When I hear him speak of auditing or eliminating the FED I stand up and cheer. The Federal Reserve is a non-governmental entity that is destroying our economy by printing money that has essentially no value, thereby lowering the value of the dollar and guaranteeing severe inflation in the very near future. The FED also has virtually no oversight from anyone in Congress. Paul is also correct in his assessment of federal government spending. We cannot keep spending money borrowed from China for building IHOP restaurants, studying ants in New Zealand, teaching African men how to wash their genitals after sex, and certainly can’t keep borrowing to prop up European countries.

I also agree with much of his stand on Iraq and Afghanistan, not to mention Libya, Sudan, Yemen, and the other third world hell holes Obama is involving us in. Fighting a war against Islamic terrorists is one thing but this “nation building” farce is only a boon for the military industrial complex and is not helping any aspect of our national security interests. We are wasting money and lives in a venture that will fail because it isn’t about winning a war; it is about being politically correct and propping up a puppet government. As we are leaving Iraq we see the sectarian slaughter returning.

Sunni and Shiite Muslims have been butchering each other for centuries and we are not going to stop it. Until these stone-age animals decide to live like human beings nothing we do is going to change anything. All we do is put our soldiers in the line of fire with a no-win policy that puts their lives in danger with rules of engagement that are insane.

While closing military bases all across the United States we build and expand bases throughout the world. While we are “helping Afghan police and military close their borders to invaders” we leave our own borders wide open to drug cartels and the very Islamic terrorists we are fighting in far off lands.

Ron Paul makes quite a stir when he talks about “legalizing drugs”. I don’t remember everything he has said about drugs but I do know he has some valid points here also. The “war on drugs” has been going on for 50 years and has cost taxpayers billions in wasted money. Not only have we not solved the problem of illegal drugs; this “war” has made it worse. Most of Paul’s position has more to do with leaving this issue to the states, not legalizing drugs wholesale as the story is reported. Ron Paul is a strong states’ rights advocate, as am I. It only took the politicians 14 years to see the problems caused by Prohibition and repeal the 18th Amendment. The war on drugs has been going on for 50 years with the same results we saw during Prohibition. I don’t condone legalizing all drugs but I see a colossal failure that could be handled better at the state level.

Paul has the same ideas on abortion; let the states decide how they want to handle this issue. I agree with him on this matter. If it isn’t in the Constitution the federal government has no business sticking their nose into it. Every time a person or group doesn’t get their way at the state level they run to the federal government to override the states, the place where these issues should be decided. I see abortion as murder, and see murder as a state issue not a federal one.

I hear all of the things Paul writes and says about these issues and I jump up and cheer him on. Then he begins to talk about foreign policy and I scream out in pain. Paul is just as bad as Barack Obama when it comes to blaming America for every ill in the world. I have a cousin who worked in the building demolition business years ago and I had several opportunities to see the activities involved in blowing a building up, or rather imploding them. When I hear Ron Paul talk about 9/11 being an inside job I want to choke his scrawny little neck.

The idea that the World Trade Center was taken down by internally placed explosives is ludicrous to anyone who has even a scant knowledge of building implosions. The amount of work necessary to drill into pillars, place the explosives, wire them together, and tie everything to a detonator cannot be accomplished in a building with thousands of people walking in and out all day every day. A building that size isn’t brought down on itself with a satchel charge tossed into an elevator. The idea that the Bush Administration was involved in setting up the hijackings is equally ludicrous and statements by Ron Paul and his supporters on this issue shows they are well outside the realm of sane or intelligent thought.

While Ron Paul has some very good ideas about what is needed to restore The Republic of the United States of America, he has more than enough crazy ideas to make him a danger to every person in this country. I would love to see Ron Paul be the next Treasury Secretary or Chairman of the Federal Reserve but to put this man in the White House would endanger our nation almost as much as re-electing Barack Obama.

We need a very strong leader with strong conservative values. We need someone who will articulate the conservative message and have the courage of his/her convictions. Now is not the time for waffling or being concerned about “diversity” or “inclusiveness”. The only answer to our nation’s problems is a conservative approach that relies on the Constitution that our founding fathers fought the Revolutionary War to make possible. Anything less will result in the demise of a once great nation and the rise of another Third World banana republic with a dictator such as Adolph Hitler or Hugo Chavez. Ron Paul is not the man for the job.

I submit this in the name of the most Holy Trinity, in faith, with the responsibility given to me by Almighty God to honor His work and not let it die from neglect.

Bob Russell
Claremore, Oklahoma
January 23, 2012

That was August of 2001. Three weeks later, on September 11, the world changed forever, and so did I.

