As most of you know I leave for New York tomorrow (Saturday) for the 9/11 anniversary. There will be lots of Fox and I will join Johnny for a time on Sunday at Ground Zero for a special program he’s doing. Tammy Radio will be live from New York Monday and Tuesday. I’ll post more on the specifics here on the blog but wanted to make sure we had a Lounge where we could share the news of the day as usual and discuss the importance of memorializing the tragedy of 10 years ago (can you believe it’s been that long!).
I’m honored I’m able to visit that great city on this anniversary. For this Lounge, like all others, the “no links” rule is lifted in the name of sharing. Here’s some of the news, including updates on the terror threat and the first-time release of some 9/11 tapes. So many of you have email me, btw, with concerns about my traveling to NT at this time. Thank you so much but everything will be ok, keep in mind Obama and Bush will be on hand at Ground Zero so I have a tiny feeling NY will be the *safest* it’s been in quite some time despite effort by beasts to hurt people.
Terror threat:
NY1: Higher Security Throughout City Following Terror Threat
Bloomberg: NY City Police Search Trucks on 9/11 Threat
BBC: 9/11: Clinton says Al-Qaeda behind New York threat
Tapes release:
Still overwhelming and heartbreaking, but we must never forget.
The full audio recordings of the military and aviation responses to the unfolding events of September 11 have been made public for the first time.
The recordings, by nature dramatic as they unfold in real time, provide an insight into the disbelief and confusion that greeted officials as they struggled to obtain an accurate picture of what was happening.
“We have a problem here … We have a hijacked aircraft heading towards New York and we need to get … We need someone to scramble some F-16s or something up there to help us out,” air traffic controller Joseph Cooper, at the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Boston centre, said, according to the recordings, published by the Rutgers Law Review.
“Is this real world or exercise?” he is asked by an official from North American Aerospace Defense Command (Norad), at the other end of the phone.
“No, this is not an exercise, not a test,” Cooper replies.
Sky News has this coverage, along with video:
Audio recordings, which reveal in real-time how US air traffic controllers and the military reacted to the September 11 terror attacks, have been released.
The audio also includes the voice of Mohamed Atta, the terrorist ringleader who piloted one of the two hijacked passenger planes that crashed into the World Trade Centre (WTC) in New York.
For the first time, he is heard saying: “We have some planes. Just stay quiet and we’ll be OK. We are returning to the airport.”
Atta then said: “Nobody move. Everything will be ok. If you try to make any moves you will injure yourself and the airplane. Just stay quiet.”
Another terrorist Ziad Jarrah, who piloted the jet that crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, was heard saying: “Please sit down and remain sitting. We have a bomb on board.
“This is the captain. I would like you all to remain seated. We have a bomb on board and are going back to the airport and have our demands, so please remain quiet.”
Some of the recordings, which stretch across two hours on the morning of 9/11, have never been heard in public before.
As we remember the horror, don’t forget the effort to build their Victory Mosque at the site continues.
Christian Broadcasting Co: Rep Allen West Promotes Anti-Ground Zero Mosque Film
Bikes and airlines: http://t.co/dKOJjbD on my way to 9/11 American Challenge
Go, DUDE! G-d bless ya. Ride safely.
Tammy, while you’re there, please say a Prayer.
9/11 American Challenge. Ground zero-Shanksville-Pentagon. 8 days/530 miles with wounded vets, 9/11 1st responders, survivors remember and ride
http://t.co/7p1W0LI #sot @ride_2_recovery
Just made a donation in your name….wonderful cause. Safe travels and God speed. Please give my warmest regards to our heroic recovering wounded vets.
Wish I could be there but I am right across the river in Jersey.
Lost my mind for 2-3 years after that happened but am back home and in my right mind again. 🙂
in memory of those who died – 9-11-01 – never forget
http://youtu.be/Nj9Fa6IFM8Q
i’ve NEVER been down to the old WTC site after all this time and i loved to go there…tammy will u have a TAM meet-up while ur here?
Unfortunately, I don’t think there will be time for a meetup this trip. Too much happening, but we’ll have another one soon.
Rambling thoughts about the tenth anniversary of 9/11:
September 10, 2011 – In NYC, a dreary, bone-chilling, non-stop pouring rain. I was in Manhattan, and it was impossible to cross the street without stepping into a curbside “river.” The next day, 9/11, a spectacular day. Blue, clear sky, warm sun. As I mentioned to Tammy on her show, my husband decided to take the express bus, rather than the subway. I drove him to the bus, but just as we got there, the bus pulled away. We both gasped at his “bad luck.” He waited another twenty minutes for the next bus. As he approached the WTC, a woman sitting in front of the bus screamed, “OMG! The WTC is on fire!” My husband persuaded the driver to let him off, as he figured there would be fire trucks and gridlock. He was walking, two blocks away, when the second plane hit. (For about a month afterwards, he had trouble sleeping, as he couldn’t get the noise out of his head. I encouraged him to talk about it, and at one point, I asked him what the noise sounded like. He paused for a minute, and answered, “It sounded like Judgment Day.”) He saw people running away from the WTC, and he decided to follow the crowd. His cellphone was not working but he ran into a store, and the store owner gave him a landline. He told me he decided to go home, since the whole area seemed too chaotic. But I did not hear from him for almost three hours. I assumed that he had gone into the WTC subway station, underneath the buildings, and when I heard the WTC fell, I was terrified that he had been trapped underneath the buildings. He had, in fact, followed the crowd about ten blocks, and went into that subway station. Someone ran into the station and shouted, “We are under attack!” Another ran in and shouted, “I saw people jump from the WTC!” When he got to Queens, everyone was told to get off the train, and when someone asked the conductor about the next train, they were told that there would be no more subway service. He was 8 miles from home, and he had trouble finding a cab. Finally, he was home, and called me at work. We were fortunate.
