Monday

                            Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“Our troubles began as a result of a short sighted immigration policy on the part of the Native Americans.”

                                                            George Carlin

Trivia question of the day:

Who was the producer/director of the Hollywood extravaganza "The Ten Commandments."  Answer at the end of the b.log

Back in 1941 the Library of Congress sent a man named Alan Lomax on a search for original folk music. He ended up near Clarksdale, Mississippi and heard a musician named McKinley Morganfield. This man was raised in a shack in the middle of a cotton field that was part of the Stovall Plantation. In 1941 the musician was either 26, 27 or 28 dependent upon which document you looked at. The musician was raised by his grandmother who called him “Muddy” because he loved to play in nearby muddy Deer Creek. He eventually took the name Muddy Water and then Waters. When Lomax heard Muddy perform along with other musicians like Son House and Robert Johnson he knew he had found an totally different genre of music and it became Delta Blues...Muddy's star began to rise. He moved to Chicago in 1943 and established a prodigious breeding ground for other blues musicians. He died in 1983 at the age of 70...give or take. Near every rock and roll and blues musician acknowledge that he is the father of present day rock and roll. Just before he died he said “The Rolling Stones stole my music but made me famous.” Mick Jagger among many, many others pay homage to this great man. He had 6 Grammy awards and is in three Hall of Fame including the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Mick Jagger said “It will be a long time before another musician comes along that will have the effect on music that Muddy Waters did.” 

                This Date in History June 10

1864 Earlier US General William T. Sherman had begun an attack leaving Chattanooga, Tennessee headed for the Georgia coast. The problem with this was that the further he went from his supply bases at Chattanooga and Nashville the longer and more vulnerable his supply lines became. This was especially dangerous with CSA General Nathan Bedford Forrest in the area. Forrest was an exceptional cavalry leader and probably one of the top three or four this country ever produced. Anyway, Sherman sent US General Sturgis out of Memphis, Tennessee with an army of 5,000 infantry and 3,000 cavalry to protect his supply lines. Forrest found out about the Sturgis expedition and lined up his troops on a railroad between Corinth and Tupelo to wait and see which direction Sturgis would be headed. It was Tupelo. Forrest carefully chose the point of interception as being a small place in a thick forest known as Brice’s Crossroad. Forrest prepared an ambush of the leading Yankee cavalry units knowing their infantry would come running. About 10:00AM his plan worked to perfection. The ambush was launched on the cavalry amid high humidity and temperatures in the high nineties and the Yankee infantry came running from about five miles away and arrived on scene totally exhausted. At this point Forrest had no problem routing Sturgis’ army even though he was outnumbered better than two to one. Forrest was never able to totally stop the supply line to Sherman but this engagement was his finest hour.

1692 On this date in the village of Salem in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, a woman named Bridget Bishop was hanged as a witch. She was the first of several that met their fate in such a fashion for practicing witchcraft. This whole debacle began when a Presbyterian minister named Samuel Parris had a daughter and a niece that began having fits and other mysterious maladies. The good minister took the girls to a doctor who diagnosed their illnesses as being possessed by demons and everything went downhill from there. Upon hearing this Minister Parris went immediately to two of his slaves that he had bought in the West Indies and tried to beat them into admitting they were devil worshipers and they were the cause of the illness with his niece and daughter. It didn’t work. No matter how much he beat them, they would not admit to demon worship. That’s right folks; I said a Presbyterian minister that had slaves and believed in devil worship was a spiritual leader in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Anyway, it became neighbor against neighbor, friend against friend or any one else that had an axe to grind against another. And accusations flew. They established a court to try those people accused of witchcraft. That court was governed by Chief Justice William Stoughton. After several people were ordered hanged and executed the governor of Massachusetts stepped in and put a stop to this bullshit. This just goes to show you that the public can be coerced into believing anything no matter how ridiculous. It had happened before this time and after this time and it will happen yet again, depend on it.

1885 We have all heard the tales of Bat Masterson, Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday among others in conjunction with the settling of the American west. But there were other heroes and here is a small essay of one of them name Billy Daniels. Daniels gained his reputation because of the so-called “Bisbee Massacre”. What happened here was a gang of five led by Dan “Big Dan” Dowd rode into Bisbee, Arizona to rob the General store where they believed a payroll of $7,000 existed. He was early. The payroll had not yet arrived so he robbed what was there totaling between $700 and $3,000. For reasons unknown Big Dan and his gang indiscriminately murdered 8 people including a four year old boy and a woman. The newspapers called it the “Bisbee Massacre”. There was an immediate posse formed to look for these murderers but their trail was lost and they escaped and were forgotten all except for Billy Daniels, he did not forget. Daniels tracked down each and every member of the gang and put them in the Bisbee jail until all were captured and a gallows for five was erected. All of Big Dan’s gang was hanged at the same time. A few weeks later Billy Daniels and two others were tracking yet another outlaw through a narrow canyon in the Mule Mountains in Arizona when they walked into an Apache ambush. Daniel’s horse was killed immediately and fell pinning him to the ground. Daniels fought with his rifle as best he could but the wild-eyed Apaches swept down and killed him. The other two were able to escape and returned with a posse the next day and found Daniels very badly mutilated corpse and as you might suspect, the posse was unable to track down the Apaches.

Born today:

1904 Austrian composer Frederick Loewe. After hearing of the death of his lyricist Alan Jay Lerner he said “I guess we will be writing again with him up there. I just hope they have a well tuned piano.”

1922 US actress Judy Garland. She said “I was born at the age of 12 on a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer back lot.” Judy was a dynamite entertainer but here life was rife with drugs and unhappiness. What a tragic life, worthy of everyone reading about.

1928 US illustrator Maurice Sendak. He said “There has to be more to life than having everything.” I don’t know what to say to that, Maurice.

Answer to the trivia question:

The producer/director of The Ten Commandments" was Cecil B. DeMille.

                  Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow.

Friday

 Musing and History

Quote of the day:

“Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what is right.”

                                              Mark Twain

Trivia question of the day:

In the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm King Gustav V of Sweden presented 2 gold medals to an American athlete and said “Sir, you are the greatest athlete in the world.” Who was the athlete?

I don't understand what all the hullabaloo with Prince is about. What did he do that was so spectacular? How many hit songs has Willie Nelson authored? Mozart wrote and entire opera at the age of 8. What about Richard Rogers, Oscar Hammerstein, Moss Hart, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, Hoagie Carmichael, the Gershwin brothers among many, many other songsmiths? These people wrote hundreds of songs, operas, operettas and Broadway shows, etc. with songs that we all know to this day. I do not know a word of “When Doves Cry” but I do know “I've Got You Under My Skin”, “On the Road Again”, “Your Cheatin' Heart”, “Ohhhhklahoma”and so do you.

                           This Date in History   June 7

1776 On this date Richard Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee submitted and encouraged the adoption of what was later known as the “Lee’s resolutions”. I cannot tell you how important these resolutions were to us. “Light Horse Harry” was the father of CSA General Robert E. Lee and his proposed resolutions were looked at with an interested eye by the other members Continental Congress. In fact, after the builders of this great country saw what Lee had rendered, they realized how close he had come to defining the soul of the United States. The first few line of our Declaration of Independence is almost word for word from Lee’s resolutions. A little more than a month later, after the Congress had named a panel to enhance the document into an acceptable level led by Thomas Jefferson (the most polished writer in America at the time) and others they delivered our most treasured and valued document of all time, our Declaration of Independence. It was a miracle, y'all, a miracle.

1942 Four days before the United States had deciphered the Japanese secret code and determined that in spite of the military demonstrations toward the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, the real target was the island of Midway. Midway is in the Pacific between Hawaii and the Solomon Islands. Because of the location of Midway, it was deemed very important to the security of the west coast of America. In my humble opinion, the ability of US Navy intelligence to break the Japanese code and the US Naval leadership on hand at the time was no accident. I believe they had divine guidance. The only aircraft carriers the United States Navy left over after the attack on Pearl Harbor were the Enterprise, Hornet and the Yorktown. They were sent north of Midway to await the arrival of the Japanese fleet. The Japanese arrived as advertised in two columns, one from the southwest and the other from the west but the Americans were waiting. The columns were discovered and an 18 plane torpedo bomber attack was launched. Each and every one of the 18 American aircraft and crewman was shot down and killed. Over the next three days the United States Navy launched more attacks by swarms of dive bomber and even more torpedo bombers. The end result was the Japanese lost four aircraft carriers, over 250 aircraft and 2,500 sailors and aircrew men. The United States lost one carrier and 360 sailors and crewmen. It was one of the most important victories in United States history. It sent the Japanese Navy scurrying back toward home to lick their wounds which gave the greatest manufacturing facilities on the planet time to crank out the tools of war.

1692 On this date a rare earthquake shakes the pirate haven of Port Royal, Jamaica.  When I say shake, I ain’t kidding. The ground shook so hard and for so long that the sandy soil around the waterfront liquefied and the entire area slid into the Caribbean Sea. Then came the tsunamis that mopped up the entire town killing thousands. The misery was not over yet. The tsunamis brought 40 feet of water into the town which floated bodies out of graveyards which mixed with the freshly killed, not to mention wholesale looting island wide. What did you expect, Port Royal was the headquarters of every pirate in the western hemisphere. The British ship HMS Swan was washed inland and deposited on the top of a 40 foot tall building and became a relief headquarters for the survivors. Then soon thereafter, the exposed corpses began to disintegrate and epidemics of cholera broke out not to mention millions and millions of flies. The people of Jamaica learned their lesson and built another capitol off the beach and named it Kingston. If any of you have been to Kingston you will understand what I am about to say. Kingston is the most rotten and unpleasant gathering of the dregs of humanity I have ever seen. It is such a shame because just a few miles away are some of the finest five star resorts in the world. But if you take a cab from the resorts to downtown Kingston the cabdriver will insist that you not leave the cab, in fact they don’t even want you to unlock the door. If you see something you want, the cabbie will go get it for you. Even then little kids and even older people walk up to the window holding out their hands for coins. Paradise Lost, indeed.

1866 On this date chief Seattle (Seathl) died in his small village near the town named for him. His mother was of one tribe and his father was the chief of another tribe making Seattle well suited to be the Chief of both tribes. He was born in about 1790 in a village on Puget Sound and welcomed what few Anglos settled in the area. Most of the Anglo settlements were temporary ones dependent upon the game they were hunting. But eventually a permanent settlement was established after the timber industry burgeoned. The settlers decided to name the town after the Native American that had treated them with kindness and understanding and the mighty city of Seattle was born. By the way, if I am not mistaken the term “skid row” began in Seattle. It seems that the loggers would construct a wooden trough or “skid” to sent their logs down the mountainside into the city to be then loaded on ships. Later all the people that had no money would gather near the terminus of the “skid” to try to get a little money helping move the logs. While there they would build shacks to get out of the weather thus “skid row”.

Born today:

1848 French artist Paul Gaugin. He said “Life being what it is, one dreams of revenge.” Paul was Vincent Van Gogh’s roommate at one time or another, I don’t know if it was before, during or after the time Vincent cut off his own right ear. But soon thereafter Gaugin moved to Tahiti.

1952 Irish actor Liam Neesom. He said “Here in Los Angeles you see people that jog for two hours and then think they are morally superior. That is when you want to choke people, you know.” I wonder if Liam has been to Daniel Island, South Carolina.

1958 US songwriter/singer Prince. He said “They named Michael Jackson’s album “Bad” only because there wasn’t enough room on the album cover to put “Pathetic”.

Answer to the trivia question:

The athlete King Gustav V was talking to was Jim Thorpe. BTW Jim Thorpe was a native American from Oklahoma

                              Thanks for listening    I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Thursday

•                                Musings and History

  
  

  Quote of the day:

  “I have tried to know absolutely nothing about a great many things, and I have succeeded fairly well.”

                                                       Robert Benchley

  
  

  Trivia question of the day:

  Who was in command of the Allied invasion forces on D-Day? Answer and the end of the blog.

  
  

  June 6, 1944 is the day that the Allies landed on the Normandy beaches of western France. This day was forever known as D-Day. The Allies put 156,000 troops, 18,000 paratroopers and enormous amounts of rolling stock such as tanks, jeeps, 4 bi’s, 6 bi’s, self propelled 105’s, self propelled 155’s, hundreds of APC’s and ammunition, not to mention food, water and medical supplies to sustain this enormous army and fuel for the rolling stock. They actually did not put much of the fuel on the ground, they ran fuel lines carrying gasoline and diesel fuel from England to Normandy in pipes that had been secretly laid on the bottom of the English Channel. After this the fuel was canned put aboard trucks and sent to follow the advance to keep everything moving, not to mention fuel for the thousands of aircraft and various boats.

  
  

  Back in 2004 a good friend of mine from Charlotte and I decided we needed a vacation and began a scan of the web. We found that Holland America had a cruise that began in England (Dover) and made stops at Plymouth (a NATO exercise was in progress there), then to Guernsey Island (the only English property that was occupied by the Germans), then a three day stop at Cherbourg, France. From there they bused us to Omaha Beach for the 60^th anniversary ceremony of the D-Day invasion. The French Marines were there thick as fleas as was helicopter gunships constantly on patrol. It would have been a great time for a terrorist attack. President Bush was there along with Condoleeza Rice, President of France Chirac, Colin Powell and many other celebrities including my traveling companion and myself. After several speeches, a 21 gun salute by 105 howitzers, a parade of American, French, English and Canadian warships just off shore, Taps was played. There was not a dry eye for miles, mine included.

