Happy birthday to Abigail Adams, the very first second lady of the US, and the second first lady of the US. Got that? To confuse things even more, she later becomes the first first lady who has a daughter in law as a first lady. My head hurts. At any rate, she was a very well educated lady, and very much in love with her husband John. I recommend the movie 1776, which gives a nice flavor for her relationship with her husband.
There was a real war horse born on this date, but not in the literal sense. George Smith Patton Jr. was born on this date. He was named after his late grandfather, who was a Confederate general. As a child, young Georgie was well-acquainted with a family friend, John S. Mosby, another famous Confederate. And adding to the excitement, Patton was a student at VMI, which we encountered in our last post. Contrary to public belief, he was technically expelled. He was planning to leave in order to attend West Point, but before it all was official, he rode a horse up the stairs and into the school offices. Horses have mixes feelings about stairs- they climb up, but not down. And if a horse is stuck at the top of a flight of stairs, that's a problem. In this specific case, it was only a problem until the horse was put down. Then the problem became Patton's. Most likely, of course, the school forgave him. Playing a key role in winning a major war has that effect on places.
On the other side of the fence, we have Alger Hiss, who was also born on this date. He was a traitor, who spied for the Soviets. He denied it, and most liberals today do the same, claiming he was falsely accused and harassed because he was just a poor, innocent person who happened to believe in communism. Only flaw with that theory is that it's, you know, a lie. He WAS a spy, as has been proven beyond any doubt. So next time someone tries to claim Hiss was innocent, you know that they're a moron.
Kurt Vonnegut Jr also had a birthday today. As a German prisoner following the Battle of The Bulge, he was detained for a time in an underground prison. It was a meat locker, and was known to the Germans as "Slaughterhouse 5". Sound familiar? It was right outside Dresden, and as a prisoner there in February 1945, Vonnegut was a witness to the dreadful fire-bombing of the City. I suspect that those events, along with the ones that followed, would be enough to make almost anyone have strong emotions about war. It might also make him a bit odd.
The very talented Jonathan Winters was also born on this date. He's an odd duck, or at least a duck with an odd sense of humor.
The very cool Marshall Crenshaw was born on this date. He's best known for playing John Lennon in Beatlemania, and also for writing a terrifically cool song called "Someday someway". He's also a homeboy, being born in Detroit. Like so many people, he wasn't raised there, being a child of the 'burbs. Unlike yours truly. Interestingly, he also played Buddy Holly in the film La Bamba, thus cementing his place in history as the go-to guy for movies needing nerdy looking guitar players.
Demi Moore was also born today. She was kind of hot back in the day. Still is, kinda. Though now it's due in large part to the wonders of plastic. But hey, if you have the money, I guess it might be worth it.
Calista Flockhart was also born on this date. She did "Ally McBeal", and not much else, other than snag herself Harrison Ford. I guess that's enough, though.
Markie Sanchez was born today. Fun to think that last year everyone thought he was the best quarterback of his draft year. This year, he's been pretty okay. Matt Stafford is of course right now ranked number 5 of all quarterbacks in the NFL. Eat hot death, Markie! And the Jets blow goats too!
And that brings to an end another rendition of this stuff.
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