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There a few reasons for my statement in my last post:

Do I think this will change things in the U.S. and abroad? No not really, terrorism is still out there,

On May 1, 1945 Germany announced the Adolf Hitler was dead, he actually committed suicide the day before. While many may say he was not a terrorist, he was a dictator, he is considered by many to be the embodiment of evil and is responsible for the death of millions of innocent people, just because they didn’t fit his requirements to be a part of the perfect race. Today we have Neo-nazis, who may not have the same ideals as Hitler, they do much to spread hatred, racism and fear.

One could consider Hitler to be a state sponsored terrorist, much like the Fatah of the PLO who were responsible for the murder of the athletes of the Israeli 1972 Olympic Team in Munich. Do you remember this image? I remember seeing this, I remember being horrified by what happened. When it was over, 11 Israelis and a German policemnan were dead. Five terrorists were killed and three were captured and held in Germany. A month and a half later Palestinian terrorists hijacked a Lufthansa jet and demanded the 3 terrorists be released. Germany complied.

Despite Mossad assuming the responsibility to hunt down kill those responsible for the terrorist attack, one of the leaders, Abu Daoud, remains at large, he even wrote a book titled “Memoirs of a Palestinian Terrorist,” as well as, “Palestine — A History of the Resistance Movement, by the Sole Survivor of Black September.” For which he was awarded the Palestine Prize for Culture in 1999 for his book.

On February 26, 1993, an explosion occurred in the World Trade Center. The explosion caused six deaths, 1,042 injuries, and nearly $600 million in property damage. Middle Eastern terrorism had arrived on American soil delivered by a small band of terrorists that scurried away from the scene unnoticed, later to be identified as Islamic fundamentalists. The leader’s plan was to collapse one of the towers, and he thought/hoped the debris from that tower would knock down the other tower.

April 19, 1995 marked the arrival of homegrown terrorism with the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City. Timothy McVeigh was the kid next door. The bomb exploded with enough force to shatter one third of the seven-story structure to bits and lifted pedestrians off the ground. One hundred and sixty eight people were killed, more then five hundred were wounded.

And then we have the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001. One of those dates where almost everyone remembers where they were. My friend’s husband saw a plane flying south down the Hudson, he thought it was weird, there normally aren’t planes flying there. My future boss came around the corner in the office and said, ‘The World Trade Center just got bombed.’ I went and looked at the T.V. in his bosses office, then ran to call my mother. I found a report that 2,752 men, women and children died at the World Trade Center. I’m not sure how accurate that is. Although I certainly knew what terrorism was I am not sure I had heard of Al Qaeda before this, now it is definitely a familiar name.

So even if the death of bin Laden affects Al Qaeda, lessening its power, there were terrorist before, there will continue to be terrorists.

The day after

Sunday night the announcement was made by President Barak Obama that Osama bin Laden was dead. There was much speculation about possible retaliation, comments that this didn’t mean the end of the war or hostilities. The Daily Post even posted this question:

According to reports yesterday, Osama bin Laden was killed. What will change, for you, for the U.S., for the world, now that Osama is gone? Or it will it not have much of an effect at all?

Monday morning I took the train into Grand Central Terminal. Like I’ve been doing the past 5-½ years I wondered if this morning would be any different. The mood on the train was normal. It wasn’t my normal train since I had overslept, but I have taken the train occasionally. We got off the train and headed up the ramp, so far it was a normal day. Then at the top of the step were two police officers. That is not usual, then inside the doors two more, then a K-9 officer, they weren’t being intrusive, just standing around watching every one. There were just a lot more then normal.

Do I think this will change things in the U.S. and abroad? No not really, terrorism is still out there, there is the chance of retaliation that we need to be aware of, if the terrorist leaders have done their job correctly, teaching that this is a holy war not a war for the leaders, I fully expect someone to step up and take over where Osama left off.

And that is all, says she.

Breaking News Alert
The New York Times
Sun, May 01, 2011 — 10:43 PM ET
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Osama bin Laden Is Dead, U.S. Official Says

Osama bin Laden has been killed, a United States official said.

President Obama is expected to make an announcement on Sunday night, almost ten years after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Read More: NY Times

I am watching the President’s announcement now. He is so articulate, he spoke about 9/11/2001, about the war on terrorism, his promise and the events leading up to the assault that killed bin Laden. He ended it with, “May God bless the United States of America.”

Headlines

As the Careless Order a Latte, Thieves Grab Something to Go

Starbucks shops are prime hunting ground for thieves who prey on customers distracted by laptops or iPads or, well, standing in line, to extract their valuables.

Read the article: NY Times

Inspection day

On the last possible day I got the car inspected. I am always nervous when I go, not being particularly savvy concerning cars, I am always worried something is wrong that I have no clue about.

The car passes, with only two things I had to get fixed. A brake light and the wipers. Stitch had been telling me for weeks the car needed new wipers. He was right. Then when I went to pay, the bill was much more then I was expecting, as I questioned her we went through the charges, inspection, brake light, 4 wipers …. wait, how many wipers? Yes that was a mistake. So they fixed that, I paid the bill and I don’t have to worry about inspection for another year.

And that’s all, says she.

New York State has an inspection program, all vehicles registered in New York have to have a safety inspection and an emissions inspection every 12 months. My car is due for its inspection in April. A fact I was reminded of when I went through a check point on Tuesday. I went through it twice once on the way to my doctor and then on the way back. I guess the police in my town don’t have anything better to do on Tuesday afternoon.

