Anything I could say about recollections of the day, I've already said in previous years.
So this year I'm simply moved to ask...
...anyone feeling safer?
PAD
Posted by Peter David at September 11, 2007 09:26 AM | TrackBack | Other blogs commentingIt's one thing to come to grips with the idea that one could be killed at any moment. Detah is so much the unknown quantity that one can see it as a transition or an adventure to be undertaken. But, in a country where one's rights can be taken away on a whim, where one's privacy can be invaded without proper cause, where so much as saying the wrong thing in the presence of the wrong person can have the secret service breathing down, not only one's own neck, but the necks of everyone one cares about or knows well, where one can be imprisoned and tortured with no cause, no justification and no recourse, well...
... No not really safe. Not in one's own country or even one's own home. Not safe at all.
Nope. Not safer yet.
So we continue fighting until we do.
Well, as I sit here watching the CNN coverage, I can honestly say I don't feel any more safe, or any less safe. I'm amazed that other countries even talk to us. I always thought that Isolationism was a choice, not a result. Hopefully the Administration will not make things any worse before they go away.
Someone sent this link to me: watch it if you want to laugh and cry at the same time...
http://gprime.net/video.php/theirack
No. And I'm not that scared by the terrorists either. It's one thing to fear getting blown up. It's another to keep seeing the government slowly planning their reaction to terrorists--something that looks less like protection and more like fascism waiting in the wings. I'll vote for whoever promises to take those "emergency provisions" out of the law books.
Living in Manhattan...No not feeling safer at all.
Did anyone see that wonderful (sarcastic) article that was in the Daily News the other day? About how the MTA and TBTA are too concerned with toll collections to stop and search vans/trucks entering Manhattan?
THATS what makes me feel unsafe.
No I don't feel safer. But I expect to, the day after the next inauguration.
Posted by michael t at September 11, 2007 09:56 AM
Living in Manhattan...No not feeling safer at all.
Y'know Michael, I live in Poughkeepsie and usually go down to the city a couple of times a month, my wife even moreso, and at least once before either of us go, there is always that twinge of uneasiness. The day the steampipe blew a hole in the street my wife sent me a text message after her meeting. She wanted me to turn on CNN because there were people running down the street past where she was having lunch. It took me a few minutes to find some coverage on a local channel, but those few minutes lasted a looong time.
Do you really have any reason not to feel safe? Maybe not completely and perfectly safe, which people rarely are. But of all things that makes life unsafe, terrorism is not exactly on the top of the list. So why feel unsafe?
ya know the whole "backpacks and large bags may be subject to search by the police"....has become white noise, and that is somewhat alarming to me because most NY'ers are the same way.
I feel more inconvenienced than anything. And somewhere in the back of my geek mind I'm thinking, these police and NG look at me like I'm no threat, a white guy from the LI and for all they know I could be packing semtex in my bag... not that I am, but they let 18 hijackers through airport "security" for probably the same reason...
oh yeah, and on this day our friend Leah was born. I choose to remember her over the horrific events of that day that are etched into my psyche and no amount of ptsd theraby could erase.
D is doing well- saw him labor day weekend at NYRF. He's a senior in HS now, jeez.
Peter, I didn't feel safe BEFORE 9/11... why should I feel safe afterwards?
It's never what you see coming that gets you... it's the unexpected phone call at 3am, or that car that jumped the intersection when you weren't looking, or the puddle on the floor that you slip on and fall.
Safety and order are the illusions. Chaos is king.
What is this 'safe' that you refer to, PAD?
Micha -
Do you really have any reason not to feel safe?
The general incompetence of our government should be reason enough for any one not to feel safe.
The fact that we haven't had more attacks here in the US is more about luck and lack of attempt than effort on the part of terrorists.
When you see the reactions after 9/11, after Katrina, no, there's no reason to feel safe.
From terrorists? sure. From the government, not so much.
As for the checkpoints, if a suicide bomber wants to get through, a man with a vest isn't going to stop him. All he has to do is step on the gas, shoot past the checkpoint, and onto the bridge.
Micha -
Do you really have any reason not to feel safe?
Craig J. Ries:
The general incompetence of our government should be reason enough for any one not to feel safe.
Micha:
I agree. As Katherina demonstrated, an incompetent government can be dangerous. But my point was more that terrorism itself does not seem to present a major threat to the safety of the average american at present.
Craig J. Ries:
The fact that we haven't had more attacks here in the US is more about luck and lack of attempt than effort on the part of terrorists.
Micha:
I'm not sure that's true. It doesn't seem likely that the reason there were no other terrorist attacks in the US is because of luck. Luck only goes so far. It's surely not a lack of motivation on Al-Quaida's part, unless we should assume that they are so focused on Iraq that they don't feel the need to try again in the US. But if it's not that, then it seems likely that something is going your way despite everything.
Michael Brunner:
As for the checkpoints, if a suicide bomber wants to get through, a man with a vest isn't going to stop him. All he has to do is step on the gas, shoot past the checkpoint, and onto the bridge.
Micha
If a suicide bomber reveals himself -- either by shooting or detonating -- at a checkpoint, then that means he will not make it to his intended target (unless the bridge was the target).
Unfortunately, I do not. But I'm still hoping for the best while keeping a weary eye on the world.
http://thefreechoice.info/index.php?s=news&p=main&m=1189483719
I've not felt safe economically, physically or mentally since Jan. 2001. Today makes little difference.
If we can't fix stupid in this country .. we elect it and protect it. Sad.
Safety is an illusion. It always has been.
What I feel is anger - anger at anyone who uses tragedy and paranoia to further their own agenda, line their own pockets, or intimidate and bully others.
Echoing what others here have said, I'll feel safer when the evil and insanity that has taken over this country is finally defeated.
Yeah, actually. I feel like my worst fear - that this would become normal, that we'd start having suicide bombers in coffee shops and McDonalds across the country, that terrorism would just become part of the everyday weren't realized. That could change, but for right now, it doesn't seem like we've become Britain in the 80s, or Israel.
Yes, there are still major pieces of terrorism, but even in Europe (which seems to be the big target now) it's remarkably occasional, and the death tolls, while significant, are far less than 9/11.
And beyond that, even though it's not 2009 yet, I have a sense that things are starting to change meaningfully. That the damage Bush can do is increasingly limited to what he can do as President, instead of what he can do as a powerful President with support from Congress and the people. I feel like the administration is finally starting to lose more battles than they win, and like the clock is running out for them.
It's not all better by any stretch of the imagination. But it does honestly seem better than it did five years ago, if not six years and one day. I feel like we're moving out of an immediately post-9/11 world and into something a good bit more hopeful.
William Sims: Echoing what others here have said, I'll feel safer when the evil and insanity that has taken over this country is finally defeated.
So out of curiosity, what have you (and I'm addressing this to the "others" as well) actually done to help defeat the evil and insanity?
