October 15

1529 - The Ottoman Turks, led by Suleiman, abandoned the siege of Vienna.

The importance of the Habsburgs (rulers of the Austrian Empire - among many other holdings) can’t be minimized when it comes to stopping the spread of Islam. There was no other power to stop the onslaught from East to West, and had the Habsburgs not been such staunch defenders it’s likely much of Europe would be speaking Arabic at this time.

1582 – The Gregorian calendar was adopted in Catholic countries.

Ten days disappeared from the calendar...It’s funny to note, many Europeans thought this was nothing but a tax-collection scheme.

1892 - The U.S. government convinced the Crow Indians to give up 1.8 million acres of their reservation for 50 cents per acre.

Sounds like a rip-off, but it’s much more than most Indians got.

Again, I must repeat Rule #1 of invasions: Do not let the defenders off the beach...This rule held absolutely true for the Crow and every other conquered population. As it always has, and will.

1914 - The Clayton Antitrust Act became law.

This law was passed to eliminate monopolistic policies, and put limits on big-business...Worked very well didn’t it?

1923 - The N.Y. Yankees won their first World Series.

It wouldn’t be their last, with the Bombers founding the greatest dynasty in the history of American sports.

1946 - Nazi war criminal Hermann Goering poisoned himself hours before he was scheduled to be executed.

What a complete miscarriage of justice...The Fat Field Marshal had to die, but it shouldn’t have been at his own hands.

The executioner was cheated and so was justice.

1964 - It was announced Soviet leader Nikita S. Khrushchev had been removed from office. He was succeeded as Premier by Alexei N. Kosygin and as Communist Party Secretary by Leonid I. Brezhnev.

Nikki proved to be the last competent Soviet leader (an oxymoron in its own right), and the Evil Empire began a slow period of deterioration from this point on.

1966 - The Endangered Species Preservation Act became law, and the Fish and Wildlife service initially listed 78 species as being 'endangered.' The number of 'endangered species' grew greatly over the following years to a count of 984 in the U.S., as of September 2002.

We protect animals, but we've had no problem executing over 45,000,000 UNBORN BABIES in the past 40-years...Nice set of principles we have.