The Way Things Were
This picture was taken by a lady returning on a cruise (July 28, 2001). It is a sunrise over lower Manhattan.
SHE Writes: As I watched the beautiful skyline of New York City float past me I noticed the sun was about to line up just behind the twin towers. I was lucky enough to snap the picture at exactly the right moment.
If you look at the sun rays it is almost prophetic. - a little spooky.
When I show this picture to anyone they almost always ask for a copy. I just want to share it with all who want it. Please take this picture and share it with anyone and everyone who likes it.
American Heroes - Then and Now
"Those who say
we're
in a time when there are no heroes,
they just don't
know where to look." --Ronald Reagan
If you have guessed that I am furious, you are right.
First,
For the attack by
Muslim
fanatics who have been whipped up into a suicidal frenzy by the likes
of
Usama bin Laden.
But also~~~
For the cowards, the peaceniks, the pacifiers, and the appeasers. Are you too young to remember Neville Chamberlain and the 55 million who perished in WWII because we didn't act until it was almost too late?
For those who say "'Someone' should do something about this ~~~ but not me". Is this an obscure way of expressing your cowardice? My guess is, "yes".
For those who say we should try to "understand" these people and their motives. You are living in a fantasy world. Wake up! These people are lunatics and there is no way to understand them. They killed 3,000 innocent people here without remorse and will try to do it again. Try to understand THAT!
For the timid press and TV anchor men who don't want to take sides, who want to appear neutral and refuse to characterize these terrorists as such, and who will not let the American flag or patriotic ribbons or pins be shown in their news room or be worn on air. Well, what has your impartiality gotten you? Anthrax attacks? Good thing you haven't taken sides.
For the show-biz
personalities
who hogged all of the TV Channels to raise funds for the victims. Were
my eyes deceiving me or was there not one American flag or any display
of Red, White, and Blue during that broadcast? Help the victims but
don't
upset Bin Laden, right? And where is the money? Who is accountable for
it? And how much, if any of it has actually been distributed to
the
families of the victims?
You guys love a
photo-op
and there would have been one if you were handing out money ~~~~~~ but
I didn't see it.
To the large charities who collected megabucks but distributed so much of it first to your many levels of your own bureaucracies that it didn't reach any of the families until Bill OReilly and other persistent TV folks shamed you into it. Don't knock at my door again for donations. The answer will be NO!!!
For the
opportunists
who are taking advantage of the situation to try to stop the Pledge of
Allegiance, the singing of God Bless America and America the Beautiful
and the display of "GOD BLESS AMERICA" on a school marquee because GOD
is mentioned and they consider it "divisive".
You clowns are the
ones
being divisive. Put this atheist bull on the back burner until this
crisis
is over.
An Ex-Marine Sounds Off
I sat in a movie theater watching
"Schindler's
List," asked myself, "Why
didn't the Jews fight back?"
Now I know why.
I sat in a movie theater, watching
"Pearl
Harbor and asked myself, "Why
weren't we prepared?"
Now I know why.
Civilized people cannot fathom, much
less predict, the actions of evil
people.
On September 11, dozens of capable
airplane
passengers allowed themselves to
be overpowered by a handful of poorly
armed terrorists because they did not
comprehend the depth of hatred that
motivated their captors.
On September 11, thousands of
innocent
people were murdered because too many
Americans naively reject the reality
that some nations are dedicated to the
dominance of others. Many political
pundits, pacifists and media personnel
want us to forget the carnage. They
say we must focus on the bravery of the
rescuers and ignore the cowardice of
the killers. They implore us to
understand the motivation of the
perpetrators.
Major television stations
have announced they will assist the
healing process by not replaying
devastating footage of the planes
crashing
into the Twin Towers.
I will not be manipulated.
I will not pretend to understand.
I will not forget.
I will not forget the liberal media
who abused freedom of the press to kick
our country when it was vulnerable
and hurting.
I will not forget that CBS anchor
Dan
Rather preceded President Bush's
address to the nation with the snide
remark, "No matter how you feel about
him, he is still our president."
I will not forget that ABC TV anchor
Peter Jennings questioned President
Bush's motives for not returning
immediately
to Washington, DC and
commented, "We're all pretty skeptical
and cynical about Washington."
And I will not forget that ABC's
Mark
Halperin warned if reporters weren't
informed of every little detail of
this war, they aren't "likely - nor
should they be expected-to show
deference."
I will not isolate myself from my
fellow
Americans by pretending an attack
on the USS Cole in Yemen was not an
attack on the United States of America.
I will not forget the Clinton
administration
equipped Islamic terrorists and
their supporters with the world's most
sophisticated telecommunications
equipment and encryption technology,
thereby compromising America's ability
to trace terrorist radio, cell phone,
land lines, faxes and modem
communications.
I will not be appeased with
pointless,
quick retaliatory strikes like those
perfected by the previous
administration.
I will not be comforted by
"feel-good,
do nothing" regulations like the
silly "Have your bags been under your
control?" question at the airport.
I will not be influenced by so
called,"antiwar
demonstrators" who exploit
the right of expression to chant
anti-American
obscenities.
I will not forget the moral victory
handed the North Vietnamese by American
war protesters who reviled and spat
upon the returning soldiers, airmen,
sailors and Marines.
I will not be softened by the
wishful
thinking of pacifists who chose
reassurance over reality.
I will embrace the wise words of
Prime
Minister Tony Blair who told Labor
Party conference, "They have no moral
inhibition on the slaughter of the
innocent. If they could have murdered
not 7,000 but 70,000, does anyone
doubt they would have done so and
rejoiced
in it?
There is no compromise possible with
such people, no meeting of minds, no
point of understanding with such
terror.
Just a choice: defeat it or be
defeated by it. And defeat it we must!"
I will force myself to:
-hear
the weeping
-feel
the helplessness
-imagine
the terror
-sense
the panic
-smell
the burning flesh
-experience
the loss
-remember
the hatred.
I sat in a movie theater, watching
"Private
Ryan" and asked myself, "Where
did they find the courage?"
Now I know.
We have no choice. Living without liberty is not living.
MGySgt. Ed Evans USMC (Ret.)
Not as lean, Not as
mean,
But still a Marine. Semper Fi.
(The name of the
cameraman
is anonymous but I assume from the URL that he is a Mr.Camazotz.
Whatever
his name, he bicycled all over Brooklyn and Manhattan to get these
pictures
and his camera work is superb.)
WAKE UP!!!!
WAKE UP!!!!
WAKE UP!!!!
WE ARE AT WAR!!!!!!!
Before continuing, pause for a moment at this uplifting site.
http://www.dnsonline.net/~cherokeepines/karlssite001.htm
(This is
a very graphic-intensive site.
It may take
a while to load.)
Our New National Resolve
LETS ROLL!!!!!!
Todd Beamer
Who is the
enemy?
Here is an
insightful
appraisal by Paul Johnson, a historian and journalist whose forthcoming
book is a history of art.
From the October
15, 2001, issue of National Review
http://www.nationalreview.com/15oct01/johnson101501.shtml
Relentlessly and Thoroughly
The only way to respond.
Bold
and
uncompromising words were spoken by American (and British) leaders
in the
immediate
response to the Manhattan Massacre. But they may be succeeded by
creeping appeasement unless public opinion insists that these leaders
stick
to their initial resolve to destroy international terrorism
completely.
One central reason why appeasement is so tempting to Western
governments
is that attacking terrorism at its roots necessarily involves
conflict
with the second-largest religious community in the world.
It is widely
said
that Islamic terrorists are wholly unorthodox in their belief that
their
religion sanctions what they do, and promises the immediate
reward
of heaven to what we call "suicide bombers" but they insist are martyrs
to the faith. This line is bolstered by the assertion that Islam is
essentially
a religion of peace and that the very word "Islam" means "peace." Alas,
not so. Islam means "submission," a very different matter, and
one
of the functions of Islam, in its more militant aspect, is to
obtain that
submission from all, if necessary by force.
Islam is an imperialist religion, more so than Christianity has ever been, and in contrast to Judaism. The Koran, Sura 5, verse 85, describes the inevitable enmity between Moslems and non-Moslems: "Strongest among men in enmity to the Believers wilt thou find the Jews and Pagans." Sura 9, verse 5, adds: "Then fight and slay the pagans wherever you find them. And seize them, beleaguer them and lie in wait for them, in every strategem [ofwar]." Then nations, however mighty, the Koran insists, must be fought "until they embrace Islam."
These canonical commands cannot be explained away or softened by modern theological exegesis, because there is no such science in Islam. Unlike Christianity, which, since the Reformation and Counter Reformation, has continually updated itself and adapted to changed conditions, and unlike Judaism, which has experienced what is called the 18th-century Jewish enlightenment, Islam remains a religion of the Dark Ages. The 7th-century Koran is still taught as the immutable word of God, any teaching of which is literally true. In other words, mainstream Islam is essentially akin to the most extreme form of Biblical fundamentalism. It is true it contains many sects and tendencies, quite apart from the broad division between Sunni Moslems, the majority, who are comparatively moderate and include most of the ruling families of the Gulf, and Shia Moslems, far more extreme, who dominate Iran. But virtually all these tendencies are more militant and uncompromising than the orthodox, which is moderate only by comparison, and by our own standards is extreme. It believes, for instance, in a theocratic state, ruled by religious law, inflicting (as in Saudi Arabia) grotesquely cruel punishments, which were becoming obsolete in Western Europe in the early Middle Ages.
Moreover, Koranic teaching that the faith or "submission" can be, and in suitable circumstances must be, imposed by force, has never been ignored. On the contrary, the history of Islam has essentially been a history of conquest and reconquest. The 7th-century "breakout" of Islam from Arabia was followed by the rapid conquest of North Africa, the invasion and virtual conquest of Spain, and a thrust into France that carried the crescent to the gates of Paris. It took half a millennium of reconquest to expel the Moslems from Western Europe. The Crusades, far from being an outrageous prototype of Western imperialism, as is taught in most of our schools, were a mere episode in a struggle that has lasted 1,400 years, and were one of the few occasions when Christians took the offensive to regain the "occupied territories" of the Holy Land.
The Crusades, as it happened, fatally weakened the Greek Orthodox Byzantine Empire, the main barrier to the spread of Islam into southeast and central Europe. As a result of the fall of Constantinople to the ultramilitant Ottoman Sultans, Islam took over the entire Balkans, and was threatening to capture Vienna and move into the heart of Europe as recently as the 1680s.
This millennial struggle continues in a variety of ways. The recent conflicts in Bosnia and Kosovo were a savage reaction by the Orthodox Christians of Serbia to the spread of Islam in their historic heartlands, chiefly by virtue of a higher birthrate. Indeed, in the West, the battle is largely demographic, though it is likely to take a more militant turn at any moment. Moslems from the Balkans and North Africa are surging over established frontiers on a huge scale, rather as the pressure of the eastern tribes brought about the collapse of the Roman Empire of the West in the 4th and 5th centuries A.D. The number of Moslems penetrating and settling in Europe is now beyond computation because most of them are illegals. They are getting into Spain and Italy in such numbers that, should present trends continue, both these traditionally Catholic countries will become majority Moslem during the 21st century.
The
West
is not alone in being under threat from Islamic expansion. While the
Ottomans
moved into South-East Europe, the Moghul invasion of India destroyed
much
of Hindu and Buddhist civilization there. The recent destruction by
Moslems
in Afghanistan of colossal Buddhist statues is a reminder of what
happened
to temples and shrines, on an enormous scale, when Islam took over. The
writer V. S. Naipaul has recently pointed out that the destructiveness
of the Moslem Conquest is at the root of India's appalling poverty
today.
Indeed, looked at historically, the record shows that
Moslem rule
has tended both to promote and to perpetuate poverty. Meanwhile,
the
religion of "submission" continues to advance, as a rule by force, in
Africa
in part of Nigeria and Sudan, and in Asia, notably in Indonesia,
where
non-Moslems are given the choice of conversion or death. And in all
countries
where Islamic law is applied, converts, whether compulsory or not,
who
revert to their earlier faith, are punished by death.
The survival and expansion of militant Islam in the 20th century came as a surprise. After the First World War, many believed that Turkey, where the Kemal Ataturk regime imposed secularization by force, would set the pattern for the future, and that Islam would at last be reformed and modernized. Though secularism has - so far - survived in Turkey, in the rest of Islam fundamentalism, or orthodoxy, as it is more properly called, has increased its grip on both the rulers and the masses. There are at present 18 predominantly Islamic states, some of them under Koranic law and all ruled by groups that have good reason to fear extremists.
Hence American policymakers, in planning to uproot Islamic terrorism once and for all, have to steer a narrow path. They have the military power to do what they want, but they need a broad-based global coalition to back their action, preferably with military contributions as well as words, and ideally including such states as Pakistan, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. To get this kind of support is not easy, for moderate Moslem rulers are far more frightened of the terrorists than of Americans, and fear for their lives and families. The danger is that they will insist on qualification of American action that will amount, in effect, to appeasement, and that this in turn will divide and weaken both the administration and U.S. public opinion.
It is vitally important that America stick to the essentials of its military response and carry it through relentlessly and thoroughly. Although only Britain can be guaranteed to back the White House in every contingency, it is better in the long run for America to act without many allies, or even alone, than to engage in a messy compromise dictated by nervousness and cowardice. That would be the worst of all solutions and would be certain to lead to more terrorism, in more places, and on an ever-increasing scale.
Now is the ideal moment for the United States to use all its physical capacity to eliminate large-scale international terrorism. The cause is overwhelmingly just, the nation is united, the hopes of decent, law-abiding men and women everywhere go with American arms. Such a moment may never recur.
The
great
William Gladstone, in resisting terrorism, once used the phrase, "The
resources
of civilisation are not yet exhausted." That is true today. Those
resources are largely in American hands, and the nation - "the
last,
best hope of mankind" - has an overwhelming duty to use them with
purposeful
justification and to the full, in the defense of the lives, property,
and
freedom of all of us. This is the central point to keep in mind when
the
weasel words of cowardice and surrender are pronounced.
Editorial From a Romanian Newspaper(Edited for brevity.)
Why are Americans so united? They don't resemble one another even if you
paint them! They speak all the languages of the world and form an
astonishing mixture of civilizations. Some of them are nearly extinct,
others are incompatible with one another, and in matters of religious
beliefs, not even God can count how many they are. Still, the American
tragedy turned three hundred million people into a hand put on the heart.
Nobody rushed to accuse the White House, the army, the secret services that
they are only a bunch of losers. Nobody rushed to empty their bank accounts.
Nobody rushed on the streets nearby to gape about. The Americans volunteered
to donate blood and to give a helping hand. After the first moments of
panic, they raised the flag on the smoking ruins, putting on T-shirts, caps
and ties in the colours of the national flag. They placed flags on buildings
and cars as if in every place and on every car a minister or the president
was passing. On every occasion they started singing their traditional song:
"God Bless America!".
What you could hear was the heavy artillery of the American soul.
What on earth can unite the Americans in such a way? Their land? Their
galloping history? Their economic power? Money? I tried for hours to find an
answer, humming songs and murmuring phrases which risk of sounding like
commonplaces. I thought things over, but I reached only one conclusion.
Only freedom can work such miracles!
REMEMBERING THE VICTIMS
http://www.legacy.com/LegacyTribute/Tribute.asp
Below is a letter
written
by a retired USAF officer who is a Military Historian and was head of
the
History Dept at the USAF Academy. It is not a pleasant read...in
fact it is uncomfortable. Agree with it or not...it will make you
"inventory" your resolve, because YOU are the key to victory more then
anything else.
Dear friends and fellow Americans 14 September, 2001
Like everyone else in this great country, I am reeling from last week's attack on our sovereignty. But unlike some, I am not reeling from surprise.
As a career soldier and a student and teacher of military history, I have a different perspective and I think you should hear it. This war will be won or lost by the American citizens, not diplomats, politicians or soldiers. Let me briefly explain.
In spite of what the media, and even our own government is telling us, this act was not committed by a group of mentally deranged fanatics. To dismiss them as such would be among the gravest of mistakes. This attack was committed by a ferocious, intelligent and dedicated adversary.
Don't take this the wrong
way.
I don't admire these men and I deplore their tactics, but I respect
their
capabilities. The many parallels that have been made with the Japanese
attack on Pearl Harbor are apropos. Not only because it was a brilliant
sneak attack against a complacent America, but also because we may well
be pulling our new adversaries out of caves 30 years
after we think this war is
over,
just like my father's generation had to do with the formidable Japanese
in the years following WW II.
These men hate the United
States
with all of their being, and we must not underestimate the power of
their
moral commitment. Napoleon, perhaps the world's greatest combination of
soldier and statesman, stated "the moral is to the physical as three is
to one." Patton thought the Frenchman underestimated its importance and
said moral conviction was five times more
important in battle than
physical
strength. Our enemies are willing - better said anxious - to give their
lives for their cause. How committed are we, America? And for how long?
In addition to demonstrating
great
moral conviction, the recent attack demonstrated a mastery of some of
the
basic fundamentals of warfare taught to most military officers
worldwide,
namely simplicity, security, and surprise. When I first heard rumors
that
some of these men may have been
trained at our own Air War
College,
it made perfect sense to me. This was not a random act of violence, and
we can expect the same sort of military competence to be displayed in
the
battle to come.
This war will escalate, with a good portion of it happening right here in the good ol' U.S. of A. These men will not go easily into the night. They do not fear us. We must not fear them.
In spite of our overwhelming
conventional
strength as the world's only "superpower" (a truly silly term), we are
the underdog in this fight. As you listen to the carefully scripted
rhetoric
designed to prepare us for the march for war, please realize that
America
is not equipped or seriously trained for the battle ahead. To be
certain,
our soldiers are much better
than the enemy, and we have
some
excellent "counter-terrorist" organizations, but they are mostly
trained
for hostage rescues, airfield seizures, or the occasional "body
snatch,"
(which may come in handy). We will be fighting a war of annihilation,
because
if their early efforts are any indication, our enemy is ready and
willing
to die to the last man.
Eradicating the enemy will be costly and time consuming. They have already deployed their forces in as many as 20 countries, and are likely living the lives of everyday citizens. Simply put, our soldiers will be tasked with a search and destroy mission on multiple foreign landscapes, and the public must be patient and supportive until the strategy and tactics can be worked out.
For the most part, our military is still in the process of redefining itself and presided over by men and women who grew up with - and were promoted because they excelled in - Cold War doctrine, strategy and tactics. This will not be linear warfare, there will be no clear "centers of gravity" to strike with high technology weapons.
Our vast technological edge will certainly be helpful, but it will not be decisive. Perhaps the perfect metaphor for the coming battle was introduced by the terrorists themselves aboard the hijacked aircraft - this will be a knife fight, and it will be won or lost by the ingenuity and will of citizens and soldiers, not by software or smart bombs. We must also be patient with our military leaders.
Unlike Americans who are
eager
to put this messy time behind us, our adversaries have time on their
side,
and they will use it. They plan to fight a battle of attrition, hoping
to drag the battle out until the American public loses its will to
fight.
This might be difficult to believe in this euphoric time of flag waving
and patriotism, but it is generally acknowledged that America lacks the
stomach for a long fight. We need only look as far back as Vietnam,
when
North Vietnamese General Vo Nguyen Giap
(also a military history
teacher)
defeated the United States of America without ever winning a major
tactical
battle.
American soldiers who
marched
to war cheered on by flag waving Americans in 1965 were reviled and
spat
upon less than three years later when they returned. Although we hope
that
Usama Bin Laden is no Giap, he is certain to understand and employ the
concept. We can expect not only large doses of
pain like the recent attacks,
but also less audacious "sand in the gears" tactics, ranging from
livestock
infestations to attacks at water supplies and power distribution
facilities.
These attacks are designed to hit us in our "comfort zone" forcing the average American to "pay more and play less" and eventually eroding our resolve. But it can only work if we let it.
It is clear to me that the will of the American citizenry - you and I - is the center of gravity the enemy has targeted. It will be the fulcrum upon which victory or defeat will turn. He believes us to be soft, impatient, and self-centered. He may be right, but if so, we must change.
The Prussian General Carl
von
Clausewitz, (the most often quoted and least read military theorist in
history), says that there is a "remarkable trinity of war" that is
composed
of the (1) will of the people, (2) the political leadership of the
government,
and (3) the chance and probability that plays
out on the field of battle, in
that order.
Every American citizen was in the crosshairs of last Tuesday's attack, not just those that were unfortunate enough to be in the World Trade Center or Pentagon. The will of the American people will decide this war. If we are to win, it will be because we have what it takes to persevere through a few more hits, learn from our! mistakes, improvise, and adapt. If we can do that, we will eventually prevail.
Everyone I've talked to In the past few days has shared a common frustration, saying in one form or another "I just wish I could do something!" You are already doing it. Just keep faith in America, and continue to support your President and military, and the outcome is certain.
If we fail to do so, the outcome is equally certain.
One Country under God
The only thing I don't
understand
is the fact that this terror, hate, and killing is based on respective
religion~~~~ just the opposite of what both Jesus and Mohammed
preached.
The USA will never be the same.
No Compulsion in Religion--As Long As You're a Muslim
"Islam, the true religion
...will
defeat all other religions and it will be disseminated, by Allah's
will,
through the Muslim Jihad fighters."
-Palestinian textbook
Never before have so many had to learn so much in so short a time. Islam, not exactly a household word in America, is now widely pronounced upon by journalists who know little. Many assure us it is just another religion like, say, Lutheranism.
The six million Muslims who
live
in the United States enjoy the same absolute religious freedom as
Baptists
and Catholics, as well as people who worship trees, water spirits, or
Satan.
In the wake of the act of war against the United States on September
11,
major Islamic organizations have been busy
proclaiming that Islam is a
religion
of peace and justice. In this
context, Muslim leaders
frequently
assure Americans that the Quran teaches that "there is no compulsion in
religion." They neglect to mention that the verse speaks of compulsion
by God, not Islamic states.
Tell the eight Christians in
Afghanistan,
on trial for having preached the Gospel, that "there is no compulsion
in
religion." Tell that to Catholic Ayub Masih, sitting on death row
in Pakistan for alleged blasphemy (he is said to have made a favorable
comment on Salmun Rushdie, another alleged blasphemer
still under a death sentence
from Iran). Tell that to Jews, who have no existence, much less
the
right to worship, in any Arab country.
Tell that to the thousands
of
Christians circumcised with machetes, then forcibly converted or
martyred,
in Indonesia. Tell that to the thousands of Christians daily persecuted
in Islamic countries and the two million people killed in the
Sudan for their religions by
an Islamic state that practices forced conversion, kidnapping, slavery,
and genocide. Tell that to Kuwaiti Robert Hussein, who,for daring to
convert
to Christianity, was deprived of his children,property,and citizenship.
Tell that to any Christian
working
in our ally Saudi Arabia, where
churches, rosaries, pictures,
and even private worship at home are absolutely prohibited; where
Bibles
are sometimes seized at the airport and shredded; and where malefactors
are tortured,imprisoned, and denied access to counsel. During
Desert Storm, mobs attacked
ambulances
marked by the Red Cross. Religious charities in Arabia often
guarantee
that donations will go only to the relief of non-Muslims.
One Saudi bristled when
asked
why his country had no religious
freedom. "We are one
hundred
percent free to be Muslims!"
The United Nations
Declaration
of Human Rights (1948) spells out the basic protections which all
nations
should honor, but the fifty-five Islamic nations disagree. For
this
reason, Islamic nations and organizations issue alternate documents on
human rights, including the relatively new constitutions of countries
like
Oman. In many of these, the right to religious freedom is so
hedged that it can be revoked
on any pretext--for example, "offensiveness" to Muslims. In Oman,
Christian ministers worked hard for months to hold the first ecumenical
conference in Arabia, on the "Love of God." An hour before it began,
an Israeli Rabbi was, without
explanation, denied a visa and the conference cancelled.
Other such constitutions and declarations state that all rights are to be interpreted according to the Sh'aria, or Islamic law. Under this proviso, a person may be executed for converting or reconverting to Christianity.
Under many interpretations, any Muslim may simply assassinate the defector.
If you are a Sikh, Buddhist,
Hindu,
Bahai, Shinto, or Ahmadi, you have no existence in Islamic countries
because
your religion was not recognized in the Q'uran. In the so-called
moderate Islamic countries, church buildings existbut crosses--Muhammed
hated them--are not permitted, Bibles and church bulletins may not be
disseminated,
and congregations are segregated behind walls,
sometimes with a warning on the
gate to Moslems that the compound is "haram" or forbidden.
Doubters may go to the State Department's Annual Report on International Religious Freedom (2000) and look at Iraq, Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, the Sudan,Pakistan, Indonesia, Kuwait, UAE, or Egypt. Compare the report on Israel.
President Bush is right to rally Americans to respect the persons of Muslims who live in this country and to demand that no violence be done to them.
He is on much boggier ground when he makes sweeping statements about the values and practices of Islam, a religion that fosters neither democracy, nor human rights, nor freedom of religion throughout most of its 55 nations.
In America, of course, many Muslims who fled here from tyranny sing a different tune.
Take all American women who are within five years of menopause - train us for a few weeks, outfit us with automatic weapons, grenades, gas masks, moisturizer with SPF15, Prozac, hormones, chocolate, and canned tuna - drop us (parachuted, preferably) across the landscape of Afghanistan, and let us do what comes naturally.
Think about it. Our anger quotient alone, even when doing standard stuff like grocery shopping and paying bills, is formidable enough to make even armed men inturbans tremble.
We've had our children, we would gladly suffer or die to protect them and their future. We'd like to get away from our husbands, if they haven't left already. And for those of us who are single, the prospect of finding a good man with whom to share life is about as likely as being struck by lightning. We have nothing to lose.
We've survived the water diet, the protein diet, the carbohydrate diet, and the grapefruit diet in gyms and saunas across America and never lost a pound. We can easily survive months in the hostile terrain of Afghanistan with no food at all! We've spent years tracking down our husbands or lovers in bars, ardware stores, or sporting events...finding bin Laden in some cave will be no problem.
Uniting all the warring tribes of Afghanistan in a new government? Oh, please ... we've planned the seating arrangements for in-laws and extended families at Thanksgiving dinners for years ... we understand tribal warfare.
Between us, we've divorced enough husbands to know every trick there is for how they hide, launder, or cover up bank accounts and money sources. We know how to find that money and we know how to seize it... with or without the government's help!
Let us go and fight. The Taliban hates women. Imagine their terror as we crawl like ants with hot-flashes over their godforsaken terrain.
I'm going to write my Congresswoman. You should, too!
Think it is funny to scare someone by sending them some harmless powder in the mail? A woman did it and she was caught but let go because they weren't quite sure what they could charge her with. What if she had yelled "FIRE" in a crowded theatre? Isn't this essentially the same thing? Lucky for her, she doesn't live in Florida or she could do BIG time in prison.
Subject:
GOVERNOR BUSH WARNS IT IS A
CRIME IN FLORIDA TO CREATE A HOAX
THREAT OF BIOLOGICAL TERRORISM
To:
<webmaster@pierce-evans.org>
--Florida Department of Law Enforcement offers up to $5000
reward for information regarding real or hoax threats of
weapons of mass destruction-
BOCA RATON-Governor Bush and Florida Department of Law
Enforcement (FDLE) Commissioner Tim Moore highlighted
severe penalties under Florida's tough new weapons of mass
destruction law, passed by the Legislature and signed by
the Governor in 2000. Under the law (Florida Statute
790.166), it is a second degree felony punishable by up to
15 years in prison to manufacture, possess, sell, deliver,
display, use, threaten to use, attempt to use, conspire to
use, or make readily accessible a hoax weapon of mass
destruction with intent to deceive or mislead another to
believe the weapon is real. The law encompasses delivery
of substances that are intended to mislead others into
believing they are Anthrax, other disease agents, a harmful
chemical, or are radioactive substances. The Governor made
today's announcement during a visit to Boca Raton where
federal, state and local officials continue to work on the
ongoing Anthrax investigation.
