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๘๐ พรรษามหาราช
ขอให้คลาดแคล้วภัยพาลทั้งผอง
ขอให้กระจายทรัพย์สินและเงินทอง
เป็นกองๆ แจกราษฎรให้อยู่เย็น ฯ
หากพระราชานำในทางดี
พวกหลวงชีคงเลิกงกทางทรัพย์สิน
ไสยเวทต่างๆ ทางมลทิน
คงหมดสิ้นจากเมืองทองของพวกเรา ฯ
สยามคงหันเข้าหาสัจธรรม
เลิกทำตนตามก้นคนผิวขาว
หากเข้าหาภูมิธรรมของไทลาว
เลิกร้าวฉานกับมุสลิมมลายู ฯ
อันพรที่ว่านี้จักสัมฤทธิ์
จำต้องตั้งจิตอย่าอดสู
เดินตามคำสอนขององค์ครู
หาผู้รู้มาใกล้ชิดติดพระองค์ ฯ
กัลยาณมิตรจะพูดในสิ่งซึ่งสดับยาก
หากจะช่วยหันเหราชประสงค์
เพื่อรับใช้ราษฎรอย่างซื่อตรง
ธำรงราชบัลลังก์ให้เกริกไกร ฯ
พวกประจบสอพลอและตอแหล
ที่แห่ห้อมสรรเสริญเกินวิสัย
ที่คุมเงินทองของหลวงอย่างมากมาย
สุรุ่ยสุร่ายร้ายกาจอย่างบาดตา ฯ
ยังพวกทำรัฐประหารทั้งหลายเล่า
ควรห่างเหินพวกเขาจะดีกว่า
กระจายอำนาจออกไปในพารา
เริ่มแต่พระราชาเป็นต้นไป ฯ
ประชาธิปไตยของไทยเรานั้นเก่าแก่
มีมาแต่คณะสงฆ์ในบุราณสมัย
อยู่ในวัฒนธรรมไทยแต่ไหนแต่ไร
ช่วยให้ไพร่ฟ้าเป็นสุขสวัสดี ฯ
ก่อให้เกิดเสรีภาพอย่างแท้จริง
สิทธิมนุษยชนก็เป็นสิ่งควบคู่กับศักดิ์ศรี
มหาชนถูกเบียดเบียนอย่างย่ำยี
เพราะว่าโครงสร้างสมัยนี้พิกลพิการ ฯ
ถ้าแก้ไขความข้อนี้ได้อย่างสามารถ
นี่จะเป็นบรมราชกฤษฎาภินิหาร
ลบรอยร้าวรอยด่างตลอดรัชกาล
พระภูบาลจักสุขสบายเมื่อวายพระชนม์ ฯ
โรคาพาธทางพระวรกาย
ไม่เลวร้ายเท่าที่แอบแฝงอยู่ทุกหน
ทำให้เจ็บปวดรวดร้าวพระกมล
จำต้องฝนพระธรรมมาแก้ไขและเยียวยา ฯ
พุทธศาสนาไม่ใช่พิธีกรรม
หากจำต้องเดินตามไตรสิกขา
ควรยอมรับความผิดพลาดที่แล้วมา
แล้วความสัตย์จะกลับมาคู่พระบารมี ฯ
บ้านเมืองจะเรืองรุ่งในทางธรรม
เพราะทรงนำหนทางอย่างเป็นเกียรติเป็นศรี
จักเกิดสุขสำราญทั่วธาตรี
ราชสดุดีย่อมไม่ใช่คำลวง
ด้วยเกล้าด้วยกระหม่อม
ขอเดชะ

ป.ล.
สำนักงานทรัพย์สินส่วนพระมหากษัตริย์
จงขจัดออกไปให้ไกลในหลวง
เพื่อเป็นของขวัญแด่ราษฎรทั้งปวง
จะเกิดความช่วงโชติชัชวาลทั้งแผ่นดิน



EIGHTIETH BIRTHDAY ANNIVERSASRY

Eightieth Anniversary O Maharaja
Prevail Ye above perils near and afar
Dispenses of all Thy wealth and riches
That joy befalls deprived masses.

If Raja followed righteous paths
Clerics high would heed, avarice gashed
Else, refrain from black magic vices
Exorcize from our Capital Golden Site

Siam will pursue Eternal Truth
Stops caressing whites' rumps profuse
Returns to Tai-Laos wisdoms long ensued
Ending conflicts Muslim-Malayus
For blessings to be fulfilled
Upholds Thyself in penitence
Walks the path One Enlightened Guru
Seeks at Thy side those wise and astute
Faithfuls will utter odious to regal ears
Dare flout royal wishes and peers
Only to serve nation's needs genuine
Exhort the Crown in joyful ‘Halleluiahs'!
Those fawning, flattering, fudging,
Surround Thy side with praise conjuration
Dire keepers of royal possessions
Spawning waste to one's revelation
Besides, usurpers of coup d'etat
Distant Thyself ranked militia
Mete out Thy power to the domain
Commencing with the Sovereign
Siam democracy old and ancient
Derived from Sangha's tradition
Dwelling within Tai-life of yore
Lending to life untainted grandeur
Espouses ideal true liberty
Human right, honor, dignity,
Multitude wronged and oppressed
Nation's structures most warped, depressed
If corrected beneath true penchant
Lead to royal propitious exaltation
Removing blemishes of the reign
Into ‘seventh heaven' when life eternal
Scores of illnesses corporal
Less dismal than veiled attendants
With piercing ache to cranium, pummel,
Exact Dharmic verses to right immoral
Religious rituals not cust' sacred
Observes ‘Trisika' venerated
Gladly admit aberrant errs
And truth will abide by Thy seer
At last, nation will Dharma flourish
By One honor-dignity leads
Bestowing happiness to this realm
Accolades not vernacular sham!

PS
Crown Property, chattels of royal Sovereign
Be banished to distance afar
A communal gift of munificence
So imparts opulence to Thy province
May it please Your Majesty

Boston Terrier Health Watch: Teeth, Gums, and Jaw

With their short, broad heads and flat faces, Boston Terriers don't have a lot of space for their jaws and teeth. As a result, their jaws may develop abnormally and their mouths tend to be crowded, causing misaligned teeth and jaw problems.

The technical terms for these conditions are prognathia and teeth crowding:

Prognathia: This condition occurs when the dog's mandible, or lower part of the jaw, is longer than his maxilla, or the upper jaw. This malocclusion, or abnormal bite, is considered normal in dogs with flattened faces.
Teeth crowding: Crowding occurs when there is inadequate space for the teeth in the lower or upper jaw, resulting in tooth contact or overlap. Because your Boston must fit 42 teeth in his shortened mouth, it's likely that his teeth will be misaligned.
A Boston with prognathia or crowded teeth requires you to be diligent about his oral hygiene. A secondary effect of teeth crowding is increased plaque with resulting gingivitis, or inflammation of the gums, and a predisposition to periodontal disease, the most common cause of tooth loss in dogs (and humans).

Brush your Boston's teeth regularly to rid his mouth of plaque buildup and bacteria that can lead to halitosis (bad breath), behavior changes linked to oral pain, and gum infection.

If your Boston develops halitosis, chews his toys less frequently, paws at his mouth, changes his eating habits, stops grooming himself, or shows any other signs of oral pain, contact your veterinarian. She won't recommend braces to straighten his teeth, but she may inspect his mouth, give it a thorough cleaning, and treat any localized infections.

A Down Side of Evolutionary Change: Antibiotic Resistance

In the days before antibiotics were widely available and widely used, people knew the dangers of infection. Even minor injuries like cuts and scrapes were taken far more seriously. Like they say, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure — all the more so when there isn't any cure.

Fast-forward to today. People tend not to view cuts and scrapes as being potentially serious medical conditions. Prevention seems less important because we have a pound of cure — tons, in fact. In 2007, people in the United States used millions of pounds of antibiotics, and therein lies the problem. With each passing year, antibiotics become less effective as bacterial populations evolve to be resistant to them.

Although recent news stories warning people about antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria may lead you to believe that the phenomenon is relatively recent, it's actually as old as the use of antibiotics. Penicillin, the first widely used antibiotic, dates to the end of World War II. Within four years of its introduction, scientists found penicillin-resistant bacteria, and the incidence of resistance has increased steadily to the present day.


You'd think that having identified that bacteria began to evolve almost immediately in response to penicillin would have encouraged people to be a bit more careful about the use of antibiotics. But we weren't, partly because it's hard to not use a medication that's so effective (many people considered penicillin to be a miracle drug) and partly because, at the time, new antibiotic compounds were being discovered regularly. When one compound was no longer effective, doctors simply switched to a different one. The scenario is very different today.

In recent years, bacteria have been gaining on us: The rate at which researchers have discovered new medically useful antibiotics has slowed, but the steady march of the evolution of resistance continues unchecked. Again, the evolution of resistance isn't new. In every case, scientists have noted the existence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria shortly after the antibiotic is introduced.

Today, we humans now find ourselves facing bacteria that are resistant to many — and, in some cases, all — available antibiotics. Examples include staph, tuberculosis, syphilis, and gonorrhea. The most frightening thing we can observe from this information is that, in the end, all of our antibacterial compounds end up being defeated.

Erupting France

Both enlightenment ideas and economics link the American and French revolutions. Just as England excited unrest by raising taxes in the colonies to pay for the French and Indian War, so did the French. And King Louis XVI's administration made the situation worse by stretching the French finances even further to support American patriots. Indeed, Louis's generosity made him more vulnerable to the French Revolution of 1789.

That was the year that Louis XVI called a meeting of the Estates-General, the French Parliament, which was a bold move considering the body hadn't met in over150 years. Smart enough to know that things must change, Louis was trying not to lose his crown, and calling the Estates-General into action was an attempt to get agreement on necessary reforms.

But reactivating the organization opened a pressure valve. The idea that the king might permit any reform brought forth a flood of discontent. People were fed up with the privileged class and high taxes. Then on July 14, 1789, an angry mob stormed the Bastille prison, a symbol of arbitrary injustice. Then the Estates-General, under the leadership of some of its more radical members, became the democratic National Assembly, which abolished the monarchy in 1792.

Supreme Court Case Study: Bush v. Gore

Perhaps no event better illustrates the power of the United States Supreme Court than the resolution of the 2000 presidential election. Just when you thought the separation of powers issue had been settled once and for all, the Court stepped in to adjudicate who had won the biggest political contest of all. Legions of Court watchers, law professors, media commentators, and armchair legal analysts across the country thought the Court's willingness to step into the fray was a major misstep. Still, somebody had to decide who's in charge!

Background info
Election night 2000 was a cliffhanger that went on for weeks. Many people went to bed that night thinking that Al Gore had won, only to discover in the morning that George W. Bush had been declared the winner. In fact, the election was simply too close to call. Several states were up for grabs, but in the end it came down to one: Florida, where Bush's younger brother, Jeb, was governor. Florida electors were unable to commit themselves to either Bush or Gore owing to the closeness of the vote. Brush fires erupted in several precincts where the candidates' surrogates traded allegations about various improprieties. Recounts were started, then stopped as Republicans and Democrats wrangled over what standards to apply. It was more than a little chaotic.

The Court steps in
The Supreme Court actually interposed itself into the election contest three times. Only the last two are known as Bush v. Gore. In the first of these cases, Bush v. Palm Beach County Canvassing Board, the Court hoped to end the election crisis by putting a stop to the Florida Supreme Court's decision to extend the time for certifying the vote past the period set by state law. But by the time the Court began hearing arguments in the appeal on December 1, the certification had already occurred. The embarrassed justices sent the case back down to the Florida Supreme Court, instructing the lower court to rewrite its opinion so that it would not create a conflict between state and federal law.

A week later, the Florida Supreme Court ordered a statewide recount of ballots. Unlike its earlier decision, however, this one was not unanimous. With the Florida justices split 4-3, the U.S. Supreme Court once again exercised its discretionary appellate review jurisdiction and granted certiorari, or review, to Bush v. Gore. The day after the Florida Supreme Court had ordered a recount, the U.S. Supreme Court granted a temporary stay, or delay, in enforcing the Florida Supreme Court's order. The U.S. Supreme Court justices, too, were narrowly divided, 5-4. The five justices voting in favor of the stay were the same five conservatives who had been moving the Rehnquist Court to the right for more than a decade. The first hearing of Bush v. Gore telegraphed to the nation what would happen if the Court took further action in the case.

The Court's third and final intervention in the 2000 presidential election came just days later. In its unsigned opinion, the Court explained that it had voted 5-4 to put a stop to the Florida recount. Allowing the recount to go forward, the Court said, would violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The U.S. Supreme Court sent the case back down to the Florida Supreme Court, which had no alternative but to dismiss it. The presidential election of 2000 had been decided, in essence, by the vote of one Supreme Court justice.

