Dennis Klingensmith of Prospect Hill Cemetery in York, Pa., prepares to haul away a beam that will become part of a memorial. Recipients of the wreckage pay for transporting it. - NYTimes caption

Ludicrous or baleful? The Port Authority is giving away WTC junk (in both senses) more or less in our name.

As the anniversary of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, approaches on Friday, pieces of the World Trade Center rubble from that day have never been more accessible. A new campaign is under way to speed up the process and increase the volume of giving away pieces of steel big and small from the debris.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the steel, will invite police and fire departments and mayors and other leaders of cities and towns throughout the country to ask for pieces for memorials.

When I looked at the article on the front page of the NYTimes this morning my first response was, "this is still going on? I'd thought we were over that, especially considering how well our response to 9/11 had gone." I turned to Barry and said, "we're going to have jingoistic shrines made of crushed ambulances and twisted steel columns in every town in the country - in perpetuity", and he added, "to remind us that Saddam Hussein will not get away with it, and that the fight for cheap oil will never end".

[image by Michael Nagle from The New York Times]