This Day in History – February 5th
1881 Phoenix, Ariz., was incorporated. Sorry America.
1917 – Congress passed, over President Woodrow Wilson’s veto, a law severely curtailing the immigration of Asians. Wilson held a lifelong grudge with Congress, referring to them as the largest group of “Cock blocks” in the history of the United States.
1958 – Gamel Abdel Nasser was nominated to become the first president of the new United Arab Republic starting the first of 40 years of a positive, friendly and trustworthy relationship with the United States.
1988 – Panamanian military leader Gen. Manuel Noriega was indicted on bribery and drug trafficking charges in Florida. This would be known as the least deceitful event pay rolled by the CIA.
1997 – Investment bank Morgan Stanley announced a $10 billion merger with Dean Witter. After the merger, CEO Purcell stated, “See, we don’t need the government to help us.”
2002 – A federal grand jury indicted John Walker Lindh, the so-called “American Taliban,” alleging that he was trained by Osama bin Laden’s network, he conspired with the Taliban to kill Americans and he had the worst beard they’d ever seen.
2003 – Secretary of State Colin Powell urged the U.N. Security Council to move against Iraq, saying that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and was harboring terrorists. That’s it… that’s the joke.
2007 – Astronaut Lisa Nowak was arrested after driving 1,000 miles from Houston to Orlando, Fla., to mount a bizarre attack on a romantic rival. Her lawyer told her not to worry and that “Three years from now, to the day, everyone will have forgotten about all of this.”
62 AD – Earthquake in Pompeii Italy. A surviving mother assures her young children that “the good news is, this will be the worst thing that ever happens to us and our city; the worst is behind us.”
1818 – Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte ascends to the thrones of Sweden and Norway (placing one butt-cheek on each).
1917 – The current constitution of Mexico is adopted, establishing a federal republic with powers separated into independent executive, legislative, and judicial branches. This system of checks and balances works leads to Mexico’s current status as one of the foremost exponents of democracy and fairness.