Whining? Art, please do not speak of which you don’t know. I live in Washington. They pull DC cops out of my (transitional, I might add) neighborhood to help out with the inauguration. DC gets to foot the bill, contrary to how it’s been done in the past. This is fair how?
DC CAN’T go to congress for more money. Remember the slogan ‘taxation without representation’? It’s hard to argue for a budget if you have neither a US Representative, nor a Senator. Of course Kerry would have been more welcome than Bush - all Bush did on his first day in office was have the “Taxation w/out Representation” plates taken off his limo. Repubs are against a US rep in Congress (apart from one guy in Virginia), Dems are generally in favor.
BTW, If you believe that DC is still being mismanaged and thus does not deserve to be represented in Congress, check the latest S&P bond ratings. You’ll be surprised.
What’s more, this is not a WTC event. Nor is it a Kerry inauguration. The Clintons are not in town either, nor is this about traveling afaik, so why do you bring up his travel abroad budget? All I know is that my house (three miles away from the White House) was shaking yesterday afternoon from fireworks and jet plane flyovers so hard that I turned on the TV to see if there was another attack.
Finally, I’d hope for it to be at least debatable to have a discussion on whether having huge festivities just weeks after > 200 000 humans died in a natural desaster, imho. Nevermind that there’s a war going on. How about cutting the non-security cost in half, and donating that money to families of those lost in the war? Didn’t even cross their minds. No, we have to have a “Tuxedo and Boots” Ball at the Washington Hilton, with 2500 pounds of beef brisket. (I’m not making this number up.)
Don’t get me wrong - I’m all for enjoying life and being positive. I just find it cynical that there is so much lip service paid to ‘our veterans’ and our ‘men and women in the armed forces’. I live next door to the US Armed Forces retirement home. I sure didn’t see anyone stop by to say ‘Thanks’.
Maybe Dems would have had equally obscene festivities the Republicans are having right now. I’d be equally incensed.
If you’re ever in town, check out the FDR Memorial. It’s on a fantastic run route around the Tidal Basin (although they don’t like you to run through it, obviously), and it’s really neat.
I am well aware that DC is a completely unique city because of its relationship to the federal government. I am aware there are large pluses and large minuses to the city because of its unique status.
I don’t know what is fair or unfair regarding this particular situation. I only know that in the scheme of the cash flow to the City from Congress, this one item is chump change that will get made up in other appropriations or lost in the rounding.
The problem with your rant against the party goers is that in many cases they are the ones who have also contributed to and raised money for the tsunami victims and many other charities. They are the ones who run the United Way back home and form the backbone of the community in many other ways. It is not a matter of choosing between partying and charity. We can do both.
In my case, I donated to the American Red Cross for the tsunami relief effort and the Semper Fi Injured Warriors fund. Yesterday, I had the privilege of meeting for the first time in years Air Force Sgt. Franke, my first cousin once removed, who just got back from his second tour in Iraq. Half of the C-130s he maintains are now in Asia doing tsunami relief work. I spent five minutes (which was about 4.5 minutes more than he really wanted) thanking him for his service to his country.
We are a big country. We can’t do everything, but we can help the world’s needy and have an occasional party.
Let Bush have his party. He won, he’s entitled to spend his political capital or our tax money on whatever he damn pleases. Why all the kvetching over these peanuts?
DC residents have quite a bit to gripe about in how they’re treated by Congress and the WH. I don’t care as much about $12 million (wait, I do – it’s my taxes!), but this was more about principle.
Again, I agree that there should be a celebration, and I commend those folks who are involved in charities back home. I guess I was just hoping for a little understatement and reflection in light of current events (apart from screwing me out of my tax money - surely you can relate to that!). Maybe that’s going on, I don’t know. I wasn’t invited, since I didn’t pony up a sufficient amount of cash.
Actually, the woman has better academic credentials than anyone here, probably. This reinforces the notion I’ve had for a long time that political choices are emotional choices we RATIONALIZE. It’s her rationalizations that are so strained-though creative and funny-that are an index of how badly she wants to bring her emotional needs into sync with her intellectual talents. Everyone does it to one degree or another. She’s totaly whacked, of course, and, I might add, probably anorexic. Does she weigh 80 lbs?
Three years for a J.D. The crunch with the PhD is the paper of course. Could take years. In fact, my brother finished up at Columbia but for his doctoral thesis-20 years ago! (Which I’ve edited FOUR FRIGGIN’ times. ).
EDIT: Speaking of which, wouldn’t it be nice if I could edit my own bloody prose?
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