It is a crisp late summer morning.  A couple is parting ways at an airport.  While that’s not an altogether uncommon sight, for Neil and Ellen Mariani, it would be the last time they would see one another.  Neil was 59 years old; 4 of those years he had spent serving his country in the United States Air Force, and many more years working for HP Hood Dairy, from where he had retired.  An avid photographer, he was known for his ever-present Minolta camera – he even developed his own film!

His step-daughter was engaged to be married on September 15, 2001, and he had decided to go out to California to attend the wedding.  He made this decision at the last minute, so he and Ellen had different flights; Ellen had a layover in Chicago, while Neil had the cross-country UA 175 flight.  Ellen wrote a letter to her husband after the wedding, and rather than put it in my words, I’ll put in hers.

DEAR NEIL…

I, as your wife, have searched for sane answers to what happened on that beautiful, sunny, warm Tuesday, September 11, 2001. You, Neil, were so tanned and fit, happy to be leaving with me before dawn for Boston’s Logan Airport. You and I were traveling on separate planes to the California wedding of my daughter, Gina, your step-daughter. You decided to go out for the wedding at the very last minute, and to help pay for the ticket, we held garage sales together.

Neil, I will never forget when we said goodbye at Boston Airport. Neil, you as a gentleman were always carrying heavy items for me, and that morning, you carried inside the terminal two large boxes full of toys for our grand-kids that were to be there for the wedding as flower girl and ring bearer.

You kissed me at the curb and said goodbye. Then you kissed me again inside and said “See you, Ellen. I’ll arrive three minutes after your plane lands,” and walked away. But suddenly, you came back, gave me a third kiss and a big hug. It was then I noticed you seemed nervous. I thought it was because you were not used to flying. You then said goodbye for the third time, then left. I looked back to catch a last glance at you, Neil, but you were gone and out of sight.

Neil, you never made it to California for Gina’s wedding that September 15, 2001. I left two hours before you and had a scheduled layover in Chicago. It was there that I found out what had happened to you. Your plane, United Airlines Flight 175, had crashed into the second tower of the World Trade Center. You, my husband, were gone in a ball fire. The September 15th wedding of Gina’s went on in defiance of what had happened on September 11th.

Now as I stood as a new widow of four days, Gina asked me to give her away to be married. I wore two yellow roses, and made a toast in remembrance of you.

Neil, you are the perfect example of the type of American that makes this country great.  Thank you for being the man that you were – America is a poorer place without you here.

• Election 2008

Where do I begin? There was not much about this election that I liked. The campaign was way too long. The Republicans nominated the wrong guy. The outcome was bad. I’ve already covered Sarah Palin’s treatment in the “Ridiculous” entry. My biggest problem with this election was how it was spun.  It’s safe to say that the majority of Obama voters didn’t know what they were voting for; how could they, when he wouldn’t get any specifics?  His campaign of “hope” (who doesn’t want to have hope?) and “change” (which would have happened either way) struck me as a focus-group phrase that got way out of control.

Then you have the last few months of the campaign itself.  First, there was a hurricane at the same time as the Republican convention, with people saying “How can they have a convention at a time like this?”  Next came the “crisis” that had been brewing for years in the sub-prime mortgage market.  McCain foolishly decided to suspend his campaign to deal with it, which gave Obama the chance to make the speech where he said “A president has to deal with more than one thing at a time” (which is very, very true).  It seemed the Republicans were “darned if they did, darned if they didn’t” during this cycle!  Personally, I thought that both things should have continued on schedule.

Then, there was “Joe the Plumber,” roundly ridiculed for asking a question that elicited the “spread the wealth around” response from Obama.  All of a sudden, we have all these reports popping up.  “His name isn’t even Joe!” (as if they’ve never heard of someone who goes by their middle name)  “He doesn’t even make enough money to have to pay more!” (which didn’t matter – he one day wanted to make that much money)  “He’s not even a licensed plubmer!” (but was working towards that – all part of his plan to better his life)  In the end, a government worker was dismissed from her job for digging up dirt on Joe using government resources.  (Speaking of government, an organization called ACORN submitted thousands of voter registrations, hundreds of which were found to be fraudulent.  However, the governments continued to accept these registrations from them, and courts ruled that they could be accepted.)

Regarding the actual outcome, I’d describe myself as skeptically optimistic.  Obama’s selections for his cabinet haven’t been quite what I would like, but I didn’t really expect that they would be; however, they’re not nearly as left-leaning as he could have made them.  He does seem to be actually trying to govern towards the left side of the middle.  I can’t help but think that maybe he outsmarted everyone in the Chicago political machine, where there’s as much corruption as there is snow off the Great Lakes.  Could it be that he joined their machine to use it to get to the top, only to jettison it once he got there?  We’ll see.

