h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

There's another whole story here.
There was a huge scandal related to the interior furnishing of the capitol. The legislature passed a bill that all interior furnishings were priced by unit of measure: lighting fixtures by weight, paintings by the square foot,etc. So the light fixtures are massive accretions of bronze and glass, the main doors are bronze, etc. It came out that much of it was at exorbitant cost to the state. I remember an article about this which showed a spitoon that cost hundreds of dollars. PA at the time was under the control of a notoriously corrupt PHiladelphia political machine (there's a statue of Matt Quay in the rotunda with the words "my God" above it) and this is one of the more notable examples of graft in the history of the state. But of course it is still a wonderful building to see.

I've long been tempted to do a follow-up entry about the graft during the construction.

It's pretty fascinating stuff, but I didn't want to beat up our politicians too much.

Perhaps I should?


- Jimi X