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9-11 - Ten Years Ago; 11th year update - Now 14 years
Topic Started: Sep 6 2011, 05:28 PM (4,098 Views)
cks
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I wish that the television "hosts" would just keep quiet rather than spout stupid inanities. The latest from Tom Brokaw who, commenting on the people doing rubbings of their loved ones' names on the 9/11 memorial in NY, said that putting names on a memorial began with the VietNam memorial. Wrong, wrong, wrong......look at WWI memorials here and in Europe. Look at Civil War memorials in towns throughout this nation.

Why not let the ceremonies speak for themselves?

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chatham
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Just remember. The more the left talks, the more pissed off people get.

DOn't keep that fact a secret.
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chatham
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Here is an e-mail I received today.

The article below was written by Gary Hubbell, a rancher, fishing guide and real estate agent, in Aspen Colorado of all places....Someone picked this up and began circulating it. To confirm its authenticity, someone emailed Gary and received the following reply:


Yes, indeed, I did write that. Thanks for your compliments.

Regards,

Gary Hubbell, Broker/Owner
United Country Colorado Brokers
Hotchkiss, CO 81419
970 872 3322 office
970 988 2122 cell
970 921 5588 home
970 872 3323 office fax
email: grandviewranch@gmail.com "<http://us.mc1802.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=grandviewranch@gmail.com>
web: www.uccoloradobrokers.com "<http://www.uccoloradobrokers.com/>
web: www.aspenranchrealestate.com "<http://www.aspenranchrealestate.com/>


EXCELLENT ARTICLE. NEVER EVER WOULD I HAVE THOUGHT THIS WOULD COME OUT OF ASPEN ,
http://www/.aspentimes .com/article/20100228/ASPENWEEKLY/100229854/
Barack Obama has awakened a sleeping nation
Gary Hubbell
Aspen Times Weekly February 2010



Barack Obama is the best thing that has happened to America in the last 100 years. Truly, he is the savior of America 's future.

Despite the fact that he has some of the lowest approval ratings among recent presidents, history will see Barack Obama as the source of America 's resurrection. Barack Obama has plunged the country into levels of debt that we could not have previously imagined; his efforts to nationalize health care have been met with fierce resistance nationwide; TARP bailouts and stimulus spending have shown little positive effect on the national economy; unemployment is unacceptably high and looks to remain that way for most of a decade; legacy entitlement programs have ballooned to unsustainable levels, and there is a seething anger in the populace.

That's why Barack Obama is such a good thing for America . Here's why..

Obama is the symbol of a creeping liberalism that has infected our society like a cancer for the last 100 years. Just as Hitler is the face of fascism, Obama will go down in history as the face of unchecked liberalism. The cancer metastasized to the point where it could no longer be ignored.

Average Americans who have quietly gone about their lives, earning a paycheck, contributing to their favorite charities, going to high school football games on Friday night, spending their weekends at the beach or on hunting trips - they've gotten off the fence. They've woken up.. There is a level of political activism in this country that we haven't seen since the American Revolution, and Barack Obama has been the catalyst that has sparked a restructuring of the American political and social consciousness.

Think of the crap we've slowly learned to tolerate over the past 50 years as liberalism sought to re-structure the America that was the symbol of freedom and liberty to all the people of the world. Immigration laws were ignored on the basis of compassion. Welfare policies encouraged irresponsibility, the fracturing of families, and a cycle of generations of dependency. Debt was regarded as a tonic to lubricate the economy. Our children left school having been taught that they are exceptional and special, while great numbers of them cannot perform basic functions of mathematics and literacy. Legislators decided that people could not be trusted to defend their own homes, and stripped citizens of their rights to own firearms. Productive members of society have been penalized with a heavy burden of taxes in order to support legions of do-nothings who loll around, reveling in their addictions, obesity, indolence, ignorance and "disabilities." Criminals have been arrested and re-arrested, coddled and set free to pillage the citizenry yet again. Lawyers routinely extort fortunes from doctors, contractors and business people with dubious torts.

We slowly learned to tolerate these outrages, shaking our heads in disbelief, and we went on with our lives.

But Barack Obama has ripped the lid off a seething cauldron of dissatisfaction and unrest.

A former Communist is given a paid government position in the White House as an advisor to the president. Auto companies are taken over by the government, and the auto workers' union - whose contracts are completely insupportable in any economic sense - is rewarded with a stake in the company. Government bails out Wall Street investment bankers and insurance companies, who pay their executives outrageous bonuses as thanks for the public support. Terrorists are read their Miranda rights and given free lawyers. And, despite overwhelming public disapproval, Barack Obama has pushed forward with a health care plan that would re-structure one-sixth of the American economy.

