Today in History - January 17

2004 - America fights low-grade war against insurgent group

2002 - Reality TV liberates audiences from the chains of dignity

2001 - Religious zealots grow weary of the tedium of peace

1991 - Cold War ends, Americans largely indifferent

1983 - Crack cocaine allows whores to see themselves in totally new light

1967 - America fights low-grade war against insurgent group

1966 - Vietnam War considered charming by white suburbanites

1901 - Ransom E. Olds introduces Americans to the monotony of soul-crushing factory work

1861 - Angry racist Northerners fight to free slaves from angry racist Southerners

1776 - England fights low-grade war against insurgent group

1492 to 1775 - European peasants infect one another with deadly diseases

1491 - Indigenous people of Western hemisphere overcome with horrible sense of foreboding

1095 to 1101 - Religious zealots grow weary of the tedium of peace

250 - Italian Tourism Bureau introduces "When in Rome" campaign

66 - Enthusiastic Jews trade in strict, binding customs of Judaism for stern, confining rules of Christianity