America, Land of Heros -- Don't look back, don't look up!

Sharon Hoffman is a good friend of mine, and a good friend of COMMON.  Her
comments on the tragedy, and how the country should move forward, are worth
thinking about.

I'm not sure we should dismantle all our nuclear plants, as it would further
increase our dependence on Middle East oil, but we do need to look beyond the
airports for locations terrorists might strike next, and we should be investing
in far more than just rebuilding the infrastructure we had in place before the
attack...

The thought of watching this escalate into World War III scares me to death; we
NEED to come up with more constructive responses than just military attacks.
This is AMERICA; we can do better if we pull together and come up with a true
American dream for the 21st century...

Janet Krueger
Rochester, MN


---------------------- Forwarded by Janet Krueger/dhagroup/US on 09/14/2001
10:47 AM ---------------------------

September 14th, 2001

America, Land of Heros -- Don't look back, don't look up!

By Russell D. Hoffman and Sharon L. Hoffman

Crushed under the rubble of the World Trade Center are America's
Finest.  Incinerated within the walls of the Pentagon are America's
Finest.  Smashed into the fields of Pennsylvania are America's Finest.

Every American knows someone who died or who lost a loved one in this
tragedy.  It shows how close we all really are to each other.  Every race,
creed, religion, and nation lost innocent people this week.  All of
humanity weeps.

An unspeakable horror has been perpetrated upon this nation and upon the
world.  But American heros stepped in.  Emergency personnel ran into the
wreckage to pull out survivors.  People helped strangers on the
streets.  They are still doing so.  There was an immediate nationwide
response to the call for blood donations.

Has America collapsed?  Hell, no!  We remain resolved to make this a more
democratic and more peaceful world.

Now what?

Let's teach our children about tolerance and democracy.  Do not let them
become bitter from what they have seen.  Do not let their hearts be filled
with hatred, or a desire for revenge.  If democracy is to prevail, its
champions must not resort to barbarism.

Our fathers' generation liberated the Concentration Camps of Buchenwald,
Dachau, and Auschwitz, and what they saw horrified them.  But they did not
sink to their enemy's level.  We will find our enemies.  Despite our rage,
we must deal with them justly, as our fathers dealt with their enemies.

This is a time for swift but thoughtful action.  We need to look at all
possible threats against America.  We need to find better ways to do
things.  We need to remove as many weaknesses from our infrastructure as we
can -- weaknesses we know exist throughout the framework of our society.

We need to stop using fuel-wasting, dangerous, ozone-destroying air
behemoths (flying bombs) and switch to ground-based transportation systems
such as magnetic levitation rail lines, which are vastly safer than air
travel for the passengers and for everyone else.

We must shut down all nuclear power plants.  The horrendous damage caused
by Tuesday's events would pale in comparison to a nuclear power plant
accident.  Nuclear power plants are vulnerable to sabotage, natural
disasters, design failures, aging, and human error.  Their vulnerability is
significantly reduced (but by no means eliminated) the moment the reactor
is shut down, and continues to decrease thereafter.

We can close the nuclear power plants without significant disruption to
society, by building a worldwide energy grid, by using new pumps, motors,
and computer systems for increased efficiency, by investing in
terrorist-resistant, renewable energy solutions such as wind, wave, tide,
solar, geothermal, hydroelectric, and biomass, and by initiating prudent
conservation steps.

We must take full advantage of technology to improve communication and
education.  Knowledge is our best defense.

We know that we will never learn about all the heroic deeds that occurred
on September 11th, 2001, but we know they happened.  We also know that
technology helped and is helping to save lives.  Rescuers are using cell
phones to coordinate their efforts and to find buried victims.  On Tuesday,
cell phones helped passengers on board some of the hijacked planes figure
out that those planes were being used in a coordinated attack.

We don't know exactly what happened on United Flight 93 above Pennsylvania,
but we are now fairly certain that unarmed citizens took control away from
the hijackers.  As a result of communications with loved ones on the
ground, the passengers knew that other planes had been hijacked and flown
into the World Trade Center.  Because of technology, the passengers were
able to properly assess the situation.  According to relatives, the
passengers VOTED on what to do.  In a desperate situation, they acted in a
rational, democratic fashion.  Technology made their heroism possible.

We should immediately strive to finish the job of implementing the
technological revolution.  Let's make digital communications systems
universally available.  We should install video phone reception and
recording capabilities in all 911 offices.  We should finish computerizing
our schools.  We should make technology affordable for everyone.

We have a Nation of heros and we have plenty of good ideas.  Let's get to work.

Sincerely,

Russell D. Hoffman
Sharon L. Hoffman
Concerned Citizens
Carlsbad, CA
September 14th, 2001
The authors were born in Connecticut and Pennsylvania respectively, and are
former residents of New York City, as well.  They are both computer
professionals living in Southern California, they are in their mid 40s, and
have been married for 24 years.  Together they have more than 40 years in
technology.

Please add your name to this document and forward it to your friends,
government, and local media.  Even in this great country, this message will
be censored by many, but it needs to get out.  Please pass this on for the
sake of all Americans.  If you need additional details on any point, please
ask and we will do our best to get the information for you.

Essay on renewable resources:
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/geni/rh2000ge.htm


Sharon L. Hoffman
Senior Technical Editor
NEWS/400, an AS400 Network Publication

email: shoffman@techreflections.com
phone: (760) 720-5433
fax: (760) 720-7394

mailing address:
P.O. Box 1936
Carlsbad, CA 92018