Project 2996: Remembering the lost of 9/11
posted at 8:46 am on September 11, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
Eight years ago today at this very moment, the first of four hijacked planes hit the World Trade Center, setting off a day of death and destruction and awakening America to the real threat of radical Islamist terrorism. The individual victims often get forgotten in the enormity of the loss of 2,996 men, women and children, and perhaps there’s a reason for that. The horror of each individual loss would likely overwhelm us if we thought about it all of the time, if we think about the deaths each of them endured, simply because they lived in America and murderous nutcases hated them for it.
On the eighth anniversary of 9/11, we need to remember each of the victims as people, and Project 2996 helps us do that. Bloggers will write memorials today for each of the people lost on that terrible day. I have the honor of remembering Cesar Garcia, 36 years old, who worked for Marsh & McLennan on the 96th floor of North Tower, WTC 1. In fact, Cesar worked in the impact zone, where American Flight 11 hit the North Tower, and Cesar may have been one of the first tower casualties in a bloody day. Marsh & McLennan lost 295 people that day, second only to Cantor Fitzgerald, which lost 658 employees.
We know Cesar as a victim, but not much about him in life. Cesar was only a couple of years younger than me, and apparently a success in business, working for a well-respected firm in the World Trade Center in the hub of global trade. I have no idea how many family members Cesar left behind, what his politics were, whether he was a Yankees or Mets fan. Like most people in this country, Cesar worked hard and had a normal life, and had no reason to expect it would end violently.
I wish I could tell you more about Cesar personally. I think, being close to the same age and with both of us working in corporate environments (half a continent apart), we would have found much in common. We both worked in information technology, for instance, and no one bonds like computer enthusiasts. Unfortunately, I won’t ever have the chance to know Cesar, and he will never have the opportunity to give us his full contribution — and we are all the poorer for it.
If Cesar survived the initial impact, I suspect I know how he would have spent his final minutes. Like so many others in those towers, he would have looked for escape, but he also would have looked out for the people around him. He would have helped the wounded and found the trapped, if he had the chance to do it. Why do I assume that? Because so many in the towers did exactly that, trying to help their fellow Americans survive, right up to the last moment of their lives.
I’m sorry I never got to know Cesar Garcia, 36 years old at the time of his murder by lunatics. I’ll bet he was one hell of a man. Rest in peace, Cesar. You are not forgotten.
Addendum: Three years ago, I had the honor of remembering Ysidro Hidalgo-Tejada at Captain’s Quarters. Not long after posting my memorial, I received a very touching note from Ysidro’s family. Please read it and remember a very kind and loving father whose children have a large, painful gap in their lives to this day.
Blowback
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It doesn’t get any easier as the years pass, does it?
SouthernGent on September 11, 2009 at 8:50 AM
No, it does not.
D2Boston on September 11, 2009 at 8:53 AM
Im sitting here bawling as I watch the coverage on TV. It sure doesnt get easier.
God Bless Cesar.
becki51758 on September 11, 2009 at 8:54 AM
Forget 9-11, the yearly neocon warmongering excuse for the GOP to start wars of imperialism and for oil.
Barack Obama hath declared today a “national day of service,” thereby ending the GOP’s “political advantage” of 9-11.
So go out an volunteer for community service and organizing, and don’t think about what happened on 9-11 anymore, you warmongers. Get over it and get with Obama’s diktats. Times have changed.
/Obamacrats off
Good Lt on September 11, 2009 at 8:54 AM
9/11 is the one event that still makes me tear up every time. I suppose because it hits so close to home. I work for Marsh and before I came here I didn’t realize how much they had lost. My prayers are with their families today.
CityFish on September 11, 2009 at 8:55 AM
Sitting in the room where I watched it all unfold. Same TV. God Bless Cesar… God Bless them all.
Chicost84 on September 11, 2009 at 8:56 AM
Rest in Peace, Cesar Garcia
rbj on September 11, 2009 at 8:57 AM
*****
seejanemom on September 11, 2009 at 8:57 AM
“Those who do not learn from the mistakes of history are doomed to repeat them.”
“Never again.”
May God provide comfort and peace to the family of Cesar Garcia.
Ordinary American on September 11, 2009 at 8:58 AM
I took part in 2996 three years ago. I didn’t realize they were doing it again this year. I will spend some time tonight reading the memorials.
To this day I still remember someone I never met – Kathy Bantis.
alilianstrom on September 11, 2009 at 8:59 AM
I guess there’s something wrong with me. Everyone right now it seems, understandably, is feeling sorrow. All I feel yet is rage.
Jeff from WI on September 11, 2009 at 8:59 AM
Ooof…when I saw Cesar’s photo on the main page my hair stood on end as I started to remember again.
