This is the time every year when I close the book on September 11. I want to thank everyone for stopping by today, especially the friends and family members of those we lost that day.

For the next 364 days I will remain angry and steadfast, but I will not cry. I do my crying one day a year. Only one out of every 365/6 days do I allow myself the freedom to feel. Perhaps because, on that day ten years ago, I could feel nothing at all.

As I said earlier today, I had considered ending this annual indulgence, but I’ve decided against it. Someone has to tell the tale to the next generation. Might as well be me.

The Koran says to kill us where they find us. I suggest we reverse the tactic.

I’m not a big fan of fashion magazines, but I always by the gigantic “hobo killer” issue of Vogue that comes out every Fall.

As I went through page after page of fashion ads, I came across an article about a woman who survived 9/11.

Gruesome. She stepped into the lobby, late for work, when a fireball came tearing down the elevator shaft and out onto unsuspecting people. She spent months in the hospital.

This is the story of Lauren Manning.

Ten years after the attack, what do you see as the lasting legacy of 9/11? How has your experience colored your approach to parenthood and to life in general?
After 9/11, we learned that we could not be complacent about our safety and security, but at the same time we learned that Americans can unite and together overcome even the most serious challenges, something that should give us strength as we once again face troubled times. My approach as a parent hasn’t changed, but if anything, I embrace my life and my family even more strongly because the true beauty and happiness that I have is in the time we spend with one another.

A far more moving version of Manning’s story is in the print edition. Pick it up (if you can lift it!) at newsstands.

I have a September 11th playlist on my iPod. It includes the usual: God Bless the USA by Lee Greenwood and the USMC Band doing Amazing Grace.

But there are a few tunes that are a little harder to come by, and I share them here for your downloading pleasure. RIGHT CLICK TO DOWNLOAD.

The Cure - Killing An Arab

Def Leppard - Gods of War 9/11 Remix

Metallica - Seek and Destroy 9/11 Remix

My pal Jimmie Bise from The Sundries Shack reminded me the other night that some of the heroes of September 11th were the 10,000 inhabitants of Gander, Newfoundland, who opened their homes to strangers when American air traffic was diverted.

Gander has a tribute page on its site that talks about the day the planes came in.

As the hours went by, food became scarce, toilets overflowed and nerves were frayed. Like many of the other passengers, Muro did not even know where Gander was. “I’m embarrassed to say I never heard of it before,” he said.

Some of the passengers remained on the airplanes for as long as 30 hours. But when they finally disembarked, they got a warm welcome. It turned out that the people of Gander had come together like never before to make sure every single person would be taken care of.

Although Newfoundland is the poorest province in Canada, everyone helped out. When calls went out for food and bedding, Ganderites emptied their cupboards and closets and went to the airport.

“They had been there all night long bringing food and standing at the tables, passing it out,” said Bass.

Asked who was manning the tables, Ricardelli said: “They were the grocer, they were the postman, the pastors. They were your everyday citizens of Gander who just came out.”

Gander has a population of just 10,000, and only a few hotels, with a total of 550 rooms. So the locals opened their schools, churches and homes to the visitors they called “the plane people.” The town’s school bus drivers, who had been on strike for weeks, came off the picket lines to shuttle passengers to their new quarters.

The local telephone company set up long-distance phone banks so that passengers could call home. Wires and cables were strung so that television and Internet connections were available.

Local Liz Gilbert invited the Muros to her log cabin on the banks of the Gander river. She housed and fed them for four days, but doesn’t think she did anything out of the ordinary. “This is all I know of Newfoundland. This is the way everybody is,” she said. “Thousands and thousands of people volunteered and everyone did the same thing as I did and more.”

Finally, after four days, the airport and the skies reopened and the “plane people” headed home - after tearful, heartfelt goodbyes.

Soon after, the town began receiving cards, gifts and thank-you notes in the form of donations. Even though the citizens of Gander neither asked for nor expected anything in return, their grateful guests have raised more than $60,000 for the town. Many of the town’s new friends even promised to come back for vacation, under better circumstances.

