Jessica Levinson is a professor of law and Vice-President of the Los Angeles Ethics Commission. She studies elections and writes about them. In a recent Los Angeles Times op-ed piece in the Los Angele Times she takes issue with a ruling of the United States Supreme Court in the case McCutcheon v FEC.
I don't disagree with her conclusion that the decision by SCOTUS is nothing more than an invitation for big money to give more big amounts of money to politicians. It ensures that politicians who will serve the interests of those donors first get into and remain in office.
I have trouble understanding what seems to me to be quite a simple matter. Why is it that it is okay to limit the amount anyone can donate to a single candidate in a year, but not limit the amount that person can donate to a Super PAC or nonprofit organization? Why is it that the latter is a violation of the First Amendment and the former is not? Both involve the use of money and if money is speech, then money in any amount must be speech. When Justice Scalia says "I don't think $3.5 million is a lot of money" does he not understand that only a fraction of the nation's population will ever be able to donate that amount. Most of us won't earn that in a lifetime, let alone donate it during one campaign. I guess the message is that small amounts of money isn't speech and large amounts of money become speech.
One thing that we can do is follow the dictum of the late Louis Brandeis. "Sunlight is the best disinfectant" and there is no sunlight or transparency in the activities of the Super PACs. George Soros, the Koch Brothers, Sheldon Adelson and other big donors can give millions to support any campaign they want, and remain anonymous.
That needs to end. One way is to require all 501(c)(4) nonprofit "social welfare" organizations to disclose all donations they receive. Not all over $10,000 or $1,000 or even $100. All of them. That will keep the Koch Brothers or some other billionaire who employs tens of thousands of people from having them all write checks for $99 to a particular Super PAC. George Steinbrenner did it during the Nixon campaign, and someone might follow that example.
* * *
While we're on this topic, we have to face facts. Money buys votes. I'm not talking about lobbyists and others greasing the palms of politicians. I'm talking about radio, television, internet and print advertising. There's an election going on right now in Culver City. I knew one was coming the moment the lawn signs started going up. That's old school politicking. The emails are new school politicking. Both are effective.
As we lead lives that become more insular with the passage of time the question of how to get someone to vote for a particular candidate makes the effective gathering and usage of money ever more important. We tried to change the use of money in presidential elections with the check-off box on the income tax return. Check the box and the first three dollars of any income tax liability you had for that year goes into the fund to give out matching funds. Matching funds are limited to candidates who are willing to observe spending limits.
* * *
I'm not ashamed to admit it. I'm a fan of the WWE, World Wrestling Entertainment. Every year I join a good friend and we watch their annual Wrestle Mania event at a Southern California sports bar. It's as much fun to watch the people watching it as it is to watch the event itself.
Yes, I know it's all scripted. I know about kayfabe and what breaking it means. I am aware that they call Triple-H the COO on television but on their own corporate website he's listed as "only" the Executive Vice President, Talent, Live Events and Creative.
None of the knowledge that what I'm seeing isn't "real" with an outcome decided by anything other than the writing of a staff of writers stops me from enjoying the heck out of what they show on the screen. The wrestlers may not be really "in combat" but they sell it quite well. Their athleticism is unquestioned. The entertainment value is strong.
I don't go to every single pay per view (PPV) event they have. I used to go annually to two, Wrestle Mania and Summer Slam. I usually don't bother with Summer Slam any longer. They have far too many PPV events to make attending practical I don't watch their weekly shows of "Raw" and "Smackdown" on a regular basis. I'm watching tonight's Raw episode because I want to see where they take the storylines from yesterday's 30th annual Wrestle Mania.
My thoughts on last night's events. If you haven't seen the PPV and plan to watch it, spoilers do follow and you may want to avoid them. The six-man tag team match between The Shield and the New Age Outlaws with Kane was a joke. Triple-H's heel antics after his defeat at the hands of Daniel Bryan were totally predictable. The result of the main event was also quite predictable. The big shocker of the night was the end of the streak.
The streak refers to the 21-0 win streak that The Undertaker had established. For more than two decades he had come to the biggest stage in wrestling and walked away victorious. Now he's 21-1 and Brock Lesnar will be known forever as the man who ended the streak. The audience where I was watching was completely stunned.
* * *
I think LAPD Chief Charlie Beck has a great future in politics. He's learned to talk out of both sides of his mouth with ease. There's a new issue involving his department's officers willfully removing equipment from patrol cars in order to avoid having their actions monitored. He said the failure to inform the police commission was "unintentional" and also said "The department did not try to hide the issue."
