Deep Thoughts

Lucidity

by Bryan Strawser · Mar 3, 2005

There are moments, I believe, between the bubbles of life.. those brief fleeting moments that we only see from time to time.. that lie between this world and the next.

I was there, for a bit today. Between what was.. and what is.. and out there somewhere… what will be.

It’s interesting, I feel, because we see what’s out there… and we don’t. Sometimes, we get that glimpse through the opaque barrier in front of us.. that brief shining of light.. and we say.. “there it is.. I see it…”

and yet, we do not grasp it.

But sometimes… sometimes.. that light shines through.. and combined with some innate desire.. we choose to see it.

Enlightenment? I’m not sure.

But we grow through that lesson. Whatever it may be.

A Look Back…

by Bryan Strawser · Dec 31, 2004

Year’s end has always been a time of deep reflection and introspective thought for me. Much has happened – professionally and personally – in the last year. Some of which was well received, some of which was handled with grace, and some of which just passed me by….

Some thoughts and retrospection on the year closing tonight….

In March, I passed the latest milestone in my life by turning 30 on March 5th.

During April and May, we disappeared for ten days into the lovely sands and waters of St. Croix, and nearly didn’t come back. An island oasis so much like heaven I thought perhaps I had died. As I look out the window today at 12 inches of snow I wonder why we didn’t stay.

In late May, in the midst of some spring rain and in the flash of a moment’s inattention, I crashed my five year old Toyota Camry. After the insurance company totaled out the car, I bought a snappy new Honda Civic Hybrid. Since that time, I’ve saved nearly $517 in gasoline costs. And I’m still quite happy with the car.

June brought us the dedication of the National World War II Memorial. At that time, I wrote of my upbringing in Covington, Indiana:

The war – even though it occurred nearly thirty years before my birth – has always been a part of the fabric of my life. Its impact on my hometown – and on the people who lives there – was huge.

My father, a Vietnam Veteran, was active in the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and the American Legion. He twice serves as Commander of American Legion Post 291 – housed in an old historic log cabin in Covington’s city park. As a Boy Scout in Troop 291 – sponsored by the same American Legion post, I would stop and read the plaques and study the pictures mounted on the wall.

Post 291 was named the Fulton – Banta American Legion Post. I remember an old black and white photograph of Ensign John William Banta – for whom the post was co-named. Ensign Banta was Covington’s first casualty in World War II. Fulton, whose background escapes me at the time of this writing, was Covington’s first casualty in World War I.

Something about the way that I was brought up – the combination of small town Indiana and the military service history of my family and neighbors – has always instilled in me a deep respect for the sacrifice of those of served – and those who gave their all. It may come from a deep understanding of freedom – an underlying theme that I heard growing up. From the 4th of July Fireworks, to planting flags as a young Boy Scout on the graves of hundreds of veterans in Fountain County, Indiana, that message was reinforced in my head over and over… and I also learned from the veterans and others who had lived through the Second World War that freedom came with a price. I knew that from the honored pictures of Fulton and Ensign Banta in the American Legion Post.

This weekend, we finally gave them their due with the dedication of the National World War II Memorial in Washington, DC.

The summer brought on a huge crush of work as I headed up efforts to prepare for the 2004 Democratic National Convention. It was a huge learning experience for me and has opened up all sorts of new career possibilities for me in the future. Hopefully, as things work out, you’ll hear more about those in 2005.

September, I believe, will always be a difficult month for many in the United States. I have memories and feelings that are deeply held about the events of that day and their aftermath – but it was a simple gesture by a peer of mine that has helped me remember how I felt that day.. and why.. I wrote back on September 11th:

In the end, I think we all have the responsibility to remember what happened that day – to us – to our fellow man – here in our own country.

A few weeks ago, while having coffee with a peer in Minneapolis, our conversation steered towards the impact of September 11th on our lives – both personally and professionally.

She pulled out her PDA – tapped on it a few times – and spun it around so that I could read it.

It was her calendar – turned to September 11th, 2004 – and it showed just one word:

Remember

September also brought a new hobby – exercise. For the first time in nearly a decade, I picked up an athletic hobby and started what I hope will be a life altering experience for me. And I solidified that statement with a simple wristband signifying that change in my approach to living:

With October each year brings the World Series. In my six years in Boston, I’ve watched other teams play in the great dance and watched one of them go home happy. This year, after eighty-six years, it was our turn:

November brought, after nearly two years of campaigning, the re-election of President George W. Bush. I danced the happy dance when John Kerry gave a wonderful concession speech:

With that gift also comes obligation. We are required now to work together for the good of our country. In the days ahead, we must find common cause. We must join in common effort without remorse or recrimination, without anger or rancor. America is in need of unity and longing for a larger measure of compassion.

