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One Central Texas high school band is scrambling to raise enough money for a trip to play for President Bush's inauguration. It's ten days away, but the Crawford High Band still needs to raise more than $25,000 to make the trip. They may sound like an ordinary high school band, but who they're practicing to play for is anything but ordinary. Four years ago, the Crawford High School Band was bussed to Washington D.C. to play at President Bush's inauguration parade. And now they've been asked to do it again, but they just need to raise enough money to make...

A California atheist's lawsuit to prevent Christian clergy from praying in the presidential inauguration should be dismissed because it is a recycled case about an issue that does not violate the U.S. Constitution, attorneys for President Bush said.     "There is no reason to 'reverse course' and abandon a widely accepted, noncontroversial aspect of the inaugural ceremony after over 200 years of this proper solemnization of a national event," the president's attorneys said in a 65-page response to the suit. Assistant Attorney General Peter D. Keisler, who filed the response Friday, wrote that atheist Michael Newdow, a Sacramento, Calif., doctor...

Hello, This is my first post on Free Republic. I am from the Puget Sound Chapter of ProtestWarrior. We are planning a counter to the wacko protest planned for Seattle on Jan 20. The main sponsors are ANSWER and Not In Our Name. I am not sure if there are any FR events planned. It would be good if we could coordinate our activities. Please send me a message if you are interested or have any information on this topic.

Crosses will be banned from this month's inaugural parade in Washington, D.C. The Jan. 20 presidential inauguration is causing controversy—and religion is at the heart of the strife. Not only is the phrase "under God" in the president's oath under attack from an atheist who has filed suit to stop any prayers from being said during the ceremony, now crosses have been banned from the inaugural parade. Critics are calling it religious discrimination and censorship. The Rev. Patrick Mahoney and the Christian Defense Coalition were granted a permit to hold a prayer vigil and demonstration during the parade down Pennsylvania...

Excuse the vanity post, but I need some information about the inauguration. I got a note from my Congressman saying that I will be receiving "standing room" tickets for the inaugural swearing in ceremony....Does that really mean that I will be close enough to see the event, or will I be one of the distant faces looking on from the ellipse?? If it's the latter, then I will probably enjoy the TV version more. Can anyone whose been to one of these affairs clue me in??

WASHINGTON — The government is asking a federal court to dismiss a lawsuit from an atheist who wants to bar the saying of a prayer at President George W. Bush's inauguration , calling the practice widely accepted and more than 200 years old, according to a court filing released Monday. Michael Newdow , best known for trying to remove "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance, filed suit last month in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. He said the use of a prayer is unconstitutional. Newdow said that two ministers delivered Christian invocations at Bush's first...

Inaugural Security Draws on Latest Technologies Command Post to Receive Streaming Intelligence From 50 Police Agencies Aloft and on the Ground The nerve center for the most heavily guarded presidential inauguration in history will not be in Washington, where President Bush will take the oath of office, but 25 miles away in a futuristic command post in Northern Virginia. Inside a gleaming steel-and-marble complex, the Secret Service and 50 federal, state and local agencies will monitor action in the sky, on the ground and in the subway system. Giant plasma screens will beam in live video from helicopters and cameras...

International ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism), a front group for the communist Workers World Party, has released a video that agitates for 'civil war' at President Bush's inaugural parade on January 20 in Washington, D.C.According to reports, the group has received demonstration permits from the U.S. Park Service for at least two positions along the parade route on Pennsylvania Avenue: the Navy Memorial and Freedom Plaza.The release of the video follows on the announcement that Ramsey Clark, a founder of ANSWER and its parent group, the International Action Center (IAC), will be one of Saddam Hussein's...

Anybody hear which Bible W. is going to use this time?

<p>California atheist Michael Newdow said yesterday that his legal attack on "Christian religious acts" in this year's presidential inauguration specifically targets only those performed by clergymen.</p> <p>"I have never sued to have anyone keep his or her hand off of a Bible," Mr. Newdow said in response to yesterday's story published in The Washington Times regarding his lawsuit. "As my prayer for relief and judgment specifies, I sought only the prohibition of using clergymen to further religion."</p>

WHY INAUGURATION DAY IS DANGEROUS. Unprepared by Norman Ornstein Traveling around Boston, Massachusetts, during the Democratic convention last summer wasn't easy. Fearing a terrorist attack, the Secret Service had ordered the closure of 40 miles of roads around the FleetCenter, where the convention was held, and 3,000 police were on duty to guard the site. The security measures taken during the Republican convention in New York City were even more extreme, with 10,000 police--many clad in riot gear--patrolling the streets immediately surrounding Madison Square Garden, seven police helicopters hovering overhead, and 26 police launches patrolling the Hudson and East rivers....

