Today at lunch, I am sitting in my office having my salad, looking out the window and reading the newspaper. It is September 11, 2012. Eleven years after.
My office overlooks the Capitol, the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials. The Washington Monument. The Pentagon.
From here, I can just barely see the flag that was unfurled this morning on the side of the Pentagon that was struck that morning. Another Tuesday. Another beautiful, blue sky day. Folks who still work in my office were here that day, I was not. Of course they still remember. (We all do.) They heard and felt the impact; nobody saw it hit, as everybody except me keeps their blinds down because the office gets the hot morning sun.
I have long felt that George W. Bush let us down. That the attack shouldn’t have happened. That it should have been foiled.
Remember this?:
On Aug. 6, 2001, President George W. Bush received a classified review of the threats posed by Osama bin Laden and his terrorist network, Al Qaeda. That morning’s “presidential daily brief” — the top-secret document prepared by America’s intelligence agencies — featured the now-infamous heading: “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.” A few weeks later, on 9/11, Al Qaeda accomplished that goal.
Might they have prevented the attack? We will never know.
Well, in today’s NY Times, there is more evidence that the Bush Administration had more than the one presidential daily brief. There were numerous reports, meetings and presidential daily briefings: ON May 1, on June 22, on June 29, on July 9, on July 24. These are the ones the reporter, Kurt Eichenwald, saw excerpts from.
But, and there’s always a but, isn’t there.
But some in the administration considered the warning to be just bluster. An intelligence official and a member of the Bush administration both told me in interviews that the neoconservative leaders who had recently assumed power at the Pentagon were warning the White House that the C.I.A. had been fooled; according to this theory, Bin Laden was merely pretending to be planning an attack to distract the administration from Saddam Hussein, whom the neoconservatives saw as a greater threat. Intelligence officials, these sources said, protested that the idea of Bin Laden, an Islamic fundamentalist, conspiring with Mr. Hussein, an Iraqi secularist, was ridiculous, but the neoconservatives’ suspicions were nevertheless carrying the day. [Emphasis is mine.]
These neocons who got everything so disastrously wrong are the same folks that are working with Romney/Ryan on Foreign Policy. This time they want us to go after Iran and Syria.
He’s been a hero of mine for more than thirty years. A short little guy who I’m pretty sure was bald in high school. But over the years I’ve watched him fight. He’s fought tirelessly for a cleaner environment, a safer world, and for all kinds of tools, programs and systems to help improve the health of Americans.
I’m speaking of course of Representative Henry Waxman (D-CA), past and future Chairman, currently Ranking Minority Member (head Democrat) of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Representative Henry Waxman (D-CA) (Roll Call photo credit)
Energy and Commerce isn’t just any crummy old Committee. Nope. E&C has jurisdiction over a zillion things that touch our lives. Energy (fossil fuels, wind, solar, alternatives), environmental issues (Clean water, clean air, pollution controls on cars and trucks), interstate commerce, the internets (Al Gore was on E&C when he really was instrumental in the start of what became the World Wide Web. So he is actually the father of all blogs, too — thanks Al). E&C is a seriously powerful committee. And when I was a young professional, well, I was an Energy and Commerce Committee groupie. More about that some other time.
Early on, Henry became my hero. And not just because he is incredibly funny. He’s also incredibly smart and quite crafty. Isn’t it nice to know that sometimes heroes just keep on keepin’ on? Henry? Congressman Waxman? Yup. He’s like that. He’s still my hero. He doesn’t disappoint.
You see, today I read that he, along with Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Ranking Member of the Health Subcommittee, released a treasure trove of information to help Americans sort stuff out for November’s election. But it’s simple, clear, and easy to use. That is especially helpful, don’t you think? You’ve got to admit that all of these Medicare/Social Security/Vaginal issues are getting confusing.
But now, now thanks to Henry, now we can sort out just what the Ryan plan will mean closer to home. Because they just released a compilation of what the Ryan Plan will mean in each and every congressional district in the United States. These were put together by an assortment of independent, government and academic thinkers who have analyzed the Paul Ryan Medicare Changes to see what it will mean to you and me. Yup, everybody can now see just exactly what GOP Candidate for Vice President Paul Ryan’s Medicare plan will mean to them and the people in their own little congressional districts. As in right here at home.
The Paul Ryan Medicare Plan; How will it affect your district?
So go ahead. Check it out. Click on it. It took me forever to figure out how to do that, too. Humor me. What would these changes mean in your district? In your life?
I just read that the Washington, DC, metropolitan area is tops! As in Numero Uno. Better than second and third place winners, Denver and Chicago. We are the Champions!
Tuesday evening, just before 7, a huge tree fell half a mile from where I once lived. A man, who seconds before had been simply sitting in traffic, died when the tree crashed down on him as he sat in his car. It was a tragedy that could happen to any one at any time. Unexpected.
Photo Fairfax Police courtesy of The Washington Post
What happened next? Well, the tree’s twin across the way was cut down. Arborists are looking at nearby old, big trees, checking their health, determining if these trees, too, are dangerous. If so, they will be cut.
