Here's The Sept. 11 Chat -- Read A Transcript

The anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks set the stage for today's weekly live chat here on TroxBlog. We talked about the war in Iraq, whether we are safer than we were six years ago, and the tradeoff between freedom and security. We heard from a soldier on active duty who wanted to know what Americans were thinking.

But the chat ran the gamut from world affairs to local and state matters as well, and we talked about the Pinellas County scandal, taxes, insurance, public-access television, the USF students/South Carolina case and a lot more.

To read the transcript of today's chat, just click on the "Comments" link of this item a few lines below. You'll see what everyone had to say, and you can still add your own thoughts after the fact.

Thank you to everyone who took part or stopped by today -- I hope you will consider coming back for the next chat as well.

Comments

[Howard Troxler]

Let's start with a sobering 9/11 comment from Kay:

I've been thinking about something a lot lately. You mentioned at the end of today's column about people giving up freedoms... We hear all the time about making sacrifices such as
putting our young American's in harms way - to protect our freedoms. I don't think going to war is the sacrifice to be made for freedom. The sacrifices we make are that things like 9/11 can happen. In a free society. It is a high price, but to me, freedom is worth it.

[Howard Troxler]

Kay, that is a strong comment, and I imagine that it is a tough way of thinking for a lot of Americans. A democratic society is and should be more open than an authoritarian
society, but it also presents more opportunities for terrorists. The difficult thing is finding the balance between reasonable security and personal freedom.

I don't know of anyone who objects to the concept of screening airplane passengers (although lots of folks gripe about the silly and arbitrary nature of it). It gets more controversial the more everyday the screening. Football games? Screening to enter shopping malls, as our friends in Israel require to prevent suicide bombings? There's always a chance, when (not if) we face our next 9/11 style attack, that most Americans will choose security over the risk.

[JonnyAnonny]

I thought you really had a tough couple of articles this last week or so, Howard. On your 9/11 piece, you didn't quite tip your hand -- what do you think? Are we more safe with fewer freedoms, or is our safety a fallacy and we've just been lucky? Is the perspective of a news-person that our speech has been limited since 9/11?

[Wayne]

Mr Troxler,

As an American Soldier serving over seas I am truly discouraged with the attitude of most Americans (or at least what I am being spoon fed through the media) that our fears are no longer valid since 9/11 is so long ago. 6 years? It took longer than that to complete WWII.

[Howard Troxler]

Jonny, the feds still nab some guys here and there who wanted to blow something up since 9/11 (west coast airport, for example). As to whether they caught 'em because of the new laws, or just because they have become more vigilant, I don't know.

I think free speech has been nibbled at around the margins; if you are an Arab-American going around making anti-war speeches I bet you are more likely to be looked at closely by the feds. But SO FAR I haven't seen much evidence of widespread interference with speech -- plenty of Americans are out there criticizing the war with gusto...

Wasn't WWI from September 1, 1939 – September 2, 1945. Six years. Besides, it's seems a fallacy to compare WWII to what is happening in the world today.

[Howard Troxler]

Wayne, thank you for being here and for spekaing up. My impression is NOT that most Americans think that "our fears are no longer valid." Definitely not. My own, biased, subjective assessment is that Americans are overwhelmingly supportive of the men and women in Iraq, and at the same time increasingly unsure about the policy goals that keep them there.

As a local guy I have been frustrated with trying to understand the real, big picture in Iraq. Each account I get is different. I recently read a great article by a group of sergeants talking about the difficulty on the ground -- I figure sergeants know what the hell they are talking about. More than members of Congress of either party.

It's not that our fears are no longer valid -- it's our unplanned (and unprovoked) response to them that is invalid.

[Earl K]

I love your columns and read them faithfully every day. With regard to George Bush's decision to invade Iraq, it is my impression that a preemtive war such as this should be voted on by Congress rather than ever put such a decision in the hands of any one man. It is like suddenly converting our country to a monarchy from a democracy. The evaluations and impact of the weapons inspection team were supposed to have some influence, so that one cannot say that Congress gave the President a carte blanche decision to go to war. To save our country from future similar debacles, we need to make this a constitutional requirement. In the congressional debate over this, if war was decided on, I beleive that provisions for keeping the peace, etc. would have been better addressed.

[Howard Troxler]

I agree the time comparison is apples and oranges. Actually, our declared involvement in WWII lasted from 12/41 to, I believe, 8/45, or three years and nine months or so.

Our NEXT war after that, "cold" that it was, was a struggle that lasted 36 years or so...

[Howard Troxler]

Earl, a good point by you -- this has been a big issue for America for decades now. It started under Lyndon Johnson, who got the Gulf of Tonkin resolution to let him wage an undeclared war. Congress tried to rein in the president with the War Powers Act under Richard Nixon.

There's a deliberate tension in our government between the president as commander in chief and Congress as the sole declarer of war. In the case of Iraq, Congress passed a Tonkin-like "authorization" that stopped short of a declaration of war.

[Wayne]

12:14 poster WWI was from 1914 - 1917. Just thought you should know.

[jean]

The Pinellas land buy continues to amaze me. While Susan took the main fall--looks to the public like she did a favor for her friend Jim Smith--I hear Spratt is now telling staff he has support of six commissioners--didn't look that way at the board meeting. Way before Spratt administration and commission appeared to regard the public as stupid. Spratt may or may not be facing the ax but the others, including Bob Stewart who called the Grand Jury report, Grand Jury 101, will face the voters soon enough.

[Elizabeth]

There seems to be a lot of flag wagging around the word "freedom" but sometimes I wonder if folks really take the time to understand what it means. We "say" we believe in freedom of speech, yet I see very few people willing to stand up for it lately. If my speech noes not always agree your's then is it okay to do away with mine? With the homeland security act freedoms guaranteed under the U.S. constituion are being eroded away in the name of fighting terrorism. I am not as concerned about fighting for freedom abroad, but for it right here in our country.
How many people were willing to show up to fight to keep our county commissioners from axing public access TV? A couple of hundred? Once gone, it will become another nail in the coffin of freedom of speech and another step along the road to totalitarianism. 9/11 may have media attention, but it is the little things that happen from day to day that we should be mindful.

[JonnyAnonny]

Howard -- I wonder if you (or our wonderful soldier overseas) would comment on what *you* would do different in order to ensure American security yet balance our treasured freedoms. If you could wave a magic wand or something (as opposed to write a regular column for Florida's Best Newspaper...)

[Howard Troxler]

On the question of authorized use of force, it has never been clear to me (and maybe not to Washington either!) where the president's role as commander in chief, and the defender of our nation, stops and the Congress' power to "declare war" begins. Maybe, Earl, we should consider redefining what a "war" is, in terms of length of involvement, number of troops... or bombs? Thoughts?

Thanks for the correction, Wayne -- I meant WWII...

[Howard Troxler]

Jean, thanks for the comment on the Pinellas County scandal. Let me take this chance to throw in a pre-filed comment on the same topic, then reply:

I think you should start a poll as to; at what point will it be politically expeditious to fire Spratt… before challengers to the incumbents announce, or after? Better yet, take bets
on the vote results… 7-0, 6-1, 5-2, 4-3, ect… Given the County Charter provisions, it should take a few sittings of the Board and include a boatload of debate and comment.
Having said that, my money’s on a resignation by March ’08… or just after the budget approval with a vote of 7-0.

(Howard here again doing the talking.) Re: Spratt: I have heard plenty of speculation that Spratt is a dead duck eventually, with most folks agreeing with you observation that they need to get throught the budget process first. But I am not quite as sure about the budget excuse. Unless Spratt has the entire budget in his head, there were ways to get through that process without him. The commission had a golden opportunity at the meeting where it fired the county attorney and wouldn't do it. If he really digs in his heels, it will take an extraordinary effort of the County
Commission to get him out. I wonder if they still think, ostrich-like, that this will just fade away.

[Schauer]

Your article on the local boy arrested in SC could not be more on target. After the fiasco involving the Lackawanna 6 and the release of many of the "worse of the worst" from Gitmo. Add to that the "Duke" scandal it is clear that trial by innuendo has replaced trial by jury. As Ben Franklin said "Those who give up freedom for security deserve neither.

[Ron]

Let's not forget that a large part of this problem is a corrupt, impotent United Nations. It is a joke to continue to put out resolution after resolution, when the entire world knows there is no teeth behind the resolutions. While our intelligence turned out to be wrong regarding WMD in Iraq, we must remember that part of this was also an attempt to do what the UN wouldn't do.

[Wayne]

Mr Troxler,

"I figure sergeants know what the hell they are talking about. More than members of Congress of either party." That is truer that you know. That is also true with the media and their 45 second blurbs or some coorespondent that is stand in the fortified green zone. Unfortunately the Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and Airmen in the war zone do not have the publicity that ABC, CBS, CNN and FOX can muster. Since you have an interest in the service members opinions. I would hope you would create some interest in the blogs of these upstanding individuals via your column.

[Howard Troxler]

JonnyA, on the question of what I would do: Actually, I thought the original idea behind the FISA court was a good balance. The government would have to show a court, even in secret, that it had reasonable grounds for intercepting communications, e-mails, etc., not just "data mining" the entire American nation to see what pops up.

So far in our society, the great loss of privacy that has occurred from use of the Internet, cell phones, etc., has been fairly benign. And I take the gov't at its word that it is focused on terrorist-related traffic and does not care what law-abiding citizens are doing. But a government that WANTED to use everybody's personal information against them would already be ready to.

[Howard Troxler]

Wayne, I think the U.S. press has been pretty much been focused on the bang-bang and the insurgent bombings in Iraq but it has been harder to get an overall bigger context. It has been harder for them to get a handle on the true state of progress (or lack) across the country.

The New York Times, to its credit, runs a regular chart with many telling statistics: percent of electricity restored. Percent of kids back in school. Percent of population getting potable water. It at least provides a bigger perspective.

I just don't know who to trust. I don't trust Democrats who throw up their hands and say, "Boo hoo!'' I don't trust the White House one bit or cheerleader Republicans telling me everythign is great. I don't know how much to trust the assessment of the current general. I actually kind of trust the GAO report that came out last week because it was written like a bunch of accountants (11 of 18 target goals not met, etc.)...

[Wayne]

Mr. Troxler and posters,

Thank you for allowing me to take part in todays forum. My computer time is up. Someone elses turn.

[Earl K]

What are the reasonable arguments against having Congress declare the preemptive war? If there are none except that the president or Congress doesn't want it and the people want it, we need a national referendum. Maybe most in Congress would favor it but the question of whether Congress should do it, should be a subject of Congressional debate and poles taken of the people.

[20/20]

The BOCC operated with Marquis for over 20 years. Some of those folks on the BOCC (Stewart in particular) do not know a world without the County Administrator pulling the strings. But make no mistake, Spratt could go tomorrow and nothing – nothing – would change in the way of service to the people.

I agree with your poster that it will either happen when it is politically expeditious, or if Spratt desires to avoid the public scrutiny of a public termination. Don’t kid yourself, if these politicians see a way to protect their jobs and boondoggle arrangements, they will cut Spratt in a second. It remains my position that they are all responsible for the debacle, guilty of derelict in their duty to the taxpayers, and should – all of them – go by way of the good ‘ol Democratic process and be voted out of office.

[JonnyAnonny]

Howard -- I feel sort of awful changing the subject from something as serious as 9/11... but I just have to ask: care to comment on the new polling data for the January tax referendum? I've been following this very closely, and the likelihood that it'll pass is now down ten points from the last poll (from 57% to 47%). Senator Lisa Carlton, the Finance Committee Chair, said she was leaning no. Senator Mike Bennett said he was going to vote no. Senator Jones -- from right here in Pinellas -- said on TV that his "deal" was that he would vote for it in the Legislature, but vote against it "as a citizen." It doesn't look good...

[jean]

Howard --keeping Spratt because of the budget was a lame excuse. However, his chief of staff is Pam Iorio's husband--maybe commissioners think that is a bit too cosy--where have been Mark Woodard's comments on any of this? Susan was both a participant and a victim. What about the other women Spratt forced out? Darlene Kalada, former community development director, stood up for rights of poor, homeless, low income working, women and children in this country for 30 years --retired early because of Spratt, and Gay Lancaster. The Times anointed Jake Stowers an environmental icon when he retired, nothing about Darlene Kalada. Shameful!

[Howard Troxler]

Schauer, thanks for the comment on the USF/South Carolina case. As I said on the blog, let's wait until we see what was in the trunk, with specificity!

The feds use terms like "explosives." If those guys had something with some kick to it and were driving to a military base in the middle of the night, that's one thing. If they had firecrackers that's another.

Too early for the public to decide whether it's terrorism or silly kid stuff -- and you know, it's the court system's job now anyway. A fair trial takes time; press conferences and media-yack takes no time at all.

[(Mr) Bill]

Re Ron's comment: Yes, the UN resolutions are toothless. However, the UN was doing all that was needed, which was scrupulously ensuring through inspections that Saddam Hussein had no trace of weapons of mass destruction. Inspections worked. Hans Blix was right. The UN wouldn't do what the US government did because what the US government did wasn't necessary.

[Ron]

There is only trial by innuendo thanks to the media, who need to fill the airwaves 24/7. The two Tampa students should get their day in court, and until then, the media should simply report the facts. There is a reason that the prosecutors haven't released the exact type of explosives found in their car. Until the trial, there is no real need for anyone not directly involved in the case to know this information.

[Tom]

If this "war on terror" is truly as significant as the administration would have us believe, then why aren't we being asked to make sacrifices as the WWII generation did. I'm tlking a universal draft, gas rationing, etc.
The mere taking away of liberties to keep us safe from "the terrorists" is pure nonsense. The only parallel is what the gvt. did to the Japanese Americans in WWII

[Howard Troxler]

Wayne, best wishes to you.

[Ron]

The UN was doing all it needed?????? The UN was making Saddam even richer through their corrupt "Oil for food" program.

with regard to definition of war, I think that the amount of military committment to a military action would determine the point at which it is a war and not just minor action as occurred in Granada.

[Howard Troxler]

Ron, I thought "evidence" was what people said on television. You mean it's something ELSE?

The tension between fair trial and the public's right to know is higher than ever in the modern age. The defendants ARE entitled to a public trial and the purpose of public trial is to serve as an extra bulwark against injustice. As to whether the gov't is required to publish its evidence to the public as soon as charges are filed... nah.

The danger here would be when the feds overreach and decide guilt on the front end (Aisenberg case, anybody?) and basically try to pressure the defendants into confessing something. That's the most valid claim the defense lawyer made, I thought -- if there ISN'T evidence, and they just tried to bully and bluster them into admitting something, that would be bad.

[Howard Troxler]

Man, today's chat is covering a wide spectrum! Back on the Pinellas thing: Good observation about the old long-time county admin, who ran things with a strong hand... commission has remained deferential to the administration, I agree absolutely.

Actually, I don't KNOW that this commission would fire him the second it sensed political risk! This commission has pretty much sat there while Spratt led it into one PR debacle after another (Fort DeSoto, Brooker Creek, pumping nature preserves to irrigate golf courses, development issues, etc.)

[Howard Troxler]

I would like to catch up with Elizabeth's earlier statement about free speech and public-access TV. Both Hillsborough and Pinellas propose to eliminate it in budget cuts -- while keeping intact their government-run TV channels. I think if the government gets to run propaganda of its choice (as opposed to merely airing public meetings), it ought to keep the citizen stations.

[Schauer]

I disagree with the comments about the type of explosives. In a way that is akin to Mike Nifong not saying what evidence he had to convict. The government holds these big press conferences to scare people and show that they are protecting us from evil. While not telling us what the evil is? Again like the Lackawanna 6.

[(Mr) Bill]

Ron, you deftly sidestep my comment about the weapons inspections, which I'll take to mean you're granting me that point. Yes again on the corruption of "Oil for Food." Perhaps if George Bush the Elected and Bill Clinton hadn't insisted on a completely counterproductive sanctions program, Oil for Food wouldn't have been necessary to keep millions of Iraqi children alive.

[Ron]

Howard, we appear to agree. My point is simply, lets wait for the trial. The media goes into overdrive virtually every time. The prosecturial misconduct in the Aisenberg case and The Duke case was not discovered and exposed by any efforts made by the media, but by the defense attornies. In both cases, the media pretty much had them convicted before it got to trial.

Howard -- is it as simple as the respective county commission getting to choose which TV station stays and which one goes? It's just that I wonder if, in regards to Sunshine laws or something like that, perhaps there HAS to be a "government run TV channel" versus a public access channel. Just curious.

[Howard Troxler]

Schauer, they gotta produce the evidence SOMETIME. Although a defendant is not required to produce squat, I am idly curious as to why the defense attorney or the families so far have not talked about it with any specifics either. The lawyer said he doesn't know what the evidence is -- yet confidently asserted this is a case of racial profiling. He also mentioned that the feds had been testing the "compounds" in the trunk. Huh? "Compounds?" I don't got no "compounds" in my trunk so I want to know more.

[Ron]

Mr. Bill, if the weapons inspections were working so well, why did the UN need to issue 17 resolutions telling Saddam to stop. The fact is the inspections were not working, there were no surprise inspections and they inspected only where Saddam allowed them.

