I Finally Saw the RNC 9/11 "Tribute" and I am Crying With Rage

As a New Yorker, I thought I was already numb to the political exploitation of 9/11 but this video "tribute" enraged me to the point of actual tears. Yes, I perfectly well remember when the planes hit, when the towers fell, when we heard that the Pentagon got hit too and the next day when the smoke was still visible for miles.

I was in Manhattan when it occurred because I was a high school student who who attended school in Manhattan in 2000. It was a typical day and we were all suffering through a morning class while trying to wake up when we hear commotion in the hallway. It was small at first and our teacher goes outside only to come back inside and announce that planes have hit the WTC. I remember vividly that the first thing I blurted out was, "What about the people on the planes?" I was answered only with a troubled and grave look by my teacher and I came upon the realization that it was a stupid question because they had died. Then, what seemed like seconds later, 2 female classmates come in just crying because they had watched the live CNN broadcast in the A/V room and had seen the first tower fall. Another one of my classmates had a pager and tended to follow up on his sports news with pager alerts. Now, he was receiving minute by minute news alerts about the status of the emergency. That was how our class received the news. There was no way we could even hold a normal school day. We all heard about the Pentagon attack, the subways being closed and the plane that was downed that was possibly aimed at the White House. And one thing I remember that fills me with rage is my classmate's periodic updates about where Bush was.

Like most New Yorkers, before 9/11 we had expected Bush to at least know enough to leave things alone so that a real President could actually do something. And now, everyone was hoping that he'd at least pull through enough. Instead, I heard bullshit about how Air Force One was now flying to PA. It was flying to TX now. It was flying to VA now. The excuse was to keep the President of the United States from terrorists because of the failed plane hit. But we all by now knew that when the towers collapsed, those first responders who weren't fucking scared of being attacked and were only concerned with rescuing those in need of help were the ones who paid with their lives. Not the "Commander-in-Chief" who was too fucking scared of imaginary terrorists and was flying around the country instead of doing what he should have been doing. Instead, he let Giuliani do his dirty work for him.

How lucky for Bush that both Giuliani and Pataki were Republicans. Because when he finally appeared, Bush got to become the figurehead of America that he wanted to be without doing any work. Easy peasy. All his success needed was the deaths of 3000 Americans who have had the tragedy of their deaths exploited for politics and used as a justification for more deaths and they still have not been avenged in any sense of the word.

I still remember the aftermath of that day. We didn't know how we were going to get home. People walked home-- there were stories of at least 1,000 people walking across the Brooklyn Bridge. The MTA pulled through with trying to make transportation smooth with shuttles or transfers for sections that were closed off. Even though there was the threat that Penn Station could be bombed next, we New Yorkers still took the fucking subway home. I remember choosing to take the subway home despite that threat because I wanted my family. I didn't want to breathe the noxious air. I was still forced to take a shuttle to make a transfer and I remember coming out of that subway station that it was too reminiscent of those disaster movies that take place in urban environments. The panic in the air was so visceral that I shiver whenever I think of it. The stench of the smoke filled the air in every borough for days. I couldn't help but wonder if I was breathing in the last essence of what used to be a human being. Everywhere that used to be full of color and activity was muted. I am not fucking kidding. When someone laughed weakly, we all laughed with tears in our voices. We didn't dare cry in public because we knew we would make everyone else cry too. We had too much pride as New Yorkers to let them see us cry.

And this is what we get. It is nearly 7 years later and seeing the Republicans so visibly and crassly rip open our wounds. I am just trembling and weeping with the rage of it. To remind us of our impotence as Bush took advantage of our traumatized confusion in a world gone mad only to have us wake up from a world we don't even recognize. It might not have been a perfect world before 9/11 but 9/11 should not be an excuse for why the world needs to be the way it is now.

I am sorry to subject everyone to my rant. Even though I didn't lose friends or relatives in the attack and I can't imagine what those people went through, I can not believe their audacity in such a "tribute" as it was more of an insult. That is all.

find it.

so I can't seem to link it. It's one of the first few videos in their politics section. Hopefully, you can find it.

Keith Olbermann's response to it is short but eloquent.

nt

I lost a classmate and old friend that day as well.

Fucking exploitative fucks.

I couldn't believe them. I didn't even realize I was openly crying until the video had stopped. I cried even harder when I realized it was because I was so angry.

I'm sorry :( They are just bad people, I don't know how else to say it.... just bad people.

And ugly on the inside!

Republicans will scale any depths to further their propaganda. It's going to get real ugly.

Sorry about your experiences...hope we can get this on greatest page.

as I thought that I had recovered but it was just too much. I can't begin to imagine what people who lost someone they loved feel like. I think that like most other people, I tend to try not to think too much about it... because then flashbacks tend to occur and even now, it is horrible to try to relive that day. The few paragraphs I wrote and the few succinct words Keith Olbermann said will NEVER sum up what New Yorkers went through on that day.

what isn't understandable is the fucking repulsives insensitivity in airing such a video and exploiting the emotions of you all. Gawd they make me sick.

Take care of yourself, buried memories may come flooding back at the most inopportune times in the coming days, and this will happen because things you thought you had dealt with, have once again been erected because of what you saw tonight. Come here and post when they do because we will always be here to listen. :grouphug:

because I don't want to come across as some victim. That's what's messed up-- that people can't even talk about this anymore because the Republicans have so exploited it that if you genuinely need to rant about it, you feel inhibited.

So, I'm hoping that this will help to underline the hypocrisy of many myths that circulated that the Bush administration did such a good job in uniting the country. I don't know if it's the New Yorker in me but I get pissed off hearing people from places that will NEVER get attacked who normally look down on "city folk" who use this as a reason to impose their values on us. I see irony in people who claim 9/11 as a national event without even acknowledging that it was also very much a local event that a neighborhood went through together.

I wasn't someone who lost someone dear to me. But I remember seeing telephone poles, walls and every other surface peppered with LOST posters because people needed to find their relatives. But with just a bit under 3,000 people gone, there were just too many people to be found that would never be found. But even then, we were all watching for survivors, we all did our part in diligently reading those posters because maybe there'd be a happy ending for that particular family and we'd be able to help.

That "tribute" spits in our faces and I still can't believe it. Now, the tears have faded and I just want to get my fucking hands on the first Republican motherfucker that crosses me.

...and I am so glad that you are sharing what happened to you on 9/11.

I can't even imagine how chaotic, stressful, heartbreaking and scary this must have been for you. You
were so young. You must have felt so overwhelmed.

I am so sorry about what you endured and what you saw.

Again, I'm glad you are sharing with us. I hope you continue to write. You can always write here.
There is always someone to listen here and what you have to say is so important.

Writing could also help you to process the trauma of that day. It sounds like you've kept a great
deal locked inside, until you feel safe enough to feel it. That's so understandable. Your body
and mind are dealing with this--in a way that is the healthiest for you.

So, if you feel the need to rant, cry, express rage--or just talk--think of DU as a safe haven.

Know that arms are around you right now--and that you are safe and on solid ground. Despite what the
Bush Administration continues to do--you are strong, alive and you are moving forward.

You survived.

Thanks again for being brave and for sharing your important story with such bravery and honesty.

And it was no "tribute." It was merely a crass attempt to remind us to "be afraid, be very afraid." Its use confirmed that McCain will, indeed, continue Bush's policies and all its nasty tactics.

Cry as much as you need to. You're entitled. As are we all.

I am on the other side of the continent and was crying my eyes out
on that day.

:cry:

You were there- you saw it first hand.

:hug:

Not out of anger, but really just out of pure pain at that day being exploited like that.

It's exactly why we didn't cry openly as a city because if we did, we would lose and that was the only thing we had. We could only cry in private but never out in public.

Keith actually does a lot better when he's not so verbose because he can pack more in what he doesn't say than in what he does say.

yep. no shit.

I could never watch a video about 9/11.
Everyone who was in NYC that day should be sickened by that video..and the political exploitation of a national tragedy by the repukes...

To this day I cannot watch any film...fiction or documentary ..about that day.
Anyone who had half a heart and/or half a brain would have gotten up and walked out of that place when they showed that video.

They should be broadly condemned for this shameful exploitation of a national tragedy.

:hug:

*Applause* for YOU... I'm appalled they would use 9/11 in their political "game". Anyone who knows the pain of that day and the pain we are reminded of every time we look at the hole in the skyline understands how incredibly offensive it is to show those images as political fodder.

My heart goes out to YOU Eshfemme

I hate that it's like a badge of honor being a "victim of 9/11" for the GOP.

I have a pretty good visual memory that usually serves me well but in this case, it just makes it worse. Because I can compare my own memories to the images that they keep playing and the political connotations they assign and I am so just soo.. I am just speechless as to what word describes my emotional state. I wouldn't have mentioned all of this and just kept quiet but I couldn't anymore after this.

