221 lines
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221 lines
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From fork-admin@xent.com Wed Sep 11 19:42:18 2002
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To: Digital Bearer Settlement List <dbs@philodox.com>, fork@spamassassin.taint.org
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From: "R. A. Hettinga" <rah@shipwright.com>
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Subject: A Living Memorial
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Date: Wed, 11 Sep 2002 12:47:58 -0400
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-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
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Hash: SHA1
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Say 'amen' somebody. What the WSJ said, appended below.
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The WTC, as constructed, was a confiscatory government boondoggle,
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expropriated from the original pre-construction property owners at
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the behest of a third-generation trust-fund-aristocrat for the "good"
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of the city, and owned by an "authority" looking for something else
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to do after it, and its coach-hounds in organized labor and organized
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crime, had killed what was the largest port in the world's richest
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nation.
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Now, of course, it's about to get worse. The sins of 40 years ago
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have been compounded at the hands of two kinds of literally
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irrational fanatics, first those in religion, and now those in
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government.
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As a result, a large part of 10 million square feet of once perfectly
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usable office space, devoted, at least ostensibly, to commerce, will
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be "granted" away in a potlatch that only government, and
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special-interest "communities", (or "stakeholders", or whatever the
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cryptosocialist psycho-rabble call themselves this week) can organize
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to such perfection.
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All this in probably the *only* city in the country that was founded
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by a *business*, explicitly for the purpose of *commerce*. Not
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religious fanaticism. Not colonial expansion in a monarch's name.
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*Commerce*.
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If they *really* wanted to make a point to the superstitious luddites
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who collapsed those buildings (using probably the only sharp objects
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on a plane full of government-disarmed passengers) the so-called
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"authority" should disband itself and sell its property off to the
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highest bidder and let the *market* -- the cure to all luddism,
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foreign and domestic, government and superstitious -- decide.
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If the new, *private* owner wants to sell, or give away, a space for
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a memorial, fine. They could sell tickets and donate the money to the
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families of the dead and injured. Probably great for marketing the
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property, at least during the lifetime of anyone who remembers the
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event.
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And, of course, if the new owner wants to build something twice as
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tall, or with twice as much space than the original 10 million square
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feet, splendid. Whatever the market will bear.
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In these days of increasingly ubiquitous trans-national geodesic
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internetworks, of strong financial cryptography, and of exponentially
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decreasing transaction costs in formerly monolithic industries,
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economics and freedom can, and will, prevail over both superstition
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and statism.
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It's probably too much to hope for an actual market in lower
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Manhattan mega-real-estate to prevail this early in the game, but
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it's going to happen sooner or later.
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And, whenever it does, *that* will be a fitting memorial to those who
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died at the World Trade Center.
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Cheers,
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RAH
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- -------
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http://online.wsj.com/article_print/0,,SB1031705210159756235,00.html
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The Wall Street Journal
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September 11, 2002
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REVIEW & OUTLOOK
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A Living Memorial
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As we write these words, we can look down from our offices into the
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six-story crater where the Twin Towers once stood. Like everyone
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else, we want that site to be rebuilt in a way that honors those who
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died a year ago. But we also think the best memorial to those who
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perished would be a living one.
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The site of the World Trade Center calls forth many emotions,
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especially today: anger, grief and respect for the many acts of
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heroism that took place there. But underlying it all is the memory of
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the enormous vitality that distinguished the towers before they were
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attacked and was a large reason they were targeted. The best
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expression of the spirit of New York and of those who died would be
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to once again see thousands of people from dozens of countries
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working, meeting, shopping, eating -- that is, engaged in the sort of
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productive work and play that used to take place there. Osama bin
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Laden should not be allowed to have turned it into a cemetery.
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But restoring this memory is not what the discussion in New York has
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been about. So far no one is talking seriously about the vigorous
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rebuilding of downtown Manhattan, which lost 100,000 jobs when the
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Trade Center fell. Instead the discussion centers on the size and
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scale of the memorial, and on satisfying every political interest now
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clamoring for a piece of the action. New York's political leadership,
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and its financial and media elites, are squandering a historic chance
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to rebuild a better, more prosperous city.
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This is in part the fault of the commission tasked with figuring out
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what to do with the site. In consultation with New York Governor
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George Pataki, who is thinking primarily about his own November
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re-election, the commission made the decision to focus first on the
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memorial. The Manhattan Institute's Steve Malanga argues that the
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commission would have been better off setting aside a limited space
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for the memorial, getting on with the rebuilding and then returning
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to the memorial. This is in essence what the Pentagon has so
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successfully done -- rebuild immediately and set aside two acres for
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an outdoor memorial, a design for which has yet to be decided.
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A big part of the problem in New York is that the city's
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anti-development activists know an opening when they see one. They
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want the World Trade Center site -- and even some surrounding areas
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- -- transformed into an enormous park. These political advocates have
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had plenty of practice at turning proposed development projects in
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New York into a nightmare of delay and litigation, and the World
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Trade Center site is now getting the same treatment. Worse, they are
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cynically using some bereaved family members to advance their own
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anti-development agenda in the name of "honoring" the dead. One
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family group even called a press conference to reject as
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disrespectful a proposed train line under the site.
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We are not experts in designing war memorials, but we're confident
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that a gigantic park in the heart of the world's financial center
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isn't the appropriate choice for those who died a year ago. The great
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cities of Europe and Japan, devastated in World War II, have all
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rebuilt, and with memorials that are integrated into modern urban
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life. Perhaps the most powerful is found in Rotterdam, the Dutch port
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city reduced to rubble by German bombing, where survivors erected a
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statue of a man with a hole where his heart used to be.
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In this country, the practice has been for the names of war dead to
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be inscribed on the walls of institutions with which they were
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affiliated. If you walk into Nassau Hall at Princeton University,
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you'll find the names of 644 alumni who died in the Revolutionary
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War, the War of 1812, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World
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War I, World War II, Korea and Southeast Asia. No one thinks it
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disrespectful to the dead that the life of the university goes on
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around the walls containing their names.
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In New York now, it would help if political leaders looked beyond the
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emotional tug of the victims and their families to the city's future.
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Rudolph Giuliani, now that he's out office, wants the entire 16 acres
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devoted to the memorial. Governor Pataki has called for no structures
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on the "footprints," which, being in the center of the site, would
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severely curtail options. Mayor Michael Bloomberg initially raised
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his voice in favor of commercial development but was bloodied by the
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press and has since ducked for cover.
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Maybe things will be different after this anniversary is past. Maybe
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those responsible for the World Trade Center site will start thinking
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more about the next 50 or 100 years than the past 12 months. The best
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way to honor the dead is by reviving normal life and commerce.
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--
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-----------------
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R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah@ibuc.com>
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The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
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44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
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"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
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[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
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experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
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