Obviously you hid the issue Chief, and it was clearly intentional. If you wanted transparency you'd have notified the commission and investigated to see which officers were responsible. You did neither.
If any of us were to destroy our employer's equipment, we would be disciplined and possibly terminated. The sole reason he kept this quiet was to avoid having to do that to cops he sends into difficult patrol areas on a daily basis. Watts, Jordan Downs and Nickerson Gardens, all high crime areas were where most of the equipment was removed from the patrol cars.
Random Ponderings:
Now that a Texas woman has been convicted of murdering her boyfriend with her 5.5" stiletto heel, will high heels be labeled a deadly weapon and no longer allowed on airplanes?
The New York man who just lost a case in court trying to recover a $53,000 engagement ring lost because he idiotically referred to it as a "parting ring" in a text. He claimed he was being sarcastic. I submit he was being an idiot. What do you think? BTW this asshole dumped her via that text.
I hope the Taco Bell interns who claim to have invented the Doritos taco get compensated for their idea. I also hope if the idiot who told them their idea wasn't marketable gets fired if he or she is still working there.Pausing to reflect on the 5th anniversary of the tragic loss of Nick Adenhart at the hands of a drunk driver is a sobering (pun intended) reminder that we lose far too many people to the lunacy of DUI. Hopefully Andrew Thomas Gallo, who was convicted of three counts of murder in the case will spend the rest of his miserable life in prison. He was on parole for a prior DUI conviction on the night of the murder.
SMUSD superintendent Sandra Lyons needs to apologize to teacher Mark Black, but she doesn't need to resign.
The future viability of Social Security is more about the need to cut government spending and less about ever-increasing life expectancy.
If the Heartbleed bug could give hackers access to our internet passwords, how long will it be before a new version comes out that will require us to change the already changed passwords?
While on that topic, when will the U. S. banks finally upgrade the security of credit and debit cards?
When someone who has been a season ticket holder for the Los Angeles Lakers for more than 50 years is thinking of dumping them, something's wrong in Laker town. The team may be trying to comply with league guidelines about the date of their season ticket renewal, but they could have done a better job of communicating it to their loyal fans.
* * *
April 8th in History:
217 – Roman Emperor Caracalla is assassinated (and succeeded) by his Praetorian Guard prefect, Marcus Opellius Macrinus.
632 – King Charibert II is assassinated at Blaye (Gironde)—possibly on orders of his half-brother Dagobert I—along with his infant son Chilperic. He claims Aquitaine and Gascony, becoming the most powerful Merovingian king in the West.
876 – The Battle of Dayr al-'Aqul saves Baghdad from the Saffarids.
1093 – The new Winchester Cathedral is dedicated by Walkelin.
1139 – Roger II of Sicily is excommunicated.
1149 – Pope Eugene III takes refuge in the castle of Ptolemy II of Tusculum.
1232 – Mongol–Jin War: The Mongols begin their siege on Kaifeng, the capital of the Jin Dynasty.
1271 – In Syria, sultan Baybars conquers the Krak of Chevaliers.
1730 – Shearith Israel, the first synagogue in New York City, is dedicated.
1740 – War of Jenkins' Ear: Three British ships capture the Spanish third-rate HMS Princess.
1808 – The Roman Catholic Diocese of Baltimore is promoted to an archdiocese, with the founding of the dioceses of New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Bardstown (now Louisville) by Pope Pius VII.
1820 – The Venus de Milo is discovered on the Aegean island of Melos.
1832 – Black Hawk War: Around three-hundred United States 6th Infantry troops leave St. Louis, Missouri to fight the Sauk Native Americans.
1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Mansfield – Union forces are thwarted by the Confederate army at Mansfield, Louisiana.
1866 – Italy and Prussia ally against the Austrian Empire.
1886 – William Ewart Gladstone introduces the first Irish Home Rule Bill into the British House of Commons.
1895 – In Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. the Supreme Court of the United States declares unapportioned income tax to be unconstitutional.
1904 – The French Third Republic and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland sign the Entente cordiale.
1904 – British mystic Aleister Crowley transcribes the first chapter of The Book of the Law.
1904 – Longacre Square in Midtown Manhattan is renamed Times Square after The New York Times.
1906 – Auguste Deter, the first person to be diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, dies.
1908 – Harvard University votes to establish the Harvard Business School.
1911 – Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes discovers superconductivity.
1913 – The 17th Amendment to the United States Constitution, requiring direct election of Senators, becomes law.
1916 – In Corona, California, race car driver Bob Burman crashes, killing three, and badly injuring five, spectators.
1918 – World War I: Actors Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin sell war bonds on the streets of New York City's financial district.
1924 – Sharia courts are abolished in Turkey, as part of Atatürk's Reforms.
1929 – Indian Independence Movement: At the Delhi Central Assembly, Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt throw handouts and bombs to court arrest.
1935 – The Works Progress Administration is formed when the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935 becomes law.
1942 – World War II: Siege of Leningrad – Soviet forces open a much-needed railway link to Leningrad.
1942 – World War II: The Japanese take Bataan in the Philippines.
1943 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in an attempt to check inflation, freezes wages and prices, prohibits workers from changing jobs unless the war effort would be aided thereby, and bars rate increases by common carriers and public utilities.
1945 – World War II: After an air raid accidentally destroys a train carrying about 4,000 Nazi concentration camp internees in Prussian Hanover, the survivors are massacred by Nazis.
1946 – Électricité de France, the world's largest utility company, is formed as a result of the nationalisation of a number of electricity producers, transporters and distributors.
1950 – India and Pakistan sign the Liaquat-Nehru Pact.
1952 – U.S. President Harry Truman calls for the seizure of all domestic steel mills to prevent a nationwide strike.
1953 – Mau Mau leader Jomo Kenyatta is convicted by Kenya's British rulers.
1954 – A Royal Canadian Air Force Canadair Harvard collides with a Trans-Canada Airlines Canadair North Star over Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, killing 37 people.
1954 – South African Airways Flight 201 A de Havilland DH.106 Comet 1 crashes into the sea during night killing 21 people.
1959 – A team of computer manufacturers, users, and university people led by Grace Hopper meets to discuss the creation of a new programming language that would be called COBOL.
1959 – The Organization of American States drafts an agreement to create the Inter-American Development Bank.
1960 – The Netherlands and West Germany sign an agreement to negotiate the return of German land annexed by the Dutch in return for 280 million German marks as Wiedergutmachung.
1961 – A large explosion on board the MV Dara in the Persian Gulf kills 238.
1964 – Gemini 1 (unamanned test flight) launched.
1968 – BOAC Flight 712 catches fire shortly after take off. As a result of her actions in the accident, Barbara Jane Harrison is awarded a posthumous George Cross, the only GC awarded to a woman in peacetime.
1970 – Bahr el-Baqar incident: Israeli bombers strike an Egyptian school. 46 children are killed.
1974 – At Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, Hank Aaron hits his 715th career home run to surpass Babe Ruth's 39-year-old record.
1975 – Frank Robinson manages the Cleveland Indians in his first game as major league baseball's first African American manager.
1987 – Los Angeles Dodgers executive Al Campanis resigns amid controversy over racially charged remarks he had made while on Nightline. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4XUbENGaiY - one of baseball's darkest hours)
1992 – Retired tennis great Arthur Ashe announces that he has AIDS, acquired from blood transfusions during one of his two heart surgeries.
1993 – The Republic of Macedonia joins the United Nations.
1999 – Haryana Gana Parishad, a political party in the Indian state of Haryana, merges with the Indian National Congress.
2004 – Darfur conflict: The Humanitarian Ceasefire Agreement is signed by the Sudanese government and two rebel groups.
2005 – Over four million people attend the funeral of Pope John Paul II.
2006 – Shedden massacre: The bodies of eight men, all shot to death, are found in a field in Ontario, Canada. The murders are soon linked to the Bandidos motorcycle gang.
2008 – The construction of the world's first building to integrate wind turbines is completed in Bahrain.
Famous Folk Born on April 8th:
Peter I of Portugal
Philip IV of Spain
David Rittenhouse
Harvey Williams Cushing
Albert I of Belgium
Mary Pickford (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vXhqrbSeOE)
Sonja Henie (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sjnfkEOpsE)
Betty Ford
Edward Mulhare (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ic1zF2Rbfpc&list=PL2WeJsjhLIk8i9apzPgK4rvohVuSJMTEc)
Shecky Greene (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cl4CeiQnJLE)
Shirley Mills
Leah Rabin
Seymour Hersh
Kofi Annan
John Havlicek (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsZO44HVMVU)
Darlene Gillespie (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FhjO9o6fFE)
Vivienne Westwood
Catfish Hunter
Stuart Pankin (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9bSEKMrAsc)
Tom Delay
Brenda Russell (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7u5GtSIC5k)
Ricky Bell
Barbara Kingsolver
John Schneider
Richard Hatch (Survivor)
Julian Lennon
Robin Wright
Emma Caulfield
I don't disagree with her conclusion that the decision by SCOTUS is nothing more than an invitation for big money to give more big amounts of money to politicians. It ensures that politicians who will serve the interests of those donors first get into and remain in office.
