President Mom

Well, as baseball pauses for its annual mid-season breather, let's do the same and take a look at what happened throughout history on July 12.

Henry David Thoreau was born in 1817.

Speaking of baseball, this was the day in 1914 that Babe Ruth made his debut (as a pitcher for the Red Sox). Fittingly, tonight is the annual Home Run Derby on ESPN.

In 1933, Congress passed the first minimum wage law: 33 cents per hour, though some sources say it was 40 cents ... anyone out there still young enough to remember?

Dwight Eisenhower became the first U.S. President to fly in a helicopter on this day in 1957.

In 1960, the first Etch-A-Sketch went on sale.

The Rolling Stones played their first concert as a band at the Marquee Club in London on July 12, 1962. Eight years later Janis Joplin made her public debut as a performer in Kentucky.

The last Checker taxicab rolled off the assembly line in Kalamazoo, Michigan, on this day in 1982. The company had manufactured them for sixty years.

In 1984 on this day presidential candidate Walter Mondale selected Geraldine Ferraro to run as his vice-president. Ms. Ferraro was the first woman selected by a major party to run for such a high office.

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WHAT IF A MOM WAS ELECTED PRESIDENT?

The entire nation would have to wear a sweater when she was cold.

Diplomatic agendas would now include lots of hugging.

She gets upset about her kids' messy rooms and takes her anger out on Afghanistan.

Rude reporters at press conferences are grounded.

At state dinners, no one gets dessert until all the vegetables have been eaten.

All the food left on those plates really *will* go to starving children in Africa.

When the boys want to play with soldiers, it involves the Fifth Army Battalion.

Stretch marks become a priority for medical research grants.

[selected from Chris White's Top Five on Parenting; some updated references by Mark Raymond]

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WELCOME to YOUR WEEK: I've done the history thing, so let's look ahead. Tomorrow is Embrace Your Geekness Day, and Thursday is National Gummi Worm Day.

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