Many of my fellow bloggers are posting tributes to those who fell on 9/11, or recollections of a sort — mine is closest to Ace's, if you care — but I can't form anything of which I'm proud.

I hate to say it, but can't be sure I clearly recall 9/11 anymore, and in fact, I'm pretty sure I don't.

I remember flashes of details, but what I archived of that September morning were little more than a swirl of naked unformed emotions I've never been able to articulate and I know I never will, and I know the memories of that day were rewritten and rewritten again in my mind in the days that followed.

One thing I recall with perfect certainty, without reservation. How unbelievably, beautifully crisp and blue the sky was that morning in the Hudson Valley after it all happened.

I lived in a little town on a bluff overlooking the Hudson River at the time called New Windsor.

In the days and weeks that followed, as the rest of the country was coming to grips with the magnitude of the total loss, we were watching funerals of our neighbors in the surrounding small towns, and hearing the survival stories of others. Again, I don't trust the memories and can't channel the emotions, and I won't cheapen the memories of those lost with what I do recall with forced sentimentality.

Those of you who lost someone that day or part of yourself, you have my sincere condolences. For my neighbor across the street, the NYPD cop that aged years in the months that followed, I'm sorry I could not take on part of your burden.

For the rest, I simply have nothing worth saying.

Sorry.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 09:36 AM | Comments (18) | Add Comment
Post contains 293 words, total size 2 kb.

Ed Freeman, a helicopter pilot that flew fourteen missions into a hot landing zone to re-supply the 7th Cavalry and evacuate wounded soldiers in the Ia Drang Valley, has died at 80.

Check out Argghhh! for more.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 07:26 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 51 words, total size 1 kb.

Chef Julia Child: OSS spy?

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 06:44 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
Post contains 13 words, total size 1 kb.

Your latest global warming hysteria, courtesy of one Oliver Tickell:

We need to get prepared for four degrees of global warming, Bob Watson told the Guardian last week. At first sight this looks like wise counsel from the climate science adviser to Defra. But the idea that we could adapt to a 4C rise is absurd and dangerous. Global warming on this scale would be a catastrophe that would mean, in the immortal words that Chief Seattle probably never spoke, "the end of living and the beginning of survival" for humankind. Or perhaps the beginning of our extinction.

The collapse of the polar ice caps would become inevitable, bringing long-term sea level rises of 70-80 metres. All the world's coastal plains would be lost, complete with ports, cities, transport and industrial infrastructure, and much of the world's most productive farmland. The world's geography would be transformed much as it was at the end of the last ice age, when sea levels rose by about 120 metres to create the Channel, the North Sea and Cardigan Bay out of dry land. Weather would become extreme and unpredictable, with more frequent and severe droughts, floods and hurricanes. The Earth's carrying capacity would be hugely reduced. Billions would undoubtedly die.

Why, isn't that just peachy?

Tickell's solution to the problem? He doesn't actually have one, but he won't tell you that because he's busy whoring a book, trying to cash in on the fear to the same easily-fooled people who bought into the end of the world event known as Y2K... and we know how that turned out.

Here's the facts, folks.

The temperature of the Earth rose nearly one whole degree over the past century, but has actually been falling for the past decade (PDF).

As it now stands, the global temperature now is roughly near the median temperature of the last 2,400 years.

The highest temperatures, as recorded via the chemical record of deep-core Greenland glaciers, were during the height of the Roman Empire. Obviously, this was due to Nero's fiddling while Rome burned fossil fuels.

Over a longer-term view, the relative stability of the global temperature during the most recent interglacial period is more pronounced.

Again, current global temperatures are roughly around the median temperature of the past 10,000 years. Thag the caveman must have had a Buick.

Now let us look at the past 100,000 years, so that we understood how good we've had it as humans—there wasn't a bikini season for the previous 90,000 years.

"Ah-hah!" I can hear Global Warming true believers shouting. "See how the rise of human civilization coincides with global warming? Die, Heretic!" Rest assured I will at some point, but it most likely won't be because of global warming, as an even longer view reveals. Let's look back 420,000 years.

I'm pretty sure we weren't burning many fossil fuels way back when, as "we" didn't exist.

Once again, global temperatures seem to be part of a natural, poorly understood cycle, and our current interglacial period seems ominously close to being at an end.

I'll now turn you over to Drs. Richard A. Muller and Gordon J. MacDonald, whose charts I've been so shamelessly borrowing thus far from the introduction of Ice Ages and Astronomical Causes: data, spectral analysis, and mechanisms, for the big let down for the Global Warming Faithful.

From this plot, it is clear that most of the last 420 thousand years (420 kyr) was spent in ice age. The brief periods when the record peaks above the zero line, the interglacials, typically lasted from a few thousand to perhaps twenty thousand years.

These data should frighten you. All of civilization developed during the last interglacial, and the data show that such interglacials are very brief. Our time looks about up. Data such as these are what led us to state, in the Preface, that the next ice age is about to hit us, any millennium now. It does not take a detailed theory to make this prediction. We don't necessarily know why the next ice age is imminent (at least on a geological time scale), but the pattern is unmistakable.

The real reason to be frightened is that we really don't understand what causes the pattern. We don't know why the ice ages are broken by the short interglacials. We do know something – that the driving force is astronomical. We’ll describe how we know that in Chapter 2. We have models that relate the astronomical mechanisms to changes in climate, but we don't know which of our models are right, or if any of them are. We will discuss these models in some detail in this book. Much of the work of understanding lies in the future. It is a great field for a young student to enter.

Muller and MacDonald end their book's introduction noting that we'll probably see gradual rises in temperature through the middle of this century, but the historical record suggests that it is a cooling, nor a warming, that is in the Earth's future, and that the mechanisms are not understood, clearly predate human influence, and that there is absolutely nothing we can do about it.

Feel free to disagree. However, as you run to higher ground, please just leave me the keys to the beach house, will you?

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 09:19 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 915 words, total size 6 kb.

[Repost]

"Be Seated."

"Men, this stuff we hear about America wanting to stay out of the war, not wanting to fight, is a lot of bullshit. Americans love to fight - traditionally. All real Americans love the sting and clash of battle. When you were kids, you all admired the champion marble player; the fastest runner; the big league ball players; the toughest boxers. Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser. Americans despise cowards. Americans play to win - all the time. I wouldn't give a hoot in hell for a man who lost and laughed. That's why Americans have never lost, not ever will lose a war, for the very thought of losing is hateful to an American."

"You are not all going to die. Only two percent of you here today would die in a major battle. Death must not be feared. Every man is frightened at first in battle. If he says he isn't, he's a goddamn liar. Some men are cowards, yes! But they fight just the same, or get the hell shamed out of them watching men who do fight who are just as scared. The real hero is the man who fights even though he is scared. Some get over their fright in a minute under fire, some take an hour. For some it takes days. But the real man never lets fear of death overpower his honor, his sense of duty to this country and his innate manhood."

"All through your army career you men have bitched about "This chickenshit drilling." That is all for a purpose. Drilling and discipline must be maintained in any army if for only one reason -- INSTANT OBEDIENCE TO ORDERS AND TO CREATE CONSTANT ALERTNESS. I don't give a damn for a man who is not always on his toes. You men are veterans or you wouldn't be here. You are ready. A man to continue breathing must be alert at all times. If not, sometime a German son-of-a-bitch will sneak up behind him and beat him to death with a sock full of shit."

"There are 400 neatly marked graves somewhere in Sicily all because one man went to sleep on his job -- but they were German graves for we caught the bastard asleep before his officers did. An Army is a team. Lives, sleeps, eats, fights as a team. This individual heroic stuff is a lot of crap. The bilious bastards who wrote that kind of stuff for the Saturday Evening Post don't know any more about real fighting, under fire, than they do about fucking. We have the best food, the finest equipment, the best spirit and the best fighting men in the world. Why, by God, I actually pity these poor sons-of-bitches we are going up against. By God, I do!"

"My men don't surrender. I don't want to hear of any soldier under my command being captured unless he is hit. Even if you are hit, you can still fight. That's not just bullshit, either. The kind of man I want under me is like the lieutenant in Libya, who, with a Lugar against his chest, jerked off his helmet, swept the gun aside with one hand and busted hell out of the Boche with the helmet. Then he jumped on the gun and went out and killed another German: All this with a bullet through his lung. That's a man for you."

"All real heroes are not story book combat fighters either. Every man in the army plays a vital part. Every little job is essential. Don't ever let down, thinking your role is unimportant. Every man has a job to do. Every man is a link in the great chain. What if every truck driver decided that he didn't like the whine of the shells overhead, turned yellow and jumped headlong into the ditch? He could say to himself, "They won't miss me -- just one in thousands." What if every man said that? Where in hell would we be now? No, thank God, Americans don't say that! Every man does his job; every man serves the whole. Every department, every unit, is important to the vast scheme of things. The Ordnance men are needed to supply the guns, the Quartermaster to bring up the food and clothes to us -- for where we're going there isn't a hell of a lot to steal. Every last man in the mess hall, even the one who heats the water to keep us from getting the GI shits has a job to do. Even the chaplain is important, for if we get killed and if he is not there to bury us we'd all go to hell."

"Each man must not only think of himself, but of his buddy fighting beside him. We don't want yellow cowards in this army. They should all be killed off like flies. If not they will go back home after the war and breed more cowards. The brave men will breed brave men. Kill off the goddamn cowards and we'll have a nation of brave men."

"One of the bravest men I ever saw in the African campaign was the fellow I saw on top of a telegraph pole in the midst of furious fire while we were plowing toward Tunis. I stopped and asked what the hell he was doing up there at that time. He answered, "Fixing the wire, sir." "Isn't it a little unhealthy right now?," I asked. "Yes sir, but this goddamn wire's got to be fixed." There was a real soldier. There was a man who devoted all he had to his duty, no matter how great the odds, no matter how seemingly insignificant his duty might appear at the time."

"You should have seen those trucks on the road to Gabes. The drivers were magnificent. All day and all night they rolled over those son-of-a-bitching roads, never stopping, never faltering from their course, with shells bursting around them all the time. We got through on good old American guts. Many of these men drove over forty consecutive hours. These weren't combat men. But they were soldiers with a job to do. They did it -- and in a whale of a way they did it. They were part of a team. Without them the fight would have been lost. All the links in the chain pulled together and that chain became unbreakable."

"Don't forget, you don't know I'm here. No word of the fact is to be mentioned in any letters. The world is not supposed to know what the hell became of me. I'm not supposed to be commanding this Army. I'm not even supposed to be in England. Let the first bastards to find out be the goddamn Germans. Someday I want them to raise up on their hind legs and howl, 'Jesus Christ, it's the goddamn Third Army and that son-of-a-bitch Patton again.'"

"We want to get the hell over there. We want to get over there and clear the goddamn thing up. You can't win a war lying down. The quicker we clean up this goddamn mess, the quicker we can take a jaunt against the purple pissing Japs an clean their nest out too, before the Marines get all the goddamn credit."

"Sure, we all want to be home. We want this thing over with. The quickest way to get it over is to get the bastards. The quicker they are whipped, the quicker we go home. The shortest way home is through Berlin. When a man is lying in a shell hole, if he just stays there all day, a Boche will get him eventually, and the hell with that idea. The hell with taking it. My men don't dig foxholes. I don't want them to. Foxholes only slow up an offensive. Keep moving. And don't give the enemy time to dig one. We'll win this war but we'll win it only by fighting and by showing the Germans we've got more guts than they have."

"There is one great thing you men will all be able to say when you go home. You may thank God for it. Thank God, that at least, thirty years from now, when you are sitting around the fireside with your grandson on your knees, and he asks you what you did in the great war, you won't have to cough and say, 'I shoveled shit in Louisiana.' No, Sir, you can look him straight in the eye and say, 'Son, your Granddaddy rode with the Great Third Army and a Son-of-a-Goddamned-Bitch named George Patton!'"

"That is all."

God Bless the veterans of the Great Crusade launched on this day in Normandy, France in 1944, and the soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen that today carry on that same fighting spirit.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 10:02 AM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
Post contains 1500 words, total size 8 kb.

On this day in 1775, the minutemen first stood their ground and started a revolution. Jules Crittenden compiles a series of first-hand accounts in April Morning.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 09:00 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 32 words, total size 1 kb.

Originally posted on Nov 11, 2005

Our church was honored this past weekend when three American soldiers presented our congregation with a flag in recognition of the small acts we have performed for our military at home and aboard. As they presented the flag, the sergeant leading the detail explained the significance of each fold.

Via US History.org:

1. The first fold of our flag is a symbol of life.
2. The second fold is a symbol of our belief in the eternal life.
3. The third fold is made in honor and remembrance of the veteran departing our ranks who gave a portion of life for the defense of our country to attain a peace throughout the world.
   
4. The fourth fold represents our weaker nature, for as American citizens trusting in God, it is to Him we turn in times of peace as well as in times of war for His divine guidance.
5. The fifth fold is a tribute to our country, for in the words of Stephen Decatur, "Our country, in dealing with other countries,
   may she always be right; but it is still our country, right or wrong."
6. The sixth fold is for where our hearts lie. It is with our heart that we pledge llegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it tands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
7. The seventh fold is a tribute to our Armed Forces, for it is through the Armed Forces that we protect our country and our flag against all her enemies, whether they be found within or without the boundaries of our republic.
8. The eighth fold is a tribute to the one who entered in to the valley of the shadow of death, that we might see the light of day, and to honor mother, for whom it flies on Mother's Day.
9. The ninth fold is a tribute to womanhood; for it has been through their faith, love, loyalty and devotion that the character of the men and women who have made this country great have been molded.
10. The tenth fold is a tribute to father, for he, too, has given his sons and daughters for the defense of our country since they were first born.
11. The eleventh fold, in the eyes of a Hebrew citizen, represents the lower portion of the seal of King David and King Solomon, and glorifies, in their eyes, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
12. The twelfth fold, in the eyes of a Christian citizen,
    represents an emblem of eternity and glorifies, in their eyes, God the Father, the Son, and Holy Ghost.
13. When the flag is completely folded, the stars are uppermost, reminding us of our national motto, "In God we Trust."

A sincere thanks to all of you who have served our nation's military.

Your sacrifices are not forgotten.

Update: Jonn Lilyea (Sergeant First Class, US Army-Retired) has a post from Arlington National Cemetery, including video of the wreath-laying at the Tomb of the Unknowns over at This Ain't Hell.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 12:22 PM | Comments (24) | Add Comment
Post contains 512 words, total size 3 kb.

For one who was born and grew up in the small towns of the Midwest, there is a special kind of nostalgia about the Fourth of July.

I remember it as a day almost as long-anticipated as Christmas. This was helped along by the appearance in store windows of all kinds of fireworks and colorful posters advertising them with vivid pictures.

No later than the third of July - sometimes earlier - Dad would bring home what he felt he could afford to see go up in smoke and flame. We'd count and recount the number of firecrackers, display pieces and other things and go to bed determined to be up with the sun so as to offer the first, thunderous notice of the Fourth of July.

I'm afraid we didn't give too much thought to the meaning of the day. And, yes, there were tragic accidents to mar it, resulting from careless handling of the fireworks. I'm sure we're better off today with fireworks largely handled by professionals. Yet there was a thrill never to be forgotten in seeing a tin can blown 30 feet in the air by a giant "cracker" - giant meaning it was about 4 inches long.

But enough of nostalgia. Somewhere in our growing up we began to be aware of the meaning of days and with that awareness came the birth of patriotism. July Fourth is the birthday of our nation. I believed as a boy, and believe even more today, that it is the birthday of the greatest nation on earth.

There is a legend about the day of our nation's birth in the little hall in Philadelphia, a day on which debate had raged for hours. The men gathered there were honorable men hard-pressed by a king who had flouted the very laws they were willing to obey. Even so, to sign the Declaration of Independence was such an irretrievable act that the walls resounded with the words "treason, the gallows, the headsman's axe," and the issue remained in doubt.

The legend says that at that point a man rose and spoke. He is described as not a young man, but one who had to summon all his energy for an impassioned plea. He cited the grievances that had brought them to this moment and finally, his voice falling, he said, "They may turn every tree into a gallows, every hole into a grave, and yet the words of that parchment can never die. To the mechanic in the workshop, they will speak hope; to the slave in the mines, freedom. Sign that parchment. Sign if the next moment the noose is around your neck, for that parchment will be the textbook of freedom, the Bible of the rights of man forever."

He fell back exhausted. The 56 delegates, swept up by his eloquence, rushed forward and signed that document destined to be as immortal as a work of man can be. When they turned to thank him for his timely oratory, he was not to be found, nor could any be found who knew who he was or how he had come in or gone out through the locked and guarded doors.

