-----------------------------------------------

Today is Tuesday, April 6th.

The 97th day of 2004.

There are 269 days left in the year.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Highlight in History:



On April 6, 1909, Explorers Robert E. Peary and Matthew A. Henson and four Inuit guides became the first men to reach the North Pole. (The claim, disputed by skeptics, was upheld in 1989 by the Navigation Foundation.)



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



On this date:



In 648 B.C.E., The earliest total solar eclipse chronicled by Greeks was observed.



In 6 B.C.E., This day is believed by some Biblical scholars to be the actual date of the historical birth of Jesus Christ.



In 610, Lailat-ul Qadar, the night the Koran descended to Earth



In 1199, English King Richard I was killed by an arrow at the siege of the castle of Chaluz in France.



In 1652, Cape Colony, the 1st European settlement in S Africa, established.



In 1712, Slave revolt in New York.



In 1722, Peter the Great ends tax on men with beards.



In 1789, The first U.S. Congress began regular sessions at the Federal Hall in New York City.



In 1814, After being granted sovereignty in the island of Elba and a pension from the French government, Napoleon Bonaparte abdicates at Fountainebleau. He was allowed to keep the title of emperor.



In 1830, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (aka:Morman)(known as the Church of Christ until 1834) was organized by Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery at Fayette, New York.



In 1862, The Civil War Battle of Shiloh began in Tennessee.



In 1866, Outlaw Butch Cassidy (George Robert Leroy Parker) was born. He died in 1908.



In 1869, Celluloid is the first plastic to be patented.



In 1874, American magician Harry Houdini (Ehrich Weiss) was born in Budapest Hungary. He died October 31, 1926 at the age of 52 in Detroit, MI.



In 1884, Actor, Movie Director Walter Huston (Houghston) (John's dad, Anjelica's granddad) was born in Toronto, Ontario Canada. He died April 7, 1950 at the age of 66.



In 1886, City of Vancouver, BC incorporated.



In 1889, The Kodak Camera was placed on sale by George Eastman.



In 1892, Author, journalist, broadcaster and world traveler Lowell Thomas was born in Woodington, Ohio.



In 1893, Andy Bowen & Jack Burke box 7 hours 19 minutes to no decision in St Louis (111 rounds, longest bout in boxing history)



In 1893, Mormon temple in Salt Lake City dedicated



In 1896, The first modern Olympic games formally opened in Athens, Greece.



In 1909, St. Canadian Credit Union of Manchester, New Hampshire received a charter to become the first credit union to be established in the U.S.



In 1912, The electric starter first appeared in cars.



In 1917, Congress approved a declaration of war against Germany.



In 1924, 4 planes leave Seattle on 1st successful around-the-world flight



In 1927, William P. MacCracken, Jr. earned license number "1" when the Department of Commerce issued the first aviator's license.



In 1930, Hostess Twinkies were invented by bakery executive James Dewar.



In 1930, Humorist Will Rogers begins broadcasting The Will Rogers Program on CBS radio.



In 1938, Du Pont researchers Roy J. Plunkett and Jack Rebok accidentally created the chemical compound that was later marketed as Teflon.



In 1941, Germany invades Yugoslavia and Greece.



In 1954, Four weeks after being attacked on the air by Edward R. Murrow, Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, R-Wis., delivered a filmed response on CBS' "See It Now" in which he charged that Murrow had, in the past, "engaged in propaganda for Communist causes."



In 1954, The TV Dinner was first put on sale by Swanson & Sons.



In 1957, Trolley cars in New York City completed their final runs



In 1965, The United States launched the "Early Bird" Intelsat 1, the first commercial geosynchronous communications satellite.



In 1965, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson authorized the use of ground troops in combat operations in Vietnam.



In 1968, Federal troops and National Guardsmen were ordered out in Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Detroit, as rioting continued over the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.



In 1971, Russian-born composer Igor Stravinsky died in New York City.



In 1973, Yankee Ron Blomberg becomes 1st designated hitter, he walks



In 1980, Post It Notes were introduced.



In 1992, Science-fiction author Isaac Asimov died in New York at age 72.



In 1998, Pakistan successfully tests medium-range missile capable of attacking neighboring India.



In 1998, Country singer Tammy Wynette died at her Nashville, Tenn., home at age 55.



In 2000, The father of Elian Gonzalez, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, arrived in the United States to press for the return of his six-year-old son to Cuba.



In 2000, A private company mapping the human genetic blueprint announced it had decoded all of the DNA pieces that make up the genetic pattern of a single human being.



In 2001, Pacific Gas and Electric filed for bankruptcy in an offshoot of the California energy crisis.



Ten years ago (1994):



Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun announced his retirement after 24 years.



The presidents of Rwanda and Burundi were killed in a mysterious plane crash near Rwanda's capital; widespread violence and genocide erupted in Rwanda over claims the plane had been shot down.



A Palestinian suicide-bomber killed seven Israelis in an attack on a bus in Afula.



Five years ago (1999):



Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic declared a unilateral cease-fire in his campaign to crush rebels in Kosovo; Western leaders called the move a sham and pledged to press ahead with airstrikes.



Carmen Electra filed for a divorce from Dennis Rodman. They had only been married six months.



One year ago (2003):



U.S. forces encircled and began flying into Baghdad's international airport. British forces in the south made their deepest push into Basra, Iraq's second largest city.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Birthdays:



Composer-conductor Andre Previn is 75.



Actor Ivan Dixon is 73.



Country singer Merle Haggard is 67.



Actor Billy Dee Williams is 67.



Actor Roy Thinnes is 66.



Movie director Barry Levinson is 62.



Singer/actress/model [Holly] Michelle [Gilliam] Phillips is 60.



Actor John Ratzenberger is 57.



Actress Marilu Henner is 52.



Figure skater Janet Lynn is 51.



Actor Michael Rooker is 49.



Actress Ari Meyers is 35.



Actor Paul Rudd is 35.



Actor Jason Hervey is 32.



Actor Zach Braff is 29.



Actress Soleil Moon Frye (Punky Brewster) is 28.



Actress Candace Cameron is 28.



Actor Bret Harrison is 22.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Thought for Today:

"After the age of 80, everything reminds you of something else." -

- Lowell Thomas, American author and broadcaster (1892-1981).

--------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------

Today is Monday, April 5th.

The 96th day of 2004.

There are 270 days left in the year.

The Jewish holiday Passover begins at sunset.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Highlight in History:



On April 5, 1964, Army Gen. Douglas MacArthur died in Washington at age 84.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



On this date:



In 2348, B.C.E., according to tradition, Noah's Ark landed on Mt. Ararat



In 1614, American Indian princess Pocahontas married English colonist John Rolfe in Virginia.



In 1621, The Mayflower sailed from Plymouth, Mass., on a return trip to England.



In 1722, Jacob Roggeveen discovers Easter Island.



In 1768, The first U.S. Chamber of Commerce is formed in New York City.



In 1792, George Washington cast the first presidential veto, rejecting a congressional measure for apportioning representatives among the states.



In 1806, Isaac Quintard of Stanfield, CT, patented the Apple Cider mill



In 1843, Queen Victoria proclaimed Hong Kong to be a British crown colony.



In 1856, Educator, Social Reformer, Booker Taliaferro Washington was born in Franklin County, Virginia. He died November 14, 1915 at age 59.



In 1869, Daniel Bakeman, the last surviving soldier of the Revolutionary War, died at the age of 109.



In 1887, British historian Lord Acton wrote, "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely."



In 1887, In Tuscumbia, Alabama, teacher Anne Sullivan achieved a major breakthrough with her blind and deaf pupil, Helen Keller, by conveying to her the meaning of the word "water" in the manual alphabet.



In 1892, Walter H. Coe of Providence, RI, patented gold leaf in rolls.



In 1895, Playwright Oscar Wilde lost his criminal libel case against the Marquess of Queensberry, who had accused the writer of homosexual practices.



In 1896, 1st modern Olympic Games officially open in Athens



In 1900, Actor Spencer Tracy was born in Milwaukee, WI. He died June 10, 1967 at age 67.



In 1908, Actress Bette Davis was born in Lowell, MA. She died October 6, 1989 at age 81.



In 1916, Actor Gregory Peck was born in San Diego, CA. He died June 11, 2003 at age 87.



In 1923, Firestone Tire and Rubber Company of Akron, OH began the first regular production of balloon tires



In 1949, Astronaut Dr. Judith Arlene Resnik was born. She died January 28, 1986 at age 36 in the Challenger explosion.



In 1951, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were sentenced to death following their conviction in New York on charges of conspiring to commit espionage for the Soviet Union; co-defendant Morton Sobell was sentenced to 30 years in prison (he was released in 1969).



In 1955, Winston Churchill resigns as British PM.



In 1961, Barbra Streisand appears on "The Jack Paar Show" (forerunner of the Tonight Show).



In 1962, NASA civilian pilot Neil A. Armstrong takes the X-15 to an altitude of 54,600 meters (179,133 feet or 33.9 miles)



In 1968, Violence erupted in several American cities in response to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.



In 1971, Mount Etna erupts in Sicily Italy.



In 1971, Fran Phipps is 1st woman to reach North Pole



In 1973, Pioneer 11 launched to Jupiter



In 1974, The then tallest building, the World Trade Center, opened in New York City with 110 stories.



In 1975, Nationalist Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek died at age 87.



In 1976, Reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes died in Houston at age 72.



In 1980, The final episode of "Hawaii Five-O" aired.



