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Today is…

Nelson “Madiba” Mandela was born Thursday, July 18, 1918, the same year Afrikaner Broederbond (Brotherhood) was formed. For 46 years its members would dominate South Africa’s apartheid government until in 1994 Nelson Mandela was elected President.

“A good leader can engage in a debate frankly and thoroughly, knowing that at the end he and the other side must be closer, and thus emerge stronger. You don’t have that idea when you are arrogant, superficial, and uninformed.” – April 2001

Today is…

The day Ted Kennedy drove his Oldsmobile and any presidential probability into the Poucha Pond off Chappaquiddick Island. The story goes that in the wee hours of July 18th, 1969, Massachusetts Senator Edward “Ted” Kennedy left a reunion party of married men and single 20-somethings to drive one of the girls to her hotel room on Martha’s Vineyard.

For some inexplicable reason, according to his own muddied recollection, en route Kennedy’s car catapulted twenty-three feet out from the unrailed Dyke Bridge to sink top-down in six feet of swirling tidal-water.  The Senator survived the accident; his passenger, 28 year-0ld Mary Jo Kopechne did not.

The youngest Kennedy son extricated himself from his mother’s car and swam to shore. Not seeing Mary Jo, Ted dives three or four times down to her, but he can’t free her from the wreck. It wasn’t until nine or ten hours later after the police trace its license plate back to Kennedy did he make his way to the police station to give his statement.

There were several inconsistencies and downright absurdities in the 37-year-old junior Senators rendition of events. Court documents aside, evidence deemed irrelevant by the local judge determined the Senator was driving between 35 and 40 miles/hour, not 20 miles/hour as was recorded in court; and, while Kennedy paced his dry hotel room floor, Kopechne was exhausting her air supply.

Multiple reconstructions based on back in the day accounts of that night in 1969 indicated the young woman had enough air to have lived for at least an hour after the car dropped to the floor of the tidal channel. If Kennedy had called for help, Mary Jo might have survived.

This Weekend is…

The Experimental Aircraft Association AirVenture at Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh, Wisconsin! It is an experience like no other!!!

If you’ve ever driven to your local airfield to sit in a Cessna 152 and “Ooh” and “Oh, NO!” through its “Flying Farmer Flying Drunk” routine, you were impressed.

EAA’s Oshkosh is not at all like that and a whole lot more!!

The Big Show starts officially July 24th through July 30th. You MUST go at least once in your lifetime. Pilot, pilot wanna be, Aviation enthusiast or human, it is a rock your world event! It truly is Aviation’s Mecca!

Hey, RedStaters! Welcome to the ‘Cooler! It’s RedState’s only Daily open thread. Ever been to Oshkosh? Tell me your story, I’ll tell you mine in the comments below 😉