Five years on

The New York Times was an important part of the city's recovery in the weeks following the attacks of Sept. 11. It continued that tradition today with a comprehensive history of why, five years later, the "World Trade Center" is still, in Ray Nagin's words, "a hole in the ground." No one comes out looking very good. Though it was obvious at the time that the competing agendas -- of a governor looking ahead at his own political future, a mayor wanting to rethink all of lower Manhattan, a developer holding the lease, the Port Authority needing the rent, and the angry grieving of those who'd lost their husbands, wives, daughters and sons...not to mention the egos of politicians, architects, and businessmen -- already doomed any chance that the site would be healed quickly, with decency, and with pragmatism (of course, the people who live and work in the neighborhood get no voice at all).

Meanwhile, Publicus contemplates the two 9/11s while Roy surveys the crazies who get crazier still on "Don't criticize Preznit day," another national holiday, Roy notes, for which he doesn't receive a day off.

And tonight, in the ceremonies before tonight's Yankee game in Baltimore, the PA asked fans to remember those who lost their lives on 9/11 and those who have lost their lives "in the war against terrorism in Afghanistan and Iraq." History is a liar.