock and began transforming this ship from a luxury liner to a troop carrier. On this date a welder accidentally set fire to a large pile of life preservers and the fire spread quickly. The fire crews poured water into the ship at an enormous rate and finally the great ship capsized and burned into a lump of unusable steel. The ship was towed to a New Jersey and cut up for scrap. There was a rumor that President Roosevelt told the trade unions on American docks that a strike would not be tolerated for the duration of the war. Some of the more militant Union organizers ordered the Normandie destroyed as a sign that the trade unions would not be told what they could or could not do. But that is just a rumor.

Born today:

1773 President William Henry Harrison. He said “The Government that is the strongest is the one that is the most free”. He also made his hour and a half inauguration speech in sub-freezing weather with no coat on. He died of pneumonia 30 days later.

1865 Mrs. Patrick Campbell, Irish actress. She said “It doesn’t matter what you do in the bedroom as long as you don’t do it in the street and frighten the horses.” Mrs. Campbell must have known my third ex-wife before I did.

1821 Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky. He said “Realists do not fear the results of their study.”

1921 Irish writer Brendan Behan. He said “I have never seen a situation so dismal that a policeman would not make it worse.”

1945 US actress Mia Farrow. She said “I can match bottoms with anyone in Hollywood.” I don’t know about that, Mia, it looks kind of lean to me.

 

         Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Friday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the soldier who died...rather we should thank God that such men lived.”

US General George S. Patton

In yesterday's edition I briefly described the story line of the movie The Kings Speech. I mentioned that Prince Edward rejected being the king of England so he could marry “The woman I love”. He and his bride were then titled the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and spent the rest of their days touring the world and living the high life. Their permanent residence was in Paris but they would go anywhere King George VI or Queen Elizabeth commanded. They were titled Windsor because that is the “house” that is/was the present lineage of the kings and queens of England. The Duke died first and was buried on the grounds of Windsor castle and his bride followed several years later. Windsor castle was originally built by William the Conqueror in about 1080.

About this time in 1945 there was a gathering of ships in the Marianas in the Pacific There were troop transports, cargo ships and war ships of all sizes. The overall commander as Admiral Chester Nimitz. It was essentially a US Marine operation as most operations in the Pacific were. The name of this event was Operation Detachment. The ships left their assembly point headed for tiny Island southeast of Okinawa that nobody ever heard of but had three airstrips and was about half way between Saipan/Tinian (where US bombers were based) and Japan. This tiny island was occupied by the Japanese under the command of a very competent leader named General Tadamishi Kuribayashi. The armada arrived on February 16 and hell on Earth was realized. It was Iwo Jima, y'all. After a month of savage fighting Kuribayashi sent his last dispatch to Tokyo saying “Our weapons have been destroyed. We have not eaten nor drank for five days but our spirit is good. We will mount our final charge tonight. May Japan exist for a thousand years.” A final charge was indeed launched that night and was totally crushed by the Marines. General Kuribayashi's corpse was never identified. Out of about 30,000 Japanese defenders on this island there were 220 survivors. By the way, this is the only battle involving the US Marines where the enemy suffered less casualties than the Marines. Casualties means killed OR wounded. The Japanese didn't play that...it was either fighting...or dead.

This Date in History February 6

1820 On this date the first ship carrying freed slaves out of the country left New York harbor for Freetown in the West African country of Sierra Leone. This voyage was sponsored by the American Colonization Society led by Robert Finley but the United States Congress had kicked in $100,000 for the expenses. These former slaves were those that were brought to the United States illegally after the passing of the American Law in 1808 that forbade slave trade. That’s right folks, slave trade in America was forbidden after 1808. This meant that slaves could no longer be brought into the United States. That did not mean that you could not keep the slaves you had and trade them, buy them or sell them within the boundaries of the United States. So the “illegal slaves” that were brought here after 1808 had the option to go back to Africa. The American plan was based on the English plan whereby the slaves that fought for England during the American Revolutionary War and were unhappy with what was given them in Canada and were allowed to go back to Africa. In 1787 England sent 300 former slaves and 60 white prostitutes to Sierra Leone. Very soon after their arrival they died of disease or in warfare with the Temne tribe. However, in 1792 a second fleet of ships departed but now it had 1,100 former slaves that had fought for England during the Revolutionary War plus thousands that had fled the West Indies and other parts of West Africa and came under the leadership of Thomas Clarkson to the new found country of Liberia and the capitol of Freetown to establish an independent nation. Between 1822 and 1861 15,000 Africans moved to Freetown and the new nation of Liberia was granted independence in 1847 and received diplomatic recognition from the US in 1863. Liberia is the first democratic black nation in history. All of y'all need to read about what recently happened to that country and the major employer Firestone.

