Fri, March 29

2003—Newsweek publishes a poll saying 74 percent of Americans believe that the Bush administration has “a well thought-out military plan.” 1995—Rep. Dan Burton [R-Ind.] says the U.S. “should place an aircraft carrier off the coast of [land-locked] Bolivia and crop dust the coca fields.” 1973—Army Master Sergeant Max Beilke becomes the last U.S. combat soldier to leave Vietnam. He will die at the Pentagon, a civilian, on 9/11/01. 1972—In anticipation of a $100,000 “contribution” to the Nixon re-election campaign, the EPA eases up on enforcement at a lead smelter in Idaho. 1971—Lt. William Calley gets “life in prison” for 22 My Lai murders, i.e., three …

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Thurs, March 28

2007—Phyllis Schlafly explains to Bates students that a married woman “has consented to sex, and I don’t think you can call it rape.” 2003—Two U.S.A.F. A-10 “Warthogs” mistakenly strafe British tanks in Iraq. One soldier is KIA. 2003—“The enemy we’re fighting [in Iraq],” General William S. Wallace admits, “is different from the one we’d war-gamed against.” 1979—After a stuck valve dumps too much coolant, an emergency cooling system kicks in, but it’s overridden by operators who fail to see a hidden indicator light. The nuclear reactor core at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania partially melts, releasing 43K curies. 1967—The RAF drops bombs on Torrey Canyon …

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Wed, March 27

2014—Receipts in hand, the UN accuses the U.S. of civil rights violations. 2003—Iraq “can really finance its own reconstruction and relatively soon,” U.S. Undersecretary for Defense Paul Wolfowitz tells Congress. “There’s a lot of money to pay for this that doesn’t have to be U.S. taxpayer money.” 1986—Congress slashes welfare while approving $100 million for a drug gang called “The Contras.” 1980—The Norwegian oil platform Alexander L. Kielland collapses in the North Sea: of 212 aboard, 123 perish. 1964—History’s 2nd largest earthquake hits Anchorage; 115 die. 1956—Alleged Christian Billy Graham advises Ike to ignore civil rights. 1943—So that forged IDs may avoid Nazi detection, openly …

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Tues, March 26

2021—Under a painting of a plantation, flanked by white men, Gov. Brian Kemp signs a law restricting voting. Rep. Park Cannon, who’s Black, is arrested and dragged out of his office. 2006—Justice Antonin Scalia is photographed making an obscene gesture on the steps of a Boston church. 1983—Bob “Bob Dole” Dole calls Ford, Carter, and Nixon “Hear no evil, see no evil, and evil.” 1982—Ground is broken in D.C. for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. 1972—Gen. John D. Lavelle loses two stars and command of the 7th Air Force for obeying Nixon’s secret orders and bombing North Vietnam. 1968—A dozen “Wise Men” finally tell LBJ it’s …

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Mon, March 25

2003—Four Air Force generals are sacked over a massive rape scandal. 1997—Florida’s “Old Sparky” sets Pedro Medina on fire as it kills him. 1976—Execs at the Ford plant in Argentina begin doing the new military junta’s bidding. Work incentives include torture, kidnapping, & murder. 1971—Three dairy co-ops get $600 million in milk price supports for a $427,000 “contribution” towards Dick “Original Dick” Nixon’s re-election. 1966—“Of all the forms of inequality,” says MLK Jr., “injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.” 1966—Fifteen WW II and Korean War veterans burn discharge papers in NYC to protest the Vietnam War. 1965—In Montgomery, Ala., 25,000 civil …

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Sun, March 24

2004—A-list broadcast journalists crack up at a black-tie dinner as President George W.[MD] Bush jokes about “his” failed search for WMDs. Less amused: families of the 691 GI’s killed to date in his pre-emptive war. 1989—Exxon issues a message about its stance on the environment—through the hull of the Exxon Valdez. 1985—Shot by a Soviet sentry while peeping at an East German tank shed, U.S. Army Maj. Arthur D. Nicholson becomes what the Pentagon calls “the last casualty of the Cold War.” 1972—A gang of burglars breaks through the roof of the United California Bank’s vault in Laguna Niguel, Calif., to rip off Richard Nixon’s …

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