History for June 7th

This Day in History, June 7
On June 7th, 1099, the Siege of Jerusalem began.

Other Notable Events, June 7
In 1864, Republican delegates meeting in Baltimore renominated Abraham Lincoln as president. His running mate was Andrew Johnson.

In 1942, Japanese forces occupied Attu and Kiska in the Aleutian Islands. U.S. forces retook the islands one year later.

In 1965, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Connecticut law banning contraceptives.

In 1975, the first videocassette recorder went on sale to the public.

In 1982, Israeli jets bombed central Beirut while Israeli ground forces captured Beaufort Castle and surrounded the Lebanese city of Sidon.

In 1983, one day after Nicaragua expelled three U.S. diplomats, the Reagan administration ordered six Nicaraguan consulates closed and expelled six Nicaraguan diplomats.

In 1990, South African President F.W. de Klerk lifted a 4-year-old nationwide state of emergency in all but the strife-torn Indian Ocean province of Natal.

In 1996, Max Factor, who pioneered smudge-proof lipstick, died.

In 2002, U.S. missionary Martin Burnham, captured in the Philippines by a Muslim group more than a year earlier, was fatally shot during a rescue attempt.

In 2003, four German peacekeepers were killed and 31 others hurt when a bomb exploded near a bus in Kabul, Afghanistan.

In 2004, a classified U.S. Department of Defense report said that the United States, under national security considerations, wasn't bound by international laws prohibiting torture.

In 2005, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter called for the closing of the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba.

In 2006, Iraq's Health Ministry reported that Baghdad's death toll due to violence in the city had surpassed 6,000 for the year.

In 2007, the U.S. House of Representatives joined the Senate in passing legislation easing restrictions on federal funds for embryonic stem cell research but U.S. President George Bush later vetoed the bill.

Also in 2007, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed a joint venture with the United States on a European missile shield.

In 2008, Sen. Hillary Clinton officially ended her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination and endorsed Sen. Barack Obama for president.

Also in 2008, a leading Israeli official warned that Israel "will attack" Iran if it maintains its current nuclear weapons program. That threat came from Shaul Mofax, the transport minister and former defense chief.

Notable Birthdays for June 7
Those born on this date include:
- British fashion-plate George Beau Brummell in 1778
- French post-Impressionist painter Paul Gauguin in 1848
- Bandleader Glen Gray in 1906
- Actor-singer Dean Martin in 1917
- Actress Jessica Tandy in 1909
- Gwendolyn Brooks, the first black woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for poetry, in 1917
- Singer Tom Jones in 1940 (age 69)
- Talk-show host Jenny Jones in 1946 (age 63)
- Actor Liam Neeson in 1952 (age 57)
- Singer/songwriter Prince in 1958 (age 51)
- Former tennis player Anna Kournikova in 1981 (age 28).

History for June 6th

This Day in History, June 6
On June 6th, 1684, the Ashmoleon Museum opened as the first university museum

Other Notable Events, June 6
In 1872, feminist Susan B. Anthony was fined for voting in an election in Rochester, N.Y. She refused to pay the fine and the judge allowed her to go free.

In 1933, the first drive-in movie theater opened in Camden, N.J.

In 1944, hundreds of thousands of Allied troops began crossing the English Channel in the "D-Day" invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe. It was the largest invasion in history.

In 1966, James Meredith, who in 1962 became the first African-American to attend the University of Mississippi, was wounded by a sniper during a civil rights march through the South.

In 1972, a coal mine explosion in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, trapped 464 miners underground. More than 425 people died.

In 1982, Israeli forces invaded Lebanon.

In 1994, national leaders and World War II veterans commemorated the 50th anniversary of "D-Day."

In 2002, U.S. President George W. Bush proposed creation of a Cabinet-level Department of Homeland Security whose main responsibility would be prevention of terrorist attacks.

In 2003, the U.S. Labor Department said unemployment in May hit a 9-year-high of 6.1 percent. The report said a net total of 2.5 million jobs had been lost in a little more than two years.

Also in 2003, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft defended the Justice Department's detention of 762 illegal immigrants after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and urged Congress to give the authorities even broader power to pursue suspected terrorists.

