Things to do when you are sick and taking the morning off of work... The moral is, unless it is 2008 or your initials are JFK, the Senate or House are not resume items you want when running for president. And trust me, you do not want what Warren Harding had.
2008 - Senator beats senator
2004 - President beats senator
2000 - Governor beats sitting VP/former senator
1996 - President beats senator
1992 - Governor beats president
1988 - Sitting VP beats governor
1984 - President beats former VP/former senator
1980 - Governor beats president
1976 - Governor beats president
1972 - President beats senator
1968 - Former VP/former senator beats sitting VP/former Senator
1964 - President beats senator
1960 - Senator beats sitting VP/former senator
1956 - President beats governor
1952 - General beats governor
1948 - President beats governor
1944 - President beats governor
1940 - President beats corporate lawyer
1936 - President beats governor
1932 - Governor beats President
1928 - Sec. of Commerce beats governor
1924 - President beats solicitor general/ambassador/representative
1920 - Senator beats representative/governor
1916 - President beats Supreme Court Justice/Governor
1912 - Governor beats president and former president
1908 - Secretary of War/Provisional Governor of Cuba
beats representative
1904 - President beats judge
1900 - President beats representative
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
It's all over... Is it all over? Who knows... (Post-Wisconsin Blues)
So, about a week and a half ago I sketched out my Huckabee theory, which was vaguely...
McCain really isn't able to coalesce the party right now, so Huckabee is keeping the debate on the soul of the GOP open even though the candidate has been decided. Until this housekeeping is completed, they cannot turn their attention to the Democrats. Huckabee's involvement also keeps the hard core social conservatives involved with the GOP. They won't bail on the party or look for 3rd party option as long as he is involved. Perhaps, he is doing a good thing for the GOP, in the long run, though it may damage them in this general election. It may also help them in the general this year in the long run by not allowing McCain to abandon and lose the far right.
I am not sure where I stand with this now. Things are gelling up for McCain, and Huckabee appears to have lost his momentum. I suppose he'll hang out until March 4 and then quietly slip away.
On the Democrat side, yesterday appeared to be the end for Hillary. It's all over but for the all over. I actually thought that the media would wait until Texas and Ohio before sticking their forks in her, and maybe not even then, but last night, all the talking heads on CNN, at least, were convinced, she is done.
Of course, McCain stepped up and is now declaring himself the Republican nominee. He was being polite about this until last night, but now he is starting in on the Democrats, namely Obama. Now, I believe that this is less because he believes that Obama is going to be the Democratic nominee, but almost more to help Hillary. All along, the Republicans have seen her as the candidate they would most like to take on in the General (I'd say the fall, but this is going to be a long general election campaign and it will start no later than the first week in March, if it hasn't already).
Hillary is not technically out. If anything, they are tied. And, except for last night, she was ready to give up nine of the last ten contests and then bounce back on top with Wisconsin, Ohio, and Texas, so she is not even that far off of her game plan. Unfortunately, there is something that her and Rudy missed about momentum and perception. Also, I do not think that she was expecting to lose those nine by such large margins. People are noticing, she is in trouble. She is starting to stink of defeat.
But she could get back into this, and if McCain goes hard negative against Obama, and she can pick up her own end of things, there is a chance that she can revive her campaign. Let McCain do the dirty work, refocus her campaign on substance and likeability issues, and forge on ahead.
For McCain, this is a win-win. If Obama doesn't mess this up, and it is his to lose right now, McCain gets an early start on taking on his opponent. If McCain can damage Obama enough to give Clinton a shot, then he gains an opponent that the GOP feels more confident in beating (and if it is Hillary, the dirt they throw at her will probably make Kerry's swift boating look like amateur hour ).
But my call is that this is too late. I am looking less at Obama's winning streak than I am at the percentages in those victories. His campaign has done some remarkable work here. And, bottom line, listening to his long speech last night, boy, there is someone who sounds like a president to me. More so than the other two left standing at this moment.
It's been a long time since we've had a decent orator in the presidency, and the last one? Well, after eight years of Skippy, I actually miss Reagan. The GOP is disappointed because they could not find a modern version of the Gipper. The Democrats found one, and they, it seems, are going to do anything it takes to get him through into November.
