An e-mail:

Instead of demanding more and more, NYC needs to be assisting other American communities with its vital hard-learned lessons from 9-11. Here in Oklahoma City, we’ve been hit once too . . . and we never got the billions in federal largesse or the victim compensation millions that flowed to NYC. We sucked it up and took care of our own. And on 9-11 when the White House called the Oklahoma Governor’s office where I worked and asked, “How do you put together a memorial service after a mass slaughter?” we told them. And when New York called and asked “How do you deal with all these hysterical families?” a lot of us went up there and showed them. Since 1995 OKC fire and police officials have been generous with helping other communities plan for major attacks . . . and along the way we got our memorial funded and built, without squabbling and the need to add some “America is an awful country” exhibit.So yeah, lots of us down here in Okieland wish NYC would stop whining and turn that outstretched palm over and get busy helping other places get ready.