Paracultural Calendar for May 15

[Mark Thibodeau]

On this day in *1648*, the first documents of the *Treaty of Westphalia* are
signed in Osnabrück and Münster, setting in motion the machinations that
would bring about the *Peace of Westphalia*. At the time, this was as huge
as huge could be, ending the *Thirty Years' War* in the *Holy Roman Empire*,
and the *Eighty Years' War* between Spain and the Dutch Republic, with
Spain formally recognizing the independence of the Dutch Republic.
Everybody was involved in this. The Holy Roman Emperor, *Ferdinand III*, of
the House of Habsburg, the Kingdom of Spain, the Kingdom of France, the
Swedish Empire, the Dutch Republic, the Princes of the Holy Roman Empire,
and sovereigns of the free imperial cities. This was truly a world-historic
development, and, for the most part, a good one.

*****

On this day in *1817*, the first private mental health hospital opens its
doors in the United States. It is called the *Asylum for the Relief of
Persons Deprived of the Use of Their Reason*. Such a great name.

*****

On this day in *1829*, *John the Baptist* materializes somewhere in the
American mid-west and anoints one Mister*Joseph Smith*, ordaining him to
start the *Church of Mormon*. Of course, this is all according to Joe,
himself, so you may want to take it with a grain of salt.

*****

*Mickey Mouse* made his first appearance on this day in *1928*, in a
cartoon entitled *Plane Crazy*... and the character still isn't in the
public domain. Most people haven't got a problem with this. Should they? I
don't know. All I know is, when you work at Disney, nobody fucks with the
mouse.

*****

On this day in *1940*, *McDonald's* opens its first restaurant in San
Bernardino, California. Today, the *Golden Arches *are as recognizable as
the *Nazi Swastika*, and the role played by *Mickey Dee*'s in the
implementation of a population-controlling Genocide Diet cannot be
under-estimated or over-stressed.

*****

On this day in *1972*, In Laurel, Maryland, *Arthur Bremer* shoots and
paralyzes Alabama Governor *George Wallace* - called "the most influential
loser in American politics" by some - while the latter was campaigning to
become the Democratic candidate for President on a segregationist platform.
Wallace, after receiving great treatment and loving care form a succession
of black nurses, would go on to renounce his racist views before dying in
1998. Bremer served 35 years in jail for his crime, and was released in
2007.

*****

On this day in *1991*, while former *CIA* chief/then-President *George
Herbert "Poppy" Walker Bush* escorts the *Queen of England* to a Baltimore
Orioles game (I kid you not), the Defense Department releases documents
showing that Central American dictator *Manuel Noriega* was, at one time:
"The CIA's man in Panama."

*****

On this day in *1988*, after more than eight years of fighting, the
legendarily hard-ass Soviet Red Army begins its withdrawal from
Afghanistan, defeated by a rag-tag assembly of heroic, *CIA*-funded
Mujahideen! Or, at least, that's what the neoconservatives used to say is
what happened. They don't like to talk about it so much now, after one of
those heroic heroes masterminded the *September 11* terror attacks. See
Adam Curtis' documentary *The Power of Nightmares* for clarification.
Here's *Part One*
<http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2798679275960015727> to get you
started. Seriously, if you haven't already watched this, what the fuck are
you waiting for?!
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://waste.org/pipermail/pynchon-l/attachments/20150515/e98f8cb3/attachment.html>