What-If Politics of Flight 93

Washington Times, Insight on the News, "Fair Comment" ^ | Insight, issue of 10/15/02 | John Armor

[sixmil]

What would you have done if you were on Flight 93?

I would have wet my pants. I can only hope I would have been as brave as those souls.

If the passengers on Fl. 93 had been of a different type - say the Susan Sontag Book Club or the UC Berkeley Debating Team - the White House or Capitol would be a heap of smoking ruins now.

This is a terrible thing to say, but I would trade either WTC tower for the Capitol. I think our country would be far better off.

[SteveH]

Cheese eaters, funny... ;-)

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[nopardons]

Great article !

[nopardons]

Thanks for the ping. It is a great artcle. What would I do without your timely " pings " ? :-)

[glorygirl]

This immediately reminded me of an essay I read in a religious magazine many years ago entitled "What the Blind Man Did Not Say." Couldn't find it on google.

Essentially, it listed all the things the blind man on the roadside might have said to Christ when Christ asked him why he was calling his name.

The blind man did NOT say he was actually afraid to see.

The blind man did NOT say other people might get angry if he could see.

The blind man did NOT say it wouldn't be fair if he could see and other people remained blind.

The blind man did NOT say, on second thought, he would be more comfortable remaining blind.

He simply said he wanted to see, and was healed.

[patriciaruth]

Ping.

[Congressman Billybob]

My seventh book -- actually just a pamphlet at 48 pages -- is available NOW. Just click the last link, below.

My eighth book, These are the times that try men's souls, is on Thomas Paine. Subtitle is: "America -- Then & Now / In the Words of Tom Paine." The illustrations are by Olga Calco, a brilliant artist who received her training as an architect in her native Russia. She is married to a colleague of mine in Virginia, and they have three children.

That book will, I hope, come out by 19 April, 2003. That would be appropriate, since the cover art shows the Minuteman Statue in front of Lexington Green, and the battles of Lexington and Concord took place on 19 April, 1776.

Congressman Billybob

Click for "Oedipus and the Democrats"

Click for "Til Death Do Us Part."

Click for "to Restore Trust in America"

[Congressman Billybob]

The phrase "cheese-eating surrender monkeys" is not mine. It began in the mouth of Homer Simpson, who used it once. Then Jonah Goldberg picked it up and has used it perhaps two dozen times. It has now passed into the language.

So, don't give me credit where credit isn't due. That phrase is so common that it is no longer used with quotation marks. Like, "Let sleeping dogs lie," "It depends on whose ox is gored," and "Stop beating around the bush," which are all from Miguel Cervantes, 350 years ago, but are so common that few people know they are quotes.

Billybob

[BluH2o]

Interesting perspective ... however, it's my firm belief Flt. 93, which was still 30 minutes away from Washington, would have been shot out of the air by military aircraft.
That, of course, would have happened much closer to Washington,
in a densly populated area, almost sure to cause casualties on the ground. The brave souls on board Flt. 93 took matters into their own hands and the rest is history ...

[Alouette]

This morning, a group of alert Israeli commuters on their way to work in Tel Aviv spotted a man who looked suspicious attempt to board the bus.

The passengers rushed the man, grabbed him and threw him off the bus. He blew himself up, killing one Israeli standing at the bus stop and slightly wounding a dozen others.

If not for the quick thinking of the bus passengers and the driver who slammed the door shut so that the terrorist could not attempt to re-board, a major massacre was prevented.

The loss of even one innocent life is a tragedy, of course. But what would have happened if this was a U.S. bus? Would the would-be bomber complain to the media and sue the bus company and all the passengers for "racial profiling" and "discrimination"?

[Darksheare]

Remember about two or so years ago, the bus driver who saw the bomb on the guys waist and used his foot to kick the guy off the bus and then slammed the door...
Where on the sidewalk, in a fit of depression and disgust at his pathetic attempt at a homicide bombing, the terrorist blew himself up without hurting anyone?

[foreshadowed at waco]

Flight 93 was mentioned as the turning point for American political thinking on a show called Wall Street Journal Editorial Board which airs on Fridays at 9PM and again at midnight. It's on CNBC. Great round table discussion by Paul Gigot and four other WSJ editorial writers. Said that Flight 93 meant that Americans were willing to fight back and turn the tables on the enemy--said that's why we are willing to go into Iraq despite appeasement arguments--we have begun to see that we must connect the dots to thwart terrorism--we 'get' it thanks to Todd Beamer and Co.

Great article BTW.

[txhurl]

If the Congressional building and the White house had been hit, the whole freakin' planet would be glowing.