Listen to Mr. Franklin
You have done well
In the contest of madness.
You were brave in that holy war.
You have all the honorable wounds
Of one who has tried to find love
Where the Beautiful Bird
Does not drink.
May I speak to you
Like we are close
And locked away together?
Once I found a stray kitten
And I used to soak my fingers
In warm milk;
It came to think I was five mothers
On one hand.
Wayfarer,
Why not rest your tired body?
Lean back and close your eyes.
Come morning
I will kneel by your side and feed you.
I will so gently
Spread open your mouth
And let you taste something of my
Sacred mind and life.
Surely
There is something wrong
With your ideas of
God
O, surely there is something wrong
With your ideas of
God
If you think
Our Beloved would not be so
Tender.
From bartleby.com:
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -- Benjamin Franklin
From Quotes of the Day:
There is no safety in numbers, or in anything else. -- James Thurber
Alwin Hawkins - Random Synapse Firing:
I will never get into another public transport vehicle unarmed. Hijacked with razor blades and/or knives? Bah.
From The Federalist:
Editor's Note: We ask our readers to join us in prayer: first, for our nation and the victims of Tuesday's cowardly assault on American civilian and military targets. We pray for those who are trapped alive in the rubble of the World Trade Center. We pray for the emergency personnel attempting rescues and the military service members standing in harms way. We pray especially for the mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers and sons and daughters who have lost family members in this attack on our nation. (We note with additional personal grief the death of our colleague Barbara Olson, wife of Solicitor General Ted Olson.) And please pray for our nation's leaders, that they will have the wisdom, insight and courage to confront the challenges of these coming days. We ask all of our readers to take a moment now, and bow in prayer, remembering that we must humble ourselves before Our Heavenly Father and that our Creator is Sovereign.
And when you rise, please also remember that we must never again bend the knee to those perpetrators of terror and its compliment -- tyranny.
Dave Winer - flippinTheWtc.jpg - a plan for rebuilding the World Trade Center. Nice to see a little light humor shining on this atrocity. [script]
Maxine Waters in the U.S. House of Representatives - Expressing Sense of Senate and House of Representatives Regarding Terrorist Attacks Launched Against United States (search for "Waters" and click on "Page: H5571") - I heard this on the radio driving in today. The congresswoman from Kalifornia gets the hypocrite of the day award for this one. She who works daily to destroy the lynchpin of our constitution, the second amendment, had the gall to say the following.
We will not allow terrorism to erode the constitutional rights and personal freedoms that define us as Americans.
John Perry Barlow at Yahoo wtcattack group via Dave Winer - Remember The Reichstag... - Mr. Barlow reminds us of how the Nazi's took over in Germany. He does *not* suggest that the American authoritarians had anything to do with the abomination, but they're sure gonna take advantage of it. My take: be alert and keep your powder dry. [script]
The Hunter at Sierra Times - "If it saves just one life....." - I almost said this yesterday, but I didn't know about frangible bullets. Ammo loaded with these bullets should definitely be available for sale at every boarding gate, and everyone legally allowed to carry concealed (I know, but that's another issue) should be allowed, nay encouraged, to do so on board. [sierra]
One man with a legally carried self-defense pistol and frangible ammo could have saved any one of those planes today. Even if he weren't equipped with the proper ammunition, what's the worst that could possibly have happened? The loss of the plane and everyone aboard somewhere over open country? That would have reduced the death toll by untold thousands, now wouldn't it?
...
Penetration of the airframe and resulting depressurization is a solved problem, too, albeit imperfectly as I understand it. The FAA's Air Marshals routinely use special frangible ammunition to minimize the danger, and such ammunition could readily be provided to air crews and passengers. The airlines would be well within their rights to insist on inspecting any and all ammo brought aboard the planes to protect their investment and liability. Perhaps they could even conveniently keep a stock of this ammunition in common calibres at the ticket counter for sale to passengers. I doubt anyone would mind if they charged a hefty premium for the convenience.
...
I for one do not intend to ever fly again until I am allowed the means to defend myself, and I invite you to join me in this pledge.
bob lonsberry - A Day That Will Live in Infamy - Mr. Lonsberry is angry. He's preaching vengeance.
A day that will life in infamy. September 11, 2001. Nine-one-one. They called, and we're going to answer. We will bury our dead and nurse our wounded and soon we will visit our enemies, and the jackals will pick their bones.
Joseph Sobran at LewRockwell.com - The Unknown Enemy - Mr. Sobran has been warning for years that the U.S. government has been making too many enemies. Now we know that he was right. [lew]
Imagine hating a country so much that you were willing to cross an ocean and carry out an elaborate revenge against its people, killing yourself in the process. This is something far more than the sort of ideological anti-Americanism that leads student mobs to throw stones at U.S. embassies abroad; that's kid stuff. This is an obsessive, fanatical, soul-consuming hatred.
