And some of those political pinheads STILL don't get it !

[ironglow]

  The economy is in a dumpster, Washington should be cutting "fluff" anywhere it can.  Many Americans out of work and China wants to rule us..
 So then this brilliance crops up !  Is there something in the water in the DC area...which turns some people's brains to mush ?

  http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2011/03/31/pentagon-art-600000-gurgling-toad-sculpture

[powderman]

 Typical thinking of the dem, lib, pantywetter crowd. Pathetic. Wonder if they could get a 2 fer deal?? What a crock. POWDERMAN. 

[sidewinder319]

What about the people who vote for and elect these Hacks?  They do not get into these offices without votes from the American populace.  We need only look at the American education system.  The children of this nation are being educated by a radical socialist we hate America culture.  This philosophy starts in leftest colleges across the land. You need only look at the teacher riots in Wisconsin where they damaged the state house to the tune of 2 million dollars. This is a scene right out of the Euro-Asian communist social take over of a nation. 

[Pat/Rick]

"Art". Public art should be voted on, unless it is purchased by private donations. Tax money for art when your nations finances are in the toilet? Sheer stupidity.

[ironglow]

"Art". Public art should be voted on, unless it is purchased by private donations. Tax money for art when your nations finances are in the toilet? Sheer stupidity.

   Agreed, Pat/Rick..   Public money should not purchase "art"..and I am in the arts.  If one cannot sell their arts for a fair price apparently it isn't worth much, they have no right to expect taxpayers to pay for it.

      Sidewinder;
  Don't forget, a few months ago a duly elected congressman testified before congress that he was concerned that if we were to station 8,000 Marines on the island of guam...we may capsize the whole island...
         Sheesh!..Just think, the thousands who elected him also reproduce !!

   Sound illogical ? ....just take a look..     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNZczIgVXjg

[ironglow]

  Hank Johnson is likely as one reply stated, a graduate of the Al Gore school of Earth Sciences" !  If not, at least he is a fully qualified 'global warming' believer !!

   In any case, a capsizing island beats a plain old Tsunami any day;

       http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITx4aFhASTE&NR=1&feature=fvwp

[Mohawk]

He may want to study the Pacific War in WW II. 

[ironglow]

 Relax about that Guam capsizing thing, this fellow has it all figured out.how to save Guam from flipping over;

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcK4oDdl66g&NR=1&feature=fvwp

[DakotaElkSlayer]

   Agreed, Pat/Rick..   Public money should not purchase "art"..and I am in the arts.  If one cannot sell their arts for a fair price apparently it isn't worth much, they have no right to expect taxpayers to pay for it.

   

  So YOU are in the arts?  Please, could you please explain to me what a fairy riding a frog had to do with the Defense Department?  I don't get it?!

Jim

[ironglow]

   Agreed, Pat/Rick..   Public money should not purchase "art"..and I am in the arts.  If one cannot sell their arts for a fair price apparently it isn't worth much, they have no right to expect taxpayers to pay for it.

   

  So YOU are in the arts?  Please, could you please explain to me what a fairy riding a frog had to do with the Defense Department?  I don't get it?!

Jim

   Frankly Jim;
   I cannot fathom that either..except we have a liberal administration now, and the libs are into that "fairy thing" !  It seems it wouild have been easier to have Barney on top of the frog..(or vice-versa)..    At least that would keep him out of the halls of congress, where he can do REAL damage !
  I am in the arts, but I am not of the "arts & Croiusants" crowd that goes to wine & cheese tastings or throws paint at a canvas & calls it impressionistic..  I am an artist/blacksmith..see a couple samples below..  Sometimes I even get artistic with my tools..  Please don't confuse me with either the bug ridden or limp-wristed variety of "artists"..

[crustylicious]

Public money has paid for art and architecture in public spaces since the beginning of time. Then again maybe your taste leans toward some of the "memorable" buildings and public spaces built behind the iron curtain.
The WPA spent money on artists during the depression which left many great pieces.
There are actually four artists vieing for the Pentagon commission.
http://alexandriava.gov/recreation/info/default.aspx?id=27462
Maybe Obama pass a law requiring that Anheiser Busch sponsor the statue and change it to the Bud-Wise-Er Frogs

[torpedoman]

   Agreed, Pat/Rick..   Public money should not purchase "art"..and I am in the arts.  If one cannot sell their arts for a fair price apparently it isn't worth much, they have no right to expect taxpayers to pay for it.

   

  So YOU are in the arts?  Please, could you please explain to me what a fairy riding a frog had to do with the Defense Department?  I don't get it?!

Jim

it is a don't ask don't tell thing.

