You know, it's not Congress that actually does the work right?
It's the contractors that take advantage of the indiscriminate government faucet. You know that someone walked away with the money.

The Republicans had complete control of the Congress for ten of those fifteen years. Why didn't they bring this under control?

/3...2...1...

Estimated cost: $70 million.
In the 15 years since, the project has morphed into a sprawling, $621

this sounds like a chicago project

and seriously, the roof leaked once
sfw

Alacritous: You know, it's not Congress that actually does the work right?
It's the contractors that take advantage of the indiscriminate government faucet. You know that someone walked away with the money.

you know
you bring up an interesting point
we always talk about the congressional pork
what about the thieves who are stealing out money?

if there were no morally corrupt people taking this money, congress would not be able to spend it

hmmmmmmm
so, as we always knew, we can only blame ourselves

namatad: so, as we always knew, we can only blame ourselves

Considering that acquiring money/greed is indoctrinated into the youth starting at a very early age, and this is merely a consequence of that, yes. You have only yourselves.

$621 million dollars! $621 MILLION dollars! $621 million DOLLARS!

I'm trying to figure out the right way to express my anger in text.

kinshane: $621 million dollars! $621 MILLION dollars! $621 million DOLLARS!

I'm trying to figure out the right way to express my anger in text.

I see your Capitol Visitors Center and raise you the Ronald Reagan Building (new window).

At the time it was built, the Ronald Reagan Building was the most expensive federal building ever constructed, at a cost of $768 million. As a federal office building, it is second in size only to the Pentagon.

I watched this building go up. Something was wrong with the blueprint and the site sat as an empty hole for many, many months as money just flooded into it.

I say it is a fitting memorial.

If you have never been there, then you can't understand the true emotions you feel as being an American in our nation's capital. As soon as you enter the complex you are immediately overwhelmed with the greatness of our country. After passing through the security entrance manned by friendly and respectful police officers, you enter a beautiful two-story exhibit hall, completely secured by the strength of the marble almost encasing your body. As you look up, you can see the greatness of God's heavens through the large, clear-glass roof allowing full vision of the sky above. You are surrounding by the extraordinary exhibits that float your imagination into America's history and greatness in the world. Heading towards the Original Documents Room, I was overwhelm by the excitement I felt over seeing such documents as the original Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. Then some frucking water dripped on my head. Why did we spend 621M on this piece of shait?

vartian: see your Capitol Visitors Center and raise you the Ronald Reagan Building



[cliks on link]


WANT!

That place looks awesome.

You know, I used to think Americans were just being narrow-minded in assuming that it was impossible for government to work efficiently, since it seems to be fine elsewhere.

Projects like this point out that, apparently, it's impossible for American government to work efficiently. Time to take it out behind the woodshed.

vartian: kinshane: $621 million dollars! $621 MILLION dollars! $621 million DOLLARS!

I'm trying to figure out the right way to express my anger in text.

I see your Capitol Visitors Center and raise you the Ronald Reagan Building (new window).

At the time it was built, the Ronald Reagan Building was the most expensive federal building ever constructed, at a cost of $768 million. As a federal office building, it is second in size only to the Pentagon.

I watched this building go up. Something was wrong with the blueprint and the site sat as an empty hole for many, many months as money just flooded into it.

I say it is a fitting memorial.

Only if they start selling weapons to the Iranians again and starts forgetting that it was a building in the first place.

/ticket to hell please

unyon: Projects like this point out that, apparently, it's impossible for American government to work efficiently. Time to take it out behind the woodshed.

Unfortunately, the contractors are still working on the woodshed.

Mentat: The Republicans had complete control of the Congress for ten of those fifteen years. Why didn't they bring this under control?/3...2...1...

Republicans delayed the opening so "In god we trust" could be written in several places. That's supposed to be enough according to them.

me_the_farker: Only if they start selling weapons to the Iranians again....



I guess the Iranians would have to take a shiatload of people hostage again first though, right?

Then hold them for over a year.

The Republicans had complete control of the Congress for ten of those fifteen years. Why didn't they bring this under control?

namatad: Alacritous: You know, it's not Congress that actually does the work right?
It's the contractors that take advantage of the indiscriminate government faucet. You know that someone walked away with the money.

you know
you bring up an interesting point
we always talk about the congressional pork
what about the thieves who are stealing out money?


Hey! I resemble that remark

Mentat: The Republicans had complete control of the Congress for ten of those fifteen years. Why didn't they bring this under control?

Because they were useless incompetent thieving whores who went native once they got a taste of power.

Thus it will always be, with that much money in play.

These are the people that are going to handle our health care?

unyon: You know, I used to think Americans were just being narrow-minded in assuming that it was impossible for government to work efficiently, since it seems to be fine elsewhere.

Many people who think government can work well base that thought on their own dealings with their own local governments, which often are competent and sane - mainly because a) there's not as much money in play to lure the dishonest, and b) the people running the local governments still have to deal with constituents day-to-day. My town supervisor can't retreat to his family compound in Hyannisport or Kennebunkport to avoid the great unwashed, so he'd better have his shiat together.

kinshane: $621 million dollars! $621 MILLION dollars! $621 million DOLLARS!

