The Case of the Gurgling Toad!!

Yo, Pilgrims..... you might have noticed Secretary of Defense Gates testifying before the House Defense Committee this week and imploring them to 'Please pass the 2011 Budget so the Defense Department can get on with their serious responsibilities!'.. or some such ...

What you might have missed is - "A $600,000 frog sculpture that lights up, gurgles "sounds of nature" and carries a 10-foot fairy girl on its back could soon be greeting Defense Department employees who plan to start working at the $700 million Mark Center in Alexandria, Va. this fall. That is unless a new controversy over the price tag of the public art doesn't torpedo the idea."

Now then, not only is the 'art' a little dubious -- but the fact that only a minor faction of DOD employees will even see this overpriced piece of ...... kind of compounds the problem.

So in this day of increasing national debt and annual deficits, we have the 'hard strapped' Department of Defense building a $700 million new 'center' in Alexandria --- and centered on a $600, 000 , ten foot fairy girl on a frog sculpture that gurgles to the sound of nature!!

Just in case you think I am pranking you with some kind of April Fools joke, click here for the link to the source.

But take two alka-seltzers and an aspirin first!!!! BTW, friends, the original cost to build the Pentagon itself, the worlds largest office building, was just $50 million! Or, adjusted for inflation, about the same cost as this new much smaller 'center' in Alexandria!!!

Of course, the Pentagon doesn't have a Fairy on a Gurgling Frog's back..............