DAILY CHUCKLE 8-352

"Let's all be careful out there!"

DECEMBER 16TH

Today is Tuesday, Dec. 16, the 351st day of 2008.
There are 15 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

• On Dec. 16, 1773, the Boston Tea Party took place as American colonists boarded a British ship and dumped more than 300 chests of tea overboard to protest tea taxes.

On this date:

• In 1653, Oliver Cromwell became lord protector of England, Scotland and Ireland.
• In 1770, composer Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany.
• In 1905, the entertainment trade publication Variety came out with its first weekly issue.
• In 1907, 16 U.S. Navy battleships, which came to be known as the "Great White Fleet," set sail on a 14-month round-the-world voyage to demonstrate American sea power.
• In 1944, the World War II Battle of the Bulge began as German forces launched a surprise attack against Allied forces in Belgium (the Allies were eventually able to beat the Germans back).
• In 1950, President Harry S. Truman proclaimed a national state of emergency in order to fight "world conquest by Communist imperialism."
• In 1960, 134 people were killed when a United Air Lines DC-8 and a TWA Super Constellation collided over New York City.
• In 1976, the government halted its swine flu vaccination program following reports of paralysis apparently linked to the vaccine.
• In 1991, the U.N. General Assembly rescinded its 1975 resolution equating Zionism with racism by a vote of 111-25.
• In 2000, President-elect George W. Bush selected Colin Powell to become the first black secretary of state.

Ten years ago:

• President Bill Clinton ordered a sustained series of airstrikes against Iraq by American and British forces in response to Saddam Hussein's continued defiance of UN weapons inspectors.
• The House delayed a debate set to begin the next day on four articles of impeachment against President Clinton.

Five years ago:

• President George W. Bush signed a number of measures into law, including legislation meant to stem the flood of junk e-mail known as "spam" and a bill to establish a national museum devoted to black history.
• President Bush told ABC News that Saddam Hussein deserved the "ultimate penalty" for his crimes.
• Germany and France, two of the most ardent opponents of the American-led war, agreed to relieve Iraq's debt burden.
• Actress Madlyn Rhue died in Los Angeles at age 68.

One year ago:

• British forces formally handed over to Iraq responsibility for Basra, the last Iraqi region under their control.
• Turkish warplanes hit Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq, the largest aerial attack in years against the separatist group.
• Singer-songwriter Dan Fogelberg died in Deer Isle, Maine, at age 56.

Today's Birthdays:

• Civil rights attorney Morris Dees is 72.
• Actress Joyce Bulifant is 71.
• Actress Liv Ullmann is 70.
• CBS news correspondent Lesley Stahl is 67.
• TV producer Steven Bochco is 65.
• Pop musician Tony Hicks (The Hollies) is 63.
• Pop singer Benny Andersson (ABBA) is 62.
• Actor Ben Cross is 61.
• Rock singer-musician Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top) is 59.
• Rock musician Bill Bateman (The Blasters) is 57.
• Actress Alison LaPlaca is 49.
• Actor Sam Robards is 47.
• Actor Jon Tenney is 47.
• Actor Benjamin Bratt is 45.
• Country singer-songwriter Jeff Carson is 45.
• Rhythm-and-blues singer Michael McCary is 37.
• Country musician Chris Scruggs is 26.
• Actress Hallee Hirsh is 21.
• Actress Anna Popplewell is 20.

Thought for Today:

"Somewhere in the world there is an epigram for every dilemma."
Hendrik Willem Van Loon, Dutch-born journalist and lecturer (1882-1944).

"Let's all be careful out there!"

DAILY CHUCKLE 8-351

"Let's all be careful out there!"

DECEMBER 15TH

Today is Monday, Dec. 15, the 350th day of 2008.
There are 16 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

• On Dec. 15, 1791, the Bill of Rights went into effect following ratification by Virginia.

On this date:

• In 1890, Sioux Indian Chief Sitting Bull and 11 other tribe members were killed in Grand River, S.D., during a confrontation with Indian police.
• In 1938, groundbreaking ceremonies for the Jefferson Memorial took place in Washington, D.C., with President Franklin D. Roosevelt taking part.
• In 1939, the motion picture "Gone With the Wind" had its world premiere in Atlanta.
• In 1944, a single-engine plane carrying bandleader Glenn Miller, who was a major in the U.S. Army Air Forces, disappeared over the English Channel while en route to Paris.
• In 1944, during World War II, American forces invaded Mindoro Island in the Philippines.
• In 1948, former State Department official Alger Hiss was indicted by a federal grand jury in New York on charges of perjury. (He was convicted in 1950.)
• In 1961, former Nazi official Adolf Eichmann was sentenced to death by an Israeli court.
• In 1964, Canada's House of Commons approved dropping the "Red Ensign" flag in favor of a new design.
• In 1965, two U.S. manned spacecraft, Gemini 6A and Gemini 7, maneuvered to within ten feet of each other while in orbit.
• In 1978, Cleveland became the first major U.S. city since the Great Depression to default on its loans.

