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Since April 23rd in 1979 also came on a Monday, it was the start to what promised to be a busy week for Jimmy Carter, and for Capitol Hill in general.

First off - with Carter back at the White House from his 11 day Easter vacation, he was gearing up for the onslaught of cameras and microphones as he went into lobbying mode for this Windfall Profits Tax and SALT Treaty legislation. SALT was thought to be a hard sell because of the verification agreement in the Treaty. While the Windfall Profits Tax proposal, aimed at the Oil Producers, had a "wait and see" cloud hanging over it. Obviously a welcome piece of legislation from the voters, there was "Big Oil" to deal with, and that could pose a big problem.

Meanwhile - as Congress came back from Easter recess, the Senate were gearing up for testimony from Pennsylvania Governor Dick Thornburgh and others over the recent 3-Mile Island Nuclear Power plant disaster. Looking for answers amid a sea of finger pointing. Also at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Hearings was more testimony regarding the SALT Treaty and questions over CIA Chief Stansfield Turner's appearance at the Hearings, resulting in Carter's blast of Turner for leaks an distortions during his previous testimony.

On the Union front - Negotiations resumed between the Machinists Union and United Airlines, attempting to end a strike that got started late March. Also pending was a tentative agreement between Teamsters and the Steel industry.

In the rest of the world - Heavy fighting was reported in Cambodia with an estimated 40,000 civilians and fleeing troops loyal to Pol Pot fleeing over the border to Thailand. The Thai government were tight-lipped and clamped a black-out on Press inquiries.

Senator Frank Church, while visiting Tokyo, warned the Japanese government that a strong feeling of Protectionism was brewing in the U.S. over the trade imbalances between Japan and the U.S.

Deposed Ugandan Dictator Idi Amin turned up in Iraq, flying in from Libya, presumably seeking asylum in Baghdad.

And flooding continued in Mississippi, with protests launched at the Feds for the reported 7% interest rate being handed flood-ravaged victims.

And on and on it went, that Monday April 23rd in 1979. As reported on the CBS World News Roundup.

When asked to give a one word summary of 2005, the operative word was: Disaster.

Six years ago but feeling a lot longer, 2005 was seemingly one continuous body blow after the next. From escalating violence in Iraq, Earthquakes in Pakistan and India where the estimate death toll topped 100,000. The threat of Bird Flu coming from China. Tube station bombings in London and Hurricane Katrina that all but wiped New Orleans off the map. You could confidently say 2005 was a monumentally disastrous year.

The death of Pope John Paul II, the Saddam Hussein trial, George Bush's extreme Supreme Court nominations, it ran the gamut. And not surprisingly, a lot of us didn't survive.

So in case you forgot, or have that morbid curiosity to relive, here is the CBS Weekend Roundup of the Year for 2005.

A good reminder as to why we're so crazy and out of control right now.

This weekend, twenty-five years ago, it was all about The Persian Gulf and the U.S. decision to re-flag Kuwaiti Oil Tankers within the next ten days. Amid reports that Iran was mining the Gulf and the U.S. was inching closer to a shooting war. With the Iraqi bombing of the USS Stark, which claimed 37 crewmen, it would seem a showdown was inevitable.

Despite all that, there was no concrete Policy in place, with reference to our position on The Persian Gulf. This episode of Face The Nation was titled "Persian Gulf Policy: A Sea Of Confusion", and it reflected just how off the charts we were in handling crises overseas.

Joining Moderator Leslie Stahl were Under-Secretary of State Michael Armacost and Chairman of The House Armed Services Committe, Les Aspin, discussing what was becoming a fractured and and confusing policy and whether or not the re-flagging of Kuwaiti ships should be postponed.

Here is that broadcast. You get to decide.

Day #7 of Desert Storm, this January 23rd in 1991. The news of the day was predominated by war reports and air attacks, as the full-on invasion hadn't yet begun. Scud Missile attacks in Tel-Aviv. Sporadic ground skirmishes around the Saudi-Kuwait border. Coalition fighters ran some 12,000 sorties so far. Iraq claiming one raid scored a direct hit on a "baby formula factory" - the "factory" in question was well-guarded at the time. Vice-President Dan Quayle was busy decrying anti-war protesters, saying they were getting too much media coverage. The Pentagon was being criticized by the media for being too slow in giving updates on progress. And nobody knew exactly how long this thing was going to last.

And that's what was going on this day in 1991 from the CBS World News Roundup and News Updates for January 23rd.

The latest in the seemingly endless (going into year 7 without a letup) war between Iraq and Iran hit a new milestone on this day with Iran poised to capture the Iraqi town of Basra. The fortunes of war weren't going well for Iraq and the German press were circulating rumors the U.S. was standing by to jump in. The State Department vehemently denied the report, even though U.S. warships were cruising around the Persian Gulf.

In other news this rather haywire day in 1987; a suspect in the terrorist hijacking of TWA Flight 847 in 1985 which resulted in the shooting death of a Navy Seal was being held in a cell in Bonn West Germany. With threats of extradition to the U.S. also came the threat of reprisals from terrorists and the citizenry of Bonn were understandably nervous.

On the Domestic front - the Long Island Railroad strike was heading into its second day with commuters forced to take alternate transportation. And even though it was a holiday, snarls were bad enough in Manhattan to force a run on Valium for the next day. Meanwhile, talks lumbered on.

22,000 Steelworkers were urged by their union today to accept the new contract from USX.

The U.S. entry in the Americas Cup Race won this day's round against New Zealand. They got to face Australia shortly.

The dollar sank to a new post-War low against the Yen in Tokyo. At last count, 150 Yen to the dollar and Japan was worried exports would suddenly slow to a crawl.