In 1983, The Beach Boys were banned from the Fourth of July concert at the White House. President Ronald Reagan overturned the ban two days later.



In 1987, The United States observed daylight saving time on the first Sunday in April beginning this year. Up until the last year, it was the last Sunday in April.



In 1987, The Fox Broadcasting Company makes its prime time television debut with Married…with Children.



In 1992, Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton died in Little Rock, Ark., at age 74.



In 1997, Allen Ginsberg, the counterculture guru who'd shattered conventions as poet laureate of the Beat Generation, died in New York City at age 70.



In 1997, The 100th episode of "Walker, Texas Ranger" aired on CBS.



In 1998, The world's longest suspension bridge, Japan's Akashi Kaikyo Bridge, opened for public use.



In 2063, Earth's 1st contact by extra-terrestrials (Vulcan) according to Star Trek.



Ten years ago (1994):



President Clinton presided over a 90-minute town hall meeting in Charlotte, N.C., in which he called himself the victim of "false charges" in connection with the Whitewater controversy.



Five years ago (1999):



NATO missiles and aircraft blasted Serbian targets inside Yugoslavia for a 13th straight day.



The United Nations suspended sanctions against Libya after Moammar Gadhafi surrendered two suspected Libyan intelligence agents for trial in the 1988 Pan Am bombing.



In Laramie, Wyo., Russell Henderson pleaded guilty to kidnapping and felony murder in the death of Matthew Shepard, a gay college student.



One year ago (2003):



U.S. officials declared a near chokehold on the Iraqi capital Baghdad even while warning that many other parts of Iraq were not yet under allied control.



A prison riot in northern Honduras left 69 inmates dead and dozens injured.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Birthdays:



Novelist Arthur Hailey is 84.



Actress Gale Storm (Josephine Owaissa Cottle) is 82.



Movie producer Roger Corman is 78.



Country music producer Cowboy Jack Clement is 73.



Impressionist-actor Frank Gorshin is 71.



Secretary of State Colin Luther Powell is 67.



Country singer Tommy Cash is 64.



Actor Michael Moriarty is 63.



Writer-director Peter Greenaway is 62.



Actor Max Gail is 61.



Rocker Dave Holland (Judas Priest) is 60.



Actress Jane Asher is 58.



Singer Agnetha Faltskog (ABBA) is 54.



Rock musician Mike McCready (Pearl Jam) is 39.



Country singer Troy Gentry is 37.



Singer Paula Cole is 36.



Country singer Pat Green is 32.



Rapper-producer Pharrell Williams is 31.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Thought for Today:

"In war, you win or lose, live or die -- and the difference is just an eyelash." -

- Douglas MacArthur, Army general (1880-1964).

---------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------------

Today is Sunday, April 4th.

The 95th day of 2004.

There are 271 days left in the year.

This is Palm Sunday



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Highlight in History:



On April 4, 1968, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., 39, was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



On this date:



In 1507, Future German reformer Martin Luther, at age 21, was ordained a priest in the Roman Catholic church.



In 1541, Spanish ecclesiastic reformer and mystic Ignatius Loyola, 50, was elected the first General of the Jesuit Order, which he had helped establish the previous year.



In 1581, After circumnavigating the world, Francis Drake was knighted on board The Golden Hind at Deptford in London by Queen Elizabeth I.



In 1687, James II issued a Declaration of Indulgence allowing full liberty of worship in England. The document allowed peaceable meetings of nonconformists and forgave all penalties for ecclesiastical offenses.



In 1812, The Territory of Orleans became the 18th U.S. state and will later become known as Louisiana.



In 1818, Congress decided the flag of the United States would consist of 13 red and white stripes and 20 stars, with a new star to be added for every new state of the Union.



In 1828, Casparus van Wooden patents chocolate milk powder in Amsterdam.



In 1841, President William Henry Harrison succumbed to pneumonia one month after his inaugural, becoming the first U.S. chief executive to die in office.



In 1850, Los Angeles (El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora La Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula) is incorporated as a city, the same year that California is admitted (September 9, 1850) to the United States. It's the only city in the West with four distinct seasons:

- floods

- fire

- earthquakes

- smog



In 1887, Susanna Medora Salter became the first woman elected mayor of an American community -- Argonia, Kan.



In 1896, The Yukon gold rush began with the announcement of a strike in the Northwest Territory of Canada.



In 1897, Campbell's Soup was introduced.



In 1902, British financier Cecil Rhodes left $10 million in his will to provide scholarships for Americans at Oxford University.



In 1905, 370,000 people were killed in an earthquake which struck the province of Lahore, then part of British India. The earthquake measured 8.6 on the Richter scale and demolished the towns of Kangra and Dharmsala.



In 1915, American blues musician Muddy Waters (McKinley Morganfield) was born in Rolling Fork, MI. He died in 1983.



In 1917, The U.S. Senate voted 90-6 to enter World War I on the Allied side.



In 1932, Professor C.G. King of the University of Pittsburgh isolated Vitamin C after five years of research.



In 1941, In North Africa, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel captured the British held town of Benghazi.



In 1944, German Holocaust victim Anne Frank, 14, wrote in her diary:

'I want to go on living even after my death! And therefore I am grateful to God for giving me this gift...of expressing all that is in me.'



In 1945, During World War II, U.S. forces liberated the Nazi death camp Ohrdruf in Germany.



In 1945, Hungary was liberated from Nazi occupation.



In 1949, 12 nations, including the United States, signed the North Atlantic Treaty.



In 1958, The 1st march against nuclear weapons was held in Aldermaston England



In 1964, The Beatles hold the top five spots on Billboard's "Hot 100", setting an all-time record.



In 1965, German theologian Jurgen Moltmann revealed in a letter to Karl Barth:

'Polemics always makes one a little one-sided.'



In 1967, Johnny Carson quit "The Tonight Show." He returned three weeks later after getting a raise of $30,000 a week.



In 1968, James Brown made a national TV appeal for calm following the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.



In 1969, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, often at odds with television censors, was canceled due to its controversial political humor.



In 1971, The final episode of "Hogan's Heroes" aired.



In 1974, Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves tied Babe Ruth's home-run record by hitting his 714th round-tripper in Cincinnati.



In 1975, More than 130 people, most of them children, were killed when a U.S. Air Force transport plane evacuating Vietnamese orphans crashed shortly after take-off from Saigon.



In 1981, Henry Cisneros became the first Mexican-American elected mayor of a major U.S. city: San Antonio, Texas.



In 1983, The space shuttle Challenger roared into orbit on its maiden voyage. It was later destroyed when it disintegrated during re-entry while over eastern Texas on February 1, 2003; its seven-person crew perished in the disaster.



In 1984, President Reagan proposed an international ban on chemical weapons.



In 1984, In George Orwell's 1949 novel "1984", Winston Smith begins his secret diary, writing "Down With Big Brother".



In 1986, The final episode of "Knight Rider" aired.



In 1992, Small-town billionaire Sam Moore Walton, whose Wal-Mart retail store chain helped make him one of the world's richest men, died.



In 2002, President Bush urged Israel to pull its troops back from Palestinian cities and dismissed Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat as a failed leader who had "betrayed the hopes of his people." Bush ordered Secretary of State Colin Powell to the region to seek a cease-fire.



Ten years ago (1994):



On Wall Street, stocks plummeted in violent spasms of selling that sent the Dow industrial down more than 40 points to a six-month low.



The University of Arkansas won the NCAA basketball championship, defeating Duke 76-72.



Netscape Comminications was founded as Mosiac Comminications.



Five years ago (1999):



NATO warplanes and missiles attacked an army headquarters, oil refineries and other targets in and around Belgrade.



The Colorado Rockies beat the San Diego Padres 8-2 in baseball's first season opener held in Mexico.



One year ago (2003):



U.S. forces seized Saddam International Airport outside Baghdad.



Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs became the 18th player to hit 500 career homers, connecting for a solo shot in a 10-9 loss to Cincinnati.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Birthdays:



Singer-actress Frances Langford is 90.



Composer Elmer Bernstein is 82.



Actress Elizabeth Wilson is 79.



Author-poet Maya Angelou is 76.



Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Richard Lugar, R-Ind., is 72.



Recording executive Clive Davis is 72.



Actor Michael Parks is 66.



Bandleader Hugh Masekela is 65.



Author Kitty Kelley is 62.



Actor Craig T. Nelson is 60.



Actor Walter Charles is 59.



Actress Caroline McWilliams is 59.



Actress Christine Lahti is 54.



Country singer Steve Gatlin (The Gatlin Brothers) is 53.



Writer-producer David E. Kelley is 48.



Actor Phil Morris is 45.



Actress Lorraine Toussaint is 44.



Actor Hugo Weaving is 44.



Rock musician Craig Adams (The Cult) is 42.



Actor Robert Downey Jr. is 39.



Actress Nancy McKeon is 38.



Actor Barry Pepper is 34.



Country singer Clay Davidson is 33.



Singer Jill Scott is 32.



Rock musician Magnus Sveningsson (The Cardigans) is 32.



Magician David Blaine is 31.



Singer Kelly Price is 31.



Rhythm and blues singer Andre Dalyrimple (Soul For Real) is 30.



Actress Alicia Silverstone is 28.



Actor Heath Ledger is 25.



Actress Natasha Lyonne is 25.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Thought for Today:

"If a man hasn't discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live." -

- Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968 ).

----------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------

Today is Saturday, April 3rd.

