Tag Archives: terror

Boston Marathon Ramblings

April 16, 2013 D.A. Adams 6 Comments

I’m just a small voice from a small corner of a rural part of this big nation. I have no delusions that my opinion carries much impact or will be noticed by more than a handful of people. But a part of me hopes that somehow this message will reach the eyes of the person or people who planted those bombs yesterday.

You may believe you are carrying out some grand scheme designed to cripple my country, but you are simply a coward. You may believe that we will fall to our knees and quiver before your cause, but we won’t. I don’t care who you are or what purpose you had for this attack on unarmed civilians. Your plan has already failed. Sure, you may have taken lives and bloodied bodies, and we will mourn for those who died and cry with those who lost arms and legs, but we will not cower before you. Your plan failed because you don’t understand the human spirit, the American spirit, and certainly not the Boston spirit. You will be surprised by our response.

Since you don’t seem to grasp our spirit, let me explain it to you as best I can. In this nation, despite our fractured politics and very real problems we now face, we are a people bound by a sense of optimism. Nearly everyone who came to these lands did so to escape some form of tyranny, and we still carry the imprint left behind by our parents and grandparents and great-grandparents that America symbolizes something important. Our forerunners often faced situations far more dire and sinister than anything we face today, and if they can overcome the darkness they endured to reach this country and build better lives for their children, we can overcome the darkness of today. Their spirit lingers in us, whispers to us in our times of need, reminds us that liberty matters.

Sure, we quibble and disagree with each other, sometimes to an obnoxious level. Sure, we often appear disjointed and chaotic, but one thing I know about my country is that in our darkest moments, we pull together. It’s happened so many times I won’t bother recounting them to you, but yesterday is as good an example as any. Despite the fear, despite the chaos, despite the uncertainty, people helped each other. People, some first responders, others civilians, helped the wounded, carrying them to ambulances and getting them to safety. Many rushed to the hospitals to donate blood. That is America, and you will not change us.

America is not a land of laws, despite the beauty and precision of our Constitution. It’s the spirit behind that Constitution that makes us who we are. We are not a land of blind allegiance to one person or one way, no matter how our politics looks sometimes. In America, we are a people of courage, love, and compassion because nearly all of us are just a generation or two removed from famine, persecution, and tyranny. In our hearts we know, you might break our bodies but you will never break that spirit because it is the natural wellspring of humanity, the desire to live free. Whoever you are and whatever your plan, you will never extinguish that desire. Your cowardice will be rooted out, exposed to the world, and punished accordingly. Your failed ideology will wilt under the shining beacon of liberty that illuminates the souls of my fellow citizens. We will not quiver before cowards. We will stand tall, bind together, and build a better future for ourselves. We will do so because this country symbolizes something more than you will ever comprehend and because we are a stronger people than you will ever understand. We are the sons and daughters of freedom.

General Posts

Thursday Afternoon Ramblings

September 13, 2012 D.A. Adams 4 Comments

I wanted to write this on September 11, but work had me too busy. Do you remember how we felt after 9/11? I’m not talking about immediately after. I mean once the initial shock wore off, and we as a collective picked ourselves up. Yes, we were angry. Yes, we were shaken. Yes, we were saddened. But we were something else, as well. We were galvanized. After the divisiveness of the 2000 election, it was refreshing to pull together as a people, turn our collective attention to the Taliban, and show them our greatest strengths as a people. Before the attacks, I stood as firmly against President Bush as anyone. From 9/11 until the decision to invade Iraq, I pledged my full support to my president, and it felt good.

For a little while after 9/11, we weren’t conservatives or liberals. We weren’t Bible thumpers or baby killers. We weren’t homophobes or fags. We didn’t condemn each other for where we ate lunch, or hassle each other about nonsense. We were all Americans. We all rallied around the flag. I remember a black friend of mine saying that for the first time in his life, he felt patriotic. It didn’t last long, not even a full year, but for a little while, politics took a backseat to our nation. During one of our darkest hours, we held ourselves high and told the rest of the world that when we are threatened, we will pull together.

I know there were examples of idiots who beat up Middle Easterners or attacked mosques, and I don’t mean to ignore those facts, but by far, those were the exceptions, not the rule. For the most part, we stood shoulder to shoulder ready to defend our country, rebuild what was destroyed, and honor those who were lost. For weeks after the attack, President Bush had a 90% approval rating. 90%. That’s unbelievable. It felt good to know we could be one people again.

But like I said, it didn’t last. Personally, I stopped supporting the president when the decision was made to move the focus from those who attacked us to Iraq. From there, it continued to unravel. Today, we are as fragmented and divided as ever. When Osama Bin Laden was killed, instead of celebrating our victory as a nation, each side of the political spectrum taunted the other. That sickened me. Today, instead of mourning the death of a good man in Libya, both sides are politicizing the tragedy. Republicans are also shocked and outraged that President Obama is meeting with the Muslim Brotherhood president from Egypt. Never you mind that Egypt has been our ally since WWII. Never you mind that every single president since George Washington has met with at least one controversial head of state. Never you mind that the goal of the Iraq War was to spread democracy to the Middle East and that the president of Egypt was democratically elected. Because President Obama is meeting with him, it’s further proof that he must be in cahoots with his Muslim brothers.

It’s sickening, and since we have tarnished the memory of all those who died on 9/11, and since we’ve failed to learn any lessons from that tragedy, we deserve whatever happens to us. Today, I’m more ashamed to call myself an American than at any other time in my life. I love my country, but my fellow Americans make me want to puke.

Humor

Sparkly Ramblings

November 22, 2011 D.A. Adams 5 Comments

BREAKING NEWS!

The Ramblings of D. A. Adams, using award winning investigatory journalistic techniques such as surfing the internet and reading anonymous forwarded emails, has unearthed a shocking story of epic proportions that threatens to crumble the very foundations of our republic.

The Twilight saga is a covert plot by the Chinese to drive Americans insane.

Shocked and appalled that such a masterpiece of literary and cinematic genius could be a weapon of international espionage, I rushed to Washington to learn more about this unfolding crisis.

“The numbers are quite clear,” claims Dr. Lottastatz of the Center for Researching Research. “Since the release of the first Twilight book in 2005, levels of insanity in America are up 275%. With the release of each subsequent book and movie, we see a clear upward trend in the data. It’s quite alarming.”

Concerned for national security, I hurried to the CIA to speak with my inside source within the intelligence community.

“We’ve known about this plot since as early as [classified],” states [classified]. “Stephenie Meyer’s real name is Som Dom Chik, and she entered this country on a work visa in [classified] and assimilated into American culture. We only learned of the plot in [classified] because [classified classified classified classified classified]. As you can see, it’s quite alarming.”

Unnerved by this top secret information, I hurried to Jones Creek, Georgia, home of Morbul Shidinski, currently America’s foremost literary scholar and critic, hoping her insights could help unravel this conspiracy.

“Contextually speaking, on a surface level, the Twilight series seems to be what we deem ‘purple prose.’ However, after deconstructing the sub-contextual layers, we find an intricate web of literary devices layered together in a specific chronology that is ideal for evoking a negative psychological reaction, known clinically as Sparkle Induced Psychosis, in its readers. Furthermore, the true brilliance of the work is that these devices are so powerful that one does not necessarily have to read the text to be affected by them. Merely hearing them described by an infected person is enough to render an otherwise sane individual completely bonkers.”

Now terrified for the future of this great nation, I raced back to Washington and the Center for Researching Research, seeking an antidote for this growing pandemic.

“As of now, we’ve only found one way to reverse the psychosis, but it’s controversial, to say the least,” states Dr. Lottastatz. “The subjects we’ve tested who were exposed to Sparkle Induced Psychosis respond positively when forced to watch reruns of The Munsters non-stop for 72 hours. Apparently, the creators of that show were aware that the Soviets had originally designed the Twilight Plan in the 50’s and created Herman Munster as a counter-measure. Fred Gwynne was secretly a CIA operative who developed a comedic styling that numbs the frontal lobe, decreasing levels of psychosis. We have a contingency plan in place to have every TV channel to run episodes of The Munsters non-stop for two weeks. It may be our only hope.”

Editor’s Note: Due to the highly classified nature of this information, no portion of this article has been verified or confirmed by anyone, anywhere.