My god — the radio just reported that NY Mayor Giulianni (sp?) has requested 6,000 body bags for the excavations through the rubble. Racial tensions are on the rise — there’s a report on the radio now about shots being fired into a Dallas Mosque. It was done in the middle of the night, thankfully enough, so no one was hit, but it’s still a pretty sad event.
Apparently the remains of the southern tower of the WTC, which had been jutting about five stories into the air, finally collapsed into the rest of the rubble. Hopefully there was enough warning before it fell that it didn’t land on anyone.
On a brighter note, there have been five people pulled from the wreckage of the WTC. Pentagon death estimates have dropped to between 100 and 200, from the 800 that was being estimated earlier.
Of course, that still leaves a stunning number of people killed.
Airlines are slowly being granted permission by the FAA to resume operations, though it sounds like it will be sometime Thursday before any of them actually do — and that service will be restricted at first, under heavy security measures. One of the new restrictions following the news that the hijackers had used knives to take over the planes is that no knives of any sort will be allowed onto an airplane. Apparently it had been within regulation to carry “small” knives — up to four inches in length — onto planes. Four inches? That hardly sounds very “small” to me.
Talk of war is still flying around, and seems to be getting stronger and stronger. NATO earlier declared that it would honor Section V of the NATO accords, declaring that an act against any single member of NATO will be considered an act against all, and the other member nations will stand with the U.S. should we initiate an offensive strike against those who struck at us.
That is, of course, assuming that we are sure who it was that attacked us. Osama bin Laden is definitely the prime suspect, but consensus is far from definite at this point. Senator Oren Hatch (sp?) seems to be practically foaming at the mouth in his zeal to go after bin Laden, but thankfully, there are other, calmer voices repeatedly advocating the need to hold back until we are absolutely sure.
So many things are so haywire these days. Since all airplanes are grounded, the skies above Seattle have been bizarrely clear and quiet since Tuesday. Normally I’ll see a few flights a day coming into Sea-Tac through my office windows, so seeing empty skies is a bit disquieting. Conversely, though, anytime a noise like a plane is heard — which does happen occasionally, as some military flights and some helicopters are allowed aloft — everyone instantly starts looking up, trying to figure out where it’s coming from, where it might be going, and whether it’s friendly or not. The speed that something as familiar as an airplane engine can become a trigger for paranoia and fright is just staggering.
I just called and spoke with my parents until my phone card ran out. Was a nice, and very welcome, little piece of normalcy in the midst of all this turmoil. It turns out that Mom was able to go with Dad to Grandmother’s funeral, and they said that it was a very nice service. Dad said that it seemed like the entire town of Martinsville (Indiana) came out to the viewing.
They also told me that the prevailing opinion among Dad’s side of the family is that stable, boring jobs can be found anytime, and that if I can get a chance at this DJ’ing gig, I should take it. That was great to hear. Mom’s parents, of course, favor my staying with the stable, boring job — but that’s much as I expected, and while it would have been nice to have their support in my wanting to run off to sea (my, how turn-of-the-century that sounds), it’s also comforting to know that Grandma and Grandpa are still, most stolidly, the G&G I’ve known all my life. Wouldn’t want ’em any other way.
I also tried to call Miranda to find out how she’s doing, and to see if all the turmoil is affecting her husband David in any way. Should the U.S. end up entering into a wartime situation, he’d be one of the people virtually gauranteed to hit the front lines, due to the nature of his job. Given that the two of them have been working hard at getting through their differences, I’d hate to see him suddenly get called away to a situation that he might very well not come back from. Hard as it may be for some to believe, my thoughts and prayers go out to the two of them (and, of course, to their daughter Lorelei, Queen of Wozzles) as to anyone else.
That’s it for tonight, though.