History of the Day: 10/8

On this day in 1918, Alvin C. York single-handedly killed 25 German soldiers and, this is better, captured 132. What's even more impressive is that he, a hillbilly from the mountains of Tennessee, had been a conscientious objector (after his conversion to Christianity), and had to be convinced to join the war. Of the event, he said:

And those machine guns were spitting fire and cutting down the undergrowth all around me something awful. And the Germans were yelling orders. You never heard such a racket in all of your life. I didn't have time to dodge behind a tree or dive into the brush… As soon as the machine guns opened fire on me, I began to exchange shots with them. There were over thirty of them in continuous action, and all I could do was touch the Germans off just as fast as I could. I was sharp shooting… All the time I kept yelling at them to come down. I didn't want to kill any more than I had to. But it was they or I. And I was giving them the best I had.

Les Miserables opened on this day in 1986. Next to Man of La Mancha, it is the greatest musical of all time. This is an excerpt from the book about one of the greatest and most moving scenes ever to occur in literature or on Broadway:

He set himself stubbornly in opposition to the angelic deeds and the gentle words of the old man, "you have promised me to become and honest man. I am purchasing your soul, I withdraw it from the spirit of perversity and I give it to God Almighty." This came back to him incessantly. To this celestial tenderness, he opposed pride, which is the fortress of evil in man. He felt dimly that the pardon of the priest was the hardest assault, and the most formidable attack which he had yet sustained; that the hardness of hearty would be complete, if it resisted this kindness; that if he yielded, he must renounce that hatred with which he found satisfaction; that, this time, he must conquer of be conquered, and that the struggle, a gigantic and decisive struggle, had begun between his own wickedness, and the goodness of man.

And that same moment from the musical:

Yet why did I allow that man to touch my soul and teach me love?
He treated me like any other
He gave me his trust, he called me brother
My life he claims for God above. Can such things be?
For I had come to hate this world
This world which had always hated me.

Take an eye for an eye! Turn your heart into stone!
This is all I have lived for! This is all I have known!

One word from him and I'd be back beneath the lash, upon the rack
Instead he offers me my freedom,
I feel my shame inside me like a knife
He told me that I have a soul. How does he know?
What spirit came to move my life? Is there another way to go?

Or, you can just watch Les Miseranimals from Animaniacs.

Happy Birthday to the Office of Homeland Security. I feel so safe, I get goosebumps! Here is their theme song.

Today is the feastday of the ascension of the Governator to power. Or the Gropenfuhrer. And happy birthday to another leader, Jesse Jackson. I probably should make some comment about his plans for Sen. Obama ... but I won't.

Happy Birthday to Robert Bell from Kool & the Gang! Someday, I hope to be so kool.

To more of the Ramones, Johnny and C-Jay, were born on this day in 1948 and 1965 respectively. Another musician, B.J. Wilson from Procol Harum, died on this day in 1990. They were known for using classical music as the basis for many of their songs, especially Whiter Shade of Pale, which is loosely based on Bach's Watchet Auf and Air on a G-String.

Today is the feastday of San Ernesto. Who is San Ernesto? It's Che Guevara who was captured (and later killed) on this day somewhere in Bolivia. He is supposed to answer prayers for rain. I bear an uncanny resemblance to Che. It's kind of scary.