Saturday, September 11, 2010

9/11: Never Forget

Let me join my voice in chorus with those who say we must remember the historic events on this date in history.

1789 Alexander Hamilton was appointed the first secretary of the treasury.

1814 An American fleet scored a decisive victory over the British in the Battle of Lake Champlain during the War of 1812.

1850 Jenny Lind, the "Swedish Nightingale," gave her first concert in the United States, at Castle Garden in New York.

1881 A Massive Landslide near Elm, Switzerland, destroyed the town, and killed 115.

1885 Author D.H. Lawrence was born in Eastwood, England.

1941 Charles A. Lindbergh sparked charges of anti-Semitism with a speech in which he blamed "the British, the Jewish and the Roosevelt administration" for trying to draw the United States into World War II.

1962 The Beatles recorded their first single, "Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You," at EMI studios in London.

1971 Former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev died at age 77.

1973 Chilean President Salvador Allende died in a violent military coup.

1985 Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds recorded his 4,192nd hit, breaking Ty Cobb's career record.

1997 Scots voted to create their own Parliament after 290 years of union with England.

1998 Congress released Kenneth Starr's report, which offered graphic details of President Bill Clinton's alleged sexual misconduct and leveled accusations of perjury and obstruction of justice.

2002 Football Hall of Famer Johnny Unitas died at age 69.

2007 China signed an agreement to prohibit the use of lead paint on toys exported to the United States.

2009 Michael Jordan was enshrined in the basketball Hall of Fame.

From The NYT and Dave Bressan's History of Geology.

Followup, 1:26 PM: "A little bit of irreverence is good. A lot is better." -- Ann Campana Judge. A commemoration of Ann Campana Judge, who died on AA Flight 77, by her brother. That quote moved and resonated with me quite strongly, and fits well with the overall attitude of this post. I'm just sick of those who lost or sacrificed nothing on that day nine years ago talking about how hurt and scared they were. I was one of the lucky ones, and at this point I'm more hurt and scared by our own reactions to the events of that day than I ever was by the events themselves.

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