The 94th day of 2004.

There are 272 days left in the year.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Highlight in History:



OnApril 3, 1860, the legendary Pony Express began service between St. Joseph, Mo., and Sacramento, Calif.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



On this date:



In 33, Christ was crucified.



In 1776, Harvard College conferred the first honorary Doctor of Laws degree to George Washington.



In 1783, American writer Washington Irving was born in New York City. He died in 1859.



In 1790, The Revenue Marine Service is created and will later become the U.S. Coast Guard.



In 1829, James Carrington of Wallingford, Connecticut, patented the coffee mill.



In 1862, Slavery was abolished in Washington, D.C.



In 1865, Union forces occupied the Confederate capital of Richmond, Va.



In 1868, A Hawaiian surfs on the highest wave ever, a 50' tsunami.



In 1882, Outlaw Jesse James was shot to death in St. Joseph, Mo., by Robert Ford, a member of James' gang.



In 1882, The wood block alarm was invented; it was suspended over your bed; when the alarm went on, it dropped 20 wooden blocks over your head to wake you up.



In 1898, "America's Toastmaster General" George Jessel was born. He died May 23, 1981 at the age of 83.



In 1910, Alaska's Mt. McKinley, the highest mountain in North America was climbed.



In 1921, Actress Jan Sterling (Adriance) was born. Topper's "ghostest with the mostest" died March 26th, 2004 at the age of 82.



In 1926, Astronaut Virgil "Gus" Grissom was born. He died in the tragic Apollo I fire on January 27, 1967, at the age of 40.



In 1927, The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) transfers Ohio to the Eastern time zone.



In 1933, The first flight over the peak of Mount Everest in the Himalayas was made by four Britons in two Westland biplanes.



In 1933, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt informed newspaper reporters that beer would be served at the White House. This followed the March 22nd legislation that legalized "3.2" beer.



In 1936, Bruno Hauptmann was electrocuted in Trenton, N.J., for the kidnap-murder of the Lindbergh child.



In 1941, Singer Jan Berry (Jan and Dean) was born. He died last month (March 26, 2004) at the age of 62.



In 1942, The Japanese began their all-out assault on the U.S. and Filipino troops at Bataan.



In 1946, Lt. Gen. Masaharu Homma, the Japanese commander responsible for the Bataan Death March, was executed outside Manila.



In 1948, President Truman signed the Marshall Plan, which allocated more than $5 billion in aid for 16 European countries.



In 1949, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis debuted on radio in an NBC program that ran until 1952.



In 1953, "TV Guide" was published for the first time, price per issue - 15 cents. The cover was a photo of Lucille Ball's infant Desiderio Alberto Arnaz IV (aka: Desi, Jr.).



In 1955, Fred Astaire appeared on television for the first time on "The Toast of the Town," with host, Ed Sullivan.



In 1956, Elvis Presley performed on "The Milton Berle Show." The show was broadcast live from the aircraft carrier USS Hancock. Elvis played the songs "Heartbreak Hotel," "Money, Honey," and "Blue Suede Shoes."



In 1958, Fidel Castro's rebels attacked Havana.



In 1966, USSR's Luna 10 becomes the first craft to orbit the Moon.



In 1968, The day before he was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn., civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous "mountaintop" speech to a rally of striking sanitation workers.



In 1968, North Vietnam agreed to meet with U.S. representatives to set up preliminary peace talks.



In 1974, U.S. President Nixon announced that he would pay $432,787 in back taxes.



In 1974, Deadly tornadoes struck wide parts of the South and Midwest before jumping across the border into Canada; more than 300 fatalities resulted.



In 1979, Jane M. Byrne was elected mayor of Chicago, defeating Republican Wallace D. Johnson.



In 1980, The final episode of "Barnaby Jones" aired.



In 1982, John Chancellor stepped down as anchor of the "The NBC Nightly News." Roger Mudd and Tom Brokaw became the co-anchors of the show.



In 1985, The U.S. charged that Israel violated the Geneva Convention by deporting Shiite prisoners.



In 1991, The U.N. Security Council passes a cease-fire resolution to end the Persian Gulf War.



In 1996, Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski was arrested.



Ten years ago (1994):



In his Easter Sunday address, Pope John Paul II expressed hope that the joy of Christianity would overwhelm the din of violence and hate.



A memorial service was held at the site of the Goshen United Methodist Church in Alabama for the 20 people who were killed when a tornado leveled the building a week earlier.



Five years ago (1999):



NATO missiles struck downtown Belgrade for the first time, destroying the headquarters of security forces accused of waging a campaign against Kosovo Albanians.



One year ago (2003):



Moving with a sense of wartime urgency, the House and Senate separately agreed to give President Bush nearly $80 billion to carry out the battle against Iraq and meet the threat of terrorism.



Cuban security forces arrested the hijackers of a passenger ferry, rescuing nearly 50 hostages.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Birthdays:



Actor Marlon Brando is 80.



Actress-singer Doris Day is 80.



Actor Kevin Hagen is 76.



Actress Miyoshi Umeki is 75.



Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl is 74.



British ethologist and authority on wild chimpanzees, Jane Goodall is 70.



Jazz musician Jimmy McGriff is 68.



Actor William Gaunt is 67.



Actress Marsha Mason is 62.



Singer Wayne Newton is 62.



Singer Billy Joe Royal is 62.



Singer Tony Orlando is 60.



Comedy writer Pat Proft is 57.



Singer Richard Thompson is 55.



Country musician Curtis Stone (Highway 101) is 54.



Rock musician Mick Mars [Bob Allen Dale] (Motley Crue) is 48.



Actor Alec Baldwin is 46.



Actor David Hyde Pierce is 45.



Comedian-actor Eddie Murphy is 43.



Rock singer-musician Mike Ness (Social Distortion) is 42.



Rock singer Sebastian Bach is 36.



Olympic Skier Picabo Street (gold-1994) is 33.



Actress Jennie Garth is 32.



Actress Amanda Bynes is 18.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Thought for Today:

"I didn't invent the world I write about -- it's all true." -

- Graham Greene, British author (1904-1991).

--------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------

Today is Friday, April 2nd.

The 93rd day of 2004.

There are 273 days left in the year.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Highlight in History:



On April 2, 1917, President Wilson asked Congress to declare war against Germany, saying, "The world must be made safe for democracy."



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



On this date:



In 742, The first Holy Roman emperor (800-814) Charlemagne was born. He died on January 28, 814 at the age of 71.



In 1513, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon landed in Florida.



In 1792, Congress passed the Coinage Act, which authorized establishment of the U.S. Mint.



In 1805, Storyteller Hans Christian Andersen was born in Odense, Denmark.



In 1819, The first successful agricultural journal ("The American Farmer") began publication.



In 1827, Lead pencils were first manufactured by Joseph Dixon.



In 1860, The first Italian Parliament met at Turin.



In 1865, Confederate President Davis and most of his Cabinet fled the Confederate capital of Richmond, Va.



In 1872, Samuel F.B. Morse, developer of the electric telegraph, died in New York.



In 1876, The Philadelphia Athletics and the Boston Red Caps play the 1st National League baseball game, in Philadelphia.



In 1877, The 1st Easter egg roll is held on the White House lawn.



In 1902, The first motion picture theatre opened in Los Angeles with the name Electric Theatre.



In 1908, Actor Christian Rudolph "Buddy" Ebsen, Jr. was born in Belleville, IL. He died July 6, 2003 at the age of 95.



In 1914, Considered one of the best actors of the 20th century, Sir Alec Guinness [de Cuffe] ("Obi-Wan Kenobi" - Star Wars) was born in London, England, United Kingdom. He was knighted in 1959. He died in 2000.



In 1917, Jeannette Rankin (R-Montana) becomes 1st woman member of US House of Representatives



In 1921, Professor Albert Einstein lectures in NYC on his new theory of relativity



In 1920, Actor/Producer/Director Jack Webb ("Sgt. Joe Friday" - Dragnet) was born in Santa Monica, CA. He died December 23, 1982, at the age of 62.



In 1931, A teenage girl strikes out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in an exhibition game in Chattanooga TN



In 1932, Aviator Charles A. Lindbergh and Dr. John F. Condon turned over $50,000 in ransom to an unidentified man in a New York City cemetery in exchange for Lindbergh's kidnapped son. (The child, however, was not returned, and was found dead the following month.)



In 1935, Sir Watson-Watt was granted a patent for the RADAR.



In 1941, German Lieutenant General Erwin Rommel, "the Desert Fox," resumed his advance into Cyrenaica. The advance was the beginning of the recapture of Libya by the Axis forces.



In 1944, The Soviet Union announced that its troops had crossed the Prut River and entered Romania.



In 1956, "The Edge of Night" and "As the World Turns" debuted on CBS-TV.



In 1958, The National Advisory Council on Aeronautics (NACA) is renamed the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).



In 1974, French president Georges Pompidou died in Paris.



In 1978, The first episode of "Dallas" aired on CBS.



In 1982, Several thousand troops from Argentina seized the disputed Falkland Islands, located in the south Atlantic, from Britain. (Britain seized the islands back the following June.)



In 1992, Mob boss John Gotti was convicted in New York of murder and racketeering; he was later sentenced to life in prison.



In 1995, The New York Police Department and the New York Transit Police merge into one organization



In 1996, Lech Walesa resumed his old job as an electrician at the Gdansk shipyard, earning $250 per month. He was the former Solidarity union leader who became Poland's first post-war democratic president.