In 2005, at least 37 people were killed and dozens more injured in southern Nepal after a crowded bus hit a land mine planted by suspected Maoist rebels.

In 2006, in a document by the Pontifical Council on the Family, the Vatican said that unless abortion is punished as a crime it will be seen as a "banal" act.

Also in 2006, Satan worshippers came out in force at dawn on this, the sixth day of the sixth month of 2006 -- 6-6-6, a number the Bible deems Satanic.

In 2007, the remains of thousands of Jews killed by Nazis during World War II were unearthed from a mass grave found by workers digging pipelines in Ukraine.

Another mass grave suspected of holding the bodies of as many as 500 ethnic Albanians killed in the Kosovo War was found in an abandoned Serbian quarry.

Also in 2007, An estimated 10,000 young protesters clad in black threw stones at riot police at the Group of Eight summit in Germany, prompting a response of tear gas and water cannon.

In 2008, the U.S. Department of Labor reports that the jobless rate increased from 5 to 5.5 percent, the biggest monthly increase in 22 years.

Also in 2008, U.S. and British diplomats report threats and other harassment in Zimbabwe amid government banning of all work by foreign aid agencies.
Notable Birthdays for June 6
Those born on this date include:
- Spanish painter Diego Velasquez in 1599
- American patriot Nathan Hale in 1755
- Russian poet Alexander Pushkin in 1799
- British Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott in 1868
- German novelist Thomas Mann in 1875
- Vaudeville bandleader Ted Lewis in 1890
- Indonesian dictator Ahmed Sukarno in 1901
- Bandleader Jimmie Lunceford in 1902
- Singer/songwriter Gary U.S. Bonds in 1939 (age 70)
- Actor David Dukes in 1945
- Comedian Sandra Bernhard in 1955 (age 54)
- Tennis player Bjorn Borg in 1956 (age 53)
- Actress Amanda Pays in 1959 (age 50)

HISTORY FOR TODAY JUNE 5

Today is Friday, June 5, the 156th day of 2009 with 209 to follow.

The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Mercury, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Neptune and Uranus. The evening star is Saturn.

This Day in History, June 5
On June 5th, 1305, Clement V was elected Pope.


Other Notable Events, June 5
In 1783, the first public demonstration of a hot-air balloon occurred at Annonay, France.

In 1933, U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt signed a bill abolishing the gold standard.

In 1967, the Six-Day War began between Israel and the Arab states of Egypt, Syria and Jordan.

In 1968, as he campaigned for the Democratic presidential nomination, U.S. Sen. Robert Kennedy was shot in Los Angeles by Sirhan Sirhan, a Palestine-born Arab. Kennedy, 42, died the next day.

In 1976, the Teton River Dam in Idaho collapsed as it was being filled for the first time, killing 14 people, flooding 300 square miles and causing an estimated $1 billion damage.

In 1985, General Motors agreed to buy Hughes Aircraft for more than $5 billion. At the time, it was the biggest corporate purchase outside the oil industry.

In 1986, Ronald Pelton, a former National Security Agency employee, was convicted in Baltimore of spying for the Soviet Union. The verdict came one day after former Navy intelligence analyst Jonathan Jay Pollard pleaded guilty to espionage on behalf of Israel.

In 1991, in a step away from apartheid, South African legislators repealed the Land Acts of 1913 and 1936, which reserved 87 percent of land for whites.

In 1992, on the 20th anniversary of the first U.N. environmental conference, Brazil and 11 other nations signed a controversial biodiversity treaty setting guidelines for the protection and use of plant and animal species.

In 1993, 23 Pakistani members of the U.N. peacekeeping forces were killed in a series of attacks in Mogadishu, Somalia.

In 1998, ethnic Albanian delegates pulled out of peace talks with the Yugoslav republic of Serbia because of a crackdown by Serb police in the rebellious province of Kosovo.

In 2000, Ukrainian officials announced that the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, site of the worst radiation accident in history, would be closed.

In 2003, officials say U.S. troops will withdraw from the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea, bringing an end to 50 years of guard duty.

Also in 2003, a suicide bomber killed herself and 17 others at a bus stop in northern Russia near Chechnya.

In 2004, Ronald Reagan, the 40th U.S. president, died at his Los Angeles home at the age of 93 of complications from Alzheimer's disease.

