Clergy, First Responders Excluded from 9/11 Ceremony

On the heels of New York City's announcement that police, firefighters and other volunteers will not be invited to the 10th anniversary ceremony for September 11, religious leaders are now voicing their disappointment that priests, rabbis and ministers will likewise be excluded. According to a report in The Examiner, the religious leaders in New York City are requesting Mayor Mike Bloomberg to rescind the ban. Retired police officer Edie Rojas said, "For days after the World Trade Center collapsed, I attended funerals of our honored dead... men from the bomb squad, emergency services, people who were family. And now I'm told I'm not invited?" "Actually, the Mayor, President [Barack Obama] and most of the 'honored guests' had nothing to do with 9/11 except they give speeches and talk about tolerance towards Muslims, as if we are children," said one decorated police detective.