Tag: terrorism

ramblings

London

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I for one am deeply saddened by the London bombings, especially since I not only used to live in London and am familiar with the areas affected but because I used to take the Edgeware Road stop very frequently (it was right by one building I took classes in). The tube is scarier than the NYC transit system – it is in many places hundreds of feet underground (much farther than NYC) and the tracks and stations themselves are very narrow. If there is a problem, there aren’t many options so I can only guess what the fear must have been like for those trapped below.

In the aftermath, a new form of online news outlet seems to have emerged as well – photo sharing sites such as Flickr, which encourage users to share photos and comments in a communal setting. I suggest you go, look at the pics, read the stories and read the comments. It definitely makes you appreciate how fragile life really is…

As a NYC resident, and as someone who values his apartment for, among other reasons, its close proximity to the subway, I am definitely unnerved. If something were to happen to the 4-5-6, I can only imagine what it would do to my property value, my commute but most importantly my way of life. To me, the subway is one of the greatest things in the world and it’s the heart of my urban experience. If something were to happen to it, my internal compass would be totally thrown off. I thought I was hardened to this kind of stuff by now but I’m not – the panic that shot through me at 9:00 AM yesterday — when first my house phone rang (which I didn’t answer), then my cell phone rang (not a good sign) which I answered to hear Jessie say, “The underground has been bombed” to which I replied “Where?! NY or London?!” — is not something I like to feel.

As a brother, I am saddened that my parents may not let my sister study abroad in London now. She has been looking forward to this experience ever since I was there in 98, hoping to follow in my footsteps in a way and now who knows if she will go, if she’ll be allowed to go or if she even wants to go. She should go. I didn’t move out of Manhattan after 9/11. In fact, I did the opposite – I moved downtown in February, 2002. Jessie and I moved into our first apartment together 2 blocks north of Ground Zero and were part of the rebirth of downtown NYC.

The worst part about this attack is that the sound of sirens again to me is troubling. After 9-11, whenever I heard a siren, I thought “what disaster has just happened?” but that faded over time till it was a normal sound again – “Oh, that siren must be for a robbery, not a disaster; that ambulance probably is rushing a heart attack to the hospital, not a victim of a bombing, etc.” I’ve heard sirens a few times today and always waited to hear more. While I hate this feeling, I will not be cowed, I only hope it fades again, sooner rather than later.

ramblings

Freedom Will Ring a Tad Bit Later

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The Media has been buzzing today about a couple things, like a pineapple grenade going off in midtown, and the Freedom Tower is one of them. It seems that Gov. George E. Pataki, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and the lead developer at ground zero said yesterday that the soaring office building known as the Freedom Tower would be significantly redesigned to satisfy security concerns.
In an email I received yesterday, my friend Ben put it best:

“I’m glad to know that when it comes to massive undertaking public construction, Boston is not the only major city fully of a bunch of colossal idiots.

Listening the news the other day I had to shake my head that construction on the Freedom Towers will be delayed because the building needs to 100 feet from the street, due to security concerns resulting from…9/11/01. Four years of planning and these geniuses accepted plans that don’t meet the basic specs for security that were put in place as a result of the destruction of the buildings … they… are… rebuilding. Cue the circus theme.”

Thanks Ben – that is the best op-ed I’ve read on the subject yet…

politics

I Feel So Safe

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From The American Progress Action Fund’s daily “Progress Report” email from today, 2/11/05:

Whoops. A 185-pound container of radioactive equipment – the material used in dirty bombs – which was imported by Halliburton Energy Services turned up unexpectedly this week at a shipping facility in Chelsea, MA. The problem: the shipment was falsely registered as having arrived in Newark, NJ, four months ago, and Halliburton only reported the missing container last Tuesday. Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Neil Sheehan, stating the obvious, said that Halliburton’s four-month delay in reporting the loss “did not comply with notification requirements.”

FANTASTIC.

I really want to work at Halliburton because there you can overbill, denigrate our troops, bilk the government AND lose nuclear material without ever hearing “boo” about it. I forget to send one email to my Client and I get into more trouble than Halliburton does for overcharging the Army billions. If anyone hears of any openings there, let me know.

politics

On Terrorism

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From Paul Krugman’s Op-Ed piece entitled “Cult of Death” from the Tuesday, 9/7/04 edition of the New York Times:


“Three years after Sept. 11, many are still apparently unable to talk about this evil [i.e. terrorism]. They still try to rationalize terror. What drives the terrorists to do this? What are they trying to achieve? They’re still victims of the delusion that Paul Berman diagnosed after Sept. 11: ‘It was the belief that, in the modern world, even the enemies of reason cannot be the enemies of reason. Even the unreasonable must be, in some fashion, reasonable.’ This death cult has no reason and is beyond negotiation. this is what makes it so frightening. This is what scauses so many to engage in a sort of mental diversion. They don’t want to confront this horror. so they rush off in search of more comprehensible things to hate.”