Needless to say, the George W. Bush camp was jubilant. Al Gore supporters were incensed. Many people were simply happy to have things settled. But others worried that the Court had gone too far. In the past, in landmark cases like Brown v. Board of Education (1954), which put an end to legal segregation, and United States v. Nixon (1974), which led to the first presidential resignation under threat of impeachment, were unanimously decided. After Bush v. Gore, the concern was that the Court had not only overreached itself but undermined its authority by not speaking with one voice. That split decision, 5-4, suggested that Bush v. Gore was a political, not a judicial, decision.


Precedents
Bush v. Gore wasn't the Court's first foray into the realm of king making. The election of 1876 pitted Samuel J. Tilden, the Democratic governor of New York, against Rutherford B. Hayes, the Republican governor of Ohio. After the votes had been counted, it seemed that Tilden had won the popular vote and had 184 uncontested electoral votes to Hayes's 165. The magic number was 185 electoral votes. Twenty votes of the Electoral College were still up for grabs, however — all but one of them in the southern states of Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina. (The exception was Oregon. They always have marched to a different drummer.)

The Twelfth Amendment stipulates that in a contested presidential election, "The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and the House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted." Because in 1876 Congress was equally divided between Democrats and Republicans, the Republican-controlled Senate and the Democrat-controlled House set up an electoral commission to decide who would become president. The Senate chose three Republicans and two Democrats to sit on the commission, and the House chose two Democrats and three Republicans. The remainder of the commission was to consist of five justices of the Supreme Court. The bill setting up the commission named two Republican justices and two Democratic justices, but let those four select their own nonpartisan tiebreaker.


The only truly neutral member of the Court at the time was David Davis. But Davis resigned from the Court almost immediately, leaving only Republican justices as alternatives. Joseph Bradley, seemingly the least partisan of those remaining, was selected as the final member of the commission. To no one's great surprise, the commission voted along party lines, selecting the Republican Hayes. Democrats, who were mostly Southerners, cried foul, claiming that Davis, and perhaps Bradley, had been subjected to political blackmail. When the uproar threatened to derail the orderly transfer of power, a deal was struck. The Republicans agreed to withdraw the federal troops still occupying the South in the wake of the Civil War, to appropriate funds for Southern improvement, and to appoint at least one Southerner to the cabinet. In return, the Democrats agreed not to delay Hayes's inauguration. It was a flat-out political deal, and ever since its implementation, the Court has been criticized for having played a part in what many saw as outright log rolling.

And the winner is . . .
Why, then, did the Supreme Court agree to get back into the fray after the election of 2000? In a sense, the justices had no choice. When the contest between George W. Bush and Al Gore proved too close to call, the contestants resorted to a series of lawsuits in an effort to settle the matter. These suits proceeded simultaneously in the state court system and in federal court. The cases largely concerned the matter and manner of vote counting (and recounting) in the pivotal state of Florida. There were charges of voter intimidation, ballot rigging — all manner of political shenanigans. Something had to be done.

Discovering the Baroque Masters: Caravaggio and His Followers

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, known more simply as Caravaggio (1571–1610), was the greatest and most influential painter of the Baroque style. He was also a quick-tempered Bohemian who was often jailed for brawling and was forced to flee from the law and his enemies, escaping to Naples, Malta, and Sicily at various times. His "travels" helped to spread his extraordinary style, which was soon imitated across Europe.

Caravaggio infused his work with more gritty naturalism than any previous artist, hiring common people as models for saints and apostles, which shocked many of his contemporaries. He dramatized his religious scenes by throwing a diagonal light across his subjects, highlighting some of their features (to emphasize certain emotions and actions) and leaving the rest in shadow.

Caravaggio's lighting technique is called tenebrism, from the Italian word tenebroso, which means "gloomy" or "murky." His paintings recount climactic moments while powerfully suggesting the events that precede and follow them.


Caravaggio created his dramatic lighting effects by letting natural light stream through a high window or with a highly placed lamp that threw a beam down onto his subjects. This technique, known as cellar lighting, yields dramatic effects if the artist positions his models well.

In Calling of Saint Matthew (1599–1600; created for the Contarelli Chapel), the cellar light slashes across the back wall and illuminates the faces of some of the men crowded around a wooden table where Matthew counts his money. Three of Matthew's companions regard Jesus, who has just entered and stands in the shadows. The cellar lighting streaming through the window almost traces the line of Jesus' index finger, which points at the tax collector Matthew, who's about to change jobs. But the future apostle resists, avoiding Jesus' eyes and staring stubbornly at the stack of coins on the table. The painting illustrates the tug-of-war going on inside Matthew. The tension between light and dark, between pointing fingers and gazing eyes staring in opposite directions, heightens the drama to the breaking point.

Notice that despite Matthew's reluctance to sign on, Jesus' feet are already turned toward the exit and the future. Caravaggio was the first to depict a single tense moment and let the tension stretch the moment backward and forward in time.

To help break the barrier between a painting and the viewer, Caravaggio and other Baroque painters placed highly illusionistic objects — a bed, a copper bowl, someone's foot — at the bottom edge of their paintings so that the objects appear to project into the viewer's space. You feel that you can touch these objects, so you become more involved in the painting.


The following sections highlight artists who were influenced by Caravaggio.

Orazio Gentileschi: Baroque's gentle side, more or less
Orazio Gentileschi (1563–1639) was the first of Caravaggio's many followers. Gentileschi emphasized realism like Caravaggio and placed his subjects close to the viewer in a stop-action moment as in his The Lute Player (1610). In this sensitively rendered painting, a female lute player, illuminated by Caravaggio's cellar lighting, gently strums her instrument. It's a fine work, but there's no tension and no stirring sensuality as in Caravaggio's The Musicians (1595–1596) and The Lute Player (1595–1596). The stop-action in the Gentileschi painting is truly stopped. The frozen moment doesn't pull us in multiple directions as in a Caravaggio painting. One of Gentileschi's most moving works is his Madonna with Child in the Gallery Borghese in Rome. The tender warmth in the mother's face as she gazes at her child is magnified by the lighting.

Shadow and light dramas: Artemisia Gentileschi
Artemisia Gentileschi (1593–c. 1652) wasn't the only female artist in the Baroque period, but she is one of the few to paint historical and religious paintings. Most other female artists were pigeonholed into portrait, still life, and devotional paintings.

Among Artemisia's greatest works are Susanna and the Elders (1610), Judith Slays Holofernes (1620), and Lucretia (1621). Like the heroines in Lucretia and Susanna and the Elders, Artemisia was raped. Her personal experience resonates in these works. Like her father Orazio and Caravaggio, Artemisia placed her figures intimately close to the viewer.

Declaring Independence for America

Starting in 1763, England and her American colonies began to irritate each other almost incessantly. Once blood was spilled at Lexington and Concord, war became inevitable, even though there were some efforts on both sides to avoid it. Despite the fact that fighting had actually started, in 1776 there were many in the Continental Congress, and throughout the colonies, who were still not all that keen on breaking away completely from Britain. The radicals who were ready for a break needed a spark to light a fire under those who were still reluctant to act. They got two sparks.

Sparking an interest
The first motivator was a political blunder by the English government. The Brits needed more fighters, but English citizens did not fall all over themselves trying to sign up, since being an English soldier often meant brutal treatment, poor pay and food, and the chance someone might kill you.


So British officials hired the services of the soldiers who worked for a half-dozen German princes. Eventually, they rented about 30,000 of these soldiers, called "Hessians," after the principality of Hesse-Kassal, where many of them came from.

The Americans were outraged at this. It was one thing for the mother country and her daughters to fight, but it was a real affront for Mom to go out and hire foreigners to do her killing for her. (Eventually, about 12,000 Hessians deserted and remained in America after the war as citizens of the new country.)

The second spark came from the pen of a 38-year-old tomato-faced Englishman with a big nose. Thomas Paine arrived in the colonies in November 1774. He had been a seaman, a schoolmaster, a corset maker, and a customs officer, and wasn't too successful at any of these occupations. With the help of Benjamin Franklin, Paine got a job as editor of a Philadelphia magazine.

On Jan. 10, 1776, Paine anonymously published a little pamphlet in which he set forth his views on the need for American independence from England. He called it "Common Sense."


It was straightforward, clear, and simple in its prose. Basically, it said the king was a brute, with no reasonable mandate to rule in England, let alone America; that England was a leech feeding off the back of American enterprise; and that it was time for the colonies to stand up on their own and become a beacon of freedom for the world.

The pamphlet electrified the country. It sold 120,000 copies within a few months, and eventually sold a staggering 500,000 copies, or one for every five people in America, including slaves. (Paine never made a dime from it, having patriotically signed over royalties to Congress.) It was read by soldiers and politicians alike, and it shifted the emphasis of the fight to a struggle for total independence, and not just for a new relationship with England.

Writing history
On June 7, 1776, Congress began to deal with the issue in earnest. A delegate from Virginia, Richard Henry Lee, prepared a resolution that the colonies "are, and of a right ought to be, free and independent states." A few days later, the representatives appointed a committee of five to draft a formal declaration backing Lee's resolution, just in case Congress decided to adopt it.

The committee consisted of Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, a Connecticut lawyer named Roger Sherman, a New York iron mine owner named Robert Livingston, and a 33-year-old red-haired lawyer from Virginia named Thomas Jefferson. (The committee got on well enough, although Sherman apparently had a habit of picking his teeth, which provoked Franklin into warning that if he didn't stop it, Franklin would play his harmonica.)

Jefferson was selected to be the chief writer. Why? As Adams explained it to him when Jefferson tried to decline, "Reason first: You are a Virginian, and a Virginian ought to appear at the head of this business. Reason second: I am obnoxious, suspect, and unpopular. You are very much otherwise. Reason third: You can write 10 times better than I can." "Well," replied Jefferson, "if you are determined, I will do as well as I can."

Jefferson set to work at a portable desk he had designed himself, and a few weeks later produced a document that has come to be regarded as one of the most eloquent political statements in human history. True, he exaggerated some of the grievances the colonists had against the king. True, he rather hypocritically declared that "all men are created equal," ignoring the fact that he and hundreds of other Americans owned slaves, whom they certainly did not regard as having been created equal.


Overall though, it was a magnificent document that set forth all the reasons America wanted to go its own way — and why all people who wanted to do the same thing should be allowed to do so. A bit of tinkering by Franklin and the document was presented to Congress on June 28.

At the demand of some Southern representatives, a section blaming the king for American slavery was taken out. Then, on July 2, Congress adopted the resolution submitted by Lee. "The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch [instant of time] in the history of America," predicted John Adams. He missed it by two days, because America has chosen to remember July 4 instead. That's the day Congress formally adopted the Declaration of Independence, or as one member put it, "Mr. Jefferson's explanation of Mr. Lee's resolution."

With Independence declared, Congress now had to find a substitute form of government. Starting in August 1776, and continuing into 1777, members finally came up with something they called the Articles of Confederation. Basically, it called for a weak central government with a virtually powerless president and congress. Most powers to do key things, such as impose taxes, were left to the states. Even so, it took the states until 1781 to finish ratifying the articles, so reluctant were they to give up any of their power. It was a poor excuse for a new government, but it was a start. In the meantime, the new country was looking for a few foreign friends.

King Phillip IV, Pope Clement V, and the Fall of the Knights Templar — Part II

King Phillip IV of France set his sights on the fabled riches of the Knights Templar. His aim was to destroy the Templar Order and confiscate all their treasuries and properties in France, but he had to achieve it legally. The one surefire way was to accuse them of crimes so heinous that, if proved, no one would dare come to their rescue. It was no good to simply accuse the Grand Master or a handful of leaders. It had to be all of them, and he had to find a way to make the charges stick. And he had to be quick about it, because battle-hardened Templar knights were already returning to France, partly because of tensions on Cyprus between the Templars and the island's king. Phillip needed no more knights to cope with.

King Phillip's audacious plan was to arrest every Templar in France, charge them with heresy, and exact immediate confessions from them by torture before Pope Clement V or anyone else could protest on their behalf. By making the charges religious in nature, Phillip would be seen not as an avaricious thief, but as a noble servant of God.

Jacques de Molay, Grand Master of the Knights Templar, had been called to Poitiers, France, for the purpose of discussing with the new pope a new crusade to retake the Holy Land. For almost two years, he shuttled back and forth between the pope and King Phillip, essentially stamping out various diplomatic fires, such as the proposal to merge all the military orders.

In June 1307, de Molay rode into Paris at the head of a column of his knights, with a dozen horses laden with gold and silver, to begin the financing of the new Crusade. For the next several months, Phillip treated the aging Grand Master with interest and diplomacy, and de Molay believed he and the Order were at a new turning point. He didn't know how right he was.