Literally millions of Americans have had enough. They're organizing, they're studying the Constitution and the Federalist Papers, they're reading history and case law, they're showing up at rallies and meetings, and a slew of conservative candidates are throwing their hats into the ring. Is there a revolution brewing? Yes, in the sense that there is a keen awareness that our priorities and sensibilities must be radically re-structured. Will it be a violent revolution? No. It will be done through the interpretation of the original document that has guided us for 220 "FANTASTIC" years--- the Constitution. Just as the pendulum swung to embrace political correctness and liberalism, there will be a backlash, a complete repudiation of a hundred years of nonsense. A hundred years from now, history will perceive the year 2010 as the time when America got back on the right track. And for that, we can thank Barack Hussein Obama.

Gary Hubbell is a hunter, rancher, and former hunting and fly-fishing guide. Gary works as a Colorado ranch real estate broker. He can be reached through his website,aspenranchrealestate.com <http://aspenranchrealestate.com/>
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Quasimodo

Quote:
 

http://project2996.wordpress.com/


2,996 is a tribute to the victims of 9/11.


On September 11, 2006, over 3500 volunteer bloggers joined together for a tribute to the victims of 9/11. Each wrote an individual memorial for a single victim.

We each chose to honor them by remembering their lives, and not by remembering their murderers.

Five years have had quite an effect on the list of tributes. Expired links and blogs that are no longer functioning have whittled the list to under 900.

If you would like to help out, please select a name from the list of those without tributes. With a little web research and a little compassion, you can learn enough to write a tribute. Then post that tribute to your blog, and send me the link (or leave it in a comment on this blog).

But, and this is critical, the tributes should celebrate the lives of these people–kind of like a wake. Over the last 10 years we’ve heard the names of the killers, and all about the victim’s deaths. This is a chance to learn about and celebrate those who died. Forget the murderers, they don’t deserve to be remembered. But some people who died that day deserve to be remembered–2,996 people.

Thank you,

Dale Challener Roe


Quote:
 



Quote:
 


[Example from an Israeli blogger] :


911 - Remembering Nancy Morgenstern

I posted the following memorial tribute to Nancy Morgenstern in 2006 as part of the "2996 Project" to remember 911. I'm reposting it again now.

I was sent a link to the 2996 Project [ http://project2996.wordpress.com/] from fellow blogger, Smooth Stone – it’s a blogger-based initiative which commemorates the 2,996 victims of 9/11, so I volunteered to post about one of those 2996.

(snip)

I never met Nancy Morgenstern.

Yet I’m good friends with her brother-in-law in Israel, so I guess in theory, I might have met her at a family celebration of some sort, at some point in time.

On September 11, 2001, Nancy Morgenstern, 32 worked for the bond-trading company Cantor Fitzgerald on the 104th floor of WTC Tower One.

Sometime the next day, I spoke with my friend who told me his sister-in-law was missing...Over the coming months, my friend told me more and more about Nancy, as more never-known stories from her friends made their way to Nancy’s parents. . .


She was also an avid cyclist, and participated in many races. . .

A Magen David Adom [IE, Israeli Red Cross] ambulance in Beit Shemesh was donated in her memory, and besides providing an opportunity to save lives, many new lives saw their first light in that ambulance as well, as over 20 babies were born in Nancy’s ambulance on their way to hospitals in Jerusalem. A whole slew of projects came into being dedicated to Nancy’s memory – some are to private recipients and others more public.

Posted Image


Nancy's ambulance at the scene of a bus bombing in Jerusalem

Posted Image

Memorial inscription on the ambulance door

And I continued to follow the story through my friend…since there was no closure. As with many victims from the upper floors of the WTC, Nancy’s remains were not found at first. A burial plot was purchased in the Etz Chayim cemetery outside Beit Shemesh in the hope that one day, Nancy’s remains would be brought to burial in Israel…and the family waited. . .

And then, just as the identification process was closing up and it was announced that all possible remains were identified…after 3 long years, DNA typing matched her remains, and were brought to Israel for burial.

I never met Nancy, but I went to her funeral in Israel -- to the cemetery in Beit Shemesh. I clearly remember one of the eulogies; when most people are buried, the memorialization process starts…yet with Nancy, there was already an entire world continuing on in her memory.

