The Almanac

Today is Saturday, Sept. 16, the 259th day of 2006 with 106 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Virgo. They include historian Francis Parkman in 1823; railroad magnate James Jerome "J.J." Hill in 1838; department store founder James Cash Penney in 1875; British car designer Walter Bentley in 1888; entertainer Allen Funt in 1914; actress Lauren Bacall in 1924 (age 82); blues musician B.B. King in 1925 (age 81); actors Peter Falk in 1927 (age 79), Anne Francis in 1930 (age 76), Ed Begley Jr. in 1949 (age 57), and Susan Ruttan ("L.A. Law") in 1950 (age 56); magician David Copperfield and actor Mickey Rourke, both in 1956 (age 50); actress Jennifer Tilly in 1958 (age 48); comedian Molly Shannon ("Saturday Night Live") in 1964 (age 42); and singer/actor Marc Anthony in 1968 (age 38).

On this date in history:

In 1620, the Mayflower left Plymouth, England, with 102 passengers, bound for America.

In 1810, Mexico began its war of independence against Spain.

In 1893, more than 100,000 people rushed to the Cherokee Strip as a large area of the Indian Territory, now Oklahoma, was opened to homesteaders.

In 1974, U.S. President Gerald Ford offered conditional amnesty to Vietnam draft evaders. He said they could come home if they performed up to two years of public service.

In 1977, celebrated soprano Maria Callas died in Paris at the age of 53.

In 1982, hundreds were reported killed after Christian militiamen entered two Palestinian refugee camps in West Beirut, Lebanon. Survivors claimed Israeli forces had sealed off the camps.

In 1986, fire and fumes in the Kinross mine killed 177 people in South Africa's worst gold mine disaster.

In 1991, the Philippine Senate rejected a U.S. lease on the Subic Bay Naval Station.

In 1994, a U.S. federal court jury in Anchorage, Alaska, ordered Exxon to pay $5 billion dollars to the fishermen and natives whose lives were affected by the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989, largest award ever in a pollution case.

In 1999, at least 18 people were killed and 200 more injured in the bombing of an apartment building in Volgodonsk, Russia.

And in 1999, Congress doubled the U.S. presidential salary, from $200,000 a year to $400,000, effective in 2001.

In 2001, as the gargantuan task of cleaning up "Ground Zero" wreckage of what had been the World Trade Center continued in New York following the Sept. 11 attacks, the government rapidly began rounding up possible terrorist suspects across the country.

In 2002, Iraq said it would allow weapons inspectors back into the country "without conditions," but the United States and others were skeptical.

In 2003, Israel rejected a truce plan proposed by Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, calling it a "deception" and demanding instead a crackdown on terrorism.

In 2004, Hurricane Jeanne killed an estimated 1,500 people in Haiti.

Also in 2004, Hurricane Ivan pounded the coast of Alabama and the Florida Panhandle with 135-mph winds. Earlier, highways were thick with cars as Gulf Coast residents fled north.

Also in 2004, a classified CIA intelligence report forecast the possibility of civil war in Iraq.

In 2005, U.S. President George Bush said reconstruction along the Gulf Coast will have to be financed with cuts in government spending, not tax increases.

A thought for the day: Bertrand Russell argued that "Boredom is a vital problem for the moralist, since at least half the sins of mankind are caused by the fear of it."