Paradise Driver

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Today is Tuesday, June 8th.

The 160th day of 2004.

There are 206 days left in the year.



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Today's Highlight in History:



On June 8, 632, the prophet Mohammed died in Medina.



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On this date:



In 452, Italy invaded by Attila the Hun



In 570, The Religion of Islam (submission) was founded in Mecca.



In 1783, Iceland’s Laki volcano erupted and continued to spew lava for eight months. 9,350 people were killed and famine started and lasted until 1790.



In 1786, In New York City, commercial ice cream was manufactured for the first time.



In 1789, James Madison first proposed the Bill of Rights, which led to the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution.



In 1824, The washing machine was patented by Noah Cushing of Quebec.



In 1845, Andrew Jackson, seventh president of the United States, died in Nashville, TN.



In 1861, Tennessee seceded from the Union.



In 1869, Inventor Ives McGaffey receives a U.S. patent for a "sweeping machine," the first vacuum cleaner.



In 1876, Author George Sand died in Nohant, France.



In 1915, U.S. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan resigns, believing that President Woodrow Wilson's response to the sinking of the Lusitania will lead the United States into World War I.



In 1942, Japanese submarines and aircraft attacked Australia, striking at Sydney and Newcastle.



In 1948, The "Texaco Star Theatre" debuts on NBC. Its host, Milton "Uncle Miltie" Berle, goes on to become one of the biggest stars of early television.



In 1953, the Supreme Court ruled that restaurants in the District of Columbia could not refuse to serve blacks.



In 1965, U.S. troops in South Vietnam were given orders to begin fighting offensively, not just from the defensive, as the policy was.



In 1967, 34 U.S. servicemen were killed when Israeli forces raided the Liberty, a Navy ship stationed in the Mediterranean. (Israel called the attack a tragic mistake.)



In 1968, Authorities announced the capture in London of James Earl Ray, the suspected assassin of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.



In 1978, A jury in Clark County, Nevada, ruled the so-called "Mormon will," purportedly written by the late billionaire Howard Hughes, was a forgery.



In 1979, The final episode of "Welcome Back, Kotter" aired on ABC.



In 1982, President Reagan became the first American chief executive to address a joint session of the British Parliament.



In 1987, "Sometimes you have to go above the written law." On this day, Fawn Hall -- who'd been a secretary in the Reagan White House -- told congressional hearings that to protect her immediate supervisor she helped him obstruct justice...altering and shredding sensitive documents...and smuggling papers out of the White House in her clothes. Her immediate supervisor was National Security aide Oliver North...and the documents concerned the Iran-Contra affair, in which the Reagan administration secretly sold arms to Iran, then sent the profits to rebels in the Central American nation of Nicaragua in violation of a law Congress had passed.



In 1995, U.S. Marines rescued Captain Scott O'Grady, whose F-16-C fighter jet had been shot down by Bosnian Serbs on June 2.



Ten years ago (1994):



Bosnia's warring factions agreed to a one-month cease-fire.



President Clinton returned to Oxford University, where he'd attended as a Rhodes scholar, to receive an honorary doctorate.



Five years ago (1999):



The United States, Russia and six leading democracies authorized a text calling for a peacekeeping force in Kosovo.



President Clinton announced new restrictions aimed at making it tougher for teens to sneak into R-rated movies.



One year ago (2003):



Frustrated and angry over delays, a coalition of the nation's mayors meeting in Denver asked federal officials to bypass state governments and give them the money they needed to beef up homeland security.



Poles voted to join the European Union in 2004.



Annika Sorenstam won the LPGA Championship for her fifth major title.



Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero won the French Open men's final with a 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 victory over Martin Verkerk.



George Foreman was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.



The Broadway show "Hairspray" won eight Tony Awards, including best musical; "Take Me Out," Richard Greenberg's play about a gay baseball player, was chosen best play.



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Today's Birthdays:



Former President Suharto of Indonesia is 83.



Former First Lady Barbara Pierce Bush is 79.



Actor-comedian Jerry Stiller is 77.



Comedian Joan Rivers is 71.



Actress Millicent Martin is 70.



Actor James Darren is 68.



Actor Bernie Casey is 65.



Singer Nancy Sinatra is 64.



Singer Chuck Negron (Three Dog Night) is 62.



Musician Boz Scaggs is 60.



Actor Don Grady is 60.



Rock musician Mick Box (Uriah Heep) is 57.



Author Sara Paretsky is 57.



Actress Sonia Braga is 54.



Actress Kathy Baker is 54.



Country musician Tony Rice is 53.



Singer Bonnie Tyler is 51.



Actor Griffin Dunne is 49.



"Dilbert" creator Scott Adams is 47.



Actor-director Keenen Ivory Wayans is 46.



Singer Mick Hucknall (Simply Red) is 44.



Musician Nick Rhodes (Duran Duran) is 42.



Rhythm and blues singer Doris Pearson (Five Star) is 38.



Actress Julianna Margulies is 37.



Actor Dan Futterman is 37.



Rhythm and blues singer Nicci Gilbert is 34.



Actress Kelli Williams is 34.



Actor Mark Feuerstein is 33.



Folk-bluegrass singer-musician Sara Watkins (Nickel Creek) is 23.



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Though for Today:

"Love hath no physic for a grief too deep." -

- Robert Nathan, American author and composer (1894-1985).

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