Four years later

I thought about this yesterday. A lot.

That was a day off, I was making tea and listening to a local rock station when they came on and said there were reports of an airplane crashing into the World Trade Center. First thought, some idiot in a Cessna got caught in air currents while flying where he shouldn't and crashed. They didn't say 'airliner' at that time, so I didn't think much of it. Then (as I recall) the report came of a plane hitting the Pentagon. One plane, accident possibly; two planes, planned attack, and I turned on the tv, just a minute or two before the second plane hit the other tower.

I stood there watching this and getting more pissed by the minute. And the too-often inane chatter of the news weenies didn't help. And then, one of the idiots, a female I believe- I don't remember which channel I was on- repeated for about the fourth or fifth time something like "terror striking into the hearts of America" and I yelled "What about the PISSED OFF striking in the hearts of America?"

Damn near screamed it, really. I didn't need this idiot speaking as if everyone was huddling in front of the screen shaking, and it really annoyed me. And it still does. How can anyone NOT be pissed off about it?

How can anyone NOT be pissed at the bastards who did this? Listening over the next few days to people counseling that we wait, that we show 'restraint'- which to them meant saying "We're sorry!" over and over and crawling on our bellies-, then seeing protests that we should not use military action... I didn't understand it then, and I don't understand it now. I was sitting there thinking, I want them dead. The ones who helped them plan this, the ones who gave them safe places to train, the ones who gave them intelligence and aid, all of them. And I still do.

Bitch all you want to at Bush, I do. There's a lot he has and hasn't done that ticks me off. But bitch at him about real things. I hear some idiot spouting the 'War for Halliburton' shit, and I think seriously about running over them at this point. Mark Steyn said today that the loonies look on Bush as the nutcase moslems look on the Jews; responsible for anything and in league with the devil, and I'm sick of it.

I'm sick of politicians who voted to go to war giving speeches about how it's a mistake, and don't you dare bring up what I said in the vote. I'm sick of people who say "we support the troops but not the war" who off-screen speak of the troops as troglodytes who don't have the brains to think, and flatly say they want our troops to die. I'm sick of people who claim that being on the other side is 'patriotic protest', and scream "Don't you question my patriotism!" when this bullshit is pointed out. I damn well DO question your patriotism, and I do it based on your own damn words. I question the patriotism of politicians who think any military problem, anything that happens is nothing more than a way to push their party, regardless of consequences.

I'm sick to death of idiots who blame this country for all wrongs in the world. Yeah, we use a lot of energy; we also produce a huge amount of stuff, from food to machinery and tools and medicine and books and on and on with it, so shut the hell up. This country, despite the actions of some of these people- and I include a lot of politicians- is still the the place where you can speak your mind, where you can defend yourself, where you can read what you want and say what you think.

In a way you've got the war against the terrorists, fought with troops and equipment, and we've got the war against the terrorists of the mind. These are the clowns who think you shouldn't be allowed to say or think or believe anything that might 'upset' anyone, including the islamist nuts who want us all converted, dhimmi or dead. They think your right to think ends as soon as you have a thought that someone might be bothered by.

To both groups, a big Fuck You. To the first, you're dying by the bunch now, and you'll continue to do so. Despite what his the evening 'news' on the major channels, most of the people in this country support our troops and want us to WIN. Not 'come to accomodation' with you, to stomp you until you stop trying to kill us. For good. To the second, something you don't seem to understand: Freedom of Speech has to include people you don't like and ideas you don't agree with, or it doesn't actually exist. If someone is kept from speaking because their words might give you the vapors, there is no freedom of speech, that's become only a buzz phrase that makes you feel good to say you support. So screw you both.

I've got a flag flying out front, because I love this country. Not whoever is in the White House or Congress, the United States of America. Not a political party, but the Declaration of Independance and the Constitution. That gives you a problem, stick it up your ass.

I'm done for now.