Of course that’s what they’re doing.
They are protecting human life. It’s the logical next step following such a tragedy. Of course, there will be traffic snarls and hassles as the old diseased trees are culled. It will be a huge pain for commuters. But, you know, that’s OK. I and just about everybody accepts a bit of inconvenience if it means that someone else won’t die. (Which doesn’t mean we won’t all grumble, natch.)
It’s the same with other stuff, too.
In the 60s and 70s, it became clear that fatalities in automobile accidents could be prevented by using seat belts. They became mandatory after a series of Swedish studies demonstrated that fatalities were dramatically reduced when car occupants involved in an accident had buckled up. Seat belts protect folks. Last year in this post I provided some statistics on the benefits of seat belts:
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s latest statistics state that 15,147 Americans survived accidents in 2007 that would have been fatal without seat belts. That’s a lot of people saved by a law that doesn’t really inconvenience us all that much.
We do a lot of things to keep ourselves and our families safe. Of course we do. And when the danger comes from the unknown? Well, that’s when we ratchet up our actions to protect ourselves. It’s common sense.
Remember the Tylenol Murders? Twenty years ago, Tylenol, laced with cyanide, killed seven people in the Chicago area. The murders were never solved. But they did change our lives. Every time I struggle to open a package of virtually anything purchased in the United States, I think of that bastard, those murders. I hope he/she has a horrible case of rheumatoid arthritis in his/her hands and therefore has even more trouble opening those damn packages than the rest of us. I also hope they catch him/her.
It’s common sense to react protectively, isn’t it. It’s what we do as a species. It’s part of our evolutionary trajectory. It is the manifestation of the problem solver in all of us. Stay alive. Protect. Survive.
Well, that’s usually true.
Unless, of course, there is a random lunatic with a gun. Then, well, logic and common sense are suspended as we all enter the Twilight Zone.
Yes, when a guy (and they do all seem to be guys) who gets a bunch of guns (as in lethal weapons) and kills people, randomly, or by specifically targeting individuals, well then we double down on the 2nd Amendment. WE PROTECT HIS RIGHT TO DO IT! We let it happen again. And then, when it happens again, we are shocked, shocked.
Yup, when we should be shouting “STOP THIS MADNESS!” we instead cow-tow to the National Rifle Association and to the cowboys who are oh-so-sure that if they had only been there with their gun, well, then the outcome would be way different. If only ….
Bullshit. It is a fantasy.
Remember when Congresswoman Gabby Giffords was shot? Nineteen people were shot that day at a local grocery story when a crazy person opened fire.
Did you know that seconds/minutes after the shooting, a man carrying his own gun came out of the store and saw somebody holding a gun on a man? Yeah, it’s true. Here’s a smidge of the story:
[Joe] Zamudio was in a nearby drug store when the shooting began, and he was armed. He ran to the scene and helped subdue the killer. Television interviewers are celebrating his courage, and pro-gun blogs are touting his equipment. “Bystander Says Carrying Gun Prompted Him to Help,” says the headline in the Wall Street Journal.
But before we embrace Zamudio’s brave intervention as proof of the value of being armed, let’s hear the whole story. “I came out of that store, I clicked the safety off, and I was ready,” he explained on Fox and Friends. “I had my hand on my gun. I had it in my jacket pocket here. And I came around the corner like this.” Zamudio demonstrated how his shooting hand was wrapped around the weapon, poised to draw and fire. As he rounded the corner, he saw a man holding a gun. “And that’s who I at first thought was the shooter,” Zamudio recalled. “I told him to ‘Drop it, drop it!'”
But the man with the gun wasn’t the shooter. He had wrested the gun away from the shooter. “Had you shot that guy, it would have been a big, fat mess,” the interviewer pointed out.
Yeah. A big, fat mess. Mr. Zamudi would have added to the carnage, not helped. BECAUSE HE DIDN’T KNOW WHAT WAS GOING ON.
When a tragedy like today’s shooting in Aurora, Colorado, happens, there is only one person who knows pretty much what’s happening – the shooter. Yeah, the bad guy. Everybody else is reacting.
And no matter how cool, how brave, how well meaning a would be hero is in a situation, the sane gun owner is unlikely to shoot first. And if he/she doesn’t, the bad guy will. And unlike in the movies, in real life, you can’t just get back up.
It is really time that we all just accept the passing of the Cowboy Era. We have accepted other similar passings: The Middle Ages, The Age of Kings, The Age of Exploration. The Teen Years. Besides, the last gunfight at the OK Corral happened already. You missed it. Get over it. Move on.
How many more massacres are we going to allow before we stop folks from buying assault weapons, multiple guns that can kill multiple people? How many more deaths will it take?
We changed how every item we use every single day is packaged. Because of SEVEN deaths from tainted Tylenol. We took action to prevent the eighth and the eighth didn’t happen.
