5 March: They Drop Like Flies, From The Skies, & Otherwise, Across The Centuries From Beantown To WeHo

Today is Friday, March 5, the 64th day of 2010. There are 301 days left in the year. The UPI Almanac.
Today's Highlight in History:
On March 5, 1970, the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons went into effect after 43 nations ratified it.
On this date:
In 1770, the Boston Massacre took place as British soldiers who'd been taunted by a crowd of colonists opened fire, killing five people.
UPI Interpretation: In 1770, British troops killed five colonials in the so-called Boston Massacre, one of the events that led to the American Revolution. [No patriot we, but c'mon, Rev. Moon. — Ed.]
In 1849, Zachary Taylor was inaugurated as the 12th president of the United States. (The swearing-in was delayed by a day because March 4, 1849, fell on a Sunday.)
In 1867, an abortive Fenian uprising against English rule took place in Ireland.
In 1868, the Senate was organized into a Court of Impeachment to decide charges against President Andrew Johnson, who was later acquitted.
In 1933, in German parliamentary elections, the Nazi Party won 44 percent of the vote; the Nazis joined with a conservative nationalist party to gain a slender majority in the Reichstag.
In 1946, British statesman Winston Churchill referred to the Soviet Union's sphere of influence in Eastern Europe as an "iron curtain" in a speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Mo.

