I should probably explain why I hate February. And Lent. Here goes: when members of my Husband’s family die, it’s usually in February. I have no idea why. Maybe they don’t like Summer in SoCal. Normally this would not be an issue, however they tend to pass near the end of the month and the funerals generally get scheduled for about aweek later.

On my birthday. March 1st. It’s happened several times already.

At least my relatives have the good manners to die in either January or November, thereby completely leaving my birthday alone and also not messing with Christmas or Thanksgiving. Much. Hubs’ relatives, however, tend to do this follow the leader thing and they have picked the second month of the year as the family’s  “drop like flies month”.

This past Thursday, my Husband’s paternal Grandmother passed away.  She was 95 years old, had just recovered from a stroke and was a very tough lady. Unfortunately, this was not unexpected.

I asked my husband, half-jokingly, but actually dead serious, if we could ask his family to please not schedule the funeral for my birthday. He laughed and said no. Asshole. However, I knew my fate was already sealed. You see, two years ago almost to the day, Hubs’ maternal Grandmother died. Her funeral was on my 39th birthday. His mother’s side of the family had enough manners to wait until the wake/reception/food thingy — held in the ballroom of a swanky hotel — to start fighting and bitching about who got what of their mom’s possessions. It did not end well.

Yesterday, my FIL informed us that the funeral  for his mother would be — can you guess? — on my birthday.

My Husband immediately laughed, gave me a look and reminded his dad that it was also my 41st birthday. That’s when my FIL explained that he had tried to schedule the service for Friday, but because of Lent, no priests were available for services on that day — or any Friday, apparently, until the Lenten season ends with Easter.

So this is why all those funerals were on my day! Now I hate Lent. What? It’s better than blaming a dead relative for having the audacity to die in February, isn’t it? I’m not even Catholic and I have had to give up my birthdays because of it. And the day before as well because funerals in this family last two damn days.

Don’t judge me.

Doesn’t that score me points somewhere? A non-Catholic sacrificing for Lent has to count for  something, right?

I’m assuming the Publishes Clearing House guy  will be here shortly with my giant check with multiple zeros or the lottery ticket I bought is a big winner. Because being forced to spend your birthdays at funerals with people who may or may not want to shank each other just to get their hands on any money the deceased left lying around is not my idea of a good time. And sometimes the food at these things sucks so we end up stopping at Tommy’s for grub on the way home.

Then I end up with heartburn.

When I was pregnant with The Diva, Hubby’s maternal aunt died, but because the funeral was two days before my actual due date and I was on bed-rest, we didn’t have to go. I did have an OB appointment on my birthday, though.

This year, as in several years past, we will have to drive to Los Angeles two days in a row and go to a funeral at St. {insert female name}’s Catholic church followed by a graveside service at the huge flowery cemetery on the hill where nearly every one of my Husband’s deceased relatives are buried. I’m not kidding. His mom, maternal grandmother and step-grandfather,  three of his four uncles, paternal grandfather and now paternal grandmother are all buried there — and that’s just the ones I can remember off-hand. His family is huge. They are all in a different section of that place, too. It’s like they wanted to be peppered around here and there for good measure. Or they just didn’t want to spend their eternal rests next to the ones that drove them batshit crazy in life.

The Diva has to be pulled out of school for this. OY.

Thank God, my FIL told me he wants to be cremated because it’s cheaper and the military will cover most of the expenses. He wants his ashes interned at The Punch Bowl in Hawaii. Hubby is thrilled with that idea because it means a free vacation to the islands we love so much.

What? I didn’t say it, he did.

I suggested we sprinkle him at Disneyland. The jury’s still out on that one.

Remember all the times I told you guys that weird, random shit always happens to me and that I’m a magnet for The Free Range Stupid? Do you believe me now?

PS: This time I’m wearing my birthday tiara to the funeral and I don’t care what anyone says about it. Should scary SIL pipe up, I may take a cue from her mama’s side of the family and shank a bitch. I’m no longer required to be polite to her since certain matriarchs have passed away and 23 years is way too fucking long for me to bite my tongue where she’s concerned. Plus, my tongue is very sore.

Bring it.

I Hate February. And Lent. is a post from: Last Shreds Of Sanity | Blog Designer | California Mom Blog

I’m sure you have all heard about SOPA, PIPA and SB 1867 by now. And I hope all of you are outraged about them. Some of the biggest names on the internet are so incensed over these proposed laws that they are either shutting down for 24hours or protesting in some major way. The sites shutting down and/or protesting include Google, Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, Mozilla and Wikipedia.  Although GoDaddy has since softened their stance, they initially supported SOPA wholeheartedly — that was until people started taking their business elsewhere. They lost over 37,000 domains during Move Your Domain Day. Yet another reason I hate GoDaddy.

The Constitution of these United States and The Bill of Rights gives us personal freedoms that are ours by birthright and law. However, our current government wants to regulate every thing we do — even in the privacy of our own homes.

Big Brother, much?

In an effort to curtail internet piracy, strengthen intellectual property laws — who are they kidding? These proposed laws have nothing to do with keeping anyone — or anything — safe, save for the wallets of Hollywood Big-Wigs and corporations. Under the guise of ‘security’ these bills have been introduced into the Senate with the hopes that they will pass and those with all the gold will get to decide what us peons can and cannot do on the internet.

