DBKP Today in History

John Edwards, Rielle Hunter, Andrew Young, Fred Baron: Hiding in Plain Sight

2008-08-19T14:10:00.001-07:00

John Edwards, Rielle Hunter, Andrew Young, Fred Baron:

"They're all still hiding, but they're hiding in plain sight. We can see them! Don't they know we can all see them hiding?"
--DBKP's LBG on the continued subterfuge in the John Edwards Scandal

Why is everyone in the John Edwards' scandal still hiding?

As LBG emailed recently, "They're all still hiding, but they're hiding in plain sight. We can see them! Don't they know we can all see them hiding?"

In what's likely to be the last story, before the National Enquirer publishs more baby pix to nail John Edwards' confessional lies to the barn door, a few observations and questions about the "99% honest" man:

*** Rielle Hunter continues to be jetted around the country, in an attempt to be kept out of sight of a suddenly-awakened MSM.

Why?

After the Edwards PR appearance on ABC's Nighline on August 8, the Enquirer released this information a week afterwards:

And now The ENQUIRER has uncovered that Edwards' political operatives are still paying his mistress Rielle Hunter - and she was whisked away on a private jet two days before he confessed their extramarital affair on national TV!

Again, we ask, "Why?"

Are these the actions of a "99% man"? Perhaps Edwards, who offered gallantly to submit to a paternity test, doesn't know anything about this? Perhaps it is just the actions of Edwards' finance chair, the equally-gallant Fred Baron?

The Enquirer's latest print edition reported, however, that "Trapped like a rat, John Edwards spoke those soothing words to his mistress Rielle Hunter after admitting to their illicit affair." The "soothing words Edwards spoke?

"Of course, I still love you. Don't worry, we'll get through this."

This was not widely--if at all--reported in a MSM that is now chasing the Enquirer's leads in the story after building an impressive wall of silence for months. Perhaps the MSM still handles the Enquirer's leads like days-old garbage?

The Enquirer is good enough to investigate the story, report the story, stay with the story for months and continues to be light-years ahead of the MSM in the quest for the "truth".

Big Media can now report the story of John Edwards, Fred Baron, Rielle Hunter, Andrew Young and details of the cover-up, not because the story was under their noses for the better part of a year: but because John Edwards gave them permission to investigate and report it when he went on ABC's Nightline August 8 and admitted his affair. BM (Big Media, though other, more earthy thoughts are brought to mind by the initials) will be taking its investigative marching orders from the National Enquirer for a while yet.

And likely seething the entire time.

*** John Edwards and Fred Baron's statements belie their actions. If the affair was over and John Edwards is not the father, then why are all the principals in the matter still acting like they have something to hide?

Andrew Young, the man who fell halfway on his sword for Edwards--he claimed in December he was the father, but didn't put his name on the birth certificate--has scooted back to North Carolina with his family.

Why doesn't Andrew Young issue another statement declaring his paternity of Frances Quinn Hunter? That wouldn't settle any questions, just as his December statement failed to settle any--except for decidedly un-curious MSM editors and reporters, most notably, CBS's Bob Scheiffer.

Scheiffer was rewarded for his infamously un-curious nature by getting a phone call from John Edwards shortly after his statement was released for the press on August 8. Edwards apparently knew he could count on good, ole Bob not to ask any unpleasant questions during that phone conversation.

In his statements, Baron is still treating the press like he's on trial with his carefully-parsed sentences. Who know? Perhaps Baron can see into the future?

John Edwards' carefully-crafted statement and interview answers are his last comments on the affair. It's hard to see how he can say anything at this point that would improve his situation.

Perhaps that's why John Edwards has been hard to see during the last 11 days: Edwards is still in the self-imposed seclusion he entered on July 30, after reporters attempted to question him about his "incident" at the Beverly Hilton on July 21.

*** Rielle Hunter is keeping mum, except to issue a statement through her Baron-suggested attorney that she's not willing to call for Edwards to take a paternity test. Hunter's sister, however, was not as close-lipped and did ask for Edwards to step up to the paternity plate.

Apparently, Melissa and Rielle did not consult on that point. Edwards and Baron did not consult about Rielle Hunter and her living arrangements and numerous private jet trips--according to their statements. [John Edwards Cover-up: Press Releases a Carefully-Orchestrated Affair?]

So, John Edwards, Andrew Young and Rielle Hunter have remained inaccessible to the pleadings of the press for more information.

*** Fred Baron has clarified, but hasn't exactly been a Pigeon O'Brien about appearing before the press to clear up matters, in the last few days.

"The bottom line to it is John Edwards and Elizabeth Edwards had no knowledge of anything I did," Mr. Baron said. "I did it as a friend."

That was Fred Baron's last known utterance on the matter, reported by the Dallas Morning News.

It may be the last for awhile. The Enquirer is expected to publish this week more baby pictures, including, it is supposed, some that also feature John Edwards.

Which may force everyone involved to continue hiding in plain sight.

Deceiver channels the spirit of 19th-century French psychotherapist, Emile Coue: Every Day, in Every Way, the John Edwards Story Gets Better and Better. If you're short of time, a better John Edwards' go-to source is hard to find.

Oh and a shout out to Doc Sanity's latest edition of Carnival of the Insanities: she included pat's Christians in Muslim Countries: Saudi Girl Burned Alive for Being Christian in her weekly roundup of the bizarre and insane.

by Mondoreb
image: Amazon.com

U.S. Missile Defense at Israeli Base Hands-off for Israelis

2008-08-19T12:10:00.000-07:00

US & Israel Sign Murder-Suicide Pact
Babba Zee
Outraged Spleen of Zion

Allman Bros. ~ Whipping Post

American crews will control US FBX-band radar granted Israel

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report

August 19, 2008, 12:43 PM (GMT+02:00)

In granting Israel the powerful FBX-T radar system to enhance its early warning resources against incoming missiles, Washington laid down a strict hands-off proviso. The system will be installed at a US base in the southern Israeli Negev. It will be off-limits to Israelis and managed exclusively by American personnel.

This discovery, revealed here for the first time by DEBKAfile's military sources, has aroused astonished rancor in senior Israel army circles. They questioned the judgment of prime minister Ehud Olmert, defense minister Ehud Barak, foreign minister Tzipi Livni, Shaul Mofaz, who leads the Israeli side of the twice-annual strategic dialogue with the US, and chief of staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi in accepting this proviso.

Even Poland, one officer commented, looked after its sovereignty and only signed its defense pact with the United States for the installation of missile interceptors on its Baltic coast after the Americans agreed to instruct Polish crews in their future operation.

Yet none of the Israeli officials involved in the radar transaction saw fit to carry this point. The FBX-T was requested to allow Israel's Arrow missile defense system to engage a Shehab-3 missile about halfway through its 11-minute flight from Iran, several times sooner than the Arrow's Green Pines radar is capable of doing.

The FBX-T can track objects in space such as a missile tipped with a chemical, germ or nuclear warhead.

When they swung the deal in Washington last month, Barak and Ashkenazi said the Israeli Defense Forces would acquire a major resource and Israel a valuable shield against enemy missiles.

But they erred badly in failing to demand its integration in Israel's national interceptor system for four reasons:

1. Israel will have no denied direct access to the data gathered by the system and can only hope the American operators will pass on the information as and when Israel needs it for self-defense rather than when it suits US interests.

2. The FBX-T will not only be able to track Iranian and Syrian missiles and aircraft but also keep watch on Israeli operations, giving the Washington a handle for stalling them. DEBKAfile's military sources point out that the Americans are suddenly in a hurry to have the system deployed in the Negev as soon as September. They will then be in position to forestall a possible Israeli pre-emptive attack on Iran's nuclear installations should one be decided in Jerusalem.

3. US experts say the FBX-T radar will lengthen the Israeli Arrow anti-missile system's range for detecting incoming Iranian missiles several times over. This is technically accurate, but in practice this enhanced capability is entirely contingent on a Pentagon order to the American crews in the Negev to activate a link between them.

4. Barak and Ashkenazi said on their return from Washington that they had procured US consent to links between Israel's early warning and missile interceptor systems, the X-band radar (which can pick up a missile 2,000 km from target) and also the American JTAGS satellites (which detects a missile launch).

This is not the case.

Any links between the IDF's radar and interceptors and the JATG satellites must be channeled through the X-band radar base in the Negev and are not direct. The data passed to Israel will be subject to pre-selection by American decision-makers.

Several billion dollars of US and Israeli funds have been sunk into developing the Arrow, which Israeli officials until recently claimed was a match for Iran's Shehab-3 ballistic missiles. It turns out now that the Arrow and its Green Pine radar pick up incoming missiles only when they are 800 km short of their target. Israel applied for the FBX-T radar to extend that range to 2,000 km from its territory. But as long as the system is operated exclusively by American personnel, its usefulness for shielding Israel against enemy missiles will circumscribed.

AUGUST 13, 2008:

U.S. puts brakes on Israeli plan for attack on Iran nuclear facilities

By Aluf Benn

The Americans viewed the request, which was transmitted (and rejected) at the highest level, as a sign that Israel is in the advanced stages of preparations to attack Iran. They therefore warned Israel against attacking, saying such a strike would undermine American interests. They also demanded that Israel give them prior notice if it nevertheless decided to strike Iran. As compensation for the requests it rejected, Washington offered to improve Israel's defenses against surface-to-surface missiles. Israel responded by saying it reserves the right to take whatever action it deems necessary if diplomatic efforts to halt Iran's nuclearization fail.

Senior Israeli officials had originally hoped that U.S. President George Bush would order an American strike on Iran's nuclear facilities before leaving office, as America's military is far better equipped to conduct such a strike successfully than is Israel's. Jerusalem also fears that an Israeli strike, even if it succeeded well enough to delay Iran's nuclear development for a few years, would give Iran international legitimacy for its program, which it currently lacks. Israel, in contrast, would be portrayed as an aggressor, and would be forced to contend alone with Iran's retaliation, which would probably include thousands of missile strikes by Iranian allies Hezbollah, Hamas and perhaps even Syria. Recently, however, Israel has concluded that Bush is unlikely to attack, and will focus instead on ratcheting up diplomatic pressure on Tehran. It prefers to wait until this process has been exhausted, though without conceding the military option.

Israel's assumption is that Iran will continue to use delaying tactics, and may even agree to briefly suspend its uranium enrichment program in an effort to see out the rest of Bush's term in peace. The American-Israeli dispute over a military strike against Iran erupted during Bush's visit to Jerusalem in May. At the time, Bush held a private meeting on the Iranian threat with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and the Israelis presented their request for certain specific items of military equipment, along with diplomatic and security backing. Following Bush's return to Washington, the administration studied Israel's request, and this led it to suspect that Israel was planning to attack Iran within the next few months. The Americans therefore decided to send a strong message warning it not to do so. U.S. National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen both visited here in June and, according to the Washington Post, told senior Israeli defense officials that Iran is still far from obtaining nuclear weapons, and that an attack on Iran would undermine American interests.

Therefore, they said, the U.S. would not allow Israeli planes to overfly Iraq en route to Iran. The Americans sent a similar message to Iraq, which had objected vociferously to the idea of its air space being used for an Israeli attack on Iran. These private messages were accompanied by a series of leaks from the Pentagon that Israel interpreted as attempts to thwart any possibility of an attack on Iran. For instance, the Americans revealed details of a major Israel Air Force exercise in the Mediterranean; they also said they doubted Israel had adequate intelligence about Iran's nuclear facilities. In addition, Mullen spoke out publicly against an attack on Iran. Two weeks ago, Barak visited Washington for talks with his American counterpart, Robert Gates, and Vice President Richard Cheney. Both conversations focused on Iran, but the two Americans presented conflicting views: Gates vehemently opposes an attack on Iran, while Cheney is the administration's leading hawk.

Barak presented Israel's assessments of the Iranian situation and warned that Iran was liable to advance its nuclear program under cover of the endless deliberations about sanctions - which have thus far produced little in the way of action. He also acknowledged that effective sanctions would require cooperation from Russia, China and India, all of which currently oppose sanctions with real teeth. Russia, however, is considered key to efforts to isolate Iran, and Israeli officials have therefore urged their American counterparts in recent months to tone down Washington's other disputes with Moscow to focus all its efforts on obtaining Russia's backing against Iran. For instance, they suggested that Washington offer to drop its plan to station a missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic - a proposal Russia views as a threat, though Washington insists the system is aimed solely at Iran - in exchange for Russia agreeing to stiffer sanctions against Iran.

However, the administration rejected this idea. In an attempt to compensate Israel for having rejected all its proposals, Washington then offered to bolster Israel's defenses against ballistic missiles. For instance, Gates proposed stationing an advanced radar system in Israel and linking Israel directly into America's early warning satellite network; he also offered increased American funding for the development of two Israeli missile defense systems - the Arrow-3, an upgrade of Israel's existing Arrow system for intercepting ballistic missiles, and Iron Dome, a system designed to intercept short-range rockets. In addition, Washington agreed to sell Israel nine Super Hercules long-range transport aircraft for $2 billion.

However, it would not agree to supply Israel with any offensive systems. Now, Israel is awaiting the outcome of the latest talks between the West and Iran, as well as a formal announcement of the opening of an American interests section in Tehran. Israel views the latter as sure proof that Washington is not planning a military strike.

7/31/08: Olmert to Quit AFTER ELECTIONS IN SEPTEMBER

8/17/08: Israel to free 200 MORE prisoners as Rice visits Mideast

Ian Gillan ~ Gethsemane

I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse;
~ Genesis 12:3

Want more Babba Zee and scenes from the Outraged Spleen? Try these recent posts:

* Missing Links vs the Fall of Night & the Mares it Rides in on
* 3 Wood: Dollars vs Euros
* INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING UPDATE : GEORGIA

by Babba Zee
images: Outraged Spleen of Zion
Source: US & Israel Sign Murder-Suicide Pact

Conservatives in LA: Not Welcome

2008-08-19T10:46:00.000-07:00

A Conservative In Los Angeles
Nancy Morgan
RightBias.com

Conservatives are not allowed in Los Angeles. At least not in what is termed 'polite society." I found this out the hard way.

I spent 33 years calling Los Angeles home. Most of those years were spent blindly accepting the assumptions portrayed by the spare headline or sound bite on the nightly news: Christians are bad, government is good, and America is the cause of all the world's woes.

Advocating the spending of tax dollars for any and all social problems was the mark of a good and moral person. Professing concern for those less well off was mandatory for financially successful people and it was de rigueur to have a least one 'best friend' of color. Wearing an AIDS awareness ribbon, at that time, signaled your inclusion in the community of man.

In return for inclusion in this community, members had a free pass to substitute intentions for actions. One was free to indulge in hedonistic behavior under the guise of empowerment. Discovering one's 'inner self' validated what used to be termed sexual promiscuity. Labels were confining so members had license to create their own. Who wouldn't prefer being labeled a free spirit instead of a selfish tramp? And in LA, labels, not substance, determined the social pecking order.

Any opinion at variance with the herd was considered judgmental, which was a definite no-no. Debate was redefined as argument, which was also a no-no. These rules were made clear to me only in the breach.

At age 39, six words spoken on TV changed my life forever. In 1992, I chanced to see H. Ross Perot on TV one night. He was holding up a toilet seat as he said, "The military paid $700.00 for this." OK. Then he said the words that would change my life forever. "And this is all public knowledge."

Public knowledge?

Not where I lived. For some reason, this motivated me, for the first time in my life, to investigate and question all the 'public knowledge' I had absorbed over the years. The results shocked and angered me. The good news, however, was that my days as a 'useful idiot' came to a screeching halt.

Somehow, I found National Review, then Human Events, then the Washington Times. Their message was new to me. I was amazed that I had managed to live my whole without any glimmer that there was another, more valid, point of view out there. The conservative point of view.

I assumed that my friends, family and co-workers would be just as outraged as I to find they had only been exposed to one side of most issues. That was my first mistake. My second mistake was believing that facts counted.

I lost business and friends before I realized I had to keep my mouth shut and my opinions to myself. I remember having dinner one night with Eric and Brenda in their beautiful Bel Air mansion. This couple had the best our country has to offer. I'll never forget Brenda exclaiming over her shrimp cocktail, "America? 150 years of slavery!" By challenging her, and others like her, I slowly lost my membership in the LA community of man.

After a few years, the only place I could be myself in public was while attending conservative functions held by the few conservative organizations that were based in Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, my (one and only) husband of three years left me, due in large part to my inability to stifle my opinions. (He owed his living to the very liberal trial lawyers and his friends made clear to him my views were not welcome) I also found it increasingly hard to attend family functions, as the barely concealed tolerant patronizing of my out-of-bounds views started to grate.

The final straw was an ordinary news article. Our government schools, under the guise of 'safe sex' and 'tolerance' hosted a "Leather Fest" in San Francisco. Attended by seventh graders, some of the exhibits actually taught these kids how to fist. I won't go into details, except to explain that it is a homosexual practice...having nothing to do with tolerance or safe sex. And my tax dollars were paying for it.

Enough. After 33 years, I decided to leave Los Angeles. In 2002, I sold my business, my home, everything. I set off to find a place in the world where I could be myself without ticking everyone off. I found it in a small fishing village, Murrells Inlet, South Carolina. It was the best decision I ever made. The few times I've looked back, I feel only regret that I spent so many years of my life allowing others to define me.

by Nancy Morgan

Right Bias.com
Nancy Morgan is a columnist and news editor for RightBias.com
She lives in South Carolina.

Article may be reprinted, with attribution.

DNC:Two Ways to Tell if the Democrats Coming toTown

2008-08-18T18:12:00.000-07:00

Two signs the Democrats are about to descend on your city
* Hair-prefect Homeless
* Outbreak of Boll Weevil Democrats

You say you're homeless and in Denver for the Democrat National Convention?

Have a haircut--on the house!

It seems to be a first -- don't move the homeless, clean them up. That was the work of one salon and the recipients didn't even seem to care if the Democrats were coming to town. Sly's Salon at 17th and Grant was offering free haircuts to the homeless Monday.

"To give them haircuts and make them all spiffed up for the Democratic National Convention, because they are part of our community as well," said Ghandia Gohnson, co-owner of Sly's Salon.

RidesAPaleHorse observes, "We're not gonna hide 'em..we're gonna clean 'em up and act like they're productive citizens."

Productive or not, the haircuts seem to be proof of the old adage, "Look good, feel good!"

One homeless man agress.

Rusty Johnson hasn't had a haircut in three-to-four months. He said his appearance during the convention made no difference to him.

"I just want to look good and feel good for myself, that's all," Johnson said.

Denver is also restricting airspace during the convention.

The feds are closing airspace over Denver during the convention, even if the plane has no engine or no pilot at all. The Federal Aviation Administration is also warning pilots--or model enthusiasts--that any who stray into the restricted area "result in the use of force".

The details — spelled out in a "notice to airmen," or NOTAM, issued by the Federal Aviation Administration — also restricts everything from hang-gliders to model airplanes during the convention, which opens Aug. 25 at the Pepsi Center and runs for four days.

"How many pounds of TNT can a Cessna carry? How many pounds of nitroglycerine can a model plane carry?" Fergus asked. "We don't know, but the point is the risk is there."

Of course, one might ask the question--assuredly rhetorical: Why would terrorists blow up the convention of a party who has professed it would rather talk than fight?

It seems an unlikely scenario.

Previously, most terrorists have not been known for being giants of logic. Don't voice that thought at the Dem Denver event, however.

It most likely would be branded "sterotypically racist" by the denizens of the Pepsi Center.

The Rocky Mountain News also reports that the restriction will affect "crop dusters, hot air balloons and model rockets."

Crop dusting?

Sounds like Boll Weevil Democrats might thrive in Denver.

by Mondoreb & RidesAPaleHorse
images: RAPH

John Edwards Affair: Edwards' Mainstream Mania

2008-08-18T17:32:00.000-07:00

John Edwardsibilia:
August 18, 2008

Edwards to editor on Hunter story last year: Did I mention my wife has cancer?

AllahPundit's wrath is a sight to behold. AP relates a story from John Edwards' hometown newspaper, The Raleigh News & Observer.

"Via Byron York, who calls it “breathtaking” when it’s really just par for the course."

By the time Edwards called, we had decided not to publish the story in the Friday paper. But Edwards didn’t know that. I wanted to hear what he had to say. We still could have reversed our decision.

Edwards told me that the allegations were not true.

He said The N&O was the paper that arrived on his doorstep every day, the one read by friends of him and his wife, Elizabeth.

He said he’d never called before to complain or state his case. Given Elizabeth’s health — she has cancer — he said it was especially important to him that the story not run in The N&O.

He was calling from an airport, and we spoke only a few minutes.

I made no promises.

Edwards’ comments were off the record. Because he has acknowledged he lied, I feel free to report them.

Allah hits a couple nails on the head with the same hammer in the following paragraph.

Anything wrong with a guilty husband doing what little he can to protect his sick wife after the fact? Nope — except that, as we now know by Edwards’s own admission, Elizabeth Edwards had already learned about the affair by that point. He claims he told her in 2006; HuffPo’s timeline says it was April 2007 at the latest, fully six months before the Enquirer story broke. Which makes what he told the N&O a lie, and a bad lie at that. Was he seriously suggesting that she wouldn’t have found out about the story if their hometown paper hadn’t mentioned it when it was already screaming from every checkout counter in America?

Questions are being asked--and unlike December 2007, a horde of MSM reporters are not only on the story: they're upset that they swallowed John Edwards et.al.'s lies "hook, line and stinker", as LBG pointed out.

Deceiver has its daily dose of John Edwardsibilia, including these interesting finds:

First things first: According to no less an authority than Pigeon O’Brien, Rielle is pronounced “Ree-elle.” Not “Riley” or “Real” or “Cosmic Babymaker McGee” or anything else. So that’s one unanswered question down, a zillion to go…
When you’re campaigning for president and you think your hometown newspaper is about to run with a story about your infidelity — and, inevitably, the intricate and expensive coverup of that infidelity — you know what’s a good weapon to have in your arsenal? Your wife’s cancer.
McSweeney’s presents: Edwards! The Musical.

Also, Deceiver has the answer to all those who write that "Nobody in the general public actually cares about John Edwards or his unsavory behavior. Edwards became ancient history the first five minutes after this thing broke."

From CNN RELIABLE SOURCES: John, Elizabeth Edwards Speak Out on Tawdry Affair; Hillary Clinton's Paper Trail

HOWARD KURTZ, HOST: So, are journalists going to keep chasing this story even though Edwards is out of politics, perhaps forever?

Joining us now in New York, Lola Ogunnaike, entertainment correspondent for CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING"; Mark Feldstein, former CNN investigative correspondent who now teaches journalism at The George Washington University"; and Lois Romano, "Washington Post" reporter who has been covering this story.

Lois, John Edwards gave a heartfelt performance on "Nightline," said he was lying before but he's telling the truth now.

Do most journalists believe he's telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth?

LOIS ROMANO, "THE WASHINGTON POST": No. Most journalists do not. And basically, we're seeing kind of death by a thousand cuts now.

Or maybe even Death by 1000 Papercuts?
[hat tip: Dossier]

Dossier adds in another comment to the same story [John Edwards Cover-up: Press Releases a Carefully-Orchestrated Affair? ]

Could the biggest story of the whole John Edwards Lovechild story be the exposé that Trial Lawyers have covertly purchased control of the Democratic Party?

Barack Obama may be extremely vulnerable on the issue of Tort Reform in this election.

Is there a top secret ATLA agenda? Have the tinfoil hat guys been right all along?

As a Democrat, I am outraged that I have been sold this bill of goods under the false assumption that factors other than the highest bidder were planning my society!!!

That would be too bad: trial lawyers reined in?

No more 24/7 commercials on daytime television with the not-so-subliminal meme that everyone in America has been wronged and needs to consult the talking head ambulance chaser sponsoring the come-on?

That's not the America I knew...

by Mondoreb

China's Olympics, Russia and Obama's Foreign Donors

2008-08-18T14:40:00.000-07:00

Culture Watch, vol. 28
Nancy Morgan
RightBias.com
August 18, 2008

Finally, a celebrity who earned it. Michael Phelps is demonstrating the best of America as he continues racking up gold medals in the China Olympics. Check out these awesome photos of his split second win.

China, on the other hand, appears to be cheating. The age of their gymnasts is in question, they faked parts of the opening ceremony and the little cutie who sang was apparently lip synching. The actual singer had buck teeth and wasn't cute enough.

Russia chose this time to invade the country of Georgia. Obama lost his 3 AM moment, tepidly calling for restraint on both sides, before he resumed wave surfing in Hawaii. McCain took a tough stand from the get go.

Russia continues to ravage Georgia as we speak. President Saakashvili was forced to accept defeat last Friday as he signed a peace agreement that gives the Russian Army the right to patrol on Georgian soil. Russia continues to strengthen their position, despite claims they are withdrawing their troops. The Russian bear awakens, and he's hungry.

ELECTION '08:

Forget not standing up to Russia, Obama can't even stand up to Hillary. A deal was reached that will allow Hillary's name to be placed in nomination at the upcoming Dem convention. Rep. Loretta Sanchez of California says she’s happy for the chance to vote for Hillary, and she predicts that as many as half of the Democrats in the House could join her. Should be interesting.

Meanwhile, more info reaches the public about the Messiah.

