www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0107presidentialhat-ON.html

Hat for Bush's inauguration to feature solid gold 'W' buckle

Associated Press
Jan. 7, 2005 08:40 AM

GREELEY, Colo. - Trent Johnson's latest assignment is going to his head, and President Bush's, too.

Johnson is making a cowboy hat for Bush's Jan. 20 inauguration.

The hat is commissioned by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. It's sand-colored beaver and features Bush's name on the inside of a multicolored sweatband. The hat also has a solid-gold "W" etched on a custom silver buckle.

Johnson is the owner of Colorado's Greeley Hat Works. He says even the hat box is special, with the presidential seal on the navy-blue exterior.

But Johnson isn't revealing the president's hat size. He tells the Denver Post that's classified information.

cool

A big "W".

Is this being paid for by tax dollars, or is it a labor of love?

Quoted: The hat is commissioned by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association.

I think they paid for it.

Quoted: Is this being paid for by tax dollars, or is it a labor of love?

Tax dollars. It's in the National Endowment for the Humanities' budget under "Kitsch, political."

How do you THINK it's being paid for, for Pete's sake?