The 21st Anniversary of 9/11/01 - (Did 9/11 change everything?)

We were concluding a multi week car vacation that had taken us to see family and friends from Maryland to Wisconsin to California to Colorado, and Missouri and back. The “just the basics” highway motel in tiny Greenup, Illinois was, thankfully, open with vacancies as we arrived after 11:00 PM. Our two young children, then 4 and 1, were just looking to get a little food and then some sleep as September 10, 2001 ended.

We awoke to see the news and gradually packed up the car and headed to the DC area, all the while wondering if we were making a mistake in leaving the quiet Midwest for a hornet’s nest that would be a major military target.

I look at these photos every year. 9/11 changed everything. Or did it? 

For years I said, “Yes.” But, the Al-Qaeda successes ended by 10:30 AM when the heroes of Flight 93 fought and then ended the terror threat while sacrificing their own lives.

Yes, our defense strategy (and airport security) did forever change. But day to day life?  No. There were those at the time who said that Americans must sacrifice more. But, surprisingly, President Bush called on us to live our lives as normally as possible. “Go shopping.” And we did. Our economy did not crash. He was right. Send the signal that the terrorists did not win. The volunteers who comprise our armed services took the fight to the terrorists and the countries that harbored them.

If my two kids born years after 9/11 asked if that day changed everything, I would now have to say, no, it did not.

By contrast, look what happened with America’s response to COVID-19. 

We literally STOPPED shopping, sending millions of workers home as thousands of businesses shuttered by government orders. We shut down schools completely for weeks. Then, only opened them for at-home lessons over the computer. Masks began to be worn. National and local Elections were conducted, without proper security, by mail. 

The physical and mental health consequences of COVID -19 were and are still devastating.  The 6, 12 or 18 months of nothing but “virtual” schooling has demonstrably been shown to have caused dramatic and probably permanent learning losses, especially amongst the least privileged children in our nation.

Even today, 30 months after America responded to COVID, millions of people wear masks as readily as they wear socks with their shoes. Government employees might still be working from home three, four, or five days a week in many departments.

Who to blame? Al Qaeda? China? Donald Trump? Anthony Fauci? Joe Biden? Yes. (except Al Qaeda). But really, wasn’t it the local and national media which cleverly hyped us into a panic to draw more readers and viewers as well as impact the potential for certain candidates to win elective office?

Donald Trump’s inexperience caused him to rely greatly on experts whom he didn’t really know. When Birx and Fauci share frightful mortality projections, Trump didn’t have a core philosophical foundation to NOT implement the unprecedented “15 days to slow the spread” to protect hospital access. Shutting things down made no sense to me. By what logic would they be allowed to re-open, I asked. It’s a virus and we didn’t anticipate a vaccine for five or more years. But, I did accept the logic of flattening the curve to save the hospitals.  Soon to be followed by 30 more days. By the end of that period, while Trump knew the “cure was worse than the disease,” it was too late. Protecting the hospitals was no longer the goal. The unrealistic goal of “Zero COVID” seemed to be the aim. Schools stayed shuttered in most of the country the following Fall, despite  his own Education Department pushing hard ( https://youtu.be/CQG835FyulE ) for a full reopening and with ample evidence that children were safe from serious harm.

So,  no, 9/11/01 did not change America. The date that changed everything is Friday, March 13, 2020.

TV News as it happened

Four year old Kristen looking for toothpaste on 9/11.

 

Washington Post Gets It Right

It was nice to read in Tuesday's Washington Post (2/2/10) some common sense from liberals for a change. Lots of my conservative friends despise the Post for its liberal leanings and they are correct in their appraisal. The Post used a meaningless "macaca" comment by Sen. George Allen to skewer him day after day in the 2006 campaign. But, they do provide a good overall picture of the news of the day. With the downsizing of the Washington Times, it is sadly now the only real choice for us here in the D.C. suburbs. And every now and then they seem to get it right. They just don't wage campaigns against Democrats like they do against Republicans when they find the opportunity.

The Post editorialized in favored of the Iraq war, for example. In 2008, few were surprised when they endorsed inexperienced Democrat Barack Obama for president against John McCain. To me it made little logical sense because Obama's main campaign theme against Hillary Clinton was his opposition to the Iraq War. The Post supported the war. But, despite that, in the end they will side with the Democrat.

The 9/11 attack caused a number of Democrats to rethink their positions on the dangers of terrorism and how we should respond to it. Jewish American Democrats seemed to be particularly attuned to the dangers of terrorism. Leading Democrats like late actor Ron Silver and Senator Joe Lieberman actually supported the Republican Presidential candidate in 2004 and 2008 respectively. Tuesday, it was liberal Richard Cohen who opined "There is almost nothing the Obama administration does regarding terrorism that makes me feel safer." He continues, "more is at stake here than America's image abroad -- namely the security and peace of mind of Americans in America. "

Also, the Sally Jenkins column in Tuesday's Washington Post:"Tebow's 30-second ad hasn't even run yet, but it already has provoked "The National Organization for Women Who Only Think Like Us" to reveal something important about themselves: They aren't actually "pro-choice" so much as they are pro-abortion." And Jenkins herself is Pro-Choice.

I have no hope that Cohen or Jenkins will endorse many conservative ideas but it is clear to me that both the Pro-Life view and an aggressive war on terror are mainstream positions, and the approaches favored by liberals are as far left as a lot of us have been saying for years.

