T.L. Winslow's 2004 C.E. Historyscope

2004 Doomsday Clock: 7 min. to midnight. Chinese Year: Monkey (Jan. 22) (lunar year 4701); China uses the year to try and preserve the Chinese Golden Monkey (Pygathrix roxellana) - Pres. George Dubya Bush is the poster boy? Time Person of the Year: George W. Bush (1946-) (first time 2000); he is chosen after considering and passing over the collective group of Internet bloggers (Webloggers) (citizen journalists), AKA the Bloggosphere, the equivalent of bathroom wall graffiti, where the temptation to respond to anon. insults by creating a "sock puppet" alias gets senior "New Republic" ed. Lee Siegel (1957-) suspended next year; Merriam-Webster names the word "blog" as its new word of the year. This is the U.N. Internat. Year of Rice, emphasizing shortages throughout the world. The 2004 African Locust Infestation ravages crops across the N third of Africa, leaving millions at risk of starvation; in 2006 another swarm reaches 3 sq. mi. in area as it moves across Mauritania; meanwhile a drought in Niger combined with desert locust damage destroys the fall crop, leaving 3.6M short of food, causing a food crisis in 2005-6. The Antarctic Polar Night begins (ends 2016), with 100 different locations on the East Antarctic Plateau reaching temps of -98C (-144F), beating the record low air temp of -89.2C (-129F) of July 23, 1983. Ga. becomes the fastest growing state in the U.S. E of Colo., growing 36% since 1990. And the non-whites keep pouring in: Britain: 2.7M immigrants (5% of total pop.); France: 3.3M (6%); Germany: 7.3M (9%); Italy: 1.3M (2%); Netherlands: 700K (4%); Spain: 2.7M (7%). This year world oil consumption rises 3.4% to 82.4M barrels a day (vs. 74M in 1997), with the U.S. hogging 20.5M; China comes into the radar at 6.6M. Worldwide military spending reaches $1T this year, equal to $162 per capita; 19 conflicts causing more than 1K deaths are fought this year, of which 16 had been raging for more than a decade. The U.S. nat. deficit this year is $413B, a record for the Bush admin. through 2008. Amnesty Internat. reports that over 7K people are sentenced to die in 64 countries this year, and 3,797 people in 25 countries are executed: China: 3,400; Iran: 159; Vietnam: 64; U.S.: 59. On Jan. 1 Michigan defeats USC by 28-14 to win the 2004 Rose Bowl. On Jan. 3 Egyptian charter Flash Airlines Flight 604 (Boeing 737) crashes into the Red Sea, killing all 148 aboard, incl. 133 French tourists. On Jan. 5 Indian PM Atal Bihari Bajpayee and Pakistani pres. Pervez Musharraf meet for the first time since the Dec. 13, 2001 Indian Parliament Attack. On Jan. 5 foreigners begin to be photographed and fingerprinted upon arrival at U.S. airports as part of the U.S. anti-terrorism effort. On Jan. 6 13 children and two adults are killed in Afghanistan's S Kandahar Province after a time bomb in an apple cart goes off on a street regularly used by U.S. military patrols. On Jan. 7 Pres. Bush proposes legal status for millions of illegal immigrants working in the U.S., even if only temporarily - somebody has to clean the toilets and do dirty construction jobs or work on roofs in the hot sun? On Jan. 8 a Black Hawk medivac heli is hit by a rocket and crashes near Fallujah, killing nine U.S. soldiers - the insurgents greet the infidel invaders and wish them a Hellish New Year? On Jan. 8 the Mark Burnett reality TV series The Apprentice, created by Mark Burnett debuts on NBC-TV for 185 episodes (until 2015), featuring Trump lording it over 16-18 job applicants in Trump Tower in Manhattan while making $14M a year, becoming known for the catchphrase "You're fired!"; the theme song is "For the Love of Money" by The O'Jays (1973). On Jan. 8 Oakland, Calif.-born Kamala Devi Harris (1964-) (Tamil Indian father, black Jamaican father) becomes Dem. San Francisco, Calif. district atty. #27 (until Jan. 3, 2011), going on to become Dem. Calif. atty. gen. #32 on Jan. 3, 2011 (untl Jan. 3, 2017) and U.S. Sen. (D-Calif.) on Jan. 3, 2017, succeeding Barbara Boxer (until ?); in 2019 she announces her candidacy for U.S. pres. in 2020. On Jan. 9 the U.S. govt. lowers the nat. threat level from orange back to yellow. On Jan. 11 Dem. candidate Howard Brush Dean III (1948-) acknowledges in his last debate before the Iowa caucuses that no blacks or Hispanics had served in his cabinet during his 12 years as gov. of Vermont. On Jan. 12 Pres. Bush and Mexican Pres. Vicente Fox meet in Monterrey, Mexico before the opening of a 34-nation hemispheric summit, and hammer out agreements on immigration and Iraq. On Jan. 12 a former Molson's Brewery in Barrie, Ont. is raided and found to house one of the largest illegal cannabis growing operations in Canadian history. On Jan. 13 a U.S. Army Apache attack heli is shot down in Iraq, but the two crew members escape injury. The U.S. stinks itself up after supposedly invading Iraq moral grounds? On Jan. 13 U.S. Army Spc. Joseph M. Darby (1979-) of the 800th MP Brigade at Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq blows the whistle on the first case of U.S. abuse of Iraqi POWs there (many in the previous 3 mo.); on Mar. 20 after an internal Army probe led by Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba (1950-), six soldiers are charged; on Apr. 28 CBS airs disturbing photos of prisoner humiltation and abuse, setting off a public outcry and becoming the turning point in bland public acceptance of the war, and eroding the U.S. moral image in the world; on May 6 Pres. Bush publicly apologizes, followed by Donald Rumsfeld on May 7. On Jan. 14 Pres. Bush announces that the Internat. Space Station (ISS) will be used for research on human biology in space in preparation for a Mars mission. On Jan. 17 three U.S. soldiers are killed N of Baghdad, pushing the U.S. death toll in Iraq to the 500 mark. On Jan. 18 a suicide truck bombing outside the HQ of the U.S.-led coalition in Baghdad kills 31. On Jan. 18 the soft porn drama The L Word debuts on Showtime for 70 episodes (until Mar. 8, 2009), about lesbians in West Hollywood, Calif., along with their straight, bi, and transgender friends. On Jan. 19 6'4" Jay Leno-jawed Mass. Dem. Sen. (since 1985) John Forbes Kerry (1943-) (worth $750M, mostly from wife Teresa Heinz Kerry) wins Iowa's Dem. caucuses, reviving his sagging campaign; Johnny Reid "John" Edwards (1953-) of N.C. comes in 2nd; his wife (since 1977) Mary Elizabeth Anania Edwards (1949-2010) is dignosed with breast cancer on Nov. 3, 2004, the day that Kerry concedes defeat in the 2004 U.S. Pres. Election; Howard Dean comes in 3rd after he flubs up by delivering his I Have a Scream speech, with a wild fist-pumping yak-like bellow that makes a damaging soundbyte even though the crowd was bellowing too and his contribution was singled out - American Idol reject number what? On Jan. 20 (Tues.) Pres. Bush gives his 2004 State of the Union Address, with Edgar Bergen (Dick Cheney) (his CIA nickname) looking on - let me guess, stay the course, and don't confuse me with details? On Jan. 21 Pres. Bush visits community colleges in Arizona and Ohio to push the new job training initiatives proposed in his State of the Union speech the day before. On Jan. 25 NASA's Opportunity rover sends it first pictures of Mars to Earth. On Jan. 25 the Respect Party (Respect, Equality, Socialism, Peace, Environmentalism, Community and Trade Unionism) is founded in Manchester, England to fight the Iraq war by British Muslim Salma Yaqoob (1971-) et al. On Jan. 26 the White House finally retreats from its confident claims that Iraq had WMDs, and Dems. swiftly seek to make political hay. On Jan. 27 John Kerry wins the N.H. Dem. pres. primary. On Jan. 31 six U.S.-bound flights from England, Scotland, and France are canceled because of security concerns. In Jan. a federal grand jury begins investigating the Plamegate leak scandal, and on Mar. 5 and Mar. 24 Scooter Libby testifies before it that he learned of the info. from NBC-TV's Meet the Press, hosted by Tim Russert (1950-2008), not Cheney; too bad, notes he took at the time surface in Oct. 2005, and his ass is grass and the prosecutor's got the lawnmower? In Jan. King Norodom Sihanouk goes into self-imposed exile in Pyongyang, North Korea, then Beijing, where they treat him for his health problems, and on Oct. 7 abdicates, after which his elder son (a classical dance instructor) Norodom Sihamoni (1953-) becomes king of Cambodia on Oct. 14 (until ?). On Feb. 1 twin suicide bombers kill 109 at two Kurdish party offices in Irbil, Iraq. The 38-D Cup Wardrobe Malfunction Bowl? On Feb. 1 Super Bowl XXXVIII (38) (2004) is held in Houston, Tex., and the New England Patriots (AFC) defeat the Carolina Panthers (NFC) 32-29 as 6'4" MVP (for the 2nd time) Patriots QB (#12) Thomas Edward Patrick "Tom Terrific" Brady Jr. (1977-) duels Carolina's 6'2" QB (#12) Jake Christopher Delhomme (1975-), the two QBs passing for 677 yards and six TDs; Delhomme makes a SB record 85-yard pass completion to Muhsin Muhammad II (Melvin Darnell Campbell Jr.) (1973-); Carolina becomes the first #3 seed to reach the SB; Justin Timberlake exposes Janet Jackson's breast during the halftime show, and she later claims a "wardrobe malfunction", triggering the Nipplegate controversy; at the Grammys, Timberlake comments "What occurred was unintentional, completely regrettable, and I apologize if you guys are offended"; a record $550K FCC fine results in mass self-censorship at radio and TV stations all the rest of the year, and Howard Stern flees to unregulated satellite radio, debuting on Sirius Satellite Radio (launched on July 1, 2002) in Jan. 2006. On Feb. 3 John Kerry wins Dem. pres. primaries in 5 out of 7 states. On Feb. 3 ricin powder is found in the Dirksen Senate Office Bldg., causing work in the U.S. Senate to all-but stop. On Feb. 4 White Plains, N.Y.-born Jewish-Am. Harvard student Mark Elliot Zuckerberg (1984-) launches the Web site Sucker, er, Facebook.com from his dorm room, then drops out to move to Palo Alto, Calif. and build a megacorp; too bad, he soon becomes a Bill Gates type monopolist who doesn't protect user privacy and terminates accounts at will for any reason?; in 2007 the Beacon advertising platform is launched, but is taken down after it shares user purchasing decisions without their permission - the next big thing will be Assbook.com? On Feb. 6 a Chechen terrorist suicide bombing on a Moscow commuter train kills 44 and injures 70. On Feb. 7 John Kerry wins the Washington state and Michigan Dem. pres. primaries. On Feb. 8 Pres. Bush is interviewed on NBC-TV's "Meet the Press", and denies marching America blind into war under false pretenses, claiming that it was necessary because Madman Hussein could have developed a nuke. On Feb. 10 the White House releases documents claiming to prove that Pres. Bush met his requirements in the Texas Air Nat. Guard during the Vietnam War. On Feb. 11 Gen. Wesley Clark drops out of the U.S. pres. race. On Feb. 11 a car bomb at an army recruiting center in Baghdad kills 47 people. On Feb. 12 Mattel announces that Barbie and Ken have quit dating after 43 years, and that she has a new Australian "friend" named Blaine - he becomes a middle-aged fag and she goes bi, or was it a wardrobe malfunction? On Feb. 13 former Chechen acting pres. (1996-7) Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev (b. 1952) is assassinated via car bomb in Doha, Qatar; two Russian agents are later convicted of murder in Qatar. On Feb. 14 guerrillas raid a police station W of Baghdad, killing 23 and freeing dozens of prisoners. On Feb. 14 a glass and concrete roof of an indoor water park in Moscow collapses, killing 28. On Feb. 17 John Kerry wins the Wisc. Dem. pres. primary, with John Edwards coming in 2nd, and Howard Dean a distant 3rd; on Feb. 18 Dean drops out of the pres. race after losing 17 straight contests, and becomes Dem. nat. chmn. ("Chairman Now"). On Feb. 18 a train fire in Neishabour, Iran kills 320 and devastates five villages. On Feb. 21 the Internat. Red Cross visits Saddam Hussein in U.S. custody. On Feb. 22 consumer advocate Ralph Nader enters the U.S. pres. race as an independent amid calls from Dems. to not mess up their chances again. On Feb. 23 the U.S. Army cancels its RAH-66 Comanche heli program after only two are built and sinking $6.9B into it since Oct. 1988. On Feb. 25 the U.S. Supreme (Rehnquist) Court rules 7-2 (Thomas, Scalia) in Locke v. Davey that states don't have to underwrite the religious training of students planning careers in the ministry; William Rehnquist writes the majority opinion, saying there is nothing "inherently constitutionally suspect" in the denial of funding for vocational religious instruction, and that there is a "substantial state interest" in not funding "devotional degrees". On Feb. 27 the U.N. Security Council votes 15-0-0 to adopt Resolution 1528 to create the U.N. Operation in Cote d'Ivoire (Opération des Nations Unies en Côte d'Ivoire) (ONUC), to take over from the MINUCI on Apr. 4 (ends ?); by Mar. 31, 2017 it comprises 17 uniformed and 689 civilian personnel. On Feb. 29 the 76th Academy Awards in the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles are hosted by Billy Crystal (5th time), and 254 films are eligible for consideration; New Line's The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, the finale of the Tolkien trilogy, dir. by Peter Jackson sweeps the 2003 Oscars with 11 awards, incl. best picture and best dir.; Charlize Theron becomes the first South African to win an Oscar, best actress for Monster; Sean Penn wins best actor, and Tim Robbins wins best supporting actor for Mystic River; Rene Zellweger wins best supporting actress for Cold Mountain. On Feb. 29 (Leap Day) U.S. Marines kidnap Haitian pres. (since Feb. 7, 2001) Jean-Bertrand Aristide; on Mar. 1 in Haiti rebels roll into Port-au-Prince where they meet thousands of residents cheering his ouster; a multinat. U.N. force of 3K troops, incl. French restores order, becoming the first French troops deployed to Haiti since its 1804 independence; the force is later increased to 9K under Brazilian leadership; on Mar. 12 former Haitian foreign minister Gerard (Gérard) Latortue (1934-) becomes PM #12 of Jamaica (until June 9, 2006), and Jamaican PM (since 1992) Percival Patterson refuses to recognize him, while granting Aristide sanctuary and suing the U.S. and France for kidnapping him. In Feb. a team of the world's best kayakers descends the 150-mi. Tsangpo Gorge ("the Everest of Rivers") in SE Tibet in 24 days. On Mar. 2 a series of coordinated blasts in Iraq kills 181 at Shiite shrines in Karbomba, er, Karbala and Bangdead, er, Baghdad during a Shiite Muslim religious festival. On Mar. 3 the first same-sex marriage licenses are issued in Multnomah County, Ore., starting an successful political battle to amend the Ore. constitution to prohibit it. On Mar. 3 the Walt Disney Corp.'s board votes to strip Michael Eisner of his post as chmn. while retaining him as CEO. On Mar. 4 Mounir el Motassadeq, the only person convicted in the 9-11 attacks wins a retrial in a German appeals court. On Mar. 5 Am. homemaking diva Martha Stewart (1941-) is convicted in federal court of four felony charges regarding a Dec. 27, 2001 insider trading sale of 3,928 shares of ImClone Systems for $45,673, receiving a $30K fine and 5-mo. in prison; on Mar. 15 she resigns from the board of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia; she ends up serving 5 mo. in Alderson Correctional Facility in W. Va., AKA Camp Cupcake, where she gets the prison nickname M. Diddy and invents the Freedom Poncho, being released on Mar. 4, 2005 and going on to make a comeback, starting with a $2M book deal - a railroad job to keep a good woman down? On Mar. 7 14 Palestinians are killed in the deadliest Israeli raid in Gaza in 17 mo. On Mar. 8 Iraq's governing council signs an interim constitution. On Mar. 9 2002 Beltway sniper John Allen Muhammad (a Gulf War vet formerly named John Allen Williams) is sentenced to death in Va.; on Mar. 10 his partner, teenage sniper Lee Boyd Malvo is sentenced in Chesapeake, Va. to life in prison. On Mar. 10 the conservative-libertarian political advocacy group Americans for Prosperity is founded in Arlington, Va., funded by the billionaire Koch Brothers, going on to turn the Obama-era Tea Party into a political force, organizing opposition to Obama admin. initiatives on global warming, Medicaid expansion, economic stimulus, Obamacare, cap and trade, federal min. wage et al., helping achieve a Repub. majority in the House in 2010 and the Senate in 2014; in 2008 it launches the No Climate Tax Pledge, which is signed by 411 politicians incl. 25% of U.S. senators and 33% of U.S. reps by July 213 incl. 9 of 12 Repubs. on the House Energy and Commerce Committee; in 2005 Spartanburg, S.C.-born Repub. political strategist Tim Phillips (1964-) becomes pres. (until ?). Hey won't you play another somebody done somebody wrong song? On Mar. 11 the 2004 Madrid Train Bombings see 10 RDX bombs explode in quick succession across the commuter rail network in Madrid, Spain, killing 192 and injuring 2,050, becoming the deadliest terrorist attack in Europe since WWII; the Muslim response to the Jan. 2, 1492 ouster of the Moors?; the attack is linked to al-Qaida, incl. Moroccan immigrants in Spain; on Aug. 17, 2005 Serbian police arrest 22-y.-o. Abdelmajid Bouchar in connection with it; in May, 2004 Oregon atty. Brandon Mayfield (1966-) is arrested and jailed for two weeks by the U.S. govt., which admits it made a fingerprinting mistake and apologizes to him and his Egyptian immigrant wife, agreeing to pay him $2M. On Mar. 14 opposition Socialists score a dramatic upset win in Spain's gen. election, claiming that conservatives brought on the Madrid bombings by supporting the U.S. war in Iraq, and on Apr. 16 Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero (1960-) becomes PM of Spain (until Dec. 21, 2011), going on to piss-off the George W. Bush admin. by pulling out Spanish troops from Iraq, but compensating by increasing troops in Afghanistan, legalize same-sex marriage, reform abortion law despite Vatican abortion, attempt peace negotiations with the separatist ETA, refurm the Statute of Catalonia, and attempt to appease Islam by co-sponsoring the Alliance of Civilizations with Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan. On Mar. 16 China declares victory in its fight against bird flu, claiming to have stamped out all known cases - the devil went down to China, looking for a soul to steal? On Mar. 17 a car bomb blows up a 5-story hotel catering to foreigners in the heart of beautiful Baghdad, killing seven. On Mar. 21 the White House disses assertions by Pres. Bush's former counterterrorism coordinator Richard Alan Clarke (1950-) that his admin. had failed to recognize the risk of an attack by Al-Qaida in the months leading up to 9/11. On Mar. 21 the hit drama Deadwood debuts on HBO for 36 episodes (until Aug. 27, 2006), set in 1877 S.D., starring Canadian-born Molly Parker (1972-) as Alma Garret. On Mar. 22 Hamas founder and Palestinian leader Sheik Ahmed Ismail Hassan Yassin (b. 1937) is assassinated along with nine bystanders in Gaza City by an Israeli Apache heli; on Mar. 23 other Hamas co-founder Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi (b. 1947) is named his successor, and on Apr. 17 he is ditto by an Israeli Apache heli, which kills two others and wounds four; the U.S. waffles about whether to support or condemn their ally. On Mar. 23 U.S. defense secy. Donald Rumsfeld and U.S. state secy. Colin Powell testify before the 9/11 Commission, chaired by former N.J. Gov. (1982-90) Thomas Howard Kean (1935-) and former Ind. rep. Lee Herbert Hamilton (1931-), and strongly defend the pre-9/11 actions of the admin. On Mar. 24 MLK Jr.'s widow Coretta Scott King gives her support to gay marriage, calling it a civil rights issue, and saying that constitutional amendments should expand not restrict freedom. On Mar. 24 16-y.-o. Palestinian Hussam Abdo (1988-) is caught entering the Hawara Checkpoint in the West Bank wired with a suicide vest. On Mar. 25 the U.S. Congress passes the U.S. Unborn Victims of Violence Act, making it a separate offense to harm a fetus during a violent federal crime - unless you have an abortion doctor immunity? On Mar. 28 the govt. of French Pres. Jacques Chirac suffers stinging defeats in regional elections as the people censure his painful economic reforms. On Mar. 28 the first hurricane on record in the South Atlantic (Category I) hits Brazil, killing two, injuring 39 and leaving 1.5K homeless; the first ever in Brazil. On Mar. 29 Mass. lawmakers approve a proposed constitutional amendment banning gay marriage while legalizing civil unions, leaving the issue for the next legislative session - put a wedding band around our dogs and let it fly? On Mar. 30 Pres. Bush flip-flops and allows nat. security adviser Condoleezza Rice to testify publicly under oath before the independent 9/11 panel. On Mar. 31 four U.S. civilian contractors are killed by insurgents in Fallujah, Iraq; afterwards frenzied crowds drag the bodies out and string two of them from a bridge - for a look? In Mar. veterinarian-pharmacologist Dr. Lester Mills Crawford (1938-) becomes acting commissioner of the U.S. FDA after the Senate confirms dir. Mark Barr McClellan (1963-) to oversee the agency that runs Medicaid and Medicare. In Mar. the U.S. quietly changes the name of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to CIS - sounds like that hit TV show? In Mar. Muslim ethnic Albanians stage a pogrom of Orthodox Serbs in Dakovica, Kosovo, leaving only five Serbian women holed-up in a monastery under police protection. In Mar. Sir Peter Maxwell Davies is appointed Master of the Queen's Music in Britian. On Apr. 4 Baghdad Black Sunday, a U.S. 1st Cavalry Div. patrol assigned to assist with sewage patrol drives into an ambush in a Baghdad alley, suffering their record for single-day casualties as rescue vehicles from nearby Camp War Eagle lack armor plating because the gens. had believed that tanks would appear unfriendly for peacekeepers? On Apr. 5 a U.S.-Canadian task force investigating the Aug. 14, 2003 power blackout calls for urgent approval of mandatory reliability rules for the electric transmission industry. On Apr. 6 Pres. Rolandas Paksas of Lithuania is narrowly ousted by lawmakers for abuse of office. On Apr. 6 a military court in Jordan convicts eight Muslim militants, incl. terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and sentences them to death (some in absentia) for the 2002 killing of U.S. aid official Laurence Foley, linking their conspiracy to Al-Qaida. On Apr. 7 Sept. 11 suspect Mounir el Mostassadeq is freed after a court in Hamburg, Germany rules that the evidence is too weak to hold him pending a retrial; the only person convicted so far in the attack walks? On Apr. 8 Nat. Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice tells the Sept. 11 commission that "there was no silver bullet" that could have prevented 9/11. On Apr. 9 U.S. SSgt. Matt Maupin (b. 1988) is captured near Baghdad, and used as propaganda by Muslim militants, who release videos that are shown on Al-Jazeera; his remains are discovered in Mar. 2008 on the outskirts of Baghdad 12 mi. from where his convoy was ambushed, and on Apr. 27, 2008 10K attend his funeral in Cincinnati, Ohio. On Apr. 14 Israeli PM Ariel Sharon makes a triumphal visit to Washington, D.C., where Pres. Bush endorses his plan to withdraw troops and Jewish settlers from Gaza while laying claim to large settlement blocks in the West Bank; on May 2 Sharon's Likud Party rejects his plan 60-40, embarrassing him. On Apr. 15 a videotape shows a man portraying himself as Osama bin Laden offering a "truce" to European countries whose soldiers leave Islamic nations and do not attack Muslims. On Apr. 16, 2004 Trump gives an interview to Wolf Blitzer of CNN, uttering the soundbyte: "Well, you'd be shocked if I said that in many cases I probably identify more as Democrat." On Apr. 19 Russia launches Soyuz TMA-4, carrying cosmonauts Gennady Ivanovich Padalka (1958-), Edward Michael "Mike" Fincke (1967-) of the U.S., and Andre Kuipers (1958-) of Netherlands; on Oct. 14 Soyuz TMA-5 blasts off, carrying astronauts Salizhan Shakirovich Sharipov (1964-) of Russia, Leroy Chiao (1960-) of the U.S., and Yuri Shargin of Russia; Soyuz TMA-4 returns on Oct. 24 with Gennady Padalka, Michael Fincke, and Yuri Shargin; Soyuz TMA-5 returns next Apr. 24 with Salizhan Sharipov, Leroy Chiao, and Roberto Vittori. On Apr. 20 a tornado in NC Ill. kills eight. On Apr. 21 five suicide bombers detonate car bombs against police bldgs. in Basra, Iraq, killing 74. On Apr. 22 NFL player Patrick Daniel "Pat" Tillman (b. 1977), who forfeited a multimillion dollar contract to serve as a U.S. Army Ranger in Afghanistan is killed by friendly fire near the Pakistani border after emerging from a canyon where the enemy fired on them; his younger bro' Kevin Tillman is in a convoy behind him; the military tries a coverup but goofs up and creates a firestorm of controversy. On Apr. 22 two trains carrying flammable liquids collide in Ryongchon, North Korea near the Chinese border, killing 161 and injuring 1.3K. On Apr. 25 the March for Women's Lives in the Nat. Mall in Washington, D.C. sees 500K-1.15M (largest protest in U.S. history?) protest the Nov. 5, 2003 Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act; pro-life protesters line the route in spots. On Apr. 26 after being criticized for his anti-war activities during the Vietnam War, Dem. pres. candidate John Kerry accuses Pres. Bush of failing to prove that he'd fulfilled his commitment to the Nat. Guard during the same period - the I'm as bad as you are defense? On Apr. 27 U.S. warplanes and artillery pound Sunni insurgents in Fallujah, Iraq, followed by Iraqi police moving into the streets to take the city back. On Apr. 28 five big investment banks incl. Bear Stearns and Goldman Sachs meet with the SEC, asking them to allow them to regulate themselves and determine their own leverage ratio; after the SEC agrees, the Bear Stearns ratio jumps to 33-1. On Apr. 28 the first photos of the prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib Prison are shown on CBS' 60 Minutes II. In Apr. Ted Koppel's Nightline gets in trouble when he reads a list of U.S. servicemen and women killed in Iraq, and the Sinclair Broadcast Group accuses him of making an antiwar statement and refuses to carry the program. In Apr. British soccer star David Beckham's personal aide Rebecca Loos claims she had a 10-day affair with him; he denies it - nobody can bend it like Beckham? On May 1 eight ex-Communist nations join the European Union: Poland, Slovakia, Czech Repub., Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania; Cyprus and Malta also join. On May 2 Israeli citizen Tali Hatuel and her four daughters in Gus Katif, Israel are murdered in their vehicle by Palestinian Muslim militants. On May 2 Sonoyo, one of the last 500 Sumatran tigers left on Earth gives birth to three cubs at the Nat. Zoo in Washington, D.C. On May 2 insurgent attacks across Iraq kill nine U.S. soldiers, showing that the U.S. is in for a long ordeal in Iraq - keep on the sunny side while fighting for your country? On May 2 the Yelwa Massacre in Nigeria sees members of the Christian Assoc. of Nigeria massacre 630+ Muslims. On May 6 U.N. Gen. Assembly Resolution 58/292 is adopted, titled "Status of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem", affirming that Palestinian territory incl. East Jerusalem is under military occupation by Israel, which is obligated by the Geneva Convention to protect civilians, supporting the 2-state solution based on pre-1967 borders. On May 6 the 10-year hit NBC-TV show Friends (debuted Sept. 22, 1994) airs its finale this year, sending Joey, Ross, Rachel, Chandler, Monica and Phoebe to new lives; the spinoff show Joey is a minor success. On May 7 the beheaded body of 26-y.-o. Jewish-Am. telecom expert Nicholas Evan Berg (b. 1978) is found in Baghdad; known for travelling unguarded throughout Iraq, he was warned by the FBI shortly before his Apr. 10 disappearance, and turns down a State Dept. offer for a free flight home; on May 11 the Web site of the militant Malaysian Islamist group Muntada al-Ansar uploads a video titled "Abu Musab al-Zarqawi shown slaughtering a Jewish-American"; the govt. immediately shuts the site down, causing terrorists to begin using Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (1966-2006) in their videos as a poster boy for their cause. On May 9 a bomb destroys the VIP section at a stadium during a Victory Day celebration in Grozny, Chechnya, killing six, incl. pres. (since 2003) Akhmad Kadyrov; on Aug. 30 after elections, Kazhakhstan-born former rebel warlord (who went over to the Russians during the Chechen war) Alu Dadashevich Alkhanov (1957-) becomes pres. (until Feb. 15, 2007). On May 10 Pres. Bush expresses "deep disgust and disbelief" as he examines new photos and video clips of U.S. soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners while visiting the Pentagon. On May 11 the E-10 join the EU in its largest expansion (until ?), incl. Cyprus, Czech Repub., Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia. On May 14 actress Gwyneth Paltrow gives birth to a daughter named Apple, and when asked what kind of apple, she replies "Golden Delicious" - my little Sauce? On May 17 (Mon.) at a 50th anniv. observance of the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education school desegregation decision in Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., black entertainment millionaire and Ph.D in Education Bill Cosby delivers his Pound Cake Speech, a litany of self-reliance, personal responsibility, and other moral values that need to be taught to black youths and families, causing the press to have a field day when a few black leaders see him as blaming the victim. On May 22 after the Indian Nat. Congress Party of Rajiv Gandhi's Italian-born widow Sonia Gandhi (Edvige Antonia Albina Maino) (1946-) wins parliamentary elections in India, causing PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee to resign, she shocks everybody by refusing to become PM after she takes the criticism of her Italian birth seriously, and finance minister Manmohan Singh (1932-) becomes Indian PM #15 (first Sikh) (until May 26, 2014). On May 23 a large roof section of a new passenger terminal at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris collapses, killing four. On May 24 after he sells Mali's maize reserves and pockets the proceeds before a famine, then is blocked in passing an amendment allowing him to run for a 3rd term, Malian pres. #2 (since may 24, 1994) Elson Bakili Muluzi steps aside for handpicked Bingu wa Mutharika (1934-2012), who becomes pres. #3 of Mali (until Apr. 5, 2012). On May 26 Terry Nichols is found guilty of 161 state murder charges for his role in the Okla. City bombing, and receives 161 consecutive life sentences. On May 26 Pres. Bush meets with Gabon Pres. Omar Bongo in the Oval Office; 10 mo. earlier lobbyist Jack Abramoff asked for $9M from Bongo to arrange the meeting, the fees to be paid to his Md. lobbying firm GrassRoots Interactive. In May Christian gospel singer Helen Berhane (1975-) is arrested in Asmara, Eritrea for belonging to the banned charismatic Rema Church, and is finally released in Oct. 2006, claiming inhuman treatment and torture to make her recant her faith; the only officially recognized religions are Islam, Catholicism, and Lutheranism. In May gasoline prices in the U.S. top $2 a gal. for the first time, then reach a record high of $2.06, before starting a gradual decline to about $1.80 at the end of the year; at the end of 2003 they were about $1.50. In May a volcano erupts for the first time in recorded history on the uninhabited island of Anatahan in the Northern Marianas, followed by a more powerful eruption on Aug. 10, 2005, raining volcanic ash on Saipan, Rota, and Tinian. In May the St. Petersburg Erotica Museum opens in Russia, housing Rasputin's penis among other choice tourist items. On June 2 the Taliban stages an ambush in NW Afghanistan, killing three foreign aid workers and two Afghans. One June 3 CIA dir. (since July 11, 2004) George John Tenet (1953-) announces his resignation effective July 11 over intelligence lapses about WMD in Iraq, which Pres. Bush uses to excuse himself from repercussions for steamrolling the U.S. into invasion, particularly Tenet's statement that "It's a slam dunk, Mister President" when allegedly asked if Iraq has WMDs; Tenet becomes the longest office-holder in four decades. On June 5 ex-pres. Ronald Reagan (b. 1911) dies of pneumonia and Alzheimer's disease, becoming the first U.S. pres. to die in the 21st cent. and 2nd longest-lived U.S. pres.; on June 9-11 he lies in state in the Nat. Cathedral in Washington, D.C. (first state funeral since LBK in 1973); on June 11 his funeral is attended by 25 world leaders (compared to 100 for Tito in 1980, 60 for Brezhnev in 1982, and 40 for Rabin in 1995) and 14 foreign ministers, after which he is flown to Calif to be interred at his pres. library. On June 5 Am. singers Jennifer Lynn Lopez (J.Lo) (1969-) and Marc Anthony (Marco Antonio Muniz) (1968-) marry in a surprise ceremony (until ?); she wears $7M in Neil Lane jewelry. On June 6 Israeli PM Ariel Sharon gets his Hitnatkut Unilateral Disengagement Plan approved by the Knesset to forcibly evict all Israelis from the Gaza Strip and four settlements on the N West Bank. On June 7-8 there is a rare (first since 1882) transit of Venus (visible from North Am. E of the Mississippi River); next on June 5-6, 2012. One June 13 gunmen assassinate a senior Education Ministry official in Iraq. On June 14 a car bomb during rush hour in a busy Baghdad street kills 12 incl. five foreign power plant workers. On June 15 the Southern Baptist Convention quits the Baptist World Alliance, accusing it of accepting liberal theology. On June 16 The Ashlee Simpson Show debuts on MTV for 18 episodes (until Mar. 30, 2005), starring Ashlee Simpson (Ashley Nicolle Simpson Ross) (1984-), younger sister of Jessica Simpson. On June 16 Pornucopia debuts on HBO for six episodes as a spinoff of "Real Sex", about the Calif. porno industry. On June 18 Taliban ally Nek Muhammad Wazir (b. 1975) becomes the first casualty of the CIA-run U.S. Predator drone campaign in Pakistan; at first the U.S. tries to cover it up by claiming the Pakistan military did it, when all they did was make a secret deal to allow them airspace. On June 19, 20, and 25 the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Chicks On Speed, and James Brown headline the top-grossing entertainment of 2004 at London's Hyde Park, grossing $17,187,324 and drawing over 258K - having fun and not letting anything get to them? On June 20 Al-Jazeera airs a videotape from Al-Qaida showing South Korean hostage Kim Sun-il (b. 1970) pleading for his life and for his govt. to pull troops out of Iraq; on June 22 he is beheaded, becoming the 3rd in the Middle East in a little over 1 mo. On June 20 Lebanese-born Muslim U.S. Marine Wassef Ali Hassoun goes AWOL from Camp Fallujah in Iraq; he is captured and brought back to Quantico Marine Base in Va. for trial, but never tried until ? On June 21 pilot Michael Winston "Mike" Melvill (1941-) takes the SpaceShipOne rocket plane 62.2 mi. (327K ft.) above the Earth in a 90-min. flight, becoming the first privately financed manned spaceflight after Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen pumps $20M into it. On June 23 the U.S. gives up trying to win a new exemption for U.S. troops from internat. prosecution for war crimes after the Abu Ghraib episode ties their hands. On June 24 coordinated attacks in N and C Iraq kill 89 incl. three U.S. soldiers. On June 25 U.S. pres. George W. Bush arrives in Ireland for an EU-U.S. summit at Dromoland Castle in County Clare, where anti-war protests are staged against the use of Shannon Airport as a transit stop for U.S. troops en route to Iraq. On June 27 NATO leaders meeting in Turkey pledge to take a bigger military role in Iraq, causing Pres. Bush to crow that the alliance is ready to "meet the threats of the 21st century". On June 27 former defense minister (a psychologist) Boris Tadic (1958-) of the Serbian Dem. Party is elected pres. of Serbia, and is sworn-in on July 11 (until ?). On June 28 (10:26 a.m.) the U.S. hands power over to an interim Iraq govt. led by Shiite PM Iyad Allawi (1945-) and Sunni pres. Ghazi al-Yawer (1958-) two days ahead of schedule to foil sabotage; Adnan Pachachi (1923-) is head of the gov. council; pres. envoy Lewis Paul Bremer III (1941-), top civilian admin. of the U.S.