Thursday, September 11, 2008

NYC mayor seeks more sway over Ground Zero, Reuters

NYC mayor seeks more sway over Ground Zero
Thu Sep 11, 2008 11:58am ED

By Joan Gralla

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City should get more control over Ground Zero's long-delayed rebuilding by abolishing a state agency, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on Wednesday, a day before the seventh anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks.

Bloomberg, who said the memorial to the nearly 3,000 people who died in the attacks on the twin towers of the World Trade Center must open by the 10th anniversary of the attacks, also recommended scaling back the site's transit hub.

Bloomberg, an independent, urged the state to dismantle the Lower Manhattan Development Corp, which parceled out billions of dollars of federal rebuilding aid. The state agency's record has been marred by its oversight of the demolition of the Deutsche Bank building. Last summer, two firefighters died there in a blaze being probed by the New York district attorney.

"The multiple layers of authority between the federal, state and city and the private sector just keeps getting in the way," Bloomberg told reporters at a ceremony where he signed one of the first steel beams for the memorial.


Many leftist challengers to the official 9/11 conspiracy theory promote the idea that the attacks were an inside, "neo-conservative" job. If the PNAC is supposed to be so neo-conservative, why was former communist/terrorist anti-war protestor/SDS Herr Doktor Amitai Etzioni listed as endorsing the PNAC war projects? Why don't the 9/11 researchers talk about Etzioni's literary or policy contributions to the overall plan for "US world dominance?" What does Etzioni mean when he says "the world needs a new global architecture?"
"They believe a group of US neo-conservatives called the Project for a New American Century, set on US world dominance, orchestrated the 9/11 attacks as an excuse to hit Iraq, Afghanistan and later Iran." http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-403757/Fury-academics-claim-9-11-inside-job.html


In other UK news, it's been
Revealed: Sarah Palin's ancestors came from Norfolk

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 2:29 PM on 11th September 2008

US presidential race hopeful Sarah Palin can trace her family tree back to 18th century Norfolk.

Historians have revealed that Mrs Palin ancestors emigrated from the East Anglia county.

According to family tree website ancestry.co.uk the vice-presidential candidate's great, great, great, great, great grandfather Robert Gower was baptised in Norwich in 1723.

Gower is responsible for taking the family on the perilous journey across the Atlantic to begin a new life in America.

Sarah Palin's relatives came from Norfolk, the same county as Steve Coogan's fictional character Alan Partridge

Research using births, marriage and death records show Gower, who is from Mrs Palin's mother's side, left Norfolk for America in the 18th century and had a son James, her great, great, great, great grandfather, who was born in Maine.

Other American politicians to have roots across the Atlantic include:

* Barack Obama's great-great-great grandfather Falmouth Kearney was a simple farmer from Moneygall, County Offaly in Ireland. In 1850, Mr Kearney left Ireland to escape the potato famine, sailing from Liverpool, England, on the S.S. Marmion bound for America.

* George W. Bush has royal lineage with links to the Spencer family that produced Diana, Princess of Wales - it makes him the 17th cousin to Prince William of Wales. Mr Bush is also linked to Sir Winston Churchill through three relatives, the Coes of New York, the Sumners of Massachusetts and the Shermans of Rhode Island.

* Bill Clinton has even bluer blood. His ancestry can be traced back, on his mother's side, to King Henry III who ruled England from 1227 to 1272. He is also related to several medieval monarchs and Simon de Montfort, a statesman and solider under King Henry III.

So why did Mrs Palin's ancestors leave Norfolk?

Susan Maddock, principal archivist at the Norfolk Record Office, said: 'Unlike the 17th century and, to some extent, the 19th century, there is no particular theme of why people moved to America.

Hunsett Mill, along River Ant, Norfolk.

Norfolk roots: Sarah Palin's great, great, great, great, great grandfather Robert Gower grew up in the beautiful countryside of Norfolk

'In the late 16th and 17th centuries it was due to religious freedom, while in the 19th century a lot of paupers went to America, some people were transported there for their crimes while others wanted to better themselves.'

Ms Maddock said during the 18th century people also moved to America to administer or run the colonial government.

'But there was nothing pressing in the 18th century, no particular reason why they might have gone when compared to the 17th or 19th centuries.'

She said Norfolk was one of the most populous places in Britain before the industrial revolution.

'And also being a coastal county, it was more likely that people would travel by sea and meet people from abroad and be inspired to travel.'

Atlantic voyage: Barack Obama's family tree can be traced back to Ireland, while Bill Clinton and George W. Bush can both boast British royal lineage

As well as the Norfolk connection, the governor of Alaska also has roots from across Europe, with two maternal great grandparents born in Germany - Mary Scholmtz, born in Frankfurt in 1860, and Charles Mueller, who travelled to the USA with his wife.

Mrs Palin is not Norfolk's only link with American presidents.

Abraham Lincoln's connection to Hingham is well known, with the president being the great, great, great, great grandson of Samuel Lincoln, servant of Francis and Liddia Laives, who left England in April 1637, arriving at Boston two months later.

Mrs Palin, a mother of five who has been married for 20 years, caused a stir when she was announced as running mate for John McCain.

She has scarcely been out of the news since.

The 44-year-old, dubbed a 'pitbull in lipstick' will become the first female US vice-president if the Republicans win the election in November.

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