I hope President Bush will advance those values in the coming years. I pledge to do my part to try to bridge the partisan divide. I know this is a difficult time for my supporters, but I ask them, all of you, to join me in doing that.

Now, more than ever, with our soldiers in harm’s way, we must stand together and succeed in Iraq and win the war on terror.

We lost many friends as a nation in 2004 as well. Two that I’ll always remember were Ronald Reagan and Pat Tillman.

Former President Reagan had one of the most stunningly beautiful funerals I have ever seen. The image of the sunset to the west as he was carried to his final resting place was the perfect epitaph on this man’s life.

Much was written this year about Pat Tillman – but I thought this simple tribute from blogger Sgt. Hook said it best:

We landed at one of the Forward Operating Bases (FOBs) yesterday to drop off supplies and pick up some equipment, a somewhat routine mission for us. The crew suddenly became very solemn when we noticed a ceremony being conducted about 30-meters away. A KIA ceremony.

The flag draped coffin was placed in the position of honor in front of a formation of Soldiers while a chaplain said a few words. We were all humbled and reminded of our own immortality and that everyday out here, we are in harm’s way.

As taps played we rendered our salute to the fallen Soldier, hero, who paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedoms. News of the firefight resulting in one dead and two wounded a couple of days ago had reached us. We had no idea it was Pat Tillman. Tillman turned down a big fat NFL contract with the Arizona Cardinals to become an Army Ranger shortly after 9/11.

Sgt Tillman is a hero not because he walked away from the Cardinals, but because of where he walked to. He like all the rest of the Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Airmen, and Coastguardsmen volunteered to put himself between the bad guys and our way of life and fight for its preservation. Rest In Peace Sgt Tillman, your service to our nation is an inspiration and you will not be forgotten.

And we couldn’t recognize these two without acknowledging the sacrifice of hundreds of Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coastguardsmen in Iraq and Afghanistan who died for the liberty of total strangers – and who have helped forge a country where I can sit in peace on my couch and write this recap of the past year. We will never forget you.

And so we close the books on 2004. There’s much more I could write but can’t because this is a public forum. There’s more news coming early in 2005 along with my New Year’s Resolutions – but you’ll have to wait until the next year has begun before you can read those.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

And never brought to mind?

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

And auld lang syne?

For auld lang syne, my dear,

For auld lang syne,

We’ll tak a cup of kindness yet,

For auld lang syne!

And surely ye’ll be your pint-stowp,

And surely I’ll be mine,

And we’ll tak a cup o kindness yet,

For auld lang syne!

We twa hae run about the braes,

And pou’d the gowans fine,

But we’ve wander’d monie a weary fit,

Sin auld lang syne.

We twa hae paidl’d in the burn

Frae morning sun till dine,

But seas between us braid hae roar’d

Sin auld lang syne.

And there’s a hand my trusty fiere,

And gie’s a hand o thine,

And we’ll tak a right guid-willie waught,

For auld lang syne

Happy New Year, my friends…. Happy New Year…

The Election Aftermath: Respect

by Bryan Strawser · Nov 4, 2004

I wrote recently about the concept of respect in terms of the Presidential election. I thought it would be interesting to take a look around the blogosphere and see the reactions to the election results:

NewsNation:

How did Bush win?

He had too many hillbilly redneck fools in this country vote. People that know nothing about Bush and the things he has done. Poor people that blindly vote for a president that will never stand for them, that lied to their faces and forced us into a war that should have never been, a man that drove this country into financial ruins and social disaster! These people STILL think that we are in 2 wars with more to come in the name of terrorism and that we are fighting for freedom! They need to be institutionalized because this way of thinking goes above and beyond the limits of acceptable stupidity!

So the only folks that voted for Bush are those who are poor and vote blindly. Yup, that’s it.

More NewsNation:

How did Bush win?

Because Americans have been brainwashed. The Nazi party was also very popular with the German masses back then, while the rest of the world looked on in horror. Just like today.

If you ever want to understand how millions of people cheeringly followed Hitler into war, all you have to do is look at America today. History is repeating itself.

If you ever want to understand how Nazis could care so little about all those dead jews, all you need to do is look at America’s total indifference to 100,000 dead muslims.

