San Diego Housing Bubble News and Analysis

I'll never forget watching the South Tower fall from 3 blocks away. And I'm thinking about the friends and business associates I lost:
Chris Faughnan
Tom Celic
Jim Berger
Cathy Nardella

Never, ever forget. There will always be terrorists who want to bring down the USA and we must be as relentless in stopping them as they are in wanting to do us harm. There are too many wussy politicians who think that you can sit down and drink tea, across the table with the assholes and settle your differences...................... but these people don't think like that..........and they never will. Those bastards killed Americans on American soil and we should continue to hunt down the terrorists of the world. (and never stop hunting for them).
And yes..............that was a swipe at the great appeaser: Barack Obama (Mr. Naive, himself)

"May God have mercy on their souls . . . because we will not."

-Sen. John McCain press release on Sept. 12, 2001 responding to terrorist attacks.-

Let's also remember that in the months following 9/11, the expectation among all of us, expert and layman, was that this was just the beginning. Other attacks would come, more horrific and with different means. But they didn't.
They did, on a smaller scale, in London, Madrid, the South Pacific and elsewhere. But not here, though there were attempts that were thwarted.
The U.S. cranked up our security and intelligence measures, in often wasteful and misguided ways, but suffered no more big and successfull attacks.
Who would have predicted this seven years ago? Not many.

EconProf: That is true, however, more than a handful of plots by Muslim extremists in the USA (that leaked out) were thwarted by the FBI and other law enforcement agencies. 9/11 raised the public awareness that this kind of terrorism could occur in this country and also caused more people to report suspicious behavior. Some groups and individuals like to claim that their personal liberty is being taken away but I would rather endure the extra security than have my friends, family and country blown up by religious & political extremists.

Let us also never forget the unity of all Americans that day... and how it has since evaporated into thin air.

Let us not forget that Osama Bin Laden, 7 years later, is still out there. And that our resources should be focused on finding and killing him. And on finding and killing the terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan. And, now that we've opened up Iraq for them, in Iraq.

We cannot afford to continue the policy of trying to further the neocon agenda at the expense of the pursuit of terrorists. We can't afford to continue to manipulate intelligence and turn a blind eye to facts we don't like. We can't win the war against terrorists in that fashion. We must have our eye on the ball, and we must be focused, agile and ready to adjust to new circumstances.

We have dropped the ball. It's time to pick it up, lodge some explosives in it, and hurl it straight between bin laden's eyes.

we’ve become “The United States of Fighting Terrorism.” Times columnists are not allowed to endorse candidates, but there’s no rule against saying who will not get my vote: I will not vote for any candidate running on 9/11. We don’t need another president of 9/11. We need a president for 9/12. I will only vote for the 9/12 candidate.

What does that mean? This: 9/11 has made us stupid. I honor, and weep for, all those murdered on that day. But our reaction to 9/11 — mine included — has knocked America completely out of balance, and it is time to get things right again.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/30/opinio...
http://www.charlierose.com/guests/thomas...

Let us not forget that there is genuine hate toward Democrats, or genuine hatred for Republicans, out of control, being spread by the media, the internet, and the blogs, by everyone, everyday. It has become much easier to attack each other than to do the hard work of reaching across party lines.

Americans against fellow Americans in the name of Partisanship. Dividing our Great Nation, attacking, slandering, venomous, genuine hatred for those in the 'other' party.

Political discourse is DEAD. The only issues to vote for are God and War, Spite and Malice.

But I'm not bitter...

I will merely comment that "patientlywaiting" has written one of the FEW intelligent posts to this thread.

I will not forget, not tomorrow or probably not ever. This morning I heard the version of "hero" on the radio with the soundbites mixed in of people on the street and politicians and I had to dry the tears from eyes. It's been seven years and I still cry when I think too hard about it. I'm still mad and sad and in the immortal words of the 1980 Olympic Hockey coach, Herb Brooks,"You'll take it to your f*&^ing grave."

