In the 5th Century BC in Ireland, October 31 was seen as the divide between summer and winter and was called Samhain (pronounced sow-han because after a few days of partying, you have a really hard time pronouncing the letter “m” – not really, it’s just that their language is weird like that).

It was the night that the spirits of the dead could walk the Earth. To encourage the spirits not to linger, people would put out the fires in their homes (to make it cold and unwelcoming) and dress as demons, goblins, and witches. They would parade through the houses, making as much noise as possible. (Parents of small children can relate.)

Then they would gather outside the village where the druid priests would light huge bonfires. The fires were a tribute to the sun god in thankfulness for the crops they had grown. It was also meant to frighten away spirits who might want to inhabit a villager’s body over the next year. Sometimes, if someone seemed to be already possessed, that person was thrown onto the fire. (The 5th Century BC was not a high point in caring for the mentally ill.) This was to warn off other spirits from trying to take over any of the other villagers.

The festivities changed some over the years. The Romans came and banned burning the crazies possessed, and burned effigies instead. The Christians came and the holiday began losing its connection to the old religion. In the 8th century, Pope Gregory III designated November 1 as All Saints Day, a day to honor saints and martyrs. Church sanctioned holidays were moving in on the holidays of the old gods and taking over their festivities.

People probably didn’t care much. They still got bonfires and a night of partying. While churches in other parts of the world had All Saints Day on November 1, not much was going on for All Hallow’s Eve (Halloween) until the potato famine forced Irish immigrants to come to the United States. America in the 1840s discovered Mischief Night where young people in costumes would go out and destroy stuff (knock over outhouses, for example). They also brought the custom of trick-or-treating.

Even in the 1880s people were already talking about making the holiday less frightening so as not to upset the children. Now, a little over a century later we’re just trying to take away the fun and creativity. The only appropriate costumes anymore are generic store-bought ones that are guaranteed not to offend anyone – funny how most of them are licensed comic book or movie characters. (But the change isn’t for profit, it’s for the Chiiiiilllldddrrreeennnn!)

At least we can still dress our pets up in weird costumes.

Kohl would also be used to darken lashes and eyebrows. Later, probably influenced by the Greeks, if nature hadn’t blessed them with a unibrow, they would use kohl to fill in between their brows. (I’m glad that fad didn’t survive to be passed down to us.)

Even glitter eye shadow isn’t new. The Egyptians also had this, made from ground up shells of iridescent beetles.

Through most of history, eye shadow and other makeup was either homemade or made by specialists for the individual. In the early 1900s modern chemistry had made it possible to have a wider range of colors and to have makeup that was easily removed. Max Factor (who was a real person named Maksymilian Faktorowicz, not just a cosmetics brand) opened a store in Hollywood in 1909. It was meant to cater to actors but women also purchased his eye makeup for their personal use. Everyone wants to look like a movie star!

Simpson had gained fame as a Heisman Trophy winning football player, but by the 1990s, was better known by many as an actor in The Naked Gun trilogy.

But, then, Nicole and Ron were murdered on June 13, 1994. The police found evidence that made them suspect Simpson. His lawyers told police that he would turn himself in on June 17. He was due there at 11:00 am but failed to show. At 2:00, the police issued an all-points bulletin. That evening, at 5:00 Robert Kardashian, Simpson’s lawyer and friend (and father of those Kardashians), read a letter from Simpson that sounded like a suicide note:

To whom it may concern: First, everyone understand I have nothing to do with Nicole’s murder. I loved her, always have and always will. If we had a problem, it’s because I loved her so much.

Recently, we came to the understanding that for now we were not right for each other, at least for now. Despite our love we were different, and that’s why we mutually agreed to go our separate ways. It was tough splitting for a second time, but we both knew it was for the best.

Inside I had no doubt that in the future, we would be close as friends or more. Unlike what has been written in the press, Nicole and I had a great relationship for most of our lives together, Like all long-term relationships, we had a few downs and ups. I took the heat New Year’s 1989 because that’s what I was supposed to do. I did not plead no contest for any other reason but to protect our privacy and was advised it would end the press hype.

I don’t want to belabor knocking the press, but I can’t believe what is being said. Most of it is totally made up. I know you have a job to do, but as a last wish, please, please, please, leave my children in peace. Their lives will be tough enough.

I want to send my love and thanks to all my friends. I’m sorry I can’t name every one of you, especially A.C. man, thanks for being in my life. The support and friendship I received from so many: Wayne Hughes, Lewis Markes, Frank Olson, Mark Packer, Bender, Bobby Kardashian.