October 1307: An unlucky Friday the 13th
The end began at dawn on Friday, October 13, 1307. The sealed order to Phillip's bailiffs had gone out a full month before. It was accompanied by a personal letter from the king, filled with lofty prose about how heart-rending it was to be compelled to do his duty, while detailing frightening accusations against the Templars. The letter would have had an eye-popping effect on the king's men, and their secrecy was undoubtedly assured. The sealed arrest order was not to be opened until the appointed day.

At this time, France was the most populous nation of Europe, even including Russia. And it was no tiny country either; France took up more than 40,000 square miles, an enormous area to cover from the back of a horse. Yet Phillip IV managed to carry off a stunning piece of work. Hundreds of the king's men simultaneously opened letters all over the country ordering them to converge on every Templar castle, commandery, preceptory, farm, vineyard, or mill.


It was shockingly effective, instantly chopping off the head of the Order. Phillip obviously had a hit list of the most important knights to nab. Accounts differ wildly, but the most respected ones agree that 625 members of the Order were arrested in the first wave. These included the Grand Master; the Visitor-General; the Preceptors of Normandy, Cyprus, and Aquitaine; and the Templars' Royal Treasurer.

The arrested Templars, whose average age was 41, were put into isolation and immediately subjected to the gruesome tactics of medieval "interrogation" on the very first day of their arrest. The technique of the strapaddo was common. It involved binding the victim's wrists behind his back, passing the rope over a high beam, pulling him off of the ground, and suddenly dropping him, snapping his arms and dislocating his shoulders. Stretching the victim on the rack was another favored method. Perhaps the most horrible was coating the victim's feet in lard or oil, and then slowly roasting them over a flame. Subjected to these agonies, the overwhelming majority of the knights confessed to every charge that was put to them.

The confessions
Phillip's goal was to arrest all the Templars, subject them to torture immediately, and exact confessions from them on the very first day. He knew that the pope would be livid over his actions, and that Church officials would be wary of agreeing to the kinds of interrogations Phillip had in mind, so time was of the essence. He wanted to hand Clement V a stack of confessions so damning that the pope would lose his stomach for siding with the Order.

The pope reacted just as Phillip had planned. His outrage over the arrests turned to dread and resignation as the "evidence" was presented to him. Phillip leaned on Clement to issue papal arrest warrants all across Europe, which were largely ignored or skirted by other monarchs. Very few show trials went on outside of France, and there were no cases (outside of the tortured knights in France) of Templars who admitted to the charges of heresy.

In an outburst of courage and remorse, most of the arrested Templars subsequently recanted their confessions and proclaimed to Church officials that their statements were made under the pain of torture and threat of death. To intimidate the remaining Templars, Phillip ordered 54 of the knights to be burned at the stake in 1310, for the sin of recanting their confessions.

In 1312, Clement finally decided to end the situation at a council in Vienna. Just to make certain the decision went the way he intended, Phillip stationed his army on the outskirts of the city. The pliant pope officially dissolved the Order, without formally condemning it. All Templar possessions apart from the cash were handed over to the Knights Hospitaller, and many Templars who freely confessed were set free and assigned to other Orders. Those who did not confess were sent to the stake. Phillip, ever the cheap gangster, soothed his loss of the Templars' tangible assets by strong-arming a yearly fee from the Hospitallers to defray his costs of prosecuting the Templars.

King Phillip IV, Pope Clement V, and the Fall of the Knights Templar — Part I

The Crusades of the Knights Templar were failures, but their ultimate doom came from outside the Order — from the manipulation of church and state by a greedy French king.

King Phillip the Fair
King Phillip IV of France — nicknamed Phillip the Fair for his looks, not his ethics — was one of the most remarkable figures of the early 14th century, a king so forward-looking and modernistic that he seemed to have been born out of his time and place. Chicago in the 1930s should have been his time and place. The only difference between this guy and Al Capone was the pinstriped suit.

Kingship was the ultimate power trip in the Middle Ages, and all kings have had their little eccentricities. Phillip the Fair's eccentricity — in fact, his obsession — was money. In the course of his reign, one lousy decision after another was brought about by his mania for gold, and his belief that enough of it would make of him a great king and of France a great nation. Phillip's monumental avarice knew no bounds of decency or fear of consequence. It's true that he left the nation larger than he found it, but this wasn't through the usual route of conquest; he bought new towns and counties. He seemed to believe there was absolutely nothing that money couldn't buy. Phillip hid behind the skirt of the power of his royal position to trump up charges against any group in the land that seemed to have a little bit of green. It began with the Lombards.

The Lombards were Italian bankers living in France to do business there. The word was that Phillip had borrowed from them, heavily. Suddenly, the wealthiest among them had various charges brought against them that had them expelled from France. The king, of course, kept their goods and money. Finally, he had all the remaining Lombards expelled and swooped in to gather up their money, too.

Next, in 1306, he turned his sights on France's Jews, a group that few Christians were willing to risk their own lives to defend. Many of the Jewish moneylenders of France had done fairly well in the previous two centuries, and, of course, as with the Lombards, it was rumored that Phillip was personally in hock to them. Charging that they "dishonored Christian custom and behavior," he expelled them from France, stealing all their money and belongings.

Looking back, it seems obvious that Phillip's actions against the Lombards and the Jews were practice runs, simply to see if he could pull it off. By that time, he clearly had another organization in his sights, one with fabled wealth — enough gold, Phillip thought, to make even him feel secure. Phillip clearly had his eye on the Knights Templar.

Pope Clement V
Unfortunately for the Knights Templar, at the beginning of the 14th century, a papal disaster was brewing, a political and religious mess that no one could ever have foreseen. It would be the final blow, the one from which they would not recover. Catholics often refer to it as the Babylonian Captivity. Nowadays, it's usually called the Avignon Papacy or the Great Schism. Either way, an atom bomb by any other name still blows everything to bits.

King Phillip IV of France and his personal henchman Guillaume de Nogaret had been in severe conflict with the then-reigning pope, Boniface VIII. The pope had declared that the king of France had no right to tax Church property, and the money-hungry king Phillip had, obviously, disagreed. De Nogaret kidnapped an important French bishop, and the pope had come out swinging over it. He issued a papal bull proclaiming that kings must be subordinate to the Church, and that popes held ultimate authority over both spiritual and temporal matters on earth. To make sure they got the message, Boniface excommunicated Phillip and de Nogaret. Phillip answered his challenge by sending the brutal, devious, and bad-tempered de Nogaret at the head of an army to meet up with Italian allies and capture the pope. Boniface was, indeed, kidnapped and held for three days. After being beaten to a pulp, he was released; a month later, he died. The French king had proved just who was subordinate to whom, and he didn't mind a little papal blood on his hands. Pope Boniface's successor, Pope Benedict XI, lasted only a year in office — poisoned, it was said, by de Nogaret.

But there were diplomatic difficulties to suffer for killing two popes. Consequently, King Phillip decided it would be easier to just buy one. He began procuring cardinals, pulling strings behind the scenes until the number of French cardinals in the Vatican's College of Cardinals was equal to the Italian ones. They then obligingly elected his handpicked candidate, Bertrand de Goth, making him Pope Clement V. The city of Rome was in turmoil, and the safety of the Vatican was in question. So, it didn't take much to convince the new French pope that his life would be in serious danger by living there. Clement obliged by staying in France, having his ceremony of investiture in Lyons. In 1309, he moved the Holy See to the city of Avignon (which was actually owned by the king of Sicily), right on Phillip's back doorstep.

Clement had everything Phillip wanted in a pope: He was puny, weak, new in the job, and owed everything to his French king. Now was the time for the boldest move of Phillip's reign — the arrest of the Knights Templar.

Visiting the Homeland with Pope John Paul II

The year 1979 was the 900th anniversary of the martyrdom of St. Stanislaus, and Pope John Paul II made it clear that he had every intention of returning to his native Poland (under Communist rule, at the time) to take part in the festivities honoring his predecessor as Archbishop of Krakow.

Polish authorities stood in the middle of a game of tug-of-war. On one side, the Vatican and Cardinal WyszyÒski were putting pressure on them to allow Pope John Paul II to visit Poland as part of the anniversary festivities, and on the other hand Moscow didn't want Pope John Paul II playing the part of a victorious warrior returning home.

What followed then were a series of blunders by the Polish government, which came out as distinct advantages for Pope John Paul II. The pope wanted to be in Poland on May 8, 1979 (for the Feast of St. Stanislaus). Authorities fought this, seeing in it too outward a connection between the circumstances of St. Stanislaus's standing up to the state and the papal visit. They were against his coming in May and suggested the trip be the following month. Trip organizers agreed, and what was to be a two-day visit to two cities became a nine-day visit to six cities. In addition, the new dates meant that Pope John Paul II would be in Poland for the Feast of Pentecost, the traditional "birthday" of the Church, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles and empowered them to preach and teach in the name of Christ. The religious significance of that day was not lost on the people.


The next mistake on the part of the government was the offer to broadcast parts of the visit on national television. They did so for selfish reasons, hoping the ability for people to watch from their own living rooms would minimize the crowds. Not only was televising the visit ineffective in keeping the crowds away, but now the elderly and homebound were able to watch what they would never have had the chance to see, thanks to the government.

In the following sections, we look at the impact created by Pope John Paul in his pilgrimages to Poland.

The first papal visit as Pope John Paul II
In all, Pope John Paul II made eight trips (or pilgrimages, as he considered all of his apostolic journeys) to Poland. But the first visit was the one witnessed by the world and widely considered the one that began the eventual peaceful demise of Communist rule in Poland (as well as the eventual demise of the Soviet Union).


Pope John Paul II arrived in Warsaw on June 2, 1979. Warsaw had become a sea of people, as an estimated three million Poles turned out to be with the pope. Hundreds of thousands of people lined the route from the airport to the inner city just to catch a glimpse of Pope John Paul II.

During the open-air Mass in Victory Square that followed, Pope John Paul II told them he came to fulfill Pope Paul VI's wish to visit Poland as a pilgrim. He told them he was there to commemorate the 900th anniversary of the martyrdom of St. Stanislaus, who was killed for standing up in the face of civil authority for the truth (something the Poles did very well). As he stood under a 50-foot cross built for the outdoor celebration of Mass, he reminded the Polish people that they had often been called to give witness to the power of the cross in the life of a Christian, and that as much as past rulers and enemies in Poland's history had tried to eliminate Christianity, Jesus Christ cannot be taken out of history.

The following day, Pope John Paul II remembered his roots as a college chaplain and celebrated a Mass for university students before flying to the town of Gniezno to visit the relics of St. Adalbert, the first missionary to Poland back in the tenth century. The next day, he traveled to Jasna Gora, the "bright mountain," which was home to the Paulist monastery and the Polish national treasure of the icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa, followed by a meeting with the natives of the region and a meeting with the sick.

Returning to Krakow and Wadowice
The schedule of meetings with various groups of clergy, religious, and laity continued, until he flew to Krakow for an emotional homecoming. There, he stayed in his old rooms at the Archbishop's Palace, all the while being serenaded by crowds of teens and college students who stood beneath his window and urged him to join them in singing (which he did until past midnight).

Pope John Paul II retraced his steps as a child by making a pilgrimage to Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, named for a 17th-century governor of Krakow who built a series of chapels on the side of a mountain to resemble the shrines and chapels built in Jerusalem at the places Jesus Christ walked on the way to his death on Mount Calvary. Over the years, chapels were added that took into account the traditional lore of Mary's whereabouts during her son's Passion (suffering).

Following this trip to Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, Pope John Paul II returned to his hometown of Wadowice, where he was met by 30,000 people. Later, he traveled to Oswiecim, the site of the Auschwitz concentration camp, where he celebrated Mass and made a trip to the cell where, in 1941, the Polish Franciscan friar Maximilian Kolbe had voluntarily taken the place of another man and was killed as retribution for an escaped prisoner.

On the evening of June 8, he had an emotional meeting with the young people of Krakow. The high they were feeling during the pope's visit, combined with their own natural zeal and fervor, made the situation somewhat frightening: What if these young people took matters into their own hands and started to openly and violently revolt against the government? Pope John Paul II mixed humor and paternal advice and teaching to keep them calm and nonviolent.

The last day of the pope's visit was June 10, 1979, and it began with a Mass on the Krakow commons attended by a crowd of two to three million people.

Words do not do justice to the feelings of joy and happiness that the papal visit brought to the Polish people. Thousands of people opened their homes to strangers to give travelers places to sleep. Churches remained opened around the clock for prayers and the practical necessities of the pilgrims. Homes, storefronts, and huge apartment houses were decorated as if the Holy Father were going to inspect the decorations himself.

An estimated 13 million people saw Pope John Paul II in person, and he left them with the gift of hope. For the first time, they felt there was a real opportunity to change their lives through peaceful means. The sacrifices made by so many to travel to the different places where the Holy Father would be showed them how many they were in numbers compared to the government troops. Suddenly the Polish people realized how they outnumbered those who supposedly were in the majority and in charge of the country.

