Some Clarification is Required

When people say "the federal government will run out of money at midnight", that's actually a misnomer.  As long as there is paper, ink and a working printing press, the government of the United States never runs out of money.  It can just print more.

What will end at midnight is yet another in the series of continuing resolutions to keep spending money that the Congress has been passing again and again since they first failed to deliver a proper budget back in 2009.  What will end at midnight is the authority to spend any money, not the supply of money itself.

Even that's not entirely correct, since there are measures in place to keep spending for "essential" items like the national defense, the FBI, the air traffic controllers and many more.  Members of Congress continue to get paid.

So the cupboard of paper money isn't bare.  The legal ability to spend it will be the only thing that expires.  Unless the shutdown is prolonged, at which point our economy will also probably expire.  The Gross Domestic Product of the United States is more than $16.5 trillion, annually.  One estimate says that a four week federal government shutdown could reduce that by 1.4%.  Maybe it will be less.  Maybe we shouldn't find out.

The other issue is that in mid-October, our government will also hit the legal ceiling on its ability to borrow money.  Negotiations on raising the debt ceiling are just as stalled as are those to stop the government shutdown.

I will work to defeat every current member of the Congress who votes against any last ditch effort to stop the government shutdown, that does not contain defunding of Obamacare.  Every single one.

* * *

Does life imitate art, or vice versa?  When it comes to marital fidelity I'm beginning to think it is like the question about whether it was the chicken or egg that came first.

Derailed
Disclosure
The End of the Affair
Same Time, Next Year
Fatal Attraction
Body Heat

All movies notable for their portrayal of infidelity.  The current season of Grey's Anatomy includes a story arc about a couple where one of them had a one-night stand with a third party.  It is everywhere in the media.

It is also everywhere in real life as well.  I know far too many people who have either been unfaithful themselves, or were the victim of infidelity.  Someone I shall not name once told me that he was so busy screwing other women, he was afraid his youngest daughter wasn't his because as he put it "I can't remember the last time I slept with her mother."

I think that the connection of human beings through the internet hasn't just led to much more emotional infidelity.  I think it has somehow made being unfaithful more socially acceptable.  A person leaving their spouse for someone else that they'd met online was a growing trend of the late 1980s and early/mid 1990s.  Now it happens so often it isn't even noticed anymore.  My second wife's boyfriend (they later married) was someone I met online and introduced to her.  Silly me, I thought those vows meant something.

To some they do.  To others they don't.  If two adults reach an "understanding" where they will remain married but are free to mess around on the side, that's their right.  I don't agree with it, I think it's a bad idea, but I'm not going to try to tell them what to do.  I understand why the military makes adultery a crime, but that doesn't translate to the world outside of the military.  If you want to let your spouse sleep around, have at it. 

* * *

Lots of people think Congress has exempted itself from many of the laws it has passed that the rest of the nation must comply with.  Obamacare is an example.  Is Congress exempt from Obamacare?  Here's the answer, an excerpt from the more than 1,000 pages of that law:

“Notwithstanding any other provision of the law, after the effective date of this subtitle, the only health plans that the Federal Government may make available to Members of Congress and Congressional staff with respect to their service as a Member of Congress or congressional staff shall be health plans that are — (I) created under this Act (or an amendment made by this Act); or (II) offered through an Exchange established under this Act (or an Amendment made by this Act).”

In other words, Congress must comply with Obamacare.  Interestingly, the person railing against the Affordable Care Act the most, Senator Ted Cruz, doesn't use the Congressional healthcare plan.  His wife Heidi works for Goldman-Sachs and her employer provides the entire family with a plan that is far better than the best platinum plan available under Obamacare.  Goldman-Sachs may be spending more than $40,000 in premiums for the Cruz family.

Now let's look at a list of laws the Congress had exempted itself from, prior to 1995:

Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.   
Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967.
Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute.
Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.
Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993.
Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act of 1989
Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970.
Employee Polygraph Protection Act of 1988.
Veterans' employment and reemployment rights in Chapter 43 of Title 38 of the United States Code, and amended in 1998 to include portions of the Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998.

That is why it isn't surprising that people wrongly assume Congress exempted itself from the Affordable Healthcare Act.  That's their pattern.  But in 1995, the Congressional Accountability Act was passed.  Since then, they know we are watching to see if they will tell us to do something they themselves don't have to do.

* * *

Random Ponderings:

Taylor Swift says she's never read one hateful thing said about her by a 12 year old.  Of course not, she pays someone to track her presence on social media.

Look for the NBA to scrap the NBA finals 2-3-2 game format in favor of the old 2-2-1-1-1 format that was in use until the mid 1980s.  This is a good idea.

When Jimmy Choo, Mahnolo Blahnik and Christian Louboutin shoes are being purchased by celebrities for four and five figure price tags, why is some style-watcher taking Kelly Ripa to task for an ugly pair of shoes that were "only" $515?

While I'll root against Ohio State football in every game, I have to pass on a tip of the cap to them for their classy gesture toward a TV journalist who has covered them for more than two decades.  Dom Tiberi's 21 year old daughter was killed in a automobile accident.  She was a student at OSU.  When he returned to covering their games, players stopped to give him a hug after their victory.  Nicely done.

This video speaks for itself.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcv82ntxJO8

And so does this response it inspired:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uI9zuvGtqTs

Kudos to Peter Tabibian and his four Z-Burger locations in D.C.  He's offering free burgers to furloughed government employees.

If Helen Fielding wants to kill off Mark Darcy in the third "Bridget Jones" novel, more power to her.

Maybe it is time for residents of New York City to give in and allow better jails be built closer to courthouses.  After all, they're spending almost $170,000 per year, per inmate at Riker's Island.  That's more than three times as much is spent by Chicago or Los Angeles.

Maybe the slowdown in service at drive-thru windows will result in fast-food restaurants being relabeled as slow-food restaurants.

* * *

This Date In History:

