After pointing out that yesterday was Malaise Day, following Bastille Day on the

14th, I wondered if there would be a special occasion today. Alert Corner

reader Stephanie B. e-mails me to suggest Schism Day:

Yes, that great day when (according to)
The “Great Schism” between the Western and Eastern churches begins over rival claims of universal pre-eminence. (In 1965, 911 years later, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras I meet to declare an end to the schism.)

One might also point out that this is also the last day of Luther’s Disputation

in Leipzig back in 1519. Finally, it is also the day that Saddam Hussein took

power in Iraq, back in 1979. Almost twenty-five years of brutality from that

man, and people wonder why we haven’t been able to put an effective society and

polity in place yet . . .

On brighter notes: Barry Goldwater’s convention speech was delivered on this day

back in 1964; Ronald Reagan won the GOP nomination back in 1980.