Well, that is the legend. But we do know for certain that 56 men, a little band so unique we have never seen their like since, had pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor. Some gave their lives in the war that followed, most gave their fortunes, and all preserved their sacred honor.

What manner of men were they? Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists, 11 were merchants and tradesmen, and nine were farmers. They were soft-spoken men of means and education; they were not an unwashed rabble. They had achieved security but valued freedom more. Their stories have not been told nearly enough.

John Hart was driven from the side of his desperately ill wife. For more than a year he lived in the forest and in caves before he returned to find his wife dead, his children vanished, his property destroyed. He died of exhaustion and a broken heart.

Carter Braxton of Virginia lost all his ships, sold his home to pay his debts, and died in rags. And so it was with Ellery, Clymer, Hall, Walton, Gwinnett, Rutledge, Morris, Livingston and Middleton.

Nelson personally urged Washington to fire on his home and destroy it when it became the headquarters for General Cornwallis. Nelson died bankrupt.

But they sired a nation that grew from sea to shining sea. Five million farms, quiet villages, cities that never sleep, 3 million square miles of forest, field, mountain and desert, 227 million people with a pedigree that includes the bloodlines of all the world.

In recent years, however, I've come to think of that day as more than just the birthday of a nation.

It also commemorates the only true philosophical revolution in all history.

Oh, there have been revolutions before and since ours. But those revolutions simply exchanged one set of rules for another. Ours was a revolution that changed the very concept of government.

Let the Fourth of July always be a reminder that here in this land, for the first time, it was decided that man is born with certain God-given rights; that government is only a convenience created and managed by the people, with no powers of its own except those voluntarily granted to it by the people.

We sometimes forget that great truth, and we never should.

Happy Fourth of July.

Ronald Reagan
President of the United States
1981

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 08:23 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 932 words, total size 5 kb.

Oh, wait a minute. I might have read that too quickly.

It seems that the memo was from 1864, the President was Lincoln, and he told Meade to attack-attack-ATTACK until Lee's Army of Northern Virginia was destroyed, even as "peace Democrats" (gee, this sounds familiar) advocated for surrender and withdrawal.

I wonder if there is some sort of lesson to be learned here.... nah.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 06:14 PM | Comments (16) | Add Comment
Post contains 86 words, total size 1 kb.

"Be Seated."

"Men, this stuff we hear about America wanting to stay out of the war, not wanting to fight, is a lot of bullshit. Americans love to fight - traditionally. All real Americans love the sting and clash of battle. When you were kids, you all admired the champion marble player; the fastest runner; the big league ball players; the toughest boxers. Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser. Americans despise cowards. Americans play to win - all the time. I wouldn't give a hoot in hell for a man who lost and laughed. That's why Americans have never lost, not ever will lose a war, for the very thought of losing is hateful to an American."

"You are not all going to die. Only two percent of you here today would die in a major battle. Death must not be feared. Every man is frightened at first in battle. If he says he isn't, he's a goddamn liar. Some men are cowards, yes! But they fight just the same, or get the hell shamed out of them watching men who do fight who are just as scared. The real hero is the man who fights even though he is scared. Some get over their fright in a minute under fire, some take an hour. For some it takes days. But the real man never lets fear of death overpower his honor, his sense of duty to this country and his innate manhood."

"All through your army career you men have bitched about "This chickenshit drilling." That is all for a purpose. Drilling and discipline must be maintained in any army if for only one reason -- INSTANT OBEDIENCE TO ORDERS AND TO CREATE CONSTANT ALERTNESS. I don't give a damn for a man who is not always on his toes. You men are veterans or you wouldn't be here. You are ready. A man to continue breathing must be alert at all times. If not, sometime a German son-of-a-bitch will sneak up behind him and beat him to death with a sock full of shit."

"There are 400 neatly marked graves somewhere in Sicily all because one man went to sleep on his job -- but they were German graves for we caught the bastard asleep before his officers did. An Army is a team. Lives, sleeps, eats, fights as a team. This individual heroic stuff is a lot of crap. The bilious bastards who wrote that kind of stuff for the Saturday Evening Post don't know any more about real fighting, under fire, than they do about fucking. We have the best food, the finest equipment, the best spirit and the best fighting men in the world. Why, by God, I actually pity these poor sons-of-bitches we are going up against. By God, I do!"

"My men don't surrender. I don't want to hear of any soldier under my command being captured unless he is hit. Even if you are hit, you can still fight. That's not just bullshit, either. The kind of man I want under me is like the lieutenant in Libya, who, with a Lugar against his chest, jerked off his helmet, swept the gun aside with one hand and busted hell out of the Boche with the helmet. Then he jumped on the gun and went out and killed another German: All this with a bullet through his lung. That's a man for you."

"All real heroes are not story book combat fighters either. Every man in the army plays a vital part. Every little job is essential. Don't ever let down, thinking your role is unimportant. Every man has a job to do. Every man is a link in the great chain. What if every truck driver decided that he didn't like the whine of the shells overhead, turned yellow and jumped headlong into the ditch? He could say to himself, "They won't miss me -- just one in thousands." What if every man said that? Where in hell would we be now? No, thank God, Americans don't say that! Every man does his job; every man serves the whole. Every department, every unit, is important to the vast scheme of things. The Ordnance men are needed to supply the guns, the Quartermaster to bring up the food and clothes to us -- for where we're going there isn't a hell of a lot to steal. Every last man in the mess hall, even the one who heats the water to keep us from getting the GI shits has a job to do. Even the chaplain is important, for if we get killed and if he is not there to bury us we'd all go to hell."

"Each man must not only think of himself, but of his buddy fighting beside him. We don't want yellow cowards in this army. They should all be killed off like flies. If not they will go back home after the war and breed more cowards. The brave men will breed brave men. Kill off the goddamn cowards and we'll have a nation of brave men."

"One of the bravest men I ever saw in the African campaign was the fellow I saw on top of a telegraph pole in the midst of furious fire while we were plowing toward Tunis. I stopped and asked what the hell he was doing up there at that time. He answered, "Fixing the wire, sir." "Isn't it a little unhealthy right now?," I asked. "Yes sir, but this goddamn wire's got to be fixed." There was a real soldier. There was a man who devoted all he had to his duty, no matter how great the odds, no matter how seemingly insignificant his duty might appear at the time."

"You should have seen those trucks on the road to Gabes. The drivers were magnificent. All day and all night they rolled over those son-of-a-bitching roads, never stopping, never faltering from their course, with shells bursting around them all the time. We got through on good old American guts. Many of these men drove over forty consecutive hours. These weren't combat men. But they were soldiers with a job to do. They did it -- and in a whale of a way they did it. They were part of a team. Without them the fight would have been lost. All the links in the chain pulled together and that chain became unbreakable."

"Don't forget, you don't know I'm here. No word of the fact is to be mentioned in any letters. The world is not supposed to know what the hell became of me. I'm not supposed to be commanding this Army. I'm not even supposed to be in England. Let the first bastards to find out be the goddamn Germans. Someday I want them to raise up on their hind legs and howl, 'Jesus Christ, it's the goddamn Third Army and that son-of-a-bitch Patton again.'"

"We want to get the hell over there. We want to get over there and clear the goddamn thing up. You can't win a war lying down. The quicker we clean up this goddamn mess, the quicker we can take a jaunt against the purple pissing Japs an clean their nest out too, before the Marines get all the goddamn credit."

"Sure, we all want to be home. We want this thing over with. The quickest way to get it over is to get the bastards. The quicker they are whipped, the quicker we go home. The shortest way home is through Berlin. When a man is lying in a shell hole, if he just stays there all day, a Boche will get him eventually, and the hell with that idea. The hell with taking it. My men don't dig foxholes. I don't want them to. Foxholes only slow up an offensive. Keep moving. And don't give the enemy time to dig one. We'll win this war but we'll win it only by fighting and by showing the Germans we've got more guts than they have."

"There is one great thing you men will all be able to say when you go home. You may thank God for it. Thank God, that at least, thirty years from now, when you are sitting around the fireside with your grandson on your knees, and he asks you what you did in the great war, you won't have to cough and say, 'I shoveled shit in Louisiana.' No, Sir, you can look him straight in the eye and say, 'Son, your Granddaddy rode with the Great Third Army and a Son-of-a-Goddamned-Bitch named George Patton!'"

"That is all."

God Bless the veterans of the Great Crusade launched on this day in Normandy, France in 1944, and the soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen that today carry on that same fighting spirit.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 02:23 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 1494 words, total size 8 kb.

Enjoy your vacation, but always, remember them.

Also: The lyrics from Trace Atkins' tribute, Arlington (Video available here).

I never thought that this is where I'd settle down.
I thought I'd die an old man back in my hometown.
They gave me this plot of land,
Me and some other men, for a job well done.

There's a big White House sits on a hill just up the road.
The man inside, he cried the day they brought me home.
They folded up a flag and told my Mom and Dad:
"We're proud of your son."

And I'm proud to be on this peaceful piece of property.
I'm on sacred ground and I'm in the best of company.
I'm thankful for those thankful for the things I've done.
I can rest in peace;
I'm one of the chosen ones:
I made it to Arlington.

I remember Daddy brought me here when I was eight.
We searched all day to find out where my grand-dad lay.
And when we finally found that cross,
He said: "Son, this is what it cost to keep us free."

Now here I am, a thousand stones away from him.
He recognized me on the first day I came in.
And it gave me a chill when he clicked his heels,
And saluted me.

And I'm proud to be on this peaceful piece of property.
I'm on sacred ground and I'm in the best of company.
I'm thankful for those thankful for the things I've done.
I can rest in peace;
I'm one of the chosen ones:
I made it to Arlington.

And everytime I hear twenty-one guns,
I know they brought another hero home to us.

And I'm proud to be on this peaceful piece of property.
I'm on sacred ground and I'm in the best of company.
We're thankful for those thankful for the things we've done.
We can rest in peace;
'Cause we are the chosen ones:
We made it to Arlington.

Yeah, dust to dust,
Don't cry for us:
We made it to Arlington.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 09:53 AM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
Post contains 348 words, total size 2 kb.

A little Presidential Directive here, a little tug there, and my friend Ward Brewer becomes the first blogger with a military vessel of his very own.

The ship you see is the E-01 Cuitlahuac, formerly and soon again to be the DD 574 John Rogers, the longest-serving of the World War II-era Fletcher-class destroyers.

Ward will restore the ship into a floating museum, or begin pillaging, depending on his mood.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 10:25 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 92 words, total size 1 kb.

Got any idea how many times the balance of power has shifted in the Middle East over the past 5000 years, or how many empires have risen, rules, and fallen over the region?

See 5,000 years of history in 90 seconds, courtesy of Maps of War:

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 08:39 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
Post contains 50 words, total size 1 kb.

Michelle Malkin interviews some the surviving Doolittle Raiders and Hornet crewmen over at Hot Air.

Background on the Raiders here, and here.

A special thanks to these brave veterans, the other 25 million surviving veterans of past wars, and the millions of soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines that served before them to to ensure our freedoms.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 11:39 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 66 words, total size 1 kb.

Today more than any other in the past five years, the Left continues to reveal how much they despise the essence of America.

They continue to mock the moment when our President found out that a sneak attack broader in scope and scale than Pearl Harbor was under way. They mock him for showing the same shock and dismay we all felt. They mock him for being moved near to tears as the realization set in that thousands of innocent Americans were dead or dying and that he, the most powerful single man on the planet, was powerless to stop it.

They belittle our pain as a nation, as if only those who had direct friends and family die had a right to grieve, feel pain, or remorse, or anger and resolve.

They lash out against those who do remember what happened under that bright blue September sky, and preemptively lash out against those who would remember future attacks before they've even come to pass.

They refer to memorial services as pornography, and seek to belittle every remembrance, every solemn moment, every tear, every voice raised in anger.

Well, not every voice.

They have plenty of time for their rage and anger. Anger that their peace and love and puppies plan for world peace came crashing down along with aircraft aluminum and structural steel and glass and human bodies that day in Manhattan, Washington, and Shanksville.

Five years later, American Democrats have more hate in their hearts for their own President than they do for the terrorists that killed almost 3,000 of their countrymen. They refuse to confront terrorism. Some would rather blame America and the world they think they understand, rather than face up to the fact that the world we all thought we knew was just an illusion. They are in catastrophic psychological denial, and cannot face the fact that "the other" they have spent their lives providing moral equivalence for were the ones who attacked our country.

It is so much easier to blame Bush than face the fact that we were attacked because we are the beacon of freedom for the world, and the greatest threat to radical Islam. It is so much easier to blame Bush, than realize that decades of denial led us to that horrific moment. If they can only blame Bush for that day—and every day since that their worldview has been shown to be vapid, self-serving, and a fraud—then their denial can go on, and "reality-based community" can continue to live in a world that has refuses to learn, to adapt, to change.

The Left refuses to learn from 9/11 and knows no way forward. It is why they grasp so insistently to the past, clinging to what was and what might have been, instead of moving forward to forcefully determine what should be and what must be done to secure our freedoms for the future. It is they that childishly insist for the "Perfect War" theory, stating a belief that any war not fought with perfect foresight and accuracy is wrong, while knowing securely no war has ever met their standard.

They show that they hate the present and don't understand the lessons of the recent past. They strive for stagnation and stasis and blaming ourselves, but they offer no hope for the future.

They blame Americans for radical Islamic plans for world domination. They vilify our troops instead of the terrorists they fight. They attack western governments fighting for freedom instead of eastern governments and the terrorists they sponsor that are fighting for oppression and destruction of our way of life.

The Left offers America and true liberalism a death sentence, seeking to repeat the failed policies of 30 years in denial.

We will not listen to them again.

That, perhaps, is their greatest fear of all.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 12:57 PM | Comments (155) | Add Comment
Post contains 644 words, total size 4 kb.

1 As satire: brilliant. Not as satire: have you considered increasing your meds?

Posted by: amf at September 11, 2006 02:55 PM (/ckCv)

2 The left is a pathetic mess of agitation and angst, sneering at everyone who has actual beliefs that go deeper than a UN slogan of pap. This was an excellent essay.

Posted by: Stormy70 at September 11, 2006 03:02 PM (SXQle)

3 "...as if only those who had direct friends and family die had a right to grieve, feel pain, or remorse, or anger and resolve." Actually, what we belittle is red-state attempts to claim sole and exclusive ownership of September 11th, by folks who simultaneously feel free to slander anyone who doesn't agree with them. Must be kind of hard to claim New York as your own, while at the same time hating those damned libberuls who actually live there and went through it, huh?

Posted by: Stephen MacEwan at September 11, 2006 03:03 PM (hsJaV)

4 Such hate! Such venom! Such disdain for your fellow Americans! I feel sorry for someone with such a small, fearfull, hate-filled heart as yourself. "A sneak attack broader in scope and scale than Pearl Harbor"? Get real! An attack by Imperial Japan on our Navy vs. an attack by 19 guys armed with box cutters? You are giving aid and comfort to the terrorists with such baseless fear-mongering. It's exactly this kind of thinking that gives power to Al Qaeda. You are really scared by people who have to hide in caves to survive? Grow up. Terrorists win by spreading terror - and you are a perfect example of a terrified person. Bush waves Saddam the boogyman in your face and you cower, afraid to mention that it was Osama bin Laden who attacked us, not Iraq. You think Liberals despise the essence of America? Your rant proves that you know NOTHING of the essence of America, you only know hate. The essense of America is freedom - freedom to be, feel and act differently than yourself. To rejoice in the freedom that lets both of us express our views without fear of government retribution. The essence of America is to stand up to the terrorists without debasing ourselves with torture. The essence of America is to be better than our enemies - to help people, not destroy them. To eliminate terrorist breeding grounds, not create them with our arrogance and stupidity like we've done in Iraq. In other words, the true essence of America is the exact opposite of you, George W Bush and your vicious posting.

Posted by: liberalpercy at September 11, 2006 03:11 PM (CMyz0)

5 I find it amusing to watch the right wing nuts lose their minds now that the left is bringing the truth to light in so many ways. This Novemeber is going to be fun!

Posted by: Brent at September 11, 2006 03:40 PM (VBB8E)

6 Brent, the Right Wing remembers the bombing at the World Trade 2/26/93, all the other attacks on Americans throughout the rest of Clinton's presidency, and we know how to spell November.

Posted by: Tom TB at September 11, 2006 03:48 PM (fEnUg)

7 Quite the following you have here Mr. Yankee, ---------------------- or should I say Karl? Did you have to pay them for this? Maybe it is just Glennda and her Sock Puppet?