Most of all, Nancy will always be remembered as an amazing friend to so many, whose passion, love of life and strict adherence to her convictions no matter what environment she was in, was an inspiration to all who knew her.

May her memory be a blessing, a source of comfort for her family – as the projects in her memory continue to add goodness and holiness to the world.


Edited by Quasimodo, Sep 11 2011, 10:57 AM.
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Quasimodo

(Another example from Project 2996)

Quote:
 
http://latermeask.blogspot.com/2006/09/we-remember-dong-lee.html

We Remember Dong Lee

Today we remember Dong Lee, a passenger aboard Flight 77 on September 11th, 2001.

Posted Image

Dong, a resident of Leesburg, VA, was 48 years old, an engineer for Boeing and is survived by a wife and three children.

From a memory of Mr. Lee:

...Dong Lee was a patriot who understood the value of this Nation's
security and the need to keep important information secure and had no qualms
about putting his intellect to the service of a company and his Nation. Capable,
knowledgeable and able to present ideas so that they could be quickly and easily
picked up and understood as concepts and fit into larger schema, all the while
being affable, courteous, outgoing and willing to discuss how these concepts
could be worked for other things.


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Quasimodo

(Another example) :


Quote:
 


http://iowageek.blogspot.com/2006/09/in-honor-of-capt-louis-joseph.html

In Honor of Capt. Louis Joseph Modafferi

Posted Image


(This post will remain at the top of this blog until midnight September 11.)


CAPT. LOUIS MODAFFERI, 45, of New York, a firefighter, wasn't scheduled to work Sept. 11 but joined his squad when he heard the World Trade Center had been attacked.


AS I searched through Google I found this statement to be the very essence of this fallen hero.

A father of three he rarely spoke of his accomplishments but praised his children to anyone who would listen. The Captain of Staten Island's Rescue 5, Capt. Modafferi also worked on a federal rescue team aiding victims of plane crashes and hurricanes. He was a modest man who relieved stress by vacuuming.

Before he bacame a firefighter Louis worked as a waiter, a chimney sweep and a mechanic. A man with a love of Trans-Ams he sold his prized car to buy an engagement ring for his wife. When she opened the ring box it was empty except for a tiny Trans-Am. Louis and Joanne were married for 20 years.

So many words were used in the tributes I read to this hero: husband, father, best friend, loving son, modest, selfless, giving, dependable, respectful. This is a man who is much loved and missed by all who knew him.

Thank you, Louis, for being who you were. Your bravery will be remembered always. We will never forget.


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abb
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I didn't know until the other day that Barbara Olsen was a FReeper. Ken5050, another FReeper who I know from our Dinosaur Media Deathwatch™ threads posted this about her Friday. Very impressive.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2776086/posts

Among the victims on 9/11 was Barbara Olson, the beautiful and brilliant author and political commentator who perished when American Airlines flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon. Many here will recall that she was an avid Freeper ( her screen handle was "bko" )...and many who are new to FR may not have known it. It was because of FR that I had the very good fortune to get to know Barbara..indeed, the week before she died we'd spoken on the phone, to talk about actually meeting in NYC for the first time later that month. She was an absolute delight, and I thought I'd like to briefly share with all of you a little bit about my experiences with her.

TOPICS: Announcements; War on Terror; Click to Add Topic
KEYWORDS: barbaraolson; bko; Click to Add Keyword

I'd lived in the quiet little village of Chappaqua, NY for over 20 years, when my world was somewhat turned upside down ( my own Millenium shocker) by the news that not only had the Clintons decided to move to my town, but they'd bought a house right around the corner from me. As was said..."there went the neighborhood.."

From being a nice bedroom community in the NYC suburbs...where the sidewalks were rolled up at 9PM....if there were in fact sidewalks, ( which mostly there weren't)..we now found ourselves about the 5th or 6th most popular media by-line location....Washington, London, Moscow, Los Angeles, Beijing, Chappaqua?

We had demonstrators in the streets. The parking lot of our local Grand Union was often filled with the satellite trucks of a dozen news organization. The USSS was everywhere. They actually rented a house that was a few hundred feet from my driveway to use as their HQ..so it was probably one of the safest streets in the country. For years after...we never bothered to lock the front door, let alone set the alarm system..Photographers would often climb up into the trees surrounding the "casa Clinton" and the local police would pull them down.

