You know, it just figures.

In a rather pleasant birthday mood, I posted several Good stories today - all below this post. And if you look in today's news post, you'll see more Good under the "Supporting our Heroes" heading...

But, as always, the Bad and the Ugly intrude....

The Bad:
Hero's tale 'too positive' for the BBC
The corporation has cancelled the commission for a 90-minute drama about Britain's youngest surviving Victoria Cross hero because it feared it would alienate members of the audience opposed to the war in Iraq...
(H/T to Ros at Tanker Brothers)


The Ugly:
If You Are in Military Uniform - Target Doesn't Want You in Their Stores!
Two Marines in dress uniforms went into a Target in Chesapeake, VA. They were escorted to the door by a Target manager who said they were recruiting! Yes, that’s Target, the Muslim appeasing company. Target bows to the altar of political correctness. They removed Christmas from their “Holiday” signage. They banned bell ringers from The Salvation Army. Now they don’t want US Uniformed personnel in their stores. Are you surprised? Not me. Target was originally a MN corporation and they have a MN culture of appeasing the left and Dhimmicrats...
(at the Bear Creek Ledger - H/T to David at The Thunder Run)

Just couldn't go a day without Moonbats, could we....?

Labels: Moonbats

Lance Corporals Jared Bolhuis and David Trester stand in the Chinatown Subway stop, where they helped an injured man, March 16.



By Cpl. Earnest J. Barnes, Marine Barracks 8th & I

MARINE BARRACKS WASHINGTON (March 28, 2007) -- What if you were given the opportunity to help a complete stranger who had been seriously injured? Would you just walk away or would you take immediate action to help save the person?

Two infantrymen from Alpha Company were faced with situation when they saw a male in his mid-twenties who was about to be assaulted in the late evening of Feb. 24.

Lance Corporals Jared Bolhuis and David Trester were on their way to watch a movie in Washington, D.C.'s Chinatown. They had just departed the subway when they heard a disturbance at the top of the escalator. As the two Marines reached street level, they found the man surrounded by a group of 15 young skateboarders.

"There was a young guy, nicely dressed like he was going out. He was squared off with a skateboarder that looked like he was about 18 years-old. The skateboarder's friends surrounded the two of them and everyone on the streets was watching this build up," said Bolhuis, a Zeeland, Mich. Native. "Before I knew it, one of the older skateboarders came from behind and blindsided this guy with a punch right in the temple, knocking him out cold."

As soon as the victim was hit, the leathernecks rushed to his aid. As the Marines with their high and tight hair cuts approached the victim, the gang of skateboarders quickly dispersed into the crowd.

"Right away, I applied my terrorism awareness training and tried to gain proper identification on as many of those who were involved," Bolhuis added.

As the suspects were fleeing the scene, Bolhuis called for the police. Pedestrian after pedestrian passed by the victim, while some even trying to step over him. Resilient in their efforts to help the man, Bolhuis and Trester kept the crowd away from the victim to allow breathing room and to assess the extent of his injuries.

The man was laying stomach down, bleeding from the mouth. The Marines saw broken teeth on the ground and it appeared the victim may have suffered trauma to the neck after the fall.

"I tended mostly to the victim, while Bolhuis continued to do crowd control," stated Trester, a Chicago, Ill. native.

Within a few minutes the police were on the scene. Right away Bolhuis informed them of the situation and current condition of the victim. At this time a person emerged from the crowd, who claimed to be trained in emergency services. The first thing this individual tried to do was roll the victim over on his back.

"I stopped him right there," said Trester. "From all the training I received in the Marine Corps, I knew that last thing you want to do with an unconscious casualty with potential neck injuries is move them without proper stabilization."

Shortly after, emergency services showed up on the scene. Trester directed the emergency medical technicians on what the apparent injuries were, so they would know where to begin treatment on the victim.

Meanwhile, Bolhuis jumped in the car with the police and told them the direction the suspects had headed. Just three blocks to the east of where the incident took place, the police were able to locate three men with the help of this leatherneck.