  
  

  From there the ship went to Le Havre, France, Zebrugge, Belgium, Amsterdam, Netherlands then back to Dover, Heathrow and home.

  
  

                              This Date in History   June 6

  
  

  
  

  1944 On this date one of the most important events in recorded history occurs. After waiting aboard ship for 48 hours, the Allied (primarily the United States, Canada and Great Britain) troops are landed on the continent of Europe on the beaches of Normandy in western France to destroy the German military machine that had overrun Europe. The Allies paid a price for gaining a foot hold to the tune of 10,000 casualties. In this one day the Allies had about 156,000 combat troops that they put ashore, 13,000 paratroopers, 5,000 ships and 10,000 aircraft of all kinds were involved in this endeavor. The 10,000 casualties was redeemed a few days later when the Allies pivoted east and trapped thousands of German soldiers in a very small perimeter near the town of Falaise, France. The Allies poured in all the gunfire they could find hoping to eliminate as many German soldiers as they could. They did not get them all but General Eisenhower visited the site late and said that one could walk for hundreds of yards on the bodies of German soldiers and not touch the ground.

  
  

  My uncle Vincent was part of this great invasion. He was an officer in the 2^nd Rangers that climbed the cliffs at Pont du Hoc with the mission to eliminate any shore artillery batteries that would be firing down the beach. He made it through the war including the Battle of the Bulge and Huertgen Forest. He was captured and tortured twice. On the last occasion his unit sent a group behind enemy lines and rescued him. He came out with the rank of captain and a Silver Star but it affected him badly. He came back a different man. He was just downright mean and would not even talk a little bit about what he had seen and done. I guess I would have been the same way. He did tell us that on one occasion he was out in the open and a German artillery barrage began and he jumped into a foxhole and right behind him came a German soldier. They fought hand to hand for several minutes before Uncle Vincent pulled out his “boot knife” and stabbed the German in the throat killing him. War is hell.

  
  

  1918 Earlier in WWI, the German Army had driven through the Allied forces and was within 45 miles of Paris. The American army and Marines had joined the war by this time and were under the command of General John J. “Blackjack” Pershing. Four German divisions had dug in a place named Belleau Wood on the Paris-Metz road. General Pershing tasked Marine General James Harbord with clearing Belleau Wood of Germans. On this date the US Marines launched their attack. By the end of the day the marines had suffered 1,000 casualties. For the next three weeks the Marines launched one attack after another to no avail. The German commander General Erich Ludendorff was just as determined to keep possession of the Wood in spite of the Marines bringing up US army artillery. Ludendorff brought up reinforcements and counter-attacked with swarms of machine guns, artillery and poison gas. The US Marines would not be denied and finally cleared out the Germans. The price for this victory was 10,000 dead, wounded or missing. It was during this battle that US Marine Sgt. Daniel Daly ordered his platoon to “fix bayonets” and then ordered a bayonet charge when he stood up and screamed the immortal phrase “Come on you sons-of-bitches, do you want to live forever?” Daly was a two time Medal of Honor winner and was recognized by the Commandant of Marine Corp as “the fightingest Marine I ever saw.” In 1917 Congress passed a law that there could only be one Medal of Honor per person.

  
  

  1997 On this date the Lacey Township High School held their prom at the Aberdeen Township banquet hall. During the dance, 18 year old Marie Drexler chose to go into the bath room and deliver a full term baby, strangle it, wrap in a black plastic garbage bag and put it into a trash can. A clean-up crew was called in to clean up the large amount of blood on the floor and it was then that they discovered the trash bag. An autopsy proved that the baby was born alive and then strangled. Finding who the culprit was proved to be easy and Marie was taken into custody and charged with murder but that was plea bargained down to aggravated manslaughter. At her sentencing hearing a tearful Marie described her remorse and was sentenced to 15 years with the possibility of parole after 3 years. Marie served 32 months and was released. What burden to carry for the rest of her life.

  
  

  1865 Earlier a man named William Quantrill had organized a Confederate guerrilla group to harass US troops operating mostly in Kansas and Missouri. Included in his small army were Frank and Jesse James. “Quantrill’s Raiders” proved to be a sore thorn in the side of the US army for the entire Civil War. It was well known that the town of Lawrence, Kansas was used as a marshaling point for US Cavalry. One night Quantrill led his men into Lawrence, they shot and killed every man they saw and burned town to the ground. After Lee surrendered in April of 1865, the Civil War was essentially over but not to Quantrill’s Raiders. They continued raids until this date when Quantrill was tracked down to Kentucky and killed by a unit of US Cavalry. Since Quantrill and his raiders operated as guerrillas, they were not eligible for the blanket amnesty offered by the US. Because of this many of his troops turned to a life of crime.