These laws could make it so that bloggers like myself could be arrested, detained, convicted and executed without due process just for speaking out against the government. In fact, that’s just was SB 1867 says; It was quietly passed last month. It also allows bestiality for those in the military, along with repealing ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ — DADT can stay, all the other crap in that bill needs to GO! That’s the first hit to our unalienable rights.

If SOPA and PIPA pass on January 24, 2012, The MPAA and RIAA, along with their allies in Hollyweird, will get a law that will  “give the U.S. government the power to censor the Web using techniques similar to those used by China, Malaysia and Iran”. SOPA would allow the Justice Department to seek an order making allegedly piratical sites essentially vanish from the internet. That’s CENSORSHIP and a blatant attempt to strip all American citizens of their personal freedoms.

This is the email I just recieved from Mozilla, entitled Why is the Internet on strike today?:

Today, Mozilla is joining the virtual strike against Internet censorship – along with others like Wikipedia and Google – to raise awareness of US Congress legislation that could fundamentally alter the Internet we know and love.

This harmful legislation, called the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate, will be voted on as early as January 24th in the Senate.

If you live in the US, there’s still time to help stop these bills from becoming law. Please visit mozilla.org/sopa for information on the bill, and on ways you can reach out to your senators.

What makes this legislation so bad? Here’s how it would change the Web:

• Communication platforms – from YouTube to Facebook to Amazon – could be shut down if a single rights holder alleges a violation.
• It would make the Web less stable and less secure.
• Social networking sites, like Twitter or Facebook, could be forced to track and control user behavior, stunting innovation and undermining free expression.
• Your Internet provider could be required to inspect all of your traffic and browsing.

Visit mozilla.org/sopa right now for information – and make your voice heard before it’s too late.

Please join today’s strike, and help protect the Internet.

Sincerely,

Jane & Winston
Editors

This is not a Third-World country and we are not living in a dictatorship, police state or under communist rule — yet. So while we still have voices, while we can still stand up for what we believe, DO IT. We may not get another chance.

It’s only six short days until the vote. We must stop this from becoming law.

STOP #SOPA, #PIPA AND REPEAL SB 1867 BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE!!!

Stop SOPA, PIPA And Repeal SB 1867: Save Our Personal Freedoms And Constitutional Rights is a post from: Last Shreds Of Sanity | Blog Designer | California Mom Blog

A few days before Halloween, I started seeing commercials for Christmas. Christmas. In October. The day after Halloween, every other commercial was Christmas themed and it’s only getting more prevalent. What the hell is going on, people?? Have you all forgotten about Thanksgiving already?? You know, the holiday with all the great food and family? The one about the Pilgrims, Indians and a nice juicy turkey? The one that comes before Christmas?

THAT ONE.

It does not help that in early October we went to Macy’s and found the store already fully decorated for Christmas! We hadn’t even gotten through Halloween yet! Every store I have been to in the last 60 days has had at least three aisles of Christmas and some decorations up already. What the hell?? I half expected to see Santa’s workshop and chair set up in the mall by October 15th! But I guess the guys who play Santa have to fatten up a bit more before they can don the red suits. That’s why they don’t appear in public until after Thanksgiving — they need all the wonderful calories we get from that one meal to put them over the edge into “bowl full of jelly” belly land.

Wait, I take that back.

We went to our local mall Saturday — before I was finished writing this post — and guess who’s already firmly ensconced in the Food Court? You guessed it, SANTA!!!

What the hell people?!?!?!?!?

Here is how the holidays are supposed to go:

1. Our kids go back to school in September (August out here in The Land of The Stupid).
2. We get ready for Halloween.
3. We Trick-or-Treat.
4. We get ready for Thanksgiving and occasionally think about Christmas.
5. We celebrate Thanksgiving by eating ourselves into a turkey coma and come back for more around midnight.
6. We continue to eat leftovers for days.
7. The fat man in the red suit first appears at the mall the day after Thanksgiving.
8. We start getting ready for Christmas.
9. After Christmas, we think about New Year’s, resolutions and how the hell we’re going to fit all the kids’ new stuff in our already cramped homes.

That’s how it goes.  But Thanksgiving always comes first.

I know the economy still sucks, but retailers need to realize that most of us are barely getting to the next holiday unscathed and inundating us with Christmas almost three months early is only going to annoy and depress us.

Just STOP. We all know when Christmas comes. It’s on the same day every year; kind of hard to miss. You are not going to make more money by battering us over the head with the fact that Christmas is coming, K?

And the holiday muzak in the stores? Dear Lord, if y’all don’t cut it down, I’ll blow them all up myself. There is no reason on God’s green earth that  stores should have Christmas carols playing non-stop in the beginning of November! *cough* The Childrens Place *cough* It’s like when KOST 103.5 started playing them starting November 1st one year…they got so many complaints, I think their switchboard blew up. I decided right then and there that I would boycott that station forever. And I have.

So, can we please get through Thanksgiving and give that day the honor it deserves before the whole retail world begins to look like elves threw up on it?

Thanks.