They'd bought the house to provide the backdrop, and photo-op for her upcoming race for the NY senate seat. The first year, Bill was still a sitting president, so when he came to town, everything just locked down from a security perspective. Our street was the "staging area" whenever the Clintons were in town. From where you'd never see a car parked in the street, now, I'd have to runt the gauntlet of 2-3 local police cars, several NY state police cruisers, a bunch of the big, black USSS war wagons, an ambulance, and often, for good measure, a firetruck. One morning Bill decided to drop into "The Little Store"..the local deli/coffee shop, for breakfast. The local cops were still getting the hang of all this, so they blocked off the street for a while. The net effect..about 400 people missed their train into NYC that morning.

OK..now on to Barbara...

Like many here, I'd discovered FR during the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal, via the link from Drudge. I lurked for a while, then signed up...posted an occasional article, commented on many. Made some nice FRiends..many still around. Went to the March4Justice ( where, oh where is Mr. Cigarman?)

So when I found out the Clintons were moving in, I mentioned it to a few friends, either on a thread, or via Freepmail. Needless to say, there was both a great deal of interest, and, well....let's say "commiseration."

After about a month, I decide to post my first vanity about the experience...I called it "Report from Chappaqua."

I was blown away..literally... totally astonished, by the response..IIRC correctly, I posted the first ever thread in the morning..that evening..when I went back on line, there were over 800 replies..

Admittedly, many were duplicative. Most could be divided into THREE categories:

1. offering sympathy and condolences
2. Advising me to move, and..
3. Telling me to lock up my daughters..

And there was that great photoshopped sign that I think Freeper "Register" did..the "Welcome to Chappaqua..home of registered sex offender Bill Clinton"

I don't have it anymore...it was several computers back..but if anyone does, please post it..

But most importantly, everyone LOVED the thread...I got lots of thanks, and encouragement..they wanted more...so So, I kept on doing it...probably at least 50 times over the next 3 years..I was blogging before I knew what a blog was..reporting on all the insider stuff about the Clintons...( and believe me, there was also a lot of stuff I couldn't post)

It was after the 3rd or so "Report" thread, that I got a FReepmail from "bko." Didn't recognize the handle...and there was no information at all on her home page... She complimented me on my articles, asked a few more questions, and later on, told me that she was a writer and offered some suggestions.

Barbara was regular on the cable networks all during the Clinton era, covering scandal after scandal..but especially the Lewinsky mess and the impeachment. In 1999, she wrote the best seller "Hell to Pay" about Hillary Clinton.

After she finally told me who she indeed was...boy, was I ever surprised... ( and she was pretty careful NOT to reveal her identity on FR in an overt way) we became regular correspondents..initially via Freepmail, later by our regular email accounts.

I'd say we emailed back and forth at least twice a week for over a year..I'd give her some juicy tidbits....which she would occasionally use on air, as well as lots more background stuff. I'd offer my opinion about her most recent TV stints. These were wide ranging emails...covered everything and anything...we both enjoyed the correspondence.

In mid 2001, two diverse events occured, though nearly simultaneously..an interesting convergence.

First, I discovered to my amazement the incredible power of the internet. Heading up to her senate run, Hillary had been the subject of several books, all of them, except for Barbara's "Hell to Pay" were laudatory puff pieces by liberal hacks. So one day, I'm in the Chappaqua Public Library....some of the books are displayed in the lobby..so I go to the card catalogue...and notice that there are about 5-10 copies of each of the several pro-Hillary books, but as for Barbara's book ( which had been a NY Times best seller)....there was nary a copy.

So I covered that in my next post on FR. Now..stay with me folks..

It turns out that one of the columnists at the Arkansas Domocrat-Gazette ( who'd covered the Clintons for years, and was not, shall we say, fans of theirs) had somehow come across my "Report from Chappaqua" pieces on FR. So, a few days later, in her column, she has a blurb that the Chappaqua Library doesn't own any copies of any books that are critical of Hillary. Two days later, this item gets picked up in one of the British papers. Two days later, it's in a column in the Washington Times, and the very next day, it's the lead item in the " Washington Grapevine" segment on Brit Humes' "Special Report" show on FOXNEWS. WOW...The world has indeed changed..The MSM can't control, can't shape, the news any more..

Second: Hillary really stepped in it big time. She'd worked hard to soften her image. But something happened that revealed yet again the imperious nature of the Clintons. From their home in Chappaqua, to Westchester Country Airport, it's at best a 30 minute ride..with a police escort and lights and sirens, you could do it in 15 minutes..Well, one day, for Hillary, returning home...even that was too much. After all, you get spoiled from 8 years on Marine One and Air Force One. So, landing at Westchester, she decides that she's gonna take a helicopter home.

