Remember When UFO’s Over White House Were Called Weather Phenomena? July 19, 2010

Image of UFO's Over Washington in July 1952

"Imperial Cruiser" UFO or hoax? Click for video

On This Date In History:  Back in 1938, the nation was put on edge by a radio broadcast by Orson Welles of War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells.  The war in Europe soon took the public’s attention away from little green men but I suppose the notion still was in the back of many American’s minds.  The idea of space aliens returned in 1947 with the news of the Roswell Incident.  The government continues to come up with explanations and many Americans still don’t buy it.  While the UFO phenomenon may have quieted over the years, each year sitings of unidentifed flying objects continue to make news and actually may be on the  rise with the advent of video recorders and camera phones. For instance, in November 2008, UFO’s were sited in Texas.   In December 2009, a “Pyramid Imperial Cruiser”  was caught on video over the Kremlin in Moscow. Some sightings are easily dismissed but others are not so easy, especially when it involves an investigation by government and military officials.

UFO's were the talk of Washington in 1952

On this date in 1952, we had spies at the White House. Or more to the point, over the White House. Newsreels of the time captured the images and President Truman was hauled before the cameras to try to give an explanation.  This video presentation claims that the event began on July 26.  There seems to be some dispute as to exactly when the UFO’s were first sited over Washington DC in July 1952.  This article claims that the event began on July 16, 1952 and a man who has photographic evidence could “destablize society” if it is made public, according to officials associated with the Obama White House.  See…it’s another UFO story that never totally fades away. 

UFO spotted by Coast Guard in Salem MA on July 16, 1952 about the same time as objects in Washington

It began when, Andrews Air Force Base radar operators, not far from the White House,  noted seven blips that were said to “loaf along” at between 100 and 130 mph. Then they accelerated to an unheard of 7200 mph. Washington National Airport radar operators made the same observations. Airline pilots reported lights in the sky but when USAF jets were scrambled to intercept, they had disappeared. The official explanation? The old temperature inversion trick!  Trouble is that temperature inversions don’t appear as blips and don’t race around. Experienced air traffic controllers disputed the official version.   On July 26 a similar incident occurred and an interceptor jet couldn’t even get close to the objects. Also, amber lights were seen over numerous locations in the country, including over Florida’s Guided Missile Long-Range Proving Ground and a Coast Guard installation in Salem, MA. The Air Force conducted its “largest and longest” press conference since WWII to tell everyone it was just weather phenomena. 

Papers Said UFO's Followed Truman to Missouri

But, apparently there were some 300 UFO reports from across the nation in 1952 and I don’t think that they could all be related to weather phenomena.  Most involved objects moving on radar at extreme speeds.  President Truman was not in Washington DC during the several weeks sitings over Washington as he was back in his hometown of Independence, MO on vacation.  So, right on cue, UFO’s were sited over Missouri while President Truman was there. Some in the press said that they followed him home.  I suppose all of the confusion over when the sightings first began over Washington is due to several sightings.  This source suggests that the most intense number of sitings over Washington happened on July 19/20, July 26/27 and August 2/3.  One thing that is curious about this aspect of the story is that it seems awfully convenient that the mass sitings happened at one week intervals.

...Looks Alot Like the One in Oregon in 1927

2010 UFO photo from China...

While UFO sitings have been reported almost since the beginning of the nation, many seem to be obvious hoaxes.  Even today, photos look eerily similar to ones from decades past.  The one from China in February of this year just doesn’t seem to pass the smell test.  But, who knows.  Maybe the objects that look so similar just means the same guys are visiting.  The 1952 incident did bring a call for government action.  The United States Air Force in 1952 began Operation Blue Book which was an effort to “to determine if UFOs were a threat to national security, and to scientifically analyze UFO-related data.”   The project concluded in 1970 after reviewing 12, 618 UFO reports.  Ninety-four percent of those reports were easily explained as either hoaxes or some sort of optic phenomena.  But, 701 were classified as “unknowns.”  You can gain access to that data through Freedom of Information Act but the names of individuals involved in the incidents or the investigation have been redacted.  So, you can’t camp out on someone’s front yard to harrass them.   

Photo Supposedly From 2005 Looks a whole lot like the ones from 1952; No Sale

The photo to the right is supposedly from a recent photo and this website claims there have been “blip” incidents recently during which President Bush and Vice-President Cheney have been hustled to the underground bunker.  The photo looks suspiciously like the one’s from 1952, so I’m skeptical; especially since the reports were of a single blip and not a whole mess of them like the photo shows.  Nevertheless, this article from Turkish Weekly of April 28, 2005 reveals that the “blip incidents” were dismissed as radar reflections of a flock of birds.  It  confirm that both the President and Vice President were taken to a secure location on more than one instance due to unidentified radar reflections as Presidential spokesman Scott McClellan said that they were taken to secure locations “for a  very short amount of time.”  A spokesman for the Department of Homeland security explained, “Out of an abundance of caution, appropriate security measures were taken.”  So, even though its been a long time since the UFO incidents in Washington during the Truman Administration, modern day officials in the nation’s capital have not forgotten.

If I finally get some rain today, I hope that the winds don't pick up too much...these guys are pretty tall.

Weather Bottom Line:   Funny thing, these here computuers.  When you look at the conventional models, they indicate a shortwave in the morning in western Iowa but it travels east and dissipates through the day.  I had a professor once who said that sometimes, as forecasters, we tend to sit in our concrete buildings looking at computers and never bother to look out the window.  Well, I looked out the window so to speak.  I see that there is indeed a disturbance in western Iowa..and there is another larger one in eastern Iowa.  And the vector appears to be about 140 degrees, or Southeast.  If it were to hold together it would run right over the area.  Based on that and the heating of the day, I would say we will probably see what we did over the weekend and that is thunderstroms moving in late in the day or early evening.  Saturday, they passed just North of my house.  So, on Sunday when the sky turned dark, I watered my sunflowers because I had no faith that the dark clouds would make it to my house; they passed to the South.  Maybe I’ll get lucky today.

Last Senator to Lie in Repose Prior To Sen. Byrd Was a Wild Fighter July 18, 2010

Moodie's Celebration as Governor Didn't Last Long Thanks to the Efforts of Wild Bill Langer

Fightin' Bill

On This Date in History:  In 2009, North Dakota was ranked 48th in population among the 50 US states with 646,844 residents.  Only Wyoming and Vermont had fewer citizens.  With such a sparse population, one might assume that all is quiet in the state known offically as the “Peace Garden State” but also is referred to as the ”Flickertail State.”  But, there’s actually a lot of activity going on in North Dakota as evidenced by the May unemployment rate at just 3.6%.  That’s tops in the nation with neighboring South Dakota coming in second with 4.6%.  Both of those numbers represent the top of the rank of states’ unemployment rates and are less than half the national average and way below the unemployment rates of Michigan and Nevada, which check in with 13.6% and 14% respectively.  See, there’s millions of barrels of oil sitting under North Dakota and the economy is doing quite well.  While the positive activity may make for a tranquil scene today, that was not always the case.  See, another moniker for North Dakota is the “Roughrider State.”  And the governor of the state in the first half of the 20th century helped the state live up to that reputation.

Hard to Tell From This Photo that Langer Could be Fightin' or Wild

William Langer was a lawyer in North Dakota who became politcally active in the early 20th century.  He was elected as North Dakota Attorney General in 1916 as a member of the Non-Partisan League (NPL) which was rising to power in the early 20th century.  Ignoring the traditional Republican and Democrat parties may have been an indication of Langer’s independence and the NPL soon found out just how independent.  In 1919, he left the party after accusing it of selling out farmer.  He ran for governor in 1920 on the Progressive Republican ticket but lost in a close election to the NPL candidate.  He settled his differences with the NPL and in 1932, he and the rest of the NPL candidates were swept into office as the grip of the Great Depression were setting in even though the power of the NPL was quickly fading.   Perhaps he got his nickname of “Fightin’ Bill” from the way he went to bat for the farmers.  When wheat prices fell, he imposed an embargo on the sale of North Dakota wheat until prices rose.  He also imposed a moratorium on farm foreclosures, even calling out the national guard to enforce his orders.  I’m not too sure that either of these actions were legal, but his constituents seemed to like it.

