In the Northern Hemisphere, the winter solstice, sometimes known as Yule, occurs on or very close to this date. In the Northern Hemisphere, it marks the first official day of Winter. In the Southern Hemisphere, the summer solstice occurs around this time. It is also an important festival in the Chinese calendar.
Day of the week in surrounding years:
1981,1987,1992,1998,. . . .—MON—2009
1982,. . . .,1993,1999,2004—TUE—2010
1983,1988,1994,. . . .,2005—WED—2011
. . . .,1989,1995,2000,2006—THU—. . . .
1984,1990,. . . .,2001,2007—FRI—2012
1985,1991,1996,2002,. . . .—SAT—2013
1986,. . . .,1997,2003,2008—SUN—2014
Best Liberal Quote of the Day: On Self "What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." — Ralph Waldo Emerson
Stupidest and/or Scariest Quote from the Right for the Day: On Bashing the Clintons ". . . It is an affectation to say we can simply "move on" in the wake of all this. We will keep returning to it, because many Americans understand, at a deep level, that justice has not been done. Bill Clinton's year of scandal will continue to reverberate, gnaw at our conscience, rattle around in our minds. For we know things, deeply troubling things, that we did not know before." — William Bennett, The Death of Outrage, Bill Clinton and the Assault on American Ideals, NY: Simon & Schuster, 1999, p. 138.—Part 2 of 2 {Due to the length of some of these nutball quotes, I have decided to split the longer ones into parts. I could have abridged them but I think that would have lessened the impact of showing just how crazy these guys are. Please refer to previous and/or subsequent posts for complete quote.} {Bennett may be right about one thing, The Death of Outrage. How else can Bush's war crimes continue without scandal and a general outcry from the public.}
Dumbest Thing Said for the Day: From Politics "Many of them were destitute of even the goods they possessed." — Sir Boyle Roche was an eighteenth-century Irish member of Parliament noted for malapropisms and other gaffes, Sir Boyle is Hall of Shame member #5
{Disclaimer: I have attempted to give credit to the many different sources that I get entries. Any failure to do so is unintentional. Any statement enclosed by brackets like these are the opinion of the blogger, A Proud Liberal.}
NASA ASTRONOMY PICTURE OF THE DAY
Horizon to Horizon
Credit & Copyright: Laurent Laveder (PixHeaven.net)
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation
EVENTS
● 69 - Year of the four emperors: Following Galba, Otho and Vitellius, Vespasian becomes the fourth Emperor of Rome within a year.
● 1620 - Plymouth Colony: William Bradford and the Mayflower Pilgrims land on what is now known as Plymouth Rock in Plymouth, Massachusetts. It's not a very big rock. They weren't very big Pilgrims.
● 1844 - The Rochdale Pioneers commence business at their cooperative in Rochdale, England, starting the Cooperative movement.
● 1861 - Medal of Honor: Public Resolution 82, containing a provision for a Navy Medal of Valor, is signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln.
● 1861 - Schooner Potter arrives at Neah Bay, Wash., bringing annuity goods for the Makah--hoes, sickles, pitchforks, and Mexican spurs--much to the amazement of the fishing and whaling Makah, who converted them to fish hooks, knives, and arrowheads.
● 1865 - Illegal Executive Order (we know, it's redundant) removes lands from the Oregon Coast Indian Reservation, cutting the territory in half.
● 1872 - Challenger expedition: HMS Challenger, commanded by Captain George Nares, sails from Portsmouth.
● 1879 - Birth of Joseph Stalin, Russian dictator; murdered 11,000,000.
● 1882 - Peter Kropotkin arrested in France for agitation of workers.
● 1883 - The first Permanent Force cavalry and infantry regiments of the Canadian Army are formed: The Royal Canadian Dragoons and The Royal Canadian Regiment
● 1892 - Birth of Rebecca West, London. Writer, feminist, critic; companion for 10 years of author and socialist H.G. Wells. "People call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat or a prostitute."
● 1911 - First use of get-away-car in bank robbery, by the anarchist Bonnot Gang, Paris.
● 1913 - Arthur Wynne's "word-cross", the first crossword puzzle, is published in the New York World.
● 1916 - Industrial Workers of the World union outlawed in Australia.
● 1917 - Meiji Dairies, a Japanese dairy industry company, is founded.