Problem..there is NO helipad anywheres in town...we have lots of big, old-growth trees...it's a beautifully wooded area..but not many places to land a chopper. So she decides that they'll plop down on the town ballfield, which is right next to the train station, police department, and the middle school. Then the Secret Service drive onto the field, and take her home. Well, this scared the crap out of almost everyone..Was it an attack..were we being invaded.Did the helicopter CRASH? ( The irony is obvious....this was shortly before 9/11)...Could it have CRASHED on the school?...Moms waiting outside the school were panicked. This was a BIG story for several days..in all the NY media..tabloids and TV.....lousy PR for Hillary, and they worked overtime to bury it..and then, of course, we find out that the town Library censors what books they buy about Hillary. BIG OOPSIE. Barbara had a ball with it for several nights on the tube...I'd fed her some "man on the ground" comments from locals..

During this time..the spring and summer of 2001, Barbara was finishing up her latest, ( and sadly, her last...it was published postumously in Oct 2001 ) book "The Final Days: The Last, Desperate Abuses of Power by the Clinton Administration." ( Again..there's that recurring sense of irony in the title. She'd sent me some rough chapters, later some gallies. I enjoyed the chance for the advance read, and to comment.

For those who may not be aware, when a new book is poublished, especially one about current political figures and events, the author goes on the "circuit" to promote it...Talk radio, cable news shows..book signings around the country.

So, in the summer or 2001, I came up with the BRILLIANT idea of getting Barbara an "author's night" at..where else?..you guessed it..the Chappaqua Public Library. She just loved it..couldn't wait for it..Normally, libraries get local authors...books sell a few hundred or so copies..this, OTOH.. would have been BIG. Barbara had then come up with the idea of getting Sean Hannity to do his radio show that day from the Chappaqua Library. Barbara and Sean were very close friends, and well..as you all know...let's just say that he was never a BIG fan of the Clintons. I have no doubt that he'd have loved the idea...been eager to do it..and we'd have gotten lots more media attention...

I'd planned to talk to the Library head right after Labor day..to discuss the idea, the format, and some possible dates. The town is very Democrat, very liberal, they LOVE the Clintons...so I was anticipating some resistance..thought it might caused a little stink..but he liked the idea..thought it would be great for the Library..we were going to talk again in a week or so. I let Barbara know, and she was excited. She was going to be in NYC the following week, and we'd made tentative plans to finally meet in person...she said she'd take me to dinner...and see from her end, and her publisher's..what days might work for the "author's night."

And, alas, sadly..none of that ever came to pass.

The story of Flight 77 is well known. Barbara spoke with her husband shortly before her death. He has graciously revealed to the public many details of that last conversation. She was aware of what had happened in NYC, that she was most likely going to die. Fortunately she had the time, though brief, to come to peace with her life, and with God.

I regret that I never got to meet her in person, though I feel that I did get to know her fairly well through our correspondence, and a few phone calls.

She'd promised that when we met, she was going to bring several copies of "Hell to Pay" and autograph them for me...and of course, the same, later on, with the new book.

It would have been nice to have them now.

I hope I didn't bore anyone with this. I wanted to tell this little story...and the anniversary seemed like the right time.

If anyone wants to post some pics of Barbara, please do so.

If anyone is interested, ( though I can't imagine why, I think the old "Report from Chappaqua" threads may be still on the FR server..or not. Try SEARCH, I guess."
1 posted on Friday, September 09, 2011 2:49:07 PM by ken5050
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To: maggief; seekthetruth; abb

FYI..thought perhaps you’d enjoy this..something I wanted to write..

2 posted on Friday, September 09, 2011 2:50:13 PM by ken5050 (Save the EARTH...it's the ONLY planet with CHOCOLATE!!!)
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Duke parent 2004
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Joan Foster
Sep 11 2011, 09:11 AM
Krugman is a hateful, hateful monk of the Progressive Church. His bile is what infects Academia and the Left Wing of our politics. His pomposity, his arrogance, his ignorance is exactly what is leading us into the abyss ...as he and his ilk follow the Buffoon Piper of Academia as he undermines everything that made this country great....leaving destruction as the fruit of everything they touch.

