an informal memory test ... how much do you remember?
this list is not now and probably never will be finished --- so please add to it!
By Winter Patriot on 9/8/2006, 8:19pm PT  

Guest blogged by Winter Patriot

It's September 8th, 2006.

  • Five years ago today, many people saw George W. Bush as a rather harmless buffoon.
  • Five years ago today, a terrorist was a person who took a bomb onto a bus --- or into a pizza shop.
  • Five years ago today, you could get on an airplane without being searched.
  • Five years ago today, you never imagined anyone else reading your email.
  • Five years ago today, you could borrow anything you wanted from your local library --- in complete privacy.
  • Five years ago today, you probably thought fascism was dead.
  • Five years ago today, an "efficient" terrorist, if he was "lucky", could kill 15 or 20 people.
  • Five years ago today, you could turn on the TV and find somebody dissing the administration.
  • Five years ago today, the Constitution --- not the President --- was the law of the land.
  • Five years ago today, none of your friends had ever heard of Osama bin Laden.
  • Five years ago today, you could go almost anywhere in the world and be proud to be an American.
  • Five years ago today, the idea of being detained indefinitely without charge was completely foreign to most people.
  • Five years ago today, many people saw the failure of the electoral system in 2000 as an unfortunate aberration.
  • Five years ago today, you could talk to all your friends, most of your relatives, and even most of your co-workers, about almost anything.
  • Five years ago today, you never wondered whether your phone was tapped.
  • Five years ago today, you had never heard of al-Q'aeda.
  • Five years ago today, American soldiers respected --- and were protected by --- the Geneva Accords.
  • Five years ago today, George W. Bush's approval rating was only slightly greater than his shoe size.
  • Five years ago today, the United States was already distancing itself from time-honored international treaties.
  • Five years ago today, the United States was refusing to assist in the establishment of an International Criminal Court, which would have global jurisdiction in cases involving War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity.
  • Five years ago today, it didn't take an optical genius to see that the United States was preparing to wage war.
  • Please use the "comments" section to add a few more ... and if you run out of ideas, you might like to read Gwynne Dyer's newest column: If Sept. 11 attacks hadn't happened.

    Share article...