Sometimes Ann Coulter DOES Make Sense

I can’t believe I am actually saying this because I’m not quite a fan of Ann Coulter. But here I go.

Have you heard the new book she’s come out with? Godless: The Church of Liberalism

Let me give her some credit. She’s got a good point when she states that some people use the death of a loved one as ammunition to either support their cause, get attention, or to accomplish their political or not so political agenda. And she’s right. You can’t fight back or say a word in the name of the following drivel:

• You don’t know what it’s like to lose a [insert relation to loved one].

• How dare you! I just buried my [insert relation to loved one].
• Don’t you realize [insert name] is dead?

These people can say whatever they want, when they want or how. But you can’t respond back to them. If you do, you are being “insensitive” to their “disability”. This is just downright selfish and self-serving at best. An individual who is genuinely grieving the absence of a relative will not pull these attention-whoring stunts. Rather than mourning, they are using the deceased as a guided missile to those they want to change. They also manipulate their tragedy as a shield against themselves. What they don’t realize is that there are actually people out there that won’t buy into their bullshit. I don’t.

It begs the question… How much do you really love this person you lost? Oh, so you need to grieve? The last time I checked, grieving involves focusing in on that person you’ve lost. Yes, anger IS an integral part of the grieving process, but it is no longer “grieving” when you focus outwardly on things and people you have an ax to grind with. It is no longer “grieving” when you find any and every excuse to argue. It is no longer “grieving” when you treat your loved ones that ARE ALIVE like shit. It is no longer “grieving” when you talk out of your ass and expect an intelligent conversation. It is no longer “grieving” when you angrily spew pure venom and mutter incoherencies and expect the other person to just sit there and listen.

In the end, these pseudo-mourners are only making themselves more miserable. If you sincerely love the one you lost, you will seek help and learn to grieve the healthy way. A “healthy way” meaning one that is beneficial to you LONG TERM. A “healthy way” also meaning a way in which people will actually want to be around you to help you and love you as you go through this. You want people to realize that you’re going through a rough time, right? Don’t alienate those that love you and want to help. Keep your poison toward others at bay and admit that you have a problem instead of pretending to be “the tough one” and displacing your anger inappropriately. I see too many people get stuck in the grieving process. They say they are “over it”. They say they have “moved on” with their lives and have the colossal nerve to boast about it. They are the “holier-than-thou — I’m better than you because I did it” crowd. While denial is a symptom of grief, there is denying in a nice way and denying in a way that makes people want to run away from you. Don’t be one of those people that Ann Coulter speaks of. While you may get temporary relief in knowing that you’ve just hurt others because of your “misfortune”, there is no permanent relief – sorry to say.

I appreciate Ann Coulter for saying what some of us think but are too afraid to say out loud ourselves. She is honest. I admire her for that.

Attempting to Resolve 9-11 Conspiracy Theories

9-11 Hijackers Still Alive?!

I don’t think so. These hijackers were most likely using fake ID’s/identities, passports, social security numbers, and drivers licenses when they boarded the planes. Also keep in mind that there is the possibility that two Arabs can have the same name!

What I Dislike about some aspects of Japanese Government

Let me just start with the following: Anytime you’re feeling down about the US government, and need to be reminded about how happy you are (or could be) to be living in the US, just read the below:

I became even more happy to live in the United States after reading about the crash of Japan Airlines Flight 123 that occurred on August 12, 1985. Read this:

The Japanese government claims that because of the rain, unfavorable terrain, and lack of sunlight, rescue crews were unable to reach the crash site until the following morning, twelve hours after the crash. Most of the passengers’ remains were identified, and were enshrined at
the nearby village of Ueno.

There was some confusion about who would handle the rescue in the immediate aftermath of the crash. A U.S. Air Force helicopter was the first to the crash site, some 20 minutes after impact, and radioed Yokota Air Base to assemble rescue teams and offered to help guide Japanese forces to the site immediately. But Japanese government representatives ordered the U.S. crew to return to Yokota Air Base because the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) were going to handle the rescue. Although a JSDF helicopter spotted the wreck during the night, it said poor visibility prevented it from landing at the site. JSDF forces did not arrive until the following morning. It is not known whether any survivors of the crash died in this interval. The off-duty flight attendant who survived the crash recounted from her hospital bed that she recalled bright lights and the sound of helicopter rotors shortly after she awoke amid the wreckage, but that nothing further was seen or heard until the JSDF arrived the next day.

It is believed that a substantial number of people survived the initial crash, but succumbed to hypothermia before they could be rescued. The apparent lack of urgency and bungled response to responding to the crash have led to rumors in Japan that the Japanese government was hoping that there wouldn’t be any survivors of the crash, reportedly because the airplane was carrying some kind of secret cargo. But, there is very little evidence to support this theory over the more plausible theory that basic, bumbling bureaucracy slowed the Japanese government’s and military’s response.

As an FYI, this is (not the first) but the second time that I know of, where the Japanese Government sent Americans trying to aid in a disaster back to their posts.

A special report; Japan Reluctant to Accept Help From Abroad for Quake Victims

“The Japanese bureaucracy is very good when there’s time for nemawashi,” a senior Japanese official said. “But it’s weakness is that it works poorly in an emergency, when decisions are needed fast. We already knew that this problem existed, but it became much more obvious
after the earthquake.”

The Foreign Ministry emphasized the logistical difficulties of responding immediately to the offers. Terusuke Terada, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, noted that the central Government had to check with the local authorities and then arrange transportation to the disaster area as well as interpreters and accommodation.

“Our method took a bit too much time,” Mr. Terada acknowledged, adding that Japan is in fact very grateful for all the offers of foreign assistance.

The Government, to be sure, was lethargic in the earthquake’s aftermath about using domestic
resources as well as foreign ones. Its slowness in calling in army troops to dig people out was blamed by one Japanese magazine for one-third of the 5,243 deaths in the quake, and another magazine accused the Government of a “massacre.”

“This red tape was known by the Japanese people, but now people have come to see it more clearly,” said Yuriko Koike, an opposition legislator from the Kobe area. “It’s not just the bureaucrats, but also the regulations. They don’t want to make any exceptions, even in emergencies, because that would threaten their raison d’etre.” Red Tape Bureaucrats And Gift Horses

Foreign donors were often taken aback by the penchant of these bureaucrats for peering into the mouths of gift horses.

I find this to be repulsive. I was living in Japan at the time of the Kobe Earthquake and also remember that the US wanted to send aid in hosing down some of the fires. The Japanese government rejected that as well. The words “stubborn” and “arrogance” come to mind. I believe it to be a crime in the way the Japanese officials react to emergencies. The Prime Minister didn’t even hear about the quake until he turned his TV on!?

And yet another outrageous decision:

The Japanese subsidiary of Motorola rushed 150 cellular telephones to Kobe after the earthquake, when regular telephone service was disrupted. Motorola offered to lend the telephones free of charge and pay for all the calls, but the Kobe city authorities replied that the phones could not be given out unless they had Kobe City stickers on each of them.

Is the above not enough to describe the word, “despicable”? Read on.

Dr. Masanori Matsumoto, for instance, said — after being told of the issue — that he would not use Tylenol even if it were on hand in the refugee clinic where he works.

“I would use the medicines that I’m familiar with,” he said. “I think the Health and Welfare
Ministry is right to keep out foreign medicines with different dosages.”

So…. I guess we can safely deduce from this that Mr. Matsumoto would have found it more appropriate to allow the quake victims to die a slow death, instead? Again, if you ask me, this is criminal behavior and nothing that any country should be proud of.

I would like to conclude that if you’re going to be in a “National Emergency” situation, just don’t be in Japan at the time.

Outside that and the discrimination against foreigners that prevails, Japan is an amazing place to live.

“United 93″ Makes me Proud

My Review of “United 93″

When I saw the ads and a documentary about this movie on TV, I thought that I would not be able to handle watching this.

Just two weeks later, I was on the internet looking for a movie in the theater to see. I watched the trailer, and for some reason, I felt the need to watch it. I was a bit nervous going into the theater, but I watched it until the end. I am happy that I saw this movie. In fact, I may even go see it again.