:grouphug: to you too as a fellow NYer.

But I won't ever forget that George W. Bush, the Commander-in-Chief, the war president, the Decider, was a fucking coward. I will never forgive that. I will never forgive the GOP. Even if the Democrats completely fuck up and turn into asshats, I will never be a Republican for their part in cheapening 9/11.

Couldn't have said it better...

Looks like they have though... not a single picture of that coward in their disgusting "tribute."

Everyone who watches that should be "crying with rage", that's using a tragic event for political gain and NOTHING else. Playing on peoples fear, the same way they have ever since 9/11, which stuck us with the worst President EVER for two terms. Now, they are trying to give the failed policies of team Booo$h/Cheney a third term with their fear tactics, I sure hope nobody falls for that again.

But watch the fucking idiots who forgot all this stuff that is still burned in our memories just swallow this bullshit hook, line and sinker.

How long before they become widely known as "the party that exploits 9/11"?

It's the rest of the country that's way behind the curve on this. The Democrats need to fucking jump on the Republicans for this because it's all part of their whole wrapping themselves up in the American flag act that the Democrats have been trying to rip apart.

Everyone get out and insure that Obama/Biden win!
Were you in the high school on the lower west side? Closest to ground zero? I'm sorry for your pain & rage!
By a stroke of prescience, in april 2001 my daughter lost patience with PS3 and took the children to the catskills where they had bought a weekend home just months before. It still affected my Grans=dson because that was his landscape for his first 7 years........

But Manhattan was a roaming ground for our students since we'd have outdoor gym classes in Central Park, walk all the way downtown if we felt like it, go to the Met for our art homework, Union Square for browsing or go to Chinatown for food. The twin towers were always there off in the distance and we always just thought vaguely that it'd be there. It's not anymore.

No matter how much they dress it up in alabaster or marble, it is still a hole in the ground. The new towers they build will never feel natural to me.

Can someone sum it up for me?

They basically show stills from the Iran hostage crisis, the embassy bombings and such before moving on to 9/11 which they claim to be just the latest in the decades long war that the terrorists have been waging against America. They use the images of the towers falling, a maudlin narrator who pauses dramatically and slowly along with a mournful soundtrack to make you grieve. Then at the end, they say "It won't happen again." Basically, it was to imply that with the Republicans, 9/11 will never occur again and by extension, implying that without the Republicans, it will. I'm sorry I can't be more specific. This is as best as I can do.

They're just getting better and better at it. Your rage is appropriate.

Hekate

A few related images: http://lasvalley.com/702/viewtopic.php?id=1636

republican watch.

"We won't let it happen again."

We know they were warned & they STILL try to imply that they are the ones who can protect us?!? Joe Biden was right, but he should have said it about that whole party - "It's a noun, a verb & 9/11".

My dad is a firefighter (in Ohio) so my first thought was of the many brave firefighters who had died. I wasn't in NY, like you, but we all share a lesser form of your wound & find this as insulting as you. I think we've all had some mild form of PTSD since the attack & they've used it to manipulate people.

So, they served as impromptu memorial sites for our neighborhood in addition to all the LOST posters that were posted everywhere. We all walked a lot slower those few days.

The local police station and firehouse still have little memorials to the lost men and women in there. They are just a little hidden away now to protect them from the scrutiny of those looking to exploit them and only the locals really know that they're there. But they're there.

I can understand some of the clinging people did to Bush because of the situation but with everything he and his party have done, I can't help but be so fucking pissed off for those firefighters and police officers. They only thought of helping others and doing their job while their deaths were used to prop up an idiot who couldn't do his fucking job and is doing his best to fuck people over for his own personal gain and a whole party full of idiots just like Bush.

"I couldn't help but wonder if I was breathing in the last essence of what used to be a human being."

An amazingly haunting sentence.

I don't ever want to think about that. There are families who still don't have any last physical remnant of their loved ones from 9/11.

I am so sorry that you have to have this wound re-opened again and again by people who really don't care. In one breath they say "9/11 9/11" and in the next they spew hatred towards the East Coast and Elites etc. As if they aren't talking about NYC when they say 9/11?

