The Almanac

Today is Thursday, Jan. 12, the 12th day of 2006 with 353 to follow.

The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Mercury, Jupiter, Pluto and Saturn. The evening stars are Venus, Mars, Uranus and Neptune.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Capricorn. They include British statesman Edmund Burke in 1729; American patriot John Hancock in 1737; painter John Singer Sargent in 1856; novelist Jack London in 1876; World War II Nazi leader Hermann Goering in 1893; western singer/actor Tex Ritter in 1905; champion heavyweight boxer Joe Frazier in 1944 (age 62); radio personalities Rush Limbaugh in 1951 (age 55) and Howard Stern in 1954 (age 52); actress Kirstie Alley in 1955 (age 51); and Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos in 1964 (age 42).

On this date in history:

In 1828, boundary disputes were settled between the United States and Mexico.

In 1932, Ophelia Wyatt Caraway, a Democrat from Arkansas, became the first woman to be elected to the U.S. Senate.

In 1943, the wartime Office of Price Administration said standard frankfurters would be replaced by "Victory Sausages" consisting of a mixture of meat and soy meal.

In 1971, a federal grand jury indicted the Rev. Philip Berrigan and five other people, including a nun and two priests, on charges of plotting to kidnap presidential adviser Henry Kissinger.

In 1976, the U.N. Security Council voted 11-1 to seat the Palestine Liberation Organization for its debate on the Middle East. The United States cast the only dissenting vote.

In 1987, Britain's 22-year-old Prince Edward caused a stir by resigning from his Royal Marines training course.

In 1990, Salvadoran President Alfredo Cristiani named eight soldiers, including chief of the military academy, as suspects in the November 1989 slayings of six Jesuit priests.

In 1994, President Bill Clinton asked Attorney General Janet Reno to appoint an independent counsel to investigate the Whitewater affair.

In 1995, President Bill Clinton and congressional leaders agreed on a bailout package that would give Mexico as much as $40 billion in loan guarantees. Two and a half weeks later, when Congress failed to act quickly to approve the deal, Clinton invoked his emergency authority to lend Mexico $20 billion.

In 2001, scientists in Oregon announced the birth of the first genetically engineered primate. The rhesus monkey had a jellyfish gene that caused jellyfish to glow; however, the monkey did not glow.

In 2003, as losses mounted, Steve Case, founder of America Online, announced he was resigning as AOL chairman.

Also in 2003, Maurice Gibb, 53, one of three singing brothers who made up the Bee Gees, died of complications from an intestinal blockage.

In 2004, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to consider whether names of terror suspect detainees should be made public.

Also in 2004, former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, in a harshly critical new book, likened President George Bush in a Cabinet meeting to a "blind man in a roomful of deaf people."

In 2005, the Southern California death toll from rain, flood and mudslides rose to 19.

Also in 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that an alien can be deported to a country without the advance consent of that country's government.

And, aftershocks continued to hit northwestern Indonesia and the Indian Ocean basin more than two weeks after a giant earthquake struck the area.

A thought for the day:

It was Otto von Bismarck who said, "Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made."