This Day In History

• 1798 - The first brawl in the U.S. House of Representatives was witnessed by legislators. Congressmen Matthew Lyon and Roger Griswold fought on the House floor. Are you ready to rumble ?!?!
• 1815 - The United States purchases Thomas Jefferson's library as the nucleus of the Library of Congress. Jefferson's more than 6,000 books help replace those burned by the British during the War of 1812. You think Vietnam was the most unpopular war in American history ? You must have gone to public school. Ironic that this war almost caused secession by several states prior to the civil war, and was the war that our National Anthem arose from. Some times what some people call the wrong war can cause the right things to happen. Something for those on the left to remember.
• 1862 - The U.S. Navy's first ironclad warship, the "Monitor", was launched.
• 1933 - "The Lone Ranger" was heard on radio for the first time. The program ran for 2,956 episodes and ended in 1955. Not many people realize that the Lone Ranger was the Green Hornet's Grandfather. Not that it matters really, what with them both being fictional and all. But hey ! Bruce Lee kicked ass !
• 1948 - Mohandas Gandhi is assassinated in New Delhi. The political and spiritual leader of India's independence movement, Gandhi staged numerous nonviolent -- and highly effective -- protests against British authority. His assassin, a Hindu fanatic, objected to Gandhi's tolerance for the Muslims. Most people point to Gandhi as the way to bring peaceful settlement to any political situation completely ignoring that if he would have tried this against, oh say the Nazis or the Italian Fascists or the Communists. He would have been dead the first day. Still, he played on the conscience of the British populace and succeeded in winning Indian Self Rule. Which was a great accomplishment. I can't help but think of that old Bob & Tom Bit though... The New New Delhi Deli.
• 1972 - In Northern Ireland, British soldiers shot and killed thirteen Roman Catholic civil rights marchers. The day is known as "Bloody Sunday." Which U2 turned into a number one smash hit song.
• 1973 - G. Gordon Liddy and James W. McCord, former President Nixon reelection campaign members, are convicted of breaking into and illegally tapping Democratic Party headquarters (Watergate hotel). Which was pretty f'ing stupid of them. Nixon's poles at the time suggested he would win in a land slide. It was totally pointless to do it. It's something that tarnishes the Republicans to this day.
• 1981 - Nearly 2 million New Yorkers turn out for a ticker-tape parade honoring the freed American hostages held captive in Iran for 444 days before being released January 20. The reason they were released ? Ronald Regan was elected.
• 1997 - A New Jersey judge ruled that the unborn child of a female prisoner must have legal representation. He denied the prisoner bail reduction to enable her to leave the jail and obtain an abortion. ?? A New Jersey judge that had a soul ? Must be an aberration.
• 2002 - Slobodan Milosevic accused the U.N. war crimes tribunal of an "evil and hostile attack" against him. Milosevic was defending his actions during the Balkan wars. Actually, I'm starting to think he was a scapegoat. The Religion Of Hate had invaded his country and the rest of the EU is starting to feel the same strain. He recognized that his nation would no longer exist if the Religion of Hate were allowed to prosper. I direct you to the Required Reading portion of this Blog before leaving comments.

Wow, busy day in history.