-led coalition flies from Baghdad about two hours after the handover ceremony; new U.S. ambassador John Negroponte (1939-) arrives in Baghdad the same day. Muhammada Rasul Bush? On June 28 the U.S. Supreme (Rehnquist) Court rules 6-3 in Hamdi v. Rumsfeld that the U.S. govt. has the power to detain enemy combatants incl. U.S. citizens, but that the ones who are U.S. citizens must have the right to due process to challenge their enemy combatant status; on J une 28 it rules 6-3 in Rasul v. Bush that foreign nationals held in Guantanamo Bay (Gitmo) detention camp have constitutional rights and can petition federal courts for writs of habeus corpus to review the legality of their detention, reversing a decision of Washington, D.C. circuit judge Merrick Garland, causing Congress to try to get around them by passing the U.S. Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 and the U.S. Military Commissions Act of 2006, denying habeas corpus to "unlawful enemy combatants" regardless of citizen status, with the govt. having the sole right to label them to keep them locked up indefinitely without charges - how long until the first U.S. president-for-life begins using it to lock up millions? On June 29 a U.N. heli carrying peacekeepers and aid workers crashes in Sierra Leone, killing all 24 aboard. On June 29 a roadside bomb in Baghdad kills three U.S. Marines and wounds two more; youthful insurgents celebrate the bombings for the media - we like this so much it's becoming a habit? On June 30 the U.S. federal appeals court approves an antitrust settlement that Microsoft negotiated with the U.S. Justice Dept. In June Paul Martin is reelected as PM of Canada (until ?), but his Liberal Party loses its majority in parliament after dominating for 11 years. In June former Rwandan pres. (1994-2000) (Hutu) Pasteur Bizimungu is sentenced to 15 years on charges of inciting ethnic hatred, causing many to call it a political vendetta. In June the Sa'dah (al-Houthi) Rebellion in N Yemen begins (ends ?) as Zaidiyya Shiite cleric Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi (-2004) begin a push to impose Shia Sharia over the Dem. Repub. of Yemen, which they accuse of being too friendly with the U.S., with Sunni next-door-neighbor Saudi Arabia playing both ends against the middle; after the Yemeni govt. puts a $55K bounty on his head, al-Houthi is killed along with several aides, but his Houthis fight on, with Hussein's brother Sheikh Abd al-Malik (Abdul-Malik) Houthi (1982-) as the new Houthi leader (until ?); in Dec. 2009 he is allegedly seriously wounded, and has a leg amputated. On June ? Pres. Bush responds to press inquiries about Karl Rove by pledging to fire anyone who leaked info. about the secret identity of Valerie Plame; on July 18, 2005 he changes it to "committed a crime" (so that he can use his grate powah to get Rove off criminal charges and keep him no matter what?). In June trains begin travelling between Moscow and Grozny after a 5-year break. On July 1 the Saddam Hussein Trial begins as he is arraigned on war crimes and genocide charges before a judge in Baghdad, and tells him to stuff it. On July 5 Alfonso Durazo Montano, Mexican Pres. Vicente Fox's chief of staff resigns in a stinking rebuke. On July 5 1K+ U.S. radio stations simultaneously play "That's All Right" to celebrate Elvis Presley's 50th anniv. On July 8 insurgents detonate a car bomb and five mortars at a military station in Samarra, Iraq, killing five U.S. soldiers, one Iraqi guardsman, and three civilians, and wounding 20 U.S. soldiers. On July 8 Adelphia Communications Corp. (cable co.) founder John J. Rigas (1924-) (son of Greek immigrants to the U.S.) is convicted of securities fraud, bank fraud, and conspiracy charges in U.S. federal court, and on June 27, 2005 is sentenced to 15 years in federal prison, losing control of the NHL Buffalo Sabres team. On July 11 elections in Japan retain a majority for PM Junichiro Koizumi and his Liberal Dem. Party, while the largest opposition party makes strong gains in the upper house. On July 13 Osama bin Laden's associate Khaled bin Ouda bin Mohammed al-Harby surrenders to Saudi diplomats in Iran and is flown to Saudi Arabia. On July 13 after running from U.S. authorities, who accuse him of violating a trade embargo by playing Boris Spassky in Belgrade in 1992 and earning $3.3M, and having his passport revoked by the U.S. in Dec. 2003, chess champ Bobby Fischer is detained as he tries to fly from Japan's Narita Airport; he fights deportation to the U.S. by renouncing his U.S. citizenship and by marrying a Japanese woman, Miyoko Watai (1945-), acting pres. of the Japan Chess Assoc.; on Aug. 24 his application for protection as a political refugee is rejected by the Japanese authorities, and he has to figure out what move to make next. On July 14 Donald Trump gives an interview to Esquire mag., dissing the Bush admin. for its handling of the Iraq War, with the soundbytes: "Does anybody really believe that Iraq is going to be a wonderful democracy where people are going to run down to the voting box and gently put in their ballot and the winner is happily going to step up to lead the country?” C’mon. Two minutes after we leave, there’s going to be a revolution, and the meanest, toughest, smartest, most vicious guy will take over. And he’ll have weapons of mass destruction, which Saddam didn’t have", also dissing Bush for failing to find Osama bin Laden, with the soundbyte: "Tell me, how is it possible that we can’t find a guy who’s six-foot-six and supposedly needs a dialysis machine? Can you explain that one to me? We have all our energies focused on one place, where they shouldn’t be focused"; in Nov. he gives an interview to Larry King, saying: "I don't believe we made the right decision going in to Iraq, but hopefully we're getting out." On July 17 the first Rock the Bells hip hop festival in San Bernardino, Calif. features Wu-Tang Clan (4 mo. before the death of Ol' Dirty Bastard), Redman (Reginald "Reggie" Noble) (1970-), Dilated Peoples, Paul "Sage" Francis (1976-), MC Supernatural, Chali 2na (Charles Stewart) and DJ Nu Mark of Jurassic 5, Eyedea & Abilities (E&A) et al.; a 2nd festival is held on Nov. 13 in Anaheim, Calif., featuring MC Supernatural, Jurassic 5, A Tribe Called Quest, Xzibit (Alvin Nathaniel Joiner) (1974-), Cypress Hill, Jaylib, Little Brother, Crown City Rockers et al.; in 2006 it goes on a nat. tour. On July 18 Doug Ellin's comedy drama series Entourage debuts on HBO for 96 episodes (until Sept. 11, 2011), based on the life of Mark Wahlberg, starring Adrian Grenier (1976-) as Vincent Chase, who grew up in Queens, N.Y. and became an A-list movie star in Hollyweird, and Kevin Connolly (1974-) as his mgr. and best friend Eric "E" Murphy, based on Eric Weinstein (Stephen Levinson?). On July 20 former nat. security adviser (since 1997) Samuel Richard "Sandy" Berger (1945-) quits as John Kerry's informal adviser after a criminal investigation is disclosed about his alleged mishandling of classified terrorism documents. On July 21 the comedy-drama series Rescue Me debuts on FX (until Sept. 7, 2011), about New York City fighters suffering from post-9/11 trauma,starring Tommy Gavin, played by Denis Colin Leary (1957-), who sports a thick Boston accent. On July 22 the 911 Commission Report is issued, dishing out lukewarm blame on U.S. leaders; it finds that 11 Saudi hijackers had traveled to the U.S. via the Dubai airport, and that two of them were UAE citizens, and one had received $100K via the UAE. On July 23 U.S. Sen. (R-Mo.) (1975-95) John Clagett Danforth (1936-) (grandson of Purina Mills founder William H. Danforth) (known for the Danforth Report whitewashing the 1993 Waco Siege) becomes U.S. U.N. ambassador #24 (until Jan. 20, 2005), attempting unsuccessfully to bring peace to the Sudan and submitting his resignation on Nov. 22 six days after the announcement that he is going to be replaced by Condoleeza Rice. On July 25 Israeli protesters of PM Ariel Sharon's Gaza Strip withdrawal plan form a 55-mi. human chain from Gasa to Jerusalem. On July 26-29 the 2004 Dem. Nat. Convention is held in Boston, Mass.; on July 26 Al and Tipper Gore engage in a long kiss in an attempt to soften up his "stiff boring" image; after a parade of speakers takes Pres. Bush to task for the economy and the war on terror, on July 28 Vietnam Swift Boat war hero Sen. John Kerry of Mass. is nominated for pres., with personal liability atty. Sen. John Edwards of Va. as vice-pres.; Tex. homebuilder Bob J. (Bobby Jack) Perry (1932-) funds the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, attacking Kerry's war record with ads showing Viet vets making unsubstantiated allegations. On July 26 Google.com files to go public on the same day that a computer virus takes the site down for several hours; on Aug. 18 it goes public and becomes a $50B co. six years after founding. In July Pres. Bush finally drops his insistence on calling all radical Muslims "terrorists", and begins using the phrase "Islamic militants". In July a U.S. Senate investigation reveals $28M in foreign bank accounts owned by Gen. Augusto Pinochet of Chile, getting him indicted for tax evasion. On Aug. 1 the U.S. govt. warns of possible Al-Qaida attacks against several specific financial institutions in New York City, Washington D.C., and Newark, N.J., putting them on Orange (High) Alart), putting security checkpoints in the Capitol Hill and Foggy Bottom neighborhoods and erecting fences around monuments, limiting tours of the White House, turning it into Fortress Washington; on Aug. 3 Tom Ridge defends his decision to tighten security in those cities, admitting it's all based on 4-y.-o. intel; the vehicle inspects around the U.S. Capitol are removed in Nov. - what's in your wallet? On Aug. 4 Staten Island ferry pilot Richard Smith pleads guilty to manslaughter in the crash that killed 11 commuters last Oct., admitting that he passed out at the helm after going to work with medication in his system. On Aug. 5 74-y.-o. James Barney Hubbard (b. 1930) is executed in Ala. after 26 years on death row, becoming the oldest person to be executed in the Ala. history and the oldest in the U.S. since 1976. On Aug. 8 2-time black Repub. pres. hopeful Alan Lee Keyes (1950-) enters the Ill. Senate race, but ends up losing to handsomer black Dem. Barack Hussein Obama II (1961-) (I'm So Damn Hussein and I'm Back, Bam?) (the new Adlai Stevenson?) (first African-Am. pres. of the Harvard Law Review), whose un-PC name comes from a Muslim grandfather (a Kenyan farmer), and Muslim father (a Kenyan govt. economist and Communist), although he is a member of Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ and opposes abortion; the name Barack is of African origin and means blessed, while Hussein is of Arabic origin and means handsome; Barach comes from the Hebrew phrase "Ben Rabi hayyim" meaning son of Rabbi Hayyim?; rumors soon spread that he is really a Muslim terrorist plant with a master plan to take over the controls of the U.S. and pilot it into the ground; meanwhile the fact that he's half-white and half-black and that the U.S. suffers from a dearth of leaders makes him an instant candidate for U.S. pres. in 2008 despite lack of voter knowledge about him; Keyes ran after original Repub. nominee Jack Ryan left the race over a sex club scandal, and former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka turned down a chance to run against Obama, later saying that he probably would have won, and that it was the biggest mistake of his life seeing how the bum made it to the White House. On Aug. 9 Okla. City bomber Terry Nichols addresses a court for the first time, asking victims for forgiveness while being sentenced to 161 consecutive life sentences. On Aug. 10 Pres. Bush chooses Repub. U.S. rep. and ex-spy Porter Johnston Goss (1938-) as CIA dir. #19 (until May 5, 2006); he takes office on Sept. 24. On Aug. 11 Britain grants its first license for human cloning for the purpose of stem cell research. It's like kissing your sister? On Aug. 12 47-y.-o. Dem. N.J. gov. (since Jan. 15, 2002) (a Roman Catholic in favor of abortion) James Edward "Jim" McGreevey (1957-) announces that he is gay and had an extramarital affair with his male Israeli-born N.J. Homeland security adviser Golan Cipel (1968-), and that he will bend over and step down on Nov. 15 and leave his Portuguese-born wife Diana Matos McGreevey (1966-) (who is manipulated into standing by his side during the announcement and smiling) to be with his new life partner Mark O'Donnell; Cipel had forced him to out himself by filing a sexual harassment suit, which he later drops; McGreevey is replaced by Dem. Richard James "Dick" Codey (1946-) followed on Jan. 17, 2006 by Dem. U.S. Sen (since 2001) Jon Stevens Corzine (1947-), who defeats Repub. businessman Doug Forrester (1943-) in a race in which the two multimillionaires spend $70M, doubling the previous N.J. gov. race record; in 2009 McGreevey begins training to become an Episcopal priest. On Aug. 13-29 the XXVIII (28th) (2004) Summer Olympic Games are held in the "real place to hold it" Athens, Greece; 10,2625 athletes from 201 nations compete in 301 events in 28 sports; the U.S. team wins 102 total medals, incl. 36 gold, with China coming in #2 with 32 golds, and Russia #3 with 27 golds; official mascots are sister-brother Athina and Phevos; the first Olympics with live Internet coverage; the opening ceremony, choreographed by avant-garde dir. Dimitris Papaioannou (1964-) starts with a 28-sec. countdown paced by an amplified heartbeat, and features a topless Minoan priestess and nude men dressed as Greek statues, which is totally censored in Janet Jackson's U.S.; at first only 14K of 140K planned visitors show up in Athens, leading to empty seats until a 2nd effort fills them; 6'4" "Golden Boy" swimmer Michael Fred Phelps II (1985-) becomes the first U.S. athlete to win eight medals in one Olympiad (six gold and two bronze); Natalie Anne Coughlin (1982-) of the U.S. wins two golds, two silvers, and one bronze in swimming, becoming the first woman to swim the 100m backstroke in less than 1 min. on Aug. 13, and first woman to win gold in the 100m backstroke in two straight Olympics; on Aug. 18 Paul Elbert Hamm (1982-) (who competes alongside his twin brother Morgan) becomes the first U.S. athlete to win the men's gymnastics all-around gold medal, setting a record for the closest margin after it was discovered that a scoring error might have given the title to Yang Tae-Young (1980-) of South Korea; 16-y.-o. Carly Rae Patterson (1988-) becomes the first U.S. gymnast since Mary Lou Retton to take the women's all-around gold medal; 5'9" Misty Elizabeth "the Turtlle" May-Treanor (1977-) and 6'3" Kerri Lee Walsh (1978-) ("Six Feet of Sunshine") win a gold in beach volleyball, and do it again in 2008, earning the name of "greatest beach volleyball team of all time". On Aug. 13 Hurricane Charley hits the W coast of Fla., killing 19 and causing $10+B in damage; failure of weather prediction software to pinpoint the landfall location (50 mi. off) adds to the damage and confusion. On Aug. 14 Israeli TV channel 10 airs the documentary The Ringworm Children (100,000 Rays), dir. by David Belhassen and Asher Hermias, which claims that starting in 1951 the Israeli govt. began subjecting 100K dark Sephardic mainly Moroccan children to megadoses of X-rays in order to make them sterile or kill them, and that the U.S. govt. paid them 300M Israeli liras a year for this program. On Aug. 17 British police charge eight terrorist suspects with conspiring to use WMD to cause "fear of injury". On Aug. 19 John Kerry fights allegations that he exaggerated his Vietnam combat record, accusing Pres. Bush of using a Repub. front group "to do his dirty work". On Aug. 20 Palestinian-born Am. Muslim Ismail Salim Elbarasse (1947-) (who was arrested in Apr. 1998 for refusing to testify in an Islamic terror fundraising investigation then released in Dec. 1998) is arrested as a material witness in a Hamas terror support case; a search of his home turns up a sub-basement containing archives of Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood in the U.S.; his associate Abdelhaleem Ashqar is sentenced to 11 years for refusing to testify about his knowledge of Hamas networks in the U.S. after prosecutors seek a life sentence. On Aug. 21 after his wife videotaped the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, the FBI seized hundreds of documents from the Annandale, Virginia home of Ismael Selim Elbarasse tying him to Hamas, later exposing him as a U.S. front for the how-many-times-did-I-mention Muslim Brotherhood, uncovering the Annandale Explanatory Memorandum, detailing a 5-phase plan to infiltrate and take over the U.S., starting with churches, then set up Sharia, proving that almost every major U.S. Islamic group is controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood incl. CAIR; the documents are used as evidence in the 2007 Texas-based Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development case, the largest terrorism funding case so far in U.S. history, with one of the documents containing the soundbyte "The Ikhwan [Muslim Brotherhood's name for itself] must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and 'sabotaging' its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and Allah's religion is made victorious over all other religions." On Aug. 22 as spectators watch, armed black-masked thieves steal one of the four versions of Edvard Munch's painting The Scream along with his Madonna from the Munch Museum in Oslo, Norway; they are recovered on Aug. 29, 2006 after David Toska, mastermind of an Apr. 2006 $9M bank robberty admits they were stolen to divert the heat from their trail, and makes a deal for a milder prison term for their return - one call, that's all? On Aug. 23 Pres. Bush criticizes a commercial that had stopped running a week before which accused John Kerry of inflating his Vietnam War record, and says that broadcast attacks by outside groups have no place in the pres. race. On Aug. 24 two passenger planes in Russia are bombed by Chechen rebels, killing 90. On Aug. 25 Sir Mark Thatcher (1953-), son of former British PM Margaret Thatcher is arrested in South Africa for violating the country's anti-mercenary laws after he allegedly paid to charter an Alouette III heli to be used in a takeover attempt of oil-rich Equatorial Guinea, where Pres. Teodoro Obiang Nguema has ruled for 24 years; on Jan. 13 he pleads guilty in exchange for a suspended jail sentence. On Aug. 25 a U.S. Army investigation finds that 27 people attached to Abu Ghraib Prison either approved or participated in POW abuse. On Aug. 27 John Owen Brennan (1955-) becomes acting dir. #1 of the new Nat. Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) in McLean, Va. (until Aug. 1, 2005), reporting to the Dir. of Nat. Intelligence along with the CIA, FBI, and Dept. of Defense; his position becomes official after signing of the U.S. Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act on Dec. 17, which establishes the office of Dir. of Nat. Intelligence (DNI), the Nat. Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), and the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board; by 2010 the CIA has the largest budget of all U.S. intel agencies; in 2012 U.S. atty. gen. Eric Holder grants the NCTC authority to collect, store, and analyze data collected on U.S. citizens by govt. and non-govt. sources for suspicious behavior via pattern analysis, collected in its Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment (TIDE) of 1.2M terror suspects, and to share data with foreign states, causing a firestorm of controversy. On Aug. 29 Tropical Storm Gaston hits S.C. at near-hurricane force. On Aug. 30-Sept. 2 the 2004 Repub. Nat. Convention is held at Madison Square Garden in New York City; on Aug. 31 Laura Bush and Ahnuld praise Bushy Baby as a man of strength and compassion who is steady and decisive compared to shift-with-the-wind Kerry; on Aug. 31 Calif. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger gives a speech, with the soundbytes: "But then I heard Nixon speak. He was talking about free enterprise, getting the government off your back, lowering the taxes and strengthening the military. Listening to Nixon speak sounded more like a breath of fresh air. I said to my friend, I said, 'What party is he?' My friend said, 'He's a Republican.' I said, 'Then I am a Republican.' And I have been a Republican ever since"; "If they don't have the guts to come up here in front of you and say I don't want to represent you, I want to represent those special interests, the unions, the trial lawyers... If they don't have the guts, I call them girlie men"; "Speaking of acting, one of my movies was called True Lies. It's what the Democrats should have called their convention"; on Sept. 2 Pres. Bush addresses the 2004 Repub. Nat. Convention, giving his acceptance speech, picking apart John Kerry's Iraq War record and tax cuts, and uttering the soundbyte "We will prevail" over terrorism - snore? On Aug. 31 (a.m.) a suicide bomber in a Moscow metro station outside Rizhskaya kills 10+ and injures 50+. In Aug. 15 Yemeni militants are convicted of involvement in the Oct. 12, 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Aden, Yemen, incl. Jamal Ahmed Mohammad Ali al-Badawi (1906-), who helped plan and organize the attack, and on Sept. 29 gets a death sentence, which is reduced to 15 years in 2005; on Feb. 3, 2006 he escapes from jail in Yemen, and is captured on ? - in cole blood? On Sept. 1 (1st day of school) Sunni Muslim Chechen militants (followers of Shamil Basayev) stage the Beslan Massacre at a school in North Caucasus, holding 1,128 hostages and setting off bombs before Russian commandos storm in and shoot it out with them, ending the conflict on Sept. 3; 319 hostages incl. 187 children are killed, and hundreds injured, making the Colo. Columbine H.S. massacre look like a walk in the park to pick Elberta peaches; Al-Qaida is suspected of being involved in this Muslim attack on a Greek Orthodox Christian school; on Sept. 7 130K Russians rally outside the Kremlin in a show of unity against baby-killer Islamic terrorists; Russian faith healer Grigory Petrovich Grabovoy (1963-) promises to resurrect the children, and ends up in prison for fraud in 2006-10. On Sept. 5 Hurricane Frances slams into Fla.'s EC coast from the SE, weakening to a tropical storm and dumping more than 13 in. of rain, adding to the damage of Hurricane Charley weeks before; in Orlando the combined rainfall overwhelms the drainage system, turning Disney World into Sea World; on Sept. 6 it strikes the Fla. panhandle. Big day for U.S. drug companies and bad day for the U.S. beef and fast food hamburger industry? On Sept. 6 (Labor Day) former U.S. pres., fast food lover and monica, er, sax player Bill Clinton has a 4-hour quadruple heart bypass operation in New York Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia after it is found that his arteries are 90% blocked by years of gorging on junk food and trying to jog it off while discontinuing his cholesterol-controlling meds. On Sept. 7 an AP tally shows that the number of U.S. military deaths in Iraq tops the 1K mark (1003); the Iraqi civilian death toll is estimated at 10K+. On Sept. 7 the Denver, Colo.-based firm Invesco agrees to a $450M settlement (third largest in history) with regulators for allowing favored investors to rapidly trade in and out of their funds ("market timing"). On Sept. 7 Category 5 Hurricane Ivan "the Terrible" pummels Grenada (killing 39), Barbados, and other southern Caribbean islands (the deadliest storm damage in a decade); it skirts by Jamaica on Sept. 11, killing 15, then the Cayman Islands on Sept. 12 (200 mph wind gusts), damaging half of the 15K well-built homes with 150-mph winds, then Cuba on Sept. 13; it disrupts underwater oil pipelines, raising prices in the U.S. after generating at least two dozen waves over 50 ft. high, the largest measuring 91 ft. Sixty Minutes Too Much, or, Rathergate? On Sept. 8 after investigative work by CBS 60 Minutes II producer Mary Alice Mapes (1956-) (known for reporting the Abu Ghraib scandal), the Rathergate Scandal begins when Wharton, Tex.-born CBS Evening News anchor (since Mar. 19, 1981) Daniel Irvin "Dan" Rather Jr. (1931-) airs an investigation on 60 Minutes II (launched Jan. 13, 1999) into Pres. Bush's Air Nat. Guard service in Ala., claiming to have authenticated the Killian documents from Tex. Army Nat. Guard lt. col. Bill Burkett stating that Bush's squadron cmdr. lt. col. Jerry B. Killian believed that Bush had been shirking his duties and receiving preferential treatment; when the documents later turn out to be faked on a typewriter that didn't exist at the time, the fit hits the shan, and on Sept. 20 CBS apologizes for a "mistake in judgment" in airing a show that could influence the election in favor of Kerry; cries of conspiracy from Repubs. cause an independent panel chaired by former U.S. atty. gen. Dick Thornburgh and former AP pres. Louis Boccardi to be formed to investigate; Mapes is fired in Jan. 2005, and senior vice-pres. Betsy West and executive producer Josh Howard and his deputy Mary Murphy are asked to resign; Rather steps down as anchor of CBS Evening News on Mar. 9, 2005, suing unsuccessfully for breach of contract; after having its name changed to 60 Minutes Wed., it is cancelled on Sept. 2, 2005; the entire affair is portayed in the 2015 film The Truth starring Robert Redford as Rather and Cate Blanchett as Mapes, based on Mapes' 2005 book "Truth and Duty: The Press, the President, and the Privilege of Power". On Sept. 9 the Bush admin. for the first time calls attacks in W Sudan's Darfur region by govt.-backed Arab Janjaweed Muslim militia against black non-Muslim Africans "genocide"; by now tens of thousands have been killed, and 1.2M uprooted; too bad, the U.N. fails to accept the call of genocide, claiming the leaders have no genocidal intent, and therefore the U.N. law against genocide doesn't apply. On Sept. 9 Jemaah Islamiyah Muslim militants detonate a car bomb outside the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, killing 9 and wounding 173 as reprisal for their support of the U.S. in Iraq. On Sept. 10 Osama bin Laden's chief deputy Ayman al-Zawahri claims in a videotape broadcast that the U.S. is on the brink of defeat in Iraq and Afghanistan: "The Americans in both countries are between two fires. If they continue they bleed to death and if they withdraw they lose everything", becoming the 3rd tape in a row issued by Al-Qaida on Sept. 10 - why a day early this time and why no mention of attacks in the U.S.? On Sept. 12 Iraq has a Bloody Sunday as insurgents hammer C Baghdad with mortar and rocket barrages, and nearly 60 people are killed nationwide, incl. 37 in Baghdad. On Sept. 12 violent demonstrators in Herat, Afghanistan ransack four U.S. office compounds to protest the removal of Gov. Ismail Khan by the central govt.; he is replaced by Sayed Muhammad Khairkhwa, a member of the same Jamiat-i-Islami faction. On Sept. 12 Mt. Etna erupts yet again. In Sept. 12 US Airways, 5th largest airline in the U.S. declares bankruptcy for the first of 2x in two years (Aug. 11, 2002). On Sept. 12 terrorists set off a car bomb in a Baghdad shopping street full of police recruits, and fire on a police van N of the city, killing 59. On Sept. 13 Russian pres. Valadimir Putin orders a stunning overhaul of Russia's political system allegedly to fight terrorism, consolidating power to himself and his party. On Sept. 13 U.S. warplanes unleash airstrikes on a suspected terrorist (Al-Qaida) hideout in Fallujah, Iraq, killing 20. On Sept. 13 the U.S. Congressional ban on 19 types of military-style assault weapons as well as magazines holding up to 100 rounds of ammo expires as the NRA holds a gun to, er, flexes its muscles with both parties? On Sept. 13 a video posted on a Web site shows a Turkish driver being beheaded by Islamic militants - this Bud's for you? On Sept. 13 the BBC quotes the foreign minister of North Korea as explaining a 2-mi.-wide mushroom cloud from an explosion on Sept. 9 as due to planned demolition for a hydroelectric project, and not from a nuclear test as speculated. On Sept. 13 Batman scales the walls of Buckingham Palace and waves to the admiring crowds and frantic bobbies for hours before being escorted away. On Sept. 15 five foxhunting enthusiasts storm the floor of the House of Commons to disrupt a debate on banning their favorite sport; one lawmaker says that here hasn't been such an intrusion in Parliament since the year 1642. On Sept. 15 U.S. Rep. (R-Calif.) (1989-) Dana Tyrone Rohrabacher (1947-) introduces an amendment to the U.S. Constitution allowing anyone who's been a U.S. citizen for 20 years to run for U.S. pres., esp. fellow Calif. Repub. Arnold Schwarzenegger; Senate Judiciary Committee chmn. Orrin Hatch of Utah proposes the same; on 60 Minutes on Oct. 31 (Halloween) Ahnuld says he would support such an amendment, with the soundbyte: "I mean, you know, anyone with my way of thinking, you always shoot for the top." On Sept. 15 the Los Alamos Nat. Laboratory fires four workers and forces one to resign for their roles in a security and safety scandal that caused two computer disks containing classified info. to go missing and an intern to be injured in a laser accident; since July 7 the lab had been virtually shut down, idling some 12K workers. In Sept. 15 10 Palestinians are killed in two confrontations with Israeli troops, the highest single-day death toll in the West Bank since 2002; the same day Israeli PM Ariel Sharon acknowledges that he is casting aside the U.S.-backed peace "road map". On Sept. 15 ex-U.S. Green Beret Jonathan Keith "Jack" Idema (1956-) is sentenced to 10 years by a court in Kabul, Afghanistan for running a private jail and torturing terror suspects; he is released and deported on June 2, 2007 after a gen. amnesty is declared by pres. Hamid Karzai. On Sept. 16 Calif. Gov. Ahnuld announces that he's running for reelection in Nov. 2006, saying "I originally got into this... to finish the job. I'm in there for seven years" - the only state with the golden poppy as its flower? On Sept. 17 a U.S. law passed the year before requires the federal govt. and any school receiving federal funding to organize Constitution-related activities on the anniv. of the 1787 adoption; since it falls on Sat. they do it on Sept. 16 instead. On Sept. 18 Miss America 2004 Ericka Dunlap (black) crowns Miss America 2005 Deidre Downs (1980-) (white) in Atlantic City, N.J. before an ABC-TV audience of a record low 9.8M (28.2 in 1984, 20.9 in 1994); the org. announces that its next pageant will be broadcast on Country Music TV on Jan. 21; at its peak in the 1960s three of four households tuned in - the largely white audience has grown tired of rigged PC elections of minorities over their favorite blonde-blue contestants but can't admit it, only tune out? On Sept. 18 Am. pop star Britney Spears marries backup dancer Kevin Federline (K-Fed) (1978-) (until Nov. 7, 2006); they have son Sean Preston next Sept. 14 and Jayden James on Sept. 12, 2006. On Sept. 19 former Chinese pres. Jiang Zemin leaves his top military post, leaving gen. secy. (since 2002) and pres. (since 2003) Hu Jintao (1942-) as the undisputed leader of China - who jin charge tao? On Sept. 21 Pres. Bush addresses the U.N. Gen. Assembly, defending his decision to invade Iraq and urging the U.N. to stand united with Iraq's struggling govt. On Sept. 21 a United Airlines flight from London to Washington, D.C. is diverted to Bangor, Maine at the order of U.S. officials after discovering that Yusuf Islam (1948-), the singer known until 1977 as Cat Stevens (formerly Stephen Demetre Georgiou) is aboard, claiming he is on the Terrorist Watch List for activities linking him with terrorism; he is arrested and put on a plane back, returning to London on Thur., saying "Half of me wants to smile, and half of me wants to growl"; on Nov. 10 he is presented with a Man of Peace award by Mikhail Gorbachev's foundation in Rome, followed by other recognition, and after many back-and-forths and a successful libel suit in Britain he is quietly allowed to enter the U.S. in Dec. 2006. On Sept. 22 18-y.-o. female suicide bomber Zainab Abu Salem (b. 1986) detonates at a busy Jerusalem bus station, killing two Israeli policemen who stopped her for a security check, and blowing her head clean off; the same day PM Sharon drops a plan to simultaneously evacuate 21 Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip at the beginning of 2005, reverting to a staged pullout plan for the summer. On Sept. 22 Lost debuts on ABC-TV for 121 episodes (until May 23, 2010), about 48 survivors of crashed Oceanic Flight 815 on a mysterious tropical island somewhere between Australia and Los Angeles (really Oahu, Hawaii); created by Damon Lindelof, J.J. Abrams, and Jeffrey Lieber, it is one of the most expensive TV series on the U.S. networks, with a large multiracial ensemble cast incl. Terrance "Terry" O'Quinn (1952-) as John Locke, Naveen William Sidney Andrews (1969-) as ex-Iranian Repub. Guard member Sayid Jarrah, Matthew Chandler Fox (1966-) as surgeon Jack Shephard, Jorge Garcia (1973-) as lottery winner Hugo "Hurley" Reyes, Margaret "Maggie" Grace Denig (1983-) as dance teacher Shannon Rutherford, Joshua Lee "Josh" Holloway (1969-) as con man James "Sawyer" Ford, Yunjim Kim (1973-) as mobster's daughter Sun-Hwa Kwon, Daniel Dae Kim (1968-) as her hubby Jin-Soo Kwon, Nicole Evangeline Lilly (1979-) as fugitive Kate Austen, Dominic Bernard Patrick Luke Managhan (1976-) as ex-rock star Charlie Pace, Harold Perrineau (1963-) (Link in The Matrix) as construction worker Michael Dawson, Malcolm David Kelley (1992-) as his son Walt Lloyd, Emilie de Ravin (1981-) as pregnant Australian Claire Littleton, and Ian Joseph Somerhalder (1978-) as Boone Carlyle; beside the Others and the DHARMA Initiative, their common enemy is the Monster AKA the Smoke Monster and Man in Black. On Sept. 22 Veronica Mars debuts on UPN for 64 episodes (until May 22, 2007), set in Neptune, Calif. (zip code 90909), starring Kristen Anne Bell (1980-) as a h.s. student and daughter of sheriff Keith Mars, who is dumped by beau Duncan Kane and tries to solve the murder of best friend Lilly Kane, whose software billionaire father Jake Kane is a suspect, turning into a PI. On Sept. 26 Fla. receives its 4th visit from a hurricane in one season (the first time since Tex. in 1886) as Hurricane Jeanne (Category 3) slams into the E coast with 120 mph winds, killing six, becoming the worst hurricane season in Fla. since 1851; on Sept. 27 Pres. Bush asks Congress for $7.1B to help the SE states recover. On Sept. 28 the 6.0 Parkfield Earthquake rocks C Calif. On Sept. 29 British hostage Kenneth John Bigley (b. 1942) appears on an Islamic web site in a video weeping and pleading for his life; on Oct. 7 he pleads for his life again, then minutes later is later beheaded by members of al-Zarqawi's group. On Sept. 30 Northern Ireland Protestant Dem. Unionist Party leader Ian Paisley makes an historic first visit to Dublin for talks with Taoiseach (PM) Bertie Ahern. On Sept. 30 after a 16-mo. $900M coverup, er, invesigation, the Iraq Survey Group, led by top U.S. arms inspector (since 2004) Charles A. Duelfer reports that no evidence has been found that Saddam Hussein's regime had produced WMDs after 1991; on Aug. 6, 2006 despite a blizzard of publicity a Harris poll indicates that half of Americans still believe WMDs existed in Iraq in 2003. In Sept. Madonna's blockbuster Re-Invention Tour wraps up, selling out 55 of 56 performances with an avg. nightly take of $2.23M, ringing up a total of $125M, which places it far ahead of all tours this year; Prince's Purple Reign (Musicology) Tour draws 1.5M people and grosses $90.2M to come in 2nd, and Shania Twain comes in 3rd with 950K attendance and $62.5M; Celine Dion grosses $77M at the Colosseum at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, and in a total run of four years grosses $400M, working out to $697K per show. On Oct. 1 Mount St. Helens in Washington State erupts for the 1st time in 18 years, but it turns out to only be a belch of white steam and ash; it does it again on Oct. 4. On Oct. 1 the oil market opens for the first time ever at over $50 a barrel ($51 on Oct. 5). On Oct. 3 (Sun.) David E. Kelley's legal dramedy Boston Legal (original title The Practice: Fleet Street) debuts on ABC-TV for 101 episodes (until Dec. 8, 2008) as a spinoff of "The Practice", starring James Todd Spader (1960-) as atty. Alan Shore, and William "Bill" Shatner (1931-) as atty. Denny Crane. On Oct. 3 (Sun.) Marc Cherry's comedy-drama-mystery series Desperate Housewives debuts on ABC-TV for 180 episodes (until May 13, 2012), set on Wisteria Lane in Fairview in the Eagle State, about a group of women as seen through the eyes of neighbor Mary Alice Young (played by Brenda Strong), who committed suicide in the first episode. causing their seemingly perfect suburban neighborhood to have mucho skeletons in the closets; stars Teri Lynn Hatcher (1964-) as Susan Mayer, Felicity Kendall Huffman (1962-) as Lynette Scavo, redheaded Marcia Anne Cross (1962-) as Bree Van de Kamp, and Mexican-Am. Eva Jacqueline Longoria (1975-) as Gabrielle Solis. On Oct. 4 insurgents unleash a powerful car bomb near the Green Zone (AKA Karradat Mariam) in C Baghdad, symbol of U.S. authority in Iraq, becoming a quantum leap; two other explosions bring the day's bombing total to 24 dead and 100+ wounded. On Oct. 4 Polish pres. (since 1995) Aleksander Kwasniewski (1954-) announces that he is considering withdrawing Poland's 2.4K soldiers from Iraq by late 2005 - faster if we can get away with it? On Oct. 5 Dick Cheney and John Edwards debate for the first and only time. On Oct. 6 the 30-member European Union executive commission recommends that Turkey be put on a course to membership, but not until at least the year 2015. On Oct. 7 (night) bomb attacks on three resorts in Sinai, Egypt kill 34 and injure 171; Al-Qaida is suspected. On Oct. 8 in response to the Sept. 1 Beslan School Massacre in Russia et al., the U.N. Security Council votes 15-0-0 for Resolution 1566, condemning terrorism, which is defined as "criminal acts, including against civilians, committed with the intent to cause death or serious bodily injury, or taking of hostages, with the purpose to provoke a state of terror in the general public or in a group of persons or particular persons, intimidate a population or compel a government or an international organization to do or to abstain from doing any act", adding that such acts are "under no circumstances justifiable by considerations of a political, philosophical, ideological, racial, ethnic, religious or other similar nature", with U.S. U.N. ambassador John Danforth uttering the soundbytes: "The resolution which we have adopted states very simply that the deliberate massacre of innocents is never justifiable in any cause - never", and "Some claim that exploding bombs in the midst of children is in the service of God", calling it instead "the ultimate blasphemy"; the resolution calls for the creation of a working group to expand the list of sanctioned terrorist entities beyond al-Qaida and the Taliban; meanwhile work begins to draft a comprehensive convention defining terrorism for adoption by the U.N. Gen. Assembly (ends ?). On Oct. 11 EU foreign ministers lift sanctions against Libya and ease their arms embargo. On Oct. 12 after deliberating only 80 min., a jury in Baton Rouge, La. finds black serial killer Derrick Todd Lee (1968-) guilty of first degree murder in the death of 22-y.-o. Charlotte Murray Pace; he later receives the death penalty. On Oct. 13 Bush and Kerry hold their 3rd and last pres. talking heads debate. On Oct. 14 the U.S. Treasury Dept. announces that the federal deficit has surged to a record $413B for the year. On Oct. 16 Pres. Bush signs the U.S. Global Anti-Semitism Review Act of 2004, ordering the U.S. State Dept. to monitor global anti-Semitism and report annually to Congress. On Oct. 16 the 150th anniv. of the birth of Irish writer Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) is celebrated by BBC-TV in Happy Birthday Oscar Wilde, featuring fellow Irishmen Bono, James Cromwell, Liam Neeson, Rosie Perez, Hector Elizondo et al. On Oct. 17 Jordan indicts Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and 12 other Muslims for an alleged al-Qaida plot to attack the U.S. embassy in Amman as well as Jordanian govt. targets. On Oct. 17-20 the Boston Red Sox win four consecutive games to overcome a 3-0 deficit and defeat the New York Yankees in the AL Championship Series - come from behind feels so good yah? On Oct. 18 Bush and Kerry trade barbs, with Bush claiming Kerry stands for "protest and defeatism", while Kerry accuses Bush of "arrogant boasting". On Oct. 19 Dalkey, County Dublin, Ireland-born aid worker Margaret Hassan (nee Fitzsimons) (b. 1945) AKA Madam Margaret is kidnapped in Baghdad by ISIS, and killed on Nov. 8 after a video is releaed showing her pleading for help, with the soundbyte: "Tell Mr. Tony Blair to take the troops out of Iraq and not bring them here to Baghdad." On Oct. 18 1,830m Mount Soputan Vocano in N Indonesia awakens, but causes no fatalities. On Oct. 20 retired gen. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (1949-) (AKY SBY) becomes pres. #6 of Indonesia (until ?); in 2009 he becomes the first Indonesian pres. to be reelected. On Oct. 20 U.S. Army Reserve SSgt. Ivan "Chip" Frederick (1966-) of Buckingham, Va. pleads guilty to eight criminal counts for abusing Iraqi detainees at Iraq's Abu Ghraib Prison, saying that the degrading treatment was "for military intelligence purposes"; six other members of his Cresaptown, Md.-based 372nd Military Police Co. are also charged. On Oct. 20 the Global Corruption Perceptions Index is pub. by Transparency Internat. in London (0=most corrupt, 10=least corrupt) giving the U.S. a 7.5 score and a ranking of 17; the #1 ranking/score (9.7) goes to Finland, and the lowest ranking (145) and score (1.5) to Haiti. On Oct. 21 an AP poll finds Bush and Kerry in a tie. On Oct. 23 Operation Cajuana sees Brazil launch its first rocket into space, the VSB-30 sounding rocket from Alcantara Launch Center in Brazil. On Oct. 24 a plane owned by top NASCAR team Hendrick Motorsports crashes in Martinsville, Va., killing all 10 aboard. On Oct. 25 it is announced that U.S. chief justice William H. Rehnquist has thyroid cancer. On Oct. 26 the FCC gives its approval to the $41B acquisition by Cingular Wireless LCC of AT&T Wireless Services Inc., making it the #1 wireless firm; the orange "Jack" logo becomes successful, and the subscriber base grows to 62M, until AT&T buys BellSouth Corp. in Jan. 2007 and retires it. Maybe the world will never end? On Oct. 27 the Boston Red Sox (mgr. Terry Francona) finally 86 the 1919 Curse of the Bambino, end an 86-year drought (only 4 WS appearances and no wins), and sweep the One Hundredth (100th) World Series 4-0, defeating the St. Louis Cardinals (mgr. Tony La Russa) 3-0 at Busch Stadium, and becoming the 4th team in WS history to never trail an inning (1963 Dodgers, 1966 Orioles, 1989 A's); the Cardinals join the 1963 Yankees as the only teams winning more than 100 games in the regular season and winning no games in the WS; the Red Sox had come back from a 3-0 deficit in the AL Championship Series to bury the Babe; seating capacity at Fenway Park is 36,298; ticket prices range from $50 for SRO to $190 for box seats; 112,462,559 tickets had been sold at Fenway Park during the 1919-2004 regular seasons; since 1918 the Boston Celtics won 16 sports championships, the Boston Bruins 5, the New England Patriots 2; owner John William Henry II (1949-) made his fortune by using statistics in the soybean market; co-owner Thomas C. "Tom" Werner (1950-) is a TV exec known for "Roseanne" and "The Cosby Show"; CEO Lawrence "Larry" Lucchino (1945-) is the father of the old-style Fenway-style ballpark movement; in Nov. 2002 lifelong Red Sox fan Theo Nathan Epstein (1973-) became the youngest gen. mgr. in ML baseball at age 28. On Oct. 27 Palestinian Nat. Authority pres. #1 (since Jan. 20, 1996) Yasser Arafat (b. 1929) collapses during the night in Ramallah, and is unconscious for about 10 min. after he vomits while eating soup inside his partially demolished compound where he has been confined for 2-1/2 years; a committee of three senior officials incl. PM Ahmed Qureia run Palestine while he recuperates in a military hospital in France, where he is flown on Oct. 29; he dies at 3:30 a.m. on Nov. 11. On Oct. 27 a 6.1 earthquake and several large aftershocks shake the prefecture of Niigata, Japan, killing 40 and damaging 6K homes, become the deadliest in Japan since 1995. On Oct. 28 the U.S. Check Clearing for the 21st Cent. (Check 21) Act (signed by Pres. Bush on Oct. 28, 2003) goes into effect, allowing paper checks to be replaced by digital images to facilitate electronic processing. On Oct. 28 insurgents execute 11 Iraqi soldiers and vow on a Web site that they will avenge the "blood" of woman and children killed in U.S. strikes on Fallujah. On Oct. 28 Scotch terrier Miss Beazley, a relative of First Dog Barney is born, and is given as a gift by Pres. Bush to his wife Laura as a 58th birthday present on Nov. 4, scheduled to arrive just before Christmas. On Oct. 29 the first European Union Constitution is signed in Rome. On Oct. 30 a suicide car bomber rams a U.S. convoy W of Baghdad, Iraq, killing eight Marines and wounding nine. On Oct. 31 Bush and Kerry campaign in Fla. and Ohio, starting with Sunday church services. In Oct. news leaks that the monks of the 950-y.-o. hospice of St. Bernard (8114 ft. alt.) (above the village of Martigny) are getting rid of their remaining 18 St. Bernard dogs, modern helis having replaced the need for the big cute gluttons; they intend to keep their golden retriever Justy; the last 16 St. Bernard puppies are put up for sale at $1.7K each. In Oct. ultra-Orthodox Jewish yeshiva student Natan Zvi Rosenthal is arrested for spitting at the cross carried by Armenian archbishop of Jerusalem Nourhan Manougian, who strikes back, starting a fist fight; Rosenthal tells police he had been brought up to consider crosses and Christianity itself as idol worship. In Oct. Tulane U. shuts down its Willed Body Program after allegations of mistreatment of bodies, incl. selling them to the U.S. Army to test protective footwear for land mines. In Oct. John Howard wins a 4th term as PM of Australia (since 1996). In Oct. North Korea launches its "Let's Trim Our Hair According to the Socialist Lifestyle" program, requring all males to trim their locks to stay under a 2-in. limit; even Kim Jong-il trims his famous pompadour to go with the program; by Feb. the state-run Central TV is openly singling out and ridiculing slackers. In Oct. warlords and civilian leaders in Somalia agree on a new govt. In Oct. an outbreak of Ebola-like Marbug virus begins in Angola, infecting 214 and killing 194 by Apr. 2005, when the outbreak is finally recognized among the numerous early deaths from infectious diseases (one in four dies before age five). On Nov. 2 after defeating fellow Repub. Bob Shaffer in the primary by pointing to his support for same-sex civil unions, and his company's payment of benefits to same-sex partners and promotion of their beer in gay bars, Coors chmn.-CEO (since 1993) Peter Hanson "Pete" Coors (1946-) (great-grandson of Adolph Coors Sr., and son of Joseph Coors and Holly Coors) loses the election for U.S. Sen. for Colo. to Dem. Colo. atty. gen. Ken Salazar by 51%-47%; in 2005 Coors merges with Molson, and he stays on as a dir. On Nov. 16 Fox-TV debuts the hit drama House, M.D. for 177 episodes (until May 21, 2012), starring English actor Hugh Laurie (1959-) as Dr. Gregory House, who walks with a cane and pops self-prescribed Vicodin pills while chasing his ex-wife Sela Ward and managing his team of diagnosticians, incl. single black man Omar Hashim Epps (1973-) (Dr. Eric Doreman), single white babe Jennifer Marie Morrison (1979-) (as Dr. Alison Cameron), (who's in love with him but can't overcome the ex-wife), and single white doc Jesse Gordon Spencer (1979-) (as Dr. Robert Chase) (who's in love with Morrison in real life, but never get married); meanwhile his female boss Dr. Lisa Cuddy, played by Lisa Edelstein (1966-) struggles to keep control of this authority-bucking precious genius, who never fails to solve the insoluble medical problem just in time to save the patient, his hospital, and his job - TLW's favorite TV show for the next few years? On Nov. 1 U.S. contract workers Roy Hallums (1948-), Robert Tarongoy of the Philippines et al. are kidnapped in an armed assault on their Baghdad compound; Tarongoy is freed after 8 mo., Hallums on Sept. 7, 2005 after 311 days. On Nov. 2 (Tue.) the 2004 U.S. Pres. Election sees the "compassionate conservatism" campaign by incumbent pres. George W. "Dubya" Bush and running mate Dick Cheney pay off with a high voter turnout (60% of the electorate voting, most since 1968), getting reelected by 51% to 48%, capturing the Solid South and the heartland states, with the swing states of Ohio, Mich., and Fla. going for him, and only Penn. going for Kerry, the first Roman Catholic pres. candidate since 1960, who garners less Catholic votes than the Methodist Bush, and fares worse with them than Gore did in 2000; Hispanic voters (8% of the electorate, up from 6% in 2000) give Bush 44% of their vote, up from 35% in 2000; millions of pre-Brokeback Mountain Billy Bobs in the heartland states who never voted in past elections wait in line for hours to vote against the perceived threat of Kerry of legalizing gay marriage, ensuring straight Billy Bob Bush's election; 11 states pass constitutional bans on same-sex marriage, and Kerry's opposition to a federal constitutional ban is blamed for uniting many religious denominations behind Bush, although Bush garners 20% of the gay vote also; online voting becomes a reality in the U.S. as 50M vote on touch-screen machines; too bad that the system for testing and certifying these machines is virtually nonexistent; for the first time, the Org. for Security and Cooperation in Europe monitors the election, sending 92 observers from 34 countries; guaranteed future Dem. pres. candidate Barack Hussein Obama II (1961-) (whose portrait bears a striking resemblance to Hollywood star Will Smith (1968-)?) trounces Alan Keyes by 43 percentage points in the Ill. U.S. Senate race; Thomas Andrew "Tom" Daschle (1947-) (D-S.D.) becomes the first U.S. Sen. majority leader to be defeated in an election; Calif. decides to channel $3B into embryonic stem-cell research via Proposition 71, which causes the creation of the Calif. Inst. for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM); the U.S. Congress is now 30% conservative Christian; Kerry leaves $14M of his campaign funds unspent, although he lost by only 10K votes in Iowa and if he had spent more? The Year of the White Prick in a Suit, Pt. 2? Or, a Nerd is Zerged? Why are some Mormons so smart and so dumb? On Nov. 2 the 40-y.-o. TV quiz show Jeopardy! holds its 4000th episode, featuring emcee Alex Trebek (1940-2020) and announcer Johnny Gilbert (1924-); since changing its rules allowing unlimited appearances to the winner in 2003, after making his first appearance on June 2, 30-y.-o. Edmonds, Wash.-born Mormon software engineer of Holladay, Utah (the state that's 65% Mormon) Kenneth Wayne "Ken" Jennings III (1974-) ("nerd") ("smarmy") ("peronality of a hall monitor") (resembles a white prick in a suit with the face of Mel Gibson pasted on?) (B.S. in computer science and English at BYU) rakes in $2M+ in earnings by this date, then ups his total to $2,197K, making him the biggest game show winner in TV history (later falling to #1 behind Brad Rutter), the hoopla boosting the show's ratings 22% to #1 among syndicated TV shows; on Nov. 3 (his 66th appearance) he wins a single game record $75K; on Nov. 30 he finally loses in his 75th appearance after winning $2,520,700 (10% of which he gives straight to the Mormon Church) and giving 2.7K correct responses when 48-y.-o. Ventura, Calif. real estate agent Nancy Zerg (1956-) beats him in Final Jeopardy on a question about income tax prep. service H&R Block: "This company has 70K employees, most of which only work 4 mo. of each year"; he guesses Federal Express (and later says that he does his own taxes, meaning the Mormon Church does them to make sure they get all of their 10%?), losing $5601 of his $14,400, leaving $8799, while Zerg bets $4401 of her $10K, giving $14,401; if he hadn't flubbed an easy Double Jeopardy question about Nutsy Bastogne, he wouldn't have lost $5.4K, and if he hadn't flubbed another easy one about cloche hats, he wouldn't have lost another $4.8K, and thus had a shutout game; she loses on her next appearance (Dec. 1) to Katie Fitzgerald; lucky for Ken, losing on a question about a major corp., with a wrong answer giving the name of another major corp., he later makes more moolah by doing ads for both, and gets free income tax prep service for life from H&R Block. On Nov. 2 Sotheby's Auction House announces the sale for $30K of a small leather-bound vol. of drawings by Muhammad Ali, depicting himself fighting Smokin' Joe Frazier; an acrylic-bound vol. of drawings by ex-Beatle Paul McCartney raises $23K, followed by a leather-bound volume of drawings by author J.K. Rowling for $20K; in all $225K is raised for a S London charity for the homeless. On Nov. 3 John Kerry concedes the election to Pres. Bush, choosing not to launch a legal fight over Ohio - knowing the Repubs. can rig the U.S. Supreme Court? On Nov. 3 an AP-Ipsos poll shows Pres. Bush's approval rating dipping to 37%, its lowest ever. On Nov. 2 Dutch filmmaker Theodoor "Theo" van Gogh (1957-2004), great-great grandson of Vincent van Gogh brother Theo van Gogh, known for his criticism of Islamic extremism in the 2004 film Submission is slain in Amsterdam on his bicycle by Dutch-born Dutch-Moroccan Muslim Mohammed Bouyeri (1978-); by Nov. 14 20 attacks are made on Muslim sites, and 13 suspects are being held on terrorist charges; on Nov. 14 PM Jan Peter Balkenende vists a Turkish mosque in Eindhoven in a show of solidarity with the Muslims; a note on van Gogh's chest says that Somalian-born Dutch Muslim-turned-atheist politician-activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali (1969-), his collaborator on the film (which showed naked women with Quran verses inscribed on their bodies) is next, causing her to go under protection with 24-hour bodyguards, then flee to the U.S., where she joins the conservative Am. Enterprise Inst. On Nov. 4 Pres. Bush pledges to aggressively pursue major changes in Social Security, the tax code and medical malpractice awards. On Nov. 4 Latin Am. leaders kick off the Rio Group Conference in Brazil, which commits to sending an additional 1.5K troops to join the 4K already trying to restore order in Haiti. On Nov. 4 military hardliners in top cocoa producer Ivory Coast (two bar soap brand names?) break a ceasefire and launch surprise air strikes against rebel positions in an effort to retake the N part of the country held by Muslim rebels since 2002; on Nov. 6 French troops clash with soldiers and angry mobs in Abidjan after Ivory Coast warplanes kill at least nine French peacekeepers and a U.S. civilian in an air strike, and, although govt. officials call it an accident, on Nov. 7 France responds with overwhelming military force, destroying two Soviet-made Sukhoi jets used in the bombing, plus at least three heli gunships; the 6K-man U.N. peacekeeping force there incl. 4K French troops; the French declare that new Ivory Coast pres. (2000-11) Laurent Koudou Gbagbo (1945-) will be "held personally responsible by the international community for the public order in Abidjan", and order an evacuation; on Nov. 14 African leaders meeting in Abuja, Nigeria back an arms embargo. On Nov. 7 coordinated attacks on police stations throughout Iraq kill more than 50 people; two dozen Americans are wounded. On Nov. 8-Dec. 23 thousands of U.S. troops attack Sunni insurgent strongholds in the Second Battle of Fallujah in Iraq, scoring a big military V for the U.S. and destroying the city, eliminating the last major guerrilla safe haven in Iraq; it is really a U.S. atrocity because they used depleted and enriched uranium, cluster bombs, white phosphorous, and other terror weapons? On Nov. 9 U.S. atty.-gen. John Ashcroft and commerce secy. Don Evans resign, becoming the first George W. Bush cabinet members to leave. On Nov. 10-16 the USS Nimitz UFO Incident sees two F/A-18 Super Hornet pilots led by Strike Fighter Squadron 41 cmdr. allegedly ancounter a UFO, which critics attribute to equipment malfunction; on May 31-July 5, 2019 the History Channel debuts Unidentified: Inside America's UFO Investigation, featuring Blink-182 lead singer Tom DeLonge, 2015 founder of the To the Stars Academy of Arts & Sciences; in Sept. 2019 a 2nd season is greenlit after viral clips from the show are confirmed by the U.S. Navy to be authentic footage. On Nov. 11 Palestinians worldwide mourn the death of leader Yasser Arafat, waving flags and burning tires. On Nov. 12 after damning testimony and tapes of conversations with his lover Amber Frey are heard by the jury, former fertilizer salesman Scott Lee Peterson (1972-) is convicted of murdering his pregnant wife Laci and dumping her body in San Francisco Bay in a crowd-pleasing verdict after a sensationalized 5-mo. trial; on Dec. 13 the jury recommends the death penalty; Judge Alfred A. Delucchi sentences him formally on Feb. 25, at which time Peterson joins 641 other inmates on Calif.'s death row, only 10 of whom have been executed since Calif. brought back capital punishment in 1978; San Quentin happens to overlook San Francisco Bay, where Laci's body was dumped?; Amber Frey's atty. is up-and-coming Gloria Allred, who represented Paula Jones against Pres. Bill Clinton. On Nov. 13 a U.S. Marine shoots and kills an apparently unarmed wounded Iraqi in a mosque in Fallujah, Iraq, angering Sunni Muslims as a video tape of the incident is shown over and over on Muslim TV; Marines could be heard telling the soldier that the raghead bum was playing dead? - everybody plays the fool sometime, but in Iraq it's one time too many? On Nov. 14 a group of Palestinian gunmen unleash bursts of gunfire as Yasser Arafat's likely successor Mahmoud Abbas arrives at a morning service for the deceased leader, killing two security officers and wounding four more; this comes hours after it is announced that elections will be held on Jan. 9 to replace Arafat, the first vote in nine years. On Nov. 14 Iran notifies the U.N. nuclear watchdog that it will suspend uranium enrichment and related activities to dispel suspicions that it is trying to build nukes - how soon will they forget? On Nov. 15 Colin Powell announces his resignation, and on Nov. 16 Pres. Bush names his nat. security adviser Condoleezza Rice (1954-) as the new U.S. secy. of state (until Jan. 20, 2009), becoming the 2nd woman and first black woman. On Nov. 15 the White House announces the resignation of education secy. Rod Paige, agriculture secy. Ann Veneman, and energy secy. Spencer Abraham. As of Nov. 15 the U.S. Supreme Court has gone 10 years and 3 mo. without a change; the only longer period was 11 years 8 mo. from 1812-23; only 3 times before (1932-7, 1864-70, 1846-51) has it even gone past 5 years. On Nov. 15 a steamy intro to ABC's Monday Night Football (Philadelphia Eagles at Dallas Cowboys) featuring naked white blonde babe Nicolette Sheridan of the hit show Desperate Housewives dropping her towel and jumping into the arms of big tall black Eagles receiver Terrell Owens in his locker room draws complaints from angry viewers and the NFL, and an apology from ABC; announcer John Madden was originally picked for the skit, but didn't have the time? On Nov. 16 Iraq CARE dir. Margaret Hassan (b. 1945) (abducted on Oct. 19 from her car in Baghdad) becomes the first woman hostage to be killed by the insurgents since the U.S. invasion; so far 243 foreigners and Iraqis have been abducted, 162 freed, 31 missing and 50 killed; another woman, a Polish-Iraqi citizen remains a hostage. On Nov. 17 ailing retail giants Sears and K-Mart announce an $11B merger in hopes of staying afloat in the face of the dominant retailer Wal-Mart. On Nov. 18 the U.K. Civil Partnership Act of 2004 is given royal assent, creating parallel rights to married couples; full same-sex marriage is legalized in ? On Nov. 19 Iraqi electoral officials announce that they have set the date of Jan. 30 for the country's first dem. elections for the 275-member Nat. Assembly despite all the Sunni violence and boycott threats by Sunni Arab leaders. On Nov. 19 the world's leading economic nations cancel 80% of Iraq's $38.9B debt; Iraq owes another $80B to Arab countries. On Nov. 19 the U.S. House stuns Pres. Bush by killing legislation to reorganize America's intel services after the Pentagon, fearful of losing their turf influence conservative Repubs. to block it; public outcry causes them to about-face on Dec. 7, creating a dir. of nat. intelligence with power over the country's 15 intel agencies, a nat. counterterrorism center, and a civil liberties board to monitor the govt.'s activities; Defense officials are given priority in battlefield areas over spy satellite and other intel. The real She Vangs combined with the real Deer Hunter? On Nov. 21 36-y.