[ironglow]

Public money has paid for art and architecture in public spaces since the beginning of time. Then again maybe your taste leans toward some of the "memorable" buildings and public spaces built behind the iron curtain.
The WPA spent money on artists during the depression which left many great pieces.
There are actually four artists vieing for the Pentagon commission.
http://alexandriava.gov/recreation/info/default.aspx?id=27462
Maybe Obama pass a law requiring that Anheiser Busch sponsor the statue and change it to the Bud-Wise-Er Frogs

   OHHH Crusty;
   All you know is that many of we conservatives don't believe the taxpayers are gettin a decent deal here ! ..But still, you go on to  add insult to injury  and exacerbate the subject by pretending you know what we would prefer in it's place !  Being a stone-graven liberal, there is NO WAY you could know what we would prefer. 
     Here's how I see it:
   This statuary was commissioned by the Pentagon (or rather likely, by an Obama operative).  This is for the Defense Dept., for Heaven's sake !!  It should be emblematic of our brave troops..Navy, Air Force, Army and Marines..and by extention, to the Special Forces, SEALS, Rangers, Marine Spec Ops etc...
       
   WE DON"T NEED NO DANG #$&^*@#FAIRY !!!!

  Were I or a team I assembled to be commissioned to produce such a piece, it would likely be more like the following points;

1) We could probably save the taxpayer $500,000 of the $600,000...because we would not be giving "kickbacks"..

2) We would not make some ten foot tall, dancing fairy girl..even if Barney or Janet Reno were to model for it !
  (  It would be easier with Janet Reno olf course, since we could simply make it 'life sized'.... )

3) To commemorate the troops, I wouldn't incorporate soft, flimsy materials...but powerful, rugged, forged steel..
  (..Ask the Rangers, SEALS and Marines if they would rather be commemorated by  Faries & Frogs...or by forged steel !!)

4) Rather than a 10' fairy (a don't ask, don't tell thing?).. for perhaps 10' of sword, driven into rocky ground..a steel veil..swirling around the sword down to  enfold a steel & bronze replica of the Constitution.  A set of  stainless steel dogtags, each perhaps 9 X 17 inches in size..hung from the sword handle by the familiar beaded chain (appropriately sized).

5) This design was made up as I typed this post, but I would wager it would be better received by the troops than the  "Fairy-on-a-Frog version

            How do any of you troops (active or veteran) feel about the two designs ?   Let me know..

[sidewinder319]

The only lasting art done by WPA was the concret out houses in roadside parks. Some of these old brick rest rooms are still standing. Yes governments going back to Rome have financed art.  When was the last time we have seen anything from the Romans??

[ironglow]

  A bit of trivia;
  During the medieval period, those Roman relics made from gypsum were occasionaly turned up out of the soil...they were promptly poulverized and burned to make plaster..


   Now; back to the statuary;
  Why is it whenever liberals do anything ...it has to be done in a WIMPY way ?

[crustylicious]

An artist creates works that may not be appreciated during his or her life, or ever.
An artisan produces things that work, and that are immediately useful.
Clearly, in a society that values things, it is safer to be an artisan than an artist.

Perhaps we should all be artesians, and just be well.

[DakotaElkSlayer]

Like your skills, Ironglow!

Jim

[jrnsuz]

Perhaps we should all be artesians, and just be well.

  ;DGood one!

[Lost Farmboy]

   So then this brilliance crops up !  Is there something in the water in the DC area...which turns some people's brains to mush ?

 

Ya, it's fluoride contaminated with radio active isotopes.  All city water has it.  Is that why cities always vote for democrats? 

[ironglow]

An artist creates works that may not be appreciated during his or her life, or ever.
An artisan produces things that work, and that are immediately useful.
Clearly, in a society that values things, it is safer to be an artisan than an artist.

Perhaps we should all be artesians, and just be well.

     Crusty;
  Many people claim the title of "artist" without any real ability which qualifies them.  Some are the idle children of the rich, who do no work of any kind and are searching for an excuse for their existence.  There was a plethora of those types in the 70s who were "poets"  They would hang out in coffee houses and read their "poetry"..which most often had no rhyme nor meterand made no sense to the non-drug infested.  Same can be said for some who whip together pieces of trash or similar and call that "aret'.
   If they are so fortunate to have some congressional relation to see that they get big bucks from the "National endowment for the Arts"...just to display the stuff they rescued from "Waste Management"...they may be on "easy street".
          I can enjoy art that demonstrates a certain skill level as well as anyone can, but I  and anyone else, can also spot a phony. Don't fall for those declarations of having a "feeling" for trash pile art...that's simply mopre  stuff like ,"the Emperor's New Clothes".


  BTW: Thanks Dakota