February 28, 2014: Waco and the Games People Play

February 28: this day in history (from Wikipedia)

1784 – "John Wesley charters the Methodist Church." Which ultimately inflicted Hillary Clinton on us.

1885 – "The American Telephone and Telegraph Company is incorporated in New York State as the subsidiary of American Bell Telephone. (American Bell would later merge with its subsidiary.)" And thus inflicted us with those commercials with the actor sitting around a children's library table with 8 year-old actors pretending to be spontaneous 5 year-olds.

1993 – "Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents raid the Branch Davidian church in Waco, Texas with a warrant to arrest the group's leader David Koresh. Four BATF agents and five Davidians die in the initial raid, starting a 51-day standoff." It's okay when a government murders its own people, so long as it's the United States government.

Notable quotes (from BrainyQuote unless otherwise sourced)

"Not being able to govern events, I govern myself." - Michel de Montaigne (28 February 1533 – 13 September 1592) ZAP

"I know that a man who shows me his wealth is like the beggar who shows me his poverty; they are both looking for alms from me, the rich man for the alms of my envy, the poor man for the alms of my guilt." 

"Trying to determine what is going on in the world by reading newspapers is like trying to tell the time by watching the second hand of a clock."

"I discovered early in my movie work that a movie is never any better than the stupidest man connected with it. There are times when this distinction may be given to the writer or director. Most often it belongs to the producer."

- Ben Hecht, the "Shakespeare of Hollywood" (February 28, 1894 - April 18, 1964) 

"The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas." - Linus Pauling (February 28, 1901 – August 19, 1994)

Song of the Day

Joe South (February 28, 1940 – September 5, 2012) would be 74 today. I wrote about this song last year. Haven't yet got tired of it: