9/11 Tribute - Amazing Grace

I know NBC wants us to get back to listening to one of the Kardashians, but we should never forget the heroes of the day and those who continue to serve and protect us.

GOD BLESS AMERICA.


BTW: Now that some time has past and emotions have been brought down from a boil to a simmer, maybe we can get around to answering some of these questions currently unresolved. It seems like Liberty demands that we do so.

The Unanswered Questions of 9/11
September 11, 2012
By James Corbett
Corbett Report.com
http://www.blacklistednews.com/The_Unanswered_Questions_of_911_/21435/0/0/0/Y/M.html

In his latest weekly address to the nation, President Obama asserts that America’s questions about 9/11 have been answered. If only it were so.

The questions of 9/11 have only continued to pile up higher since that fateful day, and despite official platitudes we are no closer to having those questions answered today then we were when they first arose. In fact, for some of the most important 9/11 questions, the government’s own documents and records that could conceivably answered them have been destroyed, meaning we may never have answers.

The unanswered questions of 9/11 are too numerous to enumerate, but they include:

-Why has NIST classified the data that they used to make their computer animation of the WTC7 collapse? Would knowledge of how NIST believes the building collapsed really “jeopardize public safety“?

-Why did the DIA destroy more than 2.5 terabytes of data on their Able Danger investigation that reportedly identified four of the alleged hijackers years in advance of the attack? Why did the Pentagon buy up and burn the entire first print run of Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer’s book on the program?

-Why did the SEC destroy their records on the 9/11 insider trading question, presumably the most important investigation in the agency’s history?

-Why did the alleged “mastermind” of 9/11, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, confess not only to plotting 9/11 “from A to Z” but also confess to masterminding numerous crimes that he could not have committed?

-Why did Osama bin Laden repeatedly deny any involvement in the attacks until a series of mistranslated and otherwise manipulated videos came along appearing to portray him as taking credit for those attacks?

-Why was the report of US State Department official Frank Taylor supposedly proving the case for Al Qaeda’s role in 9/11, which NATO used to justify its invasion of Afghanistan, presented in a classified briefing? Why is that report still classified to this day?

-Why did the 9/11 commission rely so heavily on the confessions extracted through torture which even the Senate’s Armed Services committee points out is specifically used to extract false confessions?

-Why did the CIA destroy 92 videotapes of their illegal torture sessions after being specifically ordered by a court not to do so? Why did the courts eventually absolve the CIA of any culpability for this crime?

-Why did Donald Rumsfeld announce a new “war” on September 10, 2001? What was the reason for the 2.3 trillion missing dollars which the Pentagon had lost up until that point, what did Rumsfeld’s “war on bureaucracy” hope to achieve, how was that “war” hindered when the budget analyst office in the Pentagon was destroyed the following morning, and where are the public records into this accounting scandal?

-Why did Rumsfeld go into a regularly scheduled meeting with a CIA officer in his office on the morning of 9/11, after both of the Twin Towers had been struck by airplanes and it had been determined that “America was under attack.” Why did the highest ranking official in the US military remain in that meeting and unavailable for contact even by his highest staff members as the worst attack on US soil in history continued to unfold? Why did he suddenly come out for a photo op on the Pentalawn after the explosion instead of helping to coordinate the defense of the nation?

-Why is there such a massive discrepancy between the 9/11 commission’s official finding of the time of entry of Dick Cheney into the Presidential Emergency Operation Center on the morning of 9/11 and Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta’s testimony of the timing of that arrival?

-Why did the US government contract with Ptech, an enterprise architecture software firm, to install its backdoor access software on some of the most sensitive databases in the US government? Why did they continue to use Ptech even after it was discovered that its sweetheart investor was a specially designated global terrorist on the Treasury’s own terror list? Why did they declare that there was nothing untoward in the software mere hours after raiding Ptech’s offices in 2002? And what was Ptech doing in the basement of the Pentagon on 9/11? What interoperability tests was it running on the link between FAA and NORAD systems on 9/11, and how did that interfere with the FAA and NORAD’s response?

-And, perhaps most tellingly of all, how did four highjacked aircraft fly so wildly off course for such lengthy periods of time without being confronted by a single fighter interceptor, and why did the Pentagon admittedly and on the record lie to the American public about the timing of its response that day?

These and many, many questions like them have been asked by the victims’ family members, the first responders, members of the US military, American congressmen and women, intelligence agents, foreign dignitaries and heads of state, and concerned members of the public across America and around the globe. And still, 11 years after the events themselves, the American president has the gall to suggest that all questions have been answered and it is time for Americans to move on.

On the contrary, Mr. President. Those who are concerned with 9/11 truth and justice will continue to fight on, to answer the questions that your government cannot and will not answer, whether those answers come now, 11 years from now, or generations from now. Those who fight for 9/11 truth will not give up until these questions have been answered. Echoing the words of those brave souls in the wake of that other great American tragedy, the OKC bombing:

“We search for the truth. We seek justice. The courts require it. The victims cry for it. And God demands it.”

