Quote:It's all republican authoritarianism.
The problem is people who actually believe Obama is a left-winger or a socialist or a liberal, or whatever misguided label they have for a politician actually concerned with the real well being of society rather than the well being of the oligarchs.
Quote:Can people put aside their "political" affiliations and come together just for this day? Is that too much to ask?
The people who perished in Pennsylvania, The Pentagon, and World Trade Center came from all walks of life, Black, White, Democrat, Republican, etc.
Good Lord, we are having just as much political warfare as the Shiites, and Sunnis. just without the guns.
Quote:Which is why I haven't engaged in the goading going on.
This thread is about the 9-11 tragedy and continuing tragedy that's gone on in this nation since.
We can save the rest for another thread.
Quote:Bingo!
Noone got the picture with the first attack on the WTC, the Attack on the USS Cole, etc.
you guys make this to easy.
I still remember hearing the news. My wife (girlfriend at the time) and I were in class together, heard about the pentagon attack -- both of us were worried. Her father and my mother were supposed to go up there that day. We had just started dating the day before. We were both fortunate. My mother was delayed in going up there after hearing about the attacks on the Trade Center, and her father wasn't supposed to be there until later.
My mom knew some people in the pentagon who got killed. They were friends of hers. My wife also knew someone who was killed up there.
Terrible day. But life does go on. Children born after the attacks will now be 13 years old. Getting ready to start high school in a year or so. Seems weird. Having any terrorism in the world is too much. I hope one day that people will not be able to be brainwashed into believing they should kill themselves (and others) for their beliefs. That it's okay that people are different.
I was headed into work, listening to the Bubba The Lovesponge show... The first plane hit and everyone thought it was an accident, then the second plane hit and they went nuts and the radio immediately cut to whatever news channel Clearchannel had at the time.
Had friends in NYC and DC and the phone lines were kaput for most of the day. I was working as tech support for a wireless company at the time and there was NO ONE calling that day. It was creepy.
January 2002 I was sent to DC for work for 6 months. I remember driving in on 395 and seeing that big hole and flag and was moved. Then a few days later I was driving on 110 in front of the Pentagon, they had Humvees under camo with guys manning the .50cals aimed into oncoming traffic and missile batteries on small hills around it...a sign that things were no longer business as usual...
I wrote this 11-12 September 2001. I was living in Germany with my now ex-husband. We were stationed there in Stuttgart.
My 9/11
September 11, 2001 started out like any other day. I woke up, had my coffee and breakfast and watch a Monday Night football game. I was living in Germany at the time and the game was tape delayed to been seen on Tuesday due to the 6 hour time difference. I had just finished watching it when a news report came on saying something had happened at the World Trade Center in New York. Like anyone who lived through the media farce that was the OJ Simpson deal, I didn't give it much thought until I saw the second plane headed straight toward tower two. I watched in horror as the building swallowed the 747 whole. I quickly counted back 6 hours hoping it wasn't opening time for the offices in the building. It was. I couldn't take my eyes off of the TV screen no matter how hard I tired. I was hoping beyond all hope that I was seeing a movie with great special effects or someone was playing a trick on us. Neither was the case.
My husband Mike and I got married on September 10, 1999. We had missed our first anniversary because he was in Germany and I was still in the States. I had made plans for our second anniversary but those had to be scrubbed. He had to go to Battalion to grade physical fitness tests that day. He wasn't due back until sometime Tuesday so we made plans to go out on Wednesday. I bickered good naturedly about this but knew this was what his boss told him to do and you don't tell the Army no. We both felt badly about it but were just happy to be in the same country that year. All day Monday I was a bit sad, but being an Army veteran and now an Army spouse, things could be worse. I watched a movie that night and when to bed happy that I would see him the next day.