In a world where more importance in the hand wringing of those who Volunteer for the army,( Remember there is no longer a draft folks the soldiers willing joined a job where dying at any moment is part of the job description,) and then are killed in the line of duty.
And there is very little concern for Mothers, Fathers, and Children who do not volunteer to be MURDERED by drunk drivers everyday. I will never feel safe. We can all bitch and moan about our civil rights being violated by politicians. (Which thank out founding fathers is our right.)
But when my 10 year old cousin is murdered by a drunk driver, and he is sentenced to 2 years in prison for manslaughter, and gets out in 4 months. No one complains and decries the injustice of the so called "Justice System", and why Congress is not doing anything to try and solve this problem.
It is so much better to divide us.
And because of that I do not feel safe.
Today should be a time to mourn those who lost their lives in a horrible murder pulled off by those who hate us, not to forward your political agenda.
As the New Year begins tomorrow night,the only answer to the tragedy of 9/11 is the same solution I always give to the Israeli/Palestinian, India/Pakistan, and Shiate Muslim/Sunni Muslim situations.
"All this will end when they love their children more than they hate each other!"
When did we forget to MOURN AND HONOR the dead?
Sorry for and angry and rambling post, but my neighborhood woke up this morning to find three United States Flags defaced by with words like, "End the War Now!", and "America equals Hate!".
And I am not only upset by that, but another family of 4 was murdered on the streets by a drunk last night.
(Look up how may people are murdered in drunk driving accidents each year, and compare that to the members of the army killed since 2003 in Iraq & Afghanistan actions.
However when I gather with my family for Erev Rosh Hashana dinner tomorrow I WILL feel safe knowing that the Democratic party official uncle, and the Card Carrying Republican Brither-in-law will eat, laugh, and then go to pray together knowing we are all family, and that is all that matters.
Bobb
(In Irving, in Texas, in The United States of America, and very proud we still live in a country where we can disagree with each other without feeling the need to bomb each other.)
I'll vote for whoever promises to take those "emergency provisions" out of the law books.
Right with ya. I went back and forth on my vote for the NJ Senate race last fall almost up until the end. I knew I wasn't going to vote for Kean (another empty suit running on the "the other guy's a sleaze" platform), but I had very little reason to vote FOR Menendez, given things like his horrible habeas corpus vote.
I actually went to one of his local HQ's (not much of a sacrifice, since it was walking distance from home :-) ) and asked one of his big reps. I said something like, "Don't give me a reason to vote against Kean -- I've got plenty of those. Give me a reason to vote FOR your guy in light of this vote, and not just something about regaining Congress."
He said that he'd actually asked Menendez himself about it, and that the justification was that putting that in place prevented an even worse law from being enacted. (Like what, I wonder?) He also said that Menendez told him personally that "as soon as the Democrats get the Congress back, that law's going to be fixed."
So I voted. And Menendez won.
And that %#&*!* law is still on the books.
Not making THAT mistake again.
TWL
No, I don't feel safer. But then, neither do I worry about or fear another terrorist attack. Nor, for that matter, have I ever really worried about a terrorist attack. In fact, I was only mildly worried about a nuclear exchange when the U.S. and Soviet Union were going at each other in the Cold War days. My "worries" have always been more in the range of the more down-to-earth "what if she says no to a date?" than "what if someone walks in with a bomb?" Both are possibilities, but statistically speaking, I've got a better chance of being rejected than blown up.
I am worried, however, that Bush and company, through their blunderings (to say nothing of their attempts to curtail some civil liberties, even if they genuinely believe it's for the common good) are only helping to make things worse-- on both a national and international scale.
True, if someone is determined to carry out a terrorist attack-- and doesn't care if they die in the process-- it can be damned difficult to stop them. But even so, there are some things you, as the commander-in-chief of the country that was attacked, can do when responding to an attack. Like, say, keep the war focused on Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda and not divert forces into Iraq. Is the world better off without Saddam Hussein? Very likely, but should taking him down taken higher priority than getting Osama "wanted dead or alive" bin Laden?
I don't think so.
If Bush had done everything "right" following 9/11, would the possibility of future terrorist attacks still exist? Of course. Even if a terrorist group renounced violence and gave up all its weapons, that wouldn't stop individuals from attacking us (or other nations) if they so chose. I don't recall Timothy McVeigh belonging to any organized group.
But Bush didn't do everything "right", and so we may be worse off in the long run than we might otherwise have been.
Are we worse off than we might have been? Will we be at some point down the road? Who knows? We can all speculate about what Bush might have done differently had he listened to certain people; or how a Gore administration would have handled the aftermath of 9/11. Or how the second term of a Dole administration would have handled it. Unfortunately, we don't have access to alternate universes where those differences were reality. We're stuck in this universe, and have to deal with both the situations that caused 9/11and those that resulted from it.
Rick
Bobb (In Irving): "In a world where more importance in the hand wringing of those who Volunteer for the army,( Remember there is no longer a draft folks the soldiers willing joined a job where dying at any moment is part of the job description,) and then are killed in the line of duty."
That's a bit simplistic. The poor are disproportionately represented in the U.S. military. There are many people who join the military because, rightly or wrongly, they see no other options for themselves.
Moreover, have you ever talked with a military recruiter? I have. When I was 17, I got telemarketing calls from military recruiters all the time. Plus they would come to my high school on career day. They're very good at talking up the G.I. Bill and dancing around the reality that armed forces are, at their core, about waging war. It's easy to say that people should know better but that presupposes that 17-year-olds can be expected to have the wisdom that comes with age. That presupposition is, of course, absurd on its face.
And even if someone joins the army fully cognizant of the risks solely because he or she wants to protect and serve this country, why should we not wring our hands about his or her safety? That person is placing in our hands a sacred trust by agreeing to follow orders without question, even at the cost of his or her own life.
Bobb (In Irving): "And there is very little concern for Mothers, Fathers, and Children who do not volunteer to be MURDERED by drunk drivers everyday."
That's not been my experience. I've heard a lot of people express a lot of concern about that issue.
Bobb (In Irving): "But when my 10 year old cousin is murdered by a drunk driver, and he is sentenced to 2 years in prison for manslaughter, and gets out in 4 months. No one complains and decries the injustice of the so called "Justice System", and why Congress is not doing anything to try and solve this problem."
Well, first of all, I don't believe drunk driving is a federal offense, so I don't think Congress can do anything about it. It has nothing to do with the severity of the offense, by the way. It has to do with federal versus state jurisdiction, a topic that is too broad for me to address in the five minutes I have left before yet another meeting today at work.
Second, I think the light sentences drunk drivers may receive has less to do with apathy and more to do with a grim reality: the U.S. has a whoppingly huge prison population relative to its overall population. It's easy to say we should hire more cops, build more prisons, etc. But someone has to PAY for all of that. And whenever a politician mentions higher taxes, his or her allies just stare at their feet and shuffle while he or she is shot down in electoral flames.
I empathize with you and am deeply sorry to hear that you suffered such a loss. But I fear the roots of the problem are not as simple as you believe, nor is the solution.
I myself decline to answer the question of whether or not I feel safer because it is in my view a loaded question. Instead I am saddened that the terrorists have succeeded in deepening the divisions between us at a time when our country needs to unify more than ever. And, yeah, I know that many of you are reading this and raising your hands and pointing across the way at someone else and shouting, "But it's not me, it's HIM!" Well, then, you are part of the problem.
And so am I.
We are ALL to blame. As soon as we accept that, we can begin discussing solutions. Because the real enemies are still the terrorists, who remain a viable threat.
No, no safer...
Most of us don't live with the secret service guarding us. If someone wants to do us harm, they can, they will...
We've managed to suss out a few terrorist plots in the past few years, but sooner or later, one will get past.
We can live in fear or we can live...
"...anyone feeling safer?"
No.
For some reason I'm reminded of a scene from a Sopranos episode where Tony is telling everybody at the Bing how dangerous the world is, how security's lousy, and the bartender says something like "that's why you should just try to live for today."
Tony doesn't believe what he's hearing, that the bartender can think of this stuff and not get as emotional as Tony. He loses his temper and beats the bartender senseless.
But that's really what it comes down to, I think. There's nothing that can be done to ensure anybody's safety, and that's why I'm saying I don't feel safer.
Even before we had to worry about maniacs using airliners as missiles, we had to worry about bombings, war with the USSR, school shootings, muggings, serial killers, and God knows what else.
A person can either worry about it, or try not to worry about it. For some people, it's impossible not to worry, of course. But it's best to try not to, try not to think about it. If you think about something troubling that you can't change, it's not gonna do anything except possibly bring you closer to a nervous breakdown. The more time you spend worrying, the less you get out of life. I hope that doesn't sound patronizing.
Well we haven't had anything like that happen *since*, so I'd have to say yes, I feel safer.
Not sure I feel *better*, though. A subtle, but distinct, difference, I guess.
Do I feel safer? Not really. But I never felt all that unsafe to begin with.
I do feel much less safe about the state of this country, though, with all the attacks that have been made against out Constitution.
In July, three people were tortured and brutally murdered in my hometown, scarcely two miles from my home, in a manner so horrific it made national headlines. The perpetrators were repeat offenders who were let out on early release, and did the crime not even 3 months after release.
Number of foreign terrorist attacks in the US proper? Two in 60 years (I'll grant you Pearl Harbor even though it wasn't a state yet). Number of people murdered in the US? New Haven CT is up to 8 already this year - one city in a large country. My chances of being domestically murdered are far, far greater than being killed in a terrorist attack at the mall. And the murderers will likely never show up on a no-fly list, or be pulled aside for carrying a knife into the Smithsonian, or have their phone lines tapped, i.e., no one will ever care beyond the cost of keeping them imprisoned. While child stalkers walk around free because despite self-proclaimed desires, they have not actually committed a crime, my children must walk a mile and a half to school, free for the picking.
Am I any safer? Not in the least, and I never will be. It's all a farce, a big sad farce.
Sean D. Martin: "So out of curiosity, what have you (and I'm addressing this to the "others" as well) actually done to help defeat the evil and insanity?"
Well Sean, to start with, I vote (national, state, and local elections), not that it really mattered much in the last one since my Republican Congressman was running unopposed, and we all know how the presidential race came out. Hopefully, things will be different in '08.
I also write my Congressman and Senators (as well as the House and Senate leaders and the White House) regularly to let them know that not everyone in this country is blindly cheering the administration on in their criminal war on liberty here and abroad.
I support individuals and organizations who oppose the war in Iraq, who believe that the best way to support and protect our troops is to bring them home safely and immediately, and who believe that our personal liberties should never be traded for perceived "safety."
But the most meaningful thing I do to help defeat evil and insanity in this screwed-up world is teach my 10-year old son the difference between right and wrong, that kindness and understanding are not weaknesses, that all authority (mine included) should be questioned, that evil and stupidity should always be confronted, and most importantly, to think for himself. If I never do anything else worthwhile, I'll be happy with that.
Any safer since 9/11? No. However, I must say that over the past year or so I have started to feel safer again.
Am I afraid of a terrorist attack? Not really, no. To add to my already confidence in their infrequency is the fact that I live in a town that next to no one (who doesn't read "High Times" a lot) has heard of, a place that certainly wouldn't be the target for any non-local terrorist. There are concerns that I have based on where I live, but they tend to focus more on possibilities of my friends drowning in substance abuse or getting shot after stumbling past a grow (which tend to happen far more often than any terrorist acts).
I do feel unsafe about slowly losing my civil liberties, although I'm holding out hope that things will turn around soon at the capital, noting that the reason why I feel safer now than I did two years ago is the recent turns in media outlets. Unlike right after 9/11 when all was "Praise Bush, praise America" it seems that the media has begun to step up to the plate and actually report on itmes that might or might not be that easy for the public to swallow. I acknowledge that this doesn't describe every news source, but this last year I've even seen FOX news outlets (well, a clip of a broadcast from an LA FOX report) reporting on police violence, politician's nasty wheelings and dealings, abuses of power, and other things that I believe it's the media's job to report on (be they good or bad). So that makes me feel safer.
I've also been very proud of my local city government for stepping up and taking a stand against the national government, being the first to pass sanctions against the USA PATRIOT Act among other things. And although I plan on leaving this place soon, I'm certain it will continue to be a haven of Green party politicos with much more opinion than they have power, but at least the power to get their opinion heard. So that makes me feel safer.
What makes me feel even more unsafe than the government though is the overwhelming apathy of the public at some of the things that have happened. Although there are some who rage strong against this, there's a large portion who seem to accept the fact that there will be illegeal wire-tappings and black lists and other things that degrade our civil liberties. And there's no way that we can stop this. There's currently an ideological war in my home between myself and my roommates (each of us seem to have differing opinions on how to deal with this) concerning the actions we should take. The Anarchist has no faith in governments and thinks we need to stop voting and instead raise a militia. I think that stopping voting is about the worst thing we need at this moment. A more informed, more enraged group of voters angry to make themselves heard could do far more than a couple anarchists with guns and no direction. I refuse to give up on democracy yet.
A correction to my post "... degrade our civil liberties. And that there's no way we can stop this."
PAD, why do ask such hard questions? Do I feel safer? I will put it this way, I was paranoid of the democracy train going off the tracks since I was 8 when I began seeing similarities between the US and pre-Imperial Rome. (about 35 years ago) My sense of fear hasn't change because the possibility of some sociopath kill a person on the spur of the moment hasn't changed. (The terrorists are just a sociopathic idea on a group scale.) My paranoia on the other hand has gone up substantially in the last few years. The signs of a fundamental change in our form of government have been evident for more than 3 decades, the obvious changes have really accelerated since the 'big event' 6 years ago. The fascist or totalitarian forces in this country have used that event to change the speed of those changes. They are happening now not just on a glacial scale but on that of a waterfall. Do I feel safer? Hell no. Do I feel less safe? Hell no. I feel much, much more paranoid.