I'm trying to figure out the right way to express my anger in text.

Well using the world "dollars" after a "$" certainly lends an air of emphasis.

Alacritous: You know, it's not Congress that actually does the work right?
It's the contractors that take advantage of the indiscriminate government faucet. You know that someone walked away with the money.


Yes Exactly!

The goverment hires a company to design a building, then hires a company or companies to build it. The company(s) then keeps claiming one problem or another, milking the system. Then when the whole thing becomes a mess.

BINGO Another example of bad government and proof we need to turn to private companies to take over the job of goverment!

Gangway Fathead: kinshane: $621 million dollars! $621 MILLION dollars! $621 million DOLLARS!

I'm trying to figure out the right way to express my anger in text.

Well using the world "dollars" after a "$" certainly lends an air of emphasis.

Could have been $621 million EUROS. I would be really pissed if Congress did that.

Hick: These are the people that are going to handle our health care?

No, just like the mess in the article, corporations will be handling your health care...

Con_Authority: BINGO Another example of bad government and proof we need to turn to private companies to take over the job of goverment!

So the companies that are greedily sucking the government dry should be given even more discretion? what?

Hick: These are the people that are going to handle our health care?

Wait, we're letting construction workers handle our health care? fark fark fark fark fark fark fark. No one told me about that. I want to take back my vote.

Quoted from "The Pentagon Wars", I think it is relative to this.

Col. Robert Laurel Smith: In summation, what you have before you is...

Sgt. Fanning: A troop transport that can't carry troops, a reconnaissance vehicle that's too conspicuous to do reconnaissance...

Lt. Colonel James Burton: And a quasi-tank that has less armor than a snow-blower, but carries enough ammo to take out half of D.C. THIS is what we're building?

You know, Congress couldn't even design a camel if they sat down to do it.

They'd start with the basic horse design, switch to the camel model, and then start arguing over whether the thing needs one, two, three or modular humps.

By the time the contractor did get an acceptable design, it would be so over budget it would be a rhinoceros with seven legs and a trunk.

Con_Authority: Hick: These are the people that are going to handle our health care?

No, just like the mess in the article, corporations will be handling your health care...

Yeah, that should work well.
Unless you get sick.

Gyrfalcon: By the time the contractor did get an acceptable design, it would be so over budget it would be a rhinoceros with seven legs and a trunk.

You really don't know how that whole process works, do you?

Gangway Fathead: Well using the world "dollars" after a "$" certainly lends an air of emphasis.

It's like "White Anglo-Saxon" or "ATM Machine".

Alacritous: You know, it's not Congress that actually does the work right?
It's the contractors that take advantage of the indiscriminate government faucet. You know that someone walked away with the money.

Congress doesn't DO any "work." They just cut the checks for other people to do the work.

No contractor made any money without first getting Congress' blessing.

Saturn5: Alacritous: You know, it's not Congress that actually does the work right?
It's the contractors that take advantage of the indiscriminate government faucet. You know that someone walked away with the money.

Congress doesn't DO any "work." They just cut the checks for other people to do the work.

No contractor made any money without first getting Congress' blessing.

That is what he just said.

So all this hubbub about not preparing for rain and it turns out that it was a broken storm drain that caused the mess? I'm missing the point, I guess.

Murkanen: Gangway Fathead: Well using the world "dollars" after a "$" certainly lends an air of emphasis.

It's like "White Anglo-Saxon" or "ATM Machine".

Whenever I hear that I think of a machine that performs ATM for porn sites and really slutty women/gay men. My favorites are GOP Party, Mainstream MSM Media, and brainless neo-cons.

Murkanen: "ATM Machine"

I walked by an ATM earlier tonight and chuckled for two reasons, the double meaning of ATM first and the sign next to it that said "ATM machine available". In case you don't get that, a sign, next to the ATM, which can only be read when the ATM is clearly in view, says "ATM machine available". Sometimes, life imitates Fark.

I wish to scream the amount like Ren from Ren and Stimpy.

/FAHRTY-SEVEN! MEELION! DOLLARS!

vartian:
I see your Capitol Visitors Center and raise you the Ronald Reagan Building (new window).

I say it is a fitting memorial.



No, the Reagan Pyramid is a much more fitting memorial:

SIMI VALLEY, CA-Slave manpower was doubled this week in an effort to ensure that erection of the gigantic Reagan Pyramid remains on schedule to be completed in time for the 40th president's mummification and ascension into the Afterworld.



Above: Builders expect the Reagan Pyramid to be ready in time for the Great Communicator's mummification and ascension into the Afterworld upon death. Among the items to be entombed with Reagan are 2,500 MX missiles, a golden chalice of jelly beans, and his beloved servant, George Bush Sr.

Swift completion of the towering structure is "of paramount priority," according to Republican Party insiders.

