More on the "Freedom Center" groundbreaking

First comment: Is everything going to be renamed with the word "freedom" in it now? Apparently, the new WTC is being referred to as the "Freedom Tower". I don't supposed I'd mind it so much if those who are running the country these days actually placed some sort of value on our freedom - aside from it being a commodity that can be exchanged for "security". We can't let people forget that it was George Bush who - when confronted with a satrical website about him - said "There ought to be limits to freedom". Thanks to him, John Ashcroft and the Republican dominated Congress, freedom is now a lot more limited than it used to be.

Now, onto the main point of this post. An article in the New York Daily News includes what many will see as a refutation of the NYT headline claiming that the cornerstone of the "Freedom Tower" would be laid during the GOP convention:

In another development yesterday, Pataki insisted he doesn't plan to lay the cornerstone for a 1,776-foot spire at Ground Zero during next year's Republican convention.

The comments came after a published report suggesting that rebuilding officials were pushing to break ground for the so-called Freedom Tower during the convention, which will be held in the city in August 2004.

Note that it only says that Governor Pataki has said he does not plan to lay the cornerstone during the GOP Convention. It leaves open the possiblity (though it can't be said at this point how likely it is) that someone other than Pataki may be the one laying the cornerstone.

Yes, that is betting nitpicky, but, sadly, just as we did with Clinton, we sometimes have to parse what is said very, very carefully to understand what also isn't being said, and avoid fill in the gaps with the kinds of assumptions you're expected to use.

This is one more story that will be interesting to watch. It may be that the reaction to the earlier headline was enough that any plans to lay the cornerstone during the GOP convention have now been scrapped. I hope that's the case, but we'll just have to wait and see, I guess.

Posted by thorswitch at June 14, 2003 09:23 AM | TrackBack