We're all fine -- just a little freaked out and tired from walking since the transport system was shut down. But I'm okay. Thanks for asking. Your concern means a lot.
xo

I saw a few "man on the street" interviews with some Londoners yesterday night and the general attitude (at least the attitude being presented by the producers of the news program I was watching) was basically "Ok, so they bombed us, it's over, let's get on with our lives" Well, maybe that's putting it a bit bluntly, but one guy literally said "We've got to get on with our lives, if you get blown up, you get blown up."

Now personally, the thought that the bus or train or plane I'm riding on could be blown up randomly by some dumb fuck - who didn't have the decency (or honor) to take himself out in the process - makes me a bit skittish, but I've got nowhere near the moxie that this Brit displayed. And you can't even chalk it up to living through WWII... this guy was in his 20s. You've got to admire his refusal to give in.

So what does that say about my LA friends who wouldn't get on a plane for a year after 9/11? And what does it say about Spain, which tucked tail and pulled out of the coalition after 3/11? They're handing victory to the terrorists and encouraging further acts of violence? Or are they doing what's right by suggesting that we should all just live our own lives in our own little corners of the world and not get involved?

But wait, these are my friends who are flocking around Bono and want us involved in Africa to eliminate extreme poverty. A noble goal, but rather hypocritical to their underlying foreign policy, wouldn't you say? To paraphrase Heisenberg, "Observation changes State", and I guarantee you that to be truly effective in combating poverty in those nations, we're going to make enemies. To be truly effective, it's going to take a lot more than money and foodstamps. Try saying "regime-change" and making it sound legitimate after bashing Afghanistan and Iraq.

Sorry, I'm middle of the road on most things, but sometimes my liberal friends just defy my sense of logic.

Prayers and brotherhood for the people of London. Though I can only imagine your situation, I can still admire and support your resolve.

Dix

At first I thought it was insensitive, and then I realised that this is the stiff upper lip in action. Londoners are used to tube bombings; I always felt safe in London because it was a city used to dealing with terrorists. The last major terrorist action was the 1993 bombing of Canary Wharf, which halted the press for a day. But that whole WWII resilience is very strong -- it's bred into these people now. There have been no theatrics, no hysterics, no demonstrations. And this collective attitude is very reassuring, it diffuses panic and knee-jerk, violent reactions. Fox news looks like it's freaking out in that post-9/11 hypersensitive way (and I wish they wouldn't, they're upsetting my family) but here it's just "Right, let's figure out who did this and sort it." I didn't feel apprehensive getting on the bus tonight from Hackney, although I am terrified of flying now and try to avoid it when possible.
Of course the fact that the bus has been cleared away and the tube is underground might have something to do with it -- we didn't have to watch a skyscraper collapse and there's no grey cloud hanging over the city (that wasn't already there). It could have been a Whole Lot Worse and many recognise that and count their blessings.

Yeah, after WWII, the IRA etc., it has to be like,, "This is the best you got? Seriously? How precious."

Though my question is, has it made support for Iraq any more palatable for the Brits? Because if I'm not mistaken, the country has a pretty sizeable portion of folks who're not happy about the involvement.

They're very "that all you got? pfft" / "don't fuck with London" over here. There's a great quote in today's Express from a 90 year old woman: "I've been travelling on this bus for 30 years. I'm here now again now and no terrorist will ever stop me."
I don't think Britain will follow Madrid and pull troops from Iraq -- "No Surrender" is sort of the mantra of the moment, despite the overwhelming unhappiness and lack of support for the UK's involvement.

As much as it sucks, it was only a matter of time, really. My personal view is the only thing with "terrorist" (whatever that means?) actions is, they're usually a one hit wonder. It's like the hot dude or babe in the car next to you or on the L or in the Tube; they're great to look at except for when they open their fuckin' cunt mouth and you have to endure psychobabble then you just want to smother them with 350 thread count sheets from Bloomingdales and put a "Support Our Troops" to cleanse the stigma of our perfect society. Their fundamentalism is just as ferocious as this country's Christian hate machine. I'm not excusing or even trying to give reasons for such heinous acts, but, we ought to re-direct our high powered perception at ourselves and ask why they recoil when we say the name "God"... Cat,I'm very very happy to hear you're doing well. Welcome back to Chicago.