"Only the most gigantic tomb ever created will be worthy of the Great Communicator," former Reagan Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger said. "As his mortal subjects, it is our holy duty to provide Reagan with a burial commensurate with his stature, in order that he may enter the Realm of Death bedecked with raiments and honors so that he may take his rightful place beside the mighty Sun God, Ra."

Alacritous: Gyrfalcon: By the time the contractor did get an acceptable design, it would be so over budget it would be a rhinoceros with seven legs and a trunk.

You really don't know how that whole process works, do you?

Au contraire, I know exactly how the process works. But it wouldn't really fit into a Fark thread.

As a former Hill employee, I can personally attest to the fact that the Congressional Visitors Center sucks wind. The Redcoats (CVC Employees) are self-important snobs who look down their nose at the guests they give "tours" to as well as staffers & interns who dare to do the job of caring for constituents on "their turf". Despite their self-aggrandizing, they do a shoddy job and a number of the locations that people once saw on tours are now off-limits. The ticket printers very often fail, leading to massive delays that are never caught up on over the course of the day. The building itself, outside the statues that were moved into it, is really pretty bland, especially in comparison to everything else around it (the Capitol proper, the Library of Congress, etc).

In my time up there I never did find a staffer that liked the new systems of operation that came with the CVC. The whole thing was a money sink that only reduced the experience of visiting the Capitol. If you go to D.C. and want to tour the capitol, make sure to operate through your Congressman, even if you hate 'em; they'll cater to you and give a helluva lot better tour than the snoots in the basement will. Also is the only way to get into the House & Senate Galleries.

vartian: kinshane: $621 million dollars! $621 MILLION dollars! $621 million DOLLARS!

I'm trying to figure out the right way to express my anger in text.

I see your Capitol Visitors Center and raise you the Ronald Reagan Building (new window).

At the time it was built, the Ronald Reagan Building was the most expensive federal building ever constructed, at a cost of $768 million. As a federal office building, it is second in size only to the Pentagon.

I watched this building go up. Something was wrong with the blueprint and the site sat as an empty hole for many, many months as money just flooded into it.

I say it is a fitting memorial.

It gets better. They thought naming it after Reagan and gold-plating it would make it a prestige address, but it's a classic white elephant. It's been underutilized since day one. They finally started calling it a "Visitor's Center", even though it's off the tourist track and no one goes there. They tried to hold a Millennium party there, but couldn't sell enough tickets to make it worthwhile. It's a complete waste of money. Fitting they should name it after St. Ronald.

/Came for this.
//You guys are slipping.

Alacritous: Con_Authority: BINGO Another example of bad government and proof we need to turn to private companies to take over the job of goverment!

So the companies that are greedily sucking the government dry should be given even more discretion? what?

Exactly the reaction that argument was designed to get.

And so this is why our Founding Fathers set up the system of checks and balances,
either through intent, or because they couldn't trust each other enough that something good came of it.

One has to watch the other,
because if one gets too much, then they abuse too much.

Congress, all sides, LOVE spending money.
And Business, they LOVE spending money too.
Especially if its not truly theirs.

So, you need to have a check...does this glut down the system??
Yes, but do you want it slow?
Or do you want it gone?

That, and once it is gone, usually money is needed to investigate or repair that which was supposed to be done.

Give me "a bit" of regulation, not too much
but something to make sure the asshats are going not much over the speed limit.

Unfortunately, its asshats like this who prove the need for one.

/hey, kind of like how we got into this current economy situation...

Mentat: The Republicans had complete control of the Congress for ten of those fifteen years. Why didn't they bring this under control?

Just a quick question...at what point does the current administration and Congress become responsible for the state of things in America? 6 more months? 12?

Let me know, so I can come back here then, and we can all evaluate how we're doing as a nation, and lay blame or credit where it is due.

I came here prepared to be indignant. But then,

The new $621 million visitor center at the U.S. Capitol needs ceiling repairs Friday after a broken storm drain caused rainwater to gush inside.

There are probably a million pipes in this complex, and one burst. Myeh.

Con_Authority: Alacritous: You know, it's not Congress that actually does the work right?
It's the contractors that take advantage of the indiscriminate government faucet. You know that someone walked away with the money.


Yes Exactly!

The goverment hires a company to design a building, then hires a company or companies to build it. The company(s) then keeps claiming one problem or another, milking the system. Then when the whole thing becomes a mess.

BINGO Another example of bad government and proof we need to turn to private companies to take over the job of goverment!

Not quite. The government contracts the company to build something, then keeps changing the plans while the project is under construction, as happened in this case (if you read the article).

The company doesn't care that the plans change, just that it gets paid for the extra work. That's where the fraud comes in. Stop changing the plans after the project is started, and this problem goes away (mostly).

thenateman: There are probably a million pipes in this complex

A series of tubes, one might say.

Yeah I hate congrtess too. We should abolish it along with the rest of that pesky constitution that keeps out the Permanent Republican Majority.

And these are the people that some of you want in charge of our healthcare.

The less Congress tries to do, the better.