I like to think of myself as someone who does not scare easily, but, I was scared. I was scared every time I drove on a bridge, or in a tunnel. I was worried about my kids taking the subway, and I tried not to call them too often, but I really wanted to check up on them several times a day, to make sure they were safe.
The following summer, we took a trip to Montana. (My husband, slightly “obsessed” with General Custer, wanted to see The Little Big Horn). And, in a little dusty town in Montana, we walked into a small grocery store, and there was a picture of the World Trade Center, with the words, “Never Forget” As Tammy often says, I love us.
http://www.history.com/videos/911-pedestrians-flee-twin-towers-area#adam-shankar-on-911
Shifra, thank you for sharing your experiences and for the TAMWire posts. I am overwhelmed imagining the emotions and anxiety so many people continue to experience. It has been most helpful to read these articles.
My client had just returned from NY where he helped his daughter move into her apartment just blocks away from the WTC as she was starting college there. The worst part was the inability to get in contact with her. She was fine, but I could see the change in him.
hugs Shifra ♥
Thanks for sharing Shifra…
It is hard for me to think about 9/11/01, I spent it in the hospital waiting room
watching it on TV. My wife and I lost our first child, she was 4 1/2 months along. But 10/19/02 we had a son and he is wonderful although he drives his mom nuts. Also we should remember our troops that died keeping us safe.
I remember the night of 9/10/2011 very well. Monday Night Football was on, and Denver Broncos star receiver Ed McCaffrey broke his leg off a gruesome hit. (I remember Dennis Miller calling that game – he was annoying as hell on Monday Night Football but he’s become a great conservative warrior since.) After McCaffrey’s injury I decided to get out of the house and walk around the neighbourhood. As I turned left at the bottom of the block in my quiet residential area, I saw a taxi idling at the side of the road, and its driver on the ground on the street on a prayer mat, hands-and-knees praying to Allah. I thought it was wierd, but this was multi-culti Toronto, so it didn’t surprise me at the time.
The next morning, I was finishing my morning ritual – eating breakfast and reading the paper with Howard Stern on the radio (I bet I’m not the only TAM who listened to Howard in the ’90s). I had the front door open and was about to turn off the radio and leave for the office, when BabaBooey said a plane hit the World Trade Center. I almost thought nothing of it, but something in his voice told me to turn on the TV and see if it was being shown on the news. I had a grey-market DirecTV satellite dish at the time, so I was already a Fox News watcher up here in Canada. I turned on Fox and saw the first building on fire. They were still saying it was a little Sessna, but the pictures looked far worse, the smoke kept getting worse. Then, I saw the second plane hit, live with my own eyes. Even the Fox announcer wasn’t sure what happened for a minute or so, but I knew: we were at war. I never had any doubt who did it, either. For a few months prior to 9/11, I was reading translations from the Arab world online from MEMRI, seeing what these people were teaching their children, seeing what the Imams were preaching, seeing what the media and leaders were preaching during the 2nd intifadah.
I never made it to the office that day. My secretary called in hysterics, saying we’re under attack. I got the staff to shut down the office that morning. I then went a full week with almost no orders coming in (I’m in online retail), and that was the first setback I’d had since I started in business four years earlier. Catching up on e-mails a couple of weeks later, I discovered a product request from a guy in New York from a brokerage firm address on 9/10 requesting a particular item he wanted to find for his son. Turns out he never made it out of his office at the WTC on 9/11, he was on one of those horrible lists.
Wierd thing is, I’d never seen a taxi driver praying in the road before, and I’ve never seen it since. I’ve also never seen the world the same again. I never have, and never will, forgive the liberal mentality that (contrary to popular myth) immediately turned its energy to rationalization and blame-the-victim. I learned that first week after 9/11, that the liberal mindset is a cancer that forces you to rationalize and blame-the-victim on everything, because in a world where there is no inherent evil, and no absolute wrong, and no room for judgement of others, there’s just self-loathing. I’ve never read “The Death of Right and Wrong”, but I imagine this is one of its main themes.
I watched Fox the entire day, and have never stopped watching news and reading news/opinion/non-fiction since. I feel horrible for the chaos wrought in America since that day. The crass scum of the Democrat Party couldn’t even stop itself from politicizing the war for the cause of John-Freaking-Frankenstein-Kerry. Political correctness infected Bush’s administration enough to force him into fighting the war with both hands tied behind his back. Dealing with the war took conservatives’ eyes off the financial mess, and by the time Bush was a lame-duck the Republicans had no credibility (or desire) to stop the barbarians from using the political void of 2008 to loot the treasury and gut the American people of much of their wealth.
