I was skeptical before seeing these. Now I like the idea a lot. It almost beats the idea for the giant middle-finger building that was going around the internet after the attacks. But they look fantastic.

-=Grim=-
 

Great vision, all of the jobs, great space for work.
It will show, that we shall not stay down!
 

Looks good. Can't wait for it to open!
 

They look incredible! CAn't wait!
 

Wow, that looks awesome. Reggie
 

wow its very beautiful, thank you.
 

One word Decribes BREATHTAKING!!!
 

Having worked at ground zero, I wanted nothing more than for the towers to be rebuilt as they were to bring us all back to the age of innocence. I was further upset at seeing sketches and plans for buildings mirroring lady liberty (of French design). When I saw these I cried because they accomplish the job of reminding us of what once stood and help us move on to what is better for NYC and America. Do not let them change a thing we need this design and we need to get back on the horse. God bless and thank you for being you.
 

The pulverized remains of bodies from the World Trade Center disaster site were used by city workers to fill ruts and potholes, a city contractor says in a sworn affidavit filed yesterday in Manhattan Federal Court.

Eric Beck says debris powders - known as fines - were put in a pothole-fill mixture by crews at the Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island, where more than 1.65 million tons of World Trade Center debris were deposited after the Sept. 11 attacks.

"I observed the New York City Department of Sanitation taking these fines from the conveyor belts of our machines, loading it onto tractors and using it to pave roads and fill in potholes, dips and ruts," Eric Beck said.

Beck was the senior supervisor for Taylor Recycling, a private contractor hired to sift through debris trucked to Fresh Kills after the trade center attacks. Before the arrival of Taylor's equipment at Fresh Kills in October 2001, the debris was sifted manually by workers using rakes and shovels.

Beck's affidavit was filed by lawyers for the families of 9/11 victims who are suing the city in hopes of creating a formal burial place for debris that they say contains human remains.

"It's devastating," Norman Siegel, an attorney representing the families, said of Beck's statement. "When the 9/11 families found about this, they were wiped out."

The families argue that the cleanup was hurried and slipshod, with the result that more than 400,000 tons of debris weren't properly combed for human remains.

The city recently asked Manhattan Federal Judge Alvin Hellerstein to dismiss the lawsuit, and Mayor Bloomberg has said he would like to turn the garbage dump into a "beautiful park."

In his first few months on the job, Beck said Taylor's mechanical sifters found 2,000 bones per day. He recalled finding "bones, fingers, skulls, feet and hands" as well as a man's chest and "the full body of a man dressed in a suit." The remains were catalogued and turned over to the city, he said.

But Beck said he was pushed to sift the debris quickly, and that remains may have been missed.

"I was constantly told ... to move the job, to run the conveyor belts faster and to keep the tonnage up," Beck wrote.

Other affidavits support Siegel's claim that the sifting process was shoddy.

One comes from Theodore Feaser, the retired director of mechanical operations for the city Sanitation Department.

"From my experience at Fresh Kills, I am absolutely convinced that if the City of New York unearthed, resifted and washed the debris at Fresh Kills ... it would find hundreds of human body parts and human remains," said Feaser, a 20-year veteran who supervised the recovery effort at Fresh Kills for the Sanitation Department.

Diane Horning, the president of WTC Families for Proper Burial, urged Hellerstein to allow the sifting to continue so that loved ones' remains will be found.

"There is no place to leave flowers," said Horning, whose son Matthew, an employee of Marsh and McLennan, was killed on Sept. 11, 2001. "There is no feeling of solace or closeness to your loved one."
 

WOW!
What a statement to the world that you can try to beat us up - but you can't beat us down forever - we will rise up.
Here's to all the men and women who gave their lives, time and sacrifice on that fateful day 6 years ago - I can't believe it's been that long. I still remember seeing the smoke from Jersey...
 

"The bitter truth is that Rudy Giuliani is building a path to the White House over the bodies of 343 firefighters."
–Sally Regenhard, mother of firefighter Christian Regenhard, who lost his life in 9/11

"You didn't bring us together. Our pain brought us together, and our decency brought us together. We would have come together if Bozo was the mayor." -Al Sharpton

"Everybody likes a Churchillian kind of leader who jumps up when the ashes are still falling and takes over. But two or three good days don't expunge an eight-year record."
-Jim Pasco, The Executive Director of the National Fraternal Order of Police

"You don't have to be too polite about somebody who's taking advantage and trampling on the rights of other people."
– Rudolph Giuliani during his call-in show on News Radio 88, Channel 2 News on November 6, 1998


