Carl Setzer

Early in the morning, 10 years ago, I dozed listening to NPR and heard something about a plane flying into a building in New York. Imagining a terrible accident, I rose, turning on CNN. I'm unaware of how much time passed before the second plane flew into the towers. At that point I knew this was deliberate; and horrible beyond imagination. The office manager of a church, I made my way there and we opened our chapel for prayers (it's an inner city parish; unmonitored open doors are generally a recipe for trouble). A predominately progressive church, but with a diversity of political views, I heard angry diatribes about Bush's destructive policies, to raging demands of blasting all Arabs to dust. My personal reaction was more complex, more focused on compassion; solidly progressive. Anyway, ten-years out, I'm trying to ascertain how this changed me. Clearly the world changed. But I wasn't at ground zero. Nor did I lose friends or family. My personal, direct impact ...

I just watched part of a show about 9/11 conspiracy theories (click here for more). Now, I'm no engineer (though have a great deal of related training), so am disinclined to argue the facts on either side of this debate. I lean towards to official story, though, My main criteria for this? For such a secret to be maintained would truly be a revolutionary event. These same people who can't keep secret the next speech are going to keep THIS under wraps? The divergent and conflicting agendas within the federal government will work together in this instance? Now, if there is some shadow org affecting such actions, the ramifications are amazing. Keeping such secrets with actions that would work across departments is something unique. Perhaps it's possible. It escapes my observations, though.

Lately, much has been pontificated online about media hyperbole surrounding the Swine Flu. I offer something of an apologia for the current state of affairs here. Mainly, the issue stems from "the public's" inability to pay attention to anything without an immense headline. Well, unless it has to do with a celebrity's underwear habits, but I digress. My frustration for this element of society goes deep. Television news focuses on the shallow, sound-bite, executive summary. Brief, quick, gone. It amazes me, to this day, that so many people use this as their primary information source. So quick, vacant and empty, full of alarmist notions and language. You see this, however, within print as well. Particularly, headlines. Most of them are barely connected with a story's content. And many people don't read a story past the headline. Long ago, I gave up on this as a source of information. NPR took on a piece of it, as I have often had some commute time. My pref...

Every time I hear an anti-gay-marriage supporter ad, or read anything they've written, I become more puzzled by their "logic". I was hoping this was a farcical piece, but it appears not . I'm just stunned.