d- In your opinion, is this an essential function of government?

I know you are more reluctant than some to define essential services, stating that what one person views as non-essential, another might believe to be essential. Relativism is fine as an abstraction, but I believe some things are sufficiently outside the norm that anyone ought to be willing to stand up and say, Naw.. that really isnt needed. From the publicly funded art department, $120,000 dollars for something designed to be burned up.? And now the artist is indignant that the burning has been postponed, and wants additional compensation. Does this pass the common-sense test with you, d?

(http://www.seattle-pi.com/local/fire283.shtml) Displeased artist wants fire project rescheduled or compensation from city

Tuesday, December 28, 1999

By RUTH SCHUBERT SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

After 18 months working to make his project a nuanced, dramatic, cathartic event, Carl Smool is decidedly unhappy about how cavalierly the City Council pulled the plug.

Smool said the piece, inspired by fire festivals around the world, is intended to express the crossroads at which humanity stands as we enter the new millennium. A huge egg, designed as a "hopeful vessel for an abundant future," is surrounded by colorful animals representing all life. In contrast, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse -- conquest, war, famine and death -- represent the "human follies" we must overcome. The plan to ignite the wood and cardboard creation by remote control at the International Fountain, Smool explains, is integral to the "temporary art." "It sparks the imagination, but it leaves you with only a memory," Smool said. "It's such a metaphor for the ephemeralness of life." In the nearly 18 months Smool has spent working on the $120,000 project, he traveled to Valencia, Spain, to watch fire ceremonies and presented his drawings and models to Seattle Center authorities on numerous occasions. The installation is on exhibit in the Flag Pavilion until the Seattle Center closes on New Year's Eve.

-- Craig Carson (craigcar@crosswinds.net), December 28, 1999

Answers

Craig:

My position is that most of what government does is non-essential. I am with you on this one. This is not only non-essential, but also non-sensical.

-- dbvz (dbvz@wa.freei.net), December 28, 1999.

Yeah-

The $120,000 wasted could have gotten the light rail 6 ft 4 inches closer to Northgate. (That's really what it comes out, at $100 million a mile)

-- Mark Stilson (mark842@hotmail.com), December 29, 1999.

""It's such a metaphor for the ephemeralness of life." " It's such a metaphor for the ephemeralness of my tax dollar IN THE HANDS OF IDIOTS! AAAAGHHHH!

-- (zowie@hotmail.com), December 29, 1999.

You will find that the State is the kind of organization which, though it does big things badly, does small things badly, too. John Kenneth Galbraith

-- (zowie@hotmail.com), January 06, 2000.