29 March 2013

beadledom

[beed-l-duhm]

noun

– a stupid or officious display or exercise of authority, as by petty officials.

Origin:
1855–60; beadle + -dom

Today’s aphorism

Ignorance is preferable to error and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing than he who believes what is wrong.

– Thomas Jefferson

On this day

29 March 1946 – birth of Billy Thorpe, English-born Australian rock legend. Front man for ‘Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs’. Died 28 February 2007.

29 March 1971 – Charles Manson and three of his followers are sentenced to death for the 1969 murders of actress Sharon Tate and six others. California abolished the death penalty in 1972, before the death sentences could be carried out. Even though California reinstated the death penalty in 1978, Manson is still held in prison.

29 March 1971 – A court martial finds Lieutenant Calley guilty of murder for his role in the massacre of 500 Vietnamese civilians in My Lai. Calley had been in charge of Charlie Company, 11th Infantry Brigade, which had raped, maimed, assaulted and murdered civilians living in My Lai. Calley was the only one of 26 members of Charlie Company to be convicted. He was sentenced to life imprisonment, but on the instructions of President Richard Nixon the following day was released to house arrest at Fort Benning, Georgia. During this time his sentence was cut to 10 years and he was paroled, only having served three and a half years while under house arrest. Many people protested the sentencing, claiming he was a scapegoat. Others were horrified that he was the only one in the chain of command to be charged and convicted.

29 March 1973 – America’s direct involvement in the Vietnamese War ends with the  withdrawal of last USA troops from South Vietnam.