I was driving into Chicago from my home of Gary, IN (30 miles southeast). I was modeling at a trade show for printing presses. Yes, it was just as exciting as it sounds. I had been driving in silence for some reason for most of my trip, but as I crossed into the city limits I turned on the radio to Mancow Muller’s morning show, just in time to hear him say, “This is not an accident, ladies and gentleman. Mark my words, you will forever remember where you were on this day”. He was talking about the passenger jet that had just crashed into the World Trade Center. As Mancow rehashed the details, I dismissed his warnings as on overreaction – shock jock talk from the Chicago personality who was famous for his conspiracy theories. Then the second plane hit. Mancow told me, and the abject terror in his voice made me begin to scan the Chicago skyline in search of wayward planes ready to fly into the Sears Tower or the center of downtown. “We are under attack, folks. America is under attack” .  I’ve been a fan of Mancow for a long time. He has a big mouth and he tells a lot of stories. I was scared, but I still wasn’t sure how serious the whole situation really was.

I pulled into the convention center lot and headed straight for the bar of the attached hotel. I needed to find a TV screen. It was packed. Strangers stood shoulder to shoulder as they watched the horror unfold before their eyes. Some people were crying. I saw the burning towers, and suddenly realized the debris falling from windows nearly 100 stories high was not actually debris, but people. I wept too. A man whom I had seen at the trade show the day before caught my eye. He knew I was pregnant and he made room at his booth for me to sit. We watched in stunned silence together. We tried to make sense of the rumors that there were more planes in the air, missiles loaded with people and fuel, ready to kill. We saw the Pentagon burning. Then the first tower fell – oh, who among us could ever forget that image? I screamed out loud and turned to my companion “Are there people in there?” I cried. He looked at me sympathetically. It was such a foolish question, but he seemed to understand that I just couldn’t process what was happening. He nodded. By that point I’d had all I could take. I was watching people, Americans, die before my very eyes and there was not a damn thing I could do to help. I hugged my still flat tummy and prayed, “Lord, I’m so scared. I don’t know what’s happening. I don’t understand what’s going on. But please, I just need to see this baby.”

September 11, 2001 – that was the first time I felt like a mother. I suddenly, shockingly understood what it felt like to be a parent; to have no other concern above protecting the life of my child; to have no other desire then to kiss and smell and hold the life that love had created; to be so desperate to shield my child from harm that I would do anything, ANYTHING to see my baby.

As American authorities slowly began to stabilize the crisis, many of us went back to work. The trade show was an international event, and for the buyers and marketers this was a terrible tragedy, but not an international one. I chose to stay and earn my day’s wage, but I stayed as close to the televisions as I could all day. My drive home that evening was lonely. It was the tail end of the typical rush hour but the famously congested Dan Ryan Expressway was nearly empty. I sailed home, and thankfully so. I needed to see my husband. I raced in the door and straight into his waiting arms. He hugged me tightly and told me he was so glad I was finally home. We were together, and that made things seem a little more tolerable for the moment. I thought about all the people all over America who were greeting each other the exact same way. Most of us were in no immediate danger and yet we all shared the same fear that day. It wasn’t just New York City and the capitol that had been attacked – America had been attacked, and we were all Americans; and we were all scared.  Suddenly, in just hours, there was no need more pressing then the need to hold who we loved – tightly.

It seems unreal that it was ten years ago. For me, the pain and the fear are still so very real.  My tears have not yet dried. I weep, still.

Mancow was right. We will all remember where we were on that horrifying morning. For many Americans, 9/11 represents the day when we were all briefly united on one accord, with one common concern and common cause. For others, 9/11 represents the day when America became more than just an idea to take for granted. For others still, it is the day when the people they loved most in the world left for work, but never returned home. For every American alive that day, it means something.

As for me, I’ll remember 9/11 as the day my whole world shifted. That is the day I experienced my first maternal pangs, the ones I had worried I would never possess. Among the wreckage and carnage and utter horror, this mother’s heart was finally born. And I will never forget that. I will never forget.

One of the focal points of the memorial services is to commemorate the anniversary of the September 11 attacks through the presentation of hand-crafted, 40-pound, custom-made brass bells with the engraved words “Hope Never Quits” to representatives to the first responder community. The church is honoring those we loved and all who served from the New Jersey region. First responders to the September 11 World Trade Center tragedy, victims’ families, and all community members are invited to the special memorial services in Essex, Morris and Middlesex counties.

Together with everyone who gathers, the church will hear a message that honors those who died, including firefighters, police officers and emergency personnel in a way that connects the past and future. Lucas explained, “The message we want to bring to our communities is that our future is secure, because hope never quits.”

In addition, the church has commissioned a new song written specifically for the 10th anniversary of 9/11 as a gift to all those affected by the WTC tragedy. Dave Pettigrew & Frank Di Minno’s special arrangement, “There is Hope,” is now available to preview online at http://www.liquidchurch.com/9-11/thereishope. Free copies of the CD will be given to participants of all six memorial services.

EVENT DETAILS

Morris County // 9:30am & 11:30am
Hyatt Morristown
3 Speedwell Avenue
Morristown, NJ 07960

Middlesex County // 9:30am & 11:30am
The Heldrich Hotel
10 Livingston Avenue
New Brunswick, NJ 08901

Essex County // 9:30am & 11:30am
John Walker Middle School
325 Franklin Avenue
Nutley, NJ 07110