 489 – Battle of Verona: The Ostrogoths under king Theodoric the Great defeat the forces of Odoacer for the second time at Verona (Northern Italy).
737 – Battle of the Baggage: Turgesh drive back an Umayyad invasion of Khuttal, follow them south of the Oxus and capture their baggage train.
1399 – Henry IV is proclaimed King of England.
1541 – Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto and his forces enter Tula territory in present-day western Arkansas, encountering fierce resistance.
1744 – France and Spain defeat the Kingdom of Sardinia at the Battle of Madonna dell'Olmo.
1791 – The first performance of The Magic Flute, the last opera by Mozart to make its debut, took place at Freihaus-Theater auf der Wieden in Vienna, Austria.
1791 – The National Constituent Assembly in Paris is dissolved; Parisians hail Maximilien Robespierre and Jérôme Pétion as "incorruptible patriots".
1813 – Battle of Bárbula: Simón Bolívar defeats Santiago Bobadilla.
1860 – Britain's first tram service begins in Birkenhead, Merseyside.
1882 – Thomas Edison's first commercial hydroelectric power plant (later known as Appleton Edison Light Company) begins operation on the Fox River in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States.
1888 – Jack the Ripper kills his third and fourth victims, Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes.
1895 – Madagascar becomes a French protectorate.
1903 – The new Gresham's School is officially opened by Field Marshal Sir Evelyn Wood.
1906 – The Real Academia Galega, Galician language's biggest linguistic authority, starts working in Havana.
1907 – McKinley National Memorial, the final resting place of assassinated U.S. President William McKinley and his family, is dedicated in Canton, Ohio.
1927 – Babe Ruth becomes the first baseball player to hit 60 home runs in a season.
1931 – Start of "Die Voortrekkers" youth movement for Afrikaners in Bloemfontein, South Africa.
1935 – The Hoover Dam, astride the border between the U.S. states of Arizona and Nevada, is dedicated.
1938 – At 2:00 am, Britain, France, Germany and Italy sign the Munich Agreement, allowing Germany to occupy the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia.
1938 – The League of Nations unanimously outlaws "intentional bombings of civilian populations".
1939 – General Władysław Sikorski becomes commander-in-chief of the Polish Government in exile.
1941 – World War II: Holocaust in Kiev, Ukraine: German Einsatzgruppe C complete Babi Yar massacre.
1945 – The Bourne End rail crash, in Hertfordshire, England, kills 43
1947 – The Islamic Republic of Pakistan and Yemen join the United Nations.
1947 – The World Series, featuring the New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers, is televised for the first time.
1949 – The Berlin Airlift ends.
1954 – The U.S. Navy submarine USS Nautilus is commissioned as the world's first nuclear reactor powered vessel.
1955 – Film star James Dean dies in a road accident aged 24.
1962 – Mexican-American labor leader César Chávez founds the National Farm Workers Association, which later becomes United Farm Workers.
1962 – James Meredith enters the University of Mississippi, defying segregation.
1965 – The Lockheed L-100, the civilian version of the C-130 Hercules, is introduced.
1965 – The 30 September Movement attempts a coup against the Indonesian government, which is crushed by the military under Suharto and leads to a mass anti-communist purge, with over 500,000 people killed.
1966 – The British protectorate of Bechuanaland declares its independence, and becomes the Republic of Botswana. Seretse Khama takes office as the first President.
1967 – BBC Light Programme, Third Programme and Home Service are replaced with BBC Radio 2, 3 and 4 Respectively, BBC Radio 1 is also launched with Tony Blackburn presenting its first show.
1968 – The Boeing 747 is rolled out and shown to the public for the first time at the Boeing Everett Factory.
1970 – Jordan makes a deal with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) for the release of the remaining hostages from the Dawson's Field hijackings.
1972 – Roberto Clemente records the 3,000th and final hit of his career.
1975 – The Hughes (later McDonnell-Douglas, now Boeing) AH-64 Apache makes its first flight.
1977 – Because of US budget cuts and dwindling power reserves, the Apollo program's ALSEP experiment packages left on the Moon are shut down.
1979 – The Hong Kong MTR commences service with the opening of its Modified Initial System (aka. Kwun Tong Line).
1980 – Ethernet specifications are published by Xerox working with Intel and Digital Equipment Corporation.
1982 – Cyanide-laced Tylenol kills six people in the Chicago area. Seven are killed in all.
1986 – Mordechai Vanunu, who revealed details of Israel's covert nuclear program to British media, is kidnapped in Rome, Italy by the Israeli Mossad.
1990 – The Dalai Lama unveils the Canadian Tribute to Human Rights in Canada's capital city of Ottawa.
1993 – An earthquake hits India's Latur and Osmanabad district of Marathwada (Aurangabad division) in Maharashtra state leaving tens of thousands of people dead and many more homeless.
1994 – Aldwych tube station (originally Strand Station) of the London Underground closes after eighty-eight years in service.
1994 – Ongar railway station, the furthest London Underground from Central London, closes.
1996 – The United States Congress passes an Amendment that bars the possession of firearms for people who were convicted of domestic violence, even misdemeanor level.
1999 – Japan's second worst nuclear accident at a uranium reprocessing facility in Tōkai-mura, northeast of Tokyo.
2004 – The first images of a live giant squid in its natural habitat are taken 600 miles south of Tokyo.
2004 – The AIM-54 Phoenix, the primary missile for the F-14 Tomcat, is retired from service. Almost two years later, the Tomcat is retired.

Famous Folk Born On This Date:

Pope Nicholas IV
Ann Jarvis
Hans Geiger (he should definitely count in this category)
Kenny Baker
Lester Maddox
Buddy Rich
Truman Capote
Robin Roberts
Elie Wiesel
Angie Dickinson
Johnny Podres
Johnny Mathis
Len Cariou
Dewey Martin
Frankie Lymon
Marc Bolan
Rula Lenska
Deborah Allen
Barry Williams
Crystal Bernard
Monica Bellucci
Jenna Elfman
Chris Von Erich
Jose Lima
Marion Cotillard
Martina Hingis
Lacey Chabert
Renee Richards (the porno actress, not the transsexual tennis player)

Movie quotes today are from "Navy SEALs" because I keep laughing at the trailers for "Machete Kills" with Charlie Sheen...pardon, Carlos Estevez:

Hawkins: For God's sake, be careful out there!
Ramos: If I were going to be careful, I'd have joined the Coast Guard...

#2

Pilot: Lieutenant, you guys are incredible. Thank you.
Curran: There's no reason to thank us because we don't exist. You never saw us. This never happened.
Hawkins: One more thing: you're welcome.

#3

Ali: [explaining the battle zone in Beirut] Hamas, Amal, Al Shouhada, Hezbolla...
Ali: [a jet streaks by, and he points up at it] Israel.

#4

Hawkins: What's he saying?
Leary: Something about your mother.
[Hawkins lowers his gun and slightly alters his aim, hitting the terrorist directly in the forehead with a well-aimed shot]
Hawkins: NEVER talk about Mom...

Predictions on a Sunday afternooon

Prediction #1 - The government of the United States of America will shut down at midnight on Monday, the Congress having failed to pass a continuing resolution to fund government operations.

When that happens, it will be almost transparent to most.  Mail will be delivered.  Social Security and Veterans benefit checks will go out, probably on time.  Military pay will probably be delayed, but they will be paid eventually.

But for those who are civilian employees of the federal government who are not considered essential, it will have a serious impact.  They will be furloughed.  They will not be paid.  When the Congress finally acts to fund government operations, they may not be paid retroactively for their lost workdays.

If you want a Small Business Administration loan, your application will stop wherever it is at the moment the government shuts down.  If you are applying for Social Security, your application will probably suffer a delay until government begins operating again.

The spending of those government employees who are furloughed will be reduced.  That will have a ripple effect on the still-recovering economy.

