Women’s Equality Day Day 238 of 2009 127 days left in this year

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HAWAIIAN WORD OF THE DAY — Wahine: Woman
PIDGIN WORD OF THE DAY — Meri: Woman
HAWAIIAN PROVERB OF THE DAY — “This woman made a circuit of the islands.”
HAOLE SAYING OF THE DAY — “One is not born, but rather becomes a woman.” (Simone de Beauvior)

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August 26, 1920: 19th Amendment to the US Constitution is certified, establishing women’s right to vote. More >

To those hysterical conservatives — especially women — who amidst the current health care reform debate, decry US descent into socialism and demand a return to the “founders’ original constitutional intent,” we can only conclude that you wish to have your right to vote rescinded and slavery reinstituted. As for the former issue, we wholeheartedly concur. But alas, even loud-mouthed, mean-spirited ignoramuses are included in universal suffrage.

EVENTS ON THIS DAY — August 26th

• -55: Roman forces, led by Julius Caesar, invade Britain
• 1775: The Continental Congress passes an act providing pensions for war veterans
• 1789: The French Assembly passes the Declaration of the Rights of Man
• 1883: The Indonesian volcano Krakatoa erupts destroying the island and killing 36,000 people
• 1937: Pumping & dredging are finished to build Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay
• 1957: The Soviet Union announced that it had successfully tested an intercontinental ballistic missile.
• 1967: Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze” is released
• 1998: The U.S. Justice Department announces the government is investigating Microsoft
• 2003: Investigators concluded that NASA’s overconfident management and inattention to safety doomed the space shuttle Columbia as much as damage to the craft did.

BORN ON THIS DAY — August 26th

• 1676: Sir Robert Walpole, British PM
• 1838: John Wilkes Booth, assassin of President Lincoln
• 1904: Christopher Isherwood, novelist/playwright
• 1921: Ben Bradlee, former Washington Post executive editor
• 1935: Geraldine Ferraro, (Rep-D-NY) 1st female major-party VP candidate
• 1948: Jet Black, rocker
• 1948: Valerie Simpson, singer

DIED ON THIS DAY — August 26th

• 1910: William James, American psychologist and philosopher (b. 1842)
• 1930: Lon Chaney, Sr., American actor (b. 1883)
• 1946: Jeanie MacPherson, American actress and screenwriter (b. 1887)
• 1974: Charles Lindbergh, American aviator (b. 1902)
• 1976: Lotte Lehmann, German soprano (b. 1888)
• 1986: Ted Knight, American actor (b. 1923)
• 1989: Irving Stone, American author (b. 1903)