WINTER USA 2014 II

SNOW DAYS 

RIVER WITH SNOW 

And yes, the picturesque can be political. 

Mayors and governors 

Can, 

So to speak, 

Put their foot in it. 

Canceling school, not canceling school, 

Letting employees off early, 

Not letting employees off early. 

Snowed under. 

WINTER USA: THE STORY SNO' FAR...

SNOW GUAGE 

WINTER USA 2014 

THE FOREIGN MINISTER OF CANADA WANTS A KEYSTONE DECISION, AND HE WANTS IT NOW

JOHN BAIRD 

LAYS IT ON THE LINE 

CANADA WANTS 
TO KNOW  

Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird, on a trip to Washington, tried to force an answer from the U.S. as to whether it will sign off on a 1,200-mile pipeline from the Alberta tar sands to the Gulf Coast.  Even when he said a No would be better than No Answer, he could not get the U.S. administration to tip its hand. 

Some reporting and analysis can be found here and here and here. 

ONE HUNDRED FIFTY YEARS SINCE THE DEATH OF COLONEL ROBERT GOULD SHAW -- AND SOLDIERS OF THE 54TH

THE COLONEL 

AND HIS TROOPS 

MEMORIALIZED 

ROBERT GOULD SHAW & 
THE 54TH REGIMENT OF 
MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS 

Sculpture by 
AUGUSTUS-SAINT GAUDENS 

Boston, Massachusetts 

CLOSE-UP OF COLONEL SHAW 
WITH HIS BROKEN SWORD 

COLONEL SHAW 
GETS HIS SWORD BACK 

To be continued 

TODAY IS THE CENTENARY OF GERALD R. FORD., JR, 38TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

GERALD RUDOLPH FORD, JR. 

July 14, 1913-December 26, 2006 

PRESIDENT AND MRS. FORD 

ATTENDING A MARDI GRAS PARTY 

IN WASHINGTON, D.C.  

flanked on camera left by 

SENATOR RUSSELL B. LONG (D-LA) 

and on camera right by 

SENATOR J. BENNETT JOHNSTON, JR. (D-LA) 

More on GERALD FORD, here 

More on BETTY FORD, here 

SHE'S BACK! THE STATUE OF LIBERTY IS OPEN AGAIN

HAPPY FOURTH 

OF JULY! 

THE STATUE OF LIBERTY 

Oh Say Does that 

Star Spangled Banner 

Yet Wave 

News of the re-opening here 

WHY IS THIS WOMAN RUNNING? II

THE U.S. SUPREME COURT 

AS SHADOWS LENGTHEN 

HILLARY CLINTON GREETS THE NEW YEAR IN THE HOSPITAL

THE SECRETARY OF STATE  

IS KEPT FOR OBSERVATION 

OF A BLOOD CLOT 

HILLARY CLINTON 

in the service of 

her country 

at the APEC summit 

in Vladivostok, Russia 

September 2012  

Some of the details of 

the hospitalization 

"serious but treatable" 

since December 30, 2012, here 

HILLARY CLINTON AND SERGEI LAVROV AND RE-SETTING THE U.S.-RUSSIAN RE-SET

THE RUSSIAN-AMERICAN RE-SET 

"CANNOT LAST FOREVER" 

-- Sergei Lavrov 

"MOST LIKELY 

YOU GO YOUR WAY 

AND I GO MINE" 

--Bob Dylan 

HILLARY CLINTON 

U.S. Secretary of State 

& 

SERGEI LAVROV 

Russian Foreign Minister 

APEC Summit 

Russky Island, Vladivostok 

Russia, September 8, 2012 

"I VOTED!" PRIMARY ELECTION DAY, April 3, 2012

"THIS LITTLE LIGHT

OF MINE,

I'M GONNA LET

IT SHINE"

"I VOTED"

VOTING STICKER

April 3, 2012

PRIMARY ELECTION DAY

in 1/17 of U.S. Jurisdictions

No Purple Finger, Though

HAPPY ONE-HUNDREDTH BIRTHDAY TO THE STATE OF ARIZONA

ARIZONA

IS ADMITTED AS

THE 48TH STATE

OF THE U.S.A.

February 14, 1912

HOPI SILVERSMITH FROM

THE SECOND MESA, ARIZONA, 1988

A few scenic views of Arizona here and here and here; two recent articles, here and here.

HAPPY ONE-HUNDREDTH BIRTHDAY TO THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO (USA!)

NEW MEXICO

IS ADMITTED AS

THE 47TH STATE

OF THE U.S.A.

January 6, 1912

SAN FRANCISCO DE ASIS

MISSION CHURCH

RANCHOS DE TAOS, NEW MEXICO

More NEW MEXICO here and here and here

AMERICA GETS ITS CREDIT RATING DOCKED. CHINA FUSSES.

UNCLE SAM 

IS 

SPENDTHRIFT 

GRANDPA WEN THROWS UP 

HIS HANDS 

Okay, the first authoritative word from Beijing after Standard and Poor's downgraded the U.S. sovereign debt came not from Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, "Grandpa Wen," (above), but from Xinhua, the official Chinese news agency. 

