Never Forget: September 11, 2001

I originally wrote this post last year on my (now retired) other blog, but it is fitting to repost it here today:

I will never forget the events of September 11, 2001. So many men and women lost their lives in the biggest terrorist attack on U.S. soil. I think about it almost every day. Sometimes people seem to forget (or pretend to forget) what happened. They talk about the “War on Terror” in such a negative way without reflecting on the real reasons behind it. Listening to Darryl Worley’s song Have You Forgotten? and looking at archival footage from that day make me wonder if maybe we should show images from 9/11/01 every day. Americans need to remember what we learned and what we are really fighting for. This is just as important now as it was seven years ago.

President George W. Bush will be remembered in history for being a wartime president (whether that is a good thing or a bad thing in itself is debatable). Although there are so many nasty things the Left has called our president (i.e. “retarded cowboy,” “war criminal,” “bumbling buffoon”), one thing is certain: Bush has kept our country from another terrorist attack. As Daniel Henninger wrote in an article today for The Wall Street Journal, “Lest we forget, as someone said, let’s revisit the bare details of that day. This presumably is the reason for anyone’s post-9/11 antiterror policies.”

One of my heroes is Todd Morgan Beamer. I did not know him personally, but I have read and connected with his story. He was one of the passengers aboard United Airlines Flight 93. A group of brave men and women would not surrender and they fought the hijackers. They succeeded in preventing the plane from reaching its targeted destination (presumably the White House or the U.S. Capitol) by crashing it into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Todd Beamer’s last audible words to a 911 operator were “Are you guys ready? Let’s roll.” A motto that is near and dear to my heart.

Source(s):

http://911digitalarchive.org/

http://www.september11news.com/

Use It or Lose It

Whenever an over-the-counter medicinal product is on the evening news, it’s never a good thing. The other night I watched as my beloved Zicam Cold Remedy was plastered across the headlines. The reporter did a profile story on this poor bloke who apparently lost his sense of smell after using Zicam. I’m not trying to dismiss this man’s quandary, because losing your sense of smell (or any sense for that matter) sucks, but I found a bit of humor in the way the story was presented. It was a “woe is me” exposé on how his smell diminished over a period of time to the point of permanent damage. He took for granted the odorous sensations in life, like the taste of foods and the smell of roadkill, until it was too late.

Not only was Mr. Don Ehler’s story on all the major TV news stations, Zicam became an overnight media buzz on the internet as well, with “Zicam side effects” and “Zicam recall” prominent searches on Google. But what I don’t understand about any of the reporters who covered the story is that they didn’t seem to ask Ehler (or any of the supposed 130 other Zicam consumers who complained of smell loss) how often they actually used the product. I have a hunch that it was not a once-a-month kind of a deal. Admittedly, zinc is a powerful acid and squirting any copious amounts up your nostrils can be hazardous to your health, but I would not be too concerned about using it periodically during the cold season. All drugs have side effects. Anything you put into your body can have unwanted consequences. I don’t think that necessarily should mandate a complete recall of all Zicam’s products (as some are demanding).

I don’t know if I’m being a conspiracy theorist here, but I think the involvement of the FDA in this situation brings up a whole host of other issues. It really is not as black-and-white as a “bad/defective drug.” Lately (including this and that), the FDA has been on a power trip. The government-run organization wants to be control of every aspect of public health. Since 1999, Zicam hit the consumer market as a “homeopathic remedy” and has not needed FDA approval because it was not a “drug.” With the immense popularity of the cold remedy in the last five years or so, they have surely raked in the dough. The FDA clearly would want a piece of this profitable pie. Apparently Zicam’s parent company Matrixx paid $12 million in court settlements filed by Zicam users in 2006, but in the three years since then it has not snowballed into a bigger issue. So when on June 16, the FDA released a warning advising consumers to not use the nasally-administered product at all, some red flags when up for me. It is interesting to note that although Ehler admitted to using (the not-as-popular) Zicam’s nasal allergy spray on a weekly basis, the FDA did not include the allergy products in their action against the company.

If you visit Zicam’s website, the first thing you’ll see is a “Message to Consumers” about the recent FDA warning (with an accompanying video from the president of Matrixx Initiatives). I was actually disappointed to see that the company decided to voluntarily recall their product in compliance with the FDA’s warning. Despite making it clear that their scientific and medical safety tests have shown “no credible evidence that Zicam… causes you to lose your sense of smell,” Matrixx says that they plan to fully cooperate and work with the FDA in getting the issue resolved.

Although anosmia (the loss of smell) is no laughing matter, I think it’s quite humorous that out of all the dangerous diseases that our plaguing our people today (including AIDS, cancer, malaria, TB, and influenza), this is the one (along with the swine flu) that Americans are supposed to be concerned about. I don’t mind my nose; most of the time (when it’s functioning properly), I don’t even notice it at all. I am, however, continually fascinated how memories can be triggered by the sudden onslaught of a particular fragrance. That part of the nose is engrosses me very much. Nevertheless, if I had to lose one of my five senses, it would be smell. I would ultimately chose to keep my vision, hearing, taste, and sense of touch over that distinguishing piece of cartilage in the middle of my face.

