My thoughts 5 years hence.

So its been five years.

Where was I when it happened? I was living in Los Angeles right below the Hollywood sign with my then fiance. She woke me up and said we were being attacked.
I didn't know what she meant and I checked out the news... I couldn't believe it, I was in shock, I started to cry, and I openly cursed our foreign policy. There they were the two towers burning. We watched together and made phone calls to family, then the first tower collapsed.
The shock was unbelievable, I had many friends who worked just a block away on Greenwich Blvd and on white St, I couldn't get through to either. And there was the rumors of a bomb at the state dept, and the missing planes.
We packed my truck with important documents, stopped by a bank machine and took out as much money as possible, bought water and some comfort foods and went up to my brothers house in the hills. We all watched all day. Crying, being angry, being in shock.
Eventually I went down to a store on highland and I bought a flag. The store was empty, and the clerk was an idiot, she didn't care at all what was going on... But the owner came to my rescue, he understood and we exchanged some comforting words.
I put that flag up with purpose, with respect and I was proud.

For the next few days everyone in LA was in shock, I finally got through to friends in NY they were devastated but resilient. My one friend who lived literally two blocks from ground zero nearly slept through the entire event until they collapsed and blew his windows out.

It was an amazing time.
One night nearly everyone in my neighborhood walked down to the major street below our house and stood holding candles, and flags, and tears streamed down innocent faces full of concern and passion about this great tragedy we all faced together. There was no parties, no republicans, no democrats, there was only Americans... even in Canada where my family lived, that day, and the week that followed we were all Americans. The ideals, the patriotism, the love was incredible. When I told people in LA that my home town in Kelowna BC, strung American flags down its streets it touched peoples hearts.

I am not sure when or what changed, but at some point, innocence and love gave way.
It gave way to something else. Merely a few months later, American Idol was all over the TV, and the only remnants of the tragedy were national guard with machine guns in the airports, and mail being screened everyday for white anthrax powder.

But we lost our sympathies. I am not sure how. We went back to normal. We were urged to go back to normal, to go on shopping, that was the solution the government offered for us to help.

We were told about Al quai da from the get go, never questioning that it wasn't Bin Laden. But I think even the most unskeptical observer from around the world felt uneasy when Iraq kept being brought up, even from the beginning.

Where did we lose the worlds sympathies. When we attacked a country that didn't attack us? I don't think so. I think that the world was gonna let us kick any dog we wanted at first. I think we could have invaded Brazil, and we would have found alot of support at first. But only if we attacked, did so clearly on good info and finished the job quickly and gotten out.

But the lies. A few would have been fine. OK there weren't WMD's even then OK, but then to keep sayin they were connected to BIn Laden, the endless lies about security threats based on no info. Then we saw the money. I think that's when most rational people hit the tipping point and started to realize that somebody took all our goodwill and sold it, for the hundreds of billions of dollars that the defense and oil corporations have been harvesting off the taxpayers.

But never has this great country talked of any other solutions than war, this country of great minds, and from what I saw even greater hearts, a country that I have seen through politics aside for love, yet can't find away to through it aside for solutions that might be risky or unorthodox, like actually leaving them alone like they want... I don't know the answers, but I know what it isn't and that's what we've done. So lets try something new?

I wish we could have bottled that moment a week after the tradgedy. That moment where we held candles and sung the anthem with strangers from around the world. We did not act as the greatest minds of our history would have, we acted as the simple minds of our present have become.

It's five years later, we are divided like no other time, we are farther from the peace our children deserve, and many are wealthy beyond belief while the blood of the disenfranchised from our poorest areas are spilt along with many innocent lives over seas, but not for a glorious truth as we once fought. But for muddled technical deceptions and veiled lies tangled with questionable facts and very broken morals.

If I fly a flag, it is no longer for this government, but for the people, to remind them of what it once stood for, but no more. It is a shame that I cannot be proud as I once was of its symbolism. This should infuriate, and drive us to take the time to hold those responsible for taking away its hundreds of years of glory with stern and unyielding reprimand and evacuation of their power, and their priviledge.

These are my thoughts today Sept 11, 2006
pete j

Philadelphia... You are what i needed:)

The city of brotherly love is what they called themselves, the birthplace of democracy, home of the Eagles and the cheesesteak.

I myself would like to call it the really cool fun city on the east coast that no-one seems to know about.

Seriously, when people talk about fun places to go, no-one ever says Philly. But its downtown is fuckin wicked! Clubs, bars, really great shopping, amazing architecture, history and from what I here pretty safe in the core... now I know the first night I was here there were eleven shootings and eight murders... but hey, not downtown!

Also, I could be wrong but it seems that girls outnumber the guys here like three to one.

It is weird being out east though the shocking difference towards weed is amazing... People are really covert about it, hidin in corners, back in alleys, it feels like you are doing something really bad, not just smoking a piece of a dried plant that grows over 80 percent of the globe.

The transition from Vancouver is shocking, where you smoke pretty much anywhere without much consideration for getting in trouble from Johnny law.

It shouldn't be like this! Philly, you are too cool to be scared of a little plant, and all those important people who signed that beautiful document in constitution hall, they all grew it! But you can't! How is that the evolution of democracy? Why was it OK for George Washington to grow weed but not you?

I'll tell you why, because the more bullshit laws they have, the more under control of the government you are, the more they can pull up whatever shit they want in order to scare you out of making waves in elections, and in the vast financial and social inequity that the corporations don't want you to do anything about.

It's weed. It doesn't kill, hell it barely does anything bad, maybe strips away some of your motivation to work hard... but not anymore than realizing that there are two America's one for the corporations and one for the pee-ons(us,me).

So lets make a first step. Don't let any self righteous dickhead try and tell you pot is bad, over his liver pickling whisky breathe. Don't let anyone say there is a justification in sending good people to jail or making them live with a criminal record because of a drug that is in no way a gateway drug any where as close to alcohol (think about it? When have you seen a bunch of high guys wanting coke? It's always drunk preppie assholes going to the bathrooms in packs to snort, never guys in tie dyed shirts eating a twinkie).

Thats just the first step, correct people. Correct your mom, when she criticizes pot, correct you preacher, correct you guidance councilors and most definitely correct your politicians and your local judges. Don't let them get away with making pot into something worse than booze... It just does not make any sense!

And once people can't get away with saying ludicrous bullshit about weed, we can start changing things for the better. Less cops worrying about it means more cops protecting us from crime, more judges looking into the eroding of our civil rights, more good people contributing to society without fear of a bullshit criminal record, more snack sales for hostess, and more record sales for trippy music...

Don't tolerate the propaganda! Never let anyone get away with spreading lies for the sake of a corporate agenda, and that's all the criminalization of weed is about.

Anyways I got really off topic here, but that's how I roll...

Much love from Philly!