Benito Mussolini wrote of Facism in 1932:

"Granted that the XIXth century was the century of socialism, liberalism, democracy, this does not mean that the XXth century must also be the century of socialism, liberalism, democracy. Political doctrines pass; nations remain. We are free to believe that this is the century of authority, a century tending to the 'right', a Fascist century. If the 19th century was the century of the individual (liberalism implies individualism) we are free to believe that this is the 'collective' century, and therefore the century of the State."

Thus George W. Bus is more a Facist than the Islamic extremeists are. Thus I really want to stop hearing the Neo Cons say Islamo Facists.

Wikipedia defines theocracy as:

"Theocracy is a form of government in which the divine power (in monotheisms the one God) governs an earthly human state, either in person (e.g. as incarnation in a human) or, more often, via its religious institutional representative(s) (e.g. church, temple, mosque), either replacing or dominating the organs of civil government as clerical or spiritual representative(s) of god."

Thus the Islamists are using terrorist tactics to establish an Islamic theocracy in the Middle East, esp. Saudi Arabia.

I wish people would stop listening to George W. Bush. The man is either a flat out lier, complete fool or BOTH and the American are too stupid to see either.

I'm officially single again, it was an amicable split.

Bucky is still free and another trooper is dead. That's 4 this year!

I have a day off and we're bustin out the grill for a labor day cook out!!

HELLZ YEAH!!

I went to a funeral for Capt. John J. McKenna USMC and a fellow Trooper today. I went through the academy with him and now he's gone. That make's it 4 people I've known who have died in Iraq. I got so mad when I saw his weeping mom walking away from his grave with a folded flag clutched tightly in her hands. She should have her son not a piece of fucking fabric!!!! I'm tired of watching good americans die for a worthless cause. We are spending 51% of our national budget on the military industrial complex to fight terror. 2,900 people died on 9-11. 400,000 people died from smoking related causes and 40,000 in car accidents in 2005 in the country. Why are americans so afraid of terror that we let the president run rampant on the world and our civil rights? We let his friend's companies have no-bid contracts. We let him destroy Arab countries and alienate or allies which only creates more terrorists and anti-american animosity in the world. I wish someone would do a scientific study and figure out "For every terrorist we kill we create ___ more." I'll bet that number is higher than 1. AHH I'm not happy today!

Trooper dies in Iraq
By Mary Fairchild, Freeman staff

Kingston - A state trooper from the Ulster barracks who was serving with the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve in Iraq was killed in combat Wednesday, authorities said Friday.
Capt. John J. McKenna IV, 30, of Clifton Park, was attached to the 2nd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment of the 4th Marine Division out of Albany. He was killed by enemy fire while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, outside the Iraqi city of Fallujah. Marine Lance Cpl. Michael Glover of Staten Island was killed at the same time.

Capt. McKenna joined the state police in February 2005 and was assigned to the Ulster barracks last fall before being recalled to military service, according to state police Capt. Patrick Regan, who heads the Ulster barracks.

"He was a voracious reader and loved history, especially military history," said his sister, Allyson Zehrfuhs of Clifton Park. "He went to Iraq this last time because he felt it was his duty to bring the men that he trained there. He felt he needed to protect them."

McKenna had served previously in Afghanistan and Iraq from June 1998 to August 2003, Regan said. He was a graduate of the State University of New York at Binghamton.

"The New York State Police are proud to have had Trooper McKenna serve in our ranks," state police Superintendent Wayne E. Bennett said in a release. "His dedication will forever be remembered."

U.S. Rep. John E. Sweeney, R-Clifton Park, called McKenna "a hero in every sense of the word."

"We are deeply humbled and grateful for Capt. McKenna's service and commitment on behalf of America," Sweeney said.

Gov. George E. Pataki issued a statement offering condolences to the families of the two fallen soldiers. "Often you see people who put on the uniform and protect us here at home, as police officers, troopers or firefighters, have that same desire to protect and fight for the American people and put on the uniform of our United States military," Pataki said. "Their selfless acts of courage and heroism remind us to continue to pray for their families and the families of those proud men and women who dedicate their lives to protecting our freedom."

McKenna, who grew up in Brooklyn, is survived by his parents, John and Karen McKenna III, who had moved to Clifton Park just eight days ago, and his sister. He had been living in Clifton Park since 2003.

His body is expected to be returned to the U.S. today. A wake and funeral will be at the family's Catholic church in their Brooklyn parish, with details to be announced. He will be buried in Saratoga County, in the Saratoga National Cemetery.

How many more will be taken? He was a friend of mine from the academy and I will always remember him as a genuinely good person and a positive force on those around him.