In 2005, officials said U.S. forces in Iraq discovered dozens of bunkers used to store weapons for militants, with one the size of several U.S. football fields.

In 2006, Islamist militias, fighting U.S.-supported secular warlords in Somalia, claimed to have taken control of Mogadishu after days of fighting.

In 2007, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, former chief of staff for U.S. Vice President Dick Chaney, was sentenced to 30 months in jail for lying to FBI agents and to a grand jury in the investigation of who leaked the name of a covert CIA agent to the news media.

In 2008, the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on the United States told a military court in Guantanamo, Cuba, he wanted to plead guilty to the charges to become a martyr. Khalid Sheik Mohammed said he expected to face the death penalty.

Notable Birthdays for June 5
Those born on this date include:
- Economist Adam Smith in 1723
- Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa in 1878
- English economist John Maynard Keynes in 1883
- Actor William Boyd, who played Hopalong Cassidy, in 1895
- Author/illustrator Richard Scarry in 1919
- Actor Robert Lansing in 1928
- Journalist/commentator Bill Moyers in 1934 (age 75)
- Novelist Margaret Drabble in 1939 (age 70)
- Welsh author Ken Follett in 1949 (age 60)
- Entertainer Kenny G in 1956 (age 53)
- Rapper-turned-actor Mark Wahlberg in 1971 (age 385
- Actor Chad Allen ( Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman ) in 1974 (age 35)

HISTORY FOR TODAY

Today is Tuesday, March 31, the 90th day of 2009 with 275 to follow.

The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune. The evening stars are Mercury and Saturn.

This Day in History, March 31


On March 31st, 1889, the Eiffel Tower was inaugurated.

Other Notable Events, March 31

In 1889, the Eiffel Tower was dedicated in Paris in a ceremony presided over by its designer, Gustave Eiffel, during the Universal Exhibition of Arts and Manufacturers.

In 1948, the U.S. Congress passed the Marshall Aid Act, a plan to rehabilitate war-ravaged Europe.

In 1954, the U.S. Air Force Academy was established at Colorado Springs, Colo.

In 1959, the Dalai Lama fled Chinese-occupied Tibet and was granted political asylum in India.

In 1968, U.S. President Lyndon Johnson announced he wouldn't seek re-election and simultaneously ordered suspension of U.S. bombing of North Vietnam.

In 1971, U.S. Army Lt. William Calley was sentenced to life imprisonment for his part in the deaths of 22 Vietnamese civilians in what was called the My Lai massacre.

In 1987, the U.S. State Department ordered home all 28 remaining U.S. Marine guards at the Moscow embassy after two Marines were charged with espionage.

In 1991, the Warsaw Pact formally ended as Soviet commanders surrendered their powers in an agreement between pact members and the Soviet Union.

In 1992, the U.N. Security Council voted to impose air traffic and weapons sanctions against Libya for not surrendering six men wanted by the United States, Britain and France in the bombings of a U.S. jetliner and a French plane.

In 1994, a state of emergency was declared in the South African Zulu homeland of KwaZulu following deadly fighting in the weeks before the country's first universal-suffrage elections.

In 1998, the U.N. Security Council voted to impose an arms embargo on Yugoslavia after unrest in the Serbian province of Kosovo turned violent.

In 2001, Serbian police and security forces attempted to arrest former President Slobodan Milosevic at his home in Belgrade on charges of corruption while in office. Supporters forced a stand-off that lasted until the next day when Milosevic surrendered peacefully.

In 2003, Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri called on U.S. and British forces to withdraw immediately from Iraq because Iraqis were determined to "inflict the final defeat."

In 2004, the International Court of Justice ruled the United States breached the rights of 51 Mexicans on death row by not telling them they had consular access.

In 2005, Terri Schiavo, a 41-year-old Florida woman in a persistent vegetative state since 1990, died 14 days after removal of her feeding tube amid a heart-wrenching legal struggle over her fate reaching to the White House and the U.S. Supreme Court.

In 2006, rescue workers searched for more victims of a capsized cruise boat during a Persian Gulf party. Fifty-seven people were reported dead and 67 rescued.

In 2007, a U.S. air raid, car bombs and random killings reportedly killed at least 55 people across Iraq.

