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Friday, January 09, 2009

JANUARY 9TH

Today is Friday, Jan. 9, the ninth day of 2009.
There are 356 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

  • On Jan. 9, 1913, Richard Milhous Nixon, the 37th president of the United States, was born in Yorba Linda, Calif.

On this date:

  • In 1788, Connecticut became the fifth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.
  • In 1793, Frenchman Jean Pierre Blanchard, using a hot-air balloon, flew between Philadelphia and Woodbury, N.J.
  • In 1859, women's suffrage leader Carrie Chapman Catt was born in Ripon, Wis.
  • In 1861, Mississippi seceded from the Union.
  • In 1945, during World War II, American forces began landing at Lingayen Gulf in the Philippines.
  • In 1959, the Western series "Rawhide" premiered on CBS-TV.
  • In 1964, anti-U.S. rioting broke out in the Panama Canal Zone, resulting in the deaths of 21 Panamanians and several U.S. soldiers.
  • In 1968, the Surveyor 7 space probe made a soft landing on the moon, marking the end of the American series of unmanned explorations of the lunar surface.
  • In 1972, reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes, speaking by telephone from the Bahamas to reporters in Hollywood, said a purportedly authorized biography of him by Clifford Irving was a fake.
  • In 1997, a Comair commuter plane crashed 18 miles short of the Detroit Metropolitan Airport, killing all 29 people on board.

Ten years ago:
  • At the White House, presidential advisers prepared a public and legal defense in President Bill Clinton's impeachment trial on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice; Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, meanwhile, pledged "above all, fairness" to the president, who ended up being acquitted.

Five years ago:
  • Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge announced that the nation's threat level had been lowered from orange to yellow.
  • Officials said Pentagon lawyers determined that former Iraq leader Saddam Hussein had been a prisoner of war since his capture.
  • An Ohio woman who'd claimed to have lost a lottery ticket worth $162 million was charged with filing a false police report. (Elecia Battle was later convicted of the misdemeanor and put on one year's probation.)

One year ago:
  • President Bush, on his first visit to Israel as president, warned Iran of "serious consequences" if it meddled again with U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf.
  • The U.S. military reported nine American soldiers were killed in the first two days of a new offensive to root out al-Qaida in Iraq fighters holed up in districts north of Baghdad.
  • Johnny Grant, the honorary mayor of Hollywood, died in Los Angeles at age 84.

Today's Birthdays:
  • Author Judith Krantz is 81.
  • Football Hall-of-Famer Bart Starr is 75.
  • Sportscaster Dick Enberg is 74.
  • Actress K. Callan is 73.
  • Folk singer Joan Baez is 68.
  • Rockabilly singer Roy Head is 68.
  • Actress Susannah York is 68.
  • Rock musician Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin) is 65.
  • Singer David Johansen (aka Buster Poindexter) is 59.
  • Singer Crystal Gayle is 58.
  • Actor J.K. Simmons is 54.
  • Nobel Peace laureate and human rights activist Rigoberto Menchu is 50.
  • Rock musician Eric Erlandson is 46.
  • Actress Joely Richardson is 44.
  • Rock musician Carl Bell (Fuel) is 42.
  • Rock singer Steve Harwell (Smash Mouth) is 42.
  • Rock singer-musician Dave Matthews is 42.
  • Actress-director Joey Lauren Adams is 41.
  • Singer A.J. McLean (Backstreet Boys) is 31.
  • Pop-rock musician Drew Brown (OneRepublic) is 25.
  • Rock-soul singer Paolo Nutini is 22.

Thought for Today:
"No written law has ever been more binding than unwritten custom supported by popular opinion."
Carrie Chapman Catt, American women's suffrage leader (1859-1947).




"Let's all be careful out there!"

DAILY CHUCKLE 9-009

















"Let's all be careful out there!"