Benito Juárez (1806-1872)
President of México, key player in "La Reforma" (The reform)

So I was thinking about Cinco de Mayo and really I didn't know what it was all about. If anyone else cares and doesn't know already, I thought I would share what I learned. Mexican Independence is celebrated on the 15th and 16th of September, not on Cinco de Mayo.

Juárez pissed off a lot of important people. He told the Church that they would have to sell their large land holdings, or haciendas. He also subjected the church and the militarists to civil jurisdiction. These reforms were incorporated into a new constitution in 1857. The conservatives and the church reacted violently and La Guerra de la reforma (Reform War) ensued, lasting three years (1858-1861).

Juárez and the reformists were triumphant over the conservatives. Problem was the country was devastated because of the US invasion of México that ended in 1848, and the Guerra de la reforma that ended in 1861.

Benito Juárez was forced to suspend the payments that México was paying for its debt owed to France, Spain and England. The three countries used this as a pretext to invade. Spain and England bailed out leaving France alone in the invasion. Napoleon III of France had the intentions of halting the growth of the United States, which had just greatly expanded its territories in their own invasion of México. The goal of Napoleon III was to aid the Confederates thus splitting the United States into two less threatening nations. Abraham Lincoln had intended to defeat the Confederacy and then go to aid Juárez in defeating the French.

Ok. Back to Cinco de Mayo. The French invaded Puebla, México on the morning of the 5th of May, 1862 with an army of 6,000. Puebla is about a 100 miles from México City. General Ignacio Zaragoza was ordered to defend Puebla, and thus México city, with a army of 4,000 and inferior weapons. Skilled in the art of guerrilla warfare he sent the pansy french running to the coast. Although the French didn't officially withdraw from the country until 1867, Cinco de Mayo has been a great source of Mexican pride ever since.

Sources used:


Fox, Arturo. Latinoamérica, Presente y pasado. Prentice Hall, 2003.

Imagine the possibilities of a video game where the main character is Nancy Grace. Instead of the usual weaponry, acid vomit spews from her mouth killing Scott Peterson, child molesters and rapists. Score extra points for finding semen stained underwear and spewing more bile on viewers watching from home.

So this is the best milk i have ever had. It couldn't be better than if it came right from the utter. Seriously, milk drinkers need to go to Lexington Co-Op to get it. The deposit is .50 cents and when you bring the glass jar back they refund it. I made chocolate puddin with this and you couldn't imagine how tasty it was. The cows aren't given rbST.

• DISCLAIMER* There is no significant difference between milk coming from cows treated with RBST and those who haven't been treated.

I don't want to piss off the milk industry. Wouldn't it be awesome if there still were milk men that would deliver this to our doors?



Painting by Denise Rich

Maybe the immigrants are better "Americans" than we are? Their protest has captured the attention of CNN which I find rather unusual. Since when does CNN cover demonstrations? Way to go immigrants! ¡Latinos Unidos! I admire your ability to be heard.

So I just found out tonight that my nickname was Bad Dresser. Apparently this all started when I was working at Coffee & and had wore a mesh shirt once or twice. I don't remember the mesh shirt in question, but I do remember wearing some odd outfits.

Love,

Bad Dresser