Micha
It doesn't seem likely that the reason there were no other terrorist attacks in the US is because of luck. Luck only goes so far. It's surely not a lack of motivation on Al-Quaida's part, unless we should assume that they are so focused on Iraq that they don't feel the need to try again in the US. But if it's not that, then it seems likely that something is going your way despite everything.
Micha, I think you need to look at al-Qa'eda's history. They attacked the twin towers complex in 1993, and failed. They didn't turn around and attack a year or two later. They evaluated the method of attack, evaluated the target, set a new plan, and then executed it. It took them 8 years for them to plan that next attack, recruit the proper forces to carry out the plan, and then to give the go ahead the carry it out. Is it likely that they are planning another attack against targets in this country, yes. Will they succeed, hell if I know. But the planning is being done, and the forces to execute it are in place, and I doubt that commercial aircraft are going to be used again. Of course, since Americans tend to have very short memories, who knows, I don't think the people who are responsible for our our 'safety' care a bit about whether we are safe as long as they can keep us scared. Don't buy the theory that if they haven't attacked it's because we have stopped them. I know the arrest of homeless people in Florida who wanted new shoes in order to atleast appear to be planning an attack made me 'feel' much safer.
Sorry about the length, but I felt it was necessary.
"...anyone feeling safer?
No. I do feel just as safe as I did on 9/10/01 though. I was aware of the dangers of the world a long time ago. I was also aware that of the fact that you can't live in fear all the time.
Now, do I feel that the steps taken (or not taken) by our government have made us safer? No, not at all. I actually believe that what has happened in the Halls of Power have made things worse in matters of our security. But I refuse to live in fear.
I will not allow the actions of a few mad men make me live in fear or live with the feeling that I am somehow less safe in my life. I will not allow a bunch of power hungry pols who preach fear in order to obtain/retain power make me live in fear or live with the feeling that I am somehow less safe in my life.
I will be aware of what's out there, of what's around me and of what can happen, but it will not in any great way change how I live my life or what I allow my "protectors" in office do. If I do, then they (pick whichever they you want) win.
"feeling safer" is relative.
I lived and worked in London throughout the '80s when the IRA were setting off real bombs and closing down the Tube pretty much whenever they felt like it. I actually worked in an office just round the corner from the Old Bailey (Central Criminal Couthouse) so we got evacuated pretty much every week.
Twice, bombs went off within half a mile of us. (Real efficient bombs, not the half arsed fire crackers we've (so luckily) seen so far this time around)
Now I'm living in a much smaller city in Scotland, about 30 miles from Glasgow Airport.
It is, as they say, to laugh...
However, if the question is actually 'do I feel safer as a result of the Bush'n'Blair double act', well, "Hell, no!"
Cheers.
I feel actively less safe every time Bush opens his filthy lying mouth.
I only feel safer whenever one of his cronies goes down in flames.
He can't leave office soon enough.
I'm not afraid of the terrorists. I'm afraid of the world that sociopathic texas hick is creating.
Safer than I did on September 10th 2001? No, of course not.
Safer than I did on September 12th 2001 when I, and a good number of others as I recall, believed that we were entering a new age where this sort of thing would become commonplace...well, yeah, I'd have to be totally out of touch with reality to not see that my worst fears did not come to pass.
Given the many opportunities Al Queda had to really have an effect on us--opportunities now gone forever--I doubt that the lack of subsequent atatcks is simply a matter of a lack of interest on their part. It wouldn't take much in the way of planning, they could actually do as much damage with simple strikes against easy targets as they could with some SPECTRE sized super-villain scheme. Either they just got lucky once and have been coasting ever since or we will one day learn many distressing facts about how many potential attacks were thwarted.
At any rate, the lack of these attacks for the last 6 years has indeed relieved some of my fears. I just can't sustain fear for that long without some reinforcement.
I myself decline to answer the question of whether or not I feel safer because it is in my view a loaded question. Instead I am saddened that the terrorists have succeeded in deepening the divisions between us at a time when our country needs to unify more than ever. And, yeah, I know that many of you are reading this and raising your hands and pointing across the way at someone else and shouting, "But it's not me, it's HIM!" Well, then, you are part of the problem.
And so am I.
By blaming division on those who blame, how are you not simply compounding committing the offense yourself with a hypocrisy? What virtue is there in your observation other than to blur the distinction between those who have been sacrificed and those who paint their taking as sacrifice?
Actually, yes. Since none of TPTB feels there is any more market for beating plowshares into swords, no one is running around going "WE are all going to DIE!!! THEY are going to KILL US!!!" This is the safest I have felt since the last election.
Heck, I didn't even realize I wasn't supposed to feel safe today until I had written my second check.
Little Wolf considering the frequency of terrorist attacks or attempted attacks in other parts of the world, and considering the growing popularity of the US with radical Islamic terrorists, it would be reasonable to expect that you would experience more terrorism than you actually have. I find it hard to believe that the only reason you haven't been attacked more frequently is because al-quaida is too fastidious to launch an attack except every 7 or 8 years.
Look, the US has had more than its share of blunders since 9/11, but in this regard at least things seem to be going your way, so give yourself a pat on the back at least for this thing. a. Things could be worse. b. you still have a lot of blunders to deal with.
Oh, and please cheer up. Apparently the mood of the american people is affecting the global economy.
"I am saddened that the terrorists have succeeded in deepening the divisions between us at a time when our country needs to unify more than ever."
It is good if there is diversity of opinions, because it enables society to question and correct its decisions, and also helps balance out different points of view. But when the division goes to the extreme where ,minds close down and dialogue shuts down, than it's a bad thing.
"Oh, and please cheer up. Apparently the mood of the american people is affecting the global economy. "
Suuurrreeeee! That's easy for you to say. Just another guy sitting safe and sound behind his keyboard and making judgments about America and Americans. Sure! Like, you would know about living in a country where you have to think about the ever looming prospect of explosions, terrorist attacks, unprovoked religious hatred or the sudden and impulsive actions of the many nations that irrationally hate your country over some extremist religious doctrines.
Yeah, go ahead and take potshots at us from the unimaginable safety of the virtual paradise that you live in that shelters you from all the things that we have to face here each day of our barely tolerable lives.
America, the greatest and strongest nation in the world that just happens to be simultaneously the weakest, most vulnerable, most defenseless and most terrified country in the world. Come back and make your snide comments when you've walked a mile or two in our heavily terrorized shoes you paradise living wussy.
God, people like you probably don't even know how bad the undead problems really are here either. Won't stop you from telling us to stop winging on about trying not to get bit all the damn time...
Makes me sick.
~8?(
Micha: "It is good if there is diversity of opinions, because it enables society to question and correct its decisions, and also helps balance out different points of view."
Absolutely. Had George W. Bush been more willing to consider diverse points of view, we may have been able to avoid the debacle that is Iraq.