Every year when 911 rolls around and we are reminded of the all our fellow citizens who were killed, I always hope that someone like Reagan will eventually step to the front, someone who will tell all those aholes and thugs out there that their days are numbered.
Bishop on September 11, 2009 at 9:00 AM
A short excerpt from an article I wrote about a local firefighter who lost 5 colleagues in 911.
He’s still trying to recover from it.
For pics of those five go to thedailymail dot net
*********************************
Hudson-Catskill Newspapers
Published: Friday, September 11, 2009 2:18 AM EDT
NEW BALTIMORE — It’s an unwritten Firefighter’s Code.
Each company recovers its own men.
It’s an honor code like the military promise to leave no one behind.
It’s a code that longtime firefighter Chris Norris lived by for almost two decades before retiring to New Baltimore several years ago and running for Town Board.
It’s the reason Norris spent months after 911 searching for the five missing members of his Bedford Stuyvesant Fire Company, Engine 214, fondly knows as the “Nut House,” who made the supreme sacrifice.
A quiet, modest man, Norris recounted the tragedy and horror of those agonizing months from his New Baltimore home, his wife, Mary, by his side.
“I want to dedicate this story in honor of the 343 firefighters who died on 911 and to the five members of my company who never made it out,” he said.
The missing — firefighters John Florio, Michael Roberts, Kenneth Watson, Carl Bedigian, and Ladder 111 Lieutenant Christopher Sullivan — were young men in the prime of life ranging in age from their late 20s to their early 40s.
They all left behind wives, children and families.
It could just as easily have been Norris on that list.
wyntre on September 11, 2009 at 9:01 AM
I just rewatched it and it feels like yesterday. The planes. The people jumping from windows because they were trapped.
It guts me today like it did then. Time, it seems, sees fit not to heal this particular wound…and I’m grateful for it.
I don’t want it to heal. I want to remember. And as a nation we NEED to remember.
There are people who believe their god wants them to kill Americans…and they can and will carry it out any chance we get.
This evil must be confronted and crushed. Militant Islam…Wahhabism…totalitarian Islamic terrorists…MUST be destroyed.
We cannot negotiate with evil. I fear though that this president does not understand this sentiment.
God help us.
powerpro on September 11, 2009 at 9:01 AM
It’s raining where I’m at. I will cry a few more times today, as I have for 8 years, and it’s more comforting to cry when it rains.
May they all rest in peace.
Anna on September 11, 2009 at 9:02 AM
Thoughts from Van Jones?
artist on September 11, 2009 at 9:03 AM
You’re not alone.
alilianstrom on September 11, 2009 at 9:04 AM
I remember this day like it was yesterday. My Dad at the time worked couple blocks north of the White House. When the second plane hit the North Tower I knew this was now accident and DC would be next. It was frantic. Especially after the Pentagon got hit, we all knew it the WH or the Capitol was next on the list. Thankfully, I was able to get a hold of my Dad and he left (along with rest of the building) DC using metro.
But I will always remember this day and where I was.
RIP Cesar Garcia.
Lance Murdock on September 11, 2009 at 9:04 AM
No tears for me either Jeff.
Just a burning rage every time I see pictures and videos from that day.
I see those aircraft crashing into the towers and wonder at how anyone can become that separated from their humanity. Then I watch the FDNY, NYPD and others going in and know there is hope.
Jim708 on September 11, 2009 at 9:06 AM
Godspeed, Cesar.
loudmouth883 on September 11, 2009 at 9:06 AM
I wish I could agree with your statement but if America was awakened by the atrocities of 9/11/01, then they’ve hit the snooze button and drifted off to sleep again. It’s the only way to explain the interrogation by hugs and hot chocolate mentality of the current regime and far too many Americans.
highhopes on September 11, 2009 at 9:06 AM
This is a lovely idea. I am going to wander through the blogosphere to read as many of these as I can. God bless Cesar and all those who died that awful day.
Cindy Munford on September 11, 2009 at 9:06 AM
A special message for Mr. Clinton, Ms. Reno, Ms. Gorelick and your ilk:
Did you sleep well last night? How was breakfast this morning? Will you see your kids, your family, your friends today?
Will you think about… them? You know, the ones who were jumping off the towers.
Who were just working in their offices in the towers or at the Pentagon when hell paid a visit.
Will you think of the ones who died trying to save them?
Or the ones who fought to save their own lives on a plane headed to hell?
Will you talk to God today? Or even think of Him? Will you ask for forgiveness?
TXUS on September 11, 2009 at 9:07 AM
That makes two of us, amigo.