  
  

  Answer to the trivia question:

  The commander of the Allied invasion forces on D-Day was US General Omar Bradley.

                                     Thanks for listening     I can hardly wait until tomorrow  

wednesday

Musing and History

Quote of the day:

“Not all chemicals are bad. Without chemicals like hydrogen and oxygen we would not have water, an essential element of beer.”

                                                            Dave Barry

Trivia question of the day:

When and what was the fastest pitch ever recorded in a major league baseball game and who was the pitcher? Answer at the end of the blog.

                               This Date in History   June 5

1968 On this date at 1:00AM in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, Senator Robert Kennedy is making a short victory speech for winning the Democratic primary in California. Robert Kennedy is the younger brother of President John Kennedy who was shot to death in Dallas, Texas in 1963. After the speech he headed for an exit through the hotel kitchen amid a throng of admirers, or as everybody thought were admirers. Suddenly three shots ring out and Robert hits the floor with blood pooling under his head. There was a dazed look in Robert’s eyes and there is a big scuffle behind him. Robert had two or three bodyguards with him most of the time one of which was Roosevelt Grier. Rosie (his nickname) was a giant of man over six foot six and about 320 pounds. He formerly was a lineman for the Rams. Anyway, Rosie was about the first person to get a hold of the jackass with the smoking .22 caliber pistol. It was reported that Rosie broke this maniac’s thumb getting the pistol out of his hand. You will never guess who this guy was. It was a middle-eastern Arab guy named Sirhan Sirhan. As far as I know, no one knows to this day why this towel head shot Robert. Robert knew he was mortally wounded and asked for a rosary as he was Catholic. He fought for his young life (he was 42) for 24 hours before he died. There were six other people that were wounded in the shooting, none fatally. Robert was buried on June 8 in Arlington National Cemetery near his brother’s grave site. By the way, Arlington National Cemetery was originally the home site of CSA General Robert E. Lee. The United States Army chose to start burying some of the soldiers killed in the Civil War on Lee’s estate just for spite and it went from there.

1967 For several weeks the Israelis had been watching a huge buildup of men and armor on their borders with Syria and Egypt. So on this date the Israelis launch a strike against them both. Even with their men and material in place, Syria and Egypt was no match for the well trained and equipped Israelis. As you might suspect, the Israelis wanted control of the air and they immediately struck the Syrian and Egyptian military air bases and destroyed their fighter/bombers before they could get off the ground to the tune of nearly 100%. After that the Syrian and Egyptian tanks, other armor and infantry was wide open to attack from the Israeli Air Force. Needless to say, the war was over in six days after the United Nations stepped in stopped the Israelis from a total massacre of the Syrian and Egyptian, and later on the Jordanian ground troops. After all, the majority of the war was fought in the Negev Desert and there ain’t too many places to hide in that oven. Anyway, Israel gained control of huge sections of real estate. They really did not really want it but later on they used it as a bargaining chip to get what they wanted which was recognition from the Arabs. They got recognition but they have been fighting to survive before and after this event.

1864 Earlier in the year US General Grant had sent General Franz Sigel and a force of 11,000 troops into the Shenandoah Valley to kick out the Confederates known to be there. Sigel presided over an embarrassing ass-kicking by a much smaller Confederate army at New Market, Virginia and was forced to retreat into Maryland. Grant replaced Sigel with US General David Hunter. Hunter immediately moved his army back into the Valley and headed for Staunton, Virginia. He met up with the 5,800 man Confederate army near Piedmont, Virginia and a battle ensued. As you might suspect, with the Confederates outnumbered almost two to one, Hunter was victorious and the northern entrance of the Valley was open to the Union forces.

1944 It was on this date that the surprise invasion of Europe by the Allies was supposed to have occurred. I am talking about the D-Day landing on the Normandy coast of France, but with the ships loaded with 156,000 troops and associated necessities, US General Eisenhower delayed the attack for one day because of bad weather in the English Channel. Things were getting pretty damned tense because Eisenhower knew he could not keep those troops stacked on those ships for more than two days and if he delayed again they would have to disembark the troops to re-fuel the ships. The next time the tide and moonlight would be right would be June 19 and Ike knew that the longer the wait the greater the possibility of discovery of the plan.