For more on the unanswered questions of 9/11 truth, please watch the latest episode of The Corbett Report podcast, “The Meaning of 9/11 Truth“:

Architects & Engineers - Solving the Mystery of WTC 7 - AE911Truth.org


The Third Building Which Collapsed on 9/11 Was Not Hit By a Plane
September 11, 2012
http://www.blacklistednews.com/The_Third_Building_Which_Collapsed_on_911_Was_Not_Hit_By_a_Plane/21432/0/38/38/Y/M.html

Top Experts Say Official Explanation Makes No Sense

Numerous structural engineers – the people who know the most about office building vulnerabilities and accidents – say that the official explanation of why building 7 at the World Trade Center collapsed on 9/11 is “impossible”, “defies common logic” and “violates the law of physics”:

Two professors of structural engineering at a prestigious Swiss university (Dr. Joerg Schneider and Dr. Hugo Bachmann) said that, on 9/11, World Trade Center 7 was brought down by controlled demolition (translation here)
Alfred Lee Lopez, with 48 years of experience in all types of buildings:
I agree the fire did not cause the collapse of the three buildings. The most realistic cause of the collapse is that the buildings were imploded

John D. Pryor, with more than 30 years experience:
The collapse of WTC7 looks like it may have been the result of a controlled demolition. This should have been looked into as part of the original investigation

Robert F. Marceau, with over 30 years of structural engineering experience:
From videos of the collapse of building 7, the penthouse drops first prior to the collapse, and it can be noted that windows, in a vertical line, near the location of first interior column line are blown out, and reveal smoke from those explosions. This occurs in a vertical line in symmetrical fashion an equal distance in toward the center of the building from each end. When compared to controlled demolitions, one can see the similarities

Kamal S. Obeid, structural engineer, with a masters degree in Engineering from UC Berkeley and 30 years of engineering experience, says:
Photos of the steel, evidence about how the buildings collapsed, the unexplainable collapse of WTC 7, evidence of thermite in the debris as well as several other red flags, are quite troubling indications of well planned and controlled demolition

Steven L. Faseler, structural engineer with over 20 years of experience in the design and construction industry:
World Trade Center 7 appears to be a controlled demolition. Buildings do not suddenly fall straight down by accident

Ronald H. Brookman, structural engineer, with a masters degree in Engineering from UC Davis,writes:
Why would all 110 stories drop straight down to the ground in about 10 seconds, pulverizing the contents into dust and ash – twice. Why would all 47 stories of WTC 7 fall straight down to the ground in about seven seconds the same day? It was not struck by any aircraft or engulfed in any fire. An independent investigation is justified for all three collapses including the surviving steel samples and the composition of the dust

Graham John Inman points out:
WTC 7 Building could not have collapsed as a result of internal fire and external debris. NO plane hit this building. This is the only case of a steel frame building collapsing through fire in the world. The fire on this building was small & localized therefore what is the cause?

Paul W. Mason notes:
In my view, the chances of the three buildings collapsing symmetrically into their own footprint, at freefall speed, by any other means than by controlled demolition, are so remote that there is no other plausible explanation

David Scott says:
Near-freefall collapse violates laws of physics. Fire induced collapse is not consistent with observed collapse mode . . . .

Nathan Lomba states:
I began having doubts about, so called, official explanations for the collapse of the WTC towers soon after the explanations surfaced. The gnawing question that lingers in my mind is: How did the structures collapse in near symmetrical fashion when the apparent precipitating causes were asymmetrical loading? The collapses defies common logic from an elementary structural engineering perspective. “If” you accept the argument that fire protection covering was damaged to such an extent that structural members in the vicinity of the aircraft impacts were exposed to abnormally high temperatures, and “if” you accept the argument that the temperatures were high enough to weaken the structural framing, that still does not explain the relatively concentric nature of the failures.Neither of the official precipitating sources for the collapses, namely the burning aircraft, were centered within the floor plan of either tower; both aircraft were off-center when they finally came to rest within the respective buildings.

This means that, given the foregoing assumptions, heating and weakening of the structural framing would have been constrained to the immediate vicinity of the burning aircraft. Heat transmission (diffusion) through the steel members would have been irregular owing to differing sizes of the individual members; and, the temperature in the members would have dropped off precipitously the further away the steel was from the flames—just as the handle on a frying pan doesn’t get hot at the same rate as the pan on the burner of the stove. These factors would have resulted in the structural framing furthest from the flames remaining intact and possessing its full structural integrity, i.e., strength and stiffness.

Structural steel is highly ductile, when subjected to compression and bending it buckles and bends long before reaching its tensile or shear capacity. Under the given assumptions, “if” the structure in the vicinity of either burning aircraft started to weaken, the superstructure above would begin to lean in the direction of the burning side. The opposite, intact, side of the building would resist toppling until the ultimate capacity of the structure was reached, at which point, a weak-link failure would undoubtedly occur. Nevertheless, the ultimate failure mode would have been a toppling of the upper floors to one side—much like the topping of a tall redwood tree—not a concentric, vertical collapse.

For this reason alone, I rejected the official explanation for the collapse of the WTC towers out of hand. Subsequent evidence supporting controlled, explosive demolition of the two buildings are more in keeping with the observed collapse modalities and only serve to validate my initial misgivings as to the causes for the structural failures

Edward E. Knesl writes:
We design and analyze buildings for the overturning stability to resist the lateral loads with the combination of the gravity loads. Any tall structure failure mode would be a fall over to its side. It is impossible that heavy steel columns could collapse at the fraction of the second within each story and subsequently at each floor below.We do not know the phenomenon of the high rise building to disintegrate internally faster than the free fall of the debris coming down from the top.

The engineering science and the law of physics simply doesn’t know such possibility. Only very sophisticated controlled demolition can achieve such result, eliminating the natural dampening effect of the structural framing huge mass that should normally stop the partial collapse. The pancake theory is a fallacy, telling us that more and more energy would be generated to accelerate the collapse. Where would such energy would be coming from?

