·CIA asks London City regulators to inspect short-selling of airline and insurance stocks, pre-attack.
·Bush wants Bin Laden “Dead or Alive” and preps Americans for war casualties.
·Taliban senior cleric calls for restoration of the jihad against America.
·Chirac and Blair on their way to U.S. in show of solidarity.
·Pakistan faces internal revolt against support for U.S. anti-Bin-Laden policies.
·Travel industry in major trouble after crisis.
·Defensive action: Stock market slowly rises after yesterday’s fall.
·When Americans are worried, they buy TV’s and guns. [wsj]
·Possible national security defenses brought down to personal levels, setting stage for debate of freedom versus safety.
·An interview with Joe Gillespie, the creator of Mini 7 and other screen fonts.
·Terrorism expert speculates on 21st century warfare.

The Day After the World Trade Center Died
Rosecrans
There is a palpable sadness in Brooklyn today, seen in how people walk, then stop, as if they've just forgotten something, how they gather on street corners to talk, in those who cry on the sidewalk and the faces of the old people in my neighborhood who look up when the roar of jet planes starts again.

I'm not sure how many times I've cried since yesterday morning; there was the minute I saw the South Tower collapse and friends around me screamed or stayed eerily silent; yesterday afternoon at the Eastern end of the Williamsburg Bridge where a group of Hasidic Jews were handing out cups of water for the hundreds of people streaming from Manhattan; last night when I saw my girlfriend and later when I talked to my dad on the phone; today when I talked to a local firefighter on the street and he started welling up as he described the men they'd found and, worse, the ones who were still buried; and only a half hour ago as Governor Pataki spoke on the television. The last time I cried this much was when I was sixteen and my girlfriend at the time was about to run away, to somewhere she wouldn't tell me, and I thought my whole world was falling in.

And I'm one of the lucky ones. The people I know who may or may not have been injured are all at least two degrees away from immediate relationships; they're the friends of friends, the friends of my parents, the colleagues and lovers of people at work. My girlfriend and I, holed away in Williamsburg, feel immune until we walk outside where the air smells differently, sharp somehow, and there's still the massive body of smoke over the East River, moving its way uptown and over to Brooklyn.

I saw Andy late last night and we sat outside his apartment for a while, barely speaking until I said "I feel like we're living in a war zone." "We are," he said. And he was right; we all felt threatened and confused by forces we didn't understand. We worried that if these two pillars of the downtown skyline were vulnerable, then what protection could we possibly have? We're still worried.

My girlfriend and I started cleaning our apartment today, a task long overdue. This feels good. I've signed up to give blood, I've gone and thanked my local fire department, I've given money to the Red Cross. It makes me feel like I'm doing something. We all lost a lot, some greatly more than others, but very few lost nothing. We had order before and now we have something different, not disorder but a tenuous peace; one, I'm sure, that will be disrupted shortly.

I've received e-mails and phone calls from people around the world, from a friend in England who tried calling this morning for two hours until he got through, from friends in France and Michigan, New Jersey and Maine. No matter how light the relationship had once seemed, each note of correspondence has assumed a special gravity. We want to talk to everyone we know if only to build the first level of reassurance, to know that those things that mattered most are still in place. As one friend in Chicago wrote, "All I could think to do is to squeeze my wife and my children." Sadly, there are many here who couldn't do the same.

Whatever response comes from this tragedy, it will only be good in its estimated measure to prevent yesterday from happening again. More people will be hurt, more lives damaged, and no matter who deserves what, there will always be those who suffer by doing nothing more than living near a target. There are lots of things to think about, and even more things to feel, but I've found a joy, for now, in the smallest intangibles, the friends and family I have, the woman I love. For now, it seems enough that I have these, and I wonder how in the world I accumulated all the other parts of my life. Everything, now, has changed.

Andrew
I live in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and I work in Manhattan. While getting ready to leave for work yesterday morning, I turned on the television and saw images of the first attack, when newscasters were still calling it an accident. In fact, when I first saw the images I thought it was an accident at an area airport. When I found out what was actually happening, I called my girlfriend, who had already gone to work in midtown Manhattan, to find out what she knew.

She and her co-workers were listening to radio reports of the event. She said she hadn't seen any pictures because all the major news sites were clogged with traffic; she asked that I go up to the roof to get some photos to send her. Understandably, she truly needed to know how serious all of this was.

While heading out the door to go up to the roof, the second plane hit. I reached the roof and saw the faint flames and the dark smoke, and I heard emergency vehicle sirens blaring from all around--even in Brooklyn. I took a few photos and then started to look around me--at all the other roofs in my neighborhood--and realized that I was surrounded by my neighbors, who were watching the destruction and were obviously terribly shaken, just as I was.

Many of us made eye contact and stared at each other, for just a moment.

I went back downstairs to call my girlfriend and couldn't get a dial tone. While trying to contact her, either by phone or e-mail, two neighborhood friends rang my door. They came inside and we watched the news unfold, in utter disbelief.

At about 11.30AM we went to Bedford Avenue to find something to eat. All of the people in the neighborhood were visibly stunned, except for one man, obviously drunk (and drinking a beer out of a paper bag), who was yelling a string of obscenities and threats at a young woman of Arabic descent. His feelings were apparently unshared by anyone in the vicinity, and his comments subsided as his full drunkenness, apparently, set in.

