Friday, September 11, 2009

ADIOS, ACORN

Don't let the door hit you on the way out ....

"The Census Director has sent a letter to the National Headquarters of ACORN notifying the group that the Census Bureau is severing all ties with the community organizing group for all work having to do with the 2010 census."

HEALTH CARE FOR CLUNKERS

Dr. Helen Smith commiserates with the automobile dealers who haven't been paid by the government for the clunkers they sold and relates her own Medicare experience.
Cham wonders:


I wonder how much healthcare would cost if everyone had to pay cash out of pocket. There would be doctor's offices on every corner and minimal staff, just like in South and Central America. You could be seen on a walk-in basis, no appointment necessary.

I remember. It was early in my childhood, but Cham's wonder is largely accurate. Of course, we only went to the doctor when we were sick - there was no preventive care at the time.

YARD SALE TO JAIL CELL

An example of the nanny state run amok.

WRONG AGAIN

Barack Obama: “Today we are all New Yorkers.

No. Today I am a (Shanksville) Pennsylvanian: “No one could have guessed that al-Qaeda’s attack on America would be defeated aboard United 93, only minutes after it began. I hope, with all the ferocity of a broken heart that will never mend, their defeat came as a stunning surprise to those animals. I hope every one of them died with a passenger’s hands around his throat. “

KEEP THE CLUNKER

I left my pickup in the parking garage this morning with the window down, doors unlocked, and the key in the ignition. Four hours later, it was still there.

Must be the “I miss W” sticker on the bumper.

PEGGY NOONAN ON 9/11

"I'd never fully realized this: 9/11 was for America's kids exactly what Nov. 22, 1963, was for their parents and uncles and aunts. They were at school. Suddenly there were rumors in the hall and teachers speaking in hushed tones. You passed an open classroom and saw a teacher sobbing. Then the principal came on the public-address system and said something very bad had happened. Shocked parents began to pick kids up. Everyone went home and watched TV all day, and the next."

Yes.

WHAT IS HE THINKING?

A National Day of Service? The President must be tone deaf.

REMEMBERING 9/11

I was driving in to work (in Alexandria, VA) on I-395 when the first reports of a plane crashing into the World Trade Center came over the radio. By the time I pulled into the parking garage, it was becoming obvious that the crash was more than just a small plane hitting the building.



When I got to my office, the seriousness was evident - two commercial jets had hit the WTC. Photos were beginning to show up on TV and the news web sites. People huddled in small groups about their desktop computers, talking quietly.

Within minutes, there were phone calls reporting an explosion at the Pentagon, and news reports soon after. (The attack on the Pentagon must have happened while I was walking from the parking garage across the street to my office building; I neither saw nor heard anything, although my office building is only 10 miles or so away.)



A few minutes later, I got a frantic call from my daughter-in-law, asking if I had heard from my son. A Navy officer, he had been scheduled to attend a briefing at the Pentagon that morning. Luckily, the meeting had been canceled, and he soon relayed a message back that he was okay.

Initial reaction was simply one of shock, followed by daze - get coffee, talk quietly, take care of mandatory business, watch/listen to further news reports.

The anger came later.



My wife: “I was teaching elementary school on 9-11 and was not told about it, so I had the kids outside (along with another teacher) as a reward. Someone from the office ran outside and told us to come in because a renegade plane was headed for the capitol. That's when we found out what happened.”

My sister: "Driving to work ... talk radio reported an airplane had hit one of the towers. My first reaction was based on a recent incident involving a small plane hitting a building near the Hudson River. I thought 'oh no, another inexperienced pilot ... another accident.' Once understood that it was a commercial flight, I felt it was something sinister even though, at the time, nothing indicated such. I hoped that TV's were on at work. They were on ... I witnessed the second flight hitting in real time. It was like being hit in the gut. More news ... more tragedy ... the Pentagon next ... followed by the flight that was ditched in the field. I knew that your office wasn't far from the Pentagon ... at the time, wondering what you were seeing. It was sickening ... watching 'man's inhumanity to man'. Everyone in the office was tuned in to the tragedy .... overwhelming sadness. No 'work' was done that day."

9/11



Thank you, Chris Muir.

I REMEMBER

Link provided by Instapundit. Thanks.