Ten years ago (1994):



President Clinton warned Americans against "demagogues of division" in his weekly radio address, while calling for greater personal responsibility and cooperation to overcome the nation's problems.



Consumer reporter Betty Furness died in Hartsdale, N.Y., at age 78.



Five years ago (1999):



The Labor Department reported that the nation's unemployment rate fell to a 29-year low of 4.2 percent in March 1999.



One year ago (2003):



American forces fought their way to within sight of the Baghdad skyline; Iraqi soldiers discarded their military uniforms by the roadside to hide their identity.



A bomb blast near a wharf in the southern Philippine city of Davao killed 16.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Birthdays:



Actor Dabbs Greer is 87.



TV Actress Gloria Henry (Dennis the Menace's mom:Alice Mitchell) is 81.



Actress Rita Gam is 76.



Actress Elena Verdugo (Marcus Welby, MD's Consuelo Lopez) is 78.



Actress Sharon Acker is 69.



Singer Leon Russell is 63.



Radio Disc Jocky Dr. Demento (Barrett E. Hansen) is 63.



Jazz musician Larry Coryell is 61.



Actress Linda Hunt is 59.



Singer Emmylou Harris is 57.



Actress Pamela Reed is 55.



Actress Debralee Scott is 51.



Actor Ron Palillo (Welcome Back Kotter's Arnold J. Horshack) is 50.



Country singer Buddy Jewell is 43.



Actor Chris Meloni is 43.



Singer Keren Woodward (Bananarama) is 43.



Country singer Billy Dean is 42.



Actress Jana Marie Hupp is 40.



Rock musician Greg Camp (Smash Mouth) is 37.



Rock musician Tony Fredianelli (Third Eye Blind) is 35.



Country singer Jill King is 29.



Actor Jeremy Garrett is 28.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Thought for Today:

"No artist is ahead of his time. He is his time. It is just that others are behind the time." -

- Martha Graham, modern dance pioneer (1894-1991).

--------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------------------

Today is Thursday, April 1st.

The 92nd day of 2004.

There are 274 days left in the year.

This is April Fool's Day.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Highlight in History:



On April 1, 1945, American forces invaded Okinawa during World War II.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



On this date:



In 374, Comet 1P/374 E1 (Halley's Comet) approaches within 0.0884 AUs (8,221,000 miles) of Earth.



In 1621, Massasoit, chief of the Wampanoags, and John Carver, governor of Plymouth Colony, sign the first peace treaty between Native Americans and Pilgrims.



In 1634, the Massachusetts General Court authorized Israel Stoughton to build a bridge across the Neponset River from Milton to Dorchester.



In 1748, The Ruins of Pompeii were found.



In 1775, Daniel Boone establishes the settlement and fort of Boonesborough on the Kentucky River.



In 1778, Oliver Pollock, a New Orleans Businessman, created the dollar "$" symbol.



In 1789, The newly established U.S. House of Representatives holds its first full meeting.



In 1793, The volcano Unsen on Japan erupts killing about 53,000.



In 1826, Samuel Morey of Oxford, New Hampshire, patented the internal combustion engine.



In 1853, Cincinnati, Ohio, became the first U.S. city to pay its firefighters a regular salary.



In 1863, The first wartime conscription law in U.S. went into effect.



In 1873, The British White Star steamship Atlantic sinks off Nova Scotia, 550+ die



In 1875, The Times of London became the first newspaper to print a daily weather chart.



In 1883, Actor Lon Chaney (Alonso Chaney) was born in Colorado Springs, CO. Known as “The Man of a Thousand Faces,” Chaney was a brilliant innovator in makeup techniques, although many of his most arcane makeup secrets died with him. He died in 1930 at the age of 47.



In 1889, the first dishwashing machine was marketed in Chicago.



In 1891, The London-Paris telephone connection opened.



In 1904, The Antarctic Plateau was discovered by Captain R.F. Scott.



In 1918, the Royal Air Force was established in Britain.



In 1924, Adolf Hitler was sentenced to five years in prison for high treason in relation to the "Beer Hall Putsch."



In 1929, Inventor Louie Marx introduced the YO YO. He was thereafter referred to as "Yo Yo Marx", which made people think he was related to Groucho, Harpo and Chico.



In 1931, An earthquake devastates Managua Nicaragua, killing 2,000.



In 1933, Nazi Germany began persecuting Jews with a boycott of Jewish-owned businesses.



In 1938, The Baseball Hall of Fame opened in Cooperstown, New York.



In 1938, The "Superman" comic strip debuted in newspapers.



In 1940, The APRIL 1940 issue of "DETECTIVE" COMICS features the first appearance of BATMAN's sidekick ROBIN



In 1942, Mexico changed from 3 time zones to 2. Today it has the same four as the continental U.S.



In 1945, U.S. forces launched the invasion on the Pacific island of Okinawa during World War II. What followed was the bloodiest battle of the Pacific conflict, claiming the lives of more than 12,000 Americans and over 110,000 Japanese soldiers before U.S. forces secured the island in June.



In 1946, Tsunamis (seismic ocean waves) generated by a 7.3 magnitude earthquake in the Aleutian Trench near Unimak Is., AK, struck the Hawaiian islands, resulting in more than 170 deaths.



In 1948, U.S. President Truman vetoed an income tax reduction act. The bill was passed by the U.S. Congress, over the president's veto, the following day.



In 1948, The Berlin Airlift began.



In 1952, The "Big Bang" theory was proposed in Physical Review by Alpher, Bethe & Gamow.



In 1954, The first army helicopter battalion formed at Fort Bragg, NC.



In 1954, WQED TV channel 13 in Pittsburgh PA (PBS) begins broadcasting



In 1960, the first weather satellite, TIROS-One, was launched from Cape Canaveral.



In 1963, most of New York City's daily newspapers resumed publishing after settlement was reached in a 114-day strike.



In 1969, The final episode of "The Andy Griffith Show" aired.



In 1970, President Nixon signed a measure banning cigarette advertising on radio and television, to take effect after January 1, 1971.



In 1976, Apple Computer Inc. was founded by Stephen Wozniak and Steven Jobs.



In 1978, The final episode of "The Bob Newhart Show" aired.



In 1979, Following a referendum, Iran is declared an Islamic Republic by the Shiite Muslim leader Ayatollah Khomeini.



In 1982, US formally transfers Canal Zone to Panamá



In 1983, tens of thousands of anti-nuclear demonstrators linked arms in a 14-mile human chain spanning three defense installations in rural England.



In 1984, recording star Marvin Gaye was shot to death by his father, Marvin Gay Sr., in Los Angeles. (The elder Gay pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, and received probation.)



In 1987, in his first major speech on the AIDS epidemic, President Reagan told doctors in Philadelphia, "We've declared AIDS public health enemy No. 1."



In 1991, US minimum wage goes from $3.80 to $4.25 per hour



In 1991, The Warsaw Pact officially dissolves



In 1997, In the first of two reports, the Justice Department concluded the FBI had erred seriously in its investgation into the July 1996 bombing at Olympic Park in Atlanta.



In 1998, A federal judge dismissed the Paula Jones' sexual harassment lawsuit against U.S. President Clinton saying that the claims fell "far short" of being worthy of a trial.



In 2001, Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic was arrested on corruption charges after a 26-hour armed standoff with the police at his Belgrade villa.



In 2001, China began holding 24 crewmembers of a U.S. surveillance plane. The EP-3E U.S. Navy crew had made an emergency landing after an in-flight collision with a Chinese fighter jet. The Chinese pilot was missing and presumed dead. The U.S. crew was released on April 11, 2001.



Ten years ago (1994):



The government reported the nation's unemployment rate for March remained unchanged from February, at 6.5 percent.



Five years ago (1999):



The United States branded as an illegal abduction the capture of three U.S. Army soldiers near the Macedonian-Yugoslav border; President Clinton demanded their immediate release.



A New Jersey man was arrested and charged with originating the "Melissa" e-mail virus. (David L. Smith later pleaded guilty to various state and federal charges.)



Nunavut becomes the third independent territory in Canada; it is the homeland of Canada's Inuit, who comprise the vast majority of the population of Nunavut.



One year ago (2003):



American troops entered a hospital in Nasiriyah, Iraq, and rescued Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch, who had been held prisoner since her unit was ambushed on March 23.



A Cuban plane hijacked the day before with 32 people aboard landed at Key West, Fla., where the hijacker surrendered.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Birthdays:



Author William Manchester is 82.



Actor George Grizzard is 76.



Actress Jane Powell is 75.



Actress Grace Lee Whitney is 74.



Actress Debbie Reynolds is 72.



Country singer Jim Ed Brown is 70.



Actor Don Hastings is 70.



Blues singer Eddie King is 66.



Actress Ali MacGraw is 66.



Rhythm and blues singer Rudolph Isley is 65.



Reggae singer Jimmy Cliff is 56.



Jazz musician Gil Scott-Heron is 55.



Rock musician Billy Currie (Ultravox) is 52.



Actress Annette O'Toole is 51.



Movie director Barry Sonnenfeld is 51.



Actress Jennifer Runyon is 44.



Country singer Woody Lee is 36.



Movie directors Albert and Allen Hughes are 32.



Tennis player Magdalena Maleeva is 29.



Singer Bijou Phillips is 24.



Pop singer Hannah Spearritt (S CLUB 7) is 23.



Actor Sam Huntington is 22.