"I was nervous when I pointed them out," Bolhuis said. "What if I was wrong? The wrong guys could go to jail, but when we got closer, I knew it was them."

When Bolhuis returned to the scene of the incident, the victim was gone and Trester was standing off to the side waiting for him. After the police took the Marines' witness statements and contact information they sent them on their way.

Bolhuis and Trester never learned the name of the man they helped. When they called the police station to see how he was doing, the police told them because of their fast actions and knowledge of first aid, the victim's neck could have been much worse. They may have possibly saved his life.

As for the suspects, two of the three men who were arrested are in jail awaiting trail.

"It feels good to know the bad guys are in jail and the good guy is back on his feet," Bolhuis said. "As an infantryman in D.C., we don't get the experiences you might in Iraq, so wherever possible, we have to be ready to employ our training and look out for one another."

Bolhuis and Trester do not consider themselves heroes because they said they were only applying what they were trained to do. By using their Marine Corps knowledge and acting on instinct, these modern day men of valor ensured a complete stranger lived to see another day.

Labels: Good News, USMC

By Sgt. Mike Pryor
2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division

BAGHDAD, Iraq, April 9, 2007 — Staff Sgt. Darin Morgan’s platoon had just snatched a suspected insurgent off the streets. They had done it without Apache gun ships hovering overhead and without Stryker vehicles blocking the roads. They did it without blowing open any doors or damaging any property. And they did it without firing a single shot. All of which, Morgan said, means they did it the right way.

"We live here. If we have to go in hard, we still have to come back the next day. So if we can take an insurgent off the streets with the minimum amount of firepower and resources necessary, it’s a good thing,"
-- Staff Sgt. Darin Morgan

There’s a time and a place for overwhelming force, but in Baghdad’s Adhamiyah District, paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division are learning that sometimes a soft touch can be just as effective.

“We live here. If we have to go in hard, we still have to come back the next day. So if we can take an insurgent off the streets with the minimum amount of firepower and resources necessary, it’s a good thing,” said Morgan, a platoon sergeant with Battery B, 2nd Battalion, 319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment, from Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.

It all began at the end of a long foot patrol April 1, when Morgan’s platoon leader, 1st Lt. Larry Pitts, stopped to talk to a man on the steps of his house in Graya’at, a poor, mostly-Sunni neighborhood in the Adhamiyah district. The 2nd Platoon had just spent five hours knocking on doors and talking to people about their problems. Everyone up to that point had been happy to talk, chatting away as Pitts wrote their answers down in his little green composition pad.

But the owner of this particular house was different. He and his wife were defensive, reluctant to give Pitts any information. After a few minutes of getting nowhere, Pitts took the man's name, thanked him for his time, and walked back to his platoon.

Pitts couldn’t shake the feeling something was wrong. He pulled aside intelligence analyst Sgt. Zac Manafort of Moondus, Conn., and asked if he recognized the man's name. Manafort had memorized the names and aliases of hundreds of suspected insurgents in the area, and this one set off an alarm in his head.

“That guy's dirty,” Manafort said. Pitts immediately radioed the man’s name up to headquarters for verification. They said it would take a few minutes. In the meantime, Pitts told the platoon to look busy. The paratroopers spread out, pretending like they were checking out some shops on the suspect's street.

Staff Sgt. Antonio Alvarado and a few others crowded into a record store around the corner, pretending to look for CDs. The shocked shopkeepers stared wide-eyed at the paratroopers as they browsed the shelves, their bulky body armor, radio antennas, and weapons making it a tight fit inside the cramped shop.

“Here's that Ricky Martin CD you wanted,” one paratrooper teased his buddy. Pitts was across the street in a smoothie bar when the response finally came back from headquarters – the suspect's name matched that of a wanted insurgent. Detain him, they told Pitts. He and Morgan quickly huddled together to come up with a plan. They needed to separate the suspect from his family.

