SwiftVets.com

[Rich]

Im alive............and even more important is "so is my family". Thanks to the courage of our magnificent troops and their bringing the war into the enemys backyards. As far as International policy goes I despise these Islamic terrorists and tyrants. I always have, ever since I squated in that part of the world. I hope we murder everyone of them in their beds.

The more dead terrorists I hear about on the evening news the better I sleep.............Rich
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"Freedom" is never "free"

[Mooncusser]

I have never liked that question. It seems selfish to me. The question should be is the United States better off.
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MACV '64...65
Thu Thua, Long An

I actually won the election before I lost it.

"It is a good day to fight! It is a good day to die! Strong hearts, brave hearts to the front! Weak hearts and cowards to the rear!" (Crazy Horse)

[bsjracing]

4 years ago I was employed by a company I had worked for for 3 years. 10 days after Bush took office, I was laid off. Can't hardly blame Bush for that, and anyway, 5 days prior to that, my wife and I welcomed our daughter to the world. I found a job, and worked there for 8 months until shortly after 9/11 the company scaled back and being low man on the totem poll my position was cut. Worked temporary job for 4 months until I found my current job which I've been at for close to 3 years. There's more security and I get paid considerably more.

So, 4 years ago
I made less money

and

I didn't have my beautiful daughter.

I am soooooo much better off than I was 4 years ago
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A common mistake people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.

If you're going to burn the US flag, at least have the decency to wrap yourself in it first.

[dcornutt]

I think a lot of people have forgotten just how bad the economy was at the end of the clinton reign. It all came crashing down, because it was all hype, hot air, rabid speculation, the "e-commerce". It's also a time of corporate excess and abuses.

I was at One Liberty Plaza... for my first day at work at Nasdaq. Got there a little early, and thought I'd stroll in the plaza have a coffee.


The view you are looking at, is out the window of the first WTC that was hit 9/11. 1 Liberty is the black building directly in front of you.

I was standing right under it when the first plane hit. I ran from the debri, and ducked into an alleyway till it went by. Found my friend in Nasdaq, and they were already evacuating that side of 1 Liberty. We didn't know what happened. Everybody just showed up to work and BANG. I never saw the plane, I just heard a shwoosh and then a big explosion. it was right over my head.

Everybody was asking what happened, no body knew. I dind't even hear "plane" till later. You have to rememer, accidents happen in NYC about everyday. Stuff falls off of buildings, etc. YOu move out of the way, and let the emerg crews do their job. But, people always congregate on the ouskirts, and this time was no different. Not knowing what was going on, my friend and I scooted across the street to a resturant. It was very errie. The feeling. Kind of a nervousness in the air. The waitresses were crying. A couple of wounded people staggared in, and the manager helped them. Then, he would like..move towards the door to try and lock it, then ..unlock it...then lock it..etc. It was at that time the 2nd plane hit..and that nearly blew the windows out of the resturant. The windows actually "buldged" in...and it made the weirdest sound.

We ran outside..and here comes anohter debri field. By this time, people were starting to jump out of the first building. And people were just sobbing..watching helplessly. It was like the whole part of lower manhattan was just standing outside the buildings in the street..watching in utter disbelief. It's was surreal. The subway was toast. But, I watned to find a working phone..my wife was in Conn on business and everybody knew I was going to be there that day...so I wanted to get word to somebody I was ok. I ran to 1 NY plaza, and the phones were still working. I got a call out to a friend, who told me what was going on, that other planes were jihacked that one had hit the pentagon..and that I needed to get out of there..NOW. That's when the first collapse happened. And the entire lobby of NY Plaza just turned "white". You couldn't see anything. We had to evac the building on the east side, and there was nothing but equipment/generators, pipes, etc..to crawl over. I couldn't breathe to good.

But, I got down to FDR. That's when I heard it..a jet..then a boom. EVerybody panicked and started running. It was our own F18s who were supersonic. But, we coulnd't see them at all. Just heard it. I made my way to Brooklyn bridge ramp..and that's when the 2nd building collapsed sending a mushroom cloud of debri rolling straight up the brookyn bridge. People started screaming, running in all directions..etc. It was pure chaos. Some people jumped of the side of the bridge ramp, threw their kids down, and ran for the water. But, we were trapped. There was no where to go. So I sucked it up, held my shirt very tightly over my eyes and mouth..and tried to make it through that mess.

It wasn't easy, I'll just put it that way. When I got to Brooklyn, I stopped at a deli on Atlantic Ave. Inside, was a TV blaring showing the images over and over, and 2 arab guys celebrating like they just won the world series. I wanted to Kill them...but my entire soul, body, etc..just went numb. I just stood there with fluid coming out of my eyes, nose and mouth..just staring at them and I coudln't feel anything anymore.

I left, made it my friends house, got cleaned up, and slept for about 2 days. 5 days later I was home, with a message on my answering machine that I had been let go from my job, for obvious reasons, and I was out of work for a good 3 months or so. It was a good thing to. I wasn't in any shape to work at that point. It's taken a while. I walked about 7 miles that day all in all.

I can tell you first hand, none of this stuff matters when you are dead. And we are in one hell of a fight. I can tell you that. I knew it that day in that deli. I don't think it could have been more clear. So, YES, I'm better off now than I was back then. At least now we have some fighting chance. And it's still amazing to me that many more people were not killed that day. There were over 50k people who worked in those 2 buildings alone.

[jataylor11]

I don't mean to be disagreeable, [butt monkey] .... but

[jataylor11]

Dcornutt,

Thank you for your story. It puts this all into perspective for the rest of us. It is God's grace that 50,000 did not die that day. The terrorists were expecting 50,000, I am glad you made them wrong.

[dcornutt]

jataylor, thanks for that.

I went to see my family/relatives after 9/11. I just wanted to see them. And since moving away many years ago, I just dont' see them as often as I'd like. They are very old now, and probably not long for this world. And I just wanted to see them. They didn't ask me much about 9/11. We just sat and ate, and talked about other things. Then we sat out on the back porch, and listened to crickets (something you don't hear much in NYC), and drank sweet tea and just had small talk. There was nothing that needed to be said. They knew what I had been through. They knew, and all it took was a look in the eye and a quick nod...to know they knew. So, I never told them what happened that day, not in any detail. Just didnt' need to. They didnt' talk about war stories, or any of that and never have. They talk about family, happiness and honorable things. And it was just a very peaceful and safe feeling that gave me hope.

I guess I'm getting old. sigh. But, I've come to appreciate and value what's most important in life. I'll say this one final bit:

I don't WANT to live in an America that gives up it's freedoms and way of life...to appease terroists and foreign govs who disagree with us and want us to change to suit them. I'd rather DIE fighting for the America I know than live in an America gutted of it's ideals, beliefs, and way of life. And that's what we are being asked to do. SPIT! I'll die first! There isn't an intellectual position on this. It's not an intellectual process. It's not a rationalizing process. And that's something the Chomsky dems don't understand. Because everything to them, is about the last book they read. That's what their america becomes. A flexible, every changing, rationalization process based on the premise that America is the cause of all the ills in the world and who ever is in charge of America at the time is repsonsbile for it.

I pledge my allegance to THIS country. And the blood of my relatives who've fought for that since the 1700s...when the FRENCH still laid claim to it. (where they lived). And what people fail to understand is that our soliders in Iraq and AFghanistan, are fighting and dieing for OUR future, not just Iraq and Afghanistans's. . The America you grew up in, and know, won't survive, if we dont' take this fight to people in a way that we make it CLEAR, we'd rather die than live another way. That's "exactly" what they are doing! If we aren't willing to die for what we believe in, and sacrifice what it takes to KEEP the America you've known and loved, there will come a day, that America will be a place you wont' recognize. And your grandchildren and so on, will live in a very different America than you and your decsendants knew. You can negociate a lot of things except who you are.

I'm willing to die for that. I'm willing to sacrifice for that. I'm willing to live through these times, rough economy, big deficits, put my life on hold ..whatever it takes to do that. Because our entire country and way of life is at stake here. All of it. That's what I believe. And that's not a "nuance" issue to me. Some people just don't get it...that the "reason" we've had to change things in America, security, loss of some freedoms, etc...is NOT because of G Bush , but because of what our enemies are trying to do to us!! They see Bush as the enemy who is changing America...when it is the enemy who has changed america..that Bush is FIGHTING against to keep the America we grew up in. Kerry doesnt' even have a clue on this. And if anything couldn't be more clear, just take a look at this campaign right now, with multiple advsiors, nobody knows who's in charge, and Kerry can't make a clear decision. Chaos. I think that's clear enough.