McCain really isn't able to coalesce the party right now, so Huckabee is keeping the debate on the soul of the GOP open even though the candidate has been decided. Until this housekeeping is completed, they cannot turn their attention to the Democrats. Huckabee's involvement also keeps the hard core social conservatives involved with the GOP. They won't bail on the party or look for 3rd party option as long as he is involved. Perhaps, he is doing a good thing for the GOP, in the long run, though it may damage them in this general election. It may also help them in the general this year in the long run by not allowing McCain to abandon and lose the far right.
I am not sure where I stand with this now. Things are gelling up for McCain, and Huckabee appears to have lost his momentum. I suppose he'll hang out until March 4 and then quietly slip away.
On the Democrat side, yesterday appeared to be the end for Hillary. It's all over but for the all over. I actually thought that the media would wait until Texas and Ohio before sticking their forks in her, and maybe not even then, but last night, all the talking heads on CNN, at least, were convinced, she is done.
Of course, McCain stepped up and is now declaring himself the Republican nominee. He was being polite about this until last night, but now he is starting in on the Democrats, namely Obama. Now, I believe that this is less because he believes that Obama is going to be the Democratic nominee, but almost more to help Hillary. All along, the Republicans have seen her as the candidate they would most like to take on in the General (I'd say the fall, but this is going to be a long general election campaign and it will start no later than the first week in March, if it hasn't already).
Hillary is not technically out. If anything, they are tied. And, except for last night, she was ready to give up nine of the last ten contests and then bounce back on top with Wisconsin, Ohio, and Texas, so she is not even that far off of her game plan. Unfortunately, there is something that her and Rudy missed about momentum and perception. Also, I do not think that she was expecting to lose those nine by such large margins. People are noticing, she is in trouble. She is starting to stink of defeat.
But she could get back into this, and if McCain goes hard negative against Obama, and she can pick up her own end of things, there is a chance that she can revive her campaign. Let McCain do the dirty work, refocus her campaign on substance and likeability issues, and forge on ahead.
For McCain, this is a win-win. If Obama doesn't mess this up, and it is his to lose right now, McCain gets an early start on taking on his opponent. If McCain can damage Obama enough to give Clinton a shot, then he gains an opponent that the GOP feels more confident in beating (and if it is Hillary, the dirt they throw at her will probably make Kerry's swift boating look like amateur hour ).
But my call is that this is too late. I am looking less at Obama's winning streak than I am at the percentages in those victories. His campaign has done some remarkable work here. And, bottom line, listening to his long speech last night, boy, there is someone who sounds like a president to me. More so than the other two left standing at this moment.
It's been a long time since we've had a decent orator in the presidency, and the last one? Well, after eight years of Skippy, I actually miss Reagan. The GOP is disappointed because they could not find a modern version of the Gipper. The Democrats found one, and they, it seems, are going to do anything it takes to get him through into November.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
So, we are electing a president, aren't we?
Yes, I've noticed, but I have been very busy. I want to dive in, I want to follow this thing. I've watched a lot of CNN, I've, well, just really been strangely uninspired to write about this. Probably too much bitching and moaning about life over on my other blogs.
But, it's down- baring a near Biblical miracle for Huckabee- to McCain, Obama, and Hillary.
A couple of quick takes:
Clinton. First of all, having only two last names in the white house for twenty-four to twenty-eight years makes me very nervous. Is it Jeb's turn next? His brother kind of stepped out of turn and grabbed it away from the Jebster prematurely and then, like, totally fucked the thing up, damn little brothers…
But, Hillary... Really, the problem here is that the differences between Hillary and Obama are pretty subtle, leaving this in the eyes of many to be a choice between which first the Democrats are in the mood for this year. Still, there are differences, beyond the experience question, which, honestly, McCain will slay both of them on.
Health care is where I've managed to notice a little variety. I am not a fan of the government telling me to write checks to insurance companies. I would if I could, but I can't. I haven't taken the time to dig into the details, but I think mandatory car insurance is probably one of the worst scams pulled on America in a very long time, and I do not want to see this door even opened a crack on health insurance.
