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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>This all reflects King George’s “Let
Them Eat Cake” attitude toward the less fortunate.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Tom Hansen<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=navy face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:navy'>We could learn a lot from crayons: some are
sharp, some are pretty, some are dull, some have weird names, and all are
different colors....but they all exist very nicely in the same box. </span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold'>From:</span></font></b><font size=2
face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>
vision2020-bounces@moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces@moscow.com] <b><span
style='font-weight:bold'>On Behalf Of </span></b>Joan Opyr<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> Thursday, January 13, 2005
9:57 PM<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> Vision2020 Moscow<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> [Vision2020] Inauguration
costs or what else $40 million could buy</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>Dear Visionaries:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>Here's a little something to think about on the eve of Mr.
Bush's second inauguration. Forwarding from Salon.com: a list of some of
the things $40 million might buy other than glittering balls and
champagne orgies. So what if it's private money? I believe private
money is what Jay Gatsby was spending while his fellow citizens starved in the
streets. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>As I read more of the Bush II festivities, I'm reminded of
Herbert Hoover's insistence on eating a seven-course dinner every night
during the height of the Great
Depression. He believed that if the poor and destitute
knew that the President kept to his regular opulent
dining habits, it would be good for the national morale.
And it was. The people finally got wise and voted for FDR. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>--Joan Opyr/Auntie Establishment<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<p><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'>http://www.salon.com/news/wire/2005/01/13/cost/print.html<br>
<br>
<br>
</span></font><font size=5><span style='font-size:18.0pt'><!-- Headline -->Some
now question cost of inauguration</span></font><font size=2 face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'><br>
</span></font><font size=2 color="#999999"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
color:#999999'>- - - - - - - - - - - -</span></font><font size=2 face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'><br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'><!-- Byline -->By Will Lester</span></b><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'><a
href="http://salon.com/news/wire/2005/01/13/cost/print.html"
lid="http://images.salon.com/src/print_new.gif"><span style='text-decoration:
none'><img border=0 width=58 height=21 id="_x0000_i1025"
src="http://images.salon.com/src/print_new.gif" alt=print></span></a><a
href="http://salon.com/news/wire/2005/01/13/cost/email.html"
lid="http://images.salon.com/src/email_new.gif"><span style='text-decoration:
none'><img border=0 width=57 height=21 id="_x0000_i1026"
src="http://images.salon.com/src/email_new.gif" alt=e-mail></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'>Jan.
13, 2005 | </span></font><font size=1 face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:Verdana'>Washington -- </span></font><!-- end default pre content -->President
Bush's second inauguration will cost tens of millions of dollars -- $40 million
alone in private donations for the balls, parade and other invitation-only
parties. With that kind of money, what could you buy? <o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>--200
armored Humvees with the best armor for troops in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Iraq</st1:place></st1:country-region>. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>--Vaccinations
and preventive health care for 22 million children in regions devastated by the
tsunami. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>--A down
payment on the nation's deficit, which hit a record-breaking $412 billion last
year. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>--Two
years' salary for the Mets' new center fielder Carlos Beltran, or all of
pitcher Randy Johnson's contract extension with the New York Yankees. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Weeks
ago, the inauguration and its accompanying costs were considered a given, an
historic ceremony with all the pomp, pageantry and celebrations that the nation
had come to expect every four years. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>But a
recent confluence of events -- the tsunami natural disaster, Bush's warning
about Social Security finances and the $5 billion-a-month price tag for the war
in Iraq -- have many Americans now wondering why spend the money the second
time around. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>While the
Presidential Inaugural Committee hopes to raise $40 million in private
donations for the balls, parades and candlelight dinners for high-roller
donors, millions of government dollars will be spent on construction of the
platform and stands at the Capitol, police overtime, military personnel and the
tightest security for the first post-Sept. 11 inaugural. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
questions have come from Bush supporters and opponents: Do we need to spend this
money on what seems so extravagant? <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>New York
Rep. Anthony Weiner, a Democrat, suggested inaugural parties should be scaled
back, citing as a precedent Roosevelt's inauguration during World War II. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"President
Roosevelt held his 1945 inaugural at the White House, making a short speech and
serving guests cold chicken salad and plain pound cake," according to a
letter from Weiner and Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash. "During World War I,
President Wilson did not have any parties at his 1917 inaugural, saying that
such festivities would be undignified." <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Lawmakers
representing the <st1:State w:st="on">Washington</st1:State> area have
complained to the White House about the <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">District
of Columbia</st1:place></st1:State> not getting enough federal help to cover
the estimated $17.3 million security costs of the inaugural. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Organizers
of the inaugural defended the celebration. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"The
inauguration of a <st1:country-region w:st="on">United States</st1:country-region>
president is one of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s
greatest traditions, a tradition that transcends partisan politics," said
Tracey Schmitt, a spokeswoman for the Presidential Inaugural Committee.
"Our theme is celebrating freedom and honoring service." <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>She cited
the Commander in Chief inaugural ball that offers free tickets to service
members back from <st1:country-region w:st="on">Afghanistan</st1:country-region>
and <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Iraq</st1:place></st1:country-region>
and their family members. That ball is one of nine; the other eight require a
ticket. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"Every
inaugural there's a really good reason given why you should spend whatever
donors are sending in on something else," said Rich Galen, a veteran
Republican activist, saying many of the complaints come from the losers of the
election. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Billionaire
Mark Cuban, owner of the National Basketball Association's Dallas Mavericks,
voted for Bush -- twice. Cuban knows a thing or two about big spending, once
starring in ABC's reality TV show, "The Benefactor," in which 16
contenders tried to pass his test for success and win $1 million. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Cuban
questioned spending all that money on the inaugural. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"As
a country, we face huge deficits. We face a declining economy We have service
people dying. We face responsibilities to help those suffering from the ...
devastation of the tsunamis," he wrote on his blog, a Web journal. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Cuban
challenged Bush to set an example: "Start by canceling your inauguration
parties and festivities." <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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