[pneal]

As I said before on another thread, without National Security, what difference does it make if my employer improved my insurance and year end bonus. If my family and my country are living in fear of what the "terrorist" will do next, and we have John Kerry in office, writing in his JOURNAL about how he would be sensitive to the terrorists, WHAT GOOD IS $$$ TO ME? I know we are better off 4 years later. We didn't really know where we stood globally and now we do. I for one have always been taught to "BE PREPARED" (old girl scout motto), John Kerry wouldn't prepare us and I certainly wouldn't trust him to defend us. Also, someone else mentioned in this thread that many of us are where we are, financially, due to our own mistakes, not the present administration. Americans have become a bunch of whiners when they can't have what they want immediatly. The President didn't make your personal financial decisions. If you believe GWB is directly responsible for your eco-status, Stop passing the buck, you sound like JF Kerry!

[dcornutt]

Good point pneal.

I saw a forum where a guy was blaming Bush for the stock he picked, as a reason his Social Security private investment idea was bunk...ie..cause "he" lost money on the stocks he holds, that made money in the Clinton years..hahahahaha.

[Steve Z]

Actually, that question was first raised by Ronald Reagan, may God rest his soul!

We are much less vulnerable to terrorist attacks than 4 years ago--we just didn't know it then!

Four years ago, al Qaeda was plotting 9/11 with the complicity of the Afghan government. Now they are being hunted down, lots of them are either dead or in Gitmo, and Afghanistan prepares for elections.

Four years ago, Pakistan was aiding and abetting Al Qaeda. Now they are helping US track them down.

Four years ago, Libya was developing a nuclear weapons program, now they have dismantled it.

Four years ago, Saddam Hussein was using UN oil-for-food money to build palaces and kill hundreds of thousands of his own people, and bribing the French and Germans to protect him. Now he is in jail, and will probably be excecuted by his own people.

But rather than blame Bush for what has been done to us by outsiders, let the liberals reflect on what would have happened if Al Gore had received 600 more votes in Florida, and Janet Reno had been Attorney General on 9/11/2001 instead of John Ashcroft. Would Janet Reno have cut off money for the terrorists? Would Janet Reno have interred the captured fighters in Gitmo, when the only person she ever sent to Cuba was a six-year-old boy (Elian Gonzales) at gunpoint?

Would Al Gore have been able to negotiate the release of the crew of the American spy plane from China, after having given them US military secrets? Would Al Gore have forced the US to observe the Kyoto Protocol, leading to a massive recession in the US even BEFORE 9/11? Would Al Gore have tightened security at airports, or would he kowtow to his wife in the FAA? Would Al Gore have cracked down on terrorists, or given them pardons like Bill Clinton did to terrorists from Puerto Rico?

We ARE better off than we would have been if Al Gore was President!!!
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The traitor will crater!

[Nomorelies]

I opened a new business in April 2001. Even with the setbacks I suffered with 9/11, my business has grown. I have hired 6 new employees. My business is very successful. Yes, I am better off. Most people I know are better off, a lot better off in their businesses and jobs. I really do not know anyone who is worse off than they were in 2000. Do you?
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[shadowy]

Yes, we've been through tough times since 9-11. Of course we have. But it's good to find out that the spirit of liberty is alive and well. Lots of us would still rather struggle for years, like our grandparents did during WWII and the depression, than capitulate to socialism, islamofascism, or any other ism, just so they'll let us keep on living.
Shouldn't the Kerry forces be happy that the past few years have been hard? Aren't they the ones that were upset that we weren't going to sacrifice enough, when Bush wanted to cut taxes? I seem to recall being reminded of how the WWII generation all pitched in to help with the war effort, but all we were thinking about was our tax break. Well, we've all shared in the sacrifice, haven't we? It's a good thing we had a tax break, because our pay sure hasn't increased like it used to , and our expenses have gone up. Most of us have accepted the reality that we can't expect to cruise along like we didn't have massive problems that have to be dealt with. We've understood that we all have to share in the hardship, and we're glad it hasn't been worse. Isn't that democratic of us?
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It's downright brilliant the way he's reserving his devastating intellect to spring it on us at exactly the right moment.

[ccr]

How can the better off/worse off question be valid because after 9-11? It doesn't mean now what it meant before then.

The world as we knew it changed that day.
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