Bush Starts Inauguration Day At Church
President George W. Bush, who rarely carries a wallet, is
caught empty-handed when the offering plate came around during a church service.
( Caution - some images below the fold are very graphic )
The Robber Baron's Party Let's Bring Tea
by Thom Hartmann
They're staging a celebration of their power in Washington, DC, where they help write the majority of legislation and hold captive all but a very few of our nation's legislators. The television networks they own are showing the party in all its pomp and ceremony. The newspapers and magazines they own are telling us what a fine time is being had by all in Washington, DC. The radio stations, networks, and talk show hosts they own are reassuring us that they know what is best, that all will be well, that "freedom is on the march."
--snip--
Today's real battles in Washington, DC, and in state capitols across the nation are not just about privatizing Social Security, or turning Medicare into a feeding trough for the big pharmaceutical and insurance companies.
They're not only about drilling for oil in the Arctic while refusing to increase fuel efficiency standards for cars, doing away with the $100,000 tax break for purchasers of SUVs, or opening millions of acres of wild lands to loggers, miners, and developers.
They're not even about Bush putting one of the nation's worst polluters in charge of the Department of Energy, an insurance-industry mogul in charge of HHS and its Medicare program, or his appointing the former assistant director of the Cato Institute's Project on Social Security Privatization as Associate Commissioner for Retirement Policy at the Social Security Administration. These are just symptoms.
Today's real battles in the halls of government are about the survival of democracy itself.
Dancing the War Away
By Bob Herbert
The New York Times
Incredibly, with more than 1,360 American troops dead and more than 10,000 wounded, and with scores of thousands of Iraqis dead and wounded, the president never once mentioned the word Iraq in his Inaugural Address. He avoided all but the most general references to the war. Lyndon Johnson used to agonize over the war that unraveled his presidency. Mr. Bush, riding the crest of his re-election wave, seems not to be similarly bothered.
--snip--
As the well-heeled Bush crowd was laughing and dancing in tuxedos and designer gowns, the situation in Iraq was deteriorating to new levels of horror. The Black Tie and Boots Ball was held on the same day that 26 people were killed in five powerful car and truck bombs in Baghdad. With the elections just a week and a half away, American commanders, according to John F. Burns of The Times, are seeking "to prepare public opinion in Iraq and abroad for one of the bloodiest chapters in the war so far."
--snip--
The disconnect between the over-the-top celebrations in Washington and the hideous reality of Iraq does not in any way surprise me. It's exactly what we should expect from the president and his supporters, who seem always to exist in a fantasy realm far removed from such ugly realities as war and suffering. In that realm you can start wars without having to deal with the consequences of them. You don't even have to pay for them. You can put them on a credit card.
All the President's Fantasies
By Joe Conason
Salon.com
--snip--
Mentioning Iraq by name, for instance, would have bummed out his cheering Republican audience, clapping their gloved hands in the frozen capital. So instead he referred to the "tens of millions [who] have achieved their freedom" because "we have acted."
--snip--
Leaving aside the false premises the president cited in going to war against Iraq, his administration's incompetence has created an environment in that country closer to anarchy than freedom. He might at least have acknowledged the Iraqis' intense suffering and the enormous price they have paid for his mistakes. Instead he merely flattered his American audience for its "patience." In real life, Bush knows that patience is running out, with nearly 60 percent of Americans now expressing grave doubts about the war.
The Inaugural Ball: Dancing with Wolves
By Susan Lenfestey
The Star Tribune, Minneapolis, Minnesota
--snip--
As the Republican Congress gets ready to underfund everything from Head Start to veterans' benefits, Speaker Dennis Hastert checks his profile in the mirror.
--snip--
As Osama bin Laden chuckles in his cave to see America's fortunes sink in the morass of Iraq and as fresh recruits to his cause multiply like flies, Dick Cheney pops the cork on a bottle of Dom Perignon.
--snip--
As Pfc. Francis Obaji, oldest son of an immigrant Nigerian family, is zipped into a body bag for the sad journey home, Laura Bush zips up her Oscar de la Renta gown.
Inauguration: Lifestyles of the Rich and Heartless
$40 million: Cost of Bush inaugural ball festivities, not counting security costs.
$2,000: Amount FDR spent on the inaugural in 1945 - about $20,000 in today's dollars.
$20,000: Cost of yellow roses purchased for inaugural festivities by D.C.'s Ritz Carlton.
200: Number of Humvees outfitted with top-of-the-line armor for troops in Iraq that could have been purchased with the amount of money blown on the inauguration.
$10,000: Price of an inaugural package at the Fairmont Hotel, which includes a Beluga caviar and Dom Perignon reception, a chauffeured Rolls Royce and two actors posing as "faux" Secret Service agents, complete with black sunglasses and cufflink walkie-talkies
Inauguration Cost
What Bush's Inauguration Could Have Bought
What does $40 million buy?
Doing the Inauguration on $10,000 a night or less
The Inaugural Cowboy Hat
on the coronation, companies bankrolling it, and soft money
Attn! Top Co.'s Raise Inaugural Cash
Inaugural Event Tickets
Presidential Inaugural Committee - Major Donor Information
Some Question Steep Inauguration Price Tag
Inaugural Address - Kos diaries
What Bush REALLY Said Today
Analyzing Bush's Inaugural Address
John F Kennedy's Inaugural Speech
my sarcastic, cynical rebuttal to the inaugural address
An Inaugural Speech to Divide
Analyzing Bush's Inaugural Address
Inauguration Kos Diaries
UPDATED: BLACK THURSDAY is a HOLIDAY!
'Granny D' Calls for Revolution!
RWCM coverage
Fox news inaugural coverage MELT DOWN.
Protests
Inaugural Protests in Many Cities
Protest Slideshow
A Patriotic Commemorative Photographic Tribute...
Protests Kos diaries
photos from DC protest
America at DAWN
Cable news dismissed and ridiculed inauguration protesters
Sandwiched Between Extremes: Inauguration Day 2005
I Was There
UPDATE: protests turn violent - (was A/V from inaugural protests)
Your opinion on the Inauguration Protests
A Teenagers Report From The Protests In DC W/ Poll
DC updates from the protests
Inauguration Guide for Pissed-Off Patriots
Report from the Counter Inaugural Demonstrations in Washington
Inauguration - Kos Diaries
The Man Who Should Have Been Sworn In
PastorDan's Sermon for Inauguration Day
Inauguration - Party Time - Kos Diaries
As you are dancing tonight Mr. Bush...
150,000 Dead; Scores of Millions Homeless. Predient Bush, Do you REALLY Want to Party?
Black Ties and Body Bags
Inauguration - Party Time -
Mrs. Laura Bush has chosen three American designers to create gowns and suits for the events celebrating the 55th Presidential Inauguration. Oscar de la Renta, Carolina Herrera, and Peggy Jennings designed outfits for Inaugural activities beginning on January 19.
Black Tie And Boots
Hail to the Suite
Enthusiastic Parties to a Second Term
This year, limousines had to be brought in from New York just to meet the demand. Caterers said the parties are more numerous and grander than ever.
WHILE ... no mention of Iraq by Bush
Kos Diary - How bad is it? Bad: A soldier's words.
US Military Personnel Wounded in Iraq & Afghanistan:A Running Log
Most Americans haven't seen the growing legion of wounded troops returning from Iraq who are cared for at military facilities sealed off from the public. The media, in turn, have focused on the hit-and-run guerrilla attacks that claim one or two GIs in Iraq almost daily. Little attention has been paid to the long, difficult and very personal struggles that ensue in wards at BAMC and Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington.
Iraqi Freedom and Liberty Bush style
Homeless children warm themselves by a fire in the Afghan capital of Kabul.
At Bush is spreading democracy in Iraq by a having elections. Then Iraq can learn from our elections and democracy in the future
Sadly this will all be forgotten in a few months, when the Bush Marketing Team believes it is best for a new war, to keep our minds off of current problems, and to rally the American Patriotic Spirit once again. God Bless George Bush and the USA.