Langer (2nd from left) was part of the North Dakota Council For Defense in 1918

 Now, old Bill was not just a hard charging depression-era governor.  He also  liked to tell good stories with funny anecdotes.  It is also not surprising that he was also man who enjoyed power and was not afraid to use it whenever it suited him.   He had a way of not just inspiring loyalty, but also demanding it of the state employees. They were required to turn over a percentage of their pay checks to his political machine in the form of subscriptions to his newspaper.  For some, the fee came to about 5% of the employee’s paycheck.  Aside from coercion, there was a snag in the plan and that was that part of the state employees salaries came from the Federal Government.   By 1934, the Executive Branch of the Federal Government was run by Democrat President Franklin D. Roosevelt who was partisan enough to change the name of the Hoover Dam to the Boulder Dam out of spite for Herbert Hoover. So, Fightin’ Bill was charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States and was convicted on June 16, 1934.

Olson Was Sworn in as Governor to the excitement of bystanders

 The Roughrider state seems to suits this story because  the Supreme Court of North Dakota determined that Governor Bill Langer was to vacate the office of governor on This Date in 1934.   The governor of the state, William Langer was to be removed from office and be replaced by Lt. Governor Ole H. Olson.  But, the supreme court wasn’t too smart.  See, they announced on the previous day that they had issued their ruling effective the next day.    Technically, he was still governor on the 17th so,  before the court’s order took effect, Wild Bill  instead chose to barricade himself in his office along with 10 loyalists.   He tossed a spittoon through a window,  unilaterally declared that North Dakota was independent from the United States and declared martial law!

The Dour Looking Moodie's Tenure Was Short and Perhaps it was a Good Thing As He Probably Would Not Have Nearly As Exciting as Wild Bill

He said that he would remain in the Governor’s mansion until he could meet with the supreme court.  I’m not sure if he got his meeting or not but, he finally gave in when the state supreme court convinced him that  he had no standing as governor,   Lt. Governor Olson took over.   Langer had been sentenced to 18 months in prison and fined $10,000.  After 3 more trials, he was eventually acquitted of all charges.  But, while he was managing his legal problems, he was still active in the political ring.    He got his wife nominated for Governor against Democrat Tom Moodie.   She lost but five days after Moodie took over, Langer had another card up his sleeve. He made it known that Moodie had voted in another state less than five years prior, therefore making him ineligible for office! Moodie resigned and the Lt. Governor took over. North Dakota had four governors in 7 months.

The People of North Dakota Protested Fightin' Bill's Removal From Office

As a free man, Fightin’ Bill ran for governor again and was elected as a Republican, serving as the chief executive of the Roughrider State from 1937 to 1941.  After that, the good people of North Dakota thought it was a good idea to send him to Washington as one of their senators.  But, his political enemies were not about to listen to the will of the people of North Dakota and a petition was passed around that called for the Senate President to deny him his seat.  An expulsion case was brought against Langer and an investigation committee of the Senate listened to some pretty damning testimony regarding Langer’s conduct.  During the testimony, Langer was forced to admit that he had paid the son of the judge who had presided over his second and third trials!  The committee voted 13-3 against allowing Bill to be seated.  But, as it turns out, the 13 who voted against him on the committee was nearly half of those who were against him because the full vote of the Senate ended in a 52-30 vote in favor of Langer becoming a member of the United States Senate.  He would never relinquish that seat.

When Langer Wasn't Making Trouble for his Fellow Senators, He found time to crown the Posture Queen in 1955

Unsurpsingly, he was against many of the popular items of the day.  He was a strict isolationist and voted against the Lend-Lease Act and against the extension of Selective Service (the draft) prior to World War II.  But, he did vote in favor of war following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.  But, he still didn’t stand down.  He was a huge critic of Winston Churchill and on an occasion when Churchill was to visit the United States, he sent a telegram to the pastor of Boston’s Old North Church that asked him to place two lanterns in the church belfry to warn people that the British were coming.  In 1958, he was elected to a third term without making a single campaign appearance in his state.  He died shortly thereafter in late 1959.  The junior senator from West Virginia at the time was Robert C. Byrd who recently passed away as the longest serving senator in United States history.  Byrd was honored by having his body lay in repose in the Senate; the first to do so since November 1959 when freshman Senator Robert Byrd witnessed the same honor for North Dakota Senator William Langer.   Just two years before Langer, Sen. Joe McCarthy received the same honor, which makes me wonder why the Senate only seems to accord such honors in death for men who had such controversial pasts.

Heavy Rain Saturday Evening in Clark County and in Shelby County Predawn Saturday Morning.

Weather Bottom Line:   Twas a very interesting Saturday evening.  Snow White and I were at the Bats’ game that began at 6:05 pm.  Very hot and humid.  There had been a severe storm that had moved across Oldham county but it was gone and there were towering cumulus clouds to our East.  As the evening wore on, more towering cu were close enough to bring a good downdraft that knocked about 15 degrees off the temperature and decreased the humidity to the point that it was quite pleasant.  When we left about 8:30 after the Bats lost, dark clouds were fairly close on the other side of the river.  But, they really weren’t that close.  The general storm track was slow and from Clark County across the Southern Oldham, Northern Jefferson County line.  Tremendous lightning display for about 2 hours but no wind and by about 11pm we got a few light showers.  The track stayed just to our east and northeast and the storms faded as they got to the river.  Western Clark County got a couple of inches of rain and we got hardly a thing.  That has been the trend for the last several weeks.  Southern Indiana has gotten beneficial rains but from Louisville and points south and east are hard up for rain.  I say points south and East…if you look at the rain map it pretty much tells the tale because Shelby County got hammered by a very strong storm that produced damaging microburst winds between 2:30am and 3 am Saturday.  Snow White and I took our friend Bobby to the Bats game and he had said that at his house around 3AM he had huge winds that moved something in his backyard that he can’t move himself.  I told him that we had nothing but heard one rumble of thunder.  It’s almost as if Louisville is in a dome.  Areas north and west have gotten rain and then areas immediately east and maybe even immediately southwest…everywhere else south and east have been dry.  Louisville has kinda been in a semi-donut hole.

Look for your Sunday to be similar to Saturday.  After a hot and humid day, both the NAM and GFS feature a short wave that is on the downside of life coming through from the northwest by the evening.  The NAM has it late and the GFS has it before sunset.  The truth will probably be somewhere in between.   The GFS has it stronger but its more compact. The NAM makes it more expansive but less intense.  Hopefully, some of us will get some rain because by midweek, the ridge in the Southeast will expand somewhat and most likely limit our rain chances though by the end of the week it seems to contract enough to perhaps allow for more scattered activity by late in the week.  No real break in the heat.  Hey, it’s summer.

Anastasia Mystery Officially Solved But Doubts Remain July 16, 2010

The Romanov Royal Family

On This Date In History: The Romanov Royal Family in Russia met its doom. Czar Nicholas II was put in a bad spot as he was not really trained to be the Czar. He took the throne in 1896 and was pretty aloof; detached from the needs of his subjects. He committed the nation to an ill-advised war war with the Japanese in 1904.  The Russo-Japanese War ended pretty quickly with the Russian fleet annihilated quickly following a naval battle north of Japan.   

Execution Took Place in This Cellar

About a decade later Russia, like other European countries, was bound by a series of complicated alliances that took Russia and much of the rest of Europe into World War I with an army that was completely ill-equipped for modern warfare. They had lots of guys but they were more suited for a war in 1814 instead of 1914.   The people had gotten angry in 1905 and forced the Czar to create the Duma, a form of Congress. But he kept on dissolving the Duma whenever it came up with some sort of reforms. The war effort was denying the people basic necessities and Nick’s subjects became even angrier to the point of revolt though Nicholas remained oblivious to the people’s needs and their unrest.  So, in 1917 the Russian Revolution broke out. In July 1918 they captured the royal family and on this date in 1918, the family was lined up for a photograph and then gunned down.  A pit was alleged to have been dug and the bodies tossed in an burned.

Anna 1953, Anastasia 1916

Rumor was that the whole family was killed except for Anastasia, the young daughter. During the 20th century, several women showed up in Europe and even the United States claiming to be Anastasia. The most convincing of these Anastasias was a woman, Anna Anderson, who moved to the United States and died there in 1984. The gravesite for the family was a state secret during the time of the Soviet Union.  But, with the end of communist rule the secret was revealed.  In 1991, the bodies of the Royal Family were exhumed from their supposed grave near the town of Ekaterinburg only to find that the mystery was not solved.  The grave of the Romanovs only had 5 bodies, not 7;  two were missing.  The missing bodies were that of the young male Romanov, Alexi Nikolaevich and one of his sisters.  It was assumed that the missing girl was Anastasia.   The bones in the grave were examined and  DNA comparisons between Anna Anderson and the Royal Family proved she was not Anastasia.  On July 17, 1998 a funeral was held for the 5 members of the Romanov family that had been found, almost exactly 80 years after they were killed.   In January 2008, scientists in Russia claimed that they a few months before had found the charred remains of two children near Ekaterinburg.  In April 2008, forensic experts claimed that they had confirmed that the remains were that one of  Alelxi and one of his sisters.  In March 2009,  apublished report  verified that all of the Romanov family had been identified and no one had survived the execution.  Case close, right?  Not exactly.

Only the Remains of 5 of the Romanov Family was Initially Found; Why would they kill all 7 and then not bury two children with the rest of the family?

I wonder why the executioners would not put all of the bodies together.  It also seems quite convenient that two sets of charred remains just happen to show up near the grave site.  But, my musings aside, a Stanford University study released in 2004 questions the original assertion that the 5 sets of bones unearthed in 1991 belonged to the Romanov family to begin with.  That would throw everything up in the air, including the claims of Anna Anderson.  When news of the Stanford report hit the press, it caused somewhat of a stir among the scientists who had concluded that the case was closed.  After all, part of the premise was that the investigation was flawed and that called into question the integrity and ability of the original scientists.   It always seems that these conspiracies live on forever.  Whenever a credible person produces evidence for one side of a story, another credible person counters the previous credible evidence.  And then there are always unanswered questions such as why the two children were not buried with the rest or how the rumor of Anastasia’s survival even came up in the first place.  I guess the saddest part of this sort of thing is that some folks spend most of their lives trying to disprove or prove points related to issues that really make little difference.  Beside that, if the absolute truth of Anastasia were to be of total certainty, then the events in 1918 would not be nearly as interesting and perhaps forgotten.  One thing Anna Anderson did do was to keep the memory of the murder of the Romanov family alive for nearly a century.

Rain heaviest in Southern Indiana

Weather Bottom Line:

  On Thursday night there were a couple of shortwaves out to the west that were approaching the area.   As they wound down, the also slowed down over the western parts of the viewing area and rained themselves out to the tune of 1-3 inches over places like Crawford and Dubois County.  I had figured that was the rain chance for our area on Friday and, sure enough, by midday you could tell that there was very little in the way of vertical development of the clouds which indicated that there was a suppression going on and that rain chances would be limited.  As I looked at the morning analysis, that was also the front so temperatures and humidity will be limited on Friday, though it still will be pretty warm.  The front doesn’t get far and also more or less washes out to our south over the weekend.  However, it should provide enough instability to give us some isolated or maybe scattered t’storms for the weekend.  Highs will be in the low 90′s with somewhat humid conditions but nothing too extreme.

Tom Brady and Peyton Manning: Too Old To Win Another Super Bowl? July 15, 2010

Are Manning and Brady Too Old To Win Another Super Bowl?

Stallworth's Big Catch in the 1980 Superbowl Landed Him on the Cover of Sports Illustrated

On this Date in History:  When I was a kid, I hated the Pittsburgh Steelers.  The sole reason was that they knocked the Raiders out of the playoffs with the lucky “immaculate reception.”  Then they got so good and always kept the Houston Oilers out of the Super Bowl.  While I didn’t like the team, I secretly really admired and liked the players.  I loved Lynn Swann when he was at USC.  I never really liked Penn State after the Nittany Lions embarrassed the Texas Longhorns in the 1972 Cotton Bowl.  The star in the 30-6 victory was running back Lydell Mitchell but Franco Harris made some big runs  for Joe Paterno so I didn’t like Franco forever.   Vietnam Veteran Rocky Bleier  and Steeler’s running back was cool but I didn’t want to admit it.  And then there was John Stallworth.  I didn’t like him because it seemed the Steelers just got better each year with more good players.  When he joined the Steelers in the 74-75 season, they were already on the rise yet, somehow they got another good receiver.  John Stallworth was born on this date in 1952 and he went on to be elected to the National Football League Hall of Fame in 2002.  In a Superbowl that I thought was a great game that seems to get overlooked, on January 20, 1980 he caught a 73 yard touchdown pass from Terry Bradshaw that sealed the fate of the underdog but competitive Los Angeles Rams.   John Stallworth went on to a life off the field that is every bit as successful as it was on the field as he now heads up Genesis II, a firm that devotes itself to philanthropic efforts.

Terry Bradshaw Was Very Tough. Click For Video of October 10, 1975 Cheap Shot Sack by Joe "Turkey" Jones That Literally Could Have Killed Bradshaw, who came back to win two more Superbowls in '79 and '80

Now, Terry Bradshaw was the starting and winning quarterback of the Steelers in the 1980 Superbowl and was on tough son-of-a-gun.  I hated him because he was the Steelers quarterback but he was damn good and, even as a Hall of Famer, he doesn’t get the credit he deserves.  He survived what could have been a fatal sack by Joe ”Turkey” Jones in 1976 to come back and win his 3rd and 4th championships.  If you are too young to remember, I encourage you to click on the photo to the left for some video.  The win in 1980  was Bradshaw’s fourth championship at the age of 32.  I heard a radio show today that was questioning whether or not Tom Brady at 33 was too old to win another Superbowl.  They didn’t really talk about Peyton Manning but you have to put him in the same category because he’s a year older than Brady.  When you look at past history, a kneejerk reaction might be that the odds are against him.  But, a close examination may result in a different conclusion.   Its certainly not impossible and every quarterback is different, though Brady has suffered a serious injury in his career.  In the most recent Superbowl, winning quarterback Drew Brees was 31 years old while Peyton Manning was just shy of his 34th birthday.  Manning had won the big one a few years before at age 30.   Thirteen of the 44 winning quarterbacks in Superbowl history have been 33 years of age or older.  That would suggest that Brady has a little less than a 1 in 3 chance.  However, 14 who were 33 or older ended up on the short end.

John Unitas Played In an Era When Quarterbacks Were Not Protected By The Rules Yet Survived Long Enough to Win a Superbowl at age 37

Of 88 starting NFL quarterbacks in the Superbowl, 62 have been younger than 33 years old.  So, it seems that getting there at age 33 is more difficult than winning it once you get there.  When you look at it even deeper, you find that of the 13 older quarterbacks to have been victorious, Bart Starr, Len Dawson and John Unitas represent four of the veteran champions as they won 4 of the first 5 Superbowls.  So, from 1972 on, we’re down to nine thirty-33 or better quarterbacks to wear the Superbowl ring.  The final 9 included some multiple winners.  John Elway won twice at at 37 and 38.  Jim Plunkett was 33 the first time around and 36 when he captured his second Superbowl title.  Roger Staubach, Joe Theismann, Joe Montana, Steve Young and Brad Johnson are the other winners who were at least 33 years old.   So there are just 10 men who have won the big prize as a starting quarterback when they were older than 32. 

Ben Roethlisberger is the Youngest Quarterback to Win the Superbowl

Now, it may appear on the surface that it’s more improbable to win a Superbowl with a young quarterback and certainly a rookie.  But the average winning age of a quarterback in the Superbowl is 29.95 years while the average age of the quarterback for the losing side is 30.   The youngest quarterback to win a Superbowl was Ben Roethlisberger who was just 23.  The next youngest….Tom Brady at 24.  But, 15 of the 44 Superbowl winners have been under the age of 28.  To be sure, the total is limited to a fewer number of exceptional young quarterbacks when you consider that Roethlisberger, Troy Aikman and Terry Bradshaw had all won two Superbowls before their 28th birthday.  And…oh by the way…Tom Brady had won 3 Superbowls before the ripe old age of 28.  Nevertheless, the trend seems to be younger because 9 out of the last 10 Superbowls have been won by a quarterback under 33 years old, including the last 7 in a row.   And, in those last 10 years, only 3 winners have been 30 or older.  

George Blanda Was Paid $600 For First Year in the NFL in 1949; He was still tossing touchdowns against players less than half his age in the 1970's.

 The recent trend seems to say that youth is being served in the NFL.  But, the NFL has never had a young quarterback win as much as Tom Brady.  Also, it seems that guys in the early days of the Superbowl like Unitas and Starr and Earl Morrall seemed to fit the “old man” moniker that  they gained in their mid to late 30′s.   Today’s 30 something quarterbacks seem more youthful than their predecessors.  While age may be working against veterans like Bret Favre who last won a Superbowl in 1997, I think that thinking that talented individuals like Tom Brady and Peyton Manning (who are well into their 30′s) have every bit of an opportunity to hoist the Lombardi Trophy.  Brady has been injured seriously once but he and Manning both tend to avoid big hits.  Kurt Warner was 38 when he retired and he could still bring it.  Warren Moon was still chucking the most beautiful, tightest spirals the league has ever seen at 44 and Elway went out as a champion and fastball chucker at age 38.  Athletes are individuals and their individual circumstance has more to do with their success later in their careers than simply a calendar.  George Blanda was an NFL quarterback in the 1940′s, 1950′s, 1960′s and 1970′s.  His first year he even played linebacker for the Bears as well as quarterback and placekicker.  Blanda was still coming off the bench to bail out the Raiders in the mid-70′s with his arm and kicking field goals until they finally ran him off after his 48th birthday and after 26 seasons!  Tom Brady is a long way from reaching the elderly status of “Old Man Blanda” and both he and Peyton Manning have much left in the tank.

Here is a list of Superbowl starting Quarterbacks:

I – 1/15/67
Bart Starr, Green Bay Packers – Alabama (*33)
Len Dawson, Kansas City Chiefs – Purdue (31)

II – 1/14/68
Bart Starr, Green Bay Packers – Alabama (34)
Daryle Lamonica, Oakland Raiders – Notre Dame (26)

III – 1/12/69
Joe Namath, New York Jets – Alabama (25)
Earl Morrall, Baltimore Colts – Michigan State (34)

IV – 1/11/70
Len Dawson, Kansas City Chiefs – Purdue (34)
Joe Kapp, Minnesota Vikings – California (31)

V – 1/17/71
Johnny Unitas, Baltimore Colts – Louisville (37)
Craig Morton, Dallas Cowboys – California (27)

VI – 1/16/72
Roger Staubach, Dallas Cowboys – Navy (29)
Bob Griese, Miami Dolphins – Purdue (26)

VII – 1/14/73
Bob Griese, Miami Dolphins – Purdue (27)
Bill Kilmer, Washington Redskins – UCLA (33)

VIII – 1/13/74
Bob Griese, Miami Dolphins – Purdue (28)
Fran Tarkenton, Minnesota Vikings – Georgia (33)

IX – 1/12/75
Terry Bradshaw, Pittsburgh Steelers – Louisiana Tech (26)
Fran Tarkenton, Minnesota Vikings – Georgia (34)

X – 1/18/76
Terry Bradshaw, Pittsburgh Steelers – Louisiana Tech (27)
Roger Staubach, Dallas Cowboys – Navy (33)

XI – 1/9/77
Ken Stabler, Oakland Raiders – Alabama (31)
Fran Tarkenton, Minnesota Vikings – Georgia (36)

XII – 1/15/78
Roger Staubach, Dallas Cowboys – Navy (35)
Craig Morton, Denver Broncos – California (34)

XIII – 1/21/79
Terry Bradshaw, Pittsburgh Steelers – Louisiana Tech (30)
Roger Staubach, Dallas Cowboys – Navy (36)

XIV – 1/20/80
Terry Bradshaw, Pittsburgh Steelers – Louisiana Tech (31)
Vince Ferragamo, Los Angeles Rams – California, Nebraska (25)

XV – 1/25/81
Jim Plunkett, Oakland Raiders – Stanford (33)
Ron Jaworski, Philadelphia Eagles – Youngstown State (29)

XVI – 1/24/82
Joe Montana, San Francisco 49ers – Notre Dame (25)
Ken Anderson, Cincinnati Bengals – Augustana (IL) (32)

XVII – 1/30/83
Joe Theismann, Washington Redskins – Notre Dame (33)
David Woodley, Miami Dolphins – Louisiana State (24)

XVIII – 1/22/84
Jim Plunkett, Los Angeles Raiders – Stanford (36)
Joe Theismann, Washington Redskins – Notre Dame (34)

XIX – 1/20/85
Joe Montana, San Francisco 49ers – Notre Dame (28)
Dan Marino, Miami Dolphins – Pittsburgh (23)

XX – 1/26/86
Jim McMahon, Chicago Bears – BYU (26)
Tony Eason, New England Patriots – Illinois (26)

XXI – 1/25/87
Phil Simms, New York Giants – Morehead State (32)
John Elway, Denver Broncos – Stanford (26)

XXII – 1/31/88
Doug Williams, Washington Redskins – Grambling (32)
John Elway, Denver Broncos – Stanford (27)

XXIII – 1/22/89
Joe Montana, San Francisco 49ers – Notre Dame (32)
Boomer Esiason, Cincinnati Bengals – Maryland (27)

XXIV – 1/28/90
Joe Montana, San Francisco 49ers – Notre Dame (33)
John Elway, Denver Broncos – Stanford (29)

XXV – 1/27/91
Jeff Hostetler, New York Giants – West Virginia (29)
Jim Kelly, Buffalo Bills – Miami (FL) (30)

XXVI – 1/26/92
Mark Rypien, Washington Redskins – Washington State (30)
Jim Kelly, Buffalo Bills – Miami (FL) (31)

XXVII – 1/31/93
Troy Aikman, Dallas Cowboys – Oklahoma, UCLA (26)
Jim Kelly, Buffalo Bills – Miami (FL) (32)

XXVIII – 1/30/94
Troy Aikman, Dallas Cowboys – Oklahoma, UCLA (27)
Jim Kelly, Buffalo Bills – Miami (FL) (33)

XXIX – 1/29/95
Steve Young, San Francisco 49ers – BYU (33)
Stan Humphries, San Diego Chargers – NE Louisiana (29)

XXX – 1/28/96
Troy Aikman, Dallas Cowboys – Oklahoma, UCLA (29)
Neil O’Donnell, Pittsburgh Steelers – Maryland (29)

XXXI – 1/26/97
Brett Favre, Green Bay Packers – Southern Mississippi (27)
Drew Bledsoe, New England Patriots – Washington State (24)

XXXII – 1/25/98
John Elway, Denver Broncos – Stanford (37)
Brett Favre, Green Bay Packers – Southern Mississippi (28)

XXXIII – 1/31/99
John Elway, Denver Broncos – Stanford (38)
Chris Chandler, Atlanta Falcons – Washington (33)

XXXIV – 1/30/00
Kurt Warner, St. Louis Rams – Northern Iowa (28)
Steve McNair, Tennessee Titans – Alcorn State (26)

XXXV – 1/28/01
Trent Dilfer, Baltimore Ravens – Fresno State (28)
Kerry Collins, New York Giants – Penn State (28)

XXXVI – 2/3/02
Tom Brady, New England Patriots – Michigan (24)
Kurt Warner, St. Louis Rams – Northern Iowa (30)

XXXVII – 1/26/03
Brad Johnson, Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Florida State (34)
Rich Gannon, Oakland Raiders – Delaware (37)

XXXVIII – 2/1/04
Tom Brady, New England Patriots – Michigan (26)
Jake Delhomme, Carolina Panthers – Louisiana-Lafayette (29)

XXXVIX – 2/6/05
Tom Brady, New England Patriots – Michigan (27)
Donovan McNabb, Philadelphia – Syracuse (28)

XL – 2/5/06
Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh Steelers – Miami (OH) (23)
Matt Hasselbeck, Seattle – Boston College (30)

XLI – 2/4/07
Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts – Tennessee (30)
Rex Grossman, Chicago Bears – Florida (26)

XLII – 2/3/08
Eli Manning, New York Giants – Ole Miss (27)
Tom Brady, New England Patriots – Michigan (30)

XLIII – 2/7/09
Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh Steelers – (26)
Kurt Warner, Arizona Cardinals – (37)

XLIV – 2/7/09
Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints - (31)
Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts - (33)

 Weather Bottom Line:  It’s going to be perhaps the hottest day of the year.  Humidity will be relatively high for having afternoon highs in the upper 90′s.  I”m from Houston and grew up on the Gulf Coast and lived there much of my life.  I often scoff at some of the whining we get around here when its humid.  But this time, it’s gonna be tough even for those of who are used to it.  While we’ll get a break with a front that will bring rain and t’storm chances Thurday night into the weekend, I suspect that we may be heading into another extended period of hot and humid conditions.  This is certainly not the same as last year when we had zero 90 degree days in July for the first time in history.  Maybe this is Global Warming’s Revenge.  Be careful and keep an eye on the elderly and others who may have difficulty.  Take care of the pets and livestock and for goodness sakes, don’t go and leave your child in the car…even for just a few minutes.

Did Billy The Kid Die in 1881 or 1950? Another Folklore Mystery! July 14, 2010

Billy the Kid: Note the left hand on the rifle

Famous Billy The Kid Photo

On This Date In History:  Though it was not Friday the 13th, the 14th of July was not too lucky for  William Henry McCarty .  He is thought to have been born around 1860 in New York. It is unknown who is father was. His mother, Catherine McCarty moved to Indiana in the 1860′s and to Wichita Kansas in 1870 where she was diagnosed with Tuberculosis. She moved to the warmer and drier climate of Santa Fe where she married William Antrim. Since there were two people named Billy in the house, she called her son Henry. His mother died in 1874 and his step-father wanted nothing to do with him so he sent him to a foster home where he had to earn his own keep. He wasn’t too keen on washing dishes, so he turned to the dark side.   McCarty  fell in with horse thieves and such and eventually got into a fight with Frank “Windy” Cahill, whom he shot dead. Rather than face murder charges he fled. He teamed up with a man named Jesse Evans and went to Lincoln County, New Mexico and took up with forces pitted against John Henry Tunstall. He changed his name to William H. Bonney and, in an odd turn, Tunstall ended up taking in “the kid” as he thought he was just the product of a troubled life.  Perhaps he gained his most famous moniker from a combination of his first name and an early nickname, “Kid Antrim.”  Billy the Kid ended up killing  Lincoln County, NM Sheriff William Brady and Deputy George Hindman  and became a notorious outlaw.  Some histories say that he killed 21 men during his 21 year life, but no one really knows for certain.   Pat Garrett became sheriff of Lincoln County and at one time was friends with Billy the Kid.  It is known “the kid” was shot in the dark on this date in 1881 by Pat Garrett.    But,  it is said he was shot in the back by Garrett, whom by then I suppose was a former friend. That event didn’t prove too lucky for Garrett either.

The Dapper Pat Garrett

Garrett wrote a semi-successful book on his nabbing the notorious young outlaw but then failed at just about everything else he did. The public didn’t really embrace his celebrity too much as it was accepted he had shot “the kid” in the back. He ran for office several times for the Senate and various places for sheriff but lost every time. He had become friends with Teddy Roosevelt and in 1901 the President appointed Garrett as customs collector in El Paso. Roosevelt found out that Garrett had associated with some unsavory fellows and did not re-appoint him. Garrett became financially destitute and while working on a real estate deal of sorts, was shot to death…in the back of the head.   The investigation into the death of Pat Garrett has become one of interest to historians because the confessed murderer was not convicted by a jury!

Tracing of Brushy Bill's Features When Compared to the Kid Lend Credence to Bill's Claim

Billy the Kid continues to fascinate not just the American public but also the world.  Numerous movies have been made about him and none seem to be the same.  That’s partly artistic license from Hollywood and also because no one knows the true story.   In most of the movies, they say the kid was “a left hander.”  If you look at the photo on the top left, he has his right hand on the rifle.  Yet,   if you notice the photo of the kid at the top, he has the rifle in his right hand. Most photos have it in reverse which led people to believe that he was left handed.  But, some scholars now say that the more popular photo of him with the gun in his left hand was the negative and that he really was right handed. 

Somehow This Man is Known as Ollie P "Bill" Roberts; Regardless, He Was Known as Brushy Bill

Then there is the conspiracy theory that says the kid wasn’t really killed in 1881; that Pat Garrett, who was known to stretch a tale for self promotion, shot someone else.  The folklore is that a guy named Brushy Bill was really Billy the Kid.  He went by the name of William Henry Roberts and he died in Hico, TX in 1950, though this account of the Billy the Kid conspiracy theory says Brushy Bill went by Ollie P. “Bill” Roberts even though the grave marker says William Henry Roberts.   At least one person has gone to the trouble of doing a careful facial analysis of both Billy the Kid and Brushy Bill and he concludes that the similarities are so great that Brushy Bill’s claim could indeed be true.   So prevalent was the rumor that efforts were made to exhume the body of Brushy Bill to do a DNA test.  In 2007, the exhumation of Brushy Bill  was cancelled with the newspaper folks refering to Brushy Bill as Ollie Roberts.  So, now no one knows a thing for certain except its not wise to follow in the footsteps of Pat Garrett: add avoiding shooting an outlaw in the dark (especially not in the back)  to your list of things to avoid for the day.

Weather Bottom Line:  As we’ve been talking about, a cold front was approaching our area.  I had mentioned that Monday’s big rain chances were off the board and I meant to imply that it was greater for Tuesday…though in looking at the verbiage I fell short.  Anyway, we did get a shortwave wandering through the first part of Tuesday with a relatively small corridor of 1-2 inch rain stretching into northern Jefferson County (KY) which just happened to be over my house and so the sunflowers are happy.  The front may have even moved through a bit as we have a lovely afternoon.   Regardless of whether it did or we simply got the subsidence behind the short for Tuesday afternoon, it ain’t gonna last.  The front goes on the retreat and we will be pretty warm and humid on Wednesday; probably fog in the morning in places that got a goodly amount of rain.  The Thursday gets down right hot and humid in advance of another front.  Between the southerly flow ahead of the front and compressional warming we’ll probably be in the upper 90′s.  That sets the stage for a return to rain chances Friday and Saturday and possibly Sunday, depending on if the front is still in the region.

Filibuster As Part of American Expansion, Not Legislative Tactics July 12, 2010

Americans Filibustered Numerous Times in the 19th Century at Central America's Expense

On this Date In History: American William Walker was a doctor, lawyer, newspaperman and hypnotist in the middle of the 19th Century. But he became better known as a filibuster.   That does not mean that he was a member of Congress.  Today, we think of a filibuster as an interesting idiosyncrasy of the United States Senate that can hold up the entire process of debating and passing legislation.  However, in mid 19th century America, the word “filibuster” had an entirely different meaning for most Americans than the political procedure known to most people today.   

Instead, the word ”filibuster”  is derived from the Dutch word Vrijbuiter that means freebooter or soldier of fortune.   He was a little guy as he weighed all of about 120 pounds but he had big ambitions.  Initially, the object of his quest was Baja California and Sonora in Mexico.  He wanted to create an independent nation there with the ultimate objective being annexation of that region to the United States that would be a slave state. When that failed, he turned his sites elsewhere.   On This Date in 1856, at the age of 31 he became the only American born citizen to become President of another country….supposedly. At least that is what my source claims. I would suggest that Sam Houston as President of the Republic of Texas was first. Anyway, this guy convinced the head of the Democrat party in Nicaragua to invite him and some “settlers” to come to Nicaragua. In reality, they were a bunch of mercenaries hired to help that party win a civil war that was going on. The ruse of being settlers was set up to avoid entanglement in US neutrality laws. So, he and his band of merry men helped defeat the opposition and he set up a phony election that made him president. He only served two years because he irked the wrong guy.

Walker leading the way at Lake Nicaragua

One of the things he was doing was trying to conquer neighboring countries by hiring more mercenaries and also get support from the slave holding South in the United States by rescinding Nicaragua’s long standing Emancipation order. Well, none of that sat well with Americans in the North and particularly Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt who had a company that ferried freight and passengers across that part of Central America before the canal was built. He even had designs of building a canal across Nicaragua and Walker was in the way. So, he got together a bunch of guys in neighboring Costa Rica and even got help from the British and American Navies. That was the end of Walker who lost a key battle on April 11, 1857 and surrendered on May 1st of that year. He was sent back to the United States where he wrote a book about his adventures. He tried to return and when he did, he was captured again in Honduras by the British Navy who turned him over to local Hondurans who promptly had Walker executed by firing squad at the age of 36 on September 12, 1860.

Walker's Effort Created A Costa Rican National Hero

While we don’t think about William Walker much, his defeat and failure marked a turn around in Central America as it was seen as a pseudo war of independence. His name is one hated as it is held up as a symbol of “Yankee imperialism.” In Costa Rica, there is a national holiday commemorating Walker’s defeat on April 11.   However, Walker’s defeat is not the focus but instead the holiday is set aside to commemorate the exploits of Juan Santamaria, who is said to have done heroic things while barefoot in the battle against Walker.  So, for all his trouble…he got a day in Costa Rica for his failure and they named it for a 19 year-old barefooted soldier: Juan Santamaria Day.   Costa Rica also sports the Juan Santamaria International Airport.  Seems that Walker’s biggest contribution for the Central American country was to place Juan Santamaria in the annals of Costa Rican history.  Take a lesson from this. Don’t try to take over a country. Leave that to the professionals.

Weather Bottom Line:  Rain chances will be elevated for Monday and Tuesday as a shortwave comes out of the Southern Plains.  But, you will note that the chance of rain listed in most forecasts are less than originally posted.  Last night I saw a local broadcast claim a 70% chance of rain today.  I then looked at the data and found that it indicated that the shortwave was not following the track that would give rise to such chances, which means someone didn’t do their homework.  It’s not that there is no chance, but just not as aggressive as had been advertised.  It’s all because of a cold front that is approaching slowly.  So, scattered activity will be in the area for Monday and Tuesday.  The front doesn’t get very far south of us before it slides back north as a warm front and our temperatures and humidity jump for a day or so before another cold front comes down at the end of the week and rain chances go up again.