Here in Canada, Newfoundland is the butt of many jokes. But not that day. That day, they were heroes. Thanks for reminding me of the little bit my country could do, Jimmie. And check out Jimmie’s 9/11 post: The New Tet.

In the UK, a group of Muslims got together today to burn the American flag and celebrate the 2996 people killed by their fellow Muslims.

But in the Middle East, tiny Israel - attacked daily by jihadists - has a memorial to September 11th, which took place so far away. Unique in the world, Israel knows what it’s like to be hated, despised and attacked by a so-called “peaceful” religion. A religion that is based on blood, slavery and conquest.

Thank you, Israel. Thank you for understanding better than anyone what we’re up against. Thank you for remembering. Thank you for the tribute to the dead.

A sobering look back at 9/11 as the hosts of Take That! Radio describe how that fateful day effected them personally. They talk about what they were doing and what they were thinking on the day America was attacked by terrorists.

Right This Way – Show 43

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There aren’t many heroes that remain from that gruesome day. Most of them are mere dust, destroyed by a cult of death. One of the few that do is Lisa Jefferson, who worked in the Verizon Airphone call center. She is the brave woman who held the line open for Todd Beamer, who prayed with him, and who ultimately had to hang up her phone after 15 minutes of dead air. Dear air. Interesting expression, that.

Here is her interview with Beliefnet, for the 5th anniversary in 2006.

There are few strangers I’d like to meet. Few stranger to whose funerals I’d go, or to whose sides I would rush to stand. She is one of those few.

You know, the way I look at it, God picked certain people. He handpicked certain people to be on that flight and he picked a group full of heroes, people he knew that would stand up against the terrorists and fight back for the good of our nation and that’s exactly what they did.

On a sunny Tuesday morning, one month before his 33rd birthday, Edward Maloney III - known to all as Teddy - left for a typical day at the office. The TradeSpark offices of Cantor Fitzgerald were located on the 104th floor of One World Trade Center, NY, NY.

At 9:03am on that sunny morning, September 11, 2001, United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the building, approximately 5 floors below where Teddy worked.

Teddy Maloney died that day, along with 684 other Cantor Fitzgerald employees located on the 101st-105th floors.

Born in Berlin, Germany to Sally and Edward, Teddy, his brother Mark and his sister Sally were raised in Andover Ct. While attending Proctor Academy, Teddy played Varsity hockey. In November 2002, Proctor dedicated the Maloney Memorial Ice Rink to his memory.

Though he worked in the city, Teddy and his wife lived in Darien, CT. Cantor Fitzgerald had promised Maloney a move to the Darien office, to become effective the end of 2001 or early 2002. The Rye Rangers of Rye, NY played just up I-95 from Darien, CT. Teddy played with them. He was one of three Rye Rangers who worked for Cantor Fitzgerald who were killed that day. Just before Christmas, 2001, the Rye Rangers played a fundraiser game for the families of the 3 victims. The hope was to raise a little money to give the surviving children a good Christmas, while the widows awaited the Cantor payouts.

When Teddy died on September 11, 2001, his daughter Mason was 14 months old. After he disappeared - presumed, as so many were, to be alive and missing - Mason refused to let go of her father’s photograph. She slept in his room, in his bed. She waited for Daddy to return.

Church of the Resurrection, Rye, NY

His beloved wife Brinley, 29, who he had spoken to just moments before the attack, was 7 months pregnant with their second daughter. Teddy Bray Maloney was one of the precious babies born in the aftermath of the tragedy - a final memorial to the lost fathers.

On September 28, 2001, a memorial was held in Rye, NY at The Church of the Resurrection. The memory of Edward Francis “Teddy” Maloney III was laid to rest, surrounded by friends and family, including his father, Edward Francis Maloney II.

A memorial page (one of many) for Teddy Maloney can be found at this link.

For as long as Girl on the Right exists, this tribute to Teddy Maloney will be posted every September 11. I hope one day it will serve as a record of Teddy to his little girls.

This is a re-post of my contribution to the 2996 project for 2006, the 5th anniversary of September 11, 2001. As always, I welcome the visits from family and friends of Ken Basnicki. You are always welcome here at Girl on the Right.

