This Just In ...

 
Here are, in my view, interesting, noteworthy columns and articles from the past week that I highly recommend (You will note that on occasion, I do not endorse the opinions of the author and may point that out. Despite my disagreements, I still feel the piece is worth a read).


The 9/11 overreaction? Nonsense

"America's current demoralization is not a result of the War on Terror."


The experience of a lifetime

"As we passed through security to begin our tour, a cell phone rang. One of the members of our tour was being notified that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. We proceeded to a small star-like emblem on the floor of the Capitol under the dome. It is recognized as the center point of Washington DC. It was a fateful place to be when you become aware of the most infamous day in American history.

We noted a quickened pace in the steps of the staffers passing us. Some began to move in a trot or near running pass. My wife, showing worry, questioned the guide as to whether this behavior was unusual. The guide, a long-time Capitol staffer, stated in a calming way, ‘No.’ It was only appropriate to say that at this point that all hell broke loose.

A lady officer started running at me screaming ‘Get out of here.’ It is an image burned into my mind forever."


Florida students witnessed the moment Bush learned of 9/11

"For approximately seven minutes the president stayed in the classroom while the students proudly read 'The Pet Goat' to him. He was later criticized for not leaving immediately, but to the young people in that classroom, he made the right decision."


Ten years after

"Before TSA was created, private contractors paid airport inspectors not much more than minimum wage. They weren't very good. Now we spend five times as much, and they're still not very good.

Today even the TSA knows that private security is better. In one of its own tests, its screeners in Los Angeles missed 75 percent of explosives planted by inspectors. In San Francisco, one of the few cities allowed to have privately managed security, screeners missed 20 percent."


 We'll never get over it, nor should we

“The look on the face of a young Asian woman on Sixth Avenue in the 20s, as she looked upward. The votive candles on the street and the spontaneous shrines that popped up, the pictures of saints. The Xeroxed signs that covered every street pole downtown. A man or a woman in a family picture from a wedding or a birthday or bar mitzvah. ‘Have you seen Carla? Last seen Tuesday morning in Windows on the World.’ The bus driver as I fumbled in my wallet to find my transit card. ‘Free rides today,’ he mumbled, in a voice on autopilot. The Pompeii-like ash that left a film on everything in town, all the way to the Bronx. The smell of burning plastic that lingered for weeks.”


Never forget 9/11? If only it were that easy

"It's also inappropriate to feel grateful for the attack on the World and the Pentagon. But I am."


12 words to describe Obama's jobs speech

“Thursday night’s show by President Obama struck me as…”


Now You’re Messin’ with a Son of a B*tch!

"Originally, “son of a bitch” (n), was a term chiefly used in the United States to describe an odious scallywag whom everyone disliked or something that was very difficult or unpleasant, such as, 'that lug nut on that wheel was one tight son of a bitch.'But the culture has changed, and with it the Church." Trade Center