Antonio Artha,with 15+ years of experience in building design
Fire and impact were insignificant in all three buildings. Impossible for the three to collapse at free-fall speed. Laws of physics were not suspended on 9/11, unless proven otherwise

Steven Francis Dusterwald:
The symmetrical “collapse” due to asymmetrical damage is at odds with the principles of structural mechanics

John S. Lovrovich:
It is virtually impossible for WTC building 7 to collapse as it did with the influence of sporadic fires. This collapse HAD to be planned

Travis McCoy, M.S. in structural engineering

James Milton Bruner, Major, U.S. Air Force, instructor and assistant professor in the Deptartment of Engineering Mechanics & Materials, USAF Academy, and a technical writer and editor, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Christopher Michael Bradbury:
It is very suspicious that fire brought down Building 7 yet the Madrid hotel fire was still standing after 24 hours of fire. This is very suspicious to me because I design buildings for a living

David Anthony Dorau, practicing structural engineer with 18 years’ experience in the inspection and design of buildings under 5 stories tall, who worked as a policy analyst for the Office of Technology Assessment, an arm of the U.S. Congress providing independent research and reports on technological matters

Russell T. Connors, designed many buildings and other types of structures
Lester Jay Germanio, 20+ years experience
Daniel Metz, 26+ years experience
Jonathan Smolens, 11 years experience, with a specialty in forensic engineering
William Rice, P.E., structural engineer, former professor of Vermont Technical College
Marshall Casey Pfeiffer
Paul A. Thomas
Steven Merritt
Kers Clausen
Dennis Kollar, American structural engineer
Doyle Winterton, American structural engineer (retired)

David Topete
The above is just a sample. Many other structural engineershave questioned the collapse of Building 7, as have numerous experts in other disciplines, including:

The former head of the Fire Science Division of the government agency which claims that the World Trade Centers collapsed due to fire (the National Institute of Standards and Technology), who is one of the world’s leading fire science researchers and safety engineers, a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering (Dr. James Quintiere), called for an independent review of the World Trade Center collapse investigation. “I wish that there would be a peer review of this,” he said, referring to the NIST investigation. “I think all the records that NIST has assembled should be archived. I would really like to see someone else take a look at what they’ve done; both structurally and from a fire point of view. … I think the official conclusion that NIST arrived at is questionable.

Harry G. Robinson, III – Professor and Dean Emeritus, School of Architecture and Design, Howard University. Past President of two major national architectural organizations – National Architectural Accrediting Board, 1996, and National Council of Architectural Registration Boards, 1992. In 2003 he was awarded the highest honor bestowed by the Washington Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, the Centennial Medal. In 2004 he was awarded the District of Columbia Council of Engineering and Architecture Societies Architect of the Year award. Principal, TRG Consulting Global / Architecture, Urban Design, Planning, Project Strategies. Veteran U.S. Army, awarded the Bronze Star for bravery and the Purple Heart for injuries sustained in Viet Nam – says:

The collapse was too symmetrical to have been eccentrically generated. The destruction was symmetrically initiated to cause the buildings to implode as they did

And a prominent physicist with 33 years of service for the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC (Dr. David L. Griscom) said that the official theory for why Building 7 collapsed “does not match the available facts” and supports the theory that the buildings were brought down by controlled demolition

9-11 explained in 5 minutes!!!.mp4

9-11 NEVER FORGET

And if you have forgotten, watch the Powerpoint attached and sift through the site for a refresher course.

http://www.frugalsites.net/911/attack/

http://www.frugalsites.net/911/anatomy.htm

Dedicated to the men, women and children
who lost their lives; those brave people who gave their lives
And the Heroes that responded to the emergency
11 September 2001

THIS is what our nation is responding to.
Please remember that in the difficult times ahead.

Photos courtesy of: AP, CNN, NY Newsday, NY Daily News,
John O'Sullivan, Colin Walsh, USCG, Families of Victims, Family, Friends & Personal

Heroes, Strength and Solace Courtesy of: GOD

Hat tip to Atlas Shrugged

http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2010/09/september-11th-join-us-at-ground-zero-for-rally-of-remembrance-yes-to-freedom-no-to-ground-zero-mosq.html

Friday, September 10, 2010

SEPTEMBER 11TH JOIN US AT GROUND ZERO FOR RALLY OF REMEMBRANCE
YES TO FREEDOM, NO TO GROUND ZERO MOSQUE

The weather will be exactly like 9 years ago.

Rally of Remembrance: No to Ground Zero Mosque
September 11, 3pm Park Pace and West Broadway, Ground Zero
Dedicated to the men, women and children who lost their lives; those brave people who gave their lives. And the Heroes who responded to the emergency
11 September 2001

From Publiusforum.com

http://www.publiusforum.com/

This morning, as we begin to observe the terrible day of September 11, 2001, let us not fall into mere rote actions and unthinking memorial. We cannot forget that this is not some long past, historical situation that we can comfortably relegate to remembrance on a single day of the year, the rest of our days to go on as if it is but a distant memory. We must keep at the forefront of our minds that we are still in extent danger of another 9/11 at any time and it is only because of the hard and dangerous work that our men and women in uniform are doing every single day that keeps the next towering inferno from our TV screens. The inhuman enemy that caused those Towers to fall, those planes to tumble from the sky, are still out there planning anew. 9/11 is fresh still. Let us remember with a keen pang of loss and rage lest we complacently imagine we are back to a 9/10 world when we are not.

from Wade, World Trade, NPD, Serial Killers and Politicians, Evil and People of the Lie...thanks Google

TRUST ME, MR. WADE, NO SANE PERSON WOULD EVER EQUATE YOU LOSING THREE GAMES TO THIS.

