[Vision2020] FW: NYTimes.com Article: Editorial: Victor's Spoils

[Carl Westberg]

No, it's not sour grapes from a liberal Democrat that makes me think the 
amount of money being spent on Bush's inaugauration is obscene.  I'd feel 
the same way if it was a John Kerry administration.  This is a disgusting 
amount of money at the wrong time.  This is from this morning's New York 
Times.                                                                       
                                                                             
                                                                             
                                                      Carl Westberg Jr.



















>Editorial: Victor's Spoils
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>January 11, 2005
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>At the rate President Bush's supporters are giving money,
>his second inauguration threatens to stand out in the
>history books like the common folks' muddy boot prints on
>the White House furniture at Andrew Jackson's gala. The $40
>million record for inaugural partying set four years ago
>for Mr. Bush is expected to be shattered this month. The
>only limits for this binge of giving are the private
>inaugural committee's maximum of $250,000 for corporate
>donors (more than 40 have pledged so far) and $100,000 for
>individuals (60 and counting).
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>Ordinary citizens might have hoped that the overriding
>issue in Washington - the perilous Iraq war, with its drain
>on the nation's blood and treasure - would dictate
>restraint. But plans for the four-day extravaganza roll
>forward with nine celebratory balls being underwritten by
>the usual corporate and fat-cat supplicants in the
>political power mill.
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>There's nothing new in Washington's triumphalist
>celebrations, festooned with price tags for access, but war
>usually mutes the singing and dancing. Not this year.
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>The inaugural's stated theme - "Celebrating Freedom,
>Honoring Service" - is spin-doctoring in the extreme and
>hardly justifies the unrestrained lucre-fest. Planners did
>take care to create a "Commander in Chief Ball," free to
>the military and their families. But that only underscores
>the bad taste. Officials say "freedom everywhere" is the
>point of the celebrations. The freedom most obviously
>honored is that of American businesses, eagerly writing
>checks to get ever closer to the election winners.
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>http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/11/opinion/11tue3.html?ex=1106465317&ei=1&en=efe3d9753b0ab99e
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