This day changed my life.  My loved ones survived, although I almost lost an uncle.  This day’s terrible acts weren’t perpetrated in my state.  The images of homicide for religion made me sick.  This day was horrific.  Yet, it made me a better person.

I am not saying this day was good.  It was not.  It was America’s gravest hour.  I am not thankful, nor grateful, nor happy for this day.  All that I am, all that I will ever be is reflective… of both the person I was and the person who is typing this story.

Prior to September 11, 2001, I was not involved.  I was not completely apathetic. I voted, I knew whom the President was, I did some charity work… but I didn’t want to learn beyond the basics.  I avoided documentaries that I didn’t find “interesting.”  I didn’t even know what the news channels were.  I was a sports reporter and like most Americans, I enjoyed my life.  I didn’t care about events in Washington or the other side of the world.

I won’t divulge my “I was here when…” story.  All I will say is for a week, I stopped writing sports and covered the horrific events.  For one week, I wrote about Colin Powell and Donald Rumsfeld, the President and his Chief of Staff, Osama Bin Laden and al-Qaeda.  When the games resumed, I went back to covering them, thinking I was the same person…

I wasn’t.

I was curious.  I started watching more news, reading more, donating my time and any money I could spare.  I started to realize how much the other side of the world affects our side.  I realized that I, and my generation, had a responsibility.  We needed to get involved in any way that we could.

In 2003, I swapped sports for politics.  I am still curious.  I read more than one hundred newspapers and I watch as much news as I can.  Don’t get me wrong, world events don’t consume my life.  I still enjoy sports, television, and time with my family, yet I know I am a different person.

Following our national tragedy, there was talk about soul searching.  Thousands of people pledged to be different.  Sadly, a lot of us are not.  However, our generation has come of age and is aging in a vastly different world.  We have a responsibility to get involved… and stay involved.

We are the children of 9/11. 

We need to be different.  I know I am.

Raymond Smalley

Kansas City Star relates 9/11 remembrance.

Five years after terrorists slammed hijacked planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Americans will pause today to remember the day terrorism changed their lives.

Observances in New York, Washington, Shanksville, Pa., and scores of other places across the nation will recall the day that, according to new surveys, continues to have a profound effect on the lives of ordinary Americans.

“It’s still very, very sad,” said Anton Kozick of Brooklyn as he stared Sunday at the gaping hole where the World Trade Center used to be. “It’s definitely changed our thinking in how we’re seeing things. Think back to the day before all this started — it didn’t exist, all this business about terrorism.”

Rams defeat Denver Broncos 18-10.

Jeff Wilkins’ nickname is “Money,” as in money in the bank. Thanks to the St. Louis Rams’ new-look defense, his franchise-record six field goals were just enough of a deposit.

“He’s almost automatic and when he misses one, you sit there and you’re a little bit dejected because you think he’s always going to make them,” quarterback Marc Bulger said. “We know when the game’s on the line or it’s really, really important, he’s going to make it. He has for years now.”

Cincinnati Bengals defeat Chiefs 23-10.

Now it’s Carson Palmer’s turn to return the kindness and reach out to Trent Green.

When Palmer went down last January with a devastating knee injury, Green was one of the first to call the Cincinnati quarterback. Although the two barely knew each other, Green offered words of encouragement, advice drawn upon his own experience with career-threatening knee problems.

Now, on the day Palmer made a triumphant comeback by leading the Bengals to a 23-10 victory over Kansas City, Green was the one rushed to a hospital.

A brutal hit by Cincinnati’s Robert Geathers — which the Chiefs expect to be reviewed by the league office — left the Kansas City quarterback unconscious on the turf. The game was delayed 11 minutes while he was carefully carted away on a stretcher.

Today, as we watch the coverage of the 5^th anniversary of the unprovoked terrorist attacks on America, our tears flow and our hearts are torn out anew.  We, as Americans, need this reminder we are under attack and no amount of appeasement will change one terrorist’s mind.  We must remember to remain strong, to honor all those who have fought and fallen.  We must ignore the dividers among us who somehow believe we started this War, who would retreat under the guise of timetables and talk, endless talk.  Americans of all beliefs and ideologies must realize we are the target because we are free, tolerant, great, not for any of the made up reasons created by apologists for the savages who attacked us and continue to attack the innocent around the world.  Today, there are two types of people in this country and world, those who believe barbarians and murderers can be changed if somehow we change and those who know the heart of evil and realize we must stand up to evil when evil comes for us.

God bless and protect every one of you.

Jacob Turk

Kansas City Star reports homegrown terrorist.

Did a Kansas City college student help Osama bin Laden start al-Qaida?

