>How Safe Are We 10 Years After 9/11? Friday, 09 Sep 2011 11:10 AM By Frank Gaffney
So, where are we 10 years after 9/11? It is comforting that we have been blessed with a near-unbroken decade without further mass-casualty attacks since those that killed nearly 3,000 Americans on Sept. 11, 2001.
Unfortunately, our government is pursuing policies that can only encourage those who aspire to do us harm to redouble their efforts.
Such an assessment was implicit in a critique of President Barack Obama’s new counterterrorism “strategy” delivered last week by Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Joseph Lieberman.
The Democrat-turned-Independent from Connecticut described the president’s so-called “Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Violent Extremism in the United States” white paper as “ultimately a big disappointment”:
The administration’s plan . . . suffers from several significant weaknesses. The first is that the administration still refuses to call our enemy in this war by its proper name, violent Islamist extremism. We can find names that are comparable to that, but not the one that the administration continues to use which [is] “violent extremism.”
>Not a 9/11 goes by without reflecting on her memory of a tall, pretty cheerleader who was always smiling.
I thought about this before I responded because every year, I have the same kind of feeling.
Though I would never compare myself to Abraham Lincoln, this may be an exception. I find it hard to express any individual feelings I hold about 9/11/01 because I lost no family member or close friend in the attacks, thank God. By doing so, it would be selfish and I would rather not detract from the memory of thousands and their loved ones.
I have one interesting irony involving one of the victims. They say death comes in 3’s.
I read in The Record that Diane Lipari, a person I graduated high school with, was listed as missing in the attacks. As you know, Jon Vandevender was also listed missing. During that week, one of my wife’s former co-workers husband was listed too. Within days, they were all confirmed dead. All three worked at Carr Futures.
Of the 2996 who died that day, I did not see any others that I knew in some way but I still feel this connection. During my time doing The Armchair Energist, I made mention of Diane on several occasions. Not a 9/11 goes by without reflecting on her memory of a tall, pretty cheerleader who was always smiling.
>We’ll Never Get Over It, Nor Should We Ten years later, remembering a day of horror and heroism. By PEGGY NOONAN
People are discussing the geopolitical implications of 9/11 and how the tragedy changed our country, and most of what’s been said has been worthy and serious. But my thoughts, as we hit the 10th anniversary, are more local and particular. I’m in a New York state of mind.
There were two targets, Washington and New York. Washington saw a great military institution attacked, and quickly rebuilt. In Washington people ran barefoot from the White House and the Capitol.
But New York saw a world end. New York saw the buildings come down.
That was the thing. It’s not that the towers were hit—we could have taken that. It’s not the fire, we could have taken that too. They bombed the World Trade Center in 1993 and took out five floors, and the next day we were back in business.
It’s that the buildings came down, in front of our eyes. They were there and proud and strong, they were massive, two pillars at the end of the island. And then they groaned to the ground and there was a cloud and when people could finally see they looked back and the buildings weren’t there breaking through the clouds anymore. The buildings were a cloud. The buildings were gone and that was too much to bear because they couldn’t be gone, they couldn’t have fallen. Because no one could knock down those buildings.
September 11 Attacks – Our Generation’s Day of Infamy
(Ridgewood, NJ): On Friday, U.S. Senate candidate from New Jersey Ian Linker issued the following statementas the tenth anniversary of the September 11th attacks approaches.
Riding into New York this morning I couldn’t help but think, as I have countless times over the past ten years, about the September 11 attacks – our generation’s day of infamy.
More than 3,000 woke up that beautiful Tuesday morning but did not come home that evening to their loved ones. They got up just like they did every day. They went about their lives. They got ready for work. They went to their office, their precinct, their firehouse, or the airport. They served their communities.
And then everything changed. Their beautiful lives were extinguished in a flash by jealous animals. The animals who committed those unspeakable acts of terror hated America because we are free. They hated us because we are self reliant. They hated us because we achieve. They hated us because we don’t tell our people where or how or to whom or even whether to pray. And there are plenty more of them today lurking under rocks throughout the world and here at home. They took much from us nearly ten years ago. But we learned a lot that day. We learned that our lives, our neighbors, our families, our loved ones, our friends, and our freedom must never be taken for granted. So, as Americans have so many times in our history, we rose up from the ash and the rubble, and overcame much heartache, much anger, and much hardship.
