Critics are calling on US President George W. Bush to scale back the glittering multi-million dollar parties planned this week in honor of his second-term inauguration, saying lavish festivities are unseemly at a time of war.
Bush is to be sworn in on Thursday and feted with four days of pomp and party-going at a pricetag of about US$40 million.
PHOTO: AFP
An unprecedented military presence and other security measures will add another US$100 million to the cost, to pay for everything from police overtime wages to reviewing stands stretching from the US Capitol building to the White House.
But critics insist that with US troops dying daily in Iraq, the tone surrounding this year's celebration should be more modest.
"I would have hoped they would have followed the traditions of President Wilson and President Roosevelt, who at a time of war had a very muted celebration," said Democratic Representative Robert Menendez, speaking on CNN on Sunday.
"I think when young men and women are dying we should think about the reality of how we conduct ourselves here at home," he added.
His comments echoed those of Democratic Representative Anthony Weiner, who, in a letter to Bush earlier this month, urged the president to redirect some of the US$40 million "towards a use more fitting to these somber times -- bonuses or equipment for our troops."
Inauguration committee officials however, point out that the theme of the fete -- "Celebrating Freedom, Honoring Service" -- already honors the US military, as well as the president's role as commander-in-chief.
Bush told reporters last week he sees no problem with either how the money is raised or how it is spent, noting that it has all been raised with private donations.
"There's no taxpayer money involved in this," he said, brushing aside calls that some of the funds be channeled to South Asia for tsunami relief.
"A lot of the people who are coming here to the inauguration have given" to tsunami victims, Bush said.
"I think it's important to celebrate a peaceful transfer of power ... I'm looking forward to the celebration," he told reporters.
Critics also noted that donations for the events mostly come from large corporations with enormous regulatory and policy interests in Washington, and say potentially serious conflicts of interest exist.
Dozens of corporate contributors have donated US$250,000 each -- the self-imposed maximum donation accepted by the inauguration planning committee.
Republicans said the entire brouhaha over the cost of the inauguration and the source of the money was the latest example of Democratic sour grapes for having failed to recapture the White House after a hard-fought election campaign.
A slightly more circumspect Republican lawmaker, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, said on Sunday that inaugurations are meant to be celebrated in grand style -- whichever party wins the White House.
"I think it's a very important event, whether it's a Republican or Democrat president that's going to be inaugurated, because it's really a celebration of the presidency, of the office," she said.
And while the mood among members of Bush's Republican party will be celebratory, the sobriety of the occasion will perhaps not be forgotten in the revelry, she added.
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS