Jon Stewart Incredulous at Right-Wing Outrage Over Obama's Bin Laden Ad

Jon Stewart had much the same reaction as I did to the right-wing faux outrage machine's outsized response to an ad. The ad touted the killing of Osama Bin Laden, and implied that Mitt Romney might not have taken the same action. Which is supportably by video quotes, by the way. Anyway, Stewart is much funnier than I am, and has a crack production crew showing copious video that proves that this is not unusual, unprecedented, or even out the ordinary for Republicans to do. My only quibble is that I don't even concede that the ad needs apology or equivication. . .there's nothing wrong with it.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
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Iraq War is Finally Over

Welcome home. Image from source, Reuters

If--back when this war started, in George W. Bush's first term--we knew that it wouldn't be over until December 17, 2011, would it have ever been allowed to start? If we knew that there were no WMDs. If we knew that there wasn't even a tangential relationship to the September 11, 2001 attacks? If we knew that we'd lose thousands of soldiers' lives, hundreds of thousands of Iraqi lives, more than a trillion dollars? And tell me, somebody. . .tell me Republican faithful. . .what did we gain? What did we win? What was all of this for? Can anyone say?

[Excerpt]


Last U.S. troops leave Iraq, ending war

The last convoy of U.S. soldiers pulled out of Iraq on Sunday, ending nearly nine years of war that cost almost 4,500 American and tens of thousands of Iraqi lives and left a country still grappling with political uncertainty. . .

Read more at: Reuters

Nine Years Ago: Remembering 9/11

The following is a repost of my personal remembrance of September 11, 2001, with slight revisions.

Today is the day when we look at the calendar, and nearly flinch. September 11, 2001 is distant to us in many ways, but now for the 9th time, we've all looked at that calendar page and have been taken back to where we were that morning.

I'm republishing my personal account of what happened to me that day, written in the early days of my blog. My story is no more special than yours, I know. But on a day when the date is sure to be used by many for political purposes, I wanted to have one post up that just remembers the day.

ORIGINALLY POSTED SEPTEMBER 11, 2007

Photo of United Airlines Las Vegas-based Flight Attendants' memorial service at Sunset Park, September 2001 (Originally published in the Las Vegas Review-Journal)*

Posts I've made today, and earlier in this blog's short history, have discussed or related to 9/11. I'd rather not let the day go by without giving you the reader--and me the blogger--a little more, minus the political rhetoric.

I've become a deeply cynical person, you might say, at least as it regards politics. This is particularly true lately. But on Tuesday, September 11th, 2001 I wasn't thinking about any of that. Everyone who witnessed that day has their own story. Mine is no more relevant than yours, and is surely less traumatic than many.

I awoke that morning at my usual time, somewhere between 6:30 and 6:45 am. I had finished my morning ritual, and was just buttoning up my clothes when the phone rang. It was our friend, Larry, an American Airlines flight attendant, and he was crying. "Two planes have just hit the Trade Center," he managed between sobs. This was startling news, but not yet sufficiently alarming for me to change my routine.

I passed the phone to The Other Half, and turned on the bedroom TV. There it was, and the slight alarm turned to a sinking feeling. This was big. We quickly learned that it was both United's and an American Airlines' planes that hit the buildings, causing high alarm in the room, and on the other end of the phone. The Other Half, and our next-door neighbor/friend, were both United flight attendants. And the neighbor was on a trip at an unknown location. My heart sank, and I nearly sobbed myself--with relief--that my partner was right there in the room with me, accounted for.

Not fully realizing the impact of what had happened, I began my journey to work. I switched on the radio, and was very shortly informed that the Pentagon was on fire. They did not yet know the cause. When I pulled into the parking lot at work, the radio announcer said that a plane was believed to have crashed in Pennsylvania. I said out loud, "the sky is falling." I fully expected at that point that a wave of attacks would continue throughout the morning. Thankfully, that did not come to pass.

Shortly after my arrival at work, The Other Half called, and told me one of the towers had fallen. Not long after, we heard the same about the other. We imagined the worst, that the buildings had fallen over, smashing all below. Thankfully, again, as bad as it was, it could have been worse.
We didn't get much work done that day. Someone went home and got a TV, and we spent much of our time in front of that fuzzy little picture. Later that day, we found that most of our friends, and their colleagues were accounted for. Our neighbor was stranded in New Orleans for over a week. We had quite the celebration upon his return.

The following days were surreal. I'd never seen Las Vegas without planes in the sky, and believe me, you notice. We watched hours upon hours of TV News, of course, like everyone else. And the casinos around town knee-jerk fired lots of people. We feared for our town.

Several days later, The Other Half went to a memorial service at Sunset Park, due east of McCarren Airport, with the Las Vegas United Airlines base crew. During the service, the first plane in days landed, flying right over the park. There was a swelling of spontaneous applause, as you'd imagine.

We were very lucky. We knew people who had friends-of-friends-of-friends who died that day, but fortunately (for our little world), were spared personal losses. One friend was quite well acquainted with one of the pilots, and we had his wife to our house, but that was the extent of our direct contact. United, of course, had a very rocky ride of it, as did American. Many of the flight attendants left town, or left aviation. Las Vegas, predictably bounced back.

UPDATE, SEPTEMBER 11, 2008:

Las Vegas isn't feeling very bouncy this September 11th. Tourism is down, layoffs are widespread, hours (mine included) have been cut at many jobs. United Airlines and American Airlines are seemingly always under threat of going out of business. The neighbor moved to Florida not long after September 11th. The Other Half and I were married this year, and are doing well despite job worries. Whatever happens on November fourth, I think it will bookend 9/11/2001, and hopefully all of this will seem like a bygone era.

UPDATE, SEPTEMBER 11, 2009:

Things in Las Vegas haven't perked up much in the last year. We have, of course, moved from the Bush Era on into the Obama Era. It remains to be seen how that will play out. I'm not a lock-step liberal by any stretch, but I'm willing to give the President time and space.

UPDATE, SEPTEMBER 10, 2010:

Still waiting for the economy to pick up in Las Vegas, personally and city-wide.  We lead the pack for foreclosures, unemployment and several other "worst of" lists. We did place first in a "best roads" in the US story, so that's something. All of these woes are put at the feet of: a) Barack Obama, if you are a partisan conservative, b) George W. Bush, if you're a partisan liberal, c) Harry Reid, if you're Sharron Angle, or d) the snowball effect of many factors, with blame to be shared by both political parties.  I'm going with the last one. But I do have to wonder what the state of the economy and the United States in general might have been like if that clear blue skied Tuesday in September 2001 had been just an ordinary day.

* Full disclosure: photo contains picture of my husband, our friends and his co-workers.

The Iraq War is Over, Next Phase Begins

While President Barack Obama's speech on the end of "Operation Iraqi Freedom" was somewhat anticlimactic, it is historic, so I bring it to you now.

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Intelligence & Military Growing Unwieldy and Bloated Since 9/11

Image from source, Washington Post

What was it that Dwight Eisenhower said about the military industrial complex?  And how would the politicians and pundits react to that statement in today's political climate?  Far be it for me to suggest layoffs in this economy, but somebody should be looking into doing something about this. . .

[Excerpt]

A hidden world, growing beyond control

The top-secret world the government created in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has become so large, so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programs exist within it or exactly how many agencies do the same work. . .

Read more at: Washington Post

House Chair Wants to Bring Back Torture

Image from Huffington Post

WTF? Seriously? I want some country-lovin', chaw-chewin' real 'Merican to explain to me why so many Republicans are for torture. Torture is a) against international law, b) emboldens our enemies, and c) does not work. It is never right to torture in the name of the United States. Not ever. I don't care what 24-inspired fantasy you harbor, torture is an ineffective way of getting information. And it doesn't help if you doll it up with a new name like "enhanced interrogation."