Foreigners aren't quite real to Americans, and most Americans are unaware of how profoundly their government antagonizes much of the human race. We are easy-going people who generally have no idea how bullying we seem to foreigners. Until now, we have had no experience of what the U.S. Government has so often inflicted on others. Now, at least, we have an inkling of what it feels like.
...
The United States is now a global empire that wants to think of itself as a universal benefactor, and is nonplussed when foreigners don't see it that way. None of the earlier empires of this world, as far as I know, shared this delusion; the Romans, the Mongols, the British, the Russians and Soviets didn't expect to rule and to be loved at the same time. Why do we?
Ryan McMaken at LewRockwell.com - The Unending War Comes Home - why the U.S. should not jump into war mode over the WTC & Pentagon bombings. [lew]
Naturally, the fact that the United States has perpetrated many crimes against foreign nations does not mean that innocent American civilians deserved to die, nor does it diminish the barbarity of these terrorist acts. What should be remembered, however, is that these acts are in response to equally barbarous acts perpetrated by the United States against innocent civilians abroad, and if we are serious about avoiding escalating terrorist war, we must refuse to cow to whatever the defense industry and the Congress demand to keep their war-happy interest groups content.
Much has been made of this attack as being a "second Pearl Harbor" and the governor of Colorado even used the tired old line about awakening a sleeping giant. The problem is that the giant has not been sleeping at all, but has been fully exercising its power, and it now finally beginning to feel the effects of wielding that power.
Salmon Rushdie at The Age - A new battle begins - Words from way back in January 2000 that still ring true today. [script]
The point is to decide - as the Queen decided on New Year's Eve - not to let fear rule our lives. To tell those bullies who would terrorise us that we aren't scared of them.
And to thank our secret protectors, but to remind them, too, that in a choice between security and liberty, it is liberty that must always come out on top.
yuri at Kuro5hin - Air Travel Security: The Future - How airport security will change in a world of suicide hijackers. To a comment suggesting to arm the crew, I replied:
Arm and train crew and passengers
You've got the right idea, but don't go far enough.
Change the equation from airport security to airplane security. Train and arm all airline crews. Encourage qualified passengers to carry concealed on the plane. Require the use of frangible (airplane safe) ammo and sell it in airports. Make sure hijackers know that they will not accomplish their goals. They will die as soon as they reveal themselves as hijackers.
For more on why this is a good idea, see "If it saves just one life....." by Hunter at Sierra Times.
Brian Whitaker an Guardian Unlimited - What the Middle East papers say - Iraqi television said, ""The American cowboys are reaping the fruit of their crimes against humanity." Israel is supporting us. But this quote from Gulf News in the United Arab Emerites is worth remembering: [grabbe]
"In the past America has sought vengeance ... by retaliating against sites in Libya, Afghanistan and Sudan. It was not clear at that time that America was attacking the right places, and it has become more clear with time that the sites attacked were mistakes," it says.
"It is important at a time like this that America remembers its role as the world's leading power, and its commitment to justice. Bush's intention to 'punish' should not disintegrate into plain revenge, but should incorporate justice as well. In such a search for justice America carries the sympathy and support of the world."
Jishnu - Wednesday, September 12 - the racism has started. Don't miss the comments. [wood s lot]
God dammit, I'm Canadian I was doing better today, until a short while ago when I was at a cafe for breakfast. As I stood in line, someone (very loudly and in a very accusing tone) asked: "Are you from Afghanistan??" All eyes turned upon me, burning, each one accompanied with accusatory frowns. Needless to say, I very sheepishly said: "I am not from Afghanistan.", then I quietly left ... with an empty stomach and almost crying.
I felt so small and I now feel so unsafe and uncomfortable.
Paul Zielbauer with John Sullivan -
F.A.A. Announces Stricter Rules; Knives No Longer Allowed 
- and
the nanny state response begins.
The F.A.A. said that once flights resumed, knives and cutting instruments of any size, made of metal, plastic or any other material, would no longer be allowed on commercial planes. They also cannot be used or sold in any part of airport terminals, including by diners in restaurants and concession stands.
Essentially, the new rules mean that airport diners will be left with forks and spoons, or possibly chopsticks, but no cutlery. The rules will tighten security but also increase the time to check baggage, enter airline terminals and board planes.
Patt Morrison at the LA Times - Attack Will Test How Much We Believe in America - a good reasoned warning not to trade essential liberty for some temporary safety.
Yet what happened Tuesday is very much a test--but not, perhaps, of the kind that President George W. Bush meant when he used that word. It is a test of strength of the standards of freedom. It is a test of how much Americans truly believe in America. The test didn't come yesterday and it won't come tomorrow.
...
If they, whoever did this, force us to become like them, like any fearful and besieged and vengeful people . . . if "better safe than sorry" becomes the national motto . . . if the land of the free becomes the home of the military checkpoint and the national ID card, then we fail the test.
Ron Paul at Antiwar.com - We Must Remember Our Responsibilities - strenghthen security as necessary, punish only the guilty, preserve liberties, use wisely our wisdom and compassion. [market]