GA banned from Washington, D.C., for inauguration D.C.'s mayor and AOPA's Boyer incensed over closures For eight hours on Inauguration Day, Washington, D.C., and the skies for miles around it, will be completely off-limits to general aviation. Similarly, the streets of the nation's capital will be closed to vehicular traffic. Security officials have declared that President Bush's inauguration on January 20 is a "national security event," and the FAA, responding to orders from the Defense and Homeland Security departments, has issued a flight advisory prohibiting all general aviation VFR flight within or above the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Air Defense Identification...

In outlining their tactics and strategy for anarchist protests during the inauguration of President George W. Bush on January 20, the Anarchist Resistance website has called for an end to the United States. Below is their "Call to Action" posted on their website http://www.anarchistresistance.org/anarchistcall.shtml *************************************************************************************** All out for an anarchist mobilization against centralized power...at the 2005 Presidential Inauguration: Washington, DC - January 15-20th. As George W. Bush is coronated on January 20th, the question is not if there will be protests, but what shape these protests will take. Thousands are organizing to oppose Bush's Inauguration. As the liberal and authoritarian...

The Presidential Inauguration Committee intends to forge ahead with its resplendent plans for the second Bush inaugural. At the risk of sounding like a Grand Old Party pooper, I'm not thrilled. What gives me pause is the decision to spend some $40 million-plus at this moment in history. When I first began mulling over this expenditure, I thought it quite unseemly that, at a time when so many Americans and countless Iraqis have been and will be killed and maimed, we should be mounting a spectacle said to celebrate our troops, replete with nine official balls, many unofficial affairs, a...

Billionaire Wants Bush to Trim Inaugural Party Urges President to Send Savings to Tsunami Survivors In 2004, Mark Cuban ranked 215th on the Forbes' list of 400 richest Americans. DALLAS (AP) - Mark Cuban wants President Bush to downsize his inaugural ball and send the $40 million or so in savings to tsunami victims in Asia. The billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks is urging readers of his Web log ask contact politicians to reset their priorities. "Mr. President, it's time to show that leadership. It's time to set an example," wrote Cuban. "Cancel all but the most basic inauguration...

They'll design flowers for Bush's inauguration. By Jennifer Barrios AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Saturday, January 08, 2005 When Casey Freytag got the call asking her to serve her country, she couldn't say no. Her mission: flower arranging. Freytag, Georgetown florist Susie Ramos and nearly 200 other florists from around the country soon will visit the U.S. capital, working day and night to arrange flowers for President Bush's second inauguration Jan. 20. "It was a total surprise for me," said Freytag, who works for Freytag's Florist, her father's flower shop in Austin. The florists are chosen by the Society of American Florists, which...

Atheist sues to prevent prayer at Bush inauguration The Associated Press (Updated Thursday, January 6, 2005, 4:45 PM) SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - An atheist who sued because he did not want his young daughter exposed to the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance is now filing a suit to bar the saying of a prayer at President Bush's inauguration. Michael Newdow, of Sacramento, notes that two ministers, the Reverend Franklin Graham and the Reverend Kirbyjon Caldwell, delivered Christian invocations at Bush's first inaugural ceremony in 2001.

Antiwar activists are going to board busses at 5 PM on Jan 19th to go to protest the Inaugural. The UW chapter of Protestwarrior will be there. We are meeting at 4:30 on the Memorial Union steps at the East doors off of Langdon Street.

Atheist activist Michael Newdow, known for his attempt to remove "under God" from the Pledge, has petitioned a federal court to prevent the Bush administration from "engaging in Christian religious acts" related to the president's upcoming inauguration. Pointing out that two ministers, Rev. Franklin Graham and the Rev.Kirbyjon Caldwell, prayed at Bush's first inaugural ceremony in 2001, Newdow says the Inaugural '05 website indicates the president will chose a minister to "deliver an invocation" before he takes the oath of office Jan. 20. Rev. Louis P. Sheldon, chairman of the Traditional Values Coalition says it's "appalling that Christians are being...

WASHINGTON -- President Bush on Friday called streamlining and reforming the U.S. tax code an "essential task for our country," but offered few hints of how he intends to get it done. Treasury Secretary John Snow said "everything's on the table," including possibly the popular home mortgage and charitable deductions and a former senator leading a tax-reform panel for Bush said that a national sales tax or flat tax also could be in the cards. "I am firm in my desire to get something done," Bush said at the end of a White House meeting with former Sens. Connie Mack,...