NY Daily News: W's D-Day speech on 100G set

[brooklynite]

Daily News Exclusive

WASHINGTON - White House aides advancing President Bush's Normandy visit ordered the Pentagon to erect a $100,000 platform for his entry into a U.S. military cemetery, well-placed sources told the Daily News.

American taxpayers picked up the six-figure tab for the red carpet, walkway and artificial island hurriedly built over a memorial pool so that Bush and French President Jacques Chirac could walk in style to the dais for last week's ceremony commemorating the 60th anniversary of the D-Day landings.

Military engineers were given just one day's notice to create the set for Bush's speech at the U.S. cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer, these sources told The News.

http://nydailynews.com/front/story/203374p-175359c.html
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Your tax dollars at work for you.....

[phillybri]

1. And the deficit grows some more...

:puke:

[WillParkinson]

4. Aw, come on...you're looking at it the wrong way...

The money is helping the economy! Who cares about a few trillion dollar deficit.

[Terran]

2. No sense of proportion whatsover

Modesty and propriety be damned! Bush WILL be treated like a goddam monarch! These people make me SICK!!!

[koopie57]

10. I heard bush

at the press conference yesterday and I was absolutely stunned at what I saw and heard. It was ... I did this, I did that, I am a leader, and he went on and on like this in answer to a question about the economy. The guy who he was giving the press conference with was in the background looking at george and I swear to god he looked dumbfounded.

I think that he has lost it big time. I remember from my abnormal psych class something about 'visions of grandiosity' and he seems to be a classic case for it. I think he believes he is god. I hope he stays crazy until the debates cuz I think people will be just as stunned as I was. All those who think he is a down-home guy will be in for a big surprise.

And what do those other arrogant republicans think of this? I can't believe they will continue to let him take total credit for everything for long.

[LizW]

3. The French must not have heard

that King George's feet cannot touch the ground.

:eyes:

[CatWoman]

5. *GASP*!!!! Will Hannity be outraged about THIS???

The red carpet price tag wasn't anticipated by Pentagon planners, so the $100,000, which has already been paid out to the civilian contractors who did the work, will have to be scrounged from somewhere else.

"That money will have to come out of some account that otherwise would be spent on soldiers," according to a source familiar with the situation.

[UpInArms]

7. you forget their little $2.3 trillion "slush" fund

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/01/29/eveningnews/main325985.shtml

excerpt:

More money for the Pentagon, CBS News Correspondent Vince Gonzales reports, while its own auditors admit the military cannot account for 25 percent of what it spends.

"According to some estimates we cannot track $2.3 trillion in transactions," Rumsfeld admitted.

$2.3 trillion — that's $8,000 for every man, woman and child in America. To understand how the Pentagon can lose track of trillions, consider the case of one military accountant who tried to find out what happened to a mere $300 million.

"We know it's gone. But we don't know what they spent it on," said Jim Minnery, Defense Finance and Accounting Service.

Minnery, a former Marine turned whistle-blower, is risking his job by speaking out for the first time about the millions he noticed were missing from one defense agency's balance sheets. Minnery tried to follow the money trail, even crisscrossing the country looking for records.

"The director looked at me and said 'Why do you care about this stuff?' It took me aback, you know? My supervisor asking me why I care about doing a good job," said Minnery.

He was reassigned and says officials then covered up the problem by just writing it off.

"They have to cover it up," he said. "That's where the corruption comes in. They have to cover up the fact that they can't do the job."

[THUNDER HANDS]

6. he does this everywhere he goes

Go back and read Jimmy Breslin's column on Bush coming to Long Island for a 911 memorial. They built a gravel road just for him so his kingly feet wouldn't touch the dirt.

[FlaGranny]

8. The feet of the bush

must not touch the earth, lest they be soiled

[Scurrilous]

9. The only part of Bush's anatomy...

...that touches the earth these days is his pretzeled puss.

[Tellurian]

11. Well, this is really too bad..

"That money will have to come out of some account that otherwise would be spent on soldiers," according to a source familiar with the situation."

In light of the fact, many soldiers are using private money to purchase their own safety items for defense to sustain themselves.