Have You All Forgotten About Thanksgiving Already?? is a post from: Last Shreds Of Sanity | Blog Designer | California Mom Blog

Do I have a beacon on my head that brings the psychos and dishonest people my way? Because I’m really getting sick of this shit. Yesterday morning, after dropping off my Husband at work and The Diva at school, I went to the bank to withdraw my rent money. Imagine my surprise when I found that there was $670 missing from my account. That’s more than 3/4 of my rent money. When I asked the teller what the hell was going on, I was informed that a check for $670 had cleared last night. A check neither I or my husband had written. Someone had forged a check made out to themselves, made it seem like my Husband had authorized it and deposited it in their own checking account. And this is why I hate people.

They’re mean. And dishonest. And out for themselves. And they will screw you the first chance they get.

And if these “people” happen to actually be employees of a company? They’re even worse.

You see, the person who forged this check wasn’t an individual, it was a company.

A company we’ve never heard of.

A company that, according to the Google searches I’ve done today, routinely practices illegal business.

PERFECT.

I supposed it’s fitting that this month’s NaBloPoMo theme is “Between”, seeing as how I am between, literally, right now. I’m between having money and not. Having a roof over my head and not. Being able to buy groceries and not…you get the picture.

I hate this. I’d like to be slightly more normal now, K? Thanks.

Did I mention how weird, random shit ALWAYS happens to me? Things that people who have normal lives find unbelievable? Yeah, that’s my life.

Back in 2000, my husband’s identity was stolen and they used it to obtain a job {We didn’t find out about this until February of 2001. We’re STILL fighting with the State of California over the taxes on that. TEN YEARS later}. What we did know was that over the Thanksgiving holiday, someone used his ATM Debit card to buy copious amounts of internet porn. That cost us over $400. We didn’t even own a computer then. And yes, we were with a completely different bank at that time. One that no longer exists, by the way.

In January of 2010, my checking account was hacked in some weird way via my Paypal. The hacker made a copy of my Visa Debit card and bought two big screen T.V.’s, which we did not find out until later, after the fraudulent charges were discovered.

YEP.

Then in April of this year, my checking account was compromised because of the Epsilon breach. Uh, huh. And the bank didn’t admit to this being the reason until THREE WEEKS later.

In 2010, we were advised to only cancel our ATM debit cards. So we did. And everything was fine until April of this year. Because of the Epsilon breach, we had to close our account and get a new one. And now this one has been used fraudulently. I love it.

Really.

I need this drama and to constantly be reminded that I am the walking, talking manifestation of Murphy’s Law.

It’s good for me.

NOT.

I hate that I have to open yet another checking account, change all of my bills, change Hubby’s direct deposit and that I cannot get to the money that is left in my account because my bank locked it.

Because of fraud.

I have EIGHT DOLLARS in my wallet. I need groceries. I need my migraine medication. We need milk and toilet paper and bread and cereal and food…oh and I need to pay my rent.

I really, really want to go to this company’s headquarters and throw a Molotov Cocktail through their window. Then I want to take a baseball bat to the person who authorized this fraudulent check and can still walk around like he/she has done nothing wrong.

My bank said they will “try” to get me my money back. Umm, it was a fraudulent check. RETURN IT. I’m sure it’s just a few keystrokes and then POOF! my money is back in my account. Did I also mention that I cannot open the new account until the current account is brought positive and I have $100 to deposit in it? Yeah. My account is overdrawn because you cleared a check that had a check number that was THIRTY-FOUR CHARACTERS LONG!!!!

AGAIN, this is why I hate people.

Was this not a bright red flag to anyone? Not even the precious “system”? What the fuck, Chuck? And I MAY or MAY NOT get my husband’s hard-earned money back so we can pay rent and buy necessities. I’ll know sometime early next week.

Want to see what was passed as a legal check? (The check number shown on the face of the check is not the same one that shows on my statement. Another red flag, maybe?)

I spent 2 1/2 hours in the branch yesterday trying to get this straightened out. I was charged for the stop payments and freezes applied to my account. The check I wrote for The Diva’s school pictures Thursday is going to bounce like a rubber chicken. And I can’t provide the basic needs for my family with the money my Husband works his ass for at a job he hates because some jackass thinks it’s OK to forge checks for their company and cash them on innocent people’s checking account.

I would just like to NOT have the weird, random shit happen to me anymore. It used to be mildly entertaining, but now it’s just plain ridiculous.

And it hurts my family.

Did I mention that we paid of ALL our consumer debt in August so we were completely debt free? Did I also mention how I was looking forward to this month as the month we would have breathing room and be able to put some money away, finally?

This cosmic joke that keeps getting played on me AIN’T FUNNY ANYMORE. Please stop it.

And This Is Why I Hate People is a post from: Last Shreds Of Sanity | Blog Designer | California Mom Blog

It’s a crime to be a Christian in Iran. One that is punishable by death if you do not embrace Islam and eschew your true beliefs. Under the Koranic laws (Sharia and Hadith), apostasy, the rejection of Islam, is a Capital Offense. Of course there are other things in sharia that Muslims break every day, but depending on who is interpreting the law, you may or may not be convicted of anything. It’s all very arbitrary. For being an apostate, however, Iranian Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani faces execution for refusing to renounce his Christianity and call Allah his god.

And no one really cares.

He was convicted of apostasy because it was determined that he has Muslim ancestry.

When asked to repent by the judges, Yousef said, “Repent means to return. What should I return to? To the blasphemy that I had before my faith in Christ?” The judges replied , “To the religion of your ancestors, Islam.” To which Nadarkhani replied, “I cannot.”

