Senator Declan O’Scanlon and Assemblywoman Serena DiMaso today condemned the NJ Turnpike Authority’s removal of American flags from overpasses and moved forward with legislation that would unequivocally allow the flag to be flown.
Middletown Deputy Mayor Tony Fiore responded to the news that the Twin Beams represented the World Trade Center will not be lit this year in remembrance of those we lost on September 11, 2001, due to COVID-19 public health concerns, by promising that Middletown’s annual remembrance will go on.
Part of me would like to forget September 11, 2001.
It was a horrible day, parts of which I can remember like it happened last week. The phone call from my assistant asking if I’d heard about the plane crashing into the World Trade Center. The meeting where we didn’t discuss our work but were listening to the radio reports of the incident when the second plane hit. The horror when we realized that our country was under attack. The tearful phone call from my father who feared for a family member who worked in downtown Manhattan. The crowd that gathered in my Highlands backyard watching the smoke in the distance and the ferry boats docking with soot covered strangers. Phones stopped working. Sending my employees home early. The look on my wife’s face. Read the rest of this entry »
Congressman Chris Smith and Middletown Mayor Gerry Scharfenberger
Everyone remembers where they were and what they were doing—I was in Washington chairing a Veteran’s Affairs Committee hearing—when a group of cowards hijacked airliners in order to perpetrate the worst act of terrorism in American history.
No-one remembers the shock, horror and numbing sorrow more, however, than the families and close friends of the victims.
Because it was a surprise attack, there was no chance to fight back that day although when Todd Beamer and other passengers learned what happened to the Twin Towers, Todd famously said “let’s roll” and attacked the terrorists on board the flight that crashed in a Pennsylvania field.
Who can forget the courageous first responders running up the stairs of the burning buildings—with total disregard for their own safety—saving some at the expense of their own lives.
I shared a quote with my Facebook friends last night from Rudolph Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City, on the eve of this 12th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks:
“The attacks of September 11th were intended to break our spirit. Instead we have emerged stronger and more unified. We feel renewed devotion to the principles of political, economic, and religious freedom, the rule of law and respect for human life. We are more determined than ever to live our lives in freedom.”
Pretty soul stirring, right?
Then I started to wonder if it was still true, Save Jerseyans.
Evidence to the contrary: (1) the NSA is intercepting our personal phone records and (2) Americans can’t board an airplane without invasive searches; (3) Government spending is now approaching 40% of the GDP, greater than any time in our history save for World War II; (4) Washington can compel you to buy anything that Congress wants you to consume provided that it’s accomplished under the guise of a “tax” or, in the case of real property, transfer yours to another private individual for the “public good”; (5) Government opposition groups suffer punitive tax audits and (6) major scandals are shamelessly covered up.
Now that the Obama administration’s spin that the ongoing anti-American riots in the Middle East that started on September 11 are caused by a reaction to an idiotic video is failing to hold up under scrutiny, the State Department has told reporters to stop asking about the crisis. Most mainstream reporters and media outlets seem to be fine with that.
Have you seen the video? Probably not. According to YouTube’s counter, it has only been viewed 3.6 million times. That may sound like a lot of views. By typical YouTube standards the video is viral. Yet for the supposed impact it has had on the world, the lives it supposedly cost and the news generated about it, the equivalent of less than half the population of New Jersey has viewed it. More people have seen pictures of Princess Kate’s boobs, which were easier to find on the Internet than the video was. I guess it is refreshing to know that the President of the United States has more influence on the media than the Queen of England does.
