September 22, 2001 

Recycled LinkThe government believes Flight 77 had the Pentagon as its primary target, not the White House or the Capitol. The sudden u-turn may have been a simple attempt to drop altitude before the crash. Link from GITM.

Meanwhile, more evidence comes out about the heroic actions of the pasengers of Flight 93W

 September 20, 2001 

Into History's Unmarked Grave of Discarded Lies...

Bravo, Mr. President, bravo - both for what you said and the way you said it.

Tonight, President Bush delivered our generation’s equivalent of the Monroe Doctrine. As President Monroe once told Europe that our hemisphere was off-limits to colonization, George W. Bush tonight told the world’s community that our entire globe is off-limits to terror. Speaking with a determined edge, he promised that we would either bring our enemies to justice, or if necessary, bring justice to our enemies. He delivered notice to the community of nations that they must choose to embrace either civilization and freedom, or terror and tyranny.

President Bush told the world that "we condemn the Taliban regime," and he detailed the many ways in which the Taliban oppresses its people. He listed several demands, which he surely knows they cannot and will not meet – demands which "are not open to discussion or debate." If the Taliban fails to meet these demands related to the terrorists, it will "share their fate."

Besides promising justice, this president reached out, with genuine compassion towards those affected by the tragedy. When he promised to carry as a reminder the badge of fallen police officer George Howard, his voice choked with emotion that was not calculated or contrived. The President spoke not only of those victims from America, but pointedly those from other nations, including Pakistan, Israel, and India. He asked for the help of all nations in rooting out the evil we now confront, saying, "This is civilization's fight."

President Bush gave America an honest assessment of what lies ahead. This will be a long fight, with everything from battles witnessed by the world to covert actions which would be secret even in success. He asked us for both our courage and our patience; and warned that we may suffer setbacks and even casualties along the way, but ultimately, he promised, victory is inevitable.

As our President entered the chamber before his speech, the whole assembly rose in its greeting ovation. Before he left, he had earned that ovation. For the first time, standing before a nation firmly united, President Bush seems ready to lead us down a hard but inevitable road. W

Today's Washington Times reported a pilot's announcement to his passengers before take-off a few days ago:

Public affairs consultant and former Reagan adviser Peter Hannaford, writes about a September 15 flight from Denver to Washington, D.C. Here's what the pilot of the plane said to the passengers before the plane left the gates: "I want to thank you brave folks for coming out today. We don't have any new instructions from the federal government, so from now on, we're on our own. Sometimes a potential hijacker will announce that he has a bomb. There are no bombs on this aircraft and if someone were to get up and make that claim, don't believe him. If someone were to stand up, brandish something such as a plastic knife and say, 'This is a hijacking' or words to that effect, here is what you should do: Every one of you should stand up and immediately throw things at that person -- pillows, books, magazines, eyeglasses, shoes -- anything that will throw him off balance and distract his attention."
"If he has a confederate or two, do the same with them. Most important: get a blanket over him, then wrestle him to the floor and keep him there. We'll land the plane at the nearest airport and the authorities will take it from there. Remember, there will be one of him and maybe a few confederates, but there are 200 of you. Now, since we're a family for the next few hours, I'll ask you to turn to the person next to you, introduce yourself, tell them a little about yourself and ask them to do the same." Hannaford said the pilot received strong applause after the speech. (Washington Times, 9/20)

Link from Hotline Scoop, 9/20/01 W

 September 19, 2001 

So... did Clear Channel ban a bunch of songs from the radio? Not exactly. The last few days, checking one's e-mail has been an excercise in critical thinking that almost all of America has failed. W

So... did you all see the candle picture in the paper this morning?

Me neitherW

 September 18, 2001 

Actual CNN pollThis poll actually appeared on CNN's web page last week. I immediately clipped it but didn't have a chance to put it up until today.

Hey, how about an "All of the above" option? Or maybe a "Let's not trivialize this tragedy by pigeonholing our emotions for news media" option?

I can only guess that the editors were out to lunch on this one. W

 September 16, 2001 

During conversation, it occurred to me that, even though New York City was having an mayoral primary election, I have heard very few stories of people who were late for work at the World Trade Center because they were out voting.  W

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