Ward on Words

An impossibility becomes possible; it has been a decade since 9/11/01, the day that shook our world. Ten years have passed since the planes pierced the Twin Towers in Manhattan. Ten years since the Pentagon was hit. Ten years since ordinary people wrestled with mad men flying a plane over a field in Pennsylvania.                                                Photo credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images from 092021 WSJ story      No one who was alive that day will forget it. I will never forget it. On that September day, ten years ago, the sky over Chicago was as bright a blue as the sky seen in New York. Bright, cloudless, breathtakingly blue. A sky and a day full of the beauty of autumn. But halfway across the continent, planes like bombs flew into the towers. Red and black flames licked the white buildings. The towers co...

The first decade of the new millennium is the "lost decade" for America, the one where we lost a surplus, gained a massive deficit, declared two wars with no intention of funding them, rounded up the usual suspects in those wars and set them to rot without charges in Gitmo for an undetermined amount of time, and threw in some VP-sanctioned torture as an add-on to the new millennial approach to national security. It was a decade that began with all the drama of the hanging chad, a hotly contested presidential election teetering on the decision of Florida voters, a state led by the brother of one of the presidential candidates. We finally came to decide the next president of the United States based on the opinions of the nine justices of the US Supreme Court. The brother of the Florida governor won. When it comes to allegations of rigging a presidential election, the Daleys of Chicago have got nothing of the Bushes of America. The transition of power happened peacefull...

Today, May 21 2009, we had the unprecedented experience of having two very powerful Americans talk very publicly about their views on the use of torture in keeping America safe. Think about it. At this moment in our history, with the economy in the toilet and our troops deployed in two wars, we're talking about whether or not the United States should continue to torture prisoners of war. We talked about whether we should waterboard enemy combatants. Throw men against the wall in an effort to make them talk. Use state-sanctioned torture to protect the interests of America. President Obama spoke today on the subject of national security at the National Archives. This is where the U.S. Constitution lives. Where the original Declaration of Independence can be found. This is home for the documents that outlined the attempts of a new country to govern in a new way - democratically. Our president spoke at that place on this day to inform the nation of the reasons why w...