As I sat in my living room watching the ugliness unfold on television I felt the urgent need to call Mike on his cellphone. I went to a neighbors house to use their phone but no one was home. I went back to the house and prepared to deal with the tragedy alone. No one on the morning news shows was making sense. They said there was the possibly this was a terrorist attack. A what? Someone with NBC was talking to a guy at the Pentagon. He suddenly says he's heard a big boom. He thinks the Pentagon has been hit. What? That's impossible, I think to myself. You can't hit the Pentagon! What the hell is going on? I keep watching and listening. A plane has hit the Pentagon for sure. The President comes on the television to say there has been an apparent terrorist attack on America, then he heads off for parts unknown for security reasons. All of the airports have been shutdown and planes diverted to Cannda to land.
All of a sudden Tower One of the WTC begins to crumble. One hundred ten floors of steel and glass implodes on itself. Weren't there people still in there? People are running in the streets as fast as they can to get away from the debris falling fast behind them. Some people stand still to watch, either out of shock or morbid fascination. It's as balck as night and when the dust clears everyone and everything is covered in white. There are people screaming and crying, either in pain or because they just lost someone in the crush. I feel myself getting sick. I feel like I have a fever and that I'm going to throw up. Soon after a portion of the Pentagon collapses and I later learn that there were 74 active duty Army soldiers killed. I cry.
The White House and UN have been evacuated, there are Secret Service guys everywhere with high powered automatic weapons at the ready. For a split second I wish one of them would shoot me so I wouldn't feel this much pain. I have seen dead people before, I have a medical background, but I have never seen such devastation in my short life.
At approximately 10:30EST the second tower at the World Trade Center implodes. Surely they evacuated that building after the first attack- right? They had a twenty minute head start after the first plane hit the first tower. I learn later that people were told to go back to their offices, everything was okay. Now those people are dead. Secretary of State, Colin Powell, cancels a visit to South America and heads back to the States. Police confirm there was a plane crash in Pennsylvania. Was this part of the attack. I start to freak out- how many planes are in the air? Who will get hit next? From Louisiana President Bush promises that the United States will “punish those responsible”. I want blood. I want death to those who did this to my country. I want to kill them myself. This is war and the president as much as says so.
I go back to my neighbors house and are relieved they are home. I try Mike's cell phone. He's out of range. I try calling the company. Busy signals at every number. Duh. My neighbor is an MP in the same company as Mike. His sergeant comes over to say he needs to get his stuff together to go to work. I finally get ahold of Mike and am glad to hear his voice. He tells me to gather all of his stuff, he's going to be at work for awhile. I ride with my neighbors and when we leave we realize the MP's on duty are shutting the post down.
We have gone to THREATCON Delta.
When we get to Panzer Kaserne which is where the MP company is, there is a long line. They're checking every vehicle for bombs. We are blocking the roads and the Germans are getting angry., they don't understand- yet. It takes 45 minutes to go about 40 feet. We drop off the soldier and the gear and wait to see if and when they can come home. Tara, Rachel and I sit and talk about what's going on. The general idea is that someone is either really brave or really stupid. I choose the latter. You don't just some in and kill innocent people like that. It's inhumane as well as cowardly. This makes me think of Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer. Timothy McVeigh comes to mind and I will myself not to break something. I have such anger pumping through me. I don't want to alarm others so I make a few jokes about a piece of mail I had retrieved from Mike to ease the tension. We finally get word a few hours later that the guys can come home. Rachel leaves with her husband and Mike and I ride back with the Smiths.
When we get back to Robinson Barracks, the family area, Tara invites us to stay for dinner. Dinner? I haven't eaten all day. She cooks up some quick chicken and french fries. On any other day that combination would seem strange to me. That day I am just glad to be alive and to eat. After dinner we thanked them and left. Mike went to sleep as soon as he hit the bed. He had been awake for 20 hours.
