The Freedom Tower

From former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani;s blog “On the Road to the White House” says one of his columns is designed to drive the final railroad spike into the coffin of former New York governor George Elmer Pataki’s presidential ambitions.

“As the curtain creaks down on Pataki’s seemingly endless Broadway run, it is vital to this Republic’s health that his threatened national roadshow go nowhere.

 Five years after 9/11, the former World Trade Center remains an excruciating chasm.
“Al-Canyon” is a dual testament to al Qaeda’s urban-redesign skills and Pataki’s lack thereof. As the man responsible for transforming Ground Zero from a five-story-deep national tear duct into a symbol of American renaissance, this site only now is emerging from the post-September-11 dark ages. Pataki’s indecision and dithering delayed concrete from being poured for the Freedom Tower’s foundation until November 18 — five years and nine weeks after Islamo-fascists demolished the Twin Towers.”
Run Rudy, Run.

Even the newest symbol of American patriotism – the Freedom Tower – and the material being used to erect this monument where our greatest tragedy occurred isn’t the sacred property Americans are suppose to believe it to be. Blogger Ryan Northcott – Ryan Northcott.com complains that even some of the steel being raise at the site were out sourced. “Jesus, even the Freedom Tower is outsourced,” Northcott says. “One would think the most watched construction site in the world would use American products. Apparently not … money talks. Why are we out sourcing America? I use to think Lou Dobbs was a crazy man but you know he might be on to something”

SEVEN WORLD TRADE CENTER

What goes around, comes around. Last summer a rather big deal lease prloposal with a Chinese company to occupy space at the Freedom Tower soured, then fell through. Well, it seems the deals back on the table. If the new deal takes rooot, Beijing Vantone Real Estate would be the first private tenant to sign a long term lease to move into the Freedom Tower. Six months ago, the company lost a bid to obtain space in the recently completed 7 World Trade Center, according to the New York Post. Woed downtown is that the company is looking to lease one million square feet of space in the Freedom Tower.
The company is reportedly talking to the Port Authority now but the PA isn’ty talking. Vantone had tried to lease the top five floors of 7 World Trade Center but World Trade Center developer Larry Silverstein pulled out of the deal because financing fell apart.,” the post said.
This is good news for the PA if the firm comes through with the money and enough financing because the only other tenants so far are state and federal agencies.

A guy calling himself a “gay conservative liberal” has lots to say about construction of the Freedom Tower and all of the hoopla surrounding it.
What irks me most about the Freedom Tower is the arrogance behind the project,” he says “– we’re not showing the world anything by building an even taller edifice downtown, we’re just waving the red flag in front of the bull. Five years after thousands of people were wiped from existence it’s become our city’s prerogative to account for all the deaths in dollars and cents. Which means that this very pricey bit of real estate, which is now a cemetery, has to be repurposed and every last person who lost a loved one there needs to be placated with hollow praise and the drone of a bagpipe.

Some simple-minded people might gasp and tear up at the thought of steel, glass and copy machines soaring 1,776 feet into the heavens, ever closer to their departed loved ones. I find it sickening and audacious. But predictable. Given our heady times, when our government seems hell bent on winning an un-winnable war, it’s small, empty “victories” like these that emphasize, oh what is it, “the resilience of the American spirit” and bla bla bla.”

These are “Irregular Times,” according to a blog by the same name, times of darkness, the originator of the site says, inching toward the light.
“It’s pesky question time. The first columns for the new skyscraper replacement for the World Trade Center have been placed. They’re calling the building the Freedom Tower,” the author says
“What does the Freedom Tower have to do with freedom, though? Why call it the Freedom Tower?
When the World Trade Center was attacked, our freedom wasn’t under attack. A building was under attack. It was our own government that attacked our freedom.
It was our own government that shut down the Statue of Liberty, just across the water from the new Freedom Tower. How can we build a Freedom Tower when the Statue of Liberty is still closed to the public?” I’m not sure how relevant the question really is but its more important that we ask because silence is deadly in these times. Iraq is a consequence, not a choice.

It took a mere 63 months after the 9/11 attacks on the World trade Center to raise the first steel beams for the Freedom Tower, notes Dean Barnett in the National Review. “The fact that it took over five years to take this baby step is a metaphor for a lot of things,” he said, “none of them good. We were going to rebuild fast to show the terrorists that they didn’t defeat us. Somehow I doubt if the terrorists are still watching, they’re much impressed by our progress.”

