Paradise Driver

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Today is Monday, March 15th.

The 75th day of 2004.

There are 291 days left in the year.



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Today's Highlight in History:



On March 15, 1919, the American Legion was founded, in Paris.



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On this date:



In 44 B.C.E., Roman dictator Julius Caesar was assassinated by a group of nobles including Brutus and Cassius.



In 1493, Christopher Columbus returned to Spain, concluding his first voyage to the Western Hemisphere.



In 1767, the seventh president of the United States, Andrew Jackson, was born in Waxhaw, S.C.



In 1820, Maine became the 23rd state.



In 1827, University of Toronto is chartered



In 1892, The automatic ballot voting machine is unveiled in New York State.



In 1906, Britten Rolls & Royce Johnson found Rolls Royce Ltd.



In 1913, President Wilson held the first open presidential news conference.



In 1916, A United States expedition under the command of General John J. Pershing is sent into Mexico to pursue the Mexican revolutionary Francisco “Pancho” Villa.



In 1922, Fuad I assumed the title of king of Egypt after the country gained nominal independence from Britain.



In 1937, The first blood bank is established at Cook County Hospital in Chicago, Illinois.



In 1938, Oil was discovered in Saudi Arabia.



In 1944, during World War II, Allied bombers again raided German-held Monte Cassino.



In 1947, John Lee was appointed as the first black commissioned officer in the U.S. Navy.



In 1949, Clothes rationing in Great Britain ended nearly four years after the end of World War II.



In 1951, The Persian parliament voted to nationalize the oil industry.



In 1954, CBS television debuts its “Morning Show” with Walter Cronkite and Jack Paar.



In 1956, the Lerner and Loewe musical "My Fair Lady" opened on Broadway.



In 1964, actress Elizabeth Taylor married actor Richard Burton in Montreal; it was her fifth marriage, his second.



In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson asked for aWar on Poverty.



In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson called for new legislation to guarantee every American's right to vote.



In 1968, the U.S. Mint stopped buying and selling gold.



In 1971, CBS television dropped "The Ed Sullivan Show."



In 1975, Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis died near Paris at age 69.



In 1977, the U.S. House of Representatives began a 90-day test to determine the feasibility of showing its sessions on television.



In 1977, The first episode of "Eight is Enough" was aired on ABC-TV.



In 1979, Apparat releases Newdos + 2.1 for the Radio Shack's TRS-80.



In 1979, The 100th episode of "Barney Miller" aired.



In 1989, A large rally in Budapest calls for democracy and national independence for Hungary.



In 1991, Four Los Angeles police officers are charged in the beating of Rodney King.



In 1994, U.S. President Clinton extended the moratorium on nuclear testing until September of 1995.



In 1995, President Clinton issued an executive order formally blocking a one billion-dollar contract between Conoco and Iran to develop a huge offshore oil tract in the Persian Gulf.



In 1998, CBS' "60 Minutes" aired an interview with former White House employee Kathleen Willey. Wiley said U.S. President Clinton made unwelcome sexual advances toward her in the Oval Office in 1993.



In 2002, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told the Associated Press that the U.S. would stand by a 24-year pledge not to use nuclear arms against states that don't have them.



In 2002, Libyan Abdel Baset Ali Mohmed Al-Megrahi began his life sentence in a Scottish jail for his role in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 on December 21, 1988.



Ten years ago:



Illinois Rep. Dan Rostenkowski, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, defeated four Democratic primary challengers in his bid for re-election.



Five years ago:



An Amtrak train slammed into a steel-filled truck at a crossing in Bourbonnais, Ill., killing 11 people



The Kosovar Albanian delegation to peace talks in Paris said it was ready to sign an international accord for Kosovo.



Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, Billy Joel and Dusty Springfield were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.



One year ago:



Hu Jintao was chosen to replace Jiang Zemin as the president of China.



Protesters in Washington, D.C., and around the world demonstrated against a possible war with Iraq.



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Today's Birthdays:



Country singer Carl Smith is 77.



Former astronaut Alan L. Bean is 72.



Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is 71.



Country singer Roy Clark (Hee Haw) is 71.



Jazz musician Cecil Taylor is 71.



Actor Judd Hirsch is 69.



American evangelist Jimmy Lee Swaggart is 69.



Rock musician Phil Lesh is 64.



Singer Mike Love (The Beach Boys) is 63.



Rock singer-musician Sly Stone is 60.



Rock singer-musician Howard Scott (War) is 58.



Rock singer Ry Cooder is 57.



Actor Craig Wasson is 50.



Rock singer Dee Snider (Twisted Sister) is 49.



Actress Park Overall is 47.



Movie director Renny Harlin is 45.



Model Fabio is 43.



Singer Terence Trent D'Arby is 42.



Rock singer Bret Michaels (Poison) is 41.



Singer Rockwell is 40.



Rock singer Mark McGrath (Sugar Ray) is 36.



Rock musician Mark Hoppus (Blink 182) is 32.



Rapper-musician will.i.am (Black Eyed Peas) is 29.



Rock DJ Joseph Hahn (Linkin Park) is 27.



Actor Sean Biggerstaff is 21.



Actress Caitlin Wachs is 15.



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Thought for Today:

"There are no hopeless situations; there are only men who have grown helpless about them." -

- Clare Boothe Luce, American author, diplomat, member of Congress (1903-1987).

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