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Well . . .

On March 7th 1978, news from Tel-Aviv reported a sharp divide, bordering on revolt among Israeli Cabinet Ministers over the matter of Israeli settlements being built on disputed Arab territories. Moderates, headed up by Ezer Weizmann wanted the settlement building to stop. Hawks, headed up by Ariel Sharon wanted it to continue and Prime Minister Begin was stuck in the middle. Meanwhile, in Cairo - Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was looking to the U.S. for some leadership in the area of Peace talks with Israel. As always, the Middle-East was a hotbed of activity.

Back in the States, a settlement of another kind was being sought after. This one having to do with the Coal Miner's Strike, which was having a devastating impact on the Mid-West. President Carter was invoking Taft-Hartley legislation and the Coal Miners were hearing none of it. Meanwhile, the loss of coal production meant severe cutbacks throughout Indiana, Ohio and several other states with electrical cutbacks as much as 50%.

On Capitol Hill, debate was continuing regarding the Panama Canal Treaty with no eye on an actual vote until "maybe May 1st". Jesse Helms introduced an amendment to keep a U.S. Radio facility up and running in the Canal Zone to be used in tracking ships, particularly those of Soviet lineage.

Elsewhere - Continuing border clashes between Rhodesia and Zambia were getting the attention of other African nations who wanted to reach some settlement in the dispute, preferably without Ian Smith involved. Kind of tough since, even though Smith headed up the minority government of Rhodesia, he was still heading up the government.

And Kuwait's Oil Minister was calling for a substantial boost in oil prices, since the U.S. dollar was sinking slowly in markets around the world, and Kuwait was claiming losses of $1million a day as the result. Gee.

And publisher Larry Flynt was recovering from surgery the day following a shooting of him and his attorney by "unknown" assailant(s).

And that's what this particular slice of reality sounded like for March 7, 1978 as reported by Dallas Townsend on The CBS World News Roundup.

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Save for the worst weather to Southern California in decades, with storms dumping in excess of 21 inches as of this day, compared to 6 inches for the entire season last year, it was a reasonably calm day, as days on planet Earth go.

Pope John Paul II was winging his way to Costa Rica for the first of an 8 country visit to Central America. Billed as an "Appeal for Peace", foremost on his "to-do" list was having a sit-down with his emissaries to figure out why so many priests were joining up with the Sandanista rebels.

Meanwhile, loud calls for increased funding and arms shipments to the Contras were bouncing around Capitol Hill. The old Domino Theory being trotted out for another moth-ridden appearance. Or maybe a smokescreen.

In other Capitol Hill goings-on; the $150bn bailout for Social Security was approved, and the index of Leading Indicator figures were released showing a whopping 3.6% increase - the biggest jump since 1950.

The worst batch of storms in decades was pounding the West Coast of the U.S., soaking Southern California in particular to the tune of 21 inches for this latest storm - a far cry from the 6 inches total for the previous year. And at last report, a whole series of storms was lined up to continue the assault. The weather put a damper on Queen Elizabeth's visit to California, forcing a cruise of the Royal Yacht up the coast to be shelved in favor of flying to Santa Barbara for lunch with the President.

At least it wasn't lava flowing like it was in Hawaii, compliments of the Kilauea Volcano and the 15 foot wall of molten detritus marching relentlessly towards a newly constructed subdivision.

Or the on-going Iran-Iraq War which saw an attack on Iran's Oil fields and the reported sinking of 5 Iranian ships, including oil tankers - that one sent out pangs of apprehension for the gas pump, even though Saudi Arabia and Venezuela proposed to OPEC a lowering of oil prices, rather than raising them.

And Burlington Vermont re-elected their first Socialist Mayor. Bernard Sanders was ushered in for a second term, defeating both the Democratic and Republican candidates for the job. Burlington was the first city in the U.S. to have a Socialist Mayor and all eyes were gazing askance towards New England, wondering if this was going to be a trend or, like Flashdance, just a phase.

And so it went for this March 2nd, 1983 as told to eager ears on The CBS World News Roundup, Newsbreak, the 9:00 am Network news and Reporters Notebook.

Just in case you needed confirmation.