Quotable quotes:

“I am sorry, what was the question? I was distracted by that half-masticated cow wallowing around in your mouth”.

Michael Caine in “Miss Congeniality”

“George W. Bush’s economic plan will create 2.5 million jobs. The bad news is that they are all for Iraqi soldiers.”

Craig Kilborn

“The graveyards are full of indispensable men.”

Charles de Gaulle

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

.

Thursday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“Women are made to be loved, not understood.”

Oscar Wilde

Yesterday morning I watched the movie The King's Speech on Sundance. It was one of the most enjoyable movies I have ever seen. I did not know any of the actors but they all were superb. I did recognize the man who played the Archbishop. He played Senator Graccus in Gladiator. The Kings Speech was based on a true historical event and here is a brief explanation of what happened.

The King of England had died and the next in line was his eldest son Prince Edward. The Prince had a girlfriend/lover named Wallis Simpson, an American divorcee. Edward had been sleeping with Wallis Simpson for quite a spell but she being an American AND twice divorced made her very unlikely to be accepted as Queen by the English peerage. Edward chose to give up (abdicate) his lineage as King of England so he could marry Wallis. In early 1937 he was officially shit-canned as the next King of England. That made his brother the next in line. The problem was that the brother “nicknamed Bertie” stammered horribly. The brother was crowned the King of England as George VI very close to the outbreak of WWII. Everyone close to the King knew that war with Hitler was inevitable and the King was expected to make a speech when England declared war on Germany. Bertie was very upset knowing that he eventually had to make speech to the entire British empire and the entire world and sought help where he could get it. He eventually contacted a man that was not a speech expert but Bertie had confidence in his ability to extract a good speech. The movie was about Bertie and his relationship with this man and others training him to make this speech. He eventually made the speech and it made me want to fight...but that is nothing unusual.

Once again I have read about the pro-choice vs pro-life arguments. I personally have decided that insisting on implementing one side or the other is playing God and believe me, I ain't qualified. I just have one question...how many unwanted children have those of the “pro-life” genre adopted or are supporting? If the answer is “few or none” then there is only one logical thought left. They foster their attitude only to appear noble. As far as the pro-choice side is concerned, each person is responsible for their soul and whatever reward or punishment awaits them. It is a personal issue and really none of my business...or anybody else's. I know, some of you pro-lifers out there are going to “yawp” (a word coined by Walt Whitman) about “What about the life of the baby?” What about it? Agree to adopt them, support them or shut the hell up. The only other answer is when a woman shows up pregnant by mistake or rape and does not want to have a baby for a variety of reasons, she is sent to the Gulag Archipelago to have the baby whether she likes it or not. Don't try to be God, you ain't qualified either.

This Date in History February 5

1631 A young hell-raiser arrived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. It is Roger Williams, a teacher and minister. This colorful guy begins traveling around to the different cities like Plymouth and Salem and began preaching that the civil authorities had no right to administrate religious behavior and not only that the civil authorities had no right to take Indian lands without offering recompense. The people in the Colony could not stand that kind of criticism and kicked Roger out of the Colony. Roger gathered a large number of Narragansett Indians and moved into another section not far away and named it Providence. That’s right if was the birth of the state of Rhode Island. Roger invited those that were unhappy with the civil government administrating an individuals religion and any and all religious sects were invited to join them.

