Since this November marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the beginning of the Iran-Contra Scandal, I ran across this special produced by NPR on the occasion of the opening days testimony of Col. Oliver North, the man alleged to have been at the center of the Iran-Contra scandal from July 1987.

Hosted by Cokie Roberts and featuring veteran newsman Daniel Schorr, they outline the circumstances and events that led up to this moment in the hearings.

Since time and facts get fuzzy, I thought it would be a good idea to run this piece as a sort of refresher course in the scandal and the players involved.

At the end of the NPR piece is an interview conducted by KCRW's Ruth Seymour with none other than Newt Gingrich, himself an outspoken supporter of covert operations and doing-what-needs-to-be-done.

Considering he is the man who would like to be President next year, a glimpse of him twenty-five years ago might not be such a bad thing. Not that he's changed so dramatically over the years. But you get the idea of where he would like our current state of government headed, even in 1986.

History.

Starting sporadically in the late 1970's and turning into a weekly series by the 1980's, CBS Radio's Newsmark was something of a last-gasp at serious radio documentaries produced by mainstream media. With a rotation of weekly hosts and a wide range of subject matter, Newsmark tried to revive what had already become a largely ignored radio genre and inject some new life into it.

One such episode first aired in January of 1988 and the subject was Immigration and the battle over Immigration Reform (sound familiar?). Realizing this is from 23 years ago, the controversy and the attempts at reform are still very much front-and-center in our collective consciousness. And, it would appear, we're as far away from a solution now as we were then.

At times it's gratifying to know some things never change. In this instance, it's rather sad.

A half hour rundown on current life via CBS Radio from a series no longer produced - Newsmark for January 17, 1988.

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.

News of this day in 1982 was pretty sad. It had been reported that actor John Belushi had died earlier in the day from "natural causes". Only as the hours went by did the news reports get more facts in. Still, Belushi the Comic genius was gone and that was bad enough.

In other news (if we really paid attention at the time) - Gen. Alexander "I'm In Charge Here" Haig claimed proof that Cuban and Nicaraguan aid was pouring in to the rebels in El Salvador.

The trial of Klaus von Bulow was wrapping up with Defense resting its case. Only a matter of time before it went to the Jury.

Senate Republicans on Capitol Hill were proposing a crackdown on people who underpaid their taxes. It was said this sort of forgetfulness was responsible for the government not getting as much as $77 Billion in tax revenue.

Rumors that Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev had died halted temporarily the downward spiral in gold prices. When he later appeared on TV the prices spiraled upward.

And so went that particular March 5th in 1982 via CBS Hourly News as well as local (KNX-Am) coverage of the Belushi death.

It would be insanity if all this happened in one day - but no, today's dose of history has to deal with the week ending on October 31, 1982 - and a busy week it was.

The 1982 Mid-Term elections were upon us and Republicans all over the country were chanting "stay the course", even though there didn't seem much to substantiate that desire. Still, it was a loud Mantra. One embarrassment to the Reagan White House came in the form of Nobel Prize winning Economist George Stigler who, after his Oval Office visit went before microphones to an impromptu press conference and promptly trashed the Reagan Economic vision, saying supply-side economics were a myth. It didn't go over well with West Wing flacks who quickly ushered Stigler away from the glare of probing cameras.

Meanwhile, the recent rash of deaths attributed to poisoned Tylenol had their fair share of copycat tampering, causing a wave of serious alarm this Halloween, prompting some communities to shelve Halloween altogether.

Auto maker John DeLorean was indicted on 9 counts of drug trafficking and money laundering in a somewhat maladroit attempt to pull his car company out of bankruptcy by hawking Philadelphia Marching Powder.

Spain got a new head of government. The Socialist sweep in the recent elections brought Philippe Gonzalez, 40 to the forefront as the youngest leader ever to be elected in Europe.

And China boasted the somewhat dubious distinction of having over 1 billion people on this Halloween.

Just another week in paradise, according the CBS News The World This Week for October 31, 1982 (Halloween came on a Sunday that year).

This particular September 9th in 1983 had a lot to do with the state of education in the U.S. - Missouri teachers were going out on strike over School Desegregation. Schools were shut in Newport Oregon because of budget cuts and collective bargaining was in danger with school teachers in New Haven Connecticut.

Not a particularly good day if you were a kid trying to get an education in 1983.

NBC Radio News on the Hour for September 9, 1983.