Actor Josh Zuckerman is 19.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Thought for Today:

"Life is short. Live it up." -

- Nikita S. Khrushchev, Soviet leader (1894-1971).

-------------------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------------

Today is Wednesday, March 31st.

The 91st day of 2004.

There are 275 days left in the year.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Highlight in History:



On March 31, 1968, President Johnson stunned the country by announcing he would not seek another term in office.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



On this date:



In 1596, French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician, René ("I think, therefore I am") Descartes, sometimes called the father of modern philosophy, was born in La Haye, Touraine (a region and former province of France). He died in 1650.



In 1774, The British Parliament responds to the Boston Tea Party by passing the Boston Port Act, which closes the port of Boston; Americans regard this as the first of the so-called "Intolerable Acts."



In 1831, Quebec and Montreal are incorporated as cities in Canada.



In 1870, Thomas Peterson Mundy of New Jersey becomes the first black man to cast a ballot after the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gives blacks the right to vote.



In 1880, Wabash, Indiana becomes the first town to have a complete electric street lighting system.



In 1889, French engineer Alexandre Gustave Eiffel unfurled the French tricolor from atop the Eiffel Tower, officially marking its completion.



In 1913, Financier, Industrialist, founder of U.S. Steel Corp., J. P. (John Pierpont) Morgan died at the age of 75.



In 1917, The US purchases Danish West Indies for $25M & renames them Virgin Islands



In 1918, Daylight Saving Time (NOT "Savings" Time) went into effect throughout the United States for the first time. Folks would "spring ahead" an hour allowing for longer early evenings. The time change left enough light for many activities, especially in farming areas. Planting and such could best be done with the sun up an extra hour. Folks would "fall back" an hour to Standard Time in the fall, to save an hour and gain an extra hour of sleep. Supposedly, it was a way to save energy, but many contend that this idea is foolish and that the country should do away with "Standard Time all the time" and keep the sun shining an hour later all year long.



In 1927, American labor leader (United Farm Workers) César Estrada Chávez was born near Yuma, AZ. He died in 1993.



In 1932, The Ford Motor Company publicly unveiled its "V-8" engine.



In 1933, Congress authorized the Civilian Conservation Corps.



In 1940, La Guardia airport in New York officially opened to the public.



In 1943, the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical "Oklahoma!" opened on Broadway.



In 1945, U.S. forces begin landings on the Pacific island of Okinawa.



In 1945, Tennessee Williams' "Glass Menagerie" premieres in New York NY



In 1948, The Soviets in Germany began controlling the Western trains headed toward Berlin.



In 1949, Newfoundland entered confederation as Canada's 10th province.



In 1951, US tanks cross the 38th Parrallel in Korea.



In 1953, Stanley Kubrick's first feature film, a war drama titled "Fear and Desire," premiered in New York.



In 1953, A new federal government department, Health Education and Welfare, is established.



In 1954, The US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs CO, is established.



In 1959, The Dalai Lama, fleeing Chinese repression of an uprising in Tibet, arrived at the Indian border and was granted political asylum.



In 1963, Los Angeles ends streetcar service after nearly 90 years.



In 1965, the U.S. orders the first commitment of combat troops to Vietnam to protect Danang Air Base.



In 1967, Jimi Hendrix begins his tradition of burning his guitar.



In 1976, The New Jersey Supreme Court sets a precedent, ruling that coma patient Karen Anne Quinlan can be taken off life support so she can "die with dignity."



In 1980, U.S. President Carter deregulated the banking industry.



In 1982, The rock group Doobie Brothers split up.



In 1985, ABC-TV aired the 200th episode of "The Love Boat."



In 1986, 167 people died when a Mexicana Airlines Boeing 727 crashed in a remote mountainous region of Mexico.



In 1987, the State Department ordered home all 28 remaining U.S. Marine guards at the Moscow embassy after two Marines were charged with espionage.



In 1990, Hundreds of people were injured when rioting erupted in London over Britain's so-called "poll tax."



In 1991, the Warsaw Pact spent the last day of its existence as a military alliance.



In 1993, actor Brandon Lee, 28, was accidentally killed during the filming of a movie in Wilmington, N.C., by a prop gun.



In 1995, Mexican-American singer Selena Quintanilla-Perez, 23, was shot to death in Corpus Christi, Texas, by Yolanda Saldivar, the founder of her fan club. (Saldivar was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.)



In 1998, For the first time in U.S. history the federal government's detailed financial statement was released. This occurred under the Clinton administration.



Ten years ago (1994):



The PLO and Israel agreed to resume talks on Palestinian autonomy, more than a month after the Hebron mosque massacre.



Five years ago (1999):



Three U.S. Army soldiers were captured by Serb forces near the Yugoslav-Macedonia border. (Staff Sgt. Andrew Ramirez, Staff Sgt. Christopher Stone and Spc. Steven M. Gonzales were released more than a month later.)



Four New York City police officers were charged with murder for killing Amadou Diallo, an unarmed African immigrant, in a hail of bullets (the officers were acquitted in February 2000).



One year ago (2003):



American forces battled Iraqi defenders in fierce street fighting 50 miles south of Baghdad, pointing toward a drive on the capital.



Seven Iraqi women and children were killed at an Army checkpoint when their van refused orders to stop.



U.S. military officials accused Geraldo Rivera of disclosing unauthorized military movements. Rivera had outlined military movements in the dirt while embedded with the 101st Airborne Division in Iraq.



NBC fired Peter Arnett after he gave an unauthorized interview with state-run Iraqi TV. During the interview Arnett said that the American-led war effort had initially failed because of Iraqi resistance.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Birthdays:



Actor William Daniels (Knight Rider's voice of KITT, St. Elsewhere's Dr. Mark Craig) is 77.



Hockey Hall-of-Famer Gordie Howe is 76.



Actor (George) Richard Chamberlain is 70.



Actress Shirley Jones is 70.



Country singer-songwriter John D. Loudermilk is 70.



Musician Herb Alpert is 69.



Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., is 64.



Actor Christopher Walken is 61.



Comedian Gabriel "Gabe" Kaplan is 59.



Former Vice President Al Gore, Jr. is 56.



David Eisenhower is 56.



Actress Rhea Perlman is 56.



Actor, NFL Runningback Ed Marinaro (Hill St. Blues) is 53.



Rock musician Angus Young (AC/DC) is 49.



Actor Marc McClure is 47.



Actor William McNamara is 39.



Actor Ewan McGregor is 33.



Actor Colin Farrell is 28.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Thought for Today:

"It is not enough to have a good mind. The main thing is to use it well." -

- Rene Descartes, French philosopher (1596-1650).

----------------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------

Today is Tuesday, March 30th

The 90th day of 2004.

There are 276 days left in the year.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Highlight in History:



On March 30, 1981, President Reagan was shot and seriously injured outside a Washington, D.C. hotel by John W. Hinckley Jr. Also wounded were White House press secretary James Brady, a Secret Service agent and a District of Columbia police officer.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



On this date:



In 239, B.C.E., was the first recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet.



In 1814, Britain and its allies against Napoleon marched triumphantly into Paris.



In 1822, Florida became a United States territory.



In 1842, Dr. Crawford W. Long of Jefferson, Ga., first used ether as an anesthetic during a minor operation.



In 1843, the Egg Incubator was patented by Napoleon E, Guerin.



In 1853, Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh was born. He died in 1890.



In 1858, Hyman L. Lipman of Philadelphia patents his idea of attaching an eraser to the top of a lead pencil.



In 1867, U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward reached agreement with Russia to purchase the territory of Alaska for $7.2 million, a deal roundly ridiculed as "Seward's Folly."



In 1870, the 15th amendment to the Constitution, giving black men the right to vote, was declared in effect.



In 1870, Texas was readmitted to the Union.



In 1893, Thomas Francis Bayard was named first American ambassador to Great Britain. The United States previously had a lower-level diplomatic presence in London.



In 1909, The Queensboro Bridge opens, linking Manhattan & Queens. It was the first double decker bridge.



In 1916, Pancho Villa killed 172 at the Guerrero garrison in Mexico.



In 1932, Amelia Earhart is 1st woman to fly solo cross the Atlantic



In 1935, Newfoundland changes time to 3 1/2 hrs W of Greenwich.



In 1941, The German Afrika Korps under General Erwin Rommel began its first offensive against British forces in Libya.



In 1942, a directive from Washington, D.C. decrees that men's suits be manufactured without trouser cuffs, pleats and patch pockets for the duration of the war.



In 1944, The U.S. fleet attacked Palau, near the Philippines.



In 1945, the Soviet Union invaded Austria during World War II.



In 1946, The Allies seized 1,000 Nazis attempting to revive the Nazi party in Frankfurt.



In 1948, Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin ordered all road and rail access to Berlin, Germany blocked, marking the beginning of what would become a complete blockade of the German city three months later -- on June 24.



In 1950, the invention of the Phototransistor was announced at Murray Hill, NJ.



In 1950, U.S. President Truman denounced Senator Joe McCarthy as a saboteur of U.S. foreign policy.



In 1953, Einstein announces revised unified field theory



In 1964, John Glenn withdrew from the Ohio race for U.S. Senate because of injuries suffered in a fall.



In 1964, "Jeopardy" debuted on NBC-TV.



In 1970. American Thoroughbred racehorse Secretariat was born at Meadow Stud in Doswell, Virginia. In 1973 he became the first Triple Crown winner since 1948. He was retired to stud at Claiborne Farm in Paris, Kentucky. In 16 years he sired 663 foals. Secretariat was euthanized in 1989 because of complications from laminitis, an incurable hoof disease, and is buried at the farm.



