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Subscribe to RSSThumbing through the New York Post this morning allowed for a brief respite from the demoralizing, deflating news of the past few days. On page 3 was the story of the Manhattan couple who lost a stuffed monkey in Brooklyn a week ago. They plastered the neighborhood with posters, offering a $500 reward for the safe return of Bongo. They had "raised" the monkey like their own child, and treated him as such. Bonni Marcus, Bongo's 47-year-old owner, said, "I never gave up hope -- I prayed, I meditated, and now he's with us again."
Three pages later, there was the story of the 60-year-old man who drove the family minivan into the lake in Central Park, frustrated over his son's girlfriend -- and the free rides she was receiving to support her balloon animal business. The dad was quoted as saying, "She is a face-painter and a balloon-twister... She's got no life because she's got no car!"
On page 10, we learned that Jada Pinkett Smith shops at Restoration Hardware. On page 25: an attempt by a real estate mogul to extend his 149-foot-long private dock in Montauk. He needs the extension, according to the Post, because the water often isn't deep enough to maneuver his 40-foot power boat. Bummer for him.
Right about then, the cab pulled up to 30 Rock. All distractions were over. Diversions had to go. This was the Monday after we lost 30 Americans in Afghanistan. The Monday after the U. S. lost its credit rating. While at work today, I watched the markets plunge, not knowing that I was watching the 6th worst day in the history of the Dow. I watched as the stories came in from SEAL headquarters in Coronado, California -- the friends and families of some of the best people we've ever produced as a nation.
I watched my friend Gen. Barry McCaffrey say they fell victim to 1960s technology (apparently a point-and-shoot Russian-made RPG) and I realized something else: they were flying in some 1960s technology as well. The basic airframe for the Chinook first emerged in 1958 -- and while there have been modifications to the avionics and other features, it's still the same basic bird. They are big, and often fly low and slow, full of troops en route to the next fight or extraction or both. As someone who survived an encounter between an airborne Chinook and an RPG at the start of the Iraq war, I've spent more time than most thinking about the Chinook and what we ask of that aircraft. If the Blackhawk is the air taxi of our current dual wars, the Chinook is the city bus. They can deliver a lot of Americans (and cargo) to a target quickly. But aside from the M-60 machine guns in both doors and the back deck, they are hardly gunships. Many of the Chinooks I flew in with my late friend Wayne Downing (a decorated Vietnam veteran) were Vietnam-era birds. Wayne joked more than once that he'd flown on these choppers before... as a much younger man. Wayne was with me when we took an RPG through the rear rotor housing at 100ft altitude and made an unscheduled landing in unsavory territory. I had a lot of time to examine every square inch of the veteran chopper.
What a loss of humanity. What towering individuals they all were. From the 18-year-old door gunner to the most Senior SEAL among them. We grieve for them and for their families. We wonder about the mission they were on, the war they were fighting -- and we can only hope they knew how we felt about them.
These are demoralizing days. Tomorrow morning, I will open the paper looking for diversion, however briefly, once again.
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That story about the missing monkey makes me wonder if the owner of the monkey lives next door to an editor at the NYPost or has a relative that’s an editor, that has to be the only way such a silly story would ever be entertained by a major newspaper, but then again we are talking about the NY Post. It was also featured last week as well
Thanks for the heads up on the shortage of medication, it’s up to me to contact the manufacturer for a monthly dosage of medicine and last week it just made to Dr’s office in time for appt. although I placed the order mid-August. First thing on my To Do List for tomorrow is place order for September’s dosage. It unbelievable that the people who need chemo are being told there’s a shortage, and on anesthesiology drugs, seemed like you were referring to a Third World Country.
I heard your voice this morning when I was talking on the kitchen phone....I had been watching that last hour of the today show.....a diversion as you say. ....when you broke in with a special report. It was a sad weekend with all those Navy Seals lost at one time. Watching TV this morning was very heartbreaking. Over the past few nights my daughter and I were so saddened to learn of the African woman who had walked 130 miles with family only to develop cholera in the camp. Sadness surrounds us in August....some months are just like that and you wonder why it has to be this way. So life...we must take the good with the bad and "breathe in and breathe out and put one foot in front of the other" as that country song says.
Life isn't fair, but it's still good." Brett's most important message is, "No matter how you feel, get up, dress up, and show up for life."