You can join the fight HERE.

I only learned about this because I saw Michelle Malkin’s post in my feed reader.

I haven’t heard a word about it on CNN (it’s on their site but I have not seen it broadcast) or our local news. No, the big news story is that of Michael Jackson’s doctor’s trial (gag).

From CNN:

Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, the head of a network of Christian house churches in Iran, could be executed as soon as midnight Wednesday in Tehran for refusing to recant his religious beliefs and convert to Islam, said the chair of a commission that monitors religious freedom around the world.

A statement by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent advisory group appointed by the president and Congress, “expressed deep concern” for the man’s fate.

After four days of an appeals trial for apostasy, Nadarkhani refused to recant his beliefs.

Leonard Leo, chair of the commission, said the pastor “is being asked to recant a faith he has always had. Once again, the Iranian regime has demonstrated that it practices hypocritical barbarian practices.”

The commission’s statement also called the trial a sham and said Iran is violating the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a party.

Iran violating human rights or international laws? Say it isn’t so!

They also have a double jeopardy statute. SO if you’re found innocent in a main “court”, you can be tried again in the court in your home city/village for the same thing and get convicted there. Basically, you’re screwed.

“I would be disappointed if at the end of this whole maelstrom, there was no statement by our government on this situation,” Leo said. “At some point the United States has to stand up for the right of this pastor and for human rights more broadly and call countries to account for what they are doing.”

The Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the United Nations failed to comment on the ruling.Jordan Sekulow, executive director of the ACLJ, said the outcry from Christians in America has been loud and sustained.

“American Christian, like never before, are engaged in this,” Sekulow said. “This is evidence that Christians in America over the past decade have done a better job engaging in the persecution issue.”

Sekulow also said he hopes the White House or State Department will issue a statement on the issue.

I’m not seeing anyone tweet about this. And yet this is something we should all be screaming about. Where is Sean Penn? Why hasn’t he taken up this cause du jour? Why hasn’t any celebrity activist or even President Obama mentioned this egregious human rights violation? Oh wait, it’s about Jesus Christ and Christianity. Speaking out against a MUSLIM country’s brutality and religious intolerance goes against that liberal creed of tolerance for everyone.

Evil flourishes when good men do nothing.

~ Edmund Burke

Explain to me how that works again. We have to be tolerant of people who hate us (and make sure we know what horrible infidels we are and how we deserve to die) because we are Christian, white, black, Hispanic, Jewish and/or American but when one of those groups we are supposed to be so tolerant of orders the EXECUTION of a Christian who was born and raised in their country, simply for being Christian we are supposed to ignore it????

I DON’T THINK SO, Muhammad. It ain’t happenin’.

The tyranny of a multitude is a multiplied tyranny.

~ Edmund Burke

Christians are being persecuted all over the world and no one is doing a thing about it. It’s like the Romans throwing Christians to the lions all over again.

But arrest and sentence to death a Muslim just for being Muslim, and prepare to suffer the wrath of righteous indignation, economic sanctions and the vilification of your morals as a society.

Has this world really gotten so far away from God that a death sentence for believing in Him is not something we see as injustice?

So while Iranian president Ahmadinejad spoke to the U.N. General Assembly about how America discriminates against Muslims, practices colonialism, has started every war since time began and orchestrated 9/11, his puppet masters were sealing the fate of one of their citizens, Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani, because he is a CHRISTIAN.

In 2010, the Iranian regime carried out 546 executions, more than at any other time during the preceding decade, and representing an increase of around 25 per cent on the previous year. Increasingly, execution is becoming Tehran’s favored method for dealing with anyone it deems an opponent — like Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani, an Iranian pastor who has refused to recant his Christian faith.

Pastor Nadarkhani’s case is another grim illustration of the volatile situation faced by religious minorities living under Iran’s Islamist clerics. Even though the state formally recognizes the existence of Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians, these minorities are under no illusions about their subordinate status.

Since 2009, when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stole Iran’s election to claim a further term as the country’s president, the crime of “moharebeh” — waging war against God — has frequently been invoked against those who question the Islamic legal codes which underpin the state.

But we’re supposed to be tolerant of all other faiths, even those who want Christians and Jews wiped from the face of the Earth. Because, as Christians, if we are not tolerant, we are bigots.

No, we are standing up for ourselves. We are speaking out against injustice.

We are standing up for what is right. We are being the voice of the silenced.

It is our job as human beings, citizens of the world and Christians to fight against this kind of brutality and intolerance.

These are people who advocate female circumcision, death by stoning and honor killings. None of those things is moral or legal by real world standards.

Whenever a separation is made between liberty and justice, neither, in my opinion, is safe.

~ Edmund Burke

Just as I was bout to publish, I saw that The White House released a statement on this, but it’s NOT from President Obama:

From press secretary Jay Carney:

The United States condemns the conviction of Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani. Pastor Nadarkhani has done nothing more than maintain his devout faith, which is a universal right for all people.

That the Iranian authorities would try to force him to renounce that faith violates the religious values they claim to defend, crosses all bounds of decency, and breaches Iran’s own international obligations.

A decision to impose the death penalty would further demonstrate the Iranian authorities’ utter disregard for religious freedom, and highlight Iran’s continuing violation of the universal rights of its citizens.

