(2 pm. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

At his Balkinization site, Jack Balkin discusses how he had predicted the current state of increased national surveillance that were put in place by George W. Bush during the “war on terrorism”. It would not matter if the president was a Democrat or a Republican because it has little to do with 9/11 but more about the National Security State that was created after World War II and it would be expected that these policies would be expanded.

Barack Obama has largely confirmed these expectations, much to the dismay of many liberals who supported him. After issuing a series of publicly lauded executive orders on assuming office (including a ban on torture), he has more or less systematically adopted policies consistent with the second term of the George W. Bush Administration, employing the new powers granted to the President by Congress in the Authorization of the Use of Military Force of 2001, the Patriot Act of 2001 (as amended), the Protect America Act of 2007, the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 and the Military Commissions Acts of 2006 and 2009. These statutory authorizations have created a basic framework for the National Surveillance State, and have made Obama the most powerful president in history in these policy areas.

In spite of all the flowery rhetoric in public, behind the curtain Barack Obama is an extension of what is turning into an Imperial Presidency. This issue goes hand in hand with the expansion of the Military Industrial Complex that President Eisenhower warned of in his farewell address. David Swanson, author, blogger, and activist, and Bruce Fein, a constitutional and international lawyer discuss the current state of the growing surveillance state that is is making an end run Bill of Rights protections and expectations about procedure. The following four videos that were made on March 17 and moderated by attorney and author, John Whitehead of the Rutherford Institute are well worth the time.

Regular Features-

• Late Night Karaoke by mishima
• Muse in the Morning by Robyn
• Six In The Morning by mishima
• Gha! by RiaD

Featured Essays for March 17, 2011-

• The Stars Hollow Gazette by ek hornbeck
• ‘You can hear Bradley Manning coming because of the chains’ by Jacob Freeze
• A Beautiful Day To Die by davidseth
• Obama Consults With Gen. Flustercluck by Edger
• You Were A Champion In Their Eyes by Edger

DocuDharma

(10 pm. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

The news is just flying off the “wires” and through the “tubes”. So, in an Attempt to keep up with some really important developing events, a quick summery of the big stuff and some of the related details.

This is obviously not the optimum solution but Qaddafi is a lunatic. Both MSF and the ICRC have pulled out of Behghazi yesterday and most of the news media is gone.

• UN Security Council Approves No-Fly Zone Over Libya
  

  Forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi have driven back rebels to the eastern city of Benghazi this week. And after weeks of ambiguity about an official position on Libya, the Obama administration yesterday said the U.S. would support military action beyond a no-fly zone to prevent a humanitarian disaster. “We need to be prepared to contemplate steps that include, but perhaps go beyond, a no-fly zone at this point, as the situation on the ground has evolved, and as a no-fly zone has inherent limitations in terms of protection of civilians at immediate risk,” U.S. ambassador to the UN Susan Rice said.

  With a UN Security Council resolution authorizing military action in Libya looming, Qaddafi today warned rebels in Benghazi, “We are coming tonight.” He promised amnesty for those who surrender, but added that his forces will show “no mercy or compassion” to those who resist.

  But just minutes ago, the UN Security Council voted 10-0 to authorize the no-fly zone and any measures necessary to protect civilians from attacks by Qaddafi’s forces. Five countries abstained from the vote, including Russia and China. A UN source tells ThinkProgress that the resolution also demands an immediate cease fire and rules out any foreign occupation of any part of Libyan territory.

• Britain, France and US prepare for air strikes against Gaddafi
  

  British, French and US military aircraft are preparing to defend the Libyan rebel stronghold of Benghazi after Washington said it was ready to support a no-fly zone and air strikes against Muammar Gaddafi’s forces.

  Jets could take off from French military bases if a no-fly zone is approved in a fresh United Nations security council resolution authorising “all necessary measures short of an occupation force” to protect civilians.

  France, which has led the calls for a no-fly zone along with Britain, has offered the use of military bases on its Mediterranean coast about 750 miles from the Libyan coast. Several Arab countries would join the operation.

I doubt that the UN or the US will do much about this, other than a “tsk, tsk” from Hillary:

• America rebukes Bahrain after violent crackdown on demonstrators
  

  Hillary Clinton condemns the rulers in Manama for not showing restraint as Shia-Sunni tensions mount around the Middle East

  The capital, Manama, was under curfew from 4pm to 4am, and the government was using emergency laws to ban public gatherings. The central square known as Pearl Roundabout, which had been a base for the protest movement, was violently cleared by riot police.