1963 On this date the British Secretary of War John Profumo resigned in disgrace for lying to the House of Commons about his sexual affairs with a prostitute named Christine Keeler. Earlier Profumo had attended a party given by one of London’s social elite. The party was held at a big estate outside London and that girl Christine was in attendance. When Profumo arrived Christine was frolicking naked in one of the fountains. Profumo was immediately smitten and eventually he and Christine were bed partners. This was not too bad in itself but Profumo was not the only man that Christine was servicing. She was also the bedmate of Soviet naval attaché “Eugene” Ivanof who was thought to be a spy. This could prove to be bad news if Christine was used to gather information from Profumo and to give it to Ivanof. The threat was so great that it was about to bring down the whole administration of Prime Minister Harold McMillan but things cooled down with the resignation of Profumo. As Robin Williams said “A man has a brain and a sex organ but only enough blood for one at a time.”

Born today:

1883 US economist John Keynes. He said “Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wicked of men will do the most wicked of things for betterment of all”.

Died today:

2004 Former US President Ronald Reagan. He said “I have spoke to you before about the economy of this nation and I can tell you it is a hell of a mess....We are not on the air yet are we?” Ronald, be quiet.

Answer to the trivia question:

The fastest pitch ever recorded was a heater uncorked by Yankee pitcher Ardolis Chapman in a game against the Padres on September 4, 2010. It was a blistering 105.1 MPH. Chapman is a Cuban defector.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Tuesday

                                          Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“Don’t confuse fame with success. Madonna is one; Helen Keller is the other.”

                                               Erma Bombeck

Trivia question of the day:

When and where was the National Anthem played before a sporting event for the first time? Answer at the end of the blog.

I hope most of y’all remember Natalee Holloway from the Birmingham, Alabama area that disappeared while on vacation to Aruba. The alleged killer of Natalee was the son of a prominent Dutch family. It is reported that this man eventually confessed to the murder of Natalee after the statute of limitations had expired. Aruba is a Dutch possession and their laws prevail. In the United States there is no time limit in the pursuit of a murderer but evidently there is in Dutch law. This same young man was tried and convicted of murdering a young Peruvian woman and is in the joint as we speak. I wonder how bad or good a Peruvian prison is.

                              This Date in History   June 4

1919 After many years of bitching, marching and semi-rioting by the girls, on this date the United States Congress ratifies the 19^th Amendment that allowed women to vote. The amendment then went out to each state for individual ratification. This crusade began in 1848 in Seneca Falls, N.Y. headed up by Elizabeth Stanton and Lucretia Mott. Their crusade was halted for several years due to the American Civil War from 1861-1865. The disenfranchisement of women voters was supported by most of the population at the time. It took the dedication and zeal of the leaders of the women voting rights campaign to get this black mark on America erased. We still have not erased that black mark left by the rape and near genocide of the American Indian.

1944 The loading of the combat troops and the tools of war on ships in anticipation of the landing on Normandy is nearing completion. The combat troops are sitting on pins and needles. They had been trained to a razors edge for this operation and that includes the British and American airborne troops that were going in ahead of everybody to help clear the way. Everybody was ready in fevered anticipation.

1863 CSA General Robert E. Lee had persuaded CSA President Jefferson Davis that if he was able to capture a Union state Capitol the general public in the north would realize that the war could be fought on their soil and would force Lincoln to the negotiations table. Lee had chosen Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. In order to get this operation underway, on this date he sent General Richard Ewell and the 2^nd Corp from Fredericksburg, Virginia into the Shenandoah Valley then he would swing north into Pennsylvania and encircle Harrisburg. Lee and the rest of the army would be close behind and reinforce Ewell and then demand that Lincoln meet them for negotiations or Harrisburg would be leveled. The Union military found that Lee was on the move and headed north so they hastily began a chase hoping to cut Lee off. Ewell was within 30 miles of Harrisburg when the Union army was discovered close aboard to Lee’s army. Lee knew he could not fight a battle as strung out as his troops were so he called Ewell and the others in to meet and deploy near a small Pennsylvania town named Gettysburg and await the damned Yankees.

1989 For three weeks an estimated 300,000 young Chinese had been gathering tin Tiananmen Square in Beijing protesting the repressive Chinese Communist Government and were demanding a democratic form of government be established. On this date the Chinese Government got fed up and sent in Chinese troops to take care of business. The troops went in with AK-47’s ablaze and began killing indiscriminately and arresting as many as they could. News media from all over the world was there and could not believe what they were seeing. There were at least 1,000 killed and over 10,000 arrested. President Bush (George H) ordered financial sanctions imposed in protest of this clear abridgement of human rights. Then we turn around and send our athletes over there for the Olympics. What are we thinking?

