2005 -- Barbara Bush says Hurricane Katrina was "working very well" for thousands of homeless refugees.

2002 -- Portsmouth loses Jay Smith, creator of the Press Room, Patron Saint of The Music Hall, &c. RIP.

1991 -- The D.C. home of Sen. Jesse Helms [R-N.C.] is covered by a giant condom, courtesy of ACT UP.

1990 -- Los Angeles Police Chief Darryl Gates tell the Senate Judiciary Committee that "casual drug users should be taken out and shot."

1939 -- Arriving in Australia from Ulm, Germany, after a kayak trip that took seven years, Oskar Speck is detained for seven more years as a spy.

1934 -- N.C. Gov. John Ehringhaus [Dem.] calls out the National Guard to break a textile strike. Other states follow with pro-plutocracy actions.

1931 -- Consolidated Edison worker George Metesky is injured on the job. Denied Workmen's Compensation, "The Mad Bomber" plants 32 bombs over 16 years before he's caught.

1930 -- Carl Panzram to Leavenworth's hangman: "Hurry it up you Hoosier bastard. I could hang a dozen men while you're screwing around."

1925 -- Colonel Billy Mitchell blames the recent crash of the Shenandoah on the "almost treasonable negligence" of the Navy & War Dept.'s top brass.

1917 -- The Justice [Hah!] Department raids Socialist Party and IWW offices nationwide and shuts down the newspaper American Socialist.