  Troops and riot police then moved on to locations across the city, including the Salmaniya medical clinic , which had become a second focal point of demonstrations. Doctors reported being attacked in wards and claimed power to part of the hospital had been turned off. The government said it was pursuing “thugs and outlaws”.

  “We have been chased, attacked and locked inside the grounds,” one doctor told the Guardian. “But the worst thing is … that we have been stopped from reaching patients.”

Japan’s earthquake, tsunami, nuclear crisis is just getting worse by the hour. The weather has been cold and it has snowed to add insult to injury

• Japan holds the line in nuclear plant crisis
  

  # NEW: An emergency generator running at one unit is sending power to two others

  # Cooling efforts are “somewhat effective,” TEPCO says

  # Helicopters and trucks spray water onto No. 3 reactor housing

• Japan disaster: U.S. starts to evacuate Americans using charter flights
  

  The U.S. government is arranging charter flights to evacuate Americans from Japan, according to a message issued Thursday by the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo. The action came after the State Department upgraded its advisory on Japan’s earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis from an alert to a warning that said Americans in Japan “should consider departing.”

Caution: Idiots At Work

• GOP Budget Chair Wants More Focus On Job Training, But GOP Plan Slashes Its Funding In Half
  

  As he often does, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) made the case for reducing the size of government at an event hosted by Politico this morning, which ThinkProgress attended. Ryan said the government needs to “prioritize” its spending, giving three examples of worthy “core mission” functions: scientific research, job training, and defense:

  RYAN: Personally, I think you’ve got to get government back to focus on its core mission, its core ideas. You know, basic scientific research. In education, we have less of a role money-wise, one K-12, but more of a role post-secondary. You know, get job training going so we can have that can kind of system that we should focus on for life-long learning. You know, focus on the basics, defense. Basic research, those things.

  It’s ironic that of all the functions of government, Paul would single out job training and scientific research, since the GOP’s spending proposal, H.R. 1, which Paul voted for, makes drastic cuts to both. H.R. 1 would cut funding for job training programs in half, slashing over $2 billion from an effort that Paul seems to think is essential. A broad coalition of labor, social justice, religious groups, and the United States Conference of Mayors wrote Congressional leaders in opposition to bill.

• Ending The Afghan War Would Save Taxpayers 40,000 Times More Money Than Defunding NPR
  

  Conservatives claim that defunding NPR would save taxpayers a great deal of money; former NPR employee Juan Williams even argued that NPR funding was taking away from “school breakfast programs {and} college scholarships.” Yet NPR receives only around 2 percent of its annual $161 million budget from federal grants, totaling approximately $3.2 million. Meanwhile, the FY2011 cost of the Afghan war has hit $113 billion.

  Assuming that the costs of both the NPR funding and Afghan war would be the same for next year, that means that ending the Afghan war would save approximately 40,000 times more taxpayer dollars than defunding NPR’s grants from agencies such as the National Endowment for the Arts and Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

  snip

  The House just voted 228-192 to cut off funding to NPR and 93-321 against the resolution calling for an end to the war in Afghanistan this year. Numerous Republicans defected to vote against defunding NPR and to vote for ending the war in Afghanistan. No Democrats voted to defund NPR but more voted against ending the war in Afghanistan than voted for ending it.

• Maine GOP Gov. Paul LePage Stole Candy From Children, Wants To Undo Child Labor Laws
  

  At an event in Lewiston, ME last night, the state’s tea party governor Paul LePage (R) told a crowd of French-Canadian-Americans that when he was 12 years old, he used to hide out in the French-Canadian part of town and steal Halloween candy from children. “Isn’t that awful? And now I’m governor of Maine,” LePage said with a laugh.

  But now that LePage is governor, he’s still targeting children. A bill sponsored by state Sen. Debra Plowman (R) and “backed by” LePage would roll back the state’s child labor laws, with the pretext of giving kids more liberty to work. “We have no other restrictions on any other things they do,” Plowman explained. “They can watch TV 32 hours-a-week.”

• Top Republican on Ways and Means Committee Proposes Even Lower Taxes for Millionaires and Corporations
  

  If you listen to Republicans (and some Democrats) these days, we’re facing two big problems in this country. One, working people just have it too easy. And two, the wealthy and the powerful are in desperate need of more government assistance.

