May God give rest and peace to the souls of those killed on that horrible day, and may God bless those whose lives have been forever changed. We’ve been through a lot in the past 11 years, and I don’t think any other nation could have survived it. While there are problems with the cost of the memorial at Ground Zero, and we’re still waiting for the Freedom Tower to be finished, we have come a long way.
Here are some of the news stories covering the current status of Ground Zero. Please use this thread as your News Lounge for the day. Let’s see if Obama can actually keep himself from trying to use this day for political gain.
Both campaigns eschew politics on 9/11 anniversary
Americans prepare to mark 11th anniversary of 9/11 attacks
Deal on Sept. 11 Museum Is Reached, N.Y.’s Cuomo Says
One World Trade Center rises at terror’s void at Ground Zero
Atheists continue battle against World Trade Center cross at memorial
I was driving home on the Triborough Bridge last night, and I saw two beams of light shooting up at the sky, from the direction of lower Manhattan. I was filled with a terrible sadness that I cannot shake this morning. RIP, all the victims of that day, and prayers to all the families.
Will it ever get better Shifra? The sadness is still so incredible. Each year I think next year will be better, easier, more tolerable, but then the sadness comes and overwhelms and I can’t move on. I hear the names, and see those left behind and think of what might have been. I shall never forget.
hello no ..it NEVER gets any easier…we’ve gotta stay angry & NEVER forget what those scum did do us.
Today is a beautiful day – blue sky, perfect temperature; a day so much like the one 11 years ago. I agree that we will never get over the tremendous sadness this anniversary brings and that’s okay, we shouldn’t. We lost over 3,000 people to the beast of Islamic Jihadists and their insane view of life – we will never forget nor forgive the atrocities upon innocent Americans on September 11, 2001.
This is the first year that I didn’t watch any of the news specials or documentaries that air in the days leading up to Sept. 11.
And, aside from passing by the TVs around my office, I haven’t seen any of the coverage this morning either.
Even though 11 years have passed, I simply don’t need these things to remind me of how I felt or what it has meant for this great nation each day since.
God bless those who lost their lives and their loved ones left behind. Praying for us all today.
-sm
Thank you, Patricia, for saying what even the Republican political messages I’ve seen today have not said.
Americans did not “die” “tragically” on September 11th. Islamists savagely murdered 3,000 civilized people in one morning for being civilized and non-Muslim. Normally, that would be called genocide. This day is not an isolated day in history but a pivotal chapter in the Islamists’ war against America, the modern chapter of which started in 1979.
We can never “forget the lessons” of September 11th if we never learned them in the first place. The political philosophy of Islamism is real and we’ve seen it take over Egypt and these other “Arab spring” countries this year. Islamists play in manipulation, double-speak, and propaganda that looks mainstream (e.g. Iranian ambassadors to the U.N., calls for peace from “all forms of terror”, Al-Jazeera). Islamism is enabled by left-wing policies of negotiations with savages, maintenance of non-existent borders, and tolerance for debasement of women and minorities in the name of multiculturalism (see Brigitte Gabriel’s account of Lebanon in Because They Hate for more).
That being said, we will not win this fight by endless occupation and nation-building of destitute countries but by loudly and clearly identifying the enemy before killing him.
On a more positive note, I’m still very giddy Osama bin Laden is dead.
Three things fill me with dread every time I recall them: 1) 9/11/2001, may the memories of those murdered be blessed forever; 2) John McCain emerging from his suspended campaign without a clue and in full agreement with Bush and Obama; and 3) Election night 2008, especially thinking about the cult rally in Grant Park. The dread only gets stronger as the years go by. I guess it’s why I’ve become more religious in the past 11 years. If there wasn’t at least the hope that evil will one day be wiped away from the earth, and the hope that there may be true justice in the next life, I don’t know how I’d process any of this without going nutty.
Beyond comprehension. Praying too.
It was a sad day for our hometown boy Mark Morabito who lost his wife Laura Lee on American Flight 11 the first plane to hit tower 1.We remember her, and Mark and his family, as well as all the victims and families that day and every day.May God bless us all and protect us from further heartaches.
I was working on a cardiac unit that night after we had been warned that we may get transfers from NY as they feared massive casualties. Still in shock about what happened, I saw a glimpse of a TV in a pt room and a picture of Barbara Olsen flashed on screen. I couldnt hear but I instinctively knew that she was dead. I burst out crying because I had respected her so much. A good friend travelled down to Ground Zero as a nurse to help and to this day she cant talk about it.
The first part of my engineering career went to develop weapons systems for our military to use in our common defense. On 9/11 I was working, in my consulting business, on a new radio to replace something the Navy had from the 70’s. Watching the planes hit, the people jumping, the towers falling all evoked many emotions… mostly feral. Later, when the US Theodore Roosevelt left Norfolk for the Gulf, their ‘radio’ (an old one) broke and the first prototype of my new one was put in a case and sent to the “Teddy” while it was enroute. I am happy I had a minor minor part in helping Navy pilots bomb the hell out someone. It makes me smile 11 years later 🙂
I don’t have a romantic notion about the innate nobility of man and how ‘they’ would not have attacked had we only…yadda, yadda, yadda. No, Virginia, there are evil people in the world, many of whom are beyond redemption. So I support our troops in their task of keeping us safe.
9/11 was a pivotal moment in our history. Military Scientists talk about ‘Asymmetric Warfare’. It is simpler than that for me. It is good versus evil.
N9ZF
WOW what a great picture of those two beautiful buildings we lost & all the helpless souls inside..my eyes welled up with tears immediately when i saw that…wow
Doesn’t make sense to send money borrowed from China to the mid east for fossil fuel.
If there is a reason I believe we have a right to hear it.
When I hear “September 11…Never Forget,” or similar things, I can’t help but think of hearing similar things about the Holocaust…”Never Forget”! And yet, we’re slowly forgetting the Holocaust, aren’t we? The Holocaust is slowly, but surely, fading out of living memory, and as we move further away from that time period, we are seeing more and more of those who deny the Holocaust EVEN HAPPENED. My take on it is it’s partially because history is no longer really taught. They instead teach students how to FEEL good about themselves, they teach navel-gazing, and whatever else happens to be politically correct at the moment.
Even now, there are people, e.g. Rosie O’Donnell, who seriously think Sept. 11 was a government conspiracy, or, as Ron Paul put it, a bunch of “lone wolves.”
I predict that although WE will never forget, our children might, and our grandchildren almost DEFINITELY will.
Interesting juxtaposition of today’s headlines. Violent attacks against American embassies in Egypt and Libya; meanwhile Obama’s expression of disapproval is directed towards…Israel.