Please Stand By....

(Editor's Note: Hi to my minions out there! As you can see, I've been on a bit of a hiatus as of late, but fret not! I'm going to get back out here and write some more soon, so keep your eyes peeled, because the newest blog will both entertain and enlighten. More to come soon, but in the meantime, please enjoy this reposting of one of my more interesting blogs from my MySpace days. See you soon!)

(Original posting date: September 12, 2006, edited only for spelling)

Well, as you probably know, I haven't written anything in a while, so I did some thinking, because I want to make everything I say to count; I've spoken the truth before, and I'm not going to stop just to appease a restless audience. I've gone through many different factors in my mind to come up with this, so I hope this means 25% as much as it does to me. So, without further ado...

First of all, as most of you are aware, I took a (almost) spur-of-the-moment road trip to the Northeast a couple weekends ago, and I have to say, with the exception of not visiting two people (and they know who they are, and one wasn't a social call), I think the trip was a success. Philly will just have to be the next blog (though it would fit chronologically). This one seems appropriate for the occasion.

As everyone knows, yesterday was the 5th Anniversary of our nation losing it's last shred of innocence, and while this seems 24 hours late, think about this; today marks the 5th Anniversary we became a military state, a nation, not of freedom, but of lock downs and shoe searches. From the day of the first commercial flight (which happened right here, from St. Pete to Tampa, in 1912, BTW) to 9/11/01 (before 9:30AM, of course), with the exceptions of firearms and swords, we could bring practically anything on a plane. We could, with permission, go and talk to the pilot mid-flight and have our children sit on their laps, and when they were done, the pilot or co-pilot would give them "wings"...I still have mine. And I read an interesting article in the tbt* today (the Tampa Bay Times, for people who don't know what it is, and for my Philly friends, it's like our version of the Daily News, but free) about how since we've lost our ability to see our loved ones off, the airport is no longer the romantic, magical place it once was. Instead of kissing your lover good-bye and watch them disappear down the tunnel, or watching your children try to see Daddy one more time before he disappears for his business trip, it's a quick "See ya," at the curb, basically the passion of a one-night stand. You know their leaving, but not for another 3-4 hours, so you wait anxiously to hear they're boarding, but where are you? Not within 100' of them, minimum. And what about returns? No more rushing to greet them from the plane, with all the love and sense of security that they've landed in one piece. It's all gone now, all because we've turned into the equivalent of a democratic Nazi regime.

Because I said that, I could probably now be profiled as a terrorist, and since "they" now suspect me, I'm being wire-tapped and having all my e-mails and my hard drive searched right now. They'll find the porn sites I've visited, the e-mails I've sent to friends about chain jokes I've gotten, and my MySpace page depicting buildings in Philly. Does that make me a prime target because I'm a pedophile conspirator planning to attack Liberty Place? No, because I'm a white guy named Dietrich. The government is "profiling" (a pretty word for being racist) against anyone named Muhammed, Abullah, and Natal, anyone who sounds like their from the Middle East (except Israel, because we love them for killing the "Muslim targets" for us), or preaches to Allah (which, fellow Christians, is the same god as our God; remember, Abraham beget Issac (Jewish) and Ishmael (Muslim)...crazy how that works, huh?); the people of this great nation gave the government the power to do that by allowing our Congress to pass the "Patriot Act". The people did similar things back in 1933 by electing the Nazi party candidate for Chancellor (soon after Fürher) Adolf Hitler and allowing Lenin and the Boshlevicks to take over Imperial Russia in 1917, which eventually lead to the Great Purge by Stalin in the late 40's. History repeats itself, and we see that here. Pretty soon, blacks in our country won't have a thing to worry about because we'll be trying to enslave people of Arab ancestry because, "they all look like Muslims."

Has this day lost it's meaning? I mean, sure, it only happened 5 years ago and people definitely remember what happened, but what, if anything, have we learned? There was a chain bulletin (most likely sent out by someone who isn't old enough to care about what happened) last week saying every one should "skipp [sic] school because we shouldn't be here when people died. It should be a national holiday." I disagree. Memorial Day was a holiday set up by the Federal government back in the 20's to remember all the people who died serving this country, esp. the Great War (there wasn't WWII yet to warrant a moniker), since it just happened less than a decade before. Now, do we remember our fallen heroes more than a speech by our sitting prez before we either go down the shore/go the beach (pick your vernacular) or shop till we drop with all the sales? Obviously, that's not what the senator who proposed that holiday had in mind, and I'm sure rolls over in his grave every year. And the same goes for the Pilgrims in Plymouth. Do you honestly think they prayed, "Let us thank God for this bountiful feast, and let's thank Him for the amazing deals happening tomorrow down at The Wigwam. Now, I can get that wonderful bonnet for Sarah Goodwife for Christmas. Amen."? Hell no, and this is exactly what would happen if we make 9/11 (aka "Patriot Day" on the calendar I have at work) a Federal, State, or even a local holiday. Then 2,982 people died in vain, and how would you explain that to your kids when they ask, "Why do we celebrate this holiday, Mom?"

Then, I watched "Mr Smith Goes To Washington" for about the 4th time (but the first in a very long time...one of the best movies ever, I highly recommend EVERYONE see it at least once) today and it made me remember that the little guy can stand up and be heard in government. Of course, it takes a lot of heart and courage to do so, but that's the only way meaningful things are accomplished. It also reminded me of something that has been lost lately: the freedom of speech. Jokingly saying the word "bomb" or causally saying "I'm going to kill you," or even saying something that may offend someone like "handyman" instead of "handyperson" (what about women?) or "white" instead of "Caucasian" (what about albinos?) could have "harassment" charges filed against you. We used to be able to bad mouth the powers-at-large, and they would laugh it off. Now, if you say something bad about our prez, like calling him a "low-life douchebag who should be recalled" or a "lying emperor who has overstepped his bounds" could possibly lead to "terrorist" charges. Our Constitution guarantees freedom of speech and press (I won't start on them, I promise), but all we're getting is watered-down reasons to have our rights trampled on. The 4th Amendment protects us from all the searches at airports and the 5th-8th Amendments protect people who look or sound Islamic from being prosecuted like terrorists when they more than likely aren't (a study in Newsday showed that 87% of all Muslims in the world believed the terrorists should be kicked out of the Mosques) without due process. While some may say, "they killed innocent Americans without due process," I counter and say that our laws make us who we are, and if we decide to impede on them just because they're "inconvenient" at the time, it makes us no better than a fascist state like Mussolini's Italy or Stalin's communist Russia. We take a huge step back in human rights while the world moves forward, just because a handful of extremists are identified with an entire culture. It's the 1920's all over again, and if we continue, it'll be like the 1820's, just with technology. People, come to your senses; sto being sheep and think for yourself what is happening before we blindly elect another Hitler to power.

Man, I have so much more to say, but it's getting late, and I think I've covered the key points. I'm just as angered and hurt about what happened 5 years ago yesterday, and I know those 19 hijackers didn't meet Allah/God like they planned, but we shouldn't be on a witch hunt. Let's spend these days remembering our lost family, friends, colleagues, and neighbors, not with blood, but with peace. We can't make this world a better place unless we lead by example and why not start today?

He who saves one life, saves the world entire.
- old Jewish proverb