14 year old Hagar Haivri was arrested while sleeping on a hike in what had been the Jewish town of Sa-Nur. She was forbidden from contacting her father for a week and her parents were not even allowed into the court room. When he attempted to do so he was brutally beaten and then arrested and charged with damaging the courtroom door.

Her last name, "Ha'Ivri" means "The Hebrew" which was how Pharaoh reffered to the Jews when he ordered the midwives to attend 'Be'Yaldechen Ha'Ivriot,' 'At the Hebrew Birthings,' to kill the sons and let the daughters live in captivity. As Pharaoh ordered Jewish children cast into the river, Sharon orders them cast into prison. A number of other young girls with her who were on the hike ranging from 14 to 16 years of age are still imprisoned.

Our tradition holds that Yosef was freed from his Egyptian prison on Rosh Hashana. As Rosh Hashana approaches consider the fate of the children locked up by the Sharon regime and pray that they too are freed and that the tyrant who reigns over Israel now, who like Pharaoh denies G-d and imprisons Jewish children will be cast down from power. Keep them in your prayers and your hearts this Rosh Hashana when the gates of heavenly mercy are open.

Read more on the details of their case here at Revava's website and here

Information on inviting guest speakers who have been subjected to civil rights abuses here

Over the body of a Jerusalem man murdered by Hamas terrorists reveling in their new land and accompanied by the fall of rockets and shells on Israeli towns, Sharon has once again battled his way to a narrow victory.

The thug who began his career beating Etzel members, the loyal men fighting for Israel who were to form the Likud, on behalf of his Mapai patrons, who lied and deceived three Prime Ministers. Whose deceits and destructiveness brought down the government of Menachem Begin, leader of Etzel, ending the original Likud revolution. Who in 1990 at the Likud Convention destabilized Shamir's government paving the way for Rabin's victory and the Oslo accords. Who sent soldiers and police to beat men, women and children and drag them out of their homes to be handed over to terrorists.

Over the ruins of corpses and imprisoned children, of bulldozed homes and torched synagogues Sharon once again celebrates his narrow margin of victory. This protege of Ben Gurion, who has done more than anyone else to destroy the Likud from the inside, will remain in power while the brave men who fought for Israel's freedom whom he once beat remain on the sidelines. With a death grip on power he has held off elections for a little longer. The elections where a democratic voice of the people might actually remove him from power.

Former Prime Minister Begin once said of Sharon that he would surround the Knesset with tanks. That hour has not yet come as long as Sharon can bribe, blackmail and threaten his way to power. And most of all Sharon can count on the violence that he creates to destabilize the situation and cause everyone to look to him as a strong leader. The strong leader who set off the chaos in the first place. It has been said of Sharon;

"A single motif recurs throughout Sharon's military and political life: "always escalate." He believes that in the muddle resulting from an increase in violence he will always come out the winner. He will know how to create a situation in which people turn to him because he is self-confident and he knows what he wants. This constant desire to raise the level of violence springs partly from Sharon's strategic sense, and partly from his character."

Sharon has escalated yet again. Like Peres before him during the Grapes of Wrath operation in Lebanon, he's put on a show of striking back against Hamas to burnish his security credentials. His war on Religious Zionism and the settlements has split the Likud and the country. His assault on Judaism in Israel has made the Haredim pathetically eager to sell their souls for a few government shekels. His corruption investigation allows him to posture as a victim of the left even as the left is in his cabinet and defining government policy. In the ensuing chaos and destruction, the man who brought down 2 of Likud's 3 prime ministers has rebuffed a challenge from the third.

The struggle will go on to remove his tyrant from power and it may only be a matter of time before he attempts to turn the IDF not only against the settlers but against all his enemies.