I believe more and more people see this disgusting exploitation, truly disconnected from logic for what it is. I personally have never understood how they define their strength by reminding us of their greatest failure. It turned my stomach to watch this video but I had to find out what they did to people like you and Keith and others who had a 3D experience of it. I can't imagine what that was like to have been there. I watched it on TV but I grew up in NJ, knew someone- a high school classmate, not very close but a son of friends of my parents, who worked for Cantor Fitzgerald in Tower One. I grew up in walking distance of a commuter bus, NYC was just where everyone's parents worked and my county had the highest death toll in NJ. I was fortunate to hear the voices I wanted when I made many calls that day to see if my friends and family were safe. But this is just a small part of it of course but I say this to say that it touched us all deeply in our own way.

You were just in high school and I can't even imagine how frightening that must have been for you. Don't question your very real reaction, even now, to seeing or thinking about that day and the aftermath. Have you gone to any sort of individual or group counseling? Do you have friends or family that discuss how these types of videos and political exploitation of your experiences affect you? Just because you did not suffer personal grief and direct loss of life does not mean that you don't have real needs that need to be addressed, even now, even as long as you feel like this.

It makes me so angry when they do this. I am glad that Keith called them out on this and it needs to be said more.Which is why I am writing you.

You really do write well. You really do have an ability to express yourself and you have this insight. You mentioned in another post how it troubles and worries you that the rest of America does not realize what someone with your perspective knows. Have you thought about writing about this perhaps? It may really inform people ( I feel more informed just from this thread you know) and it also might be therapeutic. Who knows? Just something I wanted to say to you.

In any case, don't ever hesitate to write here about this. You are not alone. :hug:

SHAME on the GOP for feasting on the dead of 9/11 to further their VILE agenda of fear and hate!

They are monsters and ghouls and a disgrace to this country.

...people can become when they're scared of the boogey man and/or out to make a buck.

I'm so sorry. Even I expected Bush to pull himself together and read someone's prepared remarks, something like: "We have nothing to fear but fear itself." Something! Anything! Instead that fucking son of a bitch ran and hid, and when he finally reappeared he told us to go shopping.

We live in California, a good long way from New York City, but we have friends and relatives in Massachusetts (where the planes took off) and New York and Washington DC. My sister's children each have a friend who lost a grandma in those flights. My own kids, who are older than hers, were both prepared to join the Army to defend our shores (and I thank God they decided to wait and see).

I'm so sorry. My heart hurts for you, and I am in tears.

Hekate

Opening shot was the OKC bombing memorial. So now they can piss off "the Heartland".

Shameless. Absolutely shameless in tying all those tragedies together.

that is terrorism. Repigs using that to gain votes is deploarable, even after 7 years.

....and sadly, infuriatingly, many of them have profited from that horrible day.

I remember that day very well. I remember how bright and cheerful the lobbies of the two towers were, how bustling in energy it was early in the morning, as thousands of people passed through them, stopping for coffee or a newspaper, before getting on one of the dozens of huge elevators to get to their offices. All I could imagine was how horrifying it must have been to be trapped in one of the upper floors. I had business people I visited frequently on the upper floors. I marveled about the view and how great it must have been to actually work there every day! I remember how exciting it was to have a special dinner once a year or so at Windows on the World. And I remember how, after the towers fell, I couldn't get in touch with my parents in Queens to see if they were alright because most of the telephone lines were either destroyed or just plain busy - I didn't get through to them for three days. They were fine, but sadly they didn't have cable television so they didn't even know what really were going on because all the NYC broadcast television stations had their antennas on the towers and all broadcast television in the NYC area was out for weeks.

And then, I began thinking about those who died. It's so fortunate that less than 3,000 perished - had the attacks happened even an hour later, each of the two towers would have had about 10,000 people in them - 20,000 total.

Do republicans think of any of this? No! One of their first thoughts was the millions of dollars worth of gold bullion stored in the WTC. They immediately started plotting how they could get EVEN with every international enemy they had, whether involved or not. They began planning the invasion of Iraq the day after the towers fell. And they used the attack to solidify their "power", prostitute the Constitution, and take away as many of the rights of Americans that they could. And they used those attacks to become RICH! Giulliani, who was merely the mayor at that time (an immoral mayor and adulterer at that!), took advantage and made millions of dollars by capitalizing on the situation. Cheney and his Halliburton buddies made billions, and we all know what the oil companies have done since then.

So, by "memorializing" the incident in their video, it was almost like they were worshipping the attacks and idolizing the riches and power they gained through that single horrible day.

And, to help preserve that wealth and power, our rights have been shredded and most sadly, the lives of 5,000 brave young Americans were snuffed out in their war for power and oil.

Sad, truly sad. If nothing else all of this should remind everyone that we're not merely facing another presidential election, we may be facing the life and death of the country we all love so much.

And W. let Bin Laden get away! That was some serious propaganda from the ministry of propaganda.

I wish NYC as a whole could have recovered enough to protest when Bush first started the drumbeat for the Iraq War. I have such regret over that. But the only resistance that we seemed to be able to put up was sarcasm. Which, I guess, is understandable... since NYC has a good reputation for that. I remember one political cartoon with the punchline that we are now in Iraq because Bush couldn't spell Iran.

How unhumorous to realize 7 years later that the political cartoon was correct.

You remember, the ones they showed a little of on CSpan.. or you caught it on traffic cams..

Upwards of 750k people.. in the streets.

out here in Texas. Why am I not surprised?

And it is by design.

Sorry, DU brain-farted.

for some weeks now. Ol' bin Missin' has been missin' since right before the 2004 elections, when a fit, trimmed-up, washed-and-pressed "bin Ladin" released a studio-produced tape, conveniently timed before elections.

And not a frickin' peep since. Just who TF was that anyway?

Have we been chasing an imaginary person, and is that why he hasn't been caught?

Will this same fit, trim, washed-and-pressed person make another studio appearance? He was supposed to have been hiding in a nasty cave all along; I mean, how clean and washed could he have possibly been? It just doesn't frickin' add, any of it. And where did he get that snazzy set, all up in a cave and all? And such impeccable timing, right before a presidential election. Never to be heard from again, not even a cheap fucking "wish you were here" post card from the beach. Odd, also, that the terror rainbow code got retired immediately thereafter, too.

Weren't we scared enough then?

And now, we're supposed to be all-scared again.

Sorry.

Now I'm just wholly disgusted at the cheap tricks. Angry, yes. Tired of being manipulated. Sick that a group who bellows about their vaunted, sainted "Christianity" and beats everyone else with it would use such imagery. Amazed that anyone who constantly reminds absolutely everyone just how gooooooooooooooood they are would stoop to the lowest tactics.

If they were so damn good and "all-that", their record would speak for itself. The bald truth is, their record speaks to anything but.

It wouldn't surprise me at any desperate tactics the GOP will pull, down to and including (G'd forbid) icing another chunk of Americans just to get their point across. Not that I think they might, but they've demonstrated every other propensity.

I would not put it past them. Not for a minute.

:kick:

The sentence had an odd construction. They went out of their way to encourage the audience to lump "terrorists" and "Democrats" together.

Not to say that there aren't independents or Republicans in NYC but a lot of New Yorkers are Democrats. So were a lot of the victims. That's because the people who worked in the WTC had the diversity of NYC's melting pot. Not the fucking selective demographics that the Republicans like to use. If they want to make a huge deal about Obama's so-called "bitter small town folk" then why don't they make a huge deal about the bitter big city folk who are fucking pissed off and clinging to their freedoms and rights in their bitterness?

Oh I bet New Yorkers love being compared to the North Vietnamese.

...if you could believe Republicans.

i've seen 53 seconds of this, and that is the opening statement? who the fuck wrote that crap?

oh look--selling us the fear about iran to justify yet another....(you all know)

and then this:

"the date was september eleventh, nine eleven"

um...did they forget the year so they just had to repeat the day and month?

they can't even put together a decent tribute with a straight face--those morans!

Ridiculous because to them, they are lumping all the terrorists together. It just shows a dangerous fucking lack of knowledge.

I was shocked at how blatant that was.
Now I'm even more concerned about this group.

They're just counting on the ignorance of the public.

cheney has up his asshole

so they just had to repeat the day and month?"
That was my first thought. But really, since 2001, the term "9/11" has been used as a club in the head so much that it is all they need to say.

I :loveya: New York

...from this Californian. Thank you for writing about your experiences. I spent one year in Manhattan a long time ago and it was one of the greatest (and hardest)years of my life. I fervently wish & hope that everyone in the Bush administration burns in hell for what they allowed to happen to New Yorkers. Luckily I didn't see that "tribute".

And the assembled morons applaud like the puppets they are.

of that day etched in my mind's eye. They will burn there forever.

Had I seen that "tribute", I'd have been buying a new TV today.

Kudos to my wife on that day - while I was blindly "rallying behind the president", she was pissed off that the administration couldn't prevent it. And she was REALLY pissed that * kept flying around the country. She still believes they knew it was coming and let it happen (LIHOP). I'm not so sure I disagree.

Thanks for posting - as a NJ resident, I didn't know anyone that died that day, but I saw its effect on everyone around me.

Exploitative FUCKERS.

Kick'd, rec'd

and was almost sickened by it. The use of such a tragedy for political purposes is just plain wrong and it should be mentioned more than just on here.

Before, they'd try to be more elliptical about it. It was far more subtle.

Now, it is just so obvious how badly they want that atmosphere of fear and terror and panic that had made people visibly cling onto anyone they found familiar then: Bush. And instead, it is into McCain's arms they want to push the fearful and frightened towards. I just couldn't bear it anymore.

Even though I've already seen it, I still cringe upon the possibility of watching it again. It is still every bit as painful to watch it again as it was to watch it the first time.

It was gut wrenching. I'm of the MIHOP persuasion so I was particularly incensed.

so very much. Its a damn shame that anyone (or party) would use such a tragedy to manipulate voters emotions.:cry:

was supposed to begin. Talk about god damn politicizing!

I did not watch Maa-Cain- -(typo on purpose), imagine you lived say....maybe Texas and spoke with a fondness for a particular --- you get the picture

I didn't watch this event but I did see his running mates speech, or is it the other way around..she did call McCain her running mate the day she was introduced to us...

Her speech was coded with religious verses which all the fundies would immediately connect to on an emotional level even if they weren't connecting that image cognitively.

I am more qualified for her job than she is but will never get an "audition."

I am also much nicer than her as you can tell by my not running her reputation into the ground to score points, even if it's "only" with you DUers, :hi:

I might edit this post after I use the google and find her transcript. Those coded verses are worth finding and posting.


I will though refrain from saying more about 09-11-01.

I, like all humane people feel the same way. To politicize this attack with the hopes of hypnotizing into a fugue state of mind the people of this country to gain anything is an unspeakable sin.




edit

The voters knew better, and maybe that's because they realized there's a time for politics and a time for leadership, a time to campaign and a time to put our country first.


No one expects us all to agree on everything, but we are expected to govern with integrity, and goodwill, and clear convictions, and a servant's heart.
And I pledge to all Americans that I will carry myself in this spirit as vice president of the United States.



... when that happens, what exactly is our opponent's plan? What does he actually seek to accomplish after he's done turning back the waters and healing the planet? - obvious but addressing the fundies none the less, as was a lot of her audition -


For a season, a gifted speaker can inspire with his words. But for a lifetime, John McCain has inspired with his deeds.






I worry about this election. They play dirty and all that's been uncovered about Sarah Palin's Dominionist beliefs already spells hell on earth should they manage to take control.

Blood spattered missing posters?

Those are some sick, evil motherfuckers.

Sickening.

That said, my gut feeling is that it's probably not the issue to rally around right now - remember, every time we say "they're exploiting 9/11," voters hear "9/11", which is exactly what the McCain campaign wants.

You mention flying gwb around and the "excuse was to keep the President of the United States from terrorists".

well the biggest 'clue' to me of some kind of coverup in 911 is the fact that for 8-9 minutes, after knowing the nation was under attack - the secret service just stood around, doing nothing, letting gwb sit there with the kids, in an unprotected school building. Hello? Their *job* is to protect the prez from harm at all costs, right? And they just stood there? For close to 10 minutes?? Come on.

Hearfelt, right on. Well-written. Thank you. K&R

The reality is that the hijackings could have been prevented and the reality is no attempt was made to prevent them because they fit into the agenda of a planned "war on terror" that was planned long before 9/11 which was planned simply to provide an excuse to declare a war on terror in order to conduct a war for oil.

No one expected the hijacked planes to be flown into buildings and when they were, no one knew what to do. It was not part of the plan.

But it still fit into the agenda. And still does. And the agenda will be continued by John McCain.

This administration declared war on terrorists while placating those terrorists who were willing to negotiate oil contracts as we have seen with regard to Libya.

We are a shameful nation. It is not enough to demand that this administration be held accountable. Congress must be held accountable as well and that simply will not happen if the Republicans win in November.

One must trust Biden when he says there will be accountability. We must have a Nuremberg. To restore our honor with the world as well as with ourselves. It is a horrific thought - a president of our country being tried for war crimes. But he should be. As should quite a few others.

And no, Miss Albright, the lives of 500,000 innocent Iraqi children were not worth it. You should be tried for war crimes as well at Nuremberg. Along with Bill Clinton. We have three presidents who should be held accountable for Iraq. Not just one. George HW Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W Bush.