Posted by: Brian at September 11, 2006 03:53 PM (6CDOn)

8 Tom, do you also remember that all of the people responbsible for the first WTC bombing are now either dead or serving life sentences. BECAUSE CLINTON DID HIS JOB. Can you say the same about Bush? Yankee, you are one incredibly unamerican, cowardly, weak and sick individual. Go back to tenth grade and retake American Civics. Maybe the second time you'll get some idea of what America is all about. Failing that, stop confusing Republican with American. They aren't the same thing. And when the Republican party and and scared little haters like you learn that then I can go back to being a Republican.

Posted by: iaintbacchus at September 11, 2006 04:04 PM (mYHGQ)

9 Read a little more closely, dearest ConKee. In my post on the 9/10 ceremony, I didn't call memorial services "pornography." I wrote: "As pornographically as Bush exploits" 9/11, I expected more people at the ceremony. It's a bit of a difference, no? Sort of calls into question your whole thesis, huh? Because you wanted us all on the Left to "despise the essence of America." And we kinda love America. We just despise the essence of certain Americans. Stop being a tool, ConKee, stop being their tool. Kisses,

Posted by: The Rude Pundit at September 11, 2006 04:06 PM (uCGta)

10 CY: a pathetic little man consumed with hate for anything and anyone that deviates from his myopic and twisted viewpoint of life. Pathetic little man, you are the enemy of democracy, freedom and the American way.

Posted by: R.Mutt at September 11, 2006 04:07 PM (7ovgV)

11 why do all your arguments depend on falsehoods and distortions?

Posted by: jay k. at September 11, 2006 04:13 PM (yu9pS)

12 CY is even more maudlin and whiny than usual. The victims of 9/11, and those who lived to remember it, you cowardly right-wing hyppcrite, don't need your crocodile tears. What have you done for the country in the past five years, besides spewing bile, vemom, and hatred, in order to divide people? You and your ilk, are dangerous psychotics. Look at the state of this country, 5 years after the facts. The U.S. is a Banana Republic dictatorship. The U.S. is run by a bunch of thugs who spy on their people, start wars of choice against countries that had nothing to do with 9/11, engage in torture, extraordinary renditions, maintain secret prisons outside of U.S. juridiction. Does this look like a democracy to you? This corrupt government is handing out fat no-bis contracts to GOP donors and their buddies, so the whole merry gag can line its pockets with money stolen from the taxpayer. Meanwhile, the thugs in the Administration don't have a clue where Bin Laden is. Iraq is in the throes of a murderous civil war. The Taliban is back with a vengeance in Afghanistan. Our ports, chemical and nuclear plants, are not secure. Cargo enters the U.S. unchecked every minuten of every day. What has your government done to secure the country? Besides making us get rid of our toothpaste and deodorants and taking off our shoes before getting on a plane? NOTHING. A big, fat, round, ZERO. Every time terrorists are arrested and plots are foiled, it happems in other countries. Here, the best that your government can do is arrest a buch of hapless morons like the Miami bunch, or guys buying and reselleing cell phones. And you have the effing nerve to whine and accuse the "Left" (does that mean the 65% of Americans who criticize the war in Iraq) of being complacent, or worse to attack our patriotism? As a New Yorker who walked down 25 floors with hundreds of panicked colleagues on 9/11/2001, and a New Yorker who went back to work a few days later in stinking offices, I wish I could take you in the back and beat the shit out of you. You are a bastard! On the anniversary of this horrible day, you don't even have the decency to keep your filthy piehole shut. And why are you not in Iraq, piece of crap?

Posted by: Devil's Advocate at September 11, 2006 04:16 PM (QmI9R)

13 CY: Judging from what the other posters have said, you appear to have hit a nerve. Their comments certainly prove your point, especially since they seem to all have come over as a gaggle. Keep up the good work.

Posted by: SouthernRoots at September 11, 2006 04:20 PM (jHBWL)

14 Wonder what the liberal reaction would be if a hijacked plane would crash the Democratic National convention?

Posted by: jay at September 11, 2006 04:22 PM (xFlBw)

15 Sir: You are a monkey. Please desist from breathing at your earliest convenience. Love Always, America

Posted by: Harris at September 11, 2006 04:29 PM (HDnar)

16 "Wonder what the liberal reaction would be if a hijacked plane would crash the Democratic National convention?" Well, we know what the Republican response would be... 5 years of nothing but propoganda. And blaming liberals. Republicans get around this by having their conventions where the terrorists already struck - makes for a good photo op. Republicans own all three branches of government, but still blame everyone but themselves for their inability to do anything but point the finger and make little color-coded fear machines.

Posted by: Jesse at September 11, 2006 04:29 PM (73Jvt)

17 The essence of America is to retreat into infantile denial at the thought that others may be motivated by modes of thought other than those of the Western Enlightenment, especially when those modes are absolutist and will brook no negotiation or opposition. The essence of America is to belittle those who would rather be safe than sorry by defending their country from the depraved practitioners of a suicidal nihilist ideology. And references to “bed-wetting” and “cowering” – big thumbs up for true patriotism. The essence of America is the freedom to stand up to terrorists without having to perform a – harrumph! – cost/benefit analysis or make difficult moral choices in our responses to terrorist activities. Because life isn’t about making difficult choices – it’s about sitting in the stands throwing cups, ice and game programs at the players. The essence of America is the freedom to eliminate terrorist breeding grounds but instead choose to snipe and carp – ‘cause that’s what your moral betters were born to do. The essence of America is to be better than our enemies – ‘cause that’s what your moral betters were born to do didntyouhearmethefirsttimeyouarrogantstupidpoopyhead?!?!

Posted by: Tongueboy at September 11, 2006 04:32 PM (U1Ib2)

18 SouthernRoots Asshole, Yes, CY hit a nerve: the nerve of people who saw 9/11 up close and personal. The nerve of people who are outraged at cowardly pieces of crap like you who exploit 9/11 for political and other noxious purposes. Your ilk has no courage, no moral compass, no integrity, and no decency. In other words, you are the dregs of humanity and you are unfit to be Americans. You should be stripped of your citizenship and sent to country where you can goosestep all you want.

Posted by: Devil's Advocate at September 11, 2006 04:46 PM (QmI9R)

19 Good post, CY. I would only disagree that the Left doesn't so much hate America as they would do anything to gain power: wish for destruction, assist our enemy, anything at all. Great coterie of little goose-steppers. As for your new collection of trolls, so many believe that the constitution is a suicide pact that I wish they could try out their Gandhian philosophy without getting others killed. As for you, RP, ignoring the true pornographic exploitation of 9/11 that you passed indicates a real case of BDS. Best of luck with the meds.

Posted by: iconoclast at September 11, 2006 04:52 PM (Jpc2l)

20 Have the contrarian commenters here never heard the old saw that starts "It's better to remain silent and be thought a fool..."? Taste that drivel oozing from your fingers. Bile, isn't it? Here's the plan. All you folks bring your Bu$hitler placards to Central Park for a fun week of dope smoking and protesting for the sake of protesting (you can call it "speaking truth to power" if you wish). Then, catharsis complete, throw out the signs and begin the process of coming to grips with reality, exiting the echo chamber, and growing up. It's tougher than stewing in pig-ignorant paranoid cynicism all day long, but worth it in the long run.

Posted by: Morgan at September 11, 2006 04:55 PM (eNuaW)

21 I see that the intellectually challenged have resorted to name calling and the like. Aren't these great thinkers a real treat to behold?

Posted by: Retired Spy at September 11, 2006 04:57 PM (Xw2ki)

22 CY is even more maudlin and whiny than usual. The victims of 9/11, and those who lived to remember it, you cowardly right-wing hyppcrite, don't need your crocodile tears. Right-wing hypocrisy and cowardice. Check. What have you done for the country in the past five years, besides spewing bile, vemom, and hatred, in order to divide people? You and your ilk, are dangerous psychotics. Inability to follow links. Check. Look at the state of this country, 5 years after the facts. The U.S. is a Banana Republic dictatorship. The U.S./Bush is/becoming/sliding into a fascist/banana republic/totalitarian dictatorship. Check. Total lack of irony in writing those words. Or just macho-fearless of the Man. Check. The U.S. is run by a bunch of thugs who spy on their people, start wars of choice against countries that had nothing to do with 9/11, engage in torture, extraordinary renditions, maintain secret prisons outside of U.S. juridiction. Does this look like a democracy to you? How can this be a democracy? Democrats arenÂ’t in control? Check. This corrupt government is handing out fat no-bis contracts to GOP donors and their buddies, so the whole merry gag can line its pockets with money stolen from the taxpayer. Extra verbal thumping. Take that, Republithugs! Check. Meanwhile, the thugs in the Administration don't have a clue where Bin Laden is. Iraq is in the throes of a murderous civil war. The Taliban is back with a vengeance in Afghanistan. Democrats = sweetness, light, cotton-candy, puppy dogs, sunshine on a cloudy day Repuglicans = sour, dark, chemotherapy, Rottweilers and hurricanes sent to kill black folk. Check. Our ports, chemical and nuclear plants, are not secure. Cargo enters the U.S. unchecked every minuten of every day. What has your government done to secure the country? Besides making us get rid of our toothpaste and deodorants and taking off our shoes before getting on a plane? NOTHING. A big, fat, round, ZERO. Following the Banana Republic accusation: double shot of irony. Savor the flavor. Check. Every time terrorists are arrested and plots are foiled, it happems in other countries. Here, the best that your government can do is arrest a buch of hapless morons like the Miami bunch, or guys buying and reselleing cell phones. Republicans/Bush = bunglers/inept. Unless they are successful, in which case [mumble something unintelligible]. Check. And you have the effing nerve to whine and accuse the "Left" (does that mean the 65% of Americans who criticize the war in Iraq) of being complacent, or worse to attack our patriotism? Well, yes, we sure would do something is only you would listen to our solutions [mumble something unintelligible]. Check. Patriotism strawman. Half-check; kinda old. As a New Yorker who walked down 25 floors with hundreds of panicked colleagues on 9/11/2001, and a New Yorker who went back to work a few days later in stinking offices, I wish I could take you in the back and beat the shit out of you. You are a bastard! Moral authority. Double-check. Saint Cindy would be proud! On the anniversary of this horrible day, you don't even have the decency to keep your filthy piehole shut. Pot. Kettle. Check. And why are you not in Iraq, piece of crap? Chickenhawk argument. Quarter-check. Markos the Magnificent cornered the market on this one long ago. I give it an 87. A familiar oldie but with a bit of zip to it.

Posted by: Tongueboy at September 11, 2006 04:57 PM (U1Ib2)

23 You're not far off. With just a little rewriting, this article would sing. Try this: Five years later, American Republicans have more hate in their hearts for their own constitution than they do for the 2,500+ of their countrymen killed in an unnecessary war. They refuse to confront Bin Laden. Some would rather blame Democrats and the world they think they understand, rather than face up to the fact that the WMDs they said were there were just an illusion. They are in catastrophic psychological denial, and cannot face the fact that "the other" they have spent their lives providing moral equivalence for were big businesses like Halliburton. Or maybe The Right refuses to learn from Vietnam and knows no way but blindly forward. It is why they grasp so insistently to 9/11, clinging to what was and what might have been, instead of moving forward with a real plan to secure our freedoms for the future. It is they that childishly insist for the "Democratic Iraq" theory, stating a belief that democracy at the end of a gun barrel is good, while knowing that this war has no end or exit plan.

Posted by: MattM at September 11, 2006 05:03 PM (Xc7iG)

24 Devil's Advocate: Chill, Dude. What are you trying to do, start a war? Thank-you for going that extra mile to put emphasis to the truth CY has posted. Have another beer and kick the dog.

Posted by: SouthernRoots at September 11, 2006 05:24 PM (jHBWL)

25 Well said. Pay no mind to those spewing their hatred here in reply under the guise of reasonable discourse. If by 'the left' you mean the liberal wing of the Democratic Party--a group that included me for over three decades before 911--then you are spot-on in your comments. Despite the criticism you've received for this post, despite the many reasonable criticisms of this administration that can be made regarding its 'war on terror', you no doubt will have noted not a single practical suggestion from that quarter as to how to go about protecting America, removing airline travel restrictions, pacifying Iraq or Afghanistan, containing Iran, or finding bin Laden. Not one. No vision, no objectivity, nothing at all from either political leaders or the blogging rank and file. Instead a thunderous silence, more eloquent than all their shrill desecrations of the victims of 911--or defense of Islamic Jihadists. Keep it up. Don't fall silent.

Posted by: Kierkegaard at September 11, 2006 05:29 PM (DDzIx)

26 Jesus wept. Hate much?

Posted by: Real American at September 11, 2006 05:31 PM (dPjF5)

27 W will be mocked for the rest of time for My Pet Goat, and deservedly so. You know you'd laugh your ass off if it had been Clinton, so fair is fair. JFK stayed in the White House during the Cuban missle crisis; W ran all over the country like a little girl during 9/11. Golly! What if they find out I'm in Kansas!

Posted by: Sly Moriarty at September 11, 2006 05:39 PM (ReDqV)

28 If you spent as much time fighting the terrorists as you do bashing the left you'd be much more productive. Oh, that and a little psychological help... you seem to live in your own version of reality. Sad.

Posted by: Liberal Agitator at September 11, 2006 05:40 PM (p3mJ4)

29 Kierkegaard, Because "stay the course" (even though it's been a dismal failure so far) is such a great plan from the right. Instead a thunderous hubris, more eloquent than all their shrill desecrations of the victims of 911.

Posted by: MattM at September 11, 2006 05:42 PM (Xc7iG)

30 I belittled your pain as a nation? Give me a break. What I belittled where the people who slapped a sticker on their car and didn't connect any further with the event. Did you even read what I wrote? The part where I said that I hope all Americans feel some ownership over September 11th? The part where I said that I hope all of us are able to grieve today? Where I recognized that September 11th affected all of us? All I argued is that proximity matters, and that for some people, 9/11 didn't last a day. It lasted weeks or months or a lifetime. That someone whose partner or mother or sibling was lost was affected much, much deeper than I was, and someone who watched the event from their window was probably more affected than someone who watched it on their TV. It's not a complicated argument, and it's one that I think most New Yorkers -- you know, the people who were right in the center of this day -- would agree with. But hey, continue to belittle our experiences, and continue to co-opt this tragedy for your own political benefit. Just keep in mind that it makes your arguments about how we hate America look a little shallow.

Posted by: Jill at September 11, 2006 06:06 PM (iMRH3)

31 *were, not where. I can't type today.

Posted by: Jill at September 11, 2006 06:10 PM (iMRH3)

32 Ah yes, the American Democrat- only don't call them that. Democrats proved long ago that to them, party affiliation was FAR more important than the "American" part. And I see, on this comments section, that they have been proving it again. Come on, guys. Tell me how we will be safer with the same crew in charge of American policy and security that gave us the Cole, Khobar Towers, First World Trade Center, the Embassues in Africa... and September 11th, for that blood is on your hands as well. But that was okay, wasn't it? After all, that was only Americans being slaughtered... it's not like anything IMPORTANT was happening, like a Koran being flushed down a toilet or a cell phone call between a murderer in America and a terrorist in Pakistan being listened in on. Those things are just more IMPORTANT than any bogus "war on terror", right? Well, that and winning political power back in November. Because we ALL know that any amount of terrorist attacks is an acceptable price to pay for control of Congress. It's important to have priorities, after all.

Posted by: DaveP. at September 11, 2006 06:13 PM (3iuaJ)

33 Oh, ConKee, First me, then Jill at Feministe? What is it about you citizens of Right Blogsylvania? Surely there's enough crap out there to belittle and make yourself feel superior to without outright lying about what others say. Hope you feel even more righteous now. Kisses,

Posted by: The Rude Pundit at September 11, 2006 06:17 PM (uCGta)

34 Thank you, CY, for allowing these pathetic excuses for American patriots and deep thinkers to spew their hatred and for allowing them to just run on and on and on, ad nauseam, showing just how hateful and ignorant a lot of fools they are. Look, CY. You did not even need to reply. They all showed, up close and personal, what fools they are. Doncha love it when a plan comes together?

Posted by: Retired Spy at September 11, 2006 06:17 PM (Xw2ki)

35 If you really believe this than I feel sorry for you. We all stood as one following 9/11 and stood with President Bush regardless of political party. He handled himself well initially following 9/11 and rallied the nation. It was a beautiful time. Our country was unified in our pain, grief, anger and compassion for helping those affected by 9/11. What I didn't believe or accept at the time was the need to race off into Iraq. At the time, almost everyone believed what we were being told and the reasons for this going to war with Iraq. Everyone thought that Saddam & Iraq could be tied to 9/11. This was a lie. He promised to get Osama bin Laden dead or alive. But, he can't be bothered with him. Osama is somewhere and it pisses me off. It's embarrassing that we are doing so little to find the mastermind of 9/11. President Bush opted to go after Saddam instead and we are squandering so many lives and tons of money because of it with no end or real progress in sight. None of us are against being safe and fighting terrorism. Just how things are being done and the means to get there. I believe in law and order. Our country stands for a great many things. Our country is the envy of the world for our liberties and our way of life. We need to protect and respect our Constitution. I cannot or will not support a President that ignores laws. President Bush has no respect for the law or our Constitution. There are many recommendations in the 9/11 Commission Report and most of them remain undone. We are doing little to protect our borders, our cargo, our chemical and power plants. 9/11 should not be shoved in our faces everytime that the GOP gets into a bind. 9/11 happened on President Bush's watch, not President Clinton's. President Bush was given prior warning and it was his job to take them seriously. I am sick of everyone trying to blame President Clinton for 9/11.

