The almanac

Today is Wednesday, July 28, the 209th day of 2010 with 156 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Leo. They include Beatrix Potter, author and illustrator of the Peter Rabbit stories, in 1866; surrealist artist Marcel Duchamp in 1887; comedian Joe E. Brown in 1892; singer/actor/band leader Rudy Vallee in 1901; conductor Carmen Dragon in 1914; former U.S. first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in 1929; Peter Duchin, pianist, bandleader, in 1937 (age 73); former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori in 1938 (age 72); former U.S. Senator and basketball star Bill Bradley in 1943 (age 67); rock musician Mike Bloomfield in 1943; "Garfield" creator Jim Davis in 1945 (age 65); actors Linda Kelsey in 1946 (age 64), Sally Struthers in 1947, (age 63), Georgia Engle in 1948 (age 62) and Lori Loughlin in 1964 (age 46); and activist Terry Fox, who ran across Canada after his right leg was amputated because of cancer, in 1958.

On this date in history:

In 1868, the ratified 14th Amendment was adopted into the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing citizenship and all its privileges to African-Americans.

In 1932, during the Great Depression, U.S. President Herbert Hoover ordered the Army under Gen. Douglas MacArthur to evict by force the Bonus Marchers from the nation's capital.

In 1914, Austria declared war on Serbia, leading to World War I.

In 1945, the U.S. Senate ratified the United Nations.

Also in 1945, an Army B-25 bomber lost in the fog crashed into the side of the Empire State Building in New York City, killing 13 people.

In 1976, an earthquake struck China's Tangshan Province, killing an estimated 1 million people.

In 1984, U.S. President Ronald Reagan opened the Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles. A Soviet-led bloc of 15 nations, as well as Iran, Libya, Albania and Bolivia, boycotted the games.

In 1990, the collision of a freighter and two barges spilled 500,000 gallons of oil in the Houston Ship Channel near Galveston, Texas.

In 1992, Warner Bros. removed the controversial song "Cop Killer" from Ice-T's "Body Count" album by request of the rapper.

In 1998, in return for immunity, former White House intern Monica Lewinsky agreed to testify before a federal grand jury investigating a possible relationship between her and U.S. President Bill Clinton.

In 2000, Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori was sworn in for a third term amid violent protests by his opponents, who said the election was fraudulent.

In 2003, J.P. Morgan Chase and Citigroup, the two largest U.S. banks, agreed to pay nearly $300 million in fines and penalties to settle charges they had aided Enron in deceiving investors.

In 2004, Democrats nominated Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts to oppose Republic incumbent George W. Bush in the November presidential election.

Also in 2004, a suicide car bomb tore through a crowd of Iraqis trying to enlist in the Baquba police force, killing a reported 70 people and injuring more than 50 others.

In 2005, the Irish Republic Army said it was ending violence as a political tactic against Great Britain in Northern Ireland after a 36-year campaign. The IRA promised to disarm and cease terrorist activity.

In 2006, very hot summer weather swept across much of the United States and parts of Europe, leaving a growing death toll in its wake. By late July, California reported 126 heat-related deaths. The heat reached as far north as Bismarck, N.D., which reported 112 degrees.

In 2008, the White House says the U.S. federal deficit may reach a record $490 billion in 2009. The deficit estimate for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 was $83 billion, 20 percent higher than expected.

Also in 2008, Iraqi authorities said suicide bombers, including three females, killed 61 people and injured 249 others in ethnic violence in Kirkuk and Baghdad.

In 2009, former Liberian President Charles Taylor, on trial at The Hague for war crimes, denied he had ever ordered cannibalism during a savage civil war in neighboring Sierra Leone.

A thought for the day: Nikolai Nekrasov wrote, "You do not have to be a poet but you are obliged to be a citizen."