SET UP
I was working for UPS at the time and living in an apartment complex on Union Rd in Cheektavegas. I was with Birgid a little over a year and we both attended Buffstate. I worked the pre load (3-8 am) at work that morning and got home from work at 8:30. The weather was beautiful, clear sky's and cool weather. I was performing my morning ritual which consisted of the very exciting come home, watch CNN while I eating a bowl of cereal, take a shower and go to school.

I was in my brown swivel chair in front of my TV when it came across. "Breaking News" "We are getting reports that one of the towers of the World Trade center in NY has been struck by a plane." That's when they showed it for the first time, two giant towers rising twice as high into the clear blue sky as any building near them, one with a gaping, smoking hole near the top. It was amazing seeing it for the first time.

At first I thought about how the Empire State Building was hit by an Army bomber in the 40's. I remember thinking about what this building would look like when the fire burned out and you could see through it. I remember wondering "how the hell are they going to fix it," getting all the materials up there, putting scaffolding up and such.

Then it occurred to me. "How did this happen?" It's 2001 not 1945. We have have computer guidance systems, air traffic control and jesus christ its not raining, the sky is as clear as could be. What are the chances that this happened by accident? How many things would have had to go wrong for this to have happened by accident.

That's when I decided I needed to call someone. So I called my parents. My brother Don answered the phone and I made him go downstairs and turn on CNN. His first reaction was "What the fuck happened?" I explained what they had said thus far. It was unbelievable.

After talking to Don for a short time I decided to call Shawn but him mom answered and he wasn't up yet. Without saying would you just go wake him I talked to her for a little while and she turned on the TV. While we were chatting a plane flew in the background of the towers. It didn't occur to me at first that it was flying awfully low, lower in fact than where the tower was hit. At the precise moment a ball of flame erupted from the other side of the towers. I thought at first that the tower already being hit had exploded. Then it hit me and everyone else watching. ANOTHER PLANE HAS HIT THE OTHER TOWER! I jumped out of my chair and shouted "THIS IS FUCKING TERRORISM!"

I decided not to go to school. I was going to stay home and watch this. Reports were coming in from all over of bombs going off. The Pentagon was burning, a report of the capitol building getting hit came in, which proved to be false. Other reports of other planes missing popped up. One was supposedly over PA. This was all surreal. How could not one but 4 planes have been high jacked at the same time?

The first tower collapsed and a short while later the other. I wept. How many people had just died? Where was this going to take our country? I knew one thing for sure, I was going to get called up. I called my mom and told her to take any calls for me from the Army, I was going to get my hair cut.

I went and by the time I got to my parents house the call had already come. Donny was there with his buddy Joe whom I had never met before. George Bush was talking about the attack and Joe asked who that was and when I indignantly told him "That's the president of the United States George Bush" he replied with "Wasn't he president in the 80's" Yes he was was the only possible response."

So I went to the armory around 1:00 pm and was one of the first guys there. We worked non stop packing our gear until 11:30 when the captain told us we were going to be entering the gates of hell the next day. He dismissed us until 3:30 am. I went home, refused to see my girl friend, which proved to be a mistake. I was thinking I need to sleep, I'm going to need the energy tomorrow. But who could sleep in those conditions? I picked Brigid up to say hello and good bye on my way to the armory. We picked up Heather and we were off.

9-12-01

We left Buffalo in the Humvees around 6 or 7 am and didn't get into Manhattan until dark. It took so long. It seemed like we were stopping every hour. When we entered we crossed the George Washington Bridge. We were over 200 blocks from the WTC. While we were on the bridge I thoguht the humvee was on fire. It smelled like there was an electrical fire inside it. So I opened the window to let some fresh air and realized that the smell was coming from outside. It turns out that night the wind shifted and was pushing the smoke over the island instead of out to sea like it had been. That was such a creepy feeling. We worked our was to the Javit's Center where we got our first glimpse of the smoke rising to the south down the West Side Highway. We all wanted to jump back in the humvees and drive down there to help start pulling bodies from the rubble. But it was not to be. They had people doing that and we were to sit here and wait. We slept on mattresses on the ground in the basement of the Javit's Center.

And wait we did. It seemed like an eternity. There was 10,000 people estimated killed. The number was falling but it was still a terrible number to think of. Almost three full days went by before they found us something to do. I went down to ground zero, as they were now calling it, for the first time on 9-15. Our whole company was bussed down and we were staged in a shut down hotel restaurant and we were told that Gov. Pataki was considering proclaiming a state of marshall law. It seems there were reports of looting and the whole area was unsecured. They were expecting the call at any moment but the call never came. I wound up getting out of the restaurant and getting my first glimpse of the rubble. The magnitude was incredible. The TV did no justice to the sheer size of the mess. Everything was covered in grey dust and the air was so dirty. To this day i refuse to believe the reports that came out over the next few days that the air was as good as they said it was.