I don't want to engage in a political or idealogical debate, that crap completely misses the point. There is a little more than an hour left on this anniversary, leave the demopulican garbage for another day and allow the rest of us to honor our fallen heroes for just this one day each year, please.

FLU I didn't see your post when I posted mine. Thank you for bringing it on the board.

Unfortunately it is hard to remember the loss without things turning into a political debate and that is understandable.

All that can be asked are a few things. First that nobody ever forgets. Second, that like it or not, there are people who do indeed want to see the destruction of the United States and of Isreal.

While this is by no means an indemnification of US behavior in the past, it is simply a fact.

I will compliment "patientlywaiting" for having written one of the FEW intelligent posts in this thread.

Ask one hundred random Americans on the street these questions. I bet you not ONE IN ONE HUNDRED can even answer ONE of these questions correctly.

Although NOTHING will ever justify the crimes Osama Bin Laden committed, can you think of what might have made Obama so angry he wants to kill Americans? Where did Osama (and many of those who later became the core of Al-Qaeda) originally receive their training to be terrorists? Who paid for their training, their guns, ammunition, Stinger missiles…etc? What war, financed by the USA, honed their terrorist skills as they fought on the side financed by the USA? What was America’s goal in that war? Did America achieve that goal? How many millions died fighting that war fought on their soil (reducing their country to RUBBLE) so America could win it’s sought after victory? Now for the most important question: in their eyes, how did America betray the trust they put in America and insult the sacrifices they made for America?

Here is another gem of a question for ANYONE on this forum who claims any insight into the historical series of events that ultimately led to 9/11:

QUESTION: Who wrote this and how is it connected historically to the 9/11 attacks?

"We now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam war."

NOTE: don't take this post the wrong way. Obama bin laden is a murderer who must be brought to justice. 9/11 was a horrific event involving the terrible loss of countless innocents. However, the vast majority of Americans don't seem to have (or want) any insight into how actions by the United States inadvertently fostered the growth of Al-Qaeda, and created the hatred and desire for horrific action against the USA. Most Americans simply view 9/11 as an insane act by insane people, a view held by Americans so they can avoid knowing their own ugly truth, and dark relationship to world events.

I have looked for but have only seen ONE significant American media outlet broadcast news reports (and documentaries) that objectively asked & answered the above questions, namely PBS (Ex.: FRONTLINE). The Bush administration responded by crippling PBS (by installing a Republican chairman of PBS, to censor their news operations).

QUESTION: What is America doing NOW in Afghanistan?

ANSWER: repeating dark history that we've forgotten (or never learned), and so are doomed to repeat.

That is we have AGAIN reduced Afghanistan to rubble, killing vast numbers of Afghanis and raising the anger of those remaining to a killing fever, pissing off the worlds best guerrilla fighters (skills honed fighting successive invasions of their land)...and then for icing on the cake, we AGAIN turn our backs on their devastated land, withdraw most of our troops and give them NOTHING with which to rebuild their country, leaving it to FESTER into.... the new, bigger, badder Al-Qaeda.

Oh, yeah, I forgot.

You don't want posts that "pollute this thread" with "discussions of politics," because you are so focused on lamenting 9/11 that you want to remain ignorant of the very historical events that led America to experience that dreadful event.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zbigniew_Br...
Egos have changed the world as much as the ideas those egos defend.

Yes, robson links in the right answer.

And isn't it interesting that even Wikipedia itself propagates the propaganda, implying America started to covertly fund the Afghani mujaheddin only AFTER the Soviet Union moved troops into Afghanistan!

"..the arming of the mujaheddin in Afghanistan[2] to fight against the Soviet-friendly Afghan government"

Even Brzezinski himself has revealed in published interviews the previously well-kept secret that our tax dollars had sent massive arms and covert CIA operations into Afghanistan BEFORE any Soviet involvement, because it was in part a TRAP for the Soviets to walk into.

Very true. I heard him say so in interviews.
http://www.charlierose.com/search?q=Brze...