"Unfortunately, there are people out there with hidden
agendas seeking to use the events of September 11th and
recent Anthrax scares to create fear or seek retribution
against other innocent Floridians," said Governor Bush. "To
the individual who thinks there is no penalty for sending
harmless substances to others in an attempt to cause fear
or panic, I say think again. In Florida, it is a severe
crime. It is a felony. We will find you and when we
do,
we will do all we can to send you to prison for 15 years."
In addition, the FDLE is offering up to a $5000 reward to
anyone with information leading to the successful arrest
and prosecution of a person regarding a real or hoax threat
of a weapon of mass destruction, including false Anthrax
activity. Since the September 11th incidents, law
enforcement officials have received a rash of hoax weapons
of mass destruction threats. These threats have caused law
enforcement to spend valuable time and resources away from
their public safety mission, and they generate unnecessary
fear and alarm among our citizens.
"This kind of behavior is unacceptable! We have zero
tolerance for anyone who utilizes a hoax device or object
that appears to contain Anthrax or any other dangerous
substance for whatever reason. We will aggressively
investigate every threat - whether real or a hoax - to
ensure justice is brought to those responsible for such
acts," stated FDLE Commissioner Moore.
Further, Florida's weapons of mass destruction law provides
it is a first degree felony to make, use, attempt to use,
or even possess without lawful authority an actual weapon
of mass destruction, including infectious or biological
substances capable of causing disease or death. If a death
occurs, the crime is a capital felony.
The Florida weapons of mass destruction law passed the
Florida Legislature in 2000 and was signed into law by
Governor Bush on June 5, 2000. The law's sponsors were
Senator Tom Lee (R-Brandon) and Senator Howard Futch
(R-Indialantic) who at the time was a member of the Florida
House of Representatives.
"Florida has one of the toughest, if not the toughest law
in the nation when it comes to punishing those who create
false threats of biological terrorism," said Governor Bush.
"I think it's important for the people who would commit
this crime and those who might have information about such
hoaxes to know this. It should also help innocent
Floridians to know that we are going to do everything we
can to find and prosecute these criminals."
FDLE continues to encourage responsible citizens to notify
law enforcement of any suspicions or concerns by contacting
your local law enforcement agency or by calling FDLE at
1-800-342-0820.
During WW II if we had listened to the media alarmists.
The United States would have sent no ships to sea, as they might be torpedoed!
How often do I have to repeat it?
"I" before "E" except after"C"
(But this is a current events lesson, not spelling.)
When will we start seeing American Flags
waving
throughout the Muslim communities in the USA and signs proclaiming
ALLAH BLESS AMERICA
?
I'm waiting.
GREAT IDEA !!!!!!
Killing Osama Bin Laden will only create a martyr.
Holding him prisoner will inspire his comrades to take hostages to demand his release.
Therefore, I suggest we do neither.
Let the Special Forces, Seals, or whoever, covertly capture him,
fly him to an undisclosed hospital and have surgeons quickly perform a
complete sex change operation.
Then we return 'her' to Afghanistan to live as a woman under the
Taliban.
YEAH SURE
THAT'LL WORK
To: Osama & the Boys
From: An American Wife & Mother
Yo, Osama!
Well, the government finally named you as a suspect, so I guess
it's
fair to talk about you now. Thought you had us, didn't you? What
a laugh! You
did more to unify this country than George Washington.
See, we Americans had gotten sort of distracted. We worried about
things
like lockboxes, taxes, and who was committing hanky panky with whom.
We
were too stressed to reach out to one another, to sit down and talk
with
our kids, to call our spouses at work and tell them we loved them.
We
were MUCH too busy to even think about giving blood or going to
the hardware
store to buy and hang an American flag.
You changed all that, Osama, you and your gang of creeps. I met my
neighbors in the park across the street tonight. We talked quietly
while
everybody gathered. Then we lit our candles and just stood there
silently, holding them. Without anybody saying anything, we walked
back to our
neighborhood and set them on our doorsteps. They are still burning.
You
will never be able to put them out.
See, Osama? You think you get ticked off when someone messes with
your
culture, your beliefs, your country? Just wait a minute you flea
bitten
miserable excuse for human DNA! You haven't seen anything like the
anger
of a MOTHER who's son has to go off to defend their homeland against
your
cowardice and hatred. You haven't seen anything like the WIFE of
a
fireman, policeman or EMT who clings to hope wondering if he'll
ever return from
trying to help his fellowman in your moment of destruction.
You haven't seen anything like the WOMAN who will keep her
family,
and
her neighbors family, and her best friend's family, and country's
family
going when hope and energy falls low. You haven't seen anything
like the
good OLE GIRL who weeps tears of agony for family's she's never
known or
never will meet, just because she cares.
You think the American MEN are bad? You just better thank your
lucky
stars that you aren't dealing with one of us American WOMEN right
now.
Trust me, the men are the ones showing restraint. I have heard the
best
ideas of just how graphically you need to be disposed of lately
in the
beauty shop, nail salon and the grocery store lines.
I've had more meaningful conversations with my teenager this week
than
in the last couple of years combined. Tonight I was driving her
to a
friend's house when the voice of Lee Greenwood came over the radio
singing "I'm
Proud to Be an American." We were stuck in traffic, and normally
we would
have been snapping at one another. She started singing along softly
with
the radio. I joined in. By the second verse we were singing at the
top of
our voices with the windows rolled down. People stuck in traffic
on
either side of us joined in. By the time we were finally able to
move a little,
perfect strangers were wiping their eyes, blowing their horns and
shouting good wishes to one another.
I hung an American flag on my house yesterday for the first time
in my
life. I'd like to get another one, but there are no flags or anything
else red, white, or blue left in any store in this town. My daughter
and I
did find some white and blue ribbon in the sewing box. Tomorrow
we're going
to make a huge blue-and-white bow and fasten it to the front grille
of the
car.
I called my husband at work today just to tell him I loved him. I
hadn't
done that for a while - too busy, I guess. It felt wonderful. We
are
going to send some money to a fund to help the victims. Tonight
at the dinner
table we talked about the various charities and tried to decide
which
one was best. Normally we just eat and run. It was the best dinner
table
conversation we've had in a long time. We finally decided on a fund
that's been set up for the children of the rescue workers who were
killed in
New York City. We'd never given much thought to appreciating all
they do for
us before now.
My husband and I are on a waiting list to give blood. It'll be
awhile
before our names come up; there are over 500 people ahead of us.
There's
been a shortage of blood in this area. I wouldn't be surprised if
the
blood donated all across this country eventually saves more people
than you
killed. That would be a fitting memorial to those who died.
We're sticking together. Our politicians are rising to the
occasion.
Rudy Giuliani and George W. Bush never looked half as statesmanlike
as they
have this week. Partisan bickering? What's that? Half the Congress
stood on
the steps of the Capitol the other night and sang "God Bless
America."
See, Osama, you underestimated us. And maybe for too long we've
been
underestimating ourselves. This is the greatest, strongest, richest,
most
beautiful country in the world. Our firefighters, policemen, EMTs,
and
people like the ones on the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania have
reminded us that we're also the bravest and most determined.
You can't destroy us, and you can't stop us. Because we're coming,
Osama.
Just thought you oughta know. And, just to show you how good
hearted
we
Americans are, I will end by saying THANK YOU. Not for the lives
taken,
for which we now mourn, nor for the destruction, but for instilling
back
into the hearts of every American, young and old, black, white,
red, or
yellow, what we always knew deep down. We are strong. We are brave.
We are ONE
NATION, UNITED UNDER GOD. We will overcome this as we have always
overcome those moments that tested our very being.
And, Osama, I say this, all the while asking God to forgive ME,
for
I do
not feel any compassion or have any mercy on your soul, but...may
you
and all your cowardly friends soon sit happily in those front row
seats you
have reserved in Hell.
author unknown
Architect's Rendering: Proposed Design for New World Trade Center
The following letter was published in the Gazette,
Hyattsville, MD, October 11, 2001,
on the Community Forum page.
You worry me. I wish you didn't.
I wish when I walked down the streets of this country that I
love,
that your color and culture still blended with the beautiful human
landscape
we enjoy in this country. But you don't blend
anymore. I notice you, and it worries me.
I notice you because I can't help it anymore. People from your homelands, and professing to be Muslims, have been attacking and killing my fellow citizens and our friends for more than 20 years now. I don't fully understand their grievances and hate but I know nothing can justify the inhumanity of their attacks.
On Sept. 11, nineteen Arab-Muslims hijacked four jetliners in my
country. They cut the throats of women in front of children and
brutally
stabbed to death others. They took control of those
planes and crashed them into buildings killing thousands of proud
fathers, loving sons, wise grandparents, elegant daughters, best
friends,
favorite coaches, fearless public servants and
children's mothers.
So I notice you now.
I don't want to be worried. I don't want to be consumed by the same rage and hate and prejudice that has destroyed the soul of these terrorists. But I need your help.
As a rational American, trying to protect my country and family
in
an irrational and unsafe world, I must know how to differentiate
between
you. How do I differentiate between the true Arab-Muslim-Americans and
the Arab-Muslims in our communities who are attending our schools,
enjoying
our parks, while they plot the next attack that will slaughter
those
very same
good neighbors and children?
The answer to my own questions that it is past the time for me to try to determine this. The events of Sept. 11th changed the answer. It is time for every Arab-Muslim in this country to determine it for me.
I want to know, I demand to know, if you love America. Do you pledge allegiance to its flag? Do you pray in your many daily prayers that Allah will bless this nation, that He will protect and prosper it? Are you thankful for the freedom that only this nation affords? A freedom that was paid for by the blood of hundreds of thousands of patriots? Are you willing to preserve this freedom with the spilling of your own blood? Do you love America? and if this is your commitment, then I need you to start letting me know about it.
Your Muslim leaders in this nation should be flooding the media
at
this time with hard facts on your faith, and what hard actions you are
taking as a community and religion to protect the
United States of America. Please, no more benign overtures of regret
for the death of the "innocent" (I worry who you regard as "innocent")
and condemnation of "unprovoked" attacks (I worry what is "unprovoked"
to you.) I am not interested in anymore sympathy, I am interested
only in action. What will you do for America-- the country -- at this
time
of crisis, at this time of
war?
I want to see Arab-Muslims waving the flag in the streets.
I want to hear you chanting "Allah Bless America." I want to see
Arab-Muslim
young men enlisting in the military. I want to see
a commitment of money and time and emotion to the victims of this
butchering and to this nation as a whole.
The FBI has a list of over 400 people they want to talk to
regarding
the WTC attack. Many of these people live and socialize in Muslim
communities.You know them. You know
where they are. Deliver them up, now.
But I have seen little even approaching this sort of action.
Instead I have seen an already closed and secretive community
close
even tighter. You have disappeared from the streets. You have posted
armed
security guards at your facilities.
You have threatened lawsuits. You have screamed for protection from
reprisal.
The few Arab-Muslim representatives that have appeared on the
media
are defensive and equivocating. They seem more concerned with
making
sure the U.S. prove who is responsible
before they act, and protecting their own people from anyviolence
directed toward them, here in the U.S. and abroad.
If the true teachings of Islam proclaim tolerance and peace and love for all people, then I want chapter and verse from the Koran and statements from popular Muslim leaders to back it up.
Because even if the teachings in the Koran are good and pure and true, it matters little if large numbers of current Islamic practitioners interpret the teachings of Mohammed incorrectly and adhere to a degenerative form of the religion.
I want to know where every Arab-Muslim in this country stands and I think it is within my right and the right of every true citizen of this country to demand it. A right paid for by the blood of thousands of my brothers and sisters.
I am pleading with you to let me know. I want you here; as my brother, my neighbor, my friend, as a fellow American. But there can be no "gray" areas or ambivalence regarding your allegiance and it is up to you to show me where you stand.
Until then...you worry me.
(signed) Kevin Daly, Beltsville
Liberty ~~ with an attitude.
We're coming, Osama.
We're gonna find you and the rest of your murderous thugs, and when we do, we're gonna kick your butts all over the face of the earth. You are gonna REGRET the day you messed with AMERICA!
Just thought you oughta know.
Driving to Kabul
I try to keep partisan politics out of this but ~~~~~
HIS EGO KNOWS NO BOUNDS
CLINTON: I'D BE BETTER WAR LEADER
November 2, 2001 -- Bill Clinton has reportedly said he is
better trained, more prepared, to handle America's terrorism
crisis than President Bush is.
YEAH RIGHT!!!
I get down on my knees
every day and thank God that neither Clinton nor his clone, Gore, is in
the White House right now.
Did you know?
After the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, which killed six and injured 1,000, President Clinton promised that those responsible would be hunted down and punished.
After the 1995 bombing in Saudi Arabia, which killed five U.S. military personnel, Clinton promised that those responsible would be hunted downand punished.
After the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia, which killed 19 and injured 200 U.S. military personnel, Clinton promised that those responsible would be hunted down and punished.
After the 1998 bombing of U.S. embassies in Africa, which killed 224 and injured 5,000, Clinton promised that those responsible would be hunted down and punished.
After the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, which killed 17 and injured 39U.S. sailors, Clinton promised that those responsible would be hunted down and punished.
Maybe if Clinton had kept his promise, an estimated 7,000 people would be Alive today.
But Wait, there's more.
In case you didn't know ...
Terrorist pilot Mohammed Atta blew up a bus in Israel in 1986.
he Israelis captured, tried and imprisoned him.
As part of the Oslo agreement with the
Palestinians in
1993, Israel had to agree to release
so-called "political
prisoners."
However, the Israelis would not
release
any with "blood on
their hands."
The American President at the time, Bill Clinton, and his Secretary of State, Warren Christopher,"insisted" that all prisoners be released.
