The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same

Today is 9/11/09. Eight years after the "9/11 attacks" on our country. I posed a question today on Facebook, "Remembering vividly where I was/what I was doing 8 years ago today. We live in a different world today... more hatred and vitriol. Is that just my perception?".

The responses came from every perspective, from "There is far more hatred and vitriol....instead of coming together and being grateful for what we have" to " I don't think there is any more hatred today. We just live in a world of communication where everything is magnified" to "I agree that our world is different today as a result, but I don't know if it's more hatred and vitriol or if we just tried to hide it better before. Now we can be more open about it and use 9/11 or patriotism as our defense for our hateful actions to each other. It's a shameful way to remember what happened and mourn those who died."

And on and on. Regardless, the consensus was that we're not seeing the camaraderie that we thought might be the only positive outcome of that day. If anything, we're a country more divided than we were before 8:46am ET on 9/11/01, and we're in a whole lot more pain.

In the years following 9/11/01, the then-president chose to use those events to advance his agenda, lie us into a war which cost the lives of thousands more US citizens than we lost on that fateful day, and take down our economy along the way.

In the first hour of tonight's show, we'll deal with 9/11--eight years later. Your calls on how things have changed -if indeed they have -- are welcome at 866-303-2270.

I'll also be joined by Ted Walter, executive director of NYC Coalition for Answers Now, who are working to get a ballot initiative in November calling for a new, impartial investigation into what actually happened on 9/11. He'll give us an update on what happened in court yesterday, and talk about what we've learned since the 9/11 Commission Report.

Even though we all know that Bush 43 was a despicable liar, no one would ever have the gall to treat him in the manner President Obama is being mistreated.

If you were to go back through my blog entries in the days and weeks leading up to election day, I believe you'd find a link to this scene from Blazing Saddles. It was the topic of endless discussions on my then-morning show in Miami, even before Obama was the nominee. I asked it then... when will someone just come out and say "The Sheriff is a Ni---"?


I've been waiting for someone else to say it... and though none of the asshole cowards at Faux News or their counterparts who got elected to Congress by preaching hate and bigotry have said it (publicly, anyway), an astute blogger did.

He writes a Daily Kos diary under the nom de plume of Ministry of Truth, (and also at progressiveelectorate.com and docudharma.com)... and it was his post entitled "Just call him a N!&&ER and get it over with. We ALL KNOW that's what you mean" that made me reach out and invite him on the show. MoT or Winston Smith hasn't divulged his real name on his blog. I'll leave it up to him to decide whether or not to out himself tonight, when he joins me in hour 2.

Listen live by clicking here, and join in the live chat here. And, of course, the lines are open from 11pm-1am ET tonight at 866-303-2270.