In 1979, Airey Neave, a leading member of the British parliament, was killed by a bomb planted by the Irish National Liberation Army.



In 1984, The U.S. ended its participation in the multinational peace force in Lebanon.



In 1986, actor James Cagney died at his farm in Stanfordville, N.Y., at age 86.



In 1987, Vincent van Gogh's "Sunflowers" sells for record £22.5M ($39.7 million)



In 1993, after 43 years, the unthinkable happened on the comic pages, Charlie Brown was a hero when he hit a homerun and his baseball team won for the first time.



In 1998, Rolls-Royce was purchased by German automaker BMW in a $570 million deal.



In 2000, In the midst of the 2000 presidential campaign, Vice President Al Gore broke with the Clinton administration, saying he supported legislation to allow six-year-old Elian Gonzalez to remain in the country while the courts resolved his custody case.



In 2002, the Queen Mother Elizabeth of England died in her sleep at Royal Lodge, Windsor, outside London; she was 101 years old.



Ten years ago (1994):



Serbs and Croats signed a cease-fire to end their war in Croatia while Bosnian Muslims and Serbs continued to battle each other.



The Clinton administration announced it was lifting virtually all export controls on non-military products to China and the former Soviet bloc.



Five years ago (1999):



Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic insisted that NATO attacks stop before he moved toward peace, declaring his forces ready to fight "to the very end." NATO answered with new resolve to wreck his military with a relentless air assault.



A jury in Portland, Ore., ordered Philip Morris to pay $81 million to the family of a man who died of lung cancer after smoking Marlboros for four decades. (The Supreme Court threw out the verdict in October 2003, saying it should be reviewed by lower courts to ensure it was not unconstitutionally excessive.)



One year ago (2003):



A Palestinian suicide bomber wounded some 30 people outside a packed cafe in northern Israel, an attack the Islamic Jihad called "Palestine's gift to the heroic people of Iraq."



An Iraqi official announced that 4,000 Arab volunteers had arrived to carry out more suicide attacks against U.S. and British forces.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Birthdays:



Singer Frankie Laine is 91.



Actor Richard Dysart is 75.



Actor John Astin is 74.



Game show host Peter Marshall (Pierre LaCock) is 74.



Actor-director Warren Beatty is 67.



Rock musician Graeme Edge (The Moody Blues) is 63.



Rock musician Eric (Patrick) Clapton is 59.



Actor Robbie Coltrane is 54.



Actor Paul Reiser is 47.



Rap artist MC Hammer is 41.



Singer Tracy Chapman is 40.



Actor Ian Ziering is 40.



Singer Celine Dion is 36.



Actor Mark Consuelos is 34.



Singer Norah Jones is 25.



Singer-musician Scott Moffatt (The Moffatts) is 21.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Thought for Today:

"All mankind is divided into three classes: those that are immovable, those that are moveable, and those that move." -

- Arab proverb.

-------------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------

Today is Monday, March 29th

The 89th day of 2004

There are 277 days left in the year.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Highlight in History:



On March 29, 1973, the last United States combat troops left South Vietnam, ending America's direct military involvement in the Vietnam War.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



On this date:



In 1139, Pope Innocent II grants the Templars 'every best gift' and makes them an independent unit within the Church



In 1626, the Plymouth Colony enacts forestry legislation requiring approval for the exportation of lumber.



In 1638, Swedish colonists settled in present-day Delaware.



In 1790, the 10th president of the United States, John Tyler, was born in Charles City County, Va.



In 1798, Republic of Switzerland formed.



In 1812, the first wedding was performed in the White House. Mrs. Lucy Payne Washington, sister-in-law of President James Madison, married Supreme Court Justice Thomas Dodd.



In 1847, victorious forces led by General Winfield Scott occupied the city of Vera Cruz after Mexican defenders capitulated.



In 1848, Niagara Falls stops flowing for 30 hours due to an ice jam



In 1867, the British Parliament passed the North America Act to create the Dominion of Canada.



In 1867, Major league pitcher Denton True "Cy" Young was born in Gilmore, OH. During his 22 years in the major leagues he pitched in 906 games and won 511 (a record which still stands) and had three perfect "no-hit" games. He retired from baseball in 1911. In 1937 he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. He died in 1955. In his honor, the Cy Young Award for the best major league pitcher of the year was established in 1956; since 1967 the award has been given to the best pitcher in each league.



In 1882, the Knights of Columbus was chartered in Connecticut.



In 1886, the first batch of Coca Cola was brewed over a fire in a backyard in Atlanta, GA. Dr. John Pemberton created the concoction as a "hangover" cure and a stomach ache/headache remedy. He advertised it as a "brain tonic and intellectual beverage". Cocaine was an ingredient of Coke until 1904 when Congress banned it. It went on sale to the public on May eighth that year.



In 1903, A regular news service began between New York and London on Marconi's wireless.



In 1927, Major Henry O. de Hane becomes the first person to drive a car over 200 miles per hour.



In 1932, American comedian Jack Benny makes his radio debut.



In 1943, World War II meat, butter and cheese rationing began.



In 1951, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage. (They were executed in June 1953.)



In 1961, The 23rd Amendment is ratified, giving residents of Washington, D.C. the right to vote in presidential elections.



In 1962, Jack Paar hosted NBC's "Tonight" show for the final time.



In 1971, Army Lt. William L. Calley Jr. was convicted of murdering at least 22 Vietnamese civilians in the My Lai massacre. (Calley ended up spending three years under house arrest.)



In 1974, In Los Angeles, a jury recommended the death penalty for Charles Manson and three female followers -- Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkle and Leslie Van Houten -- for the August 1969 Tate-La Bianca murders. Their sentences were later commuted to life in prison when the state's death penalty of the day was ruled unconstitutional.



In 1974, eight Ohio National Guardsmen were indicted on charges stemming from the shooting deaths of four students at Kent State University. (The guardsmen were later acquitted.)



In 1974, The Mariner 10 spacecraft, launched by NASA in November, is the first spacecraft to visit Mercury and take close-up pictures of the planet.



In 1979, The Committee on Assassinations Report issued by U.S. House of Representatives stated the assassination of President John F. Kennedy was the result of a conspiracy.



In 1984, The 100th episode of "Knots Landing" aired.



In 1988, leaders of the Assemblies of God ordered Rev. Jimmy Swaggart to stop preaching for at least a year because of "moral failure."



In 1991, Former President Ronald Reagan reverses his position by coming out in favor of seven day waiting periods for purchases of handguns.



In 1992, Bill Clinton said "I didn't inhale" in reference to when he had used marijuana.



In 1993, The South Korean government agreed to pay financial support to women who had been forced to have sex with Japanese troops during World War II.



In 1996, the House Ethics Committee said Speaker Newt Gingrich violated House rules by having close dealings with a wealthy GOP giver who had business interests affected by congressional legislation. It was the third time in two months the panel had notified Gingrich that he'd broken the rules.



In 2000, Cuba's Fidel Castro announced that the father of 6-year-old refugee Elian Gonzalez was ready to fly to the United States to take custody of his son.



In 2334, Dr. Beverley Crusher (Star Fleet - USS Enterprise, NCC-1701-D/E) will be born in Copernicus Luna.



In 2336, Ship Counsellor Deanna Troi (Star Fleet - USS Enterprise, NCC-1701-D/E) will be born on Betazed.



Ten years ago (1994):



Mexico's ruling party picked Ernesto Zedillo to be its new presidential candidate, replacing the assassinated Luis Donaldo Colosio.



Dallas Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson resigned, capping a longstanding feud with team owner Jerry Jones.



Five years ago (1999):



NATO air strikes against Yugoslavia continued for a sixth night.



The Dow Jones industrial average closed above 10,000 for the first time, ending the day at 10,006.78.



Connecticut beat top-ranked Duke, 77-74, for its first NCAA basketball championship.



Legendary jazz singer Joe Williams died in Las Vegas at age 80.



One year ago (2003):



In Iraq, a bomber posing as a taxi driver blew up his vehicle, killing himself and four American soldiers



A Turkish man who had hijacked a Turkish Airlines flight the day before was persuaded by Turkey's prime minister to release his 204 hostages after the plane landed in Athens, Greece.



Michelle Kwan became only the third American to win five World Figure Skating Championships, after Dick Button and Carol Heiss.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Birthdays:



Former U.S. Sen. Eugene McCarthy is 88.



Political commentator John McLaughlin is 77.



Former British Prime Minister John Major is 61.



Comedian Eric Idle is 61.



Composer Vangelis is 61.



Singer Bobby Kimball (Toto) is 57.



Actor Bud Cort is 54.



Actor Chris Lawford is 49.



Olympic gymnast Kurt Thomas is 48.



Actor Christopher Lambert is 47.



Rock singer Perry Farrell (Porno for Pyros; Jane's Addiction) is 45.



Actress Kelly LeBrock is 44.



Model Elle Macpherson is 41.



Rock singer-musician John Popper (Blues Traveler) is 37.



Actress Lucy Lawless (Xena) is 36.



Country singer Regina Leigh (Regina Regina) is 36.



Country singer Brady Seals is 35.



Tennis player Jennifer Capriati is 28.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Thought for Today:

"Materialists and madmen never have doubts." -

- G.K. Chesterton, English author (1874-1936).