Federal law enforcement officials think he did. So do private-sector experts on international terrorism.

Now, a new book that chronicles the history of al-Qaida portrays former Kansas City resident Mohammed Loay Baizid as a confidant of bin Laden in the early years of the terrorist organization.

“He was one of the guys there when it all got started,” said John Lumpkin, a senior fellow at GlobalSecurity.org, an Alexandria, Va.-based defense-policy research firm and clearinghouse of military information. “He definitely was a major figure.”

Politics is a twenty-four hour job.

With that stated, my priorities are set to shift.  Beginning at 3, four college football showdowns will occur.  These contests will include (19) Penn State at (4) Notre Dame (3 pm – NBC); Arizona at personal favorite (8) LSU (6 pm – ESPN2); (1) Ohio State at (2) Texas (8 pm – ABC); and Fresno State at (20) Oregon (10 pm – ESPN2).

The diamond amongst these is my Buckeyes’ anticipated rematch with Texas.  Last year, the Longhorns edged Ohio State 26-22 on a muggy September evening. 

While Texas returns several stars, they are sans quarterback Vince Young.  Meanwhile, Troy Smith and Tedd Ginn enjoyed a blazing start in their season opener versus Northern Illinois.

On Saturday, I am sure there will be material to post.  I am sure there will be e-mails and calls to answer.  However, the countdown has begun.  In fourteen and one half hours… leave a message…

Raymond Smalley

“One day after Hezbollah discontinued bombing Israel, Hezbollah was passing out $12,000 checks in Lebanon.  [And] we couldn’t do it in New Orleans.”  (Congressman Emanuel Cleaver)
 
Are you kidding?
 
When answering ridiculous comments such as these, one has three options.  You can say nothing, as the ridiculous comments speak for themselves.  You can laugh, as they deserve that reaction.  Or, you can give the Congressman’s comments the response they so richly deserve.
 
Prior to Katrina, the United States government had not engaged in terrorism.  They had not killed innocent civilians for twisted ideology.  Nor had they expressed hatred against a group willing to make peace.  These were the actions of Hezbollah.
 
The government response to Katrina was poor.  However, it does not warrant comparison to a terrorist organization.  We did nothing to provoke Katrina.  It was a meteorological occurrence.  Hezbollah kidnapped two Israeli soldiers and killed eight others.  They then condemned Israel, even as they killed civilians themselves.
 
Congressman Cleaver’s statement was ignorant.  It was not worthy of a United States Representative.  It was not worthy of a petulant child.  The Congressman should not only be ashamed of making it.  He should be ashamed for thinking it.
 
As I said, I had three options.  Normally, I would dismiss the Congressman’s rant as a typical liberal attack.  Not on this occasion.  America deserves better than his hateful discourse.  The fifth district deserves better than Congressman Cleaver.

Raymond Smalley

On Thursday, the Kansas City council reinstated their motorist plea bargain policy. The law allows motorists convicted of any moving violation to plead guilty to the lesser charge of “defective equipment.” During 2005, only 54 of 30,000 “defective equipment” citations were for that offense.

I know this is not a federal issue. However, the twice a year loophole permits for the pleading down of drunken driving offenses. While I understand this eases prosecutor’s workloads and judge’s dockets, this is simply wrong.

On December 11, a drunken driver killed my two best friends. He had never incurred as much as a speeding ticket. However, he was so drunk he ran a red light, demolished both his car and my friends, and died. If he would have lived, I would not have encouraged a plea bargain.

Feelings do not interfere with my role as an advier or blogger. I also keep personal emotion separate from public policy. However, this is simply wrong.

Raymond Smalley

Earlier today, MSNBC discussed the controversial ABC miniseries “Path to 9/11.”  Former Clinton adviser Sydney Blumenthal was featured.  Blumenthal argued that this documentary was tantamount to the propaganda produced by communist Russia.

This program may contain factual inaccuracies.  It may not flatter former President Clinton.  However, this film is not an act of communism.  Let me repeat that.  This film is not an act of communism.

What Blumenthal suggested was ridiculous.  America is a free nation.  Our filmmakers have the right to portray subjects in any manner they choose.  If they portray a former President’s advisers as unfocused, that is not an act of communism.  It is an act of free speech.  Their viewpoint should be discussed.  It should not be denounced as something it is clearly not.

Americans have a language problem.  We draw analogies that are inflammatory.  We make comparisons that are nothing except inciting.  Why does the thought not cross our mind to shut-up?  There is nothing wrong with passion.  There is something wrong when that passion overloads our common sense.

On Sunday, this miniseries may or may not begin.  Personally, I believe forced edits are ridiculous.  This situation reminds me of what a certain nation… never mind.

Raymond Smalley

Wednesday, a coalition (including the NAACP) filed a federal lawsuit opposing a voter identification bill. I have never understood the objection to this type of law.

Yes, bigots and racists once sought to prevent minority voting. However, this country has aged forty years. We have advanced past Mississippi Burning, Jim Crow, and George Wallace standing in the schoolhouse door.

We now live in a twenty-four hour cable news world. If any group advocated voter discrimination, they would be lambasted on every newscast from Katie Couric to Catherine Crier.

In America, you must show identification to purchase beer, cigarettes, and cold medication. Why is voting, the most important of these activities, the only one where identification is not required? With most families owning multiple cars, a driver’s license is more likely owned than cable television.

I am not a racist. I assume that the vast majority of our lawmakers are not either. In this age of theft and fraud, we merely wish to match the voter with the voting role. It has nothing to do with discrimination and everything to do with common sense.

Raymond Smalley

Former President Bill Clinton and his advisers are angry.  Their target is an upcoming ABC miniseries “The Path to 9/11.”  The former President is so upset, he penned letter to Disney chief Bob Iger.  He asked him to either correct or cancel the program.

Democratic consternation centers on assertions that the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal.  Was distracting the former President.  While I know that was the discussion in 1998, I do not blame that situation for our inaction.  Yes, I believe Clinton seized the opportunity to look Presidential.

With that stated, I blame the American people.  During the Clinton presidency, the economy boomed.  Everyone was buying dot coms and forming partnerships.  No one needed a business plan or a college degree.  It was “All you need is a dollar and a dream” realized.  Why should we care about people with names we can’t pronounce on the other side of the world?

While we were reliving “Hate Ashbury,” terrorists were plotting and planning.  They were racking up frequent flyer miles and driver’s licenses.  Would more cruise missile strikes or Presidential Daily briefings have changed that?  Probably not.  But, vigilance might have.

We should have been more vigilant.  Networks should have run more Islamic terrorism stories.  People should have spent some of their internet time researching Bin Laden.  No one knows if the September eleventh attacks could have been prevented.  However, I wonder how those passengers sitting near Mohammed Atta would have reacted.

Raymond Smalley

Someone cue Jon Bon Jovi.  During his fourth consecutive “War on Terror” speech, President Bush reverted to his rhetoric of 2001-2003.

I know Democrats believe this is arrogant.  I know they believe this bullies and alienates the world.  I also remember a Time Magazine cover which hailed the end of the Bush Doctrine.

I know I am in the minority and I am speaking only for myself… I want defiant leadership.  I want someone who acts bravely.  I want someone stares down the enemy without hesitation.

I grant you people aren’t used to being talked to in this manner.  However, people aren’t used to being talked to in this manner.  In the war on terror, timidity is dangerous.  There is no reason to speak with world leaders quietly for fear that talking to loudly would wake up sleeping terrorists… Turn on the television in four days… They are awake.

Again, I know I am in the minority.  Yet, I remember a time when I was not.  I remember a day when the President reminisced about an old Wild West poster.  There wasn’t a person in America that didn’t point to their television and say, “That’s our guy.”

Raymond Smalley

Excerpting & Explaining Wednesday’s Presidential Speech:

With the Twin Towers and the Pentagon still smoldering, our country on edge, and a stream of intelligence coming in about potential new attacks, my administration faced immediate challenges: We had to respond to the attack on our country. We had to wage an unprecedented war against an enemy unlike any we had fought before. We had to find the terrorists hiding in America and across the world, before they were able to strike our country again. So in the early days and weeks after 9/11, I directed our government’s senior national security officials to do everything in their power, within our laws, to prevent another attack.

Unfortunately , some in our government possess antiquated thinking.  They have also opposed vital “War on Terror” tools.

Another reason the terrorists have not succeeded is because our government has changed its policies — and given our military, intelligence, and law enforcement personnel the tools they need to fight this enemy and protect our people and preserve our freedoms.

Tools that Democrats have ridiculed and opposed.

The terrorists who declared war on America represent no nation, they defend no territory, and they wear no uniform. They do not mass armies on borders, or flotillas of warships on the high seas. They operate in the shadows of society; they send small teams of operatives to infiltrate free nations; they live quietly among their victims; they conspire in secret, and then they strike without warning. In this new war, the most important source of information on where the terrorists are hiding and what they are planning is the terrorists, themselves. Captured terrorists have unique knowledge about how terrorist networks operate. They have knowledge of where their operatives are deployed, and knowledge about what plots are underway. This intelligence — this is intelligence that cannot be found any other place. And our security depends on getting this kind of information. To win the war on terror, we must be able to detain, question, and, when appropriate, prosecute terrorists captured here in America, and on the battlefields around the world.

Sadly, Congressman Cleaver and his colleagues don’t get this.

After the 9/11 attacks, our coalition launched operations across the world to remove terrorist safe havens, and capture or kill terrorist operatives and leaders. Working with our allies, we’ve captured and detained thousands of terrorists and enemy fighters in Afghanistan, in Iraq, and other fronts of this war on terror. These enemy — these are enemy combatants, who were waging war on our nation. We have a right under the laws of war, and we have an obligation to the American people, to detain these enemies and stop them from rejoining the battle.

Anyone want these men in your apartment complex?

Some of these individuals are taken to the United States Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It’s important for Americans and others across the world to understand the kind of people held at Guantanamo. These aren’t common criminals, or bystanders accidentally swept up on the battlefield — we have in place a rigorous process to ensure those held at Guantanamo Bay belong at Guantanamo. Those held at Guantanamo include suspected bomb makers, terrorist trainers, recruiters and facilitators, and potential suicide bombers. They are in our custody so they cannot murder our people. One detainee held at Guantanamo told a questioner questioning him — he said this: “I’ll never forget your face. I will kill you, your brothers, your mother, and sisters.”

Yes we should not torture.  But they don’t deserves milk and cookies.

In addition to the terrorists held at Guantanamo, a small number of suspected terrorist leaders and operatives captured during the war have been held and questioned outside the United States, in a separate program operated by the Central Intelligence Agency. This group includes individuals believed to be the key architects of the September the 11th attacks, and attacks on the USS Cole, an operative involved in the bombings of our embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, and individuals involved in other attacks that have taken the lives of innocent civilians across the world. These are dangerous men with unparalleled knowledge about terrorist networks and their plans for new attacks. The security of our nation and the lives of our citizens depend on our ability to learn what these terrorists know.

Therefore, we shouldn’t be prevented form learning it.

I want to be absolutely clear with our people, and the world: The United States does not torture. It’s against our laws, and it’s against our values. I have not authorized it — and I will not authorize it. Last year, my administration worked with Senator John McCain, and I signed into law the Detainee Treatment Act, which established the legal standard for treatment of detainees wherever they are held. I support this act. And as we implement this law, our government will continue to use every lawful method to obtain intelligence that can protect innocent people, and stop another attack like the one we experienced on September the 11th, 2001.

Any Democrats listening?  We do not torture.

The CIA program has detained only a limited number of terrorists at any given time — and once we’ve determined that the terrorists held by the CIA have little or no additional intelligence value, many of them have been returned to their home countries for prosecution or detention by their governments. Others have been accused of terrible crimes against the American people, and we have a duty to bring those responsible for these crimes to justice. So we intend to prosecute these men, as appropriate, for their crimes.

So today, I’m sending Congress legislation to specifically authorize the creation of military commissions to try terrorists for war crimes. My administration has been working with members of both parties in the House and Senate on this legislation. We put forward a bill that ensures these commissions are established in a way that protects our national security, and ensures a full and fair trial for those accused. The procedures in the bill I am sending to Congress today reflect the reality that we are a nation at war, and that it’s essential for us to use all reliable evidence to bring these people to justice.

This must be Congress’ first priority.  Prosecuting these individuals is vital to our national security.

So today, I’m asking Congress to pass legislation that will clarify the rules for our personnel fighting the war on terror. First, I’m asking Congress to list the specific, recognizable offenses that would be considered crimes under the War Crimes Act — so our personnel can know clearly what is prohibited in the handling of terrorist enemies. Second, I’m asking that Congress make explicit that by following the standards of the Detainee Treatment Act our personnel are fulfilling America’s obligations under Common Article Three of the Geneva Conventions. Third, I’m asking that Congress make it clear that captured terrorists cannot use the Geneva Conventions as a basis to sue our personnel in courts — in U.S. courts. The men and women who protect us should not have to fear lawsuits filed by terrorists because they’re doing their jobs.

The need for this legislation is urgent. We need to ensure that those questioning terrorists can continue to do everything within the limits of the law to get information that can save American lives. My administration will continue to work with the Congress to get this legislation enacted — but time is of the essence. Congress is in session just for a few more weeks, and passing this legislation ought to be the top priority. (Applause.)

As we work with Congress to pass a good bill, we will also consult with congressional leaders on how to ensure that the CIA program goes forward in a way that follows the law, that meets the national security needs of our country, and protects the brave men and women we ask to obtain information that will save innocent lives. For the sake of our security, Congress needs to act, and update our laws to meet the threats of this new era. And I know they will.

How will Congressman Cleaver vote?

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