In September, Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.), shortly after talking publicly about using nuclear weapons on Mecca, found a new project: altering a 9/11 memorial honoring those who died on Flight 93.
The architect who designed the memorial included a semi-circular line that represented the flight path of the plan that crashed near Shanksville, Pa. To Tancredo, the curve looked too similar to a crescent, and citing the crescent’s “prominent use in Islam,” he requested that the Interior Department redesign the memorial or risk giving the impression that “the memorial [is] a tribute to the hijackers.” The whole thing, at least to me, made Tancredo sound pretty ridiculous.
Unfortunately, however, Tancredo will get his wish and the memorial will be changed.
Designers of a memorial for the hijacked airplane that crashed in a Pennsylvania field on 9/11 have changed its design after some critics said it resembled an Islamic symbol and was honoring terrorists, officials said yesterday.
The new design for the memorial, to be built near Shanksville, features most of the details of the original, which victims’ relatives helped select after a global design competition. But a round, bowl-shaped area would replace a Crescent of Embrace, a crescent-shaped cluster of maple trees.
This will only encourage Tancredo in the future, which is a shame because the guy is mad as a hatter.
In fact, in light of yesterday’s announcement about the re-designed memorial, I thought I’d blatantly steal remind readers about a guest post from September, parodying Tancredo’s anti-crescent crusade.
* The mayor of Crescent City, Calif., a city of about 7,500 people in northern California, received a Tancredo missive insisting that the community immediately change its name to “Freedomville.”
* Every bakery in America got a letter from Tancredo. He demanded that crescent rolls be at once renamed “liberty bread wedges.” (A copy was also provided to the Pillsbury Doughboy.)
* Crescent Electrical Supply Company, a national distributor of electronic components based in East Dubuque, Ill., received a Tancredo letter ordering it to change its name to “Red, White and Blue Electrical Supply Company.”
* A nationwide chain of condominiums known as Crescent Heights was ordered to become either “American Flag Heights” or “Mission Accomplished Heights.”
* Finally, “Crescent Magazine,” a journal based in Pacifica, Calif., that describes itself as “a pagan publication of art, philosophy and belief,” was initially ordered to change its name to “American Freedom Journal,” but on second thought was told to just cease publication entirely.
On second thought, we may not want to give Tancredo any ideas.