One thing I’ll never forget: the American people were beautiful in the face of adversity. It’s the political class that turned it all to hash and gave us, eventually, a President whose instinct, no doubt, was to rationalize and blame the victim.
Let the legacy of 2001 be a restoration in 2012.
I was a freshman in college when that horrific day happened. I remember sitting in my morning Chemistry class, and some classmates came in saying that the White House was on fire. There was still a lot of misinformation at the time. I didn’t have a TV in my dorm room yet, but later in the day found out what truly happened. The images still gives me a sick feeling in my stomach and bring tears to my eyes.
I walked back to my dorm room after classes were done for the day, and it happened to be the day that the Gideons (they did it once a semester) were handing out Bibles. I was already a firm believer, but that was a great comfort to me.
Never forget.
On a related note, what an ally we have in Israel! Here is a story about the 9/11 Memorial in Jerusalem: http://www.forward.com/articles/142430/
No twitter, no Facebook. I was on my bike riding to work in ABQ
I found out from somebody in the hall. I was streaming rado and kewping up with my social media of the tome
http://thebackpacker.com/trailtalk/thread/10110,-1.phpi
Tammy, please be careful. Apparently the terror threat involves a possible dirty bomb detonation in NYC:
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/09/09/times-square-could-be-target-of-dirty-bomb-sources-say-police-on-heightened-alert/
Thank you, Tammy for representing us, and you are right, NY is the safest place to be this weekend. I was there while the 1992 Democrat convention was going on. Police were everywhere, and I never felt safer.
Remember how kind and polite everyone was to each other in the aftermath? Some said it was like the 1950s again. It’s a shame that part didn’t last.
I agree Rob. The closest I’ve seen to the days following 9/11/01 was at the Tea Party rally last weekend. There were so many friendly, helpful and kind people there.
Prayers for Tammy and all who are traveling to one of the Memorial ceremonies! God speed and safe travels!NEVER FORGET!!!!!
It was my day off from school. I was a Special Services Coordinator at a Catholic school at the time. I was on my way home from driving my oldest to school, when I saw my two younger kids riding their bikes to school. Joe, my eleven year old at the time, was waving his hand for me to stop the car. Joe and Ellen told me that something was going on in NYC. “There are buildings on fire!” they said. We all continued on to our destinations. I went home, turned on the TV, called my friend, and we watched as the second plane hit the the tower, and subsequent events. We were observing and commenting on what was happening, both of us in shock. I get that same sick feeling in my stomach and choked up when I see footage of the day’s events. Joe’s 11th birthday was the day before. I remember him saying to me the night of the 11th, that his bday was the “last good day” As it turned out, one of my student’s mom was the ATT operator who spoke and prayed with Todd Beemer right before Flight 93 went down. The mom told me about it afterwards. I told my son Joe that the great news is that America is full of heros and good people. They are hiding in plain sight everywhere! God bless this great country! Good always wins out in the end! Safe travels, Tammy and TAMS!
I had visited friends in NYC not long before 9/11 and just happened to stay at a hotel right by the WTC. I never will forget standing at the base, looking up at those magnificent towers and experiencing the vibrancy of the city.
For me, the morning of Sept. 11th started off like any other — drinking coffee and making the short commute to my office at the time. As I was pulling into the parking lot, I heard one of the local radio stations break in with the news that a *commuter* plane had hit the WTC.
I didn’t think much of it initially, but changed my mind when I saw several co-workers staring at the TV in the conference room. Walking into the room and greeting everyone, I looked up at the TV just in time to see the 2nd plane hit.
I remember being asked if we should close down the office and send everyone home immediately. But, looking around the room, it was clear that no one wanted to leave. So, we stayed in the room together until after the 2nd tower fell and then en masse, gathered our things and left.
By early afternoon, I had packed a bag, closed down my house and headed to my parents’ home in the country to be with my family.
“Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.”
John F. Kennedy
Inaugural Address
January 20, 1961
Tammy was talking in yesterday’s talking points about the horrific pictures of people falling from the twin towers. This is an article that shows one such picture and the photographer’s story. In the comments:
“Five years after the attacks, The Falling Man was identified by chef Michael Lomonaco as Jonathan Briley, a 43-year-old employee of the Windows on the World restaurant. Briley was a sound engineer who lived in Mount Vernon, New York and worked in the North Tower restaurant”.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/09/08/richard-drew-s-the-falling-man-ap-photographer-on-his-iconic-9-11-photo.html
Ten years later:
Still No Justice:
http://p.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/sep/9/judges-careful-approach-slows-pace-mohammed-trial/
The Story of Cantor Fitzgerald:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/44451046
Here is the Conservative Blogs Central link to the video. Having watched it, I found myself speechless. It is above the ad aired once by Budweiser in honor of 9/11.
http://conservativeblogscentral.blogspot.com/2011/09/911-bud-commercial-aired-only-once.html
In 2001 I was still in a fog from fighting a brutal divorce and my only concerns were my kids and getting to work. We watched tv all day long and tried to work but everyone that came in were on edge and we ended up watching tv and not treating them. When it was time to go home I picked up my kids and we went to church to pray for our country and for those men and women that were digging through that mountain of steel and concrete hoping they would find someone alive. I couldn’t stop watching them dig through that smoldering pile of the strongest material we have and one by one, bucket by bucket they stayed there digging. I’ll never forget the will of those people, it forced me to see what happens when you put your mind to it, you can do anything. They inspired me to keep doing what I was doing to make a better life for my children, I will never forget that. It does feel like a blink of an eye, 10 years and we finally have seen the light, what a journey we are on. May God Bless us all and keep our country and our troops safe.
