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d429c40
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"At least two important conservative thinkers, Ayn Rand and Leo Strauss, were unbelievers or nonbelievers and in any case contemptuous of Christianity. I have my own differences with both of these savants, but is the Republican Party really prepared to disown such modern intellectuals as it can claim, in favor of a shallow, demagogic and above all sectarian religiosity? Perhaps one could phrase the same question in two further ways. At the last election, the GOP succeeded in increasing its vote among American Jews by an estimated five percentage points. Does it propose to welcome these new adherents or sympathizers by yelling in the tones of that great Democrat bigmouth William Jennings Bryan? By insisting that evolution is 'only a theory'? By demanding biblical literalism and by proclaiming that the Messiah has already shown himself? If so, it will deserve the punishment for hubris that is already coming its way. (The punishment, in other words, that Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson believed had struck America on Sept. 11, 2001. How can it be that such grotesque characters, calling down divine revenge on the workers in the World Trade Center, are allowed a respectful hearing, or a hearing at all, among patriotic Republicans?).
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|
evolution
christianity
jesus
politics
religion
2003
ayn-rand
christian-fundamentalism
christian-right
us-elections-2000
william-jennings-bryan
world-trade-center
american-jews
leo-strauss
2001
sectarianism
pat-robertson
jerry-falwell
biblical-literalism
creationism
september-11-attacks
democratic-party-united-states
republican-party-united-states
united-states
atheism
fundamentalism
jews
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Christopher Hitchens |
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bb5c5f7
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When she thought of New York City now, the place where she'd lived for most of her life, the only home she'd ever really known, she realized the city was like a person who now oftentimes struggled to stand proud because both its legs had collapsed in a sea of dust, fire and scattered office papers.
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september-11th-attacks
twin-towers
september-11th
world-trade-center
terrorism
new-york-city
new-york
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Rebecca McNutt |
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9af3712
|
Red rain, white-striped towers and a clear blue sky, it was like America's flag exploded everywhere that day.
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september-11th-attacks
twin-towers
september-11th
world-trade-center
september-11-attacks
manhattan
patriotism
new-york
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Rebecca McNutt |
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ead9b0f
|
People don't look like people anymore after they've fallen from over a hundred floors above the ground.
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|
people
twin-towers
september-11th
ground
world-trade-center
disaster
gore
september-11-attacks
fall
|
Rebecca McNutt |
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6d95d6b
|
The Twin Towers stood out like an enormous number 11 looming over New York City, a familiar icon coupled with the Brooklyn Bridge, the Empire State building and the Statue of Liberty. Those towers were like the soul of lower Manhattan, alive in their own right.
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|
skyscraper
empire-state-building
icon
landmark
twin-towers
brooklyn-bridge
world-trade-center
statue-of-liberty
manhattan
|
Rebecca McNutt |
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6f35fe4
|
"She fought the urge to scream, feeling desperately like she needed to run, that she needed to go as far away from Manhattan as possible and never even give it so much as a backwards glance, but she was frozen to the spot like a wind-up toy that had finally given out. "This city is falling apart!" she shouted in cheerful trauma, her voice shaky and muddled by anxious, messy laughter as it resounded in her head. In a coping sort of euphoria she skipped lithely through the dust and debris as though it were falling snow on a winter day."
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|
nervous-breakdown
twin-towers
posttraumatic-stress-disorder
world-trade-center
september-11-attacks
new-york-city
trauma
new-york
|
Rebecca McNutt |
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b4d2d3f
|
New York City is a phoenix rising from the ashes.
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|
phoenix-rising
phoenix
world-trade-center
september-11-attacks
terrorism
new-york-city
sad
new-york
|
Rebecca McNutt |
|
a2c2f3d
|
"One man, an investment banker from Cantor Fitzgerald, took her to see the viewing deck like a good Samaritan since he felt sorry for her, and... and it was like flying, she could see the entire city, she could see the top of the clouds and the ocean, the pink and purple of the late sunset, and he told her, "it's the closest we can ever get to heaven! These buildings connect everyone together like a big community!" "If this is the closest place to heaven, are you an angel investor?" she'd asked curiously."
|
|
heaven
investor
september-11th
twin-towers-angel-investor
world-trade-center
september-11-attacks
cute
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Rebecca McNutt |