Screaming Penguin

Well, its now been better than a week since we witnessed the second largest loss of life in U.S. history. After having been a victim of the shutdown of the U.S. air networks, finding out a former coworker died in the Pentagon crash, and feeling the rage and sorrow of this time, I gots lots of shit to say.

Don't Blame Islam

Religious fundamentalists and fanatics of any flavor are evil. Period. End of story. I live in Atlanta, where from the Olypics of 1996 through 1999 seemed to have a bombing every six weeks. Most of these were the product of Christian fanatics, setting a bomb at an abortion clinic, with a secondary device set to go off 30 minutes later -- DIRECTLY targeting the responding emergency workers. Some others were targeting predominantly homosexual nightclubs. I hope that this war against terrorism extends itself deeper into the American zealots that bring this upon their own countrymen. Jerry Faldwell came out on Sept 12 and told us that the gays, the abortionists and the ACLU were responsible for the WTC/DC tragedies. Osama bin Laden is a philanthopist in the Muslim world. He may as well be the Pat Robertson of the Muslim 700 club. By the way, firing pot-shots into Muslim Community Centers where children are present may be the second most dispicable act I have ever seen in this country. A pilot for local Delta Airlines refusing to let a green-card holding business owning Pakistani immigrant fly on his plane is probably in the top ten.

Airport security did not fail us, Louis Freeh's incompetent tenure at the FBI did

The fact that people were able to board U.S. aircraft with plastic box cutters (which by the way, would look like a razor to an X-ray tech) does not shock me. The fact that a handfull of men could secure a large aircraft with a small melee weapon does not shock me. The fact that 19 out of 191 people on the FBI's terrorist watch list can get on a plane does. That one of them has a hazardous and explosives transit commercial drivers license scares the living shit out of me. I chalk this up to the same list that has Waco, Ruby Ridge, the National Labs scandals, the botched McVeigh evidence handling, and countless other GALACTICALLY STUPID things the Freeh FBI let happen. Rot in hell Louis, you incompetent political jackass. This type of attack will never happen again. Our lockdown of the US like a bad night in Oz has nothing to do with it. The only reason this will never happen again, is all Americans on an airplane that is hijacked will not assume they are to take a hostage stance, and placate their attackers. Rather they will assume they are dead already, and do whatever it takes to prevent their aricraft from becoming a guided bomb. Five men with knives will never again overpower 61 Americans. Period.

Bush is our leader, and we should stand behind him even though he is still an idiot.

A man who has so many misspoken statements he makes Quayle actually SEEM like a Jack Kennedy, and can't even think in a large enough scale to contemplate what the work "crusade" implies to our Islamic allies is in charge of the country. After watching all the CNN coverage on Sept 11, I wish we could become a colony again and put Tony Blair in charge. Thank god for Colin Powell.

We should not rush to pass legislation that will completely do away with our civil liberties

The legislation that Bush told congress he wants to push through in a week is absolutely terrifying. It gives the FBI the ability to record ALL CELL PHONE TRANSMISSIONS and sort out what they want as evidence later. It resurrects KEY ESCROW ENCRYPTION, and the Carnivore system. While certain parts of it are perfectly logical -- granting a multijuridictional wiretap warrant for a cell phone, for instance -- the rest is an attempt for John Ashcroft to pull a fast one on the American people. Everyone from the NRA to the ACLU just went "Rott ro raggy."

Those who whould sacrifice their eternal liberty for temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.-- Ben Franklin

We are all in this together.

Americans in the course of one week have shone themselves to be the greatests and the worst people on the planet in my eyes. I can't help but be moved to tears when I thing about the 342 NY firefighters that gave their lives in the most truely heroic of persuits. Of the people of the Pennsylvania crash, who I believe the record will reflect gave their own lives to prevent another tragic impact. At the same time, the paranoia, the xenophobia and the yielding of our lifestyle not to mourning, but to rage and fear shows that these terrorists accomplished thier goal.   Check out what the rep from louisianna said.