This will be widely read and outrage will cement the division between us. So Krugman, on a practical level, helps to defeat his already pathetic losing cause...and credibility.
In 1945 George Orwell was being shown around a prisoner-of-war camp in Germany by a young Viennese Jew. . As the tour party approached a group of S. S. officers lying on the ground, the Jew worked himself into a fury and suddenly “lashed out with his heavy army boot “ at one of the prisoners, catching the German officer “on the bulge of one of his deformed feet.” . Conceding that it would be absurd to blame the Jew “for getting his own back on the Nazis,” Orwell nevertheless took the high road:

But what this scene, and much else that I saw in Germany, brought home to me was that the whole idea of revenge and punishment is a childish daydream. . Properly speaking, there is no such thing as revenge. . Revenge is an act which you want to commit when you are powerless and because you are powerless:. as soon as the sense of impotence is removed, the desire evaporates also. .(from “Revenge is Sour,” in George Orwell: . Essays, Everyman Edition)

Shaking my head, I console myself by noting that Orwell, who died in 1950, wrote this passage long before he could have encountered Paul Krugman, who for years, now, has been redefining what it means to take the low road.
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Joan Foster

A very insightful article:

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/richardlandes/100104166/by-reacting-to-911-with-self-recrimination-the-western-elites-have-strengthened-the-hand-of-brutal-islamism/

WESTERN ELITES HAVE STRENGTHENED THE HAND OF BRUTAL ISLAMISM

"In the years before 2000, as the director of the ephemeral Centre for Millennial Studies, I scanned the global horizon for signs of apocalyptic activity, that is, for movements of people who believed that now was the time of a total global transformation. As I did so, I became aware of such currents of belief among Muslims, some specifically linked to the year 2000, all predominantly expressing the most dangerous of all apocalyptic beliefs – active cataclysmic: that is, the belief that this transition from evil to good demands massive destruction, and that we true believers are the agents of that destruction, warriors of God, Mujahidin. Death cults, cults of martyrdom and mass murder… destroying the world to save it.

Nor were these beliefs magical, like the far better known Christian, but largely passive-cataclysmic, Rapture scenarios where one must await God’s intervention. They had practical means and goals. In the same year 1989, that Bin Laden drove the Russians from Afghanistan, Khomeini issued a global fatwah against Rushdie, and the West trembled. Iran and Afghanistan, however, like so many utopias born of such death cults, proved terrifyingly dystopic – acid in the faces of unveiled women. But these bitter new heavens on earth also showed remarkable staying power… and spreading power. So when Bin Laden struck with such spectacular force on 9-11, he took his Jihad, already declared in 1998 against America (the “Second AD” ), to the next level. He put deeds to words.

snip

The anti-American Left, like courtiers in a 21st-century production of the emperor’s new clothes, embraced Jihadis who struggled so mightily against American hegemony. The “peace” rallies of 2003 against Bush’s war in Iraq brought the pacifist Left and the Mujahidin together in common cause. One Pakistani participant in Islamabad wore a headband with "Kill Jews"; Berkeley radicals would not be outclassed in their demonizing. And yet, too few were disturbed by the oxymoron of an anti-Semitic peace rally. They failed to note that in apocalyptic politics, my enemy’s enemy is my enemy.

When Bin Laden’s men took out the Twin Towers, they, in a typical act of cognitive egocentrism, thought they would bring down the arrogant and empty tyrant of the US. What they did accomplish, however unintentionally, was to fend their foe – us – into two self-recriminating and dysfunctional halves. These halves, who so inaccurately identify themselves as “Right” and “Left,” seem to despise each other more than they do an enemy who passionately hates both of them – us! – a foe that hates all we collectively believe in about those messy and productive societies that treasure tolerance and dignity and freedom.

snipAmong the many memes widely circulating in Western circles, one of the most absurdly noxious is “Who are we to judge?” All the great progressive victories of demotic polities – equality before the law, freedom of religion and dissent, respect for those disadvantaged by “might makes right,” women, workers, weak – arises from harsh value judgments on the authoritarianism that exploits them: patriarchy, exploitation, cruelty. Not judging too quickly – admirable; not judging at all – folly. We end up ferociously judging ourselves, and giving others, whose values and motives are far more base, a free pass. In doing so we illustrate Pascal’s warning, “the more we want to be angels, the more we become beasts.”

So when, in order to seem peaceful, we abandon non-westerners to brutal political cultures in the name of some quasi-religious commitment to cultural relativism, we betray everything we claim we support. Such attitudes seem particularly inadvisable when facing an apocalyptic foe dedicated to the destruction of all our progressive values.

