February 1st, 1968 ¦¦ Saigon, South Vietnam. National Police Chief Brig. Gen. Nguyen Ngoc Loan summarily executes a supposed Viêt Công spy with a bullet in the head. Business as usual! Unluckily, he does the job right in front of NBC cameraman Vo Suu and AP photographer Edward (Eddie) Adams. Pulitzer Prize? Easy!
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Janaury 25th, 1971 ¦¦ Dada, not the culture movement from Switzerland, but one of the most entertaining tyrants comes to power in Uganda. The former dictatorial leader of Uganda, Idi Amin Dada has been called "One of the most batshit loco leaders ever to seize control of a chaotic African nation." according to the CIA world factbook but one can assume that he's been called even much worse... Other dictators might find their enemies to be targets, to be threats, to be disturbing...Amin Dada found them tasty too. After his coup d'etat of Apollo Milton Obote, former leader of Uganda, Amin Dada rounded up the military leaders that did not support his coup, murdered them, decapitated them and sat their disembodied heads around the presidential dining table, harshly criticizing their decision of not supporting him and taking bites of their flesh. Ruined by a nice collection of sexual diseases, almost totally illiterate (no writing, hardly some reading), marrying and divorcing multiple wives, Amin Dada was not what one would call the most stabilizing force for the war-and corruption-torn Uganda. However, as they were thrown into one small war to the next and always looking at the bright side of life, the citizens could at least take heart that their leader was so occupied with his vast diversity of ennemies, that he'd probably never turn on his own people... Wrong! He did. At one point, he gave all Asians in Uganda 90 days to leave, without their businesses of course. What did you expect? Similar attacks against Christians, Indians, his wives' lovers and his own cabinet ensured that nobody came to him asking for advice on matters of human ressource or of the heart. Of course, the most astonishing fact about this charismatic leader is that after years of torture, super corruption, military insurgency, mismanagement of the Nation's economy to the point of disaster with all the major economic actors running away before being eaten and the death of over 300,000 of his own citizens (some human rights organisations claim it to be 200,000 more), he was N-E-V-E-R incarcerated. He lead Uganda until 1979 than he lived for years in exile, first in Libya and Iraq than in Saudi Arabia, where one newspaper reported that he ate "40 oranges a day" to keep up his "sex power". In 1989 he tries to get back to Uganda but he's recognized in Kinshasa and is immediately sent back by Zaire authorities. On July 20th, 2003 one of his wifes informs Uganda President Yoweri Museveni that Dada is close to death and she pleads for a return of the former tyrant in order to die in Uganda. As a response Museveni indicates that he'll be judged instantly if he does so. Idi Amin Dada dies in Saudi Arabia on August 16th, 2003 at a supposed age of 79 and is survived by 4 wives and 45 children. A little bit of CV... 1894 - Britain declares Uganda its protectorate. circa 1924 - Idi Amin Dada born. 1946 - Joins the British colonial army. 1951 - Wins the title of heavyweight boxing champion in Uganda. 1960 - Amin is accused of torture, and loses his boxing title as a result. 1966 - Amin formally marries his first wife, Malyamu. He has already fathered several illegitimate children by her. Feb 1966 - Parliament alledges that Amin has been stealing gold from Congo. Amin goes into hiding with his newly-married second wife, Kay Adroa. 1967 - Marries Nora, a girl from President Apollo Milton Obote's tribe. 25 Jan 1971 - Outs Ugandan President Apollo Milton Obote in a coup. Sep 1972 - Marries his fourth wife, Madina, and divorces his previous three wives later that year. His second wife, Kay, would later die during an abortion; her body is discovered dismembered. 1975 - Marries his fifth wife, Sarah. Oct 1978 - Invades the neighboring country of Tanzania. The invading army is repulsed, and Tanzania counter-invades. 11 Apr 1979 - Idi Amin is overthrown by the invading Tanzanian army, supported by exiled Ugandan dissidents. He relocates to Libya and Iraq, eventually settling in Saudi Arabia, where he lives on a monthly stipend of $1500 provided by the government. 17 Aug 2003 - Idi Amin Dada dies. January 24th, 1978 ¦¦ Космос (Cosmos) 954, a Soviet nuclear powered spy satellite accidentally plunges through Earth's atmosphere and disintegrates over North-West Canada scattering radioactive debris all over the place. Much of the satellite lands in the Great Slave Lake. Only about 1% of the radioactive material is recovered. Accorduing to the U.N. space laws, Canada officially bills the U.S.S.R. $6,041,174.70 for recovery expenses plus some additional costs for unpredictable consequences. 3 Million are eventually paid... Jan 19th, 1991 ¦¦ Wendy O. Williams, lead singer of the U.S. Punk Band 'Plasmatics', is arrested for masturbating on stage with a sledgehammer...nasty Wendy... Jan 18th, 2005 ¦¦ The Airbus A380, the world's largest commercial passenger jet, is unveiled in Toulouse, France. With this double-deck, wide-body, four-engine airliner and its range of +15000km, you can now travel from New-York to Hong Kong in one single leap with all of your 850 facebook friends at a cruising speed of Mach 0.85 (+/- 900km/h at cruising altitude)...Howard Hughes would have been a bit jalous but his 'Spruce Goose' still was bigger... January 17th, 1961 ¦¦ President Eisenhower's Farewell Address to the Nation is aired. The essence of his message can be summed up in a few lines, a warning of the evils of the American 'military industrial complex': 'This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence – economic, political, even spiritual – is felt in every city, every Statehouse, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.' If one has a look at the world of today, it seems like not too many have been listening to this. So once again for those who did not listen carefully enough in 1961: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eisenhower's