The Lessons of 9/11: What Have We Learned

With the short work week resulting from the Labor Day holiday, you may have yet to realize that this Saturday is the ninth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington D.C., and the plane crash in Pennsylvania.

As Friday is usually our day for something more humorous and less serious, we thought we'd take some time today to focus on what 9/11/2001 was like for the staff of the Daily Felltoon.

We were all in different locations that morning, working or with a day off, going about our normal routines. We were listening to the radio, or contacting clients, checking our e-mail or getting ready to pick up a friend from the airport.

Within minutes of the first plane hitting the first tower of the World Trade Center, every one of us had heard about it, and turned on a nearby TV. We picked up phones, hopped online, and tried to reach out to those we cared about. We had family and friends near the Pentagon, and friends in lower Manhattan too. Some of us are of Arabic decent - as are our families - and we knew there would likely be some not-so-thinly veiled animosity towards them.

For those of us working in the media that day, after checking on those we cared about, we continued working, even stepping up efforts to help inform or comfort our listeners and readers. Some of us spent the rest of the day gathering those we cared about, who were stranded in Washington D.C.

That day, we weren't conservatives or liberals, progressives or centrists. We - and those we worked with at that time - weren't christians, muslims, jews, athiests, or representatives of any other religion. We were then, as we are now, all Americans.

It's sad then, to see that in the nine years since 9/11 some Americans have learned nothing from the events of that day.

We're referring to the intolerant, ignorant, and offensive "preacher" and his misguided flock in Florida, and their announcement this week of their plans to burn copies of the Koran on the anniversary of 9/11. Even though news of their Koran-burning has already stirred up anger against American military troops overseas, they persist in their plans. Even though they've received rebukes for their actions from powerful politicians and religious leaders from across the political spectrum, they still plan to continue. In spite of the fact that Gen. David Petreaus has asked them NOT to hold this event, because it might endanger the lives of American servicemembers, this group and their leader persist with their plans for their misguided, stupid exercise in intolerance.

It's extremely unfortunate that such a small, fearful, out-of-touch group of people can cause this much trouble for so many around the world - nine years after another small misguided group of fanatics caused a much greater amount of trouble.

Two wrongs don't make a right. They didn't then. They don't now, nor will they ever.

Reminders...

By this point, we hope you've noticed the new look and feel of The Daily Felltoon newsletter, as well as the new look of PaulFellCartoons.com .

As promised, we've taken many of your suggestions into account, and we've retooled things here at our end.

However, while things may look done to you, just a reminder - they're not. We're still working on adding a few features behind the scenes, and we're aware of a few kinks in the new site, too. If you notice something out of place, a link that doesn't work, or a page that doesn't load, please let us know. You may also have to do a few things yourself to help with your reading experience - like clearing your web browser's cache, something we've reminded you of before on several occasions.

Generally, keeping your cool and seeing if you can solve the troublesome issues in front of you is considered a wise approach to problem solving.

Our website revamp is like a microcosm of world and political events these days.

Large numbers of people seem to only be concentrating on events that either worry or delight them - none of which are completely in final form.

Minority Leader Boehner is measuring the drapes in the Speaker's office daily, and sometimes hourly. Republicans are counting the seats they think they'll win, before the first vote has even been cast. Democrats are either oblivious or overly focused on the feeble attempts by the media to gin up a horse-race. Much of the media is still dying for the latest fake outrage to goose their ratings, since both houses of Congress and the Supreme Court are still on vacation. Meanwhile, the President seems to finally understand what the American people want - jobs - but Americans are so worried about not having jobs, they continue to show distain for him, even when he's doing what they want.

Every one of these subjects has been polled, to one degree or another - but we'd remind you of what Nate Silver tweeted yesterday: "I'd urge at least a wee bit of caution in panicking about polling results from mid-August thru Labor Day. Lots of people on vacation."

Or as we've reminded you before, things are far from finished, even if they appear otherwise.

We're Celebrating Labor Day - By NOT Laboring

For those of you who stuck at work today (or still chained to their desks, like our web guru) we're republishing a revised version of our commentary from last Thursday - with an all new Daily Felltoon cartoon.

We hope this Labor Day it truly is a day off from work for you - and not just another day without work.

Rest, relax, and enjoy.

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What Labor Day is for in America is to celebrate working class Americans, and those who stand with them.

There are those who deride the labor movement as ineffectual and nearly dead, or attempt to write it off as merely the mirror image monster twin of the evil corporate greed monster. Another common - and wrong - attitude often expressed is that those who support the labor movement lean exclusively to the political left.

If that's what you think, then you obviously need a refresher in the facts.

Two of the Republican Party's biggest heros, Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt, were both big supporters of labor. Roosevelt was also highly in favor of keeping corporate power limited, with his well-known record of trust-busting and effective regulation.

It was the labor movement that brought American workers the forty hour work week (with weekends), and the eight hour working day. It was also the labor movement that secured the minimum wage, and pushed to move children out of factory work and into schools - far more often than they should have, paying the price of progress with their own lives.

There are entire schools of thought, with large stacks of charts and numbers that prove - historically - when the working class is doing well, Americans as a whole fare better economically. The converse has, unfortunately, also been proven to be true. That is, when organizations that support working class people are weak, workers of all kinds - union and non-union alike - fare worse. Maybe this resonates with those of you out there who are currently being jerked around by your employers and treated like disposable parts - or those of you who've lost your job, while your former company took federal bailout dollars at the same time the executives at your former company received raises.

Like any holiday, the real meaning of the Labor Day holiday is what each of us make it.

We hope that today, you make it a celebration of those who've truly fought for all workers.