• RIP, Tim Russert and Tony Snow

People die – that’s part of life.  However, this year saw the somewhat-unexpected deaths of both Tim Russert, long-time anchor of Meet the Press, and Tony Snow, Fox News anchor and former White House spokesman.  Both these men had a gift for journalism, and were not afraid to ask balanced questions of their interview subjects.  I remember Tim Russert’s expert analysis in both the 2000 and 2004 election seasons, opening the 2000 election coverage saying “Florida, Florida, Florida” and the 2004 coverage with “Ohio, Ohio, Ohio” – both the eventual states that decided the election.  And, I remember Tony Snow as the first anchor of Fox News Sunday, as Fox decided to get into the Sunday morning political show alongside Meet the Press on NBC and This Week on ABC.  (Am I old if I remember the latter as This Week with David Brinkley?)  Tony also did an excellent job as spokesman during Bush’s second term, deftly handling the questions he was asked, and clearly expressing the intents and desires of the administration.  (If only  GWB would communicate that clearly…)

• Terrorism Reminds Us that It Isn’t Gone Yet

This was a pretty quiet year on the terrorism front – Iraq is going well, the surge seems to have stamped out the final pockets of resistance, and rival factions are now participating in the democratic process.  Afghanistan has been hit-or-miss, with a bit of instability still there as this year draws to a close.  However, in late November, terrorists struck in Bombay, India, killing over 100 people, citizens of several different nations.  This was a stark reminder that the quiet that we have experienced did not happen by chance, and that we need to keep our nose to the grindstone to protect our nation.

• Wings of Wind Crash

We’ve enjoyed the International Balloon Fiesta here in Albuquerque the past two years.  On the final Friday this year, the balloon Wings of Wind crashed into some power lines, catching fire.  Both pilots jumped from the balloon, fearing that the fuel tanks would explode.  One survived, one did not.  It was the second year in a row that there has been a fatality at the Fiesta, but this one touched our family somewhat closely, as Michelle and Jordan had spent Thursday evening set up right by that balloon, and talking with its’ pilots and crew.  Then, to add insult to injury, a truck belonging to the balloon crew was stolen before they left town, causing them to lose their pictures of that week.  (I hope that whoever stole that truck gets some special attention from God over the next year.)  Keep the family of Stephen Lachendro, the pilot who perished, and Keith Sproul, the primary pilot and the pilot who survived, in your prayers.

So, there are some of the things that I thought were bad about this past year.  What did you think was bad?

GIVE WAR A CHANCE!

Heh – maybe we could have a rally. Instead of Woodstock, New York, we’ll gather in Woodstock, Georgia. We could have some long-haired folk singer start singing “What the world… needs now… is war… this war… Our freedom is the thing… that al-Qaeda’s dyin’ for…” (my apologies to Jackie DeShannon)

First up is an article about the cost of illegal immigration for Los Angeles County for one month, from radio talk show host and author Neal Boortz. The numbers are staggering.

Next up, a link to a pundit I never thought I’d link to, except as a set up to refute. However, Susan Estrich and I agree on this issue, which she details in “A Weak Moment for Women in Banning Larry Summers“. (I don’t agree that what he originally said was wrong – but the rest of it is spot-on.)

Via Morgan Freeberg, we have reports that “A Quiet Triumph May Be Brewing“. Could it be that we’ve come up with a way to get most remaining al-Qaeda in the same place, then send them to their 72 virgins (or raisins, depending on the translation)?

And finally, we wrap up with some humor. Rachel Lucas learned to make thought and speech bubbles in PhotoShop, and produced a masterpiece she calls “Three Men and a Hillary“. (Language warning in effect for the comments on that post…)

EITHER get behind our troops, or get in FRONT of them.

Just awesome!

When a House vote is over, it’s over, right? In House Democrats Fail Democracy 101, Tom DeLay writes that the “most incompetent speaker in American history” needs to revisit House rules.

Could it be that illegal employment enforcement is just around the corner? In Crackdown on “Questionable” Social Security Numbers, LaShawn Barber writes that many employers are firing employees with SSNs that have been flagged as suspicious.

Good news in Iraq is bad news for Democrats – that’s what Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) seems to think anyway. What can you say about a party that has put itself on the opposite side of American victory?

And finally, just for fun – In Defense of Drunk Astronauts.

Last night I watched a report on Headline Line News regarding the basement democrats trying to keep their presidential aspirations alive (they are in the basement as far as the front runners are concerned). The station played part of a Chris Dodd ad where he states that we are involved in an Iraqi civil war … and I nearly threw my shoe through the TV set.

Senator Dodd, obviously you haven’t been paying attention for the last twenty-seven years.

He also has an article posted on Friday entitled “Do You Know?“, filled with interesting statistics…

Did you know that 47 countries have reestablished their embassies in Iraq?

Did you know that the Iraqi government currently employs 1.2 million Iraqi people?

Did you know that 3,100 schools have been renovated, 364 schools are under rehabilitation, 263 new schools are now under construction and 38 new schools have been completed in Iraq?

Signal94 is now listed under “Daily Reads” in the sidebar.

Cindy Sheehan has decided that she is retiring as the face of the angry anti-war left. Below is the text from her blog post, with liberal plentiful interruptions from me.

I have endured a lot of smear and hatred since Casey was killed…

Really? Casey’s heroic death caused people to turn on his mother?

…and especially since I became the so-called “Face” of the American anti-war movement.

Ah – now we’re getting somewhere. That is precisely why you have endured a lot of smear and hatred – but, I’d venture to say, not nearly as much as the man currently in the White House, faithfully executing his duties as Commander in Chief. Just a guess…

Especially since I renounced any tie I have remaining with the Democratic Party, I have been further trashed on such “liberal blogs” as the Democratic Underground.

Yes, these liberals are a fickle sort. There’s a reason a certain leading conservative voice calls their publicity machine the “Drive-By Media”. They’ll use whatever they can for as long as it’s useful, and then dump them like yesterday’s garbage.

Being called an “attention whore” and being told “good riddance” are some of the more milder rebukes.

It must hurt to have two sides that are bitterly against each other both think of you that way. Though, if you inspire this much animosity from such diametrically-opposed quarters, maybe you need to reevaluate your views.

I have come to some heartbreaking conclusions this Memorial Day Morning. These are not spur of the moment reflections, but things I have been meditating on for about a year now. The conclusions that I have slowly and very reluctantly come to are very heartbreaking to me.

Introspection is often painful – let’s see what you came up with…

The first conclusion is that I was the darling of the so-called left as long as I limited my protests to George Bush and the Republican Party. Of course, I was slandered and libeled by the right as a “tool” of the Democratic Party. This label was to marginalize me and my message. How could a woman have an original thought, or be working outside of our “two-party” system?

“Slander” and “libel” are not possible when one is telling the truth. And, whether you realized it or not, you were being used as a “tool” to further the aims of the Democrat party. It had nothing to do with marginalizing your message – it had to do with your message being flat-out wrong.

And how do you expect us to believe you were trying to work “outside” the two-party system, when you spoke out for the Democrats?

However, when I started to hold the Democratic Party to the same standards that I held the Republican Party, support for my cause started to erode and the “left” started labeling me with the same slurs that the right used. I guess no one paid attention to me when I said that the issue of peace and people dying for no reason is not a matter of “right or left”, but “right and wrong.”

Ooh, look – a catchphrase! You just don’t understand peace. Peace is what comes after victory. When everyone lays down their guns, bad people (and yes, Cindy, there are bad people in this world) realize that, if they pick theirs back up, they have an instant advantage. This necessitates the good people pickup up their guns to defend themselves. Violence does beget violence; but may I remind you who it was that started this? Did a bunch of Christians fly commercial airliners filled with innocent Afghanis into the political and business centers of Kabul? Or did Iraqi-trained Islamic extremists fly the planes into the United States’ political and business centers?

The people are only dying “for no reason” if we listen to the rest of your drivel. War has solved a lot of issues in our world, and it will solve this one as well. The cowards and the enemy are the ones who want us to stop fighting – that’s the only way they can “win.”

I am deemed a radical because I believe that partisan politics should be left to the wayside when hundreds of thousands of people are dying for a war based on lies that is supported by Democrats and Republican alike.

The Democrats don’t support the war, and their claims of supporting the troops ring hollow. They’re just too spineless to stand up to a President because they know, even if only subconsciously, that it is absolutely critical that we win this war. With our last two major armed conflicts, Vietnam and Gulf War I, we showed that we were willing to pull out before the job is done. We do that a third time, we’re done.

It amazes me that people who are sharp on the issues and can zero in like a laser beam on lies, misrepresentations, and political expediency when it comes to one party refuse to recognize it in their own party. Blind party loyalty is dangerous whatever side it occurs on.

