Paradise Driver

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

DREAMS

I have lived a long and interesting life. When I was born there were impossible dreams to be conquered. I have seen mankind step foot on another world. And now I have witnessed a man who would not have been allowed to drink from the same water fountain as me become the 44th President of this great country. More significant is that he is the perfect representative of what our country so desperately needs. He is half black and half white. A homogeneous blend of race who has finally started the process of blending our nation, and showing the way for the world, that race is not the measure of the individual.

Sadly, there will always be an element of the global consensus that will never understand, nor accept, the beauty of diversity of what we must evolve into. People who will always judge others first by color or religion or ethnic or sociatal predujice. Sadly, many of these individuals are so blinded that they cannot see their own bigotry.

It is time for America to show the world that it is the individual who matters.

Together, there is nothing that our nation can't accomplish.

"Let's all be careful out there!"

LIVE COVERAGE - ELECTION RESULTS - MSNBC STREAMING VIDEO

"Let's all be careful out there!"

NOVEMBER 4TH

Today is Tuesday, Nov 4, the 309th day of 2008.
There are 57 days left in the year.

This is Election Day.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Nov. 4, 1979, the Iran hostage crisis began as militants stormed the United States Embassy in Tehran, seizing its occupants. For some of the hostages, it was the start of 444 days of captivity.

On this date:

In 1884, Democrat Grover Cleveland was elected to his first term as president, defeating Republican James G. Blaine.
In 1922, the entrance to King Tutankhamen's tomb was discovered in Egypt.
In 1924, Nellie T. Ross of Wyoming was elected the nation's first female governor to serve out the remaining term of her late husband, William B. Ross.
In 1942, during World War II, Axis forces retreated from El Alamein in North Africa in a major victory for British forces commanded by Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery.
In 1952, Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected president, defeating Democrat Adlai Stevenson.
In 1956, Soviet troops moved in to crush the Hungarian Revolution.
In 1980, Ronald Reagan won the White House as he defeated President Carter by a strong margin.
In 1988, in a ceremony at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, President Reagan signed a measure providing for U.S. participation in an anti-genocide treaty signed by President Truman in 1948.
In 1991, Ronald Reagan opened his presidential library in Simi Valley, Calif., with a dedication attended by President Bush and former Presidents Carter, Ford and Nixon — the first-ever gathering of five past and present U.S. chief executives.
In 1995, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by a right-wing Israeli minutes after attending a festive peace rally.

Ten years ago:

In the wake of disappointing election results in which House Republicans saw their majority trimmed, GOP lawmakers talked of quickly wrapping up impeachment proceedings against President Clinton and raised the prospect of challenges to Speaker Newt Gingrich or other party leaders.

Five years ago:

Firefighters in San Diego County contained the biggest and deadliest of Southern California's wildfires.
Following a conservative outcry over a made-for-TV movie about former President Ronald Reagan, CBS scrapped plans to televise "The Reagans," sending it off to the Showtime cable network instead.

One year ago:

King Tutankhamen's face was unveiled for the first time to the public more than 3,000 years after the pharaoh was buried in his Egyptian tomb.
Citigroup Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Charles Prince, beset by the company's billions of dollars in losses from investing in bad debt, resigned.
Paula Radcliffe outlasted Gete Wami to win her second New York City Marathon in 2:23:09. Martin Lel of Kenya won his second men's title, in 2:09:04.

Today's Birthdays:

Former CBS news anchorman Walter Cronkite is 92.
Actress Doris Roberts is 78.
Actress Loretta Swit is 71.
Rhythm-and-blues singer Harry Elston (Friends of Distinction) is 70.
Blues singer Delbert McClinton is 68.
First Lady Laura Bush is 62.
Actress Markie Post is 58.
Rock singer-musician Chris Difford (Squeeze) is 54.
Country singer Kim Forester (The Forester Sisters) is 48.
Actress-comedian Kathy Griffin is 48.
Actor Ralph Macchio is 47.
"Survivor" host Jeff Probst is 47.
Actor Matthew McConaughey is 39.
Rapper-producer Sean "Puffy" Combs is 39.
Rhythm-and-blues singer Shawn Rivera (Az Yet) is 37.
Actress Heather Tom is 33.
Rhythm-and-blues/gospel singer George Huff is 28.

Thought for Today:

"I know nothing grander, better exercise, better digestion, more positive proof of the past, the triumphant result of faith in human kind, than a well-contested American national election."
Walt Whitman, American poet (1819-1892).

"Let's all be careful out there!"

DAILY CHUCKLE 8-309

"Let's all be careful out there!"

Monday, November 03, 2008

NOVEMBER 3RD

Today is Monday, Nov. 3, the 308th day of 2008.
There are 58 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

One hundred years ago, on Nov. 3, 1908, Republican William Howard Taft was elected president, outpolling Democrat William Jennings Bryan.

On this date:

In 1839, the first Opium War between China and Britain broke out.
In 1868, Republican Ulysses S. Grant won the presidential election over Democrat Horatio Seymour.
In 1896, Republican William McKinley defeated Democrat William Jennings Bryan for the presidency.
In 1903, Panama proclaimed its independence from Colombia.
In 1936, President Franklin Roosevelt won a landslide election victory over Republican challenger Alfred M. "Alf" Landon.
In 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 2, the second manmade satellite, into orbit; on board was a dog named Laika who was sacrificed in the experiment.
In 1964, President Johnson soundly defeated Republican Barry Goldwater to win a White House term in his own right.
In 1970, Salvador Allende was inaugurated as president of Chile.
In 1979, five radicals were killed when gunfire erupted during an anti-Ku Klux Klan demonstration in Greensboro, N.C., after a caravan of Klansmen and neo-Nazis had driven into the area.
In 1986, the Iran-Contra affair began to come to light as Ash-Shiraa, a pro-Syrian Lebanese magazine, first broke the story of U.S. arms sales to Iran.

Ten years ago:

In national elections, Democrats gained five House seats, trimming the Republican majority.
Minnesotans elected former pro wrestler Jesse "The Body" Ventura to be their governor.
The death toll from Hurricane Mitch grew to 9,000 in Honduras.

Five years ago:

Congress voted its final approval for $87.5 billion for U.S. military operations and aid in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Russia's richest man, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, already jailed on fraud and tax evasion charges, resigned as head of the Russian oil giant Yukos.

One year ago:

Gen. Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency in Pakistan.
United Auto Workers agreed to a tentative contract with Ford Motor Co.
Two astronauts conducted a successful spacewalk to save a ripped solar wing on the space station.

Today's Birthdays:

Baseball Hall-of-Famer Bob Feller is 90.
Actress Lois Smith is 78.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis is 75.
Actor-dancer Ken Berry is 75.
Movie composer John Barry is 75.
Actor Shadoe Stevens is 62.
Singer Lulu is 60.
Comedian-actress Roseanne Barr is 56.
Actress Kate Capshaw is 55.
Comedian Dennis Miller is 55.
Actress Kathy Kinney is 55.
Singer Adam Ant is 54.
Actor Dolph Lundgren is 51.
Rock musician C.J. Pierce (Drowning Pool) is 36.

Thought for Today:

"You must be true to yourself. Strong enough to be true to yourself. Brave enough to be strong enough to be true to yourself. Wise enough to be brave enough, to be strong enough to shape yourself from what you actually are."
Sylvia Constance Ashton-Warner, New Zealander author and educator (1908-1984).

"Let's all be careful out there!"