NOVEMBER 7TH

Today is Friday, Nov. 7, the 312th day of 2008.
There are 54 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

• On Nov. 7, 1917, Russia's Bolshevik Revolution took place as forces led by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin overthrew the provisional government of Alexander Kerensky.

On this date:

• In 1874, the Republican Party was symbolized as an elephant in a cartoon drawn by Thomas Nast in Harper's Weekly.
• In 1893, the state of Colorado granted women there the right to vote.
• In 1916, Republican Jeannette Rankin of Montana became the first woman elected to Congress.
• In 1918, during World War I, an erroneous report that an armistice had been signed set off celebrations across the country.
• In 1940, in Washington state, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, nicknamed "Galloping Gertie," collapsed during a windstorm.
• In 1944, President Roosevelt won an unprecedented fourth term in office, defeating Thomas E. Dewey.
• In 1962, Richard M. Nixon, having lost California's gubernatorial race, held what he called his "last press conference," telling reporters, "You won't have Nixon to kick around anymore."
• In 1967, President Johnson signed a bill establishing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
• In 1972, President Nixon was re-elected in a landslide over Democrat George McGovern.
• In 1973, Congress overrode President Nixon's veto of the War Powers Act, which limits a chief executive's power to wage war without congressional approval.

Ten years ago:

• John Glenn returned to Earth aboard the space shuttle Discovery, visibly weak but elated after a nine-day mission.
• A scant four years after leading Republicans to glory, House Speaker Newt Gingrich announced he would resign not just his speakership but also his seat in the House.

Five years ago:

• Six U.S. soldiers were killed in the crash of their Black Hawk helicopter in Tikrit, Iraq.
• The defending champion U.S. baseball team failed to qualify for the 2004 Athens Olympics, losing to Mexico 2-1 in the quarterfinals of a qualifying tournament in Panama City, Panama.

One year ago:

• An 18-year-old gunman opened fire at his high school in Tuusula, Finland, killing seven other students and the principal before taking his own life.
• A cargo ship struck the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, causing the San Francisco Bay's worst oil spill in nearly two decades.
• Space shuttle Discovery and its crew returned to Earth, concluding a 15-day space station build-and-repair mission.
• At the Country Music Association Awards, Kenny Chesney won his second straight entertainer of the year award, while Carrie Underwood made it back-to-back trophies as female vocalist of the year.

Today's Birthdays:

• Evangelist Billy Graham is 90.
• Opera singer Dame Joan Sutherland is 82.
• Actor Barry Newman is 70.
• Singer Johnny Rivers is 66.
• Singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell is 65.
• Singer Nick Gilder is 57.
• Actor Christopher Knight ("The Brady Bunch") is 51.
• Actress Julie Pinson is 41.
• Rock musician Greg Tribbett (Mudvayne) is 40.
• "Daughter" Amber Roy is 36
• Actor Christopher Daniel Barnes is 36.
• Actors Jeremy and Jason London are 36.
• Actress Yunjin Kim ("Lost") is 35.
• Rock musician Zach Myers (Shinedown) is 25.

Thought for Today:

"Vanity is as ill at ease under indifference, as tenderness is under the love which it cannot return."
George Eliot, English author (1819-1880).

"Let's all be careful out there!"

DAILY CHUCKLE 8-312

"Let's all be careful out there!"