Friday, October 20, 2006

A WTC Memorial That The Left Doesn't Like...

"Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick, who lost his brother and 657 employees on 9/11, has promised $25 million to build the World Trade Center Memorial - but only if victims' names are grouped the way the families want them.

Family members would have to get their wish that loved ones' names be grouped by the companies they worked for and with their office locations and ages also noted, Lutnick told the Daily News.

The current plan - also opposed by city police and fire unions, which want a separate listing of their fallen heroes - is to inscribe victims' names in random sequence.

"I want to support the memorial," Lutnick told The News. "But I only want to support the memorial if the families are taken care of. ... All of the family groups want this. They don't want a random list of names."

Lutnick stressed, "I'm one of those family members."

The current plan, favored by Mayor Bloomberg and Gov. Pataki, would reflect what memorial architect Michael Arad called the "haphazard brutality" of 9/11.

Lutnick has vowed to make up the difference between what family members donate and $25 million - equaling the largest sum pledged to date in the $300 million memorial fund-raising drive.

When contacted by The News, the bond king said he made his offer to Pataki minutes before the governor helped dedicate the new Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan. That was June 1.

Lutnick sits on the board of directors for the WTC Memorial Foundation, whose new chairman and chief fund-raiser is Bloomberg.

"I gave my proposal directly and personally to the governor of New York. ... He was very happy and excited about it," Lutnick said.

A Pataki spokeswoman had no comment yesterday.

Bloomberg spokesman Stu Loeser told The News: "The mayor was elected foundation chairman two weeks ago and is now learning the details of all fund-raising pledges and promises made so far."

The foundation must still raise $155 million to reach the $300 million goal needed to build the memorial and adjoining museum.

Cantor Fitzgerald has given 25% of company profits to its own 9/11 family members - some $180 million to date.

"I have spoken to hundreds of family members who have a desire to support the memorial when all these issues are behind us," Lutnick said.

"I wasn't trying to do it [$25 million offer] for public or political purposes," he added. "I was trying to do the right thing. ... I want the families to be happy with the end result."

Here's the skinny: The loons don't want, have NEVER wanted all that much of a fuss made over the victims of 9/11. Anything that predominantly features the dead as in making them out to be PEOPLE who were mercilessly killed by barbaric criminals is a no-no. List the names and get on with it. Some folks, you see, might remember this heinous act when they should be forgetting and embracing the enemy because that's all that's needed. A good hug cures all ills, and doesn't dwell on the past because that might turn people...gasp...into conservatives.

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