This photo of Obama’s registration for school in Jakarta documents Barack Obama as Barry Soetoro, nationality as Indonesian and religion as Islam

Obama's registration for school in Jakarta lists his name as Barry Soetoro, his nationality as Indonesian and his religion as Islam. Meanwhile, the Obama camp is going ballistic over Jerome Corsi's new best-seller, 'Obama Nation,' launching an aggressive counteroffensive saying the book is full of lies and innuendoes. As usual, they're a little short on specifics.

The communist party's USA newspaper is endorsing Obama, saying his candidacy represents a "broad multi-class multicultural movement." That about says it all.

Obama will be releasing his third book next month, entitled, 'Change We Can Believe In.' Color me an skeptical. Last but not least, American Thinker has an excellent investigative article, 'Obama's Foreign Donors.' Worth a read. Drip, drip, drip.

GOOD NEWS:

Work has finally begun on a border fence after 12 years of planning, environmental reviews and legal challenges. Denver voters passed initiative 100 that will give police authority to seize cars driven by illegal immigrants. Immigrants are returning to Mexico in droves as more business opportunities emerge in Mexico.

NASA data shows Arctic ice is refusing to melt as ordered, in fact the Arctic ice extent was 30% greater in August 2008 than it was one year ago. The chance discovery of the remains of a giant kangaroo casts doubt on the long held theory that climate change was responsible for its demise. Apparently man is the culprit.

A Texas school district may be the first in the nation to allow teachers to pack guns and, the best news of all: California taxpayers may be on the hook for a staggering $388 million judgement. Apparently the state's tax collection agency was judged to have pursued a former taxpayer a little too vigorously.

MEDIA:

Voters overwhelmingly believe that 'politicians will break the rules to help people who give them a lot of money,' but, surprisingly, most say that media bias is a bigger problem than campaign cash. Media headlines trumpeted the fact that 47% of Americans believe the government should require all radio and television stations to offer equal amounts of conservative and liberal political commentary i.e.: the 'Fairness Doctrine.' Headlines on RightBias see it another way: 'Majority of Americans Reject Fairness Doctrine.'

News-stand sales of U.S. magazines fell 6.3% in the first half of 2008 and PBS, probably the most liberal network in America, will present a program this fall that says the Old Testament is a bunch of made-up stories that never happened. They report, they decide.

A surfer in New Smyrna Beach was caught paddling frantically after spotting a shark closing in on him

CULTURE:

The family of a gay teenager who was fatally shot in class blames the school district for allowing their son to wear makeup and feminine clothing to school. Ellen Degeneres married her girlfriend last weekend.

A federal judge says the University of California can deny course credit to applicants from Christian high schools whose textbooks declare the Bible infallible and reject evolution.

New census figures show whites will be the minority by 2042. Does that mean whites will start getting preferential treatment and won't be held accountable for their actions? Inquiring minds want to know.

STUDIES:

Scientists claim that a bias towards beauty over intelligence is human nature. Duh. Scientists have also come up with a pill that blocks the buzz brought on by a drink of alcohol. Physiologists analyzing obesity, heart disease and diabetes have found that the act of sitting shuts down the circulation of a fat-absorbing enzyme called lipase. Conclusion: Get off your butt!

In a potential setback to wind power, new research shows that living near wind turbines can cause sleep disorders, difficulty with equilibrium, headaches and childhood "night terrors." Wonder how the cave men would have dealt with all these newfangled disorders and syndromes.

Women, are you attracted to bad boys? Not to worry, its not your fault. A study by British scientists suggest that taking birth control pills can change a woman's taste in men - to those who are genetically less compatible.

IDIOT OF THE WEEK:

This weeks' award goes to the Swedish wrestler who discarded his bronze medal in protest because he didn't win the gold. This poor sport has been stripped of the award and disqualified from the tournament in Beijing.

Till next Monday, keep smiling,

by Nancy Morgan
Right Bias.com

Culture Watch may be reprinted, with attribution to Nancy Morgan and RightBias.com

Trench Reynolds: DBKP This Week in Crime, Aug 10-16 2008

2008-08-18T13:45:00.000-07:00

August 10-16, 2008
Volume 27

I'm Trench Reynolds.

I blog about crime.

This is DBKP's This Week in Crime for August 10th-August 16th, 2008.

At craigscrimelist I made another short post about more teens involved in prostitution. And again more people think they're not victims.

The most interesting link I posted at CrimeNe.ws this week was a rare occurrence, someone on death row who actually took responsibility for his crimes.

At News of Doom we had several disturbing stories this week but the one that disturbed me the most was a story about a Florida DJ who had his eyes cut out.

The news was light this week at MyCrimeSpace but the story that was in the national media spotlight for a bit was about the missing Malibu twins. Luckily they were unharmed for the most part.

At TheTrenchcoat Chronicles the story that righteously raised my ire was a story about two parents who sued a school district for their son getting shot and killed there. You'd think they would have a case but read the post to find out why I think they're trying to collect blood money.

Speaking of blood money at Bad Breeders I posted a story about how I think there are some who are trying to collect their own blood money in the case of missing child Caylee Marie Anthony.

This weekend I've also opened a message board called The Open Trench. You can discuss any story from my blogs or any topic at all.

As usual if you want to follow my blogs you can use Twitter, the RSS feed, or Netvibes, and also Friend Feed.

That's it for this week. I'm Trench Reynolds for DBKP.

You will come to know when the bullet hits the bone.

by Trench Reynolds
image: Trench Network

Illegal Immigration Interview Video: Joe Arpaio, America's Toughest Sheriff

2008-08-18T09:34:00.000-07:00

No-Nonsense No-Holds-Barred Interview with Joe Arpaio

A three-part Blogs4Borders' extravaganza, featuring an interview with "America's Toughest Sheriff", Joe Arpaio to learn about his past, his principles about illegal immigration and his new book "Joe's Law."

[video length: 9:30, 9:30 and 7 minutes]

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

This 3-part video interview, courtesy our friends at Blogs4Borders.

by Mondoreb

Trench Reynolds: DBKP This Week in Crime April 6-12

2008-04-14T12:16:00.000-07:00

April 6-12, 2008

I'm Trench Reynolds.

I blog about crime.

This is the DBKP Week in Crime for April 6th-12th, 2008

At craigscrimelist the story of the week was about what can happen when you order an 'escort' from carigslist. It can get you shot in the face.

Over at CrimeNe.ws my favorite post of the week was a column from Michael Smerconish who pints out that the Pennsylvania death penalty is a sham.

At News of Doom I Posted the story about the 2-year-old from Pennsylvania who was beaten to death with a video game controller. I focused less on the controller and more on the aabuser.

Florida is still on top.

At MyCrimeSpace the subject of the week was mainly about the 8 teens from Florida who recorded themselves beating another girl in order to post it to YouTube and MySpace. It gets even better with responses from one of the mothers and qa bailing out by Dr. Phil.

At Psycho for Love I posted about a teacher who tried to marry an underage student. But since the teacher was male he'll probably get the death penalty.

Speaking of double standards at ViceTube I posted about a beating that you'll probably never hear about.

That's it for this week. Until next time I'm Trench Reynolds.

by Trench Reynolds
[image: Trench Reynolds]

Also at DBKP.com: Trench Reynolds DBKP This Week in Crime April 6-12

For more crime, more Trench Reynolds, check out the Trench Network:
--
http://thetrenchcoat.com
http://newsofdoom.com
http://trenchreynolds.com
http://mycrimespace.com
http://craigscrimelist.org
http://crimene.ws
http://psychoforlove.com
http://player1.info
http://tased.thetrenchcoat.com
http://blog.thetrenchcoat.com

DBKP.com - Bigger, Better!.
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Immigration: Law Non-Enforcement Leads to Non-Compliance

2008-04-14T11:34:00.000-07:00

Two protests:
The two pictures above are from protest marches by La Raza (The Race) and feature countless illegal aliens. The photo below, is a protest about those breaking the law and their government's abject failure to enforce those law.

Queston: Which protest will get labeled as "racist"?

Which brings us to this week's Bloggers4Borders video.

100% Preventable! Americans continue to pay the bloody price for open borders. When will the madness end?

100% Preventable follow up: One family faces the crushing grief caused by open borders and lax enforcement.

When a nation's authorities selectively enforce the laws, they shouldn't be surprised when their citizens selectively obey them.

by Mondoreb
images:
* reversevampyr
* stopthenorthamericanunion
* Newsbusters
Sources:
* Bloggers4Borders! 041408

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DBKP Today in Weird History: April 7 2008

2008-04-07T09:37:00.001-07:00

War, Terrorism, Disaster, TV, Trolleys, Ooops, Wimps, I GOT YOU, Rockets, Unhappy Birthday, Smells Like Suicide, Jews, Inventions, Big Oil, Ouch, Nanny State, Wow, Pro Wrestling, Born, Birthdays, Death

SMELLS LIKE SUICIDE

1994 Kurt Cobain grunge rocker (Nirvana), commits suicide by gun at 27.

WAR!

1862 Union forces led by Gen. Ulysses S. Grant defeated the Confederates at the Battle of Shiloh in Tennessee.

1945 During World War II, American planes intercepted and effectively destroyed a Japanese fleet that was headed to Okinawa on a suicide mission.

2003 U.S. troops in more than 100 U.S. armored vehicles rumbled through downtown Baghdad, seizing one of Saddam Hussein's opulent palaces and toppling a 40-foot statue of the Iraqi ruler.

TERRORISM

1980 Jimmy Carter breaks relations with Iran during hostage crisis.

DISASTER

1926 Forest fire burns 900 acres & kills 2 (San Luis Obispo CA).

1990 Fire kills 110 on a ferry in Norway, in an unrelated event, 30 die in a ferry flip over in Burma.

OUCH!

1926 Mussolini's Irish wife breaks his nose.

OOOPS!

1966 The U.S. Navy recovered a hydrogen bomb it had lost off the coast of Spain.

UNHAPPY BIRTHDAY

1972 "Crazy" Joe Gallo mobster, killed at his 43rd birthday party.

WOW!

1981 Willem Klein mentally extracts 13th root of a 100-digit # in 29 seconds.

PRO WRESTLING

1986 Wrestlemania II at 3 locations, Hulk Hogan beats King Kong Bundy.

1991 Wrestlemania VII scheduled in Los Angeles CA, actually performed 03/24.

NANNY STATE

1933 Prohibition ends, Utah becomes 38th state to ratify 21st Amendment.

1959 Oklahoma ends prohibition, after 51 years.

1969 Supreme Court strikes down laws prohibiting private possession of obscene material.

WIMPS

1978 President Carter announced he was deferring development of the neutron bomb, a high-radiation weapon.

INVENTIONS

1827 English chemist John Walker invents wooden matches.

BIG OIL

1902 Texas Oil Company (Texaco) forms.

ROCKETS

2007 A Russian rocket carrying American billionaire Charles Simonyi roared into the night skies over Kazakhstan, sending its three occupants on a trip to the international space station.

JEWS

1645 Michael Cardozo becomes 1st Jewish lawyer in Brazil.

1933 1st 2 Nazi anti-Jewish laws, bar Jews from legal & public service.

1994 Vatican acknowledges Holocaust (Nazi's killing Jews) for 1st time.

TV

1927 An audience in New York watched as the image as well as voice of Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover were transmitted live from Washington in the first successful long-distance demonstration of television.

TROLLEYS

1957 Shortly after midnight, the last of New York's electric trolleys completed its final run from Queens to Manhattan.

I GOT YOU

1998 Mary Bono, the widow of entertainer-turned-politician Sonny Bono, won a special election to serve out the remainder of her husband's congressional term.

BORN

1860 W K Kellogg - the original corn flake.

BIRTHDAYS

Actor R.G. Armstrong is 91. Sitar player Ravi Shankar is 88. Actor James Garner is 80. Country singer Cal Smith is 76. Actor Wayne Rogers is 75. Media commentator Hodding Carter III is 73. Country singer Bobby Bare is 73. Rhythm-and-blues singer Charlie Thomas (The Drifters) is 71. Jazz musician Freddie Hubbard is 70. California Attorney General Jerry Brown is 70. Movie director Francis Ford Coppola is 69. TV personality David Frost is 69. Singer Patricia Bennett (The Chiffons) is 61. Singer John Oates is 59. Singer Janis Ian is 57. Country musician John Dittrich is 57. Actor Jackie Chan is 54. Football Hall-of-Famer Tony Dorsett is 54. Actor Russell Crowe is 44. Rhythm-and-blues singer Mark Kibble (Take 6) is 44. Actor Bill Bellamy is 43. Rock musician Dave "Yorkie" Palmer (Space) is 43. Former football player-turned-analyst Tiki Barber is 33. Actress Heather Burns is 33. Actor Conner Rayburn is 9.

DEATH

30 Jesus crucified by Roman troops in Jerusalem (scholars' estimate, according to astronomer Schaefer).

1891 P[hineas] T Barnum US circus promoter (Barnum & Bailey), dies at 80.

2007 "B.C." comic strip creator Johnny Hart died in Nineveh, N.Y., at age 76.

2007 Actor Barry Nelson died in Bucks County, Pa., at age 89.

April 7, the 98th day of 2008. There are 268 days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
image: Guitars canada
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History
* DBKP Today in Weird History: April 7 2008
* Today in Weird History: April 7 2008

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DBKP Today in Weird History: April 4 2008

2008-04-04T09:15:00.000-07:00

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTER, ASSASSINATION, FLAGS, WILE E. PELOSI, IMPEACHED, PC VICTIM, PATENTS, JEWS, REVENGE, 1984, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH

ASSASSINATION

1968 The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., 39, was shot to death as he stood on a balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn.; the killing sparked a wave of riots across the U.S. (James Earl Ray later pleaded guilty to assassinating King, then spent the rest of his life claiming his innocence and attempting to withdraw his guilty plea; he died in prison in 1998.)

WAR!

1945 During World War II, U.S. troops on Okinawa encountered the first significant resistance from Japanese forces at the Machinato Line.

2003 U.S. forces seized Saddam International Airport outside Baghdad.

TERRORISM

2007 Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced the surprise release of 15 captive British sailors and marines.

DISASTER

1905 Earthquake in Kangra India, kills 370,000.

1933 US Dirigible Akron crashes off coast of New Jersey, 73 die.

1971 Marine clay under houses liquifies, 31 die (St-Jean-Vianney Québec).

1975 More than 130 people, most of them children, were killed when a U.S. Air Force transport plane evacuating Vietnamese orphans crash-landed shortly after takeoff from Saigon.

1994 KLM Saab 340B crashes at Schiphol, 3 killed.

1998 Sixty-three people were killed in an explosion inside a Ukrainian coal mine.

PATENTS

1828 Casparus van Wooden patents chocolate milk powder (Amsterdam).

REVENGE

1975 Steve Miller is arrested for burning his girlfriend's clothes.

1984

1984 Winston Smith in Orwell's "1984" begins his secret diary.

JEWS

1920 Arabs attack Jews in Jerusalem.

1949 Israel & Jordan sign armistice agreement.

WILE E. PELOSI

2007 House Speaker Nancy Pelosi held talks with Syrian President Bashar Assad despite White House objections.

FLAGS

1818 Congress decided the United States flag would consist of 13 red and white stripes and 20 stars, with a new star to be added for every new state.

PC VICTIM

2007 Radio host Don Imus made offensive on-air remarks about the Rutgers University women's basketball team. (Despite a subsequent apology, Imus was fired by CBS Radio and cable network MSNBC; he was hired elsewhere by year's end.)

IMPEACHED!

1988 The Arizona Senate convicted Gov. Evan Mecham of two charges of official misconduct, and removed him from office. (Mecham was the first governor to be impeached and removed from office in nearly six decades.)

BORN

1821 Linus Yale US, portrait painter/inventor (Yale cylinder lock).

1908 Ernestine Gilbreth Carey author (Cheaper by the Dozen).

1915 Muddy Waters [McKinley Morganfield], guitarist (Hoochie Coochie Man).

BIRTHDAYS

Author-poet Maya Angelou is 80. Sen. Richard Lugar, R.-Ind., is 76. Recording executive Clive Davis is 76. Bandleader Hugh Masekela is 69. Author Kitty Kelley is 66. Actor Craig T. Nelson is 64. Actor Walter Charles is 63. Actress Caroline McWilliams is 63. Actress Christine Lahti is 58. Country singer Steve Gatlin (The Gatlin Brothers) is 57. Writer-producer David E. Kelley is 52. Actor Phil Morris is 49. Actress Lorraine Toussaint is 48. Actor Hugo Weaving is 48. Rock musician Craig Adams (The Cult) is 46. Actor David Cross is 44. Actor Robert Downey Jr. is 43. Actress Nancy McKeon is 42. Actor Barry Pepper is 38. Country singer Clay Davidson is 37. Rock singer Josh Todd (Buckcherry) is 37. Singer Jill Scott is 36. Rock musician Magnus Sveningsson (The Cardigans) is 36. Magician David Blaine is 35. Singer Kelly Price is 35. Rhythm-and-blues singer Andre Dalyrimple (Soul For Real) is 34. Actor James Roday is 32. Actress Natasha Lyonne is 29. Actress Jamie Lynn Spears is 17.

DEATH

1841 President William Henry Harrison succumbed to pneumonia one month after his inaugural, becoming the first U.S. chief executive to die in office.

1979 Edgar Buchanan actor (Uncle Joe-Petticoat Junction), dies at 77.

1979 Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto former Pakistani President, hanged in Pakistan at 51.

April 4, the 95th day of 2008. There are 271 days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History
* DBKP Today in Weird History: April 4 2008
* Today in Weird History: April 4 2008

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DBKP Today in Weird History: March 31, 2008

2008-03-31T03:29:00.000-07:00

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTER, LIT UP, WELCOME, SURPRISE, LEVIATHAN, PLAYING GOD, JEWS, CLINTONS, POPULATION, ZIP, DANCE, VRROOOM, OFFERS, FIRE, AWARDS, PRO WRESTLING, TRANSVESTITES, STALKING, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH

LANDMARKS

1889 French engineer Gustave Eiffel unfurled the French tricolor from atop the Eiffel Tower, officially marking its completion.

WAR!

1943 US errantly bombs Rotterdam, kills 326.

2003 American forces battled Iraqi defenders in fierce street fighting 50 miles south of Baghdad, pointing toward a drive on the capital. Seven Iraqi women and children were killed at an Army checkpoint when their van refused orders to stop.

TERRORISM

2007 President Bush called for the release of 15 British sailors and marines held by Iran, calling their capture by Tehran "inexcusable behavior." (The crew members were released on April 4.)

DISASTER

1932 150 wild swans die in Niagara waterfall.

1983 Earthquake in Colombia kills some 5,000 people.

1986 167 die when Mexicana Airlines Boeing 727 crashes.

VRROOOM!

1932 Ford publicly unveils its V-8 engine.

ZIP!

1896 Whitcomb Judson, Chicago IL, patents a hookless fastening (zipper).

TRANSVESTITES

1991 Danny Bonaduce attacks a transvestite prostitute in Phoenix AZ

FIRE!

1967 Jimi Hendrix begins his tradition of burning his guitar.

DANCE!

1923 1st dance marathon-NYC-Alma Cummings sets record of 27 hours.

AWARDS

1981 1st Golden Raspberry Awards: Can't Stop the Music wins.

POPULATION

1850 US population hits 23,191,876 (Black population: 3,638,808 (15.7%)).

PRO WRESTLING

1985 Wrestlemania I at Madison Square Garden New York, Hogan & Mr T beat Piper & Orndorf.

1996 Wrestlemania XII: Shawn Michaels beats Brett Hart for WWF title.

SURPRISE!

1968 At the conclusion of a nationally broadcast address on efforts to bring a peaceful end to the Vietnam War, President Lyndon B. Johnson shocked listeners by announcing he would not seek another term of office.

JEWS

1492 Queen Isabella of Castilia & Ferdinand of Aragon expels Jews.

1808 French-created Kingdom of Westphalia orders Jews to adopt family names.

1944 Hungary orders all Jews to wear yellow stars.

LIT UP

1880 Wabash, Ind., became the first town in the world to be illuminated by electrical lighting.

LEVIATHAN

1933 Congress approved, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed, the Emergency Conservation Work Act, which created the Civilian Conservation Corps.

OFFERS

1954 USSR offers to join NATO.

WELCOME!

1949 Newfoundland (now called Newfoundland and Labrador) entered confederation as Canada's 10th province.

PLAYING GOD

1976 the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that Karen Ann Quinlan, who was in a persistent vegetative state, could be disconnected from her respirator. (Quinlan, who remained unconscious, died in 1985.)

2005 Terri Schiavo, 41, died at a hospice in Pinellas Park, Fla., 13 days after her feeding tube was removed in a wrenching right-to-die dispute.

STALKING

1994 James Farentino pleads no contest to stalking Tina Sinatra.

CLINTONS

1998 In an unprecedented move, the Clinton administration released a detailed financial statement for the federal government showing its assets and liabilities.

BORN

1811 Robert Wilhelm Eberhard von Bunsen Germany, chemist (Bunsen Burner).

1878 Jack Johnson 1st black heavyweight boxing champion (1908-1915).

1929 Liz Claiborne Brussels Belgium, fashion designer.

BIRTHDAYS

Actress Peggy Rea is 87. Actor William Daniels is 81. Hockey Hall-of-Famer Gordie Howe is 80. Actor Richard Chamberlain is 74. Actress Shirley Jones is 74. Country singer-songwriter John D. Loudermilk is 74. Musician Herb Alpert is 73. Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., is 68. Actor Christopher Walken is 65. Comedian Gabe Kaplan is 63. Former Vice President Al Gore is 60. David Eisenhower is 60. Actress Rhea Perlman is 60. Actor Ed Marinaro is 58. Rock musician Angus Young (AC/DC) is 53. Actor Marc McClure is 51. Actor William McNamara is 43. Actor Ewan McGregor is 37. Rapper Tony Yayo is 30. Jazz musician Christian Scott is 25.

DEATH

1931 Knute Rockne football player/coach, dies in a plane crash at 43.

1998 Former New York Congresswoman Bella Abzug died at age 77.

March 31, the 91st day of 2008. There are 275 days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
image: middlezonemusings
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History

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Today in Weird History: March 28, 2008

2008-03-28T04:40:00.000-07:00

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTER, NUKES, HOSTAGES, IMMIGRATION, SWAP, PATENTS, SUICIDE, TRIAL LAWYERS, JEWS, BAGGED, ZULUS, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH

BAGGED

1939 Dutch hunter shoots English bombers down.

WAR!

1738 English parliament declares war on Spain (War of Jenkin's Ear).

2003 American-led forces in Iraq dropped thousand-pound bombs on Republican Guard units guarding the gates to Baghdad and battled for control of the strategic city of Nasiriyah. President Bush warned of "further sacrifice" ahead in the face of unexpectedly fierce fighting.

TERRORISM

1986 Extremist Sikhs kill 13 hindus in Ludhiana India.

2007 Iran aired a video of 15 captured British sailors and marines; the lone female captive, shown in a white tunic and a black head scarf, said the British boats had "trespassed." (The crew members were released April 4, 2007.)

DISASTER

1960 Scotch factory explodes burying 20 firefighters (Glasgow Scotland).

1970 1,086 die when 7.3 earthquake destroys 254 villages (Gediz Turkey).

TRIAL LAWYERS

1866 1st ambulance goes into service.

PATENTS

1797 Nathaniel Briggs of New Hampshire patents a washing machine.

NUKES

1979 America's worst commercial nuclear accident occurred inside the Unit 2 reactor at the Three Mile Island plant near Middletown, Pa.

HOSTAGES

2007 In the Philippines, dozens of children were taken hostage on a bus by a day-care center owner armed with grenades and guns; the crisis ended peacefully 10 hours later with the hostage-taker's surrender.

SUICIDE

1941 Filling her pockets with stones, novelist and critic Virginia Woolf walked into a river near her home and died in Lewes, England.

IMMIGRATION

1898 The Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Wong Kim Ark that a child born in the United States to Chinese immigrants was a U.S. citizen.

SWAP

1930 The names of the Turkish cities of Constantinople and Angora were changed to Istanbul and Ankara.

JEWS

1917 Jews are expelled from Tel Aviv & Jaffa by Turkish authorities.

ZULUS

1994 Armed Zulus demonstrate in Johannesburg, over 53 killed.

BIRTHDAYS

Former White House national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski is 80. Country musician Charlie McCoy is 67. Movie director Mike Newell is 66. Actress Conchata Ferrell is 65. Actor Ken Howard is 64. Actress Dianne Wiest is 60. Country singer Reba McEntire is 53. Olympic gold-medal gymnast Bart Conner is 50. Actress Tracey Needham is 41. Actor Max Perlich is 40. Movie director Brett Ratner is 39. Country singer Rodney Atkins is 39. Actor Vince Vaughn is 38. Rapper Mr. Cheeks (Lost Boyz) is 37. Actor Ken L. is 35. Rock musician Dave Keuning is 32. Actress Julia Stiles is 27.

DEATH

1953 Athlete Jim Thorpe died in Lomita, Calif.

1958 W.C. Handy, the "Father of the Blues," died in New York at age 84.

1969 Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th president of the United States, died in Washington at age 78.