Also, Ronald Reagan had nothing to do with the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Soviet empire collapsed because oil prices collapsed.

Look at how the rise in oil prices is funding a resurgent Russia.

http://www.wtrg.com/oil_graphs/oilprice1...

LOL. People spout off some of the most ridiculous
statements.

can't some of us just moron in peace? Sheeeesh....

If you want to "moron in peace" FLU why did you post? Why did you post "We will not forget instead of "I will not forget". As stockstrader points out maybe what we are forgetting or not forgetting should be expanded upon. You can get a flag and a "Freedom walk" and the asssociated brain washing on Sept. 11th in a public school kindergarten class... why post it on a sophisticated blog like this one?

On that note, are you guys looking to vote mccain then? Since he seems to want to put the attack to terrorists more than Obama? Who wants to meet with them and discuss their feelings?

And the sheep continue bleating...... IMHO you've wasted far more space here than FLU ever could.

"Sophisticated" people welcome discourse, not shout it down and belittle others.

As you are so... sophisticated, I suggest you create your own blog(s) and entertain yourself on your own dime.

stockstradr: You've trotted out Brzezinski's claims before. Unfortunately, he's at odds with some of the facts, especially concerning his "foresight" in "trapping" the Soviets in a Vietnam-style debacle in Afghanistan.

The Soviet "invasion" in September 1979 was a fait accompli. They were responding to their "friendship treaty" of the previous year with Afghanistan. The treaty allowed for Soviet intervention if the Afghans asked, and they did following the internal strife that had accompanied the PDPA takeover in 1978.

The PDPA were Marxists and pro-Soviet and there were 400 Soviet advisers in-country well in advance of the Soviet invasion. The PDPA were in the midst of instituting Soviet-style reforms when what became the Mujahideen rose up in protest.

The US did recognize the opportunity to attack the Soviets by proxy and enlisted the help of the Saudis (among others) to raise money for weapons and training. The book "Charlie Wilson's War" does an excellent job of explaining the ocnflict and the chronology (an area where Brzezinski's memory gets a little cloudy). Many of Brzezinski's claims are rebutted or contradicted by Cyrus Vance, Carter's Secretary of State at the time.

What is beyond dispute is that we did indeed arm and train the Mujahideen against the Soviets and we did abandon them following the Soviet exit in 1988, much as we abandoned the Kurds in 1991 and left them to Saddam's tender mercies.

The claim that the Soviets collapsed due to falling oil prices is also risible on the face of it, and in direct contradiction of the facts. The Soviets were bankrupted by decades of a staggeringly expensive arms race with the US and the West, along with an endemically corrupt series of regimes. Perhaps falling oil prices were the final nail in the coffin, but they certainly were not the motive factor.

sdnativeson,

I understand that events like 9/11 mean different things to different people. To me, aside from the actual tragedy, I see the event being co-opoted as some kind of excuse to amplify the already disgusting level of chauvansim in our national identity and to manipulate acceptance of war-mongering and imperialism or hegemony or what ever you want to call it.I find that extremely offensive.

I didn't say I was sophisticated, obviously I was giving credit to Rich and some of the other posters on the blog.

I am not certifiably shallow either. I have no interest in starting my own site.I have said many times I wouldn't blame Rich for kicking half of us off. Until that happens, I guess I am FREE to participate. FLU can answer anything from me. He has before and if he cares to, he will do fine on this occasion.

Well written Allan, a multi sourced rebuttal, you win since I was keeping score at home.

So when I die, I would like to say right now that i want none of you at my funeral or to remember me in any way shape or form. Based on the thread thus far, there will be arguments about the legitamacy of my 6th grade chess tournament victory, how I treated my 1st girlfriend, whether or not I flossed, if I inhaled and how I came into possession of my first fake I.D., with little to no mention of any of the good things I did with my time on the planet.

Let's take every story of heroism and try and destroy it with conspiracy theories. Let's pretend there are never good guys and bad guys, just bad guys.

