DAILY CHUCKLE 9-023

"Let's all be careful out there!"

JANUARY 22ND

Today is Thursday, Jan. 22, the 22nd day of 2009.
There are 343 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

• On Jan. 22, 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court, in its Roe v. Wade decision, legalized abortions using a trimester approach.

On this date:

• In 1901, Britain's Queen Victoria died at age 81.
• In 1905 (New Style calendar), thousands of demonstrating Russian workers were fired on by Imperial army troops in St. Petersburg on what became known as "Bloody Sunday."
• In 1909, actress Ann Sothern was born in Valley City, N.D.; U.N. Secretary-General U Thant was born in Pantanaw, Burma.
• In 1917, President Woodrow Wilson pleaded for an end to war in Europe, calling for "peace without victory." (By April, however, America also was at war.)
• In 1922, Pope Benedict XV died; he was succeeded by Pius XI.
• In 1944, during World War II, Allied forces began landing at Anzio, Italy.
• In 1959, 12 workers were killed in the Knox Mine Disaster in Port Griffith, Pa., when a mine became flooded with water from the Susquehanna River.
• In 1973, former President Lyndon B. Johnson died at age 64.
• In 1984, the Los Angeles Raiders defeated the Washington Redskins 38-9 to win Super Bowl XVIII, played at Tampa Stadium in Florida. (The game broadcast on CBS-TV featured Apple Computer's famous "1984" ad introducing the Macintosh PC.)
• In 1995, Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy died at the Kennedy compound at Hyannis Port, Mass., at age 104.

Ten years ago:

• Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., abruptly called for dismissal of charges against President Bill Clinton to "end this sad and sorry time for our country."
• Clinton called for spending $2.8 billion to protect the nation from cyber terrorism and chemical and germ warfare.
• Pope John Paul II arrived in Mexico on his first visit in 20 years.

Five years ago:

• South Dakota politician Bill Janklow was sentenced to 100 days in jail for an auto accident that killed a motorcyclist.
• Enron Corp.'s former top accountant, Richard Causey, surrendered to federal authorities; he pleaded innocent to conspiracy and fraud charges. (Causey later pleaded guilty to securities fraud and was sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison.)
• Actress-dancer Ann Miller died in Los Angeles at age 81.

One year ago:

• Actor Heath Ledger was found dead of an accidental prescription overdose in New York City; he was 28.
• Jose Padilla, once accused of plotting with al-Qaida to blow up a radioactive "dirty bomb," was sentenced by a U.S. federal judge in Miami to 17 years and four months on terrorism conspiracy charges.
• Republican Fred Thompson quit the race for the White House after a string of poor finishes in early primary and caucus states.

Today's Birthdays:

• Former Sen. Birch Bayh, D-Ind., is 81.
• Actress Piper Laurie is 77.
• Actor Seymour Cassel is 74.
• Author Joseph Wambaugh is 72.
• Actor John Hurt is 69.
• Singer Steve Perry is 60.
• Country singer-musician Teddy Gentry (Alabama) is 57.
• Movie director Jim Jarmusch is 56.
• Hockey Hall-of-Famer Mike Bossy is 52.
• Actress Linda Blair is 50.
• Actress Diane Lane is 44.
• Actor-rap DJ Jazzy Jeff is 44.
• Country singer Regina Nicks (Regina Regina) is 44.
• Rhythm-and-blues singer Marc Gay (Shai) is 40.
• Actor Gabriel Macht is 37.
• Actor Balthazar Getty is 34.
• Actor Christopher Kennedy Masterson is 29.
• Pop singer Willa Ford is 28.
• Actress Beverley Mitchell is 28.
• Rock singer-musician Ben Moody is 28.

Thought for Today:

"Advertising has done more to cause the social unrest of the 20th century than any other single factor."
Clare Boothe Luce, American author, politician and diplomat (1903-1987).

"Let's all be careful out there!"

DAILY CHUCKLE 9-022

"Let's all be careful out there!"