And 37 states celebrated Martin Luther King's Birthday today for the first time.

All this and a lot more via the CBS World News roundup for (Monday), January 19, 1987.

News for this day in August of 1995 was doubtful at best. Under the guise of "maneuvers" American tanks massed on the border of Jordan and Iraq as a show of force to Saddam Hussein, lest he got any more ideas about Kuwait. Bosnian Peace talks were on-going with Goradze being the topic of conversation. The hostage drama in Kashmir regarding a group of Western tourists was ramped up with a rescue plan in the works. In another part of the region, the body of Himalayan mountain climber Alison Hargreaves was discovered after she had been reported missing for several days when sudden bad weather hit the area where she was attempting an ascent on K2.

Meanwhile, Back in the States - Judge Lance Ito postponed hearings in the OJ Simpson trial in order to review and to figure out how to handle the hours of racial epithets flying out of the Ron Fuhrman tapes before releasing them to the jury. A sweep of illegal Aliens in a meat packing plant in Nebraska netted surprising results. Former Arkansas Governor Jim Guy Tucker was facing a fresh set of indictments in the White Water fishing expedition with suspicions of political motives and a "back door move" to President Clinton on everyone's minds. First Female Cadet at The Citadel Shannon Faulkner was still in Sick Bay, after collapsing from exhaustion. Convicted killer Sylvester Adams was executed for his role in the strangulation murder of a 16 year-old neighbor. Appeals that the condemned killer was mentally incapable of pre-meditation went unheeded. The Interstate 880 Sniper was arrested. And Hurricane Felix was looking less and less of a threat with each hour.

Just another day. Just like any other day. All via The CBS World News Roundup for August 18, 1995.

On this day in 1991 the first combat troops were returning from Operation Desert Storm with more on the way. Meanwhile, uprisings around Iraq were being quickly extinguished by the Saddam Hussein regime. President Bush delivers an address the previous night to declare the war was over with reactions from Capitol Hill. In Los Angeles, viral video tape of a beating by police of motorist Rodney King in the Lakeview Terrace section of Los Angeles sparked controversy and a clumsy attempt at explanation on the parts of the LAPD. An investigation was promised.

And that's what it looked today if you were in 1991.

On this day in 1998 it was all about Iraq and the infamous Weapons Of Mass Destruction. Addressing the nation from the Department of Defense, President Clinton prepared everyone for what was going to be a series of air strikes and stepped up sanctions against the regime of Saddam Hussein. Iraq, it seemed, was the recurring thorn in everyone's side and in 1998 it was no different.

President Clinton: “Despite Iraq’s deceptions UNSCOM has, nevertheless done a remarkable job. It’s inspectors, the eyes and ears of the civilized world, have uncovered and destroyed more weapons of mass destruction capacity than was destroyed during the Gulf War. This includes nearly 40,000 chemical weapons, more than 100,000 gallons of chemical weapons agents, 48 operational missiles, 30 warheads specifically fitted for chemical and biological weapons, and a massive biological weapons facility at Al-Hakim, equipped to produce Anthrax and other deadly agents. Over the past few months as they have come closer and closer to rooting out Iraq’s remaining nuclear capacity, Saddam has undertaken yet another gambit to thwart their ambition. By imposing debilitating conditions on the inspectors, and declaring key sites which have still not been inspected off-limits, including I might add, one palace in Baghdad, more than 2600 acres large. By comparison when you hear all this business about Presidential sites reflect our sovereignty, why do you want to come into a residence, the White House complex is 18 acres, so you’ll have some feel for this. One of these Presidential sites is about the size of Washington D.C. – that’s about . . .how many acres did you tell me it was? Forty thousand acres. We’re not talking about a few rooms here with delicate personal matters involved.”

Well . . .we all know how that story ended.

Here is the complete address, along with comments by Defense Secretary Cohen and vice-President Gore and post-address analysis by NPR correspondents.

A novel idea by any time standard - reviewing the worlds press and not only how it depicted their own domestic news but also news of other countries in their press. Since the world was much larger in 1969 and since news traveled slower (without the aid of Satellites and only marginally had portable video tape recorders in favor of film), you would think our access to it at the time would be pretty nonexistent. Well . . .no.

In the 1960's, fledgling Public Television network N.E.T. (pre-cursor to PBS) ran a weekly series called World Press In Review, which basically consisted of a bunch of Foreign press representatives sitting around a conference table, discussing how the world viewed America via the news and how the rest of the world looked at each other in terms of news.

A fascinating hour (yes, it was an hour). This segment is from February 16, 1969 and among the topics were the Santa Barbara Oil spill and how the British Press viewed it. The conflict between Red China and Russia. The ongoing situation in Northern Ireland. The recent hangings of Jews in Iraq and how it affected tensions in the Middle East. Israeli views of the new U.S. President Nixon. Two different interpretations of the same interview with Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser, one from Newsweek and the other identical interview as translated by a leading Egyptian paper. Europe and Nixon. Europe and The Soviet Union. Europe and The European Union. India and Pakistan. India and the Soviet Union. India and Nixon.

We don't get that kind of dialogue anymore. And since the world has become substantially smaller, you would imagine a program of that sort would be a natch for Cable. Well . . . no.

Strange.

January 6th in 1991 came on a Sunday and so the news was all about the week before and the impending invasion of Kuwait and what came to be known as Operation Desert Storm. It was all a matter of waiting. So the news was mostly regarding diplomatic maneuvers, the posturing, the threats, the cautions that the war was going to be expensive (but who paid any attention to that at the time). The new Congress and the ever-present promise of handling the deficit. Some things never change, ever, even after twenty years to the day.

The only difference being January 6th is a Thursday today. Other than that . . . .