Posted by: Diane at September 11, 2006 06:34 PM (HVzQf)

36 got osama? 5 years and counting . . .

Posted by: Bern at September 11, 2006 06:36 PM (re0Bg)

37 TESTIFY,BROTHA' CY, TESTIFY!! The truth is slowly grinding into the fake-but-accurate-reality community. I b'lieve DA (or twocats@aol.com) got so hyper he spit his binky onto the floor.. Oh, and MattM? We were winning in Nam when I left - then the Democrats stopped all the money, just like they want to do now. Several million dead were the result of THAT decision. Unfortunately,I learned too much about your heros perfidy....

Posted by: The Old Man at September 11, 2006 06:44 PM (B4yG3)

38 UC Berkeley law Professor John Yoo, who as a Justice Department lawyer was one of the Bush administration's chief legal theorists, summarized its view in his forthcoming book, "War by Other Means": "We are used to a peacetime system in which Congress enacts the laws, the president enforces them, and the courts interpret them. In wartime, the gravity shifts to the executive branch.''

Posted by: revisionist punk at September 11, 2006 06:55 PM (ADHUx)

39 Interesting viewpoint,I suppose. Oh,and the tax cuts pay for themselves story is false as well (at least according to the US Treasury Dept (7/25/06)).

Posted by: TJM at September 11, 2006 06:58 PM (F9hZP)

40 Awesome post CY. Do you see how it draws the left's hate out in a millisecond. Tongue Boy (what the hell is that about) Harris MattM liberal percy brent (insert liberal loser name) etc.. You losers are the first throats the murdering pig s@#t eating jihadi scum would cut. Don't you get it nimrods? There are two kinds of people in this great country. People who believe that we are at war with fascist Islam, and think America is what is right in this f'ed up world we live in. Or. You believe we are not at war with the religion of "Pieces" and America is the problem with the world. Think about what 9/11 means without clouding it with your Hate of America and you obvious collective bout of BDS you are all suffering. God Bless America! God Bless the victims of 9/11 and their families.

Posted by: David Kempes at September 11, 2006 07:03 PM (nJIUX)

41 I always love profanity-laden diatribes ending with a "God bless America!" It really sums you guys up.

Posted by: Bern at September 11, 2006 07:18 PM (re0Bg)

42 CY, to put it mildly, you don't speak for me, nor do any of your so-called "insights" into the Liberal mind speak for what I believe. Nor any Liberals I know. It's so off base as to be satire. But, it's not even funny. That is your fatal arrogant achilles heel. You truly are so blinded by your hatred that the fact that you are entirely misrepresenting a very large and very vocal part of the American population is downright laughable. Hence, the reactions you get here. You are a victim of the hateful wedge politics of the GOP. And, you are a true believer. An ideologue with no real understanding of the democratic process nor the backbone to admit when you are wrong. You've become a joke. A cartoon. You spit out this drivel (and worse, you honestly appear to friggin' believe it) that one can see repeated almost verbaitim on two dozen other right wing websites. And, the similarity of the message denotes the similarity in the thought process and the source. You've been taught to hate anyone who disagrees with your ideological postion and does not call themself a Republican or a Conservative. You've become an elitist in the very worst way: You deign to define Liberals you've never met nor truly understand based solely upon your own opinion and a narrow understanding of Liberals which is itself based only upon information which supports your opinion. You don't entertain any ideas other than those that fit into your ideology. Ever. Nor do you understand those ideas, or the persons who profess them. All you know is you hate them. Hate being the operative word here, since it is the engine of the GOP fueled campaign to marginalize and scapegoat the oppostion. It's brilliant if entirely nearsighted politics, and the chickens are coming home to roost. And, like all victims of a long term propaganda but short sighted hate based campaign, you have convinced yourself that "they" are the enemy. And, they is anyone who doesn't see the world in the same construct and colors that you see it in. And, that means the opposition here in the USA, that means Liberals. And, it has gotten so bad that you actually compared Liberals to traitors and terrorists. And, that is just wrong. It has no basis in reality. It's a made up fantasy. It's propaganda meant to galvanize the base and get them angry so that they vote. And, you've fallen for it. And, that's a shame. Because in fact, we want exactly the same things that you want. We love America as much as you do. We want to be safe and to not be threatened by terror as much as you do. We simply do not agree how to get there. But, you and your ilk have made it something more. You've turned it into a civil war. "If you aren't with us, then you are against us." It's gotten so bad they even have to debate in on Brit Hume's show on Fox tongight. (Kondrake rightly stating it was the GOP who struck first blood in the bipartisan hate train by calling Democrats who would not vote for the Patriot Act unpatriotic, when Democrats actually thought to argue over specific points of it, as is their friggin' job!) That's what happens when hate takes over, it knows not how to discern between mortal and intellectual enemies. And, you fell for it CY. Hook. Line. Sinker. And, so many people see it for what it is. Why don't you? Has it ever occurred to you that just maybe your wrong? I can with totally honesty right now tell you that every single point you make and ascribe to Liberals above does not apply to me, nor any Liberal I know. Nor most Liberals. Sure, some people feel that way, but there are conspiracists and angry people on all sides. But, the core does not feel the way you describe at all. You've taken our right to disagree and turned it into something it is not. Your intractable position demands it. And, I have no doubt that you will simply ignore this or send a nasty email in reply. But, the truth is: you are wrong. Your statements are wrong. How do you account for that? I would like to know. I am resigned the the very real reality that you will likely simply ignore me, or call me a moonbat, or dismiss me a liar or the like. But, you are wrong. Very wrong. And, that will never change. Not on this day, nor on the tenth anniversary of 9/11 nor the thousanth. And, I find it sickening that you chose this day to launch a hate filled screed that has not an ouce of truth or honesty within it.

Posted by: David (SNAFU Principle) at September 11, 2006 07:19 PM (q7xp/)

43 David Kempes, I just want to know, did you KNOW any victims of 9/11 or do you KNOW heir families? Really. Do you? Because I do. And, the family that I know does not agree with your perspective on this matter. At all. As a matter of fact, it bothers them when people put their father on a pedistal as a symbol of how "WE" are correct and "THEY" are wrong. It is a free country. And, you have the right to use them as you will, as a symbol to hold up as an example that you are right and those who don't agree with you are wrong. But, there are some who lost loved ones and friends on 9/11, and I am one, who want you to know that we do not agree with you. We all grieve and that is our right as Americans. But, when you hold our families and the ones we lost up as a banner... Well... let me just say that I know a fireman who was down at 9'11 who lost half his station and he has issues with extremists who invoke his dead friends to promote ideas he doesn't believe in. Let's just leave it at that...

Posted by: David (SNAFU Principle) at September 11, 2006 07:33 PM (q7xp/)

44 The Bush Admin has never taken seriously any war. If they took Afghanistan and OBL seriously, they wouldn't have cut (the money) and run. If they took Iraq seriously, they wouldn't have kept cutting out of the funding legislation all the oversight and counter-war-profiteering measures. Instead they have only taken seriously how these "wars" (really occupation in the case of Iraq) can be used politically, for image and for funneling tax money to contractors. And that, my friends, is SICK and unAmerican and a real tragedy and cause for worry.

Posted by: tubino at September 11, 2006 07:51 PM (zPcWS)

45 Davidsnafu I do know some one who was in the north tower 6th floor. I went to school with him. He got out with his life. He has a hard time sleeping. Even to this day. His wife and children have had to deal with it all as well. He is an Arab American. He is an American first. If he saw the comments on this site it would break his heart. So there. I have freinds and family directly involved with 9/11 WTC. And yes I used my free speech rights to tell you how I feel. This is not about politics. It is about the 2996 dead fellow Americans and the Muslem scum that murdered them in cold blood. As I walked home that afternoon at 1:30pm, five years ago, through the Chicago Loop from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange it was a ghost town. Other than the cop cars surrounding the Sears Tower. I was alone. No people. No cars. No planes in the sky. I knew then that we were at war and many of my fellow countrymen were dead. I aslo learned everything I needed to know about Islam that day. That is why I am pissed. Five years after all of that and there are still Americans who do not get it.

Posted by: David Kempes at September 11, 2006 07:59 PM (nJIUX)

46 I love how the deluded left claims we abandoned Afghanistan, after the Taliban have suffered hundreds of dead in the last few days. Smart. Tough. Delusional. Truth is the left couldn't protect a brass farthing, much less the country. You on the left were frightened of a television show, what would you do when faced with terrorists. Boycott them? Hah!

Posted by: Stormy70 at September 11, 2006 08:27 PM (SXQle)

47 David K, What you seem not to get is that Osama Bin Laden was the one who attacked and killed all those people on 9/11. So maybe you should be reminding Bush who we're really at war with, seeing as he doesn't have any concern as to where Bin Laden is, nor is he actively looking for him.

Posted by: MatM at September 11, 2006 09:29 PM (ja6D3)

48 Bin Laden is dead, and we just caught a huge terrorist in Afghanistan. Once again, the left is too busy attacking Bush to pay any attention to the real world. Living in the reality-based community is looking more in more like an episode of the Surreal Life. Scripted and sad.

Posted by: Stormy70 at September 11, 2006 10:12 PM (SXQle)

49 MattM, It's not just about UBL. "he doesn't have any concern as to where Bin Laden is.." "...nor is he actively looking for him." Are you serious? President G. Bush is the one western leader, the one man in the world who recognizes what UBL represents and why we have to kill him. And at least he is trying to do something about it. Gore? Kerry? I got to laugh at that. That sh@t bag (UBL I mean) is in the as#7^le of the world surrounded by friendlies. We will get him eventually. Then what are you going to ask? Why did Bush let Iran get nukes? Please MattM. Look at the bigger picture. If the left and right does not present a unified front against America's enemies then we will get attacked again. If it is a big one then all hell will break lose. Marshal law for everyone. Lines in the airport for everyone who doesn't look like a white European. No visas. Economic slowdown. Outrageuos energy prices and American Mosques burning like french cars on a Saturday night. Good Night.

Posted by: David Kempes at September 11, 2006 10:42 PM (nJIUX)

50 Excellent Post Confederate Yankee! You really hit the nail on the head. And just to prove your point the usual suspects came crawling out from under their Moveon.org rocks to show just how right you were. If the angry lefties had devoted HALF the energy to helping us win this war as they have in fighting President Bush's efforts to keep us safe we would have won by now. Stalin had a phrase for these lefties. He called them "useful idiots." And just as they did in Stalin's day, today's lefty would rather encourage and enable our enemies rather than unite with their fellow Americans. On this fifth anniversary of the September 11th attacks, let us redouble our efforts to win this war. And let us also redouble our efforts to defeat not just the terrorist scum, but also the pathological political ideology of hate which has so many of our countrymen in it's grasp. Americans of conscience and good will can do something about that political battle on November 7th. Thanks for a great post!

Posted by: Mike's America at September 11, 2006 10:46 PM (SHL+1)

51 Osama Bin Laden "attacked and killed those people on 9/11?" Gee ...I thought the killers were the ones who hijacked and flew the four aircraft. I thought Osama was hiding in a cave somewhere. Are you rewriting history, MatM? Dummy! How do you know what the U.S. Government is doing to seek out Bin Laden? Are you a planner? If you are so insightful, why don't you tell everyone how to get the job done - you pathetic weasel.

Posted by: Retired Spy at September 11, 2006 10:48 PM (Xw2ki)

52 Bush is actively looking for Bin Laden? Really? That may come as a huge surprise to the CIA who recently disbanded the team looking for him. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/04/washington/04intel.html?ex=1309665600&en=3779ed9b98bb9d22&ei=5088 Maybe Bush will find him along with those pesky Saddam WMDs. My god you people are fucking idiots. Get a clue.

Posted by: MatM at September 12, 2006 12:12 AM (ja6D3)

