Judgment Day

Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens turns 85 today.

And we've been assured that Alaska intends to finish counting the last 24,000 ballots from the general election today.

So Stevens' future truly hangs in the balance on his birthday.

November 18 has long been a judgment day.

In 1302, the pope proclaimed that "there is one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, outside of which there is neither salvation nor remission of sins."

Talk about a judgment day.

In 1307, William Tell successfully shot an apple on his son's head. That may qualify as more of a leap of faith — at least on his son's part.

Nine years ago today, a dozen students were killed and more than two dozen students were injured when the traditional massive Aggie bonfire that was being constructed for the annual Texas-Texas A&M football game collapsed.

And 30 years ago today, Jim Jones led more than 900 members of his People's Temple to commit suicide in Jonestown, Guyana.

I will never forget that weekend. Nov. 18 was on a Saturday that year. I was a freshman in college, living on campus — blissfully unaware of things like the People's Temple.

In those days, I worked as a cashier at a self-service gas station as a way of paying for part of my living expenses. And I guess I must have been at work when Jones' followers were murdering the investigator, Congressman Leo Ryan (pictured at right), and members of his entourage and when, back at the compound, Jones told his congregation what had happened and urged them to drink the poisoned "Flavor-Aid."

I don't know when the news of what had happened in the jungle of South America reached North America. I just know that the first I heard of it was the following morning, when I went to the cafeteria for breakfast and found that someone had taped a message on the fruit punch dispenser: "Kool-Aid Courtesy of Jim Jones."

Most Americans had never heard of Jim Jones or the People's Temple on Nov. 18, 1978. But surveys showed that, by the following February, nearly 98% of Americans were familiar with what had happened at Jonestown.

I'm not sure how many of them ever knew — or remembered — the admonition that was posted in the pavilion where many of the bodies were found:

"Those Who Do Not Remember The Past Are Condemned To Repeat It."