AND I DON'T CARE IF YOU AND THE OTHER TWO AMIGOS WIN THREE GAMES OR THREE CHAMPIONSHIPS - YOU WILL NEVER BE AS HEROIC AS THE THREE MEN SHOWN IN THIS PICTURE

NEVER FORGET - "WORLD TRADE" WAS A NATIONAL TRAGEDY, NOT A TAG LINE FOR A KNUCKLEHEAD

He said it for a reason, the writers didn't miss his words by much. It was his choice of words. This goes to how (self) important these guys think they are in the grand scheme of things.

Anyway, here's the quotes, printed and straight from the horses(ass) mouth. This reflects how these guys think. The magnitude and the level of their self-indulgence and vision of their place and importance in the world is truly staggering.

This post gets rather lengthy--it may seem meandering at times--but bear with me, because the underlying concepts, ideas and themes are extremely important to understand and they apply to everyday life.

Thanks Google, thanks Dewayne or Flash or whatever the hell your name is.

And, never forget.

Wade sorry for 'World Trade' comment

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=5392510

Standing at his locker before a group of reporters, Wade said:

"There's going to be times when we might lose one, two games in a row, maybe two games, three games in a row, you never know. It's going to seem like the world is crashed down. You all are going to make it seem like the World Trade has just went down again. But it's not going to be nothing but a couple basketball games lost and we'll have to get back on track."

On Monday, before leaving on a flight to Los Angeles for some television appearances -- he was previously booked to talk with Jay Leno -- Wade issued an apology through the Heat.

In the statement, Wade said: "In an interview yesterday, I attempted to explain how some people may view the Miami Heat losing a few basketball games in a row during the upcoming season. It appears that my reference to the World Trade Center has been either inaccurately reported or taken completely out of context. I was simply trying to say that losing a few basketball games should not be compared to a real catastrophe.

"While it was certainly not my intention, I sincerely apologize to anyone who found my reference to the World Trade Center to be insensitive or offensive."

AOL Fanhouse initially reported the guard saying: "If we lose a couple in a row this season, it will be like the World Trade [Center] is coming down again."

Hours later, AOL Fanhouse published a different version of the quote, citing a transcription error and an editor's note saying, "we deeply regret the error."

-----------------

When I hear stuff like this, that just makes my head spin, of course I go right to Google, cause Google knows everything, and I ask (or query to us geeks) Google - "exaggerated sense of self importance" which is my knee-jerk reaction to the Wade story.

Not surprisingly the # 1 entry is:

What is a personality disorder?

http://www.halcyon.com/jmashmun/npd/dsm-iv.html

What is a personality disorder?

[from Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition, 1994, commonly referred to as DSM-IV, of the American Psychiatric Association. European countries use the diagnostic criteria of the World Health Organization.]

An enduring pattern of inner experience and behavior that deviates markedly from the expectation of the individual's culture, is pervasive and inflexible, has an onset in adolescence or early adulthood, is stable over time, and leads to distress or impairment.

A personality disorder is a pattern of deviant or abnormal behavior that the person doesn't change even though it causes emotional upsets and trouble with other people at work and in personal relationships. It is not limited to episodes of mental illness, and it is not caused by drug or alcohol use, head injury, or illness. There are about a dozen different behavior patterns classified as personality disorders by DSM-IV. All the personality disorders show up as deviations from normal in one or more of the following:

(1) cognition -- i.e., perception, thinking, and interpretation of oneself, other people, and events;

(2) affectivity -- i.e., emotional responses (range, intensity, lability, appropriateness);

(3) interpersonal functions;

(4) impulsivity.

NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY DISORDER - HMMMM....

Narcissistic Personality Disorder

While grandiosity is the diagnostic hallmark of pathological narcissism, there is research evidence that pathological narcissism occurs in two forms, (a) a grandiose state of mind in young adults that can be corrected by life experiences, and (b) the stable disorder described in DSM-IV, which is defined less by grandiosity than by severely disturbed interpersonal relations.
The preferred theory seems to be that narcissism is caused by very early affective deprivation, yet the clinical material tends to describe narcissists as unwilling rather than unable, thus treating narcissistic behaviors as volitional -- that is, narcissism is termed a personality disorder, but it tends to be discussed as a character disorder. This distinction is important to prognosis and treatment possibilities. If NPD is caused by infantile damage and consequent developmental short-circuits, it probably represents an irremediable condition. On the other hand, if narcissism is a behavior pattern that's learned, then there is some hope, however tenuous, that it's a behavior pattern that can be unlearned. The clinical literature on NPD is highly theoretical, abstract, and general, with sparse case material, suggesting that clinical writers have little experience with narcissism in the flesh. There are several reasons for this to be so:

-- The incidence of NPD is estimated at 1% in the general population, though I haven't been able to discover the basis of this estimate.

-- Narcissists rarely enter treatment and, once in treatment, progress very slowly. We're talking about two or more years of frequent sessions before the narcissist can acknowledge even that the therapist is sometimes helpful. It's difficult to keep narcissists in treatment long enough for improvement to be made -- and few people, narcissists or not, have the motivation or the money to pursue treatment that produces so little so late.

A pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy.[jma: NPD first appeared in DSM-III in 1980; before that time there had been no formal diagnostic description. Additionally, there is considerable overlap between personality disorders and clinicians tend to diagnose mixes of two or more. Grandiosity is a special case, but lack of empathy and exploitative interpersonal relations are not unique to NPD, nor is the need to be seen as special or unique. The differential diagnosis of NPD is made on the absence of specific gross behaviors. Borderline Personality Disorder has several conspicuous similarities to NPD, but BPD is characterized by self-injury and threatened or attempted suicide, whereas narcissists are rarely self-harming in this way. BPD may include psychotic breaks, and these are uncharacteristic of NPD but not unknown. The need for constant attention is also found in Histrionic Personality Disorder, but HPD and BPD are both strongly oriented towards relationships, whereas NPD is characterized by aloofness and avoidance of intimacy. Grandiosity is unique to NPD among personality disorders, but it is found in other psychiatric illnesses. Psychopaths display pathological narcissism, including grandiosity, but psychopathy is differentiated from NPD by psychopaths' willingness to use physical violence to get what they want, whereas narcissists rarely commit crimes; the narcissists I've known personally are, in fact, averse to physical contact with others, though they will occasionally strike out in an impulse of rage. It has been found that court-ordered psychotherapy for psychopaths actually increases their recidivism rate; apparently treatment teaches psychopaths new ways to exploit other people. Bipolar illness also contains strong elements of grandiosity. See more on grandiosity and empathy and its lack below.]The disorder begins by early adulthood and is indicated by at least five of the following:

Translation: Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) is a pattern of self-centered or egotistical behavior that shows up in thinking and behavior in a lot of different situations and activities. People with NPD won't (or can't) change their behavior even when it causes problems at work or when other people complain about the way they act, or when their behavior causes a lot of emotional distress to others (or themselves? none of my narcissists ever admit to being distressed by their own behavior -- they always blame other people for any problems). This pattern of self-centered or egotistical behavior is not caused by current drug or alcohol use, head injury, acute psychotic episodes, or any other illness, but has been going on steadily at least since adolescence or early adulthood.

NPD interferes with people's functioning in their occupations and in their relationships:
Mild impairment when self-centered or egotistical behavior results in occasional minor problems, but the person is generally doing pretty well.

Moderate impairment when self-centered or egotistical behavior results in: (a) missing days from work, household duties, or school, (b) significant performance problems as a wage-earner, homemaker, or student, (c) frequently avoiding or alienating friends, (d) significant risk of harming self or others (frequent suicidal preoccupation; often neglecting family, or frequently abusing others or committing criminal acts).

Severe impairment when self-centered or egotistical behavior results in: (a) staying in bed all day, (b) totally alienating all friends and family, (c) severe risk of harming self or others (failing to maintain personal hygiene; persistent danger of suicide, abuse, or crime).

1. An exaggerated sense of self-importance (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements)

Translation: Grandiosity is the hallmark of narcissism. So what is grandiose?

The simplest everyday way that narcissists show their exaggerated sense of self-importance is by talking about family, work, life in general as if there is nobody else in the picture. Whatever they may be doing, in their own view, they are the star, and they give the impression that they are bearing heroic responsibility for their family or department or company, that they have to take care of everything because their spouses or co-workers are undependable, uncooperative, or otherwise unfit. They ignore or denigrate the abilities and contributions of others and complain that they receive no help at all; they may inspire your sympathy or admiration for their stoicism in the face of hardship or unstinting self-sacrifice for the good of (undeserving) others. But this everyday grandiosity is an aspect of narcissism that you may never catch on to unless you visit the narcissist's home or workplace and see for yourself that others are involved and are pulling their share of the load and, more often than not, are also pulling the narcissist's share as well. An example is the older woman who told me with a sigh that she knew she hadn't been a perfect mother but she just never had any help at all -- and she said this despite knowing that I knew that she had worn out and discarded two devoted husbands and had lived in her parents' pocket (and pocketbook) as long as they lived, quickly blowing her substantial inheritance on flaky business schemes. Another example is claiming unusual benefits or spectacular results from ordinary effort and investment, giving the impression that somehow the narcissist's time and money are worth more than other people's. [Here is an article about recognizing and coping with narcissism in the workplace; it is rather heavy on management jargon and psychobabble, but worth reading. "The Impact of Narcissism on Leadership and Sustainability" by Bruce Gregory, Ph.D. "When the narcissistic defense is operating in an interpersonal or group setting, the grandiose part does not show its face in public. In public it presents a front of patience, congeniality, and confident reasonableness."]

In popular usage, the terms narcissism, narcissist, and narcissistic denote absurd vanity and are applied to people whose ambitions and aspirations are much grander than their evident talents. Sometimes these terms are applied to people who are simply full of themselves -- even when their real achievements are spectacular. Outstanding performers are not always modest, but they aren't grandiose if their self-assessments are realistic; e.g., Muhammad Ali, then Cassius Clay, was notorious for boasting "I am the greatest!" and also pointing out that he was the prettiest, but he was the greatest and the prettiest for a number of years, so his self-assessments weren't grandiose. Some narcissists are flamboyantly boastful and self-aggrandizing, but many are inconspicuous in public, saving their conceit and autocratic opinions for their nearest and dearest. Common conspicuous grandiose behaviors include expecting special treatment or admiration on the basis of claiming (a) to know important, powerful or famous people or (b) to be extraordinarily intelligent or talented. As a real-life example, I used to have a neighbor who told his wife that he was the youngest person since Sir Isaac Newton to take a doctorate at Oxford. The neighbor gave no evidence of a world-class education, so I looked up Newton and found out that Newton had completed his baccalaureate at the age of twenty-two (like most people) and spent his entire academic career at Cambridge. The grandiose claims of narcissists are superficially plausible fabrications, readily punctured by a little critical consideration.

The test is performance: do they deliver the goods? (There's also the special situation of a genius who's also strongly narcissistic, as perhaps Frank Lloyd Wright. Just remind yourself that the odds are that you'll meet at least 1000 narcissists for every genius you come across.) [More on grandiosity.]

2. Preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love
Translation: Narcissists cultivate solipsistic or "autistic" fantasies, which is to say that they live in their own little worlds (and react with affront when reality dares to intrude).


