I don't remember where I was.

Growing up, my mom would talk all the time about these events, those that define generations, and say, "oh, I was at this place when that happened." Like when John F. Kennedy was shot. Or his brother too. Or when the space shuttle Challenger 'slipped the surly bonds of earth, to touch the face of God.'

Yet, I don't remember where I was on April 19, 1995, exactly 15 years ago today. One year and a day later, I remember exactly where I was, when two high school boys began shooting their way through a Colorado high school. For most events like that, I remember.

But the day a bomb ripped through the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, I've not a clue what I was doing. Prior to September 11, the deadliest act of terrorism on American soil happened 15 years ago today.

Timothy McVeigh will long be the name most recognized with the attacks, but he was just one of four who were charged with some part of it. McVeigh was executed by lethal injection exactly three months before September 11, 2001.

It was the anniversary of the Waco Siege that McVeigh was memorializing when he detonated more than 5,000 pounds of explosives at 9:02 am that morning. He literally blew the building in half.

Ranging from three months to 73 years, 168 people died in the blast, most from the collapse of the building and not from the bomb itself. One thing I do remember was the daycare center. On the news all they talked about was the daycare center. McVeigh parked the van directly underneath it.

During his trial, McVeigh never strayed from his anti-government attitude. To the fact that he killed 19 children, he said: "I didn't define the rules of engagement in this conflict. The rules, if not written down, are defined by the aggressor. It was brutal, no holds barred. Women and kids were killed at Waco and Ruby Ridge. You put back in [the government's] faces exactly what they're giving out."

McVeigh wanted to kill government employees and, despite his claims during his trial, seemingly didn't care who else got in the way. When arrested just hours after the bombing, McVeigh was wearing a shirt with two different quotes on it. One read, as I wrote last week:

Sic semper tyrannis (thus always to tyrants)

The other read:

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."

The former was said by Abraham Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth. The latter is attributed to Thomas Jefferson.

The rest of the building was imploded three months after the bombing.


Though it registers as sad and potentially angering for those of you from Seattle, I noticed that when typing "Oklahoma City" into a Google search, the automatic completion does not bring up the bombing first, but actually the Thunder, who began their first trip to the NBA playoffs yesterday. Some 15 years later, maybe the city is recovering.

What I've also noticed is something I've brought up with a few friends in recent years. As I pointed out at the beginning of this post, every generation has events that shape it and register as those, "I'll always remember where I was," moments. I've increasingly felt as if the ones that have happened in my generation are catastrophic and devastating. Few have been positive. That may be simply because the bad ones have been so bad.

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Just a few other things:

- North Carolina is seeing another Democratic rebellion right now, with a third party forming to oppose Dems that voted against health care. Obviously this is not good for the party as a whole, despite it being the same sort of effort that won the state for Barack Obama.

- The polls are looking ugly for Washington as 4-in-5 saying they don't trust the city. Interestingly, we constantly get told we live in this "Beltway Mentality" and ignore the pulse of the nation at large. Yet, unless there is a major event going on in the world, the levels are which the public hates this town is the main story everyday.

- Airlines are being critical of European authorities for their inability to send flights up in the air, while the cloud of ash from the volcano in Iceland continues to fill the air. Last I heard there are going to be attempts to send planes up today, but I love one of the quotes given by a European politician when asked when it has been so slow: "What is more important, their profits or passenger safety." Seems pretty black and white. Still, it is somewhat mind-boggling how crippling a volcanic eruption can be. It has literally shut down European air travel for days.

- Speaking of airlines, Sen. Chuck Schumer had success convincing the major ones to hold off on a carry-on bag fee, a big win.

- More struggles for the banking industry. Every time something like this crops up, the chances for financial reform grow.