The World Trade Center—Reborn:
http://www.history.com/topics/9-11-attacks/interactives/world-trade-center-reborn
Video of Tammy on set today at Fox News ~ America’s News Headquarters http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGpo9yMUtko ~ [from the airport to the set] !
Thanks for posting this. I’m out of town with no TV so was not able to catch it live. J
Thanks Ru! You are GREEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAT!
My Rememberances:
Before: The first and last time I was in New York City was Mid May 2001(business). The first day’s work was over and the hotel offered a “Mini-Bus Tour” of NYC. Dude! Are you kidding? I’m so in!…First stop was the WTC Towers. Went up to the enclosed observation deck on the South Building then saw the sign for the OUTSIDE Deck. The weather was Perfect. Meaning the temperature, humidity and wind was Perfect, No Clothes Perfect, Heaven Perfect. You could see for miles and miles and miles. The guide said if you want to remember the East River Bridges just use: BMW, Brooklyn, Metropolitan and Washington. Then remembered the guy, Philippe Petit,who tightroped-walked between the buildings in 1974. Took digital pictures that I still have to this day.
9/11/2001: At the Flower Mound, Texas, Chik-Fil-A drive thru getting the #2 to have road food for the morning trip into North Dallas, where I had an office, Listening to KTCK 1310, Sports Radio. Heard about the first building getting hit, by the time I got to the office, both buildings were on fire. Then watched them both collapse. Nuff said…
The Aftermath: I lived, then, 4 miles due north of DFW runways 36L/36R. We were used to the massive amount of air traffic coming from all over the country and the world into that airport. The background noise of the aircraft was constant, not too bothersome, but you knew how close you where. (One night it was so busy I counted fourteen(14) airplanes, either landing, taking off, or on final approach, from my backyard) The next few days when all the planes were grounded? Dead Silence, nothing, no ambient noise of the airport. That freaked me out.
I cannot bear to watch any of the TV Specials, Interviews, etc, being broadcast about that horrible day–Too Painful.
posted 9/10 830pm Texans for Palin Time.
I live under an approach path to Pearson Airport in Toronto, and I’ll never forget the strange silence of closed skies, either. Freaked me out too.
yah, I cant stand to watch most of the memorial specials. A lot of them just really suck, and totally cheapen the entire event. My wife wanted to see one this week on NatGeo channel. I teased her and said, “Oh! so you want to see your hubby cry is that it?” So then I said I would give it a try, but then turned it off about 3 minutes into it. It was just a bunch a poorly edited random images of chaos and suffering. They must of had about 8 audio tracks of misery and noise running at the same time. -a pathetic attempt at building some kind of dramatic crescendo. I got angry at the producers. It just felt like they were not even trying to show any reverence to the victims and survivors. They were just sensationalizing it to get ratings for their channel. It was just like any other promo you would get from such a channel. “Every night this week at 9:30pm! 9/11 specials!” They advertised it just like they were promoting Shark Week. This particular show was called, “Mayor Giuliani: Commanding 9/11” give me a break!!!
I’ve heard that 102 Minutes on the History Channel is good. i plan to try to watch it later this evening.
Note to Self: It’s the Manhattan Bridge you dummy!
The words so eloquently scribed by Katherine Lee Bates really hit home that day. Here I was under the spacious skies, surrounded by amber waves of grain, beneath the purple mountain’s majesty on the fruited plain of eastern Colorado watching the alabaster city burn – not gleam – and dimmed with ocean waves of human tears.
It was a beautiful morning, one that reminded me why I was glad I had morphed into a morning person over the years. I was drinking my morning coffee on my day off, and reading the newspaper. Then the local news was interrupted by ABC. There was the north tower belching smoke. Horrible, but the mind wouldn’t allow the thought that hovered in the recesses. Then the second plane came into view and it impacted. Diana Sawyer said, “Oh, my God.” It was an attack. The mind connected and I muttered, “Bin Laden.”
I made the instant decision to awaken my Mom, whom I cared for in her aging years. It was barely 7 am and, she, the night owl, had been up until 2 or 3 am. I went in to wake her. I didn’t want to shock her weak heart, but how do you break that news? I just flat-out told her. Then I went and put the flag out on the porch. We sat together all day, frequently holding hands and praying. Like everyone else, we were just stunned, heartsick and angry.
We are America the Beautiful, inextricably tied together. God Bless America.
Ten years ago today I was on duty working for United Airlines. When we saw that a UA plane had hit the south tower and that this was no accident, we were all in a state of shock and disbelief. May we always remember and pray for those who died such horrific deaths. Stay vigilant, the enemy is out there. God Bless.
I wrote this remembrance a year or so after September 11, 2001. These thoughts are as fresh to me as when I wrote them. We will always remember and honor the victims of that day. God Bless the families of the victims, the police, firefighters, all first responders, and the workers who cleaned up and rebuilt. We will never forget.