3. Believes he is "special" and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions)

Translation: Narcissists think that everyone who is not special and superior is worthless. By definition, normal, ordinary, and average aren't special and superior, and so, to narcissists, they are worthless.

4. Requires excessive admiration
Translation: Excessive in two ways: they want praise, compliments, deference, and expressions of envy all the time, and they want to be told that everything they do is better than what others can do. Sincerity is not an issue here; all that matter are frequency and volume.

5. Has a sense of entitlement
Translation: They expect automatic compliance with their wishes or especially favorable treatment, such as thinking that they should always be able to go first and that other people should stop whatever they're doing to do what the narcissists want, and may react with hurt or rage when these expectations are frustrated.

6. Selfishly takes advantage of others to achieve his own ends
Translation: Narcissists use other people to get what they want without caring about the cost to the other people.

7. Lacks empathy
Translation: They are unwilling to recognize or sympathize with other people's feelings and needs. They "tune out" when other people want to talk about their own problems.

In clinical terms, empathy is the ability to recognize and interpret other people's emotions.

Lack of empathy may take two different directions: (a) accurate interpretation of others' emotions with no concern for others' distress, which is characteristic of psychopaths; and (b) the inability to recognize and accurately interpret other people's emotions, which is the NPD style. This second form of defective empathy may (rarely) go so far as alexithymia, or no words for emotions, and is found with psychosomatic illnesses, i.e., medical conditions in which emotion is experienced somatically rather than psychically. People with personality disorders don't have the normal body-ego identification and regard their bodies only instrumentally, i.e., as tools to use to get what they want, or, in bad states, as torture chambers that inflict on them meaningless suffering. Self-described narcissists who've written to me say that they are aware that their feelings are different from other people's, mostly that they feel less, both in strength and variety (and which the narcissists interpret as evidence of their own superiority); some narcissists report "numbness" and the inability to perceive meaning in other people's emotions.

8. Is often envious of others or believes that others are envious of him
Translation: No translation needed.

9. Shows arrogant, haughty, patronizing, or contemptuous behaviors or attitudes
Translation: They treat other people like dirt.

-----

This led to an article about the close linkage to this similar type of mind-set and that of our politicians and public leaders and serial killers?

Serial killers and politicians share traits

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-2684-Law-Enforcement-Examiner~y2009m6d12-Serial-killers-and-politicians-share-traits

Psychopathy is a personality disorder manifested in people who use a mixture of charm, manipulation, intimidation, and occasionally violence to control others, in order to satisfy their own selfish needs. Although the concept of psychopathy has been known for centuries, the FBI leads the world in the research effort to develop a series of assessment tools, to evaluate the personality traits and behaviors attributable to psychopaths.

Interpersonal traits include glibness, superficial charm, a grandiose sense of self-worth, pathological lying, and the manipulation of others. The affective traits include a lack of remorse and/or guilt, shallow affect, a lack of empathy, and failure to accept responsibility.

The lifestyle behaviors include stimulation-seeking behavior, impulsivity, irresponsibility, parasitic orientation, and a lack of realistic life goals.


Research has demonstrated that in those criminals who are psychopathic, scores vary, ranging from a high degree of psychopathy to some measure of psychopathy. However, not all violent offenders are psychopaths and not all psychopaths are violent offenders. If violent offenders are psychopathic, they are able to assault, rape, and murder without concern for legal, moral, or social consequences. This allows them to do what they want, whenever they want. Ironically, these same traits exist in men and women who are drawn to high-profile and powerful positions in society including political officeholders.

What doesn't go unnoticed is the fact that some of the character traits exhibited by serial killers or criminals may be observed in many within the political arena. While not exhibiting physical violence, many political leaders display varying degrees of anger, feigned outrage and other behaviors. They also lack what most consider a "shame" mechanism. Quite simply, most serial killers and many professional politicians must mimic what they believe, are appropriate responses to situations they face such as sadness, empathy, sympathy, and other human responses to outside stimuli.

Psychopaths are not sensitive to altruistic interview themes, such as sympathy for their victims or remorse/guilt over their crimes. They do possess certain personality traits that can be exploited, particularly their inherent narcissism, selfishness, and vanity. Specific themes in past successful interviews of psychopathic serial killers focused on praising their intelligence, cleverness, and skill in evading capture.


Jim Kouri, CPP is currently fifth vice-president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police and he's a staff writer for the New Media Alliance (thenma.org). In addition, he's the new editor for the House Conservatives Fund's weblog. Kouri also serves as political advisor for Emmy and Golden Globe winning actor Michael Moriarty.

----
Ultimately it leads to this:

The Book People of the Lie, by Scott Peck

http://www.turtletrader.com/people-of-the-lie.html

People of the Lie: Insight for Traders

Many wise traders look deep. They know to understand human psychology is the bedrock of good living and ultimately success. The book People of the Lie by Scott Peck offers food for thought:

The central defect of 'the evil' is not the sin but the refusal to acknowledge it. More often than not these people will be looked at as solid citizens. How can that be? How can they be evil and not designated as criminals? The key word is designated. They are criminals in that they commit crimes against life and liveliness...their crimes are so subtle and covert that they cannot clearly be designated as crimes. The theme of hiding and covertness will occur again and again throughout the rest of this book. It is the basis for the title People of the Lie.

Evil deeds do not make an evil person. Otherwise we would all be evil. If evil people cannot be defined by the illegality of their deeds or the magnitude of their sins, then how are we to define them? The answer is by the consistency of their sins. While usually subtle, their destructiveness is remarkably consistent. This is because those who have crossed over the line are characterized by their absolute refusal to tolerate the sense of their own sinfulness.

The poor in spirit do not commit evil. Evil is not committed by people who feel uncertain about their righteousness, who question their own motives, who worry about betraying themselves. The evil of this world is committed by the spiritual fat cats, by the Pharisee's of our own day, the self-righteous who think they are without sin because they are unwilling to suffer the discomfort of significant self-examination. It is out of their failure to put themselves on trial that their evil arises. They are, in my experience remarkably greedy people.

A predominant characteristic of the behavior that I call evil is scapegoating. Because in their hearts they consider themselves above reproach, they must lash out at anyone who does reproach them. They sacrifice others to preserve their self-image of perfection.

Utterly dedicated to preserving their self-image of perfection, they are unceasingly engaged in the effort to maintain the appearance of moral purity. They are acutely sensitive to social norms and what others might think of them. They seem to live lives that are above reproach. The words image, appearance and outwardly are crucial to understanding the morality of 'the evil'.

While they lack any motivation to be good, they intensely desire to appear good. Their goodness is all on a level of pretense. It is in effect a lie. Actually the lie is designed not so much to deceive others as to deceive themselves. We lie only when we are attempting to cover up something we know to be illicit. At one and the same time 'the evil' are aware of their evil and desperately trying to avoid the awareness. We become evil by attempting to hide from ourselves.

The wickedness of 'the evil' is not committed directly, but indirectly as a part of this cover-up process. Evil originates not in the absence of guilt but in the effort to escape it.
It often happens then that 'the evil' may be recognized by its very disguise. Because they are such experts at disguise, it is seldom possible to pinpoint the maliciousness of 'the evil'. The disguise is usually impenetrable.

They are not pain avoiders or lazy people in general. To the contrary, they are likely to exert themselves more than most in their continuing effort to obtain and maintain an image of respectability. They may willingly, even eagerly, undergo great hardships in their search for status. It is only one particular pain they cannot tolerate: the pain of their own conscience,
the pain of realization of their own sinfulness and imperfection.

They are men and women of obviously strong will, determined to have their own way. There is a remarkable power in the manner in which they attempt to control others.

Those who are evil are masters of disguise; they are not apt to wittingly disclose their true colors - either to others or to themselves. It is not without reason that the serpent is renowned for his subtlety. We therefore cannot pass judgment on a person for a single act. Instead judgment must be made on the basis of a whole pattern of acts as well as their manner and style.

Think of the psychic energy required for the continued maintenance of the pretense so characteristic of 'the evil'! They perhaps direct at least as much energy into their devious rationalizations and destructive compensations as the healthies do into loving behavior. Why? What possesses them, drives them? Basically, it is fear. They are terrified that the pretense will break down and they will be exposed to the world and to themselves.

Evil people would be distinguished by these traits:

1.) Consistent destructive, scapegoating behavior, which may often be quite subtle.

2.) Excessive, albeit usually covert, intolerance to criticism and other forms of narcissistic injury.

3.) Pronounced concern with a public image and self-image of respectability, contributing to a stability of lifestyle but also to pretentiousness and denial of hateful feelings or vengeful motives.

4.) Intellectual deviousness, with an increased likelihood of a mild schizophrenic-like disturbance of thinking at times of stress.

This relates to trading? Yes, but more importantly it relates to life.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M._Scott_Peck

According to Peck an evil person[2][3]:

Is consistently self deceiving, with the intent of avoiding guilt and maintaining a self image of perfection

Deceives others as a consequence of their own self deception

Projects his or her evils and sins onto very specific targets (scapegoats) while being apparently normal with everyone else ("their insensitivity toward him was selective" (Peck, 1983/1988[3], p105))

Commonly hates with the pretense of love, for the purposes of self deception as much as deception of others

Abuses political (emotional) power ("the imposition of one's will upon others by overt or covert coercion" (Peck, 1978/1992[2], p298))

Maintains a high level of respectability and lies incessantly in order to do so

Is consistent in his or her sins. Evil persons are characterized not so much by the magnitude of their sins, but by their consistency (of destructiveness)

Is unable to think from the viewpoint of their victim (scapegoat)

Has a covert intolerance to criticism and other forms of narcissistic injury

More references to People of the Lie and The Road Less Traveled by Peck:

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2005/septemberweb-only/32.0d.html

http://www.robertringer.com/people-of-the-lie.html

http://www.geftakysassembly.com/Articles/Perspectives/MalignantNarcissism.htm

http://ejm.tripod.com/people.htm

9.11.01 Never Forget...

Never forget the true heroes of the day. Those whose sense of duty to their fellow man compels them to run towards danger to save lives while others are running away.

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13

9.11.2001 - NEVER FORGET

“Our enemies have made the mistake that America’s enemies always make. They saw liberty and thought they saw weakness. And now, they see defeat.”
- George W. Bush, President of the United States


"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free."
- Former President of the United States Ronald Reagan



"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
- Benjamin Franklin:


"Currently the road most Americans seem to want to take is the road to government control in the belief than government can give them more security without diminishing their liberty. Of course, that is not true. If Americans turn to government to secure their freedom at the expense of the constitution they will lose it. The Constitution and the first ten amendments -- the Bill of Rights -- make it plain that the Founding Fathers had no faith that government could be trusted to guard the rights of individuals. It is well to remember that under the Constitution government does not give us our rights; they are our birthright. It is government's job to protect those rights. Unfortunately government too often moves instead to limit them."
- Kimberley A. Strassel, Wall Street Journal editorialist:

9/11 - Corey Lidle - Thurman Munson and the Media

As usual, I'm sitting at home working, minding my own business, when news reports come in that a small aircraft or helicopter , has hit a building on the East side of Manhattan. This brings up memories of 9/11 since that's pretty much how that morning started.

