"do Not Forget"

"DO NOT FORGET"


I sat in a movie theater watching "Schindler's List," asked myself, "Why didn't the Jews fight back?"

Now I know why.

I sat in a movie theater, watching "Pearl Harbor" and asked myself, "Why weren't we prepared?"

Now I know why.

Civilized people cannot fathom, much less predict, the actions of evil people.

On September 11, dozens of capable airplane passengers allowed themselves to
be overpowered by a handful of poorly armed terrorists because they did not
comprehend the depth of hatred that motivated their captors.

On September 11, thousands of innocent people were murdered because too many
Americans naively reject the reality that some nations are dedicated to the
dominance of others. Many political pundits, pacifists and media personnel
want us to forget the carnage. They say we must focus on the bravery of the
rescuers and ignore the cowardice of the killers. They implore us to
understand the motivation of the perpetrators. Major television stations have
announced they will assist the healing process by not replaying devastating
footage of the planes crashing into the Twin Towers.

I will not be manipulated.

I will not pretend to understand.

I will not forget.

I will not forget the liberal media who abused freedom of the press to kick
our country when it was vulnerable and hurting.

I will not forget that CBS anchor Dan Rather preceded President Bush's address
to the nation with the snide remark, "No matter how you feel about him, he is
still our president."

I will not forget that ABC TV anchor Peter Jennings questioned President
Bush's motives for not returning immediately to Washington, DC and commented,
"We're all pretty skeptical and cynical about Washington."

And I will not forget that ABC's Mark Halperin warned if reporters weren't
informed of every little detail of this war, they aren't "likely -- nor should
they be expected -- to show deference."

I will not isolate myself from my fellow Americans by pretending an attack on
the USS Cole in Yemen was not an attack on the United States of America.

I will not forget the Clinton administration equipped Islamic terrorists and
their supporters with the world's most sophisticated telecommunications
equipment and encryption technology, thereby compromising America's ability to
trace terrorist radio, cell phone, land lines, faxes and modem communications.

I will not be appeased with pointless, quick retaliatory strikes like those
perfected by the previous administration.

I will not be comforted by "feel-good, do nothing" regulations like the silly
"Have your bags been under your control?" question at the airport.

I will not be influenced by so called,"antiwar demonstrators" who exploit the
right of expression to chant anti-American obscenities.

I will not forget the moral victory handed the North Vietnamese by American
war protesters who reviled and spat upon the returning soldiers, airmen,
sailors and Marines.

I will not be softened by the wishful thinking of pacifists who chose
reassurance over reality.

I will embrace the wise words of Prime Minister Tony Blair who told Labor
Party conference, "They have no moral inhibition on the slaughter of the
innocent. If they could have murdered not 7,000 but 70,000, does anyone doubt
they would have done so and rejoiced in it?

There is no compromise possible with such people, no meeting of minds, no
point of understanding with such terror. Just a choice: defeat it or be
defeated by it. And defeat it we must!"

I will force myself to:

-hear the weeping
-feel the helplessness
-imagine the terror
-sense the panic
-smell the burning flesh
- experience the loss
- remember the hatred.

I sat in a movie theater, watching "Private Ryan" and asked myself, "Where did
they find the courage?"

Now I know.

We have no choice. Living without liberty is not living.

-- Ed Evans, MGySgt., USMC (Ret.)
Not as lean, Not as mean, But still a Marine.



-Matt

 

Man, i hated Schindler's List and Amistad. I abhorr overly dramatic movies, and even worse I found I laughed in all the wrong spots of the movie (when ray fines was shooting the jews from his balconey)... How can someone laugh at the holocaust? Simple, steven speilberg. Great at action movies, not so with drama. Oh, and I am part sephardic jew.

 

:TU: Excellent quote, Matt. BTW, the Jews couldn't fight back because Hitler had previously rounded up all of their weapons.

Mike

 

Nice bit of rememberance Matt! Good work and I couldn't agree more!

 

Thanks, Matt. You are right on. More people need to remember, or perhaps even care.

 

Right on, Matt!!!!!
Let us all be thankful that we have a president who can "LEAD US"and not "BE LED" by all the political crap that he has to deal with.
Let us all pray for our leaders and our soldiers.
Randy

 

My sentiments exactly Matt!!!

I'm thankful we have a President that has the backbone to stand by his convictions.

It is sad that it took an act of mass murder on Sept.11th to shock us out of our complacency.

 

I appreciate the post

Thanks MATT
It's lonely at the top.

 

Pass it around and post it everywhere so no one ever forgets.