     The chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee wants to cut the top U.S. tax rate to 25% for individuals and corporations, and cut or eliminate many popular deductions. […]

     “America needs a tax code that promotes, not prevents, job creation,” he (Dave Camp, R-Mich.) said. “Today’s code is simply too complex, too costly and too burdensome for families and employers of all sizes to comply with….We need to set ambitious goals and work toward those, because if we don’t try that will be the biggest failure of all.”

  Under Reagan, the wealthiest paid 50%. Under Clinton, they paid 39.6%, which W. cut to 35%.  The result? Record wealth inequality.

  Mission accomplished!

Amazing that the Irish get it but not NYC

• Irish Minister Slams NYC St. Patrick’s Day Parade’s Anti-Gay Policy: ‘Exclusion Is Not An Irish Thing’
  

  Today, New York City’s St. Patrick’s Day parade celebrates its 250th anniversary. But, the newly-minted Irish Foreign Minister Eamon Gilmore found the celebration at odds with “Irishness” because, for years, the parade has excluded the LGBT community. In a “first-of-its-kind meeting” yesterday with prominent New York Irish gay community leaders, Gilmore chided parade organizers for failing “to celebrate Ireland as it is, not as people imagine it.” “Exclusion is not an Irish thing,” he said:

     “What these parades are about is a celebration of Ireland and Irishness. I think they need to celebrate Ireland as it is, not as people imagine it. Equality is very much the center of who we are in our identity in Ireland.”

     “This issue of exclusion is not Irish, let’s be clear about it. Exclusion is not an Irish thing. … I think that’s the message that needs to be driven home.”

(midnight. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

Regular Daily Features:

Mona Lisa’s & Mad Hatters start the day in Late Night Karaoke, mishima DJs

Six Brilliant Articles! from Six Different Places!! on Six Different Topics!!!

                Six Days a Week!!!    at Six in the Morning!!!!

Gha!

Essays Featured Thursday, March 17^th:

Another one of Nature’s Beauties to Behold are the Thursday Open Thoughts from mplo

Cornucopia Hibernian Thursday, a weekly feature from Ed Tracey brings a delightful collection of items and ….well, just plain whimsy…..

a heartfelt outpouring from davidseth in A Beautiful Day to Die

join the conversation! come firefly-dreaming with me….

It seems I’ll have to update the late afternoon games on a rolling basis.  In case you haven’t noticed this is a lot of work.

The two upsets so far are Morehead over Louisville and Richmond over Vanderbilt.  Princeton played tough.

Of the Evening games in the first group of 4  I’ll be watching Connecticut v. Bucknell (sorry Armando, no ‘Gators).  Realistically Connecticut (the cheaters) should crush them like bugs.

In the second group I’m rooting for Michigan State (who had a puzzling and terrible year) against UCLA and St. John’s (I don’t understand why they’re so highly seeded either) aganst Gonzaga (despite their cool name).

Yes, yes I am that shallow.  Wait until I start picking teams based on their colors.

Check out who the winners are playing next at CBS Sports.

This Afternoon’s Results

Current Matchups

Follow the 2011 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament on The Stars Hollow Gazette.

If you don’t like squeeky shoes you can look for alternate programming here-

• Zap2it TV Listings, Yahoo TV Listings

“Punting the Pundits” is an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from around the news medium and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.

Thanks to ek hornbeck, click on the link and you can access all the past “Punting the Pundits”

Robert Sheer: No Nukes Is Good Nukes

When it comes to the safety of nuclear power plants, I am biased. And I’ll bet that if President Barack Obama had been with me on that trip to Chernobyl 24 years ago he wouldn’t be as sanguine about the future of nuclear power as he was Tuesday in an interview with a Pittsburgh television station: “Obviously, all energy sources have their downside. I mean, we saw that with the Gulf spill last summer.”

Sorry, Mr. President, but there is a dimension of fear properly associated with the word nuclear that is not matched by any oil spill.

Even 11 months after what has become known simply as “Chernobyl” I sensed a terror of the darkest unknown as I donned the requisite protective gear and checked Geiger counter readings before entering the surviving turbine room adjoining plant No. 4, where the explosion had occurred.  

John Nichols: Wisconsin Senators “Sell Out” to Corporate Interests as DC Crowds Pick Up the Chant: “Recall!”

Wisconsin Republican state Senators, fresh from passing draconian anti-labor and privatization legislation, jetted into Washington, D.C., Wednesday night to collect tens of thousands of dollars in contributions from the one constuency group that approves of what Governor Scott Walker and his GOP allies are doing: corporate lobbyists.