Visiting the Homeland with Pope John Paul II

The year 1979 was the 900th anniversary of the martyrdom of St. Stanislaus, and Pope John Paul II made it clear that he had every intention of returning to his native Poland (under Communist rule, at the time) to take part in the festivities honoring his predecessor as Archbishop of Krakow.

Polish authorities stood in the middle of a game of tug-of-war. On one side, the Vatican and Cardinal WyszyÒski were putting pressure on them to allow Pope John Paul II to visit Poland as part of the anniversary festivities, and on the other hand Moscow didn't want Pope John Paul II playing the part of a victorious warrior returning home.

What followed then were a series of blunders by the Polish government, which came out as distinct advantages for Pope John Paul II. The pope wanted to be in Poland on May 8, 1979 (for the Feast of St. Stanislaus). Authorities fought this, seeing in it too outward a connection between the circumstances of St. Stanislaus's standing up to the state and the papal visit. They were against his coming in May and suggested the trip be the following month. Trip organizers agreed, and what was to be a two-day visit to two cities became a nine-day visit to six cities. In addition, the new dates meant that Pope John Paul II would be in Poland for the Feast of Pentecost, the traditional "birthday" of the Church, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles and empowered them to preach and teach in the name of Christ. The religious significance of that day was not lost on the people.


The next mistake on the part of the government was the offer to broadcast parts of the visit on national television. They did so for selfish reasons, hoping the ability for people to watch from their own living rooms would minimize the crowds. Not only was televising the visit ineffective in keeping the crowds away, but now the elderly and homebound were able to watch what they would never have had the chance to see, thanks to the government.

In the following sections, we look at the impact created by Pope John Paul in his pilgrimages to Poland.

The first papal visit as Pope John Paul II
In all, Pope John Paul II made eight trips (or pilgrimages, as he considered all of his apostolic journeys) to Poland. But the first visit was the one witnessed by the world and widely considered the one that began the eventual peaceful demise of Communist rule in Poland (as well as the eventual demise of the Soviet Union).


Pope John Paul II arrived in Warsaw on June 2, 1979. Warsaw had become a sea of people, as an estimated three million Poles turned out to be with the pope. Hundreds of thousands of people lined the route from the airport to the inner city just to catch a glimpse of Pope John Paul II.

During the open-air Mass in Victory Square that followed, Pope John Paul II told them he came to fulfill Pope Paul VI's wish to visit Poland as a pilgrim. He told them he was there to commemorate the 900th anniversary of the martyrdom of St. Stanislaus, who was killed for standing up in the face of civil authority for the truth (something the Poles did very well). As he stood under a 50-foot cross built for the outdoor celebration of Mass, he reminded the Polish people that they had often been called to give witness to the power of the cross in the life of a Christian, and that as much as past rulers and enemies in Poland's history had tried to eliminate Christianity, Jesus Christ cannot be taken out of history.

The following day, Pope John Paul II remembered his roots as a college chaplain and celebrated a Mass for university students before flying to the town of Gniezno to visit the relics of St. Adalbert, the first missionary to Poland back in the tenth century. The next day, he traveled to Jasna Gora, the "bright mountain," which was home to the Paulist monastery and the Polish national treasure of the icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa, followed by a meeting with the natives of the region and a meeting with the sick.

Returning to Krakow and Wadowice
The schedule of meetings with various groups of clergy, religious, and laity continued, until he flew to Krakow for an emotional homecoming. There, he stayed in his old rooms at the Archbishop's Palace, all the while being serenaded by crowds of teens and college students who stood beneath his window and urged him to join them in singing (which he did until past midnight).

Pope John Paul II retraced his steps as a child by making a pilgrimage to Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, named for a 17th-century governor of Krakow who built a series of chapels on the side of a mountain to resemble the shrines and chapels built in Jerusalem at the places Jesus Christ walked on the way to his death on Mount Calvary. Over the years, chapels were added that took into account the traditional lore of Mary's whereabouts during her son's Passion (suffering).

Following this trip to Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, Pope John Paul II returned to his hometown of Wadowice, where he was met by 30,000 people. Later, he traveled to Oswiecim, the site of the Auschwitz concentration camp, where he celebrated Mass and made a trip to the cell where, in 1941, the Polish Franciscan friar Maximilian Kolbe had voluntarily taken the place of another man and was killed as retribution for an escaped prisoner.

On the evening of June 8, he had an emotional meeting with the young people of Krakow. The high they were feeling during the pope's visit, combined with their own natural zeal and fervor, made the situation somewhat frightening: What if these young people took matters into their own hands and started to openly and violently revolt against the government? Pope John Paul II mixed humor and paternal advice and teaching to keep them calm and nonviolent.

The last day of the pope's visit was June 10, 1979, and it began with a Mass on the Krakow commons attended by a crowd of two to three million people.

Words do not do justice to the feelings of joy and happiness that the papal visit brought to the Polish people. Thousands of people opened their homes to strangers to give travelers places to sleep. Churches remained opened around the clock for prayers and the practical necessities of the pilgrims. Homes, storefronts, and huge apartment houses were decorated as if the Holy Father were going to inspect the decorations himself.

An estimated 13 million people saw Pope John Paul II in person, and he left them with the gift of hope. For the first time, they felt there was a real opportunity to change their lives through peaceful means. The sacrifices made by so many to travel to the different places where the Holy Father would be showed them how many they were in numbers compared to the government troops. Suddenly the Polish people realized how they outnumbered those who supposedly were in the majority and in charge of the country.

Napoleon: Being a Hero in a Troubled Nation

After military successes in Egypt, Napoleon was treated as a returning hero of mythic proportions in 1799. To the French people, he was Caesar and Alexander rolled into one. The streets were full of his admirers. The Council of Ancients (one of France's legislative bodies) gave him a standing ovation when he appeared before them.

Behind all the public show was a floundering government. Various political factions, ranging from radical Revolutionaries on one side to royalists on the other, were vying for power. Military success in the field, most especially by General André Masséna, had at least temporarily stymied the efforts of the Second Coalition (the alliance of Austria, Russia, and England to overthrow the French government), but domestic problems loomed. Some of the problems included the following:

Some areas, such as the Vendée, were again considering secession from France.
Chouan rebels, conservative Catholic royalists supported by the clergy and whose leaders were paid by the British, were threatening civil war.
The highways were as unsafe as they had been in the years leading up to the Revolution. (Even Napoleon's baggage had been broken into on the trip to Paris.)
Armed groups of hoodlums, some quite large, terrorized the populace.
Napoleon wondered out loud what had happened to his country, and it was a good question. The government and citizens understood that something needed to be done, but few could agree on what that something was.

Napoleon knew he was very popular, but he also understood the fleeting nature of popularity. The question What have you done for me lately? has sunk many a political career, and Napoleon was determined not to let it happen to him. Everywhere he looked, he saw incompetence and threats to his beloved French Republic, and he was determined to play a major role in protecting the gains of the Revolution.

At first, he considered becoming a member of the Directory. This step would have been simple enough but for the fact that he was only 30 and the constitution required Directory members to be at least 40. There was little support for changing a constitution to put a general on the Directory, so Napoleon had to dig deeper.

Analyzing the political situation
The French political situation was chaotic at best. The legislative branch had come under the strong influence of a strong royalist faction, and there was a possibility that royalists would soon control that branch of the government.

The executive wing, the Directory, was a major defender of the Revolution. Yes, it was corrupt and mainly interested in staying in power long enough to get rich (which didn't actually take that long, as it happens), but it was also more in tune with the wishes and needs of the people than was the legislative branch.

Another, perhaps surprising, supporter of the Revolution (and hence part of the "liberal" wing of government) was the army. In the old days, the army had been run by the nobility, but now there was scarcely a noble to be found in or out of the army. Made up largely of the very common people the Revolution was designed to protect, the army was, by and large, interested in protecting the Revolution. It had become a strong political force, and anyone who sought to change the government would need the support of the army.


Unveiling conspiracies
Against this backdrop, a major plot was under way to replace the government. Well, actually, there were at least two major plots. Paul Barras, a member of the Directory who had helped bring Napoleon to the forefront, was involved in a major effort to bring back a Bourbon monarchy. A corrupt womanizer to his very core, Barras was less a royalist than a man seeking additional power and wealth, in this case perhaps as many as 12 million francs.

In addition to Barras on the right, the minister of war, General Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, a strong supporter of Jacobin causes, was considering leading a coup of his own. Bernadotte had married Napoleon's first girlfriend, Désirée Clary, and though he would serve in Napoleon's army, he would always be his rival and ultimately turn on him.


Barras and Bernadotte were not the only people involved in conspiracies. One of the major players in the third significant plot was none other than Napoleon's youngest brother, Lucien Bonaparte. Long active in Revolutionary politics, he had been elected to the Council of Five Hundred (the other legislative branch) and, just months earlier, had become its president.

Lucien was supporting a plot by Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès and Roger Ducos, both of whom he had helped become members of the Directory. Sieyès had been a major player in the very earliest days of the Revolution and now believed it was his job to give France a more stable and effective government, as well as to protect it from any royalist plots. To do that, Sieyès and his supporters believed they needed to replace the Directory with a three-man Consulate that would run France more or less as a dictatorship.

Sieyès and Lucien Bonaparte had enlisted the support of several other powerful politicians in Paris, including Joseph Fouché, Jean-Jacques Régis de Cambacérès, and Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, better known simply as Talleyrand. Talleyrand had previously failed to alert the Turks of the French expedition to Egypt and had thus caused Napoleon a great deal of difficulty.

This group had the support of a number of other politicians, but all recognized that they needed the support of the army. To get that, they needed their "sword," a general who would support them and who could bring support of the army with him. Hmmmm. Who do you suppose will end up with that job?

Actually, Sieyès originally had someone else in mind. General Barthelemy Joubert was born in the same year as Napoleon and had established a good name for himself, largely in Italy. Sieyès thought he could control Joubert, which made him an ideal candidate. Unfortunately for these plans, to say nothing of the young Joubert, he was killed at the Battle of Novi in Italy on Napoleon's 30th birthday, August 15, 1799.

Providing a sword
Sieyès then turned to plan B. That would be B as in Bonaparte. Napoleon had far more to offer than any other general. For starters, he was a national hero. Any enterprise that involved him would have instant credibility and popularity, at least at the beginning. Napoleon was also one of the most competent people around. Not only was he an excellent and successful general, but he had already shown his administrative abilities in Italy, Malta, and Egypt. Moreover — and this was very important to Sieyès — Napoleon had well-established republican beliefs; he would be an excellent shield against any royalist efforts. Of course, Sieyès wasn't too happy with Napoleon's obvious ambition, but he figured he could keep that under control.

Besides, time was of the essence. Barras and Bernadotte were not going to dawdle forever; there was no time like the present to get things underway. Napoleon was offered the chance to play his role, and after some consideration, he accepted. He knew that something had to be done to improve France's government, and he wanted to be the one to do it.

The plot thickens
The conspirators began to take action, and at first all went well. On November 9, 1799, the Council of Ancients put Napoleon in charge of the troops in Paris and its outlying areas, and then it decreed that the legislative bodies would move to the suburbs, to a town called St. Cloud, for their own security. This move was really intended just to get them out of Paris proper and away from the prying eyes of Parisian citizens. Meanwhile, Talleyrand was sent to bribe Barras to resign from the Directory. The bribe was eagerly accepted.

The stage was set, but one of the actors did not behave as well as he could have. That would be none other than Napoleon. On November 10th, Napoleon first went to the Council of Ancients to convince them of the need for change. According to at least some eyewitnesses, Napoleon lost his cool and may even have become somewhat incoherent. He seemed, to some, to be threatening force. He was roundly booed and left the hall in disgrace.

Napoleon then went to the Council of Five Hundred, where Lucien was presiding, to seek their support for change. This encounter should have been a cakewalk, but again Napoleon found himself facing increasingly angry politicians. Curses were shouted, and Napoleon was actually physically attacked. Several soldiers came in and escorted him to safety. The members of the Council then turned on Lucien, demanding that he declare his brother an outlaw. He refused but was able to calm the crowd down somewhat. He sent a note to Napoleon indicating that he had but a few minutes to act.

Napoleon's first thought was his brother's safety, so he sent a group of soldiers in to rescue Lucien. Ever the loyal brother, Lucien then addressed the soldiers who were assembled outside the Council's meeting hall — soldiers who were thoroughly confused as to what was going on — and told them that armed royalists were attempting to seize control and it was up to them to take action to protect the republic. Holding his sword up, Lucien promised to run it through Napoleon himself if necessary in the republic's defense.

