Cuba rebelled against Spain in 1868 and fought for ten years.

The U.S.S. Maine was sent into Havana's harbor to protect American citizens and property and to intimidate the Cubans into behaving. Then it exploded on February 15. It killed more than 250 sailors.

On February 25, Theodore Roosevelt cabled naval commanders in the Pacific to prepare for military action against Spain. President McKinley ordered most of the cables undone, but he did leave Admiral George Dewey. Dewey was told to attack the Spanish fleet in the Philippines if the U.S. went to war with Spain.

Late in March, McKinley sent a list of demands to Spain, including; compensation for the Maine, an end to the reconcentration camps, a truce in Cuba, and Cuban independence. Spain accepted all but the last.

McKinley decided he could not stop the cries for war, even after Spain accepted all but the last of his demands. On April 11, 1898 he sent a war message to Congress. Not soon after that, Congress recognized Cuban independence and authorized force against Spain.

I definitely don't Google my name.

I seem to smell the stench of appeasement in the air.

Part of my journey is to say that the soul of the human being must be a massively intricate, wonderful creation that God has a respect for in ways that we do not and that leaves a huge amount of space to go explore.

I enjoy seeing new places.

Good cardio helps in any athletic practice but in jujitsu it has been very helpful late in a sparring session where a long roll starts to take its toll on your cardio.

Once you get married women are still implicitly expected to do the majority of the housework and take care of any future children.

Not everyone deserves to know the real you. Let them criticize who they think you are.

Anytime I switch to another instrument, I immediately turn it into another kind of drum so that I can understand it better.

You will only have influence and power in the field of your gifts and talents.

People like to compare something to something that they know. Even with Chris Rock, they say he's like Richard Pryor or Eddie Murphy.

Dying is one of the few things that can be done as easily lying down.

If you blame gravity for falling in love even God has the right to laugh at you.

My parents were overprotective because you could get kidnapped and bombs were exploding in the streets.

When I talk about my artist parents, people imagine a bohemian environment and think, 'Aha, so that's where he gets it from!' But we were as white, straight, and middle-class as the next family on our white, straight, middle-class housing estate.

Don't sit and wish for some ideal; the grass is not always greener with the big house and cars and artwork.

My dad was a crazy person, but some of the best qualities about me came from him.

The feeling is constantly growing on me that I had been the first to hear the greeting of one planet to another.

The irony here is this administration is spending more money on climate change research and development than any administration in all the rest of the industrialized world combined.

Many persons sigh for death when it seems far off, but the inclination vanishes when the boat upsets, or the locomotive runs off the track, or the measles set it.

A weak people and its equally debilitated leaders are bludgeoned by history. It maims them into the cripples that they are meant to be.

Not only have I seen truth in your eyes you remind me of time itself for you are my Past Present Future and Forever. I love you. Happy Anniversary.

Women have to be pure and respectful.

You think dogs will not be in heaven? I tell you, they will be there long before any of us.

I'm very conscious of the fact the directing career has taken some odd turns. Maybe there's enough bulk where I'm now pigeonholed in the 'eclectic box.'