TXUS on September 11, 2009 at 9:09 AM
If you’ve ever seen the ten episodes of Band of Brothers, you may recall that the episode portraying Easy Company’s liberation of a concentration camp carries a title that comes to mind when I think of 9/11:
Why We Fight.
BuckeyeSam on September 11, 2009 at 9:10 AM
No, it doesn’t. Those mixed feelings of shock, sadness and anger are still there.
I often look at this video of photos from around the world and how others reacted after the news of the 9/11 attacks. Still makes me sad:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZiHN3z2o08
JetBoy on September 11, 2009 at 9:10 AM
I think a lot of us feel like that. Everyone can tell you where they were and what they were doing when the attacks occurred. Nobody had a normal day. I’m sorrowful for the victims like Cesar Garcia, prayerful for those he left behind, in full grateful support of the servicemembers who have been fighting against terrorism ever since. I’m also angry that America has so quickly forgotten the lessons of that day. Finally, I’m in full-blooded outrage that the current administration has decided that there is no such thing as a global war on terror. We’ve gone back to a mentality where those holes in lower Manhattan are nothing more than a very large crime scene and that is an affront on the victims of that day.
highhopes on September 11, 2009 at 9:14 AM
The Cooperative Research History Commons has a complete timeline of the days events. It’s well worth a read, if you have time. It’s very long.
If you want something shorter, just check in at my blog (no, not self promotion…don’t care if you ever read my blog again after today) on or after the following times (all times EDT):
8:46 am
9:03 am
9:37 am
9:45 am
9:57 am
9:59 am
10:06 am
10:28 am
12:16 pm
Chris of Rights on September 11, 2009 at 9:14 AM
Thanks for that touching memorial, Ed. I agree with those who say it doesn’t get any easier to remember as time advances. I am sitting here watching Fox’s retrospective and I am tearing up. I hope one day we will have a president and a Congress that will officially make today Remembrance Day. I have no problem with encouraging people to volunteerism, but that should absolutely be secondary to remembering. Always.
Rest in peace, Cesar, and all those who lost their lives eight years ago.
NoLeftTurn on September 11, 2009 at 9:15 AM
That was very well done Ed.
May we never forget that day. I’m afraid many in Washington are trying to.
gophergirl on September 11, 2009 at 9:15 AM
I’ve got the same emotions running through me right now at 50 as they were right before I hit that bully that was twice as big as me right between the eyes with my size “S” drumsticks in 8th grade. May God Bless the surviving families and comfort them in their ongoing grief.
kingsjester on September 11, 2009 at 9:16 AM
Or Ward Churchill or MoveOn.org or CodePink or any of the other human trash which infect this nation.
The left is busy trying to bury 911, and the media scum to this day STILL won’t show us the unedited footage of the aftermath. As the song says, I’d show that footage every day, every single effin day to remind the remaining good people of this country that the savages are still out there.
Bishop on September 11, 2009 at 9:16 AM
Sadly you’re right.
Here in New Hampshire, a gtoup of hikers has since the year following the attacks mounted an effort to fly an American flag from the summit of each of our mountains over 4,000 feet high. Since there are 48 such peaks, the mission is called “Flags on the 48″. This year’s effort will actually take place on Saturday 9/12.
Sad to say, last time I checked, they’d only gotten volunteers to take flags up something like 15 of the 48 peaks.
If you know anyone who’d like to spend Saturday helping with this project, visit their website
http://www.flagsonthe48.org/
Del Dolemonte on September 11, 2009 at 9:16 AM
I woke that morning ignorant of what was happening. After brushing my teeth and getting on line, a friend in Boston messaged me to turn on the TV. I saw the first tower on fire, praying to God it was a mere accident; a plane had somehow been flying too low but my gut told me better though I didn’t want to believe it.
I later watched, live as it happened, the second plane hit the other tower. I knew for sure then and there my world and my country had changed forever.
May those innocents rest in peace, may their killers burn in Hell until it freezes over, and may we and our children’s grandchildren never forget.
Liam on September 11, 2009 at 9:19 AM
One of the things that has really stuck with me was hearing the urgent whistling of what sounded like hundreds of personal firefighter alarms going off as a cameraman pushed through the dust just after one of the towers collapsed.
Asher on September 11, 2009 at 9:19 AM
I understand and respect the many people who are moved to tears after eight years.
I lost the reverence over the years.
I wonder if anyone else is willing to acknowledge being betrayed by the way the many of the victim’s families have used their state in life as a political platform to condemn the United States?
I can’t get that betrayal out of my thoughts. Nor could I look at President Obama during his obligatory moment of silence outside the White House, being firmly convinced the man is not uttering a prayer, and does not himself acknowledge the 9-11-01 attack as anything other than an act of the oppressed against the oppressor.