Napoleon then spoke to his soldiers. He had really hoped not to have to use force in this coup, but force was clearly needed now, else he be declared an outlaw and shot. His composure now back in full order, he told his soldiers that he had attempted to speak to the Council and had been instead attacked with daggers. The soldiers were outraged; the drums sounded, and the grenadiers, bayonets fixed, marched into the hall. Many of the members of the Council took the opportunity to discover the joys of a quick exit through the windows.

Remaining members of the two branches of the legislature immediately met and appointed Napoleon, Sieyès, and Ducos as Consuls in a new provisional government. It was a bloodless coup; that, at least, had gone according to plan.


The days of November 9th and 10th fall into the Revolutionary calendar month of Brumaire, so Napoleon's rise to power is usually referred to as the Coup d'état de Brumaire.

Consolidating power
Napoleon was only one of three provisional Consuls and, in theory, not necessarily any more powerful than the other two. This fiction must have lasted all of a few minutes. Napoleon very quickly took charge, leading discussions about everything imaginable. Sieyès is said to have remarked that Napoleon was a man who knew how to do everything, was able to do everything, and wanted to do everything. He was exactly right. Napoleon and his new allies quickly appointed their supporters to important positions and began to write a constitution.

Napoleon was determined that the new constitution would be progressive and give new rights to the people. So the constitution included universal male suffrage at age 21 and a system of plebiscites (public votes) to confirm the new constitution and its new government. A legislative branch was established, but it was clear to one and all that the real power rested in the executive branch, embodied by the three Consuls.


Sieyès tried to marginalize Napoleon's power, but in the end the First Consul had the real power in the government, and Napoleon was to be First Consul. Sieyès was convinced to resign and accept the presidency of the Senate. Ducos also resigned and accepted a series of relatively minor political positions.

Napoleon then appointed Jean-Jacques Régis de Cambacérès, a respected lawyer, as Second Consul and Charles François Lebrun, a moderate known for his expertise in finances, as Third Consul.

The French people adopted the new constitution on December 14, 1799. At the ripe old age of 30, Napoleon was the leader of France. A lot of things had contributed to his rise to power, including

Personal characteristics such as his intelligence, determination, and force of will
Family support
Powerful and influential friends
His willingness to take risks
The opportunities afforded by the French Revolution and its aftermath
His luck
Most importantly, his sheer ability
Europe was about to find out just how important the events of late 1799 had been.

Securing domestic peace
Napoleon's first order of business as First Consul was to eliminate some of the internal threats to the public order. The previous government had been reluctant to send the army after the rebel bands, but Napoleon, aware that domestic peace was crucial to the success of his new government, had no such qualms. He sent soldiers in with a vengeance, along with proclamations that warned citizens that they would be shot on sight if caught collaborating with rebel groups.

Adding the carrot to the stick, Napoleon offered generous terms to those rebels who would renounce their efforts. He offered to allow nobles who had left during the Revolution, called émigrés, to return peacefully, though without having their lands restored. Priests, who had also suffered under the Revolution, were also given fair terms without actually restoring their powers.

By February 1800, most of France's internal disorder had been eliminated, and Napoleon could turn to other matters.

Nostradamus and His Methods: Breaking Down the Predictions

Nostradamus didn't start out with the intention to write a book of poetry. Instead, he spent his nights in the attic in his home in Salon, France. This attic became the retreat where he studied his favorite topics, read, and pursued his interest in astrology. It was also here that Nostradamus began using meditation techniques and a prayerful attitude to ask for visions of what the future might be. He wrote notes and even made sketches of the visions he saw. He then transformed the notes into the poetry form that exists today as his prophecies.

A quick lesson on quatrains
A quatrain is four lines of poetry that are grouped together. Sometimes these lines are set apart by spacing, and sometimes because they all rhyme. The quatrain your teacher taught you as part of an English lesson is the same structure Nostradamus used as a lesson on life for the rest of mankind in The Prophecies.

Each quatrain Nostradamus wrote is a separate piece and not part of one long poem; so don't sweat it if you look at things that seem to be out of order, because they're not (in order that is). The quatrains were meant to stand alone. Rhyme, while not a requirement, seems to have been one of Nostradamus's elements. Most of his quatrains contain rhymes between the first and third lines and the second and fourth lines. This kind of weaving together of rhyme makes poetic lines feel like they're built strongly to stay together.

Nostradamus probably wrote the quatrains in a rough form of Latin and then translated them into a mix of French, Provençal, Italian, Latin, and made-up words that suited his purposes. Each one of these four-line wonders spoke of at least one future event and sometimes several that could be related.

When a century isn't 100 years
Nostradamus arranged his prophetic quatrains into ten groups of 100 — well, almost. Century 7 has only about half its quatrains, and no one has figured out why Nostradamus shorted this century). These ten groups are called centuries, but don't get derailed into thinking that these grouped prophecies covered 100 years. Here, centuries have nothing to do with years and everything to do with keeping 942 prophecies organized somehow.

In terms of Nostradamus's prophecies, century simply refers to the 100 quatrains into which most of the prophecies were divided. Nostradamus didn't pull this format out of a hat. His knowledge of numerology and the power of numbers gave him a distinct form for his message.

The most common way to note which of the 942 quatrains is being referenced is to identify them by both the century and the quatrain number. Century numbers are typically in Roman numerals, and the quatrain number follows after a dash. For example, C II – 45 refers to Century II (2) and Quatrain 45.


An exception to every rule
Just when you think you have quatrains and centuries all sorted out, you'll find a wrench in the works. Nostradamus wasn't a great poet. The overall form of his poetry would've given his mentor and noted critic of poetry, César Scalinger, quite a fit. Frankly, the rhymes were rough.

Consider the idea that a poem normally has a beginning, middle, and an end. You'd expect a poem (if the collection of quatrains in The Prophecies are considered together to be one piece) that covers many years to at least have a regular sort of timeline, but Nostradamus didn't give readers that comfort. The quatrains appear in a seemingly random order that certainly isn't guided by time, and topics are spread throughout the entire collection in quatrains that are separated instead of being collected in nice, neat bundles where all the quatrains in one section talk about a specific time or a specific topic. But even the exception has an exception, and in several instances, a prophecy continues from one quatrain to another in a series.

Unlocking the Secrets of Symbolism in Nostradamus's Writings

People around the world have always searched for signs and omens that tell what the future brings, and they've looked just about everywhere. Since 1555 or so, people have looked to Nostradamus's writings to see if they could shed some light on events. But The Prophecies aren't a quick reference, and Nostradamus wasn't a simple writer. Divination is always steeped in symbols and meaning, but Nostradamus brought things to a whole new level.

Why symbols?
The many elements of Nostradamus's life and learning are all mixed into the quatrains, and everything that he put into the mix added something. He used many tools (astrology, numerology, symbology, and so on) to adds layers of meaning to The Prophecies.

All those layers can create confusion, and Nostradamus had a reason for it — in a word, safety. The Renaissance was a time when a quick word from the people in power could cost a person his life — a very real problem for anyone who seemed too much out of sync with the norm. And Nostradamus was certainly walking on the edge. Some of his quatrains could've been interpreted (and misinterpreted) as very dangerous stuff. So to protect himself, Nostradamus took great care with the wording of his predictions.

People have been developing complex symbol systems as a way of communicating since the dawn of time. Symbols are simply an alternative way of representing an idea or thought. And they aren't just pictures; words can stand in for another thing as well. Like an artist's sketch of your face, however, symbols can lose something in the translation, so interpreting them is an art, and it isn't exact.

Although some symbols change with time, others remain the same. The longer a symbol is used, the more likely its meaning stays the same. For example, most of the symbols that bring the Catholic Church to mind haven't changed over hundreds of years. You're likely to associate the rosary with the Catholic Church, for instance. Add in the meanings for the rosary — prayer, reverence, and holy actions — and the symbol is suddenly very useful for saying a lot with very few words.

Nostradamus worked with both mysticism and religion, and these two systems of thought probably use more symbols than just about any other system created by people. So you shouldn't be surprised that the prophecies are chock full of symbols. Every quatrain is thick with item upon item of deeply meaningful references to people, events, places, and ideas.

An orderly approach
The prophecies are an entanglement of symbols and ideas, but they aren't so bad if you take a deep breath and approach them with some semblance of order. Keep the following points in mind:


Don't assume that just because Nostradamus mentioned a tree in a quatrain that he was talking about an actual tree — or even the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. Look at the other pieces of the quatrain and other possibilities before selecting a meaning.
Symbols used in one quatrain may or may not have the same importance in a different quatrain, and the neighborhood of the symbol is important. Take a good look at the entire picture presented by the quatrain before assigning meaning to a particular symbol. The symbol may take on a special meaning if the topic of the prophecy is sensitive or if Nostradamus added one layer of meaning over another.
Keep in mind the many influences of religion, people, and the Renaissance on Nostradamus, and check out any meaning of a quatrain's symbols in light of these different influences. Modern interpretations of symbols may not give you his intended meaning.
Tune into important topics
The first key to unlocking the meaning behind the symbolism in the prophecies is to know which topics were important to Nostradamus. The topics that made up the majority of the known (understood) prophecies — the topics that mattered most to Nostradamus — concerned France, Italy, the Catholic Church, and Napoleon. Nostradamus used imagery associated with each of these topics as well as astrological, medical, and mystical symbols.

Look for signs of the times
The second key to unlocking the meaning behind the symbolism of Nostradamus is to be aware of the culture of the time. His language of symbols reflected the world around him. Nostradamus may have used the shepherd's crook and papal hat of the pope, for example, to symbolize an individual pope or the entire line of Church rulers.

Explore universal themes
The third key to unlocking the meaning behind the symbolism is to remember that Nostradamus was concerned with certain universal ideas. Survival, struggle, a place to belong in the Universe, and even a place of rest for the soul are concepts that have been discussed in literature for as long as writing has been around — and they ran throughout Nostradamus's prophecies.

The conflicts that concern people can be broken down into three simple categories. Sometimes it's helpful to look at the symbols and see which category they may fit in. Doing so can give you a starting point for determining the symbol's associated meaning. Here are the three basic categories and some examples that fall under each category:


Person versus Person: Assassinations, feuds, and power struggles (includes the battle against self to discover identity and personal strengths)
Person versus Nature: Pestilence, flood, earthquake, and famine
Person versus God: Spiritual struggles and enlightenment

SAT II U.S. History: Taking a Look at Format and Content

The SAT II U.S. History exam usually contains about 90 questions that you have to answer in one hour. The questions tend to get harder as you move through the test (question 90 is usually more difficult than question 1). Still, the test has easy and more difficult questions dispersed throughout it, so when managing your time, don't assume that question 60 will necessarily be more difficult than question 30. Whether a U.S. history question is easy or difficult usually depends on how comfortable you are with the question's subject. For instance, if you're a Civil War buff, you don't want to spend a bunch of time trying to answer a tough World War II question early on in the test because you may not get to an easier Civil War question later on.

Managing the answer sheet
The answer sheets for the SAT II U.S. History test have bubbles for 100 questions, but you mark answers for only 90 because the test usually has only 90 questions. (Honestly, the SAT II answer sheet is like every other standardized test answer sheet. No surprises here!)

Before you start answering questions, find out how many questions you have and put a little pencil mark under the last question on your answer sheet. If, for some reason, you fill in an answer after your pencil mark or don't fill in enough answers to reach that mark, you know you've done something wrong. Be sure to erase the pencil mark before you turn in your answer sheet.


Looking at question types and subject matter
The SAT II U.S. History exam asks questions in a couple of ways. Included in the standard-issue, five-answer, multiple-choice questions are

Questions that ask you about direct facts and concepts: The SAT II U.S. History exam rarely requires you to recall dates and other specifics, like how many soldiers died at Gettysburg. But you do need to know the major events and overall characteristics of each era in U.S. history and how the events relate to one another. You can often eliminate an answer choice because you know that it doesn't belong in the era that the question is testing you on.
Questions that ask you to find the exception: Many questions on the SAT II U.S. History exam ask you to find which answer choice isn't right. These questions often end with a capitalized EXCEPT. For instance, "All the following SAT II U.S. History exam questions are designed to make you pull your hair out EXCEPT".
So you don't get confused about which type of answer you're looking for, rephrase the question in a positive way before you look at the answer choices. You could change the sample question to "Which of the following SAT II U.S. History exam questions are designed to help you hang on to your hair?"

Questions that ask you to interpret charts, maps, and cartoons: These questions are sometimes easier than the other types because most of the information you need to answer the question is in the question booklet — you just need to know how to analyze it. The most important point to remember about analyzing charts and graphs is to make sure you know exactly what the data refers to. For instance, if you had to compare information in a graph that charts family income, you may need to know that the female head of household category differs from the single-parent household category.
The only drawback to interpretation questions is that they can sometimes be time-consuming, so make sure you don't spend too much time analyzing a map or picture.


The SAT II U.S. History test can cover any material related to U.S. history from the year 1100 on, but about 80 percent of the test questions deal with history after 1790.