[Excerpt]

Rep. Reyes Introduces a Measure Re-Criminalizing Torture

Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas), the chairman of the House intelligence committee, introduced an amendment to the 2010 intelligence authorization bill imposing a 15-year criminal sentence on any “officer or employee of the intelligence community” who tortures a detainee. (Twenty years if the torture involves an “act of medical malfeasance”; life if the detainee dies.). . .

Read more at: The Washington Independent

President Obama Responds to Dick Cheney

Photo from source, Raw Story

I suppose it is a truism for both parties. Whichever one is out of power will blast the other. And while "undermining the President in a time of war" is a shameful no-no during one administration, the next time it's A-OK. Same thing with giving a President's pick for a judge an "up-or-down" vote. Along those lines, outgoing administrations usually eschew criticising the incoming one. Not this time. Dick Cheney has been making the rounds, saying that President Barack Obama is making us "less safe." Fortunately, Obama does not shy away from such attacks.

[Excerpt]

Obama fires back at Cheney on 60 Minutes

Dick Cheney and the anti-terror policies of the Bush years have not "made us safer," according to President Barack Obama. In an interview on Sunday night's 60 Minutes, the president offered a stern response to the former vice president's criticism that Obama has somehow made Americans "less safe. . ."

Read more at: Raw Story

More on Michael Reagan's "Shoot Them" Bit

A little while back, I posted a piece about radio host and former first-son Michael Reagan's call to shoot "9/11 Truthers." It's an amazingly brazen (and most probably illegal) thing to say on the radio. Not to mention stupid. Now, I don't know much about this Mark Dice character that is at the center of the issue, except for this.

I am sympathetic to the 9/11 Truthers cause, though far from completely on board with them. I believe we've been told a fabricated story about what happened that day, some surely true, and some surely false. But I have no answers to what exactly did happen, and that speculation is where this group treads on thin ice. Shoot down a few of their conclusions and you've spoiled the whole movement in most people's eyes. They should stick to the facts, and avoid drawing conclusions.

And I don't support the action of sending soldiers letters in the way Mark Dice did, though once again, I'm there in spirit. Just not in action. I don't know what the answer is to get at the truth. But I don't think Mark Dice's tactic is the way to go. And surely, Michael Reagan's way is beyond the pale. Here's a video giving you some of the background story. It's over 8 minutes long, but you can tune out at about six minutes, where it just repeats what has come before. Interesting stuff.

Air Marshals on Fewer than 1% of Flights?

Creepy training picture from source, CNN

So, everything changed after 9/11, right? Maybe not so much.

[Excerpt]

Sources: Air marshals missing from almost all flights

Of the 28,000 commercial airline flights that take to the skies on an average day in the United States, fewer than 1 percent are protected by on-board, armed federal air marshals, a nationwide CNN investigation has found.

That means a terrorist or other criminal bent on taking over an aircraft would be confronted by a trained air marshal on as few as 280 daily flights, according to more than a dozen federal air marshals and pilots interviewed by CNN. . .

Read more at: CNN

Las Vegas Ricin Case Moves to Utah

Photo from source, AP

A couple of days ago, I reported on the breaking news of a discovery of ricin--a deadly poison--in Las Vegas. Apparently, several vials of the nasty stuff were found in an "extended stay" motel by friends or relatives of the man who put it there, after he was found unconscious by the maid. Excuse me if that scenario is later contradicted, accounts are kind of fuzzy.

Anyway, I couldn't help but notice that a deadly poison--a few grains of which can apparently kill a person--made it into a major metropolitan city. A city that is one of the largest tourist areas in the United States. This extended stay hotel is spitting distance from the Rio and Palms hotels--among the most popular off-strip sites in Las Vegas. And it wasn't wire-tapping or data mining that led to its discovery--it was blind luck.

[Excerpt]

Suburban Utah Home Searched for Ricin

RIVERTON, Utah (AP) — FBI agents wearing protective suits searched Sunday for the deadly poison ricin at a suburban home where a man possibly sickened by the deadly poison had once lived.

