A Brief History On June 25, 1998, the US Supreme Court voted 6-3 to strike down the Line Item Veto Act of 1996. It is said that politics makes for strange bedfellows, and this attempt to stifle congressional pork barrel tactics was an example of just that. Digging Deeper After Democrat Bill Clinton was elected President in 1992, the Republicans mounted a major surge in the mid-term elections of 1994 and achieved their dreamed of majority in congress. One promise these Republicans had made was to enact a line item veto law allowing the President to veto only a specific…
Author: Major Dan
Major Dan
Major Daniel Zar is a retired veteran of the United States Marine Corps. He served during the Cold War and has traveled to many countries around the world. Prior to his military service, he graduated from Cleveland State University, having majored in sociology. Following his military service, he worked as a police officer eventually earning the rank of captain prior to his retirement.
Read More
A Brief History On June 22, 1990, Checkpoint Charlie, the best known crossing point between Soviet-occupied East Germany to Western-occupied West Germany was torn down, a sign that the Cold War that had threatened the world with nuclear annihilation since 1947 was drawing to an end. Here we list 10 prominent symbols or icons that are closely associated with this time period. (Honorable mention to the AK-47 and the M-16 assault rifles.) Digging Deeper 10. MiG-15 and F-86. These are the best of the early jets from both sides that faced off during the Korean War; the fierce debate over which was the…
A Brief History On June 18, 1900, the Dowager Empress Cixi of China proclaimed war against the colonizing powers in China, including diplomats and their families. This order was made during the Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901), a popular uprising of Chinese against foreign Imperialists who had been imposing their will upon China. For 55 days, foreigners and Christian Chinese were held under siege at a legation/embassy in Peking, now modern-day Beijing. Digging Deeper A major motion picture, 55 Days at Peking (1963), starring Charlton Heston, David Niven and Ava Gardner is loosely based on this event; it flopped at the box office,…
A Brief History On June 15, 1991, Mt. Pinatubo on the Philippine island of Luzon erupted with a massive blow. This eruption would be the second biggest land-based eruption of the 20th century after a 1912 eruption in Alaska. Digging Deeper The massive eruption cost at least 847 people their lives and would reduce the size of the ozone layer in the upper atmosphere and affect global temperature for the next 2 years as evidenced by a 1 degree Fahrenheit drop. Although unassuming and covered in trees, Pinatubo was a sleeping monster, its last eruption having been in 1500 A.D. …
A Brief History On June 14, 2002, an asteroid named 2002 MN passed within 75,000 miles of the Earth. If that does not sound close to you, it is only a third as far away as the Moon. (M-O-O-N, moon.) Good old 2002 MN is what is called a “near earth asteroid,” a heavenly body that comes at least within 1.3 Astronomical Units (AU) of the Earth. An AU is defined as the distance from the Earth to the Sun. Digging Deeper Asteroids are basically mini-planets, chunks of rock that orbit the Sun in our solar system. Some are large…