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Thursday, December 04, 2008

DECEMBER 4TH

Today is Thursday, Dec. 4, the 339th day of 2008.
There are 27 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

  • On Dec. 4, 1619, a group of settlers from Bristol, England, arrived at Berkeley Hundred in present-day Charles City County, Va., where they held a service thanking God for their safe arrival. (Some suggest this was the true first Thanksgiving in America, ahead of the Pilgrims' arrival in Massachusetts.)

On this date:

  • In 1783, General George Washington bade farewell to his officers at Fraunces Tavern in New York.
  • In 1816, James Monroe of Virginia was elected the fifth president of the United States.
  • In 1875, William Marcy Tweed, the "Boss" of New York City's Tammany Hall political organization, escaped from jail and fled the country.
  • In 1918, President Woodrow Wilson left Washington on a trip to France to attend the Versailles Peace Conference.
  • In 1942, U.S. bombers struck the Italian mainland for the first time in World War II.
  • In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the dismantling of the Works Progress Administration, which had been created to provide jobs during the Depression.
  • In 1965, the United States launched Gemini 7 with Air Force Lt. Col. Frank Borman and Navy Cmdr. James A. Lovell aboard.
  • In 1978, San Francisco got its first female mayor as City Supervisor Dianne Feinstein was named to replace the assassinated George Moscone.
  • In 1991, the original Pan American World Airways ceased operations.
  • In 1996, the Mars Pathfinder lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., and began speeding toward Mars on a 310 million-mile odyssey. (It arrived on Mars in July 1997.)

Ten years ago:
  • Space shuttle Endeavour and a crew of six blasted off on the first mission to begin assembling the international space station.

Five years ago:
  • President George W. Bush scrapped import tariffs he'd imposed earlier to help the battered U.S. steel industry.
  • Baltimore-based federal prosecutor Jonathan P. Luna was found dead behind the parking lot of a well-drilling company in Lancaster County, Pa. (The case remains unsolved.)

One year ago:
  • Defending his credibility, President George W. Bush said Iran was dangerous and needed to be squeezed by international pressure despite a blockbuster intelligence finding that Tehran had halted its nuclear weapons program four years earlier. The intelligence report on Iran figured in a Democratic debate on National Public Radio as rivals assailed front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton for voting in favor of a Senate resolution designating Iran's Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization.
  • Pimp C, a rapper with the Texas hip-hop group Underground Kingz, was found dead in a hotel room in Los Angeles; he was 33.

Today's Birthdays:
  • Actress-singer Deanna Durbin is 87.
  • Game show host Wink Martindale is 74.
  • Actor-producer Max Baer Jr. is 71.
  • Actress Gemma Jones is 66.
  • Rock musician Bob Mosley (Moby Grape) is 66.
  • Singer-musician Chris Hillman is 64.
  • Musician Terry Woods (The Pogues) is 61.
  • Rock singer Southside Johnny Lyon is 60.
  • Actor Jeff Bridges is 59.
  • Rock musician Gary Rossington (Lynyrd Skynyrd; the Rossington Collins Band) is 57.
  • Actress Patricia Wettig is 57.
  • Actor Tony Todd is 54.
  • Jazz singer Cassandra Wilson is 53.
  • Country musician Brian Prout (Diamond Rio) is 53.
  • Rock musician Bob Griffin (The BoDeans) is 49.
  • Rock singer Vinnie Dombroski (Sponge) is 46.
  • Actress Marisa Tomei is 44.
  • Actress Chelsea Noble is 44.
  • Actor-comedian Fred Armisen is 42.
  • Rapper Jay-Z is 39.
  • Actor Kevin Sussman is 38.
  • Actress-model Tyra Banks is 35.
  • Country singer Lila McCann is 27.
  • Actress Lindsay Felton is 24.
  • Actor Orlando Brown is 21.

Thought for Today:
"There is always room at the top — after the investigation."
Oliver Herford, American author (1863-1935).



"Let's all be careful out there!"