According to today's Tribune, Bush's 2nd inaguration will likely cost more than the $40 million spent on his last one. While the vast majority of the funding comes from corporate donations, this news leaves a bitter taste in the mouth of people spending their days dodging stories of inadequately protected American military troops and Indian Ocean nations without the funds for an early-warning system to avoid the loss of 44,000 125,000 people in a sudden tropical tragedy.

    "Although the inaugural committee has imposed limits on top donors, there is no legal limit. This makes an inauguration a unique opportunity for political donors in an era when 'soft-money' donations to political parties have been strictly curtailed by law and no individual or corporation can give more than $2,000 to a presidential campaign.
    "'This is one of the few places left where corporations, wealthy individuals and others can provide a huge sum of money to directly help a president, and gain access and influence as a result,'" said Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21, a Washington-based public interest group.
    "'It just should not be going on. There is no need to take a pivotal moment in our democracy and turn it into an old-fashioned, big-money Washington operation that benefits the relatively few,' he added.
    "'The alternative is public funding or alternative funding--or not having the need to have nine different inaugural balls," Wertheimer said.'Much of funding goes into partying. If we as a country can't find a way to fund the inauguration with either small funds or public contributions, then we ought to cut back on the costs.'"

    This is absolutely disgusting. Here are some of the companies gleefully participating in this sludgefest:

    & nbsp;"Twenty-one companies and individuals have donated the maximum $250,000. They include businesses with an interest in the outcome of the administration's agenda on such matters as oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
    "Among the top donors: Exxon Mobil Corp., Occidental Petroleum Corp., ChevronTexaco Corp. and Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens, according to the committee's accounting of about $8 million raised through Dec. 23.
    "Other $250,000 donors include former Enron President Richard Kinder of Houston; Dell computer founder Michael Dell of Austin, Texas; United Technologies Corp.; Stephens Group Inc., an investment firm in Little Rock, Ark.; and Sallie Mae Inc., the Reston, Va.-based organization that makes student loans.
    "Another 24 companies and individuals have given $100,000 apiece. These include Northrop Grumman Corp., a leading defense contractor; International Paper Co.; financial services company GMAC; and Al Hoffman, the Florida-based finance chairman for the Republican National Committee."

But wait, there's more. Check this out:

    "Mike Hightower, a vice president and lobbyist for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, is among those fundraisers. His company donated $100,000 for Bush's first inauguration. And Hightower, involved in more than $3 million of fundraising for Bush's re-election, is asking his company to help sponsor the 2005 inauguration.
    "'Blue Cross has been a huge supporter of the president and the administration,' Hightower said. 'My guess is we'll do something.'
    "What, beyond dinner and dancing, does a company get for its inaugural money?
    "'The most any company is going to get is access to work an issue,' Hightower said. 'When you look at where we're going on health care, the president, his father and Jeb [Bush, Florida's governor] have been aligned on what we want, which is access to quality health care. We have been able to sit down with people in the administration and give them our perspective. They have been most generous.'"

Oh, I bet. This is disgusting.