February 29, 2008

540 years ago
1468

Born on this date
Paul III. Roman Catholic Pope, 1534-1549. Paul III, born Alessandro Farnese, was appointed a cardinal in 1493, and acceded to the papacy following the death of Clement VII. Pope Paul apparently had difficulty living up to his vow of celibacy, as he had a mistress by whom he had five children. Pope Paul III initiated the Counter-Reformation with the Council of Trent in 1545, recognized new religious orders such as the Jesuits and Barnabites, and patronized the arts and sciences, while using nepotism to advance his family interests. He died on November 10, 1549 at the age of 81, and was succeeded by Julius III.

100 years ago
1908

Died on this date
Pat Garrett, 57. U.S. lawman. Mr. Garrett was the sheriff of Lincoln County, New Mexico, who was credited with fatally shooting Billy the Kid in 1881. Mr. Garrett was killed near Las Cruces, N.M. while was travelling with another man to a meeting to discuss a land dispute. Mr. Garrett was fatally shot when he stopped in the desert for a few minutes to urinate.

60 years ago
1948

On the radio
The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, starring John Stanley and Alfred Shirley, on MBS
Tonight's episode: King Philip's Golden Salver

Religion
Richard Wurmbrand, pastor of an underground church in Romania, was arrested by secret police as he walked to church, was taken to their headquarters and later put in a solitary cell where he was designated as Prisoner Number 1. He remained imprisoned for his faith for the next 8 1/2 years. His wife Sabrina, who served 3 years in prison herself during this period, was told a number of times that her husband had died. She was suspicious of these reports, and rightly so. The two were reunited when Richard was released in 1956. Upon Richard's release, he and Sabrina resumed their activities; Richard was returned to prison, and wasn't released until 1964. He survived brutality that many did not, and told his story in a best-selling memoir titled Tortured for Christ. In 1965, western churches ransomed Richard for $10,000. He and Sabrina (and son Mihai) came to America, where Richard testified about his experiences before the U.S. Senate. The Wurmbrands devoted themselves to speaking out on behalf of Christians being persecuted behind the Iron Curtain. In 1969 Pastor Wurmbrand founded Jesus to the Communist World, an organization which is known today as Voice of the Martyrs. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, VOM has broadened its ministry to aiding the cause of persecuted Christians around the world, not just those in Communist countries. URLs for international VOM sites can be found at http://www.persecution.com/internationalOffice/index.cfm. Sabrina Wurmbrand died in 2000; Richard died in Whittier, California on February 17, 2001 at the age of 91. He was undoubtedly met by the words, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant."

40 years ago
1968

At the movies
The Secret War of Harry Frigg, directed by Jack Smight and starring Paul Newman, opened in theatres.

Music
Up, Up and Away won Grammy Awards for Song of the Year and Record of the Year. It had been a hit for The Fifth Dimension. Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, by the Beatles, won the Grammy for Album of the Year.

Society
The President’s National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, an 11-member body headed by Illinois Governor Otto Kerner, released a summary of its 1,400-page report on the summer riots of 1967. The commission was appointed by President Lyndon Johnson on July 27, 1967 to investigate the nature of the riots, discover the causes, and determine how future riots could be avoided. In the summer of 1967, 164 "civil disorders" were reported in 128 American cities. The most notorious took place in Newark, New Jersey and Detroit, Michigan. In Newark, 23 people were killed and $10 million in property damage occurred from July 14-17. The Detroit riots resulted in 43 deaths, 7,231 arrests, 2,500 businesses burned or looted, and $22 million in property damage from July 23-28. Other cities affected by violence that summer included Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Buffalo and Syracuse, New York. This blogger passed through downtown Syracuse with his family in August, and it wasn’t a pretty sight. It seems the Summer of Love was restricted to San Francisco. The commission’s major findings were:
--The U.S. "is moving toward 2 societies, one black, one white--separate and unequal," but it is still possible to head off the division.
--White racism is the chief cause of the Negro violence and riots.
--To reverse the situation calls for unprecedented levels of "funding and performance" but "there can be no higher priority for national action and no higher claim on the nation’s conscience." The commission found that the riots were not organized or part of any conspiracy, but happened because of an accumulation of social ills such as unemployment, inadequate housing, discriminatory police practices, and various complex social processes. The underlying factor in the cause of the riots was found to be "...the racial attitude and behavior of white Americans toward black Americans." The commission made more than 150 specific recommendations for removing the causes of racial unrest, including:
--Creation of 2 million new jobs in the next 3 years.
--Decentralization of city governments to make them more responsive to the needs of their people.
--A national system of income supplements based on need.
--New low- and moderate-income housing.
The commission report received the backing of most of the civil rights leaders in the United States, but there was much adverse reaction, especially to the central finding of the commission that white racism was the root cause of the riots. In short, the report reflected typical liberal American views of the 1960s, still believed by some today: Whitey is the cause of all evil; black people are basically just children who shouldn’t be held morally accountable for their behaviour, and need the help of white liberals in order to improve their lot in life; and social problems can best be solved by throwing money at them.

20 years ago
1988

World events
A strike against the regime of Gen. Manuel Noriega began in Panama. It was widely supported, at least in Panama City.

War
Iran and Iraq began firing missiles at each other's capital.