September 11, 2001
I am a nightowl, so I didn’t awake until about 10:00 a.m.that morning. I was dreading going to the phone to listen to my messages because my 89 year old grandmother had been very ill all summer long, and now she was near death. We were expecting to lose her at any minute. She was a wonderful grandmother, full of life, strong, always confronting and overcoming any obstacle that life presented. I was half-heartedly hoping that God would just take her, for her relief and selfishly, for ours….yet, I still didn’t want to check my messages.
My daughter lives in New York City and at the time she was in college. The first message was from my daughter’s high school friend. Her friend’s message was full of tears asking over and over ” Is she alright?” “What is going on I thought?” Her friend kept mentioning something about “It’s all on the news. ” I listened to the second message. It was another friend of my daughter. This friend lived in Chicago at the time. She kept saying ” I hear they are on their way to attack us.” …and the messages went on and on..I stopped for a second and ran to the remote and watched and listened.. then I screamed and cried. I listened to the rest of the messages and the last one was from my daughter saying that she was alright. I thanked God. Unbelieveably, I was able to make contact with her by phone later that day. She spoke of how surreal everything was, of how she had walked many blocks to one of her friends so that she could stay there for the night. She didn’t want to be alone. She passed by dazed people and people lined up to give blood. And then there was the smell…
Our best friend’s daughter worked in building 7. We called them that afternoon. At the time they had not heard from her. Later we found out that she was alright but she has never been the same since. She has gone through a lot of therapy to help her deal with the trauma of that day. Yes, she saw the bodies tumbling to the ground. She along with many many others will never be able to erase these memories from their minds.
I teach piano. I continued with lessons that day. I didn’t know what else to do. It seemed to help to just try to act normal. The students came as usual, but everyone was quiet and we were all just going through the motions.
That night my grandmother died.
Today we remember those we lost on that black day. Tomorrow we can blame, tomorrow we can complain, but today let’s contemplate the loss.
God bless our troops and God be with our nation.
What I remember that day was going to work thinking it was such a beautiful day. I was working on printer (I work for Xerox) and someone in the printshop said a plane hit the World Trade Center. I though what a terrible accident, but when I heard that another plane hit the second tower I knew this was not a accident. When the first tower fell, I went home and packed my uniforms and reported to my N.Y. National Guard unit. We were activated for two week providing Commuication support to ground zero. About the only good thing that have through the whole experience is when I got released for duty, I asked my girlfriend Terry to marry me and we’ve been happily married for 9 year.
German View of Islam
This is by far the best explanation of the Muslim terrorist situation I have ever read. His references to past history are accurate and clear. Not long, easy to understand, and well worth the read. The author of this email is said to be Dr. Emanuel Tanay, a well-known and well-respected psychiatrist.
A German’s View on Islam
A man, whose family was German aristocracy prior to World War II, owned a number of large industries and estates. When asked how many German people were true Nazis, the answer he gave can guide our attitude toward fanaticism. ‘Very few people were true Nazis,’ he said, ‘but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come. My family lost everything. I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories.’
We are told again and again by network news ‘experts’ and ‘talking heads’ that Islam is the religion of peace and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace. Although this unqualified assertion may be true, it is entirely irrelevant. It is meaningless fluff, meant to make us feel better, and meant to somehow diminish the spectre of fanatics rampaging across the globe in the name of Islam.
The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history. It is the fanatics who march. It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars worldwide. It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave. It is the fanatics who bomb, behead, murder, or ‘honour-kill’. It is the fanatics who take over mosque after mosque. It is the fanatics who zealously spread the stoning and hanging of rape victims and homosexuals.. It is the fanatics who teach their young to kill and to become suicide bombers.
The hard, quantifiable fact is that the peaceful majority, the ‘silent majority,’ is cowed and extraneous.
Communist Russia was comprised of Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of about 20 million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant. China ‘s huge population was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed to kill a staggering 70 million people.
The average Japanese individual prior to World War II was not a warmongering sadist. Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across South East Asia in an orgy of killing that included the systematic murder of 12 million Chinese civilians; most killed by sword, shovel, and bayonet.
And who can forget Rwanda , which collapsed into butchery. Could it not be said that the majority of Rwandans were ‘peace loving’?
History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt, yet for all our powers of reason, we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points:
Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence.
Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don’t speak up, because like my friend from Germany , they will awaken one day and find that the fanatics own them, and the end of their world will have begun.
Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Serbs, Afghans, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, and many others have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late. As for us who watch it all unfold, we must pay attention to the only group that counts–the fanatics who threaten our way of life.
Lastly, anyone who doubts that the issue is serious and just deletes this email without sending it on, is contributing to the passiveness that allows the problems to expand. So, extend yourself a bit and send this on and on and on! Let us hope that thousands, world-wide, read this and think about it, and send it on.
Emanuel Tanay, M.D. 2980 Provincial St. Ann Arbor , MI 48104 734-
Jeffrey, thank you for sharing this article, but Dr. Emanuel Tanay is not the author. On his Facebook page, Dr. Tanay writes:
“I did not write the article attributed to me on Islam. I am not German but a Holocaust survivor from Poland. My name was attached for reasons best known to the person who did. I have received hundreds of telephone calls and many more e-mails. Some were threatening. Obviously, I am aware of the danger of fanaticism. My book Passport to Life (available on Amazon.com) gives my reflections on the subject of fanaticism.
