Paradise Driver

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Today is Monday, March 1st.

The 61st day of 2004.

There are 305 days left in the year.



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Today's Highlight in History:



Fifty years ago, on March 1, 1954, Puerto Rican nationalists opened fire from the gallery of the U.S. House of Representatives, wounding five congressmen.



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On this date:



In 1260, The city of Damascus surrenders to the Mongols, who now occupy all Syria, extinguishing the Ayyubid Sultanate.



In 1692, The Salem Witch Hunt begins as Sarah Goode, Sarah Osborne and Tituba, an Indian slave from Barbados, are charged with the illegal practice of witchcraft in Salem Village, Massachusetts.



In 1781, the Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation.



In 1790, Congress authorized the first U.S. Census.



In 1803, Ohio enters the Union as the 17th state.



In 1810, Polish composer and pianist Frédéric Chopin was born.



In 1845, U.S. President Tyler signed the congressional resolution to annex the Republic of Texas.



In 1862, Prussia formally recognized the Kingdom of Italy.



In 1864, Rebecca Lee became the first black woman to receive an American medical degree, from the New England Female Medical College in Boston.



In 1867, Nebraska became the 37th state.



In 1872, Congress authorized creation of Yellowstone National Park.



In 1875, The United States Congress passes the Civil Rights Act of 1875, guaranteeing African Americans equal access to public facilities.



In 1904, bandleader Glenn Miller was born in Clarinda, Iowa.



In 1907, In New York, the Salvation Army opened an anti-suicide bureau.



In 1909, British actor David Niven was born.



In 1912, Captain Albert Berry made the first parachute jump from a moving airplane.



In 1913, Federal income tax takes effect in the United States as per the 16th amendment.



In 1914, American author and educator Ralph Ellison was born



In 1917, popular singer and television performer Dinah Shore was born.



In 1922, Israeli prime minister and Nobel laureate Yitzhak Rabin was born.



In 1932, 20-month-old Charles A. Lindbergh Jr., the son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh, was kidnapped from the family home near Hopewell, N.J. (Remains identified as those of the child were found the following May.)



In 1937, The first permanent automobile license plates are issued in Connecticut.



In 1941, Bulgaria joined the Axis powers by signing the Tripartite Pact.



In 1943, U.S. reconnaissance planes spotted 16 Japanese ships en route to Lae and Salamaua in New Guinea. The next day, the U.S. and Australia began an offensive against the ships.



In 1948, In Israel, the People's Council was formed.



In 1950, Klaus Fuchs was convicted of giving U.S. atomic secrets to the Soviet Union.



In 1959, Archbishop Makarios returned to Cyprus from exile.



In 1961, President Kennedy established the Peace Corps.



In 1965, The 150th episode of "The Andy Griffith Show" aired.



In 1966, Venera 3, a Soviet probe, collides with the planet Venus. Although the mission is unsuccessful, it is the first unmanned spacecraft to land on the surface of another planet.



In 1969, Mickey Mantle announces his retirement from Major League Baseball.



In 1971, A bomb exploded in a restroom in the Senate wing of the U.S. Capitol. There were no injuries. A U.S. group protesting the Vietnam War claimed responsibility.



In 1972, The 100th episode of "Adam-12" aired on NBC.



In 1972, Wilt Chamberlain becomes the first NBA basketball player to score 30,000 points.



In 1974, seven people, including former Nixon White House aides H.R. Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman, former Attorney General John Mitchell and former assistant Attorney General Robert Mardian, were indicted on charges of conspiring to obstruct justice in connection with the Watergate break-in. (These four defendants were convicted the following January, although Mardian's conviction was later reversed.)



In 1981, Irish Republican Army member Bobby Sands began a hunger strike at the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland; he died 65 days later.



In 2000, Operation Anaconda began in eastern Afghanistan. Allied forces were fighting against Taliban and Al Quaida fighters.



Ten years ago (1994):



Falling four votes shy of a two-thirds majority, the Senate rejected a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.



A Lebanese immigrant opened fire on a van of Hasidic students on New York's Brooklyn Bridge, killing one of them.



Israel released about 500 Arab prisoners in an effort to placate Palestinians over the Hebron massacre.



At the 36th annual Grammy Awards, Whitney Houston won best female pop vocalist and record of the year for "I Will Always Love You"; "The Bodyguard" won album of the year.



Five years ago (1999):



The General Accounting Office released an audit of the Internal Revenue Service that found chronic problems in the agency's record-keeping.



An attack by Rwandan Hutu rebels in a Ugandan national park left eight foreign tourists, including two Americans, and a park guard dead.



One year ago (2003:



Suspected Sept 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was captured by CIA and Pakistani agents.



Iraq began complying with orders from U.N. weapons inspectors to destroy its Al Samoud Two missiles.



The United Arab Emirates called for Saddam Hussein to step down, the first Arab country to do so publicly.



Turkey's parliament dealt a stunning blow to U.S. war planning by failing to approve a bill allowing in American combat troops to open a northern front against Iraq.



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Today's Birthdays:



Actor Robert Clary is 78.



Singer Harry Belafonte is 77.



Former U.S. Solicitor General Robert H. Bork is 77.



Actor Robert Conrad is 69.



Rock singer Mike D'Abo (Manfred Mann) is 60.



Sen. John Breaux, D-La., is 60.



Rock singer Roger Daltrey is 60.



Actor Dirk Benedict is 59.



Actor Alan Thicke is 57.



Actor-director Ron Howard is 50.



Actress Catherine Bach is 50.



Country singer Janis Gill (aka Janis Oliver Cummins) (Sweethearts of the Rodeo) is 50.



Actor Tim Daly is 48.



Singer-musician Jon Carroll is 47.



Rock musician Bill Leen is 42.



Actor Russell Wong is 41.



Actor John David Cullum is 38.



Actor George Eads is 37.



Actor Mark-Paul Gosselaar is 30.



Actor Jensen Ackles is 26.



TV host Donovan Patton is 26.



Rock musician Sean Woolstenhulme (Lifehouse) is 23.



Rhythm and blues singer Sammie is 17.



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Thought for Today:

"If you are able to state a problem, it can be solved." -

- Edwin H. Land, American inventor (born 1909, died on this date in 1991).

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