Thus Mohammed Atta was freed and eventually "thanked the US" by flying an airplane into Tower One of the World Trade Center.
This was reported by many of the American TV networks at the time that the terrorists were first identified.
And Bill & Hillary wonder why they were booed when they appeared before the police and firefighters in NYC.
Clinton White House axed terror-fund probe
Jerry Seper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published
4/2/2002
The Clinton administration
shut down a 1995 investigation of Islamic charities, concerned that a
public
probe would expose Saudi Arabia's suspected ties to a global
money-laundering
operation that raised millions for anti-Israel terrorists, federal
officials
told The Washington Times.
Law enforcement
authorities and others close to the aborted investigation said the
State
Department pressed federal officials to pull agents off the previously
undisclosed probe after the charities were targeted in the diversion of
cash to groups that fund terrorism.
Former federal prosecutor
John J. Loftus said four interrelated Islamic foundations, institutes
and
charities in Virginia with more than a billion dollars in assets
donated
by or through the Saudi Arabian government were allowed to continue
under
"a veil of secrecy."
"If federal agents
had been allowed to conduct the investigation they wanted in 1995, they
would have made the connection between the Saudi government and those
charities,"
said Mr. Loftus, now a St. Petersburg, Fla., lawyer who filed a lawsuit
last week accusing a Florida charity of fraud.
"Had the charities
been shut down, they would have been unable to raise the millions that
since have been used by terrorists in hundreds of suicide attacks," he
said.
An interesting question:
This question was raised on a Philly
radio
call-in show. Without casting
stones, it is a legitimate question.
There are two men, both extremely
wealthy.
One develops relatively cheap
software and gives hundreds of millions
of dollars to charity. The other
sponsors terrorism.
That being the case, why is it that
the
US government has spent more
money chasing down Bill Gates over the
past ten years than Osama bin Laden?
Dear Friends,
The following was sent to me by my friend
Tamim Ansary. Tamim is an Afghani-American writer. He is also one
of the most brilliant people I know in this life. When he writes,
I read. When he talks, I listen.
Here is his take on Afghanistan and the
whole mess we are in.
-Gary T. Dear Gary and whoever else is
on this email thread:
I've been hearing a lot of talk about
"bombing Afghanistan back to the
Stone Age." Ronn Owens, on KGO Talk Radio
today, allowed that this would mean killing innocent people, people who
had nothing to do with this atrocity, but "we're at war, we have to
accept
collateral damage. What else can we do?" Minutes later I heard
some
TV pundit discussing whether we "have the belly to do what must be
done."
And I thought about the issues being
raised
especially hard because I am from Afghanistan, and even though I've
lived
here for 35 years I've
never lost track of what's going on there.
So I want to tell anyone who will listen how it all looks from where
I'm
standing.
I speak as one who hates the Taliban and
Osama Bin Laden. There is no doubt in my mind that these people were
responsible
for the atrocity in New York.
I agree that something must be done about
those monsters. But the
Taliban and Ben Laden are not
Afghanistan.
They're not even the government of Afghanistan. The Taliban are a
cult of ignorant psychotics who took over Afghanistan in 1997. Bin
Laden
is a political criminal with a plan.
When you think Taliban, think Nazis. When
you think Bin Laden, think Hitler.
And when you think "the people of
Afghanistan"
think "the Jews in the
concentration camps." It's
not only that the Afghan people had nothing to do with this atrocity.
They were the first victims of the
perpetrators.
They would exult if
someone would come in there, take out
the Taliban and clear out the rats nest of international thugs holed up
in their country.
Some say, why don't the Afghans rise up
and overthrow the Taliban? The answer is, they're starved, exhausted,
hurt,
incapacitated, suffering. A few years ago, the United Nations estimated
that there are 500,000 disabled orphans in Afghanistan--a country with
no economy, no food.
There are millions of widows. And
the Taliban has been burying these widows alive in mass graves.
The
soil is littered with land mines, the
farms were all destroyed by the
Soviets.
These are a few of the reasons why the Afghan people have not
overthrown
the Taliban.
We come now to the question of bombing
Afghanistan back to the Stone Age.
Trouble is, that's been done. The Soviets
took care of it already. Make
the Afghans suffer? They're already
suffering.
Level their houses? Done.
Turn their schools into piles of rubble?
Done.
Eradicate their hospitals?
Done.
Destroy their infrastructure? Cut them
off from medicine and health
care?
Too late. Someone already did all that.
New bombs would only stir the rubble of
earlier bombs. Would they at least get the Taliban? Not likely.
In
today's Afghanistan, only the Taliban eat, only they have the means to
move around. They'd slip away and hide.
Maybe the bombs would get some of those
disabled orphans, they don't move too fast, they don't even have
wheelchairs.
But flying over Kabul and dropping bombs wouldn't really be a strike
against
the criminals who did this horrific thing. Actually it would only be
making
common cause with the Taliban--by raping once again the people they've
been raping all this time.
So what else is there? What can be done,
then? Let me now speak with
true fear and trembling. The only way
to get Bin Laden is to go in there with ground troops. When people
speak
of "having the belly to do what needs to be done" they're thinking in
terms
of having the belly to kill as many as needed. Having the belly
to
overcome any moral qualms about killing innocent people. Let's pull our
heads out of the sand. What's actually on the table is Americans dying.
And not just because some Americans would die fighting their way
through
Afghanistan to Bin Laden's hideout.
It's much bigger than that folks. Because
to get any troops to
Afghanistan, we'd have to go through
Pakistan.
Would they let us? Not likely. The conquest of Pakistan would have to
be
first. Will other Muslim nations just stand by? You see where I'm
going.
We're flirting with a world war between Islam and the West.
And guess what: that's Bin Laden's
program.
That's exactly what he
wants.
That's why he did this. Read his
speeches and statements. It's all
right there. He really believes
Islam would beat the west. It might seem ridiculous, but he figures if
he can polarize the world into Islam and the West, he's got a billion
soldiers.
If the west wreaks a holocaust in those lands, that's a billion people
with nothing left to lose, that's even better from Bin Laden's point of
view. He's probably wrong, in the end the west would win,
whatever
that would mean, but the war would last for years and millions would
die,
not just theirs but ours. Who has the belly for that? Bin Laden does.
Anyone
else?
Tamim Ansary
First Annual Kabul Air Show Scheduled
(AP) Kabul, Afghanistan
17:52GMT - Sept. 19, 2001
Citizens of Afghanistan are
reportedly
looking forward with great
anticipation to reports of an
international
air show to be held in the
skies over their nation.
An unnamed official informed us that "Now the rest of the world will ook upon our beloved city with great honor just as they do Farnborough, England and Paris, France", referring to the sites of two other famous international air shows.
The exact date and time of the upcoming Kabul International Air Show has not yet been announced. It is believed that event organizers feel that such an announcement would detract from the fun of the celebration by, "spoiling the surprise".
Unlike most air shows the Kabul Air Show will feature almost no static ground displays but will have an unusually high number of aerial demonstrations and fly-bys. "We are most pleased by this feature of our air show. Instead of a lot of different kinds of airplanes just sitting around on the tarmac, the aircraft attending our show will actually be up in the air demonstrating what they do best!" we were told.
Participation will probably be heaviest by aircraft of the United States Air Force and Marine Corps. Including appearances by F-15's, F-16's, A-10's, B-52's and Apache helicopters. It is rumored that opening ceremonies will feature a tomahawk-cruise fireworks display. A few B-2's, and F-117A's may also help out in some unseen capacity.
Several other counties have
expressed
an interest in sending
representatives. These include all
nineteen nations in the NATO alliance as well as Australia. The
excitement
generated for this gala event has even prompted the Israeli Air Force
to
apply for participation.
Of course, no one is more excited
than the Afghan people themselves.
Great numbers of them are in the streets
of Kabul looking constantly
heavenward in gratitude for the historic
event, which will soon take place in their skies. It has been observed
that some are so concerned about missing the show that even as they bow
to the East they keep snatching worried glances towards the West.
Thousands,
in fact, have been seen leaving the city and fleeing to the mountains
carrying
food and blankets, obviously anxious to get a good vantage point for
the
air show, and to make a picnic of it.
(Here is a photo of one of the USAF Entries.)
Kabul, Afghanistan--September 17, 2001 --
A shocking development took place today as the ruling members of
the Taliban held a press
conference threatening the United States if its territory is invaded.
Immigration Czar Mohammed Ali Momaluke stated that the Afghan
authorities "would not hesitate for a moment" to cut off the US
supply of convenience store
managers!
Taliban Missile Misses Target
I have a moral question for
you.
This is an imaginary situation, but I
think it is fun to decide
what one would do.
The situation:
You are in the Middle
East,
and there is a huge flood in progress. Many
homes have been lost,
water supplies compromised and structures destroyed.
You are a photographer
getting still photos for the CNN news service and
are traveling alone,
looking
for particularly poignant scenes.
You come across Osama
bin
Laden, who has been swept away by the flood
waters. He is barely
hanging on to a tree limb and is about to go under.
You can either put down
your camera and save him, or take a Pulitzer Prize
winning photograph of
him as he loses his grip on the limb.
So, here's the
question
... and think carefully before you answer the
question below:
Which lens would you use?
From: The White House
To: Albert Gore
Dear Al:
We found some more votes.
You won. When do you want to take over?
Sincerely,
Taliban Air Force ~~~ The One on the Right
CHICAGO -
The war on terrorism took a strange and sad turn
Friday as airline officials at O'Hare International Airport refused to
let a 73-year-old grandmother board her plane as she had in her
possession
two, six-inch knitting needles. Apparently authorities were
worried
that she might knit an Afghan.
Depends on who's kid has the measles, doesn't it, Dan.
WE NEED MORE OF THIS
This is from a jet driver and POW in Viet Nam, AJ Myers.
***********************************************************
I arrived in Moscow, Idaho (Home of Idaho University one block from Best Western) and went to dinner at Best Western. About 85-100 people were in the restaurant. I'm at a table for about 5 minutes when this "Group" comes in (20 people). They have Anti-War Picket signs with them. It appears that two of these demonstrators are Professors. They all sit at a large round table behind me and begin to talk very loudly about US atrocities in Afghanistan.
One of the "Professors" stands up and gives a brief talk about how the "US is famous for atrocities" and Afghanistan will be no different. One of the students asked a question about Viet Nam POW's. The "Professor" makes a comment about how that was only US propaganda about poor treatment of POW's.
OK - I'm really mad now and I jump up and go over to their table. (In retrospect - Over the entrance to the Restaurant is a huge American Flag. On each table is an American Flag and a small hand painted sign "United We Stand") I excuse myself and ask the Professor if I can ask him a question.
He says, "Yes".
I said that he appears to be of age to have served in Viet Nam, and asked him if he had served.
His answer was, "NO - I defended this campus and told the truth to the students."
I then asked if he remembered what he was doing on February 16, 1969.
When he answered, "Of course not - that was too long ago."
I responded, "Really. I remember what I was doing. That was the second day of my capture and I had been standing in a bamboo cage for 24 hours with water up to my chest". I then said "Sir, your comments about how POW's in Nam were treated are a lie and I personally say to you, you are a******* liar, as you never were there. I was a POW and they did not treat our POW's humanely. The only other person I have ever heard make statements like you have is Jane Fonda. Is she telling the truth and not me?"
He stood up and after about 10 seconds said, "Jane is a great patriot and I cannot visualize her lying."
With that, I reached over and grabbed the small American Flag and United WeStand sign and said, "I'm taking this back to my table where it can be appreciated."
No one said a word to me as I started to walk back. However, after a few seconds, people started standing up and applauding all around the restaurant. Two men got up from a table across the room and walked over to me. The first identified himself as former US Marine Lieutenant Flynn and the other man was former Gunnery Sergeant Graboski. In a loud voice after introducing themselves, Lt. Flynn said they were former Marine Guards at a US Embassy. He then said, "We are over at this table to defend the US Flag from all foes, both foreign and domestic." They then sat down and asked their waitress to bring their meals over to my table.
A few more minutes went by with loud comments from the "Anti-War"
table. All of a sudden, "Gunny" Sergeant Graboski stood up and in a
loud
voice said, "All of you heard what the President said the other night.
You are either with the United States or you are with the terrorists."
He then said, "Please stand and join me in God Bless America." As he
started
singing, people all around the restaurant stood up and joined in.
Several of the students at the "Anti-War" table also stood up half way
through the song and
joined in.
Both Professors and the majority of the students remained seated and refused to sing. At the end there was a great ovation.
The Manager came up to my table. (He and his staff came out from the kitchen and sang). He thanked me for what I started and then went over to the Anti-War table and asked them to leave. "I will pay for what you have had so far but I cannot in good conscience serve you - get out now!!"
One of the Professors then made a remark, "Well, we are not going to pay one dime for how shabbily we have been treated."
As they were leaving, one customer stood up and said, "Manager, here is $5 towards their bill, anyone else willing to chip in to get this scum out of here?" All over the restaurant, people stood up reaching for their wallets and saying, "I'll chip in."
The Manager, in tears, said, "My family is from Poland, I am now a citizen and am so proud of what I see tonight." He started crying and a couple of the waitresses helped him into the kitchen.
The two Marines and I were there for about another 20 minutes and finished our meal. The Hostess came up and showed us more than $100 dollars that all the other tables had told their waitresses to give towards our bill.
I thanked her but said I could not take the money. Lt Flynn suggested donating it in the restaurant's name to the New York Relief Fund, so I guess that's what will happen. I just can't believe how Americans are coming together now. Just thought you would like to hear how the rest of the country is reacting to what happened!!!
An Often Overlooked "Inalienable Right"
Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, school official remove “God Bless America” signs from schools in fear that someone might be offended....
Channel 12 News in New York, orders flags removed from the
newsroom and red, white,
and blue ribbons removed from the lapels of reporters. WHY?
Management
did not want to appear biased and felt that our nation’s flag might
give
the appearance that “they lean one way or another.”