1986 US Naval intelligence specialist Jonathon Pollard is arrested for selling US military intelligence information to Israel. Pollard had given Israel enough information to fill a small room. In return he was given $50,000 and was supposed to have $300,000 put in a secret Swiss bank account. Pollard was tried for espionage and convicted and given a life sentence. Israel stood by Pollard declaring that since the US and Israel are allies, they should have been given the information anyway. Needless to say, relations with Israel and the US chilled a great deal. Later the US and Israel met and tried to hammer out their differences.  Pollard’s release was part of Israel’s stipulations. The US said “Not no, but hell no.”

1942 On this date Japanese Admiral Naguma commanding the bulk of entire Japanese navy ordered a preplanned attack on the central Pacific US military installation on the island of Midway. The Japanese felt that Midway and Aleutian Islands in Alaska were imperative to control if they were going to expand their empire. They also had hoped that the remainder of the US Navy that was not destroyed at Pearl Harbor five months before would come out and fight so the Japanese could finish them off. The first air attack on Midway did significant damage and the US Navy responded with an attack of their own from the aircraft carriers they had left. US Navy intelligence had determined that the Japanese were going to attack Midway and the US Naval forces were there waiting when the attack came. The first attacks by the US Navy resulted in the destruction of 68 US planes and crews but Admiral Nagumo now knew that there were at least two US carriers within striking distance. Nagumo also had conflicting information from his staff as to what to arm his planes with, either bombs or torpedoes to either make a follow-up strike on Midway or sent torpedo planes after the US carriers. It was too late. A swarm of US dive bombers arrived on the scene when the deck of the Japanese carriers were in the middle of re-arming and three of the four Japanese carriers were sunk going to the bottom in flames. Nagumo had lost 3,500 men, 368 aircraft and three carriers. He had to withdraw. He had not counted on the tenacity of US Admirals Jack Fletcher, Ray Spruance, overall commander Chester Nimitz and hundred of courageous sailors and airmen.

Born today:

470BC Greek philosopher Socrates. He said “By all means get married. If you have a good wife you will be happy. If you have a bad one you will become a philosopher.” Think on that, all of you philosophers out there.

1908 US actress Rosalind Russell. She was talking to another actress who said “I dread the thought of forty-five.” Rosalind responded with “Why, what happened to you then, dear?” Women can be very catty at times.

1936 US actor Bruce Dern. He said “Because I am the only man to have killed John Wayne in a movie so the producers consider me a villain.” If I ain’t mistaken it was Bruce that starred in “Middle-Aged Crazies” and also that movie “Coming Home” with Jane Fonda and John Voight about a soldier returning from Nam with no legs (Voight). The movie ends with Bruce wading out into the ocean committing suicide.

Answer to the trivia question:

The first time the National Anthem was played at a sporting event was at the Union Base Ball Ground in Brooklyn, NY on May 15, 1862.

          Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Monday

                                      Musings and History 

                                                         

Quote of the day:

“The love that lasts the longest is the love that is never returned.”

                               Somerset Maugham

Trivia question of the day:

Who was the commander of the German tank column that broke out of the Ardennes Forest resulting in the Battle of the Bulge in WWII.  Answer at the end of the blog.

I read an interesting concept about the Exodus. The author surmised that the Hebrews did not get lost and wander the desert but Moses intentionally camped out for those 40 years. The reason being was after leaving Egypt the Hebrews could only mount an army of about 5,000 warriors and Moses felt that he needed at least 9,000. Not only that, the army was poorly trained and poorly armed. According to to the descriptions in the Bible the Hebrews camped in Saudi Arabia on the eastern shore of the Red Sea about 150 miles southeast of Egypt. The only volcano (Mount Sinai) within a reasonable distance is in this area. In the span of two generations (40 years) it would be feasible for Moses to increase his army the desired amount, have Joshua train them and would be able to forge iron into a sufficient number of swords, daggers and spears. I personally do not see how they could “be lost” in the desert. Egypt had been squabbling for centuries with the Assyrians, Hittites and Canaanites from present day Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and southern Turkey. It was well known that these lands were north of Egypt and so was the Jordan River valley. I am sure that Moses and/or one of the Hebrews would be able to find which direction is north. It would be simple. At dawn just turn until the sun is shining on your right cheek and you would be facing north, more or less. Far be it for me to second guess what the Bible says about the Hebrews wandering the desert as punishment from God but it is more logical for me to imagine that Moses knew better that to head directly into combat with an untrained, undermanned and ill-equipped army. Moses was no dummy.