The author of the article you are referring to was Paul E. Marek of Saskatoon, Canada. The original Title was Why The Peaceful Majority Is Irrelevant. Please remove the erroneous new title and my address.”
He also links to the original article by Paul E. Marek:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/6996
President Barak Hussein Obama Volunteers at Soup Kitchen to Commemorate 9/11…
http://www.breitbart.tv/obama-volunteers-at-soup-kitchen-to-commemorate-911/
I know you will represent us well Tammy. Say a prayer on our behalf. I find it ironic that prayer is banned and yet I know that day God heard from most of us, even those who professed unbelief.
We will not forget.t
I’m finding comfort in all the TAM comments. Thanks Rob_W. And thanks to Ginger for sharing your thoughts. Bri, enjoy your son! 🙂
Flaggman’s comments about Liberal “thinking” (and I use the term loosely) reminded me of an incident that happened on Sept 18, 2001, a profound experience that transformed me from a not-too-interested-in-politics citizen to a Mama Grizzly, kick-a– Conservative:
In September, 2001, I was finishing up my coursework at the New York University Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis. I was taking a seminar that term, every Tuesday evening, at the Manhattan apartment of a well-known analyst, about two miles from Ground Zero. Of course, the seminar was canceled on Tuesday, 9/11, since Manhattan was in lock-down mode — no subway, bridges and tunnels closed. I was looking forward to the next week, when we could all meet and talk about our thoughts and feelings about what had happened. The analyst opened up the discussion by commenting that obviously, we had all been through a great deal the past week, and we needed to “process” what had happened to us. But, to my shock and horror, someone began with the suggestion that “we needed to look within ourselves as Americans, to honestly ask ourselves what we had done to anger the Muslims and cause this to happen.” Everyone nodded in agreement! Then came the buzzwords: America is an “imperialist” nation, we are “neo-colonialists,” “aggressors,” “we have always meddled into the affairs of other countries” ad nauseum. I was so angry that I decided not to respond. Well, *that* lasted about ten minutes, and I burst out with, “Doesn’t anyone know what happened last week, two miles from here? People jumped from the towers, and you blame America?” The rest of the two hour session was a blur, but I do remember being called, for the first time in my life, a “racist,” for the “disrepectful way” I was talking about Muslims. When the class ended, I walked to my car, sat down, and I cried, for the first time since the planes hit the WTC. I cried for all the pain, the families posting pictures of the missing, the horror of it all. And I remembered my parents, who were no longer alive, and how much they loved America. And I remember how upset they were with the radical Left, during the Vietnam War. I had tried to discuss this with my father, but he insisted that the anti-war movement was really about “hating America.” I remember that he once told me, “The Left is infecting a new generation of college students. One day, this will come back to haunt the country.” And, sitting in the car, two miles from GZ, sobbing, I finally understood what he meant.
*That* was the day of my political awakening.
Thank you, Shifra. I wish we could all give you a big TAM hug right now.
Wow, Shifra! This post is remarkable! It truly encapsulates the most important problem facing our nation and world! It is surreal how human beings can be indoctrinated with misinformation to such a degree as history has shown us again and again. I guess the Tammy Army will have to save the clueless people of our society whether they want us to or not:) Thank you!
Wow. That is a very moving story and really touches my heart.
Rick
Thanks for bravely sharing that awakening with us Shifra.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-A2EpohXxY .. in memory
The memorial of victims of 9/11 shows our strength & resolve. You can attempt to bring America down – to no avail; our great spirit as a people & nation will ultimately defeat evil & terror always.
Thank you Tammy for being there.
I won’t bore any of you with my ruminations from West Kentucky. I just want you to know that 9/11/01 changed me permanently. I have a hard time holding anything against anyone that they did before that date, given that I know how much I changed. I voted Democrat a lot before then. I don’t any more. PERIOD.
God Bless you, God Bless America and may He continue to shed His grace on Thee.
Awesome National Anthem today at the Chicago Bears- Atlanta Falcons game in Chicago!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLvJrTwkNlk
I was a police officer on Tuesday, 9/11/2001. I worked for a county in Maryland that borders Washington, DC and it happened to be one of my days off. I was looking forward to getting some things done around the house I’d neglected for weeks.
My boyfriend at the time called (he’s my husband now and he was also a police officer) and started yelling at me to turn on the tv. I saw the first tower burning and shortly afterward, while watching it live, I saw the second plane hit. I was gobsmacked! It was all so surreal – nobody knowing what was really going on – merely speculation from the news media in those first minutes. Then news came that the Pentagon was hit. I knew then we were under attack.
The first thing I did was hit my knees and said a prayer for our country, for the victims and for the police/fire/emt’s in New York and VA. I then said another prayer for President Bush – thanking G-d that Bush was our president and not Al Gore. Of all the frantic thoughts running through my head, I don’t know why but that thought really stuck with me for the rest of the day. As Tammy would say “Dear sweet baby Jesus!” could you imagine if Al Gore had been our president? I shuddered then and I shudder now at the thought!
