So many events happened in history on July 16th throughout the years. First and foremost was the launch of Apollo 11 on July 16, 1969. Now of course I am so pro space program, I still get sentemental about it. Hey, after all that was the day that even the greaat stoic Walter Cronkite cried-- right on the air! It was simply an incredible moment that I shall never forget in my lifetime. I remember getting up so damn early to watch every single aspect of that incredible launch! Raise the flag, boys, I'm patriotic! Oh well! AND WATCHING THEM LAND-- well that's another story for another day! Today also would have been the birthday of the magnificent Ginger Rogers. She would have been 95 years young today. Oh could that dear lady dance!You really have to appreciate the arts to respect the memory of any great performer like she and I do and I always will. The way she tripped the light fantastic with Fred Astaire was nothing short of amazing. This was also the day that John F. Kennedy Jr. along with his wife Carolyn and Carolyn's sister Lauren Bessette was killed when Kennedy's private plane plunged into the ocean near Martha's Vineyard. That's right: Martha's Vineyard, scene of another Kennedy misfortune. This family has known greatness and great personal tragedy. There's an eiree balance in God's great plan for all of us I think: good and great times and crash and burn times. We simply have to be ready for it and trust Him a whole lot more! But this historic day goes on: "The Catcher In The Rye was first published on this date in 1951 and both Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan both accepted their parties nomination for President of the United States on this date in 1964 for Goldwater and 1980 for Ronald Reagan. Without Goldwater's incredible defeat at the hands of President Lyndon Johnson the following November most historians agree that the nomination of Ronald Reagan all of those many years later would simply not have been possible because of the changes that Goldwater's defeat had on the Republican Party. It was Barry Goldwater who said that "extremisim in the defense of liberty is no vice and moderation in the persuit of justice is no virtue" Prophetic words that are used today by the Bush Administration to justify the fiasco in Iraqm but fatal to the campaign of the great conservative Goldwater! Speaking of things that should never have been said, today on this date the secret taping system that Richard Nixon had installed in the White House was revealed by accident by Alexander Butterfield (whoops!) The great assanination of Czar Nicholas II and his his entire family occured on this date in 1918 and today is even the birthday of the parking meter-- the first of which was installed in Oklahoma City in 1935 on this date. So as you put your money into one tpday, you may curse it, kick it, and wish it was history, but wish the damn thing "many happy returns" won't you? ha! -- So as you go out on this day and do all the things you will do, think of the great history that happened on July 16th throughout the last one hundred years. I wish the people In Ecuador good fortune against that volcano that has come to life after being totally dorment and silent for the last eight decades! Maybe another star for the date of July 16th. Well, it's on to work and another hot day! Oh well until next time.