Tag: Terrorism

Really? Totally unfocused rant

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Warning, this post is following my line of thought right now which is extremely unfocused, angry and just plan all over the board.

I thought of posting a huge political rant expressing my pure disgust with the attack on our sovereign land carried out in both Egypt and Lybia.  My disgust over the initial apology issued by our embassy in Egypt to those who attacked us.  My disgust over the fact that we have no time for our allies but continue to bend over to appease those who would seek to destroy us.  The President has walked the statement back since but what does it say that the embassy felt comfortable to issue the statement in the first place?

Then I looked at Facebook and saw a post saying to put away the pink ribbons until October because this is Pediatric cancer month.  Really? So, unless it is the actual month put aside for it, we should not recognize an issue.  It seems that September is also National Preparedness Month so please get ready for any disasters before the end of the month because once October hit..no more!   It is also notional yoga month, national chicken month, guide dog month, honey month and National Hispanic Heritage Month from mid sept to mid Oct.

I had to look that up and was shocked that September was so important..there is a list for every month.  So, if I follow the direction I saw on FB this morning, does it mean I can only openly consume Chicken in September?

Really?  How about we just live.  How about an overall recognition of “Cancer” of all forms. I mean it is the second largest leading cause of death second only to Heart Disease.  Is there a person out there whose family has not been affected by it in one way or another?  Now we will fight over whose month it is?

So after the super market I put on the news for a minute before my little one got home from school.  How should I feel about a teachers union who finds it appropriate to put 350K student on the streets?  The average salary for Chicago teachers is 71K in a city that when compared to the 10 largest American cities has the shortest school day and year.  A district that only graduates 6 out of 10 students in high school.  They chant “who’s school’s, our school’s”.  Interesting.  What about the children?

NOW.. I know someone has already had a thought that I am anti teacher.  I am far from it!  I believe that like any other business, workers should be rewarded for good work.  I would have no issue with teacher making six figures if students were excelling.  I believe in reform!  Pay teachers more but there has to be a standard to which performance is measured like all other industry.  Failing school district should not be offered 16% pay raises.

Still reading?  Well thank you for sticking with my thoughts.  As a parent, I fear for the safety of my young children who have to grow up in the world that we leave them.  What do we as a nation stand for, if anything anymore?  We fight over everything, adults stooping to name calling.  I teach my children that this is bad behavior yet every where you turn this politician calls that one some offensive things.  Everyday people do it with out thought and then we wonder why the bullies are running wild in our schools.

I wish it was as simple as turning off the news but we all know it is far from it!

Can’t believe it has been 11 years

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I remember as a child anytime someone would speak of President Kennedy they would always add that they remembered where they were and what they were doing when he was assassinated.  As a young person, those statements had no real meaning.

September 11, 2001 brought meaning to those words.  I was at the Best Buy in  Albany NY.  My Operations partner Sara and I had flown in Sunday morning for the physical Inventory Sunday night.  We woke up early Monday morning and headed to the store to help begin the reconciliation process.    I had been in the warehouse unaware of anything happening until I walked into the employee break room where I found a few employees watching television. They told me that there had been an accident and a plane had hit the World Trade Center tower.  As I stood there, the second plane hit.  I still recall the chill I felt, the shock, the looks we shared because we all knew that this had been no accident.

The next few hours become more blurred.  Employees who had family member in NY city.  Changing all of the televisions to live news and setting up chairs for customers to sit. My mother finally getting a hold of me, in tears.  I remember telling her I was sorry I had not called but I was not in NYC.

We were due to fly home later in the day which of course could not happen since air travel was shut down.  We ended up in a dumpy motel in a not so nice nearby city.  We shared a room and took shifts throughout the night watching the television hoping survivors would be found.  This was not intentional it kind of just happened. The next morning we drove our rental car home.  Driving into the silent airport is another feeling I will never forget.

We would like to pound our chest and say that the cowards who attacked civilians going to work did not change us, but that is not true.  We have cameras on every corners watching our every move.  We are molested while trying to board an airplane.  We hand over our personal belongings for search as we enter any large public venue.

Interviews are done with people who always say similar things about they do not mind a little inconvenience if it makes them safer.  But is it any safer really?  As people were taking off their shoes in the Philly airport in March, a drunk out of control man drove his car right through security fences onto the runway of the airport.  Last week the current boyfriend of a woman mad about the actions of an ex called in a fake bomb threat to a plane the ex was on.  The plane full of people  traveling to Texas had to be turned around and searched.  Millions of dollars spent on cameras that no one watches or do not work.  A study done over the summer showed half of the cameras in a Philadelphia  did not function properly.

The buildings at ground zero are still not completed due to labor and political issues and the museum still not open due to political and religious disagreement .  And we still refer to it as “Ground Zero”.

“Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”  Benjamin Franklin