[Schauer]

As to the local scene it appears from BOCC to the St. Pete City Council, too much energy is spent protecting incumbents. I know term limits were suppose to help but it has just lead to job hopping.

The defense lawyer said that because they likely haven't gone throught the discovery phase yet, where the prosecution presents the evidence. He's probably telling the truth -- he *doesn't* know what the evidence is.

As for "compounds," who knows.

[Tom]

Ron, you are missing the point regarding the UN. Yes the Oil for Food program was corrupt, but the weapons inspectors were not. We should have listened to Blix.

[Paladin]

Howard, today 6 years ago, was just the start of "phase 2" as discussed earlier by email.. 9-18-2001, with events from STP among things.. Glad you're safe and sound.. drop me an email later.

Paladin..

[Howard Troxler]

12:48, I am not aware of any legal requirement under the public-meetings or public-records laws that the gov't MUST maintain a public access station. In fact I am pretty sure lots of places don't at all. Until now the existence of the stations has been required under the local contracts between gov'ts and the cable company. Now that's all up in the air with the new state law that pre-empts local control in the name of "competition." The state law makes it easier for the cable companies to dump public, educational and gov't channels.

Along those lines, I have been waiting for the chance to get in a column about Bright House's unfortunate decision to move the gov't channels up to the high end of the digital tier...

[Tom]

Ron are you saying there WERE WMD'S?

[Schauer]

Do yo think that there is any hope of keeping PIP. It has been a godsend for me. I was hit by a car (stolen) fleeing police. Having PIP to take care of things helped. The loss of PIP is going to make insurance more expensive for those of us who get insurance.

[Pablo]

This must be a quick "hit-and-run" as I'm between appointments. Will read transcript later. Howard, you were right on this morning. The question about whether or not we should have ever invaded Iraq is moot. We're there. What now? Gov. Huckleberry made his oh-so-cute reference to this horrible situation, likening it to his mother saying "If you break it, you own it." The Dems don't have a good answer, most of the Repubs want to "stay the course," and we're left with the frustrating sense of "what can we do?" I have no answers, but only the hope and prayer that those who masterminded 9/11 will be dealt with, and that our troops can be relieved by an Iraqi military force as soon as possible. God be with us all.

[guy nash]

Howard~ in you column this a.m. I was surprised you mentioned turning Yemen into “glass”.
My solution was to evacuate the people from the port and nuke it with a small device that would leave it “hot” for 100 years, That would have solved all the problems that we now face.
When I talked about doing this, people thought I was paranoid.
Clinton’s answer was to send Janet Reno there, which I guess is pretty scary now that I think back. LOL

[Howard Troxler]

There's a little time left in the live portion of today's chat, so feel free to bring up another topic, or chime in with a comment if you've been sitting on the fence...

[Earl K]

Not sure what happened to everyone. I see no comments since 12:39. Did I get disconnected?

[20/20]

Howard,

Good point, but consider this; it’s campaign season for 4 of the 7 Commissioners. Well, actually three of them because Stewart will most likely retire. If either of them faces a reasonable threat to their (our) seat, Spratt presents a delicious offering to the people – given the situations you noted.

And you're correct Schauer... a great amount of energy is spent protecting the incumbents. The BOCC needs term limits. The citizens voted for them in 1990, I believe, but the State overturned it because the Constitutional Officers were included. It needs to go back to the people with just the BOCC members slated for term limits.

[Elizabeth]

Sammy Alarian was found NOT to be guilty of charges against him, yet he continues to languish in prison. The Bush administration has to find ways to keep the people nervous in order to keep their war on terror going. Yes, it is important to be vigilant, but is it not also important to make sure our PRESIDENT and his administration also follow the law? This is not about protecting freedom...it is about stealing oil from the Iraquis. As one acquaintenance put it, "I don't care who we invade...as long as I can get cheap gas for my car." Does anyone care about the hundreds of thousands of innoscent Iraqis killed in the name of protecting American freedom? I never saw 9/11 as an unexpected attack. I saw as as retalliation.

[Ron]

Tom, You're not reading what I'm writing. I stated right up front that our intelligence regarding WMD's was faulty. But, we know he had them, we know he used them and we know that he never accounted for them. The inspections that verified that there were no longer WMD's in Iraq were done after the fall of Saddam, not before.

[Howard Troxler]

On the PIP (auto insurance no-fault) question, the delay in the special session keeps open a small window of possibility. Both House and Senate have at least some kind of proposal.