Isn’t it written somewhere that as soon as you start comparing your opponent to Hitler that you lose your argument? I sure wish that were true. The author of this particular comment, by the way, often refers to conservatives as “fascists”. Great rhetoric.

Blurbomat (comments);

This doesn’t even skim the surface of ways in which he’s really screwed our country over, inside and out. This is an inept wealth-serving man who claims the identity of God-hearing Christian but is really a monarch ruling by his own version of divine right. He could not understand the plight of anyone not born the son of a wealthy oilman/senator if his life depended on it and will, whether unwittingly or apathetically, screw over the masses even further if he is back in order to privatize social security (exposing it to the vagaries of the stock market), install more meat industry flunky friends to head the USDA and FDA so testing on our food supply is reduced even further, and opens up another 5000+ acres of national parkland for industrial development. And I’m sure I speak for many besides myself who have at least bachelor’s degrees when I say: STOP TRYING TO MAKE ME GO TO COMMUNITY COLLEGE. Why doesn’t bush go and take a public speaking course or ten?

But then again, considering the CEO of one of the companies manufacturing the voting machines, namely Diebold, donated generously to his campaign and pledged to deliver the vote to him, who’s to say all those people really voted for him?

Yup, you got it. Bush only won Florida because of the Diebold machines. Ignore that 350,000+ vote margin – it was rigged, Yup, rigged. HE WAS SELECTED, NOT ELECTED. Or so they say.

Blurbomat (comments):

I am crying this morning and trying really hard not to throw up. I am so fucking disgusted and upset at this, that the election is going to Bush, that it was even CLOSE made me ill!! I just don’t understand how people could be so ignorant about what his agenda is and how fucking SCARY it is. Say goodbye to your rights. Say goodbye to the Constitution as you know it. Say goodbye to the environment. Say goodbye to your JOB, probably. Say goodbye to separation of Church and State. And say goodbye to your friends and family in the military.

My country voted out of FEAR not BRAINS. I am sick. Truly sick. In my opinion, the terrorists won this election. The terrorists.

God help us all, and I mean the whole world not just America, because this will affect everyone.

Yup, no rights. The constitution is just going to be shredded. The environment will be destroyed. In fact, I heard that the new EPA Director ran out in the woods this morning and started cutting down trees herself – just for fun. And then to make things even better, she threw a couple babies out in the street and pumped bullets into them. Yup, BABYKILLERS.

Blurbomat (comments):

Better to be unborn and aborted if Bush is reelected than be brought into a country of misery and the creation of an entirely new second class citizenry.

Yup, it’s better to just be dead rather than to have to live under a Bush Presidency.

Blurbomat (comments):

To Bush supporters, I say this: Put your life where your mouth is: ENLIST. Please. Hurry. If life is so expendible to you, please go DIE IN WAR. Quickly, before any more truly valuable lives are lost.

This is my personal favorite. If you voted for Bush, just go DIE. Yup, dead. That’s the voice of our “loyal opposition”

Blurbomat (comments):

First off, there’s the obvious fiasco of the voting machines. These were manufactured by an ardent Bush supporter who (I still can’t believe he was so brazen as to say it) PLEDGED to give bush the vote, dubious machines which leave no paper trail and in at least one case so far actually changed a person’s vote from Democrat to Republican on the last reviewing screen of the process . These hackable machines in no way reassure me of accuracy or fairness.

And there were questionable practices in play during the voting process, with reports of thousands of Hispanic voters having been turned away from polls in Ohio because the particular polling place did not “deal with” Hispanic voters. You also had reports of bushmongerers trying to intimidate voters at polling sites: I mean, wtf?

That’s just from what I’ve read so far. I have a feeling the story gets a lot uglier.

So excuse me if I really don’t feel having bush inflicted on us another 4 years was a fair or even actual outcome.

In this person’s mind, as in the minds of many others, the only way for Bush to win was to CHEAT, LIE, STEAL. So all 3.5 million of those votes for Bush that put him ahead of Kerry were STOLEN. Diebold and the Freemason were behind it.

Megacity:

You get what you fucking deserve, assholes. This country is going to be annihilated under the sheer force of its own stupid citizens. “Go America!” half of you shout, but you don’t know anything. Anything at all. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of England, but I guess you all are. By the time four years is up, we’ll have a white christian country with a consistently low IQ, no health care of any kind, and no economy. Congratulations. If you’re a Bush supporter, delete me from your list. You’re no friend of mine. Frankly, I hope you die, slowly, painfully, and that your family goes with you, for spawning you.