● 1919 - Amid a strike for union recognition by 395,000 steelworkers, the "Red Scare" is launched with the deportation of Alexander Berkman, Emma Goldman, and some 250 other radicals to Russia on the S.S. Buford ("The Soviet Ark") from the "Land of the Free." A young, ambitious man named J. Edgar Hoover, heading the Justice Department's General Intelligence Division, advanced his career by implementing to the fullest extent possible the government's plan to deport all foreign-born radicals.
● 1921 - U.S. deports Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman.
● 1921 - U.S. Supreme Court rules labor injunctions and picketing to be unconstitutional.
● 1924 - Germany - After five years of prison for his participation in the Republic of the Workers Councils, anarchist Erich Muhsam is amnestied. Thousands of workers turn out for his release.
● 1936 - First flight of the Junkers JU-88 bomber prototype.
● 1940 - Frank Zappa born.
● 1951 - Explosion at New Orient coal mine in West Frankfurt, Illinois, kills 199 workers. Illinois State mine inspector had approved techniques for removal of the excessive coal dust in the mine ten days previous.
● 1953 - J. Robert Oppenheimer, Director of the Atomic Development Project during WWII, is told that Pres. Eisenhower wanted "a blank wall" placed between him and secret data, pending a security review on charges that he was a Communist sympathizer.
● 1958 - French presidential election, 1958: Charles de Gaulle is elected President of France as his Union des Démocrates pour la République party gain 78.5% of the vote.
● 1962 - American interests pay Cuba $53 million worth of medicine and supplies to free 1,113 prisoners held since Bay of Pigs invasion.
● 1962 - Rondane National Park is established as Norway's first national park.
● 1965 - Student anti-war activists Tom Hayden, Staughton Lynd, and Herbert Aptheker begin visit to Hanoi, North Vietnam.
● 1967 - Louis Washkansky, the first man to undergo a heart transplant, dies in Cape Town, South Africa, after living for 18 days.
● 1968 - Apollo program: Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the moon, is launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. At 2h:50m:37s Mission elapsed time (MES), the crew performs the first ever manned Trans Lunar Injection and become the first humans to leave the Earth's gravity field.
● 1969 - Seven hundred supporters visit jailed war resisters, Allenwood Federal Penitentiary, Pennsylvania.
● 1970 - Elvis Presley meets with President Richard Nixon to discuss the war on drugs.
● 1970 - The F-14 Tomcat flies for the first time.
● 1971 - The United Nations Security Council chooses Kurt Waldheim to succeed U Thant as Secretary-General.
● 1973 - The Geneva Conference on the Arab-Israeli conflict opens.
● 1978 - Police in suburban Chicago arrest John W. Gacy, Jr. for the murders of dozens of boys. Later, local disk jockey Steve Dahl would get in enormous trouble for his rendition of "All in all, it's just another kid in the crawl."
● 1979 - Lancaster House Agreement: An independence agreement for Rhodesia is signed in London by Lord Carrington, Sir Ian Gilmour, Robert Mugabe, Joshua Nkomo, Bishop Abel Muzorewa and Dr S C Mundawarara.
● 1987 - The passenger ferry Doña Paz sinks after colliding with the oil tanker Vector 1 in the Tablas Strait in the Philippines, killing 1,565.
● 1987 - Three white teenagers convicted in New York City of manslaughter in the Dec. 1986 death of a young black man, Michael Griffith. After entering a restaurant in Howard Beach, he was chased by about a dozen whites, ran onto a highway and was killed.
● 1988 - A bomb explodes on board Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, killing 270.
● 1989 - Vice Pres. Dan Quayle sends out 30,000 Christmas cards with the word beacon spelled "beakon."
● 1991 - Charilaos Florakis is elected honorary president of the Communist Party of Greece.
● 1992 - A Dutch DC-10, flight Martinair MP 495, crashes at Faro Airport (Portugal), killing 56 people.
● 1994 - A homemade bomb goes off on the # 4 train on Fulton Street in New York City.
● 1994 - Liberian warloads sign cease-fire pact.
● 1995 - The city of Bethlehem passes from Israeli to Palestinian control.
● 1999 - The Spanish Civil Guard intercepts a van loaded with 950 kg of explosives that ETA intended to use to blow up Torre Picasso in Madrid.