Micha: "But when the division goes to the extreme where ,minds close down and dialogue shuts down, than it's a bad thing."
Well, yeah. That's where we're at right now in the U.S. Granted, the divisiveness began before the attacks on September 11, 2001, but the attacks deepened and exacerbated those divisions.
When I hear right-wingers claim that a victory for the Democrats is a victory for the terrorists, and when I hear left-wingers like a poster in this thread express a greater fear of George W. Bush than of Al Qaeda, I can only say in response: you're all playing right into Osama bin Laden's hands! It is possible to disagree passionately with one's fellow U.S. citizens while still remembering that the paramount threat is still Al Qaeda.
By the way, I'm a card-carrying member of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. I believe my civil libertarian street creds are rock-solid. I despise the oxymoronically named "USA Patriot Act" and believe it must be opposed by people of good conscience. Nevertheless, I am far more disgusted by Osama bin Laden's call to everyone in the U.S. to convert to Islam in order to end the war between us. And I find it unfathomable that people would fail to see a significant difference in degree between these things.
Oh, and I don't buy the argument that the absence of Al Qaeda attacks on U.S. soil since 9/11 is evidence that the group lacks the ability to mount another assault on us. Al Qaeda's M.O. includes patience and an appetite for the spectacular. Remember, those bastards tried to knock down one of the Twin Towers using a van loaded with explosives back in 1993. They didn't hit us on our home turf again until 2001.
Al Qaeda has metastasized into Pakistan, where they enjoy popular support in many regions. Worse, that nation's pro-U.S. (more or less) president appears to be losing his grip on power. If a pro-Al-Qaeda government were to gain control of Pakistan with its nuclear weapons... well, that significantly ups the ante, doesn't it?
George W. Bush has been one of our worst presidents. He is an abject and abysmal failure by any objective standard. And yet Al Qaeda is still our true enemy. The two are not mutually exclusive.
Eyes on the ball, folks.
No, I don't feel safe. I expect that in 2008, the GOP will do everything in its power to make us feel even less safe, since fear is the only thing they have to run on anymore.
Jerry, you KNOW you're gonna catch hell from those with an irony deficiency, right?
God, people like you probably don't even know how bad the undead problems really are here either. Won't stop you from telling us to stop winging on about trying not to get bit all the damn time...
Well, while the Democrats are willing to sit back, spend their ill gotten Chinese campaign contributions, and deprive hard working average Joes like myself from buying high capacity semiautomatic clips for my home protection, President Bush is right on top of the zombie threat:
http://www.imao.us/archives/008446.html
We can only hope that Hillary Clinton, a woman who clearly understands the zombie threat, and/or Fred Thompson, who has a hot wife, will be chosen to carry on this fight. If it's Dennis Kucinech or John Edwards you might as well just go ahead and bite yourself.
Bill Mulligan: "Jerry, you KNOW you're gonna catch hell from those with an irony deficiency, right?"
I don't have an irony deficiency. I just think Jerry is a goddamn anti-semitic terrorist. With a name like Chandler, he just has to be a friggin' Arab, man.
God, people like you probably don't even know how bad the undead problems really are here either. Won't stop you from telling us to stop winging on about trying not to get bit all the damn time...
Bill Mulligan: "...you might as well just go ahead and bite yourself."
Bill, I fear that remark says more about you than you realize...
"I expect that in 2008, the GOP will do everything in its power to make us feel even less safe..."
Not only the GOP.
Whereas Bush and the GOP have been more ham-fisted and clumsy about it, the Democrats of late have been playing the fear card in a more subtle way. There have been any number of Democrats and some private organizations backing the Democrats electoral bids that have been playing up the fact that the Republicans have made us less safe, less secure and more open to an attack then we were before. Hell, that's a twice a week (at least) theme on Countdown.
It's not as effective (and maybe not always as noticeable) as the Bushies use of FEAR, but it's still the same trick. I have no doubt that one of the central themes of the 2008 election for the Democrats (almost as strong as and tied in to they're call to get out of Iraq) will be that Bush and the Republicans have actually made us less safe and more vulnerable then we were on 9/10/01.
They can make that case if they (please excuse the now cliché) cherry-pick their facts. As I pointed out above, some facets of our overall security have been made worse in the last six years. But I'm also in a professional position to tell you that some other aspects are better. Not all of the credit goes to Bush for the one anymore then all of the blame goes to Bush for the other.
Honestly, overall (other then maybe having a strained and stretched military) the pros and cons almost equal each other out at this point. Truth be told, taking everything into account, were not much better off or worse off then we were on 9/10/01. Just don't ask a politician that question in public. You'll never get an honest answer from them when they can respond with, "FEAR!!!!!"
"Jerry, you KNOW you're gonna catch hell from those with an irony deficiency, right?"
What did you expect from someone who counts Walter as one of their personal heroes?
Besides, Micha will get it and he's really the only one who counts in the matter. And I know for a fact that he's not irony deficiency. He gets his multi vitamins from the same corner store that I get mine.
I frankly don't feel any less safe than I did on 9/10/01. I may even feel a bit safer. Not because BushCo. is workin' hard for the American people, but because we are at least aware that the possibility of an attack exists and we have an idea of how to respond. Have the various government agencies really thwarted attacks? We'll probably never really know. But at least we haven't been attacked since 9/11. I may be wrong but I think the odds of another terror attack are about the same as we San Franciscans getting buried alive in another earthquake. And I'm about as prepared for one as I am the other. If you're feeling scared or less safe then BushCo. has done it's job. They want you afraid.Wanna feel safe? Look both ways before crossing the street. And vote green.
I don't think another attack like 9/11 is going to happen soon, at least not a successful one, because of the changes made to NORAD, air traffic controllers, the somewhat tighter security at airports, the scattering of Al Quaeda, the possibility that bin Laden is dead, the question of whether a bunch of Middle Easterners could again go to a flight school to learn how to steer a plane but not take off or land it, etc.
But do I feel safer? No, I don't. I'd feel safer if the government actually made more profound changes to the way things are done at airports, at border crossings, etc.
I think it's telling that even Gen. Patreaus, when directly asked by Congress this week, couldn't say whether we are safer.
I don't think we'll see another 9/11 style hijacker. But I'm sure that Al Qaida has people out there right now looking for other weaknesses in our security to exploit. And the fact that we saw more proof that bin Laden is still sucking oxygen six years later is infuriating. Despite Bush's best efforts to make everything about Iraq, the credible security analysts are telling us that Al Qaida has rebuilt a lot of its pre-9/11 capacity.
Whereas Bush and the GOP have been more ham-fisted and clumsy about it, the Democrats of late have been playing the fear card in a more subtle way.
Well, you're right about that. If democrats have learned anything from the last two elections, they have learned how to try to turn the GOP's tactics against them.
"... they have learned how to try to turn the GOP's tactics against them."