“United 93″ made me proud because due to the heroism not only performed by the passengers on the plane, but also due the the heroic decision of the The Command Center’s national operations manager, Ben Sliney, who ordered all FAA facilities to instruct all aircraft to land at the nearest airport. My husband and I were, in fact, on one of those planes that very day that was re-routed back to the point of orgin (Atlanta). Our final destination was La Guardia Airport in NYC.

Some reviews make note of the jittery-ness of the camera in the movie. I did not feel uneasy about that; nor did I even notice it.

I appreciate the fact that the director did his best in sticking with the facts as reported by the 9-11 Commission Report. It’s in a PDF form, and I recommend reading it.

Were there some differences? Probably so, but there were no political spins or major twists to the original story that some may speak of.

Aside from Bush and that infamous “7 minute wait” for authorization to “shoot down”, I really and truly believe that our ATC, FAA, all the command centers, and our military did the best with what they had. People need to keep in mind that the decision to halt air traffic on that day was not only “unprecedented”, but it was a result of “thinking outside the box”. When was the last time a national disaster as unique as this occurred in U.S history?

This film reconfirmed for me the mass confusion, the shock, and the sadness of 9-11. And the difference between having seen it all on the news and having seen it in the movies was important for me: In the movies, I felt as if I were right there experiencing it for myself. I was the confused Air Traffic Controller, the terrified passenger, and part of the shocked and disbelieving personnel at the command centers.

Some people are “sick and tired” of the “Never Forget 9-11″ mantra that people say and write. While this phrase could be overstated and occasionally disingenuous, I really do think people forget about this tragedy. They forget about it because some still continue to think that America is invincible (especially our government) and don’t do enough to ensure that there isn’t another 9-11 (i.e borders? TSA improvement and more funding?). But it just may take another 9-11 to OPEN OUR EYES. Some think that by going to Iraq that we have already secured our homeland. Many foreigners that live in the U.S not only have forgotten 9-11, but never really paid attention to it on the news thinking it wasn’t a big deal and that “we had it coming to us”. And some are just too squeamish to face the reality of the time we live in. These people need to see “United 93″ and “remember”. Last but not least there are the conspiracy theorists that claim 9-11 was an “inside job”. I respect their opinion and believe that this movie is NOT for them to see because no amount of information on 9-11 will aid them in seeing it for what it was.

Also keep in mind, this movie wasn’t made for “jaw dropping cinematography”. This movie wasn’t made for “impressive special/visual affects”. This movie was not made to flaunt and tout the beauties and cam-queens of Hollywood. This movie isn’t about “acting”. This is not “Spider man”, not “Lord of the Rings”, not “Star Wars”, and not “The Matrix”. For goodness sake, this is about normal everyday people who not only suffered these brutal attacks, but took a bite out of courage and ate it keeping our White House protected!

I must admit that I am more than impressed that the director of “United 93″ went to each and everyone of the victims families to get permission on making this film possible. As an FYI, each and every family member of the victims not only agreed, but cooperated with Mr. Paul Greengrass as they felt that this movie would aid them in their grieving. A HUGE Kudos to them!

Somebody mentioned they were shocked that ATC didn’t know the planes had hit the towers at the moment they hit? Are you kidding me? If you know anything about ATC, those monitors they look at do **not** show visuals of hijacked commercial airliners plowing into buildings. Each and every individual could only go on what they knew. Some people, no matter how hard we try, they will never understand or appreciate and always “expect more”. It takes a lot of understanding about how airlines work, aviation, the FAA, and Air Traffic Control before you can be grateful and respecting of their jobs and also appreciate the fact that WE DID DO OUR BEST.

Rather than “blood money” or “morbid fascination” as some people call it, those responsible for making this movie happen, deserve to make profit for their hard work. But as another FYI, proceeds are going to the “Flight 93″ National Memorial. For those that don’t want to watch the movie can always donate. Just visit their website.

In any event, though, I highly recommend this movie and my condolences to those whom were affected by this tragedy. I would give my condolences to victims and their families regarding any tragedy, but right now, we are talking about 9-11.