BIRTHS
● 1118 - Thomas Becket, Lord Chancellor of England and Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1170)
● 1401 - Tommaso Masaccio, Italian painter (d. 1428)
● 1596 - Petro Mohyla, Moldovan Orthodox Metropolitan Bishop of Kiev and Galicia (d. 1646)
● 1603 - Roger Williams, English theologian and colonist (d. 1684)
● 1714 - John Bradstreet, Canadian-born soldier (d. 1774)
● 1778 - Anders Sandøe Ørsted, Danish politician (d. 1860)
● 1795 - Leopold von Ranke, German historian (d. 1886)
● 1804 - Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1881)
● 1805 - Thomas Graham, British chemist (d. 1869)
● 1811 - Archibald Campbell Tait, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1882)
● 1815 - Thomas Couture French painter and teacher (d. 1879)
● 1818 - Amalia, Queen of Greece (d. 1875)
● 1832 - John H. Ketcham, American politician (d. 1906)
● 1843 - Thomas Bracken, Irish-born New Zealander poet (d. 1898)
● 1850 - Zdeněk Fibich, Bohemian composer (d. 1900)
● 1851 - Thomas Chipman McRae, American politician, 34th Governor of Arkansas (d. 1929)
● 1859 - Gustave Kahn, French poet (d. 1936)
● 1872 - Sidney Ainsworth, British actor (d. 1922)
● 1872 - Don Lorenzo Perosi, Italian composer (d. 1956)
● 1872 - Albert Payson Terhune, American author (d. 1942)
● 1873 - Blagoje Bersa, Croatian composer (d. 1934)
● 1876 - Jack Lang (John Thomas Lang), Premier of New South Wales (d. 1975)
● 1878 - Jan Łukasiewicz, Polish philosopher and mathematician (d. 1956)
● 1885 - Frank Patrick, hockey player (d. 1960)
● 1889 - Sewall Wright, American biologist (d. 1988)
● 1890 - Hermann Joseph Muller, American geneticist and Nobel laureate (d. 1967)
● 1891 - John William McCormack, American politician (d. 1980)
● 1892 - Walter Hagen, American golfer (d. 1969)
● 1892 - Rebecca West, American writer (d. 1983)
● 1896 - Leroy Robertson, American composer (d. 1971)
● 1905 - Anthony Powell, British author (d. 2000)
● 1911 - Josh Gibson, American baseball player (d. 1947)
● 1914 - Ivan Generalić, Austro-Hungarian-born Croatian painter (d. 1992)
● 1915 - Werner von Trapp, member of the Trapp Family Singers (d. 2007)
● 1917 - Heinrich Böll, German writer and Nobel laureate (d. 1985)
● 1917 - Sophie Masloff, American politician
● 1918 - Donald Regan, American White House Chief of Staff (d. 2003)
● 1918 - Kurt Waldheim, Austrian United Nations Secretary-General and Federal President of Austria (d. 2007)
● 1920 - Alicia Alonso, Cuban ballerina
● 1920 - Bob Bindig, cartoonist
● 1920 - Jean Gascon, Canadian actor (d. 1988)
● 1921 - Vampira (Maila Nurmi), Finnish-born actress
● 1921 - John Severin, American comics artist
● 1922 - Paul Winchell, American ventriloquist (d. 2005)
● 1923 - Intizar Hussain, Urdu writer and colomnist of Pakistan
● 1926 - Joe Paterno, American football coach
● 1932 - Edward Hoagland, American essayist
● 1935 - John G. Avildsen, American film director
● 1935 - Yusuf Bey (Joseph Stephens), American activist (d. 2003)
● 1935 - Phil Donahue, American talk show host
● 1935 - Edward Schreyer, Canadian politician, Premier of Manitoba
● 1937 - Jane Fonda, American actress
● 1937 - Donald F. Munson, American politician
● 1939 - Lloyd Axworthy, Canadian politician
● 1940 - Frank Zappa, American musician (d. 1993)
● 1940 - Ray Hildebrand, American singer (Paul & Paula)
● 1942 - Hu Jintao, Chinese president
● 1942 - Reinhard Mey, German singer
● 1942 - Carla Thomas, American singer
● 1943 - André Arthur. Quebec radio host
● 1944 - Michael Tilson Thomas, American conductor
● 1944 - Bill Atkinson, English footballer