Ken Basnicki was a Toronto man, a husband, and a father of two. He was Financial Marketing Director for BEA Systems. In New York for a business meeting, he was last seen on the 106th floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Some remains have been recovered. There is a grave in Collingwood, Ontario, at St. Mary’s Cemetery. He was one of 24 Canadians killed on September 11, 2001, by Al Qaeda terrorists.

Those are the facts. But they don’t really tell us much about the man, do they? The facts don’t tell us that he loved his Harley. They don’t tell us that the reason his memorial is in Collingwood is because that’s where he built his dream home for he and his wife Maureen. They don’t tell us that, even though he was 48 years old, he was a fanatical snowborder! He also golfed and skied.

The facts tell us that he had a son, Brennan, and a daughter, Erica. They don’t tell us how much he cared about them, and how they felt in the wake of his death. The facts don’t tell us of his dreams cut short, or of their nightmares.

Maureen and Erica are currently petitioning the Canadian government to pass legislation allowing victims of terrorism to sue the countries and organizations involved in terror, in order to financially cripple them. I wish these brave ladies well.

Ken’s last contact with this world was in a cellphone call to his mother at 8:55 am, just 9 minutes after the plane struck the tower, to tell her that the place was full of smoke and he didn’t think he’d find a way out.

It’s that time again. A time when readers come to this blog to reflect on a surreal Tuesday morning in September, when the sky was an unnatural shade of blue.

I told myself a couple of weeks ago that this would be my last look back, but I’ve since changed my mind. There are so many people who have said “enough” and stopped the annual vigil. But today new babies will be born. And someone has to maintain the record.

Every Passover, the youngest Jew at the table asks the three questions, and the story of Moses and the escape from bondage is handed down to yet another generation. If I can serve as scribe for someone, someone born into our strange post 9/11 world of shoe removal and bag checks, of bombs in Times Square and Finsbury Park, then I embrace that service. I will not grow silent with the passing of time. In fact, I’m sorry I ever considered it.

Once again I welcome the families of Teddy Maloney and Ken Basnicki to stop by, reflect and leave comments if they feel up to it. I will not cease to remember your loved ones just because a special anniversary has gone by. After all, I know you haven’t.

I’ll be here, this year, and the next, and as long as I can, to be sure that no one grows up without knowing.

There was a TV movie made in 2006 for the 5th anniversary that I felt to be far superior to the Blair-Witch-esque theatrical release of United 93. It took me a while to find this file, but if you want it, please download it. It’s a .avi file, so I recommend right-clicking to download it (don’t worry about my bandwidth - I have plenty) and viewing it through VLC or some other multi-platform viewer.

Have plenty of kleenex handy - it’s deeply moving.

Flight 93 TV movie

A few final thoughts for the day.

Obama asks for tolerance toward Islam.

Remembering.

It’s what I do on this day every year, and I seek out the remembrances and reflections of others to share with you.

Here are some more:

Rick Moran at Right Wing Nuthouse can’t cry anymore.

To him I dedicate this video:

Over at the Pool Bar, What a Difference Nine Years Makes.

So here we are, nine years later and 20 months into Barack Obama’s presidency. The Obama administration is desperately trying to return to the pre-9/11 school of thought, treating global Islamist terrorism as a simple law enforcement matter. With each new attempt by radical Islamists to commit mass murder of Americans (last Christmas Day’s attempted knickerbomber, the failed Times Square bombing, the too-successful Ft. Hood shootings), we’re assured by our betters on the Left that these are just lone nutcases. They’re not really representative of Islam. It’s all cool now.

Last year’s remembrance by Mary, who explains how 9/11 unfolded while she was on a business trip to Hawaii.

Jimmie Bise remembers, but would rather read the remembrances of others.

The bells rang and the names were read again today. There will come a point when that will stop, and too many people will have moved on. However, today was not that day.

My gentleman friend sent me this article from Esquire 2003. The Falling Man.

Posted by: Right Girl Posted in September 11 No Comments »