During the winter, a snow plow broke my driver’s side mirror. This would cause my car to fail the inspection. I had told the boy to take car of it, and he didn’t, so this week I was scrambling to find a mirror. There were mirrors available online but I was worried I wouldn’t get in time. So I called the local auto parts store, they said they could get it, to be delivered to their store the next day.

The boys went to get it since the store closes before I get home. I got a text from Stitch, “The mirror is black not silver hahahaha”. There was no way I could get another one before the end of the month. His response to that was “Ok. So itll just look funny. Very funny. Lol funny.” “Gives the car spunkiness”

So the car is now unique, I was driving with Gwen and going “It’s black! It’s black!” She grinned at me. “Amy says she is a work of art.” Good way to look at it.

And that’s all, says she.

Breaking News Alert
The New York Times
Wed, April 27, 2011 — 10:52 PM ET
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At Least 54 Dead in Storms Across South

A deadly tornado stretching a mile wide tore through downtown Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Wednesday evening, destroying homes and buildings and bringing further damage to a region already battered by storms.

Across the state, at least 25 people were killed by storms on Wednesday alone, said Valerie Hayes, a spokeswoman for the Alabama Emergency Management Agency. But that number did not include any deaths from Tuscaloosa, where 15 people were confirmed dead by the mayor’s office and 100 were said to be injured, The Tuscaloosa News reported. Earlier in the day, with the damage spreading and the death toll rising, Gov. Robert Bentley declared a state of emergency. And The Associated Press reported that across the South, storms Wednesday killed 11 people in Mississippi, two in Georgia and one in Tennessee.

Read More: NY Times

One of the things that happens when you live in a basement apartment is you get creepy crawlies. This past month I have had 4 close encounters with spiders. I’m not afraid of spiders, I just don’t want those eight legged terrorists in my living space.

The first encounter was when I was on my bed reading, I looked up I think because my phone buzzed, only to see a spider next to my head, suspended from the ceiling on a web string. I swatted him/her/it away and then jumped to smash it and it disappeared.

The second was in my bathroom, I was sitting on the toilet and it crawled out from under my sink. I pulled my feet up off the floor, before I could do anything else it crawled back under the sink.

Then tonight as I was getting ready for church I noticed a little one on my door, I picked up my Croc (its a shoe) and hit it. The spider fell to the floor, it was still moving and it went under my door, still holding the Croc I opened the door and it was gone. So after being hit on the head, falling from a height that for you and me would be the equivalent of the Empire State Building, it was able to run away. Disgusted at the fact that it got away, I dropped the Croc and shut the door, there on the outside of the door was a huge big ugly eight legged monster. I grabbed a fabric softener bottle and whacked it. Dead. So that is Spiders 3, Bella 1. That makes me the Astros.

That is why I sleep with my blankets over my head. Oh and don’t even get me started on the f***ing centipedes.

Phil Hughes continues to be on the D.L. with what is being referred to as right shoulder inflammation, the Yankees term was “dead arm”. He had a set back, after throwing 12 pitches in a bullpen session he reported feeling deadness and fatigue in his arm. He has been sent for tests and hopefully the doctors will find out what is wrong and fix it.

Francisco Cervelli is scheduled to catch on Tuesday and Wednesday for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and could be activated as early as Thursday.

When I checked my e-mail, I saw a lot of e-mails from WordPress. It surprised me, I get a few comments now and then, but this was highly unusual. As I read through the comments they seemed to have a theme, “Don’t quit.” One comment by Rex: “Well, Bella, if you don’t get a lot of comments today, I don’t know what else would work.” Then I read this comment by Debbi is 24atHeart and the last sentence was: “(BTW – congrats on being recognized today by The Daily Post!)

My response to that was “What?” I played with my iPhone until I figured out how to show the sidebar, clicked on the link to The Daily Post to find a blog post titled: Help a friend not quit Post a Day. In case you don’t want to click on the link I’ll summerize, in this post Scott mentions that someone, who may or may not be named Bella Foxx was thinking of quiting Post A Day.

Can you help her out by stopping by her blog today, A Commuter’s journal, and giving her some Daily Post love on her post? In Likes and Comments? Or just drop a comment here with a short word of encouragement? Thanks.

People came, I got 474 hits on my blog that day. That is the most ever, today I have 115 so far. And comments were left. Every time I checked my e-mail there were more comments. 31 on one post (Topic #107: What percentage of Americans believe in the devil?), 9 on Baseball season and a few others scattered around to other posts. Some people even left multiple comments. I was, in a word, overwhelmed.

The comments ranged from “Don’t quit” and “Maybe you could try Post A Week” to “You might need to take a short break from blogging”. Some made a comment about the post and then said very briefly, “Don’t quit”. Some were quite complementary, like this one: jerzygirl45: “At least your stuff is incredibly coherent and readable.”; and Chuck: “Well, if an excellent writer is thinking about giving up her blog, then a hack such as myself, should bury his or her head under piles of crumpled virtual paper. Don’t stop!” I’m going to have to buy a bigger hat.

Seriously though, I have gotten some good ideas and some encouragement and a whole lot of, “People are reading my blog! Squeeee!” Most of all, if you can feel love coming from a website, I have felt the love and it has given me the energy to keep going, to muddle through this dry spell and keep writing.

My heartfelt thanks to each and every one of you.

And that is all, says she.