Celebration Excuse

1892

Thomas Edison receives a patent for a two-way telegraph. Way to go, Tom.

1944

How cute, *and* wise! The United States Forest Service releases posters featuring Smokey the Bear for the first time.

1974

Wait – you’re a crook? Richard Nixon becomes the first President of the United States to resign from office. His Vice President, Gerald Ford, becomes president.

1983

Peter Jennings hosts his first broadcast of ABC’s World News Tonight as sole anchor.

2001

Huh, funny. US President George W. Bush announces his support for federal funding of limited research on embryonic stem cells.

PUT ON YOUR PARTY HAT

And here are some special birthday shoutouts to MLB player Matt Morris, singer/actress/trainwreck Whitney Houston, and Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi.

Daybook

12:30 PM

Gettin’ local: the House Resources Committee field hearing on “Keeping the lights on and maintaining Wyoming’s jobs: Overcoming the challenges facing Western power generation facilities” in Wheatland, Wyoming.

ALL DAY

Give the guy a break, he’s on vacay: President Bush continues his vacation at his ranch in Crawford, Texas.

Grab the pork rinds and slim jims, we’re on a road trip! Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) continues his bus tour across PA.

By this point, we’re guessing they’re in Cabo: The House and Senate continue their summer recess.

Too soon? Oliver Stone’s World Trade Center opens in theaters nationwide.

 

Popularity Contest

GOOD PEOPLE DOING GOOD THINGS

NAME: Habitat for Humanity

WHAT THEY DO: Build simple, affordable houses, with those who lack adequate shelter. They work locally in communities around the world to select and support homeowners, organize volunteers, and coordinate house building.
COOL THING TO KNOW: Since 1976, they have built more than 200,000 houses, providing shelter for more than 1 million people, in nearly 100 countries. Hey, in simple terms, a new Habitat house is built somewhere in the world every 24 minutes. Go ahead, time it!

OTHER PEOPLE LIKE THEM TOO: The Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded $10.7 million to Habitat, and Nissan just donated 50 trucks to help the re-building efforts.

HOW YOU CAN BE INVOLVED: Donations are always helpful, used to obtain the materials necessary for building, or you can volunteer to help with a project — maybe around the world, making it an amazing travel experience as well. Here’s all the info on how to start using those guns for a good purpose.

Masthead

Questions? Comments? Send us e-mail.

Problems logging in? Reset/reactivate your password.

Mic Check is produced every weekday by Christy Harvey, Sara Langhinrichs and Nicole Murphy, and is a project of the Center for American Progress Action Fund. Read more about Mic Check.

RSS icon RSS headlines feed