While on Bedford I ran into many of my good friends from the area, and two very good friends from California. Looks of distress, worry, and helplessness were all around. People mostly asked very simple, direct questions--"How?" "Why?" Nobody went berserk, nobody went crazy. Everybody seemed, very simply, deeply concerned.

I spent the rest of the day trying to get in touch with family and friends to make sure they were alright. By one person telling me who they'd spoken with, and by exchanging with them the list of people I'd spoken to, we were able to track down everyone we knew in a relatively short period of time. We were very lucky.

I went back home and my girlfriend called to tell me that she would try walking back to Williamsburg. She wanted to know what information I'd heard regarding bridge and tunnel closings. I had none. As soon as we hung up I saw on television that the Williamsburg Bridge was closed in both directions.

She walked from 37th Street and Seventh Avenue in Manhattan to the Manhattan Bridge (hearing the Williamsburg Bridge was closed), stopping at Union Square to see if the L subway line was running. Finding that bridge closed as well, and hearing that the L was back up again, she walked to Union Square and, finding that station closed, walked to Third Avenue, where she caught the train home.

I spent that time and the rest of the day watching the television reports as they rolled in.

Bill
My home still smells of jet fuel, two days later. This morning, I looked out my window, as I have countless times before, towards Manhattan, and saw a steaming cloud where once the World Trade Center used to stand. My home is still sooty, smelling of jet fuel, two days into this New America.

Tuesday morning as I traveled on the bus from Red Hook (which is a neighborhood in Brooklyn) towards Manhattan, innumerable slips of paper fell from the sky. We didn't know it but an airplane had just slammed into the North Tower. Looking up and towards the island, we noticed a fire on the WTC, and we all stopped moving, talking or reading, and stared at the destruction. There is no preparation for this. As we watched, silent, we heard over the bus PA system, "Due to an emergency at the World Trade Towers, all Manhattan busses are stopping at Houston Street, or Canal." Still, we had no idea as to what was occurring.

After departing the bus, I made my way down Smith Street, toward the F train, to begin the second leg of my commute. Looking up, seeing the fire burning, I called my roommate at home to tell him that he may want to rethink his route to work, knowing that the A train, which he rides, travels directly under the WTC. In retrospect, this is awfully petty. As we were on the phone, he saw the second plane bisect the South Tower. Our conversation turned into a canyon of silence. I descended into the F train station.

Sea of people streaming out and in and back and forth panic terror misery retribution leading to death begetting more anger jesus save us oh as I walk through the valley of the shadow of death smell the fire see the tears of anguish touch the debris feel confusion confused how how disconnected no contact call call call call crying out no response under terror confusion catharsis calm calm calm calm.

Leaving Manhattan, towards Brooklyn, walking across the Manhattan Bridge watching the tug boats as ersatz ferries crowded with people, reminded of early pictures of NYC, before the Brooklyn Bridge. So surreal.

Onto Atlantic avenue, one of the busiest streets in Brooklyn. Quiet. No activity, no sound no thought, movement only to return to homes. Into friend’s apartment, watching CNN, trying to make sense.

Later, night, onto Atlantic avenue, masks for the people walking, soot descending like snow, a terrible Christmas. So quiet, no traffic. So eerily quiet.

Into Red Hook, directly across from WTC on East River. Cars covered in fine white ash, piling up, surreal landscape of police in riot gear, shields to protect clubs to damage confusion.

Home. Home. Home.

Smell of fuel and burning permeates throughout. Soot in house, smoking cigarette looking out window, onto roof, seeing smoking crater. Looking at roommate, no talking, looking only for reassurance, tears, brushed away for resolve. Turn off TV, leave, walk anywhere not wanting to stop.

Sleep. Dreamless. In and out of consciousness. Headache, skin oily sheen from burning jet fuel,

Awake, a new day.

As I woke and looked out the window, things grew slowly again into focus, and I became aware of the destruction, and the loss. I am one of the lucky ones, at least I am here today to write my thoughts, whereas so many are not. Thinking of all the Fire Fighters, running into a burning building to save, losing their lives. The Police, the same. So many people lost, and no idea why. Violence, destruction, for what cause? This cannot end well. I am awaiting the reprisal of the U.S. war machine, and frankly, I am scared. I have been listening to conversations, and so many people are calling for us to just "Bomb some country back to the Stone Age." I am worried that we will. And I do not know how that will fix anything. The loss of so many lives on Tuesday, and I wonder how many more have to be lost before we as a country feel as if we are cleansed, and our national nightmare is over.

I am worried about the hawkish nature of our current administration, and I hope that they proceed with patience, and not with retribution.

I think that we must understand the systemic reasons for terrorism, and devote resources towards combating it on a meta level, and not just towards the military to eradicate these people.

Violence begets more violence, and while I think that we will have to use the military against these aggressors unknown, I hope that the administration will not think that the military is the only solution in the war against terrorism. I remind the government that our funds and our training made these people, and that perhaps it is time to rethink such institutions as the School of the Americas.

We as a country will emerge from this crisis. What remains to be seen however, is how policy will be affected so that we can assure that an atrocity like this will never again happen anywhere.