I’ve lost the sense of American identity, I guess. Exactly what should I be grieving, other than the pain of individual victims? And I do grieve for those people. But that’s a private, religious observation to me. What exactly am I honoring today? — or perhaps more accurately, if I wish to honor something today, but that thing I wish to honor doesn’t want my affection, or my reverence, exactly what is accomplished?
I feel betrayed by America itself after the events of the last several years. The America I used to know doesn’t seem to care if I grieve. They care about what their country can do for them. Maybe I can grieve about that.
Just keeping it real, man. That’s where I am today.
jeff_from_mpls on September 11, 2009 at 9:20 AM
God bless you and keep you Cesar.
Immolate on September 11, 2009 at 9:20 AM
Hopefully there is nothing wrong with you because I feel the exact same way.
I’m still full of rage.
myrenovations on September 11, 2009 at 9:21 AM
For me, what separated the men from the boys, was when both officials and the media decided to banish the jumpers to nowhere. That was an act of moral cowardice that I’ll never forget, nor forgive.
I cannot abide those who whine “don’t show me the bad stuff, show me the good stuff”. That “bad stuff” was real, and the climax of a terrible day.
OldEnglish on September 11, 2009 at 9:23 AM
Amen.
And it bubbles to the surface every time I see a Saudi flight student at the WinnDixie or WalMart in his comfortable khaki shorts…and his wife swathed like Darth Vader.
I hate them. Viscerally.
tree hugging sister on September 11, 2009 at 9:24 AM
TXUS on September 11, 2009 at 9:07 AM
Don’t forget Secretary of Defense William Perry. It was to hide his illegal sale of banned satellite technology to the Chinese military that the Able Danger records were destroyed – including the information about the Brooklyn-based Al Qaeda cell led by Mohammad Atta.
2,996 innocent civilians died to protect our chief military leader, William Perry, from facing justice. When he thinks about the Pentagon being hit I wonder if he feels like Jonah in the boat.
I don’t agree with the 9-11 truthers but I do agree that the 9-11 Commission refused to get to the bottom of the story of how this was able to happen, and America will face more attacks because of it.
justincase on September 11, 2009 at 9:25 AM
My thoughts and prayers to all who were lost on that day, and peace towards their families, as I’m sure that every time this anniversary comes around the pain comes right back like it was yesterday.
I’ll never forget.
Jerome Horwitz on September 11, 2009 at 9:27 AM
I’m with you.
How in God’s name could a “journalist” or an “editor” on 9-11-01 turn his thoughts to cold calculation over the political correctness of the event as it was happening, unless that “journalist” or “editor” instinctively saw the attack as something that was somehow understandable from the perpetrator’s point of view, in the proper context, etc., so that by showing the suicide jumpers, we are being unduly inflammatory against the perpetrators.
It sickens me. The whole thing sickens me.
jeff_from_mpls on September 11, 2009 at 9:27 AM
Never forget.
Mr. Joe on September 11, 2009 at 9:27 AM
I can’t abide with a media that refuses to show the jumpers of the 9/11/01 atrocities but in 2009 thinks nothing of showing the final moments of a wounded Marine in the name of “journalism” (and despite the family’s request).
highhopes on September 11, 2009 at 9:28 AM
I feel anger, anger that so little has really changed – or it’s stalled. The rebuilding, the search for Bin Laden, the country’s desire to fight terrorism – these have withered away over the past 8 years, dwindled down to almost nothing. That’s enough to make me tear up as it is.
Today is a day for many emotions.
Anna on September 11, 2009 at 9:29 AM
i am honoring Paul Hanlon Keating, a firefighter that ran towards the towers..
these events in history shape us.
trailortrash on September 11, 2009 at 9:30 AM
Don’t let the current times get you down. There are still great people in this country, most of them are fighting overseas or showing up by their thousands at town halls.
I still care about my fellow Americans, and when I ride with the Patriot Guard to honor fallen soldiers I am reminded that there are more good people than bad, it’s just that good people don’t get attention from the MSM morons.
Bishop on September 11, 2009 at 9:30 AM
I remember wondering what is going to happen next, as in that day, and into the next week.
It’s astonishing that it hasn’t happened again – but I guess that’s “Bush’s fault” as well.
We owe a debt of gratitude to President Bush and our military for that ‘fault’.
Chainsaw56 on September 11, 2009 at 9:30 AM
And the best President Obama could do today was walk a few feet out of the White House to observe a moment of silence. Yet, on Monday he is coming to NYC to address (lecture) Wall Street on the anniversarry of the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
That is despicable. He should be here in NY. He places the stupid, self-absorbed desire of the Democrats to neuter the memory of this day over honoring those who died.
