What On Earth?-Column #40, September 2005

Welcome to this, my 4th anniversary column on the September 11, 2001 attacks. As many of you know, we've dealt with tragedies like this one in the past (that being the WTC bombing on February 26, 1993; with only 6 casualties and over 1,000 injuries). But while we're still reeling the effects of Hurricane Katrina, we're only focusing on the nitty-gritty of this column. Let's get started.

As many of you have realized, in last year's Presidential debates, Bush has said that if Kerry were President, Kerry would NOT do a good job of keeping the country safe. Obviously, we all know Bush won a 2nd and final term in the Oval Office, and it is HE who's not keeping this country safe.

He has called for reauthorizations and revivals of some of the vital protections of the Patriot Act (bipartisanly passed after the attacks), which some critics have complained that it violates civil liberties. I'm one of those critics. I'm a Democrat, but a liberal to moderate one at best. I don't lean to far too the left on some issues, but I will not lean far to the right, either (and that's "conservative" in Street Smart terms). You know that I dissapprove of the Republican Party (aka NOT the GOP)'s job of keeping the country safe.

While we're on the subject of 9-11, we'll go to Entertainment. Millionaire and Weakest Link (the US Primetime versions) devoted some Celebrity episodes to get people's minds off of the event. While it IS true that some celebrities won some considerable amonuts of money for 9-11 related charities, this is what led to their falls (Viewers thought that the celebrities were too boring, and only wanted to see regular people play). Other game shows, such as Jeopardy! and Wheel also donated money to 9-11 victim funds, even if the money was won by regular folk like us!

Next category is News. As you know, 9-11 provided for non-stop news coverage 24/7, until we were ready to return to normal. ABC News' own Peter Jennings even choked up when he talked about the event itself. He said that his children, who were overseas, were A-OK. And, while we're on the subject of him, he was a heavy smoker, as he kicked the habit before 9-11 but picked up on it after. In April, he announced he was diagnosed with lung cancer due to that smoking; but last month, that same lung cancer eventually took his life, at the age of 67. He was one of 3 anchors of the ever popular World News Tonight news program, and was one of the Big 3 (Dan Rather of the CBS Evening News and Tom Brokaw of NBC Nightly News were the other 2, and both have since stepped down), joining ABC News at age 26. By 1983, he was anchoring World News Tonight solo, a position he'd hold until April. Many thought he'd fully recover, but it never happened; and that would mark the end of the Big 3 era as we know it.

Next category: Finance. Remember how the attacks of 9-11 affected the markets greatly? Well, they did, in more ways than one. The Dow Jones Industrial Average took a huge nose-dive of over 600 points. The Nasdaq and S&P 500 took smaller drops, just like the bond markets did. However, they've recovered since then, and it's only going to be a roller-coaster ride from here on out.

Final category: Sports. The sports world had to take a breather, but when things finally returned to normal, it was all up from there. The NFL continued, and as for baseball, The World Series went on as planned, and you can learn more about the 2001 games in the next column. Just like the entertainment world, sports stars stepped up and donated their time and cash. And why not?

But, that's it for now. I leave you with the 4 words I've always closed this column up with, and it's one of the most popular patriotic songs of our time: God Bless The USA. This is John Lee saying, "Go HOME."