The Almanac
Today is Thursday, Aug. 4, the 217th day of 2016 with 149 to follow. It
is U.S. President Barack Obama's birthday. The moon is waxing. Morning
stars are Neptune and Uranus. Evening stars are Venus, Mercury, Mars,
Saturn and Neptune. Those born on this date are under the sign of Leo.
They include English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley in 1792; fashion
designer Louis Vuitton in 1821; Scottish comedian Harry Lauder in 1870;
Queen Elizabeth, mother of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, in 1900;
legendary jazz musician Louis Armstrong in 1901; Swedish architect
Raoul Wallenberg, credited with saving 100,000 Jews from the Nazis
during World War II, in 1912; longtime White House reporter Helen
Thomas in 1920; actor Richard Belzer in 1944 (age 72); actor Billy Bob
Thornton in 1955 (age 61); football Hall of Fame member John Riggins in
1949 (age 67); actor Daniel Dae Kim in 1968 (age 48); race car driver
Jeff Gordon in 1971 (age 45); U.S. President Barack Obama in 1961 (age
55). On this date in history: In 1735, the standard of truth as a
defense against a claim of libel was established in the American
colonies when John Peter Zenger, publisher of a New York City
newspaper, was acquitted of libel charges. In 1914, Britain declared
war on Germany. The United States initially declared itself neutral in
World War I. In 1944, acting on a tip from a Dutch informer, the Nazi
Gestapo captured 15-year-old Jewish diarist Anne Frank and her family
in a sealed-off area of an Amsterdam, Netherlands, warehouse. In 1949,
an estimated 6,000 people were killed and about 20,000 injured in an
earthquake that destroyed dozens of towns in Ecuador. In 1958,
Billboard magazine introduced its Hot 100 chart, covering the 100 most
popular pop singles in the country. The first No. 1 was Ricky Nelson's
Poor Little Fool. In 1964, the remains of three slain civil rights
workers, whose disappearance on June 21 garnered national attention,
were found buried in an earthen dam near Philadelphia, Mississippi. In
1972, Arthur Bremer was found guilty of severely wounding Alabama Gov.
George Wallace, who was campaigning for president. Bremer was sentenced
to 63 years in prison. In 1984, the African Republic of Upper Volta
changed its named to Burkina Faso, which means the land of upright men.
In 2007, Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants hit his 755th career
home run, tying Hank Aaron's all-time major league record. He broke the
record three days later and finished the season at 762 home runs. His
achievements were clouded by accusations of using performance-enhancing
substances. In 2010, a U.S. federal judge struck down the
voter-approved same-sex marriage ban in California, calling the law
discriminating and unconstitutional. In 2012, authorities in Gambat,
Pakistan, suspended several police officers who forced a couple accused
of adultery to walk naked through the town. Video footage of the
incident stirred a public outcry. In 2014, James Brady, the White House
press secretary who was paralyzed by a gunshot in an assassination
attempt on President Ronald Reagan and became a leading gun-control
advocate, died in Alexandria, Va., he was 73. Brady's death was ruled a
homicide, resulting from the 1981 shootings, which also wounded the
president and two other men. A thought for the day: Hating people
because of their color is wrong. And it doesn't matter which color does
the hating. It's just plain wrong. -- Muhammad Ali. .
