Remember a while ago when I mentioned something about Thomas Becket? I think it was his birthday or something. Anyhow, I said we'd see him again soon. Well guess what... It was on this date in 1170 that someone "rid" Henry II of "this meddlesome priest". Of course, scholars still debate if he really meant he wanted to be "rid-rid" or if he just was annoyed. On the other hand though, most scholars doubt he actually said that, but it seems like he must have thought it, and perhaps said something similar. At any rate, if we take it as an actual quote, it's a valuable lesson for leaders. Be careful what you say. It's claimed that Nixon was impeached in large part because he asked in a meeting (rhetorically asked, we can infer from the apparent context of the question) if there was nothing that could be done about Ellsburg stealing highly classified documents "can we at least get the IRS to audit him?" Some bonehead in the meeting apparently thought it was a serious suggestion, and afterward called the IRS to tell them to perform such an audit. The IRS told him to get bent, which was the legally correct answer. Nevertheless, because he considered that to be an order from the president, down went Nixon. Sad, but it turns out he had done some other things too... or at least people acting under his supervision did. Sorta like Clinton, except that in his case the minions did what he asked, and the media and Congress decided to ignore it all and pretend it was all about sex. The fact that Nixon was a Republican and Clinton was- ahem- of another political party- surely had nothing to do with it. But I digress. So RIP Thomas Becket.
Another churchman died on this date in 1916, in Russia. The one and only Grigori Rasputin, aka The Mad Monk. It's debatable whether he was the evil influence on the Royal Family that he was alleged to be, but nobody can debate that he was an odd duck. And very seductive, in a not completely sexual way. It also can't be debated that he died hard... he was poisoned, shot 4 times, beaten and then thrown into the Neva River. According to the autopsy, that was the fatal blow, so to speak, as he was found to have drowned. Yikes.
I'll toss this one in just for those who might still care. RIP Earl Hindman, aka "Wilson" from the over-rated and sexist show "Home Improvement". I personally found the show idiotic, and the portrayal of men to be sexist and whatever the counterpart is to misogyny. The fact that one of the main characters, the source of all manly wisdom, was never portrayed with his face showing didn't help. But then some people thought it was a brilliant show. Here's a quiz for you: Remember that episode where Tim did something incredibly insensitive, and his wife was hurt, and then got angry because he didn't understand how stupid he was? And she called him a name because he was so stupid? And then he had to go talk to the neighbor, who explained to him why he was wrong and why his wife was right, and then he went back and apologized to his wife for being stupid, except he still didn't really understand what he was told about his mistake... Yeah, I thought so. Try to use that description to find a certain episode. You'll be lucky if you can narrow it down to under 100. And yet, this was a solid, conservative, family values show; in the eyes of the people who make TV. Uh huh. At any rate, Hindman died in 2003.
And that, as they say, is that.
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