Derek at Megacity posted this – it was someone’s “Away” message on an instant messaging client. Classic, eh? You can’t be my friend because you voted for Bush. Unbelievable.

Daily Kos (comments):

How the hell could the exit polls be so wrong? I suspect foul play–the Bushes are involved. Also, Bush said something at a rally last week to the effect of “I know one thing we’re going to win Florida this time”

Not that I would expect anything less from a reader of the Daily Kos – here’s one where clearly voter fraud was involved for Bush to win – after all, the exit polls couldn’t possibly be wrong. Could they?

Russell Beattie:

I just don’t understand how so many people in the U.S. could vote for such an ignorant, cowardly, lying, close-minded, intolerant, wicked person.

Wow. Cowardly? Ignorant? Intolerant? Wicked?

Kerri:

Apparently you can win an election, by the way you did it – by lying, cheating, and using scare tactics — just stinks.

I’m ashamed of Americans. How stupid can you be people?

Come on Kerri – I’m not a stupid person, you know that. Neither are most of those who voted for Bush – we knew exactly what we were getting. And we found him much better than the candidate that you supported. Cheating? Oh yeah, I forgot. Bush can only win if he cheats.

Asia Times:

Total concentration of right-wing power – legitimized by the popular vote: this is the new neo-conservative dream turned reality. So the road ahead is to flatten the Sunni stronghold of Fallujah in Iraq, bomb Iran because of its supposed nuclear aspirations, depose President Hafez Assad in Syria, crush the Palestinian resistance, and remodel the Middle East by “precision strike” democracy.

There will be serious blowback. A new pan-Islamic nationalism, for example, featuring Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani’s Shi’ite masses allied with the Sunni triangle to kick out the Americans from Iraq, eventually supported by both Iran and Saudi Arabia. Iraq crisscrossed by guerrillas and Iran penetrated by US intelligence, both leading – plus Shi’ite eastern Saudi Arabia, where the oil is – to a new, catastrophic oil shock.

And then the neo-conservative Project for the New American Century (PNAC) – which virtually took over the US government – will create a major confrontation with China. Asia, beware.

Not that I would expect anything different from a foreign newspaper – but this one is a bit behind the pale, don’t you think. We’re going to bomb Iran, depose the Syrian government, and then provoke a confrontation with China. Hmmm.

We may indeed have confrontation with both Iran and Syria. If they continue on their present paths of supporting terrorism and developing nuclear weapons – I’m not so sure that’s a bad thing.

Joi Ito:

It was close, but the Americans have chosen Bush. It’s a sad day, but in a democracy, you get the politicians you deserve/vote for. This was their chance to change their leader and they have failed. For awhile, many of us thought that they had been conned into voting for Bush – that they didn’t know he wanted to be a War President. Many people didn’t equate the US policies with the people of America. We thought they had made a mistake. Now US policies = US Citizens. You Americans have my sympathies, but it’s still your fault.

It’s all our fault? Wow.

I like Bush. I wanted him as President – and I wasn’t presented with an alternative that made sense to me, so I stuck with what I knew. So did many others. So be it.

So there’s the recap – and that’s just a glimpse of what I found last night. When people talk about a divided country and how the Republicans (or conservatives in general) are trying to divide the nation – I have news for you. It’s not just the conservatives. Perhaps the solution for the Democrats (or liberals in general) is to take a long hard look at your own house.

It’s going to be an interesting four years watching the opposition to see how they handle another for years in their role as the minority party in the United States.

Respect? Not really.

This Blog Supports George W. Bush

by Bryan Strawser · Nov 2, 2004

This morning I wrote a very long post about my endorsement for George W. Bush for President. When I went to post it, my blog editor (ecto) crashed and took the post with it.

I’m sorry but I’m not going to take a bunch of time to rewrite that post. Once was enough!

In any event, I support George W. Bush for President.

I can’t vote libertarian, though I’m a registered libertarian still, because their candidate this time is a nutjob and I completely disagree with their approach to the war on terrorism and our role in Iraq.

I can’t support Kerry for a number of reasons – many of which revolve around his flip-flopping, his choice of a running mate, his general approach to the war on terrorism, our role in Iraq, his desire to use the UN for everything, his tax policy, and his record in the US Senate. Not to mention that he’s been my Senator for the last six years and I’m still trying to figure out what he’s done during that time.