I wish we had spent more time together in recent years. My golfing buddies, Hoss, Alan Austin, Mike, Craig, Bender, Wyler, Sandy, Jay, Donnie, thanks for the fun. All my teammates over the years, Reggie, you were the soul of my pro career. Ahmad, I never stopped being proud of you. Marcus, You’ve got a great lady in Catherine, don’t mess it up. Bobby Chandler, thanks for always being there. Skip and Kathy, I love you guys, without you I never would have made it through this far. Marguerite, thanks for the early years. We had some fun. Paula, what can I say? You are special. I’m sorry we’re not going to have our chance. God brought you to me I now see. As I leave, you’ll be in my thoughts.

I think of my life and feel I’ve done most of the right things. What the outcome, people will look and point. I can’t take that. I can’t subject my children to that. This way they can move on and go on with their lives. Please, if I’ve done anything worthwhile in my life. Let my kids live in peace from you (press).

I’ve had a good life. I’m proud of how I lived. My mama taught me to do unto other. I treated people the way I wanted to be treated. I’ve always tried to be up and helpful so why is this happening? I’m sorry for the Goldman family. I know how much it hurts.

Nicole and I had a good life together. All this press talk about a rocky relationship was no more than what every long-term relationship experiences. All her friends will confirm that I have been totally loving and understanding of what she’s been going through. At times I have felt like a battered husband or boyfriend but I loved her, make that clear to everyone. And I would take whatever it took to make it work.

Don’t feel sorry for me. I’ve had a great life, great friends. Please think of the real O.J. and not this lost person.

Thanks for making my life special. I hope I helped yours.

Peace and love, O.J.

He made a smiley face inside the “O” of his initial. If that’s not a sign of a disturbed mind, or a 13-year-old girl (but I repeat myself), I don’t know what is!

A little after 6:00 that evening, OJ Simpson was seen riding in a white Ford Bronco. Police were notified and, shortly before 7:00, were able to track down the vehicle. When they approached it, the driver, Al Cowlings (a friend and former teammate), told them that Simpson was in the back with a gun to his head. The police backed off but continued to follow the SUV. What came next was the most surreal, and most watched, police car chase in the history of forever.

Driving as slow as 35 miles per hour, the chase went on for 50 miles. The Bronco was followed by 20 police cars and another 20 news helicopters. TV stations interrupted their regular broadcasts to cover the chase. Over 95 million people watched from home and thousands of Californians stood on overpasses to watch the Bronco travel down I-405 and lined the streets near Simpson’s Brentwood home.

(This is a short clip. If you want to watch the whole glorious 55 minutes of it, you can do so here.)

Eventually Cowlings drove the Bronco to Simpson’s home and, after another of his attorneys, Robert Shapiro, arrived, Simpson turned himself over to the police. He was arraigned on July 29 and pleaded “Absolutely, one hundred percent, not guilty.”

OJ’s defense team included the two attorneys mentioned before, Robert Kardashian and Robert Shapiro, along with F. Lee Bailey, Alan Dershowitz, Gerald Uelmen, Carl E. Douglas, and Johnnie Cochran. Deputy District Attorneys Marcia Clark and Christopher A. Darden were the prosecutors.

Even though the evidence against Simpson was strong and included much DNA evidence, the jury (10 women and 2 men/9 blacks, 2 whites, and 1 Hispanic) returned a not guilty verdict after four hours of deliberation on October 2, 1995. Judge Ito waited to announce it until 10:00 am on October 3.

The jury in the criminal case were accused of being too ignorant to understand the DNA evidence and of being biased (because of the majority black jurors). Critics said they found OJ not guilty simply because blacks were outraged over the LA police in the Rodney King trial three years earlier being found not guilty.

The police were accused of mishandling evidence and  Detective Mark Fuhrman was accused during the trial of being a racist. The prosecutors failed to let the jury know that Simpson’s story changed several times while he was being interviewed and about items he had in the Bronco with him – several thousand dollars in cash, his passport, a change of clothing, and a fake mustache and goatee. They also made a mistake when they decided to have OJ try to put on the left-hand, blood-soaked glove found at the murder scene (and which was the match for the right-hand glove found at Simpson’s home). That lead to this…

Critics thought that the prosecutors and the judge had let themselves be influenced by the TVs in the courtroom. That lead to the Dancing Itos (named after Judge Ito), this time featuring (prosecutor) “Marcia Clark”.