March 28, the 88th day of 2008. There are 278 days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
image: azgfd
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History

DBKP.com - Bigger, Better!.
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in Weird History: March 20, 2008

2008-03-20T04:47:00.000-07:00

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTER, ESCAPES, BEATLES, WOW, CLINTONS, HANGED, RESCUED, MUPPETS, PATENTS, JEWS, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, CLUELESSLY IMPOTENT, GODLESS, DICTATORS, MURDER, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH

WAR!

1942 General MacArthur vows, "I shall return".

2003 A subdued Saddam Hussein appeared on state-run television after the initial U.S. air strike on Baghdad, accusing the United States of a "shameful crime" and urging his people to "draw your sword" against the invaders. American combat units rumbled across the desert into Iraq from the south and U.S. and British forces bombed limited targets in Baghdad. The start of war in Iraq triggered one of the heaviest days of anti-government protesting in years, leading to thousands of arrests across the United States and prompting pro-war counter-demonstrations.

TERRORISM

1993 IRA-bomb kills 3 year old in Warrington England.

1995 In Tokyo, 12 people were killed, more than 5,500 others sickened when packages containing the poisonous gas sarin were leaked on five separate subway trains by Aum Shinrikyo cult members.

DISASTER

1760 Great Fire of Boston destroys 349 buildings.

1972 19 mountain climbers killed on Japan's Mount Fuji during an avalanche.

1998 A tornado in rural northeast Georgia killed at least 13 people and injured 100.

WOW!

1988 8-year-old DeAndra Anrig found herself airborne when the string of her kite was snagged by an airplane flying over Shoreline Park in Mountain View, Calif. (DeAndra was lifted 10 feet off the ground and carried some 100 feet until she let go; she was not seriously hurt.)

MUPPETS

??? Big Bird muppet was born today on in an unknown year.(Sesame Street)

DICTATORS

1992 Manuel Noriega's (Panama) wife Felicidad arrested for stealing buttons from dresses.

PRO WRESTLING

1994 Wrestlemania X at Madison Square Garden New York, Bret "The Hitman" Hart pins Yokozuna to win WWF championship.

PATENTS

1885 John Matzeliger of Suriname patents shoe lacing machine.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1954 1st newspaper vending machine used (Columbia Pennsylvania).

MURDER

1996 Erik & Lyle Menendez found guilty of killing their parents.

ESCAPES

1815 Napoleon Bonaparte returned to Paris after escaping his exile on Elba, beginning his "Hundred Days" rule.

CLINTONS

1998 President Clinton's lawyer, appearing before a federal court in Little Rock, Ark., declared that Paula Jones' evidence of sexual harassment was "garbage" unworthy of a trial.

CLUELESSLY IMPOTENT

1980 US appeals to International Court on hostages in Iran.

JEWS

1939 7,000 Jews flee German occupied Memel Lithuania.

BEATLES

1969 John Lennon married Yoko Ono in Gibraltar.

HANGED

2007 Saddam Hussein's former deputy, Taha Yassin Ramadan, was hanged in Baghdad, the fourth man to be executed in the killings of 148 Shiites.

GODLESS

1984 Senate rejects amendment to permit spoken prayer in public schools.

RESCUED

2007 Rescuers found Michael Auberry, a 12-year-old Boy Scout, who was dehydrated and disoriented after four days in the wooded mountains of North Carolina.

BORN

1902 Edgar Buchanan Humansville MO, actor (Uncle Joe-Petticoat Junction).

1906 Ozzie Nelson Jersey City NJ, actor (Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet).

1908 American broadcasting pioneer Frank Stanton, the president of CBS for 26 years, was born in Muskegon, Mich.

BIRTHDAYS

Producer-director-comedian Carl Reiner is 86. Actor Hal Linden is 77. Singer Jerry Reed is 71. Former Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney is 69. Country singer Don Edwards is 69. TV producer Paul Junger Witt is 65. Country singer-musician Ranger Doug (Riders in the Sky) is 62. Hockey Hall-of-Famer Bobby Orr is 60. Blues singer-musician Marcia Ball is 59. Actor William Hurt is 58. Rock musician Carl Palmer (Emerson, Lake and Palmer) is 58. Rock musician Jimmie Vaughan is 57. Country musician Jimmy Seales (Shenandoah) is 54. Movie director Spike Lee is 51. Actress Theresa Russell is 51. Actress Vanessa Bell Calloway is 51. Actress Holly Hunter is 50. Rock musician Slim Jim Phantom (The Stray Cats) is 47. Actress-model Kathy Ireland is 45. Actor David Thewlis is 45. Rock musician Adrian Oxaal (James) is 43. Actress Liza Snyder is 40. Actor Michael Rapaport is 38. Actor Alexander Chaplin is 37. Rock singer Chester Bennington (Linkin Park) is 32. Actor Michael Genadry is 30. Actress Bianca Lawson is 29.

DEATH

1727 Sir Issac Newton English physicist/astronomer, dies in London at 84.

1991 Conor Clapton Eric Clapton's son, falls out of 53rd floor window at 4.

March 20, the 80th day of 2008. There are 286 days left in the year. Spring's arrival: 1:48 a.m. Eastern time.

compiled by Mondoreb
image: granitegrok
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History

DBKP.com - Bigger, Better!.
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in Weird History: March 16, 2008

2008-03-16T06:06:00.000-07:00

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTER, ROCKETS, NAZIS, SCANDALS, ST. PANCAKE, SURE, BOBBIES, JEWS, ASSASSINATION, BYE, QUIET, NANNY STATE, WOMEN, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, DRAMA, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH

ACADEMIES

1802 President Jefferson signed a measure authorizing the establishment of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y.

WAR!

1945 US defeats Japan at Iwo Jima.

1968 My Lai massacre occurs (Vietnam War); 450 die.

2003 Five years ago: Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein warned that if Iraq were attacked, it would take the war anywhere in the world "wherever there is sky, land or water." President Bush gave the United Nations one more day to find a diplomatic solution to the standoff.

TERRORISM

1977 US President Carter pleads for Palestinian homeland.

1978 Italian politician Aldo Moro was kidnapped by left-wing urban guerrillas, who later murdered him.

1984 William Buckley, the CIA station chief in Beirut, was kidnapped by gunmen; he died in captivity.

1985 Terry Anderson, chief Middle East correspondent for The Associated Press, was abducted in Beirut; he was released in December 1991.

1988 North-Ireland Protestant fires on Catholic funeral, 3 killed.

DISASTER

1941 Blizzard hits North Dakota & Minnesota killing 60.

1969 Viasa DC-9 crashes at Maracaibo's Grano de Oro airport, killing 155.

1991 7 members of Reba McIntire's band killed in a plane crash.

DRAMA

1994 Tonya Harding pleads guilty to felony attack on Nancy Kerrigan.

QUIET

1830 New York Stock Exchange slowest day ever (31 shares traded).

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1966 "Man From Uncle" star David McCallum receives huge welcome in London.

WOMEN

1876 Nelly Saunders & Rose Harland fight 1st female boxing match (New York).

BOBBIES

1830 London's re-organised police force (Scotland Yard) forms.

ROCKETS

1926 rocket science pioneer Robert H. Goddard successfully tested the first liquid-fueled rocket, in Auburn, Mass.

BYE

1861 Arizona Territory votes to leave the Union.

NAZIS

1935 Adolf Hitler decided to break the military terms set by the Treaty of Versailles by ordering the rearming of Germany.

ST. PANCAKE

2003 Rachel Corrie, a 23-year-old American in Gaza to protest Israel operations, was killed when she was run over by a bulldozer while trying to block troops from demolishing a Palestinian home.

NANNY STATE

1871 1st fertilizer law enacted.

SCANDALS

1988 A federal grand jury indicted former National Security Adviser John Poindexter, fired White House aide Oliver North, retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Richard Secord and Secord's business partner, Albert Hakim, on charges related to the Iran-Contra affair. (Poindexter and North were later convicted, but had their convictions overturned; Secord and Hakim received probation after each pleaded guilty to a single count.)

ASSASSINATION

1978 Aldo Moro 5 times Prime Minister of Italy, assassinated by terrorists.

JEWS

1190 Jews of York England commit mass sucide rather than submit to baptism.

1998 In a long-awaited document that Jewish leaders immediately criticized, the Vatican expressed remorse for the cowardice of some Christians during the Holocaust, but defended the actions of Pope Pius XII.

SURE

2007 Former CIA operative Valerie Plame told a House committee that White House and State Department officials had "carelessly and recklessly" blown her cover in a politically motivated smear of her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, for publicly disputing President Bush's assertion that Saddam Hussein was on the brink of acquiring a nuclear bomb.

BORN

1751 James Madison, fourth president of the United States, was born in Port Conway, Va.

1849 James E Smith became father at 100 with woman 64 years younger.

BIRTHDAYS

Comedian-director Jerry Lewis is 82. Movie director Bernardo Bertolucci is 67. Game show host Chuck Woolery is 67. Singer-songwriter Jerry Jeff Walker is 66. Country singer Robin Williams is 61. Actor Erik Estrada is 59. Actor Victor Garber is 59. Actress Kate Nelligan is 57. Country singer Ray Benson (Asleep at the Wheel) is 57. Rock singer-musician Nancy Wilson (Heart) is 54. Golfer Hollis Stacy is 54. Actress Isabelle Huppert is 53. Actor Clifton Powell is 52. Rapper Flavor Flav (Public Enemy) is 49. Rock musician Jimmy DeGrasso is 45. Folk singer Patty Griffin is 44. Actress Lauren Graham is 41. Actor Alan Tudyk is 37. Actress Brooke Burns is 30. Rock musician Wolfgang Van Halen is 17.

DEATH

37 Roman emperor Tiberius died; he was succeeded by Caligula.

March 16, the 76th day of 2008. There are 290 days left in the year. Today is Palm Sunday.

compiled by Mondoreb
image: myoops
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History

DBKP.com - Bigger, Better!.
Also posted at Death by 1000 Papercuts.

DBKP Today in Weird History: March 14, 2008

2008-03-13T22:08:00.000-07:00

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTER, PATENTS, IMMIGRATION, LEVIATHAN, GUILTY, NOT GUILTY, SPIES, POLITICS, JEWS, TOP TEN, NICE GUYS, CLINTONS, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH

TOP TEN

1950 FBI's "10 Most Wanted Fugitives" program begins.

WAR!

1951 During the Korean War, United Nations forces recaptured Seoul.

TERRORISM

1991 a British court overturned the convictions of the "Birmingham Six," who had spent 16 years in prison for an Irish Republican Army bombing, and ordered them released.

2007 The Pentagon released the transcript of a military hearing in which Khalid Sheikh Mohammed said he "was responsible for the 9/11 operation from A to Z."

DISASTER

1940 27 killed, 15 injured when truck full of migrant workers collides with a train outside McAllen TX.

1960 14 die in a train crash in Bakersfield CA.

1980 A Polish airliner crashed while making an emergency landing near Warsaw, killing all 87 people aboard, including 22 members of a U.S. amateur boxing team.

1997 Iranian military plane crashes, killing 80.

1998 An earthquake killed at least five people and left some 10,000 homeless in southeastern Iran.

NICE GUYS

1983 OPEC cut oil prices for 1st time in 23 years.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1968 CBS TV suspends Radio Free Europe free advertising because RFE doesn't make it clear it is sponsored by the CIA.

PATENTS

1794 Eli Whitney received a patent for his cotton gin, an invention that revolutionized America's cotton industry.

NOT GUILTY

2003 Actor Robert Blake was released from jail on $1.5 million bail, 11 months after he was arrested on charges of murdering his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley. (Blake was later acquitted at trial.)

IMMIGRATION

1907 President Theodore Roosevelt signed an executive order designed to prevent Japanese laborers from immigrating to the United States as part of a "gentlemen's agreement" with Japan.

CLINTONS

1997 President Clinton trips & tears up his knee requiring surgery.

LEVIATHAN

1923 President Harding became the first chief executive to file an income tax return.

1971 The Rolling Stones leave England for France to escape taxes.

JEWS

1965 Israeli cabinet approves diplomatic relations with West Germany.

GUILTY

1964 A jury in Dallas found Jack Ruby guilty of murdering Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President Kennedy.

POLITICS

1629 England granted a royal charter to Massachusetts Bay Colony.

1644 England grants patent for Providence Plantations (now Rhode Island).

SPIES

2003 Christopher Boyce, whose Cold War spying was immortalized on film in "The Falcon and the Snowman," was released from a halfway house in San Francisco after a quarter-century in prison.

BORN

1879 Albert Einstein Ulm Germany, (E=mc²/Theory of Relativity, Nobel 1921).

BIRTHDAYS

Former astronaut Frank Borman is 80. Singer Phil Phillips is 77. Actor Michael Caine is 75. Composer-conductor Quincy Jones is 75. Former astronaut Eugene Cernan is 74. Actor Raymond J. Barry is 69. Movie director Wolfgang Petersen is 67. Country singer Michael Martin Murphey is 63. Rock musician Walt Parazaider (Chicago) is 63. Actor Steve Kanaly is 62. Comedian Billy Crystal is 60. Country singer Jann Browne is 54. Actor Adrian Zmed is 54. Prince Albert II, the ruler of Monaco, is 50. Actress Tamara Tunie is 49. Actress Penny Johnson Jerald is 47. Producer-director-writer Kevin Williamson is 43. Actor Gary Anthony Williams is 42. Actress Megan Follows is 40. Rock musician Michael Bland is 39. Country singer Kristian Bush is 38. Rock musician Derrick (Jimmie's Chicken Shack) is 36. Actor Jake Fogelnest is 29. Actor Chris Klein is 29. Actress Kate Maberly is 26. Singer-musician Taylor Hanson (Hanson) is 25. Actor Jamie Bell is 22.

DEATH

1883 German political philosopher Karl Marx died in London.

1932 George Eastman US industrialist (Kodak-camera), suicide at 77.

1961 Akiba Rubinstein Polish chess player (opening theorist), dies at 78.

March 14, the 74th day of 2008. There are 292 days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
image: morning-calm
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History
DBKP.com - Bigger, Better!.
Also atDeath by 1000 Papercuts.

DBKP Today in Weird History: March 13, 2008

2008-03-13T05:35:00.001-07:00

WAR, DISASTER, SCIENCE, RESIGNING, MURDER, TRAGEDY, ABORTION, JEWS, DEALS, ICONS, PATENTS, ATTEMPTS, ASSASSINATION, NAZIS, CLIMATE, INVENTIONS, TRIALS, POLITICALLY CORRECT, ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH
Then...

ICONS

1852 Uncle Sam cartoon figure made its debut in the New York Lantern weekly.

...and later

WAR!

2003 U.S. officials said President Bush might delay a vote on his troubled United Nations resolution or even drop it - and fight Iraq without the international body's backing.

DISASTER

1895 Spanish cruiser Reina Regente sinks off Gibraltar, 402 die.

1928 Hundreds of people died when the San Francisquito Valley in California was inundated with water after the St. Francis Dam burst just before midnight the evening of March 12.

1961 Landslide in USSR, kills 145.

1992 570 die in a Turkish earthquake.

1994 Oil tank/airship crash at Bosporus (huge fire/15+ killed).

ATTEMPTS

1915 Dodgers manager Wilbert Robinson tries to catch a baseball dropped from an airplane, but the pilot substituted a grapefruit.

PATENTS

1887 Chester Greenwood of Maine patents earmuffs.

DEALS

1677 Massachusetts gains title to Maine for $6,000.

CLIMATE

1888 Great Blizzard of 1888 rages.

1993 Blizzard of '93 hits north-east US.

INVENTIONS

1894 J L Johnstone of England invents horse racing starting gate.

ASSASSINATION

1981 Attempt on Pope John Paul II by Mehemet Ali Agca.

NAZIS

1933 Josef Göbbels becomes German minister of Information & Propaganda.

1938 Anschluß-Austria annexed by Nazi Germany.

TRIALS

1998 Sgt. Maj. Gene McKinney, once the Army's top enlisted man, was acquitted at his court-martial of pressuring military women for sex, but was convicted of trying to persuade his chief accuser to lie.

SCIENCE

1781 The planet Uranus was discovered by Sir William Herschel. He thought it was a comet.

1925 A law went into effect in Tennessee prohibiting the teaching of the theory of evolution.

JEWS

1656 Jews are denied the right to build a synagogue in New Amsterdam.

1951 Israel demands DM 6.2 billion compensation from Germany.

MURDER

1964 Bar manager Catherine "Kitty" Genovese, 28, was stabbed to death near her New York home; the case generated controversy over charges that Genovese's neighbors had failed to respond to her cries for help.

RESIGNING

1980 Ford Motor Co. Chairman Henry Ford II announced he was stepping down, the same day a jury in Winamac, Ind., found the company innocent of reckless homicide in the fiery deaths of three young women in a Ford Pinto.

2007 Attorney General Alberto Gonzales admitted mistakes in how the Justice Department handled the dismissal of eight federal prosecutors but said he wouldn't resign.

POLITICALLY CORRECT

1988 yielding to student protests, the board of trustees of Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., a liberal arts college for the hearing-impaired, chose I. King Jordan to become the school's first deaf president.

TRAGEDY

1996 a gunman burst into an elementary school in Dunblane, Scotland, and opened fire, killing 16 children and one teacher before killing himself.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

2007 President Bush sought to soothe strained ties with Mexico by promising to prod Congress to overhaul tough U.S. immigration policies, but Mexican President Felipe Calderon criticized U.S. plans for a 700-mile border fence.

ABORTION

2003 The Senate voted 64-33 to ban partial birth abortion.

BORN

1733 Joseph Priestly England, clergyman/scientist (discovered oxygen).

1770 Daniel Lambert England, giant (weighed 739 lbs (334 kg) at death).

1908 American billionaire, publisher and diplomat Walter Annenberg (TV Guide) was born in Milwaukee.

BIRTHDAYS

Jazz musician Roy Haynes is 83. Country singer Jan Howard is 78. Songwriter Mike Stoller is 75. Singer-songwriter Neil Sedaka is 69. Actor William H. Macy is 58. Actress Deborah Raffin is 55. Comedian Robin Duke is 54. Actress Glenne Headly is 53. Actress Dana Delany is 52. Rock musician Adam Clayton (U2) is 48. Jazz musician Terence Blanchard is 46. Actor Christopher Collet is 40. Actress Annabeth Gish is 37. Actress Tracy Wells is 37. Rapper Common is 36. Rapper Khujo (Goodie Mob, The Lumberjacks) is 36. Singer Glenn Lewis is 33. Actor Danny Masterson is 32. Actor Emile Hirsch is 23. Singers Nicole and Natalie Albino (Nina Sky) are 22.

DEATH

1901 Benjamin Harrison, the 23rd president of the United States, died in Indianapolis.

1938 Clarence S Darrow Scopes Monkey Trial attorney, dies in Chicago at 80.

Today is March 13, the 73rd day of the year. There are 293 days left in 2008.

images:
* sonofthesouth
* allposters
Sources:
* today in history
* Today in History
DBKP.com - Bigger, Better!.
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page

DBKP Today in Weird History: March 10, 2008

2008-03-09T23:19:00.000-07:00

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTER, CHIX R DIX, MURDER, TREASON, ARMY, DIPLOMACY, JEWS, PATENTS, CANCEL, BOWLING, NANNY STATE, WHAT IF, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, FUNERALS, PROGRESS, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH

PROGRESS

1876 the first successful voice transmission over Alexander Graham Bell's telephone took place in Boston as his assistant heard Bell say, "Mr. Watson — come here — I want to see you." (The words were recounted by Bell in his lab notebook.)

WAR!

1848 The Senate ratified the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ending the war with Mexico.

2003 Facing almost certain defeat, the United States and Britain delayed a vote in the U.N. Security Council to give Saddam Hussein an ultimatum to disarm.

2007 President Bush, in Uruguay as part of his Latin America tour, asked Congress for $3.2 billion to pay for 8,200 more U.S. troops needed in Afghanistan and Iraq on top of the 21,500-troop buildup he had announced in January 2007.

TERRORISM

1982 President Reagan proclaims economic sanctions against Libya.

1995 Car bomb explodes in Karachi at shiite mosque, 17+ killed.

2007 In their first direct talks since the Iraq war began, U.S. and Iranian envoys traded harsh words and blamed each other for Iraq's crisis at a one-day international conference.

DISASTER

1902 Earthquake destroys Turkish city of Tochangri.

1906 Coal dust explosion kills 1,060 at Courrieres France.

1939 17 villages damaged by hailstones in Hyderabad India.

1946 Train derailment kills 185 near Aracaju Brazil.

CANCEL

1893 New Mexico State University cancels its 1st graduation ceremony, its only graduate Sam Steele was robbed & killed the night before

PATENTS

1849 Abraham Lincoln applies for a patent; only US President to do so.

1975 Dog spectacles patented in England.

WHAT IF?

1951 FBI director J Edgar Hoover declines post of baseball commissioner.

NANNY STATE

1933 Nevada becomes 1st US state to regulate narcotics.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1980 Willard Scott becomes the weather forecaster on the Today Show.

FUNERALS

1994 1 million Greeks attend Melina Mercouri's funeral.

CHIX R DIX

2003 Natalie Maines, lead singer of the Dixie Chicks, told a London audience: "Just so you know ... we're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas."

BOWLING

1913 William Knox, becomes 1st in American Bowling Congress to bowl 300.

FINANCE

1995 Dow-Jones hits record 4035.64.

DIPLOMACY

1785 Thomas Jefferson was appointed minister to France, succeeding Benjamin Franklin.

ARMY

1880 the Salvation Army arrived in the United States from England.

TREASON

1949 Nazi wartime broadcaster Mildred E. Gillars, also known as "Axis Sally," was convicted in Washington, D.C., of treason. (She served 12 years in prison.)

MURDER

1948 The body of the anti-communist foreign minister of Czechoslovakia, Jan Masaryk, was found in the garden of Czernin Palace in Prague. Authorities said that his death was a suicide, but others continue to claim that he was murdered.

1980 "Scarsdale Diet" author Dr. Herman Tarnower was shot to death in Purchase, N.Y. (Tarnower's former lover, Jean Harris, was convicted of murder; she served nearly 12 years in prison before being released in January 1993.)

JEWS

418 Jews are excluded from public office in the Roman Empire.

BORN

1888 Barry Fitzgerald Dublin Ireland, actor (Academy Award-Going My Way).

1918 Heywood Hale Broun journalist.

1920 Jethro Burns country singer (Homer & Jethro).

1923 Ara Parseghian football coach (Northwestern, Notre Dame).

BIRTHDAYS

Talk show host Ralph Emery is 75. Bluegrass/country singer-musician Norman Blake is 70. Actor Chuck Norris is 68. Playwright David Rabe is 68. Singer Dean Torrence (Jan and Dean) is 68. Actress Katharine Houghton is 63. Rock musician Tom Scholz (Boston) is 61. Producer-director-writer Paul Haggis is 55. Actress Shannon Tweed is 51. Actress Sharon Stone is 50. Rock musician Gail Greenwood is 48. Magician Lance Burton is 48. Actress Jasmine Guy is 46. Rock musician Jeff Ament (Pearl Jam) is 45. Music producer Rick Rubin is 45. Britain's Prince Edward is 44. Singer Edie Brickell is 42. Actor Stephen Mailer is 42. Actress Paget Brewster is 39. Country singer Daryle Singletary is 37. Rapper-producer Timbaland is 36. Actor Cristian de la Fuente is 34. Singer Robin Thicke is 31. Actress Bree Turner is 31. Olympic gold-medal gymnast Shannon Miller is 31. Country singer Carrie Underwood is 25. Actress Emily Osment is 16.

DEATH

1985 Konstantin U. Chernenko, who was the Soviet Union's leader for just 13 months, died at age 73.

1988 Pop singer Andy Gibb died in Oxford, England, at age 30 of heart inflammation.

1998 Actor Lloyd Bridges died in Westwood, Calif., at age 85.

2007 Standup comedian Richard Jeni, 49, died at a Los Angeles hospital of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

March 10, the 70th day of 2008. There are 296 days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
image: dkimages
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History

Back to Front Page
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.
Originally posted at DBKP at Blogger.

DBKP Today in Weird History: March 7, 2008

2008-03-07T07:51:00.000-08:00

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTER, POLITICS, PATENTS, PROGRESS, COMING WAR, ASSASSINATION, PRONOUNCEMENTS, JAZZ, LABOR, PRO WRESTLING, SPORTS, JEWS, OH NO, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, HEALTH NAZIS, CIVIL RIGHTS,BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH

GAMES

1933 Game of "Monopoly" invented.

WAR!

1945 during World War II, U.S. forces crossed the Rhine River at Remagen, Germany, using the damaged but still usable Ludendorff Bridge.

1991 Iraq continues to explode oil fields in Kuwait.

TERRORISM

1981 anti-government guerrillas in Colombia executed kidnapped American Bible translator Chester Allen Bitterman, whom they accused of being a CIA agent.

2007 A suicide attacker blew himself up in a cafe northeast of Baghdad, killing 30 people.

DISASTER

2007 Ten people were killed in the Bronx, N.Y., when fire tore through their home.

CIVIL RIGHTS

1965 A march by civil rights demonstrators was broken up in Selma, Ala., by state troopers and a sheriff's posse.

PRONOUNCEMENTS

1908 Cincinnati Mayor Mark Breith stood before city council & announced that, "women are not physically fit to operate automobiles".