I actually agree with the last sentence. But you talk about political expediency, which party is it that believes you should take a poll before doing anything? And, there are people within the Democrat party that are absolutely seething over the way the war spending bill has gone. You know what? Those are the very people who are making it impossible to get a Democrat elected to the Presidency. The primary, fringe voters elect the person who believes in their view of things; come national election time, they are easily painted as pandering to their base. Sure, Republicans campaign to their base too, but their base’s view is much more palatable to the American public than the other.

(Man, I hope the Democrats don’t read this… I was hoping they’d keep it up…)

People of the world look on us Americans as jokes because we allow our political leaders so much murderous latitude and if we don’t find alternatives to this corrupt “two” party system our Representative Republic will die and be replaced with what we are rapidly descending into with nary a check or balance: a fascist corporate wasteland.

“People of the world” do not look on us as jokes. Sure, there are some countries that do, but those are usually the snooty ones who need to pay more attention to their own business. Besides, when did we suborn our sovereignty to foreign opinion? If this country is so bad, why do we have 12 million illegal aliens clamoring to stay?

I am demonized because I don’t see party affiliation or nationality when I look at a person, I see that person’s heart. If someone looks, dresses, acts, talks and votes like a Republican, then why do they deserve support just because he/she calls him/herself a Democrat?

Hah! That’s just the thing. The Democrats in Congress right now are what Democrats are! They’re fickle, and they govern with polls. Polls tell them that if they cut off funding for the war, hanging our troops out to dry, that they will experience defeat on such a scale that we might morph into a one-party system. I don’t see how that demonizes you – consider yourself enlightened. Now you know what frustrates us conservatives about the current Democrat party (and many within the Republican ranks as well).

I have also reached the conclusion that if I am doing what I am doing because I am an “attention whore” then I really need to be committed.

Welcome, ma’am – here’s your white coat. I’ll help you get the sleeves fastened in back.

I have invested everything I have into trying to bring peace with justice to a country that wants neither.

We want both. It’s a shame this isn’t actually a dialogue, because I’d love to hear how laying down our guns would bring us either of those results.

If an individual wants both, then normally he/she is not willing to do more than walk in a protest march or sit behind his/her computer criticizing others.

You knock computer users, but post your “See ya, bye” tome on your blog. Pot, meet kettle…

I have spent every available cent I got from the money a “grateful” country gave me when they killed my son and every penny that I have received in speaking or book fees since then. I have sacrificed a 29 year marriage and have traveled for extended periods of time away from Casey’s brother and sisters and my health has suffered and my hospital bills from last summer (when I almost died) are in collection…

Your money is yours to do with it as you see fit. But don’t come whining to us about the consequences of your bad choices. Choosing a cause over a 29-year marriage is foolish. Leaving your kids for “extended periods of time” is deplorable. And, if you have hospital bills in collection, maybe you should take some of that book money and pay them.

…because I have used all my energy trying to stop this country from slaughtering innocent human beings.

Collateral damage is a reality of any war. I don’t have hard numbers here, but I’d venture to say that the “innocent to combatant” ratio is one of the best in any war fought in our world to date.

I have been called every despicable name that small minds can think of and have had my life threatened many times.

Not that you should have your life threatened for holding unpopular views, but when those views go from unpopular to treasonous, and the penalty for treason is death… Well, you might look inward to see where some of these threats are coming from.

The most devastating conclusion that I reached this morning, however, was that Casey did indeed die for nothing. His precious lifeblood drained out in a country far away from his family who loves him, killed by his own country which is beholden to and run by a war machine that even controls what we think. I have tried every since he died to make his sacrifice meaningful.

Casey did not die for nothing. And, while your intentions may be as you said in that last sentence, the reality is that you have been trying ever since he died to make his sacrifice meaningless. You are the one who keep saying that Casey died for nothing, while the rest of this country is grateful for his heroism and his ultimate sacrifice. His was one name that came to my mind yesterday when I thought of the names (that I know) of people who have died in this current conflict, Pat Tillman being the other.

Casey died for a country which cares more about who will be the next American Idol than how many people will be killed in the next few months while Democrats and Republicans play politics with human lives. It is so painful to me to know that I bought into this system for so many years and Casey paid the price for that allegiance. I failed my boy and that hurts the most.

Why should the American people care about the war, when all they hear from you, the Democrats, and the media is how evil we are for being there in the first place?!?! Can you not see your role in this self-fulfilling prophecy?

I have also tried to work within a peace movement that often puts personal egos above peace and human life. This group won’t work with that group; he won’t attend an event if she is going to be there; and why does Cindy Sheehan get all the attention anyway? It is hard to work for peace when the very movement that is named after it has so many divisions.

Welcome to modern-day activism – angst for sale to the highest bidder. The bigger the name recognition, the higher the bid.

Our brave young men and women in Iraq have been abandoned there indefinitely by their cowardly leaders who move them around like pawns on a chessboard of destruction and the people of Iraq have been doomed to death and fates worse than death by people worried more about elections than people.

Then why not turn them loose to end this thing in 6 months, so they can come home? Oh wait – we’re too busy trying to get funding for the existing troops. If we turned them loose, why, we’d need more money for munitions – and the company that makes it might make a little bit of a profit! Oh no! We can’t do that!

If we fought this war the way we fought World War II, we’d already be talking about it in the past tense.

However, in five, ten, or fifteen years, our troops will come limping home in another abject defeat and ten or twenty years from then, our children’s children will be seeing their loved ones die for no reason, because their grandparents also bought into this corrupt system.

The system isn’t corrupt. I’ll grant you that there may be some corrupt people in the system, but the system itself (our nation) is the greatest system ever conceived.

George Bush will never be impeached because if the Democrats dig too deeply, they may unearth a few skeletons in their own graves and the system will perpetuate itself in perpetuity.

I would certainly hope that a sitting President wouldn’t be impeached for daring to defend his country. But, isn’t it your side’s turn? (I guess that, maybe, if our current President were getting sexual favors in the Oval Office, he wouldn’t have time to order the surge?)

I am going to take whatever I have left and go home. I am going to go home and be a mother to my surviving children and try to regain some of what I have lost. I will try to maintain and nurture some very positive relationships that I have found in the journey that I was forced into when Casey died and try to repair some of the ones that have fallen apart since I began this single-minded crusade to try and change a paradigm that is now, I am afraid, carved in immovable, unbendable and rigidly mendacious marble.

I know you will never see this, but this is exactly what you’re advocating we do in Iraq. You gave everything you had, yet you came up short. Rather than redouble your efforts, you’re quitting. Do you feel victorious? It certainly doesn’t sound like it.

I’m glad that some of us believe in defending our country more than you believe in your pacifism.

Camp Casey has served its purpose. It’s for sale. Anyone want to buy five beautiful acres in Crawford , Texas ? I will consider any reasonable offer. I hear George Bush will be moving out soon, too…which makes the property even more valuable.

Take the money you get from it and pay those medical bills – don’t donate it to moveon.org…

This is my resignation letter as the “face” of the American anti-war movement. This is not my “Checkers” moment, because I will never give up trying to help people in the world who are harmed by the empire of the good old US of A, but I am finished working in, or outside of this system. This system forcefully resists being helped and eats up the people who try to help it. I am getting out before it totally consumes me or anymore people that I love and the rest of my resources.

Let me translate those first few sentences. “I’m quitting. Well, I’m not really quitting – I’ll try to bring as much aid and comfort to our enemies as possible, since we’re so bad and evil.” And you wonder why people are upset with you? And again, you reveal that your belief in your cause does not go nearly as deep as those who willingly give their lives to preserve our freedom.

Good-bye America …you are not the country that I love and I finally realized no matter how much I sacrifice, I can’t make you be that country unless you want it.

Honesty is good for the soul. You don’t love this country – that’s fine (freedom and all that). Will you be putting feet to this belief, or will you continue to live here, reaping the benefits of those (including your son) who died to preserve your freedom to hate it? And yes, as a whole, we don’t want to realize your vision of our country.

It’s up to you now.

And thank you for getting out of the way, so we can get about the work that needs to be done.

Now, there’s news that three of the six arrested were in the country illegally. There were three brothers with the last name of Duka – they are to whom this is referring.

The Duka brothers were born in the former Yugoslavia and residing illegally in the U.S. Shnewer, a native of Jordan; Tatar, a native of Turkey; and Abdullahu, who was born in the former Yugoslavia, are legal residents. Eljvir Duka called himself ‘Elvis.’
– Fox News – “Fort Dix Terror Suspects’ Lives Gave Few Clues About Alleged Plot”

So, there you have it. For years, folks have pooh-poohed the idea that illegal aliens (or, as their fans like to say, “undocumented workers”) represent a national security threat. Now, we have the first example of the fact that they do. Will Congress still push through their amnesty bill?