911 - Why Didn't the U.S. Prevent It

In December 2000, I stopped driving and sat in shock at the news that the Supreme Court had just decided George W. Bush was President elect. Vote counting had been going on since the election in which Al Gore won the popular vote, but George Bush, the electoral. 

         When Counter-Terrorism Security began briefing the new administration on threats of terrorism, they didn't take it seriously. Although the Clinton Administration prioritized counter terrorism as a "Tier One" priority, the Bush Administration immediately downgraded it. They were inundated with these constant warnings, and Condoleezza Rice, National Security Advisor, said, "We decided to take a different track." At one point, President Bush said he was "not going to swat at flies." 

         In July 2001, Condoleezza Rice and President Bush attended the G-8 in Genoa. There, warnings that Islamic terrorists might "crash a plane" prompted the installation of a missile defense system at the airport, which caused mass hysteria. In spite of this, back in the U.S., Condoleezza dismissed Security warnings of planes flying into prominent U.S. landmarks. A video shows her exclaiming,"Who would believe planes flying into buildings?" The 911 Commission confirms that the Bush administration was repeatedly warned of the imminent danger that might include The World Trade Center.

So Kamala aced the debate as those of us who have followed her knew she would. But all the endorsements of her may not swing the election anymore than a positive debate performance. There were reasons why undecideds could have been moved by Trump's proclamations of strength, comradeship with dictators, and conviction that only he can save the country and world. While many educated elites are declaring Kamala's victory, I know many working class and wealthy men and anti-abortion women (of which there are many) will consider Trump the one who knows what he's talking about. 

        And the very poor whose lives have been affected by the influx of migrants (like those in Chicago: The Border Crisis Arrives in Chicago: wbur.org, onpoint 10/26/23) since Texas Governor Abbot began his "busing program" by flying them there), as well as government officials in States like New York who do not know how to house so many unexpected people. There are problems like these that the Biden/Harris administration have not really addressed. Yes, there was finally a border bill that Trump persuaded congressional Republicans to decline, but that did not occur until early this year. On the other hand, Kamala Harris was never a Border Czar. Early in her vice-presidency, she traveled to three Central American countries to work to improve living conditions there, a positive approach although not enough to repair what seems irreparable. 

        I still think she could win. Trump's winning could destroy democracy, and this country has serious problems, which those of us who have lived longer have watched increase: like climate change and gun violence and government stalemate as Senate, Representatives and President disagree on everything instead of working together for the common good.

 "Protesters flood the streets of Tel Aviv"(AP)

 "You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete." -- Buckminster Fuller

Life Directions

Sometime after I told a friend of mine about my light experience, he went to California. I didn't realize he was looking for an experience like mine until he wrote me a letter about a community he had found that was so beautiful with special people. It took other friends of ours to figure out he had been taken in by the 'Moonies' (Unification Church). He is one of the smartest people I've known, but he had been swept up. But ultimately, after deprogramming, he became involved in humanity-saving endeavors like Bread for the World and he flourished. It reminds me of the differences in our life directions. I once saw an interview with Clint Eastwood in which he said something I never forgot: that we can sense the directions our lives are showing us. Eastwood said he gets to a point then remembers, Oh, this is like that other time, so.... For each of us it's different. But once we have an idea of our path's ways, we can use this sense, this 'information,' to make better decisions. My friend's experience was different from mine.The people he encountered in California acted on their own best interests, but claimed to be saving him if he did what they said: unlike his true friends who rescued him to resume his life.

Following Light

We were lost somewhere in New York's mountains in an unreliable car. Neither of us knew that part of the country. So we were going up and down mountains, headed nowhere it seemed. But I had insisted I was not going back to the Midwest where there was a recession and no good jobs, and my beloved stepfather was dying, but my difficult sister upset him whenever I tried to visit, which upset my favorite sister, while in another neighborhood, my mother had disowned me again. So 900 miles away, surrounded by New York mountains, we stopped for gas at a truck stop. That's when I saw the person on another road a great distance away with the deep blue mountains looming around and behind him. What struck me was the light streaming from his head straight up into the sky: literally a beam of white light. I'd never seen anything like it before and never have since. I had no idea who he was or how old or what he looked like. All I knew was that light. "We need to pick up that hitchhiker," I said. "Why?" I didn't know why. He could have been dangerous. But that light gave me a certainty. So we drove around the mountain and found him on a roadside. He had direction and money and a list of people and places on the way. And eventually, this would take me to a place where everyone was trying to live in harmony, as impossible as that may seem. That wouldn't have happened if I hadn't followed that light.

Trump Struggles to Oppose Kamala

As Trump and others complain about Kamala Harris' being labeled Black despite her complex ethnicity (Jamaican, South Asian, Irish), check out two excellent articles by respected linguist John McWhorter  published in The New York Times "It's Not As Though Biracial Identity is a New Concept" (July 25th), and White House Correspondent Deepa Shivaram, NPR "The Story Behind the Woman":

   "Harris father Donald Harris immigrated to the United States from Jamaica, but her parents split up when she was young. Carole Porter, a childhood friend of Harris', says that Gopalan [Kamala's mother] raised her daughters with both cultures, but knew that Kamala and Maya would be seen as Black women.

    'In America, we're considered Black women. And that's how our mothers raised us, because that's what they knew we would be seen as,' said Porter, who also is biracial. " (npr, July 31)

If any woman can become President in this Country, it is Kamala. Many of us have followed Kamala's career for years before she became Biden's VP.  She is powerful, intelligent, and a skillful speaker with strong values. But for her to win, other Democrats must quell their egos. Party infighting could ruin everything. Also, her VP must be carefully chosen. Because the US is so reluctant to have a woman President, she is already being labeled as radical and unusual. Her VP must be moderate, seasoned, "normal."  

Chameleon J.D. Vance

J D Vance used to call Trump "the next Hitler.” But his old tweets are now deleted. He now blames democrats for Saturday's assassination attempt. Billionaires like Elon Musk lobbied Trump to make Vance V.P. This is Vance's agenda: Trillions in tax cuts for billionaires, eliminating the affordable care act, dissolving social security, packing Trump's extremist supreme court, and cementing voting rights restrictions. Ironically, his book, which made him famous, appealed to liberals. Now he represents a paradoxical position, drawing more struggling poor to a wealthy party that does not have the best interests of the vast number of disadvantaged.

Wilderness 1970s

The August moon was full above us. And the meadow where we walked stretched between towering mountains. Several of us and a woman who held a rope loosely from her horse's neck: a horse that seemed so much one of us, we soon forgot he was any different. 
      We stepped into a large crater left by an ancient meteor and stood there gazing at stars.
      Then they appeared -- as many of them as there were of us -- wild horses silhouetted against the full-moon.
      They stood there silently on the edge of the crater, watching, waiting for him to join them.
      Sometimes they swished a long tail, or stepped forward with one hoof, and then waited again. There in the crater, the horse beside us shifted, ears perked.
      This went on for some time until we started walking again. Then they slowly backed up, still waiting, watching in the same half-circle - just farther away.