Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2009 14:06:55 -0500 (EST)
From: Louis Epstein 
Subject: WTC Rebuilding #560:A Hearing Unheard


Today I attempted to attend the State Assembly hearing.
All of my pro-rebuilding material and regalia handy,
I negotiated my long,ice-glazed driveway,and reached the
railroad station...only to see the 8:25 train leave as I
left my car (until last year it was the 8:30 train I would
have made).I got the next train to where I was going.

At Grand Central a downtown express subway train left just
as I was going down the steps...another soon arrived and I
got on.At the intermediate stop a man got only his fingers
in and had to let the train leave without him.

When I got to 250 Broadway at almost 11 (the hearing having
started at 10),I found they had added more security than at
any previous event in this building.I couldn't just show them
my driver's license,they had to take it...and for the first
time here there was a metal detector.And they would not let
me into the building with my Swiss Army Knife.

I wrote before about the obnoxious incident at the Pace University
hearings where they abruptly would not let me in with it,and claimed
that they never had when they always had,and after I had stashed it
at a construction site were still leery about letting me in because
I had had "a weapon".At that building they never asked for IDs.
Now,again,I was told to "get rid of it" and there was no "check it"
option.I'd actually considered not transferring it to the pocket of
the pants I wore today,but recalled all the previous non-metal-detected
meetings at this building and assumed things would be OK.

Rather than forfeit property to cooperate with the culture of
self-congratulatory paranoia that officialdom is determined
to impose as part of its deference to the perceived power of
terrorists,I took the next train home.

I gather some other pro-rebuilders were there and I hope they will
report.I will email the assembly staffer in charge a statement
deploring the pouring of good money after bad.

Meanwhile,David Shuster on MSNBC has been having pro-rebuilding
material all week...after starting the poll Monday (URL in previous
mailing),he had Gardner on Tuesday and two pro-rebuilding family
members of victims on yesterday.Not sure about today or tomorrow
but the segment always airs a bit after 6:30 (so you have to choose
between in and network nightly news,unfortunately).Take a look.

The message board from the poll has been plagued by a former pro-rebuilder
who spouts the "should have been but it's too late" mantra,calling himself
"mr1138".Attitudes like his are the only thing that can defeat us...and
unfortunately once people have jumped ship from the pro-rebuilding cause
they are emotionally invested in making sure that it fails,because they
look bad if it doesn't.

Nonetheless,last I saw we still had 93% of the vote,even with "the
Freedom Tower" (least objectionable part of the Libescheme) tagged
as the alternative.

Don't be quiet and don't roll over!

-=-=-
The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again,
at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.