In East Harlem, my old neighborhood, two buildings collapsed because of a gas leak, scores are injured or missing, and at last count, 8 persons were killed in this tragedy. The 13^th district Democrat Congressman, Charles Rangel, calls it ‘our community’s 9/11’ and that he’s "never had anything this horrific that’s happened in my community since I’ve been in Washington."  Well, I don’t know where he was on September 11, 2001 but it obviously wasn’t in New York City. If he was in Washington, surely he would have been horrified by the Pentagon attack for on that day in America, we were hit by the worst attack on civilians in our history.

The Congressman is 83 years old and may be excused for this memory loss, just as he forgot to report income from his rental of a beachside villa he owns in the Dominican Republic. No matter, he’s a Democrat and beyond reproach; but he’s not the only liberal who has selective amnesia and has pushed that awful day to the back of their minds.

It was nearly a week before the Staten Island ferry was allowed to resume service to Manhattan and I was able to visit what became known as Ground Zero.  Even with my press pass I could only get a few blocks away from the carnage. The smell of death was indescribable and the look on everyone’s faces was shock and yet as strangers we all felt some strange sense of camaraderie. We knew that our country had been attacked and all political, racial and societal divisions were obliterated. It took quite a while before the BDS (Bush Derangement Syndrome) kicked in because the country was united in exacting payment for the homicidal declaration of war by Islamic terrorists. Once it did, that union of patriotic fervor dissolved in favor of political partisanship and the great polarization of our nation was born.

The utter ridiculous of Rangel’s statement is evidence that the impact of 9/11/2001 has been reduced deliberately by those with a particular agenda of denigrating our nation’s character. The mere fact that our politicians allowed an Islamic cultural center to be built a few blocks away from Ground Zero should have raised an outrage; a hue and cry from all of us but it didn’t. The progressives were all aboard at the helm with a compliant, manipulative media as their accomplice. We should have been aware of where this nation was headed when Barack Hussein Obama was elected president in 2008. As soon as we heard Michelle Obama say after her husband’s selection as candidate, "For the first time in my adult lifetime, I’m really proud of my country…,” we knew how little respect both of them had for America.  Of course, she had to explain that she meant that for the first time so many had joined in the campaign for change but that was just bogus. The words, “first time” busted Michelle’s excuse.

That the anniversary of 9/11 meant so little to us and so much to the radicals was clear in 9/11/2012 when the State Department under Hillary Clinton never bothered to protect our diplomats in the volatile Middle East. The fact that Clinton is still a front runner for 2016 president in spite of Benghazi is further evidence of liberal vacuity.

We are not a perfect nation but we have had great and momentous achievements throughout the world and in space. Our generosity and charitable exploits are outmatched by any other nation. Our biggest failure is due to Americans not recognizing that we the people are the government and who refuse to take responsibility for the leaders we elect to represent us.

I will never forget September 11, 2001. .  I remember standing in my living room watching the Twin Towers collapse and bursting into “God Bless America” with tears streaming down my face.  I will never forget the smell of rotting flesh at Ground Zero. To this day whenever I look in the sky and see a plane headed for the city, I remember what happened to the city I was born in. I will never forget that when I got home after visiting Ground Zero that first day, I looked in the mirror and my eyes were beet red. Microscopic bits in the air floated around the site piercing them with residue from the devastation and I wondered if it was from the smashed buildings or the smashed bodies.

I hope and pray that in the upcoming elections we band together and elect those who love our country and have always been proud of it.  I also want them to never, ever forget 9/11.