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Welcome to the archived messages from In The 00s. This archive stretches back to 1998 in some instances, and contains a nearly complete record of all the messages posted to inthe00s.com. You will also find an archive of the messages from inthe70s.com, inthe80s.com, inthe90s.com and amiright.com before they were combined to form the inthe00s.com messageboard.

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Subject: 9/11, years later.

Written By: JamieMcBain on 09/11/10 at 7:01 pm

Where you when you first heard about the invents that took place? 

Off hand, I remember turning on the TV, and it was the first thing I saw on the TV screen, and the news report that followed.

Today, I still find the images, haunting and devastating.

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: joeman on 09/11/10 at 7:03 pm

I remember 9/11 very well.  I still can't believe it is almost 10 years since it happened.  Society changed so much since then.

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: lorac61469 on 09/11/10 at 7:14 pm

My daughter had her 9 month check-up that morning so I didn't follow my usual routine of drinking coffee and watching TV.  I was at the Dr's office and didn't hear about it until after the second building was hit.  I remember rushing home so I could try to call my parents and my sister, since they live in NY and my dad and brother-in-law work in the City. 

I will never ever forget that day.  :(

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: gibbo on 09/11/10 at 8:21 pm

In Australia...I remember waking up and  coming out to have breakfast as usual...flicked on the tv for some news. I couldn't believe what I was seeing...live from NY.... one of the twin towers was on fire...and while I was watching the other suddenly burst into flame as well. I stayed glued to those images for quite a while ... and then they fell down!  I went in to work late that day...and that's all the people talked about all day long.

What an awful moment in history...

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: ladybug316 on 09/11/10 at 9:11 pm

Living in NY as I do, I can honestly say that day felt like the world was going to end - what was going to happen next?  Not knowing where the people you love were.  Everyone I know, knows someone who was killed that day - what a heartbreak  :\'(

Those buildings were my landmark downtown if I ever got spun around in the wrong direction.  I had worked in 8 World Trade years before and it's still unfathomable that it isn't there! 

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: gmann on 09/11/10 at 10:44 pm

I was still asleep at the time of the attacks, but my slumber was interrupted by the phone ringing off the hook. My father was on the other end, advising me to turn on the television and saying "they've bombed the World Trade Center." I remember thinking, "again?", recalling the 1993 bombing. I was glued to my tv for the rest of the morning, in disbelief. The stream of information that flowed into my living room that day gave me the feeling that events halfway across the country were rapidly spinning out of control, and made me wonder what could possibly happen next. Later in the day, I found out that Flight 93 had flown within a few miles of my hometown before turning around and crashing in Pennsylvania.  It was a chilling revelation.

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: MaxwellSmart on 09/11/10 at 11:08 pm

I emailed an epistle called "September 11th, 2001, another date that will live in infamy!"

All my old man could muster up was it was Gary Condit's lucky day!  My friend Sam said, "I never liked those buildings anyway, they ruined the skyline!"
:-\\

My sister was scared they might target somewhere near where she lived.  I said, "If they start setting Shutesbury on fire, we're ALL neckdeep in a sh*tload of trouble!"  She was not reassured.  Anyway, my nieces were still very little back then, so she was more apt to worry. 
:(

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/12/10 at 7:29 am

I watched the events of that day live on tv in a state of shock, I was saddened at what I saw, and will remain in my memories for the rest of my life.

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: Frank on 09/12/10 at 9:43 am


I watched the events of that day live on tv in a state of shock, I was saddened at what I saw, and will remain in my memories for the rest of my life.

I can say the same.

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: AL-B Mk. III on 09/12/10 at 9:59 am

I had a route going from Council Bluffs to Fort Dodge, Iowa, and I was just getting ready to leave out when I heard on the radio that the second tower was hit, and instantly I knew just like everyone else that this was no accident. I figured that I still had a job to do so I continued on my route and listened to all the events unfold while I was on my way to Fort Dodge.

To be honest I thought that this very well could be the start of Armageddon and I was trying to mentally prepare myself for anything, including even the possibility of nuclear war.

When I got to the plant in Fort Dodge they didn't have a TV in the drivers waiting area, so I didn't actually see any video of the attacks until I got home about 9:00 that night.

Truly one of the darkest days in American history.  :(

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: Don Carlos on 09/12/10 at 11:28 am

I walked into my 9 am class just after the  first plane hit.  The TV in the room was on, but there was no detail.  I thought it was probably a small plane and an accident, so turned off the TV and  started class, so we missed the second plane.  After class we turned the TV on again and realized the enormity of what had happened.  It felt just like the day Kennedy was shot, only worse.

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: CatwomanofV on 09/12/10 at 12:57 pm

Carlos' youngest daughter (who was a teenager at the time) was visiting with us. We were in the kitchen. I handed her an article from the paper that I wanted her to read (mainly so she could have some practice reading) when the phone rang. It was the woman who I worked with at the place I was volunteering at the time. She told me about it and then she said, "Can I come over?" I hung up the phone and said to my step-daughter, "Come on, sh!t is happening." And we went into the living room and turned on the t.v. My friend came over and the 3 of us sat there ALL day. At lunch time, the two of them went to get a pizza and I stayed there watching. We made some phone calls (or tried to). I called my mother to tell her about it (she didn't know). I tried to call my dad who lives in D.C. but couldn't get through. My step-daughter tried to call her brother who lived in D.C. at the time but she couldn't get through either. It wasn't until that evening when we were able to get through to Carlos' son and we had him call my dad to tell him to call me because I still wasn't able to get through and I just wanted to talk to him just to make sure.

The next day, I remember my friend said, "Today is just like any other day except that it isn't." She was so right.



Cat

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: Macphisto on 09/12/10 at 3:01 pm

My roommate woke me up in time to watch the second plane hit the towers live on TV.

Needless to say, when he first woke me up to "Hey, come in here, you've gotta watch this", I was pissed at him because I thought he was just messing with me.  Unfortunately, he wasn't...

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: Paul on 09/12/10 at 4:58 pm

It was just after lunch here when we heard the news...

I remember someone piping up that a 'rogue plane' was about to target London, which turned out to be false, but for a while there was a planned mass evacuation of certain areas of the capital...

(If anyone's familiar with London, you'll know that getting from one place to another is nothing short of impossible at the best of times, so quite how an incoming terror threat would have made evacuation any easier is anyone's guess!)

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: ADH13 on 09/12/10 at 5:26 pm




I had just gotten to work when one of my co-workers said "We got bombed this morning", at that point they still thought it was a bomb and not a plane.  I turned on the radio immediately and listened all day, and watched it on TV for most of the night.

I was numb all day.

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: MaxwellSmart on 09/13/10 at 12:15 am

I thought of what people endured in the London Blitz or the firebombing of Dresden.  I thought of the terror millions experience every day.  I thought we're getting a taste of it and we don't like it!
http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/07/nervous.gif

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: MrCleveland on 09/13/10 at 12:15 pm

It was my Grandparents 53rd Anniversary and my mom said "I just couldn't believe that we'd be celebrating your anniversary on a dark day"...or something like that. :-\\

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: Howard on 09/08/11 at 6:54 am

This Sunday will make it 10 years since The World Trade Center collapsed,Where were you 10 years ago?