I knew I would be getting a phone call to report to work. At the time I was working undercover in a narcotics unit (oh, the stories I could tell!), but I knew this was no time for wearing plain clothes. So as I continued to watch the news coverage, I dug out my uniform, polished it up and got my gear together. Sure enough, within the hour I received a call from my Sergeant. I was to report to work in uniform. He didn’t know how long we’d be there. He said people were being deployed to the areas near the federal government buildings in our jurisdiction and that the rest of us would be standing by to take care of business if something happened. Turns out I didn’t see my house again for another 36 hours. Fortunately nothing else happened but it certainly changed my life and the way I look at things forever.
Today I sat with my husband and watched the National Geographic special interview with George W. Bush that I’d recorded. Hearing him speak about his reactions to that day was comforting in a way. It confirmed one of my initial thoughts after the attacks of thank goodness he is our president – he had the right attitude, demeanor, etc. – he was a true leader.
Instead of talking about what happened 10 yrs ago, my husband and I talked (with grateful hearts) about all the wonderful things that have happened since. We got married, bought a house, and we had our first and only child a few years later – a son we named Nicholas. He just started first grade and we made the decision to tell him as little as possible about what really happened on 9/11/2001.
Good grief – on his first day of school there was an earthquake (and in Maryland of all places!) and by the end of the week we were dealing with a hurricane that knocked out power (and closed schools) for days. We thought that 2 extreme and rare acts of mother nature in one week was all his 6-year old mind & heart could handle!
Instead of telling our son outright about the significance of 9/11, we took a different, more obscure route. We told him that the reason he was asked to wear red, white & blue to school on Friday and the reason for the moment of silence they would be observing was because we were celebrating Patriots Day this weekend(technically, that’s what it’s called so I didn’t lie, right?). I told him it was kind of like the 4th of July, but instead of celebrating HOW America became a country 200 + years ago, that on Patriot Day we celebrated all the wonderful PEOPLE that help to keep our country great and safe and free. It seemed to satisfy his curiosity and considering I was totally winging it (yikes!) I was relieved.
I only pray I’m not being unfair to him by wanting to do whatever I can to have him maintain his ‘innocence’ for as long as possible and just be a kid! It’s bad enough that there were thousands of kids of the victims of 9/11 whose innocence was shattered on that day. God willing, my son will have decades and decades of living to know about all that happened on 9/11.
Call me crazy, but for now I just want his biggest worry to be the decision over whether he wants to be Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader for Halloween. 🙂
Wow, such moving stories. I certainly wasn’t in New York, DC, or Pennsylvania that day, but I was in the city that was the original destination for one of the flights – Los Angeles, CA. At the time I lived in El Segundo, CA, just a stone’s throw from Los Angeles International Airport. I’d just come home two days prior from a church retreat near San Diego, and had been up late the night before, from a dinner meeting. My room was a mess, I couldn’t find my alarm clock, don’t know if I had a cell phone, wasn’t wearing a watch. So I went to the one place I knew would have the current time – the morning news shows.
To use a phrase I’m not sure existed at the time – “oh snap”…
First I thought they were talking about what happened in 1993. Then I thought it was a movie preview, odd for a Tuesday. Then I noticed it was on every channel…and the channels that didn’t carry it, had suspended their programming because of it.
I sat in shock, then in anger…it took my roommate of the time to calm me down. I worked at a nearby church at the time, and KNEW we were going to be busy…so I got dressed and left for the 4 mile trek. The first thing I noticed – as some have already mentioned – was the absence of airplane noise. I could regularly hear it when i lived there.
The second thing I noticed, the McDonald’s down the street had a huge flag. Always did, still does. It was already at half staff. Had to pull over, was crying so much I couldn’t see. Passed by a Post Office whose flag was still at full. Pulled into the P.O. and asked the clerk if they could lower it. No questions asked, they did. (I wasn’t even really politically active back then…the “mediachristian” you see on Chat and the Twitters didn’t exist then. But I digress.)
We had services, were open for prayer, had firefighters and folks in our congregation able to go to GZ for ministry and assistance to the New Yorkers…there were still flags up from Labor Day…every time I saw one, cried. Multiple sports stations would play the anthem at 6a, 12n, and 5pm. Cried. Our church put together a video with Sandi Patti’s Anthem as a soundtrack. Cried. Typing this now…crying. I thought today, so this is how folks probably feel who were around for Pearl Harbor…
I’ve never been to Pennsylvania, New York, or D.C. (though I hope to go on January 20 2013 for a much happier occasion)…but I have the feeling that if I go, I’ll need a box or two of Kleenex. Blessings to our friend Tammy, her friend Johnnydontlike, and to all who have much closer ties to today than I ever will. Thank you for letting me share.
Reading TAMs’ personal remembrances chillingly retold of the horrific events of 9.11.01, brought back to mind my eery drive on I-95 South that day from my son’s home in Fairfax county to my home 45 miles south on what can only be described as a nearly “abandoned” Intertate highway system normally crowded with bumper to bumper traffic. I’d driven up early that morning to sit with my pre-school grandsons while my daughter-in-law was to accompany her mother to an elective surgical procedure (which of course was canceled). Both Towers had already been hit by the time I arrived; the Pentagon and Shanksville hit soon after. My husband at that time commuted by train to his office in Crystal City, VA about 1 mile away from the Pentagon where he felt a slight impact of the crash of Flight 77 (he learned later). We were all glued to the TV not believing our eyes, agonized over all the devastation and loss of life, and not knowing what to do next. The trains finally resumed scheduled service later that afternoon and I drove home to meet my husband there. While we didn’t suffer a personal loss as so many thousands did, we all loss our sense of security and struggled to answer very difficult questions from our children and grandchildren. Most Americans discovered a renewed love of coutry, and an appreciation of first responders’ selfless heroic deeds. May we NEVER FORGET !!
