Subject: My Thoughts on the Tragedy

From: "Rev. Magdalen" <magdalen@home.com>
Newsgroups: alt.slack
Date: Thu, Sep 13, 2001 1:41 PM
Message-ID: <md6o7.8376$707.3301754@news2.rdc2.tx.home.com>

Since everyone else is doing these little memoirs, I will too.

I clicked on whyaskwhy's "Apeshit" post, just because it was new. I read
it, but thought it was a joke. Then I thought, well, I might as well check
cnn.com just to make sure. Cnn.com was down. Then I tried msnbc.com.
After a long load-in, there was the picture of the second plane exploding,
smoke streaming from the other tower. For a split second, I thought, "Wow!
Whyaskwhy hacked msnbc!" But then st andreux icqed me and told me to put on
the tv, and I knew it was for real.

That morning is just a big blur, rumors flying everywhere -- were the Subs
in NYC ok? a mystery plane that we heard about, then suddenly became a
non-item; a bomb at the capitol that turned out not to have happened, a
bomb at the state department that either didn't exist or was successfully
defused, and the long slow countdown to the hour when we could finally say,
well -- wherever the mystery plane is, if it even exists, surely by now it
is out of fuel.

Then there was time to look at the images, the people who chose to leap to
their deaths rather than burn. The orphans. The ashes. The gaping hole
where the towers once stood. People running across the bridge. You know.

And so, the aftermath. Stang warned us that there would be an upswelling of
glorious patriotism, and its evil sister fascism -- that we must keep watch
and see what they will do, if they will shut down our means of free speech.
I have been pleasantly surprised to see that while this has been somewhat
true, there seems to be an equal number of Americans who have woken up to
the possibility of this threat, and they are speaking out loudly -- "Yes I
support our troops! Yes I say we should kill the bastards that done it!!
But I'm STILL not voting for Bush next time, and I STILL say the man's an
idiot!" Even in the face of the paid bullies that roam the halls of chat
and usenet on behalf of the GOP, these normally weak and feeble "liberals"
are showing much more spine than I could ever have predicted, and I salute
them.

Another thing to come out of it is the weakening of the concept of the
"strong presidency", which we learned about in government class at college.
Over the past few decades, the presidency has grown from being a coequal
member of the Three Branches, to a great position of dominance. The
founding fathers warned us that this might happen and that we should guard
against it, but when Reagan would dimple, or Clinton bite his lip, it was
hard to remember that advice. Slowly the power of the presidency had grown,
until presidents were making war, concluding treaties, refusing to conclude
treaties, threatening even to BREAK treaties signed by Congress, using
executive orders as though they were legislation, conducting elaborate
secret arms-trading operations, using the veto power excessively, and
generally acting as though they were The Man, with Their Court behind them
and the Congress a pack of dogs grovelling at their feet.

Since the tragedy, our president has spent a total of not more than twenty
minutes speaking to us. He has no specific plan, either for rebuilding our
nation or for punishing the perpetrators. No one is looking to him for
advice. It's at the point where people are being paid to say nice things
about him. But Rudy Guiliani has stepped forward boldly and said "Of course
we will rebuild!" And Colin Powell has stepped forward and said, "I have a
plan, here it is." And Congress spoke all day long, taking turns nicely,
pouring forth a stream of eloquence such as I have never heard from that
illustrious body. The FBI/CIA/NSA coalition is sharing evidence and quietly
and efficiently rounding up suspects and getting to the bottom of it. But
the biggest heroes are the lowly common Americans themselves! Even without
a dramatic speech, they lined up to give blood. Even without bold
statements that will go down in history as the finest things ever said,
Americans are showing up to clear the rubble from the trapped people below.
When no one was sure where Bush exactly was, or what he was doing, doctors
and nurses and EMTs showed up for duty at the New York and DC hospitals. We
did this all on our own! We DIDN'T need a strong, manly, crew-cutted leader
after all!

