gigamurph
Taurus
HDF Supporter
Boat Racer
 
Hemet, CA
Posts: 2,314
APPD 0.30
Post Rank: 28
|
 |
Posted: Sep. 10 2008,12:12 pm |
Post # 1 |
   |
Read this in "What's New" on CompuServe this AM. If this doesn't annoy ya; you need to make an appointment w/ your doctor! You may be dead!
Warning! If You Read This, You'll Get Mad
Here are the facts:
--The marble Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery is cracked and must be replaced, a decision that was reached 18 years ago.
--The cost of replacement is a staggering $2.2 million, plus an additional $170,000 to conduct the required competitive bidding process.
--An American citizen offered to purchase the marble and donate it to the government. The offer was accepted. (He has the letter from an Army major general to prove it.)
--A five-year search for just the right piece of snow-white marble resulted in a cut from the same Yule Quarry where the original gold-veined marble for the Tomb of the Unknowns was mined nearly 80 years ago.
--The replacement piece is unflawed and looks exactly like the original.
--The U.S. government refuses to accept it because it's being donated.
Reason.com reporter Radley Balko writes about the mind-boggling, head-scratching situation. The man who is trying so hard to donate the marble is a retired car dealer from Glenwood Springs, Colorado named John Haines. The room-sized slab of marble he had specially cut for the Tomb of the Unknowns has been ready since 2003, sitting outside the Yule Quarry. Haines has paid for it in full--$31,000--and has made arrangements for its transport to Arlington, Virginia in a flag-decorated flatbed truck at no cost to the government. And herein lies the problem. Government officials say they cannot accept a free donation; instead, they must pursue a pricey bidding and specification process. "It's not doable. A citizen can't just give us any piece of marble and say, 'This is what we'll use to replace the tomb,'" Thurman Higginbotham, deputy superintendent of Arlington, told Reason.com. To which Haines responded, "I understand how the government works. But there comes a point when you just say 'to hell with it.'"
Meanwhile, the Department of the Army presented to Congress a 34-page report outlining all the possible ways the Tomb of the Unknowns could be repaired--all but one that, is. There was no mention of Haines' generous and patriotic offer. Reason.com has a great idea! Haines should use the marble to construct a monument to government waste.
Now, if that ain't some $hit!
I know that Reason.com is a Libertarian website, but no matter what political party you're affiliated with, that should have ya sayin; "Huh?"
"My lifestyle determines my deathstyle!" -Metallica
|
11-24-2024 Three Word Post.....The Next Generation.... (Rep.#19,435) from: BigDog
Bottom line....
.....and da gig retorts; "You're welcome." 