The test contains questions regarding all aspects of American history but focuses primarily on U.S. politics, economics, and society. A few questions deal with the cultural aspects of different eras and U.S. foreign policy. You can pretty much expect a little bit of something from each era of the United States' relatively short history.

Understanding the Treatment of Jews during World War II

As early as 1933, the Nazis had been sending people to concentration camps. Initially, these camps were located in Germany (like Dachau and Bergen-Belsen) and were used for "undesirable" people: To the Nazis, these undesirable people included Communists, Democrats, Socialists, political prisoners, homosexuals, and Jews. During the war, these camps also held Soviet prisoners of war and slave laborers. Executions were commonplace, and most inmates of the camps were simply worked to death. It wasn't until later, however, that the camps came to be associated with Jews. The death camps, on the other hand, were intended only for the Jews from the beginning; these were the camps the Nazis created in order to exterminate them.

As the Nazi control spread through Europe, the deportation of Jews to concentration camps and death camps grew: Between 1939 and 1941, Austria, Hungary, and even France (led by the Vichy government) deported Jews. Although Germany had been removing Jews from Germany for some time, it wasn't until 1941 that the Nazis began a massive deportation of Jews.

The ghettos of Poland were another Nazi creation. To get the Lebensraum he wanted from Poland, Hitler needed to clear the Jews from the Polish countryside. To do this, the Nazis forced the Jewish population to sections of cities, which they were then forbidden to leave. Often, walls surrounded these areas, which were patrolled by heavily armed guards, trapping the people within.

By 1942, as the Nazis implemented the last phases of the Final Solution, Jews were being sent from ghettos, concentration camps, and transit camps (essentially way stations) to their deaths.

Life in the ghetto
Each ghetto had a Jewish council (the Judenrat), which was responsible for ensuring that people followed Nazi policies. The council, made up of rabbis and other leaders in the Jewish community, was also responsible for distributing food, policing the ghetto, and taking care of the health and welfare (such that it was) of the people.

The living conditions in the ghettos were horrible. Deprived of food (the people in the ghetto were to receive the leftovers from the general population, but not more than was needed for bare sustenance), medical care, many of the basic necessities of life, and used extensively as slave labor, many Jews died of malnutrition, disease, and starvation. Several Jews were also executed for alleged crimes.

Like the concentration camps, the ghettos were simply a temporary solution to the Jewish problem for the Nazis. Eventually, these ghettos would be emptied and the inhabitants murdered.

Life in the concentration camps
During the years that Hitler ruled Germany, over 100 concentration camps appeared all over Europe. Although not used strictly for extermination purposes, the living conditions at the concentration camps were brutal and the death rates high.

The function of the prisoners in the concentration camps was to work, but their lives were worthless to the guards, the camp commanders, and the ever-present SS. Anyone who couldn't work was killed, and those who could work were usually worked to death.

Working long hours at hard labor in all kinds of weather and under constant beatings by the guards, many prisoners died from exhaustion and exposure. With only a little food a day (usually a piece of bread and weak soup), many others died from malnutrition and starvation. Even those prisoners who managed to avoid starvation or death by exposure were still vulnerable to death at the hands of the guards.

Medical care did not exist. The ill and the weak were abandoned to die. Others, many of them children, died at the hands of doctors who conducted barbaric medical experiments on them.

Because so many prisoners died — in fact, the goal in many concentration camps was "extermination by work" — most camps had crematoriums so that the guards could dispose of the bodies. Near the end of the war, these camps were used as holding areas for Jews from death camps who were moved westward to avoid detection.

The "death factories"
The death camps, like Auschwitz, Birkenau, Chelmno, Treblinka, and Sobibor, were unique in that they were simply temporary holding areas for the mass murder of people. Jews were unloaded from train cars and in many cases herded directly to gas chambers or firing squads. Those who escaped immediate death were often used as slave laborers at the camp itself. They were placed in work details that supported the execution process (working the crematoriums, for example) until they, too, were killed. In Auschwitz, some able-bodied prisoners were kept alive as slave labor to assist in war production until they succumbed to overwork and starvation.

The death camps used gas chambers as their means of murder, and these were chillingly efficient. Some, such as the twin chambers in Auschwitz-Birkenau (the largest death camp), could accommodate over 4,000 people at a single time. Victims destined for the gas chambers were forced to remove their clothing; then they were shoved into the death chamber itself. About 20 minutes after the gas (usually Zyklon-B) was released in the room, everyone inside was dead.

The bodies of the victims were stripped of any remaining valuables, such as gold from their teeth and rings, and then burned in ovens built especially for this purpose. When the ovens gave out, as they did in some death camps because of the sheer number of people killed, the Germans burned the bodies out in the open.

กรุสมบัติโบราณและวิญญาณนักรบที่วัดราชบูรณะ

อาถรรพณ์ในทรัพย์ของแผ่นดิน มักเกิดขึ้นกับผู้ที่บังอาจก้าวล่วง ลักลอบเข้าไปขุดทำลายเพื่อนำมาเป็นของตน ทรัพย์โบราณเหล่านี้คือ สมบัติต้องห้ามของพระมหากษัตริย์ ที่มักมีคำสาปและมีผู้เฝ้าในนาม “ปู่โสม” ซึ่งอาจเป็นวิญญาณเจ้าของสมบัตินั้น หรือเป็นข้าทาสบริวารที่คอยเฝ้า แต่บางแห่งอย่างโบราณสถานร้างในเขตพระราชวังโบราณ จ. พระนครศรีอยุธยา มีเรื่องเล่ากันมานานในหมู่นักโบราณคดีว่า โบราณสถานแห่งหนึ่งมีวิญญาณ “นักรบโบราณ” เฝ้าสมบัติอยู่ สถานที่แห่งนั้นก็คือ “โบราณสถานวัดราชบูรณะ” แหล่งกรุสมบัติล้ำค่าของพระมหากษัตริย์ไทยสมััยอยุธยา



ตามประวัติวัดราชบูรณะแห่งนี้ สมเด็จพระบรมราชาธิราชที่ 2 (เจ้าสามพระยา) โปรดฯ ให้สร้างขึ้นเมื่อราว พ.ศ. 1967 สร้างตรงที่ถวายพระเพลิงพระศพของพระเชษฐาทั้ง 2 พระองค์คือ เ้จ้าอายพระยา กับเจ้ายี่พระยา ซึ่งชนช้างกัน เพื่อแย่งสิทธิ์การครองบัลลังค์ต่อจากพระราชบิดา จึงถึงแก่พิราลัยบนคอช้างทั้งคู่ เจ้าสามพระยาจึงขึ้นครองราชย์ต่อ และได้สร้างเจดีย์คู่ไว้ตรงที่ชนช้าง เพื่อเป็นอนุสรณ์ระลึกถึงพระเชษฐาทั้ง 2 พระองค์ แต่ปัจจุบันนี้เจดีย์คทั้งสอง ได้หักพังลงเหลือเพียงฐาน ตั้งอยู่กลางวงเวียนหน้าวัดราชบูรณะ และเป็นสถานที่ที่เคยปรากฎร่างของวิญญาณนักรบโบราณตนหนึ่ง ซึ่งจะเล่าให้ฟังต่อไป
ภายในวัดราชบูรณะมีสถาปัตยกรรมเป็นองค์ปรางค์ ซึ่งเป็นศิลปะอยุธยาสมัยแรก พระปรางค์องค์นี้เองเป็นต้นเรื่องที่มาแห่งอาถรรพณ์ต่าง ๆ นานา จากผู้บุกรุกลักลอบเข้าไปขุดสมบัติโดยเมื่อปี พ.ศ. 2499 กรมศิลปากรได้เริ่มทำการสำรวจเพื่อทำการบูรณะ ขณะที่กำลังรอบูรณะในตอนค่ำของวันที่ 25 กันยายน พ.ศ. 2500 พระปรางค์แห่งนี้ก็ถูกกลุ่มคนจำนวนมากลักลอบเจาะเข้าไปถึงปรางค์ด้านใน เพื่อค้นหาสมบัติ ซึ่งมีเป็นจำนวนมากและยังประเมินค่ามิได้ โดยเฉพาะสมบัติส่วนใหญ่ที่เป็นเครื่องราชูปโภค ซึ่งเป็นสิ่งของเครื่องใช้ของกษัตริย์ทำด้วยทองคำและอัญมณีมีค่า อาทิ พระแสงทองคำ มหามงกุฎ มงกุฎพระราชินีเรื่องหงส์ทองคำ ราชรถมีม้าเทียมทองคำ แหวนทองคำ ม่านทองคำ จอกทองคำประดับทับทิม ฯลฯ
บรรยากาศขณะลงมือขุดก็มีเค้าลางของอาถรรพณ์เริ่มปรากฏ นักขุดคนหนึ่งในทีมเปิดเผยว่า ขณะเริ่มขุดฟ้าก็ร้อง ลมพัดแรงแต่ไม่มีใครสนใจ เมื่อเอาสมบัติออกมาวางนอกองค์ปรางค์ ก็มีบางสิ่งบางอย่างเกิดขึ้นกับ “พระแสงขรรชัยศรี” คือเกิดแสดงคล้ายหิ่งห้อยสว่างวาบ ๆ หลายครั้งกับพระแสงนั้น และในภายหลังยังเกิดอาถรรพณ์สิ่งเลวร้ายกับผู้ลักลอบขุดคนอื่น ๆ อีก โดยส่วนใหญ่จะเป็นสติฟั่นเฟือน ประสบเคราะห์กรรมไม่สิ้นสุด ชีวิตมีแต่ตกอับ หมดเนื้อหมดตัว บางคนถึงกับเอาเครื่องทรงของกษัตริย์มาสวมและถือพระแสงดาบออกไปรำที่ตลาดหัวรอ ส่วนเครื่องทองคำที่นำไปขายที่ร้านทองในตลาด ปรากฎว่าในสมัยต่อ ๆ มาร้านทองแห่งนั้นก็ถูกไฟไหม้
จุดจบที่น่ากลัวของผู้ลักลอบขุดกรุสมบัติวัดราชบูรณะทั้งหมดนี้ หลายคนเชื่อว่า เป็นอาถรรพณ์ที่เกิดจากการสาปแช่งของเจ้าของสมบัตินั่นเอง เรื่องของ “วิญญาณ” ก็มีผู้พบเห็นอยู่เรื่อย เรื่องนี้เล่าโดยอดีตนักโบราณคดีท่านหนึ่ง ซึ่งในอดีตเคยมีหน้าที่สำรวจ และชุดค้นหาหลักฐานทางโบราณคดีประวัติศาสตร์ ที่บริเวณวัดราชบูรณะแห่งนี้ และเคยเจอดีที่หน้าวัดมาแล้ว



