NOT MONUMENT VALLEY, BUT MORE BEAUTY FROM THE FOUR CORNERS AREA

IF YOU 

PUT 

UP 

A SIGN 

 . . . 

NEW MEXICO CLIFF 

FOUR CORNERS AREA USA 

When there is so much beauty to be seen just from the road, is it appreciated as much as if had been designated as a scenic area, maybe even as a national park? 

MONUMENT VALLEY 

also in the FOUR CORNERS area 

here 

BEAUTY & SERENITY FOR SEPTEMBER 11

SWAN LAKE 

THE KIROV BALLET 

Leningrad, USSR, 1984 

More Kirov (now Mariinsky) here and here 

AFGHANISTAN AND LOST TREASURE

ON THE EVE  

OF SEPTEMBER 11 

From a photograph of a CBS report on Afghanistan, close-captioned 

NOW A DECADE-LONG WAR 

IN AFGHANISTAN 

On the eve of September 11 + ten years, Reuters reported that "For the nearly $450 billion Congress estimates the U.S. alone has spent waging war there, every Afghan man, woman and child could have been handed $15,000. That sum is 10 years' earnings for an average Afghan, according to U.N. estimates." 

LEO TOLSTOY b. September 9, 1828

LEO TOLSTOY 

September 9, 1828-November 20, 1910 

ONE OF THE "PEACE" SCENES 

FROM LEO TOLSTOY'S 

"WAR & PEACE" 

Sergei Prokofiev's Opera 

Staged by Sarah Caldwell 

The lengthy New York Times obituary for Count Tolstoy can be found here. 

SAM NUNN TURNS SEVENTY-THREE

SAMUEL AUGUSTUS NUNN 

b. September 8, 1938 

SENATORS SAM NUNN (D-GEORGIA, left) & 

JOHN WARNER (R-VIRGINIA, right) 

NAPOLEON WINS THE BATTLE OF BORODINO, SEPTEMBER 7, 1812; LOSES THE WAR

THE BATTLE OF 

BORODINO 

September 7, 1812 

DONALD GRAMM AS MARSHAL KUTUZOV 

IN SARAH CALDWELL'S STAGING OF 

PROKOFIEV'S OPERA OF WAR AND PEACE, 

BASED ON THE NOVEL BY LEO TOLSTOY 

Kutuzov was the Russian field marhsal who opposed Napoleon Bonaparte in the Battle of Borodino, September 7, 1812, which Napoleon won, but at a cost in men and material so high that Kutuzov ultimately won the War of 1812 ("The Patriotic War") for Russia. 

For more of Gramm-as-Kutuzov, see here; for another scene from this production of War and Peace, see here; for a view of the Narva Triumphal Arch constructed to commemorate the victory over Napoleon, see here. 

JACQUES CHIRAC EXCUSED FROM ATTENDING HIS OWN TRIAL

JACQUES CHIRAC 

ON TRIAL 

IN 

ABSENTIA 

for corruption 

THE FORMER 

FRENCH PRESIDENT 

(1995-2007) 

IS SAID TO SUFFER FROM 

FUZZY MEMORY 

More on the story here and here 

Another photograph of Chirac here 

JOHN DANFORTH TURNS SEVENTY-FIVE

JOHN "JACK" DANFORTH 

b. September 5, 1936

Published in BUSINESS WEEK

October 3, 1983 (p. 45)

SENATOR JOHN DANFORTH (R-MISSOURI)

December 27, 1976 – January 3, 1995

AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS

July 1, 2004 – January 20, 2005

George W. Bush's second choice for Vice President

Big Clarence Thomas booster for Supreme Court Justice

Ordained Episcopal minister, and lawyer 

GEORGE EASTMAN PATENTS "KODAK" BOX CAMERA, September 4, 1888

KODAK KID PHOTOGRAPH 

ITALIAN MARKET STALL 

Kid's eye view in honor of September 4, 1888, the day George Eastman patented the "Kodak" box camera (my first camera was a Kodak Brownie, given to me by my father when I was eight). 

VLADIMIR RYZHKOV TURNS FORTY-FIVE

VLADIMIR RYZHKOV 

b. September 3, 1966 

VLADIMIR RYZHKOV 

IN HIS POLITICAL HEYDAY 

A very fast rise in the first decade of post-Soviet Russia (up to first vice speaker of the Duma) was followed by a move to the opposition after Vladimir Putin came to power. 

ALAN SIMPSON TURNS EIGHTY

ALAN K. SIMPSON 

b. September 2, 1931 

SENATOR ALAN SIMPSON 

(R-WYOMING) 1979-1997 

Photograph published in the 

June 21, 1982, issue of 

BUSINESS WEEK (p. 38) 

Senator Simpson was the Republican Whip from 1985-1995 (his Congressional biography is here).  His most recent notable post was as co-chair of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, appointed with Erskine Bowles in February 2010 (see here and here).  The commission delivered its report in November 2010 (details and more of Simpson's biography here).  When President Obama, who convened the commission, seemed not to implement its recommendations, Simpson begged to differ and was given a platform to say so and to talk up his budget ideas (see, e.g., here).  When asked to give an idea of cuts that could be made in military spending, something he said he favored, which weapons system did Simpson choose for the chopping block?  None; rather, the Pentagon's health system, and specifically its "2.2 million military retirees," were his targets. The former Senator cited this as proof of bravery on his part (see here). 

ANN RICHARDS b. September 1, 1933

ANN RICHARDS 

September 1, 1933-September 13, 2006 

ANN RICHARDS, THEN STATE TREASURER, & 

LATER GOVERNOR OF, TEXAS (1991-1995), 

AS KEYNOTE SPEAKER AT THE 1988 

DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION, 

ATLANTA, GEORGIA 

It was one memorable speech.  Michael Dukakis and Lloyd Bentsen were the presidential and vice presidential nominees of the the Democratic party, running against Ronald Reagan's two-term vice-president, George Bush, and Senator Dan Quayle. 

The speech can be seen here. 

It is available to be read here. 

Two memorable points:  First, about what women can do: "if you give us a chance, we can perform.  After all, Ginger Rogers did everything that Fred Astaire did. She just did it backwards and in high heels." 

I do not know how many times I have seen this quoted since then.  Richards did not claim to have invented this. It is credited to the Thaves's Frank and Ernest comic strip; the Astaire-Rogers one can be found here. Ann Richards is credited with popularizing the notion. 

A second vivid moment from the speech:  "Poor George, he can't help it -- he was born with a silver foot in his mouth." 

"Poor George" Bush and Dan Quayle went on to beat Dukakis and Bentsen. 

Ann Richards went on to become the first woman elected governor of Texas in her own right, serving from 1991-1995.  A nice summing-up can be found here. 

Then she "misunderestimated" poor George's son George W. Bush and lost her chance at a second term; W became governor of Texas, and used it as his launching pad to the presidency.