I know one thing for certain regardless of what brought down the soviets. The people on the fourth plane that somehow mustered the courage to prevent it from being used as a weapon or the people who perished after rushing into the towers before they collapsed. No matter who your god is or what you believe happens to you when you die, if there is an afterlife, they will be seated at the "Big Table" with the "Big Guy or Gal" and we can only hope that we will have the honor of cleaning their dishes. Until that day, I'll pause once a year to honor them, make promises to them and defend to the death your right as an American to be ungrateful and disrespectful.

*Within 5 years over 90% of crude export capacity will come from the Middle East and Caspian Basin*
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Neocons... McCain's team

"While the unresolved conflict with Iraq provides the immediate justification, the need for a substantial American force presence in the Gulf transcends the issue of the regime of Saddam Hussein ...
"the process of [military] transformation, even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event - like a new Pearl Harbor ...

- Rebuilding America’s Defenses, September 2000, Project for a New American Century www.newamericancentury.org

signed by Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, Donald Rumsfeld, Jeb Bush, Richard Perle, Scooter Libby, et al

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Brzezinski Obama's puppet master.

"Moreover, as America becomes an increasingly multicultural society, it may find it more difficult to fashion a consensus on foreign policy issues, except in the circumstance of a truly massive and widely perceived direct external threat."
-- "The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and its Geostrategic Imperatives," by Zbigniew Brzezinski (1997), Council on Foreign Relations, National Security Advisor to President Carter and adviser to Presidents Reagan and Bush the First

http://members.aol.com/bblum6/brz.htm
Interview with Zbigniew Brzezinski about how the US provoked the Soviet Union into invading Afghanistan. History can and does repeat itself, Georgia?

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PASSPORTS

Michael Springmann, head US consular official in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, later claims that during this period he is “repeatedly ordered… to issue [more than 100] visas to unqualified applicants.” He turns them down, but is repeatedly overruled by superiors. [BBC, 11/6/2001; ST. PETERSBURG TIMES, 11/25/2001]

Springmann loudly complains to numerous government offices, but no action is taken. He is fired and his files on these applicants are destroyed. He later learns that recruits from many countries fighting for bin Laden against Russia in Afghanistan were funneled through the Jeddah office to get visas to come to the US, where the recruits would travel to train for the Afghan war. According to Springmann, the Jeddah consulate was run by the CIA and staffed almost entirely by intelligence agents. This visa system may have continued at least through 9/11, and 11 of the 19 9/11 hijackers received their visas through Jeddah (see November 2, 1997-June 20, 2001), possibly as part of this program (see October 9, 2002 and October 21, 2002). [BBC, 11/6/2001; ST. PETERSBURG TIMES, 11/25/2001; CBC RADIO ONE, 7/3/2002; ASSOCIATED PRESS, 7/17/2002 ; FOX NEWS, 7/18/2002]

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OIL

Cheney's energy task force. Includes maps of Iraqi oil fields. Went to supreme court for failure to disclose.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_Task...

In his second week in office George W. Bush created the task force, officially known as the National Energy Policy Development Group (NEPDG) with Dick Cheney as chairman. This group was supposed to “develop a national energy policy designed to help the private sector, and, as necessary and appropriate, State and local governments, promote dependable, affordable, and environmentally sound production and distribution of energy for the future."

March 2001: Cheney’s Energy Task Force Eyes Iraq’s Oil Reserves
Cheney’s Energy Task Force authors a variety of documents relating to the oil industries of Iraq, United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia. [JUDICIAL WATCH, 7/17/2003; CBS NEWS, 1/10/2004; NEW YORK TIMES, 1/12/2004]
Foreign Suitors for Iraqi Oilfield contracts - This document, dated March 5, 2001, includes a table listing 30 countries which have interests in Iraq’s oil industry. The document also includes the names of companies that have interests, the oil fields with which those interests are associated, as well as the statuses of those interests. [VICE PRESIDENT, 2001 ; VICE PRESIDENT, 2001]
Map of Iraq's oil fields - The map includes markings for “supergiant” oil fields of 5 billion barrels or more, other oilfields, fields “earmarked for production sharing,” oil pipelines, operational refineries, and tanker terminals. [VICE PRESIDENT, 2001 ]
Other documents - Other documents include oil field maps and project tables for both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates [VICE PRESIDENT, 2001; VICE PRESIDENT, 2001; VICE PRESIDENT, 2001; VICE PRESIDENT, 2001]
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Warnings about 9/11 were sent to the Bush / Cheney administration from

Afghanistan (under the Taliban)
Argentina
Britain
Cayman Islands
Egypt
France
Germany
India
Israel
Italy
Jordan
Morocco
Saudi Arabia?
Russia
USA (FBI investigations of the flight schools)

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Senator's word's

"They don't have any excuse because the information was in their lap, and they didn't do anything to prevent it." - Senator Richard Shelby, then ranking Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee; member of the joint intelligence committee that investigated 9/11

"I don't believe any longer that it's a matter of connecting the dots. I think they had a veritable blueprint, and we want to know why they didn't act on it."
- Senator Arlen Specter, a Republican member of the joint intelligence committee that investigated 9/11

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Richard Clark

THE COUNTER-TERRORIST, Lawrence Wright, The New Yorker, Issue of January 14, 2002
www.newyorker.com/FACT/?020114fa_FACT1:
“[I]intelligence had been streaming in concerning a likely Al Qaeda attack. ‘It all came together in the third week in June [2001],’ Clarke said. ‘The C.I.A.'s view was that a major terrorist attack was coming in the next several weeks.’ On July 5th, Clarke summoned all the domestic security agencies—the Federal Aviation Administration, the Coast Guard, Customs, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and the F.B.I.—and told them to increase their security in light of an impending attack.”

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No Warnings? I think the citizens were the only ones not warned?

Willie Brown got low-key early warning about air travel, Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross, San Francisco Chronicle, September 12, 2001 http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg...
“For Mayor Willie Brown, the first signs that something was amiss came late Monday when he got a call from what he described as his airport security - - a full eight hours before yesterday's string of terrorist attacks -- advising him that Americans should be cautious about their air travel.”

"On Sept. 10.... a group of top Pentagon officials suddenly canceled travel plans for the next morning, apparently because of security concerns."
Newsweek 24 September 2001

"CounterPunch has also learned that an internal memo was sent around Goldman Sachs in Tokyo on September 10 advising all employees of a possible terrorist attack. It recommended all employees to avoid any American government buildings."
www.counterpunch.org/aftershocks.html

Village Voice: Officials Warned of Plans to Attack DC, NY with Planes
"The U.S. government had received repeated warnings of impending attacks—and attacks using planes directed at New York and Washington—for several years. The government never told us about what it knew was coming."
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0332/...

Florida State: Jeb Bush Declares Martial Law 9-7-01
"Based on the potential massive damage to life and property that may result from an act of terrorism at a Florida port, the necessity to protect life and property from such acts of terrorism..."
http://www.state.fl.us/eog_new/eog/order...

CBS News: Ashcroft Avoided Commercial Travel Prior to 9-11
"In response to inquiries from CBS News over why Ashcroft was traveling exclusively by leased jet aircraft instead of commercial airlines, the Justice Department cited what it called a "threat assessment" by the FBI, and said Ashcroft has been advised to travel only by private jet for the remainder of his term."
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/07/2...

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http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/nov200...

US planned war in Afghanistan long before September 11

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Michel Chossudovsky http://www.spectrezine.org/war/Chossudov...

"The war on terrorism is an integral part of Bush’s National Security Doctrine . It is being used as a pretext for waging war on Iraq. Many antiwar activists are unaware that successive US administrations have over the last 20 years supported Islamic terrorism including Al Qaeda . The latter is a creation of the CIA. It is a key instrument of US foreign policy"

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The Bush-Saudi Connection

www.hermes-press.com/BushSaud.htm
"even as the hijacked planes smashed into the World Trade Center, the Carlyle Group was holding its annual investor conference. Shafig Bin Laden, brother of Osama Bin Laden, attended"

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www.energybulletin.net/18904.html

Published on 4 Aug 2006 by MuseLetter / Energy Bulletin. Archived on 4 Aug 2006.
Middle East at a crossroads
by Richard Heinberg

an excellent analysis tying together the Sunni - Shia split, demographics, geology, declining oil fields, the emerging world war - a must read for understanding the situation.

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*War Games/NORAD*

Gen. Ralph Eberhart, commander of NORAD on 9/11 was promoted to head the new "Northern Command" afterwards if 9/11 had been an intelligence "failure" General Eberhart would have been court-martialed (He was promoted for failing to follow proper protocol.

9/11 commission blamed it on the FAA which happened to safely land several thousand planes that day.

Multiple drills were happening at the same time as the Hijackings including The US National Reconnaissance Office, which operates spy satellites, was conducting a simulation of a plane crash into their headquarters (near Dulles Airport in Virginia) on September 11.

www.fas.org/irp/nro/index.html

As well as four others being run by NORAD

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/04/19/norad.e...

Coincidence ?

Ironically, during 7/7 london bombings they were running one terrorism drill as well and Mr 9/11 was there himself.

Friday, 8 July, 2005, 04:19 GMT 05:19 UK
Giuliani says attack echoes 9/11
Mr Giuliani said people must stand up to terrorism

The Mayor of New York during the 9/11 attacks, Rudolph Giuliani, has spoken of the "eerie" experience of being in London near one of Thursday's blasts.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/46614...

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- why the director of the "commission" to investigate 9/11 is a business partner of Osama bin Laden's brother in law (Gov Thomas Kean, formerly of New Jersey, is a director of Amerada Hess, which is invested in the Saudi consortium to build the fabled pipeline across Afghanistan ...) Even Fortune magazine has picked up on that.

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Current events

-Georgia picks fight with Russia(those civilians were pawns)
-Cheney threatening Russia (Moscow's action "will not go unanswered".)
-Musheraf kicked out of Presidency of Pakistan
-US Troops in Pakistan! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7F1oRcsEJEc
-US embassy kicked out of Bolivia and Venezuela
-US failed attempt to destabilize Bolivia (Their crime, lots of natural gas)
-Russia has moved bombers to Venezuela
-China to drop dollar holdings
-US moved "missile shield" to Poland(because of Russian aggression, in reality provoked by Georgia) also the "missile shield" is missiles pointed at Russia
-Massive multi-national naval armanda deployed.
-Russia claims we are arming Georgians with our "aid"
-The financial industry's losses are being thrown on our and our children's backs and the economy is falling fast
-Israel says it will strike Iran in the near future
-Permanent bases in Iraq
-Bill of Rights gone(patriot act, Fisa and many others)

During the great depression, the US chose the future, the UK chose the past and Germany chose madness. What are we doing today?

If you want to honor the dead, do your homework. Virtually, everything I have posted has multiple MSM sources.

*Additional references: http://www.historycommons.org

Despite all the shitness of what's going on by our political leaders, I was just posting this because like every other day of noteworthiness, we honor thoses who directly our indirectly paid for our own mistakes. I guess there really isn't much pride left to be an american anymore.

Sorry to offend people, folks. This is my queue to get off. Good luck piggington folks.

TG: Great post. That's it in a nutshell. Have a good weekend, brother.

Thanks FLU. The style of my complaint could have been better. You have a good weekend too.

One day I am likely to have this topic come up in my kid's school and I will remember to appreciate having had the pratice discussing it with you all.

Wow. You've managed to cram so much hypocrisy into one little post. Saying "'Sophisticated' people welcome discourse, not shout it down and belittle others," and sandwiching it with statements that shout down discourse and belittle others. Amazing!

FLU I wanted to post for the exact same reason that you did.

TG summed it up better then I could have ever done. God bless those true heroes and thier families.