53 Did you say "So there."? Uh. Okay. Five years after all of that and there are still Americans who do not get it. No. We get it. There is an entire city of New Yorkers, 67% who voted for John Kerry, who get it. I get it. I can still smell the dust of the WTC, of death, or people and chemical and fire and ozone deep in my nostrils when I think of that day. I can still taste the hot angry bitter confused pissed off tears that came for months after during the months of funerals we lived through. I can still hear the endless drone of military vehicles and heavy load lifters and helicopters and fire trucks and the faces of friends and stragners as we watched our city get torn apart and watched our neighbors die and lose their loved ones. I get it. Completely. IN a way you will never understand. You don't get it. We get it. We just don't like how people like you play the game. You f&*k it up and then whine about how if you had help from the traitors it would all be okay. it's simple: Liberals do not agree with how it is being handled. We are losing the war in Iraq. We keep HEARING that we are safer, but we are not. Not really. If we are truly safer, does that mean that a bomb won't go off in the middle of Times Square some Saturday night when my wife and I walk through to go to the movies? If we are safer does that mean that some nut won't gas a thousand people on the subway? Can you assure me of that? NO. YOU CAN NOT. And, neither can Bush or anyone else. Thus, we are NOT safer. We just know more. We are wiser and we spend a LOT more money covering holes that have already being punched in the safety net, yet we have no idea how the next attack will come or when and the places that are vulnerable far out number our ability both physically and financially to secure it all. We are a big fish floating with our belly exposed. Sure, if a little fishy comes and swims too close to our mouth, we gobble him up, and we can chase a fast fishy for a little while, and we have some fast fishy friends who help us out... but, we still get chunks of sushi cut from that big fat wide open belly. There are a bunch of problems right now. The first is people like you believe the hype. You're ideology demands it. It's YOUR team, right? But, your team has f*&ked it up. Yes, Clinton f*&#ked it up too. That's part of the problem too. Everyone is so busy laying blame, and the game has been moved and no one even notices. If we are going to solve any of this, we have to be ONE team. But, no... common ground? No way, not with a moonbat! Another big problem is that conservatives in this country feel the utter need to define what Liberals believe in, when they have no clue what we believe in. The problem is Conservatives, like you, think that because we don't AGREE WITH YOU, that means we "don't get it". No. We get it. We think y'all are ideological loyalists to a failed war, a failed president and his failed policies. We think y'all listen to their lies and swallow it hole. "We are safer." says Bush. "We are safer" you parrot. Safer? Really? Why? Can you tell me that a bomb won't go off tomorrow? No you can't. So don't tell me we're safer. It's simple math. If we are safer, then WE'RE SAFER and that means that nothing bad will happen, right? It's simple: Bomb going off on NYC subway: not safer. Bomb NOT going off in NYC subway: Safer. Don't believe the rhetoric. And, the "lesson" you "learned" about Islam doesn't apply to the majority of those who practice Islam. Generalities such as that are also part of the problem. Conservatives just LOVE to put everything in neat little boxes. Well, my cousin who lives in Kuwait and is Muslim begs to differ. My Muslim friends beg to differ. The "Muslim" extremists who act out in mass violence have as little to with Islam as the so-called "Christians" in the US who run around preaching hatred of Jews, blacks, gays and people who aren't "saved". And, for what it's worth, the violence perpetrated by "Muslims" on 9/11 against your friend and mine and all of us has been perpetrated by Christians and Jews and Sunni's and Hindus and every other religious color throughout history and every single day to this day on others around the world. We've killed an estimated 35,000 innocent Iraqi civilians in the pursuit of revenge, safety, freedom etc. That many people die every year in the USA from person on person violence. That many kill themselves. That many die in car crashes. Again, the issue isn't that we don't want the same things. We do. We all want to be safe, we all want to not be threatened by extremists. We all want to be free and safe and live our lives. How to go about ensuring our safety is the question and where we disagree, and it's a right that so many conseratives would take away from us if given the chance. (The impression we all get from being called traitor, Godless, terrorists, etc.) Liberals disagree with Conservagives as to HOW policy and the war is being conducted. And, the Conservatives are in power. And, to maintain that power, they play the "if you don't join us, you're the enemy" card. After 9/11, many Liberals such as myself completely backed the mission to go into Afghanistan and get Bin Laden. But, immiediately, it became something else. Iraq came into the picture. And, when I and others said "wait a minute" we were called traitors and terrorists for exercizing our rights as free citizens in a democratic nation. We were called traitors for daring to question going into Iraq. And, that attack on us has never stopped. Conservatives are so comfortable with this, they actually go about writing and praising books and words that criminalize Liberals - we're Godless, unpatriotic, etc etc etc.- which, as if it even needs to be said, is ridiculous, callous, mean spirited, and wrong. To this spiritual soul, it's downright evil. It is. Does this mean I'm saying ALL Conservatives are evil. No. But, if you call someone who loves their country and would fight for it a traitor because they don't agree with your choice of when and why to fight and for exerciaing their right to express their disagreement, then you are a being an impediment to our democratic lives. Being in power does not give you the right to declare the opposition traitorous for these reasons. Yet, that lie is perpetrated on this website and others constantly. And, people eat it up. It's yummy candy. Liberals believe that the war is being conducted incorrectly and that the Bush Administration has bungled it and the GWOT. Personally, I'm for a win or get out strategy. Because at current levels, the war in Iraq is not going to be won. That much is clear. And, now that we are in it, we have no choice but to win it. The entire situation should have been handled differently, but that's another rant. Either institute a draft, get a multi-national coaltion together, get the boots on the ground and win, or get out of Iraq. It's a distraction from the larger WOT and we need to secure the Homeland. And, all of this can be done whilst insuring the liberties of both citizens, people around the world and those who would do us harm. We should be exporting democracy on its merits, not on its weaknesses. The zeal in appearing "tough" on terrorists will be met and matched each time we amp up the pain and the pressure. Therein lay the problem in the end. Conservatives want to go around firing guns, losing wars and losing hearts and minds and pushing democracy with the business end of a rifle while Liberals understand rather well that 1) The US military is in no shape to win any war without a draft and a major coalition of nations supplying large amounts of troops and 2) there are 1 billion Muslims in the world, which will be 2 billion in 60 years. Consider for a moment, if just one 1% of those Muslims, over the coarse of 60 years, hate the USA enough to pick up a weapon or put on a suicide belt or fly a plane into a building or release toxic gas on the subway or drive a car filled with ammonium nitrate into a building or a myriad of other horrors in the mad pursuit to kill Americans either here or abroad that means that there are easily 10 million people running around who want to kill us at any given time for the next sixty years. And, that is a conservative estimate. 10,000,000 people. That's a big friggin'army of pissed off Jihadists. Even if it is .10% of 1 billion Muslims, that's an army of 1 million jihadists. That would make the GWOT army the USA is fighting the sixth largest in the world, comparable to Pakistan. (active, not reserve) Current right wing policy is we should kill them all, and that will be that. Of course, we don't know where they are. Kill 1 - 10 million people? An interesting thought, no? (And, if you go to Free Republic or a number of other right wing sites, there are people saying that we should nuke them all. A sobering if entirely Luciferian tactic.) Most conservatives haven't thought it out that far and most react immediately to it with "No. It's not that many." Yet, most articles I've read in Foreign Affairs,Foreign Policy and Jane's on the issue consider that a pretty lowball number of the wholesale population of people who are extreme enough to consider joining up or join up with the cause over the timeframe of a generation to 60 years. (Thus the timeframe of 60 years to win the GWOT.) The number of Muslims who agree with the Jihadists on certain principles is much higher. The failure in Iraq and the messes of Gitmo, Abu Graib and eleswhere have ensured that perception. You see the problem? You have to remember, Cheney and Bush really did think that we would go into Iraq and it would be over in a year or two. Rumsfeld's initial plan called for the troop level to be at 30,000 by 2005 and at this point today we would be at roughly half of that as a permenent force. So, first thing, is to get out of Iraq, either by victory in a matter of less than four years (We did it in WWII against two well equipped foes, we can do it in Iraq) and then secure the Homeland. That will mean a draft of every able bodied male and female and it will mean the wholesale cooperation of the major powers around the world. And, I happen to agree with Genreal McCaffrey on this one: the Bush Administration doesn't have the relationships in the military, in politics, or in foreign quarters to pull it off from a diplomatic perspective, and they don't have the skills either. Bush Sr. had the skills and the connections, as did his team. These clowns do not. And, they won't touch the draft ever. Political suicide. But, it would establish a mobilzed force that could secure Iraq in a matter of a few years rather than 10 to 20. Then, get off of oil as fast as possible. We went to the moon in nine years, we can get off oil with a new technology car in that time too. We have to think above the game now. Then, secure the ME according to the new paradigm. Suppoprt and spread democracy via economic and policy as was done in Lebanon, (sans Hezbollah) Bosnia and Europe after WWII. Bush has no Marshall Plan for the ME. None. Big problem. But, right wingers buy into the "lets spread democracy" with guts and guns shite, when the democracy corps has no teeth or money at all, when in reality it's about the US and China and Russia duking it out over who is going to control the ME oil reserves. If we own Iraq, were good for another 60 years. Maybe. But, there is yet another big problem: There were 5 million cars in China in 1994. Now there are about 25 million. By 2020, China will match the USA at approx. 140 million cars, and in oil consumption. In forty years the Chinese will have somewhere around 200+ million cars if current trends hold out. (1.1 billion Chinese and rising.) ANd, India could be poised to do the same in ten to twenty years. The population is 2 billion by 2020. Most analysts understand what that means. But, not the neocons! They go for the grab rather than the smart move and the secret weapon. (Car that runs without fossil fuel.) They go for the American Empire We are addicted to oil, as Bush has said. And, people in the ME have issues with that. They want us out, which is why Bin Laden is a hero to them. His first demand from the US is to get out of Suadi Arabia and the ME and leave the oil for Arabs. (And to stop contaminating holy land.) By that yardstick, as our policy with Saudi Arabia shows, he's winning. We still have Iraq of course, but that is tenable at best. Many Liberals predicted where an invasion of Iraq would lead. And, we were right. All the while, conservatives like you told us to shut up and called us traitors and worse. But, we were right. Because we stopped to think about it for a little while. Hmmm. Dictatorship in Iraq that maintains control over a divided sectarian feudal state of three factions with bribery, terror and centralized enforcement. Like the Soviet Union or any other dictatorship. What happens when you take the power structure away and have no comparible structure to replace it? It dissolves into anarchy and violence and a power struggle. Simple. History is good like that. It repeats. Did conservatives listen? No. They said: "Moonbat! Look at the loony moonbat!" So, now you got yourself a war and you're losing and you don't wanna play with it no more and it's no fun and it's boring and every else has one too. Hey! Look at the shiny new Iranian toy!

Posted by: David (SNAFU Principle) at September 12, 2006 12:46 AM (q7xp/)

54 C.Y., As far as mocking the moment that Bush found out that America was under attack, what isn’t there to mock? The man had two choices: 1) Continuer reading “My Pet Goat” or 2) Announce to the classroom that, “Boys and girls, I have to do something presidential right now,” and duck out. Had a Democrat been president, would you have given him the same leeway? I hope not. Regarding your "Perfect War" charge; I agree that there is no such thing as a perfect war, but during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq I never heard one word from the Bush Administration as to what they planned to do once Saddam fell. I'm no military or foreign policy expert, but somehow even I knew that without some comprehensive plan to fill the void left by the ousted regime, there would be a power struggle (a.k.a. in some circles as civil war). Why do you think the Bush Administration ignored this prospect? Here's some food for thought on the matter: http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2006/09/11/plan/index.html I really am curious as to your thoughts. As for striving for stagnation and stasis, is it not Bush himself who demands that we "stay the course." The course has led to some serious stagnation, no? What is the course anyway? I never could figure that one out. Perhaps you can help. You say that the Left offers America and "True Liberalism" a certain death. I find it interesting that you differentiate between leftist and liberals, as many on the right side of the political spectrum do not. Can you expand on this? I've always thought of genuine liberals as people who defend individual freedoms, first and foremost, and leftists as those who have a particular idea as to how society should behave. As far as 30 years of denial goes, that covers a number of administrations, both left and right. Many of today’s Right blame the Clinton Administration for 9/11. That’s only 8 years out of 30. What mistakes do you think were made by Clinton’s predecessors and/or his successor, or do you find them infallible? I pose these questions in the spirit of honest debate. I anticipate your replies.

Posted by: JML at September 12, 2006 02:24 AM (CkOxC)

55 Liberals do not agree with how it is being handled. You don't get it, you never will. Because you are not students of history or human nature and you don't understand the nature of the enemy we face.

Posted by: Purple Avenger at September 12, 2006 03:16 AM (WxRQS)

56 CY, this was the.worst.post.ever. And I don't like the font, either!! Why not Times Roman? Is it because Jesus didn't like Times Roman, you Bible thumping Wal-Mart shopper? CY, you had the SYMPATHY of the entire blogosphere up until that post. Instead of asking why we Libs hate you, you had to stir up trouble. Your long diatribes are bankrupting our children's bandwith future. You went to blog based on false intelligence. Haven't you read our above posts? We are all about facts and reading comprehension and tolerating differing viewpoints. We are nothing like you have described us in your post, WHICH I STILL HAVE YET TO READ! AND NEVER WILL because I am open minded about CApS Lock! Your post outed both Valerie Plame and Rosie O'Donnell and now I bet you seek to deny them nuptial bliss, C-Hitler-Y. I can't wait for Hillary to become president so she can jail your traitor ass just for STIFLING DEBATE and not offering Patchouli at your blog. Haliburton! (And you know exactly what I mean when I type that)

Posted by: Good Lil' Liberal at September 12, 2006 03:32 AM (Thv30)

57 Rant, rant, rave... *Yawn* Yeah, yeah, yeah...We get it...you hate Democrats and liberals and "the Left," which in your mind are all one and the same... This black and white world you live in is so darn boring to me!

Posted by: JasonM in NH at September 12, 2006 04:33 AM (kVln6)

58 Excellent post, CY. There's nothing like delivering good pinprick to a festering wound to bring out the bile and puss from the other side that we've witnessed so far. And for those whiners who want to deliver an hour-long diatribe to this small post, go ahead. I frankly don't care and don't have the time to respond...because I work for a living.

Posted by: Atticus at September 12, 2006 04:33 AM (jEwvR)

59 I clicked on your link about how "the Left" "belittle our pain as a nation" and found a post that says no such thing. You made that up out of thin air. Not that you're lying, you just don't know how to read English and comprehend it. And so, you are at war with demons in your own mind. And that's fine with me. The problem comes when people like you, and the Bush administration is full of them, mistake those phantoms for reality and then act on them. That is not fine with me. And it shouldn't be fine with you, 'cause it leads to the kind of neglect and stupidity that permits a 9/11 to happen. Did I just say that Bush bears a heavy responsiblity for 9/11? I most certainly did. Only a president as incompetent as George Bush would ignore a "system blinking red" during the summer of 2001, and devote his administration's time to pursuing the demons in his mind instead. Oh, and Atticus? Pus has one "s." A "puss" is the diminutive form of "pussy cat."

Posted by: tristero at September 12, 2006 05:05 AM (Sl6+N)

60 I live less than a mile from Ground Zero and I witnessed the whole thing up close and personal. To have fascist filth like yourself trying to exploit Bushie Boy's crocodile tears is beyond comprehension. Come to New York and try out your act in any bar in town if you don't mind having your throat slit ear to ear.

Posted by: Rhonda Kona at September 12, 2006 05:31 AM (bfirF)

61 Jeebus, you really ARE a troll aren't you? Conceited, self-righteous, intolerant and built to stay that way...a true Chickenhawk if ever there was one.

Posted by: Jack CLuth at September 12, 2006 05:53 AM (MDizk)

62 You might want to see someone about all the straw-men living in your head.

Posted by: The Venerable Ed at September 12, 2006 06:18 AM (rFW1x)

63 Is that a threat, 'Rhonda?' Are you familiar with FCC laws governing your sort of threats? Anyone knocking on your door yet?

Posted by: Retired Spy at September 12, 2006 07:33 AM (Xw2ki)

64 Retired Spy, Rhonda's threat is as real a personal threat as Jesse Helms's threat to the president of the United States. You may recall he warned the president not to come to North Carolina.

Posted by: tristero at September 12, 2006 08:36 AM (Sl6+N)

65 Well, tristero, making statements like the one 'Rhonda' made illustrates a sick and perverted view of the free exchange of views in a democratic society. "If you disagree with me you should have your throat slit." How sick is that? It reminds me of the whacko of all whackos, Cindy Sheehan, fantasizing a time machine that could take her back in time to kill and infant George W. Bush to prevent him from becoming president and launching the war against Saddam. It is a very sick element of society that has to revert to foul language and personal attacks and visions of death to those who disagree with your views to make points. It illustrates a moral bankruptcy that is almost unprecedented in American history. Do you also support that sort of warped lunacy?

Posted by: Retired Spy at September 12, 2006 09:01 AM (Xw2ki)

66 "You losers are the first throats the murdering pig s@#t eating jihadi scum would cut. Don't you get it nimrods?" Once again, a right-wing crank fantasizes about liberals getting decapitated.

Posted by: FGFM at September 12, 2006 09:09 AM (v3b8f)

67 No one but the Left has been fantasizing about lefties or anyone else being decapitated in a physical sense. Your heads are already buried too deeply in the sand, and your oxygen-starved brains are dying their own slow deaths from self-imposed moral and intellectual suicide through complacency. I believe the writer was just trying to point out that you from the Left are as vulnerable as the rest of us when it comes to the murderous intentions of the terrorists of the world. You on the Left are the ones with the fantasies. It's like the light that people say they see in near-death experiences. It is evidence that the brain is shutting down ....

Posted by: Retired Spy at September 12, 2006 09:42 AM (Xw2ki)

68 Not as satire: have you considered increasing your meds? Actually, I think drugs are the root of the issue, here...

Posted by: Brian at September 12, 2006 09:49 AM (JhMRW)

69 David Kempes, Dude, I'm on your side. You need to change batteries in your irony/sarcasm detector, though.

Posted by: Tongueboy at September 12, 2006 09:49 AM (U1Ib2)

70 David Kempes, Dude, we're on the same side. You need to change the batteries in your irony/sarcasm detector.

Posted by: Tongueboy at September 12, 2006 09:50 AM (U1Ib2)

71 snicker

Posted by: owlbear1 at September 12, 2006 09:51 AM (npvhV)

72 "Once again, a right-wing crank fantasizes about liberals getting decapitated." That's the only way they can get a hard-on, don't y'know...

Posted by: JAK745 at September 12, 2006 09:55 AM (hsJaV)

73 hahahahaha, what a joke your little rant was!obviously it ws poorly done for a reason, AIPAC not paying you enough?

Posted by: eugene at September 12, 2006 10:52 AM (oE/Sj)

74 Day of Ignorant Arrogance Today more than any other in the past five years, the Right continues to reveal how much they despise the essence of America, the Constitution and the concept of a “nation of laws and not of men”. Republicans continue to laud the moment when our President found out that a sneak attack broader in scope and scale than Pearl Harbor was under way. They praise him for his cowardice and paralysis. They praise him for his inability to comprehend that thousands of innocent Americans were dead or dying and that he, the most powerful single man on the planet, has helped bring it on. Republicans belittle our pain as a nation, as if only those who parrot jingoistic slogans have a right to democracy. They lash out against those who remember various policy failures that caused what happened under that bright blue September sky, and preemptively lash out against those who would defend the Constitution from an imperial executive. Republicans (like Ann Coulter, Bob Novak, and other anti-intellectuals) refer to the private pain of the victims as pornography, and seek to belittle every widow, every solemn moment, every tear, every voice raised in anger. Well, not every voice. They have plenty of time for their war and profiteering. Profiteering that their corrupt CEOs have demanded as welfare; exploitation that their despotic allies have demanded in exchange for “cooperation”; an end to all hope for world peace because they can only react like frightened dogs, cornered by an enemy they cannot hope to understand, but cower from. Five years later, American Republicans have more hate in their hearts for their own Constitution than they do for the problems that threaten the American way of life. They refuse to confront terrorism by making America safer – preferring instead to create a theater of national security. Some would rather blame Progressives and a world they think they cannot understand, rather than face up to the fact that peace and security may not offer the kind of profit opportunity offered by a protection racket backed by the US military. They are in catastrophic psychological denial, and cannot face the fact that they created "the others" who attacked our country by their decades (and even centuries) of killing, colonizing and exploiting. It is so much easier to blame the Left than face the fact that we were attacked because Republicans have hypocritically promoted the virtues of democracy while denying it (usually violently) to the people who now form the core of Radical Islamism. It is so much easier to blame the Left, than realize that decades of corruption, hypocrisy and profiteering led us to that horrific moment. If they can only blame the Left for that day—and every day since that their worldview has been shown to be vapid, self-serving, and a fraud—then their denial can go on, and the Republican's vain-glorious "opinion-based community" can continue to live in a world that refuses to learn, to adapt, to change. The Right refuses to learn from 9/11 and knows no way forward. It is why they grasp so insistently, so “conservatively”, to the horrors and indignities of their militaristic, plunder-driven past, clinging to what was and what might have been, instead of moving forward to forcefully to improve the human condition for all and to secure the freedoms they take for granted for the future of all humanity. It is the Right who so childishly insist war is “better” than diplomacy, stating a belief that any war they want to pick is just, while knowing securely no war has ever met their standard. The Right shows that they hate the present and don't understand the lessons of the recent past. They strive for the stagnation and stasis of a feudal society - and they blame the poor for all of America’s ills, but they offer no hope for the future. The Right blames knowledge, science and understanding for radical Islamic plans for world domination. They vilify our troops by failing to properly provide for the troops welfare. They attack all governments fighting for freedom and support despotic dictators who oppress and destroy their own people. Only the ignorant and confused can ever believe the Right’s promises of security if we will abandon our dreams of democracy, dreams bequeathed to us via the progressive and liberal traditions of the founders. We will not listen to them again. We will put an end to their violence against humanity for profit. That, perhaps, is their greatest fear of all.

