http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=655914
"Bush is drawing heat over a $40 million (21.5 million pound) splurge on inaugural balls, concerts and candlelight dinners while the country is in a sombre mood because of the Iraq war and Asian tsunami."
"Precedent suggests that inaugural festivities should be muted -- if not cancelled -- in wartime," Weiner wrote to Bush, saying that the money could pay for 690 Humvees and a $290 bonus for each soldier serving in Iraq."
I love that subject title...