SPORTS

1955 Baseball commissioner Ford Frick says he favors legalization of the spitter.

PRO WRESTLING

1940 Ray Steele beats B Nagurski in St Louis, to become wrestling champion.

HEALTH NAZIS

1997 5 sue Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, because his smoking has violated the country's constitution guaranteeing a wholesome life.

OH NO

1981 1st homicide at Disneyland, 18 year old is stabbed to death.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1993 Diff'rent Stroke actor Todd Bridges arrested for stabbing a tenant.

JAZZ

1917 1st jazz record "Dixie Jazz Band One Step", recorded by Nick LaRocca Original Dixieland Jazz Band, released by RCA Victor in Camden NJ.

LABOR

1932 Riots at Ford-factory Dearborn MI, kills 4.

1967 Teamster president Jimmy Hoffa begins 8-year jail sentence at Lewisburg Federal Prison for defrauding the union & jury tampering (commuted Dec 23, 1971).

KILLERS

2007 Sex offender John Evander Couey was found guilty in Miami of kidnapping, raping and murdering 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford, who was buried alive.

POLITICS

1850 In a 3-hour speech to the U.S. Senate, Daniel Webster endorsed the Compromise of 1850 as a means of preserving the Union.

1975 The Senate revised its filibuster rule, allowing 60 senators to limit debate in most cases, instead of the previously required two-thirds of senators present.

PATENTS

1854 Charles Miller patents 1st US sewing machine to stitch buttonholes

1876 Alexander Graham Bell received a patent for his telephone.

PROGRESS

1926 The first successful trans-Atlantic radio-telephone conversations took place, between New York and London.

JEWS

1977 Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin meets President Carter.

COMING WAR

1774 British close port of Boston to all commerce.

1936 Adolf Hitler ordered his troops to march into the Rhineland, thereby breaking the Treaty of Versailles and the Locarno Pact.

1998 Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, speaking in Rome, said the U.S. wouldn't tolerate any more violence in Kosovo, which she blamed on Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.

ASSASSINATION

1951 Ali Razmara Shah of Iran (1950-51), assassinated.

BORN

1849 horticulturist Luther Burbank was born in Lancaster, Mass.

BIRTHDAYS

Comedian Alan Sues is 82. Photographer Lord Snowdon is 78. TV personality Willard Scott is 74. Auto racer Janet Guthrie is 70. Actor Daniel J. Travanti is 68. Former Walt Disney Co. chief executive officer Michael Eisner is 66. Rock musician Chris White (The Zombies) is 65. Actor John Heard is 62. Rock singer Peter Wolf is 62. Rock musician Matthew Fisher (Procol Harum) is 62. Football Hall of Famer Franco Harris is 58. Football Hall of Famer Lynn Swann is 56. Rhythm-and-blues singer-musician Ernie Isley (The Isley Brothers) is 56. Actor Bryan Cranston is 52. Actress Donna Murphy is 49. Actor Nick Searcy is 49. Tennis Hall of Famer Ivan Lendl is 48. Actor Bill Brochtrup is 45. Opera singer Denyce Graves is 44. Comedian Wanda Sykes is 44. Singer-actress Taylor Dayne is 43. Rock musician Randy Guss (Toad the Wet Sprocket) is 41. Actor Peter Sarsgaard is 37. Actress Rachel Weisz is 37. Classical singer Sebastien Izambard (Il Divo) is 35. Rock singer Hugo Ferreira (Tantric) is 34. Actress Jenna Fischer is 34. Actress Audrey Marie Anderson is 33. Actress Laura Prepon is 28.

DEATH

322 -BC- Aristotle dies.

1959 Hinsdale Smith developer of roll-down auto windows, dies at 88.

1985 Victor W Farris inventor of paper milk carton, etc, dies.

1988 Divine [Harris Glenn Milstead] transvestite actor (Hairspray, Polyester, Pink Flamingos), dies in Los Angeles at 42.

1999 movie director Stanley Kubrick died in Hertfordshire, England, at age 70.

March 7, the 67th day of 2008. There are 299 days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
image: northstargeneral
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History

* DBKP at Blogger.
Originally posted at DBKP.com - Bigger, Better!.

DBKP Today in Weird History: March 6, 2008

2008-03-06T07:56:00.000-08:00

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTER, CITIES, LAST STAND, SUPREME COURT, FREE, COMMIES, SENSATIONAL CRIME, POLITICALLY CORRECT, LOTTO, BOOTED, JEWS, SPOOKY, NANNY STATE, LOSER, MUSIC, HEADACHES, LOUD, PREMATURE, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH

HEADACHES

1899 "Aspirin" patented by Felix Hoffmann of Bayer. It soon replaces the company's best-selling drug, heroin. From 1898 through to 1910 heroin was marketed as a non-addictive morphine substitute and cough medicine for children. Bayer marketed heroin as a cure for morphine addiction before it was discovered that heroin is converted to morphine when metabolized in the liver, and as such, "heroin" was basically only a quicker acting form of morphine.

WAR!

1861 Provisionary Confederate Congress establishes Confederate Army

1944 U.S. heavy bombers staged the first full-scale American raid on Berlin during World War II.

2003 A somber President Bush readied the nation for war against Saddam Hussein, hurling some of his harshest invectives yet at the Iraqi leader during a prime-time news conference.

TERRORISM

1978 Hustler publisher Larry Flynt shot & crippled by a sniper in Georgia.

1988 3 IRA suspects were shot dead in Gibraltar by SAS officers.

2007 Two suicide bombers blew themselves up in Hillah, Iraq, killing at least 120 people in a crowd of Shiite pilgrims.

DISASTER

1987 6.8 earthquake hits Ecuador, kills 100. Belgium ferry boat "Herald of Free Enterprise" capsizes/sinks; 192 die.

2007 More than 70 people died in an earthquake on Sumatra island, Indonesia.

NANNY STATE

1921 Police in Sunbury PA issue an edict requiring Women to wear skirts at least 4 inches below the knee.

LOSER

1974 An Italian loses a record $1,920,000 at roulette in Monte Carlo.

BOOTED

1831 Edgar Allen Poe removed from West Point military academy.

SPOOKY

1918 US naval collier "Cyclops" disappears in Bermuda Triangle.

LOUD

1982 Susan Birmingham makes loudest recorded human shout (120 dB).

MUSIC

1966 Barry Sadlers' "Ballad of the Green Berets" becomes #1 (13 weeks).

SUPREME COURT

1857 The United States Supreme Court ruled in Dred Scott v. Sandford that Scott, a slave, was not a U.S. citizen and could not sue for his freedom in federal court.

PREMATURE

1991 Following Iraq's capitulation in the Persian Gulf conflict, President Bush told Congress that "aggression is defeated; The war is over".

CITIES

In 1834, the city of York in Upper Canada was incorporated as Toronto.

LAST STAND

In 1836, the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, fell to Mexican forces after a 13-day siege.

LOTTO

1998 A Connecticut state lottery accountant shot to death three supervisors and the lottery chief before killing himself.

POLITICS

2003 Democrats blocked President Bush's nomination of Miguel Estrada to a federal appeals court.

2007 Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, was convicted of lying and obstructing an investigation into the 2003 leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity.

FREE

1957 the former British African colonies of the Gold Coast and Togoland became the independent state of Ghana.

COMMIES

1967 The daughter of Josef Stalin, Svetlana Alliluyeva, appeared at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, India, and declared her intention to defect to the West.

SENSATIONAL CRIME

1983 In a case that drew much notoriety, a young woman was gang-raped atop a pool table in a tavern in New Bedford, Mass., called Big Dan's; four men were later convicted of the attack.

POLITICALLY CORRECT

1988 the board of trustees at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., a liberal arts college for the deaf, selected Elisabeth Zinser, a hearing woman, to be school president. (Outraged students shut down the campus, forcing selection of a deaf president, I. King Jordan, instead.)

JEWS

1816 Jews are expelled from Free city of Lubeck Germany.

BORN

1475 Michelangelo Buonarroti painter/sculptor/architect (David, Pièta).

1619 Cyrano de Bergerac famous nose, dramatist (A Voyage to the Moon).

BIRTHDAYS

Orchestra conductor Julius Rudel is 87. TV personality Ed McMahon is 85. Former FBI and CIA director William Webster is 84. Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan is 82. Author Gabriel Garcia Marquez is 81. Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova is 71. Country singer Doug Dillard is 71. Sen. Christopher Bond, R-Mo., is 69. Actress-writer Joanna Miles is 68. Actor Ben Murphy is 66. Opera singer Dame Kiri Te Kanawa is 64. Singer Mary Wilson (The Supremes) is 64. Rock musician Hugh Grundy (The Zombies) is 63. Rock singer-musician David Gilmour (Pink Floyd) is 62. Actor-director Rob Reiner is 61. Singer Kiki Dee is 61. Rock singer-musician Phil Alvin (The Blasters) is 55. Actor Tom Arnold is 49. Actor D.L. Hughley is 44. Country songwriter Skip Ewing is 44. Actress Yvette Wilson is 44. Actor Shuler Hensley is 41. Actress Connie Britton is 40. Actress Moira Kelly is 40. Actress Amy Pietz is 39. Basketball player Shaquille O'Neal is 36. Country singer Trent Willmon is 35. Country musician Shan Farmer (Ricochet) is 34. Rapper Beanie Sigel is 34. Rapper Bubba Sparxxx is 31. Actor Eli Marienthal is 22. Actor Jimmy Galeota is 22. Actor Dillon Freasier (Film: "There Will Be Blood") is 12. Actress Savannah Stehlin is 12.

DEATH

1935 Retired Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. died in Washington.

1941 John Gutzon de la Mothe Borglum sculptor (Mount Rushmore), dies at 73.

1982 Ayn Rand author-philosopher (The Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged), dies in New York at 77.

1998 Adem Jasari Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) leader, killed.

2007 Ernest Gallo, who built one of the world's largest winemaking empires, died in Modesto, Calif., at age 97.

March 6, the 66th day of 2008. There are 300 days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
image:
Sources:
* Today in History
* Heroin
* Today in History

DBKP.com - Bigger, Better!.
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in Weird History: March 3, 2008

2008-03-02T21:58:00.000-08:00

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTER, SPITTING, ANTHEMS, POLITICS, INSPIRING, CLINTONS, IMPEACHED, UNCLE SUGAR, VIDEO, NANNY STATE, TAVERNS, JEWS, CAMELS, SPORTS, JAZZ, JAILBREAK, READ MY LIPS, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH

VIDEO

1991 In a case that sparked a national outcry, motorist Rodney King was severely beaten by Los Angeles police officers in a scene captured on amateur video.

WAR!

1815 US declares war on Algiers for taking US prisoners & demanding tribute.

1863 1st US wartime military conscription bill enacted.

1878 Russia and the Ottomans signed the treaty of Stenafano. The treaty granted independence to Serbia.

1918 Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire and Russia signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which ended Russian participation in World War I. (The treaty was rendered moot by the November 1918 armistice.)

1945 The Allies fully secured the Philippine capital of Manila from Japanese forces during World War II.

TERRORISM

1968 Greece, Portugal & Spain's embassies bombed in the Hague.

2003 Israeli troops arrested Hamas co-founder Mohammed Taha in a deadly raid. (Israel released him 14 months later.)

DISASTER

1943 Bomb-fleeing crowd falls into London shelter; 173 die.

1953 Canadian Comet crashes at Karachi, 11 killed.

1966 Twister hits Jackson MS; 3 minutes after 1st sighting, 57 die.

1974 Nearly 350 people died when a Turkish Airlines DC-10 crashed shortly after takeoff from Orly Airport in Paris.

1991 25 people were killed when a United Airlines Boeing 737-200 crashed while approaching the Colorado Springs airport.

1992 Gas explodes in coal mine at Zonguldak Turkey, 100s die.

2007 President Bush handed out hugs to residents who survived killer tornadoes that ripped through Alabama and Georgia and offered encouraging words at Enterprise High School, where students were grieving the loss of eight classmates.

SPITTING

1903 In St Louis, MO, Barney Gilmore was arrested for spitting.

TAVERNS

1634 1st tavern in Boston opens (Samuel Cole).

CAMELS

1855 Congress approves $30,000 to test camels for military use.

JAILBREAK

1934 John Dillinger breaks out of jail using a wooden pistol.

READ MY LIPS

1992 President Bush apologizes for raising taxes after pledging not to.

CLINTONS

1998 Presidential confidant Vernon Jordan testified before the grand jury investigating the Monica Lewinsky matter.

JAZZ

1931 Cab Calloway records "Minnie the Moocher" (Jazz's 1st million seller).

UNCLE SUGAR

1812 The US Congress passed the first foreign aid bill (aids Venezuela earthquake victims).

SPORTS

1875 1st recorded hockey game (Montréal).

NANNY STATE

1791 1st Internal Revenue Act (taxing distilled spirits & carriages).

2003 President Bush offered a rough blueprint for adding drug benefits to Medicare.

POLITICS

1817 Mississippi Territory is divided into Alabama Territory & Mississippi.

1845 Florida became the 27th state.

1845 The US Congress passed legislation overriding a US President’s veto. It was the first time the Congress had achieved this.

1849 The US Congress created the territory of Minnesota.

1851 The US Congress authorized the 3-cent piece. It was the smallest US silver coin.

1875 The US Congress authorized the 20-cent piece. It was only used for 3 years.

INSPIRING

1887 Anne Sullivan arrived at the Tuscumbia, Alabama, home of Captain and Mrs. Arthur H. Keller to become the teacher for their blind and deaf 6-year-old daughter, Helen.

IMPEACHED

1803 The first impeachment trial of a US Judge, John Pickering, began.

JEWS

1801 1st US Jewish Governor, David Emanuel, takes office in Georgia.

ANTHEMS

1931 President Hoover signed a measure making "The Star-Spangled Banner" the national anthem of the United States.

BORN

1853 Vincent Van Gogh Dutch painter.

1909 Harry Hemsley billionaire New York landlord.

BIRTHDAYS

Socialite Lee Radziwill is 74. Actress Hattie Winston is 62. Singer Jennifer Warnes is 60. Actor-director Tim Kazurinsky is 57. Singer-musician Robyn Hitchcock is 54. Actress Miranda Richardson is 49. Actress Mary Page Keller is 46. Olympic track and field gold medalist Jackie Joyner-Kersee is 45. Football player Herschel Walker is 45. Rapper-actor Tone-Loc is 41. Rock musician John Bigham is 38. Actress Julie Bowen is 37. Country singer Brett Warren (The Warren Brothers) is 36. Actor David Faustino is 33. Singer Ronan Keating (Boyzone) is 30. Rapper Lil' Flip is 26. Actress Jessica Biel is 25.

DEATH

1966 Alice Pearce comedienne (Gladys Kravitz-Bewitched), dies at 52.

1966 William Frawley actor (Fred Mertz-I Love Lucy), dies at 89.

1987 Danny Kaye comedian (Danny Kaye Show), dies at 74.

1998 Former CBS News president Fred W. Friendly died in New York at age 82.

2007 Malcolm Kilduff, the White House spokesman who announced to a shocked world the death of President Kennedy, died in Beattyville, Kentucky, at age 75.

March 3rd, the 63rd day of 2008. There are 303 days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
image: echo
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History
* Today in History

Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in Weird History: March 2, 2008

2008-03-02T10:29:00.001-08:00

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTER, EXPLORERS, ICONS, POLITICS, PARKS, MOVIES, SURE THEY DID, SCANDAL, TABLOIDS, ASSASSINATION, NANNY STATE, ZEAL, IMMIGRATION, PROGRESS, OUTLAWS, CRICKET, WOMEN, JEWS, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, TYPICAL, BELOVED, SPORTS, DISNEY, EURO-WEENIES, POLICE STATE, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH

ICONS

1904 Dr Seuss [Theodor Geisel] children's book author (Green Eggs and Ham, Horton Hears a Who!) was born in Springfield, Mass. He wrote and illustrated 44 children's books. However, they are still enjoyed by many adults.

WAR!

1776 Americans begin shelling British troops in Boston.

1943 The World War II Battle of the Bismarck Sea began; U.S. and Australian warplanes were able to inflict heavy damage on a Japanese convoy.

1966 215,000 US soldiers in Vietnam.

TERRORISM

1973 "Black September" terrorists occupy Saudi Embassy in Khartoum.

1981 Aircraft hijacked by 3 Pakistani terrorists.

1982 Terror group "The Illuminated Path" frees 260 prisoners in Peru.

1998 The U.N. Security Council unanimously endorsed Secretary-General Kofi Annan's deal to open Iraq's presidential palaces to arms inspectors.

2003 Iraq crushed another six Al Samoud II missiles, as ordered by U.N. weapons inspectors.

2007 The bodies of 14 kidnapped policemen were found northeast of Baghdad.

DISASTER

1910 2 trains crash in snow storm in Wellington WA, 118 die.

1933 Most powerful earthquake in 180 years hit Japan.

1938 Landslides & floods cause over 200 deaths (Los Angeles CA).

1944 Fumes from locomotive stalled in a tunnel suffocates 521 in Italy.

1989 Exxon Houston runs aground in Hawaii, spills 117,000 gallons of oil.

1995 Ferry boat sinks off Sumbe Angola, 42+ killed.

2007 A charter bus carrying a college baseball team from Bluffton University in Ohio plunged off an Atlanta highway ramp and slammed into the pavement below, killing seven people.

TYPICAL

1939 Massachusetts Legislature votes to ratify the Bill of Rights; 147 years late.

BELOVED

1950 Silly Putty invented.

SURE THEY DID

1977 The U.S. House of Representatives adopted a strict code of ethics.

TABLOIDS

2007 Anna Nicole Smith was buried in the Bahamas following a lavish memorial service.

NANNY STATE

1789 Pennsylvania ends prohibition of theatrical performances.

JEWS

1915 Vladmir Jabotinsky forms a Jewish military force to fight in Palestine.

ZEAL

1817 1st Evangelical church building dedicated, New Berlin PA.

POLITICS

1807 Congress bans slave trade effective January 1, 1808.

1836 The Republic of Texas formally declared its independence from Mexico.

1853 Territory of Washington organized after separating from Oregon Territory.

1861 US Congress creates Dakota & Nevada Territories out of the Nebraska & Utah territories.

1877 Republican Rutherford B. Hayes was declared the winner of the 1876 presidential election over Democrat Samuel J. Tilden, even though Tilden had won the popular vote. Shades of Al Gore and the 2000 election.

1917 Puerto Ricans were granted U.S. citizenship as President Wilson signed the Jones-Shafroth Act.

POLICE STATE

1994 Branch Davidian cult leader David Koresh promises to surrender if taped statement is broadcast; it is, but he doesn't.

PROGRESS

1866 1st US company to make sewing needles by machine incorporated, Connecticut.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1923 Time magazine debuts.

1977 Future Tonight Show host Jay Leno debuts with host Johnny Carson.

1978 1st broadcast of "Dallas" on CBS TV.

1983 Final episode of MASH; 125,000,000 viewers; most-viewed TV show ever.

DISNEY

1976 Walt Disney World logged its 50 millionth guest.

SPORTS

1962 Wilt Chamberlain scores incredible 100 points in an NBA game.

1991 Del Ballard Jr throws most famous gutter ball in PBA Tour history.

PARKS

1899 Mount Rainier National Park in Washington state was established.

IMMIGRATION

1819 US passed its 1st immigration law.

WOMEN

1903 Martha Washington Hotel, catering to women only, opens in New York NY.

MOVIES

1933 The motion picture "King Kong" had its world premiere in New York.

1965 The movie version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical "The Sound of Music" had its world premiere at New York's Rivoli Theater.

OUTLAWS

1867 Jesse James-gang robs bank in Savannah MO, 1 dead.

EURO-WEENIES

1989 12 European nations agree to ban chlorofluorocarbon production by 2000.

ASSASSINATION

1973 Cleo Noel US ambassador to Sudan is assassinated.

1979 Sir Richard Sykes British ambassador is assassinated in Holland.

CRICKET

1898 Australia complete a 4-1 series annihilation of England.

SCANDAL

2007 Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey resigned following a scandal over substandard conditions for wounded Iraq soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

EXPORERS

1958 A multinational expedition led by British geologist and explorer Vivian Fuchs completed the first overland crossing of Antarctica by way of the South Pole in 99 days.

BORN

1793 The first president of the Republic of Texas, Sam Houston, was born near Lexington, Va.

1917 Desi Arnaz Santiago Cuba, singer/actor (Ricky Ricardo-I Love Lucy).

BIRTHDAYS

Actress Jennifer Jones is 89. Bluegrass singer-musician Doc Watson is 85. Actor John Cullum is 78. Author Tom Wolfe is 78. Former Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev is 77. Actress Barbara Luna is 69. Actor Jon Finch is 67. Author John Irving is 66. Singer Lou Reed is 66. Actress Cassie Yates is 57. Actress Laraine Newman is 56. Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., is 55. Singer Jay Osmond is 53. Pop musician John Cowsill (The Cowsills) is 52. Tennis player Kevin Curren is 50. Country singer Larry Stewart (Restless Heart) is 49. Rock singer Jon Bon Jovi is 46. Blues singer-musician Alvin Youngblood Hart is 45. Actor Daniel Craig is 40. Rock musician Casey (Jimmie's Chicken Shack) is 32. Rock singer Chris Martin (Coldplay) is 31. Actress Heather McComb is 31. Actress Bryce Dallas Howard is 27. Actor Robert Iler ("The Sopranos") is 23.

DEATH

1991 James "Cool Papa" Bell Negro baseball league great, dies at 87.

March 2, the 62nd day of 2008. There are 304 days left in the year.

images:
* pcart
* Red Planet
* modernmechanix
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History

Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in Weird History: March 1, 2008

2008-03-01T08:01:00.001-08:00

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTER, KIDNAPPED, POLITICS, CIVIL RIGHTS, PARKS, WRONG ASSESSMENTS, We SUPPORT THE TROOPS, EXECUTED, SCANDAL, MURDER, CALENDARS, BLOODBATH, CITIES, CUISINE, DEATH PENALTY, MYSTERY SHIP, UPSETS, STAMPS, GERONIMO, PANIC, NAZIS, LEVIATHAN, LABOR, JEWS, SPIES, UNREST, IRONIC, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, BLUELIGHT SPECIAL, MARRIAGE, CULTS, WATERGATE, CREDIT, GRAVE ROBBERS, CLIMATE CHANGE, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH

KIDNAPPED!

1932 Charles A. Lindbergh Jr., the 20-month-old son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh, was kidnapped from the family home near Hopewell, N.J. (Remains identified as those of the child were found the following May.)

WAR!

1896 Battle of Adua: 80,000 Ethiopians destroy 20,000 Italians.

2003 Iraq began complying with orders from U.N. weapons inspectors to destroy its Al Samoud II missiles. The United Arab Emirates called for Saddam Hussein to step down, the first Arab country to do so publicly. Turkey's parliament dealt a stunning blow to U.S. war planning by failing to approve a bill allowing in American combat troops to open a northern front against Iraq.

TERRORISM

1954 Puerto Rican nationalists opened fire from the gallery of the U.S. House of Representatives, wounding five congressmen.

1981 Irish Republican Army member Bobby Sands began a hunger strike at the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland; he died 65 days later.

2003 Suspected 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was captured by CIA and Pakistani agents.

DISASTER

1910 3 passenger trains buried at Steven's Pass in Cascade Range: 118 die; Worst snowslide in US history.

1962 American Airlines 707 plunges nose 1st into Jamaica Bay NY killing 95.

1965 Gas explosion kills 28 in apartment complex (La Salle Québec Canada).

1982 5 die as ski lift malfunctions a Lúz-Ardiden in Pyrenees.

2007 Tornadoes killed 20 people in the Midwest and Southeast, including eight students at Enterprise High School in Alabama.

CUISINE

1784 E Kidner opens 1st cooking school, in Great Britain.

IRONIC

1954 Ted Williams fractures collarbone in 1st game of spring training after flying 39 combat missions without injury in Korean War.

GRAVE ROBBERS

1978 Charlie Chaplin's coffin was stolen from a Swiss cemetery.

UPSETS

1866 Paraguayan canoes sink 2 Brazilian ironclads on Rio Parana.

GERONIMO!

1912 Albert Berry makes 1st parachute jump from an airplane.

MYSTERY SHIP

1854 SS City of Glasgow leaves Liverpool harbor & is never seen again.

WRONG ASSESSMENTS

1945 President Franklin D. Roosevelt returns from the Yalta conference and pronounces to Congress that it's a success.

CLIMATE CHANGE

1980 Snow falls in Florida.

CULTS

1970 Charles Manson's album "Lie" is released.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1957 Kokomo the Chimp becomes Today Show animal editor.

1968 NBC's unprecedented on-air announcement, Star Trek will return.

BLUELIGHT SPECIAL

1962 K-Mart opens.

UNREST

1954 Rebellion during visit of President Naguib in Khartoum Sudan, 30 die.

PANIC

1933 Bank holidays declared in 6 states, to prevent run on banks.

LEVIATHAN

1937 1st permanent automobile license plates issued (Connecticut).

1946 British Govt takes control of Bank of England, after 252 years.

1994 Senate rejects a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.

1996 Plans approved allowing traffic cameras High Harrington & Shap England.

DEATH PENALTY

1847 Michigan becomes 1st English-speaking jurisdiction to abolish the death penalty (except for treason against the state).

