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So where does the US stand with the Irish after tonight's speech? I mean, we're going to go after all terrorists and all countries that harbor them, right?
comment posted at 11:03 PM on Sep-20-01

God bless Jon Stewart and The Daily Show, back for their first show after the attack. It's not completely new, but God knows I needed to see it. New York may be OK after all. (Comedy Central will repeat the show several times before Monday, so don't despair if you thought it would be a rerun and missed it.)
comment posted at 10:53 PM on Sep-20-01

Bravo, President Bush! He hit the mark with this speech, correctly identifying the stakes, the principles, and the risks. More: he was passionate, feeling, and genuine. Did he win over any critics?
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comment posted at 1:15 AM on Sep-21-01

This popular mechanics article on E-bombs will keep you from sleeping tonight. For as little as $400 and some 1940's era technology, you could wipe out much of western civilization's infrastructure in an instant. We're about to enter a terrifying new world of combat.
comment posted at 5:26 PM on Sep-20-01

Biggest Opprotunist Gasbag Award goes to... Was anyone else turned off by faux-Detroiter Michael Moore's attempt to convert last weeks events into yet another opportunity to rant about his pet causes? Thousands of innocent people have been killed, and his next to initial response is that we need to reform minimum wage laws?!?
comment posted at 4:42 PM on Sep-20-01

Chinese sweatshops working overtime producing American flags. Just so we can show each other how much we value freedom and democracy.
comment posted at 4:46 PM on Sep-20-01
comment posted at 4:50 PM on Sep-20-01

Saturday Night, R.I.P. Canada's best magazine is no more, victim to cuts at the National Post. Saturday Night was also Canada's oldest mag and had been affiliated with some great writers and editors (like Mordecai Richler, Paul Tough of This American Life and Open Letters, and the snarky crew at Fametracker). Terrific front-of-the-book section and great NYT Mag-style features; have fun in the archives.
comment posted at 4:52 PM on Sep-20-01

Now is probably a poor time to start making bomb jokes at the airport.
comment posted at 5:02 PM on Sep-20-01

Is the music industry headed in a new direction after the events of last week? And I'm not talking about the release of the new Jay-Z album.
comment posted at 1:21 PM on Sep-20-01

Muslims in Peshawar eat the flag in protest. That'll show us.
comment posted at 1:30 PM on Sep-20-01

Firefighters refuse to ride on truck with American flag saying Old Glory was offensive. Are they Arab-Americans? No, they're African Americans who believe that "the flag [is] offensive and said it represented oppression." Valid complaint, or jumping on the bandwagon?
comment posted at 12:31 PM on Sep-20-01

Hellooooo internment camps!! "The Bush administration today announced a major expansion of its power to detain immigrants suspected of crimes, including new rules prompted by last week's terrorist attacks that would allow legal immigrants to be detained indefinitely during a national emergency."
comment posted at 4:13 PM on Sep-19-01

Egyptian plane crashes and U.S. says pilot a suicide Egypt denies suicide as cause of plane that crashed just off our coast. Any connection to WTC?
comment posted at 4:33 PM on Sep-19-01

Bill Maher calls U.S. cowardly; FedEx pulls ads from show It looks like that "Freedom of Speech" thing is too much for some people to handle. What do expect from a show like this? If you can't handle it, don't watch it.
comment posted at 12:09 PM on Sep-19-01

Interesting intelligence report points possible responsibility to terrorists other than bin Laden... Israel’s military intelligence service, Aman, suspects that Iraq is the state that sponsored the suicide attacks on the New York Trade Center and the Pentagon in Washington. Directing the mission, Aman officers believe, were two of the world’s foremost terrorist masterminds: the Lebanese Imad Mughniyeh, head of the special overseas operations for Hizbullah, and the Egyptian Dr Ayman Al Zawahiri, senior member of Al-Qaeda and possible successor of the ailing Osama Bin Laden.

Includes information about connections and previous activities... check it out...
comment posted at 12:43 PM on Sep-19-01

Patriotic Voting?
Granted, this is in Seattle, not New York, but here's the bit I found interesting: Voter participation is expected to jump all the way up to almost 35% because of what this article calls "patriotic fervor." Call me a cynic, but I can't help but think that when it comes to citizenship, most of us would still rather just chant 'USA! USA!' at a ball game. Comments?
comment posted at 12:45 PM on Sep-19-01

YA Guardian Opinion Piece It's a worrying day for me when I agree with Martin Amis. I particularly like the reference at the end to "species-conciousness". Do you have "species-consciousness"?
comment posted at 12:38 AM on Sep-19-01

Gov. Pataki offers free college to family members of the WTC attack. "Education, tuition, room, board, fees, whatever the costs are." Altruism or fiscal irresponsibility?
comment posted at 9:57 PM on Sep-18-01

Rush Limbaugh says "Robertson and Falwell Were Wrong". I never thought I'd see the day where I'd actually think about sending a thank you note to Rush, but it may be time. Limbaugh derides the fundamentalists' recent comments, stating "Suggestions of this kind are one of the reasons why all conservatives get tarred and feathered with this extremist, bigoted, racist, sexist, homophobic label or image that isn't true. The words of Robertson and Falwell are not the words of all conservatives - they are the words of Robertson and Falwell." Is this the beginning of a kindler, gentler Limbaugh?
comment posted at 9:42 PM on Sep-18-01

War on Civil Liberties Watch: Usable encryption is in deep doo-doo. A new poll finds 72% of Americans now supporting a ban on unbreakable encryption. (Apparantly breakable, and thus useless, encryption is just fine.) Besides the obvious fact that this stuff is already out there and cannot be taken back, particularly from non-US citizens who don't give a damn about our laws (such as, say, the exact people we're trying to defeat), is there any hope that the courts will find any such new laws unconstitutional?
comment posted at 4:55 PM on Sep-18-01
comment posted at 9:22 PM on Sep-18-01

An invasion now could be more costly than Vietnam Another article by the Independents Robert Fisk, this one showing how any infantry in Afghanistan would be a baaad idea - 10 million mines?? Thats more than 1 mine per Afghan, isn't it? The Russians got busy..
comment posted at 12:23 AM on Sep-19-01

Was a US attack on the Taliban been in the works since July? According to this BBC article, the US had been planning a "military action", for the end of October, since mid July. The plan was to invade Afghanistan,oust the Taliban, and install a moderate government, possibly under former king Zahir Shah. Are the attacks last week simply going to legitimize this pre-existing plan? Or am I simply being too paranoid?
comment posted at 12:25 PM on Sep-18-01

Is this Saddam's work? CBS News: "United States has received an intelligence report that Mohammed Atta, the hijacker who is named as the pilot of the first plane to strike the World Trade Centers, met early this year somewhere in Europe with the head of the Iraqi intelligence service." CNN is reporting it too.
comment posted at 12:15 PM on Sep-18-01
comment posted at 12:21 PM on Sep-18-01

The Global Toll A nicely done graphic from the Times outlining just how widespread the losses are. This really lends more perspective to the arguments that this was "an attack on humanity" rather than solely the U.S. [Found on Nixlog]
comment posted at 12:10 PM on Sep-18-01

9-11peace.org
Working for peace in the wake of September 11.
For those who have wondered just what exactly they can do besides flying the US flag or posting on MeFi (myself included in the latter).
This comprehensive site offers all sorts of concrete actions for those who believe that war is not the answer. You can email your elected officials; sign petitions; browse a list of suggested actions (from donating supplies for rescue dogs to flying the UN flag); and find out about upcoming events.
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comment posted at 4:38 PM on Sep-18-01

Martin Amis writes: 'Our best destiny, as planetary cohabitants, is the development of what has been called "species consciousness" - something over and above nationalisms, blocs, religions, ethnicities.' Naively idealistic or something to hope for?
comment posted at 9:27 AM on Sep-18-01

Interviewing Chomsky Linguist and left-wing icon Noam Chomsky makes some amazing points in this interview by Belgrade Radio B92. Chomsky presents a very plausible summary of Osama's point of view. And his thoughts about who might end up owning Pakistan's nuclear weapons are very sobering indeed.
comment posted at 9:14 AM on Sep-18-01
comment posted at 9:18 AM on Sep-18-01

Praise be to David Letterman for tonight's Late Show. Questioning himself the appropriateness of returning to the air, there he was--the man famed for his sarcasm and goofy antics--addressing his audience like a wounded child, completely bewildered, emotional, fighting back tears. And then the sight of Dan Rather sobbing despite himself and then apologzing---it was enough to ravage any audience. Perhaps, for the first time in a while, television didn't appeal to our lowest common demoninator but, instead, sought to raise us up and appeal to our humanity. Thanks Dave.
comment posted at 11:42 PM on Sep-17-01

Clear Channel bans Bruce Springsteen's "I'm On Fire", The Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," John Lennon's "Imagine," and "all Rage Against The Machine songs" (which I am sure they have wanted to do for awhile), but not The Cure's "Killing An Arab" or anything by Twisted Sister. Sounds a bit fishy to me. Clear Channel owns over 1,170 radio stations. [from FuckedCompany.com]
comment posted at 2:15 PM on Sep-17-01
comment posted at 3:34 PM on Sep-17-01

WTC Replacement... This would be sweet, imagine a 2000ft version of this puppy
comment posted at 2:43 PM on Sep-17-01

Natural Traveler quotes David Hubler of Potomac Tech Journal talking about the media. Sorry I couldn't find the article in the original magazine. He says he's peturbed media labeling the WTC event. On Tuesday, from a friend's lower east side apartment, admittedly in shock, I thought the media took the title America Attacked with naked clarity. The media, in its job of broadcasting uses devices as titles and eye witnesses and all obvious whatnot and often does so with bad taste. Not to over praise the media, but that morning I couldn't have thought of a better title. In another difference of opinion, David Huber thought the sunshine was a symbol of New York going on. Triumphant, if you will. And it was some of the most beautiful weather we ever get here. But I thought it was vulgur. The scenery for the wrong show. Perhaps again something naked, exposed. I'm finding that my response to this event is symbolism exploding everywhere.
comment posted at 2:55 PM on Sep-17-01

Onion saving new jokes for another day The Onion's on hold for a bit. An interesting quote from one of the writers- "'The age of irony is over." Does anyone agree?
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comment posted at 1:57 PM on Sep-17-01