Faith, Freedom, and Memory: Report From Ground Zero, September 11, 2010

The weather.

On the 9th anniversary of September 11, I kept thinking about the weather. It was clear and sunny today, with temperatures in the high 70s. It was a meteorological replica of September 11, 2001. So much natural beauty, and so many beautiful people out and about, living and enjoying the serenity and sunshine. Then the unthinkable. That's how it was nine years ago. It's amazing how the vagaries of nature can make an already intense experience all the more real. (Below I'm walking down Lexington from the Radisson Hotel to 42 Street and Grand Central Station. I'll take the subway to Lower Manhattan. It's a glorious morning.)

I came to New York to be here on this day, to be here --- in person and in solidarity --- for the families of the fallen. It's my first pilgrimage to New York for a 9/11 anniversary. I visited in August 2007, but it's been three years, and Ground Zero has changed tremendously. There's a feeling of attention, affirmation, and purpose that I hadn't felt in my previous visit. The construction largely explains it, but also the weekend atmosphere, with bustling crowds of visitors moving back and forth across the city streets, an hour or so after the official memorial ceremonies. It felt like a special day. And of course, New York has been in the news constantly, and the memory of those who died that day has been disrespected by the administration in Washington and by the left's Media-Industrial-Islamist-Complex. (By his own words, Imam Rauf is no moderate, but Amercans can't get a break from the lamestream press.)

I took hundreds of pictures. Most of what follows is chronological, with special attention to the day's highlights.

Arriving in Lower Manhattan, walking over to the WTC grounds from the City Center subway station, I came upon St. Paul's Chapel. What a perfect way to start the day's events. For eight months St. Paul's was a humanitarian command center following 9/11. As I walked inside, some folks were praying. Others were taking in the sights and significance of the location. Visitors certainly have a richly human record of those times, and my few minutes was entirely inadequate for the occasion. But I was deeply moved:

I felt as though this place was in God's hands. I knelt to pray. Nothing planned, I thanked God for giving comfort to the families and for keeping America strong during times of trouble. I thanked Him for his blessings upon our nation. I asked Him to extend his Goodness and Will as we work for peace in the world.

Walking down Fulton Street toward Ground Zero, I said hello to this couple of truthers. I had no idea how large a contingent these folks would have. More on them further down:

Here's the scene at Vesey and Church Streets. It's about 10:30am, or so. The crowds were pretty heavy and would grow throughout the day:

A pair of young Marines walking down Vesey Street, near the Information Booth on West Broadway. It's a sight for sore eyes to see U.S. servicemen sometimes, and these two were handsome and polite, so starkly different from the raving anti-Americans out in large numbers today:

This is One World Trade Center. It's really the Freedom Tower, now about one-third constructed. This was a kinda rush, thinking about this tower going up:

It will look like this upon completion:

High fencing with the large promotional banners obscures the view of the construction area, but walking down near the tower, there's an entry gate where one can get a good look:

Here's the display at the Information Booth:

Here's a neat before-and-after graphic of the grounds. The memorial pools, at the second diagram, are located at the footprints of the original towers:

Here's the Cordoba Center, on Park Place. The police had erected barricades in anticipation of the protest. Park 51 is at right:

That's an Amish market on the streetcorner. Kinda like a religious trainwreck over here:

One of the truthers challenged some mosque opponents lined up next to the barricades:

Taking a break, I enjoyed a wonderful two-beer breakfast with huevos rancheros on the side. Reminds me of home:

I watched some of the memorial service replay on the local news:

A beautiful mural outside the restaurant:

It's a little after noon by this time. I'm just cruising around a bit now, back and forth between WTC and Park Place. Here's a family waiting for the SIOA rally to begin:

Walking up to Church Street, there's a huge evangelical Christian wing working the street, attracting a lot of attention:

This guy wasn't going for the interfaith cooperation angle:

These folks, a bit further down the street, seemed pretty mellow, even accommodating (of radical Islam):

Continuing down Church, I learn of the Cross of Steel, found during the recovery after September 11. It will become a permanent exhibit at the 9/11 Memorial:

