Today is Monday, July 28, the 210th day of 2008 with 156 to follow.
The moon is waning. The morning stars are Neptune, Mercury and Uranus. The evening stars are Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn.
Those born on this date are under the sign of Leo. They include Beatrix Potter, author and illustrator of the Peter Rabbit stories, in 1866; surrealist artist Marcel Duchamp in 1887; comedian Joe E. Brown in 1892; singer/actor/band leader Rudy Vallee in 1901; conductor Carmen Dragon in 1914; former U.S. first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in 1929; Peter Duchin, pianist, bandleader, in 1937 (age 71); former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori in 1938 (age 70); former U.S. Senator and basketball star Bill Bradley in 1943 (age 65); "Garfield" creator Jim Davis in 1945 (age 63); actresses Linda Kelsey in 1946 (age 62) and Sally Struthers in 1948 (age 60); former baseball pitcher Vida Blue in 1949 (age 59); and actress Lori Loughlin in 1964 (age 44).
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On this date in history:
In 1868, the ratified 14th Amendment was adopted into the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing citizenship and all its privileges to African-Americans.
In 1932, during the Great Depression, U.S. President Herbert Hoover ordered the Army under Gen. Douglas MacArthur to evict by force the Bonus Marchers from the nation's capital.
In 1914, Austria declared war on Serbia, leading to World War I.
In 1945, the U.S. Senate ratified the United Nations.
Also in 1945, an Army B-25 bomber lost in the fog crashed into the side of the Empire State Building in New York City, killing 13 people.
In 1976, an earthquake struck China's Tangshan Province, killing an estimated 1 million people.
In 1984, U.S. President Ronald Reagan opened the Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles. A Soviet-led bloc of 15 nations, as well as Iran, Libya, Albania and Bolivia, boycotted the games.
In 1990, the collision of a freighter and two barges spilled 500,000 gallons of oil in the Houston Ship Channel near Galveston, Texas.
In 1992, Warner Bros. removed the controversial song "Cop Killer" from Ice-T's "Body Count" album by request of the rapper.
In 1998, in return for immunity, former White House intern Monica Lewinsky agreed to testify before a federal grand jury investigating a possible relationship between her and U.S. President Bill Clinton.
In 2000, Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori was sworn in for a third term amid violent protests by his opponents, who said the election was fraudulent.
In 2003, J.P. Morgan Chase and Citigroup, the two largest U.S. banks, agreed to pay nearly $300 million in fines and penalties to settle charges they had aided Enron in deceiving investors.
In 2004, Democrats nominated Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts to oppose Republic incumbent George W. Bush in the November presidential election.
Also in 2004, a massive suicide car bomb tore through a crowd of Iraqis trying to enlist in the Baquba police force, killing a reported 70 people and injuring more than 50 others.
In 2005, the Irish Republic Army said it was ending violence as a political tactic against Great Britain in Northern Ireland after a 36-year campaign. The IRA promised to disarm and cease terrorist activity.
In 2006, very hot summer weather swept across much of the United States and parts of Europe, leaving a growing death toll in its wake. By late July, California reported 126 heat-related deaths. The heat reached as far north as Bismarck, N.D., which reported 112 degrees.
In 2007, a poll indicated the percentage of American voters who said they think the U.S. Supreme Court is too conservative jumped from 19 to 31 percent in two years after the addition of John Roberts and Samuel Alito.
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A thought for the day: Nikolai Nekrasov wrote, "You do not have to be a poet, but you are obliged to be a citizen."
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Today is Tuesday, July 29, the 211th day of 2008 with 155 to follow.
The moon is waning. The morning stars are Neptune, Mercury and Uranus. The evening stars are Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn.
Those born on this date are under the sign of Leo. They include Grigori Rasputin, born in 1871; French historian Alexis de Tocqueville in 1805; novelist Booth Tarkington in 1869; Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in 1883; composer Sigmund Romberg (" Lover Come Back to Me," "When I Grow Too Old to Dream"), in 1887; actors William Powell in 1892 and Richard Egan in 1921; bluegrass star Henry D. "Homer" Haynes, member of Homer and Jethro, in 1920; U.S. Labor Secretary and Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., in 1936 (age 72); TV anchorman Peter Jennings in 1938; actor David Warner in 1941 (age 67); documentary filmmaker Ken Burns in 1953 (age 55); country singer Martina McBride in 1966 (age 42); and actor Wil Wheaton ("Star Trek: The Next Generation") in 1972 (age 36).
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On this date in history:
In 1588, off the coast of Gravelines, France, Spain's "Invincible Armada" was defeated by an English naval force under the command of Charles Howard and Francis Drake.
In 1848, at the height of the potato famine in Ireland, an abortive nationalist revolt against English rule was crushed by government police in Tipperary.
In 1900, Italian King Umberto I was shot to death by Gaetano Bresci, an Italian-born anarchist who resided in America before returning to his homeland to kill the king.
In 1914, the first transcontinental telephone linkup was completed between San Francisco and New York City.
In 1968, Pope Paul VI upheld the prohibition of all artificial means of birth control for Roman Catholics.
In 1981, Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, married Diana Spencer at St. Paul's Cathedral in London.
In 1991, the Federal Reserve sought a $200 million penalty against bank BCCI for violating U.S. banking laws. It was the largest fine in the Federal Reserve's history.
In 1992, former U.S. Secretary of Defense Clark Clifford and his law partner, Robert Altman, were indicted on charges of lying about their roles in the BCCI bank scandal.
In 1993, the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approved Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Also in 1993, the Israeli Supreme Court overturned the conviction and death sentence of retired U.S. autoworker John Demjanjuk, accused of being a World War II Nazi death camp guard known as "Ivan the Terrible."
In 1994, the Senate approved the nomination of federal Judge Stephen Breyer to the U.S. Supreme Court.
In 1996, China conducted an underground atomic test, then declared a moratorium on such explosions.
In 1998, U.S. President Bill Clinton agreed to give videotaped testimony at the White House to be viewed by a federal grand jury investigating his alleged affair with former intern Monica Lewinsky.
In 1999, a federal judge in Little Rock, Ark., fined U.S. President Bill Clinton $89,000 for lying about his relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky in his deposition in the Paula Jones sexual harassment case.
Also in 1999, a securities trader who suffered heavy losses killed nine people and wounded 11 others in Atlanta before taking his own life. Police later found the bodies of his wife and two children at his home.
In 2004, Pakistan announced the capture of a Tanzanian al-Qaida member sought by the United States in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
In 2005, the U.S. Congress gave final legislative approval to a energy bill that included incentives, including tax breaks, for development of alternate fuels and nuclear energy.
Also in 2005, authorities said heavy rains and flooding in Mumbai and surrounding areas had killed 1,000 people.
In 2006, the United Nations and the African Union condemned the Sudanese army and Janjaweed militias for attacking rebels in Darfur's Jebel Moon area during a cease-fire agreement.
In 2007, Pakistani officials warned that an estimated 600 students who disappeared after the crackdown on the Red Mosque may be planning suicide attacks in Islamabad.
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A thought for the day: Matthew Arnold said, "Conduct is three-quarters of our life and its largest concern."
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Today is Wednesday, July 30, the 212th day of 2008 with 154 to follow.
The moon is waning. The morning stars are Neptune and Uranus. The evening stars are Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn.
Those born on this date are under the sign of Leo.