● 1946 - Carl Wilson, American musician (The Beach Boys) (d. 1998)
● 1946 - Christopher Keene, American conductor (d. 1995)
● 1947 - Paco de Lucía, Spanish musician
● 1947 - Bryan Hamilton, Northern Irish footballer
● 1948 - Samuel L. Jackson, American actor
● 1948 - Willi Resetarits, Austrian musician
● 1948 - Dave Kingman, baseball player
● 1950 - Jeffrey Katzenberg, American producer
● 1950 - Lillebjørn Nilsen, Norwegian singer-songwriter
● 1951 - Nick Gilder, English musician (Sweeney Todd)
● 1952 - Joaquín Andújar, baseball player
● 1953 - Betty Wright, American singer
● 1954 - Chris Evert, American tennis player
● 1955 - Jane Kaczmarek, American actress
● 1955 - Kazuyuki Sekiguchi, Japanese musician
● 1956 - Lee Roy Parnell, American country singer
● 1957 - Tom Henke, American baseball player
● 1957 - Ray Romano, Italian-American comedian
● 1959 - Florence Griffith Joyner, American sprinter (d. 1998)
● 1960 - Louis Demetrius Alvanis, London-based pianist
● 1960 - Roger McDowell, Former Major League Baseball Pitcher
● 1960 - Andy Van Slyke, baseball player
● 1961 - Francis Ng, Hong Kong actor
● 1961 - Ryuji Sasai, Japanese composer
● 1964 - Rob Kelly, English football manager
● 1964 - Fabiana Udenio, Argentine actress
● 1965 - Andy Dick, American actor and comedian
● 1965 - Anke Engelke, German comedian
● 1966 - Kiefer Sutherland, British-born Canadian actor
● 1966 - Karri Turner, American actress
● 1967 - Mikhail Saakashvili, Soviet-born President of Georgia
● 1969 - Julie Delpy, French actress
● 1969 - Mihails Zemļinskis, Latvian footballer
● 1970 - Jamie Theakston, English television presenter
● 1971 - Mathieu Chedid, French musician
● 1971 - Fenton Keogh, Australian celebrity chef
● 1971 - Brett Scallions, American singer (Fuel, The X's)
● 1972 - Latroy Hawkins, baseball player
● 1972 - Dustin Hermanson, baseball player
● 1973 - Karmen Stavec, German-born Slovenian singer
● 1973 - Mike Alstott, American football player
● 1974 - Karrie Webb, Australian golfer
● 1975 - Paloma Herrera, Argentine ballet dancer
● 1976 - Mirela Manjani, Greek javelin thrower
● 1978 - Mike Vitar, American actor
● 1979 - Jay Ross, Manager of Network Operations for LATTV
● 1981 - Cristian Zaccardo, Italian football player
● 1981 - Lynda Thomas, Mexican singer
● 1981 - Sajid Mahmood, English cricketer
● 1982 - Mike Gansey, American basketball player
● 1984 - Darren Potter, Irish footballer
● 1985 - James Stewart Jr., American motorcycle racer
● 1987 - Edward Speelers, British Actor
DEATHS
● 72 - Thomas the Apostle
● 1295 - Marguerite Berenger of Provence, wife of Louis IX of France (bc. 1221)
● 1308 - Henry I of Hesse (b. 1244)
● 1375 - Giovanni Boccaccio, Italian writer (b. 1313)
● 1504 - Bertold von Henneberg-Römhild, German archbishop and elector (b. 1442)
● 1549 - Marguerite of Navarre, wife of Henry II of Navarre (b. 1492)
● 1579 - Vicente Masip, Spanish painter
● 1597 - Petrus Canisius, Dutch Jesuit (b. 1521)
● 1807 - John Newton, English cleric and hymnist (b. 1725)
● 1824 - James Parkinson, English physician, geologist, paleontologist, and political activist (b. 1755)
● 1873 - Francis Garnier, French explorer (b. 1839)
● 1889 - Friedrich August von Quenstedt, German geologist (b. 1809)
● 1900 - Roger Wolcott, American political figure, 39th Governor of Massachusetts (b. 1847)
● 1933 - Knud Johan Victor Rasmussen, Greenlandic polar explorer and anthropologist (b. 1879)
● 1935 - Kurt Tucholsky, German journalist and satirist (b. 1890)
