Saturday, September 23, 2006

Last Minute Plus One Dept.
"Yesterday" in History ie Sept. 23rd
480: Battle of Salamis. Original "clash of civilizations". One pita awarded to those who guess the winner. That'll teach them Ayatollahs.
1779: The beginning of 'Post Modernism'. US Naval Commander John Paul Jones of the ship Bonhomme Richard takes major damage during the early battle against the British ship Serapis. The British commander, Richard Pearson, asks him if he has "struck his colours" ie surrendered. Jones replies, "Well, that depends on what your definition of "is" is. " Jones later goes on to win the engagement. Patron saint for numerous American academics.
1818: Percy Bysshe Shelley's 'The Masque of Anarchy' first published. But does it rhyme ?
1864: The IWMA association (the First International) founded in London during a solidarityh meeting for a Polish uprising. Unfortunately infested with "the tapeworm of socialism" (guess who ?) from birth.
1881: Founding Congress of the Federacion de Trabahadores de la Region Espanola (dates Sept. 23- 26) in Barcelona. Forerunner of the CNT.
1895: Founding convention of the French CGT in Limognes. Originally syndicalist. Infested by the "tapeworm's eggs" several years later.
1908:Manifesto of the Junta of the Partido Liberal de Mexico (Mexican Liberal Party), anarchist despite the name.
1930: Birthday of Ray Charles, jazz and soul great. No tapeworms him.
1930: Sigmund Freud enters the unconscious. Not very "complex" at all.
1950: Congress overrides US President Truman's veto and passes the McCarron Internal Security Act' requiring registration of members of groups deemed to be communist fronts by the attorney general and establishing "emergency concentration camps". Most victims fail to quote John Paul Jones as to "Well, it depends on what your definition of "was" was". Too bad.
1955: Jury in Sumner MI acquits Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam of the murder of 14 year old black child Emmett Till even though they admitted kidnapping him. The "out" was the fact that the body was in a state of advanced decomposition that "precluded positive identification". Perhaps there were too many stray bodies around.
1963: Margaret Faas-Hardegger (1882- 1963) dies. German anarchist romantically linked with Gustav Landauer and Erich Muhsam. Also friends with Fritz Brupbachert and Gertrad Wiker. Established anarchist communist community in Minusio in 1912.
1994: The final credits for American horror writer Robert Bloch. When asked why he wrote horror fiction he replied, "I have the heart of a small boy...I keep it in a drawer at home."
That's all. Make sure to keep your file drawers in order. "H" is for both heart and horror.

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