I heard of the first plane hitting a building in NY and even at that time my co-workers and I are visualising a small single engine aircraft flying off course and clipping a building. We were questioning what in the heck even a small aircraft was doing in the area, but chalked it up to pilot error or falling asleep at the wheel or something. That's when word that a second aircraft hit and we all knew that something serious was happening. And life would never be the same again.

Well, even though this sounded innocent enough, the same ??'s seemed to race in my mind and naturally I thought "Oh No, not again?". Seeing the TV images were somewhat helpful in determining that this would likely not be the same type of event. Thank God.

Then word comes that the plane is likely piloted by Yankee Cory Lidle and my thoughts immediately turned to 1979 and the day I heard Thurman Munson had died piloting his own plane. Another event that gave me a feeling that I had been kicked in the gut or sucker punched when I first heard about it.

So in one afternoon, I emotionally drift though stories with eerie parallels to two of the toughest emotionally draining events in my life. The Munson death was brutal because I was twenty years old and had just seen Thurman win a game for the Yankees seemingly the night before and now apparently he was gone, just like that in a tragic accident.

I'm not sure that Lidle holds the same stature that Munson did, certainly not with the Yankees. I'm not even sure that matters. But there must be a similar effect on baseball fans all over. Especially the younger ones, this may be their Thurman Munson, I don't know. Just a tragedy.

And then while staying glued to the radio for updates, the station shifts from the Dan Patrick show to a trio of local hacks hosting their afternoon show. One a hack journalist, another a hack comedian and the other a hack ex-football player. Now, I understand the story having varying effect on different people. And I understand people deal with grief differently. But these assholes didn't grieve, they didn't show any respect for any aspect of the story. To them this was some ego-driven jock who thought he could fly his own plane, but who cares because it was New York and those people are assholes anyway and it was an affluent neighborhood.

Literally within an hour of the body being identified, with speculation that the next of kin had not even been notified, these assholes proceeded into tasteless, classless, boorish Corey Lidle jokes and further elaborated that any comparison to Thuman Munson was stupid, irrelevant , ridiculous and a waste of time since a) Munson was just another Yankee, so who cares and b) Munson was drunk when he crashed his plane.

Now aside from the obvious lack of class and civility, the part about Munson being drunk was certainly factually incorrect. So I penned the idiots a letter:

Date: Wed, 11 Oct 2006 17:34:04 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Charles Slavik"
Subject: Laughing at the Death of Corey Lidle
To: macjurkoharry@espnradio1000.com

You worthless pieces of shit!!!

Telling Corey Lidle jokes almost before the next of
kin were informed. You jack-offs must be so proud.

And since you act like the bunch of sanctimonious know
it alls you so clearly are not, advise whoever the
asshole was who stated that Thurman Munson was drunk
when he crashed his plane that he doesn't have a clue
what he's talking about. I'm sure that won't stop you
from spewing your special brand of humor in the
future. I believe you have the Munson incident
confused with the Steve Crews/ Indians tragedy of
years ago. Don't let the facts get in the way of a
good joke.

I'm sure you'll take great pains to correct
yourselves.
While you're doing that, do something else to yourself
that is seemingly anatomically impossible.

It's probably the only way scumbags like you ever get
laid anyway.

What a bunch of reckless, heartless bunch of assholes.
All of you. Make the world a better place and get in a
vehicle together and wrap it around a tree. Better
yet, don't harm the tree, drive off a f**king cliff
and burn to death, then you'll experience the feeling
you so easily want to joke about.

Whenever athletes complain about the media, assholes
like you will be the poster boys. Don't ever complain
when scumbags like you don't get any respect. You are
due none. From anyone who considers themselves a
member of the human race.

ROT IN HELL SCUMBAGS.

Charles Slavik

Of course, don't expect these cretins to be able to read much less understand what I was talking about, but these guys bordered on slanderous talk.

AND PEOPLE WONDER WHY I HATE THE MEDIA.

What's rich about the story is the very first call these animals get this afternoon the caller chastises them for their insensitivity regarding their comments the previous day about the Lidle incident. They quickly usher him off and say and I quote, "He told our screener he wanted to talk about something else" meaning if they knew he wanted to broach the Lidle subject he would not have had s snowballs chance in hell of getting on the air. (Remember the lesson about censorship and talk shows and agenda and such).

Beautiful, they later let on that each was called on the carpet for the prior days comments. They should have never made it back on the air. But then that would be censorship wouldn't it?

Anyway RIP Cory Lidle. Drop dead and rot in hell media scumbags. Never Forget.

9.11.01 NEVER FORGET

Even though the target that day was the World Trade Center, ultimately the target is liberty.

Five years later, I think of the words of the song "Proud to be an American" by Lee Greenwood.

Specifically, "I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free".

Because five years later it seems like neither part of that line is more true today than it was five years ago.

And that's a shame.

And it seems like we've forgotten about the sacrifice of the true heroes, the cops and firemen and soldiers in the midst of partisan bickering.

"And I won’t forget the men who died, who gave that right to me."

And that's a shame.

And it seems like we've forgotten the part of unity that makes this the United States of America.

"And I’d gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today."

And that's a shame.

And it seems like we've forgotten about the love of country and love of God that made America great.

"Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land God bless the U.S.A."

And that's a shame.

And it's amazing that we can so easily remember the words of this great song and sing it so freely and easily at certain times, but not understand or remember the true meaning of the words that make it such a great and beautiful song.

And that's a shame.

Hopefully it doesn't take another tragedy for us to realize what made US great and keep it in our hearts every day.

NEVER FORGET 9.11.2001