Excerpt from Churchill's "Iron Curtain" speech
In 1953, Soviet dictator Josef Stalin died after three decades in power.
In 1959, a fire at the Negro Boys Industrial School in Wrightsville, Ark., claimed the lives of 21 teenagers trapped inside a locked dormitory room. (Four dozen other boys managed to escape).
In 1960, Cuban newspaper photographer Alberto Korda took the now-famous picture of guerrilla leader Che Guevara during a memorial service in Havana for victims of a ship explosion. [So, AP, would it be TOO FUCKING MUCH TROUBLE to provide an image of said picture? — Ed.]
In 1979, NASA's Voyager 1 space probe flew past Jupiter, sending back photographs of the planet and its moons.
In 1984, the Standard Oil Co. of California, also known as Chevron, bought Gulf Corp. for more than $13 billion in the largest business merger in U.S. history at the time.
In 1991, rebellions against Saddam Hussein were reported in southeastern Iraq. U.S. military officials predicted the unrest probably would lead to his downfall.
In 1993, Canada's Ben Johnson, once called the world's fastest human, tested positive for drugs and was banned for life from track competition.
In 1997, representatives of North Korea and South Korea met for first time in 25 years for peace talks in New York. Switzerland announced plans to establish a $4.7 billion government-financed fund, using interest from its gold reserves, to compensate survivors of the Nazi Holocaust and their descendants.
In 1998, NASA announced that ice had been found at the moon's north and south poles.
In 1999, Italian Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema met at the White House with President Bill Clinton, a day after a military jury in North Carolina acquitted a Marine pilot in the Italian cable car accident that killed 20 people; D'Alema demanded justice, while Clinton expressed profound regret.
In 2000, Israel's Cabinet voted unanimously to withdraw its troops from south Lebanon by the following July. A Virginia subsidiary of PPL Therapeutics of Edinburgh, Scotland, the company that cloned Dolly the sheep, produced the first cloned pigs.
In 2001, Vice President Dick Cheney underwent an angioplasty for a partially blocked artery.
In 2004, Martha Stewart was convicted of obstructing justice and lying to the government about why she'd unloaded her Imclone Systems Inc. stock just before the price plummeted. Her ex-stockbroker, Peter Bacanovic, also was found guilty in the stock scandal. (Each later received a five-month prison sentence.)
In 2005, Syrian President Bashar Assad announced a two-stage pullback of his country's forces from Lebanon.
In 2006, Iran threatened to launch full-scale uranium enrichment if its nuclear program was referred to the U.N. Security Council for sanctions.
In 2007, on the eve of a five-nation tour of Latin America, U.S. President George W. Bush pledged hundreds of millions of dollars in financial aid for poor people of the region.
In 2008, John McCain, having sewn up the Republican presidential nomination, got a White House embrace from President George W. Bush, who praised the Arizona senator's "incredible courage and strength of character and perseverance." OPEC turned a deaf ear to President Bush's request for increased oil production, citing what some members called "mismanagement" of the U.S. economy as a major cause for high oil prices.
In 2009, President Barack Obama hosted a White House summit where he pumped allies and skeptics alike for ways to overhaul the nation's costly and frustrating health care system. As thousands demonstrated outside, California Supreme Court justices listened to legal arguments over the passage of Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage. NATO agreed, after intense internal debate, to restore normal relations with Russia seven months after it had frozen ties in response to Moscow's invasion of Georgia. Ten New Jersey co-workers said they were laying plans to split a $216 million Mega Millions jackpot -- and it only cost $5 a head. The winners, who worked for Chubb Commercial Insurance in Whitehouse Station, N.J., had a news conference after getting word of the win.
Today's Birthdays: Actor James Noble is 88. Actor James B. Sikking is 76. Actor Dean Stockwell is 74. Hall of Fame basketball coach Denny Crum is 73. Actor Fred Williamson is 72. Actress Samantha Eggar is 71. Actor Paul Sand is 66. Actor Michael Warren is 64. Actor Eddie Hodges is 63. Singer Eddy Grant is 62. Violinist Eugene Fodor is 60. Rock musician Alan Clark (Dire Straits) is 58. Actress-comedian Marsha Warfield is 56. Magician Penn Jillette is 55. Actress Adriana Barraza is 54. Pop singer Teena Marie is 54. Rock singers Craig and Charlie Reid (The Proclaimers) are 48. Rock musician John Frusciante (Red Hot Chili Peppers) is 40. Singer Rome is 40. Actor Kevin Connolly is 36. Actress Jill Ritchie is 36. Actress Jolene Blalock is 35. Actress Eva Mendes is 35. Model Niki Taylor is 35. Baseball player Paul Konerko is 34.
Those Born On This Date Include: Flemish mapmaker Gerardus Mercator (1512); the Rev. William Blackstone, the first settler in what is now Boston (1595); Antoine Cadillac, founder of Detroit (1658); poet Lucy Larcom (1824); lithographer James Ives, partner of Nathaniel Currier ( 1824); author Frank Norris (1870); water treatment pioneer Emmett J. Culligan (1893); actors Rex Harrison (1908), & Jack Cassidy (1927); and singer Andy Gibb (1958).
Today In Entertainment March 5
In 1955, Elvis Presley made his TV debut on the regional show "The Louisiana Hayride."
In 1960, Elvis Presley was discharged from the Army.
In 1963, country singers Patsy Cline, Cowboy Copas and Hawkshaw Hawkins were killed when their small plane crashed near Camden, Tennessee, that also claimed the life of pilot Randy Hughes (Cline's manager). They were returning to Nashville following a benefit concert.

In 1971, Badfinger began its first American tour, in Toledo, Ohio.
In 1975, singer Rod Stewart met actress Britt Ekland at a party in Los Angeles. Their romance became much publicized.
In 1979, MCA Records dissolved the ABC record label. Hundreds of staffers were fired.
In 1982, comedian John Belushi was found dead of a drug overdose in a rented bungalow in West Hollywood; he was 33.
In 1993, Paul McCartney kicked off a world tour in Perth, Australia, in support of his album "Off The Ground."
In 1999, actor Richard Kiley died in Warwick, N.Y., at age 76.
In 2002, "The Osbournes," a reality show following the life of rocker Ozzy Osbourne and his family, premiered on MTV.
Thought for Today: "Boredom is the root of all evil — the despairing refusal to be oneself." — Soren Kierkegaard, Danish philosopher (1813-1855).