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/08/11 at 7:00 am


This Sunday will make it 10 years since The World Trade Center collapsed,Where were you 10 years ago?
10 years ago, I was glued to the television screen transfixed to the events that was being unraveled in New York, at the Pentagon and crashed plane in Pennsylvania.

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: Howard on 09/08/11 at 7:16 am


10 years ago, I was glued to the television screen transfixed to the events that was being unraveled in New York, at the Pentagon and crashed plane in Pennsylvania.


I was in a vocational program called CGS in Manhattan till one of the teachers had told us that the Twin Towers collapsed and boy that day was so crazy it was just out of control all day and all night. :o

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: karen on 09/08/11 at 8:31 am

I was in work and clearly didn't go near a computer that day! I didn't know anything about it until early evening.  My dad's birthday is on 11th September so I went round to see my dad on my way home from work. 

They said that they had put the tv on after lunch to watch a soap.  During the adverts the show cut to a live report from NY just after the first tower was hit.  Whilst they were watching the report the second tower was hit and they sat there the rest of the day watching the news unfold.  If it hadn't been my dad's birthday I probably wouldn't have known anything till the next day.  I rarely watched the news when Dai was away.

Elizabeth was nearly 3 years old and I was about 5 months pregnant with James.  Dai was in Paris at a meeting, he was with a bunch of Americans (I think from Boeing).  When they cancelled all flights for a couple of days I was panicking about when he would get home. 

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: MaxwellSmart on 09/08/11 at 10:02 am

The 9/11 Truthers are still squawking about conspiracies. 

Yeah, I think there were conspiracies involved, but brother, what do you want I should do about it? 
::)

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: Don Carlos on 09/08/11 at 10:23 am

I was at work.  I went to my 9:30 class and the students had the TV on after the first hit.  There were few details but I though it  was probably just a small plane and an accident, so I turned off the TV and taught the class, so we missed the second hit. Later I found out my mistake.

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: Tia on 09/08/11 at 11:21 am

rant  :(

i'm gonna go ahead and be the jerk: i think we need to stop navel-gazing about 9/11. we lost all right to feel sorry for ourselves after we used it to inflict ten times as much tragedy on a country that had nothing to do with it, and we allowed the government to take our freedom away using it as an excuse. anyone who lost someone close on that day gets a pass, of course. anyone who saw it unfold in front of them instead of on TV can talk as much as they like about how it affected them. the first-responders the government lied to who are now dying of illnesses they contracted trying to save people and clean up can talk about it as much as they like. but the rest of us should just... stop.

i lived just a couple miles from the pentagon and it freaked me out, sure, but i got through it fine. and the more we pretend we're all victims of 9/11 when we weren't, the more the powers-that-be are going to keep using the incident to propagandize us and keep taking our freedom and the freedom of people around the world away. the establishment has a long history of using anniversaries of tragedies to reinforce standard narratives of those tragedies and this will be no different. will there be a retrospective about what iraq was like on 9/11, before we chose to ravage that country with another needless war? will there be a retrospective about the day before 9/11 in america when you could go into the smithsonian without walking through a checkpoint, you could get on a plane without being peeped at or groped, when the idea our government would systematically commit torture was unthinkable? when it was hard to imagine an america that would throw people in prisons for years without charging them with any crime?

maybe CNN or someone will surprise me and air a special on that, but i doubt it. instead it's going to be more breathless commentary about how scary that day was, and how we were all there. guess what. we weren't. if you only saw it on TV, and i include myself in this, it didn't really affect you, and you should stop pretending it did. not because it's bad to do that, but because your own government is using that fear against you.

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: karen on 09/08/11 at 12:48 pm

http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/12/hello2.gif

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: Jessica on 09/08/11 at 1:33 pm


rant  :(

i'm gonna go ahead and be the jerk: i think we need to stop navel-gazing about 9/11. we lost all right to feel sorry for ourselves after we used it to inflict ten times as much tragedy on a country that had nothing to do with it, and we allowed the government to take our freedom away using it as an excuse. anyone who lost someone close on that day gets a pass, of course. anyone who saw it unfold in front of them instead of on TV can talk as much as they like about how it affected them. the first-responders the government lied to who are now dying of illnesses they contracted trying to save people and clean up can talk about it as much as they like. but the rest of us should just... stop.

i lived just a couple miles from the pentagon and it freaked me out, sure, but i got through it fine. and the more we pretend we're all victims of 9/11 when we weren't, the more the powers-that-be are going to keep using the incident to propagandize us and keep taking our freedom and the freedom of people around the world away. the establishment has a long history of using anniversaries of tragedies to reinforce standard narratives of those tragedies and this will be no different. will there be a retrospective about what iraq was like on 9/11, before we chose to ravage that country with another needless war? will there be a retrospective about the day before 9/11 in america when you could go into the smithsonian without walking through a checkpoint, you could get on a plane without being peeped at or groped, when the idea our government would systematically commit torture was unthinkable? when it was hard to imagine an america that would throw people in prisons for years without charging them with any crime?

maybe CNN or someone will surprise me and air a special on that, but i doubt it. instead it's going to be more breathless commentary about how scary that day was, and how we were all there. guess what. we weren't. if you only saw it on TV, and i include myself in this, it didn't really affect you, and you should stop pretending it did. not because it's bad to do that, but because your own government is using that fear against you.


I wish I could hug you for this.

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: Howard on 09/08/11 at 1:50 pm

Who remembers what happened the day before,Did you think anything that the next day something bad was going to happen? ???

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: MrCleveland on 09/08/11 at 2:41 pm


rant  :(

i'm gonna go ahead and be the jerk: i think we need to stop navel-gazing about 9/11. we lost all right to feel sorry for ourselves after we used it to inflict ten times as much tragedy on a country that had nothing to do with it, and we allowed the government to take our freedom away using it as an excuse. anyone who lost someone close on that day gets a pass, of course. anyone who saw it unfold in front of them instead of on TV can talk as much as they like about how it affected them. the first-responders the government lied to who are now dying of illnesses they contracted trying to save people and clean up can talk about it as much as they like. but the rest of us should just... stop.

i lived just a couple miles from the pentagon and it freaked me out, sure, but i got through it fine. and the more we pretend we're all victims of 9/11 when we weren't, the more the powers-that-be are going to keep using the incident to propagandize us and keep taking our freedom and the freedom of people around the world away. the establishment has a long history of using anniversaries of tragedies to reinforce standard narratives of those tragedies and this will be no different. will there be a retrospective about what iraq was like on 9/11, before we chose to ravage that country with another needless war? will there be a retrospective about the day before 9/11 in america when you could go into the smithsonian without walking through a checkpoint, you could get on a plane without being peeped at or groped, when the idea our government would systematically commit torture was unthinkable? when it was hard to imagine an america that would throw people in prisons for years without charging them with any crime?

maybe CNN or someone will surprise me and air a special on that, but i doubt it. instead it's going to be more breathless commentary about how scary that day was, and how we were all there. guess what. we weren't. if you only saw it on TV, and i include myself in this, it didn't really affect you, and you should stop pretending it did. not because it's bad to do that, but because your own government is using that fear against you.