40 rockets hit Sderot and West Negev injuring 9 shutting down schools in Sderot for the forseeable future

Israel has now had to go back in and carry out multiple air strikes in Gaza and the cabinet has approved a resumption of artillery attacks and targeted assasinations but ruled out a ground campaign

These tactics that have proven useless against Hizbullah whose MO Hamas is copying right down to plans to kidnap Israeli soldiers will now be used against Hamas with results just as useless

Now that Sharon has stated that Israel will not be sending in ground forces which lets Hamas know they can operate freely on the ground and that they have nothing serious to worry about as long as they avoid the air strikes

Sharon has appealed to America to put a stop to the rocket attacks and Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice asked Abbas to put a stop it it and Abbas asked Rice to tell Israel to stop bombing Gaza

Defense Minster Mofaz has said the response needs to be crushing and so Sharon's cabinet has the perfect solution...they have approved a ... wait for it.... WORLDWIDE INFORMATION CAMPAIGN against Hamas

oh yes Hamas will be terrified now, they're going to be facing the devastating terror of a WORLDWIDE INFORMATION CAMPAIGN

If Hamas hasn't been terrified before, boy they must be trembling now. They're going to be facing an ad campaign. If the occasional air strike doesn't terrify them, the prospect of superbowl spots against Hamas undoubtedly will.

So far the worldwide campaign hasn't gone too global yet and consisted of leaflets dropped in arabic warning of harsh consenquences if the rocket attacks continue - an undoubtedly terrifying prospect now that the arabs have seen Israel retreat and then sit on its hands while its holy places were burned and then promised not to return troops to Gaza

Perhaps in the near future the WORLDWIDE INFORMATION CAMPAIGN can be Sharon announcing his resignation and replacement by a leader who is willing to fight terrorism instead of terrorizing Jews.

That may frighten Hamas, the same tactics that failed before plus an ad campaign certainly won't.

"I think Palestinian moms want their children to grow up in peace just like American moms want their children to grow up in peace." George W. Bush



"While the other images are dressed with the usual fashionable clothes, bags and small puppy, two "Suicide Dolls" can be seen with bomb belts around their waists and a detonator switch in their hands. One of them is even holding a bag containing nails and explosive materials."

Another trial balloon has been sent up and the original proponent of the expulsion of the Jews of Gush Katif has announced a second plan for another wave of expulsions of communities and towns in which 20,000 Jews reside. Even as the American aid to pay for it will not be forthcoming, as the Egyptian border has become an open arms trafficking zone and Hamas is building its presence in Gaza; the wicked seek to do ever more wickedness to these communities.

Yitzhar



Tekoa



Shavei Shomron



Har Bracha



Eli

The extermination of a people begins with its deligitimization through propaganda that holds as an article of faith that a people have no right to exist. We see such things in the Muslim world. Some say we see them in Europe. Most will say we do not see any such thing here. Or do we?

Courtesy of CAMERA, this is a sample of what major US and British news media outlets reported about the torching of Synagogues in Gush Katif.



"Palestinians came streaming to the settlements that caused them so much pain, to sightsee and to loot. Israel stole thirty-eight years from them; today, many were ready to take back anything they could."

"This structure behind me --very controversial because it is the Jewish synagogue in the middle of Netzarim. The Israeli cabinet, of course, voting to leave those synagogues standing, very much angering the Palestinian Authority, because they know that these buildings are seen very much by the vast majority of Palestinians as potent symbols of the Israeli occupation and could not be protected or even left standing. And so we're seeing very sensitive scenes here over the past few hours as the Palestinian security forces move the civilians out of that synagogue and move their bulldozers in to take away these structures, again, seen as hated symbols of the Israeli occupation...And also an aspect that's really kind of tainted the sense of victory, the sense of relief amongst the Palestinians that the Israelis are finally gone. "



"Many vented their fury over the occupation by laying waste to the synagogues that Israeli authorities chose to leave standing. At the Neve Dekalim synagogue, a hulking Star of David-shaped building visible from miles away, a club-wielding crowd had descended by early morning to smash every window and tear insulation from the walls and ceilings."



"Half a century of frustration erupted in chaotic euphoria yesterday as thousands of joyful Palestinians flooded into the abandoned Jewish settlements of Gaza in a riot of dancing, looting, and score-settling...The skies were yet to be lit by the rising sun when the first flames from burning synagogues could be seen, set alight by Palestinians incensed by years when the Israeli army ruthlessly defended the settlements."

...it can't happen here.

Right.

"The fast-food chain, Burger King, is withdrawing its ice-cream cones after the lid of the dessert offended a Muslim.

The man claimed the design resembled the Arabic inscription for Allah, and branded it sacrilegious, threatening a "jihad".

The chain is being forced to spend thousands of pounds redesigning the lid with backing from The Muslim Council of Britain. It apologised and said: "The design simply represents a spinning ice-cream cone."

The offending lid was spotted in a branch in Park Royal last week by business development manager Rashad Akhtar, 27, of High Wycombe.

He was not satisfied by the decision to withdraw the cones and has called on Muslims to boycott Burger King. He said: "This is my jihad. How can you say it is a spinning swirl? If you spin it one way to the right you are offending Muslims."

A Muslim Council spokesman said: "We commend the sensitive and prompt action that Burger King has taken."

Did you ever walk to school with a couple of friends only to be accosted by the school bully ?

Now, there are three of you against one nasty bully.

Great odds!! You three can take him.

Alas, it does not work that way.

One will stand up and say," if we get together we can vanquish the bully".

The other two will whimper and say, "shhh, don't. You will make him madder"

Now, if kid number one, the innovator, insists on taking action, the other two will turn on him and make him the enemy. As a matter of fact , he will become to them more of an enemy than the bully ever was.

So the bully continues and excuses are made for him so as not to "rile him up". Lots of bullys in the world today. But the world has myopia and does not see them clearly anymore.

We have become a nation that blames the victim just as in the case of the school bully. Rape victims are blamed for dressing provacatively, the US is blamed for being a bit upset about 9 11 and the death of several thousand people, Israel is blamed for being attacked by ever- greedy- for- land arabic nations and on and on. In the United States anyone who stands up against illegal immigration is shouted down as being racist and cruel since its unfashionable to make the laws of the land work and protect the borders.

And the politicians just like to have it so. After all, it brings in votes doenst it?A

nd therein lies the problem on many levels. Politicians and citizens and nations alike, would rather be popular than moral. Today its deemed more important to say the right thing in a kindly, unobtrusive manner, no matter what its moral content, than it is to speak the truth.

We don't care what you say as long as you say it nicely to those deemed worthy. Ah, you ask, who is worthy? Why anyone who could potentially make trouble.

Yes, we are back to the bully. Now the bully lives by "other" rules. He can blow up your buildings, citizens, synagogues and churches, your friends and family, he can curse with vile obscenities, use rude gestures, behave in vile immoral ways, but, well, thats ok because he is a bully. And, we don't like to rile up a bully do we?

That is cowardice. And today, its the main disease of the western world. You see it in politics, and in the malls and public streets too. Young people , dressed like slobs, who refuse to allow elderly people the right of way but, instead continue to swagger along en masse forcing others to go around them. They mutter rude and obscene ephithets at anyone who would dare to call them to account. They are the mini version of the international bully.

And just as no one puts a stop to them, no one puts a stop to the international bully either. Not even the USA, despite its impressive talk about getting terrorists. The terrorist list seems to be very politically correct too.It includes one group, while dismissing other terrorists, like the Palestinians as simple "protesters" and " oppressed peoples".

We don't wish to annoy them since annoying them results in not so nice things. But, we can hurt and annoy Israel since, well, they don't retaliate do they? So the upshot here is that you can screw your friends since they don't bite, but, you must humor and placate the enemy since he just might.

And,being cowards, you just can't deal with being bitten.

LemonLimeMoon.blogspot.com

Amid strife there is hope.

Tehillim 122
A song of Ascents; of David.
I rejoiced when they said unto me: "Let us go unto the House of the Eternal"
Our feet are standing within your gates, O Yerushalayim; Yerushalayim that is built as a city compacted together; Whither the tribes went up, even the tribes of the Eternal, as a testimony unto Israel, to give thanks unto the Eternal's name.
For there are thrones for judgment , thrones for the house of David.
Pray for the peace of Yerushalayim, may they prosper who love you.
Peace be within your walls, and prosperity within your palaces.
For my brothers and companions sake I will now say: "Peace be within you"
For the sake of the house of the Eternal our G-d I will seek your good.

Notice it says our feet "are" standing.
This is because with G-d it is a sure thing.
Israel is beset within and without by enemies who wish her downfall.
But we have read the final chapters of the book and we win!
Stand proud and stand fast, Bnai Yisrael.
Shabbat Shalom!

When a Synagogue is torched in Westchester it's viewed as a hate crime. The police are called in and investigations begin. The newspapers write editorials condemning the acts and calling for stiff punishments. Major Jewish organizations join in calling for stronger penalties and legislation and bemoaning the crime.

When a Synagogue in Israel is torched, it's described as a protest against the Israeli occupation and treated with indifference. Not merely by the media, which is expected to take the sides of the terrorists against the terrorized, with Knight Ridder even falsely reporting that it was in retaliation for Israel's destruction of the Al Aqsa Mosque, an even that never took place; but by Jewish organizations which have surprisingly little to say on the subject.

The same major Jewish organizations who funded the sale of the greenhouses to the Palestinians which they then promptly torched and animal rescues (but not human rescues in Gush Katif) are busy putting out op-eds calling for more dialogue and reconcilliation. If one single Synagogue had been torched in Westchester, let alone 19, they would be outraged; but in Israel 19 Synagogues can burn and they have little more to offer than a shrug.

The OU congratulates Bush for a weak one sentence condemnation of the Synagogue burnings. The Conservative movement is dealing with Sudan and hurricane fundraising. The Union for Reform Judaism is campaigning against Judge Roberts. The World Jewish Congress focuses on dialogue with Muslims in Tunisia. The Conference of Major Jewish Organizations which supported the expulsion and ethnic cleansing of Jews had nothing whatsoever to say about it.

If a Synagogue had burned in Westchester they would have spoken.

The League of Spurious Scientists today issued a statement declaring that hurricanes unfairly target minorities and demanding that the federal government step in to end hurricane hate crimes. The League which had previously sued rain for falling more often on minority parts of the planet and snowstorms for inflicting colds on Harlem, will now go after bigger targets.

The League has also announced plans to pursue and bring to justice earthquakes, volcanoes, tornadoes and other natural disasters that they say selectively and unfairly target minorities. In statistics compiled by the League, global natural disasters happened more often in parts of that world that didn't speak English as opposed to parts of the world that did.

Declaring that since civil rights groups had accused every living being on earth of racism, it was time to accuse the earth itself of being racist. The only solution they say is affirmative action on other planets.

"Thousands of Palestinians swarmed into the forsaken settlements and youths set fire to synagogues and other symbols of the hated occupation," the London Times said lyrically describing the scene as arab looters ravaged the remains of the ethnically cleansed Jewish towns.

When Baghdad was looted, the media treated it as a terrible crime. When a mosque somewhere is scribbled on, it's treated as a hate crime and an attack on our society and jail time is demanded. But burning Jewish Houses of Prayer is described as a legitimate way of protesting the 'occupation.'

How soon before the media begins to defend not merely the burning of synagogues in Gush Katif but the burning of synagogues in America and Europe as legitimate forms of protest?

"Siding against the family of a young married couple murdered by Hamas, the Bush administration yesterday urged a federal court in New York not to evict the Palestinian Liberation Organization's observer mission to the United Nations from its Upper East Side headquarters.

"In consideration of the strong foreign policy interests at stake here, the United States asks that the Court dismiss this matter on any available legal ground," stated the 30-page document, which was dated September 12 and signed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Danna Drori."

