A question was posed
Senator Dianne Feinstein
Senator Chuck Grassley
Congressman John Dingell
Congressman John Conyers
Congresswoman Louise Slaughter
Congressman Charles Rangel
Congressman Sam Johnson
Congressman Howard Coble
Congressman Sandy Levin
Congressman Don Young
What do these members of our federal government have in common? Hold on to that question for a moment. The National Constitution Center conducted a project last month. They asked people how they would amend the U. S. Constitution, if they were able. There were a number of interesting proposals but the winner by popularity was term limits for members of the Congress.
Now if it were up to me, I'd institute age limits as well. Both minimum and maximum. Actually, I'm fine with the current minimums. 25 years of age to begin serving as a member of the House and 30 years of age to begin serving as a member of the Senate. Which brings us back to that list. What those people have in common is that they are all above 80 years of age. Congressman Hall will turn 91 on May 3rd, a little more than three weeks before he will compete in a runoff election to be the Republican Party candidate, as he pursues reelection.
John Dingell of Michigan is 87. He's served in the House for over 58 years. Thankfully he announced last month that he will not seek reelection. I say thankfully because I'm certain the residents of his district would reelect him if he ran, and keep on reelecting him in perpetuity.
Once a politician becomes a member of the House or Senate, there's a kind of inertia that propels them forward in reelection campaigns. The odds are already stacked against someone challenging an incumbent, when you add in the gerrymandering done to keep district lines drawn to preserve partisanship, it's really tough to get elected. Reelected is a whole other story.
The thing is, limits of two, three or even four terms in the House create a different set of problems. If every member of Congress is replaced every eight years at maximum, the institutional knowledge transfers from the elected leadership to their staffs. Long-term employees of politicians will begin to amass empires and control things from behind the scenes. Freshmen members of the House will be so dependent on their key staff members, their ability to actually lead and make choices will be impacted.
That's why we need sensible term limits. Four terms for Senate members, twelve for House members. 24 years. The next step would be to set a limit that says when a member of either the House or Senate reaches the age of 72, they cannot run for reelection. We could agree to exempt the current membership, as a sign of respect.
We require people who work as police officers, firefighters and other occupations to retire at earlier ages because of the physical and/or mental strain on those who do that kind of work. Being one of the 535 people who handle all the legislative representation of over 315 million people has got to be at least as stressful.
* * *
When it comes to morning news, I watch Fox 11 here in Los Angeles. Their early morning news and then the big "Good Day LA" that comes on at 7. I follow a number of the station's journalists and anchors on Twitter, and some of them follow me.
I especially enjoy a segment they have every weekday morning known as "Big Deal, No Big Deal" where they talk about current issues and of course, decide if it is a big deal or not. This morning, they were discussing the curious case of James Edward Degorski.
Mr. Degorski was sentenced to life in prison for committing seven brutal murders back in 1993. He stabbed and shot two restaurant owners and five of their employees. Then, in 2002, he alleges that a Cook County Jail employee punched him in the face, breaking his cheekbone and eye socket. He sued. He won. He was awarded $451,000 by a jury who knew he was in prison for murder. However, the jury did not know the brutal specifics of the murders. The surviving family members of this man's victims are understandably upset. They feel he shouldn't get a dime. Steve Edwards of Good Day L. A. agrees with them. They are all wrong in this instance.
Like it or not, when we as a society imprison someone for violating one of our laws, we accept the complete and total responsibility for their welfare. They lose the right to freedom, along with the right to vote. But they don't lose all of their constitutional rights. In particular, they do not lose the right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment, as stated in the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The discussion on the panel on GDLA centered on the fact that while the guard should be punished for what he did, by being fired and/or prosecuted; the inmate should not benefit from the guard's misconduct. Nothing could be further from the truth. The criminal and employment actions against the guard have absolutely no bearing on whether or not the inmate, now a victim himself, should be justly compensated for his mistreatment and injury.
It becomes a matter of degree. At what point do the actions of jailers against inmates become so heinous as to deserve compensation? Torture? Murder? Allowing one prisoner to rape another? A guard inflicting such serious injuries on a prisoner that it results in paralysis? Remember, we accepted responsibility for the care of these inmates. We can't let the guard just beat them on a regular, or even singular basis.
Should the money go to the state, to reimburse the cost of the man's incarceration? A valid point and certainly worth exploring? Should the money go to the families of the victims, as compensation for their own loss? Again, an idea worthy of exploring. However, both ideas require the legal process, or else we're violating another portion of the Constitution, the Takings Clause.
We aren't talking about this man being unjustly enriched. He won't be heading off to ski at Aspen. I don't want to see this man able to buy anything he wants in the prison commissary just because some idiot guard lost control and punched him. I just don't see how to legally and morally deprive him of his rights.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
If they teach you to do it one way in training, over and over, then that's the way it should be done. Lower-level managers don't get to change the process on their own.
Could we stop with the jokes about how "well-equipped" Johnny Carson was, based on this latest lurid sex tape? The man is dead. Let him rest in peace.
Wouldn't you love to ask the 20 people who lined up at a Florida gun show to get a signed photo of George Zimmerman, why the heck they'd want to do that?
The Colorado man who filed a claim that's a precursor to a lawsuit may end up suing the divers who rescued him from his submerged car. There's something seriously wrong with that.
Joe McGinniss has died. His book, "The Selling of the President: 1968" is a real eye-opener about how the campaign to elect Richard Nixon really used the media that election, having learned the lessons from his 1960 losing campaign. A great read. RIP.
Chuck Norris turned 74 and he can still kick all of our asses. That's one tough old man.
Sbarro is going bankrupt again. What I found interesting about that is that one of the reasons given is that foot traffic in malls is supposedly down. Not at the malls I go to.
I suspect Vivica A. Fox doesn't care that she won't be returning to the Jimmy Kimmel show, after he disclosed she's banned from the program.
There was no reason for us to know that the last words of wildlife expert Steve Irwin were "I'm dying."
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is describing ads paid for by the Koch brothers that target Obamacare as being a law that contains "...lies made up from whole cloth." He also said "I guess if you make that much money, you can make these immoral decisions." While I have no love for the Koch brothers, to hear Reid calling others liars is laughable. We didn't forget the lies Reid told about Mitt Romney's tax history during the 2012 campaign. And as for immoral decisions, pushing legislation to enrich yourself and your friends through the Congress is the height of immorality.
Pat Garafalo is a Minnesota state legislator who suffers from foot in mouth keypad disease as evidenced by this tweet: "Let's be honest, 70% of teams in NBA could fold tomorrow + nobody would notice a difference w/ possible exception of increase in streetcrime." In fact, the arrest rate among NBA players is less than half the arrest rate among the general population.
A recent tabloid photo of Bruce Jenner has me wondering...when in the world did this man so concerned with his health take up smoking?
Is there any other appropriate reaction to reading that Miley Cyrus performed a song in her underwear than to yawn and wonder why someone thinks this to be newsworthy?
* * *
March 11th in History:
222 – Emperor Elagabalus is assassinated, along with his mother, Julia Soaemias, by the Praetorian Guard during a revolt. Their mutilated bodies are dragged through the streets of Rome before being thrown into the Tiber.
1387 – Battle of Castagnaro: English condottiero Sir John Hawkwood leads Padova to victory in a factional clash with Verona.
1641 – Guaraní forces living in the Jesuit Reductions defeat bandeirantes loyal to the Portuguese Empire at the Battle of Mbororé in present-day Panambí, Argentina.
1649 – The Frondeurs and the French sign the Peace of Rueil.
1702 – The Daily Courant, England's first national daily newspaper is published for the first time.
1708 – Queen Anne withholds Royal Assent from the Scottish Militia Bill, the last time a British monarch vetoes legislation.
1784 – The signing of the Treaty of Mangalore brings the Second Anglo-Mysore War to an end.
1811 – During André Masséna's retreat from the Lines of Torres Vedras, a division led by French Marshal Michel Ney fights off a combined Anglo-Portuguese force to give Masséna time to escape.
1824 – The United States Department of War creates the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
1845 – The Flagstaff War: Unhappy with translational differences regarding the Treaty of Waitangi, chiefs Hone Heke, Kawiti and Māori tribe members chop down the British flagpole for a fourth time and drive settlers out of Kororareka, New Zealand.
1848 – Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine and Robert Baldwin become the first Prime Ministers of the Province of Canada to be democratically elected under a system of responsible government.
1851 – The first performance of Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi takes place in Venice.
1861 – American Civil War: The Constitution of the Confederate States of America is adopted.
1864 – The Great Sheffield Flood kills 238 people in Sheffield, England.
1867 – The first performance of Don Carlos by Giuseppe Verdi takes place in Paris.
1872 – Construction of the Seven Sisters Colliery, South Wales, begins; located on one of the richest coal sources in Britain.
1879 – Shō Tai formally abdicated his position of King of Ryūkyū, under orders from Tokyo, ending the Ryukyu Kingdom
1888 – The Great Blizzard of 1888 begins along the eastern seaboard of the United States, shutting down commerce and killing more than 400.
1916 – USS Nevada (BB-36) is commissioned. The first US Navy "super-dreadnought".
1917 – World War I: Baghdad falls to Anglo-Indian forces commanded by General Stanley Maude.
1918 – The first case of Spanish flu occurs, the start of a devastating worldwide pandemic.
1927 – In New York City, Samuel Roxy Rothafel opens the Roxy Theatre.
1931 – Ready for Labour and Defence of the USSR, abbreviated as GTO, is introduced in the Soviet Union.
1941 – World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Lend-Lease Act into law, allowing American-built war supplies to be shipped to the Allies on loan.
1942 – World War II: General Douglas MacArthur leaves Corregidor.
1945 – World War II: The Imperial Japanese Navy attempts a large-scale kamikaze attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet anchored at Ulithi atoll in Operation Tan No. 2.
1945 – World War II: The Empire of Vietnam, a short-lived puppet state, is established with Bảo Đại as its ruler.
1946 – Rudolf Höss, the first commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp, is captured by British troops.
1975 – Vietnam War: North Vietnamese and Viet Cong guerrilla forces establish control over Ban Me Thuot commune from the South Vietnamese army.
1977 – The 1977 Hanafi Muslim Siege: more than 130 hostages held in Washington, D.C., by Hanafi Muslims are set free after ambassadors from three Islamic nations join negotiations.
1978 – Coastal Road massacre: At least 37 are killed and more than 70 are wounded when Al Fatah hijack an Israeli bus, prompting Israel's Operation Litani.
1983 – Pakistan successfully conducts a cold test of a nuclear weapon.
1990 – Lithuania declares itself independent from the Soviet Union.
1990 – Patricio Aylwin is sworn in as the first democratically elected President of Chile since 1970.
1993 – Janet Reno is confirmed by the United States Senate and sworn in the next day, becoming the first female Attorney General of the United States.
1999 – Infosys becomes the first Indian company listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange.
2004 – Madrid train bombings: Simultaneous explosions on rush hour trains in Madrid, Spain, kill 191 people.
2006 – Michelle Bachelet is inaugurated as first female president of Chile.
2007 – Georgia claims Russian helicopters attacked the Kodori Valley in Abkhazia, an accusation that Russia categorically denies later.
2009 – Winnenden school shooting: 16 are killed and 11 are injured before recent-graduate Tim Kretschmer shoots and kills himself, leading to tightened weapons restrictions in Germany.
2010 – Economist and businessman Sebastián Piñera is sworn in as President of Chile, while three earthquakes, the strongest measuring magnitude 6.9 and all centered next to Pichilemu, capital of Cardenal Caro Province, hit central Chile during the ceremony.
2011 – An earthquake measuring 9.0 in magnitude strikes 130 km (81 mi) east of Sendai, Japan, triggering a tsunami killing thousands of people. This event also triggered the second largest nuclear accident in history, and one of only two events to be classified as a Level 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale.
2012 – A US soldier kills 16 civilians in the Panjwayi District of Afghanistan near Kandahar.
Famous Folk Born on March 11th:
General Ivan Nabakov
Joseph Louis Francois Bertrand
Samuel Duvall
David Horsley
Raoul Walsh
Shemp Howard (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veFlhmnZybc)
Dorothy Gish
Lawrence Welk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UA0Ysptf5l4)
Harold Wilson
Robert Mosbacher
Rupert Murdoch
Sam Donaldson (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRUbwnkEPqc)
Antonin Scalia
Harvey Mandel
Tricia O'Neill
Mark Metcalf (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Dy2fo6E_pI)
Bobby McFerrin (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-diB65scQU)
Jerry Zucker (one of the geniuses behind these: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gX4dzPQ6EsQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0j2dVuhr6s)
Susan Richardson (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcAFG0EVrx8)
Jimmy Iovine
Nina Hagen
Joey Buttafuoco
Cheryl Lynn (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoXvDleWJ5U)
Anissa Jones (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUZQ3gnIlsw)
Elias Koteas (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIk5F8Iwa1g he's Specialist Pete Deveber in this clip)
Peter Berg (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUkKvHCVnlo)
Alex Kingston (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhQpMqJMdnw)
Jessie Jackson, Jr. (sorry, no pic of him in prison garb)
Terrence Howard (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpMszAqVoZI)
Johnny Knoxville (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MSrAwfagG4)
Thora Birch
Melissa Rycroft
Rob Brown
Senator Chuck Grassley
Congressman John Dingell
Congressman John Conyers
Congresswoman Louise Slaughter
Congressman Charles Rangel
Congressman Sam Johnson
Congressman Howard Coble
Congressman Sandy Levin
Congressman Don Young
What do these members of our federal government have in common? Hold on to that question for a moment. The National Constitution Center conducted a project last month. They asked people how they would amend the U. S. Constitution, if they were able. There were a number of interesting proposals but the winner by popularity was term limits for members of the Congress.
Now if it were up to me, I'd institute age limits as well. Both minimum and maximum. Actually, I'm fine with the current minimums. 25 years of age to begin serving as a member of the House and 30 years of age to begin serving as a member of the Senate. Which brings us back to that list. What those people have in common is that they are all above 80 years of age. Congressman Hall will turn 91 on May 3rd, a little more than three weeks before he will compete in a runoff election to be the Republican Party candidate, as he pursues reelection.
John Dingell of Michigan is 87. He's served in the House for over 58 years. Thankfully he announced last month that he will not seek reelection. I say thankfully because I'm certain the residents of his district would reelect him if he ran, and keep on reelecting him in perpetuity.
Once a politician becomes a member of the House or Senate, there's a kind of inertia that propels them forward in reelection campaigns. The odds are already stacked against someone challenging an incumbent, when you add in the gerrymandering done to keep district lines drawn to preserve partisanship, it's really tough to get elected. Reelected is a whole other story.
The thing is, limits of two, three or even four terms in the House create a different set of problems. If every member of Congress is replaced every eight years at maximum, the institutional knowledge transfers from the elected leadership to their staffs. Long-term employees of politicians will begin to amass empires and control things from behind the scenes. Freshmen members of the House will be so dependent on their key staff members, their ability to actually lead and make choices will be impacted.
That's why we need sensible term limits. Four terms for Senate members, twelve for House members. 24 years. The next step would be to set a limit that says when a member of either the House or Senate reaches the age of 72, they cannot run for reelection. We could agree to exempt the current membership, as a sign of respect.
We require people who work as police officers, firefighters and other occupations to retire at earlier ages because of the physical and/or mental strain on those who do that kind of work. Being one of the 535 people who handle all the legislative representation of over 315 million people has got to be at least as stressful.
* * *
When it comes to morning news, I watch Fox 11 here in Los Angeles. Their early morning news and then the big "Good Day LA" that comes on at 7. I follow a number of the station's journalists and anchors on Twitter, and some of them follow me.
I especially enjoy a segment they have every weekday morning known as "Big Deal, No Big Deal" where they talk about current issues and of course, decide if it is a big deal or not. This morning, they were discussing the curious case of James Edward Degorski.
Mr. Degorski was sentenced to life in prison for committing seven brutal murders back in 1993. He stabbed and shot two restaurant owners and five of their employees. Then, in 2002, he alleges that a Cook County Jail employee punched him in the face, breaking his cheekbone and eye socket. He sued. He won. He was awarded $451,000 by a jury who knew he was in prison for murder. However, the jury did not know the brutal specifics of the murders. The surviving family members of this man's victims are understandably upset. They feel he shouldn't get a dime. Steve Edwards of Good Day L. A. agrees with them. They are all wrong in this instance.
Like it or not, when we as a society imprison someone for violating one of our laws, we accept the complete and total responsibility for their welfare. They lose the right to freedom, along with the right to vote. But they don't lose all of their constitutional rights. In particular, they do not lose the right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment, as stated in the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The discussion on the panel on GDLA centered on the fact that while the guard should be punished for what he did, by being fired and/or prosecuted; the inmate should not benefit from the guard's misconduct. Nothing could be further from the truth. The criminal and employment actions against the guard have absolutely no bearing on whether or not the inmate, now a victim himself, should be justly compensated for his mistreatment and injury.
It becomes a matter of degree. At what point do the actions of jailers against inmates become so heinous as to deserve compensation? Torture? Murder? Allowing one prisoner to rape another? A guard inflicting such serious injuries on a prisoner that it results in paralysis? Remember, we accepted responsibility for the care of these inmates. We can't let the guard just beat them on a regular, or even singular basis.
Should the money go to the state, to reimburse the cost of the man's incarceration? A valid point and certainly worth exploring? Should the money go to the families of the victims, as compensation for their own loss? Again, an idea worthy of exploring. However, both ideas require the legal process, or else we're violating another portion of the Constitution, the Takings Clause.
We aren't talking about this man being unjustly enriched. He won't be heading off to ski at Aspen. I don't want to see this man able to buy anything he wants in the prison commissary just because some idiot guard lost control and punched him. I just don't see how to legally and morally deprive him of his rights.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
If they teach you to do it one way in training, over and over, then that's the way it should be done. Lower-level managers don't get to change the process on their own.
Could we stop with the jokes about how "well-equipped" Johnny Carson was, based on this latest lurid sex tape? The man is dead. Let him rest in peace.
Wouldn't you love to ask the 20 people who lined up at a Florida gun show to get a signed photo of George Zimmerman, why the heck they'd want to do that?
The Colorado man who filed a claim that's a precursor to a lawsuit may end up suing the divers who rescued him from his submerged car. There's something seriously wrong with that.
Joe McGinniss has died. His book, "The Selling of the President: 1968" is a real eye-opener about how the campaign to elect Richard Nixon really used the media that election, having learned the lessons from his 1960 losing campaign. A great read. RIP.
Chuck Norris turned 74 and he can still kick all of our asses. That's one tough old man.
Sbarro is going bankrupt again. What I found interesting about that is that one of the reasons given is that foot traffic in malls is supposedly down. Not at the malls I go to.
I suspect Vivica A. Fox doesn't care that she won't be returning to the Jimmy Kimmel show, after he disclosed she's banned from the program.
There was no reason for us to know that the last words of wildlife expert Steve Irwin were "I'm dying."
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is describing ads paid for by the Koch brothers that target Obamacare as being a law that contains "...lies made up from whole cloth." He also said "I guess if you make that much money, you can make these immoral decisions." While I have no love for the Koch brothers, to hear Reid calling others liars is laughable. We didn't forget the lies Reid told about Mitt Romney's tax history during the 2012 campaign. And as for immoral decisions, pushing legislation to enrich yourself and your friends through the Congress is the height of immorality.
Pat Garafalo is a Minnesota state legislator who suffers from foot in mouth keypad disease as evidenced by this tweet: "Let's be honest, 70% of teams in NBA could fold tomorrow + nobody would notice a difference w/ possible exception of increase in streetcrime." In fact, the arrest rate among NBA players is less than half the arrest rate among the general population.
A recent tabloid photo of Bruce Jenner has me wondering...when in the world did this man so concerned with his health take up smoking?
Is there any other appropriate reaction to reading that Miley Cyrus performed a song in her underwear than to yawn and wonder why someone thinks this to be newsworthy?
* * *
March 11th in History:
222 – Emperor Elagabalus is assassinated, along with his mother, Julia Soaemias, by the Praetorian Guard during a revolt. Their mutilated bodies are dragged through the streets of Rome before being thrown into the Tiber.
1387 – Battle of Castagnaro: English condottiero Sir John Hawkwood leads Padova to victory in a factional clash with Verona.
1641 – Guaraní forces living in the Jesuit Reductions defeat bandeirantes loyal to the Portuguese Empire at the Battle of Mbororé in present-day Panambí, Argentina.
1649 – The Frondeurs and the French sign the Peace of Rueil.
1702 – The Daily Courant, England's first national daily newspaper is published for the first time.
1708 – Queen Anne withholds Royal Assent from the Scottish Militia Bill, the last time a British monarch vetoes legislation.
1784 – The signing of the Treaty of Mangalore brings the Second Anglo-Mysore War to an end.
1811 – During André Masséna's retreat from the Lines of Torres Vedras, a division led by French Marshal Michel Ney fights off a combined Anglo-Portuguese force to give Masséna time to escape.
1824 – The United States Department of War creates the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
1845 – The Flagstaff War: Unhappy with translational differences regarding the Treaty of Waitangi, chiefs Hone Heke, Kawiti and Māori tribe members chop down the British flagpole for a fourth time and drive settlers out of Kororareka, New Zealand.
1848 – Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine and Robert Baldwin become the first Prime Ministers of the Province of Canada to be democratically elected under a system of responsible government.
1851 – The first performance of Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi takes place in Venice.
1861 – American Civil War: The Constitution of the Confederate States of America is adopted.
1864 – The Great Sheffield Flood kills 238 people in Sheffield, England.
1867 – The first performance of Don Carlos by Giuseppe Verdi takes place in Paris.
1872 – Construction of the Seven Sisters Colliery, South Wales, begins; located on one of the richest coal sources in Britain.
1879 – Shō Tai formally abdicated his position of King of Ryūkyū, under orders from Tokyo, ending the Ryukyu Kingdom
1888 – The Great Blizzard of 1888 begins along the eastern seaboard of the United States, shutting down commerce and killing more than 400.
1916 – USS Nevada (BB-36) is commissioned. The first US Navy "super-dreadnought".
1917 – World War I: Baghdad falls to Anglo-Indian forces commanded by General Stanley Maude.
1918 – The first case of Spanish flu occurs, the start of a devastating worldwide pandemic.
1927 – In New York City, Samuel Roxy Rothafel opens the Roxy Theatre.
1931 – Ready for Labour and Defence of the USSR, abbreviated as GTO, is introduced in the Soviet Union.
1941 – World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Lend-Lease Act into law, allowing American-built war supplies to be shipped to the Allies on loan.
