Never Forget 9/11

 

Today we remember all those innocents who lost their lives that tragic day 12 years ago. Let us pray for them and their loved ones.

God Bless America!! 

 

 

Crossposted @ Teresamerica 

 

 

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Teresa vs. Teresa On Freedom

After reading John’s great post Judge Napolitano: What if we only THINK We’re free? I had to really think about whether or not we are really free as Americans living in the United States of America. Or, do we just think that the term freedom excludes the possibility that Americans are free but that it is necessary for us to live with certain essential laws required for our safety? I believe that we as Americans are still free but less free than we were forty years ago. We are still much freer than other nations in Africa and the Middle East in which people of different ethnic and/or religious affiliations are waging civil wars with one another. On the one hand I believe that we shouldn’t have to deal with certain safety measures but on the other hand my alter ego says making some small sacrifices to ensure the safety of our country is a small price for us to pay compared to the sacrifices that our men and women serving overseas are making.

If Americans can volunteer to join the military to go overseas to fight for our freedom and are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice why aren’t Americans back home willing to make some sacrifices which could affect the safety of our nation? Freedom doesn’t mean that we have carte blanche say over whatever we want to do without having responsibilities or their being consequences for our actions. Do all of the security measures taken since 9/11 to prevent another attack on our nation really constitute us sacrificing our freedoms or is it the idea that “this or that should not have happened” that forms our brain to think that we aren’t as free as we once were because of the security measures taken after 9/11? In my thinking I came up with this question: how can we expect our soldiers to make the ultimate sacrifice while we aren’t willing to make some adjustments to the way we live, like every time we choose to take a plane from place to place? I am not saying that we should have to endure the groping of the TSA at the airports but we did experience the 9/11 attacks as a nation and other terrorist attacks have been attempted afterward which spurred the so-called need for these pat downs and x-ray scanners. But how can we as Americans who are living safely and comfortably with our families actually justify complaining about walking through an x-ray machine before we enter a plane while soldiers are dying to ensure our freedoms? If walking through an x-ray scanner ensures that every person will be safe when flying an airplane what is so wrong with it? We have cars with seatbelts that we must wear to ensure our safety and if we don’t and get caught then we will get a ticket by the police. Are we really free when we are required to wear seatbelts so that we are The fact that Americans are required to walk through scanners, given a pat down before being able to board the plane and being required to follow the law and buckle your seatbelt seems trivial when you think about the fact that we have soldiers who have served overseas, have given their lives and others who are still serving overseas who are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice so as to defend our nation from our enemies.  Is our military fighting for our freedom to not walk through x-ray scanners, not have pat downs, or not wear seat belts? Or are they really fighting for our freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom to pursue happiness? But that was alter ego talking. My first instinct tells me that all of these restrictions violate our freedom. Against the part of me that craves safety and security at the cost of liberty there remains a core conviction within me that our freedom is worth a great deal of risk, and indeed, that’s why our men in the military are overseas fighting. Should frequent flyers really be required to expose themselves to excessive amounts of radiation which is harmful to their health? Should the measures taken to ensure our country’s safety conflict with our freedoms? Do the safety measures really conflict with one another or are there gray areas where our freedoms and safety meet and there is give and take?

Unfortunately our freedoms have been under attack from the inside for decades. One example of this is of freedom of speech in places of higher learning. While this country prides itself on the fact that we have freedom of speech but do we really have freedom of speech at universities? Many universities are progressive propaganda machines which want their students to simply follow the progressive way without thinking critically about the issues or doing research on the issues because God forbid, that might prove that progressives “facts” are really flawed or false. When conservatives offer a different point of view their professors penalize them just because they have refused to follow the progressive mantra. If the person can back up their viewpoints with facts they should not be penalized because their argument doesn’t fit into their professor’s political philosophy. Does this really sound like freedom of speech?

Freedom of religion has been under assault for many, many years also. As Americans we have a right to pray in public and this includes praying at government events. Atheists and non-religious types have perverted the meaning of  “separation of Church and State” and the meaning of “freedom of religion” and have interpreted these as “freedom from religion” and anything to do with God or religion has no place within our government”.   When atheist radicals are vying to tear down crosses that have been on government land for decades in remembrance of fallen soldiers our culture has gone awry and this shows the vindictive hatred that atheists have for both religion, the freedom of religion, our constitution, and our country.