Also in 2007, Pakistan successfully tested its Hataf-II Abdali ballistic missile, believed capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

In 2008, U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulsen proposed long-term federal reforms aimed at overhauling regulation of the American financial system.

Also in 2008, the head of the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department, Alphonso Jackson, announced his resignation. He had been under investigation for alleged favoritism in awarding housing contracts.

And, the Dow Jones industrials closed at 12,262.89, down 7.6 percent since the end of 2007. It was the worst quarterly performance in five years.

Notable Birthdays for March 31

Those born on this date include:
- French philosopher Rene Descartes in 1596
- Austrian composer Franz Joseph Haydn in 1732
- German chemist Robert Bunsen, inventor of the Bunsen gas burner, in 1811
- Boxer Jack Johnson, the first black to hold the heavyweight title, in 1878
- Comedian Henry Morgan in 1915
- Actor/singer Richard Kiley in 1922
- Author and motivational speaker Leo Buscaglia in 1924
- United Farm Workers President Cesar Chavez in 1927
- Actor William Daniels, also in 1927 (age 82)
- Former National Hockey League star Gordie Howe in 1928 (age 81)
- Fashion designer Liz Claiborne in 1929
- Author John Jakes in 1932 (age 77)
- Actress Shirley Jones in 1934 (age 75)
- Trumpeter/bandleader Herb Alpert (The Tijuana Brass) in 1935 (age 74)
- Actor Richard Chamberlain in 1934 (age 75)
- Actor Christopher Walken in 1943 (age 66)
- Actor Gabe Kaplan in 1945 (age 64)
- Actress Rhea Perlman in 1948 (age 61)
- Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore Jr. in 1948 (age 61)
- Actor Ed Marinaro in 1950 (age 59)
- Actor Ewan McGregor in 1971 (age 38)

Copyright 2009 by United Press International

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY EVERYONE EVERYWHERE

It has been hard keeping up with my job, studying at the university and having a spa so please forgive me for breaking my promise to write more often. I have just finished 2nd cuatri mester finals so I am exhausted but happy. Have a great day! PEACE, LOVE, HAPPINESS AND LOTS OF SMILES AND KISSES.

HAVE I TOLD YOU GUYS: I AM IN LOVE WITH A WONDERFUL MAN. THIS VALENTINE'S MONTH WILL BE ONE TO BE REMEMBERED.

BRENDA AURORA

HAPPY NEW YEAR, CAROLYN AND CIARRA

Dearest Carolyn,
This was the first year I was unable to be with you all for Christmas and New Years Day is here and I am filled with so much love and wishes for you. Daughter, you have been and will always be the joy of my life. You have been loved from the moment I found out I was carrying you in my womb. The love your father and I had for each other and the love we had when you arrived was special.

Over the years I became a single parent and that did not stop me from seeing you through high school, Sixth Form and University. Today you are thousands of miles away in Georgia, USA but you remain in my heart as the ray of sunshine that has brightened and guided me over the years.

I wish you all the best, Bibs. If Tia Brenda and Chichi were alive I know they would be so proud of all that you have achieved. I know that I am proud of you and have always been proud of you. Your successes are my successes. Keep on attaining that star that shines in your eyes and heart.

As we move into 2009, I look forward to seeing you and being with you. Keep on smiling and joking and being the best friend a mother could ask for. Baby girl, you are my greatest achievement. You are the best poem I have ever written, the best song I have ever sung and the best speech I have ever given. Reach for the unreachable and remember that you can be all you want to be.

Just say I CAN and you will be surprised at how much you will be able to do.

I love you and always will.
Mama



Ciarra, my little princess,
From the first moment I held you in my arms I knew you were grandma's girl. You are my joy and my peace. You are my blooming lily, my walking happiness. God Bless you my little angel. You are loved and you are cared for. Keep on making us proud of you. Keep on smiling and keep on learning.

Your journey of life has just begun. You have much to achieve and you will!

I love you and I miss you.

Grandma's special little star, know this: I will always be there for you. Reach out and take my hand.

All my love and kisses,
Grandma Brenda

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!! PEACE ON EARTH!

Finally 2009 is here. I love you all. Thank you for reading and for writing your comments. I hope to be back this year with more information and more love for everyone.

Have a wonderful and prospersous new year.
Love,
Brenda