WTC Memorial Ousts the International Freedom Center

Well, finally.

Bowing to pressure from Sept. 11 families, Gov. George Pataki on Wednesday removed a proposed freedom center from the space reserved for it near the planned World Trade Center memorial, saying the museum project had aroused "too much opposition, too much controversy."

Pataki initially said the state would help the International Freedom Center find another home, but center officials said they weren't interested and considered the project dead.

And

The decision followed months of acrimony, with some Sept. 11 families and politicians saying the freedom center would overshadow and take space from the separate memorial devoted to the 2,749 World Trade Center dead and would dishonor them by fostering debate about the attacks and other world events.

"Freedom should unify us. This center has not," Pataki said. "Today there remains too much opposition, too much controversy over the programming of the IFC. … We must move forward with our first priority, the creation of an inspiring memorial to pay tribute to our lost loved ones and tell their stories to the world."

Controversy? It was just bloody stupid. You give the WTC memorial a postage stamp and this farce of a museum the lion's share of space and think this is fair to the memory of that event? I won't even go into the discussions on why such a "museum" would dishonor the victims. That has been gone through plenty already.

Pataki is such a politician. (Say that last word like something really loathesome that you have just found stuck to the bottom of your shoe.)