Falwell: I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen'.Rev. Falwell's hate and cowardice.
originally posted by xowie
I have dropped my quarters in slots my daughter will never see, in buildings she will never enter, on observation decks that do not exist any longer, except in my mind. And I have listened as the timer counted down the time left before the viewfinder would fade to black. And I can imagine looking thru the viewfinder, and wondering why that plane looks so damned close. I can imagine looking uptown as the plane came closer, and closer, and seeing Harlem, and thinking, damn: I shoulda gone to Sylvia’s Soul Food. ‘Cause Harlem, far from being the bad part of town, was one of the safest places in New York yesterday. Even terrorists know which victims count the most in America. America, if you want safety, you’d best get your ass to the ‘hood. Get your boogie shoes to 123rd street. Move immediately into the Robert Taylor Homes, or Cabrini Green, or the lower 9th Ward in New Orleans. Do not pass go, let alone Wall Street. For there you are like sitting ducks.To My Baby Girl, On the Day After by Tim Wise.
originally posted by xowie
The idea that one could ever be prepared for such inhuman terror is absurd. However, viewed through the U.S. television networks, Tuesday's attack seemed to come less from another country than another planet. The events were reported not so much by journalists as by the new breed of brand-name celebrity anchors who have made countless cameos in TimeWarner movies about apocalyptic terrorist attacks on the United States -- now, incongruously reporting on the real thing. And for a bizarre split second on Tuesday night, CNN's graphic "America Under Attack" disappeared and in its place flashed another one that said "Fighting Fat" -- an eerie ghost graphic that yesterday passed as news. The United States is a country that believed itself not just at peace but war-proof, a self-perception that would come as quite a surprise to most Iraqis, Palestinians and Colombians. Like an amnesiac, the U.S. has woken up in the middle of a war, only to find out it has been going on for years.Awesome Naomi Klein.
originally posted by xowie
If we are provoked into war, it will involve none of the massive military campaigns of World War II. It will more resemble a cold war of antagonism always on the edge of hot war, with similar costs: titanic sums of money spent on security, civil liberties curbed, anxiety and paranoia displacing hope and trust, the life of the mind constricted and contorted, and vast opportunities for human betterment lost.Resisting the blind rush to war by Eugene Leach.
originally posted by xowie
liz: I urge each and every one of you to TURN OFF your television and your radio for JUST ONE DAY. Try it. A media moratorium. A cleansing of your system, if you will. A fast from "the facts." I did it today and I feel so much better, so much more full of love and peace and understanding and hope for myself and all of humanity. Our brains, like our bodies, can only handle so much stress and trauma. After the 10 millionth replay of the plane hitting the tower, I knew I was being manipulated in a most unpleasant way. A migraine ensued that has only now, after several hours of yoga and media fasting, gone away. Right now is the time to sleep, take your B vitamins, meditate, and move your body. Love thy neighbor. MASTURBATE. Do that loving-kindness thing for yourself and try to remember that you're alive, which means there are still opportunities for you to do some good.
originally posted by xowie
Of course, I'm smoking a pipe dream here, offering a strategy straight from LaLaLand. America will "retaliate," Americans will feel pretty darn good about it, and the president's approval ratings will shoot up higher than 110 stories. It all goes without saying, just like the reasons for terrorism go without saying -- meaning literally that the reasons can never be seriously discussed. The agony thousands of American families are going through this morning will be repeated -- first in an Arab nation, and then, soon, in America again. What goes around comes around. Again and again and again.Our friend Helen's now famous 9-11 essay. (left column)
originally posted by xowie
A hole in the world by Jonathan Schell
originally posted by xowie
As one who professes to pray to Jesus every morning in the oval office, I hope our President will heed the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount who said, "..it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth" ..."but I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you."An Eye for An Eye? by Tom Turnipseed.
originally posted by xowie
We who favor peace must create our own national dialogue before we can hope to influence the larger one.Alternet: Waging peace in a terrorist age & not everyone wants bloodshed.
originally posted by xowie
Et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis.
originally posted by xowie
Tuesday was International Peace day.
originally posted by xowie
This log is dedicated to presenting those graphics created to explain the terrorist act against the United States on Sept. 11, 2001.