Prediction #2 - If/when prediction #1 comes to pass, all Republican members of the Congress will pay a heavy price.

The Republicans have control of the House, and are within five seats of achieving a majority in the Senate.  Even before prediction #1 comes true, odds are very long against the Republicans gaining any ground in the 2014 Senate elections.  Alabama's Jeff Sessions (R) is probably not vulnerable.  Mark Begich (D) of Alaska is probably safe, although that could change.  Arkansas' Mark Pryor (D) is very vulnerable.  Mark Udall (D) of Colorado is going to be reelected.  Delaware's Chris Coons (D) may face a primary challenge but the seat is probably going to remain in Democratic hands.  In Georgia, Saxby Chambliss (R) will not seek reelection and there is a good chance that seat will go to a Democrat.  Hawaii's interim Senator, Brian Schatz (D) will win election to a full term in 2014.  Jim Risch (R) will almost certainly be reelected.  Dick Durbin (D) is a lock in Illinois unless he kills the Pope or becomes a child molester.   In Iowa, Tom Harkin (D) isn't running again but the seat is probably going to remain on the (D) side of the aisle.  Pat Roberts (R) of Kansas may face a primary challenge, but the winner of the Republican primary will win the general election.  Kentucky's Mitch McConnell (R) is very vulnerable.  Polls show incumbent Mary Landrieu (D) has a double digit lead on whoever is running against her.  The popularity of the state's governor, Bobby Jindal might help close the gap, but she'll be reelected.  Maine's Susan Collins (R) is safe.  In Massachusetts, Ed Markey (he replaced John Kerry when he became Secretary of State) will win election to a full term.  The Michigan  seat held by the retiring Carl Levin (D) will probably remain on the Democrat side of the aisle.  In Minnesota, Al Franken (D) might be vulnerable.  Maybe.  Mississippi's Thad Cochran (R) will almost certainly retire, but the Republicans will probably hold on to that seat.  Whoever is the Democratic nominee to replace the retiring Max Baucus in Montana does face an uphill battle.  The seat in Nebraska is up for grabs.  New Hampshire Democrat Jeanne Shaheen will face a stiff challenge but she is probably safe.  That the New Jersey race has tightened a bit, with Steve Lonegan (R) gaining some ground on Newark Mayor Cory Booker (D) is meaningless.  Booker will win, possibly in a landslide.  Tom Udall (D) of New Mexico faces a tight race, but will probably prevail.  Kay Hagan (D) of North Carolina leads by double digits over any potential Republican opponent, leading most by 15 points or more.  Oklahoma's Jim Inhofe (R) will turn 79 before the election, but he is running and will probably win.  Oregon's Jeff Merkey (D) is very vulnerable.  Jack Reed (D) will be reelected in Rhode Island.  In South Carolina, Lindsey Graham (R) may not win the primary, but whoever wins that primary will be elected.  Interim SC Senator Tim Scott (R) will win a full term in 2014.  South Dakota is up for grabs, but probably goes Democrat.  Lamar Alexander (R) will probably win another term in Tennessee.  Texas Republican John Cornyn is probably safe.  Mark Warner (D) is probably safe in Virginia.  West Virginia incumbent Jay Rockefeller (D) will not seek reelection and will almost certainly be replaced by the state's first ever female senator.  Shelley Moore Capito (R) is the likely winner of that race.  In Wyoming, the Republican incumbent faces a primary challenge but again, the winner of that race wins in the general election.

So as you can see, the Republicans might have gained a seat or two in the Senate, but no more than three.  They'd need four just to tie.  In the wake of a government shutdown, they might actually lose ground as all of the above goes into flux if the shutdown becomes prolonged.  It will hurt the Republicans seeking election (or reelection) who are currently members of Congress.

In the House (and I'm not going to review 435 election campaigns here), Republicans have a 32 seat majority with three seats currently vacant.  Normally they would stand a good chance of gaining ground in an election held when a President is mid-term.  But the government shutting down will cost them seats instead.  They may lose control of the House altogether.

Prediction #3 - If/when the government shuts down, it will become a problem in the 2016 Presidential election for whoever has the Republican nomination.

* * *

I haven't mentioned this before, but along with all of the other illnesses and stuff I deal with, I have a mild case of diabetes.  I don't use or need insulin.  I take a small dose of one drug and my blood sugar is always in a normal range as a result.

But I am suffering the effects of this disease in one instance at the moment.  I have three (very small) open wounds on my leg that are being very stubborn about not healing.  One of them has been around since early August and has shrunk no further in the last two-plus weeks.

I finally got to the wound-care people at the VA and now that I'm getting better treatment, I may finally get to the point where I no longer have to have someone clean and dress those three wounds, twice  day.

I mention this because while I normally sing the praises of the VA and its systems, I was a little disappointed this past week.  First off, because they should have sent me to a wound care specialist right away.  In fact, the ER doctor I saw in early August put in a consult for it, but no one bothered to act on it.

What was really annoying though was seeing non-medical personnel employed at the VA being typical government bureaucrats, meaning they're getting paid but passing the buck at every opportunity.  We are told we need to go to this one office to sign up for on-line access to our healthcare information, records, appointments and best of all; secure messaging with our providers.  I went where I'd been told to go.  The woman who works there is someone I'd had a less than satisfying encounter with in the past.  She told me I needed to go see so-and-so in another office and he would arrange to sign me up.  Now I'd been to this office once before to sign up, and the person behind the counter had tried to help me; saying this was the place to do this.  We'd been unable to complete the process.  Now I was back and being told to go elsewhere.  Walked over to elsewhere to find that the person I was supposed to get help from wasn't there.  He had the day off.  Went back to the woman (who is very nice, but not very helpful) and was told to sign a paper.  After I signed it, she handed me written instructions to sign up at home, on-line.

Now I'm a bright individual and can probably navigate whatever the sign-up process is.  But considering there'd been a problem before, I wanted to do it there in case I ran into a similar problem.  But once she'd handed me those instructions, I might as well have no longer existed.  In her world, I didn't.

On the same day I saw another veteran trying to get a clerk in the primary care clinic to help him.  He'd been being helped by another clerk in the past, and she told him that this particular clerk was off until Monday (it was Thursday morning) and he'd have to come back then.  He mentioned the name of another clerk who'd helped him in the past and got the same response.  "She's off until Monday, come back then."  Only when he started to shuffle away and I glared at her, planning to come tell her off that she called him back saying "wait a minute, I'll see if I can help."

She's a clerk.  Maybe she'll have to duplicate some of the effort and work that those other clerks had already done, but that's a hell of a lot better than sending him away without whatever he needed for four days.

If it weren't for myself and the other veterans, that clerk wouldn't have such a cushy job where she can tell people to go away and come back another day.  So she shouldn't be doing that.

* * *

Random Ponderings:

How many people honestly believe that "play ball" is the final two words of the Star Spangled Banner?

