September 11, 2002

Today I attended a memorial service on the campus of Queens College.
Among the names of QC alumni who died was a woman I didn't know
but whose name I saw scrolled across my TV set earlier this morning--
the name Nancy Morgenstern, class of 1990, Communication Arts & Sciences

Two of my cousins--brothers to each other--worked in the
Financial District, just across the street from WTC.  
On 9/11/01, one had stayed home.  The other, along with a
close family friend, was at work when the first plane hit.
He and his friend hightailed it out of there.
A year later, I still haven't spoken to my cousin about his
experience, but his mother said that "he saw some horrors".

The loss I can most pinpoint post-9/11 is the loss of
Politically Incorrect.  Dag, I miss that show. 

However, the kid in "Boondocks" begs to differ...

Boondocks 9/12/02
 

Soon after PI's June 28, 2002 demise, I created this website:

Bill Maher: Post-PI

and Maher has a post-9/11-related book due November 2002:

When You Ride Alone, You Ride with Bin Laden: 
What the Government Should be Telling Us to Help Fight the War on Terrorism 
(listing at amazon.com)

comments at bn.com

************************************************

IN MEMORIAM







Support freedom




Below:
--poem: GOD RODE A BUILDING.
--Save PI! Petition to keep Bill Maher on the air.
--Biblical thoughts.


***GOD RODE A BUILDING***

God rode a man down
        (or so I heard on TV news)
	surfing the shards 83 stories
	broke two legs and survived

God took a hit on a fire chaplain’s head
	(or was it a heart attack?  media mix-up.)
	helmet doffed to pray last rites
	Death Certificate No. 1
	First at the Gates
	To Welcome the Rest

God grabbed the controls
	crashed Plane 4
	charring peopleless grass

God gave some workers the flu
	others, kindergartners
	to escort the first day of class
	others quick errands or late trains
	or last-minute breakfasts

God took in firefighters and cops
	who threw their lives into their jobs
	and didn’t get them back that day

God listened in churches & synagogues & mosques
	and temples and parks and school halls
	and stampeded streets & bathrooms &
	falling buildings
God outran a debris cloud
God gave surprise homecomings

Satan took the cockpit
God took the cell phones

9/20/01
***************

UPDATE:
THE BILL OF RIGHTS AND THE RIGHT OF BILL
Bill Maher on PI 9/17/01 said some strong words that were
controversial and misunderstood, and he lost two sponsors
and three affiliates.  I fired this e-mail to ABC-TV:

Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2001 18:39:28 -0700 (PDT) 
From: "(my name)" mnl_1221@yahoo.com 
Subject: PI and Bill Maher: Keep him! 
To: abc.audience.relations@abc.com, netaudr@abc.com 

Ladies/Gentlemen:

Please keep Bill Maher and Politically
Incorrect on the air!  We need his point
of view now more than ever.  He says things
on the hearts and minds of people, things
that might not be heard otherwise.

Keep him!

Peace,

(my name)
mnl_1221@yahoo.com

If you support Bill Maher or at least his right to
dissent, please write your own letters to ABC-TV!


PETITION TO SAVE P.I.


"Land of the Free?" Ariana Huffington's 9/24/01 column defends Bill Maher.

Here's an excerpt of Huffington's--and Maher's--comments:

"Cowardly" was the injurious word uttered by Maher. Well, let me use
it now where it really belongs -- to describe ABC if it decides to
cancel a show that is, after all, called "Politically Incorrect." 

The show in question was the first since the attack. At curtain time,
the studio was electric with anxiety. "Politically Incorrect," though
it deals with serious subjects, is, after all, a satirical program.
So we all held our breath as Bill stepped onto the tightrope. 

Maher's tone-setting opening comments, which took the place of his
usual monologue, were nothing short of brilliant and -- in light of
the media firestorm that followed -- remarkably prescient. 

"I do not relinquish," he said, "nor should any of you, the right to
criticize, even as we support, our government. This is still a
democracy, and they're still politicians ... Political correctness
itself is something we can no longer afford. Feelings are gonna get
hurt so that actual people won't, and that will be a good thing." At
the end of the show, the audience rose in a standing ovation --
something I had never seen before. 

As well as being the host of the show, Bill is my friend. And, as his
friend, I was really proud of him. Proud of how perfect a note he had
struck between rallying around the flag, showing grief and expressing
dissent. How he had shown that they are not mutually contradictory.
 And everything that has happened since has only made me prouder of
him -- and more disgusted at the politically correct cowards who are
trying to stifle him. 

We cannot let them succeed, for, as Benjamin Franklin put
it, "Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by
subduing the freeness of speech." 

***

We should dread a climate where the jobs 
of columnists and comedians are endangered by dissent.
--Maureen Dowd, editorial, New York Times, September 2001.

***

FAVORITE WTC MEMORIES
Watching the army of blue- and gray-suits--hundreds
of them--parade through the subterranean mall to the
train...the outdoor concert with Micky Dolenz and 
Davy Jones of the Monkees...meeting Danny Bonaduce...
the partial display of the AIDS Quilt in the Atrium,
including the panel I made (see links below)...the
Gershwin concert outdoors last year...my then-preschool
niece in a beauty contest...I last saw WTC "up close
and personal" August 2001 on my way from seeing the film 
"Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" at a nearby pier.


READ THIS!


AND THIS!
and
LOOK AT THIS!

Over the years I've read Revelation 18 and wondered
if it might refer to New York City.  I've read it
again and wondered if it came true on September 11, 2001.
Remember that I'm an American and a New Yorker;
I can't rejoice in this.

"Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!"
Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her: 
death, mourning and famine. 
She will be consumed by fire, 
for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.  
"When the kings of the earth who committed adultery with her
 and shared her luxury see the smoke of her burning, 
they will weep and mourn over her. 
Terrified at her torment, they will stand far off and cry: 
"`Woe! Woe, O great city, O Babylon, city of power! 
In one hour your doom has come!'  "The merchants of the earth 
will weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes any more.
'All your riches and splendor have vanished, never to be recovered.'
The merchants who sold these things and gained their wealth from her
will stand far off, terrified at her torment. 
They will weep and mourn and cry out: "`Woe! Woe, O great city,
dressed in fine linen, purple and scarlet, and glittering with gold,
precious stones and pearls!
In one hour such great wealth has been brought to ruin!' 
"Every sea captain, and all who travel by ship, the sailors, 
and all who earn their living from the sea, will stand far off. 
When they see the smoke of her burning, they will exclaim, 
`Was there ever a city like this great city?' 
They will throw dust on their heads, and with weeping and mourning
cry out: "`Woe! Woe, O great city, 
where all who had ships on the sea became rich through her wealth! 
In one hour she has been brought to ruin!
The music of harpists and musicians, flute players and trumpeters,
 will never be heard in you again. 
No workman of any trade will ever be found in you again. 
The sound of a millstone will never be heard in you again. 
The light of a lamp will never shine in you again. 
The voice of bridegroom and bride will never be heard in you again.
Your merchants were the world's great men. 
By your magic spell all the nations were led astray.
In her was found the blood of prophets and of the saints, 
and of all who have been killed on the earth."
--culled from Revelation 18.

Thanks to a caller to Let's Talk About Jesus (WWDJ AM, NJ),
hosted by Wayne Monbleau, I remember Isaiah 61:

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, 
because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. 
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives 
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor 
and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn,
and provide for those who grieve in Zion--to bestow on them 
a crown of beauty instead of ashes, 
the oil of gladness instead of mourning, 
and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. 
They will be called oaks of righteousness, 
a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor. 
They will rebuild the ancient ruins 
and restore the places long devastated; 
they will renew the ruined cities 
that have been devastated for generations.
Aliens will shepherd your flocks; 
foreigners will work your fields and vineyards.
And you will be called priests of the LORD, 
you will be named ministers of our God. 
You will feed on the wealth of nations, 
and in their riches you will boast. 
Instead of their shame my people will receive a double portion, 
and instead of disgrace they will rejoice in their inheritance; 
and so they will inherit a double portion in their land, 
and everlasting joy will be theirs. 
"For I, the LORD, love justice; I hate robbery and iniquity. 
In my faithfulness I will reward them 
and make an everlasting covenant with them.
Their descendants will be known among the nations 
and their offspring among the peoples. 
All who see them will acknowledge that 
they are a people the LORD has blessed." 
I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. 
For he has clothed me with garments of salvation 
and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, 
as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, 
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
For as the soil makes the sprout come up 
and a garden causes seeds to grow, 
so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness 
and praise spring up before all nations. 
--Isaiah 61


"Act justly, love tenderly, and walk humbly with your God."
--from Micah 6:8.




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