We call upon the Iranian authorities to release Pastor Nadarkhani, and demonstrate a commitment to basic, universal human rights, including freedom of religion.

From Speaker of the House John Boehner:

Religious freedom is a universal human right.

The reports that Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani will be sentenced to death by the Iranian government unless he disavows his Christian faith are distressing for people of every country and creed.

While Iran’s government claims to promote tolerance, it continues to imprison many of its people because of their faith. This goes beyond the law to an issue of fundamental respect for human dignity.

I urge Iran’s leaders to abandon this dark path, spare Yousef Nadarkhani’s life, and grant him a full and unconditional release.

We all must stand up for this man. You can join the fight HERE.

Iranian Christian Pastor Faces Execution For Not Embracing Islam is a post from: Last Shreds Of Sanity | Blog Designer | California Mom Blog

At 10:03 am on September 11, 2001, 4 cowardly terrorists using their twisted version of the Muslim religion as justification for mass murder, lost control of the hijacked United Flight 93 they intended to slam into what we presume was the White House or the Capitol building. What these idiots did not count on was that the passengers would fight back.

United Flight 93 crashed into an open field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. No other innocent lives were taken that day.

This is when I personally felt a “fuckin-a right!” moment. Our people fought back and although they lost their lives, they prevented what was arguably the dumbest of these terrorists groups from taking anyone else with them.

There were 36 passengers and crew on that flight.

No one survived the impact into that field.

What truly happened on that plane, no one will ever know. But, we do know from the phone calls that the passengers were able to make that they were formulating a plan to take back the cockpit. They knew that the pilot and co-pilot were dead, along with a flight attendant and passenger. They found out about the other attacks and seemed to decide that they were not going to let that happen again.

From Wikipedia:

The Hijacking

The cockpit voice recorder began recording the final 30 minutes of Flight 93 at 09:31:57.[34] At this moment, it recorded Jarrah announcing, “Ladies and gentlemen: here the captain, please sit down and keep remaining seating. We have a bomb on board. So sit.”[35] The controller understood the transmission, but chose to respond, “Calling Cleveland center, you’re unreadable. Say again, slowly.”[36] A flight attendant being held captive is heard pleading, “Please, please, don’t hurt me.”[37] Jarrah instructed the autopilot to turn the plane and head east at 09:35:09.[38] The aircraft ascended to 40,700 feet (12,400 m) and air traffic controllers immediately moved several aircraft out of Flight 93′s flightpath.[36] The flight attendant in the cockpit is heard to say, “I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die” followed by one of the hijackers saying in Arabic, “Everything is fine. I finished.”[37]

At 9:39 air traffic controllers overheard Jarrah say, “Hi, this is the captain. I would like you all to remain seated. There is a bomb on board and are going back to the airport, and to have our demands [inaudible]. Please remain quiet.”[36][39] Air traffic controllers did not hear from the flight again. Passengers and crew began making phone calls to officials and family members starting at 09:30 using GTE airphones and mobile phones. Altogether, the passengers and crew made 35 airphone calls and two cell phone calls from the flight.[40] Ten passengers and two crew members were able to successfully connect, providing information to family, friends, and others on the ground.[23] Tom Burnett made several phone calls to his wife beginning at 09:30:32 from rows 24 and 25, though he was assigned a seat in row four.[33][41] Burnett explained that the plane had been hijacked by men claiming to have a bomb. He also said that a passenger had been stabbed with a knife and that he believed the bomb threat was a ruse to control the passengers.[41] During one of Tom Burnett’s calls, his wife informed him of the attacks on the World Trade Center and he replied that the hijackers were “talking about crashing this plane … Oh my God. It’s a suicide mission.”[42] He ended his last call by saying, “Don’t worry, we’re going to do something.”[42] An unknown flight attendant attempted to contact the United Airlines maintenance facility at 09:32:29. The call lasted 95 seconds, but was not received as it may have been in queue.[21] Flight attendant Sandra Bradshaw called the maintenance facility at 09:35:40 from row 33.[33] She reported the flight had been hijacked by men with knives who were in the cabin and flight deck and had stabbed another flight attendant.[41]
“Jack, pick up sweetie, can you hear me? Okay. I just want to tell you, there’s a little problem with the plane. I’m fine. I’m totally fine. I just want to tell you how much I love you.”
Message left by pregnant passenger Lauren Grandcolas at 09:39:21.[43]

Mark Bingham called his mother at 09:37:03 from row 25. He reported that the plane had been hijacked by three men who claimed to have a bomb.[44] Jeremy Glick called his wife at 09:37:41 from row 27 and told her the flight was hijacked by three dark-skinned men that looked “Iranian”, wearing red bandanas and wielding knives.[23][41] Glick remained connected until the end of the flight.[33] He reported that the passengers voted whether to “rush” the hijackers.[21] The United air traffic control coordinator for West Coast flights, Alessandro “Sandy” Rogers, alerted the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Herndon Command Center in Herndon, Virginia, that Flight 93 was not responding and was off course. A minute later, the transponder was turned off, but the Cleveland controller continued to monitor the flight on primary radar.[36] The Herndon Center relayed information on Flight 93 to FAA headquarters. Joseph DeLuca called his father at 09:43:03 from row 26 to inform him the flight had been hijacked.[21] Todd Beamer attempted to call his wife from row 32 at 09:43:48, but was routed to GTE phone operator Lisa D. Jefferson.[41] Beamer told the operator that the flight was hijacked and the pilots were on the floor dead or dying. He said one of the hijackers had a red belt with what looked to be a bomb strapped to his waist.[45] A United employee in San Francisco, California, sent an ACARS message to the flight at 09:46, “Heard report of incident. Plz confirm all is normal.”[21] Linda Gronlund called her sister, Elsa Strong, at 09:46:05 and left her a message saying there were “men with a bomb”.[46]

