History

Now we are thinking about a return to the moon, unless, of course, President Obama or President McCain thinks we ought to use that money for universal pre-K or to end global warming. So perhaps you're thinking about getting up there yourself and homesteading your 40 acres. Well, think again:

Sixty-four years ago today:

Oh, good lord, please, not again:

Well, that didn't work out too well:

DARMSTADT, Ind. - As World War I neared its end, a group of German immigrants weary of the war planted a linden tree seedling in southwestern Indiana, declaring it the "peace tree."

Ninety years later, the tree has grown into a large shade tree that's tended by Charles and Beth Skeels, who live in an 1880s farmhouse on the property where the tree was planted in 1918.

Happy 150th birthday to one of the true American marvels:

Some 125 years later, the Brooklyn Bridge remains a powerful symbol of engineering might and imagination, and a revered fixture in the landscape of the nation's largest city.

Finally, after all the frivolous lawsuits we've had, here's an important one:

 A Florida man has sued the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, seeking recognition of 10 men he says served as president before George Washington.

Feliz Cinco de Mayo, that strange American celebration (it's not that big a deal south of the border) of Mexicans kicking some French butt. Actually, maybe it should be an American holiday

Thank goodness Abraham Lincoln just grew up here, so Indiana can stay out of this little Kentucky-North Carolina tiff:

A group in Rutherford County, N.C., opened the Bostic (N.C.) Lincoln Center and is petitioning the federal government to run a DNA test of Lincoln's father, Thomas, to see if it matches some of the 16th president's saved genetic material.

Those of you who are of a certain age (near mine) and who grew up here may remember being underage but able to drive over to Ohio for the exotic experience of drinking 3.2 beer. You could drink a six-pack and never feel a buzz, but we were young and drunk on the idea of getting drunk, so we "felt" the effects of that Near Beer. Kids of later generations probably did the same thing with wine coolers, the wusses.

A lot of changes are called "historic" that really aren't, but this one sure seems to qualify:

BAGHDAD (AP) -- When American soldiers get off duty in Iraq, the men usually return to their quarters, the women to theirs. But Staff Sgt. Marvin Frazier gets to go back to a small trailer with two pushed-together single beds that he shares with his wife.