For that alone he should be ignored and disdained and observe silence for the next three years until we can vote him out of office.
AmericanUnderground on September 11, 2009 at 9:30 AM
No tears for me either Jeff.
I watched the bravery of police & fire fighters go in to that smoking falling inferno to save people. I heard the voices of people who would rather fight hijackers and die than become a killing projectile. I saw brave soldiers fight and die to combat those that want to do the same to us again. I was so proud of my country.
Then I heard a man names Reid say we’ve lost that war.
Then I saw a man named Obama, a Communist, an anarchist, a man who hates everything good about this country, become President. I was so ashamed of my country.
Then I saw my fellow countrymen stand up and protest this man and his party of evil in defiance of tyranny. I saw them physically and verbally attacked, to lose body parts, by traitors to our country. I was so proud again.
Then I saw a film yesterday of some women working for an evil group, funded by our taxes, go out of their way to help people who portrayed themselves to be criminals, of such deviance, that their crimes involved sexually abusing children for profit.Yet few in the media reported it.
I’m so ashamed of my country this morning.
Jeff from WI on September 11, 2009 at 9:30 AM
Watched the footage on the tube. No tears, just quiet anger.
God’s grace to Mr. Garcia’s family.
I will try to be ‘apolitical’ today. It’s not easy.
It’s very hard, in fact.
CPT. Charles on September 11, 2009 at 9:31 AM
NYC voted 85% for Obama. Can’t say I have much sympathy for anyone in that city.
angryed on September 11, 2009 at 9:31 AM
It makes you wonder which side the Associated Press is on, doesn’t it?
They’ve always been on the side they’re on. We’re just now getting to see it.
jeff_from_mpls on September 11, 2009 at 9:31 AM
MSNBC managed to work in a question about Afghanistan and how it got lost in the “mid-decade”.
Um, why don’t they show the films of people falling and talk about the ACLU ripping the CIA over waterboarding outrages and release of prisoners that their God wants to do?
Goldwater wanted to reduce Viet Nam to a mud puddle. I wonder how the terrorist sponsors would look if he were in command? Or even President Reagan?
And they hate the guy who was in charge…
IlikedAUH2O on September 11, 2009 at 9:32 AM
Justin, you don’t really have to agree with them or perhaps their tactics, but something does kind of smell fishy with the commission’s report. Especially when a few years ago Lee Hamilton and Tom Kean, who served on said commission wrote a rather stinging editorial about their experiences.
BobAnthony on September 11, 2009 at 9:33 AM
A Twitter post from another conservative last night got me thinking:
I replied that she’d be blocking a number of people. However, after pondering for a while, I definitely saw where she was coming from. I’m sure I’ll receive my lumps for suggesting this, but can we, at least on this day, not politicize what we are remembering? The usual classless outfits will do so anyway. I know that and so do you. Regardless, wherever the victims are, it’s safe to say that they’re not concerned with politics anymore.
If you have anger, as I do, direct it towards the 19 scum that carried this out. Direct it towards the people who used their lips to command them to murder 3,000 people. Let’s not put it towards Clinton, or Bush, or Obama. For just this day, let’s try to feel the way we did the day after, when, for a very short time, we were all Americans, preparing to fight the common enemy. Let us also hope(or pray, if you choose), that should another event like this occur, that we will feel that same kinship with our countrymen that we did then.
MadisonConservative on September 11, 2009 at 9:33 AM
Ditto. I’m glad I’m not the only one. I feel like the country reached out a hand to NYC in 2001, and got nothing but a punch in the face in 2008.
jeff_from_mpls on September 11, 2009 at 9:34 AM
I would also suggest that any of the known trolls that try to score cheap points on the site today be banned immediately.
MadisonConservative on September 11, 2009 at 9:34 AM
Day of
Serviceremembering the innocent people who suffered a hellish end at the hands of people who hate America.whitetop on September 11, 2009 at 9:34 AM
Can’t see why I still live in the fascist enabler Northeast. Oh, I forgot, I have a disability and also a mother who really knows how to shoot down a guy’s dream of living on his own and in a place where he knows he wants to live in freedom.
BobAnthony on September 11, 2009 at 9:35 AM
Seconded
thomasaur on September 11, 2009 at 9:35 AM
MadisonConservative on September 11, 2009 at 9:34 AM
Too late. BleedsBlue and e-pirate have already chimed in.
kingsjester on September 11, 2009 at 9:35 AM
Check out HuffPo. The Truthers and BOOOOOOSH! haters are out in force today. It’s disgusting.
erakis on September 11, 2009 at 9:35 AM
It’s not reciprocated.
