Posted on 06/07/2005 9:12:16 PM PDT by CHARLITE
Most Americans have not been paying attention to the bureaucratic wrangling and political jockeying that has plagued the construction of the World Trade Center Memorial at Ground Zero in lower Manhattan. But it's not just New Yorkers and developers and 9/11 families who should care.
A good portion of the project is federally subsidized. All of us have not only a financial stake, but also a moral stake, in protecting the honor of the victims -- and the dignity of our country.
A Blame America Monument is not what we need or deserve. But it looks like one is already in the works.
In a startling op-ed printed in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, Debra Burlingame exposed the "Great Ground Zero Heist." Burlingame is on the board of directors of the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation and the sister of Charles F. "Chic" Burlingame III, pilot of American Airlines flight 77, which terrorists crashed into the Pentagon on 9/11. She reports that the World Trade Center memorial will encompass a "cultural complex" whose primary tenant will be something called the "International Freedom Center."
According to an IFC fact sheet, the project "will be an integral part of humanity's response to September 11." An educational and cultural center will host exhibits, lectures, debates and films "that will nurture a global conversation on freedom in our world today." Tellingly though, as Burlingame notes, early plans for the center that included a large mural of an Iraqi voter were scratched in favor of a photograph of Martin Luther King Jr. and Lyndon Johnson when the designs went public. So much for nurturing that global conversation.
The center's "civic engagement network" will connect visitors to "service" opportunities. Translation: Left-wing activist recruitment center. As the fact sheet notes, "leading NGOs (non governmental organizations) will be offered outposts at the Center to reach out to its visitors."
On its face, the project may seem fairly unobjectionable enough (putting aside how far afield it all seems from the task of remembering the victims and heroes of 9/11) -- until, that is, you take a closer look at the chief movers and shakers behind the project.
Tom Bernstein, a deep-pocketed Hollywood financier and real estate mogul, is the primary driver behind the IFC. Bernstein's longtime friendship and business partnership with Yale classmate George W. Bush gives cover to his radical activism as president of Human Rights First. The group opposed Bush Attorney General Alberto Gonzales over the administration's preventive detention policies and has joined with the ACLU in mau-mauing the Pentagon over alleged prisoner abuse.
Among the many supposedly respectable scholars consulted on the project is Eric Foner. He's the unhinged Columbia University professor who reacted to 9/11 by griping: "I'm not sure which is more frightening: the horror that engulfed New York City or the apocalyptic rhetoric emanating daily from the White House." The IFC's list of scholars and advisers also includes left-leaning elites such as Henry Louis Gates at Harvard University; Stephen B. Heintz, IFC secretary and president of the Rockefeller Bros. Fund; Walter Isaacson, CEO of the Aspen Institute; and Michael Posner, executive director of Human Rights First.
Burlingame also reports that Anthony Romero, ACLU executive director, "is pushing IFC organizers for exhibits that showcase how civil liberties in this country have been curtailed since September 11." Then there's billionaire Bush-basher George Soros, who Burlingame reports is an early funder and supporter of the IFC and whose spirit infuses this grievance-mongering enterprise.
Do we really want Ground Zero to be the playground of anti-war financiers, moral equivalence peddlers, and Guantanamo Bay alarmists? As Burlingame told me yesterday, "Ground Zero belongs to all the American people. If Ground Zero is lost, whether through negligence or malfeasance, it will be a loss that is felt for generations to come."
Richard Tofel, IFC president, is minimizing dissenters. In a statement, he told me that "we understand that a few do not" agree with the project's stated mission of promoting the "cause of freedom." The question is not whether most Americans support a monument to freedom, but whether they will stand by while saboteurs convert it into The Ultimate Guilt Complex.
How do I loathe the left. I loathe the left without end.
I didn't even have to know this to know it.
Sir Edmund Hillary Clinton will help boot these America-haters from the WTC site,... won't she?? /srcsm [honking horns & sirens,which are NYC crickets]
I think it's wonderful that we are embracing the diverse cultural reaction to the "events" of September 11. It's important that in commemorating those events we consider the ramifications of putting panties on an Islamofascist. We should never forget the seriousness of the charge that soldiers are flushing Korans in Guantanamo, even if there's no evidence to support the allegation. And when the Muslims have killed or converted all Americans, won't it be nice that George Soros left them a nice monument they won't have to blow up.
</sarcasm>
This is the first I've heard of any of this. If true, it's disgusting.
I have walked by Ground Zero about once a week ever since lower Manhattan was re-opened to the public. I had an apartment down there. One thing that bothered me was that all the wonderful messages and memorials that used to be scattered around the site were cleaned up as soon as Bloomberg became mayor. There are still a few tiny memorial sites. But was it necessary to take down all the prayers for the victims that were written on the fence, or all the letters from schoolchildren?
The center of the memorial should be that broken girder cross, and the flag, with a depiction of some of the fireman who died there. There were some wonderful pictures taken at the time, all of which seem to have disappeared from sight.
Every time I walk by, I see groups of tourists and quite a few foreigners, plus school groups, all very respectful, who have come by to see the site of the disaster. But the site has been sanitized, so these visitors are almost all that is left.
Still waiting for Michelle's spread in Maxim.
Sir Edmond. I remember her telling that lie that she was named for him, when in fact, at the time of her birth he was a bee keeper.
This nation is bent on self destruction.
No, the LIBERALS are bent on its destruction!
"Ground Zero belongs to all the American people."
Maybe so, a little bit. But FAR MORE SO, it belongs to the families of the victims, fire fighters, medical workers, and cops who lost loved ones that day.
How much do you want to be they'd prefer a 200-story middle finger?
How the hell did this get hijacked by the professional money grubbers and axe grinders? I say just build another WTC, even taller this time. IN YOUR FACE OSAMA!
I talk about this more in my blog. I think you will especially want to follow the links to Little Green Footballs. It is very late now for me, but we must keep the pressure up on this issue!
ALSO: From GOP Bloggers: The board of directors of the International Freedom Center are:
Tom A. Bernstein (Chairman) - President of Chelsea Piers, President of the Board of Human Rights First
Paula Grant Berry (Vice-Chair) - Member of the Board, World Trade Center Memorial Foundation
Stephen B. Heintz - President of the Rockefeller Bros. Fund
Daniel T. Tishman - President of Tishman Construction Corporation
Tom Bernstein is an avowed liberal; I suggest calls to Daniel Tishman (212-399-3600). The International Freedom Center was selected by the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. to be at the 9/11 memorial, and the chairman of the LMDC is John Whitehead (212-962-2300). The LMDC board was appointed by New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg (311 in NYC or 212-NEW-YORK outside NYC) and New York Governor George Pataki (518-474-8390). These people probably aren’t aware of what travesty is about to take place on hallowed ground, so let them know.
Ditto. Here's how much I loathe them - a personal story, in brief.
I had a "best friend" from my school girl days. As things turned out, we lost contact for 25+ years. When we began corresponding via email (she in NYC and I in So. CA.), I was horrified to discover that she is a Nancy Pelosi/Barbara Boxer/Michael Moore/Howard Dean far left liberal.
The relationship ended on the spot. I ended it, and she didn't understand. Her entire view of things is the Rodney King one: "Can't we all just get along?" (as long as we all get rid of Bush and all of the Republicans......)??
Hopeless.
Thanks for your comment(s), Jarhead. I always look for your remarks. They are so "trenchant" and to the point!
Char :)
You can be sure that it wasn't Republicans who removed those personal memorials and mememtos.
Char
Many thanks.
Char
What is it with this dope? He only makes friends with people who sh!t on him at every opportunity?
Puking.
How sad. I can't blame her.
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