body thetan

Roughly a decade after Keith Richards somnambulistically developed the tune and Mick Jagger writing the lyrics at the poolside created the song “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” while staying at the Clearwater, Florida resort, the Fort Harrison Hotel had fallen into disrepair and the operators had gone bankrupt, and the property was purchased by the Church of Scientology.
The building was  converted into a spiritual centre with lodgings for visiting practitioners and in some cases controversially as a rehabilitation and re-programming facility for its more deviant members and for those who would stray from the flock.  This day on the church’s calendar of holidays is celebrated as the opening of the church’s headquarters compound in 1975. Another important holiday falls at the end of the month, 30 December as Freedom Day when in 1974 the US government accorded the organization tax-exempt status as a religious institution.

rainbow connection

On this day in 1978, the Rainbow Flag, created by artist and seamster Gilbert Baker (*1951 – †2017) was unfurled for the first time at San Francisco’s Gay Freedom Day Parade, an event that originated around 1972 as an informal “gay-in” and is now a celebration of pride echoed around the world.
Gilbert met Harvey Milk in 1974, who asked him to create a new symbol for the community—wanting to jettison the shorthand of the day, the Pink Triangle, reclaiming a badge of shame that the Nazis used for imprisoned men identified as homosexuals as a means of self-identification but dark and derivative nonetheless—prompting Gilbert to design his flag (previously). The colourful motif was possibly inspired by the PACE flags that first appeared during an Italian peace march in 1961 or the Judy Garland ballad, Over the Rainbow. While the banner certainly represents the diversity of the community and the struggle for recognition and civil rights, the original eight stripes had specific meanings: hot pink stood for sex, red for life, orange was healing, yellow was sunshine, green was Nature, turquoise stood for magic and art, indigo for serenity and violet represented spirit. Hot pink was subsequently dropped due to the lack of fabric and dye, and the six banded version was adopted in 1979, blending indigo and turquoise as royal blue—though often throughout the 1990s, a black stripe was added to represent those whom had died due to complications from AIDS.

well… they have to be paid. that’s all there is to that—they have to be paid

Two years to the day after the first impeachment attempt, prior to the break-in at the Watergate complex by a month, was referred to the Judiciary Committee but failed to progress, the House Judiciary Committee re-convened to open formal hearings against President Richard Nixon (previously here, here and here) on this day in 1974.
The first twenty minutes were televised before the committee retired to closed sessions until late July when gavel-to-gavel coverage resumed. Though unknown to the committee at the time whether or not Nixon had personally authorised payments to the Watergate burglars to cover up the administration’s involvement, it was ruled that paying blackmail constituted obstruction of justice. At the conclusion of the proceedings, the House of Representative passed three of five charges levied against Nixon—the second article of impeachment was abuse of power, malfeasance in office and thirdly contempt of Congress. Criminal charges against the president for expanding the Vietnam War into Cambodia without legislative approval and failure to pay taxes were blocked by Republican members.

proclamation 4311

Our faithful chronicler Doctor Caligari reminds us that among many other notable events, on this day in 1974 US president Gerald Ford issued a pardon to Richard Nixon in order to spare his family further humiliation.
“Theirs is an American tragedy in which we have all played a part.” Not to underestimate the fickle nature of US sympathies nor the ego of a narcissist and with the understanding that despite how unrewarded it seems that at the end of the day, it does not matter if Dear Leader is given credit for prodding the world towards a more social just state by re-branding the striving of past generations to those whom are direct beneficiaries, but I do still harbour the hope that there’s little tolerance for revision and that the whole criminal syndicate goes down together.

supercuts

It’s pretty difficult to point to something and declare it either original, visionary or retro and derivative.
Not that the latter are necessarily negative qualities or opposed to the former, I suppose that there is a bit of pride that’s attached to one’s contemp- oraries, which is a fine thing too, since I think not much ruffles the curiosity more than being disabused of smug creativity. Musician, benefactor and producer George Harrison, who was certainly among the farsighted and talented set, even had the courtesy to place a macro-image meme of himself in the inside sleeve, I was reminded, of his 1975 Extra Texture album—tucked away, like a time-capsule to remember later, just like the primordial LOL cats or early examples of viral shorthand.