Paracultural Calendar for March 12

[Mark Thibodeau]

On this day in *537 AD*, the Goths lay siege to Rome, making off with the
Empire's entire supply of black lace, skull rings, pancake makeup and *Trent
Reznor* CDs.

***

On this day in *1622*, *Ignatius of Loyola* and *Francis Xavier*, founders
of the Jesuits, are canonized as saints by the Catholic Church.

***

On this day in *1861*, in Montgomery, Alabama, delegates from South
Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas
adopt the *Permanent Constitution of the Confederate States of America*,
which lasts a few measly, desperate years... not unlike Hitler's "thousand
year" Reich.

***

On this day in *1894*, *Coca-Cola* is bottled and sold for the first time
in Vicksburg, Mississippi, by local soda fountain operator* Joseph
Biedenharn*.

***

On this day in *1928*, in California, the St. Francis Dam fails; the
resulting floods kill over 600 people.

***

On this day in *1930*, *Mahatma Gandhi* leads a 200-mile march, known as
the Salt March, to the sea in defiance of British opposition, to protest
the British monopoly on salt

***

On this day in *1933*, *Franklin D. Roosevelt* addresses the nation for the
first time as President of the United States. This is also the first of his
"fireside chats".

***

On this day in *1947*, the *Truman Doctrine* is proclaimed to help stem the
spread of Communism.

***

On this day in *1993*, several bombs explode in Bombay (Mumbai), India,
killing about 300 and injuring hundreds more.

***

On this day in *1993*, Janet Reno is sworn in as the United States' first
female attorney general.

***

On this day in *1999*, former Warsaw Pact members the Czech Republic,
Hungary and Poland join NATO. Freakin' turn-coats!

***

On this day in *2003*, *Zoran "Alphabits" Đinđić*, Prime Minister of
Serbia, is assassinated in Belgrade.

***

On this day in *2004*, the President of South Korea, *Roh Moo-hyun*, is
impeached by its National Assembly: the first such impeachment in the
nation's history.

***

On this day in *2009*, financier *Bernard Madoff* pleads guilty in New York
to scamming $18 billion, the largest in Wall Street history.

***

On this day in *2011*, a reactor at the *Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power
Plant* melts and explodes and releases radioactivity into the atmosphere a
day after Japan's earthquake.
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