[David]

No joke...US taxpayers are paying $600,000 to remodel the kitchen of our ambassador to the UN.

Are we nuts or what???

In my opinion, we all need to start an email and letter campaign to stop this stupid and complete waste of our tax dollars.

Am I wrong?

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20030402/od_afp/us_un_envoy_kitchen_030402183214

The 600,000-dollar kitchen or why the UN is still relevant to the US
Wed Apr 2, 1:32 PM ET Add Offbeat - AFP to My Yahoo!

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States will pay 600,000 dollars to renovate the kitchen at the residence of the US ambassador to the United Nations (news - web sites) in a sign the world body may be relevant to Washington despite the imbroglio over Iraq (news - web sites).

Officials said Wednesday the State Department has approved the expenditure at the request of the envoy, John Negroponte, who had asked for the funds to remodel and expand the kitchen at the apartment in New York's famed Waldorf-Astoria hotel.

"Yeah, it's a lot of money, but it's a lot of work and it's worth it," said one department official, who like the others, spoke on condition of anonymity.

"We're in this for the long haul," the official said of continued US participation in the United Nations in the face of its failure to meet President George W. Bush (news - web sites)'s challenge to disarm Iraq or lose relevance and go the way of the now-defunct League of Nations.

Negroponte, who succeeds such renowned US diplomats as Henry Cabot Lodge, Adlai Stevenson, Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Madeleine Albright (news - web sites) in the UN post as well as the Waldorf residence, had complained that the 10- by 17-foot (three- by five-meter) kitchen was simply too small to accommodate the needs of guests at the multitude of functions he hosts, the officials said.
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:banghead: :what: :cuss:

[Jim March]

Ummmm...the thing is, IF you're gonna do diplomacy, you have to have fancy digs to do it in.

[Preacherman]

Don't forget that this is basically a restaurant kitchen, which will cater for parties and receptions with literally hundreds of people present. It's not your average domestic heat-'n-eat scenario... Still, it's painful to think that that kitchen will cost almost ten times as much as my whole house!

:what:

[Sleeping Dog]

Preacherman, your place sounds like mine. But when the ambassador hosts a party, he probably doesn't empty a few bags of ice into the sink to keep the beverages cold.

I need a better kitchen, because when I host a party, most of the guests seem to gravitate to the kitchen. Maybe because of the sink full of icy-cold beverages.

I don't think I'd enjoy being at a party at the UN ambassador's residense. I'd probably get removed for insulting the French ambassador anyway.

Regards.

[Ebbtide]

I'm sure they are looking at it as an investment that will appreciate:rolleyes:

That kitchen is smaller than mine and they are going to put 600k into it. What kind of kitchen is this? Do they have to purchase the suite nextdoor too?

[Jim March]

Read it again: the 10x17 kitchen was "too small" to cook for hundreds, so they built a whole new one, probably expanding it into another room or tearing out closets or something.

While not something we might like, it's still a (barely) understandable expense. I've heard of WAY worse boondoggles than this.