Farewell Address to the Nation January 17, 1961 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Good evening, my fellow Americans: First, I should like to express my gratitude to the radio and television networks for the opportunity they have given me over the years to bring reports and messages to our nation. My special thanks go to them for the opportunity of addressing you this evening. Three days from now, after a half century of service of our country, I shall lay down the responsibilities of office as, in traditional and solemn ceremony, the authority of the Presidency is vested in my successor. This evening I come to you with a message of leave-taking and farewell, and to share a few final thoughts with you, my countrymen. Like every other citizen, I wish the new President, and all who will labor with him, Godspeed. I pray that the coming years will be blessed with peace and prosperity for all. Our people expect their President and the Congress to find essential agreement on questions of great moment, the wise resolution of which will better shape the future of the nation. My own relations with Congress, which began on a remote and tenuous basis when, long ago, a member of the Senate appointed me to West Point, have since ranged to the intimate during the war and immediate post-war period, and finally to the mutually interdependent during these past eight years. In this final relationship, the Congress and the Administration have, on most vital issues, cooperated well, to serve the nation well rather than mere partisanship, and so have assured that the business of the nation should go forward. So my official relationship with Congress ends in a feeling on my part, of gratitude that we have been able to do so much together. We now stand ten years past the midpoint of a century that has witnessed four major wars among great nations. Three of these involved our own country. Despite these holocausts America is today the strongest, the most influential and most productive nation in the world. Understandably proud of this pre-eminence, we yet realize that America's leadership and prestige depend, not merely upon our unmatched material progress, riches and military strength, but on how we use our power in the interests of world peace and human betterment. Throughout America's adventure in free government, such basic purposes have been to keep the peace; to foster progress in human achievement, and to enhance liberty, dignity and integrity among peoples and among nations. To strive for less would be unworthy of a free and religious people. Any failure traceable to arrogance or our lack of comprehension or readiness to sacrifice would inflict upon us a grievous hurt, both at home and abroad. Progress toward these noble goals is persistently threatened by the conflict now engulfing the world. It commands our whole attention, absorbs our very beings. We face a hostile ideology global in scope, atheistic in character, ruthless in purpose, and insidious in method. Unhappily the danger it poses promises to be of indefinite duration. To meet it successfully, there is called for, not so much the emotional and transitory sacrifices of crisis, but rather those which enable us to carry forward steadily, surely, and without complaint the burdens of a prolonged and complex struggle – with liberty the stake. Only thus shall we remain, despite every provocation, on our charted course toward permanent peace and human betterment. Crises there will continue to be. In meeting them, whether foreign or domestic, great or small, there is a recurring temptation to feel that some spectacular and costly action could become the miraculous solution to all current difficulties. A huge increase in the newer elements of our defenses; development of unrealistic programs to cure every ill in agriculture; a dramatic expansion in basic and applied research – these and many other possibilities, each possibly promising in itself, may be suggested as the only way to the road we wish to travel. But each proposal must be weighed in light of a broader consideration; the need to maintain balance in and among national programs – balance between the private and the public economy, balance between the cost and hoped for advantages – balance between the clearly necessary and the comfortably desirable; balance between our essential requirements as a nation and the duties imposed by the nation upon the individual; balance between the actions of the moment and the national welfare of the future. Good judgment seeks balance and progress; lack of it eventually finds imbalance and frustration. The record of many decades stands as proof that our people and their Government have, in the main, understood these truths and have responded to them well in the face of threat and stress. But threats, new in kind or degree, constantly arise. Of these, I mention two only. A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment. Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction. Our military organization today bears little relation to that known by any of my predecessors in peacetime, or indeed by the fighting men of World War II or Korea. Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United States corporations. This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence – economic, political, even spiritual – is felt in every city, every Statehouse, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society. In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together. Akin to, and largely responsible for the sweeping changes in our industrial-military posture, has been the technological revolution during recent decades. In this revolution, research has become central, it also becomes more formalized, complex, and costly. A steadily increasing share is conducted for, by, or at the direction of, the Federal government. Today, the solitary inventor, tinkering in his shop, has been overshadowed by task forces of scientists in laboratories and testing fields. In the same fashion, the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity. For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers. The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present – and is gravely to be regarded. Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite. It is the task of statesmanship to mold, to balance, and to integrate these and other forces, new and old, within the principles of our democratic system – ever aiming toward the supreme goals of our free society. Another factor in maintaining balance involves the element of time. As we peer into society's future, we – you and I, and our government – must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering for, for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without asking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow. Down the long lane of the history yet to be written America knows that this world of ours, ever growing smaller, must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be, instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect. Such a confederation must be one of equals. The weakest must come to the conference table with the same confidence as do we, protected as we are by our moral, economic, and military strength. That table, though scarred by many past frustrations, cannot be abandoned for the certain agony of the battlefield. Disarmament, with mutual honor and confidence, is a continuing imperative. Together we must learn how to compose differences, not with arms, but with intellect and decent purpose. Because this need is so sharp and apparent I confess that I lay down my official responsibilities in this field with a definite sense of disappointment. As one who has witnessed the horror and the lingering sadness of war – as one who knows that another war could utterly destroy this civilization which has been so slowly and painfully built over thousands of years – I wish I could say tonight that a lasting peace is in sight. Happily, I can say that war has been avoided. Steady progress toward our ultimate goal has been made. But, so much remains to be done. As a private citizen, I shall never cease to do what little I can to help the world advance along that road. So – in this my last good night to you as your President – I thank you for the many opportunities you have given me for public service in war and peace. I trust that in that service you find some things worthy; as for the rest of it, I know you will find ways to improve performance in the future. You and I – my fellow citizens – need to be strong in our faith that all nations, under God, will reach the goal of peace with justice. May we be ever unswerving in devotion to principle, confident but humble with power, diligent in pursuit of the Nations' great goals. To all the peoples of the world, I once more give expression to America's prayerful and continuing aspiration: We pray that peoples of all faiths, all races, all nations, may have their great human needs satisfied; that those now denied opportunity shall come to enjoy it to the full; that all who yearn for freedom may experience its spiritual blessings; that those who have freedom will understand, also, its heavy responsibilities; that all who are insensitive to the needs of others will learn charity; that the scourges of poverty, disease and ignorance will be made to disappear from the earth, and that, in the goodness of time, all peoples will come to live together in a peace guaranteed by the binding force of mutual respect and love. Now, on Friday noon, I am to become a private citizen. I am proud to do so. I look forward to it. Thank you, and good night. ...got it now? January 16th, 1991 ¦¦ Operation 'Desert Storm' begins live on CNN as U.S. intelligent bombs start destroying everything in Baghdad...intelligently. Military command and control facilities are then targeted across the country as well as Saddam Hussein himself. Both targets seem to have been missed but the operation is declared a success. Maybe because they managed to kill +100000 Iraqi during the surreal bombings or maybe it's something else. Here's the more politically correct version of the story... Today, 20 years and a half dozen wars later, the biggest U.S. Embassy worldwide is in Iraq (since January 2009): 42ha, 21 buildings, +600 million $ of public money invested (+144 milion $ over budget), estimated 2 million $ running costs per year, +5000 people living and working there permanently to organise the lives of up to +500000 Americans periodically dispatched in the area. Maybe they will stay for a little longer in order to continue to help Iraq, Kuwait, Iran and Afghanistan with their problems.
Jan 14th, 1984 ¦¦ The BBC announces that it will no longer use Frankie Goes To Hollywood single 'Relax' during transmissions...obscene lyrics apparently... Judge by yourself. 'Relax' Oh oh Wee-ell-Now! Relax don't do it When you want to go to it Relax don't do it When you want to come Relax don't do it When you want to come When you want to come Relax don't do it When you want to to go to it Relax don't do it When you want to come Relax don't do it When you want to suck to it Relax don't do it When you want to come Come-oh oh oh But shoot it in the right direction Make making it your intention-ooh yeah Live those dreams Scheme those schemes Got to hit me Hit me Hit me with those laser beams I'm coming I'm coming-yeah Relax don't do it When you want to go to it Relax don't do it When you want to come Relax don't do it When you want to suck to it Relax don't do it (love) When you want to come When you want to come When you want to come Come-huh Get it up The scene of love Oh feel it Relax Higher higher Hey-Pray January 13th, 1979 ¦¦ The Young Men's Christian Association filed a libel lawsuit against the Village People. The organization found the group's hit song "Y.M.C.A." defamatory, but the suit was later dropped. Meet the YMCA here, it's fun! January 1st, 1976 ¦¦ Danny Finegood had a message he wanted to get out to the city when he altered the HOLLYWOOD sign. It was the day that relaxed marijuana laws went into effect in California, and he wanted everyone in L.A. to know it. He considered changing the sign to read HOLLYWEED his lifetime achievement, according to the High Times Magazine. Danny Finegood dies at the age of 52 in January 2007. |
banner pics by Mike Stimpsons
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