Flight attendant CeeCee Lyles called her husband at 09:47:57 and left him a message saying the plane had been hijacked.[33] Marion Britton called her friend, Fred Fiumano, at 09:49:12. Fiumano recalled, “she said, ‘We’re gonna. They’re gonna kill us, you know, We’re gonna die.’ And I told her, ‘Don’t worry, they hijacked the plane, they’re gonna take you for a ride, you go to their country, and you come back. You stay there for vacation.’ You don’t know what to say—what are you gonna say? I kept on saying the same things, ‘Be calm.’ And she was crying and—you know—more or less crying and screaming and yelling.”[26] Flight attendant Sandra Bradshaw called her husband at 09:50:04 and told him she was preparing scalding water to throw at the hijackers.[33] Passenger Lauren Grandcolas called her husband twice, once before takeoff and once during the hijacking. He missed both of her calls. She then passed her phone to Honor Elizabeth Wainio.[26] Wainio called her stepmother at 09:53:43 and concluded, four and a half minutes later, by saying, “I have to go. They’re breaking into the cockpit. I love you.”[47] Jarrah dialed in the VHF omnidirectional range (VOR) frequency for the VOR navigational aid at Reagan National Airport at 9:55:11 to direct the plane toward Washington, D.C.[29] Bradshaw, on the phone with her husband, said “Everyone is running up to first class. I’ve got to go. Bye.”[48]

During the hijacking, flight 93 passed within 1,000 feet (300 m) (instead of the normal 2,000 feet (610 m)) of a NASA KC-135 returning from a microgravity flight over Lake Ontario. NASA pilot Dominic Del Rosso recalled how odd the silence on the radio was that morning.[49] At some point after the hijacking, two F-16 fighter jets from the 121st Fighter Squadron of the D.C. Air National Guard were scrambled and ordered to intercept Flight 93, and the pilots intended to ram it since they did not have time to arm the jets.[50] However, they never reached Flight 93 and didn’t learn of its crash until hours afterwards.[51]

Fighting Back

“Are you guys ready? Okay. Let’s roll!”

~ Todd Beamer’s last words heard by operator Lisa Jefferson at 09:55

The passenger revolt on Flight 93 began at 09:57 after the passengers took a vote amongst themselves about whether to act.[23] By this time, Flight 77 had struck the Pentagon and Flights 11 and 175 had struck the World Trade Center towers.[23] The hijackers in the cockpit became aware of the revolt at 09:57:55, exclaiming, “Is there something? A fight?”[34] Edward Felt dialed 9-1-1 from his cell phone from the lavatory of the aircraft seeking information.[33] His call was answered by dispatcher John Shaw, and Felt was able to tell him about the hijacking before the call was disconnected.[53] There were reports of Felt’s hearing an explosion and seeing smoke coming into the lavatory from under the door.[54] These reports were reported to be false in other sources.[55] Lyles called her husband once more from a cell phone and told him the passengers were forcing their way into the cockpit.[21] Jarrah began to roll the airplane left and right to knock the passengers off balance. He told another hijacker in the cockpit at 9:58:57, “They want to get in here. Hold, hold from the inside. Hold from the inside. Hold.”[34] Jarrah changed tactics at 9:59:52 and pitched the nose of the airplane up and down to disrupt the assault.[23]

The cockpit voice recorder captured the sounds of crashing, screaming, and the shattering of glass.[56] Jarrah stabilized the plane at 10:00:03.[23] Five seconds later, he asked, “Is that it? Shall we finish it off?” Another hijacker responded, “No. Not yet. When they all come, we finish it off.”[34] Jarrah once again pitched the airplane up and down. A passenger in the background cried, “In the cockpit. If we don’t, we’ll die” at 10:00:25. Sixteen seconds later, another passenger yelled, “Roll it!”[23] Jarrah ceased the violent maneuvers at 10:01:00 and recited the takbir several times. He then asked another hijacker, “Is that it? I mean, shall we put it down?” The other hijacker responded, “Yes, put it in it, and pull it down.”[23] Nevertheless, the passengers continued their assault and at 10:02:23, a hijacker said, “Pull it down! Pull it down!” The airplane descended with the yoke turned hard to the right. The airplane rolled onto its back, and one of the hijackers began shouting the takbir. Amidst the continued sounds of the passenger counterattack, the aircraft plowed into an empty field in Stonycreek, Pennsylvania, about 20 minutes’ flying time from Washington, D.C.[23] The last entry on the voice recorder was made at 10:03:09.[34] The last piece of flight data was recorded at 10:03:10.[57] The 9/11 Commission Report concluded that “the hijackers remained at the controls but must have judged that the passengers were only seconds from overcoming them”.[23] However, many of the passengers’ family members, having heard the audio recordings, believe that the passengers breached the cockpit[58] and killed at least one or all of the hijackers.