I am proud of my country!
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Subject: Re: My Thoughts on the Tragedy
From: bobdiddley@aol.com (Bobdiddley)
Newsgroups: alt.slack
Date: Thu, Sep 13, 2001 6:56 PM
Message-ID: <20010913185651.20000.00000112@mb-cr.aol.com>

>But
>the biggest heroes are the lowly common Americans themselves! Even without
>a dramatic speech, they lined up to give blood. Even without bold
>statements that will go down in history as the finest things ever said,
>Americans are showing up to clear the rubble from the trapped people below.
>When no one was sure where Bush exactly was, or what he was doing, doctors
>and nurses and EMTs showed up for duty at the New York and DC hospitals. We
>did this all on our own! We DIDN'T need a strong, manly, crew-cutted leader
>after all!
>
Plus the firefighters, many of whom were heading up the stairs to help in
whatever way they could, when the tower came down upon them. Soldiers? These
are real soldiers.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: Re: My Thoughts on the Tragedy
From: "Paul E. Jamison" <pauljmsn@infi.net>
Newsgroups: alt.slack
Date: Thu, Sep 13, 2001 10:47 PM
Message-ID: <3BA16FC0.F5E1DA2C@infi.net>

Rev. Magdalen wrote:

> Since everyone else is doing these little memoirs, I will too.
>

[snip]

>
> ...But
> the biggest heroes are the lowly common Americans themselves! Even without
> a dramatic speech, they lined up to give blood. Even without bold
> statements that will go down in history as the finest things ever said,
> Americans are showing up to clear the rubble from the trapped people below.
> When no one was sure where Bush exactly was, or what he was doing, doctors
> and nurses and EMTs showed up for duty at the New York and DC hospitals. We
> did this all on our own! We DIDN'T need a strong, manly, crew-cutted leader
> after all!
>

Not *a* leader. No, we've discovered that we've got millions of leaders.

I've said before, shamelessly quoted Yamamoto, that we've awakened a sleeping
giant. I think the sleeping giant is us, and it's not just the terrorists that
need to
fear it, but the glorps who think they can run our country for us.

>
> I am proud of my country!

As am I.

Paul E. Jamison
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: Re: My Thoughts on the Tragedy
From: inigo@montoya.net (D. P. Roberts)
Newsgroups: alt.slack
Date: Thu, Sep 13, 2001 9:04 PM
Message-ID: <3ba4562a.4140213@news.earthlink.net>

>I've said before, shamelessly quoted Yamamoto, that we've awakened a sleeping
>giant. I think the sleeping giant is us, and it's not just the terrorists that
>need to fear it, but the glorps who think they can run our country for us.

Unfortunately the vast majority of people don't feel that way. They
think that whatever the leaders say should be followed without
question, even if it means climbing into boxcars or ovens. That
Mineta guy, maybe the Secretary of Transportation, said something like
we should be prepared to give up some of our freedoms for safety.
Problem is, there won't be any safety. KCTV-5's Valissa Smith said
this morning that if you ran into any of the security precautions at
Kansas City International Airport that you "shouldn't be offended" and
to just bend over and spread 'em. Wonder how all these idiot
journalists will feel when the hammer comes down on THEM?
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: Re: My Thoughts on the Tragedy
From: John Starrett <jstarret@carbon.cudenver.edu>
Newsgroups: alt.slack
Date: Thu, Sep 13, 2001 10:38 PM
Message-ID: <3BA16D9E.DA3C8F5A@carbon.cudenver.edu>

"D. P. Roberts" wrote:
<snip>
> KCTV-5's Valissa Smith said
> this morning that if you ran into any of the security precautions at
> Kansas City International Airport that you "shouldn't be offended" and
> to just bend over and spread 'em. Wonder how all these idiot
> journalists will feel when the hammer comes down on THEM?

Personally, I don't think the airport searches and extra precautions
are a bite out of our personal freedom. We are already searched,
profiled, x-rayed and attitude checked at the airport. As far as I
know, all that is being called for is that a much better job be done
of these same things, along with an air marshall on each plane.

What does concern me though is the electronic spying, spy chips in
each microprocessor, and other new measures that are likely to come
down the pike.

--
John Starrett
"We have nothing to fear but the scary stuff."

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Original file name: My Thoughts on the Tragedy - converted on Saturday, 15 September 2001, 20:35