Frankly, there is one fatal problem with most of the health plans out there. Modern medical miracles are damned expensive. More expensive that 99% of the people in America can afford. If it was just a question of throwing a doctor a bill every year or two for a check-up, then this is fine, but it really isn't that simple. People cannot afford to pay for health care no matter how many medical spending accounts we set up. Only big government or big corporations can afford it.
So who do we sell our soul to? Which evil? All the talk about consumers and capitalism and market forces driving medical costs are bull shit. There is no free market in health care. There is no comparison shopping for emergency surgery, and sure we can choose between generic or name brand drugs, sometimes, but quite often even the simplest prescriptions can be budget killers for many Americans.
So in the end, any talk of reforming health care is almost a joke to me. Putting a band-aid on the beast. Until someone is really ready to get in and do some serious theoretical economic work on this issue, there is really no solution that will really fix it. In the end, I suppose, it comes down to- do I want to trust my health to corporations or to the government? Greed versus bureaucracy? Well, I think I'll take an inefficient, drooling bureaucratic hell that probably at least means well over a system that surely would consider a few extra deaths a fine trade-off if it helped raise the bottom line for the stockholder's annual report.
So, why the ill informed rant on health care? This alone pretty much throws me over into the Obama camp. Hillary has a little bit in there about requiring certain people, like semi-self-employed contractor types in fields like technical writing to buy their own insurance. Plus, if Obama doesn't try for it too hard (and he has been recently, or at least his people and everyone in the media have been), he does have a real JFK vibe to him.
And it is a beauty contest, and at the end of the day, after spending the last eight years listening to Stuttering George butcher the English language, I'd like an eloquent president the next time around.
McCain. Would I vote for McCain over Hillary?
If this is the match up, something interesting might happen. A lot of Conservatives might jump over and vote for Obama, and a lot of centrist Dems might jump over and vote for McCain. McCain does not scare me. Neither does Hillary, for that matter, and Bill will always be my boy… So, we might have an election here where I feel that no matter who wins, the country is going to have a pretty decent president. This sort of happened back in 1996, too. Dole would have done a fine job.
Probably what both Dole and McCain have in common is that they are very experienced politicians, and very competent public officials. This means that they should spend more time focusing on actual important issues and less time chasing after social issues that the government has no business being involved with in the first place.
Still, they'll get to nominate some judges, and this is where they'll, in the first term, especially, be paying back any social conservatives who do show up in November to vote for them, so I do stick, so far, to yanking the Donkey lever in November.
So who will it be?
Assuming McCain doesn't get caught in bed with two 19 year old dead male junkie prostitutes and a sexually excited Doberman, obviously he's got the GOP nod. This is no more true this afternoon than it was when I went to bed on Tuesday night.
But Barak and Hillary are neck and neck. So, one of two things will happen. The media will start talking about their stance on the issues, or they'll keep playing the popularity contest angle. If the issues rise to the top, people will make their choice based on these issues and it is really tough to call the results. If not, people are going to get sick of one or both of them. This is where Obama's likability comes into play. The more people get to know him, the more votes he picks up. So, unless the Clintons' can really turn this into a debate on the issues, and they are trying, they are probably in trouble.
My gut tells me it is probably going to be Obama. But I wouldn't bet my lunch money on it at this point. Hell, not even my milk money.
Finally, if it stays civil, whoever does win the Democratic nomination will probably have a pretty decent shot in November. McCain will be killed by his association with Skippy Bush. The Democrats will beat us over the head with every nice thing the guy ever said about the Disaster in Chief. Which really isn't fair, because McCain spent a lot more time beating the shit out of Junior than he ever did kissing his ass, but when he puckered up, he smiled big and made sure a lot of cameras were around.
However, if Clinton and Obama go all monkey cage on each other and the feces starts hitting the walls, they could take each other out of the general election. I think they do know this, and so far they have been pretty careful to stay civil, despite the media trying its damnedest to pull them into a twelve round monkey-poo wrestling match.
If they have the guts to know that November is bigger than either of them individually, who ever gets it should win the White House. And if they can get along, we all know that if they can grit their teeth, shrink the egos, and share a ticket, well… It would be such an unbearably goddamn sexy ticket that it could really be an unstoppable landslide for them - if we can manage to pull ourselves out of the cold shower long enough to actually go and vote.
But, it's down- baring a near Biblical miracle for Huckabee- to McCain, Obama, and Hillary.