That horrible day, at least these brave people were able to keep any other innocent lives from being taken. The people of United 93 are my heroes and sadly, are often forgotten about. They were just as brave as the firefighters, police and civilians who saved others’ lives only to sacrifice their own at Ground Zero.

Controversy

There is a permanent memorial being built and what I have found out is disturbing. The memorial for the brave men and women of Flight 93 seems to be an Islamic mosque in disguise. It will have a crescent — the very symbol of Islam — that points to within five degrees south of Mecca and a “tower of voices” with 44 blocks (there should only be 40; the 4 terrorists should not get any memorial in this country) that acts as a sundial directing Muslim afternoon prayers. I think this is abhorrent and even Tom Burnett’s father has been fighting against this atrocity. It’s as if the National Park Service is conceding defeat to the terrorists. Read the articles from the link I provided and decide for yourselves.

9/11 ~ Flight 93, The Ones Who Fought Back is a post from: Last Shreds Of Sanity | Blog Designer | California Mom Blog

At 9:37 am on September 11, 2001, 5 cowardly terrorists using their twisted version of the Muslim religion as justification for mass murder, flew American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon.

By this time we were all certain that this was an act of terrorism. We had just witnessed true evil and it shook us to our core.

There were 59 passengers and crew on that flight. It is widely believed that the plane was nearly vaporized upon impact because very few whole bodies were recovered. A total of 125 people were murdered at the Pentagon.

Many people survived because that part of the building was being refurbished and their offices had been relocated.

There are many conspiracy theorists who believe that either no plane hit the Pentagon or that it was a missile launched by our own government. To them I say: Get out of your mother’s basement, get on the right psychotropic drugs and stop saying things that shit on the memory of those who died and their mourning families.

Of the 184 people murdered at the Pentagon, 59 were passengers on Flight 77, of which 5 were children ages 3-11 and 55 military personnel.

9/11 ~ The Pentagon is a post from: Last Shreds Of Sanity | Blog Designer | California Mom Blog

At 9:03 am on September 11, 2001, 5 cowardly terrorists again used their twisted version of the Muslim religion as justification for mass murder, flew United Airlines Flight 175 into the World Trade Center’s South Tower (2 WTC).

We all knew then, this was no accident.

There were 60 passengers and crew on that flight. They were all killed instantly and the impact was caught on tape for the whole world to see. Although the South tower was hit after the North Tower, it collapsed first, likely due to the Boeing 767′s impact being 100 miles faster than Flight 11′s crash. The 599 people who died in 2 WTC, with the exception of those killed upon impact, suffered for 56 minutes before the building fell.

Only 4 people from the floors above the point of impact survived.

It is estimated that only 12 people jumped to their deaths from Tower 2.

• 0958:59 AM > The South Tower of the World Trade Center collapses, killing everyone in the building as well as a number of people on the concourse, in the Marriott, and on neighboring streets. There is a sudden ear-splitting noise. “First, a sharp crack and then what sounded, oddly, like a waterfall, thousands of panes of glass shattering as the north side of the tower buckled,” recalled a reporter. The tower seems to list, and then begins to come down, exploding floor by floor and obscuring itself in dust with “a slow, building rumble like rolling thunder that will not stop as the tower cascades toward the ground.” “It felt for a moment as if the entire city was going to crumple into the ocean,” wrote one witness. Standing at the foot of the tower, brokerage executive Howard Lutnick describes it as “the loudest thing I had ever heard – like a jet engine right in my ear.” Watching from Brooklyn, novelist John Updike says “It sank down as if somebody had yanked it.” The building falls in ten seconds, hitting the ground at nearly the speed of free-fall. The more than 200,000 cubic yards of concrete in the structure are pulverized by the force of the collapse and explode outward in a gigantic cloud of silicate dust, as bystanders desperately flee. An AP reporter on the scene wrote “Windows shattered. People were screaming and diving for cover. People walked around like ghosts, covered in dirt, weeping and wandering dazed.” As the smoke dissipates and it can be seen that the tower has vanished, an elderly woman gasps “It can’t be. It just can’t be. Where did it go? Oh, lord, where did it go?” A man approaches the immense pile of rubble and calls out ”Is anyone there? Show me an arm. Show me an arm.” There is no response.
• The Marriott Hotel, adjacent to the South Tower, is nearly cut in two by the collapse and at least 40 firefighters are killed or trapped there. The lobby area of the North Tower is also badly damaged. The North Tower shakes violently, but almost no one inside it realizes that the other tower has fallen. The collapse of the South Tower forces officials to abandon command posts in the North Tower lobby, the Marriott, and the nearby streets, temporarily throwing rescue operations into confusion.
• Mayor Giuliani and some of his aides are nearly trapped by the collapse of the South Tower when the nearby office building they’re in is damaged and fills with smoke. They escape through the basement and a network of tunnels. A few minutes later they are forced to run from the immense dust cloud released by the collapse of the North Tower.

Of the 599 people murdered at the South Tower, 60 were passengers on Flight 175, of which 3 were children aged 2 1/2, 3 and 4 and 168 were New York City firefighters and/or paramedics. I was unable to find any statistics on how many NYC and PAPD officers were killed in 2 WTC.