“We knew they had kids inside (the house). The family was all there, so instead of blowing the door down or kicking it in, we decided to try to gain entry without force," Pitts said.

Pitts and Morgan decided the circumstances called for a little deception. They went back to the house. Pitts knocked on the front gate, waving a scrap of paper. It was his phone number, he said, in case the man needed to reach him. The suspect came out to get it. As he took the paper from Pitts' hands, Pitts took a step back.

“Get him,” he said, out of the corner of his mouth. San Antonio-native Sgt. Hector Hernandez stepped forward and took the man by the hand, pulling him outside into the street. A humvee pulled up. The man looked confused. Within 30 seconds, he was flex-cuffed, searched, and bundled into the waiting vehicle.

The rest of the platoon rushed up to clear the house and search for evidence. Pitts found Morgan inside. Morgan congratulated the platoon leader on his performance with the phone number. Afterward, Morgan was pleased at how it had all gone down.

“I think it's actually more of a surprise than a traditional raid,” he said. “You're shaking the dude's hand and then you slap the cuffs on him.”

Pitts said he was just happy that the platoon had been able to take the man outside, in the open, when they knew he was unarmed.

“It's safer for our guys and it's safer for the family,” Pitts said. “If we had to go in blind, that's when bullets start flying.”

On the ride home in Morgan's truck, someone realized that it was a fitting day for the kind of deception they had just pulled off. It was April Fool's Day.

Labels: 2-319th AFAR, 82nd Airborne Division, Adhamiyah, Baghdad, Good News, Iraq

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (April 7, 2007) – A Sailor stands ready to receive the lines from the guided missile destroyer USS Russell (DDG 59) as the ship returns to Naval Station Pearl Harbor from a three-month deployment. Russell deployed with the Ronald Regan Carrier Strike Group to the western Pacific in support of U.S. commitments in the region. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Ben A. Gonzales

Labels: DDG 59, Pearl Harbor, photos, ships, US Navy, USS Russell, Welcome Home

Weapons and ammunition lie on the floor of an Iraqi residence captured during a raid by Company A, 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment in Baghdad’s Rashid district March 30, 2007. U.S. Army Courtesy photo




By Multi-National Division
Camp Victory, Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq, April 9, 2007 — Baghdad forces seized a large weapons cache in southwestern Baghdad, March 30, after observing suspicious activity around a residence.

Infantrymen of Company A, 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry (The Black Lions) silently established an outer cordon around an Iraqi house and moved in. The inner cordon element, led by 1st Lt. Michael Sheer, entered the building with a squad of heavily armed Black Lions. Shortly after, Capt. Bret Hamilton, Attack Company commander, monitoring the unit radio heard Sheer say, “We have found a cache.”

"There is no doubt that the 25mm chain gun on our Bradley platoon made a dramatic impression on the enemy tonight."
-- 1st Sgt. Jeffery Griffith

The house under search was located in an insurgent-dominated neighborhood, and Attack Company immediately received enemy small arms and rocket-propelled grenade fire.

“The enemy did not want to surrender this sizable cache without a fight, but our soldiers had rehearsed this operation and were prepared for multiple contingencies,” Hamilton said. The first sighting was of several weapons in the living quarters of the residence. A search uncovered a hidden room, which served as massive enemy weapons and demolitions storage site within the home.

The cordon and search was intended to disrupt enemy actions. The unit was supporting an Iraqi army forward-operating base that had been under enemy attack for 36 hours. Seizure of “Target-2,” this large weapons, ammunition, and demolitions cache struck an immediate blow to an insurgent attack on Forward Operating Base Lion, the Iraqi army facility nearby, said an officer at the scene.

“The enemy lost the initiative when the sniper rifles and mortar systems were seized by Attack Company,” Maj. Will Cotty, Iraqi army training team chief, said. “Capt. Hamilton's team and the Iraqi army have developed a strong partnership in a short period of time.”