?

We are a shameful nation. Made more shameful by only blaming some.

"This is a war America will win. We will have a president that knows how". You could then hear cheering in the convention hall.

Shameful

These jerks will exploit anyone and anything for their personal gain!

They are truly repugnant!

Bless you- I'm sorry you had to relive this horrible day.

:hug:

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fuck them all. As far as I'm concerned, they caused the tragedy, and I will never forget that.

One's a stinking scavenger that preys on the dead. The other's just a bird. Never more appropriate than in this moment.

Vultures have their place in the natural order. Republicans have no excuse.

These people have no shame whatsoever.

:eyes:

that's all I can say. How dare they use a tragedy to further their incapability

New York state, New York city on 9/11 -- Republican governments. Hmmmm! Odd coincidence that 9/11 happened in a city and state in which there weren't any pesky Democrats to question Bush's official story. I'm not a 9/11 conspiracy theorist, but this is a convenient coincidence that I had not previously considered. I guess I will always have questions although I tend to believe the official story.

The problem with the official story is that four airplanes left their flight path. And there was no alert. No anything. They finally sent fighters out after the first plane struck the North Tower. Ten minutes before the second plane struck the South Tower. Someone deliberately ignored those four planes. Why? The answer of course is simply that someone was told to deliberately ignore them. Until of course a message was received that the planes had been hijacked. No message was sent. Because the hijackers were not intending on landing the planes and holding the passengers hostage but intending to fly the planes into the World Trade Center Towers, the Pentagon and apparently the Capitol.

The rest of the conspiracy theory is just conspiracy theory. Those four planes, however, having their left flight path without setting off an alarm and then an alert is fact. And points to complicity on the part of this administration. More than complicity really. There was a second conspiracy involved. As indicated by the money supplied by Princess Haifa to the hijackers in California and when that matter, part of the Riggs Bank investigation, was pursued, Princess Haifa and Prince Bandar were suddenly called back to Saudi Arabia on "urgent family business." And of course Princess Haifa was out of the reach of investigators and any subpoenas they might have issued in the matter. Saudi women, even Saudi princesses, do not write checks without their husband's approval. Most don't even have their own checkbooks. But Princess Haifa did. And Prince Bandar claimed he knew nothing about her "charity" as he called it. That simply is not possible. He knew. The question is at whose direction did she write the checks? And of course the Riggs Bank investigation came to an end. No doubt to make sure something else wasn't discovered. Possibly a connection with Jonathan Bush whose private bank in Connecticutt had merged with Riggs Bank.

The question is why Congress did not look further into the matter.

:tinfoilhat:

until proven otherwise..MIHOP.

I questioned the "melting rivets" explanation until a gasoline truck crashed into a support post on a California underpass and the resulting fire melted the rivets on a support beam which of course resulted in the concrete roadway collapsing. Apparently it can happen as they said it happened. As for the other building in the World Trade Center that collapsed it remains a mystery. But then anything is possible. Perhaps it wasn't a fire but a weakened structure. Just because all the other surrounding buildings were not structurally compromised doesn't mean that one wasn't. And who is to say the others weren't? There could be a support beam somewhere that eventually will give way.

I don't think even the witnesses can really fathom the effect of two enormous buildings pancaking the way the World Trade Center buildings did. The effect would be different from normal demolition simply because buildings being demolished are emptied out of furniture and fittings such as doors and windows and often even elevators. And it has nothing to do with salvage but rather the weight involved which would effect the reverberation during the collapse. As for demolition charges which seems to be the popular explanation of the conspiracy theories that would have involved a widespread conspiracy and even then someone in one of the buildings would have probably seen something suspicious and reported it to NYPD and I doubt NYPD would involve itself in such a conspiracy knowing the loss of life that would result.

I've been feeling like that for a week about various topics. You are well-deserving of a rant.

Thanks for sharing.

You don't even have to be from New York to feel the anger over the dirty little coward who ran away being heralded a hero by the fucking RNC.

Disgusting.

Hell, that same day they were criticizing Dan Rather for wondering where the President was all day. Political spin THAT VERY FUCKING DAY!!!

In the meantime police had to order Dick Durbin out of hearings in downtown Chicago when he tried to continue with his business that day. Months later the Republicans in the House closed up shop and left the city when Senate Democrats were targeted by anthrax attacks. While the Democrats in charge of the Senate continued their business until public safety officials ordered the building evacuated.

But we are the cowards.