We have been at war against extremism ever since. Ours is a fight for freedom. We must be vigilant in our fight and must never relent. Freedom isn’t easy. It must always be protected. It must always be guarded. It must never be assumed. If we take our freedom for granted, we may wake up one morning and it could be gone. Never forget those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001 – I know I won’t.
On the evening of Sept. 11, Thomas E. Franklin, shaken from a day of photographing the World Trade Center attacks and trying to get back to New Jersey to finish his job, didn’t know he was carrying a piece of history in his digital camera.
For the veteran photographer, the photo that would become “Raising the Flag at Ground Zero” and get short-listed for the Pulitzer Prize was one of more than a thousand he took — all important, all capturing a snippet of time.
A photographer and videographer for the northern New Jersey newspaper The Record, Franklin was preparing for a meeting in his office in Hackensack, N.J., when a colleague told him about the first plane.
“I ran over to the window. I had a clear view across Jersey. I could see a huge gaping hole in the tower. I immediately took off for the city, but the tunnels and bridges were closed,” Franklin explained to POLITICO.
Having photographed the towers from New Jersey before, he headed to the riverfront in Jersey City. (Tanabe, POLITICO)
>Thinking About 9/11 Ron DuBois Bogota, New Jersey
Earlier this evening, Thursday, September 8th, I was at a moderated event in New York City. The moderator was pundit and author Michael Medved, and the speakers were former Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld; former White House Press Secretary, Ari Fleischer; and former Attorney General, Michael Mukasey, who prosecuted the blind Sheik for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. They spoke about the upcoming 10th anniversary of 9/11, the intervening years since 2001, and the current war on terrorism.
All three were basically in agreement, that while Spain, India, England, and other places, have suffered terrible terrorist attacks in the last few years, the U.S. has avoided them. This has not been due to a lack of effort by the terrorists – remember the “shoe bomber”, the Christmas Day “underwear bomber”, and the truck bomb in Times Square. (Gee, how imaginative our Media is, with titles I would expect from seamy rags.) Our intelligence agencies, all jokes aside, and police, have actually done a tremendous job of protecting us, preventing dozens of plots from reaching fruition, in spite of hinderence from the White House and the Department of Jokers, er, I mean Justice. The attempts listed above were prevented by a combination of the bombers own stupidity and brave American civilians, in spite of Janet Napolitano’s declaration that “the system worked”.
The speakers recalled exactly where they were and what they were doing when the planes hit the Twin Towers. Mr. Fleischer was with the President, Secretary Rumsfeld was in the Pentagon, and felt the shock of the plane hitting it, and Attorney General Mukasey, I believe, was at home. They also spoke of current U.S. policy in the Middle East and Africa, echoing my own opinions perfectly. Egypt was at peace with Israel, and no threat to us, yet President Obama helped depose Mubarak, opening the door for the Muslim Brotherhood. While Syria and Iran are threats, and Turkey is becoming one, our White House and State Department have been slow to react, and Libya, no threat at all to us, or to the Middle East, became the victim of NATO attacks on the Qadaffi government. Now, I don’t like Qadaffi much, but there’s a good chance the new government will be worse. What’s more, President Obama did not go to Congress for consent, even after the 60-day maximum under the War Powers Act was exceeded. Just to remind folks, there are only three, clearly itemized, reasons the President may use the War Powers Act, and the situation in Libya was not one of them.
At the end, the speakers fielded questions from the audience, and from 25 satellite viewing places around the country. The question that gave me pause was, “What happened to all the unity and flags and patriotism that was displayed after 9/11?” Here in New Jersey, where I live, it lasted over a year; what surprised me, according to Secretary Rumsfeld, was that in Washington it only lasted about three months. After that, it was back to “business as usual”. I think it is sad, that so many Americans have failed to continue the high level of patriotism that followed 9/11, but even sadder that many in Washington, who represent us at home, and our country to the world, could not hold their unity together for more than Three months.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2011 BY PAUL ARONSOHN THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
The story of 9/11 varies in both voice and perspective.
On the one hand, it is a national story about brutal terrorism and American resiliency. It is a tale of barbarism and heroism … a tale of the cowards who targeted innocent civilians and the brave men and women who faced them down on the streets of New York and the battlefields of distant countries.
On the other hand, it is a personal story – one told differently by everyone who tells it. In fact, each one of us has our own 9/11 narrative. Each one of us has our own recollection of that fateful day – where we were, what we were doing, how we responded. Each one of us welcomes the opportunity to share it with others and can still do so in amazingly graphic detail.
And on the most personal level, the 9/11 story is one of human tragedy. For nearly 3,000 American families – including 12 here in Ridgewood — this is a story of unmitigated pain and senseless death. Children lost parents. Parents lost children. Husbands and wives lost each other. On this level, this is a heartbreaking story with very few words, but a whole lot of sorrow.
>LINKER DEFENDS TEA PARTY IN WAKE OF VITRIOLIC NAME CALLING FROM UNION LEADER; DECRIES FAILURE OF LEADERSHIP
(Ridgewood, NJ): On Wednesday, conservative Republican U.S. Senate candidate from New Jersey Ian Linker issued the following statement defending the Tea Party movement after hateful statements from Teamsters President, James Hoffa, Jr.
The Left’s name-calling campaign against the Tea Party movement, publicly embraced on Monday by the President of the United States himself, now sadly represents business as usual in Washington. The silence in response to this blather from career politicians has been deafening. The incendiary rhetoric has sunk to a new low and represents nothing more than a desperate attempt by the Left to cling to power and a failed political philosophy.
Instead of talking about how distasteful Teamster boss James Hoffa, Jr. is for declaring “war” on the Tea Party, or how desperate Rep. Maxine Waters (D-FL) must be for telling the Tea Party to “go to hell,” or how the Vice President of the United States put his inability to lead on full display when he failed to condemn certain Democratic members of Congress for referring to the Tea Party as “terrorists”, the Tea Party must stay on message. Their agenda, which includes advocating for individual freedom for all Americans, tax and regulatory reform to facilitate job creation and economic growth, as well as championing free markets, limited government, a strict interpretation of the Constitution, and a balanced budget, is simply better for America than anything espoused by the career politicians in Washington.
The Left is horrified because the Tea Party’s agenda and principles represent everything they have fought so hard to destroy for decades. How do they react to this threat to their power? With name calling, calls to arms, and thuggery. The Tea Party must not be intimidated. The Tea Party must not be discouraged. The future of America is at stake.
> PSEG Saluted as International Sustainability Leader Dow Jones recognizes NJ energy company’s commitment to economic, environmental and social responsibility
(September 8, 2011 – Newark, NJ) – Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) was today named to the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index. Along with Duke Energy, it was one of only two U.S. utilities to make the international list. PSEG was also included in the Dow Jones Sustainability North America Index. The indexes serve as benchmarks for investors who integrate sustainability considerations into their portfolios and they are important indicators of success, given that companies that embrace sustainability are consistently among the highest performers in their industry.
“The DJSI have become the gold standard in recognizing the world’s corporate sustainability leaders,” said Michael A. Petronella, President, Dow Jones Indexes. “These indexes have become an invaluable market tool for those seeking to support companies that are committed to creating and adopting sustainable business practices.”
The Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) tracks the financial performance of the leading sustainability-driven companies worldwide. The DJSI selects leading companies for investment purposes, based on the quality of a company’s strategy, management and its performance in dealing with opportunities and risks deriving from economic, environmental and social developments.
The results are watched by market participants and are used by asset managers in 16 countries to manage a variety of sustainability-driven portfolios, such as mutual funds. Empirical evidence indicates that companies with higher sustainability scores are more likely to outperform their peers over the long-run. “Businesses often define sustainability in terms of the environment, but it is about much more. It means considering our overall impact on the people and communities we serve, while striving to grow a strong, solid business,” said Anne Hoskins, PSEG’s senior vice president of public affairs and sustainability. “We view our plans and investments through the lens of relevant economic, environmental and social issues.”
Cars should check in on North Walnut St off of Franklin Ave. Pre-registered cars – show your certificate- or check in for your certificate. All other cars need to pay $20 and register.
Parking first come-first serve.
The Ridgewood Police Dept wishes to remind all participants there is no consumption of alcohol allowed at this event.
>Friday Night Flights September 9th, 2011 Friday…Beer Sampling 5pm till 7pm
Following the Can Craze with these Local(ish) Brews Six Point Sweet Action- 5.20% Abv Sweet Action has always been somewhat nebulous – read: intriguing in a good way. The beer is listed on Beer Advocate and RateBeer as simply a Cream Ale, but is something wholly more captivating. Layers of ripe exotic fruit flavor, both sweet and bitter, mark its aroma and body. Vigorous dry-hopping with simcoe hops serve to amplify its robust “tropical” character. Like all Sixpoint beers, Sweet Action has long been a draft-only favorite in the New York metro area. The fact that this style-defying beer is now available in freshness friendly 16oz nanokegs (the brewery’s jocular name for its fetching cans) means a lot more beer lovers will undoubtedly now have the opportunity to try this fascinating American ale. Quality beer in the hands of more people, need you ask, is in my opinion a fantastic thing. *This beer was provided by the producer for the specific purposes of review on Hoptopia.
Six Point Bengali Tiger- 6.80% Abv Sixpoint Bengali Tiger is reminiscent of the century-old English IPA. In my perspective, many current IPAs suffer from lacking substance; unbalanced by a hoppy assertiveness that is not substantiated by a strong foundation of rich malt flavors. Our interpretation uses the highest-quality, floor-malted base malt, which lends a full-bodied and rich caramel flavor. We mash at high temperatures and add generous amounts of specialty malts to further emphasize a strong foundation of malt as leverage for our generous additions of hops… Which are indeed generous. We use a total of three different hop strains, and add a total of six different additions throughout the process. The Bengali Tiger has a hoppy snap upfront, but strides at a steady pace, and finishes balanced. The signature characteristic of the Tiger is the aroma… we use massive quantities of whole East Kent Goldings hops to dry hop in our conditioning tanks. The result? The essential oils from the hops are an enticing treat before every sip. Notice the lacing of stripes around the pint glass as you finish your glass; it’s the mark of the Tiger.
John P Gray “Son” Patrick & Sons Super Cellars 32 South Broad St Ridgewood,NJ 07450 (p) 201-444-0012 (f) 201-444-3070 (e) john@supercellars.com
Though painful to remember, most New Jersey residents choose not to forget the events of Sept. 11, 2001.
But only about one in four say they plan to do something special to mark the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on U.S. soil, according to a new poll.
Thirty percent of those surveyed in the Monmouth University/NJ Press Media poll think about 9/11 on a regular basis, while another 46 percent do so from time to time. Some 14 percent will attend a public ceremony marking the anniversary of the deadly attacks, and 12 percent plan to commemorate the date in private. While 4 percent don’t know what they’ll do, 70 percent say they’ll do nothing out of the ordinary.
“The memory lingers 10 years later, but most residents seemed to have moved on from the shadows of those events,” said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute in West Long Branch. (Clurfeld, Gannett)
>9/11 Exhibit at Ridgewood Library offers residents a place to reflect
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2011 BY JOSEPH CRAMER STAFF WRITER THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Just to the right of the bustling lobby at the Ridgewood Public Library is the Belcher Auditorium, but for the month of September it is a quieter and more solemn version of itself. The chairs and stage are still there, but on the back wall hang 12 portraits, the presence of which changes the tone of the room drastically.
The auditorium is once again home to Ridgewood’s “Portraits” exhibit, which commemorates the 12 residents who were killed in the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. The portraits each consist of a close-up picture of the victims, a picture of the victim with their family and a short anecdote about their life. Coordinated through the village manager’s office, the exhibit has been put up every year since 9/11.
>Weather Update: Chamber Car Show, Friday, Sept. 9, 2011
We are waiting until tomorrow (9/9/11), around 1:00pm, checing the weather, then will decide if we should cancel the car show.
We realize that the cars will not come in the rain. Maybe we will get a break in the weather and it will be beautiful.
If it really looks like rain and we have to cancel -there is no rain date. Everyone who has pre-registred will be automatically be registered for 2012 Car Show.
Check www.experienceridgewood.com and/or call the Chamber office 201-445-2600 around 1:00pm and we will let you know.
How better to gather information about your child’s eating habits and use them to tailor health insurance policies and create behavior control programs.Dig deep on this one, there is probably some government $$ out there to be had if you have the data to back up the need for an obesity awareness program or some other intrusive nonsense.
Then again it can just be another incompetent move by the BOE and school administration