What’s the death toll from these random acts of violence with guns? At last count, it was, ummm, more than twelve. And that’s just for today.
What will it take for us to come to our senses?
Mr. Saturday night special
Got a barrel that’s blue and cold Ain’t no good for nothin’ But put a man six feet in a hole
Someday, you guys will be considered pioneers. The first know-it-alls. The first to proclaim to the world that I am a sentient being. (Or is it that I am a “senting” being in the sense that I can smell a rat? Or maybe that I am a dog. Whatever.) You all will be among the first to realize that I am a genius.
Everyone else had forgotten her. Put her out of their minds as she stayed strangely silent. Unusually speechless. Not at all noteworthy. Or, perhaps she was just that tree that falls in the woods that nobody heard.
Huh?
She’s back ….
Google Image
Yup, Michele Bachmann is in the news again — saying inappropriate things about other people.
In the last couple of days, she’s said stuff that’s even gotten Speaker John Boehner, among others, trying to distance himself from her craziness.
Here’s a smidge of a write up from the SCTimes (that’s the St. Cloud Minnesota paper for those of you who aren’t up on all your acronyms):
Rep. Michele Bachmann had made fresh allegations of ties between an Islamist movement and Rep. Keith Ellison, even as Bachmann’s fellow Republicans increasingly condemn her calls to investigate the movement’s influence within the U.S. government.
In an interview with radio host Glenn Beck today, Bachmann said Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, “has a long record of being associated with … the Muslim Brotherhood.”
This was, of course, after Michele also claimed that Secretary of State Hilary Clinton’s deputy chief of staff, Huma Abedin, was an infiltrator of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Does she have proof? Of course not. She doesn’t need proof. She has faith!
But those meanies who are criticizing Michele, well, they don’t understand her like I do. Those folks, like so many others, were not followers of FiftyFourAndAHalf back when I explained Michele’s problem to the world. So they just don’t know Michele’s secret. They don’t understand her the way I understand her. And the way you understand her if you were one of the three people who had actually read my blog one year ago, when I explained just what happens to Michele Bachmann sometimes.
Sigh.
So here it is again. There are of course some differences between now and then. But please — don’t make me repeat this next summer.
From July 21, 2011 — I give you the explanation you’ve been waiting for.
TWINSIES
Me and Michele Bachmann are twinsies! And gosh I’m excited to tell you about it. Especially since I just learned it was true! We share something truly special. It’s the big story in today’s news!
Well, there are the regular, ordinary things we have in common. We’re both women, we’re both interested in politics, and we both love to pledge allegiance to the flag! What could be more fun at a slumber party? What’s more, we both believe in and even PRACTICE marriage. I would bet the interest on the national debt, though, that my husband isn’t gay. Now that we’ve all met Michele’s, I don’t think many folks would bet that hers isn’t. So she has lots of time for sleep-overs.
Anyway, the thing we both have most in common are migraines! Did you read about hers? Well I get them too! And I can tell that they affect us both the same way. So we all need to feel really bad that we’ve been so hard on her. I know I do. Because this diagnosis answers a lot of questions for me.
You see, when I get a migraine, I don’t hide in the dark under a pillow. I don’t cringe in agony. I don’t stay home from work, shirking all my responsibilities, waiting for time and pain to pass.
Nope. I get stupid.
I wish I got “dumb” as in “mute.” Then I wouldn’t look so, well, dumb. But I don’t. I talk even though I develop a really-not-funny-and-don’t-you-dare-laugh-at-melinguistic problem. It’s called transient aphasia, and sometimes it comes instead of the headache. The wrong word comes out of my mouth. And the word that comes out isn’t even close to the one I meant to say.
For example, sometimes I tell my friends that I have a “microwave” when I’m trying to say I have a “migraine.” They get confused.
Clearly, my new twinsie, Michele, has aphasia, too. And since we share migraine symptoms — we’ll be BFFs!
Think about it – it must be true. There are so many examples! Like when she said that the first shot in the Revolutionary War was fired in “New Hampshire”? She clearly knew that it was fired in Taxachussetts – she just had a migraine! And you thought she was dumb.
Or when she was naming Founding Fathers, she knew that she wanted to just say “John Adams” but “Quincy” just jumped right there in the middle. So everybody thought that she thought that John Quincy Adams was a Founding Father. Of course she knew he was still a mere lad at the time of the Revolution, she just couldn’t say it right. And you thought she didn’t know the names of the Founding Fathers.
And when she said that those same Founding Fathers fought tirelessly against slavery.
Clearly, she gets migraines like mine a lot.
Poor Michele. Not everybody understands her. Not everybody believes her. Not everybody stops up their mouths to keep from laughing aloud when she speaks.
But I do. Well, I do now.
So here is my pledge. If my new BFF, Michele Bachmann, becomes President, I promise to have lots of sleep-overs at her house. That way I’ll be sure to be with her when she acts all Commander-In-Chief-y, and needs to order the troops during a nuclear confrontation. And when she needs to say
FiftyFourandAHalf 