When Tragedy strikes, September 11

[Doug]

Words cannot describe the devastation of September 11. It was absolutely the worst day in this country in a very long time as both Trade Towers come down, the Pentegon is attacked, and another plane goes down that was intended for yet another target. It impacts not only the US, but well beyond.

I only hope that each of you, your family, and friends are safe. This tragedy almost struck fairly close, as a lady on my floor, her sister was to be at the Trade Towers today, but had not left the hotel. I hope each of you have distance from it as well.

Doug

[Andrew Pratt]

Words alone can not express what we're hearing on the news regarding the events that have happened today. Its implications are almost unfathomable, but I believe we will not be the same people we were tomorrow that we were yesterday. Truely a sad day for humanity.

[Bing Fung]

Horiffic are the events, as this must be the end of innocence.

I'm left not understanding humanity and the reasons we do what we do.




Bing

[George Bellefontaine]

My heart goes out to all Americans affected by this terrible tradgedy. I only hope that the cowards responsible, and any country sheltering them are dealt with quickly. The US is not alone in this. These cowardly acts can happen anywhere in the free world.A terrorist is the lowest form of human scum and should be eradicated at any cost. As Andrew and Bing said, we will not be the same ever again after this terrible time in history.




My Homepage!

[ChristianT]

Did anyone else see the footage on CNN of the people celebrating in the streets of Palestine? I can't possibly imagine having that kind of hatred towards another human being.

Christian

[Chip]

I'm here in South Jersey, right between NY & Washington...directly across the bridge from center city Philly. EVERYTHING shut down today. I'm a union cement mason, working for Bechtel, the largest construction co. in the world and, the cops came by and evacuated my job site at 11:30 today. I feel so bad about this...

- Chip




Chip Engle


"Concrete ain't a spectator sport"


<a href="http://www.htguide.com/bilder/index.cfm?fuseaction=arkivbilder&userid=0&selected userid=336" target="_blank">My HT

[Doug]

I heard about that Christian. Simply unfathomable. Why do they think that represents the US? It's only people, like you, like me. That is the real tragedy here, not the buildings.

Geese, We are supposed to treasure human life, not anialate it.

Chip, glad you weren't in the area.

Doug

[KennyG]

My day has been very strange, many times I have sat down, stared at the sky, and wondered who could do such a thing, and how could they hate us so much, and not even know us...
I have been in tears several times.
My daughter is down at the blood center, waiting in line for three hours...I can't give, I have a cold...I came home and Diane and me just hugged and cried.
Our country will be forever changed by this.
This will go down in history as the worst attack on us...you might say "what about Pearl Harbor?"
Pearl was military installation, therefore a legitimate target. It was also hit by a nation with a face, and not a cowardly yellow dog.
This was done by cowards who went after civilians.
Our resolve must be strong, and unrelenting, for this will be a new type of war.
This should be a faceless war, fought from the snipers scope.
I'd hope within the next few days thousands of special ops troops would be going into positions overseas.
We have files on all these terrorists, we need to start hunting them in the streets.
Id & terminate, Id & terminate.
As one drops and the next picks up the flag of terrorism, they become the next target.

[Doug]

Kenny, said with heart, conviction, and resolve. I would support that decision 100%. It must be known WORLDWIDE, that you don't have to be a trigger man to go down, and go down hard. Soon, recruits for their mad causes could become harder to come by. A few loonaticts without followers are just nuts. Add an army of supporters, and they are plain dangerous. Take them out one at a time, and do it NOW.

Doug

[JonMarsh]

Talk about a surreal day... being in the convention/conference center all day, getting a few bits of informationn through the laptop over an analog phone line, though most news sites are down, unable to handle the volume... then seeing the horrific footage on NBC and CNN while trying to eat dinner... trying to grasp the reality of it, the first attack on the US in the North Americaln continent since the War of 1812.

