"Totalitarianism masquerading as a religion" is a very good way of putting it. A power grab by thugs, with the Koran and its followers as the means.

8 years ago, I lost someone I grew up with and many acquaintances. As large as Long Island is, it is also small enough that almost everyone knew someone who suffered a loss and thanfully even those who had a loved one who for some reason didn't make it to work that day. Luckily one of my closest friends was in Europe instead of at his job at the WTC. My ex was one of the responders and I will never forget watching the towers fall on television. It was a day that can never truly be described. There are no words to ever describe the horror and for me, today is a day to just honor the memories of all of the loved ones that were lost. It is very disappointing that my President thought that Walter Cronkite was important enough to come to NY to eulogize, but not all of the victims of 9-11.

I have a cousin who was starting his first day at a new job that day. He was in the building (was it WTC 7?) that part of the south tower fell on. They got out before that; when the north tower started to fall, a group of them ran eastward all the way across the bridge. He tells a comic-tragic story about being accosted by a woman for smoking a cigarette while they watched the south tower fall.

Amy, it's great to see someone in the media who does not have blinders on regarding the nature of Islam. It took me some independent study to convince myself that 9-11 was not an artifact of an extreme splinter, but rather a direct result of the way that the Koran specifies that Islam should be practiced.

Never forget.
Never surrender.
Never submit

I was at work in Westport that morning. You could see the smoke from the towers from the beach at Sherwood Island Park. There's a memorial there, and they hold a service every year.

"Totalitarianism masquerading as a religion", yeah. Although I've told people it's a socio-political system diguised as a religion. Same thing, pretty much; either way, its main goal is the eradication of everything not Islam.

I had to read the Koran in college for a religion class in 1994. Prior to that I knew nothing about Islam. I was stunned. And I was more stunned by the fact that no one else is the class thought that this was just a thug's handbook. My professor went off on how it's a beautiful religion and we need respect and embrace all beliefs. I felt like I was the only one who actually read the damn book. I've never been surprised by the actions of these maniacs since.

I was in the city last month for a Yankees game. We stayed on the other side of the river in Jersey. We got on the ferry to go to the city, and the first thing that struck me was that the skyline is just wrong.

It only took nineteen motherfuckers hopped up on jihad juice to fuck up so many lives.

And to this day, there are those who would rather surrender than fight. Fuck them all to death.

...A great book on the subject is "The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam". Very informative and eye-opening on the subject. The author, his name escapes me at the moment, draws many parallels between the Bible and the Koran, and also between Mohammed and Jesus, all of which our PC society would have you believe are related...

As someone who has spent some time with a number of Muslims in the middle east, I can say with certainty that not all who profess to be Muslims are bad, evil people. But, and this is the critical difference--your average run of the mill Muslim hasn't even read the Koran and doesn't closely follow its teachings--even simple things like praying 5 x daily. They're somewhat like the people who identify themselves as Christian and go to church on Christmas and Easter only. The RELIGION of Islam is hopelessly based on violence and death, and its values are in direct opposition to all that (most) Americans and Westerners hold dear. The "extremist" Muslims are actually Muslims that are faithful to their religion and a whole lot more mainstream than we'd like to believe.

9.11.01 Never forget

"Remembrance is worthless without resolve... Resolve is useless without action."

What saddens me is how much these criminals have affected all of our lives. Air travel, and the long waits associated with it, are a direct result. Crossing into the U.S. and the long waits and fingerprinting required of everyone but Canadians is a direct result. Yale printing "Cartoons That Shook the World" but refusing to actually show the so-called "Danish cartoons" is a direct result.

One wonders if everything will eventually be reset to "normal" or will things only continue to get worse?

The people who preach "tolerance" forget that tolerance has it's limits. Apply too much stress, and and things break. Islam has exceeded its tolerance boundaries, and so we have every right to hold it, and the people who commit these atrocities to accountable.

The people who preach "tolerance" forget that tolerance has it's limits.

More specifically I would say that tolerance is a two way street. No one should be expected to tolerate their own destruction.

