America, love it or lump it

September 25 is American Indian Day.

"America is the only nation in history which miraculously has gone directly from barbarism to degeneration without the usual interval of civilization." -- Georges Clemenceau.

September 26: Poet T. S. Eliot was born Sept. 26, 1880. He wrote:

"Human kind cannot bear very much reality."




September 27: American Revolutionary War patriot Samuel Adams was born Sep. 27, 1722.

"The 100-percent American is 99 percent an idiot." -- George Bernard Shaw.

On September 28, 1841, Georges Clemenceau himself (see above) was born. He was a French statesman. Another French statesman, Charles DeGaulle, had this to say a century later, though not apropos of Clemenceau:

"Since a politician never believes what he says, he is surprised when others believe him."