We are calling on the political and military leadership of the United States and its allies to seek justice rather than revenge, and in doing so, break the horrible cycle of violence and suffering. During these difficult times, we call for tolerance and for people in the U.S. and around the world to stand firm against the persecution of innocent Arab and Muslim peoples. We vow to redouble our collective efforts towards social, racial, economic, and environmental justice, civil liberties for all, and nonviolent conflict resolution. Our hearts and thoughts are with the victims and their families. We join people around the world in praying for peace.Ruckus press release.
originally posted by xowie
originally posted by xowie
Dan Kennedy: The End of Decadence.
originally posted by xowie
The enthusiasm of many who planned to participate in the protests has suddenly evaporated. The willingness of the American public to even listen to the protesters' message has surely diminished. Impassioned arguments about the depredations of global capitalism sound, for the moment at least, moot.The DC anti-globalization movement is recovering too.
One Metropolitan Police Department detective put it even more bluntly. "Most of us are veterans," he said. "We're going to go [to the protest] and take care of business: kill, kill, kill."
originally posted by xowie
A co-worker said when he went in to wake up his 4-year-old daughter yesterday morning, she asked, "Did any more castles fall down?"Raise a flag, kick a ball - You never know what will help.
originally posted by xowie
Understanding Osama bin Laden - AlterNet:
The State Department has theorized that if the people of a rogue nation experience enough suffering, they will overthrow their rulers, or compel them to adopt more sensible behavior. The terrorist actions in New York and Washington are a clear and ironic implementation of this strategy against the United States. (…)
Above all, Americans need to remember that the rest of the world has an absolute right to self-determination that is as defensible as our own. A despicable act of terror such as that committed in New York and Washington is a measure of the revulsion that others feel at U.S. actions that seemingly limit those rights. If we perpetuate a cycle of hate and revenge, this conflict will escalate into a war that our great-grandchildren will be fighting.
The broadest goal today of progressives is one that transcends any ideology: we, all of us, as individuals, must become aware and participating citizens of the world, not just the U.S. We have to pay attention beyond our flimsy borders, and we must demand that the U.S. treat others as we would have them treat us. Because no matter who was behind the attacks, it’s certain that they felt they were treating us as we have treated others.
And in countless cases, that is correct. The same emotions of shock, terror, grief, rage, and powerlessness that many of us felt yesterday have been felt before by the ordinary people in Belgrade, Dili, Mogadishu, Baghdad, Panama City, Beirut, and many other places where the craters take the form of American footprints. They know the world is a small place. So must we all.
Resources for helping children deal with the 9-11 attacks:
Commentary: A Few Words from Ali Abunimah
originally posted by xowie
Tuesday did not offer a flattering exhibition of America's leaders. President Bush gave a timid and stilted initial reaction in Sarasota, Fla., then disappeared for an hour before resurfacing in at a base in Barksdale, La., where he gave another flaccid address with every appearance of being on tranquilizers.Alex. Cockburn and Harold Myerson.
No American president since FDR after Pearl Harbor had faced quite the kind of rhetorical challenge that W. confronted on Tuesday night; and if it seems a tad unfair to hold W. to the Roosevelt standard, well, nobody made this guy run for president, or forced him to steal the position when he couldn’t win it at the ballot box.
originally posted by xowie
It may seem presumptuous on my part, but I personally believe we need to think seriously whether a violent action is the right thing to do and in the greater interest of the nation and people in the long run. I believe violence will only increase the cycle of violence.The Dalai Lama's letter to the President of the United States of America.
originally posted by xowie
originally posted by xowie
At 8:59 a.m., before he had heard the news, David Jacobs, a Brooklyn resident and software architect, posted to the Web log randomWalks a New York Times interview with Bill Ayers, the former Weather Underground bomber who recently published a memoir, Fugitive Days. While the Twin Towers were being designed and built in 1972, Ayers was planting bombs in the Pentagon and the Capitol. ‘I don’t regret setting bombs,’ he told reporter Dinitia Smith in the interview, which ran, presciently, Tuesday morning. ‘I feel we didn’t do enough.’ Only a few minutes later, Jacobs did what the Times couldn’t: He explained the strange synchronicity. ‘It’s a complete coincidence that I posted about the weathermen moments before the WTC & Pentagon fires,’ he wrote on the site. ‘More soon.’Change in the Weather by our friend Judith Lewis. There's a lot more 9-11 in today's LAW.
originally posted by xowie
More weblog coverage: booknotes and kottke.org.