one little, two little, 4600 little indian boys

  I went to high school with a guy whose birthday was May 5th. This was southern California, so there were plenty of parties going on every year, and even though Mexican beer is only good when compared to American beer; I'm sure we cruised a few Mexican de Casas on Li'l E's birthday over the years enjoying free cervezas. We had to have, I just can't recall big chunks of my high school career, that makes me think there was tequila involved. There are parades all over the Southland on Cinco de Mayo as well. I don't know if it was true, but he said that when he was little his Mother told him the Mexicans were celebrating his birthday. It's probably true, she did a lot of weird stuff like that to torture him. He turned out to be a very strange cat once the meth sunk really deep into his brain, so we lost touch after I chose not to have contact with him anymore. He's probably dead or in prison by now, but if you're out there Li'l E; Happy Birthday!


Duty Freebie: I love me some Sneeze, even if Steve hasn't updated since my last visit, there is lots of archival material worthy of delving into.

Mexican Independence Day is September 16th, independence from Spain, that is. Today's celebrations commemorate Mexico's victory over Napoleon III's French Foreign legion, which was a much bigger deal than the words 'French defeat' might lead you to believe. They were among the elite fighting forces of the day, and with the English and Spanish out of the way; the armies of the U. S. killing themselves in a civil war; and nearly double the manpower; they were soundly defeated by the Mexican Army and militiamen. For two days that is, but some theorists offer that this reinforcement period for the French, which kept them from aiding the Confederacy, greatly contributed to an earlier end to the U. S. Civil War. I would go a bit further, had the French simply taken Puebla and then in turn Mexico City, the entire continent would likely have become a French colony! Consider that the Confederacy would have gained not only their promised ally, but a geographically fortuitous one at that. The French contingent in Canada would have collaborated with the Mexican French Colonialists and the victorious Confederate Army in a world-changing Risk™-style pincer formation: and Wisconsin would be the Brie Belt to this very day. Ironically, it was the U. S. Civil War that first led the Spanish, English, and French to believe they could pull a smash and grab in Mexico while their neighbor was unable to aid them.