Finally, to anyone who is reading who may have lost someone in the WTC, or at the Pentagon, my thoughts are with you.
andrew | 9/12/2001 05:19:38 PM

For Reference News
Make sure that, when you're not sure, you refer to a map.
andrew | 9/18/2001 01:34:02 PM

A Step Towards Good News
Israel pulls back forces.

The Israeli military is to withdraw from all areas under exclusive Palestinian military and civil control.

The BBC correspondent in Jerusalem says this amounts to a pullback of a few hundred metres, but the move is a hugely symbolic step designed to show Israeli goodwill.

Israel's army earlier said it would suspend all "offensive operations" against the Palestinians.

ed. CNN also reports that

[Palestinian leader Yasser] Arafat ordered his security commanders not to fire on Israeli targets even when under fire from Israeli forces -- the first time he had told his police officers not to shoot back in self-defense if attacked.

--Andrew
rosecrans | 9/18/2001 12:56:30 PM

A Week of Policies, Reporting, and Rhetoric, Distilled News
Cowboy boots are for people who ride horses, not people who run governments.
rosecrans | 9/18/2001 11:11:13 AM

Wistful Redesign News
After years of JavaScript runtime errors, on-again/off-again DHTML menus, and--once, for a week or so--a missing site: NME.com has redesigned.

And now, in these years to come, we will be able to stretch out and reach--without fear of not touching--our precious British indie music reviews.

Cracking good.
andrew | 9/18/2001 10:13:25 AM

Design Splendor News
Peter Saville and Nick Knight's beautiful, amazing SHOWstudio has released its Autumn/Winter 2001-02 edition.
andrew | 9/17/2001 03:27:21 PM

People We Like News
We are pleased to announce a new person we like, Alain de Botton, the author of How Proust Can Change Your Life: Not a Novel and The Romantic Movement : Sex, Shopping and the Novel, among other works. Scroll down, on the right.
rosecrans | 9/17/2001 02:44:52 PM

Which Steps Ahead News
Gary Kamiya, "The bloody Jordan river now flows through America"

It is legitimate to ask whether shifting America's Mideast policy, in the aftermath of a horrific terrorist attack, would not signal to terrorists that they had won. The answer is no. This is not appeasement, nor a surrender to our enemies. Moving toward a just resolution of the Middle East crisis, one that preserves Israel's security while providing a nation for the Palestinians, is simply the right thing to do -- as it was before Black Tuesday, and as it will be after we hunt down and bring to justice the evil men who made a cold-blooded decision to kill thousands of innocent people. The difference is that after Tuesday, doing the right thing has acquired a different urgency.

Thanks to Oliver for the link.
rosecrans | 9/17/2001 02:23:22 PM

Looking Very Closely News
A brilliant piece from UCLA law professor Khaled Abou El Fadl, "What Became of Tolerance in Islam?", that looks at classical versus modern Islam:

In Islamic law, terrorism (hirabah) is considered cowardly, predatory and a grand sin punishable by death. Classical Islamic law explicitly prohibits the taking or slaying of hostages or diplomats even in retaliation against unlawful acts by the enemy. Furthermore, it prohibits stealth or indiscriminate attacks against enemies, Muslim or non-Muslim. One can even say that classical jurists considered such acts to be contrary to the ethics of Arab chivalry and therefore fundamentally cowardly.

Thanks to Chris for the link.
andrew | 9/17/2001 01:28:44 PM

Site Issues News
The 403 error has been fixed. We were having transient errors with our hosting company.
bill | 9/17/2001 01:13:25 PM

Another American News
Anthony C. LoBaido's "Judgment Day in Mystery Babylon"

Is New York the head of the "Great Satan"? All that is evil in the world can be found in New York: MTV, the United Nations, the U.N. abortion programs, the Council on Foreign Relations, New Age Church of St. John the Divine, Wall Street greed, Madison Avenue manipulation and of course more confirmed AIDS cases than the rest of America combined. Let's remember the filthy sodomite gay parade last summer in New York. Let's remember all the New York politicians falling all over themselves to praise this sick spectacle.

And let's not forget that New Yorkers elected -- by a landslide -- the openly Marxist, treasonous and abortion-mongering, occultic Hillary to a Senate seat. All while fully knowing what she was all about.

In response, let me say that I love much of Madison Avenue, most New Age shops, as long as they sell crystal dragons, St. John the Divine and its beautiful windows, MTV when it's on someone else's television, and all the filthy sodomites, including, and especially, Hillary Clinton.
rosecrans | 9/17/2001 11:06:09 AM

Understanding News
Amidst increasing incidents of hate crimes there is understanding:

On Sunday, the Islamic Society of Denton in Texas, which suffered only minor damage by the Molotov cocktail attack last week, held a prayer vigil. Joining the Muslim prayer were the city mayor and 15 other church groups. "It is a gathering of peace, prayer and friendship. Baptist, Catholic, Presbyterian..." Irfan Ali, a member of the mosque, said, trailing off.

The day before, the mosque received a gift from the student body of the University of North Texas: 50 posters with greetings, flowers, condolences and prayers. The student body president had delivered it in person, Ali said.

andrew | 9/17/2001 11:00:21 AM

Links of Note News
David Ignatius, "Penetrating Terrorist Networks"

A second lesson is that there aren't many quick fixes in the spy world. Relationships of trust take months and sometimes years to develop. America's allies may be better placed to develop these relationships than the CIA. That's part of why friendships with moderate Arab regimes remain so important; they provide the intelligence liaison that the CIA feeds on.