Nothing related to rebuilding the World Trade Center – including construction of the of the Freedom Tower – has been easy in the past and there is no reason to expect it ever be easy now or at any time in the future. “Any perception that cops and firefighters aren’t being more thoroughly memorialized is taken as a slight by their families’ is another truism related to the WTC reconstruction too, according to a column called Ground Zero Watch in New York Magazine.
“That’s why 2006 is winding down with people still arguing over a nonexistent memorial” at Ground Zero, the magazine says. ‘In the latest bit of incremental progress, the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation thought up a new arrangement of victims’ names on the memorial. Firefighters and cops will now not be ranked but grouped by command, precinct, or company. Civilian workers killed in the attacks will be listed by employer, but the employer will not be named. Spouses and siblings will be put together. The plan, also, somehow, accommodates the names of the Pentagon and the United 93 victims as well as the six people who died in the 1993 bombings.”
We’ll stop here because it is too pedestrian to go any further with this list of lists here. “Mayor Bloomberg, who is clearly beginning to lose his patience, responded to this new arrangement by saying “There is no right answer. Nevertheless, it is time to move forward.” Yes, hell yes. The dead are beyond caring and the living just don’t seem to know any better.

People aren’t exactly beating a path to a website called Dvorak Uncensored but maybe that will change.
The concept is quite simple really. Instead of loading the site with the bluster of more commentary from pundits, Dvorak simply posts a news story, then strings comments about the news from anyone who cares to talk about the subject. This is risky business because anybody could say just about anything they like. Reading these varied opinions is refreshing in an era where terms like “fair and balanced” have become fighting words when they are flung around by network liars.
Sample a little for yourself.
“Freedom Tower’s Wrong-way flag removed,’ was the headline. We ran several stories about this minor flub in a series of more serious missteps. Readers of Dvorak’s site responded this way:
0. “I suppose this sort of incident is important to many nation, ethnicity, religion, Stone Age genes still switched on and requiring conformity.
0. Like Mel Brooks said, “Three cheers for cave 37!”
0. Comment by moss — 12/23/2006 @ 6:49 am
0. Good thing they have this law…I would have never known that was a U.S. flag!
0. Comment by Aaron — 12/23/2006 @ 6:50 am
0. Send the responsible guy to Gitmo for reeducation… he’s a terrorist!!!
0. Comment by Jägermeister — 12/23/2006 @ 7:02 am
There is one exception to this rule. Military combat uniforms have flags with the field on the right so the flag appears to be waving in the soldier’s direction of movement.
0. Why does there need to be an American flag on this column at all? It was our flag waving American arrogance that brought us to ground zero in the first place! This is on par with some stupid redneck plastering a Confederate flag on their bumper. I think it would behoove America to lie low with the nationalistic fervor for awhile. So far it’s only seemed to make us enemies.
0. Comment by JT — 12/23/2006 @ 1:28 pm
0. Yeah you Americans, how DARE you be patriotic! Don’t you know that’s only for others? How DARE you!
0. Comment by malren — 12/23/2006 @ 1:55 pm
0. This is a joke right? Is anyone going to see the flag once the building is finished?
If this kind of attention to detail was present before 9/11 maybe they wouldn’t have to be rebuilding at this point.”
Point well taken.

Two decals reading “Freedom Tower” and two U.S. flags adorned the first steel columns to rise again at the site of the fallen World Trade Center today. The steel columns went up, hoisted by steel workers at Ground Zero today. The beam was up days ago but had to come down again when it was noticed that an American flag decal had the stars flying on the wrong side. The decals are now upright and the stars and stripes are where they are supposed to be, according to federal regulations. This small glitch was just one of the many minor stumbling blocks that began five years ago when developers unveiled plans to erect the Freedom Tower. No one can say they aren’t trying their best to get it right. No one!

Eliot Spitzer, the governor elect of New York State there will be no changes in the building plans for ground zero until he sees the books.
Let’s wait and see. Spitzer was critical of the project during his successful campaign and now he wants to see the books before he replaces George Pataki as the chief cheerleader for the project.
Spitzer, who won the top job in the state in last month’s election, says he needs to see more financial details regarding construction of the Freedom Tower and other projects being constructed at the World Trade Center. Spitzer has asked for specifics regarding the cost of construction of Freedom Tower and the transit hub. The outgoing governor George Pataki says the building plans are too far along in the process for the Spitzer administration to alter them significantly. Spitzer questioned the viability of the project during his campaign. Pataki said New Yorkers will not stand for any unnecessary delays in the project after more than five years of planning and repeated delays. Anthony Shorris, executive director of the Port of Authority of New York and New Jersey … owner of the Ground Zero construction site …. was appointed to the position by the incoming governor. Shorris has said recently that he plans to look closely at the Freedom Tower plans. As the state’s top prosecutor, Spitzer was a genuinely tough guy, fair but always tough. Now that he’s governor, expect Spitzer to stay tough in his new job.