Coffee Klatch

It’s rather ironic, don’t you think, that we push to bring democracy to the Middle East, and then the Palestinians have elections and the winners are the Hamas, who have pledged to get rid of Israel and who have been recognized as a terrorist organization.

First we say that we won’t support Hamas or fund them, then we help make it possible for them to have elections, and that same group comes to power. Go figure.

It will be interesting to see what happens. The Palestinian organization is bankrupt and relies totally on outside funding. And many have said that they won’t finance Hamas. Should be interesting.

Today was the birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, arguably one of the greatest composers of all time. Here are some other things that happened on this day in history.

Birthdays: Albert, Duke of Saxony (1443), Abbas I “The Great,” Shah of Persia (1556), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756), Edouard Lalo (1823), Lewis Carroll (1832), Samuel Gompers (1850), Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany (1859), Jerome Kern (1885), Harry Ruby (1895), Elmore James (1918), Ross Bagdasarian (1919), Donna Reed (1921), Sabu (1924), James Cromwell (1940), Mikhail Baryshnikov (1948), Chief Justice John Roberts (1955), Mimi Rogers (1956), Frank Miller (1957), Bridget Fonda (1964), Alan Cumming (1965), Rosamund Pike (1979),

Events:
1343 - Pope Clement VI issues the Bull Unigenitus, officially ratifying indulgences
1629 - Death of Michael Praetorius
1671 - Pirate Henry Morgan lands at Panama city
1710 - Czar Peter the Great sets the first Russian state budget
1785 - University of Georgia is founded
1825 - U.S. Congress approves Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) for relocation of Eastern Indians
1851 - Death of John James Audubon (Audubon Society)
1880 - Thomas Edison files a patent for an electric incandescent lamp
1888 - The National Geographic Society is founded
1901 - Death of Giuseppe Verdi
1910 - Death of Thomas Crapper
1918 - “Tarzan of the Apes” (the first Tarzan movie) premieres at Broadway Theater
1926 - John Logie Baird demonstrates the first television broadcast
1926 - U.S. Senate agrees to join World Court
1927 - Harlem Globetrotters play their first game
1945 - Red Army discovers and liberates Auschwitz and Birkenau
1948 - First tape recorder sold
1951 - U.S. Air Force begins nuclear testing in the Nevada desert
1964 - “Introducing the Beatles” album released in the U.S.
1967 - Death of the crew of Apollo I in fire on launch pad
1973 - Paris Peace Accords officially end the Vietnam War
1976 - “Laverne & Shirley” premieres on ABC TV
1977 - President Jimmy Carter pardons most Vietnam War draft dodgers (10,000)
1984 - Carl Lewis beats his own indoor world jumping record by over 9 inches (jump was 28′ 10-1/4 inches)
1984 - Michael Jackson burned while filming Pepsi commercial
1986 - Death of L. Ron Hubbard
1993 - Death of André the Giant
1994 - Death of Claude Akins
2004 - Death of Jack Paar