MORE OF THE SAME

What with an absolutely perfect autumn weather weekend and much outdoor work to be done before old man winter turns old man muse into a house potato, there was hardly enough time to watch a few football games and think about what to write for my next post (this one). Therefore, I’m going to take up where my last post (October 23) left off, and go with more of the same. It just happens to be three days later, so only the date (and title) will be changed to protect the historic events of Oct. 26 from whatever difference it makes.

1881 – The most famous gunfight in the history of the American West, the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, takes place on Oct. 26 in Tombstone, AZ, between the Earp brothers/Doc Holliday and outlaws Ike & Billy Clanton/Tom & Frank McLaury/Billy Claiborne. Though it lasts but 30 seconds, it was the stuff legends (and numerous books and movies) are made of.

1901 – The first use of a “getaway car” follows the holdup of a shop in Paris, France. It was the stuff legends (and numerous books and movies) are made of (think Bonnie and Clyde, John Dillinger, etc.).

1916 – Margaret Sanger arrested for obscenity (distributing information on contraception), thereby elevating birth control from a sin to a crime. Almost a century later, it is still a sin to the Catholic Church….which is a “crime.”

1947 – Hillary Rodham Clinton is born. Who?

1949 – President Harry Truman raises minimum wage from 40 cents to 75 cents. Fast forward 65 years: Republicans see no reason why the average person couldn’t still live on that, as evidenced by the wages paid in foreign countries to which they favor outsourcing jobs.

So what else is new?