98% of the last 200 hits on swcdesign.com have been from images.google.com; I don’t often get hits from there so I decided to investigate what was causing such a ruckus and huge spike in traffic. Well it turns out a picture I made last year right around this time is on the tenth page of results for searches on “911” in Google images. On the tenth page and it hundreds of people a day have been following the link. I think it speaks a little to people’s thoughts at the moment, I know that personally I rarely go past the second page of results, especially on Google.
More importantly, it’s a somber reminder of the fast approaching anniversary of a date that at least in my mind I’ve been avoiding. Yesterday a lady told me a story about her brother who signed a lease that morning on an office in the WTC and was on his way to look at it when the first plane hit. Her other brother was forced to jump in the river when the towers collapsed. Both were okay. Every time someone mentions the event it seems I hear a new story almost too incredible for belief, but you know they’re mostly true. Still the incredible stories of survival only seem to whet my taste for real answers to the events.
Three hundred and sixty-four days later, what have we done? We’ve bombed the hell out of a third world country, caught a few underlings, spent $80 billion, took away more than a few personal liberties, and we’re now at the brink of war with an oil superpower. Very smart thing to do during a recession. I admit that I’ve always supported the Bush administration. Bush himself isn’t the most competent guy but he handled an emergency relatively well, and he surrounds himself with some of the best and brightest in the country (with the notable exception of John Ashcroft and John Poindexter). Now you have talk of Colin Powell not coming back for a second term, of course assuming that the administration makes it that far. The backlash has been brewing for weeks; people want results. Eighty billion dollars and they can’t even produce a body? The news media is pouncing in its traditional fashion, and there has been a rash of meta-news and meta-meta-news, and the world doesn’t need any more of that here. I won’t be posting Wednesday, but what I’m going to keep in my mind is that the terrorists were trying to destroy something much larger than the twin towers last year, and it’s up to everyone on a personal level to make sure they don’t succeed.
Bravo!
Which few civil liberties have you had taken away from you? I haven’t heard many stories of atrocious violations. Yes yes, cite the fact that the justice department is holding accused conspiritors without charging them or the inhumane treatment in Guantanamo Bay if you will. But people make mistakes; in the recent political climate, panic abounded – especially in the Justice Department. I mean if your job is ensuring national security and someone gets right past you and destroys the world trade center… you might get a little bit vigilant. These civil liberty violations are uncommon anyway, and they are at the height of controversy (as your nth repetition of the rhetoric shows) and will not be tolerated. Bombing the hell out of Afghanistan was, well, ultimately caused by an incompetent administration. Bush’s ultimatum to the Taliban was made brashly – at least he decided to follow through on his threats after they thumbed their noses at the US. Would you have rather he backed down and openned the US up to being walked on by every other low-life militant group who is just itching to beat a little sense into their scapegoat (us)… as if it will do anything for their problems. And about being at the brink of war with an oil superpower (Iraq, right? Since when have we referred to them as an ‘oil superpower?’)… I question Bush following through on his hawking, especially in the face of the quickly dieing support. He was probably betting on something happening on the anniversary anyway to fully steel support for his war initiative so he can let his Texas buddies ride on in with the calvary and reap those oh-so-sweet rewards (what, do you think Saddam’s successor would be anti-American?). And if he does, maybe oil prices will spike. But not too much. Iraq isn’t that crucial in the world oil market, and there are many safety nets that would stabilize oil prices (The Strategic Petroleum Reserves, Saudi Arabia’s equivalent, and Russia’s unending eagerness to stick it to OPEC, to name a few). And the recession… who’s fault is that, anyway. The real power of the Fed is something for another argument altogether, but if after 11 straight rate cuts and then almost half a year with no change, one really must ask, “What are they really doing up there?”
Basically what I’m saying is that the media loves to pour out sensationalist rhetoric, and people love to hear it. In reality, Bush’s war-hawking probably won’t end up in actual war, but even if it does the world won’t end. The economy won’t collapse. John Ashcroft and Jeb Bush won’t establish a fascist regime.
BTW, Bush has handled the past year very well, and the war in Afghanistan was an acceptable solution to a problem that had no solution. And 80 billion dollars has accomplished a lot: the Afghans can do something besides shoot at each other every day, they can listen to music, the women can see the light of day, and if Usama isn’t dead, he’s probably not having the time of his life right now. Have a little faith in the US of A.