WE SUPPORT THE TROOPS

2007 An independent commission concluded the National Guard and Reserves weren't getting enough money or equipment.

CREDIT

1977 Bank of America adopts the name VISA for their credit cards.

SPIES

1950 Klaus Fuchs sentenced to 14 years for atomic espionage (London).

MARRIAGE

1968 Singers Johnny Cash (36) & June Carter (38) wed.

CALENDARS

1 -BC- Start of revised Julian calendar in Rome.

WATERGATE

1974 Watergate grand jury indicts 7 Presidential aides.

EXECUTED

1947 J Boogaard Nazi collaborator in the Netherlands, executed.

POLITICS

1781 the Continental Congress declared the Articles of Confederation to be in force, following ratification by Maryland.

1790 President Washington signed a measure authorizing the first U.S. Census.

1803 Ohio becomes 17th state.

1845 President Tyler signs a resolution annexing the Republic of Texas.

1867 Nebraska became the 37th state.

1967 U.S. Representative Adam Clayton Powell of New York, accused of misconduct, was denied his seat in the 90th Congress. (The Supreme Court ruled in 1969 that Powell had to be seated.)

CITIES

1642 Georgeana (York) ME became the 1st incorporated American city.

LABOR

1937 US Steel raises workers' wages to $5 a day.

MURDER

1995 Vladislav Listyev Russian TV-journalist, murdered at 38.

NAZIS

1941 Himmler inspects Auschwitz concentration camp.

CIVIL RIGHTS

1780 Pennsylvania becomes 1st US state to abolish slavery (for new-borns only).

1864 Rebecca Lee Crumpler became the first black woman to receive an American medical degree, from the New England Female Medical College in Boston.

JEWS

1942 Suriname camp for NSB people opens to save Jews.

1943 Jewish old age home for disabled in Amsterdam raided.

1955 Israeli assault on Gaza, kills 48.

BLOODBATHS

1562 Blood bath at Vassy; General de Guise allows the murder of 1200 Huguenots.

1811 Egyptian king Muhammad Ali Pasha oversees ceremonial murder of 500.

PARKS

1872 President Grant signed a measure creating Yellowstone National Park.

STAMPS

1869 Postage stamps showing scenes are issued for 1st time.

SCANDAL

2007 The Army general in charge of Walter Reed Army Medical Center was relieved of command after disclosures about dilapidated buildings and inadequate treatment of wounded soldiers.

BORN

1904 Glenn Miller bandleader (Glenn Miller Orchestra-In the Mood).

1911 Harry Golombek chess grandmaster.

1917 Dinah Shore Winchester TN, singer (See the USA in a Chevrolet).

BIRTHDAYS

Actor Robert Clary is 82. Singer Harry Belafonte is 81. Former U.S. Solicitor General Robert H. Bork is 81. Actor Robert Conrad is 73. Rock singer Mike D'Abo (Manfred Mann) is 64. Former Sen. John Breaux, D-La., is 64. Rock singer Roger Daltrey is 64. Actor Dirk Benedict is 63. Actor Alan Thicke is 61. Actor-director Ron Howard is 54. Actress Catherine Bach is 54. Country singer Janis Gill (AKA Janis Oliver Cummins) (Sweethearts of the Rodeo) is 54. Actor Tim Daly is 52. Singer-musician Jon Carroll is 51. Rock musician Bill Leen is 46. Actor Russell Wong is 45. Actor John David Cullum is 42. Actor George Eads is 41. Actor Javier Bardem is 39. Rock musician Ryan Peake (Nickelback) is 35. Actor Mark-Paul Gosselaar is 34. Actor Jensen Ackles is 30. TV host Donovan Patton is 30. Rock musician Sean Woolstenhulme is 27. Rhythm-and-blues singer Sammie is 21.

DEATH

1991 Edwin H Land inventor (Polaroid Camera), dies at 81.

March 1, the 61st day of 2008. There are 305 days left in the year.

by Mondoreb
image: oregonlive
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History

Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

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src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_iKcZ3qcCmyo/R8d37zbaJvI/AAAAAAAAF3E/90kQx2c7PdU/s200/farksml.jpg"/>

DBKP Today in Weird History: February 29, 2008

2008-02-28T21:20:00.000-08:00

WAR, DISASTER, REPORTS, QUICK-THINKING, MOVIES, VAVOOM, MUSIC, QUITTING, SCIENCE, RATINGS, POLITICS, KILLERS, UNUSUAL, BURNED, KINK, SPORTS, WHAT, RECORDS, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH

QUICK-THINKING

1504 Christopher Columbus, stranded in Jamaica during his fourth voyage to the West, used a correctly predicted lunar eclipse to frighten hostile natives into providing food for his crew.

You might be interested in reading:
Leap Day: Facts, Figures, Birthdays and Famous Events

WAR!

1856 Hostilities in Russo-Turkish War cease.

1944 US troops land on Los Negros, Admirality Islands.

DISASTER

1960 Earthquake kills 1/3 of Agadir Morocco population (12,000) in 15 seconds.

1996 A Peruvian commercial jetliner crashed in the Andes, killing all 123 people on board.

UNUSUAL

1904 Adolph Blaine Charles David Earl Frederick Gerald Hubert Irvin John Kenneth Lloyd Martin Nero Oliver Paul Quincy Randolph Sherman Thomas Uncas Victor William Xerxes Yancy Zeus Wolfeschlegelsteinhausenberdorft Sr near Hamburg, Germany; had a Christian name for every letter in the alphabet, shortened it to Mr Wolfe Plus 585 Sr.

VAVOOM!

1960, the first Playboy Club, featuring waitresses clad in "bunny" outfits, opened in Chicago.

KINK

1784 Marquis de Sade transferred from Vincennes fortress to the Bastille.

RECORDS

1964 Frank Rugani sets badminton shuttlecock distance record, 24.3 meters.

WHAT?

1988 NYC Mayor Koch calls Reagan a "WIMP" in the war on drugs.

POLITICS

1956 Islamic Republic established in Pakistan.

2000 George W. Bush won Republican presidential primaries in Virginia, Washington state and North Dakota, defeating John McCain; Vice President Al Gore crushed fellow Democrat Bill Bradley in Washington state.

SPORTS

1964 North Carolina high school basketball teams play to 56-54 score in 13 overtime.

KILLERS

1996 Daniel Green was convicted in Lumberton, North Carolina, of murdering James R. Jordan, the father of basketball star Michael Jordan, during a 1993 roadside holdup. (Green and an accomplice, Larry Martin Demery, were sentenced to life in prison.)

2000 Six-year-old Kayla Rolland was fatally shot by a fellow first-grader at Buell Elementary School in Mount Morris Township, Michigan.

REPORTS

1968 President Lyndon B. Johnson's National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (also known as the Kerner Commission) warned that racism was causing America to move "toward two societies, one black, one white -- separate and unequal."

BURNED

1528 Patrick Hamilton Scottish protestant martyr, burned at stake.

MOVIES

1940 "Gone with the Wind" won eight Academy Awards, including best picture of 1939.

2000 "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" won a record-tying 11 Academy Awards, including best picture; Sean Penn took the best-actor prize for "Mystic River" and Charlize Theron won best actress for "Monster."

SCIENCE

1968 the discovery of the first "pulsar," a star which emits regular radio waves, was announced by Dr. Jocelyn Bell Burnell in Cambridge, England.

MUSIC

1968 at the Grammy Awards, the 5th Dimension's "Up, Up and Away" won record of the year for 1967, while album of the year honors went to The Beatles for "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."

QUITTING

1984 Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau announced he was stepping down after more than 15 combined years in power.

2000 Facing rebellion, Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide resigned and left for exile in the Central African Republic.

RATINGS

1996 About 30 television and entertainment industry executives met with President Clinton at the White House, where they promised to devise a TV ratings system.

BORN

1908 The artist known as Balthus was born in Paris.

1936 Henri "Rocket" Richard NHL center (Montréal Canadiens).

1944 Dennis Farina Chicago IL, actor (Mike Torello-Crime Story).

BIRTHDAYS

Actress Michele Morgan is 88. Actor James Mitchell is 88. Actor Joss Ackland is 80. Actor Alex Rocco is 72. Former space shuttle astronaut Jack Lousma is 72. Actor Dennis Farina is 64. Actress Phyllis Frelich is 64. Actor Antonio Sabato Jr. is 36. Rapper Ja Rule is 32.

DEATH

1992 Johnny Mack British actor (Time Lord-Dr Who), dies at 70.

2000 Playwright Jerome Lawrence died in Malibu, California, at age 88.

February 29th, the 60th day of 2008. There are 306 days left in the year. This is Leap Day.

compiled by Mondoreb
image: eaae
Sources:
* Today in History

* Today in History
* Today in History

Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in Weird History: February 28, 2008

2008-02-28T09:59:00.000-08:00

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTER, GOLD, PROGRESS, POLITICS, MAFIA, SCIENCE, ASSASSINATION, POLICE STATE, ATHEISTS, ECONOMY, NANNY STATE, SHOOT OUTS, SLEEPING, WITCHES, EXODUS, PATENTS, SEALS, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, NAZIS, SMOOTH, POPULATION, KILLER WHALES, POGRAMS, DRUG WAR, SPIES, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH

POLICE STATE

1993 A gun battle erupted at a compound near Waco, Texas, when Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents tried to serve warrants on the Branch Davidians; four agents and six Davidians were killed as a 51-day standoff began.

1994 Brady Law, imposing a wait-period to buy a hand-gun, went into effect.

WAR!

1847 US defeats México in battle of Sacramento.

1917 AP reports México & Japan will ally with Germany if US enters WWI.

TERRORISM

1982 FALN (PR Nationalist Group) bombs Wall Street.

2007 A federal judge in Miami ruled that suspected al-Qaida operative Jose Padilla was competent to stand trial on terrorism support charges, rejecting arguments that he was severely damaged by 3 1/2 years of interrogation and isolation in a military brig.

DISASTER

1704 Indians attack Deerfield MA, kill 40, kidnap 100.

1844 A 12-inch gun aboard the USS Princeton exploded, killing Secretary of State Abel P. Upshur, Navy Secretary Thomas W. Gilmer and several others.

1888 Ferry in San Pablo Bay explodes.

1956 13 die in a train crash in Swampscott MA.

1975 More than 40 people were killed in London's Underground when a subway train smashed into the end of a tunnel.

1997 Earthquake in Pakistan, kills 45.

SLEEPING

1646 Roger Scott was tried in Massachusetts for sleeping in church.

EXODUS

1879 "Exodus of 1879" southern blacks flee political/economic exploitation.

SEALS

1913 6.8-m, 4000-kg elephant seal killed, South Georgia (South Atlantic).

SMOOTH

1935 Nylon discovered by Dr Wallace H Carothers.

POGROMS

1988 Anti-Armenian pogrom in Azerbaijan, 30 killed.

KILLER WHALES

1977 1st killer whale born in captivity (Marineland, Los Angeles CA).

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1940 1st televised basketball game (college game at NYC's Madison Square Garden-University of Pittsburgh beats Fordham U, 50-37).

1983 Final TV episode of "MASH" airs (CBS); record 125 million watch.

1984 26th Grammy Awards Beat It, Michael Jackson wins 8.

1989 Memo by Bryant Gumbel criticizing Today Show co-workers becomes public.

POPULATION

1940 US population at 131,669,275 (12,865,518 blacks (9.8%)).

SPIES

1997 FBI agent Earl Pitts pleads guilty to selling secrets to Russia.

DRUG WAR

1990 Dutch police seize 3,000 kg of cocaine.

NAZIS

1933 German President Von Hindenburg abolishes free expression of opinion. Hitler disallows German communist party (KPD).

GOLD!

1849 The California gold rush began in earnest as regular steamship service started bringing gold-seekers to San Francisco.

WITCHES

1692 Salem witch hunt begins.

PROGRESS

1827 The first U.S. railroad chartered to carry passengers and freight, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Co., was incorporated by the state of Maryland. It ran from Baltimore to Wheeling, WV (then part of Virginia).

1970 Bicycles permitted to cross Golden Gate Bridge.

POLITICS

1854 Republican Party formally organized at Ripon WI.

1859 Arkansas legislature requires free blacks to choose exile or slavery.

1861 The Territories of Colorado and Nevada organized.

1961 JFK names Henry Kissinger special advisor.

MAFIA

1951 The Senate committee headed by Estes Kefauver, D-Tenn., issued an interim report saying at least two major crime syndicates were operating in the U.S.

PATENTS

1893 Edward Acheson, Pennsylvania, patents an abrasive he names "carborundum".

1956 Forrester issued a patent for computer core memory.

SHOOT-OUTS

1997 In North Hollywood, Calif., two heavily armed masked robbers bungled a bank heist and came out firing, unleashing their arsenal on police, bystanders, cars and TV choppers before they were killed.

NANNY STATE

1871 2nd Enforcement Act gives federal control of congressional elections.

1997 Smokers must prove they are over 18 to purchase cigarettes in US.

1998 In their weekly radio addresses, President Clinton and the Republicans sparred over education, with Clinton describing tests showing American high school students lagging behind those of other industrial nations as a "wake-up call" while the Republicans blamed the disappointing results on a "hungry bureaucracy in Washington" that gobbled up education funds.

2003 The Food and Drug Administration announced that every bottle of ephedra would soon bear stern warnings that the popular herb could cause heart attacks or strokes, even kill.

ATHEISTS

2003 The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stood by its ruling that reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools was unconstitutional because of the words "under God."

REVOLT

1708 Slave revolt, Newton, Long Island NY, 11 die.

ECONOMY

1982 AT&T looses record $7 BILLION for fiscal year ending on this day.

2007 Wall Street rebounded fitfully from the previous session's 416-point plunge in the Dow industrials as investors took comfort from comments by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that he still expected moderate economic growth.

SCIENCE

1953 Scientists James D. Watson and Francis H.C. Crick announced they had discovered the double-helix structure of DNA, the molecule that contains the human genes.

2003 NASA released video taken aboard Columbia that had miraculously survived the fiery destruction of the space shuttle with the loss of all seven astronauts; in the footage, four of the crew members can be seen doing routine chores and admiring the view outside the cockpit.

ASSASSINATION

1908 Failed assassination attempt on Shah Mohammed Ali in Teheran.

1986 Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme was shot to death in central Stockholm.

BORN

1824 Charles Blondin France, acrobat/aerialist.

1928 Smokey The Bear.

1943 Donny Iris, singer.

BIRTHDAYS

Actor Charles Durning is 85. Svetlana Alliluyeva, daughter of Josef Stalin, is 82. Actor Gavin MacLeod is 77. Actor Don Francks is 76. Actor-director-dancer Tommy Tune is 69. Auto racer Mario Andretti is 68. Singer Joe South is 68. Actor Frank Bonner is 66. Actress Kelly Bishop is 64. Football player Bubba Smith is 63. Actress Stephanie Beacham is 61. Actress Mercedes Ruehl is 60. Actress Bernadette Peters is 60. Comedian Gilbert Gottfried is 53. Basketball player Adrian Dantley is 52. Actor John Turturro is 51. Rock singer Cindy Wilson is 51. Actress Rae Dawn Chong is 47. Actor Robert Sean Leonard is 39. Rock singer Pat Monahan is 39. Actress Maxine Bahns is 37. Country singer Jason Aldean is 31. Actor Bobb'e J. Thompson is 12.

DEATH

1966 Charles A Bassett II astronaut, dies in a crash of T-38 jet at 34.

1966 Elliot McKay See Jr astronaut, dies in T-38 jet crash at 38.

1977 Eddie "Rochester" Anderson comedian (Jack Benny Show), dies at 71.

2007 Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. died in New York at age 89.

February 28, the 59th day of 2008. There are 307 days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
image: crimtrials
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History

Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in Weird History: February 26, 2008

2008-02-26T01:29:00.001-08:00

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTER, NATIONAL PARKS, ESCAPES, CURFEW, IMMIGRATION, A-BOMB, SHADOWS, REBUKES, OPRAH, GOVERNMENT OVERREACH, LYNCHED, CHESS, COMMIES, SHORT PEOPLE, BUFFALO, CLYDESDALES, MERGER, NAZI CARS, KO, JEWS, NANNY STATE, PRO WRESTLING, GOLD, SLURS, TIRED, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH

NATIONAL PARKS

1919 Congress established Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona.

1929 President Coolidge signed a measure establishing Grand Teton National Park.

WAR!

1942 WWII Navy flier Don Mason sends message "Sighted sub sank same".

2003 President Bush, offering new justification for war in Iraq, told a think tank that "ending this direct and growing threat" from Saddam Hussein would pave the way for peace in the Middle East and encourage democracy throughout the Arab world.

TERRORISM

1531 Earthquake in Lisbon Portugal, kills 20,000.

1993 A bomb built by Islamic extremists exploded in the parking garage of New York's World Trade Center, killing six people and injuring more than 1,000 others.

2007 Iraq's Shiite vice president, Adel Abdul-Mahdi, narrowly escaped death as a blast ripped through a government meeting hall just hours after it had been searched by U.S. teams with bomb-sniffing dogs; at least 10 people were killed.

DISASTER

1852 British frigate Birkenhead sinks off South Africa-458 die.

1918 Stands at Hong Kong Jockey Club collapse & burn, killing 604.

1972 Slag heap dam collapses above Buffalo Creek WV, kills 125.

2003 A fire at the Greenwood Health Center in Hartford, Conn., killed 16 nursing home patients; a patient charged with setting the blaze was later ruled incompetent to stand trial.

SHORT PEOPLE

1876 Pauline Musters shortest known adult (58.9 cm, 1' 11.2") born.

TIRED

1984 Pak Awang (84) marries 80th spouse

PRO WRESTLING

1960 Verne Gagne beats Doctor X in Omaha, to become NWA wrestling champion.

1967 Verne Gagne beats Mad Dog Vachon in St Paul, to become NWA champion.

GOLD

1974 Gold hits record $188 an ounce in Paris.

CURFEW

1945 A midnight curfew on nightclubs, bars and other places of entertainment was set to go into effect across the nation.

CLYDESDALES

1893 2 Clydesdale horses set record by pulling 48 tons on a sledge, Michigan.

KOs

1941 2 fighters unable to continue slugfest, referee declares double KO.

IMMIGRATION

1907 Congress created the Dillingham Commission to examine the impact of immigrants on America. (The panel later recommended curtailing immigration from southern and eastern Europe.)

UNREST

1946 2 killed & 10 wounded in race riot in Columbia TN.

ESCAPES

1815 Napoleon Bonaparte escaped from exile on the Island of Elba.

MERGER

1907 Royal Oil & Shell merge to form British Petroleum (BP).

GOVERNMENT OVERREACH

2003 In a victory for abortion foes, the Supreme Court ruled that federal racketeering and extortion laws had been wrongly used to try to stop blockades, harassment and violent protests outside clinics.

NAZI CARS

1936 Hitler introduces Ferdinand Porsche's "Volkswagen".

LYNCHED

1870 Wyatt Outlaw black leader of Union League in North Carolina, lynched.

A-BOMB

1952 Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced that Britain had developed its own atomic bomb.

BUFFALO

1891 1st buffalo purchased for Golden Gate Park.

JEWS

1941 Utrecht & Zaandam strike against raid on Jews.

1980 Egypt & Israel exchange ambassadors for the 1st time

SHADOWS

1979 A total solar eclipse cast a moving shadow 175 miles wide from Oregon to North Dakota before moving into Canada.

COMMIES

1848 Marx & Engels publish "The Communist Manifesto".

NANNY STATE

1954 Michigan Representative Ruth Thompson (R) introduces legislation to ban mailing "obscene, lewd, lascivious or filthy" phonograph (rock & roll) records.

SLURS

1984 Reverend Jesse Jackson acknowledges that he called NYC, "Hymietown".

REBUKES

1987 The Tower Commission, which probed the Iran-Contra affair, issued its report, which rebuked President Reagan for failing to control his national security staff.

CHESS

1859 Paul Morphy's chess match vs Augustus Mongredien begins; Morphy wins.

OPRAH

1998 A jury in Amarillo, Texas, rejected an $11 million lawsuit brought by Texas cattlemen who blamed Oprah Winfrey's talk show for a price fall after a segment on food safety that included a discussion about mad cow disease.

BORN

1846 William F "Buffalo Bill" Cody Davenport IA, killed 4000 buffaloes.

1852 John Harvey Kellogg surgeon, inspired flaked cereal industry.

1893 William Frawley Iowa, actor (Fred Mertz-I Love Lucy, Bub-My 3 Sons).

1916 Jackie Gleason Brooklyn NY, comedian (Ralph Kramden-Honeymooners).

BIRTHDAYS

Singer Fats Domino is 80. Political columnist Robert Novak is 77. Country-rock musician Paul Cotton (Poco) is 65. Actor-director Bill Duke is 65. Singer Mitch Ryder is 63. Rock musician Jonathan Cain (Journey) is 58. Singer Michael Bolton is 55. Actor Greg Germann is 50. Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine is 50. Bandleader John McDaniel is 47. Actress Jennifer Grant is 42. Rock musician Tim Commerford (Audioslave) is 40. Singer Erykah Badu is 37. Rhythm-and-blues singer Rico Wade (Society of Soul) is 36. Rhythm-and-blues singer Kyle Norman (Jagged Edge) is 33. Rhythm-and-blues singer Corinne Bailey Rae is 29. Country singer Rodney Hayden is 28. Actress Taylor Dooley is 15.

DEATH

1959 Lou Costello actor (Abbott & Costello), dies at 52.

February 26, the 57th day of 2008. There are 309 days left in the year.

by Mondoreb
image: virtual tourist
Source:
* Today in History
* Today in History

Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in Weird History: February 25, 2008

2008-02-25T00:01:00.000-08:00

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTER, LEVIATHAN, BUSINESS, PATENTS, COMMIES, ACTIVIST COURT, SPORTS, RUN, SPEECH, EXECUTED, GUILLOTINED, LYNCHED, EXCOMMUNICATION, MONKEYS, E PLURIBUS PLURIBUS, RECORDS, GREENBACKS, CONDEMNED, DALI LAMA, TAXES, INFLATION, NAZIS, JEWS, MOONIES, SERIAL KILLERS, BICYCLES, AH ONE AND AH TWO, FAST, TV BREAKDOWNS, HOOKERS, WHEN HE'S DOWN, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH

LEVIATHAN

1913 the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, giving Congress the power to levy and collect income taxes, was declared in effect by Secretary of State Philander Chase Knox.

WAR!

1779 American forces led by George Rogers Clark routed the British from Fort Sackville in the Revolutionary War Battle of Vincennes in present-day Indiana.

1991 During the Persian Gulf War, 28 Americans were killed when an Iraqi Scud missile hit a U.S. barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.

2003 Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix said Iraq was showing new signs of real cooperation, but President Bush was dismissive, predicting Saddam Hussein would try to "fool the world one more time."

TERRORISM

1995 Bomb attack on train in Assam India (27 soldiers killed).

1995 Moslem fundamentalists shoot 20 Shiite mosque goers dead.

2007 A female suicide bomber triggered a ball bearing-packed charge, killing at least 41 people at a mostly Shiite college in Baghdad.

DISASTERS

1977 Oil tanker explosion west of Honolulu spills 31 million gallons.

1984 Oil fire in Cubatao Brazil kills 500.

1994 Peruvian Yak-40 crashes into mountain near Tingo Maria, kills 31.

MONKEYS

1751 1st performing monkey exhibited in America, NYC (admission 1¢).

RECORDS

1838 London pedestrian walks 20 miles backward then forward in 8 hours.

CONDEMNED

1885 US Congress condemns barbed wire around government grounds.

PATENTS

1836 inventor Samuel Colt patented his revolver.

TV BREAKDOWNS

1990 On a BBC taped interview, rock star Stevie Nicks breaks down, saying that she will never have children & no man can stand her for long.

DALI LAMA

1910 Dali Lama flees Tibet from Chinese troop to British-Indies.

WHEN HE'S DOWN

1995 British heavyweight Nigel Benn hits Gerard McClellan in hospital.

HOOKERS

1998 Switzerland's 1st legal brothel opens in Zurich.

INFLATION

1923 Bread in Berlin rises to 2,000 mark.

AH ONE AND AH TWO

1982 Final episode of "The Lawrence Welk Show" airs.

GUILLOTINED

1922 Henri-Désiré Landru French sex murderer, guillotined at 52.

TAXES

1919 Oregon is 1st state to tax gasoline (1¢ per gallon).

GREENBACKS

1862 Paper currency (greenbacks) introduced in US by President Abraham Lincoln.

EXCOMMUNICATION

1570 Pius V excommunicates Elizabeth, absolves her subjects from allegiance.

NAZIS

1932 Immigrant Adolf Hitler gets German citizenship.

CHOKED

1983 Tennessee Williams writer (Streetcar Named Desire), reportedly chokes to death on a bottle cap at 71.

SERIAL KILLERS

1973 Juan Corona sentenced to 25 life sentences for 25 murders.

E PLURIBUS PLURIBUS

1803 1,800 sovereign German states unite into 60 states.

LYNCHED

1994 Baruch Goldstein physician/murderer (53 in mosque), lynched at 42.

BICYCLES

1974 Veronica & Colin Scargill (England) begin tandem bicycle ride a record 18,020 miles around the world, completed on August 27, 1975.

FAST

1982 Record speed for a snowmobile (239 kph).

BUSINESS

1901 U.S. Steel Corp. was incorporated by J.P. Morgan.

JEWS

1941 February strike against persecution of Jews, in Amsterdam.

MOONIES

1968 430 Unification Church couples wed in Korea.

