Spending $600,000 on a Sculpture of a Fairy Riding a Toad

[timeout]

http://reason.com/blog#article_148407

Via Outside the Beltway comes news that the devotion to the warfare state extends to stuff like this:

Department of Defense (DOD) employees moving into a new building this fall may start their days walking past a sculpture of a toad with a ten-foot fairy on its back. Federal facilities have never been renowned for their challenging public art, but critics have gone on the offensive since it was revealed that the piece, one of four finalists for the site’s installation, would cost $400,000-$600,000 and would be viewed largely by the same group of about 2,500 employees each day.

More, god help us all, here.

Let's get it over with: You know, cutting this sculpture wouldn't even be a rounding error in the federal/state/local budget, so why focus on such chump change...