Kevin Whited | calle viena

The Reason the GOP is So Insistent on Voter Suppression

I’m Relieved that 9/11 Falls on a Sunday This 10th Anniversary

Yes, like almost all Americans and most people on the planet with televisions on 9/11/2001, I remember where I was and what I was doing and what happened on that day.

I remember hearing about it on the radio (NPR) and then turning on the television (I never watch it in the morning) just in time to see the second plane hit.

I went on to work. We went on with classes. After every class, I ran back to my office to check what was on the internet. I saw one tower collapse. I was horrified.

We later heard a rumor that all of our Saudi students stood up and left class. That didn’t happen and to this day, I shun the woman who spread it. She caused me more trouble over the years, though not so much these days, but I have despised her from that time like no other person, save for Dick Cheney.

I’m glad this anniversary is on a Sunday.

I’m also glad that Dick Cheney was unable to turn the day into some jingoistic holiday parade day, as he tried to do.

I am grateful that this administration has embraced what those directly affected by the events of that day did and have done instead: make this a day of service.

I resent and loathe those who use what happened on that day to browbeat others into doing what was clearly a mistake with catastrophic results. That Dick Cheney still walks this earth while little girls in Iraq, humanitarians, decent human beings have been blown to smithereens, shot dead by our troops and forced from their homes, reassures me that there is no GOD. What happened with my government in the 7 1/2 years after 9/11, the cost in lives, in families, in economics, in political will, is just devastating.

(As a side note — Cindy Lauper seems to have just fucked up the National Anthem — wingnuts will go nuts.)

I remember how people who were only tangentially affected by what happened (they were Americans) browbeat those of us directly affected (I know someone who worked in the towers, the new visa system affected my job detrimentally). They are the same ones cheering on Cheney with his book tour and still telling anyone who will listen that getting rid of Saddam Hussein was a good thing.

All I can ask is, at what cost? Stronger leaders in the Middle East have been toppled at a bargain to the West. No lives lost.

That’s what I mean by bargain.

So many lives lost and wasted. So much money spent. So much energy wasted. So many people still convinced that invading Iraq was right.

No. It was just what I feared: a way for W to get that gun of Saddam’s and show his daddy something. That’s it. That’s all Iraq was about.

Sorry, so sorry to all of the men and women who had no choice but to follow orders. Almost all served with honor. Some did not. Some should never have served. With some we just exported our problems. Some would have killed Americans, had they not been in Iraq or Afghanistan. Some did kill Americans anyway (remember Pat Tillman). If all military personnel were honorable, we would not have military police or a military justice system.

Again, I’m glad this 10th anniversary fell on a Sunday — only a Saturday could have been better.

The fall out from Bush is still with us. It’s the sticky shit on my plants, the fires that are burning, the haze in the air, the lives still being lost in Iraq and Afghanistan, the debt that is used as an excuse to drowned our president, the anxiety felt in every part of our economy.

Thanks W. You fucked shit up just right. That you can bring yourself to participate in any 9/11 ceremony just shows that it was all about you and your daddy. What excuse Dick Cheney has, I don’t know. Perhaps he is just a son of a bitch.