To think...BOTH Sides are giving us that "Big Brother" Fear now...

I, myself will go to a 9/11 Service at my church, but it seems we just went on with our lives.

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: 80sfan on 09/08/11 at 2:45 pm


This Sunday will make it 10 years since The World Trade Center collapsed,Where were you 10 years ago?


Wow.  :o

I was only a little kid when it happened, I was 12! I'm 22 now. How different I feel from those days of the early 00s!

My family and I have moved to a new house since then.

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: CatwomanofV on 09/08/11 at 3:25 pm


rant  :(

i'm gonna go ahead and be the jerk: i think we need to stop navel-gazing about 9/11. we lost all right to feel sorry for ourselves after we used it to inflict ten times as much tragedy on a country that had nothing to do with it, and we allowed the government to take our freedom away using it as an excuse. anyone who lost someone close on that day gets a pass, of course. anyone who saw it unfold in front of them instead of on TV can talk as much as they like about how it affected them. the first-responders the government lied to who are now dying of illnesses they contracted trying to save people and clean up can talk about it as much as they like. but the rest of us should just... stop.

i lived just a couple miles from the pentagon and it freaked me out, sure, but i got through it fine. and the more we pretend we're all victims of 9/11 when we weren't, the more the powers-that-be are going to keep using the incident to propagandize us and keep taking our freedom and the freedom of people around the world away. the establishment has a long history of using anniversaries of tragedies to reinforce standard narratives of those tragedies and this will be no different. will there be a retrospective about what iraq was like on 9/11, before we chose to ravage that country with another needless war? will there be a retrospective about the day before 9/11 in america when you could go into the smithsonian without walking through a checkpoint, you could get on a plane without being peeped at or groped, when the idea our government would systematically commit torture was unthinkable? when it was hard to imagine an america that would throw people in prisons for years without charging them with any crime?

maybe CNN or someone will surprise me and air a special on that, but i doubt it. instead it's going to be more breathless commentary about how scary that day was, and how we were all there. guess what. we weren't. if you only saw it on TV, and i include myself in this, it didn't really affect you, and you should stop pretending it did. not because it's bad to do that, but because your own government is using that fear against you.



Sorry, you can't repeat a karma action without waiting 24 hours.


BTW, Rachal Maddow & MSNBC did a documentary on just that.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44292512/#44380712



Cat

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: King Tut on 09/08/11 at 3:33 pm


Who remembers what happened the day before,Did you think anything that the next day something bad was going to happen? ???

No one did, Howard.


rant  :(

i'm gonna go ahead and be the jerk: i think we need to stop navel-gazing about 9/11. we lost all right to feel sorry for ourselves after we used it to inflict ten times as much tragedy on a country that had nothing to do with it, and we allowed the government to take our freedom away using it as an excuse. anyone who lost someone close on that day gets a pass, of course. anyone who saw it unfold in front of them instead of on TV can talk as much as they like about how it affected them. the first-responders the government lied to who are now dying of illnesses they contracted trying to save people and clean up can talk about it as much as they like. but the rest of us should just... stop.

i lived just a couple miles from the pentagon and it freaked me out, sure, but i got through it fine. and the more we pretend we're all victims of 9/11 when we weren't, the more the powers-that-be are going to keep using the incident to propagandize us and keep taking our freedom and the freedom of people around the world away. the establishment has a long history of using anniversaries of tragedies to reinforce standard narratives of those tragedies and this will be no different. will there be a retrospective about what iraq was like on 9/11, before we chose to ravage that country with another needless war? will there be a retrospective about the day before 9/11 in america when you could go into the smithsonian without walking through a checkpoint, you could get on a plane without being peeped at or groped, when the idea our government would systematically commit torture was unthinkable? when it was hard to imagine an america that would throw people in prisons for years without charging them with any crime?

maybe CNN or someone will surprise me and air a special on that, but i doubt it. instead it's going to be more breathless commentary about how scary that day was, and how we were all there. guess what. we weren't. if you only saw it on TV, and i include myself in this, it didn't really affect you, and you should stop pretending it did. not because it's bad to do that, but because your own government is using that fear against you.

Tia, very well written.

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: MaxwellSmart on 09/08/11 at 6:00 pm


rant  :(

i'm gonna go ahead and be the jerk: i think we need to stop navel-gazing about 9/11. we lost all right to feel sorry for ourselves after we used it to inflict ten times as much tragedy on a country that had nothing to do with it, and we allowed the government to take our freedom away using it as an excuse. anyone who lost someone close on that day gets a pass, of course. anyone who saw it unfold in front of them instead of on TV can talk as much as they like about how it affected them. the first-responders the government lied to who are now dying of illnesses they contracted trying to save people and clean up can talk about it as much as they like. but the rest of us should just... stop.

i lived just a couple miles from the pentagon and it freaked me out, sure, but i got through it fine. and the more we pretend we're all victims of 9/11 when we weren't, the more the powers-that-be are going to keep using the incident to propagandize us and keep taking our freedom and the freedom of people around the world away. the establishment has a long history of using anniversaries of tragedies to reinforce standard narratives of those tragedies and this will be no different. will there be a retrospective about what iraq was like on 9/11, before we chose to ravage that country with another needless war? will there be a retrospective about the day before 9/11 in america when you could go into the smithsonian without walking through a checkpoint, you could get on a plane without being peeped at or groped, when the idea our government would systematically commit torture was unthinkable? when it was hard to imagine an america that would throw people in prisons for years without charging them with any crime?

maybe CNN or someone will surprise me and air a special on that, but i doubt it. instead it's going to be more breathless commentary about how scary that day was, and how we were all there. guess what. we weren't. if you only saw it on TV, and i include myself in this, it didn't really affect you, and you should stop pretending it did. not because it's bad to do that, but because your own government is using that fear against you.


Sorry, you can't repeat a karma action without waiting 24 hours.


http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/15/usa2.gif

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: Bobby on 09/08/11 at 6:41 pm


rant  :(

i'm gonna go ahead and be the jerk: i think we need to stop navel-gazing about 9/11. we lost all right to feel sorry for ourselves after we used it to inflict ten times as much tragedy on a country that had nothing to do with it, and we allowed the government to take our freedom away using it as an excuse. anyone who lost someone close on that day gets a pass, of course. anyone who saw it unfold in front of them instead of on TV can talk as much as they like about how it affected them. the first-responders the government lied to who are now dying of illnesses they contracted trying to save people and clean up can talk about it as much as they like. but the rest of us should just... stop.

i lived just a couple miles from the pentagon and it freaked me out, sure, but i got through it fine. and the more we pretend we're all victims of 9/11 when we weren't, the more the powers-that-be are going to keep using the incident to propagandize us and keep taking our freedom and the freedom of people around the world away. the establishment has a long history of using anniversaries of tragedies to reinforce standard narratives of those tragedies and this will be no different. will there be a retrospective about what iraq was like on 9/11, before we chose to ravage that country with another needless war? will there be a retrospective about the day before 9/11 in america when you could go into the smithsonian without walking through a checkpoint, you could get on a plane without being peeped at or groped, when the idea our government would systematically commit torture was unthinkable? when it was hard to imagine an america that would throw people in prisons for years without charging them with any crime?

maybe CNN or someone will surprise me and air a special on that, but i doubt it. instead it's going to be more breathless commentary about how scary that day was, and how we were all there. guess what. we weren't. if you only saw it on TV, and i include myself in this, it didn't really affect you, and you should stop pretending it did. not because it's bad to do that, but because your own government is using that fear against you.


Wholeheartedly agree and karma'd you for this...

Maybe, my lack of emotional attachment is because I am from the UK but terrorism sadly is an unnacceptable fact of life for many countries. I always say that the strength of a person or unit is based on how often it can pick itself up not how long it stays up before it gets knocked down. As horrible as 9/11 was, the USA needs to look forward to a brighter future not dwell on the day it got sucker-punched.

I remember watching a TV programme at Easter time based on a woman who forgave the terrorists for killing her husband at 9/11. I found it encouraging that someone could have that mental/emotional strength to accept and move forward rather than crumble and fall apart. It is this strength and optimism that makes me an Americaphile (if such a word exists).

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: Brian06 on 09/08/11 at 7:38 pm

Yeah it's been 10 years which is pretty crazy, but it's also a big watermark that really signals that it's time for us as a nation to move beyond 9/11. We can't spend the rest of the 21st century dwelling on 9/11 and living in fear of terrorism. I was in school and found out as my 2nd period American History class ended, I remember this was right before the Pentagon was hit and people were saying the White House or Congress could be next. Our nation was under attack on our own soil, this was like surreal and it was hard to believe this was really happening. I remember when the buildings collapsed, there was just silence and tears in class. I remember the rest of that week was all 9/11 coverage on tv, all shows and sports games were shut down until the next week. The scarier thing is when you look back at how people followed Bush in the aftermath until like 2003 or so and the attitudes that persisted, there were several anti-muslim incidents of violence too I recall one guy driving into a mosque around here. Bush had around a 90% approval rating in late '01, the guy could practically do anything he wanted and he did when they rushed through the Patriot Act and the wars. I'm not a truther, I don't really believe the US government had a hand in 9/11 but what makes me sick is I know they used the event for political purposes and STILL use it to this day. Anytime I see that SOB Bush on TV with his smirk and fake sympathy it makes me freaking sick.  8-P

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: Howard on 09/09/11 at 7:02 am


Wow.  :o

I was only a little kid when it happened, I was 12! I'm 22 now. How different I feel from those days of the early 00s!

My family and I have moved to a new house since then.


I attended a program for mentally retarded people at that time and it was in the city but it was far away from The WTC, W.23rd street where I was.

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: Foo Bar on 09/10/11 at 1:48 am


rant  :(

i'm gonna go ahead and be the jerk: i think we need to stop navel-gazing about 9/11.


Good rant, but I'm gonna be an even bigger jerk and crack open the door that hides my inner Bill Hicks.

Q: What's the difference between 9/11 and a cow?
A: After ten years, you stop milking the cow.

3000 dead and a couple of billion in real estate was bad.  The trillions of dollars in economic damage, the implementation of a surveillance state that rendered every Yakov Smirnov joke redundant, the fact that your kids will grow up in an age in which nobody but a TSA agent is permitted to fondle their genitals without their consent, and an entire country divided into teams labeled "Herp" and "Derp" who increasingly cheer for their respective political puppets, not like American football fans who enjoy the sport, but like the sort of European football fans who are out for blood.

And the fracking punchline?


I tell you, freedom and human rights in America are doomed. The US Government will lead the American people - and the West in general - into an unbearable hell and a choking life.


- http://archives.cnn.com/2002/US/01/31/gen.binladen.interview/index.html

He told us in November of 2001 what he hoped we'd do.  Beyond knocking over a few buildings, OBL knew couldn't actually destroy America.  Only we could do that.  We did everything he asked us to do, and more.  

Q: What's the difference between the authorities and the terrorists?
A1: The authorities are more capable of harming you than they were ten years ago.
A2: I'm actually frightened of the authorities.

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: Howard on 09/10/11 at 6:50 am

http://icons-ak.wunderground.com/data/wximagenew/m/MidWestChaser/2.jpg

Let Us Not Forget September 10th,2001

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: Tia on 09/10/11 at 9:09 am


Good rant, but I'm gonna be an even bigger jerk and crack open the door that hides my inner Bill Hicks.

Q: What's the difference between 9/11 and a cow?
A: After ten years, you stop milking the cow.

3000 dead and a couple of billion in real estate was bad.  The trillions of dollars in economic damage, the implementation of a surveillance state that rendered every Yakov Smirnov joke redundant, the fact that your kids will grow up in an age in which nobody but a TSA agent is permitted to fondle their genitals without their consent, and an entire country divided into teams labeled "Herp" and "Derp" who increasingly cheer for their respective political puppets, not like American football fans who enjoy the sport, but like the sort of European football fans who are out for blood.

And the fracking punchline?

- http://archives.cnn.com/2002/US/01/31/gen.binladen.interview/index.html

He told us in November of 2001 what he hoped we'd do.  Beyond knocking over a few buildings, OBL knew couldn't actually destroy America.  Only we could do that.  We did everything he asked us to do, and more.  

Q: What's the difference between the authorities and the terrorists?
A1: The authorities are more capable of harming you than they were ten years ago.
A2: I'm actually frightened of the authorities.
well said, brutha. i thought i was cutting loose but turns out i was holding back.  ;D the part about playing into OBL's hands in terms of bankrupting ourselves and giving away our liberties is the part that galls me the most. then again, i don't think the gubmint minds. governments in general just seem to like to keep their populations under their thumb, and what a golden excuse 9/11 was. and in terms of bankrupting ourselves, well, all that money's gotta be going somewhere, and i have a feeling there aren't too many degrees of separation between the folks getting that cash and the folks pushing this 9/11 hysteria on us.

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: King Tut on 09/10/11 at 12:48 pm


Good rant, but I'm gonna be an even bigger jerk and crack open the door that hides my inner Bill Hicks.

Q: What's the difference between 9/11 and a cow?
A: After ten years, you stop milking the cow.

3000 dead and a couple of billion in real estate was bad.  The trillions of dollars in economic damage, the implementation of a surveillance state that rendered every Yakov Smirnov joke redundant, the fact that your kids will grow up in an age in which nobody but a TSA agent is permitted to fondle their genitals without their consent, and an entire country divided into teams labeled "Herp" and "Derp" who increasingly cheer for their respective political puppets, not like American football fans who enjoy the sport, but like the sort of European football fans who are out for blood.

And the fracking punchline?

- http://archives.cnn.com/2002/US/01/31/gen.binladen.interview/index.html

He told us in November of 2001 what he hoped we'd do.  Beyond knocking over a few buildings, OBL knew couldn't actually destroy America.  Only we could do that.  We did everything he asked us to do, and more.  

Q: What's the difference between the authorities and the terrorists?
A1: The authorities are more capable of harming you than they were ten years ago.
A2: I'm actually frightened of the authorities.

http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/10/yelclap.gif  http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/10/yelclap.gif
Fantastic!

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: Bobby on 09/10/11 at 6:53 pm


well said, brutha. i thought i was cutting loose but turns out i was holding back.  ;D the part about playing into OBL's hands in terms of bankrupting ourselves and giving away our liberties is the part that galls me the most. then again, i don't think the gubmint minds. governments in general just seem to like to keep their populations under their thumb, and what a golden excuse 9/11 was. and in terms of bankrupting ourselves, well, all that money's gotta be going somewhere, and i have a feeling there aren't too many degrees of separation between the folks getting that cash and the folks pushing this 9/11 hysteria on us.


I'm not sure if I am right but as well as the weapons manufacturers profitting from a war, I read somewhere that the bankers benefit heavily from a country starting a war because the government loans off the bank to pay for it.

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: Howard on 09/10/11 at 7:37 pm

I just can't believe it's been 10 years,Where has the time gone and do you think we will be safe in another 10 years?

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: nally on 09/10/11 at 7:46 pm


10 years ago, I was glued to the television screen transfixed to the events that was being unraveled in New York, at the Pentagon and crashed plane in Pennsylvania.

I think I was, too... in fact, I got up that morning and went downstairs to find my mom glued to the television set. She informed me of what was going on.

My dad had left the house very early that morning, and the events had not yet unfolded...so he found out about it as soon as he got to his office.

I went to work with my mom in the morning; since it was a Tuesday, I was not scheduled to have a class at Cal State University Northridge until the afternoon...so when my mom drove me over to the university, we got there just before 1pm, and we found out that the campus was being evacuated...so I ended up not having any class that day. Best of all, it gave me one extra day to work on a calculus assignment that was originally due that day.

I don't remember how my dad got home from work, since the afternoon train service was shut down...I'll have to ask him again.

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: nally on 09/10/11 at 7:48 pm


I just can't believe it's been 10 years,Where has the time gone and do you think we will be safe in another 10 years?

So true... a whole decade gone by since then. Unbelievable. :o
To answer your question, we can never really know for sure.

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: Howard on 09/10/11 at 8:15 pm


So true... a whole decade gone by since then. Unbelievable. :o
To answer your question, we can never really know for sure.


maybe they'll make robot technology to keep us safe.

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: Tia on 09/10/11 at 9:30 pm


maybe they'll make robot technology to keep us safe.
like this?

http://www-deadline-com.vimg.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/terminatormore.jpg

this?

http://cf1.imgobject.com/backdrops/8c5/4bc9169a017a3c57fe0088c5/westworld-thumb.jpg

or maybe this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I95XKH9SRy0

or perhaps...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrXfh4hENKs

or....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZ0JGjKYVdU&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PLBFBB42A124046EEC

ok, for these last little guys you could actually maybe make a case.

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: 80s_cheerleader on 09/11/11 at 12:33 am


rant  :(

i'm gonna go ahead and be the jerk: i think we need to stop navel-gazing about 9/11. we lost all right to feel sorry for ourselves after we used it to inflict ten times as much tragedy on a country that had nothing to do with it, and we allowed the government to take our freedom away using it as an excuse. anyone who lost someone close on that day gets a pass, of course. anyone who saw it unfold in front of them instead of on TV can talk as much as they like about how it affected them. the first-responders the government lied to who are now dying of illnesses they contracted trying to save people and clean up can talk about it as much as they like. but the rest of us should just... stop.

i lived just a couple miles from the pentagon and it freaked me out, sure, but i got through it fine. and the more we pretend we're all victims of 9/11 when we weren't, the more the powers-that-be are going to keep using the incident to propagandize us and keep taking our freedom and the freedom of people around the world away. the establishment has a long history of using anniversaries of tragedies to reinforce standard narratives of those tragedies and this will be no different. will there be a retrospective about what iraq was like on 9/11, before we chose to ravage that country with another needless war? will there be a retrospective about the day before 9/11 in america when you could go into the smithsonian without walking through a checkpoint, you could get on a plane without being peeped at or groped, when the idea our government would systematically commit torture was unthinkable? when it was hard to imagine an america that would throw people in prisons for years without charging them with any crime?

maybe CNN or someone will surprise me and air a special on that, but i doubt it. instead it's going to be more breathless commentary about how scary that day was, and how we were all there. guess what. we weren't. if you only saw it on TV, and i include myself in this, it didn't really affect you, and you should stop pretending it did. not because it's bad to do that, but because your own government is using that fear against you.
I agree for the most part...my brother WAS in NYC and DID see it unfolding (I posted pics in the Say Cheese thread if anyone's interested, but he hasn't posted any of the digitally enhanced ones where you can literally see people jumping out of the windows). He was asleep in a hotel when the first plane hit and it literally SHOOK the hotel and he HEARD the explosion, waking him from a dead sleep.  He (and the band he was with) were then STUCK there for 3 days until they could get the tour bus out of the underground parking garage it was in and get the hell out of dodge.  They all still have nightmares about it from time to time....I think I'll give them a pass too ;) It is also not very well known that there were 3 "Middle Eastern Men" attempting to find a small municipal airport near me where they had chartered a plane on the morning of 9-11 and had gotten lost and stopped at a local gas station asking for directions.  Fortunately, they had misjudged the traffic out of Chicago that morning and were WAS too late as air traffic had already been called to a standstill so they were unable to take off.  Rumor has it they were headed for the Sears Tower or a local nuclear power plant...their identities are still not known to this day (but a good friend who works for Homeland Security has verified the information so I know it's not just "small town rumors) :o

But honestly, I can't say I feel any safer today than I did then...

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: Foo Bar on 09/11/11 at 2:20 am


But honestly, I can't say I feel any safer today than I did then...


http://www.upl.co/uploads/NYPDareTerrorists.jpg

Me either.

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: danootaandme on 09/11/11 at 2:42 am


http://www.upl.co/uploads/NYPDareTerrorists.jpg

Me either.


;)

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: 80s_cheerleader on 09/11/11 at 2:54 am

And.....just deleted some people from Facebook who are so ignorant, they are using this as an opportunity to simply spew hate about Obama, saying he's not "legally" the POTUS, calling him a Kenyan Muslim, and implying he's "in cahoots" with the terrorists who perpetuated the attacks on the WTC. When I pointed out that the Kenyan BC has been proven by MULTIPLE sources to be a fake, there's no proof he's Muslim, and so what if he is?  There's nothing in the Constitution that stipulates ONLY a "Christian" can be president ??? AND, the kicker....he's blaming OBAMA for "taking away our Civil Liberties", including having to undergo "cavity searches"at airports, basically ALL loss of privacy, etc., to which I pointed out that those were taken away under the Patriot Act which was passed under BUSH. Needless to say, he didn't take to kindly to my disagreement and pretty much accused me of "siding with" the jihadists and saying "they must love me" for "spitting on the graves of the people who died on that day"??? (How I'm doing that by defending the person who WASN'T EVEN IN ANY FEDERAL OFFICE on that day, I don't quite understand, but then again, not much this person says really makes sense) I simply replied with "For the BCs, check out snopes" and said if what I'm saying by pointing out FACT about our President, rather than simply spouting out racist vitriol against Muslims is considered "siding with" them, then what he's saying is the EXACT reason they hate us and if we are attacked again, he can look in the mirror for the blood on HIS hands...oh, I quoted a few Bible passages too....nothing like using his "own" ammo against him ;)

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: watertowater on 09/11/11 at 4:22 am




I remember watching a TV programme at Easter time based on a woman who forgave the terrorists for killing her husband at 9/11. I found it encouraging that someone could have that mental/emotional strength to accept and move forward rather than crumble and fall apart. It is this strength and optimism that makes me an Americaphile (if such a word exists).