How people can be so far apart in world view, values, and perspective, to be able to justify such acts- to be able to order suicide strikes of this magnitude- as if it was some justified act of God's will. The things some men have tried to justify over the centuries in the name of God... while only fulfilling their own hate and evil...

Well, there's so much speculation about who could do this, who most likely has done this, and of course, those who support them. The extreme of the extremists, of course. Think of the number of firefighters and rescue workers alone that were killed when the second plane crashed into the south tower- estimates are over half of those on the scene. The pain and sorrow their families are feeling, as a result of men doing their duty with courage and discipline, trying to help their fellow man in need.

It disgusts, it polarizes, it taints us with their evil, by the way it feeds our fears and hate. Such a profoundly sad day.

-Jon




Earth First!
_______________________________
We'll screw up the other planets later....

[Trevor Schell]

I am in shock of the events that have occured in the U.S.A. today and my prayers do go out to the victims of this tragedy.
It is really hard to understand how someone could plan and execute such an attack. This is really Unreal and would have to be the most tragic event that I have experienced in my lifetime.
To all my American freinds I give you all a long moment of silence and my thoughts are with you and your country which I respect very much.




Trevor
My HomeTheater S.E.
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[Wireless]

I have been in a state of shock today and these events hit closer to home. A friend of mine, her cousin works on the 57th floor. We stayed by the phone hoping to hear from his wife, who is a NYC police officer. As of last night, no one had heard from him. I pray for all of the victims, their families, and for all of us.




John
My HT Picts

[Huskerduck]

I am not in the kind of shock and terror as the rest only because as a 18 year old kid as a member of The 101st Airborne and Multi National Forces and Observers was stationed in Sinai Egypt and experianced this same horror first hand when the Shiite Muslums decided the Marines Barracks In Beruit and the 200 marines needed to be struck and I was less than 60 miles away and was rapidly deployed to assist and guard/clean-up the intense destruction and for the first time realized I now had an intense hatred for a certain sect of people who are so cowardly, they stand behind religion to justify mass slaughter.

In the 20 years since I have yearly stood in shock that no terrorist attacks have been successful on our soil by these Muslim extremeists so yesterday when I got word of the tradgedy it was of no shock whatsoever to me and had no feelings of sorrow ( I mourned for years as a child turning into a man) but instead a re-kindling of my mellowing hatred for these spineless weasals.

Its now time to pick up the peices in New York and D.C., load them up on Bombers and drop every piece of concrete and steel mixed with intense barrages of missles right down on the throats of these people and the countries that harbour these slime.

As I saw the cheering of the Palistinians I felt a great relief for these people that I wasnt the President of the United States because their cheering would have within hours turned to screems of horror as they felt the wrath for such support of cowardness ,

Afghanistan, you must be so proud to harbor these scum and your lucky I have no call making clout, or your country would be even more desolate than it already is.

Make no mistakes that I respect the religion Of Muslim, as well as the Arab people as a whole but to cheer at death of 10s of thousands of women and children just isnt right

Its time for the United States to take the Gloves off




Mark


Ducks Meager Theater

[Ken McDaniel]

Life here at Ft. Sill has gone to 90 mph. We all have either family or friends working at the Pentagon. Most are accounted for, some are not. With the casualty estimates rising and rising, it's become difficult to watch. We have far surpassed the magnitude of Pearl Harbor.

As the news organizations so popularly like to shout out, we are at ThreatCon Delta. Without comprimising Operational Security, this basically means that no one gets in without a green ID card (active duty).

I have 140 soldiers that want to go kick someone's ass. But whose? At this point there is no nation to beat up. To say we feel as helpless as the next guy is an understatement. Conventional forces rarely recieve the call to chase down international terrorists.

But make no mistake, we are ready. We mourn the loss of our brothers. We will execute any mission called upon by our Commander-in-Chief. We are professionals. May God have mercy on the souls of those responsible. We will not.