It's somewhat shocking to see government this blatantly toss away any pretense at the law and justice and simply state openly that they don't care how it's done but that they're determined to protect the PLO terrorists by any means necessary. This is typical of the way successive US administrations, Democrat and Republican, have closed their eyes to the crimes of the terrorists and sided with the terrorists instead.

Ironically this also puts the Bush Administration on the same side as Ramsey Clark, who headed ANSWER, the anti-war group that is a front for Workers World Party, a Trotskyist group that favors an armed overthrow of the US. Clark had close ties to Saddam Hussein and before becoming the lawyer representing the PLO in this case, was Saddam's lawyer for his upcoming trial.

It is ironic that in defending terrorists, the Bush administration now takes the side of Saddam's own lawyer.

As Israel retreats on September 11th from Gush Katif joining one tragedy and victory of Islam with another and leaving the Palestinians to loot and burn the settlements; Hamas, the PLO and Islamic Jihad terrorists and all the other murderers, thieves and looters of the Palestinian territories gratefully thank Ariel Sharon, Shinui, Labor and United Torah Judaism. Next year in Jerusalem.





"Late Sunday, Israeli troops had lowered their national banner in Neve Dekalim, once the largest Jewish settlement in Gaza. They snapped farewell pictures and closed army headquarters, which were left intact for use by the Palestinians. Triumphant Palestinian troops accompanied by cheering, flag-waving crowds took control of abandoned Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip.

Fireworks lit up the sky, Palestinian gunmen fired in the air in celebration and crowds set fire to the synagogue in the abandoned Morag settlement, closest to Palestinian towns. In another synagogue, gunmen climbed on the roof and waved flags of militant groups, including Hamas, shouting "God is great."

"It is only the first step to more liberation ... tomorrow we liberate all of Palestine," Gaza resident Mohammed Khamish Habboush shouted into a mosque loudspeaker.

Early Monday, Palestinians started carrying off what was left in the debris in the settlements, including chairs, tables and shopping carts. In the former settlement of Netzarim, women ululated in celebration. Young men tore down electricity poles, grabbing the wires, and several people carried off window frames."

In yet another of the bitter ironies the decision on whether to demolish the houses of prayer remaining behind in Gush Katif after their worshipers were expelled is to come on September 11, the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. As America remembers the ruins of the World Trade Center, the corrupt Sharon regime will contemplate creating new ruins. Or perhaps after having brutalized and driven away the worshipers of the houses of G-d, Sharon will mercifully leave them empty and abandoned.

The dust and rubble and the ashes of those murdered by Muslims on September 11 were dumped into the Staten Island Fresh Kills landfall, undoubtedly a similar place is predestined for the rubble of the synagogues of Gush Katif on land turned over to our Muslim enemies.

Both 9/11 and the withdrawal represent retreats in the face of Islam's murderous ideology. America ignored the warnings about Arab terrorists operating in the tri-state area despite a pattern of attacks including even the bombing of the world trade center. The response to the attack on the USS Cole was a joke.

Post 9/11 America has launched a bizarre and pointless crusade to bring Democracy to the Muslim world, a plan that makes as much sense as bringing elephants to Norway. Democracy represents the desire of the people to rule themselves. If Arab countries desired this, they wouldn't need US troops patrolling every street to bring it about. Instead all that the neo-con messianic quest for democracy has accomplished is that in Afghanistan, we uphold a coalition of warlords and in Iraq, a regime that just passed a constitution stating that no law can contradict Islam.

Instead of fighting back against the terrorists, we launched a bizarre crusade for democracy, as if Jimmy Carter was still in charge. Instead of recognizing that Islam is the enemy's ideology and Arabs and Muslims are its viral carriers, we deluded ourselves with claptrap about fighting against misguided extremists. Now as our efforts in Iraq have claimed the deadliest American toll since Vietnam and Al Queda and Iran backed terrorists have seized the vacuum to control entire towns; apathy is all we have left as our armor.

