Now before you jump to conclusions, I have lived in Texas. For a couple of decades I was married to (and had in-laws that are proud of the fact they are) a Texan. I have been around and lived in Texas…from Amarillo to San Antonio.
Like so many southern states, their inability to realize that a)They are NOT the biggest state [Alaska], b)The greatest state [Pennsylvania], c)The richest state [New Jersey], d)The state of the Cowboy [Wyoming], etc. requires them to have slogans like “Don’t Mess With Texas” (like their southern counterparts that relive a war they lost and have slogans like “The South Will Rise Again”).
It’s things like this that make me wonder how we can, as Americans, wonder why we are so hated?
We have a man who admits he made a mistake and continues to move forward with his laughable protest action because “I would be like a total idiot if I didn’t.”
My thinking is he is an idiot for doing it, especially when it’s nonsensical (this would be like selling bagels next to a Catholic church).
And to help me in my hypothesis….one of the other local residents says it’s not mean spirited but “Texas-spirited” as if that somehow justifies the action.
What ever happened to simply admitting that you were wrong and trying to be a good neighbor?
Oops…I guess I’d better stop messing with Texas before I have people with Hondas at my door in Alaska.
During this holiday season I received MANY holiday cards and e-mails. Unfortunately because I’ve been so busy (as usual), I couldn’t send any out myself. So If I could, I’d like to use this as my Christmas Card to everyone who was kind enough to send one to me/I would sent one to….
“Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, our best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. We also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the generally accepted calendar year 2007, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere. And without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishes. By accepting these greetings you are accepting these terms. This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for herself or himself or others, and is void where prohibited by law and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.”
I decided to write this on this specific day and at this specific time (7:55am Hawaii Standard Time). This is the moment – 65 years ago – that bombs and torpedoes started falling on Pearl Harbor.
The attack on Pearl Harbor plunged a complacent United States into a true global war (affecting all continents except Antarctica – and thanks to now released historical records that may change).Soldiers and civilians were unwittingly attacked and a nation was spurned to action.
To this day WWII is considered the “greatest war of the greatest generation.”
The date that lives in infamy (which means that the date lives in a state of extreme dishonor)….
So after all of that why do I say we don’t need a WTC Memorial?Simple…
If we create a WTC memorial then we are now saying that we, as a nation, are complacent! Here’s why:
911 was not the first attack on the WTC by terrorists, on February 23rd, 1995 a 1,500-lb urea nitrate-fuel oil device exploded in the sub level parking area, killing six and injuring 1,042 people. It was intended to devastate the foundation of the North Tower, causing it to collapse onto its twin.
So that counts it out as the first attack of terror on US Soil as well as the first terrorist attack on us citizens (that would be the 1954 attack on Congress). It remains the largest loss of life but by no means the first OR the last. We’ve also had many attacks by “terrorists” and terrorist groups going back decades…most notably:
March 1, 1954 four Puerto Rican nationalists shot thirty rounds using automatic pistols from the Ladies’ Gallery (a balcony for visitors) of the U.S. House of Representatives into the floor of that chamber of the United States Capitol.
1970 – The first mass hijacking occurred in 1970, the so-called Dawson’s Field hijackings, when the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine seized control of two American planes and one Swiss airliner, all bound from Europe to the United States, to punish the United States for supporting Israel. The Pan Am, TWA and Swissair planes were blown up on the ground in Jordan and Egypt.
Jan. 24th, 1975 the Puerto Rican nationalist group the FALN, bombs Fraunces Tavern in New York City killing four and injuring more than 50.
December 23rd, 1975 CIA’s Athens station chief Richard Welch was assassinated by the Greek terrorist group, Revolutionary Organization 17 November.
April 18th, 1983 the well publicized suicide bombing of the United States Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon that killed 17 Americans.
October 23rd, 1983 another car bomb exploded at the Marine Barracks in Lebanon killing 220 Marines, 18 Navy personnel and 3 Army soldiers. Sixty Americans were also injured in that blast.
November 7th, 1983 the Armed Resistance Unit bombs the U.S. Capitol in response to the U.S. invasion of Grenada.
September 20, 1984 another car bomb exploded in front of the U.S. Embassy annex in Awkar, Lebanon, killing two Americans.
June 14, 1985 TWA Flight 847 is hijacked by Organization for the Oppressed of the Earth, a group with alleged links to Hezbollah. A U.S. Navy diver, Robert Stethem, was killed in the month long hijacking.
On October 7, 1985 four men representing the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF) hijacked of the Achille Lauro where a wheel-chair bound American (Leon Klinghoffer) was killed by the terrorists because he was Jewish.
April 2nd, 1986 four Americans (including a nine-month-old infant) were killed when a bomb exploded aboard TWA Flight 840 as it traveled from Rome to Athens.
April 6th 1986 a Berlin discotheque bombing killed two U.S. servicemen and injured over 50 American servicemen.
