9/11 Changed Everything *Sigh*

Here we go again. Ten years after the media enabled Bush and Company to use our grief over 911 to take us to war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the media is still using the "anniversary" of 911 as a weapon of mass distraction from the real issues facing the American people. It's Deja Voodoo all over again.

I can't pass by the TeeVee without a Talking TeeVee Pundit Head either reminiscing about "that fateful day" or parading then NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani , NY Governor George Patki, or some other republican who was in charge in front of the TeeVee praising them for their courage and leadership on 911 while hollering how they will never forget the victims of 911 blah, blah, blab, blab.

I will never forget that George W. Bush was the pResident on 911.

I will never forget that prior to 911 Bush was on a month long vacation.

I will never forget that while on his month long vacation NSA Condolezza Rice presented a PDB(President Daily Brief)that said Osama bin Laden determined to attack inside the United States.

Question; If 9-11 Had Happened When a Democrat Was President, Would the Republicans Have Impeached Him or Her?

Think back to the weeks immediately following 9/11. Couldn't you just hear the likes of Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter had this happened on Bill Clinton's or Barack Obama's watch? In the midst of the grieving, wouldn't you just have loved to listen to all the public threats of Congressional hearings about "what did the White House know" that would have been demanded by the Jim DeMint's and Michele Bachmann's of the world?

And I can just see the Muslim witch hunt that would have ensued under Congressman Peter King's direction (much like the one he's involved in now). Can't you just imagine the Fox News and talk radio roundtable discussions about how the President "failed to keep us safe" and how he was "weak on terror!"

Are survivors,friends and family of the victims going to have to relive 911 over and over again for eternity? How can we heal if we are forced by the media to relive that day over and over again for ratings?

Annette John-Hall, in her Philadelphia Inquirer column, writes that media coverage leading up to the 10th anniversary of 9/11 is beginning to take a toll on some family members of victims.

Hard to believe it's been a decade since terrorists hijacked jetliners on Sept. 11 and used them to kill thousands of innocent people, changing the world forever.

Feels like 10 years flew by. But at the same time, it feels like we've slogged our way through 20.

Media coverage begins as early as a month in advance and slowly churns to the actual day, observed by endless tributes, memorials, and ceremonies.

Blogger Rite Jack says the media should call it what it really is
911 - What Evangelical Fundamentalist Religion gets us

As we jack up the vengeance factor every year, should we question the "what lives are worth" rate? THEY got 3000 of us, we got about 300,000 of them which cost us another 3000. That's 50 to 1. Which I suppose is about right because we are all so friggin' exceptional.
Doing the math. Cost of both wars at $1.5 trillion, divided by 300,000 dead Muslims, I come up with $500 million each. I am overwhelmed with ZEROS, but time and again that's what I get. Can that be right? Math person help!
The problem with the old line, "Oh you never ask questions, when God's on your side," is it works for everyone.

Speaking of doing the math, has anyone but me noticed how the TeaPublicans and the Talking TeeVee Pundit Heads can recite the exact cost of the stimulus and other domestic spending, but nary a word about the human and monetary cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and 911's continuing toll on the U.S? What's up with that?

Total direct U.S. government spending on the Afghanistan and Iraq wars so far: $2,000,000,000,000

Amount that represents per U.S. household: $17,000

Percent by which bills yet to be received are expected to increase this amount: more than 50

Amount the U.S. is expected to spend this year on the war in Iraq: $48 billion

On the war in Afghanistan: $122 billion

Number of children who could be provided with health care for two years with the money being spent on those two wars in 2011 alone: 43 million

Here are some gop campaign slogans I composed during my tenure at Left in Alabama which are even more appropriate today.

GOP Campaign Slogans. All Hat and No Cattle.

Compassionate Christian Conservative, translation, we do our dirt in the name of the Lord.

No Child Left Behind, translation, No Child's Behind Left after we send them to war, gut public education and cut college student loans. Not to mention the impact high fuel prices are having because it raises the cost of food and the cost of heating and cooling homes.

Faith Based Intuitive, translation, lots of tax money for the Right Reverend Doctor Greedy Guts, unless of course your name is Reverend Wright.

Mission Accomplished, translation, high gas prices, record mortgage foreclosures, massive deficits, and debt as far as the eye can see.

Freedom isn't Free, translation, waive your flag while waiving your rights because 911 changed everything.

Support our troops, translation, support Bush and shut up.

Let the victims of 911 rest in peace.

Let the survivors go on with their lives.

Stop using our grief over 911 as a weapon of mass distraction.

911 changed everything.

But not for the better.

Enough of the revisionist history!

The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dreams shall never die.~Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D. MA)