I was searching through a history book and it was talking about memorable events of ten years ago, but I had forgotten most of them. I have picked out some of the events of exactly ten years ago this month - January, in a word. So here are a few things that you may or in all probability will not remember from January 2000.
1 - on his first day as interim president, Vladimir Putin departed to visit Russian troops in Chechnya.
4 - President Clinton nominates Alan Greenspan to a fourth four year term as Chairman of the Federal Reserve.
5 - President Clinton decides that Elian Gonzalez, a six year old Cuban boy who survived the capsizing of a refugee boat, should be returned to his father in Cuba.
6 - much of Miami is shut down by hundreds of Cuban-Americans protesting the Gonzalez decision. - the S.E.C reports that most partners of Price, Waterhouse, Coopers, the world’s largest accounting firm, violated regulations requiring that they may not hold stock in firms that they audit. Five partners were fired.
7 - Vice Pres. Al Gore back-tracks on his promise to ensure that all new appointees to the Joint Chiefs of Staff were sympathetic to allowing gays to serve openly in the military.
8 - AOL announces a merger with Time Warner for $165 billion: the world’s biggest ever.
11 - the British government rules that General Pinochet is medically unfit to stand trial for suspected crimes against humanity in Chile during his presidency.
13 - executives at the nation’s leading drugs companies say they want to work with Clinton to establish Medicare coverage for prescription drugs this year.
15 - Arkan, the infamous Serbian paramilitary leader was shot dead in a hotel lobby in Belgrade.
18 - Helmut Kohl resigns as honorary Christian Democratic Party chairman over suggestions of corruption from within the party.
24 - the Supreme Court rules that laws limiting political donations to $1,000 in Missouri are constitutional.
25 - the Congressional Budget Office reports that the flood of tax revenues resulting from the exceptionally strong economy will last for ten years.
26 - ‘The New York Times’ reports that U.S investigators have discovered links between a group of Algerians charged with plotting a terrorist strike in the U.S. and Osama Bin Laden, the exiled Saudi accused of bombing two American embassies.
31 - Republican Gov. George Ryan of Illinois halts all executions in the state citing a disgraceful record of convicting innocent people and putting them on death row. - top officials n the C.I.A. are accused of blocking an internal investigation into indications that the agency’s past director, John M. Deutsch, mishandled secret information.
Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with custom wall calendars If you have an interest in calendars, organizers or promotional calendars, please go over to our website now at Promotional Desk Calendars
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Wednesday, April 27th, 2011If you are at all interested in either Pennsylvania or American history, you will surely have heard of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and the historic activities that took place there for the period of the American Civil War. The three day long battle that took place there in July 1863 was cruel and bloody, but was hailed as a victory for the Unionist North.
However, one quick look in the Union Army burial ground in the Gettysburg National Cemetery on Cemetery Hill will persuade you that the victory came at a very high price. The cost in human life and human suffering was enormous on both sides. Later on in the same year, Abraham Lincoln gave a discourse which was to become renowned throughout the world as the Gettysburg Address.
These days, the Gettysburg National Military Park is a tranquil place, but it acts as a moving reminder of the battle that was fought, the strategies employed, the heroism of the combatants and the readiness of military leaders to sacrifice the common soldier for political objectives.
If you go to the Gettysburg National Military Park, you would do well to begin your trip in the visitors’ centre. There you will be able to pick up books, pamphlets and leaflets to help you orientate yourself when you are on the battlefield, even if you are familiar with how and where the genuine battle was fought.
If you think that it would be too much for you to work things out for yourself or if you do not have a lot of time, you could join one of the frequent guided tours. If you are somewhere in between these two positions, you could first watch a film in the Cycloarma Center, where there are also historical items recovered from the battleground on the numerous excavations that have taken place over the nearly 150 years since the battle at Gettysburg took place. If you do not look around the museum before you go on to the battleground, you should look later.
If you are going to Gettysburg to enlighten your children about that most important era of American history, you should first check out the special interest programmes available to 7-12 year olds in the warmer summer months. One programme allows children to enlist in the army of 1863 for an hour in order to get a sense for what it was like for soldiers of the day and what it was like for the children that helped them go into battle.
Another programme consists of a story-teller telling stories of what it was like to be a youngster in the days of the Civil War and the role that kids played both in the war and in civilian life back then.
Gettysburg is a spellbinding place to go to whether your family was embroiled in the battle there or not. Many of the combatants’ names and place names like Devil’s Den and Cemetery Hill will already be familiar to you and a visit to the Gettysburg National Military Park will bring them back to life for you.
Owen Jones, the author of this article writes on quite a few topics, but is currently involved with thinking about the Poconos International Raceway in Pennsylvania. If you would like to know more or check out some great offers, please go to our website at Poconos Vacations.
Tags: america, children, commentary, family, history, hobbies, other, Pennsylvania, politics, recreation.education, society, travel tips, Uncategorized, vacation
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »