Tell the PA We Won't Be Fooled Again

Besides the tainted milk and the lead paint in children’s toys products from China by the millions have been distributed with little or no concern for consumer safety.



See some articles below.



So now the Port Authority is going to get its glass from “you guessed it”……China



Not just glass but the glass that is to protect the most vulnerable floors of the “Freedom Tower” (and it will always be the “Freedom Tower” no matter what the Port Authority says)



Here is a little history



Early in 2006 when the Freedom Tower” had to be re-designed because it was too close to local streets the Port Authority was also told that there was too much glass on the lower floors of the design of the Freedom Tower and that 80% of injuries from terror attacks come from broken glass. A reasonable approach would be to eliminate the glass. No way, can’t lose that valuable window space. They stated that they were going to limit the size of the panes and do whatever was necessary to assure that the best products would be supplied to prevent injury.



Fast forward to today when we find out that the contract for this glass was given to a Chinese company.



So let’s get this straight. The Port Authority could not find one company in the US to supply this glass.



They couldn’t find one company anywhere else in the world to supply this glass.



So where to they go?



To a country that has probably the worst track record when it comes to consumer safety.



Does anyone think that this contract being awarded shortly after a Chinese company became the first tenant of the Freedom Tower is just a coincidence?



But when has anything concerning Ground Zero or the Port Authority been on the level?



Do you think that people who refuse to build to NYC Building and Fire Codes really care about safety?



But once again they are an Authority and can do whatever they want.



And it will be just a matter of time before they force their workers or other state and federal workers to occupy the offices they can’t rent.



And it will be just a matter of time before they will be looking for bailouts like the MTA.



Where are our elected officials?



We know where they were after 9/11. Hopefully it will not take another 9/11 to get them to stand up to the PA.



Well we have an opportunity to stand up with the Skyscraper Safety Campaign to let them know that we are mad as hell and we are just not going to take it anymore.



Hopefully you will join us 4/1 at 9:45 AM.



Let the Port Authority know that we won’t be fooled again.













“Chinese Corruption Allows Toxic Products Onto Global Markets” Epoch Times May 2007



“Chinese Chemicals Flow Unchecked Onto World Drug Market” NY Times December 2007



“Toxic Chinese Chairs Plague France” The Huffington Post September 2008



“Chinese Drywall “Reeks” Havoc in Florida” Manufacture This January 2009

So Much for Made in America

To All,



Take a look at the video below. No wonder we don’t want this to be called the Freedom Tower. The Port Authority can’t find American tenants and now they give an $84 Million contract for the most vulnerable part of the Tower to the Chinese.



So much for made in America.



Dennis





Chinese to Supply Glass for WTC



http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/channel?section=news/investigators&id=5755301

Knowledge Without Integrity is Dangerous and Dreadful

One only has to take a look at today’s papers to see why the country is experiencing a “Crisis of Confidence”



In NY while we fall further and further into debt the MTA which has more sets of books then the Public Library is threatening massive toll increases unless they get a bailout.



God forbid they should look at cutting the fat in their executive offices to get back into the black.



This is the same Authority that broke the law by striking during holiday season a few years ago.



The same Authority that miraculously found millions of dollars that they said they didn’t have before the last set of toll hikes.



And who are they going to get this bailout from?



Well that would be the NY State Government, a group that would make Boss Tweed look like a girl scout.



An article in today’s Daily News listed at least 20 members of state government that have at least one of their former aides working for lobbyists.



We have our Governor giving secret raises to his staff and secretly hiring back disgraced former staff members.



We have a former Congressman who gave his staff 80% to 125% raises prior to leaving office.



We have our School Chancellor given permission to raise $1.5 million for his pet not for profit on city time.



And back at Ground Zero we have the 9/11 Memorial Foundation paying lobbyists like Al D’Amato hundreds of thousands a year and continuing to pay Christine LaSala $235,000 a year to deny 9/11 medical claims. This after she approved nearly $200 million in lawyers fees while only approving awards of $320,000 to five 9/11 victims while making well over a million in salary over the past 3 years.



All of this and you don’t even have to get past page five.



And this is just the stuff that we know about.



And the sad part about it is that it is allowed to happen.



Cabinet members don’t have to pay their taxes, Congressmen can own rent controlled apartments while making millions, and elected officials can just change laws to suit themselves without any input from registered voters.



Samuel Johnson once said “Knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful”



Well it is apparent that integrity does not appear often enough in today’s political landscape as many of our elected officials and power brokers have perfected the art of deception.



And you wonder why there is a “Crisis of Confidence” in America.