The trouble is there are a lot of ways to kill it, and anybody who makes money off the current system opposes any changes. I guess they are hoping for nothing more than an automatic extension.

I don't think that's gonna happen. The more realistic outcomes are (1) letting it expire or (2) enacting an actual fix that involves cost controls...

[Ron]

Elizabeth, you should not try to re-write history. Al Arian pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiring to provide services to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad

[Howard Troxler]

Earl, I guess you might not see this comment, but -- refresh the comments page and the latest comments should appear.

[Howard Troxler]

Re: WMD: Is the question whether he had 'em, or whether the U.S. had a REASONABLE belief that he might?

(Ducking now)

[(Mr) Bill]

Ron, I can't say why the UN issued 17 resolutions to Saddam Hussein. Maybe it's that those people in that funny-looking building on the East River need something to occupy their time and justify their jobs. All I know is that Iraq had no trace of WMD and that's what UNSCOM and UNMOVIC consistently reported -- plus that in March 2003, George W. Bush refused to allow the inspectors back in because it would have spoiled his war party.

[Schauer]

And one last for the day.... Did the Legislature actually pass anything to help insurance and taxes? If so what year are they going to start. I just got my new bills and I do not see any difference.

[Earl K]

not sure what happened. I got no one else's comments from 12:39 until my 12:53 comment?

[guy nash]

My sister inlaw came down from Ct. This am she said the airports were empty ~~ happy 9-11

[Howard Troxler]

Re: Al-Arian: my own opinion was influenced, I must admit, by the footage of him up on stage chanting "Death to Israel." I am told that even this is the subject of cultural misinterpretation, that the chant is more of a general, "down with so-and-so'' statement. I dunno.

[Howard Troxler]

Re: doing something about insurance and taxes:

Insurance: Nah. They hoped that putting the state on the hook for more of the catastrophic fund would help, but it hasn't.

Taxes: At least they ordered a one-time freeze and rollback. You could argue the new taxes didn't go down much, but they didn't go up much either. I would be curious to see an analysis of the new tax bills compared to what they would be without the Legislature's action at all.

[Ron]

You're right Howard. At this weekend's game, I'll be chanting "Death to the Saints", but everyone will know that I really mean "Go Bucs"

[Howard Troxler]

Earl K, there were several comments between those times, and I am gettin' them on my screen when I refresh the page... I can't explain it.

[Schauer]

As someone who sat in on his immigration hearings and works with many in the Arab community I can say that Al-Arian was not a positive influence in the community. Although I do not think the government handled it correctly, the outcome was ok.

[Howard Troxler]

Well, it is a little after 1, so may I make a last call for comments? I'll wait a minute before signing off...

Thanks, Howard -- keep it up!

[guy]

This is a fun time, I hope you get to expand it....

[20/20]

WMD is kind of a mute point now. We spend too much time looking for and assigning blame as it is. We need to be looking for resolution because it’s not going to get any better.

The only thing more reprehensible than going in under false pretenses would be leaving it in the mess it is now. I don’t think either side has the “only” answer. The correct answer is neither on the right nor the left… as usual, it can be found somewhere in the middle. Let’s start looking there.

[Howard Troxler]

Thanks you to everyone for a good chat today. We talked about a lot of different topics, from the war to local politics. Feel free to keep going, but I sense a turkey-bologna sandwich in my immediate future, followed by working on Thursday's column.

My best wishes to everyone for a good week. Thank you again, and I hope you will consider coming by for the next chat.

[Lauren Malone]

Do I feel safe since 9-11? I flew out of NYC LaGuardia past the burning Towers the Monday after 9-11. The parking lot at LaGuardia was almost empty. Soldiers or Guardsmen with machine guns searched my brother-in-laws van. The terminal was very quiet and I needed a flag pin to wear near my heart. None were found in any of the gift stores. I bought a stuffed animal to clutch for comfort. There were no more than 20 passengers on a 737 or so. I looked them over and felt for the first time in my life I would or could defend myself against anyone attempting to harm me. For about a year I flew all over the country feeling safer than I ever had. Today I live in fear of where they are going to hit next. I know that's what they want but by golly how can I feel safe? Our borders are wide open. We must look like a joke to the rest of the world. I have the highest respect for all of our military working on a very difficult job. I think we should either give them all the tools they need or bring them home to secure the borders. Get off the fence. God help us all.