On whose story was it based on?

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/11/11 at 5:01 am

Bob Beckwith, the firefighter accompanying President George W. Bush at Ground Zero (pictured), had been retired for 7 years and bluffed his way into the rescue site using old gear?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/3d/Bush_Ground_Zero_DYK.jpg/100px-Bush_Ground_Zero_DYK.jpg

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: watertowater on 09/11/11 at 6:45 am


Bob Beckwith, the firefighter accompanying President George W. Bush at Ground Zero (pictured), had been retired for 7 years and bluffed his way into the rescue site using old gear?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/3d/Bush_Ground_Zero_DYK.jpg/100px-Bush_Ground_Zero_DYK.jpg

That was a respond to my post, right? Let's hope Brian reads our posts. He made me so curious.

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: danootaandme on 09/11/11 at 7:08 am


And.....just deleted some people from Facebook who are so ignorant, they are using this as an opportunity to simply spew hate about Obama, saying he's not "legally" the POTUS, calling him a Kenyan Muslim, and implying he's "in cahoots" with the terrorists who perpetuated the attacks on the WTC. When I pointed out that the Kenyan BC has been proven by MULTIPLE sources to be a fake, there's no proof he's Muslim, and so what if he is?  There's nothing in the Constitution that stipulates ONLY a "Christian" can be president ??? AND, the kicker....he's blaming OBAMA for "taking away our Civil Liberties", including having to undergo "cavity searches"at airports, basically ALL loss of privacy, etc., to which I pointed out that those were taken away under the Patriot Act which was passed under BUSH. Needless to say, he didn't take to kindly to my disagreement and pretty much accused me of "siding with" the jihadists and saying "they must love me" for "spitting on the graves of the people who died on that day"??? (How I'm doing that by defending the person who WASN'T EVEN IN ANY FEDERAL OFFICE on that day, I don't quite understand, but then again, not much this person says really makes sense) I simply replied with "For the BCs, check out snopes" and said if what I'm saying by pointing out FACT about our President, rather than simply spouting out racist vitriol against Muslims is considered "siding with" them, then what he's saying is the EXACT reason they hate us and if we are attacked again, he can look in the mirror for the blood on HIS hands...oh, I quoted a few Bible passages too....nothing like using his "own" ammo against him ;)


Good on you.  Too bad, though, because there are so many out there like this idiot.  There isn't anything you can say or do that will change their view. 

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: Howard on 09/11/11 at 7:15 am


like this?

http://www-deadline-com.vimg.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/terminatormore.jpg

this?

http://cf1.imgobject.com/backdrops/8c5/4bc9169a017a3c57fe0088c5/westworld-thumb.jpg

or maybe this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I95XKH9SRy0

or perhaps...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrXfh4hENKs

or....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZ0JGjKYVdU&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PLBFBB42A124046EEC

ok, for these last little guys you could actually maybe make a case.


Well,they said robots could be taking over the universe.

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: Howard on 09/11/11 at 7:22 am

Let us never forget this day.

http://www.alarmingnews.com/archives/Twin-Towers-Reflected_1.jpg

http://www.clicksmilies.com/s1106/travesmilies/flaggen1/smilie_flagge13.gif

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: Creeder on 09/11/11 at 8:23 am

Very sad day indeed. :\'(
R.I.P. to all innocent people who died on that tragic day!
America is the greatest nation on earth and all evil men who did this will pay sooner or later!
Americans need to know that you have allies here in Europe who stand with you!
God Bless America and God bless President Bush who was strong enough to fight back on terror when needed!

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: Tia on 09/11/11 at 8:36 am


God Bless America and God bless President Bush who was strong enough to fight back on terror when needed!
by ignoring the warnings of 9/11, then letting bin laden go and attacking the wrong country!  ;D i laugh in bush's face. that guy was a sad clown.

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: 80s_cheerleader on 09/11/11 at 9:00 am


Good on you.  Too bad, though, because there are so many out there like this idiot.  There isn't anything you can say or do that will change their view. 

I do feel kinda bad, though, because I also defriended his fiancee, who really IS a sweet person (WTH she's doing with him, I'll never understand).  He was ripping on her as well because she was kinda' getting on him for bashing "Muslims in general" too (she deleted her posts, though ???)...it HAD to be done, though, because I didn't want to hear her "Oh, you have to forgive him because he's got strong beliefs, yada, yada, yada".  I GET "strong beliefs", but you cross the line when you say I'm "spitting on the memory of everyone who was there and died that day" and call me a "jihadist sympathizer" simply because I refuse to agree with your racist views against ANYONE who isn't Christian (but Muslims in particular, in this case). >:(

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: loki 13 on 09/11/11 at 12:13 pm

I see the NFL, as well as other professional sports Leagues, chose to commemorate the events of 9/11 by disrespecting
the symbol of the United States....The Flag.

§176. Respect for flag
No disrespect should be shown to the flag of the United States of America; the flag should not be dipped to any person or thing. Regimental colors, State flags, and organization or institutional flags are to be dipped as a mark of honor.

(a) The flag should never be displayed with the union down, except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property.
(b) The flag should never touch anything beneath it, such as the ground, the floor, water, or merchandise.
(c) The flag should never be carried flat or horizontally, but always aloft and free.
(d) The flag should never be used as wearing apparel, bedding, or drapery. It should never be festooned, drawn back, nor up, in folds, but always allowed to fall free. Bunting of blue, white, and red, always arranged with the blue above, the white in the middle, and the red below, should be used for covering a speaker's desk, draping the front of the platform, and for decoration in general.
(e) The flag should never be fastened, displayed, used, or stored in such a manner as to permit it to be easily torn, soiled, or damaged in any way.
(f) The flag should never be used as a covering for a ceiling.
(g) The flag should never have placed upon it, nor on any part of it, nor attached to it any mark, insignia, letter, word, figure, design, picture, or drawing of any nature.
(h) The flag should never be used as a receptacle for receiving, holding, carrying, or delivering anything.
(i) The flag should never be used for advertising purposes in any manner whatsoever. It should not be embroidered on such articles as cushions or handkerchiefs and the like, printed or otherwise impressed on paper napkins or boxes or anything that is designed for temporary use and discard. Advertising signs should not be fastened to a staff or halyard from which the flag is flown.
(j) No part of the flag should ever be used as a costume or athletic uniform. However, a flag patch may be affixed to the uniform of military personnel, firemen, policemen, and members of patriotic organizations. The flag represents a living country and is itself considered a living thing. Therefore, the lapel flag pin being a replica, should be worn on the left lapel near the heart.
(k) The flag, when it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display, should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning.

