Talk Talk...

"Well did I tell you before
When I was up
Anxiety was bringing me down
I'm tired of listening to you
Talking in rhymes
Twisting round to think
You're straight down the line

All you do to me is talk talk..."

I'll be the first to tell you that, no, I didn't lose anyone close to me seven years ago.
I do know people who did and nerves are still raw.
Thoughts are still involving more questions than answers, and those same people have increasing levels of anger. From my point-of-view that's wholly justified.

I remember exactly where I was that morning...
I called in to a friend of mine at work, thinking that I might have an outside shot of having an event shot for me for a sportscast.
I could not have been more off base...

"I don't think you're getting anything shot today," she told me. "Two planes just flew in to the World Trade Centers and another one went in to the Pentagon."

I got out of bed, showered, and headed in to work. It's just one of those situations where you just "do." There was no question about it. This was a Breaking News story that was in need of every hand- free or otherwise.

But I made one stop before I checked in...

I went to a drug store down the street and picked up an American flag. I posted the flag at my desk and it stayed until my boss told me to take it down and take it home. I still wish, to this day, that I had challenged his decision somewhat to pull it. But I relented.

Seven years later, not every American flag was at half-staff.
And that annoyed me.
I think, that on some level, some people have forgotten what went down.
And that's sad...
I think some people believe that if you don't think about 9/11, it will go away.
That's just flat naive...

Just to let you know... I had family that served in World War II and Korea. My grandfather was involved in the invasions of North Africa and England. He thought Ike was weak. He loved Patton, and hated the Russians. He thought Patton was on the right page when he wanted to invade the Soviet Union when they were weakened. He knew Jimmy Doolittle and was in the Army Air Corps and the OSS.

He didn't mess around...
And he always told the funny stories- never the serious ones.

"If every sign that I see is to complete
Then I'm a fool in your game
And all you want to do
Is tell me your lies
Won't you show the other side
You're just wasting my time

All you do to me is talk talk..."

My boss, on 9/11, asked me to bird-dog a mosque that was across the street from work. He wanted to know if there was going to be some minor insurrections as the thought came across his mind that Muslims all around the world might strike out- following the example of Osama Bin Laden earlier in the day.

And he asked a blonde-haired, blue-eyed sports guy to stare them down from a sidewalk. Made a lot of sense...

All we have heard in the last six years is the governmental-double speak equivalent to "We've almost got him."

I call "shenanigans." I would call a little more colorful version of the phrase, but I'm too tired right now. I had a solution back then, and I still feel the solution would work today.

Give every citizen's family from this country that was affected that day a valid passport and a concealed weapons permit. Give them a free flight on a transport plane. Give them all the tools they need and send them in to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan to hunt the son-of-a-bitch and any of his boys down once and for all.

Get this over with... like, oh I don't know, six-and-a-half years ago...

I'm the first person to thank a soldier in an airport or another public place for their service- I get what they do. I know, that without them, we wouldn't be able to stay safe in the greatest republic ((and continuing political experiment)) on this or any other planet. I thank cops when they pull me over. I thank firemen and other public servants when I get the chance.

But in this country, that has the greatest minds and freedom-loving souls around, what is taking so damn long...?

We have the greatest planes with the greatest pilots and the greatest air forces around. So why in the hell are we not doing all this from the air...? The loss of life would have been exponentially less. Am I missing something here...?

That's not a hard choice...

I say give those sections of the world that want to cross us ((or anyone else for that matter)) a 48-hour window to evacuate an area in question. Anyone who remains is assumed to be someone who didn't want to face troops around a perimeter.

Turn everything into a parking lot and let those who choose to remain sort it out.
In a situation where the choice is either "us" or "them..." when the "them" is this group of evil individuals that, simply, will not stop until their will is enforced... I choose "us."

"When every choice that I make is yours
Keep telling me what's right and what's wrong
Don't you ever stop to think about me
I'm not that blind to see
That you've been cheating on me

You're laughing at me when I'm up
Crying for me when I'm down
Laughing for me when I'm up
Crying for me

All you do to me is talk talk..."

I don't second-guess that the emotion from any politico, on some level, is genuine when the subject is brought up.

But give me Vinnie from the Bronx and his boys, any day to take care of a problem.
We need that fix...
Now...or, to be more accurate, about 2,200 yesterdays ago...

May ((insert divine being here)) be with you on this day and all the others... and remember what today is, not just in your world but everyone else's...
Thanks to all that make us free...