It will be a great day when the schools have all the money they need ..

and Bush's friends have to hold a bake sale to pay for the inauguration.

I realize that the forty to fifty million dollars that will be spent on the coronation inauguration will come from private donor$. I suppose I should find it gratifying that the predominant theme of the parties will be "honoring the military." I just find the whole idea to be obscene, and I'm not the only one.

I have a radical idea. If Bush et al really want to honor the military and support the troops and their families, they could abstain from spending $50 million on a few evenings of confetti and caviar. They could throw about one tenth of that amount .. a mere $5 million .. at our school district which, incidentally, will lose $5 million of Federal Impact Aid next year.

This means that the students - the vast majority of whom have at least one parent serving on Active Duty at Fort Drum - will face increased class sizes and as yet unspecified program cuts.

This means that highly talented and dedicated teachers, like William's second grade teacher - are facing layoffs.

This is occuring at a time when our military community is facing yet another massive deployment to Iraq.

Oh, and coincidentally, Fort Drum is expanding right now, so more students will be have to be served with less funding.

Thanks.