The Exploits of Vice President Aaron Burr Seem A Work of Fiction July 11, 2010

There May Be a Good Reason Alexander Hamilton Got in So Many Duels

On This Date In History: In recent years, we have heard the “I” word tossed about rather liberally. That word is impeach.

President Andrew Johnson was impeached but was not convicted by one vote. President Clinton was impeached but also avoided removal from office as the Senate did not vote for conviction. Today, we haven’t heard of anyone calling for the impeachment of the current president or vice-president. Yet. Someone probably will before President Obama’s 4 years are up. There were certainly those who wanted to impeach President Bush and even Vice-President Cheney. These calls came from allegations of malfeasance. But on this date in 1804, there is no doubt about it…Aaron Burr,  Vice-President of the United States gunned down Revolutionary War hero Alexander Hamilton.  And guess what, he wasn’t impeached nor did he go to jail.

Alexander Hamilton

Alexander Hamilton had been an aide-de-camp of Washington during the war and later led a crucial attack at the Battle of Yorktown. He became the first Secretary of the Treasury and served in that capacity for 6 years before retiring. He then formed the Federalist Party, the first political party in America. He detested Thomas Jefferson and the two developed what became known as Hamiltonian ideals and Jeffersonian ideals. Basically, Hamilton wanted a strong central government and Jefferson was for a weak central government with most of the power belonging to the states. Today, Jefferson must be spinning in his grave.

Burr's 1807 Treason Trial

Anyway, in 1804, Burr was the sitting Vice-President under Jefferson and Hamilton had made some unsavory remarks about Burr, who demanded satisfaction and responded with a challenge to a duel! Hamilton had been famous for dueling but had ironically pushed to outlaw the practice in New York. So, Hamilton and Burr went across the river to New Jersey. On this date in 1804, two shots rang out in Weehawken, New Jersey. Hamilton lay mortally wounded. There is great speculation regarding the incident as many suggest that Hamilton missed on purpose as he was a veteran duelist and a good shot. But there were procedures if one was to desire to not shoot one’s opponent. Hamilton did not follow the procedures. Witnesses could not determine who fired first. But what did happen, is that Burr was forced to stay out of New York for the remainder of his term as murder charges were filed.  For most people, Aaron Burr is now left to nothing more as a footnote to history.   Alexander Hamilton, on the other hand, has lived in immortality as the face of the ten dollar bill.  While the duel is probably Burr’s most infamous act, his lesser known final act for history literally made him an enemy of the United States.

Jefferson and Burr At Odds Till the End

If you recall, Burr and Jefferson both had the same number of electoral votes for the 1800 presidential election. The tie went to the House of Representatives who voted for Jefferson only after Tom’s old nemesis, Alexander Hamilton, reluctantly went to bat for the famous statesman.   Hamilton must have really hated Burr for him to vote for Jefferson.  Help from his political rival made Jefferson the President and Burr the Vice-President.  The original Constitution had the second place electoral vote-getter become Vice-President. But that meant that political rivals had to be the team. That obviously created problems and the Constitution was changed. The problem became all too apparent when Burr, as the sitting Vice-President, took out his anger at Hamilton for his support of Jefferson, as well as other items of disagreement, by taking Hamilton to the dueling field.   Even though the murder charge was eventually dropped, the public turned on Burr for his duel and his political career was over in the United States.

Peter Charles Hoffer Wrote About Burr Treason Trials That Had Nothing To Do With the Duel With Hamilton

So, Burr secretly conspired with Britain and Spain to try and set up a new country in the Southwest of what is now the United States and part of Mexico. Of course, Burr would rule the new empire. But, the plot was foiled and Burr went to trial for Treason.  As part of his defense, he had Jefferson, still the sitting President, called to the trial to produce documents that would exonerate him.   On June 13, 1807, President Thomas Jefferson received a subpoena to testify at the treason trial of his former Vice-President, Aaron Burr.   In response to the subpoena, Jefferson cited his right to protect wing up at the trial and he only offered a few of the documents requested.  If Jefferson was trying to send Burr to the gallows it didn’t work because Chief Justice John Marshall declared that the charges were to be dropped due to lack of evidence. 

Tom Jefferson Depicted As Constitutional Destroyer

I’m not a legal historical scholar but I bet that Jefferson’s claim was the precedent for the presidential claim of Executive Priviledge.  Jefferson had also used his position as Commander in Chief to commit US armed forces halfway around the world for the undeclared Barbary Pirate War.  While those two roles of the president seem to pass constitutional muster,  Jefferson’s purchase of the Louisiana Territory and the funding of the Lewis and Clark expedition are seen by some as examples of how Jefferson the President acted perhaps differently than Jefferson the author of the Declaration of Independence.   So often today, when we hear charges that the President is shredding the Constitution, we hear the name of Jefferson invoked.  Yet, some of Jefferson’s opponents viewed him as the enemy of the Constitution as evidenced by the cartoon showing Jefferson offering the document to the alter of Satan while the eagle tries to grab it from his hand.   

Ukraine legislators sometimes operate like Americans did many years ago

The political battles that go on today may seem rough.  But, they pale in comparison to the political wars that went on almost from the beginning of the nation.  After all, it’s been a long time since we had a Senator pull a gun on another in the Senate chamber.  I don’t recall a Congressman almost beating a Senator to death while the Senator sat behind his Senate chamber desk nor a House member attacking another on the House Floor with a pair of fire tongs.  As President of the Senate, Vice President Martin Van Buren carried a side arm to keep the peace.  It’s been awhile since a sitting Vice-President gunned down the former Secretary of the Treasury and a long time since we had a former VP try to set up his own country.  But we have an a couple of impeachment trials of two presidents…oh…and then there was Vice-President Cheney who while Vice-President did in fact shoot his friend with a shotgun blast.

Weather  Bottom Line:  I”m not exactly sure of the mechanism that brought t’storms to the Southeast of Louisville on Saturday.  Snow White and I were out riding bikes and I told her that I was guessing that it was on the 850 boundary of the cold front that came through Friday.  I explained that they were probably elevated storms without much rain but with gusty winds and hail.  Well, I heard on the news that there was hail and gusty winds with the storms.  However, I saw the cold front analyzed way to the South.  So, its doubtful that it was the 850 front.  But, I also don’t buy the explanation of one guy who said it was an outflow boundary.   As I said, I was out riding bikes so I didn’t do an analysis.  It was something but I’m not sure what it was some sort of subtle feature.  Sunday should be warm and dry.  A cold front approaches on Monday and our rain chances will be elevated for at least the first half of next week.

Too Old To Be Guilty July 10, 2010

If we followed the logic of a 1787 Philadelphia judge, old folks could rule the dinner table and the streets

On This Date In History: In May 1787, an old woman in Philadelphia was grabbed and attacked by a group of people who cut her head in an ancient tradition of bleeding out any spells she may have cast. They thought she was a witch. This year there has been a heat wave in the Eastern United States.  The media tends to latch on to Global Warming  these days but the truth is, it has happened before.  In early July 1787, a big heat wave was going on in the city of Brotherly Love. Dogs and horses died. The fields were dry and tempers grew as hot as the weather. No word on whether anyone blamed Global Warming in 1787.   However,  at the same time, 55 men were gathered in Independence Hall arguing over the forming Constitution. If you look at the painting of the 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia to the left, you will note the central figure is General Washington. Just about every painting you see will feature the Father of the Country prominently. That is because he is largely credited with holding the conventioneers together. Not by words but simply by his presence. His silent, strong leadership was what everyone looked toward to get them through the turmoil. Another person in Philadelphia did not have the General to save her.

Philadelphia: City of Brotherly Love

The old woman who was tormented in early May was a German known as Korbmacher. During the heatwave, a little boy died. Some on the streets of Philadelphia chose to blame her and attacked her again On This Date in 1787. The Pennsylvania Evening Herald story read, “We are sorry to hear that the poor woman who suffered so much some time ago, under the imputation of being a witch, has again been attacked by an ignorant and inhuman mob. On Tuesday last she was carried through several of the streets, and was hooted and pelted as she passed along. A gentleman who interfered in her favour was greatly insulted, while those who recited the innumerable instances of her art, were listened to with curiousity and attention.”

