Superfortress
The first time I visited Washington, D.C. in 1994, I stayed with a Korean War veteran who lived just a few blocks from the National Air and Space Museum. The gig was in the evening so I spent the morning looking at the brand-new display of Enola Gay.
There was nothing remotely anti-American about the exhibit. However, I was relieved to find that serious consideration was given to the downside of Hiroshima, namely the death of at least 100,000 Japanese civilians and the worst single-event man-made ecological damage the world had yet experienced.
When I mentioned the exhibit to our host, he was immediately furious and spat out curses about the "abuse" of our American heritage. “They don’t remember what the war cost us! We had to use Enola Gay!” It was a memorable encounter with ignorant blind rage.
As it turned out, I was lucky to see the exhibit, because conservative lobbies soon forced its closure and the dismissal of director Martin Harwit. (Charlton Heston wrote smugly into the NY Times about getting "Mr. Harwit's head on a plate.")
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I don’t think we had to use Enola Gay.
I also think that the crime of ten years ago, the deaths of a few thousand on the soil of the most powerful nation in history, pales in comparison to the crimes our government has committed while using that tragedy as a “Get Out of Jail Free” card.
We have taken countless lives in Iraq and Afghanistan and undone progress at home. What if we had invested the money funneled to the military and Homeland Security into alternative energy? Instead, we are still racing towards a grim prospect, a dystopian future in which the canonization of 9/11 will play a significant part.
I particularly disapprove of artists participating in that canonization, timidly trying to share one last tattered umbrella amongst a crowd right before the downpour begins. Unless you personally lost someone on 9/11, it was just another day. Plenty of worse days happened previously, and far worse days are coming our way soon unless we act fast.
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Matthew Guerrieri on 9/11 music.
Ali G interviews James Ziglar about terrorism.
(BTW, the Honorable James Ziglar’s web resumé: “Has over 40 years of experience in law, finance, management, and public policy. He provides strategic business and policy advice to a broad range of clients on issues relating to energy and natural resources, health care, public infrastructure finance, and homeland security."
And on this page: "Van Ness Feldman’s Climate Change practice works with clients to manage risks and opportunities in an increasingly carbon-constrained economy. Since forming its climate change practice in the late 1990s, the firm has developed a significant U.S. and international reputation for blending strategic and tactical business advice with forward-looking legal analysis and political acumen." In other words, if you want to increase your carbon emissions while the government looks the other way, give them a call.)
09/11/2011
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