Today in History: December 27, 2007

WAR!, TERRORISM, EXECUTION, SCIENCE, CULTURE, FRAUD, THEORIES, DEATH, INDEPENDENCE, POLITICS, BIRTHDAYS



On Dec. 27, 1932, Radio City Music Hall opened in New York City.

WAR!

In 1979, Soviet forces seized control of Afghanistan. President Hafizullah Amin, who was overthrown and executed, was replaced by Babrak Karmal.

TERRORISM

In 1985, Palestinian guerrillas opened fire inside the Rome and Vienna airports; a total of 20 people were killed, including four of the attackers, who were slain by police and security personnel.

In 1997, Billy Wright, Northern Ireland's most notorious Protestant militant, was shot to death by three members of the Irish National Liberation Army at the Maze Prison outside Belfast.

In 2002, a defiant North Korea ordered U.N. nuclear inspectors to leave the country and said it would restart a laboratory capable of producing plutonium for nuclear weapons. But the U.N. nuclear watchdog said its inspectors were "staying put" for the time being.

In 2002, a suicide truck-bomb attack destroyed the headquarters of Chechnya's Moscow-backed government, killing 72 people.

EXECUTION

In 2006, Saddam Hussein urged Iraqis to embrace "brotherly coexistence" and not to hate U.S.-led foreign troops in a goodbye letter posted on a Web site a day after Iraq's highest court upheld his death sentence.

SCIENCE

In 1822, scientist Louis Pasteur was born in Dole, France.

In 1968, Apollo 8 and its three astronauts made a safe, nighttime splashdown in the Pacific.

INDEPENDENCE

In 1949, Queen Juliana of the Netherlands signed an act granting sovereignty to Indonesia after more than three centuries of Dutch rule.

POLITICS

In 2006, former Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards jumped into the presidential race a day earlier than he had planned after his campaign accidentally went live with his election Web site a day before his scheduled announcement.

FRAUD

In 2002, Clonaid, a company founded by a religious sect that believes in space aliens, announced it had produced the world's first cloned baby, a claim subsequently dismissed by scientists for lack of proof.

CULTURE

In 1904, James Barrie's play "Peter Pan: The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up" opened at the Duke of York's Theater in London.

In 1927, the musical play "Show Boat," with music by Jerome Kern and libretto by Oscar Hammerstein II, opened at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York.

In 1947, the children's TV program "The Howdy Doody Show" made its debut on NBC under the title "Puppet Playhouse."

THEORIES

In 1831, naturalist Charles Darwin set out on a round-the-world voyage aboard the HMS Beagle.

DEATH

In 2002, Oscar-winning director George Roy Hill died in New York at age 81.

BIRTHDAYS

Former U.S. Sen. James A. McClure, R-Idaho, is 83. Rockabilly musician Scotty Moore is 76. Actor John Amos is 68. ABC News correspondent Cokie Roberts is 64. Rock musician Mick Jones (Foreigner) is 63. Singer Tracy Nelson is 63. Actor Gerard Depardieu is 59. Jazz singer-musician T.S. Monk is 58. Singer-songwriter Karla Bonoff is 56. Actress Tovah Feldshuh is 55. Rock musician David Knopfler (Dire Straits) is 55. Actress Maryam D'Abo is 47. Country musician Jeff Bryant is 45. Actress Theresa Randle is 43. Actress Eva LaRue is 41. Rock musician Guthrie Govan (Asia) is 36. Musician Matt Slocum is 35. Actor Wilson Cruz is 34. Singer Olu is 34. Actor Masi Oka is 33. Actress Emilie de Ravin is 26. Christian rock musician James Mead (Kutless) is 25.

Dec. 27, the 361st day of 2007. There are four days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
[image:nytx]
Source: Today in History



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

Madeline McCann: "Killed by a Pedophile"

Madeline: photo taken the day she was abducted

On the same day that gruesome details of how Riley Sawyers ("Riley Sawyers Mother Tortured Her: Little Riley Never Had a Chance") died were released, news of what investigators now believe happened to Madeline McCann come to light.

It is not good news for those who had hoped she is still alive.

Police investigators in Portugal, where the 4-year-old was abducted, now believe that a pedophile killed her during a break-in at the resort room where she and her parents had been vacationing.

They were put out by the Telegraph in "Madeleine 'killed in moment of thwarted desire'":

Madeleine McCann was killed by a paedophile in a moment of "thwarted desire" before being taken from her Algarve holiday apartment, police investigating her disappearance believe, it has been claimed.

Her parents have all but been ruled out as suspects now. Originally, police had offered her mother a two-year sentence if she would confess.

Detectives now believe she was taken by an intruder who panicked and suffocated her to stop her from screaming, it was alleged.

