9.11.06 - The fifth anniversary of a terrible attack on America.

9.11.06 - The first day of third grade for my son. His first day wearing a tie to school.

9.11.06 - The day before the New York Democratic Primary.

9.11.06 - The Day before Apple's big "It's Showtime" announcement.

9.11.06 - 8 Weeks before the mid term elections?

9.11.06 - A day for somber remembrances of those who lost their life on 9.11.01

9.11.06 - Part Two of the ABC Docu/mini/drama/fact-based fiction series: The Path to 9/11

9.11.06 - The first time that George Bush has slept overnight in New York (that I can remember).

Is it possible to be both sad and angry? Somber and outraged? Overwhelmed with information and desperately hungry for truth? In the new world of the information echo-chamber, a moment like 9/11 has all the sources of political 'content' operating at full tilt.

How do we process this?

To be open to the politics, the metaphors, the sorrow, and the meaning is to be the victim of all of it. To be oblivious is to be something less than human.

There are no doubt real emotions here. Uniquely personal feelings of loss. And each of us has reason for this day to mean something personal.

But the larger themes at play effect us too.

Freedom. The message that loss of privacy is the essential trade off for safety is a message that has been driven home from all corners of the media universe. As someone who - before 9/11 - refused to take his belt off at an airport, being a patriot now means submitting to any and all scans, searches, puffers, and chemical detection. We trade privacy for safety. We trade individual rights to travel in relative anonymity for the promise of a bomb free airplane and terrorist free travel. The success of this trade off can only proven in the negative. Nothing happened, therefore the measures worked. We are safe.

Justice. The ABC docu-fiction presented two NYC cops warmly chatting up one of the 1996 WTC bombers... and reminding him that we "don't torture our detainees" here in the US. It's meant to be a cautionary tale of just what happens when you don't use torture to elicit information. The editorial message isn't hard to comprehend. Back in 1996 - our naiveté allowed us to revel in our constitutional rights. But now – the ABC Mini-Series would have you believe -- we know better. The subtext of the film suggests that the constitution isn't a shield, it's a permeable document. And our enemies are using its protections to attack us. In what is now referred to as the “post 911 world” They’re saying we can no longer afford the simple minded freedoms afforded to us by our constitution. Day after day we're reminded that our democracy is based on concepts that can't hold up under the pressures of a new terrorized word. This thesis – created and delivered in the shadow of mourning and remembrance is all the more disingenuous.

Religion. The separation between Church and State has always been a distinction that drew lines between reason and beliefs. Belief is - by its nature - not something you can debate or analysis. Your God, My God, or no God are all very personal and deserve the ultimate protection. But historically, elected officials haven't been able to legislate their personal religious beliefs into the law of the land. Our Government was created to be an objective, deliberative body that would err on the side of inaction before taking an advocates stance on issues that were primarily ideological. Legislating morality is a slippery slope, and one that politicians have stayed away from.

But today – that’s changed. The purposeful and public attempts to centralize power in the Executive branch moves ideology to center stage.

Riding the subway with my 17 year old son on Saturday, we found ourselves talking about the whole issue of civil rights and how it’s possible to know where the line is between freedom and security. New York was displaying all its multi-cultural plumage. There was a man with a huge python wrapped around his neck standing out in front of the "Snakes on a Plane" poster at the Loews on 84th street. There were schoolteachers and janitors marching up 5th Avenue for the Labor Day Parade. There were Saris and Turbans and Yarmulkes - a walking UN of beliefs and cultures. And I said - without thinking much about it - "The Media/Industrial Complex is selling the Fear/Freedom story hard this week." He looked at me and said: "Where did that phrase come from?" The truth is I suppose I made it up. Echoes of the Military Industrial Complex that was so presciently exposed by Eisenhower in 1961. Knowledge is power. The tools that distribute knowledge are the most powerful force to create real democracy around the world.

Freedom is messy. Totalitarianism is neat.

I'll try and remember that the next time I tell my kids to clean their rooms.