-------------------------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------------

Today is Sunday, March 28th.

The 88th day of 2004.

There are 278 days left in the year.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Highlight in History:



On March 28, 1979, America's worst commercial nuclear accident occurred inside the Unit Two reactor at the Three Mile Island plant near Middletown, Pa.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



On this date:



In 1380, Gunpowder first used in Europe, by the Venetians against the Genoese



In 1797, Nathaniel Briggs of New Hampshire patented the washing machine.



In 1799, New York State abolished slavery.



In 1804, Ohio passed law restricting movement of Blacks



In 1834, the U.S. Senate voted to censure President Jackson for the removal of federal deposits from the Bank of the United States.



In 1848, a Pennsylvania law decrees that no child under twelve could engage in commercial labor.



In 1854, during the Crimean War, Britain and France declared war on Russia.



In 1865, Outdoor advertising legislation was enacted in New York State. The law banned "painting on stones, rocks and trees."



In 1885, The Salvation Army was officially organized in the U.S.



In 1898, the Supreme Court ruled that a child born in the United States to Chinese immigrants was a U.S. citizen. This meant that they could not be deported under the Chinese Exclusion Act.



In 1899, Budwiser beer magnate August Anheuser Busch, jr. was born. He died September 29, 1989.



In 1910, Mickey Mouse Club host Jimmie Dodd was born. He died in 1964.



In 1917, During World War I the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) was founded.



In 1930, the names of the Turkish cities of Constantinople and Angora were changed to Istanbul and Ankara.



In 1933, In Germany, the Nazis ordered a ban on all Jews in businesses, professions and schools.



In 1939, the Spanish Civil War ended as Madrid fell to the forces of Francisco Franco.



In 1941, novelist and critic Virginia Woolf died in Lewes, England.



In 1941, The Italian fleet was defeated by the British at the Battle of Matapan.



In 1942, during World War II, British naval forces raided the Nazi-occupied French port of St. Nazaire.



In 1943, composer Sergei Rachmaninoff died in Beverly Hills, Calif.



In 1953, Olympic Gold Medal athlete James Francis "Jim" Thorpe died in Lomita, Calif., at the age of 64.



In 1962, Jack Paar made his final appearance on the "Tonight" show.



In 1967, Raymond Burr starred in a TV movie titled "Ironside." The movie was later turned into a television series.



In 1969, the 34th president of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower, died in Washington at age 78.



In 1969, In London, Ringo Starr announces that there will be no more public appearances by the Beatles.



In 1972, Wilt Chamberlain plays his last pro basketball game



In 1974, A streaker ran onto the set of "The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson."



In 1979, The King of Clowns, Emmett Kelly died at the age of 80.



In 1982, The soap opera "Search for Tomorrow" changed from CBS to NBC.



In 1986, More than 6,000 radio stations of all format varieties played "We are the World" simultaneously at 10:15 a.m. EST.



In 1990, In Britain, a joint Anglo-U.S. "sting" operation ended with the seizure of 40 capacitors, which can be used in the trigger mechanism of a nuclear weapon.



In 1991, The 100th episode of "L.A. Law" aired.



In 1997, a medical examiner revealed that some members of the Heaven's Gate cult who'd committed suicide in a California mansion had also been castrated in apparent pursuit of the group's ideal of androgynous immortality.



In 2000, In a unanimous ruling, the Supreme Court sharply curtailed police power to rely on anonymous tips to stop and search people.



Ten years ago (1994):



More than 50 people were killed in violence that erupted in Johannesburg, South Africa, during a march by Zulu nationalists.



Absurdist playwright Eugene Ionesco died in Paris at age 81.



Five years ago (1999):



NATO broadened its attacks on Yugoslavia to target Serb military forces in Kosovo in the fifth straight night of airstrikes; thousands of refugees flooded into Albania and Macedonia from Kosovo.



The Baltimore Orioles beat a Cuban all-star team 3-2 in Havana.



Venus Williams beat kid sister Serena 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 to win the Lipton Championships in the first all-sister women's final in 115 years.



Paraguay's President Raúl Cubas Grau resigned after protests inspired by the assassination of Vice-President Luis María Argaña on March 23. The nation's Congress had accused Cubas and his political associate, Gen. Lino César Oviedo, for Cubas' murder. Senate President Luis González Macchi took office as Paraguay's new chief executive.



One year ago (2003):



American-led forces in Iraq dropped 1,000-pound bombs on Republican Guard units guarding the gates to Baghdad and battled for control of the strategic city of Nasiriya.



President Bush warned of "further sacrifice" ahead in the face of unexpectedly fierce fighting.



Japan launched its first spy satellites to monitor communist neighbor North Korea's missile development and suspected nuclear weapons programs.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Birthdays:



Former White House national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski is 76.



Alaska Governor Frank Murkowski is 71.



Country musician Charlie McCoy is 63.



Movie director Mike Newell is 62.



Actress Conchata Ferrell is 61.



Actor Ken Howard is 60.



Actress Dianne Wiest is 56.



Rhythm and blues musician Milan Williams (The Commodores) is 56.



Olympian gold medalist Ronnie Ray Smith is 55.



Country singer Reba McEntire is 49.



American Gymnast and three-time Olympian Bart Conner is 46.



Actress Tracey Needham is 37.



Actor Max Perlich is 36.



Rapper Salt (Salt-N-Pepa) is 35.



Actor Vince Vaughn is 34.



Rapper Mr. Cheeks (Lost Boyz) is 33.



Actor Ken L. is 31.



Actress Julia Stiles is 23.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Thought for Today:

"If you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people." -

- Virginia Woolf (1882-1941).

--------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------------

Today is Saturday, March 27th.

The 87th day of 2004.

There are 279 days left in the year.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Highlight in History:



On March 27, 1977, 582 people were killed when a KLM Boeing 747, attempting to take off, crashed into a Pan Am 747 on the Canary Island of Tenerife.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



On this date:



In 1512, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon sighted Florida.



In 1625, Charles I ascended the English throne upon the death of James I.



In 1790, The Shoelace was invented.



In 1794, President Washington and Congress authorized creation of the U.S. Navy.



In 1836, the first Mormon temple was dedicated, in Kirtland, Ohio.



In 1855, Abraham Gesner patents Kerosene



In 1866, President Andrew Johnson vetoes the civil rights bill; it later becomes the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.



In 1866, Andrew Rankin received a patent for the urinal.



In 1884, The very first long-distance call is made. The call is between The American Bell Telephone Company in Boston and New York.



In 1912, First lady Helen Taft plants the first Japanese cherry trees in Washington, D.C.



In 1917, the Seattle Metropolitans became the first U.S. team to win the Stanley Cup as they defeated the Montreal Canadiens.



In 1933, About 55,000 people staged a protest against Hitler in New York City.



In 1955, Steve McQueen made his network TV debut on "Goodyear Playhouse."



In 1958, Nikita Khrushchev became Soviet premier in addition to First Secretary of the Communist Party.



In 1958, CBS Labs announce new stereophonic records



In 1964, Southern Alaska is hit with the strongest earthquake in American history. The earthquake measures 9.2 on the Richter scale. Adding to the disaster is a tidal wave that measures over 100 feet at certain points.



In 1968, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first man to orbit the earth, died in a plane crash.



In 1968, The windsurfer is patented.



In 1973, Marlon Brando refuses his Oscar for The Godfather in protest of Hollywood's treatment of Native Americans.



In 1979, The U.S. Supreme Court ruled, 8-to-1, that police could not stop motorists at random to check licenses and registrations unless there was reason to believe a law had been broken.



In 1980, 137 workers died when a North Sea floating oil field platform, the Alexander I. Keilland, capsized during a storm.



In 1980, After 123 years of remaining inactive, Mount St. Helens in Washington becomes active once more when it begins to shoot out ash and steam. The most distructive eruption in U.S. history will later occur on May 18th... when Mount St. Helens erupts at the power of 10,000,000 tons of dynamite.



In 1985, the Supreme Court rules that police could not shoot fleeing criminal suspects who are unarmed and not considered dangerous.



In 1998, the Food and Drug Administration approved the anti-impotence drug Viagra, made by Pfizer.



In 1997, Russian workers staged a nationwide strike to demand overdue wages.



In 1998, Top civilian aircraft makers in France, Spain, Germany and Britain agreed to create single European aerospace and defense company.



In 2000, DaimlerChrysler AG announced it would buy 34 percent of Japan's Mitsubishi Motors Corporation.



In 2001, California regulators approved electricity rate hikes of up to 46 percent.



Ten years ago (1994):



More than 40 people were killed as violent thunderstorms tore across the Southeast.



Italians went to the polls in general elections that resulted in big gains for a right-wing coalition.



Ukraine held its first parliamentary elections since the collapse of the Soviet Union.



Five years ago (1999):



NATO expanded its air assault on Yugoslavia in the fourth straight day of attacks.



Maria Butyrskaya of Russia won the World Figure Skating Championships in Helsinki, Finland; defending champion Michelle Kwan of the United States finished second.



One year ago (2003):



Serbian police killed two major suspects in the assassination of Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic



Russia's Evgeni Plushenko won his second World Figure Skating Championships title, edging American Tim Goebel.



Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paul Zindel died in New York at age 66.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Birthdays:



Lord Callaghan, former British prime minister, is 92.



Blues musician Robert "Junior" Lockwood is 89.



Former newspaper columnist Anthony Lewis is 77.



Dance company director Arthur Mitchell is 70.



