"10/11/01
The world is different.
what is normal is that it is still smoking.
one full month after the attack
it's almost normal that the #3uptown express has become a shuttle on the
downtown express track at 14th street. It used to run from the bronx
through manhattan to brooklyn. Now it runs uptown on the downtown express
track starting at my stop, 14th street. Sometimes it makes local stops,
sometimes express. Today it stopped at 34th street, an announcement came
on, "this train is out of service, no uptown train service on any line,
that is all." So I walk 2.5 miles to work.
The NYC Subway system is a marvel. It has been running fast, reliably,
like a well oiled machine for 100 years, that's 5 generations, one more
generation than I knew. We used to get upset when they held a train for 3
minutes, now I don't get upset when I have to walk most of the way after
waiting for the train. The subway is the great equalizer. just as there
were afghanistani's and pakistanis delivering morning cawfee in the towers,
there were 7 digit income bond traders drinking it, The subway carries an
incredible diversity of people, all colors, beliefs, income levels. My
city provides the economic grease that reaches further than the gentleman in
kansas who sits there believing he's safe and said even nuking new york
wouldn't really make much of a difference. It was only an office complex.
No clue. I find no solace that his economic grease is drying up as I
write.
There is anthrax in florida. %17 of all of the anthrax cases in the last
102 years, as long as the subway has been running, over 5 generations, have
appeared in florida.
maybe mad cow disease is next?
how much more damage do we allow to be inflicted upon us before we decide
that war has been thrust upon us?
I am afraid to ride the subway. I ride it, I will continue to ride it, I
am afraid.
Our attackers are men of their word. Listen to what they say, watch what
they do. Each US embassy bombing, each of which took as much
innocent life as the oklahoma city bombing, was preceeded by a videotape,
like the one we saw the other night, as was the attack on the USS cole.
My president told me tonite that I should take comfort that the government
is doing everything they can.
There was no wind this evening. One Month Later the pall made it
difficult to breath. The stench of death and destruction was the
worst since the attack. It was choking bad tonite until the north wind
came gently in around 10:30pm and slowly pushed back the pall. It's not
like body odor or bad breath, It's not a stink you get used to in a minute
or two. It's a stench that has a sharp edge in the deepest recesses of
your sinuses and nasal passages. it makes your skin itch. you can not and
do not get used to it. For my friend with asthma, it IS a biological attack.
It's demoralizing.
our planes are putting on a show in the mideast. they return still full
of ordinance because they have run out of targets. The police clog the
traffic over our bridges, but their searches are ineffective. I have yet
to be searched, just made to wait for hours in what used to take minutes.
A loon kicked down a cockpit door and was restrained by passengers, Had I
been there I would not have restrained him, I would have reached down his
throat and ripped his heart out through his mouth with my bare hands.
Clear and present danger. Does anyone believe that taking nail clippers
away from honest airline passengers will really make things safer?! We
should be arming ourselves.
I listen to what they say and I watch what they do. Bush or ben loudin?
who do you believe?
I am afraid.
thousands of innocents murdered in cold blood in a sneak attack. The
pentagon attacked, but for the courage of individual humans, civilians,
on plane #4 our leadership in washington would have been decimated. The
intelligencia says the attack is our fault, we must understand them, bring
them to justice, apply our blessings of liberty to them, educate them, feed
them.
Clear and present danger.
They are in denial. What part of the on-going attacks that have occurred
and what they say to us do you not understand? It is not our fault, we did
not bring the war to them, they forced war upon us. How many more
innocents must we sacrifice to the zealots before we begin to act effectively?
it's become almost normal that police have both ends of 10th street (where
their police station is) blockaded and are searching peoples bags before
they will let them walk down the sidewalk. The police are certainly being
effective keeping themselves safe, and so they should.
clear and present danger.
it's become almost normal that power stations are being held defensively
by similarly complacent security guards. Does anyone really believe that a
few orange cones and a few policemen eating donuts are going to protect our
critical infrastructure? Their throats could be slit with a box cutter
from behind while they doze, like the first class passenger on plane #4.
It's almost normal that New Jersey State Troopers are patroling my streets.
It's NOT almost normal that the towers are missing. As I had said
earlier, I never really gave them much thought, it was the empire state
building and the chrysler building that shouted out New York to me. But
the towers ARE missing, they framed NYC. We mourn people, a place is only
a place. But I find myself mourning the towers and what they represented
and the things they represent that we are yet unaware of.
there is so much missing that it boggles the mind to even begin to take
inventory. Every day for weeks now the Newsday is THICK with obits, It
boggles the mind. When will the pages upon pages of faces of the
prematurely murdered stop looking out of the paper?
It was horrific that people were kept out of their homes in battery city
park for weeks by the police.
clear and present danger.
when they were allowed back in they found that their homes were not only
systematically looted, but that the looters were actually living there and
sleeping in their beds for a while.
I went to vote in the primaries, defiantly. More New Yorkers voted in
this primary than in the past 12 years worth. A worthy statement from 'the
people' of The City.