COMMIES

1948 Communists seized power in Czechoslovakia.

ACTIVIST COURT

1957 The Supreme Court, in Butler v. Michigan, overturned a Michigan statute making it a misdemeanor to sell books containing obscene language that would tend to corrupt "the morals of youth."

SPEECH

2007 In Detroit, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan stressed religious unity during what was billed as his final major speech, saying the world was at war because Christians and Muslims were divided.

EXECUTED

1601 Robert Devereux Earl of Essex, executed for treason against Elizabeth.

SPORTS

1964 Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali), a 7-1 underdog, became world heavyweight boxing champion by defeating Sonny Liston in Miami Beach, Fla.

1989 Dallas Cowboys fire coach Tom Landry after a 29-year career.

RUN!

In 1986, President Ferdinand Marcos fled the Philippines after 20 years of rule in the wake of a tainted election; Corazon Aquino assumed the presidency.

BORN

1841 Pierre Auguste Renoir Limoges France, Impressionist painter/sculptor.

1901 [Herbert] Zeppo Marx New York NY, comedian/actor (Marx Brothers).

1906 Domingo Ortega Spanish bullfighter.

BIRTHDAYS

Country singer Ralph Stanley is 81. TV writer-producer Larry Gelbart is 80. Actor Tom Courtenay is 71. CBS newsman Bob Schieffer is 71. Actress Diane Baker is 70. Actress Karen Grassle is 64. Movie director Neil Jordan is 58. Rock musician Dennis Diken (The Smithereens) is 51. Rock singer-musician Mike Peters (The Alarm) is 49. Actress Veronica Webb is 43. Actor Alexis Denisof is 42. Actress Tea Leoni is 42. Comedian Carrot Top is 41. Actress Lesley Boone is 40. Actor Sean Astin is 37. Singer Daniel Powter is 37. Latin singer Julio Iglesias Jr. is 35. Rhythm-and-blues singer Justin Jeffre is 35. Rock musician Richard Liles is 35. Actor Anson Mount is 35. Actress Rashida Jones is 32. Actor Justin Berfield is 22. Actors Oliver and James Phelps ("Harry Potter" movies) are 22.

DEATH

1994 Jersey Joe Walcott boxer, dies at 80.

February 25, the 56th day of 2008. There are 310 days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
image: history
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History

Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in Weird History: February 24, 2008

2008-02-24T08:59:00.001-08:00

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTER, NAZIS, POLITICS, REBELS, STRONGMEN, INJUSTICE, HUSTLER, SUPREME COURT, BULLS, GESTURES, CRUSH, FINALLY, PARADES, ARRESTS, ICE, PROGRESS, JEWS, DIETS, PIGS, HUH, FINANCE, ASSASSINATED, BLIMPS, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH

1868 the House of Representatives impeached President Andrew Johnson following his attempted dismissal of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton; Johnson was later acquitted by the Senate.

WAR!

1917 German plan to get Mexican help in WWI exposed (Zimmerman telegram).

1945 Egypt & Syria declares war on Nazi-Germany.

1968 US troops reconquer Hue Vietnam.

2003 Seeking U.N. approval for war against Iraq, the United States, Britain and Spain submitted a resolution to the Security Council declaring that Saddam Hussein had missed "the final opportunity" to disarm peacefully and indicating that he had to face the consequences.

TERRORISM

2007 A suicide truck bomber struck worshippers leaving a Sunni mosque in Habbaniyah, 50 miles west of Baghdad, killing at least 52 people.

DISASTER

1989 US Boeing 747 loses parts of roof over Pacific, 9 die.

PIGS

1979 Highest price ever paid for a pig, $42,500, Stamford TX.

HUH?

1989 Margaret Ray found in David Letterman's home, claims to be his wife.

BLIMPS

1997 South Africa announces it is constructing largest modern day blimp.

FINANCE

1995 Dow-Jones hits record 4011.74.

DIETS

1981 Jean Harris is convicted of murdering Scarsdale diet doctor Tarnower.

PROGRESS

1938 Du Pont begins commercial production of nylon toothbrush bristles.

PARADE

1868 1st US parade with floats (Mardi Gras-Mobile AL).

ICE

1925 Thermit explosive 1st used to break up ice jam, Waddington NY.

ARRESTS

1923 Mass arrests in US of Mafia.

JEWS

1949 Israel & Egypt sign an armistice agreement.

CRUSH

1807 17 die & 15 wounded in a crush to witness execution of Holloway, Heggerty & Elizabeth Godfrey in England.

FINALLY

1855 US Court of Claims established for cases against the government.

DISASTERS

2003 A powerful earthquake in China's western region of Xinjiang killed at least 268 people and injured more than 1,000.

BULLS

1582 Pope Gregory XIII issued a papal bull, or edict, outlining his calendar reforms. (The Gregorian Calendar is the calendar in general use today).

GESTURES

2007 The Virginia General Assembly passed a resolution expressing "profound regret" for the state's role in slavery.

SUPREME COURT

1803 in its Marbury v. Madison decision, the Supreme Court 1st rules a law unconstitutional and established judicial review of the constitutionality of statutes.

INJUSTICE

1983 a congressional commission released a report condemning the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II as a "grave injustice."

REBELS

1821, Mexican rebels proclaimed the "Plan de Iguala," their declaration of independence from Spain.

POLITICS

1863 Arizona was organized as a territory.

NAZIs

1920 a fledgling German political party held its first meeting of importance in Munich; it became known as the Nazi Party, and its chief spokesman was Adolf Hitler.

STRONGMEN

1946 Argentinians went to the polls to elect Juan D. Peron their president.

HUSTLER

1988 in a ruling that expanded legal protections for parody and satire, the Supreme Court overturned a $200,000 award that the Rev. Jerry Falwell had won against Hustler magazine and publisher Larry Flynt.

ASSASSINATED

1945 Ahmed Maher Pasha Egypt's PM, assassinated in parliament.

BORN

1874 Honus Wagner HOF shortstop (Pittsburgh Pirates, 1900-17).

BIRTHDAYS

Actor Abe Vigoda is 87. Actor Steven Hill is 86. Actor-singer Dominic Chianese is 77. Movie composer Michel Legrand is 76. Actor James Farentino is 70. Actor Barry Bostwick is 63. Actor Edward James Olmos is 61. Singer-writer-producer Rupert Holmes is 61. Rock singer-musician George Thorogood is 58. Actress Debra Jo Rupp is 57. Actress Helen Shaver is 57. Apple CEO Steve Jobs is 53. News anchor Paula Zahn is 52. Country singer Sammy Kershaw is 50. Singer Michelle Shocked is 46. Movie director Todd Field is 44. Actor Billy Zane is 42. Actress Bonnie Somerville is 34. Rhythm-and-blues singer Brandon Brown (Mista) is 25.

DEATH

1983 Tennessee Williams US playwright (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof), dies at 71.

1994 Dinah Shore singer (Chevrolet), dies of cancer at 76.

1998 Henny Youngman, a tireless comic who quipped "Take my wife — please" and countless other one-liners during a career that spanned seven decades, died in New York City at age 91. "I once wanted to become an atheist but I gave up ... they have no holidays."

February 24, the 55th day of 2008. There are 311 days left in the year.

by Mondoreb
image: teachpol
Source:
* Today in History
* Today in History

DBKP Today in Weird History: February 23, 2008

2008-02-23T05:20:00.001-08:00

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTER, LAST STANDS, POLITICS, MASS INOCULATION, FAKE SHEEP, WHO, RUMORS, IRONY, BUSY, SERIAL KILLERS, PERSECUTION, PATENTS, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, CANDY, LEASES, PROGRESS, QUICKIE, FASCISTS, PRO WRESTLING, JEWS, KIDNAPPED, SUSPENDED, GOLD, SUPERNOVA, SHORT PEOPLE, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH

WAR!

1945 During World War II, U.S. Marines on Iwo Jima captured Mount Suribachi, where they raised the American flag.

1847 The Battle of Buena Vista took place during the Mexican-American War. U.S. troops led by General Zachary Taylor fought Mexican General Santa Anna's forces, who ended up withdrawing.

1916 French artillery kills entire French 72nd division at Samogneux Verdun.

1942 Japanese sub fires on oil refinery in Ellwood CA.

1967 US troops begin largest offensive of Vietnam War.

TERRORISM

1969 Nayif Hawatimah forms Democratic People's Front for Liberation of Palestine.

1997 Ali Abu Kamal opens fire in Empire State Building & kills 1.

2007 Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport became the first in the United States to begin testing new X-ray screening technology that can see through people's clothes.

DISASTER

1887 French/Italian Riviera struck by Earthquake; 2,000 die.

1980 Oil tanker explosion off Pilos, Greece, causes 37-million-gallon spill.

1998 Forty-two people were killed, some 2,600 homes and businesses damaged or destroyed, by tornadoes in central Florida.

2003 In West Warwick, R.I., relatives of the 100 victims of a deadly nightclub fire were allowed to walk up to the charred rubble to pray and say goodbye.

IRONY

1994 Stuart Berger doctor (Immune Power Diet), dies from obesity at 40.

LAST STANDS

1836 the siege of the Alamo began in San Antonio, entire garrison eventually killed.

BUSY

1922 Henri Landru executed for having 11 wives, in France.

SHORT PEOPLE

1993 Gary Coleman wins $1,280,000 lawsuit against parents for high fees.

PROGRESS

1910 1st radio contest held (Philadelphia).

1936 1st rocket air mail flight, Greenwood Lake NY.

QUICKIE

1915 Nevada enforces convenient divorce law.

GOLD

1973 Gold goes up $10 overnight to record $95 an ounce in London.

WHO?

2007 Democrat Tom Vilsack abandoned his bid for the presidency.

LEASES

1903 Cuban state of Guantanamo leased to USA.

SUSPENDED

1971 George Harrison is fined & his driving license is suspended for 1 year as a result of several speeding tickets and a dispute with the police.

SPORTS

1983 USFL New Jersey Generals sign Heisman winner Herschel Walker (3 years-$5 million).

1985 Indiana basketball coach Bobby Knight throws a chair during a game.

POPULAR

1861 By popular referendum, Texas becomes 7th state to secede from US.

SUPERNOVA

1987 Supernova 1987A in LMC 1st seen; 1st naked-eye supernova since 1604

SERIAL KILLERS

1906 Johann Hoch US murderer, executed.

PRO WRESTLING

1939 Lou Thesz beats E Marshall in St Louis, to become wrestling champion.

PATENTS

1874 Major Walter Winfield patents game called "sphairistike" (lawn tennis)

RUMORS

1970 Rumors spread that females born on this day were better looking and more vivacious.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1886 London Times publishes world's 1st classified ad.

JEWS

1947 General Eisenhower opens drive to raise $170 million in aid for European Jews.

CANDY

1896 Tootsie Roll introduced by Leo Hirshfield.

KIDNAPPED

1958 5-time world driving champion Juan Fangio kidnapped by Cuban rebels.

BURNED

155 Polycarp disciple of Apostle John, arrested & burned at stake.

FASCISTS

1919 Benito Mussolini founds the Fascist party of Italy.

POLITICS

1861 President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrived secretly in Washington to take office, following word of an assassination plot in Baltimore.

1870 Mississippi was readmitted to the Union.

PERSECUTION

303 Emperor Diocletian orders general persecution of Christians.

MASS INOCULATION

1954 The first mass inoculation of children against polio with the Salk vaccine began in Pittsburgh.

COUP

1981 an attempted coup began in Spain as 200 members of the Civil Guard invaded the Parliament, taking lawmakers hostage. (However, the attempt collapsed 18 hours later.)

FAKE SHEEP

1997 Scientists in Scotland announced they had succeeded in cloning an adult mammal, producing a lamb named Dolly. (Dolly, however, was later put down after a short life marred by premature aging and disease.)

JURIES

2007 A Mississippi grand jury refused to bring any new charges in the 1955 slaying of Emmett Till, a black teenager who was beaten and shot after whistling at a white woman, declining to indict the woman, Carolyn Bryant Donham, for manslaughter.

BORN

1633 English diarist Samuel Pepys (The Great Fire of London) was born in London.

1865 Barney Dreyfuss baseball owner (Pittsburgh Pirates).

BIRTHDAYS

Country songwriter Bob Willis is 74. Actor Peter Fonda is 68. Author John Sandford is 64. Singer-musician Johnny Winter is 64. Country-rock musician Rusty Young is 62. Actress Patricia Richardson is 57. Rock musician Brad Whitford (Aerosmith) is 56. Singer Howard Jones is 53. Rock musician Michael Wilton (Queensryche) is 46. Country singer Dusty Drake is 44. Actress Kristin Davis is 43. Tennis player Helena Sukova is 43. Actor Marc Price is 40. Actress Niecy Nash is 38. Rock musician Jeff Beres (Sister Hazel) is 37. Country singer Steve Holy is 36. Rock musician Lasse Johansson (The Cardigans) is 35. Actress Dakota Fanning is 14.

DEATH

1848 The 6th president of the United States, John Quincy Adams, died in Washington, D.C., at age 80.

1884 Tambo Tambo Australian aboriginal/US circus attraction, dies at 23.

February 23, the 54th day of 2008. There are 312 days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
Source:
* Today in History
* Today in History

Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in Weird History: February 22, 2008

2008-02-22T10:12:00.001-08:00

WAR, TERRORISM, POLITICS, CRICKET, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, MIRACLES, POPCORN, SUCIDE, ASSASSINATION, BEHEADED, JEWS, GOP, WAGERS, NANNY STATE, SPUNKY, FIVE and DIME, MISTAKES, FUR, FRIENDLY FIRE, SOCCER, NASCAR, NYC MAYORS, UNREST, ESPANOL, AHHHH, WOUNDED, MARRIAGE, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH
Click on image to enlarge.
NASCAR

1959 1st Daytona 500 auto race-Lee Petty wins (135.521 MPH).

WAR!

1862 Jefferson Davis, already the provisional president of the Confederacy, was inaugurated for a six-year term as president following his election the previous November.

1915 Germany begins "unrestricted" submarine war.

1967 More than 25,000 U.S. and South Vietnamese troops launched Operation Junction City, aimed at smashing a Vietcong stronghold near the Cambodian border.

1991 Bush & US Gulf War allies give Iraq 24 hours to begin Kuwait withdrawal.

2007 Britain's Ministry of Defense announced that Prince Harry, a second lieutenant in the British army, would be deployed to Iraq. (Officials later reversed the decision because of insurgent threats.)

TERRORISM

1935 It became illegal for airplanes to fly over the White House.

1948 Arabs bomb attack in Jerusalem, 50 die.

1989 US authors demonstrate against Iranian death treats against Salman Rushdee, author of "Satanic Rituals".

2007 The U.N. nuclear watchdog agency said Iran had ignored a Security Council ultimatum to freeze uranium enrichment, and instead had expanded its program by setting up hundreds of centrifuges.

AHHHHH!

1989 Finland ministry of Public health installs sex vacation to thwart stress.

WAGERS

1861 On a bet Edward Weston leaves Boston to walk to Lincoln's inauguration.

SPUNKY

1920 1st artificial rabbit used at a dog race track (Emeryville CA).

NANNY STATE

1872 1st national convention of the Prohibition Party (Columbus OH).

FIVE & DIME

1879 1st 5¢ & 10¢ store opened by Frank W Woolworth in Utica NY.

FUR

1923 1st successful chinchilla farm in US (Los Angeles CA).

WOUNDED

1932 Purple Heart award re-instituted.

ESPANOL

1989 1st Spanish commercial on network TV (Pepsi-Cola-CBS Grammy Award).

NYC MAYORS

1982 NYC Mayor Koch announces he will run for New York governor (unsuccessful).

MARRIAGE

1992 Ed McMahon, 69, weds Pamela Hurn, 37.

1992 Rockers Kurt Cobain (Nirvana) & Courtney Love (Hole), wed.

1991 Actor Bill Bixby (57) weds Laura Michael (32).

FRIENDLY FIRE

1940 German air force sinks 2 German destroyers, killing 578.

1944 US 8th Air Force bombs Enschede, Arnhem & Nijmegen by mistake/800+ die.

POPCORN

1630 Indians introduce pilgrims to popcorn.

UNREST

1983 Hindus kill 3000 Moslems in Assam, India.

1995 Algiers police kill at least 99 prison rioters.

SUICIDE

1998 Sandy Hume correspondent (Fox News), commits suicide at 28.

GOP

1854 1st meeting of the Republican Party, Michigan.

1856 1st national meeting of the Republican Party (Pittsburgh).

MISTAKES

2003 Jesica Santillan, the teenager who'd survived a botched heart-lung transplant long enough to get a second set of donated organs, died two days after the second transplant at Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina.

POLITICS

1819 Spain agreed to cede Florida to the United States under the Adams-Onis Treaty.

1865 Tennessee adopted a new constitution that included the abolition of slavery.

1889 President Cleveland signed an omnibus bill to admit the Dakotas, Montana and Washington state to the Union.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1924 President Coolidge delivered the first radio broadcast from the White House as he addressed the country over 42 stations.

SOCCER

1956 1st British soccer match at Kunstlicht Portsmouth vs Newcastle United.

ASSASSINATION

1913 Francisco Indalecio Madero Mexican President at 39, and Suarez, Mexican vice President, assassinated in a military coup.

JEWS

1656 New Amsterdam granted a Jewish burial site.

1775 Jews expelled from outskirts of Warsaw Poland.

1941 I G Farben decides building Buna-Werke in Auschwitz Concentration Camp; Nazi SS begin rounding up Jews of Amsterdam.

MIRACLES

1980 the U.S. Olympic hockey team upset the Soviets at Lake Placid, N.Y., 4-3. (The U.S. team went on to win the gold medal.)

BEHEADED

1943 Hans Scholl German resistance fighter (White Rose), beheaded at 24. Sophie Scholl German resistance fighter (Die Weisse Rose), beheaded.

CRICKET

1993 Vinod Kambli scores 224 vs England at Bombay, 411 balls, 23 fours.

BORN

1732 The first president of the United States, George Washington, was born at his parents' plantation in the Virginia Colony.

1788 Arthur Schopenhauer Germany, philosopher (Great Pessimist).

1810 Frédéric F Chopin Polish/French pianist/composer.

1891 "Chico" Marx New York NY, actor/comedian (Marx Brothers, Animal Crackers).

BIRTHDAYS

Announcer Don Pardo is 90. Actor Paul Dooley is 80. Hollywood "ghost singer" Marni Nixon is 78. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., is 76. Movie director Jonathan Demme is 64. Actor John Ashton is 60. Actress Miou-Miou is 58. Actress Julie Walters is 58. Basketball Hall-of-Famer Julius Erving is 58. Actor Kyle MacLachlan is 49. Actress-comedian Rachel Dratch is 42. Actress Jeri Ryan is 40. Actor Thomas Jane is 39. Actress Tamara Mello is 38. Actress-singer Lea Salonga is 37. Actor Jose Solano is 37. Tennis player Michael Chang is 36. Actress Drew Barrymore is 33. Actress Liza Huber is 33. Singer James Blunt is 31. Actor Daniel E. Smith is 18.

DEATH

1998 Abraham A. Ribicoff, the former Connecticut governor and senator who served as President Kennedy's secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, died in Riverdale, N.Y., at age 87.

February 22, the 53rd day of 2008. There are 313 days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
image: fireballroberts
Source:
* Today in History
* Today in history

Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in Weird History: February 21, 2008

2008-02-20T22:26:00.000-08:00

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTER, LANDMARKS, PROGRESS, CHINA CARD, JEWS, WATERGATE, ADVENTURE, POLITICS, DIPLOMACY, SPORTS, DRAWN and QUARTERED, EJECTED, SALUTE, MONEY, ALARMS, BOOKS, BRAINS, FIZZ, PRO WRESTLING, SCIENCE, BEATLES, MUSIC, MOONIES, SERIAL KILLERS, RECORDS, TV PREACHERS, DRUGS, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH

TERRORISM

1965 black Muslim leader and civil rights activist Malcolm X, 39, was shot to death inside the Audubon Ballroom in New York by assassins identified as members of the Nation of Islam.

WAR!

1862 Texas Rangers win Confederate victory at Battle of Val Verde, New Mexico.

1916 the World War I Battle of Verdun began in France as German forces attacked; the French were able to prevail after 10 months of fighting.

2003 Chief U.N. inspector Hans Blix ordered the destruction of dozens of Iraqi missiles with ranges that violated U.N. limits.

2007 British Prime Minister Tony Blair announced his country would withdraw around 1,600 troops from Iraq in the coming months; Denmark, meanwhile, said it would withdraw its 460 troops.

DISASTER

1917 Train near Chirurcha Romania catches fire & explodes; 100s die.

1922 Airship Rome explodes at Hampton Roads Virginia; 34 die.

1971 Series of tornadoes cuts through Mississippi & Louisiana killing 117.

2003 The owners of The Station nightclub in West Warwick, R.I., where 100 people perished in a fast-moving fire the night before, denied giving the rock band Great White permission to use fireworks blamed for setting off the blaze, although the band's singer insisted the use of pyrotechnics had been approved.

DRAWN & QUARTERED

1803 Edward Despard last person drawn & quartered in England.

PRO WRESTLING

1947 Whipper Billy Watson beats Bill Longson, to become wrestling champion.

EJECTED

1764 John Wilkes thrown out of English House of Commons for "Essay on Women".

FIZZ

1931 Alka Seltzer introduced.

RECORDS

1983 Donald Davis runs 1 mile backwards in 6 minutes 7.1 seconds.

SALUTE

1777 English ambassador Joseph Yorke demands dismissal of Governor John de Graaff for saluting US flag.

BEATLES

1964 UK flies 24,000 rolls of Beatle wallpaper to US.

TV PREACHERS

1988 During a live TV broadcast, televangelist Jimmy Swaggart (age 52) admitted to visiting a prostitute, then announced he would be leaving his ministry for an unspecified length of time. (Defrocked in April by the Assemblies of God, he was ordered to stay off TV for a year, but returned after only three months).

MONEY

1857 Congress outlaws foreign currency as legal tender in US.

BRAINS

1902 Dr Harvey Cushing, 1st US brain surgeon, does his 1st brain operation.

ALARMS

1858 Edwin T Holmes installs 1st electric burglar alarm (Boston MA).

SERIAL KILLERS

1981 "Yorkshire Ripper" Peter Sutcliffe, murderer of 13 women, captured.

BOOKS

1878 1st telephone directory (with 50 names) issued (New Haven CT).

SCIENCE

1953 F Crick & J Watson discover structure of DNA-molecule.

DRUGS

1989 US bust Chinese heroin ring, capture record 820 lbs heroin ($1 billion street value).

LANDMARKS

1885 the Washington Monument was dedicated.

MUSIC

1970 Jackson 5 make TV debut on "American Bandstand".

PROGRESS

1947 Edwin H. Land publicly demonstrated his Polaroid Land camera, which could produce a black-and-white photograph in 60 seconds.

CHINA CARD

1972 President Nixon began his historic visit to China as he and his wife, Pat, arrived in Shanghai.

JEWS

1943 Dutch Roman Catholic bishops protest against persecution of Jews.

1973 Israeli fighter planes shot down Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 over the Sinai Desert, killing more than 100 people.

1974 Israeli forces leave western Suez.

WATERGATE

1975 Former Attorney General John N. Mitchell and former White House aides H.R. Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman were sentenced to 2 1/2 to 8 years in prison for their roles in the Watergate cover-up.

ADVENTURE

1995 Chicago adventurer Steve Fossett became the first person to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon, landing in Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada.

POLITICS

2000 Consumer advocate Ralph Nader announced his entry into the presidential race, bidding for the nomination of the Green Party.

DIPLOMACY

1998 U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan began formal talks with Iraqi officials in the standoff over weapons inspections.

SPORTS

1979 2 Iowa girls High School basketball teams play 4 scoreless quarters; the game was won 4-2 in the 4th overtime period.

2003 Michael Jordan became the first 40-year-old in NBA history to score 40 or more points, getting 43 in the Washington Wizards' 89-86 win over the New Jersey Nets.

MOONIES

1977 74 Unification Church couples wed in New York NY.

BORN

1794 Antonio López de Santa Anna President of México (1833-36).

1887 Savielly [Xavier] G Tartakower Austrian/Polish/French chess player.

1893 Andrés Segovia Linares Spain, classical guitarist.

1907 Anglo-American poet W.H. Auden was born in York, England.

1914 Arnold S Denker New York, US chess champion (1944-46).

1927 Erma Bombeck Dayton OH, humorist (The Grass is Always Greener...).

BIRTHDAYS

Fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy is 81. Movie director Bob Rafelson is 75. Actress Rue McClanahan is 73. Actor Gary Lockwood is 71. Actor Peter McEnery is 68. Film/music company executive David Geffen is 65. Actor Alan Rickman is 62. Actress Tyne Daly is 62. Actor Anthony Daniels is 62. Tricia Nixon Cox is 62. Sen. Olympia J. Snowe, R-Maine, is 61. Rock musician Jerry Harrison (The Talking Heads) is 59. Actress Christine Ebersole is 55. Actor William Petersen is 55. Actor Kelsey Grammer is 53. Country singer Mary Chapin Carpenter is 50. Actor Jack Coleman is 50. Actor Christopher Atkins is 47. Rock singer Ranking Roger is 47. Actor William Baldwin is 45. Rock musician Michael Ward is 41. Actress Aunjanue Ellis is 39. Blues musician Corey Harris is 39. Country singer Eric Heatherly is 38. Rock musician Eric Wilson is 38. Rock musician Tad Kinchla (Blues Traveler) is 35. Actress Jennifer Love Hewitt is 29. Singer Charlotte Church is 22. Actress Ellen Page (Film: "Juno") is 21. Actor Corbin Bleu is 19.

