Accursed Swastika Barracks!

Again, it's more about appearance than substance, more about gestures than the concrete. Perception is reality, and everyone's priorities are skewed, knocking each other over to be first to condemn Nazis anytime, anywhere, for whatever reason. No common sense to be had anywhere.

The U.S. Navy will spend as much as $600,000 to modify the appearance of a barracks complex that resembles a swastika from the air, officials said. The Navy approved the spending for changes to the four L-shaped buildings' walkways, landscaping and rooftop solar panels after satellite images from Google Earth revealed the swastika-like shape, officials said.

Okay, was this building intentionally constructed this way? So far, there's been no reporting on that. I'd have to assume the answer is no, but who has researched the architect(s)? When plans are submitted, there are views of the proposed structure from all sides, and from above--who reviewed these plans and managed not to notice the swastika similarity? Who was the government approving official who failed to do their job, which is now costing the government an additional $600k?

"We don't want to be associated with something as symbolic and hateful as a swastika," Scott Sutherland, deputy public affairs officer for Navy Region Southwest, told the Los Angeles Times.

Well, yeah, duh, Scott. Like you're going to stand up there and say, "The US Navy thinks the swastika is a misunderstood symbol, a still-common symbol abundant in Buddhism, which was unfairly appropriated by the Nazis as their unifying symbol." No, wait, that would be the truth now, wouldn't it?

Yeah, you can't say that a swastika is a good thing, not anymore. But who has the courage to stand up and issue forth some common sense?

Navy officials said the buildings' shape was not noted until after the groundbreaking in 1967. Since it was not visible from the ground, officials decided not to make any changes. But aerial photos made available on Google Earth in recent years revealed the buildings' shape to a wide audience of computer users. Online commentators remarked widely about the buildings' resemblance to the symbol used by the Nazis.

Wait, so $600,000 is being spent--more than a minimum wage worker would make in 49.3 years (before taxes)--so a "wide audience of computer users" will not be exposed to an inadvertently swastika-like cluster of official buildings? Wouldn't the navy be a much more responsible steward of public funds, the tax money I pay each year, but putting that money into the pay of junior enlisted sailors? Sailors live in this very barracks, so why are they spending more than a sailor would make in decades on shrubs and camouflage and solar panels, when they could be buying these very same sailors better furniture, renovated rooms, more hot water, etc.?


Dave von Kleist, host of "The Power Hour," a Missouri-based radio-talk show, said he wrote to military officials calling for action. "I'm concerned about symbolism," he said. "This is not the type of message America needs to be sending to the world."

Dave, you self-righteous, self-promoting shill who has managed to find something to make you important for your 15 minutes, this is not a message America is sending to the world. It is not a message at all. Your shrill, asinine accusations make this a message. This is a harmless grouping of buildings which until overhead commercial satellite imagery made them available, hardly anyone even knew about. Why don't you use your hour of power to write to the military to pressure them for more armor for vehicles in Iraq? Why don't you use your notoriety and position of influence to get predatory payday loan sharks off enlisted troops' backs? Why don't you use your radio show to talk about the genuine, concrete and real messages America IS sending to the world, like unilateral withdrawal from the Kyoto treaty, and abrogation of the ABM treaty?

The Navy decided to alter the buildings' shape following requests this year by Anti-Defamation League regional director Morris Casuto and U.S. Rep. Susan Davis. "I don't ascribe any intentionally evil motives to this," Casuto said of the design. "It just happened. The Navy has been very good about recognizing the problem. The issue is over."

Morris, if there is no malice here, then what is the issue? Why aren't you magnanimous enough to tell the Navy not to worry about altering the buildings? Wouldn't you rather see that money go to a daycare center at the base? A better health clinic? Wouldn't that be much more in tune with what the ADL is really all about?

The funds to change the buildings' appearance were budgeted for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, officials said.

It's a waste, a wretched, stupid waste. Soldiers are dying in Iraq and Afghanistan every single day, and even more are having their arms and legs blown off, and these idiots are worried about a mistake of building construction that no more than a dozen people even knew about just a few years ago.