Sept. 11 Victim Families Protest `Freedom Center'

[RCPJAP]

June 20 (Bloomberg) -- A group representing families of some Sept. 11 victims gathered at New York's World Trade Center site today to oppose construction of a ``museum of freedom'' next to a memorial to those who died in the terrorist attack.

The demonstration by a group calling itself ``Take Back the Memorial'' appealed for the planned International Freedom Center to be excluded from the 16-acre site.

The freedom center is the brainchild of Tom Bernstein, the president of Chelsea Piers, a Manhattan recreation complex, who is a friend and former business partner of President George W. Bush.

``Instead of nine-eleven being in a place of prominence, a new shiny building is being built for something else, the International Freedom Center,'' said Edie Lutnick, sister of Cantor Fitzgerald LP Chairman Howard Lutnick and Gary Lutnick, who was killed in the 2001 terrorist attack. ``Instead of being immersed in nine-eleven, we'll be discussing world politics.''

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=apT9kZucGrwo&refer=us

[TahitiNut]

1. The "freedom center" is a jingoistic abomination.

:grr:

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

4. It definately puts the "jing" in jingoism.

So awful it's laughable.

[saigon68]

20. THE FREEDOM TO MAKE A PROFIT FROM THE OILY WAR CENTER

Belly up the trough and drink deeply of the SWILL

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

23. "Hey! You got blood on my profits." "No, you got your profits in my

blood."

And thus, another great American confectionary snack is created: Reese's Grieving Mother Cups.

May they all suffer in the Malebolge!

Level 8- the Malebolge

Many and varied sinners suffer eternally in the multi-leveled Malebolge, an ampitheatre-shapped pit of despair Wholly of stone and of an iron colour: Those guilty of fraudulence and malice; the seducers and pimps, who are whipped by horned demons; the hypocrites, who struggle to walk in lead-lined cloaks; the barraters, who are ducked in boiling pitch by demons known as the Malebranche. The simonists, wedged into stone holes, and whose feet are licked by flames, kick and writhe desperately. The magicians, diviners, fortune tellers, and panderers are all here, as are the thieves. Some wallow in human excrement. Serpents writhe and wrap around men, sometimes fusing into each other. Bodies are torn apart. When you arrive, you will want to put your hands over your ears because of the lamentations of the sinners here, who are afflicted with scabs like leprosy, and lay sick on the ground, furiously scratching their skin off with their nails. Indeed, justice divine doth smite them with its hammer.

[Cha]

2. Leave it to a friend of

bush to try and screw up the memorial to the victims of 9/11..I hope these loved ones win out.

[Igel]

3. Sadly, the article says little.

Why are the families upset? It says they are, but doesn't even say why, in any meaningful way ... a sure way of setting them up to seem unreasonable.

(Danged English syntax ...)

[RCPJAP]

5. Because Bush's friend is going to make money

off building the memorial. I'm assuming by reading the article that families are upset about that. They do not want the memorial to be a political statement, one of right wing vs. left wing, but rather a neutral place where people can come memorialize their loved ones without the interference of politics.

[NEOBuckeye]

10. Isn't money the only thing that actually matters to * and his ilk?

They would poison their own grandmothers for profit if they knew they could get away with it.

[Igel]

31. Yes. But if they're upset, and want a non-political center

it implies it's politically biased.

And the families that are complaining have been coopted to be speaking mostly for the right. I'm not sure they'd all say that, but RW blogs have gone crazy over the protest.

Actually, from elsewhere it seems to me to be mostly looking at oppression--slavery, occupation, etc.--around the world, and the struggle for freedom. But only aspects of the struggle that are "salient".)

[Maraya1969]

9. This women is pretty clear.

Debra Burlingame, whose brother Charles ``Chic'' Burlingame was a pilot of American Airlines Flight 77 that crashed into the Pentagon, wrote in the June 7 issue of the Wall Street Journal that the International Freedom Center would be dominated by ``ideologues hoping to use the memorial site as nothing more than a powerful visual aid to promote their agenda.''


It's very hard to bullshit a New Yorker.

[salin]

17. ya, but look at what that refers to

the group behind the center is related to a group that sued/is suing/tried to sue?? Rumsfeld over abuses at Abu Graib ...

I am very confused by the article.

Another statement - from a Pataki spokesperson - says they don't want - on the grounds - a place where there is criticism of American history (okay - which group is that - the ones that are opening the center... so is Pataki for or against this Center??)

Again - I am very confused by the article.

[Cooley Hurd]

21. Ironically, Debra Burlingame was a big Bush supporter in '04...

:thumbsdown:

[salin]

22. ah - that helps - no irony, apparently

the article is confusing as to who supports what or what the center is purported to be for... and the chair - or at least a high up in the org. supporting it was part of an org. that sued(is suing?) Rumsfeld per abuses at Abu Graib.

This tidbit (she is on the side of bush) - does support (though the article is not written clearly) the idea that the center is meant to foster conversations/critiques of us policies in an international framework. SPokespeople for the center seemed to emphasize that they didn't want to be used by the left or the right....

[ugarte]

6. What utter crap to imply they died for 'freedom', or would support wars

in freedom's name. Their deaths were an atrocity, but capitalizing on them politically to go and murder others is no better.

[Ilsa]

7. "International Freedom Center" sounds like something

Bin Forgotten would want to target.

[Goldmund]

8. Nah

It's a symbol of the agressive imperial America that Bin Laden wants it to be.

[Straight Shooter]

11. What's freedom got to do with it?

Seriously. Why the hell incorporate the word "freedom" into a memorial unless it's to appease bush's obsession with manipulating others with that word?

I'm so sick of bush's cannibalizing the dead of September 11, 2001, either with his own words or by proxy.


I would like for all the victims' families, should they be so willing, to pool their resources and create a My Pet Goat Memorial. Maybe it can have a fountain in the center where everyone can throw their coins and wish for bush to just go away.

[ninkasi]

13. You're so right...

The grieving families, who are still dealing with the loss of their loved ones, have had to endure almost 3 years of listening to this moron using 9-11 as an excuse to get away with implementing his agenda, to ward off any criticism of his administration.

Now, on top of everything else, they are told that he will use this site as a way for one of his cronies to make even more money. I don't blame them for being furious. Bush is without doubt the most soulless, corrupt, greedy, childish, vindictive man ever to disgrace this country by claiming to be president.

If he has even an ounce of integrity, he will abide by the families wishes. We know he doesn't, though, and I expect the worst from him. He has wrapped himself in the terrible events of that day, and has denied even the right to grieve with dignity to these families.

[xxqqqzme]

14. 'Why is it that the worst thing ever to

happen to this country is the best thing to ever happen to him?
Bill Maher

Leave it 2 kommander kookoo bananas 2 have a friend cashing in on the disaster and proud of it.

[Rex]

12. Freedom center, I love it.

Will they build a Freedom Memorial Wall for all the troops that have died in Bush's illegal war? :eyes:

They will try to use this as another link between Iraq & 911.

[TomClash]

15. Will they have a restaurant serving Freedom Fries?

I'm with the families. Lower Manhattan doesn't need more propaganda. This crap desecrates and commercializes the site.

"International Freedom Center" means free to kill.

[Deja Q]

16. When * says 'freedom', read 'fascist'. Every. Single. Time.

And when he came up with "Patriot Day" he means "patriot" as those who died died for HIS cause, and not the real America's.

[Vladimir]

18. I can finally say it - I hate your freedom

center.

[salin]

19. Please read the whole article ... don't react to the title

see if you can make sense of it - I can't.

The chair behind it... is also part of a group that is suing/did sue?? Rumsfeld per human rights abuses at Abu Ghraib?

Pataki spokesman refers to not wanting space there that spouts critiques of american history? Don't get this - is Pataki for or against this?

I find the whole thing really, really confusing. Anyone local hear much about this?

Forget getting caught up in the (admittedly) jingoistic name - lets try to figure out what the heck it is supposed to be and who is fighting for and against it.

[Bridget Burke]

25. Bernstein is involved with Human Rights First.

But he is also President of Chelsea Piers, a recreational complex. He was involved with the Texas Rangers--along with Bush Jr. The goals sound pretty noble, but why must it feed off 9/11? Couldn't this noble work be done on less expensive real estate?

www.ifcwtc.org/index.html

The site includes a list of "Freedom Documents." You know, the Magna Carta, Declaration of Independance & Emancipation Proclamation. Culminating with that great work--George W Bush's 2nd Inaugural Address.

Are you inspired yet?

[KoKo]

27. Check out the "Board of Advisors." Cokie Roberts, Jean Case, etc.

From your link to the web site, this is the "BOA." The only names on there that I would trust as not Bushites/PNAC or Opus Dei are the two who are involved witht he Peace Corps founding and current program. And, even then I'm not sure I would trust them. :eyes:
--------------------------------------

Center Forms Board of Advisors for Service Program

The International Freedom Center has formed a new Board of Advisors for its service and civic engagement programs, and more than 25 leading figures in the world of service have agreed to participate in the work of the new board.

John Bridgeland, president and CEO of Civic Enterprises, chairs the Board of Advisors. Bridgeland formerly served as assistant to the president and director of the White House Domestic Policy Council early in the first term of President George W. Bush, and later as director of the USA Freedom Corps, the coordinating council for the new Citizen Corps to mobilize volunteers for homeland security, Senior Corps, AmeriCorps and Peace Corps, and the new Volunteer Network, which is connecting millions of Americans to traditional volunteer service activities in their local communities, across the country, and in countries around the world, and was also the vehicle through which two former Presidents raised more than $1 billion in private aid to help the survivors of the Tsunami, the parent agency of both the Peace Corps and AmeriCorps, as well as a host of federal volunteer service initiatives.

Among those joining Bridgeland on the new Board of Advisors and acting in their individual capacities are:

* Diana Aviv, president and CEO of Independent Sector;
* Sheila Burke, deputy secretary and COO of the Smithsonian Institution, and former executive dean of Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government as well as former chief of staff to Sen. Robert Dole;
* Jean Case, President & CEO of the Case Foundation and former senior executive at America Online;
* Raymond G. Chambers, member of the Board of America's Promise, founding chairman of the Points of Light Foundation and the Amelior Foundation and co-founder of Wesray Capital Corporation;
* Stephen Goldsmith, professor of government at Harvard's Kennedy School and former mayor of Indianapolis;
* Scott Heiferman, CEO of Meetup;
* Alan Khazei, CEO and co-founder of City Year, which has expressed an interest in providing the docents for the International Freedom Center's museum component;
* Robert Nardelli, chairman, president & CEO of Home Depot;
* Michelle Nunn, president and CEO of the Hands On Network;
* Cokie Roberts, author, syndicated columnist and analyst for ABC News and National Public Radio;
* Max Stier, president of the Partnership for Public Service;
* Joe Trippi, former campaign manager for Howard Dean for President;
* Robert Putnam, professor of public policy at Harvard, former dean of the Kennedy School and author of the landmark book Bowling Alone;
* Gaddi Vasquez, director of the Peace Corps; and
* Harris Wofford, former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania, CEO during the Clinton Administration of the Corporation for National & Community Service, adviser on civil rights to President Kennedy, and helped Sargent Shriver form the Peace Corps.

[meganmonkey]

24. From their website: "BECAUSE A 'BLAME AMERICA' MONUMENT HONORS NO ONE"

From their website:

http://takebackthememorial.org/

An op-ed by Ms. Burlingame:

The Great Ground Zero Heist
Will the 9/11 "memorial" have more about Abu Ghraib than New York's heroic firemen?

BY DEBRA BURLINGAME
Wednesday, June 8, 2005 12:01 a.m. EDT

On Memorial Day weekend, three Marines from the 24th Expeditionary Unit who had been wounded in Iraq were joined by 300 other service members for a wreath-laying ceremony at the empty pit of Ground Zero. The broken pieces of the Twin Towers have long ago been cleared away. There are no faded flags or hand-painted signs of national unity, no simple tokens of remembrance. So why do they come? What do they hope to see?

The World Trade Center Memorial will break ground this year. When those Marines return in 2010, the year it is scheduled to open, no doubt they will expect to see the artifacts that bring those memories to life. They'll want a vantage point that allows them to take in the sheer scope of the destruction, to see the footage and the photographs and hear the personal stories of unbearable heartbreak and unimaginable courage. They will want the memorial to take them back to who they were on that brutal September morning.

Instead, they will get a memorial that stubbornly refuses to acknowledge the yearning to return to that day. Rather than a respectful tribute to our individual and collective loss, they will get a slanted history lesson, a didactic lecture on the meaning of liberty in a post-9/11 world. They will be served up a heaping foreign policy discussion over the greater meaning of Abu Ghraib and what it portends for the country and the rest of the world.


more...

http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110006791

[meganmonkey]

26. A cartoon from their website:

They say they want 'no politics' but I think what they really want is a portrayal of 9/11 in a vacuum with no reference to the context or the follow-up...

[lynne]

28. Ground Zero is a mass grave -

- and should be respected as such. Any memorial or museum should be to those who lived, worked and died there.

Other events in our history have their own museums and memorials elsewhere. Ground Zero is no more the spot for causes or politics than would be the sunken hull of the Titanic.

[Mizmoon]

30. Ground Zero is NOT a mass grave

All the bodies were IDed or ended up in the Freshkills landfill (seriously - some of the families were sick about it). All the individuals have their own graves or symbolic graves.

The new WTC should be for the living.

[KoKo]

29. Sounds like a tribute to the Failed Ambitions of PNAC, to me. Very

worrisome. I don't want any legacy of the "nobility" of the Bush Administration sullying that spot where so many died because of the very administrations incompetence who allowed the attack in the first place.

These people never stop trying to shove their failed philosophy night and day, 24/7...all to the glory of themselves.