Posted by: fiskhus jim at September 12, 2006 10:53 AM (V7aQ1)

75 A large part of your screed seems to be that the Real Americans , i.e., Progressives and Liberals, belittle shrub for being human and evidencing human feelings and reactions on and after 9-11. Excuse me -- but Americans don't elect Presidents because they believe their Presidents' propensity (such as shrub clearly displayed) for crumbling into a mass of quivering indecision (much as W did when his fumbling attempts to read "My Pet Goat" to the captive audience of schoolchildren) will belch to the top of his being in times of crisis ... Presidents are supposed to be Leaders not Hiders......(did W enjoy hiding on Air Force One, flying over the US while Chaney and others of his ilk ran the Country?) The minority of the electorate who voted shrub into office in 2000 seem to be second-guessing the wisdom of their actions .. They should not be allowed this freedom --- after all, THEY are the ones who bought a pig in a poke....... THEY are the ones who bought the horse without checking it's teeth.....

Posted by: dedgeorge at September 12, 2006 10:54 AM (dBpU7)

76 Yes, time for the left's latent anti-semitism to bubble up from the depths. Plus, the whole chickenhawk canard rears it's head, too. It is hard to debate the left since they have no ideas, just absurd, emotional schoolyard taunts. No wonder America thinks the Dems are losers on national security.

Posted by: Stormy70 at September 12, 2006 11:00 AM (SXQle)

77 Dems are losers on national security? Funny how the right constantly distorts their record, claime we haven't been attacked since 9/11 (an indisputable and terrible lie for a movement that claims to be tough on security), and then claims the left is weak on security. The right has owned our federal government, and while I don't blame them for the attacks on our country (despite the fact that they blame the left, and Clinton, for everything that happens on their watch) and overseen several attacks since 9/11. Anthrax. Never caught those guys - and now pretend it never happened. Even today, we were attacked in Syria - and our allies in Spain and England have been attacked. Yet the right continues to say that the left is clueless on security, weak on terror, and hateful of America. Talk about revisionist history - the lie that we have not been attacked since 9/11 is a gortesque distortion of fact, and blatant political propaganda that is perpetrated by the so-called liberal media.

Posted by: Jesse at September 12, 2006 11:22 AM (73Jvt)

78 For Karl Rove, 9/11 is the gift that keeps on giving.

Posted by: buma at September 12, 2006 11:33 AM (inwbt)

79 This is fun!! Here's what I have learned from reading the leftist comments here: That the WTC were in NYC, and that NYC went for Kerry and hate Bush, and think we should get out of Iraq!! I'm not entirely sure what that means, until I learn that: Only those who were AT the WTC, or knew someone AT the WTC, or who lived in NYC can have any kind of opinion. Because they have moral authority (much like "peace" mom, Cindy Shehan). So, nobody else should have an opinion or support Bush or support the war on terror. I then learned that the answer to winning the war on terror is: Capturing OBL. OBL is the only person we should be concerned with, and if we caught him the war on terror would, apparently, be all over!! This must be true, b/c I have never heard any democrat or leftist (on this site or elsewhere) offer any other actual ideas on how to prosecute and win the war on terror. So, to sum up - Nobody outside of NYC can have an opinion regarding 9/11. Thus, nobody should support Bush, the Iraq War, or the War on Terror. And, we should find/capture OBL. Moreover, for good measure, I've learned that anyone disagreeing with the above is stupid, a sicko, a fascist, ignorant, evil, or needs to be medicated. I believe I have been fully converted to the logic of the left. Thank you. - GB

Posted by: Great Banana at September 12, 2006 11:33 AM (JFj6P)

80 so how's that great uniter, decider, douche-bag president doing these days? just ask any republican running for office this year. seems like his name doesn't come up in the electioneering much. and what the hell is it with the term "left", "lefties", "leftist"? hell, with the way this government is run hitler and mussolini would be to the left. one more.... what the fuck am i supposed to 'remember' about 9/11? maybe the same things we should remember everyday of our lives? oh no, wait, i remember....HATE

Posted by: karl marx at September 12, 2006 12:22 PM (FTNCi)

81 So, C.Y., why should I take you anymore seriously than Rich Lowery, or Bill Kristol? Both have been consistantly wrong about Iraq, both have shown less knowledge of foreign policy than a newspaper vendor in Des Moines, and the man in Des Moines may know MORE because he actually reads what he sells! Now, there is no left or right America. There is only an America tearing itself apart while the administration leads us from one blunder to another. One America that wrangles over talking points while Iraq festers and the failure is denied, over and over, and over. You either side with the continuing failure of this corrupt and incompetent administration, or you join in trying to stop the madness, projection, and failure of the Bush cabal. You will not stop the lunacy of the Bush machine by voting Republican. It is as simple as that. So happy projection of all your woes and troubles onto the mystical/mythical "left" you so desperately need to blame for all of your boy Bush's numerous fiascoes. But after 5 years of failure, some of us want something better than more Bush blundering enabled by an equally corrupt and incompetent Republican political machine.

Posted by: boilerman10 at September 12, 2006 12:27 PM (E3Cr+)

82 This post is one big, shrill, plotz.

Posted by: reb in NC at September 12, 2006 12:29 PM (jnGXL)

83 well said, great banana. osama this, osama that. these liberals weren't scared of saddam, but they keep going on and on about this osama guy, as i said a couple years back, i don't spend much time on him. besides how would getting osama have disarmed saddam, tell me that.

Posted by: dubya at September 12, 2006 12:37 PM (AMRoJ)

84 in fact, obama was just a distraction from saddam, who was by far the greatest threat we faced. so to defang odama, i gave in to his demands that US troops leave saudi arabia. and that kept him from attacking us further -what's the problem?

Posted by: dubya at September 12, 2006 12:41 PM (AMRoJ)

85 cause the important thing is to eliminate the threat from fundamentalist sunnis who comprise al qaeda. and secular sunnis like saddam. and fundamentalist shiites like iran. no matter, put 'em all together. whatever the opposite of "divide and conquer" is, that will be our policy.

Posted by: dubya at September 12, 2006 12:46 PM (AMRoJ)

86 Draft Republicans!

Posted by: Vet at September 12, 2006 01:20 PM (25egv)

87 Hey Dubya, way to respond to my sarcasm with anything remotely disproving my sarcastic points. Karl Marx, "what the hell is it with the term "left", "lefties", "leftist"? hell, with the way this government is run hitler and mussolini would be to the left." A) Why are liberals so afraid to be called liberals or admit they are on the left? b) The fact that you wrote the above quote and likely believe the quote to be true shows how incredibly stupid you are. All other leftists (and, for people to slow to figure it out, I mean those to the left of center politically who are trolling this site today): - Coming here, reciting talking points straight from the DNC and KOS, and spewing hate and insults does not change anyone's mind or equal rational debate. - I for one, would love to have a real debate about the policies involved in fighting the war on terror. Unfortunately, only one side seems to be wiling to discuss these things in a reasonable, articulate and logical manner, and that is not the left side of the aisle, which is bad for America as a whole. But, when one party (the dems) abdicates any rational thought, there is no choice for rational people but to keep re-electing republicans, despite their real or perceived flaws. I wish there was a serious alternative to the republicans. I would love a party that would keep the tax cuts but also control spending, and who would be a party of smaller government. As long as that party was also serious about national security. Unfortunately, there is no such party in America. Thus, we are forced to vote for the republicans, as the dems are simply put, not a viable alternative to anyone who thinks about the issues facing america. Now, in the left's mind, that probably makes me a racist, bigot, homophobe, evil, fascist, ignorant, uneducated, stupid, kool-aid drinking, bush loving, psychopath. But, once you get past the insults, I have seen nothing offered (in the comments here, in liberal blogs generally, or from dem politicians) in the form of actual arguments, backed up by real facts (i.e., not things from the fevered imagination of Michael Moore, et al.) to make me change my mind and vote for any democrat. - GB

Posted by: Great Banana at September 12, 2006 01:27 PM (JFj6P)

88 Vet, While I, for one, find the "chickenhawk" argument an incredibly forceful logical argument, it hardly works on someone like myself, who served, and has family members serving. But, I would love to limit debate in America on war and foriegn policy to only U.S. military veterans. Somehow, I doubt such a limitation would favor the policy outcomes you desire. - GB

Posted by: Great Banana at September 12, 2006 01:30 PM (JFj6P)

89 Check your hate, CY. How long until you tie a librul to the back of your truck?

Posted by: Five of Diamonds at September 12, 2006 01:41 PM (SOf9N)

90 To The so called Yankee Confederate Even your name is reflective of your hypocricy and confusion. In The Civil War you would have been put in jail for treason or sent down to "Dixie" to fight on the side of the racist that lost the war. As for your continuos attacks on Liberals. Ijust have to tell you that is getting old. Is that the only way you can come up to have people in your sorry ass blog? You call day in and day out Democrats a bunch of names and start a food fight between partisans that pretend that they are "debating" their point of view. There is no debate in your world people. Your views are extreme and not up for change. Fortunately for your sorry asses the majority of us Americans do have a brain and use it. That is why we have two parties that constantly change the political landscape whether you like it or not. I don't vote party, I vote results. As for the "Confederate Yankee" ...... The only thing that you have to offer is hate, and name calling... You are an Idiot. Care to call any Democrat what you tell them every day in your post? NO that is the answer..... That is because you are a coward hiding behid a blog.

Posted by: GIL at September 12, 2006 01:50 PM (s6Usw)

91 The left are ridiculous to even talk about something so overblown as 9/11. No one with any brains really cares. The President of the country didn't think it was that big a deal (911 Commission, anyone), but you think citizens should care. 9/11/2001: Terrorists, Yada Yada Yada, 3000 people yada yada yada. Yawn. What else you got?

Posted by: Robert at September 12, 2006 01:54 PM (VTtVl)

92 why do all your arguments depend on falsehoods and distortions? Posted by: jay k. at September 11, 2006 04:13 PM Ooh, let me get this one. I think it's because he's an ignorant dick.

Posted by: tom tankreedo at September 12, 2006 02:02 PM (62NkU)

93 They hate us for our freedom, says Bush. Thus, we will simply eliminate all our freedoms and live in a police state, says Bush. Now everything is fine. Our phone calls are monitored, we have secret prisons, we torture people, we put people under the microscope at the airport, we discourage protest, we catapult propaganda and sneer at truthtellers. Now that we're not free anymore, the terrorists don't hate us, I guess.

Posted by: edgar at September 12, 2006 02:13 PM (pTYzw)

94 Tongueboy. I apologize. I get what you are saying. All worked up on 9/11. Just changed my batteries. Sorry for "misunderestimating" you. Thanks, Tongueboy Rocks!

Posted by: David Kempes at September 12, 2006 02:16 PM (nJIUX)

95 U.S. vs. the terrorists. You want to guess who won. It was the terrorists in a rout!!

Posted by: Robert at September 12, 2006 02:16 PM (VTtVl)

96 Wow thats a lot of liberal hateful replies. You must have struck a nerve. Truth hurts don't it?

Posted by: 1angrychristian at September 12, 2006 02:44 PM (pnZKj)

97 And you are happy, Robert, that the terrorists allegedly WON? What a fine example of an American Patriot you are .....

Posted by: Retired Spy at September 12, 2006 02:48 PM (Xw2ki)

98 I despise the essence of Corporate America, which so often stands against the needs and rights of WE THE PEOPLE.

Posted by: mizerock at September 12, 2006 02:54 PM (6yHgW)

99 Retired spy, How do you read into my remarks I'm happy the terrorists won. You got some kind of telekenesis going on? If so, it's on the fritz. I never said I was happy they won (quite the contrary, since I'm an American). I just said they did win. In a rout. What a fine example of a disingenuous moron you are...

Posted by: Robert at September 12, 2006 03:01 PM (VTtVl)

100 YOu are clueless. Amazing how you keep on overlooking the truth. How many lies does Bush get to tell before you get it? You have to ask the right question before you can find the answer. So far you have not asked one question. The left loves America more than they love the man-you love the man more than you love this nation, that's why we ask questions and that is why you follow. Extreme nationalism is always blind.

Posted by: Fedup at September 12, 2006 03:14 PM (e7RQd)

101 I quake in fear at the prospect of Islamic radicals taking over the world. Just as I quaked in fear at the prospect of Red China taking over the world. Just as I quaked in fear that the Russians were going to vaporize us with nukes. Take a history course, for God's sake.

Posted by: anne johnson at September 12, 2006 03:18 PM (BvEoi)

102 great banana, i'm not trying to disprove your point. iraq is the central front in the war on terror, not the afghan/paki border. don't you agree? that's why we have 7 times the troops in iraq as we have in afghanistan. if osama were job one, those numbers would be reversed. as far as "i don't spend too much time on him" that's part of the public record, don't you know: Me: "So I don't know where he is. You know, I just don't spend that much time on him, Kelly, to be honest with you. Â… I'll repeat what I said. I truly am not that concerned about him." and anne johnson, change your sheets.

Posted by: dubya at September 12, 2006 03:39 PM (AMRoJ)

103 "dubya" - it's the height of unfair rhetoric to put ridiculous made-up words in the president's mouth. "iraq is the central front in the war on terror" - i mean, come on. I quake in fear Â… Just as I quaked in fear Â… Just as I quaked in fear let me guess- you're a quaker? (conscientious objector, no doubt)

Posted by: benjoya at September 12, 2006 03:54 PM (AMRoJ)

104 speaking of quaking, what do you call a guy who gets C.O. status to avoid viet nam, but supports Operation Iraqi Liberation (or at least he did til last week, when he flipped)? that would be CT Congressman Christopher Shays. His party? C'mon, guess. (btw, Shays is a Christian Scientist, not a Quaker)

Posted by: benjoya at September 12, 2006 04:09 PM (AMRoJ)

105 CY, This must be a very good post. You pissed off all the right people. Keep up the good work son. Subsunk

Posted by: Subsunk at September 12, 2006 04:15 PM (PaSM8)

106 personally, i think afghanistan/pakistan is the central front in the war on terror, if you must call it that. i think al qaeda is more dangerous than saddam was before the war. that's why no one opposed going into afghanistan. no one in new york, anyway.

Posted by: benjoya at September 12, 2006 04:27 PM (AMRoJ)

107 and with that i must once more attempt analog interface with the outside world. thanks, guys (and thanks to salon for linking here.)

Posted by: benjoya at September 12, 2006 04:29 PM (AMRoJ)

108 DJ Drummond said it far better than I ever could. Read the whole post at: http://politics.wizbangblog.com/2006/09/11/the-liberal-disconnect-about-911.php

Posted by: Jason at September 12, 2006 04:29 PM (kqewx)

109 Now everything is fine. Our phone calls are monitored, we have secret prisons, we torture people, we put people under the microscope at the airport, we discourage protest, we catapult propaganda and sneer at truthtellers. But truthtellers like myself remain unintimidated by the Bush Gestapo. That's why I don't post anonymously. Because I'm brave. Because I'm a patriot--nay, a veritable Minuteman. Because I'm like the crazy rebel dude with the mask in that V For Vendetta flick. Because---I can take the heat! From the Man! Fight! The! Power! You'll never take me alive, copper! Regards, Edgar's Ego

Posted by: Tongueboy at September 12, 2006 04:42 PM (U1Ib2)

110 Guys, A view from overseas. Stop the bickering. They want you dead. They see you are less than human. They hate you, because you are sucessful, because you show them to be failures. 10% of them want to kill you. A further 25% of them think that is a good idea. A further 30% just turn look the other way - and will continue to do so until you emphatically destroy and humiliate at least the 10%. They don't care one fig whether you are Republican, Democratic or Independant. Your very existence is the reason why you are hated. Stop squabbling - confront evil.

