9 January Throughout The Never-Ending Entropic Sequence of Humanity

Today in History

By The Associated Press – Tue Dec 30, 12:29 pm ET Today is Friday, Jan. 9, the ninth day of 2009. There are 356 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History: [We may have said this last yr., but: "Highlight?" — Ed.] 

On Jan. 9, 1913, Richard Milhous Nixon, the 37th president of the United States, was born in Yorba Linda, Calif. On this date: 

In 1788, Connecticut became the fifth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. 

In 1793, Frenchman Jean Pierre Blanchard, using a hot-air balloon, flew between Philadelphia and Woodbury, N.J. In 1859, women's suffrage leader Carrie Chapman Catt was born in Ripon, Wis. 

In 1861, Mississippi seceded from the Union. [Why the hell did we ever let those cracker tax-parasites back in the "Union?" — Ed.] In 1945, during World War II, American forces began landing at Lingayen Gulf in the Philippines. In 1964, anti-U.S. rioting broke out in the Panama Canal Zone, resulting in the deaths of 21 Panamanians and several U.S. soldiers. In 1968, the Surveyor 7 space probe made a soft landing on the moon, marking the end of the American series of unmanned explorations of the lunar surface. In 1972, reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes, speaking by telephone from the Bahamas to reporters in Hollywood, said a purportedly authorized biography of him by Clifford Irving was a fake. In 1997, a Comair commuter plane crashed 18 miles short of the Detroit Metropolitan Airport, killing all 29 people on board. Ten years ago: At the White House, presidential advisers prepared a public and legal defense in President Bill Clinton's impeachment trial on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice; Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, meanwhile, pledged "above all, fairness" to the president, who ended up being acquitted. 

Five years ago: Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge announced that the nation's threat level had been lowered from orange to yellow. Officials said Pentagon lawyers determined that former Iraq leader Saddam Hussein had been a prisoner of war since his capture. An Ohio woman who'd claimed to have lost a lottery ticket worth $162 million was charged with filing a false police report. (Elecia Battle was later convicted of the misdemeanor and put on one year's probation.) One year ago: President Bush, on his first visit to Israel as president, warned Iran of "serious consequences" if it meddled again with U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf. The U.S. military reported nine American soldiers were killed in the first two days of a new offensive to root out al-Qaida in Iraq fighters holed up in districts north of Baghdad. Johnny Grant, the honorary mayor of Hollywood, died in Los Angeles at age 84. Today's Birthdays: Author Judith Krantz is 81. Football Hall-of-Famer Bart Starr is 75. Sportscaster Dick Enberg is 74. Actress K Callan is 73. Folk singer Joan Baez [Comments Queen g's pal. — Ed.] is 68. Rockabilly singer Roy Head is 68. Actress Susannah York is 68. Rock musician Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin) is 65. Singer David Johansen (aka Buster Poindexter) is 59. [Doesn't look a day over 60, does he? And note butt hidden in rt. hand. — Ed.]Singer Crystal Gayle is 58. Actor J.K. Simmons is 54. [? — Ed.]

 Nobel Peace laureate and human rights activist Rigoberto Menchu is 50. Rock musician Eric Erlandson is 46. Actress Joely Richardson is 44. Rock musician Carl Bell (Fuel) is 42. Rock singer Steve Harwell (Smash Mouth) is 42. Rock singer-musician Dave Matthews is 42. Actress-director Joey Lauren Adams is 41. 

Thought for Today: "No written law has ever been more binding than unwritten custom supported by popular opinion." — Carrie Chapman Catt, American women's suffrage leader (1859-1947).