The Freedom Tower

9/11 has made us stupid. This is the sentiment of New York Times columnist Tom Friedman.
Quoting from The Onion, the satirical newspaper which preceded the now wildly popular satirical broadcast The Daily Show, Friedman says we’ve become The United States of Fighting Terrorism.
Pardon the awkward references and quotes but Friedman, The Onion and The Daily Show are all attempting to revive an American consciousness that has been shot to hell ever since 9/11 and we’ve become the victims of a victim’s mentality.
The Onion’s contribution pokes fun at us by running this fake news story:
“At a well-attended rally in front of his new ground zero headquarters Monday, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani officially announced his plan to run for president of 9/11. ‘My fellow citizens of 9/11, today I will make you a promise,’ said Giuliani during his 18-minute announcement speech in front of a charred and torn American flag. ‘As president of 9/11, I will usher in a bold new 9/11 for all.’ If elected, Giuliani would inherit the duties of current 9/11 President George W. Bush, including making grim facial expressions, seeing the world’s conflicts in terms of good and evil, and carrying a bullhorn at all state functions.”
I am willing to bet a donut against a dollar this fake news will be reported as news before September turns into October.
“9/11 has made us stupid,” Friedman said. “I honor, and weep for, all those murdered on that day,” he said, “but our reaction to 9/11 — mine included — has knocked America completely out of balance, and it is time to get things right again.
“… in the wake of 9/11, we need new precautions, new barriers. But we also need our old habits and sense of openness. For me, the candidate of 9/12 is the one who will not only understand who our enemies are, but who we are.”
The writing is awkward but the point Friedman makes is dead on.

The world is watching construction of the Freedom Tower at Ground Zero. Dailymation.com posted a video with some passive commentary from Ryuchu Ryuichi. Although he is speaking Japanese, he is comparing this Ground Zero with an earlier Ground Zero. It is the memorial at Hiroshima. The video juxtaposes construction of the Freedom Tower with a tight shot of the Japanese Ground Zero memorial. If you recognize the irony, this short video is startling. This is not a smooth link so copy the address below and go to:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x33fdc_sakamoto-ryuichi-in-ground-zero_music

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani continues to anger firefighters over antics related to the World Trade Center.
Workers Independent News reports from www.laborradio.org that firefighters are outraged at a $9.11 fundraiser for the mayor’s presidential bid.
“Republican Presidential Candidate Rudy Giuliani is coming under fire from firefighters for the theme of a fundraiser in Palo Alto, California. Kellia Ramares reports the 9-dollars eleven cents party is the only one of a series of national house party fundraising events that links donations for the former New York City’s mayor to the World Trade Center Attacks.
Deputy New York Battalion Chief Jim Riches lost his son Jimmy in the North Tower. Riches is outraged by the fundraiser theme:
[Riches]: I think it’s disgusting. All he says is 9-11, 9-11, 9-11, when he runs for President. He is running for President on the body of my son.
Both the party host and the Giuliani spokesperson have attributed the idea to young volunteers acting independently of the campaign.”

Tania Head touts herself as president of the World Trade Centre Survivors Network, a non-profit organization.
Scotsman.com says Tania ain’t all she claims to be. Pardon the Euro spelling:
“A harrowing account of surviving the World Trade has come under scrutiny.
Ms Head has said she was badly burned on the 78th floor of the building, and encountered a dying man who handed her his wedding ring, which she later returned to his widow. She also said her husband, or fiancé, had died in the attack.
She spoke to students and led tours for visitors including New York’s mayor, Michael Bloomberg, and the former mayor Rudy Giuliani.
The account by Head has appeared on the website of the network.
The New York Times reported yesterday that no part of her account had been verified. Family and friends of the man she named as her fiancé had never heard of Ms Head, and Merrill Lynch, where she told people she had worked, had no record of her.
The newspaper said Ms Head had cancelled three interviews in recent weeks, citing emotional turmoil, and declined to provide details to corroborate her story.
She would not explain her reticence, saying only that she had not filed any claims with the federal Victim Compensation Fund.
“I have done nothing illegal,” Ms Head told the paper.
The board of the Survivors Network voted this week to remove her as president and as a director. She is no longer giving tours, officials said.
Jennifer Adams, chief executive of the Ground Zero visitor centre, said: “We are unable to confirm the veracity of Tania Head’s connection to the events of 11 September.”

The race for the tallest building is still on.

AmNew York business editor Andrew Lisa says “the Bank of America Tower at One Bryant Park will reshape Manhattan’s skyline and force a revision of the record books that catalog the city’s giants.
The Freedom Tower is low on this totum pole.
The 54-story Bank of America building stands 945 feet tall,” the AmNew York story says, “but the building tops out at 1,200 feet with the addition of an ornamental spire, inheriting the title of New York’s second-tallest skyscraper.” That title was held by the Chrysler Building since Sept. 11, 2001, when the Twin Towers were destroyed and the Empire State Building returned to the top spot.