Authorities believed they had found all of the ricin in several vials recovered Thursday from a Las Vegas motel where Roger Von Bergendorff had been staying, but they wanted to also check the home in Riverton, outside Salt Lake City. . .

Read more at: AP

Bush Cutting Counterterrorism Funding

John Aravosis at AmericaBlog calls this story a "gift from God." An issue that reverse the polarity of just which party is "tough on terror," or better for our security. He may be right. Let's hope that the Democrats sieze the issue.

Notice that while Bush is cutting funding down, that the story is spun as making smaller cuts than expected.

[Excerpt]

Bush to make smaller security fund cuts

The Bush administration will cut counterterrorism money for police, firefighters and rescue departments next year, but not by as much as it originally proposed.

Next month the White House will request $2.2 billion to help states and cities protect against terrorist attacks in 2009, and not $1.4 billion, an administration aide told Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., on Friday. That would be 10 percent more than the president requested for 2008, but 40 percent less than Congress gave the department this year. . .

Read more at: Yahoo! News

Bomb Parts Passed Airport Screenings

Photo from source, AFP

I just got back from a vacation across the country, and had the now familiar experience with airline security. I now dutifully remove all elements of metal from my body and put it in my carry-on, including my belt, watch, phone, keys and change. I then take off my shoes and jacket, and have them ready to run through the machine. I don't take any fluids (other than those within my body), and I make my effort not to beep when I go through the machine.

I had two direct flights, and followed this routine, but not without incident. On both trips through security, I was detained while the TSA searched my carry-on. They went through everything, from the afore-mentioned items, to my video player, MP3 player and--yes--my cans of Skyline Chili. They even commented on the coconut macaroons I brought back from LaChatelaine in Columbus.

All of that effort wasted, and then we get this:

[Excerpt]

Bomb parts passed US airport screenings: report

US undercover investigators successfully carried bomb-making material across security checkpoints during tests at 19 US airports earlier this year, a government report said Wednesday.

The Government Accountability Office report said agents were able to clear Transportation Security Administration checkpoints with components for making several improvised explosive devices (IED) or an improvised incendiary device (IID).

The two investigators concealed the materials in their carry-on luggage and on their persons. . .

Read the rest at: AFP

Musharraf to Continue Martial Rule

Bush & his buddy Musharraf have a "common goal" in their fight against terrorism. To which martial law has aided "Mushie" in his efforts to curtail terrorism & will continue to do so... and the US will also continue to aid the Pakistani Dictator/General/Leader.

Be warned: I do believe there was another leader who made a deal with our government & helped stamp out 'terrorists' & what not... We provided him aid, weapons, technology & plenty of rope... then we hung him. Just down the street from Pakistan in a little old town called Iraq. "Heckuva job, Mushie!"

Musharraf Gives No Date for End to Rule
Story Credit to New York Times

Terrorist Watch List Troubles

Photo from source, VOANews.com

What good is a "Terror Watch List," if it grows to such proportions that it is impossible to "watch" all those on it? Like everything else to come out of this administration, it's a mess. A big useless mess.

[Excerpt]

Problems with US Terrorist Watch List Prompt Concerns

The terrorist watch list, compiled by U.S. intelligence agencies, is used by the U.S. government to bar individuals who pose a threat to national security from entering the country through land border crossings, airports and seaports.

But in a new report, the Government Accountability Office, Congress' investigative arm, has found problems with the list. [snip]

The chairman of the Senate committee, Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, expressed concern about the growth of the terrorist watch list, which the GAO report says has grown from 158,000 in June 2004 to 860,000 today. . .

Read the story at: VOANews.com

Chertoff: The Boy Who Cried Wolf

Excuse me for feeling skeptical. This plot may very well have been as nasty and as ready-to-go as Michael Chertoff says, but how can we know? Time after time, we hear some huge terrorist plot has been--barely--thwarted; only to find out later (with much less fanfare) that it was pretty much a load of hooey. So, just like the boy who cried wolf, when the crisis is real, will anybody believe it?

