My Thoughts on 9/11

To this day, I cannot stand days that begin with temperatures in the low 70's with cloudess skies and the sun shining brightly. I cannot look at either still photos or video of the plane flying into the World Trade Center. Thirty years after I first learned the phrase, I finally understand the tort of "intentional infliction of emotional distress."

I hold Bush and his administration responsible for the attack on 9/11. They were warned. They knew. They did nothing. Al Franken's book, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, lays out how the Bushies were determined to ignore the warnings that Al Qaeda was preparing an attack on U.S. soil. Richard Clark's book, Against All Enemies, provides thorough details of the neglect at the highest level of government to respond to a known threat. "Kinda-lousy" Rice, as National Security Advisor, hardly merited promotion to Secretary of State.

A few months ago, I was participating in a conference call among several lawyers and a judge. While we waited for the judge to come on line, one of the attorneys remarked that he had recently seen the movie, Syriana, and that he couldn't get over the willingness with which two young Arab boys would turn into a suicide bombers. He completely missed the part of the movie which shows one of the boys as poor and hungry because his father had lost his job, while the ruling family of the country where he lives is so wealthy it can build and then demolish a multi-million dollar villa. He goes to the madrasa to get a meal. The indoctrination is the price paid to fill his tummy.

I don't think "they hate us for our freedom" as much as they hate living in poverty while the royal families enjoy obscene wealth. I can't decide if the mullahs and ayatolahs really want a worldwide caliphate or if the jihadists are just using their religion as an outlet to express their anger at the ruling class and US policy, but I lean somewhat toward the latter view.

I'm not an apologist for Bin Laden, but I'm justifiably angry that our government just doesn't get it. Far from addressing the root causes of terrorism, Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Rice have done just about everything they could to embolden and empower the terrorists.

I wish the grownups were in charge.

How I Wasted An Hour Last Night

So I wasn't at home on Sunday morning to watch the Casey-Santorum debate on Meet the Press. But the program is available on the MTP website, so I watched it. Sheesh. If I were only marginally interested in this race, I'd be asking myself, "Are these my only choices?"

Casey had more than a few chances to make Rick "Man-on-Dog" look like the total loon that he is. Russert practically bent over backwards trying to elicit some spot-on criticism. But just when you thought he would deliver the KO punch, he fell back on his talking points. Again, sheesh.

Like when the discussion turned to Rumsfeld, and Ricky opined that Rummy is doing a fine job. Casey could have said, well, gee, then why have a host of retired generals called for his resignation?

And how about the Virginia senator's turning every question on Iraq into attack on Iran? How about looking him straight in the eye and just blurting out, "They haven't even finished with one war and already they're trying to start another one!"

Casey's response on how to save social security was a good start: repeal tax cuts for taxpayers making more than $200,000 a year, save the estate tax, and hope that fixing the economy will help us grow our way out of the deficit. But how about the most obvious solution: lift the cap on social security wages.

They say that Santorum's numbers are so bad that the Democrats could run a complete idiot against him and still win. Alas, we seem to have nominated just that person. Where is Joe Hoeffel when you really need him?

P.S. This Sunday's MTP will be an interview with Dick "Dead-eye" Cheney. I won't be wasting an hour on this program.