The conservative movement scored a major victory recently when New York Governor George Pataki turned down the proposed International Freedom Center (IFC) at Ground Zero.
This so-called freedom center was intended to sit on the grounds of the former World Trade Center.
On the outside, the goals of IFC seem admirable. Organized by an array of businesspeople and scholars, IFC was to feature museum exhibits, educational and cultural programs and a service and civic engagement network, all working to advance the cause of freedom.
However, as time went by and information surfaced about the true intentions of ICF, people began to get nervous. The museum was not only to focus on events of Sept. 11, but was going to address many issues dealing with inhumanity.
Apparently the museum was going to consist, not of memorials to the thousands of innocent victims slain by Islamo-fascism, but displays about Jim Crow era lynches, Native American genocide, Nazi and Soviet death camps and other such atrocities.
Also take into account that relics of Sept. 11 originally would have been regulated to a 50,000 square foot underground vault while ICF would cover 300,000 square feet in a beautiful aboveground complex.
Further investigation into who is involved with this project cuts through a lot of the claims that the center is "non-partisan" and an overwhelmingly liberal cast of characters predictably emerges.
Present on the list of "advisors and scholars" are numerous professors from the bastion of regressive progressivism, communism, failed and/or immoral philosophies and confusion; otherwise known as the Ivy League schools of Princeton, Harvard, New York University and others.
The radical head of the American Civil Liberties Union, Anthony Romero, is also on board, no doubt enlisted to ensure that no forms of religious expression would be shown nor any Boy Scouts be allowed to visit.
The leader of this operation is businessman Tom Bernstein, who is a fervent supporter of Human Rights Now, a liberal front group who filed amicus briefs defending dirty bomb suspect Jose Padilla.
And finally, what kind of a liberal group would this be if George Soros was not involved? This liberal millionaire, who has funded dozens of liberal political action committees, was also assisting in this effort. I found no outwardly conservative groups involved whatsoever.
Are you starting to see a trend here? Placing aside the extensive leftist r?sum?s of the abovementioned group of clowns, their calls to make this center one of "debate" and "civic activism" should make people run for cover.
It becomes clear that the people behind this center want to turn Ground Zero into an un-American university where they can constantly harp on this country's faults under the guise of investigating freedom.
The complete lack of balance would also ensure our school children visiting the site would be fed only one view of freedom.
Despite the massive opposition from tens of thousands of people, Sept. 11 families, police and firefighter groups, Rudy Giuliani, and even Hillary Clinton, the IFC still had the audacity to make the following statement several days before Pataki pulled the plug. IFC said it "will help the world understand and appreciate the sacrifices made on Sept. 11."
How exactly will it do that? Slavery, racism, prejudices and the like were terrible, but had nothing to do with Sept. 11. In fact, the only past or present ideology that was related to the destruction of the Twin Towers, Muslim extremism, was nowhere to be seen in the IFC plans.
I am sure these liberals in charge of IFC would argue that the connection between the true culprits of the slaughter and the ideology they support would be "too disturbing" or generate too much anger or backlash for the same reasons the media shut out all images of the events of Sept. 11.
Now no one, including myself, will say there should not be museums for this type of history. Having one located at the site of one of our bloodiest days, however, would be disrespectful to the memory of the people who died there.
Ground Zero should be a place where people can reflect on the lives lost on that terrible day, and the dead should be given the respect they deserve.
There is enough politics in our everyday lives; we do not need to have our memorials and cemeteries like Ground Zero become places of debate and controversy.
We can debate the meaning of freedom and what should be done in our future in every other spot in this great country, but Ground Zero belongs to the Sept. 11 families and the memories of the dead and that pivotal day in American history.
Information from - drudgereport.com,ifcwtc.org,opinionjournal.com, guardian.co.uk, takebackthememorial.org