Korbmacher Means Basket Maker In German

Eight days later, Korbmacher, which means basket-maker, was dead and the Philadelphia Witch Hunt was over. The newspapers wrote that they hoped justice would be done to those who had perpetrated such a beating on a person, let alone an old woman. Well, a trial did get underway as several people said they would testify against some of the alleged attackers. Three things are interesting about the trial. First was it was held just prior to Halloween also known as All Hallows Eve or Witches Eve. Second, there is no record of the results of the trial. The third, and perhaps most intriguing is the commentary about the innocence of Korbmacher from the bench by the judge:

Judge: Old ladies are innocent

“what! that a poor wretch whose sorrows and infirmities have sunk her eyes into her head, and whose features are streaked with the wrinkles of extreme old age, should therefore become an object of terror, and be endowed with the powers of witchcraft — it is an idle and absurd superstition! If, however, some damsels that I have seen, animated with the bloom of youth, and equipped with all the grace of beauty, if such women were indicted for the offence, the charge might receive some countenance, for they are indeed calculated to charm and bewitch us. But age and infirmity, though they deserve our compassion, have nothing in them that can alarm or fascinate our nature.”

James W von Brunn probably wishes his judge was the the 1787 Philadelphia judge

So according to the judge…Korbmacher was innocent simply because of her age.   If we used this judge’s logic today, then the 88-year-old man who killed a bunch of people at the Holocaust Museum in Washington would be set free because of his age.  Carrying out the judge’s logic in 1787, if  Korbmacher  had been young in the “bloom of youth” well then she may very well be guilty of being a witch because everyone knows that young women have a way of putting men under their spell!!!  How’s that for justice? All of this on the same streets that were at the very time witness to the construction of the very document that governs justice for all for this great nation. This witch tale is not remembered by most but it did make its way into a book that was reviewed by The  Spectator.  The author of the book was surprised to find that there is nothing in the record to show that any of the members of the Constitutional Convention made any notes related to the Philadelphia Witch Incident because it was widely reported at the time.  It’s too bad that General Washington didn’t go for a stroll at the hour of Korbmacher’s demise…his presence alone could have done what the Constitution could not.

Weather Bottom Line:  The biggest benefit of the Friday’s front was the rain.  We needed it as we are behind both in the near term and also for the year.  The second best thing about it was a slight reduction in humidity levels.  Dewpoints in the mid to upper 60′s have brought some relief.  The heat was brought down a bit but we’re still going to be lurking around the 90 degree mark for the weekend.  This front represented a change in the long wave pattern: i.e. the jet stream.  The ridge that had been limiting rain activity will be broken down such that for at least the first half of the week, disturbances will be allowed to move in that will initiate rain and t’storm activity and also afternoon heating will be enough to support afternoon and evening storms.  That is something that we haven’t seen for a  few weeks so the prospects for rain will be enhanced for several days, which is a good thing.

A Wild Life and Death For President Zachary Taylor July 9, 2010

Old Rough and Ready's Military Success Made For a Good Campaign Poster

On This Date in History:  Zachary Taylor was in interesting president.  He had been a very successful general in the Mexican War  and “Old Rough and Ready,” as his soliders called him, became a national war hero.  As a career military man, he had never been involved in politics, though some thought he was most associated with the Whigs.  I”m not sure that there is any record of his ever voting.  So, no one knew with certainty which political party he as aligned.  Northerners liked him because of his military background while  Southerners loved the fact that he owned about 100 slaves.  In the 1848 election, the Free Soil Party arose with their pure anti-slavery position and they nominated former President Martin Van Buren whose nicknames were “The Little Magician” and “Old Kinderhook.”   The Democrats nominated Lewis Cass while Taylor was the choice of the Whig Party.  Taylor won the 3 way race as his battlefield prowess proved sufficient to propel him to the Presidency.  Taylor’s came a few months after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo that ended the Mexican War and he assumed the Presidency by taking the role as Commander in Chief very seriously and literally. 

Taylor's Aggressive Style As A General Spilled Over Into His Role As Commander In Chief

During the Mexican War, he consistently showed aggressiveness of command.  The objective of the United States in the Mexican War was simply to get the Mexican government to negotiate a resolution to the question over the border of Texas.  So, when Taylor was victorious at Matamoras, he waited for the Mexicans to back off.  They didn’t so he invaded Mexico.   Then he occupied Monterrey and negotiated a truce.  That truce was rejected by Washington.  A new truce was not consumated, but instead,  Taylor went on the offensive again resulting in more victories.  President Polk realized that Taylor was getting pretty popular at home and did not want him getting any more glory because Polk feared Taylor as a potential Whig candidate for President.  So, he took away Taylor’s best soldiers and ordered them redeployed to General Winfield Scott’s Army.  With a force of just 5000, Polk figured Taylor would be unable to foray deeper into Mexico, thus denying him more publicity at home.  But, Mexican President Santa Anna got wind of Taylor’s weakened force and attacked him with 20,000 men a Buena Vista.  Old Rough and Ready guided his men to another big victory.  Polk had made Taylor an even bigger hero than he had been before.

Taylor's Military Record Could Also Be Spun Against Him In An Election Year

When Taylor took office in March 1849, the slavery issue was getting pretty serious.  There was talk of secession in several Southern States.  By February 1850,  many Southern leaders called for a convention of secession.  Taylor responded by telling many of those Southern leaders that he would personally lead an army to put down any rebellion and that anyone “taken in rebellion against the Union, he would hang … with less reluctance than he had hanged deserters and spies in Mexico.”  Seems he liked the Union more than he liked the radical approach to slavery which seems at odds with his position as a slaveholder.  Around the same time,  there was a border dispute between New Mexico and Texas in which Texas claimed a chunk of New Mexico was Texas territory, including the capital of Santa Fe.  By early summer, the dispute got so heated that the governor of Texas ordered state soldiers be sent to gain control of Santa Fe.  Taylor did not agree with the claims of the Lone Star State and ordered his military commander in New Mexico to order troops to resist any Texas troops.  The commander refused.  So, he told the Secretary of War to sign such an order.  He too refused.  Taylor responded by saying, “then I’ll sign the order myself!”  Once again, he threatened to personally lead an army to the region and hang anyone he found to be in rebellion against the Union.  Taylor decided to advise Congress of the situation, but he never  got around to it. 

Texas Territory Claims Went Beyond Santa Fe to Wyoming; Taylor Would Have None of It

On July 4, 1850 President Taylor attended Independence Day festivities on a hot day in Washington DC and for some reason ate a bunch of cherries and washed them down with milk. He returned to the White House and drank a bunch of water. On This Date In History President Taylor promptly died. The cartoon at the top suggests it was from lemonade which I cannot find suggested anywhere else. I had read that he died from eating too many sweet potatoes but that story seems to have gone by the wayside. There was talk in modern times, though surprisingly not in his day, that he was poisoned because he was a staunch unionist and threatened to personally lead a military attack against any state that tried to secede. In 1991, some of these conspiracy theorists convinced the Taylor family that they needed to dig up the former President from his resting place in Louisville to solve a crime. The DNA results were negative. Imagine that.

At Least They Really Didn't Need to "Dig Up" Zach; They Just Had to Take Him From His Room

So, scholars were back to the original cause of death, which was described as gastroenteritis, which sounds like one of those general terms that doctors assign to cases in which they really have no answer.  Some official websites simply assign the cause of death of the 12th President of the United States as illness.  While Taylor is a rather obscure figure to most Americans today, some folks have posted postulations regarding the death of Zachary Taylor.   Many say that Taylor succumbed to Cholera, probably ingested through the milk or water.  Speculation also leads to a typhoid hypothesis which is associated to the cherries that he ate. Then there is the argument that Taylor suffered from heat stroke that led to other complications.   Regardless, he died on this date in 1850 and you can visit him in Louisville at the Zachary Taylor National Cemetery.   Snow White and I have done so a few times. If he had not passed away as President, we may never have heard of his successor, Millard Fillmore. Well…maybe it made no difference because not too many people have heard of Millard Fillmore.   As it was, after Taylor’s death, cooler heads prevailed and Congress did what it had always done regarding slavery: it kicked the can.  Fillmore signed the Compromise of 1850 that brought California into the Union as a free state and settled the border dispute between Texas and New Mexico by awarding New Mexico the land while Texas the federal government agreed to pay some of Texas’ debt.  Hostilities were delayed and the war that Taylor had threatened against anyone in rebellion became a reality 11 years later.  Had Taylor not died of a stomachache, the Civil War may have taken place before it actually did and how it would have concluded with “Old Rough and Ready” agressively and personally leading the armed forces of the United States is left to speculation.

Weather Bottom Line:  Thursday afternoon produced a lot of noise at my house but not much rain.  Those scattered thunderstorms were in advance of a frontal system that by Friday will produce more general rainfall.  We need the rain and we could use some heat relief.  We will get both but probably not as much of either as most of us would like.  Saturday’s highs will be in the upper 80′s and will probably push 90 on Sunday.  Overnight lows will be running generally in the upper 60′s so a decrease in humidity will at least make summer heat more bearable.  Maybe the most significant aspect of this front is that it represents a change in the long wave pattern in which a big fat ridge in the East will break down to allow more activity to get going in the afternoons.  So, while it will remain fairly hot, the prospects for rain will most likely be higher  for next week on a daily basis more than we’ve seen for the last few weeks.

