Getting In Tune with July 8th

On July 8, 1776, the first public readings of the Declaration of Independence was held in Philadelphia's Independence Square to the ringing of bells and band music.

On This Day In 1839 a native New Yorker and son of a traveling salesman was born. John D. Rockefeller would become the richest man in the world. The Grand Monopolist and one of the founders of the American Super Economy would eventually become the grandest philanthropist, even giving away more than Andrew Carnegie. Eventually from this fine example some descendants would register as Democrats.

"I was early taught to work as well as play,
My life has been one long, happy holiday;
Full of work and full of play-
I dropped the worry on the way-
And God was good to me everyday."

A Sign of the Times. On July 8th in 1871, one day after The New York Times rejects a $5 million bribe from the "Boss" the newspaper exposes the massive corruption of Boss Tweed's City Hall. On the same day in 1889 the first issue of The Wall Street Journal hits the stands at 2 cents a copy. Now The Washington Post know who the boss is, The Journal is owned by the King of Yellow Journalism and the Times is being forced to cut Boston loose.

On July 8, 1967 Jimi Hendricks joins the tour of the Monkeys in Jacksonville, FL, as a warm up act! Neither the teenyboppers nor the chaperoning moms were amused.

As Justice Goes. On July 8, 1976 former President Richard M. Nixon was disbarred by the New York Bar Association. Nixon attempted to resign voluntarily, as he had from the California and U.S. Supreme Court bars, but New York refused to accept his resignation unless he acknowledged that he had obstructed justice during the Watergate coverup.

1986 was Fun as long as they could keep him away from the machine gun. Kurt Waldheim was inaugurated as president of Austria despite controversy over his alleged ties to Nazi war crimes.

IN 1987 Lt. Col. Oliver North became a daytime TV star. More viewers watched than many game shows and soap operas. He captured center stageas the Iran-Contra hearings were televised throughout the U.S.

In 1999 The Electric Chair Was Put To Bed. On July 8 when Allen Lee Davis was shocked to death by the state of Florida he was the last and the nation moved on to more humane ways to kill Americans.

An Historic Double Humping. On this day in 2004 Enron's founder Kenneth Lay pleaded innocent to charges related to the energy company's collapse and Adelphia Communications Corp. founder John Rigas along with his son Timothy were convicted in New York of looting the cable company and deceiving investors. Eventually Ken Lay came up with a way to worm out of the charges but the Rigas did better.

Back In 2005 Rock singer and campaigner Bob Geldof, to pressure global leaders put together the Live 8 concert, highlighting the problem of poverty in the developing world. The concerts were staged in 10 cities around the world ahead of their G8 summit in Gleneagles and on this day G8 leaders agreed to a $50 billion aid boost. Also in the victory column, Progress American Style came when Prime Minister Tony Blair said an agreement had always been unlikely, but that the US now accepted global warming was an issue.

In 2007 David Vitter lost his moral high ground and said "I'm Sorry." after the brothelmister's name is found on a list associated with an escort agency operated by the so-called D.C. Madam. Jeanette Maier, the madam of a high-priced brothel that was shut down by federal authorities in 2002, came to his defense and called him “one of the nicest and most honorable men I’ve ever met.”

One Year Ago Today the Senate finally found something to fast track. H.R 6304: The FISA Amendment Act of 2008 got a bullshit debate and the following day they gave away OUR rights, privileges and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution that they took an oath to protect from all enemies, foreign AND domestic...!

Six Degrees Of Seperation. Happy birthday Kevin Bacon.

And the Doozy of The Day A recent study found that only 3.5 percent of Arizona traditional public high school students would be able to pass a U.S. citizenship test. That's teaching them!

This Is Odd. According to the tabloids Michael Jackson to be buried without his brain.

But always looking on the Bright Side.

Without druggist Edward Berner of Two Rivers, Wisconsin it wouldn’t even exist. It seems that on this day, back in 1881, a patron came into Edward Berner’s drug store and sat down at the soda-fountain counter. Since it was the Sabbath, the customer couldn’t have the desirable, but scandalous, flavored, soda water. Mr. Berner compromised and put ice cream in a dish and poured the syrup on top (chocolate syrup was only used for making flavored and ice-cream sodas, at the time). Voila! An ice cream Sunday (the spelling was later changed to ‘sundae’). The customer was happy; Mr. Berner was happy ... he just invented a dessert that he could serve on Sundays and remain morally correct; and we are happy ’cause we like ice-cream sundaes no matter what day of the week it is.This is one time we can say, “Always on Sunday ... or is that sundae?"

Did you know that today is National Chocolate with Almonds Day?