Israel too launched a bizarre and misguided venture to defeat the Arabs by retreating further and further until we had demographic control. As if the demographic problem of the Arab birth rate wasn't an issue in Yerushalayim, in the Gallilee and the Negev and Haifa and all throughout Israel. As if the world would remotely accept any Israeli annexation of any 1967 territories. As if the battle could be won by retreating behind secure boundaries against an enemy with rockets and mortars and suicide bombers easily capable of slipping among the over 100,000 palestinian arabs who move back and forth between Israel every day.

The results of both ventures have been victories for the terrorists and the degradation and defeats of the last two nations still fighting Islamic terrorism. On this September 11th we can mourn not merely for the catastrophe that was but for the catastrophes our leaders have brought and continue to bring upon us.

Ruins of the Twin Towers, the Tower of David and Neveh Dekalim in Gush Katif

A new 9/11 anniversary comes and how will it be remembered. The surge of patriotism, the ideal of our nation as a sleeping giant arising to defend itself against an evil Islamic enemy was squandered as we now bury ourselves in policework in Iraq to build a country whose adopted constitution already states that no law may contradict the laws of Islam. The numbers of the dead are likely to be topped by the casualties from Hurricane Katrina and if there is anything the two events have in common, it's that government incompetence contributed to the death tolls and the recognition that in disaster management we have learned little in the intervening four years.

To look across the country is to see a landscape of loss. From the gulf coast to new york, from the families of dead soldiers across the nation to the families of those far away yet still living, a lot has been given and little received in return. What gains we have made, have been squandered. The obscenity of the International Freedom Center which is set to preach the evils of America is set to be planted on the soil of Ground Zero. Iraq's new government will ultimately be at best another Turkey or Pakistan and at worst another Iran. Afghanistan is slowly unraveling while we pay it no attention. And from a nation courageously confronting the worst attack in half a century, we have become a nation in which children starve and our enemies mockingly offer us aid to feed them. The words of Eicha ring all the more clearly now.

We are most certainly no longer united, if we ever were. The Democratic party has become shrilly partisan and so radical that it is nearly unrecognizable except as an adjunct of the far left which now dominates it. The Republican party is soulless and focused on gaining as much spoils as possible before the next election comes. The country is more divided than ever and the divisions are straining us badly. The basic premises of a united nation are unraveling and those on the far left and far right believe in nothing but tearing the country apart so that their ideologies might win. America is as broken as the burning towers themselves and like the towers, there is no one who will raise us up again if we do not.

And we too, we forget.

After a while your eye gets used to seeing what's missing and no longer even expects it to be there. You no longer look up and expect the towers to be there. You no longer peer along Broadway or look downtown from a skyscraper expecting those two familiar shapes to be there. The maps still point to the world trade center, subway stops still direct you there and soon they will be replaced by an ugly commonplace forgettable construction. And that is the final stage of loss, to replace what has been lost with something truly inferior and to forget so that even the degree of difference is no longer recognized anymore.

Whether September 11th is to be a signpost of our ruination or salvation as a nation remains up to us but the signs do not look good. And when we discard hope for a better future, only the landscapes of loss remain. How shall we remember and commemorate September 11th then?

Wander the streets of the city. Walk to 23rd and look up at the Flatiron building. Able along the river to the gray shadowy bulk of the Intrepid Aircraft carrier like a small town resting on water. Pass on to the spire of the Empire State building, the art deco ascension of the Chrysler Building. Meander through Central Park, follow the ramble and sit on the mushroom besides the Mad Hatter, go to the ocean and watch the tide come in and out marking the sand. Stand besides the lions at the library, explore the treasures of the Metropolitan Museum, walk over Brooklyn Bridge and think of Walt Whitman, watch the sunset come to the arch at Washington Square Park.

Do all these things and more and remember, a terrible enemy waits outside the gates.
Remember and enjoy the city while you can. Enjoy the towns and the cities you live in. Remember their history. Remember too that their future is not set.