นักโบราณคดีท่านี้ได้เล่าว่า คืนหนึ่งเมื่อเสร็จจากงานสำรวจ ก็พากันออกไปหาอะไรกินกับทีมงาน ที่ตลาดเจ้าพรหมในตัวเมืองอยุธยา เมื่ออิ่มหนำสำราญแล้วก็จะกลับที่พักที่คุ้มขุนแผน ขากลับจึงเหมารถตุ๊ก ๆ รับจ้างมาส่ง ขณะที่รถวิ่งมาถึงบริเวณวงเวียนที่เจดีย์เหลือเพียงฐาน ตำแหน่งที่ชนช้างของเจ้าอ้าย และเจ้ายี่ซึ่งตั้งอยู่หน้าวัดราชบูรณะ ทันที่ที่มาถึงบริเวณดังกล่าว รถตุ๊ก ๆ ที่วิ่งมาดี ๆ ก็หยุดกะทันหัน คนขับต้องเบรกจนตัวโกร่ง เพราะมีบุรุษลึกลับไปยืนขวางอยู่กลางถนน ทำให้คนขับแสดงอาการฉุนเฉียวด่าว่าไปหลายคำ โดยที่ไม่มีใครทันสังเกตุบุรุษผู้นั้นได้ชัดเจนเพราะเป็นเวลาดึก แสงไฟในถนนก็ค่อนข้างสลัว แต่พอเริ่มปรับสายตาให้ชินกับความมืดได้ ภาพที่ทุกคนเห็นตรงหน้าแล้วทำให้ต้องอ้าปากค้างคือ ร่างล่ำสันสูงใหญ่ของนักรบโบราณ สวมหมวกทรงประพาส เสื้อแขนยาวจรดข้อมือมีทับทรวงกลางอก นุ่งโจงกระเบนแบบถกเขมร ทับกางเกงสีเดียวกัน มีดาบโบราณ 2 เล่ม คาดเฉียงบนร่างท่อนบน สภาพใบหน้านักรบโบราณที่ทุกคนเห็นแล้วยิ่งทำให้ตืนตะลึง นั่นคือ ใบหน้าซีกหนึ่งที่ฉ่ำเยิ้มไปด้วยน้ำเหลือง แถมเนื้อหนังทำท่าจะแบะหลุดออกมาส่งกลิ่นสาบสางทั่วบริเวณ
ท่ามกลางความตกตะลึงพรึงเพริดของนักโบราณคดีและลูกทีม ที่ต้องยืนตัวแข็งขนลุกซู่เป็นครู่ใหญ่ สักพักร่างนักรบโบราณนั้นก็ค่อย ๆ จางหายไปต่อหน้าต่อตา เมื่อพอมีสติทุกคนก็วิ่งอ้าวเพื่อให้พ้นจากบริเวณนั้นโดยเร็วที่สุด สุดท้ายก็มานั่งถกกันว่าที่เห็นนั้นคืออะไร แต่ก็พอจะคาดคะเนจากเครื่องทรงที่แต่งว่า น่าจะเป็นวิญญาณของผู้มีศักดิ์สูง ซึ่งก็ไม่ทราบว่าเป็นใคร ที่น่าสงสารก็คือ จนป่านนี้ทำไมวิญญาณยังไม่ไปเกิด และต้องติดอยู่กับสถานที่แห่งนี้อีกนานแค่ไหน
ในความเป็นจริงที่ได้สอบถามจากผู้รู้ ซึ่งเป็นผู้มีสมาธิจิตสูงหลานท่านได้เคยเล่าให้ผู้เขียนฟังว่า ยังมีวิญญาณชาวกรุงศรีอยุธยาอีกหลายหมื่นดวง ที่ยังคงติดอยู่ ณ สถานที่ที่เสียชีวิตเมื่อครั้งกรุงแตก เพราะความที่ยังหวงแหน และความรักในแผ่นดินเกิดอย่างแรงกล้า อีกทั้งความตายที่มาถึงขณะที่ยังไม่ถึงเวลา วิญญาณทุกดวงเจ็บปวด ทุกข์ทรมาน ด้วยแรงอาฆาตและแรงแค้นจึงทำให้ดวงวิญญาณเเหล่านั้นไม่สงบ หนทางจะไปสู่ภาพภูมิใหม่ตามสภาวะจิตของพวกเขา จึงยังไม่เปิด จนกว่าจะมีผู้มาชี้ทางสว่าง จึงมีผู้พบเห็นดวงวิญญาณทหารไทยบ้าง ทหารพม่าบ้าง รวมถึงหญิงสาวคนแก่และเด็กผมจุกยุคโบราณ จากภูมิวิญญาณครั้งกรุงเก่าโบราณมาปรากฎให้เห็นอยู่เสมอ ๆ

21วิธีประหารชีวิตในสมัยกรุงศรีอยุธยา !!

รายละเอียด


ในสมัยกรุงศรีอยุธยา อาณาจักรที่รุ่งเรืองที่สุดอีกยุคสมัยหนึ่งของไทยเรา
พบว่า มีการตราบทลงโทษขั้นรุนแรงที่สุดคือ...
โทษ ประหารชีวิตเอาไว้ในพระไอยการกระบถศึก
ซึ่งเป็นกฎหมายที่ตราขึ้นในสมัยสมเด็จพระบรมราชาธิราชที่ 2
และมีการแก้ไขเพิ่มเติมในสมัยสมเด็จพระบรมไตรโลกนาถ
ก่อนจะมีการแก้ไขเพิ่มเติมอีกครั้งในสมัยสมเด็จพระเอกาทศรถ
แต่กฎหมายฉบับนี้มิได้มีการแก้ไขในบทลงโทษความผิดขั้นประหารชีวิตและวิธี การประหารชีวิตเลยแม้แต่น้อย
คือยังคงลักษณะเดิมไว้แต่ครั้งการตราขึ้นในสมัยสมเด็จพระบรมราชาธิราชที่ 2 ทุกประการ


วิธีการประหารชีวิตตามพระไอยการกระบถศึก
บันทึกและอธิบายเอาไว้อย่างละเอียดถึงวิธีการลงโทษประหาร 21 วิธีหรือ 21 สถาน ดังนี้





- สถาน 1 คือ ให้ต่อยกระบานศีศะ (กบาลศีรษะ) เลิกออก (เปิดออก) เสียแล้ว เอาคีมคีบก้อนเหล็กแดงใหญ่ใส่ลงไปในมันสะหมอง (มันสมอง) ศีศะพลุ่งฟู่ขึ้นดั่งม่อ (หม้อ) เคี่ยวน้ำส้มพะอูม

- สถาน 2 คือ ให้ตัดแต่หนังจำระ (จาก) เบื้องหน้าถึงไพรปากเบื้องบนทั้งสองข้างเป็นกำหนด ถึงหมวกหู (ใบหู) ทั้งสองข้างเป็นกำหนด ถึงเกลียวคอชายผมเบื้องหลังเป็นกำหนด (หนังบริเวณคอถึงท้ายทอย) แล้วให้มุ่นกระหมวดผมเข้าทั้งสิ้น (ม้วนเข้าหากัน) เอาท่อนไม้สอดเข้าข้างละคน โยกคลอนสั่นเพิกหนังทั้งผมนั้นออกเสียแล้วเอากรวดทรายหยาบขัดกระบาน ศีศะชำระให้ขาวเหมือนพรรณศรีสังข์

- สถาน 3 คือ ให้เอาขอเกี่ยวปากให้อ้าไว้ แล้วให้ตามประทีบ (ดวงไฟ) ไว้ในปาก ไนยหนึ่ง (นัยหนึ่ง) เอาปากสิวอันคมนั้นแสะแห*ผ่าปากจนหมวกหู (ใบหู) ทั้งสองข้าง แล้วเอาขอเกี่ยวให้อ้าปากไว้ให้โลหิตไหลออกเต็มปาก

- สถาน 4 คือ เอาผ้าชุบน้ำมันพันให้ทั่วร่างกายแล้วเอาเพลิงจุด

- สถาน 5 คือ เอาผ้าชุบน้ำมันพันนิ้วทั้งสิบนิ้วแล้วเอาเพลิงจุด

- สถาน 6 คือ เชือดเนื้อให้เป็นแรงเป็นริ้วอย่าให้ขาดจากกัน ตั้งแต่ใต้คอลงไปถึงข้อเท้าแล้วเอาเชือกผูกจำ ให้เดินเหยียบริ้วเนื้อริ้วหนังแห่งตน ให้ฉุดคร่าตีจำให้เดินไปกว่าจะตาย

- สถาน 7 คือ เชือดเนื้อให้เนื่องด้วยหนังเป็นแร่งเป็นริ้ว ตั้งแต่ใต้คอลงมาถึงเอวและให้เชือดตั้งแต่เอวให้เนื่องด้วยหนังเป็นแร้ง เป็นริ้วลงมาถึงข้อเท้ากระทำหนังเบื้องบนให้คลุมลงมาเหมือนนุ่งผ้า

- สถาน 8 คือ ให้เอาห่วงเหล็กสวมข้อศอกทั้งสองข้าง ข้อเข่าทั้งสองข้างให้มั่นแล้วเอาหลักสอดในวงเหล็กแย่งขึงตรึงลงไว้กับแผ่น ดินอย่าให้ไหวตัวได้ แล้วเอาเพลิงรน (ลน) ให้รอบตัวจนกว่าจะตาย

- สถาน 9 คือ ให้เอาเบ็ดใหญ่ที่มีคมสองข้างเกี่ยวทั่วร่างเพิก (เปิด) หนังเนื้อและเอ็นน้อยใหญ่ให้หลุดขาดออกมาจนกว่าจะตาย

- สถาน10 คือ ให้เอามีดที่คมเชือดเนื้อให้ตกออกจากกายแต่ทีละตำลึง(นำเนื้อมาชั่งให้ได้ น้ำหนักหนึ่งตำลึง:มาตราวัดสมัยโบราณ) จนกว่าจะสิ้นมังสา (เนื้อ)

- สถาน 11 คือ ให้แล่สับทั่วร่างแล้ว เอาแปรงหวีชุบน้ำแสบกรีดครูดขูดเสาะหนังและเนื้อแลเอ็นน้อยใหญ่ให้ลอกออก ให้สิ้นให้อยู่แต่ร่างกระดูก

- สถาน 12 คือ ให้นอนลงโดยข้างๆ หนึ่งแล้วให้เอาหลาวเหล็กตอกลงไปโดยช่องหูให้แน่นกับแผ่นดินแล้วจับขาทั้ง สองข้างหมุนเวียนไปดังบุคคลทำบังเวียน (เวียนเทียน)

- สถาน 13 คือ ทำมิให้หนังพังหนังขาด แล้วเอาลูกสีลา (ลูกหิน) บดทุกกระดูกให้แหลกย่อย แล้วรวบผมเข้าทั้งสิ้น ยกขึ้นหย่อนลงกระทำให้เนื้อเป็นกองเป็นลอมแล้วพับห่อเนื้อหนังกับทั้งกระดูกนั้นทอดว
างไว้ดั่งตั่งอันทำด้วยฟางซึ่งเอาไว้เช็ดเ้ท้า

- สถาน 14 คือ ให้เคี่ยวน้ำมันให้เดือดพลุ่งพล่าน แล้วลาดสาดลงมาแต่ศีศะ (ศีรษะ) จนกว่าจะตาย

- สถาน 15 คือ ให้กักขังสุนัขร้ายทั้งหลายไว้ อดอาหารหลายวันให้เต็มอยากแล้วปล่อยให้กัดทึ้งเนื้อหนังกินให้เหลือแต่ร่างกระดูกเปล
่า

- สถาน 16 คือ ให้เอาขวานผ่าอกทั้งเป็นแหกออกดั่งโครงเนื้อ

- สถาน 17 คือ ให้แทงด้วยหอกทีละน้อยๆ จนกว่าจะตาย

- สถาน 18 คือ ให้ขุดหลุมฝังเพียงเอว แล้วเอาฟางปกลงคลุมร่างก่อนคลอกด้วยเพลิงพอหนังไหม้แล้วไถด้วยไถเหล็ก ให้เป็นท่อนน้อยท่อนใหญ่เป็นริ้วน้อยริ้วใหญ่

- สถาน 19 คือ ให้เชือดเนื้อล่ำออกทอดด้วยน้ำมัน เหมือนทอดขนมให้กินเนื้อตัวเองจนกว่าจะตาย

- สถาน 20 คือ ให้ตีด้วยตะบองสั้นตะบองยาวจนกว่าจะตาย

- สถาน 21 คือ ตีด้วยหวายที่มีหนามจนกว่าจะตาย

TODAY'S eTIP(TM): Discovering Varieties of Green Tea

Green tea, like all tea, comes from the Camellia sinensis plant.
What makes green tea "green" is that the leaves are picked,
steamed, and dried, but not fermented. (Black teas have had their
leaves fermented to various degrees). Japanese cuisine features
several different kinds of green tea. More
[

A 1-2-3 Packing Process

Having the right things with you when you travel can make the difference between comfort and misery, making a great impression and a poor one, getting a good night's sleep or staying wide-eyed all night, sorry that you left your jammies and toothbrush at home. So, get organized with a 1-2-3 packing process to save space and time and maximize your traveling appearance and attitude:

Choose two or three colors of clothes to mix and match for the entire trip.

Run through each day of your trip and what outfit you'll be wearing when.

Make a packing list!