December 18th, 1987 a car bomb exploded outside the back gate of the U.S. Embassy in Rome and rockets were fired at the compound from across the street killing five Americans.
April 14th, 1988 a car bomb exploded in front of the USO Club in Naples, Italy. Four U.S. servicemen were injured and a US Navy Petty Officer ,Angela Santos, was killed.
December 21st, 1988 Pan Am Flight 103, outbound from London for New York with 259 people aboard, exploded in flight from a terrorist bomb and crashed into the Scottish village of Lockerbie, killing all 259 aboard and 11 on the ground. Passengers included 35 Syracuse University students and several U.S. military servicemen and women.
January 25th, 1993 an early morning attack at CIA Headquarters in McLean, VA leave two Killed and three injured.
March 8, 1995 two US Diplomats are killed in Pakistan.
April 19th, 1995 A car bomb exploded outside federal office building in Oklahoma City, collapsing the outer wall and floors. 168 people were killed, including 19 children and 1 person who died in rescue effort. Over 220 buildings sustained damage. Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols later convicted in the anti government plot to avenge the Branch Davidian standoff in Waco, Tex., exactly 2 years earlier.
November 13th 1995 a car bomb exploded at U.S. military headquarters in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia killing 5 U.S. servicemen.
June 25th, 1996 saw the bombing of the Khobar Towers leaving 19 American servicemen dead.
August 7th 1998 US embassy bombings. U.S. Kenya Embassy and the U.S. Tanzania Embassy where a total of 22 Americans were killed during the simultaneous attacks.
The USS Cole was attacked on 12 October 2000 from a small boat by suicide bombers, while she was harbored in the Yemeni port of Aden. Seventeen sailors were killed and 39 were injured.
I know what your question is now…how do we honor all of these men and women who have been killed?
Easy…we move forward.
Like children who want attention, terrorists have learned that attention – even if it is BAD is attention! We need to pickup the pieces and move on.
I know it’s hard, I’ve faced death and seen the horrors of war and terror…but as long as we jump, cry, scream, and lash out when our noses get bloodied America will continue to be ATTACKED!
America should immediately build new towers recreate the WTC and invite business back to lower Manhattan (pick ourselves up, brush ourselves off and flip them the bird). Instead we a 5th year group hug anniversary week long “Were you affected too?” (and rebroadcasting the entire disaster again) specials on TV.
We’re told that New Yorkers are still reeling over the attack and if that is true then I’m glad I’m no longer a New Yorker as I remember the city that I grew up in being tough.
Let’s face it, the terrorists have won. Our nation is NOT SAFER and we have stripped Liberty to the point that she can be called a rape victim – and sending soldiers over there definitely hasn’t worked (and we should have known this as a nation founded on fighting a standing occupying army with guerrilla tactics and homeland advantage).
So with all that being said, if a WTC memorial is created then we should have several memorials for all attacks.
Do we need a terrorism memorial…sure [shrug]…if we think we do, but we already have one…we just need to move it.
The Oklahoma National Memorial should be moved to DC and a national terrorist victim memorial is created.
However, before create ANY terrorist victim memorial…we need one to honor those who fought and died for the freedoms that we have been attacked for ever since…
December 1st is World AIDS Day. Established by the World Health Organization in 1988, World AIDS Day serves to focus global attention on the devastating impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Observance of this day provides an opportunity for governments, national AIDS programs, churches, community organizations and individuals to demonstrate the importance of the fight against HIV/AIDS. With an estimated 38.6 million people worldwide living with HIV at the end of 2005, and more than 25 million people having died of AIDS since 1981, December 1st serves to remind everyone that action makes a difference in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
Everyone should be reminded that HIV/AIDS does not discriminate. With an estimated 1,039,000 to 1,185,000 HIV- positive individuals living in the U.S., and approximately 40,000 new infections occurring every year, the U.S., like other nations around the world is deeply affected by HIV/AIDS.
Please also visit AIDS.govlaunched on World AIDS Day, December 1, 2006. AIDS.gov is the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Internet portal that will provide users easy access to information on Federal HIV/AIDS prevention, testing, treatment, and research programs, policies, and resources.
You may also visit www.worldaidsday.org to find out about World AIDS Day 2006 Events. To view the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), please visit www.pepfar.gov. For international events, go to www.worldaidscampaign.info.
Come out & see the planes fly tomorrow at Arctic Thunder. Do this in honor of the lost crew. We will be honoring them...you should too. http://twitter.com/hogbiker16 mins ago
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December 1st is World AIDS Day. Established by the World Health Organization in 1988, World AIDS Day serves to focus global attention on the devastating impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Observance of this day provides an opportunity for governments, national AIDS programs, churches, community organizations and individuals to demonstrate the importance of the fight against HIV/AIDS. With an estimated 38.6 million people worldwide living with HIV at the end of 2005, and more than 25 million people having died of AIDS since 1981, December 1st serves to remind everyone that action makes a difference in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
