Are the Terrorists Still Winning?

The answer is simple.  Yes.  Over the course of the last few weeks there was an impending sense of doom as Americans were inundated with scenes of the September 11, 2001 tragedies, when commercial jets crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania.  Yesterday, there were interminable memorials across the country.  On TV there were constant reminders at the start of sporting events, during commercial breaks, and of course the usual special programs.  Football coaches wore NYPD caps.  Politicians, never ones to miss a chance to remind us what their party did or the other party did not do, used the day to gain political points.  We almost reveled in misery.

Finally, the terrorists got into the act as well, reminding us of their presence.  There were either the imagined threats, or the day was used to stroke our fears with mostly idle threats. I have always felt that the few resources that they had were exhausted on that one day in 2001.  Otherwise, there would have been many more attacks.  Our government was unprepared, and it is still relatively easy to enter this country.  It is very easy for those who wish to be disruptive to create idle threats and throw this country into a frenzy of fear.  The government cannot afford to let any threat pass.

After the attacks on 9-11, this country allowed a president and his followers to take us into two ill advised wars, bringing about the killing and maiming of thousands of our soldiers untold numbers of innocent civilians.  The costs of those wars have practically bankrupted this country, and thrown it into a recession from which it will struggle to recover for years to come.  Its citizens have suffered the pain of losing their pensions, their homes, and their jobs.  The politics resulting from the government's huge war debts have become even more polarized and extreme.  It is almost reminiscent of Germany, following the end of WWI, when citizens actually carried almost worthless cash in wheelbarrows.  They looked for someone to blame and allowed extremist politicians to take over and persecute those whom they blamed for their misfortunes.

Then there are the constitutional rights of Americans that have been abused with an extreme "Patriot Act," which grew out of fear of terrorist attacks.  Citizens have been held and harassed without provocation, simply because they are of Middle Eastern derivation. Citizens have resorted to harassing their fellow citizens for no other reason that the fact that they were seen reading an article or book that could be construed as being related to terrorism. 

Have the terrorists won?  Surely.  One morning in 2001 caused a  ripple effect that this country is still reeling from.  They are still winning as is evidenced by the reaction this past week.  We are still dwelling on that morning.  We can't let it go even after 10 years.  Nine years before I was born the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.  We let that go.  Let's let the attacks of September 11, 2001 go as well.  It is done.  It can't be taken back. 

We Always Thank the Veterans for Having Saved our Freedom

I posted my opinion on Facebook the other day, that the 4th is for celebrating our Independence from England and the creation of this country. It is not Veteran's Day, Memorial Day or Armed Forces Day. These are the days we recognize our military veterans. It seems that at every turn, someone is thanking veterans and currently serving military for our freedom. When I think back, I think of all of those military servicemen and women who have given their lives at the command of the politicians, I realize that most did not die to preserve freedom. They were convinced that was why they were there, but were they really "preserving" our freedom?

We reconcile all of those deaths with the preserving of freedom, because we don't want to admit that most died in vain. Most recently, of course, the thousands, who were maimed and died in Iraq and Afghanistan, were not preserving freedom. There was absolutely no reason to have attacked Iraq. We went into Afghanistan to capture or kill Bin Laden. We failed and many have died there for no real reason other than politics.

Vietnam was not about freedom. It was originally about French colonialism, and the U.S. was drawn to it because Ho Chi Minh sought help from China, after the U.S. turned him away at the end of WWII. Eisenhower and his minions came up with the Domino Theory to justify U.S. involvement in what turned out to be nothing more than a civil war, which we eventually lost. Thousands more U.S. soldiers died in vain.

WWII was about fighting for freedom. WWI, probably wasn't. The Spanish American war was about imperialism on our part and it was the Hearst Newspapers' and others' "Yellow Journalism" that brought the U.S. into that war. It was about acquiring territory. No fighting and dying for freedom there.

It could be said that the American Civil War was about freedom. It certainly was about preserving the country and it's Union. Had the U.S. government failed in the preservation of the Union, alliances with other countries on the part of the south and it's lack of natural resources, could have ultimately destroyed the United States.

The various Indian Wars, and we do recognize the dead from these wars on Memorial Day, were nothing more than the conquest of the United States by the United States Government. Many soldiers died, but did they die for freedom? I think not.

Thousands of U.S. soldiers have died around the world in conflicts in which we have become involved. Most probably didn't die for our freedom. They died because some politicians decided that they should die for our own best interests, whatever they may have been.

I am a cynic. I know that. I am also a product of the 60's and the Vietnam War era. I still have a hard time cozying up to the military. It is a necessary evil. We have to have it to maintain our sovereignty. Should we recognize those, who have died for this country. Of course. It takes nothing but sheer courage to walk onto a battlefield and lay down your life for what you think is right. It takes even more courage to do it, when you have no choice, and you know that you are risking your life, not for freedom per say, but because the pols have decided to sacrifice you for their perceived ideals. Nothing should be taken away from these courageous men and women, who join the military and willingly go where they are sent and take up arms against another country or group. Let's just not always say they are fighting for our freedom, because, often, they clearly are not. ...and let's leave July 4th to celebrate the birth of our country.

OK, Which is it? Are the Dead Already There or Are They Going Tomorrow at 6 p.m.?

Harold Camping, the aged, self-styled preacher in California, has meticulously calculated the end of the world to be tomorrow at 6 p.m. An earthquake is to begin in New Zealand and travel through Asia and Europe and around the world. At that time, the dead will be raised, and, along with the living, taken to Heaven. Of course the only ones taken will be true believers, whoever they are. The rest of us will be left to make the best of things.

There is one thing that I have never understood about the "rapture" and the end of the world, when the dead will be raised and the living taken to Heaven. At every funeral that I have ever attended, and after the death of a loved one, everyone, including the preachers, always talks about how the deceased is already "sitting at the right hand of God." A week later the same preacher will be asking whether you will be ready, when the rapture comes and the dead arise to go to Heaven.

I have always heard the expression, you can't have your cake and eat it too. Which is it?