Will someone make a tribute video of all the different "dog Spot" animals that appeared in Cal Worthington's commercials?  That's a lot of dogs.

Firing Lane Kiffin won't help as much as the expiration of the NCAA sanctions against USC will.

Maksim Chmerkovsky is dating Kate Upton.  I'm starting a pool on how long this will last and taking 97 days in it.  Let me know your guess.

The nanny who formerly cared for the child of Alanis Morissette is suing for $130,000, claiming she is owed for overtime and was kept a virtual prisoner in the child's room.

Khloe Kardashian no longer uses the last name Odom on Twitter.  Is that the social media equivalent of filing for divorce?

It looks to me that Kareem Jackson deserved that flag for a "body-slam" in today's game between Seattle and Houston in the NFL.  The whistle had blown the play dead BEFORE Jackson lifted Doug Baldwin from the ground before giving him a WWE like "suplex".

Senator Ted Cruz trying to blame Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for the impending government shutdown is the epitome of projection.

I want to put a Joe Biden joke here but it wouldn't go over well.

Count me among the 15% of Americans who do not drink coffee on Coffee Day.  Then again, I am allergic to it.

Miss World makes sense.  Competition is limited to Earth.  But Miss Universe suddenly seems inappropriate with the continuing discoveries indicating life may exist on other planets outside of this solar system.

While we wait to see what Congress does, the FHA pulled a fast one, announcing on Friday that they need a $1.7 billion bailout.  Reverse mortgages are losing money.

* * *

This Date In History:

522 BC – Darius I of Persia kills the Magian usurper Gaumâta, securing his hold as king of the Persian Empire.
480 BC – Battle of Salamis: The Greek fleet under Themistocles defeats the Persian fleet under Xerxes I.
61 BC – Pompey the Great celebrates his third triumph for victories over the pirates and the end of the Mithridatic Wars on his 45th birthday.
1227 – Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, is excommunicated by Pope Gregory IX for his failure to participate in the Crusades.
1364 – Battle of Auray: English forces defeat the French in Brittany; end of the Breton War of Succession.
1567 – At a dinner, the Duke of Alba arrests the Count of Egmont and the Count of Hoorn for treason.
1650 – Henry Robinson opens his Office of Addresses and Encounters in Threadneedle Street, London.
1717 – An earthquake strikes Antigua Guatemala, destroying much of the city's architecture and making authorities consider moving the capital to a different city.
1789 – The United States Department of War first establishes a regular army with a strength of several hundred men.
1789 – The 1st United States Congress adjourns.
1829 – The Metropolitan Police of London, later also known as the Met, is founded.
1848 – Battle of Pákozd: stalemate between Hungarian and Croatian forces at Pákozd; the first battle of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848.
1850 – The Roman Catholic hierarchy is re-established in England and Wales by Pope Pius IX.
1864 – American Civil War: The Battle of Chaffin's Farm is fought.
1885 – The first practical public electric tramway in the world is opened in Blackpool, England.
1907 – The cornerstone is laid at Washington National Cathedral in the U.S. capital.
1911 – Italy declares war on the Ottoman Empire.
1918 – World War I, Battle of St. Quentin Canal: The Hindenburg Line is broken by Allied forces. Bulgaria signs an armistice.
1923 – The British Mandate for Palestine takes effect, creating Mandatory Palestine.
1932 – Chaco War: Last day of the Battle of Boquerón between Paraguay and Bolivia.
1938 – Munich Agreement: Germany is given permission from France, Italy, and Great Britain to seize the territory of Sudetenland, Czechoslovakia. The meeting takes place in Munich, and leaders from neither the Soviet Union nor Czechoslovakia attend.
1941 – World War II: Holocaust in Kiev, Soviet Union: German Einsatzgruppe C begins the Babi Yar massacre, according to the Einsatzgruppen operational situation report.
1949 – The Communist Party of China writes the Common Programme for the future People's Republic of China.
1951 – The first live sporting event seen coast-to-coast in the United States, a college football game between Duke and the University of Pittsburgh, is televised on NBC.
1954 – The convention establishing CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research) is signed.
1957 – 20 MCi (740 petabecquerels) of radioactive material is released in an explosion at the Soviet Mayak nuclear plant at Chelyabinsk.
1960 – Nikita Khrushchev, leader of Soviet Union, disrupts a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly with a number of angry outbursts.
1962 – Alouette 1, the first Canadian satellite, is launched.
1963 – The second period of the Second Vatican Council opens.
1964 – The Argentine comic strip Mafalda is published for the first time.
1966 – The Chevrolet Camaro, originally named Panther, is introduced.
1971 – Oman joins the Arab League.
1972 – Sino-Japanese relations: Japan establishes diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China after breaking official ties with the Republic of China.
1975 – WGPR in Detroit, Michigan, becomes the world's first black-owned-and-operated television station.
1979 – Pope John Paul II becomes the first pope to set foot on Irish soil with his pastoral visit to the Republic of Ireland.
1982 – The 1982 Chicago Tylenol murders begin when the first of seven individuals dies in metropolitan Chicago.
1988 – Space Shuttle: NASA launches STS-26, the return to flight mission, after the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.
1990 – Construction of the Washington National Cathedral is completed.
1990 – The YF-22, which would later become the F-22 Raptor, flies for the first time.
1991 – Military coup in Haiti (1991 Haitian coup d'état).
1992 – Brazilian President Fernando Collor de Mello is impeached.
1995 – The United States Navy disbands Fighter Squadron 84 (VF-84), nicknamed the "Jolly Rogers".

Famous Folk Born On This Date:

Pompey
Tintoretto
Caravaggio
Admiral Horatio Nelson
Enrico Fermi
Greer Garson
Steve Forrest
Pete McCloskey
Anita Ekberg
Robert Benton
Skandor Akbar
Stuart M. Kaminsky
Jerry Lee Lewis
Silvio Berlusconi
Tommy Boyce
Larry Linville
Madeline Kahn
Ian McShane
Steve Teisch
Lech Walesa
Mike Post
Bryant Gumbel
Gabor Csupo
Andrew Dice Clay
David Sammartino
Stephanie Miller
Jill Whelan
Erika Eleniak
Natasha Gregson Wagner
Kevin Durant

Movie quotes today come from "S.W.A.T." in honor of the birthday of Steve Forrest, who passed away this year.  The original "Hondo" in the television series, he was an underrated talent.

Hondo: You know what they say, you're either SWAT or you're not.

#2

Street: So why'd you pick me?
Hondo: To piss off the captain.

#3

Chris Sanchez: Just because I bought you a drink doesn't mean you're getting laid tonight.
Street: So, what does two drinks mean?

#4

Neighbor in Alley: Y'all ain't got nothing better to do than to be haulin' off black people off to jail? Just perpetuatin' a cycle you know!
Deke: [putting the criminal in the police car] Let's see how liberal you are when he breaks into your place!
Neighbor in Alley: MMmm hm!
Deke: Mmm hm my ass!

Hollywood - gay friendly on screen and not quite so friendly off screen - and other eyecatching headlines

SAG-AFTRA is holding its annual convention in Los Angeles and released an online survey of 5,700 of its members.  Of those who filled out the survey and identified themselves as LGBT one third said they'd heard "slurs" about LGBT people on set.  Almost half of those who identify as lesbian or gay reported that they believe studio executives and producers think LG performers are less marketable.

Mitt Romney is now claiming that his biggest mistake during the 2012 campaign was not doing more to make the Hispanic community understand his stand on immigration reform.  Perhaps someone will explain to him his biggest error was opening his mouth before engaging his brain.

A couple married for more than 20 years recently split up because he came out of the closet, then declared he was actually a woman trapped in a man's body; at which point his wife confessed she'd just realized she is a lesbian.  I did not make that up.

In the same state where LAUSD has more than 700,000 students, there is a school district that has only 8.  Blake School District, in Kern County holds its classes in one bungalow for the entire population of the district.

In Hooksett, NH, a store/deli that's been operating for 126 years will finally close its doors forever.  Robie's Country Store is for sale though, so it might be saved by new ownership.

Archie Karas turned $50 into $40 million by gambling.  Now he may have turned $8,000 in winnings at a California casino into a stretch behind bars.  Karas is accused of marking cards in order to cheat the Barona Casino in Lakeside out of the relatively small amount.  He could get up to three years in jail.

Vice Admiral Tim Guardina is the second in command of the U.S. Strategic Command, the command that is in charge of the entire U.S. nuclear arsenal.  Now he's been suspended from his job and from any duties involving nuclear weapons or a security clearance; reportedly over an investigation into his off-duty gambling.

Since her divorce from Eddie Cibrian in 2009, Brandi Glanville has become a "Real Housewife" and is going through another contentious divorce.  At the moment she's saying that seeing her kids with LeAnn Rimes is the "worst pain".

LAPD's chief, Chief Beck has finally pulled the plug on Special Order 7, which a judge had ruled is a violation of state law.  Special Order 7 gave illegal immigrants leniency when they were stopped for driving without a valid license.

The Republicans in the House continue to try to push a continuing resolution through the Senate that puts a stop to the Affordable Healthcare Act, in spite of the clear and compelling evidence that it isn't going to work that way.  A government shutdown seems almost inevitable now.

I will join others tomorrow in being forced to get on the 405 in order to get around the closure of Venice Boulevard from Pacific Avenue all the way to Fairfax for a triathlon.  I'm going to a movie and have no alternative to hitting the freeway, twice.

Are you kidding me?

Blogger's note.  I started this blog entry on Friday morning and now that it is 6:36 p.m. on Saturday, this is the first chance I've had to sit down and complete it.  So I'm going to pick up where I left off and worry about an entry for Saturday afterward.

I just listened to an interview on CNN.  Jake Tapper was taking to "conservative" talk show host Mark Levin and I'm amazed at how clueless he really is.

He actually believes that it is democratic for Congress to defund Obamacare as a way of putting a stop to a program that his party has tried (and failed) 40 times to derail.  That anyone who criticizes the effort to defund is proof that the critic believe only that Congress that passed Obamacare into law was "democratic."

Someone who claims the vitae that Mr. Levin (that's LeVin, not LEvin, as though it might make him distant from his Jewish roots) has should know better.  You want to repeal a law, you repeal it.  If you don't want to have Social Insecurity, you can't defund it.  You can attempt to repeal it.  The vote in the House where a budget was passed that defunded Obamacare would have had a far different result if it was a vote solely on the issue of repealing the Affordable Healthcare Act.

Also the U.S. took a vote to put the funding back into the continuing resolution to fund the government.  So people like Mark Levin want to see a federal government shutdown happen to try to force the Senate to accede to their wishes.  Levin also talked about how in past federal government shutdowns, people got paid.  Social Security payments were made, but military payments have been delayed in the past.

When someone is serving in the all-volunteer military, has reached the august rank of E-4 or E-5, and has a spouse who doesn't work outside the home and the couple has children; odds are good they qualify for food stamps.  They are probably living paycheck to paycheck.  Telling this family they have to wait to be paid, because politicians in Washington, D.C. are engaged in a pissing contest is not an answer to anything.

* * *

Depending on how you choose to define the phrase "passing a budget", our elected leadership in Washington, D.C. hasn't passed one since 1997 or 2009.  Either measure is completely unacceptable.  In 1974 the Congress passed a bill that was signed by the President, mandating that the Congress submit a budget.  They aren't following the law of the land by operating the government through one continuing resolution after another.

The American people should unite and tell all of the members of Congress that if they can't avert the shutdown on October 1, pass a bill to raise the debt ceiling before government runs out of authority to borrow, and pass a budget on-time in early 2014 for the fiscal year that begins in October of that year; we will vote every single one of them out of office.  Without exception!

All the talk of trying to find ways to reduce and ultimately eliminate the federal budget deficit mean nothing if our government fails to produce and follow an actual budget.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has refused to allow a single appropriations bill passed by the House to even come up for vote in the Senate.  Nothing he doesn't want passed would pass, so why not at least have a vote?  Politics. 

I'm just disgusted by the entire 536 of them (535 members of Congress and 1 President).

* * *

Random Ponderings:

Would someone tell the asshole who was leaving the Westfield Century City parking structure at the same moment I was, that when you want to ignore the sign that says right-turn only and turn left, it's probably a good idea to do it from the left of the two exit lanes?  That way she wouldn't have scared the shit out of me as I was making a proper right turn from that left exit lane.  Her oversized SUV would have made mincemeat of my car if my reflexes weren't good.

While I'm on that topic, someone needs to tell the idiot who was driving in the fast lane of the 405 you don't want to wait until the last 200 yards before your exit to start moving to the right.

If the VA is going to insist we check in via computer kiosks, they might want to make sure they're working before they tell us to use them. 

While I'm on that topic, if you work at the VA and you're telling a patient to go see X in order to get something done, it might be a good idea to make sure X is there that day.  I had that one happen yesterday.  Walked a good long distance only to find the person I'd been sent to see was off that day.  I guess I should be grateful for the exercise rather than focus on the time and effort wasted.

Oh good, someone's found a way to make a substitute for heroin that's much cheaper to manufacturer, with only one bad side effect.  It is a "flesh-eating" drug, causing the user's skin to become crocodile-like in appearance before it just dies off.  Amputations usually follow.  Just what the world needed and now it's in the U.S.

This Date in History (9/27/13):

1066 – William the Conqueror and his army set sail from the mouth of the Somme River, beginning the Norman Conquest of England.
1331 – The Battle of Płowce between the Kingdom of Poland and the Teutonic Order is fought.
1422 – After the brief Gollub War the Teutonic Knights sign the Treaty of Melno with the Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania
1529 – The Siege of Vienna begins when Suleiman I attacks the city.
1540 – The Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) receives its charter from Pope Paul III.
1590 – Pope Urban VII dies 13 days after being chosen as the Pope, making his reign the shortest papacy in history.
1605 – The armies of Sweden are defeated by the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the Battle of Kircholm.
1669 – The Venetians surrender the fortress of Candia to the Ottomans, thus ending the 21-year long Siege of Candia.
1777 – Lancaster, Pennsylvania is the capital of the United States, for one day.
1821 – Mexico gains its independence from Spain.
1822 – Jean-François Champollion announces that he has deciphered the Rosetta stone.
1825 – The Stockton and Darlington Railway opens, and begins operation of the world's first service of locomotive-hauled passenger trains.
1854 – The steamship SS Arctic sinks with 300 people on board. This marks the first great disaster in the Atlantic Ocean.
1875 – The merchant sailing ship Ellen Southard is wrecked in a storm at Liverpool; the United States Congress subsequently awards 27 gold Lifesaving Medals to the lifeboat men who went to rescue her crew.
1903 – Wreck of the Old 97, a train crash made famous by the song of the same name.
1905 – The physics journal Annalen der Physik received Albert Einstein's paper "Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?", introducing the equation E=mc².
1908 – The first production of the Ford Model T automobile was built at the Piquette Plant in Detroit, Michigan.
1916 – Iyasu is proclaimed deposed as ruler of Ethiopia in a palace coup in favor of his aunt Zauditu.
1922 – King Constantine I of Greece abdicates his throne in favor of his eldest son, King George II.
1928 – The Republic of China is recognized by the United States.
1930 – Bobby Jones wins the U.S. Amateur Championship to complete the Grand Slam of golf. The old structure of the grand slam was the U.S. Open, British Open, U.S. Amateur, and British Amateur.
1937 – Balinese Tiger declared extinct.
1938 – Ocean liner Queen Elizabeth launched in Glasgow.
1940 – World War II: The Tripartite Pact is signed in Berlin by Germany, Japan and Italy.
1941 – The SS Patrick Henry is launched becoming the first of more than 2,700 Liberty ships.
1942 – Last day of the September Matanikau action on Guadalcanal as United States Marine Corps troops barely escape after being surrounded by Japanese forces near the Matanikau River.
1944 – The Kassel Mission results in the largest loss by a USAAF group on any mission in World War II.
1949 – The first Plenary Session of the National People's Congress approves the design of the Flag of the People's Republic of China.
1954 – The nationwide debut of Tonight Starring Steve Allen (The Tonight Show) hosted by Steve Allen on NBC.
1956 – USAF Captain Milburn G. Apt becomes the first man to exceed Mach 3 while flying the Bell X-2. Shortly thereafter, the craft goes out of control and Captain Apt is killed.
1959 – Nearly 5000 people die on the main Japanese island of Honshū as the result of a typhoon.
1961 – Sierra Leone joins the United Nations.
1962 – The Yemen Arab Republic is established.
1964 – The British TSR-2 aircraft XR219 makes its maiden flight from Boscombe Down in Wiltshire.
1968 – The stage musical Hair opens at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London, where it played 1,998 performances until its closure was forced by the roof collapsing in July 1973.
1977 – A United States Navy McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II crashes into a residential neighborhood in Yokohama, Japan, killing two children on the ground and injuring seven other people.
1979 – The United States Department of Education receives final approval from the U.S. Congress to become the 13th US Cabinet agency.
1983 – Richard Stallman announces the GNU project to develop a free Unix-like operating system.
1988 – National League for Democracy is formed by Aung San Suu Kyi and various others to help fight against dictatorship in Myanmar.
1993 – The Sukhumi massacre takes place in Abkhazia.
1996 – In Afghanistan, the Taliban capture the capital city Kabul after driving out President Burhanuddin Rabbani and executing former leader Mohammad Najibullah.
1996 – The Julie N. tanker ship crashes into the Million Dollar Bridge in Portland, Maine spilling thousands of gallons of oil.
1997 – Communications are suddenly lost with the Mars Pathfinder space probe.
1998 – The Google internet search engine retrospectively claims this as its birthday.
2000 – The first Olympic Gold Medal ever for Tae Kwon Do was won by Greek athlete Michalis Mouroutsos in men's -58 kg division in Sydney.

Famous Folk Born on September 27th:

Samuel Adams (you had to be special to have a beer named after you...wait, there was one named for Billy Carter...never mind)
Samuel Francis Du Pont
William "Bull" Nelson
Thomas Nast
Harry Blackstone, Sr.
Sam Ervin
William Conrad
Jayne Meadows
Arthur Penn
Roger C. Carmel (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ag1EbxYKh_4 one of my favorite moments in TOS)
Greg Morris (I still feel a slight twinge of guilt for having put such a beating on him in a poker game at the old Desert Inn Hotel/Casino.  I'm keeping the money though.)
Wilford Brimley
Don Cornelius
Kathy Whitworth
Randy Bachman (Happy 70th birthday!)
Meat Loaf (How many times will we hear Adam Richman making the same joke to a chef cooking a burger..."don't let your meat loaf"?)
Liz Torres
A Martinez
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa
Greg Ham
Shaun Cassidy
Beth Heiden
Christopher Cousins
Amanda Detmer
Gwyneth Paltrow
Lil Wayne
Avril Lavigne

No movie quotes for this blog.

What is and isn't special

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmwqnqL3Hbg

Just what is it that makes something "special"?

When I was in the military we had lots and lots of different types of orders.  TDY orders were those that sent you on a temporary duty assignment somewhere other than your "permanent" base.  PCS (Permanent Change of Station) orders sent you from one permanent base to another.  General orders applied to everyone.  One of my old Army buddies used to crack himself up by translating the Army's first general order.  Officially it read:

"I will guard everything within the limits of my post and quit my post only when relieved."

His version was:

"I will walk my post from flank to flank and salute all bastards above my rank."

Anyway, I digress.  Then there were special orders.  Special orders do things to an individual or a group of individuals.  Changes of command are promulgated by a special order.  My Meritorious Service Medal and my two Air Force Commendation Medals were each awarded by a citation, but what made the citation official was a special order.  Such orders are "special."

In the days when I was a minimum-wage slave at a McDonald's, anytime someone wanted something "different", it was a special order.  No pickles, extra onions, whatever.  We did them, but some of the people working at the various fast food chains apparently let their negative attitude toward those who wanted something special be known.  That led to this:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJXzkUH72cY

Bowling a 300 game means you have achieved perfection.  12 shots, 12 strikes.  In 1952 the American Bowling Congress had 1.6 million members and there were 198 of these 300 games bowled that year.  In 1980, membership had grown to nearly 5 million members and there were 5,373 300 games.  Back then you would be rewarded with a gold 300 game ring by the ABC. 

