Paradise Driver

Sunday, December 07, 2008

"Let's all be careful out there!"

Today is Saturday, Dec. 6, the 341st day of 2008.
There are 25 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Dec. 6, 1957, America's first attempt at putting a satellite into orbit failed as Vanguard TV3 rose only about four feet off a Cape Canaveral, Fla., launch pad before crashing back down and exploding.

On this date:

In 1790, Congress moved to Philadelphia from New York.
In 1889, Jefferson Davis, the first and only president of the Confederate States of America, died in New Orleans.
In 1907, the worst mining disaster in U.S. history occurred as 362 men and boys died in a coal mine explosion in Monongah, W.Va.,
In 1917, some 2,000 people died when an explosives-laden French cargo ship collided with a Norwegian vessel at the harbor in Halifax, Nova Scotia, setting off a blast that devastated the city.
In 1922, the Irish Free State came into being under terms of the Anglo-Irish Treaty.
In 1947, Everglades National Park in Florida was dedicated by President Harry S. Truman.
In 1957, AFL-CIO members voted to expel the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. (The Teamsters were readmitted in 1987, but disaffiliated themselves from the AFL-CIO in 2005.)
In 1973, House minority leader Gerald R. Ford was sworn in as vice president, succeeding Spiro T. Agnew.
In 1982, 11 soldiers and six civilians were killed when an Irish National Liberation Army bomb exploded at a pub in Ballykelly, Northern Ireland.
In 1989, 14 women were shot to death at the University of Montreal's school of engineering by a man who then took his own life.

Ten years ago:

In Venezuela, former Lt. Col. Hugo Chavez, who'd staged a bloody coup attempt against the government six years earlier, was elected president.
Endeavour's astronauts connected the first two building blocks of the international space station in the shuttle cargo bay.

Five years ago:

A U.S. warplane in pursuit of a "known terrorist" attacked a village in eastern Afghanistan, mistakenly killing nine children.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld met with senior American commanders in Iraq, and was assured that a recent switch to more aggressive anti-insurgency tactics had begun to pay off.
Army became the first team to finish 0-13 in major college history after a 34-6 loss to Navy.
Ireland's Rosanna Davison was crowned Miss World at the southern Chinese tropical resort of Sanya.

One year ago:

CIA Director Michael Hayden revealed the agency had videotaped its interrogations of two terror suspects in 2002 and destroyed the tapes three years later out of fear they would leak to the public and compromise the identities of U.S. questioners.
President George W. Bush announced a plan to freeze interest rates on subprime mortgages held by hundreds of thousands of homeowners.
Republican Mitt Romney said his Mormon faith should neither help nor hinder his quest for the White House and vowed to serve the interests of the nation, not the church, if elected president.

Today's Birthdays:

Thought for Today:

"Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking."
William Butler Yeats, Irish Nobel Prize-winning poet (1865-1939).

"Let's all be careful out there!"

"Let's all be careful out there!"

Today is Friday, Dec. 5, the 340th day of 2008.
There are 26 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Dec. 5, 1933, national Prohibition came to an end as Utah became the 36th state to ratify the 21st Amendment to the Constitution, repealing the 18th Amendment.

On this date:

In 1776, the first scholastic fraternity in America, Phi Beta Kappa, was organized at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va.
In 1782, the eighth president of the United States, Martin Van Buren, was born in Kinderhook, N.Y. (He was the first chief executive to be born after American independence).
In 1791, composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died in Vienna, Austria, at age 35.
In 1792, George Washington was re-elected president; John Adams was re-elected vice president.
In 1831, former President John Quincy Adams took his seat as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
In 1848, President James K. Polk triggered the Gold Rush of '49 by confirming that gold had been discovered in California.
In 1932, German physicist Albert Einstein was granted a visa, making it possible for him to travel to the United States.
In 1955, the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merged to form the AFL-CIO under its first president, George Meany.
In 1991, Richard Speck, who'd murdered eight student nurses in Chicago in 1966, died in prison a day short of his 50th birthday.
In 1994, Republicans chose Newt Gingrich to be the first GOP speaker of the House in four decades.

Ten years ago:

James P. Hoffa claimed the Teamsters presidency after challenger Tom Leedham conceded defeat in the union's presidential election.
Former Sen. Albert Gore Sr., father of the vice president, died at his home in Carthage, Tenn.; he was 90.

Five years ago:

The two makers of flu shots in the United States, Chiron and Aventis Pasteur, announced they had run out of vaccine and would not be able to meet a surge in demand.
A suicide bombing on a commuter train in southern Russia killed 44 people, two days before the nation's parliamentary elections.
Six children were killed during an assault by U.S. forces on a compound in eastern Afghanistan.
A federal judge in Utah threw out the case against two civic leaders accused of bribery in their efforts to bring the 2002 Winter Games to Salt Lake City.

One year ago:

A teenage gunman went on a shooting rampage at the Westroads Mall in Omaha, Neb., killing six store employees and two customers; Robert A. Hawkins, 19, then took his own life.
President George W. Bush, trying to keep pressure on Iran, called on Tehran to "come clean" about the scope of its nuclear activities or else face diplomatic isolation.

Today's Birthdays: