9/11 Flyover

I slept late on September 11, 2001. I heard a jet fly low overhead and then a strange muffled sound, which I attributed to the construction crane on East 10th Street, since it had crashed the week earlier. I was wrong. The sound came from a passenger jet striking the north tower of the World Trade Center. Like thousands of Manhattanites I watched from that building and its twin collapse. We groaned collectively not so much in horror as saddened disbelief. I haven't been able to watch a FX movie since 9/11.

Too much bullshit.

Last month New Yorkers panicked upon seeing a 747 fly low along the Hudson. A fighter jet tailing behind it. People ran for cover. Some screamed thinking this was another 'terrorist' attack, instead the media later reported the jet in question was the spare Air Force One. The purpose of the flight was promotional. The right-wing hacks seized this opportunity to lambaste the president for this extravaganza as well as supposedly not informing public officials about the flight.

Somebody had to fall on the sword and today President Barack Obama announced the resignation of the director of the White House Military Office for scaring the bejesus out of New Yorkers. I did the same thing in Boston by leaving my bags unattended at South Station Train Station for ten seconds, while I bought a newspaper. A state trooper was waiting by my bag with two security guards.

"Is this your bag?"

"Yes." I like to keep it simple with cops.

"You shouldn't have left it alone."

"I didn't. I walked over to the news kiosk and came back." I was telling the truth and nothing but the truth.

"Well, people got scared." The cop relaxed since I didn't fit into his stereotype of a terrorists.

"Scared?" I looked at the nearest people. Most seemed to be Americans. "I remember a time when Americans weren't scared of their shadows. Most Americans today are chickens and only good for stuffing their faces."

"Sir, this isn't about them. This is about your bag." The cop was thinking I might be psycho. At 56 I am of the age when men go nuts.

"No, it's not. This is about America. And anyone who is scared about a bag is no longer an American. They're yellah." I picked up my bag and walked away from the cop and his back-up. They didn't follow, probably because they rightly decided I was a greater danger to myself than anyone in the train station, but I was annoyed by their reactionary caution as I was by Fox News trying to capitalize on the Air Force One Fly-By. The deposed director had once been Secretary of the Army. He's still a good man, but in this America no one gets to make mistake, unless you're George fucking W Bush.

To err is human, to err all the time is to be GW Bush.

ps Mayor Bloomberg was told about the fly-by, but didn't think to tell the city.

He had better things to do, but he fired his assistant to cover his ass.

He really is a good politician.