Not in recent times.  In 2001, membership was back down to 1.7 million.  But there were 42,163 perfect games that year.  As membership numbers stay relatively stagnant or show minor decreases, the number of perfect games per year continue to rise.  The USBC (replaced the ABC) would go broke giving out free gold rings for 300 games.  Bowling a 300 game isn't nearly as special as it used to be.

Now let's go back to the Emmys and revisit the issue of giving special tributes.  The special tribute to Corey Monteith was nothing more than producers trying to boost their ratings for the younger viewing demographics.  It wasn't about him being "special".  But that's not what I want to look at today.  I'm interested in the whole idea of giving any one or several individuals a "special" tribute when doing an annual awards show "In Memoriam" segment.  Here is a list of the names from the most recent Oscar telecast's In Memoriam segment:

Actors
Celeste Holm — Actress (July 15, 2012)
Charles Durning — Actor (Dec. 24, 2012)
Erland Josephson — Actor (Feb. 25, 2012)
Ernest Borgnine — Actor (July 8, 2012)
Herbert Lom — Actor (Sep. 27, 2012)
Jack Klugman — Actor (Dec. 24, 2012)
Michael Clarke Duncan — Actor (Sep. 3, 2012)
 
Directors and producers
Charles C. Washburn — Assistant director (April 13, 2012)
Chris Marker — Writer-director (July 29, 2012)
Frank Pierson — Writer-director (July 22, 2012)
Nora Ephron — Writer-director (June 26, 2012)
Richard D. Zanuck — Film producer (July 13, 2012)
Tony Scott — British film director and producer (Aug. 19, 2012)
Ulu Grosbard — Belgian-born theater and film director (March 19, 2012)
 
Music and sound
Adam Yauch — Songwriter, film director (May 4, 2012)
Hal David — Song writer (Sep. 1, 2012)
Marvin Hamlisch — Composer, songwriter (Aug. 6, 2012)
Michael Hopkins — New Zealand sound editor (Dec. 30, 2012)
Michael Kohut — Re-recording mixer, executive, sound engineer (Unlisted)
Richard Robbins — American film score composer (Nov. 7, 2012)
Richard Rodney Bennett — English composer (Dec. 24, 2012)
Robert B. Sherman — American songwriter, musical films (March 6, 2012)
Theodore Soderberg — American sound engineer (Unlisted)
 
Visuals
Bruce Surtees — Cinematographer (Feb. 23, 2012)
Carlo Rambaldi — Special effects artist (Aug. 12, 2012)
George Bowers — Film editor (Aug. 18, 2012)
Harris Savides — Cinematographer (Oct. 10, 2012)
John D. Lowry — Image restoration pioneer (Jan. 21, 2012)
Matthew Yuricich — Visual effects artist (May 28, 2012)
Neil Travis — Film and television editor (March 28, 2012)
 
Designers
Charles Rosen— Production designer (June 26, 2012)
Eiko Ishioka — Costume designer (Jan. 21, 2012)
J. Michael Riva — Production designer (June 7, 2012)
Ralph McQuarrie— Conceptual designer and illustrator (March 3, 2012)
Stephen Frankfurt— Advertising executive, title designer (Sept. 28, 2012)
 
Writers
Ray Bradbury — Fantasy, science fiction writer (June 5, 2012)
Tonino Guerra — Writer (March 21, 2012)
 
Other
Andrew Sarri — Film critic (June 20, 2012)
Geoffrey G. Ammer — Marketing executive (Sept. 9, 2012)
Jake Ebert — Executive (Sept. 6, 2012)
Lois W. Smith — Publicist (Oct. 7, 2012)

41 names.  Of these 41 people, how many of them had been nominated for an Oscar?  How many of them had actually won one?

Ernest Borgnine was nominated once for the Academy Award and won.  Celeste Holm was a three-time nominee who won one Oscar.  Eiko Ishioka was a two time nominee and one-time winner of an Oscar.  Ralph McQuarrie was nominated once and won the award that year.  Michael Clarke Duncan was a one-time nominee.  Charles Durning was a two-time nominee (and recipient of the Silver Star and Bronze Star for his service during WWII).  Carlo Rambaldi, a name that was probably unknown to most at the time was a two-time Oscar winner (both times he was nominated, he won).  Richard Robbins was a two-time nominee.  Harris Savides was never nominated for an Oscar, but he was for a BAFTA.  Hal David was an Oscar winner while Tony Scott was not.  Nora Ephron was a three-time nominee.

So if the producers of the Oscar telecast wanted to pay special tribute to just a few of these 41 people, who should they choose?  Do you pay special tribute to Richard Robbins, winner of 2 gold statutes, over Ernest Borgnine, winner of only one?  Do you favor Borgnine over Charles Durning, who was nominated twice?  Is it awards, nominations, or just contributions to the industry that matter?

Were I to be in charge of such things, no one would receive any individual "special" recognition other than the montage of images (still and video) that are shown.  I would show more images of the people who are most familiar to the public, but it wouldn't be a huge increase over the tributes to those who weren't as well known.

In the end, everyone being saluted in an In Memoriam tribute is special, and the producers of awards shows should find a way to be more rather than less inclusive.  Less divisive rather than more divisive.

* * *

The Los Angeles Unified School District is in the process of putting an iPad in the hands of every single student in the district.  Total cost will exceed $1 billion.  Giving the students a way to carry their textbooks on an iPad rather than in a backpack that's so heavy it will cause them to have to walk bent, is a good idea.  Choosing the iPad as the platform for this is a bad one.

Giving students internet access at home is a noble thing.  But at what cost?  There is a better answer for the textbooks.  It's a device called a Kindle.  Kindles are cool.  They can hold every single textbook that a student is using that year.  And the following year.  And so on.  Kindles can use WiFi to send and receive email.  They can't surf the web per se, but maybe that's a good thing when one considers how the first batch of students misused their iPads to go to websites they weren't supposed to go through, after they hacked past the so-called "protections".

One news article puts the price to replace one of the LAUSD iPads at $700 if lost or stolen.  Kindles run about $70.

* * *

Random Ponderings:

On the numerous occasions when I took the train from Kwangju to the capital city of South Korea, I guess I was aboard the Seoul Train.

Is baseball really worth dying over?  What kind of idiot stabs someone because they're wearing "gear" from the other team your team is playing against??

While my trivia team didn't win last night's contest, we did win a $10 prize for best team name, thought up by me.  We played as "I saw Miley Cyrus with her clothes ON."

So without endorsing his wife, Bill Clinton says his daughter Chelsea would make a great president.  I can just see the Super PAC TV commercial now.  Some deep-voiced announcer saying "Former President Bill Clinton thinks his daughter would be a better president than his wife."