Getting back over to Vesey Street, I see a huge procession of 9/11 truthers. The MFM reports are starting to come in, and I'm watching cable news as well, and no reports so far on these freaks. No one disrespects those killed on 9/11 more than the truthers. Of course, they're allied with the neo-communist left (sounds weird, but I've covered it before, in Los Angeles). Where's the press coverage of the freaks, I say? The signs read, "WHERE IS OSAMA? TEN YEARS MOST WANTED!? MILITARY INCOMPETENCE? CIA ASSET? DEAD?", and "BIN LADEN WAS FRAMED":

The procession continues down Broadway:

The truthers head down into the financial district. They've got a loud chant and response: "9/11 --- TRUTH NOW!! ... 9//11 --- TRUTH NOW!!", and "WALL STREET WAR, WALL STEET WAR."

The procession headed back to Ground Zero. I continued on down to Wall Street to get pictures of the New York Stock Exchange. What a contrast. Pure hatred of Americans and "blood for high finance" extremism compared to the heart of American capitalism. I needed to see that fabulous flag after marching along with the truther creeps like that. Sheesh:

It's getting near-abouts 3:00pm pretty soon now, so I head back over to West Broadway and Park Place. A gentleman takes my photograph in front of the Mennonite choir down the way from the Helmsley Plaza:

The Mennonites are the sweetest people. I spoke with this young woman for a few minutes and I asked her if her group had a political agenda. She said, "Nope. Just spiritual." They came from Pennsylvania mostly, but she said some folks came Canada. Notice the traditional dress:

The ubiquitous repent wagon was circling around all day. I finally got close enough to get a decent picture:

Operation Save America. I'll check later, but I'm not sure if these folks are the same as Operation Rescue. Message is pretty much identical:

Behind St. Paul's, this gentleman below hangs a banner. Unequivocal:

A quiet man with a strong message (and he apparently never learned "i before e except after c"):

Okay, I make it back down to the SIOA rally, still a bit before start time. It's getting packed:

That's not to say there weren't a lot of flags, thanks to some entrepreneurial types:

I actually stayed just through Geert Wilders' talk. Here's Pamela:

She's got some nice photographs at Atlas Shrugs: "America Speaks! Historic 911 Rally Draws 40,000."

Geert Wilders gave an speech both fascinating and deeply felt. It was powerful.

Pamela posted the text: "Geert Wilders Speech at the 911 Rally of Remembrance." One of my favorite passages:

Friends, in honor of these victims, these heroes and their families, I believe that the words of Ronald Reagan, spoken in Normandy on the 40th anniversary of D-Day, resonate with new purpose on this hallowed spot. President Reagan said: “We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so we may always be free.”

And, we, too, will always remember the victims of 9/11 and their loved ones who were left behind;

We, too, will always be proud of the heroes;

We will always defend liberty, democracy and human dignity;

In the name of freedom: No mosque here!

And you can watch it as well, at Blazing Cat Fur, "Geert Wilders At Ground Zero Mosque Demo." Added: See El Marco's coverage, "Geert Wilders Warns America at 9/11 Remembrance Rally."

The New York Times has some brief coverage, placed in the larger national context: "On Sept. 11 Anniversary, Rifts Amid Mourning." AP is spinning the day as one of dueling protests. Yeah, multiple demonstrations, but nothing like the Ground Zero Freedom Rally. (And no mention of the 9/11 truther freaks.) That said, London's Telegraph has a decent piece, "America's agony: September 11 anniversary marked by anger and controversy."

Thanks for reading. I'll have more thoughts later.

And a special thanks to my friend Norman Gersman for his awesome New York hospitality.

September 11, 2010

As this post goes live I'll be somewhere at the World Trade Center covering events. Expect updates later tonight.

911 Rally of Remembrance: No Ground Zero Mosque

Check Pamela's for late updates on the rally.

AP has the bogus leftist meme for the day: "Islam Controversies Cast shadow Over 9/11 Events (via JammieWearingFool and Memeorandum). The lead editorial at NYT also continues the meme, although I'll permit myself some conciliation. I disagree that the huge majority of Americans are vilifying Islam. It is good, however, to just step back, take a moment to remember the fallen, and Thank Goodness for our freedoms. Have a good day friends.