9/11 ~ The World Trade Center ~ South Tower is a post from: Last Shreds Of Sanity | Blog Designer | California Mom Blog

At 8:46 am on September 11, 2001,  5 cowardly terrorists using their twisted version of the Muslim religion as justification for mass murder, flew American Airlines Flight 11 into the World Trade Center’s North Tower (1 WTC).

And our world, as we knew it, changed forever.

There were 87 passengers and crew on that flight. It is assumed that they were all killed instantly. However, the 1434 innocent people trapped in 1 WTC, unless they were in the impact zone, suffered for an agonizing 102 minutes and 5 seconds until the tower fell at 10:28:05 am.

No one on the floors above the impact zone survived.

Likely fearing there was no possibility of rescue and not wanting to suffer the painful death of smoke inhalation or burning alive, at least 100 people — possibly as many as 250 — jumped from the North Tower to their deaths. Many jumped in pairs and held hands until they could no longer do so. It is thought that these people jumped either as a way to exert the last bit of control they had over their lives — how they would die — or because they just wanted to breathe fresh air and escape the intense heat from the fires. Firefighter Daniel Thomas Suhr, who was on the street in front of the tower, was hit by a jumper and died. No air evacuation was attempted because of the dense smoke from the fires prevented a safe roof landing.

From USA Today:

“It took three or four to realize: They were people,” says James Logozzo, who had gathered with co-workers in a Morgan Stanley boardroom on the 72nd floor of the south tower, just 120 feet away from the north tower. “Then this one woman fell.”

She fell closer to the south tower, he recalls. Logozzo saw her face. She had dark hair and olive skin, a white blouse and black skirt. She fell with her back to the ground, flat, staring up.

“The look on her face was shock. She wasn’t screaming. It was slow motion. When she hit, there was nothing left,” Logozzo says.

From The 9-11 jumpers; they didn’t “jump”:

The jumping started shortly after the first jet hit at 8:46 a.m. People jumped continuously during the 102 minutes that the north tower stood. Two people jumped as the north tower began to fall at 10:28 a.m., witnesses said.

For those who jumped, the fall lasted 10 seconds. They struck the ground at just less than 150 miles per hour — not fast enough to cause unconsciousness while falling, but fast enough to ensure instant death on impact. People jumped from all four sides of the north tower. They jumped alone, in pairs and in groups.

Most came from the north tower’s 101st to 105th floors, where the Cantor Fitzgerald bond firm had offices, and the 106th and 107th floors, where a conference was underway at the Windows on the World restaurant. Others leaped from the 93rd through 100th floor offices of Marsh & McLennan insurance company.

 

Of the 1434 people murdered at the North Tower, 87 were passengers on Flight 11 and 121 were New York City firefighters and paramedics. I was unable to find any statistics on how many NYC and PAPD officers were killed in 1 WTC.

9/11 ~ The World Trade Center ~ North Tower is a post from: Last Shreds Of Sanity | Blog Designer | California Mom Blog

Ten years ago, the world stopped turning.

Ten years ago, I woke up to the news showing what I thought was a scene from some action flick.

Ten years ago, I realized it was real.

Ten years ago, I knew Bin Laden was behind it even before any reporter uttered that evil bastard’s name.

Ten years ago, the whole world was irrevocably changed.

Ten years ago, innocent people lost their lives.

Ten years ago, ordinary people became heroes.

Ten years ago, we saw what the face of true evil looked like.

Ten years ago, I had nightmares for months; I was afraid my husband would be activated with his Air Force Reserve unit.

Ten years ago, I found out a family member was murdered by religious zealots because she was an American. I wonder if she suffered too much or was killed instantly. I still weep about that today.

Ten years ago, her children became orphans.

Ten years ago, we lost our innocence.

Ten years ago, we became paralyzed with fear.

Six and a half years ago, I brought a child into a world filled with terror alerts, endless war, invasive security checks and the loss of most of our basic freedoms. She will never know a world without terrorism.

Ten years later, we were told Osama Bin Laden was dead.

Ten years later, the blood of our soldiers is still being shed on foreign soil.

Ten years later, Bin laden is still destroying American families.

Ten years later, we are still fighting for freedom.

Ten years later, the Middle East is imploding upon itself. I fear what will emerge once the smoke clears and the bullets stop flying.

Ten years later, the world economy is crumbling, unemployment is at record highs and the population of homeless families is skyrocketing.

Ten years later, I wonder if Bin Laden actually got what he wanted.

Ten years later, I want to know who won that fight.

Ten years later, I pray for peace in this world.

Ten years later, I want the killing over religion to end.

Ten years later, I am asking God “why?”.

Ten years later, I want to go back to September 10th and make 9/11 never happen.

Ten years later, there have been enough tears and bloodshed for twenty lifetimes.

Ten years later, the First Responders are dying painful deaths and not getting any help or care for their heroism and sacrifice.

Ten years later, it’s still all about some bureaucrat or CEO’s bottom line.

Ten years later, the politicians are grandstanding because they want THEIR agendas forced upon The People instead of fighting for what is best for American citizens.

Ten years later, I wonder if the souls of those so viciously murdered that day will ever rest in peace.

In just nine more days, we will commemorate the ten-year anniversary of 9/11.

TEN YEARS.

Ten Years is a post from: Last Shreds Of Sanity | Blog Designer | California Mom Blog