horrors piled upon horrors...

Okay. I'm going to apologize in advance for this.

Whatever your opinion of the current political administration, I'm sure that most people would agree with the statement that the N.Y.F.D. performed admirably on 9/11. Could there have been improvements in communication? Probably. Could those improvements have saved lives? Possibly. But will we learn the necessary lessons to make those changes happen?

It's looking a little doubtful.

My heart goes out to the people who lost loved ones on 9/11. I doubt that any of them will read this, or care, but all the same. I was lucky not to have lost anyone that day. I still remember the day. I remember the feeling of shock, of disconnect I had when I saw the towers fall. I can understand that losing someone on that day might make someone bitter, resentful. I can understand that they might want to lash out at someone, anyone. But mocking and booing former fire commissioner Thomas Von Essen and former police chief Bernard Kerik is a mistake. It's the wrong place to be lashing out. They weren't responsible for the death of so many people.

Why can't America get this through their thick skulls? George W. Bush wasn't responsible for 9/11. None of our elected officials caused it to happen. 19 people in an airplane did. Those who taught those men that this was an honorable action to take caused it. Those who planned it, those who financed it did.

Moreover, the desire to find domestic scapegoats is creating a schism in the nation at a time when we should be coming together. Divisive politics, grandstanding, acting like victims just plays into our enemies hands. We were not betrayed. We were attacked by foreign enemies whose goals are our absolute destruction, no matter the cost. I don't want to give them the satisfaction of thinking that they've succeeded.