DEATH

1991 Dame Margot Fonteyn ballerina, dies of cancer at 71.

February 21, the 52nd day of 2008. There are 314 days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
image: umn
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History

Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in Weird History: February 20, 2008

2008-02-19T22:15:00.000-08:00

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTER, PROGRESS, LEVIATHAN, DUELS, RESIGN, FALSE ALARMS, JEWS, MISTAKES, IMMIGRATION, KILLED, WINE, SCALPED, WIND, PATENTS, SURF, GOLF, ASSASSINATION, IRAN, NANNY STATE, VOLCANO, OOPS, RACES, PRO WRESTLING, SPORTS, SCIENCE, THAT SUCKING SOUND, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH

SCIENCE

1962 Astronaut John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth as he flew aboard the Mercury spacecraft Friendship 7.

WAR!

1942 Lieutenant E H O'Hare single-handedly shoots down 5 Japanese heavy bombers.

1944 During World War II, U.S. bombers began raiding German aircraft manufacturing centers in a series of attacks that became known as "Big Week."

1998 With the U.S. military poised to attack Iraq, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan began a final campaign to end the crisis over weapons inspections without bloodshed.

TERRORISM

1869 Tennessee Governor W C Brownlow declares martial law in Ku Klux Klan crisis.

1987 Bomb blamed on Unabomber explodes by computer store in Salt Lake City.

1994 3 Afghans take 70 Pakistani children hostage.

2007 In a victory for President Bush, a divided federal appeals court ruled that Guantanamo Bay detainees could not use the U.S. court system to challenge their indefinite imprisonment.

DISASTER

1835 Concepción, Chile destroyed by earthquake.

1856 John Rutledge, Liverpool-New York steamer, hits iceberg; many die.

1917 Ammunitions ship explodes in Archangelsk harbor, about 1,500 die.

1988 500 die in heavy rains in Rio de Janeiro Brazil.

2003 A fire broke out during a rock concert at The Station nightclub in West Warwick, R.I., killing 100 people and injuring about 200 others.

IMMIGRATION

1907 President Theodore Roosevelt signed an immigration act which excluded "idiots, imbeciles, feebleminded persons, epileptics, insane persons" from being admitted to the United States.

FALSE ALARMS

1971 The National Emergency Warning Center in Colorado erroneously ordered U.S. radio and TV stations off the air; some stations heeded the alert, which was not lifted for about 40 minutes.

RACE

1949 1st International Pancake Race held (Liberal KS).

THAT SUCKING SOUND

1992 Ross Perot says he'll run for President on Larry King Show.

GOLFERS

1927 Golfers in South Carolina arrested for violating Sabbath.

PRO WRESTLING

1978 Bob Backland beats Billy Graham in New York, to become WWF wrestling champion.

OOPS!

1947 Chemical mixing error causes explosion that destroys 42 blocks in Los Angeles CA.

VOLCANO

1943 New volcano Paracutin erupts in farmer's corn patch (México).

DUELS

1839 Congress prohibited dueling in the District of Columbia.

WINE

1673 1st recorded wine auction held (London).

WIND

1861 Steeple of Chichester Cathedral blown down during a storm.

SURF

1902 Heavy surf breaks over Seal Rocks & damages Sutro Baths, San Francisco.

SCALPED!

1725 10 sleeping Indians scalped by whites in New Hampshire for £100/scalp bounty.

SPORTS

1989 Members of 1949 Oklahoma football team cancelled an April reunion because of the deplorable conduct of Oklahoma players.

NANNY STATE

1933 House of Representatives completes congressional action to repeal Prohibition.

PROGRESS

1792 President Washington signed an act creating the U.S. Post Office.

SCIENCE

1989 Total eclipse of the Moon.

PATENTS

1872 Hydraulic electric elevator patented by Cyrus Baldwin.

1872 Luther Crowell patents a machine that manufactures paper bags.

1872 Silas Noble & JP Cooley patents toothpick manufacturing machine.

LEVIATHAN

1809 The Supreme Court, in United States v. Peters, ruled the power of the federal government is greater than that of any individual state.

MISTAKES

2003 A 17-year-old Mexican girl mistakenly given a heart and lungs with the wrong blood type received a second set of organs at Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina; however, Jesica Santillan suffered brain damage and later died.

KILLED

1983 Ray Vitte actor (Doc, Cody-Quest), killed by police at 33.

ASSASSINATION

1919 French premier Clemenceau injured during assassination attempt.

IRAN

1921 Riza Khan Pahlevi seizes control of Iran.

RESIGN

1938 Anthony Eden resigned as British foreign secretary following Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's decision to negotiate with Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.

SPIES

2003 Former Air Force Master Sgt. Brian Patrick Regan was convicted in Alexandria, Va., of offering to sell U.S. intelligence to Iraq and China but acquitted of attempted spying for Libya. (Regan was later sentenced to life without parole.)

JEWS

1941 Nazis order Polish Jews barred from using public transportation.

1941 1st transport of Jews to concentration camps leave Plotsk Poland.

1987 Soviet authorities released Jewish activist Josef Begun.

1995 Shlomo Averbach Rabbi, buried in Jerusalem, 250,000 attend.

BORN

1914 John Daly South Africa, newscaster/TV game show host (What's My Line).

1967 Kurt Cobain rock vocalist (Nirvana)/husband of Courtney Love.

BIRTHDAYS

Fashion designer Gloria Vanderbilt is 84. Actor Sidney Poitier is 81. Actress Marj Dusay is 72. Jazz-soul singer Nancy Wilson is 71. Singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie is 67. Hockey Hall-of-Famer Phil Esposito is 66. Movie director Mike Leigh is 65. Actress Brenda Blethyn is 62. Actress Sandy Duncan is 62. Rock musician J. Geils is 62. Actor Peter Strauss is 61. Rock singer-musician-producer Walter Becker (Steely Dan) is 58. Country singer Kathie Baillie is 57. Newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst is 54. Actor Anthony Stewart Head is 54. Country singer Leland Martin is 51. Actor James Wilby is 50. Rock musician Sebastian Steinberg is 49. Comedian Joel Hodgson is 48. Basketball player Charles Barkley is 45. Rock musician Ian Brown (Stone Roses) is 45. Actor French Stewart is 44. Actor Ron Eldard is 43. Model Cindy Crawford is 42. Actor Andrew Shue is 41. Actress Lili Taylor is 41. Singer Brian Littrell is 33. Actress Lauren Ambrose is 30. Actor Jay Hernandez is 30. Actress Majandra Delfino is 27. Singer-musician Chris Thile is 27. Actor Jake Richardson is 23. Singer Rihanna is 20.

DEATH

1790 Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II died.

1976 Kathryn Kuhlman religious leader/faith healer, dies.

1992 Dick York actor (Darren on Bewitched), dies of emphysema at 63.

February 20, the 51st day of 2008. There are 315 days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
Image: wikipedia
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History

Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in Weird History: February 19, 2008

2008-02-19T05:05:00.000-08:00

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTER, TREASON, POLITICS, PATENTS, NANNY STATE, MASSACRE, BURNED, DIPLOMACY, LABOR, PROGRESS, INSANE, CEREAL, PRIZE, MARRIAGE, JEWS, PRO WRESTLING, CROCS, FAST, CARTOONS, HELP, PLAGIARISM, COKE, MICKEY, HEALTH NAZIS, PORN, TRASHED, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH

WAR!

1945 during World War II, some 30,000 U.S. Marines began landing on Iwo Jima, where they commenced a successful monthlong battle to seize control of the island from Japanese forces.

1634 Battle at Smolensk Polish king Wladyslaw IV beats Russians.

1942 President Roosevelt signed an executive order that gave the military the authority to relocate and intern U.S. residents, including citizens, of Japanese ancestry.

1942 Japanese warplanes, attacking in two waves, raided the Australian city of Darwin; at least 243 people were killed.

TERRORISM

1986 Jordanian King Hussein severs ties with PLO.

DISASTER

1884 Tornadoes in Mississippi, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky & Indiana kill 800 people. No claims of climate change made.

1985 150 killed when a Spanish jetliner crashed approaching Bilbao, Spain.

2003 An Iranian military plane carrying 275 members of the elite Revolutionary Guards crashed in southeastern Iran, killing all on board.

PRIZE!

1913 1st prize inserted into a Cracker Jack box.

INSANE

1859 Dan Sickles is acquitted of murder on grounds of temporary insanity 1st time this defense is successfully used.

HEALTH NAZIS

1987 Anti-smoking ad airs for 1st time on TV, featuring Yul Brynner.

CEREAL

1906 W K Kellogg & Charles D Bolin incorporate Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company, Battle Creek MI.

CROCS

1945 900 Japanese soldiers reportedly killed by crocodiles in 2 days.

HELP!

1964 UK flies ½ ton of Beatle wigs to US.

TRASHED

1998 US hockey team destroys their rooms at Olympics village in Japan.

PORN

1992 Porn producer Jim Mitchell found guilty of killing his brother Artie.

COKE

1985 Canned & bottled Cherry Coke introduced by Coca-Cola.

PRO WRESTLING

1942 Bill Longson beats Managoff & Sandor Szabo, to become wrestling champion.

PLAGIARISM

1981 George Harrison is ordered to pay ABKCO Music $587,000 for "subconscious plagiarism" "My Sweet Lord" with "He's So Fine"

LABOR

1537 Weavers of Leiden Netherlands strike.

FAST!

1959 USAF rocket-powered rail sled attains Mach 4.1 (4970 kph), New Mexico.

TREASON

In 1807, former Vice President Aaron Burr, accused of treason, was arrested in the Mississippi Territory, in present-day Alabama. (Burr was acquitted at trial.)

MARRIAGE

1934 Bob & Dolores Hope marry.

MICKEY

1985 Mickey Mouse welcomed in China.

BURNED

1401 William Sawtree 1st English religious martyr, burned in London.

1545 Pierre Brully [Peter Brulius], calvinist minister, burned to death.

JEWS

1941 Nazis raid Koco Amsterdam & round up 429 young Jews for deportation.

PROGRESS

1831 1st practical US coal-burning locomotive makes 1st trial run, Pennsylvania.

CARTOONS

1960 Bil Keane's "Family Circus" cartoon strip debuts.

POLITICS

1846 the Texas state government was formally installed in Austin, with J. Pinckney Henderson taking the oath of office as governor.

2003 Missouri Congressman Dick Gephardt announced his second candidacy for president with a pledge to repeal most of President Bush's tax cuts.

PATENTS

1878 Thomas Edison received a U.S. patent for "an improvement in phonograph or speaking machines."

NANNY STATE

1881 Kansas prohibited the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages.

DIPLOMACY

1998 U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan set out for Iraq on a last-chance peace mission, saying he was "reasonably optimistic" about ending the standoff over weapons inspections without the use of force.

2007 Three-way talks between Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Israeli and Palestinian leaders, initially billed as a new U.S. push to restart peace efforts, ended with little progress other than a commitment to meet again.

MASSACRE

1983 13 people were found shot to death at a gambling club in Seattle's Chinatown in what became known as the "Wah Mee Massacre." (Two Chinese immigrants were convicted of the killings and sentenced to life in prison.)

BORN

1473 Nicolaus Copernicus Torún, Poland, astronomer (heliocentrism).

1916 Eddie Arcaro jockey (1958 Racing Hall of Fame, 2 triple crowns).

1943 "Mama" Cass Elliot actress (Mamas & Papas-Monday Monday).

BIRTHDAYS

Singer Smokey Robinson is 68. Singer Bobby Rogers (Smokey Robinson & the Miracles) is 68. Actress Carlin Glynn is 68. Singer Lou Christie is 65. Actor Michael Nader is 63. Rock musician Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath, Heaven and Hell) is 60. Author Amy Tan is 56. Actor Jeff Daniels is 53. Rock singer-musician Dave Wakeling is 52. Talk show host Lorianne Crook is 51. Actor Ray Winstone is 51. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is 49. Britain's Prince Andrew is 48. Tennis Hall-of-Famer Hana Mandlikova is 46. Singer Seal is 45. Country musician Ralph McCauley (Wild Horses) is 44. Actress Justine Bateman is 42. Actor Benicio Del Toro is 41. Rock musician Daniel Adair is 33. Pop singer-actress Haylie Duff is 23.

DEATH

1980 Bon Scott Australian rock vocalist (AC/DC-Whole Lotta Rosie), dies at 33.

1997 Deng Xiaoping, the last of China's major Communist revolutionaries, died at age 92.

1998 Grandpa Jones country comic/banjo wizard (Hee Haw), dies at 84.

2007 Actress Janet Blair died in Santa Monica, Calif., at age 85.

February 19, the 50th day of 2008. There are 316 days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
image: teachpol
Source:
* Today in History
* Today in History

Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in Weird History: February 18, 2008

2008-02-17T23:19:00.001-08:00

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTER, REBELS, SCIENCE, TRIALS, CLINTONS, DEATH BY WINE, QUAKERS, BEHEADED, ENLIGHTENED, POLITICS, DRY, PATENTS, FLYING COWS, PROGRESS, CLASSIC, OCTOPUS, CLIMATE CHANGE, MARRIAGE, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH

CLASSIC

1885 Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" published.

WAR!

1865 Evacuation of Charleston SC; Sherman's troops burn the city.

2003 Declaring that America's security should not be dictated by protesters, President Bush said he would not be swayed from compelling Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to disarm.

TERRORISM

1969 PLO-attack El-Al plane in Zurich Switzerland.

2003 An arson attack on two South Korean subway trains in the city of Daegu claimed 198 lives. (The arsonist was sentenced to life in prison.)

2007 A pair of bombs on a train headed from India to Pakistan killed 68 people.

2007 Twin car bombs blew up in a mostly Shiite area of Baghdad, killed at least 62 people.

DISASTER

1828 More than 100 vessels destroyed in a storm, Gibraltar.

1947 24 die in a train crash in Gallitzin PA.

1965 27 copper miners die in avalanche, Granduc Mountain British Columbia.

2007 A military helicopter crashed in southeastern Afghanistan, killing eight U.S. service members; 14 survived with injuries.

DEATH BY WINE

1478 Duke of Clarence forced drowning in a wine barrel.

FLYING COWS

1930 First cow milked in an airplane. Olly the Cow flown & milked, milk sealed in paper containers & parachuted over St. Louis MO.

PROGRESS

1953 Premiere of 1st 3-D feature film-"Bwana Devil" (New York NY).

OCTOPUS

1973 54-kg octopus measuring 7 meter across captured in Hood Canal, Washington.

CLIMATE CHANGE

1979 Snow falls in the Sahara Desert.

MARRIAGE

1995 Pamela Anderson (Baywatch) & Tommy Lee (Motley Crüe) wed.

ENLIGHTENED

1787 Austrian emperor Jozef II bans children under 8 from labor.

PATENTS

1901 H Cecil Booth patented a dust removing suction cleaner.

DRY

1896 Cave of Winds at Niagara Falls goes almost dry for 1st time in 50 years.

BEHEADED

1587 Mary Stuart Queen of Scots (1560-87), beheaded at 44.

CLINTONS

1998 President Clinton's foreign policy team encountered jeers during a town meeting at The Ohio State University while trying to defend the administration's threat to bomb Iraq into compliance with U.N. weapons edicts.

QUAKERS

1688 Quakers conduct 1st formal protest of slavery in Germantown PA.

POLITICS

1841 1st continuous filibuster in US Senate began, lasting until March 11.

TRIALS

1970 the "Chicago Seven" defendants were found innocent of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic national convention; five were convicted of violating the Anti-Riot Act of 1968. (Those convictions were later reversed).

SCIENCE

1930 photographic evidence of Pluto (now designated a "dwarf planet") was discovered by Clyde W. Tombaugh at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Ariz.

1977 the space shuttle Enterprise, sitting atop a Boeing 747, went on its maiden "flight" above the Mojave Desert.

REBELS

1861 Jefferson Davis was sworn in as the provisional president of the Confederate States of America in Montgomery, Ala.

BORN

1516 Mary I Tudor [Bloody Mary] Greenwich, (1553-58), 1st reigning queen of Great Britain.

1859 Sholem Aleichem [Solomon Rabinowitz], author (Fiddler on the Roof).

1890 Boris L Pasternak Russian poet/writer (Dr Zhivago).

1892 Wendell Wilkie Presidential candidate (R-1940)/author (One World).

1895 George "The Gipper" Gipp Notre Dame football star.

1920 Jack Palance [Walter Palanuik], Lattimer PA, actor (City Slickers).

BIRTHDAYS

Former Cosmopolitan editor Helen Gurley Brown is 86. Actor George Kennedy is 83. Sen. John Warner, R-Va., is 81. Author Toni Morrison is 77. Movie director Milos Forman is 76. Singer Yoko Ono is 75. Singer/songwriter Bobby Hart is 69. Singer Irma Thomas is 67. Singer Herman Santiago (Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers) is 67. Singer Dennis DeYoung is 61. Actress Sinead Cusack is 60. Producer-director-writer John Hughes is 58. Actress Cybill Shepherd is 58. Singer Juice Newton is 56. Singer Randy Crawford is 56. Rock musician Robbie Bachman is 55. Rock musician Larry Rust (Iron Butterfly) is 55. Actor John Travolta is 54. Game show host Vanna White is 51. Actress Greta Scacchi is 48. Actor Matt Dillon is 44. Rapper Dr. Dre is 43. Actress Molly Ringwald is 40. Actress Sarah Brown is 33. Singer-musician Sean Watkins (Nickel Creek) is 31. Actor Tyrone Burton is 29. Actor Shane Lyons is 20.

DEATH

1546 Martin Luther, leader of the Protestant Reformation in Germany, died in Eisleben.

1564 artist Michelangelo died in Rome.

1967 American theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer died in Princeton, N.J., at age 62.

1990 Hulk fictional character in "Death of Incredible Hulk" on NBC, dies.

1998 Sportscaster Harry Caray died in Rancho Mirage, Calif., at age 83.

2001 NASCAR driver/"The Intimidator", dies in crash during Daytona 500 at 49.

2003 Country singer Johnny PayCheck died in Nashville, Tenn., at age 64.

February 18, the 49th day of 2008. There are 317 days left in the year. This is Presidents Day.

by Mondoreb
image: teachwithmovies
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History

Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in Weird History: February 17, 2008

2008-02-16T21:54:00.000-08:00

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTERS, BURNED, POLITICS, PROGRESS, CHINA CARD, CHESS, HANGED, VEGETABLES, JIHAD, TOILETS, NANNY STATE, CARTOONS, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, JEWS, MUSIC, FINANCE, ENVIRONMENTAL SCARE, KILLERS, HUSTLER, CLINTONS, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH

click on image to read Newsweek's "The Cooling World"

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1933 1st issue of "Newsweek" magazine published.

WAR!

1864 The Confederate submarine Hunley, equipped with an explosive at the end of a protruding spar, rammed and sank the Union's ship Housatonic off the coast of Charleston, S.C.

1865 Columbia, S.C., burned as the Confederates evacuated and Union forces moved in. (It's not clear which side set the blaze.)

1915 Edward Stone, 1st US combatant to die in WWI, is mortally wounded.

1979 China invades Vietnam.

2003 European Union leaders declared their solidarity with the United States, warning Saddam Hussein that Iraq faced one "last chance" to disarm peacefully but calling war a last resort.

2007 Senate Republicans foiled a Democratic bid to repudiate President Bush's deployment of 21,500 additional combat troops to Iraq.

2007 Marine Lance Cpl. Robert B. Pennington was sentenced to eight years in military prison for his role in the kidnapping and killing of an Iraqi civilian.

TERRORISM

1986 Libyan bombers attack N'djamena Airport in Chad.

1988 US Lieutenant Colonel William Higgins kidnapped by Lebanese terrorists & later killed.

1993 Alfredo de Leon leader (Philippines Red Scorpio Gang), killed.

1998 Larry Wayne Harris & Bill Levitt arrested for possession of anthrax.

DISASTER

1926 Avalanche buries 75 in Sap Gulch Bingham UT, 40 die.

1950 31 die in a train crash in Rockville Center, New York.

1957 Fire in Warreton MO, kills 72.

1962 Storm in Hamburg, kills 265.

1974 49 die in stampede for seats at soccer match, Cairo, Egypt.

1993 Haitian ferry boat capsize in storm, 800-2,000 die.

2003 Twenty-one people were killed in a stampede at the crowded E2 nightclub in Chicago.

HANGED

1688 Reverend James Renwick hanged in Scotland for being a Presbyterian.

VEGETABLES

1795 Thomas Seddal harvests 8.3-kg potato from his garden Chester, England.

TOILETS

1883 A Ashwell patents free-toilet in London.

ENVIRONMENTAL SCARE

1989 6-week study of Arctic atmosphere shows no ozone "hole".

MUSIC

1962 Beach Boys introduced a new musical style with their hit "Surfin".

HUSTLER

1997 Weekly Standard shows evidence Larry Flint sex abused his daughter.

CARTOONS

1933 Blondie Boopadoop marries Dagwood Bumstead; Dagwood's father promptly disinherits him.

1958 Comic strip "BC" 1st appears.

JIHAD

1568 Holy Roman Emperor agrees to pay annual tribute to Sultan for peace.

CLINTONS

1998 President Clinton, preparing Americans for possible air strikes against Iraq, said military force is never the first answer "but sometimes it's the only answer."

KILLERS

1970 Jeffrey McDonald slices up his wife & daughter.

1995 Colin Fergusson found guilty of killing 6 people on the Long Island Railroad in New York.

1998 Diane Zamora, 20, Naval Academy cadet convicted of capital murder.

FINANCE

1981 Chrysler Corp reports largest corporate losses in US history.

NANNY STATE

1913 1st minimum wage law in US takes effect (Oregon).

BURNED

1600 Italian philospher, alchemist, and Copernican theory advocate Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake for heresy by the Inquisition.

JEWS

1943 Dutch churches protest at Seyss-Inquart against persecution of Jews.

1949 Chaim Weizman elected 1st President of Israel.

1969 Golda Meir sworn in as Israel's 1st female prime minister.

2007 Former French Cabinet minister Maurice Papon, convicted of complicity in crimes against humanity for his role in deporting Jews during World War II, died near Paris at age 96.

POLITICS

1801 The electoral tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr was broken by the House of Representatives who elected Jefferson president.

CHINA CARD

1972 President Richard Nixon left on his trip to China.

PROGRESS

1817 Baltimore became the first U.S. city lit by gas.

CHESS

1996 Chess champion Garry Kasparov beat the IBM computer, Deep Blue, winning the six-game match.

BORN

1817 Frederick Douglass famous African-American.

1844 A. Montgomery Ward founded mail-order business (Montgomery Ward).

1854 Friedrich A Krupp German arms manufacturer.

1908 sportscaster Walter Lanier "Red" Barber was born in Columbus, Miss.

BIRTHDAYS

Bandleader Orrin Tucker is 97. Actor Hal Holbrook is 83. Mystery writer Ruth Rendell is 78. Singer Bobby Lewis is 75. Comedian Dame Edna (AKA Barry Humphries) is 74. Country singer-songwriter Johnny Bush is 73. Football Hall-of-Famer Jim Brown is 72. Actress Mary Ann Mobley is 69. Actress Brenda Fricker is 63. Actress Rene Russo is 54. Actor Richard Karn is 52. Actor Lou Diamond Phillips is 46. Basketball player Michael Jordan is 45. Actor-comedian Larry, the Cable Guy is 45. TV personality Rene Syler is 45. Movie director Michael Bay is 44. Singer Chante Moore is 41. Rock musician Timothy J. Mahoney (311) is 38. Actor Dominic Purcell is 38. Actress Denise Richards is 37. Rock singer-musician Billie Joe Armstrong (Green Day) is 36. Actor Jerry O'Connell is 34. Country singer Bryan White is 34. Actress Kelly Carlson is 32. Actor Jason Ritter is 28. TV personality Paris Hilton is 27. Actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt is 27.

DEATH

1908 Geronimo Apache chief, dies at about 79.

1982 Theolonious S Monk US, jazz pianist/composer (Blue Monk), dies at 64.

1990 Keith Haring US graffiti-artist, dies at 31.

February 17, the 48th day of 2008. There are 318 days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
image: austrianeconomists
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History
* Today in History

Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in Weird History: February 16, 2008

2008-02-16T06:25:00.000-08:00

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTER, PIRATES, SOCIETIES, TOMBS, DICTATORS, 911, RAMPAGE, DEMONSTRATIONS, DEMOCRATS, SPORTS, ELECTROCUTED, EXECUTED, SNEEZE, JEWS, CHECKS, WOMEN, CLUBS, DOORS, PATENTS, LEVIATHAN, NAZIS, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, DEATH PENALTY, SWIM, BEATLES, TRAFFIC, RADICALS, BLIMPS, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH

WAR!

1862 during the Civil War, some 14,000 Confederate soldiers surrendered at Fort Donelson, Tenn. (Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's victory earned him the nickname "Unconditional Surrender Grant.")

1942 German submarines attack Aruba oil refinery.

1945 American troops landed on the island of Corregidor in the Philippines during World War II.

TERRORISM

1992 Abbas Musawi leader of Hezbollah, assassinated.

2007 An Italian judge indicted 25 suspected CIA agents and a U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel in the alleged kidnapping of an Egyptian terror suspect. (The proceedings have been suspended pending a ruling on the Italian government's request to throw out the indictments.)

DISASTER

1994 6.5 earthquake strikes SE Sumatra, kills 200.

1996 11 people were killed in a fiery collision between an Amtrak passenger train and a Maryland commuter train in Silver Spring, Md.

1998 A China Airlines Airbus A300-600R trying to land in fog near Taipei, Taiwan, crashed, killing all 196 people on board and six people on the ground.

SNEEZE

600 Pope Gregory the Great decrees saying "God bless You" is the correct response to a sneeze.

WOMEN

1838 Kentucky passes law permitting women to attend school under conditions.

TRAFFIC

1980 Continuous traffic jam extends 176 km north of Lyons, France.

BLIMPS

1992 Former silver Goodyear blimps are now painted yellow & blue.

CLUBS

1905 1st US Esperanto club organizes in Boston.

NAZIS

1943 Sign on Munich facade "Out with Hitler! Long live freedom!" done by "White Rose" student group, caught on 2/18, beheaded on 2/22.

PATENTS

1932 1st patent issued for a tree, to James Markham for a peach tree.

1937 DuPont Corp patents nylon, developed by employee Wallace H Carothers.

PIRATES!

1804 Lt. Stephen Decatur led a successful raid into Tripoli Harbor to burn the U.S. Navy frigate Philadelphia, which had fallen into the hands of pirates.

DOORS

1909 1st subway car with side doors goes into service (New York NY).

BEATLES

1968 Beatles George Harrison & John Lennon & wives fly to India for transcendental meditation study with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

JEWS

1349 Jews are expelled from Burgsdorf Switzerland.

1917 1st synagogue in 425 years opens in Madrid.

SWIM

1963 1st round-trip swim of Strait of Messina, Italy (Mary Revell of US)

CHECKS

1659 1st known check (£400) (on display at Westminster Abbey).

LEVIATHAN

1938 US Federal Crop Insurance program authorized.

DEATH PENALTY

1956 Britain abolishes the death penalty.

RADICALS

1989 Jane Fonda & Tom Hayden separate after 16 years of marriage.

DEMONSTRATION

2003 More than 100,000 people demonstrated in the streets of San Francisco to protest a possible U.S. invasion of Iraq.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1948 1st newsreel telecast, "20th Century Fox-Movietone News" shown on NBC.

1950 Longest-running prime-time game show, "What's My Line" begins on CBS.

EXECUTED

1979 Nematullah Nassiri Iran General/head of Savak, executed.

DEMOCRATS

2007 The Democratic-controlled House issued a symbolic rejection of President Bush's decision to deploy more troops to Iraq, approving the nonbinding resolution by a vote of 246-182.

SOCIETIES

1868 The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks was organized in New York City.

TOMBS

1923 The burial chamber of King Tutankhamen's recently unearthed tomb was unsealed in Egypt by English archaeologist Howard Carter.

DICTATORS

1959 Fidel Castro became premier of Cuba after the overthrow of Fulgencio Batista.

ELECTROCUTED

1936 Tommy Ward South African cricket wicket keeper (23 Tests), electrocuted.

911

1968 the nation's first 911 emergency telephone system was inaugurated, in Haleyville, Ala.

RAMPAGE

1988, Seven people were shot to death during an office rampage in Sunnyvale, Calif., by a man who was obsessed with a co-worker. (The gunman, Richard Farley, is under sentence of death.)

SPORTS

2003 Michael Waltrip raced past leader Jimmie Johnson to win the rain-shortened Daytona 500 for the second time in three years.

BORN

1903 Edgar Bergen Chicago IL, ventriloquist (Charlie McCarthy).

1906 Vera Menchik Moscow, 1st official women's world chess champion (1927).

BIRTHDAYS

Singer Patty Andrews is 90. Kim Jong Il, the president of North Korea, is 66. Actor Jeremy Bulloch is 62. Actor Pete Postlethwaite is 62. Actor William Katt is 57. Actor LeVar Burton is 51. Actor-rapper Ice-T is 50. Actress Lisa Loring is 50. Tennis Hall of Fame player John McEnroe is 49. Rock musician Andy Taylor is 47. Rock musician Dave Lombardo (Slayer) is 43. Rock musician Taylor Hawkins (Foofighters) is 36. Singer Sam Salter is 30. Rapper Lupe Fiasco is 26. Actor Mike Weinberg is 15.

DEATH

1977 Janani Luwum, the Anglican archbishop of Uganda, and two other men were killed in what Ugandan authorities said was an automobile accident.

2003 Eleanor "Sis" Daley, the matriarch of Chicago's Daley political clan, died at age 95.

February 16, the 47th day of 2008. There are 319 days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
image: clangrant
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History

Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in Weird History: February 15, 2008

2008-02-15T10:04:00.000-08:00

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTERS, WOMEN, CITIES, ASSASSINATION, SCANDAL, EXECUTED, COMMIES, CONDIMENTS, RESCUE, SLAVERY, TREASON, TREES, TOYS, MEAT, CLIMATE, VAMPIRES, COMMIES, BEETLES, CARTOONS, FAKES, BEATLES, SPORTS, BOOTLEG, DREAMS, SERIAL KILLERS, CHESS, JEWS, POPULATION, FINANCE, CLINTONS, GLOBAL WARMING, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH

WAR!

1898 USS Maine blew up in Havana harbor, touching off the Spanish-American War.

1989 More than 100,000 Soviet troops withdrew from Afghanistan almost 10 years after the USSR invaded the country.

1918 1st WWI US army troop ship torpedoed & sunk by Germany, off Ireland.

1942 Singapore surrenders to the Japanese.

1984 500,000 Iranian soldiers move into Iraq.

TERRORISM

1993 Bombings by Mafia drug lords kill 14 in Bogotá Colombia.

DISASTER

1864 Fire in Rotterdam Netherlands damages Museum Boymans.

1898 USS Maine blows up in Havana harbor, cause unknown-258 sailors die.

1961 73 people, including an 18-member U.S. figure skating team en route to Czechoslovakia, were killed in the crash of a Sabena Airlines Boeing 707 in Belgium.

1970 Dominican DC-9 crashes into sea at Santo Domingo, kills 102.

1982 Ocean Ranger oil-drilling platform lost off Newfoundland, 84 die.

1991 Freighter with dynamite explodes in Phang Nga Thailand, 120 die.

DREAMS

1967 Longest dream (REM sleep) on record, Bill Carskadon, Chicago (2:23).

VAMPIRES

1931 1st Dracula movie released.

SERIAL KILLERS

1978 Escaped mass murderer Ted Bundy recaptured, Pensacola FL.

1992 Jeffrey Dahmer found sane & guilty of killing 15 boys.

CLINTONS

1998 Monica Lewinsky's attorney, William Ginsburg, continued his harsh criticism of Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr for alleged leaks of information to the news media, charging on CNN that his client's constitutional rights were being trampled.

TOYS

1903 1st Teddy Bear introduced in America, made by Morris & Rose Michtom.

FINANCE

1995 Dow-Jones closes at record 3986.17

CONDIMENTS

1768 1st mustard manufactured in America advertised, Philadelphia.

BEETLES

1936 Hitler announces building of Volkswagens (starting slug-bug game).

BEATLES

1965 John Lennon passes his driving test.

BOOTLEG

1967 1st anti-bootleg recording laws enacted.

FAKES

1955 1st pilot plant to produce man-made diamonds announced.

GLOBAL WARMING

2007 National Guardsmen in Humvees ferried food, fuel and baby supplies to hundreds of motorists stranded for nearly a day on a 50-mile stretch of Interstate 78 in eastern Pennsylvania because of a monster storm.

CARTOONS

1950 Walt Disney's "Cinderella" released.

COMMIES

1933 Karl Radek praises invincible force of German communist party.

POPULATION

1995 Population of People's Republic of China hits 1.2 billion.

MEAT

1882 1st cargo of frozen meat leaves New Zealand for Britain, on SS Dunedin.

SPORTS

1956 Pirates & Kansas City A's cancel an exhibition game in Birmingham AL, because of local ordinance barring black from playing against white.

SLAVERY

1804 New Jersey becomes last northern state to abolish slavery.

JEWS

1989 Israel attacks border strip Taba near Egypt.

CLIMATE

1895 23 cm (9") of snow falls on New Orleans.

CHESS

1985 World chess championship match abandoned-Karpov 25, Kasparov 23.

SCANDAL

2002 Olympics officials resolved the judging scandal by awarding Canadian pairs figure skaters Jamie Sale and David Pelletier a gold medal while allowing the Russians, Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, to keep their medal.

TREASON

1869 Charges of Treason against Jefferson Davis are dropped.

RESCUE

1851 Black abolitionists invade Boston courtroom rescuing a fugitive slave.

TREES

1876 Historic Elm at Boston blown down.

WOMEN

1879 President Rutherford Hayes signed a bill allowing female attorneys to argue cases before the Supreme Court.

ASSASSINATION

1933 Chicago Mayor Anton J. Cermak was killed in an assassination attempt on president-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt in Miami.

EXECUTED

1979 Mehdi Rahimi Iran General/military Governor of Tehran, executed.

1994 Andrei Tsjikatilo [Rostov Ripper], Russian mass murdered, executed.

CITIES

1764 St. Louis, Mo., was founded as a French fur-trading post.

COMMIES

1984 Leamon Hunt US director-General in Sinai, killed by communists.

BORN

1564 Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei was born in Pisa.

1803 John Augustus Sutter Swiss/US colonist of California gold rush fame (New Helvetia CA, Sutter Mill).

1820 Susan Brownell Anthony Adams MA, women's suffragette.

1882 John Barrymore [Blythe], Philadelphia PA, actor (Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, The Tempest, Beloved Rogue).

1907 Cesar Romero New York NY, actor (Joker-Batman, Ocean's 11, The Thin Man).

BIRTHDAYS

Actor Kevin McCarthy is 94. Actor Allan Arbus is 90. Country singer Hank Locklin is 90. Former Illinois Rep. John Anderson is 86. Comedian Harvey Korman is 81. Actress Claire Bloom is 77. Author Susan Brownmiller is 73. Songwriter Brian Holland is 67. Rock musician Mick Avory (The Kinks) is 64. Jazz musician Henry Threadgill is 64. Actress Jane Seymour is 57. Singer Melissa Manchester is 57. Actress Lynn Whitfield is 55. "Simpsons" creator Matt Groening is 54. Model Janice Dickinson is 53. Actor Christopher McDonald is 53. Reggae singer Ali Campbell is 49. Actor Joseph R. Gannascoli is 49. Musician Mikey Craig (Culture Club) is 48. Country singer Michael Reynolds (Pinmonkey) is 44. Actor Michael Easton is 41. Actress Renee O'Connor is 37. Actress Sarah Wynter is 35. Rock singer Brandon Boyd (Incubus) is 32. Rock musician Ronnie Vannucci (The Killers) is 32. Actress Ashley Lyn Cafagna is 25.

DEATH

1943 Thomas "Fats" Waller US jazz pianist (Hot Chocolate), dies at 38.

1973 Wally Cox actor (Mr Peepers, Hollywood Squares), dies at 48.

1984 Ethel Merman singer/actress (Kid Million), dies in her sleep at 76.

February 15, the 46th day of 2008. There are 320 days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
image: oz
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History
* Today in History

Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in Weird History: February 14, 2008

2008-02-13T21:00:00.000-08:00

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTERS, GANGSTERS, POLITICS, FATWAS, EDUCATION, FRACAS, CARTOONS, JEWS, PATENTS, FRUIT, BUSINESS, COMMIES, DRUGS, WATERGATE, MARRIAGE, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH

GANGSTERS

1929 Members of Al Capone's gang killed rival gang members in the St. Valentine's Day massacre.

WAR!

1945 8th Air Force bombs Dresden.

2003 In a dramatic showdown, major powers rebuffed the United States in the U.N. Security Council and insisted on more time for weapons inspections in Iraq. Earlier, chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix told the Council his teams had not found any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

TERRORISM

1975 Bomb explodes at annex of Amsterdam metro station.

1979 Adolph Dubs, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, was kidnapped in Kabul by Muslim extremists and killed in a shootout between his abductors and police.

1985 Hostage CNN reporter Jeremy Levin is released in Beirut.

1998 Authorities officially declared Eric Rudolph a suspect in the bombing of a Birmingham, Ala., abortion clinic and offered a $100,000 reward.

2007 Challenged on the accuracy of U.S. intelligence, President Bush told a news conference there was no doubt the Iranian government was providing armor-piercing weapons to kill American soldiers in Iraq, and he said he would fight any attempt by the Democratic-controlled Congress to cut off money for the war.

DISASTER

1989 Union Carbide agrees to pay $470 million damages for Bhopol disaster.

FATWAS

1989 Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, calling for the death of Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses.

WATERGATE

1971 Richard Nixon installs secret taping system in White House.

FRUIT

1889 1st trainload of fruit (oranges) leaves Los Angeles for the east.

COMMIES

1956 Khrushchev denounces Stalin at USSR Communist Party Conference.

PATENTS

1803 Apple parer patented by Moses Coats, Downington PA.

FRACAS

1779 James Cook British explorer, murdered by natives in fracas with Hawaiians.

JEWS

1349 2,000 Jews burned at the stake in Strasbourg France.

DRUGS

1959 $3.6 million heroin seizure in New York NY.

BUSINESS

1924 IBM Corporation founded by Thomas Watson.

EDUCATION

2001 The Kansas Board of Education reversed its 1999 ruling and restored evolution to the state's science curriculum.

MARRIAGE

1952 Comedian Joey Adams marries gossip columnist Cindy Heller.

1995 Roseanne weds bodyguard Ben Thomas.

MURDER

1943 Frieda Reiss French 11 month old baby, murdered in Auschwitz.

CARTOONS

1921 Skeezix of "Gasoline Alley" discovered on Wallets' doorstep.

POLITICS

1859 Oregon became the 33rd state in the United States.

1912 Arizona became the 48th state in the United States.

BORN

1894 comedian Jack Benny was born Benjamin Kubelsky in Waukegan, Ill.

1913 Jimmy Hoffa Teamsters leader who disappeared in 1975.

BIRTHDAYS

TV personality Hugh Downs is 87. Actress-singer Florence Henderson is 74. Country singer Razzy Bailey is 69. Jazz musician Maceo Parker is 65. Movie director Alan Parker is 64. Journalist Carl Bernstein is 64. Sen. Judd Gregg (R-New Hampshire) is 61. TV personality Pat O'Brien is 60. Magician Teller (Penn and Teller) is 60. Cajun singer-musician Michael Doucet is 57. Actor Ken Wahl is 51. Opera singer Renee Fleming is 49. Actress Meg Tilly is 48. Singer-producer Dwayne Wiggins is 47. Actor Enrico Colantoni is 45. Actor Zach Galligan is 44. Actor Valente Rodriguez is 44. Rock musician Ricky Wolking (The Nixons) is 42. Tennis player Manuela Maleeva is 41. Rock musician Kevin Baldes (Lit) is 36. Rock singer Rob Thomas (Matchbox Twenty) is 36. Actor Freddie Highmore is 16.

DEATH

1969 Vito Genovese US mafia chief, dies at 71.

1994 Gary "BB" Coleman blues vocal/guitarist/producer, dies at 47.

2003 Dolly the sheep, the first cloned mammal, was euthanized because of incurable lung cancer.

February 14, the 45th day of 2008. There are 321 days left in the year. Today is Valentine's Day.

image: unbsj
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History

Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in Weird History: February 13, 2008

2008-02-13T05:28:00.001-08:00

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTER, BEHEADED, IMPRISONED, TRIALS, JEWS, RIOT, OUTLAWS, PATENTS, TOMBS, INTRO, TOYS, GOLF, MAN-EATERS, FINANCE, SPORTS, EDUCATION, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, MUSIC, RIGGED, NUKES, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH

NUKES

1960 France exploded its first atomic bomb.

WAR!

1942 Hitler's Operation Seelöwe (invasion of England) cancelled.

1945 Allied planes bomb Dresden Germany; 135,000 die.

1945 USSR captures Budapest, after 49-day battle with Germany; 159,000 die.

1968 US sends 10,500 additional soldiers to Vietnam.

2007 With Democrats in control, House members debated Iraq in an emotional and historic faceoff over a war that Speaker Nancy Pelosi condemned as a commitment with "no end in sight."

TERRORISM

2003 A U.S. government plane carrying four Americans and a Colombian went down in rebel territory in southern Colombia; the executed bodies of an American and the Colombian were found in the wreckage.

DISASTER

1994 Ship disaster near Ranong Thailand, kills 200.

MAN-EATERS

1970 Man-eating tiger is reported to have killed 48, 80 km from New Delhi.

TOMBS

1924 King Tut's tomb opened.

OUTLAWS

1866 Jesse James holds up his 1st bank, Liberty MO ($15,000).

RIOT

1837 Riot in New York over high price of flour.

GOLF

1971 Golfing Vice President Spiro Agnew hits 2 tee shots into the crowd, injuring 2.

TOYS

1959 Barbie doll goes on sale.

IMPRISONED

1777 Marquis de Sade arrested without charge, imprisoned in Vincennes fortress.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1981 Longest sentence published by New York Times-1286 words.

RIGGED

2002 The French judge was accused of throwing the pairs skating decision to the Russians at the Olympics.

MUSIC

1982 Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" is on the charts for 402nd week.

EDUCATION

1795 The University of North Carolina became the first U.S. state university to admit students with the arrival of Hinton James, who was the only student on campus for two weeks.

PATENTS

1895 Moving picture projector patented.

POLITICS

2007 Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney officially entered the 2008 presidential race in Michigan, the place of his birth.

FINANCE

1973 US dollar devalues 10%.

1985 Dow Jones closes at 1297.92 (record high) after topping 1300 earlier.

INTRO

1932 "Free Eats" introduces George "Spanky" McFarland to "Our Gang".

TRIALS

1633 Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei arrived in Rome for trial before Inquisition for professing belief that earth revolves around the Sun.

1935 Bruno Hauptmann found guilty of kidnap & murder of Lindbergh's infant.

2003 Clara Harris, who'd run down her cheating husband with her Mercedes after catching him with his mistress, was convicted by a Houston jury of murder despite her claim that she'd hit him accidentally while in a heartsick daze. (Harris was sentenced to 20 years in prison.)

JEWS

1349 Jews are expelled from Burgsordf Switzerland.

1941 Nazi leaders attack Dutch Jewish Council.

1955 Israel acquires 4 of 7 Dead Sea scrolls.

SPORTS

1974 James "Cool Papa" Bell is named to baseball's Hall of Fame.

BEHEADED

1542 Catherine Howard queen of England/5th wife of Henry VIII, is beheaded.

BORN

1766 Thomas Malthus Rookery Surrey UK, economist/demographer/population expert (Law of Malthus).

1849 Lord Randolph Churchill England, politician, Winston's father.

1875 Kanouse quintuplets Watertown WI, 1st quintuplets in US, born to Edna Kanouse.

1919 Tennessee Ernie Ford Bristol TN, country singer/actor (pea picker).

BIRTHDAYS

Former test pilot Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager is 85. Actress Kim Novak is 75. Actor George Segal is 74. Actress Carol Lynley is 66. Singer-musician Peter Tork (The Monkees) is 66. Actress Stockard Channing is 64. Talk show host Jerry Springer is 64. Actor Bo Svenson is 64. Singer Peter Gabriel is 58. Actor David Naughton is 57. Rock musician Peter Hook is 52. Actor Matt Salinger is 48. Singer Henry Rollins is 47. Actor Neal McDonough is 42. Singer Freedom Williams is 42. Actress Kelly Hu is 40. Rock musician Todd Harrell (3 Doors Down) is 36. Singer Robbie Williams is 34. Rhythm-and-blues performer Natalie Stewart (Floetry) is 29. Actress Mena Suvari is 29.

DEATH

1980 David Janssen [Meyer], actor (Fugitive, Harry O), dies at 49.

1982 Zeng Jinlian Hunan China, grew to 8'1" (tallest woman), dies at 17.

2003 Walt W. Rostow, an adviser to Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, died in Austin, Texas, at age 86.

February 13, the 44th day of the year. There are 322 days left in 2008.

compiled by Mondoreb
image: thevintageplayhouse
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History

Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in Weird History: February 12, 2008

2008-02-12T07:36:00.000-08:00

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTERS, FREE, BEHEADED, WOMEN, RACE, CIVIL RIGHTS, ABDICATE, MEMORIALS, CLINTONS, COMICS, GUNMAN, STARTS, FIREBALL, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, VIETNAM, CLASH, BUSTED, RECORDS, THIEF, TABLOID, OJ, BORN, BIRTHDAY, DEATH

THIEF!

1994 Edvard Munch's painting "The Cry" stolen (in Oslo).

WAR!

1861 State troops seize US munitions in Napoleon AK.

1973 Operation Homecoming began as the first release of American prisoners of war from the Vietnam conflict took place.

TERRORISM

2003 The U.N. nuclear agency declared North Korea in violation of international treaties, sending the dispute to the Security Council.

2007 Car bombs shattered Baghdad's oldest and largest market, killing at least 78 people.

DISASTERS

1998 250-car Italy pile-up due to fog, 4 die & 50 hurt.

FIREBALL

1947 Daytime fireball & meteorite fall seen in eastern Siberia.

CLINTONS

1998 A federal judge threw out President Clinton's new line-item veto authority.

1999 The Senate acquitted President Clinton of perjury and obstruction of justice.

STARTS

1876 Al Spalding opens his sporting good shop.

BUSTED

1967 Keith Richards, Mick Jagger & Marianne Faithful busted for drugs.

OJ

1997 Fred Goldman says he will settle for a signed murder confession from O J Simpson in lieu of his $20.5 million judgment.

VIETNAM

1955 President Eisenhower sends 1st US advisors to South Vietnam.

PATENTS

1878 Frederick Thayer patents the catcher's mask (pat # 200,358).

RECORDS

1981 Pete Squires sets record for 1575 steps of Empire State Building, 10m.

TABLOID

1994 Model Anna Nicole Smith hospitalized for drug overdose.

CLASH

1960 Chinese army kills 12 Indian soldiers.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1924 President Calvin Coolidge makes 1st presidential radio speech.

JEWS

1941 Jewish Council for Amsterdam forms, under Ascher/Cohen; Occupation Police arrest "Jewish Foursome".

BEHEADED

1554 Lady Jane Grey, who'd claimed the throne of England for nine days, and her husband, Guildford Dudley, were beheaded after being condemned for high treason.

FREE

1818 Chile officially proclaimed its independence, more than seven years after initially renouncing Spanish rule.

MURDER

1976 Sal Mineo actor (Exodus, Rebel Without a Cause), stabbed at 37.

WOMEN

1870 women in the Utah Territory gained the right to vote. (However, that right was taken away in 1887).

RACE

1908 the first round-the-world automobile race began in New York. (It ended in Paris the following July with the drivers of the American car, a Thomas Flyer, declared the winners over teams from Germany and Italy.)

CIVIL RIGHTS

1909 the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was founded.

ABDICATE

1912 Pu Yi, the last emperor of China, abdicated, marking the end of the Qing Dynasty.

MEMORIALS

1915 the cornerstone for the Lincoln Memorial was laid in Washington, D.C., a year to the day after groundbreaking.

COMICS

1940 The radio play "The Adventures of Superman" debuted with Bud Collyer as the Man of Steel.

GUNMAN

2007 Teen gunman Sulejman Talovic shot nine people, killing five, at a Salt Lake City mall before he was shot and killed by police.

BORN

1809 Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, was born in present-day Larue County, Ky.

1880 John Llewellyn Lewis union leader (United Mine Workers, 1920-60).

1904 Ted Mack Denver CO, TV host (Original Amateur Hour).

BIRTHDAYS

Movie director Franco Zeffirelli is 85. Actor Louis Zorich is 84. Baseball Hall-of-Fame sportscaster Joe Garagiola is 82. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Penn.) is 78. Basketball Hall-of-Famer Bill Russell is 74. Actor Joe Don Baker is 72. Author Judy Blume is 70. Rock musician Ray Manzarek (The Doors) is 69. Country singer Moe Bandy is 64. Actress Maud Adams is 63. Actor Cliff DeYoung is 63. Actor Michael Ironside is 58. Rock musician Steve Hackett is 58. Rock singer Michael McDonald is 56. Actress Joanna Kerns is 55. Actor-former talk show host Arsenio Hall is 53. Actress Christine Elise is 43. Actor Josh Brolin is 40. Singer Chynna Phillips is 40. Rock musician Jim Creeggan (Barenaked Ladies) is 38. Rhythm-and-blues musician Keri Lewis is 37. Actor Jesse Spencer ("House, M.D.") is 29. Actress Sarah Lancaster is 28. Actress Christina Ricci is 28.

DEATH

1983 Eubie Blake ragtime-composer/pianist (Memories of You), dies at 100.

2003 Holiday Inn chain founder Kemmons Wilson died in Memphis, Tenn., at age 90.

February 12, the 43rd day of 2008. There are 323 days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
image: charleroi
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History

Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.