Today Is My Birthday
Yes, it is. August 6, 1946.
It's also Billy B's birthday, and that of the pantsless wonder, NTodd. I'm not sure in what year those two rascals entered the scene, but I'm reasonably certain it was at least a couple of decades later. I'm sure lots of other folks were born on this date as well, which I think is a good thing. I'm pleased to share my birthday with all of them.
What I'm not so pleased about, however, is some of the other things that happened on this date. On August 6, 1945 the US dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, thereby opening up the horror of the nuclear age. The use of nuclear weapons is still a serious threat, especially given the nature of the current resident of the White House.
More recently, and just as devastating, on August 6, 2001, President Bush was given a "PDB" from the intelligence people that was quite direct: Osama bin Ladin was determined to strike in the US. Mr. Bush chose to ignore it. He did nothing.
Slightly over a month later, on September 11, 2001, the threat identified by that PDB was carried out. Since then, everything that was decent and good about this country has been sullied, ripped to shreds, destroyed: the right to habeus corpus and to due process, the right to privacy implied in the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution, the tradition of adhering to the terms of treaties that we entered into with other nations, especially those that banned torture, and that's just the start of the list.
I'm not so certain as some of my fellow Atriots that the Bush cabal was directly involved in the 9/11/01 disaster, but I do know that same cabal has been using that event to justify each and every abuse of power since then.
And that whole chain of events began on August 6, 2001. My birthday, and Billy B's, and NTodd's.
I still intend to celebrate today, if only because no one has taken my birthday away, at least not yet. But the celebration will be a little muted, a bit more somber than it should be. And I really, really hate that.
It's also Billy B's birthday, and that of the pantsless wonder, NTodd. I'm not sure in what year those two rascals entered the scene, but I'm reasonably certain it was at least a couple of decades later. I'm sure lots of other folks were born on this date as well, which I think is a good thing. I'm pleased to share my birthday with all of them.
What I'm not so pleased about, however, is some of the other things that happened on this date. On August 6, 1945 the US dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, thereby opening up the horror of the nuclear age. The use of nuclear weapons is still a serious threat, especially given the nature of the current resident of the White House.
More recently, and just as devastating, on August 6, 2001, President Bush was given a "PDB" from the intelligence people that was quite direct: Osama bin Ladin was determined to strike in the US. Mr. Bush chose to ignore it. He did nothing.
Slightly over a month later, on September 11, 2001, the threat identified by that PDB was carried out. Since then, everything that was decent and good about this country has been sullied, ripped to shreds, destroyed: the right to habeus corpus and to due process, the right to privacy implied in the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution, the tradition of adhering to the terms of treaties that we entered into with other nations, especially those that banned torture, and that's just the start of the list.
I'm not so certain as some of my fellow Atriots that the Bush cabal was directly involved in the 9/11/01 disaster, but I do know that same cabal has been using that event to justify each and every abuse of power since then.
And that whole chain of events began on August 6, 2001. My birthday, and Billy B's, and NTodd's.
I still intend to celebrate today, if only because no one has taken my birthday away, at least not yet. But the celebration will be a little muted, a bit more somber than it should be. And I really, really hate that.
Labels: The Unitary President
posted by Diane at 3:20 PM
17 Comments:
Happy B-Day!
Have a lovely birthdya, Diane.
Happy birthday from one of your regular readers!
I wish the MSM would remember and commemorate the 8/6/01 PDB; I for one will never forget it, and my utter fury when I first heard about it (in Condi Rice's testimony before the 9/11 Commission, IIRC). I'm still furious about that, six years later.
I still intend to celebrate today
As well you should. Many Happy Returns!
Diane gives us a reason to celebrate every day, in return, Happy Birthday!
and seems Digby wants everyone to raise consciousness about this date (the info the WH now wants to get by wiretapping is what was roundly ignored before 911).
Oh, and I posted below this so it would stay at the top!
Have a big B-Day. You are about half a year older than I am. Just making it this far is it's own reward.
Happy Birthday! It was my Mom's 21's Bday when the Hiroshima bomb was dropped. I think the radiation spread and caused a retard to be born in Crawford Texas.
Happy Birthday, Diane, sorry the day is marked by other, less cheerful, connotations. Still, have some cake and do what you want, it's the only time you get to be selfish and bossy without getting busted for it. Also, thanks for the blogswarm post - it's good to see Ripley back in the swing!
happy birthday, diane...
today is also the anniversary of the nuptuals between the last ex-mrs wgg and me...
Happy B-Day! Sorry it fell on such an inauspicious day.
Happy birthday! You only beat me by 11 days. (and 31 years)
Many more to you!
Happy Birthday! Sorry that bad things happened on a good day for you.
LLAP,
spocko
/If 60 is the new 40, does that mean that 20 is the new 0? -Spocko
Happy birthday, Diane!
Enjoy! Live it up! Or relax!
Just some something you like, dammit!!
;)
Happy (belated) birthday to another leading edge baby boomer--you're just under 6 months younger than I am, so we share a year (a very good year? TBD).
Love the work you do on your blog.
jawbone
There were a few welders working in the Japanese shipyard at Hiroshima, toiling away inside a boat and beneath the water line. They survived the blast.
They were immediately transferred to... Nagasaki, where they went back to work inside a ship below the water line.
They also survived the second explosion, becoming the only people to live through both infernos.
We have seen that nuclear weapons do not prevent war.
We share a birthday (well, you had it for 9 years before I did) and not a few opinions. I always wonder how things would have been different if that memo had been paid attention to.
(And my friend Jul shares your birthday exactly, but that's probably the only thing she shares. We love her anyway.)
Jon Benet Ramsey was born on August 6, 1990. Wonder what she would have been like as a 17 year old high school senior?
Post a Comment
<< Home