I need the lessons of Regina Brett's God Never Blinks. Life goes on. "Life will be different. It will never be the same. It can be just as good
Why were two and a half dozen elite SEALs packed into a National Guard chopper? What secrets about the Bin Laden raid did these brave warriors carry to their graves -- and who might benefit from the fact that dead men tell no tales? Why can't the remains be segregated, identified and returned to the families for proper burial and commemoration? Why does the name "Pat Tillman" come to mind? A full congressional investigation should commence at once. A very fishy smell is emanating here. Brian, please take off your rose-colored glasses -- about the circumstances surrounding this tragedy, and about the alleged killing of Osama Bin Laden. Or about how those towers disintegrated in thin air, as if pulverized, dustified, by an awesome electromagnetic weapon, as postulated by physical engineer Dr. Judy Wood (see drjudywood.com).
Speaking of Barry McCaffrey and the late Wayne Downing, remember when they were cheerleading us into the Iraq war, posing as "independent military analysts" on NBC, without the network disclosing that the men held financial stakes in military contracting firms that stood to benefit from our involvement in that war? Remember how Brian protested (and still refuses to accept otherwise) that they were honorable men who would never use their positions to engage in such unethical behavior, even after it came out in the New York Times that they and others were embedded in the media by the Pentagon to propagandize and push for war? Well, Barry McCaffrey is still a military analyst on NBC, and Brian is assisting in the propaganda effort. Just last night on the newscast, Brian referred to those who shot down the helicopter carrying the SEAL team and others as "the enemy". Nice way to be objective Brian! Did it ever occur to you that we are invaders and occupiers in Afghanistan, and maybe they're trying to repel us? Are you so filled with imperialistic hubris that you think we're justified in running roughshod over the citizens of a sovereign nation? If we were to be invaded and occupied by a foreign military force, do you think we would just roll over and allow it? Until we can try to see things from the perspective of others, and stop trying to impose our will on them, we'll never be at peace with the rest of the world.
We've been feeling the same way for days, Brian. My generation is slumping under the weight of these burdens and looking for ways to find hope. We are parents of young children, and doing the math that a "turnaround" taking 8-10 years means the remainder of our kids' childhoods.
All our education and work for the last 20 years is going down the drain. Our meager retirement savings is evaporating before our eyes. Our savings account is zero. We're worried, worried, worried. Scared. The wolf is at the door.
I sat down with my father-in-law to ask about family life during and immediately following the Great Depression.
He said to me, "Remember...everything is cyclical. This too, shall pass."
I suppose one day we will be telling OUR grandchildren how we poured pennies into the change machine at the grocery store to buy a gallon of milk, and skipped meals so there would be enough food for the children.
Thanks Brian. I also had thoughts about the Chinook and asked myself why it was being used with todays technological advances while grieving for the young armed service personnel we lost lost. I also reflected heavily on our economy yesterday and questioned how the market could spiral as the leader of the greatest nation on this planet spoke. I believe it to be extrmely important that our leaders step back in time, more than 2 1/2 years, and try to determine how this nation arrived to where we are today. Until this happens it will be difficult for our economy to find a healthy growth. Most importantly with a healthy growth of our economy we as a nation will be able to fight wars to prevent the spread of terrorism in a healthy way using the advanced technologies of today while keeping our Armed Service personnel out of harms way.
We need to bring our Sheepdogs home to protect their own families from the Marxist wolves attacking their families' security here at home.
Thank you Brian for your thoughtful and reflective comments about the strange days that we are living. These are indeed demoralizing days and at times, it seems to be a challenge to find the good in everyday life, especially in light of the very sudden and tragic loss of so many dedicated Americans in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, complacency has a way of allowing us to tune out the very real dangers faced everyday by these brave Americans. May we never forget the tremendous sacrifice given in defense of our cherished freedoms that allow us such "complacency."
Really! In the midst of all that is happening we are discussing a candidate's picture and how she is being persecuted. Please. If you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen. I don't care how she looks, what has she got to say to me about how she can make it better not just different. God Bless those soldiers and their families.
Thanks for reminding me that sometimes its good to take a breather. Ten years ago the images of 9/11 consumed every bit of my waking hours for days at a time. I finally went out and bought three candles. A red one, white one and a blue one. I made a patriotic display with them. Something pretty to see. Not like what I had become mesmerized with before. It seems as I get older, the stresses out weigh the good sometimes. I find myself feeling blue and looking down at my feet. Maybe we all need to search out the good we have around us, just to keep us on our feet. And who knows, we might just find ourselves on our knees, hands folded, looking up.