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Morning News

Who Was Cho Seung Hui? Chilling portrait of the Virginia Tech Killer.

Why Was There a Two-Hour Delay? Parents, Students demand answers, accountability.

Why Are Men So Fucking Creepy? UW gymnastics team targeted by cell phone stalker.

Who Gave Port Commissioner Pat Davis Permission? … to do that?!?

What Was Sen. Domenici’s Role? Senate Ethics Committee zooms in on Iglesias Firing.

Why Would Shiites Arm Sunnis? To fight the U.S., of course. U.S. says it has seized Iranian weapons bound for Taliban.

Is Global Warming an Issue of War and Peace? Citing destabilization, U.N. Security Council takes up Global Warming.

What to do About Darfur? One day after UN agreement signed, Sudan caught violating accord.

On April 18, 1775, late in the evening, on orders from British General Thomas Gage, 800 British soldiers began their march from Boston to Lexington (to arrest on-the-lam-rebel-leaders, John Hancock and Sam Adams) and to Concord (to seize a Colonist weapons cache). Aware of the British plans in advance, thanks to inside intelligence, Paul Revere and smuggler/disguise artist William Dawes set out to Lexington to warn Hancock and Adams and to warn the militia in Concord. Revere took the quicker route than Dawes, rowing across the Charles River and borrowing a horse on the North shore at Charlestown—heading through Medford and onto Lexington. Dawes took his horse the roundabout Southern land route through Roxbury and North to Cambridge and onto Lexington—both men alerting colonists to the British advance along the way. Revere arrived in Lexington first—around Midnight (thus “Paul Revere’s Midnight Ride”) where he told Hancock and Adams that the British were coming. Dawes arrived around 12:30am. (So, it’s actually April 19 now.) After eating and drinking with Hancock and Adams, the duo left for Concord at around 2am. Luckily, they were joined by a fellow TSOL, Dr. Sam Prescott, who had been visiting a “friend” in Lexington and was returning home to Concord. Why luckily? Because in the town of Lincoln, halfway between Lexington and Concord, a British patrol intercepted the galloping trio, capturing Revere and tripping up Dawes, who fell off his horse and scrambled off to hide. Only Prescott galloped away to Concord to warn the Concord Minutemen. Revere, who was released after about an hour, ended the evening trudging on foot through the dark back to Lexington. At around the same time (2am), the 800 Redcoats advancing from Boston, already having ferried across the Charles themselves around Midnight, set out on the 17 mile march toward Lexington and Concord—unaware that the rebels were waiting and ready.

Comments (11)

1

And now Massachusetts residents get a state holiday. But not me this year, because I have a big deadline. So I had to drive to work through the rain and parade prep in Lexington. Soggy Minutemen this year. But a nifty reminder that my regular commute path is Paul Revere's Ride.

Posted by amy! | April 18, 2007 7:25 AM
2

I'm torn between making a comparison between the American "revolutionaries" and the insurgents fighting the occupation of Iraq
or
posting a remark about how the American colonists were fighting for their right to have their cut of the lucrative profit that was being made based on the free labor provided by the imported slaves.

Americans are so valiant.

33 dead in Virginia on Monday.

173 Iraqis killed (or found dead) and
9 American soldiers killed so far this week

I wonder if there is a profit motive in the current colonization?

Posted by patrick | April 18, 2007 7:46 AM
3

In other news the partial birth abortion ban was upheld by the supreme court today. Apparently federalism only exists for liberal laws...

Posted by Giffy | April 18, 2007 7:56 AM
4

The UW has more than its share of creepy stalkers. When I attended there in the late 70's some creepy man snuck into the women's restroom and wrote on the stall wall "John Doe (not actual name) is great in bed and he is not a raving sexist"

I wonder if this poor soul ever got a date this way, or if he ever grew up.

Posted by Martha | April 18, 2007 7:58 AM
5

They have women's gymnastics teams?