● 1937 - Frank B. Kellogg, United States Secretary of State, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1856)
● 1940 - F. Scott Fitzgerald, American writer (b. 1896)
● 1945 - George S. Patton, U.S. general (b. 1885)
● 1957 - Eric Coates, English composer (b. 1886)
● 1958 - Lion Feuchtwanger, German writer (b. 1884)
● 1959 - Rosanjin, Japanese calligrapher, restaurateur and ceramicist (b. 1883)
● 1964 - Carl Van Vechten, American writer and photographer (b. 1880)
● 1965 - Claude Champagne, Quebec composer (b. 1891)
● 1967 - Stuart Erwin, American actor (b. 1903)
● 1974 - James Henry Govier, British artist (b. 1910)
● 1974 - Richard Long, American actor (b. 1927)
● 1981 - Allan Dwan, Canadian-born American director and screenwriter (b. 1885)
● 1983 - Paul de Man, Belgian-born literary critic (b. 1919)
● 1987 - John Spence, founding No Doubt member (b. 1969)
● 1988 - Nikolaas Tinbergen, Dutch ornithologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1907)
● 1992 - Albert King, American musician (b. 1924)
● 1992 - Nathan Milstein, Ukrainian violinist (b. 1903)
● 1997 - Amie Comeaux, American country music singer (b. 1976)
● 1998 - Roger Avon, Durham actor (b. 1914)
● 1998 - Karl Denver, Scottish singer (b 1931)
● 1998 - Ernst Gunther Schenck, German doctor who joined the Sturmabteilung in 1933 {b. 1904)
● 2001 - Dick Schaap, American sports journalist (b. 1934)
● 2003 - Prince Alfonso of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, Spanish playboy and businessman (b. 1924)
● 2004 - Autar Singh Paintal, Indian medical scientist (b. 1925)
● 2005 - Elrod Hendricks, American baseball player and coach (b. 1940)
● 2006 - Scobie Breasley, Australian jockey (b. 1914)
● 2006 - Saparmurat Niyazov, President of Turkmenistan (b. 1940)
HOLIDAYS AND OBSERVANCES
● Roman Catholic:
● St. Anastasius XII
● St. Andrew Dung Lac
● St. Glycerius
● St. Honoratus of Toulouse
● Sts. John & Festus
● St. John Vincent
● St. O Oriens
● St. Peter Canisius
● St. Severinus
● St. Themistoeles
● St. Thomas the Apostle
● Bl. Adrian
● Russian Orthodox Christian Menaion Calendar for December 8 (Civil Date: December 21)
● Nativity Fast.
● St. Patapius of Thebes.
● Holy Apostles of the Seventy: Sosthenes, Apollos, Cephas, Tychicus, Epaphroditus, Caesar and Onesiphorus.
● Holy 362 Martyrs of Africa, martyred by the Arians.
● Martyr Anthusa, at Rome.
● St. Cyril, abot of Chelmogorsk.
● New Martyr Priest John (Kochurov) of Chicago.
● Roman festivals - Divalia in honour of Angerona
● Yalda, originally a religious holiday for Zoroastrians, is now a social holiday in Iran.
● The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar will end on December 21, 2012.
THIS IS AN ABBREVIATED POST FOR THIS DATE USING ONLY THE FOLLOWING SEVEN SOURCES. A COMPLETE POST IS PLANNED AS SOON AS TIME ALLOWS.
Click on this LINK to see original Wikipedia list with many having links with details.
Geov Parrish's this Day in Radical History, things that happened on this day that you never had to memorize in school.
Roman Catholic Saint of the Day
Russian Orthodox Christian Menaion Calendar
Liberal Quotes of the Day taken from The Best Liberal Quotes Ever: Why the Left Is Right Compiled by William P. Martin ©2004
Quotes from the Right of the Day taken from Take Them at Their Words: Startling, Amusing and Baffling Quotations from the GOP and Their Friends, 1994-2004 Compiled by Bruce J. Miller with Diana Maio ©2004
Dumbest Thing Said for the Day taken from 1001 Dumbest Things Ever Said Edited by Steven D. Price ©2004
Permanent Backlink to Post
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