“The terrorists wanted Sept. 11 to be a day when innocents died. Instead it was a day when heroes were born.”
—Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld

REMARKS BY PRESIDENT OBAMA AT THE NEW YORK CITY SEPTEMBER 11TH 10TH ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATION CEREMONY

National September 11th Memorial
New York City, New York
THE PRESIDENT:

God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Therefore, we will not fear,
even though the earth be removed,
and though the mountains be carried
into the midst of the sea.
Though its waters roar and be troubled,
though the mountains shake
with its swelling,
there’s a river
whose streams shall make glad
the City of God,
the holy place of the Tabernacle
of the Most High.
God is in the midst of her.
She shall not be moved.
God shall help her
just at the break of dawn.
The nations raged,
the kingdoms were moved.
He uttered his voice.
The earth melted.
The Lord of Hosts is with us.
The God of Jacob is our refuge.
Come behold the works of the Lord
who has made desolations in the Earth.
He makes wars cease
to the ends of the Earth.
He breaks the bough
and cuts the spear in two.
He burns the chariot in fire.
Be still and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations.
I will be exalted in the Earths.
The Lord of Hosts is with us.
The God of Jacob is our refuge.

END (from whitehouse.gov, 9/11/11))

Vice President Joe Biden speaking at the dedication ceremony for the first phase of the Flight 93 National Memorial:

“I hope you take comfort in knowing that a grateful nation understands that your loved ones gave their lives in pursuit of the noblest of earthly goals: defending their country, defending their families, sacrificing their lives so we can live ours,” he continued.

“Even as we struggle with this tragedy, even as we grapple with the profound loss and devastating grief, we can look up at the heavens and think of these heroes and know, know with certitude that there is not a single, solitary tragedy that America cannot overcome. There is not a single moment of hardship that cannot be transformed into one of national strength. The seeds of doubt, planted by those who wish to harm us, will instead grow into flowering meadows like this one where we stand in today, for they cannot defeat the American spirit. We know this with certainty. We know it with certainty, because it’s the history of the journey of this country at every stage of our history.”…

“As President Clinton knows, my mother used to say, ‘Courage lies in every heart.’ And she would go on to say, ‘And the expectation is that, Joey, one day it will be summoned.’ ‘Courage lies in every heart, and one day it will be summoned.’ On September 11, 2001, at 9:57 a.m., it was summoned and 40 incredible men and women answered the call. They gave their lives and, in doing so, gave this country a new life.”

“We owe them. We owe you a debt we can never repay.”

For those of you not in the know, or who have blocked out the truth, Original Sin means that you were a wretched creature before you were even born. Before you were even conceived! When you were still an idea in the mind of God, as my mother used to say, you had already committed the ultimate evil of being about to be a human.

Huh? That’s right. Before your nervous system had even developed, evil intentions filled that blob on the ultrasound.

Good Lord, do Catholics consider all life to be evil? Well, no. Animals are considered innocent. They don’t do bad things on purpose. They are hardwired to fight and kill and look cute without makeup on.

So are we, without the cute. Yet the Catholic story goes that we have souls and other animals don’t. Souls are inherently corrupt like a computer hard disk that is bad right out of the box. There is nothing you can do with it except yell at the manufacturer.

The good news is that your soul has a religious warranty that enables it to be sent out for repair. Other animals are SOL; they simply die and are gnawed down to their innocent little bones in some backyard.

Try explaining that to first graders in Sunday school.

“Susie, innocent Fido has died and become nothing but fertilizer with a few crunchy bits. But you, dear Susie, are bad bad bad and will die and then live forever with the X-men!”

Who would little Susie, who doesn’t even know what the word innocent means, choose to be?

Once kids have bought into the notion that they and they alone have immortal souls, they are then ripe to be shamed and guilted about their very existence. Somebody did them a huge favor even though they didn’t deserve it. Other creatures, declared innocent in Sunday school, die for good.

Wow. That human get-out-of-death almost for free card is very powerful.

Fortunately a lot of people with Catholic roots believe differently about animals. They sense their pets’ presence after they die. They see the ghost of Fluffy on the stairs, for just a second, and hear her mewl from inside the closet.

Catholic hunters often say a guilty little prayer after killing their prey. It’s a mental mumble aimed at the soul of the animal who will become dinner or the subject of beer-soaked tales.

I am waiting for the ghost of Fido to bite someone in church. Bite so hard that it breaks the skin and leaves bloody teeth marks on the arm held up in front of everyone. Everyone will claim that it was their departed Fido who did it. Their Fido was special enough to get into heaven.

Don’t believe Fido is a divine messenger? Bite me.