Ken

[Doug]

Mark, Ken and others that have expressed outrage at these events, and an eye for an eye attitude- Amen Brothers. United we stand, and may anyone that expresses joy at our disastrous attack, or houses thse criminals, go down in flames. It is not time for pansy talks. Negotiations should be over. Whoever houses these criminals, Afgans or whoever, either turn them over now, or face the wrath of American guns, missles, and rockets right up your ass.

It is unfortunate, that the very thing is likely to happen to some of their civilians, as happened to ours. But the people must look to their leaders, the people that allow such travesties of justice to occur, and those that stand behind those responsible, offering them political sanctuary. If the US did that, I personally would not hold responsible another nation for taking care of their responsibilities. But then, we are a peaceful people. Not savage, cowardess bastards from hell that take a vehicle of peaceful travel, and turn it into a destructive weapon from hell.

My outrage was only strengthened, watching the news reports last night. My heart cried and died for those Americans faced with death, at another man's sword. The bravery of those that chose a leap of death, dying their way, not the cowardess terrorists way, should not go unnoticed. Indeed, these were brave Americans, and deserve all the honor of the finest US Soldier. I honor those people, and may God bless their families though this horrific event, and the loss of their loved ones. May we take on attitudes of rebels with a cause, and end forever the lax entry of foreign regimes, through whatever means necessary. If that means a bit of my freedom goes with it, then so be it. We must not allow this tragedy to repeat itself.

Ken, may the force be with you and your Armed Force Brothers, my friend. I thank you for all you may be asked to do for our national security, and support you 100%.

Doug

[Greg Stone]

As a former member of the US Air Force, this hits close to home. Trying to explain to my little boys that yes, we are still safe at home, and no, that a plane would not be crashing into our house when they go to sleep last night was hard. Very hard. Words can't describe the hurt we are experiencing. Words can't express the outrage either.

Seeing people dance and celebrate in the streets over this turned my stomach. How anyone, and I mean anyone, can celebrate the loss of human life is beyond comprehension.

I have seen the world sink to new lows.

[KennyG]

Ken, it's good to have you come in here with a soldier's attitude, we all feel the same and will always be behind you 100%...as ex-Navy vietnam era this seems to be hitting me much harder than I thought possible.
Today I awoke thinking I'd feel better...no such luck, I have wondered, shed tears and am now emotionally drained for a second day.
Just know we all want the same thing...and it's not "justice"...it's war.
Hopefully not the all out bombing type, we then create our own type of terrorism.
We have the ability to do this in a much more devastating way...silently.

[Susan]

It seems I just can't function...I cannot tear myself from the TV and the news reports to work, yet I can feel it dragging me into an overwhelming sadness and depression.I cannot remember a time in my 49 years that I have felt such irrevocable change....from a freewheeling, trusting lifestyle to one of distrust, caution, and fear. I fear Mayberry RFD is lost forever, and in it's place is BladeRunner. This is hard for me to digest as I am always the ridiculously optomistic one that rallies the troops, and this week I feel like my balloon has been totally deflated. Knowing that we MUST retaliate and retaliate strongly, yet that any retaliation may well lead to world conflict terrifies me because this foe uses terrorism as his mode of conflict, and terrorism is very hard to combat.It also terrifies me as we yuppies cannot stand to see our children drawn in like we were into a war-ing situation on foreign soil where we are at such a disadvantage as it just smells too much like Nam. I think perhaps I am in mourning for a lifestyle par none...and that lifestyle will very likely never return.

Sorry to be so down...
Susan

[Lex]

Susan, your feelings show forth your passion, heart, and spirit. It's ok to express your emotion here. That's what this thread is for. We feel very strongly as Americans right now, as we sort through our many emotions. I know I have experienced a vicious circule of sorrow, great hurt, anger, disbelief, so many emotions the last 2 days.

You hang in there. IF your not ready to get back to business this week, then wait til next week. America must go on though, or we let the terrorists disrupt the very fabric of our lives. If we do that, then the bastards win. They may have won this battle, but we will be unified and win the war. Make no mistake, this is war.

Doug

[Bing Fung]

Canadian editorial

This is from a Canadian newspaper, Witten by Gordon Sinclair, a very well known and respected Canadian media induvidual.

================================
America: The Good Neighbor.

Widespread but only partial news coverage was given recently to a remarkable editorial broadcast from Toronto by Gordon Sinclair, a Canadian television commentator. What follows is the full text of his trenchant remarks as printed in the Congressional Record:

"This Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as the most generous and possibly the least appreciated people on all the earth. Germany, Japan and, to a lesser extent, Britain and Italy were lifted out of the debris of war by the Americans who poured in billions of dollars and forgave other billions in debts. None of these countries is today paying even the interest on its remaining debts to the United States. When France was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans who propped it up, and their reward was to be insulted and swindled on the streets of Paris. I was there. I saw it. When earthquakes hit distant cities, it is the United States that hurries in to help. This spring, 59 American communities were flattened by tornadoes. Nobody helped. The Marshall Plan and the Truman Policy pumped billions of dollars into discouraged countries. Now Newspapers in those countries are writing about the decadent, warmongering Americans. I'd like to see just one of those countries that is gloating over the erosion of the United States dollar build its own airplane. Does any other country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing Jumbo Jet, the Lockheed Tri-Star, or the Douglas DC10? If so, why don't they fly them? Why do all the International lines except Russia fly American Planes? Why does no other land on earth even consider putting a man or woman on the moon? You talk about Japanese technocracy, and you get radios. You talk about German technocracy, and you get automobiles. You talk about American technocracy, and you find men on the moon – not once, but several times - and safely home again. You talk about scandals, and the Americans put theirs right in the store window for everybody to look at. Even their draft-dodgers are not pursued and hounded. They are here on our streets, and most of them, unless they are breaking Canadian laws, are getting American dollars from ma and pa at home to spend here. When the railways of France, Germany and India were breaking down through age, it was the Americans who rebuilt them. When the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central went broke, nobody loaned them an old caboose. Both are still broke. I can name you 5000 times when the Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble. Can you name me even one time when someone else raced to the Americans in trouble? I don't think there was outside help even during the San Francisco earthquake. Our neighbors have faced it alone, and I'm one Canadian who is damned tired of hearing them get kicked around. They will come out of this thing with their flag high. And when they do, they are entitled to thumb their nose at the lands that are gloating over their present troubles. I hope Canada is not one of those."
================================

Stand proud, America!
You are not alone in your sorrow, I as one Canadian, stand with my American brothers, in that part of my freedom has been taken away from me as well during the wake of this horrific event. In feeling this, I'm beginning to understand what it means to be"Proudly American".




Bing

[George Bellefontaine]

As a Canadian, I proudly echo Mr. Sinclair's comments.
God Bless America.




My Homepage!

[P-Dub]

It's just my need to be accurate that I must point out that the articl Bing has reprinted has gone through a few reviesions. It was originally broadcast in 1973. A lot is still relevant. Please check out this site for a biography of Gordan Sinclar (1900-1984)

The original text of the radio broadcast is here.

It's been tough for me to be at work.

My cousin's okay.




Paul

There are three kinds of people in this world; those that can count, and those that can't.

[Trevor Schell]

I echo the words of Bing ,George and Paul.
We Canadians feel and share the pain and sorrow that is felt in the USA.

In fact my family,freinds,Co-workers ETC...have been focused on the events in the USA since Tuesday morning. It is all we have been reading,watching and talking about in the last 3 days with great concern and emotion. It has really effected everybody across our country as if this has happend in our own backyard.

We are with you all.
God Bless America.




Trevor
My HomeTheater S.E.
Sonically Enhanced
C5

[Trevor Schell]

The World Prays

PHOTO GALLERY




Trevor
My HomeTheater S.E.
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C5

[Susan]

A Ray of Hope??

(This was also posted to HTT..so if you have already read it there..please skip)

I'm just checking in and wanted to see if any of you had thought the same
thing I did about the airports, but see no mention here...so I want to tell
you why today I feel the first ray of hope that has permeated my depressed
spirit since Tuesday...

This morning I was initially upset to hear they were already re-opening the
airports and starting it up again....yes, they initiated some very
'Mickey-Mouse' procedures (no skycabs at the curb, etc) but nothing that will
REALLY make a difference, showing security guards getting a quick "training"
as the passengers began to filter thru. At first I had hoped it was only to
finish the unfinished flights from the other day...but lo and behold it
looked like it was wide open. The only two things I was happy about was that
Boston was not reopened and will have to change significantly, and that
National (AKA Reagan) Airport will not reopen..at least not for a while

rant on:

[bold](I think they actually heard me ranting the other night to move the damn
archaic airport! I sat on hold on CSpan for 2 hours to try to voice that
opinion, but never got up to batt....that airport (Reagan/National) has been
dangerous (too steep an ascent and descent like the old Tokyo airport) for
years (I literally close my eyes and get white knuckles every time I have to
use it..and I am NOT afraid of flying!), and the runways run right over the
White House, Pentagon, and Capitol...if we can afford ridiculous grants in
the millions to study the grunting mating calls of the whatchamacallem birds,
then why not pick up that relic and move it????)[/bold]

rant over...sorry, but I feel better now...

back to my thought:

in hindsite the FBI pulled a brilliant maneuver today! Think about it: Boston
was closed, they advertised that air travel was open again with few
restrictions....and they knew there were more of these scuds running around,
possibly foiled Tuesday because they closed down the flights so early
(9:40-something a.m. EST). So, thinking they (the terrorists) could easily
get out of country while we were still in chaos and our attention was
diverted, they travelled down to NYC walked right into the trap! It was a
perfect foil! It was brilliant...and it worked....now they've got a bunch of
them in custody..

so I'm beginning to see a ray of hope that we may be far better equipped to
handle this than some fiction writer may opine (puleeze!If anyone quotes Clancy to me again I will PUKE)) or than those so afraid of a conflict may suppose....

i think it's time to start giving credit where credit is due...just think
about it..
Susan

Susan Steele
Virginia USA
The best way to forget all your troubles is to wear tight shoes.

[pf]

Good morning everybody and I'm glad Friday is finally here. What a bummer of a week with all these going on and us expected to work through it business as usual. Honestly the past few days' events including my personal account has been a blur. My heart goes out to those who lost their or family memebers' lives in this tragedy.

Doug, I heard & read about your new products and sorry for not being in my usual buying/ordering mood. We already talked about the Ultra I/C, as soon as you have some pics of your speaker cable prototype up, I think I can go ahead and order. Any further wait for stupid Theta to deliver doesn't make no sense for life is too short.

PF

[Lex]

Po-ming, we can address that outside this thread, this is really a memorial thread, dedicated to all those Americans lost. Thank you for your sentiment as well.

Doug

[KennyG]

Susan that seems like a great idea, and I'd bet your correct...but as of today (yesterday? Friday) they have let all but what...two of them go?
One was an airline pilot using his brothers ID???
Shouldn't there by some sort of law against that???
If many of the people "detained" around the world are known terrorists...what are we doing here...or what are we NOT doing?
I fear we are going to be "to humane" in this so called war...are we already showing signs of it?
Any know terrorist should, from this point on be shot, it shouldn't matter where they were during is slaughter.
If this is war, then it's time to start it, with the ones we're certain of, and as more are found in hiding, are caught moving from hiding place to hiding place they are simply shot.
We had better not be letting terrorist go simply because they were not involved with this particular act. This is the unpleasant fact of this type war. It will be "up close and personal".