Paradise Driver

Sunday, November 23, 2008

"Let's all be careful out there!"

Today is Saturday, Nov. 22, the 327th day of 2008.
There are 39 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Nov. 22, 1963, President Kennedy was shot to death while riding in a motorcade in Dallas. Texas Gov. John B. Connally, in the same limousine as Kennedy, was seriously wounded. Suspect Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested.

On this date:

In 1718, English pirate Edward Teach — better known as "Blackbeard" — was killed during a battle off the Virginia coast.
In 1890, French president Charles de Gaulle was born in Lille, France.
In 1928, "Bolero" by Maurice Ravel was first performed, in Paris.
In 1935, a flying boat, the China Clipper, took off from Alameda, Calif., carrying more than 100,000 pieces of mail on the first trans-Pacific airmail flight.
In 1943, President Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek met in Cairo to discuss measures for defeating Japan.
In 1943, lyricist Lorenz Hart died in New York at age 48.
In 1965, the musical "Man of La Mancha" opened in New York.
In 1967, the U.N. Security Council approved Resolution 242, which called for Israel to withdraw from territories it had captured the previous June, and implicitly called on adversaries to recognize Israel's right to exist.
In 1975, Juan Carlos was proclaimed King of Spain.
In 1990, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, having failed to win re-election of the Conservative Party leadership on the first ballot, announced her resignation.

Ten years ago:

The CBS News program "60 Minutes" aired videotape of Dr. Jack Kevorkian, an advocate of assisted suicide, administering lethal drugs to Thomas Youk, a terminally ill patient. (Kevorkian, who challenged prosecutors to charge him, was later convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 10 to 25 years in prison. He was released in 2007 after serving eight years.)

Five years ago:

The Medicare prescription drug bill narrowly passed the House, 220-215, following a dusk-to-dawn debate.
Thousands of mourners gathered in downtown Dallas along the street where President John F. Kennedy was assassinated 40 years earlier.
College student Dru Sjodin disappeared while leaving her job at a Grand Forks, N.D., mall. (Sjodin's body was found in April 2004; a suspect, Alfonso Rodriguez Jr., was later convicted of kidnapping and murder and sentenced to death.)

One year ago:

Retailers lured shoppers to stores and online on Thanksgiving Day ahead of the traditional Black Friday kickoff.
A gunman shot and killed his ex-wife, their three children and himself in a park in Laytonsville, Md.
French rail workers who'd staged a nine-day-old strike voted to return to the job.

Today's Birthdays:

Thought for Today:

"In youth we feel richer for every new illusion; in maturer years, for every one we lose."
Anne Sophie Swetchine, Russian-French author (1782-1857).

"Let's all be careful out there!"

"Let's all be careful out there!"

Today is Friday, Nov. 21, the 326th day of 2008.
There are 40 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Nov. 21, 1922, Rebecca L. Felton of Georgia was sworn in as the first woman to serve in the U.S. Senate.

On this date:

In 1789, North Carolina became the 12th state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.
In 1927, picketing strikers at the Columbine Mine in northern Colorado were fired on by state police; six miners were killed.
In 1942, the Alaska Highway was formally opened.
In 1958, baseball Hall-of-Famer Mel Ott died in New Orleans at age 49.
In 1964, the upper level of New York's Verrazano Narrows Bridge, connecting Brooklyn and Staten Island, was opened.
In 1967, President Johnson signed the Air Quality Act.
In 1969, the Senate voted down the Supreme Court nomination of Clement F. Haynsworth, 55-45, the first such rejection since 1930.
In 1973, President Nixon's attorney, J. Fred Buzhardt, revealed the existence of an 18 1/2-minute gap in one of the White House tape recordings related to Watergate.
In 1980, 87 people died in a fire at the MGM Grand Hotel-Casino in Las Vegas.
In 1988, Canada's Progressive Conservative Party, led by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, won the country's general election.

Ten years ago:

President Clinton, visiting South Korea, warned North Korea to forsake nuclear weapons, and urged the North to seize "an historic opportunity" for peace with the South.

Five years ago:

More than a dozen rockets fired from donkey carts slammed into Iraq's Oil Ministry and two downtown Baghdad hotels used by foreign journalists and civilian defense contractors.
Health officials said a deadly outbreak of hepatitis A at a Chi-Chi's Mexican restaurant in suburban Pittsburgh was probably caused by green onions from Mexico.

One year ago:

New Hampshire set its earliest-ever presidential primary, deciding on Jan. 8, 2008.
Officials announced the recall of more than a half-million pieces of Chinese-made children's jewelry contaminated with lead.
Engineer Herbert Saffir, who created the five-category system used to describe hurricane strength, died in Miami at age 90.

Today's Birthdays: