16 July: Stairway To The Stars; Trinity; Right-Wing Extremism; Stairway To Ocean For Kennedys, Bessette

From The Associated Press, today is Thursday, July 16, the 197th day of 2009. There are 168 days left in the year. [It's all down hill from here, & the brakes are feeling a little mushy ... — Ed.] From another AP, somewhere. A/V. UPI Almanac. Today's Highlight in History: Forty years ago, in 1969, Apollo 11, carrying astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin Jr. and Michael Collins, blasted off from Cape Kennedy, Fla., on the first manned mission to the surface of the moon. On this date: In 1769, the first Roman Catholic mission in California was dedicated at the site of present day San Diego. [Bringing death to all the people who were already living there, & up the coast. — Ed.] In 1790, a site along the Potomac River was designated the permanent seat of the U.S. government; the area became Washington. In 1862, David G. Farragut became the first rear admiral in the United States Navy. [Did a ferry back into him? — Ed.] One hundred years ago, in 1909, the Audi auto company was founded in Zwickau, Germany, by August Horch under the name Horch Automobil-Werke. (A legal dispute resulted in Horch renaming the company Audiwerke the following year.) In 1945, the United States exploded its first experimental atomic bomb, in the desert of Alamogordo, N.M.In 1951, J.D. Salinger's novel "The Catcher in the Rye" was published. [We hate the phonies too. — Ed.] In 1957, Marine Maj. John Glenn set a transcontinental speed record by flying a jet from California to New York in three hours, 23 minutes and eight seconds. In 1964, as he accepted the Republican presidential nomination in San Francisco, Barry M. Goldwater said "extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice" and that "moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue."Audio actuality..In 1973, during the Senate Watergate hearings, former White House aide Alexander P. Butterfield publicly revealed the existence of President Richard Nixon's secret taping system. Thirty years ago, in 1979, Saddam Hussein became president of Iraq. Twenty years ago, in 1989, conductor Herbert von Karajan died near Salzburg, Austria, at age 81. Fifteen years ago, in 1994, the first of 21 pieces of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 smashed into Jupiter, to the joy of astronomers awaiting the celestial fireworks. Ten years ago: John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife, Carolyn, and her sister, Lauren Bessette, died when their single-engine plane, piloted by Kennedy, plunged into the Atlantic Ocean near Martha's Vineyard, Mass. Five years ago: Martha Stewart was sentenced to five months in prison and five months of home confinement by a federal judge in New York for lying about a stock sale. Some 90 children were killed in a school fire in southern India. Former Georgia Gov. George Busbee died in Savannah at age 76. One year ago: Republican John McCain addressed the annual convention of the NAACP, telling the civil rights group in Cincinnati he would expand education opportunities, partly through vouchers for low-income children to attend private school. Israel freed notorious Lebanese militant Samir Kantar and four others after Hezbollah guerrillas handed over the bodies of two Israeli soldiers. Today's Birthdays: Former Attorney General Dick Thornburgh is 77. Soul singer Denise LaSalle is 75. Soul singer William Bell is 70. Actor Corin Redgrave is 70. Former tennis player Margaret Court is 67. Violinist Pinchas Zukerman is 61. Actor-singer Ruben Blades is 61. Rock composer-musician Stewart Copeland (The Police) is 57. Playwright Tony Kushner is 53. Dancer Michael Flatley is 51. Former NFL kicker Gary Anderson is 50. Actress Phoebe Cates is 46. Country singer Craig Morgan is 45. Actor Daryl "Chill" Mitchell is 44. Actor-comedian Will Ferrell is 42. Actress Rain Pryor is 40. Actor Corey Feldman is 38. Rock musician Ed Kowalczyk (Live) is 38. Today In Entertainment History -- Fifty years ago, on July 16th, 1959, Billie Holiday, considered one of the greatest jazz singers of all time despite a tragic life, died of cardiac failure at age 44. The Coasters recorded "Poison Ivy" in New York. In 1966, guitarist Eric Clapton joined bassist Jack Bruce and drummer Ginger Baker to form Cream. In 1976, Loggins and Messina broke up. [Postponing the Apocalypse by several yrs. — Ed.] In 1980, "No Nukes," the film documentary of anti-nuclear benefit concerts, premiered in New York. Among the performers were Jackson Browne, the Doobie Brothers and James Taylor. [Stopped those nukes dead, didn't you, you stupid fucking hippies? — Ed.] In 1981, singer Harry Chapin was killed when his car was struck by a tractor-trailer on New York's Long Island Expressway. He was on his way to a benefit concert. Chapin was 38. Twenty years ago, in 1989, actress Rebecca Schaeffer, star of the sitcom "My Sister Sam," was shot to death at her Los Angeles home by an obsessed fan. She was 21. In 1994, the Three Tenors -- Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras -- reunited the night before the World Cup soccer final for a concert. It drew an estimated 1.3 billion TV viewers. In 1995, rapper Queen Latifah's bodyguard was shot and wounded when two teenagers tried to carjack her BMW in New York. Sinead O'Connor dropped out of the Lollapalooza tour because she was pregnant. [You'd think the Pope-hater would have had an abortion. — Ed.] In 1996, drummer John Panozzo, one of the founding members of Styx, died of a gastrointestinal hemmorhage at his home in Chicago. He was 47. Singer Dolores O'Riordan of The Cranberries accepted an undisclosed settlement after a London newspaper reported she appeared on stage without panties.Last year: Band singer Jo Stafford died in Century City, Calif., at age 90. Thought for Today: "What was most significant about the lunar voyage was not that man set foot on the moon but that they set eye on the earth." — Norman Cousins, American author and journalist (1915-1990).