UNBELIEVABLE!

As I told my wife, I can't believe I "supported" this guy in the 2008 Democratic Primaries.  Okay, I didn't ever actually vote for him nor did I send his campaign any money.  But I rooted for him against Hillary Clinton because I was so tired of the Clinton "dynasty."  

George W. Bush is looking more and more like the bravest, strongest and toughest President we have ever had.  Okay, that's a lot of Presidents, but still he was unafraid to take bold new chances and actually wage a WAR ON TERRORISM.  I urge you to read this George W. Bush speech on the War on Terror from 2005 and even watch the video.  Creating Guantanamo as a place to keep enemy combatants and using non-traditional means to deal with them.  That used to be the way we fought a war.  FDR was unafraid of hurting people's feelings and rights because he wanted America to win World War II. This guy, Obama, has pulled right back to where Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter had put this country.  Being tepid and timid and weak against terrorists.  Obama is so concerned with his Nobel Peace Prize image that he will no longer wage this war against terrorism -- he will treat it as a criminal matter.  

These last two weeks have shown Obama is just going to drive this country as far to the left as he can make it go.  He's lost the center, as seen in the November 3 elections, so he's pushed for a Health Care takeover vote by the house, he's minimized the significance of the Fort Hood Terror Attacks by Nidal Hasan and now he's bringing Khalid Sheikh Mohamed from Guantanamo to New York for a trial.  And he is dithering about Afghanistan, which he had declared a year ago as a war we should be fighting.  Now, since his left wing wants out, Obama refused to affirm General McCrystal's request for an increase of 40,000 troops so we can wage this war properly.  All he has left, politically, is his far left base and the mainstream media.  All he can hope is that he can get them so enthused by his far left liberalism that they will overpower the independents and Conservatives who are just apoplectic at what has happened in just the last ten months under this guy.

I usually try to write with respect towards the office of the President but I am so  peeved this week that I have not addressed our President with the respect I usually do.  I will try to do better in the future...

Why I'm No Longer A Democrat

1) Foreign Policy -- During the Cold War, liberal Democrats (yes, there used to be conservatives in the Democratic Party) continually sought to downplay the harshness of communism and attempted to accommodate rather than confront the Soviet Union.

Today, Democrats again seek to accommodate rather than confront terrorism.  The Ft. Hood shooting was clearly a case of Islamic jihad and yet the President and his supporters strongly resist the obvious.  

Yesterday, a friend on Facebook posted something observing the 20th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Someone commented that the fall of the wall was probably a good thing, but that the "trillionaire" politicians needed to create a "War on Terror" to keep the military industrial complex making money.  Thankfully, my friend could write from real experience in living in Germany in the 1970s that there was terrorism and that the communist countries made their citizens terrified.  

Oh, for the clarity on the war on terror that George W. Bush had!  

2) Economic Policy -- Democrats are insistent that the free market is flawed and must have so many governmental intrusions and regulations for it to function fairly.  The health insurance debate, the "cash for clunkers" program, the $8,000 House Purchase Tax Credit are just three recent examples.

3) Social Policy -- Democrats believe that government should be intruding on most aspects of your life, except when it comes to traditional values like life ("abortion rights") and marriage ("gay marriage").  In those areas, they are eager to let everyone do whatever they want to!

Ralph Peters 9/11 Column

Ralph Peters' September 11, 2009 column:

"Eight years ago today, our homeland was attacked by fanatical Muslims inspired by Saudi Arabian bigotry. Three thousand American citizens and residents died.

We resolved that we, the People, would never forget. Then we forgot.

We've learned nothing.

\Instead of cracking down on Islamist extremism, we've excused it.

Instead of killing terrorists, we free them.

Instead of relentlessly hunting Islamist madmen, we seek to appease them.

Instead of acknowledging that radical Islam is the problem, we elected a president who blames America, whose idea of freedom is the right for women to suffer in silence behind a veil -- and who counts among his mentors and friends those who damn our country or believe that our own government staged the tragedy of September 11, 2001.

Instead of insisting that freedom will not be infringed by terrorist threats, we censor works that might offend mass murderers. Radical Muslims around the world can indulge in viral lies about us, but we dare not even publish cartoons mocking them."

9/11 Anniversary

Some quick thoughts about the attacks that took place eight years ago today.  In the news today was a report about efforts to develop a curriculum for teaching about 9-11.  Since I home school our kids, I thought it a worthwhile site to look up. It is learnabout9-11.org .  Although I did not yet purchase the curriculum, my 12 year old daughter and I did view the 12 minute video which summarized what happened on that day.  She was only four when it happened, but she does remember so much of that day as we were getting ready to check out of an Illinois motel and drive to our Maryland home.  We had the TV on in the motel room as the terrible events transpired and we packed up our stuff for the long drive ahead.  She remembers our discussing the wisdom of driving to Washington as we traveled on near desolate highways contemplating the attacks that had been going on that day.  Here we were, in the middle of central Illinois, far from any targets, and we were headed straight for the Washington DC metropolitan area.  No one could say for sure what would happen next, so why not stay in the midwest for a few days?  Well, we just kept on going and got home and thankfully, no attacks have been committed on U.S. soil since that day.

Today, I was reminded of how it felt to watch that first tower collapse to the ground at 10:00 AM.  The plane crash and fires and explosions were bad, of course, but somehow the pancaking of the entire tower brought the true nature of this awful and devastating tragedy home.