TODAY is Wednesday, August 2, the 214th day of 2006. There are 151 days left in the year.

ON THIS DATE<$>

In 1939, Albert Einstein signed a letter to President Roosevelt urging creation of an atomic weapons research program.

In 1943, during World War II, Navy boat PT-109, commanded by Lt. John F. Kennedy, sank after being rammed by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri off the Solomon Islands.

In 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait, seizing control of the oil-rich emirate. (The Iraqis were later driven out in Operation Desert Storm.)THOUGHT FOR TODAY“A beautiful soul has no other merit than its own existence.” — Friedrich von Schiller, German author (1759-1805).