One "Players Ball" I wont ever be going to!

Solomon: "Did you or the president ever discuss canceling the nine balls and using the $40 million inaugural budget to purchase better equipment for the troops?"

Phillips: "I think we felt like we would have a traditional set of events and we would focus on honoring the people who are serving our country right now-- not just the people in the armed forces, but also the community volunteers, the firemen, the policemen, the teachers, the people who serve at, you know, the--well, it's called the StewPot in Dallas, people who work with the homeless."

Solomon: "How do any of them benefit from the inaugural balls?"

Phillips: "I'm not sure that they do benefit from them."

Solomon: "Then how, exactly, are you honoring them?"

Phillips: "Honoring service is what our theme is about."

That's right. None of them benefit; only the corporate fat cats who propelled an inexperienced Texas governor to the White House, showered cash on his re-election campaign and will now underwrite the most lavish inauguration in history. To date, the Committee has raised $13 million, including thirty-one $250,000 donations and forty-one $100,000 donations. Expect these numbers to grow exponentially.
Contributors include big energy (ExxonMobil, Nuclear Energy Institute), big defense (Boeing, Northrup Grumman), big Wall Street (Goldman Sachs), etc, etc. Virtually all of the donors stand to gain from Bush's second term agenda, whether it be passing the dirty energy bill, increasing defense spending, limiting liability lawsuits or privatizing social security.

On closing night, the inauguration throws the "Commander-in-Chief Ball" for 2,000 returned troops. These soldiers get one night. The lobbyists get 365.