AUGUST 2ND

Today is Saturday, August 2, the 215th day of 2008. There are 151 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

• On August 2, 1776, members of the Continental Congress began attaching their signatures to the Declaration of Independence.

On this date:

• In 1790, the enumeration for the first United States census began; the final total was 3,929,214.
• In 1873, inventor Andrew S. Hallidie successfully tested a cable car he had designed for the city of San Francisco.
• In 1876, frontiersman "Wild Bill" Hickok was shot and killed while playing poker at a saloon in Deadwood, Dakota Territory.
• In 1923, the 29th president of the United States, Warren G. Harding, died in San Francisco.
• In 1927, four years after becoming president, Calvin Coolidge issued a written statement to reporters: "I do not choose to run for President in 1928."
• In 1934, German President Paul von Hindenburg died, paving the way for Adolf Hitler's complete takeover.
• In 1939, Albert Einstein signed a letter to President Roosevelt urging creation of an atomic weapons research program.
• In 1943, during World War II, Navy boat PT-109, commanded by Lt. John F. Kennedy, sank after being rammed by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri off the Solomon Islands.
• In 1964, the destroyer USS Maddox suffered light damage from North Vietnamese patrol torpedo boats in the Gulf of Tonkin.
• In 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait, seizing control of the oil-rich emirate. (The Iraqis were later driven out in Operation Desert Storm.)

Ten years ago:

• Cyclist Marco Pantani of Italy won the Tour de France, which had been marred by a doping scandal.
• Ventriloquist Shari Lewis died in Los Angeles at age 65.

Five years ago:

• Saddam Hussein's two elder sons and a grandson were buried as martyrs near the deposed Iraqi leader's hometown of Tikrit, where insurgents afterward attacked U.S. troops with three remote-controlled bombs.
• Liberian President Charles Taylor agreed to cede power.

One year ago:

• Mattel apologized to customers as it recalled nearly a million Chinese-made toys from its Fisher-Price division that were found to have excessive amounts of lead.
• A Marine Corps squad leader was convicted at Camp Pendleton, Calif., of murdering an Iraqi man during a frustrated search for an insurgent. (Sgt. Lawrence G. Hutchins III was sentenced to 15 years in prison.)
• Two small Russian submarines completed a voyage below the North Pole where they planted the country's flag on the Arctic Ocean floor.

Today's Birthdays:

• Former Sen. Paul Laxalt, R-Nev., is 86.
• Actor Peter O'Toole is 76.
• Country singer Hank Cochran is 73.
• Rock musician Garth Hudson (The Band) is 71.
• Movie director Wes Craven is 69.
• Singer Kathy Lennon (The Lennon Sisters) is 65.
• Actor Max Wright is 65.
• Actress Joanna Cassidy is 63.
• Actress Kathryn Harrold is 58.
• Singer Andrew Gold is 57.
• Actor Butch Patrick ("The Munsters") is 55.
• Singer Mojo Nixon is 51.
• Actress Victoria Jackson is 49.
• Actress Apollonia is 49.
• Actress Cynthia Stevenson is 46.
• Actress Mary-Louise Parker is 44.
• Rock musician John Stanier is 40.
• Writer-actor-director Kevin Smith is 38.
• Actor Edward Furlong is 31.
• Rock musician Devon Glenn is 28.
• Actress Hallie Eisenberg is 16.

Thought for Today:

"A man who does not lose his reason over certain things has none to lose."
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, German dramatist (1729-1781).

"Let's all be careful out there!"