                           This Date in History   June 3

1800 On this date the second President of the United States John Adams moved to the new nation’s capitol of Washington, D.C. Before this the nation’s capitol was Philadelphia but a new capitol was established that was nearer to the center of the 13 colonies. The states of Maryland and Virginia ceded land on both sides of the Potomac River for the new city. Both the Capitol building and the White House were under construction so Adams moved to his temporary quarters in the Union Tavern in Georgetown. There is a man after my own heart. Eventually Adams notified his wife Abigail in Braintree, Massachusetts that the White House was ready for occupancy and they moved in. There was a small ceremony when they moved in and Adams dedicated the White House with these words. “I pray heaven to bestow the best of blessings on this house, and all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but wise men ever rule under this roof”. In the war of 1812 the British troops set fire to the Capitol building and the White House. A massive thunderstorm prevented the destruction of the Capitol but the White House burned to the ground. The British burned these buildings in retaliation for American troops burning British government buildings in Canada. The city of Washington was designed by French architect Charles L’Enfant. He visualized a city with streets arranged in spokes with a lot of circles and parks and one of the most beautiful cities in the world emerged. The White House was designed by an Irish-American architect named James Hoban who used a building in Dublin, Ireland as a model. After the original White House was burned to the ground, Hoban was again tasked with resurrecting the new White House and what he came up with is pretty much what we have today. By the way, if we were to re-locate the nation’s capitol to the center of the continental United States it would be in the middle of a prairie just south of Omaha.

1937 Edward, the Duke of Windsor, after abdicating the throne of England married the former American socialite Wallis Warfield Simpson on this date. Edward was born in 1896 making him the eldest son of King George V and heir apparent to the crown with the title of the Prince of Wales. By the age of forty Edward still had not married but he was indeed involved in London’s social elite. Also involved in London’s social elite was Wallis Simpson and her husband John who were residing in London. Evidently Edward and Wallis hit it off and in spite of being married, Wallis became Edward’s mistress and he fell hopelessly in love. John was not Wallis’ first husband; she had been married and divorced to an American pilot before. Edward was going to discuss his dilemma with his father the King but before the meeting took place, King George V died, making Edward the King of England with the title of King Edward VIII. Eventually Wallis was able to secure a divorce from John clearing the way for Edward to marry her. But British law forbade a divorcee from becoming queen, especially one without a royal blood line, so Edward did what he had to do. He abdicated, meaning he gave up the crown. He was then titled the Duke of Windsor and Wallis became the Duchess. I do not know where the Duke got his money but for the majority of his life with Wallis they traveled the world in luxury and lived primarily in Paris. They would go to England only on rare occasions and they were not invited to many Royal events in London. They did attend the funerals of his brother King George VI and his mother Queen Mary. Edward died in Paris in 1972 and was buried in Frogmore which was a section of the grounds of Windsor Castle. Wallis died in 1986 and was buried at Edward’s side.

1961 On this date a man named Clarence Gideon was arrested for breaking into a poolroom in Panama City, Florida. This event and subsequent actions changed the legal system in the United States forever. A man living close to the poolroom told the police that he had seen Clarence Gideon (a poor drifter with a record) leave the closed poolroom with his pockets bulging with coins and an armload of soft drinks and get into a cab. The police found and arrested Clarence. He asked for a lawyer claiming he had not robbed the poolroom but the state of Florida did not have to provide a lawyer if the accused could not afford one. Clarence went to trial having to represent himself and he was quickly convicted and sent to prison. Clarence wrote out an appeal on a sheet of notebook paper and a pencil claiming that he was constitutionally entitled to a lawyer. His appeal went all the way to the United States Supreme Court and a lawyer named Abe Fortas plead Clarence’s case before the court. As y'all know, Abe Fortas became a Justice of the Supreme Court himself. Anyway, the Supreme Court agreed with Clarence and he was ordered released. The state of Florida chose to try Clarence again for the poolroom break-in but this time, because of the notoriety he received, Clarence was represented by a first class lawyer who shot the state’s case full of holes and Clarence was acquitted. The end result of all of this is if an accused cannot afford an attorney one will be provided at no cost. That ruling and another one that resulted in when anyone is arrested they must be told of their rights as soon as possible or the so-called Miranda ruling. It just goes to show you that anyone can make a change in the system if you are persistent enough.

Born today:

1771 British clergyman Sydney Smith. He said “There are three sexes, men, women and clergymen.” What are you trying to tell us Sydney?

1865 British monarch King George V. After hearing Strauss’ “Elektra” he said “His Majesty does not know what the band has just played but it is not to be played again in his presence.” I wonder what King George V would think of Metallica.

Answer to the trivia question:

The commander of the German tank column was Joachim Peiper.

              Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow