14 June: California Über Alles, Burl Ives Centenary

Today is Sunday, June 14, the 165th day of 2009. There are 200 days left in the year. [How time flies. Only 200 days left. — Ed.] This is Flag Day. This is the AP. A/V. UPI Almanac. Today's Highlight in History: On June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress in Philadelphia adopted the Stars and Stripes as the national flag.On this date: In 1623, in the first breach of promise suit in the United States, the Rev. Greville Pooley sued Cicely Jordan in Charles City, Va., for jilting him for another man. In 1775, the Continental Army, forerunner of the U.S. Army, was created. In 1801, former American Revolutionary War general and notorious turncoat Benedict Arnold died in London. In 1841, the first Canadian parliament opened in Kingston. Today's Actual Highlight in History: In 1846, a group of U.S. settlers in Sonoma proclaimed the Republic of California.Ninety years ago, in 1919, John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown embarked on the first nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean. (Flying a Vickers Vimy biplane bomber, they took off from St. Johns, Newfoundland, and arrived 16 1/2 hours later in Clifden, Ireland.) In 1922, Warren G. Harding became the first president heard on radio, as Baltimore station WEAR broadcast his speech dedicating the Francis Scott Key memorial at Fort McHenry. In 1928, the Republican National Convention nominated Herbert Hoover for president. In 1940, German troops entered Paris during World War II;the same day, the Nazis opened the Auschwitz concentration camp in German-occupied Poland.In 1943, the Supreme Court, in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, ruled that children in public schools could not be forced to salute the U.S. flag.

In 1951, Univac I, the world's first commercial computer, designed for the U.S. Census Bureau, was unveiled. In 1954, the words "under God" were added to the Pledge of Allegiance. In 1967, the space probe Mariner 5 was launched from Cape Kennedy, Fla., on a flight that took it past Venus. In 1982, Argentine forces surrendered to British troops on the disputed Falkland Islands. In 1985, the 17-day hijack ordeal of TWA Flight 847 began as a pair of Lebanese Shiite Muslim extremists seized the jetliner shortly after takeoff from Athens, Greece. Ten years ago: About 15,000 NATO peacekeepers spread out across Kosovo, including a convoy of about 1,200 U.S. Marines. The Supreme Court opened the door to full broadcast advertising of casino gambling, ruling a federal ban aimed at protecting compulsive gamblers violated free-speech rights. Five years ago: A car bomb exploded during rush hour on a busy street in Baghdad, killing 12 people — five of them foreigners working to rebuild Iraq's power plants. The Supreme Court allowed schoolchildren to keep affirming loyalty to one nation "under God," but dodged the underlying question of whether the Pledge of Allegiance was an unconstitutional blending of church and state. One year ago: Iran rejected a six-nation offer of incentives to stop enriching uranium, prompting President George W. Bush and French President Nicolas Sarkozy to jointly warn Tehran anew during a news conference in Paris against proceeding toward a nuclear bomb. Today's Birthdays: Actor Gene Barry is 90. Actress Marla Gibbs is 78. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., is 70. Writer Peter Mayle is 70. Actor Jack Bannon is 69. Country-rock musician Spooner Oldham (Drive-By Truckers) is 66. Rock singer Rod Argent (The Zombies; Argent) is 64. Short-fingered vulgarian & Comb-Over King Donald Trump is 63. Singer Janet Lennon (The Lennon Sisters) is 63. Rock musician Barry Melton is 62. [Even worse, he became a lawyer. Granted, a public defender. — Ed.] Rock musician Alan White (Yes) is 60. Actor Eddie Mekka is 57. Actor Will Patton is 55. Olympic gold-medal speed skater Eric Heiden is 51. Singer Boy George is 48. Rock musician Chris DeGarmo is 46. Actress Yasmine Bleeth is 41. Tennis player Steffi Graf is 40. Actress Traylor Howard is 38. Oscar-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody ("Juno") is 31. Today In Entertainment History -- One hundred years ago, in 1909, actor and folk singer Burl Ives was born in Hunt City, Ill. In 1953, Elvis Presley graduated from L.C. Humes High School in Memphis, Tennessee. In 1961, country singer Patsy Cline suffered serious head and hip injuries in a car crash in Madison, Tennessee. A passenger in the other car was killed. In 1965, Paul McCartney recorded "Yesterday." In 1970, Derek and the Dominoes made their live debut in Britain. The Dreadful Grate released "Workingman's Dead." In 1971, the first Hard Rock Cafe opened in London. In 1972, up to 300 people tried to crash the gate at a Rolling Stones concert in Tucson, Arizona. Police were called in with tear gas to disperse the crowd. In 1976, The Beatles' "Rock `N' Roll Music" anthology went gold, six years after the band broke up. Thirty years ago, in 1979, Little Feat broke up. Two weeks later, founding member Lowell George died of a heart attack. In 1986, lyricist and composer Alan Jay Lerner died of lung cancer in New York. Among his music: "Brigadoon," "Camelot," "Gigi" and "My Fair Lady." Twenty years ago, in 1989, Zsa Zsa Gabor was arrested after allegedly slapping a Beverly Hills police officer who pulled her over for having expired license tags. In 1995, more than 20 people in Columbus, Ohio, called authorities to complain about a Ted Nugent concert that they said was too loud. The concert was within legal noise limits, and Nugent refused a request to turn down the volume anyway. [Sweaty Teddy turns it up to 11. (His IQ anyway, ha ha.) — Ed.] Thought for Today: "There is the National flag. He must be cold, indeed, who can look upon its folds rippling in the breeze without pride of country. If in a foreign land, the flag is companionship, and country itself, with all its endearments." — Charles Sumner, American author (1811-1874). [Not a well person there. — Ed.]