Bush gets my vote for a number of reasons – somewhat because he’s not Kerry, but more importantly because I believe he sees a changed world before us and is attempting to deal with that world. I’m not going to say that I agree with all of his policies and decisions, but he is the better candidate in my mind. Living in Massachusetts, I’m well aware that my vote will be canceled out due to Kerry taking Massachusetts by storm, but I voted my conscience.

I do lament the fact that once again, the best folks are not running. I would have preferred a challenge between Giuliani or Romney against Hillary or Evan Bayh or others. But that’s not to be. Perhaps in 2008. And if Evan Bayh runs, I’m going to be hard pressed to vote against him. Gotta support those Hoosiers.

I’m in Florida tonight, we’re planning on watching the election results at a local watering hole and then here at home in front of the television. I do hope that this election ends sometime in the next 24 hours. And whoever wins, I’ll support them as President. And that’s alot more than many on the left are going to do should Bush be re-elected.

We’re in a War, Folks

by Bryan Strawser · Oct 4, 2004

I started this post well over a month ago – right after the tragic events at Beslan where terrorists attacked children. Nearly two months later, I think I’m finally far enough down the path in my thought process to bring to conclusion the jumble of thoughts I had back at that time.

While I can handle dealing with those that do not share my worldview (after all, I do not have all of the right answers) – I have a hard time dealing with people who are either 9/11 apologists – and those that simply fail to understand that we’re at war.

War.

We’ve been at war at least since September 11th – and likely longer than that. And I do not see it getting any easier for us.

Regardless of the excuses that the apologists might come up with, on September 11th we were viciously and brutally attacked. While some of our military was attacked (and killed) at the Pentagon, the bulk of the 9/11 attacks went after civilians – simple folks like me working on a morning in their offices in New York. This is notwithstanding earlier attacks on two of our embassies in Africa and the bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen – but 9/11 is when we woke up and took notice.

War.

9/11 is probably the first time that we truly realized what we were up against – and some of our fellow citizens – of this country and others, simply don’t get it.

We’re in a life or death struggle for the very core of our existence. And its not going to get any easier – in fact, it’s likely going to get harder for us.

A few years ago at a ASIS chapter conference, I sat through a brutal presentation by an FBI Special Agent who had handled the evidence collection at the Pentagon after 9/11 – as well as the USS Cole Bombing. He spared little. I saw some scenes that I’ll remember until my last days. He had other scenes from the embassy bombings – they were worse.

This is what we’re up against folks – people that would kill us just to watch us die. And it doesn’t matter if you’re a soldier, sailor, or airman or not – they would kill me just as likely as they would a national guardsman in Iraq. And its time for all of us to wake up to that reality.

There are obviously some differing worldviews out there – and I respect that. It’s in the great marketplace of ideas that we find out if our ideals can stand up to the intellectual onslaught of others.

There are clearly some differing views when it comes to terrorism. Some feel that we need to reach out to our enemy and try to “understand” their worldview. Fuck that. I know their worldview – it was crashing a plane into the World Trade Center. I’m not interested in understanding their worldview.

There are others that believe that this is all our fault. Our foreign policy, our support for Israel, our capitalistic ways, the presence of so much Christianity in our public life. I call these the “apologists” – and there’s plenty of them out there – certainly there are alot here in Massachusetts, but that’s another matter.

We didn’t ask for this war. The men and women who died in Shanksville, DC, and New York didn’t ask for this. The hundreds of police and firemen who died on 9/11 didn’t ask for this. None of us did. But it’s here now. And we have to deal with it.

Lex understands – last month during the aftermath of Beslan, he wrote:

I am not really a Russian. Neither am I an Israeli. When 9/11 happened, Le Monde declared that now, “we are all Americans.” But it wasn’t true then, and it isn’t true now. It’s facile, trite, and meaningless to attempt to throw the mantle of victimhood across our shoulders, sharing in the tragedy from a safe distance and thereby diminishing, diluting – say it! Cheating the victims of their misery by cheapening it with mere solipsistic rhetoric.

We are not Russians. We are not Israelis. We are not.

But they are of what we are of.

We are the civilized world, all of us. Russians, and Israelis and Spaniards and Kenyans. And we are locked in a death match with Nemesis.

Fight or die. Wake up to it. No more talk about Vietnam. That was then, this is now.

This is real.

