December 6, 2014

170 years ago
1844

World events
A spreading military rebellion in Mexico culminated with soldiers from La Acordada deposing President Valentin Canalizo, taking him hostage, and replacing him with former President José Joaquín de Herrera.

150 years ago
1864

Politics and government
U.S. President Abraham Lincoln nominated former U.S. Senator, Governor of Kansas, and U.S. Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase for Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

130 years ago
1884

Americana
Workers placed the 3,300 pound marble capstone on the Washington Monument, and topped it with a nine-inch pyramid of cast aluminum, completing construction of the 555-foot Egyptian obelisk. An obelisk is a structure built in honour of Re, or Ra, the sun god of ancient Egyptian paganism. Freemasonry latched on to this when it became popular in the United States (Martin Short, Inside the Brotherhood, Dorset Press, New York, 1989, pp. 81-87). The Washington Monument was built in accordance with Pierre-Charles L’Enfant’s plan for the city. Mr. L’Enfant was hired by President George Washington to design the city of Washington; he was fired in 1792, and his plan underwent some changes, but his avenues and vistas remained, resulting in a city laid out according to Freemasonic symbolism (Nicholas Hagger, The Secret Founding of America, Watkins Publishing, London, 2007, pp. 164-166). The dedication of the monument on February 21, 1885 was a completely Masonic ceremony.

125 years ago
1889

Died on this date
Jefferson Davis, 81. President of the Confederate States of America, 1861-1865. Mr. Davis was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Mississippi from 1845-1846, and was a U.S. Senator from 1847-1851 and 1857-1861. He served as U.S. Secretary of War under President Franklin Pierce from 1853-1857. Mr. Davis resigned his Senate seat when Mississippi seceded from the union in January 1861, and was soon named President of the provisional Confederate government and inaugurated in February. He won a regular election as President of the C.S.A. and was inaugurated in Richmond, Virginia in February 1862. At the conclusion of the Civil War Mr. Davis was imprisoned for two years, and was released on bail in May 1867. The federal government chose not to proceed further in prosecuting him.

110 years ago
1904

Diplomacy
U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt articulated his "Corollary" to the Monroe Doctrine, stating that the United States would intervene in the western hemisphere should Latin American governments prove incapable or unstable.

70 years ago
1944

Theatre
A Bell for Adano by Paul Osborn, based on the novel by John Hersey, opened at the Cort Theatre on Broadway in New York. The stars included Fredric March, Rex King, and Margo.

War
U.S. forces in Germany established three more bridgeheads on the east bank of the Saar River. The Soviet drive in western Hungary swept to within 44 miles of the Austrian border. British and Greek regular troops battled left-wing ELAS forces in Athens.

Politics and government
A new Romanian cabinet was sworn in with General Nicolai Radescu as Premier.

The United States Senate voted to send back to the Foreign Relations Committee the nominations of Joseph Grew, William Clayton, Nelson Rockefeller, and Archibald MacLeish to State Department posts pending a hearing on their views of international affairs.

Technology
General Electric announced its development of a sheet of plastic 2-millionths of an inch thick, to be used in making electron microscope pictures.

Labour
The Nicaraguan Congress passed legislation providing for collective bargaining, illness pay, an eight-hour work day, and vacation pay.

60 years ago
1954

On television tonight
Sherlock Holmes, starring Ronald Howard and H. Marion Crawford
Tonight's episode: The Case of the Blind Man's Bluff



Politics and government
Charlotte Whitton was re-elected Mayor of Ottawa.

50 years ago
1964

Music
Nat King Cole, who had been performing at the Circle Star Theatre in San Carlos, California--a suburb of San Francisco--since November 24, concluded his engagement there in what turned out to be his last live performance.

Zubin Mehta conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in the opening concert at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, part of the Los Angeles Music Center. The program included Fanfare by Richard Strauss; American Festival Overture by William Schuman; Roman Festivals by Ottorino Respighi; and Beethoven's Violin Concerto, with featured soloist Jascha Heifetz.

40 years ago
1974

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: Kung Fu Fighting--Carl Douglas (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Kung Fu Fighting--Carl Douglas (5th week at #1)