The brouhaha over the "Naughty Leopard" costume for little girls that was pulled from Walmart reminded me of an annual event at the USO in Homestead, FL.  Every year they had a "Naughty Nightie" contest, with the military guys bidding on the nighties of the women who volunteered to be hostesses there.  And every year, those guys ended up wearing those nighties they put in the winning bid for.

Look for a blog in the next few days on Obamacare's implementation and included in that will be the reasons why Senator Ted Cruz is not taking advantage of the healthcare plan offered to senators.

* * *

This Date In History:


46 BC – Julius Caesar dedicates a temple to his mythical ancestor Venus Genetrix in accordance with a vow he made at the battle of Pharsalus.
715 – Ragenfrid defeats Theudoald at the Battle of Compiègne.
1087 – William II is crowned King of England, and reigns until 1100.
1212 – Golden Bull of Sicily is issued to confirm the hereditary royal title in Bohemia for the Přemyslid dynasty.
1345 – Friso-Hollandic Wars: Frisians defeat Holland in the Battle of Warns.
1371 – Serbian–Turkish wars: The forces of the Ottoman sultan Murad I's lieutenant Lala Şâhin Paşa and the Serbian army under the command of Vukašin Mrnjavčević and Jovan Uglješa clash at the Battle of Maritsa.
1493 – Pope Alexander VI issues the papal bull Dudum siquidem to the Catholic Monarchs, extending the grant of new lands he made them in Inter caetera
1580 – Sir Francis Drake finishes his circumnavigation of the Earth.
1687 – The Parthenon in Athens is partially destroyed by an explosion caused by the bombing from Venetian forces led by Morosini who are besieging the Ottoman Turks stationed in Athens.
1687 – The city council of Amsterdam votes to support William of Orange's invasion of England, which became the Glorious Revolution.
1777 – British troops Philadelphia campaign occupy Philadelphia, Pennsylvania during the American Revolution.
1786 – Protestors shut down the court in Springfield, Massachusetts in a military standoff that begins Shays' Rebellion.
1789 – Thomas Jefferson is appointed the first United States Secretary of State, John Jay is appointed the first Chief Justice of the United States, Samuel Osgood is appointed the first United States Postmaster General, and Edmund Randolph is appointed the first United States Attorney General.
1792 – Marc-David Lasource begins accusing Maximilien Robespierre of wanting a dictatorship for France.
1810 – A new Act of Succession is adopted by the Riksdag of the Estates and Jean Baptiste Bernadotte becomes heir to the Swedish throne.
1872 – The first Shriners Temple (called Mecca) is established in New York City.
1907 – New Zealand and Newfoundland each become dominions within the British Empire.
1910 – Indian journalist Swadeshabhimani Ramakrishna Pillai is arrested after publishing criticism of the government of Travancore and exiled.
1914 – The United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is established by the Federal Trade Commission Act.
1917 – World War I: The Battle of Polygon Wood begins.
1918 – World War I: The Meuse-Argonne Offensive, the bloodiest single battle in American history, begins.
1923 – Gustav Stresemann resumes the Weimar Republic's payment of reparations.
1933 – As gangster Machine Gun Kelly surrenders to the FBI, he shouts out, "Don’t shoot, G-Men!", which becomes a nickname for FBI agents.
1933 – Ten convicts escape from the Indiana State Prison with guns smuggled into the prison by bank robber John Dillinger
1934 – Steamship RMS Queen Mary is launched.
1942 – The Holocaust: August Frank, a higher official of the SS concentration camp administration department, issues a memorandum containing a great deal of operational detail in how Jews should be "evacuated".
1944 – World War II: Operation Market Garden fails.
1944 – World War II: On the central front of the Gothic Line Brazilian troops control the Serchio valley region after ten days of fighting.
1950 – United Nations troops recapture Seoul from North Korean forces.
1950 – Indonesia is admitted to the United Nations.
1954 – Japanese rail ferry Toya Maru sinks during a typhoon in the Tsugaru Strait, Japan killing 1,172.
1959 – Typhoon Vera, the strongest typhoon to hit Japan in recorded history, makes landfall, killing 4,580 people and leaving nearly 1.6 million others homeless.
1960 – In Chicago, the first televised debate takes place between presidential candidates Richard M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy.
1960 – Fidel Castro announces Cuba's support for the U.S.S.R.
1969 - Abbey Road, the last recorded album by The Beatles, was released.
1970 – The Laguna Fire starts in San Diego County, California, burning 175,425 acres (709.92 km2).
1971 – The Freetown Christiania was founded.
1973 – Concorde makes its first non-stop crossing of the Atlantic in record-breaking time.
1981 – Baseball: Nolan Ryan sets a Major League record by throwing his fifth no-hitter.
1983 – Soviet military officer Stanislav Petrov averts a likely worldwide nuclear war by correctly identifying a report of an incoming nuclear missile as a computer error and not an American first strike.
1984 – The United Kingdom agrees to the handover of Hong Kong
1997 – A Garuda Indonesia Airbus A300 crashes near Medan, Indonesia, airport, killing 234.

Famous Folk Born On This Date:

Johnny Appleseed
Edmund Gwenn
T. S. Eliot
George Raft
Jurgen Stroop
Pope Paul VI
George Gershwin (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fh9ghHKHcmw)
Jack LaLanne
Barbara Britton
Matilde Camus
Marty Robbins
Julie London
Patrick O'Neal
Donna Douglas
Jerry Weintraub
Martine Beswick
Bryan Ferry
Christine Todd Whitman
Olivia Newton-John
Stuart Tosh
Linda Hamilton
Melissa Sue Anderson
Jillian Barberie
James Cavieziel
Jake Paltrow
Serena Williams

Movie quotes today come from "G. I. Jane" not because I think it bears revisiting so soon on its own merits, but because James Caviezel was in it:

Sen. Lillian DeHaven: Captain, are you in the habit of lettin' reporters traipse around your base, snappin' their fill? These are supposed to be discreet test cases!
C.O. Salem: Senator, they stand out on a public highway using telephoto lenses. There is nothin' I can do about it, unless you want me to infringe on their civil liberties, which I will be glad to do, if you'll just trim a little fat off the Constitution.
Sen. Lillian DeHaven: Did you just mouth off to a senior member of the Senate Arms Committee? I mean, I'll give you points for style, just nothin' for smarts!

#2

Lt. Jordan O'Neil: [after being brutually beaten during a capture exercise] Master Chief...
Master Chief John Urgayle: Lieutenant, seek life elsewhere.
Lt. Jordan O'Neil: Suck my dick!
[captive members of her team start shouting and chanting Hoo Rar after being silent to the Master Chief]

#3

'Slov' Slovnik: Lemme get this straight. Now we're *sharing the same fucking head*!
Lt. Jordan O'Neil: Listen, you moron! I am here to stay and if you don't wanna be in my life, you've got two choices. Move out or Ring out! That's it! End of File!
'Wick' Wickwire: [to Slovnik] I say you've got less than one minute to get your fucking clothes on!