September 11, 2007 archive

Hagee, Iran, “Theocratic Automatic Fascism,” & A Poem

(I will be returning to writing primarily about American Indian History and its related issues after this diary. Also, this is very long; so get some coffee if you need to or make a pot. It’s long.)

I had the extremely displeasurable experience of playing in an evangelical church after Hurricane Katrina. “This is Spiritual Warfare,” “Homosexuality is an abomination,” and “There is evil in the earth” were spewed like venom.

I got sick and tired of being screamed at, so I grabbed a pencil and some paper and wrote a poem instead of listening to all the hate. I tried to imagine what Jesus might feel like if he really did “come back,” what he might say now, and how he might feel. First though, let’s look at “Hagee, Iran, and ‘Theocratic Automatic Fascism'” after putting Apocalyptic Christianity into a historical perspective.

The Morning News

Yahoo News THE TOP STORY

New Bin Laden video appears on 9/11 anniversary: CNN
AFP
28 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) – A new video purportedly featuring Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden appeared on the Internet Tuesday, the sixth anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the United States, CNN reported.

The video shows a still image of Bin Laden with a voice identified as his praising September 11 hijacker Walid al-Shehri, who was aboard American Airlines Flight 11 which crashed into the World Trade Center, it said.

The authenticity of the video was not immediately confirmed, the television network said, adding that the video did not appear to show any moving images of Bin Laden.

Note- this is a second video, not the one from last week.

My 9/11 diary

(cross posted from daily Kos)

It’s the anniversary. I was there, in the building.  More below.

Muse in the Morning

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Muse in the Morning

The muses are ancient.  The inspirations for our stories were said to be born from them.  Muses of song and dance, or poetry and prose, of comedy and tragedy, of the inward and the outward.  In one version they are Calliope, Euterpe and Terpsichore, Erato and Clio, Thalia and Melpomene, Polyhymnia and Urania.

It has also been traditional to name a tenth muse.  I don’t have a name for one, but I do think there should be a muse for the graphical arts.

Please join us inside to celebrate our various muses…

I’m just curious

Before the opening, before the great flood, I’m wondering about the religious and/or spiritual or faith traditions to which people here would care to claim allegiance. It’s not always straightforward.

For this I will attempt a poll, something I have never done. So it will probably go all wrong. Much like I believe our religions have. Please answer conforming to what you think now; there is plenty of room to elaborate and excoriate in comments. Be as serious or as flippant as you want to be, this time around.

But I’m warning you: the fire next time.

Yes, I know this was a mistake. But I’d like a little snapshot of the group, before it grows up, changes, and moves away. I am nothing if not sentimental.

Midnight Cowboying – Dude, your building is on fire.

“Dude, your building is on fire.”

So said my roommate as he tried to rile me out of bed, that Tuesday morning. I rolled over and yelled, “Fuck off, I’ll go in when I go in.”

See, I had been laid off from my design firm in a hostile takeover on Friday, September 7, and on 9-11 we were suppose to be cleaning out our desks. Feeling no urgency to make the day easier for the assholes that just bought us out for our clients, I was sleeping in.

“No seriously, my dad just called, your building was hit by a plane.”

This got me out of bed in a shot, a chance to see an aeronautical disaster does not come along every day, and as a historian I wanted to see just one.

Requiem for a Building

This is adapted (slightly) from something submitted for a local one-year anniversary observance on September 11, 2002.  It’s a small offering, but perhaps worth looking back for a moment or two?  It was also my first diary at Daily Kos, two years back, garnering a grand total of 2 recs & 3 comments.

I had a student job from 1983-5, on the 96th floor of the World Trade Center, Tower Two.  The outfit moved long ago, so no one I’d worked with was still there.  This is the view from the office  —  you can see the Brooklyn Bridge in front.  You could sit back and watch the air traffic at JFK airport.  The world was a carpet at your feet.

Games People Play

Do more with less: A tribute to a genius

The Move On Ad

I have not been shy about the need to demythologize General Petraeus as the “honest broker” who will provide an independent assessment of the Surge. I wrote:

[T]his is not meant to doubt General Petraeus' integrity or competence. It is meant to treat him for what he is – not an infallible disinterested observer, but a soldier who believes he can accomplish an impossible mission and will view events in a manner that most favors that belief. This is to be expected from ALL human beings

What I must condemn is the use of the phrase “General Betrayus” by Move On in its ad today in the New York Times. This inexcusable use of the detestable Republican tactic of labelling those who disagree with you as “traitors,” something I have long objected to and I must, in good conscience, strongly condemn Move On's use of this deplorable tactic. Moreover, not only was this morally contemptible, it was political idiocy as the coverage of the ad clearly demonstrated. There is a way to take on the Petraeus myth. Glenn Greenwald demonstrated how to do it. And he is featured here showing how again:

Open Left has a petition you should sign.

Easy Chess Problems

I found an online chess editor that lets you arrange the board and download a jpg of the position.  Too cool! 

Apronus chess editor.

This might be useful for open threads or general chess discussion posts.  When I’m really, really in practice, I’m maybe a 1500.  Still, I like to read about chess events, opening schemes, endgame theory, chess history, and blah blah blah.

Teachers

I have had many teachers in my life. They are precious to me. One of my first teachers was Carlos Castaneda…even in spite of himself the teachings came across potently.

Carlos introduced me to “internal dialog”, the power of silence, a separate reality, humility, the art of dreaming, the limitations of personal history, losing self importance, petty tyrants, and the ongoing mystery of life.

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