August 11, 1982. And another day of turmoil, this time in Lebanon, as Israeli jets continue attacking PLO positions in Beirut, turning the once beautiful city into a smoldering heap of debris. Diplomatic overtures are flooding the besieged region, and the fighting galloped on.

Meanwhile, President Reagan was stumping the hinterlands for support of his $99 Billion Tax Bill, which even Republicans blanched at, seeing a huge jump in Taxes. The Reagan White House, in a barrage of Public Relations, were quick to chide the GOP brethren by saying it was "Tax Reform" not "Tax Increase" and critics were dismissed as being misguided, leading many to suspect The White House was doing its level best to convert No into meaning Yes. Jabberwocky On The Potomac continued.

The U.S. saw it's fifth execution since 1976 on this day with convicted killer Frank Coppola paying a visit to "Ol' Sparky" in Virginia. And the American Bar Association were twisting themselves in knots over proposed Ethics Code revisions. After much debate they decided to shelve the plan until September.

Probably something most people would have wanted to do about that August 11th anyway, as presented by the CBS World News Roundup, The Osgood File and the 9:00 am Network news.

On the one hand, this day was like most other August days. Congress held a 17 hour session and finally passed Tax legislation which included a huge tax reduction in oil profits helped with the participation of defecting Southern Democrats (we call them Blue Dogs now). And on the other hand, we were about to witness the first grand scale Union Busting in the form of PATCO and the now-famous Air-Traffic Controllers Strike. On this particular August 1st it was a Saturday, and all members were slated to hit the picket lines come Monday morning, unless some 11th hour negotiation proved successful.

In other news, the ongoing Hunger Strike of IRA members in Belfast's Maze Prison was taking an ominous toll, with one death reported and several other hunger strikers perilously close. Pope John Paul II, still recovering from wounds associated with his assassination attempt, had cleared another hurdle by successfully beating back a viral infection as the result of surgery.

Just another August 1st in history. Remarkably the same while strangely different.

August 1, 1981 as told by the CBS World News Roundup with Neil Strawser.

On this day in (December 14th) 1985 the House failed to pass a compromise spending bill, effectively shutting down the Defense, Interior, Transportation, Treasury, Agriculture Departments and The Postal Service all ran out of money.

Barney Frank: “It shows the depth of the anger on the part of a lot of Democrats who have cooperated in reducing housing programs, in reducing Public Transportation and reducing programs for the needy and elderly and cutting back on program for daycare for working women who said ‘wait a minute, after all that we have done you’re now gonna turn around and tell us that we’re still gonna have the five hundred dollar toilet seats, and MX missiles for which we voted and decided there was no need. We will not take it anymore’. “

The never-ending saga of the Budget.

Granted, every administration comes in with an agenda and the appointed troops to carry that out. The Reagan Administration was no different. But the agenda during the Reagan years appeared to be more bent on dismantling what had already been in place and what had, for the most part worked, in exchange for an almost wholesale desire to turn back the hands of time. Rex Lee, a Reagan appointee to the position of Solicitor General carried a whole bag of reversals with him. As a member of that generation of New Conservatives as well as a Mormon background, it was his job to argue, question and dismantle as much legislation adopted from previous administrations as possible. And of course, all under the guise of compassion . . .of a kind.

Rex Lee: “The mere fact that one administration does reach a different conclusion, with respect to the merits of busing, has nothing to do with that administrations commitment to civil rights. Let me just say this – as Mayor Tom Bradley of Los Angeles put it; most parents, whatever their color and whatever their background, simply don’t want their children being bused across town, back and forth, to school. There are at least two reasons that busing, wholly aside from any racial considerations, simply is not a good idea, educationally. One is that it chews up the prime time that should otherwise be available for school work and for homework. And the second is, that it eliminates the opportunities for parents to be involved in the educational process. Neither of those has anything to do with race.”

Robert Schakne (CBS News): “Your criticism of policies such as busing suggest that the courts, which established those policies were in error. Are you saying in effect that the judges who’ve been making these rulings, many of whom were appointed of course by Democrats, have been too liberal. That there’s a need for change in the composition of the courts?”

Lee: “What we’re really saying Mister Schakne, is this; that a couple of decades of experience have now taught us some things. The courts did the best job that they could with the information they had available to them. They always do, on a case to case basis when the matters come before them. It would be irresponsible government not to call to the court’s attention, on a continuing basis, updated information, new experience, new understanding that we have on the basis of what we’ve learned since those decisions came down.”

No end of fascination, this history of ours.