7 December: Infamy; Instant Replay; Airline Total: 93, Gunman Total: 49 Dead, Six Wounded; War, Fire, Executions, Death

Today is Monday, December 7th, the 341st day of 2009. There are 24 days left in the year. The UPI.
Today's Highlight in History:
On December 7th, 1941, Japanese forces attacked American and British territories and possessions in the Pacific, including the home base of the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, drawing the United States into World War II. More than 2,300 Americans were killed. [If you give a flying fuck at a rolling doughnut, see this or this item concerning Just Another Blog™'s tenuous personal connection to the infamous attack. — Ed.]

On this date:
In 1787, Delaware became the first state to ratify the US Constitution. [Frist!! — Ed.]
In 1796, electors chose John Adams to be the second president of the United States. [Second!! — Ed.]
In 1836, Martin Van Buren was elected the eighth president of the United States.
In 1842, the New York Philharmonic gave its first concert.
In 1907, the first Christmas Seals to help the fight against tuberculosis were sold, in Wilmington, Delaware. (Some sources say December 9th.)
One hundred years ago, in 1909, in his State of the Union address, President William Howard Taft defended the decision to base US naval operations in the Pacific at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, instead of in the Philippines. Chemist Leo H. Baekeland received a US patent for Bakelite, the first totally synthetic plastic.
In 1917, the U.S. declared war on Austria-Hungary in World War I.
In 1925, five-time Olympic gold medalist and future movie Tarzan Johnny Weissmuller set a world record in 150-yard free-style swimming.
In 1931, U.S. President Herbert Hoover refused to see a group of "hunger marchers" at the White House.
In 1946, fire broke out at the Winecoff Hotel in Atlanta; the blaze killed 119 people, including hotel founder W. Frank Winecoff.
In 1963, videotaped instant replay was used for the first time in a live sports telecast as CBS re-showed a touchdown run during the Army-Navy football game.
In 1972, America's last moon mission to date was launched as Apollo 17 blasted off from Cape Canaveral.
In 1975, Indonesia invaded East Timor, leading to a 25-year occupation.
In 1982, convicted murderer Charlie Brooks, Jr. became the first U.S. prisoner to be executed by injection, at the prison in Huntsville, Texas.
In 1983, in Madrid, Spain, an Aviaco DC-9 collided on a runway with an Iberia Air Lines Boeing 727 that was accelerating for takeoff, killing all 42 people aboard the DC-9 and 51 aboard the Iberia jet.
In 1985, retired Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart died at age 70.
In 1986, the speaker of Iran's parliament said his country would help free more U.S. hostages in Lebanon in exchange for more U.S. arms.
In 1987, 43 people were killed after a gunman aboard a Pacific Southwest Airlines jetliner in California apparently opened fire on a fellow passenger, the two pilots and himself, causing the plane to crash. [The gunman was a disgruntled PSA employee, by the way. — Ed.] Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev set foot on American soil for the first time, arriving for a Washington summit with President Reagan.
In 1988, an earthquake in the Soviet Union devastated northern Armenia; an estimated 25,000 people died.
In 1991, on the 50th anniversary of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, U.S. President George H.W. Bush called for an end to recriminations and sought the healing of old wounds.
In 1993, a gunman opened fire on a Long Island Rail Road commuter train, killing six people and wounding 17. Colin Ferguson was later sentenced to a minimum of 200 years in prison. U. S. Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary revealed the United States had conducted 204 underground nuclear tests from 1963-90 without informing the public. Also in 1993, astronauts aboard the space shuttle Endeavor fixed the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope.
In 1995, a 746-pound probe from the Galileo spacecraft hurtled into Jupiter's atmosphere, sending back data to the mothership before it was destroyed.