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Remembering 9/11 Ten Years Later: Honoring The Fallen FDNY Heroes and Their Chaplain Fr. Mychal Judge

 

 

 

As I have watched the remembrance ceremonies today on the television and those events which occurred on September 11, 2001 were recounted and pictures shown of the terrible tragic events of that day I must say that I have gotten somewhat emotional and tears have come to my eyes.  It saddens me so much that so much life was lost that day due to evil acts that were perpetrated by barbaric Islamofascists.  It especially hit me hard when I saw photos of the firefighters and how so many of them lost their lives that day. I have a special connection with firefighters and especially the FDNY.  My Father-in-Law died in the line of duty on August 2, 1978.  Although I never knew him my being married to Kevin and hearing stories about his dad, George S. Rice, I have felt a very strong connection to him, like I almost knew or know him even though unfortunately I never had the chance to meet him.  Like so many other things in my life up til’ 9/11 I took for granted the fact that firefighters risk their lives to save others.  Now I am much more cognizant and appreciative of certain things since 9/11.  Many of The Bravest paid the ultimate sacrifice that day in what I would call selfless acts of courage when they entered the Twin Towers to save lives but unfortunately never came out.  These brave men and women are heroes. In this post I honored my Father-in-Law as my very special fallen hero.  Today I have chosen to honor all the courageous firefighters who lost their lives in the line of duty on 9/11 as well as Father Mychal Judge who served as FDNY’s chaplain and died on 9/11.

After 9/11 Peter Johnson Jr. delivered a remembrance of his friend at Mychal Judge’s funeral mass.

TRIBUTE TO FATHER MYCHAL F. JUDGE

 

Your Eminence, Cardinal Egan, President Clinton, Senator Clinton, Mayor Dinkins, Mr. Controller, Mr. Public Advocate, Family, Friends, Firefighters and Friends. “Don’t worry about me. Help the thousands.” Mychal says to us.

I see him kneeling gently, hear him speaking in a firm and lilting whisper, his large hands making reassuring contact with a dying firefighter, his warm eyes focused and loving and deep, communicating the wisdom of almost seventy years and the spirituality of a millennium. Enveloped in the unshakeable concentration of the prayers he knew and lived so faithfully, shrouded in his own mystical but practical Catholic belief, oblivious to the risk of harm that rained from the sky, he died as he lived, trying to save a life, to save a soul in our city on a sunny, not so perfect September morning.

Friar’s friar, firefighter, warrior for the Lord and New Yorker–I can’t help believing that Erin and Dymphna, your beloved Emmet, who wanted to be a priest at the age of four, our beloved Mychal–in the swirling and fiery wind tunnel of the majestic twin towers, helmet off in respect to our creator, lifted his lovely tenor voice and uttered a final Alleluia as he rode the winds aloft, smiling broadly as he shot one final mortal glance at what his model St. Francis of Assisi called “burning sun with golden beam and silver moon with softer gleam.”

Father Mike, it’s not that we hardly knew ya that makes you leaving this earth so hard. It’s that we all knew you so well and depended on you so much that hurts so much.

Though you were neither a husband nor a father, you became a model for husbands and fathers.

Though you never trained on a hose on a fire or experienced the pain of being a firefighter’s widow, you became a model for firefighters and the widowed.

Though up until recently you never felt the anxiety of sickness, you became a guide for the sick.

You taught us that the St. Francis Prayer was not merely a bookmark but a living, speaking roadmap for our daily lives as New Yorkers. We saw your greatness up close and personally. But we respectfully ask why were you so strong?

As Father Pecci pointed out last night at the wake service maybe it was the countless windows and shoes you polished and shined on Dean Street in Brooklyn as a child. Or was it the constancy and strength of example of your mother who balanced the needs of a dying husband, a house and three young children in the Depression?

I have not seen your sisters Erin and Dymphna for some time. So I asked Dymphna last night, what made Mychal great? She said it best: “With Michael there were no narrow truths. There was only wide open possibility.”

As I stepped outside onto 32nd Street near Penn Station last night to get some air, I was struck by the wide world of possibilities that Mychal lived in. I noticed how much more alive the street has become in just in twenty-four hours.

A saxophone could be heard–“Amazing Grace”–the musician played. The smell of fried food in the air. Taxis racing down the street. Men and women laughing in conversation near a parked delivery truck. Mychal would say “How marvelous. What a strong and dynamic people we are!”

And I looked at the faces on the street behind us. In Mychal’s words: “Peter, look at these faces. Brown and black and yellow and white. Such good minds, such strong hands, such hard workers. Such a resilient city. There is nothing like a New Yorker. We’re back.”

In that moment I had an understanding of the incessant activity that Mychal often heard from his room on 31st Street. The same vitality that so energized him even when he was bone tired from caring for the families of the victims of Flight 800 when he would answer the phone or pager and respond to an emergency to support a stricken firefighter. And that was Mychal too. He naturally saw the very best of himself in others.  CONTINUED 

Here are a couple of videos honoring the 343 Fallen Heroes of the FDNY who lost their lives on 9/11.

 

 

God Bless the Fallen and those who they loved and left behind.

May God Bless America!!  

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Two Popes and 9/11: One Reflects and One’s Reaction To The Horrific Tragedy

The former Ambassador to the Vatican reflects on how Pope John Paul II reacted to those horrific attacks and tragic events which took place on 9/11.  “Pope John Paul II saw the September 11, 2001 terrorist atrocities as attacks not only on the United States, but on ‘all of humanity’ ”, recounts James R. Nicholson, the former U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican.  The Pope stated this to Nicholson “We must stop these people who kill in the name of God”. Nicholson also pointed out that though John Paul II was “first and foremost a man of peace,” he also understood the doctrine of just war and the responsibility of leaders to protect the innocent from evil forces.

Here is James Nicholson’s entire article on Pope John Paul II and 9/11:

Pope John Paul II, although a man of the Church, was possessed with an uncommon sense for the dynamics of globalism and the complexities of peoples and cultures.

My first one-on-one meeting with Pope John Paul II was on September 13, 2001. The occasion was the formal presentation of my diplomatic credentials as the new United States Ambassador to the Holy See.  It was planned to be a festive occasion; instead, it was a sad event as the world was grieving the horrific events of just 48 hours prior.

The first thing the Pope said to me was how sorry he felt for my country, which had just been attacked, and how sad it made him feel.  We next said a prayer together for the victims and their families. 

Then the Pope said something very profound and very revealing of his acute grasp of international terrorism.  He said, “Ambassador Nicholson, this was an attack, not just on the United States, but on all of humanity.”  And, then he added, “We must stop these people who kill in the name of God.” 

The Pope’s words about the attackers of America on 9/11, and our need, indeed our moral obligation “to do something” was invaluable to the U.S. in assembling a “Coalition of the Willing,” as President Bush called it.  It was the Pope’s instant and keen grasp of the situation – the Afghanistan-based launching of these terrorist attacks — that compelled him to lend his moral influence to his friend and ally, the United States. 

He knew exactly what he was saying and the effect it would have on the other countries who were trying to decide whether or not to join us as military partners in Afghanistan against Al Qaeda and its collaborators. The Pope didn’t pause, hesitate or equivocate when he communicated through me to our President and the leaders of like-minded countries to push back against those stateless terrorists who tried to align themselves under the protective wall of Afghanistan’s sovereignty.

Pope John Paul II grew up under the repressive regimes of both the Nazis and the Communists.  He knew well the effects on freedom and dignity that those with an ideological agenda and matching military resources could wreak on innocent people.

The Pope had played a key role in what George Weigel call the “revolution of conscience” in Poland. He was instrumental in the demise of the Soviet Union and European Communism, and he was well practiced in the intricacies of using discreet moral force to influence international bodies.

Being first and foremost a man of peace, Pope John Paul II also understood the Just War doctrine of the Church and the responsibility of leaders to protect innocent people from evil forces. He respected President Bush and his “prudential judgment” in deciding what was legitimate to protect the common good.

In 2004, President Bush, with gratitude and respect for his solidarity with American values, presented the Pope with the Medal of Freedom, which is the highest award the United States bestows on a civilian.

