Wouldn’t He Also Say That Trading On Sept. 11 Cred Is “Ghoulish”?

The first rule of politics is never to exaggerate easily verifiable claims:

On at least three occasions, in responding to accusations that the city failed to adequately protect the health of workers in the wreckage, [Presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani] has boasted that he faced comparable risks himself. In one appearance he declared that he had been in the ruins “as often, if not more” than the cleanup workers who logged hundreds of hours in the smoldering pile.

Another time he brushed aside safety claims by asserting that his long hours at the site had left him susceptible to “every health consequence that people have suffered.”

So, how much time did Mayor Giuliani spend at ground zero?

A complete record of Mr. Giuliani’s exposure to the site is not available for the chaotic six days after the attack, when he was a frequent visitor. But an exhaustively detailed account from his mayoral archive, revised after the events to account for last-minute changes on scheduled stops, does exist for the period of Sept. 17 to Dec. 16, 2001. It shows he was there for a total of 29 hours in those three months, often for short periods or to visit locations adjacent to the rubble. In that same period, many rescue and recovery workers put in daily 12-hour shifts.

(Who’s ghoulish now?)

So This Means That No Provider Should Ever Gripe About Only Charging 25 Cents, Right?

For payphone operators, the phone part is an afterthought:

They stand on corners from Brighton Beach to the Bronx, all but mocking New Yorkers: Pay phones that may or may not work, which you can’t even check for a dial tone without worrying about germs.

But they remain rooted in the pavement of New York, blocking pedestrian traffic, looking a bit like museum pieces in an age of cellphones, BlackBerrys and Bluetooth headsets.

There is a reason for their survival: Public telephones are one of the stranger cash cows in city finance. Not because of the coins that are fed into them, but rather because of the millions upon millions that companies are willing to pay to put ads on them.

The phone kiosks generate $62 million in advertising revenue annually — and last year the city got $13.7 million of the take, triple what it pulled in from calls.

Over all, the number of pay phones in New York is falling, as it is throughout the country. But in a phenomenon unique to New York, the phones are more valuable than ever, thanks to the intense competition among advertisers for attention in a city of eight million.

Phone companies say the pay phones are still necessary, noting that during 9/11 and the 2003 blackout, people lined up to use them. But it is the phone kiosks’ desirability to advertisers, who love them because they are inexpensive and plentiful, that appears to be driving pressure on the city for permission to install new phones in choice locations.

With This Drop I Thee Wed

Apparently the Wonder Wheel was already booked:

Two Brooklyn lovebirds are getting hitched today at the summit of the Cyclone, the historic Coney Island coaster with as many twists and turns as a modern-day marriage.

Robert Meyer, 39 and Teri Muroff, 38, will be married on the coaster’s 85-foot-high peak by the Rev. Cliff Herring, a card-carrying member of the American Coaster Enthusiasts.

“Going up the first ascent, Cliff is going to say the vows, and then we’re going to hit the first drop and scream ‘I do!'” said Muroff, a painters’ union employee who planned the wild ride with Meyer when they got engaged in 2004.

Nearly 100 friends and family members will join the thrill-seeking couple on the platform of the 80-year-old wooden coaster before actually riding it to the top.

Meyer and Muroff plan to read individualized vows during the one-minute, 50-second ride, but said they would take as many rides as it takes to accommodate each of their guests.

“We were concerned that we wanted to have something that wasn’t too tacky,” admitted Meyer, a welder who said he and Muroff initially investigated a wedding on the beach. “But to us, tacky is chandeliers and mirrors in wedding halls.”

Just save the ring exchange for afterwards . . .

Location Scout: The Cyclone.

I Know — That Inner Circle Song Has Been Haunting Me Since The Early ’90s, Too

If you see something, beat it senseless until it gives up the goods, then beat it some more:

Silva Natividad, 54, yesterday credited the TV show “COPS” for spurring her to tackle Jonathan Burkes on First Avenue near 38th Street at noon Monday.

“He grabbed my money and pushed me,” she said. “But I didn’t fall. I got a grip on myself.”

Natividad said Burkes tried to take off with the cash, but “you know how in ‘COPS,’ when they jump on the person before they run away? That’s what I did.”

. . .

“My money was . . . in his hand. I started banging his fist against the concrete until he let it go.”

Natividad said she put the money in her purse, then “kept hitting him and hitting him. I must have lost my mind.”

Burkes finally broke free and ran across the street, but his incensed victim was hot on his tail, and she caught and tackled him again.

She called 911 and told the dispatcher, “If you don’t come and get this guy I’m going to kill him.”

Samad The Butcher Has A Very Sharp Boning Knife . . . And He’s Threatening To Behead Alice!

You can thank Ray Kelly for the new climate of fear in Staten Island this morning:

It is the sobering reality of post-9/11 life on Staten Island.

In New York City.

Across the country.

Terrorism is potentially lurking in every alleyway and on every street corner.

Most frightening is that the new-age terrorist does not have to wear a disguise or assimilate.

Because the person most likely to threaten our safety is made in America.

While the threat from overseas jihadist groups like al-Qaida remains real, New York City and other U.S. targets face an increasing and evolving threat from homegrown terrorists, such as those who planned to attack Fort Dix in New Jersey, according to an NYPD Intelligence Division report issued yesterday.

The report says resident terrorists are often “unremarkable” people who plan attacks on the U.S. after they are radicalized by social, economic or political “triggers.”

. . .

The radicalization process is often sparked by a personal crisis, the report says, such as the loss of a job; the experiencing of a real or perceived episode of discrimination, or the death of a close family member.

Without mentioning specific locales, the report says that “cafes, cab driver hangouts, flop houses, prisons, student associations, non-governmental organizations, hookah bars, butcher shops and bookstores” are frequently “rife with extremist rhetoric” and act as “radicalization incubators” for potential jihadists.

Once immersed in radical ideology, the jihadist often seeks to join with other like-minded individuals. Under the guidance of a “spiritual sanctioner,” such as a cleric, and an “operational leader,” groups such as these, the report says, can morph from “just being a bunch of guys” into operational terrorist cells.

The Internet is a powerful “driver” and “enabler” of jihad, according to the report, providing access to radical ideology; an anonymous, virtual meeting place for jihadists, and access to information about potential targets and weapons design.

Though not formal members of Al-Qaida, jihadists use the principles of Osama bin Laden’s terror network as “their inspiration and ideological reference point,” the report says.

They “look, act, talk and walk like everyone around them,” the study adds.