I was working my current job in network radio engineering for and when I got off the Subway my pager went off (it was set to do so if there was breaking news) and the headline said “small plane hits WTC, smoke visible for miles”. I started running the three blocks to my job, noticing the increase in sirens. As I walked in the front door the second plane had just hit, and I thought what I saw on the lobby TV was a replay of a plane going through one building and into the other. At that moment I saw a co-worker come from the newsroom and I asked him what happened, and he held up two fingers (indicating two planes). That’s when I knew it wasn’t an accident.
There are three or four days in my life where I can recall every second of what I did that day like it happened yesterday. 9/11/01 is one of those days, yet it also seems like a blur. I spent most of the day on an adrenaline rush, trying to do my job working as a conduit between the news department and local affiliates in need of answers and looking for coverage. I think I may have handled 250 calls in one day.
Things finally quieted down after President Bush’s statement that evening. No one had eaten (both out of time constraints and just feeling sick) so we went in search of something to eat (and drink). That was when the reality of what was going on hit me. Broadway was closed and dark on a Tuesday evening. Armed National Guard personnel could be seen at buildings of significance. Barriers blocked entry to parking garages. This was the sort of this you were used to seeing on TV in footage from the Middle East – not in the heart of New York City.
I worked for 25 straight hours. I tried to get some sleep but could not. Almost instantaneous nightmares kept waking me. I finally gave in and strolled into the newsroom asking if there was anything I could do and was placed on coffee and phone duty.
The next morning around 10AM it was announced that some trains were leaving NYC at Penn Station. I’d never taken the train but needed to be home with my wife. I left the first chance I could get and the NJ Transit personnel were piling people trying to get home on to trains at no charge. I remember looking out the window and seeing the smoke rise from lower Manhattan and NOT seeing the Twin Towers. I FINALLY got home three hours later (numerous security checks held up the ride) and collapsing into a sleep. It seemed like it went by in a blur but also in slow motion.
It was already late afternoon in Copenhagen. Some friends and colleagues were heading to my apartment for our first meeting as we were going to begin work organizing a small music festival down town for next July. We had done so 2 years in a row, and thought it would be smart to get out ahead early with the planning this time around. My then wife, Naja had her good friend from college over. Her friend, Pernille, got the message that something terrible had happened, and to turn on the TV. We were all shocked to say the least. Then slowly we all started to figure out the obvious. That many people have already died, and that many people must still be trapped.
Soon after that, my door buzzer started ringing with guests. It was the strangest thing to run downstairs and greet people, telling them that the meeting was canceled but maybe they would like to come up anyway and see the news. I was pretty vague with my description of events. I just more or less told people to come up and take a look for yourself. By the 3rd guest, some time enough had passed that things started to set in for me. It was my friend Nicholas at the door. I started rambling uncontrollably. They did it! We got hit! So many people are dead! I just totally lost it. I also remember this well, because my good friend was a total lefty, and at the time I remember thinking how he must of course feel bad for me and my country, but would internally pity us all because we some how brought it on ourselves. Or that he might feel a tiny sense of gratitude that those evil capitalists finally got theirs. But I was merely projecting that on him. Lots of people over hear tend to think that Bush, 9/11, and Iraq was the reason why the US was either hated or criticized so much. But I know from personal experience, that the hatred was alive an well long before Bush and 9/11.
By the time we turned on the TV, the first tower had already fallen, but there was so much ash that you couldn’t see for sure. We were staring trying to make out if both towers where still standing. It wasnt long after we could see that the first tower was not standing, when we saw the second tower fall in real time. We all sat and watched for another hour, then decided that we should all just go home for now and try to get to that other reason for the meeting some weeks later. It never happened.
At the time, I was also way behind on booking a tour for a local jazz trio that was due to begin in late October. But for the next 2 weeks, all i could do was watch the news and be depressed. There was no spark left. How could I just pick up the phone and try to pitch something after what had just happened. 9/11 was a big trigger for a seemingly inevitable dark time in my life. It did in fact wound me, as I am sure it did all of us.
I spent some good time yesterday streaming the foxnews ground zero memorial. I am so glad that they were able to read the names. I tried to watch and listen to all of them. I want to do this every year if I can. It felt good to share that time with the families. I am glad that some were able to say small prayers. I am glad that one man was courageous enough to say that this was not a natural disaster! This was the result of radical Islam. He then said, “Look at all of this security!! Look how we all have to live now!”
My ex and I spent 3 months in White Plains, NY during the summer of 99. I still cherish the photo of the twin towers from the view of the Empire State building, and the pic of my lovely ex standing between the towers looking down at me smiling while I laid on the ground shooting upward. What an awesome picture! What a great memory.
very good Twolegs…completely agree. Action movies and sports during our formative years really do make a difference. That’s why it saddens me so much to see the decline of emphasis on character and integrity in both.