Berkeley, California, bans U.S. flags from being displayed on city fire trucks because they didn’t want to offend anyone in the community.
In an “act of tolerance” the head of the public library at
Florida
Gulf Coast University ordered all
“PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN” signs removed so as to not offend
international
students.
I, for one, am quite disturbed by these actions of so-called American citizens; and I am tired of this nation worrying about whether or not we are offending some individual or their culture.
In the past month there has been a surge in patriotism by the majority of Americans. However, the dust from the attacks had barely settled in New York and Washington, D.C., when the “politically correct” crowd began complaining about the possibility that our patriotism was offending others.
I am not against immigration, nor do I hold a grudge against anyone who is seeking a better life by coming to America.
In fact, our country’s population is almost entirely comprised of descendants of immigrants.
HOWEVER, there are a few things that those who have recently come
to our country, need to
understand.
First of all,
It is not our responsibility to continually try not to offend you in any way. This idea of America being a multi-cultural community has served only to dilute our sovereignty and our national identity.
As Americans, we have our own culture, our own society, our own language, and our own lifestyle.
This culture, called the “American Way” has been developed over
centuries
of struggles, trials, and
victories by millions of men and women who have sought freedom.
Our forefathers fought, bled, and died at places such as Bunker Hill, Antietam, San Juan, Iwo Jima, Normandy, Korea, Vietnam.
We speak English not Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become part of our society--learn our language.
“IN GOD WE TRUST” is our national motto.
This is not some off-the-wall, Christian, Right Wing, political slogan; it is our national motto.
It is engraved in stone in the House of Representatives in our Capitol and it is printed on our currency.
We adopted this motto because Christian men and women, on Christian principles, founded this nation; and this is clearly documented throughout our history.
If it is appropriate for our motto to be inscribed in the halls of our highest level of Government, then it is certainly appropriate to display it on the walls of our schools.
God is in our pledge, our National Anthem, nearly every patriotic song, and in our founding documents.
We turn to God in prayer in times of crisis.
If God offends you, then I suggest you consider another part of the world as your new home, because God is part of our culture and we are proud to have Him.
We are proud of our heritage and those who have so honorably defended our freedoms. We celebrate Independence Day, Memorial Day, Veterans’ Day, and Flag Day.
We have parades, picnics and barbecues where we proudly wave our flag.
As an American, I have the right to wave my flag, sing my national anthem, quote my national motto, and cite my pledge whenever and wherever I choose.
If the Stars and Stripes offend you, or you don’t like Uncle Sam, then you should seriously consider a move to another part of this planet, for they are part of our culture.
The American culture is our way of life, our heritage, and we are proud of it. We are happy with our culture and have no desire to change, and we really don’t care how you did things where you came from.
If it was so superior, go home.
We are Americans, like it or not. This is our country, our land, and our lifestyle.
Our First Amendment gives every citizen the right to express his opinion about our government, culture, or society, and we will allow you every opportunity to do so.
But once you are done complaining, whining, and griping about our flag, our pledge, our national motto or our way of life, I highly encourage you to take advantage of one other great American freedom.
THE RIGHT TO LEAVE.
If you agree, pass this on to other Americans!!
It is time to take a stand!!
MAY GOD BLESS AMERICA
LAND THAT WE LOVE!!!!
Afghanistan Cities Renamed
And what about Hillary?
What is SHE doing? At last count, she had attended
exactly
NONE
of
the funerals of any of the heroes of the WTC atrocity. What a
compassionate
honey she is.
Subject: Forgive?
"It is Allah's job to forgive Osama bin Laden.
It is our job to arrange a face to face meeting."
- An American Serviceman
Subject: 01/02/02 Message from a recon Marine in Afghanistan just outside of Ab Gach, in the northwest panhandle of Afghanistan between Tajikistan and Pakistan.
It's freezing here. I'm sitting
on hard,
cold dirt between rocks and shrubs
at the base of the Hindu Kush mountains along
the Dar 'yoi Pomir River
watching a hole that leads to a tunnel that
leads to a cave. Stake out, my
friend, and no pizza delivery for thousands
of miles. I also glance at
the area around me every ten to fifteen
seconds
to avoid another scorpion
sting.
I've actually given up battling the chiggers
and sand fleas, but the
scorpions give a jolt like a cattle prod.
The antidote tastes like
transmission fluid but God bless the Marine
Corps for the five vials of
it in my pack.
The one truth the Taliban cannot
escape is
that, believe it or not, they
are human beings, which means they have to
eat food and drink water. That
requires couriers and that's where an old
bounty hunter like me comes in
handy. I track the couriers, locate the
tunnel
entrances and storage facilities, type the info into the handheld,
shoot
the coordinates up to the
satellite link that tells the air commanders
where to drop the hardware.
We bash some heads for a while then I track
and record the new movement.
It's all about intelligence.
We haven't even brought in the
snipers yet.
These scurrying rats have
no idea what they're in for. We are
but days away from cutting off supply
lines and allowing the eradication to
begin.
I dream of Bin Laden
waking up to find me standing over him with
my boot on his throat as I spit a
bloody ear into his face and plunge my nickel
plated Bowie knife through his
frontal lobe. But you know me. I'm
a romantic.
I've said it before and I'll say it
again:
This country is worthless.
It's not even a country. There are
no roads, there's no infrastructure,
there's no government. This is an
inhospitable,
rockpit ruled by eleventh
century warring tribes. There are no
jobs here like we know jobs. Afghanistan offers two ways for a
man
to support his family: join the opium trade or join the army.
That's
it. Those are your options. Oh, I forgot, you
can also live in a refugee camp and eat
plum-sweetened,
crushed beetle paste
and squirt mud like a goose with stomach
flu if that's your idea of a party.
But the smell alone of those "tent cities
of the walking dead" is enough to
hurl you into the poppy fields to cheerfully
scrape bulbs for eighteen
hours a day.
And let me tell you something
else.
I've been living with these Tajiks
and Uzbeks and Turkmen and even a couple
of Pushtins for over a month and a half now and this much I can say for
sure: These guys, all of em, are Huns.
Actual, living Huns. They LIVE to
fight.
Its what they do. Its ALL they do. They have no respect for
anything, not for their families or for each other or for
themselves.
They claw at one another as a way of life.
They play polo with dead calves and force
their five-year-old sons into human
cockfights to defend the family honor.
Huns, roaming packs of savage,
heartless beasts who feed on each other's
barbarism. Idiot cavemen with
AK 47's.
Then again, maybe I'm just
cranky. I'm
freezing on this hill because my
lap warmer is running out of juice and I
can't recharge it until the sun
comes up in a few hours. Oh yeah!
You like to write letters, right? Do me a
favor. Write a letter to CNN and tell
Judy and Bernie and that awful,
sneering, pompous Aaron Brown to stop calling
the Taliban "smart." They
are not smart. I suggest CNN invest
in a dictionary because the word they
are looking for is "cunning." The
Taliban
are cunning, like jackals and
hyenas and wolverines. They are sneaky
and ruthless and, when confronted,
cowardly. They are hateful, malevolent
parasites who create nothing and
destroy everything else. Smart.
Pfft. Yeah, they're real smart.
They've spent their entire lives reading
only one book (and not a very good one, as books go) and consider
hygiene
and indoor plumbing to be products of the devil. They're still figuring
out how to work a Bic lighter. Talking to
a Taliban warrior about improving his quality
of life is like trying to teach
an ape how to hold a pen; eventually he just
gets frustrated and sticks
you in the eye with it. OK, enough.
The sun will be up soon so I have to
get back
to my hole. Covering my
tracks in the snow takes a lot of practice
but I'm getting good at it.
Please tell my fellow Americans to turn off
their TV sets and move on
with their lives. The story line you
are getting from CNN is utter nonsense
and designed not to deliver truth but rather
to keep you glued to the screen
through the commercials. We've got
this one under control. The worst
thing you guys can do right now is sit around
analyzing what we're doing over
here because you have no idea what we're
doing and, really, you don't want to
know. We are your military and we are
doing what you sent us here to
do.
You wanna help? Buy some stocks, America.
Saucy Jack
Aw geez. Where do I start on this one?
We've got a gazillion
dollar
airline industry whose job it is to convey people from one place to
another
in airplanes. It does (and has done) this with a safety record that's
truly
remarkable.
Recent events, however, have
shown us that the world harbors some seriously deranged people who are
willing to climb aboard airplanes and do really nasty things with them.
Because of this, we've had to give airport security a hard look.
This turned up several
problems.
One was that, under harsh scrutiny, "Did you pack your own bag today?"
didn't turn out to be the hardnosed deterrent it was meant to be. A
much
more
serious problem, however,
was
the finding that airport screeners were not well trained, had a
horrendous
turnover rate, and were often paid less than janitors working at the
same
airport.
Enter Congress - a group renowned for the fact that rational thought seldom ripples the serene surface of its collective mind. After looking into the situation, they said we had to improve airport security.
(A good start.)
They said we had to improve the quality of airport screeners, reduce turnover, and increase their pay.
(I was still with them.)
They said that pork,
politics,
and partisanship would be put aside for the good of the country.
Airline safety was going to
be the bottom line.
(I had tears in my eyes, my hand over my heart, and was humming " America the Beautiful.")
They said, "We're going to turn airline security over to the federal government."
(Do what??)
The federal government, do
consider,
which is home to: The Helium Reserve (in case our fleet of battle
blimps
ever runs low on helium); Federal Housing (now, in many places, being
dynamited into oblivion); The
War on Poverty (motto: "Trillions down the drain and we ain't plugged
it
yet."); and the Honey Subsidy (those bees are still suffering) - to
name
but a few.
So, Congress federalized airport screeners. Then, in a move guaranteed to make us feel safer, the Transportation Security Administration announced that (I couldn't make this up if I wanted to) airport screeners will not be required to have high school diplomas.
I wonder what the recruiting posters are going to say? "Didn't finish 9th grade? Have we got a job for you!"
What about entrance exams? Are they going to have something to do with Legos© and finger-painting?
But wait. There's more.
To ensure we never offend anyone - particularly fanatics intent on killing us - airport screeners will not be allowed to profile people.
They will continue random searches of 80-year-old women, little kids, airline pilots with proper identification, Secret Service agents who are members of the President's security detail and 85-year old Congressmen with metal hips.
Pause a moment and take the following test.
In 1979, the U.S. embassy
in
Iran was taken over by:
(a) Norwegians from Ballard;
(b) Elvis;
(c) A tour bus full of
80-year-old
women; or
(d) Muslim male extremists
mostly between the ages of 17 and 40.
In 1983, the U.S. Marine
barracks
in Beirut was blown up by:
(a) A pizza delivery
boy;
(b) Crazed feminists
screeching
that being able to throw a grenade beyond its own burst radius
was an unfair and sexist
requirement
in basic training;
(c) Geraldo Rivera making up
for a slow news day; or
(d) Muslim male extremists
mostly between the ages of 17 and 40.
In 1988, Pan Am Flight 103
was
bombed by:
(a) Luca Brazzi, for not
being
given a part in "Godfather 2;"
(b) The Tooth Fairy;
(c) Butch and Sundance who
had a few sticks of dynamite left over from the train thing; or
(d) Muslim male extremists
mostly between the ages of 17 and 40.
In 1998, the U.S.
embassies
in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by:
(a)Mr. Rogers;
(b) Hillary, to distract
attention
from Wee Willie's women problems;
(c) the WWF, to promote its
next villain: "Mustapha the Merciless;" or
(d) Muslim male extremists
mostly between the ages of 17 and 40.
On 9/11/01, four airliners
were
hijacked and destroyed by:
(a) Bugs Bunny,
(b) the Supreme Court of
Florida
trying to outdo their attempted hijacking of the 2000
Presidential election;
(c) Mr. Bean; or
(d) Muslim male extremists
mostly between the ages of 17 and 40.
How'd you do? Did you
detect
a pattern that would indicate we'd better take a close look at a
certain
type of individual who might be boarding an airplane with something on
his mind other
than "What's the in-flight
movie?" You think so? Horrors! You're nothing more than a closet
racist who could never be hired as an official federal airport
screener.
You probably molest goats too - but that's another column.
So, as it now stands, we have the Transportation Security Administration (letterhead: "No way WE'RE flying.") trying to improve the professionalism of airport screeners by lowering standards and forbidding the use of common sense in screening people. Makes sense, right? Right.
Pardon me while I go bang my head against the wall. Maybe that'll help me understand.
Am I still ticked
off?
You Bet !!!!
But the photo of
firefighters
raising a flag over the
wreckage of the World Trade
Center is a picture of four "white guys" raising the flag. To cut
off their heads and replace them with politically correct African,
Hispanic,
and Asian faces is an unacceptible bastardardization of this picture
and
an insult to the men in the photo.
Let the sculptor design an appropriate monument, but not one based on this picture. If he is not creative enough to do this, he should not get the job.
Next thing we know, these
PC
loonies will want to
chop the heads off all of the
figures depicted in the Iwo Jima flag raising statue and replace them
with a PC ethnic mix.
Little David comes home from first grade and tells his father that they learned about the history of Valentine's Day.
"Since Valentine's day is for a Christian saint and we're Jewish," he asks, "will God get mad at me for giving someone a valentine?"
David's father thinks a bit, then says "No, I don't think God would get mad.
Who do you want to give a valentine to?"
"Osama Bin Laden," David says.
"Why Osama Bin Laden," his father asks in shock.
"Well," David says, "I
thought
that if a little American Jewish boy could have enough love to give
Osama
a valentine, he might start to think that maybe we're not all bad, and
maybe start loving people a little bit.
And if other kids saw
what
I did and sent valentines to Osama, he'd love everyone a lot. And
then he'd start going all over the place to tell everyone how much he
loved
them and how he didn't hate anyone
anymore."
His father's heart
swells
and he looks at his boy with newfound pride.
"David, that's the most
wonderful thing I've ever heard."
"I know," David says, "and once that gets him out in the open, the Marines could blow the s--- out of him."