I went back to the living room to watch the television I had left on when I left. Tom Brokaw from NBC was on. He wasn't telling me what I wanted to hear. It seems Osama bin Laden was the suspect so far. This was not a surprise to me. The fiend has been trying to kill us for years although I didn't know why. Before this day I was the typical American. I wasn't too concerned with other people's issues- I had plenty of my own to deal with. I never really watched the news either, too depressing. Now all I could watch was the news and as far as I was concerned, everything was my issue.
I stayed awake that night, getting more depressed by the hour. Not just because of what happened or what was being said, but because there were people trapped in those buildings. The rescue needed to hurry and get them out! I knew they understood this because they were doing the best they could. A media mouth at Ground Zero was saying there was about 300 resuce personnel missing. Apparently in the buildings when they went down. In my book they were instant heroes. They were estimating the missing to be in the thousands at the WTC, a couple of hundred at the Pentagon and Flight 93 that crashed in Pennsylvania had 38 people dead. So many innocent people. My blood ran cold and the thought of murder for these terrorists flashed through my mind again.
I went out to the nearest German cigarette machine just down the street. I needed to do something. I had quit smoking a few months back and had been doing really well with it, but not tonight. The cold air felt good against my hot skin and I took a deep breath to clear my head. I walked quickly and as quietly as possible, the roving guards were out and there was a curfew of eleven o'clock which meant I was breaking a federal law mandated by the command of the installation. I got my cigarettes and and I was walking back I heard voices. I stopped dead cold and listened to hear if they were the roving guards or someone else. Hearing American voices I sighed with relief and half walked, half ran home.
Back in the house I lit a cigarette and sat on my couch to hear more news. They still had not found anyone alive at any of the three sites. I said a silent prayer for the families and friends of those missing and went to bed.
September 12, 2001.
I awoke this morning as for a few blissful moments did not remember what I had seen on the news yesterday. As I lay there waking up fully it all came crashing back. I looked at the clock to see it read six o'clock. In the morning? I never wake up this early. I got up and started the coffee pot and turned on the television. It was midnight on the East Coast and the rescue crews were working by the light of huge spotlights. No one was found alive yet. [BLEEP]. I went through my morning routine with the words President Bush had quoted from the Bible the previous day.
As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. I had heard the words before but never had they meant anything to me. Until now.
I watched the news for awhile then decided to go find a newspaper. On my way I decided to visit a couple that had just moved here. I figured moving here would be a shock enough, now they had armed patrols roaming around. As I suspected the wife, Elizabeth, was rattled. Surprsingly their household goods were being delivered and this seemed to keep her focused on something else besides the raping of our country.
We chatted for a little while and I said goodbye telling her if she needed anything to call me. I then proceeded on my quest to find a newspaper. As I walked to the store on post I looked around and was surprised to feel like I was in a Tom Clancy novel. Nothing seemed real. The cars in the parking areas looked distorted, the housing building looked like haunted houses. There was no movement except for the roving guards who asjed to see my military ID. I showed them my driver's license as well and we bid each other farewell. I knew I would see them again. I got to the store and remembered hearing on tv that all military stores would be closed. I looked for the newspaper stand and bought a paper. A guy came up and asked me if it was today's paper. I looked at the date and realized I had bought the previous day's paper. [BLEEP].
As I walked by the front door of the store a woman I recognized as an employee said the store was open if I wanted to come in. Checking my ID she offered her condolences on the tragedy. I said thank you and moved on. The paper had not come in yet so I bought a magazine instead. When I got home the magazine was forgotten as I watched the news reports coming in. I lit a candle for all of the victims of the attack and said another prayer for them.
I don't remember much about this day excpet sitting in front of my TV, afraid to do anything else. I do remember getting out read, white and blue cross stitching floss and making myself a friendship bracelet. My patriotism reaffirmed I grew angry. Angry at the terrorists who took so many innocent lives, angry at the government for not protecting us better, and most of all angry at God for letting this happen. There were so many hopes and dreams destroyed with the death of those people. I couldn't understand. Would I ever? I don't think so.
Quote:you guys make this to easy.