We wound up setting up a security site where we were in charge of issuing access passes for workers from FEMA and the utility companies. I spent two weeks in all there and was allowed to leave early because I was a student. In all my unit stayed there a month and a few people volunteered to stay as long as a year.

The whole situation was sureal. It was terrible seeing pictures of people missing all over the place. 2,976 people died. I was honored to take part in the recovery of a great city. I'm upset by the things that have transpired since. I don't know if its too soon for the WTC movie, but I know I don't want to forget the details of those days so I did this reflection.

I was thinking about some of the incredible things I did while I was in the Army this morning and how as time goes along I don't want to forget about them. I was thinking I should write a book, but I don't know if what I would write about would be interesting enough for a book. I do think that I would like to put my thoughts into writing, so I think over the course of the next few weeks I will be composing a few enteries about some of the more important things I feel I was a part of while I served.

Update from current events:

- Ash and I are settled in our apartment.
- I hate moving.
- I'm off for 8 days!
- I'm going to see From This Day in Endicott on Fri.
- I'm going to NYC this Sat. with Shawn.
- I downloaded Metallica - Garage Days Re-Revisited yesterday. I forgot how good that tape was.
- I graduated from the academy a year ago today. I can't believe how fast the time goes.

So they still hav'nt found Bucky Phillips (the guy that shot a trooper last month). They believe he's in Western, NY now. I hope they get him soon.

Now two weekends in a row have been fucked up. Last time it was Bucky, now it the floods. The village of Walton is pretty devestated so we've been working extra down there to preserve order and prevent looting. So far everything's gone pretty good. This is my weekend off and I was hoping to go home to hang with the new girl and finish my tatoo but 30 hours of OT has messed that up. Melanie is cool and I like her alot thus far.

Things are going good otherwise. We think we've (me and my 3 trooper roomates) found a new apartment here in Oneonta. Hopefully it pans out and we can get our move on.

I have to work 7 am to 7 pm today and tomorrow. When I get out I will have worked 81 1/2 hoours in 6 work days spanning 7 days. I'm tired, my body hurts from walking and searching cars for 12 hours yesterday and I'm sun burned. But when I finish work tomorrow I'm going to Buffalo for 4 days!!! I cannot wait.

I recently watched I ♥ Huckabees and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Both made me think alot and I've decided to take a few days to mull them over before I posted (that and I've been busy working).

Let me start with I ♥ Huckabees. This movie deals with existentialsim which according to Wikipedia is "a philosophical movement that is generally considered an outlook, or a perspective, on life that pursues the question of the meaning of life or the meaning of existence for the "existing individual". This question is seen as being of paramount importance, above all other scientific and philosophical pursuits. Existentialism also considers the psychological importance of existence and deals with concepts such as anxiety, dread, freedom, awareness of death, and consciousness of existing."

According to EricAndopedia existentialism is "BULLSHIT." Who gives a fuck? Why waste your life wondering what the nature of life is, where you fit into it and how you should change to best fit. Just live. Be yourself and do what you want. That's what I say. That's how I live.

Next off we have Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I was originally forbidden from seeing this movie due to my psychological state, post-break up. I now think it was in my best interests that I did this. As I watched this movie I felt really bad for Jim Carey's character. He was a nice guy. Kate Winslet's character was a psycho bitch. She had died hair and wierd clothes that she thought made her "artsy." I can't stand people like that. I like genuinly artsy people. She was not one of them. I don't see how those two could make things work. She was REAL mean to him and he'd be better off with out her. As I watched it and the end of the movie approached I found myself saddening due to wanting a girlfriend which is ok and expected. What I didn't experience was remorse or any want to be albe to have the memory erase procedure done on myself which I think I would have felt had I seen this movie 18 months ago. Nor did I think of her at all through the movie and that made me feel good.

***EDIT***
I realized that after I wrote this I didn't comment on the movies themselves. As movies I found both terrific! I ♥ Huckabees was very funny and I found myself laughing out loud more than a few times. Mark Walberg was particuarly funny. Eternal was great too. Who would have ever thought Jim Carey had the acting skill he wields back in the In Living Color days? Man on the Moon and Eternal Sunshine both show how gifted he is and his range is incredible. He can go from slap-stick to impersonation to drama seemlessly.