Ely Karmon, "The Bombing of the USS Cole"

As with most of the major terrorist attacks or attempted attacks against American interests in the last two years, the main suspect in attack on the USS Cole on October 12 is Osama bin Laden and his worldwide network, known today under the name of al-Qaida.

Simpleton's old, but very funny account of a yuppie yard sale.
rosecrans | 9/17/2001 10:50:33 AM

A City's Conversations News
The New Yorker has published it's "Talk of the Town" section from the week after the bombing on Pearl Harbor.

Each man was pretty much alone with his thoughts last week, turned inward, considering things privately. The man we met for lunch was preoccupied, adjusting his life to a new set of conditions, not yet completely understood. In their offices, on the street, at home, people met and talked as they always had, but they thought separately. Everybody exchanged military opinions based on what little information there was (it was a lovely season for clich?s and false premises), but no one was very attentive, each busy with his own need to grasp the real dimensions of what had happened, to define his own relation to it.

rosecrans | 9/15/2001 07:16:58 PM

Event Resources News
Two sites of note: What we saw allows you to share your experience with others through the power of Blogger. LexisNexis is giving out information for free concerning the Attack on America.
rosecrans | 9/15/2001 06:53:48 PM

Confusion Says News
I think I am very confused right now. I'm listening to Ravel's "Works for Piano, Violin, and Cello" which is very confusing music. You never know where it's going, and then it just takes off! This morning, I saw a friend on the street and called out to him. Instead of him, another friend answered, and then I saw five other people I knew, and had just seen last night at a party. They were all on their way to brunch and I had a hard time, I guess, recognizing everyone. It just seemed so strange that so many people I knew would be right outside my apartment.

In the grocery store, I couldn't tell if I was supposed to bag the groceries or pay for them, or just stand there and watch as other people did the jobs for me. Later, when my girlfriend and I were putting the groceries away she noticed that I was just standing there, staring off, and told me that I could put away the cookies and crackers while she put the perishables in the fridge. Of course I could. It just never occurred to me. This is all very weird. Someone drove by a little while ago blasting "Born in the USA" out of their car; I started laughing, hysterically, and my girlfriend almost spat out her water. Then we felt bad.

I feel like the narrator from a Haruki Murakami book and some woman with strange ears is going to walk into my apartment and tell me my girlfriend is an elephant. It doesn't help that I'm reading the new Murakami story in Harper's.
rosecrans | 9/15/2001 03:16:08 PM

Highly Recommended
Learn who Osama bin Laden is.

Read News from Israel in the Jerusalem Post.

Read the Palestine Daily.

Read Ha'aretz.

Learn what life in Afghanistan may actually be like.

Destroy racism.
andrew | 9/15/2001 02:16:29 PM

What I've Learned
Sadly, not much. I spent yesterday afternoon, as seen by my link progress below, reading as much as I could (and there were many things I read that I didn't feel like linking: columns too short-sighted or venemous, or simply repetitive, academic papers too difficult and contextual to process) about the backdrop to our national tragedy. I received lots of e-mails with recommendations for what to read and I appreciate every one. I couldn't stop reading: I was never anxious, short of attention, or bored. I felt like Larry, in Maugham's The Razor's Edge, reading the entire day away in a Chicago library. I still can't stop; it's 1:08 pm right now and the last time I checked the clock it was ten-something. This morning, though, I got an e-mail asking what I'd learned so far, and I figured I could take stock for a moment.

I repeat: very, very little. I've mostly studied, so far, modern Afghani history and the U.S. (and Saudi and Pakistani) involvement in its evolution. The only thing I'm pretty sure of is that a nuclear assault on Afghanistan will not prevent a similar attack in the future. I hope that such a motion is unlikely, but given today's news in which Bush, in broad terms, declares war on someone, and Powell's recent comments that all manners of force will be considered, we have to think of all scenarios. Why do I think a "paving" or "flattening" of Afghanistan is a bad idea? Because it is not Afghanistan that we are against; it is the occupying power of Afghanistan, the Taliban (or Taleban), that has become our visible foe, a power that is forcibly against its own citizens. A nuclear annihilation of Afghanistan, as far as I can tell, will not ensure that all terrorists that have supported the WTC-razing will be wiped out or cut-off. For all we know, it will make them stronger. But then again, the U.S. might drop one bomb there and one bomb somewhere else.

I have a strong feeling that we will go to war against Afghanistan, because it is the home of the Taliban, no matter how long that group has occupied and ruled the country (for further details on this, read throgh the links I listed in my note from yesterday). I am neither for nor against this action; I can't make a decision right now. I'm still too involved with the immediate devastation to be thinking clearly. How some people can declare holy war disgusts me. I had dinner last night with my parents and the conversation was mostly political. My dad has a friend who's an international managing editor for a major weekly magazine and he said that we're in a stage of fueling right now, that the first step is to make the plan, the second to execute the plan and line up one's allies so they can begin their roles, and the third to fuel the plan, that is, to begin moving troops and hardware towards the target. The step after that is pretty obvious.

