posted on June 4, 2002 02:01:38 PM new
If you going to American Red Training they teach you that it can take 6 months to 2 years before a trauma can hit can hit a person, and that in fact they're "Still IN Oklahoma City".
So when I finally got around to see if I can get any benefits, I was told the deadline for applications was March 8, but I could file an appeal if I had good reason. They sent me the form.
I filled out the form, etc.
I was rejected because I did "not clearly and effectively demonstrate an extenuating reason why he/she was unable to meet the deadline." "We have made continuous efforts to inform the public of our financial assistance programs anad other services since immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks and the March 8 deadline."
(Missed the deadline part. Maybe because my TV was knocked out for one thing?)
I made a clear-cut case, details of which I won't go into here.
This org. is triple capital-P Pathological.
On the bright side I had fun yakking with and 85 yo Black preacher from the Bronx in Nurse Ratchet's waiting room. (He was with his daughter.) One of his pearls: "I'd become a Communist before I'd ever become a Republican." We high-fived it for an hour.
Nurse Ratchet has become bored with me. Either that or the lobotomy worked. I don't have to go back there. Yet.
posted on June 4, 2002 02:18:18 PM newOne of his pearls:"I'd become a Communist before I'd ever become a Republican."
I think this is the same for most Democrats and seems as though this is exactly what they are becoming. They seem to embrace communism and all that it stands for while at the same time they turn their backs on capitalism.
Edited to add your "pearls" line and to say docpjw You can stop being snotty now. How'd you like that for an edit, huh?
[ edited by yellowstone on Jun 4, 2002 02:27 PM ]
[ edited by yellowstone on Jun 4, 2002 04:06 PM ]
posted on June 4, 2002 02:34:55 PM new
Capitalism has NOTHING to do with Republicans or Democrats. Neither does Communism, in my opinion.
Edited to "Add"... at Least You didn't RIP Clinton this time, But you can still edit your Response.
[ edited by docpjw on Jun 4, 2002 02:38 PM ]
posted on June 4, 2002 02:43:55 PM new
Well, Yellowstone, like the Delaney Sisters, I reckon this is a man who has "Something to Say."
I told him I wouldn't be surprised if there was another civil war. He said: "Me either but I won't be alive to see it."
It all started when he said, out of nowhere really, "I bet that if Bush wasn't elected it wouldn't have happened...remember Noriega, etc."
And it was funny that he brought that up because I was reading the paper and was just a few minutes before reminiscing:
By the afternoon of 9/12 an upstairs neighbor had a picture of her 21 year old son in the lobby. I live in the lobby and am the unofficial concierge of the building by virtue of proximity. It was one of those ubiquitous "missing" pictures. Having been down there I knew the kid was dead.
Maybe a day later I hear a man wailing and sobbing. I go out. He indicates to the picture and says, "George Bush did this! George Bush did this!" An Egyptian guy who lives on the same floor and watched this kid grow up.
I just know what people tell me and I talk to darn near anybody.
posted on June 4, 2002 02:54:56 PM new
nycyn
You post that pearl of wisdom and you expect me to feel sorry for you. Some jackass spouts off that George Bush did this and what I am supposed to feel sorry for him too.
posted on June 4, 2002 02:59:06 PM new
Yellowstone:
I wouldn't expect you to feel anything for me, and the rest of us with God-Knows-What in our lungs from running to GZ. After all, your a true-blue Republican (I guess from your posts) and a Patriot to boot no doubt!
posted on June 4, 2002 03:15:53 PM new
nycyn
Don't sit there on your high horse thinking that 911 didn't effect me. It did and in a profound way and I remember those horrifying images of those jets slamming into the WTC buildings and believe me I cried. I found it hard to function normally for a long time afterwards because of the attacks and the tremendous loss of innocent life.
posted on June 4, 2002 03:40:06 PM new
nycyn
I have read your posts in other threads and I know what you went through after 911 and I wouldn't wish it upon anyone. I believe that because of this you are not thinking rationally, therefore I am going to just leave this subject in this thread alone from here on out.
posted on June 4, 2002 04:21:29 PM new
>>Don't sit there on your high horse thinking that 911 didn't effect me. It did and in a profound way and I remember those horrifying images of those jets slamming into the WTC buildings and believe me I cried. I found it hard to function normally for a long time afterwards because of the attacks and the tremendous loss of innocent life.<<
Well I feel sorry for you.
>>I believe that because of this you are not thinking rationally<<
Yeah. That's another thing the Preacher Man said. He said "if you don't pretend everything is fine people think you're crazy." "That's why I'm sitting here I said." No more was needed on that topic.
posted on June 6, 2002 07:33:31 AM new
Bush, Cheney and Ashcroft have been chipping away at the Constitution all this time. And any who disagree with them are not "Patriots" like them but are part of the evil empire.
That Patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels...
I consider myself a Patriot to this COUNTRY, not a bootlicking patriot to the Party line like some people here....
There are only 10 types of people in the world
Those who understand binary and those who don't
posted on June 6, 2002 09:38:05 AM newBush, Cheney and Ashcroft have been chipping away at the Constitution all this time. And any who disagree with them are not "Patriots" like them but are part of the evil empire.
mlecherous
I am willing to fight and die if necessary for my patriotism, would you?
Edited to quote you directly and to say that I think you meant to say "agree" instead of "disagree". Also you need to look up the word "Patriot" in the dictionary, it does not mention anything about being a patriot to the party line.
[ edited by yellowstone on Jun 6, 2002 09:46 AM ]
posted on June 6, 2002 09:53:51 AM new
Absolutely, mlecher! Jingoism has been substituted for clear, level-headed public examination of the issues surrounding terrorism. Without the checks and balances, we can all kiss the Bill of Rights good-bye, and the greatest of the checks and balances is an informed public exhibiting the skills of critical examination.
An editorial from today's NYT:
PRESERVING LIBERTY AND SECURITY
The Role of Congress
Robert Mueller's planned appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee today ought to be the occasion for a tough grilling of the beleaguered director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The immediate issues before the committee are the bureau's mishandling of warnings last summer about terror threats and the steps Mr. Mueller is taking to reorganize his agency. Members of the committee should use the opportunity to demand that Mr. Mueller explain why Congress was not consulted before Attorney General John Ashcroft granted the F.B.I. new domestic spying powers last week. The senators should also ask for a detailed report on how the administration has used other law enforcement tools it sought after Sept. 11.
The performance and powers of the F.B.I. are not trivial matters. They demand the kind of close scrutiny that the Judiciary Committee has sometimes failed to muster on civil liberties matters since the terror attacks. Ever since Mr. Ashcroft cowed the committee in December with a bombastic lecture about security, there has been a distressing timidity in the Senate about the Bush administration's aggressive expansion of federal investigative powers.
Patrick Leahy, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and his colleagues have a constitutional obligation to speak out on these issues and exercise the powers of the Senate to maintain an appropriate balance between liberty and security in America. Curiously, Republicans have shown a greater willingness to challenge the administration's actions, particularly Representative James Sensenbrenner, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and Senators Charles Grassley and Arlen Specter, both members of the judiciary panel.
The Judiciary Committee has kept abreast of Mr. Mueller's plans to turn the F.B.I. into a counterterrorism organization, and much of today's hearing is likely to be devoted to the bureau's fumbling of information from its Arizona and Minnesota offices last summer that pointed to the possibility of a terrorist plot involving hijacked airliners. Mr. Mueller has acknowledged these mistakes, which is welcome, but has yet to make clear that he intends to discipline those found responsible. He will never be able to transform the bureau into an effective antiterror outfit if he excuses the egregious failure of subordinates. Any obfuscation by Mr. Mueller today about last summer's decisions is sure to be exposed later in the day when the committee hears from Coleen Rowley, the courageous whistle-blower from the F.B.I.'s Minneapolis office.
Looking beyond the failures of last summer, the committee must press Mr. Mueller to provide Congress with a full report on how the F.B.I. has employed the additional powers awarded to it under the U.S.A. Patriot Act, which Congress passed in a stampede last fall. The nation needs an accounting of the array of measures covered in the law, including expanded latitude to conduct searches, wiretap suspects and engage in other forms of electronic surveillance.
The administration has often been quick to accuse its critics of playing politics with the war on terrorism, or even of lending indirect support to terrorists. Responsible questioning and dissent are essential elements of our democracy. As Senator Charles Schumer has properly noted, there is no subject more suited to public debate and legislative oversight than the tension between liberty and security.
posted on June 6, 2002 12:22:04 PM new
I have to admit I am not a patriot.
I value the people in other countries and see no need to force my way on them if they are not actively hostile.
I am not willing to kill for the glory of either political party or for an abstract and distant threat to my way of life and economic well being. The people I fear the most all seem to be patriots or religeous which is much the same.
If Thomas Jefferson were alive today I doubt if he could be accepted as a patriot or welcomed into either political party. He was too honest and opinionated.
[ edited by docpjw on Jun 4, 2002 02:38 PM ]