Posted by: Nickoz at September 12, 2006 05:11 PM (xCS4K)

111 Today, more than any other, the Right reveals how thoroughly they are lost to panic and hysteria. The Left thoroughly recognizes the threats we face. The problem is that the Right has, for the last 5 years, reacted, and over-reacted, to those threats with full-blown hysteria. Conservatives, from the President on down, have behaved like the weak, terrified swimmer who, finding himself in unexpected trouble, reacts with such overwhelming panic he is both incapable of saving himself and a mortal danger to anyone who would come to his rescue. The Right's histrionic lashing out (at fellow Americans and former allies) and thrashing about (indulging in belligerent, panicked movement that eliminates the opportunity for genuinely, effective action) is pulling us all down. Making a bad situation worse. Creating a disasterous, downward spiraling state of affairs. Making it increasingly difficult for this nation to devise and take realistic and effective action for dealing with the very real dangers we face. Do us all a favor please. Stop foaming at the mouth and start thinking.

Posted by: esmense at September 12, 2006 05:15 PM (1si07)

112 More mental masturbation! Yay!

Posted by: capCanCanMan at September 12, 2006 05:21 PM (gTfVm)

113 Confederate Yankee, (love the name!) You're post was perfect. And it created the perfect storm. I would laugh, but it's so sad to read the liberals' posts. They are so choked with hatred of Bush (and apparently, anyone who supports him) they can barely achieve complete sentences. With all the words expended, not one has offered a cogent argument, or sited concrete evidence of a single one of their accusations. In rhetoric, we call that raving, not argumentation. It convinces no one, it merely serves as catharsis for the writer. Of course, a cathartic is generally prescribed when one has swallowed poison. So we may fairly extrapolate what the liberal "ideas" are doing to those who swallow them wholesale. It's a pity. Respectfully, and with much admiration for your position, your opinion (and your restraint) the-gunslinger

Posted by: the-gunslinger at September 12, 2006 05:29 PM (+RhLh)

114 esmense. Great post!! Congratulations you hit the nail on the head. I say let them drown.

Posted by: gil at September 12, 2006 05:33 PM (s6Usw)

115 "...they despise the essence of America." Um, no. "They continue to mock the moment when our President found out that a sneak attack broader in scope and scale than Pearl Harbor was under way." Ehh -- nope, wrong again. "They mock him for showing the same shock and dismay we all felt." Hmm... no, still way off on that one. "They mock him for being moved near to tears as the realization set in that thousands of innocent Americans were dead or dying and that he, the most powerful single man on the planet, was powerless to stop it." Huh. No, not why I mock him, either. Really, there's no shortage of reasons to mock / lament G.W. We don't need to go digging for them.

Posted by: capnCanCanMan at September 12, 2006 05:33 PM (gTfVm)

116 Whenever you get 50 pages of insults and diatribes from liberals, you know you're on the right track. Great essay CY, keep 'em coming!

Posted by: Aaron G at September 12, 2006 05:48 PM (1xiB4)

117 Gunslinger. I tell you what. Since you talk about coherent arguments and acusstations. Why don't you tell us SPECIFICALLY who is the "they" that The Confused-Yankee is talking about in his idiotic post. Names please no generics. I'll say that will make Mr. Clown- Yanke a bit more coherent, and his acussations more credible don't you think? You see, the Racist- Yankee forgot to put any specifics. Maibe you can elight us all by correcting that "Little" oversite on his part. Here is the list of the people that "Mock him (Bush)for beeing moved to tears..." Mock him (Bush) for showing shock.." In reference to his Reaction in the emmediate aftermath of 9-11 1. ? Senator for ? 2. ? Prominent Liberal 3. ? Democrat Congessman for the State of ? 4. ? Head of Industry declared Liberal Democrat See I made it easy for you!! Just fill in the blanks.

Posted by: gil at September 12, 2006 06:05 PM (s6Usw)

118 Gunslinger. I tell you what. Since you talk about coherent arguments and acusstations. Why don't you tell us SPECIFICALLY who is the "they" that The Confused-Yankee is talking about in his idiotic post. Names please no generics. I'll say that will make Mr. Clown- Yanke a bit more coherent, and his acussations more credible don't you think? You see, the Racist- Yankee forgot to put any specifics. Maibe you can elight us all by correcting that "Little" oversite on his part. Here is the list of the people that "Mock him (Bush)for beeing moved to tears..." Mock him (Bush) for showing shock.." In reference to his Reaction in the emmediate aftermath of 9-11 1. ? Senator for ? 2. ? Prominent Liberal 3. ? Democrat Congessman for the State of ? 4. ? Head of Industry and Liberal Democrat See I made it easy for you!! Just fill in the blanks.

Posted by: gil at September 12, 2006 06:06 PM (s6Usw)

119 Whenever you get tens of thousands of innocent civilians dead in the middle east and a nuclear war on the horizon, you know you're on the right track. Greta essay, CY, keem 'em coming!

Posted by: canCanCanMan at September 12, 2006 06:07 PM (gTfVm)

120 It's not about the left or the right in the end. It's about a unified, multi-national club of terrorist thugs. The strategy is to kill the infastructure of the terrists. In many of these countries the Islamic hate complex has built itself in with the native government. If you want to kill the infastructure, you must kill the govenments that support them. You can not go and destroy them all, though. (We helped Afganistan, overthrew a tryanical Iraqi government and did nothing to the Hezbolla infected Lebonon. There were other reasons for each. You have a choice. Fight the terrorists to save the world from their hate. Or you can forget them. Remember what happened when we ignored them. (hint:9/11) I don't agree with the left, but I do think they have the right and freedom to say it. Even if it is hateful crap.

Posted by: thought at September 12, 2006 06:16 PM (I4D7A)

121 I wrote the following just after 9/11, while the rubble was still smoking. It's disturbing to see how correct I was in that moment. Maybe this time, someone will pay attention. Just a taste; I'm a considerate man. "But hell, I'm just an aspy. I obviously don't grasp the damage to the social fabric, or the visceral need to go and kill someone, anyone, whether or not they had anything to do with this. Forgive my impatient foot tapping as you persist in flapping helplessly, achieving nothing at great length." ...other than to observe that five years later, not one goddamn thing has changed! The same people are still impotently waving their dicks and despite all the blood and treasure, not one single solitary thing has changed. Few if any of the obvious loopholes have been closed, the Atty general is more worried about the threat of pornography than tracking down terror cells, the army is exhausted, as is the treasury and the patience of the world and a plurality of the American people. That plurality includes Pat Buchanan and many fine John Birch Society members. You people have waited and prayed (literally!) for most of my life to "prove" the worth of your simpleminded ideology in the crucible of war, how superior your sort of "realism" is to those "weak-kneed liburl In-tuh-Lect-chals." So, how's it been workin' for ya so far? It's gotten to the point where anyone who can demonstrate a working IQ and reading skills above the 4th grade is called a "librul." Well, I ain't a "librul". But I don't think I could explain the difference to the likes of you, and since you really mean "smart people," I'll go with that, Beavis. I AM smarter than you. And so are 70% of the American people.

Posted by: Bob King at September 12, 2006 06:43 PM (eXd70)

122 I want to have confederate yankee's abortion.

Posted by: bargal20 at September 12, 2006 07:18 PM (Bq2/r)

123 whatever the opposite of "divide and conquer" is, that will be our policy. Posted by: dubya at September 12, 2006 12:46 PM It's about a unified, multi-national club of terrorist thugs. Posted by: thought at September 12, 2006 06:16 PM

Posted by: a uniter not a divider and conqueror at September 12, 2006 07:35 PM (AMRoJ)

124 Whenever you get tens of thousands of innocent civilians dead in the middle east It was a normal year under Saddam...

Posted by: Purple Avenger at September 12, 2006 07:51 PM (WxRQS)

125 Good work! Please hate much and kill each other. We only help you die. We not discriminate, we behead with same love all americans. We new americans. Coming!

Posted by: Muhammad at September 12, 2006 08:15 PM (C2bY7)

126 After flicking through these comments I have developed a strongly negative opinion of left wing people and left wing thought. They have so much time on their hands, to write hundreds of words in protest of a single entry in an internet diary, one of tens of thousands; to channel lengthy, poor-quality diatribes that only a handful of people will read, and skim-read at that. I cannot respect anyone who uses the word ilk. It is an awful word.

Posted by: Ashley Pomeroy at September 12, 2006 08:19 PM (Qxihf)

127 Nothing like seeing the right getting pwned on their own website. Muahahahahaha Oh and ashley, if you finished college, 2-3 paragraphs of cogent discourse don't take no time 'tall.

Posted by: osama bin forgotten at September 12, 2006 08:25 PM (CoSed)

128 How about this: 2008 Dems gain control 2009 (Summer) Jihadis seize France,control nukes 2009 (Winter) All of Europe falls, US Gov't does not respond,"An Unwinable War" 2010 Greater "Dharm-al-Islam" former Europe nukes all major eastern US cities. US surrenders 2012 World ends, via Mayan calander (maybe)

Posted by: ~StainlessSteelRat at September 12, 2006 09:49 PM (d+8Hs)

129 Excellent essay. Too bad the citizens of your country seem to be so polarized on the issue. Some accuse you of hate, others of insanity... Amusing in a sad way. I see more hate and anger displayed on the comments above than in your article.

Posted by: Mike at September 12, 2006 10:14 PM (XFSfj)

130 >>Whenever you get tens of thousands of innocent civilians dead in the middle east > It was a normal year under Saddam... Good one. US is now compared favorably with SH. Only Bush could have achieved it. Hint: SH was supposed to be a bad guy and US wasnt supposed to follow in his footsteps.

Posted by: Ajay at September 12, 2006 10:32 PM (s7Epq)

131 You Republicans with your failed wars (now all of us hate the US), your failed domestic policies, your corrupt politicians and your moron president...yeah, what a bunch of heros. Drop dead, idiot.

Posted by: The Rest of the World at September 12, 2006 11:01 PM (zssV1)

132 CY linked all of his statements with the appropriate evidence. His conclusions follow my own thoughts, more or less. The difference is that the Repubs, by and large, see the threat and are willing to do something about it. We would love to see a strong Democratic Party working together with us on solutions to the threat. Unfortunately, when one party refuses to see the threat for whatever reason, be it bitterness that they are out of power, cowardice, a la the appeasers before and during WWII, or some other esoteric, multiculturist, post-modern equivalency reason, and then actively opposes and interferes with the ability of others to protect this wonderful country, then those of that party earn the scorn and disgust of those who are simply trying to defend their own freedom and the freedom of their children and grandchildren. The left has had five years to understand the problem. Instead, they've sunk into a fantasy world where cowardice is virture.

Posted by: Chance at September 13, 2006 12:11 AM (w0iY0)

133 Quote: I quake in fear at the prospect of Islamic radicals taking over the world. Just as I quaked in fear at the prospect of Red China taking over the world. Just as I quaked in fear that the Russians were going to vaporize us with nukes. Take a history course, for God's sake. Posted by: anne johnson at September 12, 2006 03:18 PM I pity you, anne johnson, that you live your life in fear. If we surrender to abject fear--to "terror," as it is defined--have we not let the terrorists win? I for one will live with my head held high and with my civil liberties (as much as I can under the Bush regime) intact. The bill of rights was written during a period of war and uncertainty. People realized that, even in difficult times, certain rights are not negotiable. Why should we win the cold war to become another soviet-style state spying on its own citizens? Why should we defeat the terrorists to live in terror?

Posted by: edgar at September 13, 2006 12:34 AM (lDfM1)

134 Confederate Yankee is so far up George Bush's ass that he believes that just criticism of the leader is unjust criticism of the nation. [Y]ou were... behaving in a much more crazy fashion than before. It was just this corruption, this moral disease, this overthrow of all integrity and decency... You seek security not for the peace of your country but for your own impunity in debauchery. Prosperity depraved you; and adversity could not reform you... You have learned no salutary lession from calamity; you have become the most wretched, and you remain the most worthless, of mankind. -St. Augustine, City of God, I, 33 I realize that some who might read this will believe this places me in the "blame America first" crowd. If that's what your thinking, you need to shut off that wretched reflex and realize that it's better to tell you when you're acting in a pointlessly stupid, self-destructive manner, rather than keep silent for the sake of your feelings in the short term.

Posted by: stogie at September 13, 2006 01:34 AM (jYO+1)

135 Your nerve-striking post is just so... courageous! You should be reassured to know that the more people disagree with you, the more you're right! Because anyone who disagrees with your infallible correctness deserves to have their nerves struck! Disagreement = contemptuous un-americanism! You're doing a heckuva job, CY!

Posted by: Neil Goldin-Schauer at September 13, 2006 02:18 AM (Qd/5q)

136 Mike Amusing in a sad way. I see more hate and anger displayed on the comments above than in your article. Projection is very telling. I suppose it's more sad in a mildly amusing way, though.

Posted by: Patrick Chester at September 13, 2006 03:28 AM (MKaa5)

137 I love these boneheaded comments... "why don't you die... you're pathetic... these are all lies... blah blah blah" What a bunch of brainless crybabies... it appears you've described them accurately.

Posted by: mistercalm at September 13, 2006 06:28 AM (uPDsb)

138 Bob King says: The same people are still impotently waving their dicks and despite all the blood and treasure, not one single solitary thing has changed. You, sir, are retarded. Many, many things have changed, beginning with 50 Million people who now have a voice in their governance instead of tyrannical dictatorships standing on their throats. So, there's at least 50 million things that have changed. 50 millions lives that have changed. Also, we've all learned that drawing Mohammed is basically asking to die. Did you know that on 9/10? 50,000,001. OK, now it's your turn. But please, put your dick away first.

Posted by: Pablo at September 13, 2006 09:56 AM (4dm7X)

139 "Nothing like seeing the right getting pwned on their own website. Muahahahahaha" The only thing I see from the reactionary left around here is a bunch of surrender monkeys playing "anus ostrich", denying reality and spewing a sewers worth of hateful filth. What a buch of pitiful, fear frenzied shitheads.

Posted by: N.O'Brain at September 13, 2006 11:25 AM (ibOVz)

140 Can you say, "PROJECTION."

Posted by: DinahMoeHum at September 13, 2006 11:44 AM (4c6+6)

141 "belittle the president's supporters" Nonsense. Morons like you are self-belittling. It is simply pathetic how, in your useless, empty life, you yearn for something important to happen. So, since nothing important will ever happen, and you are a useless piece of crap, you inflate the importance of 9/11 to Pearl Harbor. You really are stupid.

Posted by: POed Lib at September 13, 2006 01:15 PM (EjPK6)

142 YOU'RE EQUALLY AS MUCH OF A FEAR AND HATE MONGER AS ROVE, WHICH IS UNDOUBTEDLY A COMPLIMENT TO SOMEONE LIKE YOU. I WONDER WHEN YOUR TRUTH IS FINALLY TOLD, WE'LL LEARN LITTLE DITTIES ABOUT YOU LIFE WE ARE NOW LEARNING ABOUT ROVE, I.E. THE GAY STEP FATHER HE LOVED AND BETRAYED, THE EMOTIONAL ANAREXIA, ETC. ETC. Dan in New York

Posted by: dan oley at September 13, 2006 06:18 PM (X2qoS)

143 I'm a patriot, and I'm scared. If I was super-scared would that make me a super -patriot? I've always wanted to be a super -patriot....a super-duper -patriot!!! (I'm reallly scared)

Posted by: Marty at September 13, 2006 08:12 PM (x4Ne+)

144 A very salient point was made here. Why do the leftists hate their own leaders more than they hate the fanatical killers who attacked their country? They have even reached the state of inventing paranoid, psychotic conspiracy theories to bolster their hatred. By the way, there is obviously some hate being expressed on both sides, but that coming from the left is clearly more virulent, irrational and even demented, in my observation.

Posted by: Greg W at September 14, 2006 12:43 AM (aQwD7)

145 Greg W, Your observation is poor. This country wasn't attacked by people from Canada. This country wasn't attacked by people from Tuva. This country wasn't attacked by people from Iraq. This country was attacked mostly by Saudi citizens in a plot organized by Osama bin Laden. Attacking Iraq had nothing to do with hating the fanatical killers who attacked my country. It's an utterly pointless war, if the purpose was to go after those fanatical killers. As for "leftists" hating our own leaders, I'm reminded of how Republican congressmen talked about Clinton with their colleagues. They called him "your president," the implication being he was not theirs. Republicans have a lot to answer for when it comes to hating their own leaders. And a word about "leftists." In your worldview, apparently, anyone who doesn't hold Bircher politics or more extremely right is a commie. Powell is a "leftist" to you. One more example of your poor observational skills.

