The anniversary
The impending anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks has been giving me reason to pause and think back to the events and emotions of that day. I was living and working in Baltimore at the time, a mere 40 miles from Washington DC. Additionally, I was employed at one of the largest military defense factories in America. I remember everyone leaving work in the fear that our facility would be a target. Indeed, in the days following the attacks, several employees had reported that a man speaking with an Arabic accent had questioned them in the parking lot during the preceding weeks about the nature of their job and the type of work that was done in our factory. Later, it was discovered that several of the hijackers had been living at a hotel less than 3 miles from where I lived. Despite this semi-personal connection to the horrible events of that day, one thought keeps occurring to me today: Why does the American public live in fear of terrorism? There are very few people in this country who have a legitimate reason to fear personal injury from terrorism. Most of them are in Iraq, courtesy of the Red, White, and Bush. But other than folks living in New York, Washington DC, and to a lesser extent Boston and Los Angeles, the rest of us home-landers don’t have a whole lot to fear.
Living here in Pittsburgh, I don’t give terrorism a second thought. Odds of an attack in my city are pretty small, and even if there was one, the odds say I wouldn’t be personally affected (good old safety in numbers.) Unless they live near a chemical or nuclear power plant, people in small town USA have even less to fear. The biggest impact any of us is likely to feel is an economic impact. Of course, the economic impact itself is largely a product of the fear and panic that an attack creates.
Don’t think that I’ve forgotten that 3000 people died on 9/11/01. Though I didn’t know anyone who died, I had a friend who lost his father in the WTC, and I recognize the pain that he and many others like him went through on that day and the days that followed. I also have friends who have lost loved ones to cancer, car accidents, heart disease, murder, and suicide. Their sorrow is just as deep, and there are many, many more of them.
Why do I bring this up? Because this irrational fear is destroying our country. It’s this fear that convinces us to look the other way when our government strangles our freedoms via legislation like the Patriot Act. It’s this fear that allows us to be misled into a war. We need to wake up and realize that this administration is playing our fears like a Stradivarius, pushing its agenda through a friendly Congress, while backed by an uncritical media.
This election should be about the things that impact EVERY American…jobs, health care, education. By all of these measures, Bush has been an utter failure. When Dick Cheney says, “…if we make the wrong choice then the danger is that we'll get hit again and we'll be hit in a way that will be devastating…” we need to call his bluff. Bush has done nothing to make America safer. How much safer would we be if we spent billions securing our ports and borders, putting air marshals on every domestic flight, and guarding our chemical and power plants, rather than spending billions settling a decade old family feud? We have become a country that is afraid of the rest of the world, ruled by a government that is afraid of its own people. What a dangerous combination.
As for myself, I’ll continue to fear the things that really threaten my life and limb, such as layoffs, driving to work, crime on my street, and fast food workers that don’t wash their hands. Kerry may not be my candidate of choice, but I’m tired of living in a nation of fear.
Oliver Perez
9 ip, 14 k's, only 3 hits allowed....Oliver Perez IS a star right now and.....wait for it.....will be the best pitcher in the National League next season. (All the usual injury caveats apply.)
Altoona up in arms
Check out Altoona's starting rotation for the upcoming playoffs:
(in no particular order)
Zack Duke
Bobby Bradley
Matt Peterson
Bryan Bullington
Ian Snell
I can't remember a time when the Pirates have featured a AAA rotation of 5 legitimate major leagu prospects. There are many teams who don't have 5 guys of this ilk in their entire systems. Before anyone gets too excited, realize that if only 2 of these guys establish themselves as solid, average major league starters, then the Pirates are lucky. All of these guys will get their shot next season. I suspect Duke and Snell will be the 2 that 'make it.'
Playing hookey
It's pretty much
official...Bush never fulfilled his commitment to the National Guard. (Stay tuned to CBS for their interview of Ben Barnes tonight at 8pm.) Of course, this revelation will undoubtedly spark a best-selling book, several prime time television appearances, and hours and hours of radio talk devoted to the reasons America is under attack from within by the lying, conniving forces of GWB. Actually, it probably won't get more than a byline or two in the local papers and maybe a mention on a blog that nobody reads. That's because the media is so damned
liberal conservative.
Regardless, does it really matter that Bush did what hundreds of other rich, priviledged kids did back in the sixties? (ie. get out of the draft by volunteering for the National Guard, then skirting that same National Guard duty when it became inconvenient.) We should be talking about 1,000+ Americans dead in a needless foreign war, over a million net jobs lost, and perhaps most importantly, losing our moral authority in the world.
I'm back
I was AWOL for the long weekend. More posts to come.