Exploitative shits! :grr:

I apologize for the profanity, but lately I have been getting angrier every damn day.

Every day it's one stupid, insulting, mean-spirited thing after another.

• Their ridiculous and insulting VP pick
  
• The showing of this video
  
• The ridiculous attacks on Obama and community organizers
  
• The arrests and mistreatment of demonstrators - and apparently non-demonstrators - in St. Paul.

I just hope that a large propotion of the public is half as pissed-off as I am right now.

My first thought upon seeing the beginning of the film was, why were they still talking about 9/11 seven years after it happened. Later, I began to think the 9/11 images were too much. There was just too much video of burning buildings and damage. I agree with the person on youtube who said this was more like a "Red Scare" video. It seemed as if the Republican party was once again trying to use fear to get people to vote for them. Throughout the film I was wondering where was the tribute. There did not seem to be anything honoring any of the men and women who worked extremely hard to save as many lives as possible on that day. I do agree with everyone who says the video was tasteless and an insult.

You have every right to be insulted, and angry at these bass turds. This "tribute" shows that they don't care for real people.

... When I came into work, the secretary said, "Well at least HE didn't do it!" I have to deal with this each and every day from some of these people, and I just go about my business. There are still a few around here. And I am talking about 100 miles north of the City. When I mentioned something to someone today about McCain's speech, and how nothing was said, one of them said, "If Khadaffi was running, he would vote for him!" I have gone past the point of trying to reason with them, I just deal with them as little as possible. Fortunately, there are a lot more great people here, with more open minds.

That stupid vid last night reminded me that, after this ordeal at wor, I went home and I was a zombie for weeks afterward, trying to figure out how the heck it happened. I followed every darn news outlet, almost 24/7, because I just could not sleep for what seemed to be a few weeks. The time is a blur. I read so much about this, that it is my conclusion that they either had or let it happen on purpose. They were warned of this and failed, big time. I read a lot of foreign press, and got a lot of different information, and made my own mind up. There needed to be some kind of investigation, but there was not.
I can go on and on about this... Perhaps some day, I'll write a book.

Needless to say, our hope is not of the party whose candidate's stale thirty-five year story of his capture grates on us like a meat grinder. It's not the party that trots out a woman from a town in East Bunghole Alaska, who is qualified because she was the mayor of some rathole, and governor of the state with the least dense population, to be VP. Not the party that shows us a vid that makes us remember the failure of their party's leader to protect us. Not the party that leads us into a war that had nothing to do with the tragedy of that day. Not the party that denies that the last eight years happened, and tries to reinvent itself with tired rhetoric and the oldest candidate for the major parties, who claims to be an outsider with almost thirty years of experience with them.

Our hope has to lie on people with new, fresh ideas, and real alternatives to the tired rhetoric of the past. A party with hope and a future. A party that cares for WE THE PEOPLE. A party who will restore our constitution. A party who can bring everyone up, as they did before this eight year failure. Our hope has to be with Barack Obama and Joe Biden to take us to a day when we can put the bad memories of the past behind us, and let us heal the wounds of the past, and not remind us of them.


Get out the vote people. Get out and get on the phones, carry around registration forms with you. Volunteer to be a poll watcher, or if it's not too late, an election worker. Election workers are in demand, because those older women who have done it most of our lifetime are coming to the end of their own lives. Democracy requires participation from an informed and active electorate. Please, get out, organize, and help out however you can. You may not see monetary reward, but your conscience will be at ease, and you will get good karma, not to mention, it's the AMERICAN thing to do!

But I babble...

BUT then what do you expect??

They used the 9/11 attack for their political purposes.

The difference is that they can't get away with it now.

I remember the color of the sky. It was so blue. I call it 9/11 blue and it always takes me back whenever I see that saturated blue sky.

Why did they show this?? Just completely inappropriate in this setting. Didn't they think about the people who are still suffering and being affected by this?

It has probably already been mentioned elsewhere, but it was impossible to hold a normal day anywhere. I work at a flight training center, all the students and instructors were in the break room with us. Same where my wife worked. No one I talked to got anything done that day. It was like a shock to the solar plexus.

Of course 9/11 hurt; it was a punch to the gut and we keeled over. Innocent people died. But Bush and the GOP-led Congess did not respond with a clear head. We must never forget, but we must also remember what FDR said: "The only thing to fear is fear itself."

If you like the jibjab cartoons, I think you'll like this one by Current SuperNews and the comments by Punditty at:

http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/1251930-uncle-sam