Nine Years On, It’s Time to Take Back 9/11

Since your blog is primarily a news site, I don’t think it’s right to editorialize! You should leave it to the readers in their comments. I think you should delete the second and third paragraph of your post.

Take 9-11 back, indeed! From the pietistic ranters with an agenda, such as the morally monstrous “pastor,” whose name I refuse to mention. From all those who would cast the event as a battle of religions.

It was horrible. We can’t forget it, nor should we. But we must also move on.

Homer, I agree with your opinion, and thank you for sharing your “editorializing” on your site.

I’d also add that I agree with Fareed Zacharia and Ted Koppel, who have both recently wrote against the United States’ overreaction to the events of 9/11/01.

Both articles are worth a read and consideration:

Zacharia’s piece: http://tinyurl.com/2abbthu
Koppel’s: http://tinyurl.com/2wez89r

We need to stop playing into the hands of Al Qaeda and related criminal extremists, which at no point were more than a few hundred people.

We did not control what they did to us nine years ago, but we can control our own actions going forward, whether it’s unnecessary vanity wars in countries that had no connection whatsoever with 9/11, or dancing with snakes “preachers” who seek to turn the efforts of a few hundred criminals into a battle of civilizations.

Some of our reactions to the events of 9/11 over the past nine years have benefitted the murderous criminals of Al Qaeda beyond their wildest dreams.

We owe it to our heroes to persevere further into the why & how of what really happened that fateful day!

http://www.ae911truth.org/

In addition to the eight brave fire fighters from Middagh Street who lost their lives, let’s also raise a toast to the Brooklyn Heights residents we lost on that terrible day. Here’s to you NIgel – you’ll never be forgotten!

My wife and I woke to the bagpipes as well this morning. Such a sad day. I was across the street at World Financial Center on 9/11 and my colleague and friend was killed while at a meeting in one of the towers.

This nation did not overreact. Not at all. For a time — and for the first time I can ever remember — this country actually came together to voice a collective concern and acted on it. My feeling is that as one of the world’s leaders we can not allow dictatorships of hatred go on and breed killers. Aggressive acts were necc — and, I feel, still are. Just because time and money are spent without visible change to some, does not mean you change your mind and walk away.

Homer and Matthew are absolutely right. America reacted by attacking a country that had nothing to do with 9/11 while turning the country into a place where the crazies and bigots have come to define the terms of public discourse.

I was at the gym this morning and the monitors had the network news coverage of the WTC ceremony. Most of their talking heads were not scholars or serious news analysts but a rogue’s gallery of opportunists and nut-jobs – Rudy Giuliani, the preacher from Florida, etc. Rather sad that’s what this day has turned into…

the pig Giuliani politicized 9/11 as soon as he could. made a reputation (undeserved) on it. perhaps if his police commissioner had not been refused full intelligence clearance due to his unsavory background, things may have been different. and let us not forget Rudy assuring the workers in the pit “the air is safe”. workers have died since, thanks to that reassurance.

Yes, cop I defend your right to open your mouth and prove how ignorant you are.

What I’d really like to see is a reinstatement of the height and weight requirements at the NYPD. Short and fat cops are no protection against tyranny.

And Jack-

What did you do to help your fellow New Yorkers on 9/11? What have you ever done to help them? Next time you call 911, be sure to tell the operator what your height and weight requirements are for the cops who come to help you, no matter how short or fat you are, no matter what race or religion you are, or no matter how stupid the comments you post on the internet are.

Jack’s comment had absolutely nothing to do with the discussion. He thought trying to insult someone was a good way to win an argument. But I will respond to Hicks St, off topic or not-

there are standards to pass the academy but the problem is there is no periodic retesting after graduation. Most cops are in shape- some are not. Height and weight requirements also have very little to do with who you want by your side in the middle of an angry mob- the 300 pound linebacker or the 110 pound weakling who is skinny enough for the arbitrary cut off? Good police work is more about knowing what’s going on on your post, who the players are, where to go to find the person who you’re looking for, knowing what information is important and what’s not, being able to prepare reports and testify competently, having good judgement, etc. than being able to run after some teenager who was smoking a joint. I would be more concerned about the intelligence standards than the fitness standards.

I’m a devout atheist. I don’t know or care anything at all about fairytales- christian, jewish, muslim, or otherwise. I would oppose a church or a temple being built in a place that would divide the community as well. And that’s exactly what religion does- it divides people. When do we re-evaluate our beliefs and see that we’re getting further and further away from the point? Maybe when the mosque was first proposed it was intended to be something different than what people now see it as- which is a “we don’t care who it upsets, we’re putting it here anyway” center.

As I said before- it’s their property, and they can put whatever they want there. And the people who don’t want it there have a constitutionally protected right to picket the place and say what they think of it. Some of them are certainly bigots, but not all of them are. I just don’t like the attitude of people who say, “if you don’t support the mosque, you are an ignorant racist.” It’s just exactly the same thing as saying “if you do support the mosque, you are unpatriotic.”

And by “oppose” I mean I care enough about it to devote part of an evening posting a few comments on a web page- nothing more. I won’t be out there screaming on the news or lighting anything on fire. I may take a minute to mourn the loss of the Dakota Roadhouse (and its cheeseburger fries) next door to the building, should it meet an untimely demise because of this mess.

How sad! Most of the entries above have moved so far off the initial topic of taking back September 11th that they make the case for the need that initiated the topic. I think that this day this year was especially poignant because it was so much like that day in 2001 – such a clear, cloudless intensely blue sky. Anyone who listened to the reciting of names and watched the photos of those who died on 911 had to once again appreciate the diversity of those human beings, from so many countries and faith traditions. The still raw grief of family and friends was painful to watch. But, watch we should on this date each year. How should we observe that terrible day and loss that changed our lives and brought into sharp focus the “get even” mentality of our country? In addition to the moving ceremony at Ground Zero, here are some of the ways people in Brooklyn Heights honored the dead and remembered a day that should unite us as it did briefly nine years ago. Early in the morning there were flowers in front of the Middagh Street firehouse; flowers appeared at the photograph on the Promenade at the Montague Street entrance; someone refreshed the “Broken” wreath also on the Promenade; Barge Music held a lovely, reflective concert (see today’s NY Times review); at least two churches held memorial services; and many people gathered in the evening on and near the Promenade to quietly appreciate the wonderful tribute in light to the Twin Towers.