May 21st, 1984 started off with a visit to Capitol Hill from Salvadoran President-elect Josè Napoleon Duartè. The reason for his visit was simple - money. In an effort to persuade Reagan and Congress to cough up $68 million in military aid, Duartè did his best to convince the powers-that-be that El Salvador was going to be a brand-spanking new country.

All this, amid the release of a report by Amnesty International claiming that El Salvador had been knee-deep in Death Squad executions since 1979 and some 40,000 were believed to be dead as the result. The report went on to say it had no reason to believe it was going to improve it's Human Rights record, since the Duartè government had been showing, maybe not direct involvement, but certainly tacit complicity.

And the sales pitch continued.

Meanwhile, news from the Persian Gulf was unsettling as Iran was continuing to attack and sink ships, most notably oil tankers. The move brought condemnation from the Arab League as the majority of ships sunk belonged to the Saudis. There were hints the U.S. would possibly play a role in this current Persian Gulf crisis, but what form the role would take remained to be seen. But nothing was ruled out.

Reports from Bombay estimated some 100 dead following rioting between Hindus and Muslims over the weekend. The violence was the latest in a series of tense confrontations between the two religious groups.

And Soviet Dissident Andrei Sakharov was celebrating his 63rd birthday while on his 19th day of a hunger strike in an undisclosed Soviet prison. The strike was in protest to Moscow's refusal to grant Sakharov's wife, Yelena Bonner a visa in order to seek medical treatment. The Soviets claimed it was Bonner who was the real dissident, manipulating Sakharov by brain-washing him.

And so it went, this May 21st, 1984 as reported on The CBS World News Roundup and the 9:00 am (PDT) Network news with Richard C. Hottelet.

In the event you were hiding for most of the day today, it would have been George Harrison's 68th birthday today. The Quiet Beatle or A Traveling Wilbury (if you're so inclined and don't remember back all that far). Back in the day, every one had a favorite Beatle. I will admit mine were John and George. Sadly, they're both gone now - but that doesn't stop me from still enjoying their music, their contribution to what were my formative years. Can't listen to a Beatles song without thinking of some event from a deep-distant past. I guess that's what lasting impressions are all about - the things that happen to you when the indelible imprint can be made. And usually what it was you were listening to when it all happened.

So in honor of George's birthday I'm running a track that was actually the B-side of a noteworthy Beatles single, Lady Madonna - only this one is The Inner Light.

If you're around tomorrow I will be posting a George Harrison concert from 1974 on Backstage Weekend. Just to keep the celebrations going.

In the meantime - Happy Birthday George.You're missed.

In the odd event you're reading this in an isolation chamber, today would have been John Lennon's 70th birthday. Those of us who landed smack in the middle of our teenage years just as The Beatles arrived, have vivid memories of John's outspoken nature and so it's no accident, since this is mostly a political blog the sister site of a bigger political blog and dealing primarily with situations from the past and how they relate to the attitude of our current state of affairs, that I ran across this excerpt of an interview with John Lennon recorded just before his assassination in 1980, when Reagan had just won the election. Among a vast range of subjects John talked about, his take on the then-current state of political affairs is quite interesting and certainly fuels speculation on how he would have felt about our current situation.

John Lennon: “I don’t think politics is the only answer, you see. I think this idea that we elect these leaders and then expect them to do miracles for us. Kennedy is a big dream for everybody because he didn’t live to fulfill or let us down. And it’s not to negate what Kennedy was and what he means to people. But the reality is, had he lived, how do you know how well he would’ve done at the time, right? Or how the war would have gone and how everything would have gone. So investing leaders with supernatural powers, whether they be pop starts, politicians or movie stars or football heroes, it don’t work. It just doesn’t work. Because we put them up on the pedestal and immediately want to knock them off.”

And John certainly knew a thing or two about pedestals.

And we're still good at constructing pedestals. It's as American as Apple pie.

And seventy years ago today . . . .