Sunday, July 3, 2005

[1863 - Union troops repel assault on Cemetery Ridge during third day of Battle of Gettysburg]

[1878 - George M. Cohan, playwright, songwriter, producer, born in Providence, Rhode Island]

[1906 - George Sanders, Academy Award-winning actor, born in St. Petersburg, Russia]

9-11 Changed Nothing

Our political establishment has adopted the mantra of, "9-11 Changed Everything" as if it were sufficient justification for an unprecedented invasion of Iraq, a terrible human rights record, impotence in dealing with ongoing genocide in Africa, vast expansion of the federal bureaucracy, engorgement of prior corporate employers and cronies, and suppression of the civil rights of US citizens.

The tragedy of 9-11 changed nothing in reality; only our perceptions were altered. Assassins have always walked among us, or lurked just outside our gates. Our greatest President was taken by one. In poorwilliam's lifetime another President (who may have ranked among the greatest) was cut down in his prime by a terrorist attack. These were domestic terrorists, just as were those who brought down a federal building in Oklahoma City with great loss of innocent American lives.

Foreign terrorists filled with hate have descended on great civilizations throughout history. Rome was sacked by barbarians with untold loss of civilian life. We ourselves used terrorist weapons of mass destruction to bring Japan to its knees in WW-II. So why do we say 9-11 changed everything? Is it because it has always happened to the other guys before? Is it that we were exposed to the horrifying pictures live in our living rooms, and then over and over again in replay? Or could it be that we were just scared spitless?

William's Whimsical Words:

Mourn the dead of 9-11, and do not dishonor them by seeking indiscriminate revenge, or turning this Great Nation into a hollow mockery of its former self.

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