James Lileks, as always, gets it. He wrote about Beslan in early September:

Cicadas, airplanes, wind in the trees. A peaceful weekend. At least here. There’s a bloody child on the front page of the newspaper. The Strib subhead calls them “Islamic guerrillas” and “fighters” and “militants,” because you know one man’s terrorist is another man’s disciple of God who practices his sharpshooting so he can nail children in the back at 50 paces. This teaser to an inside story made my jaw bruise my sternum:

“This week’s bloodbath in Russia shattered the notion that innocents are taboo terror victims.”

This is why I despair sometimes. Now we learn that innocents are no longer taboo terror victims. Which means that these people weren’t considered innocent.

That’s what we’re faced with out there as we approach this fight – changing paradigms.

I thought back when our two embassies were blown up in Africa that we’d really that innocents were in the crosshairs. Oh wait – they worked for the State Department, so they were complicit in our foreign policy errors. How silly of me.

I thought back when the USS Cole was blown up in Yemen.. oh wait, they were in the military, so they were complicit in our mass killings of civilians, cluster bombs, and all that.

I thought back when thousands were killed in New York, DC, and Shanksville, PA that we’d learn that innocents are no longer… oh wait, they were either in the military, or contributors to our evil capitalistic ways..

War.

It’s real – it’s here. It’s time to come to grips with that.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the face of our enemy, as outlined in The LA Times (via Yahoo):

Guerrillas armed with automatic rifles and explosive belts who are holding hundreds of hostages at the small provincial school in southern Russia allowed 26 women and children to leave. About a dozen mothers, like Dzandarova, were allowed to take only one child, forced to leave another behind.

“I didn’t want to make this choice,” a stunned-looking Dzandarova, 27, said in the reception room of her father-in-law’s house a few miles from the school. “People say they are happy that my son and I are saved. But how can I be happy if my daughter’s still inside there?”

Her daughter was killed, by the way, in the final battles at Beslan.

Chapomatic gets it – and outlines his own approach to coming to grips with the war – and dealing with apologists:

We’re at the very beginning of a fight to the death. It’s already been said that the only way for us to lose is for us to kill ourselves, by refusing to understand the nature of this war, its consequences, or even the fact that it exists.

I will be much less civil to the next ignorant F911 believer I see. Much less.

And so will I.

At times, I don’t feel like debating the 9/11 issues with people on the “other side”. Most of them simply can’t see past the ignorance of their own ideas. But I know that I must. I have to be willing to carry the battle – it’s my own contribution to the Global War on Terror, I guess.

To each according to his/her own strengths, we have to be willing to carry the battle. Right now it’s just support – tomorrow it could be your hometown, your workplace, or an incident on your airplane as you travel to your vacation.

Lex again:

This is truly courage in the face or barbarism, from people who are much closer to the cancer than we ourselves. We must encourage them. We must match them in the strength of their convictions. We must not be dissuaded.

Let us hope that through the latest act of terror, that the patient has awoken. Let us hope that the tide has finally turned. Let us hope that it is not too late.

Let us keep hope alive.

And in the meantime, because we must, let us keep our powder dry.

Right on, brother!

And then there’s the protestors. I saw some firsthand in Boston recently while headed off for dinner. Two middle aged women standing near the Boston Public Library holding up a sign reading “Israel is a Terrorist State”.

I stopped so fast I about knocked myself over. I wanted to debate the two but I was headed to dinner and was already late.

This is what we’re up against – people who believe that Israel, the only Middle Eastern democracy, is a terrorist state. I’d hate to ask how they view our own country.

I find most left-wing protestors to be hypocritical. So does Ralph Peters, in the New York Post (via Lex):

A final thought: Did any of those protesters who came to Manhattan to denounce our liberation of 50 million Muslims stay an extra day to protest the massacre in Russia? Of course not.

The protesters no more care for dead Russian children than they care for dead Kurds or for the hundreds of thousands of Arabs that Saddam Hussein executed. Or for the ongoing Arab-Muslim slaughter of blacks in Sudan. Nothing’s a crime to those protesters unless the deed was committed by America.

The butchery in Russia was a crime against humanity. In every respect. Was any war ever more necessary or just than the War on Terror?

Lex also had further thoughts last month about the wide distortion field between the apologists and others:

But when folks on the left accuse us of being either stupid or malignantly evil, calling the RNC a “hate fest,” while chortling happily at F9/11 distortions, and no voice of reason or rejection checks them, I have to wonder if they are worthy of our courtesy.

Maybe John Edwards is right. Maybe there really is “two Americas.” The part that I’m in can tell the difference between Soldiers and terrorists.

Personally, John Edward’s discussion about “Two Americas” drives me batty. I want one America. We live in one America. But that’s a different post.

At the debate last week, I nearly blew my top from the couch when John Kerry talked about having a summit of Muslim countries and some of his other descriptions of the Global War on Terorism – some of it was the same apologist crap I’ve heard from others. I’m not interested in a dialogue – I’m interested in how we defend ourselves (and our allies) from terrorist attacks – and how we eradicate some of these terrorist groups out there.

Perhaps Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, said it best last month:

These are not “freedom fighters,” Putin said. “Would you talk with Osama Bin Laden?” he asked. Putin said the Chechen separatists are trying to ignite ethnic tensions in the former Soviet Union and it could have severe repercussions. (Full story)

“Why don’t you meet Osama bin Laden, invite him to Brussels or to the White House and engage in talks, ask him what he wants and give it to him so he leaves you in peace?” the Russian president was quoted as saying by Britain’s Guardian newspaper on Tuesday.

“You find it possible to set some limitations in your dealings with these bastards, so why should we talk to people who are child-killers?” said Putin, who spoke to a group of foreign journalists and academics late on Monday.

Exactly.

I’m not interested in a dialogue.

We’re at war, folks. The USS Cole, Kenya, Tanzania, The Pentagon, the World Trade Center, Iraq, Shanksville. It’s likely just the beginning.

It’s time to wake up to that fact.

I’ll leave it to James Lileks to wrap this up – he says it far better than I:

I’ve no doubt that if Seattle or Boston or Manhattan goes up in a bright white flash there will be those who blame it all on Bush. We squandered the world’s good will. We threw away the opportunity to atone, and lashed out. Really? You want to see lashing out? Imagine Kabul and Mecca and Baghdad and Tehran on 9/14 crowned with mushroom clouds: that’s lashing out. Imagine the President in the National Cathedral castigating Islam instead of sitting next to an Imam who’s giving a homily. Mosques burned, oil fields occupied, smart bombs slamming into Syrian palaces. We could have gone full Roman on anyone we wanted, but we didn’t. And we won’t.

Which is why this war will be long.

The world will not end. It will roll around in its orbit until Sol expires of famine or indigestion. In the end we’re all ash anyway – but even as ash, we matter. The picture at the top of this page is a sliver taken from a 9/11 camera feed. It’s the cloud that rolled through lower Manhatttan when the towers fell. Paper, steel, furniture, plastic, people. The man who took the picture inhaled the dust of the dead. Somewhere lodged in the lung of a New Yorker is an atom that once belonged to a man who went to work two years ago and never came back. His widow dreads today, because people will be coming and calling, and she’ll have to insist that she’s okay. It’s hard but last year was harder. The kids will be sad and distant, but they take their cues from her, and they sense that it’s hard – but that last year was harder. But what really kills her, really really kills her, is knowing that the youngest one doesn’t remember daddy at all anymore. And she’s the one who has his eyes.

Two years in; the rest of our lives to go.

Remember

by Bryan Strawser · Sep 11, 2004

September 11th has impacted me significantly personally, politically, and professionally. Certainly its impacted me more than I expected it to when I sat that morning in front of a television and watched the world suddenly shift about me —

Personally, 9/11 was a gut-wrenching emotional experience for me. I was driving in Connecticut on my way to visit a store that morning when a peer called to tell me about what had happened. The second plane had just hit, you see. I spent that morning in South Windsor, Connecticut with my team watching as the day unfolded. I remember, that morning, being almost completely in shock.

The emotions came to me on the ride home – alone – listening to the radio. And then more that night on the couch, watching the news until 2 or 3 in the morning.

There are a few memories and images from that time that have always stayed with me —

When I recovered from my shock that morning – it was the realization that hundreds of police, fire, and EMS personnel had gone into those buildings – risked their lives – and as we discovered later that day – many had given their lives to save others.

The second is what happened to me the next morning at work. I was in the my office around 6:30am to meet someone for a long drive and spend the day visiting stores together.

Shortly after I arrived at the office, I heard a loud roar overhead.

“Oh, just an airplane flying by…”, I thought.

Then it hit me – nothing was supposed to be flying. I ran outside and looked up.

It was a flight of Air Force fighters in a formation of five – flying out towards Cape Cod to take up a Combat Air Patrol. Something I’d never seen before outside of an airshow…

Emotionally, 9/11 affected me – like others – greatly. I was fortunate in that I did not lose any friends or family members that day. But I cried many times during the following days – sometimes out of a sense of loss – sometimes in awe of the heroism displayed that morning – sometimes just because I love my country.