1865 Union General U.S. Grant ordered General David Gregg to go try and break the Confederate lines near Dabney Mill during the siege of Petersburg during the Civil War. Upon arrival, Gregg attacked a dug in and ready Confederates with little or no effect. The next day the battle began anew but the Union added US General Gouverneur Warren and his brigade to the battle. It did not help either because the Confederates just moved to face the attacks and beat the living crap out of both regiments so those Yankees withdrew and went back to the house. The total was 1,000 Confederate casualties to 3,400 for the Union. But no matter, the war was over in April anyway,

1885 On this date the Southern Pacific Railroad completed its tracks on its so called “Sunset Route” This line ran from New Orleans to California. Earlier The Central Pacific had been completed when the tracks coming from California met the tracks coming west from the Great Plains met at Promontory Point, Utah. There were four men that owned the railroads in America at the time and they were Collis Huntington, Charles Crocker, Leland Stanford and Mark Hopkins. It was Huntington that owned the Sunset Route. He knew he had to hurry to finish the route because the Texas Pacific Railroad was making good progress westbound. Using his superior finances, Huntington was able to tie in with the Santa Fe Railroad on this date first making the Sunset Route a reality.

“Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity.”

“But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.”

“Question with boldness even the existence of a god; because if there be one he must approve of the homage of reason more than that of blindfolded fear.”

“They [the clergy] believe that any portion of power confided to me, will be exerted in opposition to their schemes. And they believe rightly; for I have sworn upon the altar of god, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man. But this is all they have to fear from me: and enough, too, in their opinion.”

Some of his thoughts lead one to believe that he is an atheist but other documents say he is not. He authored a very famous document that contains the phrase “...nature and nature’s God entitle them”. The document is of course the Declaration of Independence and he is one of the most brilliant men this country has ever produced ...Thomas Jefferson.

         Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Wednesday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“We keep saying that we are through with the past. The problem is that the past is not through with us.”

Educator Bergen Evans

Consider this:

It has been confirmed that the Earth is about 4.3 billion years old. The oldest fossil of an animal or plant ever found was about 165 million years old. My rudimentary math tells me that leaves about 4.14 billion years unaccounted for. Many scientists and most Central American Indian tribes say that life on this planet as we know it has been annihilated at least four times. Who/what was here before the dinosaurs...if anything? Did intelligent life exist before then? If so, how far back in the dim corridors of the past were they? If you reduce the life on this planet from 4.3 billion years to one year, present mankind has been walking upright for about four seconds...what else has happened?

I guess many of you read about a riot that broke out after church services in rural South Carolina. There were about 75 parishioners involved and it took several car loads of sheriff’s deputies to break it up. What the problem was is a certain group of the flock wanted a vote to get rid of the present pastor and there was another group that wanted to keep the present pastor and they would not allow a vote. Both sides decided to end this impasse the honorable way, they chose to fight about it. Make no mistake, the Old Testament allows and even encourages wholesale murder. In the book of Exodus Moses was told by God to instruct Joshua and his army to totally annihilate several tribes on their way to Canaan. The reason being was when they encountered the armies of Canaan they would not have to worry about an attack from the rear by any surviving hostiles. It worked. This was a matter of survival for the Children of Israel but fighting to see who was going to be the pastor is at least juvenile. All I have to say is “Thou shalt not kill” except under certain conditions and as directed.

     This Date in History   February 4

1861 Earlier in November of 1860, the Republican nominee Abraham Lincoln was elected president. The Republican Party was formed in 1850 for the sole purpose of eliminating slavery in America. As early as 1858 the slave-holding states had threatened secession if a Republican was elected President. The Democratic Party was divided and in disarray and there was very little chance that their presidential nominee would win. Almost immediately after the Lincoln election, the State of South Carolina began assembling the paperwork necessary to secede from the Union. On December 20, 1860 the South Carolina legislature issued the “Ordinance of Secession” declaring them as no longer being a member of the United States of America. Soon after various regiments of the South Carolina militia began capturing Union forts and armaments because they knew a war was on the near horizon. On this date, representatives of South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and Louisiana gathered in Montgomery, Alabama to hammer out a Constitution and establish the Confederate States of America and elected Jefferson Davis of Mississippi as President. By the time Lincoln was inaugurated in March of 1861, Texas had joined the Confederacy. Very soon after this meeting all of the Union forts and outposts on Confederate soil had been capture by the Confederacy except Fort Sumter in Charleston, SC harbor (been there) and Fort Pickens on the end of the Santa Rosa Island peninsula near Pensacola, Florida (been there, too). The Civil War began in earnest of April 12, 1861 when CSA General P.T G. Beauregard ordered an artillery bombardment of Fort Sumter after the commander of the Fort refused to surrender to the Confederates. Eventually the commander of the fort did indeed surrender because the Confederate artillery forbade any supplies reaching the fort. Fort Sumter is on an island in the middle of the Charleston, SC harbor and supplies can only get there by boat, parachute or helicopter.

