Busy day in history

I have nothing to rant about today, just an update on the historical significance of April 19th. Today and tomorrow are extremely eventful days in history, especially when it comes to infamous events. On this date in 1995, Timothy McVeigh exploded a truck bomb near the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on Oklahoma City, killing 168 people and injuring hundreds of others. In 1993 on the same date, federal agents killed 74 Branch Davidians in a standoff at Waco, Texas. It is likely that McVeigh , who was infuriated at the federal government's actions in the Waco standoff, chose April 19th because it was the anniversary of Waco. He may also have liked this date because it's the day before the birthday of Adolf Hitler, whom McVeigh admired to some extent.

Arguably the most important historical events that occurred toady were the battles of Lexington and Concord, which marked the beginning of the Revolutionary War. At dawn on April 19, 1776, having heard from Paul Revere and William Dawes that the British were planning to seize their weapons and ammunition, 70 minutemen gathered on Lexington Green exchanged fire with the redcoats. Eight colonists were killed, and the British decided to head to Concord to seize the weapons depot there. Along the way, colonists fired on the redcoats at the North Bridge in Concord, forcing them to retreat to Boston. Now that I think of it, Lexington and Concord probably contributed to McVeigh's decision to choose April 19th, since he wanted to start a revolution against the U.S. government, which he considered oppressive, just like the rebellious colonists viewed King George III.

For more information on the Revolutionary War, go to one of these sites:
The History Place -- one of the best web sites of all time.
http://www.americanrevolution.com -- a great site all about our war for independence
Or for more about McVeigh and the Oklahoma Bombing, go to Court TV or CNN.