Very old, but fascinating how these people actually think. Note the "Ford/Bush scheme"... Nat http://209.51.135.194/www/ustaxpayers/hpisb564.html GERALD FORD STARTED IT GEORGE BUSH GAVE IT A BIG PUSH AND, NOW, UNLESS WE FIGHT BACK, WE WILL BE STUCK WITH IT It's another New World Order scheme to eliminate some of the comfortable distinctions which are viewed as obstacles to those who seek to destroy the uniqueness of the American nation state and to make it easier for international bureaucrats to build a "one size fits all" world in which it is easier for them to regulate ever more aspects of our lives. INTRUSIVE REGULATIONS TO MANDATE METRIC COMPLIANCE As reported in The Washington Times (12/18/96, p. A1), "Fairfax County is now requiring those who would build in the county to eschew feet and yards and submit their site plans in meters. "Homeowners ready to add a room or two to their house also will have to submit special permit applications in both the metric and English, or imperial, system of inches and feet. "Engineers and surveyors who draw site plans detailed renderings of the measurements, contours and topography of an area being primed for development say the switch to the metric system will be burdensome, at least for the first few years." METRIC GESTAPO WILL MAKE CONSTRUCTION COSTS ESCALATE " It becomes a hassle, said Jack Rinker, president of Rinker-Detwiler and Associates, a Manassas engineering and surveying company....Where the difficulty is going to come is when you start constructing things when you've got that drawing out in the field. " With metric, you're putting a lot of decimals in there, you're complicating the drawing. And you've got plumbers, carpenters and contractors in the field a whole group of people out there without college educations. "Adding to designers' unease is the varied pace at which local governments are moving to the metric system. "In Fairfax, for instance, site plans will have to use metric as of Aug. 1, 1997; also as of that date, homeowners will have to submit their special permit applications in both the metric and English systems. Prince William County, meanwhile, will require metric site plans as of mid-February. And nearby Loudoun County is refusing to accept any plan submitted with metric measurements." POPULAR OPPOSITION OF NO CONCERN TO "MILOSEVIC-STYLE" METRIC POLITICIANS "The United States has been trying to sell the public on the benefits of the metric system since 1975, but has had little luck as citizens have resisted throwing out mainstays such as ounces and miles as well as quaint oddities like pecks and bushels in favor of a system designed by the French.... CLINTON'S FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION ENFORCES FORD-BUSH SCHEME "[T]he current effort by some Virginia localities to start using metrics Albemarle County has also ordered its use comes at the prodding of the state Department of Transportation, itself egged on by the Federal Highway Administration, said Ed Jankiewicz, director of Fairfax's design review division. "The country made almost no progress in moving toward metrics in the first 15 years after passage of the 1975 Metric Conversion Act, prompting President Bush in 1991 to order federal agencies to set timetables for converting." FEDS HAVE $24 BILLION OF YOUR MONEY TO BRIBE LOCAL OFFICIALS "The FHA has since mandate that, as of Sept. 30, 1996, any company bidding to work on a federal project or seeking to work on a federally funded project must submit its plans in metric. The federal government spends about $24 billion on highway construction every year. "Moving to align its paperwork with the FHA's, the Virginia Department of Transportation has ordered that all plans submitted to gain access to state highways must contain metric measurements as of June 2000. "Since so many building projects abut state roads and public rights of way, forcing engineers and surveyors to submit site plans in metric is the logical next step, Mr. Jankiewicz said. "Developers must submit rezoning requests and development plans in both the metric and imperial systems, he added, because such plans are usually sought by residents questioning construction activity in their neighborhoods. ... "[T]he building industry is bracing for costly changes due to the human desire for nice round numbers. "Right now, he said, using the metric system means simply describing a standard pipe with metric measurements, converting 2 inches, for instance, into .050 meters. But some English measurements, such as 5� inches, convert to oddball centimeter sizes of .1375 meters, so over time pipe manufacturers might start producing a less mathematically cumbersome .15-meter pipe." SMALLER SIZE, LOWER QUALITY, AND HIGHER COST "Some newer fixtures such as doors and ceiling tiles manufactured by machines that use the metric system are already smaller than ones made a decade ago. Adding new fixtures to an old house likely will be a problem soon, Mr. Rinker said."