Freedoms Just Another Word For Nothing Left to Lose

So now they are going to change the name of the Freedom Tower to One World Trade Center because according to the Port Authority that is the address of the location.



So to follow suit I guess we should change the name of the Empire State Building to 350 5th Avenue.



And while we’re at it we should make them change the name of Madison Square Garden to 7tth Ave and 32nd Street.



Does the Port Authority think we are idiots?



The reason the name is being changed is the same reason the search for remains was cut short….MONEY.



Some brilliant PA marketing manager is trying to blame the fact that they can’t get tenants because the building is named the Freedom Tower.



After nearly eight years they finally got their first tenants and they had to go to China to find them.



They can’t blame it on the economy because they couldn’t find tenants for the past eight years when the economy was good.



So blame it on the name.



Forget that the building was to be named the Freedom Tower to represent the freedom that we have in America the same freedom that the terrorists tried to take from us on 9/11..



Forget that it was to be named the Freedom Tower to honor all those who were killed on 9/11 whose freedom was taken away with their lives.



Forget the fact that it was to be named the Freedom Tower to honor all of our soldiers who have died protecting our freedom since 9/11.



Back when the original plans were being made in 2002 we were told that the site would represent the “Cradle of Democracy” and that the Freedom Tower would be a beacon to represent the freedom that we as Americans enjoy.



We should have known something was up because the original plans for this “Cradle of Democracy” did not even include an American flag.



So why should we be surprised when we are lied to again.



The LMDC and the Port Authority have buried the Memorial underground and they will continue to bury everything about 9/11.



Whether it is the remains at Fresh Kills or the unidentified remains of over 1,400 victims.



As long as they keep them buried people will forget.



As long as they drag out the process more and more will forget the broken promises and maybe the 9/11 families will leave them alone.



And the more people forget the more tenants will rent and the money they will make.



But with apologies to Janis Joplin the Port Authority thinks that “Freedoms just another word for nothing left to lose”



And those making these decisions obviously did not lose anyone.



Because if they did and if they really cared we wouldn’t even be having this discussion under the shadow of the Deutsche Bank Building which they may want to change the name to 130 Liberty as it will probably be there for quite some time.



But why should we be surprised as this is just the latest installment of the clear and transparent process that has been the rebuilding of Ground Zero.



Dennis

Lt. Jim McCaffrey, 9/11 Family Member, Op Ed for Daily News

PA's Ground Zero plans prove agency has a lot to learn

By James McCaffrey

Thursday, March 26th 2009

During the past several months most Americans have become inured to the deficiencies of countless financial institutions. "Bailout" has become part of the lexicon. Not surprisingly, given many past performances, the Port Authority has recently joined this somewhat ignominious group by requesting federal dollars to fund various projects.

The request comes as the PA continues to justify extravagant and superfluous construction projects in the form of the 9/11 memorial and museum and the Calatrava transit hub.

Various estimates approximate the current cost of the memorial at levels near $1 billion and the transit hub at close to $3 billion. And, being that these are current estimates and that this is, after all, New York City, no one can realistically believe that these figures will not rise dramatically as the projects proceed.

It's time to rethink these plans.

A quick perusal of the plans for the memorial/museum complex reveals a grandiose design extending seven stories below street level. Building designers and safety experts have stated that such a structure has several inherent flaws.

First, it is a subterranean labyrinth with no obvious means of escape for those who will be 70 feet below ground. Access and egress will be a logistical problem under the best conditions. Under emergency conditions it turns into a nightmare. Many of the exits necessitate traveling on horizontal pathways for several hundred feet before an ascent begins to ground level. It will be a monumental task to evacuate such a structure during an emergency. And no one needs to be reminded that Ground Zero will remain the No. 1 terrorist target in the world.

The current proposal regarding the placement of the victims' names also fails to properly recognize those who were killed on that fateful morning. Ironically, the connection between the victims and 9/11 itself is absent. No affiliations such as those of first responders or members of the military will be listed. It also fails to list the victims' department, branch of service and their rank. Civilian victims will likewise have no affiliation, age or the floor where they worked listed next to their names.

Essentially, this memorial is a generic rendition that could represent just about any event.

The current proposal is also said to be a green project. Just the energy required to pump and heat the water integral to the design is more than enough to refute that claim. Additionally, the millions of dollars required every year to run the memorial is a colossal waste of money. One must also wonder how the waterfalls will remain safe and efficient during the cold, winter months.

Regarding the transit hub, many have questioned the need for such an extravagant and expensive design where relatively few passengers travel. The cost, which keeps spiraling upward, is prohibitive.

In addition, the glass-laden Calatrava structure is located directly above one of the proposed underground bus garages. It seems that the PA has not learned the security lessons of 1993, despite recently paying millions to the victims of that terrorist attack.

In the best of economic times, such projects would be dubious. In our present climate, they are unsustainable. A scaled down version of the transit hub would be more cost-effective and profitable in the long run.

A similar reassessment of the memorial/museum complex would likewise result in a safer, more responsible and less costly product. It would also be much closer to what the majority of 9/11 family members and most Americans have always sought: a simple, respectful and inspiring aboveground memorial that simultaneously records the events as they happened, and appropriately honors those who perished. It has always been our solemn duty to provide such recognition and now, more than ever, this worthy goal must be achieved.

McCaffrey, whose brother-in-law FDNY Battalion Chief Orio J. Palmer (Battalion 7) died on 9/11, is co-chairman of the Advocates for a 9/11 Fallen Heroes Memorial.

To All,

As anyone who has been involved with this process can tell you the article below is total revisionist history. Once again just stating the Memorial party line.

We fought for over a year to get them to finally agree to move the names above ground.

Rosaleen Tallon had to make a sidewalk vigil to raise awareness of the fact that the families’ voices were not being heard.

It had nothing to do with saving money.

The Memorial Committee has continued to shut the families out about the way the names are to be listed.

But none of this is even mentioned in Mr. Dunap’s article and I do not know of one family member or group that was contacted about this article.

I ask everyone who visits the Where to Turn or Put It Above Ground websites to write a letter demanding that the true story about the listing of the names is told.

I also ask all of the the over 14,000 people who signed the Put It Above Ground petion to respond as well.

Let Mr. Dunlap know that this is history he is writing about and not His Story.

Dennis



Display of Names at Trade Center Memorial Is a Painstaking Process



By DAVID W. DUNLAP
Published: March 23, 2009
Each name, slightly more than one-and-a-half inches tall, will carry the most intimate memories. All 2,982 names together, arrayed atop parapets stretching more than 1,500 feet around two great pools, will convey the vastness of the loss.
With such a range of scale and so many emotions attached, it is no wonder that one of the simplest architectural details of the new World Trade Center — the parapets around the memorial pools — has taken so long to design.
Officials with the National September 11 Memorial and Museum hope to unveil the final design of the parapets by summer. “It’s been a great learning process,” said Joseph C. Daniels, the president and chief executive. It has also been a prolonged, exacting and sometimes contentious process.
It has involved full-scale mockups at a Lower Manhattan office, at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, at a warehouse in Berkeley, Calif., and a backyard in Richmond Hill, Ontario. It has required endless tinkering with the size, shape and style of letters. It has called for painstaking efforts to harness water so that it will perform just right. It has compelled constant adjustments to the parapets’ perimeters to ensure the best sight lines.
And it has meant confronting a requirement in the New York City Building Code that the parapets be exactly 42 inches high.
Each move threatened to complicate what is intended to be a stark embodiment of absence. “The guiding principle was not to have anything additive or unnecessary,” said the architect Michael Arad. His entry won the memorial design competition in 2003, after he was paired with the landscape architectural firm Peter Walker & Partners of Berkeley.
There have been so many revisions that the designers almost ran out of alphabet. “We ended up at Option Y,” Mr. Arad said.
Mr. Arad’s original notion was to place enormous sunken pools where the twin towers stood. Underground galleries were to surround the pools, with low parapets on which the victims’ names would be inscribed. However, these galleries were eliminated in 2006 to save money. That brought the names display to street level, turning the plaza into the memorial.
Another important change in 2006 occurred when Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who is the chairman of the memorial, gave up the idea of displaying names randomly. Instead, they will be arranged to keep co-workers and family members together.
There will be 1,568 names around the north pool, representing 1,475 people who were in or around the north tower, 87 people aboard the jetliner that hit it and 6 victims of the 1993 bombing of the trade center. The 1,414 names around the south pool will include 441 emergency workers — chiefly firefighters and police officers, 690 people from the south tower, 60 from the plane that hit it, 125 at the Pentagon, 59 from the jetliner that hit it and 39 from the jet that crashed in Pennsylvania.
In 2007, the designers explored a creative way to comply with the building code. It involved small peripheral pools at plaza level where water will be stored before falling into the giant pools below. If these upper pools were 42 inches deep, the designers reasoned, they would honor the barrier requirement unobtrusively. The names panels would have been almost flush with the plaza surface, set within the upper pools.
Abstractly speaking, it was elegant. But there were problems. “Having the names on the ground made some individuals feel they weren’t getting the respect they needed,” Mr. Daniels said.
Another concern, he said, was that the absence of any visible barriers might make visitors anxious about approaching the edge of the enormous pools and waterfalls. “It shouldn’t be a scary experience,” Mr. Daniels said. “It should be awe-inspiring and reverential.”
But what finally compelled the designers to raise the name panels roughly to an adult’s waist level — besides the requirement to do so — was the idea that visitors would want to touch the names as well as read them.
“The moment of circumnavigation around the pools is a moment of communion with the dead,” Mr. Arad said, “and the notion of making it felt is very important.”
Thomas H. Rogér, a memorial board member whose daughter, Jean, was a crew member on the plane that hit the north tower, recalled going “back and forth” on such details as whether the letters in the names should be raised or cut out.
In the end, the designers decided that cut-out letters would work best for rubbings and could be effectively back-lit at night. (The typeface they chose, Optima, was designed by Hermann Zapf in 1958.) Raised letters will indicate categories like Flight 11, North Tower or Engine Company 10.
Even an element so minute had a meaningful consequence. “A big part of the whole issue are the rubbings that people will want to take of the names,” Mr. Rogér said. “That was something we never wanted to lose.”

Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and Change

Now that Congress seems to be on the verge of taxing bailout bonuses 90% there are still some questions that need to be answered.

With all eyes on AIG and Bank of America and the other companies that got bailout money what about the others who seem to be flying below the radar?

What about Citibank and more importantly what about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac?

Billions were given to these even before the last round of bailouts and their top execs received hundreds of millions in bonuses.

Nobody even mentions them.

And what about all the change that was promised?

CHANGE: to make the form, nature, content, future course, etc., of (something) different from what it is or from what it would be if left alone.

It appears to me that maybe those in government really don’t know the definition because we certainly have not seen any over the last 3 months.

It appears that many in government don’t know the definitions of a lot of words

Like honesty, integrity and most of all truthfulness.

Maybe every elected official should be given a dictionary and required to pass a vocabulary test before taking office.

And maybe they should be required to actually read bills before passing them.

Now that would be a change.

WE THE PEOPLE

.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeYscnFpEyA

.

Not to Worry...There is Always March Madness

Even with the economy in total disarray and more and more people losing confidence with each passing day all will be well by the end of the week because of…….March Madness.

From Washington to Wall Street everyone will be filling out their brackets and entering their office pools.

And for the next week more will be concentrating on their picks than the economy.

It is amazing how sporting events such as this or the Super Bowl seem to just engulf the entire country.

What’s even more amazing is how what goes on in sports often mirrors what goes on in the country.

For the past two decades baseball owners turned a complete blind eye to steroids.

Home runs and higher batting averages meant more fans and better attendance meant more money in the owner’s pockets.

It enabled them to get bigger TV contracts and more advertising revenues.

It enabled them to build bigger stadiums with more corporate boxes while raising prices without a thought for the little guy.

Almost all playoff games became night games and it was hard to find a World Series game that ended before midnight.

And it became even harder for families with young kids to go or watch games at all.

And it didn’t matter that players were pumping themselves full of steroids and putting up phony numbers because as always the end justified the means and the rich got richer……the American success story.

At the same time on Wall Street the story was not that different.

For the last two decades CEO’s and corporate executives pumped the system full of toxic loans and investments.

They inflated numbers and through creative accounting built portfolios that weren't worth the paper they were printed on.

And these financial steroids enabled these executives to make hundreds of millions and as with baseball the little people were given the false impression that all was well and continued to put their hard earned money into these companies.

And just like the baseball commissioner and the owners the SEC and the other governmental watchdogs did absolutely nothing.

And just like the sports writers the business newspapers and financial shows turned a blind eye to what was going on.

And as steroid using baseball players continue to get paid millions Wall Street executives continue to get billions in bonuses at the taxpayers expense,

But just as we are not allowed to require blood tests for ballplayers we seem to have no control over what happens on Wall Street.

And as the owners continue to pay the players tens of millions, the government will continue to bail out these companies with no control over what they do with the billions that they get.

Well it’s the bottom of the ninth for the country with two outs and no balls and two strikes on our government.

You would think that even if baseball doesn’t maybe the government would do something.

And they should start with this.

If these companies are contractually obligated to give bonuses to these execs how about the government taking a stand and requiring that in lieu of cash these bonuses be paid in stock options exercisable in five years.

Sort of like an incentive driven contract. Hell it’s our money to begin with we should have a say in how it’s used.

But unfortunately like baseball this is probably not going to happen.

But not to worry there is always March Madness to keep the masses occupied.

SEE HOW QUICKLY A FIRE CAN SPREAD

To All,

Please spare a few minutes and click on the link below to view this video.

It shows how in less than 3 minutes a small flame can grow into a raging inferno.

Please share this with your organizations and more importantly with your kids.

In the case of a fire we really do not have any time to spare.

Hopefully if enough people see this they may be convinced to change their minds when it comes to closing firehouses.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ult6Biaf7oM

After viewing please sign on to our petition to put Engine 161 back in service 24/7.

Thanks

Dennis


Petition to Keep Engine 161 Operational 24 Hours a Day 7 Days a Week

http://www.petitiononline.com/Save161/petition.html

THE ABC'S OF WHY PEOPLE DON'T TRUST GOVERNMENT

The latest development in the Brookfield Landfill saga is just another example of why people do not trust government.

For over 20 years the DEC and the DEP have lied both publically and privately.

They have purposely withheld findings while ignoring input from the Staten Island Community.

They have repeatedly missed deadlines and delayed the project.

They have put on dog and pony shows under the guise of “Public Hearings” which served no purpose as we are now told that the public will have no say in the new plan which will leave the community at risk and basically leave the site as an unused landfill.

All of this to save money that was already allocated to this project through the Super Fund to clean up toxic sites.

The same fund that was used to clean up every other identified toxic site.

So it appears that decades after this site was closed Staten Island is still getting dumped on.

We would be better off firing the high paid bureaucrats who have fattened their wallets by stonewalling this project from day one with no regard for the residents of Staten Island.

But we continue to allow these ABC agencies to basically do whatever they like answering to no one.

They twist facts, disregard any findings that do not agree with them just like when the EPA told everyone that there was no problem with air quality after 9/11 and the courts refuse to hold them accountable.

And you wonder why people, in particular Staten Islanders, don’t trust the government.



City seeking shortcuts on dump cleanup


http://www.silive.com/siadvance/stories/index.ssf?/base/news/1236600003177050.xml&coll=1

Spend Smart

Has anyone else seen the new advertisement from one of the banks just bailed out by the government telling its customers to “Spend Smart”?

Isn't this the same bank/corporation whose top executives refuse to disclose information on billions of dollars of bonus money that was paid out right before the bailout.

And we allow this to go on.

It’s like they are laughing in the face of us all.

They bring the bank to financial ruin get a bailout from the government; terminate thousands of employees while giving execs six figure bonuses and now their tag line is “Spend Smart”

You cannot make this stuff up.

Crisis of Confidence

There are admirable potentialities in every human being. Believe in your strength and your youth. Learn to repeat endlessly to yourself, 'It all depends on me.'
Andre Gide


As we embark on a journey through the worst economic times in our generation we hear over and over that there now exists a “crisis of confidence” throughout our country.
Unfortunately that may be true and it does not appear that anything is being done to restore that confidence.
History has shown that nations have fallen and empires have crumbled only because people have allowed them to.
Too often people become too dependent on government and in doing so they begin to lose their self confidence along with their self esteem.
Our government was created by the people and should not be in business to buy the people.
If we continue on this path of entitlement our future is bleak indeed.
If our children are taught that there is no such thing as failure where is their incentive to succeed?
Cheat, lie, steal and be criminally negligent and the government will bail you out.
Surely a roadmap for disaster as our youth will never learn the value of hard work or the satisfaction of a job well done.
Why should they become honest and hard working when it appears that those who are not are constantly being rewarded?
Although the current bailouts may have been a necessary evil they cannot become the foundation of our economic policy.
Businesses need to succeed or fail on their own merits.
Are these executives any different from Bernie Madoff, telling stockholders that all was well as they lined their pockets with millions in salaries and even more in bonuses?
Our government needs to start cultivating confidence by rewarding creativity as well as community and civic responsibility instead of political cronies and lobbyists.
We need programs like those created during the Depression like the CCC where our unemployed may participate and possibly earn tuition credits or mortgage assistance ( if we are going to buy the banks we should have a say in how they are run)
Volunteerism should also be rewarded.
We should consider giving students college tuition breaks based on the amount of hours they have volunteered during their pre-college days.
We should also reward returning veterans with a revamped GI Bill and make it easier for them to continue their educations or advance the skills they have learned while in service.
We need to tap into our ever growing number of retirees and senior citizens and reward them with partial medical benefits based on the hours they volunteer.
People would be much more confident in a government supporting programs such as these instead of bailing out banks or other companies so that they can spend like drunken sailors on corporate jets and naming rights to arenas and sporting events.
As children become more confident in their government and in their future they may begin to become more confident in themselves and we may actually eliminate this “Crisis of Confidence”


Dennis