So you have to ask yourself, doesn’t the act of kinship require two willing participants?
Blue America despises you. Draw whatever conclusions you wish from that fact.
jeff_from_mpls on September 11, 2009 at 9:37 AM
Exactly what I would expect from them. Today is not the day to go wallowing in the cesspool of the Huff Ho.
ICBM on September 11, 2009 at 9:38 AM
The America I was raised to believe in died November 22, 1963.
It doesn’t matter that no one in DC cares whether you grieve or not, for they don’t really matter in the end. They might have power now, but as the Koran says, “Wheresoever you shall be, death will overtake you though you be in lofty towers.”
Don’t let those people make you cynical or devalue your beliefs. This is a sad anniversary we have to live, thanks to devils and despite the devils that remain.
Liam on September 11, 2009 at 9:38 AM
I’m not sure why, but I find myself more affected now and in recent years than I did the day the attack took place. Of course, I’m older now, but I wasn’t a child eight years ago. I was somewhat recently married and perhaps a little too caught up in my own life to fully grasp the magnitude of events that day.
Now, though, I am fully invested in this country. Now, I respect our way of life that so many take for granted or, unbelievably, disdain. Now, I understand and am filled with gratitude for the sacrifices others make and have made to preserve all that makes our country so great. Now, I am a mother of two extraordinary children. They and their future are paramount. Now, I know.
anglee99 on September 11, 2009 at 9:38 AM
Perhaps IF the only thing going on were 9/11, but we have tax funded groups dealing in child abuse and slavery and few in the media are discussing this. I find this rather strange and the fact that this is permitted, international child sex trafficking, by a group that will soon be at our doors to collect census information a huge story that should NOT be put on the back burner either.
Jeff from WI on September 11, 2009 at 9:38 AM
Tribute Page to Cesar R. Garcia
maverick muse on September 11, 2009 at 9:38 AM
Normally, I do check out what the other side has to say on HuffPo, DKos, and DU…
I just can’t do it today tho.
JetBoy on September 11, 2009 at 9:39 AM
No no, I’m not suggesting that we abandon talking about the current issues facing us. I’m just saying on the topic of what happened eight years ago today, let’s leave the politics out of it.
MadisonConservative on September 11, 2009 at 9:41 AM
A Twitter post from another conservative last night got me thinking:
Warning: If you use tomorrow to rant against either the current administration or the previous one, you will be blocked.
MadisonConservative on September 11, 2009 at 9:33 AM
Your information MUST be faulty. No REAL conservative would threaten to restrict our First Amendment right to comment on our government.
Jeff from WI on September 11, 2009 at 9:41 AM
Let us not forget the brave souls on American Flight 77 or in the Pentagon.
Pentagon Memorial
My friend’s brother was killed there, just doing his job as an Army contractor. A neighbor who I did not know was on the plane and died. My friend who is an American flight attendant switched off that flight to take another one later, and lived.
I worked in DC and was waiting to attend a 10:00 a.m. hearing of the Senate Banking Commitee on the failure of Superior Bank (the Chicago bank owned by the Pritzker family). Committee Chairman Paul Sarbanes actually started the hearing and said “despite the events in New York this morning, the people’s business must go on.” Nobody knew what he was talking about. At about 10:20 some Capitol Police officers burst into the hearing room and told everyone to get out. I walked down 5 flights of stairs and outside, with no idea what was happening. Cell phones were down and people were running everywhere around the Capitol, including Senators and prominent TV news reporters.
I finally reached my husband, who worked a block north of the Capitol, and went to his office, which was on the 8th floor with a view out over the city toward Virginia. By that time we could already see the smoke rising from the Pentagon and his boss was telling us that there was another plane in the air heading for Washington and we should get the hell out of there. We stopped in the conference room just long enough for me to grasp that there was now a giant hole in the ground in Manhattan and maybe 50,000 people were dead.
I had parked my car on the South side of the Capitol and we had to walk way around to get to it. The streets were empty and so was the highway out of DC (I later learned it had been closed briefly.) We drove past the burning Pentagon with our mouths agape. We picked up our 4-year-old daughter from her nearby church preschool and we could smell the jet fuel in the air. The rector’s wife was in her car right in front of the Pentagon when Flight 77 hit it. I drove that road to work every day and had just happened to have the hearing in DC, or else I might have seen it too.
We did not get home until almost 2:00 p.m. and I had not seen any of the footage of the planes hitting the WTC. It was beyond horrible and I was shaking all afternoon.