But if Wisconsin Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald and Joint Finance Committee co-chair Alberta Darling thought they could get away from the mounting campaign to remove Republican state senators and shift control of the chamber to the Democrats, creating a check and balance on Walker, they were mistaken.

Outside the offices of the BGR Group, “B” stands for Barbour, as in Mississippi Governor and potential GOP presidential candidate Haley, as many as 1,000 workers, students, union activists and allies filled the streets of downtown Washington. Many surged into the building where the senators met with lobbyists who paid as much a $5,000 to “host” the gathering to thank the Wisconsin Republicans.

They DC protesters chanted many of the same unions slogans that have been heard at mass protests in Wisconsin. And they picked up a political slogan as well: “Recall!”

Eartha Jane Melzer : Michigan’s ‘Emergency Manager Law’ Epitomizes State-Level ‘Shock Doctrine’

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder to get Emergency Manager powers this week

Public workers in Michigan lost job security yesterday as the state House signed off on a bill that allows the governor to appoint people to take over financially troubled local governments and schools and cancel labor contracts.

Less than two months after Gov. Rick Snyder asked the Legislature to expand the state’s ability to intervene in communities facing budget problems, the Republican-controlled House and Senate have finalized a bill that gives unprecedented power to appointed Emergency Managers.

The Local Government and School District Fiscal Accountability Act creates a range of triggers for state involvement in local communities and allows the governor to appoint managers to fire local elected officials, break labor agreements, suspend collective bargaining rights for five years, order millage elections, take over pension funds and even dissolve local governments.

Medea Benjamin: Activists Stand Up for Bradley Manning – and PJ Crowley

When we heard on Sunday that P.J. Crowley had resigned as spokesman for the State Department after criticizing the Pentagon’s treatment of suspected whistleblower Army private Bradley Manning, my CODEPINK colleagues and I knew we had to respond. How outrageous that yet another person gets punished for simply telling the truth–Crowley called Manning’s treatment “ridiculous, counterproductive and stupid”–while the war criminals go free. I can think of a lot stronger words to use for the way the Pentagon is holding Manning in solitary confinement for 10 months now, before he has even had a trial or been convicted of anything.

We quickly put out a call for activists to meet us at the State Department at noon and then walk to the White House. About 24 people showed up on short notice, in the middle of a workday. Some donned black and white prison suits, others put on orange Guantanamo jumpsuits, and three brave men–Tighe, Jay and Logan–stripped down to jock straps to symbolize the fact that the prison guards take away Manning’s clothing at night, including his underwear. (They justify this because of sarcastic comments Manning had made about using his underwear to commit suicide, but it’s really to further intimidate and humiliate him.)

Jim Hightower: America’s True Crisis: Zero Vision, Zero Leadership

The greatest problem our nation faces can be summed up in one word: leadership. OK, make that three words: lack of leadership.

America’s corporate, political, media, academic and other leaders aren’t. They’re not leaders – because they refuse to stand tall, be bold, offer vision, inspire and … well, lead. We’ve got too many 5-watt bulbs sitting in 100-watt sockets. They’re squishing the historic can-do spirit of the American people, reducing it to a dispiriting ethic of surrender that says we-shouldn’t-even-try.

Start with our leaders’ willful abdication of the American dream. They’ve given up on the notion of producing a shared prosperity that creates a broad middle class. For more than a decade now, Wall Street and Washington have let millions of jobs disappear and pushed wages down. They now yawn at the entrenched jobs crisis that is eating the middle class, and rather than responding to the plight of millions of hard-hit families, they’re trying to bust unions and kill minimum-wage laws.

Peter Rothberg: Rockefeller Bill Would Gut the EPA

This morning the House Energy and Commerce Committee passed the Upton-Inhofe bill (H.R. 910) on a largely party line vote of 34 to 19. The legislation attempts to overturn the EPA’s scientific finding that carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases endanger public health and welfare and thus require regulation. The NRDC’s Pete Altman live blogged most of the markup. It will go to a full House vote some time in the next few weeks, where it is expected to pass easily. Meanwhile Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell offered the same bill as an amendment to an unrelated small business bill.

Now Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller has an alternate proposal which would delay EPA regulations for two years.The problem: his bill would have the same result as Inhofe’s: it would kill EPA climate rules, as the eminent climate blogger Dave Roberts detailed at Grist.

The Senate is likely to vote down Inhofe’s bill, Roberts explained. But Rockefeller’s bill could get enough votes to pass. Obama would probably veto Inhofe’s bill. But he might let Rockefeller’s pass as a rider. So Rockefeller’s bill has a better chance of getting through and is thus a far greater threat.

Sarah van Gelder and Brooke Jarvis: Wisconsin Awakens a Sleeping Giant

As Wisconsin’s attack on workers spreads to other states, so does the historic uprising that began in Madison.

In one sense, the struggle over union rights in Wisconsin is over. It took some breathtaking, possibly even illegal, shenanigans (click here for details), but the union-busting “Budget Repair Bill” has been passed, signed, and celebrated. In other ways, though, the weeks of historic protests in and around Wisconsin’s capitol were just the first act of what may prove to be a far longer-and larger-struggle.

Around the country, state governments are targeting union rights, workplace protection, social services, and the ability of middle-class and working poor to have a voice. But, in large part thanks to the momentum of the Wisconsin protests, they’re finding it difficult to do so quietly. In state after state, the Americans whose rights and services are being cut are rising up against the decades-long shift of wealth and power to corporations and the very wealthy.

The commentators last night were dividing the day into 4 groups of 4 and that makes a certain amount of sense.  I’m posting Afternoon and Evening editions so there are 2 groups of 4 in each piece.  I don’t have eight eyes like a spider or 4 TVs so I’ll generally be concentrating on 1 game in each group with sporadic updates on other contests.

Then there are errands to run and my beauty sleep.

In the first group of 4 games the one I’m most interested in is West Virginia v. Clemson.  Clemson looked dominating against Alabama-Birmingham and West Virginia is one of the toughest teams in The Big East, but streaky.  I have no idea about the individual matchups (I’m not that into it).

As always feel free to contribute your commentary about any game.

In the late Afternoon group Pittsburg just crushed in The Big East regular season and I expect they’ll do the same to UNC Asheville.

This all makes much more sense if you take a look at my Master Bracket Schedule for the Round of 68.  For a more traditional bracket try CBS Sports.

Yesterday’s Results

Current Matchups

Follow the 2011 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament on The Stars Hollow Gazette.

If you don’t like squeeky shoes you can look for alternate programming here-

• Zap2it TV Listings, Yahoo TV Listings

This is your morning Open Thread. Pour your favorite beverage and review the past and comment on the future.

Find the past “On This Day in History” here.

March 17 is the 76th day of the year (77th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 289 days remaining until the end of the year.

On this day in 461, Saint Patrick, Christian missionary, bishop and apostle of Ireland, dies at Saul, Downpatrick, Ireland.

Much of what is known about Patrick’s legendary life comes from the Confessio, a book he wrote during his last years. Born in Great Britain, probably in Scotland, to a well-to-do Christian family of Roman citizenship, Patrick was captured and enslaved at age 16 by Irish marauders. For the next six years, he worked as a herder in Ireland, turning to a deepening religious faith for comfort. Following the counsel of a voice he heard in a dream one night, he escaped and found passage on a ship to Britain, where he was eventually reunited with his family.

According to the Confessio, in Britain Patrick had another dream, in which an individual named Victoricus gave him a letter, entitled “The Voice of the Irish.” As he read it, Patrick seemed to hear the voices of Irishmen pleading him to return to their country and walk among them once more. After studying for the priesthood, Patrick was ordained a bishop. He arrived in Ireland in 433 and began preaching the Gospel, converting many thousands of Irish and building churches around the country. After 40 years of living in poverty, teaching, traveling and working tirelessly, Patrick died on March 17, 461 in Saul, where he had built his first church.

First St. Patrick’s Day parade

In New York City, the first parade honoring the Catholic feast day of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, is held by Irish soldiers serving in the British army.

Early Irish settlers to the American colonies, many of whom were indentured servants, brought the Irish tradition of celebrating St. Patrick’s feast day to America. The first recorded St. Patrick’s Day parade was held not in Ireland but in New York City in 1762, and with the dramatic increase of Irish immigrants to the United States in the mid-19th century, the March 17th celebration became widespread. Today, across the United States, millions of Americans of Irish ancestry celebrate their cultural identity and history by enjoying St. Patrick’s Day parades and engaging in general revelry.

 45 BC – In his last victory, Julius Caesar defeats the Pompeian forces of Titus Labienus and Pompey the Younger in the Battle of Munda.

180 – Marcus Aurelius dies leaving Commodus the sole emperor of the Roman Empire.