The momentary question: Will I continue to use Zicam products? Yes, I will use the oral remedies (if need be) until the nasal ones are back on pharmacy shelves. I don’t use the product habitually, but it really does work for me as a preventative measure when I feel the rhinovirus coming on. I really hate being sick (as though anybody really enjoys it) so, for the time being, it is worth the risk for me.

Lesson of the day: Stop and smell the roses once in a while. They may not always be there. (Apparently some roses are an endangered species.)

Article(s):

Richmond man joins Zicam complaints

FDA says Zicam nasal spray can cause loss of smell

FDA warns against using 3 popular Zicam cold meds

Perez, Obama, & The Gays

Some prominent gay rights groups (and the ACLU, of course) are fed up with the way President Obama is tackling the gay marriage issue (or rather, how he is not). The Obama administration released a brief today saying that the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is legit and stands (for now).

DOMA was signed by former President Clinton and passed by Congress in 1996. There are two parts to the legislation: 1) Defines marriage for purpose of federal law as the “legal union between one man and one woman” 2) Reiterates the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the U.S. Constitution (Article IV, Section I), which provides that states must recognize “legislative acts, public records, and judicial decisions” of other states. So basically DOMA allowed states to refuse to recognize a same-sex marriage performed in another state.

Opponents of DOMA say it’s unconstitutional because Congress over-reached its authority (way-back-when) in amending the Full Faith and Credit Clause, the law discriminates against the Equal Protection Clause, and/or the law violates the right to marriage under the Due Process Clause.

The President has made it very clear that he opposes gay marriage, and yet gay rights advocates are putting immense pressure on his administration to abolish all legislation that deters same-sex marriage. Obama said during the campaign that he opposed DOMA and would call for Congress to repeal it. Maybe he’s waiting for them. (Or maybe he hasn’t made up his mind yet.) Apparently he also scrubbed it from the White House website.

This is what the ACLU released about the brief:

When President Obama was courting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender voters, he said that he believed that DOMA should be repealed. We ask him to live up to his emphatic campaign promises, to stop making false and damaging legal arguments, and immediately to introduce a bill to repeal DOMA and ensure that every married couple in America has the same access to federal protections.

I think perhaps the gays are putting to much faith in Obama doing what he promised in the campaign. He doesn’t really need their support now that he’s sitting in the Oval Office. I also think that the same-sex marriage legislation is moving too fast in one direction and the majority of the public is not ready to deal with it right now (since we have quite a lot of other things going on). The gays would make more progress in pushing their agenda if they stopped ramming lawsuits and legislation through the courts.

Gay activists, like gossip blogger Perez Hilton, have been quick to defend Obama’s position on gay marriage because they believe he will ultimately side with them. But with this news of the Obama administration holding firm on DOMA and not making any steps towards changing current policies, all bets are off. I wonder what Perez thinks of Obama now…

Article(s):

ACLU & gay groups furious: No repeal of DOMA

Gays decry Obama’s stand on gay marriage case

Resource(s):

The Library of Congress: H.R.3396

Full Faith and Credit Clause

DOMA watch

College = Fake Life

I often say that college is not real life. It’s “fake life.” The reason I say that is because, although college is definitely a whirlwind of life experiences that you may remember the rest of your life, many college students live in a bubble. They see the “real world” outside of their personal lives, but they don’t live in it. For example, I’m friends with students that go out to eat every night (sometimes multiple times a day). They don’t understand the value of (their parents’) money. I’ve also encountered students that get drunk all the time and sometimes even show up to class intoxicated. I’m not saying that there aren’t people in the real world that spend money frivolously and go to work buzzed because I know these people exist. But outside of the protective school environment, there are a lot more real repercussions.

What bothers me even more than the overindulgent lifestyles of college students is their sheer lack of awareness of what is going on in the world. The other day I was talking politics with a friend and mentioned Judge Sonia Sotomayor and my friend had no idea who she was. Okay, so maybe it’s a little soon for everyone to recognize her name. But I’ve also talked to college students who have no idea what countries the United States are at war with! That is unacceptable.

The solution? Colleges should not be keeping their students sealed in a bubble that all they need to do is pass tests for four years (some of which don’t even need to do that!). College should teach more vocational training and less highbrow academia. Students need to be educated about what is happening outside of the four walls of the institution. College graduates should be better equipped to succeed in the marketplace than people who didn’t go to college. Otherwise, what’s the point of higher-level education at all? So many students these days are graduating with a degree in B.S. (And I mean that literally.)



- extraordinarIAN

Leaving Our Mark

News came to AVPA in January 2005 that the school would be moving back to the mothership. We would no longer be part of BHS, but we would instead join the other Academies in the larger vocational school that Fall. This was great news for some, and distressing news for others. I was somewhere in the middle. I didn’t like BHS, but I knew going to a totally different school would require more adaption. One positive thing about the move for me was that the new location was much closer to my hometown. One negative thing was that we would no longer be “those f*cking Academy kids” because everyone in the school would be an Academy kid (the only difference being the field we were studying). On the whole, I was more excited than anything for a change of the scenery.

The news roused a lot of debate between kids, parents, teachers, and the school board. Some tried their earnest to protest the move, but their efforts failed in the end. The last month of my sophomore year was spent helping to pack up boxes and prepare for the great migration. One memorable thing we did as a class was to write all over a white board. We signed signatures, quotes quips, and jotted jokes in the name of saying goodbye to the old ways and hello to a new adventure.

QOD: “We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” – Walt Disney