Plus, Glenn Reynolds has some thoughts here.

And the latest from NYT, "At a Memorial Ceremony, Loss and Tension."

Building Freedom

The first clip is Part I from a Port Authority documentary, made in 1983. Interesting. At bottom is a Fox News report on the construction of the new Freedom Tower at the World Trade Center.

Safe Landing in New York!

That's my outstanding friend Norm, enjoying a wonderful sandwich from Katz's Delicatessen on the Lower East Side. He was waiting for me at La Guardia. The flight arrived on time and Norm dropped me off at the Radisson Hotel Lexington Avenue. After checking in we headed down to Katz's. It's a beautful night in New York. All kinds of vibrant people enjoying the evening, and some of the most beautiful women in the world!

Here's a shot of the food. I had beef brisket. We shared fries and cole slaw:

A picture of Rep. Charles Rangel, with the proprietor, in happier (and younger) times:

It's a nice place:

Norm mentioned that the deli scene from "When Harry Met Sally" was filmed here:

Leaving the restaurant, a view from the sidewalk:

Back at my hotel room, I turn on Fox News --- and I'm immediately brought back to the Ground Zero Mosque controversy:

I don't worry about keeping up with the news while traveling. Some folks were logging on at the airport before boarding this morning. But I just caught up with some dead-tree newspapers (and I'm reading a new book as well). I'll be at the center of events tomorrow, so check back. Meanwhile, I guess President Obama held a press conference today, and the New York Times reports, "Obama Tries to Calm Tensions in Call for Tolerance":

President Obama gave an impassioned call on Friday for tolerance and better relations between Muslims and non-Muslims at home and abroad, defending the “inalienable rights” of those who worship Islam to practice their religion freely.

Mr. Obama made his statements as protests and violence continued in Afghanistan, set off by a Florida pastor’s plans, now suspended, to burn Korans on Saturday, the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and against the backdrop of the controversy in New York over a proposed Islamic center near ground zero.

With relations between the United States and the Muslim world perhaps at their most frayed since the invasion of Iraq seven and a half years ago, the president sought to appeal to America’s core founding principles.

Mr. Obama said it was imperative for people in this country to distinguish between their real enemies and those who have the potential to become enemies because of continued vilification of Islam in the United States. At a time when polls suggest that a substantial number of Americans erroneously believe that Mr. Obama is Muslim, the president cited his own Christian faith at one point.

I have not watched the video clip yet, but I'm bothered --- extremely bothered --- that Obama continues to feed the leftist meme that it's the families speaking for sensitivity, to say nothing of the 80 percent of Americans --- who are responsible for the alleged "vilification of Islam."

I'll have more later. Just thinking about this is taking buzz off from my visit with Norm.

Traveling to New York Today!

I'm departing from John Wayne Airport at 7:30am for New York City. My good friend Norman Gersman will be meeting me at La Guardia tonight. I don't know when I'll be back online for posting, but perhaps late tonight or early Saturday morning. I'll be covering the September 11 memorials and the Ground Zero Mosque protest. I'll be coming home Sunday, so I probably won't have a major report until Sunday night, but I'll try to get some photos and updates posted in the interim.

Here's Pamela's video clip. Look for me at WTC on Saturday if you're in New York!

The Day the Earth Was Soaked With Tears

Via No Sheeples Here!

Debra Burlingame Slams Imam Rauf's Comments as 'Extortion'

She's a national treasure, and it's hard to find anyone who speaks with more clarity on the issues.

Questions for Imam Rauf

From M. Zuhdi Jasser, Founder and President of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (and a physician and former U.S. Navy lieutenant commander), at Wall Street Journal:

As someone who has been involved in building mosques around the country, and who has dealt with his fair share of unjustified opposition, I ask of Imam Rauf and all his supporters, "Where is your sense of fairness and common decency?" In relation to Ground Zero, I am an American first, a Muslim second, just as I would be at Concord, Gettysburg, Normandy Beach, Pearl Harbor or any other battlefield where my fellow countrymen lost their lives.