-o. Hmong Lsoa immigrant Chai Soua Vang (b. 1968) of St. Paul, Minn. shoots eight deer hunters in NW Wisc., killing six after he claims that the white hunters surrounded and threw racial slurs at him; on Nov. 8, 2005 he is sentenced to six life sentences, equal to life without parole; on Jan. 6, 2007 the body of Hmong squirrel hunter Cha Vang (b. 1976) is found shot with a shotgun and stabbed 6x in a wildlife refuge near Green Bay, Wisc., and on Jan. 16, 2007 James Allen Nichols (1978-) (white) is charged with murder, but ony convicted by an all-white jury of 2nd degree intentional homicide on Oct. 6, 2007, with a 60-year sentence, causing Hmongs to call it a retaliatory killing. On Nov. 21 Pres. Bush attends an economic summit in Chile, pledging a fresh push for stalled immigration reforms. On Nov. 21 scientists supervise the release of water from Glen Canyon Dam near Page, Ariz. into the Grand Canyon in an effort to restore beaches and save fish and plants that have been disappearing since the dam's construction 40 years earlier; four of eight native species of fish have disappeared, and a fifth (the humpback chub) is endangered. On Nov. 21 a China Yunnan (Eastern) Airlines CRJ-200 en route from Baotou to Shanghai, China catches fire, breaks up, and crashes into a frozen lake 2km (1.2 mi.) from the runway,killing all 47 passengers and six crew plus two on the ground; the next major Chinese airline accident isn't until Aug. 24, 2010. On Nov. 22 in Ukraine the Orange Rev. begins with tens of thousands of demonstrators jamming downtown Kiev, resulting in pro-Western opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko declaring himself the winner of the disputed Nov. 21 pres. election and taking a symbolic oath of office to the approval of hundreds of thousands of street protesters as the U.S. govt. urges the Ukrainian govt. not to certify Kremlin-backed PM Viktor Fedorovich Yanukovich (1950-), backed by outgoing Pres. Leonid Kuchma as the winner, but they do it on Nov. 24; on Nov. 27 Ukraine's parliament declares the election to have been rigged by the Central Elections Commission, but their vote is only symbolic, and the Supreme Court is left to decide; on Nov. 29 the opposition, which had been blocking access to govt. bldgs. gives Kuchma 24 hours to fire Yanukovich; a revote is scheduled for Dec. 26; the whole affair puts Pres. Bush in opposition to Russian Pres. Putin, who had been developing a close relationship based on their shared fight against terrorism but who seems to be aiming at becoming a dictator in the process; the Orange Rev. smells of a pattern of pro-NATO "Color Revs." stage-managed by the U.S., causing a break in U.S.-Russian relations?; meanwhile, speaking of organ, in Dec. tests reveal that Yushchenko has been surreptitiously poisoned with dioxin (Agent Orange), causing him to visibly age and his face to become pockmarked; he reportedly has the 2nd-highest level of dioxin ever recorded, more than 6K times the normal concentration; luckily he recovers. On Nov. 23 Dan Rather apologizes for his Sept. 8 60 Minutes II misreport on Bush, then announces that he will step down as anchor of the CBS Evening News next Mar. 9, leaving the anchor post he inherited from Walter Cronkite after 24 years to the day; he never reveals if one is caused by the other. On Nov. 23 former pres. Clinton opens his double-wide-trailer-shaped pres. library during a rainy day in Little Rock, Ark.; U-2 performs live to jazz it up for the four living presidents present (Carter, Bush Sr., Bush Jr., Clinton). On Nov. 23 actor Robert Downey Jr. makes his singing debut with a CD, The Futurist, containing eight pop ballads written and sung by himself, plus Smile, by his movie alter-ego Charlie Chaplin; he appears on the Oprah Winfrey Show to plug it and talk about his past life of drugs and scrapes with the law; just two days earlier comedian $25M per movie actor Jim Carrey (1956-) tells 60 Minutes that he gave up Prozac and alcohol because they didn't cure his depression, and "life is too beautiful". On Nov. 25 Yemen authorities announce the release of 113 Al-Qaida militants after they had "recanted their extremist views". On Nov. 25 Sunni Muslim spokesman urge postponement of the upcoming Jan. 30 Iraqi nat. elections, without effect. On Nov. 25 (Thur.) Pres. Bush visits Iraq, getting involved in Turkeygate when critics claim he poses with a plastic turkey, although it's real? On Nov. 28 a gas explosion in the state-owned Chenjiashan coal mine in Shaanxi province in C China kills 25 and traps 141 others, and 127 escape. On Nov. 28 a plane crash outside Montrose, Colo. injures NBC-TV Sports chmn. Dick Ebersol (1947-) (husband of actress Jill St. John, er, Susan St. James), and kills his 14-y.-o. son Teddy and two crew members. On Nov. 29 a 7.1 earthquake strikes Hokkaido, Japan at 3:22 a.m., but no deaths result. On Nov. 29 Pres Bush nominates Havana-born cereal giant Kellogg Co. CEO Carlos Miguel Gutierrez (1953-) to be U.S. commerce secy. - start the day right? On Nov. 30 Tom Ridge announces his resignation as Dept. of Homeland Security secy. On Nov. 30 NAACP pres. Kweisi Mfume announces his resignation after nearly nine years. On Nov. 30 Ambrose Kappos is acquitted of burglary and stalking charges involving singer Sheryl Crow. In Nov. the civil war in Ivory Coast erupts again. In Nov. Turkey declares Mt. Ararat and the surrounding area a nat. park. In Nov. Shania Twain becomes the first singer to have an album certified 20x platinum. In Nov. the San Francisco Chronicle runs a photo of the cigarette-smoking "Marlboro Man", identified only as "a member of Charlie Company" in Iraq during the battle for Fallujah; he turns out to be James Blake Miller from Jonancy, Ky., later being discharged from the Marines with post-traumatic stress disorder; on June 3, 2006 he marries Jessica Holbrook, with readers of the San Francisco Chronicle contributing $15K; he files for divorce on June 26; of course the real Marlboro Man David McLean (-1995) died of lung cancer? In Nov. the season premiere of the Oprah Winfrey Show features a giant giveaway of a free new Pontiac G6 to every member of the audience; Pontiac pays for it, not Oprah, and the lucky winners have to pay taxes on it - while her soup tonight's butternut squash? In Nov. the mummy of King Tutankhamun is taken from its tomb in the Valley of the Kings outside Luxor and flown to Cairo for X-rays in an attempt to solve the mystery of how the 17-y.-o. pharaoh died; it is the first time in 82 years that his remains leave his tomb. In Nov. the Indian state of Orissa uses wildlife protection laws to shut down 20K prof. snake charmers, but they fight back, threatening to release their snakes in the state assembly if arrests don't cease. In Nov. the 51-member Cuban dance troupe Havana Night Club, created by Nicole "N.D." Durr becomes one of the largest groups of Cubans to defect to the U.S.; in July, 2005 49 are allowed to stay after the rest decide to return. In Nov. former U.S. pres. Bill Clinton interviews Peter Jennings on ABC PrimeTime, and calls Kenyan pres. (since 2002) Mwai Kibai the one living person he'd most like to meet "because of the Kenyan government's decision to abolish school fees for primary education", which increased school attendance by 1.7M; he finally meets the dude on July 22, 2005. In Nov. the Intelligencer, Journal of U.S. Intelligence Studies pub. an article by Mass. Gen. Hospital senior psychiatrist William Henry Anderson warning that the U.S. Muslim body politic contains 100K "zealots" that would have to be exterminated the way the "treatment of cancer requires killing of the malignant cells"; he is ignored until ? In Nov. after becoming the first Ascended Master to admit a channeled UFO-related entity, Master Ashtar into his teachings, Joshua David Stone (1953-2005) founds I AM (Integrated Ascended Masters) U. in San Luis Obispo, Calif., which later moves to Austria; when he dies Gloria Excelsias takes over. On Dec. 1 World AIDS Day laments that 39.4M people now have it, two-thirds of them in black Africa, starting with 5.3M in South Africa, then continuing N, 1.8M in Zimbabwe, 1.2M in Kenya, 1.1M in Congo, 1.5M in Ethiopia, peaking at 3.6M in Nigeria, then suddenly ending with the N border states of Gambia, Senegal, Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt, none of which have more than 15K; the Bush admin. goes ahead with its June, 2002 $500M plan to push the AIDS drug nevirapine for pregnant women across Africa, despite Health & Human Services Dept. warnings that NIH research on the drug is flawed, and that it might threaten newborns with severe reactions incl. death. On Dec. 1 Tom Brokaw leaves the anchor desk at #1 "NBC Nightly News" after 42 years at the network, and is succeeded by Brian Douglas Williams (1959-) - the straight white cowboy on the evening boob tube continues to reassure those hiding from the racial-sexual zoo on the daytime boob tube? On Dec. 2 Pres. Bush nominates former New York City police commissioner (2000-1) Bernard Bailey "Bernie" Kerik (1955-) to run the Dept. of Homeland Security, but Kerik withdraws his name days later, citing immigration problems with a former nanny; in 2006 Kerik pleads guilty to two ethics violations and pays $221K, then on Nov. 8, 2007 is indicted by a federal grand jury on 16 counts of conspiracy and fraud; his friend Ruly Giuliani, who had promoted him in New York City gets the flak - immigrated what into her what? On Dec. 5 Russian Pres. Putin makes the first official visit by a Russian leader to Turkey, meeting with Turkish Pres. Ahmet Necdet Sezer for two days while shrugging off protests by Turkish pro-Chechans. On Dec. 5 gunmen ambush a bus carrying unarmed Iraqis to work at a U.S. ammo dump near Tikrit, Iraq, killing 17. On Dec. 5 the Web site Digg is launched by Robert Kevin Rose (1977-) et al. to let users suggest technology news articles. On Dec. 6 "eternal teenager" Dick Clark suffers a mild stroke, which prevents him from hosting his annual "Rockin'" Times Square New Year's Eve TV special, and Regis Philbin subs; he returns for the Jan. 1, 2006 show, displaying speech impediments. On Dec. 6 Al-Qaida militants invade the U.S. Consulate in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, killing five non-U.S. consulate employees and wounding 13; four of the five attackers are killed, and one captured wounded; on Dec. 16 Osama bin Laden, speaking on an audiotape posted on an Islamic Web site praises the attackers, and calls on militants to stop the flow of oil to the West. On Dec. 6 Iraqi militants brazenly roam Baghdad's streets within blocks of the U.S. Embassy and the HQ of Iraq's interim govt., looking to kill any Iraqis working for the U.S.; the U.S. strikes back, but the militants score a publicity coup. On Dec. 7 Hamid Karzai (1957-) is sworn-in as the first popularly elected pres. of Afghanistan (until ?); U.S. vice-pres. Dick Cheney attends the ceremony in Kabul; men line up for a shave after five hairy years under the intolerant Taliban. On Dec. 7 deputy interior dept. secy. (former lobbyist) J. Steven Griles resigns in the wake of an ethics probe alleging that he failed to sever ties with former business interests. On Dec. 8 the U.S. Senate votes 89-2 to approve the biggest overhaul of the U.S. intelligence system in 50 years. On Dec. 8 Joyce and Stanley Boim of the U.S. are awarded $156 by a federal court jury for the murder of their teenie son David, who was shot and killed in May 1999 by Hamas in Israel; the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, Islamic Assoc. for Palestine, Quranic Literacy Inst., and Muhammad Salah are defendants found liable. On Dec. 9 Pres. Bush publicly rules out raising taxes to finance a Social Security overhaul. On Dec. 10 an Apache heli collides with a UH-60 Black Hawk heli that was on the ground at an air base in Mosul, Iraq, killing two U.S. soldiers and injuring four. On Dec. 12 a bomb explodes in a S Philippines market, killing 14. On Dec. 12 militants blow up a base in Israel, killing five soldiers. On Dec. 12 Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas apologizes for PLO support of Saddam Hussein during his 1990 invasion of Kuwait. On Dec. 13 media billionaire Rupert S. Murdoch buys the 834 Fifth Ave. penthouse of the late Laurence S. Rockefeller (at 64th St., across from the entrance to the Central Park Zoo) for $44M, becoming the most expensive residence in Manhattan history. On Dec. 14 two trains collide head-on in the rural N Punjab state of India, killing 37 and injuring 40. On Dec. 14 Felix Vazquez (1965-), a catcher on his co. baseball team catches 1-mo.-o. Eric Guzman after mother Tracinda Foxe drops him from her 3rd floor Bronx, N.Y. apt. during a fire, then gives him mouth-to-mouth, and is captured on video, making him a nat. hero. On Dec. 15 a bomb targeting prominent Shiite cleric Sheik Abdul Mahdi al-Karbalayee wounds him and kills seven outside one of S Iraq's holiest shrines. On Dec. 15 Time Warner Inc. agrees to pay more than $500M to settle federal securities fraud and accounting investigations of its America Online unit. On Dec. 16 Pres. Bush says that Social Security is headed for bankruptcy, and pushes a plan for private retirement accounts. On Dec. 16 Bobby Jo Stinnett (1981-) of Skidmore, Mo. is found in her home, dying with her unborn baby cut from her womb; Lisa Montgomery of Melvern, Kan. is arrested for strangling her, stealing the baby from her womb and claiming it as her own. On Dec. 16 17M viewers watch Donald Trump hire West Point grad. and software exec Kelly Perdew as his latest protege; in Apr. 28M watched him hire his 1st protege, Bill Rancic, all on NBC-TV. On Dec. 19 car bombs go off in a funeral procession in Najaf, Iraq and the main bus station in Karbala (both Shiite holy cities), killing 60 and wounding 120. On Dec. 20 Pres. Bush lets the cat out of the bag in a press conference, admitting that American resolve has been shaken by the carnage in Iraq, bravely blaming it on the performance of U.S.-trained Iraqi troops? On Dec. 21 a crowded dining hall at a U.S. base near Mosul, Iraq is bombed by Abu Omar al-Mosuli, a suicide bomber wearing an Iraqi uniform who slips into the base through a hole in the fence, killing 22, incl. 18 Americans (14 U.S. service members), and wounding 76, upping the ante as elections approach; seven employees of Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR), a subsidiary of Houston-based Halliburton Co. that supplies food service are among the dead; insurgent group Ansar al-Sunnah immediately claims responsibility. On Dec. 22 U.S. defense secy. Donald H. Rumsfeld utters the soundbyte "Their grief is something I feel to my core" in answer to criticism of insensitivity to U.S. troops and their families. On Dec. 22-23 a snowstorm across the lower Midwest U.S. and Ohio Valley breaks 104-y.-o. records for size, intensity and cost, dumping 23 in. of snow on Mansfield, Ohio. Look what the cat dragged in? On Dec. 26 (6:58 a.m.) (Boxing Day in Britain) the 2004 Boxing Day (Indian Ocean) Tsunami sees the Sumatra-Anaman Earthquake, the strongest (9.0) earthquake in 40 years (4th largest in the last cent., equal to 1M Hiroshima-size A-bombs) strike deep beneath the Indian Ocean, unleashing 20-40 ft. tidal waves that ravage the coasts of 11 S Asian and African countries (Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand), killing 230K, destroying 430K homes, and leaving millions homeless; 2003 Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover model Petra Niemcova (1979-) and her boyfriend, fashion photographer Simon Atlee are carried away in the resort of Phuket (pr. POO-ket, not fukit?), which is totally devastated, the 2004 Sri Lanka Tsunami Train Wreck kills 1.7K, becoming the worst rail disaster in history (until ?); but she survives by clinging to a tree for 8 hours; Sri Lanka is hardest hit with over 30K dead; Poom Jensen (b. 1983), grandson of Thai King Bumipol-Adulyadej is killed in Phuket while jet skiing; actor Richard Attenborough's 14-y.-o. granddaughter Lucy is killed, along with his daughter Jane; former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl is evacuated from a Sri Lankan hotel by the Sri Lankan air force; interior designer Nate Berkus (1971-) survives the tsunami in Sri Lanka after losing his gay lover, photographer Fernando Bengoechea (b. 1965); the first tsunami in the Indian Ocean in 500 years, there was no warning system put in place like the U.S. one in the Pacific, costing only $4M a year; on Dec. 29 Pres. Bush proposes a worldwide one, at $20M a year, and one is installed on Sumatra Island by German and Indonesian scientists beginning in Oct.; Pres. Bush embarrasses the U.S. when the initial offer of a paltry $35M for emergency aid draws cries of cheapskate from Jan Egeland, U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator; the offer is raised by Dec. 31 to $350M, and total world aid offered reaches $4B ($1.3B from the U.S.) after U.N. Secy.-Gen. Kofi Annan makes a special appeal for long-term aid; Egeland later claims he was misquoted, and that he was talking about rich countries' total contribution to poor countries in dire need, not the one tsunami disaster per se; by 2006 the U.S. gives $3.16B, and individual donors $2.78B, with an avg. household donation of $135; U.S. corps. give $340M. On Dec. 26 residents of Pe'at Sadeh agree to become the first Jewish settlement in Gaza to be evacuated from the area, which is done next Aug. - 20 more to go. On Dec. 27 opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko declares victory in the 3rd (Dec. 26) Ukrainian pres. election, receiving 56%-58% of the vote, depending on whom you believe. On Dec. 27 satellites, radio transmissions etc. on Earth are disrupted for 0.1 sec. by a starquake. When will the Bush admin. give up that old time Iraq and roll? On Dec. 28 at least 54 are killed by car bombs, assassinations, ambushes, and raids on police stations in the sunny Sunni Triangle; in one Tikrit police station insurgents slit the throats of 12 policemen, then blow it up; a suicide bomber in Samarra wounds 10 people at the city center; in Muradiya a car bomb kills five civilians and wounds dozens more; another group claims it executed eight Iraqi employees of a U.S. security co.; the deputy gov. of Anbar province is assassinated near Ramadi; a car bomb in Baqouba kills five Iraqi Nat. Guardsmen and injures 26, while another gunman assassinates a local police cmdr. On Dec. 29 Pres. Bush assembles a 4-nation coalition to organize humanitarian relief for Asia, and affirms that the U.S. will help bankroll long-term rebuilding. On Dec. 29 64-y.-o. William Alfred "Al" Ginglen (1940-) is sentenced to 40 years in prison in Springfield, Ill. for a string of bank robberies after his own sons recognize him in a surveillance photo and turn him in. On Dec. 30 Adrian, Mich.-born Dem. Christine "Chris" O'Grady Gregoire (1947-) is declared victor of the Wash. gov. election over Repub. Dino Rossi by 129 votes out of 2.8M cast, and next Jan. 12 she is sworn-in as Wash. gov. #22 (until Jan. 16, 2013). On Dec. 30 (night) a fire sweeps through the crowded Buenos Aires nightclub Republica de la Cromagnon during a rock concert, killing 194 and injuring 1,492; 4K mainly teens were inside the club with a building capacity of 1.5K for a concert of the Argentine rock band Los Callejeros; the fire is blamed on the govt. for giving it a permit despite no basic safety equipment incl. fire extinguishers. In Dec. New Zealand legalizes same-sex unions. In the winter of 2004-5 Death Valley, Calif. experiences its greatest rainfall on record (until ?), 6 in., over 3x normal, causing an explosion in Mar. 2005 of 50 kinds of wildflowers and developing the fragrance of a flower shop, along with jillions of bees. The British Labour Party finally pushes through a ban on foxhunting, causing die-hard Conservative Ian Farquhar to break down and cry. South Korean pes. Roh Moo-hyun tries unsuccessfully to move the capital from Seoul to Gongjiu. Kazakhstan signs a deal permitting China to build an oil pipeline to the Chinese border. Genoa, Italy is the European City of Culture for this year. After a scandal causes the arrest of several officials of the "Mutiny on the Bounty" island of Pitcairn, Brenda Christian becomes its first mayor. The govt. of Pakistan outlaws Vani, the Muslim practice of parceling out or trading girls to familes to settle disputes. Flu vaccine prepared by the Chiron Corp. in Britain becomes contaminated, causing a shortage in the U.S. The U.N. World Leaders Summit on Hunger in New York City results in a declaration signed by 110 nations, stating: "The greatest scandal is not that hunger exists but that it persists even when we have the means to eliminate it"; 5M children die each year of hunger, 852M people don't have enough to eat (815 in underdeveloped countries, 28 in developing countries, 9 in developed countries). The Valdai Discussion Club is founded in Russia as a forum that "aims to promote dialogue of Russian and international intellectual elites". Dictator Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan gets a law passed making him and all his family members immune from prosecution forever, making him one of the last authoritarian leaders in control of a former Soviet republic. Aruba decides to indefinitely pospone its independence from the Netherlands, leaving its defense and foreign affairs to it. Brazil briefly pisses-off the world when it denies Internat. Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors access to an enrichment plant. Kayseri, Turkey starts a record 139 new businesses in a single day, earning the title "Anatolian tiger"; meanwhile capitalism is sweeping Turkey, making it the home of "Calvinist Islam". Chile legalizes divorce. The U.S. Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act requires U.S. citizens traveling by air to and from Western Hemisphere states to have a passport to enter the U.S.; starting in Jan. 2008 persons traveling by land and sea also must have one. Federal agents raid the offices of the Islamic Am. Relief Agency-USA, and charge five officers incl. dir. Mubarak Hamed, and former Congressman Mark Deli Siljander with illegally sending $1M+ to Iraq, claiming that it's part of a global network of similar Islamic charities that fund Islamic terrorists; by 2020 three plead guilty. The top three selling vehicles in the U.S. this year are gas-guzzling pickups. The British govt. gives out over 1M blue wristbands in its campaign to stop bullying. A secret 2004 CIA program to hire Blackwater Worldwide to kill top al-Qaida leaders is begun, staging raids Vt.'s largest city Killington, Vt. unsuccessfully tries to join N.H. Jon Stewart criticizes the TV show Crossfire as "partisan hackery". This is the Year of the Gnome for the Bohemian city of Usti nad Labem. Econ Journal Watch is founded (until ?). The Israelis begin putting containers of pork fat in their buses on the theory that Islamists won't want to enter them and blow them up. Hope Not Hate is founded in the U.K. to counter the British Nat. Party (BNP). The London Times pub. its first annual Times Higher Education World Universities Rankings; in 2016 the top five are Oxford U., Caltech, Stanford U., Cambridge U., and MIT. The Muslim Histories and Culture (MHC) Project is founded by the U. of Tex. at Austin and Aga Khan U. in Pakistan to create a Muslim-friendly curriculum for Tex. students. Officials at Sequoia Nat. Park in Calif. destroy 44K marijuana plants this year, allegedly worth $4K per plant; next year they only discover 4.4K plants. A memorial to military chaplains is erected at Ft. Snelling Nat. Cemetery in Minneapolis, Minn. (founded in 1939). The Nat. Trust for Historic Preservation designates the entire state of Vt. as endangered. The first wolverine in 200 years is seen in Mich., the Wolverine State. A descendant of "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" author Samuel Taylor Coleridge enters the 2K-mi. Albatross Race. The word "snowclone" is coined by Glen Whitman on Jan. 15 in reference to the many words for snow in the Eskimo language; e.g., "40 is the new 30", "50 is the new 40". Tylenol finally markets an EZ-Open container for arthritics. After designing the Sheikh Zayed Bridge in Abu-Dhabi in 1997-2010, and the Nat. Museum of the Arts of the 21st Cent. (MAXXI) in Rome, Italy in 1998-2010, Iraqi-born British architect ("Queen of the Curve" Dame Zaha Mohammad Hadid (1950-2016) becomes the first woman to win the Pritzker Architecture Prize. Truth & Soul Records is founded in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, N.Y. by Leon Michels and Jeff Silverman, going on to sign acts incl. The Phenomenal Handclap Band, The Fabulous Three, and Lee Fields and The Expressions. A 10-y.-o. cheese sandwich that resembles the Virgin Mary (from a Wall Drug in S.D.?) is auctioned on eBay for $28K. The Oldsmobile discontinues production after 106 years. Coke announces Coke II, and Pepsi announces Pepsi Edge, new versions with half the calories and carbs. Reynolds American Inc. is formed in Jan. from R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., Am. Snuff Co., Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Co., and Niconovum AB, becoming the 2nd largest tobacco co. in the U.S., selling 28% of all cigarettes in the U.S. by 2010; in July 2014 it purchases Lorillard Tobacco Co. for $25B. Nevada becomes a big attraction with Chinese tourists, causing the Nevada Tourism Board to run ads there. U.S. Jewish immigration to Israel is 2,690, the highest since the 1984 figure of 2,827. Between 1998-2004 the avg. nicotine yield of an Am. cigarette goes up 10%; the Newport 100 menthol is #1 at 3.2 mg. "Low-carb" is the U.S. food product marketing buzzword this year, but by the end of the year consumers begin to lose interest with the often flat and tasteless potato chips, cookies and other food on the store shelves, and it just sits there. Ryan Seacrest replaces Casey Kasem on the radio show "America's Top 40". Jack Daniel's lowers the alcohol of its flagship brand Old No. 7 Black Label "Quality Tennessee Sour Mash Whiskey" from 86 proof to 80 proof. The liberal Air America Network gets off to a shaky start but reaches 40 radio markets by the end of the year. The World Wide Web sports 10B+ pages; the Internet still fails to kill paper-based book sales, although 1 of 12 book sales is of used books ($2.2B total, $600M over the Internet, a 11%/33% jump from 2003). The Statue of Liberty, shut down after 9/11 reopens, but tourists are only allowed to the top of the pedestal, or Lady Liberty's toes. Thieves steal 240 manhole covers in Beijing, China for scrap. The avg. 1-way commute in the U.S. this year is 24.4 mi. Billboard begins carrying a top-20 list of ring tones for cell phones, incl. "My Boo", "Theme from Halloween", and "Ice Ice Baby". Wrigley Co. purchases Life Savers and Altoids from Kraft Foods for $1.48B; in 2008 Mars Co. purchases Wrigley for $23B. Intel Corp. begins shipping 95% lead-free microprocessor packages. Mark Zackersky founds Freebook.com to provide free ebooks, audio, books and book summaries. The U.S. Mint issues state quarters for Mich. (Jan.). A Ming vase is auctioned for $6M. Ted "The Poet Man" Kooser (1939-) becomes U.S. poet laureate #13 (until 2006). The U.S. porno industry goes through an AIDS scare. Velcro is added to U.S. Army uniforms; too bad, after it proves unable to handle desert dust, it is discontinued in Aug. 2010. British neurologist Natasha Campbell-McBride coins the term Gut and Psychology Syndrome (GAPS), for the connection between functions of the digestive system and brain. The Guam Broadbill songbird is declared extinct after loss of habitat and the introduction of brown tree snakes wipe it out. Sports: On Feb. 15 the 2004 (46th) Daytona 500, the first to air in high-definition is won by Ralph Dale Earnhardt Jr. (1974-), becoming his first win six years to the day after his father's first and only win; Tony Stewart comes in 2nd, and rookie Scott Wimmer comes in 3rd. In Feb. Roger Federer (1981-) of Switzerland becomes the #1 tennis player in the world; too bad, he can't win on clay, and never wins the French Open? On Mar. 31 Laguna, Calif.-born Melissa "Missy" Bellinder (1981-) (later Parkin) becomes the first woman to join the Prof. Bowlers Assoc. (PBA). On May 1 despite smashing his head against an iron bar and fracturing his skull the year before, causing him to be nicknamed "Quasimodi" for his swollen head and eyes, Philly's favorite son Smarty Jones (2001-) (chestnut colt) (jockey Stewart Elliott in his Triple Crown debut), owned by emphysema sufferer Roy Chapman (1926-2006) wins the Kentucky Derby, becoming the first horse with a perfect record to win since Seattle Slew in 1977; on May 15 he wins the 129th Preakness by a record 11.5 lengths; on June 5 at Belmont (a 3-10 favorite) he fades in the stretch and is beaten by 36-1 longshot Birdstone (2001-) (jockey Edgar Prado) by a length; he retires in the summer. On May 8 6'10" pitcher Randall David "Randy" Johnson (1963-) ("the Big Unit") of the Arizona Diamondbacks throws a perfect game in a 2-0 win over the Atlanta Braves in Atlanta, becoming the 15th in ML baseball since 1900. On May 14 Brandon Inge and Omar Infante of the Detroit Tigers hit back-to-back homers, becoming the first-ever teammates with names beginning with the letter I to do it? On May 25-June 7 the 2004 Stanley Cup Finals see the Tampa Bay Lightning (first appearance in the Finals) defeat the Calgary Flames (first appearance since 1989) 4-3; MVP is 6'0" center Bradley Glenn "Brad" Richards (1980-) of the Lightning; on June 5 in Game 6 a goal by Lightning right wing Martin St. Louis (1975-) 33 sec. into the 2nd OT forces a game 7, in which Ruslan Fedotenko (1979-) scores two goals to help the Tampa Lightning to its first championship vs. the Calgary Flames. On May 30 the 2004 (88th) Indianapolis 500 is won by Buddy Rice (1976-) after the race is ended by rain at 180 laps (450 mi.); team owners are Bobby Rahal and David Letterman. On June 6-15 the 2004 NBA Finals sees the Detroit Pistons (coach Larry Brown) defeat the Los Angeles Lakers (coach Phil Jackson) by 4-1; Chauncey Billups of the Pistons is MVP; William Davidson becomes the first pro sports owner to win two titles in one year. On June 9 Rusty Wallace sets a NASCAR speed record of 216.309 mph at Talladega Superspeedway, beating Bill Elliott's 1987 record of 212.809 mph. On June 18-July 13 the 2004 FIDE World Chess Championship is held at the Almahary Hotel in Tripoli, Libya, where Muammar al-Gaddafi offers $2M in prizes and Israeli players are excluded, causing former U.S. and U.S.S.R. champ Boris Franzevich Gulko (1947-) and most top players to boycott it, with Gulko writing a letter to FIDE pres. Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, with the soundbyte: "I implore you not to be the first president of FIDE to preside over the first world chess championship from which Jews are excluded. Our magnificent and noble game does not deserve such a disgrace"; originally the winner was going to play world champ Garry Kassparov, but it never happens; a similar thing happened in 1986, where it was held in the UAE. On July 3 17-y.-o. 6'2" Maria Yuryevna Sharapova (1987-) upsets Serena Williams to win the 2004 Wimbleton women'a singles title; she becomes world #1 next Aug. 22, but wins no major titles until the 2006 U.S. Open. On July 25 Texas-born bicyclist Lance Armstrong wins a record 6th Tour de Lance, er, France. In Aug. the Internat. Basketball League (IBL) is founded with eight teams by Portland, Ore. sports promoter to play a faster, more exciting, higher-scoring (by 30 points) form of the game, incl. a 22-sec. shot clock and the immediate inbound rule; by Apr. 2005 it has 17 teams; the first championship is won by the Battle Creek Knights after they defeat the Dayton Jets; in July 2011 it is sold to Bryan Hunter of Vancouver, Wash.; in Mar. 2014 it merges with the West Coast Basketball League (WCBL). On Sept. 17 Barry "asterisk" Bonds hits his 700th homer at SBC Park, becoming the first member of the ML 700-homer club in 31 years; Steve Williams (1979-) secures the ball after a scramble in the beachers, and later Timothy Murphy (1965-) sues him, claiming the ball should be his because he had it locked behind his knees before Williams swiped it; on Oct. 27 Williams sells the ball for $804,129 after a 10-day online auction on Overstock.com. On Oct. 1 Ichiro Suzuki (1973-) of the Seattle Mariners breaks the 84-y.-o. record of George Sisler as he scores his 258th ML hit in a single season, with a single in the 3rd inning against the Texas Rangers in an 8-3 game; he later gets another hit, giving him 259 for the season and a ML-leading .373 average; "Through my career, I think this is the best moment" (Suzuki). On Nov. 20 the 2004 Harvard-Yale Prank at the annual Harvard-Yale football game sees Yale students pretending to be the Harvard pep squad hand out placards to Harvard fans which when they raise the together spell "We Suck". The 2004 Anti-FIDE Chess Olympiad is hosted in Libya, where Muammar al-Gaddafi offers $2M in prizes and Israeli players are excluded, causing former U.S. and U.S.S.R. champ Boris Gulko and most top players to boycott it; a similar thing happened in 1986, where it was held in the UAE, and 1976, when it was held in Tripoli, LIbya. On Nov. 19 (Fri.) in The Palace in Auburn Hills, Mich. an Indiana Pacers-Detroit Pistons game is stopped with 45.9 sec. remaining after the fans and the teams get into a brawl, incl. the Pacers' Ronald William "Ron" Artest Jr. (1979-) and Stephen Jesse Jackson (1978-) going into the stands after fans dump refreshments on them; the Pacers win 97-82, but the struggling NBA is given a black eye, and on Nov. 21 nine players are banned for 143 games, incl. a season-long (73 game) suspension for Artest, 30 games for Jackson, 25 for Jermaine O'Neal, 5 for Anthony Johnson (all of the Pacers), and 6 games for Detroit's Ben Wallace, who started it all by shoving Artest after a foul - why can't we be friends? I take my honey to the welfare line, I see you standing in it every time? On Dec. 26 Indianapolis Colts QB (#18) Peyton (Gael. "royal") Williams Manning (1976-) breaks Dan Marino's 1984 record of 48 TDs in the regular season in a game against the San Diego Chargers, with 49, which it takes Tom Brady of the New England Patriots until 2007 to beat (50); Manning ends the season with an NFL record QB rating of 121.1. The Brunswick Euro Challenge is founded, open to amateur and prof. 10-pin bowlers from the U.S., Europe, and Asia. In the 2004-5 season the avg. NBA salary tops $4M ($4.4M), making basketball players the world's highest-paid athletes. 5'11" Tex.-born RB Jamario Thomas (1985-) of the U. of North Tex. sets an NCAA record for the fastest to reach 1K yards, with 1,801 yards for the season, and the NCAA freshman record for five 200-yard games; too bad, after injuries his performance drops for the rest of his college career, and he is not drafted by the NFL. Architecture: On May 18 the 1M sq. ft. Sands Macau, owned by Sheldon Gary Adelson (1933-) opens, becoming the PRC's first Las Vegas-style casino. On Apr. 29 the Nat. World War II Memorial between the Washington and Lincoln Monuments in Washington, D.C. opens; on May 29 it is dedicated by Pres. George W. Bush. On July 4 a 20-ton granite slab inscribed "The enduring spirit of freedom" is laid as the cornerstone of the 1,776-ft. Freedom Tower skyscraper that will replace the WTC twin towers. On July 6, 2004 the £3.6M Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain at the SW corner of Hyde Park S of the Serpentine Lake in London, England opens, featuring 545 pieces of Cornish granite arranged in 165 ft. x 260 ft. x 20 ft. stream bed surrounded by a lush grassy field. In July $17M Crown Fountain opens in Millennium Park in Chicago, Ill., designed by Catalan artist Jaume Piensa, consisting of a black granite reflecting pool between a pair of 50' glass brick towers covered with LEDS that display digital videos incl. waterfalls and 1K+ Chicago residents who puff their cheeks as a stream of water shoots out of their mouths. On Aug. 8 the 22K sq. ft. BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir Hindu Temple in Bartlett (near Chicago), Ill. opens, becoming the largest Hindu stone temple in the U.S. (until ?). On Sept. 21 the 250K-sq.-ft. Nat. Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., on the Nat. Mall next to the Air and Space Museum opens; it features an exterior of Kasota limestone from Minn. with a unique curvilinear design suggesting carving by wind and water. On Nov. 16 the $133M MTS Centre in Winnipeg, Man. opens as the home of the NHL Winnipeg Jets and the AHL Manitoba Moose; on Oct. 17, 2011 the Winnipeg Jets win their first game there. On Dec. 31 the 1,667-ft. Taipei 101 skyscraper in Taiwan opens to the public, becoming the world's tallest bldg. (until 2007). The Tornado Musical Fountain opens in Europa Park in Rust, Germany, later moved to the Colosseo Hotel; more are installed at Futuroscope in Poitiers (2011), Sharjah, UAE, Wetzlar, Germany, Tbilisi, Georgia, Ningbo, China, and Busan, South Korea, which becomes the world's largest indoor water show. Nobel Prizes: Peace: Wangari Muta Maathai (1940-) (Kenya) [Green Belt Movement]; Lit.: Elfriede Jelinek (1946-) (Austria) (states that she considers Austrian writer Peter Handke to be more worthy and that she got the award just for being female, and sends a video message instead of attending, claiming agoraphobia); Physics: David Jonathan Gross (1941-) (U.S.), Frank Anthony Wilczek (1951-) (U.S.), and Hugh David Politzer (U.S.) [asymptotic freedom in the strong interaction]; Chem.: Avram Hershko (1937-) (Israel), Aaron Ciechanover (1947-) (Israel), and Irwin A. Rose (1926-) (U.S.) [ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation]; Medicine: Richard Axel (1946-) (U.S.) and Linda Brown Buck (1947-) (U.S.) [odorant receptors and org. of olfactory system]; Economics: Finn Erling Kydland (1943-) (Norway) and Edward Christian Prescott (1940-) (U.S.) [dynamic macroeconomics]. Inventions: On Jan. 3 NASA's Mars rover Spirit touches down on Mars - monsters vs. aliens is a must-see in 3-D? On Sept. 8 the $264M Lockheed-Martin Genesis space capsule (launched Aug. 8, 2001), after 29 mo. in space collecting solar wind particles from the sun crashes in a Utah desert at 193 mph after the parachute fails to deploy, losing the data collected; a part that releases the parachute was later found to have been installed backwards? - was it software or hardware? On Sept. 29 after being piloted on Dec. 17, 2003 (100th anniv. of the Wright Brothers' first flight) by William Brian Binnie (1953-), reaching supersonic flight, SpaceShipOne, travels into space and back, breaking the 100 km (62 mi.) line and reaching an alt. of 102.93km, piloted by Michael Winston "Mike" Melvill (1940-), then on Oct. 4 reaching 112.014km piloted by Binnie, being plagued by a series of 29 rapid rolls near the top of its ascent, winning the $10M Ansari X Prize for the first manned private spaceflight, named for Iranian-born Am. Texas telecom entrepreneur Anousheh Ansari (1966-); it was designed by Burt Rutan (brother of Dick Rutan) and financed by Paul G. Allen; the previous record alt. for an air-launched craft was 354K ft., reached by a U.S. X-15 in 1963; on Sept. 18, 2006 Ansari becomes the first private female space explorer and first Eastern and Muslim woman in space. On Sept. 30 arthritis drug Vioxx is withdrawn from the market by its manufacturer Merck & Co. after reports of it triggering heart attacks, plus a $253M award on Aug. 9 in Angleton, Tex. to the widow of Robert Ernst, who died after taking the drug for 8 mo. In Oct. Google Maps is acquired from Sydney, Australia-based Where 2 Technologies, owned by Danish brothers Lars Eilstrup Rasmussen and Jens Eilstrup Rasmussen, turned from a downloadable to Web-based app, and launched by Google in Feb. 2005. On Nov. 16 the 12-ft.-long unmanned air-breathing NASA X-43A scramjet flies under its own power above the Pacific Ocean for 10 sec., reaching Mach 9.7 (7K mph), the 3rd of its kind (#2 reached Mach 6.83 in Mar.); the SR-71 Blackbird is still the fastest air-breathing manned aircraft at Mach 3. In Nov. Firefox open source browser is released by Mozilla, gaining 300M users by 2009. Honda releases the first fuel cell vehicle to the consumer market; fuel cells were supposed to begin appearing in homes and camps this year. Iomega introduces a 1 GB model of its Micro Mini line of zip drives, weighing 0.5 oz. and having an 8 MB/sec read speed, all for only $179.95. The PalmOne Treo 600 smartphone is released, causing a rev. in palmsize Internet terminals. Roll-up displays (flexible computer/TV screens) were supposed to go on the market this year, according to Wired.com. The first electronic cigarette, based on ultrasonic atomizing technoogy is patented in the U.S., in which nicotine is dissolved in a cartridge containing propylene glycol, then atomized to create an ultrafine spray resembling smoke. Science: On Feb. 13 (Ides of Feb.) the Diamond Star Lucy (white dwarf BPM 37093) 50 l.y. from Earth is announced by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, containing 10 billion trillion trillion (1E34) carats, becoming the universe's largest known diamond; named after the 1967 Beatles' song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". On Mar. 23 NASA announces that its Mars Exploration Rovers have discovered evidence of past liquid water on the Martian surface after Opportunity's landing site Meridiani Planum shows evidence of being the shoreline of a long-gone salty sea. In Apr. a female mouse named Kaguya-hime (after a 10th cent. folk tale about a baby girl discovered in a bamboo stalk) becomes the first mammal created from the eggs of two other mice without a Mickey's help; mammalian parthenogenesis becomes a reality; in 2009 13 more are born; the mice live 28% longer than control mice. On May 24 scientists announce that the Universe has been measured at 156B l.y. wide - expanding raisin pudding jokes here? On Aug. 3 the NASA MESSENGER (Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry, and Ranging) robot spacecraft blasts off on a Delta II rocket, entering orbit around Mercury on Mar. 18, 2011 (first spacecraft), going to complete its primary mission in 2012, then impacting the surface on Apr. 30, 2015 after discovering wrinkle ridges called lobate scarps. Barry Popkin and On Oct. 28 Australian and Indonesian scientists announce the discovery of Homo floresiensis (Flores Man), a clan of tiny humans standing about 30 in. tall, who lived in the isolated island of Flores in E Indonesia as recently as 18K years ago, until a volcanic eruption caused their extinction 12K years ago. In Nov. the Assoc. of Black Cardiologists pub. a 2-year study in The New England Journal of Medicine on BiDil, a new heart drug for blacks only, made by NitroMed Inc. of Lexington, Mass.; it becomes the first drug ever approved for only one racial group? In Nov. researchers at the Univ. of Colo. and the Caltech announce that they have found a key brain receptor, Alpha-4 Beta-2, responsible for the addictive effects of nicotine after it releases the neurotransmitter dopamine. On Dec. 6 Encinitas, Calif. h.s. senior Aaron Goldstein wins the Siemens Westinghouse $100K college scholarship for inventing a gyroscopic device that converts ocean wave energy into electricity. On Dec. 25 after entering Saturn orbit on July 1, the NASA Cassini spacecraft (launched on Oct. 15, 1997 by a Titan IV to orbit Saturn) drops the Huygens probe on Titan, landing on Jan. 14, becoming the first-ever in the outer Solar System. The U.S. FDA approves the first biological therapy that blocks the formation of new blood vessels to tumors, pioneered by Judah Folkman (1933-2008) of the U.S. George Bray accuse high fructose corn syrup in soft drinks of endangering health, pissing-off Coca-Cola, Pepsi et al. Australian mathematician Terence "Terry" Chi-Shen Tao (1975) and English mathematician Ben Green prove the Green-Tao Theorem, that there are arbitrarily long arithmetic progressions of prime numbers. The Compressed (Compressive) (Sparse) Sensing is invented by Emmanuel Candes of Caltech, and Justin Romberg and Terry Tao of UCLA, based on L1 norms, permitting the Nyquist-Shannon Criterion to be surpassed and enabling noisy images to be startlingly sharpened. A species of lemur discovered in Madagascar is the first known primate to hibernate. The CMB Cold Spot is discovered, a region of the sky with unusually cold cosmic microwave background radiation. Jay McNeil of Ky. becomes the first amateur astronomer to find a new nebula. The FDA approves the use of Botox for excessive sweating. Scientists drop their estimate of the number of genes in the human genome from 30K-40K to 20K-25K; in contrast, Arabidopsis, a plant in the mustard family has about 27K, a fruit fly 13.6K, rice 45K, and maize 50K. Merck introduces a vaccine for Human Papillomavirus (HPV), effective for HPV 16 and HPV 18, which cause 70% of cervical cancers by inactivating tumor suppressor genes. Nonfiction: 9-11 Commission, The 9-11 Commission Report. Walter Abish (1931-), Double Vision: A Self-Portrait. Catherine Allegret (1946-), World Upside Down (autobio.); daughter of Simone Signoret and stepdaughter of Yves Montand claims sexual abuse. Ted Allen, Kyan Douglas, Thom Felicia, Carson Kressley, and Jai Rodriguez, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy: The Fab Five's Guide to Looking Better, Cooking Better, Dressing Better, Behaving Better, and Living Better. Graham Allison, Nuclear Terrorism: The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe (Aug. 9); "Tonight, I'm going to talk about two big ideas. First, the proposition that on the current course, if we continue on the present trajectory, I believe the likelihood of our seeing a nuclear weapon explode in one of our cities is greater than even. That is, there is a higher than fifty one percent chance of a nuclear bomb exploding in one of our cities before the end of a decade from when this book was written, that is, by 2014. That's the first big idea. So, just stay on auto-pilot and we see a nuclear 9/11. The second big idea is that this does not have to happen. This is not written inevitably in the cards." Chris Anderson (1961-), The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More; the new business model created by Amazon.com, Netflix.com et al.; why iTunes makes big bucks selling personalized albums from a selection of 2M songs, when most of the individual titles don't sell many units per year, proving that the era of the "hit song" is dead. Christopher Peter Andersen (1949-), Sweet Caroline: Last Child of Camelot; American Evita: Hillary Clinton's Path to Power (June 6); compares her to Eva Peron. Mohammed H. Anwar, Memories of Afghanistan (autobio.); child abuse, sadism and homosexual rape by authorities, mistreatment of women, public execution "orgies", royal spies. Karen Armstrong (1944-), The Spiral Staircase. Timothy Garton Ash (1955-), Free World: America, Europe, and the Surprising Future of the West (Nov. 2); urges cooperation to spread democracy and freedom; "There are not two separate sets of values, European and American, but several intersecting sets of values." Rick Atkinson (1952-), In the Company of Soldiers: A Chronicle of Combat. Margaret Atwood (1939-), Moving Targets: Writing with Intent 1982-2004. Andrew J. Bacevich (1947-), American Empire: The Realities and Consequences of U.S. Diplomacy. Purain Bair (1944-) and Susanna Bair, Energize Your Heart in 4 Dimensions. James Bamford (1946-), A Pretext for War: 9/11, Iraq, and the Abuse of America's Intelligence Agencies; the "neocon" Pentagon hawks vs. the "ideologically" liberal CIA; how nat. security advisers Richard Perle, Douglas Feith and David Wurmser drew up plans for an Iraqi invasion in 1996 for Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu (who rejected them), and only needed a pretext to set them in motion? Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele, Critical Condition: How Health Care in America Became Big Business and Bad Medicine. Robert Bauval (1948-) and Graham Hancock (1950-), Talisman: Sacred Cities, Secret Faith. Michelle Belanger (1973-), The Psychic Vampire Codex. Herbert Benson (1935-), Mind Over Menopause; Mind Your Heart. Jayson Blair, Burning Down My Masters' House: My Life at The New York Times. William Bloom (1948-), Solution: The Holistic Manifesto (Oct. 15). John Morton Blum (1921-2011), A Life with History (autobio.) (Sept. 3); one of the top 20th cent. Am. historians tells about his years as a history prof. at Yale U. (1957-91), one of the Big Three at the Yale U. History Dept. (#1 in the U.S.) along with Edmund Morgan and C. Vann Woodward, which were "not a refuge from reality but an alternative reality", where he taught classes to privileged mainly white WASP students incl. C-students George W. Bush and John Kerry, lasting long enough to see Jews like Joseph Lieberman and blacks like Henry Louis Gates. David Bodanis, Electric Universe: The Shocking True Story of Electricity. Christopher Booker (1937-), The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories. Kevin Boyle, Arc of Justice. Dannion Brinkley (1950-), The Secrets of the Light: Spiritual Strategies to Empower Your Life... Here and in the Hereafter. Douglas Brinkley (1960-), Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War. Douglas Brinkley (1960-) and Ronald J. Dretz, Voices of Valor: D-Day, June 6, 1944. Rick Broadhead, Dear Valued Customer: You Are a Loser. David Brock (1962-), The Republican Noise Machine: Right-Wing Media and How It Corrupts Democracy; his rationale for founding Media Matters for Am. (MMfA)to monitor U.S. media for conservative misinfo. Harry Browne (1933-2006), Liberty A to Z; "872 libertarian soundbytes you can use right now". Frederick Buechner (1926-), Speak What We Feel (Not What We Ought to Say): Reflections on Literature and Faith; Beyond Words: Daily Readings in the ABC's of Faith. Richard Bulliet, The Case for Islamo-Christian Civilization; disses Bush admin.-backed Jewish history of Islam scholar Bernard Lewis for confusing Iraq with Turkey and thinking of Osama bin Laden as the last gasp of the Western triumph over Islam. Peter Burke (1937-), What is Cultural History?; 2nd ed. 2008. James MacGregor Burns (1918-2014) and Susan Dunn, George Washington (Jan. 7); ed. Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. James MacGregor Burns (1918-2014), Georgia Jones Sorenson, and George R. Goethals (eds.), Encyclopedia of Leadership (4 vols.) (Mar. 19). Augusten Burroughs (1965-), Magical Thinking. Thomas Cahill (1940-), Sailing the Wine Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matters. Bruce Caldwell, Hayek's Challenge: An Intellectual Biography of F.A. Hayek. Philip Caputo (1941-), In the Shadows of the Morning: Essays on Wild Lands, Wild Waters, and a Few Untamed People. Norman F. Cantor (1929-2004), The Last Knight: The Twilight of the Middle Ages and the Birth of the Modern Era; about John of Gaunt. George Carlin (1937-2008), When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops? Ethan Casey, Alive and Well in Pakistan: A Human Journey in a Dangerous Time. Charlotte Chandler, Nobody's Perfect: Billy Wilder [1906-2002], a Personal Biography (Aug. 1). Richard Alan Clarke (1950-), Against All Enemies; Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror - What Really Happened; the Saudi royal family is secretly Jewish, and so is al-Qaida, which was created so that extremist Muslims could be channeled into Jewish, actually Israeli and U.S. ends? Bill Clinton (1946-), My Life (autobio.) (June 22); bestseller (2.25M copies); receives a $15M advance. Jonathan Coe, Like a Fiery Elephant; bio. of novelist B.S. Johnson (1933-73), causing a resurgence of interest. Nadine Cohodas, Queen: The Life and Times of Dinah Washington. Steve Coll (1958-), Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 (Dec. 28) (Pulitzer Prize). Evan S. Connell Jr. (1924-), Francisco Goya: A Life. Robert Conquest (1917-2015), The Dragons of Expectation: Reality and Delusion in the Course of History. Jerome Robert Corsi (1946-) and John Ellis O'Neill (1946-), Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry (Aug.); bestseller (1.2M copies). Ann Coulter (1961-), How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must): The World According to Ann Coulter. Harvey Gallagher Cox Jr. (1929-), When Jesus Came to Harvard: Making Moral Choices Today. Lynne Cox (1957-), Swimming to Antarctica; survives 25 min. and swims 1.6km. Richard Ben Cramer (1950-), How Israel Lost: The Four Questions; 1979 Pulitzer Prize winning journalist for the Philly Inquirer questions his Zionist faith. Michael Crummey (1965-), Newfoundland: Journey into a Lost Nation. G. Brent Dalrymple (1937-), Ancient Earth, Ancient Skies: The Age of Earth and Its Cosmic Surroundings. Richard Dawkins (1941-), The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Life; human evolution told backwards; "The fact that life evolved out of nearly nothing, some 10 billion years after the universe evolved literally out of nothing is a fact so staggering that I would be mad to attempt words to do it justice." Jimmy Dean (1928-2010), 30 Years of Sausage, 50 Years of Ham (autobio.). John Wesley Dean III (1938-), Warren G. Harding; Harding has the Teapot Dome Scandal, he had the Watergate Scandal?; Worse Than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush; the Bush. admin. classifies too much info. to cover its mistakes up? Alan Dershowitz (1938-), Rights From Wrongs: A Secular Theory of the Origins of Rights. Jared Mason Diamond (1937-), Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. E.J. Dionne (1952-), Stand Up, Fight Back: Republican Toughs, Democratic Whimps, and the Politics of Revenge. Maureen Dowd, Bushworld: Enter at Your Own Risk. Anthony Downs (1930-), Still Stuck in Traffic: Coping with Peak-Hour Traffic Congestion; rev. ed. of the 1992 book. Bob Dylan (1941-), Chronicles: Volume One (Oct. 5) (autobio.). Martin Edmond (1952-), Chronicle of the Unsung (autobio.) (May 1). John Edward (1969-), Final Beginnings: The Tunnel - I thought the tunnel was the initial beginning? Albert Ellis (1913-2007), Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy: It Works for Me, It Can Work for You (autobio.). Joseph J. Ellis, His Excellency: George Washington. Khaled Abou El Fadl (1963-), Islam and the Challenge of Democracy. Oriana Fallaci (1929-2006), The Force of Reason (La Forza della Ragione) (Apr.); bestseller warning that Europe is becoming Eurabia, and that coexistence of the West with "Islamofascism" is impossible. Niall Ferguson (1964-), Colossus: The Price of America's Empire (Apr. 22); pooh-poohs Pres. George W. Bush's statement that "America has never been an empire", and U.S. defense secy. Donald Rumsfeld's assertion that "We're not imperialistic", claiming that the U.S. is a global empire with attention deficit disorder that's in denial of its responsibilities both foreign and domestic. James Henry Fetzer (1940-), American Assassination: The Strange Death of Senator Paul Wellstone; claims a conspiracy. Helen E. Fisher (1945-), Why We Love: The Nature and Chemistry of Romantic Love; love is just chemistry?; lust v. attraction v. attachment; explorer (dopamine), negotiator (estrogen), director (testosterone), builder (serotinin) - we can recognize it but can we beat it? E.J. Fleming, The Fixers: Eddie Mannix, Howard Strickling and the MGM Publicity Machine; sumptuous scandals about the coverups of the deaths of Jean Harlow's hubby Paul Bern, Three Stooges mgr. Ted Healy, Superman actor George Reeves, et al. Larry Flynt (1942-), Sex, Lies & Politics: The Naked Truth; "I have been shot and paralyzed; sued for millions; indicted, convicted and incarcerated numerous times, and it has never stopped me from speaking my mind." Thomas Frank (1965-), What's the Matter With Kansas (America)? How the Conservatives Won the Heart of America; formerly left-wing Populist working class people turn the state over to the Repubs.? Gen. Tommy Ray Franks (1945-) (with Malcolm McConnell), American Soldier. Jo Freeman (1945-), At Berkeley in the Sixties: The Education of an Activist, 1961-1965. Amber Frey (1975-), Witness for the Prosecution of Scott Peterson. Francis Fukuyama (1952-), State-Building: Governance and the World Order in the 21st Century. Mark A. Gabriel, Jesus and Muhammad: Profound Differences and Surprising Similarities (Mar.). John Lewis Gaddis (1941-), Surprise, Security, and the American Experience. Nicholas Gage (1939-), A Place for Us: A Greek Immigrant Boy's Odyssey to a New Country and an Unknown Father (autobio.). Jim Garrison (1951-), America as Empire: Global Leader or Rogue Power?. Suzy Gershman, Born to Shop. Sir Martin Gilbert (1936-2015), D-Day. Warren Goldstein, William Sloane Coffin Jr.: A Holy Impatience. Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke (1953-2012), G.R.S. Mead and the Gnostic Quest (w/G.R.S. Mead and Clare Goodrick-Clarke) (2005). Helena Blavatsky. Simon Gray (1936-2008), The Smoking Diaries (autobio.); playwright dying of cancer sticks. Glenda Green (1945-), The Keys of Jeshua. Stephen Greenblatt (1943-), Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare; Falstaff is a combo of Shakespeare's father and rival Robert Greene?; Hamlet is a combo of Greene, Shakespeare's son Hamnet, his father, and the "world of damaged residuals" that undercover Roman Catholics had to endure?; Shylock is Jewish physician Roderigo Lopez? Brian Greene (1963-), The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality. Linda Greenlaw, All Fisherman Are Liars: True Tales from the Dry Dock Bar; the female captain in "The Perfect Storm" speaks about carrying three red lights and bleeding the monkey (drinking). Stanislav Grof (1931-) and Melody Sullivan, Caterpillar Dreams. Mireille Guiliano (1946-), French Women Don't Get Fat: The Secret of Eating for Pleasure (Dec. 28); bestseller. Stefan Halper (1944-), America Alone: The Neo-Conservatives and the Global Order (bestseller). Pete Hamill (1935-), Downtown: My Manhattan. Bethany Hamilton (1990-), Soul Surfer: A True Story of Faith, Family, and Fighting to Get Back on the Board; filmed in 2011. Sean Hannity (1961-), Deliver Us From Evil. Victor Davis Hanson (1953-), Between War and Peace: Lessons from Afghanistan and Iraq. Everett Lynn Harris (1955-2009), What Becomes of the Brokenhearted (autobio.). Sam Harris (1967-), The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason. Gary Hart (1936-), The Fourth Power: A Grand Strategy for the United States in the Twenty-First Century; American's inherent values as set forth in the Constitution should form the basis of U.S. foreign policy? Thom Hartmann (1952-), What Would Jefferson Do?; We the People: A Call to Take Back America. Peter Heller, Hell or High Water: Surviving Tibet's Tsangpo River. Tony Hendra, Father Joe: The Man Who Saved My Soul; the ed. of National Lampoon has a 40-year friendship with a Benedictine monk? Esther Hicks (1948-) and Jerry Hicks, Ask and It Is Given: Learning to Manifest Your Desires (Sept.). Charles Higham (1931-2012), Murdering Mr. Lincoln: A New Detection of the 19th Century's Most Famous Crime; Murder in Hollywood: Solving a Silent Screen Mystery; the mysterious death of movie dir. William Desmond Taylor. Paris Hilton and Merle Ginsberg, Confessions of an Heiress. Philip Hoare (1958-), The Ghosts of Netley. David Horovitz (1962-), Still Life With Bombers: Israel in the Age of Terrorism. David Joel Horowitz (1939-), Unholy Alliance: Radical Islam and the American Left. David Joel Horowitz (1939-) and Peter Collier, The Anti-Chomsky Reader. A.E. Hotchner (1920-), Everyone Comes to Elaine's. Tristram Hunt (1974-), Building Jerusalem. Samuel Phillips Huntington (1927-2008), Who Are We? The Challenges to America's National Identity. Rhys Llywelyn Isaac (1937-2010), Landon Carter's Uneasy Kingdom: Revolution and Rebellion on a Virginia Plantation. Antje Jackelen and Charles L. Harper, Time and Eternity: The Question of Time in Church, Science, and Theology; "The tension between the already and the not-yet as the eschatological disruption of linear chronology." A.J. Jacobs (1968-), The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World; NYT bestseller; spends one lousy year reading the 44M-word 32-vol. 33K-page Encyclopaedia Britannica and thinks he's TLW? :); "The Know-It-All is a terrific book. It's a lot shorter than the encyclopedia, and funnier, and you'll remember more of it. Plus, if it falls off the shelf onto your head, you'll live." (P.J. O'Rourke) Jane Jacobs (1916-2006), Dark Age Ahead; North Am. civilization is beginning a spiral decline like the Roman empire? Shiv R. Jhawar (1948-), Building a Noble World; to change the world first change oneself spiritually. Susan Jacoby (1945-), Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism. Elizabeth Jenkins (1905-2010), The View from Downshire Hill (autobio.). Ha Jin (1956-), War Trash. Chalmers Ashby Johnson (1931-), The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic; how the way that the U.S. Military-Industrial Complex kept humming after the 1989 collapse of the Soviet Union proves that the U.S. wants a global empire, and how this must lead to terrorism against it, the loss of core democratic values, and eventual disaster for the economy. Walter Johnson Jr. (1966-), The Chattel Principle: Internal Slave Trades in the Americas; State of the Field: Slavery. Tony R. Judt (1948-2010) (ed.), Identity Politics in a Multilinguage Age. Sir John Keegan (1934-), The Iraq War. Kitty Kelley (1942-), The Dynasty: The Real Story of the Bush Family (Sept. 14); claims that George W. Bush snorted cocaine at Camp David during his daddy's presidency. Daren Kemp, New Age, A Guide: Alternative Spiritualities from Aquarian Conspiracy to Next Age. David I. Kertzer (1948-), Prisoner of the Vatican: The Pope's Plot to Capture Italy from the New Italian State. Rashid Khalidi (1948-), Resurrecting Empire: Western Footprints and America's Perilous Path in the Middle East; accuses the U.S. of imperialism and colonialism, warning that it will backfire; which accuses the U.S. of imperialism and colonialism, warning that it will backfire; "I wrote this book before, during, and immediately after the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, out of a desire to warn against what I believed was a looming disaster." (opening line) Stephen Kinzer, Crescent and Star: Turkey Between To Worlds. Edward Klein (1937-), Farewell, Jackie: A Portrait of Her Final Days. Larry J. Kolb, Overworld (memoir); a spy, trained by CIA spymaster Miles Copland, he is the real watch-out-Shrek James Bond? Philip B. Kunhardt Jr. (1927-2006), The Dreaming Game; his mother, "Pat the Bunny" children's writer Dorothy M. Kunhardt. Mark Kurlansky, 1968: The Year that Rocked the World. Gavin Lambert (1924-2005), Natalie Wood: A Life; by his personal friend, who details her relationship with Elvis Presley, Robert Wagner, Warren Beatty et al., and claims that she liked to date gay and bi men, incl. James Dean, Tab Hutner, Nicholas Ray, and Nick Adams. The Ivan Moffat File: Life Among the Beautiful and Damned in London, Paris, New York and Hollywood. Richard D. Lamm (1935-), The Brave New World of Health Care; "Health care has been the fastest growing cost of business, government and the family budget"; "No budget can tolerate open-ended demands." William Langewiesche, The Outlaw Sea: A World of Freedom, Chaos, and Crime. Frances Moore Lappe (1944-), You Have the Power: Choosing Courage in a Culture of Fear. Ian Lawton (1959-), The Book of the Soul: Rational Spirituality for the Twenty-First Century; introduces the idea of "Rational Spirituality" that relies on "evidence not faith", using near-death experiences (NDEs) and past-life regression as proof of the soul. Gideon Levy (1953-), Twilight Zone: Life and Death under the Israeli Occupation, 1998-2003; Jewish journalist turns sympathetic to the Palestinians and calls for unilateral Israeli withdrawal from occupied territories. Bernard Lewis (1916-), From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting the Middle East. Seymour Martin Lipset (1922-2006), Noah Meletz, Rafael Gomez and Ivan Katchanovski, The Paradox of American Unionism: Why Americans Like Unions More Than Canadians Do, But Join Much Less; Seymour Martin Lipset (1922-2006) and Jason M. Lakin, The Democratic Century. Kip Lornell, The NPR Curious Listener's Guide to American Folk Music; foreword by Linda Ronstadt. Michelle Malkin (1970-), In Defense of Internment: The Case for "Racial Profiling" in World War II and the War on Terror. Irshad Manji (1968-), The Trouble with Islam Today: A Muslim's Call for Reform in Her Faith; bestseller by a "Muslim refusenik" who refuses to "join an army of robots in the name of God"; "Osama bin Laden's worst nightmare" (NYT). Martin Emil Marty (1928-), Martin Luther. Robert K. Massie (1929-), Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany, and the Winning of the Great War at Sea. Ali al-Amin Mazrui (1933-), The African Predicament and the American Experience: A Tale of Two Edens. David McCullough (1933-), John Adams; sells 2M copies. Walter Allen McDougall (1946-), Freedom Just Around the Corner: A New American History, 1585-1828; calls the U.S. "the central event of the past four hundred years", showing how Americans used their historically unequalled freedom for both good and bad. Dina Matos McGreevey (1966-), Silent Parter: A Memoir of My Marriage; she speaks out about a hubby whose breath smells like you know what while she claims she never suspects? John McPhee (1931-), The American Shad: Selections from the Founding Fish. Brian McWilliams, Spam Kings: The Real Story Behind the High-Rolling Hucksters Pushing Porn, Pills and @*#?% Enlargements. Paul Charles Merkley, American Presidents, Religion and Israel. Michael Mirdad, The Seven Initiations of the Spiritual Path: Understanding the Purpose of Life's Tests (Mar. 31); Sacred Sexuality: A Manual for Living Bliss (Aug. 21). Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973), The Free Market and Its Enemies: Pseudo-Science, Socialism, and Inflation (posth.); lectures given in 1951. Jurgen Moltmann (1926-), In the End the Beginning. Edmund Sears Morgan (1916-2013), The Genuine Article: A Historian Looks at Early America; articles he pub. in New York Review of Books, expressing appreciation for the Puritans' religion for "the intellectual rigor and elegance of a system of ideas that made sense of human life in a way no longer palatable to most of us. Certainly not palatable to me... What Americans said from the beginning about taxation and just government deserved to be taken as seriously as the Puritans' ideas about God and man." Dick Morris (1948-) and Eileen McGann, Rewriting History (May 4); a rebuttal to Hillary Clinton's "Living History", exposing her as cold, manipulative, and single-mindedly in pursuit of grate wealth and powah; Because He Could (Oct. 12); an insider look at the Clinton White House, written as a rebuttal to Pres. Clinton's memoir "My Life". Toni Morrison (1931-), Remember: The Journey to School Integration. Abu Bakr Naji, The Management of Savagery; becomes a Bible for Al Shabaab, ISIS et al. Zoe Nicholson, The Hungry Heart: A Woman's Fast for Justice; her 37-day fast in 1982 to get Ill. to ratify the ERA. Barack Hussein Obama II (1961-), Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance (autobio.); admits that he tried marijuana and cocaine in his youth; the audio version nets him a Grammy. Mark Obmascik, The Big Year (first book); three men compete to see the most bird species in one year. Maureen O'Hara (1920-2015), 'Tis Herself (autobio.); NYT bestseller. Mary Oliver (1935-), Long Life: Essays and Other Writings. Stewart O'Nan (1961-) and Stephen King (1947-), Faithful: Two Diehard Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 Season. Andrew P. Napolitano (1950-), Constitutional Chaos: What Happens When the Government Breaks Its Own Laws (first book) (Nov. 11). John E. O'Neill and Jerome Robert Corsi (1946-), Unfit for Command. P.J. O'Rourke (1947-), Peace Kills: America's Fun New Imperialism. Steven Ozment (1939-), A Mighty Fortress: A New History of the German People. Chuck Palahniuk (1962-), Stranger Than Fiction: True Stories (June 14). Ilan Pappe (1954-), A History of Modern Palestine: One Land, Two Peoples. Michael Parenti (1933-), Superpatriotism. John Perkins (1945-), Confessions of an Economic Hit Man; bestseller about his lovely career at the consulting firm of Chas. T. Main. Francis Edwards Peters, Children of Abraham: Judaism, Christianity, Islam. Kevin Phillips (1940-), American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush; have the Bushes turned the U.S. into a royal dynasty? Sarah M. Pike, New Age and Neopagan Religions in America. Roy Porter (1946-2002), Flesh in the Age of Reason (posth.). Bernard van Praag (1939-) and Ada Ferrer-i-Carbonell, Happiness Quantified: A Satisfaction Calculus Approach; founds Happiness Economics. C.K. Prahalad (1941-2010), The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty through Profits (Aug. 5); "An intriguing blueprint for how to fight poverty with profitability" (Bill Gates). Karl H. Pribram (1919-), Gordon G. Globus, and Giuseppe Vitiello, Brain and Being: At the Boundary between Science, Philosophy, Language, and Arts (Sept. 30). Aron Ralston, Between A Rock and a Hard Place. Feisal Abdul Rauf (1948-), What's Right with Islam: A New Vision for Muslims and the West; by the Kuwaiti-born imam of the Masjid al-Farah Mosque in New York City since 1983; the Arabic ed. has the title "The Call from the WTC Rubble: Islamic Da'wah from the Heart of America Post-9/11". Richard Rhodes (1937-), John James Audubon: The Making of an American. Andrew Roberts (1963-), What Might Have Been. Corey Robin (1967-), Fear: The History of a Political Idea. Christine Rosen, Preaching Eugenics: Religious Leaders and the American Eugenics Movement (Mar. 4); how eugenics took over Am. religious groups in the early 20th cent. John Ross (1938-2011), Murdered by Capitalism: A Memoir of 150 Years of Life and Death on the American Left (autobio.). Barry Rubin (1950-2014), Hating America: A History (Aug. 10); Loathing America (ed.). Tim Russert (1950-2008), Big Russ and Me; his newspaper truck driver daddy. Michael Ryan (1946-), Baby B (autobio.). Acharya S (D.M. Murdock), Suns of God: Krishna, Buddha and Christ Unveiled; shows parallels. Amin Saikal (1950-), Modern Afghanistan: A History of Struggle and Survival. James Salter (1925-), Gods of Tin (autobio.). Mark Ivor Satin (1946-), Radical Middle: The Politics We Need Now; changes "Dare to struggle, dare to win" to "Dare to synthesize, dare to take it all in." Jeremy Schaap (1969-), Cinderella Man: James J. Braddock, Max Baer, and the Greatest Upset in Fighting History; Am. boxer James J. Braddock (1905-74), dubbed "Cinderella Man" by Damon Runyon. Albert Schatz (1922-2005) and Inge Auerbacher, Finding Dr. Schatz: The Discovery of Streptomycin and a Life It Saved. Orville Hickok Schell (1940-) Empire: Impressions of China. Michael F. Scheuer (1952-), Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror; pub. anon. by the CIA official in charge of the anti-Osama bin Laden effort in 1996-9; claims that Muslim terrorists hate the U.S. not for its freedom and democracy, but for its support of Israel and interventionist policies, causing him to endorse Ron Paul for U.S. pres. in 2012; "The fundamental flaw in our thinking about Bin Laden is that Muslims hate and attack us for what we are and think, rather than what we do. Muslims are bothered by our modernity, democracy, and sexuality, but they are rarely spurred to action unless American forces encroach on their lands. It's American foreign policy that enrages Osama and al-Qaeda, not American culture and society." Larry Schweikart (1951-) and Michael Allen, A Patriot's History of the United States: From Columbus's Great Discovery to the War on Terror (Dec. 29) (NYT bestseller); rebuts Howard Zinn's America-hating "A People's History of the United States", calling America an "overwhelmingly positive" force for good. Simon Sebag-Montefiore (1965-), My Affair with Stalin; Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar; Catherine the Great and Potemkin. David Sedaris, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim. Seether, Disclaimer II (album #2) (June 15); remix of the 2002 debut album, plus Broken (w/Amy Lee) (#20 in the U.S.). Hans F. Sennholz (1922-2007), Sowing the Wind. Mary Lee Settle (1918-2005), Spanish Recognitions: The Road from the Past. Laura Shapiro, Something from the Oven: Reinventing Dinner in 1950s America. Natan Sharansky, The Case for Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny. Maria Shriver (1955-), What's Happening to Grandpa? Sherif Shubashy, Down With Sibawayh If Arabic Is to Live On!; disses 8th cent. Persian Sibawayh, father of Arabic philology for making Arabic into a dead language like Latin, whose hallowed status "has rendered it a heavy chain curbing the Arabs' intellect, blocking their creative energies... and relegating them to cultural bondage." Peter Singer (1946-), The President of Good and Evil: The Ethics of George W. Bush. Zecharia Sitchin (1920-2010), The Earth Chronicles Expeditions - imagine hair that defies all kinds of weather? Jane Smiley (1949-), A Year at the Races: Reflections on Horses, Humans, Love, Money, and Luck (autobio.) (Apr. 13). Susan Sontag (1933-2004), Regarding the Pain of Others. Thomas Sowell (1930-), Basic Economics: A Citizen's Guide to the Economy. Nicholas Sparks (1965-), Three Weeks with My Brother (Apr.); they lose both parents and their sister then go on a trip. George Steiner (1929-), Nostalgia for the Absolute. Victor J. Stenger (1935-), The Comprehensible Cosmos: Where Do the Laws of Physics Come From? Gerald Stern (1925-), What I Can't Bear Losing: Notes from a Life. Mark Stevens and Annalyn Swan, de Kooning: An American Master (Nov. 9) (Pulitzer Prize). Jon Stewart, Ben Karlin, and David Javerbaum, America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction. John Stossel (1947-), Give Me a Break. Ron Suskind (1959-), The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O'Neill (Jan. 13); claims that Bush started planning the Iraq War right after taking office. Kara Swisher, There Must Be a Pony In Here Somewhere: The AOL Time Warner Debacle and the Quest for the Digital Future (Oct. 26); "Time Warner was had by AOL". Brian Sykes, Adam's Curse: A Future Without Men. Jacob Taubes, The Political Theology of Paul; Jewish writer takes on pesky German pro-dictatorship theological thinker Carl Schmitt (1888-1985). Tarita Teriipia (1941-), Marlon, My Love and My Torment; her 1962-72 marriage to Marlon Brando. Kenneth R. Timmerman (1953-), The French Betrayal of America. David Toop (1949-), Haunted Weather: Music, Silence, and Memory. Donald Trump (1946-), How to Get Rich; The Way to the Top: The Best Business Advice I Ever Received; Think Like a Billionaire: Everything You Need to Know About Success, Real Estate and Life. Lynne Truss (1955-), Eats, Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation; dedicated "to the memory of the striking Bolshevik printers of St. Petersburg who, in 1905, demanded to be paid the same rate for punctuation marks as for letters, and thereby directly precipitated the first Russian Revolution" - shouldn't be zero-tolerance? Neil deGrasse Tyson (1958-) and Donald Goldsmith, Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution; written to accompany a Nova special; "Science depends on organized skepticism"; "A hundred billion years from now... all but the closest galaxies will have vanished over our horizon of visibility. Enjoy the view while you can." Sinan Ulgen and Kemal Dervis, The European Transformation of Modern Turkey. Douglas Valentine, The Strength of the Wolf: The Secret History of America's War on Drugs. Richard Vedder, Going Broke By Degree: Why College Costs Too Much. Gore Vidal (1925-2012), Imperial America: Reflections on the United States of Amnesia; warns against electronic voting and the Help Am. Vote Act; thinks that Bush will lose the 2004 election. Michael Walzer (1935-), Arguing About War; Politics and Passion: Toward a More Egalitarian Liberalism. Elizabeth Warren (1949-), The Two Income Trap: Why Middle-Class Parents Are Going Broke. Benjamin J. Wattenberg (1933-), Fewer: How the New Demography of Depopulation Will Shape Our Future. Stuart Wilde (1946-), The Three Keys to Self-Empowerment. Stanley Tookie Williams III (1953-2005), Blue Rage, Black Redemption: A Memoir (autobio.). Paul Winchell (1922-2005), Winch (autobio.). Cornel West (1953-), Democracy Matters: Winning the Fight Against Imperialism; sequel to "Race Matters" (1993); free market fundamentalism, aggressive militarism and escalating authoritarianism, oh my? Cornel West (1953-) and Ken Wilber (1949-), The Ultimate Matrix Collection; his cameos as Councilor West of the Council of Zion in "The Matrix Reloaded" and "The Matrix Revolutions", where he utters the soundbyte "Comprehension is not a requisite of cooperation". Marjorie Williams, The Woman at the Washington Zoo; ed. by Timothy Noah. Fred Alan Wolf (1934-), The Yoga of Time Travel: How the Mind Can Defeat Time. Martin Wolf (1946-), Why Globalization Works; former free market economist turned New Keynesian blames past failure on govts., which he claims can be reformed; helps drive the 2008–2009 Keynesian resurgence, a massive fiscal and monetary response to the financial crisis of 2007–2010. James Wood (1965-), The Irresponsible Self: On Laughter and the Novel. Bob Woodward (1943-), Plan of Attack. Arthur Middleton Young (1905-95), Nested Time: An Astrological Autobiography (posth.); ed. Kathy Goss. Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd (1943-2010), Rethinking the Quran: Towards a Humanistic Hermeneutics; gets him declared an apostate by the Egyptian supreme court, causing his marriage to be forcibly dissolved, after which he flees Egypt. Howard Zinn (1922-2010) and Anthony Arnove, Voices of a People's History of the United States; primary sources; "I want to point out that people who seem to have no power, whether working people, people of color, or women - once they organize and protest and create movements - have a voice no government can suppress." Art: Damien Hirst (1965-) and David Bailey (1938-), The Stations of the Cross (12 photographs). Zhang Hongtu, Bada - Van Gogh. Tsehai Johnson, Field #2 (ceramic). Elizabeth Murray (1940-2007), So Long Maryanne. Erwin Redl, FADE; pure-red LEDS in a wavelike fade moving across a virtual curtain. Music: The 5, 6, 7, 8s, Woo Hoo (by The Rock A-Teens) (#28 in the U.K.) (featured in "Kill Bill Vol. 1", and used in Vonage commercials); I'm Blue (#71 in the U.K.). The Academy Is..., The Academy (album) (debut) (Mar. 23); originally The Academy; from Hoffman Estates, Ill., incl. William Beckett, Mike Carden, Michael Guy Chislett, Adam T. Siska (bass), Andy "the Butcher" Mrotek; incl. Slow Down, Checkmarks, The Phrase That Pays. Bruce Adolphe (1955-), Tiger's Ear: Listening to Abstract Expressionist Painting; evokes the look and feel of the Big Six. Aerosmith, Honkin' on Bobo (album #14) (Mar. 30); big-lipped long-tonued Steven Tyler's term for oral sex. Allman Brothers, One Way Out (album) (Mar. 23). Amon Amarth, Fate of Norns (album #5) (Sept. 6); incl. Fate of Norns. The Presidents of the United States of America, Loves Everybody (album #4) (Aug. 17). Akon (1977-), Trouble (album) (debut) (June 29); sells 1.6M copies; becomes known for parent advisory labels on his albums for profanity; incl. Locked Up, Ghetto, Lonely. Joseph Arthur (1971-), Our Shadows Will Remain (album #4) (Oct. 12); incl. In Ohio, Devil's Broom. Ashanti (1980-), Concrete Rose (album #3) (Dec. 14) (#7 in the U.S., #20 in the U.K.); incl. Only U (#13 in the U.S.), Don't Let Them, Wonderful (w/Ja Rule, R. Kelly), Don't Leave Me Alone. Anita Baker (1958-), My Everything (album #6) (Sept. 7) (#4 in the U.S.); incl. You're My Everything. Beatallica, Beatallica (The Grey Album) (EP #2) (Apr. 1, 2004); incl. Blackened the USSR, Hey Dude, I Want to Choke Your Band. Natasha Bedingfield (1981-), Unwritten (album) (Sept. 6) (debut) (#26 in the U.S., #1 in the U.K.); incl. Unwritten, Single, These Words, I Bruise Easily, The One That Got Away. Big & Rich, Horse of a Different Color (album #1) (May 4) (3M copies); incl. Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy) (#56 in the U.S.) (#11 country). Bjork (1965-), Medulla (album #6) (Aug. 30) (#14 in the U.S., #9 in the U.K.); original title "Ink"; contra U.S. racism and patriotism generated by 9/11; incl. Where Is the Line, Who Is It (Carry My Joy on the Left, Carry My Pain on the Right, Oceania, Ancestors. Prussian Blue, Fragment of the Future (album) (debut) (Nov.); white supremacist duo from Bakersfield, Calif. incl. fraternal twins Lynx Vaughan Gaede (1992-) and Lamb Lennon Gaede (1992-); incl. Aryan Man Awake. Maya Bond (2000-), Pink Drums, Purple Lights (album) (debut); incl. Cute Papa. Beastie Boys, To the 5 Boroughs (album) (June 15); incl. Ch-Check It Out. Jimmy Buffett (1946-), License to Chill (album #26) (July 13); his first #1 album; incl. Hey Good Lookin'. Chris de Burgh (1948-), The Road to Freedom (album #14). Cake, Pressure Chief (album #5) (Oct. 5) (#17 in the U.S.); incl. No Phone (#13 in the U.S.), Carbon Monoxide, The Guitar Man; Extra Value (album). Neko Case (1970-) and Her Boyfriends, The Tigers Have Spoken (album) (Nov. 9). Peter Cetera (1944-), You Just Gotta Love Christmas (album #8) (Oct. 19). Ray Charles (1930-2004) et al., Genius Loves Company (last album) (Aug. 31). Ray Charles (1930-2004) and Norah Jones (1979-), Here We Go Again. Kenny Chesney (1968-), When the Sun Goes Down (album); incl. When the Sun Goes Down (with Uncle Kracker), There Goes My Life. Metal Church, The Weight of the World (album #7); first with Ronny Munroe (vocals), Jay Reynolds (guitar), Steve Unger (bass), and Kirk Arrington (drums); incl. Weight of the World Cover. Kelly Clarkson (1982-), Breakaway (album #2) (Nov. 30) (#3 in the U.S.); sells 14M copies worldwide (6M in the U.S.); incl. Breakaway, Since U Been Gone (written by Max Martin and Dr. Luke Gottwald), Behind These Hazel Eyes, Because of You. Biffy Clyro, Infinity Land (album #3) (Oct. 4); incl. There's No Such Thing as a Jaggy Snake, Glitter and Trauma, My Recovery Injection, Only One Word Comes to Mind. Joe Cocker (1944-2014), Heart & Soul (album #19) (Oct. 12). Leonard Cohen (1934-), Dear Heather (album) (Oct. 26); incl. Dear Heather. Elvis Costello (1954-), Il Sogno (album) (Sept. 21). Elvis Costello (1954-) and the Imposters, The Delivery Man (album) (Sept. 21); incl. The Scarlet Tide. The Cramps, How to Make a Monster (double album). Counting Crows, Accidentally in Love. The Cure, The Cure (album #12) (June 28); comeback time?; incl. The End of the World, alt.end, Taking Off. Death Cab for Cutie, Studio X Sessions EP (album) (July 27). D12, D12 World (album); incl. My Band; on Apr. 12 member Deshaun "Proof" Holton (blood alcohol level 0.32) murders retired Army Sgt. Keither Bender Jr. and is shot and killed in self-defense by the latter's cousin Mario Etheridge. Green Day, American Idiot (album #7) (Sept. 21) (#1 in the U.S. and U.K.); sells 15M copies; rock opera about Jesus of Suburbia; incl. American Idiot, Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Holiday, Wake Me Up When September Ends, Jesus of Suburbia. The Grateful Dead, Dick's Picks Vol. 31 (album) (Mar.); recorded on Aug. 4-5, 1974; Dick's Picks Vol. 32 (album) (July 20); recorded on Aug. 7, 1982 in East Troy, Wisc.; Dick's Picks Vol. 33 (album) (Nov. 15); recorded on Oct. 9-10, 1976 in Oakland, Calif. Mos Def (1973-), The New Danger (album #2) (Oct. 19) (#5 in the U.S.); incl. Sex, Love & Money. Celine Dion (1968-), A New Day... Live in Las Vegas (album) (June 14); Miracle (album #9) (Oct. 11). Snoop Dogg (1971-), R&G (Rhythm & Gangsta): The Masterpiece (album #7) (Nov. 16) (1.7M copies); incl. Let's Get Blown (w/Pharrell Williams). Dokken, Hell to Pay (album #9) (July 13). Goo Goo Dolls, Live in Buffalo: July 4th, 2004 (album) (Nov. 23). Doobie Brothers, Live at Wolf Trap (album) (Oct. 26). No Doubt, It's My Life. System of a Down, Mesmerize (album #4) (May 17); incl. B.Y.O.B., Question. Hilary Duff (1987-), Hilary Duff (album #3) (Sept. 28) (#2 in the U.S.) (1.8M copies in the U.S.) ("Basically, I'm not Lizzie McGuire anymore"); incl. Fly, Someone's Watching Over Me. Duran Duran, Astronaut (album #11) (Oct. 11); first with original five members since 1983; incl. (Reach Up for the) Sunrise, What Happens Tomorrow, Nice. Eminem (1972-), Encore (album); incl. Mosh ("fuck Bush", "this weapon of mass destruction that we call our president"); Just Lose It; disrespects Michael Jackson. Epica, We Will Take You With Us (album #2) (Sept.). Melissa Etheridge (1961-), Lucky (album) (Feb. 10); incl. Breathe, This Moment. Europe, Start from the Dark (album #6) (Sept. 22); incl. Got to Have Faith. Sara Evans (1971-), Restless (album); incl. Back Seat of a Greyhound Bus, Perfect, Suds in the Bucket. Exodus, Tempo of the Damned (album #6) (Mar. 9); first studio album since 1992; incl. War Is My Shepherd, Impaler (by Metallica). Better Than Ezra, Live at the House of Blues, New Orleans (album) (Sept. 28). Faithless, No Roots (album) (June 7); their first #1 U.K. album; incl. Mass Destruction, I Want More; Everything Will Be Alright Tomorrow (album) (Aug. 30). Fall Out Boy, My Heart Will Always Be the B-Side to My Tongue (EP) (May 18) (#153 in the U.S.). Feist (9176-), Let It Die (album #2) (May 18); incl. Gatekeeper, Mushaboom, One Evening. Franz Ferdinand, Franz Ferdinand (album) (debut) (Feb. 9) (#32 in the U.S., #3 in the U.K.) (3.6M copies); from Glasgow, Scotland, incl. Alex Kapranos (Alexander Paul Kapranos Huntley) (1973-) (vocals, guitar), Robert Byron "Bob" Hardy (1980-) (bass), Nicholas John Augustine "Nick" McCarthy (1974-) (keyboards, vocals), and Paul Robert Jude Nester Thomson (1976-) (drums); incl. Take Me Out (#3 in the U.K.), The Dark of the Matinee, This Fire, Michael. Arcade Fire, Funeral (album) (debut) (Sept. 14); title comes from band members who recently lost family members; incl. Rebellion (Lies) (#19 in the U.K.), Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels), Neighborhood #2 (Laika), Neighborhood #3 (Power Out), Wake Up. John Fogerty (1945-), Deja Vu All Over Again; the war in Iraq continues long after Pres. Bush declares mission accomplished? Peter Frampton (1950-), Gold (album). Gandalf (1952-), Colors of a New Dawn (album #24); incl. Colors of a New Dawn. Indigo Girls, All That We Let In (album #9) (Feb. 17). Lamb of God, Ashes of the Wake (album #4) (Aug. 31) (#27 in the U.S.) (400K copies); incl. Ashes of the Wake (anti-Iraq War), Now You've Got Something to Die For, One Gun, The Faded Line, Laid to Rest. Godsmack, The Other Side (EP) (Mar. 16). Van Halen, The Best of Both Worlds (album) (July 20); Eddie Van Halen subs for Michael Anthony on bass; incl. It's About Time, Up for Breakfast. P.J. Harvey (1969-), Uh Huh Her (album #7) (May 31) (#29 in the U.S., #12 in the U.K.); incl. The Letter (#28 in the U.K.), You Come Through, Shame. Heart, Jupiters Darling (album #13) (#94 in the U.S.) (June 22); incl. The Oldest Story in the World, The Perfect Goodbye. Helmet, Size Matters (album #5) (Oct. 5) (#12 in the U.S.); first album since 1997; incl. See You Dead. Hans Werner Henze (1926-), Sebastian im Traum. Missy Higgins (1983-), The Sound of White (album) (debut) (Sept. 6); incl. The Sound of White, Scar, The Special Two, Ten Days. Janis Ian (1951-), Billie's Bones (album). Incubus, A Crow Left of the Murder... (album #5) (Feb. 3) (#2 in the U.S.) (#6 in the U.K.) (600K copies); first with Ben Kenney replacing Dirk Lance; incl. Megalomaniac (#1 in the U.S.), Talk Shows on Mute (#3 in the U.S.). David Ippolito, Common Ground (album #7). LL Cool J (1968-), The DEFinition (album) (Aug. 31); incl. Headsprung, Hush. Janet Jackson (1966-), Damita Jo (album #8) (Mar. 30) (#73 in the U.S.); incl. Just a Little While, I Want You, All Nite (Don't Stop), R&B Junkie. Jimmy Eat World, Futures (album #5) (Oct. 19); incl. Pain, Work, Futures. Elton John (1947-), Peachtree Road (Elton John's Billy Elliot the Musical) (album #28) (Nov. 9); incl. Electricity. JoJo (1990-), JoJo (album) (debut) (June 22); incl. Breezy, The Happy Song. Norah Jones (1979-), Feels Like Home (album #2) (Feb. 9) (#1 in the U.S.) (14M copies, incl. 4M in the U.S.); incl. Sunrise, What Am I to You?, Those Sweet Words. Bon Jovi, 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong (boxed set); marks the sale of 100M albums and the band's 20th anniv. Juanes, Mi Sangre (album #3) (Sept. 28); incl. La Camisa Negra. R. Kelly (1967-), Happy People/ U Saved Me (album #6) (double album) (Aug. 24) (#2 in the U.S.) (3M copies); incl. Happy People (#19 in the U.S., #6 in the U.K.), U Saved Me (#52 in the U.S., #6 in the U.K.). Unfinished Business (album) (with Jay-Z). The Black Keys, Rubber Factory (album #3) (Sept. 7); incl. When the Lights Go Out (used in the 2006 film "Black Snake Moan"), 10 A.M. Automatic (used in the 2006 film "Live Free or Die"), Till I Get My Way, Grown So Ugly (by Robert Pete Williams) (used in the 2008 film "Cloverfield"). Chaka Khan (1953-), Classikhan (album #10) (Oct. 5). Rilo Kiley, More Adventurous (album #3) (Aug. 17); incl. Portions for Foxes. The Killers, Hot Fuss (album) (debut) (June 7) (#7 in the U.S., #1 in the U.K.); from Las Vegas, Nev., incl. Brandon Richard Flowers (1981-) (vocals), David Keuning (guitar, vocals), Mark Stoermer (bass, vocals), and Ronnie Vannucci Jr. (drums); incl. Somebody Told Me, All These Things That I've Done, Mr. Brightside, Smile Like You Mean It. K'naan (1978-), My Life Is a Movie (album) (debut); incl. Soobax. Diana Krall (1964-), The Girl in the Other Room (album) (Apr.); incl. Tempation. Fela Kuti (1938-97), The Underground Spiritual Game (album). Patti LaBelle (1944-), Timeless Journey (album); incl. 2 Steps Away, When You Smile. Barenaked Ladies, Barenaked for the Holidays (album) (Oct. 5). Laibach, Anthems (album #13) (double album). k.d. lang (1961-), Hymns of the 49th Parallel (album #9) (July 27). Avril Lavigne (1984-), Under My Skin (album #2) (May 25) (#2 in the U.S., #1 in the U.K.) (10M copies); incl. Don't Tell Me, My Happy Ending, Nobody's Home, He Wasn't, Girlfriend. John Legend (1978-), Get Lifted (album) (debut) (Dec. 28); sells 3M copies; incl. Let's Get Lifted, Ordinary People, Used to Love U, So High, Number One (w/Kanye West). Juliette and the Licks, ...Like a Bolt of Lightning (EP) (debut) (Oct. 12). Juliette and the Licks, You're Speaking My Language (album) (debut) (May 17); fronted by Juliette Lewis (1973-); incl. You're Speaking My Language, Got Love to Kill. Black Lips, We Did Not Know the Forest Spirit Made the Flowers Grow (album #2) (May 18); title from Hayao Miyazaki's 1997 film "Princess Mononoke"; incl. Time of the Scab, 100 New Fears. Robert Lockwood Jr. (1915-2006) et al., Last of the Great Mississippi Delta Bluesman: Live in Dallas (album). Lindsay Lohan (1986-), Speak (album) (debut) (Dec. 7); incl. Rumors, Over, First. Ludacris (1977-), The Red Light District (album #4) (Dec. 7) (#1 in the U.S.) (2.1M copies); incl. Get Back, Number One Spot, The Potion, Pimpin' All Over the World. Loretta Lynn (1935-), Van Lear Rose (album) (Apr. 27); incl. Van Lear Rose. 10,000 Maniacs, Campfire Songs: The Popular, Obscure and Unknown Recordings (album). Marilyn Manson, Lest We Forget: The Best Of (album) (Sept. 28); incl. Tainted Love. John Mayer (1977-), As/Is (album) (Oct. 19). Tim McGraw (1967-), Live Like You Were Dying (album #8) (Aug. 24) #1 in the U.S.) (#1 country) (4M copies); dedicated to his father Tug McGraw, who died of brain cancer; incl. Live Like You Were Dying (#29 in the U.S) (#1 country) (2M copies), Back When (#30 in the U.S.) (#1 country). Live Like You Were Dying (album #9) (Aug. 24); Live Like You Were Dying. Tim McGraw (1967-) and Nelly (1974-), Over and Over. Bonnie McKee (1984-), Trouble (album) (debut) (Sept. 28); incl. Trouble. Christine McVie (1943-), In The Meantime (album). Mike + the Mechanics, Rewired (album #6) (June 7). Megadeth, The System Has Failed (album #10) (Sept. 14) (#18 in the U.S.); incl. Die Dead Enough (#21 in the U.S.), Of Mice and Men (#39 in the U.S.). Alanis Morissette (1974-), So-Called Chaos (album) (May); incl. Everything, Eight Easy Steps. Morrissey (1959-), You are the Quarry (album). Paul Moravec, Tempest Fantasy (Pulitzer Prize). Motorhead, Inferno (album #17) (June 22); incl. Terminal Show, In the Name of Tragedy, Killers, Life's a Bitch, Whorehouse Blues. Modest Mouse, Good News for People Who Love Bad News (album #4) (Apr. 6) (#18 in the U.S., #40 in the U.K.); incl. Float On (#68 in the U.S., #46 in the U.K.), Ocean Breathes Salty (#96 in the U.K.); Baron von Bullshit Rides Again (album) (Apr. 13). The National, Cherry Tree (album) (July 20). Nelly (1974-), Sweat (album #3) (Sept. 14) (#2 in the U.S.); incl. Flap Your Wings, Heart of a Champion; Suit (album #4) (Sept. 14) (#1 in the U.S.); incl. My Place (w/Jaheim), Over and Over (w/Tim McGraw), 'N' Dey Say. Olivia Newton-John (1948-), Indigo-Women of Song. Twisted Nixon, Iraqi War; Saddam Don't Surf. Nonpoint, Recoil (album #3) (Aug. 3) (#115 in the U.S.); incl. Wait, Broken Bones. Hall & Oates, Our Kind of Soul (album #17) (Oct. 26). Blue October, Argue with a Tree... (album #4) (Sept. 15). Midnight Oil, Best of Both Worlds (album) (Apr. 5). Omarion (1984-), O (debut). Wilson Phillips, California (album #3) (May 25); first album since 1992; sells 30K copies. Phish, Undermind (album) (Mar.); released before their last show on Aug. 15. Phoenix, Alphabetical (album #2) (Mar. 29); incl. Everything Is Everything, Run Run Run; Live! Thirty Days Ago (album) (Nov. 8). Pitbull, M.I.A.M.I. (Money Is A Major Issue) (album) (debut) (Aug. 24) (#14 in the U.S.); incl. 305 Anthem (w/Lil Jon), Toma (w/Lil Jon). Phantom Planet, Phantom Planet (album #3) (Jan. 6); incl. Big Brat. Insane Clown Posse, Hell's Pit (Aug. 31) (album); intended to warn listeners of the horrors of Hell? Manic Street Preachers, Lifeblood (album #7) (Nov. 1) (#2 in the U.K.); incl. The Love of Richard Nixon, and Empty Souls. Prince (1958-), Musicology (album) (Apr. 20); incl. "Musicology", "Cinnamon Girl". Eric Prydz (1976-), Call on Me (Sept. 23) (#1 in the U.K.). Skinny Puppy, The Greater Wrong of the Right (album #9); first album since 1996; incl. EmpTe. Queensryche, The Art of Live (album) (Apr. 20). Rammstein, Reise, Reise (Arise, Arise) (album #4) (Sept. 27) (1.5M copies); incl. Mein Teil (My Part) (about the German cannibals Armin Meiwes and Bernd Jurgen Armando Brandes, who ate Brandes' penis together and went from there), Amerika, Ohne Dich (Without You), Keine Lust (No Desire). Juno Reactor, Labyrinth (album #6) (Oct. 26); incl. Angels and Men, Zwara. Martha Reeves (1941-), Home to You (album). Steve Reich (1936-), You Are (Variations). R.E.M., Around the Sun (album #13) (Oct. 4); incl. Leaving New York, Electron Blue, Wanderlust, Aftermath. Lionel Richie (1949-), Just for You (album #7) (May 4). My Chemical Romance, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge (album #2) (June 8) (#28 in the U.S., #34 in the U.K.) (1.7M copies); first with Reprise Records; incl. Helena (#33 in the U.S.), I'm Not Okay (I Promise) (#86 in the U.S.), The Ghost of You (#84 in the U.S.). Linda Ronstadt (1946-), Hummin' to Myself (album); jazz. Rush, Feedback (album) (June 29). Scorpions, Unbreakable (album #14); incl. New Generation, Love 'Em or Leave 'Em, Deep and Dark. Mr. Scruff (1972-), Keep It Solid Steel Volume 1 (album) (Jan. 1). Howard Leslie Shore (1946-), The Lord of the Rings: Symphony in Six Movements. Ashlee Simpson (1984-), Autobiography (album) ((debut) July 20) (#1 in the U.S.); biggest debut album so far by female artist; incl. Autobiography, La La, Pieces of Me; performs it on Oct. 23 on Saturday Night Live (hosted by Jude Law), and gets critized for using a pre-recorded vocal track and getting caught when the wrong song is played. Jessica Simpson (1980-), Rejoyce: The