i was unlucky enough to live in texas while shrub was governor, and his father president. then i moved to florida where jeb bush was governor when dubya needed a little help to steal the election.

none of that compares to his despicable actions against our soldiers. if he cares so much about those in the military, how come so many of them qualify for food stamps?

trust me i could go on forever. he and cheney should be impeached and prosecuted for war crimes.

The images rebroadcast every year, probably for the rest of our lives, are to help us remember. We cannot grow complacent in our creature comforts and forget that terrible day. Also, there are those who were not born in 2001 who will need to know about what happened, and those photos/videos/etc are there to remind and educate us.

As for the politicians, I won’t tell them to shut up. I won’t infringe on their (or anyone’s) freedom of speech. They have the right to talk about it, but they don’t have the right to force me to listen. Why not just turn the channel (or better yet, turn off the radio/television) or put down the newspaper and do some community volunteering if you feel that strongly about it?

I was on a bus on the day the London tube went bang. And that was a 50/50 chance, otherwise I would have been on one of the lines that was involved. I remember.

9/11 was brutal, callous, tragic. We all know that. There is no need to wallow in it. It is not a badge that every American needs to flaunt, gold or embroidered.

Thanks, Chris.

And Chris E, you are absolutely right. We are just a few years from 9/11 Sell-A-Brations especially if it ever becomes a National Holiday. The commerical media machine that is America will exploit anything.

The clean-up would have cost us less than the wars have.

I too am tired of 9/11 ‘Remembrance.’ The biggest single remembrance is if they could get the stupid replacement building up in NY. They’ve spend more time and effort arguing over it than it took to design and build the original WTC.

I live one hour south of Boston where those planes came from. Some ijit decided to get his girlfriend out of work that day by calling in a bomb threat. Two months later we laid off an entire call center… A rather large call center. We feared we had lost someone we knew in Ground Zero (Thankfully no). My daughter barely understood what was going on. How do you explain to a 6 yr old what happened other than as gently as possible?

TO all those that want to politicize this tragedy, here’s a big cup of STFU… Shut the f*** up.

Bravo Chris…

I don’t have much with the conspiracy theories, but I do agree with Chris’ general idea.

Why can’t we have reasonable debates about security and how much of our liberties we want to exchange for more security? Why can’t we ask questions about the nonsensical regulations of the TSA? Why do I have to throw away my airport bought bottle of soda away after going through immigration, and before my connecting flight? Why doesn’t the TSA show data on how much safer we are?

Why can’t we just mourn that horrible day – without politics? Why do senators who have not shown themselves are commemorations in the last 6 years, suddenly show up all over the place, while having the sickening audacity of saying that they are not campaigning? Why does no single journalist ask them about that? BTW, as a foreigner, is there really no place for other flags than the stars and stripes? What about the people from the other 90+ countries that got caught in the middle? Where are their flags? Why are they ignored?

Why does the media keep repeating the most horrific images of 9/11? Why do people keep watching them? Why doesn’t anybody tell them it is quite morbid to repeat the images of dying people? Why don’t the media figure this out themselves? There is plenty of other footage.

Somebody brought up that a lot of people died in Katrina and that the federal response was minimal. Has anybody noticed that as of couple of months ago, more US soldiers had died in Iraq than at all the three 9/11 sites combined? Why has there been no debate whether it actually makes sense to send more soldiers to death than were killed in the first place?

Let me finish by saying that I don’t really care about the answers on the questions that I ask above. I just wonder why these questions haven’t been asked, and debated. Some have logical answers, others don’t, some answers go left, some right – whatever.

It’s the debate I am missing though.

BTW, the Pentagon is in Arlington, Virginia, NOT Washington, DC
[And for the ubernerds, yes, the Pentagon *address* (and zip code) says Washington, DC, but that's only so they can use the USPS division in DC that handles all Federal Mail, including the necessary safety precautions]

I also agree that the tables have turned on this patriotism attack. Initially, some misguided folks questioned the patriotism of those who didn’t wrap themselves in the flag. However, today, the opposite is true. If you suggest, as I proudly do, that the 911 conspirary theories are the silliest thing I’ve seen heard since Bigfoot, you are accused of attacking one’s patriotism. To the contrary, the attack is on one’s judgment and good sense, or lack thereof. Fortunately, former-President Bill Clinton says it best,

“Are you one of those it-was-an-inside-job guys? Let me tell you something…I let you be rude and interrupt me, scream at the top of your lungs. 9/11 was not an inside job; it was an Osama bin Laden job with 19 people from Saudi Arabia,” Clinton continued. “They murdered 3000 Americans and others foreigners, including over 200 other Muslims. And we look like idiots, folks, denying that the people who murdered our fellow citizens did it when they are continuing to murder all around the world. So we heard from you: you go away.”

Or perhaps he should have said, just shut up?

I’ve never loved one of your pieces more. I connected with you at every level here and while I’m sure you appreciate all the comments people left, I must say that to me, if there were any problem with this piece whatsoever, it would be with the people who were not astute enough to understand what you were saying. That, to me, seemed to be the only issue.

And it is no surprise really that it seemed to be more of the same we’re seeing every day from ignorant people on both sides of the fence, who want to run off at the mouth without taking the time to investigate the issues, ask questions, seek answers or at the very least (gasp! god forbid!) read something thoroughly before they pollute the atmosphere with their skewed, misinformed (and unwanted) opinions.

But as for what you said here, I say: well done. We don’t need any more mealy mouth, pansy-pants, politically correct garbage clogging the tubes. That’s all main stream media shoves down our throats, day in and day out. Your voice is certainly a welcome refreshment and an utter necessity at this point, cutting through the crap and saying what needs to be said, be it in season, or out of season.

The world needs more voices like yours right now.

But those questions have nothing to do with conspiracy theories. Rather, they’re the questions that Congress should have had the courage to ask rather than let the sanctimonious John Ashcroft bully them into passing the so-called Patriot Act and authorizing the TSA and the rest of the Homeland Security bureaucracy. A few examples:

Are we getting sufficient benefit to justify the cost of the TSA (including its new uniforms), measured both in taxpayer dollars and in inconvenience (along with loss of privacy and dignity) to millions of travelers?

Have the policies and actions in response to 9/11 made the Homeland safer, stronger, or more secure?

Has the Executive’s enhanced authority to bypass normal legal and constitutional constraints (e.g., warrantless wiretapping, “enhanced interrogation methods,” indefinite detention of terrorist suspects) given us enhanced safety and security commensurate with its costs in dollars and civil liberties?

If the administration has made progress toward winning the War On Terror, why has the Official Terror Alert color code has not dropped below “Yellow” since the day it was created?

That’s getting away from travel, to be sure. But changes to the way we travel are perhaps the most visible sign that “we’re At War.” As we patiently remove our shoes and let the fine Transportation Security Officers in their wonderful new uniforms confiscate our unlabeled shampoo bottles (which isn’t an official rule, but some of them do it anyway), it may be time to start asking whether the hassles we accept in the name of “the War On Terror” are actually doing us any good. Even in a time of War, our Leaders still need to be accountable to the people they protect and serve.