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I like having visitors to my house. I hope you are entertained. I fight for your right to free speech, and am thrilled when you exercise said rights here. Comments and e-mails are welcome, but all such communication is to be assumed to be 1)the original work of any who initiate said communication and 2)the property of the Mudville Gazette, with free use granted thereto for publication in electronic or written form. If you do NOT wish to have your message posted, write "CONFIDENTIAL" in the subject line of your email.
Original content copyright © 2003 - 2007 by Greyhawk. Fair, not-for-profit use of said material by others is encouraged, as long as acknowledgement and credit is given, to include the url of the original source post. Other arrangements can be made as needed.
Contact: greyhawk at mudvillegazette dot com
Several 9/11 family groups are actively opposing an effort to build an "International Freedom Center" on the site of the World Trade Center. We've been proud to support their efforts here over the past few months.
If you'd like to see a small part of what has motivated these thousands of families whose loved ones were murdered four years ago this week, take note of how the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council is commemorating 9/11 - an "art" exhibit opening today in New York:
September 9, 2005 -- A 9/11-themed art exhibit at Cooper Union has bombed with families of terror attack victims, who say its vitriol against President Bush, seeming mockery of war hero Pat Tillman and other anti-American images denigrate the memory of their loved ones.Sounds like the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council could shorten it's name to "Lower Culture". Don't worry though, the folks responsible for this disgrace are going to consult with 9/11 families before they take over the site of the World Trade Center:"What is the matter with these people? Where is their sense of decency?" asked Debra Burlingame, whose brother was a pilot aboard the airliner hijacked and crashed into the Pentagon and who has been among relatives fighting the location of the International Freedom Center at Ground Zero.
The artworks bashing Bush and the military are included in a program called "Knock at the Door," part of a slate of arts activities planned this weekend by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council ? a program that has outraged many 9/11 family members.
<...>
NFL star Tillman, who joined the military after the 9/11 attacks and was killed apparently accidentally by fellow Army Rangers in Afghanistan, is featured in what appears to be the cover of a mock magazine called "Friendly Fire.""My death was tragic. My glory was short-lived. Flawed perceptions of myself, my country and the War on Terror resulted in the disastrous end to my life," a faked quote reads in the piece that pokes fun at a national hero.
The controversial Freedom Center proposed for the World Trade Center has named a seven-member advisory panel of September 11 victims' family members.Sounds promising - until you check what the 9/11 family groups have to say:The International Freedom Center still needs to submit more detailed plans about its content by September 23 to the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation.
Victims' family members have objected to the Freedom Center, saying it would detract from the planned memorial and it may host anti-American exhibits.
The alliance consisting of fifteen major September 11 family groups firmly rejects the plan announced yesterday by the International Freedom Center (IFC) to form a 9/11 family advisory panel headed by Paula Grant Berry. The plan, naming Ms. Berry and six other individuals to advise the center about content and programming, is aimed at creating the false impression that an unrelated cultural institution built with public and private funds slated for a memorial to the victims of 9/11 is acceptable to 9/11 family groups. It is not.We strongly believe that a cultural museum at Ground Zero with exhibits about historical events such as slavery, the Holocaust and the Soviet system of gulags dilutes the memory of those who perished on September 11th and the events of that day. We and 22,000 members of ?New York?s Bravest??the United Firefighters Association of New York?believe that the place where 3,000 people were murdered in the most destructive attack in our nation?s history should be reserved for that story, and that story alone.
Located directly over the place where the Twin Towers fell four years ago, the Cultural Complex housing the Freedom Center will constitute the third largest museum in New York City. As a result, the exhibit space at the IFC with be three times greater than that allotted for 9/11 artifacts, most of which will never return to the site due to Port Authority plans and lack of foresight by Governor Pataki. This is a travesty that will outrage the public if plans by the governor?s board, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, go forward.
Finally, we continue to believe that the IFC?s determination to host controversial debates about America?s domestic and foreign policy in the wake of 9/11, turning the site into a ?Public Square on Sacred Ground,? will make a mockery the memorial?s mission statement and the words, ?Never forget.?
We urge Governor Pataki to fulfill his repeated promise to create the respectful memorial that the victims of 9/11 and the American people deserve.
To learn more about the fifteen major family organizations that stand behind Take Back the Memorial (www.takebackthememorial.org), please visit their websites or contact them by email:
Advocates for 9/11 Fallen Heroes (rjtallon@cs.com, jalel31@hotmail.com, l59e85@aol.com)
Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund (www.cantorrelief.org)
Coalition of 9/11 Families (www.coalitionof911families.org)
Fix the Fund (www.fixthefund.org)
Give Your Voice (www.giveyourvoice.com)
Margie Miller 9/11 Support Group (WTCFamilyCenter@aol.com)
9/11 Families for a Safe & Strong America (www.911familiesforamerica.org)
9/11 Families for a Secure America (www.911fsa.org)
September 11th Families Association (www.911wvfa.org)
September?s Mission Foundation (www.septembersmission.org)
Voices of September 11th (www.voicesofsept11.org)
W. Doyle 9/11 Support Group (www.joeydoyle.com)
WTC Families for Proper Burial (www.wtcfamiliesforproperburial.com)
World Trade Center United Family Group (www.wtcufg.org)
If you need background reading on this situation, try our earlier entries on this topic:
911... Never Forget...it's all America's fault
A final note on this 9/11 weekend's "art" show:
The displays proved a dud in another way ? investigators from the NYPD's arson and explosives unit visited the Cooper Union show and an accompanying exhibit at the South Street Seaport Museum to make sure two artworks resembling bombs were really fakes.Cultural council officials said they summoned cops to make doubly sure the real-looking devices were inert. "It makes a statement, but it has no working parts," assured Mark Vevele, a spokesman for the council.
But a report earlier this summer quoted one of the two fake-bomb-making artists, Christopher Hackett of Brooklyn, as saying he intended to build a real bomb from items on sale in stores and that could be detonated via cellphone. Vevele said Hackett's claims were nothing but a ruse.Here's a bit of art that's probably not in the show:
To all 9/11 family members - our thoughts and prayers. Peace be with you this weekend and always.
