All Trought about politic at Ukraine

Across from the World Trade Center site there were more flowers than usual outside Engine 10, Ladder 10, the legendary New York firehouse known as Ten House. There are always more flowers, and signs, and photographs and flags, when there is another anniversary of Sept. 11.

So the FDNY Memorial Wall, stretching down Greenwich St., was alive with color and handmade art yesterday morning. A "Flag of Heroes," listing the names of emergency service personnel who gave their lives eight years ago, hung outside Ten House at the corner of Greenwich and Liberty.

There was a wreath for the Rev. Mychal Judge, sent by FDNY pipes and drums, and a sign halfway down the block that simply read, "8 years, just yesterday."

Derrick Johnson, in an orange hardhat, part of a skeleton crew working for FJC Security Services across the street, watched the solemn parade of people along the Memorial Wall, whose bas-relief sculpture so powerfully tells the story of Sept. 11, 2001.

"Been busier than usual around here the last few days, as you might expect," he said. "But it's always quiet on Sundays, just like church."

Johnson shook his head, kept his voice low, because of the sacred ground behind him and the scene in front of him, the line of people constant.

"Rest of the country, that's where all the yelling seems to be," he said. "Like to see them try it down here."

Out of this place, out of what happened on that day, was supposed to come the best of us, and not just because of the ones who died here, the firefighters remembered on the wall outside Ten House, those names on the Flag of Heroes.

We promised ourselves we were going to be a better city and a better country because of what happened. We told ourselves that we knew what really mattered now. In the aftermath of the worst day the city and the country had known, we promised to find the best in ourselves, and in each other.

And on this most recent anniversary of Sept. 11, the country seems as full of hate and noise as it has ever been. This is an America where Rep. Joe Wilson, whoever he is, thinks he can call the President of the United States a liar, Wilson talking to the President the way he would the help, or some waiter who was supposed to bring him another drink.

Wilson really did sound like somebody who had been on hold for an hour, waiting to scream about socialism to Rush.

But why wouldn't Wilson scream out the way he did? This is a time when a radio host like Mark Levin routinely refers to President Obama as "that jerk," all in the name of liberty, of course, and the fight against tyranny. Or maybe this all just comes out of a fury that there weren't enough screamers to keep the black guy from getting elected.