I must ask Imam Rauf: For what do you stand—what's best for Americans overall, or for what you think is best for Islam? What have you said and argued to Muslim-majority nations to address their need for reform? You have said that Islam does not need reform, despite the stoning of women in Muslim countries, death sentences for apostates, and oppression of reformist Muslims and non-Muslims.

You now lecture Americans that WTC mosque protests are "politically motivated" and "go against the American principle of church and state." Yet you ignore the wide global prevalence of far more dangerous theo-political groups like the Muslim Brotherhood and all of its violent and nonviolent offshoots ....

As an American Muslim, I look at that pit of devastation and contemplate the thousands of lives undone there within seconds. I pray for the ongoing strength to fight the fanatics who did this, and who continue their war against my country with both overt violence and covert strategies that aim to undo the very freedoms for which so many have fought and died.

Imam Rauf may not appear to the untrained eye to be an Islamist, but by making Ground Zero an Islamic rather than an American issue, and by failing to firmly condemn terrorist groups like Hamas, he shows his true allegiance.

Islamists in "moderate" disguise are still Islamists. In their own more subtle ways, the WTC mosque organizers end up serving the same aims of the separatist and supremacist wings of political Islam. In this epic struggle of the 21st century, we cannot afford to ignore the continuum between nonviolent political Islam and the militancy it ultimately fuels among the jihadists.

RTWT.

RELATED: At New York Times, "Video and Latest Updates on Koran Burning Cancellation," and AP, "Pastor Cancels Quran-Burning, Then Reconsiders" (via Memeorandum).

Pastor Terry Jones Cancels Koran Burning

At ABC News, "Pastor Terry Jones Calls off Koran Burning, But Deal for Ground Zero Mosque Is Denied: Defense Secretary Gates Calls Pastor in Appeal to Cancel Koran Burning."

Also, from AP, "Fla. Imam: No deal to Move NYC Mosque" (and at ABC News San Francisco and Memeorandum).

And from Pamela, "BREAKING NEWS: Church cancels burning of Qurans on 9/11 in a Deal to Move Ground Zero Mosque."

Anti-Semitic Education in the Muslim World

From Middle East Media Research Institute:

Obama's Problem Isn't That He's Been Too Moderate

From Jay Cost, at Weekly Standard, "Obama Tries to Rally the Base":

The President's attempts at bipartisanship typically ranged from half-hearted to specious, and his policies were never centrist. Centrists in the 111th Congress - of both parties - typically voted against the President's agenda. Of course, if you're on the left-hand side of the country, at, for instance, the New Republic or the American Prospect, the President did look awfully centrist. But from the perspective of middle America, he did not. Still, as wrong as this view is, I think the White House, like a lot of liberals, genuinely believes that the President tried earnestly to extend the hand of friendship, but had it bitten. The fact that it thinks it genuinely tried just goes to show that it - and, for that matter, much of the liberal intelligentsia - totally misunderstands American conservatism and the Republican party. That's ironic because the Tea Parties have a distinctly Jeffersonian Republican flair to them, and the DNC touts Thomas Jefferson as the party's founder.

Regardless, the President is facing a situation in which the opinions of Republicans and Independents are essentially set, and have been set for a while. Republicans have been long gone, obviously. But so are Independents. Gallup has had the President's job approval with Independents under 45% for almost four months. There is nothing the White House can do between now and the election to bring them back. Not with Recovery Summer turning into Recovery Sputter.

So what is left for the White House? Rally the base.

That is going to be the strategy coming from the West Wing for the next two months. That's why the President was never going to listen to moderates in his own party about the Bush tax cuts. It's why he is going to union meetings to talk about...sigh...more infrastructure spending. It's why he's talking about how his opponents treat him like a dog. Expect more stuff like this. He'll call out Fox News and Glenn Beck. For the next two months, the message from the White House is going to be like Ponderosa for the left: all you can eat red meat.

That's all the White House has left. Their hope - faint as it is - is to cede Independents, but amp up the Democratic base so the party does not get swamped by Republicans voting 90-10 against the Democrats.