As the battle raged on in the Baghdad neighborhood, Attack Company with the Black Lion explosive ordnance detachment began to remove the cache from the residence. Attack helicopters prowled the sky overhead looking for enemy movement around the Black Lion perimeter, keeping insurgent fighters at length. The insurgents that attempted to take down the Attack Company soldiers were met with overwhelming fire.

“There is no doubt that the 25mm chain gun on our Bradley platoon made a dramatic impression on the enemy tonight,” said 1st Sgt Jeffery Griffith from Company A. Significant weapons removed from the enemy’s possession include AK-47s, sniper rifles, machine guns, mortar systems, rocket propelled grenades, 107mm rockets, TNT, C-4 plastic explosives, bulletproof vests and a 240mm Soviet rocket.

“Operations developed with actionable intelligence, like tonight, allow us to keep the enemy off-balance,” said Sgt. 1st Class Jamil Gutierrez from Company A. “My platoon was proud to remove these weapons and demolitions from the enemy's hands.”

Labels: 1-28th Infantry, Al Rashid, Baghdad, Black Lions, Good News, Iraq, photos, weapons cache, weapons search

BUSH VISITS TROOPS - President George W. Bush thanks members of the National Guard for helping the Border Patrol crack down on illegal entry into America, during a speech in Yuma, Ariz., April 9, 2007. White House photo by Eric Draper

Labels: border control, Border Patrol, Connecticut National Guard, immigration, photos, President George W. Bush

News of Note
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Iraqi PM: Congress' Legislation Unnecessary
15,000 troops could stay longer in Iraq
Woman bomber kills 17 Iraqi police recruits - Video
Washington files WTO piracy cases against China
Poll: Iraq Better or Worse in Four Years?
Military.com Op-ed: "The Iraq Show"
Baghdad Security Plan Seeing Many Successes

Operation Enduring Freedom
At least 311 Afghan-area U.S. deaths

Homeland Security / War on Terror / Hamas-Hezbollah Happenings
Israel: Hamas Planned Tel Aviv Car Bombing
Palestinian finance minister seeks funds abroad

Troops on Trial
Midshipman Could Get 10 Years for Sex Abuse

Supporting Our Heroes
Military.com Exclusive: Drowning Pool's USO Tour
Emeril Cooks Combat Cuisine
Ohio Group Supports Marines

Other Military News
USS Intrepid ready for body makeover
USS Nimitz Deploys to Persian Gulf
Navy announces summer exercises off Guam
Army Chief Bids Farewell
Bush Thanks National Guard for Securing Border
Officials ID Remains of 10 World War II Servicemen
‘Sixteen-Star Letter’ to Congress Calls for Supplemental Passage

Worldwide Wackos
Iran expands uranium enrichment effort
Analysts Not Buying Ahmadinejad's Nuclear Success Tale
Russia Skeptical of Iran's Nuclear Tale
U.N. inspectors in Iran after nuclear announcement - Video
U.S. Warns North Korea:Your Time Is Running Out
N.Korea funds may be freed as nuclear deadline nears
U.S. negotiator optimistic on NKorea

Homegrown Moonbats
Guns at home equal higher suicide risk: study (These studies are so incredibly flawed...one in three American homes has a gun, yet 95% of suicide attempts don't include one...every time they look at this, they ignore every factor other than the presence of a gun in the home...RRRRRG)
Singer Sheryl Crow starts global warming tour
Gore's climate concert finds home in New Jersey

Politics / Government
Pelosi's Office Calls GOP Demand for Action on Iraq Bill 'Political Stunt'
Some Presidential Hopefuls Getting Secret Service Detail on Campaign Trail
China Criticizes U.S. for WTO Filings
Obama not in 2008 race for second place
U.S. should deepen China's global integration: study
Kentucky's gubernatorial rivals debate
AP Poll: Congress approval up

Illegal Immigration / Border Control
Bush Calls for Passage of Immigration Bill
Bush returns to work on immigration plan

In the Courts / Crime and Punishment / Law and Order
Judge Places Gag Order on Fired Wal-Mart Security Operative
3 University of Minnesota Football Players Accused of Rape Released From Custody
Ex-Olympian Tim Montgomery Pleads Guilty in Multimillion-Dollar Fraud Scheme
Minister Found Beaten to Death in Virginia Parsonage
Colorado Inmate Dies When Baggies Filled With Drugs Rupture Inside of Him
Landmark Dinosaur Statue in Massachusetts Felled by Vandals
Report: DNA Results to Be Revealed Tuesday in Anna Nicole Smith Case
Gambling Wife Charged After Leaving Disabled Husband in Casino Parking Garage
Police Nab Man Who Allegedly Shot 3 in Office
Gag Placed on Ex-Wal-Mart Security Operative
12 jurors selected in Tenn. pol's trial
Pastor's wife's case may hinge on abuse

U.N. News
China, U.S. urge diplomatic solution in Darfur
Up to 400 feared dead in recent attacks in Chad: U.N.
New U.N. chief marking 100 days in post

Media in the Media / Bloggers in the News / Watching the Web
CBS, NBC Suspend Talk Show Host Don Imus for Two Weeks Over Racist Remarks
Two Sides to Imus Story?
Rutgers Women to Address Imus' Remarks

Science / Medicine / Technology
Study: Dieting Useless, May Damage Health
Statin drugs lower respiratory death risk: study
Diabetics found more prone to mild memory problems
Space capsule carrying U.S. mogul docks
U.S. space tourist Simonyi "out of this world" - Video
South Korean wolf cloning team under investigation

Mother Nature
Play ball? Weather wipes out games
Deforestation effects depend on location
Millions Face Floods from climate change

Oddities
Runaway mouse delays flight
Want a promotion? Treat Mom well

Other News of Note
Latest Tally: 39,000 Pets Affected
Complete List of Pet Foods Subject to Recall
Parents: No More Homework!

Fox News
Georgia High School to Try Integrated Prom (Kudos to these kids for kicking this school into the 21st century...)
NEWS IN PICTURES
Report: Angelina Jolie Still Jealous of Jennifer Aniston

Reuters: Top News
Greece says human error behind cruise ship wreck
Severely obese fastest-growing U.S. overweight group
Australia special forces going back to Afghanistan
Two suspected bombers killed in Casablanca: police
Early East Timor vote counting points to run-off Video
New Salesforce tools aim to manage workers' content
Matsushita to sell 42-inch full high def plasma TV
Aid flap is new threat to New Orleans rebuilding
Malaysia lures the second-home set
Cool kids Tarantino, Rodriguez iced at box office
Oil climbs back towards $62 after steep fall
Futures up, Alcoa to launch earnings season
World stocks recover their February/March losses
Dollar under broad pressure
Gold gains after oil rebound, weaker dollar
Forestalling a wave of foreclosures
Citigroup CEO promises "nimbler" bank
Citigroup may cut or reassign over 26,000 jobs: report
Economists cut U.S. GDP forecast for 2007
PPR pounces on Puma with takeover bid
Sainsbury family sinks $20 bln bid hopes
Automakers challenge Vermont emissions law
Bertelsmann buys rest of Bookspan from Time Inc

AP World News
Pavano gets 1st win in almost 2 years
Mavs clinch best record in the NBA
'Blades' earns $22.5M, ices competition
Stocks flat as market awaits 1Q earnings
NYC admits flaws in restaurant checks
Obituaries in the news

Military.com
Sgt. Shaft: Reservist's Discharge Form
It's VA Home Loan Season
Def Tech: PEO Soldier on ACUs

CENTCOM: News Releases
JOINT OPERATIONS ROOT OUT TERRORISTS IN AD DAWR
PEACEFUL PROTEST CONDUCTED IN NAJAF
COALITION AIRCRAFT ENGAGES INSURGENTS FIRING ON CONVOY
AL ANBAR SECURITY CONFERENCE
TERRORISTS DETONATE CAR BOMB NEAR MAHMUDIYAH

