Paradise Driver

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Today is Tuesday, March 9th.

The 69th day of 2004.

There are 297 days left in the year.



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Today's Highlight in History:



Fifty years ago, on March 9, 1954, CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow critically reviewed Wisconsin Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy's anti-Communism campaign on an episode of "See It Now."



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On this date:



In 1661, Cardinal Jules Mazarin, the chief minister of France, died, leaving King Louis XIV in full control.



In 1788, Connecticut becomes the fifth United State.



In 1793, Jean Pierre Blanchard made the first balloon flight in North America. The event was witnessed by U.S. President George Washington.



In 1796, the future emperor of France, Napoleon Bonaparte, married Josephine de Beauharnais. (The couple divorced in 1809.)



In 1820, The U.S. Congress passed the Land Act, which paved the way for westward expansion of North America.



In 1832, Abraham Lincoln announced that he would run for a political office for the first time. He was unsuccessful in his run for a seat in the Illinois state legislature.



In 1847, In the Mexican War, a United States amphibious expedition under the command of General Winfield Scott lands near the Mexican fortress city of Veracruz.



In 1862, during the Civil War, the ironclads Monitor and Virginia (formerly Merrimac) clashed for five hours to a draw at Hampton Roads, Va.



In 1864, Ulysses S. Grant was commissioned as commander of all the Union armies



In 1867, The United States agrees to purchase the 1,524,640 sq km/586,400 sq mi Alaska Territory from Russia for $7,200,000.



In 1905, In Egypt, U.S. archeologist Davies discovered the royal tombs of Tua and Yua.



In 1916, Mexican raiders led by Pancho Villa attacked Columbus, N.M., killing more than a dozen people.



In 1919, In Cairo, Egypt, protest demonstrations erupted because of the British expulsion of the Wafd Party nationalist leader Saad Zaglul and three others.



In 1929, Eric Krenz becomes the first athlete to toss the discus over 160 feet.



In 1933, Congress, called into special session by President Franklin Roosevelt, began its "hundred days" of enacting New Deal legislation.



In 1934, Soviet cosmonaut and the first human to fly in space, Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin was born. He died in a plane crash in 1968.



In 1936, The German press warned that all Jews who vote in the upcoming elections would be arrested.



In 1942, the construction of the Alaska Highway begins. It is completed 8 months, 1523 miles, 233 bridges, 5 mountain ranges, and $115 million later by 18,000 workers.



In 1945, during World War II, U.S. B-29 bombers launched incendiary bomb attacks against Japan.



In 1946, The A.F.L. accused Juan Peron of using the army to establish a dictatorship over Argentine labor.



In 1954, In New York, the first local color television commercials air on WNBT-TV [now WNBC-TV].



In 1954, WMUR TV channel 9 in Manchester NH (ABC) begins broadcasting.



In 1956, British authorities arrested and deported Archbishop Makarios from Cyprus. He was accused of supporting terrorists.



In 1957, Egyptian leader Nasser barred U.N. plans to share the tolls for the use of the Suez Canal.



In 1962, US advisors in South-Vietnam join the fight.



In 1964, The first Ford Mustang rolls off the Ford assembly line.



In 1964, the Supreme Court, in its New York Times v. Sullivan decision, ruled that public officials who charged libel could not recover damages for defamatory statements related to their official duties unless they proved actual malice on the part of the news organization.



In 1967, Svetlana Alliluyeva, daughter of Russian dictator Josef Stalin, defects to the United States.



In 1969 "The Smothers Brothers' Comedy Hour" was canceled by CBS-TV.



In 1974, 30 years ago, the last Japanese soldier, a guerrilla operating in the Philippines, surrenders, 29 years after WW II.



In 1975, work began on the Alaskan oil pipeline.



In 1976, The first female cadets are accepted for admission to West Point Military Academy.



In 1977, about a dozen armed Hanafi Muslims invaded three buildings in Washington, D.C., killing one person and taking more than 130 hostages. The siege ended two days later.



In 1981, Dan Rather made his debut as principal anchorman of "The CBS Evening News."



In 1986, U.S. Navy divers found the crew compartment of the space shuttle Challenger along with the remains of the astronauts.



In 1989, In the U.S., President Bush urged for a mandatory death penalty in drug-related killings.



In 1993, Rodney King testified at the federal trial of four Los Angeles police officers accused of violating his civil rights.



In 1996, TV/Movie/Stage/Radio Actor, Comedian, Author, Vaudevillan, Singer, George Burns died. He had turned 100 years old on January 20th, 1996.



In 2000, In Norway, the coalition government of Kjell Magne Bondevik resigned as a result of an environmental dispute.



Ten years ago (1994):



The U.N. Human Rights Commission condemned anti-Semitism, putting the world body on record for the first time as opposing discrimination against Jews.



Five years ago (1999):



RJR Nabisco Holdings Corp., the food-and-tobacco conglomerate, announced it was getting out of the cigarette business.



One year ago (2003):



Recep Tayyip Erdogan won a seat in the Turkish parliament, clearing way for him to become prime minister.



The film musical "Chicago" tap-danced away with a haul of movie honors at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, including best ensemble cast and the lead-actress prize for star Renee Zellweger.



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Today's Birthdays:



Author Mickey Spillane is 86.



Singer-actress (Dorothy) Keely Smith is 72.



Singer Lloyd Price is 71.



Actress Joyce Van Patten is 70.



Actor-comedian Marty Ingels is 68.



Country singer Mickey Gilley is 68.



Singer Mark Lindsay (Paul Revere and the Raiders) is 62.



TV personality Charles Gibson is 61.



Chess player Bobby Fischer is 61.



Actress Trish Van Devere is 59.



Rock musician Robin Trower is 59.



Singer Jeffrey Osborne is 56.



Country musician Jimmie Fadden (The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band) is 56.



Actress Jaime Lyn Bauer is 55.



Magazine editor Michael Kinsley is 53.



Newscaster Faith Daniels is 47.



Actor(?), star witness in O.J. Simpson trial, Kato (Brian) Kaelin is 45.



Actress Linda Fiorentino is 44.



Actress Juliette Binoche is 40.



Rock musician Robert Sledge (Ben Folds Five) is 36.



Rapper C-Murder is 33.



Actor Emmanuel Lewis is 33.



Actress Jean Louisa Kelly is 32.



Actor Kerr Smith is 32.



Rapper Chingy is 24.



Actress Brittany Snow is 18.



Rapper Bow Wow is 17.



Actor Luis Armand Garcia is 12.



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Thought for Today:

"We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason if we remember that we are not descended from fearful men, not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate and to defend causes which were, for the moment, unpopular." -

- Edward R. Murrow, American journalist (1908-1965), on "See It Now," March 9, 1954.

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