JANUARY 21ST

Today is Wednesday, Jan. 21, the 21st day of 2009.
There are 344 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

• On Jan. 21, 1793, during the French Revolution, King Louis XVI, condemned for treason, was executed on the guillotine.

On this date:

• In 1858, Felix Marma Zuloaga became president of Mexico upon the ouster of Ignacio Comonfort.
• In 1861, Jefferson Davis of Mississippi and four other Southerners resigned from the U.S. Senate.
• In 1915, the first Kiwanis Club was founded, in Detroit.
• In 1924, Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin died at age 53.
• In 1950, former State Department official Alger Hiss, accused of being part of a Communist spy ring, was found guilty in New York of lying to a grand jury. (Hiss, who always proclaimed his innocence, served less than four years in prison.)
• In 1954, the first atomic submarine, the USS Nautilus, was launched at Groton, Conn. (However, the Nautilus did not make its first nuclear-powered run until nearly a year later.)
• In 1958, Charles Starkweather, 19, killed three relatives of his 14-year-old girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate, at her family's home in Lincoln, Neb. (Starkweather and Fugate went on a road trip which resulted in seven more slayings.)
• In 1959, Ohio saw widespread flooding caused by heavy rain and melted snow. Movie producer-director Cecil B. DeMille died in Hollywood at age 77. Former child actor Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer was shot and killed during an argument in Mission Hills, Calif.; he was 31.
• In 1968, the Battle of Khe Sanh began during the Vietnam War as North Vietnamese forces attacked a U.S. Marine base; the Americans were able to hold their position until the siege was lifted 2 1/2 months later. In Greenland, an American B-52 bomber carrying four hydrogen bombs crashed, killing one crew member and scattering radioactive material.
• In 1976, the supersonic Concorde jet was put into service by Britain and France.

Ten years ago:

• Former Sen. Dale Bumpers told the Senate impeachment trial of Bill Clinton that the president was guilty of a "terrible moral lapse" but not of conduct warranting or even permitting his removal from office.
• Raul Salinas de Gortari, the brother of a former Mexican president, was convicted of masterminding the murder of rival Jose Francisco Ruiz Massieu. (The conviction was later overturned.)
• Actress Susan Strasberg died in New York at age 61.

Five years ago:

• President George W. Bush visited community colleges in Ohio and Arizona, where he highlighted the economy and several new job-training initiatives he'd proposed a day earlier in his State of the Union speech.
• The recording industry sued 532 computer users it said were illegally distributing songs over the Internet.

One year ago:

• Democratic presidential rivals Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama accused each other of repeatedly and deliberately distorting the truth for political gain in a highly personal debate in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Today's Birthdays:

• Actress Ann Wedgeworth is 75.
• Blues singer-musician Snooks Eaglin is 73.
• Golfer Jack Nicklaus is 69.
• Opera singer Placido Domingo is 68.
• Singer Richie Havens is 68.
• Singer Mac Davis is 67.
• Actress Jill Eikenberry is 62.
• Country musician Jim Ibbotson (The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band) is 62.
• Singer-songwriter Billy Ocean is 59.
• Actor-director Robby Benson is 53.
• Actress Geena Davis is 53.
• Basketball player Hakeem Olajuwon is 46.
• Actress Charlotte Ross is 41.
• Actor John Ducey is 40.
• Actress Karina Lombard is 40.
• Rapper Levirt (B-Rock and the Bizz) is 39.
• Rock musician Mark Trojanowski (Sister Hazel) is 39.
• Rock singer-songwriter Cat Power is 37.
• Rock DJ Chris Kilmore (Incubus) is 36.
• Actor Vincent Laresca is 35.
• Singer Emma Bunton (Spice Girls) is 33.
• Country singer Phil Stacey is 31.
• Rhythm-and-blues singer Nokio (Dru Hill) is 30.
• Actress Izabella Miko is 28.

