Sunday, December 28, 2008

What Better Way to Dishonor Their Memory?

Relatives of those who died aboard United Airlines Flight 93 want the Bush Administration to seize the land needed for a memorial where the plane crashed in Shanksville, Pa., in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Yeah, what better memorial could someone want to celebrate freedom, courage and sacrifice than one obtained through coercion and theft?

I never will get why some feel their grief entitles them to make claims on others, but we see it with mothers of "gun victims" all the time.

If it was my land, I'd break off negotiations immediately over this.

Way to turn sympathy into absolute opposition.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Pretty ironic.

Johnnyreb™ said...

As Texas Shooter pointed out, that would be more of a dishonor ...

Anonymous said...

Sure would be nice if someone had actually made an offer to the landowner, giving the rest of us an opportunity to kick in a donation.

There was a time when the federal government bought up the area effected by a nuclear disaster, before moving in and doing what needed to be done. Why this would be any different, I have no idea.

Anonymous said...

Another possible motive of the relatives is the chance that clues to the true nature of the event may still be scattered around the area. Did you see footage and pictures from Shanksville that day? They show a shallow ditch with a bunch of office papers or something dumped into it. Real crash sites are strewn with plane debris and body parts. But not at Shanksville, and not at the Pentagon.

Anonymous said...

Not to mention the fact that steel framed buildings don't/can't collapse straight down at the speed of free fall, even when not hit by a plane.

Anonymous said...

That is a fact that not one thing from that hole in the ground revealed one piece of an airplane or any bodies or personal items that seemingly fly with folks in their bags.

Anonymous said...

That is a fact that not one thing from that hole in the ground revealed one piece of an airplane or any bodies or personal items that seemingly fly with folks in their bags.

Anonymous said...

Also, If You look at Google satellite photos of the crash site before the "crash" occurred, that slight cleft/scar in the earth was already there. Smokehouse III

Anonymous said...

the evidence suggests the plane was actually shot down anyway.

David Codrea said...

Actually, what I was hoping to discuss in this thread was property rights and their relation to Liberty...

David Codrea said...

This was posted to the wrong article and I'm copying and pasting it here--DC

Farm.Dad has left a new comment on your post "We're the Only Ones BS-ing You Enough":

Note this is cross posted on other blogs , it has garnered attention and ill just do the same across .

I note that the folks who want a memorial are dealing with a ” company ” not a farmer . Now my family farm has some land in a sub s corperation which i suppose would be a company , but i have to ask here is the current landowner the same landowner as when the crash happened ? If so ok , it does seem to me they want the whole place ( and maby more )for a ” memorial ” , but if they are dealing with a set of investors who bought the land ” on spec ” due to its possible use i will go against everyone and say YES seize it , and pay the company an average of what similar land has sold for in the county involved . I firmly belive that the landowner at the time of the 9/11 crash has property rights , i also belive a memorial site is approprate . The property prices quoted ( in comments) tho are just insane for farmland . Again if this is somones family farm passed down , well make them as happy as you can to get the least memorial you can settle for on such hallowed ground . If its a company formed for a ” spec ” sale well screw them . For myself i want to see the place happen , but not at the expense of the fella or family who just happened to own the property where the flight impacted .

Posted by Farm.Dad to The War on Guns at 12/29/2008 2:30 PM

David Codrea said...

Farm Dad--if it's my company and my property, are you going to send other armed men to "screw" me if I say "No," or will you come do it yourself?

Anonymous said...

A small memorial plaque by the roadside is appropriate. Charging your gov to steal property you cannot steal yourself is not acceptable. Your grief does not entitle you to any memorial at public cost or utilizing theft under color of law.

Anonymous said...

I did a little Googling and saw the company holding the largest chunk of land for the memorial site is Svonavec Inc, who's business is:

Business Category: Coal Mining Services in Somerset, PA &
Business Category: Coal Mining in Rockwood, PA
Industry (SIC): Fuel Dealers, NEC

And if it was MY company which owned the land, and knowing that once it's turned into a memorial, you'll never be able to get your investment out of it, I'd also be inclined to engage in discussions & negotiations with those groups regarding the land. Because of what happened, I wouldn't be out to make much money off that particular piece of property, but I also wouldn't want to get screwed on the deal either (depending on what other holdings I had, mining rights, etc.), and rather than allowing them to buy the land, perhaps consider a long-term lease (with option to buy) instead.

But something I wouldn't look too kindly upon is those involved running to the government demanding they seize my property. What if those were some of my most valuable land holdings, and now people want the government to take them away?? There's an awful lot we don't know, and certainly far too little to speculate on what's been going on, but getting more government involvement is NEVER the right answer, 'cause they ALWAYS screw things up!

Part of the problem is there's no way those two uses of that property can co-exist peacefully. A coal operation next to, or around a memorial could never be a compatible use of the land, unlike regular farming where you might be able to get away with a buffer zone of a few hundred yards (unless you're farming cattle). Imagine coal trucks rumbling by on a regular basis - this would NEVER HAPPEN, so this piece of land is an either, or, deal - but it can't be both. That's probably why negotiations have been moving slowly, nobody is willing to get screwed, and now they want to force the government into the picture??

NOT a good idea.