-Julie

Still, we should pull out of Iraqistan ASAP. Those nations are not important to our welfare. We are spending trillions of dollars to prop up incredibly corrupt backwater thug states.
The veep of Afghanie is a drug lord, writes George Will. We are spending huge dollars to create a country dependent on opium, and in which the veep is a drug lord? This is what we have come to?
I dislike Islam as practiced by many, but remember that the WTC was 3,000 people. We lose 30,000 every year in auto accidents, and 18,000 a year in plain vanilla gunshot killings. Perspective. We have lost our marbles in our insane crusade against midgets. Hysterical fearmongering is not a sub for reasoned and effective action.
We have glamorized Al Queda through our incessant ranting about them, and waging a holy war against them. Bu$h jr's ranting about Al Queda was probably the best recruiting tool they ever had. They get tons of free PR from our continuing overreaction.
Still, we have little to fear from terrorism. Even if they attack fom time to time, so what? We lose way more people to drunk drivers. They are pinpricks against an elephant.
Of course, we should effectively target Al Queda leaders, with minimum fanfare (another Bush weakness. Every killing was highlighted as a victory. I think we killed the No. 2 Al Queda-Taliban leader about 43 times).
Marry a Mexican and have lots of kids. Alkon first, if she is so ready to take on Islam.
Bring in those Catholics. We can overlook the Inquisition. Or the Christians in Germany, they were so cool in WWII.
The way Japanese Buddhists just brought peace and love to Asia in WWII.
At least Alkon is right about being an atheist.

Quick Side Note: An American friend of mine on Facebook, recently moved to NYC, posted this:

"Madeline Gralish is thinking of all the brave passengers, office workers, firefighters, police officers, and bystanders who lost their lives on September 11, 2001."

Shortly after some European Leftist Moral Equivalency "friend" of hers posted this:

Huib-Jan Van Uum: "And of course all the Americans, Afghans, Iraqis, Europeans, and so forth who died in the conflicts that followed this tragic event."

I simply couldn't let that go and let him know it. He reminded me of an ex-friend of mine who I had dinner with on Sept. 12, 2001. She went on & on ranting how what happened the day before was all the fault of the American gov't. She wasn't on a conspiracy rant but rather a Reverend Wright like "the chickens have come home to roost" diatribe.

Of course U.S. Foreign Policy can & should be discussed & debated. But I'd like to submit that September 11th is absolutely the WRONG day to do it.

I-hole, you want to comment on 9-11, or just shit everywhere?

I just saw a picture from ground zero, a day or two after 9-11. A rescue worker had scrawled in dust across a facade "Rescue. Recover. Revenge".

This is a sacred day, not a service day. I am pretty bitter that our President has done little to reflect on the importance of this day with Americans, especially our New Yorkers. He really is a pansey-ass that one. I should know better than to have expected more from our ill-mannered Obama.

Feebie -

Obama's actions on this day are much more understandable in light of the fact that until last weekend he had a 9/11 truther for a Green Jobs advisor.

In Obama's worldview, we had it coming.

assholier than though .... You cant seriously think it is ok to accept terrorist attacks? What is your threshold for death? What happens when it becomes chemical, biological, or nuclear? What an idiotic statement.

A lot of hostility against last President Bush. In my opinion, he simply understood something a lot of people don't understand. WE FIGHT THEM OVER THERE OR WE FIGHT THEM OVER HERE.

If we pull out of Iraq as a lot of misguided people think we should, once again we will be reading of terrorist attacks in the US. Real smart.

Someone said losses from terrorism are low enough compared to car and shootings, we should not bother. Let us hope that person is one of the insignificant terrorist deaths.

I realized many years ago the conflict with Islam will never cease, and in my opinion eventually will have to be settled with nukes.

Thank you, Amy, for the updated article. My ex-husband was a responder that day as well as many of my friends on the NYPD and FDNY. I remember hearing many similar stories and feeling that the toll it would take on the responders would be much greater than the physical toll we still hear about. I remember the point they reached when the dig was for body parts and there was no hope of putting a body in a bag just as I remember hearing about some of the personal effects and watching as grown men tried to avoid crying, but could not. Officer Mauro wrote a beautiful piece about the reality of that day for him and many other rescue personnel.
I took my kids into Manhattan a few days after 9-11 because I felt so strongly that NY was our city and nobody could take it from us. Despite being victim to a terrorist attack a few days before, the city really banded together. We had all shared in a tremendous loss and came together with an optimistic view of the future. People worked together and there never seemed to be a loss of people wanting to volunteer to help in some way. Having my children see these firefighters and police officers working so selflessly was a very proud moment.

