Sept. 11 party a travesty

[norml]

Opinion | 8/11/2005
Sept. 11 party a travesty
By Joshua Huck
Article Tools: Page 1 of 1


Checking the news this morning, I happened to read an article which raised the hairs on the back of my neck. Incensed and incredulous, I scanned each line with steadily rising disgust. Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes and poking myself with a fork I had handy, I thought, "surely this is a joke."

Unfortunately, I was wrong.

In a scene that seems to have been taken directly out of Trey Parker's and Matt Stone's political satire "Team America," The New York Daily News reported that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld made a rather surprising announcement on Tuesday. To "commemorate" the fourth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, the Pentagon is planning both a country music concert on the National Mall featuring Clint Black and an "America Supports You Freedom Walk."

Clint Black, as Salon.com notes, is the voice behind the jingoistic "I Raq and Roll," a song that connects Saddam Hussein to Sept. 11, tucked in between couplets of jingoistic chest-beating.

Intended to boost support for America's troops in Iraq (and transparently enough, the Bush administration's unpopular policies), the planned festivities should instead boost America's anger against a blatant attempt to manipulate our opinions through our emotions. In order to reinforce the false, but aggravatingly popular belief that Saddam Hussein and the Iraq War are somehow linked to that morning in September, the Bush administration is exploiting both the tragedy of thousands of innocent deaths here at home, and our country's capacity to empathize with our fallen comrades abroad.


snip


http://www.dailytexanonline.com/media/paper410/news/2005/08/11/Opinion/Sept-11.Party.A.Travesty-966523.shtml

[uppityperson]

1. They named it "I Raq and Roll"?

Raq means "dance" in Arabic. Don't think Roll means anything, be funny if it turned out dance and shoot or some such.

This will have to give them a drop in popularity and a raise in hilarity. Celebrate, celebrate, dance to the music... right.

[Hissyspit]

2. Party of the Clueless n/t

[bliss_eternal]

3. Please tell me that this isn't serious...

If it is, we have some protests and petitions to organize, because this is bullshit.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

5. I think it's serious...

http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/pentagon-announces-september-11-concert/2005/08/10/1123353364623.html

[norml]

9. 'Freedom Walk' to Commemorate 9/11, Celebrate Freedom

Charity : 'Freedom Walk' to Commemorate 9/11, Celebrate Freedom
Posted by Laura Linderman on 2005/8/10 11:53:00
By Steven Donald Smith
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Aug. 9, 2005 - The Defense Department today announced the first "America Supports You Freedom Walk" to honor the victims of 9/11 and America's military personnel, as well as to celebrate freedom.

The Freedom Walk will begin at 10 a.m. Sept. 11 in the Pentagon South parking lot, near the site where the airliner crashed into the Pentagon on 9/11. The walk route will consist of a two-mile trek through Arlington National Cemetery, over the Potomac River, and will end by the reflecting pool on the National Mall, where a free concert featuring country music star Clint Black will take place.

"I am proud and honored to be part of the America Supports You Freedom Walk to honor the victims of 9/11 and to support our men and women in uniform," Black said.



Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld made the announcement today at the Pentagon.

"Every year since the Sept. 11 attacks, Americans have commemorated that anniversary. This year the Department of Defense will initiate an American Supports You Freedom Walk. The walk will begin at the Pentagon and end at the National Mall. It will include many of the major monuments in Washington, D.C., reminding participants of the sacrifices of this generation and of each previous generation that have so successfully defended our freedoms," Rumsfeld said.


snip


http://www.lincolntribune.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=2014

[Theduckno2]

13. It's nice that the walk starts in the south parking lot.

That way the participants will have somewhere to park their SUV's (the real reason we are in Iraq IMHO). Sarcasm off.

A tree planting I could understand, cleanup and repair of an rundown park or playground would be ok with me. It just seems to me the best way to honor those that died on Sept. 11th or the sacrifices of our troops is to make this country better. A 2 mile "walk" and country music concert hardly improves anything.

Of course Bushco might see their poll numbers get better which seems to me the real reason for this travesty.

A far as reminding America of the sacrifices made defending our freedoms, what was he doing on Veterans Day, Memorial Day and the Fourth of July (to name a few)? This is wrong in so many ways.

[norml]

14. I'm going to use this totally unrelated article to kick this thread.

Posted on Fri, Aug. 12, 2005


Texas Pacific struggles to make airline caterer profitable

By Edward Evans

Bloomberg News


Texas Pacific Group co-founder David Bonderman, who bought Continental Airlines out of bankruptcy in 1992, is struggling to make an investment in airline caterer Gate Gourmet International AG profitable amid a labor dispute that disrupted London’s biggest airport.

British Airways Plc grounded most Heathrow flights today after Gate Gourmet’s U.K. unit fired 663 workers, prompting walkouts at Europe’s third-biggest airline that stranded 70,000 travelers. Gate Gourmet is trying to cut costs after clients were battered by the drop in air travel following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

"We are not profitable overall as a company," said David Siegel, 43, a former chief executive of US Airways Group Inc. who became Gate Gourmet’s chairman in June last year. "We’re better off not being in the U.K. if we can’t make the business cash-flow positive." The U.K. unit is set to lose 25 million pounds this year, he added.

The market for meals on board aircraft shrank as much as 30 percent after the terrorist attacks and 2003’s severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak. U.S. airlines dropped hot-meal service and have since restored them in first-class cabins. European traditional carriers cut hot meals from economy cabins.


snip


http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/12370090.htm

[abbeyco]

4. Just contact the supporters, like Subway

and let them know your displeasure in them supporting this kind of tripe.

Here's a link to the message I sent to Subway today

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4307260

Keep it up - hell, kick it, and let the supporters know we dont' stand by their involvement at all!

[bliss_eternal]

7. Welcome to DU, abbeyco!

:hi:

Thank you for the heads up on Subway! Do you have any information on them, so I can write them a similiar letter? They won't get another dime from me if they support this crap!

[abbeyco]

10. subway.com baby

Just use the 'contact us' link and send an email to them letting them know of your displeasure. There's another link somewhere here that lists the current supporters of this idiotic event and Subway is listed.

Right now, I'm all about Quizno's and the local sandwich shops like the Spicey Pickle.....screw Subway!

:patriot:

[VADem11]

6. I thought they couldn't get any worse

Then I saw this. I thought some clever DUer or kos reader had made it up but no it was real. We need to stop this now.

[bliss_eternal]

8. Seriously, we need to keep this kicked. Everyone needs to know

how they are trying to pimp out 9/11 yet again for their own purposes.

[DemInDistress]

11. would anyone here know what happened to

Paul Thompson's "timeline of terror" cooperativeresearch.org,I tried since yesterday and keep getting,"website not responding"?Any answers would be greatly appreciated...thanks again

[neweurope]

12. In 2006 the Bushistas want to have this march in every city.

Read here:

http://www.penfed.org/freedomwalk/register.asp

Just like the original nazis celebrated the day they grabbed power - "Tag der Machtergreifung".

--------------------

Remember Fallujah

Bush to The Hague!

[Robeson]

15. Utterly tasteless...

...have they no shame.

[The_Casual_Observer]

16. Nobody ever turns out for pro government rallies

particularly pro war ones. The pro war people are too paranoid about shit to leave their gated communities. They would be afraid to be out in a public place with a crowd.I predict a flop.