Saddam Hussein sent a letter to America today, describing the attacks against the WTC and Pentagon as "evil" but also burning most of his ink to remind us that we had it coming, that we have acted before with might instead of wisdom, and that the violence against us is now deserved. His vehemence and self-righteousness is not unlike people on our side who believe, absolutely, that they are right and just in the advocacy of killing. But, they probably have a lot of reasons for wanting blood. And in many ways, I don't blame them. What if my family was on the missing list? How would I feel? I can't even imagine.

I received an e-mail yesterday from a guy I went to high school with who asked that I be quiet if I disagree with American policy at this significant time. He said that we can either be for our country or against; that there is no space now for critical thought applied against the given direction. I consider myself a great lover of this country and I feel, very strongly, that he is wrong, that now is a very important time to think for yourself, to consider the effects of what you say, to be mindful of emotional impulses as well as rational ones, to weigh the arguments. He might say that at a time of war, if you think too much you'll be killed when you have to make a decision. I might say, I haven't been drafted, yet.

It's a beautiful day outside and I'm still here, reading, thinking, looking for clues and stories. Again, let me know of anything you think I should read.

rosecrans | 9/15/2001 01:05:19 PM

Sad Search News
Another reason -- besides its frequent publishing of bad prose -- to re-consider The New York Review of Books, found in the following message from its Search Results page:

Sorry, no matches were found for What America Has Done Well

Could the conservative rumors be true? Of course, I could always try a search for "What America Should Apologize For" in the New York Post.
rosecrans | 9/14/2001 03:04:35 PM

What I'm Reading Right Now
"Blowback" by Mary Anne Weaver (5/96)

"Even today you can sit at the Khyber Pass and see every color, every creed, every nationality, pass," a Western diplomat told me in Peshawar last spring. "These groups, in their wildest imagination, never would have met if there had been no jihad. For a Moro to get a Sting missile! To make contacts with Islamists from North Africa! The United States created a Moscow Central in Peshawar for these groups, and the consequences for all of us are astronomical."

"The Lawless Frontier" by Robert D. Kaplan (9/00)

Just as the media's fascination with Poland, Hungary, and the rest of Central Europe after the collapse of the Berlin Wall obscured for a time the dissolution that had already begun in Yugoslavia, the current consternation over the extremist government in Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden, and the fighting in Kashmir obscures the core issue of South Asia: the institutional meltdown of Pakistan. And as was true of Yugoslavia, it is the bewildering complexity of ethnic and religious divisions that makes Pakistan so fragile.

"Commission warned Bush" by Jake Tapper (9/12/01)

In his April 3 testimony, Hart noted that "the prospect of mass casualty terrorism on American soil is growing sharply. That is because the will to terrorism and the ways to perpetrate it are proliferating and merging. We believe that, over the next quarter century, this danger will be one of the most difficult national security challenges facing the United States -- and the one we are least prepared to address." He urgently described the need for better human intelligence and not just electronic intelligence, "especially on terrorist groups covertly supported by states."

"Blinded by scandal" by Arianna Huffington (9/13/01)

Hindsight is always 20/20. But we'll forever wonder: Would the World Trade Center still be standing today if the Hart-Rudman report had been spotlit instead of swept under the Gary Condit rug?

"Palestinians Under Siege" by Edward Said (12/14/00)

To begin with, some facts. In 1948 Israel took over most of what was historical or Mandatory Palestine, destroying and depopulating 531 Arab villages in the process. Two thirds of the population were driven out: they are the four million refugees of today. The West Bank and Gaza, however, went to Jordan and Egypt respectively. Both were subsequently lost to Israel in 1967 and remain under its control to this day, except for a few areas that operate under a highly circumscribed Palestinian 'autonomy' - the size and contours of these areas was decided unilaterally by Israel, as the Oslo process specifies. Few people realise that even under the terms of Oslo, the Palestinian areas that have this autonomy or self-rule do not enjoy sovereignty: that can only be decided as part of the Final Status Negotiations. In other words, Israel took 78 per cent of Palestine in 1948 and the remaining 22 per cent in 1967. Only that 22 per cent is in question now, and it excludes West Jerusalem (of 19,000 dunams there, Jews owned 4830 and Arabs 11,190, the rest was state land), all of which Arafat conceded in advance to Israel at Camp David.

"The Issue is Radical Islam" by Fred Siegel (9/14/01)

For all their grievances against America, there have been no Cuban, Vietnamese or Serbian suicide bombers bringing death to our shores, and their people haven't been celebrating in the streets at the sight of American blood. America, not Israel, is The Great Satan. It was hard to acknowledge before the World trade Center attacks, but radical Islam has been at war with us for a long time.

"The Next Attack" from the Op-Ed page of the Wall Street Journal (9/14/01)

The President's plan for missile defense ought to go forward with all speed. It's a realistic blueprint to develop and deploy a layered defense against ballistic missiles in all three phases of their trajectory--boost, mid-course and terminal--and builds on promising research and already-deployed theater missile technology. If anything, and in Tuesday's wake, it may be too modest.

