I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!

Glenn Greenwald:

[P]eople like Steyn and his fellow neoconservative warriors -- who want to place blind faith in the Government in exchange for promises of "protection," vest in the President the most unlimited powers, and fundamentally change how our country functions and the values which define it, all because they think that doing so is necessary to increase their chances of living -- are drowning in a self-protective cowardice that dwarfs by many magnitudes that which they mock in others.

Let's just be blunt: They're traitors. They're not defending the country, they're subverting it by overthrowing the constitution. They're cowards and traitors who, in their blind panic, are doing the work of the terrorists for them. The September 11 attacks occurred in New York City and Washington, D.C. and not in, say, Tennessee, Minnesota, Texas or Wisconsin. They occurred where they did primarily because those are the seats of national economic and political power.  But it's not just a coincidence that the people of New York and D.C. and the other major cities of the United States are the ones who like their constitutional rights just as they are, thanks. 

The major cities are the center of the country's power because the people of the cities represent what is best about America.  These aren't the fearful dwellers of a little hick outpost who snap to attention whenever someone waves a flag or a bible at them.  City people value liberty and independence, and if you tell them what to do they'll tell you to fuck right off. They congregate in cities to be near others like themselves, and together they build the universities and businesses, run the hospitals and the museums, perform the research and invent the technologies, make the art and write the books, and by the work of millions of hands keep the flow of money and ideas going out into the rest of the country.  The major cities are the engine of culture, and literally and figuratively provide the energy that keep the lights on in Knoxville and Killeen. The major cities are the country. That's why the attacks happened there, and that's why the next attacks will happen there, too. The people of the cities know they are the ones at risk, not the constitution-shredders. And that's fine. Because the patriots of the cities would rather die as free people, than live in fear without their civil liberties.

On Canal street in April when its 60 and the snow is melting fast
it's still shady in the morning when you're laughing in your t-shirt runnin past
at Tompkins Square Park, a couple is meeting
say what you want but I can feel my heart beating
cause I love springtime in New York,
springtime in New York I do

Springtime in New York when it's May and the leaves are on the trees
when demolishing a building brings the smell of 1890 to the breeze
one more time
on first avenue and our couple is fighting
well springtime is wild, and New York is exciting
and I love springtime in New York,
springtime in New York I do

well springtime in New York city, in thirty more days will come them sticky summer nights
and if you've been to New York city in July you know when I say sticky I'm right
on first avenue and our couple is breaking up
eviction too, they both must be shaken up
but I love springtime in New York,
springtime in New York I do
springtime in New York,
springtime
in New York
(it's an exciting place)
I do

- Jonathan Richman, "Springtime in New York"

Five years ago, we waited anxious days to hear from our friends in Manhattan, futilely stood in line to donate blood for injured people who never would emerge from that hole, and finally were allowed into the city.  If you weren't there, you might not realize that it wasn't the visual absence of the towers that affected you the most, it was the smell. For weeks, the island reeked of burnt plastic, paper and human bodies. The only place you couldn't smell it, barely, was the subway.  But halfway up the steps to the street and it sank back into your head.  My understanding is that if you can smell something, then particles of it are being deposited on your tongue and in your nose. Imagine being a survivor breathing in the remains of 3,000 victims, some of whom you knew, whose bodies would never be found.  Imagine being one of millions whose every breath gave their fellow citizens a final resting place in their own bodies. That's what 9/11 was like for me.

More pictures after the jump.

The last time I saw the skyline whole, with my sweetie on July 31, 2001:

Afterward:

Comments

[Veronica]

Ya know, this is just what I needed after all the "Where were you?" crap I heard today. I'm honestly creeped out by the uniformity of response--that it's all about what some schlub in Kansas watched on FOXNews that day, instead of the event itself and the people it actually happened to.

[Mithras]

I avoided television yesterday altogether, for just that reason. It just flattens everything, dumbing it down and predigesting it for the target audience.