624 – Led by Muhammad, the Muslims of Medina defeat the Quraysh of Mecca in the Battle of Badr.

1337 – Edward, the Black Prince is made Duke of Cornwall, the first Duchy in England.

1776 – American Revolution: British forces evacuate Boston, Massachusetts after George Washington and Henry Knox place artillery in positions overlooking the city.

1780 – American Revolution: George Washington grants the Continental Army a holiday “as an act of solidarity with the Irish in their fight for independence”.

1805 – The Italian Republic, with Napoleon as president, becomes the Kingdom of Italy, with Napoleon as King.

1842 – The Relief Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was form;

1860 – The First Taranaki War begins in Taranaki, New Zealand, a major phase of the New Zealand land wars.

1861 – The Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) is proclaimed.

1891 – SS Utopia collides with HMS Anson in the Bay of Gibraltar and sinks, killing 562 of the 880 passengers on board.

1921 – The Second Republic of Poland adopts the March Constitution.

1939 – Second Sino-Japanese War: Battle of Nanchang between the Kuomintang and Japan begins,

1941 – In Washington, D.C., the National Gallery of Art is officially opened by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

1942 – Holocaust: The first Jews from the Lviv Ghetto are gassed at the Belzec death camp in what is today eastern Poland.

1945 – The Ludendorff Bridge in Remagen, Germany collapses, ten days after its capture.

1947 – First flight of the B-45 Tornado strategic bomber.

1948 – Benelux, France, and the United Kingdom sign the Treaty of Brussels, a precursor to the North Atlantic Treaty establishing NATO.

1950 – Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley announce the creation of element 98, which they name “Californium”.

1955 – The Richard Riot occurs in the streets of Montreal over the suspension of hockey legend Maurice Richard.

1957 – A plane crash in Cebu, Philippines kills Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay and 24 others.

1958 – The United States launches the Vanguard 1 satellite.

1959 – Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, flees Tibet for India.

1960 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the National Security Council directive on the anti-Cuban covert action program that will ultimately lead to the Bay of Pigs Invasion.

1966 – Off the coast of Spain in the Mediterranean, the DSV Alvin submarine finds a missing American hydrogen bomb.

1969 – Golda Meir becomes the first female Prime Minister of Israel.

1970 – My Lai Massacre: The United States Army charges 14 officers with suppressing information related to the incident.

1973 – The Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph Burst of Joy is taken, depicting a former prisoner of war being reunited with his family.

1979 – The Penmanshiel Tunnel collapses during engineering works, killing two workers.

1985 – Serial killer Richard Ramirez, aka the “Night Stalker”, commits the first two murders in his Los Angeles, California murder spree.

1988 – A Colombian Boeing 727 jetliner, Avianca Flight 410, crashes into a mountainside near the Venezuelan border killing 143.

1988 – Eritrean War of Independence: The Nadew Command, an Ethiopian army corps in Eritrea, is attacked on three sides by military units of the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front in the opening action of the Battle of Afabet.

1992 – Israeli Embassy attack in Buenos Aires: Suicide car bomb attack kills 29 and injures 242.

1992 – A referendum to end apartheid in South Africa was passed 68.73% to 31.27%.

2000 – More than 800 members of the Ugandan cult Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God die in what is considered to be a mass murder and suicide orchestrated by leaders of the cult.

2003 – Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Robin Cook, resigns from the British Cabinet in disagreement with government plans for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

2004 – Unrest in Kosovo: More than 22 are killed and 200 wounded. 35 Serbian Orthodox shrines in Kosovo and two mosques in Belgrade and Niš are destroyed.

2008 – Governor of New York Eliot Spitzer resigns after a scandal involving a high-end prostitute. Lieutenant Governor David Paterson becomes New York State governor.

Holidays and observances

   * Christian Feast Day:

         o Alexius of Rome (Eastern Church)

         o Gertrude of Nivelles

         o Joseph of Arimathea (Western Church)

         o Patrick

         o Proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, celebrated only for particular anniversary such as 1961 (100th) and 2011(150th)

   * Evacuation Day (Suffolk County,

Massachusetts)

   * Liberalia, in honor of Liber Pater. Considered by some to be part of Agonalia. (Ancient Rome)

   * National Muay Thai Day

   * Saint Patrick’s Day, a public holiday in Ireland, Montserrat and the Canadian Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, widely celebrated elsewhere in North America and worldwide.

You can listen to it here.