Rude is being his usual blunt yet eloquent self. And I truly admire and respect his outspokenness.
At the risk of nit-picking and treading on hallowed ground, please tell Ms. 9/11 that we have indeed experienced another attack in the last 14 years. It's been in slow motion so the mass media and their 24-hour news cycle haven't interrupted regularly scheduled programming, except on rare occasions and only to the extent that it doesn't disrupt the flow of advertising revenues. (Thank you, corporate media whores!)
The body count from that attack has been much less dramatic as measured over a time scale. But much more dramatic when viewed in almost every other perspective: Sometimes the numbers killed or injured are in the dozens, but most days, the numbers are much smaller. The memorials are much more local and much less permanent than what's in Lower Manhattan, but just as achingly poignant. (And as a responder who is still trying to work up the nerve to revisit what 14 years ago was "the pile" or "Ground Zero," I hope you gentle readers will cut me some slack for not treating such hallowed ground with all due reverence).
The attack of which I write has come from within. It's euphemistically called "gun violence" -- not nearly as sexy as a calendar date. But it makes up for that in numbers too unspeakable for most people. Thousands more have been killed; an even greater number have been injured (I qualify that because so many responders and other "survivors" from the 11 September 2001 attacks have unseen injuries and illnesses).
OK, I'll get off the soapbox.
But I shudder to think of tourists with selfish-sticks at the aforementioned hallowed ground. (And, no, that wasn't AutoCorrect: you read it right -- people who carry those things are selfish, IMHO).
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