09/09, by Mike Gold – Brainiac On Banjo #240
September 12, 2011 Mike Gold 4 Comments
I walked through Grand Central Terminal on Friday, September 9th joining the usual crowds for that time of day, maneuvering towards the southwest exit, the one closest to my destination. Everything seemed as normal as normal gets in midtown Manhattan, even in post-9/11 midtown Manhattan. Until I got outside.
Immediately, I saw we were in a state of emergency. 42nd Street looked like a police car parking lot. Vanderbilt Avenue was completely blocked off. Hundreds of cops and soldiers were wandering around in flak jackets. Yes, I heard about the car bomb threat, but I’d heard that before and I had never seen this level of response. I’m even used to seeing soldiers inside Grand Central Terminal, including guys carrying automatic weapons. Since these folks were outside the terminal and not inside, I appreciated the manner of response: they were looking for a car bomb, so the inside of heavily travelled buildings weren’t as much a concern. Okay, now I know the turf.
Since nobody’s progress was being deterred, I figured it was as safe as safe gets in Manhattan. I walked west down 42nd Street to Fifth Avenue, then south on Fifth to 34th Street. The scene was much the same, although I didn’t notice any other streets blocked off. Lots of armed folks, lots of police cars. I wondered where the soldiers parked and if any of ‘em got parking tickets. The Army doesn’t have diplomat plates, and in New York City “common sense” is as common as the city itself.
My activities in Manhattan were completely unhampered. It was a nice day, a bit more humid than usual, but I didn’t notice anybody actually enjoying the city. That’s quite rare: if you’re not prepared to enjoy Manhattan for what it is, don’t come here. It’s too expensive and too damn crowded.
But I think all that security immediately thrust me and my fellow New Yorkers into a time warp. We knew it was the weekend of the 9/11 memorial; anybody with a radio, a television, a newspaper, a smartphone or a computer anywhere in the United States knew that. It was even the banner story in the day’s International Herald Tribune. But all that activity certainly put us in the mood.
In fact, it put us in the right mood. The generations of September 11, 2001 Americans will not forget. Never be concerned about that. But it is natural to take it for granted, for wanting to get the horror of that day behind us. We shouldn’t, we won’t, and in Manhattan on September 9th 2011 we couldn’t.
On the morning of Sunday, September 11th, the tenth anniversary, I was set to record my radio show for that evening. I was cutting it a bit close for the second time in eight days, but hey, a deadline’s a deadline and I could make it with ease. And I did make it, but with great difficulty: all morning, the traffic on Route 136 bordering my house sounded like rehearsals for a swell Sons of Anarchy rumble. The noise was so great our cat Roscoe actually woke up without demanding immediate breakfast. This is a certain sign of the apocalypse.
Zillions of bikers were paying tribute in their own way. These weren’t Sons of Anarchy bikers; from what I could see they were more like Westport/Greenwich bankers and lawyers bikers doing their mechanical cos-play thing. That’s okay. They did the right thing too, and I could wait.
9/11 wasn’t the worst day of my life. I was two degrees away from the fatalities. But as an American I feel violated, and as a human being I take comfort in so many people doing the right thing. There’s more we can do – we’re still treating first responders horribly and, obviously, we can never do enough for the victims’ families. Some of our new security measures are silly. Some. I can bitch about how it’s taking 12 years to rebuild at “Freedom Tower,” now sadly retitled “World Trade Center.” Either way, no longer will I call it Ground Zero. But right now, it’s good to take a look around and realize that we can still, indeed, take a look around.
Score one for the good guys.
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Ironically, devout political activist Mike Gold also kicks rock’n’blues ass each week on Weird Sounds Inside The Gold Mind; streaming four times a week on www.getthepointradio.com and available at that same venue on demand for those who can’t grasp the concept of “live on tape.” He also joins MDWers Martha Thomases and Michael Davis as a weekly columnist at www.comicmix.com.
