Not What I Wanted

Blogger ate a very long post I'd written this morning about the President's September 8th speech to Congress, and what the future may hold. It was a pretty decent post -- concise, and worth a read -- and it went up in a cloud of electrons.

It was a reminder that no matter how much labor you may put into something, it can all come a-cropper in a moment.

Today, ten years ago, we also lost things in a matter of moments -- lives and loved ones; two huge buildings; a national sense of security.

Ultimately, because of what happened that day, we would lose our credibility as a nation; more lives in combat zones. We would lose our collective privacy and Fourth Amendment Constitutional guarantees to a still-secret surveillance system; and finally, we would lose our economic security (The cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since September, 2001, is approximately $800 Billion; the cost of all budgeted military expenditures has been roughly Two Trillion Dollars).

Predictably for a Day of Remembrance and an anniversary, the media was full of September 11th, 2001; it became depressing very quickly, because there has been damn little reflection on what the aftermath of that day has brought us -- in my opinion, the beginning of the end of the American Empire. Lil' Boots, and President Cheney, and all their enablers, did us for the rest.

Now here we are -- broke, tired, angry, and ready to start a war... with each other.

Thanks, Lil' Boots. You had help, but were such an awesome figurehead for your class.

Over at The Big Picture, Barry Ritholtz had his own posting which pretty much said it for me. You should follow the inside link to read his personal recollection of 9/11:

Relentless Media Hype
By Barry Ritholtz - September 11th, 2011, 11:51AM

I’ve already had my say about what happened 10 years ago. I do not feel a compelling need to revisit it again and again and again.

MSNBC is replaying their September 11, 2001 broadcast; the WSJ made their entire 9/12 paper available online. Other outlets are doing similar “tributes” if thats the right word.

I don’t know if anyone else feels this way, but the relentless 9/11 coverage and tributes feels both ghoulish and exploitative. Sorry, but this is simply too much, I’ve had more than I can take of this. I do not care to spend the entire day crying, but if I watch any more of this coverage that is what will happen.

To those people who can find some consolation in this, I wish you well. Its a macabre spectacle to me. I need to find something more joyous and upbeat.

And I have to tell you; I hate the song 'Amazing Grace'.

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