If the only people who fight Islamic triumphalism are really on the Right, their solutions will obviously favour harsh responses. Liberals and progressives would, presumably, struggle harder to come up with more creative and less violent forms of effective resistance. So it constitutes a catastrophic loss of creative energy to have a “Left” that believes that somehow, if only we were nicer to Muslims, they’d be nicer to us, one that views as an alarming embarrassment anyone who points out the Islamic contribution to the problem, as a saboteur of this effort at placation, an “enemy of peace.” It also represents a colossal betrayal of genuine Muslims moderates who really do want to live in a vibrant civil society that respects everyone; where Muslims respect infidels, and infidels respect Islam.

If the aughts were a debacle of culture wars in the West and a period of growing radicalization in Islamic circles, let the teens be a period when finally, we turn around this self-destructive behavior. The wellbeing of billions of people on this planet depends on our commitment to Western progressive values.



Edited by Joan Foster, Sep 11 2011, 12:32 PM.
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Baldo
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cks
Sep 11 2011, 09:44 AM
I wish that the television "hosts" would just keep quiet rather than spout stupid inanities. The latest from Tom Brokaw who, commenting on the people doing rubbings of their loved ones' names on the 9/11 memorial in NY, said that putting names on a memorial began with the VietNam memorial. Wrong, wrong, wrong......look at WWI memorials here and in Europe. Look at Civil War memorials in towns throughout this nation.

Why not let the ceremonies speak for themselves?

I agree!

Slightly OT.

This applies to most TV announcers. They talk too much when they cover events. It is particularly troublesome in events such as the Olympics when they blabber on incessantly. Bob Costa can be great baseball announcer but when he does ceremonies somebody should put a muzzle on him. Talk Talk Talk.

I love Football and so many announcers & color commentators just interject needless information or wrong info.

The events of 911 are so huge, so overwhelming they need the lightest of touch

Give me Ray Scott, Hank Schramm, Joe Buck(not his son), and leave most of the current announcers with their mics off.
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agatha

I did not know bko was Babara Olson until after 9/11. I recognized the name bko from the Clinton threads, just as I recognize the name of many freepers. Of course, I knew who Babara Olson was, as I had read "Hell to Pay" and I always enjoyed watching her on TV.

My heart breaks every time I see the clip of Ted Olsen describing his last conversation with her as she was sitting on the back of that plane.

Wife of Solicitor General alerted him of hijacking from plane
Quote:
 
September 11, 2001|Tim O'Brien|| CNN
Barbara Olson, a conservative commentator and attorney, alerted her husband, Solicitor General Ted Olson, that the plane she was on was being hijacked Tuesday morning, Ted Olson told CNN.

A short time later the plane crashed into the Pentagon. Barbara Olson is presumed to have died in the crash.

Her husband said she called him twice on a cell phone from American Airlines Flight 77, which was en route from Washington Dulles International Airport to Los Angeles.

Ted Olson told CNN that his wife said all passengers and flight personnel, including the pilots, were herded to the back of the plane by armed hijackers. The only weapons she mentioned were knives and cardboard cutters.

She felt nobody was in charge and asked her husband to tell the pilot what to do.

Ted Olson notified the Justice Department command center immediately.

He told CNN that his wife had originally been booked on a flight Monday, but delayed her departure because Tuesday was his birthday and she wanted to be with him in the morning.

Barbara Olson was a former federal prosecutor and served as Chief Investigative Counsel to the House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight during its probe into the Clinton Administration "Travelgate" scandal.

She had appeared frequently as a commentator on CNN.

I am grateful ken5050 shared his memories with Free Republic. When I think of her, I will once again remember how she lived instead of how she died.

She died a hero and that is something I will never forget.

Posted Image
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Baldo
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A long story but worth reading

A Twin Towers' Survivor Story

Brian Clark, an executive vice president at Euro Brokers, a brokerage firm that had offices on the 84th floor of 2 World Trade Center, was one of only a few people to escape either tower from above the floors where the planes struck. In this interview for the NOVA program "Why the Towers Fell," assistant producer Matt Barrett simply let the camera roll as Clark told his astounding tale. Only slightly edited for clarity here, the interview reveals, in vividly recalled detail, how snap decisions, gut instinct, and a touch of luck worked together in Clark's favor and that of the man whose life he saved.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tech/twin-towers-survivor-story.html
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foxglove

Baldo
Sep 11 2011, 07:50 AM
Not to be forgotten in all the horror of that day is that another building collapsed that afternoon, Building 7.