Never Forget: A Letter To Rudolph Giuliani
Copyright © 2007 By Curtis Meyer

Dear Rudy,

As you embark towards the White House, I can't help but notice you say "9/11" a whole lot.
Rudy, you name-check 9/11 so much, I've started a drinking game where I take a shot of Jack Daniels every time I watch The Daily Show or CNN and hear you say those two magic numbers. I'm sending you the bill for my evitable alcohol poisoning.
Tell me Rudy, have you ever considered a Rap career? Because I haven't seen anyone make this much bank off dead people since Puff Daddy circa 1997.
You act like the memory of each tower is one of Wonder Woman's bracelets; A card you can pull out to deflect tough questions like bullets:

"Mister Giuliani, what about the $2 Million you accepted from former coke smuggler Hank Asher after you called all drug dealers 'murderers'?"

PING! 9/11!

"Do you think it's wise to call yourself 'America's Promise' after two failed marriages and becoming estranged from both your children?"

PING! 9/11!

"What about the money you've gained from Rupert Murdoch, Chevron Texaco, and tobacco and pharmaceutical companies?"

PING! PING! PING!

You've said, "I detect in the democrats a kind of attempt to go back to a pre- September 11th mentality in which we're not anticipating." 1 I could see how you wouldn't anticipate thinking back before the knighthood. Before you were TIME's Man of The Year. Back when everyone hated you and you were best known for Caligua-like sexcapades with women you weren't married to.
Since that fateful Tuesday, we've seen everything from Ground Zero coins sold as collectables to Oliver Stone dressing up Nick Cage as a cop. Amongst the flags, t-shirts, and bumper stickers, one message stands out: "Never Forget."

Never Forget: The Taliban was armed by U.S. officials under Ronald Reagan.

Never Forget: If you kill a man you make an enemy of his son.

Never Forget: bin Laden cited Desert Storm in his 1996 fatwa against the U.S.

Never Forget: It was none other than you Rudy, who rejected a $10 million donation from Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal to aid in 9/11 disaster relief.

Never Forget: It was you who said, "The Democrats do not understand the full nature and scope of the terrorist war against us," 2 though it was Clinton who supported pre-9/11 action against al Qaeda and the Republican congress who blocked him.

Never Forget: "Support Our Troops" means aid for veterans.

Never Forget: The "I Am New York" campaign used to revamp tourism made no mention of sweeping gun shells under the rug after 41 shots were swatted at like flies.

Before you try gathering chocolate milk from sacred cows you need to know the smell of the subway, the fear of the Central Park jogger, the mind-set of a secretary on her first day at the World Trade Center, only to wake up the next day as someone's martyr; who never asked if she wanted to justify someone's jihad, never mind be the pedestal for some politician's path to presidency. If you really want to say "I Am New York," than go to the Bowery or the NuYorican, sit in at a poetry slam and hear what New York has to say about you. The only positive thing I can say is that it takes a huge pair of balls to make $16 million a year promoting wars when you've never fought in one, then accept $2.7 Million to write a book called "Leadership."
I know you're a former mayor and I'm a dishwasher/delivery boy who makes $7.50 an hour plus tips between moonlighting as a poet. I know "no matter how big, no matter how powerful, it always comes down to name-calling." But let me be the first to say you are a spineless, gutless, profiteering, opportunistic vampire. The journalist in me can't find objectivity. The poet in me can't find metaphor. So let me drop pretense altogether: Burn in Hell. My hands don't have enough middle fingers to give you. I want sing you a curse-song like the witches of Macbeth. Let me to be as serious as tumors on the lungs of Ground Zero cleanup workers, - the same workers whose funerals you refuse to attend because services for police and firefighters provide better photo ops: May you be rocked to sleep by 3,000 ghosts with hot ash still on their breath.
In my research, I find it interesting that you decided to skip a chance at priesthood to attend law school. I guess when it comes to doing God's work, there's just more money in milking the memories of our loved ones.
Tell me Rudy, do your kiss your mother with that face?
If you are reading this, know it's too late. I have already recited this at poetry slams and open mics and posted this throughout the Internet. I'm starting an Anyone-But-You campaign. The best part? Whereas you get $100,000 a gig to give speeches, my two cents comes completely free.
Don't get me wrong, I wish you nothing but success. Just don't expect my vote. But if you reach that throne, God save you, you will atone for using caskets as stepping-stones. Just because the road to Hell is paved with good intentions, Rudy, doesn't mean all ladders need be made from bones.


1. FOX News Sunday with Chris Wallace, May 13, 2007
2. From an article titled "Giuliani Warns of 'New 9/11 If Dems Win" in The Politico, April 26, 2007