I have trouble understanding what seems to me to be quite a simple matter. Why is it that it is okay to limit the amount anyone can donate to a single candidate in a year, but not limit the amount that person can donate to a Super PAC or nonprofit organization? Why is it that the latter is a violation of the First Amendment and the former is not? Both involve the use of money and if money is speech, then money in any amount must be speech. When Justice Scalia says "I don't think $3.5 million is a lot of money" does he not understand that only a fraction of the nation's population will ever be able to donate that amount. Most of us won't earn that in a lifetime, let alone donate it during one campaign. I guess the message is that small amounts of money isn't speech and large amounts of money become speech.
One thing that we can do is follow the dictum of the late Louis Brandeis. "Sunlight is the best disinfectant" and there is no sunlight or transparency in the activities of the Super PACs. George Soros, the Koch Brothers, Sheldon Adelson and other big donors can give millions to support any campaign they want, and remain anonymous.
That needs to end. One way is to require all 501(c)(4) nonprofit "social welfare" organizations to disclose all donations they receive. Not all over $10,000 or $1,000 or even $100. All of them. That will keep the Koch Brothers or some other billionaire who employs tens of thousands of people from having them all write checks for $99 to a particular Super PAC. George Steinbrenner did it during the Nixon campaign, and someone might follow that example.
* * *
While we're on this topic, we have to face facts. Money buys votes. I'm not talking about lobbyists and others greasing the palms of politicians. I'm talking about radio, television, internet and print advertising. There's an election going on right now in Culver City. I knew one was coming the moment the lawn signs started going up. That's old school politicking. The emails are new school politicking. Both are effective.
As we lead lives that become more insular with the passage of time the question of how to get someone to vote for a particular candidate makes the effective gathering and usage of money ever more important. We tried to change the use of money in presidential elections with the check-off box on the income tax return. Check the box and the first three dollars of any income tax liability you had for that year goes into the fund to give out matching funds. Matching funds are limited to candidates who are willing to observe spending limits.
* * *
I'm not ashamed to admit it. I'm a fan of the WWE, World Wrestling Entertainment. Every year I join a good friend and we watch their annual Wrestle Mania event at a Southern California sports bar. It's as much fun to watch the people watching it as it is to watch the event itself.
Yes, I know it's all scripted. I know about kayfabe and what breaking it means. I am aware that they call Triple-H the COO on television but on their own corporate website he's listed as "only" the Executive Vice President, Talent, Live Events and Creative.
None of the knowledge that what I'm seeing isn't "real" with an outcome decided by anything other than the writing of a staff of writers stops me from enjoying the heck out of what they show on the screen. The wrestlers may not be really "in combat" but they sell it quite well. Their athleticism is unquestioned. The entertainment value is strong.
I don't go to every single pay per view (PPV) event they have. I used to go annually to two, Wrestle Mania and Summer Slam. I usually don't bother with Summer Slam any longer. They have far too many PPV events to make attending practical I don't watch their weekly shows of "Raw" and "Smackdown" on a regular basis. I'm watching tonight's Raw episode because I want to see where they take the storylines from yesterday's 30th annual Wrestle Mania.
My thoughts on last night's events. If you haven't seen the PPV and plan to watch it, spoilers do follow and you may want to avoid them. The six-man tag team match between The Shield and the New Age Outlaws with Kane was a joke. Triple-H's heel antics after his defeat at the hands of Daniel Bryan were totally predictable. The result of the main event was also quite predictable. The big shocker of the night was the end of the streak.
The streak refers to the 21-0 win streak that The Undertaker had established. For more than two decades he had come to the biggest stage in wrestling and walked away victorious. Now he's 21-1 and Brock Lesnar will be known forever as the man who ended the streak. The audience where I was watching was completely stunned.
* * *
I think LAPD Chief Charlie Beck has a great future in politics. He's learned to talk out of both sides of his mouth with ease. There's a new issue involving his department's officers willfully removing equipment from patrol cars in order to avoid having their actions monitored. He said the failure to inform the police commission was "unintentional" and also said "The department did not try to hide the issue."
Obviously you hid the issue Chief, and it was clearly intentional. If you wanted transparency you'd have notified the commission and investigated to see which officers were responsible. You did neither.
