The Almanac
Today is Wednesday, March 22, the 81st day of 2017 with 284 to follow.
The moon is waning. Morning stars are Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and
Venus. Evening stars are Mercury, Venus, Uranus and Mars. Those born on
this date are under the sign of Aries. They include Flemish painter
Anthony van Dyck in 1599; author Louis L'Amour in 1908; actor Leonard
Chico Marx of the Marx Brothers comedy team in 1887; actor Karl Malden
in 1912; actor Werner Klemperer in 1920; actor Ross Martin in 1920;
French mime Marcel Marceau in 1923; newspaper executive Allen Neuharth
in 1924; composer Stephen Sondheim in 1930 (age 87); televangelist Pat
Robertson in 1930 (age 87); actor William Shatner in 1931 (age 86);
U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, in 1934 (age 83); actor M. Emmet Walsh
in 1935 (age 82); singer George Benson in 1943 (age 74); British
composer Andrew Lloyd Webber in 1948 (age 69); television journalist
Wolf Blitzer in 1948 (age 69); sportscaster Bob Costas in 1952 (age
65); actor Lena Olin in 1955 (age 62); actor Matthew Modine in 1959
(age 58); Canadian skater Elvis Stojko in 1972 (age 45); actor Reese
Witherspoon in 1976 (age 41). On this date in history: In 1765, the
Stamp Act was passed by Britain's Parliament, introducing a tax on
printed materials in the American colonies. Colonists believed this to
be a violation of their rights and was a major grievance listed in the
Declaration of Independence. In 1791, the U.S. Congress enacted
legislation forbidding slave trading with foreign nations. In 1941, the
Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River began producing electrical power
for the Pacific Northwest. In 1945, representatives from Egypt, Syria,
Lebanon, Transjordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Yemen met in Cairo to
establish the Arab League. In 1963, Please Please Me, the debut album
from The Beatles, is released in the United Kingdom. In 1968, U.S.
President Lyndon Johnson recalled Army Gen. William Westmoreland as
commander of U.S. troops in Vietnam and made him Army chief of staff.
Gen. Creighton Abrams took over in Saigon. In 1992, a USAir plane
skidded off a runway at New York's LaGuardia Airport during a snowstorm
and landed in Flushing Bay. Twenty-seven people were killed. In 2003, a
U.S. Army maintenance convoy in Iraq made a wrong turn and was
ambushed. Eleven soldiers were killed and seven, including Pfc. Jessica
Lynch, were captured. Lynch later said she was erroneously praised for
heroism: I'm not a hero. I'm just a survivor. In 2004, the founder and
spiritual leader of the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas, Ahmed
Yassin, was killed in an Israeli missile strike in the Gaza Strip. In
2006, Basque separatists who live mostly in Spain declared a
cease-fire, saying they would end their long struggle for independence.
In 2010, the largest U.S. community organizing group, known as ACORN,
announced it was disbanding because of declining revenues. In 2011, an
Israeli court sentenced former President Moshe Katsav to seven years in
prison for rape and sexual harassment. In 2012, a group of military
officers seized control of the Mali government and ousted President
Amadou Toumani Toure, even though he had planned to step down the
following month. In 2013, U.S. President Barack Obama, visiting
Israel's memorial to Holocaust victims, said bigotry and hatred have no
place in a civilized world. In 2014, tens of thousands of people
demonstrated in Madrid against austerity measures and high
unemployment, demanding improved healthcare, housing and educational
facilities and an end to the Spanish government's empty promises. Many
of the protesters clashed with police, with dozens of injuries reported
on both sides. A thought for the day: George McGovern said, I'm fed up
to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in. .