"A Quick Reaction to the Attack on America" by Noam Chomsky (9/12/01)

As to how to react, we have a choice. We can express justified horror; we can seek to understand what may have led to the crimes, which means making an effort to enter the minds of the likely perpetrators. If we choose the latter course, we can do no better, I think, than to listen to the words of Robert Fisk, whose direct knowledge and insight into affairs of the region is unmatched after many years of distinguished reporting. Describing "The wickedness and awesome cruelty of a crushed and humiliated people," he writes that "this is not the war of democracy versus terror that the world will be asked to believe in the coming days. It is also about American missiles smashing into Palestinian homes and US helicopters firing missiles into a Lebanese ambulance in 1996 and American shells crashing into a village called Qana and about a Lebanese militia -- paid and uniformed by America's Israeli ally -- hacking and raping and murdering their way through refugee camps." And much more. Again, we have a choice: we may try to understand, or refuse to do so, contributing to the likelihood that much worse lies ahead.

"They can't see why they are hated" by Seumas Milne (9/13/01)

As Mahatma Gandhi famously remarked when asked his opinion of western civilisation, it would be a good idea. Since George Bush's father inaugurated his new world order a decade ago, the US, supported by its British ally, bestrides the world like a colossus. Unconstrained by any superpower rival or system of global governance, the US giant has rewritten the global financial and trading system in its own interest; ripped up a string of treaties it finds inconvenient; sent troops to every corner of the globe; bombed Afghanistan, Sudan, Yugoslavia and Iraq without troubling the United Nations; maintained a string of murderous embargos against recalcitrant regimes; and recklessly thrown its weight behind Israel's 34-year illegal military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza as the Palestinian intifada rages.

"Giving up Bin Laden could destroy the Taliban" by Kathy Gannon (9/14/01)

If the Taliban surrendered bin Laden to the United States, the foreign militants and assistance from like-minded Islamists could evaporate, further isolating war-ruined Afghanistan. But continuing to protect bin Laden could prompt a military attack by US-led forces determined to punish the suspected terrorist mastermind for the deadly attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon in Washington.

"The Cost of an Afghan 'Victory'" by Dilip Hiro (2/15/99)

A decade after the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, the mood among US and Saudi decision makers has turned from quiet satisfaction to perplexed handwringing. In the words of Richard Murphy, the Assistant Secretary of State for the Near East and South Asia during the two Reagan administrations, "We did spawn a monster in Afghanistan." The "monster" of violent Islamic fundamentalism has now grown tentacles that extend from western China to Algeria to the east coast of America, and its reach is not likely to diminish without a great deal of the United States' money, time and patience, along with the full cooperation of foreign governments.

Let me know if there's something else I should read.
rosecrans | 9/14/2001 01:13:43 PM

Here in Brooklyn News
It's cold and rainy outside right now, bad signs for a relief effort that is time-sensitive. Apparently they're using bucket-chains to bail out the crash area. I'm already worrying that people who live outside New York or D.C. or Pittsburgh will begin to forget what's happened, about all the lives that are gone and the effect their absence has. We will go to war in some form very soon; we will have increased security on the streets; our economy will suffer, re-build, and continue its recession. But in three months from now, when there's still suffering, mess, and the potential for danger, will we have changed permanently or will this be forgotten? I think this is going to stay imprinted on New Yorkers' memories for a long time, but I worry about the rest of the country.

I'm staying home today from work and my plan is to read as much as possible about the situation, the groups involved, every potential reaction, and what led to this event. We need to be well-informed right now.
rosecrans | 9/14/2001 09:52:29 AM

More Later News
Union Square has received 5 bomb threats so far today and we're being sent home (the office is three blocks away).
rosecrans | 9/13/2001 02:39:56 PM

Notes of Revision News
In all the different things I wrote yesterday (and the day before), I remembered this note I'd meant to post:

I'd just heard about the second plane crash when a woman approached me on the street, wearing pins for Vallone (one of the mayoral candidates), and asked me if I was voting for Vallone.

"No," I said, "I'm voting for Ferrer."

"Yeah, well, good luck." She started walking away as I asked her if she could give me a reason to vote for Vallone.

"Well, sure, you see, he worked for Giuliani, I mean, he did, but he's no Giuliani. I mean, look at this," she said, pointing down Park Avenue to the massive cloud, "This is a perfect symbol for how Giuliani failed New York. He failed us because he couldn't stop this. Because he didn't build a radar - "

"Are you blaming Giuliani," I interrupted, "for the plane crashes?"

"Well, he could have built a radar..."

I don't remember what else she said. I have the card for Vallone sitting on my desk. Another note: I was trying to read two days ago to distract myself from the news and I picked up one of my favorite books, Lunch Poems, by Frank O'Hara. O'Hara is an incredible poet, pivotal in the New York School, and a former curator of MOMA. He has a poem, "The Day Lady Died," about the death of Billie Holliday which I never really understood (or, more truthful, I'd never really felt). Yesterday, somehow, with the times, the places, and the crushing ending, it made sense.