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: Howard on 09/11/11 at 12:47 pm


Very sad day indeed. :\'(
R.I.P. to all innocent people who died on that tragic day!
America is the greatest nation on earth and all evil men who did this will pay sooner or later!
Americans need to know that you have allies here in Europe who stand with you!
God Bless America and God bless President Bush who was strong enough to fight back on terror when needed!


and we will fight stronger and harder than we ever did before.

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: Bobby on 09/11/11 at 1:42 pm


On whose story was it based on?


I just did a search and the TV programme was called; 'What's the point of forgiveness?' The BBC describes it:

"At Ground Zero Bettany meets Cheryl McGuinness the widow of the co-pilot of the first plane to hit the Twin Towers, who in a remarkable gesture has chosen to forgive her husband's murderers."

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: CatwomanofV on 09/11/11 at 2:03 pm

For 10 years now I have believed and STILL believe that Dubya & company KNEW this was going to happen and did diddly squat to prevent it-he also did diddly squat WHEN it happened, too. They wanted a war. Somewhere in my archives, I wrote a letter dated 23 Aug 2001, to the editor of our local paper how Dubya wanted a war. (I just went and found it-unfortunately, it is in my old dinosaur and there is no way of copying it to here.)

What makes me so angry about 9/11-not just the lost of lives that day but the fact that people are so willing to give up our freedoms. We fly frequently (several times a year) and I don't feel any safer going through airport security. I think TSA is a joke. I understand the need for metal detectors & x-ray machines for our luggage-but I don't think taking off our shoes does anything (because of ONE guy) or the fact that we can't bring on liquids (because of ONE guy). Of course because of ONE guy-we are subjected to pat downs & full body scans (which wouldn't have detected the underwear bomb anyway). But, cargo on planes is NOT checked. Sure they do random searches. In the last 10 years, I have only found ONE little noticed from the TSA that they have checked our bag. (My sister finds those notices frequently). And our ports are still very vulnerable.

This basically sums up my views:

By Allen Gilbert - Published: September 11, 2011

Anniversaries prompt reflection. As we look back on the events of Sept. 11, 2001, we need to ask what has happened in those intervening years and whether we’re the country we want to be.

We know that during the last 10 years, the National Security Agency has conducted warrantless phone surveillance — looking at the calls we make, whom we call, and how long we speak. The Border Patrol has conducted traffic stops on I-91 south of White River Junction, nearly 100 miles from any international boundary. Peace groups protesting in Williston and Barre have been monitored by government agents. Searches are now routine on Lake Champlain ferries. A whistleblower working for the federal government (and a Vermont resident) was prosecuted under the World War I-era Espionage Act. Police began using cell phone data to track individuals’ whereabouts. A “fusion center” was established in Williston to amass information, from government and commercial databases, about Vermonters.

None of these things was conceivable prior to 9/11. The changes reflect the fear we have lived in.

On the federal level, we have built a national surveillance system that includes more than 22 agencies and employs nearly 200,000 people (not counting the CIA and FBI). This system turns out 50,000 intelligence reports each year and adds 1,600 names to the FBI’s Terrorist-Screening Database each day. There are more than a dozen separate terrorism watch lists and databases. It takes only a tip or a mistake for your name to get placed on a list, but it’s nearly impossible to get off the list once on. The late Sen. Ted Kennedy tried for weeks to get his name off no-fly lists.

More documents than ever are labeled “secret,” hidden from public information requests. Approximately 900,000 people now hold top-secret security clearances.

We are perilously close to replacing our transparent democracy, in which the people watch the government, with a national security system in which the government watches the people.

“Top Secret America,” a series of articles last summer in The Washington Post written by William Arkin (a Vermont resident) and Dana Priest, warned that national security is an industry whose growth has been rapid and chaotic. The industry has evaded any coherent oversight.

Arguments have been made that the events of Sept. 11, 2001 made greater surveillance necessary. No politician wanted to be accused of letting another 9/11 happen. But the explosive growth in surveillance, abetted by enhanced technologies, has actually begun to replicate the problem identified as the signal failure in preventing the 9/11 attacks — disconnect among intelligence agencies, the Post articles noted. In order to find the needles in the haystack, we have piled on more hay without useful “filters” to sort through the mounds of information.

On top of this cumbersome surveillance system has come a grinding realization that we are capable of the same indignities and injustices practiced by our detractors. We have detained people indefinitely without filing any charges against them. We have grabbed people off streets in the middle of the night and flown them to secret prisons around the world. We have tortured. No one has been held accountable for any of these things.

From the time of America’s founding, we have looked at our country as an unfinished experiment. Now, 10 years after a day recalled with sorrow at our losses and anger at the perpetrators, we need to ask, have those 10 years brought us closer to what we want to be? Is this the sort of country we want to become?

Adherence to the “certain unalienable rights” that we believe all people are born with is a barometer of what we are becoming. We do best as a nation when we respect each others’ rights. We do worse when we lose that respect and think it’s acceptable to trim corners off the Constitution.

That’s because core to a constitutional system is that truth and justice demand rigorous inquiry before they can be found or determined. It is the process in a constitutional system, established by the rule of law, that provides strength. Fear that causes us to abandon the process weakens us.

By that measure, we should beware. If we barter away our rights, we’ll never become the country we want to be.



Allen Gilbert is executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont.




Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. - Benjamin Franklin



Cat

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: King Tut on 09/11/11 at 2:12 pm


For 10 years now I have believed and STILL believe that Dubya & company KNEW this was going to happen and did diddly squat to prevent it-he also did diddly squat WHEN it happened, too. They wanted a war. Somewhere in my archives, I wrote a letter dated 23 Aug 2001, to the editor of our local paper how Dubya wanted a war. (I just went and found it-unfortunately, it is in my old dinosaur and there is no way of copying it to here.)

What makes me so angry about 9/11-not just the lost of lives that day but the fact that people are so willing to give up our freedoms. We fly frequently (several times a year) and I don't feel any safer going through airport security. I think TSA is a joke. I understand the need for metal detectors & x-ray machines for our luggage-but I don't think taking off our shoes does anything (because of ONE guy) or the fact that we can't bring on liquids (because of ONE guy). Of course because of ONE guy-we are subjected to pat downs & full body scans (which wouldn't have detected the underwear bomb anyway). But, cargo on planes is NOT checked. Sure they do random searches. In the last 10 years, I have only found ONE little noticed from the TSA that they have checked our bag. (My sister finds those notices frequently). And our ports are still very vulnerable.

This basically sums up my views:

By Allen Gilbert - Published: September 11, 2011

Anniversaries prompt reflection. As we look back on the events of Sept. 11, 2001, we need to ask what has happened in those intervening years and whether we’re the country we want to be.

We know that during the last 10 years, the National Security Agency has conducted warrantless phone surveillance — looking at the calls we make, whom we call, and how long we speak. The Border Patrol has conducted traffic stops on I-91 south of White River Junction, nearly 100 miles from any international boundary. Peace groups protesting in Williston and Barre have been monitored by government agents. Searches are now routine on Lake Champlain ferries. A whistleblower working for the federal government (and a Vermont resident) was prosecuted under the World War I-era Espionage Act. Police began using cell phone data to track individuals’ whereabouts. A “fusion center” was established in Williston to amass information, from government and commercial databases, about Vermonters.

