October 29 (A Double)

539 B.C. - Persian King Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon.

The Persians had long been kicking at the gates of Mesopotamia, but it wasn't until Cyrus came along that they had the leadership it took to overwhelm the Assyrians (Babylonians)...Cyrus proved to be much more than an average leader, and eventually conquered most of the area of the modern-day Middle East. Which is why he was able to found the world's first true empire, was known as the King of Kings, and later as 'the Great.'

1929 - Black Tuesday.

The day the Great Depression began, with the massive trading of 13,000,000 shares on the N.Y. Stock Exchange.

There were many reasons for the Depression, which was a global phenomenon not an American one...Most important was the destabilization of the world economy after WWI, and the excessive reparations put on German with the Treaty of Versailles.

Unfortunately, this state of economic destabilization was one of the many factors leading to WWII.

1940 - U.S. Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson drew the first number (158) in America's first peacetime military draft:  WWII.

This was a year before the Japanese invaded Pearl Harbor...Thankfully the U.S. military was ramping up.

FDR should have begun this process in 1939, and entered the war in 1940, but didn't have the courage or conviction to do what was right, because it would have been unpopular...In other words, FDR was a politician not a statesman.  That said, he did prove to be a great war president once he was dragged into it.

1942 - Nazis murdered 16,000 Jews in Pinsk, Soviet Union:  WWII.

Another big day for the 'Master Race.'

1966 - The National Organization for Women (NOW) was founded.

This name is so deceiving...It should be NOMLMHW: National Organization for Marxist Lesbian Man Hating Women. Anything less is a huge lie.

1997 - Iraq barred Americans from the U.N. disarmament effort in Iraq. A move which outraged chief weapons inspector Richard Butler and prompted him to suspend inspections.

It’s a good thing the Clinton Administration was tough on Saddam. Riiiiiiiight...Instead he left the problem for his successor.

October 12

1492 - Believing he reached India, Christopher Columbus arrived with his expedition in the present-day Bahamas.

History changed with this event, adding a whole 'new world' to the geography of the known world, and a massive new territory for the genius of Western Civilization to conquer, settle, exploit and populate.

Some may look at this as a terrible thing, but it is what it is, which is nothing more than the natural evolution of mankind: The spread and conquest of man over space, distance and one another.

539 B.C. - Persian ruler Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon.

Cyrus founded the dynasty which created the world's first truly great empire, and was the greatest power in history until Alexander the Great and the Romans came along:  "At its greatest extent, the empire included the modern territories of Iran, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, all significant population centers of ancient Egypt as far west as Libya, Turkey, Thrace and Macedonia, much of the Black Sea coastal regions, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, much of Central Asia, Afghanistan, northern Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and parts of Oman and the UAE." - Wikipedia

1518 - Martin Luther was summoned before the Diet of Augsburg, where he refused to recant his protestation against the Church.

Luther snubbed the Holy Roman Emperor and the Pope, and it’s amazing he survived this meeting.

Both Charles and the Pope would regret the decision not to kill him, because Luther's life ensured the survival of the Reformation (which didn't have a name at the time) and empowered the German princes who supported and protected Luther.

1862 - J.E.B. Stuart completed his 'second ride around McClellan':  U.S. Civil War.

General McClellan had one of the largest and best trained, though terribly green, forces in the world, but didn’t have the testicular fortitude to put it to use...The fact that Lee, Stonewall, Stuart, etc., made him look incompetent is no surprise.

Unfortunately, it took years before Lincoln found his 'fighting general' - Grant...McClellan was just the first of many without a clue how to fight a winning war.

1960 - Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev began banging his shoe on a desktop at a U.N. General Assembly meeting.

Nikki was quite the dramatist, but he certainly wasn't a nut...Not compared to other nutters of the time, that is.

1973 - President Nixon nominated House Minority Leader Gerald Ford for the vice presidency to replace Spiro Agnew, who resigned in disgrace two days earlier.

Nixon picked a good man...Which was necessary, because he knew his ass was about to be strung up as well.

1999 - NBA Hall-of-Famer Wilt Chamberlain died at the age of 63.

I still don’t know how 'The Stilt' managed to have his way with 10,000 fillies (allegedly)...It’s amazing he lived to 63 at that rate.

2000 - The USS Cole was attacked by Islamists in Yemen, killing 17 U.S. sailors.

I thought the Jihadists ‘loved the U.S.’ before G.W. Bush? Hmmmm.

Oh well, at least our bold Commander-in-Chief (Clinton) taught them a lesson...Ooops. I forgot, he did nothing, except embolden them.