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In the Crosshairs
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Scumbag of the Week

Issue # 204 (09-11-2003)

The Day Our World Stood Still

2 Years ago today, our lives were changed forever. No matter what country you hail from ... the way you look at the world, your neighbors, and every stranger you come across has changed. Let's look back at the events that brought us here, and where "here" actually is.

This special edition of The Gazette is a tribute and a reflection on 9/11/2001 Unlike our regular Gazette, in this issue we don't have a sponsor, code snippet or address anything having to do with The Internet, JimWorld, or Search Engines. This is not educational, nor is it promotional. It is, however, cleansing, and in parts, moving. I can understand if this topic does not interest you, or if you do not want to relive that day with me. I don't want you to feel compelled to read this ... just understand that I needed to write it.

The Gazette will return to normal next week.

In the Crosshairs

From The Miami Herald
by Leonard Pitts, Jr.
Published Wednesday, September 12, 2001

We'll go forward from this moment.

It's my job to have something to say. They pay me to provide the words that help make sense of that which troubles the American soul. But in this moment of airless shock when hot tears sting disbelieving eyes, the only thing I can find to say, the only words that seem to fit, must be addressed to the unknown author of this suffering.

You monster. You beast. You unspeakable bastard.

What lesson did you hope to teach us by your cowards attack on our World Trade Center, our Pentagon, us? What was it you hoped you would learn? Whatever it was, please know that you failed.

Did you want us to respect your cause?
You just damned your cause.

Did you want to make us fear?
You just brought us together.

Let me tell you about my people. We are a vast and quarrelsome family, a family rent by racial, social, political and class division, but a family nonetheless. We're frivolous, yes, capable of expending tremendous emotional energy on pop cultural minutiae -- a singer's revealing dress, a ball team's misfortune, a cartoon mouse. We're wealthy too, spoiled by the ready availability of trinkets and material goods, and maybe because of that, we walk through life with a certain sense of blithe entitlement. We are fundamentally decent, though -- peace loving and compassionate. We struggle to know the right thing and to do it. And we are, the overwhelming majority of us, people of faith, believers in a just and loving God.

Some people -- you, perhaps -- think that any or all of this makes us weak. You're mistaken. We are not weak. Indeed, we are strong in ways that cannot be measured by arsenals.

Yes, we're in pain now. We are in mourning and we are in shock. We're still grappling with the unreality of the awful thing you did, still working to make ourselves understand that this isn't a special effect from some Hollywood blockbuster, isn't the plot development from a Tom Clancy novel. Both in terms of the awful scope of their ambition and the probable final death toll, your attacks are likely to go down as the worst acts of terrorism in the history of the United States and, probably, the history of the world. You've bloodied us as we have never been bloodied before.

But theres a gulf of difference between making us bloody and making us fall. This is the lesson Japan was taught to its bitter sorrow the last time anyone hit us this hard, the last time anyone brought us such abrupt and monumental pain. When aroused, we are righteous in our outrage, terrible in our force. When provoked by this level of barbarism, we will bear any suffering, pay any cost, go to any length, in the pursuit of justice.

I tell you this without fear of contradiction. I know my people, as you, I think, do not. What I know reassures me. It also causes me to tremble with dread of the future.

In the days to come, there will be recrimination and accusation, fingers pointing at whose failure allowed this to happen and what can be done to prevent it from happening again. There will be heightened security, misguided talk of revoking basic freedoms. We'll go forward from this moment sobered, chastened, sad. But determined too.

Unimaginably determined.

You see, the steel in us is not always readily apparent. That aspect of our character is seldom understood by people who don't know us well. On this day, the family's bickering is put on hold.

As Americans we will weep, as Americans we will mourn, and as Americans we will rise in defense of all that we cherish.

So I ask again: What was it you hoped to teach us? It occurs to me that maybe you just wanted us to know the depths of your hatred. If that's the case, consider your message received. And take this message in exchange : You don't know my people. You don't know what we're capable of. You don't know what you just started.

But you're about to learn.

Read the In the Crosshairs section from the Last Issue or in the Following Issue

JimWorld Member comments and feedback ...

Posted On: 04/19/2006 04:35
Posted By: alfie1848

Thank you for your review, I will benefit from your suggestions. I have one
question though. You said "In the source, you really need a meta description
for each page just as you do with any web site." How do I do this with blogger?

Posted On: 04/19/2006 04:43
Posted By: alfie1848

Posted On: 04/19/2006 04:57
Posted By: alfie1848

Posted On: 04/19/2006 04:10
Posted By: alfie1848

Posted On: 01/04/2008 08:04
Posted By: boltonuv

This "Scumbag of the Week" article is irresponsible. I had not trouble at all in receiving the following response from SpamArrest:

"Hi James,

Thank you for your email.

James, what you see there is absolutely wrong and is done to misguide our users and our new customers from Spam Arrest. We have over 1.5 million customers with us including you. You have been with us for a very long time, James. You can check with any of your contacts whether they have received any junk emails from us. We never do such a thing and its completely against our ethics! We hate spam as much as you do and so, along with stopping it, we make sure that none of our customer's emails are noted as spam. We warn our customers from sending bulk emails about the fact that their contacts might misunderstand their bulk emails as spam and will turn against them and Spam Arrest. A company following only such healthy practices can never do such a thing like spamming. What we value the most is our customer's trust and we will make all efforts to retain that in the best way possible. We never admit your personal information to any third party under whatsoever circumstances. You will find a whole lot of misleading things like this in Internet, James. We have friends and foes like anyone else in this planet.

I hope you will understand us the best way possible, James. Please do let me know if you need any further clarifications regarding this.

Best Regards,
Peter
Technical Support Specialist
Spam Arrest"

In the 3 years that I have used SpamArrest, I personally have never received one complaint from anyone that has been 'spammed' from any theoretical 'spam list' that SpamArrest may have created. I think that their statement above makes it clear that they would not do this.

I behooves you to publish a retraction.

Jim Bolton

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The Day Our World Stood Still

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