It is 12:20 in New York a Friday
three days after Bastille Day, yes
it is 1959, and I go get a shoeshine
because I will get off the 4:19 in East Hampton
at 7:15 and then go straight to dinner
and I don't know the people who will feed me
I walk up the muggy street beginning to sun
and have a hamburger and a malted and buy
an ugly NEW WORLD WRITING to see what the poets
in Ghana are doing these days
I go on to the bank
and Miss Stillwagon (first name Linda I once heard)
doesn't even look up my balance for once in her life
and in the GOLDEN GRIFFIN I get a little Verlaine
for Patsy with drawings by Bonnard although I do
think of Hesiod, trans. Richmond Lattimore or
Brendan Behan's new play or Le Balcon or Les Nègres
of Genet, but I don't, I stick with Verlaine
after practically going to sleep with quandariness
and for Mike I just stroll into the PARK LANE
Liquor Store and ask for a bottle of Strega, and
then I go back where I came from to 6th Avenue
and the tobacconist in the Ziegfeld Theatere and
casually ask for a carton of Gauloises and a carton
of Picayunes, and a NEW YORK POST with her face on it
and I am sweating a lot by now and thinking of
leaning on the john door in the 5 SPOT
while she whispered a song along the keyboard
to Mal Waldron and everyone and I stopped breathing.

rosecrans | 9/13/2001 01:00:11 PM

Editorial News
Bill has added his comments to our Editorial section.
rosecrans | 9/13/2001 12:25:59 PM

News
As I don't have time to post a lot of links, check out World New York for a wealth of stories, resources, and sites.
rosecrans | 9/13/2001 12:08:31 PM

Tech Support Needed
The NYC Red Cross needs tech support. Find out how you or your company can help.
rosecrans | 9/13/2001 11:38:09 AM

Manhattan News
I can't tell you how sad it is to walk up from Union Square, see the whole length of 14th Street locked off from traffic, the same cloud of smoke I saw above Broadway two days ago still in position, hear the same sirens every few minutes, and then to come to work and look at this stupid Web site and see how much we love this city, from the guide we wrote to the site of the week this week, all of these things based on a place that still lives around me but in such a different way.
rosecrans | 9/13/2001 10:33:54 AM

How We Feel News
We are all safe and sound. Thanks to everyone who checked in on us. The editorials that were previously posted have been moved to the Editorial column, scroll down on the right. The page that we posted yesterday can still be found here. The links we had are:

· New York Area Blood Donation Centers
· American Red Cross
· Helping.org
· United Way New York
· Amazon.com Red Cross Donations
· Relief Fund for Fire Fighters & EMS

There is also a relief fund established by the city for the families of rescue workers (police, fire, ems, etc.) that you can donate to by sending a check (made out to NYCPPI):

NYCPPI
The City of New York
100 Church Street, 20th Floor
New York, New York 10007

rosecrans | 9/13/2001 10:30:02 AM

Help News
Because of today's tragedy, "New York Blood Center has announced a blood emergency for the greater New York/New Jersey metropolitan area."

Please call 800 933 2566 to find the nearest donation center or visit the New York Blood Center site.

Thanks to Design is Kinky for the link.
andrew | 9/11/2001 09:11:48 PM

Terrorism News
Report terrorist activity information to the FBI here.
andrew | 9/11/2001 08:52:23 PM

More News
Jay Boucher has photos from Hoboken.
andrew | 9/11/2001 03:02:06 PM

UNITED STATES ATTACKED News
Update: The entire left tower of the WTC just collapsed. I saw it from the roof of my office, the glass and cement flying out, the smoke rising up in huge volumes. However many stories completely gone. Anyone in them gone.

Old
Two airplanes have just struck the World Trade Center. You can try to get updates from the major sites, but I can't get them to load due to the heavy traffic. We'll bring you more as we hear it. Something very, very, very bad is happening.

For now, there's a picture on Libération.

Update: picture and article on The Guardian. Better picture on Cincinnati.com.
rosecrans | 9/11/2001 09:29:12 AM

Suffer the Slings and Arrows News
The top search strings from yesterday that led people to our site:

· sex cina
· aaliyah marriage certificate
· ixl severance pay new york city
· perchance to dream franzen
· the king-size pig's news!!!

I don't think we've covered, specifically, a single one of these topics. Suckers.
rosecrans | 9/10/2001 09:24:16 PM

I Love Paris in the Flingtime News
An article about the book I'm dying to have translated into English, La vie sexuelle de Catherine M., the true sexual history of the editor for France's Art Press, Catherine Millet.

It's an open secret that if you drive to Porte Dauphine, a roundabout on the main route west out of Paris, put on your turn indicator and cruise round and round in the slow lane, other cars will link up until one peels off, leading the way to some convenient location for a partouze.

Millet found what she called "the merry-go-round of Porte Dauphine" too middle class. She preferred private clubs, apartments, rural chateaus, or, at the other end of the spectrum, parking stations, workmen's huts, or the Bois de Boulogne, the wooded park long a popular hang-out of prostitutes, voyeurs and exhibitionists.

Millet omits no detail of the people, the activities or the ritual. Describing one soiree in an imaginatively landscaped garden, she writes, "Eric installed me on one of the beds or couches placed in one of the alcoves, and, following the etiquette of these events, took the initiative in undressing and exposing me. He would start to caress and kiss me, and the relay was immediately taken up by others."

Sometimes the encounters were less formal. She had sex with her dentist and his nurse in the chair, and with moving men in their van as they shifted paintings from airport to gallery, the driver watching in the rear vision mirror.

