9/11/01

I am just letting all of you know that on the 11th of next month is coming up soon meaning 9/11/01. I will never forget that day and my prayers goes out to those who died on that horific day. Also Firefighter angels watches over them every day and night. I again pray for our troops who are fighting over there every day.

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Permalink Reply by Gregory Borg on August 23, 2010 at 2:35am

You are right on the mark about being Australian. You see a large percentage a Americans think America is better than any place else. That is because they have never been any place else. I believe that is America is the most powerful country in the world but needs many improvements. We are no one to be telling any one else how to do business. I know little of Australia but what I have heard is mostly good. I just think that this is an American issue. I do not have any idea what a "true" Australian is nor do I think that some one that does not live here has any idea what an American is or should be.

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Permalink Reply by lutan1 on August 23, 2010 at 2:35am

OK- Don't forget there's a few more Aussies here as well.... ;-)

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Permalink Reply by John Crabbe on August 23, 2010 at 2:37am

Come to think of it Greg, really the only national type of news outlet I will consciously watch would be HLN with Robin Meade. And that isn't always for the news.

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Permalink Reply by Gregory Borg on August 23, 2010 at 2:54am

I agree, most are pathetic, I do watch BBC news and PBS they seem to be the most balanced and open minded. Local new in Spokane is just horrible.

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Permalink Reply by Vic Silverfish on August 23, 2010 at 3:42am

The difference is America sets the tone for the entire western world and global economy. We (Americans) need to think about how our actions are perceived by the rest of the world and how what we say gets filtered down to the masses.

The guy who wants to build at Park51 is bin Laden's worst nightmare: a successful Moslem, living in the west and treated well by his country. This is the guy we want to push forward. This is the image we want to present to the world: that all faiths, cultures, people and traditions are welcome here. We offer a bright, shining alternative to the oppressive poverty that is most of the Islamic world.

When we (and especially politicians) make all of this anti-Islam noise, it plays right into the hands of al Queda and the so called "War on Islam" that they accuse us of. This is yet another propaganda victory for them.

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Permalink Reply by Vic Silverfish on August 23, 2010 at 3:54am

Ben, Pointing out that the US bailed Australia during WWII is a dick move, and shows a total lack of awareness of what Australia did during that time. Do a bit of research into the history. You will note that Australia at the time had a tiny population compared to Japan (even today, Australia's population is roughly the same as Tokyo's!) yet the British had Australian soldiers fighting in Africa, Burma, Singapore and elsewhere.

By all means, the US won the war in the Pacific; but the Australian's punched way in the hell above their weight and were able to halt and turn the tide against Japan very early in the war.

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Permalink Reply by Jack/dt on August 23, 2010 at 9:53am

"Sensitive:
3. having acute mental or emotional sensibility; aware of and responsive to the feelings of others.

"Sensitivity
1. the state or quality of being sensitive

Originally Published: July 9, 2009
South Carolina continues to suffer
The Atlantic Coast Conference has had enough of that [confederate] flag: Earlier this week it pulled the 2011, 2012 and 2013 ACC baseball tournaments out of (USC football coach Steve) Spurrier's state and relocated them to neighboring North Carolina.

Meanwhile, the NCAA won't touch the state of South Carolina with a vaulter's pole. Same goes for Spurrier's home conference, the SEC.

Spurrier received death threats after saying the Confederate flag shouldn't be anywhere near the state Capitol. So did at least one member of his staff.

The Confederate flag, moved to the monument in 2000, isn't going anywhere without legislation. And according to subsection B of state code 1-10-10, any bill involving the flag's removal would require a two-thirds supermajority of the general assembly for passage.

January 16, 2008 5:29 PM
McCain Defends Stance On Confederate Flag In S.C.
"Probably the worst piece of advice I've ever given to myself was when the Confederate flag was flying over the state capitol in South Carolina," he said. "And I decided that I would say it's not an issue I should be involved in, that it should be decided by the people of the state of South Carolina. I knew it was a symbol that was offensive to so many people. And afterwards, I went back and apologized. But it was needless to say, by saying that I wouldn't have anything to do with an issue like that was an act of cowardice." I guess one has to first be insensitive to later become sensitive. At least as it would apply to McCain.

The civil war was fought over two main issues, that of State's Rights and the marginally lesser issue of Slavery. Slavery allowed the south to compete with less expensive goods due to forced (slave) labor. But importantly, the southern states were firm in their collective beliefs that the Federal Government had no right to dictate how states could or should govern. In other words, no one but the state itself had the right to determine how it would govern, and that included the Federal Government as well as any other state.

Despite the economic and political issues, the civil war did end up being about slavery. After the war ended the racial issues persisted into the 1960's, enforced by Jim Crowe Laws, Segregation and the KKK. Any march or protest against civil rights and segregation were met with Confederate Flags which, along with burning crosses were symbols of oppression of blacks by whites.

One is easily led to the conclusion that the continued presence of the confederate flag (which until 2000 still flew on the top of the South Carolina Capitol Building and was then moved to a civil war monument in FRONT of the capitol) can be, at best, considered to be "insensitive". At worse it continues to flaunt the ideology of the civil war and the attitudes of that day towards blacks today.

So it's ironic that in 2010 -where a number of Southern States (for example, South Carolina) still proudly fly the confederate flag despite the well established 'significance' of that flag- an issue in NYS, which is clearly both a local City issue and State issue, is mobbed by people who NOW claim to be both sensitive AND tolerant but for whom individual State Rights are irrelevant, attempting to force their own will on the people of a separate state (while still objecting to federal government interference at the state level), all the while ignoring issues of significant insensitivity in their own home states.

Yes, 9/11 was horrendous, and nearly 3000 people of ALL color, race and religion were killed. But it is no more egregious nor is the enormity any less, than that of what was perpetrated onto a group of people (for nearly 350 years) whose only fault was the color of the skin they were born with.

So while the proposed building of the Cordoba Building in NYC may have sensitivity issues (although faultlessly legal) it defies belief that there would be a ground swell of opposition to what is a legal act, all the while willfully insensitively ignoring the perpetuation of symbols of oppression throughout the southern tier of this country.

What is even more ironic is that any person, neither white nor christian, protesting that building does so at their own moral expense: That they would willingly object and work to oppose the legal and constitutional rights of another is little more than a parallel to the segregation and discrimination that many were subjected to less than a generation ago (and in many areas still persists). Therein lies the power of political expediency, to get a person to support that which in the long run may actually harm themselves.

So for those that cry "sensitivity" you should first put your own house in order, otherwise it can only come across as "do as I say, not as I do."

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Permalink Reply by John Crabbe on August 23, 2010 at 12:58pm

Isn't that apples to spaghetti or something Jack? I mean for the number of years this has been an issue and one about sensitivity, you would think one could easily see a sensitivity issue. I mean since there are so many who view this as insensitive, you wouldn't think the stars and bars would still be flying.