A couple of quick takes:
Clinton. First of all, having only two last names in the white house for twenty-four to twenty-eight years makes me very nervous. Is it Jeb's turn next? His brother kind of stepped out of turn and grabbed it away from the Jebster prematurely and then, like, totally fucked the thing up, damn little brothers…
But, Hillary... Really, the problem here is that the differences between Hillary and Obama are pretty subtle, leaving this in the eyes of many to be a choice between which first the Democrats are in the mood for this year. Still, there are differences, beyond the experience question, which, honestly, McCain will slay both of them on.
Health care is where I've managed to notice a little variety. I am not a fan of the government telling me to write checks to insurance companies. I would if I could, but I can't. I haven't taken the time to dig into the details, but I think mandatory car insurance is probably one of the worst scams pulled on America in a very long time, and I do not want to see this door even opened a crack on health insurance.
Frankly, there is one fatal problem with most of the health plans out there. Modern medical miracles are damned expensive. More expensive that 99% of the people in America can afford. If it was just a question of throwing a doctor a bill every year or two for a check-up, then this is fine, but it really isn't that simple. People cannot afford to pay for health care no matter how many medical spending accounts we set up. Only big government or big corporations can afford it.
So who do we sell our soul to? Which evil? All the talk about consumers and capitalism and market forces driving medical costs are bull shit. There is no free market in health care. There is no comparison shopping for emergency surgery, and sure we can choose between generic or name brand drugs, sometimes, but quite often even the simplest prescriptions can be budget killers for many Americans.
So in the end, any talk of reforming health care is almost a joke to me. Putting a band-aid on the beast. Until someone is really ready to get in and do some serious theoretical economic work on this issue, there is really no solution that will really fix it. In the end, I suppose, it comes down to- do I want to trust my health to corporations or to the government? Greed versus bureaucracy? Well, I think I'll take an inefficient, drooling bureaucratic hell that probably at least means well over a system that surely would consider a few extra deaths a fine trade-off if it helped raise the bottom line for the stockholder's annual report.
So, why the ill informed rant on health care? This alone pretty much throws me over into the Obama camp. Hillary has a little bit in there about requiring certain people, like semi-self-employed contractor types in fields like technical writing to buy their own insurance. Plus, if Obama doesn't try for it too hard (and he has been recently, or at least his people and everyone in the media have been), he does have a real JFK vibe to him.
And it is a beauty contest, and at the end of the day, after spending the last eight years listening to Stuttering George butcher the English language, I'd like an eloquent president the next time around.
McCain. Would I vote for McCain over Hillary?
If this is the match up, something interesting might happen. A lot of Conservatives might jump over and vote for Obama, and a lot of centrist Dems might jump over and vote for McCain. McCain does not scare me. Neither does Hillary, for that matter, and Bill will always be my boy… So, we might have an election here where I feel that no matter who wins, the country is going to have a pretty decent president. This sort of happened back in 1996, too. Dole would have done a fine job.
Probably what both Dole and McCain have in common is that they are very experienced politicians, and very competent public officials. This means that they should spend more time focusing on actual important issues and less time chasing after social issues that the government has no business being involved with in the first place.
Still, they'll get to nominate some judges, and this is where they'll, in the first term, especially, be paying back any social conservatives who do show up in November to vote for them, so I do stick, so far, to yanking the Donkey lever in November.
So who will it be?
Assuming McCain doesn't get caught in bed with two 19 year old dead male junkie prostitutes and a sexually excited Doberman, obviously he's got the GOP nod. This is no more true this afternoon than it was when I went to bed on Tuesday night.
But Barak and Hillary are neck and neck. So, one of two things will happen. The media will start talking about their stance on the issues, or they'll keep playing the popularity contest angle. If the issues rise to the top, people will make their choice based on these issues and it is really tough to call the results. If not, people are going to get sick of one or both of them. This is where Obama's likability comes into play. The more people get to know him, the more votes he picks up. So, unless the Clintons' can really turn this into a debate on the issues, and they are trying, they are probably in trouble.
My gut tells me it is probably going to be Obama. But I wouldn't bet my lunch money on it at this point. Hell, not even my milk money.