You'd think this would be enough to silence the fury over the new tell-all-about-Tina-Brown biography, but I'm afraid that won't go away until it's one-upped by a history of Lewis Lapham's role as "Minister of Punishment for Lapsed Ethics" at the Playboy Mansion.

Hey, it could have happened...
rosecrans | 9/10/2001 05:56:43 PM

Lions, Tigers, Bears, and Sharks Oh My! News
An article in Slate today discuses the "attack of the shark lobby." While shark attacks are regrettable, one must consider that humans do not necessarily *belong* in the ocean. (I am awaiting the angry email.) What is more regrettable is the lack of eductation about the ocean, and predatory instincts of wild animals. In the sea, humans relinquish their position of 'top o' the food chain'. It is always a shame when people are attacked, however, we are entering the shark's environment, not vice versa, and we must remember that unlike your friendly household cat or dog, sharks are *not* domesticated. (Imagine if sharks did enter our environment, how quickly they would become extinct.)

ed. but before they became extinct, they would be very cool - rb
bill | 9/10/2001 02:41:52 PM

Frustration x 10 News
You can set a cookie to block the X10 pop-under ads here. Also, you should follow Dean's advice and block all Web advertising.

Viva lunch!
rosecrans | 9/10/2001 01:27:50 PM

Fashion News
Well, we're in the midst of Fashion Week here in New York City, and you know what that means:

Parties.

Wait, sorry...uh, you know what that means:

Awesome new clothes.

That's right, and you can check the schedule and see the pics (they'll be updated constantly) here.

Attention Marc Jacobs: Need a Web presence since your site, despite its being advertised in all your print ads, doesn't actually exist? Give us free clothes and The Morning News will interview you on this very site. Really, it's a win-win proposition: email us.
andrew | 9/10/2001 12:57:32 PM

The Sale of Literature News
A short, funny bit from Modern Humorist on the Bulgari-sponsored novel and how other authors might be enticed to fill their books with advertising, including this example for Dave Eggers.

I'm in their office, the Cingular wireless office, talking about the new book and all we could do together and how great it could be, how real, how *important* it could be, when Mr. Cingular says, 'And David, it would mean so much to us if you could use our slogan: "What do you have to say?"' and he says this with pride, with passion even, because 'What do you have to say?' is what he has to say, what he *has* to say, not because someone's forcing him to, but because he wants to, *has* to, because he believes, believes in the Cingular Nation Calling Plan (not available in the state of Hawaii) and in the Call Forwarding feature *even though* there may be an additional per-minute charge.

rosecrans | 9/10/2001 12:55:44 PM

Gay Potheads Need Love Too News
A reading, by David Sedaris, of his story "A Million Bubbles," from Me Talk Pretty One Day. Funny stuff.
rosecrans | 9/10/2001 12:28:36 PM

Election News
Attention New Yorkers: Elections are tomorrow and not only should you vote, you should vote wisely. The NYC Campaign Finance Board has put together a useful guide to the candidates as well as a bunch of information about the voting process.

We at TMN have not endorsed a candidate at this time as none of them are committed to legalizing polygamy.

There would immediately be fewer unmarried women, which would force men to be more attractive on all levels, which would drive our species to higher levels. The same would be true for women. Basically, evolution would ramp up at a higher rate.

Obviously, a serious issue. Almost as serious as what to call your second wife.

Another thought - it would be interesting to see what Mark, our exalted leader thinks about this - these wives are sisters, are they not? Sister/wives? Why can't you answer that the second one is your wife's sister. That's no lie because that is exactly what they become. I see no reason you should tell them any more than you want to. I'm not sure what I will tell my congregation. It may not be the whole truth, then again it may. We will just wait to see what the Lord says about this.

All kinds of grammatical, ontological, and ethical issues there. Whew. How I got started on polygamy, I'm not sure.
rosecrans | 9/10/2001 11:32:34 AM

Art News
Musician and painter (and, frankly, really cool guy) Myke Adams, whose current tour, "Death over Love: Paintings Inspired By Shellac's 1000 Hurts," descends upon a young, unsuspecting--naïve--New York City Saturday, September 15, and Sunday, September 16 at Kim's (Uptown). From the press kit:

Tacked on the walls of independent record shops across the country is where the public will see Adams' Death Over Love series. Adams feels these paintings must be seen in the context of the music which inspired them. Through his years of promoting punk music at alternative venues, Adams loves the juxtaposition of presenting art in unexpected places. Thus, these paintings will be exhibited on weekends at select independent record stores where the exhibition can be accompanied by the music of 1000 Hurts--at full throttle. Adams will be available to talk to fans of art and fans of Shellac ([legendary producer and Shellac leader Steve] Albini has green-lighted these exhibitions).

The exhibit will show all day on both days, and Myke will be there from 3.00PM to 6.00PM each day, so go say 'hi'.
andrew | 9/10/2001 11:25:35 AM

Culinary News
Wondering what you'll have for dinner tonight? May I recommend this excellent recipe for beef carpaccio. Easy and deliciously tasty good.
rosecrans | 9/10/2001 10:36:36 AM

Insatiable News
I will never, ever, ever get tired of Tiger Magazine. There's a new issue out--time for my recharge.
andrew | 9/10/2001 10:24:35 AM