-Matt

 

On the lighter side

> Some recent comments from Dennis Miller....
>
>
> All the rhetoric on whether or not we should go to war against Iraqis got
> my insane little brain spinning like a roulette wheel. I enjoy reading
> opinions from both sides but I have detected a hint of confusion from some
> of you.
>
> As I was reading the paper recently, I was reminded of the
> best advice someone ever gave me. He told me about the KISS method ("keep
> it simple,stupid!) Therefore, with this as a theme, I'd like to apply
> this theory for those who don't quite get it. My hope is that we can
> simplify things a bit and recognize a few important facts.
>
> Here are 10 things to consider when voicing an opinion on this important
> issue:
>
> 1) Out of President Bush and Saddam Hussein ... Hussein is the bad guy.
>
> 2) If you have faith in the United Nations to do the right thing keep this
> in mind, they have Libya heading the committee on Human Rights and Iraq
> heading the Global Disarmament Committee. Do your own math here.
>
> 3) If you use Google search and type in "French military victories,"your
> reply will be "did you mean French military defeats?"
>
> 4) If your only anti-war slogan is "no war for oil," sue
> your school district for allowing you to slip through the cracks and
> robbing you of the education you deserve.
>
> 5) Saddam and bin laden will not seek United Nations approval before they
> try to kill us.
>
> 6) Despite common belief, Martin Sheen is not the President. He just
> plays one on TV.
>
> 7) Even if you are anti-war, you are still an "infidel." And Osama bin
> laden still wants you dead.
>
> 8) If you believe in a "vast right-wing conspiracy" but not in the danger
> that Saddam Hussein poses, quit hanging out with the Dell computer dude.
>
> 9) We are not trying to liberate them.
>
> 10) Whether you are for military action or against it, our young men and
> women overseas are fighting for us, fighting to defend our right to
> speak out. We all need to support them without reservation.
>

 

And I thought he was such a moron on Monday Night Football. There is something gone on up there in that ol' melon of Dennis'
Good for him.

 

Another do not forget quote

No matter what your views on President Bush's statement of upcoming war,
this, from an English journalist, is very interesting. Just a word of
background for those of you who aren't familiar with the UK's Daily Mirror.
This is a notoriously left-wing daily that is normally not supportive of the
Colonials across the Atlantic.

Tony Parsons ... Daily Mirror ... September 11, 2002 One year ago, the
world witnessed a unique kind of broadcasting -- the mass murder of
thousands, live on television. As a lesson in the pitiless cruelty of the
human race, September 11 was up there with Pol Pot's Mountain of Skulls in
Cambodia, or the skeletal bodies stacked like garbage in the Nazi
concentration camps. An unspeakable act so cruel, so calculated and so
utterly merciless that surely the world could agree on one thing - nobody
deserves this fate.

Surely there could be consensus: The victims were truly innocent, the
perpetrators truly evil. But to the world's eternal shame, 9/11 is
increasingly seen as America's comeuppance.

Incredibly, anti-Americanism has increased over the last year. There has
always been a simmering resentment to the USA in this country; too loud, too
rich, too full of themselves, and so much happier than Europeans -- but it
has become an epidemic. And it seems incredible to me. More than that, it
turns my stomach.

America is this country's greatest friend and our staunchest ally. We are
bonded to the US by culture, language and blood. A little over half a
century ago, around half a million Americans died for our freedoms, as well
as their own. Have we forgotten so soon? And exactly a year ago, thousands
of ordinary men, women and children -- not just Americans, but from dozens of
countries -- were butchered by a small group of religious fanatics. Are we
so quick to betray them?

What touched the heart about those who died in the Twin Towers and on the
planes, was that we recognized them. Young fathers and mothers, somebody's
son and somebody's daughter, husbands, wives, and children, some unborn.

And these people brought it on themselves? Their nation is to blame for
their meticulously planned slaughter? These days you don't have to be some
dust-encrusted nut job in Kabul or Karachi or Finsbury Park to see America as
the Great Satan.

The anti-American alliance is made up of self-loathing liberals who blame the
Americans for every ill in the Third World, and conservatives suffering from
power-envy, bitter that the world's only superpower can do what it likes
without having to ask permission.

The truth is that America has behaved with enormous restraint since September
11.

Remember... remember... remember... the gut-wrenching tapes of weeping men
phoning their wives to say, "I love you," before they were burned alive.

Remember those people leaping to their deaths from the top of burning
skyscrapers.

Remember the hundreds of firemen buried alive.

Remember the smiling face of that beautiful little girl who was on one of the
planes with her mum.

Remember... remember... And realize that America has never retaliated for
9/11 in anything like the way it could have. So a few al-Qaeda tourists got
picked up without a trial in Camp X-ray? Pass the Kleenex.
So some Afghan wedding receptions were shot up after they merrily fired their
semi-automatics in a sky full of American planes? A shame, but maybe next
time they should stick to confetti. AMERICA could have turned a large chunk
of the world into a parking lot. That it didn't is a sign of strength.
American voices are already being raised against attacking Iraq -- that's
what a democracy is for.

How many in the Islamic world will have a minute's silence for the
slaughtered innocents of 9/11? How many Islamic leaders will have the guts
to say that the mass murder of 9/11 was an abomination? When the news of
9/11 broke on the West Bank, those freedom-loving Palestinians were dancing
in the street.