Martha Thomases
September 12, 2011 - 9:50 am
On Saturday afternoon, there were FEMA dogs trained for (bomb-sniffing, I imagine) at the West Fourth Street subway station. I liked seeing them.
The armed soldiers in Grand Central make me sad. I understand it, but it’s wrong.
Mike Gold
September 12, 2011 - 10:57 am
But, 10 years ago, oddly comforting. With the emphasis on “odd” to be sure. And Cammo doesn’t really work at Grand Central Terminal.
I wonder what PeTA thinks about bomb-sniffing dogs. Or even guide dogs for the blind.
R. Maheras
September 12, 2011 - 12:35 pm
Pistols are almost useless when confronting someone with an AK-47 or similar high-powered automatic weapon, so I understand why cops need greater firepower in today’s world.
The days when, say, London bobbies only needed to carry nightsticks and whistles are over.
By the way, intelligence experts recently estimated that hundreds — perhaps thousands — of portable shoulder-fired ground-to-air missiles disappeared from Libyan armories when rebels overthrew the country. If just a handful of those are successfully used in anger, the days of commercial aircraft flying without electronic countermeasures equipment may soon be a thing of the past.
John Tebbel
September 12, 2011 - 12:52 pm
London bobbies still don’t carry firearms. How tedious is this?
R. Maheras
September 12, 2011 - 1:53 pm
John wrote: “London bobbies still don’t carry firearms. How tedious is this?”
Welcome to the 21st Century, John…
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33448132/ns/world_news-europe/t/some-british-bobbies-gun-comes-job/
Mike Gold
September 12, 2011 - 2:45 pm
The piece you note, Russ, is almost two years old. Ordnance use of all sorts by the British police has continued to grow since then. Yep, those sing-alone days when liberals could point to the United Kingdom as proof that weapons of tactical destruction aren’t needed by the authorities are long gone. Thank the IRA for relieving us of this pleasant fantasy.
R. Maheras
September 12, 2011 - 3:30 pm
Believe it or not, I worry less about gun proliferation than I do the proliferation of shoulder-fired missiles. If some loon starts shooting here on terra firma, I have a reasonable chance of escaping. Not so in the air against a random terrorist attack against an aircraft taking off or landing. As someone who worked on aircraft defensive systems for a dozen years, I am acutely aware of the danger surface-to-air missiles present.
It’s why when I fly and have a window seat (and I fly alot), in the back of my mind I almost always make at least one furtive glance at the ground below right after takeoff, or before landing, to see if there’s a tiny flash and the tell-tail contrail of an incoming SAM. Yeah, I realize the odds are greater the plane I’m on will get hit by a meteor, but, compared to 30 years ago, those long odds seem to be getting ever shorter. And if 20,000 SAMs did, indeed disappear from Libya, as at least one expert predicted, those odds will soon be reaching racetrack proportions.
Point of fact: In 1990, only a tiny handful of USAF cargo aircraft had defensive ECM systems. Now they all do. Why? Because combatant commanders know there are now more shoulder-fired missiles out there than ever.
It’s like I said to John… welcome to the 21st Century.
Mike Gold
September 13, 2011 - 6:03 am
My concern about gun proliferation pretty much only goes as far as those guns that wind up in the hands of people who aren’t using them for entertainment and self-protection. While this doesn’t seem to be a major thing percentage-wise, it’s certainly a problem. One that has no solution popping up in my pea-brain. As for the proliferation of shoulder-fired missiles, yep, that is a bigger concern.
My biggest concern by far — by FAR — is the proliferation of knowledge. Any 18 year old can take a short drive down Main Street Anytown stopping only at Home Depot, a big supermarket, a decently equipped convenience store, and maybe a gas station and within an hour acquire enough stuff to bring down Oklahoma City. However, and I cannot emphasize this enough, this has been true for more than four decades.
Well, we didn’t have the convenience of the big box stores back then, but fuel was a lot cheaper.
Bill Mulligan
September 13, 2011 - 12:06 pm
It’s even worse when you realize how anyone with a bit of knowledge and a basement can manufacture all manner of bio-agents. Kids are able to do recombinant DNA experiments in a high school AP Biology class. You would think that we would be dodging a 12 monkeys scenario every week…and yet we’re not.
I can only speculate that most of those who try end up poisoning themselves before they can do any harm. Good!
Rick Oliver
September 13, 2011 - 12:57 pm
The problem with the second amendment (and it’s not the first clause which is not a “secondary” clause; it’s a conditional clause. There’s a difference. But I digress) is that it doesn’t define “arms”. Ex-military friends say they define “arms” as anything you can carry in your arms, but the founders unfortunately did not foresee the immense firepower that one person can wield these days.
Mike Gold
September 13, 2011 - 1:41 pm
Sooooooooo, Rick… you mean to say James Madison couldn’t foresee the availability of hand-held tactical nuclear weapons? I thought our founding fathers were supposed to be visionaries.
I first made gunpowder when I was 12. Today’s 12 year olds can build suitcase bombs. Neither is at all hard to make. Full-blown nukes are a little bit tougher, but getting the materials ain’t all that hard. You need a smart kid to put it together; hopefully, one with a steady hand and no allergies.
John Tebbel
September 14, 2011 - 4:53 am
No thanks for the link and blather, crypto-conservatives. The vast majority of London policemen do not carry weapons. Fact. 21st Century fact. They don’t need them. Are there more this year than last? Yes. Is it a small fraction of the insane armament that, say, NYC has strapped on in the past decade? Yes. I don’t turn my facts to fit my issues, unlike y’all.
As fact pushers, you are a fine bunch of adrenaline addicts.
Mike Gold
September 14, 2011 - 5:48 am
John, I said gun use by the British police has increased. You agreed. Adrenaline addict? Sure, but not over British ordnance. Liberals can close their eyes real, real tight and swear to whatever hoary thunderer or cosmic muffin they desire, but when and if they open their eyes all the guns that were around yesterday will still be around tomorrow. And that’s a 21st Century fact.
Tell you what. Next time I see Arthur, I’ll teach him how to make a zip gun. And here’s your take-away: compared to what a 12 year old can put together on a rainy afternoon, George Metesky was a luddite.
Google chillun. Although I’m sure John won’t have to: he lives in the heart of Meteskyland.
George Haberberger
September 14, 2011 - 7:20 am
Wow, I made gunpowder when I was a kid too. Powdered charcoal, sulfur and saltpeter in the right proportions. I bought the sulfur and saltpeter at my local drugstore and crushed charcoal briquettes between two bricks. If you use too much sulfur it doesn’t burn as furiously and stinks pretty bad. So Mike, political differences aside, we have comics and blowing up stuff in common.
Mike Gold
September 14, 2011 - 7:30 am
George, the smell of all that sulfur remains to this day. And blowing up shit remains a perennial favorite.
Now if I could only understand why so many of us think Metesky was vaguely cool. Maybe because his keepers at the asylum liked him so much. And because he spent the last 20 years of his life in Waterbury CT as a harmless old man who still had a grudge against Commonwealth Edison but stopped making bombs. And because we thought Fun With Dick and Jane was the last watchable Jane Fonda / George Segal movie.
R. Maheras
September 14, 2011 - 1:55 pm
Never made gunpowder, but we always managed to find someone selling fireworks during summer vacation. I have no idea how many plastic models I blew up over the years, but it probably was quite a few.
Mike Gold
September 15, 2011 - 6:29 am
Model airplanes?
Real fireworks are illegal out here, so last spring I took Adriane to a place on the Michigan / Ohio border (we were in the neighborhood). It wasn’t a chain store like Phantom Fireworks — it was a concrete bunker at the end of a long gravel road. Awesome place. Video on every product. The clerk was a great guy with both a sense of humor and all his digits. We had a blast (sorry; it’s unavoidable). Adriane was thrilled.
Yep, like father like daughter.