1942 – World War II: General Douglas MacArthur leaves Corregidor.
1945 – World War II: The Imperial Japanese Navy attempts a large-scale kamikaze attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet anchored at Ulithi atoll in Operation Tan No. 2.
1945 – World War II: The Empire of Vietnam, a short-lived puppet state, is established with Bảo Đại as its ruler.
1946 – Rudolf Höss, the first commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp, is captured by British troops.
1975 – Vietnam War: North Vietnamese and Viet Cong guerrilla forces establish control over Ban Me Thuot commune from the South Vietnamese army.
1977 – The 1977 Hanafi Muslim Siege: more than 130 hostages held in Washington, D.C., by Hanafi Muslims are set free after ambassadors from three Islamic nations join negotiations.
1978 – Coastal Road massacre: At least 37 are killed and more than 70 are wounded when Al Fatah hijack an Israeli bus, prompting Israel's Operation Litani.
1983 – Pakistan successfully conducts a cold test of a nuclear weapon.
1990 – Lithuania declares itself independent from the Soviet Union.
1990 – Patricio Aylwin is sworn in as the first democratically elected President of Chile since 1970.
1993 – Janet Reno is confirmed by the United States Senate and sworn in the next day, becoming the first female Attorney General of the United States.
1999 – Infosys becomes the first Indian company listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange.
2004 – Madrid train bombings: Simultaneous explosions on rush hour trains in Madrid, Spain, kill 191 people.
2006 – Michelle Bachelet is inaugurated as first female president of Chile.
2007 – Georgia claims Russian helicopters attacked the Kodori Valley in Abkhazia, an accusation that Russia categorically denies later.
2009 – Winnenden school shooting: 16 are killed and 11 are injured before recent-graduate Tim Kretschmer shoots and kills himself, leading to tightened weapons restrictions in Germany.
2010 – Economist and businessman Sebastián Piñera is sworn in as President of Chile, while three earthquakes, the strongest measuring magnitude 6.9 and all centered next to Pichilemu, capital of Cardenal Caro Province, hit central Chile during the ceremony.
2011 – An earthquake measuring 9.0 in magnitude strikes 130 km (81 mi) east of Sendai, Japan, triggering a tsunami killing thousands of people. This event also triggered the second largest nuclear accident in history, and one of only two events to be classified as a Level 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale.
2012 – A US soldier kills 16 civilians in the Panjwayi District of Afghanistan near Kandahar.
Famous Folk Born on March 11th:
General Ivan Nabakov
Joseph Louis Francois Bertrand
Samuel Duvall
David Horsley
Raoul Walsh
Shemp Howard (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veFlhmnZybc)
Dorothy Gish
Lawrence Welk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UA0Ysptf5l4)
Harold Wilson
Robert Mosbacher
Rupert Murdoch
Sam Donaldson (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRUbwnkEPqc)
Antonin Scalia
Harvey Mandel
Tricia O'Neill
Mark Metcalf (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Dy2fo6E_pI)
Bobby McFerrin (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-diB65scQU)
Jerry Zucker (one of the geniuses behind these: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gX4dzPQ6EsQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0j2dVuhr6s)
Susan Richardson (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcAFG0EVrx8)
Jimmy Iovine
Nina Hagen
Joey Buttafuoco
Cheryl Lynn (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoXvDleWJ5U)
Anissa Jones (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUZQ3gnIlsw)
Elias Koteas (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIk5F8Iwa1g he's Specialist Pete Deveber in this clip)
Peter Berg (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUkKvHCVnlo)
Alex Kingston (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhQpMqJMdnw)
Jessie Jackson, Jr. (sorry, no pic of him in prison garb)
Terrence Howard (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpMszAqVoZI)
Johnny Knoxville (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MSrAwfagG4)
Thora Birch
Melissa Rycroft
Rob Brown
posted by me at 8:00 AM
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