Building 7 was not struck by a plane, yet collapsed into its own footprint.

The day before 9-11, Donald Rumsfeld reported that trillions of dollars were unaccounted for.

Somewhat mysterious, as we reflect on and are reminded of today the horrible loss of life and terror 10 years ago.

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foxglove

agatha
Sep 11 2011, 12:37 PM
I did not know bko was Babara Olson until after 9/11. I recognized the name bko from the Clinton threads, just as I recognize the name of many freepers. Of course, I knew who Babara Olson was, as I had read "Hell to Pay" and I always enjoyed watching her on TV.

My heart breaks every time I see the clip of Ted Olsen describing his last conversation with her as she was sitting on the back of that plane.

Wife of Solicitor General alerted him of hijacking from plane
Quote:
 
September 11, 2001|Tim O'Brien|| CNN
Barbara Olson, a conservative commentator and attorney, alerted her husband, Solicitor General Ted Olson, that the plane she was on was being hijacked Tuesday morning, Ted Olson told CNN.

A short time later the plane crashed into the Pentagon. Barbara Olson is presumed to have died in the crash.

Her husband said she called him twice on a cell phone from American Airlines Flight 77, which was en route from Washington Dulles International Airport to Los Angeles.

Ted Olson told CNN that his wife said all passengers and flight personnel, including the pilots, were herded to the back of the plane by armed hijackers. The only weapons she mentioned were knives and cardboard cutters.

She felt nobody was in charge and asked her husband to tell the pilot what to do.

Ted Olson notified the Justice Department command center immediately.

He told CNN that his wife had originally been booked on a flight Monday, but delayed her departure because Tuesday was his birthday and she wanted to be with him in the morning.

Barbara Olson was a former federal prosecutor and served as Chief Investigative Counsel to the House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight during its probe into the Clinton Administration "Travelgate" scandal.

She had appeared frequently as a commentator on CNN.

I am grateful ken5050 shared his memories with Free Republic. When I think of her, I will once again remember how she lived instead of how she died.

She died a hero and that is something I will never forget.

Posted Image
I remember Barbara Olson as leader of the Independent Women's Forum who spoke so strongly and well on conservative values. May she rest in peace with all the others who died that day.


http://www.iwf.org/news/show/18595.html


Remembering IWF Founder Barbara Olson
by R. Gaull Silberman
December 1, 2001


"Barbara Bracher Olson was a warrior. She refused to be a noncombatant or AWOL in the culture wars -- the crucial domestic conflict of the '90s -- which she helped found this organization to fight. We fight a new kind of war, and it's a cruel and tragic twist of fate that Barbara Olson was one of its first casualties, lost when terrorists flew the plane on which she was traveling into the Pentagon.

When I first met Barbara, she was a recent graduate of the Benjamin Cardozo Law School working at the Reagan Justice Department. Smart, ambitious, beautiful, conservative, she wanted no part of either the agenda or the message of the organizations that purported in those days to speak for American women.

Indeed, Barbara was the embodiment of why we started IWF: to give voice to independent, articulate, knowledgeable women who were secure in their femininity and who had the courage to challenge conventional wisdom and bring common sense to bear on issues of importance to women and to men. We sought to change the terms of the debate, and nobody was better at it than Barbara.

It was just ten years ago when Barbara Bracher appeared at the Russell Senate Office Building late one night as we prepared to testify on behalf of Clarence Thomas' nomination to the Supreme Court. As was typical of Barbara, she didn't wait to be asked or given an assignment. She just wanted to join the fight.

In those days, Barbara and I used to talk a lot about her plans for the future. I remember thinking: This is a woman who wants to make a difference; this is a woman who wants to do it all; this is a woman who is not very realistic. But what I have since come to appreciate is that she was incredibly efficient and virtually indefatigable. In the years that I knew her, through all of the battles, I never heard her say that she was tired. Ever. She did do it all and she did it so well. ..."

Edited by foxglove, Sep 11 2011, 03:03 PM.
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LTC8K6
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Assistant to The Devil Himself
It was quite a day. I still feel all of the same emotions all these years later.

You know, Barbara was the one the truthers couldn't explain...she stood out and held several of their rotten claims at bay...

Remember they tried to say that her plane did not hit the pentagon...that it was a missile...that her plane landed somewhere...
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