30 years ago
1984

Hit parade
Edmonton's Top 30 (CHED)
1 The Wild Boys--Duran Duran (2nd week at #1)
2 Caribbean Queen (No More Love on the Run)--Billy Ocean
3 Sea of Love--The Honeydrippers
4 Run to You--Bryan Adams
5 No More Lonely Nights--Paul McCartney
6 Valotte--Julian Lennon
7 We Belong--Pat Benatar
8 Stranger in Town--Toto
9 Penny Lover--Lionel Richie
10 Born in the U.S.A.--Bruce Springsteen
11 All Through the Night--Cyndi Lauper
12 Out of Touch--Daryl Hall John Oates
13 I Feel for You--Chaka Khan
14 Like a Virgin--Madonna
15 Walking on a Thin Line--Huey Lewis and the News
16 The Boys of Summer--Don Henley
17 Heaven (Must Be There)--Eurogliders
18 The War Song--Culture Club
19 I Do Wanna Know--REO Speedwagon
20 Hello Again--The Cars
21 I Can't Hold Back--Survivor
22 Pride (In the Name of Love)--U2
23 I Need You Tonight--Peter Wolf
24 Understanding--Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band
25 Better Be Good to Me--Tina Turner
26 You're the Inspiration--Chicago
27 Easy Lover--Philip Bailey with Phil Collins
28 Tender Years--John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band
29 Do What You Do--Jermaine Jackson
30 I Wanna Rock--Twisted Sister

Tennis
Martina Navratilova’s 74-match winning streak ended when she was defeated 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 by 19-year-old Helena Sukova of Czechoslovakia in the women’s semi-finals of the Australian Open championship in Kooyong. Miss Navratilova’s defeat prevented her from winning a record seventh Grand Slam title.

25 years ago
1989

Hit parade
#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): Lambada--Kaoma (8th week at #1)

Died on this date
Sammy Fain, 87. U.S. songwriter. Mr. Fain, born Samuel Feinberg, co-wrote such songs as Let a Smile Be Your Umbrella; I'll Be Seeing You; That Old Feeling; Secret Love; and Love is a Many-Splendored Thing, the latter two of which won Academy Awards.

Frances Bavier, 86. U.S. actress. Miss Bavier was best known for portraying Aunt Bee in the television series The Andy Griffith Show (1960-1968) and its sequel, Mayberry R.F.D. (1968-1971). She died 8 days prior to her 87th birthday.

John Payne, 77. U.S. actor. Mr. Payne appeared in the movie Miracle on 34th Street (1947) before making a name for himself in crime and film noir dramas such as Kansas City Confidential (1952); 99 River Street (1953); and Slightly Scarlet (1956).

Abominations
Marc Lepine, 25, a non-student, went on a rampage at the Universite de Montreal’s Ecole Polytechnique, killing 14 female engineering students with a semi-automatic rifle and wounding 13 others before turning the gun on himself. Before opening fire, he yelled (presumably in French), "You’re all a bunch of feminists and I hate feminists." In a three-page suicide note, Mr. Lepine blamed feminists for ruining his life. The incident has been used by feminists ever since--especially every December 6--to promote their man-hating agenda, aided by wimpy, flagellant "men" wearing white ribbons. In particular, male engineering students (which this blogger was not) were held to be guilty for the crimes of Marc Lepine, even though Mr. Lepine wasn’t a student. Mark Steyn in the only mainstream media figure I can think of who dared to mention certain politically-incorrect facts about Marc Lepine, such as: Lepine was actually the maiden name of Marc’s mother; Marc’s father was a Muslim immigrant from Algeria who used to beat Marc’s mother, and this was the model of manhood that Marc grew up with--just your typical Canadian. Such is the fruit of the immigration and multiculturalism policies that are part of the legacy left by Pierre Trudeau to a country once known as Canada, but now better called, in Mr. Steyn’s word, "Trudeaupia."

Terrorism
More than 60 people were killed and more than 1,000 injured when a bomb exploded in front of the Colombian Department of Administrative Security in Bogota. The bomb contained half a ton of dynamite. Authorities believed the bombing was an act by drug dealers who were defying government efforts to eradicate their operations.

Politics and government
Egon Krenz resigned as East Germany’s head of state and was replaced by Manfred Gerlach, leader of the small Liberal Democratic Party.

20 years ago
1994

Politics and government
U.S. President Bill Clinton accepted the resignation of Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen and announced that he would nominate Robert Rubin, chairman of the White House National Economic Council, to succeed Mr. Bentsen.

Economics and finance
Orange County, California officials announced that the county would file for bankruptcy under the Bankruptcy Code's Chapter 9 provisions. It was the biggest bankruptcy filing by a government unit, and the first involving a large U.S. county. News had leaked five days earlier that Orange County's main fund--supporting cities, towns, school districts, and public agencies--faced $1.5 billion in losses from a risky investment strategy employed by county treasurer Robert Citron. The strategy, relying on the purchase of financial instruments known as derivatives, had failed because the success of the investment was linked to the performance of fixed income securities, and depended on interest rates falling. As interest rates rose, the strategy failed, prompting Mr. Citron to resign on December 5.

Oil
Queen Elizabeth II gave her approval for oil drilling to take place on the grounds of Windsor Castle.