None of these things was conceivable prior to 9/11. The changes reflect the fear we have lived in.

On the federal level, we have built a national surveillance system that includes more than 22 agencies and employs nearly 200,000 people (not counting the CIA and FBI). This system turns out 50,000 intelligence reports each year and adds 1,600 names to the FBI’s Terrorist-Screening Database each day. There are more than a dozen separate terrorism watch lists and databases. It takes only a tip or a mistake for your name to get placed on a list, but it’s nearly impossible to get off the list once on. The late Sen. Ted Kennedy tried for weeks to get his name off no-fly lists.

More documents than ever are labeled “secret,” hidden from public information requests. Approximately 900,000 people now hold top-secret security clearances.

We are perilously close to replacing our transparent democracy, in which the people watch the government, with a national security system in which the government watches the people.

“Top Secret America,” a series of articles last summer in The Washington Post written by William Arkin (a Vermont resident) and Dana Priest, warned that national security is an industry whose growth has been rapid and chaotic. The industry has evaded any coherent oversight.

Arguments have been made that the events of Sept. 11, 2001 made greater surveillance necessary. No politician wanted to be accused of letting another 9/11 happen. But the explosive growth in surveillance, abetted by enhanced technologies, has actually begun to replicate the problem identified as the signal failure in preventing the 9/11 attacks — disconnect among intelligence agencies, the Post articles noted. In order to find the needles in the haystack, we have piled on more hay without useful “filters” to sort through the mounds of information.

On top of this cumbersome surveillance system has come a grinding realization that we are capable of the same indignities and injustices practiced by our detractors. We have detained people indefinitely without filing any charges against them. We have grabbed people off streets in the middle of the night and flown them to secret prisons around the world. We have tortured. No one has been held accountable for any of these things.

From the time of America’s founding, we have looked at our country as an unfinished experiment. Now, 10 years after a day recalled with sorrow at our losses and anger at the perpetrators, we need to ask, have those 10 years brought us closer to what we want to be? Is this the sort of country we want to become?

Adherence to the “certain unalienable rights” that we believe all people are born with is a barometer of what we are becoming. We do best as a nation when we respect each others’ rights. We do worse when we lose that respect and think it’s acceptable to trim corners off the Constitution.

That’s because core to a constitutional system is that truth and justice demand rigorous inquiry before they can be found or determined. It is the process in a constitutional system, established by the rule of law, that provides strength. Fear that causes us to abandon the process weakens us.

By that measure, we should beware. If we barter away our rights, we’ll never become the country we want to be.



Allen Gilbert is executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont.




Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. - Benjamin Franklin



Cat

Wonderful!

"The changes reflect the fear we have lived in."

Sorry, you can't repeat a karma action without waiting 24 hours.

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: danootaandme on 09/11/11 at 2:53 pm


Very sad day indeed. :\'(
R.I.P. to all innocent people who died on that tragic day!
America is the greatest nation on earth and all evil men who did this will pay sooner or later!
Americans need to know that you have allies here in Europe who stand with you!
God Bless America and God bless President Bush who was strong enough to fight back on terror when needed!


..and President Obama for stepping in to clean up the mess.  Never forget who didn't find Bin Laden, and who did.

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: Philip Eno on 09/12/11 at 12:20 pm

In a perfect world.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1R-Drpjpmk

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: Howard on 09/12/11 at 12:53 pm


In a perfect world.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1R-Drpjpmk


Wow,that's probably what should've happened.

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: nally on 09/12/11 at 1:00 pm


Wow,that's probably what should've happened.

Yes, if buildings were constructed of flexible material. And, some kind of sensor to detect when something was coming awfully close.

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: Howard on 09/12/11 at 1:16 pm


Yes, if buildings were constructed of flexible material. And, some kind of sensor to detect when something was coming awfully close.


and it would catch it right away then the planes would turn the other way.

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: MrCleveland on 09/12/11 at 3:03 pm


Yeah it's been 10 years which is pretty crazy, but it's also a big watermark that really signals that it's time for us as a nation to move beyond 9/11. We can't spend the rest of the 21st century dwelling on 9/11 and living in fear of terrorism. I was in school and found out as my 2nd period American History class ended, I remember this was right before the Pentagon was hit and people were saying the White House or Congress could be next. Our nation was under attack on our own soil, this was like surreal and it was hard to believe this was really happening. I remember when the buildings collapsed, there was just silence and tears in class. I remember the rest of that week was all 9/11 coverage on tv, all shows and sports games were shut down until the next week. The scarier thing is when you look back at how people followed Bush in the aftermath until like 2003 or so and the attitudes that persisted, there were several anti-muslim incidents of violence too I recall one guy driving into a mosque around here. Bush had around a 90% approval rating in late '01, the guy could practically do anything he wanted and he did when they rushed through the Patriot Act and the wars. I'm not a truther, I don't really believe the US government had a hand in 9/11 but what makes me sick is I know they used the event for political purposes and STILL use it to this day. Anytime I see that SOB Bush on TV with his smirk and fake sympathy it makes me freaking sick.   8-P


I wonder if BOTH Sides of the Political Isle was sick when they saw Obama with Bush? :-\\

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: Foo Bar on 09/13/11 at 12:22 am


I wonder if BOTH Sides of the Political Isle was sick when they saw Obama with Bush? :-\\


Heh.  "Two sides."  You crack me up, dude :)

A Canuck's Perspective on 9/11.

And a similar take from a columnist in The Economist.

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: seamermar on 09/14/11 at 1:06 pm

I think TIA and Catwoman's posts pointed the right direction, Karma for them !!

We must focus on the root. It seems  some men in gray roll around with the seed of rage.
This way they have a world prey to fear to capriciously rule for their own sake.

When bombs blasted Madrid, they firstly thought of how death toll could lead them to a winner polls.
When I say them, I mean both candidates, left and right. They were mean to trick voters any time they tried to.
The ones at the right said it was basque terrorism, EVEN  when they had police informs about islamic terror was in the facts.
As a result, the right was beat for the lies they spit instead of a good lefty work, and since then that is going on and on.

We can learn how crooked was investigation of this acts, no matters how many people has died, we'll never know the truth.
Cause the truth is ugliest than the facts we can watch on the news.
The twin towers were in some way the Babel Towers. There worked people from the entire world. Single people, who gathered there seeking a better life to find their fatal fate.
One pregnant Spanish woman died too. There was a very sad day not only for Americans but for the whole single world.

Throughout  wolrd wars we were trusting to our guides ( politicians and generals ) to cope with and keep our countries safe, prosperous and free.
Now who really knows who they work for ?

In Spain this massacre could've been avoided, I'm sure TWC too.

8-P

another karma for Foo Bar too, do you really think we can learn from what we don't wanna see ?
For decades they have failed and we still vote them instead of coming a new order up.

Subject: Re: 9/11, years later.

Written By: MaxwellSmart on 09/14/11 at 5:48 pm

Karma for Cat!

It's like I said on my program on Sunday night.

The security state won.
The terrorists won.
We, the people, lost.
::)

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