Rudy, who has been doing a sensitive, decent job of managing the
emergency made his play to stay in office beyond his legal term. We knew
he was going to give that a try long before the attack occurred.
The broadcast antenna was atop tower 1. when the tower was bombed 8 years
ago broadcast media channel 2, cbs, was the only station that had continued
to maintain it's broadcast from the empire state building's antenna.
Everyone else went out with the tower. The other channels swore they would
never let it happen again. Now in 2001, channel 2 is the ONLY station that
has been broadcasting because they continued to maintain their antenna on
the ESB. When held to my standard of listen what they say and watch what
they do, channel 2 seems to be the only ones with some type of intelligence
and integrity. 8 years ago it was a and a huge financial loss that ABC,
NBC, FOX, PIX, WOR couldn't reach it's home audience through broadcast.
One month later, still only CBS is broadcasting. If you have an antenna,
you get one channel. This is NOT normal.
Since the subway ran so flawlessley for 100 years, we got down to the real
problems. Bad announcements, so NY bought new subway cars that are slowly
being phased in. One month and one day ago you new EXACTLY what train was
running on what track and what stops it would make. Nothing could ever
disrupt that. These new trains are really kewl. They have an electronic
map that shows where you are, where you're going, digital readouts, bright
lights, great air conditioning, loud and clear automated canned
announcement. They really were progress. Too bad no-one ever considered
that the electronics would be rendered useless when the uptown #3 runs on
the downtown #2 track.
A lot has been made of the terrorist that went to the tittie bar. In our
american way of thinking we like to think he was hypocritical, getting his
ya ya's out his last night alive and we vilify him for that though it was
an innocent act. I think he was reinforcing his reason for performing his
act against the infidel. I think the tittie bar made him angry and
increased his resolve.
Yesterday a Saudi Prince came to ground zero. National news is carefully
editing these clips. I saw it.
Without spin:
The saudi prince gave rudy a check for 10 million dollars and then made a
political statement through his personal press secretary. He made no
expression of condolence, sympathy or empathy. Rudy refused the check.
The saudi prince said 'he made a big mistake refusing my check'.
MY OPINION:
I applaud Rudy, He spoke for me.
The saudi prince took the equivalent of a single penny (of our money) out
of his pocket and tossed it to the city of New York. Standing on the
smoldering grave of our murdered innocents, most of their murderers
citizens of saudi arabia, blamed the US while taking no responsibility for
his own citizens and people. Saudi Arabia has refused to seize assests of
the terrorists.
To be kind: it is inappropriate for the saudi prince to be making
political statements at ground zero. Attaching it to money mistakes us for
whores(my apologies to whores). Not taking responsibility at the site for
the actions of his citizen suicide bombers is blaming the victim. George
Bush calls this man our friend. he says either you're with us or against us.
Today we have one confirmed case of anthrax in midtown manhattan. The New
York Times Offices have been closed off by the police due to an anthrax
threat.
Walking to work today i walked through an unusual cloud of moisture. Was
it a biological weapon? I don't know. The fact the thought has crossed my
mind shows we are loosing this 'war'.
There is a well documented news report this morning that arab children in
lower manhattan knew about the date and attack on 9-11 and were talking
about it in school the week before. They left the country on 9-10. With
the aspect of 20-20 hindsite I have always condemned the internment camps
of the japanese-americans during world war II. Hindsight may only seem
20-20. I fear it is none too late to open the discussion now.
One can not have a war against terrorism. Terroism is a tactic, not a
target. War has very little to do with justice. If there is going to be
fear, They should fear US.
-this is war about oil
-this is war about money
-this is war about calling the subjugation and brutalization of an entire
continent, with their sights on the world, the right and freedom of their
rulers to do.
-this is a war over control of the pakastani nuclear arsenal. Does anyone
really believe that pakistan's government is strong enough to keep their
nuclear weapons out of the hands of the religious zealots?
Have you seen the anti-american protests in the arab world?
Listen to what they say, watch what they do.
what you're afraid to call the residents of the arab countries arabs? they
are.
what you're afraid to call the suicide bombers arabs? they are.
can the targets be narrowed down more, I certainly hope so.
you try to tell me that when they chant death to america, burn our flag and
ATTACK OUR INNOCENTS ON OUR OWN SOIL AND PROMISE MORE TO COME, that I don't
understand them. I understand them fine.
can you take down a commercial jet with 100 civilian americans on board to
prevent the destruction of thousands - Our own hero's did that and
considered themselves collateral damage.
We can learn from history if we choose to, look at the loss of AMERICAN
life and the minute amount of resources were used in decisive battles.
Dresden
Tokyo
Hiroshima
Nagasaki
Result:
germany and japan are free, choose their own way and are our inexorable
friends.
we have the ability to stop these terrorist attacks right now.
bush or ben loudin, listen to what they say, watch what they do.
who do you believe?
I am afraid."