I remember going to the grocery and the Washington Post had put out a rare afternoon edition covering the attacks. The lead editorial was simply titled, “War.” And we knew it was.
rockmom on September 11, 2009 at 9:41 AM
That’s a silly thing to say.
People from Manhattan were not just affected. People from all over the tri state area were, and many of them were NOT Obama voters.
People in NJ lost family members. Nassau, Suffolk counties of Long Island had many many people die, as people commuted to the WTC from there.
blatantblue on September 11, 2009 at 9:42 AM
‘
Well said.
I feel like a man who, after viewing a terrorist attack on NYC on television, is told by his doctor over the phone that he has a fatal disease mere weeks to live.
Sure, I guess I’m feeling some kind of kinship with the victims of the terror attack, but I’m a little distracted too, and thinking in broad terms today.
jeff_from_mpls on September 11, 2009 at 9:43 AM
Yah, for me even today it’s all combining into one big load of anger and disgust. I can simultaneously be pissed at the scum who perpetrated 911, feel sorrow for the victims and their families, and have nothing but mistrust and fury at the people who populate the left and are attempting to trample everything important in this nation.
Bishop on September 11, 2009 at 9:44 AM
Oh, brother.
JetBoy on September 11, 2009 at 9:44 AM
People should leave the voter question out of it
I was drinking with my best buddy last night, and I could see his discomfort when someone mentioned 9/11.
Because I know he went to Stuyvestant high school, two blocks from the WTC.
He ran for his life. and he voted McCain. and it doesnt matter who voted for who, because in the end we are human, and we are americans, and i dont care how stupid my fellow americans are, they are my fellow americans.
blatantblue on September 11, 2009 at 9:44 AM
Are you unfamiliar with Twitter, or are you just so oversensitive to people ignoring others that you jump on the First Amendment bandwagon at every turn without realizing it only applies to government censorship?
She was stating that if anyone on Twitter politicized the commemoration of this day, that she would block their Twitters to her. Geez, get a grip.
MadisonConservative on September 11, 2009 at 9:45 AM
Cesar R. Garcia was happily married to Celeste, had a godson, and was beloved by everyone he worked with, many who considered him like family, remembered still for being a reliable friend at work and an upbeat effective coordinator of efforts.
maverick muse on September 11, 2009 at 9:45 AM
I appreciate that the Obama’s are standing out in the rain, getting very wet, greeting people at the Pentagon. And thats probably one of the nicest things I’ve ever thought about him.
This is always such a sad day, every year.
marmaran on September 11, 2009 at 9:46 AM
A high school friend of mine, Kathleen M. Moran was attending a meeting at Aon Corp. at the top of one of the towers.
G-d bless her memory and may He comfort and console her family and all of us who grieve.
G-D BLESS THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
J.J. Sefton on September 11, 2009 at 9:47 AM
This made me boiling mad when I heard this on the radio this morning. I vehemently refuse to accept this day as anything other than a day of remembering that our country suffered the worst terrorist attack in history and 2996 people lost their lives in an absolutely horrific manner.
This is my generation’s Pearl Harbor! Had a president suggested this be done on December 7th they would have been run out of D.C. on a rail.
fbcmusicman on September 11, 2009 at 9:47 AM
I feel like a man who, after viewing a terrorist attack on NYC on television, is told by his doctor over the phone that he has a fatal disease mere weeks to live.
Sure, I guess I’m feeling some kind of kinship with the victims of the terror attack, but I’m a little distracted too, and thinking in broad terms today.
jeff_from_mpls on September 11, 2009 at 9:43 AM
Yah, for me even today it’s all combining into one big load of anger and disgust. I can simultaneously be pissed at the scum who perpetrated 911, feel sorrow for the victims and their families, and have nothing but mistrust and fury at the people who populate the left and are attempting to trample everything important in this nation.
Bishop on September 11, 2009 at 9:44 AM
Jeff from WI on September 11, 2009 at 9:47 AM
So true and so sad. Even many here, where so many were lost, have forgotten the lessons of that day and the horror.
Elisa on September 11, 2009 at 9:48 AM
We know it is yet. But Obama refuses to see it as anything but a means to usurp for himself.
maverick muse on September 11, 2009 at 9:49 AM
I don’t think angryed is pulling a Michael Moore who said on 9-12-01 that his only regret was that the victims weren’t all republicans.
I think he’s saying that it’s demoralizing when you offer to give a pint of blood, and the recipient says screw you.
Even the victim families allied themselves with Cindy Sheehan. It makes you wonder if there is an alternate universe out there.