Posted by Rottin' in Denmark | April 18, 2007 8:03 AM
6

"Why are men so fucking creepy?"

And why are journalists such f-ing male-bashers? Probably helps them get laid.

Posted by Reader | April 18, 2007 8:33 AM
7

One thing that always amazes me regarding the colonial period is how little everyone seemed to sleep. They were always up until the wee hours eating and drinking ale. How did they have the energy to fight a war, and I have to go to bed at 10p.m. or I'll wake up cranky?

Posted by The_Pope_Of_Chili_Town | April 18, 2007 8:59 AM
8

The only good thing about the Port news is seeing the back of Mic Dinsmore. Now we have to focus on Princess Pat Davis. The Port is still the worst-run quango in America. I hope there's a lawsuit over this, and I hope Pat Davis gets chased out of the state over it. Dinsmore will continue to be the highest-paid port exec in the country for a year after his retirement, at a Port that is completely and utterly incompetent, loses money hand over fist, and is shedding customers like rain off a duck's back.

Posted by Fnarf | April 18, 2007 9:21 AM
9

If more people thought like Patrick, during the Revolutionary War, we'd all be speaking English now.

Posted by elswinger | April 18, 2007 9:37 AM
10

I like the today in history section. The parts of history I like the most are those lesser known parts of the stories. Such as the ending of today's post. Between school texts, the History Channel and A & E, it's nice to have a slight departure from time to time. Bring on the overlooked and idiosyncratic.

Posted by Nay | April 18, 2007 10:48 AM
11

KARMA
crazy (kr?ze) adjective crazier, craziest
1.Affected with madness; insane. 2.Informal. Departing from proportion or moderation, especially: a. Possessed by enthusiasm or excitement: The crowd at the game went crazy. b. Immoderately fond; infatuated: was crazy about boys. c. Intensely involved or preoccupied: is crazy about cars and racing. d. Foolish or impractical; senseless: a crazy scheme for making quick money.
noun
Excerpted from The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition Copyright © 1992 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Electronic version licensed from Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products N.V., further reproduction and distribution restricted in accordance with the Copyright Law of the United States. All rights reserved.

CRAZY?
It's been two days since the senseless and totally unimaginable shootings at Virginia Tech!
What would drive someone to the point of not only taking their own life, but also the lives of over 30 innocent victims? What could cause the kind of pain and mental anguish that would drive someone to that point?
All day long the experts on the boob tube blame and speculate on everything from race, guns, mental illness and so on, and so forth.
Did it EVER occur to ANYONE that he might have just been crazy? What is crazy anyway? What could cause this type of crazy? Yes, there are many types of crazy and in some cases crazy is used just to cover the actions of just plain stupidity, of this I am living proof. So how far can the use of the word crazy go? Crazy people? crazy legs? but crazed gunman? Doesn't make sense!
How about insane gunman and "crazed" DOCTORS that knew of his mental illness but yet did NOTHING, but prescribe anti-depressant drugs that do nothing but pad the pockets of the "powers that be." (including Dr.'s, FDA, commercial television ((that will use an incident such as this to sell more)) manufacturers, wall street, etc., etc........) And not one person cared except that they made the almighty dollars to keep their "crazy" lives running in their little worlds of their own.
Then this , a tragedy that disrupts many of those lives that made their living off of the many business opportunities that came from the little pills that the "crazy" people or depressed people , or the "crazed Gunman" took, so that no one had to take time out of their busy lives to lend a helping hand or just a minute to reassure that they love their neighbor as thyself to give them that little boost of love that we all need.
Now look, it is all a perception, Karma if you will. What comes around goes around. So here, let's all blame something else while we go take our medication that we now need since we are now depressed and on the verge of what they will label as "crazy"!
It's time to WAKE UP! We are ALL victims of this anti-depressant fed, crazed world.
WHO IS GOING TO SAVE YOU FROM YOURSELF?

Posted by KARMA? | April 18, 2007 4:01 PM

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