If any of us were to destroy our employer's equipment, we would be disciplined and possibly terminated. The sole reason he kept this quiet was to avoid having to do that to cops he sends into difficult patrol areas on a daily basis. Watts, Jordan Downs and Nickerson Gardens, all high crime areas were where most of the equipment was removed from the patrol cars.
Random Ponderings:
Now that a Texas woman has been convicted of murdering her boyfriend with her 5.5" stiletto heel, will high heels be labeled a deadly weapon and no longer allowed on airplanes?
The New York man who just lost a case in court trying to recover a $53,000 engagement ring lost because he idiotically referred to it as a "parting ring" in a text. He claimed he was being sarcastic. I submit he was being an idiot. What do you think? BTW this asshole dumped her via that text.
I hope the Taco Bell interns who claim to have invented the Doritos taco get compensated for their idea. I also hope if the idiot who told them their idea wasn't marketable gets fired if he or she is still working there.Pausing to reflect on the 5th anniversary of the tragic loss of Nick Adenhart at the hands of a drunk driver is a sobering (pun intended) reminder that we lose far too many people to the lunacy of DUI. Hopefully Andrew Thomas Gallo, who was convicted of three counts of murder in the case will spend the rest of his miserable life in prison. He was on parole for a prior DUI conviction on the night of the murder.
SMUSD superintendent Sandra Lyons needs to apologize to teacher Mark Black, but she doesn't need to resign.
The future viability of Social Security is more about the need to cut government spending and less about ever-increasing life expectancy.
If the Heartbleed bug could give hackers access to our internet passwords, how long will it be before a new version comes out that will require us to change the already changed passwords?
While on that topic, when will the U. S. banks finally upgrade the security of credit and debit cards?
When someone who has been a season ticket holder for the Los Angeles Lakers for more than 50 years is thinking of dumping them, something's wrong in Laker town. The team may be trying to comply with league guidelines about the date of their season ticket renewal, but they could have done a better job of communicating it to their loyal fans.
* * *
April 8th in History:
217 – Roman Emperor Caracalla is assassinated (and succeeded) by his Praetorian Guard prefect, Marcus Opellius Macrinus.
632 – King Charibert II is assassinated at Blaye (Gironde)—possibly on orders of his half-brother Dagobert I—along with his infant son Chilperic. He claims Aquitaine and Gascony, becoming the most powerful Merovingian king in the West.
876 – The Battle of Dayr al-'Aqul saves Baghdad from the Saffarids.
1093 – The new Winchester Cathedral is dedicated by Walkelin.
1139 – Roger II of Sicily is excommunicated.
1149 – Pope Eugene III takes refuge in the castle of Ptolemy II of Tusculum.
1232 – Mongol–Jin War: The Mongols begin their siege on Kaifeng, the capital of the Jin Dynasty.
1271 – In Syria, sultan Baybars conquers the Krak of Chevaliers.
1730 – Shearith Israel, the first synagogue in New York City, is dedicated.
1740 – War of Jenkins' Ear: Three British ships capture the Spanish third-rate HMS Princess.
1808 – The Roman Catholic Diocese of Baltimore is promoted to an archdiocese, with the founding of the dioceses of New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Bardstown (now Louisville) by Pope Pius VII.
1820 – The Venus de Milo is discovered on the Aegean island of Melos.
1832 – Black Hawk War: Around three-hundred United States 6th Infantry troops leave St. Louis, Missouri to fight the Sauk Native Americans.
1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Mansfield – Union forces are thwarted by the Confederate army at Mansfield, Louisiana.
1866 – Italy and Prussia ally against the Austrian Empire.
1886 – William Ewart Gladstone introduces the first Irish Home Rule Bill into the British House of Commons.
1895 – In Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. the Supreme Court of the United States declares unapportioned income tax to be unconstitutional.
1904 – The French Third Republic and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland sign the Entente cordiale.
1904 – British mystic Aleister Crowley transcribes the first chapter of The Book of the Law.
1904 – Longacre Square in Midtown Manhattan is renamed Times Square after The New York Times.
1906 – Auguste Deter, the first person to be diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, dies.
1908 – Harvard University votes to establish the Harvard Business School.
1911 – Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes discovers superconductivity.
1913 – The 17th Amendment to the United States Constitution, requiring direct election of Senators, becomes law.
1916 – In Corona, California, race car driver Bob Burman crashes, killing three, and badly injuring five, spectators.
1918 – World War I: Actors Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin sell war bonds on the streets of New York City's financial district.
1924 – Sharia courts are abolished in Turkey, as part of Atatürk's Reforms.
1929 – Indian Independence Movement: At the Delhi Central Assembly, Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt throw handouts and bombs to court arrest.
1935 – The Works Progress Administration is formed when the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935 becomes law.
1942 – World War II: Siege of Leningrad – Soviet forces open a much-needed railway link to Leningrad.
1942 – World War II: The Japanese take Bataan in the Philippines.
1943 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in an attempt to check inflation, freezes wages and prices, prohibits workers from changing jobs unless the war effort would be aided thereby, and bars rate increases by common carriers and public utilities.
1945 – World War II: After an air raid accidentally destroys a train carrying about 4,000 Nazi concentration camp internees in Prussian Hanover, the survivors are massacred by Nazis.
1946 – Électricité de France, the world's largest utility company, is formed as a result of the nationalisation of a number of electricity producers, transporters and distributors.
1950 – India and Pakistan sign the Liaquat-Nehru Pact.
1952 – U.S. President Harry Truman calls for the seizure of all domestic steel mills to prevent a nationwide strike.
1953 – Mau Mau leader Jomo Kenyatta is convicted by Kenya's British rulers.
1954 – A Royal Canadian Air Force Canadair Harvard collides with a Trans-Canada Airlines Canadair North Star over Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, killing 37 people.
1954 – South African Airways Flight 201 A de Havilland DH.106 Comet 1 crashes into the sea during night killing 21 people.
1959 – A team of computer manufacturers, users, and university people led by Grace Hopper meets to discuss the creation of a new programming language that would be called COBOL.
1959 – The Organization of American States drafts an agreement to create the Inter-American Development Bank.
1960 – The Netherlands and West Germany sign an agreement to negotiate the return of German land annexed by the Dutch in return for 280 million German marks as Wiedergutmachung.
1961 – A large explosion on board the MV Dara in the Persian Gulf kills 238.
1964 – Gemini 1 (unamanned test flight) launched.
1968 – BOAC Flight 712 catches fire shortly after take off. As a result of her actions in the accident, Barbara Jane Harrison is awarded a posthumous George Cross, the only GC awarded to a woman in peacetime.
1970 – Bahr el-Baqar incident: Israeli bombers strike an Egyptian school. 46 children are killed.
1974 – At Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, Hank Aaron hits his 715th career home run to surpass Babe Ruth's 39-year-old record.
1975 – Frank Robinson manages the Cleveland Indians in his first game as major league baseball's first African American manager.
1987 – Los Angeles Dodgers executive Al Campanis resigns amid controversy over racially charged remarks he had made while on Nightline. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4XUbENGaiY - one of baseball's darkest hours)
1992 – Retired tennis great Arthur Ashe announces that he has AIDS, acquired from blood transfusions during one of his two heart surgeries.
1993 – The Republic of Macedonia joins the United Nations.
1999 – Haryana Gana Parishad, a political party in the Indian state of Haryana, merges with the Indian National Congress.
2004 – Darfur conflict: The Humanitarian Ceasefire Agreement is signed by the Sudanese government and two rebel groups.
2005 – Over four million people attend the funeral of Pope John Paul II.
2006 – Shedden massacre: The bodies of eight men, all shot to death, are found in a field in Ontario, Canada. The murders are soon linked to the Bandidos motorcycle gang.
2008 – The construction of the world's first building to integrate wind turbines is completed in Bahrain.
Famous Folk Born on April 8th:
Peter I of Portugal
Philip IV of Spain
David Rittenhouse
Harvey Williams Cushing
Albert I of Belgium
Mary Pickford (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vXhqrbSeOE)
Sonja Henie (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sjnfkEOpsE)
Betty Ford
Edward Mulhare (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ic1zF2Rbfpc&list=PL2WeJsjhLIk8i9apzPgK4rvohVuSJMTEc)
Shecky Greene (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cl4CeiQnJLE)
Shirley Mills
Leah Rabin
Seymour Hersh
Kofi Annan
John Havlicek (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsZO44HVMVU)
Darlene Gillespie (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FhjO9o6fFE)
Vivienne Westwood
Catfish Hunter
Stuart Pankin (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9bSEKMrAsc)
Tom Delay
Brenda Russell (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7u5GtSIC5k)
Ricky Bell
Barbara Kingsolver
John Schneider
Richard Hatch (Survivor)
Julian Lennon
Robin Wright
Emma Caulfield
posted by me at 8:58 PM
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