Ten years ago:

• President Bill Clinton concluded his three-day Middle East journey on a disappointing note as Israel refused to resume the West Bank troop withdrawals called for under the Wye River peace accord; nevertheless, Clinton declared his trip a success.

Five years ago:

• Former nurse Charles Cullen was charged with murder after telling prosecutors he had killed 30 to 40 severely ill patients in Pennsylvania and New Jersey since 1987 by injecting them with drugs. (Cullen later pleaded guilty to killing 29 people and attempting to kill six others; he was sentenced to 18 life prison terms.)
• The late Sen. Strom Thurmond's family acknowledged Essie Mae Washington-Williams' claim that she was his illegitimate mixed-race daughter.

One year ago:

• Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf lifted a six-week-old state of emergency.
• International climate talks in Bali, Indonesia, culminated in a last-minute U.S. compromise and an agreement to adopt a blueprint for fighting global warming by 2009.
• Celine Dion concluded a five-year engagement at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

Today's Birthdays:

• Country singer Ernest Ashworth is 80.
• Actor-comedian Tim Conway is 75.
• Singer Cindy Birdsong (The Supremes) is 69.
• Rock musician Dave Clark (The Dave Clark Five) is 66.
• Rock musician Carmine Appice (Vanilla Fudge) is 62.
• Actor Don Johnson is 59.
• Movie director Julie Taymor is 56.
• Movie director Alex Cox is 54.
• Actor Justin Ross is 54.
• Rock musician Paul Simonon (The Clash) is 53.
• Country singer Doug Phelps (Brother Phelps; Kentucky Headhunters) is 48.
• Movie producer-director Reginald Hudlin is 47.
• Actress Helen Slater is 45.
• Actress Molly Price is 43.
• Actor Michael Shanks is 38.
• Actor Stuart Townsend is 36.
• "Crowd-hyper" Kito Trawick (Ghostown DJs) is 31.
• Actor Adam Brody is 29.
• Actor George O. Gore II is 27.

Thought for Today:

"History is the record of an encounter between character and circumstances."
Donald Creighton, Canadian historian (1902-1979).

"Let's all be careful out there!"

DAILY CHUCKLE 8-350

"Let's all be careful out there!"

DECEMBER 14TH

Today is Sunday, Dec. 14, the 349th day of 2008.
There are 17 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

• On Dec. 14, 1799, the first president of the United States, George Washington, died at his Mount Vernon, Va., home at age 67.

On this date:

• In 1819, Alabama joined the Union as the 22nd state.
• In 1861, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, died in London.
• In 1911, Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen and his group became the first men to reach the South Pole, beating out an expedition led by Robert F. Scott.
• In 1939, the Soviet Union was dropped from the League of Nations.
• In 1946, the United Nations General Assembly voted to establish U.N. headquarters in New York.
• In 1962, the U.S. space probe Mariner 2 approached Venus, transmitting information about the planet.
• In 1975, six South Moluccan extremists surrendered after holding 23 hostages for 12 days on a train near the Dutch town of Beilen.
• In 1981, Israel annexed the Golan Heights, which it had seized from Syria in 1967.
• In 1995, Presidents Alija Izetbegovic of Bosnia, Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia and Franjo Tudjman of Croatia signed the Bosnian peace treaty in Paris.
• In 2006, South Korea's Ban Ki-moon was sworn in as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations.

Ten years ago:

• President Bill Clinton stood witness as hundreds of Palestinian leaders renounced a call for the destruction of Israel.

Five years ago:

• A weary, disheveled Saddam Hussein was displayed on television screens worldwide, a day after his capture by American troops.
• A car bombing outside an Iraqi police station near Baghdad killed at least 17 people.
• Actress Jeanne Crain died in Santa Barbara, Calif., at age 78.

One year ago:

• A man accused of being the Phoenix Baseline Killer was sentenced to 438 years in prison for the sexual assaults of two sisters. (Mark Goudeau still faces trial for the slayings of eight women and a man in 2005-2006; he has pleaded not guilty.)

Today's Birthdays:

• Jazz musician Clark Terry is 88.
• Former "60 Minutes" executive producer Don Hewitt is 86.
• Actor Hal Williams is 70.
• Actress Patty Duke is 62.
• Pop singer Joyce Vincent-Wilson (Tony Orlando and Dawn) is 62.
• Entertainment executive Michael Ovitz is 62.
• Actress Dee Wallace is 60.
• Rhythm-and-blues singer Ronnie McNeir (The Four Tops) is 59.
• Rock musician Cliff Williams (AC/DC) is 59.
• Rock singer-musician Mike Scott (The Waterboys) is 50.
• Singer-musician Peter "Spider" Stacy (The Pogues) is 50.
• Actress Cynthia Gibb is 45.
• Actress Natascha McElhone is 39.
• Rhythm-and-blues singer Brian Dalyrimple (Soul For Real) is 33.
• Actress KaDee Strickland is 33.
• Actress Tammy Blanchard is 32.
• Actress Sophie Monk is 29.
• Actress Vanessa Hudgens is 20.

Thought for Today:

"You can close your eyes to reality but not to memories."
Stanislaw J. Lec, Polish author (1909-1966).

"Let's all be careful out there!"