[Excerpt]

'Plot Would Have Killed Thousands'

Terrorists who had planned to detonate gel-based explosives on U.S.-bound flights from London last August would have achieved mass devastation, according to new information from Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff in an exclusive interview with ABC News.

"I think that the plot, in terms of its intent, was looking at devastation on a scale that would have rivaled 9/11," Chertoff told ABC's Pierre Thomas. "If they had succeeded in bringing liquid explosives on seven or eight aircraft, there could have been thousands of lives lost and an enormous economic impact with devastating consequences for international air travel."

Read on at: ABCNews.GO.com

Oklahoma's War On Terrorism Plate

Image from OnlineDMV.com

Let me start by saying, I don't hate America. I don't love, coddle or want to appease terrorists or terrorism. Thinking that over-the-top, wrapped in the flag patriotism is silly doesn't change those facts.

I work at a sign company, and right after 9/11 we immediately started making American Flag decals and other patriotic signage, both for our own vehicles, and for our customers (often for free). Nothing too over-the-top, but we were festooned like it was the bicentennial. But very shortly after that, we started getting requests for things like the crying eagle in front of the burning towers surrounded by the flag. Even more puzzling, "God Bless America 9-11-01" surrounding the Pentagon with burning towers in the middle.

Even though it was that same month of September, I was slightly nauseated. I mean, I know these people were motivated by the same impulses we were with our flag stickers, but there was something about these messages that just seemed somehow off to me. It was the same feeling I had when, right after the Gulf War started, I spied people wearing desert camouflage, and T-shirts with "Operation Desert Storm!" logos on the front.

We brand wars and even terrorist attacks just as much as we brand our food (see post below).

But somebody please tell me this is somebody's idea of a bad joke. Oklahoma just can't be offering this "special" license plate, can they? It isn't just the sentiment, it's the design. It is just beyond amateurish. A clip art eagle? CLIP ART?!? Pixelated cammo? This is just wrong on so many levels. . .

Thousands of Weapons Missing

This story has been floating around the last few days, and I think it's worthy of notice. File this in the "what the hell?" category.

[Excerpt]

Thousands of weapons issued to Iraqi police are missing: report

The U.S. government cannot account for more than half of all small arms given to Iraqi security forces, according to a government report.

The Pentagon has lost track of 190,000 AK-47 rifles and pistols given to Iraqi soldiers and police in 2004 and 2005, according to the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress.

It also can't account for 135,000 items of body armour and 115,000 helmets that were reportedly issued to Iraqi forces.

Read more at: CBCNews.com

TSA "Dry Runs" Were Bogus

This keeps happening. We hear ominous reports of terrorist activity: Be afraid, be very afraid! Then, days later, a little more below the radar, we learn that it was all overblown. And yet, the bogus alerts sometimes return in George W. Bush's, Tony Snow's and Sean Hannity's talking points, as though they were never disproven.

This "Boy Who Cried Wolf" stuff is going to get us into trouble one of these days. How are we to trust our government or media when they finally do issue an urgent, legitimate threat?

[Excerpt]

CNN: TSA knew 'dry run' terror alerts were bogus

The Transportation Security Agency's national security bulletin issued was based on bogus examples that were combined to give the impression of ominous terrorist plotting, CNN reports.

"That bulletin for law enforcement eyes only told of suspicious items recently found in passenger's bags at airport checkpoints, warned that they may signify dry runs for terrorist attacks," CNN's Brian Todd reported Friday afternoon. "Well it turns out none of that is true."

Todd highlights the case of Sara Weiss, who was detained in San Diego after two ice packs covered in tape were found in her baggage. Weiss, who works for a faith-based organization, also was carrying a survey about Muslim Americans, which CNN says also raised law enforcement provisions.

"The FBI now says there were valid explanations for all four incidents in that bulletin, and a US government official says no charges will be brought in any of these cases," Todd reported.
Read more at: RawStory.com