Christmas Album (album #4) (Nov. 23) (#14 in the U.S.). Twisted Sister, Still Hungry (album) (Oct. 19). Fatboy Slim (1963-), Palokaville (album #4) (Oct. 4); incl. Don't Let the Man Get You Down, Slash Dot Slash. Patti Smith (1946-), Trampin' (album #9) (Apr. 27); incl. Jubilee. Black Label Society, Hangover Music, Vol. VI (album #5) (Apr. 20); incl. A Whiter Shade of Pale (by Procul Harum). Collective Soul, Youth (album #6) (Nov. 16); (#66 in the U.S.); first on their own label EI Music Group; incl. Better Now, Counting the Days, How Do You Love? Regina Spektor (1980-), Soviet Kitsch (album #3) (Aug. 17); title comes from Milan Kundera's "The Unbearable Lightness of Being"; incl. Carbon Monoxide, Us. Spiderbait, Tonight Alright (album #6) (Aug. 17); incl. Black Betty, Fucken Awesome, Tonite. Ringo Starr (1940-), Tour 2003 (album) (Mar. 23). Rod Stewart (1945-), Stardust: The Great American Songbook 3 (album) (Oct. 19) (#1 in the U.S. and U.K.); dedicated to the Tartan Army (fans of the Scottish nat. soccer team); his first #1 album in the U.S. since "Blondes Have More Fun" (1978). Joss Stone (1987-), Mind, Body & Soul (album #2) (Sept. 27) (#11 in the U.S., #1 in the U.K.) (youngest female singer to top the U.K. albums chart since Avril Lavigne); incl. You Had Me, Spoiled. Right to Be Wrong, You Had Me. Rolling Stones, Live Licks (double album) (Nov. 1). Therion, Sirius B (album #14) (May 24); incl. Sirius B; Lemuria (album #15) (May 24); incl. Lemuria. Seven Mary Three, Dis/Location (album #6) (May 11); incl. Without You Feels. Train, Alive at Last (album) (Nov. 2); recorded in Birmingham, Ala. Randy Travis (1959-), Passing Through (album) (Nov. 9); incl. Four Walls. Jethro Tull, Nothing Is Easy: Live at the Isle of Wight 1970 (album) (Nov. 2). Shania Twain (1965-), Greatest Hits (album) (Nov. 8); sells 7M copies. Bonnie Tyler (1951-), Simply Believe (album #14) (Apr. 13). Uma2rman, V Gorode N (album) (debut); from Moscow, incl. Sergei Kristovski and Vladimir Kristovski; incl. Uma Thurman, Nochnoi Dozor (theme of the film "Night Watch"). U2, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (album #11) (Nov. 22) (#1 in the U.S. and U.K.); sells 9M copies; incl. Vertigo, City of Blinding Lights, Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own, Yahweh, Original of the Species. Six Feet Under, Graveyard Classics 2 (album) (Oct. 19). Keith Urban (1967-), Be Here; You'll Think of Me. Usher (1978-), Confessions (album #4) (album #4) (Mar. 23) (#1 in the U.S. and U.K.) (10M copies in the U.S. and 20M copies worldwide, #2 of the decade, incl. 1.1M copies in week #1, a record for an R&B artist); incl. Confessions, Confessions Part II, Yeah! (w/Lil Jon and Ludacris), Burn, My Boo (w/Alicia Keys), Caught Up. Nouvelle Vague, Nouvelle Vague (album) (debut) (Aug. 9); cover band from France, incl. Marc Collin and Olivier Libaux; incl. Love Will Tear Us Apart, Too Drunk to Fuck. Kevin Welch (1955-), You Can't Save Everybody (album #6). Kanye West (1977-), The College Dropout (album) (debut) (Feb. 10) (#2 in the U.S.) (4M copies worldwide); incl. Through the Wire, Slow Jamz (w/Twista and Jamie Foxx), All Falls Down (w/Syleena Johnson), Jesus Walks, The New Workout Plan. Westlife, ...Allow Us To Be Frank (album #6) (Nov. 8) (#3 in the U.K.); Rat Pack tribute album. Wilco, A Ghost Is Born (album #5) (June 22); incl. Hell is Chrome, Muzzle of Bees, Spiders (Kidsmoke). Brian Wilson (1942-), Smile (album). Gretchen Wilson (1973-), Here for the Party (album) (debut); incl. Redneck Woman. Chely Wright (1970-), Everything (album) (Oct. 26); incl. Back of the Bottom Drawer. Daddy Yankee (1977-), Barrio Fino (album #3) (July 13) (#26 in the U.S.) (1M copies in the U.S. - a first for a reggaeton artist); incl. Gasolina. Frank Zappa (1940-93), Joe's Corsage (album) (posth.) (May 30); AuAUDIOPHILIAc (album) (posth.) (Sept. 14); Joe's Domage (album) (posth.) (Oct. 1). The Zutons, Who Killed... The Zutons? (album) (debut) (May). Movies: Oliver Stone's Alexander the Great (Nov. 24), about the young, blonde gay Greek conqueror makes a star of Colin Farrell even though the 175-min. unhistorical movie rambles, and his momma Olympia (Angelina Jolie) looks like his sister?; meanwhile 2 mo. later Jim Lindsay's The True Story of Alexander the Great (Jan. 25, 2005) also comes and goes. Istvan Szabo's Being Julia (Oct. 28), based on the W. Somerset Maugham novel "Theatre" stars Annette Bening as bored 1930s London diva Julia Lambert, who has an affair with young Yank Tom Fennel (Shaun Evans), and gets revenge when she finds out he's using her; the role gets her an Oscar nomination, but she gets "Swanked" by Hilary Swank for a 2nd straight time (first time "American Beauty"). Paul Greengrass' The Bourne Supremacy (July 15) stars Matt Damon as trained assassin Jason Bourne, who is framed and goes on da run; #8 movie of 2004 ($176M). Joe Roth's Christmas with the Kranks (Revolution Studios) (1492 Pictures) (Columbia Pictures), written by Chris Columbus based on the 2001 John Grisham novel "Skipping Christmas" stars Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis as empty nesters Luther and Nora Krank of Riverside, Ill., who decide to skip Christmas while daughter Blair (Julie Gonzalo) is in Peru, bringing down the neighbors on them led by Vic Frohmeyer (Dan Aykroyd) along with Luther's co-workers, only to flop fast when Blair suddenly returns on Christmas Eve morning; Tom Poston (last film role) plays Father Zabriskie; does $96.6M box office on a $60M budget. Mike Nichols' Closer (Dec. 3) (Columbia Pictures), based on the 1997 Patrick Marber play based on Mozart's opera "Cosi fan tutte" stars Natalie Portman as Alice Ayres/Jane Jones, Jude Law as Dan Woolf, Julia Roberts as Anna Cameron, and Clive Owen as Larry Gray in a flick about love at first sight, who are "traitors at every glance"; in reality, it's an excuse to put out phone sex disguised as movie dialogue?; does $115M box office on a $27M budget. Michael Mann's Collateral (), the first feature film shot mostly with hi-definition cameras stars Tom Cruise as prof. hitman Vincent, who hires cabbie Max Durocher (Jamie Foxx) all night so he can pull off a string of hits to stop a federal drug case, but goes too far when he tries to hit his love babe Annie Farrell (Jada Pinkett Smith). Sara Sugarman's Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (Feb. 20) stars Lindsay Lohan in her first non-remake as Mary Elizabeth Cep, whose family moves to the suburbs, causing her to have to fit in; a flop with critics but not at the box office. Michael Lembeck's Connie and Carla (Apr. 16) (Universal Studios) stars Nia Vardalos and Toni Collette, two women who pose as men dressing in drag to hide from gangsters; David Duchnovny plays Jeff, who falls for Connie; does $11.3M box office on a $27M budget. David Twohy's The Chronicles of Riddick (June 11), a sequel to "Pitch Black" stars Vin Diesel as Riddiculous, er, Richard B. Riddick in a black screen with 5-quick-beat pseudo-music trying to lull you to sleep while jarring you back awake?; a world where nobody eats, sleeps, or takes time for bodily functions, and the bill for the war is paid by, er, isn't?; "You keep what you kill"?; brings in $107M on a $105M budget; based on the prequel "Pitch Black" (2000); followed by "Riddick" (2013). Pieter Jan Brugge's The Clearing (July 2) (Thousand Words) (Brugge's dir. debut) stars Robert Redford, Hellen Mirren, and Willem Dafoe in a kidnapping flick. Roland Emmerich's The Day After Tomorrow (May 17) (20th Cent. Fox) stars Dennis Quaid as climatologist Jack Hall, who must save the world from super-fast global warming er, cooling, which incl. New York being taken over by a new ice age; Jake Gyllenhaal plays his stranded son Sam; #7 movie of 2004 ($187M in the U.S., $544.3M worldwide on a $125M budget). Irwin Winkler's De-Lovely (May 22) stars Kevin Kline as Cole Porter (1891-1964), and Ashley Judd as his wife Linda. Oliver Hirschbiegel's Downfall (Der Untergang) (Sept. 8) (Constantin Film), based on books by Hitler's secy. ("the best boss I ever had") Traudl Junge (1920-2002) et al., about the final days of Herr Hitler (played by Bruno Ganz) in his Berlin bunker is the best German-perspective WWII flick since "Das Boot" (1981), although it is controversially intimate and lifelike? Hans Weingartner's The Edukators (Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei) (May 17) stars Daniel Bruhl, Stipe Erceg, and Julia Jentsch as three young anti-capitalist activists in Berlin who educate upper-class bourgeoisie by rearranging the furniture in their houses while engaging in a love triangle. Renny Harlin's Exorcist: The Beginning (Aug. 20) stars Stellan Skarsgard as Father Merrin, who first encounters demon Pazuzu while bedding Dr. Sarah (Isaella Scorupco). Michel Gondry's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Mar. 19) (Focus Features), named after a line in Alexander Pope's poem "Eloisa to Abelard" stars Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet as separated lovers Joel Barish and Clementine Kruczynski, who had Lacuna Inc. of New York City erase their memories, and meet by accident on a train and fall in love over again; does $72.2M box office on a $20M budget. Roger Moore's Fahrenheit 911 (June 25) (the first documentary to win the Palme d'Or since Cousteau in 1956) is a persuasive indictment of the Bush chimp in a suit mismanaging America, but it fails to cost Bush the election; Ray Greedbury, er, Bradbury stinks himself up by trying to sue him for "infringing" on the title of his sci-fi novel, which shall remain nameless, knowing that titles aren't copyrightable, much less scientific measurements? John Moore's Flight of the Phoenix (Dec. 17) stars Dennis Quaid as Frank Towns, Tyrese Gibson as A.J., Giovanni Ribisi as Elliott, and Hugh Laurie as Ian, whose plane crashes in a Mongolian desert and they have to try to build a new one. Peter Berg's Friday Night Lights (Oct. 8) (Universal Pictures), based on the 1990 H.G. Bissinger book about the 1988 5A Permian H.S. Panthers football team in Odessa, Tex. stars Billy Bob Thornton as coach Gary Gaines, who coaches them to the state championship against the Dallas Carter H.S. Cowboys; does $61.95M box office on a $30M budget. Zach Braff's Garden State (Jan. 16) (Miramax) stars Braff as 26-y.-o. actor/waitor Andrew Largeman, who returns to his home in N.J. after his mother dies, who hooks up with pathological liar Sam (Natalie Portman); does $35.8M box office on a $2.5M budgets. Peter Hewitt's Garfield (June 11) features the voice of Bill Murray as Jon Arbuckle's (Breckin Meyer) cat Garfield, who has to rescue his dog Odie. Takashi Shimizu's The Grudge (Oct. 22) (Ghost House Pictures) (Columbia Pictures), a remake of the 2003 film "Ju-on: The Grudge" about a curse that is born when someone dies in extreme sorrow or powerful rage stars Sarah Michelle Gellar as U. of Tokyo exchange student Karen Davis, and Jason Behr as her beau Doug McCarthy; does $187.2M box office on a $10M budget; followed by "The Grudge 2" (2006), "The Grudge 3" (2009), and "Grudge" (2019); watch trailer; watch trailer. Alfonso Cuaron's Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (June 4) is the #6 movie of 2004 ($249M). Paul Etheredge-Ouzts' Hellbent (June 26) (Regent Releasing) bills itself as the first gay slasher film; does $183K box office. Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy (Mar. 30) (Revolution Studios) (Dark Horse Entertainment) (Columbia Pictures), based on the Dark Horse Comics series by Mike Mignola stars Ron Perlman as the Baby Ruth candy bar-munching half-man half-devil hero with a right hand of stone Abe Sapien, and Selma Blair as pyrokinetic babe Liz Sherman, who fight the demon Sammael, then have a flaming kiss, proving that what makes a man is "not how he starts things but how he decides to end them"; followed by "Hellboy II: The Golden Army" (2008); does $99.3M box office on a $66M budget. Zhang Yimou's House of Flying Daggers (May 19), set in 859 during the Tang Dynasty stars Andy Lau as Police Capt. Leo, who is ordered to kill the unknown leader of the rebel House of Flying Daggers in Fengtian in 10 days, causing him to arrest blind dancer Mei (Zhang Ziyi), who is suspected of being the previous leader's daughter; features elaborate cinematography and period costumes; does $92.9M box office on a $12M budget. Brad Bird's computer-animated The Incredibles (Oct. 24) is about a family of undercover superheroes, starring the voices of Craig T. Nelson as Mr. Incredible, Holly Hunter as Elastigirl, Samuel L. Jackson as Brozone, and Jason Lee as Syndrome; #4 movie of 2004 ($261M U.S. and $631.6M worldwide box office on a $145M budget); followed by "Incredibles 2" (2018). Alex Proyas' I, Robot (July 15) (20th Cent. Fox), written by Jeff Vintar (not based on the 1950 Isaac Asimov book) and set in robot-filled 2035 stars Will Smith as Chicago detective Del Spooner, who was saved from drowning by a robot who allowed a 12-y.-o. girl to drown in his place, making him hate all robots, investigating the suspicious suicide of U.S. Robotics founder Dr. Alfred Lanning (James Cromwell), tracing it to the AI called V.I.K.I. (Virtual Interactive Kinetic Intelligence) (Fiona Hogan) with the help of robopsychologist Susan Calvin (Bridget Moynahan); Bruce Greenwood plays USR CEO Lawrence Robertson; grosses $347M worldwide on a $120M budget. Stephen Chow's Kung Fu Hustle (Sept. 14) (China Film Group) (Columbia Pictures) (Sony Pictures Classics) stars Chow as Sing, specialist in the Fut Gar Buddhist Palm technique, who joins the Axe Gang, led by Brother Sum (Danny Chan Kwok-kwan); does $102M box office incl. $17M in North Am. on a $20M budget, becoming the highest-grossing film in Hong Kong history until "You Are the Apple of My Eye" (2011). Wes Anderson's The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (Dec. 25) is a stinker starring Bill Murray as a kooky oceanographer (spoof of Jacques Cousteau) who is out to get revenge on a fabled Jaguar shark that ate his partner Esteban; features Cate Blanchett, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldlbum, Owen Wilson, and Anjelica Huston. Stephen Hopkins' The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (May 21), based on the book by Roger Lewis stars Geoffrey Rush as Peter Sellers, John Lithgow as Blake Edwards, Emily Watson as Emily Watson, and Charlize Theron as Britt Ekland. Tony Scott's Man on Fire (Apr. 23), based on the A.J. Quinnell books stars Denzel Washington as Creasy, an ex-CIA agent who used to be a govt. assassin and has lost the will to live and turned into a Nicolas Cage alcoholic, until he is given a second chance to guard cute loveable Pita (Dakota Fanning) in Mexico City, then goes on a Rambo-style revenge mission against her kidnapper-murderers, only to discover several kinks in the official coverstory; Mark Anthony and Radha Mitchell play Pita's parents, Christopher Walken plays Creasy's handler Rayburn, and Giancarlo Giannini and Rachel Ticotin are good as the local federales and press, who play Creasy off to lead them to "The Voice" Daniel Sanchez (Gustavo Sanchez Parra). Joshua Marston's Maria Full of Grace (Apr. 2) stars Catalina Sandino Moreno as a pregnant Colombian teenie who becomes a drug mule, gaining her the first best actress Oscar nomination for an actress speaking only Spanish lines. Nagi Noda's Mariko Takahashi's Fitness Video for Being Appraised as an Ex-Fat Girl features exercisers dressed in poodle costumes with superimposed dog faces, going viral on the Internet. Mark Waters' Mean Girls (Apr. 30), written by Tina Fey based on Rosalind Wiseman's 2002 book "Queen Bees and Wannabees" about female teenage social cliques is the first PG-13 (and non-Disney) role for child star Lindsay Lohan (1986-), and features several SNL alumni, grossing $128M worldwide at the box office, turning Lohan into a paparazzi-targeted star. Jay Roach's Meet the Fockers (Dec. 22) introduces Greg Focker's parents Bernie and Rozalin (Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand); almost nixed by movie censors until a real Focker family is found in a Canadian phone book; #4 movie of 2004 ($279M). Michael Radford's The Merchant of Venice (Dec. 3), based on the Shakespeare play becomesthe first full-length sound version in English; stars Al Pacino as Shylock, Jeremy Irons as Antonio, Joseph Fiennes as Bassanio, and Lynn Collins as Portia; does $21.4M box office on a $30M budget. Gregg Araki's Mysterious Skin (Sept.3), based on the 1995 Scott Heim novel about a teen male gay hustler and a young man obsessed with alien abductions who cross paths and discover their childhood abuse stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Brian Corbet. Jared Hess' Napoleon Dynamite (Aug. 27), a high school nerd flick stars Hispanic Efren Ramirez as Pedro, and white Afro-wearing Jon Heder, who helps him run for class pres. wearing a "Vote for Pedro" t-shirt, and buys a brown suit for the school dance down the street from his Rex Kwon Do studio in Preston, Idaho; "Knock it off, Napoleon! Just make yourself a dang quesa-dilluh!" Jon Turteltaub's National Treasure (Nov. 19) stars Nicolas Cage as Am. history buff Benjamin Franklin Gates, who uses a code hidden on the back of the Declaration of Independence to track down the fabled treasure of the Knights Templars in Old North Church in Boston, Mass.; #9 movie of 2003 ($173M). Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ (Feb. 25) (Icon Productions) (Newmarket Films), based on the visions of 19th cent. German mystic nun Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824) (who is beatified by Pope John Paul II on Oct. 3) reenacts the Catholicized Gospel story of the Stations of the Cross with actors speaking the original languages (with subtitles) is a bloody lovefest for millions of Christians, bringing in $370M U.S. and $611.9M worldwide box office on a $30M budget (#3 movie of 2004), becoming the top-grossing R-rated film in history (until ?), and making Mel too rich to want to be Pope Mel I?; he gyps the screenwriter Benedict Fitzgerald, who later sues him; too bad, in Mar. 2003 Mel's ultra-conservative Roman Catholic daddy Hutton Peter "Red" Gibson (1918-) (the 1968 "Jeopardy!" grand champ, with a genius IQ) gave an interview to The New York Times Mag., saying that Vatican II was a "Masonic plot backed by the Jews", that the 9/11 attacks were perpetrated by remote control, and that the WWII Holocaust was impossible as stated because the Nazis couldn't have disposed of 6M corpses without a trace, and census figures prove there were more Jews in Europe after WWII than before, also adding that certain Jews want a OWG with a global religion, then reiterated these views a week before the film's release to radio talk show host Steve Feuerstein, after which charges of anti-Semitism are denied by Mel, who is defended by Focus on the Family and other anti-Semitic, er, Christian groups. Robert Zemeckis' 3-D computer animated film The Polar Express (Oct. 21) (Castle Rock Entertainment) (Warner Bros. Pictures), based on the 1985 Chris van Allsburg children's novel stars Tom Hanks in motion-capture mode, with Daryl Sabara doing the voice of Hero Boy; does $310.6M box office on a $165M budget. Shane Carruth's Primer (Oct. 8), made on a $7K budget is about the accidental discovery of a means of time travel that leads to unexpected difficulties. Jonathan Hensleigh's The Punisher (Apr. 16) (Lionsgate Films) (Marvel Entertainment), based on the Marvel Comics char. stars Thomas Jane as Thomas Castle AKA The Punisher, John Travolta as Howard Saint, Will Patton as Quentin Glass, Rebecca Romijn as Joan, Ben Fsoter as Spacker Dave, and John Pinette as Nathaniel Bumpo; does $54.7M box office on a $33M budget. Taylor Hackford's Ray (Oct. 29) stars Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles in a bopic that twists a few facts but captures the genius, claiming he was banned from Jawjaw for life in 1961 in order to make a climax out of him singing "Georgia on My Mind" for the Ga. state legislature in 1979. James Wan's Saw (Jan. 24) (Twisted Piectures) (Lionsgate Films) (Wan's dir. debut), written by Leigh Whannell stars Tobin Bell as John Kramer, and Cary Elwes as oncologist Dr. Lawrence Gordon who is along with photographer Adam Stanheight (Whannell) in a dilapidated bathroom by the mysterious Jigsaw Killer, and learn that Lawrence must kill Adam by 6:00 or his wife and daughter will be killed by Zep Hindle (Michael Enderson); meanwhile detective David Tapp (Danny Glover) pursues Lawrence in the belief that he's the Jigsaw Killer, who turns out to be Bell after it's too late; does $103.9M box office on a $1.2M budget, becoming the first big horror film hit since "Scream" (1996), launching the Saw franchise that grosses $975M, incl. "Saw II" (2005), "Saw III" (2006), "Saw IV" (2007), "Saw V" (2008), "Saw VI" (2009), "Saw 3D" (2010), and "Jigsaw" (2017); critics call it "torture porn". David Koepp's Secret Window (Mar. 12) (Columbia Pictures), based on the Stephen King novel "Secret Window, Secret Garden" stars Johnny Deep as blocked writer Morton "Mort" Rainey, who is hounded by writer John Shooter (John Turturro) over alleged plagiarism until it gets bloody, when P.I. Ken Karsch (Charles S. Dutton) and Sheriff Dave Newsome (Len Cariou) get involved; Maria Bellow plays Mort's cheating wife Amy; does $92.9M box office on a $40M budget. Bibo Bergeron's and Vicky Jenson's Shark Tale (Oct. 1) is an animated flick starring the voices of Will Smith, Robert De Niro, Renee Zellweger and Jack Black; #10 movie of 2004 ($161M). Andrew Adamson and Kelly Asbury's Shrek 2 (May 19) continues the animated series with new char. Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas); #1 movie of 2004 ($436M). James L. Brooks' Spanglish (Dec. 17) stars Adam Sandler as a chef who hires Spanish-speaking maid Flor (Paz Vega), who finally decides to learn English. Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 2 (June 30) stars Alfred Molina as Dr. Otto Gunther Octavius, who turns himself into bad guy Doctor Octopus (Doc Ock), based on a July 1963 Stan Lee char.; #2 movie of 2004 ($374M on a $200M budget). Richard Eyre's Stage Beauty (May 8) (BBC Films) (Momentum Pictures) (Lionsgate), written by Jeffrey Hatcher based on his play "Compleat Female Stage Beauty" stars Billy Crudup as 17th cent. British drag actor Edward "Ned" Kynaston.; does $2.15M box office. Frank Oz's The Stepford Wives (June 11), based on the Ira Levin book is the film debut of Faith Hill as Sarah Sunderson, and stars Nicole Kidman as Joanna Eberhart, Bette Midler as Bobbie Markowitz, Jon Lovitz as Dave Markowitz, Glenn Close as Claire Wellington, Christopher Walken as Mike Wellington, and Matthew Broderick as Walter Kresby. Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me (May 21) follows the writer-dir. for 30 days as he lives entirely on McDonald's foods, consuming 5K calories avg. per day, gaining 24.5 lbs., and experiencing mood swings, sexual dysfunction and liver damage, then takes 14 mo. to lose the weight. Steven Spielberg's The Terminal (June 18) stars Tom Hanks as Eastern European everyman Viktor Navorski living at a New York Airport that won't him leave as long as his country is at war; based on a real man living at a Paris airport? Wolgang Petersen's Troy (May 14) (Warner Bros.) stars Brad Pitt as Achilles, Eric Bana as Hector, Orlando Bloom as Paris, and Diane Kruger as Helen, and features hi-tech battle scenes although the actors are too scrawny to look like real Greeks, SFX or not?; Pitt injures his Achilles heel during filming, delaying production for weeks?; does $497M box office on a $175M budget. Stephen Sommers' Van Helsing (May 7) (Sommers Co.) (Stillking Films) (Universal Pictures) stars Hugh Jackman as monster hunter Gabriel Van Helsing, Kate Beckinsale as Anna Valerious, Will Kemp as her brother Velkan Valerious, Richard Roxburgh as Count Vladislaus Dracula, Shuler Hensley as Frankeinstein's monster, Kevin J. O'Connor as Frankenstein's ex-servant Igor, David Wenham as Friar Carl, Silvia Colloca as Dracula's concubine Verona, Elena Anaya as Dracula's concubine Aleera, Josie Maran as Dracula's concubine Marishka, Samuel West as Dr. Victor Frankenstein, Tom Fisher as Transylvanian grave digger Top Hat, and Robbie Coltrane as the voice of Mr. Hyde; does $300.3M box office on a $160M budget. M. Night Shyamalan's The Village (July 30), about a village near Philly in 1897 stars Joaquin Phoenix as Lucius Hunt, and Bryce Dallas Howard as Livy Elizabeth Walker, daughter of chief elder Edward Walker (William Hurt), who are all afraid of "Those We Don't Speak Of" in the woods. William Arntz's What the Bleep Do We Know!? (Apr. 23) posits a connection between quantum physics and consciousness; does $10M at the box office. Plays: Alan Ayckbourn (1939-), Drowning on Dry Land (Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough) (May 4); eternal failure Charlie Conrad; Private Fears in Public Places (Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough) (Aug. 17). Alan Bennett (1934-), The History Boys (Lyttleton Theatre, Royal Nat. Theatre, London) (May 18) (Broadhurst Theatre, New York, Apr. 23, 2006, 185 perf.); Cutler's Grammar School in Sheffield under headmaster Felix Armstrong in the 1980s prepares for the Oxbridge entrance exams with teachers Douglas Hector (English) (based on Frank McEachran), Irwin (history) (based on Niall Ferguson), and Mrs. Dorothy Lintott (history). Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti, Behzti (Dishonour) (Rep Theatre, Birmingham) (Dec. 18); opening night causes a riot by Sikhs. Peter Braunstein, Andy & Edie (New York) (June 3); stars Misha Sedgwick as Edie Sedgwick, and Thomas Blake as Andy Warhol. Paul Day Clemens and Ron Magid, Edgar Allan Poe: Once Upon a Midnight; stars John Astin. Per Olov Enquist (1934-), The Book About Blanche and Marie (Boken om Blanche och Marie). Athol Fugard (1932-), Exits and Entrances (Fountain Theatre, Los Angeles); stars Morlan Higgins and William Dennis Hurley. Jeremy Joseph Gable (1982-), American Way (Blank Theatre, Los Angeles) (Oct. 24); three comic book superheroes are powerless to prevent a tragedy (the Bush admin. and 9/11); Slurp!. Gina Gionfriddo, After Ashley (Louisville, Ky.) (Mar.). Miles Gregley, Rafael Agustin, and Allan Axibal, Nigger Wetback Chink: The Race Play (Los Angeles) (Mar.); takes on racial sterotypes and slurs. Davie Hare (1947-), Stuff Happens; about the Iraq War, based on a Donald Rumsfeld quote from Apr. 11, 2003. Brent Hartinger, The Geography Club (Seattle); based on his novel. Jack Heifner, Seduction; all-male gay adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler's 1900 "La Ronde (Reigen)". Robert Hewett, The Blonde, the Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead (Stables Theatre, Sydney); Rhonda Russell. Rolf Hochhuth (1931-), McKinsey is Coming. David Henry Hwang (1957-), Tibet Through the Red Box (Children's Theatre, Seattle) (Jan. 30); based on a children's book by Peter Sis. Terry Johnson, Dumb Show (Royal Court Theatre, London) (Sept. 4); Barry, AKA Mr. Saturday Night. Thomas Kilroy (1934-), My Scandalous Life. Lisa Kron, Well (Joseph Papp Theater, New York. Bryony Lavery, Frozen; 10-y.-o. Rhona disappears. Mark Medoff (1940-), The Dramaturgy of Mark Medoff. Arthur Miller (1915-2005), Finishing the Picture (last play) (Goodman Theatre, Chicago) (Sept.); based on his time with wife Marilyn Monroe while shooting "The Misfits" in summer-fall 1960. Walter L. Newton, I Never Promised You a Rose Garden; based on the Joanne Greenberg novel. Louis Nowra (1950-), The Woman with Dog's Eyes; #1 in the Boyce Trilogy (2004-6). Tyler Perry, Meet the Browns. Bert V. Royal, Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead (Soho Playhouse, New York) (Aug.); the Peanuts chars. as teenagers. Gregory Charles Royal, It's a Hardbop LIfe (JVC Jazz Festival, New York) (July). Sarah Ruhl (1974-), The Clean House (Yale Repertory Theatre); Brazilian cleaning woman Mathilde won't clean her physician boss' house because she wants to be a comedian. Sam Shepard (1943-), The God of Hell (Actors Studio, New York); Wisc. dairy farmers Frank and Emma are targeted by govt. employee Mr. Welch, who is pursuing Frank's old friend Haynes. Robert B. Sherman (1925-2012), Richard M. Sherman (1928-), George Stiles (191-), Anthony Drewe, Julian Fellowes (1949-), and William David Brohn (1933-), Mary Poppins (musical) (Prince Edward Theatre, West End, London) (Dec. 15) (New Amsterdam Theatre, New York) (Nov. 16, 2006) (2,619 perf.); based on the P.L. Travers books and the 1964 Walt Disney film; first Disney musical to debut in the U.K. (until ?); stars Laura Michelle Kelly (Ashley Brown on Broadway) as Mary Poppins, and Gavin Lee as Bert; "For children seven years and up"; on Mar. 17, 2005 Julie Andrews visits as a guest, giving a speech. Nicky Silver, Beautiful Child (Vineyard Theater, New York) (Feb. 24); stars George Grizzard and Penny Fuller as middle-aged couple Harry and Nan, who blind their grown son Isaac for falling in love with a boy. Simon Stephens (1971-), Christmas; Country Music. Tom Stoppard (1937-), Enrico IV; tr. of the Luigi Pirandello play. Imogen Stubbs, We Happy Few (John Gielgud Theatre, London) (June 29); title from Shakespeare's "Henry V". David Williamson (1942-), Amigos (Sydney). Robert Wilson (1941-), I La Galigo. Doug Wright (1962-), I Am My Own Wife (Pulitzer Prize). Poetry: John Ash (1948-), To the City. Rita Dove (1952-), American Smooth. Norman Dubie (1945-), Ordinary Mornings of a Coliseum. George Fetherling (1949-), Singer, An Elegy. Donald Rodney Justice (1925-2004), Collected Poems (posth.). Bill Knott (1940-), The Unsubscriber. Ted Kooser (1939-), Delights and Shadows (Pulitzer Prize); Local Wonders: Seasons in the Bohemian Alps. Rod McKuen (1933-), Rusting in the Rain. Sharon Olds (1942-), Strike Sparks: Selected Poems. Mary Oliver (1935-), Why I Wake Up Early: New Poems; Blue Iris: Poems and Essays. Michael Ryan (1946-), New and Selected Poems. Philip Schultz (1945-), Living in the Past. Charles Simic (1938-), Selected Poems 1963-2003. Gilbert Sorrentino (1929-2006), New and Selected Poems, 1958-1998. Gerald Stern (1925-), Not God After All. James Tate (1943-), Return to the City of White Donkeys. Tomas Transtromer (1931-), The Great Enigma. Calvin Trillin (1935-), Obliviously On He Sails: The Bush Administration in Rhyme. Jean Valentine, Door in the Mountain: New and Collected Poems, 1965-2003. Derek Walcott (1930-), The Prodigal. Richard Wilbur (1921-2017), Collected Poems, 1943-2004 (Dec. 6). Charles Wright (1935-), Buffalo Yoga. Franz Wright, Walking to Martha's Vineyard. Novels: Peter Ackroyd (1949-), The Lambs of London. Catherine Aird (1930-), Chapter and Hearse. Mitch Albom (1958-), The Five People You Meet in Heaven; Eddie finds that heaven is where you reveal the haunting secrets behind the meaning of life. Monica Ali (1967-), Brick Lane (first novel) (June); Bengali immgrants in London's East End. Isabel Allende (1942-), Kingdom of the Golden Dragon. Jonathan Ames (1964-), Wake Up Sir! Donna Andrews, We'll Always Have Parrots. Louis Auchincloss (1917-), East Side Story. Paul Benjamin Auster (1947-), Oracle Night. Nanni Balestrini (1935-), Sandokan, Storia di Camorra. Russell Banks (1940-), The Darling. Clive Barker (1952-), Abarat: Days of Magic, Nights of War. Julian Barnes (1946-), The Lemon Table (short stories). Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, Peter and the Starcatchers; a Peter Pan prequel, featuring Molly Aster, teenage daughter of the British Ambassador to Rundoon. Richard Bausch, Wives & Lovers: Three Short Novels; incl. "Requisite Kindness". Thomas Berger (1924-), Adventures of the Artificial Woman. Steve Berry (1955-), The Romanov Prophecy. Wendell Berry (1934-), Hannah Coulter; That Distant Land: The Collected Stories of Wendell Berry. Chetan Bhagat (1973-), Five Point Someone: What not to do at IIT; bestseller (1M copies); filmed in 2009 as "3 Idiots". Maeve Binchy (1940-), Night Of Rain And Stars. Daniel Black, They Tell Me of a Home. Michael Blaine, The Midnight Band of Mercy. James Carlos Blake, Handsome Harry: Or The Gangster's True Confessions. Pierre Bourgeade (1927-2009), Les Comediens; Crashville. T. Coraghessan Boyle (1948-), The Inner Circle. Anita Brookner (1928-), The Rules of Engagement. Terry Brooks, Tanequil. Christopher Buckley (1952-), Florence of Arabia. Jimmy Buffett (1946-), A Salty Piece of Land. James Lee Burke (1936-), In the Moon of the Red Ponies; Billy Bob Holland #4. Robert Olen Butler (1945-), Had a Good Time: Stories from American Postcards. Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason, The Rule of Four - death by scratch and sniff? Hortense Calisher (1911-2009), Tattoo for a Slave (autobio.). John le Carre (1931-), Absolute Friends; Ted Mundy and Sasha. Michael Chabon (1963-), The Final Solution: A Story of Detection; McSweeney's Enchanted Chamber of Astonishing Stories; incl. Stephen King's "Lisey and the Madman". Barbara Chase-Riboud (1939-), Hottentot Venus. Mary Higgins Clark (1927-), Nighttime is My Time; You Belong to Me. Mary Higgins Clark (1927-) and Carol Higgins Clark (1956-), The Christmas Thief. Susanna Clarke, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell (short stories). Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio (1940-), The African. Andrei Codrescu (1946-), Wakefield. Paul Coelho (1947-), The Genie and the Roses; Journeys. Robert Coover (1932-), Stepmother. Bernard Cornwell, Sharpe's Prey: Denmark 1807; Richard Sharpe vs. Napoleon. Patricia Cornwell (1956-), Trace. Douglas Coupland, Eleanor Rigby; 36-y.-o. Vancouver woman's 20-y.-o. adopted-out son returns. Michael Crichton (1942-2008), State of Fear (Dec. 7); NYT bestseller (1.5M copies); ecoterrorists plot mass murder to publicize the dangers of global warming, calling climate change "a vast pseudo-scientific hoax", which the book attempts to refute with scientific arguments that are pooh-poohed by climate warmists, making it more popular? M. Allen Cunningham, The Green Age of Aher Witherow (first novel). Clive Cussler (1931-), Black Wind; Dirk Pitt #18. Edwidge Danticat, The Dew Breakers. Guy Davenport (1927-2005), Wo es War, Soll Ich Werden: The Restored Original Text. Diane Mott Davidson (1949-), Double Shot. Jeffrey Deaver, Garden of Beasts: A Novel of Berlin 1936. Nelson DeMille, Night Fall; about TWA Flight 800 in 1996. John Denning, The Bookman's Promise. Kate DiCamillo (1964-), The Tale of Despereaux. Cory Doctorow (1971-), A Place So Foreign and Eight More (short stories). E.L. Doctorow (1931-), Sweet Land Stories. Anthony Doerr, About Grace. Roddy Doyle (1958-), Oh, Play That Thing!; vol. 2 of the Last Roundup Trilogy (1999-2010). Margaret Drabble (1939-), The Red Queen: A Transcultural Tragicomedy; Barbara Halliwall receives a 200-y.-o. memoir from a Korean princess. Martin Bauml Duberman (1930-), Haymarket. John Gregory Dunne (1932-2003), Nothing Lost (posth.). James Ellroy (1948-), Destination: Morgue!. Louise Erdrich (1954-), Four Souls. Maria Flook, Lux: A Novel. Ken Follett (1949-), Whiteout. Richard Ford (1944-), Vintage Ford (short stories). Alan Furst (1941-), Dark Voyage; Night Soldiers #8. Alex Garland, The Coma. George Garrett (1929-2008), Double Vision. Lisa Glatt, A Girl Becomes a Comma Like That (first novel). Robert Goddard, Sight Unseen. Francisco Goldman (1954-), The Divine Husband. Sue Grafton (1940-), 'R' is for Ricochet. John Grisham (1955-), The Broker; the CIA gets a pardon for Joel Backman. Michael Gruber, Valley of Bones. Judith Guest (1936-), The Tarnished Eye. Mark Haddon (1962-), The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (first novel); an autistic narrator launches a murder investigation. Jennifer Haigh, Baker Towers. Janice Hallowell, The Annunciation of Francesca Dunn. Laurell K. Hamilton, Micah. Peter Handke (1942-), Don Juan (Told by Himself). Jim Harrison (1937-), True North. John Harrison, Light; The Course of the Heart. Brent Hartinger, The Last Chance Texaco. Ken Haruf, Eventide. Mark Helprin (1947-), The Pacific and Other Stories. Carl Hiaasen (1953-), Skinny Dip; bad marine biologist Chaz Perrone in the dark Sunshine State? George V. Higgins (1939-99), The Easiest Thing in the World: The Unpublished Fiction of George V. Higgins (posth.). Tony Hillerman (1925-2008), Skeleton Man. S.E. Hinton (1950-), Hawkes Harbor. Alice Hoffman (1952-), Blackbird House. Pam Houston (1962-), Sight Hound. Susan Isaacs (1943-), Any Place I Hang My Hat. John Jakes (1932-), Savannah. Gish Jen, The Love Wife. Ha Jin (1956-), War Trash. Iris Johansen, Blind Alley. Edward P. Jones (1951-), The Known World (first novel); slave life in the antebellum South (Pulitzer Prize). Craig Johnson, The Cold Dish. Neil Jordan, Shade. Ward Just (1935-), An Unfinished Season. Cynthia Kadohata (1956-), Kira-Kira. Marne Davis Kellogg, Priceless; Kick the Shamrock Burglar again. Sue Monk Kidd (1948-), The Secret Life of Bees (first novel); living in the racist Am. South of 1964, 14-y.-o. Lily Owens copes with having killed her mother Deborah at age 4, and having to live with a daddy that doesn't love her, finally running away to find a new hive of black beekeeper mothers in Tiburon, S.C. Stephen King (1947-), The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower (Nov.); King now claims to retire, but the catch is, what do most people do after they retire except write a book? Leslie S. Klinger, The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes (2 vols.). Dean Koontz (1945-), Life Expectancy; The Good Guy; Tim Carter gets mixed up in a contract murder. William Kowalski (1970-), The Good Neighbor. Stieg Larsson (1954-2004), The Millennium Trilogy (posth.); about 20-something Lisbeth Salander, who has a photographic memory and poor social skills, and investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist, who works for Millennium mag.; becomes the #22 best-selling author on Earth in 2008, selling 27M copies in 40+ countries by 2010, 65M by Dec. 2011, and 80M by 2015, becoming the first ebook with 1M Kindle downloads in 2010; incl. "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", "The Girl Who Played with Fire", "he Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest"; Lisbeth gets revenge on her tormentor Nils by tattooing "I'm a sadistic pig and a rapist" on his stomach. Elmore Leonard (1925-2013), Mr. Paradise. Jonathan Lethem (1964-), Men and Cartoons (short stories). Jeff Lindsay, Darkly Dreaming Dexter. Charles de Lint (1951-), The Blue Girl. Laura Lippman (1959-), Every Secret Thing; filmed in 2014. Margot Livesey, Banishing Verona. Chuck Logan, After the Rain. Naguib Mahfouz (1911-2006), Dreams of the Rehabilitation (Recovery) Period. David Maine, The Preservationist. John Robert Marlow, Nano. Gabriel Garcia Marquez (1927-2014), Memories of My Melancholy Whores; "In my ninetieth year, I decided to give myself the gift of a night of love with a young virgin." Yann Martel, We Ate the Children Last (short stories). Ron McLarty, The Memory of Running. Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus, Citizen Girl. Larry McMurtry (1936-), Folly and Glory. Stanley Middleton (1919-2009), Brief Garlands. Anchee Min (1957-), The Empress Orchid; concubine Orchid rises to become Empress Cixi (Tzu Hsi) (1835-1908), mother of the last emperor of China. David Mitchell (1969-), Cloud Atlas; six different ages and voices, which double back in eternal recurrence; sells 400K copies. L.E. Modesitt Jr., Flash. Walter Moers, The 13-1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear. Elizabeth Moon, The Speed of Dark. Christopher Moore (1957-), The Stupidest Angel. Mary McGarry Morris (1943-), A Hole in the Universe; a man returns to his community after 25 years in priz. Sir John Mortimer (1923-2009), Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders. Walter Mosley (1952-), Little Scarlet; Easy Rawlins #9. Alice Munro (1931-), Runaway (short stories). V.S. Naipaul (1932-), Magic Seeds. Larry Niven (1938-), Ringworld's Children; Ringworld #4. Craig Nova, Cruisers. Irene Nemirovsky (-1942), Suite Francaise (posth.); sent to Auschwitz in 1942, her two young daughters (5 and 13) escape with her ms.? Joyce Carol Oates (1938-), The Falls. Patrick O'Brian (1914-2000), The Final Unfinished Voyage of Jack Aubrey (posth.); Aubrey-Maturin #21. Dan O'Brien, The Indian Agent. Simon J. Ortiz (1941-), The Good Rainbow Road: Rawa Kashtyaa'tsi Hiyaani (A Native American Tale in Keres). Tatum O'Neal, Paper Life. Cynthia Ozick (1928-), Heir to the Glimmering World (The Bear Boy). Orhan Pamuk, Snow. Robert Brown Parker (1932-2010), Double Play; Bad Business; Spenser #31; Melanchony Baby; Sunny Randall #4. T. Jefferson Parker (1953-), California Girl. James Patterson (1947-), London Bridges. Michael Pearce, A Dead Man in Trieste. Arturo Perez-Reverte, The Queen of the South. Harry Mark Petrakis (1923-), The Orchards of Ithaca. Arthur Phillips (1969-), The Egyptologist; steals plot from Nabokov's "Pale Fire"? Rex Pickett (1952-), Sideways. Jodi Picoult (1966-), My Sister's Keeper; one Fitzgerald sister is being used as a Frankenstein parts machine to keep another sister alive, and finally sues her parents for emancipation. Heidi Postlewait, Kenneth Cain, and Andrew Thompson, Emergency Sex and Other Desperate Measures; three young people joins the U.N. in Cambodia in the 1990s. Steven Pressfield (1943-), The Virtues of War; Alexander the Great. Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, Brimstone. Annie Proulx (1935-), Bad Dirt: Wyoming Stories 2. John Rechy (1934-), Beneath the Skin. Terry Reed, The Full Cleveland. Reggie Rivers, 4th and Fixed: When the Mob Tackles Football, It's No Longer Just a Game. Gregory David Roberts, Shantaram. Kim Stanley Robinson (1952-), Forty Signs of Rain; Science in the Capital #1. Marilynne Robinson, Gilead (Pulitzer Prize). Philip Roth (1933-), The Plot Against America; the Nazis win WWII. Rafael Sabatini (1875-1950), The Treasure Ship (posth.). Jose Saramago (1922-2010), Seeing (Ensaio Sobre a Lucidez). Lisa Scottoline, Killer Smile. Jeffrey Shaara (1952-), To the Last Man; WWI. Sidney Sheldon (1917-2007), Are You Afraid of the Dark? Lucius Shepard, A Handbook of American Prayer. John Shors (1969-), Beneath a Marble Sky (first novel); narrator is 17th cent. Hindustani princess; "If you're not writing a Tom Clancy or Clive Cussler book, you'd better appeal to women if you want to write a novel". Anita Shreve (1946-), Light on Snow. Anne Rivers Siddons (1936-), Islands. Daniel Silva, A Death in Vienna. Alexander McCall Smith, The Sunday Philosophy Club; The Girl Who Married a Lion (Dec.). Martin Cruz Smith (1942-), Wolves Eat Dogs; Arkady Renko #5; detective Arkady Renko vs. the new Russian billionaires near Chernobyl. Gilbert Sorrentino (1929-2006), The Moon in Its Flights (short stories). Muriel Spark (1918-2006), The Finishing School. Danielle Steel (1947-), Ransom; Second Chance; Echoes. Neal Town Stephenson (1959-), The System of the World; part 3 of 3 in the Baroque Cycle. Charles Stross (1964-), Iron Sunrise; The Atrocity Archives; first in the Laundry Files, about British spy Bob Howard; The Family Trade; first in the Merchant Princes series. Brad Thor (1969-), State of the Union. Colm Toibin (1955-), The Master; Henry James. Lily Tuck, The News from Paraguay. Anne Tyler (1941-), The Amateur Marriage; it began in WWII and lasts for decades? John Updike (1932-2009), Villages. Vernor Vinge (1944-), The Cookie Monster. Helen Walsh, Brass. Jennifer Weiner, Little Earthquakes. Fay Weldon (1931-), Mantrapped. Andrew Norman Wilson (1950-), My Name is Legion. Tom Wolfe (1930-2018), I Am Charlotte Simmons; party school Dupont U.; gets a sales boost when Pres. George Dubya Bush recommends it. Births: Am. musician Grace Avery VanderWaal on Jan. 15 in Kansas City, Kan.; grows up in Suffern, N.Y. Am. 5'9-1/2" tennis player (black) Cori "Coco" Gauff on Mar. 13 in Atlanta, Ga. Deaths: Austrian actor Carl Esmond (b. 1902) on Dec. 4 in Brentwood, Calif. Am. poet Carl Rakosi (b. 1903) on June 25 in San Francisco, Calif.; last surviving member of the Objectivist poets. Am. physiologist Ancel Benjamin Keys (b. 1904) on Nov. 20 in Minneapolis, Minn. Italian film historian Joseph-Marie Lo Duca (b. 1905) on Aug. 6 in Samois-Sur-Seine (near Fontainebleu). Am. advertising exec Mac Dane (b. 1906) on Aug. 8 in New York City. Am. cosmetics queen Estee Lauder (b. 1906) on Apr. 24 in New York City. Am. GM CEO (1965-71) James M. Roche (b. 1906) on June 6 in Belleair, Fla. Am. astronomer Fred Lawrence Whipple (b. 1906) on Aug. 30. German photographer Walter Frentz (b. 1907) on July 6 in Uberlingen. Am. photographer Carl Mydans (b. 1907) on Aug. 16. Am. diplomat Paul Henry Nitze (b. 1907) on Oct. 19 in Washington, D.C. Am. musician Alvino Rey (b. 1907) on Feb. 2 in Salt Lake City, Utah (heart failure). Canadian "Ann Darrow in King Kong" actress Fay Wray (b. 1907) on Aug. 8 in New York City; on Aug. 10 the Empire State Bldg. turns off its lights for 15 min. in tribute: "Every time I'm in New York, I say a ltitle prayer when passing the Empire State Building. A good friend of mine died up there." Am. architect Max Abramovitz (b. 1908) on Sept. 12 in Pound Ridge, N.Y. French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson (b. 1908) on Aug. 3 in Cereste. British-born Am. journalist Alistair Cooke (b. 1908) on Mar. 30 in New York City (cancer); his bones are illegally sold as medical bone grafts with the cancer certificate covered-up, after which N.J. surgeon Michael Mastromarino and Lee Cruceta are convicted and sentenced to 18-54 years each: "As I see it, in (America)... the race is on between the decadence and its vitality." Am. Tammany Hall Boss (last?) Carmine DeSapio (b. 1908) on July 27 in Manhattan, N.Y. English "The Far Pavilions" novelist Mary Margaret Kaye (b. 1908) on Jan. 29. French novelist Robert Merle (b. 1908) on Mar. 28 in Grosrouvre (near Paris) (heart attack). Austrian-born Am. music publisher Julian Aberbach (b. 1909) on May 17 in New York City (heart failure). Am. geneticist Harriet Creighton (b. 1909) on Jan. 9. Am. actress Frances Dee (b. 1909) on Mar. 6 in Norwalk, Conn. English ballerina Dame Alicia Markova (b. 1910) on Dec. 2 in Bath, Somerset (stroke). Am. "Brother Rat" actor-writer-dir. John Cherry Monks Jr. (b. 1910) on Dec. 10 in Pacific Palisades, Calif.: "Live fast, die young, leave a good looking corpse" (John Derek as Nick Romano in "Knock On Any Door", 1949). Am. philanthropist Laurance Spelman Rockefeller (b. 1910) on July 11 (pulmonary fibrosis). Am. jazz bandleader Artie Shaw (b. 1910) on Dec. 30 in Thousand Oaks, Calif. Am. economist Paul Sweezy (b. 1910) on Feb. 27; "the most noted American Marxist scholar [of the 20th cent.]" (John Kenneth Galbraith). Dutch prince consort (1948-80) Bernhard (b. 1911) on Dec. 1 in Utrecht. Am. "My Sister Eileen" playwright Jerome Chodorov (b. 1911) on Sept. 12 in Nyack, N.Y. Polish-born Am. writer Czeslaw Milosz (b. 1911) on Aug. 14 in Crakow; 1980 Nobel Lit. Prize. Am. Tang food chemist William A. Mitchell (b. 1911) on July 26 in Stockton, Calif. (heart failure). U.S. Repub. pres. #40 (1981-9) Ronald Reagan (b. 1911) on June 5 in Belvedere, Calif. (pneumonia and Alzheimer's); acted in 50+ films, but only once in a villain role: "Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book"; "You can tell a lot about a person's character by the way he eats jelly beans"; "A nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought"; "The West will not defeat Communism, it will transcend it"; "Evil is powerless if the good are unafraid"; "The most terrifying words in the English language are 'I work for the government and I'm here to help you'"; "No arsenal, no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women"; "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children what it was once like in the United States where men were free"; "How do you tell a Communist? Well, it's someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It's someone who understands Marx and Lenin"; "I don't think you can overstate the importance that the rise of Islamic fundamentalism will have to the rest of the world in the century ahead - especially if, as seems possible, its most fanatical elements get their hands on nuclear and chemical weapons and the means to deliver them against their enemies." Am. "The Ballad of Jed Clampett" country singer Jerry Scoggins (b. 1911) on Dec. 7 in Westlake Village, Calif. Am. ed.-publisher Donald Allen (b. 1912) on Aug. 29 in San Francisco, Calif. English-born Am. chemist Herbert Charles Brown (b. 1912) on Dec. 19 in Lafayette, Ind.; 1979 Nobel Chem. Prize. Am. internat. French chef ("the first celebrity chef") Julia Child (b. 1912) in Aug. Am. children's writer Syd Hoff (b. 1912) on May 12. Canadian-Am. painter Agnes Martin (b. 1912) on Dec. 16. Am. historian John Toland (b. 1912) on Jan. 4 in Danbury, Conn. (pneumonia). Am. physicist Philip Hauge Abelson (b. 1913) on Aug. 1. Am. "Woody Woodpecker's laugh" singer Harry Babbitt (b. 1913) on Apr. 9 in Newport Beach, Calif. Am. "All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth" songwriter Donald Yetter Gardner (b. 1913) on Sept. 15 in Needham, Mass. Am. actress-swimmer Eleanor Holm (b. 1913) on Jan. 31 in Miami, Fla. (kidney failure). English actress Anna Lee (b. 1913) on May 14 in Beverly Hills, Calif. Am. historian Daniel Joseph Boorstin (b. 1914) on Feb. 28 in Washington, D.C. English historian Alan Bullock (b. 1914) on Feb. 2. Am. film producer Max J. Rosenberg (b. 1914) on June 14 in Los Angeles, Calif. Am. "Inherit the Wind", "Auntie Mame" playwright Jerome Lawrence (b. 1915) on Feb. 29 in Malibu, Calif. (stroke). Am. architect Edward Larrabee Barnes (b. 1915) on Sept. 22 in Cupertino, Calif. Am. "Inherit the Wind" playwright Jerome Lawrence (b. 1915) on Feb. 29 in Malibu, Calif. Am. actor John Randolph (b. 1915) on Feb. 24 in Hollywood, Calif. Swedish biochemist Sune Karl Bergstrom (b. 1916) on Aug. 15; 1982 Nobel Med. Prize. Am. jazz pianist-songwriter Joe Bushkin (b. 1916) on Nov. 3; co-author with John DeVries of Frank Sinatra's first hit song "Oh! Look at Me Now". English molecular biologist Francis H.C. Crick (b. 1916) on July 28 in San Diego, Calif.; 1962 Nobel Med. Prize. Am. journalist J. Frank Diggs (b. 1916) on Jan. 26 in Arlington, Va. (pneumonia). Am. children's writer Bill Martin Jr. (b. 1916) on Aug. 11 in Commerce, Tx. Am. actress Mercedes McCambridge (b. 1916) on Mar. 2 in La Jolla, Calif. Kiwi molecular biologist Maurice H.F. Wilkins (b. 1916) on Oct. 5 in Blackheath, London; 1962 Nobel Med. Prize. Am. "Reveille With Beverly" radio host Jean Ruth Hay (b. 1917) on Sept. 18. English writer-politician Nigel Nicolson (b. 1917) on Sept. 23. English psychiatrist Humphry Fortescue Osmond (b. 1917) on Feb. 6. Am. "Louise Weezy Jefferson in The Jeffersons" actress Isabel Sanford (b. 1917) on July 9 in Los Angeles, Calif. Am. publisher Roger Williams Straus Jr. (b. 1917) on May 25 in New York City (pneumonia). Dutch athlete Fanny Blankers-Koen (b. 1918) on Jan. 25 in Hoofddorp. Am. geneticist Edward B. Lewis (b. 1918) on July 21; 1995 Nobel Med. Prize. Am. entertainer Jack Paar (b. 1918) on Jan. 27 in Greenwich, Conn. Am. "Fail-Safe" writer John Harvey Wheeler (b. 1918) on Sept. 6 in Carpinteria, Calif. English X-ray computed tomography inventor Sir Godfrey Newbold Hounsfield (b. 1919) on Aug. 12; 1979 Nobel Medical Prize. German-born Am. actress Uta Hagen (b. 1919) on Jan. 14 in New York City. Am. "Showboat", "Clayton Farlow in Dallas" actor-singer Howard Keel (b. 1919). Canadian writer Pierre Berton (b. 1920) on Nov. 30 in Toronto, Ont. (heart failure). Irish Provisional IRA founder Joe Cahill (b. 1920) on July 23 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Austrian astrophysicist Thomas Gold (b. 1920) on June 22. English "Hotel", "Airport" novel Arthur Hailey (b. 1920) on Nov. 24; sold 170M copies. German-Australian photographer Helmut Newton (b. 1920) on Jan. 23 in West Hollywood, Calif. (automobile accident). Am. scientist Arthur Nobile (b. 1920) on Jan. 13. Canadian physicist Gilbert Norman Plass (b. 1920) on Mar. 1 in Bryan, Tex. Am. "Felix Unger in The Odd Couple" actor Tony Randall (b. 1920) on May 17 in New York City. English writer Jasper Ridley (b. 1920). Canadian Bank of Canada gov. (1973-87) Gerald Bouey (b. 1921). Am. "I don't get no respect" comedian Rodney Dangerfield (b. 1921) on Oct. 5 in Westwood, Calif.: "There goes the neighborhood" (tombstone). French-born Am. economist Gerard Debreu (b. 1921) on Dec. 31 in Paris; 1983 Nobel Econ. Prize. Am. poet Mona Van Duyn (b. 1921) on Dec. 2 in University City, Mo. (bone cancer). Indian PM #9 (1991-1) P.V. Narasimha Rao (b. 1921) on Dec. 23 in New Delhi. English "Spartacus" actor Sir Peter Ustinov (b. 1921) on Mar. 28 in Genolier, Vaud, Switzerland (heart failure): "World government is not only possible, it is inevitable; and when it comes, it will appeal to patriotism in its truest, in its only sense, the patriotism of men who love their national heritages so deeply that they wish to preserve them in safety for the common good." Am. auto racer Rodger Ward (b. 1921) on July 5 in Anaheim, Calif. Am. "The Magnificent Seven" film composer Elmer Bernstein (b. 1922) on Aug. 18 in Ojai, Calif. (cancer). U.S. vice-adm. Samuel Lee Gravely Jr. (b. 1922) on Oct. 22 in Bethesda, Md. Am. writer Townsend Hoopes (b. 1922) on Sept. 20 (cancer). Am. jazz musician Illinois Jacquet (b. 1922) on July 22 in Queens, N.Y. (heart attack). Am. "The Death of a President" writer William Manchester (b. 1922) on June 1. Am. porno producer-dir. Russ Meyer (b. 1922) on Sept. 18 in Hollywood Hills, Calif. (pneumonia). Am. children's TV actor Ray Rayner (b. 1922) on Jan. 21 in Fort Myers, Fla. Am. photographer Richard Avedon (b. 1923) on Oct. 1 in San Antonio, Tex.: "I think charm is the ability to be truly interested in other people." Austrian-born Am. philosopher Paul Edwards (b. 1923) on Dec. 9 in New York City. Am. poet Anthony Hecht (b. 1923) on Oct. 20. Am. "Mr. K in Nissan ads" actor Dale Ishimoto (b. 1923) on Mar. 4. Am. actress-dancer Ann Miller (b. 1923) on Jan. 22 in Los Angeles, Calif. Am. "Godfather" actor Marlon Brando (b. 1924) on July 1 in Los Angeles, Calif. (lung disease): "I have eyes like those of a dead pig"; "Acting is the expression of a neurotic impulse"; "Acting is a bum's life. Quitting acting, that is the sign of maturity." Australian writer Janet Frame (b. 1924) on Jan. 29 in Dunedin. Romanian-born French "Twilight Zone Theme" composer Marius Constant (b. 1925) on May 15 in Paris. German-born Am. historian Karl Joachim Weintraub (b. 1924) on Mar. 25 in Chicago, Ill. Am. poet Donald Justice (b. 1925) on Aug. 6. Am. billionaire oil-entertainment mogul Marvin Davis (b. 1925) on Sept. 25 in Beverly Hills, Calif.; #30 on Forbes' list of the top 400 richest Americans. Am. Christian evangelist Billy James Hargis (b. 1925) on Nov. 27 in Tulsa, Okla. (Alheimer's). English "Guinness Book of Records" co-founder Norris McWhirter (b. 1925) on Apr. 19 in Wiltshire (heart attack). Mexican chemist Luis Miramontes (b. 1925) on Sept. 13 in Mexico City. English chemist Sir John Anthony Pople (b. 1925) on Mar. 15 in Chicago, Ill.; 1998 Nobel Chem. Prize. Swiss-born Am. "On Death and Dying" physician-writer Elisabeth Kubler-Ross (b. 1926) on Aug. 24 in Scottsdale, Ariz. English Shakespearean scholar Eric Sams (b. 1926) on Sept. 13 in London; leaves unfinished "The Real Shakespeare: Retrieving the Later Years, 1594-1616". Am. "Sgt. MacDonald in Adam-12" actor William Boyett (b. 1927) on Dec. 29 in Mission Hills, Calif. (pneumonia and kidney failure). U.S. Navy Capt. Lloyd M. Bucher (b. 1927) on Jan. 28 in San Diego, Calif. Am. astronaut Gordon Cooper (b. 1927) on Oct. 4. Am. jazz drummer Elvin Jones (b. 1927) on May 18 in Englewood, N.J. Am. "Captain Kangaroo" actor Bob Keeshan (b. 1927) on Jan. 24 in Windsor, Vt. Am. comedian Alan King (b. 1927) on May 9 in New York City. Am. "Psycho" actress Janet Leigh (b. 1927) on Oct. 3 in Beverly Hills, Calif.; she never took a shower again after that movie? English pharmacologist Sir John Robert Vane (b. 1927) on Nov. 19 in Kent; 1982 Nobel Medicine Prize. Am. bluegrass fiddler Vassar Clements (b. 1928) on Aug. 16. Am. "Cabaret" lyricist Fred Ebb (b. 1928) on Sept. 11 in Manhattan, N.Y. Am. S.C. Johnson & Son pres. Samuel Curtis Johnson Jr. (b. 1928) on May 22 in Racine, Wisc. Am. philanthropist (McDonald's Restaurants heir) Joan Beverly Kroc (b. 1928) on Oct. 12 in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. (brain cancer); leaves $1.6B of her $2B fortune to her favorite charity the Salvation Army, and $225M to NPR - no wonder they don't want my old junk anymore? Am. "Ajax Man" actor Eugene Roche (b. 1928) on July 28 in Encino, Calif. (heart attack). Am. "Last Exit to Brooklyn" novelist Hubert Selby Jr. (b. 1928) on Apr. 26 in Los Angeles, Calif. (lung disease). Am. leftist activist Richard Barnet (b. 1929) on Dec. 23. Indian Kundalini Yoga guru Yogi Bhajan (b. 1929) on Oct. 6 in Espanola, N.M. Canadian historian Norman F. Cantor (b. 1929) on Sept. 18 in Miami, Fla. Am. "Sweet Charity" songwriter Cy Coleman (b. 1929) on Nov. 18 (heart failure). Am. "Star Trek", "The Omen" composer Jerry Goldsmith (b. 1929) on July 21 in Beverly Hills, Calif. (colon cancer). English-born Am. poet Thom Gunn (b. 1929) on Apr. 25 in Haight Ashbury, San Francisco, Calif. (meth OD). Am. actor Ron Hayes (b. 1929) on Oct. 1 in Malibu, Calif. Am. economist (AIM founder) Reed Irvine (b. 1929) on Nov. 16. Am. psychiatrist John Edward Mack (b. 1929) on Sept. 27 in London, England (automobile accident). Am. photographer Francesco Scavullo (b. 1929). Egyptian-born Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat (b. 1929) on Nov. 11 in Paris, France; leaves a $1B estate; 1994 Nobel Peace Prize; dies of AIDS caused by gay love affairs?; poisoned by the Israelis with polonium on his toothbrush? Am. "Georgia On My Mind" singer Ray Charles (b. 1930) on June 10 in Beverly Hills, Calif. (liver failure): "To me, it's the worst thing in the world" (deafness). French deconstructionist philosopher Jacques Derrida (b. 1930) on Oct. 8 in Paris (pancreatic cancer) - fatal deconstruction jokes here? Am. country singer Roy Drusky (b. 1930) on Sept. 23 in Nashville, Tenn. (lung cancer). Am. country musician Hank Garland (b. 1930) on Dec. 27 in Orange Park, Fla. German-born Austrian conductor Carlos Kleiber (b. 1930) on July 13. Israeli "Jerusalem of Gold" songwriter Naomi Shemer (b. 1930) on June 26 in Tel Aviv. Am. country singer Skeeter Davis (b. 1931) on Sept. 19 in Nashville, Tenn. Am. artist Tom Wesselmann (b. 1931) on Dec. 17. Am. actor John Drew Barrymore (b. 1932) on Nov. 29 in Los Angeles, Calif. (cancer). Am. writer Douglas Day (b. 1932) on Oct. 10 in Charlottesville, Va. (suicide). Am. novelist Ronald Sukenick (b. 1932) on July 22. Am. photojournalist Eddie Adams (b. 1933) on Sept. 19 in New York City. Am. lyricist Fred Ebb (b. 1933) on Sept. 11 in New York City (heart attack). Am. writer-activist "zealot of seriousness", "besotted aesthete", "obsessed moralist" Susan Sontag (b. 1933) on Dec. 28 in New York City (acute myelogenous leukemia after a 30-year battle with cancer); called the white race "the cancer of human history" during the 1960s Vietnam War days. Am. "Singing the Blues" songwriter Melvin Endsley (b. 1934) on Aug. 16; wrote 400+ songs. Am. country singer Jimmy Lee Fautheree (b. 1934) on June 29 in Dallas, Tex. (cancer). English soccer player-mgr. Brian Clough (b. 1935) on Sept. 20 in Derby. Am. "Law and Order" actor Jerry Orbach (b. 1935) on Dec. 28 in New York City (testicular cancer). French novelist-playwright Francoise Sagan (b. 1935) on Sept. 24 in Honfleur, Calvados (pulmonary embolism): "A dress makes no sense unless it inspires men to want to take it off you"; "To jealousy, nothing is more frightful than laughter"; "Are you joking? I believe in passing, nothing else. Two years, no more, alright, then, three" (when asked if she believed in love). Am. comedian Vaughn Meader (b. 1936) on Oct. 29 in Waterville, Maine. English historian Conrad Russell, 5th earl Rusell (b. 1937) on Oct. 14 in Park Royal, London (emphysema). Am. "Just One Look" R&B singer Doris Troy (b. 1937) on Feb. 16. Am. "Youngblood Priest in Super Fly" actor Ron O'Neal (b. 1937) on Jan. 14 in Los Angeles, Calif. (pancreatic cancer). Am. "Jelly in Analyze That" actor Joe Viterelli (b. 1937) on Jan. 28 in Las Vegas, Nev. (heart operation). Norwegian billionaire Arne Naess Jr. (b. 1938) in Jan. in South Africa; dies in a fall while mountain climbing; husband of singer Diana Ross. Am. journalist Jack Newfield (b. 1938) on Dec. 20 (lung cancer). Am. "Jan and Dean" singer William Jan Berry (b. 1940) on Mar. 26. Soviet cosmonaut Gennady Strekalov (b. 1940) on Dec. 25 in Moscow. Am. "Lt. Ed Traxler in The Terminator" actor Paul Winfield (b. 1940) on Mar. 7 in Los Angeles, Calif. Am. atty. Anne Gorsuch Burford (b. 1942) on July 18 in Aurora, Colo. (cancer). Am. music producer Terry Melcher (b. 1942) on Nov. 19 in Beverly Hills, Calif. (melanoma). Am. bluesman Son Seals (b. 1942) on Dec. 20 in Chicago, Ill. (diabetes). Am. baseball pitcher Tug McGraw Jr. (b. 1944) on Jan. 5 (brain tumor): "Ten million years from now, when the Sun burns out and the Earth is just a frozen snowball hurtling through space, nobody's going to care whether or not I got this guy out"; "I don't know, I never smoked AstroTurf" (asked whether he prefers it or real grass); "Ninety percent I'll spend on good times, women and Irish whiskey, the other ten percent I'll probably waste" (asked what he will do with his salary). Irish-born Iraqi aid worker Margaret Hassan (b. 1945) on Nov. 8 (murdered by ISIS). Am. astrologer Joyce Jillson (b. 1946) on Oct. 1 in Los Angeles, Calif. (kidney failure). Canadian rocker Bruce Palmer (b. 1946) on Oct. 1 in Belleville, Ont. (heart attack). British serial killer Harold Shipman (b. 1946) on Jan. 13 in HMS Prison Wakefield, West Yorkshire (suicide); hangs himself in his cell one day before his 58th birthday. English explorer Ginny Fiennes (b. 1947) on Feb. 20 (stomach cancer). French economist Jean-Jacques Laffont (b. 1947) on May 1 in Colomiers. English "The Woman in Black" playwright Stephen Mallatratt (b. 1947) on Nov. 22. Am. "Super Freak" singer Rick James (b. 1948) on Aug. 6 in Burbank, Calif. (heart attack not OD). Am. punk rocker Johnny Ramone (b. 1948) on Sept. 15 in Los Angeles, Calif. (prostate cancer). Palestinian terrorist Muhammad Zaidan (b. 1948) on Mar. 8; dies in U.S. custody after being captured in Iraq on Apr. 15, 2003. Chechen pres. #1 (2003-4) Akhmad Kadyrov (b. 1951) on May 9 in Grozny (assassinated). Am. "Gloria in Flashdance" singer Laura Branigan (b. 1952) on Aug. 26 in East Quogue, Long Island, N.Y. (brain aneurysm). Am. ping-pong player Glenn L. Cowan (b. 1952) on Apr. 6 (heart attack); Chinese table tennis champ Zhuang Zedong calls from Beijing to express sympathy, and visits the U.S. in 2007, meeting his mother and calling not seeing Cowan again the "regret of my life." Am. "Valerian in Dragonslayer" actress Caitlin Clarke (b. 1952) on Sept. 9 in Sewickley, Penn. (ovarian cancer). Am. "Superman" actor spinal chord and stem cell research activist Christopher Reeve (b. 1952) on Oct. 10; paralyzed from the neck down from a horseback riding accident in Culpeper, Va. in May 1995. English-born Canadian PowerBar inventor Brian Maxwell (b. 1953) on Mar. 19 in San Anselmo, Calif. (heart attack). Am. fashion designer Stephen Sprouse (b. 1953) on Mar. 4 in New York City. Swedish "Millennium Trilogy" novelist Stieg Larsson (b. 1954) on Nov. 9 in Stockholm (heart attack); after his trilogy is pub. posth., it sells 27M copies in 40+ countries by 2010, 65M by Dec. 2011, and 80M by 2015, becoming the first ebook with 1M Kindle downloads in 2010. Scottish New Wave guitarist John McGeoch (b. 1955) on Mar. 4. Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh (b. 1957) on Nov. 2 in Amsterdam (murdered). Am. comedian Eric Douglas (b. 1958) on July 6 in New York City (OD). Am. "Woman at the Washington Zoo" Washington Post reporter-columnist Marjorie Williams (d. 1958) in Jan. (liver cancer): "We are hopelessly small to be trusted with the raising of people even smaller." Am. football player (#92 for the Green Bay Packers) Reggie White (b. 1961) on Dec. 26. Am. Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell Abbott (b. 1966) on Dec. 8 in Columbus, Ohio; murdered onstage by Nathan Gale while performing with Damageplan (mad that he left Pantera?). Am. Wu-Tang Clan rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard (b. 1968) on Nov. 13 in New York City (OD). Am. "Rape of Nanking" writer Irish Chang (b. 1968) on Nov. 9 in Los Gatos, Calif. (suicide). Am. drag racer Darrell Russell (b. 1968) on June 27 in Madison, Ill; dies of injuries at the Sears Craftsman Nationals.

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