Paradise Driver

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Today is Tuesday, June 29th.

The 181st day of 2004.

There are 185 days left in the year.



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Today's Highlight in History:



On June 29, 1776, the Virginia state constitution was adopted, and Patrick Henry made governor.



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On this date:



In 1613, The original Globe Theatre in London burns down accidentally when a cannon discharged during a performance of William Shakespeare's Henry VIII sets fire to the building's thatched roof.



In 1767, The British Parliament approved the Townshend Revenue Acts, which imposed import duties on certain goods shipped to America. Colonists bitterly protested the Acts, which were repealed in 1770.



In 1848, High Bridge, over the Harlem River, connecting Manhattan with the Bronx, was completed and opened



In 1853, The U.S. Senate ratified the $10 million Gadsden Purchase from Mexico, adding more than 29,000 square miles to the territories of Arizona and New Mexico and completing the modern geographical boundaries of the contiguous 48 states.



In 1891, The Colorado River burst from its banks and sent a branch into the Salton Desert of California.



In 1927, The first flight from the West Coast arrives in Hawaii.



In 1936, The Empire State Building television transmitter was used to demonstrate high definition television (343 lines) to RCA's Licensees.



In 1941, Polish statesman, pianist and composer Ignace Jan Paderewski died in New York at age 80.



In 1946, British authorities arrested more than 2,700 Jews in Palestine in an attempt to stamp out alleged terrorism



In 1949, The government of South Africa enacted a ban against racially-mixed marriages.



In 1949, The last of the US troops in Korea during WWII departed.



In 1950, President Harry S. Truman authorized a sea blockade of Korea.



In 1954, The Atomic Energy Commission voted against reinstating Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer's access to classified information.



In 1956, The U.S. Interstate Highway System was born as the Federal Highway Act authorized the construction of 42,500 miles of freeway from coast to coast.



In 1956, Elvis Presley appeared on Steve Allen's TV show. He sang the song "Hound Dog" to an actual basset hound.



In 1964, The Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed after 83-day filibuster in the Senate



In 1966, The United States bombed fuel storage facilities near the North Vietnamese cities of Hanoi and Haiphong.



In 1967, Jerusalem was re-unified as Israel removed barricades separating the Old City from the Israeli sector.



In 1970, The United States ended a two-month military offensive into Cambodia.



In 1971, The city of Memphis TN honored Elvis Presley by naming a local stretch of highway for him; Elvis Presley Boulevard runs past Presley's estate, Graceland.



In 1972, The Supreme Court ruled the death penalty, as it was being meted out, could constitute "cruel and unusual punishment." (The ruling prompted states to revise their capital punishment laws.)



In 1988, The Supreme Court upheld, 7-1, the independent counsel law.



In 1992, A divided Supreme Court ruled that women have a constitutional right to abortion, but the justices also weakened the right as defined by the Roe versus Wade decision.



In 1995, 501 people were killed when a department store in Seoul, South Korea collapsed. 900 others were injured.



In 2000, In Santa Rosa, CA, the official groundbreaking ceremony took place for the Charles M. Schulz Museum.



Ten years ago (1994):



In a British T.V. documentary, Prince Charles said he'd been faithful in his marriage to Princess Diana "until it became irretrievably broken down."



Japan's parliament chose Tomiichi Murayama to be the new prime minister, succeeding Tsutoma Hata.



Five years ago (1999):



Urging the biggest expansion in Medicare's history, President Clinton proposed that the government help older Americans pay for prescription drugs.



Ten thousand demonstrators rallied in central Serbia, demanding the resignation of President Slobodan Milosevic.



Abdullah Ocalan, leader of Turkey's rebel Kurds, was convicted of treason and sentenced to death. (The sentence was later commuted to life in prison.)



One year ago (2003):



Thirteen people were killed when a third-floor porch collapsed during a party in Chicago.



Actress Katharine Hepburn, one of the last stars from Hollywood's Golden Age, died in Old Saybrook, Conn., at age 96. She was born in Hartford CT on May 12, 1907.



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Today's Birthdays:



Actress Ruth Warrick is 89.



Movie producer Robert Evans is 74.



Songwriter L. Russell Brown is 64.



Actor Gary Busey is 60.



Comedian Richard Lewis is 57.



Actor Fred Grandy is 56.



Rock musician Ian Paice (Deep Purple) is 56.



Singer Don Dokken (Dokken) is 51.



Rock singer Colin Hay (Men At Work) is 51.



Actress Maria Conchita Alonso is 47.



Singer Evelyn "Champagne" King is 44.



Actress Sharon Lawrence is 43.



Actress Amanda Donohoe is 42.



Rhythm and blues singer Stedman Pearson (Five Star) is 40.



Musician Dale Baker is 38.



Rap D-J Shadow is 32.



Country musician Todd Sansom (Marshall Dyllon) is 26.



Singer Nicole Scherzinger (Eden's Crush) is 26.



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Thought for Today:

"Sin ... has been made not only ugly but passe. People are no longer sinful, they are only immature or under privileged or frightened or, more particularly, sick." -

- Phyllis McGinley, American poet (1905-1978 ).

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