They are close to abandoning the theory that Kate and Gerry McCann were responsible for their daughter's disappearance and will instead focus on the man seen walking away from the apartment carrying a child in his arms.

The U-turn has been suggested after a review of the case by senior detective Paulo Rebelo, 45, who took over the investigation in October.

Respected Portuguese daily Publico on Monday published a chilling recreation of what it claimed police now believe may have been Madeleine's final few seconds of life.

"It was a moment. An unexpected event thwarted the prospect of desire. Madeleine cries as she wakes from her sleep. Her fear makes itself heard," the newspaper said. "She has to be silenced. Violence, suffocation probably. And unexpected death.

"All over in minutes. Now he had to get her out of there. Close the door. Flee as fast as he could.

"The theory this is the explanation behind Madeleine's McCann's disappearance, the night of May 3, was practically ruled out previously by police investigators.

"Now though, it's gaining strength in the centre of the investigation."

Private detectives hired by the McCann family are investigating a possible link between Madeline and a local girl that was abducted in 2004.

Joana Cipriano, 8, disappeared from her home in the Algarve village of Figueria, 10 miles from Praia da Luz in September 2004. She has never been found.

Her mother Leonor, 36, and uncle, Joao, 35, were convicted of murder after Ms Cipriano confessed to the crime during police questioning.

She later retracted her confession, claiming it was forced during a beating by detectives, but was found guilty and sentenced to 16 years in jail. Her lawyers claim she is innocent and are appealing.

On Monday it emerged that Metodo 3 are looking into Joana's case to see if there is anything to link it with Madeleine's disappearance.

"There may be a connection," one of the Spanish detectives told Portuguese newspaper Diario de Noticias.

"We are following all leads," he said.

Sad news on both the Baby Grace/Riley Sawyers and Madeline McCann cases on the same day.

For Riley Sawyers' family, the hope that she was still alive has been extinguished. The details of how she died are not pretty.

For the family of Madeline McCann, there still burns a small spark of hope that she might still be alive.

Today's news did nothing but dampen that spark.

by Mondoreb
notes by Little Baby Ginn
[image: The Telegraph]




Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

Poll: Is the Country Populated by Kooks?

Click to enlarge picture

The NY Daily News is titled "Blame US for 911 Idiots in Majority". The story by Andy Soltis, reports Scripps-Howard/Ohio University poll results showing that "nearly two-thirds of Americans believe the federal government had warnings about 9/11 but decided to ignore them".

Some will shake their head in sad resignation, others in vigorous agreement with those particular figures. However, what is really interesting to those who fret about the U.S. becoming "Jerry Springer Nation" was at the end of the story.

In the latest Scripps Howard/Ohio University poll, 811 US adults were interviewed Sept. 24 to Oct. 10. Among the findings:

* 42 percent believe the federal government knew in advance of the plot to assassinate John F. Kennedy, compared with 40 percent who call that theory "not likely."

* 37 percent believe UFOs are real and that the feds have been hiding the truth about them.

The 2006 poll found 36 percent believed the government was also hiding proof that intelligent life exists on other planets.

* Eight out of 10 Americans suspect oil companies are conspiring to keep fuel prices high and 50 percent said a conspiracy is "very likely." Only 14 percent felt it was unlikely.

And some finding from the same poll in 2006.

In that (2006) poll, 16 percent said the Twin Towers might have collapsed because of secretly planted explosives - not hijacked passenger jets flown into them.

And what hit the Pentagon? Twelve percent figured it was a US cruise missile.

Anger at the federal government and skepticism in general by younger Americans is fueling the popularity of crackpot conspiracy theories.

Only 12 percent of Americans expressed anger at the government following the 2001 terrorist attack, but that grew steadily and reached 54 percent last year.

Most young adults give some credence to a conspiracy theory, while seniors are the least likely to believe in one, pollsters found.

Is the whole country populated by kooks?

These poll results might be used to illustrate almost any point one is trying to make: that U.S. education is failing miserably to teach students critical thinking skills; that video games are the ruination of the Republic; that lunacy loves company; that the system works; or, that the "truth" is getting out.

Soltis' point is a good one: anger and mistrust at the federal government has clouded the judgment of many Americans participating in polls.

Once, only Democrats had to worry about feeling the wrath of that mistrust.

Now Republicans, once the party of limited government and lassez faire are known for 'compassionate conservatism', and other fuzzy re-labeling of federal government expansion.

The frenzy of Republican-controlled Congressional earmarks further alienated conservative voters.

Any presidential candidate need only look at these poll results to see, come next November, which side to be on.

by Mondoreb
& Little Baby Ginn




Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.