My sense is that even if the White House manages to amp up its base, it is still going to lose the House. Take the basic Gallup numbers, recalibrate them for the 2006 turnout, and you still see a GOP win of +4 or thereabouts. Even with the (totally unrealistic for this year) 2008 numbers, you see a tie in the House vote, which I think would tilt the House to the GOP, thanks to the Democratic vote being concentrated in heavily Democratic districts. The White House is concerned that, if the turnout models continue the way they are, the final vote in November will be in line with Rasmussen and ABC News/WaPo, something like +13.

In other words, the White House, at this point, might be happy to walk away with a 1994-style loss. The worry is something closer to 1946 or 1894, when the Democrats struggled to get 45% of the vote.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Imam Rauf on Larry King Live — UPDATED!!

Imam Rauf claims that he has "a responsibility" to build the mosque, otherwise radical Islamists around the world will threaten "national security." In other words, screw the sensitivity concerns of Americans, you'll be blown to bits if you don't back off from my Victory Mosque. See Atlas Shrugs, "Ground Zero Supremacist Imam Rauf Threatens America: 'anger will explode in the Muslim world,' This crisis ...'could become something very dangerous indeed' 'Worse than Danish Cartoon Jihad," GZM is a 'national security issue'."

Also, don't miss Claudia Rosett for added context, at Pajamas Media, "Ground Zero Mosque: The Bombast of Imam Feisal."

The full interview is at YouTube.

UPDATE: From Larry O'Connor (via Memeorandum):

The man who continues to talk about healing and building bridges has thrown down the gauntlet. He created this entire situation by demanding that his mega-mosque be built in this exact location, despite the legitimate concerns of families of lost heroes whom he claims to care about. And now that the opposition of this mosque has fully engaged and has successfully swayed a vast majority of Americans to their side, he tells an international audience that if his plans don't go forward, America's national security will be at risk.

It could be that the Imam's threats, delivered in calm even tones, might end up doing more for the case against his mosque than any rally in the streets could ever do. And given Mr. Rauf's knowledge of the irrational and violent nature of the most radical practitioners of his faith, one has to challenge his judgement in even proposing this project in the first place.

There's a great comment thread at Protein Wisdom as well.

Even America's Liberal Elites Concede That Obama's Presidency is Crumbling

From Nile Gardiner, at London's Telegraph (via Theo Spark):

Democrats in Congress are no longer asking themselves whether this is going to be a bad election year for them and their party. They are asking whether it is going to be a disaster. The GOP pushed deep into Democratic-held territory over the summer, to the point where the party is well within range of picking up the 39 seats it would need to take control of the House. Overall, as many as 80 House seats could be at risk, and fewer than a dozen of these are held by Republicans.

Political handicappers now say it is conceivable that the Republicans could also win the 10 seats they need to take back the Senate. Not since 1930 has the House changed hands without the Senate following suit.

Is this a piece from National Review, The Weekly Standard, The Wall Street Journal or Fox News.com, all major conservative news outlets in the United States? No. It’s a direct quote from yesterday’s Washington Post, usually viewed by conservatives as a flagship of the liberal establishment inside the Beltway. The fact The Post is reporting that not only could Republicans sweep the House of Representatives this November, but may even take the Senate as well, is a reflection of just how far the mainstream, overwhelmingly left-of-centre US media has moved in the last month towards acknowledging the scale of the crisis facing the White House.

More at the link.

Sarah Palin Asks Pastor Jones to 'Stand Down' on Koran Burning Event

On Facebook (via Memeorandum):

Book burning is antithetical to American ideals. People have a constitutional right to burn a Koran if they want to, but doing so is insensitive and an unnecessary provocation – much like building a mosque at Ground Zero.

I would hope that Pastor Terry Jones and his supporters will consider the ramifications of their planned book-burning event. It will feed the fire of caustic rhetoric and appear as nothing more than mean-spirited religious intolerance. Don’t feed that fire. If your ultimate point is to prove that the Christian teachings of mercy, justice, freedom, and equality provide the foundation on which our country stands, then your tactic to prove this point is totally counter-productive.

Proof Democrats Heading for Major Losses in November

From Sean Hannity's: