The Blog from the Core - Tuesday, September 09, 2003

Core: noun, the most important part of a thing, the essence; from the Latin cor, meaning heart.

		The Weblog at The View from the Core - Tuesday, September 09, 2003

"Where Were You?"

A fine column by Brendan Miniter at OpinionJournal today:

.... The significant question, however, isn't where chance found each American that day. Rather it is where each American came to stand when it was time to confront the enemy. Where were you? Were you willing to control your fear and make the sacrifices necessary to defeat the terrorists and their murderous ideology? Were you willing to leave the United Nations in its moral confusion and confront the enemy in his sanctuaries?...

This is a war not only over the future of the Middle East, but over our very soul as a nation. Do we believe in ourselves and that we occupy a unique place in history? Does America have the moral authority to stand up--alone if necessary--against the tyranny of terrorism?

If so, then as Americans we must act. Today we have a president who is willing to take the battle to the terrorists even in the face of international pressure to do nothing. But for too long as a nation we've allowed our culture, driven by a fear of offending anyone, to drift toward timidity.

That must end today as we must also move toward rebuilding the civil institutions that ensure the strength of our republic. In the schools we must rescue civics from the social-studies teachers who teach anti-Americanism. In the public square we must fight to preserve the right of religious expression. Within our churches we must demand that our religious leaders lead. Ministers once reinforced the moral authority of a free people by preaching that freedom was God's gift to mankind. Today that message is largely left to the president....

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Tue. 09/09/03 07:52:33 PM
Categorized as Social/Cultural.

"Don't Commemorate Sept. 11"?

Margaret calls my attention to this Christopher Hitchens article at Slate, yesterday:

.... This war has barely begun. The printing of crayon daubs by upset schoolchildren and the tussle over who gets what from the compensation slush fund are strictly irrelevant and possibly distracting. Dry your eyes, sister. You, too, brother. Stiffen up.
I think about it every day, without fail, even though it's difficult (because of the aforementioned and enfeebling "sensitivities") to see a replay of the packed civilian jets slamming into the towers or of the men and women who jumped, in flames, to their deaths. It's perhaps a little easier for me to be reminded than it is for some others: My apartment has a direct view of the flight path to Washington National Airport, and I go past the White House or the Capitol several times a week. But never—quite literally never—without imagining how things would be if that flight from Newark hadn't been delayed and if the United Airlines passengers hadn't got the word in time and decided to make a fight of it....

Two beautiful fall seasons ago, this society was living in a fool's paradise while so far from being "in search of enemies" that its governing establishment barely knew how to tell an enemy from a friend. If there is anything to mark or commemorate, it is the day when that realm of illusion was dispelled—the date that will one day be acknowledged as the one on which our enemies made their most truly "suicidal" mistake.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Tue. 09/09/03 07:27:52 PM
Categorized as Social/Cultural.

I Was Wrong!

Who'da thunk it? ;-)

I said that mainstream media would ignore the meeting, yesterday. But I was wrong. Here's coverage in WaPo and WaTi.

P.S. Here's an AP story in the Baltimore Sun.

(Thanks, Mark.)

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Tue. 09/09/03 01:14:15 PM
Categorized as Media.

"In God's Hands"

A sound collage (3:33) of September 11 by Kevin Steel.

(Thanks, Kathy.)

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Tue. 09/09/03 09:52:38 AM
Categorized as Social/Cultural.

Remember September 11

Here are links, with thumbnail images, to my photos of the Flight 93 Memorial, along with some others of similar interest. Also, Windows screensavers made from the images.

Flight 93 Memorial @ The Blog from the Core

March 21, I blogged 25 photos, 5 each in 5 blogs, that I took at the first-anniversary memorial.

The largest versions of the images are 1024x768 (suitable for hi-res wallpaper) and are tagged with "Flight 93 Memorial / Shanksville PA" in the upper left, and with "Wednesday, September 11, 2002 / America's Small-Town 9-11 Memorial" in the lower right.

Flight 93 Memorial @ The View from the Core

Last year, Sep. 16 through Oct. 14, I published 25 images, five each on consecutive Mondays.

The largest versions of the images are 1024x768 (suitable for hi-res wallpaper) but are not overlaid with any text.

September 11: The View From Space @ The View from the Core

Last year, Nov. 25 through Dec. 30, I published 15 images, several each on consecutive Mondays, from the September 11: One Year Viewed from Space collection at Space Imaging.

Rally for Freedom: In Support of Our Troops @ The Blog from the Core

March 9, I blogged 20 images, 5 each in 4 blogs, from the Rally for Freedom: In Support of Our Troops, held in Pittsburgh, PA, USA, Saturday, March 8, 2003.

The largest versions of the images are 1024x768 (suitable for hi-res wallpaper) and are tagged with "Rally for Freedom / In Support of Our Troops" in the upper left, and with "March 8, 2003 / Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA" in the lower right.

Screensavers @ The Blog from the Core

I have made a screensaver of the Flight 93 Memorial photos. It should (I repeat, should) work on any 32-bit Windows system. There are two versions: hi-res, 1024x768 resolution, about 6.67Mbyte download; and standard, 800x600 resolution, about 4.64Mbyte download.

I've also made a screensaver of the Rally for Freedom photos. It should (I repeat, should) work on any 32-bit Windows system. There are two versions: hi-res, 1024x768 resolution, about 3.54Mbyte download; and standard, 800x600 resolution, about 2.37Mbyte download.

Flight 93 @ ELCore.Net

Here is the complete on-line collection of my Flight 93 Memorial images — 88 images in all — with some commentary explaining what's pictured.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Tue. 09/09/03 09:11:01 AM
Categorized as Most Notable & Photos & Social/Cultural.

Final Memorial Service for Firefighters Lost in WTC Attack

The last of the memorial services for each of the 343 NYC firefighters killed in the Massacre of September 11 was held — yesterday:

.... Along with the small clutch of family and the blocklong legions of uniformed men and women who saw Michael Ragusa memorialized yesterday were Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and his predecessor, Rudolph W. Giuliani, each of whom spoke to the crowd inside the church.

Mr. Bloomberg, speaking almost too softly for the lectern's microphone to pick up his words, said Firefighter Ragusa, like his comrades killed on Sept. 11, had made New York City a safer place. But he also urged mourners to move beyond grief.

"For the people of New York, this is a cathartic moment, a chance to honor the final member of a group of heroes whose actions gave our city the strength to rebuild after 9/11."

Mr. Giuliani also seemed to grasp an opportunity to heal the wounds suffered during an incomparably bitter chapter in New York City history that began on a similarly bright and deceptively peaceful September morning.

"They saved the spirit of America that day," Mr. Giuliani, speaking during a brief eulogy directly to Mr. Ragusa's family in the first rows, said about the firefighters and police officers who evacuated the twin towers after the attacks. "If they hadn't deliberately made the decision to put their lives at risk," Mr. Giuliani said, "then maybe the terrorists might have achieved their goal."

Toward the end of his remarks, Mr. Giuliani added: "If Michael were here today, he would tell you to live on, keep the family together, to make sure that these children grow up to have even better lives than we have, or that he had." ....

(Thanks, Susanna.)

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Tue. 09/09/03 08:38:13 AM
Categorized as Other.

Cor ad cor loquitur — J. H. Newman — “Heart speaks to heart”