News and Commentary on Politics, Media and Culture

Update and Moved to top: It turns out that the original inscriptions were just the tip of the iceberg on the Arizona 9/11 memorial. You had to know that this was coming.

Hot Air has an update on the story and more pictures. It appears that Drudge picked it up after some new unknown inscriptions were found. The latest is “You don’t win battles of terrorism with more battles”. Hot Air also picked up “Feeling of invincibility lost” right above “Office of Homeland Security created”.

Flopping aces has an update with the following gems: “Must bomb back”, “Middle East Violence Motivates Attacks in US” followed by “Erroneous US Air Strike Kills 46 Uruzgan Civilians”. But that’s not even all. We can’t forget about “Fear of Foreigners”. Are they sure this is a 9/11 memorial? Really?

Mary Katherine Ham adds some perspective with some notes on the inscriptions and some interviews with the designers. In particular she notes the political donations by the commissioners to Democrats.

Arizona is a state represented by two Republican senators. There’s not one politically active, solid Republican on the commission, but there are at least five politically active Dems. I realize the commission was appointed by a Democratic governor, but come on, there have got to be some well-liked Republicans in the state who could have added a voice from the other side.

I could only find six of the 30 commission members in Open Secrets for the 2006 cycle. I should also note that two commission members–Donna Bird and Steve Speiser– lost relatives in the 9/11 attacks.

Ace of Spades notes that the MSM is starting to wake up from their self induced slumber. Well sort of, The Arizona East Valley Tribune put the story in its local news section. This was enough to prompt Drudge.

Michelle Malkin notes that GOP AZ gubernatorial challenger Len Munsil is hosting a press conference tomorrow morning at 11am and has audio of Gov. Napolitano’s fawning over the memorial.

It turns out that one of the members on the memorial meeting minutes was Noel J. Stowe, chairman of ASU’s history department. If Noel J. Stowe was in any way responsible for this oversight then I would be seriously concerned because he is instrumental in helping develop the future of America’s History departments. Mr. Stowe’s bio is here and I honestly don’t understand how one person can be on so many committees, boards, and chairs at one time and still manage to publish some books in the interim. In any event he is certainly well respected and qualified as a scholar of history. I hope he was just consulted and not another in a long line of educators who feel the need to inject political points of view into education.

UPDATE: This makes me feel better. Mr. Stowe is indicating that he played no real role in planning the memorial. This is good news on the education front. It also demonstrates how political activists hijack others in unsuspecting ways by being sneaky and underhanded. I am sure that many people would not have been associated with this memorial if they knew it was going to turn into another America bashing project by the American left.

I sent an e-mail to the Arizona Memorial Committee info address last week but it bounced back. “Delivery to the following recipients failed. rbarrett@recellular.com”. Nice job on Recellular’s part of keeping this active considering that they are a sponsor of the memorial and this is the address on the memorial website.

ALLAHPUNDIT at Hot Air suggests contacting Russell Pearce, the Arizona state assemblyman via rpearce@azleg.state.az.us.

Original Story Here:
================================
Some people just can’t help themselves. It is one thing to oppose the War in Iraq, hate President Bush or just wake up every day angry at the world for passing you by because you spent all your working hours on a blog or at some protest.

It is quite another to hijack the memories of the victims of 9/11 and our fighting men and women by burying secret anti-war messages in a state funded memorial to the victims.

Unfortunately the left has reared their ugly heads again and done just that. The Arizona 9/11 Memorial was unveiled on September 12th to a throng of mourners at the Wesley Bolin Memorial Plaza. The event was reported as remarkable:

When the Arizona 9/11 Memorial was unveiled Monday at Wesley Bolin Memorial Plaza, bells tolled, bagpipes played, fighter jets roared overhead. And as a crowd of about 2,000 remembered a terrible day, tears fell, too.

Tucson Firefighter Shannon Adams wore her dress uniform and carried son Taylor, 4, in her right arm as she held the hand of daughter Spenser, 6.

“I’m here to honor the people who lost their lives, but also for my children,” Adams said. “I want them to remember this day and understand what sacrifices were made for our freedom.”

Several hundred firefighters, some from New York and scores from Arizona, were on hand to mark the fifth anniversary and to dedicate the memorial, a circular, stainless-steel plate suspended above a concrete base. Phrases and facts relating to the 9/11 attacks are cut into the steel, and as the sun moves overhead and shines through the plate, the words are illumined on the concrete below. Words like, “Feeling of invincibility lost,” and “We stand in 100-degree heat to give blood,” and “Remember,” shine through. - The Arizona Republic

Sounds good so far. The design of the memorial has inscriptions cut into the angled metal frame that are projected on the sidewalk when the sun shines through it. People can read the various dates and inscriptions as they walk through the structure.

An Arizona blogger at Espresso Pundit visited the memorial and was stunned by what he found. Many of the phrases that are inscribed on the memorial are politically correct phrases that bash America, President Bush and a multitude of other targets favorited by the anti-war left. See images below:

This isn’t the first time the left has done this. The edit of Jesus Camp the Movie trailer sticks a clip of the burning twin towers into the middle as some sort of insinuation that the Christian right was behind the 9/11 attacks, the New York Times took the opportunity to bash President Bush in an editorial on the five year anniversary and who can forget the lib attempts to hijack the WTC memorial in New York. These are just a few of the many examples of the lefts lack of respect for vitims of war and terror.

Like I said, they just can’t help themselves. There is no accounting for taste and respect from the moonbat segment of the American left. Keep this in mind when you vote on November 7th.

Hat Tip - Curt Over at Flopping Aces

Others:

• Hot Air : Arizona 9/11 memorial remembers U.S. airstrike on civilians, suggests that Bush knew
• Sister Toldjah : Arizona 9-11 Memorial
• Conservative Blog Therapy : It depends on what your definition of ‘memorial’ is… (updated)
• Riehl World View: New Problems With AZ 9/11 Memorial
• Take Back The Memorial : Arizona’s activist memorial

 Send this post a Friend  

Trackback URI | Comments RSS