LETTER HOME TO AFGHANISTAN
Dear Mom,
What can I say? War is hell, but Guantanamo is fab. Temps are hovering in the low 70s, finally got rid of that rat's nest the T'bans called a beard, and am eating better than we ever did at Osama's. I've already put on 10 pounds.
When I get out of here, I'll bring you a box of Froot Loops.
When do I get out of here -- now there's the question of the millennium.
But, hey, who's in a hurry? Like I said, they feed us, let us shower, pray, write home. They even gave us a mattress, prayer mats and a copy of the Koran. What a bunch of twits.
Speaking of which, have you been following the news about our maltreatment here? It's a hoot. Amnesty International and a bunch of other bleeding-heart organizations have been giving the Americans hell for being hard on us.
They said that shaving
our
heads and beards was a human-rights violation because it humiliated us.
I'm telling you, who needs Comedy Central? Me?
I'm just happy to be rid
of the lice, but don't tell anybody. Ha, ha.
Our self-anointed protectors also say that making us live in these open-air pens is cruel. Obviously, they've never lived in a cave. We've got a roof -- remember those? -- and plenty of shade. The soldiers watching over us are sweating like pigs in their tents while their guys still in Afghanistan would probably trade their baby sisters for a weekend in my "cell."
Anyway, all us guys
are
loving the attention, as well as the distraction.
We're just waiting for
the right moment when we can get back to business.
All that training
wasn't
for nothing. Hannibal Lector, eat your own heart
out. One chance, that's
all I need, and a Marine's aortic valve will be my breakfast. I hope
it's
a woman. Nah, just kidding, Ma. Speaking of women, how's it going over
there? I hear lots of mud huts have Blue Burqa curtains these days.
Tsk,
tsk, how Gone with the Wind.
As you might have gathered, the Americans have weird ideas about women.
Let me put it this way -- Christiane Amanpour! The sexes are totally equal and women act and talk just like men. If they were our women living under our laws, we'd have to shoot every last one of them.
But typical of these Western psychos, n'est-ce pas? (isn't it so?)
Americans don't
realize
that they're their own worst enemies. They're so consumed with doing
the
right thing, with being sensitive (even soldiers
have gender-sensitivity
training, for Allah's sake), and not hurting
anybody's feelings that
they're practically rocking us to sleep at night.
Hey, tell Amnesty
International
I need cable! And while they're at it, I
could use some Dasani.
This local stuff is a tad cloudy. As far as I can
tell, the only American
with any spine or sense is that dude Rumsfeld. Of course, he was a
soldier
before John Gray started carrying on about Mars and Venus. Are
Americans
stupid or what? They believe that men are from Mars and women are from
Venus. Yeah, right. Anyway, Rumsfeld understands that we would
disembowel
any American without hesitation or regret. He seems to get it -- that
our
whole purpose in life is to destroy America. We don't hate freedom, Mr.
Prezzie, we just hate you and all your stinking ilk. That goes for all
you hyphenated-Americans, too. Think hard. We shoot our own mothers for
stepping outside their houses without our permission, and you think
we'd
hesitate to rip out a soldier's jugular when he bends down to make sure
our handcuffs aren't bruising our little wristy-poos?
You gotta love 'em, Mom. We've used their naiveté against them before; We'll do it again and die happy.
Well, I better go now. They just called us to prayer (die laughing here)
and I'm hoping for a quick nap before dinner. Ciao for now.
Love, Muhammad Mohammed Mohamed.
P.S. That time I beat
you
for laughing too loud? Sorry, I didn't mean it. By the way, have you
gone
back to your anesthesiologist job yet?
Air Force Art From
Afghanistan
Who would have thought, back when we called these things "whirly birds", that it would come to this. I'll bet some of those Taliban thugs run for their caves with dirty britches when this bird of prey dives down out of the skys to get them.
A doctor tells it like it is
I was just reading Yahoo news and the San Antonio Express newspaper.You know what upsets me? People with absolutely nothing to do with their lives, so they complain on how the U.S. is treating the prisoners or "Detainees" from Afghanistan.
Do you know why
they are complaining? They
see a picture on the news
or the internet and they see someone who
is shackled and blindfolded and
walking with two armed guards behind razor
wire. This picture tells
them they are treated unfairly.
Here is what I see....
I see a thin,
sickly looking person who under
severe mental duress
from being bombed, was cleaned up, given
a haircut to prevent infestation
of parasites, and given new clothes and shoes
to wear. I see a person who
is given three nutrious meals per day and
a bed to sleep in in a tropical
climate, not the cold desert floor of
Afghanistan,
eating worms, bugs,
and goat. I see a person who will be able
to get relief from their pains
and illnesses without paying a dime for
medical
expenses. They will get
rest, educated, and their mental stress
levels
will have dropped
tremendously because they were taken out
of a combat area and will not be shot at again.
I see these
people blindfolded and shackled
behind razor wire. I have
the intellectual ability to understand why
they are this way. For those
that do not have this ability, let me explain
it to you. They are
blindfolded to protect OUR U.S. SOLDIERS
from further harm. These people can not plan to destroy something if
they
can not see it. They are shackled because these same people have proven
they will easily give up their lives to kill just ONE AMERICAN. We are
protecting their life as well as our own. The
razor wire is a mental deterrant, just like
the little alarm company warning
signs most of you out there have on your
home, but don't have the actual
alarm system. You would think many times
over before actually trying
to cross that razor wire. For all of you
people out there thinking how bad
these poor detainees have it under such
strict
guard, you need to do a lot
more thinking about other things in your
life.
I was born on
September 11th, 1966, and every
birthday I have from now
on will never be a happy one. Why, do you
ask? Because as I am out
somewhere trying to have a nice dinner,
someone
will have a candle or a
ribbon or something, crying about the
anniversary
of a national tragedy.
And then I will think, about how
insignificant
my one little birthday
actually is compared to everything else that
had happened on that one
day.
It boggles my
mind that there are actually
people out there in this
world, in leadership positions, head of
companies
that actually think that we
are doing something wrong when it comes to
protecting our nation and our
people. These same people will be the first
ones to complain about something that happens to them when they are
vacationing
outside this country. They will ask why the U.S. does not do anything
about
their misfortune.These are the same people that complain about taxes
and
how bad their lives actually are.
If you receive
this email, please pass it
on to everyone in your address
book. I am not afraid or ashamed to speak
my piece. I am an American.
My father fought for this country, and was
willing to die for it.
Dr. Steven
Tomaselli
Uvalde, Texas
United States of
America
Prize
Winning Canadian Ice Sculpture
THIS ICE SCULPTURE WAS
CREATED
BY DARLENE RACICOT
SOUTH PORCUPINEN,ONTARIO
FOR MORE ABOUT THE SCULPTOR
CLICK HERE
America
Osama Bin Laden, your time is short;
We'd rather you die, than come to court.
Why are you hiding if it was in God's name?
Your just a punk with a turban; a pathetic shame.I have a question, about your theory and laws;
"How come you never die for the cause?"Is it because you're a coward who counts on others?
Well here in America, we stand by our brothers.As is usual, you failed in your mission;
If you expected pure chaos, you can keep on wishing
Americans are now focused and stronger than ever;
Your death has become our next endeavor.What you tried to kill, doesn't live in our walls;
It's not in buildings or shopping malls.
If all of our structures came crashing down;
It would still be there, safe and sound.
Because pride and courage can't be destroyed;
Even if the towers leave a deep void.We'll band together and fill the holes
We'll bury our dead and bless their souls.
But then our energy will focus on you;
And you'll feel the wrath of the
Red, White, and Blue.So slither and hide like a snake in the grass;
Because America's coming to
kick your ass!!!Keep this email going. PASS IT ON
From an unnamed newspaper.
Traitors get all the glory
I simply do not understand all the fuss and bother about bringing the so-called "American Taliban," JohnWalker, to trial. Sure, he is a traitor to his country, but who cares?
While our country was actively fighting North Vietnam, Jane Fonda traveled there and gave who knows what type and how much "aid and comfort" to our enemy. She even posed with them for propaganda photos, on an anti-aircraft gun of the type being used to shoot down and kill American pilots. She then returned to Hollywood for a life of enjoyment of all the benefits of wealth, fame and freedom.
At about the same time, a
college
student down in Arkansas lied to his draft board, fled to England and
wrote a letter boasting how his
generation "loathed" the American military. He was able to come home
and be elected and re-elected
president.
I say we should free Walker
now
(with our apologies to him for his inconvenience) so he can begin a
career in the entertainment
industry,
perhaps with an eye toward someday running for high public office!
On March 11, 2002, Six Months after the attack, these two columns of
light rose from the
World Trade Center site as a memorial to the victims.
What's Wrong With
This
Picture
What's a Military Family Worth?
by Rush Limbaugh
I think the vast differences in compensation between the victims of the September 11th casualty, and those who die serving the country in uniform, are profound. No one is really talking about it either because you just don't criticize anything having to do with September 11th. Well, I just can't let the numbers pass by because it says something really disturbing about the entitlement mentality of this country.
If you lost a family member in the September 11th attack, you're going to get an average of $1,185,000. The range is a minimum guarantee of $250,000, all the way up to $4.7 million.
If you are a surviving family member of an American soldier killed in action, the first check you get is a $6,000 direct death benefit, half of which is taxable.
Next, you get $1,750 for burial costs.
If you are the surviving spouse, you get $833 a month until you remarry.
And there's a payment of $211 per month for each child under 18. When the child hits 18, those payments come to a screeching halt. (Note: there's also SGLI* up to $200,000)
*Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance, a low cost group life insurance plan, the premiums for which are paid by the servicemember.
Keep in mind that some of the people that are getting an average of $1.185 million up to $4.7 million are complaining that it's not enough.
We also learned recently that some of the victims from the Oklahoma City bombing have started an organization asking for the same deal that the September 11th families are getting.
In addition to that, some of the families of those bombed in the embassies are now asking for compensations as well.
You see where this is going, don't you?
Folks, this is part and parcel of over fifty years of entitlement politics in this country.
It's just really sad.
Every time when a pay raise comes up for the military they usually receive next to nothing of a raise.
Now the green machine is in combat in the Middle East while their families have to survive on foodstamps and live in low rent housing.
However our own U.S. Congress just voted themselves a raise, and many of you don't know that they only have to be in Congress one-time to receive a pension that is more than $15,000 per month and most are now equal to being millionaires plus.
They also do not receive Social Security on retirement because they didn't have to pay into the system.
If some of the military people stay in for 20 years and get out as an E-7 you may receive a pension of $1,000 per month, and the very people who placed you in harms way receive a pension of $15,000 per month.
I would like to see our elected officials pick up a weapon and join ranks before they start cutting out benefits and lowering pay for our sons and daughters who are now fighting.
"When do we finally do something about this ??"
If this doesn't seem fair
to
you, it is time to forward this to as many people as you can.
All
You "PC" Idiots, Leave Now.
You Are Not Going To Like
This.
And if it offends you
Atheists
and Muslims,
Don't Read It.
We'll all be watching a
lot
closer next time we see
President Bush on TV. Have
you noticed a difference in
the salute given by our
military
men and women as
President Bush walks by? Most
folks would not notice
anything, but military people
see it right away.
Watch: When President Bush
leaves his helicopter or
Air Force One, the honor
guards
salute and face him as
he disembarks, then turn
their
faces towards him as he
passes by. They continue to
salute his back as he
walks away. This kind of
salute
has not been seen
in the previous eight years,
though it is customary
courtesy to the
Commander-in-Chief.
You see, soldiers
aren't required to turn and
face the President as they
salute. They are not required
to salute his back. They
are only required to salute.
They can remain face-
forward the entire time.
And that is what they did
during
Bill Clinton's
entire Presidency. Our
soldiers
were forced to obey
Clinton's orders, but they
were not forced to
respect him. From their
salutes,
we can surmise
that they did not. Why is
such
respect afforded to
President Bush? He doesn't
even know how to bite
his lower lip and not get
teary-eyed
whenever he
speaks!
The following incident
from
Major General Van Antwerp
may give us an insight. Gen.
Antwerp is president of
the Officers' Christian
Fellowship.
He lost nearly all
his staff when the Pentagon
was attacked Sept. 11. His
executive officer LTC Brian
Birdwell was badly burned
and in the hospital when
President
Bush visited him.
Our President spent time and
prayed with Brian. As he
was getting ready to leave,
he went to the foot of
Brian's bed and saluted. He
held his salute until
Brian was able to raise his
burned and bandaged arm,
ever so slowly, in return.
The Commander-in-Chief never
initiates a salute, except
in the case of a
Congressional Medal of Honor
winner. The injured
soldier did not have to
return
the salute. But he did,
out of respect! to his
President
-a Soldiers'
President.
Congressman JC Watts (R.
Oklahoma)
said, "Character is
doing the right thing when
nobody is looking." The
nation and world learned some
of what our last
President did when nobody was
looking. That President
has been disbarred this
week-the
worst disgrace (other
than imprisonment) to a
lawyer.
CNN will have a
difficult time shining his
or his wife's tarnished
images. In this time of war
and danger, I am so
grateful to have a President
whom the soldiers
salute fully.
On Special Report with
Brit
Hume, (hosted by Jim
Angle this evening), at the
close of the show when
they normally have some funny
video clip, they showed
President Bush and the First
Lady on their way to
Marine One to leave for Camp
David for the weekend. As
the video starts, the First
Lady is leading the way
into the helicopter with the
spaniel dog on the leash,
and the president is right
behind her with the Scotty
on the leash. As the First
Lady entered the chopper,
the Marine at the gangway
saluted
and held his salute.
The Scottie the president was
walking decided it
wanted to squat right when
he got to steps. The
president pulled on its'
leash,
but the stubborn
Scottie persisted in
squatting.
The president bent
down and scooped up the pooch
and entered Marine One.
After he entered, the Marine
cut his salute and
returned to the position of
attention. Moments later
the president reemerged from
the helicopter and out
onto the steps. The Marine
was standing at attention,
head and eyes straight ahead.
