What up people? It's finally here. Yes, it's (Friday, Chukar-waar, Jom'eh, Yawm-al-jum'a, Istiqlal, Pungenday). And it's raining, still. On a positive note the Pope is in America. Apparently he had some critical words of America's treatment of Blacks and Indians. He may or may have overlooked the Church's history of killing everyone from pagans to Jews, from Muslims to Protestants, from witches to heretics. He did apologize for the bad touching. I'm guessing he was not a victim or if he was, he simply grinned and took it, possibly mistaking it for the extended hand of god. But, whatever, Il Papa is in the house, and it's always nice to have guests.
In 1025 Boleslaw "coleslaw" Chrobry became the first King of Poland. It was an easy title to achieve since no one else wanted to have to deal with the Polish. In 1506 construction of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome began. In 1518 Bona Sforza was crowned queen of Poland. This sounds like an honor but she was Italian and it was actually a punishment. In 1880 a tornado hit Marshfield, MO killing 99 people. The following year Billy the Kid escaped from jail in New Mexico, as depicted in the really great movie "Young Guns". In 1906 San Francisco was destroyed by an earthquake. In 1909 Joan of Arc was beatified in another act of forgetfullness by the Vatican. Joan of Arc was actually burned at the stake (by the Catholic Church) for being a heretic. Whoops. Do you think that there is a clause in the rules that states it's ok to burn a future saint? In 1923 Yankee Stadium opened. In 1983 a suicide bomber destroyed the US Barracks in Beirut, killing 63. Five years later in Operation Praying Mantis the US Navy and Iranian Navy engaged in the largest naval battle since WWII in response to the Iranian mining of the Persian Gulf. We sunk two of their warships and three speedboats. Seriously, what kind of navy consists of speedboats? In 1996 106 Lebanese civilians were killed when the Israeli Defense Forces shelled the UN compound at Quana. The Israelis never do anything wrong and are completely justified in killing innocent civilians and bombing the UN. Of course if it had been Lebanese or Syrian forces that had done this, the world would be outraged. Hmmm....
It is Army Day in Iran today. Good thing it's not Navy Day.
In Zimbabwe today is Independence Day. The name of this S. African nation is derived from Dzimbadzembabwe which means "Big House of Stone". There are 31 million people who live in Zimbabwe, whose capital is Harare. Under the current Mugabe administration there are some pretty severe civil and human rights violations going on in the country. And if that's not bad enough, 20% of the population is infected with HIV. Fortunately, 62% of the are Christians so at least they've got somebody to pray to.
Happy Birthday: Lucrezia Borgia (pictured); Hayley Mills, who was in a million Disney movies; and Conan O'Brien, who is actually pretty funny and proof that you can have an Ivy League education and be goofy looking and still somehow manage to get on TV.
Enjoy your day and your weekend. And remember, "You don't have a disease. You just live in New Jersey."
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