Thought for Today:

"It is the nature of all greatness not to be exact."
Edmund Burke, British statesman (1729-1797).

"Let's all be careful out there!"

DAILY CHUCKLE 9-021

"Let's all be careful out there!"

JANUARY 20TH

Today is Tuesday, Jan. 20, the 20th day of 2009.
There are 345 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

• On Jan. 20, 1981, Iran released 52 Americans it had held hostage for 444 days, minutes after the presidency passed from Jimmy Carter to Ronald Reagan.

On this date:

• In 1801, Secretary of State John Marshall was nominated by President John Adams to be chief justice of the United States. (He was sworn in on Feb. 4, 1801.)
• In 1841, the island of Hong Kong was ceded by China to Great Britain. (It returned to Chinese control in July 1997.)
• In 1887, the U.S. Senate approved an agreement to lease Pearl Harbor in Hawaii as a naval base.
• In 1936, Britain's King George V died (his demise having been hastened by his physician); he was succeeded by Edward VIII.
• In 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first chief executive to be inaugurated on Jan. 20 instead of March 4.
• In 1942, Nazi officials held the notorious Wannsee conference, during which they arrived at their "final solution" that called for exterminating Jews.
• In 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was sworn into office for an unprecedented fourth term.
• In 1949, President Harry S. Truman was sworn in for a second term of office. In his inaugural address, Truman branded communism a "false philosophy" as he outlined his program for U.S. world leadership.
• In 1969, Richard M. Nixon was sworn in as the 37th president of the United States; Spiro Agnew took the oath of vice president.
• In 1989, George H.W. Bush was sworn in as the 41st president of the United States; Dan Quayle took the oath of vice president.

Ten years ago:

• For a second day, President Bill Clinton's legal team argued its case before the Senate, saying that House-passed articles of impeachment were "flawed and unfair."

Five years ago:

• President George W. Bush, in his State of the Union address, asserted that America was strengthening its economy and successfully combatting terrorism.
• Dick Gephardt quit the Democratic presidential race.
• Martha Stewart's stock-trading trial formally began in New York. (Stewart ended up serving a five-month prison sentence for lying about a stock sale.)
• The Salvation Army announced a donation likely to exceed $1.5 billion from the estate of Joan Kroc, widow of McDonald's founder.

One year ago:

• The Los Angeles Times announced its top editor, James O'Shea, had been fired after he rejected a management order to cut $4 million from the newsroom budget, 14 months after his predecessor was also ousted in a budget dispute.
• Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili was sworn in for a second term.
• The New England Patriots defeated the San Diego Chargers in the AFC championship game, pulling out a 21-12 victory that sent them back to the Super Bowl for the fourth time in seven seasons.
• The New York Giants won a 23-20 overtime victory over Green Bay in the NFC championship.

Today's Birthdays:

• Country singer Slim Whitman is 85.
• Actress Patricia Neal is 83.
• Comedian Arte Johnson is 80.
• Former astronaut Buzz Aldrin is 79.
• Actress Dorothy Provine is 72.
• Singer Eric Stewart is 64.
• Movie director David Lynch is 63.
• Actor Daniel Benzali is 59.
• Rock musician Paul Stanley (KISS) is 57.
• Rock musician Ian Hill (Judas Priest) is 57.
• Comedian Bill Maher is 53.
• Actor Lorenzo Lamas is 51.
• Actor James Denton ("Desperate Housewives") is 46.
• Rock musician Greg K. (The Offspring) is 44.
• Country singer John Michael Montgomery is 44.
• Actor Rainn Wilson ("The Office") is 43.
• Actress Stacey Dash is 42.
• TV personality Melissa Rivers is 41.
• Singer Xavier is 41.
• Singer Edwin McCain is 39.
• Actor Skeet Ulrich is 39.
• Rap musician ?uestlove (questlove) (The Roots) is 38.
• Rock musician Rob Bourdon (Linkin Park) is 30.
• Actor Evan Peters is 22.