In 1997 Ron Goldman’s parents and Nicole Brown Simpson’s father brought a wrongful death civil suit against Simpson. The standards of evidence for a civil trial only require a “preponderance of evidence” while a criminal trial requires proof “beyond a reasonable doubt”. The jury in this trial found OJ was likely guilty and required him to pay $12.6 million to Nicole’s and OJ’s children, Sydney and Justin, (as heirs to their mother’s estate) and $33.5 million in damages to the victims’ families.

In 2006 a book called If I Did It by OJ Simpson (ghostwritten by Pablo Fenjves) was to be published.  In it, Simpson offered a “hypothetical” description of how he would have accomplished the murders. The original publication was cancelled but it was released the next year with the title, If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer. A court awarded the rights to the book to the Goldman family – they got 90% of the profits – to help pay some of the money Simpson owed the family after the civil trial.

On October 3, 2008, exactly thirteen years after he was found not guilty in the murder trial, OJ Simpson was found guilty of armed robbery and sentenced to 33 years in prison. He and several other men broke into a room at the Palace Station hotel in Las Vegas, NV. They had robbed Bruce Fromong of some sports memorabilia items at gunpoint. Did karma catch up with him? Or did he develop hubris after getting away with two murders and think he was untouchable?

Compared to what ATMs can do now, the original one was not very complicated. It would give out a set amount of cash when a user put in a special card.

In December 1972 an ATM that is closer to what we have now was installed at a LLoyds Bank in Essex, England. The bank customer could withdraw variable amounts of money and that amount would be debited from their account immediately.

By 1979 ATMs were being networked so that customers of different banks could conduct their banking business from the same ATMS (for a small fee if it wasn’t your home bank.)

The first ATMS had been located on the banks’ properties but during the 1980s they began showing up at shopping malls, near bars and restaurants and other places where people might want quick cash. These had more limited function than the ones connected to banks – mostly just dispersing cash in $20 increments.

Note from the Repetition Department Dept.: ATM means Automatic Teller Machine, do not say ATM machine because that would be redundant (machine machine). You enter your PIN (Personal Identification Number) when you use it, not your PIN number (number number). Your cooperation in this matter is appreciated.

To say things didn’t go smoothly would be an understatement. It was an invitation-only event that expected 11,000 attendees. Thanks to counterfeit tickets, there were 28,000 people there. The huge crowd caused a traffic jam (as if that never happens at any of the parks now!), they ran out of food, and a plumbers’ strike meant that Disney had to choose between working toilets and drinking fountains. (He wisely, IMO, chose toilets over water fountains.) Rides broke down and a gas leak in Fantasyland caused it, Adventureland, and Frontierland to be closed for the afternoon.

Adult admission $1!

The open-to-the-public opening was the next day, Monday July 18, 1955 at 10:00 am. People were already lining up at 2:00 am to visit Main Street USA, Frontierland, Fantasyland, Adventureland, and Tomorrowland (which included the Monsanto Hall of Chemistry). Over a million visitors came during the first seven weeks and it has had over 650 million visitors in the last 60 years.

Kalani Paiʻea Wohi o Kaleikini Kealiʻikui Kamehameha o ʻIolani i Kaiwikapu kauʻi Ka Liholiho Kūnuiākea (King Kamehameha I, also called Kamehameha the Great) descended from chiefs from Hawai`i and Maui. When the warrior and future king was young, he was receptive to trade from Western explorers, acquiring both weapons and advice. He was able to win several battles and unite the Hawaiian Islands. He also outlawed human sacrifices, which, to be honest, sounds like a waste of a perfectly good volcano.  

He created a fortune my charging port duties on visiting ships and by selling sandalwood.

In 1993, the 103rd Congress of the United States of America passed a joint resolution to apologize for the overthrow of the kingdom of Hawaii 100 years earlier.

To acknowledge the 100th anniversary of the January 17, 1893 overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii, and to offer an apology to Native Hawaiians on behalf of the United States for the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii.

Whereas, prior to the arrival of the first Europeans in 1778, the Native Hawaiian people lived in a highly organized, self-sufficient, subsistent social system based on communal land tenure with a sophisticated language, culture, and religion;

Whereas, a unified monarchical government of the Hawaiian Islands was established in 1810 under Kamehameha I, the first King of Hawaii;

Whereas, from 1826 until 1893, the United States recognized the independence of the Kingdom of Hawaii, extended full and complete diplomatic recognition to the Hawaiian Government, and entered into treaties and conventions with the Hawaiian monarchs to govern commerce and navigation in 1826, 1842, 1849, 1875, and 1887;

Whereas, the Congregational Church (now known as the United Church of Christ), through its American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, sponsored and sent more than 100 missionaries to the Kingdom of Hawaii between 1820 and 1850;

Whereas, on January 14, 1893, John L. Stevens (hereafter referred to in this Resolution as the “United States Minister”), the United States Minister assigned to the sovereign and independent Kingdom of Hawaii conspired with a small group of non-Hawaiian residents of the Kingdom of Hawaii, including citizens of the United States, to overthrow the indigenous and lawful Government of Hawaii;

Whereas, in pursuance of the conspiracy to overthrow the Government of Hawaii, the United States Minister and the naval representatives of the United States caused armed naval forces of the United States to invade the sovereign Hawaiian nation on January 16, 1893, and to position themselves near the Hawaiian Government buildings and the Iolani Palace to intimidate Queen Liliuokalani and her Government;

Whereas, on the afternoon of January 17,1893, a Committee of Safety that represented the American and European sugar planters, descendants of missionaries, and financiers deposed the Hawaiian monarchy and proclaimed the establishment of a Provisional Government;

Whereas, the United States Minister thereupon extended diplomatic recognition to the Provisional Government that was formed by the conspirators without the consent of the Native Hawaiian people or the lawful Government of Hawaii and in violation of treaties between the two nations and of international law;

Whereas, soon thereafter, when informed of the risk of bloodshed with resistance, Queen Liliuokalani issued the following statement yielding her authority to the United States Government rather than to the Provisional Government:

“I Liliuokalani, by the Grace of God and under the Constitution of the Hawaiian Kingdom, Queen, do hereby solemnly protest against any and all acts done against myself and the Constitutional Government of the Hawaiian Kingdom by certain persons claiming to have established a Provisional Government of and for this Kingdom.

“That I yield to the superior force of the United States of America whose Minister Plenipotentiary, His Excellency John L. Stevens, has caused United States troops to be landed a Honolulu and declared that he would support the Provisional Government.

“Now to avoid any collision of armed forces, and perhaps the loss of life, I do this under protest and impelled by said force yield my authority until such time as the Government of the United States shall, upon facts being presented to it, undo the action of its representatives and reinstate me in the authority which I claim as the Constitutional Sovereign of the Hawaiian Islands.”.

Done at Honolulu this 17th day of January, A.D. 1893.;

Whereas, without the active support and intervention by the United States diplomatic and military representatives, the insurrection against the Government of Queen Liliuokalani would have failed for lack of popular support and insufficient arms;

Whereas, on February 1, 1893, the United States Minister raised the American flag and proclaimed Hawaii to be a protectorate of the United States;

Whereas, the report of a Presidentially established investigation conducted by former Congressman James Blount into the events surrounding the insurrection and overthrow of January 17, 1893, concluded that the United States diplomatic and military representatives had abused their authority and were responsible for the change in government;

Whereas, as a result of this investigation, the United States Minister to Hawaii was recalled from his diplomatic post and the military commander of the United States armed forces stationed in Hawaii was disciplined and forced to resign his commission;

Whereas, in a message to Congress on December 18, 1893, President Grover Cleveland reported fully and accurately on the illegal acts of the conspirators, described such acts as an “act of war, committed with the participation of a diplomatic representative of the United States and without authority of Congress”, and acknowledged that by such acts the government of a peaceful and friendly people was overthrown;

Whereas, President Cleveland further concluded that a “substantial wrong has thus been done which a due regard for our national character as well as the rights of the injured people requires we should endeavor to repair” and called for the restoration of the Hawaiian monarchy;

Whereas, the Provisional Government protested President Cleveland’s call for the restoration of the monarchy and continued to hold state power and pursue annexation to the United States;

Whereas, the Provisional Government successfully lobbied the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate (hereafter referred to in this Resolution as the “Committee”) to conduct a new investigation into the events surrounding the overthrow of the monarchy;

Whereas, the Committee and its chairman, Senator John Morgan, conducted hearings in Washington, D.C., from December 27,1893, through February 26, 1894, in which members of the Provisional Government justified and condoned the actions of the United States Minister and recommended annexation of Hawaii;

Whereas, although the Provisional Government was able to obscure the role of the United States in the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy, it was unable to rally the support from two-thirds of the Senate needed to ratify a treaty of annexation;

Whereas, on July 4, 1894, the Provisional Government declared itself to be the Republic of Hawaii;

Whereas, on January 24, 1895, while imprisoned in Iolani Palace, Queen Liliuokalani was forced by representatives of the Republic of Hawaii to officially abdicate her throne;

Whereas, in the 1896 United States Presidential election, William McKinley replaced Grover Cleveland;

Whereas, on July 7, 1898, as a consequence of the Spanish-American War, President McKinley signed the Newlands Joint Resolution that provided for the annexation of Hawaii;

Whereas, through the Newlands Resolution, the self-declared Republic of Hawaii ceded sovereignty over the Hawaiian Islands to the United States;

Whereas, the Republic of Hawaii also ceded 1,800,000 acres of crown, government and public lands of the Kingdom of Hawaii, without the consent of or compensation to the Native Hawaiian people of Hawaii or their sovereign government;

Whereas, the Congress, through the Newlands Resolution, ratified the cession, annexed Hawaii as part of the United States, and vested title to the lands in Hawaii in the United States;

Whereas, the Newlands Resolution also specified that treaties existing between Hawaii and foreign nations were to immediately cease and be replaced by United States treaties with such nations;

Whereas, the Newlands Resolution effected the transaction between the Republic of Hawaii and the United States Government;

Whereas, the indigenous Hawaiian people never directly relinquished their claims to their inherent sovereignty as a people or over their national lands to the United States, either through their monarchy or through a plebiscite or referendum;

Whereas, on April 30, 1900, President McKinley signed the Organic Act that provided a government for the territory of Hawaii and defined the political structure and powers of the newly established Territorial Government and its relationship to the United States;

Whereas, on August 21,1959, Hawaii became the 50th State of the United States;

Whereas, the health and well-being of the Native Hawaiian people is intrinsically tied to their deep feelings and attachment to the land;

Whereas, the long-range economic and social changes in Hawaii over the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries have been devastating to the population and to the health and well-being of the Hawaiian people;

Whereas, the Native Hawaiian people are determined to preserve, develop and transmit to future generations their ancestral territory, and their cultural identity in accordance with their own spiritual and traditional beliefs, customs, practices, language, and social institutions;

Whereas, in order to promote racial harmony and cultural understanding, the Legislature of the State of Hawaii has determined that the year 1993, should serve Hawaii as a year of special reflection on the rights and dignities of the Native Hawaiians in the Hawaiian and the American societies;

Whereas, the Eighteenth General Synod of the United Church of Christ in recognition of the denomination’s historical complicity in the illegal overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1893 directed the Office of the President of the United Church of Christ to offer a public apology to the Native Hawaiian people and to initiate the process of reconciliation between the United Church of Christ and the Native Hawaiians; and

Whereas, it is proper and timely for the Congress on the occasion of the impending one hundredth anniversary of the event, to acknowledge the historic significance of the illegal overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii, to express its deep regret to the Native Hawaiian people, and to support the reconciliation efforts of the State of Hawaii and the United Church of Christ with Native Hawaiians;

Now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND APOLOGY.

The Congress -

        (1) on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the illegal overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii on January 17, 1893, acknowledges the historical significance of this event which resulted in the suppression of the inherent sovereignty of the Native Hawaiian people;

        (2) recognizes and commends efforts of reconciliation initiated by the State of Hawaii and the United Church of Christ with Native Hawaiians;

        (3) apologizes to Native Hawaiians on behalf of the people of the United States for the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii on January 17, 1893 with the participation of agents and citizens of the United States, and the deprivation of the rights of Native Hawaiians to self-determination;

        (4) expresses its commitment to acknowledge the ramifications of the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii, in order to provide a proper foundation for reconciliation between the United States and the Native Hawaiian people; and

        (5) urges the President of the United States to also acknowledge the ramifications of the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii and to support reconciliation efforts between the United States and the Native Hawaiian people.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

As used in this Joint Resolution, the term “Native Hawaiians” means any individual who is a descendent of the aboriginal people who, prior to 1778, occupied and exercised sovereignty in the area that now constitutes the State of Hawaii.

SEC. 3. DISCLAIMER.

Nothing in this Joint Resolution is intended to serve as a settlement of any claims against the United States.

Approved November 23, 1993