Welcome back. Your dreams were your ticket out. Welcome back, to that same old place that you laughed about... A big thank you to any Kotter fans out there, or a bigger one to any John Sebastian fans. Anyhow, on we go!
In 1915, a new group is formed. They're called Kiwanis International. They were founded in order to... do something. I don't really care enough to look it up. I guess it's a good thing that they do, but oh well. To be honest, the only reason they warrant any mention is that they were founded in Detroit. Yippee!
The Battle of Khe Sanh began in 1968, in Vietnam. Bruce Springsteen had a buddy (Or more likely, a brother) there, you know. He was fighting off the Vietcong. They're still there, but alas, he's all gone.
At the same time, a B-52 bomber crashed in Greenland, near Thule Air Force Base. It was carrying several nukes, and once the cleanup was finished, it was concluded that one of them was missing. Apparently it still is! My hunch would be that it's the Eskimos, or whatever the PC term is. Bottom line, they're pissed, and they've got a nuclear bomb! Beware of nuclear attacks launched via strategic dog sleds!
Speaking of Vietnam, in 1977 the biggest idiot in the recent history of the presidency (well... at the moment that's in the air, but the contender still has a year to go), decided that the correct way to punish all the people who evaded the Draft during the War was to pardon them- ensuring that they didn't have to pay any penalty for their actions. Maybe I'd feel differently if I had been in their shoes, but I'm reminded of a story by a draft dodger who sailed off as a merchant sailor. He was explaining to his fellows about why he refused to go to fight the War, and when he was done, one of them looked at him and said "But... They're your mates". If I recall correctly, he rethought his position, just on the strength of that common sense approach. But I could be wrong.
In 1981, the DeLorean was first manufactured. It was a cool car, in theory. However, it apparently had some serious quality control issues, not to mention being the victim of some seriously bad timing, as the auto industry was in bad shape at the time. But it looked really cool in "Back to the Future". Not that you need me to tell you that! By the way, I seem to recall reading last year that somebody got hold of all the leftover parts, and was starting to build them again. In Texas, of course.
Hey, here's something that has some current interest: In 1997, Newt Gingrich was reprimanded by the House of Representatives for misconduct. He was the first leader of the House to be so honored. He apparently taught a college course, and was paid for it. But he was paid by some non-profit groups, and the course was alleged to be a complete partisan lecture, which would have made it an issue of some kind- I guess in how he reported the income, or how they reported the expense. Interestingly, I once read that he heaped praise on FDR in the course, which would seem to have made it a little less partisan, what with Roosevelt being a democrat and all. On the other hand, Gingrich is a republican, so therefore he had to have been guilty. It's in the Constitution or something. But that's just another reason why people find him untrustworthy, and why I think he has no chance of being elected president.
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