Thought for Today:

"America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great."
Alexis de Tocqueville, French author (1805-1859).

"Let's all be careful out there!"

DAILY CHUCKLE 9-020

"Let's all be careful out there!"

JANUARY 19TH

Today is Monday, Jan. 19, the 19th day of 2009.
There are 346 days left in the year.
This is Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Today's Highlight in History:

• On Jan. 19, 1809, author, poet and critic Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston.

On this date:

• In 1736, James Watt, inventor of the steam engine, was born in Scotland.
• In 1807, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee was born in Westmoreland County, Va.
• In 1853, Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Il Trovatore" premiered in Rome.
• In 1861, Georgia seceded from the Union.
• In 1937, millionaire Howard Hughes set a transcontinental air record by flying his monoplane from Los Angeles to Newark, N.J., in seven hours, 28 minutes and 25 seconds.
• In 1944, the federal government relinquished control of the nation's railroads following settlement of a wage dispute.
• In 1955, a presidential news conference was filmed for television for the first time, with the permission of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
• In 1966, Indira Gandhi was elected prime minister of India.
• In 1970, President Richard M. Nixon nominated G. Harrold Carswell to the Supreme Court; however, the nomination was defeated because of controversy over Carswell's past racial views.
• In 1979, former Attorney General John N. Mitchell was released on parole after serving 19 months at a federal prison in Alabama.

Ten years ago:

• President Bill Clinton delivered his State of the Union address, in which he proposed to protect Social Security by using huge budget surpluses and announced the government would sue the tobacco industry for smokers' health costs.
• Hours earlier, at the president's impeachment trial in the Senate, White House Counsel Charles Ruff opened the defense with ringing statements of Clinton's innocence.

Five years ago:

• John Kerry won Iowa's Democratic caucuses, while John Edwards placed second; Howard Dean, who finished third, delivered a fist-pumping, bellowing concession speech that was viewed as politically damaging.
• A freighter capsized near the western Norwegian port of Bergen, killing 18.

One year ago:

• Republican John McCain won a hard-fought South Carolina primary; Democrats Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama split the spoils in the Nevada caucuses.
• A soldier was killed south of Baghdad in a roadside bomb attack; his was the first American death to occur on a newly introduced, heavily armored vehicle known as MRAP.
• Death claimed actress Suzanne Pleshette in Los Angeles at age 70; John Stewart, a former member of the Kingston Trio, in San Diego at age 68; and former Chicago Mayor Eugene Sawyer at age 73.

Today's Birthdays:

• Actress Jean Stapleton is 86.
• Actor Fritz Weaver is 83.
• Actress Tippi Hedren is 79.
• Former PBS newsman Robert MacNeil is 78.
• Movie director Richard Lester is 77.
• Singer Phil Everly is 70.
• Actor-singer Michael Crawford is 67.
• Actress Shelley Fabares is 65.
• Country singer Dolly Parton is 63.
• ABC newswoman Ann Compton is 62.
• TV chef Paula Deen is 62.
• Rock singer Martha Davis is 58.
• Singer Dewey Bunnell (America) is 57.
• Actor Desi Arnaz Jr. is 56.
• Comedian Paul Rodriguez is 54.
• Actress Katey Sagal is 52.
• Reggae musician Mickey Virtue (UB40) is 52.
• Actor Paul McCrane is 48.
• Actor William Ragsdale is 48.
• Tennis player Stefan Edberg is 43.
• Rock singer Whitfield Crane (Ugly Kid Joe) is 41.
• Singer Trey Lorenz is 40.
• Rock singer-musician John Wozniak (Marcy Playground) is 38.
• Actress Drea de Matteo is 37.
• Comedian-impressionist Frank Caliendo is 35.
• Actress Marsha Thomason is 33.
• Actress Jodie Sweetin is 27.
• Actor Logan Lerman is 17.

Thought for Today:

"Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality."
Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849).

"Let's all be careful out there!"