1789 On this date 69 members of Congress cast their ballots for our first President of the United States. In those days the members of Congress cast a ballot with two names on it, the person who had the most votes at the top of the ballot was President and the other was Vice-President. In this case the President was George Washington and the Vice President was John Adams. The same thing happened four years later.

Born today:

1876 US writer Sarah Cleghorn. She said “The children working in the factories are close enough that they can look out the window and watch the adults playing golf.” Using child labor in America is not that far in our past, y'all.

1895 English actor Nigel Bruce. When told the price of tickets to the ballet he said “That is a hell of lot of money to watch people jump.” I concur.

1906 German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Bonhoeffer was a vehement anti-Nazi and had no problem saying so. When asked why he did not join the Nazi party he said “When you board a train going the wrong direction, there is no use in running down the aisle headed the opposite direction.” He was hanged by the Nazis just before the surrender.

Died today:

1982 English musician Alex Harvey. He said “Do you think Paul McCartney makes records just to aggravate me personally, or does he want to get up every freaking body’s nose with his freaking antics?” Alex and Paul evidently did not get along.

2006 US feminist Betty Freidan. She said “The feminine mystique has buried millions of American women alive.” What the hell is the “feminine mystique” Betty?

     Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow.

Tuesday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“The Pope is single but you never hear anyone say that he has a commitment problem.”

Larry Shandling

Consider this:

Are there more Americans killed by drunk driving, driving while impaired...or by gunfire? I don't think there is a question that booze and drugs takes the prize when it comes to this. Then why is there an all out assault on gun ownership and not booze? Could it be because Jim Beam, Jack Daniels and other distillers of spirits have a much larger lobby? I think so....so so you.

This Date in History February 3

1781 Earlier in December of 1780, Patriot General Nathaneal Greene had tasked Polish engineer Thaddeus Kosciusko with designing a boat that could be used convey troops across the unpredictable Yadkin River regardless of its condition. Kosciusko made an exploratory canoe trip down the Yadkin and the Pee Dee Rivers and came back and designed and helped build boats for that special purpose. If y'all remember previous lessons, British General Charles Cornwallis defeated the North Carolina Militia at the Battle of Cowan’s Ford and British Colonel Banastre Tarleton’s Dragoons had beaten up on the same militia at the Battle of Tarrant’s Tavern, now that militia and other soldiers under the command of Greene join near Salisbury, NC and head for the Dan River in Virginia and safety. The only problem was that the Yadkin River was severely flooded because of a thunderous rainfall on February 1 and British General Cornwallis’ army of 16,000 is perilously close. So on this date Greene ordered his army into the boats designed by Kosciusko and successfully cross the Yadkin but then very last remnants of Greene’s army are shelled by Cornwallis’s artillery from the opposite bank. With no boats, Cornwallis must move his army to the city of Shallowford and wait for the water to abate low enough to cross. He did not get across until February 7 and by then Greene and his army was far enough ahead to make it to the Dan River safely.

1959 A musical group was on a “Winter Tour” when their tour bus broke down near Mason City, Iowa. Their next stop was Moorhead, Minnesota so the band leader chartered a four place single engine Beechcraft Bonanza to take him and two others on to Moorhead. One this date, the plane crashed soon after takeoff killing all aboard. In addition to the pilot, the passengers were Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and John “The Big Bopper” Richardson. Holley and his band The Crickets, had just recorded “That’ll be the Day” a few days before. Valens was riding the crest of his hit “La Bamba” and Richardson had recorded the hit “Chantilly Lace”. Richardson had the flu and had talked another musician out of his seat on the plane. The musician that gave up his seat was Waylon Jennings.

