January 9

1905 – 'Bloody Sunday': The name given the day the Russians in St. Petersburg started their long struggle against the Tsarist regime, beginning the Russian Revolution of 1905.

Do not confuse this with the ‘Communist Revolution' in 1917...This was an attempt by the people to force the Czar to give them representation, which he eventually did with the establishment of the Duma/Parliament. Not that it did much for the people.

What it did do, however, was give the people a taste of revolt...It also gave some of the future communist leaders of the 1917 Revolution a little practice in rabble-rousing - particularly Leon Trotsky.

1861 - The first hostile act of the U.S. Civil War occurred when the Confederate 'Star of the West' fired on Fort Sumter.

Understand this action was not part of the Battle of Fort Sumter, but it was an inevitable beginning to the most destructive war in American History...It's also important to keep in mind this war had to be fought, because sometimes war is the only answer.

1945 - American troops invaded the Philippine island of Luzon and went on to liberate Manila:  WWII.

MacArthur “returned”...I love the guy, but the fact MacArthur staged and filmed his wading ashore is more than a little wacky. But he did what he promised, and eventually liberated the Philippines.

Unfortunately, by this time recovering the Philippines was probably unnecessary and delayed the endgame of destroying the Japanese Empire.

1945 - Major Raymond Cromley, head of the top secret 'Dixie Mission,' sent a cable to U.S. military headquarters in Chunking which said Mao Tse-tung would like to send a group to President Roosevelt to explain the situation in China. Ambassador Patrick J. Hurley, who opposed the meeting, intercepted the message and failed to pass it to Roosevelt:  WWII.

Who knows how this would have affected post-WWII China, but it is a strange event, and a case of treason in my opinion by Ambassador Hurley.

1951 - The United Nations headquarters officially opened in New York City.

Ugh!! Why did we have to put the 'Circle Jerk Group' on American soil? Amsterdam, Paris, or even Damascus would have been a much more logical site.

1991 - Major League Baseball banned Pete Rose from being in the Hall of Fame.

For gambling on baseball, Pete was 'banned for life', and he should be banned from the Hall 'for life', as well...Which means Rose should be inducted as soon as he dies.

2000 - The controversial 'Sensation' art exhibit ended its three-month run at the Brooklyn Museum, which had gotten into a fight with New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani over what the mayor called the exhibits offensive anti-Catholic content.

Here’s a quote about the content of the show: “Chris Ofili's work titled 'The Holy Virgin Mary;' it is this work - a depiction of a black Madonna adorned with elephant dung and sexually-explicit photos.”

Very nice.

This kind of "dung" is protected by the First Amendment in Liberalville. Which is also the same insane asylum where saying the 'Pledge of Allegiance' is considered a violation of the mythical ‘separation of church and state’ clause.

By the way, has anyone found that part of the Constitution yet?

2002 - Lawyers advised the Pentagon the Geneva Conventions do not apply to the Taliban or al Qaeda and the president has the authority to suspend the Geneva Conventions.

I want to get sick every time I hear about the 'Geneva Conventions'...The only fools who follow them is the U.S.

"War is Hell," and should only be entered into if it is going to be fought as a battle to get out of Hell...Playing by 'rules of nicety' is ridiculous. Heaven knows our enemies don't worry about such idiocy.