Actor Julian Glover is 69.



Actor Jerry Lacy is 68.



Actor Austin Pendleton is 64.



Actor Michael York is 62.



Rock musician Tony Banks (Genesis) is 54.



Actress Maria Schneider is 52.



Rock musician Andrew Farriss (INXS) is 45.



Movie director Quentin Tarantino is 41.



Singer, Variety Show Hostess, Movie Actress, Xuxa (pronounced SHOO-SHAW)(Maria da Graca Meneghel) is 41.



Rock musician Derrick McKenzie (Jamiroquai) is 40.



Actress Talisa Soto is 37.



Actress Pauley Perrette is 35.



Singer Mariah Carey is 34.



Rock musician Brendan Hill (Blues Traveler) is 34.



Actress Elizabeth Mitchell is 34.



Hip-hop singer Fergy (Black Eyed Peas) is 29.



Actress Emily Ann Lloyd is 21.



Actress Taylor Atelian is 9.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Thought for Today:

"Men travel faster now, but I do not know if they go to better things." -

- Willa Cather, American author (1873-1947).

---------------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------------

Today is Friday, March 26th.

The 86th day of 2004.

There are 280 days left in the year.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Highlight in History:



On March 26, 1982, groundbreaking ceremonies took place in Washington, D.C., for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



On this date:



In 1150, Tichborne family of Hampshire England started tradition of giving a Gallon of flour to each resident to keep deathbed promise.



In 1388, Construction begins on St. Mary's College, Oxford, England



In 1668, Bombay, India was transferred to England.



In 1790, The Naturalization Act is passed by Congress and requires a two-year residency for new citizens.



In 1804, the Louisiana Purchase was divided into the Territory of Orleans and the District of Louisiana.



In 1827, composer Ludwig van Beethoven died in Vienna.



In 1859, astronomers reported sighting a new planet in an orbit near that of Mercury. They named it Vulcan. It's now believed to have been a "rogue asteroid" making a one-time pass close to the sun.



In 1874, poet Robert Frost was born in San Francisco.



In 1885, Eastman Kodak produces the first commercial moving-picture film.



In 1892, poet Walt Whitman died in Camden, N.J.



In 1909, Russian troops invaded Persia to support Muhammad Ali as shah in place of the constitutional government.



In 1911, playwright Tennessee Williams was born in Columbus, Miss.



In 1917 At the start of the battle of Gaza, the British cavalry withdrew when 17,000 Turks blocked their advance.



In 1934, Driving tests were introduced in Britain.



In 1938, Herman Goering warned all Jews to leave Austria.



In 1942, The Germans began sending Jews to Auschwitz in Poland.



In 1943, Elsie S. Ott is the first woman awarded the U.S. Air Force Medal at Bowman Field, Kentucky.



In 1945, Generals Eisenhower/Bradley/Patton attack at Remagen the Rhine.



In 1945, Kamikazes attack US battle fleet near Kerama Retto.



In 1945, US seventh Army crosses Worms on the Rhine.



In 1945, The Battle of Iwo Jima ended. During the battle about 22,000 Japanese troops were killed or captured and more than 4,500 U.S. troops died.



In 1945, The Japanese attempted to reinforce a garrison at Kiska in the Aleutians but were intercepted by a U.S. naval force at the battle of Komandorski Islands.



In 1951, The United States Air Force Flag is approved. The design, which is laid out on a blue background, includes the coat of arms, thirteen white stars, and the Air Force Seal.



In 1953, Dr. Jonas Salk announces a new vaccine to prevent polio, an infectious viral disease of the central nervous system that sometimes results in permanent paralysis.



In 1955, "Ballad of Davy Crockett" becomes the #1 record in US



In 1956, Red Buttons made his debut as a television actor in "Studio One" on CBS television.



In 1958, the U.S. Army launched America's third successful satellite, Explorer III.



In 1960, The TV special "Welcome Home Elvis" was recorded in Miami Beach, FL. The show was hosted by Frank Sinatra.



In 1962, the U.S. Supreme Court gave federal courts the power to order reapportionment of seats in a state legislature, a decision that eventually led to the doctrine of "one man, one vote."



In 1962, American poet Robert Frost publishes his first new collection of poems in 15 years, In the Clearing.



In 1964, the musical play "Funny Girl," starring Barbra Streisand, opened on Broadway.



In 1969, The TV movie "Marcus Welby" was seen on ABC-TV. It was later turned into a series.



In 1971, East Pakistan proclaimed its independence, taking the name Bangladesh.



In 1971, "Cannon" premiered on CBS-TV as a movie. It was turned into a series later in the year.



In 1973, Women were allowed on to the floor of the London Stock Exchange for the first time. Susan Shaw was the first.



In 1973, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat took over the premiership and said "the stage of total confrontatation (with Israel) has become inevitable."



In 1975, the city of Hue in South Vietnam fell to the North Vietnamese army.



In 1979, the Camp David peace treaty was signed by Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat at the White House.



In 1980, Mount St. Helens in Washington State begins emitting steam, ash, and the odd boulder. The volcano will blow its lid two months later.



In 1989, Boris Yeltsin becomes the first popularly elected president of Russia during the first free elections in the history of the Soviet Union.



In 1989, The first episode of "Quantum Leap" aired on NBC.



In 1991, The Bush administration indicated it would not aid rebels seeking to overthrow Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.



In 1991, a divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled that criminal defendants whose coerced confessions were improperly used as evidence are not always entitled to a new trial.



In 1993, a "frustrated" taxpayer blasted his way into the IRS state headquarters in Sacramento, Calif., taking several workers hostage before a police SWAT team killed him.



In 1993, a man armed with a small-caliber rifle opened fire along a rural highway outside Seattle, killing one man and wounding six others before police shot and critically wounded him.



In 1995, "Johnny Bravo" was aired for the first time on the Cartoon Network.



In 1997, Police enter a mansion in Santa Fe, California, and discover thirty-nine bodies from a mass suicide. The victims were all members of the religious cult, "Heaven’s Gate," who believed that by committing suicide, they would be picked up by an alien spacecraft following behind the Hale-Bopp comet.



In 1998, In the U.S., the Federal government endorses new HIV test that yields instant results.



In 1998, Unisys Corp. and Lockheed Martin Corp. pay a $3.15 million fine for selling spare parts at inflated prices to the U.S. federal government.



In 1998, President Clinton stood with President Nelson Mandela in a racially integrated South African parliament to salute a country that was "truly free and democratic at last." Clinton, accompanied by his wife Hillary, became the first U.S. head of state to visit the former British colony.



In 2000, The Seattle Kingdome was imploded to make room for a new football arena.



In 2000, In Russia, acting President Vladimir Putin was elected president outright. He won a sufficient number of votes to avoid a runoff election.



In 2002, Chief executive Joseph Berardino of the Arthur Andersen accounting firm resigned, bowing to mounting pressure as a result of the accounting firm's role in the Enron scandal.



Ten years ago (1994):



U.N. peacekeepers in Bosnia-Herzegovina destroyed a Serb bunker following a seven-hour exchange of fire.



The Senate passed President Clinton's education reform measure, the "Goals 2000" bill, 63-22.



Five years ago (1999):



American-led NATO forces launched a third night of airstrikes against Yugoslavia.



Dr. Jack Kevorkian was convicted in Pontiac, Mich., of second-degree murder for giving a patient with Lou Gehrig's disease a lethal injection, an action videotaped and broadcast on television.



A cunning computer virus named "Melissa" began infecting computers across the country.



One year ago (2003):



The Senate approved a $2.2 trillion budget that provided less than half the $726 billion in tax cuts President Bush wanted.



Former Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, D-N.Y., died in Washington, D.C., at age 76.



Interpol issued an international call for the arrest of former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori on charges of murder and kidnapping in Peru.



It was announced by the U.S. Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that Iraq had executed American prisoners of war.



It was announced by a U.S. general that 3,000 chemical suits had been discovered in a hospital in central Iraq.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Birthdays:



Retired Army Gen. William C. Westmoreland is 90.



Comedian, Radio Disc Jock, TV/Radio Actor Bob Elliott (Bob & Ray) is 81.



Jazz musician James Moody is 79.



Conductor-composer Pierre Boulez is 79.



Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor is 74.



Actor-director Leonard Nimoy is 73.



Actor Alan Arkin is 70.



Actor James Caan is 64.



Author Erica Jong is 62.



Journalist Robert "Bob" Woodward is 61.



Singer Diana Ross is 60.



Actor Johnny Crawford ("Mark McCain" - The Rifleman) is 58.



Rock singer Steven Tyler (Aerosmith) is 56.



Singer and TV personality Vicki Lawrence is 55.



Singer Teddy Pendergrass is 54.



Comedian Martin Short is 54.



Country singer Ronnie McDowell is 54.



Founder of the Guardian Angels, Curtis Sliwa is 50.



Country singer Dean Dillon is 49.



Country singer Charly McClain is 48.



TV personality Leeza Gibbons is 47.



Actress Jennifer Grey is 44.



NFLer Marcus Allen is 44.



Basketball player John Stockton is 42.



Actor Michael Imperioli is 38.



Rock musician James Iha is 36.



Country singer Kenny Chesney is 36.



Rapper Juvenile is 29.



Actress Amy Smart is 28.



Actress Keira Knightley is 19.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Thought for Today:

"The proof of a poet is that his country absorbs him as affectionately as he has absorbed it." -

- Walt Whitman (1819-1892).

--------------------------------------------------