Check out these horrifying stats from the Center for American Progress (get full list here):
$40 million: Cost of Bush inaugural ball festivities, not counting security costs.
$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.
400: Pounds of lobster provided for "inaugural feeding frenzy" at the exclusive Mandarin Oriental hotel.
3,000: Number of "Laura Bush Cowboy cookies" provided for "inaugural feeding frenzy" at the Mandarin hotel.
22 million: Number of children in regions devastated by the tsunami who could have received vaccinations and preventive health care with the amount of money spent on the inauguration.
1,160,000: Number of girls who could be sent to school for a year in Afghanistan with the amount of money lavished on the inauguration.
66: Percentage of Americans who think this over-the-top inauguration should have been scaled back.
Weekly Feministing Newsletter
Feministing RSS Feed
0: The number of girls who could be sent to school for a year in Afghanistan if we hadn't kicked the Taliban's butt.
0: Number of conservative Bush voters who listened to feminist concerns about the Taliban before 9/11.
Unknown-children that will ge more help that could ever possably be expected from US tax dollars and donations.
Unknown-how little I could possably care about Afghani school children until all US school children that want one get an uninflated, reasonable(in my mind of course), and basic education.
Unknown- tax dollars spent on this national gala celebratory event for the world to see. (I got my invitation, didn't everybody else?)I believe, so far, only extra security is on the tax dole, what with all the extra threats of civil disobediance and all.
See how fun it is? You can play those games with literally anything, which was my point.