[…]Generation 9/11. History will be embarrassed by us. | The X Blog[…]…

And of course, we have all always respected our first responders and appreciated the job they’ve done. Which is not the point, of course.

Richard, I don’t think it is new. It has always been there, but more held in check by progressive forces. 911 crashed down more than few buildings: It also crashed down a barrier that had been in place for decades.

There was for years a bill called “Senate Bill 1” introduced each year by conservatives, originally lots of Democrats, later mostly Republicans, which would have instituted absurd, police-state like laws and penalties, the federal death penalty for all sorts of crimes, special police powers, etc. etc.

It may have actually died out for a few years, but before that it was introduced regulary and voted down.

Then 9/11 happened and it came back and was passed with fanfare and we know of it now as the Patriot Act.

More than a million Iraqi and Afghan civilians – who had nothing to do with Al Qaeda or 9/11 – have been killed by the US in ten years.

and Shawn Smith wants a citation. Well, I can’t to that, but I can provide the following:

Gunboats and gurkhas in the American Imperium

The drone war has developed its own slang. The scared humans on the ground running for cover are labelled ‘squirters.’ Successful attacks are called ‘bugsplats’. The likeness with extermination of insects is evidently not lost on the drone warriors. Many drone operators have commented on its ‘antiseptic’ nature and the emotional detachment it engenders. “It’s like a video game,” said one to Peter Singer, author of Wired for War, “It can get a little bloodthirsty. But it’s fucking cool.”

And…

The drone attacks in Pakistan which started while Pervez Musharraf was president intensified immediately on his departure. There were a total of 17 drone strikes during his presidency which ended on August 18, 2008. Since then, there have been 236. In a 2009 interview with Seymour Hersh, Musharraf confessed to being ‘troubled’ by this development. But his reservations had less to do with the human cost of the attacks than with the resulting perception of the Pakistani state’s increasing impotence. After his request for the transfer of the drones to Pakistani control was turned down, Musharraf said he had to beg the US officials to ‘just say publicly that you’re giving them to us. You keep on firing them but put Pakistan Air Force markings on them.’

I’ve got a post partway written which I’ll probably never finish, but I’m sharing this with you.

Also:

TSA Creator Says Dismantle, Privatize the Agency

They’ve been accused of rampant thievery, spending billions of dollars like drunken sailors, groping children and little old ladies, and making everyone take off their shoes.

And…

Yet a decade after the TSA was created following the September 11 attacks, the author of the legislation that established the massive agency grades its performance at “D-.”

And…

As for keeping the American public safe, Mica says, “They’ve failed to actually detect any threat in 10 years.”

And…

“Everything they have done has been reactive. They take shoes off because of [shoe-bomber] Richard Reid, passengers are patted down because of the diaper bomber, and you can’t pack liquids because the British uncovered a plot using liquids,” Mica said.

And much more.

Make all your appeals, death-row inmates, because Texas is fair. We aim to treat everyone the same………We’re gonna execute all y’all.

This is right. We were out for a visit in a small town (Pop. ~1200) in rural Alberta yesterday, and the fire and police folks were having a Special Memorial (including bagpiper, which is how you know it’s SERIOUS.) It’s like anyone who’s a policeman or firefighter all of a sudden belongs to a giant fraternal organization/tribe/cult. This was arguably true before 9/11, but that event really made it clear. But that leads directly to the “we’ll take it from here” cartoon showing the firefighter handing over the American flag to a marine.

This is a permanent gift to the forces that think the modern state is built on military might.