America watched all of that -- and didn't push the button. We should thank
the stars that America is the most powerful nation in the world.
I still find it incredible that 9/11 did not provoke all-out war. Not a "war
on terrorism." A real war.

The fundamentalist dudes are talking about "opening the gates of hell"
if America attacks Iraq. Well, America could have opened the gates of hell
like you wouldn't believe. The US is the most militarily powerful nation
that ever strode the face of the earth. The campaign in Afghanistan may have
been less than perfect and the planned war on Iraq may be misconceived. But
don't blame America for not bringing peace and light to these wretched
countries. How many democracies are there in the Middle East, or in the
Muslim world? You can count them on the fingers of one hand -- assuming you
haven't had any chopped off for minor shoplifting.

I love America, yet America is hated. I guess that makes me Bush's poodle.
But I would rather be a dog in New York City than a Prince in Riyadh . Above
all, America is hated because it is what every country wants to be -- rich,
free, strong, open, optimistic. Not ground down by the past, or religion, or
some caste system.

America is the best friend this country ever had and we should start
remembering that. Or do you really think the USA is the root of all evil?
Tell it to the loved ones of the men and women who leaped to their death from
the burning towers. Tell it to the nursing mothers whose husbands died on
one of the hijacked planes, or were ripped apart in a collapsing skyscraper.
And tell it to the hundreds of young widows whose husbands worked for the New
York Fire Department.

To our shame, George Bush gets a worse press than Saddam Hussein. Once we
were told that Saddam gassed the Kurds, tortured his own people and set up
rape-camps in Kuwait. Now we are told he likes Quality Street.
Save me the orange center, Oh Mighty One!

Remember... remember... September 11. One of the greatest atrocities in
human history was committed against America. No, do more than remember.

Never forget.

 

Never Forget.........

 

AMEN!!!!!!!! I know I will NEVER forget 9/11.....and I WILL support out great President Bush, and espescially our troops that our fighting for our right to sit here and post on this board, or our right to go out and cruise our beloved Buicks every weekend.....this is AMERICA, Land of the FREE!!!!!!!!! :TU:



:blast: Saddam and all his terrorist buddies!!!

 

Good point Michael! Excellent post Matt!!:TU:

 

THAT'S WHY IT'S IMPORTANT to fight for your right to "KEEP" and Bear Arms! If the Anti Gun laws allow authorities to take weapons away from "law abiding" citizens, it would be that much easier for "criminals" to take over, because there would be NO RESISTANCE! Armed criminals usually don't buy guns legally, anyway, they STEAL them from someone else, and then USE them against other people to STEAL MORE! DUH. So, WHY should "WE" (the LEGAL gun owners) be punished for "STUPID" people's (criminals) actions?!

If you DON'T have one, GO GET A Firearms Owners Identification (F.O.I.D.) card, before you CAN'T!

A gun is only a TOOL, UNTIL it is "MISUSED"! If you DON'T KNOW how to use a gun, there are programs set up to TEACH you about Gun SAFETY, and HOW to PROPERLY use a gun, for self defense, for competition, for hunting, but I have YET to take a training course that teaches how to KILL another person! I've learned that more by WATCHING "action" MOVIES, than in ALL of my shooting experience.

The BLAME needs to go to the right place: THE PERSON is responsible for USING the "weapon", NOT the other way around: The "weapon" can not be responsible for the PERSON'S "ACTIONS"! DON'T BLAME THE GUN!

Favorite quote, from the movie "Shane": "A gun is as GOOD or as BAD as the MAN that USES it."

Shoot SAFELY! PROTECT your FAMILY! FIGHT for your RIGHTS!
and you like to join "clubs"? Join the NRA!
Just like the Buick Club, that will Fight FOR YOU, to KEEP your Car Hobby alive, the NRA will do the same for the Gun Hobby!

And, in the same respect, if we LET them take our guns away, it won't be long before they CAN take our CARS away. BECAUSE they CAN, IF (IF) we LET them!:Smarty: :TU: :blast:

 

:TU: well said, Scott. But you left out one important part: exercise your right to VOTE.

Mike
NRA Life Member
2nd Amendment Foundation member
Citizens Committee to Keep And Bear Arms member
Michigan United Conservation Club member

 

with regards to buick_350X's first post, he can remember all this and still not remember that g.bush sr. could of ended all this before it got passed on to slick willy by finishing the gulf war he started. or rockin' ronnie could of avoided all of this in the first place by having a more realistic view of the middle east and a bankrupt and decaying communist russia he took so much credit for "helping to bring down"! osama ben laden and his buddys have been around for a while hating us. and the saddamizer was a benificiary or the regan administration since the iran/contra bullshit of the 80's. the real outrage is that people wern't listening to the protests back then that could of changed everything we are fighting about now! yes, we need to support our troops, they go and do as they are told! i just hope this mess is finally cleaned up once and for all. "those who fail to remember history are condemed to repete it"
':af:'