1780 In 1760 Barnett Davenport was born in rural Connecticut. When he reached an appropriate age he joined the Patriot army and was with George Washington at Valley Forge and fought at Fort Ticonderoga. In the waning days of the Revolutionary War he became a boarder in the home of Caleb Mallory and his family also living in rural Connecticut. On this date, for reasons known only to Davenport, he slaughtered everyone in the Mallory house. He beat Caleb to death, shot his wife and daughter, set the house on fire killing Mallory’s two grandchildren. If this would have happened today, people would be saying is was a post-war syndrome. But in those days criminals were perceived as basically good people that had lost their way. But after this outrage, people’s attitude changed to that there were people out there that are basically evil. That attitude is still with us to this day.

1889 This is a story about Myra Belle Shirley that was born in Carthage, Missouri in 1848. Young Myra received a substantial education and be came very proficient on the piano. Her father was an innkeeper in Carthage but his business went to hell with the outbreak of the Civil War so the family moved to Texas. It was here that she met up with and had a relationship with the infamous Cole Younger who was a member of the James-Younger gang. It was soon thereafter she brought into this world a daughter she named Pearl. Most people believe that Cole was the father but it was probably Jim Reed, another member of the gang. She became the common-law wife to Reed and had no problem with his profession and indeed helped him in rustling cows and horses in the Dallas area. In 1874 Reed was killed in a gunfight so she drifted into the Oklahoma Indian territory and organized a gang of rustlers. She could be seen riding around in velvet dressed and plumed hats. She hooked up with a handsome Creek Indian named Sam Starr and she became known as Belle Starr. She stayed with Sam for 10 years but he was killed in a gunfight with a member of his own gang. Very soon after that she took up with another Creek Indian name Jim July, 15 years her junior. They were captured and did five or six months in the slammer but after release began their old tricks again. In 1889 she was summoned to Fort Smith, Arkansas to face charges of cattle rustling. So she and her boy friend Jim headed east to Fort Smith but changed their minds and turned around and headed back west. Soon after two shotgun blasts hit Belle in the back and she died instantly. The shooter was never found.

Born today:

1821 English born Elizabeth Blackwell. Elizabeth immigrated to the US and became the first female doctor in history. She said “If society will not admit to women’s free development, then society must be remodeled.” I have a male friend that has a female as his family doctor. He told me that she had examined him for hemorrhoids. I don't think I could do that come hell or high water.

1826 English economist Walter Bagehot. He said “The reason there are so few good books written is that those that write don’t know anything.” Hey Walter, all you have to do these days is write book about a unique diet that will make people lose weight and you are successful.

1830 British Prime Minister Robert Cecil. When describing Edwardian England he said “It was consider virtuous to not be involved in a scandal or get a venereal disease.” Edwardian times must have been a lot of partying.

1918 US comic Joey Bishop. He said “I have a wonderful doctor. In 1955 I could not afford an operation, so he touched up the x-rays.” Joey went to that great stage in the sky in 2007.

1965 Florida State quarterback Casey Weldon. Casey was to attend a fancy sit-down dinner and was told he would be seated beside Ringo Starr. Casey said “Who is she?” Casey, shut up.

     Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Monday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“If criminals want sympathy they can find it in the dictionary between syllabus and syphilis.”

                   Sheriff Joe Arapaio, Maricopa county, Az.

Consider this:

The Great pyramid on the Giza plateau in Egypt is one of the wonders of the ancient world. What makes it more of a wonder is the way it was constructed. It was supposedly finished about 2600BC after 23 years of construction. This means that the pyramid was ancient when Moses and the Hebrews began the Exodus which was about 1300BC. Keep in mind that there are millions of stone blocks weighing between 2 and 8 tons each. They did have the wheel because there are pictures of horse-drawn chariots on the walls of their burial vaults. The problem is considering the time allowed for the construction and the number of blocks involved, the workers had to put a block in place every 9 seconds. Using a large number of modern day cranes, that speed of construction would be nearly impossible to maintain for 23 years...but the Egyptians allegedly did it with man power alone. I have a problem with either the time allowed or the number of blocks or both. The blocks can be counted to a certain degree but the time cannot be documented except by Egyptian hieroglyphics....or the Egyptians had help that we know nothing about and is not written about. How did they make millions of lifts to get that height? The answer can only be by using an inclined plane or a ramp surrounding the pyramid. This would mean that the blocks weighing tons would have to dragged, towed, pulled, etc. for 2 ½ to 3 miles uphill to reach their destinations...every 9 seconds? Not only that, the sides of the pyramid face exactly North, East, South and West. They certainly did not have a compass. What really happened?