The president leaned
over and tapped him on the
left arm. The startled
Marine turned his body toward
the president and
received his returned salute!
I was so impressed by
this true act of respect for
our military people by our
president! He really does get
it. Most any other
person of his stature would
have just continued his
journey, disregarding the
neglected
return salute.
Not George W. Bush. He is
earning
the respect of the
military community, not
expecting
it-as most have and
would.
Subj: Our President George
W.
Bush The man who
admitted to having a drinking
problem in younger
years, and whose
happy-go-lucky
lifestyle led him to
mediocre grades in college
and an ill-fated oil
venture. Who mangled syntax
and whose speaking mis-
steps became known as
"Bushisms."
He came within a
hair's breadth of losing the
election in November.
While votes were counted and
re-counted, Bush quietly
but confidently waited at his
ranch. Make no mistake,
his orders were carried out,
but he stayed in the
background, faithful and
confident.
Bush named Jesus
Christ as Lord of his life
on public TV. Not an
oblique reference to being
"born-again" or having
a "life change." He actually
said the un-PC-like
phrase, "Jesus Christ!" On
September 11, he was thrust
into a position only known
by Roosevelt, Churchill,
Lincoln, and Washington. The
weight of the world was
on his shoulders, and the
responsibility
of a
generation was on his soul.
So President George W.
Bush
walked to his seat at the
front of the National
Cathedral
just three days after
two of the most impressive
symbols of American
capitalism and prosperity
virtually
evaporated. When
the history of this time is
written, it will be
acknowledged by friend and
foe alike that President
George W. Bush came of age
in that cathedral and
lifted a nation off its
knees.
In what was one of the
most impressive exhibitions
of self-control in
presidential history,
President
George W. Bush was
able to deliver his remarks
without losing his
resolve, focus, or
confidence.
God's hand, which
guided him through that
sliver-thin
election, now
rested fully on him.
As he walked back to his
seat,
the camera angle was
appropriate. He was virtually
alone in the scene,
alone in that massive place
with God, just him and the
Lord. Back at his seat,
George
H. Bush reached over
and took his son's hand. In
that gesture his father
seemed to say, "I wish I
could
do this for you, son,
but I can't. You have to do
this on your own."
President George W. Bush
squeezed
back and gave him a
look of peace that said, "I
don't have to do it alone,
Dad. I've got help." What a
blessing to have a
professing Christian as
President.
Please take a moment after
you
read this to "pray for
him". He truly does have the
weight of the world on
his shoulders. Pray that God
will sustain him and give
him wisdom and discernment
in his decisions. Pray for
his protection and that of
his family. After you have
prayed, send this to everyone
on your e-mail list. Our
President needs Christians
around the world to be
praying for him. As this
makes
the e-mail rounds,
eventually there could
literally
be millions of people
praying for him.
Charlie Daniels Has His Say
I've just returned from Guantanamo
Bay,
Cuba Naval Air Station base
where we did three shows for the troops and
toured several locations
around the post visiting with some of the
finest military personnel on
planet earth. The kids seemed to really enjoy
the shows and especially
liked "This Ain't No Rag, It's A Flag" and
"In America". We had a great
time with them. We saw Camp X-Ray, where the
Taliban detainees are
being held only from a distance, but I picked
up a lot of what's going
on there from talking with a lot of different
people.
The truth of the matter is that this operation
is under a microscope.
The Red Cross has an on site presence there
and watches everything that
goes on very closely. The media is not telling
you the whole truth about
what's going on over there. The truth is that
these scum bags are not
only being treated humanely, but they are
probably better off healthwise
and medically than they've ever been in their
lives.
They are fed well, able to take showers and
receive state of the art
medical care. And have their own Moslem
chaplain.
I saw several of
them in a field hospital ward where they were
being treated in a state
of the art medical facility.
Now let's talk about the way they treat our
people. First of all, they
have to be watched constantly. These people
are committed and wanton
murderers who are willing to die just to kill
someone else. One of the
doctors told me that when they had Taliban
in the hospital the staff had
to really be careful with needles, pens and
anything else which could
possibly be used as a weapon. They also throw
their excrement and urine
on the troops who are guarding them. And our
guys and gals have shown
great restraint in not retaliating.
We are spending over a million dollars a day
maintaining and guarding
these nasty killers and anyone who wants to
see them brought to the
U.S.A. for trial is either out of their heads
or a lawyer looking for money
and notoriety. Or both.
I wish that the media and the Red Cross and
all the rest of the people
who are so worried about these criminals would
realize that this is not
a troop of errant Boy Scouts. These are
killers
of the worst kind. They
don't need protection from us, we need
protection
from them.
If you don't get anything else out of this
soapbox, please try to
realize that when you see news coverage much
of the time you're not
getting the whole story, but an account
filtered
through a liberal
mindset with an agenda.
We have two fights on our hands, the war
against
terror and the one
against the loudmouthed lawyers and left wing
media who would sap
the strength from the American public by
making
us believe that we're
losing the war or doing something wrong in
fighting it. Remember these
are the same people who told us that Saddam
Hussein's Republican
guard was going to be an all but invincible
enemy and that our smart
bombs and other weapons were not really as
good as the military said
that they were. They also took up for Bill
Clinton while he was cavorting
around the Oval office with Monica Lewinsky
while the terrorists were
gaining strength and bombing our Embassies
and dragging the bodies
of dead American heroes around the dusty
streets
of Somalia.
It's a shame that we can't have an unbiased
media who would just report
the truth and let us make up our own minds.
Here I must commend
Fox News for presenting both sides much better
than the other networks.
They are leaving the other cable networks
in the dust. People like being
told the truth. Our military not only needs
but deserves our support.
Let's give it to them.
The next time you read a media account about
the bad treatment
of the Taliban in Cuba, remember what I told
you. Been there done that.
Footnote: I got an e-mail from a rather irate
first cousin of mine the
other day who has a daughter who's a lawyer
and she seemed to think
that I was painting all lawyers with the same
brush. Please understand
that I'm not doing that at all.
That would be like saying that all musicians
were drug addicts.
There are a lot of good and honest attorneys
out there.
I happen to have one of them. But it seems
that they never get any
airtime.
It's always the radicals who get their
opinions
heard, who fight the
idea of the military tribunals and cite The
Constitution and the integrity
of America as their source of justifying their
opinions.
Well, first of all The Constitution says "We
the people of the United
States", it doesn't mention any other country.
And secondly as far as
integrity is concerned, I don't think some
of these folks would know
integrity if it bit them in the posterior.
What do you think?
God Bless America
© Charlie Daniels
To all,
Below
is
a column by Thomas Friedman (Middle east corespondent for the New York
Times). It was published 9/4/02 in the New York Times. I
think
it's a must read for all Americans. Judge for yourselves:
=============================================================
Thomas L. Friedman
The
Times just ran an article
about the trouble teachers were having in
deciding what to tell
students
on Sept. 11. That's a serious question. This
is a moment for moral
clarity,
and here are the three lessons I would teach:
Lesson
#1: Who are they? This
lesson would emphasize that while most people in the world are good and
decent, there are evil people out there who are not poor, not abused -
but envious. These extremists have been raised in
societies that have failed
to prepare them for modernity, and the most evil
among them chose on Sept. 11
to lash out at the symbol of modernity -
America. As the Egyptian
playwright
Ali Salem put it in Time magazine,
"Beneath their claims ...
these
extremists are pathologically jealous. They
feel like dwarfs, which is
why they search for towers and all those who tower
mightily." Their grievance
is rooted in psychology, not politics; their goal
is to destroy America, not
reform it; they can only be defeated, not
negotiated with.
Assigned reading: Larry
Miller's
Jan. 14, 2002, essay in The Weekly Standard:
"Listen carefully: We're
good,
they're evil, nothing is relative. Say it with
me now and free yourselves.
You see, folks, saying 'We're good' doesn't mean
'We're perfect.' Okay? The
only perfect being is the bearded guy on the
ceiling of the Sistine
Chapel.
The plain fact is that our country has, with
all our mistakes and
blunders,
always been and always will be the greatest
beacon of freedom, charity,
opportunity, and affection in history. If you
need proof, open all the
borders
on Earth and see what happens. In about half
a day, the entire world would
be a ghost town, and the United States would
look like one giant line to
see 'The Producers.'... So here's what I resolve:
To never forget our murdered
brothers and sisters. To never let the
relativists get away with
their
immoral thinking. After all, no matter what
your daughter's political
science
professor says, we didn't start this."
Lesson
#2: Who are we? We Americans
are not better than any other people, but the Western democratic system
we live by is the best system on earth.
Unfortunately, in the
Arab-Muslim
world, there is no democracy, too few
women's rights and too little
religious tolerance. It is the values and
traditions of freedom
embraced
by Western civilization, and the absence of
those values and traditions
in the Arab-Muslim world, that explain the main
differences between us.
Assigned reading: "An Autumn
of War," by the military historian Victor Davis
Hanson: "Our visionaries must
be far clearer about the nature of our
struggle. In their
understandable
efforts to say what we are not doing -
fighting Islam or provoking
Arab peoples - they have failed utterly to voice
what we are doing -
preserving
Western civilization and its uniquely tolerant
and human traditions of
freedom,
consensual government, disinterested inquiry and religious and
political
tolerance. ... We must cease the apologetic tone we have developed with
the Arab world, and make it clear that their ministers who hector us
are
not legitimate without elections, their spokesmen are not journalists
without
a free press, and their intellectuals are not credible without liberty.
The right to admonish Americans on questions of morality is not an
entitlement,
but something earned only through a shared commitment to constitutional
government."
Lesson
#3: Why do so many foreigners
reject the evil perpetrators of 9/11 but
still dislike America? It's
because, while we have the best system of
governance, we are not always
at our best in how we act toward the world.
Because we want to drive big
cars, we support repressive Arab dictators so
they will sell us cheap oil.
Because our presidents want to get votes, they
readily tell the Palestinians
how foolishly they are behaving, but they
hesitate to tell Israelis how
destructive their West Bank settlements are for
the future of the Jewish
state.
Because we want to consume as much energy as we please, we tell the
world's
people they have to be with us in the war on
terrorism but we don't have
to be with them in the struggle against global
warming and for a greener
planet.
The point, class, is that
while
evil people hate us for who we are, many good
people dislike us for what
we do. And if we want to win their respect we need
to be the best, most
consistent
and most principled global citizens we can
be.
Assigned readings: The U.S.
Constitution, Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points speech, and the
Declaration
of Independence.
A Cynic has His Say
Mourning As A
Performing
Art
Migraine Television
Home Columns
September 9--We’re
going
to do it, I know we are. We’re about to celebrate Bin Laden’s Victory
Day.
By all indications, it will be a media circus, like when Princess Di
did—a
grand battle in the ratings wars. We’ll wallow in mawkishness, and
whimper,
and humiliate ourselves. Watch. There will be manufactured solemnity,
factitious
reverence, sorrow by Disney, and an unremitting ooze of therapy. Heaven
help us, we’ll probably get in touch with our feelings, and Heal. Maybe
booths will sell cotton candy.
It’s embarrassing.
I suppose I have a bad attitude about the upcoming festivities. On my office wall is a row of magazine covers I shot for Soldier of Fortune in a previous life as a freelance photojournalist. One of them (November, 1983, written as Rick Venable) shows Marines coming ashore in Beirut, the lead guy carrying an M-203. I spent a week or two with those guys, patrolling downtown and suchlike. Shortly afterward, the truck bomb arrived. Moslem terrorists. Two hundred forty-one dead.
America didn’t do anything about those killings, then or later. There was no carnival of mourning on the anniversary. I guess the networks forgot. What do you suppose? As for dead Marines, who cared? After all, they didn’t go to Princeton, and you never saw them in pricey booze chutes in Manhattan.
Judging by appearances, the forthcoming coverage will be appalling both in quantity and moral fraudulence. The ad agencies, I have read, are pondering what tone to use on September 11. It is a delicate question. The trick is to gull the rubes without disturbing their sensibilities. (Singing toilet paper may not be just the thing. Unless it sang a dignified dirge maybe. Mining the dead for ad revenue is harder that it might seem.)
The Moslem world is going to love every minute of it. In fact, I see in the Washington Times that they are going to have anti-American rallies in London to celebrate the great day. How convenient, they must think: The Americans are going to crawl for us. I’ll give you odds bin Laden is comfortable somewhere, probably in Saudi Arabia, laughing and laughing and laughing. I would be.
Maybe he’s not really in Saudi. Maybe he’s in Vail, waiting for good powder. But he ain’t been caught. I tell you, he’s one slick A-rab. I don’t like the guy. I’d shoot him if I could, and poke holes in his towel. I have to respect the sucker, though. He changed the United States forever. We’re going to be a scared security state for all time, with the cops reading our email. The home of the free, land of the brave.
I assume, subject to correction by events, that we’ll have every television truck on earth at Ground Zero, and the rest at the Pentagon. There will be endless tributes to the Hallowed Dead, who will be treated as saints crossed with Joan of Arc. Actually of course they were just people who happened to be at work on the wrong day. Being hit by an airliner is no more heroic or tragic than being run over by a dump truck. This is the age of Oprah Consciousness, though. We’ll have contrived tears from televised airheads who didn’t know the dead and don’t care about them.
People get mad if you say it, but, fact is, we got stomped. One raghead with a few subordinate loons took down the Trade Center, turned us into a docile police state, made us spend billions bombing peasants in Afghanistan without issue, frightened us into letting our airlines go into bankruptcy, and now we have Homeland Security, which makes flying so unpleasant that most of us will take trains. The best we could do now is just to shut up. Naw. We’re gonna wave it around on prime time. We’ll let everybody watch it again.
Time was, this wouldn’t have happened. When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, we squashed them. When the Nazis attacked us, we invaded. But that was before Oprah Consciousness. Now the Moslems kill a few thousand people in New York, and the President immediately goes to a mosque. Don’t you love it?
After Pearl Harbor, did Roosevelt go to a Shinto temple?