But that's just it, it's not turning against them. It's turning against us. When the Democrats use the fear card themselves, they're aiming it at the same voter blocks as the Republicans. I don't like it when either side plays the game. I just tend to slag on the R's more because they do it so much better then the D's do and, right now, so much more often.
I myself decline to answer the question of whether or not I feel safer because it is in my view a loaded question. Instead I am saddened that the terrorists have succeeded in deepening the divisions between us at a time when our country needs to unify more than ever. And, yeah, I know that many of you are reading this and raising your hands and pointing across the way at someone else and shouting, "But it's not me, it's HIM!" Well, then, you are part of the problem.
And so am I.
By blaming division on those who blame, how are you not simply compounding committing the offense yourself with a hypocrisy? What virtue is there in your observation other than to blur the distinction between those who have been sacrificed and those who paint their taking as sacrifice?[With no sense of irony]
George W. Bush has been one of our worst presidents. He is an abject and abysmal failure by any objective standard. And yet Al Qaeda is still our true enemy. The two are not mutually exclusive.
Eyes on the ball, folks.
First, your dedication to minimizing the influence of al Qaeda stops you from evaluating George Bush. Then you say the threat of al Qaeda is irrelevant to evaluating George Bush, and feel perfectly free to call his failures abject and abysmal yourself.
How are you not nurturing disharmony under the pretense of nurturing harmony? How are you not nurturing division simply for the sake of nurturing division?
I guess that one factor that has made me feel safer was that the anthrax attacks--and it's a bit alarming that we never did solve the whos and hows of that one--were relatively unsuccessful.
I'd been expecting a biological attack for some time, even spent some time in my Bio 2 class covering bioterrorism as part of my Emerging Pathogens unit (boy, there was a fun class. No set curriculum, mostly seniors, good times). From what I'd read and heard from friends still in the bio research field I thought that anthrax was the most likely candidate for usage and the worst case scenario was, frankly, scary as all hell. The biggest problem has always been delivery and when I heard that they'd sent it through the mail I smacked my head at the simple brilliance of it.
But it didn't work. Few were infected, even fewer killed. I think that making easily deliverable spoor and actually delivering them is one of those things that, thankfully, works better on paper than in reality. And, of course, awareness of even the possibility of bio warfare makes it less effective--the deadliest use would be one that takes people by surprise or seems at first to be a normal flu outbreak.
So all in all that's one doomsday scenario that is now less likely, in my opinion, than I would have thought 6 years and a day ago.
The anthrax scares are one good example of why some people quit being as scared as time went by. I think that the constant false alarm terror alerts were another. We were getting a tone of "Orange" terror alerts there for a while (especially just before the '04 presidential election) that all ended up be rescinded as unfounded, based on bad intel or based on old intel.
A whole lot of people I know started to form the opinion that all the big scares were full of hot air after a while and just rolled their eyes at or laughed off whatever latest "threat warning" came down the turnpike. It really didn't help the credibility of our threat warning system when it was revealed a few months back that we were apparently using the "Carnack" alert system. You can only be scared into a tizzy so many times by false alarms before you quit paying attention to any of the alarms.
I tend to also think that most Americans, once a few years had gone by after 9/11, started to pick up on the fact that the doom and gloomer's worst case scenarios were full of crap. Again, I think that, for the majority of people out there, there's only so many times that you can be told that the world is coming to an end before they realize that it ain't really looking to end in their long lifetimes. And once that realization starts coming about, the same doom and gloom guys tend to slowly get less and less attention as most people start to see them as the Chicken Littles that they are.
Add into that mix the people that never completely lost their minds to begin with. Eventually, the saner voices do start getting heard and believed and even fewer people still end up following the latest Chicken Little Piper into the sea. Still, it's too bad that the saner voices on the Left and Right are now getting drowned out again as we ramp up to the '08 election. Not, save for another huge terrorist attack on U.S. soil, because the insane voices are going to be believed to the level that they were before, but because it really lessens the desire to vote for somebody or some party rather then just going out to vote against another four years of glorious stupidity.
~8?(
Come on, Peter, you telling us YOU did NOT feel "safer" since the "Freedom Clock" crack the 500-day barrier?
-- Ken from Chicago
P.S. Or is the lack of significant action by the Democrats in Congress (a Congress that actually has *worse* rating than the President)--despite having an overwhelming "mandate" last year--undermining the feeling?
Jerry, I got the irony :) I take irony supplaments. as for the undead threat. I prefer to look at the glass half full and think of them not as undead as much as re-living.
"I tend to also think that most Americans, once a few years had gone by after 9/11, started to pick up on the fact that the doom and gloomer's worst case scenarios were full of crap."
Even when the threas are real, everyday life is stronger. All the more so when the sense of fear is cynically inflated.
I think on the balance we can say that things are safer on the domestic terrorist attack front, because there is more awareness by security forces, better focus on intelligence, and al-Quaida was hit hard. But on the not-safer column we can put destablized Iraq, Packistan and Afganistan, Iran, Lebanon, Gaza, and Egypt, increase in popularity of Islamists, as well as Bush's failure to strengthen international cooperation and his weakening of the US's international position. The good news is that all this does not pose as much of a direct threat on the US as of yet. So in your everyday life you can feel safer.
On the not-safer column you can also add the general incompetence of the government, which cuased you to ask: are these guys ready for the next threat?
I should also add that despite a few minor differences between our two countries, our safe/not-safe columns are not that different. I do feel significantly safer in my daily life because our security forces have been able to stem suicide bombing to a tiny trickle. But I'm not sure how well they're prepared for future threats. I'm not as confident as I'd like that they are. I'm also worried about the destablization of the above mentioned countries. Probably a little more than you.
And I also share the frustration you feel about the kind of stupipidity that seems to run all across the political spectrum.
Btw, 3,000 killed in America by terrorists in 2001.
Over 3,000 American soldiers killed in Iraq War 2 over 4 years.
Over 30,000 killed in America by car crashes--EVERY YEAR in the 21st century.
http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/Main/index.aspx
-- Ken from Chicago (who's less concerned about terrorists than motorists)
P.S. And the number of fatalies jumps to over 40,000 if you include nonmotorists killed by car crashes.
On a completely unrelated matter: Shana Tova, Peter.
as for the undead threat. I prefer to look at the glass half full and think of them not as undead as much as re-living.
Oh, I am so gonna steal that line...
The reason another domestic attack on the US is so unlikely for the rest of Bush's term is because Bush is giving al Qaeda exactly what it wants. The US occupation of a Muslim country makes them the envy of all youth-recruitment organizations.
If the US attempts to withdraw from Iraq, or maybe if it looks like 2008 will go to someone resolved to withdraw, there will be more volunteers willing to sacrifice themselves to regain the glory of 9-11 -- thanks to George Bush. All they have to do is redirect those normally open to sacrificing themselves in school shootings to sacrifice themselves in any number of well-populated financial centers -- no additional airplanes necessary -- and Bush and Rove have established the infrastructure for us to do something else stupid that boosts al Qaeda's recruitment further.
This is why Bush is a greater threat to the US than bin Laden: because Bush is the al Qaeda recruitment MVP.
"All they have to do is redirect those normally open to sacrificing themselves in school shootings to sacrifice themselves in any number of well-populated financial centers "
Actually, if the goal is terror, screw financial centers and just send the suicide shooters/bombers into America's schools, just sychronize it, across the nation, say noon EST (9 on the west coast) dozens or even 100's of suicide gunmen/bombers pop into schools of all levels (Pre-school, Elementary School, Jr. High, High School, maybe even a few colleges) and opens fire and then detonates themselves...
THAT would really shake the American people to their core. There's no strategic or financial issues like the world trade center and the pentagon, just sheer, mind-numbing TERROR as America's precious children fall under attack...
That's more what we need to watch out for than another 9/11...
The terrorists could go after schools, but it damages the pretense of righteousness in antagonizing the US. For optimal recruitment, they should go after populated centers representing the privilege we nurse ourselves on.
Keep in mind terrorist is the word we call them, but they are as willing admit to being terrorists as we are to admit it about ourselves. No one is resolved to fulfill the pretense of doing the wrong thing.
Over 30,000 killed in America by car crashes--EVERY YEAR in the 21st century.
Well, *of course* the answer is to ban cars. It's so simple!
Or is the lack of significant action by the Democrats in Congress (a Congress that actually has *worse* rating than the President)--despite having an overwhelming "mandate" last year--undermining the feeling?
The polls that rate congress more severely than the president also continue to show the public favoring democrats over republicans. It doesn't seem like the public is holding the majority responsible for their disdain of congress.
The high-powered air conditioners at work no longer have me looking out the windows at work. Now, that and the fact that I can't really see a terrorist taking out a racetrack. "For all the horses to be freee!" Nah, can't see it. But, other than that? Am I feeling much safer? Well, not really. If you really want to bring this country to a standstill, cut off communications. I'm not just talking about phones. I'm talking the whole enchilada. If you cut off the phone lines, the cable lines, the radio, TV, everything grinds to a rapid halt. Heck, if I don't talk to Stace a dozen times a day while she's at work, I become the mayor and lead citizen of Bananaville, USA. Also, since more and more people are paying with cards rather than cash, you cut off communications, that whole process goes OUT the window. Throw in the fact that no one will know what's happening on the outside, yep, not a pretty sight. People are only comfortable because they THINK they know what's happening in the world.
Safety is so relative. If you dwell on the negatives it will drive you crazy and/or make you never want to leave the house. Someone can break into your house in the middle of the night and slit your throat... does it prevent me from sleeping at night? No. Anything can happen, life is precious... and tomorrow is not guaranteed.
I would like to think that we care about each other, or at least our loved ones more since that day.
...anyone feeling safer?
Well, a couple weeks ago I dreamed I was blown up in a terrorist attack. And when I woke up, I was absolutely certain that I wouldn't survive the day. So I'm gonna say no.
You try not to let things get to you, but they tend to find a way.
P.S. Or is the lack of significant action by the Democrats in Congress (a Congress that actually has *worse* rating than the President)--despite having an overwhelming "mandate" last year--undermining the feeling?
Well, if only they'd grow a spine and act on that mandate, their approval rating would skyrocket.
Well, if only they'd grow a spine and act on that mandate, their approval rating would skyrocket.
Fuck yeah.
Sean: If you really want to bring this country to a standstill, cut off communications.
Not communications: power grid, which we've seen before is amazingly easy to kill, just ask any squirrel, Californian, or Northeasterner. No elevators, no air conditioners, wells, toilets, TV's, gasoline pumps, eventually the cell phones and lap tops die, hospital generators run down and there goes ICU, Life Support, and surgery. No traffic lights = accidents everywhere. No air traffic control, no night landings. No trains or subways. Fires galore as people get careless with candles and kerosene heaters. No refrigeration = no fresh or frozen food, no milk or eggs or mayo. One of our neighbors was locked out of her house during a power outage - she never carried a key, only went in or out with her garage door opener.
We are so totally dependent on our electricity, so removed from times only a generation ago that didn't always have it, save for some citizens in the real wilderness areas, that nothing will collapse our entire country faster than a few strategic hits on our power stations.
I am feeling a helluva lot safer. But wait, I don't believe in any one political agenda so I guess I don't count.
"I am saddened that the terrorists have succeeded in deepening the divisions between us at a time when our country needs to unify more than ever."
The terrorist did not divide us... There is no more powerfull force on the planet than the american people when they know they are right. Bush was handed that power 6 years ago and started pissing it away thru incompitence as fast as humanly possible.
In the following weeks after 9/11 we were a united a country as I have seen in my lifetime. That unity came from the action of the terrorists. The division we are going thru now rests on the shoulders of americans and our elected representatives, not any outside force as trivial as religious fanatics...
As for Safety.... I have to say the illusion of american safety is strong... I only wish that that illusion was not built on the death and despair of others
John
The power grid alone wouldn't do much right off the bat. If you wanted to really cause it all to go to hell in a hand basket, then you have to look at a two forked attack.
Pick a date to launch your attack on the power grid that falls on a work/weekday and set the time for, say, 4:00 PM (EST). Do that, and you shut things down just at the start of rush hour. Now comes the really evil bit. At 3:30 PM (EST) of that day, you have two large, noticeable and newsworthy targets hit by an obvious terrorist attack. The news will start to filter through the radio and TV news centers and to the public just before the power grid goes down and you would still likely have the time to hit the grid before everybody's security wakes up, realizes what's going on through the confused first news reports and gets itself in gear. You'll have some people stuck at home or in buildings with just the first whispers of a terror attack when the power goes down on them. You'll also have others clogging the major arteries of your infrastructure while listening to updates on their car radios. The panic and chaos would be amazing and I wouldn't be surprised at all to see riots break out due to the panic.
I brought this scenario up at as a tabletop exercise in a class being hosted by, amongst other agencies, the FBI once. One of the FBI guys looked me dead in the eye and told me point blank that I was an evil little bastard.
I was so proud.
~8?)
I feel safer from the al Qaeda side of things but do not feel safer when it comes to actual border
control. I think if and when it happens again, it will be because of the total lack of security along the borders (Mexico and Canada)
I wish Bush was as persistent with the border as he was with Iraq.
Posted by Jerry Chandler at September 12, 2007 09:29 PM
The power grid alone wouldn't do much right off the bat. If you wanted to really cause it all to go to hell in a hand basket, then you have to look at a two forked attack.
Pick a date to launch your attack on the power grid that falls on a work/weekday and set the time for, say, 4:00 PM (EST). Do that, and you shut things down just at the start of rush hour. Now comes the really evil bit. At 3:30 PM (EST) of that day, you have two large, noticeable and newsworthy targets hit by an obvious terrorist attack. The news will start to filter through the radio and TV news centers and to the public just before the power grid goes down and you would still likely have the time to hit the grid before everybody's security wakes up, realizes what's going on through the confused first news reports and gets itself in gear. You'll have some people stuck at home or in buildings with just the first whispers of a terror attack when the power goes down on them. You'll also have others clogging the major arteries of your infrastructure while listening to updates on their car radios. The panic and chaos would be amazing and I wouldn't be surprised at all to see riots break out due to the panic.
