an offer he couldn't refuse

I know this is but a tad late, but I couldn't help but post this little tidbit:

There was a recent breakthrough in the negotiations between the World Trade Center (WTC) leaseholder Larry Silverstein and the triumvirate of government. Just so we don't miss anyone, these parties would be

a) the Port Authority of NY & NJ,

b) the New York City government, its dictator, and its wholly-owned subsidiary, the Empire State Development Corporation

c) the clowning-glory, Governor Pataki and his goons, er.. administration

Basically, the story is that Mr. Silverstein was presented with two choices by the thugs-in-office:

A) Take this pittance of cash, give up your lease and walk away from the site

B) Give up ownership for the main site, and we will let you keep and build the few other sites, and even allow you to build the main site for us.

Of course, unmentioned as always was the threat of using eminent domain which only allowed Mr. Silverstein to choose between A or B, instead of perhaps C, which funnily was never mentioned.

Choice "C" was of course, recognizing that the property in question belongs to Mr. Silverstein, who clearly did not find either of the other two "choices" to be sufficiently appealing.

The weird thing is that the press never saw through this sham, and somehow treated it as though Mr. Silverstein is the party who is unwilling to negotiate, and therefore is an obstinate, unsavory character, perhaps undeserving to be the one chosen to build the Freedom Tower.

Although the eminent domain process was not used, the mere threat of using it accomplished the same result, which was to force a landowner into a deal that he was not interested in.

I guess this all goes to show that it's not the Onion, but rather government which is the greatest source of satire and irony, ever. After all, if the "Freedom Tower" is ever built, it will be on lands with a history of private property violations.