USJFCOM
USJFCOM supports intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance conference - podcast
USJFCOM seeks to pass Joint Force Projection ACTD's final exam - podcast
More about the Joint Force Projection ACTD
More about ACTDs
USJFCOM signs cooperative research and development agreement with Northrop Grumman - podcast

DefenseLink
Iraqis Mark Anniversary of Saddam’s Removal - Story
Four Guard Brigades Alerted for Iraq Duty - Story
Military Leaders Call for Supplemental Passage - Story
Iraq PRTs to Double in Number by Year’s End - Story

More Headline News
Bush: Troops Need Resources to do Their Jobs
Web Links Guard, Reserve to Employer Support

Military News
Officials Stress Zero Tolerance of Sexual Assault

War on Terror
Six Soldiers Killed in Iraq - Story
Six Taliban Fighters Killed
Troops Detain 14 Suspects in Iraq
Four U.S. Soldiers Killed, Senior al-Qaeda Leader Captured

America Supports You
Foundation to Lend a Hand - Story
Military Families Enjoy Circus

Transformation
Program Connects Troops to Public
Walter Reed Using 3-D
Soldiers Test New Vehicles

Face of Defense
Hard Work, Dedication Pays off - Story
Captain Relates Experience
Engineer's Idea Saves Money

DefendAmerica
ON THE GROUND
Troops Capture 14 Suspected Terrorists - Story
Tankers Talk Shop, Try Out Weapon Systems - Story

IN IRAQ
Troops Help Repair, Secure Baghdad Roadways
Barriers Expected to Strengthen Checkpoints
Transition Team Celebrates Iraqi Graduation

IN AFGHANISTAN
Air Force Captain Teaches Classes, Experiences
Female Medics Take Forward Mission to Heart
Afghan Government, Coalition Aid Flood Victims

IN DJIBOUTI
Airmen Help Djiboutians Learn English
Soldiers Keep Promise, Check on Injured Girl
Postal Specialists Deal With Limited Space

BACKGROUND
IRAQ
Renewal In Iraq
Iraq: Security, Stability
Fact Sheet: Progress and Work Ahead
Report: Strategy for Victory in Iraq
Iraq Daily Update
This Week in Iraq
Multinational Force Iraq
State Dept. Weekly Iraq Report
'Boots on the Ground' Audio Archive
Weekly Reconstruction Report (PDF)
Iraq Reconstruction
Maps

AFGHANISTAN
Afghanistan Update
Maps

WAR ON TERRORISM
Fact Sheet: Budget Request
Fact Sheet: Terror Plots Disrupted
Waging and Winning the War on Terror
Terrorism Timeline
Terrorism Knowledge Base

Weather
Afghanistan
Bost/Laskar Ghurian Herat Kabul Qandahar

Germany
Ansbach Aschaffenburg Berlin Berlin-Tempelhof Berlin/Schonefeld Bremerhaven
Darmstadt Frankfurt Frankfurt/Main Freiburg/Breisgau Garmisch
Garmisch-Partenkirchen Geilenkirchen Gelnhausen Giessen Kitzingen
Hanau Am Main Heidelberg Mainz Mannheim Nurnberg Stuttgart Trier
Wiesbaden Wurzburg

Gitmo

Guam
Agana Agana Heights Agat Andersen AFB Asan Barrigada

Iraq
Al Azamiyah Al Basrah Al Hillah Al Karkh Al Kazimiyah Al Kut
An Nasiriyah Baghdad Baqubah Mosul Najaf Nineveh Tall Kayf

Japan
Kadena Air Base Okinawa Tokyo Yokohama

Today in History
0837 - Comet 1P/837 F1 (Halley) approaches within 0.0334 astronomical units (AUs) of Earth
0847 - St. Leo IV begins his reign as Catholic Pope
0879 - Louis III, crowned King of France
1500 - France captures Duke Ludovico Sforza of Milan
1516 - 1st ghetto, Jews are compelled to live in specific area of Venice
1552 - Henri II of France occupies Metz
1589 - Spanish troops conquer Geertruidenberg
1656 - Dutch fleet occupiers Colombo, Ceylon
1694 - Duke Victor Amadeus of Savoye attacks Casale
1741 - Prussians defeat Austrians at Mollwitz
1790 - US Patent system is established; Robert Gray is 1st American to circumnavigate the Earth
1815 - Austria declares war on realm of Naples
1825 - 1st hotel in Hawaii opens
1835 - Charles Darwin returns to Santiago, Chile
1841 - New York "Tribune" begins publishing under editor Horace Greeley
1845 - More than 1,000 buildings damaged by fire in Pittsburgh, PA
1849 - Safety pin patented by Walter Hunt (New York NY); sold rights for $100
1863 - Rebel General Earl Van Dorn attacks at Franklin, TN
1864 - Austrian Archduke Maximilian becomes emperor of México
1865 - At Appomattox, General Lee issues General Order #9, his last
1866 - American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) forms
1868 - British defeat King of Abyssinia at Magdala
1869 - Congress increases number of Supreme Court judges from 7 to 9
1872 - Arbor day 1st celebrated in Nebraska, later changed to April 22
1877 - Federal troops withdrawn from Columbia, SC; 1st human cannonball act performed in London
1884 - US Senate accepts Belgian administration of Congo
1887 - President Abraham Lincoln is re-buried with his wife in Springfield, IL
1912 - RMS Titanic sets sail for its 1st & last voyage
1917 - Munition factory explosion at Eddystone, PA kills 133 workers
1923 - Hitler demands "hatred & more hatred" in Berlin
1924 - Tubular steel golf club shafts approved for championship play
1925 - F. Scott Fitzgerald publishes "The Great Gatsby"
1930 - Synthetic rubber 1st produced
1932 - Paul von Hindenburg re-elected President of Germany
1938 - Austria becomes a state of Germany; 2nd government of Blum replaced by Daladier government in France; New York makes syphilis test mandatory in order to get a marriage license
1939 - Colijn's Dutch government opens camp Westerbork for German Jews; Grens mobilization due to Italian invasion in Albania
1940 - Vidkun Quisling forms Norwegian "national government"
1941 - German troops conquer Libyan county Cyrenaica
1942 - Cigarettes & candy rationed in Holland
1943 - 12 Jewish patients of Herren Loo-Lozenoord escape Nazis; General Montgomery occupies Sfax Tunisia
1944 - Soviet forces liberate Odessa from Nazi's
1945 - Canadian troops conquer Deventer; General Blaskowitz becomes Nazi leader of "Fort Holland"
1945 - German troops attack Ijsselbrug; US troops land on Tsugen Shima, Okinawa
1947 - Jackie Robinson becomes the 1st Black in modern major league baseball (Dodgers); King Frederik IX of Denmark crowned
1948 - Jewish Hagana repels an Arab attack on Mishmar HaEmek
1955 - Dr Jonas Salk successfully tests Polio vaccine
1957 - Jordanian government of Naboelsi resigns; Suez canal reopens for all traffic
1958 - Northern strip of Spanish Sahara ceded to Morocco
1960 - Senate passes landmark Civil Rights Bill
1961 - Adolf Eichmann tried as a war criminal in Israel
1961 - Dutch foreign minister Luns talks to President John F. Kennedy about New Guinea
1963 - Thresher, US atomic-powered submarine, sinks 220 miles east of Boston
1964 - Iranian motor launch catches fire & sinks killing 113 (Persian Gulf)
1972 - 7.0 earthquake kills 1/5 of population of Iranian province of Fars
1973 - BEA Vanguard Turboprop flight to Basel Switzerland, crashes into wooded hillside during landing, killing 107 of 143
1973 - Pakistan suspends constitution
1974 - Yitzhak Rabin replaces resigning Israeli PM Golda Meir; Magicians Penn & Teller 1st meet
1979 - Soyuz 33 launched with a Russian & a Bulgarian
1981 - Computer glitch keeps Space Shuttle Columbia grounded; Imprisoned IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands elected to British Parliament
1983 - Jordan's King Hussein ceases negotiations with PLO
1984 - Damaged Solar Max satellite snared by Challenger shuttle; US Senate condemns CIA mining of Nicaraguan harbors
1986 - Benazir Bhutto returns to Pakistan
1989 - Intel corp announces shipment of the 80486 chip
1991 - Boat rams a tanker in Livorno Italy fog, killing about 138
1992 - 25 die in a bus bombing in Sri Lanka
1995 - NYC bans smoking in all restaurants that seat 35 or more

Birthdays
0401 - Theodosius II the Younger, Eastern Roman emperor
1512 - James I, King of Scotland (1513-42)
1583 - Hugo Grotius, jurist, father of international law
1783 - Hortense E. de Beauharnais, French queen of Netherlands (1806-10)
1794 - Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry, opened Japan
1806 - Leonidas Polk, Confederate Lieutenant General
1823 - Thomas Reade Rootes Cobb, Confederate Brigadier General
1827 - Lewis Wallace Major General (Union volunteers)/lawyer/diplomat/author (Ben Hur)
1829 - William Booth, founder (Salvation Army)
1833 - David McMurtrie Gregg, Union Brevet Major General; James Edward Rains, Confederate Brigadier General
1887 - Bernardo A. Houssay, Argentine physiologist (Nobel 1947)
1900 - Jean Duvieusart, premier (Belgium 1950)
1903 - Clare Boothe Luce former US ambassador to Vatican
1905 - Jan H van Roijen, diplomat/Netherlands foreign minister
1910 - David Gilroy Bevan, politician
1911 - Maurice Schumann, French statesman/writer (La Voix du couvre-feu)
1917 - Robert Burns Woodward, organic chemist (Nobel 1965)
1930 - Lord Morton of Shauna, Senator (College of Justice, Scotland)
1934 - David Halberstam, New York Times international correspondent (New York Times/Pulitzer 1964)
1948 - Thomas Spencer, Member of European Parliament (Conservative)
196? - Your friendly neighborhood blogger - me!
1975 - Floris, Prince of Netherlands

Passings
0879 - Louis II the stutterer, King of France (877-79)
0947 - Hugo van Arles, count of Arles/king of Italy
1362 - Machteld, countess of Holland
1533 - Frederik I, King of Denmark/Norway (1523-33), dies at 61
1585 - Gregory XIII [Ugo Buoncampagni] Italian Pope (1572-85)
1640 - Charlotte Flandrina van Nassau daughter of Willem I, dies at 60
1760 - Gerard George Clifford head of East-Indian Company, dies at 75
1807 - Anna Amalia van Brumswijk-Wolfenbüttel duchess of Saxon-Weimar, dies
1848 - Godert A.G.P. baron van Capellen, Governor-General of Dutch-Indies, dies at 69
1862 - William Harvey Lamb Wallace, US lawyer/Brigadier-General, dies at 40
1919 - Emiliano Zapata Mexican leader, murdered at 39
1929 - Edmond Thieffry Belgium, WWI pilot, dies at 36
1954 - Auguste Lumière, French photograph/movie pioneer, dies at 81
1966 - Christian J. Modeste, Dutch king of gypsies, dies at 71
1983 - Issam Sartawi, PLO ambassador to Portugal, murdered
1993 - Chris Hani, Secretary-General South Africian Communist Party, assassinated at 50
1994 - Victor Afanasiev Russia, editor-in-chief of Pravda (1976-89), dies at 71
1995 - Chen Yun Vice-Premier of China (1949-75, 79-80); Gunter Guillaume, German politican; Morarji Desai, PM of India (1977-79)

Reported Missing in Action
1967
O'Grady, John F., USAF (NY); F105D shot down

1968
Carver, Harry F., US Army (IN); Killed / BNR

Padgett, Samuel J., US Army SF (OK); CH34 crashed, Killed / BNR

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