Just a little update on that whole 9/11 memorial ceremony debate I told you about earlier. I just don’t see why they can’t put off construction for a day and let the people do their thing. Bloomberg suggesting that we all should just move on is rather offensive if yes, true, we should move on, but we should still remember the day and allow mourners to do their thing. It’s only been six years. We were still at war six years after Pearl Harbor. We were still screaming remember Pearl Harbor then. And 9/11 is still used as fodder for our present war. So to say that we should move on and not commemorate it in the same meaningful way is a little contradictory.

When I first read the WTC Boycott Metro headline this morning, I thought the families were finally standing up against the horrible reconstruction plans. Though this was not the case, they are in fact threatening to boycott the rememberence ceremonies this year if they were not held on the WTC site. Bloomberg has said they can’t hold the ceremony there because of the construction (there’s construction there? looks kinda empty to me). Now, I’m fine with Bloomberg saying it’s unsafe and that they can’t hold it there, etc.,etc. whether I think it’s true or reasonable or not. It’s his call in a lot of ways. But the way he went about it, using the word impossible, seems a little extreme to me. He should be willing to compromise, to listen, and not immediately dismiss plans as impossible. There’s got to be some reasonable compromise, right?

Also, interesting in remembering 9/11 news, apparently the debris from the WTC travels around the states. Colorado has it now, and admittedly when I first found this out I wasn’t a big fan. I don’t know how I feel about sending this debris around like art. A year after the attacks, I went to the Venice biannale where in front of the US pavilion, there was a giant beam from one of the towers. It was frightening to say the least. I wouldn’t necessarily say it was touching to me. It was more that I felt that same sadness, which is exactly what I would not want to feel. So, it’s hard for me to see this debris sent around the states and the world, but at the same time, I do understand the want for the rest of the country to see this and feel it. It’s a delicate line to tip toe along. One does not want to be seen as presenting tragedy as spectacle.

But seriously, I’m sure you’ve heard about the active weekend in various terrorist cells. CNN is running a picture that sort of looks like the greased up deaf guy (too soon) on it’s front page. I’m not entirely sure what’s going on.  Anyway, pretty serious stuff between the Glasgow airport car bomb and the crazy nail car bombs they found in the London night club districts (see, that’s why I don’t go to posh clubs - too soon?).

Okay, I’ll stop with all that nonsense. What I’ve been finding interesting about the reports on all of this stuff, especially the ones coming from the government, is that they’re saying that they were tracking the terrorists and were minutes away from finding them and all sorts of garbage like that. This means nothing. That’s really what I’m learning here. Every time some country stops a potential terrorist threat, they say something along the lines of “we’ve been tracking the terrorist threat some time now.” It’s like a congratulatory pat on the back. People sort of have to learn that this means nothing, because you need to stop the threat before it happens if you’ve been tracking it all this time, not just as it’s happening from some tip about a car (the London bombs), because you can also be too late as evidenced by the Glasgow bomb.

Counter-terrorism and this whole idea of a preemptive strike are bullshit. We need to start holding our governments more accountable, right? We can’t just let them get away with patting themselves on the back and saying, “You know, we almost had that one.”