But Premier Wen expressed concern about "the security of our assets" -- all those U.S. Treasuries China has bought -- back in March 2009 already. 

The new Xinhua editorial follows in the same vein:  "China, the largest creditor of the world’s sole superpower, has every right now to demand the United States to address its structural debt problems and ensure the safety of China’s dollar assets." 

And oh, yes, they would like us to cut back on the social safety net and the military. 

How handy for China, the rising power, if the "world's sole superpower" hobbles itself. 

Not unlike what al Qaeda hopes to see. 

On bad days, I fear they are getting what they wish for. 

MORE 

GEORGE W. BUSH IS SIXTY-FIVE TODAY

GEORGE W. BUSH 

b. July 6, 1946 

GEORGE W. BUSH 

in the 

2000 New Hampshire Primary 

(He lost.) 

Here is the future president, sixty-five years old today, back then a mere fifty-three years old -- before Bush v. Gore, before Wars of Choice and Bush Tax Cuts, and before so many Americans came to fear for America's future. 

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL USA, THEN & NOW & FUTURE

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL 

USA 

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER 

LEESBURG, VIRGINIA 

Published in the March 22, 1982, 

issue of BUSINESS WEEK 

Air traffic control is in the news again as the Washington Post runs a big story on NextGen that could be summed up as From Radar to GPS, and Whoa!  Not so fast.  (It's not so easy.) 

The photograph above was taken half-way through what the article describes as radar's sixty-year run as the basis of the air traffic system. 

More air traffic control here 

The FAA has more photographs and information here 

"GERMANY" REGAINS ITS SOVEREIGNTY, May 5, 1955

THE 

FEDERAL REPUBLIC 

OF GERMANY 

(AKA "WEST GERMANY") 

BECOMES 

SOVEREIGN 

MAY 5, 1955 

STREET SCENE WITH SAILOR 

GIESSEN, GERMANY, 1959 

Just short of ten years after V-E Day, the end of World War II in Europe, three of the four occupying powers (the U.S., the U.K., and France) granted West Germany its sovereignty; four days later, this "Federal Republic of Germany" joined NATO.  On the other side:  the "Democratic Republic of Germany," East Germany, and the USSR. 

FIRST OF THE KENNEDY-NIXON DEBATES, A HALF-CENTURY AGO

FIRST TELEVISED 

U.S. PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE 

SEPTEMBER 26, 1960 

PHOTOGRAPHED IN FORT KNOX, 

KENTUCKY, FROM TV TRANSMISSION 

Richard M. Nixon (l) and John F. Kennedy (r) were to have four broadcast debates altogether in that autumn of 1960. Both men were subsequently elected president: Senator Kennedy in 1960, and Vice-President Nixon in 1968. President Kennedy was assassinated; President Nixon driven to resign by the Watergate scandal. 

Some reflections on the debates by speechwriter Theodore Sorensen, who was there with Kennedy, can be found here; a contemporary newspaper account here; and a more general  discussion here. 

WEN JIABAO TURNS A POSITIVE FACE TOWARDS THE U.S.; THREATENS ACTION AGAINST JAPAN

CHINESE PREMIER 

MAKES UP TO THE U.S., 

WARNS JAPAN OF 

"FURTHER ACTIONS" 

WEN JIABAO 

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, making a trip to New York and the U.N., had strikingly divergent messages for Washington and Tokyo.  The Wall Street Journal reported that he told a group of U.S. business executives that U.S.-PRC differences were "very easy to resolve."  And besides, according to Wen, China is "not yet a strong creative or innovative country." 

For Japan, there was a threat of "further actions" if the Chinese trawler captain held by Tokyo were not released, and certainly no meeting between the Japanese and Chinese prime ministers while they are in New York.  One of the most interesting points raised in the AFP account is the report that Premier Wen's comments were "played throughout Wednesday [September 22] on Chinese state television," including the remark that "the Japanese side shall bear all the consequences that arise." 

WHERE "EVERY PROSPECT PLEASES, AND ONLY MAN IS VILE"

WHERE

"EVERY PROSPECT PLEASES,

AND ONLY MAN IS VILE"

AN AMERICAN WATERWAY

BEFORE ENVIRONMENTAL

CONSCIOUSNESS-RAISING

What a river ran through

A SUNNY DAY AT REAGAN'S WHITE HOUSE

A SUNNY DAY AT

RONALD REAGAN'S WHITE HOUSE

AMERICAN PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN

HOSTS EGYPTIAN PRESIDENT HOSNI MUBARAK

AT THE WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON, JANUARY 27, 1983

This week President Reagan's unabridged diaries go on sale. They reportedly offer an "unvarnished look at people ranging from Pope John Paul to Mother Teresa to Mikhail Gorbachev." It should be interesting to look up the date of this meeting (above), and see what kind of comments Reagan offers (there is an official transcript of the report on their meeting and brief Rose Garden Q&A session).

Ronald Reagan left office in January 1989, and died in June 2004. Hosni Mubarak is still president of Egypt.

Update, June 2, 2012: HOSNI MUBARAK is "sentenced to life for complicity in killing of protestors."