Guess your agenda of ruining a thread that is dedicated to those who lost their lives on this day didnt work out too well did it?
James lectures everyone about getting political and then follows it up with a political post...... Anyone surprised?
Quote:James lectures everyone about getting political and then follows it up with a political post...... Anyone surprised?
"Do as I say not as I do" is the core value of liberalism, so no, not a wiff of surprise.
So, another thread for conspiracy theories?
Quote:"Do as I say not as I do" is the core value of liberalism, so no, not a wiff of surprise.
That's hardly just a liberal issue. Many of the conservatives on this very board whine about being stereotyped while stereotyping others in the same exact post, for example. I doubt there are many, if any, people that actually live up to
all of their ideologies
100% of the time. Largely because humanity likes to have high ideologies but emotions are faster and more reflexive than the logic that drives the high ideologies on both sides of the political spectrum.
Quote:So if someone broke into your house and shot you, but still survived, did the suspects win?
The point is We have had to change our security measures to prevent another attack from happening. Would you want to go back to the lax awareness that we had before 9/11?
Is cavity searching grandma really preventing an attack from happening? Is her colostomy bag a WMD? There's a line between preventing another attack and taking it too far. I think we crossed a while ago.
Quote:Is cavity searching grandma really preventing an attack from happening? Is her colostomy bag a WMD? There's a line between preventing another attack and taking it too far. I think we crossed a while ago.
The airport, the courthouse, the Jag games...you get a bit numb to it after a while...that's the plan.
I am beyond disturbed that my salute to perseverance was moved to the Political Section and I kinda doubt that I'll be revisiting this any time soon, but I would like to point out the old saying "Better Dead than Red." I absolutely hate how the Terrorists won by convincing Americans that airline travel is no longer a viable option. Every time that I go through Airport Security I become more and more upset with my fellow countrymen that we have allowed an outside organization to wield such influence over our lives.
Quote:This attempt to portray 0bama as something other than what he is is one of my favorite things Okie does. He's apparently not a left winger or a socialist or a liberal. He's a right wing nut, right?
No, no, no, he's a moderate centrist, just like Marx, Mao, and Castro.
Quote:I am beyond disturbed that my salute to perseverance was moved to the Political Section and I kinda doubt that I'll be revisiting this any time soon, but I would like to point out the old saying "Better Dead than Red." I absolutely hate how the Terrorists won by convincing Americans that airline travel is no longer a viable option. Every time that I go through Airport Security I become more and more upset with my fellow countrymen that we have allowed an outside organization to wield such influence over our lives.
There was a time when Americans underetood the inherent dangers of the leftist ideologies and resisted them. Now that that the useful idiots of the left control education in this country they've destroyed the knowledge base of the people and turned the American people into the most highly educated know nothings the world has ever seen. The left didn't need a shooting war to win, they won the culture war and now, as Tacitus noted, its "Better slaves than free."
Thankful for a quiet 9/11 yesterday, stay safe and stay alert everyone.
Quote:Thankful for a quiet 9/11 yesterday, stay safe and stay alert everyone.
So, what did you do for your "Day of Service (to the state)?"
I bought a new rifle to support American manufacturing and brought my family to Disney World to support an evil American corporation.
Quote:James lectures everyone about getting political and then follows it up with a political post...... Anyone surprised?
I never "lectured" anyone about getting political its not my problem you or anyone else got hot and bothered by that comment. Correct me if im wrong, but I thought this post was dedicated to people sharing their memories about 9/11 regardless of political affiliation right?
Quote:Is cavity searching grandma really preventing an attack from happening? Is her colostomy bag a WMD? There's a line between preventing another attack and taking it too far. I think we crossed a while ago.
Well considering terrorists will use anything to plan a attack, including shoe bombs, if we stop searching "grandma and her colostomy bag" then terrorists will explore that idea.
Tell Homeland Security about that complaint and see the response they give you.