THE PRESIDENTIAL YACHT

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
-- George Santayana, The Life of Reason, Volume 1, 1905

The AP notes the inclusion of a presidential yacht in the GOP controlled Congress' $388 billion spending bill :

A potential boon for Bush, $2 million for the government to try buying back the former presidential yacht Sequoia. The boat was sold three decades ago, and its current owners say the yacht is assessed at $9.8 million and are distressed by the provision.

Since you and I are going to pay for the presidential yacht, I took a visit to the Official Homepage of the U.S.S. Sequoia Presidential Yacht, where I learned that the U.S.S. Sequoia is a meticulously restored, 104-foot, 1925 Trumpy-designed yacht that has served Presidents since Herbert Hoover.

Herbert Hoover promoted his use of the Sequoia during the Depression in a misguided effort to elevate the spirit of a starving public. *** A starving American public did not care that Hoover was using a 104-foot yacht instead of a 318-foot yacht. The public saw Hoover's use of the Sequoia as an example of a President who was out of touch with the needs of a poor populace.

Imagine that -- a President who was out of touch with the needs of the American public...