Posted by: tristero at September 14, 2006 04:27 AM (Sl6+N)

146 You really flushed the trolls out of the cracks with this article. I always visualize trolls as 12 years old based upon their debate skills. The best reply was the one about the NYT announcing that the CIA was closing down its official secret spy team to get Bin Laden, therefore proving that the top secret search to get Bin Laden was over. Some of them are still fighting the John Birch Society, which gives away their advanced physical age. On the other hand, one troll was angry that Bush did not do something Presidential on the day of 911. Behaving 'Presidential' is something that emerged in the Clinton era. Before Clinton, Presidents, Republican and Democrat, simply acted upon their beliefs and politics. They were not posers. I suppose in 911 Bush could have called everyone together and demanded they gather all news and details of the attacks (as if they would wait for his orders to begin). He could demand they bring him information immediately (as if they would not otherwise do so). He could demand to be transported to a place he could get work done (as if the modern Presidency was not electronically wired anywhere in the world the President traveled). He could demand to speak to the person in government who knew how far reaching the attack would be and where, and when, so he would know where he could safely travel to and what his next step would be, as if that information was known. Or he could simply announce that there was an attack upon America, thereby revealing no information to the yet to be determined enemy. he could upon advice of security, enter a plane that would not land until security could determine the scope of attack and threat. He could run the government via electronic communications from the plane while the scope of threat was assessed. And he could remain silent on the details of what he did that day, as the enemy was at large and could plan future attacks around his modus operandi. Nope, trolls need their fix. Had he been a troll friendly President that day of 911 would they have been happy? I don't think so, with their newest fantasies of murdering the baby Bush. The probem is, when the trolls dropped religion, they chose as moral foundation a party platform. When that party lost the election, it was a rejection of their core beliefs. A religious person might find parts of a party platform contradicted their beliefs. This group needs the whole shebang or the moral code is violated. Kind of like Sharia. It brings out the worst rage, kind of like Islamo-fascism. Trolls make me think of the Punch and Judy puppets. Always have a high voice and beating each other over the heads with clubs.

Posted by: entagor at September 14, 2006 09:04 AM (5t20V)

147 Why are you so angry Mr. Yankee? Your Republican Party controls all three branches of Government. 99 percent of all the media outlets on TV lean to the right, with the exception of Olbermann, Stewart and Colbert (Two out of three are comedians). 52 percent of the ideologically identifiable guests on Sunday morning talk shows were from the right. Since Bush as been President, 61 percent of the elected officials who appear on Sunday morning talk shows were Republican. 61 percent of the ideologically identifiable journalists who appear on Sunday morning talk shows were conservative. http://mediamatters.org/items/200602140002 You are never satisfied. You and your fellow right wing dingers should be dancing in the street, and you still publish this angry screed. So once again I ask; why are you so angry Mr. Yankee?

Posted by: Commander Ogg at September 14, 2006 10:21 AM (EUqlz)

148 Did someone wander in off the Starship? Describing something as 'catastrophic psychological denial' is not anger. Although being the Commander of a Starship might give one a different perspective, so to say. Those connecting the John Birch Society to Bush ought to go to their web site. They are against the military tribunals and praise Jon Stewart. Meanwhile, does this sound like anger?: "We will not listen to them again. That perhaps is their greatest fear of all" This sounds like a gentle voice heard from a galaxy far far away.

Posted by: entagor at September 14, 2006 12:21 PM (5t20V)

149 Wow, so strange, so sad to see so much hatred, all over a bunch of misunderstood and misquoted blog posts. We on the "left" are all monsters and haters. Just feel the love in this twisted post. Yeah, really, really strange, as in, like, totally weird. At least Kos and Al Franken served in the military, as opposed to just about all the members of the chattering keyboard classes.

Posted by: richard at September 15, 2006 02:29 AM (tG1eq)

150 tristero This conflict is obviously about more than Osama Bin Laden - it's shaping up as a global struggle against fanatical Islam. If you can't see that then it's ludicrous for you to criticize anyone else's powers of observation. You must be blind, oldtimer. But perhaps your memory is still intact. You still remember what you were taught - Communism good! John Birch Society bad! After Pearl Harbor the US did not invade Japan immediately, but rather they attacked in Tunisia. It's too bad you weren't there to second guess them.

Posted by: Greg W at September 15, 2006 02:54 AM (aQwD7)

151 richard So you don't feel the love. Look, this is a serious matter. The US was attacked by a vicious enemy. The "left" (I guess that includes you as well as the clowns you mentioned, Al Franken and Kos) doesn't take it seriously, but spends all its time attacking its own leaders. Can you not understand why the "right", who would like to see the nation defended, is upset with you? Even if you can't understand, how do you have the gall to complain about it when the hate spewing form the left is so much more vicious and irrational than anything directed at you here?

Posted by: GregW at September 15, 2006 03:19 AM (aQwD7)

152 Greg, It's only your opinion that the left is worse.

Posted by: Jaxebad at September 16, 2006 07:37 PM (/Z6OX)

153 Another clear example of how bipartisanship is destroying America. The government today is incompetent, corrupt, and criminal, and is working fervently towards destroying the very essence of what makes America great. The fight against that shouldn't be defined as "Right vs. Left". It's "Americans" vs "Anti-Americans". And if you support Cheney and Pals in the least, you are not an American. Left and Right be damned.

Posted by: VeeKaChu at September 17, 2006 10:32 AM (ZuVLm)

154 Yay Racist Yankee! Keep dolin' out those lashings to the strawman of your choosing! Anyway, we belittle Chimpy's supporters because they are leading America off a cliff (duh) by spending all that Clinton surplus on a war that has made us take our focus of the REAL front on the war on terror. As the facts continue to come out showing how bungled this war was, the sheep on the right that still support Bush lap up whatever excuse, whatever strawman, whatever story he tells you. And you wonder why you are belittled not only my the left, but by mainstream america as well. Take a look at the polls. Hell, almost half of your own party doesnt even agree with you anymore. So get a grip racist-yankee and his loyal sheep. Things are going to get a lot worse for your party in the months and years to come, this is merely the beginning. While I'm tarnishing my "beautiful mind" spending time on this thread (thanks Babs!), let me ask you plebes exactly what is "Islamo-fascism"?? Do you even KNOW what fascism is, dunder-heads? Lemme educate you, since it seems these children isn't learning... Fascism is the merging of corporations and government. Like what Hitler did, and what Mussolini did in Italy. How exactly does that translate into nutballs that shit in caves and conspire to fly airplanes into buildings? The country is tired of the chicken-little terror-alerters running us into the ground. Time to let the big boys take over. See ya in November.

Posted by: John in Chicago at September 18, 2006 03:29 PM (JbRmM)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

Five years ago this morning, a mid-air collision nearly took place over my home in New Windsor, New York. I wish it had. One of the planes was American Airlines Flight 11. The other was United Airlines Flight 175.

Pajamas Media provides the old and new media round-up of the day that changed our reality, Five Years After.

Update: That was then, this is now:

Five years on, a psychosis has gripped millions who can't and won't fathom the true nature of the war we are in. For many of them, having been born and raised in an essentially post-Christian West, they can't imagine that anyone might be motivated to kill and die because of something a warlord wrote down centuries ago. They cannot imagine any religion other than the one they believe they have outgrown being violent or causing violence. They cannot imagine anyone fighting for a cause that offers no material gains and therefore cannot be negotiated away. In our essentially materialist West, millions lack the imagination to believe that bin Laden's pining for the return of Andalusia to Muslim rule is in his mind a legitimate reason to wage war on America now. They can imagine their own countrymen being so motivated, though, and I think that's key to understanding their state of mind. They can imagine the Rotary Club member down the street plotting mayhem because he goes to church and votes Republican, but they can't imagine that the Muslim in Karachi is a real, live enemy who is actually plotting an attack.

This lack of imagination has bred the anti-war madness we have now. Rather than accept the reality of an enemy that cannot and therefore will not negotiate away what he believes to be the will of God, and rather than accept that this enemy will understand nothing outside total victory or total defeat, and rather than understand that this enemy's goals include enslaving the entire world in a global caliphate, and rather than accept that this reality necessitates the use of all tools including military might to defend ourselves, millions have embraced an alternate reality. The reality of the enemy outside the West and its motivations being too terrifying and too far beyond their own control, millions now imagine that the enemy in this war is within. The enemy, to them, isn't the turbaned man behind the plot to hijack multiple airplanes and crash them into multiple buildings in America. The real enemy, to these millions, is the man in the Oval Office, and the man or men behind him.

Read the tagline above, folks.

Because liberalism is a persistent vegetative state.

It wasn't chosen lightly,and continues to manifest itself to this day.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 06:14 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 456 words, total size 3 kb.

Via CNN:

Photographer Joe Rosenthal, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his immortal image of six World War II servicemen raising an American flag over battle-scarred Iwo Jima, died Sunday. He was 94.

Rosenthal died of natural causes at an assisted living facility in the San Francisco suburb of Novato, said his daughter, Anne Rosenthal.

"He was a good and honest man, he had real integrity," Anne Rosenthal said.

His photo, taken for The Associated Press on Feb. 23, 1945, became the model for the Iwo Jima Memorial near Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. The memorial, dedicated in 1954 and known officially as the Marine Corps War Memorial, commemorates the Marines who died taking the Pacific island in World War II.

Update: The insipid nature of the anti-war left rears its misshapen head once more, as the malecontents at Sadly No! and their friends at Salon.com's Daou Report see my mention of Joe Rosenthal's passing as a chance to attack both myself and for some odd reason, Rosenthal. To using the passing of an iconic American photographer to attack a relatively obscure blogger betrays a pettiness I personally find repulsive and a bit unsettling, but sadly, par for the course. My response to Sadly No! in the comments of that site are as follows:

So the great “Sadly No!” catch of hypocrisy is what, exactly?

Some have postulated over the years that Joe Rosenthal somehow staged the second flag raising on Iwo Jima, yet not one human soul have ever been able to provide the first shred of proof that the allegations they raised were true, as even your own cited sources concur.

This is in stark contrast to copious evidence that some (I never said nor implied all, as you scurrilously and inaccurately charge) media photographers in Lebanon staged photos, and individual photos by several others were left suspect. No less an authority on photojournalism than David Perlmutter, a man who quite literally “wrote the book” on photojournalism, has come out strongly condemning the actions of these photographers and the media organizations that they represent in Editor & Publisher.

I've only played a small role in exposing some of the photojournalist fraud coming from Lebanon, but I am proud of the work I've done, as is Perlmutter, and at least one major combat photojournalist (a Pulitzer nominee, I may add) who has stated to me privately in e-mail that he is impressed with my ability to catch some of the things I've noticed in staged and biased photojournalism coming from Lebanon.

That you would try to make a comparison between the unproven and mostly discredited charges against Rosenthal that even your own sources cannot support, and the very real and proven charges that have been levied against some Lebanese war photographers, shows a sloppiness in thinking here that quite frankly, I've come to expect.

Not surprisingly, none of the commentors there has a substantive rebuttal.

Update 2:

Via email, from David D. Perlmutter, by permission:

The overwhelming evidence, including the testimony of everyone present at the flag-raisings--both of them--was that the photograph that has become the famous icon was NOT staged. In brief, what happened was that Rosenthal took a series of still pictures of both flag-raisings. At the same time, a movie cameraman recorded the full event. The second flag-raising occurred because the first flag was too small to be seen by Marines and other military personnel throughout the island and at sea. Joe Rosenthal did not ask anyone to raise a flag, did not pose anyone raising a flag, and the second flag would have been raised in same way even if there had been no photographers present. In other words, it was 100 percent NOT a staged photo. The complication occurred because at that time photographers rarely developed their own film in the field. Rosenthal put the role in a can and sent it off for developing. Subsequently, the picture of the second flag-raising, the shot that we now recognize as the great icon, became a sensation. Rosenthal, caught up in the battle, knew nothing about his own success. Weeks later, when told that one of his photographs had become celebrated, he assumed that the questioner referred to another photograph in which the military personnel posed around the flag and talked about it as one he helped set up. Unfortunately, even though the error was corrected very quickly, it has become a data virus in the history of photojournalism. I will add that it is also a very hurtful error, both to the men who raised the flag--some of whom were killed in the battle in the days to follow--and to a sensitive and decent photojournalist. As an added note, as any working Photog can tell you, the photo violates some basic schoolbook rules of photojournalism, so, for example, he would have gotten more faces in “staged” image.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 06:10 AM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
Post contains 816 words, total size 6 kb.

"Abbey Road, Mexico." (l to r) Sean Quigley, John Donovan, Ward Brewer, and John Nowakowski, half of "Brewer's Bandits" on the DD-574/E-01 in Lazaro Cardenas. Mk4 20mm cannon in the foreground.
Photo filched from Rob Harshbarger.

John Donovan of Argghhh! and the rest of Ward Brewer's crew are getting a lot of work done on the John Rodgers/Cúitlahuac as they continue to prep the destroyer to take the long trip from Mexico's west coast to Mobile Bay. The Mexican Navy is taking great care of them... perhaps too good of care of them. I'm jealous.

Read the latest posts at Argghhh! here and here to find out why.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 12:08 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
Post contains 116 words, total size 1 kb.

Ward Brewer and his team from Beauchamp Tower Corporation (Operation Enduring Service web site, blog) have arrived in Mexico City on the first leg of their trip to bring home the DD-574 John Rogers/E-01 Cuitlahuac (photos from NavSource Online), the longest-serving of the World War II-era Fletcher-class destroyers.

AA Action view from CVA-8 Hornet 14 May 1945 of kamikaze exploding over John Rogers (John Chiquoine via NavSource Online)

They will push on today to Lázaro Cárdenas, a Mexican port city in the state of Michoacán, where the John Rogers is currently berthed.

The blogging community is very lucky to have an exclusive on the repatriation of the Rogers, with milblogger John Donovan reporting in on Argghh!, and his first post form Mexico is already online.

Read it here.

I'll hope to have some additional commentary posted here on Confederate Yankee, and my brother phin will be chiming in as well, which isn't necessarily a good thing. He promised to reveal "deep, dark secrets" about me to Ward and John in exchange for the recipe for the Avocado Ranch dressing they use to lace the fish tacos he got addicted to on his business trips to the southwest.

Whatever the charge, I maintain my innocence, and will remind my dear brother that that particular street runs both ways.

Update: John has another post here, and the first pic.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 08:21 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 237 words, total size 2 kb.

Long-time readers of this site know that one of my pet interests is Operation Enduring Service, an effort of not-for-profit Beauchamp Tower Corporation to make the best practical use of retired U.S naval vessels currently facing the cutting torches of scrapyards.

Most of my focus has been on one aspect of OES, the creation of a disaster response fleet I long ago dubbed the "Salvation Navy." Negotiations for that part of the program are currently being worked out at the highest levels of state and federal government, but another part of the program hasn't received as much attention, and that is the restoration of World War II-era warships, beginning with the DD-574 John Rogers, the last of the serving Fletcher-class destroyers.

DD-574 John Rogers served in the Pacific theater of World War II, serving in raids and amphibious landings in places with names like Tarawa, Wake Island, Bougainville, Kwajalein Atoll, and Guam, where Rogers fired more than 3,600 shells to knock out Japanense defenses. Rogers also served of Iwo Jima and the invasion of Okinawa, and in July of 1945, participated in what was the deepest naval penetration of the war. Destroyer Division 25's anti-shipping sweep that came within 1½ miles of the Japanese shoreline. John Rogers steamed into Toyko Bay in September of 1945, having fought in almost every major offensive campaign of the Pacific theater.

John Rogers was decommissioned after the war like many destroyers, and was transferred to Mexico in 1968. The destroyer was renamed the E-01 Cuitlahuac in honor of the Aztec emperor. On July 16, 2002, more than 60 years after being launched, the longest-serving Fletcher was retired by the Mexican Navy.

But that was not to be the end of the story.

On December 7, 2005, 65 years to the day that the Japanese launched an attack on Pearl Harbor plunging America into World War II, CEO Ward Brewer of Beauchamp Tower Corporation signed a transfer agreement to return the ship to American hands.

Tomorrow, Ward Brewer's team from BTC, milblogger John Donovan of Argghhh!, and documentary film crew will fly to Mexico to tow John Rogers from the Mexican Pacific coast to the shipyard in Mobile, Alabama where the last serving Fletcher-class destroyer will be restored for future genrations.

In the coming days, follow the story of the Rogers repatriation at Argghhh!, starting with John's first post, A Series of Fortuitous Events. I'll also have commentary here at Confederate Yankee.

It has been 63 years since the DD-574 was launched on the Texas Gulf Coast, but the John Rogers is finally beginning the longest trip home.

Update: The Operation Enduring Service Weblog is back up and running at a new address: http://www.btconline.us/mt.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 11:08 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
Post contains 457 words, total size 3 kb.