How 9/11 Made Us Stupid...by Tomas Friedman...

Not long ago, the satirical newspaper The Onion ran a fake news story that began like this:
"At a well-attended rally in front of his new ground zero headquarters Monday, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani officially announced his plan to run for president of 9/11. 'My fellow citizens of 9/11, today I will make you a promise,' said Giuliani during his 18-minute announcement speech in front of a charred and torn American flag. 'As president of 9/11, I will usher in a bold new 9/11 for all.' If elected, Giuliani would inherit the duties of current 9/11 President George W. Bush, including making grim facial expressions, seeing the world's conflicts in terms of good and evil, and carrying a bullhorn at all state functions."

Like all good satire, the story made me both laugh and cry, because it reflected something so true — how much, since 9/11, we've become "The United States of Fighting Terrorism." Times columnists are not allowed to endorse candidates, but there's no rule against saying who will not get my vote: I will not vote for any candidate running on 9/11. We don't need another president of 9/11. We need a president for 9/12. I will only vote for the 9/12 candidate.

What does that mean? This: 9/11 has made us stupid. I honor, and weep for, all those murdered on that day. But our reaction to 9/11 — mine included — has knocked America completely out of balance, and it is time to get things right again.

It is not that I thought we had new enemies that day and now I don't. Yes, in the wake of 9/11, we need new precautions, new barriers. But we also need our old habits and sense of openness. For me, the candidate of 9/12 is the one who will not only understand who our enemies are, but who we are.

Before 9/11, the world thought America's slogan was: "Where anything is possible for anybody." But that is not our global brand anymore. Our government has been exporting fear, not hope: "Give me your tired, your poor and your fingerprints."

You may think Guantánamo Bay is a prison camp in Cuba for Al Qaeda terrorists. A lot of the world thinks it's a place we send visitors who don't give the right answers at immigration. I will not vote for any candidate who is not committed to dismantling Guantánamo Bay and replacing it with a free field hospital for poor Cubans. Guantánamo Bay is the anti-Statue of Liberty.
Roger Dow, president of the Travel Industry Association, told me that the United States has lost millions of overseas visitors since 9/11 — even though the dollar is weak and America is on sale.
"Only the U.S. is losing traveler volume among major countries, which is unheard of in today's world," Mr. Dow said.

Total business arrivals to the United States fell by 10 percent over the 2004-5 period alone, while the number of business visitors to Europe grew by 8 percent in that time. The travel industry's recent Discover America Partnership study concluded that "the U.S. entry process has created a climate of fear and frustration that is turning away foreign business and leisure travelers and hurting America's image abroad." Those who don't visit us, don't know us.

I'd love to see us salvage something decent in Iraq that might help tilt the Middle East onto a more progressive pathway. That was and is necessary to improve our security. But sometimes the necessary is impossible — and we just can't keep chasing that rainbow this way.

Look at our infrastructure. It's not just the bridge that fell in my hometown, Minneapolis. Fly from Zurich's ultramodern airport to La Guardia's dump. It is like flying from the Jetsons to the Flintstones. I still can't get uninterrupted cellphone service between my home in Bethesda and my office in D.C. But I recently bought a pocket cellphone at the Beijing airport and immediately called my wife in Bethesda — crystal clear.

I just attended the China clean car conference, where Chinese automakers were boasting that their 2008 cars will meet "Euro 4" — European Union — emissions standards. We used to be the gold standard. We aren't anymore. Last July, Microsoft, fed up with American restrictions on importing brain talent, opened its newest software development center in Vancouver. That's in Canada, folks. If Disney World can remain an open, welcoming place, with increased but invisible security, why can't America?

We can't afford to keep being this stupid! We have got to get our groove back. We need a president who will unite us around a common purpose, not a common enemy. Al Qaeda is about 9/11. We are about 9/12, we are about the Fourth of July — which is why I hope that anyone who runs on the 9/11 platform gets trounced.

New Navy Ship Built With WTC Steel

Why is this the first time I am hearing about this? Oh Yeah, because Paris and Lindsay are the more important news. Sorry I forgot where I was for a moment.

New Navy Ship Built With WTC Steel

NEW YORK - With a year to go before it even touches the water, the Navy's amphibious assault ship USS New York has already made history - twice. It was built with 24 tons of scrap steel from the World Trade Center, and it survived Hurricane Katrina.
That combination of disasters gives the ship a unique standing among the 500 or so Avondale, La., shipyard workers building it, said Tony Quaglino, a crane superintendent who postponed retirement to have a hand in the New York's construction.

"I think Katrina made us more aware of the tragedy in New York," said the 66-year-old Quaglino. "One was manmade, one was natural, but they're both a common bond."

USS New York is about 45 percent complete and should be ready for launch in mid-2007. Katrina disrupted construction when it pounded the Gulf Coast last summer, but the 684-foot vessel escaped serious damage, and workers were back at the yard near New Orleans two weeks after the storm.

The ship was an impetus for many of the yard's thousands of workers to return to the job, even though hundreds lost their homes, Quaglino and others said.

Northrop Grumman employed 6,500 at Avondale before Katrina. Today, roughly 5,500 are back on the job, working on the New York and three other vessels. More than 200 employees who lost their homes to Katrina are living at the shipyard, some on a Navy barge and others in bunk-style housing.

"Their dedication and devotion to duty has been, to say the least, epic," Philip Teel, a vice president for Northrop Grumman Corp. and head of its ship systems division, told a Navy League dinner audience in New York on March 22.

"It sounds trite, but I saw it in their eyes," Teel said in a separate interview. "These are very patriotic people, and the fact that the ship has steel from the trade center is a source of great pride. They view it as something incredibly special. They're building it for the nation."