Man Who Mapped Grand Canyon Thankful For Long Underwear July 8, 2010

The Nation Owes a Debt of Gratitude To Quick Thinking and Some Strong Underwear

John Wesley Powell in 1869; Not Often Photographed without Full Beard

On This Date in History:  John Wesley Powell was born in 1834 near Mt. Morris, New York.  Soon thereafter, the family moved to Ohio where it was difficult for the family, largely due to the Powell’s strong anti-slavery sentiment built on their Protestant Faith.  Ohio, at the time, was generally in support of slavery and young John felt so uncomfortable that he withdrew from public school and was instead tutored by a local naturalist named “Big George” Crookham.  Crookham had a great deal of knowledge and interest in plants, animals, rocks and various artifacts that he shared with John Wesley Powell.  This seemingly innocent relationship not only had an extreme effect on the rest of Powell’s life, but also on the direction of the United States government and some of its policies.

Powell Was Most Interested in Indian Affairs Photographed here with a Paiute Near the former Virgin River

In 1846, the family moved to Wisconsin to a farm that was adjacent to several Indian tribes.  Powell developed a strong bond and appreciation for his Native American neighbors.  Four years later the family again pulled up stakes and this time came to Illinois.  In 1857, Powell attended Oberlin College and felt quite comfortable studying Greek, Latin and botany since the state and college campus held anti-slavery views that were similar to his own.  It was his anti-slavery position that led him to join the Union Army at the outset of the Civil War.  At the Battle of Shiloh, Captain Powell was in charge of an artillery battery.  At one point , he raised his hand to signal for the battery to fire when he was struck by a minie ball in his left wrist.   Now, the “minie” part of the minie ball is a true misnomer because there was nothing small about it.  In general, minie balls came in either a .50 caliber or .58 caliber variety.  It was essentially a huge lead sphere that had a tendency to flatten out on impact and cause massive destruction to a human body.  With that in mind,  Powell had his left arm amputated.  But, in an illustration of Powell’s determination, he not only recovered by rejoined the army.  He participated in the battle of Champions Hill and the Seige of Vicksburg and rose to the rank of Major and later was breveted to Colonel.  Most of the time, a Civil War officer would use his highest rank acheived as a title but, Powell went by the title of “Major” after he left the army; for Powell that was in 1865 when he resigned.  Powell had determined that his disability was limiting his usefulness.  But that doesn’t mean that he let it get in the way of the rest of his life.

The original 9 man Powell Expedition at departure 1869; Powell Must Have Been Camera Shy

He took a job as a professor of Geology at Ohio Wesleyan University and then the same position at Illinois State University and became curator of the Museum of Natural History which was run by the Illinois Natural History Society.  It was from that position of authority that he led his first expedition of the Colorado and Green Rivers.  Remember, in 1869 no one had ever mapped the Colorado River, which was in places a rough and turbulent river that snaked its way through a rough and challenging terrain.  So, Powell and his team of 9 literally were looking to traverse uncharted territory.  The ten men departed from Green River, Wyoming on May 24, 1869 amidst whoops and hollers from well wishers as they began their journey down the Green River.  They assumed their journey would be a long one as they took provisions for a 10 month expedition.  One of the members of the expedition, Frank Goodman, had enough after just a month.  Rapids had claimed one of their boats and most of their provisions.  Goodman simply walked up to Major Powell and said, “I’ve had more excitement than a man deserves in a lifetime.  I’m leaving. “  He then walked away toward a settlment.  Goodman ended up hanging  for many years with a bunch of Paiute Indians in Eastern Utah before settling  and starting a family in Vernal, UT.  He really did live to avoid excitement.  I wonder if regretted it because the Powell Expedition of 1869 was headed for a place in history. 

Powell's boats were small; note Powell's chair perched atop the small boat

The 9 remaining men continued down the Green River to where it combined with the Grand River in Utah to form the Colorado River.  In the days before dams, the Colorado River was described as “too thick to drink and too thin to plow. ”  The water was not too thick for more rapids and Powell had determined on several occasions that the rapids were simply posed too great of a  risk for his remaining boats and supplies.  So, in some cases, they dragged the boats along the shore around the rapids.  In other places, where the river was high or there was no bank, they were forced to shoot the rapids which had to be harrowing as they had penetrated so deep into the unknown that any mishap may have left them marooned.  Indeed, the men were scared and at a place now known as Separation Canyon, Senaca and O.G. Howland along with Bill Dunn told Powell, “how we surely will all die if we continue on this journey.”   They could not convince Powell to give up on the river as his spirit of determination would not allow Powell to give up even as the trio decided that they had enough and were going to try to hike their way to somewhere, anywhere but the river.  Big mistake.  All three men were killed by Shivwits Indians who thought they were three miners who had killed a woman.  The Howlands and Dunn had a true sense of bad timing.  

A Depiction of How Powell rode atop the Small Boat As The Expedition Navigated Rough, Uncharted Waters

Within the next 48 hours,  the remaining men managed the last two sets of rapids and came upon a fishing settlement at the mouth of the Virgin River, which is a Virgin no more since it now sits under Lake Meade.  The expedition had been gone for 3 months and they had been presumed dead.  But the remaining sextet were very much alive and, had not only been the first to navigate the Green and Colorado Rivers, they had been the first to make it through the Grand Canyon and satisfy Powell’s theory that the river had preceded and cut the canyons as the plateau rose.   Powell went on to chart the Grand Canyon and head both the U.S. Geological Survey and the Bureau of American Ethnology.  In the late 19th Century there was no scientific administrator more important than Major John Wesley Powell….and he owes it all to a pair of underwear.

Powell's Men at Bright Angel Campsite

Remember, this was a scientific expedition so Powell and his men weren’t just out to prove their skills as river rats.  They were taking samples, making observations and making surveys along the way.  That’s why the journey took so long.  It would be data from this expedition and a second in 1871 that would give Powell the ability to map the Grand Canyon and surrounding territory.  So, at one point, the explorers had stopped to do some surveying.  That was not an easy task as in many locations the terrain was nothing but cliffs.  In spite of his lack of a limb, Powell insisted on conducting many of the scientific work himself and so on this date in 1869, Powell and George Bradley found themselves inching along a sheer canyon face, treacherously high above the canyon floor; about 800 feet above the canyon floor.   Powell spied what looked to be a good foothold.  It may have been a good foothold but it was a bad move because the Major found himself trapped.  Bradley scrambled to a ledge above Powell but was too high to reach down for Powell’s right arm.  Bradley looked for a long stick but there were none to be found on a rock cliff.  So, he tried the barometer case that they were carrying.  It was long enough but too thick for Powell to grab with his one arm.  Powell shouted to Bradley that the muscles in his legs were starting to “tremble.”   In his diary, Powell wrote that, “If I lose my hold, I shall fall to the bottom.” 

Map of the 3 month Powell Expedition

George Bradley suddenly was inspired.  He took off his pants and then his long underwear.  Bradley dangled the undergarment over the edge.  It was probably the only time in John Wesley Powell’s life that he was happy to see a man’s underwear dangling in his face.  In a leap of desparation, Powell let go of the rock he was grasping to reach out for the longjohns.  The underwear held and Bradley was able to pull Powell to safety.  Powell lived to be able to write of the moment in his diary, complete the expedition, map the Grand Canyon and do all sorts of things.  Before honoring John Wesley Powell for his important and long standing work as an explorere, scientist and administrator, we need to hoist a toast to George Bradley and his longjohns without which the nation may have been left without one of its greatest public servants.    By the way, very few if any other expeditions dared to travel the length of the Colorado River like John Wesley Powell in 1869 and again in 1871 for the next 50 years.  In 1923, the USGS sent its Chief Topographer, Claude Birdseye, to make a new survey and search for a suitable location for a dam which would become Hoover Dam.  Birdseye’s choice of Boulder Canyon was abandoned after it was found to be inferior to a better spot in Black Canyon.

Weather Bottom Line:   One more day of excessive heat and humidity before we catch somewhat of a break.  We may have a scattered t’storm in the mid 90′s heat of the afternoon but the best chances for rain that we’ve seen in a week will show up on Friday as a front approaches.  As I had mentioned a few days ago, we need the rain as we are behind for the year which I find hard to believe but its true, officially.   We won’t have a huge cooldown but look for highs in the upper 80′s with lower humidity for the weekend.