USS Arizona Memorial Center Slowly Sinking

[Placebo]

The USS Arizona Memorial's visitors center was designed to accommodate 750,000 people a year when it was built in 1980, but today it's jammed with crowds more than twice that big — and it's literally bursting at the seams.

Portions of the shoreside building and plaza commemorating the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor have settled as much as 30 inches and are still slowly sinking, and the concrete structure is cracking.

"Our office space is crammed, our visitor space is crammed, capacity is a significant issue on all fronts," said Douglas Lentz, the National Park Service superintendent in charge of the visitors center. "Then you've got the structural integrity of the building."

Crowds at the memorial have grown over the years as interest in Pearl Harbor has increased, fueled in part by Hollywood's sustained interest in World War II, including a blockbuster movie about the attack. The shock of the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001 drew comparisons to Pearl Harbor and sparked interest among a new generation.

A total of 2,390 people were killed in the Dec. 7, 1941, surprise attack that drew the United States into World War II.

The Pearl Harbor Memorial Fund is working to raise $34 million to replace the visitors center, the starting point for ferry rides across the harbor to the white memorial that straddles the sunken Arizona, which still contains the remains of 1,177 sailors.

The group — whose honorary chairmen include actor Tom Hanks and Sens. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii and John McCain, R-Ariz. — wants to raise enough money to break ground for a new center in three to five years. Mathew Sgan, the fund senior vice president, said the group is very pleased with its progress and is soliciting corporate donations.

full article may be found here: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=519&e=4&u=/ap/20041211/ap_on_re_us/arizona_memorial

[Sannum]

1. Isn't it Ironic...

[Placebo]

2. True.

[Deja Q]

3. And yet the management never bothered to upgrade the supports OR

limit the number of people to stand in it at any given time.

Bunch of stupid dumbfucks.

But it's all about money, of course, so who should get the blame? :eyes:

[Spinzonner]

4. Oh well, at least

they wont outsource the repairs to the Japanese ...

[karlrschneider]

5. Don't be so damn sure, we're buying missile parts from them...

and why not? The stuff they build is better than what we make...
:eyes:
I still drive my 82 Honda Civic every day. How many 1982 Murkin cars do you ever see on the road?
sheesh

[Journeyman]

6. Something I read a few years ago. . .

This doesn't pertain to the topic, but I thought it interesting, and quite telling of people's feelings toward the Arizona:

When a survivor of the attack dies, they can request their ashes be buried in the hull of the submerged ship. So every few years, on the anniversary of the attack, the Navy hosts funeral services aboard a small launch above the sunken ship, then Navy divers take the deceased's ashes in an urn and place them inside the hull, so they might rejoin at last their fallen friends.

[hickman1937]

7. Bet Bush privatizes it.

Sells it to halliburton for an undisclosed amount(btw a buck and a buck fifty) who outsources the repairs to china, reopens at $10 a head to "help recover costs". My prediction.

[sweetheart]

8. let it sink with the ship

There comes a time where we move on from reflecting on the battles
long past, and look towards today as our heritage.

[Placebo]

9. No way.

We can't just let it sink. I'm all for restoring and saving it.

Should we just let all the old battlefields, or anything war-related fade into history?

[sweetheart]

11. There comes a time

When we move on. Perhaps when no longer are there any living
survivors, wars should be laid rest.

I would much rather have a memorial on the spot of martin luthur
king's "i have a dream" speach than a LIHOP attack to get the US
involved in WW2.

... and frankly, we can't afford it. You can always get some scuba
gear and dive honolulu. The need for a concrete monstrosity for
fat haolies (white mainlanders) is less evident.

[Placebo]

12. Well you can't ignore war all together.

And I think most Americans would agree with me that we need to preserve and improve the memorial.

[sweetheart]

15. Have you been to the arizona memorial?

I have, and its a non-event. You can see some rusting hulk through
the water that they say was the "rings" which the forward turrents
used to turn on.

I'm sure as well, that all americans who are historicallly minded
visit nagasaki and hiroshima to see the real american war memorials.
As well tarawa, iwo jima and a gazillion island battlefields. I'm
sure, were folks like you're commenting for, were in charge, we'd
have left the world trade center as giant rubble heaps for centurys
so that future generations can ponder disaster.

It is really pathetic that a culture seeks to define itself on
murder and disaster, rather than civility. The memorial should be
left to sink, and the saved money spent on good will towards all
people of all races. This war focus is sick, and not american.

[VegasWolf]

10. It's only hiding its head in shame from the current admin. n/t

[Up2Late]

13. I hope they get the money from the "Red States"

Those bastards are always keep cutting the taxes they pay, then "Re-allocate" the money form the Bigger Blue States for PORK in Podunk, Nebraska or somewhere. :silly:

[LynnTheDem]

14. Sinking from pure SHAME.

Pearl Harbor; unprovoked attack.

Iraq invasion; unprovoked attack.

At least Pearl Harbor was an attack on a military site and only killed 2390 people...unlike the massive genocide America has committed and is committing on Iraq.