I hate what has become of our country. On 9/11, I boarded a flight in terminal A in Newark at the same time (in the same terminal) as Flight 93. At the time, I was working for (and flying to) one of the airlines whose planes were hijacked. Midway through the flight to the company’s headquarters, when we realized something was happening and we were being were grounded in Memphis, I called HQ from the airphone and, after my contact told me what was going on, that they had no idea where the planes were, I will never forget when my contact in HQ put her hands over her mouthpiece and whispered, “They’re stabbing our flight attendants.” Two years later, which was the second anniversay of 9/11, I was on a charity ride that visited all three crash sites. The ride was put on by a bunch of the Ground Zero workers (mostly union guys), along with a lot first responders. When we got to Ground Zero on 9/11, it was the first time I had been there in two years. It was also the the first time I cried openly about that day two years earlier. I don’t express emotions often, however, ever since then, on 9/11, I usually have a hard time pushing back the tears…and I usually fail. As I went though Nashville airport this afternoon, having just waited in a long line and having been body scanned, I saw something that also brought tears to my eyes: As I was putting my belt on, I looked over to where a side room was and saw two TSA agents who were apparently giving someone a behind-closed-doors (presumably) strip search. As I finished up, I looked up and saw a man in his late 70s or early 80s sitting down, visibly shaken (or humiliated) and the TSA agents giving him back his belongings. His wife, who had been waiting nearby, came over to help him. As I walked on, after realizing what had happened to this man who was of the age where he could have easily served our country and possibly had a metal hip or knee (causing the detectors to go off), I felt both anger and sorrow for what just occurred. There is no way this old couple were radicalized Islamic terrorists. However, because we now live in a country where political correctness has overcome common sense, our elderly are being terrorized. I hate the politicians and bureaucrats that have created a country where our “security” gives the blue-shirted thugs the ability to do this to innocent people. May they all rot in hell. _______________ “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” Benjamin Franklin
More here:
The Blue-Shirted Gestapo…
Via liberal columnist Jonathan Alter , who I’m assuming has good contacts in deep blue New Jersey. Update : Can’t say I’m all that depressed. I love his union-busting but his views on global warming, Ground Zero Mosque, social issues, sharia etc. are a lot to overlook. (WaPo) — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s office is shooting down a report that he is rethinking his decision not to join the GOP presidential race in 2012. Bloomberg columnist Jonathan Alter tweeted early Wednesday afternoon that Christie had been “conducting focus groups in preparation for a possible run for president in 2012.” Christie spokeswoman Maria Comella issued a flat denial, telling The Fix that the report is “absolutely not true.” Alter has also backed off his original report, tweeting that a different source that he trusts and is very reliable told him that there were no focus groups and that nothing has changed. HT: Jay
Read more from the original source:
Report: Christie Conducting Focus Groups For Possible 2012 Presidential Run – Update: Christie Camp Flatly Denies, Alter Walks Back Initial Claim…
Add the Center for Public Integrity to the small list of leftist organizations still bent on smearing George W. Bush. They blasted this to my inbox this morning a piece from former Ramparts editor Peter Stone implying that the reason Bush didn’t attend Obama’s Ground Zero ceremony was because Obama didn’t offer to pay him a speaker’s fee: When George W. Bush declined President Barack Obama’s invitation to a ceremony at New York City’s Ground Zero after Osama bin Laden was killed, the former president cited his desire to keep a low public profile. But Bush has been high profile on the private, paid speaking circuit: he has raked in millions of dollars since he left office by making scores of speeches that typically earn him six figures a pop. Are the folks at CPI really suggesting that Bush not wanting to give a prominent public appearance in the wake of the killing of Osama bin Laden – a choice that has been roundly applauded in the national media as a classy move – is a hypocritical act? They really can’t make the distinction to saying no to this appearance because of the politics of the moment, while giving speaking tours like all former presidents (who we all know give speeches for flowers and fruit baskets, not dirty dirty money )? This is just the latest ridiculous attack from CPI’s new poorly-named “iWatchNews” portal, which recently launched a vile slander of Gov. Mitch Daniels’ time at Eli Lilly – which established no connection between Daniels and the marketing-focused lawsuits against Lilly during the 1990s, falsely depicted Daniels’ role within the company as having any responsibility for the matters they were sued over (Daniels was in charge of Lilly’s number crunching, not their ad campaigns), and prominently quoted employees of Ralph Nader without sharing that fact. In reaction to my piece detailing CPI’s failure to build a rational or balanced case on their Daniels assault, their communications director commented – calling the Nader employee an “industry analyst” – that the piece had merit because: “Daniels is running for president.” While this is certainly possible, one Indiana emailer responded: “Really? Wow, they’re all about breaking news at the Center for Public Integrity!” At least they’re consistent in their ridiculousness.
See the rest here:
The Center for Public Integrity Smears George W. Bush
This will be the first time in his Presidency that Barack Obama has visited Ground Zero. Think he’s in campaign mode? Betcha they are searching the movie back lots for the Styrofoam pillars today. It’s clear that the White House team is thinking very big when it comes to President Obama’s Thursday visit to Ground Zero,
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Obama Bets Big on Ground Zero Speech
Good judgement on his part. (Politico) — President Obama invited former President George W. Bush on a visit to Ground Zero on Thursday but Bush has declined, according to two people familiar with the situation. Obama will travel to the site of the World Trade Center attacks of Sept. 11 in the days following the killing of Osama bin Laden in a U.S. special forces operation in Pakistan. He will meet with families of Sept. 11 victims, according to the Associated Press.
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Bush Declines Obama’s Ground Zero Visit Invite…
