Viva Bush?
The Bush inauguration is tomorrow. Now, this is the first one I've actually been up on the news for, but there seems to be a lot of people upset over it. Between Newdow's new complaint or protests just about anyone seems to be upset over something. And who's to stop them...it is America after all. To be honest I'm not sure I understand why everyone hates Bush. It's not that I'm ignorant - I think ;-). Is this kind of hate typical of an presidency/inauguration?
Cassini is exploring Titan, Saturn's biggest moon. NASA has posted some raw images here (courtesy of U of A actually, and others). I know they're not expecting to find any life (mainly due to the -290 degree F weather), yet it would still be interesting to know what they find. If you know of better pictures/info let me know.
Joke of the Day: Did you hear about the guy who would give his left nut for a tractor. No...really. Did you hear about the guy who would give his left nut for a tractor.
Upset cause you can't put the Ten Commandments in your courthouse? Lease the land to a company that will. I am what you would call a Ten Commandments fan, but I think the bible said write God's word on your heart not your courthouse (and I mean heart I figuratively, not open chest surgery).
There's more, but maybe I'll save it for later.
Cassini is exploring Titan, Saturn's biggest moon. NASA has posted some raw images here (courtesy of U of A actually, and others). I know they're not expecting to find any life (mainly due to the -290 degree F weather), yet it would still be interesting to know what they find. If you know of better pictures/info let me know.
Joke of the Day: Did you hear about the guy who would give his left nut for a tractor. No...really. Did you hear about the guy who would give his left nut for a tractor.
Upset cause you can't put the Ten Commandments in your courthouse? Lease the land to a company that will. I am what you would call a Ten Commandments fan, but I think the bible said write God's word on your heart not your courthouse (and I mean heart I figuratively, not open chest surgery).
There's more, but maybe I'll save it for later.
posted by Kevin at 1/19/2005 09:43:00 PM
3 Comments:
Though I've often defended some of Bush's policies in spite of my generally liberal principles, but his inauguration plan is not one of them. The Bull Moose sums up my feelings on the inauguration rather nicely.
More from the Moose here, here and here.
Basically, I - and many others - feel like the money could be better spent. Maybe, for example, they could use that $40 million to help raise the military death benefit. In any case, in a time when our nation is at war and American soldiers are dying every day, having a $40 million dollar bash for your cronies strikes me as tasteless.
According to the Washington Times, Bill Clinton spent $42 million on his second inauguration. Adjusted to inflation, he spent about 25% more than Bush is for his second. Isn't that a cutback? People complained then just like they complain now.
Even so, the majority of the funds for this and previous inaugurations come from private donations anyways. Let them throw their money where they want.
It's not just the cost - in normal times, I'd completely agree with you, Presidents can do what they want with private money.
But we're at war, and moderation is the order of the day. Imagine if Bush, instead of throwing a lavish party for inauguration, he instead directed his supporters to give the money they would have given to him to help the troops.
Even if only a quarter of the people who helped to pay for the inauguration ponied up, that'd be $10 million going to our troops. Not only would that be an amazing gesture, it would truly be "Celebrating Freedom, Honoring Service," which was the theme for this year's inauguration event.
When Clinton was in office, Republicans missed no opportunity to remind us that the President isn't just the commander-in-chief, he's the moral leader of our nation. What a wonderful thing it would be if - instead of simply emulating the sweeping, national-greatness rhetoric of FDR and JFK - President Bush chose to follow in their footsteps and *be* a moral leader as well, instead of just acting like one.
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