“The building is topped off already,” said Jordan Barowitz, director of external affairs of the Durst Organization, the real estate development firm that partnered with BofA to erect the building. “The last piece of steel went in a few weeks ago and the first tenants will arrive in May 2008.”
One Bryant Park doesn’t break any records without its decorative spire, but the use of such a device to raise a tower’s bragging rights isn’t out of the ordinary.

“It’s very common that some ornamental feature would raise the bar that extra bit,” said Carol Willis, architectural historian and director of the Skyscraper Museum in Battery Park City. “You saw that historically, certainly with the Chrysler Building and the Petronas Towers in Malaysia, which was the first world’s tallest that was not in the United States.”

The erection of the twin, bridge-linked Petronas Towers was a watershed moment for architectural classification, she said.

“A different version of ‘tallest’ came into play with the towers,” Willis said. “A controversy arose over the question of [whether] height should be measured from the top of the needle as opposed to the roof …”

The new World Trade Center’s Freedom Tower … will claim its patriotic 1,776-foot height by means of a massive antenna. The top floor will be more than 400 feet below.”
Oh!

If the debilitating politics that drives this country these days had not stalled the reconstruction of Ground Zero, Tom Bevan says the Iranian leader who has taken command of the American media this week wouldn’t have been able to find himself a prayer manuel at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City.
Bevan, writing in the Real Clear Politics in Time says: “Lost in all the hullabaloo over Ahmadinejad’s request last week to visit Ground Zero is a question I haven’t heard anyone ask: Would Mahmoud have been so keen to visit the site if it sported fresh, gleaming skyscrapers and represented a resurgence of New York’s vibrant business community instead of a open wound we’re still slowly struggling to heal? I doubt it.
But even if Ahmadinejad had still wanted to visit Ground Zero, that would have been the kind of photo op America could live with. Indeed, it might even have been one we wanted the world to see: a small, evil man surrounded by the backdrop of America’s resilient spirit.
Part of the reason Ahmadinejad’s request was so offensive is because more than six years after 9/11 it is shameful there is still a gaping hole in the center of Manhattan for the terror-supporting leader to try and exploit.”

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg traveled to Pittsburg to visit the crash site of 9/11 Flight 93.
The flight was on its way from San Franciso from Newark, New Jersey when it was hijacked by terrorists and crashed near Shanksville, Pa. when passengers attempted to retake control of the plane. It crashed 65 miles southeast of Pittsburg. All 33 passengers and crew members on the plane died.
Mayor Bloomberg traveled to Pennsylvania as part of a fundraising tour for the World Trade Center memorial and museum. Bloomberg toured the crash site and signed one of two steel beams that will eventually be used in the construction of the World Trade Center memorial in New York.
“With your help, we will build a memorial that will tell the story to future generations so that our children and grandchildren will know the sacrifice that was made and will realize just how important the freedoms that we have in this country are,” Bloomberg said at the ceremony.

A settlement has been reached with some families of victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Families of victims who chose years ago to not be paid compensation set up by the Congress brought lawsuits instead.
The first of these lawsuits was scheduled to be heard in federal court next week. The settlement was reached last week and includes 14 personal injury and wrongful death claims brought by families of the victims. While some of the details of the settlement were not immediately available, segments of tapes obtained from the flight voice recorders that would be played during the trials were a key element that led to the settlement. The familes who settled told reporters the tapes would force them to relive the painful episode of the attacks again so they settled.
There are 12 remaining personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits related to 9/11. The first of these is scheduled to be heard in court early in November.

Health services for New York City residents suffering from health problems related to the 9/11 collapse of the World Trade Center are being expanded.
The blog LoHo10002 reports that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that the World Trade Center Environmental Health Center at Bellevue Hospital would be expanded to Gouverneur Healthcare Services on the Lower East Side and Elmhurst Hospital Center in Queens. This will allow the WTC Environmental Health Center to treat up to 20,000 patients over the next five years.
The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s comprehensive tracking effort - the World Trade Center Health Registry - continues to monitor the long-term health of people who were exposed to the World Trade Center disaster. Registrants now reside in all 50 states. The Registry recently released critical findings about rescue and recovery workers, some of whom were suffering from asthma and post-traumatic disorder as a result of the disaster. The Health Department is now re-surveying all 71,000 registrants to learn more about their current health status. So far, nearly 60% of registrants have responded.

The owners of the Freedom Tower has hired an advocate to determine whether or not it is possible to sell equity in the project.
The Port of Authority of New York and New Jersey hired the Deutsche Bank to search for equity partners, hoping to reduce the state’s sole ownership in the property.
While the agency has not committed to selling off some or all of the building, the New York Sun reported, the feasibility study marks a clear step in that direction.
“We’re looking at any and all options,” a Port Authority spokesman said. The Port Authority owns the entire 16-acre site at ground zero, though it is leasing the land for the other three towers to developer Larry Silverstein.