"Marry a Mexican and have lots of kids. Alkon first, if she is so ready to take on Islam."

Oh, that's GREAT advice - breed your way to poverty - at least your offspring may outnumber a bunch of thugs doing the same.

But we don't have to outnumber them. We just have to (unlike the Euroweenies) not tolerate their crap, and outsmart them. Not too hard, since at least (most) Americans still spend time learning math and science. If you're competing against a bunch of illiterates, the bench is set pretty low. If there aren't enough homegrown people to do it, people from India and other countries will flock here in droves, committed not only to education, but to the values of freedom and self-reliance that many Americans have come to lack. Remember, these people are escaping a caste system, and are moving in the right direction, even if our native lardtards are not.

When proudly spouting what it means to be an American, it doesn't hurt to stop and think for a minute about what that actually means.

Because for the past six years or so I've found meaning in life by giving Amy –a stranger to me– a rough time on her own blog, I wanted to contest her here:

> Islam is not "a religion of peace,"
> but totalitarianism masquerading as
> a religion, with a Quranic mandate
> to convert or kill the "infidel"
> (that would be the rest of us) and
> install "The New Caliphate."]

Then I remembered this (cut 'n paste works best):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DKfJfKb5y0#t=2m00s

"Any Muslim who thinks that his duty to kill or conquer all non-Muslims as absolute Koranic authority to do so."

PS— Ten minutes ago I heard the sonic boom from the shuttle coming down. Someone let me know if it doesn't work out.

The IRA murdered people for years.

No one gave a shit. Apparently they were 'freedom fighters'.

Wrong. We gave a shit. The British, however, decided that there was "an acceptable level of violence."

What to add to this load of crap?

I remember what happened.

I can not turn the other cheek.

I still think to this day that all those mother fuckers should be nuked until thhey glow. Then bend them over and use their asse
asses as runways lights.

It should never happened. It did.

What did we ever do too them personally? Gave them food? Give them a choice? Not tell them to sit down and shut up?

Kiss my ass! Fuck off and die!

I was in Paris when 9/11 happened. We were all shell-shocked at the TV footage -- French and local Muslims alike -- as I remember discussing the "event" with people from all confessions in a local bistro. Nothing to do with Islam. Rather, with extreme and nihilist fundamentalism -- which has its own and very sorry version in the U.S.

This is worth reading:

http://www.floppingaces.net/2009/09/11/the-falling-man/#more-27360

The Youtube video at the link is 71 minutes long, but worth the time. And the Esquire story is an extraordinary bit of writing.

Thanks for sharing, Martin. Very powerful.

Hysterical overreaction is just what terrorists want. Bush gave it to them.
Their one attack has cost us $1 trillion in Iraqistan, and who knows how much in worthless Homeland Security BS.
Even as about one million people enter the USA every year, by the sophisticated and high-tech method of...walking across the Rio Grande. Yeah, tell me about security.
What was the War on Terror really about?
Bush's ratings were plummeting pre 9/11. After 9/11 (the day after) they shot up (even though 9/11 happened on his watch, possibly due in part to his slothfulness and hubris).
Rove and Bush figured out a constant state of war boosted Bush's ratings, Hence, the war on terror, the neverending glory of battle etc. You suckers go along with this (not so much as to put on uniforms or pay taxes, but on paper you blog real tough).
The war of terror is really stupid. Did the 9/11 hijackers operate out of Iraq? No, they were largely Saudis, here in the USA, funded by Saudi "charities." We should have bombed Riyadh, if anybody.
Bush loved the Kingdom, and still does. He does kissyface with Saudi sheiks in Crawford. Quisling, if you ask me.
I am sorry some punk Saudi-financed terrorists killed 3,000 people nine years ago. I am more sorry we can't keep it in perspective, and that it is so easily manipulated for suckers like you readers of this blog. I am even sorrier we spent $1 trillion for nothing "fighting terrorists" (in Iraq?), and sorry we can't seem to stop 30,000 people every year from dying on roadways, or 18,000 in gunshots.
Perspective? The relative importance?
Can we get over 9/11--or would you prefer to husband these wounds forever, nursing every imagined grudge for generations?
Stateless punk terrorists pull off a heinous crime, and now you hate all Islamics?
Personally, I prefer a much more libertine society than Islamics like. It is not my cup of tea. Then, on the other hand, Westernization has suffocated native cultures all over the world, where women used to go topless and sexual attitudes were much more relaxed.
Should the women of Asia and South America hate the West for imprisoning them in shirts and bras (which we did)?
I am not afraid of a few punk terrorists, and it has been centuries since an Islamic state waged an invasive war against the West. On the other hand, the German Christians, and the Buddhist Japanese were pretty vicious, in the lifetime of people yet alive. The Buddhist Chinese of just 40 years ago were incredibly brutal as well.
I don't hate the Christians or the Buddhists. Or the Catholics. Or anybody.

"Quite the contrary, Laure. It has everything to do with Islam"

I beg to differ. Your persistent crusade against Islam only fuels extremists -- in their own faith, and in this very country. It's like assimilating all the Irish to the IRA, or the politically disgruntled Americans to Tim McVeigh. That's a dangerous slope towards caricature.

I'm not pretending to change your point of view. I am just bringing you mine, as a long time expat and global nomad: alienating the others' point of view only brings sorrow. And as a French person who spends her life between the US & Europe (and lived through "terrorism" of all kinds ever since I was born,) I can tell you that there are plenty of "islam-abiding" Muslims I know who have a very democratic, worldly view of the world.

Treating and alienating the others as extremists only drives them towards those very dark forces you and I fight against.

Not that you and I will ever agree ;)

>> That's a dangerous slope towards caricature.

No, it's not.

>>Treating and alienating the others as extremists only drives them towards those very dark forces you and I fight against.

You are not fighting against it. As previously stated, those who follow Islam but don't act out its violent intentions provide a base for those who follow Islam to the letter. So what is the effect of those who appease/fight for acceptance for those who provide the base for those who commit such appalling violence on many fronts? You seem to believe fighting for their acceptance is actually fighting the "dark forces". I disagree and suggest that, if you truly want to fight the "dark forces", you would kindly and respectfully let a "worldly and democratic" person know that the book of their chosen religion clearly advocates systemic brutal violence. Being that is a fact that runs contrary to "worldly democratic" views, why should they feel alienated?

At what point do we draw a line in the sand and unwaveringly state something is wrong (that is obviously wrong) regardless of the hurt feelings of alienation caused in a Parisian cafe? Would you also have advocated 60+ years ago that Nazis who didn't participate in the brutality be engaged in conversation and accepted?

For once I have to say that I-holier made a little sense. Iraq was never about terrorist attacks and I think we all know that. Afghanistan was possibly about 9-11, but who could ever know the motives of our last president. There was a Saudi link and it was always downplayed or ignored. I don't buy the government conspiracy theories, but I also don't think that we know everything or that we ever will.
I think that there is more to it than just a theory on radical Islam. There is so much more to understand about the way these people live in these Muslim countries. I was never a war monger but I remember telling a career soldier friend who was in Iraq and Afghanistan that I wished we would just bomb both so our soldiers could come home already. He very nicely told me as someone who has been to both places that the answers are not as easy as just saying Islam is bad, we are good. Its certainly not going to prevent more attacks. He met many people who were good to the soldiers and wanted a peaceful existence.
I have met and become friendly with a few Muslims that I have either worked with or known from the local area. They never struck me as hating America or wanting to hurt anyone. They seemed to want the same things in life that the rest of us do. I consider myself a Christian but have not been to church in years. I would hate anyone to base an opion of me on what they know as the Southern Baptists or anyone in the extreme religious right. I don't claim to know everything about Isam, but I also know that many bad things have been done in the name of Christianity and I don't see a movement to drive out Christianity.

"Personally, I prefer a much more libertine society than Islamics like. It is not my cup of tea. Then, on the other hand, Westernization has suffocated native cultures all over the world, where women used to go topless and sexual attitudes were much more relaxed." - i-holier-than-thou, above

His comments on this week's advice column: "Powerful men all through history do not pursue women. They have harems in-house of captured women, seduced women, bought women, any woman who looks good naked. That's what men want."

As well as:

"Men like sex, we love easy sex, we want sex all the time, we want sex on command, we want gorgeous nude women in groups to greet us when we come home, with cocktails and dinner, hot tubs going and pillows fluffed. That's what we want.
We do not want to pursue women, to date and blah, blah, blah. We want power so we never have to do that charade again."

i-hornier-than-thou, this is more about sex than anything else, isn't it! Except for topless women in public, your thinking is more in line with Islam's view of women. "We want power so we never have to do that charade again," you write. Sounds like you would fit right in over in Saudi Arabia.

Amy is spot-on with this, no way around it. I've met Muslims, too, and they were NOT nice people. As Amy says, "Ladies, it's hot going around with a pup tent over your head all the time." I'm not a young, physically fit soldier who can join the military, but if the shit hits the fan here in the US, I'd be quick to join a resistance movement or pick up a shotgun myself or do something equally useful in defense of my country. I'd rather die than be subject to Islamic rule and I believe that it will eventually come down to that since everyone, including our own president, is bowing to these murderers and lowering defenses.

> They never struck me as hating
> America or wanting to hurt anyone.

They don't have to, yet. The madness is in their sacred, unalterable text. Someday, one of them will turn to it after a bad day at the office and say 'Aha! The solution is to kill a non-believer, like that wench Kristen.'

And then what will you say about them?

Amy's saying it today.

Rozita-you go girl.
As for women, my thinking is probably the opposite of Islam's. I think women should be really free, to dress as they see fit (and free enough to not wear bras and shorts, as they did not prior to Westernization of Asia and South America).
I prefer the "marriage" arrangements that existed in North America prior to Westernization, in which either spouse was more or less free to leave at any time. If it was no longer consensual, then it is over. Equality for men and women.
Besides that, I love dogs, which, oddly enough, Muslims detest (I think a dog must have bitten Mohammed. More than one).
Rozita, if you really, really want to spook Muslims, get a couple powerfully built black dogs. For some reason, black dogs are specifically identified in the Koran as particularly evil. Muslims are not supposed to touch dogs, or have them in the house. How sad!
Of course, in the Holy Bible, usury is frequently identified as particularly evil. Meaning bankers are devil-ghoul-satan worshippers, I guess.
On the topic of sex: Yes, like a healthy man, I think about sex a lot.
It is better than my teen-age days, but still persistent. Which puts in with Thomas Jefferson, Bill Clinton, JFK, King David, Salman Rushdie and who knows how many other men. Issac Bashevis Singer.
"King of the Fields" by Singer is one of the best books ever. I recommend, btw.

"(I think a dog must have bitten Mohammed. More than one)"

Bwaaah ha ha ha! I imagine that even my sweet, squishy, doe-eyed, 8-year-old, fat-little-old-lady pug would have bitten that bastard.

Rozita gotsum good eyezon her... She spotted this:

> your thinking is more in line with
> Islam's view of women.

It's exactly that nourishment of personal, juvenile, macho whining that gives Islam its foothold in impoverished and dynamic cultures. Those people are scared, scared like an 8th grade boy who worries that he'll never get laid.

PS-

> where women used to go topless
> and sexual attitudes were much
> more relaxed.

Yeah... If you looked at a guy's sister sideways, he'd club you over the head with a rock. Very relaxing....

I've been to a land full of topless women, during a scuba trip here. It's important to understand how quickly the eye adjusts. By the third day, you'll be walking by the public library on a sweltering afternoon and you'll see a middle-aged woman walking past a market two blocks away in a t-shirt, and you'll think Hey!! What's her fuckin' problem over there?!?.

American men are fascinated with tits. If it weren't tits, it would be something else. (I personally think tits are a excellent choice for a rockin' industrial culture like ours.) You, I-holi, would be squealing like a weasel about whatever was going on, because that's your nature. Islam is not a policy problem, it's an exploitation of this character problem.

PS- The diving was incredible. I got a pat on the back from a manta here, and these mangroves are incredibly beautiful.

I found an old rusted Japanese cannon up in the hills, still pointed at the airport.

Re: "Amy, it's great to see someone in the media who does not have blinders on regarding the nature of Islam. It took me some independent study to convince myself that 9-11 was not an artifact of an extreme splinter, but rather a direct result of the way that the Koran specifies that Islam should be practiced." (Cousin Dave, 9/11 0716)

Re: "Thanks, Cousin Dave. Before 9-11, I thought Islam was just another bunch of gullible people like those who believe in astrology and like Jews and Christians who believe, sans evidence, in The Imaginary Friend. It is not. Islam is a dangerous death cult, and because so many Muslims have not read the Quran, some in America will tell you it's not like that, and think they're communicating the truth." (Amy Alkon, 9/11 0734)
---
Recently, I took out a book from my library "The Muslim Next Door" by Sumbul Ali-Karamali. She's the daughter of Indian Muslim immigrants to California. She has a BA from Stanford, a JD from UC Davis, and another graduate degree.

I'm now about half way through the book. So far everything I've read in this well-written and very explanatory book has confirmed my suspicion that I (and most of America and the Western world) abound with misconceptions and are quite ignorant about Muslims and Islam. For anyone who wants to learn more about this religion and its practitioners, I really recommend it.

Perhaps the biggest misconception is that people like bin Laden or extreme groups like the Taliban are supported by the majority of Muslims. That is absolutely not the case. Another is that the government of Iran, led by an brutal set of Islamic religious leaders, is in accord with previous Islamic tradition and is desired by most muslims in other countries.

The terrorist attacks by extremist Muslims breed fear and hatred in populations not familiar with the Muslim world. I think it's important, under such circumstances, to step back and try to learn more about religions, peoples, and cultures that are different from yours, and ponder the subject.

I'm the child of very traditional Catholics who's been an agnostic since about 18, many years back. I think I can add some thoughts on some subjects that have come up.

I find that many of the traditions and practices in the Muslim world abhorrent. However, it's helpful to look back in time, and realize that we in the Western world were a long time getting to where we are now. In the 20 centuries since Christianity developed, Darwin's theory of natural selection, which shattered so many previous assumptions, only emerged 150 years ago. Here in the U.S., women only got the right to vote in 1920. And due to various factors, such as the continuation of traditional ways, it wasn't until the 1960s & 1970s that women really began to gain a more equal footing in the work place and in power structures. Technologically speaking, the development and dissemination of reliable birth control only goes back to 1960. Before the time of birth control, human sexuality was a subject that was not treated as rationally as it is now. It was the cause of a lot of fear, something that could not be stamped out but would lead to children so easily if not contained, with all the resultant complications.

By the standards of 2009 in the U.S., 1959 was a backwards time, and 1909 even more so.

So Westerners should not be too surprised that practices within the Muslim world that have been around for centuries are not receding as quickly as we think they should. It's worthwhile to remember that many of the things that are deemed acceptable today, such as equal rights for blacks and gays, were also once regarded abhorrently by a large percentage, even majorities of the population of our so-called "enlightened" society.

I was forcibly married to the Catholic faith during my childhood. I hated things like reciting prayers and going to Mass. I had very negative thoughts about religious people and Catholicism in particular for some years. But over time I've come to see that religiously devout people are imperfect like everyone else and are mixtures of the good and not-so-good. For example, based on some personal experience, my guess is that most hospitals in the U.S. were originally set up by religiously devout people who felt a mission to attend to the sick and dying. Sometimes religious people have done wonderful and exceptionally humane things.

The cultures, traditions and religious practices which are so common in the Islamic world are not in accord with Western traditions and are repellent to me. Yet many in those countries willingly and happily embrace Islam, and harbor no bin Laden like enmity towards Westerners. I say, let us endeavor to find out why.

The first step in reducing uncertainty and ignorance is too admit to one's uncertainties.

Where've you been, Crid? I've missed you!

> many in those countries willingly
> and happily embrace Islam, and
> harbor no bin Laden like enmity
> towards Westerners. I say, let us
> endeavor to find out why.

I guess I'm just not as curious as you are.