Here is Pope Benedict XVI’s letter to Archbishop Dolan on the September 11th tenth anniversary:

  Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!
  On this day my thoughts turn to the somber events. of September 11, 2001, when so many innocent lives were lost in the brutal assault on the twin towers of the World Trade
Center and the further attacks in Washington D.C. and Pennsylvania. I join you in commending the thousands of victims to the infinite mercy of Almighty God and in asking our heavenly Father to continue to console those who mown the loss of loved ones .
  The tragedy of that day is compounded by the perpetrators’ claim to be acting in God’s name. Once again, it must be unequivocally stated that no circumstances can ever justify acts of terrorism. Every human life is precious in God’s sight and no effort should be spared in the attempt to promote throughout the world a genuine respect for the inalienable rights and dignity of individuals and Peoples everywhere.
  The American people are to be commended for the courage and generosity that they showed in the rescue operations and for their resilience in moving forward with hope and confidence. It is my fervent prayer that a firm commitment to justice and a global culture of solidarity will help rid the world of the grievances that so often give rise to acts of violence and will create the conditions for greater peace and prosperity, offering a brighter and more secure future.
  With these sentiments, I extend my most affectionate greetings to you, your brother Bishops and all those entrusted to your pastoral care, and I gladly impart my Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of peace and serenity in the Lord. 

We must never forget 9/11.  Evil came to our shores like it had never before on September 11, 2001.  We must always stand up to evil.  The evil attacks that happened on 9/11 were an attack against all humanity for these terrorists attacks were against our freedom and liberty.  My prayers go out to the families who are still grieving and missing loved ones who were lost on that fateful day.

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Sacred Ground Zero Cross, Ramblings on Boehner, Contraception Mandate vs. Conscience, and Allen West’s Happy Birthday to Obama: My Thoughts, Blog highlights, and links

I was thinking the other day about the whole Ground Zero Mosque craziness. I found myself asking if this building of a mosque right on Ground Zero, where 3000 people lost their lives on 9/11, would be occurring if this ideology of Islam wasn’t a proclaimed religion? I have heard people who are okay with this mosque being built where so many lives were lost say that this wasn’t sacred ground before 9/11 as if events in history don’t change how we perceive and treat things and people in our life. Ground Zero is a mass grave site today. Was it a mass grave site before 9/11? Before that horrible tragedy happened on 9/11 the land was not a sacred place but nor had we endured a tremendous tragedy and the ground was not a massive grave site before that point in time, so would we have considered something to be sacred when there was no reason to consider it to be sacred at the time? Now the 9/11 site in New York is sacred so we should treat it as such. So, yes, in my opinion events do change our outlook on both life and history. If Hitler had knocked down the World Trade Center would there have been an argument over whether or not there should be a pro-Hitler or a white supremicist museum right where the World Trade Center stood?  Liberals’ notion of religious liberty is backwards and their belief that it is okay to have a mosque built right on the Ground Zero where those who claimed to Muslims (these were Muslims right?) while perpetrating violence while invoking the name of Allah is absolutely absurd and borders on psychosis IMO.

Now American Atheists have filed a lawsuit petitioning New York City to remove two steel beams which are formed in the shape similar to a cross and which were found at the Ground Zero.  It is an artifact.  The atheists believe that having an artifact which is shaped like a cross located in the World Trade Center museum would mean that the government would be “…endorsing one religion above all others”.  The atheists fail to recognize that this cross beam is much more than a religious symbol but also has an iconic cultural status because of the two beams attached to one another were found amidst the rubble at Ground Zero.  Even John Stewart takes aim at the American Atheists.  He said “That cross is an artifact. It was found at Ground Zero,” Stewart said. “It has come to mean something to people who view it as a symbol of comfort.” You can see the video here.

In John Carey’s post Friday Ramblings: The Truth can be a painful friend , he expressed his discontent at both the debt deal and Speaker John Boehner. He also asserted that he believes that “Speaker Boehner is part of the problem and that he needs to step down as Speaker of the House and someone should be installed in that position who stand by principle and advance the conservative cause.”   I disagree.  I think the painful reality is that with Democrats having control of both the Senate and the White House that unfortunately there is only so much the House Republicans can do to change the tide of politics as usual, the big government spendaholics policies, and tackling those insolvent entitlement programs.  Speaker Boehner stood firm until a few days before the debt ceiling was due to default.  Then he had to broker a deal with rigid Leftist ideologues.  Was this a good deal? No!  But in my opinion, this was the best deal that Boehner could have gotten under the circumstances.  If we had defaulted the media would have been blaming the Republicans 24/7  for the economic woes and this probably would have hurt the GOP’s chances to gain control of both the Senate and White House.  And only when that happens can the healing of our nation occur with true reform and rolling back of Obama’s massive regulations and big government policies.  Unfortunately perception overrides truth in this case.  According to polling voters think that Obama did a better job at brinkmanship with the debt ceiling negotiations than the Republicans when he was the most divisive of all.  He didn’t even propose a plan but yet people hear his shallow words and believe that he was willing to compromise, even when we know he wasn’t willing to compromise.  Republicans proposed at least two plans which passed the House in trying to solve the debt ceiling issue, our tackled debt issue and the Senate Democrats refused to negotiate or even allow debate or a vote on those pieces of legislation on the House floor but yet these progressives who were entrenched in their political positions, unwilling to compromise, and who played the class warfare card were portrayed as the reasonable ones by the liberal.  These progressives were in actuality the most unreasonable of all.  But, unfortunately, many voters bought the media’s portrayal of the Republicans.  More people are waking up each day to the liberal media’s lies and to the fact that this administration is hurting our country but we need to be careful not to alienate voters in 2012 so they don’t vote for the GOP candidate.

L.D. Jackson of Political Realities has a good post on the Department of Health and Human Services proposal that insurance companies be mandated to offer free contraceptives to women under Obamacare. Yes, that means that insurance companies would be financially responsible for doling out those contraceptives to women.  This would also mean that individuals could not opt out of paying for others’ contraceptives. But are the prescription contraceptives really only contraceptives?   Some so-called contraceptives work as early term abortifacients.  This mandate would also include abortion inducing drugs like Ella and Plan B which would violate the conscience protections and religious beliefs of those who believe that contraceptives are immoral and that abortion is the intentional killing of an innocent human being .   This is yet another example of the intolerance of liberals.  This whole mandate is tyrannical in my opinion and violates our constitutional religious liberties.  This needs to be challenged in court.  Hopefully after the Supreme Court hears the case challenging the constitutionality of Obamacare  it will be thrown out in the garbage heap of history.  Father Z has posted a response by Sr. Mary Walsh, RSM, on his blog.  I always love his commentary on the issues.

My emphases and comments:

HHS Makes In-Your-Face Effort to Undermine Constitution’s Religious Freedom

Health and Human Services must think Catholics and other religious groups are fools.

That’s all you can think when you read HHS’s recent announcement that it may exempt the church from having to pay for contraceptive services, counseling to use them and sterilizations under the new health reform in certain circumstances. As planned now, HHS would limit the right of the church not to pay for such services in limited instances, such as when the employees involved are teaching religion and in cases where the people served are primarily Catholic.

HHS’s reg conveniently ignores the underlying principle of Catholic charitable actions: we help people because we are Catholic, not because our clients are. [Do I hear an “Amen!”?] There’s no need to show your baptismal certificate in the hospital emergency room, the parish food pantry, or the diocesan drug rehab program. Or any place else the church offers help, either.

With its new regulation, HHS seeks to force church institutions to buy contraceptives, including drugs that can disrupt an existing pregnancy, through insurance they offer their own employees. This is part of HHS’s anticipated list of preventive services for women that private insurance programs must provide under the new health reform law. Continued 

Sr. Mary Walsh is spot on!

Maggie @ Maggie’s Notebook has a post titled Allen West Birthday Message To Obama, and in it West has a special message to Obama on his birthday.  I am reposting it here.

Allen West

“Happy 50th Birthday Mr. President! While surprises are for birthdays, it is no surprise to the American people that your failed economic policies –- from TARP to your health care bill–- have resulted in disaster for our economy. Since taking office, unemployment has remained at or near 9 percent for 28 months, America has added $3.4 trillion in debt in 29 months — the equivalent of about $4 billion per day — we have an anemic housing market with record foreclosures, and an average price of nearly $4 for a gallon of gas. Even your budget did not receive one single vote in the United States Senate — and the icing on the cake –- a stock market slide of nearly 800 points in the last 5 days.

While it may be hard to hear the American people’s frustration over the pop of the champagne corks and R&B bands at your $30,000/person birthday party, the citizens of this nation are suffering under your failed leadership. The best present you can give the American people will be for you and your failed economic policies to be defeated in November of 2012.”

Gotta love Allen West.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

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