Finally, if it stays civil, whoever does win the Democratic nomination will probably have a pretty decent shot in November. McCain will be killed by his association with Skippy Bush. The Democrats will beat us over the head with every nice thing the guy ever said about the Disaster in Chief. Which really isn't fair, because McCain spent a lot more time beating the shit out of Junior than he ever did kissing his ass, but when he puckered up, he smiled big and made sure a lot of cameras were around.
However, if Clinton and Obama go all monkey cage on each other and the feces starts hitting the walls, they could take each other out of the general election. I think they do know this, and so far they have been pretty careful to stay civil, despite the media trying its damnedest to pull them into a twelve round monkey-poo wrestling match.
If they have the guts to know that November is bigger than either of them individually, who ever gets it should win the White House. And if they can get along, we all know that if they can grit their teeth, shrink the egos, and share a ticket, well… It would be such an unbearably goddamn sexy ticket that it could really be an unstoppable landslide for them - if we can manage to pull ourselves out of the cold shower long enough to actually go and vote.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
The Freedom to Die, the Democracy of Death
Looks like the demons finally caught up to Tony Snow. I do not wish cancer on anyone, even him, though, not with the history of cancer in my family. That is karma I do not F around with.
But, I was writing something and just heard his back-up babbling something about the House bill requiring the withdrawal of the troops from Iraq in 2008 putting "freedom and democracy" in Iraq "at risk."
Freedom and democracy in Iraq? Did I miss something? That is what freedom and democracy looks like? Holy shit these people have their heads up their asses if that is the spin they are trying to put on that bill. That was the goal over there, sure, but it hasn't been an achievable one for a long time. At this point I think the best anyone is truly hoping for is to prevent a nasty bout of ethnic cleansing, and even that in many ways is coming to pass. Yes, let's lose more of our brothers and sons so we can maintain the freedom of the Iraqis to kill and to die, and the democratic way in which every resident in the country has a big target painted on them by someone.
These days I almost am leaning towards the idea that the quicker we pull out, the quicker the civil war there will sort itself out, and maybe with less causalities than if it is drawn out over many years. Then again, it is very likely that American troops are having such a small effect on the country that nothing would really change if we pulled out.
It is a tough situation, and really, I admit, that I am glad that I do not have to be the one to make the call. I do not envy the President on that count. I just wish his staff did not come across as a bunch of idiots, and that he himself at least made the attempt to at least fake some gravitas on these issues, regardless of how competent or incompetent he really is.
But, I was writing something and just heard his back-up babbling something about the House bill requiring the withdrawal of the troops from Iraq in 2008 putting "freedom and democracy" in Iraq "at risk."
Freedom and democracy in Iraq? Did I miss something? That is what freedom and democracy looks like? Holy shit these people have their heads up their asses if that is the spin they are trying to put on that bill. That was the goal over there, sure, but it hasn't been an achievable one for a long time. At this point I think the best anyone is truly hoping for is to prevent a nasty bout of ethnic cleansing, and even that in many ways is coming to pass. Yes, let's lose more of our brothers and sons so we can maintain the freedom of the Iraqis to kill and to die, and the democratic way in which every resident in the country has a big target painted on them by someone.
These days I almost am leaning towards the idea that the quicker we pull out, the quicker the civil war there will sort itself out, and maybe with less causalities than if it is drawn out over many years. Then again, it is very likely that American troops are having such a small effect on the country that nothing would really change if we pulled out.
It is a tough situation, and really, I admit, that I am glad that I do not have to be the one to make the call. I do not envy the President on that count. I just wish his staff did not come across as a bunch of idiots, and that he himself at least made the attempt to at least fake some gravitas on these issues, regardless of how competent or incompetent he really is.
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Hillary makes it semi-official.
I have been neglecting this site. Not so much because I had nothing to say but over the last year or so, there have just been few words to describe my feelings. Mostly fear and loathing, with a guarded sense of optimism creeping in last November. A sinking, squishing feeling to be sure...
Hillary announced her exploratory committee this morning. Personally, I think she would be a good president, but... I think she could get the nomination, but would America vote for a woman president? Mostly, yes, I hope. But there is still a small percentage of chauvinists out there who would not, and in what is likely to be another squeaker in 2008, this small percentage could cost the Democrats the election. Is it fair to say that she should not run because of this? Who knows? On the other hand, the Billary haters who would rather eat their own colon before voting for a Clinton probably wouldn't vote Democrat regardless of the candidate (Joe L., though technically independent now, possibly excepted) , so I don't think they will be much of a factor either way.
The main reason, at this point, that I do not fully support a Hillary run for 2008, though, is that if she won, that would make it 24-28 years where the U.S. had no presidents without the last name of Bush or Clinton. This, I feel, is rather disturbing. Now don't get me wrong, Bill Clinton always will be my president. Could he have done a better job? Of course. But in my lifetime, he has set the bar for the executive branch pretty high. For me, thinking that we might get a Clinton Part 2, then, is actually pretty exciting. But at what cost? It all falls into some strange gray area between political symbolism and realpolitik. In the end, I would hope, that if Hillary won, our democracy would be a lot less distressed than it is at the moment, and that our nation's role in the world would be relatively rehabilitated.
Still, I would expect, for the moment, that Obama and Edwards would accomplish both of these goals just as well as Hillary. For now, they are at the top of my list, though I am probably months off from picking my pony. Both need to show me a few things first, and there are others in the race that remain enigmas to me at this point in time. So, while the lines are being drawn for 2008, it is still going to be a few more months before the race begins for real. And in a sad commentary on the state of the nation, I do think a black man would have a better chance in '08 than a woman. Yucky, though, that we still even need to consider these things.
It will be interesting, for sure. And for old politics junkies like me, it is going to be a damn fun couple of years (election-wise, at least). Give us Universal Health Care and I will love you forever.
Monday, September 11, 2006
The Black Page: Live Blogging 9/11
On September 11, 2001 almost nobody had heard of blogs, and I doubt the phrase live blogging had ever been used. However, after being up all night, I turned on the news at a little after 6 AM on the west coast to check the world before bed. The local affiliate cut early to the Today show, where they were talking about a small plane hitting one of the twin towers. Then the second plane hit. The ramifications of this were immediately evident to everyone.
The only question was, how bad it it going to get? I still don't know if, on the fifth anniversary, that we know the answer to that question yet...
I started posting to my web site. There wasn't anything I could do. I could do that. This is what I posted...
Tuesday, September 11, 2001 - I watched the second plane hit. Now, 6:41 PDT, an explosion at the pentagon. This is not good. Will there be more? I feel like throwing up again. I already did once this morning. And now they are saying it was a plane crashing into the Pentagon as well. I have a very bad feeling about this. Very bad, and now they are evacuating the White House, and now they've shut down all air traffic in the U.S....
7:00 AM PDT – Hijacked planes crashing into both of the twin towers. Another plane crashes into the Pentagon.
One of the twin towers collapsed a few minutes ago.
I am still in shock. All air traffic in the U.S. has been halted. And I only have one cigarette left until 9AM.
Knowing how long it took to evacuate the Trade Center in 1993’s attack, we probably just watched thousands of people die when the tower fell.
Compared to N.Y., the Pentagon doesn’t look too bad. But it is the Pentagon.
They are now calling it the most serious attack on the continental U.S. since the War of 1812.
7:20AM - One plane was a 767. ABC is reporting that the tower still standing is buckling and leaning.
Sent an incoherent e-mail to a friend of mine a few minutes ago babbling about 1941. Probably an exaggeration. But when they talk about 50,000 people working in the World Trade Center, and one of the twin towers is now down. It happened a little before 9 AM EST. Hopefully they get to work late in N.Y.
ABC: 2 American airlines planes hijacked. One from Boston, one from Dulles to L.A.
7:25 AM – Car bomb may have exploded in front of State Department. (ABC)
Since the second tower is threatening to fall, they have to evacuate the triage site on the scene.
7:27 PDT – Just watched the north tower collapse. I’m sick again. I’m shaking. 1941 doesn’t sound foolish anymore. We just lost many thousands of lives in the last two hours this morning. Lower Manhattan is covered with dust and smoke. When the first building fell, eyewitness were reported talking about people jumping from the building on it way down. Or just falling. My hands are shaking to much to type any more right now.
7:36 PDT – Smoking my last cigarette. Thinking of putting on some coffee. Drinking tea right now. NBC is live on the street in N.Y. showing rescue workers trying to get to the rescue workers who were under the second building.
7:39 - NBC is reporting the crash, via AP, of a crash of a large jet near Pittsburgh, but they are now denying reports of a car bomb at the State Department.
7:43 - NBC is reporting that air cover is flying over Washington. Their man at the Pentagon saw an F-16. And there are rumors that there may be another hijacked airliner inbound to the D.C. area.
767 in Pittsburgh is down, AP reports. Unclear if it is related, but the odds? The media is using the word war now. “It seems a terrorist war has been declared against the U.S.”
“Nothing short but a declaration of war against this country,” Tom Brokaw, 7:46pst
7:50 PDT – For a while now, KING 5, our local NBC affiliate has been scrolling a message that the Seattle P.D. is surrounding the local federal buildings and the Space Needle, just in case…
I make coffee now.
This is like a Tom Clancy book, watching the films of the buildings falling, it’s easy to imagine it’s good CGI in a bad movie. It wouldn’t feel real if it weren’t for that lump in my gut. That tells me that this is real. That tells me that this is going to change our country on some fundamental level forever. It’s not just the loss of life. It’s the loss of something more profound. Maybe they lost this in Oklahoma City a few years back, but for the rest of us, we have remained relatively untouched. This is something on an entirely, unimaginably different level.
They keep saying this on TV, and it is true. This morning marked the end of Fortress America. We are no longer untouchable. We have been touched.
If it is over, and that is still left to be seen, where do we go from here? Who will we be, as a nation, after this?
It is too early to answer those questions.
Click here for the full version, continuing on into the evening.
The only question was, how bad it it going to get? I still don't know if, on the fifth anniversary, that we know the answer to that question yet...
I started posting to my web site. There wasn't anything I could do. I could do that. This is what I posted...
Tuesday, September 11, 2001 - I watched the second plane hit. Now, 6:41 PDT, an explosion at the pentagon. This is not good. Will there be more? I feel like throwing up again. I already did once this morning. And now they are saying it was a plane crashing into the Pentagon as well. I have a very bad feeling about this. Very bad, and now they are evacuating the White House, and now they've shut down all air traffic in the U.S....
7:00 AM PDT – Hijacked planes crashing into both of the twin towers. Another plane crashes into the Pentagon.
One of the twin towers collapsed a few minutes ago.
I am still in shock. All air traffic in the U.S. has been halted. And I only have one cigarette left until 9AM.
Knowing how long it took to evacuate the Trade Center in 1993’s attack, we probably just watched thousands of people die when the tower fell.
Compared to N.Y., the Pentagon doesn’t look too bad. But it is the Pentagon.
They are now calling it the most serious attack on the continental U.S. since the War of 1812.
7:20AM - One plane was a 767. ABC is reporting that the tower still standing is buckling and leaning.
Sent an incoherent e-mail to a friend of mine a few minutes ago babbling about 1941. Probably an exaggeration. But when they talk about 50,000 people working in the World Trade Center, and one of the twin towers is now down. It happened a little before 9 AM EST. Hopefully they get to work late in N.Y.
ABC: 2 American airlines planes hijacked. One from Boston, one from Dulles to L.A.
7:25 AM – Car bomb may have exploded in front of State Department. (ABC)
Since the second tower is threatening to fall, they have to evacuate the triage site on the scene.
7:27 PDT – Just watched the north tower collapse. I’m sick again. I’m shaking. 1941 doesn’t sound foolish anymore. We just lost many thousands of lives in the last two hours this morning. Lower Manhattan is covered with dust and smoke. When the first building fell, eyewitness were reported talking about people jumping from the building on it way down. Or just falling. My hands are shaking to much to type any more right now.
7:36 PDT – Smoking my last cigarette. Thinking of putting on some coffee. Drinking tea right now. NBC is live on the street in N.Y. showing rescue workers trying to get to the rescue workers who were under the second building.
7:39 - NBC is reporting the crash, via AP, of a crash of a large jet near Pittsburgh, but they are now denying reports of a car bomb at the State Department.
7:43 - NBC is reporting that air cover is flying over Washington. Their man at the Pentagon saw an F-16. And there are rumors that there may be another hijacked airliner inbound to the D.C. area.
767 in Pittsburgh is down, AP reports. Unclear if it is related, but the odds? The media is using the word war now. “It seems a terrorist war has been declared against the U.S.”
“Nothing short but a declaration of war against this country,” Tom Brokaw, 7:46pst
7:50 PDT – For a while now, KING 5, our local NBC affiliate has been scrolling a message that the Seattle P.D. is surrounding the local federal buildings and the Space Needle, just in case…
I make coffee now.
This is like a Tom Clancy book, watching the films of the buildings falling, it’s easy to imagine it’s good CGI in a bad movie. It wouldn’t feel real if it weren’t for that lump in my gut. That tells me that this is real. That tells me that this is going to change our country on some fundamental level forever. It’s not just the loss of life. It’s the loss of something more profound. Maybe they lost this in Oklahoma City a few years back, but for the rest of us, we have remained relatively untouched. This is something on an entirely, unimaginably different level.
They keep saying this on TV, and it is true. This morning marked the end of Fortress America. We are no longer untouchable. We have been touched.
If it is over, and that is still left to be seen, where do we go from here? Who will we be, as a nation, after this?
It is too early to answer those questions.
Click here for the full version, continuing on into the evening.
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Bad day for Lebanon...
Something weird is going on with Blogger and I have no field for my headline. I might have messed it up when I was tweaking the template. (March 19, 2011 - It's back!)
Nothing on TV, but I think I'd fall asleep if I put a movie on. Nothing on TV except for the recycled talking heads offering their horror story predictions about the current escalation by Hezbollah and Israel... I have no real opinion, other than I would hate to be in Beirut today.
The sun is coming up over there now, and I keep missing big chunks of the stupid sitcoms that I am sort of watching to see if anything new happened. I have no predictions, probably more of the same for a while.
I have a hard time seeing this one flaring up into an actual war (Syria, Iran)... Lebanon is their buffer, it seems. Israel (and Syria) are allowed to have their way with it and no one gets too upset. Even if Israel took out a few targets in Syria, I am not sure what would happen other than Iran screaming its head off.
And I am trying to figure out if having over a hundred thousand US troops between Iran and Israel helps the situation. I am not entirely sure what an Iranian attack on Israel would look like- that is a long way for them to project power in that region.
So, while everyone may love to use this as an excuse to take on Israel (except for Jordan, Egypt, the Sauds, and just about everyone but Syria and Iran), I am not sure that they could if they wanted to right now.
I am not saying that being in Iraq is good, and I am pretty sure that Saddam wouldn't let a Persian army march across his land any quicker than we (er, the sovereign nation of Iraq) would, but...
Who knows? I may be wrong about all of this. Maybe it is war.
But what ever it is, it is a hell of a lot more dangerous for us that North Korea's fireworks display last week.
Nothing on TV, but I think I'd fall asleep if I put a movie on. Nothing on TV except for the recycled talking heads offering their horror story predictions about the current escalation by Hezbollah and Israel... I have no real opinion, other than I would hate to be in Beirut today.
The sun is coming up over there now, and I keep missing big chunks of the stupid sitcoms that I am sort of watching to see if anything new happened. I have no predictions, probably more of the same for a while.
I have a hard time seeing this one flaring up into an actual war (Syria, Iran)... Lebanon is their buffer, it seems. Israel (and Syria) are allowed to have their way with it and no one gets too upset. Even if Israel took out a few targets in Syria, I am not sure what would happen other than Iran screaming its head off.
And I am trying to figure out if having over a hundred thousand US troops between Iran and Israel helps the situation. I am not entirely sure what an Iranian attack on Israel would look like- that is a long way for them to project power in that region.
So, while everyone may love to use this as an excuse to take on Israel (except for Jordan, Egypt, the Sauds, and just about everyone but Syria and Iran), I am not sure that they could if they wanted to right now.
I am not saying that being in Iraq is good, and I am pretty sure that Saddam wouldn't let a Persian army march across his land any quicker than we (er, the sovereign nation of Iraq) would, but...
Who knows? I may be wrong about all of this. Maybe it is war.
But what ever it is, it is a hell of a lot more dangerous for us that North Korea's fireworks display last week.
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