I would tear up just driving down the road in the weeks following 9/11 when I would see an American Flag hanging over an overpass – or when I’d hear a sound bite on the radio of Mayor Giuliani, President Bush, or others speaking about 9/11. And, to this day, the video of the Star Spangled Banner being played at Buckingham Palace in London reduces me to a blathering idiot.

Professionally, 9/11 has had a huge impact on how my job is viewed – and what I worry about each day. I’ll always focus on the traditional aspects of retail loss prevention – theft and fraud – but now I’m highly concerned with how we prepare and posture ourselves to better respond to a crisis – how we prevent major incidents – how we coordinate with public safety officials – and on and on —

What I worry about today at work is night and day from what I worried about when I started in this field eleven years ago…

Two photos from that time have always stuck with me..

The first is the widely publicized photograph of President Bush comforting Mayor Giuliani and Governor Pataki during his visit to New York City a few days after 9/11.

The second is a photo (and story) that I first saw months after 9/11 in Dennis Smith’s book Report from Ground Zero.

It’s a photo of Lt. Ray Murphy of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY). He was walking away from the cameraman following the collapse of the first WTC Tower. He had just recovered from that tower collapse and was headed into the still standing WTC tower in order to help others.

He was killed in the collapse of that tower.

This picture has always reminded me of both heroism and sacrifice given freely by the men and women of the FDNY, NYPD, PAPD, and others that day —

In the end, I think we all have the responsibility to remember what happened that day – to us – to our fellow man – here in our own country.

A few weeks ago, while having coffee with a peer in Minneapolis, our conversation steered towards the impact of September 11th on our lives – both personally and professionally.

She pulled out her PDA – tapped on it a few times – and spun it around so that I could read it.

It was her calendar – turned to September 11th, 2004 – and it showed just one word:

Remember

John Galt: We are on Strike!

by Bryan Strawser · Sep 4, 2004

Some deep thoughts from Ayn Rand:

For twelve years, you have been asking: Who is John Galt? This is John Galt speaking. I am the man who loves his life. I am the man who does not sacrifice his love or his values, I am the man who has deprived you of victims and thus has destroyed your world, and if you wish to know why you are perishing – you who dread knowledge – I am the man who will now tell you.

You have heard it said that this is an age of moral crisis. You have said it yourself, half in fear, half in hope that the words had no meaning. You have cried that man’s sins are destroying the world and you have cursed human nature for its unwillingness to practice the virtues you demanded. Since virtue, to you, consists of sacrifice, you have demanded more sacrifices at every successive disaster. In the name of a return to morality, you have sacrificed all those evils which you held as the cause of your plight. You have sacrificed justice to mercy. You have sacrificed independence to unity. You have sacrificed reason to faith. You have sacrificed wealth to need. You have sacrificed self-esteem to self-denial. You have sacrificed happiness to duty.

You have destroyed all that which you held to be evil and achieved all that which you held to be good. Why, then, do you shrink in horror from the sight of the world around you? That world is not the product of your sins, it is the product and the image of your virtues. It is your moral ideal brought into reality in its full and final perfection. You have fought for it, you have dreamed of it, and you have wished it, and I – I am the man who has granted you your wish.

Your ideal had an implacable enemy, which your code of morality was designed to destroy. I have withdrawn that enemy. I have taken it out of your way and out of your reach. I have removed the source of all those evils you were sacrificing one by one. I have ended your battle. I have stopped your motor. I have deprived the world of man’s mind.

Men do not live by the mind, you say? I have withdrawn those who do. The mind is impotent, you say? I have withdrawn those whose mind isn’t. There are values higher than the mind, you say? I have withdrawn those for whom there aren’t.

While you were dragging to your sacrificial altars the men of justice, of independence, of reason, of wealth, of self-esteem – I beat you to it. I reached them first. I told them the nature of the game you were playing and the nature of that moral code of yours, which they had been too innocently generous to grasp. I showed them the way to live by another morality – mine. It is mine that they chose to follow.

All the men who have vanished, the men you hated, yet draded to lost, it is I who have taken them away from you. Do not attempt to find us. Who do not choose to be found. Do not cry that it is our duty to serve you. We do not recognize such duty. Do not cry that you need us. We do not consider need a claim. Do not cry that you own us. You don’t. Do not beg us to return. We are on strike, we, the men of the mind.

– Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

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