I admire your objective stance, I really do. But I can’t shed a tear for a man who turns around and calls me a crybaby.
jeff_from_mpls on September 11, 2009 at 9:49 AM
In college I was friends with the brother of Jeremy Glick, the former judo champion who was one of those on Flight 93. Jeremy’s baby daughter never knew her father, but I hope she knows that he was a hero.
grahampowell on September 11, 2009 at 9:49 AM
Are you unfamiliar with Twitter, or are you just so oversensitive to people ignoring others that you jump on the First Amendment bandwagon at every turn without realizing it only applies to government censorship?
MadisonConservative on September 11, 2009 at 9:45 AM
I thought you meant IN HERE
No one could care less about TWITTER. TWITTER is for 14 year old girls to giggle about boys.
Jeff from WI on September 11, 2009 at 9:51 AM
I’ll never forget the look on President Bush’s face when he was told the news in that schoolroom. He looked like my mom did when I had to tell her my dad died.
Liam on September 11, 2009 at 9:52 AM
We Will Never Forget, Remember When The New York Times reported on the NEWS?
Dr Evil on September 11, 2009 at 9:52 AM
jeff_from_mpls on September 11, 2009 at 9:20 AM
There were still people willing to go into burning buildings to rescue somebody they never even knew, still executives who gave interviews they could only sob through for the care they had for their employees.
I am angry – very angry – to know that 2,996 people died to cover the ass of our Secretary of Defense and the Clinton Administration which was selling out our national security to China. I am angry that in spite of the obvious care and outrage by US citizens, the commission that was supposed to study and learn from what happened was just a token group including the very person who should have been at the center of the questioning, a group which whitewashed the whole thing.
The politicians showed themselves for who they are, and that’s still what politicians are.
The media, for a short time afterwards, acted like they cared about America. That facade has worn off.
But the fabric of America – the people who quietly take care of their families and would stand to the death to defend the innocent wherever and whoever they might be – still exists. It has been awakening to see that lives can be destroyed not just by Arabs flying kamikaze planes but by so-called “Americans” joy-riding over the Constitution, covering it with crap to try to smother it to death.
The Islamists have a new wing to their attack – the communists. Patriots are just now coming to realize this is a two-front war, two towers – Sauron and Saruman. The only thing the two fronts have in common is their hatred for freedom. But our love for freedom is stronger than they know, and if we can just hold onto hope we can form a line and meet both fronts in battle nonetheless.
I have some strong differences with some here, as well as with my kids’ teachers, some in my own church, etc. A lot of that is because of the pervasive propaganda that people don’t know they’re getting. At their core, most people want good to happen and support what they do because they think it will be best.
The challenge is to show them that there are those who desire only to kill, steal, and destroy. Like their father, the father of lies, they have to lie to do it. But every now and then the truth is so blatant they can’t lie their way out of it. 9-11 was one of those times.
Some of the differences are over the way we should confront the lies. We can differ on that. But no matter how frustrated we may get, we need to stay shoulder to shoulder standing up for the fabric of what this country has always been. I think that’s why most of us come here. It’s why many of us stood behind John McCain even though his style drives us nuts – at least we knew he loves the fabric of this country, which is what our pledge of allegiance sums up as “liberty and justice for all”.
justincase on September 11, 2009 at 9:52 AM
Allahpundit’s Twitter feed about 9/11 is quite moving.
myrenovations on September 11, 2009 at 9:53 AM
CESAR GARCIA, a man’s name.
CESAR R. GARCIA, a man lost.
7th acknowledgment by name on a thread, not to be overlooked today here and now by each of us.
maverick muse on September 11, 2009 at 9:53 AM
I’ll just never forget the sounds of the sirens of the fire trucks getting out of town, and heading to NYC with all deliberate speed
the kids freaking out about their parents who were at the WTC for various reasons. i remember worrying about my cousins who went to school near the WTC and how they had to walk back into queens
and just the quiet. the busy town was just reduced to silence. that’s the biggest thing i remember. just so freaking quiet, everywhere you went.
I came home, saw my dad (who flew American Airlines out of LaGuardia) and was so relieved he wasn’t flying that day. I’ll never forget the misery of the subsequent months of everytime he’d go to work.
going to the funerals of FDNY members was also an experience. ill never forget the feeling.
blatantblue on September 11, 2009 at 9:54 AM
Then read next time:
Do you also consider this to fall under your description of Twitter?
MadisonConservative on September 11, 2009 at 9:54 AM
Which is why I will be spending time with my kids after school lets out, playing tennis with my daughter and engaging in toy lightsaber duels with my boys.
Today is just another reminder of how close we really are to going under; half of our population looking for a handout and presided over by a racist moron who wouldn’t know how to lead a one-man parade.
Bishop on September 11, 2009 at 9:54 AM
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