When you get organized, packing the right stuff is painless, and the pleasure of having everything on hand and in its place will pay off throughout your trip

เหตุการณ์ 6 ตุลา

เหตุการณ์ 6 ตุลาคม พ.ศ. 2519 เป็นเหตุการณ์ที่เจ้าหน้าที่รัฐและกลุ่มที่รัฐให้การสนับสนุน ได้เข้าไปล้อมจับกุมและสังหารนักศึกษาและประชาชนภายใน บริเวณมหาวิทยาลัยธรรมศาสตร์ ท่าพระจันทร์ ซึ่งกำลังชุมนุมประท้วงเพื่อขับไล่ให้จอมพลถนอม กิตติขจรออกนอกประเทศ ในเหตุการณ์นี้ ตำรวจตระเวนชายแดนนำโดยค่ายนเรศวรจากหัวหิน, กลุ่มลูกเสือชาวบ้าน ตำรวจ และกลุ่มคนที่ตั้งโดยงบ กอ.รมน. คือ กลุ่มนวพล และ กลุ่มกระทิงแดง ได้ใช้กำลังอย่างรุนแรง ทำให้มีผู้ที่บาดเจ็บ เสียชีวิต และสูญหายเป็นจำนวนมาก

สาเหตุของความขัดแย้ง

ในสมัยรัฐบาล ม.ร.ว. เสนีย์ ปราโมช ในปี พ.ศ. 2519 มีความพยายามกลับประเทศไทย ของ จอมพลประภาส จารุเสถียร ในวันที่ 15 สิงหาคม พ.ศ. 2519 และการกลับประเทศไทยของจอมพลถนอม กิตติขจร เมื่อวันที่ 19 กันยายน พ.ศ. 2519 หลังจากที่ทั้งสองได้เดินทางออกนอกประเทศหลังเหตุการณ์ 14 ตุลา

หลังจากการกลับมาของจอมพลประภาส ศูนย์กลางนิสิตนักศึกษาแห่งประเทศไทยได้ชุมนุมประท้วงเพื่อเรียกร้องให้จอมพลประภาส เดินทางกลับออกนอกประเทศ จนกระทั่งในที่สุด จอมพลประภาสจึงยินยอมเดินทางออกนอกประเทศในวันที่ 22 สิงหาคม พ.ศ. 2519

ต่อมา จอมพลถนอมได้เดินทางกลับเข้ามาในประเทศอีกในวันที่ 19 กันยายน พ.ศ. 2519 โดยก่อนหน้านั้นได้แวะที่ประเทศสิงคโปร์ เพื่อบวชเป็นสามเณรที่วัดไทยในสิงคโปร์ และได้รับอนุญาตให้เข้าอุปสมบทที่วัดบวรนิเวศวิหาร ศูนย์กลางนิสิตนักศึกษาแห่งประเทศไทยจึงได้ชุมนุมเพื่อขับไล่อีก

ในขณะนั้นได้เกิดความแตกแยก ทั้งในพรรคการเมืองและกลุ่มประชาชน ออกเป็น 2 กลุ่ม คือ กลุ่มที่สนับสนุนบทบาทของนิสิตนักศึกษา และ กลุ่มที่ต่อต้านนิสิตนักศึกษา ทำให้สถานการณ์มีความรุนแรงมากขึ้น จนกระทั่ง ม.ร.ว. เสนีย์ ปราโมช นายกรัฐมนตรีในขณะนั้น ประกาศลาออกจากตำแหน่ง แต่พรรคร่วมรัฐบาลซึ่งมีพรรคประชาธิปัตย์เป็นแกนนำ ก็ตัดสินใจเลือก ม.ร.ว. เสนีย์ เป็นนายกรัฐมนตรีอีกสมัยหนึ่ง

ในวันที่ 24 กันยายน พ.ศ. 2519 นายวิชัย เกษศรีพงษา และนายชุมพร ทุมไมย พนักงานการไฟฟ้านครปฐม และสมาชิกแนวร่วมต่อต้านเผด็จการแห่งชาติ ถูกซ้อมตายระหว่างออกติดโปสเตอร์ประท้วงต่อต้านพระถนอม และถูกนำศพไปแขวนคอที่ประตูทางเข้าที่จัดสรร บริเวณหมู่บ้านแห่งหนึ่งที่ ต.พระประโทน อ.เมือง จ.นครปฐม แต่ ตำรวจสรุปสำนวนคดีว่าเกิดจากการผิดใจกับคนในที่ทำงาน

ความเคลื่อนไหวเพื่อเรียกร้องให้ขับไล่พระถนอม ทวีความรุนแรงมากขึ้น มหาวิทยาลัยทั้งในกรุงเทพฯ และต่างจังหวัดมีการชุมนุมเพื่ออภิปรายโจมตีรัฐบาล ต่อต้านการกลับมาของจอมพลถนอม และให้จัดการจับฆาตกรสังหารโหดฆ่าแขวนคอที่นครปฐม สภาแรงงานแห่งประเทศไทยได้ยื่นคำขาดต่อรัฐบาล ให้จอมพลถนอมออกนอกประเทศภายใน 5 วัน มิฉะนั้นจะหยุดงานทั้งประเทศตั้งแต่วันที่ 10 ตุลาคม พ.ศ. 2519 เป็นต้นไป ทั้งนักศึกษา สภาแรงงาน และผู้ต่อต้าน ได้รวมตัวกันประท้วงที่สนามหลวง จากนั้นจึงย้ายเข้าไปชุมนุมในมหาวิทยาลัยธรรมศาสตร์

ทางด้านกลุ่มที่ต่อต้านการกระทำของนิสิตนักศึกษา อันประกอบด้วย กลุ่มนวพล (พลโท สำราญ แพทยกุล เป็นแกนนำ รหัส นวพล001 เป็นหนึ่งในองคมนตรี) กลุ่มพิทักษ์ชาติไทย กลุ่มกระทิงแดง และอื่น ๆ ได้ร่วมกันแถลงการณ์กล่าวหาศูนย์กลางนิสิตนักศึกษาแห่งประเทศไทย สภาแรงงาน และนักการเมืองบางคนว่า ได้ถือเอากรณีพระถนอม เป็นเงื่อนไขสร้างความไม่สงบในประเทศ ต่อมากลุ่มเหล่านี้จึงเดินทางเข้ามาชุมนุมที่ลานพระบรมรูปทรงม้า สนามเสือป่า ราชตฤณมัยสมาคม และสนามหลวง เพื่อต่อต้านการชุมนุมของนิสิตนักศึกษา กลุ่มเหล่านี้ได้เรียกร้องให้รัฐบาลจับกุม และปลดรัฐมนตรีบางคนที่เชื่อว่าให้การสนับสนุนนิสิตนักศึกษา แต่รัฐบาลก็ยังไม่ได้สั่งการประการใด

ในวันที่ 4 ตุลาคม มีการชุมนุมที่ลานโพธิ์ มีการอภิปราย และการแสดงละครเกี่ยวกับกรณีฆ่าแขวนคอพนักงานการไฟฟ้านครปฐม จัดโดยชุมนุมนาฏศิลป์และการละคร มหาวิทยาลัยธรรมศาสตร์ หลังจากนั้นสถานีวิทยุยานเกราะนำโดย พ.ท.อุทาร สนิทวงศ์ ณ อยุธยา, นายสมัคร สุนทรเวช, ทมยันตี, ฯลฯ ออกข่าวว่านักศึกษาที่แสดงละคร มีใบหน้าคล้ายเจ้าฟ้าชายถูกแขวนคอ ต่อมาหนังสือพิมพ์ดาวสยาม และบางกอกโพสต์ ฉบับเช้าวันที่ 5 ตุลาคม เผยแพร่ภาพการแสดงล้อการแขวนคอของนักศึกษาที่ลานโพธิ์ โดยพาดหัวข่าวเป็นเชิงว่า การแสดงดังกล่าวเป็นการหมิ่นพระบรมเดชานุภาพ

คืนวันที่ 5 ตุลาคม สถานีวิทยุยานเกราะและชมรมวิทยุเสรี ออกอากาศกรณีหมิ่นพระบรมเดชานุภาพ เรียกร้องให้ประชาชน และลูกเสือชาวบ้าน ไปชุมนุมที่ลานพระบรมรูปทรงม้า และเรียกร้องให้รัฐบาลเร่งดำเนินการจับกุมผู้กระทำการหมิ่นองค์สยามมกุฎราชกุมารมาลงโทษ ตลอดทั้งคืน[1]


กลุ่มเจ้าหน้าที่ราชการ
ตำรวจตระเวนชายแดน (ตชด.) จากค่ายนเรศวร หัวหิน ประจวบคีรีขันธ์[2]
ตำรวจนครบาล ภายใต้การนำของ พล ต.อ. ชุมพล โลหะชาละ รองอธิบดีกรมตำรวจในขณะนั้น[2]

กลุ่มพลังฝ่ายขวา
กลุ่มสำคัญต่าง ๆ ที่มีส่วนในการปราบปรามและสังหารนักศึกษาและประชาชนในเหตุการณ์ 6 ตุลา ได้แก่


กลุ่มนวพล
กลุ่มนวพลก่อตั้งเมื่อเดือนตุลาคม พ.ศ. 2517 โดยกลุ่มทหารในกองอำนวยการรักษาความมั่นคงภายใน (กอ.รมน.) เช่น พล.อ. วัลลภ โรจนวิสุทธิ์ อดีตเจ้ากรมข่าวทหาร และ พล.อ. สายหยุด เกิดผล เสนาธิการ กอ.รมน. เป็นต้น พล.อ.วัลลภ ได้อธิบายเหตุผลในการก่อตั้งกลุ่มว่า ชาติจะอยู่รอดได้ด้วยสถาบันวัดกับวัง จึงต้องระดมประชาชนเพื่อป้องกันสองสถาบันหลักนี้ ซึ่งสอดคล้องกับความหมายหนึ่งของชื่อกลุ่มนวพล คือที่หมายความว่า “พลังเก้า” (หมายถึงพลังของพระบาทสมเด็จพระเจ้าอยู่หัวรัชกาลที่ 9 - รัชกาลในสมัยที่ก่อตั้ง) ส่วนอีกความหมายหนึ่งคือ “กำลังใหม่” (ตามรูปแบบการก่อตั้ง) [3]

ผู้นำสำคัญของกลุ่มนวพล

พลโท สำราญ แพทยกุล]] ซึ่งเป็นองคมนตรี อดีตแม่ทัพภาคที่ 3 และเป็นผู้ที่ใกล้ชิดเบื้องยุคลบาทอย่างยิ่ง พลโทสำราญเป็นนวพลอันดับแรก หรือ นวพล 001
พล.อ. วัลลภ โรจนวิสุทธิ์ อดีตเจ้ากรมข่าวทหาร
พล.อ. สายหยุด เกิดผล เสนาธิการ กอ.รมน.
นายวัฒนา เขียววิมล ปัญญาชนจากสหรัฐอเมริกา เป็นวิทยากรประจำกลุ่มและเป็นผู้ประสานงานกลุ่ม
พระเทพกิตติปัญญาคุณ (กิตติวุฑโฒ ภิกขุ) พระภิกษุผู้ประกาศต่อสาธารณชนในเดือนมิถุนายน พ.ศ. 2519 ว่า “การฆ่าคอมมิวนิสต์ไม่บาป”
กลุ่มนวพลมีส่วนเป็นอย่างมากในการเข้าร่วมกรณีสังหารในวันที่ 6 ตุลาคม พ.ศ. 2519[4]


ลูกเสือชาวบ้าน
ลูกเสือชาวบ้านเป็นกองกำลังหนึ่งที่มีส่วนร่วมในการปราบปรามขบวนการนักศึกษาในเหตุการณ์ 6 ตุลา โดยส่วนใหญ่พันผ้าพันคอพระราชทานในวันนั้นด้วย[2] ผู้ที่มีบทบาทในการก่อตั้งกลุ่มลูกเสือชาวบ้านคือ พล.ต.ต. สมควร หริกุล ผู้กำกับตำรวจชายแดนเขต 4 ร่วมมือกับข้าราชการท้องถิ่นอีกหลายคน โดยได้จัดการอบรมลูกเสือชาวบ้านรุ่นแรก เมื่อวันที่ 9 สิงหาคม พ.ศ. 2514 ที่อำเภอด่านซ้าย จังหวัดเลย และต่อมา พล.ต.ต. เจริญฤทธิ์ จำรัสโรมรัน รองผู้บัญชาการตำรวจตระเวนชายแดน ก็ได้เข้าร่วมผลักดัน[4]

กิจการลูกเสือชาวบ้านขยายตัวอย่างมากหลังเหตุการณ์ 14 ตุลา พ.ศ. 2516 มีนายทหารและนักการเมืองสำคัญเข้าร่วมหลายคน เช่น พล.ต. ชาติชาย ชุณหะวัณ ซึ่งเป็นผู้ตรวจการลูกเสือชาวบ้าน นายธรรมนูญ เทียนเงิน ซึ่งเป็นผู้อำนวยการลูกเสือชาวบ้านพระนคร


ชมรมวิทยุเสรี
ชมรมวิทยุเสรี เป็นกลุ่มสถานีวิทยุของทหารที่ทำงานประสานกันตั้งแต่ พ.ศ. 2519 โดยมีสถานีวิทยุยานเกราะเป็นแกนกลาง มีบทบาทสำคัญในการชี้นำฝ่ายกระทิงแดง และกลุ่มฝ่ายขวาอื่นๆ ในการเคลื่อนไหวต่อต้านนักศึกษาในวันที่ 5-6 ตุลาคม พ.ศ. 2519 ซึ่งนำไปสู่เหตุการณ์ 6 ตุลา[4]


ชมรมแม่บ้าน
ชมรมแม่บ้านเป็นการรวมกลุ่มของภรรยาข้าราชการ ภรรยานายพล และแม่บ้าน ก่อตั้งขึ้นเมื่อ พ.ศ. 2519 เพื่อโจมตีขบวนนักศึกษาที่เคลื่อนไหวต่อต้านฐานทัพอเมริกาโดยตรง โดยมี ทมยันตี หรือนางวิมล ศิริไพบูลย์ (เจียมเจริญ) เป็นแกนสำคัญ โดยโจมตีขบวนการนักศึกษาว่าเป็นผู้บ่อนทำลายมิตรประเทศ