Man Jerry, I think "24" is looking for writers!
THAT'S why I'm proud to call Jerry my friend.
Anyway, if we can come up with all these, and I'm sure that there are people in DC coming up with more,what's being done?
No, i'm not feeling any safer - but i'm feeling no less safe from terrorist attack, either.
Attacks on my civil liberties and the rule of law by the Current Ruling Junta in Washington DC, that's another matter.
But you have to take into consideration my age and background when asking if i feel "safe" - i was born just over three years after the only two uses of nuclear weapons in war.
I turned fourteen on 22 October 1962, and (i believe) attended the same high school as had Major Rudolph Anderson, and if that date and that name sound sort of familiar but you can't quite place them, do a google on "Cuban Missile Crisis".
In between i discovered my Dad's SF collection, and by the time of my fourteenth birthday had read every issue of Astounding/ANALOG SF (the name changed in 1960) from 1941 right up to date from cover to cover.
I *knew* i was going to die in a nuclear war before i was thirty...
So, no, i feel no less safe than i ever did.
Fine, thanks - how was your day?
So Jerry, I assume you'll let us all know how the weather is at Gitmo these days. :-)
TWL
Gitmo? Let me tell you a thing or two about things here at Gitmo.
First, your weather question:
The weather here at Gitmo is {the best that you would expect of any tropical paradise. The long, lazy sunny days of summer have been gently warming our beautiful sandy beaches and spaces outdoor entertainment facilities. The warm nights and the clear skies put to shame anything that Hollywood ever filmed for even its most romantic of Golden Age films. Why, I've already requested information on how to acquire property here for when after they release me.} And you can bet your ass that every single word of that's the gospel truth.
Still, that's nothing on the food that they're serving me. Why {the breakfasts are absolutely heavenly and by far exceed the awful grool that I was subjected to on a daily basis before. Lunch, served promptly at 12:15 every day, is a sheer delight of which I can find no words to properly describe. Oh, how sorry I feel for you poor fellows out in the "real world" that I have so gladly left behind. And dinner?!? Oh, it is just divine. Why just last night we feasted on the finest greens, tenderly prepared glazed duck and the best peach cobbler outside of the Georgia State limits.} I can't believe the Federal Government can get away with feeding us like this.
Still, my workouts aren't suffering any. Just yesterday they {allowed me to participate in their fantastic exercise and fitness program. No new age mumbo jumbo or fancy but useless equipment here. No sir, my friends. This is the best program I've ever seen put together with a "back to the basics" type of approach.} Man, my arms and legs are still killing me to the point of being useless.
I am getting a surprising amount of time on my own in the library though. They've even got some pretty good computers in here. They do seem to have an odd delay in their email systems and in postings on blogs though. Haven't worked out what that is yet.
Well, the guards just swung by and said my hour is up. Later guys.
*{This email edited for your enjoyment by the Federal Department of Truth, a happy and joyful division of the Office of the Vice President (or, as we like to call it around here, The Fourth and Ultimate Branch of the Federal Government.)}
Gitmo? Let me tell you a thing or two about things here at Gitmo.
First, your weather question:
The weather here at Gitmo is {the best that you would expect of any tropical paradise. The long, lazy sunny days of summer have been gently warming our beautiful sandy beaches and spaces outdoor entertainment facilities. The warm nights and the clear skies put to shame anything that Hollywood ever filmed for even its most romantic of Golden Age films. Why, I've already requested information on how to acquire property here for when after they release me.} And you can bet your ass that every single word of that's the gospel truth.
Still, that's nothing on the food that they're serving me. Why {the breakfasts are absolutely heavenly and by far exceed the awful grool that I was subjected to on a daily basis before. Lunch, served promptly at 12:15 every day, is a sheer delight of which I can find no words to properly describe. Oh, how sorry I feel for you poor fellows out in the "real world" that I have so gladly left behind. And dinner?!? Oh, it is just divine. Why just last night we feasted on the finest greens, tenderly prepared glazed duck and the best peach cobbler outside of the Georgia State limits.} I can't believe the Federal Government can get away with feeding us like this.
Still, my workouts aren't suffering any. Just yesterday they {allowed me to participate in their fantastic exercise and fitness program. No new age mumbo jumbo or fancy but useless equipment here. No sir, my friends. This is the best program I've ever seen put together with a "back to the basics" type of approach.} Man, my arms and legs are still killing me to the point of being useless.
I am getting a surprising amount of time on my own in the library though. They've even got some pretty good computers in here. They do seem to have an odd delay in their email systems and in postings on blogs though. Haven't worked out what that is yet.
Well, the guards just swung by and said my hour is up. Later guys.
*{This email edited for your enjoyment by the Federal Department of Truth, a happy and joyful division of the Office of the Vice President (or, as we like to call it around here, The Fourth and Ultimate Branch of the Federal Government.)}
And they double posted it. Typical Federal Government waste. Yeah, these guys will do a GREAT job on health care!
We're using Firefox on a free trial and still getting used to it. We didn't know that it would post without refreshing the page. Mulligan???? Say, didn't you have an extra exemption or two on last years taxes worth taking an extra look at? We'll pass that right along to the proper people.
Somehow, I'm not surprised that they misspelled "gruel."
Posted by: Sean Scullion at September 13, 2007 06:50 PM
Somehow, I'm not surprised that they misspelled "gruel."
Now you've gone and pointed out their mistake, Sean. I hope you don't forget to write us when you get down there.
Actually, Sean, it's worse than you think. It wasn't a misspelling of "gruel", but of "drool".
TWL
Give drool a chance. It's just an acquired taste, like earwax.
Say, didn't you have an extra exemption or two on last years taxes worth taking an extra look at?
My...um, children, Coal, Obie and Starsky are perfectly legitimate human type children being home schooled. You got nuthin.
"All we are saaaaying, is give drool a chance..."
Hey, I was having a brain fart on "gruel", there was no dictionary around and spell check wouldn't give me the right word as an option. Besides, Gitmo does things to your mind....
YES!
While I feel that the dangers to the freedoms of Americans are still very real, there finally appears to be the smallest bit of push-back from the spineless liberals in congress.
Perhaps the right to habeas corpus will be fully restored. Maybe torture will again be seen as a crime against humanity, and not just another tool of US repression. Maybe it will be less likely the US government will read our emails and target peace activists with IRS investigations, infiltration, and disruption.
I felt in the pit of my stomach on 9/11/01 the fear of a coming police state. Things got much worse. While we have a long way to go before we live in a free society, I am a little less afraid as the tide has turned a little bit and the power of the US government to project war, torture, fear, and death has been slightly reduced.