USS New York is the fifth in a new class of warship - designed for missions that include special operations against terrorists. It will carry a crew of 360 sailors and 700 combat-ready Marines to be delivered ashore by helicopters and assault craft.

"It would be fitting if the first mission this ship would go on is to make sure that bin Laden is taken out, his terrorist organization is taken out," said Glenn Clement, a paint foreman. "He came in through the back door and knocked our towers down and (the New York) is coming right through the front door, and we want them to know that."

When terrorists crashed two jetliners into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, destroying the twin towers and killing nearly 2,800 people, the $700 million ship was already on the drawing board but had not been assigned a name.

Months later, New York Gov. George Pataki asked the Navy to commemorate the disaster by reviving the name New York for a ship whose role would include fighting terrorism. That required an exception to Navy policy of assigning state names only to nuclear submarines, as they had been to battleships in earlier era.

Then-Navy Secretary Gordon England, in announcing the decision, said the New York would "project American power to the far corners of the Earth and support the cause of freedom well into the 21st century." Its motto is "Never Forget," a slogan among New Yorkers since Sept. 11.

Steel from the World Trade Center was melted down in a foundry in Amite, La., to cast the ship's bow section. When it was poured into the molds on Sept. 9, 2003, "those big rough steelworkers treated it with total reverence," recalled Navy Capt. Kevin Wensing, who was there. "It was a spiritual moment for everybody there."

Junior Chavers, foundry operations manager, said that when the trade center steel first arrived, he touched it with his hand and the "hair on my neck stood up."

"It had a big meaning to it for all of us," he said. "They knocked us down. They can't keep us down. We're going to be back."

The next big event came on March 14, when shipyard cranes lifted that bow section and guided it into place with the rest of the hull.

Later ships in the class will include USS Arlington, the location of the Pentagon, also struck by a hijacked jetliner on Sept. 11, and USS Somerset, named for the Pennsylvania county where United Flight 93 crashed after its passengers fought off hijackers apparently planning to attack another Washington target.

The New York revives a name borne by at least seven previous ships - most recently the nuclear submarine SSN New York City, retired in 1997 after 18 years service.

Target Store Denies Asking Marines to Leave

Two Marines say they were kicked out of a Target store in Virginia by a shift
manager who they say falsely accused the uniform-wearing pair of recruiting,
according to an area newspaper.

The store's manager denies the account, according to The Virginian-Pilot. Brian Sherman, who manages the Chesapeake South store, says he was not present when the incident allegedly took place but, "They were not asked to leave, in fact they walked around the store and continued to shop."

But 22-year-old Cpl. Carlos Rodriguez says he was talking to a high school friend who works in the store "when this guy comes out of nowhere.
He was the shift manager, or something, and the first thing he started saying was, 'You guys are recruiters, right?' "Rodriguez, who returned from his
second tour in Iraq in October, says the man complained that the Marines were
soliciting employees who were on company time.

"I didn't want to make a scene," Rodriguez told the paper. "We were representing Marines anyway just by wearing the uniform, so I kept my mouth shut."

Neither Rodriquez nor the other Marine work as recruiters, according to a Marine Corps official based in Norfolk. Both were wearing dress forms.

Sherman told the paper that he has not yet spoken to the assistant manager who was on duty at the time, but that no formal complaint has been filed. He also said that Target has a no-solicitation policy, which applies to groups like the Salvation Army.

What is this country coming to? Our service men and women cannot go shopping and talk to an old friend without being accosted by anti-military scum. This was uncalled for and un-American. When will people respect our military? Regardless if you agree with what conflict they are ordered to participate in, they should be respected for the fact that they are willing to stand up for our country and put their life on the line. Because of their volunteerism, others who cannot or will not serve their country do not have to. Be thankful there are such brave men and women out there instead of judge, berate and harass them.

I pray that one day we will live in a society that appreciates its military and the sacrifices they make on our behalves. I hope that day comes soon.

Where are our priorities?

Where are our priorities?
April 2, 2007
Shannon S. Anicas

Today while I was searching the Akron Beacon Journal for stories that are related to my current work field, I came across a rather disturbing story. It is titled “Veterans Living on the streets worsens” and is a candid look at the fact that with the weather warming up temporary housing for homeless veterans is being packed up (in this case worn out tents in the San Diego area) and these veterans are now back to living on the curb literally.

According to the article “the Department of Veterans Affairs estimates about 195,000 veterans are homeless on a typical night.” What?!?! And that is only an estimate. The downfall of being homeless is you don’t have a mailing address so they can send surveys to you to see if you are homeless. (Notice my sarcasm here?)

My husband and I are veterans, my father is a veteran, and my uncle and grandfather are veterans as well. You can’t throw a stone in my family or my husband’s family without hitting a person who has served their country in some capacity in the last 100 years. We are proud of that. We are far from proud at this travesty of enormous proportions.

With the recent scandals at the VA Hospital I hope some light gets shone down on the way vets are treated in other aspect of their post service capacities. Whether you approve of the conflict a veteran served in you can not blame them and ultimately treat them as they were yesterday’s trash.

How is it we dedicate hours of new on celebrity stints in rehab in our nightly news yet we have men and women who fought for our right to watch such drivel living in homeless shelters and cardboard boxes on 5th avenue?

This isn’t a new problem either. These veterans are from not only the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, but from Vietnam and even the Korean Wars. How is it that it is ok for these people (yes they are people not bums sifting through your trash) to sacrifice their lives but yet it isn’t ok for them to be treated like human beings by not only ourselves but our government as well?

It is like they have become the gum on the bottom of the shoe of society. They were good when they were new and not so much now that they are wore out and lost their flavor.

When will we learn to respect and appreciate the men and women of the military? I hope soon.