A while back at a road block near Camden, South Carolina the cops stopped a car that was up to scuppers in marijuana. The driver was arrested and he and several others were put into a paddy wagon taken to the Kershaw County jail. Along the way the arrested man gave the cop in the front seat a huge ration of sh-t. He even threatened to murder the cop, his wife and children and his parents. Needless to say, the arrested driver was in handcuffs. After arriving at the jail, the cop that was in the front seat was waiting at the back door and snatched that man out of the paddy wagon and delivered 26 blows with a metal baton. The man was on the concrete sidewalk curled up into the fetal position yelling his ass off. The cop finally ceased and escorted the now beaten and bloodied man to a jail cell. The only problem is that all of this action on the sidewalk was recorded by a security camera. The beaten man filed a civil right violation against this cop especially since he was handcuffed. There are very strict federal laws against using excessive force on restrained persons. I have mixed emotions here. If anyone and I mean anyone, threatened to kill me, my kids and/or my parents I would be hard pressed to restrain myself. But I ain’t a trained law enforcement officer…but we are all human. The cop’s defense was that the man refused to go where he was told and he felt the need to use force. All of that is well and good, but if the individual is lying on the sidewalk getting the crap beat out of him, it is unlikely he would be able to go anywhere.

By the way, Kershaw County was named for CSA General Joseph Kershaw who was in command of the 3^rd South Carolina Sharpshooters at the intense battle in the “Wheatfield” at Gettysburg in 1863. He was blond haired with pale blue eyes and was well thought of by his superiors, especially General James Longstreet.

       This Date in History    February 2

1943 Earlier on June 22, 1942, in spite of an existing treaty, Adolph Hitler ordered an enormous German army divided into three sections to start an invasion of Russia. Hitler’s military advisers had warned Hitler that if the attack could not begin by the first of May it should not begin at all because of the severe Russian winters. The German army was not ready by the first of May but Hitler ordered the invasion to begin late anyway. The Germans made progress by leaps and bounds primarily because they had control of the air. The slaughter they inflicted on the Russian army and civilians was beyond comprehension. They laid siege to Moscow, Leningrad and Stalingrad and cut off any supplies to those cities and thousands upon thousands starved to death. It was the German 6^th Army that had Stalingrad surrounded. Russian premier Josef Stalin was not about to let the city named after him to surrender and ordered the residents and the Russian Army defending the city to resist to the bitter end and resist they did. The Germans bombed the entire city into rubble trying to break their spirit. It did not work and the Russians used the rubble to establish formidable defenses. The Germans had no choice but to send in small squads of 8 or 10 to try and root out the defenders. That did not work either. The Russians proved to be formidable street fighters. In October the worst winter in fifty years arrived as advertised. The drop in temperature caused a break in the attack and gave the Russians defending the city time to reorganize and receive reinforcements. In November the Russians army launched a merciless counter-attack. The Italian and Romanian soldiers surrendered immediately but not the Germans. They held out until they were surrounded by the Russians and all of their supplies had been cut off. The German army that had surrounded Stalingrad in the beginning numbered about 200,000. On this date the remaining German army at Stalingrad numbering only 90,000 surrendered ending the siege of Stalingrad. Of the 90,000 Germans that went to prison camps, only 5,000 lived to see Germany again.

Born today:

1745 English writer Hannah More. She said: “Going to the opera is like getting drunk, both sins carry their own penalty, and a severe one at that.” Been there, done that.

1754 French politico Charles Francis de Talleyrand. “The French court is an assembly of noble and distinguished beggars.” About forty years after this the French people rose up and heads rolled courtesy of the guillotine during the French Revolution and that was the end of the French Monarchies.

1859 English writer Havelock Ellis. He said “The only place where optimism endures is in the lunatic asylum.” Tack on the that “or a singles bar just before last call”

1901 Russian violinist Jascha Heifetz. He said “No matter which side of the argument you are on, you always find some one on your side that should be on the other.” Been there, done that, too. Do not have a tee shirt.

     Thanks for listening    I can hardly wait until tomorrow