Posted on 02/05/2002 6:02:28 AM PST by Jeff Head
As I type this, the:
DEPICT THE WTC FLAG RAISING AS IT ACTUALLY OCCURRED
petition has surpassed 150,000 signatures. It was three weeks ago today that this petition was started in response to plans by the city of New York and the Fire Department officials there in New York to create a memorial to the fallen fire fighters of 9-11 that included an altered depiction of the flag raising that occurred at ground zero on that fateful day. The alteration attempted to change the ethnicity and physical appearance of those that did the flag raising to a "culturally diverse", "politically correct" version of events. It was a blatant attempt to project what some thought "should" have happened and what the event "should" have represented over what actually took place.
This attempt has struck a raw nerve in many tens of thousands and now hundreds of thousands of citizens across this nation and the world (,hundreds have signed from Canada, England, Australia, Germany and many other places). I am sure of it were more widely known, it would do the same in tens of millions.
Revisionism of this nature occurred in totalitarian nations such as Stalin's Russia, or Hitler's Germany or Mao's China .... not in America. The liberty we enjoy in America is based on virtue and the truth. In order to make the responsible free will decisions that we make in this nation every day, we must have access to the truth and then act as moral agents on it.
Those politicians and planners and ideologs who proposed such an alteration are completely out of touch with the liberty and principles that make us all Americans. There attempts subvert the very foundational principles our Republic rests upon. Those three men who raised that flag did not do so as "whites" or "males" or any other descriptive term other than this one ... AMERICANS. The flag they raised represents us all, of all creeds, of all parties, of all ethnicities and races, of all genders. They raised it as a message to all, a message about our liberty and determination to maintain it in the face of the most appalling horror and dastardly attacks.
We have made progreee in this effort. The city announced over ten days ago that they would not raise the altered statue. They have indicated that they now have other plans. There is no official word on what those other plans are as of yet.
According to the second point of the petition, the petition will continue until plans are announced that portray a memorial with no political agenda and that is historically accurate.
I am moving forward with plans to deliver the first 100,000 signatures to New York in the next week or so. I have formatted 40,000 names for print and will complete the formatting on the next 60,000 in the next day or two and then have them printed, bound and shipped to firefighters there in NYC who will present them to the mayors office. I will follow this up with the second 100,000 as they are completed, and so forth ... as long as I can and as long as needed.
I want to thank everyone involved. Those who have signed, those who have spread the word, those who have unrelentingly kept the threads and the reoprts up here on FR and elsewhere on the internet, those who have prayed, and all of those who have donated any time or sent funds to help get these signatures to the City of New York.
If you want some heart warming, hope inspiring experiences .... spend a few moments browsing the comments on the petition.
I will close with my favortie comments to date, from signature 11497:
"WHAT A PATHETIC NATION WE HAVE BECOME when we have to alter history, and the TRUTH, to accomodate bleeding heart liberal, blood sucking interest groups. I am of hispanic origin, my parents were born in Puerto Rico, but i was born here, in the land God himself chose to be America. So what if the firemen who raised our glorious flag were white, they were AMERICANS, showing cowards we cant be pushed around. If you poor unloved, misunderstood crybabies want to be represented in the monument, take a close look and see that you are, in the flag itself. The glorious flag that will wave long after we're all eaten by worms. Political correctness has become morally and politically incorrect. Wake up and smell the coffee before we destroy ourselves. signed, an AMERICAN."Would that we all had such conviction and willingness to state and share it.
FRegards
It's got a life of its won right now ... some kind of critical mass on the email chains.
At 200,000 I am going to have a new thread, with PCIS of the bound signatures just before shipping to NYC.
Tell the truth, do you get a few wacko (lefty) comments to the poll?
I am getting a couple of hundred emails A DAY over this and try and respond to most. About 2% of those are pretty whacked out leftist/liberals who vent their spleens .. but I try and respond cordially to them just the same.
Hey ... did you ever finish the book? You got a review for me that I would want to print? LOL?
195,825
What a wonderful job you did, Jeff, setting up the marvelous response system giving everyone not only a kind and courteous reply, but the opportunity to 'pass it on'.
197024.
My brother was one of the firemen that died at the WTC. We are spanish and filipino and I know that he would have felt the same. Leave the picture of the three firemen raising the flag as it was at the WTC. It doesn't matter what nationality they were since it was the thought behind it that meant so much when you look at the picture. Those three men represent all of the Americans that would have and could have helped anyone that day.
Looks like that way to me, too.
197,263 Dinner bump, macaroni and cheese cassarole (sp?) tonight
WOW!!
I must be like a bad penny. Could not spend much time on the internet since Friday and the petition takes off like a Fourth of July Rocket. Maybe I should take a backseat and just watch....Oh well
Jeff, again heartfelt thanks for bringing this very important petition forward. God is watching over you with a smile. I think I can say this for everyone, "we all DULY APPRECIATE all you do".
Count me in on that sentiment!
I took the book to Mexico with me, but the margaritas, sun, surf and suds got the better of me. That's the truth.
Lent begins tomorrow, so my act will be cleaner. I owe you a review, but not after 10 pages of reading on the airplane.
Bumping your petition for 200K!!
197,550!
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