Robert Gibbs, the Coast Guard and Terrorism Victims

In honor of our fallen 9/11 heroes, I was trying to remain upbeat and non-partisan today, but i couldn't let this one go by.

During his daily White House briefing today, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs bristled when asked if the Pentagon's 8th anniversary commemoration of the 9/11 attacks may not be an appropriate time for the coast guard to conduct training exercises mere miles from the ceremony. Jake Tapper has the full report. Gibbs responds that, "I tend not to question law enforcement when they are trying to keep this country safe," and lectures the press that they should remind themselves: "We may not get this first, but we may be the first ones to get it right." He noted that the White House does not want to "micromanage" the Coast Guard and suggested the press remember the victims of 9/11 and future victims of terrorism as they try to get the scoop.

Two things pop to mind. First, Gibbs may not want to question law enforcement, but his boss does. Barack Obama to Boston Police: you acted stupidly.

Second, who makes a statement, on 9/11 of all days, referring to future victims of terrorism? I hope and believe that he and this administration are not resigned to the fact that more Americans will die on American soil at the hands of terrorists. It indeed sounds as if they are.

Surely he misspoke. Right?

Honoring Edward T. Fergus Jr.

Today I have the privilege of honoring Edward T. Fergus Jr., of Wilton, CT, one of the 658 Cantor Fitzgerald employees who was killed on September 11, 2001. As I did not have the pleasure of knowing Mr. Fergus personally, I offer this excerpt in his memory:

"Every Saturday, the first thing Edward T. Fergus Jr. did was drive to Dixville, N.Y., to tinker with his parents' boat and do some chores. Returning home to Wilton, Conn., he would go fishing on Long Island Sound with his 10- year-old son, Tom, and 11-year-old daughter, Shannon. Then, before dinner, he would work on the nearby house he was renovating. The question was: how?

"On-tap energy," said Allison Fergus, his sister. Working at Cantor Fitzgerald, he was home early enough for picnics in the boat with his wife, Linda, and the children. The winter sports were skiing and snowboarding, usually in Vermont.

Mr. Fergus, 40, organized the annual seaside vacation with his parents and two sisters, and coaxed his sisters out of Manhattan for events like the Norwalk Oysterfest. He was hard to miss, even in the church balcony. The priest always picked him out — a head above everybody, with red hair that nearly glowed."1

To those who knew and loved Edward Fergus, he was a man of boundless passion for life and his loved ones. I cannot begin to imagine the grief those he left behind must still experience every holiday, month, season and year that pass without him in their lives. To his children who are in high school or college, navigating their young adult lives without their dad, I extend empathy and courage. To Linda, Allison and all the adults who helped the kids make sense of the outrageous and violent way in which Edward died (while wading through a sea of grief themselves), I offer my admiration and respect. To Edward and all the other 2995 9/11 victims, I offer my resolve: we will not forget. Never.


God bless the memory of Edward T. Fergus Jr. and God bless America.



1(Portraits 9/11/01: The Collected Portraits of Grief, edited by the New York Times, 2nd. ed, 2003)

monday profundity...or something like that

the other day my nephew and nieces came for a summertime sleep over. they are used to "camping" in a trailer bigger than many manhattan apartments (the living room "pops out," if that gives you a visual on how big the camper is) so the entire concept was mind blowing for them. after liberally applying bug spray we put our sleeping bags on mattresses which we then laid out on the deck. once we snuggled in, this conversation ensued:

katie (5): auntie, do you have kids?

auntie: no, sweetie. don't you think that you'd know them if i did? they'd be your cousins.

katie (delighted at this revelation; she's figuring out how the babies come into the family, i think): ohhhh!

anela (5): auntie, are you married?

auntie: no, sweetie, i haven't found a husband yet.

kyle (8) (incredulously): are you a teenager?

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you know you're in trouble when you volunteer to do something and the first thing they do is give you professional business cards (in this case, working with the American Cancer Society on one of their annual events).

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the more i learn about our political process, the less i want to know, and yet the more i compulsively need to know. is there some sort of 28-day program for people in my situation?

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i get why we call it sauerkraut (sour cabbage), but what's the deal with hot dog? bratwurst was too hard to directly translate from the german?

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several hurricanes/tropical storms are closing in on the mainland southern u.s., but the real estate i saw a lot of on the news today was a field in upstate new york (woodstock).

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today i took benadryl to control allergy symptoms and then got so sleepy i had to lie down on the couch for three hours. my sore throat was gone, but i don't remember any of it.

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the neighbors go on vacation and leave their dog alone in a kennel in their yard. he is so lonely he cries for hours on end. do you call the dog catcher? go over there and visit him>turn up the music louder and repeat la-la-la-la to yourself?

i wonder if they would like to be left alone for two weeks at a time with only dry food and water to keep them company.

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my town is so low-key that when i asked the local pub what time they close, the owner said: when everyone goes home, which is usually around 11 PM. so you can "close down" a bar here and make it home in time for the late news.

like i was saying...beer diplomacy?

a couple of posts ago i mentioned that thomas sowell is one of my favorite writers. here's another example why. sowell says it straight on "gates-gate," the situation in cambridge, ma, that developed late last week when black harvard professor henry louis gates accused white cop james crowley of racial profiling and then president obama stepped in the middle of it at a health care press conference when he said that, while he didn't have all the facts in the case, the cambridge police nonetheless "acted stupidly" in the matter.

whatever you think about "gates-gate," it surely has proven to be a political tempest. it very well could derail obamacare and has at least temporarily tarnished mr. obama's think-before-you-speak image.

what a mess. but, hey not to worry: beer diplomacy to the rescue. that's right, beer diplomacy. it sounds like something that might occur between frat houses, doesn't it, but it's serious white house business. it's a scheduled diplomatic event wherein the president, professor and cop will have a beer together at the white house picnic table astride the obama girls' jungle gym swing set. we could call it a beer summit, i guess... i wonder who can chug the fastest and who can drink the most beers without falling off the monkey bars?

a word about the beers that will be "on tap" at the beer summit: i'm definitely with crowley. blue moon wins over bud (obama's choice) or beck's (gates' choice) any day. just slice up the oranges, toss a couple of blue moon's back and you may just forget that you're drinking with two guys who think you're a stupid racist.