Today is Tuesday, June 12, the 163rd day of 2007. There are 202 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On June 12, 1987, President Reagan, during a visit to the divided German city of Berlin, publicly challenged Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down this wall."

On this date:

1442 Alfonso V of Aragon is crowned King of Naples.

1665, England installed a municipal government in New York, formerly the Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam.

1767 The first human blood transfusion was administered by Dr. Jean Baptiste.

1776, Virginia's colonial legislature became the first to adopt a Bill of Rights.

1812 Napoleon Bonaparte and his army invade Russia.

1839 Although its exact origin is still debated by some, Abner Doubleday is widely-credited with creating the game of baseball.

1849 The gas mask is patented by L. P. Haslett.

1862 Confederate General J. E. B. Stuart begins his ride around the Union Army outside of Richmond, Virginia.

1898, Philippine nationalists declared independence from Spain.

1901 Cuba agrees to become an American protectorate by accepting the Platt Amendment.

1918 The first airplane bombing raid by an American unit occurs in France.

1920 Republicans nominate Warren G. Harding for president and Calvin Coolidge for vice president.

1921 President Warren Harding urges every young man to attend military training camp.

1923 Harry Houdini, while suspended upside down 40 feet above the ground, escaped from a strait jacket.

1926 Brazil quits the League of Nations in protest over plans to admit Germany.

1931 Gangster Al Capone and 68 of his henchmen are indicted for violating Prohibition laws.

1937 Eight of Stalin's generals are sentenced to death during purges in the Soviet Union.

1939, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum was dedicated in Cooperstown, N.Y.

1942 American bombers strike the oil refineries of Ploesti, Rumania for the first time.

1957, bandleader Jimmy Dorsey died in New York at age 53.

1962 George Lucas in near-fatal car wreck - teenager George Lucas survives a nearly fatal wreck after racing his car at top speed just two days before his high school graduation. An aspiring racecar driver before the accident, Lucas shifted his ambitions to filmmaking afterward.

1963, civil rights leader Medgar Evers was fatally shot in front of his home in Jackson, Miss.; he was 37. (In 1994, Byron De La Beckwith was convicted of murdering Evers and sentenced to life in prison; he died in 2001.)

1963, one of Hollywood's most notoriously expensive roductions, "Cleopatra," starring Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and Rex Harrison, opened in New York.

1967, the Supreme Court, in Loving v. Virginia, struck down state laws prohibiting interracial marriages.

1972 At a hearing in front the of a U.S. House of Representatives committee, Air Force General John Lavalle defends his orders on engagement in Vietnam.

1977 David Berkowitz gets 25 years to life for the Son of Sam murders in New York.

1978, David Berkowitz was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for each of the six "Son of Sam" .44-caliber killings that had terrified New Yorkers.

1981, major league baseball players began a 49-day strike over the issue of free-agent compensation. (The season did not resume until Aug. 10.)

1982 75,000 people rallied against nuclear weapons in New York City's Central Park. Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen, and Linda Ronstadt were in attendance.

1985 The U.S. House of Representatives approves $27 million in aid to the Nicaraguan Contras.

1987 U.S. President Reagan publicly challenged Mikhail Gorbechev to tear down the Berlin Wall.

1991 Mount Pinatubo in the Phillipines begins erupting for the first time in 600 years.

1992 In a letter to the U.S. Senate, Russian Boris Yeltsin stated that in the early 1950's the Soviet Union had shot down nine U.S. planes and held 12 American survivors.

1994 Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman murdered

1996 In Philadelphia, a panel of federal judges blocked a law against indecency on the internet. The panel said that the 1996 Communications Decency Act would infringe upon the free speech rights of adults.

1998 A jury in Hattiesburg, MS, convicted 17-year-old Luke Woodham of killing two students and wounding seven others at Pearl High School.

1999 South Korean naval forces sank a North Korean torpedo boat during an exchange in the disputed Yellow Sea.

2003 In northeast London, a trailer was stolen that contained thousands of copies of J.K. Rowling's book "Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix." The empty trailer was discovered two days later.



Ten years ago:
The Treasury Department unveiled a new $50 bill meant to be more counterfeit-resistant.

Baseball began interleague play, ending a 126-year tradition of separating the major leagues until the World Series.


Five years ago:
The Los Angeles Lakers finished off the New Jersey Nets in four games, winning their third straight NBA title with the 113-107 victory.

Fashion designer Bill Blass died in Washington, Conn., at age 79.


One year ago:
Al-Qaida in Iraq named a successor to slain leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, identified by the nom de guerre Abu Hamza al-Muhajer.

FBI statistics showed violent crime across the U.S. surged in 2005 by the largest margin in 15 years.

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger broke his jaw and nose in a motorcycle crash in which he was not wearing a helmet.

Composer Gyorgy Ligeti died in Vienna, Austria, at age 83.


Today's Birthdays:
1806 John Roebling, civil engineer, pioneer in designing suspension bridges.
1829 Johanna Spyri, Swiss author (Heidi).
1897 Anthony Eden, British Prime Minister (1955-1957).
1915 David Rockefeller, international banker.
1929 Anne Frank, German diarist, victim of the Holocaust.

Banker/philanthropist David Rockefeller is 92.
Former President George H.W. Bush is 83.
Singer Vic Damone is 79.
Songwriter Richard Sherman is 79.
Actor-singer Jim Nabors is 77.
Jazz musician Chick Corea is 66.
Sportscaster Marv Albert is 66.
Singer Roy Harper is 66.
Pop singer Len Barry is 65.
Rock singer Reg Presley (The Troggs) is 64.
Rock singer-musician John Wetton (Asia, King Crimson) is 58.
Rock musician Bun E. Carlos (Cheap Trick) is 56.
Country singer-musician Junior Brown is 55.
Singer-songwriter Rocky Burnette is 54.
Actor Timothy Busfield is 50.
Singer Meredith Brooks is 49.
Actress Jenilee Harrison is 48.
Rock musician John Linnell (They Might Be Giants) is 48.
Rapper Grandmaster Dee (Whodini) is 45.
Actress Paula Marshall is 43.
Actress Frances O'Connor is 40.
Blues musician Kenny Wayne Shepherd is 30.
Actor Wil Horneff is 28.
Singer Robyn is 28.

Hey Sir!

If you are going to post these interesting lil tidbits don't do it like one hour before the day is done. it is one hour from June 13 i dont give six shits about June 12!!!

I was travelling and just got home.