In an article on Mexican troops entering the US to provide aid, Reuters proceeds to rewrite American history yet again. Two quotes.

"A 44-vehicle convoy of 200 unarmed troops flew Mexico's red, white and green national flag from every cab as it moved into San Antonio, where Mexican forces killed 189 rebels in the famous Battle of the Alamo in 1836 during the Texas revolution against Mexican rule."

"The last time a Mexican military force of any type was in the United States was when revolutionary Gen. Francisco "Pancho" Villa staged a small raid into New Mexico in 1916. His forces killed several people, prompting Washington to send a larger force south of the border in retaliation."

So the Texans fighting for independence were 'rebels' but Pancho Villa's murderous raids onto US soil which killed numerous civilians were revolutionary. The Alamo is rewritten from an American last stand to a Mexican victory over some unnamed rebels and Pancho Villa's crimes are dismissed as 'several unnamed people killed.' This is part and parcel of a news agency which regularly rewrites Israel's history with the arabs and America's history with terrorism; but like all true historical revisionists, Reuters does not limit its scope to current events but neven dives into history of over a 150 years past. It is also typical of the media's left wing media bias that instead of writing positively about the venture, it uses it as a platform for taking potshots at the United States.

Not satisfied with a bout of rewriting US history, Reuters then takes the time out to sneer at the disaster at New Orleans.

"Troops inside the trucks were given malaria tablets and vaccinations against diseases like hepatitis, cholera and tetanus -- ironically the same shots wary American tourists might get before visiting parts of Mexico."

One wonders what the point of this is. That America after a natural disaster is equivalent to Mexico? That Mexico is what the US would look like after a natural disaster? That Americans are getting what they deserve for taking malaria tablets before visiting Mexico. Either way though the left may bash the US over the response to the flood victims, it just goes to show you that to the left, even they are 'Little Eichman's' too.

Viva La Reuters

If there is one point of commonality in all the comparisons made between the attacks of September 11th and Katrina's devastation, it is that individuals once again succeeded where governments failed.

On 9/11, the government, city, state and federal, all failed utterly. The federal government failed to fight terrorism properly either at home or abroad and did nothing to act on the information they had or to even process the information they had. The city government contributed little even positioning the city's emergency command bunker in the WTC, despite the fact that it had already been attacked once. The radios used by firemen did not work properly inside the towers and the rebuilding of the towers has been badly blown.

Face to face with Katrina, the city, state and federal governments failed yet again. The evacuation was botched and mishandled leaving many inside the city. The supposed safety of the dome instead became a nightmare as tens of thousands were placed inside without security or supervision or even proper food and water. The federal government failed to get aid and provide security within any kind of reasonable time frame leaving some to die and the city to be overrun by armed gangs and arsonists.

We live in a time of increased federal power where we look to the government to solve all our problems for us. We have increasingly come to give up control over our own lives to bureaucrats and politicians, to the police; who in truth cannot help us but can only deprive and oppress us. We have adopted an attitude of learned helplessness, yet in the two major catastrophes to befall us this decade, it was individual courage contrasted with government incompetence and malfeasance that stood out.

On 9/11 it was the firemen, as individuals, cut off from contact and orders, outfitted with non-working radios, who climbed almost inconceivably to the top of the towers. It was the individual workers in the towers, whom the left views with unmitigated contempt and the right sees as pretexts for its policies, who helped each out and who stayed behind with disabled co-workers. During Katrina it was the individual doctors and nurses who cared for the sick when deprived of medicines and infrastructure and support. It was the individuals who went out to rescue people trapped and who made a difference while the government dragged its feet and the President giggled foolishly on tv.

America has been a society founded on individualism, as socialism has increasingly taught us to be helpless and dependent, it has weakened us but we are not done yet as 9/11 and the aftermath of Katrina have shown. We are strong to the extent that we help our neighbors and ourselves. We are weak to the extent that we place our trust in our unelected officials and their legions of bureaucrats to bail us out.