[...] Cory Booker! Whatever would g...
Did White House threaten Cory Booker for criticizing Obama’s attack ad? « Full Metal Patriot on Obama threatens to withhold Social Security checks despite sufficient funds [UPDATED] Social Security Chief Actuary exposes Obama deception
9/11: ten years later — rebuilding the World Trade Center
On the 10-year anniversary of the cowardly terrorist attacks of September 11th, I can think of no better way to honor the 2,996 Americans we lost on that horrible day than to stick our collective middle fingers up at the Islamists and rebuild the World Trade Center at Ground Zero.
After 10 years—and many setbacks—a magnificent American landmark is rising at ground zero
“]I am standing in the past and looking up to watch our country’s hopes soar again. It’s late July, and I’m in lower Manhattan with Chris Ward, the Port Authority executive overseeing the rebuilding efforts at ground zero. We’ve paused in front of the beautiful granite reflecting pools that have been constructed in the footprints of the original twin towers. Surrounded by bronze panels -inscribed with the names of the people who died there on Sept. 11, 2001, the pools are the focal point of the memorial that will open next week on the 10th anniversary.A cacophony of construction noise from the nearby site of One World Trade Center (1 WTC) breaks into our conversation. Seventy feet from us, workers weld, cut, and adjust the skyscraper’s rapidly ascending frame. A steel beam as long as a semi dangles from a giant crane.These two very different structures—the pensive reflecting pools and the majestic 1 WTC—manage to capture the complex messages the ground zero site conveys. The memorial offers a quiet remembrance of the painful place where the nation’s heart was broken; the skyscraper embodies our vitality and our determination not to let tragedy define who we are.It is a spectacular response to the question so many have asked: Why has it taken so long to rebuild? But who ever said creating an American landmark was easy? The construction of the Brooklyn Bridge carried on despite the death of the first designer and the paralysis of the second. The Washington Monument took 36 years to complete because of politics, debt, and the onset of the Civil War. It’s doubtful, though, that any other project has been so fraught with emotion for so many people, or been so longed for, as the rebirth of lower Manhattan.One World Trade Center will be completed in 2013. [Photo by Ian Allen
[…]Artist rendering of what the finished tower will look like
One major change on Ward’s watch was the renaming of the Freedom Tower to the apolitical One World Trade Center in 2009. By this time, the design had also changed drastically, into the structure I now see rising. Upon its completion, scheduled for late 2013, it is expected to be the costliest skyscraper in U.S. history. The $3.2 billion building will have a lobby with 50-foot-high ceilings; 104 stories (69 devoted to office space—the equivalent of 45 football fields—whose tenants will include PARADE’s sister company, the magazine publisher Condé Nast); and an enclosed observation deck (five of North America’s fastest elevators will whisk tourists there in a breathless 55 seconds), topped by a spire that brings the total height to the symbolic 1,776 feet. Thirteen-foot-long panels of superthick tempered glass will make up the upper facade.
This glittering skin will cover what’s designed to be the nation’s most secure building; lessons from 9/11 and the 1993 bombing have been applied. As we walk toward the new World Trade Center, Ward explains that to safeguard against explosive devices, the first 65 vertical feet—or three floors—of 1 WTC consist of a “blast wall” made of a supertough, three-foot-thick blend of concrete. Since fire played such a prominent role in the towers’ collapse, 1 WTC’s core will contain two-to-six-foot-thick walls of the special concrete—it’s virtually fireproof—to shield the building’s vital parts: communications systems, ventilation systems with filters to counter a chemical or bioweapon attack, sprinklers, water pipes, elevators, and two sets of extra-wide exit stairs—one for occupants and one for rescue personnel.
I think it’s fantastic that, after much delay and political wrangling, this monument to American exceptionalism and enterprise will be rebuilt.
It’s about time! Suck it, jihadists!
Lan astaslem: Arabic for “I will not submit/surrender”
—
RELATED 9/11 POSTS:
Eight years later, we HAVE forgotten 9/11
Project 2,996: Harvey J. Gardner III
Never forget: seven years later
Never forget: five years later
Click here for all the rest of my 9/11 posts
Posted by FullMetalPatriot
12th gen. American, Constitutionalist, Harley-riding Texan, gun owner & NRA member, blogger, illustrator, Florida Gator alumnus. #TCOT
12th gen. American, Constitutionalist, Harley-riding Texan, gun owner & NRA member, blogger, illustrator, Florida Gator alumnus. #TCOT
