Peggy Noonan on 9/11, Ten Years After.

Wall Street Journal, from the Associated Press

There are many thoughtful editorials on the events of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Peggy Noonan, as expected, writes about that day as well as anyone. The paragraph below is pulled from her piece, a link to it follows . .

"And there were the firemen. They were the heart of it all, the guys who went up the stairs with 50 to 75 pounds of gear and tools on their back. The other people who were there in the towers, they were innocent victims, they went to work that morning and wound up in the middle of a disaster. But the firemen saw the disaster before they went into it, they knew what they were getting into, they made a decision. And a lot of them were scared, you can see it on their faces on the pictures people took in the stairwells. The firemen would be going up one side of the stairs, and the fleeing workers would be going down on the other, right next to them, and they'd call out, "Good luck, son," and, "Thank you, boys.

They were tough men from Queens and Brooklyn and Staten Island, and they had families, wives and kids, and they went up those stairs. Captain Terry Hatton of Rescue 1 got as high as the 83rd floor. That's the last time he was seen.

Three hundred forty-three firemen gave their lives that day. Three hundred forty-three! It was impossible, like everything else.

Many heartbreaking things happened after 9/11 and maybe the worst is that there's no heroic statue to them, no big marking of what they were and what they gave, at the new World Trade Center memorial.

But New York will never get over what they did. They live in a lot of hearts. They tell us to get over it, they say to move on, and they mean it well: We can't bring an air of tragedy into the future. But I will never get over it . . ."

Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal, September 10, 2011

.

Dave Matthews, Gravedigger.

A disturbingly dark song, but one of Dave Matthew's best, at least lyrically. I've been thinking about rain a lot lately and my son had this playing in the car today, so . . .

Written by Matthews, covered by Willie Nelson, and this performance, Farm Aid 2003.

Cool, Clear Water.

Knee pain and the Sky Mall Catalog

At some point, on my average coach-fare flight, after I have slept through every piece of reading material that I have, I will be desperate for something to distract me from my throbbing knee caps.

And, eventually, as happened on Sunday's flight, I'll reach for that rag of last resort: the Sky Mall Catalog.

And I will wonder, Who buys this stuff? To wit:

The inflatable Pillow Tie?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Rollerblades? bicycle? skateboard? Hell no --

I want the Orbit Wheels for my Trinity River Park workouts.
Here I am wondering, "I wonder if these things have brakes?"

---------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Pink flamingos are too old fashioned for my yard.

The Yenti Big Foot Yard Ornament is more my style.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

But what I really need is more hair. See the little red light at the top?

That means the i-Restore Hair Laser is restoring hair to my balding head.
Don't I look happy? I wonder what book I am reading?
"How to Recover from Cancer Caused by Infrared Light" maybe?

So there you have it. My Christmas wish-list straight from the American Airlines Sky Mall catalog. Front pocket of Seat 22D.

.

Ronald Reagan Tells a Story (or, why I loved the Gipper)

Since it's the start of the long presidential horse race, here's a short story from the President I admired the most. He was able to make fun of political differences of opinion and he knew the limits of tasteful humor, guided by charity and manners.

It's short. Listen closely.