The whole thing is surreal. We can’t even admit who did it.
Quiz: What people have been consistently kicking our teeth in for decades? Chippewas? Latvians? Tibetan monks? Or Moslems?
It was the Iroquois who took over our embassy in Tehran and make fools of us for months, until Jimmy Carter sent in that comic-opera rescue team and independently made fools of us. Isn’t that what you remember? Iroquois?
The Norwegians blew up the Marine barracks in Beirut, right? Damn those Norwegians. The Cole? The Starke? Presbyterians did it. I’m sure of it.
Is there no limit to our absurdity? (No. The question was rhetorical.) We all know who the terrorists are, but we won’t even search Moslems because that would be discrimination. We won’t arm pilots because guns are, Squeeeeak! so fwightening. We take away fingernail clippers as deadly weapons. This is the country that stormed Iwo?
It gets sillier. We’re going to wage an international crusade against terrorism, yet we throw little boys out of school for drawing pictures of soldiers, and we don’t let them play dodgeball because it’s so violent. The earth must be laughing.
A pretty good rule of diplomacy might be that you shouldn’t huff and puff if you aren’t going to back it up. It’s undignified. It invites more trouble. The Towers went down, and we huffed. Grrr, woof. Bush said fiercely that we were going to make terrorists everywhere wish they had never been born. For at least two weeks everybody was solidarified and America was on the march and companies sold Instant Patriotism kits, with a little flag for the aerial and a bumper sticker. Bow-wow-wow. Wurf.
And then we fizzled. We bombed Afghanistan some, but I can’t see that it did much. We sound as though we may do something unpleasant to Iraq. I guess that’ll get rid of terrorism. We’ll see. It’s hard to know what we’re going to do. These days wars are declared by the president, not congress.
I’ll root for us, but bet on them. The Moslems have got our number. They have the momentum. They appear to rely on what is becoming an international formula for defeating the United States: Don’t give the Yanks a point target, and draw the war out until they get bored. Do you reckon it’s working?
A Caring Lady Also Has a Say
No matter what you think of this day--a day of sorrow, a day of remembrance, a day never to forget, or a day best forgotten--all who were alive a year ago will have this day forever imprinted in their minds.
Many things--both bad and good--have followed the initial shock of the attacks last year: the evil that exists in the minds of some people and the good that exists in others. The cowardice that leads to the horrible events we have been witness to and the bravery it brings out in others. The hatred that some people are doomed to live with and the outpouring of love that others have given to try to overcome the hatred.
No matter what you think...
Please use this day to show those you care about what's under the surface--that the depths of the love and kindness that we are capable of are there for the giving. Remembering the special people in our lives is at least as important as celebrating an anniversary of a cataclysmic event. Send a note or call someone that you've been out of touch with for too long, or even someone you talked to yesterday and let them know that they are still in your thoughts as you are in mine.
My wish for you is that the coming years bring more joy than sorrow, more smiles than tears, more ups than downs and that you know that there is someone out there who cares very much about you.
Love,
(Name Withheld)
Noah and 9/11
September 11,
2002
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Over the past
year several friends have remarked
to me how
much they still feel a pit in their stomachs
from 9/11. One
even said she felt as if this was the
beginning
of the end
of the world. And no wonder. Those suicide
hijackings were
such an evil act that they shattered your
faith in human
beings and in the wall of civilization that
was supposed to
constrain the worst in human behavior. There
is now a big
jagged hole in that wall.
What to do? For
guidance, I turned to one
of my mentors,
Rabbi Tzvi Marx, who teaches in the
Netherlands.
He offered
me a biblical analogy. "To some extent,"
said Tzvi, "we
feel after 9/11 like we have experienced
the flood of Noah
- as if a flood has inundated our
civilization
and we are
the survivors. What do we do the morning
after?"
The story of
Noah has a lot to offer. "What
was the first
thing Noah did when the flood waters receded
and he got off
the ark?" asked Tzvi. "He planted a vine,
made wine and got
drunk." Noah's first response to the flood's
devastation of
humanity, and the challenge he now faced,
was to numb
himself to the world.
"But what was
God's reaction to the flood?"
asked Tzvi.
"Just the opposite. God's reaction was to
offer Noah a more
detailed set of rules for mankind to live
by - rules which
we now call the Noahite laws. His first rule
was that life
is precious, so man should not murder man."
(These Noahite
laws were later expanded to include
prohibitions
against
idolatry, adultery, blasphemy and theft.)
It's
interesting - you would have thought
that after wiping
out humanity with a devastating flood, God's
first
post-flood act wouldn't have been to teach
that all life is
precious. But it was. Said Tzvi: "It is as
though God said,
`Now I understand what I'm up against with
these humans. I
need to set for them some very clear
boundaries
of
behavior, with some very clear values and
norms, that they
can internalize.' "
And that is
where the analogy with today begins.
After the
deluge of 9/11 we have two choices: We can
numb ourselves
to the world, and plug our ears, or we can
try to repair
that jagged hole in the wall of civilization
by insisting,
more firmly and loudly than ever, on rules
and norms - both
for ourselves and for others.
"God, after the
flood, refused to let Noah
and his
offspring indulge themselves in escapism,"
said Tzvi, "but
he also refused to give them license to live
without moral
boundaries, just because humankind up to
that point had
failed."
The same
applies to us. Yes, we must kill
the murderers of
9/11, but without becoming murderers and
without simply
indulging ourselves. We must defend ourselves
- without
throwing out civil liberties at home, without
barring every
Muslim student from this country, without
forgetting what a
huge shadow a powerful America casts over
the world and how
it can leave people feeling powerless, and
without telling
the world we're going to do whatever we want
because there
has been a flood and now all bets are off.
Because
imposing norms and rules on ourselves
gives us the
credibility to demand them from others. It
gives us the
credibility to demand the rule of law,
religious
tolerance,
consensual government, self-criticism,
pluralism,
women's
rights and respect for the notion that my
grievance,
however deep, does not entitle me to do
anything
to anyone
anywhere.
It gives us the
credibility to say to the
Muslim world:
Where have you been since 9/11? Where are
your voices of
reason? You humbly open all your prayers
in the name of a
God of mercy and compassion. But when members
of your
faith, acting in the name of Islam, murdered
Americans or
committed suicide against "infidels," your
press extolled
them as martyrs and your spiritual leaders
were largely
silent. Other than a few ritual
condemnations,
they offered
no outcry in their mosques; they drew no
new moral red
lines in their schools. That's a problem,
because if there
isn't a struggle within Islam - over norms
and values -
there is going to be a struggle between Islam
and us.
In short,
numbing ourselves to the post-9/11
realities will
not work. Military operations, while
necessary,
are not
sufficient. Building higher walls may feel
comforting, but
in today's interconnected world they're an
illusion. Our
only hope is that people will be restrained
by internal
walls - norms and values. Visibly imposing
them on
ourselves, and loudly demanding them from
others, is the
only viable survival strategy for our
shrinking
planet.
Otherwise, start building an ark.
Copyright 2002
The New York Times Company
The Network Comics Have Their Say, Too
What we know about Osama bin Laden is this -- he's worth $300 million, he has five wives and 26 kids ...and he hates Americans for their 'excessive' lifestyle."
"More and more
details
coming out now about spoiled rich kid Osama bin
Laden. Time
reports
this week he was one of 52 kids. Mother must be
exhausted. This
guy inherited $80 million at age 13 and has since
expanded it to
$300
million through construction, smart investments and gas and oil
investments.
This way, he can use the money in his war
against
capitalism."
-- Jay Leno
"You read about
all
these terrorists, most of them came here legally,
but they hung
around
on these expired visas, some for as long as 10-15
years. Now,
compare
that to Blockbuster; you are two days late with a
video and these
people are all over you. Let's put Blockbuster in charge
of immigration."
-- Jay Leno
"More and more
facts
coming out about Osama bin Laden. You know, he
never sleeps in
the same place two nights in a row... just like Clinton."
-- Jay Leno
"This Osama bin
Laden
guy, spoiled rich kid worth $300M. I have three
words for this
guy:
Anna Nicole Smith. We send her over there. She'll
get his money.
He'll
be dead in a week."
-- Jay Leno
"It was
reported
today that Osama Bin Laden has 50 brothers and sisters.
Which absolutely
shocked me because I had no idea he was Catholic"
-- Conan O'Brien
"CBS News
finally
received anthrax in the mail. As usual, we're number
three."
-- David Letterman
"Things have
really
changed here in Hollywood. Used to be people in this
town couldn't wait
to get an envelope full of white powder."
-- Jay Leno
"I don't mean
to
harp on this, but it's like the networks are a how-to
manual for
terrorists.
You see them on the news. This reporter is
standing outside
a water treatment plant, going, 'If they poured the
poison right here
it could wipe out thousands because the guard is off
duty from noon
until
1 every day!'"
-- Jay Leno
"The FBI is
urging
all Americans to beware of any letters or packages
that have badly
misspelled words. Man, this is going to be terrible news
for the rap
industry."
-- Jay Leno
"In Pakistan
anti-American
protesters set a Kentucky Fried Chicken
restaurant on
fire.
The protesters mistakenly thought they were
attacking
high-ranking
U.S. military official Colonel Sanders."
-- Jimmy Fallon
on Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update
"Tomorrow night
on
NBC a very special episode of West Wing, it makes a
direct reference
to what happened in New York City. The exact plot is
being kept top
secret.
We are the only country in the world where we put our battle plans on
CNN,
but the plots to our TV shows are top secret."
-- Jay Leno
"Pakistan's
ruler
Pervez Musharraf predicted the Taliban will fall for
hiding Osama bin
Laden. Ex-king Zahir Shah is standing by to replace
Mullah Mohammed
Omar. And the most ominous sign of all, President Bush
has learned all
their names."
-- Comedian Argus
Hamilton
"There was a
rumor
that Jesse Jackson was going to go over there to talk
with the Taliban;
apparently they were having trouble rhyming the word
Jihad."
-- Jay Leno
"Now this
really
annoys me: All these people getting on the Internet and
saying Nostradamus
predicted this. If Nostradamus were alive today his
name would be Miss
Cleo and he'd be charging $2.99 a minute."
-- Jay Leno
"U.S.
Government
has said they are now going to go after the terrorist's
electronic banking
system. You know what they should do? They should
transfer bin
Laden's
funds to my bank. They'd mess up his deposits,
screw up his
statement
and nickel and dime him to death with service
charges."
-- Jay Leno
"People want to say
there
isn't racial profiling at the airport, but
let's be honest. If your
first name is Mohammed, and your last name
isn't Ali, arrive at the
airport extra early."
-- Jay Leno
|
|||
|
This WAR is for REAL! (We
have not yet been able to ascertain the identity of the original
author. )
To get out of a difficulty, one usually must go through it.
Our country is now facing the most serious threat to its existence, as
we know it, that we have faced in your lifetime and mine (which
includes WWII).
|
|
Riots that began on the outskirts of Paris have spread into the center of the French capital and to other communities in other parts of the country. Thousands of cars have been set on fire and the police and even medical personnel have been shot at.
Like many other riots, whether in France or elsewhere, this one started over an incident that just happened and was then seized upon to rally resentments and unleash violence. Two local boys in a predominantly Moslem neighborhood tried to escape the police by hiding in a facility that transmitted electricity -- and accidently electrocuted themselves.
This was the spark that ignited volatile emotions. But those emotions were there, ready to be ignited, for a long time.
A substantial Moslem population lives in France but is not really of France. Much of that population lives in social isolation in housing projects away from the center of Paris, as unknown to many Parisians as to tourists.
Like housing projects in America, many of these are centers of social degeneration, lawlessness and violence. Three years ago, profound British social critic Theodore Dalrymple wrote of "burned-out and eviscerated carcasses of cars everywhere" in these projects, among other signs of social degeneration. This was in an essay titled "The Barbarians at the Gates of Paris" that is reprinted in his insightful book, "Our Culture, What's Left of it."While Dr. Dalrymple called this Moslem underclass "barbarians," a French minister who called the rioters "scum" provoked instant outrage against himself, including criticism from at least one member of his own government. This squeamishness in word and deed, and the accompanying refusal to face blatant realities is also a major part of the background for the breakdown of law and order and the social degeneration that follows.
None of this is peculiar to France. It is a symptom of a common retreat from reality, and from the hard decisions that reality requires, not only in Europe but also in European offshoot societies like Canada, Australia, New Zealand -- and the United States of America.
European countries especially have thrown their doors open to a large influx of Moslem immigrants who have no intention of becoming part of the cultures of the countries to which they immigrate but to recreate their own cultures in those countries.
In the name of tolerance, these countries have imported intolerance, of which growing antisemitism in Europe is just one example. In the name of respecting all cultures, Western nations have welcomed people who respect neither the cultures nor the rights of the population among whom they have settled.
During the last election, some campus Republicans who were holding a rally for President Bush at San Francisco State University were harassed by Middle Eastern students, including a woman who walked up to one of these Americans and slapped his face. They knew they could do this with impunity.
In Michigan, a Moslem community loudly sounds their calls to prayer several times a day, without regard to whether that sound bothers the original inhabitants of the community.
The Dutch were shocked when one of their film-makers was assassinated by a Moslem extremist for daring to have views at variance with what the extremists would tolerate.
No one should have been shocked. There are people who will not stop until they get stopped -- and much of the media, the political classes, and the cultural elites of the West cannot bring themselves to even criticize, much less stop, the dangers or degeneracy among groups viewed sympathetically as underdogs.
Not all Moslems, nor necessarily a majority of Moslems, are either a cultural or a physical danger. But even "moderate" Moslem organizations in the West who deplore violence and try to discourage it nevertheless encourage their followers to remain foreigners rather than become part of the countries they live in.
So do our own intelligentsia and political and cultural elites. Balkanization has been glorified as "diversity" and diversity has become too sacred to defile with anything so gross as hard facts. But reality is not optional. Our survival may in the long run be as menaced by degeneration within -- from many sources and in many ways -- as was that of the Roman Empire.