The debate over the International Freedom Center museum is playing out on talk shows, opinion pages and the Web. Victims' relatives protested the museum last week at ground zero, and more than 16,000 people have signed the Internet petition condemning it.Then pull the plug on this group, instead of just hoping for the best!
Critics say the institution is being hijacked by left-wing advisers who blame the U.S. for the world's wrongs — and will focus on events with tenuous connection to the terrorist attacks, such as segregation in America and the Holocaust.
Creators of the museum say it will offer inspiring stories of mankind's progress toward liberty, and the controversy will dissolve when people understand the museum's goal of highlighting great moments in the worldwide struggle for freedom.
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"I don't think that there should be anything else there but a memorial to those people," said retired New York building inspector Edmund Caviasco, 75, whose daughter, Jean De Palma, died in the trade center collapse.
State officials overseeing the rebuilding process said this past week that the museum should present a patriotic affirmation of America's role in the world. Gov. George Pataki said he was demanding "an absolute guarantee" from ground zero cultural institutions that they would proceed "with total respect for the sanctity of that site."
"We're not going to let it turn into something anti-American, anti-freedom or questioning the values of New York, the values of America or the values of freedom," Pataki said.
But academic advisers to the museum — who include the heads of the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights First — envision something more complex and potentially controversial.WHY is the ACLU involved in this at all? Are they experts in terrorism and/or museum-building, or are they merely opportunistic critics of the whole GWOT?
Bernstein's presidency of Human Rights First, which has sued Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld over alleged mistreatment of U.S. military detainees, has drawn fire from Burlingame, who says his role shows that the museum will be anti-American.Duh.
But, it seems they've gone too far, and the counter-attack is on the roll:
Reeling from a House effort to cut its funding and a series of attacks over perceived political bias, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting faces a set of difficult challenges in coming weeks that could determine the nature and financial strength of stations around the country.They're screaming bloody murder over this. Ha ha!
...CPB Chairman Kenneth Tomlinson, an outspoken critic of PBS' content, seems determined to force changes at PBS and NPR including pushing for a former Republican Party leader to head CPB.
But that's what it takes to bring back some semblance of balance.