In 1997, Republicans threatened Attorney General Janet Reno with contempt of Congress over her decision to forgo an independent counsel's investigation of White House campaign fund raising.
In 1999, NASA scientists all but gave up hope of contacting the Mars Polar Lander, last heard from four days earlier as it began its descent toward the Red Planet.
In 2001, Taliban forces abandoned their last bastion in Afghanistan, fleeing the southern city of Kandahar.
In 2002, Iraq handed over its long-awaited arms declaration to the United Nations, denying it had weapons of mass destruction. President Saddam Hussein apologized to Kuwait for his 1990 invasion. Shuttle Endeavour returned to Earth, bringing an astronaut and pair of cosmonauts home from a 6-month space station voyage. Bombs tore through four movie theaters in Bangladesh, killing 19. Miss Turkey Azra Akin won the Miss World contest in London, bringing to a close an international pageant that had incited deadly rioting in Nigeria, the original site of the event.
In 2004, Hamid Karzai was sworn in as Afghanistan's first popularly elected president. The House of Representatives passed an intelligence network overhaul measure, 336-75. Amway co-founder Jay Van Andel died in Ada, Mich. at age 80.
In 2006, President Bush gave a chilly response to the Iraq Study Group's proposals for reshaping his policy, objecting to talks with Iran and Syria, refusing to endorse a major troop withdrawal and vowing no retreat from embattled U.S. goals in the Mideast. The U.S. military transferred the first group of Guantanamo Bay detainees to a new maximum-security prison on the naval base. Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, the first woman U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, died in Bethesda, Maryland, at age 80.
In 2007, baseball home run king Barry Bonds pleaded not guilty in San Francisco to charges he'd lied to federal investigators about using performance-enhancing drugs.
In 2008, President-elect Barack Obama introduced retired Gen. Eric Shinseki as his choice to head the Veterans Affairs Department.
Today's Birthdays December 7: Actor Eli Wallach is 94. Linguist and political philosopher Noam Chomsky is 81. Bluegrass singer Bobby Osborne is 78. Actress Ellen Burstyn is 77. Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) is 72. Broadcast journalist Carole Simpson is 69. Baseball Hall of Famer Johnny Bench is 62. Country singer Gary Morris is 61. Singer-songwriter Tom Waits is 60. Sen. Susan M. Collins (R-Maine) is 57. Basketball Hall of Famer Larry Bird is 53. Actress Priscilla Barnes is 52. Former "Tonight Show" announcer Edd Hall is 51. Rock musician Tim Butler (The Psychedelic Furs) is 51. Actor Jeffrey Wright is 44. Actor C. Thomas Howell is 43. NFL player Terrell Owens is 36. Pop singer Nicole Appleton (All Saints) is 34. Country singer Sunny Sweeney is 33. Actress Shiri Appleby is 31. Pop-rock singer Sara Bareilles is 30.
Birthdays of the Gravebound: Giovanni Bernini, Baroque sculptor/architect (1598); Richard Warren Sears, merchant (1863); Willa Cather, novelist (1873); composer Rudolf Friml ("Indian Love Call") (1879); Ted Knight, actor (1923); Harry Chapin, songwriter, singer (1942); Reginald Lewis, business leader (1942).
This Date in Showbiz History:
In 1962, bassist Bill Wyman auditioned for the Rolling Stones. He played his first gig with the band the following week. [The story is that he had the biggest cabinet of anyone who audtioned. Size does matter. — Ed.]
In 1964, singer Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys had a nervous breakdown on a flight between Houston and Los Angeles. It eventually led to his decision to stop touring with the Beach Boys.
In 1967, The Beatles opened their Apple Boutique in London to the public. John Lennon and George Harrison had held a private opening party two days before. [Beatles & Stones items today! — Ed.] Also in 1967, Otis Redding recorded "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay."
In 1968, singer Eric Burdon announced The Animals would break up later in the month.
Forty years ago, in 1969, "Frosty the Snowman" first aired on CBS.

In 1990, singer Dee Clark was found dead in Smyrna, Georgia, of a heart attack. Clark was 52. He was known for the hit "Raindrops." Also in 1990, the movie "Edward Scissorhands" opened nationwide.
In 1997, singer Bob Dylan, actor Charlton Heston, actress Lauren Bacall, opera singer Jessye Norman and ballet master Edward Villella shared the 20th annual Kennedy Center Honors in Washington, DC.
In 2002, singer Marc Anthony renewed his wedding vows with his wife, Dayanara Torres, in San Juan, Puerto Rico. They had announced their break-up five months earlier but had never filed for legal separation. They later divorced.
In 2004, singer Jerry Scoggins, who performed "The Ballad of Jed Clampett," the theme song to "The Beverly Hillbillies," died at age 93.
In 2008, actress-singer Barbra Streisand, actor Morgan Freeman, country singer George Jones, dancer and choreographer Twyla Tharp and musicians Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey of The Who received Kennedy Center Honors.
Thought for Today: "What man strives to preserve, in preserving himself, is something which he has never been at any particular moment." — George Santayana, Spanish-American philosopher (1863-1952).